The Alpha Male Podcast: The Ultimate Diet, Workout, and Lifestyle Guide to Live a Masculine, Healthy and Happy Life

STOP Eating Wrong: Protein, Fat, & Carb Mistakes EXPLAINED | Alpha Male Podcast

• Gregg & Heather Krause • Season 1 • Episode 13

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Understanding Proteins, Fats & Carbs | Nutrient Timing, Weight Loss & Muscle Gain Tips:

In this episode of the Alpha Male Podcast, hosts Gregg Krause and Heather Krause dive deep into proteins, fats, and carbs — breaking down nutrient timing, meal planning, and sustainable dieting strategies. Learn the difference between lean and fatty proteins, how to rotate foods to prevent allergies, and how to optimize your nutrition for muscle gain, weight loss, and overall health. From managing sugar cravings to understanding the truth about farm-raised fish, this episode is packed with actionable tips for men and women looking to build muscle, lose fat, and create a realistic diet that fits their lifestyle.

Timestamps:
00:00 - Welcome to the Alpha Male Podcast
00:57 - Diving Deeper into Diet and Macros
01:29 - Understanding Lean vs. Fatty Proteins
04:38 - Protein Intake Recommendations
07:20 - The Importance of Protein in Weight Management
18:30 - Quality of Protein Sources
20:18 - The Truth About Farm-Raised Fish
25:05 - Exploring Fats: Types and Benefits
35:09 - The Peanut Butter Dilemma
35:58 - European Food vs. American Food
39:43 - The Impact of Carbs and Fats on Your Diet
41:55 - Managing Sugar Cravings and Diet Pitfalls
44:48 - Optimizing Carbs for Workouts
50:27 - Balancing Diet for Muscle Gain and Fat Loss
55:36 - Practical Tips for Sustainable Dieting
01:10:00 - Final Thoughts and Viewer Q&A

Heather:

Hi guys, and welcome to another episode of the Alpha Male Podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Heather Krause,

Gregg:

and I'm the others. I get Greg Krause, or Father, thanks for joining us today. We're going to continue on with the topic from Lance Week and got a few questions that were sent into us, which we appreciate, so we'll take it from there.

Heather:

Okay. Pull your mic up just a little bit. Yeah, there you go. So we got, um, a few questions on diet and it just seemed like to, we should probably go a little bit further in to it. Um, 'cause we talked about last week we talked about macros and, um, you know, fats, proteins, carbs, um, and a little bit of alcohol. Um, and there's just so much more you can dive into. We were trying to give, you know, just kind of an overview, um, but we decided what, you know, what the heck and kind of dive more into it,

Gregg:

especially since we started getting questions.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

And one of 'em was what's the difference between lean and fatty protein?

Heather:

Yes. So, you know, there, there's all different types of protein out there. Um, we are gonna stick primarily toward meat, um, versions because again, we just aren't really big proponents of anything vegetarian. Um, you know, and we, to be honest, we don't really know a whole lot. In that world. Um, 'cause like I said, we've, neither of us have ever, we've tried every diet under the sun probably except being a vegan and vegetarian. So, yeah. So with that said, um, with meats, you know, you have your more lean proteins, um, you have your more fatty proteins, you have like your lighter proteins meaning like easier to digest. So like, so let me just back up. Like your lean proteins are like your chicken, chicken breast, I should specify,

Gregg:

right? And skinless.

Heather:

Yes. Thank you. Um, skinless, um, definitely. And, um, let's see, you have Turkey, but that, all that Turkey can, um, vary in how the fat content. So you do wanna pay attention to the percentage. Um, there's flank steak is,

Gregg:

yeah, I was gonna back you up with the Turkey. The darker meat is usually the fattier meat.

Heather:

Yes, absolutely. So. Light Turkey. We have chicken breast. Um, you have flank steak that has basically no fat in it. If you look at it. Um, it's super lean cut and you can definitely tell the difference when you eat it. It's definitely a tougher meat. Um, I believe venison is, I'm not a big venison eater, but I believe that's pretty lean

Gregg:

Root spread is wild.

Heather:

Yes. Mm-hmm. And then a lot, all your white fishes are gonna be, um, super, super lean proteins. So in like salmon is where you start to get into the fattier of the fish.

Gregg:

Correct. And I like to eat ground meat 'cause obviously with my situation it's easier for me to digest it. So what I look for so that I get a little bit leaner ground meat, which I usually try to get grass fed, which is healthier. Um, I usually look for 90, 92, 90 6%, um, ground. Beef. Now sometimes if they only have the 85, what I do when I cook it up, I drain the fat off of it. So that way it really knocks it down quite a bit. The fat content of the meat?

Heather:

Yes. And now I'm the opposite. And this is like an example of, um, you eat more carbs during the day. I tend to do a higher fat, lower carb diet, so I will go 85 and keep the meat or keep the fat rather and actually sometimes even add some fat to it. So, um, I'm definitely a fat eater and I'm just not a big carb person, so I've been known to even put like olive oil on my 85% meat.

Gregg:

Yeah. Well, before we get into the fats with the proteins, people ask, how many grams should I eat per day? Now I know the. That be, say, one gram per um, 2.2 pounds of your body weight, which to me is way too low.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

I believe you should eat at least one gram per pound of body weight. And we touched on this a little bit. If you weigh 250 pounds, that'd be 250 grams of protein split up amongst your meals. Mm-hmm. Now, if that 250 pounds ain't exactly rock hard and you're trying to get down to like two 10, then I would probably set my protein around two down two 20. So that would help in the calorie reduction to get you down to the weight that you want.

Heather:

Yes. And just to make a point, um. What, even if, you know, if you're trying to lose weight, protein is so important that even when in my competing days when it two weeks out, I'm still eating a pound per body weight and I'm actually eating a little bit over that, like slightly over. So you mean

Gregg:

a gram

Heather:

or a gram? I'm sorry. A gram, yes. Per pound. Um, and that's like even in my like leanest and we're still trying to, you know, like shave off pounds at that time. So it really does play a huge part in gaining, like gaining weight gain, like gaining good weight muscle wise. But it's very important to also keep it in when you're trying to lose weight

Gregg:

and it really helps curb your appetite where it makes you feel full a little bit longer. And between fat, carbs, and protein. Protein burns, more calories being digested. Other,

Heather:

yeah, I was just gonna say that than the other too. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So definitely if you're trying to lose weight, which is probably most of you, um, out there listening, that is you, you want to eat a high protein. You don't, do not wanna start cutting that until, I mean, I don't even know if you ever should, you know, like I don't really, unless it's insanely high, um, that you're eating. But I would keep it as high as I could.'cause your metabolism's gonna be higher right.

Gregg:

Within reason.

Heather:

Yeah. Like don't go 500 grams and Yeah. You're worth some people a buck 50. Yeah. Yeah.

Gregg:

But now when you're setting up, whether you're trying to gain weight, lose weight, maintain weight, this is where I. I would keep the protein pretty much the same for all three categories. Unless, once again you're two 50 trying to get down to two 10, then I would cut your protein down 2 10, 2 20 ish. Um, but with the other two macros, fat and carb, that's where that comes into play, depending on what you're trying to do.

