Welcome to the Barination Podcast! I'm thrilled you're joining me today because we have an incredible guest: Kayla Girgen, a Registered Dietitian and Certified Personal Trainer. Kayla has a wealth of knowledge about life after bariatric surgery, and today, we're diving into some powerful topics that can make a real difference in your journey.
We’ll explore the concept of slider foods—what they are, why they’re easier to consume than whole foods, and where protein shakes fit in. Kayla also sheds light on managing gut hormones, cushioning carbs to maintain stable blood sugar, and how anxiety can impact the process of post-surgery nutrition.
If you’ve ever struggled with protein choices, Kayla’s here to guide you in making choices that truly support a healthier lifestyle. She reminds us to give ourselves grace as we navigate the ups and downs.
IN THIS EPISODE:
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
RESOURCES:
GUEST RESOURCES:
Sugar and Strength Academy - Website
BIOGRAPHY:
Kayla Girgen is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Personal Trainer determined to help women stop dieting, ditch all-or-nothing thinking, and develop healthy habits for life. With technology like CGM, Kayla shows women how to balance their blood sugar and maximize their tools for sustainable success after bariatric surgery.
ABOUT:
If the BariNation podcast helps power your bariatric journey, become a monthly podcast supporter and help us produce the show! Visit www.barinationpodcast.com and help us support people treating the disease of obesity with humor, humility, and honesty.
Jason: [00:00:00] Hi, welcome to Bari Nation, where we support the bariatric community with humor, humility, and honesty.
safe place that powers your [:Natalie: Our goal is you leave us today feeling hopeful, inspired, and ready to live your best bariatric life.
ey, Bari Nation, it's April. [:Laura Grabo leads a general support group every Tuesday afternoon. Monique Coleman hosts fun Friday chats that are a great way to kick off my weekend. And I [00:01:00] love popping in to all of the nutritional supports that happen every month. Kayla Gergen, Jeannie Boyer and Andrea Luongo host nutritional Q and A's and classes that get me information exactly when and where I need it.
rry Nation support community [:Miss Kayla Gergen to talk about a subject that we often have questions about in the variation [00:01:45] membership community. One of our members asked this really awesome question and I instantly was like, okay, I need to ask Kayla about this. One of our members is about five or six months post op from R and Y and noticed that they can very [00:02:00] easily consume potato chips.
y are they easier to consume [:Kayla Girgen: Yes, where to start with this one? I feel like we could take like a few different avenues.
like when it comes to like. [:You do zero chewing. You come back say [00:02:45] 30 minutes later and it's dissolved. So think of like crackers, chips, like candies, things like that. On the other hand, you have like non slider foods, which tend to be like more fibrous, more whole foods. So think of like a hunk of potato, put that on your tongue. You come back 30 minutes later, [00:03:00] maybe, you know, maybe it's still there.
ks might have seen like the, [:Why? But something like a slider food tends to go through a lot faster. It digests very quickly. So I think when we look at the impact on things like hunger hormones, that's kind of one of the avenues that it can really, um, [00:03:45] impact. But then on the other hand, it can really, things like slider foods can impact your blood sugar and you end up on this like blood sugar roller coaster all day too, if you're not pairing it with certain things.
blood sugar, and then we've [:April: I'm intrigued by all three, of course. So this really, truly might be a much [00:04:15] longer conversation that, that we need to have.
then? Is that a slider food? [:Kayla Girgen: yes.
know, if you compare fluids [:April: And I don't, and I don't mean to ask that question to get hate, but I guess what just clicked in my brain when you were talking about blood sugar and hunger and all these other kinds of things, right? These processes, these package [00:05:15] items that we as bariatric patients rely on. So not, not saying that this is bad or good.
t is a liquid protein. Okay. [:Yeah. My body's not doing a lot of work to process that protein. It's using it and it [00:05:45] is moving, moving through, right.
aybe in the case like say if [:Mhm. Thanks. [00:06:15]
going to help me feel full. [:To do so, I usually start my day with, with profi and then I'll move to a whole food breakfast, like [00:06:45] eggs, like granola cottage cheese, right? Whatever's whatever feels in the moment. So, I'm definitely combining it with those things. And I think it's important to know that when you consume these foods, you do want to pay attention [00:07:00] to what your hunger is telling you.
