How the Heck Do You Eat Healthy...Simplified
Let’s be real: Some people say red meat is bad, while others say it’s extremely healthy. Some people say you shouldn’t eat egg yolks and some say it’s the healthiest thing for you. Some people say white rice is good and others say white rice is bad. No one is agreeing on ANYTHING. You can find evidence for a certain food being healthy and you can find evidence for a food being unhealthy. So how the heck do you actually eat healthy?
In this episode of Embrace Your Real, I’m going to give you some tips on how to know what’s actually healthy. And I’m guessing the information I’m going to share with you is NOT what you will expect!
If you loved this episode, I know you will also love…
Episode 59: How to Know Which Foods Work For You and Against You
TRANSCRIPT:
Hey there, beautiful human, you're listening to Embrace Your Real, with me, Julie Ledbetter, a podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode I'd issue a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get and let's go.
Hello, hello. Welcome back to the Embrace Your Real podcast. I'm so grateful that you are here. Now, let me ask you a question. Do you think that eating lower carbs is the answer to helping you reach your health and fitness goals? If you answered yes, I used to be right there with you. But today I'm going to be sharing five truths with you about low carb diets that I think might change your perspective on carbs in general. Are you ready?
Before I dive in, I have to share this super sweet review. It literally meant the world to me. It comes from Olivia Cross and she says, "My number one hero. Dear Julie, I would like to begin by saying how much of an inspiration you are to me. You have changed my life in ways I didn't even know were imaginable. I am 16 years old and I've had struggles similar to yours. I struggle with my fitness and an eating disorder and an unhealthy mindset.
Six months ago I decided to tell my sister how I have been feeling, and it was a very emotional moment for both of us. Right away she introduced me to your podcast. I never knew my life was going to change in that moment. From the moment on I have been able to overcome so many struggles and every bit of your advice has helped me to do so. I've come so far in my self-love journey because view and I could never thank you enough for that. I have been able to overcome my eating disorder and obtain a healthy fitness and eating lifestyle with a happy, healthy mindset. I could never thank you enough for how much your podcasts have changed my life. Now I make sure to spread the word and help others to be more confident in their selves."
Thank you so much, Olivia Cross. This right here you guys, this is my why. This is why I choose to show up weekly for you guys and man, oh man, am I so grateful to hear messages like this? Because they truly keep me going. If you have someone in your life, it could be a daughter or a sister or cousin or family or friend that you feel like would benefit from this podcast, I just ask that you share it with them. Also, if you haven't already rated and reviewed the podcast, it takes less than 30 seconds and it really does help us out in the podcast world. We have an audacious goal of reaching one million women, but we cannot do it without you. So if you could, scooch over to Apple Podcasts, click pause, scroll all the way down, you'll see the rate and review area. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay, let's dive into the five truths you need to know about low carb diets. Truth number one. A low carb diet doesn't always help you lose real weight. Okay, so we all know that person who went on a low carb diet and saw amazing results, right? And then we probably also know that one person that went on a low carb diet, saw amazing results, and then gained it all back. Regardless of their success, weight loss from eating a low carb or a zero carb diet isn't sustainable long term for 99% of people. The second they start including carbs again into their daily intake or their diet, they're going to instantly gain all of the weight back and likely more.
And if you're on a low carb diet, but have days where you eat carbs, your weight is probably going to fluctuate consistently. You're going to feel super lean some days and super bloated the other days. Why is this? The truth is that your body retains about three grams of water for every one gram of carbs that you eat. So if you're eating less carbs, you're going to retain less water, which means the weight that you are so called losing from your low carb diet really isn't losing weight, it's mostly water weight. And when you eat carbs again, your body's going to retain water again, which is what makes you think that you've gained all that weight back.
I don't know about you, but I hate, hate, hate having my weight constantly fluctuate like by a lot. I would rather find a solution that gives me real results and keeps my body steadily in the same place, or consistently improving rather than going back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. That to me is exhausting, and the mind game that it plays on us is not fun. So all in all low carb diets can make you believe that you're losing weight, but in actuality, only water weight that can be gained back super easily once you start eating more carbs again.
Truth number two. You don't need a low carb diet, you might just need a lower carb diet. There's a difference between a low carb and a lower carb diet. I think a lot of people don't pay attention to the macros in the food that they are consuming. They have no idea how many protein carbs and fats that they're eating daily. So when they want to lose weight, they instantly go to cutting out carbs because they think that's what they need to do. But in reality, they may just need to incorporate more complex carb foods that are higher in nutrients and fiber to help keep them fuller longer.
Now, I personally eat carbs at every single meal, but I'm not overeating carbs every single meal, if that makes sense. Plus, I always make sure that I'm getting enough fiber. For me that's about 27 grams of fiber per day by incorporating complex carbs into my daily intake. This alone is going to help you see the results that you want without cutting out carbs completely. So for example, even though I love spaghetti and I would never tell myself I can't eat spaghetti, some days if I'm getting my carbs from let's say a bagel and then I want ice cream later, and I'm just getting carbs from lower nutrient dense foods, incorporating complex carbs into my daily higher nutrient dense food, so leafy greens, all of those things that are going to be more voluminous foods are going to make you feel like you're eating the same amount because it's a higher nutrient dense foods.
