Our ancestors didn't have the choice to eat foods out of season, for the most part. However, today, we can find berries in our food markets in the dead of winter. Our bodies, though, know when it's summer or winter and we do best when we are in sync with the seasonal foods that we evolved eating. They can warm us, cool us down, give us energy, help our immune systems, and so on. If we feed our bodies appropriately, we can live our healthiest lives.

After 13 years of coaching, we had the opportunity to take the board exam to become nationally board-certified health and wellness coaches. Not only did it reinvigorate our passions for coaching, but we learned new skills and strategies that we are excited to use with our clients and groups. Listen to our board exam experience and how we are now, even better coaches.

(Podcast player below transcript)

Transcript of Certified podcast.

edited for clarity

Nourish Coaches 00:04

Hi, this is Wendy. And this is Debbie. Welcome to nourish Noshes where we talk all things food and health and what's nourishing for us.

Debbie 00:15

And I'll tell you what was not very nourishing for us was taking a four-hour exam.

Wendy 00:24

If anyone saw our post exam photo, you could see how tired I was, this is Wednesday, by the way. It was quite exhausting. It was pretty intense process to study.

Debbie 00:37

Yeah. So, you know, some people might not know about that. But some people may know that we took an exam, just last Friday. So on the 15th of October, we took a national board certification exam for becoming health and wellness coaches. Now we already our health and wellness coaches, but this exam will, if we passed, which we assume we did, will certify us nationally--board certified for practicing.

Wendy 01:07

Yeah, it's upping our game. It's delineating us from many others, you know, health coaches down the street.

Debbie 01:18

Right, who might be perfectly good health coaches. But this is really, the idea behind this is to somewhat regulate the health and wellness coaching field to make sure that we're really doing our coaching, that we're doing what we're out there to do in a way that is consistent with what the national health coaches board believes are the best practices to help people.

Wendy 01:43

And I do believe at the end end of the day that I'm a better coach, because of all the studying we did. And the extensive program we went through back October through March of '20 to '21. Right? I do believe I have a better understanding of the motivational interviewing, you know, just the best way of being a coach, and the approach and the partnership that we have with our clients. Yeah. And one of the things you and I have talked about often is this idea that we're really drawn to the coaching model instead of some of the other models like the nutritionist model or the RD model, or you know, the dietician, model. And none of those, none of them are wrong models. They're all, you know, helpful models. The reason why we are drawn so much to the coaching model is because it's really a partnership and we so believe that you have, you know, most of the answers, you know, you might need some education, you might need some accountability, you might feel like you can't do it alone. And you might want some new information. And that's where we come in.

Debbie 02:52

Yeah, the idea is to really get people to be able to have a healthy lifestyle on their own, sustainably for the rest of their life--to not need us. And that's what coaching is about-- is to get people to be autonomous in their health and lifestyle skills so that they know the answers, and they trust themselves to know the answers of what works for them as an individual.

Wendy 03:14

So one of the things we did often during our conversations, when we were studying was think, oh, what a great question to ask our clients. And oh, do you remember when we had this conversation during our group, and we had a lot of good ideas? We got a lot of good ideas for upcoming group that is kicking off October 27.

Debbie 03:34

Yeah, we definitely we wrote a lot of good notes. And we're so excited--we're at our prime of coaching right now.

Wendy 03:40

Yeah, yeah. And that's what continuing education does for us, right? It's growth mindset. And I think that's why we love coaching, too, is that we help our clients rediscover that growth mindset that is intrinsic with most of us. I see that with clients, don't you?

Debbie 04:00

Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I think everybody wants to grow, you know, and it's a matter of where they are in their journey. But, that's the ideal.

Wendy 04:09

But it wasn't comfortable!

Debbie 04:11

It's not comfortable. It's not comfortable making changes. And it wasn't comfortable having to adjust our schedule to take the course to take the test and to study to take the test, we had to push a lot aside to study. And that wasn't comfortable at all, because it wasn't something that we naturally wanted to do. But we both agreed that it made us better. Yeah, and that's an analogy for a lot of what we want our clients to do.

Wendy 04:39

Exactly, because people come to us because they want to feel better. And, you know, there's this cartoon that my husband shared with me recently and it's a speaker at the podium and he's got this big audience and he said, "Who here wants change?" and everyone raised their hand. Then he said, "Who here wants to change?" And no one raised their hand.

Debbie 05:05

Right? Let's put that comic in the show notes. Because I think that's a good one.

Wendy 05:09

Yeah. And it really is. It's actually having the courage, right? Because there's a lot of bravery and courage to go on a journey of transformation of your health. And maybe it's a mini transformation. Maybe it's a big one.

Debbie 05:26

It's not easy, and it's uncomfortable, to make changes to transform yourself.

Wendy 05:32

But damn, do I feel good about spending all that time studying. And being able to, you know, put on on our website in eight weeks that we're nationally board certified. I mean, that feels good.

Debbie 05:46

Yeah, that feels good. But that's also, that's another analogy--change doesn't happen overnight, you know, so you might have to do a lot of work and not get the results until eight weeks later or longer.

Wendy 06:01

Yeah, it's a dose of patience, for sure. And that's something that we don't train for today.

Debbie 06:09

Right. It's not in our culture anymore. We have an instant culture. And that's what it makes it especially hard, I think, for a lot of people because we've gotten accustomed to getting things instantly. And this is never going to change--Changing our bodies and our habits are never going to be instant.

