Charis & Stephanie EDITED audio
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Charis: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Harness Your Health podcast. I am here with a very special guest today, Stephanie Flores who is a nutrition therapist, and I'm going to give you a little synopsis of this episode, and then I'm gonna have Stephanie tell us all about herself.
What if the reason that you can't stop eating, can't lose weight, and feel exhausted all the time isn't a willpower problem, it's poor hormonal rhythm? And what if your body actually has its own built-in [00:00:30] appetite and metabolism regulator that has stopped working, not because of anything you did wrong, but because of the world we live in?
Today, we're talking about GLP-1s, yes, drugs like Ozempic, and it's not gonna be how you may have heard about it before. So welcome, Stephanie. Thank you for being here.
Stephanie: Thank you so much, Karis. I'm so excited to be here.
Charis: Yeah, it's gonna be fun. So we met through the Nutrition Therapy Institute, where we both went to school- Yeah[00:01:00]
and through a mutual friend, right? Yeah. And it's been a while now, five or six years- Years ... we've known each other. Yeah. Yeah. I know, super fun. So why don't you just tell everyone a little bit about your background and we'll start talking about this juicy topic.
Stephanie: I know. Hot topic today. Thank you so much for having me on today.
I just s- love when we can get connected with friends and share such important information. It's a great conversation to have. I have always been [00:01:30] in the health and wellness space. Started as a personal trainer, and it's just evolved from there as I became a mom. I was a former athlete, played college soccer.
Loved everything fitness, but always had that missing piece about nutrition that I just wanted to know more about, especially once I became a mom and had my own health struggles with infertility and with PCOS, and diabetes runs in my family, high cholesterol. So I wanted to know [00:02:00] more about the nutrition side, but not just macros and calories and move more, eat less.
I wanted to know more about what we're eating, and so I went to the Nutrition Therapy Institute, just like you, to get that holistic nutrition perspective, food as medicine, and I just fell in love with it, and then just have been coaching around nutrition, but more that holistic wellness and looking at the whole picture and getting to the [00:02:30] root cause.
And so now I'm especially excited to work with women after having kids and that are just struggling with hormones, with weight, and all that stuff.
Charis: Yeah. It's a crazy time in life. We can both attest we're both in that stage, right? People often come to me and say I feel like I turned 40 or I turned 45, and then everything started falling apart."
And I try and explain to people that most of these health conditions and things that women are really struggling [00:03:00] with have been building for years, and really decades, right? And so it's nothing ever happens overnight, and so we have to remember that. Yeah. But also to remember that there's foundations for your health and all the things that I talk about in every episode that I've had on so far, and all the content I put out is about that.
So those foundations are the same for any person. Yeah. And it doesn't matter where you're at. You're not a lost cause. You're not too far [00:03:30] gone. None of that fits with that and what we believe. So I just- Yeah ... love that you're focusing on this 'cause it is really needed. 'Cause the message I think that people are hearing a lot of times is like, "You need to take this drug so that you can lose weight," which might be the case that you should lose some weight, but that doesn't mean that you can always need to start with a drug, right?
There are- Exactly ... other things you can do, and we're
gonna get
into that. So maybe we should just talk about holistic nutrition really [00:04:00] quick because you mentioned that, and I think a lot of people are just confused about in general. I think with nutrition, there's so much information out there, and it's not that there isn't any information.
It's just that people don't know what to do, right? So like, when you're thinking about holistic nutrition, what are you thinking? What kind of things are you thinking about to help people with?
Stephanie: It's getting back to the basics for me 'cause, like you said, there's [00:04:30] so much information out there.
There's so much noise. It's not like we don't know what to do. You hear it all the time "Drink more water, get more sleep, eat more protein." You hear all these things, but you also hear the other side too "Try this supplement. Try..." There's so many Band-Aid fixes out there. But I wanna get back to the root cause and
I love that we both have this holistic background because it's getting to the root cause. Why do you need this drug? What's going on? [00:05:00] Do you have the basic foundation laid out? Like, how are you sleeping? It's not just about what we eat. How are you sleeping? How much stress do you have? How much water are you drinking?
What is your gut microbiome look like? There's so many other things. It's not just what we eat anymore. And yes, we need to move more, but what does that look like? And so working with someone like you or me, it's someone that's gonna help find what works for you because we're all not the same, and what you [00:05:30] often are hearing out there, it could work for someone, but it's not gonna work for you.
You've gotta find what's gonna work for you and what's realistic for you because a lot of people are trying so many things right now, and you need to just simplify, get back to basics, and build that basic foundation. And it's getting back to those things I said, like what you're eating, yes, but also sleep, stress.
Your nervous system plays a big part in all of this, so looking at all those basic foundational pieces that we need so [00:06:00] much.
Charis: Absolutely. I'm just a broken record with this topic. And that's really what this whole podcast is about, what my whole practice is built on. And so v- people have heard me say that before.
But I think what happens is people think that they can skip some of those things or just jump over those things, or maybe that they are doing those things. And a lot of times what happens is the whole picture isn't really together. So what I explain to people is maybe you are eating really well and you're nourishing your [00:06:30] body and the food you're eating is high quality, but maybe you don't eat enough, or maybe your sleep is so terrible that it erases all the good nutrition that's going into your body, and so it can feel overwhelming to people, I think, because they feel like now that's one more thing I have to worry about. I have to worry about my sleep too? And my stress?" But the way I like to explain it is that really your body runs on a 24-hour clock. So if you start there, that's how your, all of your hormonal rhythms start is [00:07:00] in the morning when you wake up.