Heather:

Yes, because you should be eating protein in every meal basically. And also, I, one other thing I wanna say, um, with protein, because I, with a lot of like the counters, the calorie counters or the, I should say like the macro counters are big. Um, now a lot of people use'em, it be aware that they will count, like, like if you put like two cups of broccoli in there, you're gonna have protein show up. So it's like the protein that's in the broccoli. And one thing that I do is. Like in a lot of them you can categorize them like breakfast, lunch, dinner, like what the, where the foods are. I like to put like, not what my meals are in there, but I'll put like all my pro my meat proteins, like basically protein. Um, I'll put them in my breakfast and then like all my carbs I put in my as a lunch category. And then, um, I think I group fat with protein.'cause I, it doesn't really come into play in this. Um, but I, so I separate out my carbs, vegetables, and proteins because it'll, they'll usually kick out like breakfast. You have, let's just say 120 grams of protein. I know that those are real complete pro, that's my real complete protein number because then lunch, when you factor in the, it'll say like, for your, my lunch, you know, food, which is all my carbs and my vegetables, it might say like 40 grams of protein. I know that that's not real like protein because it's not complete, because it's made up of all kinds of, you know, like random stuff. Like maybe two grams from a sweet potato, 10 grams from a cup of broccoli, you know, all the incomplete. So my total is both of those combined. And had I not broken them up, I wouldn't know how much my true protein number is. Does that make sense?

Gregg:

Yeah. Now in my situation, I eat protein at every meal and it's complete protein. And just to make sure, sometimes I'll even take Amino as a drink, the essential amino ASA drink.

Heather:

Oh, that's a good idea. To kind of complete anything that's incomplete.

Gregg:

Right? So just in case, but usually I'm always getting complete protein. Mm-hmm. But I know if I have to get somewhere quick in the morning. I'll drink some amino acids right then and there because that'll help replenish my body. Mm-hmm. After sleeping all night and I'm also getting water in me.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

Which is good to hydrate. And that'll be another topic.

Heather:

Well, uh, was you, um, talking about amino acids in the morning. I, a lot of people that I know like to work out in the morning, especially, you know, like before work, um, and they don't usually eat in the morning. And one thing I would suggest, like if you're just, obviously you don't wanna eat a big breakfast and then go lift. Um, and a lot of times people are pressed for time in the morning because they have to do it before work. I would drink, I would recommend. Putting amino acids in your water may maybe even double scoop it, you know, so you're drinking maybe half of it on the way to the gym and then you can finish it as you're lifting.'cause they don't forget that amino acids, they're not like a protein powder. I know a lot of people don't like, um, to drink protein shake, you know, before, right before they lift or during, um, during their lift. But this, it's like super thin, like, I don't know how else to describe it. It's basically like a Kool-Aid. Um,

Gregg:

it's pretty digestive.

Heather:

Yeah, pretty much. So it's not gonna have like that heaviness on your stomach like a protein powder does. So it's really easy to drink on the way to the gym.

Gregg:

And by the way, with our clients, we recommend if you're gonna train early in the morning and not be able to eat, then eat a little bit bigger last meal of the day. So that way. It'll be digested and you will burn that for energy because whatever you try to mix up the drink to add in there, whether it's a protein shake or oatmeal, whatever, it isn't gonna be digested by the time you're lifting weights, if you're eating it on the weight to the gym.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

So I would rather, we would rather you eat it, you know, at eight, nine o'clock at night before you go to bed or in this way it's digested and it's ready to go that you got your stored gly gym

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

That you can use while you're training.

Heather:

Mm-hmm. No, I definitely agree with that. And then even too, if you wanted a little bit of carbs, you can always throw a little bit of, um, cyclic dextrin in there too, like with your amino acids. Again, it's not, it's a. Tad thicker than amino acids, I would say, but by no means like a protein powder at all.

Gregg:

Right. It's a fast acting

Heather:

carb.

Gregg:

Yeah. That's basically predigested, for lack of a better term. Mm-hmm. Gatorade, I, we really don't like.

Heather:

No.'cause

Gregg:

it's like too much going into your intestines and it's not as good as the turrin, that stuff.

Heather:

No.

Gregg:

So I would stay away from that.

Heather:

Yeah. And there's chemicals in it too. I mean, it's, I don't think it's a good product at all, personally. Um, there's so many better, like, electrolyte drinks out there too. Um, I mean, I know Gatorade provides you sugar and stuff, um, but if you, like, if you did amino acids, a little bit of like electrolytes and little bit of citric sick, like dextrin, um, like way better of a product than Gatorade ever is. Correct. Very

Gregg:

good on that.

Heather:

Um, so do you think we got protein covered and you wanna move on to fats or carbs or do you have anything else to

Gregg:

Yeah, I would just, once again, I know some people ask me, well, if I want to gain weight and I eat like three, 400 grams of protein, it's like that's in a very expensive weight gain. Um, to go pile that and try to get all that digested in your stomach. So I would stick to the one gram per pound or 1.2 grams per pound of body weight.

Heather:

And that it's hard to, to get all that. Like, I think some people too, like, they don't realize how much you have to eat to like even come in like the two 50 range a day. Like that takes effort. Um, you're eating more than a couple times a day,

Gregg:

right? So if you weigh 200 pounds, you are looking at roughly 200 to 240 grams of protein. If you eat five times a day, you are roughly eating about 45 grams per meal.

Heather:

Mm-hmm.

Gregg:

Of protein.

Heather:

Well, I'm saying like, when the people are like, oh, should I eat like 304? Like, they don't realize how much, like actually if to what it takes to get to them. Like three, you know, if you were to said yes to them, they're gonna, and then when they read a diet, they're gonna go, holy shit. Because I know it's definitely difficult when I have to write, um, diets for bodybuilders and, you know, their numbers are obviously higher than the average person with the protein. And it's, I'm like, you know, wow, they're gonna. This meal's gonna be a little bit of a struggle, getting it all down. Um,

Gregg:

but once again, that's why we try to mix it with different things. So it's easier to digest.

Heather:

Yes. And well, speaking of, actually, I, I actually have a couple more things with the protein now that I think about it, um, with digestion. So red meat is always gonna take longer to, to digest than like your fish or your chicken. So after you're done lifting, and actually too, before you, you lift. So if you're eating something right before you lift, you wanna go with something lighter that's gonna digest faster because you have a shorter period of time between your workout and your meal.

Gregg:

And if I may just say all that blood goes to your stomach to digest. Mm-hmm. And it's not going, if you were draining legs or just. The blood isn't going in those areas as much yes as we would like it to.

