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Connect with Lisa

📲 Instagram: @thoughtfullyfueled

🖥 Website: thoughtfullyfueled.com

🎙 Podcast: The Fully Fueled Life Podcast

Episode Transcript

Ryann

Hello, everybody. I am so… I don’t… I need another word for excited. I use excited every single time, but that’s because every single time I start an episode, I swear I’m so excited. But anyways, I have Lisa here today, otherwise known as Thoughtfully Fueled on Instagram, right? I got it right?

Lisa

You did.

Ryann

Thank you so much for coming on today. I am so excited to talk all about food, food freedom, anti-diet, intuitive eating, all that stuff. How are you doing today?

Lisa

So, so good. How are you doing?

Ryann

I’m good. I’m good. It’s early, but this is a phenomenal way to start my day. I’m having coffee with a girlfriend, literally, because you have your coffee with you. I know. So to kick things off, I would love if you could tell everybody who is listening just a little bit more about you, your story, what got you into this line of work, and how you came up with Thoughtfully Fueled.

Lisa

So we’ll go, we’ll first say like how I got into nutrition and then we’ll go how I got into into into a disease.

Ryann

Perfect. Perfect.

Lisa

So I always knew that something like health related was my goal in life. I just didn’t know what. So like a lot of people, you go to college, you’re like, I’m going to figure it out. So I kind of dove into health and human physiology, which is more of like the exercise component. I was doing a lot of exercise science classes. I was training, doing personal training at our campus recreation center. And I had clients coming to me, even in my undergrad, clients that I was working with and asking about food, asking about food. And I was like, there’s like a missing piece to the puzzle here that I, you know, don’t have all the information. So that’s when I started dabbling into nutrition, taking some classes.

And the first class I took was actually a sports nutrition class. I absolutely fell in love with it. And my teacher was a dietician. And I was like, how do I do this? Like, how do I become what you are? So she was the one who kind of helped me. And I went a very roundabout way to become a dietician. So if there are any like, dietitians to be or people who want to change their career path, there’s a million ways to become a dietician. So like, just do it. You don’t have to go like the standard route, which is true for like therapy and all the jobs. So then, you know, became a dietitian. First job as a dietitian was actually in a big box gym. And I’m thinking like, this is going to be perfect. It’s going to bring my love for fitness, my love for nutrition. It’s going to bring them together. And this is going to be essentially everything I’ve ever wanted. And it was until it wasn’t.

So slowly but surely that like fitness culture mentality was creeping in more and more. And I was so immersed in it that I didn’t really realize how big of an effect it was having on not only me, but also my clients. And you know, when you’re in it, you don’t notice it. So I’m just like going through the motions, meal plans, weight loss, you know, weight loss challenges, all the things I was participating in. And I’m very open with that because I haven’t been an anti-diet dietician forever, which I think is an important piece of the puzzle too, because I’ve kind of been there and then taught myself to become an intuitive eating dietician. But there was that time where I was like, this isn’t working. And I noticed it for myself. I noticed it for my clients.

And that’s kind of when I started dabbling with intuitive eating, reading, everything. And then actually COVID happened and the gym shut down and I was furloughed and I didn’t have a job to go to. And that’s when I noticed for myself, I was gaining weight. And that’s when it all clicked like, oh my gosh, the routine I had, the amount of activity I was doing, what I was eating, all that was just way too strict. And that was like the big light bulb moment for me being like, okay, this one thing changed in my life. It was kind of a big thing, but one thing changed in my life and everything else like kind of tumbled down with it. So that’s really what I dove headfirst into intuitive eating, anti-diet and realized like this was the thing that I was missing. This was that piece that I knew was out there, but just didn’t really know how to grab when I was in the fitness culture, you know, lifestyle.

So I’ve kind of come like full circle and it’s been a very exciting and interesting journey. But now I have my own private practice. I do, you know, virtual nutrition coaching. That’s all anti-diet, intuitive eating based, but it does have that love for movement aspect. So I’m working with, you know, a lot of active individuals, a lot of people who either really enjoy movement or don’t, and they’re trying to enjoy it once again. So that’s really my story.

Ryann

Thank you so much for sharing and I don’t think I’ve ever fully heard your story before. So it’s really nice to know how that all got started. So in the beginning you said you always knew you wanted to do something health related. Did you grow up in a family that was very health focused or was it the opposite? Or how, like, where did that stem from?

Lisa

It was very the opposite. Not that we weren’t health focused, but I seemed to be the one who was active and I was one who was more interested in food and things like that. And I think because I was the only one and I saw that I could help not only like other people, but I could help my family, I could help you know all these loved ones in my life that I was like this is the path that I I want to go down and I’ve always been someone to like go out of my way to help people. So I figured why not do it in something that makes a huge difference in someone’s life.

Ryann

Yeah. So interesting. I always wonder like, I feel like it’s always either your family’s super health related and you want to continue that or it’s the exact opposite and there’s really no in between. I love knowing that. Okay. So you mentioned that you are an anti-diet dietitian. For those listening that have never heard that before, because it’s kind of like, I don’t know.

Lisa

Counterintuitive.

Ryann

Yeah, counterintuitive. What does that mean?