And that's why it's advised to go outside and view morning sunlight first thing in the morning, because it really sets the stage for the rest of your day, for your digestion, for your hormonal rhythm. And it's just such a good way to think about strategies too, is just start at the beginning of the day.
Yeah. And then work your way through the day, and then you can tackle the sleep part and the sleep hygiene part and all of that too. But people are often very surprised at [00:07:30] an increase in energy when they start going outside every morning. Yeah. An increase in their digestion. They start having a normal bowel movement in the morning, whereas before they were relying on their coffee to do it for them, right?
Yes. So they're pretty shocked usually after a week or so of this happening, depending on how old you are and how dysregulated you are. But it works for everyone. It works. It doesn't matter what your situation is, but these are the foundational things. And,
I'm at the
[00:08:00] point in my practice in what I do that I tell people this is such a strong part of what I teach, that you have to be willing to work on this working with me.
And if you aren't, then we're not for each other. Yeah. And people are surprised by that. But I don't play Whac-A-Mole or Band-Aiding with anything anymore. And I've had great success with this, so I don't know why I would ever go back. As far as the hormonal part, so a lot of people I don't know, this is just one of my pet peeves, some people [00:08:30] just say the word hormones.
There are so many hormones. I think there's 90-some hormones, right? Do you wanna just explain a little bit about hormones, like what a hormone does? How they're interconnected. We don't have to get into the weeds on this because there's so many- Yeah ... things. But just maybe to set the stage because we're gonna start talking about GLP-1s.
Stephanie: Yes. And so I think it's especially important for this- In this conversation and with [00:09:00] GLP-1 being a hormone that your body already makes, and I hate to say it, I have so many clients that have come to me and they didn't even realize that. They thought it was just a medication, and it's not. And it's something our body makes in the gut, but it's a delicate balance in our body.
There's a whole chain reaction that has to happen. And just like you said, it starts first thing in the morning. Our hormones help regulate so many things, and I wouldn't even know where to begin [00:09:30] with all of the hormones that we have that are so important. But for females, you definitely know with your estrogen and progesterone and what happens in perimenopause when those start tanking and you start feeling like crap, and you're like, "What's going on?"
But for this conversation, getting back to the gut, getting back to first thing in the morning, getting in the sun, it's like you're charging your batteries and waking your body up again after being in the dark and sleeping. But as soon as you start eating something, that [00:10:00] signals your GLP-1 to be secreted in your small intestines, and then that can kick off a whole cascade of other hormones.
Then there's insulin that needs to be secreted by the pancreas. Then there... So in short, to answer your question, it helps regulate so many functions in our body. And talking about the GLP-1 part today, it's just if we don't have all these foundational things in place like we talk about as holistic professionals, it [00:10:30] throws all of them off, and people are playing Whac-A-Mole because they're like, "I just wanna fix this one hormone."
I'm just gonna fix GLP-1 right now and take this shot." You're not, because you're gonna throw everything else off, and we need to keep that balance in our body, and it is affected, that balance is affected by so many things that I don't wanna get in the weeds on too much of it. But for today, GLP-1 is a hormone that's just one piece of the whole puzzle in our [00:11:00] body.
But for what we're talking about today we want to help talk about how you can help your natural production and what that looks like before... 'Cause maybe you're not on it yet. Maybe you're not on a GLP-1 and you're just curious. You don't have to go straight to the shot. We can help you today with our conversation with how you can start boosting that natural production in your body.
Charis: I'm so glad you said that. So you already mentioned that GLP-1 really stands for [00:11:30] glucagon-like peptide. That's what it stands for, GLP. And so it is a hormone naturally produced in the body. Obviously, if you're getting an injection, and some of these drugs are even coming in pill form now, that is a synthetic copy, if you will, of the hormone that your body produces.
However, it is very different in the way that it acts in your body versus your normal GLP-1 hormone. Do you wanna talk about that?
Stephanie: Yes. So our natural [00:12:00] GLP-1, it's pretty short-lived. It's-- only lasts in our body, once we eat Food, anytime we eat food, your body naturally releases GLP-1, but it only lasts for about a minute or two because the enzymes break it down pretty quickly.
Then that does signal, like your natural signal for satiety and for blood sugar regulation and all that, but it's short and sweet. The synthetic version lasts much longer. It can be a day to a week, [00:12:30] depending which one you're on, depending how much you're taking, and that's where we're seeing these problems with side effects, and that's where we're seeing these gastric issues because it's staying in our system for much longer than it should be.
Charis: Yeah. It's a huge problem. And I would say for the people that I know a lot of my practice has been focused on digestion, so people who have constipation or heartburn or bloating issues. If you already have a [00:13:00] digestive complaint like that, the GLP-1 is just gonna add fuel to the fire, and it doesn't mean that you shouldn't do it.
