The average American woman will spend 17 years of her life on a diet, but only a fifth of us will maintain weight loss for a year or longer. We’ve been told that our value is determined by our looks and, while we know that this is bullshit, we still tend to believe it.

When you prioritize weight loss over your health as a whole, it never pays off in the long run, and it can actually create additional metabolic problems. So you end up worse off than when you started. Excess weight is not a problem in and of itself, but instead it’s a symptom of whatever else is going on.

Mainstream medicine likes to treat each symptom individually, in a vacuum. Functional medicine and functional nutrition looks at where the problem is originating from and works to restore that foundational balance so that the symptoms can resolve. That’s why I’m so against the calories-in/calories-out advice we hear everywhere: it’s grossly oversimplified.

• Diets don’t teach you how to navigate everyday life without a structured plan.
• A meal plan won’t serve you well if you go out to dinner with family, a client, on a vacation, or really anywhere away from your kitchen.
• If someone is dictating what you eat, you won’t learn how to make empowered decisions that take your unique situation into account.

How do you learn to plan ahead and food prep in ways that will work for you?

• Move away from processed foods.
• Find what foods agree with you and don’t by paying attention to how you feel for a few hours after you eat.
• Don’t overly restrict yourself.
• Try switching to an organic version of a favorite processed food before trying to eliminate it entirely.
• Be kind to yourself and give yourself grace.

It’s not about perfection. It’s about being consistent and making choices that honor your body more often than not. 

If you’re looking for support in reaching your health goals, schedule a free 30-minute Coffee Talk here to see if we’re a good fit to work together.

References:

Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders - Statistics

Diet culture is everywhere. Here's how to fight it

Special Diets Among Adults: United States, 2015–2018

Fad Diets: Lifestyle Promises and Health Challenges

Is Your HEC in Check? Hormones Vs. Calories by Dr. Jade Teta

Connect with me on Instagram @joliverwellness! DM me the words “Nutrition Edit” and I’ll add you to my close friends list, where I share exclusive content. You’ll be the first to know about upcoming programs and early access to my waitlist.

Music credit: Funk’d Up by Reaktor Productions

A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Hello, beautiful people and welcome back.

Today I wanna talk about dieting and why another diet is not the answer.

So some staggering statistics here for you.

The average American woman will spend about 17 years of her life being on a.

, at least that was the average back in 2012.

That's nearly two decades of our lives that we spend trying to lose weight,

and only about 20% or one fifth of us will manage to maintain any weight

loss for at least one year or longer.

Our whole lives we've been told by society, magazines, the

media, and even other women, that our value lies in our looks.

We believe that if we were just prettier or thinner, that we'd

be happy, successful, and we're deserving of love somehow, right?

Most of us know intellectually that this is bullshit, and thankfully

we're entering a new era of body positivity where we're starting to see

all kinds of body types in the media.

But in our hearts, many of us still believe this lie, that our value is

determined by our looks, and we keep trying to make ourselves smaller, take

up less space, and fit into some physical ideal that is usually unrealistic.

And while losing weight might be a genuine need for some of you to

reclaim your health and feel your best, it never be your sole focus.

Now, I realize that this may sound really foreign to you, and it might

even be contrary to what a doctor has told you in the past, but when

you prioritize weight loss over your health as a whole, it never pays off

in the long run, and it can actually create additional metabolic problems.

So you end up worse off than when you started.

And here's the.

Excess weight is not a standalone problem.

It can be a symptom of many underlying causes, and if you learn to give

your body what it needs and you stop abusing it or insulting it, you can

actually address those causes and start to make peace with your body.

Mainstream medicine loves to treat symptoms and look at each

body system in a vacuum, right?

But in functional medicine and in functional nutrition, We try to look

for where the problem is originating from, and then we work to restore

balance at the foundational level.

Once that balance is restored, usually the symptoms go away.

We also like to look at the body as a whole versus as

individual systems because.

Every system in your body is interconnected.

So dysfunction in one area can affect other systems and functions,

and this is why I am always hating on the calories and calories out

philosophy because it's way too reductionist a way of looking at things.

You know, we've been told for decades just to eat less and exercise more, but that's

a ridiculously oversimplified approach.

It's basically the health equivalent of using a rotary phone when

you have an iPhone available to.

, and that's not my analogy.

I stole that from someone else, and I thought it was brilliant because

it makes perfect sense basically.

It's extremely limited and it only works to a point, right?

Like you can make a phone call with that Roary phone, but you can't text

somebody, you can't check your email.

You know, it has one basic job that it'll do, but beyond that, You're outta luck.

So the just eat less and exercise more.

