The 4-Part Fat-Burning Food Framework to Losing Weight in Midlife

Episode 103:

The 4-Part Fat-Burning Food Framework to Losing Weight in Midlife with Nagina Abdullah and Evan H. Hirsch, MD

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  00:04

Hey everybody, welcome back to the energy MD podcast where we help people with chronic fatigue and long COVID get their lives back by finding the real root causes of toxicities from a combination of heavy metals, chemicals, molds, infections and trauma. So really excited because today we're going to be talking about how to boost your metabolism in a smart way, and especially by using a sweet spice so super excited about that. We're going to be speaking with my friend Akina Abdullah and let's learn a little bit about her. She is a weight loss coach for women in midlife and founder of the website masala body.com. She teaches women to boost their metabolism especially when what worked before no longer works right. That is a common phrase I hear a lot. She focuses on natural formulas and metabolism boosting foods to reduce belly fat and overall weight gain in life. Medina has a degree in molecular and cell biology from UC Berkeley and has helped over 1500 midlife women successfully lose weight and create a lifestyle change. As a former management consultant she lost 40 pounds while working 60 plus hour weeks with a family by creating a healthy lifestyle shift instead of dieting. She has been featured in health.com Business Insider people.com, Fox News and more and has spoken at UBS Nestle, Deloitte Consulting and NYU Stern stern Business School. Magana. Thanks so much for joining me today. Hello, I'm

Nagina Abdullah  01:32

so excited to be here with you today I've in

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  01:35

so let's, let's learn a little bit about your first so you lost 40 pounds. How did you do it? So

Nagina Abdullah  01:44

yes, I lost 40 pounds. And the most important thing about this is that I was not somebody that I could lose weight easily, I had struggled with my weight for my entire life, I had sugar cravings, I had tried every single diet in the world, from Weight Watchers to South Beach to Atkins just to eating less and exercising a lot. And no matter what I did, my weight would just not come off in the amount that I wanted it to. And even if it did budge, which it would with some of those techniques, it would always come back on shortly after because I always felt like I was restricting myself and depriving myself. And so after I had children, I realized I had a lack of energy. And I just wasn't able to move around as quickly, I realized that I had to do something differently. Because I didn't want to live my life feeling low energy, I wanted to do what I had control over to take charge of that. And so I started researching a lot of the information I had access to with my degree in molecular cell biology from UC Berkeley. And I started looking at foods to boost your metabolism versus dieting, because dieting just hadn't worked. And I didn't want to keep going up and down in weight for the rest of my life. And so what I started realizing after researching is that we just aren't taught these things, that there are a lot of foods out there that once you add them to your diet, you actually boost your metabolism and your fat just melts away. That's how it feels. Because your metabolism is so high and you're not restricting yourself, you're feeling full and satisfied. And so we're going to talk about a lot of those specific things today. But what I did is I just started adding them, I started feeling so good. Like I was taking care of myself, like I had a really great amount of self care. instead of hating myself and getting mad at myself all the time for for overeating, I felt like I was able to eat everything I wanted. And 40 pounds came off in nine months. And I really got to the most fit I'd ever been in my life. And then, you know, I want to also mention, it's been 13 years since I lost that weight. And since then the weight has not only stayed off, but I've been able to focus on bigger goals like getting more tone and getting more muscle which is key for energy key for midlife and being stronger and more fit and active for the rest of my life. And so, you know, creating this lifestyle shift was really a change that I had never focused on before. And doing it while enjoying what I was eating and focusing on my metabolism was really the instrumental change. And I'm excited to share more about what I did today. Here too.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  04:28

Yeah, excellent. So before we dive more into that, I'm really curious, how do hormones come into play? Obviously, you said this was like 13 years ago, and your hormones then are very different from your hormones now. What have you learned?