Wendy 06:27

No, they aren't. And the minute we wrap our head around that and accept that idea. That change can be wonderful and opening and beautiful and hard all at the same time. It's kind of like yes and right. Yes, it's hard. And yes, it's worth it. Yeah, one of the things that really slipped up for me was my movement pattern. I got my walk in, you know, six out of seven days. But I didn't get my strength training in. I did get my dancing in, but my yoga was canceled a couple of times. And so my movement really wasn't stellar. My food was really good. I felt really good about my food choices. But my movement was off. And it really--I really felt it in my body. It was just very interesting, what I actually negotiated away when I felt like this was the most important thing on my plate. And it was a lesson learned because I really I did slip backwards in my strength over the last month, I would say so. That's interesting. Yeah, it's it actually wasn't over the last month it was just over the last say we can have two weeks that I really intensive studying time. Yeah, the intense towards the end, right? Um, but when I went back to the bench, it was harder. So how about you? Did you find you were negotiating away any of your habits that you love that are very nourishing for you? Did you negotiate any of them away in these last couple of weeks of intense studying?

Debbie 08:11

I was thinking about that when you were talking about that, because I did get a lot of my workouts in. I the one thing that probably suffered, which is probably one of my favorite things in the world was playing tennis, I had to adjust my tennis schedule and not play as much, which means I think I only played once a week. And that wasn't enough for me. But that was the one thing that I negotiated because I really made it a concerted effort to not negotiate away my activity level, as far as working out goes and strength training and walking. And part of that is, I can't because I have a dog and that's one of my activities is walking her a couple miles a day--two times. So that was not negotiated and my workouts were not negotiated. But my tennis was, my eating was, I have to say it was not as stellar as it usually is. And I hadn't thought about that until you were talking about it. And I think I probably let go a little bit saying to myself, you know, I don't have to be so strict with myself because I'm studying. Yeah, it's really the opposite. And towards the end, the last few days before the test, I actually amped it up and was eating really well. I kind of tripled my vegetable intake on purpose knowing that I needed that brainpower, but I'd like to say that I eat like that every day and I want to eat like that every day. So I thought about kind of changing my mindset instead of saying I need to eat better because I'm taking a test or because of this is that I need to eat better all the time because I want to be great all the time.

Wendy 09:49

And there you are, your Nourish Coaches are human. We are human too, and so when we slip up, one of the things that is good about being in this field is that we have coached so many people about this idea of self compassion and curiosity, so that when we do slip up or negotiate things away that are so important to us, we recognize it, perhaps, much more quickly. And we just--we correct, instead of--

Debbie 10:31

We correct with curiosity. And that's a habit that took a while to get that for sure. It's not 100%. Sometimes I still beat myself up with that inner critic. So that's a lot of the stuff that we work with our clients....

In this episode of Nourish Noshes, we interview Greg Jacobson, CFP.

He is an old high school buddy of Debbie's and an extremely intuitive Financial Planner who really gets how our personal outlook on finances and how we manage them parallels our outlook on overall health and wellness.

In our discussion, we illustrate these parallels and show how being healthy isn't just about your diet and exercise.

Gregory A. Jacobson, CFP®

10 Broad Street - Suite 303 | Red Bank

732-807-2360

We just don’t talk enough about perimenopause and menopause. Sure, we all know the common symptoms and maybe we’ve heard of a few ideas, but we often feel alone in the transition. Is this normal? Why is this happening? What can I do? One thing we know for sure - we are all different and we will all go through it. Announcing a three-week workshop where we will explore mindset practices, food, movement and sleep choices, and practical navigation ideas on how to approach this precious time of life. Oh, and we’ve got plenty of our own stories to share.

Here's the transcript:

Edited for clarity

Wendy 

It's so funny this whole thing about perimenopause and the change and wisdom and the "Crone." I was speaking with a woman and she's like, "screw going through perimenopause into menopause with grace." She goes, "screw grace." She's like, "I want to go in with my fight on and I want to go down like a heavy hitter." And she's like, "I just want to live my whole life and forget grace." That's just where she is right now, at this moment.

Debbie 

I think it's your mindset, for sure. It's how you look at it. And acceptance is the big part of that. You know, that's been a huge part of it. But it's also looking at it not in a negative way, as much as "Oh, okay, this is a challenge."

Wendy 

Like everybody wants to know the solution. And this three-part workshop series isn't about fixing us, because every woman is going to go through this time of life. And so what we're really trying to do is create a really safe space to be able to connect about it. What also makes this kind of gathering different and special is that you can't Google it. Right? You can't Google the experience that we're looking to create with like-minded women who are going through the second spring of their life, and you just can't, you just have to participate. You have to come and join us and be a part of it.

Debbie 

Well, the beauty of this is that we want to gather, you know, a bunch of women, because we don't generally talk about this--what happens in a group of women perhaps is some complaining about some negative symptoms that they might have. But rarely do we talk about it in its entirety, you know, sort of as a time of our life, and the positive parts of it, and all of the, you know, the intricacies of it. And I think that's what we're trying to do here is create that space so that we can kind of look at it in all of its different angles, not just hot flashes and headaches.

Wendy 

Yeah, we really do want people to look at it in a fresh, new, different, perhaps unique way, but not in a way that we, you know, overlook what's actually happening, but just look at it.

Debbie 

Right. We're not trying to shove aside the negative and say, "Oh, it's all beautiful flowers and roses, and you just have to be mindful, and then you won't have hot flashes anymore." No, we're not talking about that.

Wendy 

And that's what we have always looked to create is just to be real with people to talk honestly about what's going on with our bodies, all these messages that our bodies are constantly sharing with us and us taking time, very precious time, to gather together as women and enjoy a conversation and learn from each other.

Debbie 

Right? Especially that, and I think we learn from each other so well when we do these things.

Wendy 

Yeah. So we really encourage you to sign up and join us. We're making this available in a hybrid at the time of this recording. Anyway, we're making this a hybrid of both in-person and zoom depending on your comfort level of being connected.

