Episode 2

How Did We Get Here?

How did our grandparents’ generation have so much less chronic illness than we do now? Why has been on the rise over the last century, sharpened in the last couple of decades?

In this episode, I will discuss the societal, environmental, and internal circumstances that can contribute to our ill health, and ways we can minimize their impact. 

Listen for more about:

  • Instant gratification and what that has done to our food supply
  • High glycemic and ultra-processed foods and why they’re so much more prevalent now
  • The “low fat” disaster
  • Carcinogens, obesigens, toxins, and how to help our bodies detoxify more efficiently

  • Surprise - chronic stress is bad!

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.

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.


Mentioned in the show:

A Whole New Level Podcast with Dr. Robert Lustig

Environmental Working Groups’ 2022 Dirty Dozen and Clean 15


References:

Holtcamp W. Obesogens: an environmental link to obesity. Environ Health Perspect. 2012 Feb;120(2):a62-8. doi: 10.1289/ehp.120-a62. PMID: 22296745; PMCID: PMC3279464.

https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/assets/docs/j_q/phthalates_the_everywhere_chemical_handout_508.pdf

Shahnazaryan U, Wójcik M, Bednarczuk T, Kuryłowicz A. Role of Obesogens in the Pathogenesis of Obesity. Medicina (Kaunas). 2019 Aug 21;55(9):515. doi: 10.3390/medicina55090515. PMID: 31438630; PMCID: PMC6780315.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/22/chemicals-in-cosmetics-us-restricted-eu

https://www.cato.org/commentary/examining-americas-farm-subsidy-problem 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7694501/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2235907/

https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/pfc/index.cfm

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/stress/art-20046037

Music credit: Funk’d Up by Reaktor Productions

A Podcast Launch Bestie production

Transcript
Jeannie Oliver:

Hello there.

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And welcome back to the nutrition.

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Edit.

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I am your host, Jeanie Oliver, functional nutrition and lifestyle coach.

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And today we're gonna talk about some of our modern day struggles with health

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and wellness and how we got here with all of our modern technology and our

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understanding of science in the body.

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Why is it that our grandparents and great grandparents generation had fewer

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chronic illnesses and didn't struggle with obesity the way that we do.

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Well, the short answer is that our food supply culture and environmental

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exposures have changed drastically over the last a hundred years or so.

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And not for the better, of course, it's much more complex than that, but today

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I'm gonna touch on just a few of the major causes of our current state of health

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that have plenty of research behind them.

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I think it's helpful for us to understand how we ended up here and

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what forces are at work so that we can change the narrative and start making

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more empowered choices for ourselves.

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So, first off, let's talk a little bit about mindset because our

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brains are the ones driving the best after all, when it comes to our

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motivation and decision making and.

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We find ourselves living in a time where nearly every single thing in

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our lives is available at the touch of a button or the click of a mouse.

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If we can't get what we want immediately, we can probably

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get it in the next day or so.

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And we don't even have to leave our houses to get it.

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You know, marketers and manufacturers have capitalized on our desire for quick and

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easy, especially in the food industry.

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And as a result, we've lost our connection with earth and our

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connection with the food that we.

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Our ancestors simply did not have the conveniences that we do now.

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So it took a lot more physical effort and time for them to

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procure food and everything else that they needed for daily life.

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And many of us Americans rarely cook our own food anymore because we can outsource

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it right to meal delivery services, restaurants, and fast food change.

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And don't misunderstand me.

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I love to eat out sometimes, and there are some wonderful food delivery services

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out there who are doing things right.

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But the point is that we no longer have to physically work to get our food delayed

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gratification in general is something that is pretty foreign to many of us nowadays,

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whether it's with food or entertainment or even dating, we're also bombarded by

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social media and images of befores and afters, but we rarely see the in between

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or how people got to that after picture.

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And sure there are reality TV stars.

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Social media influencers who are famous and presumably rich for, you know, doing

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absolutely nothing of value and getting famous overnight, but more often than

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not, those overnight sensations have put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears

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before they became successful or famous.

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You know, this is dangerous because while we may wish that we had our dream

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physique or career or relationship, we may not be willing to put the

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time and effort into achieving.

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Or doing what it takes to get there.

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And we may not even have any concept of what it takes to achieve that goal.

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This desire for everything to be quick and easy is reinforced by the media.

