Episode #4: Metabolically Healthy Regardless of Size
Listen to the Episode
You are listening to Weight a Minute with Beth and Jessica, episode four
Today we are talking about being metabolically healthy, regardless of size. Many people have been taught that size equates health, and may believe that thinness is a sign of being healthy. Which we know is not necessarily true. And many people have been taught to believe that fatness is a sign of being unhealthy, which is also not necessarily true.
Then there's everyone in between. It's just a huge spectrum of body sizes and shapes. And we can't know someone's health from this.
Okay, Beth, before we dig in, can we just cover what metabolism actually is? Because I know most of us have heard of it, but do we really know what it is?
Yes, yes. Yes. Okay.
So metabolism is the energy that your body uses in order to function. So in science classes, we would learn about your basal metabolic rate versus your resting metabolic rate. So basically the energy it takes for you just to stay alive, which is your basal metabolic rate and then add in all the energy it uses to do all the other stuff.
So some people have higher metabolic rates than others, which can be genetic. It can be based on how much muscle mass that you have, how your thyroid is functioning, how other hormones are functioning, and even your microbiome can have some influence on your metabolism.
There are other things that it can be influenced by, your metabolism can be influenced by, which is like how you manage your stress. Do you have trauma burdens and largely those other things influence your genes by turning them on or off which is called epigenetics. Because like some of our stress or trauma trigger patterns, we might be more fleers. So we're more anxiety prone and might have more energy that we need to burn to manage our stress.
Or that's like our normal pattern is to be living in an anxious mode, which creates a higher metabolism. And some of us like myself are shutter downers, where we kind of just go, we go down for the count. So metabolism can kind of slow down, freeze, right? Yes. The freeze. I like to call it a shutter downer it's very technical, but yeah that can influence metabolism as well. And so then we have these other genes that can get turned on that can alter how our body is functioning, like in a disease state.
So those things like you might be prone to say IBS or rheumatoid arthritis or Alzheimer's or cardiovascular diseases. And these can all get turned on by how we're managing our stress or trauma, which then influences our metabolism.
Yeah. I think it's important to know, like a lot of times people think their metabolism is simply functioning based on what they eat or how they eat it or their age, but there's so much more, there are so many more factors related to how your body actually functions and how it manages energy.
Yeah, totally. So essentially we get all of this energy that we need in order to function from food. So the fuel we put in, and then it all hums along, making things like new cells and tissue allows us to breathe, it fuels our heart... I could list all of the things, but you get the jest, right?
So, okay. We eat food, it gives us energy.
And then our metabolism is how we're managing this energy based off our other health factors. Correct.
What is metabolic health? Okay. So to me, I'm sure scientists could go round and everybody would have their own opinion. But to me, metabolic health is taking all of that and seeing and feeling that the body is healthy.
So it's able to use all that fuel you give it. It's not having inflammation or disease pathways turned on by certain types of foods. You can be totally a wide variety of sizes and be metabolically healthy. Your glucose and triglycerides are great. Your cholesterol is doing what it's supposed to be doing. Your inflammation markers are low, blood pressure's good etc and be 40 pounds, 60 pounds plus overweight. That's okay. You can also be normal weight or even slightly underweight and have dysregulated glucose, not good cholesterol, high inflammation, markers. So size does not always equate to being healthy or not healthy.
So it's really, are you giving your body what it needs? Is it able to function well under those conditions? So just before we move on, I just want to re-highlight that you can be any size and your numbers could be optimal or they can not be optimal and it doesn't really have anything to do with your weight.
Yes. So the reason why size alone gets thrown into this conversation is sort of nuanced because just in terms of science because a lot of the research that has been done related to being overweight or over fat is that it tends to have higher risks for all the things you hear about like heart disease and diabetes because that's what can happen when we become over fat, because that fat is not just inert. It does send out its own hormones and chemical messengers that things are not okay in the body, that it is contributing to inflammation in the body and to these disease states. However, I don't think that you can say, oh, that person has larger body they are definitely diseased. The inputs ie foods that you put into your body really do matter. And skinny fat, as I mentioned before is also definitely a thing too, for the same inflammation, the same disease states can occur and a smaller body person, their fat, while it doesn't take up the same outward volume as another person, it can behave just as negatively.
