What should actually be on your plate if you want to feel better, get healthier, and see real results from your workouts?

Amy Hudson sits down with Gerianne Cygan to break down a simple, practical approach to eating that supports how your body moves, recovers, and ages. Drawing from the Exercise Coach Nutrition Playbook, they unpack how everyday food choices impact three major health trouble spots: blood sugar regulation, inflammation in the body, and digestive health.

They walk through the core categories of foods that should make up your plate, explain why each one plays a critical role in metabolic health, and show how the right choices can amplify your exercise results, improve energy, and support long-term strength and independence.

• Gerianne shares why protein is the most important food group. Protein isn’t just for building muscle; it’s essential for repair, hormone production, and immune function. Without enough protein, the body simply can’t perform at a high level long term.
• Gerianne explains how muscle directly impacts your quality of life. Muscle is a key driver of metabolic health, balance, and strength as we age. It’s also one of the biggest factors in whether you remain independent later in life.
• Why muscle loss accelerates as we get older. As we age, our muscles become less responsive to protein intake. That means older adults actually need more protein, not less, to maintain strength and resilience.
• Gerianne reveals why animal protein is considered the gold standard. Animal sources contain all nine essential amino acids in the correct proportions. This complete profile is critical for muscle repair, hormone production, and immune health.
• Gerianne explains why plant protein is not the same as animal protein. You need significantly more calories from plant sources to match the protein in animal foods. That makes it much easier to overeat while still falling short on protein.
• Amy covers a common mistake many people make when choosing plant protein. The volume required to hit protein targets is often underestimated. This is especially important for anyone working with a personal trainer to improve body composition.
• Learn why quality food and supplements act like daily medicine for the body. Cutting corners here often shows up later as health problems.
• Gerianne reveals why vegetables deserve a permanent place on your plate. They provide micronutrients your body can’t produce on its own. Vegetables also support gut health, hormone balance, and inflammation control.
• Amy covers the smartest way to prepare vegetables for maximum benefit. Light steaming or sautéing preserves nutrients better than aggressive cooking. Mixing raw and cooked vegetables creates variety and better overall nutrition.
• Gerianne reveals how to eat fruit without wrecking your blood sugar. Whole fruit, paired with protein or fat, helps slow sugar absorption. This is especially important for people managing diabetes or fat loss.
• Gerianne shares simple rules for eating fruit without spikes. Choose whole fruit instead of juice and watch portion size. Pair fruit with protein or fat to slow sugar absorption.
• Gerianne talks about healthy fats and why they’re essential. Fats provide long-lasting energy and support brain, heart, and hormone health. Omega-3s in particular play a major role in mood, memory, and inflammation control.
• The fear many people still have about fat. Growing up in the low-fat era taught many that eating fat makes you fat. In reality, the right fats help regulate hormones and support metabolic health.
• Gerianne shares how qualified personal trainers approach long-term nutrition. A good coach focuses on food that supports strength, recovery, and independence, not quick fixes. Nutrition choices today determine how well your body performs years from now.
• Which is the best drink to take for long-lasting health? According to Gerianne, water is always the right answer, whether you’re on a 30-day challenge or not. Proper hydration supports digestion, energy, and overall performance.

 

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The Exercise Coach: Nutrition Playbook by Gerianne Cygan

The Exercise Coach Whole Food Recipes

 

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We want to make food taste better, and we don’t want it to be through artificial or chemical means.

All fat isn’t created equal. There are some that are extremely beneficial.

And back in the day, many of these herbs and spices actually were the medicine that was given to people, like by the doctors. 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 going to build off an episode that we shared with you last week all about supervillains. So the concept of food supervillains and then today’s episode of what should be on my plate is all from the exercise coach nutrition playbook. This playbook is provided to you exercise coach clients. It’s a guide on nutrition.

It’s a guide on what are the foods we might be eating that might be doing our body more harm than good. And then really what should we be choosing to eat to amplify our exercise outcomes. to feel better, to improve our digestive health, to decrease inflammation in the body and regulate our blood sugar levels. This information really helps people to live their healthiest life and to have their metabolism function at the optimum level. And that really is what we want for anybody listening to really learn this information. And so the previous episode, if you missed it, was on the supervillains.

Those are the categories of food we broke down. What are the categories of food that we might be consuming? on a regular basis that may not be doing us any favors and why is that? So if you missed that episode, please go back and listen to the Supervillains episode. And now in today’s episode, what we’re going to talk about is what should be on my plate. We’re going to go through the categories of foods that we should be filling our plate with, why those foods are so important, some examples of that.

So it’s going to be a really, really great episode. So Gerrianne Sagan is with us today. Welcome back to the episode, Gerrianne. Hi, Amy. Thanks for having me again. Looking forward to it.

Thank you for being back here with us. So let’s delve right in. We’re going to talk about what should be on my plate, and we’re going to do this in various big categories. OK, so let’s just dive right into what these categories are. So in the Nutrition Playbook, the very first category of food that should be filling our plates is protein. So tell us, you know, why is protein so beneficial and important for us to prioritize?

Sure. And so my answer might be just a little bit long on the protein topic, just because Honestly, protein is of extreme importance. People do not realize how important protein is. And protein is important because it’s the body’s primary building and repair material. And it plays roles that carbohydrates and fats simply can’t replace or do. And so in general terms, protein helps both build but also maintain the muscle that we have.

Well, that begs the question, why do we need muscle to begin with? Muscle is the key factor in your metabolic health, your balance, and eventually, as an older person, whether you can be independent or not. And I know a lot of us deal with, you know, this sandwich generation now where we’re taking care of kids and parents. who are simply not independent. And quite frankly, a lot of it is due to a lack of muscle. People lose muscle rapidly as they age, and this condition is called sarcopenia.

