In episode 58 of the Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast, Jill and Chris interview Gin Stephens about her experiences with intermittent fasting.

Gin Stephens has been living the intermittent fasting lifestyle since 2014. This lifestyle shift allowed her to lose over 80 pounds.

She has launched her intermittent fasting website, four Facebook support groups, four self-published books, and two top-ranked podcasts—Intermittent Fasting Stories and The Intermittent Fasting Podcast. Gin is the author of Delay, Don't Deny: Living an Intermittent Fasting Lifestyle.

Her newest book, Fast, Feast, Repeat will be available in June 2020.

Gin graduated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition's Health Coach Training Program in 2019. She earned a Doctor of Education degree in Gifted and Talented Education (2009), a Master's degree in Natural Sciences (1997), and a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education (1990). She taught elementary school for 28 years, and has worked with adult learners in a number of settings.

In today's podcast we discussed:

• How does intermittent fasting work with weight loss?
• Intermittent fasting and maintaining a weight loss
• Recommendations for starting intermittent fasting
• What to eat while you're practicing intermittent fasting
• How certain flavored beverages can interrupt a clean fast
• Strength training, running and cycling with intermittent fasting

Her upbeat personality, combined with years of experience with intermittent fasting provides an interesting episode.

For more information visit:

Fast. Feast. Repeat. on Amazon Gin Stephens Website Follow Gin on Instagram

In Episode #57, Jill and Chris talk with Dr. Victoria Shaw about self care to help you improve your healthy immune system, which is particularly timely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She has an extensive educational background:

Dr. Shaw received her Doctorate of Nursing Practice from Case Western Reserve University, her Master of Science in Nursing from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her Bachelor of Arts from Pennsylvania State University. She also has additional credentials and certifications from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, Cornell University, Princeton Biofeedback Center, and the Center for Mind Body Medicine... among others. As a nurse practitioner, health and wellness coach and a facilitator of compassionate change, Dr. Shaw combines cutting edge, evidence-based science with time honored wisdom to help her clients feel better, sleep better and relieve bothersome symptoms...

During this episode we discuss:

• What is the immune system?
• How can we improve the health of our immune system?
• How can we improve our sleep?
• Insights into food sensitives and food allergies.
• The differences between Mindfulness and Meditation
• How meditation improves the immune system
• How to get some mindfulness into your day if you don't have a mindfulness practice
• We talk about how to eat right, avoid stress, and ways of getting good sleep:

Dr. Victoria Shaw has prepared this 4 page PDF handout Self Care to Improve Immunity for you to download.

Jill McCauslin and Chris Brown in Staying Fit and Strong in Isolation - Episode 56

We're still in the stay-at-home program due to the Covid-19 virus, so we thought we'd check in with our listeners on how it's going.

We talk about:

• Being at home
• Separated from family
• Maintaining social relationships
• Eating
• Exercise
• Going outside
• Effects of Isolation
• What we're doing to stay fit and strong
• Keeping things in perspective

In Episode 55 of the Fit Strong Women Over 50, Chris and Jill speak with guest expert Cassie Christopher about emotional eating during COVID-19.

She is a Registered Dietitian who has helped hundreds of women overcome emotional eating, so they can focus on the people and things that are really important to them.

With a background in using genetics and lab data for chronic disease prevention, Cassie is also a behavior change expert who knows what it takes to make changes that will last.

We discuss:

• What are the different emotions that cause people to want to eat?
• Advice for those living with children or even adult children
• How to avoid emotional eating while we're at home with a lot of food nearby.
• What's the difference between doing some emotional eating sometimes and having an eating disorder?
• Practicing self compassion
• Free support using the Headspace app during COVID-19 https://www.headspace.com/covid-19
• Quick protein options: canned tuna, chicken, beans, hard boiled egg
• Planning the day in advance

In addition, Cassie offers a free guide: Cut emotional eating in half by balancing your blood sugar! which is available at www.CassieChristopher.net/free. Full disclosure: you will need to provide your email address and will be signing up for her email list when you download the guide. The free guide is in editable PDF format, meaning that you can type in your food plan into the format and print it out, which can be quite helpful.

To follow Cassie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CassieChristopherRD/

In episode 54 Jill and Chris interview Joanne Hagy, a licensed massage therapist, about the healthy benefits of orthopedic massage.

Joanne is the owner of Orthopedic Massage and Wellness and has over 20 years experience in massage therapy as well as sports medicine.

She spent the first 8 years of her career working in an orthopedic physical therapy clinic as an athletic trainer, soon combining massage therapy into her treatment protocols.

Joanne then solely began focusing on her massage practice and teaching massage where she was co-owner of The School of Orthopedic Massage and Bodywork in Ann Arbor, Michigan for 4 years. She relocated to Hudson, Ohio in 2014 where she resumes a successful massage practice.

We discuss:

• What is orthopedic massage?
• How is it different from regular massage?
• What are the benefits of orthopedic massage?
• How do we find a good massage therapist? What questions should we ask?
• Is any particular sport or activity more likely to cause injury?
• Why do we get injured after exercising or working out?
• What advice do you have for us women over 50 to avoid injury?
• What should we be doing that we're not?

To find Joanne online, visit her website: Orthopedic Massage and Wellness at https://www.orthopedicmassageandwellness.com

In episode #53 of Fit Strong Women Over 50, Chris Brown and Jill McCauslin discuss various ways of getting more vegetables into their meals every day.

Some of the recipes that we discussed in this veggie delight podcast episode include:

Veggie blender dressing - yellow squash, carrots with liquid of olive oil, lemon juice and apple cider vinegar.

