Trainers Talking Truths

As coaches, we are the guide that our clients are seeking to help them make sense of all the information that is flung at them every day. From empathetic coaching and listening to working with clients to find a path to sustainable behavior change, Jenny chats with Licensed Nutritionist Brooke Jeffries about the elements of coaching nutrition and wellness that we should all get really good at! Happy learning and listening!

The research gets real today! Join Jenny and John as they reunite for the first time in 2026 to discuss coffee, supplements, aging and longevity, the evolution of health across the lifespan and more!

References:

1. Ryan Yan Liu, Enwu Liu. Longitudinal Association of Coffee and Tea Consumption with Bone Mineral Density in Older Women: A 10-Year Repeated-Measures Analysis in the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures. Nutrients, 2025; 17 (23): 3660 DOI: 10.3390/nu17233660
2. Felipe Leoratto Parizoto, Elisangela Dos Santos, Natália de Matos Balsalobre, Caren Naomi Aguero Ito, Flávia Barbieri Bacha, Luis Fernando Benitez Macorini, Marcos Jose Salvador, Arielle Cristina Arena, Cândida Aparecida Leite Kassuya. Ethanolic extract of Alternanthera littoralis P. Beauv. aerial parts: Safety assessment and efficacy in experimental models of articular. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2026; 355: 120720 DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2025.120720
3. Keenan S. Pearson, Sarah K. Jachim, Caroline D. Doherty, Brandon A. Wilbanks, Luis I. Prieto, Maria Dugan, Darren J. Baker, Nathan K. LeBrasseur, L. James Maher. An Unbiased Cell‐Culture Selection Yields DNA Aptamers as Novel Senescent Cell‐Specific Reagents. Aging Cell, 2025; 24 (11) DOI: 10.1111/acel.70245

No stone is left unturned today! Jenny chats with Dr. Brian Romero about everything from corrective exercise, assessments, and client conversations to building your business slow and steady, creating an effective social media presence, and leveraging technology to make your job easier while driving results! You’ll want to listen to this one a few times- and be sure to check out the show notes for lots of links to explore!

IG: https://www.instagram.com/rep_sportsmed/

Website: https://repsportsmedicine.com/

REP Ares 2.0 exercise rack: https://repfitness.com/products/ares-2-0-cable-attachment-6-post-series?variant=43681045872798

ARPWave Muscle Stim Products: https://arpwave.com/products/

Vald Performance Assessment Tools: https://valdperformance.com/

Kinetisense 3D Motion Capture: https://www.kinetisense.com/performance/

DNS Neuromuscular Stabilization coursework: https://www.rehabps.com/

The research and real talk keep rolling in! Join Jenny and John yet again as they dive into some new revelations on vitamin D, Alzheimer’s disease, and ultra-processed foods. Then, John brings the heat with an enthralling round of “Real Talk? Or Bro-Science?”

Guest Name/ Guest Company / Guest or Company website

John Bauer, Lionel University

Interview Date

11/20/25

Episode Title and Subtitle (i.e. Ep.0: Meet Your Hosts, Meet your co-hosts Jenny Scott and Dan Duran!)

Research & Real Talk Episode 20 with GUEST John Bauer (he’s baaaack!!)

Episode Description- For website and podcast platforms

The research and real talk keep rolling in! Join Jenny and John yet again as they dive into some new revelations on vitamin D, Alzheimer’s disease, and ultra-processed foods. Then, John brings the heat with an enthralling round of “Real Talk? Or Bro-Science?”

Notes: (Links, websites, references etc) for show notes

Lighting Fitness Facts

1. Which Fat-soluble vitamin is being researched for its anti-aging properties on a DNA level?

A: Vitamin D!

A new review out of Augusta University in the US is shedding light on how vitamin D—the so-called “sunshine vitamin”—may do more than just build strong bones. Researchers found that taking 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily helped preserve telomeres, the protective caps at the ends of our chromosomes that act like the plastic tips on shoelaces, keeping our DNA from fraying each time cells divide. Shorter telomeres are tied to aging and diseases like cancer and heart disease, so keeping them intact could mean healthier aging.