And protein will help slow down this loss of muscle, especially when it’s paired with resistance strength training. For two, as we age, muscle becomes less responsive to protein, which means, and this is funny for people to get behind, as we get older, we actually need to eat more protein than when we were younger, not less. Inadequate protein displays itself in frailty, falls, loss of bone density, and it takes a lot longer to recover from illness or injury. So eating protein is great because it slows down digestion, which helps with that blood sugar spike that we talked about last week, and the crashes that you get. So without that, you’ll also have better energy, you’re going to have a better insulin response, and you’re going to experience less cravings for foods that you shouldn’t be eating. Protein is also the key to your skin, your hair, your nails, your connective tissue, your bone health, your hormonal health, and your immune system.

Not to mention, when you eat protein, you simply feel more full. This helps you lose weight because you don’t then have to snack as much. You’re going to eat fewer calories as protein because it’s generally a lot lower in calories than what carbohydrates or fats are. And you don’t just feel so hungry in between meals. So for most adults, as we age, it definitely deserves prioritization. in our eating plan.

If we want to stay strong and maintain our muscle mass, and if we’re strength training, if we’re not eating adequate dietary protein, we may not be able to maintain the level of muscle or build the muscle that we’re trying to from our workouts. Or due to the fact that we’re losing it already, it becomes that much more important to prioritize dietary protein, which become the building blocks of our muscle. Muscle is so protective in many ways. which we have talked about in the past. And there’s so many other benefits to it. But the fact that it’s so filling as well, that’s an important one for people who are looking for fat loss, right?

Because it’s we’re not needing so many snacks and things like that.

Perfect.

So then let’s go through some protein sources. Where can we get protein from?

And what are some examples?

OK, so we’ll start with the category of there’s categories. So we’ll start with the category of animal. So animal sources are meat, fish, eggs, and dairy. Animal sources of protein are going to be your best bet, not necessarily for ethical or environmental reasons, and I understand that people do have those issues, but simply because of how our human physiology works. I’m just talking on a scientific basis alone. So here’s the clear science -based explanation.

All human bodies need 9 essential amino acids every day, which make protein and come from our food. Animal protein contains all 9 of those amino acids in the right proportions. Many plants, which do have some protein, are missing 1 or often several of those amino acids and plants contain the amino acids in much smaller amounts. So this matters because muscle enzymes, hormones, and your immune system require the full amino acid profile, all nine, to work effectively. We can’t just like, well, you know what?

I’m okay. I get seven of them. It just doesn’t work like that. One particular amino acid called leucine is especially needed to stimulate muscle growth and muscle maintenance, especially as we get older. About two to three grams of leucine are required each meal, so three times a day it’s required. It’s easily achieved if you’re eating about 25 grams of dairy, three eggs, or even only four ounces of meat or fish, so not a lot of animal that you have to consume to get that.

Many plants, however, require enormous volumes to hit that same threshold, and some plants don’t even contain leucine at all. Animal protein is better when it comes to digestibility, absorption in your body, the way that your body then uses the protein for the various functions. So in other words, if I eat 30 grams of meat protein, my body is going to use it far better than if I ate 30 grams of plant protein. And then we could talk briefly about calories, too, especially when it comes to if you’re trying to lose fat. If you ate 3 .5 ounces of chicken breast, which is not a big chicken breast, you would get a whopping 30 grams of protein with only about 140 calories. If you then ate that same three and a half ounce serving of lentils, which I guarantee for you is a whopping portion,

And it’s a common grain that’s used for plant protein by especially by vegetarians or vegans. You’d only get nine grams of protein for the hundred and sixteen calories. So if you’re saying, yeah, but I need to get 30 grams in that meal, you would have to eat about three times as many lentils. And then the calories would total three hundred and forty eight. And that’s not even considering the quality of the protein that we talked about. It’s not the same quality.

So it’s quite easy to gain weight when trying to get all of your protein through plants. So that kind of covers the animal protein.

Okay.

Yeah.

So basically the quantity of animal protein is far less to get the higher protein, grams of protein per serving. It’s better for digestibility. It really contains all of the amino acids that our body is looking for. So it becomes an ideal way to get that protein in. So then, you know, but let’s transition and talking about vegetarian or vegan sources of protein. So you just mentioned how, you know, the downfall of relying only on lentils, for example, means we have to have a higher quantity of them and more calories to get that same level of protein.

But let’s break down a little bit more about the vegetarian or vegan sources of protein and just some other considerations about that.

Yes.

And so, again, there’s many reasons why people are vegetarians or why they’re vegans. And that’s a personal choice. And so, again, just on a scientific level, vegetarians vegetarian is someone who gets to include the dairy and the egg category in their protein intake. So that’s that is already more helpful. It’s still more difficult, but at least they can still get complete protein through cheeses and dairy products, cottage cheese, yogurts, eggs, in addition to the plant proteins.

Some types of vegetarians are also called pescetarians, and those will also include fish, which again would be extremely helpful in the protein category. When we’re speaking of a vegan, they’re eliminating 100 % of the of the animal sources. So no dairy, no eggs. 100 % is coming from plants. And so in order to get an adequate amount of protein, they have to rely. They just have to rely heavily on soy products, which we discussed in our prior podcast include some anti nutrients that you have to be aware of, as well as soy.

Unfortunately, is 90 % of our crops are genetically modified. and they’re sprayed very heavily with chemicals. So again, to rely on soy, you have to make sure you’re choosing organic and it’s best if you’re choosing fermented soy versus non. And soy is chosen just so we understand why is soy the main source, because it is a complete source. It does contain all of the nine amino acids, not in the same exact quantity or quality, but it does contain all nine, so that’s a good thing. So to compare servings, for example, with an animal source, and without, again, going into this quality or state of being complete, tofu, for example, has about 8 grams of protein for 76 calories if we’re talking about a 3 .5 ounce serving.

