0:32

Hello and welcome to the Radiant

0:34

Mission Podcast . My name is Rebecca

0:36

Toomey and I'm here with my amazing co-host

0:39

and sister , Rachel Smith . Hey

0:41

everyone , we're on a mission to

0:43

encourage and inspire you as you're navigating

0:46

through this crazy life and

0:48

with your relationship with Yahweh . We

0:50

are currently in a series on

0:53

God's design for women's health

0:55

and we have a very , very

0:57

special guest with us today . Her

0:59

name is Paula Carper , which might

1:01

sound familiar to you . If you listen

1:03

to episodes 18 and 19

1:05

of the podcast , you

1:08

will have heard Paula . She is

1:10

an amazing woman of God . She is a registered

1:12

dietitian and a women's hormone

1:15

expert . Paula , thank you

1:17

for joining us again today

1:19

.

1:19

Thank you for having me . This is so great

1:21

. It's great to be back and to talk to

1:24

you both , and I'm looking

1:26

forward to it Very exciting

1:28

.

1:28

You know when I was looking back on my previous

1:31

notes , I realized we recorded together

1:33

in 2022

1:35

. So we are in

1:37

2024 now and

1:39

it feels like that was yesterday In a

1:41

lot of ways right .

1:44

I was actually mentioning it , I

1:46

think I said it to my sister and I said I'm

1:49

going back . And I said , but I

1:51

think it's been almost two years .

1:54

It's crazy . You were episode what

1:57

did I say ? 18 and 19 . Yeah

1:59

, and now here we are . We're like at the

2:01

80s almost 90 episodes . It's crazy

2:04

. I love it . So

2:10

glad to be chatting

2:13

with you again , rachel . I I'm sorry I cut you off before . What did you

2:15

say before ? I don't know ? Okay

2:17

, no worries . Well

2:20

, paula , since it's been a hot minute since

2:22

you've been here , I would love for you to

2:24

just share a brief intro on

2:26

what you do and

2:29

how you help women .

2:31

Sure yeah , so I've been a dietitian

2:33

for nearly three decades

2:36

, which is really hard to say and

2:38

fathom , especially after

2:40

we've been talking you're way too young for that . Especially

2:44

after we've been talking about , like you know , two years ago , like

2:46

it seems like yesterday , but um

2:48

, but the last decade I've really been focused

2:51

on women's health and what's funny about

2:53

that is that even before that , you know

2:55

, I saw so many more women than men

2:57

throughout the years in my practice , because

2:59

women seek out healthcare a lot more than

3:01

men . So that's been , you

3:03

know , a big focus

3:06

. And then in the last decade I've

3:08

really focused on helping women with their

3:10

hormone health , with their metabolic

3:12

health , and that's something I've been doing , you

3:14

know , from the beginning , because I did work with diabetics

3:16

over the many years that I worked

3:19

in healthcare , and so I

3:21

help women and I educate women

3:23

primarily that's a big part of what I

3:25

do to really focus in

3:27

and understand their unique design and

3:30

I teach them how to optimize

3:32

their hormone health , their metabolic

3:34

health , especially for women over 40

3:36

as they're entering perimenopause , of course

3:39

, as they're going into menopause . And

3:41

I've worked with women , you know , at all different stages

3:43

, but it's really . It's really

3:45

the focus has been more on helping

3:47

them optimize their nutrition , their lifestyle

3:49

, the the things that really move

3:52

the needle , and really getting back to like

3:54

the roots of a lot of the problems that

3:56

we're having today .

3:58

Yeah , that's awesome . And , for

4:00

those that might not know , rachel has worked with

4:02

Paula and Rachel and Paula

4:04

are very good friends . Yes

4:06

, paula's my friend too , but

4:09

Rachel has worked with

4:11

Paula on her protocol .

4:12

We live near each other . Yeah , yeah , yeah

4:14

.

4:15

And I met Paula through our

4:18

fellowship me

4:22

and Holmes and so when

4:24

I found out she was a dietitian like

4:26

I have always had

4:28

an interest in that . I don't know if you remember

4:30

, but my first major in college

4:33

was in dietetics and

4:35

then when I had to take um organic

4:38

chemistry , I was

4:40

like , wow , I don't like this .

4:42

Change my major

4:46

. Don't feel bad , because I wanted to as

4:48

well . Yeah .

4:51

And you know what it really was . In my Dietetics 101

4:53

class , I remember

4:55

my teacher teaching

4:57

us the food pyramid from like

4:59

the , who puts

5:02

out the food pyramid ? The USDA ? Yeah who

5:08

puts out the food pyramid ? The usda , usda , yeah , and I'm like this doesn't sound

5:11

anything like the health advice and that I read on my own and at

5:13

the time , like internet access

5:15

wasn't as prevalent as it is

5:17

today , like we didn't have as extensive

5:19

social media , but exactly I just remember

5:21

the disconnect and what I was like learning

5:24

in my college class about nutrition

5:26

and what I was reading in books on my own

5:28

, and I'm like I don't know if I would

5:31

do well in

5:33

a professional job doing

5:35

this . But that's one of the reasons like

5:38

I was so inspired . Meeting you

5:40

is I feel like

5:42

you kind of push

5:44

against some of the

5:47

mainstream norms of nutrition

5:49

and you have

5:52

, you know , like your focus on women's

5:54

hormone health , but also just this functional

5:57

mentality of like the whole

5:59

body and you are so

6:01

researched in things that it's

6:03

not just like whatever the government

6:05

puts out there . That's the nutrition

6:08

advice that you give to others , which

6:10

is it's

6:12

just kind of I

6:15

don't know a contradictory . I mean , you would know

6:17

better than me , but yeah

6:19

it is .

6:20

Yeah , yeah , and we're going to I think we're going to get

6:22

to that at some point in the conversation

6:25

just some of the kind of reasons why . Yeah

6:28

, you know .

