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Mandy White Eskelin joins The Lindsey Elmore Show to break down why restrictive diets can wreak havoc on your hormones, metabolism, and mental health. A former fitness pro who once stood dehydrated on stage with a trophy in hand and a collapsing body, Mandy now helps women heal their relationship with food by starting at the root—the gut.

She unpacks how chronic inflammation, food sensitivities, and cortisol imbalances stall weight loss and fuel emotional burnout. Mandy shares simple, sustainable strategies for balancing your plate, resetting your gut, and ditching diet culture once and for all.

 If you’ve been burned by the “clean eating” trap, this is your permission slip to reset and rebuild—inside and out.

Key Takeaways:

• Restrictive diets lead to hormonal imbalance, gut damage, and metabolic burnout.
  
  
• Gut health controls serotonin, dopamine, and your body’s stress response.
  
  
• Eating the same “healthy” foods daily can create new food sensitivities.
  
  
• High cortisol levels contribute to fat storage, especially around the midsection.
  
  
• Balancing blood sugar with whole foods reduces cravings and restores energy.
• Fats don’t make you fat—sugar and stress do
  
  
• Fruit should always be paired with protein and fat to prevent insulin spikes.
  
  
• Processed food wrecks your gut microbiome, which affects everything.
  
  

Listen in to learn more:

00:01 – Mandy's emotional breaking point and diet rock bottom
01:24 – Welcome to the show & Mandy’s background
02:42 – From trainer to chronic dieter: Mandy's weight loss journey
04:12 – The competition that wrecked her health
06:25 – Hormone issues, food sensitivities & ER visits
07:37 – How gut damage begins & why healing it changed everything
09:21 – The gut: your second brain and hormone HQ
11:59 – Diet diversity, protein cycling & why food variety matters
14:43 – What happens when you can’t digest “real food”
17:58 – 21-day metabolic reset & removing inflammatory foods
20:16 – Using food sensitivity testing for personalized healing
24:05 – Why women need fat (and should fear sugar instead)
25:44 – The truth about fruit: it’s not a snack
27:42 – Good fats vs. bad fats (and what’s ruining your cells)
31:00 – Reprogramming your palate away from sugar addiction
34:55 – Reintroducing foods post-reset: listening to your body
36:56 – Why Mandy chose holistic nutrition over conventional training
39:25 – It’s not just food: primary vs. secondary nutrition
40:39 – The gut-brain connection and how food impacts mental health

Resources & Next Steps:

• Try the EverlyWell Food Sensitivity Test
  
• Explore Mandy’s 21-Day Metabolic Reset on Mandy’s website.
• Follow Mandy White Eskelin on Instagram: @mandywhiteeskelin.
  
• Read: The Microbiome Diet by Raphael Kellman

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