Candace: Welcome to the Inner Circle, the podcast where the Radius Group, a team of experienced wealth advisors brings you inside the circle of smart financial planning with a network of industry experts. The RADIUS Group discusses the latest trends while sharing timeless wealth management techniques. So whether you're looking to optimize your portfolio, minimize taxes or plan for your future, the inner circle is here to provide exclusive and valuable insights.
Candace: Our guest today is Brittany Graham. Brittany is a registered and licensed dietitian. She's not affiliated with UBS and her views are her own.
Colin: Welcome to another episode of The Inner Circle. I'm your host for today's episode, Colin Faulkner, Senior Wealth Strategy Associate with the Radius Group. And today's episode we're turning our attention to nutrition, specifically how our dietary needs evolve as we age from shifting energy levels to changing body composition. Our relationship with food plays a major role in how we feel function and thrive in every stage of life.
Colin: Our guest is Brittany Graham, a registered and licensed dietitian who has been helping people take control of their health through evidence based nutrition for more than eight years. Brittany owns a thriving private practice where she offers both medical nutrition therapy and nutrition coaching, guiding clients through everything from chronic conditions to sustainable weight loss. Her approach is rooted in science, but delivered with warmth and clarity, helping people feel empowered, not overwhelmed when it comes to what they eat.
Colin: Brittany, welcome to the show.
Brittany: Hi, Colin. Thank you so much for having me here today. I'm so excited to talk with you all about nutrition and optimizing nutrition as you age. I don't think there is much more of an important topic because we eat so much food every single day and it is a top priority for us. So again, thanks for having me.
Brittany: Super excited to be here.
Colin: Yeah, of course. I know I personally am very invested in this conversation and I'm excited to have it. I'm going to try my best to keep my own personal questions out of it and make it as applicable to all of our listeners as possible. Obviously, there's no shortage of information when it comes to, you know, the health and fitness space.
Colin: I know from personal experience it can be very overwhelming. So why don't we just start with the basics so we know our bodies change as we age. But how do our nutritional needs change as we age? You know, obviously a 15 year old's diet probably going to look a little bit different than maybe a 50 year old. So how does that change as we age?
Brittany: Yeah, yeah. So basically the diet that I'm going to recommend for anybody who is 18 and up is what I call a whole food plant based diet. So a lot of people don't know about this quote unquote diet because it doesn't have a fancy name. It isn't the keto, the carnivore or the Atkins diet. It is simply a whole food plant based approach as opposed to a diet.
Brittany: And so this basically is what we use to create what we call the plate method. And the plate method is kind of what replace the food pyramid, excuse me, and 2011. And so the plate method is basically us creating three meals a day based on this method. And this was made to kind of help prevent chronic disease across the board for everyone.
Brittany: But I think it's really important as we age that we really focus in on this method and that we do our best to replicate it as often as possible.
Colin: Awesome. Yeah. I'm not too familiar with the plate method. Can you explain it a little bit more for the listeners? What does a balanced plate look like?
Brittany: Hey. Yeah, sure. So we are going to try to do the plate method as often as possible. Like I said, we're going to start with an 8 to 9 inch plate because most of the plates in America are made way too large that are closer to like 13, 14, 15 inches. And if we are filling a plate, we are probably going to eat what's on our plate in the portion might be a little bit much.
Brittany: So 9 to 10 inch plate half of the plate is either going to be a non-starchy vegetables and or a fruit. So it can be all non-starchy vegetables or it can be a fruit or it can be half and half. This is why I say it's really flexible and it doesn't really have like a fun name. It's not really catchy, it's not sexy, but it's what works and what keeps us healthy.
Brittany: So when I say a non-starchy vegetable, that's going to be all your vegetables, excluding like corn, sweet peas, potatoes and like yucca, anything that's going to be like a root vegetable. Otherwise it's going to be a non-starchy vegetables like your leafy greens, your carrots, things like that. So then one quarter of the plate is going to be your protein source.
