[00:00:00] Jay: Welcome to episode eight of the Bioenergetic View in today's episode. We'll be joined by Kitty Blomfield and we'll be discussing the appeal of intermittent fasting and restrictive diets and why they often do more harm than good. We'll discuss why most women are underfed, under muscled, and struggling with body composition.

[00:00:18] We'll go over the extreme things people do in the name of health and the importance of the basics. We'll go over the impact of stress on our health and the connection between emotional and physical health. And we'll also discuss whether drinking a few glasses of water first thing in the morning is optimal for our metabolism.

[00:00:34] And with that, let's jump right in.

[00:00:37] Danny: Okay welcome to A Bioenergetic View and our guest is Kitty Blomfield. Kitty, do you want to give a brief rundown, maybe introduction of yourself?

[00:00:45] Kitty: Yeah, sure. I'll try and keep it brief. Don't let me crap on for too long. So I did so many diets, like started dieting when I was 17 and I think I had a lot of body image issues and I just thought, to be loved I needed to be skinny, so I cycled through every single quick fix diet under the sun, from every protocol of fasting to shake diets, I 12 months, I took that drug, I don't know what it's called in America, but you basically poo out any fat that you eat, it was disgusting, I remember once I ate tuna and apples for 12 weeks straight, And yeah, I just, my weight would yo up and down and I ended up with like really terrible cycles.

[00:01:23] So I had a miscarriage. I had polyps removed, like heavy, irregular, I'd wake up constantly during the night. My hair was falling out. I was constipated and I just was like, I would binge eat all the time. And I was just so obsessed with food and I actually got divorced and I was seeing this therapist and we would always talk about nutrition because I think I was always looking for that, that next diet was the one that was going to work that I could stick to.

[00:01:48] And she said to me she said to me. Kitty, women who have thyroid issues shouldn't be eating a ton of green vegetables and I was just like, what do you mean? I, cause I ate green vegetables at every meal. Spinach in the smoothies, bloody green beans and tuna for morning snack.

[00:02:01] Huge spinach salads for lunch. Anyway, then she said, go and check out the work of this guy, Dr. Ray Peet and Emma Skarakis, who's now my business partner in Saturay. So I went off and I read Ray's work and it was a bit heavy. It was like amazing. Was reading Emma's blogs and articles and there was this article defending fruit and other non complex Carbohydrates and because I was the sugar antichrist, like I wouldn't even eat fruit.

[00:02:24] I made my own almond milk And I just thought oh my goodness. This is why excuse my French. I've been fucked my whole life, you know I'm doing all of the things that she talked about. I'm doing the opposite of those things. And so I emailed her and I just said, I have to work with you. I told her my backstory.

[00:02:42] So I worked with her for 12 weeks and I met Craig at the same time. He got me into strength training and it just transformed my body and my life. I started sleeping through the night. My cycles became regular. I stopped binge eating. I had energy again. I started pooing every day and then. As I started to lift the weights and actually fuel my body and eat more consistently every day, I grew muscle, I lost body fat and I just was happy and healthy and it changed my life so much that I left my job in mining and Craig and I opened a gym and then we opened we developed our online program, Win at Life, to basically help women like me and then Emma and I created Saturay, which is our supplement and skincare company.

[00:03:23] And yeah, I'm just really passionate about helping women. Free themselves from these crazy restrictive diets and enjoy food again and rebuild their relationship with their body and their health. And yeah, and I just like to eat food .

[00:03:37] Danny: I just really like food. Yeah. You have so much experience at this point, like you've been doing this for a long time.

[00:03:42] Newly 10 years. Yeah. Yeah. That's absolutely amazing. So we gathered some articles here and we want the kitty point of view on them. So I did. You're very much in your wheelhouse. And unless Jay or Mike have something to say, we'll jump to the first one here. Jay, do you want to contextualize this video that we're about to watch?

[00:04:01] Jay: Sure. All the content we'll be digging through today is very common advice for women, especially in regard to fat loss. And we'll be digging into some other very related topics. And so this one is focused on intermittent fasting and the seven reasons why the title is the, is my top seven reasons intermittent fasting is invincible for women.

[00:04:21] Let's

[00:04:21] Danny: give it a go. See what she has to say.

[00:04:24] Screenshare: In the midlife, I've got seven reasons why you should consider time restricted feeding or intermittent fasting as part of your health plan. I'm Dr. Mary Claire Haver, board certified OBGYN and culinary medicine specialist. These are evidence based findings specifically done on females in perimenopause or menopause.

[00:04:41] Number one, intermittent fasting improves weight loss. Number two, intermittent fasting improves belly fat or visceral fat. Number three, intermittent fasting decreases cortisol levels. Number four, intermittent fasting improves glucose intolerance. Number five, intermittent fasting protects against age related memory decline.

[00:05:01] Number six, intermittent fasting improves liver function. Number seven, intermittent fasting improves your lipid profile and cholesterol levels. If you want to learn more about how intermittent fasting can improve your health, check us out at galveston diet. com. And follow for more tips.

[00:05:16] Danny: That was painful on the ears.

[00:05:17] What a kitty, what is your experience with intermittent fasting along with your clients experience intermittent fasting?

[00:05:22] Kitty: I think maybe potentially if, because I've never actually tried this, if women were actually tracking their food, eating adequate calories, getting enough protein, getting enough of the right nutrients in lowering stress, other areas of stress in their life.

[00:05:35] Potentially if they had a period of time where they weren't eating, it might be okay. But I think every single woman that I've ever worked with and myself. We would fast, but then we'd also be not eating enough calories, not eating enough protein, not getting the rough of the right nutrients in. So it was just this like storm for, under nourishing your body.

[00:05:56] We'd also combine it with over exercising. So of course it helps with weight loss because all you're doing is just putting yourself in this massive calorie deficit and in this stressed state. Of course, it's, we'll probably initially reduce some belly fat because. Again, you're in a calorie deficit, but done, I found when I did it over like years, yes, I felt good at the start because I was running on these stress hormones.

[00:06:18] But then in time, I always try and describe it to women and how it makes sense to me is, you've got this body, it's like a Ferrari, you want to put the right fuel in, you want to put the right oil in, you want to give it enough of everything that it needs.

[00:06:30] And when you are constantly not eating enough, you're not getting the right nutrients in, you're stressing yourself. with so many other things, like women, it's like we live in this stressful world, like social media, kids, work, it just compounds this stress, so your body's not like a car, like if you don't put enough fuel in a car, it just stops, your body doesn't stop, it has these built in mechanisms to survive, so it will create fuel, using a process called gluconeogenesis, so it's breaking down your fat and your muscle, but this is very stressful on your body, so your body will always Prioritize survival over things like reproduction and digestion and all these other things.

[00:07:07] And so then I started to experience all these symptoms, like the digestion, the constipation, cause my body's going, Oh, I need to survive. I need to survive. So that's been my experience. I don't know. She talks about studies that have been done on women. I don't know. Have you looked at these studies?

[00:07:23] What are these studies that she's talking about? Cause like from what I've seen, there's very few studies done on fasting and women. Like they've done on men.

[00:07:33] Jay: Jay, do you know? I don't know. I don't think she referenced any of them in the post, but the ones on men aren't very promising either.