6:28

Yeah , absolutely . It definitely

6:31

is pretty backwards out there . And it's interesting

6:33

, rachel , that you mentioned social

6:36

media , and you know the internet

6:39

, the access that we have more than ever . I

6:41

think that many women can

6:43

almost be so overwhelmed

6:46

with all of the random

6:48

advice that's out there . You

6:50

know , there's all those joke reels

6:53

now that I enjoy , where they'll

6:56

say , oh , you're supposed to eat

6:58

this , knock it out of someone's hand , or you're

7:00

supposed to drink that , like . There's so many things

7:02

now that are kind

7:05

of diluting the important

7:08

message around nutrition because

7:10

people are nitpicking . Oh

7:12

well , avocados , yeah

7:14

, they're good for you , but they have too much

7:16

fat , or whatever the case might be . And

7:18

this goes into our conversation about

7:20

toxic diet culture

7:22

, which is what we're referring to it , as we

7:25

did talk about this a little bit back in

7:27

the day in 2022 when we met last

7:29

time was that

7:31

concept , but it's

7:34

still here today , if not

7:37

worse than ever . So I

7:39

kind of love , paula , for you to give us

7:41

a little bit about that

7:43

culture and what you know . What is really wrong

7:45

with the way that women are dieting

7:48

today and have been dieting over the past

7:50

few decades ? What ?

7:51

are we missing . So I'd

7:53

like to say what's not wrong with it , because

7:56

I think I think that's you know , that's really

7:58

, you know it's it's a loaded question

8:01

there there's a lot wrong with it . It's a

8:03

very complex kind of situation

8:05

. I think it comes back to a lot

8:07

of the things that even you've been talking about

8:09

in this latest series with

8:11

the conversations that you've had in the

8:13

last few episodes even and that has

8:15

a lot to do with marketing , right , um

8:18

, marketing is a big part of it . Of course

8:20

there's science , um , but you know I don't

8:22

know if you know this , but the science

8:24

of nutrition is only a little

8:27

bit over 100 years old , and so

8:29

we're not dealing with as

8:31

much information as some other disciplines

8:34

have . And

8:41

it's great . That we face is

8:43

that it seems that everything in

8:45

the medical , health and

8:48

even the wellness industry a lot of times has been

8:50

more in the line of a reductionist

8:53

kind of mindset , where

8:55

we're reducing or boiling everything

8:57

down to one or

8:59

two things and we're

9:02

much more complex beings than

9:04

anybody really wants to give us credit

9:07

for , and I think that's

9:09

really part of the big problem . The

9:11

other side of it , of course , is that the marketing

9:14

is why

9:16

we have so much of this , even as

9:18

I've been growing my own business and

9:20

doing online marketing and that kind of thing , the

9:23

things that you're told about

9:25

how this works and watching

9:27

what other people do , as you see , other people in the

9:29

industry . Everybody's really trying

9:32

to make a living . Everybody's trying to sell

9:34

something and make money and

9:37

there are ethical ways to do that and

9:39

there are unethical ways to do that , and

9:42

sometimes people in the

9:44

marketing industry and in the

9:46

businesses can really convince

9:48

themselves that , you know , everybody really does need

9:50

this product , or maybe they really believe

9:53

the science that they're

9:55

reading or the reductionist

9:57

theory that they're kind of subscribing to

9:59

, and so I think we just have

10:02

to be really savvy . But we also

10:04

have to look at not just the science that

10:06

we're seeing . We have to look at

10:08

where's it coming from ? Um

10:11

, what , what's the context

10:13

of it ? All um are ? Are we

10:15

looking at isolated nutrients in some of

10:17

this science ? And and then , um

10:19

, expecting that this is going to all play out in

10:21

our complex bodies with

10:24

all kinds of different foods , and then

10:26

it's just going to work like magic

10:28

. You know , there's there's a lot at play , there's

10:30

a lot of variables , and what

10:33

I have found is that , the more

10:35

I look back , the more I look

10:37

back to before . 200

10:39

years ago , particularly

10:42

before , like the industrial revolution , before

10:44

we had lots of manufactured foods . Back

10:47

when people had , you know , lived on the farms

10:49

, back when people bought their grocery

10:51

, their groceries , their food , whatever you want to call it

10:53

, locally . Those are , those

10:55

are some factors . So we're

10:57

eating in ways that we're

11:00

being told how to eat , we've been market

11:02

marketed to about how to eat

11:05

and nourish our bodies , but it's

11:07

really not based on some

11:09

of the fundamental things that for

11:12

thousands of years , we've been doing , and

11:15

so so I think that's one factor , and so

11:17

it's taken that agency away from

11:19

, from women in particular . It's

11:21

we're the ones who get , who get to tell you

11:23

how it is and what to do , and

11:26

whatever you think or feel about your

11:28

own body , it's not relevant

11:30

, because we are the bearers of that . You

11:33

know sacred information

11:35

, right , that , that , that , that

11:37

information that you need , and

11:39

so that's one of the things that I've been trying

11:42

to do differently , of course , and I know other practitioners

11:45

are doing that and that is to

11:47

help women understand

11:49

and learn about how their body works . What

11:52

are some of the major features

11:54

of the design that we have and

11:57

how to really evaluate

11:59

and look at how we're doing these things . I think

12:01

I remember one of the conversations early

12:03

on that Rachel and I had . It

12:06

was really more about perspective than

12:08

anything and it really helped her with

12:11

that shift in that mindset that she really

12:13

needed to be empowered

12:15

to do the thing that she needed to do . It wasn't so

12:17

much me telling her every last thing

12:19

that I've ever learned about foods

12:22

and nutrition Right . And so I

12:24

think I think the diet culture is busy

12:26

telling us all

12:28

the specific details of everything we need

12:30

to do and how the formula has to

12:32

be to get it right , to get that thing

12:35

we really want . And it's

12:37

really . It's more nuanced than that

12:39

, but it's also , I think , been

12:41

more intuitive throughout history

12:44

, although throughout history I don't think people

12:46

have been focused on dieting

12:48

and weight loss in the ways that we

12:50

do now , because previously

12:55

we didn't have the

12:57

abundance that we have now . Now

12:59

we have the abundance plus these lifestyles

13:01

of pretty much sloths , much sloths

13:03

. You know we just we sit down

13:06

all day and you know , look at a

13:08

screen or whatever it is , but there

13:10

there's definitely some , some huge factors

13:12

that are at play . Um , but

13:14

it's again plays into that

13:16

agency issue that that that

13:18

, being your own best advocate

13:20

and knowing and understanding

13:23

how your body's supposed to work , that there

13:25

is a complete lack of that in the diet

13:27

culture you

13:29

brought up .