Nagina Abdullah  04:43

So absolutely such a great question because you know, when I lost the weight after children my hormones were still pretty good. Like it wasn't it didn't like once I did the right things I was able to come off even though I didn't know what those right things were prior to that, but then about 10 years after For that, I started experiencing that I gained weight. Well, even though I was doing the exact same things as before, and I experienced this myself, personally, there was more weight coming onto my belly, I was not able to burn fat, even if I, even if I ate the same amounts, nothing was changing. And so after researching that, again, I'm like, What's going on, I finally found control. And this is changing again. So what's happening is that our hormones are drastically changing in midlife, usually, on average in a woman's 40s. And that's when that happened for me. And it was like clockwork, it just started happening. And so what's what is going on is our estrogen levels are first of all lowering, first of all going up and then going down. And they are in contrast with progesterone levels that are going down. And so what's happening there is because estrogen is over the course of years starting to decline, it's creating a change in where our fat is stored. So our fat was stored previously around our hips, and, and more kind of more balanced out. But it starts to just get focused and balance and focus on it starts to get more on our bellies after that. And so the other thing, so because of estrogen changes, this is happening, it's we as a woman, we as women, we often feel it's our fault, we're not working hard enough, we're not doing the right things, but it's actually out of our control, it's because these hormones are changing. And the other thing that is really key, there's a there's several other hormones that are in play, but I'll just mention a few that are really, really playing a big part here is that our insulin which is released, when you are digesting sugars, digesting carbs that break down to sugars, insulin is released, and it's taking that sugar out of your bloodstream and storing it as fat. Well, in midlife, this is actually it's it's very common to become more insulin resistant. And what that means is that you're not able to get that sugar out of your bloodstream, and you're actually creating more fat storage, like your body is more, it's easier to store fat when you're eating carbs. And when you're eating sugar. So you really have to balance that out in a few ways, really, by adding certain foods, not necessarily by taking out foods, but by adding foods. And then finally, one more hormone I want to mention that really comes into play is cortisol, which cortisol increases more if your body's more sensitive to cortisol, because of its its has to do with the balance of cortisol and estrogen and where everything is being processed. And, and so when we get stressed, we could manage it a lot more it before midlife, but now the stress is creating more of that belly fat gain and the overall fat gain. So managing stress plays such a bigger part. And so it's so important to take that time to take care of ourselves. Now more than ever.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  07:58

Well said. And then I would imagine thyroid hormones probably plays a role in there a little bit. Absolutely.

Nagina Abdullah  08:03

Thyroid hormone is another one exactly, I would I would have, you know mentioned that as well. But I wanted to just share those, those those other three. But thyroid is absolutely something that a lot of women will experience Hashimotos or hypothyroidism, as a result of their thyroid hormones declining, and a lot of this is actually going to be a result of some of the some of the things that that women are eating, or how much they're eating. So we're going to be talking about exactly the exact things that not only help women boost their metabolism and lose weight, but also help to balance out hormones when you're doing it the right way. And you stop dieting and you stop under eating. But it absolutely can be something that you work on. And there's a big myth, when you go to see a regular doctor that they'll tell you, you just have to wait it out and wait for it to get worse. But there's things that you can do naturally, that will really really help you because that's impacting your energy. It's impacting your weight gain. It's it's impacting just so many things about your body, but we can we can change that when we know what to do.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  09:07

Yeah, or that people have, you know, normal thyroid, you know, and when they're looking at just the TSH and they're not really paying attention to all that. So yeah, so let's, let's start. Let's start looking at some of these foods. And you know, a lot of people know about the problems with sugar, the inflammation that they can get in their body. They're familiar with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. But how does sugar affect people's metabolism? Yes.

Nagina Abdullah  09:34

Okay, so So sugar is like the, I mean, we've all heard that sugar is a drug. I mean, but it tastes so good. It's so hard to to get off sugar. It's our bodies crave it even when we say no, you know, we're not going to do that. We're not going to eat that. It's like our bodies have a life of their own and a voice of their own. And it takes over and and so what happens for sugar is because sugar is true li a drug when you have some sugar, it makes you want more sugar. So, so just knowing that can really create a lot of awareness of what shifts to make that you don't have to feel that you are a sugar, like addicted to sugar, it's about learning what foods are breaking down to sugar, and there's a lot of them that are not sweet, that will help you get off of sugar. But what happens for sugar, so I talked about insulin. And really when you are releasing insulin, it's it's when your sugar when sugar is digesting in your blood, it's the foods are being broken down into sugar, and your body needs to remove that sugar from your blood from your bloodstream. So it stores it in fat cells. And and that's how you gain fat. And it's it is it is this is a major way that that women gain weight is because of this fat storage mechanism. Now, in midlife, this becomes even more important and it's happening more as I described, because women are becoming more insulin resistant. And so they're storing more fat. And so, so really what we what is most important is to really understand that knowing what our blood sugar levels are, is going to have a direct effect on how much fat you're storing. And so really understanding how food plays a part in raising your blood sugar, keeping it even or lowering your blood sugar is really where what you want to know. So that you can actually get that fat loss effect without needing to feel hungry and starving. And so you know, really a key to a key thing to learn. And we'll talk a little bit more about this right now as well is is to know what foods to add, and what foods to to balance it with or to combine those foods with so that your blood sugar stays stable, and it doesn't go up and then come down quickly. Because when your blood sugar goes up, that's like if you eat something like say, even, even like, it doesn't even have to be a sweet, it could just be a food that breaks down quickly. So like a biscuit or a piece of bread, or you know anything else that quickly breaks down to sugar, your blood sugar elevates, and when your blood sugar elevates, that's when insulin is released. It's it's taking that blood sugar out of your bloodstream, and it's storing it as fat. So if you can become more knowledgeable about how to keep your blood sugar even versus going up and down, then you are going to solve so many so much of your fat storage problems. And you're going to feel like it's like your fat is melting away, it's going to feel so easy. So And one key thing is that it doesn't mean that you're not eating bread, you're not eating biscuits, it means that when we combine that those foods with other foods, that that helps bring your blood sugar down. And when you eat them in the right order, it keeps your blood sugar down to

