GHUTV LIVE! Healthy Snacking and Weight Loss

Well, hello everybody and welcome to our monthly Get Healthy U TV, Q and A. Hey Sam, how are you? Good. How are you? Well, usually I'm good and usually I'm sitting right next to you, but today I'm a little farther away. Huh? A little odd. This is, you know, I can see you, I can hear you but you're not close. It's 2024. So welcome in everybody. Sam is in our studios at Get Healthy U TV, in Minneapolis and I am in Scottsdale, Arizona in the Sunshine. So, um yes, we're in two different spots today, but all communicating really excited to be here today to talk about in particular healthy, eating healthy snacks. Um, you know, eating after age 50 that kind of thing. What happens as we're getting older? And so we're here for any questions. Sam is Johnny on the spot. She just will be taking your questions and um asking them, we have a few free asked questions and today we're actually because we're talking about healthy snacking. We're talking also about one of our best partners, nuts.com. So um get healthy U TV. We partner with nuts.com. We love them as a company, to be honest or to be, to tell you, I gave nuts.com as Christmas gifts this year to all of my, you know, um, family members that live out of state because I just feel like nuts are something universally that most people love. Uh, healthy snack, healthy fat. Keep you satiated. Now, of course, I don't give nuts to Sam because not Sam has a nut allergy. So of course, you have to be careful with that. But they are a really cool partner for us offering really healthy snacks. So we're excited about that. And um, also I should just mention right off the top, by the way, with nuts.com, we put together a healthy recipe guide that has a whole bunch of fun, healthy recipes with nuts and then, um, a whole bunch of our 10 minute workouts together and a calendar. I feel like the calendar is either seven or 14 days. I can't remember. We have so many. So just download it, you know, feel free any of you to download it if you, especially if you want those recipes. So, um, let's get talking Sam. What are so snacks, healthy eating? It's a huge topic again. I say this every time, but we could talk for more than an hour, but we're only spending an hour. So let's get started. Um And what do you got off the top, Sam? Um Yeah, so we had somebody pre ask a question. Um, and any questions go today, but we'll stick on the topic of snacks. Um Are there any fake sweeteners that are good for you? And then to go along with this question, the same um person asked about Stevia. So yeah, so, you know, in this world today it's so hard to know what's good and what's not good. Um So when it comes to artificial sweeteners, me personally I won't eat aspartame. I won't eat Su los, I won't eat any of those uh saccharin any of that stuff. So the yellow packets, the blue packets, the pink packets. No, thank you. Um I just personally I really don't feel well when I eat them and there is a lot of evidence based that they're chemically not great for you, blah, blah, blah. Now, Stevia is from a plant so it should be good for you. The problem is as typical food industry, take Stevia and then they add things to it and make chemicals. So there are some Stevia um at it, you know, sugars are in the grocery store like you'll see it says made from Stevia, but it's also got a ton of chemicals in it. So I think what you want to do is make sure you're just getting Stevia, look at the label. I guess that's what we have to do for everything and then, you know, make sure it's just a and, and then I'm a fan of Stevia. I'm also a fan of Monk Fruit. Now, Monk Fruit is like, I've seen a Monk Fruit. I can't really honestly remember what it looks like. It's some kind of a weird looking, I think it's a tree fruit. Um, but that's also from all the, the nutritionists that I follow a healthy sweetener, often it's all put together with a sweetener and I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna ruin. I, I've got to Google the name because I always say this sweetener wrong. I cannot pronounce it. It's like urethral. Do you know what I'm talking about? It's er yt hr Itol and it's an organic compound that also often is considered safe. So a lot of uh sweeteners will be Monk Fruit and urethral together. So, so this is a long winded answer to say Stevia and Monk Fruit and urethral. I typically am OK with in my food. I'm not a fan of the other sweeteners. Um And the thing I think that a lot of nutritionists talk about is like you don't want to overs sweeten all of your food because then your palate becomes very used to having things that are super sweet and you're constantly craving that sweet flavor. So, you know, I often when I'm baking, actually, I will like only add half of the sugar, whether I'm doing real sugar or Monk Fruit. I still will only add half. So it's not so sweet. Awesome. Um We have somebody asking I get hungry a few hours after dinner and she feels like she needs a snack. Can you recommend any snacks for later in the evening or before bed? That won't affect weight loss goals? Well, so here's the thing, it's all in a day's eating, right. Um, so it's not about what you ate, eat at 6 a.m. or 9 p.m. It's what you eat throughout the whole day. Your, your mix of calories, your mix of macros and what you put in your mouth throughout the whole day. So night time just traditionally is a time when people get into trouble because you're tired, you maybe are distressing, you're lounging and you might grab for things that are maybe not your most nutritionist nutritional snacks, but it doesn't matter exactly. You know, there's not like any magic to, you should eat nuts at 9 p.m. or whatever, but choose things that are healthy in the evening. So I think I have a sweet tooth naturally. So like yogurt for me is something that I would grab that would be a little. Um, and again, now with yogurt, you have to be careful because there are some that are full of added sugars and full of added sweeteners and full of all these other things. You have to. I usually just buy plain Greek yogurt and add a little um Stevia Monk fruit to it myself. Um, but that's to me, something that would satisfy my sweet tooth still give me protein in the evening. Um and a healthy fat. So that would keep me satiated. I, you know, we just mentioned nuts but nuts are always a good choice. They're just very clark. So don't overdo nuts, but they satiate you because of the healthy fats. So maybe just a handful of nuts along with like for me, I'm just kind of a pistachio freak and an almond freak. Um And so I'll mix them with some little dark chocolate chips and then that's super satisfying for me. Now, of course, because I'm a sweet tooth, but then you can also choose things like fruit in the evening. Um You know, or even if you allow yourself just one little something to snack on, but at the end of the day, it's not about what exactly you ate, it's what you eat over the whole course of the day. So if you don't want to ruin your weight loss, goals, plan out your day. And if you're like, I'm the kind of person that needs something at about 9 p.m. as my snack, then when you're planning out the whole day, make something available, some, you know, some of your caloric distribution or your macros available at that time. Um Going back to the question that we had before somebody's asking is Aulos butter or the same as urethral that you talked about earlier. Um She said many times. Monk fruit is mixed with Aulos it, it OK, Aulos. Uh I'm going to look it up. Allo uh is not the best of what I know is not great for you. Um, I believe I'm looking at it, I don't