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In an interview with Vegan.com, Virginia Messina, MPH, RD, commented on her disdain about the documentary “What the Health.” She said, “As a vegan health professional, I am sometimes mortified to be associated with the junk science that permeates our community. . . . I’m disheartened by advocacy efforts that can make us look scientifically illiterate, dishonest, and occasionally like a cult of conspiracy theorists. I wish What the Health had stuck to these kinds of observations and supported them with an informed discussion of the evidence. Instead, it cherry-picked the research, misinterpreted and over-stated the data, highlighted dubious stories of miraculous healing, and focused on faulty observations about nutrition science. Most of the misinformation in the film is due simply to a poor understanding of nutrition science and research. But some moments struck me as overtly dishonest.”

Vegan diets have clout, especially if you're pursuing them for moral reasons. Many people that take on vegan diets have been doing so to try and honor animals and protect them from inhuman treatment. That is a very good reason to transition to the vegan lifestyle. The way you eat, however, does not determine your moral character. Should you choose to use your nutrition as a way to express your beliefs and values, I think that's great. That does not give you permission to judge people that don't hold the same views as you. I, also, believe in the moral treatment of animals and am a huge animal lover. However, I feel better eating animal products and I do my due diligence to only source my animal products from sources that treat the animals in humane ways.

The problems that have arisen from this new vegan movement are blatant fear mongering and dogma. We have seen a radical portion of the vegan population touting claims that meat causes cancer, fat leads to diabetes and sugar is not unhealthy. These claims are inherently false. These radicalists have cherry picked information in order to incite fear in people in order to "recruit" more people to their way of life. Time Magazine wrote an article breaking down all of the false claims that were touted in What The Health. The film did get some elements correct, it wasn't complete bullshit. However, they definitely overly inflated a lot of their claims to try and claim their dietary lifestyle was far superior and healthy to other dietary modalities. If you're interested in another great article debunking the film, I would check out this great article on Vox. The article refers to the film as "sensational" and I couldn't say it any better.

You can read the full article yourself at Vegan.com. The point is, you cannot take one piece of material as gospel. Especially when the people funding and creating the piece have a bias. Usually if there’s a bias, there is also fearmongering, cherry picking, and a ton of dogma. There are perks to plant based diets for SOME people. That doesn’t make it right for ALL people. Not ALL meat causes cancer. Sugar DOES cause health issues. Fat does NOT cause diabetes.  Always do research and check all of your sources. Look at both sides. To be honestly open to learning and growing as a person, you have to listen to both sides and take them both seriously. Otherwise you are deciding on something with a bias rather than a decision rooted in education and evidence.

There are a few key nutrients that can make the sometimes challenging task
of balancing your blood sugar easy and approachable! These three key
nutrients are: fat, fiber, and protein. Other diabetes resources focus on
limiting or even removing certain foods from your diet, but instead we’re
going to focus on adding these three key nutrients to your plate each time
you eat. . . 

• Fat 
• Fiber
• Protein

THE BLOOD SUGAR
ROLLER COASTER
​

• Fat, fiber, and protein act as "buffers" on your body's blood sugar

response. They slow down how quickly your body can absorb
sugar and other forms of carbohydrates.

• This means the highest blood sugar your body will reach after

eating should be lower when fat, fiber, and protein are included, as
shown above.

• You are also less likely to experience steep blood sugar swings

and better able to achieve blood sugar balance.

FAT

•Fat often gets a bad rep in the media and becomes feared by
many, grabbing the non-fat or low-fat options at the grocery
store or coffee shop. However, fat is a vital macronutrient
essential in everyone's daily diet.

• For instance, some vitamins are fat-soluble (Vitamins A,

D, E, K), which means we need to eat healthy sources of
fat to absorb the goodness of these specific vitamins. So
eating avocado or salad dressing on a salad will function
both for flavor and aiding the absorption of those fat-
soluble vitamins in vegetables.

•Fat helps keep us full and satiated. This is simply because this
macronutrient takes longer to exit the stomach, so when your
meals or snacks contain fat, they help keep you satisfied longer
and keep hunger away.

•Fat can also slow down carbohydrate absorption, which means
a more steady blood sugar response after meals and snacks..