Lisa

Yes. So a lot of people use the word anti-diet. I like using the words or the phrase that I use a non-diet approach. So I’m still, because there’s the word diet is in dietitian. So I think that’s where like the confusion comes. So I always say that I’m a dietitian who either doesn’t believe in diets or uses an anti-diet or a non-diet approach. And it’s really just saying that I’m not going to put you on a meal plan. We’re not going to do any calorie counting, macro counting. And really I don’t focus on weight. If someone comes to me with a weight goal, we can address it or talk about it, but that’s not the focus. We put that on the back burner. We focus more on those healthy lifestyle habits, and I like to focus on the relationships that people have.

So I’m gonna spend a lot more time talking with you, discussing with you, what’s your relationship with food like, what’s your relationship with movement like, and what’s your relationship with your own body like? Because that tells us a lot more about why the habits that we have are there or why we’re hitting these roadblocks or whatever the case may be. It gives us a lot more insight into what is going on and it also helps people create long-term sustainable habits. And I’m all about, you know, this should be something that you can do for the rest of your life.

Ryann

Yeah.

Lisa

I always reference, like, you’re my little bird and eventually I’m kicking you out of my nest and you should never need to see me again because you have all the tools in your toolbox. Like you shouldn’t have to be coming back to me. Maybe if something, you know, you get diagnosed with something new, sure, but you should have all of those tools to essentially fly off on your own and be successful.

Ryann

I love that so much because that’s what it’s really about. Right? It’s about learning the sustainable habits to be able to learn from whatever’s been going on and move forward but know that things aren’t perfect. So when things aren’t perfect, you have the tools to be able to manage and it’s not automatically going right back to square one. It’s just like, alright, like I just, you know, had a little slip and now we’re just continuing forward regardless of whatever may be going on.

Lisa

Exactly.

Ryann

So I want to dive in with you because I’ve done a lot of talk with food stuff and what I really love that’s unique to you is that you do have that personal training background. And I know that when I start working with my clients, a lot of people that have a disordered relationship with food usually have a disordered relationship with movement. Whether that be they have used movement as a way of punishment and torture and just so calorie driven for so long they have swung to the complete opposite where they’re like I don’t want anything to do with movement or they really struggle with separating themselves from being able to do any movement without focusing on the calorie burn

So how do you recommend after being in this box gym and seeing it full-fledged and now being in this space where? You are helping people rebuild their relationship with food and movement Like if somebody let’s take it let’s take it one at a time So first and foremost like let’s say if somebody Really struggled with movement like from the punishment aspect, and now they want nothing to do with movement. How do you help someone rebuild that?

Lisa

Yeah, and that’s a really good question because I think you nailed it like right on the head. People either look at movement as a view, like a way to punish themselves, or they’ve done that for so long that they want nothing to do with it. And that middle ground, that balance is really, really hard to find. And if you are someone who’s just like, I either really either under the spectrum or working like towards the middle. So first I would evaluate what type of movement are you doing or not doing at all? Like, what, or what have you done in the past that you thought was like, quote unquote, exercise? And then ask yourself, do I like this? Is this enjoyable? Like, am I having fun while I’m doing it?”

The answer is no. Stop doing that. You know, it’s not that sounds really simple, but stop doing it. If you absolutely hate being on a spin bike, don’t go on a spin bike. You know, go for a walk. There’s so many other opportunities for you to move your body. It doesn’t have to, one, it doesn’t have to be in a gym, like by any means, and two, it doesn’t have to be the stereotypical like workout, lifting weights, running on a treadmill, like it doesn’t have to be that. So the first thing is ask yourself, do I like what I’m doing? And then if you’re, especially if you’re someone who focuses on that calorie component, I have to burn X amount of calories for this to be a quote unquote good workout. I hear that all the time.

The easiest thing, if you wear, like I always have my garment on, people have Apple watches, whatever, take the calories off your screen. And if you’re like recording a workout, don’t even look at that. Like that’s one, these don’t really know how many calories you’re burning. It’s an estimated guess, like rough guess. But two, just like take it out completely. Take it off of your watch face. Don’t use that as an indicator for a good or a bad workout because it’s more about, are you enjoying the movement that you’re doing and how do you feel afterward?

That’s really the third thing. How do you feel after that workout? Are you completely exhausted and can’t go on with the rest of your day without like a three-hour nap? Or do you have energy and you’re ready to take on the day? That’s going to be that last component. So asking yourself do I like this, completely removing any type of calorie tracking or output, and then how do you feel afterwards? That’s kind of the first step. I mean, there’s a million, we can do, we can talk for hours and hours for this, but that’s kind of like step number one is ask yourself those three things.

Ryann

I really love that you brought up the Apple watch thing because that is such a biggie. Holy cow. And I didn’t realize, or I pretended like I didn’t know that you cannot, that you can take the calories off of that where you can literally like when I first got it why I felt like I needed it you know there’s a red flag right there but you are able to take off all of those little notifications that tell you like stand up breathe move what that was just making me crazy and you can take those off but also what kind of helped me detach from the Apple Watch was just taking it one workout at a time and like completely just doing, starting with, okay, one workout a week, I’m not gonna wear it.

And like realizing first and foremost, like how different my workouts were because I wasn’t focusing, like I almost would stop myself from going so high or going harder because I would see the numbers and I’d be like, all right, cool, I’m in that heart rate zone that I wanna be in, I’m not gonna go harder, instead of just listening to my body, which is really interesting. So now, I love to use it just when I’m running to be able to track mileage. But yeah, it is one of those things that it’s super hard to detach from, and I would say just starting with one workout was something that was really helpful for me to kind of let go of that, but that’s a big one. That was a big one.