And a lot of the other nutrition and fitness advice out there often works

for men or for women that are in their twenties or younger, but it typically

does not work for women long term from about our mid thirties and beyond.

And it also does not work for men who want to really increase muscle

mass and maintain healthy hormone.

Our bodies are really, really complex, especially the female body, and there are

a multitude of factors that influence how your met metabolism functions or how your

body uses and stores fuel and nutrients.

even much of the latest data that we find on fasting and ketogenic diets

comes from studies that are using college aged white male subjects.

I think all of you would probably agree that the body of a college stage

male is probably very, very different.

A very different machine than ours.

Meaning, you know, those of women in their thirties are beyond.

So we really need to get away from trying to eat an exercise like men.

You'll hear me.

Repeat this over and over, and we need to learn what works to help us

create healthy and strong, resilient minds and bodies, and also just to

meet our bodies in whatever stage of life that we're in right now.

, and this is the problem with one size fits all fad diets and trends.

They do not take into account your unique body chemistry, life experiences,

mental health, lifestyle, et cetera.

And most importantly, they don't help you create a healthier

relationship with food or your body.

If they did help you shift your mindset away from diet culture, that

would mean billions of dollars lost by the diet and fitness industry.

So keeping you in that system is actually the goal.

I believe one of, if not the most important problems is

that diets don't teach you.

How to navigate everyday life without the rigidity of a structured plan.

Now, I'm not saying that you should have zero structure cuz everybody is

different when it comes to planning ahead.

Some people are good at improvising and making healthy

choices on the fly and others.

Definitely need more structure to stay consistent.

I find that most people do need that structure at the beginning at least.

but again, you know, everybody's completely different and there are a

lot of factors that come into play here.

So, you know, we've gotta plan for these things time wise.

I mean, there's grocery shopping, you've gotta work around work schedule.

Kids, if you've got kids, travel your social life.

These are all important considerations when it comes to how much planning you

need to do and how structured it will.

. I also think that finite structured programs definitely have a time and a

place, and I even offer a few of these because they can be really good way

to help someone create good habits, untangle habits that are not serving

them well, and start feeling better in a relatively short period of time.

And often when you realize that, Hey, I, I can eat delicious food and not be hungry

all the time and still get results, that can be really motivating and it can make

things just a lot easier moving forward after that point because you know what

it's like to feel good for once, right?

And it's exciting to see those changes.

Also, when it comes to cravings or sugar addiction, those are things that

you can break free of in as little as a few days, you know, depending on.

your level of dependency on, you know, sugar, caffeine, things like that.

And once those cravings are under control, things are a lot easier from then on out.

I can definitely attest to this for myself that when I stay off of sugar

for a few days, it's kind of, you know, rough at first, but man, you

know, they go away pretty quickly.

Those cravings.

also I, I will say that I think being flexible and having a really good

plan B or fallback option is key to long term success when it comes

to creating a healthy lifestyle.

I do not offer ongoing meal plans to my clients, and here's why.

If you are always relying on meal plans, especially those that are

created by someone else, what are you going to do when you go to a

dinner party or you're on a cruise?

Or you're eating out when on vacation or out of town, or taking clients to a meal.

A meal plan is not gonna serve you well in those settings.

And if someone else is always dictating what you eat, it will prevent you

from figuring out a way of eating that is custom tailored for you and

your unique, set of circumstances.

For example, I don't have kids.

I rarely travel for.

and I lift weights for exercise most days.

So if I create a meal plan that works for me and my schedule and takes into

consideration, My food sensitivities preferences, my training goals, et cetera.

It may not work for all of my clients, especially my client who maybe she

has three kids, she travels a lot for work and she's doing yoga three

days a week, when she can fit it in.

So my point here is that you have a lot more success in the long run

if you learn to eat and exercise.

And plan ahead or food prep in ways that work for you, your body, and

your lifestyle, not someone else's.

So how do we do this ? Well, I think a really good place to start is simply

by moving away from processed foods.

Whole 30 is a really great example that.

Is a good way of getting people away from eating fast foods, processed foods, but

I find that many people found it to be too big of a leap to make, and for some

people it's unnecessarily restrictive.

For example, some people do just fine with legumes and or some grains in their diets,

while others are much better off without.

I know I don't tolerate grains very well.

I am gluten intolerant, legumes turning me into a gas bomb . So those

are not foods that serve me well.

and just some ways to tell if certain foods do agree with you or don't.

Is by noticing just how you feel over the next couple of hours after eating them.

So do you feel gassy or bloated?

