As a listener, I know you’re on the edge of your seat. You want to know, what are the supervillains?

Cow milk would feed baby cows. Goat milk would feed baby goats. Coconut milk will feed baby coconuts.

Okay, that’s a joke. Welcome to the Strength Changes Everything podcast, where we introduce you to the information, latest research, and tools that will enable you to live a strong, healthy life. On this podcast, we will also answer your questions about strength, health, and well -being. I’m Amy Hudson. I own and operate three exercise coach studios. My co -hosts are Brian Sagan, co -founder and CEO of The Exercise Coach, and Dr. James Fisher, leading researcher in evidence -based strength training.

And now for today’s episode. Welcome back to the Strength Changes Everything podcast. Today’s episode is all about nutrition. So knowing what to eat really has been a challenge for many people over the years. Our relationship with food has been complicated between, you know, the rise of processed foods, the low -fat era, sugar added to almost everything, the rise of foods marketed to us as healthy. It can be hard to know where to start.

Building off of a previous episode on Strength Changes Everything podcast, all about the exercise coach’s metabolic program, today’s episode is going to focus on a resource that we provide our clients at Exercise Coach Studios called the Exercise Coach Nutrition Playbook. This guide simplifies the nutritional recommendations that will allow us to address three prominent health troublemakers caused by a bad diet. And those are high blood sugar, systemic inflammation, and poor digestive health. Today, we’re going to take a deep dive into what the nutrition playbook calls supervillains. So these are categories of food that may be doing us more harm than good when we ingest them.

We’re gonna reveal today the top seven food supervillains, we’re gonna provide some examples of each, and we’re gonna teach you why each of them may be beneficial to eliminate at least for a time to experience, improve metabolic function, and address these three health troublemakers. Darianne Seigen is the author of the Nutrition Playbook, and she is here today to go through the seven supervillains with us. And we’ll be back next week to teach us about the foods that should be on our plate and why those are important to our overall metabolism and best health. So welcome back, Darianne Seigen, to the podcast.

How are you? I’m good. Thanks for having me.

Thank you for being here.

So today’s episode, we’re all focusing on supervillains. So first, let’s start off by defining what do we mean by the term supervillains when it comes to food? Well, that’s just a name that, you know, we call foods here at The Exercise Coach that are largely responsible for causing the three troublemakers that you mentioned, which are inflammation, high blood sugar and poor digestive health. So while we don’t necessarily recommend or even ask that you avoid them completely, we do want you to be aware of them. We want you to know what havoc they can wreak in the body and then reduce them to something you may only consume once in a while. There’s a few that are probably in our never eat category.

And once we get to those, we will we’ll make mention of that when we come to them. OK, so as a listener, I know you’re on the edge of your seat. You want to know what are the supervillains? So as I mentioned, we’re going to reveal all seven today. So the first supervillain, supervillain number one is Sugar. All right, so Jerry -Anne, can you elaborate?

What are we talking about here with Sugar?

Sure.

Well, everybody, I believe, in the planet has already heard that sugar is not good for you. If you haven’t, if you’re the one, then I have bad news for you. And, you know, sugar is just a culprit in so many health issues, including inflamed organs and other parts of the body, diabetes, heart disease and digestive health related disease and discomfort. So eliminating sugars as much as possible is truly your best plan of attack. And while we know this is probably not 100 percent possible, there are still strategies to at least pick better sources if you are going to consume.

Yes.

And that is a big, that is a big key. So can you give us some examples of what foods would fall into this sugar category?

Sure.

And, you know, sugar, comes in so many forms, and the list is quite long. Many of us don’t even realize that some of the items in the list are actually sugar. Some quick examples would be cane sugar, beet sugar, brown sugars, molasses, glucose, maple syrup, honey, maltodextrin, coconut sugar, turbinado. And of course, you know, fruits are also sugars as well. Well, fortunately, if you eat those in smaller quantities, fruits at least can provide a lot of other great nutrients. And some fruits absorb much slower in the body if you eat them with their skin, for example, because then that’s fiber.

So we can have a link later in our show notes on a whole huge list of ingredients that you might come across in foods that would actually just be sugar. Awesome. Yes, we’ll link to that in the show notes. Once you start to learn how to read labels, you’re going to see how many foods contain added sugars in some sneaky ways some of the time. So now let’s get into then, why can it be detrimental to consume sugar of any form on a regular basis?

