Unlocking The Power of Holistic Nutrition

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John Salek: There are thousands of them, or at least there seems to be keto, paleo, Atkins, fasting, low carb, intuitive veganism, vegetarianism. The list goes on. Most of these diets are at least partially, if not wholly centered on losing weight. This shouldn't be surprising given our diet culture.

What's this? Well, it is the belief that a person's body, the way it looks, is more important than their physical, [00:01:00] psychological, and general wellbeing. This usually translates into a program diet or obsession with controlling what we eat usually by cutting back on the amount we eat. Calorie restriction, diet culture affects both men and women as they worry about getting the body they want, regardless of the consequences.

For those who promote this culture, it's big business. The weight loss industry sits at 150 billion in the US alone and 300 billion worldwide. Now, there is nothing wrong with losing weight, especially considering the challenges America faces. Harvard University, among others, reports that almost 70% of Americans are either overweight or obese.

This presents some serious chronic health challenges. Unfortunately, diets even well-meaning programs don't seem to be doing as much good. [00:02:00] Perhaps half of Americans are on some diet in any given year, but anywhere between 60 and 95% of diets fail to provide long-term weight loss. People stumble for all sorts of reasons.

Such as diets being too restrictive, or because sustained weight loss is dependent on never ending limitations, most weight loss programs also don't address the root causes of why someone gained weight in the first place. Besides this weight loss, why itself doesn't mean a person is necessarily healthier, just skinnier.

So what's the answer to aide Stressed out America. Many argue it is a holistic approach to wellness and nutrition that focuses on looking at a person's overall health and not just one element. In this case, their weight. This approach certainly includes weight loss as needed, but it aims to embrace a rounder approach to wellness that strives to put individuals on a manageable [00:03:00] path to weight loss management, and health.

Does it work? Is it easier than other programs? Can it lead to a sustained healthier life? Our upcoming guest is going to tackle these questions. Well, hey, we're carrying on with our topic on nutrition today. And we have a special guest who is Casey Weiss, and she is a holistic nutritionist among other things. And she does a lot of work with people, especially women in the US and around the world, helping them get their nutritional life back in order and in turn feeling better about themselves and just getting their wellness in hand. So I'd like to welcome Casey to the podcast. So Casey, welcome.

Casey Weiss: Thank you so much for having me.

John Salek: No problem. We were just talking about Casey living out in Berkeley and she's only marginally upset with the a moving to Las Vegas, but she's handling it well, so we're happy about that as well.

But what we really wanna talk about is Casey's experience and background and knowledge about nutrition and what makes it so hard. So [00:04:00] that's really the first question we wanna handle. Why is it so hard for people to eat well?

Casey Weiss: I love this question because we're so focused on the what with food. What do I have to eat?

What should I not eat? What is good, what is bad? We put so much emphasis on the food itself without understanding the how and the why. I will say also, especially in the us, it. Has become increasingly both difficult and easier to eat well, which you're probably like, what does she mean? Right?

So there is more and more food readily accessible, more and more drive-throughs, more and more ways for us to not have to think about our food, but there's also more and more brands coming out with healthier for You options. More and more fast casual places, more and more ways to get fresh options delivered.

So we can see like both ends of the spectrum developing [00:05:00] and it can be really hard as a consumer. To make those decisions for yourself. But again, what I see as being so hard for people is that we live in such fast-paced world or fast environment, and we wanna have this kind of quick fix. What should I eat?

What diet should I go on? What meal plan should I be on? Versus understanding why you may be overeating in the first place? Why are you. Turning towards that sugar. Why are you not prioritizing cooking for yourself? Why are you not sitting down for your meals? Like the environment in which you eat impacts your health, impacts your digestion, impacts your satisfaction.

So I find it so hard for people to eat well because number one, they're looking for fast fixes. And number two, There's a lot of stimuli out there. Mm-hmm. Of different things and a lot of mixed messaging, even if you're trying to approach health. And [00:06:00] finally, but really not. Finally, probably the most important is people are just so focused on the what with food versus understanding the how to eat, which I know that sounds silly, but how you eat and also the why you're eating those foods in the first place.