So some of this can really depend on ethnic backgrounds, like some Asian populations, their visceral fat, which is that belly fat that grows in and around your abdominal organs in these populations doesn't really grow outward. So they don't have like, like what we think about with like an American beer belly, but rather it's growing more inward and around their organs, which is way more dangerous.
Because this visceral fat is quite metabolically active and sending out these alarm signals and it's so close to the organs, again, you just can't assume that size equals health. Yeah. And when you said that the actual fat can send messages to our body, it kind of sounds like maybe some people are getting those messages and some people aren't.
Right. And like that goes back to the genetic portion or, well, some of it can be genetics, but some of it is about the food that you're putting in. So if you're eating low quality fats, you're eating ultra processed foods and things like that, that's really, what's creating the inflammation pathways.
Your body can’t process it or utilize it. And so then you're gaining fat mass and then that fat mass is all of its messages are not good information from the food. And so it's sending out these alarm signals that I am not okay. I'm not functioning the way I'm supposed to be functioning. That makes more sense. Yeah.
What else can harm our metabolic health then besides, or including this highly processed food?
I hate to be negative Nancy, because it's unfortunately quite a long list, but it can be best summarized as things that are ultra processed, fried, charred. So people love that good char from grilled meats. And that actually has its own compounds are called AGE, advanced glycosylated end products. And then when it gets in the body, it attaches with something else called rages. And so again, literally, your body is raging with inflammation and things like excess sugar. So those are like the top foods that create disease or problems in metabolic health and our Western world, but not related to food is being sedentary or very low movement slash low muscle mass. So maintaining proper muscle masses can be really helpful, poor sleep for sure causes, we're finding more and more evidence about our quality of sleep is contributing to inflammation and our metabolic health. It's a big factor in cardiovascular disease. Poor sleep, poor dental hygiene contributes to cardiovascular disease, alcohol intake, high stress and not having that true release valve and ways to process it through. So you can have stress in your life, but you need to be able to manage it and process it and have that valve. And that release valve is not alcohol. Or fried foods or excess sugar. The release valve is things like laughing, exercise that you enjoy, not exercise because you have to, the restorative things. Crying can actually be because you're not holding on to the emotion.
You're actually processing this through. I was really stressed last night and went on a walk. And I was basically crying walking. It was a good time, but I felt better once I got home. That's like my favorite thing to do is just walk around and pass by a lot of neighbors. And they were like, hi. And I kind of looked at them, but not really, and waved my hand.
Like, I don't have time to worry about what you think about what's going on with me.
What I just want to touch on this before we add to this list, because I know there's more things, but like when you talk about movement and muscle mass, like you don't have to join CrossFit, like a walk and cry can be...
Yeah. Yeah. So it's getting the steps in per day, whether that's around your house, your neighborhood, whatever, just that general movement. Our bodies were designed to move human bodies were designed to move. And the only reason why we've come up with exercises is because we don't have to work so hard to maintain our life.
Like we don't have to chop our own wood anymore, and we're not all sustenance farmers and things like that anymore. So we've come up with this exercise thing as a way to expend this energy through living. I mean, especially after the pandemic or 2020, and having to figure out ways to move alone or at home or whatever.
Yeah. Anyway, so we regress, I'm sure we could probably do a whole thing just on how to manage stress, but so what else, what else back to metabolism? So a big one that we hear about, and I feel like it's hard for people to really wrap their head around is high plastic and styrofoam exposure.. So where it really sneaks in those higher amounts is eating takeout from these types of containers because the styrofoam or the plastic is hot and is leaching into the food.
Particularly if it's a fat-based has fats in it and the food, it will soak those up, drinking hot coffee through the lid will melt that plastic and then you're drinking that. Plastic water bottles are not temperature controlled as it moves through its processing to your hands. I might see when you go to the grocery store and you see these plastic water bottles, just sitting in the sign out front of the store, like it gives me deep anxiety, so much anxiety. Yes. Yes. It's so like, cause it's leaching that plastic into the water every time it heats up. Or it could be like soda sitting out too.