Without going into every medical reason, to which there are many, the big general reasons why sugar is detrimental is, number one, it causes blood sugar instability. So in the short term, for those who are not diabetic or you’re young, sugar leads to what we’ll call sugar highs, meaning your blood sugar spikes high, and then that leads to blood sugar crashes, which cause fatigue, irritability, and even more hunger, and then they increase your sugar cravings or the desire for more sugary foods. Believe it or not, even studies have shown that mice have a harder time getting off of sugar than they do cocaine. Another point is that longer term, sugar is easily absorbed into your bloodstream, and that triggers your insulin to spike high shortly after eating it. Continual eating of sugar eventually will lead to continued high insulin levels, which leads to diabetes and metabolic syndrome. where your body actually becomes what we call insulin resistant.

And this means that it takes a greater amount of insulin time after time to push back that sugar, to lower that sugar in your body to what your body considers normal. Over time, what happens though is that normal becomes higher and higher because your body now cannot reduce its own glucose levels enough. And this is why people have to go on insulin medication because eventually your own body can’t even handle it. lower that sugar down to safe levels. And then another point is that sugar leads to a lot of other health concerns and diseases, which include heart disease, arthritis, certain cancers, accelerated aging, liver disease, dental decay, anxiety and depression. And many studies are now showing that it leads to potentially to dementia.

And then on a fat loss basis, or what we’ll call in this case a fat gain basis, excess sugar simply leads to stored body fat. Your body is only capable of storing a certain amount of sugar as glycogen. The excess is converted to fats, namely in triglycerides, which are stored in fat tissue. And eventually, frequent sugar intake just simply keeps your body in that fat storage mode.

So the bottom line is, in order to lose body fat, you’re going to need to get off sugar.

Wow.

1. Yeah. I mean, if you just listen to that long list of issues involving sugar, I mean, when I hear that, it’s like diseases, you know, anxiety, depression, dementia, dental decay, you know, high blood sugar levels, fat storage. Man, I really, you know, it really gives me motivation to limit that sugar because there’s hardly any benefit. I mean, is there any?

It sounds like there’s hardly any benefit to eating sugar at all.

Right.

Correct.

I wish there was. Oh, gosh.

Well, OK, let’s get into supervillain number two.

So our second supervillain, according to the nutrition playbook here, is grains and starchy foods. Yes. So grains are the seeds of plants. And generally speaking, we know them as wheat, rice, oats, corn, barley, millet, and so on. So starchy foods are generally anything made from these grains, like breads, pastas, chips, crackers, cereals, etc.

Starches also include potatoes, and some vegetables are considered starchy vegetables. That just means they simply have a higher starch, or let’s break it down to calling it a sugar content. Starches are sugars, for our discussion purposes, and they promote the same things we just discussed regarding sugar. In addition, some grains contain inflammatory components that can cause damage to your intestinal lining and lead to our third troublemaker, poor digestive health. Some of the more common components are gluten, and gluten can increase gut permeability or cause what we now know as leaky gut. They have lectins, which disrupt our intestinal barrier, and that can lead to immune responses.

And then they have fitates, which can lead to mineral deficiencies. OK, so why why can it be detrimental for us then to consume starchy foods and grains from the list you just gave us regularly? And again, going back to sugars and starches and our sugars and grains are sugars and Grains are detrimental for those similar reasons that we just discussed, that bowl list with sugar. And additionally, then grains and starches can lead to that variety of digestive -related illness, which then, once you have digestive -related illness, that, believe it or not, leads to a whole host of other illnesses in the body. Most grains are not very nutritionally dense and thus simply not needed in your diet. Most that we used are very refined and ground down to their basic sugar state of being.

We typically use grains as flours, and these are put into cakes, cookies, chips, pancakes, breading, and gravies. There are some grains and starches that are more nutrient dense, and they can be a part of a regular diet a few times a week, like quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat, sweet potatoes, and even some sourdough bread milled from fresh organic grains. And so my tip is, With all grains, starches, and sugars, if you do consume them, remember to eat them also with a protein and a good fat, which will allow for slower absorption in your body. So, for example, if you’re going to have some tortilla chips, eat them for dinner with some chicken protein and guacamole fat, and a nice vegetable salad is going to even help more. So that’s going to be helping you on the blood sugar control. It’s really not going to change a whole lot on the digestive issues, so that’s why we still want to limit them and not have them regularly.

But that is a tip to at least help with the blood sugar control.

Got it. Awesome. Well, thank you for breaking that down. I mean, what I heard you say basically at a high level in this category is that Most of these starches and grains, for the nutritional content they provide, it really doesn’t outweigh some of the downsides that are coming along with it. It’s like, why is this worth it, right?