Do you get that distended belly or food baby feeling?

do you get really tired shortly after eating, or do you get

brain fog and do you feel hungry again within a couple of hours?

Any or all of these are signs that a food is not serving you well,

and a good way to help you connect the dots between specific foods and

symptoms is by keeping a food diary.

Um, I know that a lot of people are hesitant to do that because it's one other

thing, you know, to schedule in their day, but if you were having any kind of,

you know, gut health issues or symptoms after eating, you know, you're struggling

with any of those things that I mentioned.

skin is another thing that's a really common issue.

If people have food sensitivities, they will get breakouts.

It can flare.

Things like eczema and psoriasis, they'll just sometimes get itchy skin or hives.

So it's really, really helpful to keep a food diary because then

you can kind of go back and see like, Oh, okay, you know what?

That day I had a bunch of dairy and I broke out the next day or two

days later, or whatever it might.

and then you can kind of adjust your, your diet according.

And by diet I mean like overall nutrition, , not short term diet.

This is what we're trying to get away from.

And then also while eating primarily whole unprocessed foods is always

the goal, I don't think it's necessary to avoid anything and

everything that comes in a package.

I think that that is overly restrictive.

And I think that for a lot of people, having a really

rigid rule, like absolutely no process or packaged foods is.

It just puts them over the edge and it makes them feel like it's

impossible to do this right.

You know?

I think we should always try to choose minimally processed foods, but you know,

having some gluten free crackers or chips now and then is not going to kill us.

It's when these foods become staples and we're eating them all

the time, that they're problematic.

And the good news here is that once you do start eating a real Whole Foods,

Diet for the most part, your tastes will actually start to change and you will find

those real foods more and more appealing.

The junky process stuff will become much less desirable when you start to

feel better, because really here you're giving your body what it needs versus

just eating what your brain wants in the moment, and the more that you practice.

You know, the more that you'll crave the good stuff, the less that you'll crave

the bad stuff and the easier it will get to make choices that serve you well and

the less tempting the other stuff will.

And I speak from experience here as a recovering sugar addict.

I can tell you that the less often that I eat it, the less I crave it.

Don't get me wrong, I still indulge in a sweet treat now and then, and I

have a little dark chocolate almost every day, but I no longer binge on

cookies or candy like I used to, and I really don't have a desire to anymore.

Which, let me tell you, if you had told me that, that those words

would ever come out of my mouth.

You know, 20 years ago, I would've laughed in your face because I

never thought that I could be free of my addiction to those things.

but if I can do it, you can too.

You know, most Americans are eating diets that consist primarily of these highly

processed foods, and you may be one of those people, or you may just have some

of these foods that you eat regularly.

I find that my clients have a much easier time moving away from these

foods often by first switching to a cleaner or organic version of that

food before eventually eliminating it, or only having it once in a while.

Why is that?

So usually these highly processed foods will contain different chemicals, flavor

enhancers, things like msg which can masquerade under a multitude of names.

These ingredients, these additives and chemicals actually

make these foods addictive.

It's what creates that.

You can't eat just one effect.

So many organic foods do not use those additives.

So when you're looking for something to switch like that, um, like let's

use craft mac and cheese as an example.

Start getting used to reading ingredients on your label.

If you read the label of craft mac and cheese and you compared that to

maybe the organic Annie's mac and cheese, um, The Annie's mac and cheese

is still not a health food by Annie.

Stretch the imagination.

But you're gonna have a lot fewer of those, you know, weird additives,

flavor enhancers, things like that.

Same will go for, you know, tortilla chips, crackers, all of those things.

So just start moving towards products that are.

Um, ideally organic, but also have very few ingredients so the

fewer ingredients the better.

And try to choose things where you actually know what those ingredients are.

And they're not mystery words that mean nothing to you because usually

that's indicative of something that we probably shouldn't be

eating if we don't know what it is.

Now this does not work for everybody.

You may need to quit certain foods, cold Turkey.

So be honest with yourself and know.

Those foods that you can't eat, just a little bit of may need

to be out completely, or they'll end up sabotaging your goals.

So I'm not immune to this either.

There are two categories of foods that I do not buy or keep in the house.

One is what I consider binge foods.

Those are the foods that once I start, I can't stop.

It's a slippery slope.

And you know, I really have a hard time eating a reasonable serving of those.

That's what I would call a binge food.

Two trigger foods.

The difference here is it trigger food.

Maybe you don't overeat that food, but it triggers cravings for other things.

And so you end up going overboard with other things because that food sort

of set off this, this cascade effect.

Um, and to be clear, I don't avoid these binge and trigger foods because

I'm necessarily concerned about the amount of calories they have,

although sure, that can be a problem.

