Episode 010 – Healthy Eating

Suburban Folk 0:00
Please listen to the disclaimer at the end of this episode. This is the Suburban Folk podcast episode 10. Healthy Eating with certified nutritionist Chris Newport.

Looking forward to having some real talk. Some real folks. Hey, this is Greg with the Suburban Folk podcast. My guest today is Chris Newport, who is a nutritionist for the endurance edge and the fueling edge. Chris, thanks for taking time.

Unknown Speaker 0:29
Absolutely. So

Suburban Folk 0:30
my first question is when we first started emailing, you have a lot of certifications in the form of acronyms behind your signature. I see Ms rdn, LDN, ci, ss and EPC. Can you walk us through what those mean? And how that would be interpreted for what type of advice somebody would be receiving from you?

Unknown Speaker 0:51
Yeah, great question. So first one is obviously Master of Science and I have my master science from Meredith College here local rollin College in nutrition. And then rdn is registered dietitian nutritionist. So that is a specific program where we complete a certain amount of credits and then we go through a year long internship process and then sit for the exam to become a registered dietitian. Then if we want to work with giving people medical nutrition therapy or mmt, then we have to get our license. So LDN is a licensed dietitian nutritionist. And that actually depends on which state you’re in. There’s only a handful of states that don’t require licensure. So those are those two pieces there. And if you also see rd, that’s kind of the same thing, but that has more recently been updated to rdn. So that’s Ms. rdn LDN and then cis sn is a certified sports nutritionist through the International Society of sports nutrition and then PC is a certified exercise physiologist through the American College of Sports Medicine. So if

Suburban Folk 2:05
I’m following those from beginning to end are the first few as far as the Registered Dietitian, nutritionist I think it is general for anybody doing any type of day to day living, versus the more specific ones that you mentioned are geared towards I’m guessing athletes who are working towards a specific specific thing, whether they’re a college athlete, professional athlete or doing even weekend warrior type stuff.

Unknown Speaker 2:33
Yeah, yeah. So in order to our specific clientele that we work with, we work you know, being that we’re the endurance edge. We work with a lot of endurance athletes, so we’ve got runners and triathletes and cyclists, but we also have this sort of subset of people who are interested in sports related nutrition. So it’s important to have that background of exercise physiology and sports related nutrition in addition to the registered dietitian and licensed rupees because There is some overlap with medical nutrition therapy and sports nutrition, you know, whether somebody on as hypothyroidism or has celiac disease or has hypertension or those kinds of things, and they’re also trying to do these specific events like, you know marathons or triathlon or Iron Man or whatever the case may be. And then we also have our weekend warriors, and we kind of fell into a subset of people, we have a lot of people who want to lose weight and they want to be active or not necessarily athletes. They just liked the, I guess the energy that we have as it relates to taking a healthy approach to diet and fitness and using more of a scientific approach, since we do a lot of metabolic testing and sweat testing here too. And we also have a meal service. So you kind of get a lot of different angles.

Unknown Speaker 3:54
Coming here

Suburban Folk 3:55
you mentioned there can be different requirements from state to state. Is there would you would consider a minimum necessary for folks that are seeking out nutritionists in their area. For example, if they don’t have fill in the blank certification, then maybe look for somebody that does.

Unknown Speaker 4:14
Yeah. And there’s a lot of different certifications on the market. Now, there’s and I don’t mean any Ll by mentioning any of these specifically, but I know American Council on Exercise has like a specific nutrition certification, there’s precision nutrition, there’s all these different certifications out there. But if you’re looking for sort of the gold standard in medical nutrition therapy and Dietetics, and definitely look for the rdn, the rd or the rdn. And then, you know, it’s nice to have the licensure as well. Obviously, if you’re in one of those few states that doesn’t require it, then have a conversation with them. You know, you have to have a good relationship with your nutritionist. Just like you would have a good relationship with your physical therapists. You’re your dentist or your general practitioner. So we offer free discovery sessions for people so that it’s an opportunity to kind of get to know somebody are, will we make a good fit? Is something are we able to help them and what they’re specifically looking for. So I think it’s all about relationships. So those certifications are obviously important, but also getting to know your practitioner, because, you know, when we get to some pretty personal stuff, so if you don’t feel good about the relationship you have with your nutritionist or whatever professional it’s you’re working with, and it’s not going to go well.

Suburban Folk 5:38
Yeah, that makes sense. I would assume that your eating plan doesn’t necessarily on its face, seemed like it would be that personal, but I guess, when you get into what might be embarrassing, potentially, then, then it may get a little bit personal. So I never thought of it that way. But when you when you think of the details, there may be some things that you don’t want to admit to. It’s kind of like I don’t know, putting on A mask and going to McDonald’s. Right? Yes. admit to it afterwards. And as far as the endurance edge and the fueling edge, when did you found your company? And how did that all come about?

Unknown Speaker 6:14
So we were founded in 2016, the endurance edge. I have always been an athlete my entire life. And I remember very distinctly thinking about my experience in high school athletics. And I had a kind of a terrible coach. And I just remember thinking to myself, like one day, I am going to be a coach and I’m going to treat my athletes the way that they really deserve to be treated. So that was partly how that all got started. And I was always into fitness. So I started as a personal trainer in 1999. So it’s weird to say that that’s been 20 years. So got into fitness had been into fitness for a long time and then my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. And I felt sort of helpless. She was in another state and I had a friend of mine who was involved in a program called team and training, which is Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, triathlon training company. It’s one of the largest in the world. And so I joined that program and fell in love with triathlon, it was both exhilarating and terrifying and fun. So I started training more and then I started getting into coaching and then I thought, you know, a couple of years ago, like how cool would it be? Because I don’t know everything I got a lot of letters by my name, but I finally figured out that at some point, I ain’t gonna know everything right. So I need other professionals in my in my in my circle so I we brought on a massage therapist, we brought on a sports psychologist, we have other exercise physiologist, involved other dietitians so that we’re all acting as a team. So it’s kind of like we’re sort of like a dream team. for regular working or not working, you know, folks who want to do something awesome for themselves. So it was opportunity to give people coaching and nutrition and body work and sports psychology and all the different different testing metrics that they needed in order to excel as best as possible. So that was the endurance edge. And then a couple of years, about a year ago, maybe a little bit longer. We kept running into walls with a lot of our nutrition specific clients like okay, this is how you need to be eating, this is how you should be fueling your body. And it just got more and more difficult like they were they had such a hard time executing it. So that’s when we thought well, why can’t we help them and provide this convenient service of giving them fresh, healthy food in the portions that they need, with the right amount of good healthy protein and the right servings of vegetables and the right amount of carbohydrates and fat so The fueling edge was born. So that is that’s another service that we have. And that’s going really well. So