It just means that you have to consider that before you start. And so it would be prudent, like my advice to someone would be to work on your digestive process, to work on your natural production of GLP-1 on your own before you start the drug to just see if you can get some traction. Because what I see a lot of [00:13:30] times is these strategies with food, with timing, with different things that we use people notice a difference right away.
And so it's really information that our body is giving us back. Like symptoms are always information, right? And then the information we get back
from our body
when we try a
strategy is
more information, and we just really have to listen to that. I think the awareness piece is really important here, and a lot of us
I know I wasn't [00:14:00] aware of anything for many years, and I really had to slow down and pay attention to what my body was telling me. And this is just such a perfect example, I think, of people who think it's normal to not have a bowel movement every day. It's really not. You are really supposed to have a solid, like well-formed bowel movement every single day, ideally in the morning.
And if you don't have that, then I would consider your digestion as slow. And if you already have slow digestion, the GLP-1 is [00:14:30] only gonna cause more problems. So the typical GI symptoms we see, do you wanna talk about that stuff?
Stephanie: Yeah, because it does slow down
gastric emptying .
Your food is sitting in your digestive system longer because the drug is staying in your system longer.
It's delaying that gastric emptying, so food's just sitting there. It's being processed more slowly. So yes, some people think it's great. "Oh, I'm eating less," because your body's being signaled that you're, [00:15:00] you've been satisfied. You've, you don't need to eat anymore. It reduces that hunger. And so it's sitting in there fermenting, causing gas, causing burping, causing constipation, nausea, diarrhea.
It looks different in everyone, but the constipation's a big one, I think, because it's just sitting in there and it's It, yeah, it's just awful what I'm seeing with some of my clients. Yes, great, it's, controlling your appetite so you're [00:15:30] eating less, you're losing weight, but it's not ideal for a lot of people, and a lot of people are jumping on this way too high a dose.
I'm gonna be a broken record on this. It's like, why don't we start with your natural GLP-1 first? And that people are going from having none to having way too much that's sitting in their system way too long and wreaking havoc with all of these side effects that we're seeing.
Charis: Absolutely. I think there's so many different things you can do, not just with food, and it's not just cut out all the carbs [00:16:00] or cut out all the sugar. There are so many strategies you can use to eat in a way that your body will optimize your metabolism optimize, appetite so you're not overly hungry.
I think trying those things ahead of time would be definitely worth your time and energy to do that, because you don't really know how your body is gonna react to the drug. And we probably sound like we're very anti GLP-1. I would just say maybe rather [00:16:30] than thinking of it that way, think of it as that we're very pro you using your own natural way of supporting your body to do what it knows how to do before you jump to using something.
Now, if you've exhausted all of the things and haven't gotten the result that you wanted, then maybe using a GLP-1 is the right answer for you. And also doing that with someone who can help you
to mitigate
some of these symptoms and optimize
your [00:17:00] digestion
would be an excellent idea.
Stephanie: Yes. I'm glad you said that. Being on the holistic side of things where we wanna get to the root cause, we might be coming off as anti, but there are benefits to this medication, and I've seen it with some of my clients and some of my friends, specifically one of my friends using it for her cholesterol.
It's the only thing, and I know she's tried all the things first, and she's, eating protein. She's eating three balanced meals. She's working out. [00:17:30] She's, hydrated. She's sleep... She's doing all the things, but her cholesterol wasn't budging. And so she's microdosing GLP-1, and it's actually helping her for her cholesterol, and that runs in her family, and so she wanted to make sure she could get that under control without having to get on a medication for her cholesterol.
So I've seen it work for, diabetes for my brother with obesity, and I've seen it do some amazing things. But- making sure you have all these things in place. That's why working with [00:18:00] one of us is so helpful to help you step by step along the way so you can see success with it. But yes, please try to get your body working properly first, because you're not gonna tolerate this medication if your body's not working properly.
Charis: Yeah, exactly. Reminds me of women going on hormone replacement. And I think I've mentioned- ... in the podcast before that I take some hormones. I'm at that place, still in perimenopause, and I have taken some hormones, some of them for years. And they have [00:18:30] benefited me, but in the very beginning when I first started, it wasn't like the magic pill like it was sold to me, and I didn't really know back then what I know now.
And so maybe we should just dive into that a little bit. We already mentioned the connection obviously and how your body is so intimately connected. But Let's talk about a little bit like the microbiome because as you mentioned, GLP-1 is secreted in the small intestine. It's also secreted in the large intestine, and the microbiome has a huge [00:19:00] role here.
And so since digestion is so important, I feel like maybe we should speak to this. Do you wanna talk about Akkermansia and what that is?
Stephanie: Oh, yes. So our gut, and I ... That's why I've always stayed connected with you because you've always been you specialize in gut health, and you've always been my sounding board for stuff with that.
But Akkermansia, I'm glad you brought that up because maybe you've heard it, 'cause I always see the ads with Halle Berry talking about [00:19:30] Akkermansia, and she's made it quite popular, and people are like, "What is that?" It's like a VIP guest in your gut. It's one of those foundational beneficial bacteria in your gut.