Heather:

And the same goes for when you, you're sleeping. So if you're eating a huge meal right before you go to bed, like right before you go to bed, um, all your blood's gonna go to your stomach and all your energy to digest that. And it's not gonna go to repair everything. So also keep that in mind the next time, you know, like if you go to eat, I would definitely go on the lighter side, um, the later, like closer to bedtime it is. Um, and then, but if you are going, if you eat, like let's just say you eat at noon and your workout's not until like one 30, then you could eat some red meat because that's gonna, you know, take slower to digest. And that's going to, like, by the time it's kind of like your food's like ready to go, it's gonna be closer to your workout and you're gonna be okay and that's gonna give you the energy and you're not gonna need necessarily another meal. Whereas if you ate something that was quicker to digest, um, let's say like a fish, you might. Be hungry at like, you know, an hour and a half later and you might need a little boost before you worked out. So keep that in mind when you pick your proteins. Um, that's just something extra to, to think about.

Gregg:

Right. And that's where, once again, later in the day, I usually try to work out around Dinnerish in the morning. This way the rest of the day I am able to get all my proteins in and I'll eat a breakfast about three hours before I'm ready to lift in the morning. Um, this way that's all digested for me ready to go.

Heather:

Yeah.'cause otherwise if you eat too clo or your food's not digested, like yes, like you said, all your blood's gonna be, um, focused on your stomach, but you're also just gonna be kind of sluggish, you know, too. You're not gonna perform very well in the gym. The next thing I wanna talk about too is mention is the quality of protein, like you mentioned, grass fed. Um, there is a difference, and it is important because, so grass fed and like the best is grass finished because obvious, like with all these like different labels and everything, obviously some companies try to cut costs, but make it, you know, sound great and whatever. So a lot of things will say grass fed, but I believe it's like, um, they can technically put grass fed on there when. Like the, like up until the last six months before they kill the cow and slaughter it, then they can switch to grass. Or not gra I'm sorry, grain. Um, and I mean, god knows what else they feed it, but to fatten it up in the last six months and then they can, but they can still put grass fed on there. So you still have that, it sounds great, but you still have the cow that ate, um, grains. And the reason to, to back up why it's important is the fat profile actually changes. So when some, like cows are meant to eat grass in the wild and um, like they don't eat grain in the wild, that's like a farm, like a manmade farming thing that happened and red meat is actually very beneficial for you. Um, and it has a really good Omega-3, omega six ratio to it,

Gregg:

which you wanna explain that real quick?

Heather:

You know what, why don't we go back into when we were doing fats, so like just, and then, so then the um. It changes, that ratio becomes less, um, bene like or less desirable I should say, um, and beneficial to you when they change to grain. So the best thing is grass fed and grass finished. It is harder to find. Um, so keep that in mind when you're looking. And then with Fish Farm raised is terrible and, okay, so I saw this, I saw this video on Instagram that like freaked me out. So they are now vaccinating fish. Okay. And you're, they're not doing that in the ocean. So like the um, wild cod, they're doing it in these fish farms. They ba and you're like, I'm sure you're thinking, how the hell do you vaccinate a fish? Well, what they do is they like. Put, they stun 'em and they put them on this like belt and then they like zap 'em. It's almost like, I wanna say like a laser. It's not like they take little needles and like give them shots like a human, but they like somehow blast them and then they like go back. Like they continue on the belt and then they go like back in the water. Isn't that wild? So like, that's what they're doing to your farm Raised fish.

Gregg:

And they also, when they catch it to kill it, they put coloring in it to make it look Yeah. Healthier than it really is.

Heather:

Yeah. Like with salmon, that's a big thing. Or like they'll feed it food that has something that causes it to become, um, more pink. I

Gregg:

pink orange.

Heather:

Yeah. Yeah. So they can do all kinds, like think about what they do to like our vegetables and stuff, like all the pesticides and everything. And so like take that and transfer it into like the water with like in a like closed off area of. Water. Like that's what they can do to fish. Like, you know what I mean? They can change all different kind like fe chemicals. They can, I'm sure they're putting chlorine in the water to um, you know, keep certain things out. Like all kinds of chemicals. Those fish are swimming in that.

Gregg:

And thank God RFKs looking at all this I know. Bring this out. Yes. Which we are so happy for.

Heather:

Yes. And we're hoping that that, you know, he continues with the same, um, enthusiasm as he did on the campaign trail. It seems like he is, he seems like he's on a mission, so we're gonna keep supporting him. Um, and but also like they say, um, farm raised fish have a lot of parasites in 'em, even more so.'cause they're like. Um, what's it called? They're like, the water is just, it's horrible. It's horribly unhealthy. There's all kinds of just crap in it, you know, because especially too, like fish have to poop somewhere, you know what I mean? Like, they're pooping in this like closed off area of water, right? Yeah.

Gregg:

And speaking a parasites. We both looked at this, um, Instagram video.

Heather:

Yes. And so we, I just a disclaimer though, we have not done it ourselves, but we are, it's on our list, so we will definitely report back. Um, do you wanna tell 'em what we saw?'cause it was so gross. Oh my gosh, guys. It was Okay. So you took a, the whole thing was why you shouldn't eat pork and so,

Gregg:

or make sure you really, really cook it really good. Yes,

Heather:

yes. Like very, very good. Like after this video, if I ever eat pork, like I want it burnt 'cause it was so cooked. And

Gregg:

pork's a fatty protein.

Heather:

Yes. So. Okay. So like they took like a pork chop and raw and they poured Pepsi on it and little by little, like you saw these like little air bubbles and then they kept pouring like more uh, Pepsi on it. And then like you started to see these like little worms come out and then like the chick that was doing is like, oh no, no, no, no, just wait. Dumps out the Pepsi in the sink and goes, I'm gonna put like new Pepsi on there, pours more. This thing came out of the pork that was so big. It was like watching an episode of the Dr. Pimple Pop popper thing, like show It was so gross. It was white. I'm like in a vomit talking about it, but it was like three inches long. Oh my God. For real. I can't even think about it. It is so gross. And when we do this experiment in person, I might, if it really is true, I am gonna throw up 'cause it was so gross. Oh my God. But yes, we were report back, but.

Gregg:

We don't push

Heather:

pork. No. And I will definitely not push it, like, or even yeah. Talk about it after I watch the video.

Gregg:

Right. But we're gonna try doing that ourselves to see if it's true

Heather:

or not. Yes. And if it's not true, then we apologize to the pork industry for spreading bad information and

Gregg:

we will report back.

Heather:

But if it's, if it was faked, that was a very good ai, um, manipulated video. It had all of us fold. So TBD.

Gregg:

Yep. Now, um, with the proteins, we're gonna move on to the next one. Now.

Heather:

Yes.

Gregg:

Which we'll do fat.