I love that thought of people that keeps their water bottles, that pack of water bottles in their trunk. Yeah. I know people that do that. Yeah. And so especially you see it in Austin, there's so much construction going on everywhere here. And so you just, they keep it onsite, which is great. But living in Texas, it's so hot and I just am like, oh, so much plastic leaching into your water.I don't say anything or I'll be like that random lady. That's lecturing people about their water. I'm just so happy that people are drinking water half the time, but it really does create that that's called endocrine disruptors. Some of the other endocrine disrupting chemicals they're found in beauty products and those are called parabens, or there's a long list, but that's like the most common one.
You'll see. Yeah. There's like a whole book of endocrine disrupting chemicals in relation to beauty and household items. Yeah, I think at the IFM the functional medicine conferences that I went to, they were saying that women are exposed to about 200 chemicals before they leave their house. Oh, by like getting ready with makeup and hair and whatnot.
I don't know what that's like, but I totally used to, at some point in my life. Even just our lotions and potions, facial, you know, skincare products, even if you don't wear makeup. A lot of those actually have chemicals in them as well. The list was long before you even walk out of the house. And yes, that list can vary based on how much stuff you use.
Our household cleaners have a lot of endocrine disrupting chemicals in them, and then exposure to heavy metals, just living in our environment. We are exposed to heavy metals. And some people have higher exposure depending on their jobs. And then as I alluded to earlier, trauma can also have an impact on your metabolic health, particularly through gene expression or how you manage your trauma and feelings.
Wow. Well, before we can get to the good news, it's a long list of here, all the things, and we don't share all of those with you to like freak you out. It's just good. It's good information to know. And I think like we're also not perfect, like, just because we know this information doesn't mean that I've never drank out of a coffee lid or whatever.
So. Take it as you will. Yeah. I'm currently drinking out of one, but it says it is compostable and it's a hundred percent made out of plant materials. What does that really mean? I'm surely like it can't, there's no way that my body knows what to do with all these things. So there's that. So, yeah, as we speak. When you talk about like sleep, it's like, oh, well I'm a new mom.
My sleep is not great. Like, I literally just got a grill. And so I think about the charred food and like the pork tenderloin I made last night and had a little char on it. So it's like, I can do a little char. Right. And it will be okay. It's particularly if you just pair it with like high cruciferous.
Vegetables. Yeah, I cooked cauliflower, but then that also got slightly charred.
It's not perfection. I'm slowly learning the nuances of the grill.
So like tell us what else they're like, what is ultra processed food? Cause I think maybe especially through diet culture, world, like some people know what a processed food is, but what is ultra processed? So I want to be clear about what a processed food is.
If you like take something and you need to preserve it. Yogurt is technically a processed food, but it's like still a natural food. Canning things can, is a processed food, but there still as can be a lot of nutritional value to it. Adding salt to preserve fish, you know, sardines or tuna or whatever that is a processed food.
So because something that's processed does not mean that is bad, where we're really getting in to the issue is, is what was really considered an ultra processed food. We just kind of lump everything in as processed, but, so I just had to put that little science caveat, food science caveat in there. I think it's a good differentiation.
Yeah. So not to name call on brands. These are just how my brain works. So I'm not like just name calling. These are not the only ones, but just to give you some really tangible examples, I don't think Frito-Lay is going to be calling us for defamation anytime soon but ya never know. So it's Doritos, chips, pop tarts, soft drinks.
Or, if you live in Texas... Coke, Coke, Dr. Pepper and baked goods. The instant ramen type things, donuts, chicken nuggets, hot dogs. Most of those kids cereals the kind of stuff that is sold to us with marketing, basically everything you loved as a child.
Potentially still as an adult, yes. Things you see day in and day out and take up enormous amounts of grocery store space. Pretty much all that stuff. So basically it's like, it can be best described as it started out with some whole ingredient. It got processed by pulverizing it. We added some more fat, salt, sugar, and preservatives, and often some food dye to it.
And there you got some ultra processed food that our brains like, wow, that was exciting. Can we have some more of that? So like are kids now eating more processed through than we did 'cause I feel like I ate a lot? Yes. Yeah. We had a lot, but there's even more now. And it's the, in the difference that's actually happening too, is that the percentage of ultra processed foods that we consume in a day is increasing.
