Metabolic Health Without Extreme Dieting

Welcome to Mindfully Integrative Podcast with your host, Dr. Demeras G. Mindfully Integrative

is a podcast discussing ways toward mindfully incorporating integrative health into our lives.

This podcast will have informative resources, fun topics, interviews, and discussions

relatable for today with a true mindful perspective in a mind-body holistic life approach.

Hi, how are you? So this, today we're talking about in this lesson and discussion about

metabolic health and not having extreme dieting. So, yes, we're talking about your

endocrine system, your metabolic metabolism and what you can put into your body.

I mean, eating good metabolic health means that you're following some sort of

healthy way of eating. Now, I call it a lifestyle, you know, it's about sustainability,

so think about yourself at 20 and think about yourself at 80. And what is that sustainable for you?

You know, it's quite important to understand that this is necessary. What you do for your body at

this point is a direct reflection of how you will live long term. Now, having extreme strict

dieting isn't recommended. I mean, just in general, think about that in nutrition. So,

I'm Demarice Grossman. I'm 12-born certified family, holistic, and functional nutrition.

And I have really noticed, even just for my own self, a person with obesity in the family,

and you know, it went from skinny to heavy to, you know, genetically all disbalanced and

microbalance, you know, so the yo-yo dieting isn't recommended. Great. So, I tell people that,

you know, it's all about balance. It's about sustainability and a lifestyle conversation.

And that's not always easy to do, but it can promote lasting health and can promote a natural

way of thinking. So, when you look at the different lessons that I've talked about, behavior and

what you eat and your exercise, you put little pieces of that every day. That's why I'm very

big on saying a mindful way each and every day. You do little mindful steps each and every day.

You will get sustainability. I'm not a bodybuilder, but I would like to be healthy every single day.

And I want to do active things to keep myself there instead of the old self of unhealthy

options and healthy things and choices that I've done. And that's not just food, but that's like

even toxic relationships, environmental things and trying not to expose myself into that.

So, let's start with prioritizing obviously balanced food. So, whole foods, you know, as much as

you can. And at any budget, you can do this. I tell you 100%. It doesn't always have to be organic.

But I want you to think, you go get some lettuce, you go get some fruit, you go get some vegetables,

lean protein, healthy fats. Even if it's not like the perfect veggies, the perfect things,

I would rather you just get the whole foods and cook it at home than just buy in the junk. And

and you do that and itself is going to be better than concerning yourself if it's organic.

Because like just getting some teal sauce, some sweet potatoes, you know, some good oats and some

beans and some rice, I mean, that in itself is sustainable. Then, you know, these pre-packaged

junk foods out there. And then from there, you know, after you've made your meal, you know,

not putting it heavy, you know, contains of of serving sizes. So, that's understanding. So,

that's there's the mindfulness of that. So, then you make your food and then are you

mindfully able to eat it. So, ways of eating nutritiously, or they say like kind of a mindful plate

would be half your plate, you want it to be like veggies, fiber, okay? Go into veggies and fiber.

A quarter of that plate think of it like the good fats and a good salad, let's say, or like

avocados. And then the the other quarter of the plate would be like a protein,

whatever that protein is for you. Now, if it's like breakfast, you think of that like is 50%

in like that fibrous. And then a quarter, 25% fatty and 25% in the protein. I would go a little bit

more on the protein side, but you know, that varies on each person. But mindful eating and having those

cues, not only with what you put on your plate, then how do you consume? So, consuming slowly,

listening to your hunger cues, understanding sometimes hunger is actually hydration, you need to

drink water, or it's nutritional deficiency, understanding when you're full and not to eat to fullness,

eat to about 80%. Those individuals and those areas of the world that were individuals do not

have as much obesity in their in their culture, most of them are not eating to full, they're eating

to about 80%. And that means that they're chewing their food thoroughly. So, say you have a sandwich,

right? You have two slices of sandwich and you're you're going to be eating that sandwich. When you eat

those 20 to 30 bites per bite in your sandwich, you would actually find that you could be full

with half of that sandwich. Because you're taking more time to digest, you're taking more time for

the body to break down with the enzymes in the mouth and ferment, digesting into the stomach,

that you actually don't need to overeat and you're going to improve your digestion overall,

and even like reflux, belting, and such. So, that also is a big factor in when you're talking

about balancing and finding mindfulness. Now, additionally to that is what kind of foods are

you're putting into your body? What have you chosen? So, anti-inflammatory foods are recommended

most of the time, like that would benefit your overall gut health, overall nutrition. Now,

and that's not for everyone, but you know, with things that are usually anti-inflammatory,

are like berries, leafy greens, turmeric, ginger, garlic, omega-3 fatty foods, like salmon,

avocados, macrol, sardines, certain types of olive oils, avocado oil, and then limiting

much of the process stuff as you can. That's very for all of us. We all want to have some of it,

but it's when you have it on a constant, your body will have more metabolic stress and it will

kick up more inflammation within. So, we're trying to kind of like see if we can work that through.