John Salek: Do you think there a mix up between diet and nutrition? Meaning diet? I'm talking about diet, not just eating, but weight loss and nutrition. Mm-hmm.

Casey Weiss: Absolutely. So what I see so often, I mean, most of the women working with me, do want to lose weight, and there is nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight.

However, we need to have a deeper why for health. So if you're just focused on a number on a scale, you are never gonna get true fulfillment. We know weight fluctuates, things happen and we need to have a deeper why, whether it's having more energy, balancing our hormones, longevity, preventing illness, treating illness, [00:07:00] right?

And so what happens is people get so stuck in this diet mentality and when we get stuck in this diet mentality, this leads us so often to yo-yo. And honestly, this is like with me, with my personal journey, I thought that if I just dieted, once I dieted and lost the weight and got to the body I wanted, then I could quote, be normal with food.

However, your approach is how you have to sustain it. So if you're doing a water fast to lose the weight, well, how do you think you're going to keep the weight off? We need to not just focus on the food that we're eating, how we're nurturing our bodies, we wanna think about how we are feeling after we are eating and our mindset.

Because if we are approaching this health journey just from how can I diet, how can I restrict, we're gonna be stuck in that scarcity, in that lack of mindset, always thinking about the food that we could have. So the second we achieve that weight loss, or maybe it's just the first couple [00:08:00] pounds coming off, we get this kind of like moral licensing of, oh, I guess then I can have the tree, I can have the sweet and we get caught in this spiral. Caught in this. Yo-yo. I'm sure your listeners can relate. And so it's so important that we get out of this diet mindset, this trap that is holding us back. And it's not that we can't lose weight, it's just that we need to reframe our approach, our why, and our nutrition.

John Salek: Can there be diets that are productive in terms of weight loss or are they just always going to fail in the end?

Casey Weiss: Yeah. I would say if a diet is purely just for weight loss, I haven't seen diets that are focused on just weight loss that are really successful long-term.

However, if we are focused on a diet that, for example, this is just like a broad example, but maybe we are trying to incorporate more whole foods, maybe we're trying to incorporate more fiber. We're focusing on food as a whole versus just for weight loss, then that can be successful in [00:09:00] losing weight and maintaining that weight loss.

I'm not saying that there aren't ways to develop of eating that can allow you to lose weight and maintain that weight loss. I mean, that's what I do all the time with clients. But the difference is, especially these like 30 day plans, this meal plan, this, that. What we are doing by following these diets, by following these point systems, by tracking every calorie we are basically telling ourselves, both consciously and subconsciously, we don't trust our own body enough to be able to listen to it, understand what it needs, and nourish it properly. Instead, we are going to put our health, our wellbeing in an app in a 30 day challenge in some random wellness influencers meal plan. To tell us what to eat and short term we can be like, oh, wow, I'm following this. This feels good.

Because we have this sort of like external validation, oh, I'm following this plan and for so much of our lives, [00:10:00] right? Like we, we study for the test. We're waiting for teachers to tell us you get this grade or that, right? We're looking for this external validation and we've been basically brought so far out of our own body in that we don't understand our own innate ability to listen to our own hunger cues.

So what's so important is, yes, it's great to learn about nutrition. It's great to learn about how foods can heal because there are definitely more health promoting foods than others. But within that context, It is so important that you get reconnected with your own body cues because your body is the smartest freaking system to knowing what you need, and people are so scared to connect with that.

They're like, I wanna lose weight so I shouldn't be listening to my body. Uhuh, you going to just that app or as I said, that meal plan. It's like a temporary bandaid to a greater problem of needing to reconnect with your [00:11:00] body and understanding nutrition to heal.

John Salek: In line with that, do you think that dieting is in many people's minds, really akin to nutrition, do they equate calorie restriction or weight loss means you're eating a nutritious diet.

Casey Weiss: So our bodies are so much more complex than in versus out. I like to say your body is more than a math equation. Yes, obviously calories do impact our overall weight, but there are so many other things at play when it comes to our metabolism or nutrient absorption. The way that we store fat our hormones, just even talking about blood sugar, for example.