It specifically loves hanging out in your gut lining, which is so important, your gut lining, and the health of that is so important for reducing inflammation and keeping your overall microbiome healthy. If you had to work on one beneficial bacteria, it would be Akkermansia. And so feeding that [00:20:00] properly, like so many people aren't doing this, eating fiber, having enough fiber, and having good, healthy fiber and beneficial foods like
or bitter foods like arugula and dandelion and fermented foods. And people might see the ads for these Akkermansia supplements and like, "Oh, I'm gonna take Akkermansia and that's gonna fix everything." No, you need to feed the Akkermansia. You need to make sure you're doing all the things for optimal gut health and for, again, another place where we have this [00:20:30] delicate balance where we gotta look at everything we're doing because we've been eating ultra-processed foods that kill this Akkermansia.
Sugary foods, antibiotics just wipe it out. It's so sad to see when we look at the microbiome of our clients that it's been wiped out, and it's so important to have this. It's not just take probiotics. We need to look at Akkermansia because like I said, it's like a VIP bacteria in the [00:21:00] gut. And if our lining isn't healthy in our gut, then it's gonna affect the production of our GLP-1.
And so many people, I think we've spoken about this a lot, so many people with leaky gut because of our environment and the way we eat and the way we live right now that it's, yeah, it's- It's just s- so bad in there when we look at the gut health of our clients. And so keeping that healthy gut lining so that we can produce this natural [00:21:30] GLP-1 is something that I wanna look at and start with so many of my clients.
Charis: Yeah. So a lot of people are worried about inflammation and chronic systemic inflammation, and a lot of that comes from leaky gut or- ... intestinal permeability is the- ... medical term for it. Basically what that means is your gut lining is one cell layer thick. And so if you think of it as these bricks mortared together, it's basically where the space in between the cells becomes leaky.
And so that allows food [00:22:00] proteins and all kinds of other things, whatever you're ingesting, to get into the bloodstream. It's one cell layer thick into your bloodstream. And so that promotes inflammation because obviously the immune system sees some sort of food particle or something or pathogen that you ate that was supposed to be killed by your stomach acid and got into your intestine, then your body is gonna be...
It's an alarm episode- Yeah ... where your nonspecific immune system comes in and fires up the alarm, which is inflammation and trying to- ... kill whatever [00:22:30] that is and get that out of there. And so leaky gut is really such a huge problem, and I think most people who have any kind of symptom like a systemic symptom, like skin stuff or autoimmunity always any kind of GI symptom, they always have some level of leaky gut.
Yes. And the good news is it can be repaired. It can be. It absolutely can. And a lot of people think that's, like- a [00:23:00] drastic change in your diet. If you are eating a lot of processed food in your diet changing that in a drastic way, which can be really challenging for people. But I will just say, maybe you could speak to this too, Steph, that I really don't like to do things that way.
I really like to look at someone's diet and what they're eating and decide with my client what is something you could change tomorrow that is maybe swapping out the bread. I see a lot of people eat bread all day long. They eat it for breakfast, lunch, [00:23:30] and dinner, yeah. What meal could you skip the bread and maybe do something different, like with your- Yeah
normal lunch or something like that. And like you said, introducing something with more fiber, introducing some
fermented veggies ,
some things that are gonna be used by your body. And that's the problem with processed food is yes, it is food, but there's really not any substance to it that your body can actually use.
It has calories, but that's not what we're talking about. Nutrients is [00:24:00] what your body needs to run every biochemical process. It needs fiber for your microbiome. And we didn't really say this, but in case people don't know, your microbiome is basically trillions of bacteria and y- some yeast that live in your large intestine and more cells than you actually have in your body, which is really hard to wrap your head around.
But the balance of that is the most important thing because people will sometimes do these consumer-facing [00:24:30] stool tests, and they're like, "Oh, my gosh. I have some rogue thing," Klebsiella in their stool, and they're like, "Oh, my gosh." And I'm like it's normally there, it just doesn't... We don't want it to overgrow."
And so that's the important part of Akkermansia is it lives in the lining of your gut, which is really important, but it also is like one of those big players, almost like a bouncer maybe-
Stephanie: Yeah. ... of
Charis: your biome, right? Yeah. So it's like keeping the other guys under control. Yes, you can have your life.[00:25:00]
You can do your weird whatever thing you're gonna do on the side, but you're not gonna overgrow and disrupt the entire community. Yeah. It's gonna stay off to the side.
Stephanie: Yeah.
Charis: Acromancia is just the unsung hero. If you're interested in this, there is so much research on acromancia, so much information and great teaching online about acromancia.
Yeah. And you can definitely fortify your own acromancia. Acromancia also loves polyphenols, so- Yes ... any food that's [00:25:30] rich in polyphenols which if you don't know what those are, you can obviously Google a list, but you can also just go to the grocery store or the farmers market and look for brightly colored fruits and vegetables.
That means that those foods have polyphenols in them.
Stephanie: What do we always say? Eat the rainbow. Exactly. Eat
Charis: the rainbow. Yeah. Pick- And- Kids do this naturally. They're like, "I want the brightest red strawberry," right? They're drawn to that, and I think as adults we get away from that, and we don't think about food [00:26:00] in that way.
Especially now, it's farmers market season, to like, go to the farmers market and pick out some beautifully- Yeah ... colored vegetables and fruit. Yeah, so I recently just started one of those farm box subscriptions, and I like it because I can get stuck in a rut. I'm not perfect by any means.