It’s not doing us more good than bad sometimes. Correct.

Perfect. All right. So supervillain number three.

So far we’ve done sugar, we’ve done grains and starchy foods. Supervillain number three is dairy products. Yeah. So on the basic level. You know, let’s define milk, right? Milk is made by the mother of a species to feed the babies of that species.

to encourage intensive growth in the early years. So, for example, cow milk would feed baby cows.

Goat milk would feed baby goats.

Coconut milk will feed baby coconuts.

Okay, that’s a joke.

Gotcha.

So milk and then would cheese fall into this category too?

Sure. Anything made from dairy, from milk. Okay. So why are dairy products in general then considered a supervillain in terms of the nutrition playbook? Well, dairy can be a very inflammatory food for many, although not for all. We’ll just call it pro -inflammatory.

Dairy in general causes your blood sugar to spike when you drink or eat it. It acts like a sugar. This again can lead to the metabolic conditions like diabetes, the same things we’ve already discussed with starches and sugars. But in addition to that, many people are also lactose intolerant and many don’t even know it. This means that when you consume dairy, you might have gas, bloating, and diarrhea. Then you might have irritation of your gut lining and eventually suffer from inflammation of your gut.

And so while lactose intolerance is not considered an allergy, it does trigger those inflammatory stressors. Then there’s casein, especially A1 casein. It’s a protein that, again, many people simply their bodies can’t process, and it can increase your gut permeability and cause digestive distress and lower immunity to diseases. So many people now, I know if you maybe see in the store, it’s confusing, but you see this A2 milk. So that is A2 protein versus A1. And it seems to be a protein in milk that’s better to consume.

by most people. And some people then are simply allergic to dairy, which triggers the typical histamine and cytokine release that leads to allergic reactions, skin conditions, sinus problems, and digestive disorders. And then with dairy, there’s the issue of non -organic, which means the milk may have added hormones, which were given to the cows, growth factors, antibiotics. This affects hormone -sensitive individuals greatly. And if the cows are not grass fed, the omega -6 fat that they consume is very high. And omega -6 fats, since we generally have a very high amount in our food consumption already, it’s inflammatory to your body.

So it’s just adding to that inflammation. So if you are choosing dairy, it would be best to always choose grass fed, organic cow or goat.

And choose fermented dairy, such as like non -sweetened yogurt, kefir, aged cheeses, pastured butter, or ghee. And try to avoid dairy that has added sugars, artificial ingredients, and emulsifiers, and that is highly processed in a food like a processed cheese.

Okay.

So with this one, I think there’s probably a lot of people out there who would really never know if they didn’t tolerate dairy well until they eliminate it, right? Yeah, correct. That’s a really good thing is to eliminate dairy for a couple of weeks and then slowly add it back in and see and try to notice if you have these digestive issues or skin issues or things like that. Yeah. I mean, people, everyone knows what bloating feels like. Everyone knows what sort of an allergic reaction looks and feels like.

You know, inflammation, though, is harder to see and feel. How would we know if we’re inflamed? How does inflammation feel? like anything or look like anything? Well, it just leads to it. It typically will lead to other diseases.

So we’re not going to be able to go in with a microscope and notice our own inflammation because it’s at the cellular level.

But eventually that’s just going to spiral out of control. And we will notice it in other in other disease states that our bodies in. But I think the first stage is just eliminating it and just seeing the general things that dairy does cause in certain people. And if it is causing that in you, then it is leading to the inflammation. Got it.

OK, thank you.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. OK, so supervillain number four is legumes and soy. So a legume is or legumes are anything in a pod, such as beans or lentils, chickpeas or even peanuts. Peanuts are not a nut. They are a legume. Soy refers to soybeans, which are also a legume or products made from soy.

OK, so why are these in our supervillain list? So while legumes are not, you know, bad in and of themselves, they’re considered nutritionally problematic for a few reasons, especially for those with digestive issues, mineral deficiencies or inflammatory conditions already. So like we discussed with grains, legumes also contain these substances called phytates and lectins. And the same issues that we discussed earlier with grains applies here to legumes. Many people, especially vegetarians and vegans, heavily rely on legumes as their protein source. However, the problem is that they’re very low in many of the essential amino acids, the ones that our bodies cannot make on their own, but they need, and they do have a lower digestibility.