Brittany: We want that to be a lean protein source. So we don't want like a rib eye, a sirloin steak. We'd rather have chicken turkey, a light fish, something like that. And you want like 3 to 4 ounces. But obviously we don't walk around with a food scale, so that's going to look like a deck of cards. And then for that last little portion, that can either be a starchy vegetable, so it can be your potatoes, your corn, your peas, or it can be a carb source.
Brittany: So we're talking pasta, cereal, rice, bread, these very normal things that we tend to overeat. We're allowed to have that. We just can't have that and the potato kind of thing. And then we're not ever adding fat to our plate because our meats are going to have fat. Our salad dressing might have fat. If we are cooking our vegetables, we're probably going to use something like an olive oil.
Brittany: So they're naturally going to have fat as well. And so the goal is really to focus on getting nutrient dense foods loaded with vitamins and minerals without the calories. So I'm sure some listeners have noticed that they're starting to gain weight, even though they're probably not doing anything differently. And that is certainly due to aging. But more than anything, it's because we're probably not moving as much, unfortunately.
Brittany: But if we're focusing on our calories, then we can be a little bit more mindful and like maybe not gain as much weight at the same rate or slow that down.
Colin: Mm hmm. Okay. Yeah, I can kind of get that mental image of, like, the half the plate, the quarter and the quarter that resonates. Okay. And now, as far as being more efficient with a diet, too, right? Being with the calories that we put in Whole Foods. Right. This might be an elementary question. What are Whole Foods?
Brittany: No, I think it's I think it's a fair question because I think that a whole food a processed food, a lightly processed food and an ultra processed food is very, very confusing. I don't think that everybody understands it. I even get confused sometimes and I'm an expert. There's some studies coming out where we have these really great panels and they actually have dieticians take testing to figure out like is this ultra processed?
Brittany: Is a somewhat processed and we are wrong sometimes. So a whole food would be like your dried beans, your lettuce that you're picking up at the store. That's like a whole head of lettuce, right? And then we have these foods that are like lightly processed. So if you're buying shredded lettuce and it's coming in a bag that's still been processed, it's already been washed, it's already been cut up.
Brittany: It's been put somewhere. Right. And then we have processed foods that's going to look like your canned fruits, your canned vegetables. And then we have the ultra processed foods. So there is no identifying factors of a whole food left. We are taking elements of food and creating it. What we say is, like you most likely can't replicate these foods with the ingredients in your pantry.
Brittany: Hope that makes sense.
Colin: Yeah. No, I know. I think I get that. I get that. So like, I mean, like fast foods are going to be as have a lot of those. I would you could say to those ultra processed foods.
Brittany: So I'm going to say ultra processed because a lot of it's fried. Okay. But if you're getting like a salad, so say that you swing by your favorite fast food place and you get a side salad. I'm going to say that slightly processed. Right. And then your dressing is probably ultra processed unless you're making it at home, which we could make a healthier dressing.
Brittany: But in general, that's going to be an ultra processed food. If you were to look at the ingredient panels, you may not know what several of those things are. Not saying that's unsafe, not saying that's dangerous. We should never do that. But what I'm saying is that is considered an ultra processed food. And then like your chicken tenders, let's say you're going to add a topping of protein to that, try to get those grilled.
Brittany: That's still going to be somewhat processed. Most likely, it's been frozen in some capacity, most likely. And now the restaurant has defrosted it. They've cooked it for you, but it's not going to be the same thing as probably going to the grocery store and buying a chicken breast.
Colin: Mm hmm. Yeah. Okay. No, that's really helpful. And so and we talk about the diet, right? And when it being plant based diet and then Whole Foods. So it should be only Whole Foods then is that the recommended.
Brittany: No, no. So the name is definitely a little bit deceiving because it doesn't really have a definition. So a whole food plant based diet for me means that the base of most of my meals are plants. So instead of picking a large serving of meat and working around that, I'm going to pick my my vegetable first. So I like salads.