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  12:45

Nice. So yeah, let's dive into that adding foods combining foods. What's the right order? Yes, absolutely.

Nagina Abdullah  12:52

So the number one thing that any woman can do, and this will really, really solve so many problems is use the mantra that I like to I created and I like to say is protein more. And so thinking about protein more at every meal. So what protein does is that it provides a foundation for your body so that your blood sugar stays so much more even, it doesn't go up and down. And how protein digests more slowly, so you feel full for longer and increases our metabolism because it's helping our it's helping give a give our bodies the building blocks for our muscles to build more and when you have more tone and more muscle, then you have more ability to to to break down that sugar without storing it in your fat cells. Okay, and so, so really doing, you know, so adding protein is really key and adding that first in your in what you're eating is going to help you so that when you add some carbs and when you add some sugar if you choose to do that, it's going to help balance that out. So protein more is the first key thing to balance your blood sugar. The second key mantra that I like to share is called that it's called tasty veggies. And so veggies we all know we're supposed to eat veggies to be healthy to boost our metabolism to lose weight, but it's really hard I have learned for people to add more veggies and that's because they don't really enjoy the taste. And so that's why the word tasty is one of the most important parts of that phrase. It's just as important as veggies because it actually gets you to want to eat vegetables more. And so I'll talk about how to how to do this but first of all, let me share that tasty veggies means like what that does is that also helps keep your your blood sugar lower and because veggies have more fiber, they keep you full for longer so you're not craving additional foods. So these are two key things if you can add them before you add any carbs that would You really, really amazing. So for example, you could do something like if you were to have a typical sandwich, if you were to do something like a tuna sandwich, or a ham sandwich or any kind of sandwich, if you eat all of the sandwich at once your blood sugar is going to spike more than it would you know, it's going to spike. But it's also good that you're having that tonight, you're having some veggies in there. Also, let's say that you're having some tomatoes and, and lettuce. But if you create an open face sandwich, and if you eat the inside or the protein first and then the veggies, or the protein in the veggies that same time and then have the bread after it's been shown that your blood sugar will will, will only will rise only 50% of what it would if you ate everything together. Now, if you ate the bread first, it would elevate even further. And so a lot of times when we're sitting down for dinner, or you know, and there's there may be salad or veggies, and then there may be bread. And then there also may be you know, whether it's chicken or tofu or any other kind of protein, it's easy to eat the bread first, like our bodies want that our bodies are craving it usually until you put yourself through this through this kind of training and your body stops craving it. So if you were to eat that bread, first, you're going to get much more of a blood sugar elevation. But if you switch the order and make sure you have protein, first make sure you have veggies and then add the the the the carb, it's not going to spike as much. And then the other benefit is that you're not going to be as hungry and you likely and what would be great is if you have a smaller serving of that of that carbs that you're eating, like the bread or whatever it may be. So so really, that's that's, you know, the order matters and also decreasing your portions of foods that quickly break down to sugar, which are carbs that that don't necessarily have to be sweet, if you can just make it half of what it was before. That's a really great formula to see some real fat loss success without feeling like you have to deprive yourself of the foods that you love. So, and I just want to mention, you know, some of the things that I was talking about around how to make veggies tastier is really through adding metabolism boosting spices, and metabolism boosting spices are so powerful and they're so easy to use. It's just that a lot of people don't know how to use them but it's really easier than then than you think. And so, a few things that you could do is you could use any kind of spice like cumin, you could use turmeric, you could use coriander, black pepper, and salt each of these have individual benefits that actually increase weight loss and so a few of the benefits are cumin has been proven to lower belly fat by 30% more if you have cumin and then if you don't Coriander is decreases water retention. And so that actually helps you d bloat it helps you reduce puffiness in your belly and in your face and in other areas of your body. Black pepper something as simple as black pepper actually give a burns more calories than a 20 minute walk and and turmeric is very anti inflammatory. So when you combine it with black pepper, you're really increasing the absorption of curcumin which is in turmeric. And so turmeric is a beautiful yellow color doesn't have any flavor too much to it. So you by sprinkling that on your veggies or using it and things like eggs even you get that anti inflammatory effect as well. So you know sprinkling these these spices, you don't have to worry about the quantity you don't have to worry about following an exact recipe because spices are very flexible. And these are not spicy spices I've mentioned either. These are just these are very like very neutral spices, and they really make your veggies taste good. So putting something like cumin, coriander, salt and pepper on some broccoli, putting it in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, you're going to have amazing tasting veggies, then you're going to want to eat these have those with your protein and then have your carb on the side and have it for the end of your meal. And you're going to start to see your fat just come off because your metabolisms increasing by eating this way.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  19:28