So going off of that, I know, okay, so let’s say we address like going into movement that you are not enjoying, or like how to bring that enjoyment back to movement that you aren’t happy with or that you’re just looking at as calories. Let’s say now we’re talking about those who are really struggling just to move because they have defined movement to look a certain way or feel a certain way. Kind of like with food, you know, if you have forced yourself to eat salad for seven years and then all the time you start intuitive eating, like you look at a piece of lettuce and you’re like, absolutely freaking not. So like the people that are that way with movement where they’re like any kind of movement no way no way I’m not how do you start to rebuild that kind of relationship because obviously movement is so important for a million of reasons.

Lisa

So again it’s like now we’re talking opposite end of the spectrum, we’re working back towards that balanced middle. But it’s more of a mindset shift here. You have to let go of the idea that a certain workout or working out for X amount of time counts because realistically, any form of movement counts. A walk around the block counts, cleaning your house or apartment, like anytime you are up and you are moving, especially if you are not doing any type of movement and you still have that really negative relationship, anything counts right now. So, just getting up, moving your body, taking the stairs, parking a little farther away, all of that counts.

And that’s going to help you get into the routine of, okay, I walked a little bit farther today, a walk around the block doesn’t seem too bad. And then that walk around the block could turn into two laps around the block. And you’re just slowly building and building, but you’re also finding like what works for you, what works for your lifestyle, and what feels good on your body. And again, really working on that mindset shift because it’s a hard, it’s kind of a mental block to say that, or to go from this is the only type of movement that counts to no, everything counts. It sounds really easy, but it’s a lot harder.

And it takes a lot more practice, just like with anything, the repetitions that you get in with, I always say like playing the piano, you have to practice to be competent or be able to play without music or whatever your goal is. It’s the same thing with almost everything we do in life. You have to have reps at it. And the more and more you do it, the more and more you’ll figure out where it fits in your lifestyle. And when we come to mindset work, it’s the reps that count. We have to keep reminding ourselves, keep practicing, keep, you know, whether it’s positive affirmations, whatever it is, we have to keep working at it and reminding ourselves that every type of movement counts for me right now.

And if someone else is doing this crazy HIIT workout, that’s cool for them. That’s their thing. I’m going to do what feels good for me and not letting that comparison sneak in because I think that’s really easy Especially when you go to a gym, it’s really easy to like Oh, well, she’s doing this or to glance at someone’s treadmill and be like she’s doing that or she’s lifting this like who cares? You don’t know where they are in their story and just again taking it step by step and finding what works for you

Ryann

Yes I love that and I love the going up stairs or just walking a little bit further, even going to the grocery store and like parking your car a little bit further away. That is so simple. I know I’m the kind of person that is so guilty of driving around and around and around until I find a close spot.

Lisa

That first row.

Ryann

I have legs that work and move. What am I doing? Oh my god. So what I want to know because again, like I love that you have the dietetic piece and the personal training piece, which is so much now I don’t know what is true or what is not true about after you work out a way to fuel or like a way to fuel to support your workouts or is that legitimate, is that true or is it can you just like be intuitive and listen to your body and whatever your body tells you is obviously what you, like what are your thoughts in regards to replenishing after workouts but also still being intuitive and not forcing yourself to down a disgusting protein shake if you don’t want that?

Lisa

Right, so there’s a lot of things that come into play here. And so first of all, you’re like blending sports nutrition with intuitive eating, which is hard, but we can totally do it because if we think intuitive eating principle, number 10 is gentle nutrition. Right. You’re kind of taking that like I know information about nutrition and I know I should, you know, all of these guidelines, rules, whatever, not rules, but suggestions.

Yeah, healthy, healthy suggestions and applying them to my intuitive aspect. So that’s one. And then you’re also dealing with after workouts, your hunger cues can be totally out of whack. So let’s talk hunger cues first and then that’ll go into refueling. So especially if you’re just starting, like getting into working out again, or you’re doing a lot of high-intensity workouts, maybe you’ve been working out for a good amount of time and you’re including more high intensity, your hunger cues are gonna be totally thrown off after that workout. A lot of people experience no hunger cues or symptoms after a workout. They just don’t feel hungry. They’re pretty tired and they just go on with their day because their body’s not giving them that signal.

And the body really is giving the signal. It’s just kind of like very, very quiet because there’s a lot of other things going on. And then that goes into, so what do we do after the workout? Because we’re not getting that signal we’re used to, but there’s something in our head being like, I think I need to do something after a workout. Like somewhere, someone told me that post-workout nutrition is important. And it is really important. And that’s where that gentle nutrition component comes in. You have to know about your body, but also the science of sports nutrition. So one, knowing my hunger cues are turned off. They’re not there, they’re really quiet. But two, I know that refueling after a workout is really important. So what I tell clients is there’s three main things to look or to really focus on after a workout. It’s refueling, rehydrating, and repairing.

