Episode 5: Twins Tammy & Lyssie Nutritional Experts, Authors
Get inspired with twin nutritionist and fitness experts, Tammy & Lyssie Lakatos. Listen for tips, tricks and insights.
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Podcast Transcript:
So, hello, world. How are you today? I want to welcome you to “You Always Have Choices” – the podcast at Choices Books and Gifts. And today's guests are two twin sisters - Tammy and Lyssie Lakatos. I'm going to read a little about them so we understand who we have here, and then we'll go into some questions and answers. And they will share how AA coins are key way to celebrate milestones.
So, the Lakatos sisters are aspirational, nutritious duo - here to help transform your food choices. These twin sisters are nationally recognized registered dietitians, nutritionists, and personal trainers – so you can know you're in the right hands. With 15 years of experience, Tammy and Lyssie help thousands of clients boost their energy naturally. They help achieve their health goals, become happier, and reach tip-top shape. The pair were voted among the top 20 nutritionist experts to follow on Twitter by the Huffington Post, and they're named a top influencer on Pinterest with over 4 million followers—Whoop di doo.
Thanks, Jay. Thank you.
That's fantastic. And I want to start by saying thank you both for joining us.
Thanks for having us.
Absolutely. It's a real, real treat for me to have you both here.
For us, too. Thank you.
If you don't mind, I'm going to jump right in.
Sure, go for it.
We want to hear what you guys have to say. Okay. So, the first question is, how did you both decide to become nutritionists the two twin sisters? Both nutritionists?
Well, I'll start with that one, Jay, because I will tell you that I decided it first, and as someone that was more worldly than my twin sister, whatever I did, she said, me too.
She's 17 minutes older, and she claims she's more worldly.
I was 17 minutes older, but now I'm just worldly. She’d say she's more worldly because she's 17 minutes older, but it's not true.
So, I've spoken with twins before, and the one who's one or 2 minutes older wants to be called the eldest sister.
I used to say older, but now I don't want to be called older. So now I go with smarter or more worldly, whatever you want to call it.
So, she says I followed her because that's what she wanted to do. I knew what I wanted to do from a young age. That's not true; we were both very interested in it.
Were you very young when you decided that this is the course?
Yeah, we; what happened was we grew up in a healthy household, and we called our parents like hippies, minus the drugs. Our mom was always baking granola, and we were always by her side, stirring it and eating half before it made it into the oven. And then our dad was always athletic, and we were chasing after him. And by the time we got to high school, we were really into soccer, playing hardcore. And we'd have the team breakfast in the morning, and we lived in a healthy household, but we'd go to the team breakfast, and it's like donuts. And we eat everything, all the sugar, and then we get to the first period, and we'd get to first-period class, and we’re sweating. We were like a sweaty mess and were like, “Oh my gosh.” And then, we were still not feeling our best by the time our game rolled around. Yeah, and for a while, we still realized the connection, but we weren't quite ready to make the change; we’d still go and eat breakfast all over again. But some people eat this for breakfast and feel like this all the time. We can barely even make it to the soccer field; this is horrible. And so, we became very, very into it - like we were known. If you saw in our high school superlative, what do you think Tammy and Lyssie will be - answer - owners of a health food store. So even back then, we knew. So, we went to college.
It's immediate. I mean, you saw the benefits of living a better lifestyle. I wish I had that lifestyle. Growing up, I was Italian, so we ate spaghetti, meatballs, and cannolis. It was ridiculous.
A lot of people would say you're fortunate, though.
Yeah, yeah, so that's what happened. We went to college. We already knew we wanted to get our undergraduate degree in nutrition, get our postgraduate degree, and then go for the goal.
That's fantastic. Great.
Thank you.
What would you say are some of the lifestyle changes that benefited you? What changed you and kept you on this course for such a long period?
You know what I think it is - it's funny because growing up, even though we grew up in this healthy household, our best friend would wait by the door for us because we were outside playing all the time. My mom would take the time to come in and eat dinner, and my best friend, our best friend, would have her nose pressed against the glass. We'd sneak our salads out to her, and it's so funny. Or to her and her dog, right? Both liked it. We did not. We did not like it at all. But now we're the biggest vegetable lovers you could imagine.
