Metabolic Rehab

Do you wish you had extra hours in your day to accomplish all the things you have to get done? Or to get to the gym? Or find some “me time”? You’re not alone. There are tools that can help you maximize your time management and avoid decision fatigue. Tune in to hear great tips on utilizing the time you do have and how to schedule your week. 

This week, Jenn is joined by Time Management Expert, Megan Sumrell. After becoming a mom, Megan realized that her time management needed to change, she had too much to do and never felt like she had enough time to complete it all. She created her 5-step Time Management Solution and is now helping women everywhere restructure their schedules to ease decision fatigue and stress. Megan shares her 5-step planning process during this episode, including how to keep it realistic and not beat yourself up if your schedule doesn’t go according to plan. Her tips help make time management achievable, no matter how busy you are! Tune in to learn more about making your life and schedule a bit easier! 

The Salad With a Side of Fries podcast is hosted by Jenn Trepeck, discussing wellness and weight loss for real life, clearing up the myths, misinformation, bad science & marketing surrounding our nutrition knowledge and the food industry. Let’s dive into wellness and weight loss for real life, including drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store. 

IN THIS EPISODE: 

● [6:14] Where did Megan figure out all the time management skills for productivity? 

● [8:45] What are the faults in the typical time management systems?

● [11:43] How do we identify our relationship with time?

● [19:01] Megan discusses the brain science and physical science behind her management system. 

● [22:09] How can people add things into their day to replenish willpower as well as remove things that cause decision fatigue? 

● [23:42] Where is the best place to start when organizing your time? 

● [28:32] Megan walks through her 5 steps of weekly planning. 

● [34:23] What is the best approach to being realistic about how long things take? 

● [37:05] How do you stick to your schedule?

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

● [19:58] Operating from a to-do list keeps you in a daily state of decision fatigue. By the end of the day, when you are in full decision fatigue mode, your brain cannot make good choices.  

● [23:43] A weekly audit is a great place to start when looking at what you can do differently in your schedule. Look for patterns and understand how much of your life is spent in rapid fire context switching to see where there are some possible efficiencies. 

● [29:07] The most transformative thing you can do for your schedule is to acknowledge the unavailable time or busy time in your day and block it off on your schedule. This could be when you are up in the morning making breakfast and getting lunches packed, or time when you kids get home from school and you have things to do. Usually we try to fill this time with other things, but it is a necessity to block it out so those things can be done. 

QUOTES: 

[12:33] “When we’re in control, that means we’re deciding how we’re spending our time, what we’re saying yes to, when we’re doing it, and we have really good boundaries with that.” - Megan Sumrell

[20:03] “Every time you look at your to-do list, you’re having to make a decision and now your brain - more gas is taken out of it. So by the end of the day, you’re in full decision-fatigue mode and your brain can’t make good choices. This often ties into why at the end of the day, we hit the panty and make bad health choices as well. It’s not because you don’t have willpower, it's not because you’re not a good person, it’s because your brain is done. You’ve maxed it out, it’s in full on decision fatigue.” - Megan Sumrell

[25:00] "What's really powerful with this planning system is one of the things you’re looking for in your time audit is this, how much of my time on average each week is spent dealing with things I had no idea was coming had to be dealt with in that week, and I call this planning for uncertainty, and it’s different for everybody and it’s different in different seasons of our life.” - Megan Sumrell

[37:06] “Your plan does not confine you, it supports the goals that you have in your life.” - Megan Sumrell

"It’s not that there isn’t enough time in the day, it’s not that you’re a poor planner. Rather it’s simply time to shift our relationship with time and adopt an approach to time management that better fits our modern lives." - Jenn Trepeck

RESOURCES:

Become A Member of Salad with a Side of Fries

Jenn’s Free Menu Plan

A Salad With a Side of Fries

A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch

A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram

GUEST RESOURCES:

Megan Sumrell's Instagram

Megan Sumrell's Facebook

Work Life Harmony YouTube

Megan Sumrell's LinkedIn

Megan Sumrell's Website

BIO:

Megan Sumrell is a former corporate techie turned entrepreneur.