Cabbage soup - cabbage, carrot, onion, celery, diced tomatoes, green beans, stock. Freeze for later. Add beans and greens with oregano or cooked chicken or sauteed zucchini or kale or potatoes to create variations for lunch or dinner. Taco seasoning with black beans makes a TexMex.

Cowboy Caviar - chop up raw veggies. Black beans, black eyed peas and corn. Three colors of pepper. Diced red onion. Chopped avocado. Olive Oil, lime juice and apple cider vinegar. Cayenne pepper if you want more kick.

Bitter greens - arugula, dandelion greens. Buy at the grocery store. Used in a salad but not a whole salad. Add into a mixed greens salad. Packed full of nutrients and good for the digestive system.

Bitter melons - Diane Reuther bought these from an Indian food grocery store. They are spiny on the outside. She cut it length wise. It's white or red inside. Scoop out the seeds. Par boil it to stay crunchy in a stir fry with onions and carrots. Add soy sauce and a little maple syrup. Good for your immune system. (Diane Reuther says she didn't care for it.)

Riced or noodle vegetables. Riced cauliflower - buy already riced or use a grater on a head of cauliflower. Green olives recipe.

Cauliflower crust for pizza - Many in store cauliflower crusts use rice flour - still prepared foods that may have ingredients you may not want. In search of the best recipe.

Adding coconut milk to riced cauliflower - Jill tried it and it was delicious.

How can we make this taste better? Is it only an acquired taste? Or can someone tell us how to make them more tasty? Leave a message on 330-970-6662 or post on the comment section.

In episode #52, Dawn Maloney is interviewed about sustaining her weight loss. Dawn is wife, mother, realtor, and mostly vegan intermittent faster.

With 130 pounds fluctuation between her highest adult weights, Dawn needed to find a sustainable eating and movement lifestyle to help her consistently live a healthy life.

Through intermittent fasting, plus a nearly 100% vegan lifestyle, she has finally found the balance she wanted.

Links and resources mentioned in this episode of the Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast are on the Becoming Elli Community Website at Sustaining Weight Loss using Vegan Eating & Intermittent Fasting.

In episode 51 of the Fit Strong Women Over 50 podcast, Chris and Jill continue to explore the different ways that women over 50 find to be fit and strong. In this episode, they talk with Gyata Stormon, tennis coach, author, and yoga instructor.

The author of On the Ball: Doubles Tennis Tactics for Recreational Players, Gyata gives advice on how to begin playing as adults and WHY we should consider starting to play. She sees tennis not only as a way to stay fit but to have social connections and mental exercise.

The discussion includes:

• How to stay fit and strong playing tennis
• How to avoid injury
• The difference between singles and doubles in tennis
• Her philosophy on coaching
• Gyata's travels around the world and how this affected her sport
• Yoga
• Staying motivated
• Eating paleo

How to find Gyata Stormon and her book, On the Ball.

website: www.ontheballbook.com

Facebook: Gyata Stormon

Instagram: Gyata Stormon

Email [email protected]

Amazon: On the Ball

Cashew bread recipe that Chris is going to try (Note that Jill is hoping to be invited over for a cup of tea and a slice of this bread.)

In episode #50, Jill and Chris discuss what it takes to stay fit and strong after 50. We talk about eating habits, exercise routines and finding the motivation to get and stay fit.

In this episode we interview each other about:

• What it takes to not gain the weight back after losing it
• Favorite meals and go-to recipes
• Timing of meals
• Style of eating
• Favorite exercise routines
• Increasing happiness after 50
• Things we've learned from the experts
• What foods we avoid
• How to stay motivated

In Episode 49, Jill and Chris interview Dr. Joan Ifland, a processed food addiction expert. Dr. Ifland has been creating breakthroughs in recovery from food addiction since 1999, when her first popular book was published. In 2018, her textbook, Processed Food Addiction: Foundations, Assessment and Recovery was published. Her insights into processed food addiction following decades of research are fascinating.

In this powerful episode we discuss:

What is food addiction?

• The dangers of food addiction
• The 11 questions to answer to discover if you have a food addiction
• The six most common indications of addiction
• A checklist of symptoms – Diagnostic Criteria for Addictions
• What addicted eating looks like compared to non-addictive eating.
• Why the triggers to eat processed food are so powerful
• What happened after the tobacco industry purchased a significant part of food industry in the 1980's.
• The role of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, caffeine, salt, dairy, diet soda and artificial sweeteners in food addiction

How to stop eating processed foods

• Is it better to wean slowly off of processed foods or go cold turkey?
• Can we eat processed foods in moderation? For instance, cheat days or special events?
• What to expect when going through the withdrawal of processed foods (the first 4 days)
• Managing Withdrawal from Processed Foods
• How to navigate holidays and special occasions that are filled with processed foods.
• The role of cueing in food addiction and how to gain control.
• Why mirror neurons can help or hurt us in fighting food addiction.
• The importance of finding your tribe.

She created RESET WEEK, the first online live video program for withdrawal from processed foods.

Many resources were mentioned during the podcast. Some are directed to health professionals, others are for consumers and the general population.

Here is where you can find more education and resources:

• Dr. Ifland's website https://www.drjoanifland.com/
• Food Addiction Resources http://www.foodaddictionresources.com
• Facebook https://www.facebook.com/foodaddictionreset/
• Instagram https://www.instagram.com/foodaddictionreset/
• https://twitter.com/pfaddiction
• The Addiction Reset Community (ARC) http://www.foodaddictionreset.com
• Free services at her Facebook group called Food Addiction Education https://www.facebook.com/groups/1806154526275515/
• Free resources and printable handouts http://www.foodaddictionresources.com
• Grocery shopping list of unprocessed foods
• Education and support by FAR-TV videos at Food Addiction Reset TV on YouTube