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It's reinforced by our social circles and our culture at large, which

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in turn makes it tougher to stay consistent when working towards our

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goals, because it requires patients.

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Right.

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in addition to our disconnection, with our food and our quick fix

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instant gratification culture, the food supply itself has changed a lot.

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I remember when I was little.

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Growing up with a single mom, we got a lot of our food from

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local churches and food banks.

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And back then in the mid seventies in California, most of what we got was fresh,

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produce some beans and rice, maybe some canned foods and the occasional dairy

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products thrown in there processed and packaged foods like cereals and sweets

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were a luxury for us because those were more expensive than the fresh food.

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But sadly exactly the opposite is true.

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Now.

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Not only are inexpensive foods, highly processed, but they're

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actually made to be addictive.

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The food industry has done a great job of creating and effectively marketing

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foods that are what I call hyper flavored.

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These foods are really cheap to produce.

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They're lacking in any real nutritional value and they're addictive to

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make sure you keep buying them.

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It's that, you know, you can't eat just one kind of phenomen.

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You'll hear me use the term high glycemic a lot throughout this podcast.

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And just to clarify, high glycemic foods are foods and drinks that cause

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a dramatic spike in blood glucose.

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When you eat or drink them, you might also know these as empty calorie

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foods because they have calories, but no significant nutritional value.

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And examples of these are things like, you know, mostly processed grains like chips,

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crackers, cookies, bread, noodles, candy.

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Sodas, any kind of sweet and drink.

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Those kinds of things, these highly processed high-glycemic

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foods and beverages are also now the least expensive, easiest

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access foods available in the us.

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And some are so processed that they don't actually meet the definition

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of the word food and food is defined as any nutritious substance that

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people or animals eat or drink.

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Or absorb in order to maintain life and growth.

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And these items are neither nutritious nor do they maintain life or growth.

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So, you know, by definition they're not actually real food and we can spend

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hours talking about big agriculture in the us and crop subsidies.

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But the bottom line is that crops like corn, soy, wheat, and rice are

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highly subsidized by the government.

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So they're the most abundantly produced and consumed usually in

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the form of these ultra processed.

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If you wanna hear a really fascinating, deep dive about this and how our food

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system in the us got so messed up.

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I highly recommend listening to episode 1 0 6 of the, a whole

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new level podcast with Dr.

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Robert Lustig.

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I'll put the link in the show notes for you, and I really

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encourage you to give it a listen.

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He explains how it started back in 1943.

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When the sugar research foundation started funding studies designed to

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show that sugar was not bad for us.

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I always say, follow the money.

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And this is especially true when it comes to research and scientific studies.

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Quote, unquote, if an industry is funding, the study chances are they want

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a favorable outcome and they actually have ways to manipulate that outcome.

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In the case of sugar, the industry sugar industry specifically bought off

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scientists and critics to sway their opinions and input on the food science and

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show quote, unquote scientific evidence.

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That sugar is not bad for us.

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This concept sounds vaguely familiar it's because that's

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exactly what political lobbyists do.

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And it's really common practice in the us, especially in big industries,

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you know, political lobbyists will donate to a candidate's campaign

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in exchange for the candidate.

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Voting in their favor, right?

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This is the same thing with, with research.

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They can actually manipulate these studies to produce a seemingly

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favorable outcome for whatever is going to fatten their bottom line.

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And those of you who like me lived through the eighties and nineties, you'll

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remember the whole low fat diet craze.

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We were told that fat was the enemy when it came to weight gain and heart disease.

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So food manufacturers, what they did was they took out the fat and

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they added in extra sugar instead.

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And.

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It's funny because often these foods, when they took out the fat and added

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an extra sugar, they now had more calories than they did originally.

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And then they had less of the fat, which helps you feel more satiated.

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So here's a food that's higher calorie.

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It's going to actually stimulate more hunger and less satiation.

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And we were off and running.

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That was actually the start of what we see now with our epidemic of type two

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diabetes and other metabolic diseases.

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And again, in that, episode, he talks in detail about this.

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And it's really interesting.

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Another problem with these ultra processed foods is that not only are they bad

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for us, but they're highly addictive and they're designed to be that way.

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When we eat sugar, we actually release opioids and dopamine in our brains.

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So we get this short term little high when we eat them.

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Some experts now have said that sugar is as addictive as cocaine or more

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so, and I would argue that a cocaine addiction is actually much easier to be

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than a sugar or a food addiction because you can stop using cocaine, right.

