Shawn Stevenson: Welcome to The Model Health Show. This is fitness and nutrition expert, Shawn Stevenson, here with my amazing, posing co-host and producer of- Jade Harrell: Poser. Shawn Stevenson: Oh you're not a poser. The one and only, Jade Harrell. What's up, Jade? Jade Harrell: What's going on, Shawn? Shawn Stevenson: Oh my goodness, I like that. You're going to pose again, you're going to do the pretty- put the arm up on the table. You know about those Instagram poses. Oh you're going to do the high school photo. Man they were so bad, those senior pictures? So bad! Jade Harrell: I know. Shawn Stevenson: Look back- like I'm laying across the year I graduated. Jade Harrell: That's right! Shawn Stevenson: Why? Jade Harrell: Over a tree stump. Shawn Stevenson: Why are you doing that? Right, the tree stump. Good stuff. So how are you today? Jade Harrell: Oh man, this is good. I am magnanipanderifec. Shawn Stevenson: Oh wow. Jade Harrell: Pandorific. Shawn Stevenson: That sounds like a sandwich or something, I don't know. Jade Harrell: Actually it is, it's a triple decker. Shawn Stevenson: Alright. Jade Harrell: Magnanimous, stupendous, and terrific. Magnanipanderifec. Shawn Stevenson: Oh, oh I like that. That's powerful. Jade Harrell: I like it, too. Shawn Stevenson: I can't do nothing with it. Personally that's above my pay grade, but I love it. Thank you so much for sharing that. Jade Harrell: Yes sir. Shawn Stevenson: Everybody, thank you so much for tuning into the show today. We've got an incredible guest. Jade Harrell: Oh dude. Shawn Stevenson: Second time on the show by popular demand, and one of the smartest guys I know. Jade Harrell: And handsome. Shawn Stevenson: Oh here you go. Here you go. The one and only, Dr. Jade Teta is on the show today. Jade Harrell: Oh yes. Shawn Stevenson: And we're going to be talking about some of these strange things that are going on out there in the Interwebs regarding food. So we're going to talk a little bit more about food because all of us are looking for that perfect diet, looking for the correct way of eating. And we're going to dissect what does that actually look like? Is that even a thing? Because- and I think you're going to be really surprised, and you're going to walk away with some powerful insights that are going to help to guide the rest of your decisions moving forward. It's going to be that powerful and impactful. But really quickly I want to give a big shout-out to unconventional training. Jade Harrell: Come on. Shawn Stevenson: I've got to talk about unconventional training because we're strong in linear directions for the most part, right? You're strong with your, "How much do you bench, bro? How much you bench, bro?" The universal greeting in the meathead space. I can be a meathead and be smart, too. Just a shout-out to that. Shout-out to the smart meatheads listening. Jade Harrell: Absolutely. More than a piece of meat. Shawn Stevenson: But we get strong in these linear directions. Very mechanical, like you could press forward, you could push yourself up doing a push-up. What about all the other- because I promise you're supposed to have range of motion and strength in all directions, just in case. Because for example we're talking about playing a sport like football, right? Chances are when you're pressing away that lineman, or whoever you're trying to block, a linebacker coming at you, chances are they're not going to be perfectly placed, equally balanced in both of your hands against both of your legs, right? It doesn't work like that. Life doesn't work like that, so we want to be able to train ourselves to be more adaptable to injury-proof our body, adding in tools like kettlebells, adding in tools like steel maces, steel clubs. Do you even know what those are? You better know what these are. Jade Harrell: Do you want to? Shawn Stevenson: Steel clubs, we've got to start implementing these things. The mace- oh man, I'm starting to really fall in love with that tool because it helps you to become strong in multiple directions. Also the battle ropes. Jade Harrell: Yeah. Shawn Stevenson: Get yourself a battle rope for your home. I promise you it's going to be a lot- a ton of fun. Jade Harrell: Oh yeah. Shawn Stevenson: You know it's fun to use that tool, but also it's like great for your family as well. And I have Big Red is the name of my battle rope from Onnit. Jade Harrell: The stump for ships and anchors. Shawn Stevenson: Onnit is the company for unconventional training, alright? Not only are they about human optimization with their supplements; the Hemp Force, the Shroom Tech Sport, the Shroom Tech Immune, the MCT oils which I use every day. But the unconventional training equipment. They've got Iron Man kettlebells, they've got primal bells. They're the ones- you see The Rock? Dwayne, The Rock, Johnson? He's got this big gorilla kettlebell. Onnit. Alright so you guys get access to that, and here's the key, because you listen to The Model Health Show you get 10% off all of their training equipment. Jade Harrell: That too? Shawn Stevenson: Exclusive alert! Jade Harrell: Oh wow. Shawn Stevenson: That just happened right now. Jade Harrell: It really did. Shawn Stevenson: Head over to www.Onnit.com/model and you're going to get 10% off all of the health and human performance supplements and their unconventional training equipment. So definitely check that out. And now let's get to the iTunes review of the week. Jade Harrell: Oh here's a good one. Says, 'Amazing people, amazing content.' Five stars from Jess Brewster. 'This podcast is wonderful in so many ways. Not only does Shawn provide quality content about fitness and nutrition, but he also explains the 'why' aspect. I never in this podcast wondering if what I heard was true, and I'm a neuroscience student at the University of Arizona with an emphasis in brain / gut health, and I can't stand when people separate the mind and the body into two separate components. This podcast explains the importance of each component of the body and how one thing can affect another; whether it be through nutrition, movement, or mental state. Regardless, thank you so much for the quality content and phenomenal energy of your show. I will continue to tune in to every episode.' Shawn Stevenson: Oh wow. Big, big, big shout-out to you, and just wow. Thank you so much for sharing that, and sharing a little bit of your story. Jade Harrell: Yeah I love when they do that. Shawn Stevenson: And just like sending you so much good energy to keep pushing you forward and executing on your goals, and then being able to serve and help make a difference out here. Because we need you, and I appreciate that so much, beyond words. So everybody, thank you so much for leaving these reviews for us over in iTunes. If you've yet to do so, you see how much it makes me happy! Jade Harrell: Right! Shawn Stevenson: You want to make me happy, right? Jade Harrell: I want to see you giggle. Shawn Stevenson: Head over to iTunes and leave us a review. Giggle? I don't know if I giggle though. Jade Harrell: Okay, that's not- Shawn Stevenson: Again that's below my pay grade. Jade Harrell: We can't go from mace to giggle. Yeah. Shawn Stevenson: I don't do that. I do a manly laugh. Jade Harrell: That’s right. Ha-ha-ha. Shawn Stevenson: I'm just