Stephanie: I'm always having to refresh my memory and listen, practice what I preach. But I like the farm box because it brings me what's seasonal, and it forces me to eat different stuff because I'll stick to my [00:26:30] favorites if I don't do that. And yeah, getting excited for the farmer market season and seeing oh my gosh, the plums right now look amazing, and the apricots look amazing.
And it's like when... I get excited for summer, of course, because there's so many fruits that you don't get in the winter. And so I like what you said about that fiber rich, plant-based foods because I think we get stuck in a rut with processed foods, sugary foods, but also maybe meat all the time, which is a whole nother thing we'll talk about.
Protein is important, [00:27:00] but don't forget your fiber rich, plant-based foods, like your veggies and your fruits, and like you said, your polyphenols, so that we can keep this gut lining healthy because, like you said, with the production of natural GLP-1, but also for nutrient absorption too so that we're not getting nutrient deficient, which is something we see with this GLP-1 medication because people aren't eating enough anymore.
Charis: Yes, absolutely. That is such a huge problem because, I would say just our [00:27:30] food supply and our soils and stuff just aren't what they used to be anyway, and then you add in eating much less volume of food, and even if it was such high quality food, you're just not gonna get the nutrients that you need.
And the nutrients, and what we're talking about are, like, vitamins, minerals amino acids, those things, fatty acids, are used to help or really make every biochemical process in your body function. They're a part of all of your cells, your cell [00:28:00] walls. They build your hormones, your neurotransmitters. It's literally makes up your body.
Those nutrients are just so important, and- Yes ... it's definitely when you're thinking about this whole subject of eating less, or, low appetite, you definitely have to think about the nutrient conversation.
Stephanie: Yeah, definitely.
Charis: Yeah, so we've set the stage, I feel like, really well, so hopefully people are in a good place where they're like, "Okay, I feel like I can manage this."
Maybe
we [00:28:30] should
go through those step-by-step strategies. And so the way I like to think about all this is that there, there probably is a best place for you as an individual to start. And so you can certainly listen to this list and these suggestions, and think about your own situation and pick something.
But really, the important thing is to be consistent, so pick something, be consistent, and see it through, and don't expect yourself
to do
a 180 in the way that you're [00:29:00] eating in a matter of a week. That's just not realistic, and most people can't do that. They have a hard time changing their habits.
We are all human, after all. Yeah. So I really love the idea of a new strategy every week, and- Yes ... using them on top of each other, and really giving yourself a chance to learn how to cook maybe in a little bit different way or add different foods. And if you're not even used to eating any vegetables doing that can be a little bit of a change.
And so it's an, just [00:29:30] important to take it easy and be gentle with yourself,
Stephanie: yes. Yes. You touched upon this earlier, but with my clients, I see them once a week, so it is that one thing. What I like, what's your minimum you can do without being overwhelmed, and looking at each client and what their big red flags are.
But with this conversation, I feel it's always "I'll start Monday," or at least you feel good first thing in the morning, so that's where it's okay, let's [00:30:00] start with the morning, because that's where you have the most energy. You just woke up. It's a clean slate. You get up, get out in the sun.
That's one thing we can fix for your circadian rhythm and getting back on track. But I always, like, when it comes to food- breakfast. Can we focus on breakfast and make breakfast really good, and look at fiber and protein at breakfast so that before you get busy and your day unfolds and something happens to derail you, at least we've started that foundation there.
You got out in the sun, [00:30:30] woke yourself up, got that natural sunlight to help regulate your melatonin and help regulate your hormones that way. But what's breakfast look like? Are you fueling yourself for the day? And just building awareness with my clients I literally just start with, "Let's look at what you're eating and drinking," because the coffee's usually filled with sugar, and then their breakfast might be cereal.
And it's like, okay, we need protein and fiber, and good fiber, not cereal and like you said with the [00:31:00] bread, it's like even if it's just, okay, you love bread let's fix the bread. Let's find a healthier bread. Let's make your coffee a little bit cleaner and better so it's gonna fuel you for the day.
And when you start with that, it usually helps things just start falling into place, and you're more likely to stay on track the rest of the day. Yeah. And for a lot of clients, it's "Have a glass of water." Have a glass of water in the morning before your... You have plenty of clients that don't even drink water.
So I like that, where [00:31:30] it's let's pick one thing, but I think for this, it's like protein and fiber are something we need to look at in the beginning. Yeah.
Charis: Everyone talks about protein, and I, when I ask people "Why do you think protein is so important?"
they often don't even understand why. So do you wanna just talk about that? Because this is such a huge part of the GLP-1 discussion, when food sits in your stomach and it doesn't, you don't really digest it very well, people probably aren't eating much protein because that can make things a lot [00:32:00] worse, and you might feel a lot worse eating protein in that situation.
But you need the protein, right? You do. So why is the protein so important?
Stephanie: Unfortunately, with this medication- yes, people are losing weight, which is great for those obese people and the people that need to lose weight that have all these metabolic health issues. But They're not just losing fat, they're losing muscle also, and we need muscle for a healthy metabolism.
You don't wanna be losing [00:32:30] muscle, and that's where when I do have a client that's on this medication, I talk about protein and the importance of protein. Of course, you also need to look at your strength training, but that's another conversation. But protein, making sure you're eating protein first, and it is finding that balance, and it's a balance with your doctor and your dose because if you're eating a lot of protein that's sitting in there, then we're gonna see constipation.