So we’re gonna focus on refueling, just getting food back into the body because we used up all of our energy in that workout. Rehydrating, so we wanna rehydrate with water, possibly electrolytes, depending on how long your workout was, and then the repair, that’s muscles. When we work out, we create those tiny little tears in our muscles, and we want to repair those as fast as possible so we can do the next workout whenever that might be. So those are the three things. And when we’re looking at a meal, we know that protein is going to be important for that repair, the muscle repair part.

Rehydrating, like I said, water and electrolytes, but the refueling, a lot of that comes from carbohydrates. So instead of downing like a nasty protein shake, I always suggest a well-balanced meal within an hour of working out. So you have a little bit of wiggle room. Some people think you have to like instantly consume something right after your last set. I say about an hour, the sooner, the better, just so you don’t forget really, but a well-balanced meal. If you’re like, oh, but I worked out and it’s three o’clock and I’m gonna eat dinner at five, a little snack, something with a little bit of protein, a little bit of carbohydrates, because we want to kickstart that recovery process as soon as possible.

So we’re not feeling sluggish, so our energy levels stay up, but also so we’re not going into our next workout without being 100%, like 100% repaired, 100% ready. We just don’t want an injury or anything like that. So there’s lots of components, but that’s where sports nutrition and intuitive eating kind of blend. And that’s really hard because if you want to just listen to those hunger cues, they’re not there. But then we know as an active individual, the importance of proper fueling before, during, and after a workout. So you have to be, you have to be willing to kind of go, I don’t want to say go both ways, but you have to be like willing to pull from each end of the spectrum and use all the knowledge that you have.

Ryann

Yeah. And that’s why I always tell my clients and other people that I’m not full-blown intuitive eating because I feel like we have to at some level bring a little bit of mindfulness into it where you know sometimes let’s say you do have a really hard workout or you are going to have a really hard workout the next day not that you can’t have anything but just being a little bit more mindful as to what is going to make your body feel better and so I definitely work just like you said pulling from all the knowledge that you have with my clients on okay how can we listen to your body but also bring in a little mindfulness as to what you know like hey this is what I’ve had after a workout before this is what makes my body feel good this is what doesn’t necessarily make my body feel good.

Not that it has to be a certain way or there has to be any rules, but just bringing in that knowledge of, okay, I know that this works for my body. This is what makes me feel good. And this is something that I enjoy having after I really break down my body. Now, from there, I know that I really struggled with this and I hear a lot of girls struggling with this, I shouldn’t say just girls, everybody, struggling with feeling like you have to eat less on rest days or you can’t have sweets on rest days. Like I feel like some of the biggest food fears that I have and that I break through with my clients is eating carbohydrates on rest days or eating, you know, sweets on rest days or eating these normal amounts on rest days.

And I sometimes find that on days where I move a lot because my body is out of whack, like I don’t end up consuming as much as my body probably needs. And then I usually find on rest days that I’m just as hungry if not hungrier. And like, I have a good understanding of my body, so I’m able to kind of meet myself where I’m at with that. But with those that are struggling to break through these rules on rest days, like, what is the knowledge there? And like, what is important to know about rest days and fueling on rest days?

Lisa

Yeah, and I love what you said about when you are super active, just like we said before, those hunger and fullness cues aren’t as prominent and we’re not really recognizing them as much. And then when you take a rest day, you’re like, oh my gosh, I’m hungry, if not hungrier than normal. And the beauty about that is your body’s very smart. It knows that, okay, we did all this work yesterday. We didn’t quite get to the fuel mark that we needed. So now we’re gonna make up for it. So we are totally, like all of our fuel tanks are full. And it’s telling you that, and I think our initial, like our automatic reaction is to be like, no, no, no, I’m not doing anything. I can’t eat that much, or this, my body’s playing tricks on me, where it’s really the opposite. Like your body’s probably smarter than we think. It is smarter than we think it is.

Ryann

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Lisa

And just knowing that if you’re getting those hunger cues, it’s for a real reason, especially if you are someone who’s super in tune with your body and you recognize your hunger cues, you recognize your fullness cues. Those hunger cues are coming up. There’s a reason for it. And it’s because your body wants to be fuel tanks full. Like, that’s where it wants to be. It doesn’t want to be sitting here at like 60, you know, 50% full. It wants, and it works better when it has all of the nutrients, all of the fuel stores, and it’s ready to go for whatever you’re going to ask it to do. And you know, the next day, the next two days, that’s how our body functions.

Um, so again, it’s a big mindset thing. And I think breaking down like what is a carbohydrate? What does it do for our body? And explaining it to them in that way, that’s how I’ve had really good success. And just telling people, you know, carbs are the body’s main fuel source. This is what your body’s gonna use as energy day after day after day. Your body stores carbohydrates as glycogen. It’s gonna pull from that glycogen when you go to like chase after your kid in the yard or chase after your dog, whatever. That’s what your body’s going to use. And if we don’t have that, then your body’s pulling from all these different things that aren’t necessarily your ideal sources of fuel.

So starting with that, like basic knowledge and understanding that a sweet is a carbohydrate. It’s just broken down differently by the body, like explaining what protein does, explaining what fat does, and taking it on a very basic level and then saying, okay, you have this knowledge, then let’s work through the why. Why does eating a carb on a rest day scare you? Who made this rule? When were you introduced to this rule? And like really diving back into their history, who told you this, where did you see this? And sometimes it’s just, oh, they thought that this was a good thing, quote unquote good thing or quote unquote bad thing to do.