know enough about all loose because it's fairly new being added to fruit. But the one thing I had heard is it makes you below it. That was the one thing I've heard. I don't know enough about allo though. Um, but I'm looking at it right now and I'm gonna look it up and pay attention to it. I haven't seen it mixed with Monk Fruit. I see urethra more often. Um but I will uh check it out. She'll get back to us on that one. I'm, it says it tastes like sugar, looks like sugar, but I just don't know enough about where it's manufactured or what it's manufactured from. So we'll have to, I, the only thing I'd heard about it is that it causes bloating. So I don't know much more than that, which none of us like. Right. Um We have somebody asking my goal is to prepare snacks in advance to avoid unhealthy choices when she's at work or on the go. Um, but she often runs time like for meal prep. So what are some quick, easy or even snacks that you can prepare that are good to take on the go? Yeah, and Sam of course, if you have some ideas too, I'm going to call upon you. Um So again, I always go back to fruit. I always remind people, fruit is not evil. Fruit is natural sugar and natural sugar is different than added sugar. So natural sugar is combined along with fiber cellulose, like all these nutrients and anti oxidant. So there's so much benefit to it. You don't have to count the natural sugars and fruit in your sugar count for the day. The sugar count for the day. That's recommended 24 g or less is added sugar, sugar that is added to food to make it taste good or sweet. So fruit is always a great snack and you can pack like for me, I berries, blueberries, raspberries. Um I'm just a berry lover apple slices, grapes, bananas like it's so easy to take fruit with you. Um You can even put like a little bit of peanut butter, almond butter, something in a container where you can dip your fruit into it. I love carrots and peanut butter. I love celery and peanut butter. I love, you know, so like even just cutting up some raw veggies which are so healthy for you. Um snack packs of there are some healthy chips out there now. So a lot of times like I'll do a little baggie of like my favorite sweet potato chips and then I'll do a baggie of some fruit or I'll do a nut mix where I, I like p those which are raw some uh raw pumpkin seeds which have a ton of magnesium and I'll mix those with pistachios and some dark chocolate chips. And that's kind of a, a snack on the go for me, things that you can take with you. My husband is really into meat sticks. He loves meat sticks. I personally am not into those, but he loves them. And it's a good snack because there are some good brands. What it boils down to is the brand that you buy or the, you know, the type of food that you buy. So you have to for quality. Um, if you're picking up, you know, beef jerky at the gas station, probably not the best, uh the best brand, but there is a brand in my head. I'm just thinking of Chomps, which is in a lot of grocery stores and in whole foods that make really good meat sticks. So those are like a good snack on the goat string cheese comes individually packaged. So that's a good thing on the goat yogurt in a little cup. Um, that's prepackage in one single serving. I take those a lot of times on the go Greek yogurt. Um, do you have any and all I make protein shakes all the time in advance and I freeze them. I put them in my freezer and then I just take them out of the freezer, stick them in the thing in my car. Now in the summer they melt really fast. So you have to, you know, kind of plan when you're going to eat it in the winter, I can literally put a protein shake in my front seat of my car. Go do something for an hour or two, come back, it's still frozen. So it depends. But I love taking protein shakes on the, go to any ideas that you have. Sam. Um, you kinda covered a lot of my favorites. Um, you know, fruits and vegetables are also really easy to prepackage, you know, put them in a baggie, um, or just a nice container. I actually do like the chomps. Um, that's something that I do enjoy. Chris. Do you still do hard boiled eggs as like a snack? I know you used to but I do and you know what, I need to try the turkey chomps for some reason, the beef ones just like, weren't my favorite beef stick. And my husband and I, for some reason have been, we've been traveling a lot by car, so we need a lot of prepackage snacks and the chomps have been a hit at least for him. So I, I need to try the turkey back to hard boiled eggs. Yes. Love hard boiled eggs. And you know what I make my own because I have purchased the hard boiled eggs at Costco and at other places and when in a pinch, yes, I get it, you can buy organic eggs that are pretty hard boiled, but they just are not as tasty as when you do your own and it's so easy to make hard boiled eggs. I literally just, you have to. Well, this is what my mother taught me but you prick them with a pin like when, um, just to get a little air going through it, like when you boil them, so they don't explode and I'll just boil them for like 10 minutes. Take them out, out of the water then and they always seem to be fine. They peel fine for me. I never have a problem. Um And that's such a good snack on the go protein. Um Easy, easy to take with you like like you said, in a baggy little container. Um So we have somebody asking um what is good to satisfy salty cravings? I'm not so much a salty person. I'm definitely a sweet. So are, are you are not a salty person? Is that what you're saying? Well, I'm not, but somebody's asking like if they have salt cravings, what is something? And yeah, you and I are more of a, a sweet tooth but I have friends who are like, I'm savory, I'm the savory person. I'm always like chips and pretzels and stuff. So salt in general, they, you know, often say people who have high sodium issues. It's not the salt that you're shaking out of the salt shaker. That's the problem. It's the added salt sodium in processed food. So again, if you're going for 2400 mg of salt a day. That's kind of the recommended that or underneath. Um look at the processed food that you're eating and look at the amount of milligrams like I'll, it always kills me on a can of soup where you'll see one serving is 2000 mg of sodium. You're like holy bananas. That's a lot of sodium. So you know, you don't have to feel like salting your food. Like if you're trying to satisfy your salt. Craving is really the problem. They say Roxy. No, I'm sorry, my dog is here. This is the way real life. Um but you don't have to worry much about salt in your food. So if you're craving salt, put a little salt on something like cottage cheese is a really good dairy snack and um it's high protein and you can put a little like mixed salt or different flavor salts in there. You can salt. Um I mean, I know some people who do like a sourdough bread because sour dough is better for you and put a little bit of butter on it with a little bit of salt and that's going to give you. So the salt from the salt shaker is not the problem. It's the added sodium. Um So, you know, if you're trying to or, and if you're a savory person too, picking maybe some healthier chips or crackers where you could do one serving. That's the other problem. And I'm a cult too where we get into trouble is we don't just have one serving. We have more than one serving. We have the whole bag. Um Speaking of like, you know, getting or getting more salt into your body. Um Somebody's asking, do you use electrolytes after each workout? I don't personally use them after a workout. I use them during my workout and before my workout because