Guest: Mandy Podlesy

Podcast Release Date: 7/18/2021

Welcome to Trulyfit the online fitness marketplace connecting pros and clients through unique fitness business software. 

Steve Washuta: Welcome to the Trulyfit podcast. I’m your host, Steve Washuta, co-founder of Trulyfit and author of Fitness Business 101. On today’s podcast. I speak with Manny Podlesy, about Keto 101. We’re going to go down a very vague informational about what keto is, and what is the keto diet exactly? Is there a difference between the keto diet and let’s say a low carb or paleo diet? What concerns should you have, if any about being in the state of ketosis? What is the general pushback amongst the health community goers? Who are not fans of this diet? What are simple tips for those who are struggling to stay on the keto diet? What are some low-carb keto, friendly snacks or brands that you could potentially use? This is a great conversation.

For those who are not familiar with the general concepts of being in ketosis and keto. It’s not extremely science-based. We’re not delving into ketosis beyond the general description. But I do need to have a slight caveat here. Whenever I talk, nutrition, I want to make sure that people understand I am not a registered dietitian, I don’t give out nutrition-related advice. Not certainly for payment, I give tips. But I do not charge for nutrition-related advice, because as a national academy, sports medicine, a personal trainer in my state, that’s not what I should be doing. Right.

So that is the caveat I want to pass on here. Mandy also is not a registered dietitian of any sort or a CNS-certified nutritional specialist of any sort. Those are the people who are typically giving out paid information for dieting, everybody who’s giving up information now, but those are the people who are supposed to be giving out paid information. Now, with that being said, having anecdotal experiences on diets is important, right? How else do you know how a diet works? Unless you yourself and all of your clients, all of these people who you talk to you right through hundreds and hundreds of experiences, relay back to you What is going on? That is one of the best ways now.

Again, that’s not mechanistic dieting, advice, meaning, we’re not looking at the body and saying mechanistically What, what is going on here in the body that is changing X, Y, and Z, right? That is the scientific-based approach. For that, you need double blinds and you need longitudinal studies, right years and years and years of studies. But I’ve said this once before, and I’ll say it again, we’re going to have a planet, probably Mars, inhabited with humans before we find the perfect diet because there is no perfect diet, because all of us are so different. And there are so many variables that come into play.

Nutrition is always a heated topic because everyone thinks they have the answers for some reason. I’m here, to be honest, and say that I don’t have all the answers. And I’m not telling anyone to do keto. I don’t do keto, I’m not in a state of ketosis more often than not, if it is- it’s accidental. So this is just informational, right? This is what this podcast is about. I go over topics around the fitness and health industry to give people a little bit more information on it shed a little bit more light on what is going on in the industry. And with no further ado, here is Mandy and our keto 101 pod. Mandy, thanks for joining the Trulyfit podcast. Why don’t you give the listeners a brief bio of you and who you are and what it is you do.

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: Hello, everybody. Thank you so much for having me on. I really appreciate it. My name is Mandy Podlesy. I am a ketogenic low-carb coach, but I also do keto and burrito. Because Do you know keto is great and everything will talk about that. But I definitely do all that. Then I help people really fix their relationships with food and feel super confident because it’s not just all about food. So that is pretty much what I do.

Steve Washuta: A much-needed profession, in this day and age and I know so do you work virtually and in person?

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: I am solely virtual now. But now things that are starting back up and people are more comfortable definitely moving in the direction of just doing some more in-person stuff as well. But I do think we’ve all learned a lot about being virtual and whatnot this entire year. So a lot of stuff is done virtual and I love it.

Steve Washuta: Yeah, actually in my book, Fitness Business 101 I sort of like it in a very untimely manner, In 2019 it was released, I wrote a lot about how like I hated Virtual Training and hated doing things virtually. It was not the way of the future. And of course, like the pandemic happens, and like now everything’s virtual. So I’ve like I’ve learned and I backtrack like you need to have at least your toes dipped in the virtual water to maintain not only fiscal viability of your business but to make sure that you have the proper advertising a name for yourself. You can’t just run your business, your health, and your fitness business specifically in person.