Heather:

Okay. So with fat, I would say, so there's all kinds of different fats. So, you know, you have, um, butter, which again, I would do grass fed butter 'cause you want it from the best, like the healthiest cows. Um, like, or I should say like the cows in the healthiest state. Um, grass fed butter, you have ghee, um, you have coconut oil, and I would do so for oils. I would make sure that they're unrefined, um, and cold pressed and certain, uh, oils will have like different, you'll see like different words on it. So like olive oil, you won't see the word refined or unrefined. Um, but you will see it on like coconut oil and then, um, you want, but then like for olive oil, you'll see like cold pressed on there. And you wanna think of like, the rule of thumb is you want the least. Processing done to the oil and the least heat used in the process part of it. Because when oil is exposed to heat, especially high heat, that's when all the good beneficial stuff in it is, um, is destroyed. And it can also go rancid. So we, you definitely don't wanna stay away from that. So just remember, like cold is what you're looking for. Um, and unrefined is basically like a, um, I don't actually, it's a less processed way, but I can't remember if it has to do with heat or not. With unrefined. Well, unrefined versus refined. But you want unrefined

Gregg:

and once again, you wanna make sure it's in a glass bottle.

Heather:

Yes.

Gregg:

And they're in dark tinted bottles. Not clear and not elastic.

Heather:

Yes.'cause if the sun hits it. That's why you want it dark.'cause if the sun hits it, um, it can go rancid as well. And with the glass. So you gotta think about this stuff during transit. So it's probably in like, more than likely the truck, um, is gonna be hot. I mean, it's, those things are like metal. And if it's anywhere, you know, in a hot climate.

Gregg:

Right. And if it's shipped over by a, a across ocean,

Heather:

oh yeah. Like, God only knows what, you know, I'm, it might not be heat controlled. So that plastic is gonna actually get in. If that plastic heats up, it's gonna start to leach. That's chemicals into the oils, which you don't want. So, I mean, that goes for anything, whether it's like skincare, oil, you know, oil that you're gonna consume, any type of stuff. So keep that in mind.

Gregg:

And one big thing just to throw out protein and carbs for every gram is four calories. Yeah. For fat. It's nine calories.

Heather:

Mm-hmm. So it'll add up quicker.

Gregg:

Yeah. So a little bit goes a long way as far as calories go.

Heather:

Yes, absolutely. Um, and then with fats, I'm trying to think, um,

Gregg:

well, your body does need fat.

Heather:

Yes. Because

Gregg:

you don't wanna go on a zero fat diet.

Heather:

No.' Gregg: cause you need and different things to help your brain

Gregg:

health. Yeah. Protect your heart, your, your, your mind.

Heather:

Yeah, yeah.

Gregg:

And everything else, which, you know, once again, we touched on a little bit before about the cholesterol thing, which is a fat, so that's what your brain needs.

Heather:

Mm-hmm. And one thing like cholesterol made me think of eggs. Um, when you eat eggs, it's actually, um, so this kind of touches in the protein and the fat part, but there's a reason why eggs. Have a yoke in 'em. So like, you know, like they're like, God made it like that is the perfect meal, I guess you would say. Um, because, so back in the day, like in the eighties, like egg whites were real popular. Like that's what you should have, you know, everybody was eating egg whites. And in fact, funny story, I did not know egg whites or I thought scrambled eggs were white up until I was six because my dad, that's all he ate in the eighties, like being a bodybuilder. So when I went to a sleepover, they were like, Hey, do you want scrambled eggs? And I'm like, sure. And they like served me yellow eggs and I'm like, what the hell is this? And they're like, it scrambled eggs. And I'm like, no, it's not, you know, like they're supposed to be white. Why are they yellow? And then the mom had to call my mom and be like, what is wrong with Heather? Like, why didn't she know scrambled eggs are yellow? And my mom had to explain that. Um, my dad was a bodybuilder and

Gregg:

right now I still do eat egg whites, but I put a regular one egg, two egg, three eggs, whatever in it with it. Because you do need the good fats from the yolk.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

But I like the egg whites.'cause it's higher in protein.

Heather:

Absolutely. I would just make sure I would not just eat egg whites though. Because the reason is that egg whites are more aller, like I'm, they're more allergenic, which

Gregg:

I'm gonna say I did an allergy test and our good doctor from Columbus found out I was allergic to egg whites because I had been eating them for so long. Mm-hmm. So the way I got over it was I went to eating duck eggs.

Heather:

Oh yeah.

Gregg:

And I got off of the egg whites for quite a while. Now I'm back and once again I do eat egg whites, but I put yolks in them. Mm-hmm. So I do no longer have that allergy.

Heather:

Yeah.'cause so like how you cook the egg too matters. So like somebody might, um, if you tend to have a like. Like a food intolerance is very different than a, like a food, legit allergy, you know, like a food intolerance. Um, nothing like, you don't swell, like your face doesn't swell up. You're not in danger. You know, when you eat something you just, like, your stomach might get messed up, you might get bloating, whatever. Um, if you find yourself, let's just say you eat, um, you're eating egg whites and that's happening, I would try adding in a yolk or two and seeing what happens. Because scrambled eggs are actually the least allergenic, um, when it comes to eggs. How, like, how to cook 'em just because it's like mixed in and I like, it's, I dunno how else to describe it. It's like evenly distributed, you know what I mean? And like it's all mixed together. Um, whereas like sunny side up, you're, you're just eating parts of the egg whites, you know, and then our parts of the yolk, it's still a little bit separated. Um, not that that's bad, it's just if you are more sensitive to like, to eggs scrambled might be like your go-to thing.

Gregg:

Right. And that's a good source of protein and fat, the whole egg.

Heather:

Yeah. And so how, you were saying with how you switched to duck eggs in food in general, but I think protein, um, more specific, like more I should say, most importantly, um, because most people tend to have issues with certain proteins sometimes, like, 'cause whether they, you know, that's all that they eat or whatever. There's all kinds of different reasons on why you get food intolerances. But, um, and stress is a huge one too, just for you guys to keep that in mind. Um, but it's good to rotate your food, so that does not happen. So like, if you might go through, you know, like if you like eggs, even before something happens, you don't wanna wait until like ship breaks and then you rotate your food. You wanna prevent it. So you would, you know, you can do egg like chicken eggs, you know. Maybe for a week and then maybe switch it to duck eggs for a week. Like, just make sure you're rotating your stuff and you're not eating the exact same thing every day, every week. Because I had that happen to me with protein powder, with weight protein powder. And I had like a, um, this was actually when I was, uh, oops. Training for a competition. We couldn't figure out why I couldn't lose this like tire around my waist. I was getting leaner everywhere else. And here it was, I was eating whey protein a couple times a day and um, it was causing water retention around my stomach.

Gregg:

Right. Which, that's the way your body reacts.

Heather:

Yes.

Gregg:

This drugs went on at the cortisone and everything.

Heather:

Yes. So like, and um, also another little fun fact about food intolerance is they act, they're kind of hard to pin down, um, because they can actually, your signs of them can actually show up up to five days after that. And they can show up in all different kinds of ways. Like your elbow could just be bothering you, like. It could inflame that. And that's like your sign that you have like a food intolerance. Like they can have all like headaches, you know, migraines, um, like with my case stomach, um, water retention around my stomach.'cause my, my gut was inflamed basically is what was going on. And, um, so it's, those can be very, very tricky. So it is important, like I said, to don't, don't wait until something's broken and then you gotta fix it.'cause also, once you have one intolerance, the inflammation can lead to other intolerances. So it's like best to, you know, prevent them in the first place.