Brilliant So and So sounds like the order is protein first, then veggies then any sort of simple carbs like bread or potato

Nagina Abdullah  19:38

yes exactly you could do you could do veggies or protein first that part is either one and and but then it really following it with a simple carb and so that's definitely the order and you know like I said the portion size matters but then also this the carb could be improved as well like if you if you start to learn and understand what carbs to eat, it's going to help you with your blood sugar balancing even more, because no matter what carbs are going to create that increase in blood sugar. But if you have healthier carbs that digest more slowly, it's not going to have that effect. And then you're really optimizing this. So what that means is having bread that's higher fiber, so that digests more slowly, because fiber takes fibers heavier, it takes longer to digest, it keeps you full for longer, and so your blood sugar is not going to spike. If you have Ezekiel bread, which you can find in the frozen section. That is a lot better. And if you have lentils, beans, or sweet potatoes, like a starchy vegetable, those are much better sources of carbs. And so that's where you are, you know, really this is about educating ourselves around what to eat. That's real food, and getting off of dieting, and then learning how to enjoy these foods with the spices that I'm sharing.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  21:01

Yeah, those sound delicious. And so when when you say carbs, you're talking about simple carbs, because there's carbs in veggies, right. So then, what's the difference between like the vegetable carbs and the carbs in bread? Okay,

Nagina Abdullah  21:14

great question. Yes, There absolutely are carbs and veggies, but there's not as many and because because veggies have higher fiber, they aren't elevating your blood sugar as much when you get them from veggies. But you know, we do need a little more carbs then only veggies though I do add like so I advocate like not even thinking about the the carbs and veggies because we need the veggies for so many reasons for the vitamins for the minerals, but also for the fiber to keep you full. Like if you skip having a veggie at a meal, you'll find that you're hungry. And you'll start craving sugar and simple carbs. And so if you add veggies you're getting it's so much of the better things that helps you avoid the foods that are moving you away from your goals. So really thinking of it as I like to think of it as you know what I call the four part fat burning food framework, which is having 50% of 50% protein on your plate 50% veggies, and then also, but then during lunchtime having like 40% protein, 40% veggies and 20% carbs. And so adding those carbs at lunchtime, because we our body does need more than just veggies and likely living in our regular world we're craving we want something that's that that has some carbs in it. So it's allowing yourself to have those and, and for those women that are working out. And those women that are lifting weights, you know, the carbs actually start to increase when you're lifting weights, especially so that you can gain more muscle, which is another form of gaining muscle of improving metabolism. So we don't want to take any food group out of your diet. It's just about balancing it.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  22:58

And do you have favorite carbs that you recommend that people eat with lunch?

Nagina Abdullah  23:02

Yes, so those are so you know, my favorite carbs that have such an amazing effect on keeping your blood sugar stable and therefore not storing as much fat and actually burning more fat is beans. So like black beans, chickpeas or garbanzo beans, cannelini beans. So these are things that you could put into a salad like a Mexican salad, a southwest salad, you could add some black beans, you can do cannelini beans on, you know on this, you can combine that with tuna or chicken, it tastes so good. Or chickpeas, you can make curried chickpeas which are great. So or just add that onto a salad as well. Also lentils so you can make lentils using spices, or you could purchase lentils that are already cooked, that's fine. Those are the best of the best. But the other ones that are really good are these zekiel bread or high fiber bread. Rye bread and sourdough bread are also good at not spiking your blood sugar too much. So those feel really good if you just always, you know, go for those two, when you can if you don't want to do Ezekiel or another higher fiber bread. So those are some really good ones. And then also, I like to share you know, instead of having the typical grains like rice, rice will really really elevate your blood sugar. So I have these substitutes, which I call slimming grains and slimming grains are higher in fiber, they don't elevate your blood sugar and they are very similar to rice. So they are things like couscous, millet, buckwheat, farro, quinoa is in that area though quinoa does elevate your blood sugar more than the other ones I mentioned. But if you just look in the aisle or when you're shopping look at the place where rice is sold you'll see these things millet is amazing. It's so easy to make couscous is faster than rice and using those as your as your carb is going to help keep your blood sugar more stable too. Oh,

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  25:00

interesting. That's great. What do you think about fonio? Be familiar with that grain? Oh, no, I'm not. Ah, it's an African grain that we just started playing with at home. It's like fo and I Oh, so yeah. So I'll be curious. Oh, wow, if you take a look and then try it out? Yeah, I definitely will. Okay, yeah, that's interesting with rice. What about adding in olive oil or some sort of fat in order to decrease the release of sugar from some of these carbs?