Brittany: If you're having a salad a couple of times a week, that's definitely a whole food plant based option, right? Because we know that the meat, the majority of that meal is going to be leafy greens, at least for the base. And we're working around that. There are other ways you can do this as well. So say that like you really want a cheeseburger.
Brittany: Well, how do I make that? Like a plant based whole food option. So we're going to maybe swap the French fries and we're going to do potatoes on the side that we made. And then maybe instead of doing a band, we're going to do like a lettuce wrap and then and or and or you can do this too, instead of having the potatoes, maybe you have the bun, but then you're going to have half your plate of like cucumbers and carrots for the side.
Brittany: So it's not saying that we should ever have processed foods. We just really want to be more mindful of our micronutrient goals when we're consuming a high number, like when we consume a high number of fruits and vegetables. Mm hmm. This is actually why I love the diet so much. It's flexible. It includes all foods. Despite the name, I would actually be encouraging processed foods as well.
Brittany: So examples of processed foods would include frozen or canned fruits and vegetables, whole grain, breads, pastas, milk and rice. It simply is not realistic to avoid processed foods altogether and processed foods are safe.
Colin: Mm hmm.
Brittany: I think that's like a big issue a lot of people are hearing, like, processed, ultra processed, not safe. And that simply is not true.
Colin: Yeah, and that's helpful because every time I hear a processed food, I think to myself, bad for me, like acid. Like I should just stay ten feet away from it at all times. That's really helpful. And I think not dangerous.
Brittany: Not dangerous. We can totally have them.
Colin: Yeah. So and I also am hearing that I get a little bit of validation for when I go to five guys and I get a lettuce wrap around my burger. Yeah, that's plant based.
Brittany: I don't know about that. Okay. All right. We need more vegetables then of lettuce wrap, I think, because you're probably getting the fries too high. Maybe I'm getting this size, I'm going to five guys, and I.
Colin: Am getting faster. I mean, it's too much value to get the amount of fries that they actually give you. Okay. So you mentioned macronutrient goals, right? What are macronutrients and how does an individual approach setting goals for them?
Brittany: Okay. Good question. So I think that most people probably don't know what macronutrients are. So there are three primary macronutrients for if you include alcohol, but ideally that's not a main macronutrient in your diet, I'm hoping. So the three primary are going to be carbs, fat and protein. Carbs get a bad rap. I you know, this is the reason there are so many diets that are low in carbs.
Brittany: But I hate to be the bearer of bad news. Your brain prefers to run on carbohydrates as its energy source. So I'm actually really pro carbohydrates. Then we have fats, so we have lots of different types of fats. Fats are a little more difficult to understand because we have polyunsaturated mono unsaturated trans fats and saturated fats and they are all treated very differently.
Brittany: So trans fats are technically banned in the United States, so those should not be in your ingredient panel. Ideally, there is a little bit of a loophole where we do see these big companies using an alternative. So if you're looking at a food label and the ingredients, you see an ingredient that says partially hydrogen needed something, then you can assume that there is some sort of trans fat in that product.
Brittany: I actually think what they did was they sort of went in and changed some serving sizes to where it was less than half a gram so that legally it could still be in the product and not be on the label. But trans fats do cause heart disease. And I will never say food is dangerous, but trans fats are dangerous.
Brittany: They were created with good intention of making our food last longer when we had a shortage of food and over time we realized that they truly are not good for our health. So we really want to focus on monounsaturated polyunsaturated fats. And unsaturated fats are what come from our animal and resources. So like milk, dairy, that should all be low fat or fat free because the saturated fat does matter.
Brittany: And this is also why we're choosing things like chicken and turkey over red meat all the time. It is the saturated fat intake. So I hope that makes sense. And I'll talk a little bit more about percentages when I'm done talking about it. Protein. Yeah.
Colin: So okay. All right.