kidding. Right, and I bleed on the inside. Karate Men. Jade Harrell: That's right, Karate Men, bruise on the inside. Shawn Stevenson: So everybody, thank you for leaving these reviews, and if you can hop over and leave us a review if you've not done so already on iTunes, Stitcher, SoundCloud, Spotify. Jade Harrell: What? We're there too. Shawn Stevenson: Wherever you're listening, please leave us a review. I appreciate you. Jade Harrell: Don't forget to subscribe. Shawn Stevenson: Subscribe! Jade Harrell: So you stay notified. Shawn Stevenson: Hit the subscribe button. Jade Harrell: Yes. Shawn Stevenson: Alright now let's get to our special guest and our topic of the day. Today we're talking to Dr. Jade Teta who is an integrative physician, naturopath, and personal trainer with over 25 years of experience. When you see him you're like, "Bro you're 25 years old. How is that-" Jade Harrell: Right, how did that happen? Shawn Stevenson: You came out of the uterus like ten push-ups. Jade Harrell: From the desk to the classroom. Shawn Stevenson: 25 years of experience helping other people to achieve their health, weight loss, and fitness goals. He's also the founder and CEO of Metabolic Effect Inc., and the author of the bestselling book, 'The Metabolic Effect Diet,' and also 'Lose Weight Here' as well, which is with my label- I guess it's like record labels now with books- with book publishers. Jade Harrell: Yeah. Shawn Stevenson: And he's a regular contributor to many publications including 'The Huffington Post,' the 'Textbook of Natural Medicine,' which I have a copy as well. Jade Harrell: Then you'll give it to me. Shawn Stevenson: I'm not going to give it to you. Jade Harrell: Okay. Shawn Stevenson: You're always trying to steal my stuff! Jade Harrell: Whatever. Shawn Stevenson: Sidebar. And also the number one natural medicine textbook used in medical schools across the country. So this is one of those things that it's like a permanent stay in these different schools. So Jade has completed an estimated 10,000 workouts in his lifetime- what? And has worked with thousands of weight loss and fitness seekers from all over the world through his Metabolic Effect Clinic, and online programs, and I'd like to welcome back to The Model Health Show, my friend Dr. Jade Teta. How are you doing today, Jade? Dr. Jade Teta: What's up you guys? So good to be back, such an honor as always. Love you both. Shawn Stevenson: Man, I'm so happy to have you back on, man. Jade Harrell: Me too. Shawn Stevenson: So last time I actually talked to you, I think that was when we were hanging out at the Mastermind Dr. Jade Teta: Yeah. Shawn Stevenson: So it's been a little while. But I brought you on- there were people asking a lot of questions because they saw that you obviously have this really eclectic and diverse knowledge base, which is why we click so well, to get this perspective from somebody who's done all the things that you've done. And I really want to talk more about food, man. So I guess we're just going to go ahead and dive in here, and jump right in with food, and let's talk about diet. So diet and exercise, first of all they're usually lumped together. So it looks like it's this 50/50 relationship, but in your experience what role does food actually play with our ability to burn fat? Dr. Jade Teta: It's a huge issue, and most people miss this because what's interesting is when you're working out a lot, it feels like you're doing something, right? So you have this feeling of, 'I'm being productive, I'm making progress because I'm doing something.' But when you're in the kitchen, when you're eating out, when you're making food choices, it doesn't really feel the same way as going to the gym and sweating. But I would say for the vast majority of people it is the most important thing. And if we want to get into percentages, if I had to say my expertise based on my years, it's probably 70% to 80% for most people diet. And then maybe for some who are sort of hard losers, and dealing with metabolic issues and things like that, it may be even more, up to 90%. And so we have to attend to diet. The only thing that I would say, by the way that's more important than diet, is probably stress management which we can cover in another sort of time, or during this time or not, but diet is huge. Shawn Stevenson: Man, you know you just brought up something- it's like an 'aha' moment for me as well. It's the application. Because we all hear the quotes, 'abs are made in the kitchen,' 'your diet is the biggest component,' but it's the fact of the feeling, it's the experience. Like when you're sweating you're like, 'Oh the fat is just like crying. It's crying out of my skin,' right? And you think that there's so much activity going on, like you're doing so much, but when it really boils down to it, what you're making your tissues out of tells the biggest story about how your metabolism functions. And that brings me to this saying that's out there in the Interwebs about these fatburning foods, right? This whole concept of fat-burning food. And you have a different perspective on what constitutes as a 'fat-burning food.' Dr. Jade Teta: Yeah. Shawn Stevenson: In fact you label fat-burning food as kind of a misnomer, so let's talk about that. Dr. Jade Teta: Yeah there really is- from the scientific point of view, there is zero fatburning foods. There's no such thing as a fat-burning food. Now I know everyone listening is probably being like, "What's he saying? This is theoretical, right?" The truth of the matter is a fat-burning food is simply this; it's a food that when you eat it causes you to eat less of it at that moment, and eat less food later. In other words, a fat-burning food is simply a food that gives you lasting hunger suppression, balances energy, decreases cravings, and as a result of eating that food, you are less likely to eat more of the wrong foods later. And so a fat-burning food is any food in my mind that helps you easily achieve a sustained calorie deficit. That's very different, right? So people have this idea of, 'Oh if I just eat broccoli, that's going to be a fat-burning food.' Or 'if I eat donuts, that's going to be a fat-storing food.' Well let me put it this way, right? So let's say that you, Shawn, let's say your caloric needs for the day are 3,000 calories per day. Let's say Jade's caloric needs for the day are 2,000 calories for the day. Now if she goes over 2,000 calories, and you go over 3,000 calories, then at that point it doesn't matter if you eat another 500 calories of broccoli, or another 500 calories of a donut. You're going to store that extra nutrition. Now we can argue about the health benefits of each, but the bottom line is a fatburning food is simply a food that causes you to eat less. So the reason broccoli might be considered by some a fat-burning food, it's not that it has any magical properties, it just simply has a ton of fiber in it, a low caloric load, and keeps you full for longer. Here's an example, I'll give you guys an example. A donut versus a chicken breast, okay? Both of these foods have 250 calories. Now which of these two foods is going to keep you full for longer, and fill you up faster? Which is going to decrease cravings? I don't know about you guys, but I can eat five to ten donuts in a day. Try eating