[00:07:40] And show, again, even if there is, as you're saying, even if there is weight loss, right? Yeah. This is a way to create weight loss, but it's something that comes at a cost, right? It's something that it requires stress, creates stress, puts us into a stress state because we aren't providing the fuel from our diet.

[00:07:56] So we have to rely on. Providing that fuel internally and our bodies view that as a sign of a suboptimal environment where it increases stress hormones and in response and long term that comes at a major cost. And in the studies, as you said, that are normally on men, you do see lower testosterone, you do see lower active thyroid hormone, lower T3.

[00:08:17] And you typically don't see actually any weight loss benefit when you compare it to another calorically restricted group as well. And if anything, even if you're seeing about the same weight loss, more more lean mass loss unless body fat loss. Yeah, it sounds like a pretty terrible idea when you actually consider what's going on underneath.

[00:08:35] Kitty: I think like a lot of women too, and what I found is I was always looking for the easy way. Like keto fasting, it's you don't really have to think about it. You just keto cut all the carbs out of your diet. Fasting, you just cut a few meals out and you're not actually digging any deeper and looking at, am I getting enough protein?

[00:08:52] Am I getting enough of the right nutrients? I think. What really helped me was finally getting to the point where I was like, I'm just sick of myself. I don't want to take the easy way anymore. I really want to learn and understand my body. And when I started working with Emma and Craig, something that stuck with me when I started working with Craig was, and I am now with him is he said, you've got to stop destroying the body that you have with restrictive diets and a ton of cardio and build the body that you want.

[00:09:20] Build the muscle with real food and strength training. And, I think I was always so focused on doing these crazy ass diets to get as small as possible. Whereas I shifted my focus to actually getting outside and getting more active and strength training and eating more food and giving my body the building blocks that it needed to build muscle and function optimally so that my hormones could be balanced.

[00:09:44] And it's just so much better. Like I'd probably average now 2, 700 calories a day and it's the best. Like I had my breakfast this morning with sourdough crumpets with. Butter and raspberry jam and beautiful ripe in season nectarines, orange, oranges, cherries, coffee with milk and maple syrup and collagen and eggs with parmesan cheese.

[00:10:05] It's to not be afraid of food anymore and think, Oh my God, I have to starve myself and eat 1200 calories and I can't go out and eat. It's it's just. I think it's just a quick and easy way to lose weight and you don't really understand anything about your body and you're not empowered to make decisions around your food and what I can and can't eat.

[00:10:24] I don't know. I just, I think women were always just looking for the quick fix. And the easy thing where we don't have to think. I don't know if that really answered your question. Sorry, I was just thinking about that the other day.

[00:10:35] Danny: I'm going to disagree with all you guys because losing a pound of brain mass through intermittent fasting isn't too bad.

[00:10:41] It's not that bad, right?

[00:10:44] Mike: I think for most, I think you bring up a really good point, Kitty, because I think for most people they just want some like easy rule of thumb that they can put into place, right? So it's just Oh, if I don't have breakfast, like I'll lose weight. And instead of creating a whole picture around how to actually intelligently construct a diet to build your body and to protect yourself from stress hormones and from the negative hormonal effects of these things.

[00:11:11] So it's, it creates this rule of thumb for people that they can just follow instead of having to sit there and be, understand okay, what foods work for me? What foods do I eat? How do I structure my diet? All of these different types of components. And I think if. People had a solution where they're able to see oh there is actually a way to do this And it isn't that bad and I can actually still eat and I can eat these like good foods Then you get into the circumstance where I think they would choose that instead, but it's just what people see all the time It's just oh just don't eat breakfast just stop eating breakfast or don't have dinner and just have two meals a day And just restrict, and it's sure, it has these effects, because you're just restricting food in general, but they don't talk about the side effects.

[00:11:55] And I think that is a huge problem, because we all come to this, we, I think all of us here have done some type of low carb or keto or intermittent fasting or one of these crazy diets, and it was, when you first hear it, it's oh, there's all these benefits. And then you do it, and the first month or so, you feel pretty good because you, as you said, you're running on these stress hormones.

[00:12:15] And then what winds up happening is, over time, you, maybe you lost a couple pounds up front, you were feeling good, and then things start going downhill, but you're still shooting for this first week that you had really good results. And then you're saying, like, all these studies, all these doctors, this OB GYN, she can't be wrong, it has to be the best thing ever.

[00:12:34] And then you don't see this other alternative, and I think Dr. Pete's work and whatnot is what, where people start to be like, oh wait, maybe there is this other idea. Or maybe there's this other perspective that actually makes sense, and I don't have to sacrifice my health to or sacrifice my food intake, et cetera, to be at some particular weight, or have my liver function well, or have my blood lipid levels lower, and things along these lines.

[00:12:56] So I think it's just, people get stuck, sucked into this, because it's, oh, there's all these studies. Although I don't even know where all these studies are that she's talking about with this. Yeah. And then they, it's, and then it's just a really easy rule of thumb, right? Cut out carbs or, Yeah. Skip breakfast or something like that.

[00:13:12] Kitty: And I think sometimes too maybe, what were they eating before they tried the fasting? Like maybe they were just eating this dog shit diet. Any, like they may have also improved and other parts of their diet and done the fasting. So maybe that was what was giving those positive effects.

[00:13:26] Like when people have got like digestive issues and then they go keto or carnivore, they're just feeling better because they're reducing a lot of those like harder to digest foods, but it's not actually fixing the issue. Yep, exactly.

[00:13:41] Jay: Yeah. And as, as you're pointing out too, people are looking for a way out, right?

[00:13:46] They're looking for an easy solution or a solution. And if it's as simple as just don't eat one meal, it's like that is achievable because they don't have the knowledge awareness that there's actually an option that is sustainable and leads to you feeling good and not cutting out carbohydrates and not cutting out.

[00:14:03] Going on major calorie deficits and whatnot, and not fasting, not needing to skip meals. They don't know that there's another option. And they're looking for anything that they can do for a short period of time to get to some end result, to lose the next 10 pounds or 20 pounds. In eight weeks or 12 weeks, not recognizing that there are actually ways that support your physiology and lead you to feeling better and can lead to weight loss.

[00:14:26] If you're looking for guidance in understanding how to create a sustainable diet and lifestyle to lose weight and resolve any other health issues you may be working on, head over to J Feldman wellness. com slash call where you can sign up for a free call with a member of the J Feldman wellness team who can provide you insights on your health issues and make sure you get the support you need on your health journey.

[00:14:47] Whether that's our one on one coaching program or a group coaching program or the do it yourself course. So head over to jfeldmanwellness. com slash call to sign up for a free call.

[00:14:58] Kitty: And we talk a lot about on our, in our program is this body recomposition, so many women that we work with, they just, yes, they need to lose body fat.

[00:15:05] A lot of them have 40, 45 percent body fat, but they're under muscled. Like they're under muscled and to build muscle, you need calories and you need nutrients. And what I find with the women who. If people follow our process and they, they only need, you can strength train more, but like most of them just strength train three days a week, so that's what they can fit in.

