You Are What You Eat | Episode 121: Angie the Expert
Understanding what you eat on a daily basis is a huge part of living a healthy and happy life. The saying goes that you are what you eat.
In this week’s episode of the Carrying Connected Conversation podcast, Angie is sharing her expertise on physical wellness and nutrition by diving deep into the importance of understanding macronutrients. Co-host Syd is coming in with zero knowledge and has a ton of questions around yo-yo dieting and how it actually affects us in a negative way. Angie talks about the consistency on how our hormone levels are badly impacted when our weight is constantly changing through yo-yo dieting. This is the episode to listen to if you are ready to start creating sustainability in your weight loss or weight gaining journey.
Listen to the episode now to get a breakdown on macros and what it means in terms of creating sustainability for your nutrition journey.
You can continue reading about the conversation Syd & Ang had on the podcast through the transcript below.
Syd: Hello everyone! Welcome back to another episode of Carrying Connected Conversations, the podcast with Syd & Ang. This is Syd, I almost said I was Ang, ahahah! That’s funny!
Ang: That’s awesome!
Syd: This is Syd, chatting at ya! I’m in a really great mood, if you can’t tell. These energetic high vibes are coming at you. The dogs are barking, all the things are happening! I’m so excited for today’s conversation. We are going to be jumping into Angie’s expertise as a physical wellness trainer, nutrition coach, all of the things.
Today specifically we are talking about our eating habits and yo-yo dieting. Ang is going to be bringing in something that I have no idea about, so I’m excited to learn why this topic in general is important. Before we jump into it, let me introduce my co-host. Angie, how is it going? How are you doing?
Ang: Hey girl hey! I am doing great. I love how we can feed off of each other because even the dogs are feeding off of our energy. Let’s be real! I’m doing so well today. Also, to add in to why I am feeling so great. I did something for myself this morning. I went for a 2 hour mountain bike ride. It was so much fun! The leaves are starting to turn, not quite yet, but oh man Fall is coming and I am so here for it. So that is also where the good vibes are coming from.
Syd: So great! I love biking! It is my favourite activity every, so I am always here for chatting about biking. But that is not what we are here talking about today. Let’s jump into the topic. We are going to be talking about the importance of Macros and what that means. Like I said earlier I have no idea what that means. I want to start off with a question Ang, to try and understand why you are wanting to bring this topic forward for us today. Can you explain why yo-yo dieting is bad and the effects it has on our lives?
Ang: 1000% and I am so glad that you started off with the question. Okay, let me paint you a picture before I go ahead and jump right into it. Sometimes when you hear the word Macro or diet, immediately we cringe because we think restrictions and you can’t have this or you can't have that. I’m going to paint a picture of you. Have you ever heard the term you are what you eat?
Syd: Oh ya!
Ang: I had a feeling so.
Syd: Wait sidenote! I’m going to jump in because I had a memory pop up that is kind of funny. I was in a movie when I was really young, and one of the producers was the person who ran the church that my family was part of when I was young. I was in this movie and I had a couple of lines. We were eating these twinkie type snacks, and the main character that I was interacting with, I think I was 6 years old, he offered me a twinkie. They were called dum-dum-bell or something. I can’t remember. He said in the movie, “you are what you eat” and then I repeated it back to him. Anyways, when you said that it made me think about this movie.
Ang: I love it! You are what you eat! Twinkies! What did you call them? Dum dums?
Syd: Ya I forget what they were called, like a dum dum bell or something. I can’t remember exactly but it was some weird name.
Ang: Hahaha! Oh that’s so funny! So good you had to name it twice.
Syd: Exactly!
Ang: Hahahah! Oh that’s awesome! Okay, well in actuality of becoming what you eat, this is where Macros come from. There is something called macronutrients and micronutrients and they are in everything we eat.
Why it’s important to know what Macros are so you prevent the yo-yo dieting, is to understand what you are putting inside of your body in order for it to create some sort of response. If you look at something like a piece of pizza, first of all it’s my favourite. I love pizza.
Syd: I had it for breakfast!