As a business owner, mom, and wife, she knows exactly how hard it is to juggle #allthethings while still maintaining your own sense of self and purpose. When her daughter was born in 2010, life as she knew it completely changed. After struggling to manage work, motherhood, and family, Megan set about a new way to manage her time and organize her calendar. She took her 20+ year career in systems and processes and applied it to one of her favorite things... time management!

As a Time Management Expert for women seeking Work+Life Harmony, Megan teaches specific strategies to help women get on top of their time, calendar and goals while getting rid of stress, overwhelm, and exhaustion.

Her proprietary planning approach is the only 'feminine' planning system that works from the 'bottom up'. Her courses and planner teach exactly how to plan your weeks and days to maximize productivity efficiently, while still allowing for flexibility and down time.

Nutrition Nugget! Bite-size, bonus episodes offering tips, tricks and approachable science. This week, Jenn's talking about the three different perspectives we can take when facing situations that happen in our lives. You can choose to be a hero, a victim, or a learner. Jenn describes what each perspective is  and how the three of them can play into your life and health in different ways. Like what you're hearing? Be sure to check out the full length episodes; new releases every Wednesday.  Have an idea for a nutrition nugget?  Submit it here: https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/index.php/contact/       

RESOURCES:

Become A Member of Salad with a Side of Fries

Jenn’s Free Menu Plan

A Salad With a Side of Fries

A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch

A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram

Calories, the scale, BMI. The way you (and your doctor) measure your health and your choices are not just not serving you, they’re leading you astray. What if we started to measure choices regarding our health based on listening to our bodies or communicating with our bodies, rather than adhering to outdated rules? Tune in to this episode to redefine your yardstick. 

This week, Jenn is talking about creating your own yardstick when it comes to your health journey. There is so much information available to people about which workouts are the right ones to do, and how you should eat, how much you should or shouldn’t eat, that we often lose sense of what our individual bodies need to be in our best health. Jenn walks through a variety of topics ranging from exercise, diets, portion sizes, creating your own metrics of success and more throughout this episode. Tune in to hear Jenn share some great tangible ideas on how to ensure your goals and the metrics you use to measure your progress are right for you, and what choices to make when creating your own benchmarks. 

The Salad With a Side of Fries podcast is hosted by Jenn Trepeck, discussing wellness and weight loss for real life, clearing up the myths, misinformation, bad science & marketing surrounding our nutrition knowledge and the food industry. Let’s dive into wellness and weight loss for real life, including drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store. 

IN THIS EPISODE: 

● [5:54] What are things that we measure when it comes to our health?

● [8:12] How can you better measure your workouts? 

● [14:40] How do you measure your food? 

● [26:23] How do you know appropriate portion sizes?

● [31:48] How can you make the best choices for your individual self?

● [35:15] How do we avoid using social media and societal norms and get stuck in a cycle of comparison?

● [38:47] How do you know if what you are doing is actually working?

● [41:09] Why do doctors use BMI, where did it come from and what is a better metric to use instead?

● [43:38] Are the scales out there accurate to account for your body fat %?

● [47:05] Jenn shares alternative benchmarks to measure success and progress. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

● [17:38] Calories should not be on your yardstick of measuring how much food you should intake. Instead, the measurement on your yardstick can be that you are going to eat the colors of the rainbow throughout the week.

● [35:20] Don’t let social media create your benchmark for your health. Instead, tune in to your body and see if you have energy, if you are feeling good, if you are improving how you choose foods, if you are eating the rainbow, if you are getting nutrition every day, and if you are making progress over your behaviors. 

● [39:39] The number on the scale includes your bones and your organs and water and your brain and muscle and fat and all of these other things. Measuring only the number on the scale going down, does not indicate health. 