13:29

So many , so many , so many good points

13:31

there . The thing that

13:33

really let's all start

13:36

at , kind of the beginning of what you were talking

13:38

about and mentioning , which is

13:41

this idea of these

13:44

marketing tactics right , or I don't

13:46

. What's

13:48

the word that we the predatory marketing

13:50

tactics of some businesses

13:52

, because this is a business weight

13:54

loss I have here . Anybody

13:56

can Google weight loss

13:58

industry revenue and

14:01

the global weight loss market is

14:04

in a robust growth and has been

14:06

for a period of time now . It

14:09

has reached 165.5

14:12

billion and

14:15

is expected to surge to 399.3

14:18

billion by 2032 .

14:22

Which means obesity isn't going anywhere . Yeah

14:24

right 2032 .

14:26

Which means obesity isn't going anywhere . Yeah Right , it's almost

14:28

kind of I hate to use this reference , but it almost kind

14:30

of reminds me of vaccines . The

14:33

introduction and more and more and more and more

14:35

and more shots has not equaled

14:37

healthier human beings . It's actually

14:39

equaled unhealthier

14:41

more autoimmune disorders

14:43

, more disease . And

14:45

now look at this weight loss industry

14:48

that we have . That's

14:50

not helping people to actually be healthier

14:52

. We are getting sicker and

14:54

living more and more unhealthy lifestyles

14:57

. Yeah Well

14:59

, actually I'm sorry , Go ahead . I was just

15:01

going to say , and like you

15:04

mentioned the predatory marketing

15:06

, like I recently saw marketing

15:09

ads for different

15:12

diet

15:14

products for weight loss

15:16

throughout the decades

15:19

, and I think it was in

15:21

like the 1940s

15:23

or something , and it was an advertisement

15:25

for sugar . Sugar

15:30

was a diet food because

15:32

it would make you . I

15:34

don't remember the reasoning , but it was like

15:36

a woman like eating a spoonful

15:39

of sugar . It probably gave her

15:41

energy so she could be more active . Yes , something like

15:43

that to be trim , and so

15:45

what's just kind of

15:47

interesting is

15:49

how every decade has a different

15:52

thing that is

15:56

either bad or good , and it's all marketing

15:58

. So

16:05

, when it really comes down to it , what is the truth ? Yeah , it's

16:08

nothing that the marketing is selling to us because they're they're selling that stuff to

16:11

us because the

16:13

you know , big

16:16

sugar or big corn

16:18

or big dairy or whatever it is

16:21

is pumping money

16:23

into the market

16:25

to get their products sold

16:28

more and more , and it's all part of the machine

16:30

, right , it's all part of that

16:32

consumer machine . And

16:34

this is why I'm so excited to talk to Paula

16:36

about this , because Paula is here

16:38

saying , y'all , god

16:41

designed our bodies to function

16:43

a certain way . He designed our

16:45

hormonal systems , our endocrine

16:47

system , our nervous

16:50

system . We have all of these different components

16:52

, our organs , that everything

16:55

works together and what foods fuel it

16:57

, what foods crash it . Then

16:59

you are empowered to live

17:01

a healthier lifestyle

17:10

and actually be nourished , versus

17:14

follow all of these

17:16

distractions , all of this marketing

17:19

propaganda that keeps us in the matrix

17:21

and keeps us buying

17:23

, keeps

17:26

us in the matrix and keeps us buying . I can't even tell you how many times I get ads on

17:29

Instagram for those apps that are workout apps and it's

17:31

, like you know , an AI image

17:33

or cartoonish image of

17:35

a woman walking and she's really overweight

17:38

, and then they're like walk away the pounds

17:40

and the little computer animated woman

17:42

gets skinnier and skinnier and skinnier . Right I

17:44

get that ?

17:46

Why are you giving me this ?

17:47

ad first of all . But I can

17:49

see how people get sucked into that

17:51

kind of stuff because it's being

17:54

marketed to , it's thrown in their face

17:56

and then God forbid they click on

17:58

one of those ads . Now , you're going to get more , and

18:00

more and more , and you're just overwhelmed

18:04

with all of this advertisement

18:06

and it's all a distraction

18:08

. Yeah .

18:10

Yeah , and it reinforces the narrative

18:12

over and over and over again . I mean the

18:14

women that I work with in their forties and above

18:16

, like you can see , when they've

18:18

been steeped in that diet culture

18:20

, their entire lives , the

18:22

ramifications , the mindset

18:25

shifts that they have to make

18:27

to kind of get out of that , and

18:29

sometimes they can't . They've

18:32

just believed something for so long they

18:34

can't make the leap to believe something else

18:36

. You know , so it's , it's , it's really

18:38

it's detrimental and

18:41

and I think , ultimately it's

18:43

detrimental to our own psychology

18:47

and our own health and how we perceive

18:49

ourselves . And that's when you know like

18:51

the enemy is , like getting the messages

18:53

in and really like doing

18:55

the work over years and years

18:58

of time to the point where , like you can't hear

19:00

anything else , you can't hear that there's , there's

19:02

an alternative , you can't hear that there's

19:04

a different way . And that's what's so

19:06

unfortunate just watching women who will

19:08

go back to the same thing over and over

19:10

and over again when

19:13

they don't see results fast enough . And

19:15

a lot of this really goes back to the idea

19:17

of some of what I

19:19

think we see in the world of dieting

19:22

is really an

19:24

issue of force . It's that we

19:26

can actually force something to happen . This is

19:28

very similar to the conversation you've been having about

19:31

birth control . It's about control

19:33

. It's about taking control and forcing

19:35

something to happen , and all

19:38

of the narrative around these , these tactics

19:40

and strategies and these diets , really

19:43

is about being able to force something to happen

19:45

. But our bodies just aren't designed

19:47

to , um , to

19:50

respond very well to force

19:52

. They're , they're just , they're just not you

19:54

know . So that's a really important fact

19:57

to consider too is that what

19:59

are you really understanding about your body so

20:01

that you can then leverage the

20:03

things that you have access to , the

20:06

resources , the nutrition , the

20:08

lifestyle you know , information and

20:11

the habits around that to

20:13

really support your body , so that

20:15

your body's actually edified , your body's actually

20:17

, like you know , doing what

20:20

it is designed to do , so

20:22

because you actually are giving it what

20:24

it really needs , as opposed to this force of

20:26

like restriction or this force of

20:28

you know over exercising or

20:31

the force of just like I'm going to

20:33

do these things and manipulate this into happening

20:35

and there's so much stress around

20:38

that there's so much by the time you get to be

20:40

a woman , you know 40 years old or over

20:42

that it is

20:44

detrimental to your health , like you start to really

20:47

see the effects of it to your health .