Nagina Abdullah  25:35

Yes, absolutely. So that's actually the fourth part of the fat burning food framework is fats is healthy fats. And so healthy fats are really important. Because of so many reasons, you know, just what you mentioned, around you know, balancing with with and allow, you know, allowing that that balance to happen, but also, to keep you full for longer. It's important for our brain health, it's important for our skin health. But you'll notice, if you don't have fat, you'll feel hungry, like you do need to have some fat. And, and so, so I'll give you some examples of fat. But I'll say that one of the most important learnings I've had from coaching, you know, from coaching so many women is that the number one area to by mistake, eat too much of when you're eating healthy, is fats. And the thing about fats is that they're very dense in calories. So like two tablespoons of peanut butter has 180 calories. And it's really easy it to not measure your peanut butter and two, by mistake have double that, it's very easy. I've done it a million times myself. And and so then you eat another 200 calories, and then it could even be an extra 400 calories. And though I don't like to focus on calories, and you really don't have to focus on calories when you're eating the right foods on your plate, because you'll feel satisfied. If you go significantly over your body cannot lose fat. And so it's just knowing you know how to feel in your body and staying in that zone where you're giving your body what it needs, but not overdoing it. And so just knowing the serving sizes for fats are really key. And so what I recommend is having fat two times a day plus in a snack, so like something like having it in the morning because so eggs for example, two eggs have each of it has each egg has six grams of fat. So around 14 grams of fat is one serving. So doing that three times a day. So eggs in the morning, you could have nuts in the afternoon or have a two tablespoons of peanut butter and an apple for a snack, which is really amazing. Also, we'll talk about cinnamon a little bit, but sprinkle some cinnamon on that because that lowers your blood sugar. And then in the in the, in the afternoon have a lean protein. So something like chicken, or a white fish or shrimp or you know another form or egg whites or a protein shake. So have that in the afternoon. And then in the evening also have another fat, like a fatty protein is a really good way to do it. Because you can have beef salmon, tofu, there's a few others, you know, a lot of chicken thighs, you can have a fatty protein or you can have healthy fat on the side, like half an avocado, for example is important to know that it's half an avocado, that's going to give you 14 grams, because it whole avocado will by mistake give you double that which is really 200 calories more and your body doesn't need it. If you're having protein and you're having veggies, you're you're gonna be having the right amount of calories for your body. So healthy fats are really key, you know, using them three times a day, that's you know, that's kind of a practice that is that works really well so you don't have to count. And using things like fatty meats or fatty proteins, peanut butter, nuts, avocado, coconut oil is really amazing. Olive oil, you can use olive oil as well. But note that, you know, when you're using oils, they're not necessarily keeping you full. So you might feel hungry for more food. And that's why like if you eat if you if you eat fats in the form of food, like avocado or fatty meat, you're going to actually feel full. And so it's it's so it's kind of a nice trade off to just to know that.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  29:33

Okay, so you'll feel more full when you're actually consuming the fat in a food form. Yes. Interesting. Great. were you gonna say something else? No,

Nagina Abdullah  29:42

no, but I mean, well, the you know, the kind of the main takeaway is, is that you know, you every calorie that you're eating, it's making a difference. So and it's keeping you full and satisfied. So you're not feeling sugar cravings. You're not feeling uncontrolled. about hunger, you're able to manage your appetite. And because you're able to do this, you can eat the right amounts of food because you're eating foods that are so that are so nutrient dense. And that is what is creating this this way of keeping your blood sugar down and not eating more calories than your body needs, but you're always feeling satisfied.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  30:23

So, so for people who have sugar cravings, how long does it take for them to kind of stop having sugar cravings when they're eating like this? And do they need to, you know, kind of like wean off of sugar in order to go into this sort of thing? Or can they kind of cold turkey just start eating this way? Oh, that's such