So blood sugar has become more and more of a hot topic and for good reason. Little things like the order in which you consume food affects your blood sugar and therefore affects. The way that you do or do not store fat on your body. So if you have the same meal, and [00:12:00] this is scientific backed research studies, mm-hmm.

You could have the same meal, but if you eat the carbohydrates, like the simple carbohydrates in the meal first, that will have a more adverse effect on your blood sugar than if you were to start out that meal. By eating protein and or fat, or even fiber. If you start your meal by eating, you know, as I said, protein, fat or fiber, and then moved on to the simple carbohydrates or the sugars, this will help to blunt a blood sugar, massive spike and.

It will help you to not have as much fat storage. This is the same exact breakdown of total calories of total macronutrients. It's just the order in which you're eating your food. Now, my point with this is not for you to get obsessive and now have to separate your meals and only eat right, the protein, you know the protein before, but it's just one of many examples of how there is so much more nuance to the food we're [00:13:00] eating.

Also the environment in which we're eating if we are stressed or not. If you are in a stress state, you're eating at your computer, you're trying to respond to your boss who you hate, and you're, you know, in this rage, right? You are not going to properly digest that food that you are trying to scarf down.

You're eating it too quickly, and that is also going to affect your overall health, your mindset. Even your satisfaction. And when we're not satisfied for by food, we tend to have to eat more. And when we're stressed out, we're not digesting it properly. It's not going to help us with our energy, which is going to impact our activities later in the day.

I know I'm kind of going on a tangent here, but it's just really important for us to understand that food is so much more than calories. Do we need to overall be mindful of our intake and will having. Less calories in some senses help us to lose weight. Of course there is science to back that, but it's more complicated than [00:14:00] that.

And that is why I really want people to focus, not on calories, but on food quality with their mindset, with food, their emotions with food, and really focus on having a better relationship with food itself and with eating itself.

John Salek: And people have trouble getting there at times, correct.

Casey Weiss: Absolutely. Okay. And that is why, yeah.

John Salek: So I mean, in line with that, so I, is it because there are myths about nutrition or misconceptions or, you know, why is that?

Casey Weiss: A lot of it is because of how pervasive diet culture is. So diet culture are the messages that we received ever since we were kids about what we should or shouldn't be eating.

I'm a nineties kid and so there is plenty of tabloids When I remember going through the grocery store that. I just remember every magazine, the cover, it was talking about some woman's celebrity's body and did she gain weight? The cottage cheese look of cellulite on her legs, like crazy things that were [00:15:00] embedded in my brain as a child.

And I am not the only one. And this is why it's not just women, but you know, that's who I'm speaking to. A lot of the time we get these preconceived notions of how we should be and therefore how we should eat. And what diet culture has done as I intimated earlier, it's made us believe that we need to trust everything but our own selves and our own body.

Instead, what we need to do is we need to sign up for this weight loss program. We need to buy this type of food. We need to buy this supplement like diet culture. Their entire purpose is to make us feel insecure about our bodies. To make us feel like we can't do it on our own and therefore we need to pay someone else to solve our problems.

And so it's, once we understand this mindset and how it is so pervasive, we can start to rewire. It is not easy. That is why I do what I do. But we very often think that [00:16:00] just becoming skinny or just losing the weight or getting that muscle, Is going to solve our problem, but we need to understand and dig deeper into what is it that we really want to feel.

We wanna feel confident, we wanna feel energized. We wanna feel healthy. We wanna feel happy. We wanna feel like we have connection with others. Now if we focus on our health so that we have our bounced blood sugar and hormones, that we have better energy so that we are able to not have crazy cravings so that we're not eating in secret, so that we're able to enjoy food out.

This will all help with all these other general health factors that will also help us to lose weight and then maintain that weight loss. But when we're just so focused on being this X size, we need to really. Come back and really connect with our deeper self and our deeper why. As I just said in the beginning of this, because.