Suburban Folk 9:06
it’s funny you mentioned that because as I was looking through the list of questions that I have for you, and again, I think when you look on the surface of eating healthy, it doesn’t seem to be that challenging fruits and vegetables, stay away from processed food, you know, carbs, cholesterol, sugar, salt, you know, read the labels a little bit. But what the conclusion I came to in my head is that the amount of time that people have is probably where it starts to get complicated, because it does take a little more time presumably to prepare some of that food, which then maybe start somebody on their journey to see what pre packaged or processed foods are relatively healthy and then that can be maybe the gray area that happens so it makes sense that to cut out the brain going to that different place. Maybe cut some corners, I guess there’s a way to say it. You’re offering that service so that it is still that simple. They have it available. And there’s the time savings with not having to prep the meals and you know, worry about fresh things going bad does that that’s kind of the idea.

Unknown Speaker 10:16
That’s absolutely the idea. So,

Unknown Speaker 10:20
you know, we’re running into exactly that with people, people going to the grocery store, and it’s overwhelming, and I love going to the grocery store, but most people walk in and they’re like, I don’t even know, where do you start? So for exactly those reasons, it’s like, well, what’s next do I choose and you’re walking up and down the aisles going? Well, is this one good? Is that one good? I don’t know. Is there a specific ingredient that I should have or I should avoid? Or the next thing you know, you know, you’ve been there for three hours and you don’t have anything in your cart. So and obviously, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but, you know, we all know that we need to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables, but then we buy them and then they go bad and then it’s, you know, we’re wasting all this food. And, and then you’re right, we don’t have a lot of time. Generally speaking, if I added up the amount of time that we spend in the meal service, I mean, granted, we’re serving a whole lot of people. But at the end of the day that if you disseminate the process down to what we should be doing as regular old humans, we still have to do some level of planning, some level of shopping some level of preparation or cooking. And that takes time. And our clientele some of them just don’t have it. And, and that’s not to say that some people do it on their own. They absolutely do. We just provide this as a service for providing convenient healthy meals for people who want it. So we have some people who only have three meals a week, and it’s when they’re going to be the busiest and they know that and they’re not going to have time to cook and they want the convenience. It’s not necessarily for every single meal. It can be but for most People it’s just giving that little bit of a crutch to help out with eating more fruits and vegetables and eating the correct portions that they actually need.

Suburban Folk 12:09
Yeah, that makes sense. And what is the mix I’m curious. Especially for the for the meal prep. What’s the mix of serious athletes to you know people just living day to day to watch their weight that you tend to get is it more that people that are just being weight conscious versus the athletes

Unknown Speaker 12:29
we have a we have a really cool next we’ve got 13 1415 year old soccer players who want to play at a high level in the collegiate world eventually. We have moms and dads who are just trying to have a healthy meal for themselves while they’re running around. Watching said soccer players do what they need to do. We have 50 something year old marathoners who want to maintain their weight. We Have Ironman athletes who want to lose weight, we have people who are in conjunction with using our service also doing Weight Watchers. So it’s a really, it’s a really cool mix. And it’s such an honor and a privilege to see how this program can benefit so many different levels of people from the athlete because I always kind of say athlete is a bit of a state of mind. Whether it be somebody who just wants to lose weight, or just be healthier, or make the right choices or help them with portion control, or you know, do an Iron Man or whatever the case may be. So it’s a nice mix.

Suburban Folk 13:41
And then obviously, depending on what their goals are and where they’re currently at, that’s how the plans get tailored to whatever their lifestyle is, and like you said, even how much engagement they need or filler that they need.

Unknown Speaker 13:53
Exactly, yeah. So we have some people who are getting the meals and we are engaged with them every single week. And then we have some people who, you know, they just come pick up their meals. And that’s it, they don’t use any of our other services. So the way that people get started to order a custom meal is you go online, you fill out a super simple form that’s like name, age, height, weight goals. If they know their percent body fat, then that’s, you know, can be useful as well. And then, right now the system is that I actually take that information, I put it into our very specific calculator that spits out the amount of what their resting metabolic rate estimation would be. And then we divide those calories across different macronutrients that protein, carbs and fat based on their goals. And then we give them a quote unquote formula like okay, so your meal will contain, you know, 35 to 40 grams of protein, approximately 400 calories, just giving you an example, you know, saying 30 grams of carbs and 20 grams of fat or whatever the case may be, and then they know What to order. So when they go into a specific meal, they can say, Oh, you know, you’ve got zucchini noodles and meatballs. This week, I’m going to order the, it’s been told to me that I need to have the five to six ounce portion because that’s where 40 grams, roughly 40 grams lies. And then we fill in the number of vegetable servings and the number of carbohydrate servings, because I don’t trust that most people will eat their vegetables. So usually our kind of standard is three servings of vegetables per meal. And our chef, honestly, I think he kind of hates us a little bit, because he’s like, but when we have fish tacos, that’s so much slaw like yeah, cuz we have to get people to eat their vegetables. So that’s always like a constant battle between what looks pretty on a plate. And what is more ideal what is more conventional for food and then how we really should be eating and it doesn’t mean that we can’t all have good yummy comfort foods and that’s really what we aim to provide. We’re not a gourmet service at all We don’t pretend to be. We want to provide good delicious healthy food that serves also a need and our purpose. So yeah, don’t get me going I’ll go on some tangents.