Nagina Abdullah  30:42

a good question. It's pretty surprising. But so it's a very short timeframe, it happens very quickly, like in three days, three days, you will feel the difference. And what what's happening is like, you don't have to intentionally say I'm not going to eat sugar, I'm not going to eat all my favorite foods, what happens is when you start adding protein, you start adding these veggies, like really a cup of veggies to every meal, you start having protein at every meal, and you have healthy fats three times a day, and then those healthy carbs that I was talking about. And even if you only add protein at breakfast as a starting point, because you know, this is this is we've talked about so many things. But to get started, even if you only start adding protein at breakfast, what will happen is that your body will start to crave so much less sugar. And it's going to happen pretty quickly. Because our we're only craving sugar, because most of it is because of what we're giving our body that's making our body want more sugar, sugar is making us want more sugar. But when you start giving yourself more protein, you start to feel more full, and it balances out the sugar that you might have later on. So in terms of like not giving you that effect that that effect of your blood sugar going up and down. So so it happens within three days. And what I've seen so often with my clients is that, you know, after this three days goes on, there's everybody has different experiences with with getting off sugar. So some people and this is actually a way to get off sugar is to eat like this because your body stops craving it. And so So what can happen is that you just start eating this way, and you were really loving it, you don't feel too many differences. And then you just keep going and you just stop craving sugar, like somebody could put your favorite pastries, or donuts or cupcakes in front of you. And you won't even want that like that happens. It's a true food freedom. But other people will go through a withdrawal, where in about three days after they start eating like this like for the whole day, they'll start to feel tired, they'll feel a little bit of a little slight potential headache, but it's only going to last for about 24 hours, sometimes it could last for a little bit longer. But on the other side of that 24 hours, it's like a rainbow and people running around in the lawn. Because it is it's so positive in in the feeling that you that you get when you're off sugar and you feel more energy. Number one, you feel like you can do so much more in your day, you're not feeling like you're controlled by food anymore. This is an incredible feeling to have, if you're somebody that is controlled by food, which I used to be, and you can start to choose what you're eating instead of your food choosing you. So the way to do this is like I said not to say I'm not going to eat that. Because that never works that requires willpower and willpower will not work in the long run. What what it does is like what what will work is changing the equation, changing the mindset around getting off sugar and saying I'm going to add protein, I'm going to add veggies I mean eat more nutrient dense foods, and your body will feel so satisfied that it won't crave sugar anymore. And this will happen it happens time and time again. And it's extremely powerful. And it's the way that you have a lifestyle shift versus having following a diet over and over again.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  34:12

Brilliant. So let's talk about the I guess the odd category out so what about fruit?

Nagina Abdullah  34:21

Okay, yes. Oh, yes. Because we haven't really talked about that actually. So yes, absolutely. And this is probably a big question that that those listening may have. So fruit is something that you can absolutely have. But let's you know fruit does have sugar in it. But you Louis talked about how you don't have to take out the foods that you love when you're balancing it out. But first I want to share you know when you're eating the higher quality foods are the foods that are better for metabolism. It makes it easier because you can have more of them. So when you eat foods that are low sugar that's going to help you so starting off with prioritizing low sugar fruits is a really easy way to add more fruits into your diet. So low sugar fruits are really berries are amazing. So strawberries tastes so good. blueberries, blackberries raspberries are doing a blend of them that's very low sugar. It's the best fruit out there in terms of keeping your blood sugar low. But also if you have half an apple or if you have a small apple or half of a pair, those are also options if you have a full Apple it does have a significant amount of sugar up has about 25 grams of sugar and that's actually sometimes advised is what you have over the course of your day. So if you have a small apple or half an apple but then you also pair it with peanut butter peanut butter like healthy fats also slow down your blood sugar spikes, so it's it's and this is also another mantra I share which is called eat more and you can lose weight in a healthy way because if you eat more of the right foods your body won't want the other foods that are actually like going against your metabolism. So instead of having just an Apple have a smaller portion of the apple but then have the peanut butter with it so eat have that combination and that's going to really slow your your your blood sugar. Also having some tangerines or orange oranges are really good. So you know having the key is to you can the key is number one try to have low sugar fruit when you can and whenever you have fruit even if you don't have the most optimal fruits even if you're having other things that I didn't mention, have a smaller portion of it but pair it with a healthy fat or a protein or both. And so like a way to do this is for those of you that eat fruit at breakfast is to have a protein metabolism boosting protein smoothie. So have berries or if you want to have a banana put half of a banana into that smoothie, use a non dairy milk I recommend not having not consuming much dairy but also put in you know you can also put in protein powder or you can put in Greek yogurt for your protein. And then you can add some veggies in there too like spinach you could put a cup of spinach and you won't even taste it and that's going to keep you more full with less sugar and you're going to get that blast of veggies right in the morning. So that's a really great way or if you have eggs have your eggs also have berries on the side or apples on the side and then also have you know then you're having your healthy fat you're having your protein and you're also having your your you can also have your fruit with that as well so your fruit can count as your veggies in some situations like breakfast especially you can replace fruit for veggies but have it with your protein but ideally have your protein first.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  37:41

Okay and we talking about a cup of fruit.