So that chicken breast we talked about before had 30 grams, so in the 140 calories, so 8 grams compared to 30 grams. for 140 calories. to just 76. However, you’d have to eat over 11 ounces of tofu to equal the chicken in the protein, so then your calories would be 240. So now you’re talking about 140 compared to 240 to get the equal amount of protein. And so you can see how that really adds up in calories.

And remember, in the previous week, we also talked about the anti -nutrients in some seeds and grains, like the lectins, the aphidates and the oxalates. Well, animal proteins do not contain any of these. Plants also don’t. They don’t have vitamin B12, a certain type of iron they don’t have. They don’t contain zinc, choline, omega -3 fats and vitamin A. These are all important nutrients and so you often have to supplement if you’re not eating animal proteins. And so if you are a plant -based eater, you have to eat more total protein and you’re simply going to have to learn about combining sources carefully and be mindful that you’re lacking especially leucine and B12.

Other complete proteins in plants can be found if you are going to eat the plants. They’re quinoa, buckwheat, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and amaranth. Those can have a combination of complete nine amino acids, but remember the amount is lower and so you have to eat a lot of those in terms of quantity. And the leucine, again, the most important amino for building muscle and maintaining it is in much smaller quantities in those particular foods. Okay, great, perfect. So then let’s just talk about supplemental protein.

So you mentioned, you know, sometimes having to supplement with protein. So we talked about animal source protein and vegetarian and vegan source protein. What about the supplemental protein category? Yeah, so those who do eat animal protein and are doing their counts correctly, they don’t necessarily have to use supplemental protein like protein shakes or bars. However, many still do, including myself, because the amount that I would need to be would be a lot of meat for me in a day. And I honestly love my morning protein shake.

It’s just part of my routine and I love it. I crave it. And so I know that it’s a really simple way for me to get that 30 to 40 grams of protein. Vegetarians and vegans must use supplemental sources. They just must. I just can’t really see from a quality and quantity standpoint how they would not.

And especially they should be using what’s called a branched -chain amino acid power to supplement the amino acid leucine. Leucine is one of the three branched -chain amino acids. It’s part of those nine, and they would really need to supplement especially with that leucine or the other two branched -chain amino acids at several meals. Fortunately, though, today we have so many great sources of supplements and we have many awful sources. So it does make supplementing both easy and hard if you don’t know what you’re doing. At The Exercise Coach, the products that we partner with, which are well -known, pharmaceutical grade, and third -party tested, and so we know that if our clients are using the products that we partner with, that they’re putting something very beneficial into their body.

I simply can’t attest for products bought on Amazon or at Costco. And most of what I’ve looked at on behalf of clients when they ask, it’s just not been very good. And I point out why. I know many people are concerned financially and they like to buy the lower cost products. but this is food. This is your health.

And so my urging to anybody would be, if you’re going to spend extra money anywhere, spend it on food and the quality of your food and your supplements. Remember, your food and your supplements are basically medicine to your body. For those without any dairy allergy, whey protein is considered the gold standard recommendation.

Why?

Because it has the highest protein count per serving and it is a complete animal protein source. For those who have dairy allergies or they’re eliminating dairy for a period of time, like what we do on the 30 Day Metabolic Comeback Challenge, we eliminate dairy for different reasons. A paleo option, which is typically a beef protein source, is a great choice. Or additionally, for vegetarians or vegans, a plant protein option, which is generally the best choice would be an organic yellow pea option, is great. Again, you want to make sure that they’re complete proteins. The protein powder you’re buying, you don’t want to be supplementing and then not even have it give you what you need.

So in addition, though, if you’re a vegetarian or vegan, you probably will still, in addition to your yellow pea protein, you’re going to need to add in your an additional branch chain amino acid powder to increase that leucine count. And again, at the Exercise Coach, we do have that product. I can tell you personally that I have made a high quality protein shake for 20 years and I have it every single morning. I’ve said this before, I take the powders with me on vacation or wherever I travel. I believe, personally, it’s one of the main reasons that I’ve continued to be in great health and maintain my weight and muscle all these years. I prioritize it.

I add into my shake my own things that I need for my body, vitamin D, vitamin C. For sure, I add fruits and greens powder into it. And then there’s other nutrients that are based on my own personal medical needs. And I make also the liquid that I use in my shake. I use macadamia nut milk. I make my own. I know that sounds like I’m down on the farm.

I am not down on the farm, but I do make my own. It’s really easy that you can order on Amazon, the little blender, and you go ahead and make your nut milk. And it’s amazing. There’s no preservatives. There’s nothing else in it but strictly water and macadamia nuts. So you can do whatever you find best.

And on our website, we do have an amazing resource, a smoothie recipe book. What, Amy, there must be over 30 recipes on there, right?

Mm -hmm.

Yep, yep, yep.

And located inside there, too, and also on our website, is Gerri Ann’s Morning Smoothie, the one she was just describing. It’s actually very, very popular with clients. We’ve got the recipe available for you, what she mixes in there. And what I would just say, too, anecdotally, with all of the clients that we’ve coached through, you know, incorporating whole foods and really increasing their protein because they’re participating in a metabolic comeback challenge and trying to eat more protein is, you know, how beneficial, you know, a protein smoothie may be, especially if they’re not used to cooking that much or, you know, eating as much meat or preparing it, you know, if they’re hesitant in that area, really a shake can be your best friend as long as it’s high quality. So thank you for breaking down the components of what that means and giving us a lot of ideas in that department.

Awesome.

Okay.

So protein is the number one thing that should be filling up our plate.

Okay.