So instead of spaghetti, having spaghetti squash and incorporating foods like that, that are going to be more voluminous and overall going to allow you to feel fuller longer without having to think that you need to just eat a zero carb meal. So just lowering your carb intake by having that higher volume food. If you are curious about how many carbs your body needs daily, because every single person, depending on their age, their weight, their height, their activity level, their goals, we all need different amount of carbs daily. I do have a free ebook that will help you out. It kind of gives you just an overall direction on how to calculate your macros and everything like that. So be sure to click the show notes in the link below. That will give you the direct link to the free ebook, or if you can't find that, DM me on Instagram, either on Embrace Your Real account or Julia Ledbetter. And at the top if you could just put free macro ebook, that way me and my team can get back to you in a super effective and efficient way.
Truth number three. Unless you are on a keto diet, carbs are your number one fuel source. That's right, carbs are your body's preferred source of energy. I'll never forget when I was obsessed with a low carb and low calorie diet back in college. I was literally sitting in a class and my professor asked us to take out a piece of paper and write down some notes. My brain was so foggy, I couldn't even remember where my backpack was. It was literally sitting on the chair right beside me. My brain didn't have enough fuel to find something that was sitting right next to me. I was so weak and I constantly felt like I was in a haze. I seriously cannot count how many times I almost collapsed from exhaustion. And how can you expect to make it through your workouts if you came and function like a normal human being? Without enough carbs and not only will you feel physically weaker, but you'll lack any sort of concentration, you'll feel mentally fatigued and you'll struggle to be productive in any way, shape or form. For me personally, it's not worth it.
Truth number four. Your muscles need carbs to see the results that you want. Let me repeat this again. Your muscles need carbs. First of all, your muscles need energy to perform effective workouts. Without enough carbs you won't have enough energy. So carbs are not only the energy source that your body is able to break down quickly enough to be used during a high intensity workout. Yes, fats and protein give you the energy, but they aren't able to provide you with the power that you need at the rate you need it if you're crushing a workout. You'll often feel weak, fatigued, and unmotivated.
Second, your muscles need carbs to recover and grow effectively. To nerd out on you a little bit, your muscle fibers get broken down during your workouts, and in order to grow, they need protein. But they also need carbs because carbs have a sparing effect for protein. This means that your body processes proteins so much better when your body also has enough carbs. So if you're eating a low carb diet long term, your body is going to struggle to reap benefits of the protein you are eating. And thirdly, our bodies are smarter than we think. And if we're not getting enough fuel, it clings on to the fat it has as backup energy source. This means regardless of going to the gym or working out consistently, without enough fuel you are going to get your body stuck in a fat storage mode, for lack of a better term.
Once I finally started giving my body the nutrients that it needed, it was finally able to turn my body fat into muscle, rather than feeling like it needed to store it for energy. If you are working out, your muscles need carbs to recover, rebuild, and grow. So eat carbs, and trust me when I say, your body will thank you for it.
Truth number five, a low carb diet long term can have serious health issues. Now, carbs play an essential role in women's health and eating carbs is more than just enough having energy and seeing the results that you want. It's also about your health, which is honestly the most important feeling good, making sure your body is functioning properly, which your health should be that number one priority. Not only do carbs contain crucial vitamins and nutrients like fiber for the female body, in particular it needs them to sustain healthy hormone levels. It can lead to missed periods, your hair stop growing, start thinning, or unwanted acne. Plus it can heighten your stress hormone cortisol, which can trigger you to potentially store fat around your abdomen, increases your appetite and food cravings, and causes major mood swings. It can even cause more serious illnesses or issues like endometriosis or PCOS.
Also, if you're compensating with eating more fats in place of carbs, you boost your estrogen production, which suppresses your thyroid hormone, which could also potentially lead to weight gain. I could continue to list more and more hormonal and health issues that it causes, but I think you kind of get the idea of how serious it can be if you do cut down to a very low carb or no carb diet. Moral of the story here is, girl, just eat your dang carbs. Make sure you're eating enough. Make sure you know how much your body needs and eat the dang carbs.
So let's recap the five truths about low carb diets. Number one, a low carb diet doesn't always help you lose real weight. Number two, you don't need a low carb diet. You might just need to incorporate different types of carbs, such as complex carbs. Number three, unless you're on a keto diet, carbs are your number one fuel source. Number four, your muscles need carbs to see the results that you want. Number five, a low carb diet long term can cause serious health issues. As always, please, please, please remember to consult with your doctor and or physician. I want to make sure that you are getting the most customized approach to your specific health scenario situation. We are all at different points. We all have different struggles. I am just simply sharing things that I have found in my research and in my experience over the years working in the health and wellness industry.
If you love this episode, I know you will also love episode 42, what's more important for weight loss, calories or macros? And don't forget to check out that free ebook that I talked about earlier, or my Macro Counting Made Simple online academy to help you figure out how many carbs your body actually needs daily. So be sure to click the link in the show notes, I will link it up there for you. Or shoot me over a DM. And in the top part of the DM, if you could just put macros, so either free ebook or link to Macro Counting Made Simple online academy will be in the link in my Instagram bio.
I hope that this message resonated with you. I hope that it educated you. I hope that you learned something from it. If you have somebody in your life that you feel like could benefit from this message, I just encourage you to share it out. All you got to do is click the three dots. Whether you're listening on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, you will see the copy link, or on Spotify you will see a link to easily share it to your Instagram stories, where you can just click that and it will pop open Instagram on your phone and you can just share it out that way. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I'll talk to you guys in the next episode.
All right., sister, that's all I got for you today. But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so, juliealedbetter. Yes, it's with an A in the middle, for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world, and I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real, because you're worth it.