FIBER

•Fiber is great because it prevents us from getting hungry
again soon after we've eaten and can help regulate blood
sugar levels.

•There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble.

•Soluble fiber dissolves in water. Soluble fiber is helpful for
our cholesterol and blood sugar regulation.

•Insoluble fiber is not dissolvable in water and will aid in
moving food through our digestive system.

•A great way to increase fiber in your daily diet is to keep the
skin on vegetables and fruit. So, for instance, if you're
making a soup, scrub the carrots well to clean off any dirt but
leave that beautiful orange skin on the vegetable to retain
more fiber!

PROTEIN

•Protein is a macronutrient that plays a vital role in balancing
our blood sugars.

•Protein can be derived from animal-based sources such as
meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy. Protein can also be
derived from plant-based sources such as whole grains,
legumes, beans, nuts, and seeds.

PUTTING IT INTO ACTION

Toast

• Add butter for fat
• Add avocado for fat and fiber
• Swap white toast for whole grain toast
• Add nut/seed butter for fat and protein

      • Add an egg on top for fat and protein

Dairy

• Use 2% or whole milk instead of skim for fat
• Go for the Greek yogurt made with whole milk or 2%
• instead of low fat or 0% fat

Oatmeal

• Add nuts or nut butter for fat and protein
• Add fruit for fiber
• Add greek yogurt for protein

Rice or Pasta

• Add a protein source such as meat or tofu
• Add a fat source such as eggs or avocado
• Swap pasta for a whole grain pasta or legume based

            pasta for fiber and protein

- Coach Kayli

Does this sound like you?

You’ve been crushing your workouts these last 5 days and avoiding all of those favorite high sugar snacks you love. 

You’ve been led to believe that the only way to lose weight is to give up the things you love and move more. 
I mean everyone has heard the phrase . . . 

Eat less, move more right?? 

That’s how Sally lost all her weight on IG. 

But, after day 5 of going to the gym everyday and starving yourself you find yourself with very little willpower to say no. 

Anyone can restrict themselves for 5 days.
​
After a while though you find yourself battling some intense cravings! Missing all those favorite foods you thought you had to give up in order to lose weight. So Tuesday morning when Joe brings in donuts to work and you got less than 5 hours of sleep the night before, guess what happens? 

That’s right you cave. You eat the donut and it’s the best tasting stale donut you’ve ever had. 

So that’s right, you grab another one. Maybe you stop there or maybe you walk by after another hour and grab a third. 

By lunch though you are feeling like crap. Both physically and mentally. You are having a sugar crash from the spike in blood insulin levels as well as beating yourself up for caving. 

This usually leads to 1 of 2 things. 
​
You say F it and write the whole day off and tell yourself you will start again on Monday.

OR

You scold yourself and start restricting again and punishing yourself in the gym for the “mistake”. 

Both of these lead to the exact same conclusion.

They are a never ending cycle of working your ass off to lose 10-15lbs only to gain it right back.  

What if I told you there was a better way? An easier way?

A way to curb those intense sugar cravings for good?

Would you be interested in learning more? If so, keep reading.

If you want to stop this never ending cycle for good you have to send the right signals to your body and brain.

Here are the 3 Ways I help break the Sugar Addiction Cycle for my online coaching clients.

1. Start balancing blood sugar. 

• This requires you to build structure around your meals throughout the day. By eating meals that have all 3 Macronutrients ( Protein, Fats & Carbs) you will avoid those high spikes in blood sugar which will lead to more willpower to avoid added sugar.

1. Make sure you are eating enough calories to fuel your body. 

• If you are always under-eating then your body will always be trying to trick your brain into consuming high calorie, sugary foods to sustain itself. 

1. Create a barrier. 

• Simply meaning make it harder to get these high sugar foods for yourself. Don’t keep them at home. If you want it bad enough it will force you to stop and think just how badly do I want that candy bar? More than likely most of the time you won’t want it bad enough to get out and go to the store that very minute. 

If you would like to take it a step further and have someone map out your fat loss success journey for the next 6 months then click the application for coaching below and let us show you the proven RISE method we have used with 100’s of clients that used to struggle just like you.