So in the last 20 years, ultra-processed foods has the percentage of calories that we are taking in has increased another 10%. So right now, on average, US kids are getting two thirds of their calories from ultra-processed foods before it was a little less than that. And then, it has totally increased over time.
So I would say that I did eat ultra-processed foods, but I don't know. Well, there were some periods there where yes, I would say two thirds. I know I'm like in middle school, I'm pretty sure I had like a hot Pocket, Cheetos and a Coke for lunch every day. And somehow I'm still here.
Like we still don't really believe that they're bad foods. Right. So we do like to think they shouldn't make up the vast majority of your caloric intake. That's the problem. Yes. Right. We talk about the dose, right? So if food is medicine, then we ask what is the dose of this particular food that is going to be most supportive to you?
And in this case, your metabolic health. So these things are, yes, they're not going to be the base of what you're eating on a regular basis, but they can be. Yes exactly. Right. I just wanted to clear that up for anyone that was wondering. Right, right, right. Okay. So moving on to like the good news, what actually can be supportive of our metabolic health, real food?
So we think about how I kind of mentioned before food is information. So when we have real food, it is nature's way of sending the body information on how to function. Ultra processed foods are problematic because basically, it's just giving us calories with crappy fats to make cell walls with, and an attempt to kind of feed your brain.
But it's not good fats that's feeding your brain. It's giving us carbs that get absorbed fast and spikes our blood sugar. A bunch of salt. Kidneys were really pissed off about blue dyes, which is basically colored petroleum and some preservatives. So all the vitamins that may have been in there from the enriched flour might be there, but it's not the same when you enrich, when you strip everything out of the wheat and turn it into this flour and then put the vitamins kind of back.
You're still missing a lot. So you eat all that, those processed foods and then 20 to 40 minutes later. You're like, I'm still hungry because my body didn't get 90% of what it needed from that meal. I got the calories, your blood sugars probably tanked and your body thinks it needs more food, stabilize your blood sugar.
So if we can eat foods that look similar to how it naturally comes from the earth. Both plants and animals, then we're, that's the information that our body's looking for, which we just interject really quickly. Cause when you talk about like, not feeling. Full because everybody's not getting what you need.
Like, I think about if I go to McDonald's and have burger fries and a Coke or whatever, like it's funny. Cause my husband will be like, oh my gosh, that was just like 2000 calories. Aren't you stuffed? And I'm like, actually not really. I can eat two more because it's like, it is so it's easily digestible, right?
Like it's stuff that has been ground up and turned into this new shape. So it's like, I feel like it just kind of goes straight through and then I'm like, I don't feel as satisfied as I would, if I had like, maybe add some vegetables to that meal or had something else altogether. So I don't know if anyone else experiences that, but I just, I totally get it.
Yeah. It's because it needs vitamins. It needs minerals that often can be related to the blood sugar imbalance. Like you spike up and you crashed back down and then you kind of have like that brief hypoglycemic moment. And so then you're buying like food, even though you definitely have blood sugar in there and your body can utilize stored glucose and stored triglycerides to turn it on that.
It's just that, that alarm signal, when that blood sugar drops like. Yeah. So definitely like eating when you say real food. I think whole foods, because there's some food people out there that are like, all food is real. Right, right. Yeah. Again, like what I said is like how naturally comes from as close to its original state.
Yogurt's pretty close. So yes, that's a thing. If you can tolerate dairy, nuts, abd seeds. All the vegetables. If you want to just try to eat natural things. And I think that protein often gets left out of this conversation. So first talk about animal protein. Animal protein production is also kind of, is also really problematic for our body in terms of metabolic health, because those animals are locked up and in tight quarters. They have no space in the room. They get fed corn and other grains that is not part of their natural diet. And so then that gets turned into fat that they have, and it becomes inflammatory arachidonic acid.