Ang: Yess!!! So good! Okay, so a piece of pizza, what’s in a piece of pizza? There are obviously some micronutrients and some macronutrients. There are only three macronutrients, which is super easy for us to be mindful of. It’s your carbohydrates, your fats, and your protein. When you are looking at a piece of pizza, rather than looking at it as if it's good for you or bad for you, I like to approach it from what's in it. Is it in line with what I need to be eating for what my goals are? Understanding that there is a certain portion that is a carbohydrate, a protein and another component that is a fat.
If you are eating pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner, are you going to hit all of your targets for the day? Probably not. Understanding what that food is is the base line of why it’s important, what macros are, so that way you don’t get into the whole yo-yo dieting.
I know that was a quick explanation, but I wanted to start off with that because I think that’s a great place to be.
Syd: I think understanding what a macro is is good, because I didn’t know what it was. Now that I understand what it is in regards to my food I think that’s great. What you said about pizza rather than looking at it as something that’s bad, or a different kind of food that’s good, but actually getting deeper into what is in it, what is it made of and how are each of those things good for you is great to understand.
I want to touch base back on the question that I did already ask. So I can better understand in this yo-yo dieting world, if I’m not focused on macros or I have no idea what macros are. It’s not even part of my conversation yet. What kind of effects does yo-yo dieting have on me? I don’t want to say why do I need to pay attention to macros. But if I am not paying attention to macros and it's not even part of my conversation, what kind of problem am I experiencing in my day to day life with this concept of yo-yo dieting?
Ang: Love it! So if you are not sure what yo-yo dieting is, it’s this term that we use loosely when you jump from diet to diet. Unfortunately as women, we like the next best thing, the quickest thing, the fastest way possible to lose weight, gain weight, keep our weight, or whatever it is. Let’s say you are on a shake diet, you are meant to have two shakes a day and then a salad. You lose all this weight and then you get off the diet and all of a sudden the weight comes back on. You then believe the diet didn’t work so you try the next diet like a paleo diet. You end up only eating chicken and veggies, you lose a bunch of weight, the weight you had already lost but you finish the diet and then gain it back. It’s constantly jumping from place to place and you are not really creating any sort of sustainability. All you are doing is losing weight, gaining it, losing weight, and then gaining it. That is what the yo-yo diet or the yo-yo effect comes from in dieting.
Why is it bad? Well, you are constantly losing weight and gaining weight. I am coming from a place of, let’s create a sustainable lifestyle so that way you are always feeling comfortable in your skin. You are not constantly needing to lose weight because you gained it, because you then lost it, because you then gained it. I want to nip it in the bud.
Macros might seem super scary because you think it means you have to track food. Well, yes and no. You want to track it so you can understand what it is that you are eating. If you don’t know what you are eating and you are constantly going from diet to diet, you are going to be constantly living in this yo-yo effect. Eventually over time, when you gain weight and lose weight so often, it actually starts effecting your hormones. Talking about us ladies, if we have any sort of hormonal issues, growing up as we are getting older our body changes. It means we are also creating a negative effect on our hormones as we keep constantly changing.
Syd: Okay! That makes so much sense and I love how you explained that concept of losing the weight, finishing the diet, and then gaining the weight back which creates the perception that the diet didn’t work. When we look at it from a broader perspective, the diet did work. It did what you wanted it to do, but it’s not sustainable because when things aren’t in moderation and we are eating to be “healthy” rather than “nutritious eating” we have the mental aspect that blocks us in our lives. We are working towards an end result, but your weight is not an end result. It’s not like you one day get to the point where you are at the perfect weight and then you are good. We have to continuously take care of our bodies. I love how you explained the up and down versus the sustainability.
You kind of answered this question already in what you just said, but I just want to bring it forward and see if there is a quick couple of sentences that really helps us to bring more clarity into this. When I was preparing for today’s conversation I was thinking about all the different body types. There are so many different body types in the world and health challenges that people could have. My cousin has diabetes, so I know that’s something she experiences. I don’t know all of the health challenges, but I know there are different ones. Oftentimes there are people in their eating journey that say they can’t do certain diets because of their body type or their health challenge.
In taking that in, all the different body types and health challenges that people could have, how does understanding Macros support someone’s journey of wellness with nutrition?