I just feel like I need them for fuel. But using electrolytes any time of day, if you think you are dehydrated or lacking in electrolytes, you can use it anytime you want. But I typically use my electrolytes kind of free. And during my workout to feel my workout, I just feel like it gives me instant um energy part of that could be, you know, placebo in my mind. But I do feel like when I use an electrolyte, I, I have more energy when I exercise. How about you, Sam? When do you do electrolytes? Um I do mine before and then after um typically I don't have, I, I work out in the morning so it's a lot easier for me to like put it in my water. The workout starts. I start drinking it, you know, somewhere around halfway through the workout and then I just finish it afterwards. So, yeah. Um What's your favorite electrolyte? Chris? Well, you and I talked a lot about that. So we've tried them all. I've been really taste testing a lot of different ones. I love the noon tablets which look like an Alka Seltzer. Um, I love them because they are, they're kind of just really lightly flavored. They're not an intense flavor. I don't love something super intense when I'm working out. Um, and I kind of over water. It, if you will like it says, mixed with eight ounces of water and I mix with, you know, 24 ounces of water. So it's definitely diluted and I like those a lot. But we've been experimenting, I've been trying something called perfect protein or perfect aminos and I do like the flavor of that one. That one's been good. That's a powder that you add. You. And I have tried element. Um I like element. The one thing I would say about element LMNT is it's super salty like high amount of sodium and sodium in them. And if you are exercising a lot or you're exercising in the heat, um It's no problem to get extra sodium, you probably need it. However it is so salty in flavor, you have to enjoy that taste. Um And I like the element. Uh It's not my go to, I'll go for the noon tablets. My husband loves the element. Um Sam, do you have any others that you use? Um I'm blanking on one of the names um that I've tried, I've tried the element. I'm the same with you. I, if I am doing that one, I mix like half the packet that's as much as I can do because it does have a lot in it. Um I'm trying to think of the other one that I've done before, but it's escaping my brain. So there's another and we, we actually, we taste tested a lot of them. We've got an article about it, a blog about it, Sam if you can put the link in. Um We just listed a whole bunch of electrolytes that are the most popular, highest rated on Amazon. And then we tested, tested them. Um And I would say, oh liquid IV, people talk about liquid IV all the time. That's not necessarily my favorite. And I know they make a sugar free one. Now it used to have a lot of added sugar. Um But I'm not a fan of that. The element would probably be my second one. But to your point, I have to do a half packet because it's so salty. Yeah, it's, it's a lot and I, you know, me, I'm a sweater. So like some people might say, oh you do need to replace a lot of the salt that you're losing because I do, I sweat a lot. Um But I just, it's too much. It's the taste for me. So um I would say my favorite I think is their watermelon if I had to choose. So, me too. Me too. The watermelon. I like it. That's the one that I can handle the most. I'm trying to think of the flavor I have right now. Um It's a berry flavor and I do like it, but I just gravitate back to either the new tablet, which is what I use today or half a packet of element. And then I just linked that Electrolyte blog on Facebook. So we'll get it up on all channels if you're watching elsewhere. Um You talk a lot about healthy chips. Um People are wondering the brand names for the healthy chips that you're talking about. Ok. I'm kind of, um, like very particular and so I don't like seed oils. I have learned a lot about seed oils from a lot of nutritionists that I follow online, Doctor Hyman in particular, um, and others. And they talk about how seed oils in today have become so over processed sunflower seeds, sunflower seed, canola oil, vegetable oil, not good for you. Um And so that is what I believe. Now I have seen, um, you know how people get in fights on social media and I've seen some people come and say, oh, all you nutritionists, you don't know what you're talking about. Seed oils are fine. I don't think they are from the research I've done and from what I've listened, I believe what they're saying. So I really do avoid sunflower, Sapp, flower, canola and vegetable. And let me tell you, it is hard to find chips because even some of the most healthy Angie's boom, chicken pop. I'll use that as an example. I love their popcorn. I always have, they use sunflower oil and they say they use organic and they, I think on their website, they talk about how, why they use it, but it is possible not to use it. So I kind of go for coconut oil or avocado oil. Those are the two oils I'm looking for in a chip or a cracker. So to answer your question, the brands sweet potato chips. There is a brand called Jackson's. Jackson's is at least in Minnesota. It's in Luns, it's in sprouts and fresh thyme, it's in Whole Foods. Um I've seen it in a lot. It's in Costco. It's been in Costco on and off and they use avocado oil or coconut oil. They have two different types of sweet potatoes. I like the avocado oil for those. So Jackson's sweet potato. Uh I like whole foods now makes their own popcorn that is organic with avocado oil. I love it. Um There is a brand called um Lesser evil. Lesser evil uses coconut oil for almost all their popcorns chips. Everything love. Lesser evil siete is a brand of chip that I love. They make all different kinds of um of chips with cassava flour and then avocado oil. But they just started making corn chips because everybody loves a true tortilla chip to put in like guacamole. Um and they just started making true tortilla chips with avocado oil. So I'm, I'm a stickler about it. Like I will go out of my way to go to the store that has these kinds of chips without the seed oil because I love chips like we eat chips. But I try to avoid seed oils. I am with you. Those are some of my favorite ones. And um Siete. Do you know, do you know any? I'm Simple mills too. I'm gonna say Simple Mills. They have a lot of good crackers and stuff. But I'm sorry, what were you gonna say? Siete? Yeah. Siete is my favorite. And like across the board, they also have, you know, the cassava flour tortillas too. If you're somebody that likes tacos with a tortilla, um I always make a taco salad but my fiance likes to, he likes the bread. Um, and siete has their own um tortillas too. So, um fun fact, if you're interested, siete this podcast guy Raz is his name. He's from N Pr and he has a podcast called How I Built This. And he has probably 400 episodes. So there's a lot of episodes, but he, he basically interviews business owners and how they built it. And the stories are always unbelievably interesting, at least to me. So we listen to these podcasts on road trips, but he interviewed the Siete, the Garcia family. I think their name is the Garcia and there's seven of them. Hence the name Siete. And they talk about how they created this whole gluten free and this whole line of healthy tortillas because one of their family members couldn't eat flour, uh was, you know, had a problem with gluten. So it's just really interesting to II, I really love the brand. Um We have somebody asking what is something that we can use for like bloating b loading. So I don't know about what to use per se to get rid of