In a five-year study of more than 1,000 adults, those who took vitamin D maintained their telomeres by about 140 base pairs more than those on a placebo—potentially slowing cellular aging. Scientists think vitamin D’s anti-inflammatory effects may be key here, since inflammation accelerates telomere damage.

That said, researchers caution that we still don’t know the perfect dosage or whether longer telomeres always equal better health. The takeaway? Vitamin D might be one helpful piece of the healthy aging puzzle, but the best telomere protection still comes from the basics—good nutrition, regular exercise, quality sleep, and managing stress.

2. As it relates to the diet, what are researchers homing in on as a primary cause of chronic systemic inflammation possibly leading to chronic health issues?

A: high ultra-processed food consumption

New research from Florida Atlantic University is sounding the alarm on ultra-processed foods—things like chips, soda, frozen meals, and processed meats that make up nearly 60% of the average adult’s calories in the U.S. and almost 70% of kids’ diets. These foods are packed with additives, low in nutrients, and designed to keep you eating more. The study found that people who consumed the highest amounts of ultra-processed foods had significantly higher levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, or hs-CRP—a key marker of inflammation and a strong predictor of heart disease.

Researchers analyzed data from over 9,000 adults across the U.S. and discovered that those getting 60 to 79% of their calories from ultra-processed foods had about an 11% higher likelihood of elevated inflammation compared to people eating the least. Even moderate consumers saw higher risk. The link was especially strong among people aged 50 to 59, those with obesity, and smokers.

Inflammation is at the root of many chronic diseases—from heart problems to cancer—and the study’s authors say this growing reliance on ultra-processed foods could be playing a major role. They even compare the situation to early warnings about tobacco use, predicting that it may take time and policy change before the food industry shifts. For now, the takeaway is clear: the closer your food is to its natural form—fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains—the better for your long-term health.

3. Alzheimer’s research is constantly advancing and scientists think they have identified something that may be contributing to the development and progression of the disease. What do you think that may be? HINT- it is the buildup of something that is causing issues.

A: Fat in the brain!

Researchers at Purdue University have uncovered a surprising new clue in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease—fat buildup inside the brain’s immune cells may be a key driver of the disease’s progression. Published in the journal Immunity, the study reveals that microglia, the brain’s cleanup crew responsible for clearing toxic proteins like amyloid beta, become overloaded with fat and lose their ability to protect the brain.

The team found that these fat-stuffed microglia, clustered around amyloid plaques, clear about 40% less amyloid than healthy cells. The culprit appears to be an enzyme called DGAT2, which gets stuck in overdrive and turns useful fatty acids into stored fat, clogging the microglia. When researchers blocked or degraded this enzyme in animal models, the microglia regained their function and began clearing out harmful debris again—restoring the brain’s balance.

This discovery marks a shift from the traditional focus on protein plaques and tangles to what scientists are calling a “lipid model” of Alzheimer’s, where the buildup of certain fats—not just misfolded proteins—plays a central role in neurodegeneration. The findings open the door to a new class of therapies that target fat metabolism in the brain, potentially helping immune cells fight back against Alzheimer’s and related diseases.

References:

1. Haidong Zhu, JoAnn E Manson, Nancy R Cook, Bayu B Bekele, Li Chen, Kevin J Kane, Ying Huang, Wenjun Li, William Christen, I-Min Lee, Yanbin Dong. Vitamin D3 and marine ω-3 fatty acids supplementation and leukocyte telomere length: 4-year findings from the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL) randomized controlled trial. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2025; 122 (1): 39 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2025.05.003

2. Kevin Sajan, Nishi Anthireddy, Alexandra Matarazzo, Caio Furtado, Charles H. Hennekens, Allison Ferris. Ultra-processed foods and increased high sensitivity C-reactive protein. The American Journal of Medicine, 2025; DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2025.08.016