Ang: I love this question! Yes! I like to see Macros as the science of understanding what you are eating. I will give you an example. Let’s say you’ve been overweight for most of your life. You have always had difficulty in losing weight, all these diets seem to work, but then you gain the weight back super quick as soon as you're done with the diet. All the time when you go from a heavier weight to then a lighter weight, what happens is your body becomes so accustomed and used to carbohydrates and it latches onto them and immediately makes you gain weight. If you are somebody who has been overweight for most of your life and now you are trying to lose the weight, it’s important to understand that you’re not someone that wants 50% carbohydrates as their macro percentage in their diet. If you are looking at your macro and you are trying to figure out what you can eat to be more sustainable, you need to stay away from high carbohydrate food.
If you are not understanding where the carbohydrates are coming from and you're needing to focus more on the fats and proteins, but you aren’t focused on what’s in the pizza or the pasta you are just constantly eating it outside of your diet, then you are not taking benefit from whatever the diet had you do in the first place. Which is yes, to lose weight, but how can you keep losing weight or create the sustainability in your life.
Syd: That makes so much sense and I love that example that you share because it helps us to understand the idea behind Macros. This is my assumption so please correct me if I am wrong, from what you explained, the idea of Macros is not eat this this and this but BUIdon’t eat this. It’s more about who you are, what is your goal, what is your body type, what is your lifestyle and how can you create something with the science behind Macros. Macros being the carbohydrates, fats and what was the third one again?
Ang: Protein.
Syd: Protein! With these three it’s about how you can create a sustainable practice, I don’t want to call it a diet, but a sustainable lifestyle in your nutrition that works for you and works for your body. It’s something that depending on who you are you can find what works for you.
Ang: Yes exactly. Normally when you hear macros in the diet world, it’s about counting everything you are eating. That is technically true to a certain extent, but I am somebody who used to count and weigh all of my food and I no longer do that anymore. I think it’s very very important for any person to do this to understand how much of what they are putting inside of your body. Hence the term you are what you eat. If you are not focused on how much or what you're putting into you, but you are now focusing on the stress of the weight gain or the weight loss, or whatever thing is happening to your body that you don’t want to have. If you are not focusing on the fuel you want to give yourself, then how in the heck are you supposed to be able to stay on track or keep on track, or constantly stay in this place of maintenance rather than going up and down, the yo-yo effect. We need to create sustainability, but if we are not understanding what we are doing at a baseline from just picking up the food from our plate and putting it in our mouth and understanding what is going inside of us, then it’s harder to create sustainability.
This is not to say that going on a diet or a program is bad, it’s about why you are going on the program or the diet. It’s important for you to learn what you are eating in the program/diet, so when you get off the diet you can incorporate food more intuitively. You can understand that eggs in the morning have fat and they also have protein, and if you wanted to not have an egg in the morning then maybe instead you would have a piece of toast and some turkey bacon. You will have the same result but with a different food. This is what it is to understand what foods are in order for you to be eating it more intuitively.
Syd: I really like how you explained that because all of a sudden my mind started turning on this concept of diet. In the way you explained it by saying that a diet is not bad, it made me think of what I do as a living and what you do as a living, living as in our careers, what we do for a job. It made me think more of a diet as an education program, this is education for you to be more structured in how you are using food to fuel you. When the diet ends, whether it’s a 4 week program, 3 month program, year long program right?! I offer 6 month programs in my line of work, or year long programs. I know with your line of work you like to offer longer term programs as well. It gives you that time to gain the education and the understanding to build sustainability with accountability. As you end that educational program on nutrition you can start living more intuitively because you have the information to back you up that has turned into knowledge you carry. Maybe it’s not as structured as it was in the diet, I’m putting air quotes, or the food program, instead it’s about you understanding how to eat for your body in a healthy and nutritious way. You know how to fuel yourself so you can eat more intuitively because you went through the education program on food. Does that make sense?