Now, how do you balance your blood sugar? You know, we're talking about GLP1s, right? So,

balancing the blood sugars, you know, trying to get that GLP1 uptick to where it needs to be,

and you regulate that with the types of meals that you're picking, you know, when your times that

you're going to be eating so that you don't have as many of those spikes. So, in the morning,

you know, you're going to be hydrating and then you're going to be picking, you know, maybe it's

a coffee drink to break your fast, try to time fast at least 10 to 12 hours as my recommendations

but that's up to you. And there is a lesson on that on intermittent fasting and what time

eating is for you and then what you're picking in your meals. Protein is paramount, but think

about all macros are important, but how are you doing it? So, I'd say like I said about 40% or so

about protein and then the other percent divided out in your other macros, your carbs and your fats

and your plate, let's say it's like half in the fiber fat or even that you could do about quarter

of the protein and quarter of the fat and then half in fibrous foods in the quality carbs.

I also sometimes will even say sometimes half in the morning, I actually would want you to have

a little bit more protein and then the fiber. So then, you know, kind of balances it out so that

you don't have those big spikes because when you choose in the morning, I'll give you an example,

I've done it too. I'm just as guilty as you are, I've had a cinnamon roll, right? And I love it,

right? So now what I do, I'll tell you my trick that doesn't mean that it's correct, but I will add

in fiber and collagen to my food when I'm going to have those types of foods. And that doesn't

mean that it's fixing everything or my insulin resistance, but I'm trying to do is try not to have

those spikes. That's not a quick fix. The real goal is to have more protein and good fibrous foods,

so then you don't have those spikes up and down because by the end of the day, you end up wanting to

have more and more and more. Now, stay active. Now, how do you stay active? You know, you don't want

to overdo it. I've talked just previously about exercise and movement and what that is for you.

Now, I don't think there is a one-size-fits-all here, but, you know, we did talk about movement,

daily movement, non-exercise things that you can do for your body just by, like,

parking farther away, walking, you know, up the stairs, thinking about where you can go to get

a little bit more walking into your day, having a walk, a standing desk, maybe having a walking

pad, a cycle, something that can get you doing a little bit more than you would maybe do on the

regular. And, you know, I have a cycle ellipsical underneath my desk. I have a pad, I have vibration

pad, I have a walking pad, just different things to kind of get you moving even when you may not

realize, you know, you need to, and then paramount of need to need to need to sleep and rest. Around

seven to nine hours is ideal quality sleep that that can be, and I talk more about sleep hygiene

and the sleep optimization on how you can get that. And this enhances your metabolic health. This

helps your hormone regulation and your rate management. Now, how do you do this? You know, many times

I will talk about mindfulness, mindfulness meditations, debriefing, exercise, a gentle stretching,

all to help improve your cortisol levels and your balance and your hormones. Now, balancing hormones,

balancing cortisol, it's going to fluctuate on and off constantly. So there's never like, okay,

it's going to be perfect every moment of the day. But what we want to do is try to at least get you

even keel so that you're not making poor decisions and your behavioral and your psychology,

like your stressors are not making you go and choose foods or keep on the weight because it's not

able to get rid of some of that access stressors so that that body fat isn't like, you know,

releasing through the body. Hydration, of course. You know, our body's made up of around 60 to

seven percent of water. So staying hydrated in the best possible way supports digestion,

supports metabolism, supports detoxification, because detoxification is getting rid of the poop,

you know, helping detoxify the liver. You know, you need that to get rid of things. You know,

you can't eat it. It's just, it's par, it's needed. You know, there's no other way around it.

You need to hydrate. You need to drink more water and not jug. And if you drink the sugary stuff,

you know, sorry to tell you, but it's not going to work. Now, gentle detoxing, so detoxing itself

is not the green juice, but it is eating fibrous foods and clearing out, you know, the gut,

clearing out the jug. So, but there are some benefits of juicing for individuals, so I do like them,

but that's not like the juice thing, you know, it's really hydration and kind of clearing out

your GI tract and getting it to the like the optimal set. You know, think of it like broccoli,

cauliflower, some citrus foods, green teas and dandelion teas help all. Just supports kind of

just your body's way of detoxifying. And then also too, we also want to get the metabolism and the

liver to be able to clear out because the liver can hold so much. There's different stages how

the liver can become actually fatty and, you know, it's non-steaderopathic, like the

fatty liver disease. And you don't want to get to that point and to actually clear some of that

gunk out and excess of fatty cholesterol, you need to have some detoxing and you need to have

avoid the excess of glucose that's in the liver because the liver has many purposes. And if it is

not able to get rid of or go through glucogenesis, it will actually accumulate more byproduct.