38 minutes to an hour afterwards. And that has to do with blood sugar and hormones, right? And just what your body's doing.
ein shake too, especially if [:And sometimes it can be really hard to meet your requirements. When your volumes restricted, but I would say to even having your protein shake within, [00:07:30] say, like a 30 minute window, like treating it like a meal. So if you're, you know, maybe combining it again, like doing proffy and you notice like, okay, well, I'm sipping on my proffy for 2 or 3 hours.
minutes where [:April: Okay. Awesome. And I know, too, from my personal experience and [00:08:00] from this, uh, this member's question.
e engineered to really taste [:Kayla Girgen: Yeah, certainly. I think one of the biggest things I teach is like cushioning your carbs. So when we think about things like potato chips, like not having those things alone can really help. I think volume wise, you're not just filling up on something that's going to pass through really [00:08:45] quickly. And I think that In itself, if you're having just, you know, highly processed carbs, those, those pass through really quickly, then you find yourself hungry shortly after eating and you get into this grazing pattern, which we know can lead to weight regain after [00:09:00] surgery and then pairing that with something can make a wild difference, I would say, just in how satisfied you feel, but then also your blood sugar levels.
cottage cheese. I see like a [:April: What is the connection then between these slider foods, um, our gut hormones and blood sugar, or, I mean, are they all [00:09:30] connected?
ink of ghrelin as like, grr, [:And that's something that tells you that you're not hungry. So I like to think like grr, like growling, growling, that's what makes you hungry. So if that's, that's how I remember it. If that helps. Oh my [00:10:00] God.
April: Genius. Yep. Never heard that before, but now I cannot unsee that. Unforget that. Thank you.
n of your stomach is removed [:And that's where a lot of the ghrelin is made. So like 90 percent of the ghrelin is made in your stomach. So naturally you remove some of that, your hunger hormones tend to come down. So you have that [00:10:30] advantage, that metabolic advantage with bariatric surgery. And that's why I think some people like after surgery, they're like, I have zero appetite.
hat's one advantage and what [:So like how, um, like how many nutrients are coming in with those foods. So if you think again, the example of like potato chip, probably not a whole lot there versus like actual potato or, you know, even getting into some more of those like [00:11:15] complex carbs or vegetables, you've got a lot of nutrients packed in a small volume.
to your advantage because I [:When you get a little [00:11:45] bit of a gentle stretch on your stomach, even after surgery, that's really what shuts ghrelin off and tells your brain that you're full. So I think volume can play a big, big role in that. So again, thinking about like protein number one, but then [00:12:00] filling up with like some good fiber, you get a lot of volume, you get a gentle stretch, which again kind of shuts that ghrelin down.
ke, I'm sitting here and I'm [:And we have a desire to eat that it's moving through our system and our body's response is, Hey, I'm hungry. You need to eat more. And I just know personally before surgery and even [00:12:45] sometimes after surgery, although it's not the same at all, I would eat some food be full. And then a few minutes later, you know, 30 minutes later, I'm like, Oh my God, I'm hungry again.
y and my worry and my panic. [:Kayla Girgen: Right. And the volume factor to a lot of the slider foods. I mean, it's just, they're not, you know, one nutrient dense, but that's why you can put down like, you know, a whole package of chips or [00:13:30] crackers or things like that, that really digest and you don't get that volume. Which can be scary. Yeah.
April: Yes. Oh, right.
ry. So if you're not getting [:Kayla Girgen: And you had mentioned anxiety too. So like that increasing anxiety that can be, you know, it's probably a little bit of a you know, mental freak [00:14:00] out going, Oh my gosh, I just ate this.
get a big spike. And then on [:It can make you hungry shortly after eating. Yeah, you get maybe like reactive hypoglycemia. We see sometimes, especially with cases like gastric bypass to where [00:14:30] things, you know, just your anatomy and set up where you're absorbing things so much faster.
April: Oh, my God. So it's really like a triple quadruple with this.
ice skating Olympics, a quad [:I can have a protein chip and it's 20 grams of protein. So I'm like, I'm absolutely hitting, you know, my, my protein goals, but I guess what I'm really starting to understand from this conversation is I need to go beyond [00:15:15] asking myself about those protein goals. And I really need to start having a conversation about what is this going to do?
