The Smart Nutrition Made Simple Show with Ben Brown

We’ve all heard that alcohol intake can negatively impact our fat loss and muscle building goals, but is that really true? Today we’ll dissect some of the commonly held beliefs and misconceptions about alcohol intake, including:   - Do alcohol calories count and is alcohol more fattening than other calories? - What happens in our bodies when we drink alcohol? - Are there any health benefits to alcohol intake? - We’ll address some of the known and unknown side effects of drinking - The impact of alcohol on testosterone and muscle mass - And should you choose to drink alcohol, 3 rules that will help you make the most informed choices possible   Additionally, I’ll discuss some of my personal beliefs and practices around alcohol intake, why I choose to eliminate it completely for periods of time throughout the year, as well as how we should be viewing our alcohol intake with respect to our relationships, stress tolerance, personal and professional growth, and long-term health and happiness.   As always, if you love what you hear on this show, then do me a favor and subscribe, leave a positive rating and review and share this episode with a friend or loved one whom you think could benefit. AND, if you want to talk about working with me personally, I’d love to chat, just schedule your free nutrition strategy call over at www.bslnutrition.com/levelup   http://www.bslnutrition.com/episode91  

By now you’ve probably heard all about the benefits of intermittent fasting. From weight loss to longevity to autophagy to improved performance. But which of these claims are supported by the scientific evidence and which ones have been incorrectly propagated despite well-intentioned bloggers, biohackers, health practitioners, your next-door neighbor who swears by the skipping breakfast, or your coworker who only eats one meal per day.    Today I’m joined by Dr. Krista Varady, Professor of Nutrition at the University of Illinois, Chicago to share the benefits and dispel some of the common misconceptions around intermittent fasting.    Dr. Varady is one of the foremost experts in intermittent fasting, and author of the Every Other Day Diet, having spent the last 15 years researching the various forms. Her research focuses on the efficacy of intermittent fasting for weight loss, weight maintenance, and metabolic disease risk reduction in obese adults. Her work is funded by the NIH, American Heart Association, International Life Sciences Institute, and the University of Illinois. She has published over 70 publications on this topic.    In this episode, we discuss:     - What is intermittent fasting (IF)and the 3 different forms, including Alternate Day Fasting, the 5:2 diet, and Time-Restricted Feeding  - The nuances of each form of fasting as it pertains to meal timing, meal frequency, and macronutrient intake  - The differences in weight loss between various forms of IF and daily calorie restriction (or lack thereof)   - The practicality of intermittent fasting techniques and behavioral change, long-term compliance, and success rates   - And finally, some of the common misconceptions with intermittent fasting and improvements in health    This was an enlightening conversation that helped me, and hopefully will help you get a deeper understanding of just how effective intermittent fasting can be as a tool to facilitate long-term, healthy, and realistic weight loss. And most importantly shed light to the fact that when it comes to weight loss, there’s no magic pills, potions, or diets, rather a myriad of behavioral change tools, like intermittent fasting, that can help you more effectively control your daily calorie intake in a way that works for you.    As always, if you love what you hear on this show, then do me a favor and subscribe, leave a positive rating and review and share this episode with a friend or loved one whom you think could benefit. AND, if you want to talk about working with me personally, I’d love to chat, just schedule your free nutrition strategy call over at www.bslnutrition.com/levelup    http://www.bslnutrition.com/episode90 

Today on the show I am sharing an interview my friend Nate Palmer did with me about a lot of the behind the scenes of my day-to-day. We talk about how I am forced to prioritize my time around my non-negotiables, how I prioritize my sleep, what my morning workouts look like, how I set my goals and make sure that I take care of the most important tasks so that I can spend time with my family. I hope you enjoy!

