63. 4 Most Common Dietary Pitfalls When Trying to Lose Weight with Dr. Adrienne Youdim

Whether we admit it or not, even when we’re trying to get serious with our diet, there are times when we fall into the trap of foods that are just so mouthwatering for us to handle.

On the other hand, we might also be getting so busy these days, trying to make a living in the midst of this pandemic, that we’re now starting to get used to skipping meals.

We want to lose weight. We want weight gain. However, our practices sometimes take us far from success.

In this episode, Dr. Adrienne enumerates the four most common dietary pitfalls she’s been seeing in her clinical practice as she shares ways and tips on how to get over each one.

What you will learn from this episode:

• Discover what are the four most common pitfalls people usually go through when trying to change their diet;
• Understand why watching your protein intake is a must; and
• Find out how you can avoid falling for the pitfalls through detailed tips based on evidence and science.

Key Takeaways:

“If skipping meals works, you would think that, “Well, I'm only eating one meal a day. And so, isn't that ‘saving calories’?” The answer is absolutely no. Because in that one meal, you can totally eat past your hunger and accumulate way more calories than you otherwise would if you had eaten throughout the day.” – Adrienne Youdim

“Good fats are good, but they are fats. Be wary of fake healthy food and also be mindful of the healthy food. Portion size matters.” – Adrienne Youdim

“Remember, protein is your most satiating or most filling macronutrient. So, if you're going to compare protein, carbohydrates, and fats, protein is going to be the nutrient that is most filling and it is the nutrient that's going to give you the most staying power.” – Adrienne Youdim

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Connect with Dr. Adrienne Youdim

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Transcript

Hi there, Health Bite community. Welcome back to Health Bite, the podcast created to provide you with small, actionable bites to support you in your quest for better mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being, and physical well being for that matter. I'm your host, Dr. Adrienne Youdim, and I am super tongue-tied today, guys. I have already started and stopped this recording 100 times, so you're just gonna have to bear with me today. But I am so excited to be here with you, as always, and excited to share with you today's topic which is the four most common dietary pitfalls that I see in my clinical practice. We're just going to go off the cuff here while I share with you some of the things that I most commonly hear.

First, I want to share that today's episode is sponsored by Dehl bar. Dehl bar by Dehl Nutrition is a high protein, low calorie bar created with clean nutrients to support you in healthy weight, health, and well being. More on that later.

Mindset is Everything: What’s Good for Our Body is also Good for Our Minds

So, four most common pitfalls.

For those of you who listen to this podcast regularly, you know that we talk a lot about mindset, because mindset is everything. I can provide you with all of the tips and tricks, dietary strategies, pills, supplements, what have you, and nothing will work if your head is not in the right place. So, more on that in my prior episodes. If you want to learn more, hear more about mindset and mindset shifts, there's an abundant number of episodes to listen to.

But today, we're going to get practical and talk about some of the common pitfalls that we all come across when we're trying to change our diet. And while we don't like to focus on weight loss, let's face it – weight loss is important – especially now, because many of us have gained oodles of weight during the pandemic despite ourselves. I, myself, gained an unexpected amount of weight despite exercising every single day. My exercise and workout practice is a spiritual practice. If I don't do it, I'll kill my children. So, I do it, regardless. But hey, life happens. Once I noticed that I was falling in a rut, I had to pull myself up and dust myself off and do all the things that I share with my patients every day and I'm going to share with you.

So, let's talk about some pitfalls and how we can get around those to engage in this effort of maintaining a healthy weight. And let's remember too, by the way, that what's good for our body is also good for our minds. The practices, the way we nourish ourselves in preserving a healthy weight – so, the things that we can do to help maintain a healthy weight – are the very same things that are important to keep us healthy cognitively, to help keep our minds healthy, and help promote a good mood, reduce the risk of depression and anxiety. They are the very same dietary strategies that help with productivity, and this is all evidence-based.

There's science to support that eating your five servings of fruits and vegetables a day not only is important for a healthy weight but is chock full of vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and antioxidants which helps support cardiometabolic health, your immunity – so much talk about our adaptive and our innate immunity these days – and yes, the poly phenols that are found in fruits and vegetables, those antioxidants do help support both innate and adaptive immunity. And those fruits and veggies, also, are shown to help support mood. In fact, in one study when young adults were given a Mediterranean style diet which consisted of a significant amount of fruits and vegetables for only three weeks, they reported reduced symptoms of depression. So again, what's good for your body is good for your mind, is good for your mood. And finally, study shows that five servings of fruits and vegetables help improve productivity in the workplace.

So while sometimes, we diss the weight loss effort – and I know there's this kind of counterculture and backlash against weight loss; we can talk about that at another time – the way in which we maintain a healthy weight is the very same way that we maintain a healthy mindset, healthy mind, cognition, mood, and productivity.