So they’re not what’s considered a complete protein like those from animal sources. On the plus side, legumes do provide needed fiber and some minerals, and consuming them sometime is not a bad thing. However, there are some people who simply don’t tolerate them digestively, and they’re going to know because they have symptoms like gas and bloating and stomach pain, constipation or diarrhea. And those people should definitely then avoid the legumes. If you do eat them, knowing how to soak them properly and prepare them properly can truly help with digestion and some of the issues that may be more detrimental. And soy Then we’re talking about soy.

So soy is a legume. And so all that we’ve just said about legumes already applies to soy. But with soy, it’s to know this is important. It’s a very genetically modified crop, and typically it’s sprayed heavily with glyphosate.

And so if you do choose to eat it, always choose organic with soy.

And in addition, it’s best to choose like fermented sources for better digestibility, such as tempeh, miso, natto. Soy is a processed ingredient and it’s used in so many processed food. It’s very inexpensive and that’s why it’s used. And it’s simply best, of course, as we’ll talk about coming up, to avoid processed foods in general. Absolutely. Yeah, so if somebody’s going to try to get their protein from, you know, beans or legumes, and they have the option between that and, you know, high quality meat, then high quality meat is going to be a more complete protein, right?

And so there’s a lot in here, or fiber too.

You know, if people are filling their plate with plenty of leafy greens and vegetables, they’re getting plenty of fiber from that. We don’t need to be relying on this category of food for fiber intake. Is that a fair statement? It is. And again, for vegetarians or vegans, there’s not that much of a choice because they’re not going to eat meats. Vegetarians will still be able to do some dairy if that doesn’t provide a bother to them, or at least choose wisely in the dairy category.

But a vegan is not going to even be able to do that. Oh, and a vegetarian can do eggs as well. But a vegan is not going to be able to do any of that. So You know, it’s going to be a lot of math figuring out how to get your complete proteins in using legumes. And again, hopefully it’s not something that causes you other distress, because then that would bring on a whole bunch of different issues to your body. Right, okay, got it.

Okay, so, so far we’ve done sugar, we’ve done dairy, we’ve done grains and starches, legumes and soy. Super villain number five, artificial sweeteners, additives, MSG, etc. So let’s break this one down. What does this one mean? So the artificial sweeteners and additives list is immense, but some common forms that people consume regularly are sucralose, and we know that is Splenda, Aspartame, we recognize that as NutraSweet, and saccharin, we recognize that as Sweet ‘N Low.

Some well -known additives would be various kinds of gums, carrageenan, artificial food dyes, polysorbate 80, sodium nitrates or other nitrates, and then of course MSG.

And I’m also going to include in that category seed oils like soybean oil, corn oil, canola oil.

There’s plenty more, but the list is way too long to discuss here, most likely if you can’t pronounce it, it’s on the list.

Yes. Okay. So there’s kind of a lot of things in this category, but they kind of all fall under this bucket, right, of like artificial additives of some kind or, yeah, just manufactured products. So why are these detrimental to consume regularly? So I want to start out by saying that I include all of the items that you just are not supposed to eat in the Metabolic Comeback Nutrition Playbook, the Exercise Coach Nutrition Playbook, I have a section that’s called Never Eat. And on the Never Eat list, you will find all of these items.

There’s not one reason to eat any of those quote -unquote foods, and there’s a lot of reasons not to. I always urge everyone to stop using products made with any of these additives or artificial ingredients. And I’m just going to name a list of a few detrimental reasons, even though not every single one I’m listing applies to every single one of them. But as a whole, because usually we find many of these in our foods, we do incur these problems. So they disrupt your microbiome in your gut. They worsen your insulin response.

They can cause headaches and mood changes. They can cause hyperactivity and ADHD symptoms. They can trigger immune responses and inflammation. They are linked to many diseases and syndromes, including cancers. They can cause hormonal issues and disrupt your hormones. And they can cause neurological issues.

You know, the big thing people always ask me, though, is about sweetening their coffee.

Again, there’s stevia, allulose, monk fruit. to use, which are all safe and well documented. I don’t believe we should simply eat a large amount of any of those to simply take the place of sugar so that we can eat sweet all day.

That’s not the point.

But they are great alternatives in smaller amounts, like sweetening that morning cup of coffee. Right. Yeah, that would be highly recommended over and above some kind of an artificial sweetener. Yes. Awesome.

Well, there’s a lot of negative there.

So really want to be careful on that. And like you said, they’re so easy to swap and for other things. So why would we choose these ones that have only downside?