Struggling to find a solution to your health issues?    With the rising popularity in naturopathic medicine, it can be easy to think that where conventional medicine may have failed you, alternative medicine could provide the panacea.     But as one naturopathic doctor has seen first-hand, the path to true health lies not in the type of treatment, rather in one’s ability to identify what’s really at the root of their health problems.    Dr. Saman observed early in his career that much of the “Dis-ease” that his clients were experiencing was, in his opinion, self-induced, or psychosomatic (a physical condition caused or aggravated by mental conflict or stress) likely brought on as a product of their upbringing and ingrained belief systems. As such, he knew he needed to create a new model for how he treated his patients, which encompassed more than even the traditional naturopathic model had to offer.    Over the last several years, Dr. Rezaie and his wife Dr. Beardsley have addressed the missing components in both allopathic and naturopathic medicine through their Blocks of Health Model of healing. This healing methodology, as the name implies, has numerous building blocks addressing physical movement, the process of nourishment and elimination, as well as emotional connection with ourselves and our environment to promote a comprehensive and systematic approach to health and healing.    In this conversation we discuss:    Dr. R’s experience with the 75HARD challenge developed by MFCEO Project - Andy Frisella   Why exercise can be a negative stressor on the body and how to turn it into a net positive by factoring in your sleep, nutrition, and recovery  How even the most health-conscious people abuse their bodies only to turn to allopathic and naturopathic medicine as a band-aid.  How sleep is so directly correlated with our hormonal output, the risk for injury, and the ability to perform to say nothing of how the drive to go-go-go can negatively influence our children's growth and resilience.  Real or perceived emotional trauma and how it can influence our genetic expression  What constitutes Dr. R’s “Blocks” of health beginning with WHO you believe yourself to BE.    Dr. Saman Rezaie is a licensed Naturopathic Physician (N.M.D.), receiving his Medical Degree from the Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and Health Sciences.   Through personal challenges including weight gain and general health decline during his undergraduate career, Dr. Rezaie took it upon himself to learn more about nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. He implemented changes to his diet, took up distance running and within a few months, he released 15 pounds and acquired a complete return of his health.   Since this experience, he has maintained a passion for achieving health through habit, behavior and lifestyle modification as he has seen how these changes can first-hand reverse dis-ease and optimize the body. He makes life work with a balance of priority and his own time. He enjoys playing tennis, exploring the outdoors with his wife, 3 round kiddos and labrador, and continuing to learn about what it means to be human.    http://www.bslnutrition.com/episode88

Do you remember a time in your life when you were so excited or nervous or scared that you could literally feel it in your body? Maybe you had “butterflies in your stomach” before a first date or your heart was racing, or you felt nauseous and lightheaded.     What about when you had a deadline or a big presentation at work, or a loved one was injured…    There’s no doubt that there’s a strong connection between the brain, our hormones, and our immune system. This is called the neuroendocrine immune system and suggests that our past and present-day external and internal stimuli and stressors have a profound influence over our day-day health and long-term well-being.    In today’s conversation, I catch up with Dr. Jason Kolber, a highly sought-after chiropractic doctor and creator of the nervous system enhancement method for radical recovery. Having worked with numerous professional sports organization and athletes as well as everyday Janes and Joes, Dr. J has seen first hand the negative relationship between our self-imposed, perceived stressors and the impact on our physiology, from tight and restricted muscles, to anxiety and depression, to the dependency for OTC drugs to help suppress these powerful emotions.    As a lifelong healer, Dr. Jason has worked tirelessly to not only help his clientele through physical dysfunction, but has recently formulated an all-natural supplement to support the reduction of anxiety and onset of sleep after seeing many of his athletes struggling with tough travel schedules and the pressures of their day to day profession to help them, and all of us, wind down.     From fight or flight to rest and digest, we could all use a little more time in our day to take a strategic pause, a bit more reflection, and a conscious approach to being more proactive about our health by living with realistic expectations of our strengths and weaknesses and embracing the power of our sensitive neuroendocrine immune system.  http://www.bslnutrition.com/episode87 

What if I told you you could lose weight while still drinking beer and eating chicken tenders and without having to eat your vegetables? You’d probably tell me I was full of it…  and rightfully so. Except that today, I’m interviewing my amazing client, Emily, a busy attorney who has lost over 70 lbs in the past 8 months all while still enjoying her craft beer and occasional chicken tenders and all without harming a single vegetable in the process.    In this conversation, Emily shares how her lack of nutrition knowledge had been a majoring limiting factor for her throughout her life and the simple process of food tracking created an insatiable hunger in her (pun intended) to start learning everything she could about nutrition and fitness. But this journey has been anything but an easy one, with plenty of mental battles to fight, doubt to overcome, weight loss plateaus for us to analyze, and a huge lifestyle transformation to undergo.    If you’ve been thinking about losing weight, and/or have been reticent to get started because you’re afraid of all of the things you think you’ll need to eliminate, then you need to listen to this episode.    If you know that there’s a leaner, healthier, more confident, person yearning to break free, then I’m positive you’re going to love this interview.    And if you’re ready to take the next step in your health journey and want to work with me to develop the blueprint to help you get there, then let’s chat. Just set up your free nutrition strategy call at bslnutrition.com/levelup.    Lastly, if you love what you hear on this show, then do me a favor and subscribe, leave a positive rating and review and share this episode with a friend or loved one whom you think could benefit. In a noisy and confusing industry, it’s conversations like these that need to be heard.    http://www.bslnutrition.com/episode86 