Nagina Abdullah  37:46

So half a cup to a cup is is is the the best amount like yeah half a cup to a cup is of berries is really good it really you know what, what really starts to like sugar digestion really starts to make more of a difference as you get closer to your goal weight. So as you get closer to like when if you're only 10 pounds away from where you want to be, you do have to have you want to make sure you're having the right amount for your body. And that means like what your body weight is so half a cup to a cup usually spans you know most people around around having that some people may be able to have more some people may need to have only a fourth cup if you're really someone that has small like at a smaller weight that you're maybe say like 100 225 or below and and you want to keep going then you you want to have like rat a fourth cup. And

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  38:40

is that just once a day or you can have that several times a day. So

Nagina Abdullah  38:43

you could so the thing is I really recommend that you would have that at your breakfast or have it once a day and that's because the sugar content is going to it is going to create that blood sugar spike, it is going to give you more carbs throughout your you know that your your body is going to going to have what it needs. And if you have other carbs they're going to make you full for longer like sugar is something we look at as it could be veggies but they also have carbs in them. So that if you're having veggies it's actually you can eat as much as you want at least have a cup of veggies and you're not getting any sugar in your in your veggies but it's giving you all the nutrients that you're also getting from fruit but without the sugar and likely more fiber because more vegetables have more fiber, there's only so you know so so so having that that really makes a difference as well. So you're really getting the benefits without the sugar when you're eating veggies. But this is also something that's like adjustable. If you love having fruit at at at lunch if you really want to have it later in the day. You can but use some of the tricks that I've been teaching like have a smaller portion of it and just pair it with like Greek yogurt or pair it with your your meal or put it in a protein shake. Make sure that you're just not having an apple or banana by itself.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  40:03

Okay, that's helpful. And other proteins that may be used at breakfast. What about like sausages? Or bacon, pork, bacon or, or turkey bacon? What are your thoughts on those.

Nagina Abdullah  40:19

So those do give you more protein. The downside is that they're processed, and so they're much higher in sodium. First of all, from a fat loss perspective, that's going to create bloating, you're going to experience bloating when you're eating high sodium foods. And so pretty much all the sausages, even the healthier sausages that are out there, they will have a high amount of sodium. So a recommended amount of sodium is having 350 milligrams per serving. And so in some of the sausages, you'll see, it's actually like 800 milligrams or 1000 milligrams, it's like off the charts, it's really high. And that is going to create like a blockage of you being able to get that, that that bloat off, because it's creating a water retention, when you have more salt in your body, it's creating your body to hang on to water. And that's why it's creating that bloating. And just because it's processed, it's not like there's a lot of a lot of processing of fat loss that can't happen when we're giving our body processed foods. That's why real foods like I've been sharing many examples of those are the easiest ways for your body just to move that move that food in and out of your body. It's not dealing with artificial chemicals that we're not supposed to have, especially at those high rates that are normal, you know, in the US. And so, so those are like, you know, turkey bacon is better than regular bacon. Also, sometimes you can have these things. If you hadn't like say, once or twice a week, any of those examples that you mentioned, that's going to be okay, this is not about being perfect. It's more about okay, what can we do to move in that direction of, of being healthier, and having the protein is really really important. So if some days you need to have a short cut, or you're really just craving bacon, have it but also just know what you're giving your body it is going to increase some bloating because there is some higher sodium in there. And you might notice some effects of your weight loss but it's okay once in a while if that's if that's what you want to do. But other breakfast proteins that I recommend are so having like two eggs but not stopping there actually adding a cup of egg whites to it is going to give you the protein that your body really needs. So eggs in two eggs is 12 grams of protein. I advise and many many experts advise having at least 30 grams of protein at each meal. So if you have 12 grams from your two eggs, and then you add a cup of egg whites, a cup of egg whites is going to take you up to 3030 grams and it's not going to add the added fat the and the added cholesterol that you would have from from x. So that's a really easy way to get more protein in your breakfast. You can also have two eggs, but you can have it with Greek yogurt that has like 20 grams of protein. There's a really great greek yogurt that just got released which is called oitavos 20 grams. But you can find other ones that are like 18 grams of protein and they're always Greek yogurt. So Greek yogurt, cottage cheese is really great for breakfast, and then also protein powder. You could either if you're vegan, that's a great way to get your protein in the morning as a vegan protein powder. But otherwise I really advise having an egg white protein powder which absorbs into our bodies very well. And there's also whey protein powder if you if you're able to have way without feeling bloated which can sometimes happen for people that are lactose intolerant. So those are a few different different ideas but you can also always do dinner or lunch for breakfast like salmon for breakfast chicken for breakfast, that's totally fine to do that. And then also smoked salmon is another great great thing to have smoked salmon with eggs or smoked salmon with you know with with the with the Greek yogurt or some of the other things that I mentioned are really great for your for your breakfast. But you know just to round this off, I'll say the favorite breakfast of women that I help lose weight is to have a metabolism boosting smoothie in the morning because it's fast. You get all of your ingredients you get your you get to have you put your fruit in it, you put your non dairy milk, half a cup to a cup of strawberries, a cup of spinach, and then you can even add some mint in it. That's my metabolism boosting morning. Mint and berry smoothie and and so that one is really great and then you can top it off with some cinnamon and cinnamon really lowers your blood sugar and so adding cinnamon in your coffee in the morning too is a great a great hack. because it gives you the benefits of the sweetness that you get from sugar, but you are actually lowering your blood sugar. When you add that cinnamon, you just get that sweetness and you feel like you're treating yourself well, you don't feel like you're depriving yourself. So a morning of coffee or tea with cinnamon, along with any of those protein items that I mentioned is a really great start to your day. And it just makes you feel so good when you get going.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  45:26