[00:15:22] Then what happens is as they build more muscle and their health improves and their metabolism improves when they get to this, desired body composition, they're eating more food. Like they can eat more food and maintain it. Like sometimes I'm still surprised at how much food I can actually eat and Going through this process, I think, yes, it's difficult at the start because you're trying to learn about your body and tracking and understanding food and all of the different things that we speak about.

[00:15:48] But in time, it gets easier and then you can be more intuitive. Like this week, I haven't tracked my food because we've just been busy, but I still eat the same breakfast. I know I can look at a meal at night. I had this chicken, roast chicken leg, two slices of Jarlsberg cheese, some air fried potato chips, and I had ice cream.

[00:16:04] I know roughly. How much I need and I can listen to my body and know that I'm getting enough protein, so I think, sometimes women can be a bit scared about this process like, oh, it's hard work and I've got to learn, but it will really set you free. I think long term and you've just got to think about that and where it is that you want to be in the health that you want to have in the body that you want to have in.

[00:16:26] That you just want to eat delicious food and not feel scared that you're gonna eat this food and then gain 10 kilos.

[00:16:33] Mike: Yeah, I think this is food. That's what I always say.

[00:16:36] Kitty: You

[00:16:36] Mike: are. I think the sustainability piece is actually something that's a really important point because a lot of these different diets aren't Sustainable like after you run through a year of keto most people are like I just I don't want to continue doing keto or carnivore Or the fasting stuff.

[00:16:55] It's and then the other problem is that these diets get more and more restrictive. So you start circling downwards with the foods that you can eat, and you have to keep lowering carbs. Or you have to increase how long you're fasting, so it goes from just skipping breakfast, now you have a 4 hour window, to now you're doing 3 hour fast.

[00:17:12] And then those things like inherently are unsustainable in the long term. So the real solution is figuring out how to set up the diet appropriately and intelligently and not just look for the easy way out as you said in the beginning. And then the kicker with all this though is that once you get the diet stabilized At least for me, once I had my diet stabilized and I understood, this is what my intake's gonna be, this is how much protein I'm gonna need based on my weight, this is the carbs, this is the fat intake, and then I figured out what foods work for me, I just run it.

[00:17:44] It's on autopilot. I don't have to think about it. I know when I go out to a restaurant, I know when I'm traveling what I can eat on a regular basis that's gonna get the job done for what I need and for what I like. And that's the other thing too, is like you can set up meals and you can set up recipes and you can do things that you like.

[00:18:03] So you don't have, it doesn't have to be this like really bland, restrictive, boring diet. A lot of times when I'm working with a client, I'll be organizing meals. So what do you actually like to eat for breakfast? Okay let's make that meal. Let's make it work. Let's tweak it so that it's appropriate for what your intake is, what your requirement is.

[00:18:21] And then basically if that's what works, okay good, now you have 1, 2, 3 breakfast options, just maybe rotate through them, and then go from there. So it, it becomes very sustainable, and it becomes very easy to follow. It's just that initial activation energy, that initial period of time of learning, and that becomes difficult, and then you get consistency after that.

[00:18:41] And the other thing I think all the time is imagine if we just had these ideas around food and diet, and we grew up with them. Then this wouldn't even be hard. This wouldn't even be a question because people would have already had this ingrained. It's just that we have all these weird ideas around food and diet that we, I think most of us actually had probably relatively normal ideas and then we hit like puberty or we start worrying about our weight and then we get these weird ideas and then you have to come full circle like I was having this conversation the other day.

[00:19:09] with somebody where it's I started out from paleo with low carb. And then basically where I got back to was I didn't really do super hot with dairy personally. So then I just wound up going to that diet with like adequate proteins and meats and things like this. And then adding in different carb sources that I did well with.

[00:19:25] But I went like this huge circle into all these different dietary iterations to get back to that. And like the diet I run now is relatively similar in many capacities. To what I was already doing with what my parents would do for meals or things like that as I was growing up. So it's yeah, I think there's if we just had that setup from when we grew up and we had some better understanding most people wouldn't have this huge learning curve and I want again once you get over the learning curve It's really not that bad.

[00:19:50] It is very sustainable and consistent

[00:19:53] Kitty: It's interesting what you said about what you did when you were younger because I remember when I did my consults with emma And I said to her, I'm like, Oh, this is just like how my grandma used to feed me. So my, she's dead now, but I'd go to her house and she'd squeeze orange juices, oranges every morning, give us fresh juice.

[00:20:10] We'd have like eggs cooked in butter. There was this thing of butter that she would keep on the bench out of the fridge in this little glass container. She'd have these pawpaw trees, she'd cut up pawpaw, pour the orange juice over, she'd make her own bread. She would cook a lot of like roast meats with like parsnip.

[00:20:26] Potatoes, lots of, I never remember us ever having heaps of green vegetables. Sometimes she would do Brussels sprouts, but they were cooked in like bacon fat. And that was just salty and delicious. She'd make ice cream. She'd make custard. The milk would get delivered in the milk, the glass milk bottles with the little tops.

[00:20:42] Custard. I remember she had a lot of custard. Oh, and she'd make. Like kidney, steak and kidney for my, my, I used to smell disgusting and this parsley sauce on toast with butter, just all the steak and kidney pies. I just never remember she made cakes with flour and butter and sugar and, you'd just have a slice of cake.

[00:21:02] It wasn't like you'd eat the whole, and I was like, this is exactly how, oh, and we'd eat a lot of seafood too, because I loved, I had a boat. So we'd eat a lot of, we'd go out crabbing, oysters, they loved oysters. Just all the foods that we, prioritize now. And I was talking to a client actually yesterday, because she's doing our seven day challenge.

[00:21:21] And we were talking about the green vegetables and the nuts and seeds and I said, look, I'm not saying that these foods are inherently bad. There's no inherently bad or good foods. It's just that I think the fitness industry teaches women that these foods are really healthy and you should eat a lot of them to be healthy.

[00:21:36] And I said, it's not that I'm saying don't ever eat them, but eat less and cook them well and prepare them so your body can digest them. So the issue is that most women that I work with, and I did the same thing is. A good healthy meal for me was lean chicken breast with a green salad.

[00:21:52] I'd say, it's not that you can't eat the salad, I said have your protein, have a good carbohydrate source, maybe some fruit or potato or rice or whatever you enjoy that works for you. And then if you want to have your salad, just have it on the side, it's a side salad. It's not the main component of the meal, it doesn't contain any energy, it's hard to digest.

[00:22:08] So it's not saying that it's, and then it comes back to your personal preference and your, how well you can digest. Transcripts provided by Transcription Outsourcing, LLC. Cause I used to eat, my diet was crazy, eh? So like for dinner, I would have, just smash the farm salmon, and I'd have big plates of cabbage with lots of salt, steamed vegetables, and then I'd eat the diet jelly afterwards for dinner for dessert, and so many women just do this same thing, and I was farting, and I was gassy, and I was hungry, and it's just.

[00:22:50] Yeah, I found naturally I just don't like I used to think that I crave those things But now it's not that I try purposely not to eat lots of green I just don't like them like my body's just not like sometimes I'll feel like yesterday or on the weekend Sorry, I made this beautiful salad with bocconcini and heaps of fresh basil and watermelon or sometimes You know, like I feel like some nice spinach with breakfast, but I cook it and I have butter, it's just, it's interesting how naturally I've just felt I've come away from wanting to eat those foods with, does that make sense?