What is really going to make us happy. It's [00:17:00] not just following some diet culture's preconceived notion of what we should be.

John Salek: And we're gonna get into in, in a second, I'm gonna ask you a little bit about nutrition beyond just weight loss or nutrition. What does that mean in a deeper sense? And you certainly touched on it, but certainly the diet culture isn't gonna go anywhere.

Cause it's just too big a business. Mm-hmm. Where does the issue of body shaming almost body acceptance come into the whole element of nutrition?

And I'm, this is a, a delicate subject. I've seen people or it's been reported where someone said, well, we don't want to, certainly you don't wanna shame anybody. I'm not suggesting that or, or pick. Mm-hmm. But it's also seemed at times said, well, it's okay to be grossly overweight cause we don't wanna body shame anyone.

Mm-hmm. It almost seems like it's conflicting messages and certainly I'm trying to pick on anyone in particular saying anyone should be abused or anything. But I'm not also sure that saying any size body is right. Or that doesn't indicate a problem on a wider sense. Mm-hmm. And maybe you disagree or, or [00:18:00] whatnot.

Casey Weiss: I really do appreciate this question because the thing is that a lot of what Western medicine has developed to be, especially in the us, is you get to the doctor, you weigh yourself, and then they assume certain things just by your weight, and I am very apprehensive of that. I see a lot of women who come to me that are diagnosed with certain things or shamed in certain ways, just simply because of their body weight and that is not okay.

Can your weight indicate certain potential health conditions? Absolutely. But weight alone isn't the only factor. So we need to make sure that we are advocates for our own health. I can't tell you how many times I've told certain clients, like, if your doctor is not treating you well and not making you feel safe, there are so many other great doctors out there.

You need to go to someone who is going to give you answers who is going to listen to you and not just like, look at your weight and say, oh, you need to lose weight. That's gonna solve all your problems because, yes, weight loss, because [00:19:00] especially when you're doing weight loss the right way, it can lead to so many amazing health benefits and that's, Fantastic.

But we need to consider the totality of a human right. I will say though, that it's interesting that you bring this up because when I was in my health journey, you know, I started out and started to develop my own eating issues from severeness restriction to all over the map for almost a decade.

And when I was trying to get out of that, I tried several approaches after the years and years of dieting and was interested in intuitive eating and intuitive eating has great principles for getting reconnected with your body and your hunger cues with quieting the diet, please. Really amazing things.

However, I felt it really, truly lacked understanding how to properly nourish my body to feel its best, cuz yeah, it's great to not have diet rules, but I also still wasn't feeling my best. And a lot of people in that same community are very much proponents of health at every size. [00:20:00] And yes, you can see health at many sizes, but there's also something to be said for eating in a way that allows you to.

Have a healthier body, which I believe is what you're getting at. It's not about having shame for different types of body types because we should all occupy different types of body types, but there are certain weights for people that are not healthy. And just having acceptance for all bodies like you as a person should not be judging that person because of their body.

But at the same time, if you wanna improve your health, your weight may be a factor in that, and that is something that we shouldn't just. Ignore. And so for me, what I felt was lacking intuitive eating, I then was able to find with holistic nutrition, with being able to understand how to properly nourish my body, not focusing on calories, not focusing on macros, diet plans, meal plans, whatever, and then incorporating that within.

Using the [00:21:00] intuitive eating principles. And I have clients that come to me from the intuitive eating world that didn't feel good in their body and were shamed for wanting to lose weight from using intuitive eating dieticians or coaches. The thing is, is that we also shouldn't be shamed for weight loss either. It's just about why are we wanting the weight loss in the first place? Are we wanting it so that we can feel better, so that we can feel healthier?

Do we have a greater why? That is what's so important.

John Salek: I wanna get into the definition of holistic nutrition as it fits into a wider scheme, but I just wanna, before we move away from this, so many people go to their primary care physician. And there's an indication you're saying, okay, these guys, and sort of just look at weight as sort of a very baseline health measurement.

And you're saying it's more than that. So, but my question is, why do so many doctors sort of take that approach? And do you see doctors developing a deeper understanding of nutrition in terms in relation to weight and everything else?