Suburban Folk 16:19
Well please do. I’m going to get myself a little bit of credit. I’ve been doing smoothies for the last three, four months, something like that. And I would typically do try to do just berries because I think they’re the lowest in sugar at least anyway have a lot of vitamins and I would put a banana and give it a little bit more of a mellow flavor. And then I started reading that about bananas as far as sugar content for fruit is not good. So I was looking for to your point vegetable fillers. Call it it so now I’m doing cauliflower like the what they call rice cauliflower. In there instead so that way it still has some frothiness to it, but doesn’t have that extra added sugar. So I’m at least giving it a good shot at doing this

Unknown Speaker 17:11
for you, I don’t know if I’ve heard of anybody putting cauliflower in their smoothie but kudos, man that’s for that’s let’s let’s get right there.

Suburban Folk 17:21
Well, I tell myself that, you know, maybe the taste buds are getting more refined as you don’t bombard them with a bunch of salt and a bunch of sugar. So hopefully, I’ll appreciate some of those nuances, the more I get into it, so

Unknown Speaker 17:33
yeah, you know, you train your palate just like you train your body,

Suburban Folk 17:36
right for sure. So I thought to structure a meal over meal and again, to your point of keeping it as simple as you can because it can tend to get confusing when you’re at the grocery store, we would go from the beginning of the day, through the end of the day. So starting with breakfast, which I’m thinking is a little bit more of a limited selections, so hopefully it won’t be So many options. The first thing I was curious of is, is there a certain time in the morning to eat? And I’m thinking of this for somebody that’s training or working out regularly? For example, should they go ahead and do the workout before they eat breakfast? Should it be after? What period of time before they actually do their workout? Obviously, I’m sure again, some of that depends on what their goals are, if it’s a weight loss versus some sort of race training, but is there a standard for when to actually have breakfast?

Unknown Speaker 18:30
So I’ll give you kind of two answers. Yes, it depends very specifically on the on the person. So you know, unique needs for sure. I have some people who do not do well unless they’ve had something to eat before their workout and I have others that are the complete opposite. So there’s not necessarily a hard and fast rule. But going into a fasted workout does hypothetically improve your ability to burn fat assuming that your insulin and glucose levels are well maintained and sometimes for people who are insulin resistant or perhaps a PCs or something of that nature where they may not even know it, they’re going to struggle with with that and say, Oh, well, I going all my workouts faster, I’m not losing any weight. So then we look at different things. But if we’re just going from like a standard sports nutrition aspect, usually, like we’re going from more of like a high level, not necessarily high level, but some sort of an event or a competition that you’re doing. You want to push your meal out as far as possible like three to four hours beforehand, because that’s about the amount of time that the stomach takes to empty, it’s about the four hour mark. So there’s nothing worse than having a big old meal. And then your body is concentrating and sending blood to your digestive system, which is the complete opposite of what you want to be doing from an exercise perspective. So if you’re not interested in getting up at three o’clock in the morning for like a 6am workout, then you can Also have like a little bit of a snack. Something that sits very well that’s very familiar, that’s usually higher and complex carbohydrates, or easy to digest food somewhere around an hour or even two hours beforehand. But that being said, there’s not necessarily a hard and fast rule that says you have to eat before you workout you certainly can. The more important window is making sure that you’re getting something to eat immediately after that workout. And I’m not talking about like, you immediately cross the finish line and then guzzle your big thing of chocolate milk or something like that. You gotta let let the heart rate come down, let yourself cool off a little bit. And then rehydrate, refuel, replenish that glycogen that you’ve lost in that workout. And it’s also a good opportunity to eat something healthy, like your smoothie that you suggested, you know, this is not necessarily the opportunity to eat junk food. So So yeah, that’s kind of like the standard protocol in terms of eating before workout and then obviously things can Things can adjust depending on the type of the workout that you’re doing, whether it’s an easy run around the block that you usually do, or it’s your high intensity interval class or it’s your CrossFit class or whatever. You can also hydrate during those events. And, you know, with water anything under an hour, you shouldn’t necessarily need anything like a sports drink or extra electrolytes unless you just like the flavor of additional electrolytes. I know there’s a lot of those different types of things on the market. But yeah, fueling yourself after your workout is especially important.

Suburban Folk 21:33
I think that’s is an important thing to note as well with the sports drinks because I used to be guilty of thinking I earned it in some way with every workout that was completed, But to your point, unless you’re doing a pretty strenuous exercise, like marathon training or triathlons, likely you probably don’t need it unless you just want that you know, sugar shot at the at the end.

Unknown Speaker 22:00
I know right? Yes, I see so many people, even coaches who are guilty of it, they’re just like walking around during the day I’m drinking my Gator and I’m like why? It really does serve a very specific purpose. And that is fueling either incredibly high intensity activity that’s under an hour or when it’s, we kind of use our little coined phrase like the three ages like it was hot, humid, or or under an hour or over an hour to then you’ll need some sort of a sports drink replacement but unless you’re doing a very glycogen depleting workout, you don’t need it. So in glycogen is that stored amount of carbohydrates in your liver and in your muscles. Most of us if we’re eating carbohydrates, we probably have somewhere around 1000 to 1500 of those calories. So that’s it. I mean, you you got that hour long workout made without having to add in all this nutrient devoid sports drink to it. And that says I don’t like sports drink. I mean, we sweat test people for crying out loud, you know. So we’re definitely all about knowing all the different drinks and opportunities on the market to be able to fuel people appropriately. But that’s really relating to exercise. It’s over 90 minutes. So it’s really not necessary for the average workout.

Suburban Folk 23:16
Yeah. And that that I think is certainly the point to get across. Because that’s something I learned over the years that that I would have to do. Yeah, that sounds about right. 90 minutes at least to earn that sports drink.

Unknown Speaker 23:28
Yeah, exactly. But, you know, marketing is really powerful stuff. You know, when a package is shiny and yelling at you and saying that your Stairmaster workout will be amazing if you drink it, like why wouldn’t you? Totally

Suburban Folk 23:44
sir. So as far as the things to be having for breakfast, I’ll start with what I think I know to be the wrong things and then work my way backwards. So okay, being a child The 80s and seeing all the cereal commercials of the time, of course, the sugary cereals and my favorite phrase, this is part of a complete breakfast with this other stuff. That’s all.