[00:23:24] I don't know if you guys felt the same.

[00:23:27] Mike: Yeah, I think, I remember when Jay and I were in college together, we were like boiling up pounds of kale and broccoli and spinach. And then you would have to have like tons of green vegetables with every meal. So it'd be like ground beef and broccoli and spinach and sardines and broccoli and spinach.

[00:23:44] And then basically it was just a medium to get butter because it's keto and paleo. So you could have butter and you can have fat. So it was like, how much olive oil and butter could you get inside your greens? And it was just, there was a vehicle to get them. But besides that, it wasn't, it.

[00:23:57] And then once we went, when we moved over, we shifted more towards. The bioenergetic perspective, the diet became more centered around fruits and like actually eating things that were really providing us Adequate carbohydrate and things along these lines and then I remember we kept trying to run gut protocols Because you know you're having all these gut symptoms.

[00:24:17] You're having the bloating you're having the gas and it's oh, it must be SIBO It must be IBS. I need to take all these probiotics I need to take these herbal compounds to fix my gut and it was like or I could just remove all these things that I Was having a hard time digesting and I don't even need to run the protocol So that was a big thing is like 80 percent of digestive symptoms When you get rid of some of these really difficult to digest foods, or the foods really high in FODMAPs, they just go away.

[00:24:43] And you may not even have to do the gut protocol, or the probiotics, or the herbal things. The symptoms just go by themselves. A lot of people I work with are like, Alright, what's this gut stack we're gonna do? What supplements do I need to buy? And it's we just need to stop eating.

[00:24:57] Broccoli at every meal, let's start there, and then we can get to the other, we can get to the other stuff down the road.

[00:25:02] Kitty: Yeah, I think so, what I find as well, and I think as I've progressed on this journey for me, even when I eat enough, if I get very stressed particularly emotional stress, I get constipated.

[00:25:11] It just happens, and then I have to take some cascara, and then when I deal with the emotional stress and everything's back to normal, poo starts going again. And so many things, women they're just not eating enough, so like, when they actually start, like you say, taking some of these harder to digest foods, they're actually eating adequate calories, lowering stress, then all of a sudden they start to poo again, and I think, That's another great thing about doing it, doing this is you start to understand your body.

[00:25:36] And, for me, if I, stress for me is I get constipated and then I wake up at night. That's the signs for me that something's not right and I need to address something. And then for Craig, it's always digestion. He always gets constipated and you start to learn these things and you don't freak out thinking, Oh my God, I need to go and change everything.

[00:25:55] You're just like, Oh, okay. All right. I've experienced, I need to just. Whatever it is that you need to do to, address the stress, and then things get better. So it's, yeah, I don't know. Does that, do you guys agree with that? Yeah, I think that's We're getting off the track of fasting, sorry.

[00:26:11] Jay: That's all right. And just to maybe close the loop, this is not to say that people don't have legitimate gut issues. Yes, of course. But if you do, as you're saying, Kitty, Getting motility going, eating enough food and as Mike was saying, not feed, not feeding this overgrowth or not feeding the gut issue, so to speak, getting your getting yourself to a place where you can eat enough food that is nutrient dense.

[00:26:34] And that doesn't mean just micronutrients, right? Then we're thinking vegetables, but nutrients include carbohydrates and fats and protein and getting enough in to get yourself to a better place, which tends to resolve the gut issues anyway. And that is the biggest thing is getting our metabolism to a better place, which As you're saying, when we're stressed, that is showing the opposite and showing exactly what happens in that situation.

[00:26:55] That's always the first step. But then, yeah, sometimes we need to do some extra things to adjust the gut. But, the most important thing is not to be constantly forcing ourselves, especially when we're bloated and gassy and constipated.

[00:27:08] Kitty: Totally. Yeah, and like you think, like the same with our clients, like 80 90 percent of them, they get great results just doing the basic stuff, and then there is that extra percentage of people that need to go further and do these things, but they still have to do the basics anyway.

[00:27:22] Yeah. And then do the stuff. Cause I, you guys probably see it too. Like women come to me and they're, this is really interesting. Actually, this lady posted in our Facebook group. She came to us through Kitty Martone. You guys like Kitty Martone, hey? Yeah. Healthy gut girl. I love her. She did our program. And this lady was like, Oh, I've just been estrogen dominant for so fucking long.

[00:27:40] And I've done everything, the castor oil packs and all of the supplements and everything. And she's Kitty's program for 16 weeks and all my, everything's balanced out now. No symptoms. Got my blood, it's just so interesting that, and I'm not saying that those things aren't beneficial, and that supplements aren't beneficial, but I think unless you're actually Doing the foundations and the basics, like actually eating enough, getting enough protein, balancing your blood sugar regularly, getting the right nutrients in your sleep, sunshine, then add the supplements in, then you'll get the best results from the supplement. So I think women can just get so lost in the weeds and like some of this stuff.

[00:28:16] And I always say that to him it's actually so basic. Like you'll do our program and then at the end, you'll think. Why did I waste so much of my life, like doing all of this crazy stuff when it's actually, you just have to do the basics consistently. Again, I'm not saying that supplements aren't good, beneficial, because we've got lots of different supplements in our cupboard, but you need to, I think the basic foundations first.

[00:28:37] Mike: Yeah, I think found, I think foundations are absolutely key because a lot of people that I'll work with will come, they'll be like, Oh, I work with this alternative health practitioner or this fancy doctor. And they give me this boatload of supplements. And again, it's not that supplements don't help, but it's, for example, I have a lady who I was working with, she has fatty liver.

[00:28:55] And so the, the doctor's giving her phosphatidylcholine and he's giving her some B vitamins and all these different components to try to target the liver function. But then I, you throw the diet and chronometer and she's doing 200 grams of fat a day. And it's there's no amount of choline and B vitamins.

[00:29:12] That's going to solve the 200 grams of fat on a 3000 calorie diet for somebody who's 60 percent body fat and their actual requirements are significantly lower. So the ladies. She's eating in a huge surplus every day, most of this is just coming from fat. It's not, this is not butter and lard.

[00:29:29] This is like whatever vegetable oil they're putting in at the restaurant and chips and whatnot. It's like the supplements aren't gonna fix that alone. You have to first remove all of that, fix the dietary piece, and then you can start to put those things on board to help with the liver function and whatnot.

[00:29:45] So yeah, I think the, and I think the foundation is what gets missed so many times. Cause everybody wants this fancy labs and this next generation of supplement and whatnot. And then it's just let's look, that's fine, but let's sleep at night. Let's get adequate food during the day.

[00:30:03] Let's try to manage the stress appropriately and maybe get some movement and things along these types of, along these types of lines. And then, then we can start doing the supplement. So it's build that foundation first, get that bottom of the pyramid solid. And then you start stacking the other finer details on top.