bloating. And you might have some ideas, Sam, but uh stop eating the foods that are causing the bloating reasons why you're getting bloated are the type of food you're eating or your gut health. Like if your gut is unhealthy and unable to process it properly. Now, of course, every so often bloating will happen from um going out or I don't know something, but on a regular basis, if you can avoid um anything that is causing and you have to start paying attention, like maybe you have to journal, what is it that what foods are causing you to bloat and, and why you feel that way? But gut health is really a big thing. So get the right bacteria into your gut to get your probiotics and your prebiotics get healthy, fermented foods, eat fruits and vegetables, eat, eat lots of fiber that help to sweep it out and keep you from bloating. I don't have a blo problem. Sam. Do you, do you know any tips on bloating? Um, well, you covered a lot of the ones that I use. Um, I have a probiotic that I take every single morning. Um, and then right after that I take my A G one. So that helps me personally with bloating. Um, and it starts out my day really well. And then I had to kind of figure out my gut and I'm dairy free, like, gluten free. And those two things, like, are not good for my stomach. So I've just taken them out and then, um, you don't bloat with like vegetables. But I know like I can have 4 to 6 pieces of broccoli, anything over that. It's unwell for my stomach. So you definitely do. It's a process of elimination bringing it back in. Um, but I would say my probiotics every single morning and a G one after that like sets me up for success. So gut health is huge. A G one is a, you know, I also think, you know, you and I talk about a G one all the time and I'm an affiliate for a G one so we can give you guys the link. But a G one kind of changed my gut several years ago. Um Sam was the one that got me into it and just recently we've even had a friend who's had a horrible gut problems and she said, I'm gonna try your A G one finally. And I said, OK, you know, just start with maybe half a scoop, see how it works. And she has been like a poster child for what it can do to help your gut health. But bloating is 100% related to gut health and what you're eating. And yes, Sam, as you said, some people can't handle excessive vegetables and most people don't overeat vegetables. Most people don't sit down and eat a head of cauliflower. You know what I mean? So it's usually you're eating lesser amounts of it and you have to let your gut get used to it too. But those foods are going to help you in the long run, reduce bloating. Um Let's see going back to our electrolyte topic. Um somebody is asking if coconut water is a good electrolyte alternative. It's a natural electrolyte. So yeah, it is. I mean, and it's usually natural sugar again. You have to look at the label because sometimes you can buy coconut water that's just coconut water and other times you look at it and it's coconut water along with a whole bunch of weird other added things to it and sugar. So just make sure it's straight up coconut water. But yes, it is a great recovery drink for sure. Um Any tips on getting daily fiber amounts in each and every single day. Well, um yeah, fiber is a big deal. So fruits and vegetables. Number one. Can you hear um some noise in the background from me? You're good on my end. I um you know, here we are on this live event and why is it? I only have somebody trim my bushes once like every four months and they just showed up and they're trimming them right outside my door. That's Murphy's Law. Um, ok. So back to fiber um beans. And if you follow the blue zones, if any of you guys follow Dan Buettner who talks about the blue zones. Um The blue zones are the places in the world where the people live the longest and he studies their habits. He's been studying it for like 30 years. He's dedicated his life to this whole longevity thing in the blue zones. But one of the secrets of most of the blue zones, if not all of them is they eat a cup of beans a day. Any kind of beans is going to be beans and legumes full of fiber, fruits and vegetables full of fiber. Um you know, uh whole grains but whole grains are hard because again, you can get super processed like you think, oh, I'm eating whole wheat bread but it's just Uber processed and there's no fiber left in it. But whole grains, if you're picking a good whole grain, have a lot of fiber in them too. So you have to go back to eating real food to get in your system, you need to eat real food. Now there are fiber additive like supplements like Metamucil that you can take, and if you have some serious issues, maybe you need a fiber supplement. But if you change your diet to eat a lot of good produce, um, then you should be able to up that fiber intake. Um, I had a question. I just lost it. Um, going back to our A G one topic. Do you, do you have to take it right away in the morning? No, you don't have to take it right away. There's no magic again. It goes back to like nutrition is not, there's no magic and nutrition when people say don't eat from 6 p.m. till 7 a.m. And that's how you're going to lose weight. Like there's no magic to that. What, what the magic is in the number of calories you eat every day and the mix of calories, the quality and the quantity and how you distribute it throughout the day. Um, so when you take your vitamins doesn't really matter. Now, one of the things they do say is it's nice to take on an empty stomach because the absorbability. But one of the things I love about a G one anyway is that it is liquid. So it feels like it is absorbed faster. I don't love taking a whole lot of vitamin pills. I don't love that, that feeling. So that's why I love it. Um, I've just noticed for myself like when I take it first thing in the morning before I eat or drink. I just feel like I have a burst of energy. I just feel like it's good that way. But some people do drink it mid morning or mid afternoon, um, as a pick me up. So there's no magic to it. Absolutely. Um, do you have any recommendations for good snack combos with protein? So, something like hummus or veggies, maybe an apple and a cheese stick. Like what are some good combo snack repo recommendations with protein? Well, those two were just really good recommendations that you gave. Um but any kind of like take a protein and then take a carb or a fat with it and mix it. So what you just said like fruit with cheese, fruit with nut butter, um veggies with cheese or nut butter or hummus or guacamole, which is a healthy fat um and has potassium in it and so many good things. Avocado toast. So a good toast. That's a healthy whole grain with avocado on top. You can even Sprinkle a little salt and that's so delicious and satisfying. Add a tomato to the top of it. Um Cottage cheese is a lot of people love cottage cheese along with fruit in there or berries in there or some people just like it more savory. Um I love yogurt. I'm a Greek yogurt girl. So I love Greek yogurt with some berries in there and then I'll throw some nuts and seeds in there and get my um protein and my healthy fat and it just keeps me really satiated, healthy fats make you feel fuller longer if all you do is eat like processed food and sugars. I used to, you know, back in the eighties and nineties when it was like, don't eat fat, don't eat fat. So I went, you know, in college, my girlfriends, we all were like, don't eat fat. That was the messaging that was out there and we would sit there and eat all these crazy stupid carbs and then we were always hungry. We were never satisfied because it was just like you want