Casey Weiss: You're saying, why do, why are they not doing that?

John Salek: There's two things. [00:22:00] Why are there so many doctors who just take that simplistic approach? Mm-hmm. And do you see an improvement in doctor approach to nutrition?

Casey Weiss: Well, first of all, doctors they are not extensively trained in nutrition. There are 1,000,001 things that doctors do that I could not, but nutrition is just generally not their area of expertise, and so when I see doctors that will then refer women out, and I have had clients that were referred out to like, oh, I should seek a nutritionist and whatnot to be able to work on my, you know, intake. Right. The thing is, also is that doctors are so busy and they don't have enough time, and the after average doctor appointment, I believe is less than 10 minutes, and so they are trying to take all this data in a quick.

Including your blood pressure, your weight, your height, right? Mm-hmm. Distill it and then give you an answer. It's coming from a good place. They want to give you an answer quickly. And sometimes that can mean just say saying [00:23:00] weight loss or putting you on a certain medication. This is very different than, for example, my approach with my clients.

My clients with, for example, my private clients, I work for them with three months. We have 45 minute sessions where we meet face-to-face. They get messaging access to me so they can text and voice note me. This is obviously very different than when you only have that 10 minute appointment with the doctor.

And so what our doctor's trying to do is just evaluate your top line risks and what they can do and what they can tell you in that short amount of time as we know the way that. Especially in America, our medical system is oriented, is not for preventative care. It is for treating things once they've already happened.

And so there are really great ways that I find that we can work synergistically with traditional medical care while also working on the preventative care as well. And preventative care includes nutrition, how we're moving our body, how we're taking [00:24:00] care of our body. Also, from a mental health perspective, right?

Like how are we investing in therapy for ourself in our community with connection in our relationships? There is nothing wrong with taking medication, but very often I see medication being put on as a bandaid instead of understanding and addressing root causes. It's really great to have a two-pronged approach.

How can we look at root causes? How can we really heal from the inside out? And then if we need medication, be able to get that medication where needed and have it. Be applied in a targeted way, right?

John Salek: Because it's also with medication, it's kind of like a diet. Once you go on it, you're gonna need to stay on it unless there's some other approach to address whatever the issue may be.

Casey Weiss: Exactly. Very often that is the case. And so it is important that they, work twofold. Like I have a client who didn't wanna get on thyroid medication, but eventually her levels were getting to the [00:25:00] point where she needed to get on it, and I told her, it's not a sign of failure if you as a person, that doesn't mean that we're still not working on being able to work on your diet, work on your exercise, work on your lifestyle.

And we're able to have an open conversation with her doctor as well on what it could look like to eventually wean off of this medication. And some people may never be able to wean off of certain medication that they're on. And I'm not saying that that's a sign of failure, but, we don't wanna just think, okay, I'll go on this medication and that's gonna solve all my problems.

Like, why are we there in the first place and how can we work through sometimes the really hard stuff, right? Mm-hmm. But how can we work through that? Because that's what's gonna allow us to truly feel our best and happiest and most fulfilled in our lives.

John Salek: It sounds like you're answering, the question I'm about to ask is really, what is holistic nutrition?

Yeah. And, and you, because you referenced that a lot in your work and, and you're sort of referring to it, well, obviously you're referring to it co during the discussion, but for someone who isn't clued in on holistic approach to medicine or holistic nutrition, let's get a [00:26:00] working definition on the table.

Casey Weiss: Yeah. So the difference with holistic nutrition is holistic nutrition is focusing on the whole body. When we just talk about the world of nutrition and dietetics, it's focused mostly on our food and it's not necessarily about the whole body. So the difference between a holistic approach to nutrition and just simply approaching, you know, like quote, good nutrition number one is the mind body connection.

So holistic nutrition really emphasizes the connection between our physical health and our mental, emotional, and even spiritual wellbeing. So, you know, emphasizes that our thoughts, our emotions, our stress levels can impact our digestion, our nutrient absorption, and overall health. And this is all backed at science.