[00:30:19] And then, now you're starting to optimize this already really solid foundation. That's where people really, I think, start to see the changes. Because there's only so many levers you can pull, right? After exercise, and diet, and stress management, and sunlight and relationships, and supplements. The next tiers that those things go into is like the surgery, and the drugs, and all this type of stuff.

[00:30:41] And none of us are working with those. Modalities and I think for most situations we'd say probably not an ideal way to go so like those are the things that we have to work with so we have to pull these things and I think a lot of people get stuck in the supplements and testing and all of this type of stuff instead of getting these other areas right first

[00:30:58] Kitty: and that's what I say to women too I'm like they ask me do I need to get all this testing I said not I say to them don't do it first I'm like do the bat foundation so then if you're still experiencing the issues and we can't quite it.

[00:31:09] We don't know why, then maybe do the, then do the testing. I'm not saying that people should listen, if you think something's wrong and you want to go to your doctor and get tested, go. But I just feel like you're right. Like 80, 90 percent of the stuff that women come to us with the perimenopausal symptoms, menopausal symptoms, the sleep, the diet, just 80 to 90 percent of it gets resolved just by doing all of the basic stuff that we all teach people.

[00:31:31] And I think it's cause the thing is, it's not quick and it's not sexy. And it's yeah,

[00:31:38] Mike: it's not any, it's not the newest NAD supplement. It's not like this new form of NAD that gets into your cells really fast. It's it's breakfast.

[00:31:46] Kitty: Yeah. People

[00:31:47] Mike: are like, Oh, I'm so excited about breakfast.

[00:31:51] And even

[00:31:52] Kitty: when like women will say to me I was, I interviewed him on my podcast and this woman said to me, I would get these blood sugar crashes and I just felt really shit. And I, once I actually started tracking my food and balancing my meals with the right amount of protein and carbs, she's like, all that stuff just went away.

[00:32:06] She's it was a mate. I was amazed. And it's just so simple.

[00:32:11] Mike: Yeah. And a lot of times, so like when I'll first start working with somebody after I do that, the first like full analysis, that first call I'll say, okay, I just want you to track chronometer. So when we come on our next call, we can see what you're doing with diet.

[00:32:25] We'll do an analysis there and then we'll shift the diet. And I usually get an email from somebody like four or five days after and I'm just like, Wow, I didn't know I was eating this much, or I didn't know I was eating this little, or I didn't know that I was this low on nutrients. It's yeah, this is this is why we're gonna do, start here first.

[00:32:44] Cause sometimes people are like, I want this, I want the protocol. Like I want this supplement protocol. I want this specific thing. And it's just yes, but let's get this first and we can get to that thing. Nine times out of 10 we solid, we get this foundation solid. And then the specific problem that you're hunting for is often not that problem.

[00:33:03] A lot of times you get the lime and the mold issues and heavy metal toxicity and all these symptoms that come with it. And it's not to say that those things don't exist, but it's if you're not doing all the foundation right and like then the, all the other things that you wanna do after that are gonna have, I would venture to say are gonna have a harder time working.

[00:33:22] Then if this stuff is organized, then you may find that, and I think a lot of people find that a large portion of their symptoms get minimized just by doing that. And then it's yeah, I don't have to go do all this chelation and all this type of stuff. Now I'm sleeping through the night, my energy is good, my blood sugar is stable.

[00:33:37] Yeah, I think the foundation is key. And then with the lab piece, I agree with you 100%. It's the same thing I tell people is, we know your labs aren't going to be that good right now. So let's put the foundation in place and then we'll test your labs at that point so we can see, is there something specific that you're missing?

[00:33:53] Is there something, is there some specific hormonal thing going on? Is there some specific nutrient deficiency? Is there something there? And that's usually if things aren't going well, then it's okay, then let's check in and see. Let's see what, if there's something that's very specific that we missed.

[00:34:09] That we didn't solidify in the foundation because the lab testing is not cheap, right? A stool profile the hormonal testing, all of that type of stuff. That's the general stuff that I think people tend to see in the alternative sphere. That stuff is really expensive. I remember when I Yeah. When I was sick I When I was sick and I was first dealing with all this stuff, I remember I shelled out like 3, 000 just to get the testing done and then I had to pay the practitioner to read the testing.

[00:34:34] By the time I was done with all that, I could only afford one consultation. So then I was like, ah, I gotta figure it out myself, but at least I had the information. And then a lot of times, some of the stuff isn't so helpful, because what do I exactly do with this? And again, some testing really is useful, but then sometimes it's just my, my prolactin's elevated, or I have this overgrowth in my gut or something.

[00:34:55] It's what do I do? What exactly do I do for that? And it's like probably foundational stuff. That's probably like what you got to do first.

[00:35:03] Kitty: I I interviewed Kitty on our podcast. I'm releasing it next week. Cause she did one on her own podcast with Georgie. So basically Georgie just did all the testing for free.

[00:35:12] You know how he does the hair testing and the toenails and basically they. She tested before and after the program and she was saying how, and she, cause she's, cause I think there's a few types of women like, there's women like her who, cause she's small and under muscled and she just under eats.

[00:35:28] And then there's women who under eat and then they binge eat or they eat too much, but she was a real under eater. And she's I went in and track my food and I was eating like 1, 100 calories a day, and she's I couldn't believe it. And just by up we only got her up to 1, 500 cause for her that was a lot and she's still working on getting it higher and she's doing the strength training, but she said even just doing the testing with Georgie after the program, her levels were like really low and now they were coming back up into the normal range cause she's just actually eating enough and giving her body enough nutrients so your body can actually make the hormones.

[00:35:57] Even her she's someone who's very knowledgeable and she even said this on the podcast. She's this foundational stuff is life changing. She's if I could have gone back, yeah, and done it earlier I would have. So yeah, I'm looking forward to releasing. She's, I just love her.

[00:36:13] She's so beautiful on the inside and out. She's really articulate too. Yeah, and she shared so openly with her journey and her experience. But yeah, it was really great.

[00:36:24] Danny: Next video.

[00:36:25] Kitty: Sorry.

[00:36:26] Danny: Hey, Mike. We're

[00:36:27] Kitty: nearly out. You're like, would you two just shut up? Yeah. Mikey Kitty just dominating the podcast.

[00:36:35] Danny: No.

[00:36:35] Is being fat a choice? Middle ground by Jubilee. So this was one of those popular internet videos that gathers a bunch of people. And Jay, how did you even find this?

[00:36:45] Jay: Yeah, Mike found this one, but just for reference, this is, I think it just poses an interesting question and will stimulate a good conversation.

[00:36:52] I don't think it is. Simple necessarily as the intermittent fasting one where we're like, that generally isn't a good idea. But anyway I guess we'll get into it.

[00:37:00] Mike: If you want me to give a bit of a frame for it it's basically they take a bunch of people from a different walks of life who have different circumstances around their weight.

[00:37:10] And then they bring them all together. They call it middle ground because they all talk about the different perspectives. So this is good because we get to get. View into the cultural landscape of weight from all the different areas, right? Like calories in, calories out, oh, it's just willpower the idea that, like healthy at every size or fat set points or things like this, they'll cover people are talking about this.

[00:37:33] This is what it is in I think everyday people's perspectives around weight. And so I think it's really it's helpful to see this because then we can talk about it from like the bioenergetic lens, which I think is an entirely novel perspective to what these people tend to think about.