Unknown Speaker 24:12
I remember that.

Suburban Folk 24:14
And of course, it’s pretty much all sugar, you know, especially that made for kids cereals and you know, even the healthier ones, you know, when you read the labels really aren’t great for you. So I would probably rule out cereal in most cases. And then working backwards. I am a big oatmeal fan. I will say it because it’s easy. I can do that very quickly in the morning. Maybe add some fruit in to get a little bit of extra fiber and nutrients in the morning. And then I feel like eggs and then breakfast meats like sausage or bacon or the ones that seem to be nuanced that depending on who you ask, you get different answers for how much how should they be prepared. Like egg whites versus with the yolk. What is your perspective on the types of food you should be eating for breakfast.

Unknown Speaker 25:08
So, you know, again, it’s all going to be based specifically on the person if you’re somebody who has hypertension, high cholesterol, then doing a lot of your processed meats is not necessarily going to be a great idea. You may have to limit your eggs depending on your specific cholesterol situation. We also do some pretty cool testing in here is called ag for testing. So looking at whether you are genetically more predisposed to storing the cholesterol that you take in your diet, so it’s very small portion of the population that actually needs to be on a low fat diet. But otherwise, you know, the whole egg is incredibly nutritious, it’s got good sources of fat that’s going to help keep you full. You know, fat in the diet is fantastic for mental clarity and clear thinking. I for one, Love My brain. And I love it when it works properly, right? So if we’re completely devoid of all fat, especially in the morning, then we’re going to get hungry a lot sooner. So that’s important to make sure that we’ve got not only good quality fats, but also good quality proteins. And that’s where, you know, the ad sort of failed a little bit is that here’s this complete breakfast of cereal and sugar. So, you know, we’ve got this giant carbohydrate hit that yes, cereal is fantastic if you’re about to go out and run a marathon. But other than that, if you’re going to sit in a classroom all day, you’re probably gonna be asleep in two hours when your blood sugar crashes. Right. So, you know, incorporating I mean, this is a good opportunity to maybe incorporate some high fiber fruits and vegetables, getting a good quality protein source like we make for the meal service. We make a turkey sausage and scrambled eggs and roasted sweet potatoes and broccoli. I mean, how amazing is that? Right? So you got your kind of covering all your bases there. If it’s oatmeal and you’re somebody who’s not necessarily going immediately for a workout, yes, that is a high carb breakfast, balance it out, use a little bit less oatmeal and incorporate things like nuts and seeds. And you know, you can even stir in a little bit of protein powder if you need to, whether it be a pea protein powder and an egg white powder, or whey protein powder, something like that, that will beef it up a little bit, if you will. So in fact, our meal service just came out with one that we call brain fuel. As you might as I’m talking about this, you’ll you know now why I call it brain fuel but oat bran. So instead of oatmeal, so oat bran is kind of one of those poor guys that hides on the bottom shelf of the grocery store and nobody loves on it. And it’s like the unsung hero because it’s got all that good Quality fiber and it’s much more filling than just your regular old oatmeal. And then we incorporate a eggs into it, it’s actually dry so it comes in like a little container so you can make it like more or less like an overnight oats if you’re familiar with that. And then it also has hemp seeds and chia seeds so that we get that good quality fats so that we can sync throughout the morning and then it’s got a little bit of like maple sugar for some flavoring and vanilla and stuff like that. So you can you can kind of play with different ratios of that or oatmeal that maybe again throw some hemp seeds in through some chia seeds in through some ground pecans and and have some fun with it.

Suburban Folk 28:37
That’s that is helpful for me because I know I’m also guilty of putting, you know, like craisins or other things in there that are you know, just a big sugar shot. It’s all in the end the car

Unknown Speaker 28:51
parts are perfectly fine. And

Suburban Folk 28:54
yeah, it gets to be a slippery slope you think something like oatmeal by itself is is Good But to your point, depending on what activity or non activity you’re doing for the day, it may not really sit the way it’s supposed to or energize you the way you’re supposed to. Exactly.

Unknown Speaker 29:10
Yeah, if you’re, if you’re having a bowl of oatmeal and then you’re sitting at a desk all day, that’s a recipe for disaster. But you know if you can incorporate have a little bit less oats, and like I said, incorporate those sources of fat, maybe have an egg alongside of it and maybe like some berries. So you’ve got this really high fiber, nice amount of protein, some fat so you’ve got this really satisfying meal that’s going to fuel you and help you absorb all those nutrients as well.

Suburban Folk 29:38
One other thing before we leave the breakfast topic speaking of fat versus other additives for milk, do you recommend whole milk over skim milk and so on down or is there a happy medium,

Unknown Speaker 29:49
I think there is a happy medium usually I’m, I’m more a 1% or 2%. There are situations when whole milk is More prescribed, if you will. And sometimes it’s not depending on member that that cholesterol gene or where somebody who’s in their current situation in terms of perhaps weight loss or that kind of thing. So, there’s been some research that suggests that whole milk or whole milk products, you know, like whole yogurts, whole milks are more beneficial from a hormonal perspective, actually, women the research study that I saw improved fertility with just switching the type of milk that they were using because perhaps it’s has some level of adjustment on their hormones. But fat is also flavor and fat is also mouthfeel. Skim milk is very watery, and obviously you you know, I Hello 80s like we we definitely drink some milk and our Yeah, so I think it just depends on the person but I am a fan of a good quality milk product. So you know, see if your local area has like a delivery milk place that you trust and that you know how the cows are treated, you know how the milk is processed, etc, etc. And then just consider how often you’re drinking it if you’re I’ve had people who literally drink like a gallon a day. Wow. So I’m less concerned about what they’re about the type of milk they’re drinking, but like the amount so so yeah, it I think it can all fit in a healthy diet. And I wouldn’t necessarily villainize it.