3. Salt, Sugar, Fat by Micahel Moss

4. Priya Prakash, Palak Manchanda, Evi Paouri, Kanchan Bisht, Kaushik Sharma, Jitika Rajpoot, Victoria Wendt, Ahad Hossain, Prageeth R. Wijewardhane, Caitlin E. Randolph, Yihao Chen, Sarah Stanko, Nadia Gasmi, Anxhela Gjojdeshi, Sophie Card, Jonathan Fine, Krupal P. Jethava, Matthew G. Clark, Bin Dong, Seohee Ma, Alexis Crockett, Elizabeth A. Thayer, Marlo Nicolas, Ryann Davis, Dhruv Hardikar, Daniela Allende, Richard A. Prayson, Chi Zhang, Dimitrios Davalos, Gaurav Chopra. Amyloid-β induces lipid droplet-mediated microglial dysfunction via the enzyme DGAT2 in Alzheimer’s disease. Immunity, 2025; 58 (6): 1536 DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2025.04.029

5. Kevin A. Guttenplan, Maya K. Weigel, Priya Prakash, Prageeth R. Wijewardhane, Philip Hasel, Uriel Rufen-Blanchette, Alexandra E. Münch, Jacob A. Blum, Jonathan Fine, Mikaela C. Neal, Kimberley D. Bruce, Aaron D. Gitler, Gaurav Chopra, Shane A. Liddelow, Ben A. Barres. Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes induce cell death via saturated lipids. Nature, 2021; 599 (7883): 102 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03960-y

6. China N. Byrns, Alexandra E. Perlegos, Karl N. Miller, Zhecheng Jin, Faith R. Carranza, Palak Manchandra, Connor H. Beveridge, Caitlin E. Randolph, V. Sai Chaluvadi, Shirley L. Zhang, Ananth R. Srinivasan, F. C. Bennett, Amita Sehgal, Peter D. Adams, Gaurav Chopra, Nancy M. Bonini. Senescent glia link mitochondrial dysfunction and lipid accumulation. Nature, 2024; 630 (8016): 475 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07516-8

Join Jenny and Registered Dietician Kayla Girgen as they take a journey through nutrition, community building, and the outdoor fitness craze called Rucking. Kayla’s wide range of experience in the fitness and health industry spans more than a decade and she’s got some amazing insights that can help YOU build the community and business that supports clients, meets them where they are, and offers variety that keeps them coming back.

kaylagirgenrd.com

IG: @kaylagirgenrd

Sugar + Strength Academy https://kaylagirgenrd.mn.co/

In this episode, Jenny welcomes certified Trainer Charles Gardner to the show to share his experience from getting started at Gold’s Gym to building a solid book of business, consistent clients, and a great reputation some 25 years later! Every personal trainer has a unique journey- hear from one who has weathered the storm and lived to tell the tale!

Blogs by Charles: https://www.elitefts.com/author/charles-gardner/

www.synergystrength.net

https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-gardner-7b981633/

IG: @synergyceo_800

Such a great episode today with ISSA student, gold medal-winning pentathlete, fitness studio owner, and nutrition lover Tibor Deme! Jenny and Tibor dive into nutrient density, practical strategies for helping people better understand what’s in their food, and fueling for performance. Be sure to check out the show notes for Tibor’s reading recommendations!

Tibor Deme: “I believe it is easier to achieve a healthy lifestyle and prevent diseases, rather than becoming ill and try to take corrective actions.”

IG: https://www.instagram.com/lifeboostfit/

Website: https://lifeboostfit.com/

Reading List:

The China Study, PHD T Colin Campbell

Food - MD Mark Hyman

Pure, White and Deadly - Nutritionist and Dr. Queen Elisabeth College - John Yudkins

Whole - PHD T Colin Campbell

UnDo It - MD Dean Ornish and Anne Ornish

The Hungry Brain, PhD J Guyenet Stephan

Plant-Based Sport Nutrition - PhD D. Enette Larson - Meyer

Atomic Habits - James Clear

Cooking Book - Blue Zone Kitchen by Dan Buettner, Favorite Bean Soup three ways, green and onions, Quick

The research and real talk keep rolling in! Join Jenny and John yet again as they dive into some new revelations on creatine, amino acids, and (love it or not) artificial intelligence. Staying up to date with new information is critical, but so is understanding how, if, and when to apply it!