But the real problem here is that these foods are really high in sugar

or starchy carbs, which makes me crave more sugar, and they really have a

negative effect on my mental health.

I find if I'm eating more of these high glycemic foods, which again, this is the

term you'll hear me referring to a lot.

High glycemic foods are things that give you a big old blood

sugar spike and then a crash.

Those can make me really anxious.

And you know, if you're someone that deals with anxiety or you've

dealt with depression, insomnia, other issues with blood sugar

regulation, these are not your friend.

So, for me, I avoid those because they do make me feel anxious and then

I feel, I get really down on myself.

I feel really disappointed in the choice I made because I

know it didn't serve me well.

I feel crappy physically.

and then it sort of, you know, has this awful knock on effect.

So, I'm better now at not beating myself up if I choose something that

doesn't serve me well, and I bounce back a lot faster, and I make those,

you know, poor choices far, far less frequently now than I used to.

So, you know, it's, it takes some time and you just have to be kind to

yourself and give yourself grace and remind yourself like, okay, no big deal.

Didn't love that choice for me.

Didn't work out so great.

But that's all right.

, I'll make a different choice next time.

So, you know, for me too, I, and maybe some of you can relate to this, I

really don't wanna go back to the place either in reality or in my mind to

when I used to eat an entire package of double stuff Oreos, and feel so

physically sick and disgusted with myself that I would make myself throw

it up and then I would continue to beat myself up over it for three days.

You know, it was.

Terrible, and it really took a while to get to the place where I know that

the momentary pleasure of something is simply not worth the trade off

for the cascade of effects it causes mentally and physically for me.

You can get there too.

It just does take some determination, and dedication to really just treating

yourself with respect and nurture.

And so I always wanna bring it back to that respect and

nurturing your body and your mind.

I think the bottom line here is that if you can really get curious,

start paying attention to how your body responds to different foods,

and then experiment and see what level of structure is best for you.

That's how you will create an actual sustainably healthy lifestyle for yourself

is by being really honest with yourself.

You know, taking note of what works, what doesn't.

What level of structure do you work best with?

What tools do you have to stay on track when you are out of routine, traveling,

um, in someone else's home, et.

So this is sort of an aside, but I also think it's important to learn

how to improvise a healthy meal when you have minimal time or ingredients.

Because just like relying on a meal plan, sometimes relying

on a recipe isn't possible and.

I feel like sometimes the like following a recipe adds just enough extra time

and brain power that I wanna say, you know, fuck it, I wanna get takeout.

Like I don't have that level of metal energy left at the end of the day.

So learning how to stock your fridge, your freezer, and your pantry with items

that can be used to whip up something super fast and easy and flavorful.

This is one of the first things I teach my clients and it can be a game changer.

One example I always use for this is cauliflower rice.

I always keep frozen organic cauliflower rice in my freezer because I can throw

the entire bag in a skillet with some avocado oil straight from frozen.

Don't need to thaw it, and then I'll add my seasoning of choice.

and then we have a big old pan of veggies in less than five minutes.

So, you know, I keep all kinds of different seasoning salts.

I have a really lovely curry powder that I'll put in there,

maybe with some coconut milk.

I mean, there's a multitude of things that you can do to sh it up and

make it really flavorful and simple.

Simple to do.

then also when we cook protein, we'll make enough for two to three meals,

and that way we have something that we can heat up quickly when we need it.

Someday.

I'll do a whole episode on food prep because I think it's really

easy to be intimidated when you see pictures of people in social media

who, you know, they've done their meal prep for an entire week and

they have all the little containers.

That can take an entire day or more.

And I don't know about you, but I do not wanna spend my entire weekend

in the kitchen doing meal prep.

Forget about it.

it's one thing if that's your full time job and you're a bodybuilder and

you have time to devote to that or you genuinely enjoy it, more power to you.

I don't know who you are, but more power to you . That is not me, and that

is definitely not most of my clients.

My pro tip for you here.

The best thing I think that you can do is just wash and chop up your

veggies and store them in glass containers so they're ready to cook.

That way when you do go to cook something, everything's ready to go.

You just throw it in a pan.

And if you make enough for more than one meal, you then have leftovers for later.

It'll save you a ton of time.

You'll only have one setup and one cleanup for your prep.

If you make extra, you'll have, you know, food.

To work with you for lunch the next day or to heat it for dinner the next

day when you don't, you know, wanna go through cooking an entire meal, et cetera.

It just makes life so much easier and it'll save you

hours during your work week.

And I usually spend, it only takes me maybe a half an hour, 45 minutes

to do that with all my veggies on, you know, a Sunday or a Monday night.