Gregg:

Right.'cause that puts such a stress on your body. Mm-hmm. Then your body starts resisting a little bit of everything.

Heather:

Yeah, for sure. Um,

Gregg:

with the fats, once again, your body either burns it as energy or stores it. Mm-hmm. And this is where, once again, you have to be careful because a lot of people. Who are overweight. It's not because they eat a lot of fat.

Heather:

Mm-hmm.

Gregg:

It's because they eat too many carbohydrates.

Heather:

Yeah. Which

Gregg:

we'll get into in a little bit here. But don't make fat out to be the bad guy.

Heather:

No.

Gregg:

Because our bodies do need it. And it's, Heather brought up some of the fats, one of the other fats. Macadamian nut oil. Mm-hmm. Is another good one for you to use, whether you use it in cooking or putting it on your food. Whatever the, the meat, the macros that you're trying to reach.

Heather:

Yeah. And then like almond butter. Um, you can do peanut butter, but a lot of people actually have issues with peanut butter. Not, again, not in an allergic reaction way, um, but a intolerance way that can cause inflammation, brain fog, things like that. So,

Gregg:

and I would make sure you get natural peanut butter or almond butter.

Heather:

Yeah. Make sure, because a lot of 'em have sugar in 'em or other chemicals in it, so just natural's always better. Um, I know even like a lot of grocery stores are making their own, you know, they have like the peanut butter machines, um, and or nut butters.'cause they're making all kinds of different nut butters. Um, and I'm usually, so that's really good that they have that option as opposed to like gif that. Um, I, I'm, I mean, the last time I looked it had sugar in it. They might have changed it and cleaned up their act. I mean, I, I don't know. Do you think like in a year,'cause like, so they, um. K put in that thing where they're banning all, um, what is artificial dyes and food. Yeah. Like I wonder what food's gonna look like in like a year. Like if it's gonna, if these companies even, like if it's, if they have something even more than die, like are they gonna just gonna start jumping on the train to like prepare what to start cleaning this stuff up?

Gregg:

So for our youth sake and everybody that's addicted to that stuff right now,

Heather:

I know it's crazy. Well and like they say, you know, you can go over to Europe and eat like Italy, you can eat fine. Um, like I know some girl who went over there. I uh, I used to work with her. She was like my height and she's like, I am gonna eat. And the reason why I say she was my height 'cause we're, we were both short. So like five pounds on us is like it, you notice it, you know. And we obviously gain weight easier than the average person.'cause we're shorter. Like our bodies are smaller. But she's like, I, she was going over there for two weeks and she's like, I am going to eat nonstop. She's like, I already mentally prepared. I'm gonna gain 12 pounds. I'm okay. Like I'll come back fatter. It's fine. Whatever. She went over there and she came back. She's like, Heather, you're never gonna believe this. I ate like four course, five course meals, every meal. I was eating gelato all the time. I was eating this, like, pastas, pizzas, everything. She goes, I lost eight pounds. And I'm like, what? It's insane. And so many people say like, they come, they go over there, they're eating. They can eat like pizza, drink their, like even the wine over there is different. They don't have headaches after it. Like they're not, I don't wanna say they're not hungover, but it's not like here how we act. Right.

Gregg:

Which is, goes to show when you have cleaner food.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

Your body accepts that. It ends up burning it up. It doesn't store it. It's body fat.

Heather:

That's why I think that there wasn't so many. Like fat people walk or overweight people walking around like in the forties, fifties, like sixties is because the food was so much cleaner. Like, think about it. How much did you, like, I'm sure you were eating a ton back then. You know, nobody was, well,

Gregg:

I meant some, we used to drink whole milk.

Heather:

Yeah. And like, I don't know, it just, it's insane.

Gregg:

The cows were real cows back then.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

They didn't have all that stuff put in

Heather:

them. Well, we had a doctor tell us that, um, there are two different cows that there's like an A and a B cow and the Europe actually has the better ones like be the cows that we have are more allergenic to people. So, and he actually, he was seeing a lot of dairy allergies in his practice and he is like, what the hell's going on? So he decided to work on a dairy farm.'cause he's like, I gotta, you know, figure out this. And I wanna, I wanna be on the front lines and see what's going on. So he did that and the farmer actually had two different groups of cows. One for his family and like where his family would drink the milk from, you know, the cheeses, you know, everything and eat the meat. And then this other group of cows is what, you know, he sold to the, the, um, mass public, general public, yeah. And he's like, oh my God. And then he realized like that's what a lot of the farmers do is they, you know, separate 'em and they keep the good ones and the good ones. We don't have a lot of 'em in America. So it's just, I don't know, it's just so ridiculous. I feel like everything in America for, I mean, we're a first, we should not have these issues. It's kind of bizarre that we do

Gregg:

well. It's so bar fk keeps

Heather:

that. I know somebody's gotta do it.

Gregg:

But now with the fat, we recommend you either keep your fat medium. Or if you're going to keep your carbs low, you can increase your fat content a little bit more.

Heather:

Yes. And we're not talking like 200 grams by any means. Like, you know, I don't care if you're eating zero carbs for day. Once

Gregg:

again, it's nine calories per gram.

Heather:

Yeah. So calories do come into play. However, I, my personal belief is someone can, you know, disagree with me, whatever. You can get away with eating a lot more when you're on a low carb, high fat diet. And so that is, in my experience, um, when I, I feel like I have to pay it more attention to my calorie number when I start adding carbs in. Um, you know, and like lowering my fat. Um, as opposed to like when I switch over to a low carb, high fat, to be honest, I don't even, I don't count calories. I don't even look, um, and I'm eating a ton of fat. And Well, it fills you up more. It it does. But So you feel full

Gregg:

longer.

Heather:

Absolutely. I just, I've just noticed though with me, particular when I add in carbs, like when I switch over to a lower fat, I should say medium fat diet with some carbs, it's, I gotta be careful on my overall calorie amount.

Gregg:

Well, if you eat more carbs, your body seems like it CRAs some more, so you end up putting in a lot more calories. Where with a higher protein and fat, you feel full longer. Your satiety is there. Mm-hmm. So you're not craving where if you ate a bag of candy, a lot of times if there was another bag there, you would dive right into that. Mm-hmm. Because that sugar just gets the body spiked and. Craving more, even though your belly's full.

Heather:

Yeah. It

Gregg:

becomes more psychological than actually needing something.

Heather:

Well, they say sugar's more addictive than cocaine. I believe that. And one thing too, to point out that if you do decide to that on the low carb, high fat bandwagon, just know that your sugar receptors in your brain becomes super sensitive. So when you do fall off the wagon, it's bad. So like you just know that. So like if you're like, let's just say you're like, I wanna break my diet. You know, like let's say it's a celebration. You're like, I am gonna eat this cake. Keep that in mind that you, I don't wanna say you have a plan in place, but like you understand that that cake is gonna signal your brain to go, holy shit, we have sugar again. And you're gonna want to eat, keep eating. Um,

Gregg:

and I think we mentioned this once before, if you are at a party. Eat the good food first and that way let it settle a little bit before you dive into what you grave.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

Because this way, once you're eating your grave food, your stomach's gonna feel a little bit false, so that'll slow you down.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

But if you dive right into that piece of cake, ice cream, cookies, whatever it may be.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

It's the gloves are off.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

Because then your brain is just craving it like crazy.