I'm into some woo stuff too, but this is not even the woo stuff. It's just really understanding how science impacts our health, but how it's more than just the food itself. Holistic nutrition is also very much about individualization, so [00:27:00] recognizing each person is unique. You know, it's not a one size fits all approach, really focusing on the whole person.

So considering you as a whole, not just you in isolation, in a vacuum as kind of like I was talking about with calories in versus calories out, and is very focused on long-term results, sustainability of the approach, and really healing you. As a whole person and working on prevention of future, whether it's conditions or underlying issues.

John Salek: Holistic nutrition as well as holistic medicine is really a lot about prevention.

As much as it's treating, it's really getting you well, so you're not gonna be confronting or dealing or at risk to so many entries or, or illnesses or diseases. Is that a correct assumption?

Casey Weiss: Exactly. It's focusing on the whole person, focusing on the mind, body, and soul, and working on all of those aspects as well as focusing on who you are presently, who you were, [00:28:00] and who you want to be.

John Salek: Tell me why you deal more exclusively with women. Is it just an interest area? Is it because women facing different challenges than men? And I'm assuming a lot of these strategies can be applied to both men and women, but on an individual basis.

Casey Weiss: Yeah, so there are a lot of similarities, but there are also a lot of differences. Women aren't just small men, and unfortunately a lot of the dosages and a lot of the scientific studies for example, medicines are done on men and specifically white men. And a lot of them, the dosages are given just as you, as a woman being not you, you John specifically, but you know, the, you, the general woman.

Being just a smaller version of a man. However, we have vastly different body biochemistry. We vastly different hormones. And so I resonate with women as self-identifying as a woman. The women's challenges and also specifically because I work a lot with hormones. Hormones are something that have been.

[00:29:00] Very much overlooked and have such an interplay in how we feel, how we digest, and it is. Important to note that men generally follow the same 24 hour cycle. They follow their hormonal cycle being like the sun. However, women, our hormonal cycle is like that of the moon from anywhere from 28 to 35 days.

We get a period and that drastically affects our hormones each day and therefore our nutrition, our approach to exercise, our approach to overall health and our lifestyle should be different. So I like being able to guide women in that way and also understanding their unique emotional challenges.

And I just find it very rewarding. I have helped and worked with men in the past and recognize they have their own challenges too, but it's something that I find I have an even greater connection with.

John Salek: Is it fair to say that diet culture impacts women more than it impacts men?

Casey Weiss: I would say [00:30:00] that women have been more greatly affected by diet culture, but I do think that there are oftentimes when men are overlooked and they think, oh, isn't it so great to be a guy?

Right? Like, you don't have to have these problems. And that's not true either. Men are definitely affected by diet culture in different ways. However, it's been more pervasive and more demanding of women.

John Salek: A lot of people assume, oh my goodness, whether it's a diet or I'm going to a nutritionist because I want to lose weight or I want to become healthier, that I'm gonna be facing a severe food regimen that's gonna tighten me off. So one, how do we get around that? I'm assuming that's not the case. And how do people start, whether they can get in touch with nutritionist like yourself or just start on their own?

Casey Weiss: Yeah. So we need to realize, and that's kind of also what dieting has made us believe, is that it has to be the strict regimen, which again leads us to be really strict and then go off and create this cycle.

[00:31:00] So you deserve to feel good in the process, and feeling good in the process is also what's going to motivate you to continue. So, If you don't feel like someone's approach is correct for you, I want to give you agency to find someone else, whether it's a nutritionist, a dietician, a doctor, an endocrinologist, whatever it is that really sees you and listens to you and explains things to you and you are not talked down to.

And you deserve to have that knowledge. So, the thing is, is understanding that having a good rapport with the practitioner that you're working with is gonna make you feel more comfortable and help you to get answers and help you to stick with whatever regimen, as you said. And for me, it's not about a regimen, it's about creating a lifestyle.