five to ten chicken breasts in a day. This will tell you what a fat-burning food is. Does that make sense? Jade Harrell: Absolutely. Shawn Stevenson: For sure. Shout-out to Homer Simpson, man because I mean the thing is, it's just a bigger perspective for us to kind of step back and look at, because not only is it's the satiety factor, it's the overeating factor. Dr. Jade Teta: Absolutely. Shawn Stevenson: Because it stimulates that appetite actually, and having access to those donuts, that should be the real, 'You can't eat just one.' I mean there's so much variety, they're so pretty in the box, but it's taking on like which one of these things are actually going to activate these various hormones and suppress other hormones so that we're not overeating? Right? That's really the key so I really love that. Dr. Jade Teta: Think about it from this point of view, right? We talk a lot about fat is now sort of seen as a health food. We've all heard about the coconut thing going on right now, right? That coconut might not be as healthy as we thought, it might not be a fat-burning food. Well there's no such thing as a fat-burning food, right? It's just what this food does when it gets inside of you. So think about it this way. If fat really was a fat-burning food, a donut has more fat in it than a boneless skinless chicken breast. Yet it's something about that donut that for most people will cause them to overeat. And what science says that is, is it's the void of protein, it's highly palatable, so it triggers our brain and turns on the hedonic centers in the brain, and makes us want more of these foods. So a fat-burning food is simply a food that shuts down the reward centers. They tend to be a little bit more bland, right? They tend to be rich in protein, they tend to be rich in fiber, and they tend to be rich in water. So if you want sort of a rule, because I know a lot of times people say, "Come on Jade, Shawn, tell me what to eat." Well I can give you some guidelines, and those are them; foods rich in protein, fiber, and water, and foods that aren't stimulating the reward centers in the brain are more likely to be a 'fat-burning food.' But this is very individual. For me, maybe I have a glass of wine and it causes me to eat less during dinner. For Shawn maybe, he has a glass of wine and it causes him to eat more at dinner. So in that case, wine would maybe be a fat-burning food for me, but a fat-storing food for Shawn. So we have to make allowance for not just the science (protein, fiber, water rich foods), but also the individuality; my tendencies versus Shawn's tendencies. And this is how you begin to devise a fat-burning plan for you, not something that you're just told off the shelf. Shawn Stevenson: Love that. So what are some of the factors that create this individuality as far as what works for our system? Dr. Jade Teta: Yeah, well one is- I mean here's what's an interesting thing. So take Jade versus you, right? So Jade as a woman is more likely to be a super taster. She probably has more taste buds in her mouth than maybe a man does, and so for her, she's going to be more responsive maybe to bland or bitter foods and not like those as much. She'll be able to pick up sweet more. And for us men, maybe we're the opposite so we can oftentimes have some more bland foods, or not respond to sweet as much. So some of us have more taste buds than others. Some of us are more insulin resistant compared to others. Some of us are more leptin resistant compared to others. So for those of you who don't know these terms, insulin and leptin, these are just hormones that basically communicate from our digestive systems and from our fat cells to our brain to say, "We've got enough fuel or not." And the big picture here, without giving you a biochemistry lesson, is that when food touches my mouth, and I swallow it, and digest it, and assimilate it, it's going to behave slightly different in me than it will in Shawn or it will in Jade. And we have to acknowledge these difference. Now that being said, we can say across the board based on science and clinical experience, that there are certain foods that most people do well with. These are going to be low-calorie foods that are more bland in nature and not super sweet or super flavorful. They're going to be nutrient dense, fiber-rich, and proteinrich. So if you want me to break this down for you, you know what this is? Salads, soups, scrambles, and shakes. Salads, soups, scrambles, and shakes. Salads, soups, scrambles, and shakes. These things are loaded with fiber, protein, and water. And so if you really want a nice fat-burning base; salads, soups, scrambles, and shakes. Salads, soups, scrambles, and shakes. And then add to that your individual sprinkle of the things you really love. Maybe a little bit of wine here and there. Maybe a little bit of coconut oil in your coffee if you're into that. Maybe a little bit of this or that. But really our base is going to be salads, soups, scrambles, and shakes. Do that and you have a nice big base of fat-burning foods for most people. And then you can get individualized from there. Shawn Stevenson: I love it. Jade Harrell: So I'm clear on salads, soups, and shakes. Where would I go- how do I understand the scrambles part? Dr. Jade Teta: Yeah so take eggs, very protein-rich food, enough fat to satiate you. Jade Harrell: For sure. Dr. Jade Teta: And then put a bunch of vegetables inside of that. A frittata, right? Scrambled eggs with some veggies, and now you've got fiber-rich, protein-rich, nutrient dense, and not too palatable, right? Think about scrambled eggs or a frittata versus a donut or a pastry. Jade Harrell: Right. Dr. Jade Teta: A donut or a pastry, you're going to want to eat more of that stuff. A frittata, scrambled eggs, you're going to be more suppressed. Now of course there is variation here, and that's why we have to be very careful of making dogmatic rules around nutrition. I call this structured flexibility, by the way. What I'm giving you is a structure to follow initially, "Hey these are the foods that look like they're going to be fat-burning foods for most people, help most people eat less, achieve a sustainable calorie deficit." But then you can be flexible within that and still have the foods that you like within reason, if that makes sense. Jade Harrell: Which is the sprinkle part. Shawn Stevenson: I love that, structured- Dr. Jade Teta: That's the sprinkle part. Jade Harrell: Got it. Dr. Jade Teta: Another way to look at this, think about this, look at a plate. For most people, a plate, you can visualize your plate. Half of that plate should be vegetables, right? Maybe a quarter or more of that plate is going to be protein-rich foods. And a little sliver of that plate, a little sliver, a little door you can open or close depending on your metabolic uniqueness, is going to be fat and/or sugar and/or salt and/or alcohol. The things that make our food a little bit more enjoyable. But go too far with those things, and you're going to hit those reward centers in your brain, and you're going to want to overeat. So we have to acknowledge what the science of food is, and then what the art of our biochemistry is. Shawn Stevenson: You know that term, 'structured flexibility.' Wow. It brings to mind water, right? And how