Brittany: Protein is really important for us. Yeah. We are going to really aim for more protein than what the current recommendations are. So currently we are saying point 8 to 1.2 grams per kilogram. So you have to do some out there to figure out what your protein intake would be. And you can do that by taking your weight and dividing it by 2.2.
Brittany: That will give you your weight and kilograms. And then you can do the math times 0.8 to 1.2. We're not there anymore. So there's new data coming out that we are under consuming our protein across the board for all ages. We have new dietary guidelines coming out next year. I'm really hopeful that it addresses this because we are now looking at closer to 1.6 to 2.0 grams per kg to see really solid outcomes and to prevent muscle wasting in all populations.
Brittany: So with that said, I like to do between 40 and 50% carbs for our diet. I like to do 20 to 30% for both fat and protein. It's going to depend on you, especially my women. If you are pre peri are menopause, it's going to look different because our bodies don't utilize carbohydrates as well as we age. So we might actually have to drop our carbon take.
Brittany: But in general, carbs are amazing for us. Carbs make us feel good. There's a reason there's something called the keto flu is because you are so sick, because your brain cannot work, because it doesn't have the fuel that it needs to be energized.
Colin: Mm hmm. Yeah. I have a lot of friends that talk about how they are not eating carbs. They are trying to stay away from carbs. And I would always remind them that carbs are your friend. They are not your enemy, carbs are your friends.
Brittany: And something else is like the quality of carb.
Colin: Yeah.
Brittany: A donut versus a banana. They're going to make you feel a lot differently. Yeah, and we know that. And also maybe the quantity of carb, but really it's going to be the quantity of carbohydrate or the quality excuse me, of carbohydrate that's going to matter the most.
Colin: Yeah. So kind of talking about a little bit, this is kind of a mix between the good bad carb, ultra processed, processed foods. And we talked a little bit about, you know, we see a lot about that information, a lot of the headlines. This is probably maybe where some of the misinformation comes from. But also, you know, regarding the facts around enjoying the food.
Colin: Right. And making sure we're not driving ourselves crazy by trying to be so regimented and sticking to such a strict diet. How do you bet? What are some of the true facts regarding processed foods and being able to enjoy the meals, but still staying healthy?
Brittany: Yeah, so I think that the reality is that we all have taste buds and while health is important, it's also important to remember that food is more than fuel. Food is creating memories with loved ones. Food is celebrating victories in positive things in our life. Food is comfort. So it's hard because I don't expect everyone to be perfect all the time.
Brittany: I don't really believe in like good or bad foods. It's more about the ratio of what we are doing overall. So I'm all for having a sweet treat, a frozen meal here and there. But the ultra processed foods are typically higher in sodium, lower nutrients and can pose some health risk and not in general. But if that's what we are doing majority of the time, then we are certainly looking at some poorer health outcomes later down the road and obviously that is not ideal for anyone.
Brittany: So again, I believe all foods can fit into our diets. It's the portion of moderation we need to be mindful of. These foods are truly ultra tasty. I mean, the suppliers, the manufacturing companies, they know what they're doing. So it leads us to overconsuming the foods that are high in sugar, salt and fat. And then all of this to say that everyone should just be limiting their intake of ultra processed foods as they are able to.
Brittany: And my favorite saying goes like this What we do most of the time matters more than what we do some of the time.
Colin: That's really good. That's really good. Now, people who are struggling to cook, right, or people who are struggling to go out to the grocery store and make their own meals, I would probably say I'm one of those. Yeah, I just don't like spending the time. I have all the seasons. If you walk into my kitchen, I have every seasoning you can imagine.
Colin: I haven't touched any of them in two years, though, because I do. Yeah, they probably are. That so how can these type of people like me still eat healthily?
Brittany: Sure. So that's a great question. It is 2025 and we have an abundance of resources. What a time to be alive. So as I mentioned earlier, foods like Kanter frozen produce are excellent options. Some other options would include like microwavable pastas, rice, canned tuna and chicken. There are some really, really fun sides like birds eye. They have these power blend sides that have 15 grams of protein.