Debbie 

So this is the place to register. The link is below on the show notes. We also wanted to let you know that registration closes on September 8, and we have a survey if you'd like to share your experience with perimenopause or menopause. It really helps us get some data that we can also share with our workshop people. Hopefully, you'll be one of them. So look below and follow the link to register and hopefully we'll see you

There's a lot of ambivalence about eating fat.

For generations, doctors and other practitioners demonized fat for causing all kinds of health problems. We want to shine some light on how fat is not only good for us, but absolutely necessary. And, as we always say, it's not just about this one particular nutrient--we need to look at the person eating it as a whole. Listen to our take on fat.

Transcript of Should You Fear Fat podcast

Edited for clarity

Wendy  00:02

We're so glad you're here with us today. We're going on a journey to talk about fat. So, for over 35 years, our health system and our government declared all fat as bad and to remove it from our daily lives, and they all went a little crazy. Literally. No more brain fuel, right? It's fat for the brain, cognitive health, all the absorption of vitamins and minerals and longevity and joint health.

Debbie  00:30

Yeah, we need that!

Wendy  00:33

We're fat phobic!  So, let's get past that. That's like, we've outgrown that.

Debbie  00:39

Yeah, we've got to get past that. Because we, first of all, we don't want to throw a whole group of foods out. You know. We don't.

Wendy  00:45

No! we don't--that's silliness. And, you know, in this podcast, we're not gonna be talking about cholesterol. But there's a direct, you know, connection. And again, history. Yep. With fat and cholesterol. So, stay tuned for part two. And we're going to take a deeper dive into cholesterol and all the reasons why we need healthy cholesterol and healthy numbers.

Debbie 01:06

Yep. Because we have clients that come to us who aren't eating fat.

Wendy  01:11

Yeah, they come to us eating fat-free everything.

Debbie  01:15

Yeah, or cutting back a lot on fat because someone told them to.

Wendy  01:19

Who might that someone be? And we want to address it because our understanding of nutrition, "ours," meaning the collective industry, has changed over time. And fat used to be a no. And I've had conversations with people 10, 20 years older than we are who are still afraid of fat because of their heart. And their longevity. And we want to dispel some of those old stories and talk fat with you.

Debbie 01:51

Yeah. Because what I'm finding is sometimes clients come to me with their bloodwork that they've gotten, right, and they see numbers that scare them, or that their doctors or practitioners have told them are scary. And then they cut back on fat. And a lot of times, those practitioners aren't telling them the whole story.

Wendy  02:14

Yeah, you want to look at the whole person, the whole story, everything that they're eating everything that they're doing, right? Their stress level, their sleep. We're a whole picture. We are not just fat.

Debbie  02:28

And if you know us--if you follow us, that's no news to you. You know, so we can't just isolate one nutrient and demonize it or excel it. It's not about that--it's about your whole life and how you live your life, not just the nutrients you put in your body.

Wendy  02:44

Yeah. It's also not just one meal. It's our consecutive meals over time. Done consistently, right? It's not the one or two celebrations. So let's talk fat.

Debbie  03:01

Yeah, we're diving into fat.

Wendy  03:03

We'll start with the disclaimer, of course, that everyone's unique. And we offer these podcasts based on our experience and our own research. So, we really encourage people to explore what works for you as an individual. And we do encourage you to talk to your doctor. And if there's controversial information, or you don't feel like your doctor is supporting you in the same way that you'd like, find a new doctor. Find someone who speaks your language, who has a deep respect for you exploring your healthy choices.

Debbie 03:32

Right. And we're gonna say this message more than once, but we want you to question everything and question, everyone, including us. You know, we've been going back and listening to a lot of our podcasts and reading some of this stuff we've written before. And generally, we like what we've done. But there have been a few times that we've caught some things that we've changed our minds about because of new information, or just us learning from ourselves or from our clients. So, always question everything.

Wendy  04:01

So here we are, we want to talk about reversing the fear of fat. That's one of our biggest takeaways.

Debbie  04:07

Yeah, for sure. Because we don't want you to stop eating fat. We need fat.

Wendy  04:11

We need fat. It's an energy source. And it supports brain cognition, and it helps us absorb all the vitamins and the minerals that are in all the other rainbow of food choices. We need fat on that salad.

Debbie 04:27

Fat helps us absorb vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin D, and vitamin K. I didn't say that in alphabetical order, but it doesn't really matter.

Wendy  04:37

A D, E and K. And the minerals also need essential fatty acids. You know, these are the ones our body can't make. Right?

Debbie  04:47

Right. That's what makes them the “essential” fatty acids.

Wendy  04:50

Exactly. So, you need fat to absorb these vitamins.

Debbie 04:52

Right, and nutrients. What else fat does is in our bodies. I mean, people will need to realize what's going on. Because before we did research about fat all these years ago, we didn't, we couldn't have told you if you said, “what does this fat do for us,” right? You know, it's a matter of knowing but we need it to help build our cell membranes. Fat is around all of our cells, which is really important to protect our cells and to keep our cells nice and fluffy.

Wendy  05:18

Yeah, we want them plump. We don't want to have raisin-y cells. So it also helps us absorb water, if they're all wrinkly, the water can't go through our cells.

Debbie 05:29

Exactly. So it's the integrity of our cells that it helps, and what surrounds our nerves and helps our nerves use the electricity that we need in our body, too, fat helps us with that.

Wendy  05:40

It's essential for blood clotting, for muscle movement. It's a great mitigator for inflammation. And inflammation, right, is the root causes of our dis-ease. So, you go fat-free, and you might create additional inflammation in your body. And you're actually reversing exactly what your body aches for.