Heather:

And that's why like you see bodybuilders after a show if they go and like our rule of thumb always is after a show, like I remember you would never let me eat you like no alcohol right after a show. And like I might have had a bite of a cake one time. Like I usually just do a burger, fries, no sugar until like probably day like four or five after I'm starting to like. Skip back to like adding more calories and then everything else. Because a lot of these people, you know, they have donuts waiting for them. Backstage was the one, like the stupidest thing to do because that it's not one donut, it's like two dozen and then their body blows up because they haven't had sugar and they can't stop eating it. And like it's the two dozen donuts and then they go to eat pizza and then they go and like, they just can't stop.

Gregg:

Right. Their body retains a lot of fluid. Mm-hmm. Which a lot of people end up in the hospital. They have to get drained.

Heather:

Yeah. And, and so like the low carb diet is a less extreme version of that. But that would, that same thing would happen. You're gonna gain, you're gonna gain a ton of water weight that day because the carbs hold onto all the, you know, a lot more water. Especially 'cause

Gregg:

four parts water for every gram of carb.

Heather:

Yes. So, and then you're probably gonna have a really bad headache because your potassium sodium level's gonna be off.

Gregg:

Right. And that's all gonna have an effect on you now. Carbs are not bad if they're used properly. And just so you know, to keep it simple, there's complex carbohydrates and there's fast acting carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates would be ones that take longer to digest. Like an oatmeal.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

Where a fast acting carbohydrate would be like white rice.

Heather:

Mm-hmm.

Gregg:

That gets broken down super

Heather:

quick. Yeah. Sweet potato, white potato, things like that.

Gregg:

Now, both are good for you if used properly.

Heather:

Yes.

Gregg:

Now in my own case, and with clients of ours, if we're eating carbs before the workout, we want ones that'll be a little bit more fast acting. If it's earlier in the day, we would look for more of a complex carbohydrate that would burn a little bit slower. Now when you're done draining, like for instance today with myself, I had a fast acting carbohydrate with Jasmine rice along with my ground chicken breast. So this way the fat was at a minimum, the protein was high and the carbohydrate was high. It was fast acting with the jasmine rice.

Heather:

Yeah.'cause fat will slow down digestion. So the like right when you're done working out, you wanna get that stuff like digested and in your muscles like used up. So you do not really want fat right after your workout.

Gregg:

No.'cause that'll slow it down. The recovery to rebuilding. Everything you tore down, and once again, you don't build yourself up when you're draining at the gym.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

You're tearing yourself down, and this way your body comes in like carpenters to rebuild after a fire with somebody's house. It comes in and then it rebuilds it back bigger and stronger. Mm-hmm. And that's why it needs to have the right materials. Now, later in the day, I'll have my grass fed beef that'll have a little bit more fat than my crown chicken did. But my carbohydrates will be dropping because I don't need it. I'm, I'm done. My glycogen stores are filled back up, and now I'm just rebuilding with the protein and once again, the fat that my body needs for my hormones and everything else.

Heather:

And I know I said this last week, but carbs also play a role in cortisol production. They bring it down so you know, if you are noticing yourself more stressed, you are probably noticing yourself craving more carbs. But they can be utilized at the end of the day right before bed if you're, you know, your mind's racing, you're like, too stressed out to sleep because sleep is very important. So you wanna make sure that you're, you know, sleeping.'cause that's also what helps build. Like, that's when you are building yourself back up too. So the, you tear yourself down at the gym, but you rebuild when you're eating and um, when you're sleeping. So that's, you wanna make sure that you get the best sleep possible. So that's when I would, you know, add a little bit of carbs like at your last meal. Um. For that. So keep that in mind. So where, you know, like you said, you're not,

Gregg:

but that doesn't mean a, a bag of Skittles.

Heather:

No. And we're talking about more complex carbs, some of those slower digesting ones. Um, and I would eat it, like if, let's just say you go to bed at 11, I wouldn't be eating it at 10 45, you know, choking down a thing of oatmeal real quick. I would be eating that at like nine. And so you have time to digest it and everything else. Um, now

Gregg:

on some occasions I'll have a bowl of oatmeal with some protein powder and a scooper two, a almond butter because the fat will help slow down. Mm-hmm. The digestion of the oatmeal. So even more so, so this way it'll help me once again, like Heather brought up about being able to fall asleep and helping my body rebuild for what I'm gonna, for what I did that day. And to get me ready for tomorrow.

Heather:

Mm-hmm. So, yeah, it's not that like, like if I was at the extreme, like if I was competing for a bodybuilding show again, I would be, um, probably taking away those carbs. It, it's because you're in such an extreme like situation that, and the littlest thing matters, you know, so you're not gonna be eating carbs on your last meal, but in the every day, you know, the average person, it's not, you're not gonna really notice that. And you're gonna probably, you're gonna get better weight loss results because you're gonna lower your cortisol with having a little bit of carbs at your last meal. So it's not gonna really hurt you because you're gonna counteract that cortisol production. Um, and again, we mean like a little, like 25 grams. I wouldn't be going crazy. Um. Also with that said, when you were saying like with your workout and how, you know, how they're utilized properly, if you guys are working on, let's just say you're trying to build up a certain body part that you know, might be lacking a lot of people that's legs. Um, you could eat, you know, let's just say like with what I do personally is on my days I don't lift, I hardly have any carbs at all. Like my carbs are pretty much my vegetables.

Gregg:

Right. Because once again, carbs are used for energy.

Heather:

Yes.

Gregg:

And you really don't need it on that day because you're not doing anything.

Heather:

Yes. Over

Gregg:

and above daily maintenance.

Heather:

Absolutely. And then, so like on my days that I do like my arm and I or my back, I don't really wanna build up my back. So I'm not really gonna eat like I am on like my glute or my leg day on which I would like to build. So I might have some like medium carbs. And again, my carbs are always gonna be on the low end. Even if I say medium, they're medium to me. Um. And then same with then on like leg or glute day, I'm increasing my carbs and they're the highest I'll ever eat for the week on those days. Um, which again, I'm in like 75, maybe a hundred grams on my like, super high days. Um, I just, I know I so low. Um, you that like to a bodybuilder that's like a low day. Um, yeah,

Gregg:

I mean, I'll go as high as 600, 700 carbs on my high days. Obviously I'm not competing anymore, so I don't take it up higher than that. But once again, if you're trying to gain weight, carbs will help you with that. But one good thing is,

Heather:

wait, wait. Really quick though. I do wanna point out when you say gain weight, you like muscle weight? Yeah. So,

Gregg:

correct.