Brittany: You microwave them, they have a little bit of seasoning with them. So it's not really about complicating the meals or spending a lot of time in the kitchen cooking. You can buy ingredients and simply mix them. We also have ready to eat meals that are readily available in stores, so a lot of the major grocery stores will have these meal kits that come with your protein in your non-starchy vegetable and then your carb source and you just like grill them, reheat them, something like that.
Brittany: There are sweet options for proteins. There are pre-cooked meats that you just take home and you reheat. So I just a big part of it is like, don't overcomplicate the process. What's more important is trying to match that plate method and replicate that as opposed to how much time and energy and effort did I put into my kitchen this week?
Brittany: Because it is a lot of work. It does take a lot of time. It can be draining. And if this still sounds like too much work for you, don't do it. We have so many options now. We have all these food services. There's home chef, there's factory meals. They're all a little bit different. But The Factor meals are really great because they're really macro friendly and they are mindful of the ingredients.
Brittany: I know a lot of dietitians like myself buy them and eat them. So just don't think that the time spent equals the quality of food that you're putting on your plate.
Colin: That's good. I know I've used factor meals and.
Brittany: Of course, you too.
Colin: Yeah, I love factor meals. It has been there better meals than I could ever make myself first and foremost. And then, like you said, I've been very mindful of my macronutrient goals and they're always I've never had any meals that are so easy to get protein because that's one thing that I've recognized. If you start tracking and I use my net diary, like if you like tracking apps, I use my fitness bell, but everything is so, so deprived of protein.
Colin: It seems like all these meals in fact are so good. And you can also select a protein packed meal selection, right? Right. And you can specify it and customize it to what your own goals are. Right. So I really like that too. Sometimes the meals could be tastier, but the most important part is they're helping me meet my macronutrients.
Brittany: Right. And you're not as you're not taking time. You're not stressed about what's available, what you need to get done this week. I mean, it takes a great weight off your shoulders to know that I have this meal and the fridge and the freezer and I can just pop it in the microwave. I'm going to be adequate, adequately fueled.
Brittany: I'm going to feel great. And we're just going to move on with our day. Yeah, it helps a lot.
Colin: Yeah. No, it is. It has definitely helped me a lot. And then. All right, so we've learned a lot about the plate method creating balanced meals, processed foods, ultra processed foods. What else would you say we need to be mindful of when it comes to nutrition as we age?
Brittany: So I would say that the biggest concern for everyone over the age of 50 is maintaining are lean body mass.
Colin: Muscle and lean mass. I know this is something again, this kind of gets in the protein conversation, right. And exercise. And so can you explain a little bit more what that is? How can we help people do this? What are the best ways that people can keep in mind about sure accomplish that?
Brittany: So your lean body mass it basically is referring to your total body weight minus the fat. So we all have body fat. We're not saying that having body fat is bad, we are supposed to. Which I also want to note that eating fat does not contribute to your fat stores because that's also a misconception. And just talking about fat made me think about that.
Brittany: However, we are more often than not seeing that people lose lean body mass and gain more fat as they age. So this is because of several reasons, but mainly because we are moving less in general. And if you sit and think I'm not, I want you to think back 20 years and really think about it, because did you have kids were you running kids to sports really up and down?
Brittany: Did you have a different job? I know a lot of people work from home now. Our settings are different and so it may seem like you're not doing less, but it's actually more about the small day to day movement as opposed to exercising as opposed to, you know, the calories you're consuming. It's like, okay, you could be eating the same, but if you are fidgeting less and less stressed and up and down less, we are going to notice a difference.
Brittany: And the concern is that like when we move less, we're not only going to gain more fat, but we're going to decrease our bodies physical capacity. And we really don't want physical decline as we age. Instead, we really want to try to remain as strong as possible as we age. So we know that the more lean mass we have, the lesser chance of developing all chronic diseases across the board.