Perfect. Now, number two, the next category is vegetables. Let’s talk a little bit more about that. Why are those so beneficial and so important? Yes, and that should definitely be a big portion of the remainder of your plate, vegetables. Again, this could be a long answer.

I’m sorry. It probably could take up several podcasts. I won’t do that today. So I’m just going to go through this in a little more general way to answer the question. Vegetables are packed with micronutrients, vitamins, minerals, things that your body cannot make on its own. They’re very essential for energy, immunity to sickness, bone health, brain health, and basically just your full body health.

Vegetables are also rich in fiber, which is needed to feed your beneficial gut bacteria. It’s needed to improve your digestion, your regularity, control your blood sugar spikes, keep your LDL cholesterol lower, and support hormone function and balance, and even controls weight regulation. So vegetables in general are very anti -inflammatory foods, and they help reduce inflammation and lower your risk for different diseases, cancers, neurological disorders, all those wonderful colors that you see in vegetables, they’re all indicative of different kinds of phytonutrients that work on different parts of your body. So for our purpose, they completely support our efforts to eliminate or reduce what we refer to in our Exercise Coach Nutrition Playbook as those three troublemakers, systemic inflammation, high blood sugar, and poor digestive health. So as an example, there’s a lot of different vegetables and it’s worth trying them all. You’re not going to like them all, but you’re going to like others that you’ve never even tried.

Some examples of vegetables would be broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, all of your lettuces and greens, onions, potato, tomato, carrots, celery, cucumber, peppers, radishes, and so on and so forth. Oh my gosh, yeah. I’m actually just picturing looking at the produce section at my local market and all the colors there. And actually, you know, you can look at all those colors on the wall and look at that as medicine for your body. Just so much positive at a cellular level, what it can do for your body and how it can actually help you create health is a great term that we have come across lately, in your body by consuming those and branching out sometimes.

So here’s a question, you know, about those vegetables, some that you just mentioned, or just picturing your produce, is raw or cooked better when it comes to eating your vegetables? Yeah, that’s a great question. People do ask that all the time. The short answer is that neither raw nor cook is quote unquote better across the board. And it kind of depends on the vegetable and what you’re trying to obtain from it. So the perfect in the perfect world, the mix of both is ideal.

Eating raw vegetables or just slightly cooked vegetables preserves those vegetables that have heat sensitive nutrients and enzymes. that some vegetables are more prone to breaking down when they’re cooked. Like an example would be bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, onions, and garlic. Now we do cook those, right? But again, I’m just saying that in general, they are prone to this breakdown. So it’s okay to cook with them, but it’s also great to eat them raw too.

Raw vegetables though, we have to remember, they can also be hard to digest for some people. And so if they are difficult for you to digest, then it’s not a good option for you. Some vegetables do better when they’re cooked because the nutrients become more available when you cook them, like lycopene in tomatoes, spinach, kale, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, So again, the best approach to vegetables is if you do cook them, it’s best to steam or lightly saute versus, you know, boil the heck out of them or even a high heat roasting, which again is okay sometimes, but just remember that we want to mix it up. to eat both raw and cooked on a regular basis is the best idea, and to eat that variety of colorful vegetables each day. Okay, that really helps.

And actually, I don’t know if a lot of people know, you know, the difference between some vegetables that more nutrients may be released a little bit to some degree once they’re cooked, and then others where… So thank you for kind of spelling those out for us. And if you’re eating these, you know, it’s helpful for you to learn your own body and how you digest different ones as well.

So a lot to chew on there, but that’s really, really helpful to explain.

Now, are there any vegetables we should limit? Anyone should eliminate any vegetable that you’re allergic to, first of all, or that you know that you’re sensitive to, or that perhaps you’ve been told not to eat for medical reasons particular to them. And there’s a few that we’re not going to go through the list, but there are a few that would require you not to eat them if you’re on a particular medicine. Although they’re great for others, they can cause harm to that person with the allergy or the sensitivity or the medical condition. There are food sensitivity tests because people ask, well, how do I know if I’m sensitive to a food? I eat them all.

So how do I know? Good question. Well, there’s food sensitivity tests that are readily available, which can help you identify if you’re sensitive or even allergic to any of these, not only vegetables, other foods that you might not even be aware of. For anyone else, when we’re speaking of limiting vegetables in terms of blood sugar control, since some vegetables are considered starchy vegetables, and we talked about starches last week being a sugar basically, and so they contain these higher levels of sugar, it’s wise to limit those vegetables to a few times a week, maybe eat in a smaller portion, and basically don’t eat them in conjunction with other sugary foods. And lastly, always combine those particular vegetables with proteins and fats when eating them, and that’s going to help tremendously with blood sugar control.

And the examples of those vegetables would be potatoes, white, red, gold, whatever other color they come in, sweet potatoes, corn, which is actually a grain, peas, and winter squash.

Those would be your high starchy vegetables.

Great. Okay, so maybe those are somebody’s favorites, but they have to be careful. And even during a 30 -day metabolic challenge, people are actually eliminating corn because it’s a grain. But yeah, that’s helpful to sort of see the difference. Not all vegetables are created equal. There are some that have a higher starch content and thereby a higher blood sugar response potentially.

Okay, so let’s go into the next category. So we’ve got protein and we’ve got vegetables. The next category that should be on our plate is fruit. So talk about fruit. Why is this so beneficial and so important? Again, like vegetables, we can talk about fruits, which are, in general, very beneficial to you.

Like vegetables, fruits are rich in vitamins and minerals. They contain fiber. They’re full of the phytonutrients and the antioxidants, which are linked to a lower risk of heart disease, cancers, brain health. Fruit, I kind of call it nature’s candy. So we get our sweet need met with fewer calories than we would, let’s say, in a candy bar, for example. The fiber that we generally get from a fruit will allow us to feel full after we eat that fruit.