20:50

Absolutely . There's an obsession

20:52

over how we look right

20:54

, are these earthly bodies that we have ? And

20:56

wanting it to look a certain way

20:58

because of our culture and because of the way

21:00

that society says this

21:02

is what looks good , this is what

21:04

both had babies . We both have , you know , nine and 10

21:15

or 11 month old babies right now . And

21:18

this was something that I really had to

21:20

learn and kind of reprogram my own brain

21:22

after I started having babies

21:25

is I kind

21:27

of grew up in a society

21:30

that was all about bounce back

21:32

culture . You know , you got to bounce

21:34

back , you got to get your old body back

21:36

, and as soon as I

21:39

was postpartum , I'm like , well

21:41

, that doesn't make any sense to me . And you

21:43

know , I started researching things about birth

21:45

because of the bad

21:48

experience I had the first time . And the more that

21:50

I researched birth

21:52

and the more that I learned about birth , the more I was

21:54

able to actually accept my body for

21:57

how it is now . And rather

21:59

than trying to say , oh , I need to get

22:01

my old self back , accepting

22:04

that I'm not that old self anymore . I'm a new person

22:06

now . I'm who I am . Now

22:08

I don't need to look how I looked

22:10

when I was 20 . I'm not 20 anymore

22:12

, you know . I'm in a new phase

22:15

of my life , and that's okay

22:17

. And that's the thing that I

22:19

wish more women would

22:22

talk about and more women

22:24

were promoting is , when

22:27

you're postpartum , your priority should be

22:29

taking care of your baby and

22:31

nourishing yourself to

22:33

nourish your baby , not dieting

22:36

to be skinny because that's

22:38

what looks good . That's not caring

22:40

for yourself , that's caring about what other

22:42

people think . You know to

22:45

care about ourselves If

22:47

we care about our health

22:49

. Those two things

22:52

aren't always the same , right

22:54

? Because weight

22:56

isn't always necessarily the

22:58

best metric for our health , and

23:00

that's a question I have for you . What are your thoughts

23:02

on that ? Is our weight the

23:05

best way to tell

23:07

us if we're healthy or not ?

23:10

Yeah , that's a great question . So it's

23:12

one data point and I think

23:14

that you know again , it

23:16

goes back to that reductionist way

23:19

of looking at things . Weight

23:21

has been something that's so heavily

23:23

marketed in terms of dieting and

23:25

we've equated a

23:28

lower weight with health . And certainly

23:31

, you know , being

23:33

normal weight or close to normal weight is

23:35

going to be important and a metric

23:38

that's important and maybe even telling

23:40

about your health . So

23:42

so there is some validity

23:44

to the idea that weight is

23:47

an important metric , but

23:49

what that weight is

23:51

made of is much

23:54

more important . You know

23:56

, until recent history

23:58

, you know , people were very

24:01

physically active for the most part in

24:03

their daily lives and had

24:05

a lot more muscle and maintained muscle over

24:07

time . Also , we're living longer . So

24:10

now we're seeing , you know , differences

24:12

in like what happens as

24:14

you age , especially

24:16

in an environment that's so completely

24:20

opposite of the way we were designed to live

24:22

. You know that that's really , I think

24:24

, a big factor . So when I

24:26

, when I think about weight , I

24:29

think that's , you know , the gravitational pull

24:31

, you know , on an object

24:33

like that's . That's really what we're kind of kind

24:35

of measuring . So what does that really

24:37

tell us about health ? So we really

24:40

have to look at things like you know what's your body

24:42

shape ? Where's your weight distributed ? Um

24:44

, you know , how much muscle mass do you have versus

24:47

fat mass ? Um , these

24:49

are all things that we should be looking

24:51

at and , you know , if you haven't

24:53

followed Dr Gabrielle Lyon , you

24:56

know she's been at the forefront

24:58

of the muscle centric

25:00

medicine movement . These

25:02

are things that the

25:05

diet industry has really gotten

25:07

us so far away from thinking

25:09

about . It just makes a lot of logical

25:12

sense to be thinking about . Well , how

25:14

much muscle do I have compared

25:16

to fat ? Because once we hit a tipping

25:18

point , we got problems , and this

25:20

has to do with metabolic health . It impacts

25:22

hormonal health , it impacts every aspect

25:24

of your health , so it's really

25:26

not the best single measure

25:29

. It is only one data

25:31

point for us . So , if I could , in

25:33

my practice I'm always encouraging women

25:35

to do body composition if they have goals

25:37

, if they're trying to do something . But one of the things you said

25:40

just a few moments ago , rebecca

25:42

, made me think about the fact

25:45

that you were talking about postpartum

25:47

, like what stage you were in

25:49

and you weren't that person . You were a new person

25:51

, and one of the things that

25:53

I think we have the opportunity to do , especially

25:56

now , with the information that we have

25:58

and the resources that we have , is

26:00

we have the ability to continue

26:03

to build and grow , and

26:05

so the perspective that I'm always looking to

26:07

help people shift into is the what

26:09

am I building , what

26:11

am I becoming ?

26:12

There , you go , you know , and if you have body

26:15

goals , that's great .

