Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:09] Hi and welcome everyone to this week's episode of the whole health Revolution. It's lovely to have you back with me. Now tonight, I'm joined by Sandra, who was with us last week, who is my very special guest. So it's lovely to have Sandra here. Thank you for joining me. Now tonight, I want to talk about something that maybe some of you have tried or maybe you've been tempted by at some point, and that is the quick fix diet. I've certainly, I've done several of them in my lifetime. I started my first diet at 11 years old. So you can imagine back then in the 80s, it was the low fat era, which was all coming into play. So I've done a lot myself. And the thing is, we're still seeing them on social media where we're getting these promises of, you know, lose five kilograms in seven days, which, hey, it can absolutely be done, but at what cost?
[00:00:55] So I want to be really clear here that this isn't about judging anyone. I've done these diets myself and these social media and online can be incredibly seductive. They're very good, especially if you're tired, you're frustrated, you're desperate for change. And they do sort of play on desperation, a lot of these diets. So I want to really cover this tonight on what happens when you do these quick fixes.
[00:01:22] When can they be beneficial and really what do you want to be doing in the long term? And it's not really that people are weak when it comes to this. It's the system and the promises that are being sold are just so unrealistic. And that's actually one of the biggest reasons why I created the whole health revolution, because I've had lots of clients come to me in the past saying, I did keto, I did this, that and the other diet, and it worked wonders. But then I put all the weight back on and then they come to me usually when they're feeling miserable and it's a horrible cycle. And I've been there myself and I fully understand where they're coming from. And I really created a program because I want to put a stop to this. It's just not right.
[00:02:03] And I see people, when they come to me, they feel like they failed, but in reality, it is always the diet that has failed them. It's not them that's failed that diet. It just wasn't sustainable. Let's talk about some quick fix diets that are out there at the moment.
[00:02:19] We've got weight loss drops, I've seen things like skinny drops. And usually these drops come with a very low calorie diet. So is it the low calorie diet that's doing it or is it the magic drops that's making you lose weight? I've seen sprays, I've seen teas, gummies, meal replacements. When you're having sugar instead of a meal. Well, I mean, a shake's not going to have as much calories in as a meal and it's probably not going to have the right nutrition in either. I've seen people come to me from 1200 calorie a day diets, which is not sustainable. Most of us need more than those calories just to, just to survive each day. If you were laying in bed, you probably need more than 1200 calories to keep your body going each day. So you can imagine if you're eating that much of 1200 calories, things are going to start to break down.
[00:03:07] Juices and cleanses, detoxes, I hear a lot of that often where people do a detox and they say, wow, I lost weight on this detox. Well, yes, you're going to because you're not eating as many calories for a few days. And these detoxes are only meant to be for a few days.
[00:03:23] Fasting is another one. Now fasting can be good and fasting cannot be good. It really depends on who's doing it. And we cover a little bit more about that later. I've even heard water diets online. I've seen on Instagram people doing fruit only diets, diets, meat only diets. Some people are eating butter and raw meat. I mean, it's just crazy what's out there at the moment. I mean, who'd want to do that? I really, I really don't know. But it's out there. And you know, some of the, these influencers have hundreds of thousands of followers that are following them on what they're doing. They've got no credentials in regard to nutrition, but they've done this diet. They're very good at what they do, posting every day and people get drawn into it. And it really, as you can probably hear it, makes me mad. It really does.
[00:04:11] So let's dig in and talk about these bad diets and the detrimental, possible detrimental effects of them. Yes, they do work in the short term. I could give you any diet and I could get you dropping kilos in a few days easily. I could do that for you, no problem at all. But you know, it's not what we're about. Most people that come to me, they want to lose weight and they want to keep it off for the long term.
[00:04:37] And if you're going to restrict calories, then, yeah, you're going to lose weight. It's quite a simple equation. But it's not just about calories in, calories out, it's about what you're eating. Are you eating the right nutrients? Are you getting a whole food diet? And when you drop calories sharply, when you drastically drop them, like my people that have come to me on a 1200 calorie a day diet, what happens? The first thing you lose is water weight, always if you've come from eating carbohydrates.
[00:05:05] When you eat a carbohydrate, we hold on to 3 grams of water per gram of carbohydrates. We hold on to quite a lot of water when we eat carbs and that's okay, that's natural. But when you drop those carbs, then you're going to lose water weight, so the scales are going to go down.
[00:05:22] What we find as well is that people start to lose muscle as well. Because if you're going to lose weight really fast, your body's not just going to be losing that body fat. If it's really fast weight loss, your muscle is going to tap into your muscle and is absolutely what we do not want to lose. We want to keep hold of every bit of muscle we've got, especially when you start getting sort of 40, 50 years old. And plus, we need to increase our protein. We need to keep hold of that very valuable muscle that keeps our metabolism revving along. It looks after our bones. It's so important that we do not want to lose that fast. Weight loss will dig into your muscle.