Is tracking your “macros” even necessary?    If you’re anything like me, then you absolutely abhor tracking your calories. I mean I can’t stand it. It’s time-consuming, highly inaccurate, and to be honest with you, can quickly push me to the edge of developing an unhealthily relationship with my food. I know now, that it’s not for me…    BUT, I’m glad I’ve spent time over the years doing it, because now I have a much better understanding of how my food decisions add up throughout the day, to the degree that it’s relatively easy for me to adjust my calories up or down based on how I’m feeling, what I think I need, and my personal preferences.    So is calorie tracking right for you? It’s hard for me to say, but in my experience, there’s a fine line between using apps like MyFitnessPal pal as a positive tool to help you become a more intuitive eater or a modality that can contribute to a complete disconnect between what you think you need and what your body really wants.    In this solo episode of the show, we’ll discuss a couple of ways that you can learn to manage your calories without having to weigh and measure that I’ve had a lot of success with over the years. That’s not to say there isn’t a place for calorie tracking, but it’s important to me to make you aware that just like fad diets, it’s merely a short term solution, and likely not a very effective tool to help you create long-term behavioral change, which is ultimately the key to achieving any goal, regardless of whether it revolves around health or fitness.    As always, if you love what you hear on this show, then do me a favor and subscribe, leave a positive rating and review and share this episode with a friend or loved one whom you think could benefit. AND, if you want to talk about working with me personally, I’d love to chat, just schedule your free nutrition strategy call over at www.bslnutrition.com/levelup    http://www.bslnutrition.com/episode85

Today we’re joined by my friend Justin Janoska to take a deep dive into many of the problems with the fitness industry and the obsession around calorie counting, tracking macros, flexible dieting, and the surface level behaviors that can often be rooted in deep-seeded pain, shame, regret, and lack of self love and acceptance. This certainly isn’t to say that these tools can’t be used as positive modalities towards weight loss goals, but there’s definitely a fine line as we’ll discuss.   Justin Janoska is a clinician and the founder of The Autoimmune Revolution - an emerging company that guides women in their healing journey to reverse their autoimmune disease and reproductive disorder naturally with specific attention on Hashimoto’s, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, PCOS, and Endometriosis.   This is a little beyond the scope of what I’d normally talk about on the show but I feel it’s my responsibility to shed some light on if you’re serious about making a life change and genuinely want to understand many of the driving factors for why we do what we do. Despite Justin working primarily with women, I assure you that this discussion is gender-neutral as there are plenty of men I know dealing with body dysmorphia, a negative relationship with food, and underlying psychological and emotional trauma predisposing them to gut issues, inability to lose weight, and perpetual stress and dissatisfaction in their lives, who they are, and what they stand for and against.   If any of the information in this conversation resonates with you, then make sure to check out Justin's new book, The Flexible Dieting Disaster and follow him and his programs. All of the links are in the show notes below or at www.bslnutrition.com/episode84. And, of course, do me a huge favor and please leave a positive rating and review in iTunes so that I can get more eyes and ears on our content, continue to bring on the most knowledgable guests, and help more people in the process.   Lastly, if you want to talk about working with me personally, I’d love to chat, just schedule your free nutrition strategy call over at www.bslnutrition.com/levelup   http://www.bslnutrition.com/episode84