QUOTES: 

[12:37] “We’re then looking at other people and making whatever they’re doing or not doing, whatever is happening for them or not happening for them, something about us and our progress. Which is frankly apples and oranges.” - Jenn Trepeck

[12:52] “I think a lot of the devices create the metrics that we then all think we ‘should be using.’ Maybe it’s worth either adjusting some of those things in your device or maybe opting out of some of them if they’re not serving you in a way that’s helping you feel positive and energized, or maybe there’s a different way to use the tool.” - Jenn Trepeck

[15:12] “When it comes to food, calories is a terrible yardstick.” - Jenn Trepeck

[19:00] “Percent daily value was based on number one, a 2,000 calorie diet, and number two, based on a person not deteriorating into rickets and scurvy. So it was originally designed in the time of war based on how our military was being fed.” - Jenn Trepeck

[22:08] “It’s a choice, Everything is a choice. There are choices that will move us in the  direction of our goal faster than other choices.” - Jenn Trepeck

[34:14] “What if we started to measure our choices based on listening to our bodies or communicating with our bodies, rather than on some set of rules and adhering to those rules?” - Jenn Trepeck

[37:37] “When we think about the choices that we’re making, oftentimes people will say well this is easier, the metric of ease. Maybe we start to look or redefine ease to distinguish between ease in the moment or ease in the long run. In the moment it might be easier to buy the Reese’s cups in the grocery store checkout, but if that choice brings with it guilt and shame and thinking about those Reese's cups for a week, was it really easier? To me, I find it easier to not give myself reasons to beat myself up” - Jenn Trepeck 

[47:05] “Things you might want to consider as other benchmarks for success and progress - quality sleep, how we manage or handle stress, or energy and our self confidence. What if you check in on those things every day, on eating the rainbow, where might that leave you? How would you feel? That’s health.” - Jenn Trepeck

RESOURCES:

Perception vs. Reality Episode 

Become A Member of Salad with a Side of Fries

Jenn’s Free Menu Plan

A Salad With a Side of Fries

A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch

A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram

Nutrition Nugget! Bite-size, bonus episodes offering tips, tricks and approachable science. This week, Jenn's talking about crystal light. One of Jenn’s friends asked for her thoughts on the low-calorie water flavor packets, so Jenn is walking us through the ingredient list of Crystal Light. Throughout this conversation, Jenn points out that several of the ingredients in Crystal Light are red flags. Tune in to understand why these ingredients are red flags and decide for yourself if this is something you want to include as a daily beverage. Jenn also provides some great alternatives to crystal light to add flavor to your water. Like what you're hearing? Be sure to check out the full length episodes; new releases every Wednesday.  Have an idea for a nutrition nugget?  Submit it here: https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/index.php/contact/       

RESOURCES:

Become A Member of Salad with a Side of Fries

Jenn’s Free Menu Plan

A Salad With a Side of Fries

A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch

A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram

Have you heard of Pilates and you are wondering if it’s right for you? Maybe you think it’s yoga or  will be “too easy”. Tune in to hear Pilates Instructor Kate Boyle break down the differences between Pilates and other forms of exercise plus benefits that can be gained from practicing Pilates, whether you struggle with mobility or you’re an experienced athlete. 

This week Jenn is joined by Pilates Instructor, Kate Boyle. With her extensive background in dance and learning how to heal her own injuries, Kate decided to use her knowledge to help others heal their bodies as well. Kate breaks down what Pilates is along with the different types of Pilates classes you may see advertised. She breaks down the science and methodologies behind Pilates, and emphasizes how it can help you in everyday life. Kate talks about the mind-body connection that she teaches her clients to focus on when practicing Pilates and how it is the foundation for everything else you do in life. Tune in to learn more and decide if Pilates is right for you! 

The Salad With a Side of Fries podcast is hosted by Jenn Trepeck, discussing wellness and weight loss for real life, clearing up the myths, misinformation, bad science & marketing surrounding our nutrition knowledge and the food industry. Let’s dive into wellness and weight loss for real life, including drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store. 