[00:06:02] It starts to slow your metabolism as well. Because our bodies are super smart and if we're constantly under eating, it's going to go into that famine mode and it's going to slow that metabolism. So it's going to hold onto what body fat you've got. It's going to look after you in case you're going to starve to death.
[00:06:20] I had this when I was bodybuilding and it was a constant fight.
[00:06:23] Also, what we find is our hormones change as well depending on what you're eating in your diet.
[00:06:29] We find that sometimes our hunger hormones come into play because our body once again is looking after us. So we've got a hunger hormone called ghrelin. I always think of it like a gremlin. You know those gremlins, little hungry gremlins, and that's ghrelin, it's our hunger hormone. And that will ramp up because it wants us to eat and feed our body with restricting calories. Day after day we might start becoming fearful of food. I certainly did. You know, I, when I was bodybuilding and when I was bulimic. Well, start off, when I was bulimic, obviously food was an issue for me. But when I was bodybuilding, I weighed every single thing I ate. And when I came out of bodybuilding, I had to relearn how to eat again properly. I had to relearn how to just put food on the plate and not weigh it. So our relationship with food can really be, it can change our relationship definitely for the negative.
[00:07:22] And food is not to be feared. You know, we should love it, love food. Everyone loves food. So yeah, the scales can move, especially when you do a quick fixed diet. But it's not always fat loss alone. Unfortunately, when clients come to me and the scales have gone up, what's the first thing you think? You think I've put on weight, I've put on fat. But it's not, you know, it's not always fat. It could be water, it could be undead. Food that's still in your system is not always fat.
[00:07:48] And talking about fat, you know, we've got fat cells all over our body and when we lose weight, those fat cells shrink, they don't disappear. So if we're teaching ourselves good long term habits, those fat cells are there ready to be filled again like little water balloons. And so when we come off of a fast weight loss fad or diet and we start eating, you know, quote unquote, normally again, those fat cells are ready to be filled again. So it's really about those consistent habits. And this is why so many people say to me, you know, I've lost weight, but then I gained it all back again. It's exactly why, because it wasn't ever going to work in the long term. And it's not because you've lacked disc discipline. It's your biology that's doing exactly what it is meant to do is protecting you. The rebound cycle, you know, and this is why it's personal for me, because I've seen so many people get stuck in that, that yo yo dieting, you know, when you lose weight, you put it back on, you lose weight, put it back on. And this can be going on for years for some people. Certainly did for me.
[00:08:49] And this is usually when I see people that have dieted hard in the past, it's not enjoyable.
[00:08:54] You're pushing through, you're fighting against this diet. You're always hungry, you're stressed, so your stress hormones go up because you're starving all the time. And then you feel guilty because, hey, when you're stressed, when you're starving, at some point you're probably going to have a little binge. I certainly did. When I, when I was bodybuilding, I'd have the odd binge and then I felt terrible. And then it was just that horrible cycle that was ongoing for me. Obviously, bodybuilding, I had a goal date in mind. It wasn't just because I wanted to lose weight, it was because I wanted to get up on stage. That's the extreme, that's right at the extreme end of dieting.
[00:09:30] And it was something that I'd always wanted to do. I'll never do it.
[00:09:33] I certainly wouldn't take it back because I learned a lot from bodybuilding. But I see this with everyday people in that restrictive dieting pattern, and it shouldn't be that way. And then what happens, you know, when you start binging, you got the guilt feelings, and then you gotta start again on Monday and it feels harder each time. You've gotta restart.
[00:09:53] And what happens? Yep, now with that strict dieting, you've lost muscle, you've slowed your metabolism, and then you're more frustrated than you ever were before.
[00:10:02] So this is why I created the whole health revolution. So when I say, you know, restricted eating patterns, they do have their place. I mean, certainly when I was bodybuilding, that was a restrictive pattern, but I knew what I was letting myself in for and I knew that this would be for a certain time frame so that I would get on stage at a certain date and then I would reverse myself back with the diet to a kind of normal eating pattern again. But there are also other instances when these diets can be beneficial and necessary.
[00:10:31] Sometimes when people are going in for weight loss surgery, whole different topic there. But often they need to start this, this diet before they go into surgery. What about when you've got allergies or ibs?
[00:10:43] Maybe you need to restrict what you're eating or eliminate certain foods because we need to find out, okay, what foods are you reacting to? And these diets are really, really important when it comes to that. The fodmap. Low fodmap diet. I see.