Ang: 1000%. Also, with us women we have so many things going on, so hormones 100% play into it. That being said with our hormones playing into it, it also affects our weight gain. Let’s say for example eating dairy or anything low sugar to better our health, or whatever the reason is, there are a lot of things that us women don’t know, that is actually negative to how our body reacts to the food. It’s about opening your eyes. Let’s say you have coffee every morning with milk and you are constantly bloated, you don’t feel good, you are having improper bowel movements. Sorry if it’s T.M.I, but let’s be real we all do it. If you are not understanding that the dairy is actually having an effect internally and you don’t know what the effect is happening to you, and you keep having the dairy, you will constantly be living in a state of inflammation and bloating. You will never lose those last few pounds. It’s actually diving in deeper and what I explained about the dairy component, in my opinion that would go in the micronutrients. The macros are the main component of what you’re eating, but there are also micronutrients: fiber, sodium, iron, sugars for example. If you are not understanding how those micronutrients are affecting you from a hormonal level, it’s going to be more challenging for you to get to wherever you are wanting to go whether to gain or lose weight. It really is, how you were explaining, getting the baseline from however long the program is. It’s so much more, because you are getting the baseline but you are now creating your own level of sustainability in a version that is 100% for you. You are gaining all this knowledge, but you are also implementing it in a way that works for you.
Let's say you do like milk in your coffee every single morning. Why would you get rid of it? Let’s see if we can change it to something similar. Again, based on your lifestyle and what you like versus don’t like.
Syd: I really like that because I think a lot of diets that are marketed in the world are so structured and strict in the way of, you have to live by these rules. I think even outside of nutrition, in all aspects of like, mental, emotional, physical, spiritual wellness we are taught this is the way you should live. Ultimately, that “should”, again air quotes, it doesn’t fit everyone and what we end up doing is we end up prioritizing somebody else’s version of success and how they got there, rather than our own. It sounds like macros, learning macros and micros and what that means for you, and what you eat, what you are doing is you’re learning about your body and what is the best way to fuel your body.
In saying that, I’m looking at the time here, and I want our listeners to be able to walk away being able to take this information and start to apply it in their life or dig a little bit deeper. What are your top 5 tips around Macros and someone’s nutrition journey?
Ang: Top 5 tips, oh my gosh I am going to have to list this off while I am speaking.
Syd: You can choose any number of tips, just the things you think people need to be paying attention to, or things they can start practicing in their day to day life. I think understanding your experience, your expertise in this, if people really want to dive into this I’m sure that they can set up a call with you and work with you 1:1 to really hone in on their nutrition for themselves personally. But for all of our listeners, if they are walking away from today’s podcast, what do you want them to know about macros and their nutrition journey and how they can start applying this information?
Ang: I love it. This is the first step of it all, but it’s also the hardest step. It’s tracking your food for two weeks. I know that sounds tedious, and maybe simply for some, but I’ll be honest it’s quite challenging. You’ll be surprised by how many times a day you’ll want to grab a couple chips from that chip bag, or get down into the fridge and grab a couple nibbles from here and there. Especially if you are someone who has no idea what dieting looks like for you.
Tracking your food for a two week basis helps you understand, not only how much of what you are eating, but also what you are currently eating. It also helps whoever you are then seeking professional advice from, to help give you more clarity in terms of what your lifestyle looks like.
Let’s say you have a general food group, or you are a texture person and you have to stay away from certain foods for whatever reason. It helps the professional gain clarity on what you tend to eat, that way when there is a food program or a food understanding that is personalized for you, it becomes easier for them to make a decision with you in mind. Tracking your food is super key.
Tracking your water intake is also important. Funny enough, we don’t drink enough water. Also, ladies, we don’t eat enough protein, I’m just going to throw it out there. We do not.
Tracking your food is super key, but tracking your water too. If you are not someone that is wanting to track your water, then try to drink 2-4 litres and you’ll notice a huge difference in that.
These are two great things. If you are wanting to do this on your own, you can pull up a quick google search of how to track your macros and you can easily do that. If you are someone that is wanting to do this on your own I would suggest you put it into a macro tracker to see how much you are eating and when you are eating it. Then you can see where your habits lie from that. I would do nothing more than a macro tracker and then of course increase your water intake just so you can see more clearly in terms of what you are doing now intentionally versus what you were doing before. You will notice some huge differences in what you are doing.