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but you can't stop eating also sugar and high glycemic foods.

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Which, you know, turn into sugar quickly.

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Once we eat them, they are legal, they're cheap, they're easily accessible.

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And they're interfaces constantly.

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I mean, think of all the sugar, the candy and different convenience foods,

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chips that you see at checkout in a grocery store or something like target.

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It's just everywhere.

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And also, you know, most of us, hopefully don't have family members and friends

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who are pushing us to do cocaine, but it's super common for loved ones to,

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you know, push food on us and guilt us.

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If we don't eat whatever they've baked for us or for friends to

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pressure us to, you know, join in over that plate of nachos or mud pie.

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Which, you know, again, these things occasionally is an indulgence

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are a non-issue, but when they're staples of our regular diet, that's

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when we get in trouble healthwise.

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The good news here though, is that if we can afford sugar and hypoglycemic foods

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or minimize them, the cravings for them go away pretty quickly, especially if

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we're eating enough of the right foods.

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And by that, I mean, high fiber vegetables, protein and healthy fats.

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Another thing I wanna say on this subject is that we as humans have

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an innate need to self soothe.

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And if we have demanding jobs and stressful lives, without enough downtime

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and healthy pleasures built in, of course, we're gonna gravitate to these,

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you know, ballistic foods, sugar, alcohol, whatever other substance is

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gonna give us that moment of pleasure.

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And as a recovering emotional eater, I've found that it's incredibly

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important for me to have other ways to self soothe or relax or reward

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myself that don't involve food.

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This will look different for everyone.

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And I'll talk about this more, an episode about emotional eating, but some

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of the tools that I use are making a cup of calming herbal tea, especially

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right after work, when I'm just kind of wound up and need to shift gears

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snuggling with my pets, maybe going outside for a walk or some fresh air.

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Reading a really fun book.

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I have clients who like to, or meditate.

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Maybe they play an instrument.

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It really doesn't matter.

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As long as it's something that you enjoy and look forward to that creates

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a little bright spot in your day.

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Just start experimenting and see what works best for you.

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another thought on this, you know, these high glycemic and

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high sugar processed foods is that they are also very inflammatory.

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So the more that we eat, these, the more we stress our immune systems out.

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And the more prone that we are to disease, both transmissible diseases like viruses

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and non transmissible things like heart disease, cancer, these chronic illnesses.

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Toxicity also is a cause of inflammation.

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So I'm gonna briefly touch on toxic exposures today because it's

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something that we have to address if we wanna optimize our health.

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And if you're listening today, I know that that's a priority for you.

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Some of these toxic exposures, we have no control over, like those

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from air pollution are maybe, you know, tainted tap water.

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If you live in a certain area and you don't have access to good

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water filtration, Detoxification is a really, really big topic.

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So I'm gonna do a deep dive on that down the road, but for now I'm gonna cover

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some of the things that we can do to minimize exposures in our daily lives.

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You may not realize this, but just your normal routines of doing your

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hair, makeup, cleaning your house and doing your laundry can be a

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major source of toxic exposure.

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Women.

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We use an average of 13 products every day on our skin and hair.

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And many people assume that if something is available and for sale

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in the market, that it must be safe.

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I've had friends say this to me like, well, if it's for sale, isn't it.

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Hasn't it been tested for safety?

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And unfortunately, no, that's definitely not the case.

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It could not be further from the truth here in the.

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When it comes to cosmetics, the European union has banned over 1300 chemicals.

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The us has only banned 11 lead for Malda Hyde, which is a known carcinogen or

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cancer cause parabens and cold Tardis are some really common examples that are

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found in cosmetics here, but that have been banned in Canada and the EU for.

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phalates are another very common and problematic type of chemical.

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These are used as plasticizers and fragrance carriers, and we have a

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lot of research linking phalates to endometriosis in women, infertility

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in males increases in waste size and body mass index, um, birth defects and

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brain and behavior changes in, in kids thes are used as fragrance carriers.

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So they're found in almost anything that's perfume.

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And my fragrance lovers out there.

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This, I know this is bad news , but I just recommend using pure

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organic essential oils only.

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And that's a really good way to avoid these chemicals, that you be breathing

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all the time with these fragrances, your laundry dish, detergents, other

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cleaning products, deodorants hair products, soaps, hairspray, body

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lotions, face creams, even nail Polish.