[:Kayla Girgen: And I think that that's almost like, I think folks after bariatric surgery, like that marketing is so heavy [00:15:45] towards them to like, Oh, you can get this product.
at's the level of processing [:Yeah. Which aren't going to quite as satisfied.
, Kayla, the last time I was [:And I was like, Oh, that looks so good. And it's high in protein. And I literally, me. Look like an [00:16:30] idiot in target because I put it in my car and then I was like, no, no, no, it's just, it's not. And then I put it, I mean, I was in target in target and I'm like, oh my God, what am I doing? I did not make the 13, uh, cereal purchase, but it was a [00:16:45] real struggle for me to have that conversation with myself about whether or not I was going to do that because yeah, it's cereal and I want to have cereal and oh, look, this has protein.
e back of my brain was like, [:Kayla Girgen: mortgage, you know, with all of the different protein products.
[:April: They're so expensive. And I think literally that was the reason I put it back the first time because I walked down that aisle and I was like, Ooh, grabbed it and then saw 1399. And I was like, yeah, I knew. No, no. And then did the back and [00:17:30] forth. But right. Yeah, it is expensive. And Yeah.
. Right? So, yeah, I started [:Natalie: Mm-Hmm. .
lly does get you. But, yeah, [:[00:18:15] Is it going to mess with my hormones? What's what is this going to do to my blood sugar? Those are actually questions that are much more beneficial for us in the long run than what we initially see with our eyes.
dy's just going to get their [:So I think it's certainly helpful and it's just nice to have that balance. Like maybe if you are going to have something that's more like a slider food again, just pairing it with something that's got a little bit more roughage or something that's going to be a little bit more [00:18:45] substantial.
April: Yes. Well, and, and again, it goes back to, you know, we, we know that after surgery, we are going to have to do things differently.
ave to live differently. Um, [:And I know we're talking about this often in, in the Berry Nation community. There is a lot of anxiety. There's a lot of fear, right? Before surgery and after surgery about like, Oh my God, I have to learn to do absolutely everything all over again, or it's brand new and [00:19:30] nothing is going to be the same, but not in five years post op.
not, and you are having the [:You are not learning something [00:20:00] new. You are learning how to do something. You already know how to do in a different way. I don't know why that has just allowed me to access this calm or part of myself, I guess it takes the pressure off [00:20:15] of being perfect or not knowing what to do. And it also has opened up some new possibilities for me, because when I go and do something, and I think, oh, this feels.
Exactly the same. [:Kayla Girgen: And it's such a big mindset shift, I think, to like, I had heard it on another podcast. I think about how just like coming from a point of like taking better [00:21:00] care of yourself versus feeling like I have to do things this way. And you know, I think a lot of times too, I'm just helping people realize like, you've got to, for lack of a better term, you've got to learn how to eat like a normal person again.
ry, and I think just finding [:April: Yep. And the other thing that really struck me the other day.[00:21:30]
and every day. So, we can go [:I just do another pass through and I got 7 out of the [00:22:00] 10 things. I checked those off and I was like, cool. 70 percent and my brain instantly was like, you done messed up 70%. You are celebrating 70%. Like, what is wrong with you? You should only [00:22:15] be celebrating if it's, if it's 100 percent and it just caught me in my tracks because I couldn't believe that I was beating myself up over passing.
o you just get degrees? I am [:It's going to feel like. Doing the right thing, making the good decision just doesn't hit the same. And I just [00:23:00] thought, Oh my God, April, you are so true. We, we have this thing. I have this thing built up in my head that when I do everything right, I'm going to feel amazing. It's going to feel great. But then I go and do those things and I still don't feel great.[00:23:15]
Kayla Girgen: You're stressed out about doing all of those things, . Yes,
imes it doesn't feel good to [:Okay. Mm-Hmm. . But that's okay. I mean, it was just [00:23:45] this weird conversation that I was having with myself related to the thing that I'm doing that is aligned to my journey. Why can't I just, you know, be happy about that? And why do I have such a high expectation [00:24:00] for the feeling that I'm going to have when I do do it?