[00:37:48] Screenshare: Got it. Okay. Of course, not every factor is purely choice. I don't think that every factor is, but I do think a majority of it is. In most cases for most people, being skinny or being fat. Is about willpower, it's about the environment you grow up in, sure, but who you choose to associate with, what sort of things you choose to listen to, who you choose to have as your friends around you and support you, all of those things are choices that you can make that will lead you closer towards being one or the other.

[00:38:18] I know what I do with my body. I know what I put into it, day in and day out. I choose not to eat some days. I choose, how I want to look. And I don't fault anyone for how they want to look or how they want to be, but I think it's a choice at the end of the day. I'm very, always wishwashy on how I want to be presented and if I want to gain weight or not, but the only person that's gonna Gain the weight at the end of the day is me and me myself.

[00:38:45] Danny: It's crazy that both of those people are suffering from the exact same thing in just different ways. But

[00:38:49] Mike: Yeah the skinny guy wants to gain weight and then the other guy, the heavier set guy, wanted to lose weight. And it's, as you're saying, is like the same perspective, right?

[00:38:58] Just on a different side of the coin.

[00:39:00] Danny: No, I'm saying like two different intensities of low thyroid or the the skinny guy Presumably if he's not hungry is probably experiencing a way more intense form of stress than the obese guy Yeah, what do you think? How do you approach that with people that you talk to whether it's a willpower issue?

[00:39:20] Or do you find that you have to walk them through that whole process of trying to unwind years of how they've approached losing weight? Who are you directing that to? I'm sorry, Kitty, I'm talking to Kitty.

[00:39:32] Kitty: Look, I, because we typically, we work with women mostly like we have some men in our program They're like the husbands of the wives, but I And maybe this is a totally different perspective on this, but, I feel like a lot of women, because I had the same thing, is there's like trauma that I experienced when I was younger, and that manifested itself in body image and restrictive diets, and, punishing my body and not eating enough and being really skinny, and I actually have been doing a lot of emotional work with this emotional coach for the last two and a half years, and she's always said to me, she's Because you are high functioning, and you found Craig, and you found Emma, and you found this healthy way to actually and it's just really interesting though, like in the last even in the last six months, we've had like heaps of breakthroughs is understanding what happened in my childhood and why that made me the way that I was.

[00:40:25] And even though I'd found a great way to now I'm healthy and I'm strong and, I have a, I've intellectually found a way to be healthy and improve my metabolism, but now that we've this is probably not making sense, but address the underlying trauma of what happened. Now I'm really living in alignment with this body that I'm in.

[00:40:47] And I think that there's a lot of women like, like really overweight women or very underweight women who the diet and the and the exercising or the excessive eating is a. And then, I think it's obviously because we have women that come in and we give them all of the information, we, we show them the training and nutrition, but for some reason they continually self sabotage.

[00:41:09] Or they just can't make the change. And then I think when they do some of this emotional work, then it all clicks together. It's like they've actually got the right knowledge of how to lose weight and become healthy, but then they've also addressed these underlying issues. I don't even know if that really answers your question.

[00:41:24] I just I just look at those two and think to myself that they've both got, cause the skinny guy, like that is how I used to be. Like I wouldn't eat for some days and it was a form of restriction and punishment to control my body, if that makes sense. So it probably doesn't even really answer your question, but I think I feel like there's deeper underlying stuff there.

[00:41:47] Danny: That was exactly my question. Go ahead.

[00:41:49] Jay: Yeah, what you're getting at is that it's not as simple as a choice, right? Independent of our history, and in this case, trauma or emotions, right? All these things have, will come into play here and affect what choice we're going to make, so to speak. And. I think the other thing that this kind of gets at is, it's on one hand in odd question to ask, I don't think it's a question that any of us ask ourselves is whether it's as simple as a choice or not a choice, but rather, of course, there's a spectrum and there's a whole variety of factors that affect what sort of choices somebody might make.

[00:42:27] And also there's a huge number of factors affecting what someone's health outcome might be right, whether they're going to gain weight or lose weight or all of the other possible factors when it comes to health. And we want to address those, and that's what you're getting at, Kitty, in this case, talking about the emotional side, but of course we also address the physiological side that goes far beyond whether you choose to eat or not, because there are not just emotional signals there, but also physiological signals that impact whether we are going to eat, and how much we want to eat, and what types of foods we might want to eat, or might have trouble eating.

[00:43:00] Staying away from or saying no to and we need to consider that entire constellation. I mean as you were saying Danny Hypothyroidism, which is not an uncommon issue It's an extremely common issue is going to have a dramatic impact on things like appetite and also what happens if you make the same Choice as somebody else to eat the same food.

[00:43:19] It's not going to be the same. It depends on what's going on physiologically And everything that, I think what's clear from the clip, and this is what you were saying, Mike, is like seeing the cultural lens, is everything that they viewed, even when they said, there's some aspects of environment, the kind of people you're around, and what kind of food you have available.

[00:43:37] But it was all through the lens of still, how is that going to impact how much you eat? And ignoring that the type of food you eat will have a massive impact on your mood, it'll have a massive impact on your appetite, on your energy, on whether you're going to want to work out. Or whether you're going to be able to sleep at night, and that will then, all of those things will then affect the next day and how you interact with what sort of food choices you're making.

[00:44:00] I think what is clear, at least from my view here, is to phrase it as, it is as simple as a choice, and you either choose to be fit or not, is massively ignorant to what is, to all of the confluence of factors that affect, Or health and then therefore also affect weight and fitness.

[00:44:17] Mike: Yeah, I, the way I tend to go about the willpower situation with my clients is I take it out of this perspective of gritting your teeth and bearing through And just forcing yourself to do these things Because my experience it doesn't work Like maybe it works for a week if you're like, if you have a lot of willpower But after that it, it starts to wane And then I think people, in order to maintain This to maintain whatever restrictive system they're putting in place they start putting emotion and ego into it.

[00:44:50] And that's, so the, their motivations for doing these things become intrinsic. It becomes, I have to do this because it's a value of myself to restrict. And it's you attach it to this idea that if I restrict, then I'm better. I'm somehow better than other people. I'm better as myself. I'm, it becomes this value judgment about yourself.

[00:45:09] To restrict the food, or that you don't have to restrict, or something along these lines. And I, so I would try to remove that connection. When I'm interacting with persons. Like it's not about baring your teeth or gritting through. And it's not that if you don't restrict or you do restrict, you're a good person, you're a bad person.

[00:45:26] There's, the judgment isn't there. It, this, it's an objective perspective where it's you have a health outcome, you have a health outcome in mind. This is something that you want to do for your health. And the situation becomes, how can I create an environment around myself that allows me to follow through on what I'm doing?

[00:45:44] Because it's not about forcing yourself while you're in all these kind of bad environments of what you have going on. It's about giving yourself circumstances where your choices are very easy to follow through on what your plans are. As an example, you have somebody, and they, say, a lot of people undergo a lot of stress with work, so you work your 9 to 5, by the time you come home, it's I'm not cooking, I don't want to cook anything, I'm gonna call Uber Eats, I'm gonna call Postmates, I'm gonna call whoever, and have this food delivered.