IN THIS EPISODE: 

● [5:22] How did Kate get into fitness and Pilates? 

● [7:16] What is Pilates?

● [9:33] What is true Pilates vs. what you might experience at a gym or hotel class?

● [13:01] How can someone know that Pilates is the right fit for them?

● [15:42] What information can people look for to know what to expect from a Pilates experience? 

● [21:04] What does it mean to connect the breath to the movement and your core and pelvic floor?

● [23:34] Where does the science come in and where does the methodology stem from for Pilates?

● [25:26] Kate walks us through a way to connect to your core and pelvic floor. 

● [28:45] How does Pilates help you in everyday life? 

● [32:03] Why do you need a lower amount of reps during Pilates?

● [35:16] Kate shares a story about how a client's Mind-Body Connection during Pilates spilled over into other areas of their life. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

● [22:38] The pelvic floor, the core, and the breath are all interconnected and essential for having everyday strength. 

● [24:22] Pilates is great for everyone! No matter your age, there are benefits that you can get from practicing pilates and it can be customized to what it is you are needing. The intensity can be increased or decreased based on where a person is with their strength and individual needs. 

● [36:49] Pilates is like the glue for everything else. It’s the glue for everyday life, for the activities you want to do just to have fun, a way to excel and stay fit in the sports you are playing, manage stress, and more. It helps people physically and mentally. 

QUOTES: 

[6:03] “I’d torn the meniscus in my knee, I had hamstring injuries, back pain, all the dancer stuff, and I started to heal my own body from doing Pilates, and then went oh my goodness, this system is amazing. If I can heal myself, I can help others.” - Kate Boyle

[14:00] “I’ll get athletes that are wanting to cross train and really expand in their sport. Golf is a great example, it’s all one sided, rotational to one side. So when we build up the strength and stabilization to the other side, they get more power, a better swing, and really excel in their game.” - Kate Boyle

[14:53] “Even people where their mobility isn’t as great anymore, and it might be as simple as trying to reach up to that top cupboard is getting really hard because they're getting really stiff through their shoulder, we can really work on that shoulder range and strength, so just everyday movements become easier.” - Kate Boyle

[30:50] “You are learning how to move while being present with your body. So many other exercises we do, we’ll jump up a treadmill, stick the headphones on or turn the TV on and start walking and running away and we’re thinking about the shopping we’ve got to do and the kids we’ve got to pick up. In Pilates you can’t do that because then you’ll lose your breath or what your movement’s doing, how many reps you’ve done, so it means for your workout, you actually have to be present in your body.” - Kate Boyle

[32:25] “I think that’s a different sort of mindset as well, so many other modalities were like no, no, no, you’ve got to do your 10 or your 20 and you’ve got to push through. Whereas Pilates is very much no, no, no, your body is telling you this is just too hard. Right now, we’re going to start gripping the opposite muscles that shouldn’t be activating, so we’re going to hold our breath to get through, we’re going to brace those abs. So rather than doing that, where we’re not getting any benefits, take a short five second rest and then continue if you can.” - Kate Boyle

 "You can strengthen your body in a way that's both supportive and restorative." - Jenn Trepeck

RESOURCES:

Become A Member of Salad with a Side of Fries

Jenn’s Free Menu Plan

A Salad With a Side of Fries

A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch

A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram

GUEST RESOURCES

Mind Movement Health Website

Mind Movement Health Facebook

Mind Movement Health Instagram

Mind Movement Health LinkedIn

Mind Movement Health YouTube

Mind Movement Health Podcast 

GUEST BIO:

Passionate about holistic health and great movement, Kate runs her online movement and health platform, Mind Movement Health. Having been an elite level dancer she gravitated to a career in health due to her love of movement and wanting to get a better understanding of nutrition to improve overall health and performance. She has extensive training and qualifications in Pilates and various other movement modalities including the Gyrotonic Expansion System© and Classical Ballet. A qualified Nutritionist and Food Scientist (BHSc.) Kate has worked within the health and nutrition field for more than 20 years and is passionate about helping everyone move well, eliminate pain, live a balanced life and make being healthy EASY.