more, you want more. When I started eating healthy fats, I was like, I am so satisfied. I don't think about food as much because I'm satisfied. So make sure when you, you know, add some protein along with a healthy fat or carb and those make for really good snacks. Um, we have someone, um, she says off topic but definitely not off topic. She's lost £25 since, um, joining get healthy. You, um, in September she does her workouts every single day. She loves the variety. Her question is, this month has been slower in weight loss and she was wondering how long you go before you maybe change up your food or the exercise intensity. Well, that's a really good question because first of all £25 like that's amazing. Congratulations. Um, so to me that's pretty fast to lose £25 from, you know, only 68 months. That's a lot of weight. Um, again, we don't know how much weight you have to lose. It depends on, do you have another 10 to go or do you have another 50 to go? That makes a difference too. How fast that weight is gonna come off. But just be patient. How do you know when to change it up? Um, you know, typically they'll say, you know, when you talk to like a nutritionist, they'll say change up your diet every like 8 to 12 weeks. If it isn't, you're not seeing changes. However, you also, there's no linear line for fat loss. So you have to trust the process too and say if I know I'm eating healthy and I know I'm burning calories at a good rate, I'm just gonna keep going and it, it, it'll, it'll ebb and slow. So, um, your, your weight loss, it, it's, you can't just say, oh, I want to lose £2 a week every week and that's not gonna happen. There could be months where you don't lose any and then the next month you lose five. You know, you just, it's hard to know. Now with intensity of exercise, I would say you don't have to be on this continuum of like, always trying to do more, do more, do more. I mean, that can often burn people out because you feel like it's never good enough you have to find a place where you're like, this is really a good level of exercise for me. But if you were a beginner and you're like, well, I've kind of mastered the beginner stuff. Do take it up a notch. I mean, see where you can handle your heart rate going or maybe you can go little higher with your weights or maybe a longer workout. Instead of doing 20 minutes, you're doing more like 40 minutes. Um, so take it up a notch, add variety into your workout. So you, uh, most of it is just, don't get bored, don't get bored. So you don't quit. But everybody is different. And I would say, um, just kind of in my own personal life, my husband has lost about, I think he's like, at £23 in the last two years, not in the last six months, two years. So he's been on this health kick for like two years and he's pretty moderate. Like, he's not like he hasn't decided that he's not going to, you know, I'm never gonna eat this or I'm never gonna do that, but he's just stayed really steady. And I will say for the last like, six months, he's been like, I'm not losing any weight, I'm not losing any weight and it's just been a little frustrating to him and I'm like, keep going, keep going to stay with your habits. It's good for, you know, aging. It's good for this. It's good for that. And all of a sudden he's just dropped like another £5 out of the blue and he, he didn't do anything different. It just took that time to get there. So, um, just keep going. Um, that's really, really exciting. Absolutely. Um, on to the topic of probiotics since we talked a little bit about of it. Um, what brand of probiotics would you recommend? Do you have any that you like? There's so many out there. I mean, I personally use a G one so a G one has pre and probiotic in it and that's what I use as a probiotic, pre and probiotic. Sam. Do you use something separate from a one? I use the Thorne brand. Thorne. Um I just like their products for those of you who don't know, they're FNSF sport certified. So when my siblings both played, um, hockey, they had to be super, you know, looking into the labels and what they're taking and athletes, some of their products, not all of them. Um, they passed that test. So, uh we've just kind of always taken it as a family and I use their, they have pre and probiotics. I just do their probiotics. Yeah. Ok. And I love Thorn too. They are good brands, Thorn Metagenics. Um We can give a link to the Thorn Probiotic on Amazon because I do love the Thorn brand also. I think, you know, you have to just decide which one works for you. Um Because again, this is going back to gut health. So everybody's gut reacts a little different. And what you're trying to do is get the right gut flora and just so that you feel better and your gut operates um better. I don't take an additional probiotic besides the A G one. Yeah. Um We have somebody asking in County and Macros. Yay or nay. So I love the whole macro idea and it depends on where you are in the continuum of your health. So, counting calories. OK. So let's back up calories and calories out at the end of the day. If you want to lose weight, you got to deficit calories. So you have to burn off more calories than you take in. That's really oversimplified because there are some other factors that play into it. But that's kind of like the overall picture. You can't eat too much and expect to lose weight. That being said, the quality of the food is even more important. So what you put in your mouth matters if all you eat is processed sugary food, even if you're keeping your calories down, you're not going to feel good, you're not going to look good. Your cells are not going to be healthy, your gut's not going to be healthy. So it boils down to, it's like just a bigger picture. So macros is a way for you to really figure out if you're getting a good mix of nutrients. So, if you're saying to yourself, ok, I want to eat 1600 calories a day or 1800 or 2000 calories a day. And if I'm going to eat 2000 calories a day and I want 50% of them to come from, um, carbs, then I know that I have 1000 calories of carbs that I get to eat. Then you divide that by the number of grams per calorie and you decide, ok, I'm going to eat 250 g of carbohydrates today or whatever. So it's a way to make sure that you're splitting your food properly throughout, you know, throughout the day. So if you want a mix of 25% protein and 25% fat and 50% carbs, then you're just kind of making sure that you get that mix. And the whole idea behind macros is if you are eating a good mix of carbs fats and proteins, you should in realistically be healthy. I mean, you should be getting enough nutrients. Now, that being said food has just changed so much in the last few decades. I take a G one because yes, I'm getting, you know, b vitamins and um, you know, all the, all the things from food, but sometimes it's lacking like vitamin D, you know, we find out in Minnesota that people in Minnesota don't get enough sun, go figure. So, uh I take a vitamin D supplement throughout the year. Um, I'll take, you know, I, I just like that. The A G one has all the vitamins and minerals in there. Um, as kind of an insurance policy, but eating a good mix of food. So, should you count macros? It's just another way of looking at your food intake for the day. So instead of just counting calories, you're counting macros. I think it's a smarter way to make sure that you're getting a good mix of food. It's also kind of interesting. My husband, when he started on this weight loss journey, he wanted to eat more protein. And so we were kind of looking at his day. He was tracking on my fitness pal and he'd be like, God, I, I really don't