Now, of course, I talk tons about my gut and tons of the gut and brain connection and how so

important this is. Now, think again, prebiotics are the foods that are before you eat. It helps feed

the probiotics. So, I think apples, bananas, onions, it'sparagus, it helps heal and feed the good

gut bacteria. And probiotics are the things that are integrated and brings the good flora with it.

So, things that people will do are fermented foods, yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi,

kombucha, things of that nature. Now, it's different for each person, but, you know, there are

different ideas and if you have more questions, I can absolutely tell you more about that.

Now, how does this go and equate to functional medicine or long-term wellness? So,

functional nutrition really is what functional medicine is. It's about nutrition. It's about what

you put into your body and how your environment and your life surrounds you to protect you. So,

think of it as it's a holistic approach. It's a covering a way to get through root cause, but

I consider root cause more like what is underlying that you need to manage? I don't necessarily

always say root cause. I think about management so that you can transform and integrate your life.

Certain things in my life, I need to manage and put the right things in my body and

expose myself to the right things so that I feel good and it's personalized. Unfortunately,

it's not a one-size-fits-all, but you can do a lot of these things for yourself. So,

let's see how it is. So, a whole person, I'm very big about maybe what is your genetics? Like,

is there something that may have triggered it on that may have gotten you to a point where you're like,

well, how do I maintain a metabolic, you know, healthier state? Like for me, I have type 2 diabetes

in my genetics. I have the SNP that will cause me more insulin, excess. That doesn't mean that I

won't get type 2 diabetes in May, but what I can do is I can prevent or manage this before it gets

significant. You know, hopefully it won't come on until like my 70s or late 80s. You know, like,

I would hope that my use of food, lifestyle and environment and overall holistic approach

will make me be the best that I can be in my metabolic health at any age. So, think of it like

incorporating your genetics, your lifestyle, your environment, your diet, and the emotional factors

that help you be the best person that you can and how to make a treatment plan for that.

So, when I'm identifying and discussing like root cause or management cause, I'm really just

trying to find out what else is going on with you. Like, is it just, you know, just because you're,

you're, is it just an insulin resistance issue? Is it a sugar issue? Is it a stress issue?

Is it a gut issue? Is there inflammation throughout the entire body? Are you stressed? Are you not

having a regulation there? Is your hormones off because it's, it's age-related or is there a way

to balance that at some point like optimize it? It's, it's going to fluctuate. Everything that's

going to fluctuate, but is there a way to get it, you know, that buck of inflammation or that

irregularity of flora? Is there a way to get that gut biome into some sort of more manageable

state? Homeostatic state? Is the inflammation more where instead of it a big full bucket of

inflammation, can we get it down to like a quarter? So, once you're exposed to different things,

it's not an all or nothing. It's not, oh, I take this and that's it. But if you can lower some of

that, can we lower some of those symptoms from? So, it's a more of a management than it is necessarily

always a root cause. I mean, I will find out, oh, wow, it's probably because of XYZ that this is

happening plus your genetics. Okay, let's see what we can do to manage it. And, you know, it's,

it takes time and it's, it's effort. And if it was a quick fix, I tell you that you probably

aren't coming to me for the right reasons if you're wanting a quick fix. I mean, they just, just don't

meet me in the urgent care or the ER if that's what you want. I can help you there for a quick fix

and acute care. But for these kind of things, it takes more time. Now, think proactive. You know,

think of yourself as trying to be preventative. Think of yourself of wanting to make early

interventions. So, avoiding metabolic dysfunction or trying to prevent progressive metabolic dysfunction

in your overall system. Think of it as you're trying to not get diabetes. You're trying to not get

increased obesity. You're trying to not have a heart attack. You're trying to not have metabolic

syndrome where your blood pressure or things are irregular. You're trying to not have excess

inflammatory response or autoimmune responses that will cause you other health illnesses like

for females like a PCOS, for thyroid issues. Men, it could be a prostate issue for, it could be a

headaches, excess headaches. There's many of things that come out in inflammatory process.

The body that actually are related to hybridsolabia or high insulin.

So, testing that can be done. There are different hormone panels. They're usually prefer early

Dutch testing for complete test. Nutrient panels like metabolic has a good nutrient panel.