Suburban Folk 31:41
And if I move to lunch now, I know this is an area that I fall into many of the pitfalls for example, and going back to the 80s growing up my home lunch was typically sandwich with some kind of lunchmeat might’ve even been the you know, circular Bologna slice with visa cheese

Unknown Speaker 32:02
Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

Suburban Folk 32:04
You know maybe a piece of fruit like an apple some chips, some sort of heisey type of drink or Kool Aid drink. Oh I haven’t thought about heisey

Unknown Speaker 32:15
in forever

Suburban Folk 32:18
and then you know your your dessert whatever that’s gonna be like a fruit snack or Little Debbie snacks or whatever else you know fits in. Now I’m doing better now says time has caught up with me. But I’m definitely still guilty of the sandwich in the lunch meats and I feel like in the fairly recent past, a lot of the negative things have been coming out about you know, but pretty much all lunchmeat It feels like so, is that something to stay away from? You know, another note I had, of course is with bread. You always hear the carbs and you know, what can you do? There’s all these different alternatives whether it’s pita bread or the flat. I don’t know You know what they’re made out of, but like rounds? Yeah and wraps Of course for the same reason is that all sound advice you know when they say these are as alternatives and you know, what else should we be looking for to replace some of the bad staples for for the work? Relax?

Unknown Speaker 33:18
Yeah. So not only is the fueling edge, a meal service, but it’s also a system of eating. So I try to get through people’s head and we have a cool YouTube video on this, like the six steps of the fueling edge eating system. So step one is pick powerful proteins. So that should be that the case anytime that you are making dinner, lunch, breakfast or a snack. So you know, lunch meats for as an example. Yes, they are highly processed meats. And we definitely see in the literature that processed meats are increasing our risks of multiple diseases. So if we can choose more of like a whole meat product rather than a deli slice kind of thing. Like if you’re having a sandwich every once in a while or once a week, it’s really not that big of a deal. But if you could choose something like shredded chicken versus, you know, slice roast beef or actually take, you know, steak that you’ve made on Sunday and slice that up and put that on your sandwich throughout the week. So you have a whole meat product versus something that’s more processed and increasing our risk of disease. So there’s picking that protein and then our second step in that feeling edge system is what we say, choose your color fuel. So we know I tell my kids you know, eat your rainbow. Basically, I’m telling adults the same thing like eat your rainbow. So let’s see if we can incorporate some good colorful fruits and vegetables in that because the more we can eat across that spectrum of color, the more antioxidants that we’re getting. So you know, if you are making a sandwich with there’s nothing wrong with a sandwich, choose a good quality whole grain bread. You know, so that it’s got that increased amount of fiber check labels because the bread aisle is a little bit of a nightmare because everybody makes their bread slices and different sizes and thicknesses and you know, it’s like, do you choose the low calorie one do you choose the high fiber one, like, I feel bad for the average consumer walking up and down the aisles, right. But generally speaking, we teach the carb controlled system, so it’s kind of like eating for a diabetic. So one slice of bread should be roughly 15 grams of carbs plus or minus a little bit, we’re somewhere around 80 ish calories. So that’s what you really should be looking for in a slice of bread. Most of these bread slices are really big or you know, they’re very dense. So just be mindful of that when you are choosing a bread off the bread aisle and try to get at least one or two grams of fiber if not a little bit more because again, that’s going to help with your society. You, in essence feeling full. And then you know, maybe you’re adding in some additional sources of fat. And that’s our third step in the fueling edge system is choose healthy fats. So maybe a slice up some avocado and put it on the sandwich, for example. And then the fourth step is adding that extra fuel. And that’s basically your additional carbohydrates. And that’s in the form of something like you know, your bread or your potato chips or things like that. So and think about what you’re doing with the rest of day I happen to be sitting on my rumpus for the rest of the day. I know that I’m not going to need a whole lot of carbohydrates in my lunch and also consider that the larger amount of carbohydrates that you’re eating at lunch, the more you’re likely to have that like two or three o’clock dip where you’re like falling asleep at your desk. So thinking of like, Okay, well maybe I’ll make it a little bit more protein heavy, a little bit more good quality, fat, heavy and a little bit lower on the carbohydrates.

Suburban Folk 36:57
What do you think about poor sighs and then snacks maybe that goes into also what you’re doing for the day for example, obviously depends on when you eat breakfast then when lunch comes and so on that you’re not starving at any one point and make poor decisions how imagine just because you’re hungry and grabbing any and everything you can and I know there are certain diets that suggest what you eat up to six maybe even seven times in a day. do you suggest a smaller lunch smaller meaning let’s say what an average person would think right? Lunch should be smaller than that and then and then go to snacks in between or skip snacks all together again, does it depend on you know what somebody?

Unknown Speaker 37:44
I think part of it depends on what somebody’s goals are. And you know, that should be the like the universal theme is that we are all unique and our fueling and eating plan should follow. But for some people snacking is just not an option, whether they’re you know, Their job just doesn’t lend itself to being able to snack. For some people, they’re just grazers. And that’s just sort of their habits. So the more I’m in this business, the more I’m finding that nutrition is more just about food. It’s about psychology and habits. So we’ve seen literature that points to eating frequently throughout the day is ideal for blood sugar we’ve seen just as an example, from a weight loss perspective, we’ve seen success with three meals a day versus five meals a day. So as long as you’re spreading out that protein throughout the day, thinking of it in a context of what you’re doing throughout the day, you know, fueling your brain fueling your body, maybe you have a very active job or you’re moving around a lot. So you’re going to need more carbohydrates spread out throughout the day, and perhaps some snacks as well. So it’s all about making sure that you’re getting that nice, even spread throughout the day. Again, protein at every meal or snack. If you miss fruits and vegetables at lunch, all right. Make it Breakfast and a dinner or snacking. So there’s nothing wrong with snacking. I think a lot of it is that we oftentimes mindlessly snack. And portions obviously are huge. I mean, that’s exactly what we’re doing in the meal service and what we’re suggesting our client tells do as well. It’s so easy to eat fun things that are in too large of a quantity for our needs. So yeah, it doesn’t mean that like you can’t ever like Halloween in our example is tomorrow like it doesn’t mean you won’t, you can’t have any Halloween candy. It’s just you know, planning for it throughout the day. Maybe free some so you got something to share over time. And maybe that access, you know, a little bit of a snack, not just candy, but in the context of the day spreading it all out.