get enough protein. And so we started talking about how we could do. So, so macros can be really, really helpful for that. And I just want to mention micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals that are in the macros. There's no reason to count your micros. I think it would be nearly impossible to know how much bak whatever that you're getting. If you're eating a good mix of macronutrients, you should be getting a nice mix of micros. But like I said, I take an extra supplement, the A G one just as an insurance policy. Um You talked a alongside with the macros. If you're trying to do a calorie deficit. What? And I it'll definitely make a difference if you're trying to maintain or lose weight. Um, but about what's like the percentage of the calorie deficit that's needed. Again, it depends on how, you know, how your body reacts to weight loss. But I'm just a believer if you, and they say, you know, I'm not a registered dietitian, but it is known in the industry that if you over cut your calories, if you eat too little, it can also mess with your metabolism. So I am never a fan of oh, really deficit. Those calories. You only eat 1000 calories a day because that's not healthy in the long run. And in the long run, we don't want to, at least in my opinion, we don't want to be skinny, we want to be strong. I'm not trying to get, um, you know, thin, I want to be strong. And so, um, so back to the question of how many calories you need a day. It's going to be individual. It depends on your height, your weight. Like some people need more calories than others. If you're a tiny person, you're 5 ft tall versus somebody who's 6 ft tall. Your caloric intake is going to be different. I would say for a lot of women, the number of 1416 100 comes up when they are trying to lose weight and trying to uh deficit calories. But again, so here's how you can think about weight loss. So again, an oversimplified, but this is a math equation that can kind of help you. So take, you have to deficit about 3500 calories to lose a pound of weight. So if you want to lose, and again, this is not gonna be perfect because like I said, your body doesn't lose weight on a special line. But if you wanted to theoretically lose a pound of weight, um a week, that's 3500 calories a week. You need to deficit. If you divide that by seven days, that would be deficit. 500 calories a day. So, how could you deficit 500 calories a day? Well, you could eat about 250 calories less, which isn't that hard and then you could exercise a little more, take an extra walk, burn off another 250 calories. Now, you got a 500 calorie deficit per day, which theoretically would give you approximately a pound a week. But we all know the bodies don't do exactly what we want to do. So, your weight loss is going to fluctuate a little bit. But that's one way of thinking of, of it. Does that make sense? Yes. And then to con con continue on that, um, we have a lot of women wondering how much protein does a woman need? Is it based on age weight? What is it based off of? So, it's based off of weight and activity level? But as a rule of thumb, you can say that about a half a pound to a pound of protein per half a gram to a gram of protein per pound of body weight is the recommended amount. So if you are super active, if you are an athlete and you are really, you know, trying to put on muscle and you're, or you're somebody who, you know, I look at like college athletes who compete at a high level, they're gonna eat probably a gram to two, 2 g of protein per pound of body weight based on their activity level. But for the average female half a gram to a gram per pound of body weight. So if you weigh 100 and £40 you're trying to get in somewhere between 70 to 100 and 40 g a day. Me personally, I go for around 100 g a day. So a little more than that half gram, but I'm just trying to get about 100 g a day just to support muscle. Um and also, you know, support bodily functions and just feel good. Um Awesome. Let's see here. We had somebody at the very beginning that we kind of skipped over her question. So I'm jumping back to it. Um She has high cortisol, what are the best workouts to get fit and lose weight but not raise or spark spike. Um Her cortisol level, she's 55. Um sometimes experiences mild nausea while working out. Um, before and after. Oh, I don't know if I can honestly answer that because the nausea with the workouts, I think you, you definitely wanna talk to your doctor about that. Um, you know, high cortisol. So the, the thing with cortisol is, it's a stress hormone. Yes. Um, it's released in your body. It's also tied to insulin and so many other bodily functions. Um, and high, high intensity exercise could potentially increase that. But also if you are somebody who's highly stressed exercise, hopefully will reduce your cortisol levels. Um It's, I, I can't really tell you exactly what to do without. I, I would think you really need to talk to your doctor and then the nausea when you're exercising. So then again, the question is, are you doing high intensity exercise? Are you getting nauseous just from a walk or are you getting nauseous from super high intensity? Are you pushing it too much? I think there's a lot of variables there that I don't know if I could honestly answer. Um But what I would say is that exercise in general should help to reduce cortisol levels. Um Over time, it also helps to maintain insulin um levels and, and regulate insulin. So that's good for us as we're aging and at age 55 probably all the way through menopause. So your hormones are dipping or have dipped a lot. Um And without knowing whether you take hormone replacement, whether your hormones are low. You know, I would just consult your doctor about the nausea during exercise because you'd kind of want to get to the root of that. Do you need electrolytes? Um, what is causing nausea and nausea? And like, that's a whole another subject. Sam. I don't know if you have any subjects or any thoughts on that. You're the expert on that one. Um, well, that is a little past my ability to, you know, again and sometimes you guys, when you ask questions, like we don't, I don't know, you, so, I don't know how much weight you have to lose. I don't know what kind of exercise you're doing. I don't know anything about your hormone makeup and so that can be hard to say what to do, but in general exercise should help reduce cholest, uh, cortisol and help to regulate insulin. Awesome. Um, we have a, a member asking for those who can't afford, you know, supplements such as a G one or some other ones we've talked about. Are there natural ways to get pregnant and to also get your probiotics in natural ways to get pregnant? Yep. I'm reading it right off the, we all know how you get pregnant. I was like, but she said natural ways to get pregnant and get probiotics. So you're probably looking for just having a very healthy nutrition profile. If you're looking to get pregnant, like, maybe you're trying to get pregnant right. Now and you know, nutrition does, you know, is good. But again, how you get pregnant, like, again that again, you're gonna have to go to your doctor because sometimes fertility and that can be a really big subject, um, that I can't touch however, how to get vitamins in without having to pay for supplements. Eating a really good mix of macro nutrients getting in, you know, beans and legumes and vegetables and fruits and whole grains and meat. If you're not a vegetarian, if you're a vegetarian, there are lots of other ways to get protein in. But if you do eat meat, animal proteins are the perfect amino acid profile. They have the essential