And then there are, you know, in a way of different tests to find out where your metabolic

health is. On average, a little bit extended panel would be like a lipoprotein A. I'd

want you to do a fasting insulin, A1C. I'd want you to look at a lipid panel on cascade.

And those are usually my top. Oh, home assisting sometimes. I don't necessarily think that's

a major marker, but I really need to know. Do you have a cascade marker for lipids where you

are insulin resistance, your fasting insulin, your glucose, your A1C. And then CRP, I will look at

for inflammatory markers. And the nutrient things, it depends upon each person, but I will do a

full panel there. And then gut biomew can do stool testing. Now, how do you restore this? What

does that look like? That varies for each person. But think of it like you're trying to fix your

immune system. You want to work on your mood and your inflammatory process. So depending upon

if it's inflammation, you know, it depends on what the what is going on in the microbiome. Is it

that there's not enough floor issues? Is it a leaky gut that they call it or intestinal permeability?

Is it inflammatory? Is it a something more of the mood, more cortisol issues? Or is it have to

do with your metabolic, your choice of foods, the foods that you're choosing? Is it not enough

short-chain fatty acids like the crucifixibles and and whole foods? So it could be a combination.

And then there is those that have some infection too. I don't think all of

patients have and clients have that, but you know, it's good to find out because it could be

mold or environmental toxin or parasitic or lime. But I'm not going to say everyone has that. It's

just, you know, there is one of six things that it could be in the gut and you want to try to

you want to clear that out too. You don't want to work on it. You have tailored diets, you know,

certain probiotics and prebiotics that are used, digestive enzymes, if it's needed, nutrient foods

and things to help with the gut lining, like glutamine, bone broth, you know, but those are

only used in a certain amount of weeks. I'm not forever, but that helps with the integrity and the

metabolic health of a person. In addition to that, then when I talk about optimizing people's hormones,

that's like fluctuating, right? That will fluctuate depending upon the person.

But insulin is a hormone. Cortisol is a hormone. Thyroid hormones, estrogen, progesterone,

testosterone, all of these impact your metabolic health. So when someone says to you, oh,

everything's off, so balancing is not as easy as it seems. It's a little bit more complex than that.

But think about when you get yourself at least at an optimal state, you're doing yourself a

service. Ways that I have done this for individuals and for myself included, I will use dietary foods,

nutritious meals, adapt to gyms as needed, lifestyle judgments, depending upon what people are,

their high coders are low cortisol, not low impact, depression, anxiety. So each person needs

something different. And then they may need medications. I'm more on the sense of

slow and low. So like low and slow. So not against taking medications. I'm completely for it. I

just want it to be done smartly and start slow. Stress reduction, 100% is super important.

And you know, you're physical and your behavioral health. Like how are you doing that?

Myfulness, meditation, emotional support, you know, support yourself with surrounding

your environment with good people. If you find yourself you're around toxic relationships,

you're not supported with good people, then you need to get yourself

put some boundaries up. You're going to have to really manage that and put up boundaries. Because

if you don't, you're going to, it will be quite difficult to get through some of the hard stuff.

So think environment in who you connect with and also mindfulness of what you're doing to reset

whether that's yoga, meditation and mindfulness. And the cornerstone of this is really trying to

restore yourself back into a balanced optimal state. And it takes time. But I will tell you

for someone that's had PTSD, you know, health issues, metabolic dysfunction and

gut issues, you can work on it each and every day. And I'm healthier now, even with my choices

younger. And even with my endometriosis that I had, I even had to learn so many more behavior

things and modifications. And until I opened my eyes to that, I wasn't able to understand that,

you know, I had to be changed. So until you can make changes, it takes time. But it's totally doable.

It's long term. It's not a quick fix. When you empower yourself with more information and the

right information, and you don't solely rely on one thing, one diet, one pill, you empower yourself

to do more. That's why with, in reference to GLP ones, you know, yes, the medication is a tool,

but it's not the full picture. And if you don't fix these other elements, you're not going to

get past because the underlying beliefs in your behaviors is, how are you eating? What's your

emotional patterns? Can we fix that? Can we, can we adjust it? What's your stress triggers? What

make you eat more eat less? What are lifestyle habits? How do we improve that? What can we do in

your life to make changes on that? And then, you know, make it sustainable, you know, it's about

sustainability, you know, mindful ways each and every day. If you have questions, of course,

reach out and I'd be glad to help. It's all about, you know, I'm here to support you and be part of

your getting to where you need to be. Have a wonderful day and I'll see you on the next lesson.

Thank you for listening to the mindfully integrative show with Dr. Demarish Maria Grossman,

Feminist Practitioner. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only

and is not the substitute for professional medical advice, diagnose or treat. Always consult

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mindful way every day. Namaste.