Debbie 06:05

Yeah, inflammation is huge in our modern society. And if we can do anything to reduce inflammation, it's so important. But fat also, aside from inflammation, it also helps insulate our bodies--keeps us warm, and it keeps our organs protected. So, that's like, those are huge jobs that fat does. And if you're eliminating fat from your diet, and having very little, a lot of these things are compromised.

Wendy  06:31

So, as we were doing research on the podcast, we dug into some of our favorite authors and found some old data around the harm, quote, unquote, of saturated fat. And it made us wince. We looked at our bookshelves, and we're like, oh, that's only, you know, 10-15 years old. And it's already old.  So, it's really interesting how quickly, you know, science is catching up to ourselves.

Debbie 06:57

Right. Well, we graduated from IIN [Institute for Integrative Nutrition] 13 years ago. And all the books that we bought at that time, and that we got through the program that we've kept on our shelves, and we've referred to, we're talking about those books. And, I mean, we don't want to throw them out, in a sense, they do have some good information, but so much of it is outdated already. And even online, we've come across things, and you have to look at the dates, because sometimes there's information on there that's 10 years old, that really, nutrition is accelerating so quickly. We're in the infancy of the science of nutrition.

Wendy  07:35

Well, besides--Yes. And, it's very trendy, right? Nutrition is very trendy, and what's the latest thing, the fastest quickest thing that I could do to help me look better, right? And we're about looking, feeling and performing your best. It's not just about the looks, you really have to go to the mindset around, you know, how we're walking around.

Debbie 07:58

Right. Yeah. So, beware of trends when it comes to nutrition, for sure.

Wendy  08:03

So, the one thing everyone agrees on, and it's still good science, and it's still really helpful information is that trans-fat is not healthy in any way. Right? So, you have more control of that than you know, and so we advise people to completely eliminate that from their diet.

Debbie  08:25

Yeah. And I think most people know that that idea of trans-fat is not healthy. But what people don't realize is all the things that trans-fats are in, and how they get around it, because they don't have to report it in on the label if it comes under one gram per serving.

Wendy  08:43

Per serving! So, what did they do? They just reduced the serving size, right? So instead of 10 crackers, you can only have six, right? For example, right?

Debbie 08:52

So now it's half a gram of trans fat. And they can say zero grams trans-fats, right? So, be really, really very wary. And here's the thing. Trans-fats are in processed foods.

Wendy  09:04

Yeah. And it's labeled in the ingredients. So, they still have to put it in the ingredients label. So, you skip that white and black little square with, you know, all the protein and sugars and trans-fats and go right to the ingredient list.

Debbie 09:19

And what is the ingredient? Because it doesn't say trans-fat?

Wendy  09:21

No, it doesn't. So, there's another tricky industry. Right? It's partially hydrogenated oil.

Debbie  09:27

Right. Look for that word--"hydrogenated" Yep.

Wendy  09:30

Yeah. And so, it's basically taking a liquid and putting it into a solid. And so, it's really easy for manufacturers to use. It's very cheap....

In this revisit of our Magic Melatonin podcast, we discuss what Melatonin is, how it works in our bodies, the benefits of it (including its beneficial effect on cancer), foods that help our bodies produce melatonin, and the question about supplementing.

Transcript of Magic of Melatonin--Revisited

Edited for clarity.

Wendy  00:00

So we're reposting this Magic Melatonin podcast because it's early summer, and we're both having sleep challenges with our animals.

Debbie  00:12

Yeah, and it's light until 8:45. And we listened to this podcast just to see what it sounded like and forgot how great it was.

Wendy  00:21

There's so much super information. I mean, before we go into that info, I mean, you've got your animal house right now.

Debbie  00:29

Yeah, I am an Animal House. I got cats, dogs and ducks that we're raising right now. And they all wake up at the crack of dawn, because their melatonin says it's time to wake up.

Wendy  00:41

And well, and they aren't sleeping in room darkening shade places, right? You don't have any masks on them. Right?

Debbie  00:48

Exactly. Not like me. Yeah, I have my mask on. But that doesn't help the animals from waking me up.

Wendy  00:54

Right, right, well, and our cats wake us up too. We've gotten into the habit of feeding them at 4 am, just to put them back to sleep. So anyway, some of the really hot buttons, we want to have you stay tuned. We talk a little bit about the support of melatonin in cancer, and how it's so affected by our gut health--the connection between melatonin and gut health.

Debbie  01:20

Absolutely. And we also touch on how taking a supplement of melatonin may not be the best idea, you may not actually need it. And if you do, it could be a good idea. But people are probably overusing it.

Wendy  01:35

Hmm.  And then we round out with foods to eat to help you generate your own melatonin. So stay tuned. Thanks so much for listening.  So, we're so excited that you're here and joining us today we are talking about the magic of melatonin.

Debbie  01:50

This is a good one.

Wendy  01:50

This is a good one because we all need our sleep. We all probably don't quite get enough sleep for optimum health, right. So we're going to talk about why we need it, how to get it, and a couple of foods that help produce it as well.

Debbie  02:04

Melatonin is so incredible. I hadn't realized before we did our research, how incredible it is and all that it does. So this is really interesting.

Wendy  02:11

And it's very interesting that you bring it up because the last few nights I've gotten very little sleep staying up late with bright lights and on my computer. And so this is really a good reminder for me, this stuff happens for a reason.

Debbie  02:23

That's right. That's right.

Wendy  02:25

So the first thing about Melatonin is that in order to get optimum production of melatonin, we need darkness.

Debbie  02:32

Right. 100% darkness.

Wendy  02:34

100% darkness and that is not. That's not often the case for many of us.