amino acids. So getting in animal proteins and again, like I said, I rely on food, food first, like eat healthy, popping a vitamin pill and then eating like crap really isn't going to cover it for you. So you've got to eat healthy. And so work on that in terms of a probiotic. Um there are lesser costing ones and it doesn't necessarily mean lesser quality. So I am a believer in like go on Amazon and look at the reviews because if you see people say, you know, I feel really good from this probiotic. Again, they're strangers reviews. But I, I am I read reviews because I think people take the time to write a review, are passionate about either liking it or not liking it. And I want to know what they have to say. Um But there are more cost of, you don't have to spend the money on a G one. You need to definitely figure ways to eat healthier. And if you're looking, you know, fruits and vegetables, like in the summertime, are, is there a way for you to join a CS A where you can get, you know, fruits and vegetables um from some community related program where they're going to be cheaper or do you have any grocery store where you can shop, produce at a lesser um at a lesser price? So you just have to kind of seek that out, but you don't have to take a supplement. If you are eating healthy, it's up to you. Uh She just responded to us and said it, Miss type slash auto corrected. So she was asking pre and probiotic and not pregnant. So we're all good there. We're all good. Yeah, then eat oh and fermented food. Ok. If you're not trying to get pregnant, fermented food. So fermented foods are natural gut health and fermented foods are things like sauerkraut. Kimchi kombucha. Um you know, a lot and pickled is not like pickles are not fermented. People are like, I'm eating pickles, it's like nope, that's not fermented food. But fermented foods have kind of been engineered out of the American diet. But in the Asian diet and so forth, they eat a lot of ethnic foods involve fermented food because it's very healthy for you. Um Awesome. So we have two people. Um, they said they're being nosy but they have asked um, how a wedding plan is going for me. So I'll just tell you really quickly. It's super fun, super easy. Um I'm a planner so everyone keeps asking me, um, you know, how's it going? And I feel like I should have a different answer but um it's just been a slow, easy process. So I thought there's more people jumping in and I'm not ignoring the question, but I'm having Chris answer some of our other questions. So easy fun. I can't complain and we're almost there. So Sam is a planner. She's a very organized person. So I try, um, we do have somebody asking when her daughter eats vegetables. Um She gets constipated. Anything you can recommend to help constipated. It usually is the other issue. Um So that would be a gut related issue. Something in the gut is not working. Um Maybe a fiber supplement would help, you know, again, go to your go to your, she said her daughter, right? So go to your and talk to them about sometimes just adding a fiber supplement in for a child would help get the bowels going, but some reason she's staying backed up. And so I would definitely, I mean, a little kid is not going to like apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar often will help kind of get the bowels moving. Um But there's no way you're going to talk a 10 year old into apple cider vinegar. There are though some, she could take a pre and probiotic. You know, you could definitely get your daughter on a pre pre probiotic that might be helpful because typically vegetables have a lot of fiber in them and do cause you to improve your bowels. But I would check out fiber supplements and probiotic. I would also say maybe, I mean, unless it's happening with all vegetables, you know, maybe try and see which vegetables because like I'm good with, you know, carrots, like peppers, all those things. But there are a couple. Um, and Chris, you and I have talked about it, the cruciferous ones that they don't necessarily like back me up, but they make me bloated. Um And so I definitely, you know, choose which vegetables maybe make her feel better or don't back her up necessarily. So that's totally true because some people cannot digest cruciferous vegetables. Well, things like broccoli, cauliflower brussels sprouts, that kind of thing. And so the good news is, there's a plethora of veggies out there. There's so many different veggies to try. So try different veggies, try different fruits. Good idea. Um, good foods to eat in the morning before a workout for best results. Um She has some suggestions, uh, eggs and bananas. Like, what are your thoughts on, um, foods to eat before a workout? It depends on what time you're working out. So, Sam and I are both early morning workout people. Um And so I don't eat before my workout because I just, that would upset my stomach. So I like to have and when I say I don't eat, I eat like a half banana. I often, I always say a half people go. Why do you say a half? Because sometimes bananas are huge. Like I don't need the whole banana. I'll just literally cut it in half and I will eat a half banana with my cup of coffee before I work out. And then I do an electrolyte and I have energy throughout the workout and then I eat breakfast after my workout. But let's just say you're getting up early eating an early breakfast and then going to work out. I, I don't like to eat like an hour before my workout. So a banana. Yes. But food like eggs. No, for me. Um So if you do have time to digest it, eggs are a great um option. Any kind of, you know, oatmeal is a good uh If it's a healthy oatmeal, there's so many bad oatmeal. So you have to be careful and make sure you're getting like gluten free or good good oats. Um But oatmeal kinda helps give you energy and stick to it. A protein shake. If you want a little extra protein along with berry or whatever else you put in the protein shake that could be a really good choice, but it also depends on your palate. Like I would go for a protein shake. My husband would go for cottage cheese like he likes that savory type of thing or eggs. So, it depends on if you're more of that person and then if you're, you know, someone like Sam who's dairy free, you're not going to eat any of that. Um, so obviously you can eat eggs, but can you eat eggs, Sam? Um, in small doses, I used to be able to, I loved them. Um, so I've just kind of figured out like what I can have. Um, but I would not reach for that before I work out. I'm, I'm a no eating beforehand or if anything, I'm like crust just like half a banana, but nothing over that again. It's, it's just really early for us. So, yeah, when you're working out at five in the morning, eating breakfast before is not gonna happen. It just like, doesn't even sound good, right? But, uh, you know, you wanna mix in for breakfast, you want protein in your breakfast, you want protein in your breakfast and you want to divide protein up through all your meals throughout the day. That's the only way you're gonna really get to the right number, right? And so protein and healthy fats keep you satiated. So, you know, make sure that you're adding some sort of protein into that breakfast. I mean, we all know, breakfast cereal, which was like, that's what I ate growing up, but that's what I fed my kids is really just a bowl of sugar. Um, in hindsight, I'm like, oh, why is that what I gave them before they went to school. Um, but, you know, the more, you know, the better you do. Right. Absolutely. Um, we have somebody asking do either of you make overnight oats. Uh, she does not and she's curious how