And when they have that little extra knowledge, like we were saying before, they’re able to pull their knowledge of just, you know, general basic nutrition, pull their sports nutrition, pull their intuitive eating, and then that helps them navigate through that process. But there’s so many things at play there. There’s food rules, there’s relationships with youth, there’s a lot to unpack just in that one phrase of, I don’t wanna eat carbs on a rest day.

There’s so much, so many things to unpack that I think really starting basic and understanding like what do these nutrients do for our body? What does the Arrest A do for our body? That’s really how you’re gonna have a really good just kind of like unboxing of all of this because they have the tools to then build on each other and figure out why those rules were in place for themselves.

Ryann

Totally. So those that are listening and maybe are working with you or me or just with themselves to do the deeper work, but starting with that general knowledge that you were talking about, can you give us a super quick, fast lesson on what these nutrients do and what rest days do?

Lisa

Yes, so we’ll start with rest days, since we were kind of talking about movement. Rest days, like we were saying, it’s so everything in your body can repair and reset. So like we said, all those little tears in our muscles that we create when we’re exercising, mainly when we’re doing like resistance training, lifting weights, but there’s actual tiny little tears in our muscles that we want to repair. And when we repair those, then the muscle is able to grow a little bit bigger. So we’re a little bit stronger, we can lift a little bit more. Without proper rest days, you’re just breaking that muscle down over and over and over and never giving it a chance to repair and grow.

So without that rest day, if you are someone who lifts weights, you’re going to notice that your strength’s declining or you hit a strength plateau, and you’re not able to progress. Same is said if you’re a runner, a cyclist, you’re still breaking down those muscles, you’ll notice that your training just kind of halts. If you’re someone brand new to exercise, you’ll notice that you’re very, very sore. And the rest days help work out that soreness, repair, and also get those fuel, um, fuel stores back to full, which is what we want. There’s a lot of hormones that reset during rest days. It’s just a big reset for your body. So moral of the story, they’re very important. They’re very, very important. Um, and I know a lot of people ask like how many rest days should I be taking? We’ll talk about that after. I feel like that’s a good one for after.

So rest days, moral of the story, super, super important, whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been training for a long time. Then we’ll go into basic nutrients and we’ll go water, carbs, protein, and fat. Water is super important. It makes up a majority of your body and it really helps like every system in the body work to the best of its ability. So this might be too much information, but everyone asks, how do I know if I’m adequately hydrated and I say look at the color of your urine.

Ryann

Yes.

Lisa

It’s the easiest way. We want that like light lemonade color so we don’t want highlighter yellow we don’t want clear just a light lemonade.

Ryann

I know I wore overalls the other day and not a good outfit decision if you’re drinking a lot of water. Just throw that out there. Oh my gosh, all day, I was like, never again, never again.

Lisa

It’s like if you wear a romper.

Ryann

Yes. No.

Lisa

Essentially the same thing.

Ryann

That’s hilarious.

Lisa

So yeah, maybe address your outfit choice before you’re consuming a lot of fluid. But water, so then we have carbs, protein, and fat. Like I said before, carbs are just the main fuel source for your body. Lots of different carb choices. I think most of the time when I say carbs or anyone says carbs, people think like bread, pasta, rice. Those are sources of carbohydrates, but we also have to remember our fruits are carbohydrates, our veggies are carbohydrates, and then like our sweets are carbohydrates as well. So there’s a lot of foods in the diet that make up the carb component.

Then you have protein. This is going to help with the muscle repair that we were talking about before. Animal product, there’s also plant products that have protein in them, dairy products. Those are gonna be your main ones. You can do like protein powders. Most of the time, here’s another, we could talk about supplements forever. Most of the time I say that you could you can hit every macro nutrient so carbs protein and fat without supplementation if you’re just like an average active individual. Once you start training at the higher levels maybe doing two days then supplementation might be needed but again that’s just like a perk of working with a dietitian.

We can really get nitty-gritty with what your diet looks like, where your deficiency is, what does your lab work tell us to see if supplementation is right for you. And then last but not least, we have fats. I think a lot of people shy away from fats because they think fat intake relates to like fat on the body, but fat in the diet, especially healthy fats like avocados, olive oil, fatty fish like salmon, those are actually gonna help you feel full longer. Fat takes the longest to break down in the body. So you’re going to feel full for a longer period of time just because your body’s working longer and longer to break that down. It also helps with like brain and eye health. So it’s an important component, hence why it’s a macronutrient that we need all the time. But that’s a pretty quick overview of all of those. Do you think I missed anything?

Ryann

I just wanted to ask because I feel like with a lot of my clients, the biggest missing nutrient is usually fiber. Can you just talk briefly about fiber?

Lisa

Yes, so the easiest way to get fiber is through fruits, veggies, and our whole grains. And there’s two different types of fiber. We won’t go like into all the nitty gritty details, but essentially fiber helps things move mouth to south smoothly and regularly. And we’re talking about pee and poop, like you have a dietician on, this is what’s going to happen. But it’s really, really important. And again, it helps you feel fuller longer because that fiber takes a little bit longer for your body to digest. It’s also how you get more quantity in food.

So like salads can be full of a lot of fiber or they can not be. And that’s the difference of feeling full from a salad or feeling hungry in another 30 minutes. And not just salads, but like any meals in general. If you have fat and fiber mixed in that meal, you’re going to feel fuller longer because there’s all those different components. So I think that’s pretty good like quick overview.