Correct. Perfect. All right, supervillain number six, processed and packaged meals. All right, so what do we mean by that? So processed foods, in our definition, are foods that are packaged in a box or a bag for convenience, or they’re made with artificial ingredients. All those things that we just talked about, if you look at pick anything on the shelf that comes in a box, a bag, a jar, a can, and look at the list and you’re going to see those things.

So anything that’s made with those artificial manufactured ingredients or baked goods or cooked goods that you make at home using processed ingredients such as white flours, for example, sugar, that’s going to be considered a processed food and then prepackaged.

Obviously, we all know what that is. We open up the boxes of food. We look in the freezer section.

There’s aisles and aisles of prepackaged meals in that freezer section. Okay. Yep, that paints quite a wide net and we all recognize what you’re talking about there. So why are these in the supervillains list and why are they detrimental to consume on a regular basis, which many people do eat these very regularly. Yes, well, you know, processed foods have not been around all that long when we think about that.

Like our grandmothers didn’t use them. Our parents used some of them as they started coming around, like think about margarine and how much that was used at one point. And today, you know, everyone is using them because they’re so abundant. And the reason people use them is for convenience. And we’re all busy. We all don’t have time to cook.

We all don’t have time to make things from scratch. So it’s convenient. And we don’t have to prepare the food because they’re ready to microwave or just cook in a toaster oven or bake with it.

It’s easy.

But the problem is that these are all filled with some of the awful ingredients we’ve already discussed.

And companies are always going to choose to use the lowest cost alternatives to sell their products for a great profit. So think about all the processed foods made with high fructose corn syrup, for example, soybean oil, fillers, gums and all the other artificial ingredients that we just talked about. I mean, you can go up and down every aisle in the store and you will find a ton of these products. It’s hard to have to always recommend this to people because we are busy. I’m busy. But I do recommend against processed foods as much as possible and to always make your own from scratch.

When it comes to baking, just be wise about the flour choices that you make. Find recipes perhaps with coconut flour or almond flour, for example. Be wise about things like chocolate.

For meals, be wise about the meat you buy. Where does it come from? Do you have opportunities to buy grass -fed meat? Do you have opportunities to buy from local farms? We have to totally turn the table on the processed foods and turn back wholesome, whole food eating.

Absolutely.

Yeah, as you were describing this, and thank you for breaking all that down, I’m picturing the supermarket and, you know, the processed package things that really fill most of the middle aisles of the store are all this. And it’s the contrast definitionally to Whole Foods, which are on the perimeter of the grocery store, you know, typically. And so, yeah, that’s a helpful way to think about this is like, is this manufactured for convenience or is this a real food? And what can I switch in order to have a snack or whatever I’m looking for here that’s a Whole Food version, which we’ll talk about next week. Yes. Absolutely.

OK, so we’ve covered six supervillains so far here. We’ve done package and process meals.

We’ve done artificial sweeteners and additives, legumes and soy.

We’ve done dairy. We’ve done sugar.

We’ve done grains and starches.

So we are on to our final supervillain here in our list today, which is supervillain number seven, alcoholic beverages. OK. Well, this is a topic that has been in the news a lot lately. The latest studies simply show that no amount of alcohol is beneficial for you and that any amount of alcohol is detrimental.

Yes. So obviously everybody kind of knows all of the examples that exist, the many types of alcohol that is available. in all these formats that we can consume. But why is this in the supervillains category? Why is it detrimental to consume this regularly? Well, studies are now showing that even low or moderate drinking, which they used to recommend, like, oh, do lower

moderate. That used to be the thing. Now they’re not saying that anymore. They’re saying that even low or moderate drinking can lead to increased risk of various cancers like breast, colon, liver, mouth, and throat. And the drinking can lead to worse outcomes with any other disease that you already have, which of course include liver disease, which is a big one. Alcohol also does raise your blood pressure, and this has the potential, if you’re doing this regularly, to lead to long -term cardiovascular disease.

Women are especially sensitive to the effects of alcohol. Alcohol is also a sugar to your system, so all of the things that we’ve already discussed that are bad about sugar would apply here to alcohol as well. And, you know, in any event, any previous thought on lower alcohol consumption or red wine being beneficial are not the thought any longer, and no protective reasons are now recommended for drinking alcohol. And so the interesting fact lately is that cultural patterns are changing. We now show that the younger generation drinks at a much lower volume than in the past. And older Americans are more in tune with the health detriments, and they’re also choosing to drink at a lot lower level.

So that’s a good thing. Drinking in general is down by a large percentage. That can’t be a bad thing. except for bars. But bars are now featuring their mocktails or zero proof drinks more and more. And these are very socially acceptable.