And the energy that’s

given from the fruit is typically a more steady source since the absorption of the sugar in that fruit is generally slower than say consuming that ice cream bar and now you have that little sugar high real quick. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Now, I don’t think all fruit is created equal in terms of like It’s the taste, first of all, sweetness. Some fruits taste a lot sweeter.

I’m imagining that some have a higher sugar content or a bigger punch when you eat them than others. So I want to know, what are the best choice fruits and why is that? Yeah, so if you’re not allergic to a particular fruit, so that’s a bad choice if you’re allergic. If you’re not allergic to them, most fruits are a great choice. If you’re wanting to eat those, though, with the lowest sugar impact, or what’s known out there in the world as the glycemic index. Fruits that are going to be lower on the glycemic index, meaning they have much less sugar content than other fruits, would be cherries, grapefruit, apricots, pears, plums, and apples, and peaches.

Those would be your best choices as regular the fruits you can grab in your hand and eat. In terms of berries, berries are also a great choice. Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries. And in terms of the tropical fruits, what are the best choices?

You would have oranges, kiwi, pomegranate, avocado, which technically is a fruit, that would be your best choice, and coconut. Okay, perfect. A lot of great stuff in that list. So, you know, just to so then, you know, natural sugars, though, let’s talk about that, because you mentioned in a previous episode when we talked about the number one supervillain being sugar, you know, there are natural sugars in some fruits. So what considerations might somebody want to take into account if they’re trying to break a sugar addiction?

terms of eating fruit? Yeah, exactly. And that’s why, you know, when we do our 30 -Day Metabolic Comeback Challenge, we do tell people if that loss is your goal, you know, you’re going to have to realize that fruits are going to still have to be a little more minimal during this time period. The good thing is, is that very few people that you know probably sit down and eat five apples, you know, in a sitting. So, typically when we do eat fruits, we do choose some smaller amounts, but there are a few that we probably over consume. like watermelon.

Usually we sit down and eat watermelon. We eat like the whole watermelon. That’s not a good thing. So for those who have the issue of blood sugar control, you have diabetes, or you simply wish to lose body fat, limiting sugar from fruit is still recommended. Even for the ones that we just talked about, it would just be best to limit your portions or limit the amount in a day. There’s some fruits that probably are the best to actually just avoid if any of those apply to you.

And I already said watermelon. That would be number one. Pineapple, mango, papaya and overripe bananas. A green banana is great. And in the middle banana, not so bad. An overripe banana, not so good.

We generally do eat these in higher amounts than other fruits, the ones I just mentioned. And so they just contain more sugars for the same portion as the better choices. So overall, the tip to keep blood sugar stable when eating fruit is, you know, A, choose a whole fruit. Don’t choose the fruit juice. Choose the whole thing. Eat that whole apple, skin and all.

Pair fruit with protein and or fat. So for example, if you’re going to eat an apple, have a handful of nuts with it or some almond butter. Watch your portion size. A half to one cup is what a portion size is that’s ideal. And just know that less ripe fruit tends to have a lower sugar content.

And then if it’s very ripe, you know, think about that overripe grape you put in your mouth and, you know, no one can even tolerate it. That’s because the sugars now have had a lot more time to ferment in there. OK, that makes a lot of sense. Now, is it better to eat fruit all at once or spread your servings of fruit out throughout the day? So again, for the main reason being blood sugar control to control those spikes, it’s much more wise to eat a small quantity and spread it out throughout the day, or even more ideal with a meal, because like we said before, when you eat it with a protein and fat, that sugar absorption is going to be much slower. And also remember that the fiber can be overwhelming to your digestive system.

So if you’re eating too much fruit, it has too much fiber all at once, you are going to have digestive issues.

So spreading it out helps with that as well.

OK, that makes sense, too.

All right. Dried fruit. That’s very common and it’s tasty. But tell us about your thoughts on dried fruit. Yeah, so dried fruit is it’s not necessarily that it’s bad for you, but what matters is how much of that dried fruit are you eating. And most people overeat dried fruit.

That’s just the case. And how often are you eating it? So dried fruit becomes a very concentrated source of sugar. What drying does is it removes all the water from that fruit. So, for example, a cup of grapes, you have a cup of real grapes, right? That’s equal to only one quarter cup of dried grapes.

So that little one quarter cup of dried grapes doesn’t look like very much, right? But yet your cup of grapes looks like a lot. Well, those are the same things. So we usually then, oh, well, I’m going to eat a half a cup of dried grapes or three quarters because it doesn’t add up to that much, it seems. So it’s super easy to overeat several servings of fruit in the dried form without even realizing it.

Dried fruit, being a sugar concentrated food, it raises your blood sugar much faster than fresh fruit. You won’t feel full like you do eating the actual fruit. And if you look on the bags of many dried fruit, they contain added sugars, believe it or not, like let’s make this even more sweet. And they also add sometimes sulfites as preservatives, which is definitely causing people headaches or other allergic responses. And some people who, again, are not diabetic and are not trying to control their blood sugar, and you’re not trying to lose body fat, certainly you then can mix a small amount of real, not the preserved kind of dried fruit into your trail mixes of nuts and granolas, preferably the, we now can buy non -grain, low sugar granolas, and you’ll be just fine. But if, again, you’re in those other categories, then I would just probably skip the dried fruit.

Yeah, it’s one of those things that it’s just so easy to overdo. I still remember when I had a bag of dried apples that weren’t sweetened, but then I looked down the back of the bag and I saw that, I don’t know, five pieces was equivalent to a whole apple or four pieces. I mean, it would have been easy for me to eat 20 pieces because of the volume that it appeared to be, you know, but thinking that was the equivalent of eating six apples or something crazy like that. And so it’s just a image that I will never forget.