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These are common things that contain the lates.

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They are found in most plastics and food containers.

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So I recommend always storing food in glass or stainless steel and never

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heating up your food in plastic or in anything with a non-stick liner.

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If you're eating a ton of takeout, food, this, you know, could be an issue for you.

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So, another good reason to cook at home or often.

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There's a guy named Scott Gotlieb and he is the former FDA commissioner.

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He was quoted in a 2019 guardian article and said, as follows to be clear, there

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are currently no legal requirements for any cosmetic manufacturer marketing

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products to American consumers to test their products for safety.

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This means that ultimately a cosmetic manufacturer can decide if they'd

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like to test their product for safety and register it with the FDA.

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So what that means is that it's basically up to companies to just self

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regulate, and I'm pretty willing to bet that the majority of them have no

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interest in spending the money to do this when they're not required to do it.

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Because of powerful industry lobbying and our regulatory system

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here that doesn't take action.

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Unless the proof of harm is unquestionable.

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We Americans are exposed to thousands of harmful chemicals

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that have been banned elsewhere.

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There are more than 40,000 chemicals on the market, in the us and out of those

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40,000 only six have been banned and the ones I wanna focus on or most for

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our purposes today are what we call EDCs or endocrine disrupting chemicals.

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By definition, these are chemicals that interfere.

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With the production release, transport metabolism, binding action, or

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elimination of natural hormones in the body responsible for the

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maintenance of homeostasis and the regulation of developmental processes.

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Ugh, is that a mouthful or what?

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Um, basically this just means that these chemicals mess with our hormones

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and they can screw up the body's ability to maintain health in general

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and healthy hormones and metabol.

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There are more than 1300 substances known as endocrine disrupting chemicals

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that we're exposed to regularly in either our food air or in products we

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use all the time, like our, our skin and hair products and then plastics,

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food, packaging, even paper register receipts often have, have BPA.

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Some of these compounds break down quickly, but many of them don't and they

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can accumulate over time in our bodies, in the soil air and water supplies over time.

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Um, there are also some manmade compounds called PFAS PFAS that

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we refer to as forever chemicals.

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And that's because they stay in the environment for an indefinite amount of.

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scientists have had a hard time defining any kind of halflife for

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these chemicals because they last so long and they're commonly found

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in non-stick coating on cookware.

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And then in fabrics and carpeting that are stain resistant, Orreal resistant.

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They're also found in flame retardants.

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Flame retardants we're exposed to most often from our mattresses,

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they're actually in most, most mattresses and beds.

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But nowadays there are a lot of organic mattresses available out

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there, you know, at varying price points that are flame retardant free.

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So another thing to keep in mind, You know, little exposures here and

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there, our bodies can deal with that, but our bodies were never meant to

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deal with the onslaught of toxins that we're exposed to today, which is why

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supporting our organs of detoxification is so crucial for our health.

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And, you know, if our bodies can't detox or eliminate toxins

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faster than they are accumulating, that's when we get in trouble.

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In a future episode, I'm gonna dive into what we can do to support our

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body's ability to detoxify properly.

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So stay tuned for that cuz that'll be a good one.

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And here's the thing.

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We store toxins in our fat cells.

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So if we can't.

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Detoxify quickly and effectively enough, what happens is we gain weight.

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We can develop weight loss, resistance, and also it can trigger

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autoimmune diseases and increase, our risk of chronic illnesses overall.

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So it's, it's bad news.

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There are also specific endocrine disrupting chemicals that

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actually promote weight gain.

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And we call these types of EDCs obesity genes.

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These either cause fat cells to grow larger or to increase in number and

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they promote fat storage, obesity genes can also interfere with hormone

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signaling for appetite and satiation.

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So they're bad news all around and of.

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1300 or so endocrine disrupting chemicals out there about 20 of

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these have been identified as obese.

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And some common ones that we see often or know about are parabins

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BPA and those ding faite again.

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So let's change gears a little bit and talk about farming.

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if you have worked with me before one on one, or if you've been following

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me for a while on social media, you know, that I feel really strongly

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about food sovereignty and protecting indigenous land and farming practices.

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This is something that is.

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A big and very important topic.

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So I'm gonna save this one for a future episode where we can really

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give it the time it deserves and I can bring on someone who's

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actually an expert in that area.