So it is this delicate balance where [00:33:00] I wish everyone could have someone, a health professional, working with them while they're on this medication. But protein's important to maintain our muscles so we're not losing it. It is great for helping you feel satisfied and not... It reduces cravings so you're not hungry an hour later.
That's why I like it first before carb. I don't like my clients eating carbs by themselves because you're just gonna create more cravings. You're gonna be [00:33:30] hungry. It's not gonna make you satisfied and keep you full. So that's why I think protein and eating enough protein, and that looks different for everybody based on your size and what your activity level is.
But protein, I tell everyone at least 25 to 30 grams at breakfast at a minimum and looking at what they like. Of course, there's a big talk about how important animal protein is, but I have plenty of clients that are vegetarian, so I'm [00:34:00] looking at, can we get some good clean Greek yogurt into you?
What can we get that's, plant-based? Or, if you can tolerate eggs in the morning, great. But protein is very important for reducing those cravings, for maintaining our muscles, especially while on this medication.
Charis: Yeah, it's so satiating. What I see a lot is people saying I eat protein.
I'm always eating protein with my meals." And then when you look at what they're really eating, they're eating two eggs for breakfast, which is 14 or 15 grams of [00:34:30] protein. So as soon as you bump that up and make it, like you said, 25 or 30, which would be double that- ... then all of a sudden they're like, "Wow, I don't need a snack two hours later," right?
Yes. "I can make it to lunch." And these are oftentimes people who have busy jobs, where they're on their feet, teachers and nurses and people like that. I think it's a good testament to giving your body the nutrients it needs so that it can function. 'Cause part of hunger is calories, but it's also nutrients.
Your [00:35:00] body is sending you a signal "I need something." And the big problem with carbs or eating, like you called it not eating carbs alone, we always call that naked carbs,
Stephanie: right? Naked carbs. '
Charis: Cause it's f- terrible for your blood sugar. So if you eat naked carbs, it doesn't even matter. It could be, like, a piece of something y- it could be even a sweet potato that you're just eating literally by itself.
That could spike your blood sugar enough because there's no fat or no protein with [00:35:30] it, that your insulin comes up to get the blood sugar down, and then all of a sudden now you're on this yo-yo then you bottom out your blood sugar, and that signal where your body is like, "Ah, alarm. Need more food" And then you eat again, or you don't feel very good and so you eat, and it's just like a whack-a-mole roller coaster. And that is the huge problem with naked carbs or excessive carbs, even inside a meal, a well-balanced meal. Yes. You get this food coma [00:36:00] from hypoglycemia. Hyper and then hypoglycemia. Yes. And that, the regulation of that is one of the best strategies that you can use if you don't change anything else.
Yeah. If you literally don't wanna change the content of what you're actually eating, and you literally just try and make your protein enough and your fat enough that you can make it last for four hours without being hungry again, that's step one in my opinion. Yeah.
Stephanie: [00:36:30] It's amazing when you can prevent that- It's like a rollercoaster.
Like my clients with diabetes, like getting them on a continuous glucose monitor where we can-- I treat it like a video game. You've got that range you're supposed to stay in because so many of our clients are doing this spike, and then this crash, and then this spike, and this crash all day long. And I'm like, "Let's look for rolling hills."
We're gonna play this game, and we're gonna do rolling hills with our food, and we're gonna keep it in that range. And yeah, you could [00:37:00] be eating something healthy like a sweet potato, but if you're eating it by itself-- And I love that you brought that up, the naked carbs. It's like I... That's one, just one strategy.
Like we're not eating naked carbs anymore. You're dressing it with protein and healthy fats, and, there's just little strategies that we can do. And of course, on this medication, you're not gonna be hungry, and that's a problem, and we need you eating. We need you getting nutrients. Like you said, your body is like, "I need something."
We have to [00:37:30] fuel our bodies. We have to nourish it. We can't just be eating anything, just calories, because we are what we eat. If you wanna feel like crap, keep eating crap, so you, we need- Yeah ... to learn how to fuel and nourish our body so that we can, feel at our best and perform throughout the day.
Charis: Yeah, I have a kind of a funny story about that. So my kids, as I'm sure your kids are, like, it's like osmosis for their whole life. They're hearing me say these things. Sometimes to them, but sometimes [00:38:00] just in, overhearing. And one of my boys was eating like a cookie with a beef stick.
So these beef sticks- ... that we have for a protein snack, and he's I'm pairing it together." I'm like, " All right." Can't argue with that.
Stephanie: I can't imagine how that tasted. I
Charis: know. Probably didn't taste super great, but
Stephanie: so funny. I can see him having a chomp. And like I'm just picturing an Oreo and a chomp.
It's like- Yeah. ... what would that taste like?
Charis: Oh, so funny. So funny. So maybe what we should do is let's [00:38:30] think about this from the people who are not on a GLP-1- Yeah ... but maybe the doctor has brought it up, or they have thought about it, that maybe it would be beneficial to them.
What are the things that person should be thinking about? What strategies or steps?