And you’ve had more than your full day of

sugars.

I know.

It’s just too easy.

So yeah, it’s just something a word to the wise on that one.

Yes. Perfect. Okay, so we’ve covered fruit, we’ve covered vegetables, we’ve covered protein. Next category, what should be on my plate? Healthy fat.

So let’s talk about why this is so beneficial for us and important.

Yeah. Healthy fats are extremely beneficial to your body and they’re also essential to your body. Healthy fats provide long -lasting energy. They support our brain health tremendously, especially those that are found in omega -3 fats. There are fish, flax seeds, and walnuts, and that’s critical for our memory, our mood, and other cognitive functions. Fats support heart health and blood vessel health, and they help with lowering LDL and raising your good cholesterol, the HDL, and they help in reducing inflammation, overall reducing your risk of heart disease and stroke.

And fats are the building blocks for hormone production like estrogen, testosterone, cortisol, and adequate fat intake helps also with your metabolism and your stress. So eating healthy fats helps slow digestion, which makes you feel full longer. It helps stabilize your blood sugar. And it’s always great to pair fats with carbs or protein to improve your overall energy. And The bottom line is that every cell membrane in your body contains fat.

So healthy fats help maintain your cells, and they also protect your organs.

1. That’s a lot of positive, lot of positive stress, metabolism, brain function. I mean, these are important to a lot of people. So that makes a very strong case. So now, what would you say to the person who grew up in the low -fat era, though, and still might believe that consuming dietary fat makes you fat?

Are you talking about me? Okay, what I would say is please stop believing this very old news. I laugh because I remember a conversation my family members and I, I was part of that, were all having one holiday. My cousin was involved and she at the time was very thin. She was in her young 20s and had always been very thin. And actually, she’s always at the time was very under muscled.

She was talking about her normal eating, which was mostly Italian food she was claiming. So they, my aunts and uncles and mothers and all that, they being older and in most cases, they all were over fat. They were saying, well, look at her. She’s so skinny because she doesn’t eat any fat. All she eats all day is pasta. So the fat conversation hits home with me. I remember that conversation.

And I, too, for a while back in the day before I knew anything about nutrition, I ate mostly a high carb, low meat and low fat diet myself when I didn’t necessarily need any weight loss or for no other reason other than it’s what society taught us to do. Well, fortunately, I am a true carnivore. I do love butter.

And that philosophy fortunately didn’t last very long for me.

Yeah. I think if we can understand and open our eyes to the very important benefits that healthy fat provides, we can realize like, okay, this is not going to necessarily I mean, one of the benefits you just said is that satiety, it helps keep you full and regulate your blood sugar levels. And if we can understand the connection between weight gain and blood sugar or weight gain and satiety, I mean, you know, it makes a very, very strong case.

So, you know, on this topic, I know in the Supervillains episode we talked about some unhealthy oils and things like that.

Let’s talk about what are the best sources of healthy fat.

Yep. Sure. The best sources of healthy fats are going to be those in the different categories. We call them monounsaturated fats, and that would include olive oil, avocado oil, avocados, almonds, or almond butter. Then we have the category of polyunsaturated. That would include walnuts, flaxseed, chia seeds, fatty fish like salmon and sardines.

This is where we And then the next category, we talk about those omega -3s, which are an essential fat that we must have. And I can tell you that most of us are very deficient. If you got tested, I guarantee that probably 9 out of 10 of us will test very deficient in omega -3s. And this would be fish oil, chia, flax, walnuts. I would also add in some healthy saturated fats. I know that used to be a bad word.

It’s just not. Saturated fats in our processed foods are bad, but saturated fats like coconut oil, coconuts, grass -fed and pastured meats and eggs, and fats from full -fat organic dairy, including pastured organic butter, like Kerrygold or others you can find at hopefully some local sources and farms. While we don’t include dairy in our 30 -day challenge, it’s not because of the fat content. It’s for different reasons.

So again, it is included in a healthy whole food fat that you can eat. have if you’re not doing a challenge.

OK, great. And just can you name a couple, just a contrast, if people miss the supervillains episode, what are just two or three examples? And they can go back to listen to the whole thing of unhealthy fats. Oh, well, let’s see. Basically, we say that there’s good healthy fats or oils, and then we say that there’s others that are simply poor choices, especially if they’re used a lot. So what we do wish to avoid as much as possible is seed oils like sunflower seed, safflower seed, soybean oil, canola oil, grape seed oil, and cotton seed oil.

And we do have that on our list of oils not to consume in the playbook. These contain very high levels of what’s known as omega -6 fats. Again, we need them, but we don’t need them as much as we get them. And so while they’re essential, we get plenty in our normal diet. Do not worry, you’re getting them. What happens is that the ratio in our bodies between the types of fats is just very imbalanced because of the high amounts of seed oils that we consume.

In addition, many of these crops are genetically modified, which means that the seeds have been altered chemically and are heavily sprayed with glyphosate, which is tied to cancers and neurological diseases. There is also very high processed oils which use high heat. All those seed oils are very highly processed. So they use high heat and they use chemicals to extract that oil. You know how when you look on olive oil, it says cold pressed. Well, these are not cold pressed.

These are very high heat pressed. And so what happens when you add that high heat to a fat is that it causes oxidation. It basically makes it toxic and it goes rancid and that can cause cell damage to you. Additionally, we all need to completely avoid trans fats, which are ridiculously still found in processed snacks and fried foods.

They’re completely terrible for anyone as they trigger inflammation and they lead to many diseases.

OK, that was really, really helpful. Thank you. Thank you for breaking down the differences there, because all fat isn’t created equal at all. There are some that are extremely beneficial and some that are extremely not beneficial. And so it really helps to to separate that out in our mind and understand the difference on that one. OK, so healthy fat, fruit, protein, vegetables.