Debbie  02:42

Right. You know, my husband makes fun of me because of how dark I make the room because he doesn't--he thinks he doesn't need the darkness to sleep.

Wendy  02:48

We'll talk about some of those.

Debbie  02:50

Right.  But I do and I guess I knew it. So where does it come from? What is this melatonin? It's a hormone.

Wendy  02:56

And it's produced by the pineal gland, that little tiny thing in the brain. And it regulates our body's relationship with light and dark. So it's kind of like it's a clock. You know, it's a regulator.

Debbie  03:08

Right, they actually see it as a reset button for our circadian rhythm. Because during the day when it starts to get dark, it starts producing and when it gets light, the melatonin stops producing.

Wendy  03:18

Isn't our body fascinating? So why do we care? Why does it matter? Why is this melatonin such a big deal?

Debbie  03:28

Right-- besides sleep? Right?

Wendy  03:29

Yeah, besides just the natural effects of sleep? What happens to our body if we don't?

Debbie  03:35

Well, it has everything to do with cellular health, our mental acuity. It's a powerful, powerful antioxidant. And it's anti-inflammatory. Those are two things that we need for optimal health.

Wendy  03:47

Right. It's our self-defense mechanism for so many issues.

Debbie  03:52

It helps our immune system, right? So it's our master repair hormone.

Wendy  03:57

All right. So we need melatonin.

Debbie  03:59

We do.

Wendy  03:59

It's critical.

Debbie  04:00

But even better than all of that, or maybe because of all of that, it's got a lot of anti-cancer research. So they find that it's killing cancer cells.

Wendy  04:09

Yeah, there's a lot of study around that. And it's helping mitigate the growth of tumors. So it's a lot of interesting studies about melatonin and cancer.

Debbie  04:19

So melatonin just is just not responsible for sleeping, but it controls so many different mechanisms for making our body run smoothly. So it's really a key part of good health.

Wendy  04:30

And this was also fascinating that the production of serotonin, which is 90% produced in our gut. Serotonin actually helps produce melatonin. So if our gut is off, and we're not producing enough serotonin, we're not producing enough melatonin and we're not sleeping well. So you're off on our personality and our mood. We're off on our sleep and insomnia. It's a vicious cycle.

Debbie  04:56

It is a vicious cycle.

Wendy  04:57

So we go back to the gut, right?

Debbie  04:59

It always comes back to the gut--always. So the process is that when it gets dark and levels of melatonin increase, a lot of people fight that, you know that we don't want to be tired at 10 o'clock, right? You know, say we still have work to do or we didn't get a chance to relax yet. So what do we do?

Wendy  05:18

We unwind in front of the TV and have a lot of screen time right before we go to bed.

Debbie  05:23

Bright lights.

Wendy  05:24

Bright lights. We may want to stay up to finish that report or get ready for something and grab a coffee late in the day.

Debbie  05:30

That's right. Or maybe you're out to party. You know, maybe you just like to party every night or be social some way every night.

Wendy  05:40

Some people turn to drugs. Drugs to actually keep ourselves awake.

Debbie  05:45

Or, maybe they're just simply on drugs that are prescribed by their doctor antidepressants. Some anti-cholesterol drugs, some drugs like that inhibit melatonin to

Wendy  05:54

Ouch!

Debbie  05:55

Yep.

Wendy  05:55

So basically, all these things that we're actually using to try to keep ourselves awake are inhibiting our health,

Debbie  06:02

Because it doesn't allow us to produce melatonin, which is responsible for all those wonderful things we said.

Wendy  06:07

Right. So, I know, there are a lot of excuses. I've used them before. And I know that we both have clients who use the excuse, you know, I don't need that much sleep. I can run on four hours of sleep. And it's a misnomer. Yes, ultimately. And that's difficult for a lot of people to wrap their heads around.

Debbie  06:24

Yeah, I think so. And a lot of people think they can make it up. If I didn't sleep enough, this week, at least I'll have time this weekend, to sleep in. Right. Right. And, or they take a nap, which isn't quite the same because it's not dark. And we are built to sleep at night. You know, our it's a natural human nature to sleep at night when the lights go down.

Wendy  06:46

And it's also really good in the whole idea of circadian rhythm to try to get this on a regular basis--going to sleep at the same time every night. Our body loves consistency.

Debbie  06:58

One of the other things that I wanted to mention too, is that melatonin as a hormone is water and fat-soluble. And that means that it moves freely throughout all of our cells. And it does its powerful antioxidant work because of that.

Wendy  07:13

Yeah, nice. And it also helps protect the mitochondria, right, which is our energy center of the cell. And it helps protect our DNA as well.

Debbie  07:23

Pretty important.

Wendy  07:24

Yeah, Melatonin is up on the list there.

Debbie  07:27

That's right. So there's a lot of research on what melatonin does, especially when it comes to anti-cancer benefits. So we advise you to look into that yourself.

Wendy  07:36

Yeah, for sure.

Debbie  07:38

One more thing, though, as far as supplementing, which is, could be a good idea for some people, if you're pregnant, lay off of the supplements because melatonin does regulate female reproductive hormones. And that could kind of disrupt some things if you're pregnant.

Wendy  07:53

Right. Right. So, we recommend supplementing in mostly in extreme circumstances, if someone has night work they're doing if they have insomnia, you know, late shift work is what I meant or insomnia, maybe jetlag, a lot of travel. And we don't need to have it every night. We don't need that consistent, added nutrient who want to try to pattern it in a more natural way.

Debbie  08:20

Right, it's much better for your body to make its own melatonin. So, if you need to supplement don't depend on it, have better habits so that your body's producing it naturally. But there are some foods that help melatonin production. So, if you think this is an issue with you, if you don't want to take a supplement, you can increase some of these foods that help you produce it naturally. And let's name a few of those foods.