Stephanie: So fiber. I don't think... I think fiber is the unsung hero. I don't think everyone's just hearing about protein right now. Yeah. But fiber and it's, we're not talking about Metamucil
"i have Metamucil." I'm like, "No." If we wanna start slow, [00:39:00] we wanna aim for 25 to 35 grams of fiber, and I literally just asked a client to do this last week. I said, "I just want you to track your fiber for the day tomorrow to with what you're eating normally," and it's very eye-opening. And it's all about building awareness with our clients, right?
I want you to be aware of what's happening because we're just so busy, everyone's just getting through the day, that she stopped to look- at what her fiber was, and it was, [00:39:30] like, 10 grams for the day. And it was like, "Let's just fix your fiber first," because a lot of people come to us what's saying they're bloated.
That means your microbiome is depleted. It's out of whack. And you could be eating fiber right now be- and getting bloated. It makes me feel bloated. Yeah, because there's a problem. So we can start small, and I just asked her let's aim for 15 grams, for a while, and then let's bump it up."
And I helped her find fiber-rich foods that worked for her, 'cause we could rattle [00:40:00] off a list, but it's "No, I don't like that. I don't like that." And that's where we can work with you to find good, healthy, fiber-rich foods and get you slowly, step by step, to where you need to be. And we wanna rebuild that microbiome, and we've talked about this.
Why? Because we want you to produce your own natural GLP-1 first, especially if you're not on it yet, great. You might be curious about it. But let's do these things first. Rebuild that microbiome so you're producing your own natural [00:40:30] GLP-1. Let's target the Akkermansia. And then let's look at your protein.
We're gonna look at your protein. We want to get you slowly... Again I don't want to overwhelm my clients at all, so again, looking at the red flags. But these are the steps that I would take over time in my program, one thing at a time. I love that book Atomic Habits- ... because he talks about habit stacking.
So I work on habit stacking these healthy habits. But we wanna get more protein [00:41:00] because we wanna protect our muscle and protect our metabolism. We wanna stabilize our blood sugar and help balance that out. So we want the protein, and we want the healthy fats, not just carbs. And then we can have the carbs.
But also talking about just a 10-minute walk after meals. We're all not perfect. You have a meal that's gonna spike your blood sugar, and I'll know it. I'll want one of my favorite foods, like I'll want tamales or something, and I know that spikes me. So I know to go for a walk right after [00:41:30] that because you'll be amazed how fast it brings that down.
So just a nice walk. I'll get my kids. I'll get my dog. Just go for 10 to 15-minute walk after a meal to help balance out the blood sugar And then we look at your nervous system, we look at your stress, looking at those things together and so that we can look at our cortisol. We might - be depleted or we're so stressed we're in that fight or flight all the time, and you've got cortisol pumping through you all the time, and that's [00:42:00] our clients that we see waking up in the middle of the night, right?
"I don't know why I'm waking up in the middle of the night panicked and my heart's racing." Yeah, your cortisol's out of whack. Yeah. You're just... You- we've gotta look at your stress and manage your stress because cortisol suppresses our GLP-1 production, so that's something we need to look at, a body that's stressed all the...
Sometimes I don't talk about food or nutrition for weeks- ... because we've... If we could do all we want and get the perfect diet and get the perfect [00:42:30] meal plan for somebody and get them eating it, but if they're stressed, it's all for naught. What are we doing? Because your hormones are so out of whack and you're so stressed.
So we need to focus on stress and prioritize our digestion and our satiety and all of that. So that's where we talk about the bitter foods to feed the gut. And then yeah, if we need to, and you're a pro at this, like if we need to look at gut testing, we look at gut testing so that we can really get [00:43:00] nitpicky in there and see "Oh yeah, your Akkermansia is wiped out."
Like- Yeah ... we need to... And sometimes that's what it takes for clients, right? To see it and go, "Oh my gosh," "I had no idea."
Charis: And a test like that is really a true root cause test to look at your microbiome because that's where a lot of the magic and the connection with everything else in your body is happening, Yeah
and the microbiome is the unsung hero in a lot of things.
Stephanie: It is.
Charis: So that's great. Those are all good tips. What would you say [00:43:30] just to layer on top of that stuff if someone is already on a GLP-1 but is struggling? Maybe it's from an energy perspective, maybe it's from a symptom, like GI symptom perspective.
What would you say for that? If they have like nausea and constipation.
Stephanie: Yeah, that's where we look at, of course, we know there's gut issues going on, so we're already fixing that. We're already working on that. But eating smaller meals, because a lot of my clients on this medication aren't [00:44:00] hungry and they're just not eating, and I go, "No, that's not the answer."
And I hate to say it, like I'm not gonna say, "Okay, force feed you," but you need to be eating smaller meals more frequently then. Need to be working with your doctor about your dosage. So many people are on a high dose, and so many people I see doing smaller doses and still seeing great success, but smaller meals more frequently throughout the day.
Of course, there's things we can- tell you to use, like ginger tea, peppermint tea, [00:44:30] staying upright after a meal to reduce that, reflux and heartburn maybe that you're getting. And sometimes cold foods are often better. They're tolerated better early on. So and that's where I'm like, yes, looking at our produce, looking at our veggies and our fruits and even if you wanted rice, you know Looking at resistant starches, that's a whole nother thing that we could talk about down the road.