it, how to do it and how it works. I personally go in spurts with overnight oats. I love them because I, a lot of people don't like them because of the texture. I love them. I love, I love everything about them. Um, we have some really great recipes on get healthy. You, um, we could share with the overnight oats. Um, I, you know, really, pretty much all you're doing is you're putting oats along with, I usually put some chia seeds in there too. A little of a nut milk. I like almond milk or, um, you know, some people don't like, I don't know, Sam. Do you do oat milk or? No, I do oat milk. Oat milk. Yeah, because she doesn't eat nuts. So, like a little bit of milk in there. And then you can put berries in there and you, you can follow a recipe. There's some really fun recipes but you also can just do whatever you want. Um, it's just the consistency of not adding too much liquid, um, because people think they need, you know, a lot and it, it gets all like it all soaks in, especially the chia seeds and the, um, and the overnight oats and the oats themselves. But it's a great breakfast and personally I love it. I was actually just thinking the other day because I eat the same thing over and over and I'm like, I need to add those back, back in. I'm totally like you and I go in spurts. Do you, do you put protein powder in yours? Um I have added protein powder like after they're done, you know, where you put a scoop in like when it's the morning time and I'm going to eat them, then I'll add it like a scoop. I'll sometimes add some protein powder to my uh yogurt also gets a little thick. You have to pick the right protein powder. So it's not all weird. Um, but I was gonna say, um, you know about overnight oats. I, I make these muffins. So I'm like addict. I love like a muffin, but most muffins are horrible for you. Any kind of pastry is usually not good for you. So this is on get healthy. You, we have a recipe. I put the recipe on there because so many people were asking me for this recipe. It originally came from one of my friends and we got it off the internet and then we made it our own. We uh changed it to oat flour from almond flour because we have some people in our lives that can't eat nuts and oat flour is different than almond flower. So we figured out how to make them moist enough because almond flour is more moist and they're just delicious. So, really, all they are is oats and oat flour. And I throw a little flax and Chia in there. I'll just, I don't even measure it. I just put like, you know, a quarter, quarter cup and it's some Monk fruit and some baking powder and, and it's some eggs and bananas. You mix it up. I put Popeo in there or I'll put blueberries or whatever and it is so satisfying to me to have a muffin. That's a great thing that I love for breakfast too. I just dropped that. Um It's called healthy o flower banana muffins in the comments so you guys can check that out. Um And then Christina is asking, do you make the overnight oats in mason jars? Um Yeah, I have these little jars that I've collected over time. So that's how I've done it. But you can get like on Amazon again. Here. I am talking about Amazon. You can get all kinds of like cheaper little containers. I suggest glass as you know, plastic is not, you know, plastic leaches into your food. So I've tried to actually get rid of all my most of my plastic containers and use, um, glass. I'm the same way and I think it just depends on what works best for you. Some people do just in like, you know, a square container. Some people like the scooping out of it totally depends on what you have in your kitchen. Honestly, it doesn't have to be that hard. So, um, we have some members saying that they made the oat muffins yesterday and that her and her husband love them. So I make them, my kids are obsessed with them. They love them. They're like every time they come, I do a double batch, I always have them. I'll do sometimes with the banana sometimes with the pumpkin because I'm a pumpkin girl. Um and I put different things in them and they have literally become like a standby in my family. They're always like assume that I made muffins and I freeze them. I freeze them too. Oh, you freeze them? I've never done that. I freeze them when I do a double batch because you know, and then I'll just take them out of the freezer and everybody loves them. Um Probably our last question before we get into um before we're done. Um But what do you think about the plastic um stash bags? I don't know if they're, they're not plastic, are they, they're not plastic, they're silicone. I'm pretty sure I love stash bags actually. They're on sale. So it, you guys, it is the big spring sale for Amazon. Just so everybody knows right now. And um it's kind of like prime days in the spring. So Sam and I have been combing all the lists, all the things that we have. We as, as an Amazon influencer. I get all the information in advance to what's going to be on sale. So if you are interested in shopping, the sale, it goes for five days. So there's 44 more days including today. Um go to our Instagram. We are publishing everything there in our Amazon store front stash your bags are on sale. Sam, I just saw it. Um And so I was gonna put that on our Instagram story. There are some really good deals. I love stash your bags. I try not to use baggies as much. And so they're my go to and um I am like 99.9% sure they're like a seller come. I think you're right. They are definitely not plastic. So I think that's why people are kind of switching to the dasher bags and they've become so popular. I even use the little baby ones for like um travel like put your vitamin uh you know, like vitamin D I carry with me or if you have like a mag, I take a magnesium pill at night for sleep. I just I I love them. You can put jewelry in them. I put on random things and them not just food. So I'm right there with you. Um We are at the top of the hour, Chris, so that hour flew by, he always goes so fast. Anybody who joined us? Thank you so much. We have so many Q and A's on Get Healthy U tv.com that you can go back and watch. Um Every month we kind of pick a different topic and Sam is really good at like surveying the group. We always want to talk about what you guys want to talk about when I say group, I mean the Facebook group. Um, thank you to nuts.com. You guys, we love nuts.com. This has been such a fun partnership for us because nuts are such a healthy snacking choice and I shouldn't just say snacking because you can bake with them, you can put them salads. I put them in all my salads. Um You can use them in your, you know, in your oatmeal. You can make trail mix. Everybody knows I make trail mix all the time. They make great gifts. So anyway, I mentioned it and yes, we keep them away from Sam. She doesn't eat nuts. They wanted them in studio today and I was like, and we're like, oh no, you cannot put those nuts near Sam. But um, yeah, and check out if you want those recipes. You guys make sure you sign up because there are some really yummy recipes. Um But that's it. So thanks to everybody for joining us. Um It's always good to chat with you. Um Sam, stay warm in Minnesota. Thanks. You. Stay warm in Arizona. I'm a little jealous today. I mean, I'm a tank off. It's not that bad and I'm over here in a turtleneck, right? Um Take care. Hey, you know, be paying attention. We have a bunch of new fun workouts dropping at, get healthy U TV. In the next few months, we just filmed a whole bunch of new premium content that really fun workouts coming. And of course, we have all the gold workouts and so, um, we'll just see you guys in the next workout. Huh?