Our third book was, in fact - oh jeez, I have this sitting on my desk. I didn't even know we'd be talking about it. It's parsley. I have it before my dinner. I eat it straight up. I'll eat this whole bunch right before my dinner. So, like, we’re girls that did not like vegetables; you couldn't even get us to eat them. We were sitting there; we couldn't wait for our parents to leave so we could sneak out to the deck. That was very helpful, too, because sometimes our best friend would sneak up the deck, and then our vegetables were out through the back door. And then we could play because we had eaten our vegetables, or rather, she had eaten our vegetables.
So now I see Tammy in the gym all the time, and you should see the way she moves on the elliptical. And she's the same way on the bike. That's what I like. You're the same way. We're pretty, we're pretty twiny. That's why we don't work out at the same place. It would be gross. Yeah, we would get annoyed with each other.
So, as you both know, some of the biggest problems in the world come from food - obesity - it leads to depression, bad health, heart disease, and diabetes. So, what would you say, and how can we improve that by eating a better diet?
That's a big question. But small changes in diet can make a huge difference in our health. And that's what we help people to see. It's not overnight; an overhaul of the diet is just a gradual change. The small changes make big differences, and that's huge and rewarding for people. So, for example, one of our clients the other day, one of my clients came, and he was talking about a salad.
I was looking at his diagnosis, and he's trying to lose weight. I'm seeing where the calories were adding up. And he's a healthy guy, a healthy eater. I saw that the salad dressing, you know, you put this salad dressing onto the salad, and it's getting covered in it. The salad might be, especially if it's just greens, very few calories, but you put the salad dressing, and suddenly it's hundreds and hundreds of calories.
So, for him, this is a great thing. I had him put the salad dressing on the side, which you probably heard before, but dip the fork in the dressing and stab the salad. He found that it slowed down his eating, and he enjoyed the flavor just as much. That was the only change he made for the first week, and he lost 3 pounds from that alone. We’ve had people lose 7 pounds from that change alone in a week.
That's funny because the next question was going to be that, as you know, as nutritionists, what do you see that most people don't see? And what little quick changes can we make - the salad dressing is one. Give me a couple that are surprising.
You'll love this one as an Italian; it's the olive oil. The olive oil pouring it in the pan. One flat tablespoon has more calories than a piece of bread. So, if you pour a few tablespoons of olive oil into your pan, it's great and healthy for you, but it can add up quickly. So, you are like, “I don't understand. I'm eating well; I'm eating pasta and gaining weight”, but maybe it's all the oil you put in the sauce. Or all the eating of the bread - that's a big one. I'm eating bread and gaining weight. But really, it's all the oil. You dip the bread.
So, some of our clients say they start their morning with an egg omelet and pour oil into the pan. And then, at lunch, they're having the grilled chicken breast and pouring the oil in the pan. And the pasta and pouring the oil with the shrimp in the pan. And then we have them sometimes, if they're open to it, take a spray bottle, put the oil in, and then spread in the pan instead to disperse the oil and the flavor. And they drop pounds immediately. So, it's also one of those things. As a hardcore Italian, that’s probably hard to wrap your head around, but remember, it's so healthy for you. So, it's not like we don't want you to have it. People get plenty of fat in their diet. So, extra virgin olive is healthy for you, but only in small increments.
Right, Extra virgin olive oil. Yes, it's very anti-inflammatory. It's got great antioxidant potential to lower inflammation in the body. And inflammation is the root of all diseases - heart disease, diabetes, obesity. So, you want some, but there's a tipping point where you get too much, and it causes obesity, and then it's like then you're getting inflammation from the obesity. So, it can be a slippery slope. An interesting thing about inflammation is that it also makes weight loss harder and weight gain easier. So once your body is inflamed, it's easy to gain weight and hard to lose weight.
Very good. Which brings me to my next question. So besides eating healthy and doing the best, what other things can one do to live that lifestyle - a healthier, firm, strong, healthy heart, no diabetes? I've always heard that in the gym, it’s 90-10. Ninety percent of it is what you put in your pie hole, and ten percent is really exercise.
Right, exercise is huge - it's huge. But he's saying diet is 90%. That is kind of true for weight. But it's never just one thing. Like when someone's sick with something or gets cancer or something - it’s never just one thing. So, when it comes to getting healthy, it's never just one thing. People think, “You know what, I’ve been eating well, you know what, a bunch of parsley every day. I'm like, “What did you eat the rest of the day, every day?”
Do you eat that bushel every day?
I mean, sometimes it's parsley, something else before I eat. It's a whole other world that you get into once you learn about bitters before a meal. Bitter greens before a meal, whether it's parsley or dandelion green, arugula, or spinach - open your digestive juices and get your digestive enzymes going. You digest your food better; you get the nutrients out of your food.
Believe me, when I first started doing my research on all of this, I thought this was too much. And I'm like, “You're telling me I have to eat this bunch” every day? I don't have my clients eat that bunch. But now I've become, like with everything I do that's healthy, I've become a little obsessed. So, you've got to cut it off, tame it. You can tame it down; you don't have to eat that much. But there are benefits to it, even just a little bit. But my point was, you know, I can eat that and eat donuts the rest of the day. So, it's never just one thing. But the sum of things is super helpful.
She's saying she could eat like that, and then clearly (eating donuts) that's not ideal. But he had asked his questions about the things that are part of a lifestyle, other than diet. That would be something like exercising or getting fresh air or sunlight in the morning; deep breathing stimulates that parasympathetic nervous system, which calms you down.
Breathing, things of that nature.
Right, through the nose. Yes, very important because when you don't tame that anxiety and that stress, then it also kicks up the cortisol, which is your belly fat hormone, into high gear. So, any time that you can tame that stress through deep breathing, there are simple things you can do. Some people like to breathe in essential oils, like the lavender scent, so that it can calm them down. Research shows that it relaxes your parasympathetic nervous system to bring on relaxation.
And that cortisol that triggers anxiety also triggers stress. Yes, the stress also triggers inflammation. So, it's a vicious cycle because cortisol triggers inflammation. Inflammation stresses your body; it triggers cortisol, which is the belly fat hormone, and it's a cycle. So, if you can do little steps, the deep breathing, as Tammy mentioned, through your nose, holding it in through your lungs. So, you breathe in through your nose for four counts. You hold it in your lungs like you're breathing apple pie, then you hold it in your lungs and then breathe out like you're fogging a mirror but slowly, seven counts.
That's the long one. So, when you do that, that activates, takes us out of fight or flight. So, we're no longer running from a tiger. And it brings us to rest or digest. So that's a good time to eat because if you’re in a fight (mode), if you're stressed and running from a tiger and putting food in your mouth, you're shutting down digestion. After all, you're preparing to run from a tiger.
So here you are; you've got cortisol, the belly fat hormone, out in full effect. You're giving yourself food; you're not going to digest it. You're going to have bloating in digestion. The food's getting, sitting in your stomach, fermented by the bacteria. And in the meantime, you have the cortisol out, telling your body, "Come on, belly fat, store me, store me. I'm getting all these calories. So, it becomes a vicious cycle. But if you can do a little bit of that deep breathing before you eat a little bit of that green before you eat, like we're talking about, that does the same thing - just a little bit. A little. And I remember the first time I had to do it with cilantro. I was like, this is a disaster. And then she told me - you must get on top of it. I said OKAY, and I did it. And I grew to like it.
It's interesting because I know in my own life, there were things that I didn't like, but I got used to, and now they're the only thing I prefer - the healthy as opposed to unhealthy. So, you know, people (clients) that start with you, what are some of their biggest hurdles? What are the problems? Do they stick with it?
That's a great question. Most people's biggest hurdle - most people have tried something before, and they've lost weight, but they haven't kept it off. They gain it back. And usually, the reason is, remember, in the beginning, we were talking about these small lifestyle steps - people don't do that. Instead, they go hardcore; they have the best intentions - they might have something like chicken breast and steamed broccoli and fish, and they go hardcore and completely overhaul their diet. They are determined right then and there. But then there's no flavor, and they get bored and can't uphold eating in such a strict way for so long. And they wind up throwing in the towel.
And so that's one of the things that happens. People usually come to see us because they're like, “I keep trying things, I'm dieting, I've been so strict, I'm doing great. I get down to my goal weight and then let it all out. I can't do it anymore.” And it all goes out the window. Or they do bad things. Or people come to us and say, “I'm so discouraged. I see all my friends doing a Keto Diet or all of them doing this diet or intermittent fasting. I tried it, and I gained even more weight.” And the key here is that there's no one thing that works for everybody. We're all individuals, and it must work in our lifestyle. So, people that come to see us, we must make small changes in their lifestyle, like that tip that we just gave about olive oil, someone might say to me, “Oh great, well, I don't even use olive oil, what good does that do me?”
So, we work within how they're already eating and make changes that last - small changes that they can work in their lifestyle. And not all at once. It's a little bit at a time because everything over the top is too much. People get overwhelmed. There's enough that people are doing in the day, you know, rather than diet. We (accept) what they're doing and try to change it to where they can enjoy what they're already doing, but you (we) enhance it and mix that in.
And then, you know, if they try something for the first time and say, “I just can't do that.” That's fine - then we tweak it and find something else. It's about what fits in their lifestyle.
Do you think a lot of people who are overweight, do they come from some trauma, or has something happened in their lives? What can you say about that, please?
Absolutely. So, I would say for anyone that's very overweight, if they have, more like overweight. I mean, all of us have had some form of trauma. It's just the level (of trauma.) There's something called Adverse Childhood Events, or ACES, Adverse Childhood Events. And there are levels of it. Sorry, I had a moment where I knew I needed more Rosemary. Where did that Rosemary go? Oh, rosemary. Rosemary is good for the brain.
I love all the “show and tell” we have here. I think it's great. I feel like I should share some of my AA coins here, so people know where to get all their recovery chips.
I didn't know I was going to have them. I just happened to have it out, and where's my Rosemary? I found it on the floor. I'm just saying, oh my gosh, my brain - I need a little more rosemary. Of course, I do, but I'm stepping on my Rosemary.
So, you walk around your house and pick it up here and there. There are trees outside, and you pick.
Oh my gosh, that would be a dream come true.
Now, let me ask one of the most challenging questions. It has to do with sugar and how, first, how bad it is for us. Second, how hard it is not to have sugar - help us to do something different.
Yeah, the problem is, it's addictive. And so, once we give ourselves a little sugar, we want more. We will see a genetic tendency for some people to want more than others. And some people are not influenced in the same way. Like Jay, you know how hard I am working out of my diet. It's important. We look at genetic pathways, and my genetics have me set up for diabetes. They kill. So, I must watch. I can only have a little sugar, whereas someone else can have an average amount. And still, might that even send my blood sugar high?
So, regarding that, one of the keys that we find for helping to avoid sugar, so many of the new clients that come to us, they say, especially that mid-afternoon, “I just need energy, and I go, I can't help it, I just go for candy.” One of the best things that you can do, and this isn't just for anyone with diabetes, it's for everybody - is to stabilize your blood sugar.
And what people don't realize about blood sugar is - that if we have a carbohydrate or protein on its own, we're not giving our body what it needs. So, let's say you wake up in the morning and have this, and most people have carbohydrates for breakfast. So, like you may have a bagel or a bowl of oatmeal, which is very healthy, oatmeal is great. Your blood sugar rises because it's a carbohydrate, and carbohydrates like this (raise blood sugar.) But there's nothing to slow that down. So, the blood sugar rises, and then all the insulin is kicked out, and it takes the sugar into the muscles and out of the blood, so now your blood sugar is low.
And when that blood sugar dips, you feel tired. And you say) Ooh, I could use a quick pick-me-up. Oh my - sugar is the fastest pick-me-up. Your brain is craving the quickest pick-me-up - which is sugar. So, if you have healthy oatmeal for breakfast (it has fiber), it’s a little less of a spike, and there’s still a drop that will cause cravings in the afternoon.
But if you add protein to it, protein is the key because protein helps - it takes a long time to digest. Let’s say eggs, like chicken, eggs, Greek yogurt. So, that takes a longer time to digest. So, if you eat that carbohydrate, it gives you that energy boost -it’s great. It's brain fuel, and then you have the protein with it, and it stabilizes. So, you're not getting that drop.
So, for example, for breakfast, as you say, we went to the oatmeal; you wouldn't just have the oatmeal by itself, you then would either make an overnight oat with the Greek yogurt mixed in there, or you could do a side with the eggs, but you want to have some source of protein with every meal to stabilize that rise. And it's not a large amount of carbohydrates. And don't get confused because you don't want to have the eggs alone. And the reason is that if you have eggs, that's protein - you're not going to be hungry - but what about that brain fuel? What is the fuel for my brain? Carbohydrates are the only fuel for your brain. It would be best if you had a little bit of carbohydrates.
So, if you don't have a little bit - later in the day, we find many people who have protein - let's say you had steak for breakfast or eggs. By afternoon, they crave a candy bar as well. So, you want a bit - and the key is to keep the carbohydrate portion moderate - not big. You want mostly protein and just a small amount, half a cup of cooked oatmeal. That's all it takes.
Well, so let me ask you this. As for me and Tammy, I'll tell you, I'm a gym freak as well. I used to live there.
I was telling her, you're there for so many hours. Like you go in the morning and then in the afternoon, you're still there. And I was like, “Are you finished?” and you're like, “I've been here since nine.” it's 4 pm.
I’m probably doing the wrong thing, but when I wake up. Naturally, I'm just not hungry in the morning. So, I like to go and do an intense workout. And if I'm going to do something later, I'll have something, you know, after my first part of the workout. Is it okay that I don't eat before I work out?
I’d say it’s better. It's better. It's better. But I would say, you know what, you’re the proof in the pudding. You're doing something right - for sure. And it can be better. It depends on the person - like everything else. One of the reasons it can be better is that when you're in a fasted state, and you push your body to the limits, it creates something called autophagy, which is when we break down our bodies, old cells, and it helps to get rid of them. When you're in that stage, it enables you to rid your body of those old cells, repair them, and make new ones. So that increases longevity - it fights against Alzheimer’s disease, it fights against disease in general. So, there's so many benefits.
So, is fasting something that we should do?
Some people. The reason why we say some people, we do say some people, not just me, is because females have a much more delicate balance with their hormones, and they can't push it quite the same way.
Guys can get away with it. But females, it can really, they kind of can mess with hormone imbalance, but also throw them into the opposite state where it increases inflammation because it's too stressful, it's too much. But it depends; sometimes they can do it three days a week. It's very individual. Sometimes it's good for them. It depends on the person and everything else that's going on.
It's good information. Good information.
Well, because they can't necessarily, even though it's good for some people, some guys will say, well, “I have low blood sugar, and then I want to binge later,” so it's not good for everyone. And, if you have a high-stress level, everything in life returns to stress. If your body is stressed, if you stress it too much, you can throw your adrenal system off. It depends. You probably would know if you felt like that. I think that would do it for many people, and it's not right for them, not necessarily women as much, but men - if it's not right for them, they'll feel tired. They won't feel good doing it. If they push their body, something feels off, and they’re tired.
You know me because I've yo-yo’d in my lifetime, too. And one of the most confusing things I have are all the choices today. KETO, this diet, that diet. Every other day, something on the internet says, “This is what you must do.” Well, how do you feel about that? I always thought it was just a lifestyle change, but I don't necessarily want to go on a diet because when it ends, I will return to my lifestyle again. So, what with all these choices, what are we to do?
Yeah, well, first, you said, how do we feel about this? And I wish I had a tree of nuts right here, you know? Well, yeah, there's so many choices. And at the end of the day, everyone needs to get back to the basics instead of going off the rails and failing. There's not one quick fix. The wholesome, natural foods your body wants and craves - something that looks like it came from the ground – aren’t in a package.
The more we get into the packaged foods, the more chemically derived, and then it's been derived, and it’s derived to make us addicted to it like. We’re addicted to sugary candies. It's not just the sugar in it. There are all these additives in it. Even the dairy in it - made for a cow to soothe the baby - is naturally addictive. They put stuff in there. There's everything in there. Manufacturers are smart.
Is that what I'm to understand? You will say you need a lifestyle change, which you need to do. But so many people are so different. So, how do you handle that with so many different people in the world?
Well, one-on-one is very different than when we write our books, but how we handle it is one-on-one. Are you talking about us, how we handle it, or how some clients feel?
Your clients. Would we get the same diet as Catherine (my assistant here.)
No, not at all doing it. We do it to make it natural for someone - we use this platform, and they use their phone to take photos, and it uploads in real-time, so we see what they eat. We get a sense of their lifestyle because even if it's not working for them entirely, because they may be heavier than they want to be, it's still working for them in many ways - they're eating the foods they love. It's fitting into their lifestyle - it's how they naturally are. So, we want to keep as much the same as possible, and we figure out what's what, what we know that they can change, make some gradual changes in there, and still reach their goals and lose weight.
Sometimes, it's not always in the beginning; you're not constantly losing weight but are naturally getting healthier.
And as you get there at the same time. If someone's goal is weight loss, they're paying us to lose weight -we're going to make sure they're losing weight, too, but they're getting healthier in their process. They’re the same. They are combined.
Can you share any surprising things that may be getting in the way of weight loss?
There is a lot. For some people, it's just not getting a good night's sleep because when they're not sleeping well, then they wake up, they're tired, they're craving sugar, they're craving energy, and it just they don't have the mind frame to even wanting something healthy. They're just reaching for whatever.
Me! I'm not a great sleeper, so I tend to stay up late, and the later I stay up, the more I want to eat. I must tell you this: the more I crave lousy food, the more I crave bad food. And when I put terrible food in me, it's like mother's milk. Then I can go to sleep, and I don't know why that is. It is the most frustrating thing for me.
That is frustrating. But there could be several reasons. One, and that’s a whole other point, too, because you said you wake up in the morning, you're not hungry. Some people aren't hungry in the morning because they overeat at night. That’s not healthy. So that happens. I'm not saying that is you. I'm just saying that's a big thing. But with that, I think sometimes it's a habit. Do you think it's a habit - you’re just so used to having your stomach in a certain way?
It's a habit. And it's the only way to fall asleep. It's such a bad habit that I need to break it. And I go through, you know, weaves - ins and outs - where I can break the habit for a while. But if I'm not staying on it completely, I return to my old ways.
Were you like that as a kid? Because many of our habits come back to how we were raised. Like, did you do this as a kid?
It's funny, no. I couldn't eat sugar as a kid. Even on my birthday, the only thing that I would eat is coconut cake. I wouldn't say I liked sweets at all.
Ah, what was it for you - like looking at the rest of your diet, is it too much - just protein the rest of the day? Then you might need a little carb. So, I guess carbs give us serotonin, and that helps us sleep and relax. So, it relaxes like our feel-good chemicals. So we can sleep. I bet then we could figure it out. They're also, like, into your diet and figure it out. There are also things as you wean off that, like all our habits, it's just a matter of replacing it with something else. So, like, if there were like a tea that was like a calming elixir, but it would be hard because clearly, food is addictive and like, that also might just be maybe we find with a lot of people, all of us when we're like when we eat out of like out of just that.
We don't need the food - we want a sweet, and we go and have it anyway. We're looking for something else. Like maybe it's not that - but we're looking for fun, we're looking for excitement. And when we get that. Or we're looking for - like we're bored, we want a little - there's something to tantalize our taste buds, we're looking for it. This happens to all of us. I'm included. Sometimes, I know I've had my sweet for the day and want something else. And I want, and I’m like, why do you want it? I get mad at myself. “I don't know - I just want it. Why would you want it?” And then I'm like, “Well, why do you want it? Like, you're just as full.” There's something deeper there.
Yeah, it's deeper. And sometimes it's basic. Sometimes, it's like we're missing something in our lives. We need to think about what we want. It's just we want something more.
My therapist once told me, she says, you know, sometimes when you think you're hungry, Jay, all you may need is to drink some water.
Oh, 100%. Yes, because the brain doesn’t - It confuses the signal of hunger and thirst. So, a lot of times when we're thirsty, we want food, and we need a drink.
All right.
Have you found that for you?
I have found that. And I do drink. I do; I drink a lot now because I exercise so much. And I do; I play a lot of pickleball and am a big swimmer. So, these are intense sports. So, I do drink constantly.
If you're drinking a lot of water, that's what we find shocking. So many people, including me, might need the electrolytes because we sometimes don't absorb the water. It's very common for a lot of people.
We drink a ton of water. We were thirsty. We always drank so much water and were thirsty, and we weren't absorbing our water. We were also drinking and fasting intermittently, so we weren't eating. When you eat it with food, you absorb more. But we had to take electrolytes. And then I felt satiated in terms of not being thirsty. And I felt so much better. I felt more mentally clear, and my clients told me the same thing. Thats a great way to mention that NA coins are best gifts in recovery.
And I say that because I do have drinks with no sugar but high in electrolytes.
Oh good, good. You're on top of it - that's great.
Let me put this to you. So, what, because the podcast is coming to an end, what can you tell us? What would the number one, even if it's not number one? Several things. What's the word of wisdom you would give to us, being the nutritionists that you are? What are some of the things we can do before we say goodbye?
It's just starting small and knowing that you can continually improve. It can be a partial overhaul. It is just starting small and taking, putting one foot in front of the other. AA coins
As we do in AA, when we discuss One Day At A Time, that is also why I carry an AA chip in my pocket to remind me to do the next right thing. I often others to remind their loved ones of their great accomplishments. AA coins are the number one way to stay focused on sobriety and to reach your recovery milestones.
Yes, exactly; whether it means going for a bike ride one day, going for a walk, or just trying to get one source of leafy greens a day, something starts small because, for many people, it feels very intimidating and overwhelming. But if you start with one small change, it's much more doable than you have. You can create little wins for yourself. I've done that all week. Now I can add one more thing.
And do a checklist to make it a goal that you can achieve. So that you can feel rewarded, but it is still a challenge. But you know, you can do it if you put your mind to it. I'm going to wake up and drink 12 ounces of water first thing every morning. Okay, I did it every day. All right. I did it for 21 days. It's a habit. I realize I feel so much better. In the next 21 days, I'm going to get up, and I'm going to walk every morning to see Jay at the gym. And you build on that.
And what is it they say? - isn't it 21 days to build a good habit? Good or bad habits? Yes, just like in recovery, they mention that you can celebrate milestones with AA medallions.
And that's how long it takes for our taste buds to turn over, too. So, if you're trying to adjust to a less sweet diet for 21 days, your taste buds will turn over. Or a bread that doesn't have salt or a lower sodium bread. It's not always 21 days for everyone. Like ours, we're very lucky in that way, but not as lucky too, because you must go off on a crazy weekend away and are like, “I love sweets” like it. But they are turned over quickly. So, it depends. Not everyone takes 21 days, but 21 days is the maximum, let's say, for your taste buds to adjust.
All right. Well, I want to say a couple of things. First, I want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming on the show. It's so informational, so much for me as well. I mean, I learned a lot. Believe me; I will talk to Tammy more in the gym about this stuff because I need more help with my lifestyle.
So, I'd like to say a few things before wrapping it up this way. So, as we wrap up this episode of Choices, remember that life is a series of decisions that shape our journey.
I hope our time together was inspiring and motivating. Stay empowered, stay well. And remember, you always have choices, peace, and blessings. And I'll see you soon. I hope you'll be repeat visitors here.
We loved it, too. Thank you so much! So much for having us, so much fun. Thank you! Bye bye.
And we are here to celebrate your journey with you. Whether you celebrate with a recovery coin or book, remember you are not alone. We are here with you.