Suburban Folk 39:54
And the types of things that would be more acceptable snacks because right when we hear snacks, think potato Chips are, you know, something that’s in a bag that’s pre process, my mind tends to go to healthier alternatives is almonds, other types of nuts so that you get some protein hopefully it’ll hold you over for a longer period of time. There are other things that people should look for. If they just can’t get from meal to meal and need something to tide them over.

Unknown Speaker 40:22
Yeah, absolutely. So nuts are a great example. Again, watch your portions on those because they do have fat albeit good sources of fat but just be mindful of your portion sizes. So nuts seeds, I love the crunchy edamame a if you have the ability to have like refrigeration accessible to you. Things like Greek yogurt or even eating like a kid and having like string cheese or there’s a lot of like Kieffer and skier and different types of yogurt drinks. So kind of like Greek yogurt, drinkable Greek yogurt kind of things or you know Out of spooning it out. You could have regular old edamame a, you know that you can like shoot the little pods across the room, which is really exciting and fun to do that snack time. And then things again that are a little bit higher protein is thinking of, you know, nut butters. Or even like we make a really awesome protein bite that incorporates protein powder and nut butter and like little bits of chocolate chips. And usually that kind of satisfies the sweet tooth, it’s a little bit of protein and you’re kind of tied over for for the remainder of the day. There are a lot of good stuff on the market that I mean consider that there are thousands of products introduced to the market every single year and only a handful of those survive. But I’m always walking up and down the grocery store aisle to see what’s available to see what’s out there and new things are always popping up. Like little snack packets there in the refrigerated aisle. You know new things like crunchy chickpeas. are really fun one that can have different flavor profiles to snack time doesn’t have to be boring. You know, change it up a little bit, have some variety,

Suburban Folk 42:09
then the paranoia sets in about the definition of what’s healthy and what’s not which we could, I’m sure do a whole other episode. How marketers can take what has been a positive term and turn it into something that you’re not so sure what you’re getting. I mean, I think even the term organic at this point has different connotations depending.

Unknown Speaker 42:32
Yeah, I mean, luckily, that is regulated. But if you read a book like organic ink, then you’ll want to crawl under a rock and, and cry, right? But it doesn’t mean you have to I think, as a consumer, you always have to have an element of doubt and skepticism. But you know, the thing that I encourage people to do when you see something on the shelves and it says, you know I’m amazing. I’m high in fiber. And the second The other thing, whatever it purports itself to be, look at the ingredients first. Is it really that thing? And what does it pretend to be? And how many ingredients are in it? And what really, is it? So like crunchy chickpeas, I just gave that example like if you see that on the shelf, and it’s like, you know, telling you it’s high fiber high in protein, you’re like, Oh, that’s exciting. Okay, so let me take it down. Look at the back and then it says, chickpeas, salt, paprika, and, you know, maybe that’s it and maybe some like sunflower oil, like okay, that’s a legitimate snack. If you turn something over and it’s like, tapioca starch and xantham gum and carrageenan and you’re like, What? I’m sorry. What? What? treated but come off of ha ha. So my kids that to like, what does that mean? What is that They’re like, I can’t even pronounce it. I’m like, does it? Do you deserve that? Is your body important enough to you to actually put that in it is that quality fuel that you deserve? So

Suburban Folk 44:16
I think that’s a great way to frame it. And of course, if you can’t pronounce it, the chances are it’s not something that you’re supposed to have.

Unknown Speaker 44:24
And I think some of the challenge there is that there are some vitamins and minerals that are added to things that people don’t know how to pronounce them. So you know, yes, but when in doubt, put it back and go for the whole food options. Right,

Suburban Folk 44:39
right. Yeah, I think that’s a good way to at least decide if you’re, if you’re unsure, go for the stuff that you know, is good. Yeah, figure out what the rest of your research needs to be after that. If you’re really still curious about a product Exactly. I’m moving on to dinner and I think you probably hit a lot of the points as far as the type of food to have getting Getting the vegetables in there. Like you mentioned, if you if you didn’t get enough in for your earlier meals, then obviously make sure you’re loading up for dinner. Some of the other obvious things I have in my notes is pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers. These are things that you want to have in moderation. I think that goes without saying what should be high level what people are looking for with their dinner. And then also I feel like this question of when to eat is probably most important with dinner because I know I hear a lot of different things as far as when you should be done eating versus your bed time for

Unknown Speaker 45:37
Yeah. And that brings up the topic of intermittent fasting. I feel like that’s kind of a hot term right now. That sort of was in our world last year, the year before, and we’ve sort of since like, set it aside a little bit, just because we all should have some level of fasting throughout the day. So but there doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not like your body understands that. Oh, It is 6:59pm I must cease eating right now like there’s no switch that actually turns on or off suddenly like it’s not like your metabolism just like shuts off or on or whatever. And that’s not to say that intermittent fasting is not a successful method of eating but it’s in its infancy in terms of being researched more specifically for our style of life. So Ramadan actually is very well studied, but most people don’t skip eating during the daylight hours and then eat at night so that it’s a little bit flip flops. But regardless, I think it’s important to try to eat somewhere between two and three hours before you actually go to bed, especially if you have things like GERD or you know, like issues with heartburn. But that being said, you can also incorporate a like a high protein snack before you go to bed for somebody who’s really Trying to gain some muscle, because then you’re getting that steady stream of amino acids that’s important to be able to integrate with your human growth hormone and things like that that are happening while you sleep to be able to help that lean mass maintenance or growth. So, you know, I think it’s a matter of getting a good quality rounded meal that is three to four hours after you’ve had your last snack or whatever the case may be. Having it soon enough before you go to bed, so you’re not sitting, you’re not sleeping on a full stomach because that’s going to affect your sleep too. And then in terms of foods, it’s just like what I was talking about with lunch and dinner, you know, falling that fueling edge system, picking your powerful proteins, choosing your color fuel. The three specific vegetables that we really are colors, if you will, or categories that we really try to push that we’ve seen in the literature are choosing something red or orange. So we see huge health benefits with that. So things like red bell peppers, and

Unknown Speaker 48:00
butternut squash, sweet potatoes,

Unknown Speaker 48:04
you know, tomatoes, things like that. I know you mentioned cauliflower in your smoothies. So we are definite proponents of a family of foods called brassicas. So they’re the ones that are really stinky when you overcook them. So broccoli, kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts. If you can incorporate those things into your diet once a day, you’re definitely a step above as it calls for like health and disease prevention. And the other category and that you can have some cross over here is leafy greens. So spinach, romaine, kale, collards, Swiss chard, on these, all those types of things. So if you can really focus on choosing one from each category, once a day you are leaps and bounds ahead of the General American population and you’re doing yourself a great service, from cancer prevention from heart disease prevention from colon cancer prevention and the list goes on.