And so then we eat that fat and then now we're eating inflammatory fats and then probably the proteins. The actual protein source of it probably doesn't have as much vitamins and minerals in it as it would. So if it's like a free range animal, it's going to have omega-3 fatty acids in it. Instead of arachidonic acid, it's going to have higher vitamin and mineral content and things like that, which I feel like the grocery store will trick you too, because like with the eggs, when you see, oh, these chickens are vegetarian, the chickens.
Chickens are not vegetarian. Well it's because we're feeding them grain, right? It's like, oh, you think you're getting something healthy because your chicken is vegetarian, but actually they're getting fed corn feed instead of the bugs and the worms and grubs eat grass and other stuff. But they're mostly looking for, for grubs and other little bugs in the grass.
And that's what makes their yolks so orange and all that good stuff and has a omega three fatty acids and DHA and all that jazz. So what you're saying then is it is the quality of the protein also definitely matters. Yeah. So, yeah. So if we could get as many animals back into grazing and go back into that, it would totally dramatically reduce our inflammatory fat intake is one of the biggest problems with that space?
Some of it is space. There is some space issue. It's also looking more into regenerative farming, which is you can do cycle grazing. So they're not grazing in the same place over and over, or having to take up all of the space. You can do it in a way in particularly when you add other animals to the process and use the byproducts and all that kinda stuff.
Like the dung beetle, create soil. Health and things like that. So there are a lot of things that can be done and regenerative without taking up vast amounts of space and overgrazing land, things like that. So, yeah. Brazil where they're clear cutting the Amazon and all these other places for cattle grazing is because the cattle will then we'll go through and eat all that.
And then they don't do anything else with the land. They just leave it. And then they go burn more rather than just being able to keep the land moving. But then a certain space. I was big digress, such a bump, but, and then with like foamy, No animal, non animal protein can be really super processed as well.
I have to say, I don't really think that impossible burger type products. They're not the only one that Boca burger and things like that have been out for a long time. It's challenging. You've got like this ultra processed soy or other grain stuff, kind of all mixed in there. And I don't think that the, your body always registers it the same way as getting those proteins from things like beans and seeds and things like that and its natural state.
And so I eat some of those. I've actually never tried an impossible burger, but I love this company called good seed burger. Again, none of this is. To like brand like brands, the things, these are just things that I look for as I'm not trying to promote other brands or put certain brands down. So we are not sponsored.
We are not sponsored. I'm not trying to defend. I'm just like people see these brands and it can click with them. It makes sense of like, oh, okay. I get that. So anyways, good seed burger, how I get it's the ingredients. Pretty reasonable. It's not, it doesn't feel too ultra processed to me. Would it be better if I could eat the beans and the seeds and its whole form of course, but I'm human in a modern world and I need my lunch in about three minutes.
We are going to have to resensitize ourselves to these natural foods and they, that they taste good, potentially even settle for them being just okay. That you can tolerate them. That's what condiments are for.
No, they will not light up your brain the same way that sugar, fat and salt does, but once our brain. I have what they need. Our bodies have what they need. We become more alive and we get to live from a place of vibrancy versus chasing the dopamine sugar, high, low cycle. That's a whole other podcast is talking about the dopamine and just overeating and kind of the addiction to our urges when it comes to those things, because they are real, it is hard when you have a bag of Doritos and you're like, that was delicious. Oh yeah. The science on Doritos is fascinating and I will not go into it here. I will. For another time, those are definitely the things that light up the brain.
They're very exciting. And a lot of people ask us, they're like, so bored with my food. How do I make dinner exciting again? And we're like, well, what if it was not exciting? Like what if that was not where you got your excitement and it just kind of blows people's minds because we've come, we've gotten into this habit that every meal is supposed to be like really amazing.
Especially with foodie culture. Everything has to be amazing all the time and like really hit the spot and it's like, well, that's not really. Correct. Yeah. I love a good basic meal that is simple to put together. It tastes simple, but it's got some highlights, not every meal is, gets knocked out of the park and that's totally okay.
I don't think it's supposed to be. I know I've gotten to the point. You and I are chefs. I was going to say it's funny because we went to culinary school. Cause we both love food so much, but here we are, here we are. But the thing is I decided that at home. Yes. I will sometimes cook things that are exciting and fun.