Heather:

Yeah. So even like if. You guys also, like let's just say you're overweight and you're out of shape. Okay? So you want to, you know that you want to weigh less, but you also know that you don't have a lot of muscle on you. I would be eating to build muscle. Like that's how I would approach this. I do wanna just clarify that because Very good point, right? Because if you are eating, like if you're taking advice on how to lose fat, all you're gonna end up looking like is a very skinny guy,

Gregg:

a skinny, fat person.

Heather:

Yeah. You're not gonna look like this toned because you have to build though. It's like, okay, if you see the, like a guy that's ripped, it's not that he just lost fat, and that's just like what muscles look like with without work done to him. You know? Like you have to build that up so they show through. That's, so your goals should be to build muscle. Like even if you're, let's just say you're 70. Pounds, even a hundred pounds overweight. But you know, you have never really worked out. You still wanna think in terms of, I wanna build muscle and that's how I'm going to eat. Because eventually that fat's gonna come off as you build the muscle. Right.

Gregg:

And that'll burn more calories. Mm-hmm. Your body feeding the muscle that you've added to your frame.

Heather:

Yes. Because if you're just concentrating on fat loss, all your metabolism's gonna slow down. The less you, 'cause like, if you think about it, you're like, how much energy you expel, like during the day is contingent upon how much you weigh? So, like, you like, um, expend a lot more calories than I do during the day. So if you're like 500 pounds and all of a sudden you're down to 300 pounds, you're. Caloric expen expenditure throughout the day is gonna be way, way, way less. So if you don't have any muscle to keep your metabolism up, you're gonna, it's gonna be a struggle. You're gonna end plateauing.

Gregg:

And an easy way to know if your metabolism up, if you feel hot, um, a lot of times will take people's body temperature. Mm-hmm. Because if you die at too extreme, your metabolisms low down and so will your body temperature. Mm-hmm. And this is why usually when we're working with people will rotate the calories a little bit. Havings of my low days and medium days.'cause that's the way your body doesn't get used to anything where it can't slow down.'cause even if we were dieting you for a, she, we would keep 'em low for a little bit, but then we would have a. Some people call it a day or whatever, but what we're basically doing is we're upping your calories because then your body goes, well what's this?

Heather:

Yeah. And it speeds

Gregg:

back up again and then it continues to go because your body, if you take it down to low and calories will just conserve very slowly burning things.'cause it's trying to protect your life.

Heather:

Yeah. And I would, when you like, I think the easiest way to like bounce your calories is to do it around your lifting, you know? So like your lifting days, eat more. You know, like I think the easiest thing to do, like if you really aren't into diet, like if you aren't diet nerds, like I think like we're diet nerds. Like I would love playing around with diets and thinking about it. And if you're just like, this is just not what I want to do. I think the easiest thing to do is to have a base like. Come up with like a base meal, like in your head and how like, like what, how much protein you're going to eat and then just rotate 'em and you know, with fats and then, you know, maybe a little bit, a little bit of carbs and have that be like your low day and then on the days that you lift, just like double the carb amount and then that would just,

Gregg:

right. And I mean, we weigh our food that just affords of habit. Mm-hmm. A lot of people don't want to do that and that is fine, but you should get in a habit. If you're eating, let's say a handful of meat that would fit in my hand and my weight is slowed down where I need to start burning calories again, just take a little bit of that meat away that's reducing your calories, whether it's rice. Oatmeal. Mm-hmm. Whatever. But that's a very simple way. You don't have to go to the extremes with measuring everything. You can eyeball it.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

And then just gradually keep cutting back a little bit.

Heather:

Well, I, I do, sorry. Go ahead.

Gregg:

Don't do it too drastic because that'll slow down your metabolism.'cause it's like you're going to run five miles and you start out sprinting.

Heather:

Pretty soon

Gregg:

you are gonna be jogging, then you're gonna be walking, and then you're gonna be crawling. And that's not what we want for you to be able to get to the body weight and have the type of body that you want.

Heather:

Absolutely. One thing, when about measuring, I do think it's a good idea. By no means do I think people should walk, like, walk around with scales for the rest of their life and measure every meal. However, I do think it's a good idea to maybe the first couple days to actually measure food so you understand what like four ounces is. I think a lot of people, especially when it comes to like tablespoons, a lot of people don't know what a tablespoon actually is, especially when it comes to like almond butter. I mean that's kind of how I am when I'm making like my pro like protein shakes in the morning. I'm like, oh, giant scoop tablespoon. When really that's probably like two, maybe even three.'cause like I said, I do eat a lot of fat, so I really like don't care. Um, but I do think it's important for people to know what, like how much actual, like, you know, when serving is and then eyeball it the rest of the way.

Gregg:

And by the way too, like with you taking that extra big scoop of almond butter, this is one thing we can't stress enough to you, you set your plan up. If you fall off the wagon and you go crazy, you buy a bag of Oreos and you kill the whole thing. Mm-hmm. That's not the end of the world. If you've been good, your body's going to look at that and go, what the heck is this? And speed it up and burn it up and get rid of it. The worst thing to do is, oh, I give up on this, and then you just start to eat bad

Heather:

again. Yeah.

Gregg:

It doesn't matter. Just get back to doing what you were doing. Again, don't beat yourself up

Heather:

and Well, and that's why I think it's important to be realistic with your diet and to look at it as lifestyle eating and how so? Because usually when you like go out with our clients, when we set them up on a lifestyle plan and it's more like. They actually think about their life. It's not short term. You kind of work stuff into it. There is no falling off because it's, when you're on a diet, quote unquote, you're deprived of everything. And because you usually, like, that's what happens with people when they go on a diet to lose like, you know, maybe 15 pounds,

Gregg:

I'm never gonna have that again.

Heather:

Yeah. Like, gimme a break. You a hundred percent are gonna eat ice cream again. Or you're a hundred percent going to eat like cheesecake. And if you plan that into it, and like, and I know, I think we mentioned this last week, if you know you're going to some party that's gonna have good food that you want to eat, then just lift that day and have that be your high carb day. And then you framing that as that is what is supposed to happen. Like I am eating this to fuel my muscles after I done, I'm done lifting. Um. That you will not, usually, people do not then go and fall off the wagon and go crazy. But if they're depriving themselves in their, like, in their mind they're like, never gonna eat cake again. You know, whatever. And then they, even if they lift and then they go to eat that piece of cake, they're, oh my God, this is the end. You know, like, I, I'll just throw this away for the rest of the day. I'm gonna just, you know, eat whatever. And then that turns, that usually bleeds into the next day. They feel like crap. They don't get into workout in and it just snowballs. Right.

Gregg:

And if you do, do I highly recommend the next day, drink a lot of water? Yeah,

Heather:

that's a good point.

Gregg:

That'll help flush your body out because it always seems like sugar is the problem. Mm-hmm. Um, I, you can eat all the red meat you want. Because that isn't gonna cause you to be off the wagon.