Suburban Folk 49:11
That’s really really good to know. And, again, I’m going to stick with like you said, just just get them in when you can sneak them in if you have to. That’s right. But it makes sense. And it’s also I had a guy on a couple weeks ago buddy of mine who does weightlifting and he has a very strict regimented diet and he pointed out that he only does like 1500 calories. He’s like, you’d be amazed when you’re talking about vegetables, how much that can actually be in there. So I think again, you get the processed foods and it seems like you don’t have a lot of portion there. But when you get into the vegetables, it’s a pretty big salad you’ve got there if you hold off on the on the dressing as much as you can. I tell

Unknown Speaker 49:54
you what, like I said most of our clients in our meal service, get three servings of vegetables, which sort of sucks. This apart from a lot of the other meal services or just general people in, like, just kind of in general, is that when we’re putting the lids on some of these things, especially if we’re doing like, cabbage, there’s another one of your brassicas, right. We do like cabbage slaw and things like that. I mean, you know, again, our chef is like, what the heck, you know, he’s like, all vegetables. I’m like, Yes, it is. He’s like, I know, I get it. But we’re like having trouble, like putting the lid on to these meals, because it’s like, that’s a lot of vegetables, but it’s really only three servings. And we really should try to get at least five servings a day, if not closer to 6789 servings a day. So yeah, I’m ensuring that everybody’s having good healthy bowel movements, and getting all the fiber they need.

Suburban Folk 50:51
Well, let’s hit some of the fun Quick Hits I talked about or we talked about the sports drinks. What about things that Like energy drinks, or coffee even where does that fit in? We skip that with breakfast, the protein bars, the shakes, all that kind of stuff that then you look at the label, it sure seems like it’s supposed to be healthy in some way. Do you feel okay with those being a supplement to the overall program? Or do you say stay away from it all together? Because again, I think that’s where sugar probably can creep up quite a bit.

Unknown Speaker 51:25
Yeah, and a lot of your current protein bars on the market are experimenting with different types of fibers like giant quantities of chicory root fiber inulin, things like that, that basically, our body doesn’t recognize and, and it can sort of wash out and make this the net carbs a whole lot lower. It also makes the product tastes a little bit weird. So honestly, I try to use things like protein bars. More of is like I’m in a pickle. I am in a Bit of an emergency situation and I have to have something to eat then I’ll use it in that particular situation there are some pretty decent protein bars on the on the market. You know like shameless plug for ours, I think ours are fantastic. They’re all Whole Foods, minimal added sugars. We have one that’s like date base. So and there’s some bars on the market that have that. But otherwise, it’s like a protein bar lunch, dinner and breakfast like, you may want to consider having some other you know, fruits and vegetables and things like that. protein shakes I think can definitely absolutely working to like a convenient option for increase, increasing the number of protein grams that you need to particularly if you’re working on increasing lean body mass or you’re working on body fat loss. There it’s a little bit like the Wild Wild West. So choosing a good quality product again, look at the labels. And if people ever have any questions about good quality supplements, and Like contact me first, like, please. Because, you know, so many different products can be contaminated. were produced in foreign countries that don’t really care about their processing of different things. Look for informed choice or NSF certified on the product to make sure that it is in fact, what it is. And it’s not contaminated with things like other medications or steroids or things like that. So I think protein shakes can absolutely fit into a healthy diet, and protein bars for that matter. And coffee. Hello, is amazing. Clearly, I’m a coffee fan personally, yes, that’s my personal bias. But we also see that coffee can be beneficial to the health, especially if it’s not something that you’re drinking on a constant basis, like, you know, a couple of cups a day is totally fine. We all process caffeine a little bit differently. So you’re going to have to know yourself well and know when you have to cut it off. But that can absolutely fit into your day. No problem. I think There was another drink you asked about what’s in their protein shakes, protein bars, caffeine, or coffee

Suburban Folk 54:04
energy drinks, which I will be shocked if you told me there’s any benefits.

Unknown Speaker 54:09
Right? Yeah, I mean, we’re we’re actually see like a real problem with energy drinks and teenagers. In fact, there have been some reported deaths. So, you know, these young growing bodies don’t necessarily need that giant amount of caffeine. And generally, they’re also B vitamins or some other level of amino acids. I see people who race with them all the time, whether they haven’t before a race or during it’s you know, big in the in the fitness community too. I think there can be a place for them, but not they’re not required for health. And like I said it you have to be incredibly careful as a young person who’s somebody has some sort of a heart condition. Because generally, again, they’re high doses of caffeine, and they’re probably not very well absorbed B vitamins and again, amino acids, and then there, you know, a lot of these products, protein bars included shakes have a bunch of fake stuff in them from sucralose to food dyes and just like again like you’re better than that you’re more deserving than this like weird nasty chemical concoction. But you know somebody in the military if they’re up in the middle of night or somebody is a shift worker and they have to have some caffeine, I get it. You know it can it can fit there but as part of a regular healthy diet. Yeah. Go for coffee or tea.

Suburban Folk 55:30
Yeah, I second you on the coffee. I have probably like a 16 ounce cup to get my morning started. That’s it then I start to get jittery if I have more than that and there are heart health benefits to it and tastes good. Now. The other thing that I think goes without saying we’re not talking about the crazy coffee shop drink, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 55:54
Special Dolce extra foam, you know, 18 pumps of them. Sugar. Yeah. Oh god, that’s like a whole nother nightmare.