26:15

I mean , there you go , you know , and , and if you're , if you have body goals , that's great . I mean , if you have

26:17

, you know body , shape , body , look , goals

26:20

, you know all that kind of stuff , that's

26:22

fine , there's nothing wrong with that , um

26:24

. But what we have to understand

26:26

is that we really are

26:29

. We've been fed this line

26:31

by diet culture and it's all about

26:34

like losing something , losing something

26:36

, losing something . They never

26:38

talk to us about what we're becoming

26:40

and who we're becoming

26:42

and what we're building . But in reality

26:45

, you know , just the fact of nourishing your body

26:47

is an act of trying to build

26:49

something and trying to keep something from breaking

26:51

down . So when we start restricting

26:53

and we start doing all this stuff , we're going to

26:55

lose . We're not just going to lose fat

26:58

. As a matter of fact , most of the time

27:00

, if you're just dieting , you're going to lose muscle and

27:02

fat , and you might lose more muscle than you will

27:04

fat . So these are really important things to consider

27:06

. So I'm always I'm always encouraging people

27:09

to think about . We do this in every

27:11

other aspect of our lives . We have careers , we

27:13

have families , we have goals

27:15

and we have things that we're building , but

27:18

when it comes to our bodies , we're like I want

27:20

to lose , I want to lose something

27:22

, and it just seems crazy to

27:24

me . It doesn't make any sense and we don't even

27:26

know what we're losing when we're doing these things

27:28

. So it comes at a cost

27:30

.

27:31

So it comes at a cost , yeah , and it's more

27:34

than just weight too , right , paula , because

27:42

potentially you're creating other health problems inside of your body through some of these means . Right ? If

27:44

you're doing the HCG diet and starving

27:46

yourself , you're not doing a service

27:49

to any of your organs in that process

27:51

. Absolutely , absolutely , go

27:53

ahead , rae . Yeah

27:55

, I was just going to say that something that I've always

27:57

appreciated about your

28:00

health advice of when you and I talk

28:02

about it like we were recently having

28:04

a conversation of me

28:07

being in this postpartum period and breastfeeding

28:12

and for

28:14

whatever reason , I don't lose weight

28:16

. When I breastfeed I gain weight and

28:19

I'm right there with you , rebecca of like it's totally

28:22

been a paradigm shift for me mentally

28:24

on accepting

28:27

this body that I'm in and really

28:29

just the stage that I'm in . But there

28:31

is this kind of internal

28:33

, there is this internal

28:35

struggle that is

28:38

still frustrating , like when you don't

28:41

even really recognize your body

28:43

anymore and you kind

28:45

of become just a mom

28:47

with milk bags and

28:49

and like nothing

28:52

fits , like the pregnancy

28:54

clothes don't fit and you

28:57

know nothing else does , and so there's

28:59

a struggle and I think probably

29:02

you're right , that part , a big

29:04

part of that is like what society puts on

29:06

us and also just how

29:09

we grew up . But

29:11

either way , I shift

29:13

my own mindset , that I'm committed to

29:16

be there for my baby

29:18

first and foremost , and I

29:20

feel like I'm being pretty healthy . Yet

29:23

I still like

29:25

my body doesn't reflect health

29:27

, like what you were saying , paula , about

29:30

. Weight is

29:32

a you know it's

29:34

not the only

29:36

and most important metric of health , but it is

29:39

a data point . I feel

29:41

like it can

29:43

be a symptom of something else

29:45

going on .

29:46

Absolutely .

29:47

It's often a symptom .

29:48

Yeah , Right .

29:48

So , for instance , when I first started

29:50

, you know , working with you a little

29:53

bit when I was having health issues and fertility

29:55

issues , and

29:57

you helped me discover that I had estrogen

29:59

dominance , and you hypothesized

30:02

that that is what I had because of various

30:05

symptoms , and one of the symptoms

30:07

was weight gain . And then it turns

30:09

out that I did have estrogen dominance . And the

30:11

interesting thing is , when

30:13

I did the paleo

30:15

AIP diet which was

30:18

not for weight loss , it is an

30:20

autoimmune protocol , so it's for

30:22

health I was losing

30:25

a lot of weight on it , and it was kind of

30:27

the first time I did a quote unquote diet that

30:29

I wasn't doing for weight loss , but that

30:31

was a effect

30:33

of it . So , anyway , the

30:35

point I was actually going

30:37

to get back to , though , is in this postpartum

30:40

period . What I appreciated

30:42

about your advice to me is kind of what you just said

30:44

in a practical way

30:47

of instead

30:49

of focusing on taking anything away

30:51

, because I'm a breastfeeding mom

30:54

is focus on small

30:56

steps that I can do , habits that

30:58

I can add in , like

31:00

drinking more , hydrating

31:04

more , and you were the

31:06

one who got me on starting my day

31:09

with lemon water on

31:11

an empty stomach , so it's like , start

31:13

my day with that that's a health habit

31:15

and try

31:18

to walk every day , which I have been

31:20

doing now . So it's not necessarily

31:22

about just losing

31:25

and taking away and

31:27

putting the strain on our bodies , but

31:29

instead adding in habits

31:31

that are healthier . Like you've always said , just add some

31:34

vegetables to your plate . Like you don't necessarily have

31:36

to like cut a bunch of things out , just

31:38

eat more vegetables . So

31:40

I love that practicality

31:42

of what

31:45

can we add

31:47

in that is nourishing

31:50

to our bodies and that , like

31:52

you said , builds us towards the

31:54

person and the lifestyle that we want

31:56

to have .