For more information and to check out her online Health and Movement Membership please head to 

www.MindMovementHealth.com.au

Nutrition Nugget! Bite-size, bonus episodes offering tips, tricks and approachable science. This week, Jenn's talking about Barebells Protein Bars. A listener wrote in asking if Barebells Protein Bars were a healthy option, as he had never seen sugar alcohols listed on a label but had heard Jenn talk about them. Jenn walks through the ingredients and breaks down sugar alcohols, how they impact our blood sugar, and if they are a healthy alternative to generic sugar or other sweeteners. She also looks at the nutrition facts of one flavor to determine if barebells protein bars are a good snack option when you’re on the go! Tune in to hear what she has to say about Barebells Protein Bars! Like what you're hearing? Be sure to check out the full length episodes; new releases every Wednesday.  Have an idea for a nutrition nugget?  Submit it here: https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/index.php/contact/       

RESOURCES:

Become A Member of Salad with a Side of Fries

Jenn’s Free Menu Plan

A Salad With a Side of Fries

A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch

A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram

Most of us think our hearts are fine. Even the day before a heart attack, people think they’re OK!? Unfortunately, many people wait until they are experiencing a cardiac event before they look beyond blood tests cholesterol and the blood pressure reading at a doctor visit. Tune in to learn what tests you can do to take preventative measures in making sure your heart is operating in optimal condition. BTW, this is as much for athletes as it is for the reluctant exerciser!

This week Jenn is joined by Chief Nursing Officer of Recovery Plus Health, Jenny Martin. Jenny breaks down many different aspects of heart health in this episode, from the difference between a heart attack and cardiac arrest, to VO2 max, to cardiorespiratory fitness, and more. She also discusses how a CPET test can provide you with a good outlook on your heart health, as well as give you information on how to best manage your fitness and exercise routine for your individual needs. Preventative care is a must when it comes to heart health, and this is one tool to help make your heart health a priority. Tune in to learn more about the CPET test, what it tells you, and where things can be missed when only doing lab tests. 

The Salad With a Side of Fries podcast is hosted by Jenn Trepeck, discussing wellness and weight loss for real life, clearing up the myths, misinformation, bad science & marketing surrounding our nutrition knowledge and the food industry. Let’s dive into wellness and weight loss for real life, including drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store. 

IN THIS EPISODE: 

● [6:03] How did Jenny end up in nursing and then shift into cardiopulmonary chronic care? 

● [12:33] What is the difference between a cardiovascular event vs. a cholesterol challenge or blockage? 

● [15:55] Many people look at athletes as the epitome of health, but then they have a cardiac event - what are we missing? 

● [20:23] What is Cardiopulmonary and Cardiopulmonary Fitness?

● [23:18] What is the difference between optimal and suboptimal? And why do we want to use these words? 

● [26:56] What is Respiratory Exchange Ratio (RER) and why is it important?

● [28:24] What is Peak VO2 or VO2 max?

● [33:21] What is Heart Rate at Peak and at Anaerobic Threshold? 

● [36:02] What is Cardiorespiratory Fitness (CRF)?

● [37:58] What is an Inducible Threshold? 

● [41:51] What is the CPET test?

● [48:05] How do people take the information about their Zones into their personal fitness routine?

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

● [29:46] Peak VO2 can be increased with the proper training, proper nutrition, proper hydration, and proper supplementation as your exercise or nutrition is optimized. Each time you can get the number up by one ml, you reduce your chance for all-cause mortality by 10%. 

● [33:49] Optimal performance for your heart rate is to keep your peak heart rate in the 80-85% range, which shows that you’re not heart rate dependent. We don’t want to be heart rate dependent, instead you want to be stroke volume dependent, meaning the strongest part of your heart is pumping oxygen-rich blood to the rest of your body.

● [36:59] Knowing your numbers gives you control over your situation. The best way to find out what you can do safely is to get the data, to know your numbers and know where you are so that you know where you want to go. If you don’t know where you’re starting, how do you know where you are headed? How do you know what your heart health goals should be? 

● [46:20] Not everyone has the same heart rate zones, so the CPET test can help you uncover what your heart rate zones are so you can exercise and function at your optimal health number.

QUOTES: 

[13:02] “You are not healthy the day before a heart attack.” - Jenn Trepeck

“Hearts come in electrical and plumbing. When one of those goes wrong, that's when bad things happen. When we look at cholesterol levels, we're only looking at the plumbing." – Jenny Martin

[14:47] “The original stress test, treadmill stress testing you get done in the cardiologist office, what they don’t do is they don’t do a ventilation, perfusion ratio. They don’t look at the gasses, they don’t look at the lung aspect of things, and so they actually don’t identify non-obstructive heart disease at all. You could have a heart cath, you could go in and have a wire run up through your arteries, and they can say ‘there’s nothing obstructive here, so everything is fine’, and you can have a heart attack the next day.” - Jenny Martin

[21:29] “Sleep apnea has a very high rate of coexistence and causation for heart failure, and that’s very untalked about and it has everything to do with if we can’t get oxygen the heart just stops.” - Jenny Martin

"Optimal means that things are working at a level in which it supports other systems. So, optimizing health we want to have all the systems, heart and lungs, working with each other to support every other system in our body.” - Jenny Martin

[47:11] “I know my zone 2, you know your zone 2, and they’re not the same, but if we were to use the calculations that are just kind of out there for everybody to try to use, they would be very close, because it’s not taking into consideration anything else. Our health history, our cardiac function, our pulmonary function, what our body needs, what our bodies need to be able to perform at the workload that we’re asking them to, that’s going to differ per person as well.” - Jenny Martin

RESOURCES:

Become A Member of Salad with a Side of Fries

Jenn’s Free Menu Plan

A Salad With a Side of Fries

A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch

A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram

GUEST RESOURCES

RecoveryPlus.Health Website

Email: info@recoveryplus.health  

Phone number: 800-242-6221

Jenny Marin's LinkedIn

Jenny Martin's Instagram

RecoveryPlus.Health's TikTok

RecoveryPlus.Health’s Instagram

GUEST BIO:

Jenny Martin MSN, APRN, FNP-C and Chief Nursing Officer of Recovery Plus Health has years of nursing experience specializing in cardiology, pulmonary, and chronic care management. She has conducted research on improving care and bridging gaps for patients post-cardiac events as well as patients who wish to prevent cardiovascular disease. Jenny has been instrumental in developing a multi-state remote population platform to improve access to care for patients needing cardiovascular rehabilitation and in developing a program with a focus on reducing hospital readmissions. She also recently opened a clinic in New York offering cardiopulmonary exercise tests for all individuals from cardiac patients to professional athletes.

Extra! Extra!

In case you haven't heard, Jenn partnered with 3 other coaches (Amy Oldfield of Body Theory, Brandy Searcy of Feel Better than Fine, and Amelia Randolph Campbell of ARC, Inc.) to bring you the Flourish Beyond 40 Summit.  

Created to support the woman who knows there’s more to life than thinking about food and the scale!

If you're on top of her game in life...except for when it comes to the scale, this summit is not to be missed. Featuring the 4 coaches, in 5 sessions, over 15 days (meeting Fridays & Mondays, 12-1pm ET) you'll be able to fit this into your life and build the momentum to keep going after the summit. There's also a private Facebook group for you to ask your personal, specific questions at any time and the summit concludes with a panel where all 4 coaches answer YOUR questions. 