Heather:

Yeah. No one seems to like go nuts after eating a steak. Isn't that weird? Or even like a sweet potato. So like, it is, people also need to like, 'cause I think that they, I don't know, they kinda look at the like cake. It's just because it's like high calorie and it's not, it's, it's like you're eating drugs. And I think I've probably said that on this podcast before. Like that never happens when again, like I said, sweet potato, you're eating jasmine rice, white rice, brown rice, whatever, oatmeal. Like I don't go crazy when after I'm done eating oatmeal and it's always just sugar. So think about that. Like you guys are, you know, people, that's what they always tend to cut out, you know, is your like. Chips, like certain brands of chips, like yes, you know, you do eat them, but I feel like with sugar, that's like the main culprit that people just fall off the wagon and go nuts. Like, don't get me wrong, you'll, you can eat a whole bag of chips sitting there, but it's, that's not usually what like triggers somebody to like, then go eat a cake and then go eat that. It's usually, it starts with the sugar and then it just spirals.

Gregg:

And by the way, we always tell people don't go grocery shopping hungry, because if you buy it, you're gonna bring it in your house and it's gonna be looking at you every day. Mm-hmm. And as we all know at night, if you're sitting there chilling, watching TV about every other commercials a food commercial, which gets you thinking about eating something that's not necessarily great for you. Mm-hmm. And. If it's sitting in the pantry, that's very easy for you to go get and open up. But if you gotta get dressed, go drive to the store and go by and bring it home.

Heather:

Yeah. You're not gonna do that.

Gregg:

Yeah. Most of the time you talk yourself off the ledge and it's like, I don't really need it, so don't bring it home.

Heather:

And one other thing too, I wanna point out with, again, like this, um, mostly pertains to carbs. If you have, like, you love, like, let's just say like chocolate or you love potato chips or whatever, and you're trying to cut that out of your life, at least like limit it because I, I don't believe in cutting anything out full boat ever. Like yeah, especially if you like it, like why not? But um, it like, okay, like with chocolate, make sure you get, start buying something that is good quality chocolate. Like. Because you will realize that at like, you're maybe a fourth of the like chocolate bar in, you actually don't want it anymore 'cause it's actual real ingredients. And this goes back to what we were talking about with all the chemicals and the crap. When you buy a cheap chocolate bar, you wanna eat the whole thing and then you want more. So, and the same goes with like chips buy good, like spend more money on a good quality brand like product and buy like chips that are actually like, um, fried in like avocado oil or like beef tallow, like whatever it is. Something that's good as opposed to like canola oil crap, you know, chemical filled chips. Um, because you will start to really notice a difference because yes, it's, you know, sugar, but I also think it's all the chemicals.

Gregg:

Yep. That is for sure. Now we're not booting carbohydrates down carbs. They have their plates.

Heather:

No, but they're the ones that seem to like. Be an angel and a devil. Like, you know, like with fat, you don't really see that. It's like, you don't, don't get me wrong. You have the bad, like the canola oils and things like that, that you should not touch. But fat in general, it's not, it doesn't make you fall off the wagon or it doesn't cause diabetes, and it definitely does not cause heart disease for all those people that are still behind the times and think that it does. Um, but carbs seem to, that's the one you have to be the most careful with.

Gregg:

Yeah. Now, if you're trying to gain weight, you're a young person and you're going to play sports, or you're just naturally too skinny. Mm-hmm. You could play around with your carbs to help yourself put weight on. But I would also, like we said, keep your fat up and obviously your protein. Mm-hmm. Where on the other hand, if you're trying to lose weight, which seems like it's about 70, 80% of us, that this is where you wanna play with your carbohydrates. Mm-hmm. And on days where you're not as active, and by the way, when we say training days, it doesn't mean you have to go be a weightlifter or anything else. Mm-hmm. You could do your yoga, you could be doing your esthetics. That's the same thing we're talking about, because that's just as important.

Heather:

Yeah. Maybe we should say exercise day. Yeah, yeah. Active day or play a sport. Like same, same thing.

Gregg:

That's right. Because you're gonna dry play and pickle ball dry.

Heather:

That is true. Yes. I am going to, again, I still have to, we gotta look up the rules, but we have a family friend coming into town. Um, she comes to Ohio for the summer, so she's gonna take me under her wing and show me all this stuff. So. I hope to God it's to learn how that is. Yeah. I hope to God it's not like volleyball. Like I obviously, I know it's not like volleyball where you like use your hands to hit it, but like I get very spastic when I play volleyball. Like, I don't know why, like when the ball comes to me, I get crazy. So I'm hoping I don't have the same thing when I play pickleball, God, God help whoever my partner is. But

Gregg:

um, with the carbohydrates, make sure you stick them more complex for most of the day.

Heather:

Yeah.

Gregg:

Around your draining, your esthetics, your pickle ball, that's when you can have the carbohydrates and the simple ones before the competition or the activity and afterwards the replenish yourself. But then after that, I would start tapering off. Yeah, we're going to a more complex.

Heather:

Yeah. And it's funny, as you were saying that, um, this just popped in my head for all those office, uh, TV show lovers. Um, there's an episode when they do a 5K and Michael Scott like reads how you have to carload before a race. So he is eating fettuccine Alfredo right before the race and then he throws up and he can't make the race, like, can't make it all the way through the race. Um, so keep like that in mind 'cause that's actually a good lesson for dieting. Like when we say like a little bit of carbs before, you want the fast acting, not the fettuccine alfredo's. Um, and just a little bit enough to get you energy. And that's, that is like everything that we say is a recommendation and it's kind of like a starting point where you then kind of personalize it and test stuff. So like, I would try, you know, like. 15 grams before a workout and then Right. And

Gregg:

then slowly work your way up if you need more.

Heather:

Yes. Like if you're seeing like you're dragging, okay, try 25. And then, you know, if you might, even if you feel good at 25, you might wanna see how you feel a little bit more, you know, like, and just kind of test.'cause you can always go down. And then same with after, you know, um, you might, you know, try 25 grams and if you're just not noticing the results that you want after lifting, you know, push it to 50 75. I mean, you can go a lot higher. I would recommend going high a lot higher after you're done working out than I would before you work out. Correct. Mm-hmm.

Gregg:

And once again, a workout could be going for a walk.

Heather:

Yes.

Gregg:

Whatever fits your lifestyle.

Heather:

Mm-hmm.

Gregg:

But once again, all these little things will get you headed in the right direction.

Heather:

Yes.

Gregg:

Of getting you closer to your ideal body weight.

Heather:

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Gregg:

Well, I think we covered quite a bit.

Heather:

I know that's a lot long. We talked a lot longer on this than I thought. I thought this was gonna be more of a kind of a little re recap and just go a little bit further into stuff. And as you can tell, we love talking about diet,

Gregg:

so I hope we answered your questions that you send in the US and if you do have more

Heather:

Yeah. Um, feel free to email us at info at the alpha male podcast.com and just put questions in the subject line and then don't forget to like, share and subscribe. We really appreciate it.

Gregg:

Yep. Thank you very much.

Heather:

Yeah, we'll see you next time guys. Have a good day. Mm-hmm. Bye. Bye.