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But for now, I'll just say that agriculture has changed drastically

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over the last several decades.

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We've abandoned regenerative and traditional indigenous farming

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practices in favor of mono cropping and really heavy chemical use because

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of that toxic pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are commonly used.

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And they're extremely prevalent in our food supply.

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Some of these are obesity, gins, or endocrin disrupting chemicals, and

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some are listed by the world health organization as known carcinogens,

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meaning they cause cancer.

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So, this is why I encourage you to eat organic or biodynamic whenever possible.

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And look, organic food is certainly not perfect, but it is far better than

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conventionally grown food when it comes to the concentration of chemicals.

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And the more that we can reduce our exposure, the better I'm gonna read you

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a section of a steady published in 2012.

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That explains part of this and kind of this general trend that we.

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And it says as follows, obesity has risen steadily in the United States over the

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past 150 years with a market uptick in recent decades in the United States today,

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more than 35% of adults and nearly 17% of children age two to 19 years are obese

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obesity, plagues people, not just in the United States, but worldwide, including

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increasingly developing countries.

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Even animals, pets, laboratory animals, and urban rats have experienced increases

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in average body weight over the past several decades, trends not necessarily

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explained by diet and exercise.

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In the words of Robert edgeless St.

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A professor of clinical pediatrics at the university of California, San Francisco,

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even those at the lower end of the BMI, or be a body mass X curve are gaining weight.

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Whatever is happening is happening to everyone suggesting

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an environmental trigger.

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Many in the medical and exercise physiology communities remain wedded

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to poor diet and lack of exercise as the sole cause of obesity.

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However, researchers are gathering, convincing evidence of chemical

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obesity, genes, dietary, pharmaceutical, and industrial compounds that

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may alter metabolic processes and predispose some people to gain.

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So pretty interesting.

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And yet another argument against the, well, it's just about calories

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and calories out, you need to eat less and exercise more nonsense.

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We know that that that's just not the whole picture.

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I really wanna emphasize here that it's so important to keep

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perspective and not allow yourself to get fearful about all of this.

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It's impossible to avoid all of the potential toxic exposures and

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things that may be bad for us.

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So all we can do is be aware and make changes in the areas of our

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lives that we have control over.

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Right.

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And just decide not to stress about everything else, cuz you

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could drive yourself crazy.

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And speaking of stress, another major reason that we struggle so

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much with our weight in our health now is because most of us are living

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in a state of chronic stress and chronic stress is another factor.

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That's far more prevalent in our society over the last few generations,

Jeannie Oliver:

our whole work to live culture and unrealistic expectations for work hours

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and productivity have eaten away at our personal lives and created very little

Jeannie Oliver:

space for proper self care exercise, preparing nutritious food, et cetera.

Jeannie Oliver:

And depending on what industry you work in work, life balance may be

Jeannie Oliver:

kind of a joke, but it's something that we absolutely have to prioritize.

Jeannie Oliver:

If we wanna feel our best.

Jeannie Oliver:

I am here in Seattle, in the middle of the tech industry and you know,

Jeannie Oliver:

several companies who shall go unnamed.

Jeannie Oliver:

I know clients that work there and they're their work life balance.

Jeannie Oliver:

Pretty much nonexistent before we start working together, because that's the

Jeannie Oliver:

expectation, that's the culture there.

Jeannie Oliver:

So it's something that, you know, we need to shift.

Jeannie Oliver:

We need to see change on that, but it's, it's not gonna happen overnight.

Jeannie Oliver:

And, you know, often we think of stress as an emotional or psychological issue,

Jeannie Oliver:

but the reality is that it has far reaching physical implications too.

Jeannie Oliver:

If your nervous system perceives that you're in danger in some.

Jeannie Oliver:

Which is also known as chronic stress.

Jeannie Oliver:

It will dial down certain functions in your body and dial up others

Jeannie Oliver:

to prioritize your survival.

Jeannie Oliver:

Cuz news flash, our bodies are hardwired for survival, not aesthetics and digestion

Jeannie Oliver:

is one of the first things that your body will downregulate when you're stressed.

Jeannie Oliver:

If you can't fully digest your food, you can't absorb nutrients properly.

Jeannie Oliver:

Your gut health is gonna suffer.

Jeannie Oliver:

you know, and your immune system, reproductive systems are also suppressed

Jeannie Oliver:

and mental health can also suffer.