31:57

Yeah , well , and also in different stages

32:00

and we've talked about this kind of stuff recently

32:02

it's like in different stages you're going

32:04

to have different goals . You know , being a

32:06

new mother , whether you know it's for the first

32:08

, second , third time , however many times , you

32:11

know , when you're postpartum and

32:13

you're nursing , the

32:15

priority , the priority shift

32:18

right . So nursing

32:20

a baby to growth and health

32:22

is a really high priority

32:25

. So if we were

32:27

to look at these things in context

32:29

and really think about these things every

32:32

time we went into a different life stage you

32:38

know this , maybe this should be part of people's birth plan into

32:40

their fourth trimester and beyond is is this idea that what

32:42

are going to be the highest priorities here and

32:45

how do I behave ? What are the things

32:47

I'm , I can do to

32:49

make those things a priority ? And

32:51

then , all of a sudden , we filter this , this , this

32:54

idea of what our bodies are doing and

32:56

what's happening or what they look like

32:58

, what they feel like , all that kind of stuff , through

33:00

the lens of those , those

33:03

goals and those priorities . And

33:05

I think it's the same way for every other

33:07

stage of life we're in . If we , if we can align

33:10

with our goals and our priorities , make

33:12

the , make those things work together , then

33:14

we can say , for this , my

33:17

body is great , Right

33:20

, and so we don't have

33:22

. When we start to look at it in that context

33:24

, you know you're not

33:26

going out to the clubs in your skimpy dress

33:29

and like trying to look perfect right

33:31

At this stage of life that was maybe

33:33

in your twenties , if you ever did that and

33:35

and so what

33:37

I think is that if you start to really

33:39

think that , how could you ever

33:41

have a negative perspective

33:44

about your body ? If you're

33:46

thinking about these are the top priorities

33:48

for me and my body right

33:50

now , and then how are these

33:52

things that I'm doing suiting

33:54

that goal and helping me reach that goal ? And

33:57

then when you look at your body and you see your

33:59

body and you have , maybe

34:01

you know , inconsistencies

34:04

in like looking at yourself and saying , is this me , does

34:06

this look like me ? You know , like this , I don't even

34:08

look like myself anymore . Whatever it is

34:10

that's going on , you

34:12

can at least come back to a reality check of

34:14

like here's where I am , here's what my goals

34:16

are , here's what I'm doing to align

34:19

with those goals , and my body right

34:21

now is perfect for that

34:23

, right . What if we actually

34:25

shifted that conversation that

34:27

we're having in our heads and

34:29

really started doing that . And we can do

34:31

that in every stage of life , you

34:34

know , because that's

34:36

we do go through seasons and

34:39

our , our bodies are meant to be doing different

34:41

things , you know , and we can be very

34:43

healthy and very youthful until

34:45

a pretty good age with our

34:47

modern , you know , technology

34:50

and even with the resources we have . But

34:52

the reality is that

34:54

there are different stages and

34:57

if we were actually to get

34:59

our heads in the game like

35:01

we do for other things , I think we could actually

35:03

leave the negative thoughts

35:05

behind and

35:08

really only like edify ourselves , really

35:10

only edify one another around this stuff .

35:13

Absolutely . I totally agree with that

35:15

, paula , and that's such a great perspective

35:17

. And , you know , when

35:20

we're talking about being postpartum moms

35:22

, we have to also remember

35:24

how blessed we are to be

35:26

in this position and

35:28

going through this experience . Right , we

35:30

have gone through something

35:33

that the Lord has given

35:35

us as a gift , and

35:37

to then take that and

35:39

be like , well , I hate this body

35:41

that you have now given me because

35:43

of what I went through . I feel like

35:45

that's a smack in the face to our

35:48

creator , honestly , because

35:50

we're not appreciating how he created

35:52

our stomachs to grow

35:55

and stretch to

35:57

fit a human being in there . And it's

35:59

going to take time for that body to

36:01

you know , for

36:03

you to get comfortable with how your body is now

36:05

after the fact . Right , because that's , it's

36:07

changed , it's just different . And

36:10

I think that when we kind of step

36:12

back and look at the full picture , just like

36:14

we are when we're talking about nutrition

36:16

, our mentality

36:19

around , how we look , when

36:21

we think about our creator , what

36:24

is he thinking about , our thoughts

36:26

about ourselves , that's something that

36:28

I think about a lot , because we're

36:30

just so in

36:33

the depths of vanity as a culture

36:35

that that's at least how I grew

36:37

up in South Florida . You know , rachel and I grew up in South

36:39

Florida . There is no . La is probably

36:41

the only other place that could could

36:44

rival where we grew up

36:46

that everyone was . It was all

36:48

about how you looked and

36:50

you know how you looked

36:52

in year round . Exactly , and

36:55

it was very . It

36:57

was very toxic for both she and I

36:59

growing up . Worse so

37:01

for Rachel in many ways than it

37:04

was bad for me too . But Rachel has

37:06

her own testimony about her struggle

37:08

with eating disorders and things of that nature

37:10

. But that

37:12

stuff , that's

37:14

enemy stuff right there , focusing

37:17

on what we look like versus focusing

37:20

on the health aspect of it , on

37:25

what we look like versus focusing on the health aspect of it . And , rachel

37:27

, you mentioned that part of your protocol in doing the paleo AIP diet . It was

37:29

to help resolve your autoimmune

37:31

disorders . But what's really interesting

37:34

is I kind of learned on

37:36

the path of pregnancy . There

37:38

is a protocol diet out there called

37:40

the Brewer's diet for pregnancy and

37:43

it's similar-ish . There

37:53

are carbs in that diet but the focus is on protein and how protein builds up our muscles

37:55

and in turn also wards off other health

37:57

issues from happening Anytime

38:00

. I'm in all these birth groups right , because everybody

38:02

on this podcast knows that I love birth stuff

38:04

. How many episodes on birth now ? But

38:07

every group that I'm in , whenever

38:10

there are women that have certain

38:12

types of health issues that come along . That is

38:14

the recommendation Follow

38:16

the brewer's diet . Eat more protein

38:19

, more electrolytes

38:21

, more hydration

38:24

. There are certain things that

38:26

we go to and I

38:28

believe that it really makes sense to what

38:31

you teach , paula . So tell us

38:33

a little bit about protein and

38:35

how important it is in our

38:38

lives .

38:40

Sure , yeah . So you know , we've

38:42

had all these different diets that have been marketed

38:44

over the last few decades and every

38:46

every decade or so it kind of

38:48

changes . You know , we got to have low carb

38:50

, we got to have high protein , we got to have low fat

38:52

, we got to , we got three macronutrients

38:54

to deal with . And we

38:56

get , we get all of them from , you know , simple

38:58

, real foods that we eat . And so

39:01

when , when we think about

39:03

it , we have to think well , if I get rid

39:05

of one , you know , or if I

39:07

have so much of one , I

39:13

might crowd out the others . We really have to think about balance and and I love protein I think