[00:46:13] Instead of, put yourself in that circumstance. Number one, put the food that you keep in your house make sure it's like healthy, high quality, nutrient dense food. Get rid of the, get rid of the junk. Just get rid of it. Eat through it, or throw it out, or whatever you're gonna do, and then the next thing that you look to buy healthy options, buy good options.

[00:46:32] That doesn't mean salads, but that could be things like high quality dark chocolate, macadamia nuts, dried fruits, good juices. Make sure you have high quality meats, or proteins, or things available on a regular basis. So that when you do go to reach for food, the things that are around you are quality in and of themselves.

[00:46:49] So you're shaping this environment so that you don't have to grit through and bare your teeth and rambo through all this or make this value judgment. You have these things that, you have good quality things at your fingertips that make this a lot easier to implement on a regular basis. So I try to shift things into this perspective and that takes the pressure off people because then they're like, when people don't follow their restriction, or don't follow through on this thing that they're trying to do, then they think poorly of themselves.

[00:47:17] But if you shift it and you say, okay, if you can create the environment around you, you don't have to put yourself in this do or die pressure situation all the time on whether I'm gonna eat this food, or I'm gonna, I'm gonna do that food and whatnot. And then the other thing that I'd like to talk about people's, there's also these ideas of discipline.

[00:47:33] It's I need to be so disciplined. How are you so disciplined? And it's, I don't, the idea of discipline is that you're always just sticking to this thing. This plan that you have set out and it's perfect all the time and you never waver. And I think that's not actually the reality. I think what discipline really is people are really good at straying off the path and then just coming back on.

[00:47:54] So I, even when I work with my clients, they're like what do you want me to do for Thanksgiving? Okay, go enjoy your Thanksgiving. Do what you're gonna do. You're probably gonna have some drinks. You're probably gonna have some pumpkin pie. Fine. And then the next day, just hop back on the diet. And that's it.

[00:48:07] And that's that, because that one day makes no real big difference to what you're doing with your health goals or whatnot. Is it perfect? No. But if you can easily come back on, and you get really good at just easily hopping back on the setup that we built out together, Then, the 90 percent of the year you're going to follow through with that, and then that's where you're going to start to see your results.

[00:48:26] So it's being good at, if you fall off, come back on. And if you create a lot of pressure for yourself, Oh, I didn't do this, I fell off, I wasn't able to do it etc. Then you create this huge barrier, it's Oh, now I have to get makeup for this, I have to come back on, all these types of things. And instead of it just Oh, no problem, I forgot about it.

[00:48:43] You just hop back on your diet, don't worry about what you did in the past, you have no control over it. And that allows people to move forward. So it's about creating an environment that allows you to succeed. So the control and choices that you have around the environment that you start to create for yourself, you start to take agency and say, I have the ability to do these things.

[00:49:02] I have the ability to shift these things. And then remove the pressure from yourself so that you can move forward without, in a more seamless fashion, without all the anxiety around, Oh, if I mess up or if I do this, if I pass or if I fail. It's not a fail or a pass. It's a progressive process of getting better each time and getting good at coming back and working to make things work for your circumstance as you go forward.

[00:49:24] So when I work with people, I try to constantly ingrain that. Because I used to have the same thing. If I messed up the diet oh, or I missed a workout, oh, I have to go do twice as much in the gym now. And then I wasn't going to do the next workout because I was too tired to do twice as much. So it's as long as I get to the gym, or as long as I follow through on this diet, I'll get the next meal, and then just go from there, and that, I think that takes the pressure off people, and also giving them the tools to actually achieve what they want to achieve, or reach this goal that they want to reach, is another big thing, because the tools that are in the modern culture, are not good tools they don't really get people the results, it, they're these platitudes, eat less, exercise more that means nothing.

[00:50:04] That's not anything specific on what somebody should do. People need specific things what do I, what does this look like? What does a good breakfast look like? What does, 82 grams per pound of protein per day look like? People don't know what that looks like. So you have to show them, you have to share that with them, so they can follow through with that.

[00:50:20] They understand how many eggs do I eat in the morning. Not the formula. So those are, those, the tools are also really important to get past. The willpower piece and this idea of decisions or all the past and whatnot. It's you get the right tools and then remove the pressure so the person can succeed.

[00:50:36] That's usually how I try to go about it, at least.

[00:50:39] Kitty: I really like that too. And what I find, I've found with myself and clients is that, once you've, like you say, you've figured out the diet that you really enjoy, that makes you feel optimized. And, like you actually literally love the food that you're eating.

[00:50:51] Like I said, my breakfast. Love my breakfast. I look forward to it every day. Today I'm having air fried chips with McGee and then some nice chicken thigh that's been marinated, beautiful fresh fruit. I have ice cream every single night. Every night with chocolate brownie, little bit of brownie sprinkled on, and we'll, Craig and I eat out probably once, two times a week, I drink sometimes, like I still drink alcohol but infrequently, because when I do it, I enjoy it and I eat the food, but then I'm like, I have a bit of a s sleep, and I actually crave getting back to my normal diet that I know worked for me, and it's so enjoyable, so I think if you're eating delicious food, you love it every single day, and you're feeling good, you get to Christmas time, and it's so easy just to have it.

[00:51:29] Have a small slice of the cake. You have enough till you feel full. You have a couple of drinks. You don't want to go that crazy because you get to eat delicious food every single day. It's not this like crazy restrictive mindset where you're like f I remember one year, this is when I split up from my husband, so I was, going a bit crazy with the drugs and the alcohol.

[00:51:47] And I just got so blind on Christmas day, so face and ate all the food and the next day just binge my way through the next day. And I just don't even want to do that anymore. I just can enjoy the food and all of our clients are the same thing. They'll go on holidays too. They won't track their food.

[00:52:03] They just eat mindfully. They have a couple of drinks. They keep their steps up. They don't try to, and some of them even lose weight. when they go on holidays. Most of them just maintain their weight or even if they put on a kilo or two, they're like, I just get back to my normal calories that I know I need to eat in a very small deficit.

[00:52:17] I be consistent for a few weeks and the fat comes off. Like you've learned fat loss as a skill. Now you've learned body rate, you know this stuff now and you net, you'll be free from restrictive diets forever.

[00:52:29] Danny: Speaking of your routine. So this is a most effective female weight loss day for 2023 by the fit mother project.

[00:52:35] And take a gander at what they recommend immediately upon starting the day. And we'd love to know what you think of it.

[00:52:41] Screenshare: And so let's start off the day. The first thing your body needs right in the morning is not food. It is some amazing water. So I have a water bottle here that I think is around 40 ounces or so.

[00:52:51] What I want you to start aiming for is getting at least 20 ounces of water. Ideally up to 32 ounces within 30 minutes of waking up. Because your body's been in a basically a fasted dehydrated state while you're sleeping and you need to get water to kickstart the system and a lot of people who feel sluggish in the morning and have a low metabolism and feel like they have headaches are just simply dehydrated and our bodies have our arteries and our veins which carries that vital blood.