Brittany: We don't have a way to measure our metabolism, but we also know that those who have more lean mass will have an increased metabolism in comparison to those with a lesser lean mass. So the goal is always to have more lean body mass no matter how old you are. It just matters more as we age because we are, you know, our organs are working harder.
Brittany: They're getting older just like we are. And we don't really want to push them. We want to make their job as easy as possible. And so there are two ways that we can kind of be mindful and do our best to increase our body's ability to maintain the lean body mass. And we actually want to do them in combination.
Brittany: And I will admit that the first portion is a lot easier than the second portion. So first one, I told you, it's easy. It's literally just eating enough protein. So current studies suggest that protein recommendations are just not enough for any population. So I would recommend aiming for 30 grams of protein per meal. There are always exceptions. So if your doctor has told you because of a medical condition that you should not be consuming this much protein, then you should probably listen to your practitioner.
Brittany: But in general, we're saying 30 grams of protein per meal. And then the second way is admittedly way more challenging and it's going to be movement. So only around 10% of the population is hitting our activity goals in life. So it's just really difficult. I know that we don't time, you know, we don't have the energy, but it has to be a priority because our health matters and we only have one body for the rest of our lives.
Brittany: So in general, exercise recommendations for all adults is 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic exercise. This is what we call cardio. So this looks like walking fast, swimming, dancing or any exercise that makes you think, hey, this is cardio. And in addition to those 150 minutes per week, it is recommended to strength or resistance training twice per week.
Brittany: This means using your own body weight resistance bands or other weights two days per week. You'll notice there is a time frame here. I think something is always better than nothing, but I'm going to recommend if you could get to 20 to 40 minute exercise strength or resistance sessions per week, you're going to be in a really good place.
Brittany: And if you did 3 to 4, you're going to be an even better place. So a couple of other things I think are really important to just know. So strength training can actually help to rebuild bones. So if you are someone who has a diagnosis of osteoporosis or osteopenia, strength training will really be crucial for you. Obviously, I'm sure your doctor is talking to you about your vitamin D and calcium intake.
Brittany: That's great. But imagine lifting weights and literally rebuilding the bone that you know you're losing. I just think I know we're all going to fall eventually. The goal is to not have a break when we do have those tumbles. And then lastly, I just want to point out the difference between lifting weights and cardio. So I talked a little bit about metabolism, but lifting weights is one of the only ways to truly increase our metabolism.
Brittany: So cardio is excellent because it's going to work your heart and you're going to actively burn more calories while you're moving. But weights are king because you not only burn more calories when training, but you continue to burn calories at a higher rate for the next 24 hours after you put down those weights. And this is why I say if you could do 3 to 4 sessions, then you're going to be burning calories at an increased rate for every day of your life, which also means you can eat more food.
Brittany: And I'm all about eating.
Colin: And enjoy the food, right? Enjoy life in general and so so at a high level. Then right there you have the more muscle we can retain, the easier it is to keep the fat off and improve joint and bone health.
Brittany: Yes, definitely.
Colin: Okay. And then what are your thoughts on like if if Y just added a protein, shake it every single day, right? So you get more protein at. Okay. And what are your thoughts on that versus saying like sourcing that from Whole Foods? Right. If some like a protein shake versus Whole Foods because protein shake for me has always been a very quick fix.
Colin: Like, I know I need more protein, I'll just get protein, shake it.
Brittany: So I think that if you could get at least 2 to 3 of like your actual if you could do your meals, if you could get whole food sources from your meals, that would be great. But I also know that if you do some quick math, three meals a day with 30 grams of protein, that still only gets you to 90 grams of protein.
Brittany: And if you sat and do the math that we talked about at the beginning to measure how much protein you need, it's still not enough. So I'm with you. I think one of the easiest ways to increase protein intake is that if you are a coffee drinker, to add a scoop of a protein powder of your choice first thing in the morning.