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: I fully agree definitely I that was like one of the missing pieces about mine. I’m like, okay, I definitely think I want to do more in-person stuff to have that more high-touch experience. But I’ve been thankful I did start my business online, and then totally just blew up on the web. Now I’m like, okay, I definitely want to transition into area. And I definitely think both is required.

Steve Washuta: Yeah, nothing replaces the one on one client interaction when you’re in the space with them not to get like all woo-woo here. But it’s great that we’re talking this way virtually. But if you were in the room, there would just be a different dynamic, right?

So something with like facial cues, and mannerisms and energy, whatever. It’s just I love being what I call, “in the lab” working with my clients one on one. It’s good to have both, but one will never replace the other.

They are two separate entities. [For sure, I agree.] So let’s hop into it. Here. We are specifically talking keto. In the Trulyfit podcast on this episode, sort of a keto 101. For all of our listeners who aren’t that familiar with it, if you were giving a brief description of keto, how would you define a keto diet?

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: I would define a keto diet as eating meats, veggies, and healthy fats. That is the simplest, easiest way to dumb it down for everyone. People get very, very overwhelmed when they start to research keto, because it’s one of the top search terms and diets, you know, which I’m grateful for.

But people get very confused because then they go on Pinterest or like read other authorities or they get like totally information overload on like how to do and how many carbs? How many this and I’m like, Okay, do you want to do the keto diet and get into ketosis? So you care about all that? Or do you care about seeing results, feeling better, and eating well? So I always just say 90% of a keto diet is meat, a veggie, and healthy fat. Simply put,

Steve Washuta: I think that’s a great simple way to describe it. Instead of like you said, I have people texting me saying things like, Hey, I had two blueberries yesterday, am I out of ketosis or something? Right? So they’re very overwhelmed by being in and out of the state of ketosis, which we’ll talk about in a minute, as opposed to just sort of the macro goal here. You know, what is your goal? Is it to be healthier? These are typically the foods you’re going to eat to stay on track on this diet. But I do want to go right now into ketosis. Because people say: why did they call it the keto diet? What does that even mean? Can you describe how the body gets into it, or what exactly they mean by being in a state of ketosis?

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: Yeah, so your body gets depleted of all of its glycogen stores, and then it turns over to your body starts using your body fat for fuel, and then it starts to produce ketones. We don’t as a society gets into ketosis. But our bodies are designed to get into ketosis because if you think back to feast or famine, caveman days, you know, they had to go longer periods of time to hunt for their food, and that food wasn’t available.

So they had to have a protective measure, to be able to think clearly and not get eaten by a bear when they haven’t been eating for however long. Our bodies are designed to get into that therapeutic state of ketosis, where your mental clarity is very clear, your energy’s heightened, you’re burning your body fat for fuel instead of being a sugar burner.

So all of this stuff is super great, obviously, from a fat loss perspective, but there are healing properties there as well, which I personally will talk about that experience. But most people are like, I want to do the keto diet because they hear burn body fat for fuel. It’s a little bit more complicated than that. But that’s ultimately what getting into ketosis means, essentially.

Steve Washuta: Yeah, that’s a great definition and description of it. I’m sure we’ve already hinted at a few different things that are sort of like misnomers, in the industry about things. One of them is always like, Is it just gonna make me lose fat in my stomach? Cuz I don’t want to lose fat anywhere else. I just want to target my stomach. You’re like, Oh, yeah. It’s not easy.

That’s all [Yeah] I’ll come full circle here. But my favorite podcast is in is an econ podcast. Russ Roberts is the host of that. The reason why I love it is because it’s an interview format like this, more or less, it’s not just a free open conversation, but because he always kind of plays devil’s advocate and pushes back a little bit.

That is what I’m going to do here. I’m going to tell you that there is of course, in the community of health and fitness people go, oh, there are so many bad things about ketosis. People are just eating Mayo, mayo, and bacon diets that can’t be good for you. Or they’ll say things like, well, how long can you be in the state of ketosis? Obviously, it’s not good for you people’s breath smells. If they’re in ketosis. [Oh, Lord.] Can you go over some of these potential issues?