Ryann

Thank you, that was super informative. Okay, so that just made me think of a lot of questions that I’m going to rapid fire really quick. But going back to the protein, if somebody is struggling to get in protein and wanted to incorporate a protein powder into their just regular eating routine just to help with that, or maybe just to have on hand for those days where you’re busy and whatever. When somebody is looking for a protein powder, like is there anything in particular that they should be looking for ingredient wise, or does it really not matter?

Lisa

So I, the first thing is like flip that over, look at the ingredients. I try to stay away from blends. It’ll say like, it might list a bunch of different proteins and then say like blend. Just stick with like one. If you’re going like the dairy, if it just says whey protein, awesome. It might say whey and casein, that’s okay, those are our dairy proteins. If you’re going with a non-dairy protein, it could say hemp protein, chia protein, but stay away from the blends. I say that because we know that supplements aren’t very tightly regulated in the United States.

So when they say blend, there’s just a lot of room for fluff.

Ryann

Yeah.

Lisa

We don’t really know what’s in that blend. If it just says whey protein, we know it’s whey protein.

Ryann

Right. Okay.

Lisa

And especially ingredient list, like that first ingredient, that’s going to be the most prominent ingredient. And then as we go down, it gets less and less and less. So when it says blend first, it’s like, okay, well, do I have more whey? Do I have more casein? Do I have, you know, pea protein, hemp protein? Like what’s in there? So look for one that just has a single protein or two, but no blends. And then do some research on the brand. Does the brand have other supplements? Do they have third-party verification on their other supplements? So like, are they GMP certified? Are they NSF certified? Are they informed for sport certified?

That just means that a third-party company is kind of looking over some of their other products. And that’s just a sign of good manufacturing. They’re following good manufacturing guidelines. They are really putting, you know, what is on that ingredient list, they’re really putting it into their supplement container because it is kind of like, it’s an educated guess when it comes to supplements if they’re not verified.

Ryann

Is there any protein brand that you recommend?

Lisa

It’s gonna depend on if you can handle dairy, if you can’t handle dairy. So it’s really, and it depends on where you’re located. Is there, can you get, can you go to Whole Foods or are you relying on Amazon? There’s so many. And there’s also new ones coming out again and again. So I usually have, if someone has a protein powder that they’re asking, like, is this, can I use this? Is this a good one? I usually let them come to me and say, like, I found this. Does it match all these qualifications? Instead of saying, like, this is a good one because it’s gonna depend so much on the person’s dietary needs and just, you know, what they’re looking for in a protein powder.

Ryann

Yeah, okay, so that is a food step. Now going really quickly back to the movement. Why is it that, okay, God forbid, somebody is weighing themselves. Why is it that-

Lisa

Let’s just not do that. Blanket statement, we’re just not gonna do that.

Ryann

Why is it that your body is heavier or clothes feel tighter after you work out?

Lisa

Yes, so we talked about those muscles creating tiny little tears. Because of that, you’re in an inflamed state. So your body’s actually holding on to a ton of water to help aid in the recovery process. It knows it needs water. It knows it needs nutrients. Water helps everything flow through your body. So your body’s holding onto a lot of stuff. That is why you’re heavier after a workout. And this could last hours, hopefully not days, because then we’re getting into recovery issues, you probably pushed it a little bit too far, but you could be a little puffy. It’s what, if you’re thinking like bodybuilders, they have the pump. Like that’s what it is, it’s the pump.

Your muscles are inflamed, everything’s like a little bit bigger, and it just is what it is. So one, don’t weigh yourself. Two, if you are, don’t weigh yourself after a workout because it’s going to be higher than normal. Or, you know, it could be higher than normal. And then we’re just spiraling with all these thoughts, you know, of was that workout quote unquote good enough? Was that workout, you know, why did I do that? Just don’t, just save yourself all this stress. Just don’t do it.

Ryann

Going off of that, the most common thing that I hear, even my boyfriend says this and it drives me nuts because I used to believe this too, where people say, if I’m not sore, I feel like I did not work out or I did not work out hard enough or I have to be sore or that workout doesn’t count. Is there any relation to soreness to level of workout or does that even matter or what is soreness? Can you give us a really brief overview of either crushing that myth or just talk to that for a second?

Lisa

Yes, so I will say if you’re someone who’s just starting out working out, you’re just kind of like getting back into it, you will be sore. You’re working muscles that probably haven’t been worked in a while, that’s okay. And a little bit of soreness is fine. We don’t want soreness two, three, four days after workout. That means you pushed it too far and it’s actually really dangerous if you are sore for that long after a workout. Your muscles are just breaking down at such a rapid rate that it’s dangerous.

So a little bit of soreness is okay, especially if you’re doing something that you haven’t done in a while or maybe you lifted a lot heavier than you normally do, totally fine. You do not need to be sore after every single workout you do, especially when you get to the point where you’re working out pretty consistently, you have a good routine down, there’s no need for you to be sore after every single workout. And if you’re following a good training program with different periodization, so there’s different like stages of training, you’re focusing on muscle growth, muscle strength, there’s all these different things. Again, that could be another whole podcast.