we are literally mostly water. Okay we're talking 70% to 80% water. Every single person listening right now. And as I'm looking at Jade it's like, "You're water!" Jade Harrell: Yeah! Shawn Stevenson: Your water with some minerals, and your tissues hold minerals, and some proteins. Here's the thing with water is that it literally is structured. You know water itself has a structure, and you see this when you freeze it, for example. And it brings to mind that statement from Bruce Lee about being water, right? Because it has the ability to flow, and to be flexible, but then it can hit like a punch. It can be hard, and can be structured. And so you’re mostly water, so how can we be more flexible within our choices, and also still having that underlying structure, and to look for that? And there are so many different opportunities for flavor sensations. Because at the end of the day, we want to enjoy this process. Jade has something set up that works great for him. I have something set up for myself, and so that's really the key. And I want to make sure that everybody leaves today's episode with this important insight. This can be game changing if you really get this, and he shared this multiple times already. Chronic nutrient deficiency leads to chronic overeating. When he's talking about having your plate half filled with vegetables, it's because they're so nutrient-dense. You're turning on- like your body is craving certain nutrients to make you, you. To make you animated, to make sure that you live. And so if you're not getting in the zinc, if you're not getting in the amino acids, if you're not getting in the magnesium, hunger is still going to be around because your body's like, "Hey I need some of this stuff. Maybe the next time this person eats, we're going to get it in here, we're going to keep it moving." Jade Harrell: I'm sure we can find some in here somewhere, yeah. Shawn Stevenson: But then in comes Funyons, and your body's like, "Delicious, super tasty, it's good," but then it's like, "Whoa, wait a minute, I didn't get what I want." Hunger again an hour later. And so many of us live our lives like that, and have no idea why we can't get our appetite under control, or be able to 'lose weight,' because we're setting ourselves up for failure following these cookie cutter diets that are saying, "Oh just follow your points. You can eat whatever you want, just follow your points." And you're not getting the nutrients, you're not getting the real nutrition that you need. Jade Harrell: That's right, that's right, that's right. Shawn Stevenson: So I'm so glad that you brought that up, man. Well one of the other things that I want to talk about with you, and you mentioned this earlier, is stress. And we've got to break this down because I think that this is the most overlooked aspect of weight gain in our culture today by far. But we're going to do that after this quick break. So sit tight, we'll be right back. Alright we are back and we're talking to the incredible, Dr. Jade Teta, and we were just going to dive into what I think is the most overlooked aspect when it comes to maintaining a healthy weight, a healthy body composition, really just being fit and being healthy, is this stress. It's this big hormonal player. And so can you break down, first of all, how stress actually contributes to weight gain? Let's just start there. Dr. Jade Teta: Yeah, yeah. Well first of all, what you need to know about our metabolism, our metabolism is nothing but one big stress barometer. It's reading stress in the environment constantly, that's its job because it needs to know what's going on in the outside world so that it can tell the inside body how to respond to that. The metabolism is just trying to always get us back to balance, and so anytime we are pushed too far out of balance, the metabolism will react. Now here's the thing to know that's confusing for everyone. The number one historical ancestral stress for the human metabolism was what? Starvation. And so we are left with a metabolism that when it gets stressed- it doesn't matter if you're in traffic, under a deadline, that your boss is on your case, in an argument with your significant other, exercising too much, eating too little, being sleep deprived, it does not matter. It registers that to some degree as a starvation response, and then what it begins to do is try to bring you back to balance. Well what's the metabolism going to do if it thinks you're starving? It's going to make you hungrier, it's going to make you crave more highly palatable calorie-dense foods, it's going to cause you to be less motivated to exercise, and it's going to store fat. Primarily fat around the liver, the visceral fat, because that's the easiest way for it to get access to its fuel stores in another time of stress. And so rest assured, and this is not- I'm not being coy here for a reason, I'm just coming out and saying it. Rest assured, stress- any type of stress is a starvation response to your metabolism and it will push back against you forcefully trying to gain that fat back. So you push too hard on your metabolism, it will smack you across the face, and you cannot win a battle of wills against the metabolism period. So if you really want to understand why, 'I'm exercising like crazy, and I'm supposedly eating all the right things, and not seeing results,' I can almost guarantee you, you are putting yourself under too much stress. Now we can get into the biochemistry of this if you guys want, but I will say one interesting thing about this. Most of the time in science, when we look at animal studies versus human studies, we kind of want to look with a degree of trepidation. We just kind of want to be like, "Alright well that animal study said XYZ, we don't know that it applies to humans." But when it comes to mice, their metabolism is very similar to us. We can make them fat predictably feeding them the same types of diets that we feed humans. Guess what's the one thing- it's not that easy to make a rat gain fat in the lab, to be honest with you. But there is one thing that predictably does it again and again. You feed them a high calorie, high palatable diet, and then you stress them out by shocking them, or making them swim, and all these kinds of things, and they will crave that high calorie palatable diet even more. And guess what happens to them when they get under stress if you leave them in a cage? They go to the corner of the cage, they plop down, they sit, they don't want to move much, and they gorge themselves for brief periods of time. So they'll go gorge themselves for one bout of eating, and then maybe another bout of eating, and then they do not want to move. And this would make sense evolutionarily speaking, right? Like imagine we all lived in caves, and every time you ran out, if Shawn was in danger of getting picked up by a pterodactyl and dragged off, or Jade was going to get attacked by a saber-toothed tiger, if you knew that was going to happen, you're not going to leave your cave much, and you're going to eat as much calorie-dense food as possible inside that cave. So this is what happens when you're under stress. If you find yourself just wanting to sit on the couch and freebase Doritos and drink Coke, and also not be able to stay on a diet, I can rest assured that your stress levels are probably through the roof whether you realize they are or not. Shawn Stevenson: Wow, my goodness. So much good stuff there. Jade Harrell: Oh yeah. Shawn Stevenson: He was like, "Stress will come back and slap you across the face." I'm like, "Charlie Murphy." I was just thinking about that slap, because that's what's happening. I think this is so overlooked because I've had this happen so many times clinically, I know you have as well, Jade. Jade Harrell: Oh clinically, I was getting ready to say- Shawn Stevenson: People come in and they're looking for- a lot of times this happens. They're already exercising, sometimes too much actually, and they're on what they feel is a great diet, and sometimes it was true. It was just like what is the missing component here? And generally I would find- and it took me years before I even started to figure this out, man. Sleep and/or stress. And sleep deprivation is a huge stress. Jade Harrell: It's a stressor. Shawn Stevenson: But stress is that underlying component because people don't really understand. Like you can stress your way into being overweight. Dr. Jade Teta: Yeah. Shawn Stevenson: Please understand that because it's not just about the food, it's not just about- and I'm a nutritionist so I'm like, "It's all about the food." It's not because the food choices that you make are going to depend upon that stress. And so if we can really get this today, I think it can be transformative. We have to have strategies to help to modulate our stress. You're going to experience stress in life, period. Probably daily. But one part is the resilient component, and how you even picture stress, how you see it. We are not mice in the laboratory. We can actually perceive- choose to perceive stress differently. So when you go through something- Say it's something on your way in from work, and you can picture- this is something that maybe really irritates you, makes you angry. You could see it as like, "This is a big problem for my day, this is throwing me off my game." Or "This is just a little warm-up to make sure that I'm sharp and I'm ready to go to execute on my day," or whatever. Whatever it is, some kind of mental construct that helps to bring down the cortisol response, the adrenaline response, and bring up a little bit more parasympathetic activity. So your perception is so important. Jade Harrell: Absolutely. Shawn Stevenson: And we're going to talk more about that on a future episode. Jade Harrell: I hope so. Shawn Stevenson: Because your perception is your reality. Jade Harrell: Clearly. Shawn Stevenson: So that's a big piece here. Dr. Jade Teta: Absolutely. Shawn Stevenson: And so I want to kick this back to you, because you mentioned some of the biochemistry. Like I do want to talk a little bit about that to help people to understand a little bit more how stress is actually affecting our weight. Dr. Jade Teta: Yeah. Well think about it this way. Most people, they sometimes ask me, they say, "Hey Jade, where is the metabolism?" And they say, "Is it the thyroid? Is it the adrenals? Is it the gut?" Well the metabolism is in the brain, that's the command and control center of the metabolism, an area called the hypothalamus. And the hypothalamus communicates with the thyroid, the adrenals and the gonads, the ovaries and testes. And this whole system, along with the gut and the liver and everything else, makes up how your metabolism responds. So for lack of a better way of saying this, excess stress irritates the hypothalamus. Irritates it to the point where- if you guys have ever been to a loud concert, and you forget to bring your earphones or earplugs and plug up your ears, and then the next day your ears are ringing and you have to lean in to hear everything someone's saying, and your hearing is just not the same. This is what it's like when the metabolism and the hypothalamus is under stress again and again from daily life. And so all these downstream things that we hear about, "Oh I have 'adrenal fatigue,' oh I've got hypothyroid, oh I'm dealing with PCOS or low testosterone." These are all stress effects. By the way, I'll say this too, this is what's an interesting thing, think about this. A couch potato who's sitting on the couch eating Doritos and not working out versus someone who is exercising like crazy and then eating very sparsely. Isn't it interesting that both of them have increased hunger, unpredictable and unstable energy, increased cravings, sleep disruption, food issues? Why? Because both are under stress. So if you want to know if your metabolism is under stress or not, we could talk about all these hormones, but to make it simple; hunger, energy, and cravings. H-E-C or HEC. Sleep, hunger, mood, energy, and cravings. S-H-M-E-C, SHMEC. If your HEC or SHMEC is out of check, you are under stress my friend, and you have to do something to deal with that. Now what's the something to do? I'll bring this home by talking about a client of mine. I'm not going to use her real name, I'll just call her Barbara. But similar to what Shawn said, here's a person that came to me, wanted to lose about twenty pounds. As it was at the time, I'm embarrassed to say I was known for this, I could not get this person results. She would lose a little, gain some back. Lose a little, gain some back. I was at my wit's end, we did everything; keto diets, and paleo diets, and vegan and vegetarian diets. You name it, we tried it. Metabolic conditioning, high intensity interval training, everything. Then what happens is she happens to go on vacation. She comes back and all of a sudden she loses about seven pounds. And I can tell Shawn's smiling because he has probably had this happen to him before, too. She loses about seven pounds, and a lot of body fat, looks different. She gets on my body fat scale, and you would think she would be happy, she wasn't at all. She just about burst into tears because she's like, "I don't understand this. I ate whatever I wanted, I just walked around, I slept in with the kids," and that's when the lightbulb went on for me. We have got to give her metabolism a vacation. And so you know what we started doing? I said, "I want you to start walking more than you're exercising. I want you to start doing saunas and contrast hydrotherapy baths to relax you. I want you to get massages. I want you to sleep in a little bit earlier instead of waking up at 4:30 to do sprints. I want you to do all these things." And all of a sudden, once it clicked for her that she had to manage this stress response, diet got a whole lot easier and exercise became a whole lot more motivating to do it. And all of a sudden, doing much less- what appeared much less on the surface, she began to see results. And this completely changed forever how I did weight loss medicine. It is huge. And so we have to 'give your metabolism a vacation.' This is the way out for most people. Jade Harrell: You can write that prescription for the massages, and the saunas, and all that for me all day. Shawn Stevenson: You know this really brings right to the forefront the fact that- today again, we all are going to experience stress, but we just kind of dive face first into it, and never really pay attention to what's happening. Before you know it, your life- it is stress. You know? There are certain terms that I've heard over the years about what life is. 'Life movement.' 'Life is love.' 'Life is an adventure.' For most of us today, life is stress, and we are not- our barometers aren't really set- we're not picking it up and realizing that. And so whatever it might be for you, because the thing is, the people don't necessarily need the massage, right? They don't need to go on vacation to have this experience. And I think it's a problem in culture when we're working to get a vacation from our life when life is stress. How can we create it so that life is an adventure, life is a vacation in a way? Jade Harrell: A vacation, that's right. Shawn Stevenson: Endless summers, or whatever works for you. Jade Harrell: I love that, yeah. Shawn Stevenson: Every day is Saturday, whatever it is. But how can we do that? And I think it starts with just some of the points that he's bringing to bear here. A simple understanding- like for her, when you said it man, I've had that happen so many times. So it just hit me like- because it's been awhile since I've been in practice. Man it's just so- because you try, you do all these different things. We had close to 80% reversal rate for type II diabetes, but that 20% of people would like cause me severe problems with like- why is this not working? Jade Harrell: Yeah. Shawn Stevenson: And questioning everything about them having them try this, try that, and it wasn't until I really understood about stress and sleep that everything changed. You know the flood gates would open for those people as well. And for that person, for your stress management- and we could just go through some pieces now, anything that you can throw out here. But some of the things that we can look to, to help to modulate the stress, for people to start working in a little bit more than they're working out if that's what they need. Dr. Jade Teta: Yeah, let me say this because I think this will drive it home and clear up some confusion for some people. The interesting thing is what becomes stressful for a couch potato is trying to become an athlete overnight. So you said- think about this, think about this. You said that our life is stress, and if you want to know real stress, think about our ancestors. They go outside and there's a saber-toothed tiger waiting for them. That's a lot more stress. Imagine someone giving you a spear and saying, "Hey Shawn, there's a wild boar on aisle two in the grocery store. You've got to go kill it now to get dinner." This is stress. The difference between our ancestors and us is that they trained slowly, deliberately over time to be able to be strong and resilient. The biggest mistake we make when it comes to stress is go, "Oh I've been sitting on the couch, and now what I'm going to do is just become an overnight athlete. I'm going to try to go do what Shawn or Jade does, and I'm just going to start doing sprints, and metabolic conditioning, and doing all this stuff." When the right approach is to- obviously we don't want you sitting on the couch a little bit more, so you have to move a little bit more, but you don't have to jump all the way over here. You've got to start walking first, and sleeping better. And then you can build up to some weight training. And then as you develop some tolerance, you begin to be able to do and tolerate high intensity interval training. And add two or three workouts per week. And so what we do is we miss the fact that the way to combat stress, the first point I'll make, is yes certainly the lifestyle I live, and the lifestyle Shawn lives, and the lifestyle that many of us live is balancing stress for us. But if you're going from doing nothing, and you try to go to a low carb, paleo-based diet, intermittent fasting, and high intensity interval training, with weights thrown over your head, and running around and screaming, that's going to be a stress for you. And so you have to understand you're going to have to go slowly. That's the first thing, right? The second thing I'll say is we have at our disposal amazing stress management techniques that no one is talking about that relax us, and restore us, and make us feel wonderful. The number one thing that we have is walking. It both lowers cortisol and it is amazing at sensitizing our body to insulin, yet I don't hear people talking about, "Go for nice long relaxing walks." Instead they're like, "Go do interval training. Jump up on this box 1,000 times. Go over here and throw this ball up on the wall. Go over here and do a million burpees." Walking should be the base of your stress management, and then everything else that lowers cortisol. Hanging out with people, this conversation I love, it's lowering cortisol for me because it's creative, and it's stimulating, I really like hanging out with you two guys, it's very sociable. I'm lowering stress. Massage. Time with pets as long as they're not peeing all over the floor. One of the things that is wonderful that a lot of people miss is orgasm, and sex, and physical affection is an amazing stress reducer. We don't talk about it enough, right? That is huge. Hot baths, relaxing baths, relaxing music at the end of the day. Sauna therapies, massage, spa time, facials, and pedicures, and manicures, and meditation, and all of these things. How many of us- and I would just ask everyone listening, and I'll even put myself into this. How many of us are scheduling these kinds of things into our day and/or our week? I don't think many of us are, and that is literally what it takes to people who I have seen stuck in this journey, getting them to program these things in. "I'm actually going to take tonight a twenty minute Epsom salt hyperthermia bath, sipping on a nice cup of valerian tea to relax us," right? How many people are programming in a long walk through a greenway? This is what is required. Shawn Stevenson: Oh man. Jade Harrell: Fantastic. Shawn Stevenson: So many great insights to pull from there, you know? After he mentioned sex then he said, "Take a bath," and Jade was like- she giggled. Because you know I don't do the giggling, but she giggled because it was just like- Jade Harrell: You're manly like because he said a good hot bath. Shawn Stevenson: Right but what I'm saying is you were like, "Do both at the same time." Jade Harrell: All of it. Well no, I didn't say same time, but maybe- Shawn Stevenson: Like the LL Cool J line, "Take a shower for about an hour." Jade Harrell: That's right. Shawn Stevenson: Whatever, man. Jade Harrell: That's it. Shawn Stevenson: So here's the thing. Just to piggyback on some of these things, they're so overlooked and they're so simple, and it's free, right? You can reduce your stress by just walking- go outside and walk! Jade Harrell: Yup. Shawn Stevenson: And this is one of the things- and I think it's a problem because of how it's ingrained in our culture, Jade what we talked about earlier. Like you're not beating yourself down, right? You're not pouring out sweat, but you can- if it's hot outside or whatever, you've got layers of clothing, whatever you can sweat walking. But just a relaxing walk, you don't think about it like that. So for me coming into the game, and you know after changing my own health, and I added in pieces as I went along. But at that point I was pretty proficient in being able to take things up to 100, right? To really go up to 100 in my intensity. And for other people it's just like- when I hear about, "I'm walking for exercise," it's like, "Pick up your pace! You know, what are you doing? You're going to walk yourself like right into not getting fit." And it just was the total opposite because eventually that became a big part of my fitness regimen. A big part of my life was getting up and walking every day before I made my move. Now I generally- sometimes I might do that, but I'll do a rebounder, or whatever the case might be. But I utilized that tool and it brought so much benefit. And it's one of those things where I like to use the term, 'learn while you burn.' While you're walking you can have a meeting, you can take care of some of your calls, you can listen to an audiobook, you can listen to a podcast. It's just a great time- or you can just take some time in nature and just observe life around you, you know? There are so many great benefits to pull from there. And also with the sex piece, this is something I did an entire chapter on this in 'Sleep Smarter' when we talked about how a big O, an orgasm relates to improving the quality of your sleep. And it goes both sides, right? Your sleep quality impacts your sex life, and your sex life impacts your sleep quality. And we actually did an entire episode of The Model Health Show, we'll put that in the show notes for you, but here's just one takeaway; oxytocin. Jade Harrell: The other big O. Shawn Stevenson: Oxytocin, this is clinically proven, and I cite some studies in 'Sleep Smarter' to combat the effects of cortisol. This big stress hormone that a lot of people are talking about, it basically shuts it down. And you can get this from orgasm, even just contact, right? Just getting close to- snuggling up- would you stop with the eyebrows? Jade Harrell: Are my eyebrows moving? Shawn Stevenson: Yeah they're going up and down like Groucho Marx over here. Jade Harrell: I was- yeah visualization. Shawn Stevenson: But just prolactin, we've got oxytocin, we've got serotonin. There are so many different benefits that come from that. But we don't really think about it in those terms. And for us, and we talked about this with Dr. Michael Bruce, a lot of times sex is out of convenience, right? Especially if you've got kids, that kind of thing. We have sex at the end of the day when you're exhausted because we're trying to get it in! You know, whatever. But changing your perspective on that, and how it can be so beneficial to both parties in different ways. Thank you for sharing that, man. Jade Harrell: I'm even okay with the idea of scheduling it. Shawn Stevenson: What?! Jade Harrell: I mean seriously. When you talk about the busyness of our lives, we'll miss it. Next thing you know, another week has gone by. Shawn Stevenson: Well how about we just schedule like date time, private time. Jade Harrell: Okay. Shawn Stevenson: How about that? Because you know. Jade Harrell: 8:30 let's go! Dr. Jade Teta: Structured flexibility. Shawn Stevenson: Right, structured flexibility. Right there. Jade Harrell: That's right. Shawn Stevenson: "Uh honey, it's-" Jade Harrell: "It's 7:30, take your shirt off." Shawn Stevenson: "It's 8:30, missionary 8:35." So anyways, let's move on because one of the things that you mentioned that we are employing today- and the great thing is you've been in the game 25 years man, so you've seen this progression where people are paying attention to what actually does work for fat loss, you know when it comes to exercise. So high intensity interval training for example is really clicking for people, public consciousness, so let's stop and talk about that. Some of the exercise essentials for people, if their goal is fat loss, and we'll just say that stress is addressed in a pretty decent way. They've got sleep dialed in and they're eating good. What are the best methods here? Dr. Jade Teta: Yeah well you know, the body is talking to us all the time. And so hunger, energy, and cravings, and sleep, hunger, mood, energy, and cravings we learned about that, and how the body tells us if the metabolism is sort of balanced or not. Well when you're working out there's also some biofeedback signals you can pay attention to. I call them the B's and the H's. Two B's and two H's. Breathless, burning, heavy (as in straining), and heat. Most workouts, most people make a mistake because they're like, "Well if I'm breathless and getting sweaty, then I'm making a difference." And they're missing two other components. They're missing the burning and the heavy component. In order for you to burn fat, you have to register a stress in your physiology so the body goes, "Uh oh, I'd better stand up and take notice, and release glucose, and release some fat, and make sure after this bout of intensity is over, I can put on lean tissue, and stay leaner so I can perform better." If you're only doing breathless based workouts, that's not going to happen. Women usually fall prey to this, by the way. They'll go for lots of runs, do lots of spin classes, do lots of aerobic classes, and lift these tiny little pink weights. And they'll get breathless, and they'll get sweaty, but they don't see the results they want. At best they maybe get skinny fat. They burn some fat, they burn some muscle too. Guys also fall prey to this as well because what they do, is they go into the gym, they don't get breathless, they don't really get sweaty, they just lift big heavy weights around, and they get what I call muscle fat. They build muscle under a layer of fat. What we want to do is combine these two. Get breathless, burning, heavy, and heat. What's this look like? Well I'll break it down for you real quick. Four movements, okay? Big body movements. Let's say a push-up, a back squat, a bent over row or a pull-up, and a shoulder press. Big body movements that move multiple joints and multiple muscles all at once. Do ten push-ups, do ten squats, do ten of the bent over row, do ten shoulder press. Repeat that again, and again, and again without stopping, and guess what's going to happen? At some point you're going to get so out of breath, your muscles are going to burn so much, you're going to reach a point where the weight is just too heavy to push, and you're going to have to stop at that point. Once you have to stop, the brain goes, "Uh oh, this is intense. I'd better ramp up fat burning now, and fat burning and muscle building later." And what you do, is you wait just long enough until you can go again, and then you get right back into that circuit. So we're talking big body movements that work that whole body, and movements that create the B's and the H's. Breathless, burning, heavy, and heat. If you really want to think of what this is, this is high intensity interval training while you're carrying weights around. If you want to know how it feels, if you've ever chopped wood, if you've ever done a tug-of-war match, if you've ever pushed a big wheelbarrow up a hill, if you've ever flipped a big tire over, or any of this kind of stuff, this is what it feels like. Breathless, burning, heavy, and heat. That's what a fat-burning workout is, and many people are missing it. They tend to- I'll say one more thing and then I'll shut up. Shawn Stevenson: No, this is great. Dr. Jade Teta: But they tend to do what I call the circus based workout. Run over here, and lift this little weight. Go over here and throw this ball on the wall. Come over here and balance on this. Come over here and curl this on one leg. Come over here and now do this. Now come over here and juggle this rope. Now come over here and do that. Nope, four movements. Squat, push-up, shoulder press, bent over row. Do them again, and again, and again, and again until you are forced to rest. Rest until you can go again, and go until you can't go. So push until you can't, rest until you can. This will give you the B's and the H's. It's a far better approach so you avoid the skinny fat situation, and you avoid the muscle fat situation. Shawn Stevenson: Oh man, I love this. Jade Harrell: That's great! Shawn Stevenson: I love this so much. Jade Harrell: Yes. Shawn Stevenson: The skinny fat and then the muscle fat. I love that you even brought that piece out, because we see this in culture and we don't- you know like the guys that are 'swolls.' I call it- instead of the muscle fat, a 'swoller bear.' Right? A swoller bear. And so I just posted this on Instagram. It's a little meme, it's Winnie the Pooh and he's walking away with Piglet, and Piglet says, "Why are we walking, Pooh?" And then Winnie the Pooh says, "Because Piglet, running would be cardio." And then understanding, you know because you know he's a swoller bear, right? Jade Harrell: Right. Shawn Stevenson: And he thinks he's saving Piglet's gains because Piglet's small. But we see these different phenomenons in culture, but we all want to- we have this idea about the body and the health that we want to have. And it really boils down to simplicity. The movements are so basic, and these other pieces, like the component of adding in the walking, it's so simple that we overlook it. Like we try to make things too complicated. And it's great to have different things that we can add into the mix if there is a spin class, if there is this thing over here, that thing. But if you're not getting these hallmark kind of foundational pieces, you're missing out on a lot of transformation. And so man, this has been so valuable and so insightful for us, and I just absolutely love talking with you, and definitely got to have you on the show again, man. You know one thing that I've got to say, is that Jade is somebody who is really walking his talk, and he's created the life for himself that he really loves, where he's giving value, and he's doing the things that he loves to do, but it wasn't an accident, it was a process. So we're all in process, and being able to learn from people like Dr. Teta can just really help to add to that superhero utility belt that you can be able to adjust, and to modulate, and to figure things out for yourself, because that's what I love most about him. Is that he's promoting- like there's no cookie cutter thing here. You've got to figure these things out for yourself. I know you want the cookie cutter, but I'm going to give you the truth. And so I just admire that about you man, so thank you. Jade Harrell: And the truth about the cookie. Dr. Jade Teta: I just adore what you guys are doing, thank you for your work. I mean you're just killing it, man. We all appreciate you so much, both of you. Shawn Stevenson: I receive that, brother. Thank you. So can you let everybody know where they can connect with you online, and where they can find your work? Dr. Jade Teta: Yeah, my website is www.JadeTeta.com and @JadeTeta on all the social media. And if you really want to ask me questions, things like that, probably Instagram is the best place to get me. Jade Harrell: Oh man his IG is popping, too. Shawn Stevenson: Perfect, perfect. My man, thank you so much brother. So everybody, thank you for tuning into the show today. I hope that you got a lot of value out of this episode. This is somebody who I truly admire, and I admire his work ethic, but I also admire his relax ethic as well. Like he takes care of himself, but he also strives to have a good time, and he's always sharing incredible content. So definitely follow him on Instagram if you're not doing that already. Jade Harrell: Oh yeah. Shawn Stevenson: So that's @JadeTeta on Instagram. He's got some remarkable posts, and of course just check him out online. We'll put all that stuff in the show notes as well guys, by the way. www.TheModelHealthShow.com you can get all the show notes for this episode. Jade Harrell: Yeah. Shawn Stevenson: And also you can check out the video, see why Jade is over here tripping about the other Jade. Jade Harrell: Yes. Shawn Stevenson: So we'll put that on the website as well, so at www.TheModelHealthShow.com you can check us out there. So today's episode was really about having a broader perspective, really taking this meta perspective when it comes to transforming our body, looking at food a little bit differently because it's not as simple as a donut versus a chicken breast. There are so many layers to that, and we have the ability to see more clearly once we become aware of it. Right? Because a lot of this stuff is like hiding in plain sight. We know that donuts are not the best for us, as far as what we're making our tissues out of, and our tendency to overeat them, but they're an option, you know? They're here. It's not that a donut is like the worst thing in the world, I promise you. Jade Harrell: Not a donut. Shawn Stevenson: Zombie apocalypse? I come across a Krispy Kreme, please. Jade Harrell: Right. Shawn Stevenson: Please. Hot and fresh sign stays on because you know there's like zombies or whatever, I'm going to take a dozen and I'm running. But in normal day-to-day life though, I enjoy feeling good. That's the big premise because for me, and I've done this, if I eat a donut, a gluten-free donut, I'm feeling nappy time. Come on, you know like I get a crash from that. Jade Harrell: Yeah. Shawn Stevenson: So it's finding out the things that work best for you, and understand that everything is an option. There is a way for you to enjoy this process, but you have to know that you're in process, and you have to know what's going on behind the scenes. And so that's why I was so happy and excited and overjoyed to deliver Jade Teta to you guys today. Jade Harrell: Thank you! Shawn Stevenson: So thank you so much for tuning into the show. If you got a lot of value out of this, make sure to share this out with your friends on social media, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, all that good stuff. I truly, truly do appreciate you. So many amazing guests and amazing topics coming up, so make sure to stay tuned. Take care, have an amazing day, and I'll talk with you soon. And make sure for more after the show, you head over to www.TheModelHealthShow.com, that's where you can find the show notes, and if you've got any questions or comments, make sure to let me know. And please head over to iTunes and give us a five star rating, and let everybody know that our show is awesome. Jade Harrell: Yeah. Shawn Stevenson: And you're loving it. Jade Harrell: Yeah. Shawn Stevenson: And I read all the comments, so please leave me a comment there, and take care everybody. I promise to keep giving you more powerful, empowering, great content to help transform your life. Thanks for tuning in.