Wendy  08:43

So a couple of them are fruit: pineapples, oranges, bananas, and cherries.

Debbie  08:47

Tart cherries too.

Wendy  08:48

Tart. Yes.

Debbie  08:50

...

There's a lot of ambivalence about eating fat. For generations, doctors and other practitioners demonized fat for causing all kinds of health problems. We want to shine some light on how fat is not only good for us, but absolutely necessary. And, as we always say, it's not just about this one particular nutrient--we need to look at the person eating it as a whole. Listen to our take on fat.

In this revisit of our Magic Melatonin podcast, we discuss what Melatonin is, how it works in our bodies, the benefits of it (including it's beneficial effect on cancer), foods that help our bodies produce melatonin, and the question about supplementing.

This is part three of our sweet cravings episodes

We get down to how to actually deal with those persistent sugar cravings. It's not about going cold turkey or depriving yourself of sweet treats--it's about strategizing and mindfulness.

Transcription of the Nourish Noshes Podcast Sweet Cravings Part 3

Edited for clarity.

Debbie  00:00

This is part three of the series of sugar and we're reintroducing this podcast again, because it's six years old but still relevant. And we hope you listen to the first two. And if you haven't go back and listen to part one and two, and let us know what you think.

Wendy  00:15

You know, I think one of the things about sugar is that it's universally alluring. You know, not one person hasn't been allured and tempted and overindulged in sugar. And so this is, you know, sugar is definitely a universal language. And so, if you've got friends, you want to share this with, we encourage you to pass it along.

Debbie  00:39

Yeah. Enjoy. Here we are, at part three of why we love sugar. And in the first couple parts, we talked about what sugar does to our bodies, and how we react to sugar. And in the second part, we've talked about all the different kinds of sugars. So today, we're gonna talk about, what do we do with sugar? How do we deal with the cravings? How do we get it out of our life in such an addictive way? So . . .

Wendy  01:05

This is one of the biggest challenges from our clients. Right? It's the temptation and it's part of everyday living: it's there for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; it's there at parties and celebrations. It's everywhere we turn. It's on every corner.

Debbie  01:20

Yeah, we can't really avoid it. It's it, we actually, as we talked about, in our first couple of podcasts, we need sugar. So it's not like alcohol or drugs, where you can go cold turkey and not have them anymore and live perfectly healthy,

Wendy  01:32

Right. We've got to acknowledge that it's really hard, you know, that this, this truly is a challenge for us on a regular basis. It's not like, all of a sudden, one day, we can say, you know, I'm no longer attracted to sugar. And we also need to acknowledge too that we're all just a little bit different, you know, in a family of four, everybody's just a little bit different. You all love it, but some people are more attracted to it than others.

Debbie  01:58

And that you're right, you bring up another challenge to that if you're not living alone. Most of us aren't, you have to deal with the people you're living with who may not be on board with you may be trying to limit your sugar. So there might be sugar in your house when you're trying to avoid it. And that makes a challenge as well.

Wendy  02:13

Yeah. So there are temptations everywhere. And you brought up a good point the other day, that it's just like drugs and alcohol in some ways that there's some shame attached to this addiction that we have. I thought that was a really interesting idea that, because we like it so much.

Debbie  02:32

And yeah, there is a shame. It's like people feel that they're bad or wrong, that they can't handle themselves that they're out of control. And there's a shame attached to that people hide it, just like they do alcohol and drugs, they hide the sugar consumption, I can think of just a couple people off the top of my head. Yeah, who do that? Yeah. So we want to get away from that shame and understand that it's, it's so normal. First of all, it's so normal, and there are ways to address it. And it's an ongoing thing. It's not something you can address today, and then it'll be gone. Right? It's, um, it's a behavior management. So that's, that's a big part of it. And to get rid of the shame, you know, accept yourself for "I love sugar," "I have trouble moderating sugar," but it's okay. You know, that's one of my works, right?

Wendy  03:21

That's one of the challenges.

Debbie  03:22

There's also one of the challenges that we wanted to mention, too, was all of the competing messages out there. So it's not just your own battle, that it tastes good, and that it's around everywhere else. It's also that there's messages out there, that sweet makes happiness, right? And that sweet makes you feel better. I was talking about when I was a mother of infants, and they were going to the doctor when they would go to the doctor of all places, they would leave with lollipops, because you know, they were "good kids". Here's a reward. Some sugar! So yeah.

Wendy  03:55

When we grow up that way, in society, we tend to say if if I'm good, therefore I get a treat.

Debbie  04:02

That's right. And that's what dessert is all about too. Most parents say you can't have dessert until you have your meal. That's the reward. That's the "here's something sweet for something you've done." That's a hard message to undo.

Wendy  04:13

Yes. Well, I think we also need to acknowledge though, even though the media says that sugar equals happiness, it does give us actually a little bit of, you know, it does make us feel good. It's an instant gratification and we are actually happy but it's for often just a very short amount of time, and then we're very unhappy, right? And it's hard to remember.

Debbie  04:38

That's right, that roller coaster that that's exactly what it is. If it is a roller coaster because you feel good. And then you feel wooooo, and then you really down low, right?

Wendy  04:47

And so then you want some more sugar so you get back up again, right?

Debbie  04:52

And roller coasters are fun temporarily, but not every day all the time.

Wendy  04:55

It can make you sick if you're on it all the time.

Debbie  04:58

Exactly. Imagine yourself on a roller coaster every day all the time. Not fun.

Wendy  05:01

And we do want to acknowledge just we said in the very beginning, our first podcast was that sugar was the root of inflammation, which is the root of dis-ease as well.