(musical lyrics) - Flintstones, meet the Flintstones They’re the modern stone-age family From the town of Bedrock They're a page right out of history…   Meet modern-day Fred Flintstone, Dr. Bill Schindler, a trained archaeologist and primitive technologist who travels the world documenting traditional foodways and works to draw inspiration from the deep archaeological record, rich ethnographic record, and modern culinary world to create food solutions that are relevant, meaningful and accessible. Bill is a strong advocate of traditional foodways and is constantly seeking new ways to incorporate lessons learned from his research into the diets of modern humans.   In this interview, Dr. Bill Schindler takes us on a journey through the dietary and physical evolution of humankind and the foods and food technology that helped us become the intelligent and resourceful humans that we are today. We discuss the ways in which food and food processing have impacted our physical form and function, our digestion, absorption, and assimilation of nutrients and the cultural and lifestyle differences between ancestral cultures and modern American dietary habits.   Dr. Bill Schindler is the director of the Eastern Shore Food Lab, an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland and the co-star of both the National Geographic series, The Great Human Race and Curiosity Stream’s, The Modern Stone Age Family. Dr. Bill's outlook on food has revolutionized the way in which he and his family eat and he attributes much of the health his wife and three children enjoy to the nutrient-dense hunted, gathered, and fermented foods that comprise a significant portion of their diets. He makes a difference in the lives of people around the world by sharing his powerful approach through speaking, coaching, workshops and retreats. Check out www.drbillschindler.com for more information.   I’m so excited to be able to share this enlightening interview with you, so if this is your first time listening or you’ve been hanging out with me over the last couple, first off, thank you, and secondly, you’re in for a treat.   If you enjoy listening to this show then do me a huge favor and please leave a positive rating and review in iTunes so that I can get more eyes and ears on our content, continue to bring on the most knowledgable guests, and help more people in the process. This show has really been years of hard work and effort and every positive star and rating just reinforces my drive to continue this journey with you. AND, if you want to talk about working with me personally, I’d love to chat, just schedule your free nutrition strategy call over at www.bslnutrition.com/levelup   http://www.bslnutrition.com/episode83

To you or me, it could be classified as indigestion, bloating, or gas… but to my 4 yr old son, it’s simply a tummy ache. Often overlooked and seen as yet another inconsequential symptom of eating or drinking too much of the wrong things, at the wrong times, or maybe another stomach bug trying to invade.   As my mother used to say, I had “a sensitive stomach”…, but it was actually a sign.   A sign that my body was giving me and that your body gives you, if necessary. An expression of imbalance. A consequence of disagreement within your body and its current physiological and biochemical terrain, whether it be good, bad or ugly.   The digestive system, the GI tract, the gut, our 2nd brain, our tummy… Call it what you will, but the gut, or the literal tube connecting mouth to anus, in concert with a number of synergistic organs - like the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas - as well as symbiotic organisms - well over 300 trillion, in fact - is an unequivocally crucial part of our health and daily function.   Today, I’m super excited to share with you gut health expert, John Brisson, as we share elements of our own personal journeys - his far more traumatic and significant than my own - yet both crucial in igniting our passion for all things digestive system as an integral part of any effective health and healing plan.   In this interview we cover a myriad of topics related to the gut, beginning with a nasty bacterial infection in the stomach, called H. Pylori, why it was so significant in our own respective healing journeys and the number of downstream effects related to H. pylori symptoms, including low stomach acid and nutrient malabsorption. As we move down in the digestive canal, we’ll discuss the prevalence of gut disease, including Crohn's and ulcerative colitis as well as a breakdown in bacterial population control leading to maladies like candida and SIBO. Lastly, we’ll briefly discuss the mind, body, gut connection and maintaining a healthy relationship with food as well as a couple of ways to support your gut with supplementation.   As you’ll hear right away, John is an extremely smart and biochemically literate clinician, so hang in there if you get lost in some of the technical jargon as I think I’m able to bring things back to basics as much as possible and will guarantee that you walk away from this interview with some solid clinical pearls to help you start to improve your gut health today.   Make sure to check out the show notes for all of the relevant links as well as a special supplement link for you to purchase your practitioner grade products at a 20% discount.   And if you enjoy listening to this show then do me a huge favor and please leave a positive rating and review on iTunes so that I can get more eyes and ears on our content, continue to bring on the most knowledgable guests, and help more people in the process. This show has really been years of hard work and effort and every positive star and rating just reinforces my drive to continue this journey with you. AND, if you want to talk about working with me personally, I’d love to chat, just schedule your free nutrition strategy call over at www.bslnutrition.com/levelup   www.bslnutrition.com/episode82