You do have to still be careful. I hate to say this, but because most of the mocktails are going to be juices and sodas and things like that. And so they’re going to be sugar bombs basically.

But again, there a better choice is there a worse choice that’s really up to you to make but at least you do have a choice if you go to a bar with someone of not choosing the alcohol so the bottom line on alcohol is that Heavy or binge drinking is and always was very detrimental to your health. Moderate drinking includes inherent risk, and thus we should just minimize our alcohol intake. Alcohol consumption does not lead to any benefits, so weigh your own risk -reward thoughts when choosing to have a cocktail. And I think that probably sums up all of our supervillains, Amy. Oh, thank you so much for breaking all this down.

And it’s so interesting because I kind of just realized, you know, listening to you go through these, you know, at least sugar and alcohol, they are addictive foods. They are addictive foods designed to make us physiologically crave them the more we have them. And so that is where, you know, taking action on this information comes into play. learning this today, you may have had, you know, an aha moment. I remember when I first learned this, I had many aha moments. Sugar, you know, alcohol is a sugar.

It processes like a sugar, you know, grains and starches process like sugars in my body. I didn’t know some of this in the past. And, you know, the first time you hear this, you might realize something that you never realized in the past and it may fuel your fire to do something about it. So you know the the challenge that we would have for you if you want to take action on this information would be to participate in a 30 -day metabolic comeback challenge. So this is available through Exercise Coach Studios. It’s a focused 30 -day period where we’re going to eliminate these food supervillains and then only choose the best choice foods which we’re going to talk about next week which are

are outlined in the exercise coach nutrition playbook. This is provided to all clients. So doing that, eliminating the supervillains and eating only the best choice foods for 30 days while strength training will really allow you to learn how your body will respond, you know, to reducing or eliminating that steady intake of some of these supervillains. It will help improve your digestive health, reduce bloating. It leads to fat loss, mental clarity. These are results that many clients have seen from doing this.

Many people see more energy, less crashes, improved sleep, improved blood sugar levels because they are choosing better. Because they are choosing better. What I love about doing a challenge and really focusing for a 30 -day period is you can learn to really love the foods, love eating the foods that love you back. and you know versus consuming on a regular basis the foods that are not loving you back.

This will set you up for long -term health, right? If we can enjoy eating better foods, we can eat those foods longer term and enjoy better health long term. And we, like I said, we’re going to break this down more in next week’s episode of what should be on my plate.

And Darianne will be back with us. Darianne, where can people learn more about, you know, the Exercise Coach Nutrition Playbook and some of the topics that you shared with us today and some of the resource that the Exercise Coach brand provides for people on this topic?

Sure, yes.

The one -stop shop to find everything that you’re going to need is going to be on the Exercise Coach website, which is exercisecoach .

com. And if you do slash forward slash weight loss, you will get to that page. Or if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of our website, you will see nutrition. You can click on that. Both will get you to the same place.

We have this special page that includes a video which talks about our 30 -Day Metabolic Comeback Challenge, what it involves and how it works. We have a link to the Amazon site for those of you who would need to get a copy of the Exercise Coach Nutrition Playbook available in paperback or a Kindle. version as well. And there’s other resources, but what I want to point out is a wonderful free recipe book that we update every single quarter.

In fact, Amy, your host here, is the person who does that for us every single quarter, and it’s amazing.

What that book contains is wonderful whole food recipes for dinners, sides, salads, soups, sauces, and even desserts.

It’s an amazing resource. If you haven’t gone there, I urge you to go there. You will find other resources like smoothies. There’s just a lot of great things for you to find as resources in that one -stop shop place. Excellent. Well, that is super inspiring.

And, and like I said, if you’re an exercise coach client, you should have access to the nutrition playbook via your studio. But if not, go to Amazon as well. And check out our website for all of the you know, ways you can be supported in taking action on the top on this topic today. I hope that you had an aha moment in this episode today. And I hope that it fuels your fire to make healthier choices for yourself this year in 2026. Sometimes when we know better, we can do better, right?

So like I said, next week, Gerianna will be back. We’re going to break down not what the supervillains are, but what our heroes are, what should be on our plate. And I’m excited to go through all of those next week. Until then, we hope you remember strength changes everything. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please share it with a friend.

You can submit a question or connect with the show at strengthchangeseverything . com. Join us next week for another episode and be sure to follow the show on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts so that you never miss another episode. Here’s to you and your best health.