Debbie  05:10

That's right, it often is the basis of most problems in people's health.

Wendy  05:16

So let's talk about strategies for dealing with sugar because that's what this podcast is really all about.

Debbie  05:22

And I think the first thing to talk about with dealing with sugar and your cravings is awareness.

Wendy  05:28

That's the starting point for all heal, right is the awareness of the messages our body's telling us when something's going on.

Debbie  05:35

And not being mindless. So, instead of mindlessly grabbing that candy that's out in the bowl in your office, it's actually thinking about, "Oh, there's a bowl of candy. I want some. Should I have it? I know, it won't make me feel good." That awareness can make that decision, you know, a mindful one and maybe have you choose the better decision. So it's all about being aware of your body being aware of your thoughts. So that mindlessness doesn't happen in your choice.

Wendy  06:02

It really is a journey. This is something that we're gonna have to deal with. We also encourage people not to say, "Okay, as of Monday, I'm going to cut sugar out of my diet," right? Because for so many of us, we're going to have celebrations; we're going to have vacations and connections with people. And so if we say never, and then break our promise, you know, we're not perfect people.

Debbie  06:26

No. It's forgiving yourself. It's the awareness. It's letting yourself have some, you know, for for me once in a while, if I'm at a wedding, or I'm at a celebration, there's couple of graduations coming up, I know there's going to be some things out there that are going to tempt me. And I'm going to be mindful about what I choose. But I may choose to have some some sweets, right, but it's that day by itself. It doesn't have to happen the day before. It doesn't have to happen the day after. It's going to be that day by itself that I choose. Okay, I'll have this one treat.

Wendy  06:53

Well, and that one treat is a very interesting idea too, because actually a story of one of my clients is that there's a bakery around the corner from her house. She knows the family. They make delicious, homemade completely from the earth ingredients. And she loves their macaroons, but she buys 10 instead of one, two or three, and she eats them on her way home. So they're completely gone by the time she gets home.

Debbie  07:19

She binges on them.

Wendy  07:20

Yeah, so we've created a new ritual for her that when she buys some, it's one two or three and she actually takes it home, she pours herself a cup of tea and she sits and really smells them and tastes them. She's savoring it and enjoying it and feeling the happiness that she has when she's having these homemade macaroons. And she's experienced it once now. And she said it was the biggest challenge to actually get home without going into the bag. But she said it, it she loved it. And she was full and she was very much more content.

Debbie  07:56

Yep, that is such a good point. And I think that's a strategy that people can take right now. And that's part of the shame. You know, I think that she probably had all the 10 in the car on the way there sort of almost to get it over with, you know, and so it's a matter of, okay, if you're going to allow yourself this one thing, really savor it, because if you actually pay attention to all the tastes and textures and how it feels in your mouth, and, and if you're sitting in a nice peaceful place or doing something that you enjoy, it's going to be such an enjoyable thing, right, just having that one instead of rushing out of shame to get it down and feeling kind of junky afterwards.

Wendy  08:35

Or for some people, they might sit there and try to savor it and be like, this doesn't actually really taste good. Actually, this whatever they might have chosen as their, I'm just going to call it a donut, for example....

In this second part of our revisited podcast on sugar, we discuss what kinds of sugars are out there.

And what they do to our bodies and how our bodies process them. Wondering which sweeteners are dangerous and which are not? We explain.

Transcription of the Nourish Noshes Podcast Sweet Cravings Part 2

Edited for clarity.

Debbie

Here's part two of our podcasts that we recorded six years ago. And we're reintroducing it to you because it's still so relevant. 

Wendy

Yeah. And we'd love to understand where people are in this journey, what you gathered from part one. And as you listen to part two we'd love to hear some feedback. 

Debbie

All right, here we are talking about why we love sugar. This is part two of our sugar series. 

Wendy

And we're going to start off by talking about some of the most natural kinds of sugars.

Debbie

Right, we're also going to touch on artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols. But let's start with the good stuff.

Honey

Wendy

Let's start with the good stuff, honey, it's one of the most beautiful sugars. 

Debbie

Right that golden honey. 

yum, yum, yum, honey,

Wendy

Right. And when we eat the honey, just remember the bees work so hard for it so it's important, we just need to have a little bit more appreciation for the honey and whenever you can, go for local honey. Make it raw and know that some of the most processed honeys out there don't have 100% honey in it. So please buy local - buy from your friends who are harvesting honey who care for their bees. Right? 

So we need to know about honey is that it does have a high fructose content. So it might cause trouble for some people with fructose malabsorption problems. 

Debbie

FODMAPS. 

Wendy

Yeah, so fructose in honey is accompanied though by an equal amount of glucose. So it can be easy for some people to digest. So just, you know, test your system. 

We're always trying to understand what's best for us. So just if honey works for one person, it doesn't have to work for everybody. 

Debbie

But I think it is the best natural sweetener out there. Absolutely. Absolutely. 

Maple Sugar

Wendy

So honey is number one. Number two is maple syrup. I remember my grandfather tapping his big maple trees and had a huge farm 145 acre farm and that was one of the best treats going to his house is to have their homemade maple syrup. 

Debbie

We do that at our house. Now we have a couple of maple trees in our yard and we tap it and we have a couple jars of maple syrup. 

Wendy

Oh, that's fabulous. Yeah. All right. So it's relatively low and fructose. And so it's a good option for people who have some trouble with fructose. It also contains some manganese, potassium, some iron and calcium. 

Debbie

Necessary minerals for us. 

Wendy

So maple syrup syrup is number two. The next one is molasses. And it's essentially table sugar but with nutrients. It's not as processed. And it's that nice, dark, rich, original color. And it also has minerals iron, calcium, and magnesium. And that's what is stripped from actual table sugar. That's what humans are refining. 