Pitfall #1: What Happens During One’s Bewitching Hour? How to Win Against It?

So with that, let's proceed to pitfall #1 which I like to call “the witching hour”.

The witching hour. What is the witching hour? That is that timeframe in the afternoon, usually between 3 and 6 PM where we start to get the munchies and we can completely unravel an entire day of healthy eating. So, what happens is you wake up, you make yourself your scrambled eggs, you meal prep your salad and chicken for lunch, doing all the right things, and then 3 PM rolls around. You start itching for something, head over into the pantry, ne thing leads to another leads to another. Before you know it, you have consumed thousands of calories. Maybe not you, but this happens. This happens. We can easily consume thousands of calories.

You don't believe me? I'll give you an example.

¼ cup of mixed nuts is 260 calories. Have you ever measured out ¼ cup to a 1/3 cup? It depends on the kinds of nuts so it can be less than that, but have you ever measured out a ¼ cup of nuts? It's like peanuts, and by peanuts I mean, like nothing. And so, imagine. One, two, three handfuls of nuts, you could easily be in 600 calories, but then, that's not enough. You're looking for something sweet. So then, maybe you grab a few chocolate chips and then grab a few more, grab a few more, there goes another couple 100 calories, but then you realize, “Holy cow. I'm really hungry and these handful of nuts and handful of little mini chips did nothing for my hunger,” and then head into the fridge to grab something more substantial. So, that witching hour can really undermine you.

So, how do we obviate that? What's the solution? Because the truth is, that stretch between lunch and dinner is a really long stretch. It's a long stretch of time, and while I'm not a proponent of six meals a day or frequent snacking – that's just promoting grazing behavior – I do believe that that timeframe between lunch and dinner needs to be addressed with a snack. Otherwise, we are going to fall victim to this snack attack that happens, or if you can have the “will power” and hold out, you arrive at dinner so, so hungry that you're already behind the eighth ball. We'll talk about that in a minute.

So, how do we get in front of this? We do so by putting in a structured snack.

Put in a structured snack right around or even right before you tend to hit that witching hour. So what I mean by that is if you know that around four o'clock you hit your brink of hunger, then maybe around 3:30 or 3:45, you should have a timer that goes off to remind you to have a snack, and make it structured so that it's not left up to chance what you're going to consume or when you're going to consume it.

Now, what kinds of snacks are best?

If you're truly hungry, then the best snack is a high-protein snack. Protein is the most satiating macronutrient, and if you are trying to get by with a handful of berries, maybe you're “dieting” and you don't want to eat too much, it's not going to satiate you and you're going to end up eating more, anyway, in the long run. So, grab something that's high in protein.

Some of my favorite go-to’s are Greek yogurt, super high protein, cottage cheese. I know cottage cheese is like Richard Simmons’ sort of thing; it's like one of those fad foods from the 80s. But actually, cottage cheese is a great snack. High in protein, super low in calories. And if you cut up berries or in the summer I love putting in cut up right peaches, it's like peaches and cream. So, cashews is another great idea. You can have like pieces of chicken tenders. I always have chicken tenders cooked and ready in my fridge. So if you're really hungry, grab that protein. Hard boiled eggs is another great go-to, and I'm a huge fan of protein shakes and protein bars. And I want you to be careful about the kinds of bars that you consume, because bars can be really high calorie and if they don't have adequate protein, they're not really addressing your hunger; it's just a glorified candy bar. Consider Dehl bar. Dehl bar is created for that very purpose.

Pitfall #2: Why Shouldn’t You Skip Meals? What Happens Each Time You Do?

Pitfall number two is skipping meals.

I kind of alluded to this in the first pitfall, but skipping meals is actually a huge dietary pitfall. And I'll tell you this. Well, I wouldn't say the majority of my patients, but a good number of my patients who come in to see me and report that they've gained weight, one of the behaviors that we identify is that they started skipping meals. Often, what happens is people start working and because of their work, they dash out early without consuming breakfast, they put lunch on a backburner because they're just working through their lunch, and then the only meal that they consume is dinner. Now, if that works, if skipping meals works, you would think that, “Well, I'm only eating one meal a day. And so, isn't that ‘saving calories’?” The answer is absolutely no. Because in that one meal, you can totally eat past your hunger and accumulate way more calories than you otherwise would if you had eaten throughout the day.

What happens when you skip meals? A couple of things.

Number one, our hunger is regulated by hunger hormones. I've described the physiology of this in other podcasts. So, our stomach or intestine, our fat cells, our pancreas all release hormones that notify our brain of our hunger, and in essence, turn on or turn off hunger. Well, the studies show that when you fast or skip meals, you actually dysregulate your hunger hormones. So, your hunger hormones get jacked up to the point that it’s hard to shut them off.

Maybe you've had this experience before where you've skipped eating all day. Maybe you're a mom and you've been running around your kids, skip breakfast, skip lunch, and now the kids come home, four o'clock, and they're snacking, you're like, “Man, I'm hungry” or you wait all the way ‘til dinner and you're like, “Man, I'm hungry” and you realize there is nothing you can consume that is satiating. I mean, sometimes, I feel like I could eat an entire cow and I'm not going to get full because I have waited so far past my hunger that I'm totally dysregulated, my hunger hormones are totally dysregulated.

So, I don't advocate for skipping meals.

Now, some people will say, “what about intermittent fasting?” There's so much data for intermittent fasting. I'll tell you.

There is data for intermittent fasting and the data is much stronger for certain health benefits, primarily, in rats. So when they fast rats, they've shown that they have some metabolic benefits in terms of longevity, etc., but when it comes to weight loss, the data is all over the map. Actually, long term data does not show that intermittent fasting is a viable strategy.

Now, I never argue with a patient or a person's experience. You've tried intermittent fasting, it works for you, it's your jam, knock yourself out, and do your thing. It's not one size fit all. Different strokes for different folks. So, you do that, but I'll tell you that my anecdotal experience and the data in the medical literature does not support intermittent fasting. What I find is, what you don't consume, a breakfast like 260 calorie eggs, you totally overcompensate for when you skip a meal.

So, my pitfall number two is skipping meals, and my take on it is don't do it.

Pitfall #3: Why Is It Important For You To Be Wary Of Fake Healthy Food And Be Mindful Of Portion Sizes Of Healthy Foods?

Pitfall number three, fake healthy food.

This is a serious pet peeve of mine – fake healthy food, and by that, I mean, the foods that have been put out there under disguise of health. The worst offenders are acai bowls. Actually, my younger cousin was here visiting from New York and she was talking to my kids about how she felt so healthy because she just had an acai bowl. Every hair on my body stood on the end and I wanted to scream, but I decided, you know what? I'm not going to do the thing that I do. My kids hate it – always talking about and fact-checking health foodstuff. But it's true. The acai bowls.

So back in the day, Jamba Juice – and not to throw any particular group or company under the bus – was selling a sable. I don't know if they still do it. And their sable had 92 grams of sugar. Seriously, 92 grams of sugar. A sable tend to be high in calories, high in fat because they usually also include granola, and btw, granola is another fake healthy food. There is nothing healthy about granola. Yes, there are some oats deep in that granola cluster, but then, it is covered in sugar and honey; it is not healthy. So, stay clear and be wary of fake healthy food. A acai bowls.

Smoothies is another one. Just eat the whole fruit. I am not a fan of fruit smoothies, and I am definitely not a fan of fruit juices, because all you're getting is the sugar. You're taking out the pulp which is filled with fiber. You're taking out all the nutrients, and you're just getting sugar. So if you're going to drink the juice, just eat the fruit.

Now, my only counter to that is that I do like a fruit smoothie if you include protein, and the best kind of protein for weight loss is whey protein. If you have intolerances to dairy or are vegan, then you can go with plant based protein powders, but I actually think that the best protein is whey protein. If you put in a high quality whey protein powder into your smoothie and you're getting 20 grams of protein, great; that's a great snack. That's a great breakfast because 20 grams is what it takes to really help curb your hunger.

So, be wary of fake healthy food.

I'm going to add to that and say be wary of not fake healthy food too. And by that, I want to bring up the example of nuts again, because nuts are healthy. They are a good fat. They're a great source of poly and monounsaturated fats. We know that a diet that includes poly and monounsaturated fats is heart healthy, it is helpful for cognition and reducing Alzheimer's disease, benefits to disease prevention like diabetes. So, good fats are good, but they are fats. So remember, a ¼ cup of mixed nuts can be up to 260 calories. So if you are swapping your bag of chips for a bag of nuts and eating multiple portions, then that's not going to serve you either.

So, be wary of fake healthy food and also be mindful of the healthy food. Portion size matters.

Pitfall #4: Why Making Sure That You Are Not Under Consuming Protein is a Must?

And then finally, the last pitfall which is kind of the first pitfall that I see when I ask patients. When I see patients in the office, I do a really thorough intake, an exam, and the historical intake also includes a dietary recall. And what I find more often than not is that my patients are way, way under consuming protein.

So, if you look up the RDA or the Recommended Dietary Allowance by the US government, it's kind of – for lack of a better word – a bullshit amount of protein that people should consume. It says something like 40 to 50 grams of protein. But when it comes to weight loss, that is way, way under what it should be, and there's several reasons for that.

Number one, remember, protein is your most satiating or most filling macronutrient. So, if you're going to compare protein, carbohydrates, and fats, protein is going to be the nutrient that is most filling and it is the nutrient that's going to give you the most staying power. Fun fact: it's interesting, actually, that a lot of my patients who have tried to go vegan or vegetarian in attempts to lose weight actually find themselves struggling and in many instances, gaining weight. And the reason is because protein, again, is satiating. And when you take animal protein out of the diet, it becomes really hard to satiate. Now, it doesn't mean that you can't consume plant-based proteins. So, I always tell my patients and I tell my daughter who's kind of pescatarian/vegetarian/sometimes vegan that if she wants to be vegan, fine, but be a responsible vegan which means really incorporate beans, grains, legumes, these other sources of protein, not just simple carbohydrates which are mostly devoid of nutrients.

So, protein is satiating.

What else does protein do? And by the way, how much is enough?

So, the studies show again that 15 to 20 grams of protein per meal is helpful in suppressing hunger hormones, suppressing food intake and snacking all day long. So, 15 to 20 grams. What does that mean? An egg is six grams, for example. Egg whites are four grams. Three ounces of chicken is about 27 grams. Half cup of garbanzo beans is about 19 grams. So that just gives you a sense. Cheese, terrible source of protein. I know people talk about it, but usually two to six grams, and it's very high calorie because it's a fat. Peanut butter, also not a great source of protein. It's pitched as one but only two grams of protein for every 100 calorie tablespoon.

So, 15 to 20 grams of protein per meal.

And other reasons other than the fact that it is satiating is that it also helps preserve lean muscle mass. So when you lose weight, when people lose weight, they can lose either fat mass – that's what we want to lose – or we can actually lose muscle if we're not careful and conscientious about how much protein we're consuming, and if we're not exercising – that's the other piece – then, we can also lose muscle. And the studies show that in order to not lose muscle or to mitigate that because we may lose some, but to reduce the amount or to optimize the amount of fat loss, not muscle loss, we should be consuming about 1.5 times our lean body weight. That translates roughly into 80 to 100 grams of protein for most individuals per day, which is a lot of protein and may feel daunting, but try this.

Try just doing a survey for a day. Keep a food log, not for the calories or for caloric purposes, but maintain a food log and just take a survey of how much protein you're consuming per day, and then try and shoot for 10 to 20 grams more in one day and see what happens. I promise you that my patients will universally come back week two and say, “Wow, that extra amount of protein really helped.”

Short Recap: Dr. Adrienne Quickly Summarizes Today’s Topic and Explains Why Dehl Bar is A Great +1

So, that's it. There are the four most common dietary pitfalls and how you can get around them.

Number one, witching hour. Plan for a snack. Number two, skipping meals. Basically, don't do it. Number three, be wary of fake healthy food and be mindful of portion sizes of healthy foods. And finally, be aware of how much protein you're consuming. I bet you, you're not having enough.

I hope that was helpful in offering you actionable bites today on how to maintain healthy weight. And let me know what you think. I can be found on Instagram, @dradrienneyoudim. You can also shoot me an email at dradrienneyoudim.com. It's a mouthful, but that is an email that comes directly to me. So if you want to shoot me an email and let me know how these four pitfalls have helped you, I would love to hear back from you. And if you've loved this episode, I would be so grateful if you’ll subscribe and share it with someone you love.

And finally, I would love for you to all try Dehl bar. So, remember Dehl bar. It is our high protein, low-calorie bar. I actually created this for myself, two years ago for my patients because the question always was, what is the best bar out there for me? And honestly, you can go up and down that whole foods shelf multiple times and there's nothing that I could recommend, because either they are way too high in calorie or high in sugar or the label isn't clean or inadequate protein.

So, as some of those bars out there – again, not trying to throw anyone under the bus – but KIND bar, for example, Rxbar, inadequate protein for our purposes. If you're trying to snack for the purpose of satiating yourself, that's why we snack, right? Other than the fact that sometimes things are super yummy. But if the goal of the snack is to help fill in a gap, to fill you up and make you better able to segue into dinner without consuming too many calories, then you’d want two things – you’d want them to be high in protein and low in calorie. You don't want them to be so low in protein that it's not satiating and you don't want them to be so high in calorie that you could have been having a Snickers bar and it would be the same difference.

So, I want you to try Dehl bar. My patients swear by them. If you go to https://dehlnutrition.com/, I have asked my staff to put in a plug in, sign up for our newsletter and we will send you our two top-selling flavors for free, now through the end of the month. Okay? I hope it will be of service and will be of benefit.

Love you all and I'll see you again next week. Until then.