It's not like all my food is bland and I hate a chicken breast. I'm sorry. I just, I hate chicken breast. I think it is boring. I really don't want to eat it unless I absolutely have to, but I want to go out to eat and eat somebody's form of art. So like when you go to a restaurant, especially, especially good foodie restaurants, like that is their art.
They have taken the time to figure out these interesting combinations of foods and presentations and things like that. So I want to go and appreciate their art because I am not going to do that at home. So therefore I'd rather get them. Experience from somebody that has the current passion for it. That is not just trying to feed their nine and 12 year old on a Wednesday at seven after dance practice.
I couldn't agree more because especially now I'm like, oh, I can make something really simple, but it also can be delicious just with the right condiment or a little extra herb. And it's like, it's totally fine. And it's also go real far in our house. Yeah. Oh my God. I love it. Okay. Let's kind of step back to metabolic health.
And can you explain how a restrictive diet or just being under nourished? Like a lot of people are like, oh, I don't understand I'm on a 1200 calorie diet. And like, I'm just, it's not working the way it used to. How does that affect our metabolism? Totally under nourishment looks like under eating, but it can also mean eating caloric, dense foods.
That don't really offer your body any real nutritional value. Like all the ultra processed foods above restrictive diets are also problematic because often people restrict their calories to the point of creating disease or certain types of foods that offer up valuable vitamins and minerals or fiber will get restricted.
So it can create gut issues, bone health problems, dysregulated blood sugar can affect their brain or chemicals or what a lot of people do is that they will restrict foods or total calories and then Benj and then restrict and diet, and then sharing that. So they're going on this whole. Pattern of restricting, we've seen, we've seen many clients of all sizes go through this, correct?
Absolutely. Yes. Yes. And because usually when you're bending and you're not being doing it or getting on or off your diet cycle with health Ford foods. Yeah. Right. Okay. So let's talk a little bit about emotional eating over eating or drinking. How does that impact our metabolism or metabolic health? Yeah.
Okay. So often we are using foods, sugar, beverages, or alcohol to feel differently than we are, and it's not usually coming from a place of joy and we aren't choosing health Ford's foods. We're seeking an attempt. To comfort from ultra processed foods. It's doing this occasionally is probably not going to be a big deal.
But then when this is our regular coping mechanism, it's going to influence the inflammatory process from the excess of low quality foods, low quality fats, and keep that going. Yeah. I guess I just wanted to know it's like you said, well, we can do it sometimes, but if it becomes this crutch of, this is our only way to cope, we're going to do like a whole other podcast just on emotional eating, because it is so prevalent, but it's also such a challenge to kind of get out of that habit.
I guess we would call that because temporarily you feel good. Temporarily right. But then we're still left with our problem obviously. And so then there's that, but in that moment, we might have gotten that little bit of that dopamine hit or just that I can kind of picture like eating a tater tot on a really hard day and be like, oh, tater time.
Tater tots are so specific to you. There are people that don't, I can visualize in my body and in my brain right now, how good a tater tot can feel when I'm feeling a particular way, mashed potatoes. For sure. We'll do it a hundred percent. It's temporary. My problem is still there. So anyways, so I can't just keep, I can't rely on food and alcohol to be my emotional thing.
For a variety of reasons, but when we're talking about metabolic health here, it does then create disease states. And then I have other problems that are all related to, in getting out of that issue. Amazing. And again, you can be an emotional eater of any size. Yep. All the sizes. Okay. So my final question regarding metabolic health.
How do you know, how do you measure not about like health? So I like to start with the basics CBC, which is your complete blood count metabolic panel and cholesterol. So those are the three basics that people get when they go to their doctor for their annual physical. If they go annually, those will give you your clues into what your blood sugar doing, how your liver enzymes doing and the liver enzymes.
You can still have liver enzyme dysfunction with a high carbohydrate or high sugar food intake, calcium, your bicarb can show some things anyways. So those were the basics. You can get an idea. And then obviously how people feel at some point and people were like, whoa, I just feel terrible.
Right. Like they feel tired. They don't have energy to do things. Their brain doesn't work so good. But then, but we're really talking about labs. What I'd like to ask for an often get, when I have clients get these from their doctor is what's their fasting insulin. Cause that gives me a much better picture of what is your body doing with blood sugar?