way that we think it's going [:Kayla Girgen: Yes. I love that. And I think too, I'll maybe add, I had a client tell me once and I I'll never [00:24:30] forget it. She's like, if you wake up with, 70 percent and you give all 70 percent like you gave 100 percent for the day, like, some days you're going to wake up with 90 percent and you give all 90 percent and, you know, some days you might, you know, fall short of whatever your 100 percent is, but I think just [00:24:45] recognizing, like, not every day is going to be 100%.
oing to look very different. [:Oh my goodness. All [00:25:15] right, well, Kayla, what's the one thing that you're hoping people are leaving this conversation with?
ed a few intersections today.[:But I think, like, just thinking about, you know, like, feeding yourself, I think, um, you know, really kind of connecting with, you know, whatever your food is, for example. So, I think that, you know, one thing that I've really [00:25:45] recognized lately is trying to, like, we think, like, quick and convenient is always better.
some of your food rules that [:For example, I think for, [00:26:15] again, it's like we think. If a meal is going to take more than 20 minutes, why bother or, you know, that, that it's, you know, make it a family affair, like light some candles, listen to a podcast, or, you know, it's not bad to spend time in the kitchen. And when you're, you know, putting that work into your plate, I think you have, [00:26:30] again, like some of those physical rewards, like we talked about, you get some of those hormonal benefits, but then you also feel satisfied that you're proud of the work that you put in.
that's a form of self care. [:April: Agreed. And I'm certainly leaving this conversation with so many more tools that I can tap into [00:27:00] when I am making a decision about what I'm choosing to eat and why I'm choosing to eat it.
p enjoying those things, but [:And if you're listening and you're watching this episode, you are doing the same thing too. This is literally how you do the things that you already know how to do differently. We all know how to eat, but we are learning to [00:27:45] eat differently. And our why for the choices that we make can be different as well.
l of these things. So I very [:Um, [00:28:15] so I, I appreciate that. Thank you.
Kayla Girgen: Yes, my pleasure. Thank you for having me. Hey, that
ing and you're watching this [:So. Go to Spotify or listen to this, this episode there on that channel, and then comment on the episode and we'll see it. And I can pass that question on to Kayla. Maybe she'll even join us again for a podcast episode where we can answer your question. [00:29:00] The other opportunity that you have Kayla is an expert in the very nation membership community.
She leads monthly Q and a's and she teaches classes in 1 that you have coming up in December. It's a monthly. A macros master class, correct?
Kayla Girgen: Yes, [:But then I also, I can't help myself, I have to like throw in some blood sugar stuff too. So we talk about how the different macronutrients [00:29:30] impact your blood sugar, how things like grazing and slider foods, like some of those things that we talked about today, we dive a little bit deeper too.
April: It's a phenomenal class.
to pop into a zoom, ask your [:So you can go to one of Kayla's classes, learn about the, the science behind. Your hunger, right, [00:30:00] eating and all that kind of stuff. And then you can hop into a support group that's led by a bariatric therapist. So if you are right, struggling with bariatric eating, you need that nutritional support, but you also might need that mindset support, right?
an attend a group that's led [:So, [00:30:30] right, we all recognize that this bariatric life, the eating that we do, the things that we are learning to do differently involves approaching it from multiple facets. And in Berry Nation, you can really find that you can get that expert support in those other areas and bring [00:30:45] them all together in your own Life.
ded to shout that out. Kayla [:You, you really do all the things, my friend, you are everywhere, all on all the places. Yes. [00:31:15] But you know, you got, you got to do what you got to do to support people. So if you are interested in working with Kayla, you want to know more about her, her community. You want to know more about Bari Nation. Or you have that follow up question that you would love us to address.
ify, go to barination.mn.co, [:Um, yeah. Kayla, maybe quickly on Instagram, where can people follow you on Instagram
Yes, I'm at Kayla Gergen RD [:April: also, she's also a rucking expert, FYI. So if you have been curious about rucking, Weighted walking.
is your guru for that. She's [:Thank you. Bye.
g episode of the Bari Nation [:Natalie: Join us at barination.mn.co. If [00:33:00] you found this podcast valuable, help us produce it by becoming a 5 monthly supporter at berrynationpodcast. com.
we'll see you next time. Bye [: