Not Eating Enough? Why So Many Women Need More Food

[0:00] When you think about food, there's a lot underneath there. There's a lot of layers, right? We have to simplify it. Like you had said, nutrition is hard. How do we make it easier? 20 years ago, I remember looking at the plate model and it's like, oh yeah, we're supposed to have fruits and veggies. But I'm not seeing that as often in clients and we can get rid of things like these fiber supplements if we're including more fiberous foods in our diet every day. Health and wellness is confusing. There's a new trend every week. Everyone's got an opinion and half the time, you can't tell what's legit and what's just good marketing. And we get it, we're in it too. Welcome to Dialed In Health. I'm Melissa Goodwin. Every episode we bring in the people who actually do this work, providers, practitioners, the experts who seek clients and patients every day. We ask the questions you'd ask if you were sitting across from them so you can find the right people, make better decisions and feel confident about what's out there.

[0:50] Whether it's peptides, gut health, water quality, ADHD, biohacking or something you've never heard of, we're covering it. So let's get into it. Let's get dialed in. (upbeat music) Welcome to Dialed In Health. Today's episode, you're in for a treat. If you're like me and you've struggled with nutrition, I don't feel like I'm dumb, but I feel like nutrition makes me feel dumb because it feels like it's very complicated. So I am super excited to have Sydney St. Clair of Let's Reach New Heights Nutrition on the show. Welcome Sydney. I am so excited to be here. Thank you for being here. So first of all, your name's Sydney St. Clair. It sounds like you should be the nutritionist of the movie stars, like Sydney St. Clair.

[1:36] It's got a great name. I was just thinking this morning, my dream client has to be some sort of pro NBA star or even a college football player. I'm like, oh, I would love that. Well, we'll have to do some marketing for you. We have Sydney St. Clair, nutritionist of the stars. There you go. We'll help you with that later. So tell us a little bit, so you have a nutrition degree. So tell us a little bit about your background and your training and why you got into nutrition. Yeah, absolutely. So I actually am, I have a teaching degree. I am a certified nutrition coach by trade, I guess. I had hired my own for, I think it was almost two years. And I was just like, I love this so much. Like I love one, obviously caring for others as a teaching degree, and then also my own.

[2:26] As a nutritionist. So I love caring for others, but I want to dig in deeper. Like there's so much more than just a macro of, okay, well, this is a carb, this is protein. So what else can we dial in with it? And how can I help others also understand their own body and their health needs too? And it's so tricky because when you think about food, there's a lot underneath there. There's a lot of layers, right? It's for some people, it's safety. For some people, it's cultural, right? There's all kinds of emotional, cultural, societal things. Where you grow up, what you grew up eating. There's a lot to dig in. How do you help people sift through all of that? I love to help people sift through it by simply figuring out what they're eating first.

[3:12] Like I won't adjust anything until I know for sure a whole week of what are we doing? Like, okay, is it, like you said, cultural. Where are we located? Do we have a grocery store within 30 minutes? Like all of those different things play a role into someone's daily food habits. And then also the safety aspect too of many women have been told, carbs are bad. Why are we eating carbs? And I'm like, no, let's eat more carbs. But the better for you carbs and adjusting the mindset that way is a huge growth difference. And there's just, there's so much around just, the crazes, the ketos, the whole 30, like there's, I mean, there's just so many different kinds of diets. I grew up, there was like the cabbage soup diet.

[3:58] I think there was, there was like some cayenne pepper cleanse, cayenne pepper and water that people were doing. This is the 80s, people were a little nuts. But yeah, I mean, there's all these different crazes and movements and there's people that swear by the carnivore diet. And, you know, so it's hard to understand a fact from fiction. How do you help people figure that out? We have to simplify it. Like you had said, nutrition is hard. How do we make it easier? And I start the basics. Are we eating protein? Are we getting fruits and vegetables in our diets? Are we eating too many supplements? Are we taking a lot that we don't even know if they're helping? So let's just cut it bare bones afterwards and figure out, okay, where's my protein coming from? Is it just shakes and barrows all day? Let's eat some meat in there too.

[4:44] Let's make sure there's vegetables on our plates and potatoes aren't bad for you, those types of things. So you're also a teacher. Yes. So we're gonna dig into all these things today. We're gonna talk about the fads of what's popular body styles and GLP ones and protein and all that stuff. But as a teacher, you see kids coming in. So this is the real, real. They don't really hide a lot. I would imagine what grade you teach again. Fifth and sixth grade. Fifth and sixth grade. So what are you seeing that kids are doing today with their diets? What are you witnessing as a teacher? There's a lot of talkies in my classroom as a teacher. I see a lot of red-dye 40. But I also see just a trend in general of there's always food. There's never a food that's keeping them full though.

[5:31] So when small-town things, FFA fruit rolls around in November, I'm buying boxes of fruit for my classroom and they're gonna eat it. These kids are eating what's put in front of them because sometimes they don't see those things at home. So like, okay, let's offer these things up and then they're more used to it and they're gonna request it. And why not let them crave some apples or grapefruit or oranges? That's such an interesting. So you said there's always food, but it's not the food that's keeping them full. Correct. So do you think that's just kids or is that adults too? A little bit of both. Absolutely. I noticed that a lot in my own clients, they're grabbing foods that are quick. They're grabbing a, like a built bar or they're grabbing a protein bar of sorts. Okay, yeah, that's supposed to keep you full, but it's, I mean, this big.

[6:18] Yeah. Let's eat an apple where it's, or an apple and a protein shake, pair it together and that's gonna keep you truly satisfied. Okay, so the satiation part of it is really important. Yes. When somebody first connects with you, what do you see over and over again as, you know, when clients come in, what are some of the patterns that you see that are pretty common, when people are, you know, mistakenly doing that they don't really understand? I think right now the most common thing that I'm seeing is under eating actual like whole food carbs. Okay, say more about that. We're so focused on protein. We had talked about this a little bit briefly before. It's protein this, but it's protein bars and protein shakes where we're forgetting fruits and vegetables on our plates.

[7:07] And when we take it back, I mean, 20 years ago, I remember looking at the plate model and it's like, oh yeah, we're supposed to have fruits and veggies. But I'm not seeing that as often in clients and we can get rid of things like these fiber supplements if we're including more fibrous foods in our diet every day. We absolutely need protein, but again, choosing those sources that are going to keep you full but still provide good health or gut health. Right. So beneficial. Okay, so when people first come and meet with you, you work with women and men, right? Yes, correct. Okay, what do they often think their problem is? And then what often is it something else? Oftentimes, oh gosh, that one's kind of tricky. Let me think on that one for a second.

[7:53] Yeah, yeah. Come on, wait a minute, huh? Because there's three different women. Okay. So when people come to me, there's three types. You have the ones that are under eating and they're like, I know, but I don't have any, I don't have those food, the hunger cues. Like I'm not hungry. So it's like, okay, well we have to rev that metabolism up. So we slowly increase that. And then I have the ones that are right on and we have to adjust what we're eating to fill those needs and truly see a change in their look or whatever we're going for, like even their energy. That's a big one. It's like, let's change our energy throughout the day. And then you have the over eaters and we just have to learn more portion sizes. And again, let's change out, okay, we're over on carbs. Change out a banana or some strawberries because they're lesser in carbs.

[8:40] Those small things that don't feel like a, oh my gosh, I have to change my whole life. No, let's just make these small adjustments that do change your life, but don't feel like you're changing everything. Right, okay. What did you think about food or what was your experience that made you want to be a nutritionist, that you now know today, there was a myth? I think my favorite myth right now, and I guess maybe that made me want to be a nutritionist. I'm not really sure if there was ever a moment or just like a really big shove towards me. Yeah. But my biggest thing at the moment is the high protein craze, that everything is protein this or protein that. And it's like, we don't have to add protein to everything. Like we don't have to suddenly have these protein cookies if we can just eat a small cookie and move on too.

[9:31] Right. I saw a picture of protein Doritos the other day. Yeah. We're gonna talk about that. I bet you're excited to see that. I'm so excited. (laughing) Okay, so let's move into the whole skinny craze because there was a point, and it came up in a previous podcast too, where someone said, I was so excited that, I was seeing women who were strong, were women with real bodies. And now, whether it's GLP ones or whether it's just like the pendulum swinging back, like it feels like skinny is back. Are you seeing that as well? People just wanting to be really thin. Unfortunately, yes. I think that it swings back and forth. You have the skinny craze and then again into the body positivity movement.

[10:16] And there's never that happy middle for the strong. Like there's always a small movement, but it's never enough to be that like this large nationwide movement. We have to be strong and we have to be able, like the skinny craze, women are losing their periods because they're so small and that's not right either. So there's, there has to be a happy middle and we need to find it. So do you think like body positivity is like gone, like we're over it? Yes and no. I think people have really started to move past it into the skinny craze unfortunately. But there, again, there has to be a middle ground to it. So where do we find a healthy body? And we can't be 90 pounds as a full grown woman, but we also don't need to be overweight either where we're having heart disease problems and those types of issues.

[11:03] Right. And I, you know, I've never watched like, not that I would, you know, judging anybody who does, but I've never seen like keeping up with the Kardashians, but I was so glad that like, like finally there's some women that have like real bodies that as an Italian with something in the trunk, I was always glad to be like, okay, that's okay now. Yeah, that's what I like, I carry my weight in my hips and like all, you know, as a woman, we all judge our bodies are, that's what we do, unfortunately, and we have to reflect sometimes, but I was saying some about it and both like Sydney, Kim K paid for hers and you're under natural. That's right, that's right. So feel good about it. Yeah, exactly. But even some of them now, like a lot of, you know, some of the sisters are a little skinnier and you're like, oh man, it's your, it does seem like the pendulum is shifting a little bit.

[11:53] Especially in Hollywood, you see the ones and it's like in their face and it's all bone and there's no true, I guess muscle density. I can't think of the woman right now who went to the film festival and she like had her arms up and I'm like, they're like, oh, her toned arms. I'm like, oh my gosh, that's just her bones. Like there are, there's no muscle to her and that's terrifying. Like osteoporosis is gonna be on the rise. Yeah, so when you think about GLP ones, do you have some of your clients that are on GLP ones that still seek your help? Like what do we, yeah, tell me a little bit about that. I do have clients on GLP ones. There are some that truly need it to kickstart their progress and we adjust their calorie intake because it's not gonna be quite the same. Their hunger cues are different now, obviously, but our primary focus is making sure we're still hitting protein goals so we can retain that muscle mass as we're still losing fat.

[12:46] With any fat loss in general, you're gonna lose some muscle with it. That's part of it, but we want to retain as much as we can with that faster fat loss. There's all kinds of issues out there, but like in terms of like people who take them and they can't lose weight, they're still not working. There's people who take them and have side effects, like they get backed up or they have other kinds of issues. They don't eat enough at all. Like they actually kind of stop eating. Yes. What would be your advice as a nutritionist if somebody, I mean, obviously, you're not giving medical advice, but somebody starts a GLP one. What would you want them to know? First thing I want them to know is there aren't gonna be the hunger cues. I hear that all the time from clients. You're just not hungry.

[13:31] Nothing sounds good. Even your favorite food does not sound good well on it. And it's like, well, that stinks because sometimes I really crave a good crab ring good or something, right? But when you're focusing or when you start that, I really need to focus on protein. Like I need my clients to focus on that protein, make sure, okay, I'm eating or I'm drinking a protein shake for breakfast. Perfect, that works well. I'm gonna have some sort of protein at lunch and I'm gonna have protein at dinner. Am I expecting them to be able to eat or consume 150 grams that day? Probably not, but I wanna make sure we have enough at those meals that we can still feel full, which you're gonna feel full anyways, but truly make a difference. Is there anything besides protein that they need to think about as well? Oh yeah, I mean, we're still making sure we're consuming the fruits and vegetables too.

[14:20] With the gut, you were talking about being backed up. Like let's make sure our gut health is still in line too because that's gonna make a difference as well. It's similar, like if someone's doing carnivore, your gut health is different. If you're only eating meats and eggs, we need to have the fiber in our system. Yeah, so protein and fiber. Yep. Anything else in terms of the GLP-1 users that you coach people on or that you see regularly that they struggle with? Not necessarily. I always encourage to make sure that we're still strength training because we wanna do that. So we have those healthy habits. Getting our steps in of some sort. Some people will come in and they have really low steps. Like are we only getting 3,000 steps a day? Let's increase that slowly up a ladder basically. I'm not expecting anyone to go from 3,000 to 10,000 in the next week because that's not gonna be sustainable long term.

[15:11] But if you're doing or using a GLP-1, I truly want someone to pair that with these healthier habits of the strength training, the walking, the healthy foods, that protein, make sure always, and then your fiber. So there's different GLP-1s. Some of them are supposedly keeping your muscle mass better than others. Is there different nutritional guidelines based on which one you're taking? As far as I know, at this point, there aren't nutritional or different nutritional guidelines. It's just more of ensuring that we're still eating the right foods. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So have you heard the term food noise? Yes. Okay. So tell me, what does food noise mean? Right now, I think food noise is just a craze. Okay. It's one of those things that we all are gonna be hungry at different times.

[15:58] Yeah. Are we bored? Are we actually hungry? Are we emotional? Those things all play a role in our body. So a lot of times, the food noise is emotional eating. Okay. So just a habit too. Like I find myself, right after lunch, we get in, I'm like, "Oh, I am so hungry for something sweet." And it's like, "Oh, but I wouldn't go eat "some like an actual carrot or a meal like that, "that I'm probably not actually hungry "and it's that habit that I've developed in my head." Okay. So really reflecting upon if you're hungry or what you're feeling, those things make a difference in food noise. And I have had many clients that once are eating like true, fulfilling meals, that the food noise kind of disappears.

[16:44] So I have this thing at night where like, I really want chocolate or something sweet and it's usually like eight or nine o'clock. And so that's one, I don't know if I call it food noise necessarily, it's just like what I want. (laughing) So how do you help people navigate things like that? I usually have them kind of lessen it. Okay. See if it goes away, so there's that one. Or replace it with something else that's sweet. Like, okay, do I need chocolate or would I eat an apple that's also sweet? No. Exactly. I don't want an apple. No, no. (laughing) Yeah, because it's like a habit at that point. I have clients that are like, yeah, I'll just take this big bowl, or they would, I hope they don't do it now. They would take this big bowl of ice cream to bed. And they have to have something to eat at bed and it's like, or at the bedside, and it's like, well, this is just a habit we've developed.

[17:34] And for me even, like I love fruit riot. I don't know if you've ever had fruit riot. What is it? Oh my gosh, it's the Lord's blessing. Okay. If you love sour things, this is like the best thing ever. So it's mango, frozen mango, with a better for you sour coating. And I have found that if I have it, I take it to bed and I eat it. But if I don't, I don't eat anything else. Like I don't eat it, it's just that habit I've developed. So I don't buy it as often. Yeah. So I have people in my life who love ice cream and they eat it at night, right? Yeah. And we'd mentioned there's some differences between men and women and they seem to be okay at night, ice cream every night. My dad used to consume a gallon of ice cream a week growing up, so we were big ice cream eaters.

[18:21] It really stinks as women because we can't really, we all get that same choice sometimes. Men's hormones are so different compared to women that yeah, it seems like if we look at that bowl of ice cream we're gaining five, 10 pounds and if they eat it, they're gonna lose those five, 10 pounds. Right. Yeah. Yeah, so some people can do that. Men's metabolisms are faster, they're different. I look at also their activity level. Like my own husband, I have put myself in a step brace with him because I know he hit so many and it's like, oh my gosh, if I did this, it would never work, but they also need more calories. Men really do need to eat more than women do. Okay. So one of the things with the skinny being back and the GLPs, women have restricted calories.

[19:08] This feels like the beginning of time, that's probably not true. But everything is always about less, right? Less fat, but in the 80s it was don't eat any fat or don't eat, there was sugar free and then it was fat free and then it was all carbs and then we're like, oh wait, no carbs. Now it's no carbs or keto or now, then there was whole 30, which I think is actually pretty decent. Yeah, that's, yeah. And that's where it gets confusing is because it just feels like it's always less, little bits or not enough. There's always a wave of something new. Right. I'm pretty sure you're right that women have always been told to eat less from the beginning of time. Right. And women coming in that are eating 1,100 calories, it's like, oh my goodness, how, like not how. You have the energy. No, exactly, and like this is why you don't have energy.

[19:54] Like you're not eating enough for your day. How do you work out for an hour, hit all of your step goals and drink your water and not feel drained by one PM and like, oh, well I do, and I'm like, oh, let's fix this. Like that is so important. From eating 1,100 to even 1,600 in that week because we're gonna gain weight. Right. So really having to work up, not only retrains the metabolism, but also retrains their brain too, that we can eat more and still not be overweight. Restricting. Yeah, we're not restricting, yeah. So how do you get someone to move from 1,100 to 1,600 and not gain weight? Are you talking like calorie wise or mental wise? Yeah, yeah, I don't know.

[20:41] I have no idea. A little bit of both, yeah, absolutely. So step by step really, I only like to increase it by around 100 calories a week. So it is a long process and that's when women, they're a little reluctant at first. I hear it quite often. I mean, because like you had said, they've been told to eat less. You don't need to eat that much or this or that. And it's like, oh my gosh, okay. But when you take it step by step, your body doesn't really notice it exactly as like a weight gain, but more of that metabolism boost, I was saying, so when we work up, we rev it up. Like it's just like an engine. Like you're just working up to, you can't go from zero to 100, which you're driving. But let's go step by step. Let's go 10 miles faster or 10 miles an hour faster every time and that works.

[21:27] How many, what percentage of the women that you work with have to eat more? Right now, I'd say a little under half actually. Oh wow. It's been a new thing, like almost a trend here lately is that a lot of my clients are not eating enough. Okay. Yeah. So I think about, have you heard of the blue zones? I'm not. Dan Buettner. So his thing is like, if you wanna eat, he would go to the places where the people lived the longest and look at their diets. And some of the places where people lived the longest, they didn't even necessarily eat a lot of meat, but they were eating a lot of lentils and beans and vegetables, all those kinds of things like Sardinia and different places in the world, like Italy, Okinawa, places where they had a lot of vegetables, things from the sea.

[22:16] Yep, the Mediterranean diet is huge. Yes, yeah. So if you've never eaten like that, if you've never eaten healthy, how do you help people move, just train their mind to get into that? Because you don't like it, it doesn't taste good. You're like, I'd rather have a piece of pizza than eat a bunch of kale or cabbage. No, I hear that all the time. They're just like, oh, it just feels so gross. And it's definitely a mental training technique almost. Okay, like I was telling you earlier, I make chicken and the crock pot every weekend and I divvy it up for the week and I don't put anything on it right away. And people are like, oh, that's gross. No, no, no, I don't put it on there because I don't wanna eat the same thing five days in a row. So let's change it up. Let's add in some buffalo sauce. Add in some barbecue, taco seasoning, different things like that where it changes it but doesn't feel like it's the same thing every day.

[23:10] But then also having to still correlate in, let's say you've never ate healthy. Let's say you've really lived off that junk food. Okay, well, there's better options now. Like I don't need a Reese's peanut butter cup when I can grab like a skinny dipped Reese's cup instead where it's made with better ingredients or can we make our own? Is that like, could we find a better for you recipe with the same things that we love? Like there's so many, like one of our favorite meals is chicken alfredo. Everyone loves alfredo. How do we make it a little better for us and still enjoy it and not make it taste like, oh, this is so much healthier but still make it taste good. Yeah, I mean, my friend and I joke, like the best foods for you are often like the poor people foods, right? It's beans, it's cabbage, it's all the things that you, you don't necessarily need a lot of eggs.

[23:56] You don't need a ton of money for all the eggs or getting a little more expensive these days. But it's just the prep and it's like you said, it's what's in front of you. And getting it ready is the pain. And there's no drive-through for apples and eggs. Oh, wouldn't that mean drive-through groceries? Oh man, it's gonna be a new business. There you go. Love that. There you go, the drive-through of the meal. And I think there's some places that are, like they do the meal preps. Not quite the same, but yeah. I think with that too is simplifying things along the lines of Walmart pickup. That saves me so much time and energy, but also money. I'm not going through Walmart thinking I need to pick this up too and oh, I forgot this, and XYZ, oh, that sounds really good.

[24:43] So now not only am I saving money because I'm sticking to my list, but I'm also not buying the junk that I see down that aisle too. Yeah, I should do that more with Target too. Oh, I love Target. Target is the worst. That's also where I'm going after, so. Oh, thanks. Be prepared. All right, so I'm curious, let's get into the protein a little bit because that's the thing right now that it feels like marketing heard, okay, just put protein on it. Yes, I think that's exactly what they heard. If you plop that word on there, it will sell, and it does. It really does. There are protein Doritos, the protein Waffles. Protein ice cream. There's protein ice cream? There is protein ice cream. I've not seen that one. Oh my gosh, yes.

[25:28] I guess I always think of the Ninja Creamies that you can make now instead too. Those are-- What is that? Oh, a Ninja Creamy? I don't know these things. You need one of those. It's amazing. You pour in the milk or whatever you want, and you can put it, I would put in a tablespoon of chocolate pudding mix, and then you have to freeze it, then so you put it into the machine and it blends it up technically like ice cream. But it doesn't have any of the extra junk in it. So it's a machine? It is a machine. It's called the Ninja Creamy. Yes. People put their protein in that, so that's when I think protein ice cream. Like, oh, that's a good idea. That's not the same. No, you can actually go. There's the grocery stores, they have ice cream. It's like 30 grams of protein in a little pint. Now, so you had a trick.

[26:13] So tell us the trick for the protein. Because I was looking at it last night, because my kid's eating it, and I'm like, I don't know if this is actually good for you. I think it's like 10%. Anyways, the ice cream had 270 calories and there was 30 grams of protein in it. Actually, that's pretty good then, surprisingly. So tell us the trick to tell me if it's high protein or not. So the high protein trick, hack, it is my go-to. I received many texts that like, oh my gosh, this changed my life because of the protein fad. You simply look at whatever grams of protein it is. So let's say it's this ice cream and it's 30, and then I look at the calories, and I just remove that last number. Usually it's a zero. And if my protein number is higher or matches, whatever the new number of calories is, that makes a high protein.

[26:58] So you would remove the zero off 270, makes it 27, and then your 30 grams is higher. So that works. What if it's 370? If it's 37-- No longer works. It's no longer works. Because the calorie number is above. So I think of peanut butter, because people love to say that peanut butter's high protein. That is fake news to whoever needs to hear that. Peanut butter is not high protein. It's like nine grams of protein for 180 calories. So if I move, take off the zero, move the decimal, whatever you wanna say, you have 18 and it's nine. So my protein number is way under 18. Sad. Right? I love peanut butter. Okay, so what do you have instead of peanut butter?

[27:43] I don't. You don't? I actually take half of it. So I'll just take a tablespoon and I melt it. And it goes so much further. Okay, so you used half the peanut butter. You still have it. I just have the peanut butter, and I cut my apple up and I'll melt my peanut butter and I drizzle it on there. And I sometimes actually have extra. It works out a lot better, and I'm happier with peanut butter. Yes, I hear you. That's a hard one to give up. So with all of the proteins, the other thing that is tricky, and this is where I'm just like, okay, I give up. If you look at peanut butter, it has a lot of fat in it. And nuts are high, I was told, high protein, but a lot of them have a lot of fat in it. So you might be thinking, you're eating protein, I'm doing the right things, and you're still gaining weight.

[28:28] You get on the scales now that tell you all your body fat percentages, and you're like, body fat's going up. And then you're like, all the things. You're just like, I'm so frustrated. And so you start to restrict more. Like that's, people like me are like, okay, I'm eating protein, I'm eating less, and I'm still gaining weight, and I'm getting more fat. The fats and proteins kind of correlate really well, unfortunately. So like you were saying, the peanut butter's always been told that it's super high protein. Nuts have always been told about that. Geez, sometimes too I hear, and then eggs, I love eggs. They're great for you, but it's only six grams of protein and five grams of fat. So if you're consuming three eggs, that's not really even a high protein breakfast.

[29:14] That's still only 18 grams of protein, but there's 15 grams of fat. I just did that. Sorry. (laughing) I thought I was doing the right thing. So with eggs, I always say, take your one egg and then add a bunch of egg whites. That helps a lot. But also the other issue that comes down to its fats versus proteins is one gram of protein is only four calories. For a gram of fat is nine. So it's double and then some. And that's where you can't consume as much fat as protein or carbs. Okay, so protein but not a lot of fat. So what are the high protein, low fat options? Because it feels like there's like cottage cheese and chicken breasts.

[29:59] And then I'm like, I'm out. Everyone wants a dry chicken breast. I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah, like sad face. Yeah, right, all the time. Lean beef, love ground beef. Like tacos, meatballs, some of our favorites. And then I also really love ground chicken though. You can make your own chicken nuggets. You can do just easy stuff with those but then season it so well. I also love lean turkey sausage. Then obviously there's chicken. There's that, the low fat Greek yogurt. What else am I missing? All the common things. Cottage cheese. Cottage cheese, yeah, low fat cottage cheese too. I say low fat just because I personally like my fats to go elsewhere. But I mean the high fat's still only 4%. So it's not that much either. How do you make sure, because it feels like, it feels restrictive when you think about like only the protein that has low fat, but it's gotta be high protein and then we gotta get fiber in there.

[30:57] There's not a lot of room. Yes, no, I am not going to, I know people, we're in South Dakota. Beef is a primary source of protein. I eat a lot of beef. I just adjust my day elsewhere too. People love to kind of overcook with oils or butter. I mean my grandma love her dearly. She loves some butter on green beans. I've had to start requesting like, please put mine on the side. Carrots, all the things. Cook them into oblivion and drown them in butter. Yes, it's just butter. So just a little less really. It changes and it still tastes good. My own husband, he's from the South and he's like Sydney, more butter. I'm like, no, not today. Are there any tricks that you use, like other spices or things to help make it interesting?

[31:49] Can you use, yeah, tell me what you do. I love G Hughes sauces. So it's just the letter G and then H-U-G-H-E-S. Like their teriyaki and their stir fry sauce. I'm pretty sure they're stir fry sauce. I remember correctly, the whole bottle itself has 20 grams of protein. And it actually hits the calorie ratio. So it's like, you're not using the whole bottle, but I'll use the whole bottle in a stir fry mix and boom, that's an extra 20 grams there. So the stir fry sauces, those are great. Their ketchup, they have a great lineup of all the things in salad dressings. Again, in South Dakota, we love ranch. Oh yeah, well everywhere. How do you not? Yeah. But I won't ever-- It's a national treasure. Really, it's like they need to make a new USA salad dressing like our national bird.

[32:40] No, it's our national salad dressing. But I won't divvy away from that, but I will everything else. So if I'm not needing as many fat calories, I'll instead find a dressing that I don't enjoy as much, but I still like. So like a balsamic or something like that where I'm not looking for that same craving hit that I would receive from a ranch. So how do you make a plate when you think about like, okay, I need to make lunch or dinner. What do you make sure, what's like your general rules for men and women? What needs to be on that plate? Let's just start going back a little bit here. What do I take out for the week actually? And I don't always, like I was, again, I don't always meal prep. I don't always do that, but I do have a plan of some sort. And I can simply be that I took out four different proteins for the week.

[33:28] So I took out hamburger. I took out some steaks or I took out chicken or salmon or shrimp, something, and that's where I start. So when you say take out, this is like-- Out of the freezer, sorry. Okay, got it. Out of the freezer. So I would take that out of the freezer. It's already, I put it in, I have this bowl that I've labeled my protein bowl, like this, and I set it all in there. So it's thawing out in the fridge and that makes it just easier. I don't have to think, I can't be like, "Oh, well, we have nothing taken out of the freezer for dinner, so what are we gonna do?" Nope, I have something ready. And it's just, now what do I do with it? So when I'm actually building my plate, I'm first looking at my protein and then I'm looking at if there is a vegetable or even a fruit of some sort on there. And do I need a little bit more to keep me full?

[34:15] Is there, do I need that starch? Do I need that rice or that potato or something along there just to keep me more satisfied throughout the day? So you're not an anti-potato person. Oh, I make a lot of mashed potatoes in the winter. I mean, they don't have to be full of butter and cream cheese or whatever. We use Greek yogurt in there, some Fairlife milk and it's just watching your portion sizes. Again, you don't need to have four cups of mashed potatoes on your plate. So if you're someone who doesn't eat a lot of beef and you're a beans or lentils, what kinds of, I mean, how much protein is in a can of beans? Like, I don't even know. Oh, I don't even know that one offhand. Yeah. Cause I usually throw in like beans and stuff like into soups, traditional protein.

[35:02] And that helps, but then I still wanna add in other like chicken or something else in there too, just because beans can't always carry that protein the same that meat does. So if there is a vegetarian in the mix of somebody, what do you, how do you advise them? We have thrown in more of the tofu option, those types of things. Vegetarian, remind me, vegetarian eggs are no eggs. I can't remember on that one. I think eggs, yeah. Yeah, so then we throw in egg whites if they're able to, those types of things. Maybe not, I don't know. I can't remember anymore. Clearly I'm not. I know, I'm like, I've worked with a few and I'm just like, oh, I feel so bad for you, really? There's the pescatarian, I think that does you like chicken and eggs, maybe that's it. I have a cousin, she lives in Seattle and she's like, yeah, I had a vegetarian friend because she thought raising beef was so bad.

[35:53] And then she had actually converted her to eating beef because she had brought beef from our house to her. Oh, sure, it is different. Yes, yeah. When you get it from the Midwest. Oh, so different. Okay, so as you get older or younger, so you've got kids that you work with every day, that are in fourth and fifth grades, you've got people that as you get older, your nutritional needs change too, like there's menopause and there's, as you get 70s and 80s, what changes in a protein, fiber, anything that we should be aware of from that perspective? Do I need to add more protein or less protein as I age? As you age, primarily you need to eat less actually. Just because I think you're kind of not as active. Like I, like my own grandparents, even 20 years ago, they weren't, they're way more active than they are now.

[36:41] So you just need less nutritional foods, I guess, in front of you, but you still need to focus on having those things that you're on your plate at your table in your house so you can grab them, right? So making sure that we're still hitting primarily around that 100 grams of protein a day for those older folks and even us as younger too, we still need at least that. And that's a hard thing for a lot of people. Yeah, 100 grams of protein feels insane to me. It really does. And it's not always as hard what we think. Okay, okay, I have some snacks here that I took out of my-- Your cupboard. Cupboard this morning. So I'm, it's okay, you can judge me. You can tell me if these are good or bad. I love this, it says protein packed. It's Kodiak and they're so good and it's cookie butter.

[37:26] Tell me. I've actually never had this, so I'm extreme. You haven't? No, no. Oh, it's the best. So actually ingredient wise, this is not that bad at all. Okay. Like the first one is roll-outs as it should be in a granola, but protein packed. So 17 grams per serving, it's two thirds of a cup, which actually is a pretty large serving of granola. I don't ever measure it, I just eat what I want. Don't do that. (laughing) You can't measure, but we don't know. Oh yeah, that's true. Okay. 17 grams protein, 270 calories. So it is quite caloric. Okay. For what it's-- It doesn't meet that high protein. Yes, it does meet the high protein in it. It does have protein. So it might be a good boost in terms of like, if you're adding it to like an Oico's yogurt.

[38:12] Okay. It'd be 37 grams of protein. It should keep you pretty full, especially then if you added in some berries too to just make it last a little longer. Add some fiber in there. Yeah, add some fiber. Okay. Add some, yeah. All right. Not bad. Not that bad. All right, the top's open, so tell me, grape nuts, good or bad? Grape nuts, it's like just wheat, barley. I mean, it's just a carb source, really. So just straight up carbs. Just straight up carbs. And it's got fiber, right? Yeah, seven grams. Is it enough fiber? Because it is from the wheat, it is fiber. I mean, it's seven grams per serving, so half a cup, that's good per serving, actually. How much fiber do you need? Around, I usually, people start with 25. Okay. 25 to 35 and not from sources of like, I had a client one time, she was like, "Yeah, I eat this bagel and I have 30 grams of fiber." And I'm like, it's not the same as eating it from something like oats or fruits and vegetables, yeah.

[39:08] Okay. Yeah. So 25 grams of fiber but not from carbs? Not from like fake sources, like for lack of better words right now. Okay, when they add fiber in. When they're adding it, like I think of like the carbless or the low carb like mission balanced tortillas. I'm not counting that towards my fiber. I'm looking for more of it from like the rolled oats, my fruits and vegetables, like an apple, it fixes so many problems a day. And I know that the apple day keeps the doctor away and it's like, man, why is this so true? Like you really do feel better. This is my favorite, the old Triscuits. So I'm gonna tell you this is my favorite snack is Triscuits and melted cheese. Cause like I'm a poor kid from the eighties, that's what we did. I love Triscuits actually. And they're not like, look at the ingredients.

[39:57] It's just whole grain wheat. I mean, canola oil isn't great for you, but sea salt, sugar, onion powder, dried garlic, poppy seeds, natural flavor. They do hide some stuff behind that. And then vinegar, like you could eat so many worse things than these. And I think they have a, like a pickle one or something. They have all kinds of flavors that are amazing. My grandma had them. I don't know. So she's like, you have to try this. I'm like, okay. So I looked and like, okay, these actually aren't that bad. And then I had it. It was probably my favorite thing I've had in a while. So Triscuits and cheese, good or bad. What should I be eating with instead? I would add some protein. Like I did some lunch meat, throw it on lunch meat, little piece on there. All right. Like cheese crackers and meat. One of my favorite things actually, just because it's like, you feel like you're having the charcuterie board at your house and you're not as fancy as the well-known home version.

[40:51] I like it. Okay. Now this one, this is the, so it comes in the organic section, the health section of the grocery store. Tell me what you think. My seven year old loves these. I'm sure it's going to be awful. You tell me about the leap and lemurs. I mean, they are a better for you option of cereal. But still bad. I mean, not really, no. I mean, with any cereal, you're not looking for protein. You're not looking for those types of filling things. You're just looking for the cereal. Okay. What should you eat with it to make it better? If you're going to send your kid off eating cereal, what should you eat with it? This sounds really weird, but put it with yogurt. Like as your granola, you have some cereal.

[41:37] So instead of milk? You can put milk still. I mean, like the fair life milk has 13 grams for eight ounces, so that's still protein and that works well. But I love the crunch of it in the yogurt. I don't feel like it gets stale, soggy when it's in the milk. Okay. Like it is in the milk. All right, well, this is good. So far, so good. Yeah, you're really not doing bad. Yeah, we're not doing bad. Tell me about these things, because they're all over target. These are the green apple. It looks disgusting. So is this, there are better options than this brand. Okay, tell me why. Only because you can find, they're not go-go squeeze, primarily, but other applesauce options like these that only have apples in them. Okay, what does this one have in it? This one has apples, apple juice, and then it has like the xanthan gum, bean gums, and I just prefer to stay away from them.

[42:28] It's like less than 2%, but if I can find a better option, that's gonna taste good still, why not? What do those gums do? They're just not great for your gut health. Okay. In moderation, it's like, okay, if I have an Alani once a week, I'm doing okay, but if I'm having an Alani every day, I probably don't need the sucralose every day type of thing. Right, okay, that's good to know. Less, there's not drinks or a whole other thing, and I didn't have a ton of drinks in my thing, but there's so many out there that, and I've noticed lately, especially with the advent of like Olipop and the gal who sold, is it Poppy? Yes. Now there's like a thousand of them, and some of them, like you think it's good, and then you look over and it's like, oh, it still has 120 calories, so does Coke, right?

[43:15] Exactly, yeah, or my diet Coke has zero. Like what, really, like do I have to give it up if it has? Yeah, so tell me what your stance on, like this is one drink, but tell me just in general. Yeah, I, if you are a avid, let's say you're a Mountain Dew drinker or a doctor, whatever, switch to diet first. Okay. And they're like, well, that doesn't taste as good. Okay, well that really stinks, but a can of that is, or 20, I don't even know, it's like 200 calories, like it's insane, but then throw in the sugar aspect. Right. Like the amount of added sugar in those drinks is through the walls. It's the same as a fancy coffee from a shop now. Like I don't need 30 grams of sugar in one drink, let alone one day. Yeah. So I mean, that's a whole different dynamic as well.

[44:01] Yeah, like the coffee drinks. Oh man. Especially now there's cold foam, which the cold foam is like straight up whipped cream sugar stuff. It's a whipped cream, then you throw in more syrup and it's like, oh, nice. Yeah, that's a lot, okay. So you have that and then you still have the soda people that are consuming all of that. And then you still have, I'm sure, I guess I haven't looked at a rock star or a monster can lately, but I'm assuming those probably have added sugar too, because they're not looking for the marketing of zero sugar. But like the Spin Drifts, the Poppies, the Ollie Pops, I can't even think of the other brand I'm looking at right now in my mind, they still have that fizz that you're craving that you're looking for. And I like those a lot actually. Just not 10 of them. Just not 10 of them, no.

[44:46] Yeah, we don't need 10 of them. Like I work with a company called Just Ingredients where it's literally bare bones, just whatever is just needed in there, the just the ingredients is what they have. And they have these sparkling electrolytes and Beau will have one of those and he goes, yeah, but I would eat or I would drink four of them if I could or if I, because I don't need to. So he's like, I have to keep it to one because it hits that craving of a pop. So what's your favorite energy? Like, cause you do kind of, I mean, a lot of us get kind of a midday, lean a little something. So many people reach for a rock star or a red bull. So there's like the coffee people and then there's the red bull people in the morning. And then there's like the afternoon, same thing. What do you tell people to do? So again, I work with a company called Just Ingredients and they have this new thing, it's Brain and Energy Boost.

[45:36] I love them. It tastes just like a soda should or feels like it should. But it has the natural vitamins. So it's going to give you this kick that's not, your heart's not palpitating through your chest. Like you're not shaking, you don't have any of that. It's this natural occurring thing that you don't even think about. Like you don't feel it happening, which is what I love because it just slowly comes on and then I have energy to make it all day. But in that same drink, it's naturally boosting your own vitamins in your body so you don't need them as often. Like when I first got my case, I think it was like four days in a row, I had one because it tastes good for one. But after that, I didn't need them every day. I reached for one maybe twice a week and it's almost just that flavor that I'm craving.

[46:25] So if there's somebody out there watching and they're like really struggling and they're like, I know I wanna make some changes. What's the first change you would tell them to make to have better nutrition, better, yeah. I think the first thing you have to do is know what you're consuming. Like generally know what you're consuming. I know everyone's like, I don't wanna track my food. That's fine, but not tracking your food is like driving your car without a speedometer. We don't know where to go or not where to go. We don't know how fast we're going. So we don't know if we're going onto the speed limit or if we're going over the speed limit. So how can we adjust that without first knowing what we're eating? So start there for a week, understand what you're consuming and then we look at what our fillers are.

[47:11] Like, okay, my eating or drinking three shakes or three bars a day, maybe I switched that out where I can have something more fulfilling. Or, oh, I didn't eat a vegetable for four days in a row. Maybe we should adjust something here. Those small things like that. Yeah, what's the craze right now that you, what's something you see on the shelf that if you could get rid of it, if you had a magic wand, you could zap it. What would it be aside from the protein Doritos? Oh, I can get rid of anything on the shelf, just in general. Yes, you see people eating all their drinking all the time. You're like, it's the worst thing for you. Stop doing this. Quest, oh, I probably shouldn't say that. I really probably shouldn't say that. Premier protein and Quest. Okay, because? They have been around for years. Absolutely. They have the worst ingredients.

[47:58] If you look at what is in one of those drinks, it is a mile long. Okay. Yeah. And they're marketed as healthy, right? Yes, absolutely. Protein drinks. I mean, they're in the health section. Yeah. So it's like, why are we over here when you have ingredient lists as long as Doritos? Yeah, so protein bars in general, are there any good ones that you would recommend? Yes and no. It depends on what you're looking for, truly. It's a very weird ground to kind of walk on, which is why I avoid them. Because you can't find a great made protein bar with the ingredients that are good for you, that aren't gonna be higher in carbs and protein. Because they're sourcing it from more of that P protein and those types of things. Where something like a built bar, which is still not bad, is gonna have some of those extra added ingredients to make it last longer.

[48:48] Okay. Yeah. Now, last thing, well, it's not the last thing. Collagen powder bars, protein powder, is any of it good? Is any of it worth it? Oh, absolutely. I take collagen daily. And I actually, I do count it towards my protein goal. Is it a complete protein? Does it have everything to be called the complete? Yeah. But it works. It's something that still increases. I think my joints feel a lot better with it. I feel more flexible. I'm able to get deeper in my stretches. And then again, the bars and the shakes, absolutely. They all have a place, for sure. And it's one of those things that's so easy to grab and take with you, that I'm gonna encourage that. But we shouldn't base our entire day off of one of those. Four of those. Well, the other thing is, when you see a protein powder, there's like a thousand different kinds.

[49:35] And there's clear protein. Like you said, pea protein, bovine protein. How do I know what to get and what is the best? That just depends on your body, too. I personally, my body does not react well to a whey protein. So I take a bovine, a bone broth protein. And I love that. If you're drinking protein and your stomach hurts 20 minutes, we probably should switch what we're consuming there. Cause it's not working for you. Okay. So it's not necessarily like this is better. It's just whatever works for you. And how do you find out what works for you? How do you know if it's not working with your body? Trial and error, unfortunately. Like, are you, again, having to use the restroom within 20 minutes, is your stomach gurgling at you? That's not gonna work. Are you bloated? Are you backed up? All of those things play a different role.

[50:20] Okay. So if someone, one of the things with, especially a lot of women, you know, we've been told to eat less. We've been told like, now it's like not calories, now it's protein. And like, what do you actually tell people to count? If anything. All of it. That sounds really hard, cause it is. But we don't start with all of it. We, again, start with knowing what we're consuming. And then I want to focus on protein. And then we focus on those fruits and vegetables and we can, we make those small changes. So it doesn't feel like it's all at once. And you're like, oh my gosh, how can I do this? Well, we can't make that many changes at once. That's not sustainable. So just those small switches over time. Okay. So tell me, let's reach new heights. What is the, how'd you come up with a name?

[51:08] And how do people work with you? I, so I'm a woman with many hats and I love to be busy. I had started my own graphic design business, which I still do. And that was let's reach new heights, websites and designs. And I'm like, I want them to correlate because I really do feel like everything I do, obviously is my life. So I want them to be together. And I took that and I'm like, no, it's just nutrition, but it applies so much to nutrition in terms of we're reaching different barriers. We're reaching new heights of, we can still have a cookie. We can still eat a piece of grandma's pie because it's grandma's pie. And not have to have 12 cookies or the whole pie and learning the moderation. And I feel like it's reaching a new height in your own goals. Okay.

[51:54] So do you do work with people remotely? Do you, is it in person? What does that look like? Both, unfortunately, I live almost in the middle of nowhere, it feels like. So most of it is virtual, but then my clients are on the area we do meet in person too. Okay. So someone's interested in connecting with you. Tell us how they find you. They can find me at let's reach new heights nutrition on Facebook or Instagram. And then sydney at lrnhnutrition.com for an email. All right, well, thank you so much for being on the show. Thanks for being kind about my snacks. I'm very partial to them. And it is, it can be hard because like you think something by itself might not even, might not be bad if you pair it with something like you said. This isn't the worst thing, it doesn't have enough, but maybe mix it with something else.

[52:42] And that's the nuance. I think that's very hard for many of us to understand those different rules. I'm a chemistry major, it feels like it is chemistry. It really is, yeah. So it feels like a whole different, yeah. You have to understand all of those nuances and your own body, which is different too. Yes, the understanding of our own body is a huge mountain, I think in itself. And like I have a client and she's like, I had at first realized that I wasn't resting enough. And then we can work on nutrition. And we had to cover that mountain first and then we got to the nutrition. That's amazing. Well, thank you again for being on the show, for driving all the way up here. And we'll make sure if you're watching on YouTube, we'll put the link to Sydney's business and how to connect with her in the show notes. So if you click on the description, you can find her there.

[53:29] So thanks again, I really appreciate you kind of demystifying all of this nutrition stuff for us today. It has been so much fun. Yes, thanks for being on the show. Hey, that's our show. If someone came to mind while you were listening to this, if you thought, hey, my sister needs to hear this or I should send this to my mom or my buddy would get a lot out of this, please share it with them. Just hit the share button and send it their way. You never know what one conversation, one episode or one piece of information can do for someone who's been looking for answers. And if you haven't subscribed yet, please do it now. It takes two seconds, it's free. And it means you won't miss an episode. We've got incredible stuff coming up and I don't want you to miss any of it. And if you're a health and wellness provider and you want to be on the show, we'd love to hear from you. There's a link in the show notes to get in touch.

[54:14] We're always looking for people doing interesting work who want to share what they know. And one last thing, I get asked all the time about the products and brands I actually use. So I've put together a list of sponsors and favorite products that have worked for me and my family. If you're curious, that link is in the show notes too. Thank you for being here. And I really mean that. I'm Melissa Goodwin, the line is open. See you next time.