Your vitamin D status, which is, has a lot to do with a wide variety of metabolic processes. HS CRP is a general inflammation marker that I like to look at. Homocysteine is also a inflammation marker. It can be. Be related to other things, but I like to look at homocysteine because in the research it does have indicators for how your basket health and your brain is aging.
So it used to be a marker for like your heart health, but really what they're finding is more related to brain health. And then ideally, and best what I always would love to see is what the. Banded cholesterol panel, because then we can see, how is your LDL functioning? So LDL has been coined the bad cholesterol, but it actually has a totally normal function that we have to have it just when it becomes problematic, gets out of its natural balance from the foods that we intake or something.
We'll not do its job properly and it will become small and sticky. So you can totally have an LDL that's higher than a hundred and it be fine, it's functioning properly. But what we need to know is that LDL becoming small and sticky and becoming problematic and cardiovascular health, and you can also have a high HDL.
And that doesn't always mean. You're F you're healthy. You can have a high HDL, and sometimes it means that you are having metal toxicity. So that's not exactly the best. And then in these expanded metabolic panel, cardiovascular panels, you can also see things like adiponectin, which is one of the. Markers that is released from fat cells.
It's constantly, now that's like one of its inflammation markers. So yeah, I really love the cardio vascular metabolic expanded panel. And then also, if you really have like a history of cardiovascular disease in your family and you potentially do have these things going on, it can look at like, is your heart sending out these certain signals that could be.
Signs of trouble ahead, like a cardiovascular event in the future. Can you just ask your doctor for an expanded panel or would you need to see a specialist or find someone, how does that work? It depends on your doctor. Some doctors will do it and some won't. So for example, I went to a heart doctor just as a preventative thing and.
They did all these tests. And I did the basic cholesterol, but because my total cholesterol and LDL was fine, they wouldn't look at my expanded cholesterol, but I could have normal cholesterol, but it all be doing terrible things right. Or doing not its normal job. So I felt like that was not very fair and I wasn't very.
We run some of these panels on people, insurance doesn't cover them, but we are able to run them because they are nutritionally based. Not every state allows other practitioners to some doctors will and some will not. It really depends on their thinking. And then how much they know their patients.
Insurance we'll push back on it. Yeah. Cause they can add up. So if you think about it, if even some of these basic numbers, don't give you a whole picture of what your health looks like. Then obviously the size of your body, isn't going to tell you anything. And then this, like we've talked about this scale is not necessarily the best indicator here either.
So it's really the whole sum of all of these things that are going to give you. Best picture of her health. Yes. So then everybody go get your labs done. I actually am due to get mine done and I'm excited to do it. Like I like looking at them now. I just got mine done. Yeah. I run mine every year. This year I might have done too many.
I was like, oh, next year I got a scale back. I don't think it really needs to know the information. I'm both curious why not? But the lady was like, let me know if you get dizzy or anything like that. I think I ran, it was like, kind of being like 16 pounds. How many? Like 16. 16. Okay. So like three liters of blood.
I made sure I was well hydrated before and before I went in, but it's. Hormones and stuff like that. 2 42, I'm some curious how my hormones are doing so anyways, so I ran a lot. Good sound good times. Is there anything that you want to add to this conversation before we move on to our fund segment? No. I just really want people to just hear it again and again, your size does not predict how healthy you are or not.
It's data. Not drama is one of our mottoes, so we get the data. No, what's right for you. He real food. The end. Just kidding.
Okay. Well, let's move on to our new weekly segment. We have a fun, weekly segment that we're starting, where we discuss something that one of us has seen in the media or experienced in our life that is related to diet culture.
Yeah. And the point of this besides totally just entertaining ourselves. Cause we actually text, screenshot each other, these things see, and they're like WTF on the ridiculous thing. So I regularly screenshot the things that get sent to me. Yeah. And so I was like, this is great. This is what we need to be talking about, because I think that there's not as much awareness as far as how diet culture keeps you stuck in diet culture, especially because some of it now is so subtle.