And this is so overused. I know everyone's like lights. It's not a diet, it's the lifestyle, but really like creating a lifestyle that you're truly going to enjoy. And what's so great these days is that a lot of [00:32:00] people have social media, so you can get a feeling of their overall vibe so to speak, and be able to create more of a rapport in that way.

And I would just say don't settle. You as a consumer have every right to. Reach out to multiple people, get different opinions and understand what your options are.

John Salek: If someone can't get to a nutritionist or a practitioner mm-hmm. Or they want to begin on their own. How would you suggest they get started, even if it's a first step or two?

Casey Weiss: So I would definitely say focusing on reconnecting with your body and own body cues would be very, very helpful. And if anything promises a short term fix or like a certain amount of day timeframe.

And I would actually say start to stop, start to quiet the news and the what you see from social media and maybe take a breath and reconnect with yourself. And what I would say, one tip I would have is [00:33:00] to create a food journal for yourself, but instead of just focusing on the what of what you're eating, focus on how you feel before and after.

So I want you to write your emotions of how you feel before going into the eating, what the environment was that you were eating, and how you feel after. Maybe do that even without writing down the food that you're eating, because that can really help to give insight into maybe why you're eating certain foods in the first place, maybe.

But you notice like, wow, I'm always just eating when I'm stressed, or I'm always eating in front of my computer, or I always feel bloated after, right? So we can start to understand patterns within yourself because that self awareness is gonna be so key for really making strides in your health journey.

John Salek: Is there anything else right now we need to tell our listeners about what they need to be thinking about nutrition or an approach to a healthier nutritional balance.

Casey Weiss: I would say, as I really just started out, that it's about so much more than food.

If you just think that your answer, just like your answer to your emotions, [00:34:00] doesn't lie in your fridge or your pantry. The answer to your health doesn't just lie in your refrigerant pantry. We need to understand our emotional root causes. I was just having a chat with one of my clients today and she was saying how different she felt when she went.

She took herself out for a gelato and she enjoyed that gelato. She went for a walk. She had, you know, a nice like solo night, and then when she just was having a frozen yogurt bar sitting on the couch watching TV after a day of stress. Not saying you can't ever eat when you're stressed, but if you're not addressing why you're being stressed in the first place, you're gonna keep seeking temporary relief through food.

And so it's not always fun. It's definitely not sexy to necessarily dive deeper into your emotional root causes or your triggers, or honestly, some certain past trauma. If you. Though really do dive deeper into your greater why. Maybe it's because of the way you were raised because of things that parents said to you [00:35:00] because of things that you were told.

Once we start to uncover that, that's gonna greatly help to rewire our patterns and make us feel more fulfilled with food. And I will say also, the environment in which you're eating will help with your satisfaction.

So if you are taking time to get into your parasympathetic state, so that's your rest and digest state. Getting your nervous system more calm, taking some deep belly breaths before you eat. Not being distracted when you eat. You will digest your food better and you'll be more satisfied from it.

You'll also be able to get in better touch with your hunger and fullness. If you work on mindfulness principles with your eating, whether it's using your five senses to observe your food while you're eating, that will allow you to get in better touch, appreciation, and gratitude for your food. And as a result, what happens is you can sometimes find like, Wow.

I actually get satisfied by eating a smaller portion. It's not always about only eating smaller. Maybe you realize, [00:36:00] wow, I'm not actually satisfied and so I need to have more of X, Y, or Z, and therefore you make a bigger plate and then you're able to be satisfied for four hours and so you're not stressed and always worried about food.

So when we're able to create a more calm environment for us eating when we're able to. Then connect as a result more with why we're eating in the first place. We're able to be more satisfied from the food we're eating and when we are more satisfied, we are able to reap more nourishment from the food we're eating and also likely not overeat.

John Salek: So in terms of a calm environment, are people benefiting from working remotely? Cuz so many of us are, because supposedly that's a more calm environment.

And does that help them with their nutritional approach or balance?

Casey Weiss: Interesting you say that. I do think that to some degree working from home can help people to be a little bit more prepared with food and spend maybe some less money on takeout all the time. However, I [00:37:00] find that overall actually the lack of human connection that we are getting is severely impacting our health.