And then I've got everything I need for the week.

At first, when you start doing this, it'll take you a little longer,

but it'll get quicker as you go and as you kind of get a system.

in our house we also have a rule that if one person cooks, the other

person does the cleanup, and we rarely, rarely deviate from this.

It really helps for the cooking to not feel so overwhelming and it prevents a

lot of resentment between the two of us.

So I highly recommend trying it out.

You know, last week we were getting ready to have company at the house and

my husband had done like a bunch of crazy yard work projects, and so that

day I was happy to do the cooking.

And the cleanup afterwards.

And he's done the same for me at different times when I've just, you know, either

been wiped out or had a ton going on and he's done the cooking and the cleaning.

So there are times when it makes sense to deviate from that.

But in general, I think it's a really good rule, and especially if

you have kids, get them involved, get them to help wash veggies if

they're too young to use knives.

once they're old enough to use knives, they can help you cut.

They can help you pick out produce at the market.

The more they get involved, the more they want to eat healthy food as well.

And recruit them for cleanup also, it teaches them really good habits

and gives them some ownership when it comes to, you know, healthy

food and, and eating, eating well.

So getting back to the dieting thing, it really all comes down to mindset.

And if you're always thinking about a program or a way of eating in terms of

when you're starting and when you're finishing, You're gonna remain stuck

in that cycle of going hog wild before you start to have a last harrah.

Sound familiar?

has not done that before.

I know I have.

And then falling back into your old habits, as soon as that program or diet is

done, or is over, the shift takes place.

When you start to think in terms of creating a new lifestyle for yourself,

and you learn to eat in a way that serves you well, that makes you feel good, it

helps you stay focused and energetic.

Fuels your body for the activities you enjoy, and of course also

helps you reach your health goals.

Can you see how that's different from just striving to reach

for a number on the scale?

And it's not about perfection.

I really wanna drive this point home.

It's.

Not about perfection.

It's about being consistent and making choices that honor your body.

More often than not, nobody, not one person, not even those of us

who do nutrition as a profession.

No one eats perfectly all the time, and if you allow yourself to get

stuck in that all or nothing mindset where you're either all in and you

know, on the diet wagon bandwagon.

Or off and the wheels are off the bus and you're completely off track,

you're setting yourself up for failure.

I always say that success is found in the gray area.

It's not black or white.

So if you get off track and you're not happy with the

choice you made, no big deal.

You're literally only one choice away from being right back

on track at any given time.

So go back to what works and then just keep practicing it.

It will get easier.

For the love of God, please stop trying to work out harder and

eat fewer and fewer calories.

Ugh.

When we try to push our bodies harder and we fuel them less, what happens is

we end up gaining weight in the long run and we feel increasingly depleted

instead of getting gleaner and healthier.

You know, professional athletes, of course, who wouldn't wanna look, you know,

lean and ripped and toned like an athlete.

They don't eat less and exercise more news flash . So why would

you, if that's the look that you're going for, they're fueling for

performance, right, And recovery, and this pushing harder, fueling less.

I see this all the time.

The clients who I call my cardio queens, these are people who come to

me and they're doing five to six days of high intensity cardio workouts.

Often an hour long and they're eating like 1500 calories a day or less.

But for some reason, they cannot lose fat to save their lives.

They all complain about like, I just have this belly fat, I can't get rid of.

Why?

What's wrong?

And it's because they're not fueling their body for recovery and for performance.

So the body gets really good at conserving and you know, Down regulating, fat loss

and everything to compensate for that.

So again, the eat less exercise more thing, it's just way oversimplified.

It doesn't work long term and it definitely does not instill love and

respect for your amazing complex body . So I really want to, you know, leave

you with that and just encourage you to start thinking differently about.

Food and about exercise and focusing on a number on the scale and allowing

that to dictate your mood for the day.

You know how valuable you feel, your self-esteem.

Honestly, it's it's bad data in the first place.

It doesn't tell you how much body fat you have, how much lean muscle mass you have,

what your bone density is looking like.

It really doesn't give you any good information, and it can just

be an emotional roller coaster.

So, , I encourage you to, to move away from that mentality and start

thinking about, you know, learning how to best nurture and honor your body.

And you know, my goal, as I'm sure I've said before, and we'll say again, my

goal with this podcast and my practice is always to empower you with the information

of resources to help you stop measuring your worth by a number on the scale

and stop comparing yourself to others.

So, That is all for today, . It was a long winded one, but I hope

you found this episode helpful and I'd love to hear your thoughts.

So take care of you and I will see you next time.