And I think that the one that we're going to talk about today is pretty subtle. It wasn't super subtle. Not for you. I'm pulling it up because I have the photo of it. No, one's actually going to be able to see this, but I'll put a picture in the show notes so you guys can see it. So if you could go ahead and describe what this ad was.
Yes. I was scrolling one of my pastimes and I found this ad. Mushrooms for weight loss. So it is like this really pretty fun graphic. And then it has a picture of these cute little red and white mushrooms, and it is mushrooms for weight loss. Ladies, weight loss starts in our guts. The reishi mushroom targets this key area of the body.
I did not click for. 'cause. I was so mad. Don't want to mess with your algorithm. My algorithms already messed up, but I didn't click for more. I was too mad. My initial thought was, oh, great. Now we've got, we're targeting silly Simon, uh, psychedelic mushrooms for weight loss was actually my initial thought.
We wish I would've been like really mad and baffled, but it was in general, these reishi mushrooms and yes, these mushrooms are helpful. They do help with like inflammation and our immune health and all these other. But it's the fact that it's like, okay, now it's like this other new magic pill that we're going to take these mushroom powders so we can lose weight specifically in our belly, but that's not how it works.
Anything like that worked. We would all just do it and be super models, but we're not saying that's okay. My first reaction was gross because. Yeah. And actually at first I did also think of the psychedelic mushroom, which I'm not sure what that says about where our brains are at, but when I took it in and processed it, I was just like gross.
They're just creating another promise that this thing is going to be the thing for weight loss. And it's like, mushrooms are already so trendy. Like they're getting put into everything, but also I felt like it touched on kind of like spiritual fakeness of it all. It's like turning the spiritual world against itself into this weight loss world.
There's just too much. And I guess what kills me is I know so many people that would look at this and be like, oh, I want to try it. Or it will be something that somebody is gonna send me a text of and being like, Hey, what do you think about this? Should I try this? One of those things, if I got like one more text about celery, Or like, yeah, it's just, it's another celery juice.
It's not that this is harmful. Right. You can try reishi mushrooms and there's probably going to be some benefits. So it's not like a negative thing. It's just that they're painting it of like, oh, the only benefit is weight loss. And you're like, right. And so then people will take it and then they're still going to be eating their ultra processed foods.
And they're going to be like, oh, this doesn't work. And I'm like, yeah, it doesn’t work because you're still eating these inflammatory foods. This reishi mushroom capsule is not going to undo all the things. Yeah. This is probably another topic, which we keep saying that because this is, but it's true. You can't out supplement a bad diet and not moving, right.
This ad also targets gut health, right? Because that's also very trendy, like more and more people are understanding like, oh my God, which is great in a way, because it's not a total lie, but then people are like, oh, it's good for my gut. So then I must, this must be something I need to try. And it specifically calls out the late.
Yes. Are there large men out there that could use this too? It's like, okay. I feel so targeted. And I'm so mad about, I know I'm like, I wish that my husband was a scroller cause I'm like, should I scroll? What would it change to him? Like it would it be like, Hey guys. And then like, do they have a targeted ad for men?
I would love to know. I'm sure they get a lot of. And this is so stereotypical. So I don't know, but like protein ads or like gaining supplements and testosterone, like they have their own culture of like BS that is thrown at them. That was a good point on that. It was like specifically called out ladies.
Okay. Rude. Anything else about this mushroom add before I go into a full on rage rant. It's also the look, muted earth tones. It looks very natural. The picture of the mushrooms is like actual mushrooms. Adorable. When you say like red and white polka dot mushrooms, you think of the cartoon, like super Mario, but like, these are the actual mushrooms.
So it looks very natural and like benign, but you're just like, nope, this is totally diet culture. And I hate you.
If anyone is listening to us, go ahead and send us the things that you see. Totally. Please do what kind of crazy ads are y'all getting and share them with us. Not that we don't see enough, but if it's really good, then. Uh, chat. All right. We broke one of our first rules in podcasting, which is 30 minutes or less.
Sorry. I sure hope we gave you something new to think about today and helped you take one more step on your path to freeing yourself from diet culture. Be sure to subscribe to this podcast and follow us on Instagram at path underscore nutrition. We'll see you next week.