Excellent. Lots of really great ideas. Thank you for that. I know we only have a couple of more minutes left. And I got a bunch more questions. But I'm going to I'm just going to ask my my favorite last questions. So you've mentioned you mentioned yogurt, you mentioned cottage cheese, but you also talked about not eating dairy. So tell me a little bit about that. Okay,

Nagina Abdullah  45:46

yes. So, okay, so dairy. So there are several foods that have been shown to create to create obstacles or blockages in our body from releasing weight. And so when dairy is one of the very, very common ones. So not everybody is lactose intolerant, but almost everyone has some lactose intolerance. And so what can happen is that if you're consuming dairy, it's just your body just isn't able to burn fat because it's it's working on burning this, it's working on just processing dairy. And it's not, it's not able to do it efficiently. And because your body is struggling to do that, it's not able to quickly burn fat. And so this can happen with dairy, it can also happen with certain other foods. But once you take these foods out of your out of your diet, it's like the floodgates just open up and all the weight starts coming off. And it wasn't because you weren't eating like working hard enough, it was because you were eating a food that was creating, like an imbalance and an allergy to your system. So it just, it just allows your body to process burning fat a lot better. Now, there are a couple dairies that I that I do think are okay, I've studied them, I've experimented with them, my clients have them and they are processed in a different way. So they're pasteurized, so that they the sugar is taken out, the lactose is really minimal, and the protein is higher and those are the ones that I've mentioned Greek yogurt and cottage cheese. So having those two is a great way to increase protein it's a healthier form of dairy your body will likely not react badly to it unless you are very lactose intolerant. But in general, really taking note of cheese you know doesn't mean you don't have to eat cheese or you don't have to eat pizza but it means that you're not eating it every day you're not eating it regularly if you're just knowing that it could create like this this this could make you have a plateau in terms of your weight loss if you're eating dairy that is affecting your body

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  47:57

yeah and from a fatigue perspective we also see the dairies in issue All right great. Well I have more questions but I do want to respect your time let's where can people learn more about you?

Nagina Abdullah  48:13

Oh yes, absolutely well i So my website is masala body.com That's a really great place to find out more about me to learn about some of my new workshops that I have coming up where I that I do very often and and then you can also follow me on Instagram at the same place masala body at masala body. Excellent.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  48:34

And then you also have a sweet spice cheat sheet that you're going to share with our audience. Right? Yes,

Nagina Abdullah  48:41

I'm so excited about this free gift that I brought for your audience. And so this is the sweet spice cheat sheet. I did talk a little bit about what the Spice was today. But this cheat sheet gives you so much more information about the spice to use to lower your blood sugar and curb sugar cravings and guess what? It's also sweet. So you feel like you you feel like you're eating sugar but you're not getting all of the the you know you're getting benefits from eating this this spice and so the cheat sheet has three the three health benefits of using the spice. It also has five ways to use it in your day and it does not involve cooking. It just involves sprinkling it on what you're eating. And then I also have an easy fire tea which is a belly fat burning tea to have at night that replaces wine or replaces anything else that you might crave at night and includes this sweet spice so you can grab that at you know I think you have the link below but yeah, we'll put them Yeah, perfect. Perfect. Excellent. Well,

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  49:43

you've dropped so many nuggets of knowledge today. I so appreciate you coming on. And so for the people listening and watching if you are in midlife and you're having an issue with your weight, definitely check out masala body.com Thanks so much for being with me today.

Nagina Abdullah  49:58

Thank you for having me.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD  50:01

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