39:15

protein is really great and we certainly need it , it is essential

39:17

. But we have to think about

39:19

it again in context , like , what

39:22

are we really trying to accomplish ? And

39:24

so , when we think about growing

39:26

children , um , you know there's a guy

39:28

on uh , on Instagram , that I love to

39:30

follow , steven Lynn . He's a dentist , I think he's

39:32

from Australia and he

39:35

is promoting , you know , a

39:37

lot of animal based foods um , for

39:40

children as they grow , because a lot of the nutrients

39:43

that they need really come from those foods

39:45

. And what's interesting is that

39:47

, like a lot of things , as we get older

39:49

, we need a lot of the

39:51

same things we needed when we were growing , and

39:54

so so what I see with

39:56

protein is that it is

39:58

a really essential nutrient for growth

40:00

and repair of tissues . And when

40:03

we learn that , when we start to understand that

40:05

and then we start to understand that some of

40:07

our even like body goals if we want to be

40:09

more muscular , right that

40:11

we're going to actually want to prioritize

40:13

protein because we're

40:16

going to , we're going to use that to , like , rebuild

40:18

and remodel the tissues . But that means we also

40:20

have to have the second factor that stimulates

40:22

muscle protein synthesis , and

40:25

that is lifting weights

40:27

, using resistance to actually

40:29

micro tear our muscles and

40:31

then feed them , eat the right foods , eat

40:34

that that protein food and actually

40:36

rebuild that tissue so that we can grow those

40:38

muscles . So it's the same thing happening with

40:40

children when they're growing and developing . But

40:43

once we get adults , we we stopped thinking

40:45

about , oh , we're not growing anymore , right , and

40:47

often we just grow sideways

40:49

, you know . So we really have to . We

40:52

have to think about like , well , how do we , how do we stop

40:54

that ? And a lot of this really comes back

40:56

to a

41:10

lot of what we're dealing with in terms of the veganism sort of movement and the idea that

41:12

plants are better , and you will not hear anything

41:15

from me to say that plants aren't great

41:17

. They are great . They have so many great nutrients

41:19

, especially fiber and lots

41:21

of vitamins . You know , there's just lots

41:23

of things that we can get gained from plants and

41:26

they're wonderful . But again

41:28

, you know , when we're actually thinking

41:31

about what's my goal , what am I

41:33

trying to accomplish ? If we're trying to accomplish

41:35

better hormone health , better

41:37

metabolic health , or

41:39

if we're trying to grow or develop in some way

41:41

or repair , then

41:43

we're going to need adequate protein . And one

41:46

of the things that we have to understand is that

41:48

plant protein is

41:50

, or those proteins are , incomplete proteins

41:52

. They don't have all of the

41:54

correct amount of amino acids

41:56

to stimulate those

41:59

repair and development

42:01

and building of muscles . So animal

42:03

proteins are a high priority in

42:06

my world and

42:08

before the last couple of hundred years

42:10

, before the last hundred years , it's

42:13

mostly what people ate and if

42:15

they only had plants , they could survive only

42:17

on plants . That's wonderful , but survival

42:20

is not the same thing as thriving , right

42:22

? So if we want to thrive , if we want

42:24

to have really robust metabolic

42:27

and hormone health protein is

42:29

going to be a big part of that , and that means that we're

42:31

going to have balanced meals that

42:33

incorporate a significant

42:35

protein portion at each meal

42:37

and when that

42:40

brings that balance .

42:41

What do you recommend ? I mean , obviously

42:43

every person is going to be different , Paula , but

42:45

as kind of a rule of thumb

42:48

, what should the average

42:50

woman look for at every

42:52

meal when it comes to protein ?

42:54

Yeah , I like , I like the 30 gram rule

42:56

that I think a lot of people are using

42:58

Um , because I what I see

43:01

in practice is that a lot of women don't

43:03

even come close to that . Oh yeah

43:05

, in practice , like they're just kind of

43:07

whether it's a snacky kind of

43:09

meal or they kind of snack throughout the

43:11

day , it's just not something they're prioritizing

43:13

. Plus , a lot of them have really been

43:16

affected and impacted by the

43:18

veganism propaganda , and so there's

43:20

a lot about that , where they start

43:22

to think plants are better , plants are better . Again

43:25

, plants are wonderful , but

43:27

they're not everything . So , again

43:29

, it's all about context , it's all about balance

43:31

, it's all about trying to figure out , like , what my

43:33

body really benefits from and

43:35

what are my goals . So if somebody

43:37

is looking to , you know , lose

43:39

weight , or manage their weight better , or

43:42

lose visceral fat , or whatever it is , then

43:44

if they're saying you know , I

43:46

think you know , plant-based diets are

43:49

superior , because I've read that and I've learned that

43:51

. Um , then the

43:53

question is well , you know , is

43:55

the science really supporting that , really supporting

43:57

that ? And then , in practice , what ? How does that

43:59

actually play out ? What we have

44:01

seen , though , is that for younger women like you guys

44:04

are younger than I am . Um , if

44:06

you're , if you're under 40 , um

44:08

, you can get away with more of

44:10

the animal proteins and not , as

44:12

I mean , sorry , more of the plant proteins

44:14

and not as much of the animal proteins . Um

44:17

, it's as we age and then when we're

44:19

younger where we really need to have those

44:21

things prioritized , because it's

44:24

either development that's impacted or that aging

44:26

, where we don't have the turnover and

44:28

the um , the ability to

44:30

really , um , build that muscle

44:32

as easily . So we need more stimulus

44:35

for for that muscle . So

44:37

, um , so I would say like , if , if you're

44:39

, if you're under 40 , if you're over 40 , 30

44:42

is kind of that general standard and

44:44

you can actually do that with a protein

44:46

portion of animal protein

44:48

, usually with about three

44:51

and a half ounces of cooked

44:53

protein . So , once it's cooked

44:55

, about three and a half ounces is going to get

44:57

you to that 30 gram mark without

45:01

having any other protein sources in

45:03

your meal , which you will if

45:06

you're having other foods , if you're not just

45:08

eating a bunch of meat . Yeah , absolutely

45:10

, so it's not a huge portion ?