But if you’re following and you’re having deload weeks and proper rest days, you really shouldn’t be sore after every single workout because you’re just increasing the load or the amount that your body is lifting or doing by a tiny bit each time and then you’re giving proper recovery. So if you are pushing it to that point, every single workout, one, let’s look at your training program and two, let’s look at what are you doing for recovery because it’s probably not enough.

Ryann

Yes, thank you so much. I feel like that is what I’m gonna do.

Lisa

So you can tell your boyfriend.

Ryann

I know, I’m gonna be like, go talk to Lisa, please. I don’t wanna hear this anymore. Every day, my legs are so sore. I’m like, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, that was so informative. Thank you, thank you, thank you for dropping all of that knowledge to us. So the last main question that I have for you is if somebody is coming from the extreme fitness world and wants to move into no longer obsessing over numbers, obsessing over workout, being so critical about just like in that fitness world wanting to go into more intuitive, what are kind of the first steps that you recommend them taking to just kind of break through this super intense fitness culture?

Lisa

Yeah, I think one, and the best advice that someone gave me is when I was dealing with this exact same shift, is think about the time and the effort that you put into exercising, prepping food, thinking about food, all of that. Think about how much time that takes, because it’s a lot. It’s a lot of time. It’s a lot of energy. And then think about if you didn’t have to constantly like nitpick every single food item and you didn’t have to like really think about your workouts or spend two hours in the gym every day, what would you have time to do? So just that like thought at first to say, okay, I could do, I could spend more time with my family. I could, you know, go visit a loved one. I could spend time like focusing on myself or reading a book, whatever that might be. That’s the first kind of step because you realize how much time this thing is taking in your life.

And then the second one is you have to be ready for your body to change. Just like I experienced when I was going from my very, very strict routine to my more intuitive routine, your body’s gonna change because your routine is changing. And as you become an intuitive eater, your body can gain weight, lose weight, stay the same. It’s gonna do what it needs to do. Unfortunately, a lot of times when you’re coming from a strict fitness culture, your body usually gains a little bit of weight or you’re not as lean as you used to be. And I think that’s the hardest component for people is my body is going to look a lot different or I’m not gonna have that quote-unquote like aesthetic goal that I had or that look of a bodybuilder or anything like that. And that’s really hard because it’s the visual that you see in the mirror every day.

And then you really have to work on, not all the way body positivity, but just like the body respect. Knowing that your body can still do all the things that it can do, but you can do all those things while also having more balance and time and a better relationship with food movement and your body all at the same time. So first, like I said, realizing how much time it takes up, getting comfortable with the uncomfortable of body changes and things like that. And then just knowing that where you are or where you’re trying to get this like intuitive, active individual sports nutrition mesh is sustainable for so long, where the aesthetic fitness culture goals are not. Or if you can maintain that for a long time, we’re looking at other health complications, issues, things like that.

So just realizing that you’re transitioning into something that you can do forever and ever and feel really good about doing, it’s not easy. I’m not gonna sit here and be like, oh, it’s, you know, follow those three steps and it’s super easy. It’s really not, but it’s worth it. And like, I’m sure you can say the same thing for like transitioning into intuitive eating, after binge eating, whatever that transition looks like, it’s so worth it. All the tears, all the, you know, anger, frustration, like it, there comes to this little point where like, oh, now I understand why I did it. And it’s just, you know, continuing and not giving up on yourself during the process, which I think is easy to do if you don’t have like support or a friend group or someone else going through that with you. So yeah.

Ryann

Thank you, thank you. I relate to that so much and I do agree that it is really hard to let go of that aesthetic desire. And as you said in the beginning, it’s more of putting it on the back burner and not telling yourself that you can’t have it at all because I don’t want that to stop anybody from trying to take on this journey. But what really helped me as well is just realizing, okay, if I am sitting at this current weight that I am right now, and that means that I can put creamer in my coffee and I can go on a spontaneous date night on a Tuesday, or if we’re having a work party, I can eat a cupcake on a Thursday, or I go on vacation and it’s not a major binge fest and I’m able to enjoy all of that food and come back and not need to go on the diet, like that’s worth it.

That’s worth it. And to me, that is what helped kind of let go of this. My happy weight might not be my smallest weight and that is the shift where, again, as you said so many times, it is so mental. It is so mental and it’s a journey and it’s definitely not easy. But thank you so much for sharing all of that because I think the more that we’re able to know and challenge and inform kind of the other side of diet culture, it just strengthens the why. The why this matters, the why this is important and also gives hope to getting to food freedom and knowing that there can be a life without obsessing over food, obsessing over your body, weighing yourself every single day, being a hot mess if you forget your Apple watch or it’s dead, you know, anything like that. So thank you so much.

Now before I wrap up, I have a small list of just rapid fire questions that I’m going to ask you. Just tell me the first thing that comes to your mind so we can all get to know you a little bit better.

Lisa

All right. Come on. Okay.

Ryann

Yeah. Okay. What is your biggest guilty pleasure?

Lisa

Okay. I don’t have one because I don’t think anything is guilty. This is such like a food freedom question. I don’t see anything as guilty. I never feel guilty if I enjoy like ice, my favorite thing is ice cream, but I don’t feel guilty if I have it.

Ryann

So interesting. So why do you connect? Okay, this is like totally off of my question. It’s fine, keep going. Because a lot of people do this, so I’m really curious. Like, you instantly connected guilty pleasure to food and so many people do that. Is it all about food?