Syd: I love that! I think it really brings us back into this concept of awareness which is something that I always talk about. Being aware of the choices that you are making and how you are living on a day to day basis. When this comes to your nutrition journey, if you are wanting to make something that is sustainable you aren’t wanting to make all these drastic changes because then it’s not sustainable. So instead, knowing how you eat today and what you consistently eat is going to help you to make subtle changes to make sure that you are doing the best for you.
I know that a lot of people are pressured for time in life and a lot of people aren’t willing to learn new things because they think they don’t have the time to do this. I think you gave some great tips for people who have the time and want to move forward in doing this on their own. What if there is someone out there who thinks they don’t have the time to do this and they just want someone to tell them what to do. Is that something that you offer if people are looking for support or accountability in working through their nutrition?
Ang: I am going to be super blunt when I say this. No. The reason I am saying that is because if you are not taking the time to be willing to learn then it’s going to be so much harder for you to get out of the yo-yo dieting. No matter what I tell you or show you or tell you what to do, it’s just come back to it. I am here to cut the yo-yo dieting.
I don’t know about you, but I was in a position where I did lose a lot of weight and then I gained a lot of weight in a very short amount of time. I get it from what it feels like going through that is very frustrating, it definitely lowers your self esteem. If you are wanting to get out of that then why are you consistently looking for a quick fix. Eventually, if you keep looking for the quick fix because you don’t have time and you keep saying you don’t have time, then you are going to get to a certain point in your life when your hormones are completely out of whack. You may or may not gain thyroid problems and then you will be wasting your time at a specialist's office trying to figure out the root cause of that thyroid problem. Where does thyroid come from? It comes from the regulation of the macros nutrients of what you are eating.
I hate to say it super point blank. But, no please don’t come to me if you are looking for a quick fix. I am here to help you learn to create sustainability because I want you to create a positive change in your lifestyles without going back into feeling super sluggish and feeling like you are falling off the bandwagon. I want to cut those ties right in the bud and get you to the space of feeling great.
Syd: Yes I love that so much! I think it really shows that we need to have a willingness to create a change. Nothing happens at the flip of the switch and nothing is going to change if you are wanting somebody else to make that change for you. It sounds like if somebody is wanting to learn, and they are wanting to learn on their own and go through the difficulties of finding the information online, searching it out and figuring out how to apply it, then they can do it on their own.
If someone is wanting to learn, but they don’t want to go through the challenges of having to find the information and learning how to apply it. They are wanting someone to walk along with them on the path of creating a better nutrition program that actually works for them, that is something you are available for.
Ang: 1000% I am your gal! 1000% hands down. So definitely send me a message.
Syd: Yes! I love it so much! Thank you so much Ang for really breaking down the concept of Macros and why it’s important and how it can help us to break away from the yo-yo dieting lifestyle that so many of us find ourselves in. As we wrap up, are there any last words of advice that you want to offer to anyone that is listening?
Ang: I want to say this, and I said it at the start, you are what you eat. You are what you eat. So if you are conscious of what you are eating you will be a lot more focused on what your end result is. So start. You have to start somewhere. I started somewhere. Just start. Whether it’s just tracking or increasing your water, just start. Because you are always going to be what you eat, so why not be something amazing that feels great.
Syd: That is a perfect way to wrap it up. Really being conscious about what you are putting into your body really brings that consciousness on how you are showing up in your life. That is so beautiful. I want to thank everyone for being here and joining us in today’s conversation learning about the importance of macros and this idea that you are what you eat, and why it’s important to pay attention that kind of stuff. Again, thank you Ang for sharing your expertise. As we close out I am going to give you a bit of a teaser. Next we are showing up and I am sharing my expertise as a Spiritual Mentor and an Emotional Wellness Coach. We will be talking about people pleasing. So if you have people pleasing tendencies, I want to tell you that people pleasing is actually bad and it’s not good for your life. It’s actually blocking you from the growth you desire. If you are interested in that topic, then stay tuned for next week.
As for now, we are going to send you so much love and we are going to leave you with the wisdom that ANgie just shared. Don’t forget all of our links are below if you want to connect with Angie and you want to work on your nutrition journey then she is ready to guide and support you through that process. Check her out in the links of the description of the episode. We are sending you so much love and light and we will chat at you next week.
Ang: Bye everyone!