[00:10:57] I've seen quite often over the years where people have been put on a low fodmap diet for ibs and they stay on it. And the low fodmap diet is only meant to Be short term, it's meant to give your gut some relief while we find out what's going on for you. It gives the gut a rest. But then the ultimate goal really with anybody is to bring back as many foods as we can into their diet. Fix the gut, heal the gut, then bring the foods back in. It shouldn't be a long term diet. The difference with that is these diets are intentional, they're time limited and they're usually structured to getting you back to a normal way of eating again. And that's what should happen. But unfortunately I think, you know, it's human nature, we think, wow, I lost lots of weight on that low fodmap diet, I'm going to continue on with it or I lost lots of weight on whatever diet. And yeah, they're not meant to be in the long term.
[00:11:50] So what if you really want to accelerate your weight loss, I completely understand, but the main aim here is to lose weight and keep it off. Okay? I mean that's what we want to do. We don't want to be on that roller coaster and that yo yo for life. And this is the unsexy truth. It is not as exciting as many of the promises made on social media, but it is the most empowering one and that is that weight loss that lasts comes back to the basics. It's coming back to those boring old basics. So what it is, it, it's consistency with calories over time, is eating whole foods most of the time is eating enough protein to protect your muscles. So I always advocate have protein at every meal and maybe stick another protein portion in a snack and you should be covering your bases then. It's also not just about diet, it's about strength training, it's about daily movement walking if you're not at the gym, it's body weight squats, it's doing some wall push ups, whatever it is, it's using your muscles and it's then about building those habits that you can actually live with and that you can enjoy as well. It shouldn't be a struggle. It's not about perfection, it's not about restriction. In the whole health revolution, I say to all the members, you can eat whatever you want, but let's stick to a couple of treats a week. Have the ice cream, have the kfc, whatever it is you want, but it's once or twice a week and then it doesn't matter. You know, if you're only doing that once or twice a week, it really doesn't matter.
[00:13:15] And it's really about being repeatable. It's boring. It's consistency. Consistency is such a boring word, but it's very powerful.
[00:13:23] If you can practice that consistency, that is what's going to get you to your goal weight. And this is why the whole health revolution, we don't do those quick fixes. There's no detoxes. I've talked about liver and how the liver naturally detoxes every day anyway. And that's one of my previous podcasts. It's very interesting. And you might not have to do a detox. Your liver's doing it for you. It's about bringing in the foods that your liver loves, like bitter foods and lemon and beetroot. All those foods help you detox every single day. It's not about extremes, it's not about punishment, because if you're not going to enjoy the journey, you won't stay on that journey. And so we focus on daily choices that compound because life, you know, it's too short to keep chasing that number on the scale.
[00:14:07] And I know that I always did once upon a time, and that was at the detriment of my happiness. I wasn't happy. I actually wasn't happy when I was up on stage. I mean, it was a highlight for me in my life. Yes, I got up on stage, I did bodybuilding, what have you. But was I happy? No, not really. I wasn't confident, as you know. I was so self conscious that I didn't actually like going out in public because I felt so different to everybody. And then when I put on the weight then I didn't want to go out in public again because everyone was expecting me to be this big buff, you know, female, because I'd done this dieting and I'd been up on stage and now I looked normal, I'd put on all my weight again and it was, it was a whole negative spiral. So, no, I wasn't happy. I'm much happier now just eating normally whole foods that nourish my body. But it's been quite a journey to get there.
[00:14:56] And when you think about it, if quick fixes worked long term, we wouldn't need new resolutions or new quick fixes every year, would we? We wouldn't need to keep coming back to this diet.
[00:15:06] So I'll just finish with one question for you and that's, what's one quick fix that you've tried in the past that actually cost you in the long run? What happened with you when you lost that weight quickly?
[00:15:18] Was there anything negative that came out of that for me, definitely it was my bodybuilding journey, but.
[00:15:24] And the whole picture of that was a very positive experience because I learned so much from that journey. And this is what's brought me to where I am now. I'm so happy with my body now and I'm very, I guess, average, normal, whatever you want to call me. But I am happy and I wouldn't take that away for the world. So that journey was necessary for me to get where I am today. And maybe that happened for you. I'd love to hear your experiences with dieting over the years.
[00:15:50] And so that's me for this week. It's a short one, but yeah, it's something that's come up time and time and time again over my 20 plus years. People coming to me on strict diets and it just makes me mad, it really does. And it makes me feel so sorry for these people that feel that they've failed. You know, I hear that word a lot. I failed at this diet and. No, you didn't. You really didn't. The diet was never gonna work in the first place. So that's me this week. I've had my little rant about these short quick fix diets. So if you've got any questions, any concerns, please do reach out to me. I'd love to hear from you and I look forward to seeing you again next week.