Brittany: So I am getting 20 grams of 20 to 30 grams of protein with my coffee every morning, depending on my serving size. I will also mention that if you've never tried a protein powder, you might be sensitive to whey protein and that may not work for you. You may have to try one of the prepackaged like the ready to go shakes.
Brittany: They tend to be a little bit easier to digest. For most people, it's human to human. I just don't want somebody for the first time to listen to this, try whey protein powder and then have severe stomach pain and be like, I can't do protein sources. It might just be way you might need a vegan option. Yeah.
Colin: Yeah. I would say the prepackaged options also taste a lot better, but.
Brittany: They're.
Colin: Just straight.
Brittany: Out of your life. You I have no affiliation with, but it's never available in stores since the pandemic because everybody found out. Yeah I'm part of the reason everything I tell everybody.
Colin: They're like, yeah, no, I. I am on board with them. Right. That's for sure. All right. So we've talked a lot about eating whole food, plant based diets, building balance plates, processed, ultra processed food. Now, we've also covered the importance of maintaining that lean body, mass body. Is there anything else that you think is essential for our listeners to know?
Brittany: I do. I know it doesn't stop. There's just there's so much important stuff to talk about as we age. So hands down, I believe that eating a mostly balanced diet and getting adequate movement are essential as we age. Those are sort of the non-negotiables. But with that said, there are other things that we should be taking into consideration.
Brittany: I'm always going to recommend taking a daily multivitamin if you're over the age of 50. We just see some really great outcomes when it comes to memory and brain health and in general, they're mostly safe. You should, of course, always speak to your provider before starting a new supplement. And this is just, you know, general nutrition advice for most people, but it's mostly safe and it's they have gummies now.
Brittany: So it could be like a little treat as well. We love that. And then other things to know is just as we age, we do tend to have a lower thirst appeal like our body is not telling us, hey, you need to drink something, you're thirsty. So we just need to be a little bit more mindful of staying hydrated.
Brittany: And I think this is especially important if you live in the Midwest and you experience a really dry, really cold winter. I mean, there's nothing worse than being dehydrated, getting sick and then winding up in the hospital. And that's the easiest way to get there, unfortunately. A couple more things. So as we age, we are at an increased risk for several chronic diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease.
Brittany: And diet plays probably the biggest role in these diseases, and they're mostly preventable. You know, we do see so many of our population struggling with these diseases. And I'm not saying that it's your fault or anybody's fault that they have it. I just think that when we know better, we do better. And we are at a place now where we know that diet and exercise are truly what the driving force of genetic mutations and these outcomes, it's kind of what they are.
Brittany: So even if you do have these diseases, it's never too late to make a change and start again and try to improve your health and kind of take a little control back because we all deserve to feel the best that we can. So you can develop your risk of developing diabetes just by simply eating a consistent carbohydrate diet.
Brittany: So I'm not saying that you should never have carbs. In fact, I'm telling you, remember, we should all be having carbs. But it's kind of the timing and the portion of wedge that we need to be mindful of. So we really just don't want to gorge ourselves on meals or snacks that are high in carbohydrates. So when you go to Olive Garden and you have like the breadsticks and then you have like the salad, and then you have the fettuccine Alfredo and you also don't get any protein.
Brittany: That's a lot of carbohydrates in one sitting. Your pancreas is going to have to work really hard to provide enough insulin for your body to come back down to like a normal or a healthy blood sugar level. So we really just don't want that. So instead of that, we are going to be having three meals per day with about the same number of carbs.
Brittany: And we're going to know it's the same number of carbs because we're doing the plate method, right. And so, you know, vegetables are really low in carbs. And then we're being really mindful of our portion of starchy vegetables are carbs source. And then I'm not telling you to never snack either. We can have snacks. They just they need to be like 15 to 20 grams of carbs.
Brittany: So instead of eating the entire bag of potato chips, could you do a serving of the potato chips? And then could you do some cheese on the side to give you a little protein and fat just to help with the blood sugar balance and then, you know, heart disease and cholesterol. We just really need to be mindful of our saturated fat and our sodium intake with these diseases.