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So it's, you know, a really big picture problem here.

Jeannie Oliver:

Just some of the symptoms that can occur when your body is in a long term state

Jeannie Oliver:

of that fight or flight are anxiety, depression, headaches, muscle tension,

Jeannie Oliver:

and body pain, heart disease, heart.

Jeannie Oliver:

High blood pressure, stroke, sleep problems, weight gain, and memory

Jeannie Oliver:

and concentration impairment.

Jeannie Oliver:

So these are not small things.

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This is, you know, really detrimental stuff, which is why stress

Jeannie Oliver:

management is, is really crucial.

Jeannie Oliver:

Let me be really clear that while I often talk about obesity and body weight,

Jeannie Oliver:

it is not because I'm concerned about aesthetic standards or because I'm

Jeannie Oliver:

on the whole diet culture bandwagon.

Jeannie Oliver:

From my perspective, excess weight can be a symptom of underlying issues

Jeannie Oliver:

in an indicator of other things that are throwing off your body's

Jeannie Oliver:

natural state of healing imbalance.

Jeannie Oliver:

I absolutely do not think that everyone should be skinny.

Jeannie Oliver:

I'm not concerned about those like five, 10 extra vanity pounds that

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a lot of people are worried about.

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And I don't think you should worry about it either, but when it comes to

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things like pollution and toxins, that are disrupting our metabolic function.

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These have a grave effect on our health, happiness and longevity.

Jeannie Oliver:

So it's not just about aesthetics.

Jeannie Oliver:

You know, there's a really great body positivity movement out there right now.

Jeannie Oliver:

I think that there are good and bad aspects to that.

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I think the bottom line is that we need to figure out what is healthy for us.

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So for example, I'm five foot 10 when I had an extra 50 pounds on, you know,

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I didn't look like I was particularly.

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Overweight, but I had joint pain and the extra weight made it harder for

Jeannie Oliver:

me to enjoy the activities I loved.

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So it was not a healthy weight for me.

Jeannie Oliver:

Creating a truly healthy lifestyle for yourself is embracing your body type

Jeannie Oliver:

learning what optimal health looks like for you, not what society tells you it

Jeannie Oliver:

should, and then deciding how you wanna feel and what kind of life you wanna live.

Jeannie Oliver:

There are plenty of external stressors that you have no control over and

Jeannie Oliver:

stressing about your weight is just an unnecessarily self-inflicted

Jeannie Oliver:

stress that you don't need more of.

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So I encourage you to change your perspective from focusing on weight and

Jeannie Oliver:

weight loss only to focusing on how to better nourish and nurture your body.

Jeannie Oliver:

So it can function at its best.

Jeannie Oliver:

This mindset is a lot healthier, a lot less stressful.

Jeannie Oliver:

And once you address underlying health or emotional blocks, your

Jeannie Oliver:

body composition weight will end up changing for the better.

Jeannie Oliver:

So that's it today.

Jeannie Oliver:

I covered some of the major reasons why it is actually so much harder

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to lose weight than ever before.

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And we talked about a few of the environmental factors that have

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an adverse effect on our health.

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And again, these factors are yet another reason why this, you know, eat less.

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Exercise more.

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It's only about calories approach is really, I think, detrimental

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and harmful to our health overall.

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And it's only part of the picture when it comes to our

Jeannie Oliver:

metabolism and overall health.

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So thankfully, we're not powerless in this equation and we can use this

Jeannie Oliver:

information to make more empowered choices for our bodies and for our

Jeannie Oliver:

environment and future generations.

Jeannie Oliver:

I always wanna give you some tools or action items to put into practice.

Jeannie Oliver:

After every episode.

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So let's sum up really quick.

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What we can do about the issues we touched on today.

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So first reconnect with your food.

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Try shopping at your local farmer's market or your produce stand or

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start growing your own produce.

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If you have garden space second by organic, whenever possible.

Jeannie Oliver:

I'm also gonna add in the show notes, a link to the WG or the

Jeannie Oliver:

environmental working groups, shoppers guide in the show notes.

Jeannie Oliver:

This is also known as the dirty dozen and clean 15.

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To help you prioritize what you buy organic and what's

Jeannie Oliver:

okay to buy conventional.

Jeannie Oliver:

It's a really helpful guide and that can save you some money.