The next category, what should be on my plate? Herbs, seasoning and spices. Let’s talk about that category. Well, herbs and spices come from plants and they really help with the taste and the aroma of food.

Additionally, many are beneficial for different health reasons.

They’re all very unique and in both taste and in their benefits. They’re very unique. They do different things. So seasonings then is a broader category and seasonings are generally added to enhance the flavor of food. Okay, well let’s start with herbs and spices. What are the best ones and why should we include them on our plate?

Okay, so herbs and spices are the leaves, the roots, the seeds, the bark, or the pods of plants and usually we use them fresh or dried. Some of the greatest examples of herbs that we all know are basil, parsley, cilantro, rosemary, oregano, dill, and thyme. And of course, there’s many more. And some well -known spices would be cinnamon, ginger, cloves, turmeric, paprika, fennel, and black pepper. And so beside amazing flavor, herbs and spices are typically anti -inflammatory as they’re just packed.

Those small little things are packed with antioxidants, flavonoids, carotenoids to protect your cells. Some herbs and spices like turmeric and ginger are used for and they can reduce inflammation. I’m sure your grandma used to give you teas made with those. And some herbs and spices are used to help digestion, like mint and ginger and fennel and basil. And we all know that garlic and oregano are often used to support our immune function. So these are just some examples, but there’s so many more.

And back in the day, many of these herbs and spices actually were the medicine that was given to people, like by the doctors. So from our point of view, experiment, try and add lots of herbs and spices to your life. OK, no. And some people may not realize, you know, those in and of themselves have a lot of benefits. It’s not just flavor. And so that’s really good to break down.

Now, let’s contrast herbs and spices with seasonings.

You mentioned that was a little bit of a different category to think through. Yeah. So seasonings in what we’re going to define in our vocabulary often include, they include herbs and spices. If we say I’m seasoning, that could be an herb or a spice, but they go beyond that as well. They can include salt and pepper, vinegars, citrus juices, sauces like soy sauce, fish sauce, onions, chili paste, sugar, honey, mustard, and other condiments that you can think of.

OK, so I mean, what is the purpose that those would have on our plate?

Right. We do want we do want some of those in there. plate. The purpose is strictly, mostly, I should say, why do we use them in cooking? They enhance our food’s flavor. However, it’s not to make the food unhealthy, as some seasoning choices can do, and that is what happens.

We can improve the flavor. but it also then makes that food unhealthy. What we want to accomplish is adding seasonings in a healthy way. We want it to make food taste better without adding a lot more calories to it. So we don’t want to defeat the purpose there and make it a high calorie food. We want to make food taste better and we don’t want it to be through artificial or chemical means.

We want it to balance out the flavors in a dish. You know how sometimes you just need to add that little bit of lemon, that acid in your dish, and it’s all better now. And sometimes it’s to add color or aroma or even a texture, you know, to a dish. So for our purposes, a seasoning is always still primarily a whole food with minimal or no processing that enhances our health in some way, or at least it’s not detrimental. OK, so yeah, let’s talk about what could be detrimental. What would we want to avoid then in the spices, seasonings, condiments category?

OK, and again, like anything else, some people are going to need to avoid certain herbs and spices or seasonings that they’re simply allergic or sensitive to. I know a bunch of people who are allergic to onions or garlic, for example. Many others cannot tolerate peppers or cayenne powders or chili powders or anything that’s that adds heat to a dish. They get an irritated stomach or some of these can be actually a trigger for people who suffer from acid reflux, for example. So those you kind of figure out by eating what causes those things and then you probably don’t want to eat them anyway. Most spices and herbs though are safe in culinary amounts, meaning you’re not eating a jar of basil.

You’re just sprinkling some on. There are some herbs and spices that, if eaten in large amounts, can even be toxic. But again, most normal amounts will not even create the issue. Certainly, if you’re on certain medications, it’s always good to inquire with your pharmacist or your doctor as to any interaction with medication. Medications can interact with foods and herbs and spices and supplements, so it’s always good to check. Some seasonings that we actually include, though, we have a never list in our book.

I’m pretty adamant about the never list, right? And so we have a list. And this is not just eliminated during the 30 Day Metabolic Comeback Challenge, where some foods are eliminated there, but not in general.

These on the never list are simply detrimental to your health.

And this includes MSG, any highly processed seasoning blend that often has a lot of high preservatives or even high sugars added, any artificial flavored or chemical -based seasonings or sweeteners, and we talked about those in the last podcast, and things like carrageenan, food dyes, sodium nitrate, sodium sulfite, or sodium dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and of course trans fats. Those are just Don’t even tell me that you’re eating those. No, no. OK, great. Yeah, I mean, I again, it’s it’s what what I picture is very common is those like spice blends that you can buy in the jar. And yeah, I remember first starting to read labels when when you transition to starting to eat this way.

And you can see quickly how many sugars, first of all, you know, are mixed into a lot of these foods.

blends, whereas making your own at home, you can have a lot more control over what’s in there, not to mention any preservatives and things like that, which we don’t want.

So that really, really helps to sort of, again, separate those categories and help us think correctly about what’s beneficial and what may not be beneficial in that area. Okay, let’s talk about beverages. What should we drink? Okay, ah, the what should we drink question. This is sometimes the most heated question on our Facebook group for the 30 Day Metabolic Compact Challenge. As you know, Amy, I am convinced that Americans are simply addicted to their sweetened beverages and their artificially sweetened beverages like diet soda, and coffee creamers.

They’re like the two biggest things that people refuse to give up. So the right answer to what should we drink, whether we’re on the 30 Day Challenge or not, is water. I know, boring. I can’t feel that sorry for anyone, though. I can empathize. OK, I just can’t feel sorry for you.