[00:53:14] We also have a lymphatic system and the lymphatic system is part of the way that carries our immune system and helps us feel like fluid and not achy in the morning and water is key for that now.

[00:53:25] Danny: What is your perspective on, on water and maybe minerals in general of like working out and things like that?

[00:53:31] Or have you had any negative experiences drinking too much water when you felt like you were ill?

[00:53:36] Kitty: Is this me? For me? Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I used to smash water. Like I would just aim for three liters a day. And didn't put any salt in it or any minerals and I just pissed all the time, and look, I think, look, if you wake, sometimes I'll wake up in the morning, not often, and I actually do feel thirsty.

[00:53:54] If I actually feel a bit thirsty, I go and get some water and I just sprinkle some salt in it, or we have some mineral drops, and I'll just have a drink of water and listen to music. Most mornings I don't feel thirsty. I just go and have my normal breakfast and coffee, but I don't think you need to purposely force down.

[00:54:09] A certain amount of water just because someone says it's healthy and I think that a lot of women too, if they're really thirsty all the time, it's a sign that they're lacking minerals and they're just drinking this water without the minerals and what I've found is once they're eating, like we recommend they're they're drinking some juice and replacing the minerals in their diet through food and fruit and other things that they, and then just listen to your body.

[00:54:29] If you, some days I, I have we've got a soda stream, and I just do the soda stream, and then I just really like bubbly water, and then I put a little bit of salt in it, and, because it's really hot now, so some days I drink quite I might drink two of them, if I'm actually really thirsty, and other days when it's winter, and I'm not training, or not active, I drink a lot less, or I might have days where I drink more juice, and more milk, and things, so I think, I don't know I feel like my body is quite good at telling me if I'm actually thirsty or not.

[00:55:02] Mike: Yeah, that's the same thing that I tell people as well, is just drink to thirst. And then a lot of times I'll have people have their juice and their fruits at their meals, and then in between meals, if they want something to drink or whatnot, then like tea or coffee or water or something along those lines.

[00:55:15] I think that, I, in the U. S. you have people, I don't know if they have that in Australia, but they have these huge water jugs, and they have like lines on them. You're almost there, and it's just you're almost to where, like drinking the whole inflatable pool, like it's just so much water in this whole jug.

[00:55:30] I remember I was, when I was working in the ICU, people would, that's put these huge jugs in the counter of water, and they just, they have to finish the whole thing by the end of the day. And there's this idea that water, like even this doctor here is saying, Oh, water does stuff for your metabolism.

[00:55:45] It's if you're dehydrated, it'll help, but it's, I don't know what else is going to do for your metabolism here. And again, like that's not even solving a true hydration issue. Because when we, like, when we talk about hydration inside the bioenergetics here, we talk about. The cells actually require energy to structure water inside them for them to function well and that requires all the minerals and the energy is coming from glucose oxidation.

[00:56:08] So it's not just water. That's where things like juice or dairy, if you tolerate or things along those lines, tend to do much better from a hydration perspective than just slamming water. But then again, like if you need water, if you're thirsty for water, yeah, then have some water. For me, I don't want to drink so much juice when I work out.

[00:56:24] I prefer to have Water and then depending on where I live when I was in the Philippines and it's super humid Wasn't drinking as much but then I when I was in albuquerque and it's you know, it's extremely dry I'm drinking water just because I'm getting rid of so much water through like evaporation and whatnot in the different climates.

[00:56:42] So I think that's fine. I don't think you have to absolutely avoid water, but I also don't think there's this magical target for people to just smash water all day long that's gonna make this huge difference to metabolism or the lymphatic system or any of these other things.

[00:56:56] Jay: He even says, you, you don't need breakfast.

[00:56:58] All you need is 20 to 30 chances of water. You've been fasted during the night. So you're dehydrated. And it's if you fasted, you're also, you haven't had any food. Like you need food that's your fuel tanks are low. That's the whole, like you're supposed to have breakfast. It's and when it comes to raising your metabolism, which that's the other two things he said, if you have a headache.

[00:57:16] Or, you want to get your metabolism going, that's where you need the water. And first off, the idea that water helps with headaches is really largely unfounded and only happens unless you're significantly dehydrated, which if you are, you'll be thirsty. So as we've said here, if you're thirsty, of course, drink something, but you're probably better off drinking something like juice, which not only has carbohydrates to decrease the stress hormones in the morning and actually increase your metabolism, but it also has the minerals that, as we've discussed, are necessary for actual hydration as opposed to just drinking tons of water, which I think all of us have done gone through these periods where we're drinking nearly if not more of our body weight in ounces in water and being clear all the time and constantly full.

[00:58:01] And just, we're walking around with our water bottles so that we fill up on water and we don't feel full or we do feel full and we don't eat a lot. And yeah, I think it's, for me, I think it was one of the worst things I ever did for my health and one of the biggest. One of the things that, when I changed it, it made some, a huge effect.

[00:58:18] One of the biggest effects, in terms of how I felt, was just not forcing the water. And again, as, of course, the caveat is, we're not saying don't drink water. There's always if you're thirsty, drink. And that liquid can be a number of different things. It can be juice, or milk, or tea, or coffee, or it could be water.

[00:58:34] But definitely don't force it, and definitely don't force it in the morning. Especially because Drinking plain water without electrolytes and a large amount does directly increase stress. It directly increases aldosterone, activates the sympathetic nervous system, which, and if anyone is saying that it increases your metabolism, it does increase the burning of calories, but it's just by increasing stress through that means.

[00:58:54] And it's maybe gonna be 10, 20 calories anyway, so it doesn't matter, but it's also not a, not actually a good thing. It's your body responding to a stressful situation, yeah, I think it's one of the worst things to suggest that we should just drink water and not have breakfast.

[00:59:07] Kitty: But again, I think I just want to say not saying don't drink water.

[00:59:10] Hydration is very important. Like people like take it to the extremes. Don't ever eat green vegetables. Don't ever eat nuts. Don't ever eat grains. It's it's not, don't drink water. Of course you need water. Of course. It's really important. But have the minerals in there, put the salt in there, don't force down five liters because someone told you that it's healthy, and your water intake.

[00:59:28] Or requirements might vary day to day. Depending what else you do or say where you are or if you're sweating heaps or

[00:59:38] Jay: yeah. Yeah, totally.

[00:59:39] Danny: Okay, Kitty. Thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate your perspective and all your experience helping women and men lose weight and feel better and raise their metabolism.

[00:59:48] Where can we find more of your work on the Internet this week?

[00:59:51] Kitty: Is it that website? So it's www. newstrength. com. au or Instagram's good. Kitty, K I T Y B L O M F I E L D. And we also have a podcast, Weight Loss for Women, Eat More, Train Less, Get Results. And we've had all of these guys except for Mike on the podcast before.

[01:00:10] So Mike, you should message me on Instagram or reach, cause if, message me because I'll bloody forget so many things, but I'd love to interview you on the podcast. I've had Jay, I've had Danny on as well. So yeah, come and listen to our podcast.

[01:00:23] Danny: I'll definitely reach out. Look forward to it. You're the best Kitty.

[01:00:27] Thank you so much. Really appreciate it. Thanks guys. Yeah, that's a fun reason. Thank you.