45:12

It's not . But when you actually start

45:14

to track your macros you

45:17

mentioned protein

45:19

, fat and carbohydrates

45:21

are your macros when

45:23

you start to track

45:25

those and I encourage women to do

45:27

this as an exercise to see where you

45:29

are , because you will find

45:31

that you eat

45:33

very little protein and very

45:36

high fat and very high carb . And

45:38

that was something I learned years ago when I

45:40

went through kind of learning about macros that

45:43

for me to get over 100 grams

45:45

of protein was hard . It

45:48

was work Like . It is not

45:50

an easy thing because

45:52

of how we

45:55

just function as a

45:57

society . Protein

45:59

is not at the center of most

46:01

of our food and our meals , even though

46:03

it seems like it might be . When you

46:05

actually measure it out and see what a portion

46:08

of protein is

46:10

and you look

46:12

at it that way , it's very

46:14

different than how you know , because

46:16

most people , if you think about breakfast for the average

46:18

person it's mostly carbohydrates , and

46:21

then maybe at lunch you have a little bit of protein

46:24

if you have lunch meat and then maybe you

46:26

have an actual piece of meat for dinner . So

46:28

how much protein did you actually have throughout that day

46:30

? 50 grams . So I

46:32

would encourage women to actually go through this exercise

46:34

. Once you retrain

46:37

your brain on this and you start to recognize

46:39

what protein looks like , it becomes easier

46:41

. Obviously but it's a great point In

46:44

the beginning it can be a little confusing , yeah

46:47

it can be and I think a lot of this

46:49

really .

46:50

it has been informed

46:52

by one the

46:55

food guide pyramid . You

46:57

know that's been around for a long time , which you

46:59

know that that that's a big

47:01

disaster . You know at the base of it was like breads

47:03

and cereals , right , and

47:06

again , you know not to vilify

47:08

.

47:08

Are you telling me that cinnamon toast crunch is not

47:10

part of a healthy ?

47:11

breakfast Exactly , and

47:15

so yeah , and so we talked about , you know , kellogg's and cereal

47:17

and how that all came to be . Right , we

47:22

have all these different things that we now understand . But these foods that have been marketed

47:24

to us when we go into the grocery store just think about how the grocery

47:27

store is when you go to the grocery store

47:29

. If you are a person

47:31

who's uninformed and you walk into a grocery

47:33

store , there are so many foods

47:35

that are prepared and packaged that

47:38

you can eat in minutes , and

47:41

a lot of them are grain based

47:43

, right , or they're vegetables which

47:45

a lot of people don't eat very many of

47:47

, or fruits , and fruits are

47:50

pretty easy because they're kind of packaged in their own

47:52

little packaging . So there's

47:54

a lot more of these high

47:56

carbohydrate foods that

47:58

are really easy to eat and we

48:01

tend to just

48:03

you know one , we enjoy carbohydrates

48:05

. I think it's it's part of our makeup

48:07

to really enjoy them , you know , for kind

48:09

of survival , um , for energy

48:11

, that kind of thing , but um , but I

48:13

think ultimately , what's happening is that

48:15

people are , um , just

48:17

eating what's there . And again this comes comes

48:20

back to what are my goals

48:22

, what am I trying to accomplish ? And not just walking

48:24

into a grocery store and just like

48:26

buying what you feel like buying or what you think

48:29

is good , without questioning

48:31

, without evaluating that yeah

48:34

. Um and without evaluating it in the context

48:36

of what your actual goals are and

48:38

and what , what you know , what's

48:40

really true about how your body is designed and how

48:42

it works , so , um , so I think that's a part of

48:44

it , um , and then , of course , like I

48:47

mentioned , the food guide pyramid . But the other , the

48:49

other is just , it's just that , um

48:51

, you know again that that agenda that

48:53

we've had , where it's like plants are so much better

48:55

for you , um , and then people just

48:58

subconsciously don't even realize a lot of

49:00

times that you know , I've

49:02

met tons of people who say they're vegetarian

49:04

and they don't even eat vegetables . It's

49:06

like pasta and bread

49:09

all day long you know , so so again

49:11

, a lot of people . just there's a disconnect , and

49:13

part of that is because we are disconnected

49:15

from what real food is . You

49:18

know , we buy everything at a grocery store , so so

49:20

those are . those are factoring into the psychology

49:22

of how this actually really plays out you

49:25

know , and it is one of the

49:27

things that I see really commonly when it comes to

49:29

protein is that because we've been doing this

49:31

for so long , then what we will often

49:33

see and I see this a lot , of course , with women that I

49:35

work with is that stomach acid

49:37

production is reduced

49:39

, and so when they start to try to eat more protein

49:42

, that becomes a huge problem

49:44

for them . It's , it is a chore

49:47

, it is difficult , and it's not just difficult

49:49

to get it accomplished , it's difficult to

49:51

actually , um , you

49:53

know , digest the food and

49:55

feel good still . So

49:57

that's a that's a big factor .

50:00

That is super super interesting . We

50:02

are going to chew on that in

50:04

our next episode with Paula . Paula

50:07

is coming back to talk more with

50:09

us . This has been super helpful

50:11

. Paula , you are also going to

50:13

provide a resource for our

50:15

listeners . We will put that in the show notes

50:17

, so be sure to check the show notes

50:19

for that resource . Paula also has

50:22

a program that is

50:24

super awesome , that is , she

50:26

has lots of programs

50:29

and ways of working with her that are awesome

50:31

, but I will throw her information

50:33

in the show notes for anyone interested . Please

50:36

go there and you'll get

50:38

to know Paula and get her information . But

50:40

, paula , thank you for kicking off

50:42

this conversation today . More to

50:44

come next week . We're going to start by talking about

50:47

that stomach microbiome

50:49

and that gut . And

50:52

, yeah , thank you for being here today . Thank

50:55

you for having me Awesome

50:57

and thank you so much for tuning in

50:59

and for being on this journey with us , as

51:01

always . If you'd like to follow along outside the podcast

51:03

, join the mission on Instagram and Facebook at the

51:05

Radiant Mission and you can also watch

51:08

this video

51:10

. Watch , listen , watch on

51:12

YouTube to this audio at

51:15

the Radiant Mission as well , on YouTube and

51:17

today . We'd like to close with 1 Corinthians

51:20

6 , verses 19 through 20

51:22

. We'd

51:24

like to close with first Corinthians six verses 19 through 20 . Do you not

51:26

know that your bodies are temples of the Holy spirit who is in you , whom

51:28

you have received from God ? You

51:30

are not your own . You are bought at a price

51:32

. Therefore , honor God with your bodies

51:34

, and we are wishing you a radiant week

51:37

. We'll see you next time . Bye guys

51:39

, bye everyone , bye .