And because we can, we eat food at our desk or in front of the tv, watching YouTube videos, scrolling on Instagram instead of having that connection with people in the lunchroom or going out to eat or having that conversation at the water cooler, that is all completely minimized and it cannot be overstated the importance of human connection.

If people are interested, I greatly encourage you to learn more about the blue zones, which are the areas of the world that have the largest population of centenarians, so of longest lived people, and the common theme in all these areas is human connection. And so it's great if you can be able to work from home and then juggle more doing other things.

But a lot of times we're like, okay, well because of that then I don't need the daycare, or I'll do this and that. We pull a lot more [00:38:00] on our plates. We're doing the laundry, we're doing this, we're so distracted. And so really focusing on how we can still make a peaceful environment where they're in our own home.

I have clients who they work from home or they're stay at home moms and they create like a little corner, maybe it's just like one little corner where it's just like comfy chair in this cozy space that they do their meditation or they're journaling or they just get their peace and they tell their kids like, this is mom's mom's corner.

So it's important that we find calm in our, in our day to day, just because people may not be coming up to our desk. We may think like, oh, I get to work from home. But it's so important that we still emphasize how we can make our homes safe spaces and how we can have quality human connection and interaction.

John Salek: And what you're talking about is a holistic approach to nutrition and wellness. Right? Exactly. Alright, Casey, thank you very much. There, there's so much more we could cover, but we're gonna run out of time. Even in a digital world, we [00:39:00] endless. But how do people get in contact with you? You certainly have your brand, your case for wellness, and you mentioned the best way to really hook into on different planes would really be go to your Instagram profile, is that correct?

Casey Weiss: Yeah. So I have my website but I would say the best way to connect with me is honestly shoot me a DM on your case for wellness, which is on Instagram. All my links are there as well. And I'd love to give you listeners a free little bundle of my video, of my top nutrition tips and my stop overeating guide.

So hopefully we can include that in the show notes as well as my links.

John Salek: Absolutely. We will in fact send that out to all of our subscribers at wellwellusa.com. So they will get that as a bonus regardless of whether they listened in or not. So I wanna thank you for taking the time and calling in.

Casey Weiss: It was such a pleasure talking with you. Thank you so much for having me.

John Salek: Before we move on to Health Hack for this episode, we want to again encourage listeners to take advantage of the hundreds of exclusive discounts WellWell offers on a [00:40:00] range of health and wellness product and services. These range from fitness and athletic equipment to dietary supplements, personal care products, organic foods and beverages and more.

Signing up is easy and free. Just visit us at wellwellusa.com. Go to Milton's discounts, and the top menu bar and the signup form will appear. Signing up will take seconds, but the benefits can last for years. Okay, how about some health hack? So you're about to go diet, any diet. Maybe a holistic nutritional approach.

How do you succeed? Well, first off, don't look for quick fixes. That doesn't mean a diet or nutritional program has to be cool or punishing, but anything that sounds too good to be true probably is. Two, it is not simply about losing weight is about becoming physically and mentally healthy. Yes, that might include losing weight, but it also means eating right, becoming active, and addressing the [00:41:00] reasons that you may have gained weight in the first place.

Three, back away from the diet culture. Chances are obsessing about your body shape. You only lead to yo-yo weight gain and loss, or find the right help. If your physician takes a simplistic approach to weight loss, perhaps advising you to just eat less, find some better support, there's a large pool of nutritionists, dieticians, and medical professionals who can help you control your weight and lead a healthier life.

Keep looking until you find the support that's right for you. Five. Can't find a professional. There are abundant online resources on total wellness. But it may take a bit of effort to suss out exactly what you need. In the meantime, keep a record of when and what you eat, and how are you feeling when you munch down.

Chances are you'll find some unhealthy eating patterns you can break.[00:42:00]

That's it for this podcast. I want to thank Casey Weiss for her time and insights. If you'd like to learn more about Casey's work, Please visit her Instagram platform in your case for wellness. It provides to platforms as well. Thanks for listening and please, please, please join us again.