OH! And it's also only $39!! With the bonuses you also get, the total value is over $870. Register here: https://tinyurl.com/flourishbeyond40 and  Jenn will see you there!

RESOURCES:

Flourish Beyond 40 Summit Registration

Salad With a Side of Fries website

Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram

Nutrition Nugget! Bite-size, bonus episodes offering tips, tricks and approachable science. This week, Jenn's talking about anchors. Anchors can be used to help us build habits and stick to commitments that we make to ourselves. It is something that is meaningful to you that can be used to remind you of your goals and keep you on track each time you see or hear your anchor. Beware: while the intention is to find a positive anchor, there can also be anchors that can bring you to a negative place. To find your positive anchor, think of your favorite song, find a positive photo, wear a special piece of jewelry or find something else that will keep you accountable. Tune in to hear more about creating your positive anchor. Like what you're hearing? Be sure to check out the full length episodes; new releases every Wednesday.  Have an idea for a nutrition nugget?  Submit it here: https://asaladwithasideoffries.com/index.php/contact/       

RESOURCES:

Become A Member of Salad with a Side of Fries

Jenn’s Free Menu Plan

A Salad With a Side of Fries

A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch

A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram

Are you in your midlife era and noticing weight gain? Are you struggling to lose weight now that you’re over 40? Are you considering one of the weight-loss pharmaceuticals on the market to help you battle your weight? Before you turn to weight loss pills, tune into this episode to learn a better way to manage your health for the long term. 

On this episode, Jenn speaks with nutrition coach, geriatric pharmacist, and fitness pro, Amy Wilson. Amy helps women work through their midlife weight gain by focusing on stress management, sleep, and eating real food. She provides some incredible tips in this episode that anyone can start doing today to work towards achieving their best health and focus on optimal aging. Amy gives her opinion on pharmaceutical drugs such as Wegovy, Mounjaro and Ozempic, talking about how they work in the body and the side effects that are being seen already. Tune in to gain a better understanding of how your body copes with stress and how to create optimal health, no matter your age. 

The Salad With a Side of Fries podcast is hosted by Jenn Trepeck, discussing wellness and weight loss for real life, clearing up the myths, misinformation, bad science & marketing surrounding our nutrition knowledge and the food industry. Let’s dive into wellness and weight loss for real life, including drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store. 

IN THIS EPISODE: 

●  [4:38] Amy shares how she became a pharmacist and became passionate about health and wellness.

●  [12:16] What gets us so stuck losing the midlife menopausal weight gain?

●  [15:55] What is the connection between blood sugar and aging and how we are creating accelerated aging in the body? 

●  [22:55] How does stress impact our body weight? 

●  [29:44] Amy talks about dietary needs utilizing real foods.

●  [33:34] How do you incorporate weights into your fitness routine? 

●  [35:30] How does sleep impact our weight loss?

●  [38:57] As a pharmacist, what is Amy’s outlook on pharmaceuticals for weight loss such as Wegovy, Mounjaro and Ozempic?  

●  [42:30] How can fad dieting affect our bones over time? 

●  [44:00] Skinny is not healthy, skinny does not equate to happiness. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS: 

●  [13:15] Our metabolism pretty much stays the same until we are 60-65. However what we have done to ourselves with fad diets has slowed the metabolism down. 

●  [36:51] Focusing on your sleep will have huge impacts on your health. Work on creating good sleep hygiene/sleep habits by going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning. 

●  [44:00] When you are on medications to treat side effects of other medications and you have no energy or don’t feel your best, that keeps you from living your life to the fullest. When you are scared to get off these medications because you are scared that you’ll gain weight back because you think skinny is healthy, that is psychological dependence. 

●  [45:00] We have to stop thinking that skinny equals healthy or that being skinny will make us happy, because it won’t. If you are not happy now, getting to whatever weight you think you need to be at, that’s not going to open up the doors and make everything all better. You have to be happy with who you are now. Stop fad dieting! Instead, focus on your nutrition, health, and building muscle and see what happens to your quality of life. 