Jeannie Oliver:

Um, try to cook at home as often as possible, get your whole family to

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pitch in, you know, get the kids to pick out different color veggies at

Jeannie Oliver:

the store or the farmer's market.

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If they're old enough, teach them how to use knives and let them cut produce.

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Or maybe if they're not old enough or you don't trust them with knives, have

Jeannie Oliver:

them help you with washing the veggies.

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Cause if they get involved, they're gonna wanna try the food.

Jeannie Oliver:

And then next commit to learning, to love the process of reaching your goals.

Jeannie Oliver:

Not just the outcome, creating a healthy lifestyle for yourself

Jeannie Oliver:

is not a finite endeavor.

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So just take it like one choice and one day at a time, because

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sometimes it can be overwhelming.

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If you try to look out too far and think, oh, I'm gonna do this

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forever or never do that again.

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Just don't even go there.

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Take it one choice one day at a time next.

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Avoid or greatly reduce high sugar and high glycemic foods.

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These are those empty calorie processed foods that are both

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addictive and inflammatory.

Jeannie Oliver:

We talked about, and embrace delayed gratification and imperfection . I know

Jeannie Oliver:

this is a challenging one, but cultivating this healthy lifestyle really takes time.

Jeannie Oliver:

So be patient with your body.

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, you're never gonna do things perfectly.

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It's not possible.

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I do this for a living.

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I don't do it perfectly.

Jeannie Oliver:

So work on letting go of that all or nothing mindset where you're either all in

Jeannie Oliver:

or all out that is not the way to success.

Jeannie Oliver:

Just chip away at this and then learn to enjoy the process and the steps it's

Jeannie Oliver:

gonna take for you to reach your goals.

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Perfection is not the goal here.

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Okay.

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It's not even possible.

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Perfection is a myth, really just being consistent and doing what

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serves you well more often than not is what's gonna determine your success.

Jeannie Oliver:

And it's a lot more sustainable than trying to just go all out and

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then burning out really quickly.

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create new rituals and rewards for yourself that don't

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involve food or substances.

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This is a big one experiment.

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Find out what works for you next, minimize your toxic exposures

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when possible, but don't get obsessive or feel fearful about it.

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Do this by using nontoxic personal and household products, avoiding

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fragrances plastics, and non-stick cookware as much as possible.

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I recommend using cast iron or stainless steel only.

Jeannie Oliver:

Um, and.

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Invest in the best quality water filter that you can afford.

Jeannie Oliver:

You know, some of them are pretty inexpensive.

Jeannie Oliver:

The zero water filter is a really easy one to get, and it's, it's pretty

Jeannie Oliver:

good as far as what it filters out.

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And I think they start at like maybe 30, $35 and then finally

Jeannie Oliver:

address the stressors in your life and make changes where possible.

Jeannie Oliver:

Prioritizing sleep is huge.

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Eat a nutrient dense diet.

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And then when it comes to your work life balance, try to draw healthy

Jeannie Oliver:

boundaries in every way possible.

Jeannie Oliver:

Maybe that means setting a digital curfew for yourself or work cutoff time,

Jeannie Oliver:

scheduling your downtime, workouts, food, prep time, you know, time to

Jeannie Oliver:

connect with friends, whatever it might.

Jeannie Oliver:

Really important, cuz if it's on your calendar, you're most like

Jeannie Oliver:

more likely to get it done and treat it like a really important, you

Jeannie Oliver:

know, like a meeting or a doctor's appointment because it's your health.

Jeannie Oliver:

And what's more important than that.

Jeannie Oliver:

I don't think there's any company out there that at the end of

Jeannie Oliver:

the day is gonna thank you for sacrificing your health for them.

Jeannie Oliver:

So anyway, That was a lot, but that's all for today.

Jeannie Oliver:

I really hope you found this episode helpful.

Jeannie Oliver:

If so, just take a hot second please, to rate and subscribe and please

Jeannie Oliver:

share the show with anyone you think would enjoy your benefit from it.

Jeannie Oliver:

So that's it.

Jeannie Oliver:

We'll see you next time and take care of that amazing body of yours.

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About the Podcast

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The Nutrition Edit

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About your host

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Jeannie Oliver

Jeannie is a Certified Nutrition Coach, NASM Personal Trainer and classically trained chef. She helps high performing women improve their overall health, optimize their energy and performance, and discover what it's like to feel good in their own skin - all while enjoying delicious food and creating sustainably healthy lifestyles.