That's a whole nother topic. But I don't like that I'm seeing my clients aren't [00:45:00] hungry, so they're not eating, and that we need to set phone alarms to eat, to make you eat. Because you d- you need to nourish yourself. We're seeing so much nutrient deficiencies happening. Setting an alarm and trying to keep getting your body on signal at those mealtimes that you wanna eventually get to, and start building bigger meals as you get through this.
We wanna start resistance training. Want you to protect that muscle, so yes, eating the protein, but you need to do strength training, and that is so important on [00:45:30] so many levels, especially as we get older. And as women with osteoporosis, strength training is the number one thing. I see so many of my women that are saying, "I'm doing cardio, I'm doing th-" are you doing anything for your strength to protect your muscle, and protect your balance, and protect...
there's so many thing, so many benefits to strength training. So that's something that I recommend along with protein right when you wake up, within an hour of waking up, and after training. Creatine's another thing we can talk about, especially [00:46:00] for women. We're seeing so many benefits for this, not just with our muscle, but also with our brain and with our focus.
So that's something I often look at with my clients. And then fiber, probiotics, all of that's still something we need to look at. But if you're not eating, you might not be drinking enough either. Hydration's always an issue. We see dehydration a lot. So staying hydrated, and again, like we talked about, the minerals that we're not getting enough of, the nutrients we're not getting [00:46:30] enough of.
So electrolytes can probably be something that's gonna help you too right now, because I'm seeing muscle cramping in some of my clients because they're deficient in minerals. So hydrating, electrolytes. If you are seeing the cramping and stuff, we can look at magnesium. Look at magnesium glycinate at night.
It helps with our sleep, helps with muscle cramping in the middle of the night. But building these habits while you're on this medication are key, because we [00:47:00] see rebounding when people get off of it because they just think this is the magic pill, this is the Band-Aid. But we see so many people try to get off it because they're not tolerating it well, because they're having so many side effects and symptoms because they didn't get the foundation set first.
Then they get off it, and they gain it all back and then some. So we just wanna help you see success, and that's why I feel like we can't say it enough, like working with- a nutrition or health coach to help you set [00:47:30] these pieces in place so you can see success, whether you're on it or whether you're not on it.
Charis: Yeah, I tell people all the time I'm not inventing new ideas. None of us are. This is not new information. It is everywhere, all over, that everyone has access to. The reason you work with someone one-on-one is to have that person that's there for you, so when something comes up in your life with your situation, with your body, that you have that person that's there for you and is gonna help you problem solve it, and get you [00:48:00] moving in the right direction.
And most people have way better outcomes and better success when they are working with someone in a focused way, that way. So that's the reason that we do what we do.
Stephanie: Exactly. It's customized for you because- Yeah ... everyone is different, right?
Charis: For sure. Yeah, so Steph, do you wanna talk about your program a little bit?
I know you mentioned it along the way, but tell us a little bit about that and we'll talk about how people can find you.
Stephanie: Yeah. So [00:48:30] I have a coaching program, one-on-one, a 12-week program where I meet with my clients every week, and it is called Rooted and Radiant. And so it's for those people running on empty.
They've just been so busy with work, with kids, helping everybody else but themselves. They're not focused on their health and their body anymore. They've put themselves last. We wanna lay down these foundations and get you rooted, build that foundation, and get you [00:49:00] radiant and feeling like yourself again.
And so it's just setting down these pillars that we talk about with food, with exercise, with stress, with sleep. It's just laying those foundations, customizing it for you. So many people are hesitant to get started with us, right? Because they're like, "Oh, you're just gonna be so strict with food." And like I said, a lot of times it's not even about the food.
It's looking at you and looking at your whole picture, [00:49:30] and what can we do to get you- on your way to feeling better and feeling like yourself again. And it, we look at it tailored for you, so it can mean so many different things. But I like to look at all those pillars together, work step by step and I also do, hope to, in the works, I know one-on-one coaching isn't for everybody, but hope to have a community that I can build a membership for people to be together on this journey.
Because a lot of times [00:50:00] it's so much more helpful seeing that you're not the only one, you're not in this alone. So sad that so many of my clients just feel like they're at a loss, overwhelmed, and they're alone. It's you're not. We all feel like this. I've felt like this before, just at a loss and overwhelmed with all that noise out there.
I'm so passionate about this, just helping people on their health journey and getting their health back and feeling like themselves again.
Charis: Yeah. No better guide than you, Stef. You're just such a good teacher and supporter [00:50:30] and just like someone to stand beside you when you need it, right?
So that's-
Stephanie: Thank you ...
Charis: awesome. I'm so glad you're doing this work. So we will put the links for everything in the show notes of this episode. You are active on Instagram, Stephanie- ... First Wellness on Instagram. Yeah. And that link will obviously be in the show notes. Th- a link to a document that kind of explains your program a little bit.
Yeah. And then a way that you can book a call to talk with Stef just about your personal situation, see if [00:51:00] it's a good fit.
Stephanie: Awesome. Yes. Thanks, Kara. Thank you so much
Charis: for being here, and have a great day.
Stephanie: Thank you, Charis. It's been fun.
The information shared on this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. I am not a medical doctor, and this content is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Please consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any decisions related to [00:51:30] your health, especially if you have a medical condition or are taking medicationsā€‹