Lisa

I think that’s such a, I think that’s a diet culture thing that’s like been ingrained in my brain like forever. Yeah, I think, and I think that’s why I instantly was like, I don’t have one because I don’t feel guilty after I eat foods. So there’s like a psychology thing for you because that’s such a diet culture thing that’s been ingrained in your brain like cheat days, guilty pleasure, all the things.

Ryann

Because mine is the bachelor.

Lisa

Okay, I do, I would agree. Are you a bachelor watcher? Yeah, ice cream and the bachelor at the same time.

Ryann

Oh, nice. Monday night.

Lisa

And I know, tomorrow!

Ryann

Yes! This is my favorite, favorite question because I just feel like this is so good. Okay, what is a food combo that you love but others would think is weird?

Lisa

Hmm. I honestly don’t know if I have one. That’s a good question, too. I honestly don’t know if I have one of those. I’m a pretty like, so here’s something you don’t know about me. I’m kind of like weird about condiments and sauces and additives. I’m kind of a plain Jane when it comes to food. And I don’t like when my food touches. So that’s probably the answer. Like there’s the answer to your question.

Ryann

Well, you’re like, no combo, let’s separate those.

Lisa

Unless it’s like Chinese food, then like all of it goes together, but that’s like normal. But yeah, I’m like, here’s my, this is over here and then this is here. Yeah.

Ryann

Oh my gosh, have you always been that way? Yeah, I think it was like, did you grow up with the plates that had like sections?

Ryann

Yes, yes.

Lisa

I think that just did it for me. Like I remember we had zoo animal plates that was like, and it was the face and then his ears. And I would put like my carrots in one ear and then like my ranch in the other ear, but they didn’t touch, but I could dip them.

Ryann

That’s so funny. If you do think of anything, you’ll have to let us know.

Lisa

Cause now I’m going to be like, analyze thinking like, okay, is this weird? Is this

Ryann

What did you have for dinner last night? Oh, we had, we made a mixed grill. This is a, this is something we’ve adopted from a family friend of ours. We did steaks, shrimp, grilled pineapple, veggie skewers, and asparagus all on the grill.

Ryann

Ooh, that sounds so good.

Lisa

It was delicious.

Ryann

What is your favorite way to move your body?

Lisa

I love walking outside, but I also love weight lifting and yoga. Yeah, I love mixing them up.

Ryann

What is your nut butter of choice?

Lisa

Peanut butter.

Ryann

And crunchy or smooth?

Lisa

Smooth.

Ryann

Okay, what do you like to put it on?

Lisa

My favorite thing to put peanut butter on is apples, but you also can’t go wrong with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Ryann

Yes, yes, so underrated, so underrated. What was your hardest food fear to break or a hard food fear you had to break?

Lisa

Ice cream. Like we said earlier, that was one where I couldn’t keep it, like could not have it in the house. And if I had it in the house, the entire pint was gone. And like that night because it was a fear food. So that was a hard one, a really, really hard one to break. And any time I went back to my parents’ house, they always have ice cream in the fridge. So I’d always be like, I can’t have one scoop because then I’ll eat from every single container. So that was the hardest one by far.

Ryann

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Lisa

Coffee ice cream.

Ryann

Oh, so good. So funny that you say that because this is my next question. How do you take your coffee?

Lisa

In the winter, hot, in the summer, iced. With creamer, of course.

Ryann

Okay, just regular creamer, no sweetener or anything?

Lisa

No sweetener, just creamer, but I usually go for a vanilla creamer, so that gives it a little sweetness.

Ryann

Yes, yes, you and I are on the same page. Okay, and my last question is, how do you define food freedom?

Lisa

I would say that it’s a little hard to define because I think it looks different for everyone. And I think, again, that’s the beauty of food freedom is that there is no set definition because you can take the intuitive eating principles, you can take essentially all your tools in your toolbox and apply it to your life and create a life with food freedom that works for you and it doesn’t have to work for anyone else because it’s your life and it’s your relationship with food and your body.

Ryann

I love that. Where can everybody find you, Lisa?

Lisa

Yes, so like you said earlier, Instagram. I’m at Thoughtfully Fueled. Most active on Instagram, my website too, if you just put in thoughtfullyfueled.com. Yeah, make sure you follow me on Insta. I have lots of fun things. Ry and I interact all the time.

Ryann

Yes. Share your experiences.

Lisa

Tell us about your Wednesdays. What do you do on Wednesdays? Oh, yes. Good. Every Wednesday I go live. I call it Fuel for Thought. Earlier in the week, I ask all my followers for questions about anything, movement, sports nutrition, intuitive eating, and then I answer them live. I usually find like a nice little topic to bring all the questions together, but sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t. But every Wednesday at noon central time, I go live and just rapid fire answer some questions.

Ryann

So if you guys have any other questions for Lisa or want to connect with her, you can drop all of those on her Instagram. And it’s a really, really great way to just have a break in your Wednesday. But also, Lisa just is such a bright light to follow. So if you’re looking for another just positive Instagram account to have on your feed, go over there. Highly, highly recommend. Lisa, thank you so much for again coming on, taking time on this Sunday to share all of this knowledge with you, even though this is going to be airing on a Wednesday. I appreciate you so much.