References: 

1. Xu C, Bi S, Zhang W, Luo L. The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Nutr. 2024 Jul 12;11:1424972. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1424972. Erratum in: Front Nutr. 2025 Feb 17;12:1570800. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1570800. PMID: 39070254; PMCID: PMC11275561.
2. Aileen H. Lee, Lucie Orliaguet, Yun-Hee Youm, Rae Maeda, Tamara Dlugos, Yuanjiu Lei, Daniel Coman, Irina Shchukina, Prabhakar Sairam Andhey, Steven R. Smith, Eric Ravussin, Krisztian Stadler, Bandy Chen, Maxim N. Artyomov, Fahmeed Hyder, Tamas L. Horvath, Marc Schneeberger, Yuki Sugiura, Vishwa Deep Dixit. Cysteine depletion triggers adipose tissue thermogenesis and weight loss. Nature Metabolism, 2025; 7 (6): 1204 DOI: 10.1038/s42255-025-01297-8
3. Jeanette A.I. Johnson, Daniel R. Bergman, Heber L. Rocha, David L. Zhou, Eric Cramer, Ian C. Mclean, Yoseph W. Dance, Max Booth, Zachary Nicholas, Tamara Lopez-Vidal, Atul Deshpande, Randy Heiland, Elmar Bucher, Fatemeh Shojaeian, Matthew Dunworth, André Forjaz, Michael Getz, Inês Godet, Furkan Kurtoglu, Melissa Lyman, John Metzcar, Jacob T. Mitchell, Andrew Raddatz, Jacobo Solorzano, Aneequa Sundus, Yafei Wang, David G. DeNardo, Andrew J. Ewald, Daniele M. Gilkes, Luciane T. Kagohara, Ashley L. Kiemen, Elizabeth D. Thompson, Denis Wirtz, Laura D. Wood, Pei-Hsun Wu, Neeha Zaidi, Lei Zheng, Jacquelyn W. Zimmerman, Jude M. Phillip, Elizabeth M. Jaffee, Joe W. Gray, Lisa M. Coussens, Young Hwan Chang, Laura M. Heiser, Genevieve L. Stein-O’Brien, Elana J. Fertig, Paul Macklin. Human interpretable grammar encodes multicellular systems biology models to democratize virtual cell laboratories. Cell, 2025; DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.06.048

In this episode Jenny reconnects with the team at API fitness insurance. You don’t know you need insurance until you NEED it… and by then, it’s too late to get it! 

Doug and Jim explain the type of insurance a fitness professional may need to carry to protect themselves, their clients, and their business. PLUS, we dive into some real-life examples of when someone needed insurance to cover a situation and some real cohort cases where insurance saved the day!

Don't forget to check out this link https://team.apifitness.com/wordpress/ for a special offer from API!

Today, Jenny and Mr. John dig into some new research and more real talk yet again! From optimal resistance training or results to ultraprocessed foods and putting an end to type 1 diabetes, the research is coming in hot! And don;t miss John’s Real Talk about education in the fitness fields- it comes in many shapes and ways! Happy listening!

References: 

1. Comparable Strength and Hypertrophic Adaptations to Low-Load and High-Load Resistance Exercise Training in Trained Individuals: Many Roads Lead to Rome

Kristoffer Toldnes Cumming, Ingrid Cecelia Elvatun, Richard Kalenius, Gordan Divljak, Truls Raastad, Niklas Psilander, Oscar Horwath bioRxiv 2025.04.28.650925; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.04.28.650925

2. Samuel J. Dicken, Friedrich C. Jassil, Adrian Brown, Monika Kalis, Chloe Stanley, Chaniqua Ranson, Tapiwa Ruwona, Sulmaaz Qamar, Caroline Buck, Ritwika Mallik, Nausheen Hamid, Jonathan M. Bird, Alanna Brown, Benjamin Norton, Claudia A. M. Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott, Mark Hamer, Chris van Tulleken, Kevin D. Hall, Abigail Fisher, Janine Makaronidis, Rachel L. Batterham. Ultraprocessed or minimally processed diets following healthy dietary guidelines on weight and cardiometabolic health: a randomized, crossover trial. Nature Medicine, 2025; DOI: 10.1038/s41591-025-03842-0

3. Mayo Clinic. "This sugar molecule could stop type 1 diabetes, by fooling the immune system." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/08/250802022917.htm (accessed August 2, 2025).