Years ago, before I, too, was wanting to change my nutrition, I drank zero glasses of water a day. I hated water. It always had to be lemonade or diet soda or coffee with the artificially sweetened milky stuff in it. I then had I just had to go to cold turkey. And while nothing is an overnight achievement, all these years later, I absolutely love water. And I am a water snob.

So I can taste whether it’s good water or not. And I absolutely crave water.

I don’t challenge myself to drink a certain amount of water a day. I don’t keep track.

I drink when I’m thirsty, and for me, that just happens to be a lot during the day.

Yes.

And I know water bottles are in vogue and drinking water all the time is now a little bit more commonplace than maybe it used to be, which is a benefit. But then what if somebody just says, I don’t like plain water? And they do. They do. And it’s OK if you’re in the process, and I’m going to just say you’re in the process of becoming a water drinker, but you still need to slowly get yourself into that place. not everybody can do things cold turkey.

I’m very strange in those ways. There’s other things to drink and still be healthy. One thing that you can do with water itself is add the juice of fresh lemon or lime Or you could drop some cucumbers or strawberries or mint into like a jug of water in your fridge, leave it overnight, it absorbs those flavors. So now basically this is simply a water enhancement. And many people find that that does the trick for them, that they like that. Additionally, you can enjoy your your coffee black, and I recommend always organic coffee.

You can add full fat organic dairy to it if you’re not doing the 30 day challenge and you’re not allergic to dairy. You can have unsweet tea, hot or cold. You could drop a little bit of stevia or allulose or monk fruit into it. You can drink unsweetened nut milks.

And again, I like to make my own, as I told you, in my nut milk blender.

You can also have those sparkling waters now. There’s only about a half a million of them, I think, market now. So many. Every time I go to Costco, there’s a new one. You know, like we need another one. I’m not really understanding.

But you can drink those because they only have the fruit flavor that’s natural. But for some people like me, I can’t drink carbonated beverages. So be careful if it actually causes you stomach issues if you drink carbonated beverages. You can also, at the exercise coach, one thing you can have is an electrolyte drink and it’s called Hydrate. It’s amazing. One or two of those a day you can have.

You just add the powder to your water and it actually now will provide you not only great taste, no sugar, but it will provide you a very healthy way to retain your electrolytes that a lot of us lose through sweating and working out. And believe it or not, drinking a lot of water actually dilutes your electrolytes. So this drink called Hydrate is something I’d recommend. And if you’re fine at the exercise coach, ask your studio for it. And then lastly, you can drink a Coach Fuel smoothie each day. We talked about that in protein.

And you can drink that every day. Any choice that you have of protein that you like and use our protein or I’m sorry, use our smoothie recipe book on our website to help you make all different kinds of flavors. So that’s not really a substitute, per se, for water, but it certainly is something you can drink. in addition to water. So lo and behold, I promise you won’t be desperate or dying of thirst. OK, awesome.

That’s a lot of help. And so, you know, a lot of a common question we get, though, is on water is how much water should I drink in a day? Yeah. And that was a big thing years ago where, you know, everybody started having their, you know, drink 40 gallons of water a day. I mean, it just got to be ridiculous. But a lot of experts do vary still on this recommendation.

And while I mostly agree with drink when you’re thirsty and also throughout the day anyway, I’m finding that so many people are busy themselves to the point that they’re just they’re thirsty. They really are thirsty. They do want to drink, but they just forget because they’re just busy and in the middle of something. That happened to me actually yesterday. I literally in the afternoon was looking for my water bottle and it was in a different room and I’m like, how could that be? My water bottle is literally attached to me.

So you can get busy and forget to drink. So in general, experts do often give these general guidelines for daily water intake. But the exact amount does depend on you, your age, your sex, your activity level, the climate you live in, your health status. So, for example, I know for sure I drink a ton more water when I’m outside in the heat than when I’m outside in the cold. The functional medicine doctors that I resonate with the most generally recommend that you aim for 6 -8 cups which is 48 -64 ounces of water spread throughout the day. If you’re doing a 30 day challenge or other kind of detox or other physically exceptional times, like you’re running a marathon, or other physical activities, or you’re in excessive heat, then they increase that to 8 to 10 cups, 64 to 80 ounces.

And some people are going to do even more than that, depending upon what their circumstance is. And a big thing that we also need to talk about is this quality of the water. I want to emphasize drinking clean, filtered water, and ideally not water that you’re buying in plastic bottles from Costco. Get your own stainless steel or glass bottle. We offer both at the Exercise Coach if you need one. And fill it with water that you know is very well filtered.

I personally have great filters. They’re not that expensive. On all of my sinks, you change the filter twice a year. And I keep about 20 insulated steel water bottles filled with water in my second fridge so that when we head out for activities let’s say we’re going to go kayaking. Well, we grab those.

They’re already cold. They’re in the fridge.

They’re ready to go. We grab those and not plastic water bottles because the plastics, it’s a whole different topic, but that can really cause some other damage to your body. We all have so much plastic inside of our body now and it could just leach there. So it’s best to avoid plastic as your choice for water bottle. Awesome. Okay, that really, really, really helps.

Thank you so, so much. There was so much good information in this episode. If some of this was new to you as a listener today, I really encourage you to pick up a copy of the Nutrition Playbook if you don’t already have one. You can order it on Amazon or you can get it at your local Exercise Coach Studio and it’s there for you as a guide and a resource as well as visiting exercisecoach . com for all of the resources to help you implement this. If you are a current client and are participating in a 30 -day metabolic comeback challenge right now or in the future, we are cheering you on.

You can do this. This is something that thousands and thousands of people have participated in, and it really truly becomes such a foundational lifestyle habit for your best health. And so keep going, keep making the best choices for your health, and we will see you next week on the podcast. 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.