Brittany: We can also include healthy fats like avocado nuts, seeds, olive oil and fatty fish. And then consuming a high fiber diet can help prevent both diabetes and high cholesterol. So we certainly want to recommend being diligent when it comes to fiber and then fiber goals. I want to talk about because nobody is hitting them 5 to 10% of the population.
Brittany: Also, it's not easy. You're not just going to like accidentally eat enough fiber. You are going to have to have a decent plan. 25 grams per day for our ladies, 38 grams per day for our men. My biggest tip to hitting those goals is every single day, every day you need to have oats, you need to have beans, or you need to have a high fiber bread tortilla.
Colin: Hmm. That's that's a tall order for some people.
Brittany: That is a tall order. I choose the beans. Like, I'm like, oh, this is easy. I can add it to basically anything. I do a lot of breakfast bowls, I do a lot of salads, just throw half a cup on there. They're also really filling and they go with whatever season I'm with.
Colin: So yeah. Oh, that's all such great information. I'm probably going to listen back to this a few to actually be able to process all of it. But just to sum up the recommendations. All right. So we've talked about consuming the whole whole food plant based diet, using a plate method. Right. That's our base for creating balanced meals to ensure we meet those macronutrient needs, macronutrients being carbs, proteins, fats.
Colin: Those are the three primary ones and I guess alcohols. But we don't necessarily want to include those in the macros, but we can we can also include the processed foods but should be limiting the intake of the ultra processed foods. We can still enjoy some of it, right. But also exercise is the essential where you can build some muscle, incorporating some weight training into the routines.
Colin: Other concerns, including the chronic diseases like you mentioned, is diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease. Those are mostly preventable through diet management. And then the plate method is a great way to mitigate those risks as well. Any final thoughts, Brittany, that you want to add?
Brittany: Perfectly summed up, I think just last little thing is that it's really important to remember that even though I'm giving this general nutrition information for most people, there are going to be exceptions. If you are somebody who has a ton of food allergies to fruits and vegetables, this diet may not be the best option for you or it might just be really limited in your variety is going to be a lot lesser available.
Brittany: So if you're somebody who's like, I can't do this because of X, Y and Z, that's okay. This is not meant for everybody. This is just general information. You should always speak to your doctor regarding medical diagnosis, and I'm always going to recommend meeting with a dietitian to have somebody who can meet you where you are and help with your own individual needs.
Brittany: And lastly, I just think that we it's important to know we're all capable of changing our habits and improving our health outcomes. So I encourage everybody to take some action, some accountability, step up and try to incorporate new healthy habits.
Colin: Thank you, Brittany, so much for joining us today and bringing such a thoughtful down to earth perspective to a topic can feel really overwhelming to a lot of people. I know it can for me. So I've really enjoyed our conversation.
Brittany: Thank you. Yes. Thank you guys so much for having me. This was excellent. I really hope that your listeners find the information appealing and helpful and somewhat actionable. So if nothing else, I hope that everybody goes home after listening to this and they do their best to attempt a plate method style meal and just see how it goes.
Brittany: Yeah, because I know that we are all capable of doing it. It's just a little bit of brainstorming, a little bit of thinking and doing things a little bit differently. Yeah, but you should feel good.
Colin: Yeah, no, I appreciate that. That's helpful for me because I know I'm coming off of a diet where it was mentally exhausting, agitated for me. So that that that that saying that you had what what we do most of the time matters more than what we do some of the time is that stuff is going to be stuff that I'm going to be taking with me as a principle to live by.
Colin: But well, to our listeners, thank you for joining us for this conversation and optimizing nutrition as you age. We hope it offers a helpful perspective on how small, thoughtful choices can support your overall wellbeing over time. If you're enjoying the inner circle, we'd love for you to subscribe to the show and share it with someone who might find it valuable.
Colin: Until next time. This is Colin signing off.
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