QUOTES: 

[12:21] “This is what’s happened, we have accidentally, not on purpose, caused our issues, and how we have done that is what we started doing when we were 16, and that was dieting. That was the fad diets, starving ourselves to get into the prom dress, to get to the wedding, to be the bridesmaid or now its high school reunions, or another wedding or an event, and we do all these fad diets. And every time you did that fad diet, I don't care what anybody says, you did not lose body fat, every single time you did it, you lost muscle.” - Amy Wilson

[16:38] “It’s not calories in, calories out. It’s quality in, quality out.” - Jenn Trepeck

[18:10] “A banana’s not bad, an apple’s not bad, it’s the other stuff that we are eating that is causing these high peaks of blood sugar. What we want is this little wave. We go up, we go down, we go up, we go down. What we’re causing is this massive roller coaster, we go up, we drop down, up and drop down, and every time we do that, we are increasing our chronic inflammation.” - Amy Wilson

"We’re having diseases of age at really young ages.” - Jenn Trepeck

[33:08] “It’s also working on those behaviors because we need to learn how to navigate life, not with food. We need to enjoy food. That’s a part of our experience, but it’s not our drug to go to for anxiety and depression.” - Amy Wilson

[42:57] “Your body is so smart. It wants to survive. It’s going to figure it out, so it’s going to get amino acids from your muscle. It’s going to get minerals from your bones. As women, that should scare the crap out of us because now you’re looking at osteoporosis, osteopenia, sarcopenia. So what I’m saying is that we’re going to see old lady disease in 35, 45, 50 year olds.” - Amy Wilson

"We have the trifecta of stress: the stress of the mental anguish of what’s going on right now…the stress of not eating…the stress of over working out without any nutrition." – Amy Wilson

[44:00] When you are on medications to treat side effects of other medications and you have no energy or don’t feel your best, how is that living? When you are scared to get off all of these medications because you are terrified that you’ll gain the weight back, because you think skinny is healthy, that is psychological dependence. So not only are we looking at muscle waste and bone disease in young women, now we are looking at a psychological dependence. Yes, it’s slow to build muscle and learn how to eat and to learn to deal with our feelings, and to dismantle these belief systems, to get strong and healthy (not skinny). It’s painfully slow, but the side effects are good. The side effects are “I can live”, they are energy, vitality, longevity. That’s what’s important.” 

RESOURCES:

Nutrition Nugget: Ultra Processed Foods

America’s Fiber Problem Episode

GMO Organic and Local Oh My Episode

Become A Member of Salad with a Side of Fries

Jenn’s Free Menu Plan

A Salad With a Side of Fries

A Salad With A Side Of Fries Merch

A Salad With a Side of Fries Instagram

GUEST RESOURCES

Amy Wilson's Website

Amy Wilson's Instagram

Amy Wilson Fitness Facebook Page

Amy Wilson's LinkedIn

Amy Wilson's YouTube Channel

Amy Wilson’s TikTok

GUEST BIO:

Amy Wilson is a Board Certified Geriatric Pharmacist, a certified fitness professional, and a certified nutrition coach using the FASTer Way to Fat Loss platform, who is disrupting the diet industry and helping her clients take their health back. 

Amy’s mission is to empower and equip her clients to take charge of their health and find balance in their lives. With over 30 years of experience, Amy specializes in developing individualized health plans that navigate through her client’s individual barriers, allowing them to be successful in their efforts. 

Amy is passionate about helping people prevent and reverse diseases with nutrition and fitness. Through her personal and professional experience, she has seen first hand how diet and exercise can change a person’s life, and how the right nutritional program can be the key to improving their health and fitness. She has seen her clients reverse their pre-diabetes, diabetes, high cholesterol, and more. She is driven to help her clients feel in control of their body and mind, while no longer feeling enslaved by their scale.