Suburban Folk 56:06
Um, how about multivitamins or just any vitamin supplement at all? Do you have instances where you recommend that for folks?

Unknown Speaker 56:14
Absolutely. In fact, we have like a whole kind of like separate section of our business that’s dedicated to that because we use a specific test called micronutrient testing through a lab called spectra cell. So it tests people’s lymphocytes. So inside the cell and how well they’re functioning, and how well they’re able to absorb various micronutrients, so 31, different micronutrients, metabolites, amino acids that are tested in that and then we give people very specific supplemental protocols or food recommendations based on that. In general, if somebody’s like, Hey, I don’t want to spend the money on that micronutrient test. I just want to be healthy. You know, a good quality multivitamin is not a bad idea. You just have to be very discerning. about them. I’ll give you an example. If you just go to like the regular grocery store and pick something up off of the shelf and it sounds fancy, and it’s you know, it’s got probiotics and it’s got, you know, it’s going to make me the most awesome woman or man ever like I want to Get Swole to, that’s what the label says. Right? Yeah. Just you know, again, look at the label. Ask a trusted professional. So again, us as registered dietitians. nutritionists generally tend to specialize in this area more so perhaps than your medical doctor, but you know, that can be somebody who you ask as well. But like, you know, you pick it up off the grocery store shelf. One in particular to look at the 12 cobalt lemon is be 12 but it has to be attached to something in order for the body to actually use it. Usually the cheap version is cyano. cabal woman. What is cyano short for cyanide? No boy, do we need cyanide in our diet. I thought no negative That’s the stuff that you’re going to find in the energy drinks. Right? So we’re really good at clearing that stuff out. But it’s like, Okay, how much can you take of that particular micronutrient? Or that level of you know, contamination. Also, if you do buy something, or if you’re sitting at home and you’re like, Oh, yeah, I got my micronutrient or I’ve got my multivitamin. Take one of them and put it in a little jar of vinegar, a little cup of vinegar, and walk away for 30 minutes, set a timer and come back and if that sucker is not dissolved, it ain’t dissolving in your body and you ain’t getting anything from it. So that’s not worth it. So like in the case of sino Kabbalah, or be 12 you know, mythical Bala Denis Soca element hydroxy Kabbalah and those are better absorbed, they’re more expensive, but they’re better absorbed. And especially if you’re an athlete, you are using the heck out of some be 12 in particular, and it’s a water soluble vitamins. So I’m a huge proponent of a good quality supplemental regimen. And then you know, if you don’t Know what to choose, you know, contact us, we’re happy to help or just choose something, again, that’s either informed choice certified or NSF certified, that’s got some third party testing behind it. You can also get prescription strength multivitamins. Again, they may not be the most high quality like dissolving. But you know, be discerning about that. Nothing can replace a good quality diet. There’s no doubt about that. But I think supplements definitely have a place in a good diet, too.

Suburban Folk 59:30
Okay. And I would also second consulting somebody like yourself, because I think that is another area where it can get very confusing as far as what’s on the label and what it’s actually doing for you, if anything.

Unknown Speaker 59:43
Exactly,

Suburban Folk 59:44
yeah. That’s most of the questions that I had prepared. Is there anything we missed? I will say that you’re exactly right. It really is kind of personal when you get into that you subscribe to choices that you make. So anything that has come to mind that we didn’t talk about

Unknown Speaker 1:00:01
I think main things to walk away with here is choosing good quality Whole Foods in a variety as best as you can. Eating regularly throughout the day. Making sure you’re getting those good quality proteins your fruits and vegetables and hydrating I know we didn’t talk a whole lot about hydration but make sure you’re getting in addition to your coffee getting some good quality, you know water and things like that. monitoring your urine color. Hopefully we have a good bowel movement at least once a day that’s a fantastic thing for our health to go get out and sweat because that’s another fantastic thing for our health. And if you have any challenges or you know you feel stuck, whether it be with am I eating the healthiest diet I possibly can or am I losing weight the one the way I want to lose weight or am I performing the best? Then consult a good quality Registered Dietitian nutritionist you know obviously shameless plug with with us but there are other really fantastic professional out there. And you know, we’re willing to help. That’s why we’re here.

Suburban Folk 1:01:04
Well hit us with that shameless plug. Can you give folks your social media contacts, your website and any other products that maybe you want to highlight?

Unknown Speaker 1:01:12
Yeah. So the endurance edge is the endurance edge com that’s th e and then endurance edge.com. The fueling edge which right now is only local to the Raleigh area it is the fueling edge. So again, th e and then fueling edge. com. We are on Instagram at the endurance edge. We’re on Instagram as at the fueling edge to I’m on Twitter at code at coach Chris underscore rd. And YouTube search us at the endurance edge also. I think that for the most part covers it. So in my email if you guys ever want to email me It’s Chris ch ri es at the endurance edge.com. So again, th e and then endurance edge com perfect.

Suburban Folk 1:01:58
And of course I’ll put all your contact information in the show notes once we get this published, Chris, I really appreciate it. This was awesome.

Unknown Speaker 1:02:05
Oh, thank you so much. It was a pleasure. All right, take care. All right, bye. Bye.

Suburban Folk 1:02:09
If you enjoyed this episode, please be sure to give us a rating on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get podcasts. If you’d like to be notified of future weekly shows, please hit the subscribe button. Thank you. Suburban Folk is part of the pod all the time Podcast Network with six other great podcasts. They include the creative intuitive, another digital citizen, random unnamed podcast, the coffin podcast, big IQ podcast, and real aka truth. If you check us out on Twitter, you can see links to their direct pages to see what they’re up to.

The information on this podcast has not been evaluated by the US Food and Drug Administration. The statements and products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. The information provided is intended to improve your health, fitness and performance. It is not a substitute for face to face consultation with your healthcare provider and should not be construed as medical advice. The entire contents of this podcast are based upon the opinions of our hosts and guests unless otherwise noted.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai