Brian (1s):
Coming up on the GET, LEAN Eat, Clean Podcast. The
Daina (3s):
First thing people like to do is check their phones when they wake up. And that's like the worst thing to do to start your day to start that how like your energy is of the day. 'cause once you start taking social media emails, it's all about comparison. It's all about anxiety. That's not how you wanna start your day. So one thing that I work on with my clients is really trying to make that first hour about you. How do you wanna set your day? What is the the mood you want for the day? So things like journaling, gratitude journal is a really easy one to start with. If journaling sounds overwhelming or kind of like woo woo. So literally three things that you're grateful for. you know, your dog, your house, whatever, your air conditioning, whatever it might be like. Super simple, right? I love a morning walk. So especially before 9:00 AM like 10 minutes, 15 minutes. So getting your heart rate up, getting that sun into your eyes.
Daina (44s):
So you want that blue light in the mornings to set your circadian rhythm and get that high energy up so that your melatonin production increases at nighttime to set you up for bedtime. So a morning walk is definitely something we work on. And then some light stretching is also something along with some meditation. So just a little bit of that movement sitting down on a yoga mat, if that works for you. Maybe some breath work setting intentions for the day. So those are the couple things that are easy to implement that a lot of people like.
Brian (1m 7s):
This week I interviewed Nutrition Therapist Master, Dina Reus We discussed the advantages of utilizing holistic nutrition along with ways to optimize your sleep Dina's morning routine. The importance of stool testing of Dina overcame adult acne and her one tip to get your body back to what it once was. Really enjoyed my interview with Dina. I know you will too. Thanks so much for listening and enjoy the show. Alright, Welcome to the Get Lean Eat Clean podcast. My name is Brian Gryn. And I'm Dina Raan. Welcome to the show.
Daina (1m 37s):
Hi Brian. Thanks for having me.
Brian (1m 38s):
Thanks for coming out on the show. All the way from Lithuania, right?
Daina (1m 42s):
Sort
Brian (1m 43s):
Of, yeah. Now living in Santa Fe, Mexico, correct?
Daina (1m 46s):
Correct, yes. Grew up in Lithuania but Now, I'm in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Brian (1m 50s):
And you've been in, how long have you been in the health business for?
Daina (1m 55s):
I've been a nutrition therapist master for just about three years now.
Brian (1m 58s):
And. what made you go down that route?
Daina (1m 60s):
Oof. Well I was in in a civil engineer, so I went to grad school to become a civil engineer. Got very burnt out, so actually retired early, never really worked formally as a civil engineer. Wanted to take a break. So I was really interested in getting into the food industry just 'cause my research was on agriculture when I was a civil engineer doing sustaina sustainability research in agriculture. And I thought how cool would it be to combine sustainability and growing food? So I decided to get involved with a restaurant scene and maybe become a sustainability consultants that didn't exactly work out, but I ended up getting involved in the restaurant scene and just getting closer and closer to food and seeing how food's produced and prepared and at the same time dealing with my own health issues.
Daina (2m 40s):
'cause I was in my twenties, I thought I was taking care of myself, but I was super fatigued. I had really bad digestive issues and really bad adult acne and I thought I was doing all the right things. So I started playing around with my diet and realized that diet changes changed my symptoms. So I figured there was something there and as I became more and more interested in it, I knew I wanted to study it. It was was actually something that I was super passionate about. So rather rather than going into dietetics, which I would just wasn't really drawn to, I wasn't really drawn to the conventional way of learning nutrition. I wanted something more holistic. So I found nutrition therapy school and became a nutrition therapist.
Brian (3m 13s):
Very cool. And I was actually gonna ask you that, like what is the difference between like nutrition therapist and sort of a registered dietician?
Daina (3m 20s):
Yeah, so mainly re registered dieticians are going to work with more medical nutrition therapy. So their patient base, because they'll typically have patients, is going to be people more with chronic conditions. So maybe dealing with heart disease, diabetes more so that, whereas holistic nutrition therapy is more about balancing the body and taking a more holistic approach using food supplements, lifestyle changes. So a lot of this, the clients that come to me, they've gone through doctors, they maybe have seen a dietician and just nothing conventional is helping them So. we dig a little bit deeper, we look at gut health, we look at hormone panels, we look at their diet and really make sure that they're eating nutrient-dense foods. So it's a lot more digging also into the more holistic ways of looking at things like how is their stress, how is their exercise routine, how is their circadian rhythm?
Daina (4m 7s):
you know, all these little things that are important for making sure lifestyle is proper and then also nutrition on top of everything else.
Brian (4m 14s):
Yeah, I love that. I recently graduated from, I dunno if you're familiar with that. Yeah. Be so that was similar in that in that sense where you sort of look at sort of every avenue that could affect health, right? Like it's, I think people get so caught up in like just one, a aspect of it and that could be a big piece to the puzzle, but like if someone's not sleeping right, then everything else you do is probably not gonna work so well.
Daina (4m 38s):
Exactly. And sleep is a huge one and it's a really hard one with how we live today and people kind of poo poo it and we don't have time to sleep and I'll sleep later. But yeah, you can't heal if you're not sleeping.
Brian (4m 49s):
Although I feel like the sleep talk is coming back around. Like it's definitely more in the limelight just because of like these like blue light blocking glasses and stuff and I think people are more aware. And then you got the wearables with like the aura ring and so I think it is becoming a little bit more, I don't know, some mainstream. What are some of your like biggest hacks for improving sleep?
Daina (5m 11s):
I mean I have an oaring, so I love my oaring, but if, if you're a data person, I definitely recommend it. It's the best, I think, wearable for sleep. So that gives you an idea of how your sleep's affected by what, so for example, I realize that alcohol is not my friend and I like if I have any alcohol three hours or closer to bedtime, my sleep really suffers. Hmm. So that's a pretty obvious one I know. But if, if someone really wants to improve their sleep, try to cut out alcohol three hours at least before sleep. Also food, trying not to eat dinner too close to bed, that's a really good one. Oftentimes just with how we live, we end up eating dinner at like 8:00 PM or so and then getting to bed by 9 30, 10 or so. So really trying to get that at least three hours before going to bed is a good one.
Daina (5m 51s):
And then definitely the blue light. So if you absolutely cannot get away from your devices, the blue light blocking glasses are gonna be a good hack. But if you can try to read a paper book or just do some kind of wind down routine, like taking a bath or journaling or you know, doing some meditation or like stretching, that's always good. And, you know, you have to kill an hour so it's possible.
Brian (6m 13s):
Yeah, love that. I'm a big routine guy. I, I definitely, I have daylight blue light blocking glasses actually I sometimes wear them but I'm not gonna wear them right now. But, and then I have ones in the evening and I, I think it takes a while to get used to 'em but once you start wearing 'em then you almost like realize that you really, you get used to 'em and you really need 'em towards the evening. Especially if you're just gonna, you know, check a few emails and stuff later on.
Daina (6m 39s):
Definitely. And even like our light bulbs are giving off the improper light to mess up our circadian rhythm. So unless you're using like incandescent light bulbs or the red light bulbs and most of us aren't, we're mostly using like LED just because our energy efficient. Those are gonna be messing up your circadian rhythm too. So people will say, well I stay off my phone, but it's just lots of things are messing up that circadian rhythm.
Brian (6m 59s):
Yeah. And then what about like morning? What, what, what type of morning routine do you sort of implement for yourself and your clients?
Daina (7m 5s):
Oh, oh I, I'm a big morning routine person and that's one thing that I coach clients through. 'cause you know, morning, especially that first hour of the day, I like to call it like your golden hour. The first thing people like to do is check their phones when they wake up. And that's like the worst thing to do to start your day to start that how like your energy is of the day. Because once you start taking social media emails, it's all about comparison. It's all about anxiety. That's not how you wanna start your day. So one thing that I work on with my clients is really trying to make that first hour about you. How do you wanna set your day? What is the, what is the, the mood you want for the day? So things like journaling, gratitude journals, a really easy one to start with. If journaling sounds overwhelming or kind of like woo woo. So literally three things that you're grateful for, you know, your dog, your house, whatever, your air conditioning, whatever it might be like super simple, right?
Daina (7m 49s):
I love a morning walk. So especially before 9:00 AM like 10 minutes, 15 minutes. So getting your heart rate up, getting that sun into your eyes. So you want that blue light in the mornings to set your circadian rhythm and get that high energy up so that your melatonin production increases at nighttime to set you up for bedtime. So a morning walk is definitely something we work on. And then some light stretching is also something along with some meditation. So just a little bit of that movement sitting down on a yoga mat if that works for you. Maybe some breath work setting intentions for the day. So those are the couple of things that are easy to implement that a lot of people like.
Brian (8m 21s):
Yeah. Yeah. And if you listen to the podcast, I talk about morning walks all the time. Awesome. Yeah 'cause I have two dogs and although it's like now they're getting a little bit older, they're not that old like six and eight but you know, sometimes they like don't want to go and I'm just like, peace out, I'm out. Like I still want to go. So if you don't want to come, but no, usually at least one will come. But yeah, so yeah, I'm big on the morning walk and And. you know what, actually maybe finding someone to do it with I think can really help. 'cause I have some clients where I have to like keep bothering them to go on walks and it's like, I feel like if you have someone to hold you accountable to go on that walk, that'll, that'll really like jumpstart it and make sure that you don't forget it.
Daina (9m 4s):
Totally. Yeah. Or doing something fun while you're on your walk, like listening to a podcast or an audio book. So some people need something to be entertained by and that's okay. That's what gets you out to get on your walk. I love listening to podcasts. That's my podcast time. And so I do like a 30 minute loop around my neighborhood and I get so much podcasting in during that time.
Brian (9m 23s):
Yeah, that is nice. I will say one thing I don't love is those Apple watches. It's like I, I was recently talking to someone and every two minutes they're looking at their watch and I'm like, it's like such a, I don't know, I, I think it's so bad just like socially to just always be like notified for everything that's going on and it's just become, it's our world nowadays.
Daina (9m 46s):
I completely agree. I don't have an Apple watch and it drives me crazy when people around me do that. I find it very rude. Yes,
Brian (9m 52s):
I agree.
Daina (9m 53s):
It's definitely, it, it messes also with all those neurotransmitters like your dopamine because you're not supposed to get that rush of al always like getting that information and getting that like hit of something you're expecting. So yeah, I would say turn off those notifications if you have an Apple watch.
Brian (10m 8s):
I agree. I mean it's enough that we have our phones now, we have to have something on our, on our watch, you know, obviously on our wrist to like go with us every second of the day, you know, we can't put our phone down and then we still have our watches. It's just, I don't know, just recently I, I thought to myself, I'm like, I'm never getting one of those things. I
Daina (10m 24s):
Agree.
Brian (10m 25s):
Yeah. Yeah. Not a fan. I know a lot you, I know you talk a lot about gut health and something that you start with I, I feel like a lot of health coaches including myself, this is sort of a, a good place to start. It might be probably one of the more, maybe maybe difficult areas to sort of wrap your arms around and I think there's a lot of technology still coming out. you know, I think there's always some, could be some error when you, when you do a stool testing, but at least it's a place to start. Is that something that you, you really do first with most of your clients?
Daina (10m 55s):
Yes, definitely. And I totally agree. We're still really in like infancy of understanding the gut and every year we are understanding more and more. But definitely those stool tests are really good mode of getting some more information right now. And I'm sure in 10 years we're gonna have stool tests that are a million times better. But right now what that, that information that it gives us is useful and that is really helpful for building protocols just because, you know, people can come to me with digestive issues like you know, diarrhea or constipation or acid reflux, whatever it might be. and we could shoot in the dark and kind of guess what could be wrong. But with a stool test it really gives us direction. Okay so maybe there's some bacterial overgrowth here or there's a parasite and so we can kind of tweak supplements knowing so we're not wasting time and money.
Brian (11m 36s):
Yeah. And is this something you learned through your nutrition therapists degree? Is that something they, they harped on? Yeah,
Daina (11m 43s):
So I actually got additional certifications to learn how to read functional testing.
Brian (11m 47s):
Okay, very cool. And do you, which tests do you typically go to when it comes to gut?
Daina (11m 52s):
I do the GI map for stool testing. Is that one you're familiar with?
Brian (11m 56s):
Yeah, that was like one of the, the main, I think we went through about five different tests and one of them was GI map we, yeah.
Daina (12m 3s):
Yeah, I like that one. And then I also like to run food sensitivity testing. So I do the MRT mediator release testing. That's the one I found to be most beneficial for food sensitivities.
Brian (12m 12s):
Yeah, that's the one they use as well. So there's,
Daina (12m 15s):
Oh cool. Awesome.
Brian (12m 16s):
And then you also look at blood chemistry as well?
Daina (12m 20s):
Yep, I do blood chemistry, so that's usually something I do after I've worked on gut health with clients and food sensitivities and all that. And then we look at their blood chemistry unless they come to me with results that they've had from a doctor. But I like to run some markers that maybe your conventional PCP won't run. So just to get a better idea of how your immune system's doing, how you know, how is your iron, do you have any signs of anemia because sometimes things don't get caught if you don't do a full panel.
Brian (12m 47s):
Sure, yeah. And what a i, I know you talk a little bit about how stool testing can actually improve your skin health. Was that something you found for yourself? Was that a Yeah because you mentioned you had skin issues.
Daina (12m 58s):
Exactly. And really when I was starting to change my diet, before I studied nutrition therapy, I became actually vegan for a couple years. Which now looking back it was not the right thing to do But, it was, it was a good learning process. And I think cutting out dairy, 'cause that was a trigger for me back in the day just because my gut was messed up. It really helped my skin. I mean it didn't cure my acne But, it definitely improved and then it got bad again. But point is food I, I learned that food really affects your gut and it took a long time for me to really understand how to improve my gut health to get it to a place where my skin could finally heal. And it took like a year and a half, two years to, it was layers and layers. It was bacterial overgrowth then it was yeast overgrowth and it took a while to really support my detox pathways.
Daina (13m 38s):
But once I finally got the protocol dialed in, it was like within a week my skin just cleared and it was years and years of really bad adult acne.
Brian (13m 47s):
And so the, did you go on some type of supplement protocol to help with the bacterial overgrowth?
Daina (13m 53s):
Yep, both the bacterial overgrowth, that was one supplement protocol and that improved my skin a little bit But. it wasn't until I got a fungal protocol for fungal protocol where I thought where I had candida overgrowth. So it's a type of yeast and that finally was what got it. And I do see that a lot with my acne clients. Candida overgrowth is a common pattern with a lot of them.
Brian (14m 12s):
And did you have to, you said you cut it out, cut out dairy that helped initially. Now have you reintroduced most foods or you still Yeah, yeah.
Daina (14m 19s):
I can pretty much eat anything. The only food I still avoid is gluten from like the major food groups that we're sort of familiar with. I don't get an immediate reaction. I've done some testing and I know that I have a sensitivity and I would just rather not risk it just, gluten is such a big irritant for a lot of people and I've worked so hard and getting my gut healthy for most of my clients too. I have them avoid it unless it's like organic sourdough once in a while as a treat. But I would rather have most of my clients stay away from gluten.
Brian (14m 46s):
Yeah, yeah. And like do you cook for yourself a lot? Is that something, because that's something I always stress with clients, like how if you can cook for yourself like 80% of the time, I think that can make a big difference in your health.
Daina (14m 58s):
Totally. Yeah. I love to cook so it's, it's nice when cooking is a hobby for people. I love getting clients that they're like, oh yeah, cooking's relaxing, that's great. So if you can, if, if you're out there listening and you hate to cook, you know, finding a way to learn how to love it is gonna be such a life skill that is just going to change everything. Because eating out, they're never gonna have food quality as good as you can buy it at home. It's always gonna be more expensive and you don't know what the ingredients are. You don't know what kind of oils they're using, you know they're not gonna be using organic ingredients. So just, it's so much better to cook at home. So I always feel better when I cook at home too. Yeah. So I go out to restaurants. I usually have like some enzymes and some hydrochloric acid to help me to digest the food 'cause I know I'm not gonna feel as good after.
Daina (15m 40s):
So it's sort of like, you know, a blessing and a curse of having that But. it just shows your body becomes as canary in the coal mine of, I can tell Is a restaurant high quality or not by the way I feel after.
Brian (15m 50s):
Yeah, for sure. It's like we cook a lot at home and when you go out it's like, it's nice every once in a while but you always find that you feel like you can make it better.
Daina (15m 59s):
I know, yeah. There's like the re the food that I can't make at home tastes good like sushi. Sure. I mean sushi at a restaurant, they're gonna make it so much better. But it, it's something simple. I mean like burgers that my husband can put on the grill, I mean his burgers are so delicious. Why would I pay money for burgers that aren't nearly as good?
Brian (16m 15s):
Right, yeah. Even like the steaks we, we grill out quite a bit and like you're just like, why do I need to spend 70 bucks on a steak with when I can make it better?
Daina (16m 25s):
Totally, totally. Yeah.
Brian (16m 26s):
What are your, what are your go-tos when it comes to eating and do you have anything that like you, you like to splurge on every once in a while?
Daina (16m 35s):
Ooh, good question. I mean, sushi's definitely one of 'em. Nice. Just 'cause Yeah. Yes, it's, it's a good one. Is
Brian (16m 42s):
It, it's, is that, is it good where you're at like good area to have suit or,
Daina (16m 45s):
You know, I mean Santa Fe in general is a, is a very cultural, just dynamic city. So it, for its size, it has a really good restaurant scene. So for being in kind of in the middle of the desert really the sushi's not bad. Okay. Which is good. Let's see. Other things that I like to go eat out on, I mean we have some really great gluten-free sort of organic, organic leaning restaurants. So if I'm gonna go out, that's the, I just feel so good after eating at those kind of places. Sure. And they have really good desserts like gluten-free organic dairy products and all that. So I think stuff like that is where I tend to go.
Brian (17m 20s):
What about any like Lithuanian things that you make? Yeah,
Daina (17m 24s):
That I make. Oh, Lithuanian. Yeah, I, I make some stuff. There's definitely no Lithuanian restaurants in Santa Fe. Some in Chicago though. Okay. So you could check that out. Yeah. But I love to make something, it's like a cold beet soup it's called. Okay. Which sounds so weird. It's with grated beets that are pickled and keefer. Okay. So it's like a hot fuchsia pink. It is the most bizarre color and there's cucumber and hard boiled eggs in there. There it sounds so disgusting. Wow. But it is so delicious. In the summertime it is the most refreshing soup and you eat it with like hot boiled potatoes. It's really good.
Brian (17m 59s):
Interesting. I won't try to pronounce that, that won't happen, but I will maybe if I go to that, if I, we go to that Lithuanian restaurant in Chicago, they probably have it there I'm assuming. Oh
Daina (18m 9s):
Yeah, it would be on the menu.
Brian (18m 11s):
Okay. That's cool. So what about routines as far as working out? Like is, do you implement resistance training or what, what's, what's your routine like And, what do you do with your clients a lot of times?
Daina (18m 21s):
Yeah. So I started resistance training about two years ago, so it was a little bit later in adopting it. I was more, I taught bar actually for many years. So it's sort of like a type of Pilates if if anyone's not familiar out there, which was great But, it never really gave me the body composition gains that I was looking for. And then I realized more and more about resistance training and how important it was to build muscle, especially for women who are aging. I mean men too But. it just became this more and more information is coming out now, especially today it seems like everyone's talking about strength training. So yes, I do strength train and that's what I tell my clients. It's kind of the best bang for your buck too. I mean I killed myself doing orange theory and hit classes and I would leave like the gym crawling and not really see the results that I was looking for.
Daina (19m 6s):
Whereas resistance trainings like I personally go three times a week. That's what I recommend for my clients. And I'm not a personal trainer but just that's what I recommend. And yeah, it's really 45 minutes or so. I'm not exhausted. I feel great. I just came back from the gym just now and I'm an energized and I feel like my body composition has been improving so much faster and I'm actually seeing what I wanna be seeing.
Brian (19m 26s):
Yeah, I mean like my wife was big into running and I've gotten her now into lifting And now. She doesn't run as much and I agree, I mean I think like cardio if you want to call it can play a role but a lot of times people overdo it and they get into sort of like this chronic cardio situation almost like you were talking about. Like a lot of these classes, like the gym that I'm at here, they have a ton of classes and I'm not totally against that 'cause I think a lot of people like them. But you can get burnt out pretty quick and sort of, you know, end up running in circles almost.
Daina (19m 59s):
I agree. I think the classes are great for community, maybe like once a week to just get cardio, support your hearts, that kind of thing. But definitely if, if someone's looking for weight loss and more of that aspect, I would say definitely build muscle, focus more on that and 'cause cardio can mess up your metabolism in the end. You're gonna have to restrict calories or their calories. And then I talk to some of my clients and they're eating like 1200 calories a day and they're not losing weight anymore and they're doing a bunch of cardio. It's, it's they, they need to start building muscle, big time So. they can increase their calorie load and actually not be hungry all the time.
Brian (20m 30s):
Yeah. Do you find, I don't know, do you work mainly with men? Or excuse me, with women or men or 50 50?
Daina (20m 38s):
I would say like 80 20. Mostly women though.
Brian (20m 41s):
Mostly women. And. what are some of the common things, themes that you see with the, with a lot of the women that you work with? With?
Daina (20m 47s):
So most of my clients are coming to me with digestive issues and skin conditions. Okay. So I really love working with those type, type of clients. And it's not acne only, I'll see, I'll see eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, so all types of different skin conditions. And then digestive issues, it's kind of a whole array. So it could be constipation, it could be diarrhea, acid reflux, bloating, all sorts of things. So, and these are typically people who are very health conscious. So they're doing all the right things. They're eating well, they're exercising, they're drinking their water, yet somehow nothing is regulating. And they've seen doctors, doctors have told them they're fine. So that's when they end up coming to me. And then we run things like stool testing, food sensitivity testing and just really rebalance the body from the inside out.
Brian (21m 29s):
Okay. Yeah, that, that makes sense. Do you find that a lot of the women you that come to you aren't eating enough or maybe eating like the wrong things? It's,
Daina (21m 39s):
It's always a mix. I would say most of the time they're not eating enough. They're they've or they've come from a pattern of calorie counting. And so that's really difficult to approach because there's a fine line, especially with working with nutrition of you don't want to restrict people too much So, they fall back into those habits and get a little too obsessive about their diet. Yeah. So I try to, I stay away from calorie counting. I mean maybe we'll figure out like protein grams just to get a baseline. But for like a week we'll count their protein, just So. they understand how much I want them to, to hit in their targets. The most important thing I want them to be counting is their protein because everything else just kind of falls into place. I do more of like the plating methods. So like what does your plate look like? Rather than like weighing your food, I want a quarter of your plate to be protein, a quarter of it to be some kind of starch.
Daina (22m 24s):
Ideally some kind of starchy veggie and then half your plate to be non-starchy, crunchy veggies.
Brian (22m 29s):
Love that. Yeah, I think I've changed my tune a little bit. I mean I, I I think calories play a role but like, they're not the only thing. I think it's a good idea maybe to just get a feel for like how much you're consuming initially. 'cause a lot of people just don't have an idea. And if, if you, if there's no baseline to work from, it's like you're sort of shooting for, like you said like shooting for protein requirements I think is a good, a good place to start. you know, 'cause most people are probably under consuming protein,
Daina (22m 56s):
Especially women. It's crazy how little protein, that's one change I make with pretty much every single client is eating more protein, at least at breakfast because it's crazy. Women will come to me, they're eating like two eggs, which is like 12 grams of protein and they think that's a high protein breakfast. I want them eating like 30, 40 grams at breakfast. So their minds are blown. They're like five eggs. I can't eat five eggs at breakfast.
Brian (23m 18s):
Yeah. And how do you get them to eat more? Like do you just slowly increase it because I I, yeah,
Daina (23m 25s):
Yeah. Slowly increasing and also mixing proteins. So for example, not doing five eggs 'cause that just seems overwhelming. So you can stick to your two eggs, but let's add some like organic chicken sausage to your plate to make it up. Or you know, if they can do dairy, some organic cottage cheese, something like that just to kind of protein combine. And that makes it a lot easier for them to be able to, to get that protein down. And then they realize they're not snacking at like 10:00 AM They're not reaching for that second coffee. They're able to get 'em until 1:00 PM for their lunch. So it really helps And, you know, women and men for everyone. If everyone could just eat a high protein breakfast, it would really improve everyone's health.
Brian (24m 1s):
Yeah. Yeah. And I, I've, one thing I did, like my wife was probably under, not probably was Undereating Protein. One thing we did was she would have, she would have coffee in the morning, like black coffee. But like I was like, well why don't you just make it into like a protein shake slash you know, like just add in a scoop of collagen protein and maybe, you know, just some ice and maybe a, you know, maybe a little fruit or something. And so she started doing that. I think for people that are having trouble finding what to eat when it comes to protein, at least that's was her, her her issue for a bit. It's like, as much as you'd rather eat Whole Foods, I feel like, you know, using a quality protein can really play a good role and make it convenient and easy way to get more.
Daina (24m 44s):
Yeah, I love that idea. Yeah, adding collagen to coffee is a good one. Yeah. Shakes as long as you're getting a high quality protein powder. Sure. So just checking the ingredients, making sure there's not weird fillers in there. That's a good way to do it too.
Brian (24m 55s):
Yeah. And like bars can play a role. I'm not a huge bars guy, but I just got a new bar, it's called Jacob Bar. Ooh, I
Daina (25m 2s):
Haven't heard
Brian (25m 3s):
Of that one. Really clean ingredients. I actually emailed the owner, I was really impressed. I said, it's called, oh yeah, eat Jacob. And like literally there's nine ingredients on it. And I was like, I wanted to maybe even do a collaboration with him. 'cause I think it's really hard to find. Here's the ingredients, grass fed, whe protein isolate, organic honey, grass fed beef, tallow, organic dates, cocoa chips and that's pretty much it. Like cocoa butter, sea salt. Yeah. It's a really solid bar. Wow.
Daina (25m 30s):
Yeah. That's awesome.
Brian (25m 31s):
So that's another avenue. I mean I, I don't think you wanna be eating three a day, but you know, just every so often, especially if you're on the run, this is a great way to get, you know, whatever, 20 grams of protein or so
Daina (25m 42s):
Yeah, I agree.
Brian (25m 43s):
I like to ask this a lot of guests. What, what's one thing you've changed your mind on over the last 10 years?
Daina (25m 48s):
Definitely plant-based diets. Okay.
Brian (25m 51s):
Yeah. I thought you were gonna say that, but I just,
Daina (25m 53s):
Yeah. Yeah. And I mean I think some people can do it and good for them if they can do it. If they have like real reasons like, you know, animal welfare and they just can't fathom eating animals. But it's gonna be hard and you really gotta educate yourself and most people can't sustain it. Especially when you age, you know, when you're young you can get away with it When you're in your twenties you can probably get away with a vegan diet and do just fine. But yeah, I tried for, I was vegan for three and a half years and then once I started eating animal products again, it was crazy how much better I felt my hormones improved my energy, my digestion. So I, I work with plant-based clients occasionally and I, I feel like I can relate to them because I went through it. I understand.
Daina (26m 34s):
But you know, part of our work is like what animal products are you willing to eat? Maybe a little bit of bone broth, maybe some eggs just 'cause it's, especially when you're in a, in a gut healing protocol. So hard if not impossible to do it on a plant-based diet when your gut's already so compromised to digest all the, all that fiber. It's just really hard.
Brian (26m 52s):
Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. I mean obviously I think a mixed diet, I think a mixed diet would be ideal. But if you're go, if you're a vegan vegetarian, you probably need to add in a decent amount of supplements so you're not lacking in like, you know, B vitamins, And, you know, things like creatine and choline and things that you're gonna get from animal foods.
Daina (27m 10s):
Exactly. Yeah. And then it, and then you sort of start thinking like, is this isn't natural? If I have to eat all these supplements right in order to get my nutrients, like there's something wrong with that.
Brian (27m 19s):
Right. And I think people find healing when they go to a vegan or vegetarian diet initially. Like you probably did, you know? Exactly. I don't know, you know, obviously if you're coming from a standard American diet then you're definitely gonna get some healing from that. But you know, long term, I don't know. I mean I know people, some people thrive on it, but like you said, it's probably just more difficult.
Daina (27m 39s):
Yep, definitely.
Brian (27m 41s):
And then what else do you find yourself helping clients with? We talked a little bit about sleep and routines and food. Is there anything else that sort of stands out? Oh,
Daina (27m 49s):
Let me think. I mean a lot of stress management is something that we work on. Okay. And that's something we could all improve on. So finding ways that people can deal with stress because yeah, when your body's stressed it can't heal. So that's really important. Especially I see that with acne. Clients with stress, you get blood sugar dysregulation, And, you know, with that comes nutrient imbalances and all the things. So that's a really big one that we work on as well. Another big topic is toxicity. So. we work a lot on detox in general, just supporting your detox pathways and proper nutrition and, and just water and all the things that come from what you put into your body. But then we also have to think about things you don't wanna put into your body. So really thinking about body products, thinking about the water that you're drinking, thinking about even like clothing, you know, maybe you should switch to organic underwear because that's a piece of clothing that's in parts that shouldn't be exposed to chemicals.
Daina (28m 41s):
So things like that. We work on that a lot too,
Brian (28m 43s):
As far as water's concerned. Do you have any things that you like to use? Like I know you, you know, like some type of filtered water or I'm, I'm drawing a blank on, I just had a guy we talked about and now I'm drawing my, but any type of certain water that you would recommend?
Daina (28m 57s):
I'd just say invest in a good filter. Okay. So I really like the Burkey filter. It's a countertop filter and that works great if you have the funds and wanna invest into like a whole house filter, that's great too. But yeah, just the water from coming from your tap. The standards are so pathetically terrible in the US And you know, they'll say it's fine, but I really wouldn't recommend it. There's trace amounts of all sorts of heavy metals and pharmaceuticals and things that you don't wanna be drinking. So definitely switching to water filter. Iss a good idea. Yeah,
Brian (29m 28s):
Yeah. I, I'm drawing a blank But, it was like a special kind of water and it, it, it's almost like I can't, maybe you can think of it, but it's, it's like, it's really expensive and you're, I'm thinking to myself, gosh, I mean do people really need to spend this much, you know, I on on just drink getting, you know, good quality water. I, I I always say like if you can add a quality sea salt to it, that would be, that would be good as well. Just to get your minerals. 'cause a lot of times just drinking water probably doesn't necessarily hydrate you as well. I know there's a lot of like expensive salt. Salt there. Now I don't think you need to spend that much. You can get like a quality salt out there and and just add that and let it soak into your water and not have to spend like on these packets. you know, this is like the hot thing.
Brian (30m 9s):
Element element's a big one. Yeah. Like they send me stuff and I use it sometimes, which is nice but I don't particularly buy it as much 'cause it's, I don't think it's really, I don't think any salt would be worth that much.
Daina (30m 21s):
Yeah, it really depends on what you're looking for. Yeah, I like element. I like taking to the gym 'cause it makes me drink more water while I'm working out and it has a nice flavor. But definitely just sprinkling some sea salt. You can make your own electrolyte mixed with like some lemon or lime juice, some coconut water and some sea salt basically. Maybe some trace mineral drops if you wanna get real fancy. But yeah, if you wanna stay, keep it simple. Sea salt is a really good thing, especially for your first drink of the day. I like to have clients do that. Like your, before you have coffee is als always a good idea? Some like warm lemon water with a little bit of sea salt is a great way to get your digestive juices flowing. Get your stomach ready and hydrate after eight hours or so of not drinking any water. 'cause you were sleeping.
Brian (30m 59s):
Yeah. And what are your like go-tos as far as nutrient-dense foods that you like?
Daina (31m 3s):
I love bone broth. That's a really good one, Jess. That has natural collagen in it especially 'cause I work with a lot of gut issues. So that's a really good one. Typically really easy to digest too. So if you're having any type of tummy issues, collagen in the bone broth is really good. I would say eggs are a favorite of mine and just really good protein, really good healthy fats. That's one that I like clients to have. I really like organ meats, which is really hard for people to get in, but there's some brands out there like force of nature that are doing like the ancestral blends that put the organs in there and I love it. It's like ground beef that has liver and kidney and heart in
Brian (31m 39s):
It. You and you, we get that every month. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah, I, I've actually been wanting to get the CEO of force of nature on, which I don't think shouldn't be that hard. I haven't gotten 'em on yet, but I, I really like what they do. They, they make a quality product.
Daina (31m 51s):
I love their stuff. Yeah. And it tastes good. And they have all this like game meat sausage, which usually game meat's pretty, pretty hard to, yeah to get down theirs is amazing. You, it's not gamey. So that's really good too. The just organ meats and usually people aren't loving pate or you know, liver and onions. So that's a good way to sneak it in. And then in general, I mean fermented foods is something that I also really like lines to have, again for gut issues. The probiotics in there just starting slow if it's not something you eat much. So really sauerkraut and kimchi are typically the ones that are safe just in case you have any dairy sensitivity. But if you can tolerate dairy, I love Greek yogurt, pifer, those are really good ones to include too.
Brian (32m 30s):
Yeah, there's a brand called Zootopia. Have you heard of them?
Daina (32m 34s):
I haven't,
Brian (32m 35s):
Yeah, check it out. I had a, I had the owner on, gosh, probably a few years now, but I get their, so you talk about you like sushi, they, they, they So they have an interesting concept where they, it's farm raised fish but on a, on a species appropriate diet. So it's controlled because you know, now even with wild fish, who knows, there's still plenty in the ocean like microplastics and things that can get in there. So like it is literally sushi delivered to your door and quality. Like it's all, they're all tested for, you know, you know heavy metals, things like that. Mercury and you can sort of it, the company's come a long way since I started ordering from them. Now you can sort of pick and choose a little bit more what you want.
Brian (33m 16s):
you know, tons of white fish and, and some salmon if you like that. And then cool. Yeah. Yes they have shellfish and things. So it's called Zootopia. So Awesome.
Daina (33m 26s):
And it comes frozen I'm guessing. Correct. Cool. I'll have to look into that.
Brian (33m 31s):
Especially if you love sushi because then you could just make it at home and you good. That's true. Then you, then you'll, then you'll never go out.
Daina (33m 38s):
Yeah, that's true. Don't maybe don't take that away from
Brian (33m 41s):
Me. Right, exactly. Well this was great. What is, this is a question I asked most of my guests is what one tip would you give an individual who's looking to get their body back to what it once was like five, 10 years ago?
Daina (33m 53s):
Ooh. Oh my gosh. I mean as many whole foods as possible. It's so easy to slip into cheating and making convenience. Foods a big part of your diet. But if you can just stick to mostly whole foods that's gonna get you your nutrients, it's gonna give you more fresh foods, it's gonna give you your antioxidants. So, and it's gonna take out a lot of the junk, a lot of the chemicals that are in these processed foods and just checking your labels. 'cause a lot of these companies are so sneaky and they make food seem healthy, like all these alternative sweeteners and, and so just read the labels, do a little bit of research and just try to stick to Mosley whole foods, you know, things that don't even have an ingredients label on it.
Brian (34m 31s):
Right. Like single ingredient foods. Yep.
Daina (34m 34s):
Yeah.
Brian (34m 35s):
Can't really go wrong there and cook for your and cook for yourself. Right. Definitely. Well this is great. Where's the best place for people to find you?
Daina (34m 42s):
So my business is called Table to Crave. I'm pretty active on Instagram and I have a website table to crave.com. I have some freebies on there, a couple recipe guides, some tips for better gut health, like foods to eat. So there's a couple free downloads there too if you're interested.
Brian (34m 57s):
Yeah. And you do virtual therapy as well, right?
Daina (35m 0s):
Yep. I work one-on-one virtually. So I have clients all over the world, so definitely have gut issues. Skin conditions are an issue I can help. Awesome.
Brian (35m 9s):
Well I will put Links in the show notes for that and yeah, I appreciate you coming on and sharing some knowledge for us. And. you know, I, I love interviewing all different types of health coaches 'cause I think people should just learn more about alternative ways to heal And, you know, so spreading the word and getting, getting it out there as much as possible. So.
Daina (35m 27s):
Awesome. I'm glad you're doing it
Brian (35m 29s):
All. right. Well thank you again and have a great rest of the day.
Daina (35m 33s):
All. right. Thanks Brian. Bye.
Brian (35m 34s):
See you later. Thanks for listening to the Get Lean Eat Clean Podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine and I appreciate that. Check out the show notes@briangrin.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode. Feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member that's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again and have a great day.