Debbie

Same plant, the cane, sugar cane, but more nutritious.

Coconut Sugar

Wendy

And then we've got the coconut sugar. It's relatively new to the market. And that's what you and I both use in baking. 

Debbie 

Yeah, really good one-to-one ratio replacement to regular sugar. 

Wendy

Yeah, I like that. It's not as processed. And it also contains a higher amount of magnesium, nitrogen and vitamin C than other sweeteners. I haven't tried the coconut nectar yet. 

Agave Nectar

Debbie

No, I haven't either. But I'd love to research that one and see how that is. So another all natural sugar that's out there that's well known these days is agave nectar. And it's really well known because it's super low on the glycemic index. And it got out there as an all natural sugar.

Wendy

It was a darling child. I know I introduced it to my clients. Sorry about that everybody! 

Debbie

Yep, cookbooks came out for that using agave nectar as the next best thing, and it was still very popular. 

Wendy

Yeah, it really is. 

Debbie

But we want to put a warning on that, because it's really not good. And the reason is because it is far higher in fructose than high fructose corn syrup. And as we said before, there's a lot of people who have trouble with fructose. It is super, super sweet. People don't digest it well. But aside from that, we also don't digest in our digestive system, we actually process it in our liver. And that's not a natural place for sugars to be digested. It doesn't raise our glycemic index because our insulin doesn't go up. And our insulin doesn't go up because it doesn't recognize it as a real sugar. And we want our insulin to go up. You know, that's normal, because it also suppresses some other hormones that tell us, you're not hungry anymore, you're done. And if we don't have that message, we're going to keep eating and we're going to keep eating sweet things. And that's what puts the weight on. So it's not only the weight but it also damages our liver, among other things. 

Wendy

Exactly. Yeah. So warning on the all natural agave nectar. 

Debbie

Right. And besides all that, it is highly, highly processed yet it's not nearly what it looks like when it comes out of the plant.

Artificial Sugar

Wendy

So the next thing we wanted to talk about is artificial sweeteners. And their main selling point is that they have no calories. We're very demanding society, right? We want to have all these sweet things with no calories. But that really messes with our hormones. 

Debbie

Even by name they are artificial sweeteners. Anything with the word artificial - that's one word we say to our clients not to have. We don't tell you not to eat anything necessarily, but please stay away from the artificial stuff. 

Wendy

Yeah, definitely. And with artificial sweeteners, it does give us a spike in insulin. 

Debbie

It does. 

Wendy

So it does recognize it as sugar, but it's a huge spike because some are 600 times sweeter than table sugar or some are 7000 times sweeter than sweeter. 

Debbie

That's crazy. 

Wendy

Yeah, it's crazy. And the side effects are even crazier. 

Debbie

Our taste buds aren't used to that kind of sweetness. It's not a natural sweetness. 

Wendy

So an apple doesn't taste like an apple anymore after we've had a bunch of artificial sweeteners. So ugh. They're so denatured we become denatured. 

Debbie

That's right. And that's why a lot of kids are not eating really healthy, good stuff, because it has no taste to them. They are used to be super flavors, especially sweetness. So we need to train our taste buds back to natural sweetness. 

Wendy

So we need to be really careful about the ingredients list, right on the packages and anything that says diet or low fat even. Read the labels of anything in a package really.

Debbie

Right. And we know the brand names, we know Splenda, we know Equal, we know Sweet N Low and so we know to stay away from those but sometimes they're not labeled as the brand name like sucralose is one of those, which is what Splenda is. And sucralose is actually processed by using chlorine, which is a neurotoxin. That's very great, right? It's a carcinogen. So nobody would, you know, willfully eat something that was processed with chlorine, but you are if you're having Splenda or sucralose and just another thing too, is aspartame has had a lot of press out there as not being healthy. And we need to reiterate that I think it's been investigated as causes of brain tumors, mental retardation, birth defects, epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, and the list goes on and on. And there's other things associated with it too, like ADHD, migraines…

Wendy

Migraines, skin disorders and personality disorders as well. I had one client who came to me and said, take anything anything you want except diet coke. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, that's the only thing I ever want to say is no to have anything that is artificial sugar. And so she finally came around and said, Okay, I'm going to try and she had been having headaches. At lunch every single day for years and years with their diet coke, she took it away. And three days later, her headache stopped, she had more energy. It was an amazing transition. 

Debbie

Aspartame is so bad that the US Air Force pilots were even banned to not have any, because of all the dangers, but the FDA has banned it.

Sugar Alcohols

Wendy

Now that's confusing after all this research and all these scientific studies. It's very, it's very upsetting. 

So the next set of sugar, we want to talk about are sugar alcohols, and they're becoming much more popular these days, too. So let's uncover the good and the bad about these guys. So we've got xylitol, sorbitol manatal, erythritol are some of the more common ones, anything that ends with an ‘tol’ at the end to be able to recognize it. And these are much lower in the glycemic index than sugar, but it can be difficult for the body to digest. I know for me, I get a lot of gas and need to be by the bathroom when I have any kind of sugar alcohols, even when I pop gum in my mouth. But like the xylitol can be good for reducing the amount of bacteria the nasty bacteria in our mouth can help prevent cavities. 

Debbie

Yeah, so a lot of dentists are actually promoting xylitol. And if you don't have an issue with that with digestive disorders then they are okay for you. I don't have a problem. 

Wendy

In moderation, right. 

Debbie

Yeah, so they are concentrated. And they do come from natural sources. They are naturally occurring in fruits. So it's not that they are artificial, it's just they are eaten in amounts that aren’t natural. 

Wendy

Which is what we do, right with all sugar,...