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: Well, I’ve been in ketosis almost every day for the last four and a half years and I’ve been Ever felt better? And now have I been in nutritional ketosis there’s a difference because there’s, let me backtrack, actually, because I’m a non-traditional, like, there’s a whole bunch of different keto coaches that will teach you the mechanics of like how to get in ketosis and biohack, your body, blah, blah. Where I’m fundamentally rooted is I want to get my clients success, I want to personally feel better, but also, you know, really get them the results, they need overall health and wellness.

So utilizing the keto diet, and then using exogenous ketones. There’s it’s also another controversial thing, as well, is what my the tools that I teach and what I want to create compliance, not this aggressive like I have to do the keto diet and suck down all this MCT oil and hack my body. So personally, I’ve been in ketosis nutritionally, meaning my body produces my own ketones a lot of the time because I do eat 90%, a meat veggie, and a healthy fat diet.

But I like burritos and chicken and waffles on a brunch on occasion. So I utilize drinking pure therapeutic ketones, exogenous ketones, to simulate having ketones in my body and get the mental clarity, have my insulin-regulated, feel great, despite what I’m eating, but do I drink exhausted exogenous ketones and sell exogenous ketones and promise everybody that they can have pizza and never have to do the keto diet?

No, it’s a tool and a resource. So we utilize both. So I’ve personally been in and out of ketosis every single day, for the last four and a half years, I’ve never felt better. I don’t have any health problems. There are a lot of misconceptions that you do need to have a lot of mayo and suck down MCT oil and eat a lot of bacon and stuff like that formulation of your diet matters. So that’s super important. Because whether you’re doing the keto diet, or you’re eating a million gummy bears, you could still lose weight eating a million gummy bears, but are you going to feel good?

You could still feel poor doing a poorly formulated keto diet, and you’re eating all bacon and mayo, and you’re gonna feel like crap, too. So calories, quality of calories, and you know, formulations all matter, too. So that’s where the misconception happens. People are like, Oh, well, I got really sick on the keto diet, and well, you got sick on the keto diet? Tell me more about that. Like, what does that mean? What does the diet look like, actually? And then formulation, and how long and all of that also matters, too. So that’s, that’s all I got.

Steve Washuta: That makes perfect sense. Yeah. Think about any other diet that is vague, right? That’s not specific, right? If you’re on the cranberry diet, and all you eat is cranberries. Yes, it is. But then you can’t really deviate. Right? But when you have a more vague diet, where it’s called something like this, it means a macro term, right? There are no specifics, of course, yeah, everyone’s gonna vary.

But with that being said, I imagine it’s not for everyone. And all I mean by that is: there could be somebody who feels like eating carbohydrates on a regular basis is better for their lifestyle, maybe it’s that they have a weird schedule, or that they are high-level athletes, and they feel like, hey, for whatever reason, I feel like I recover better using this or that.

But that doesn’t mean that that, like you said that all genetics are bad or good, or formulations that work for people, anecdotally and scientifically, and it’s certainly worth giving a try. If you think that could be something that could work for you. I want to get back to more specifics. But I first want to ask you before I forget, do you use a meter of some sort to measure your levels? Like I know that you can like prick your finger with blood and check your level of ketosis? Are you not that deep into it?

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: No, I have them here. Actually. Yeah, I do them. I do them all. I test a lot. Because I drink. I drink pure therapeutic ketones. So like, if you’re testing that, it’s like, okay, yeah, you have ketones in your system, you already know that you just drink the drink, right? So like, yes, you are utilizing those ketones.

Your body has no idea if you drink them or produce them, you’re utilizing them the same. But I want to make sure that I’m accurate. So I do a lot of like 60 hour fasting periods, but I won’t test my ketones. If I’ve had ketones or drank ketones within that 12 hour period, I always just go like 24 hours just to make sure that I’m producing my own and seeing where I’m personally at.

But the big misconception is like just because you’re producing ketones doesn’t necessarily mean you’re utilizing them well, or you’re not fat adapted enough so that you’re not really it takes a long time. It took me six full weeks to actually get into a therapeutic state of ketosis where I was losing, losing body fat building muscle, my mental Clara was up without using any exaggerated ketones at all. So people have this oh my god, it took me two days to get to ketosis. It’s like, yeah, you’re producing ketones, but you’re not fat adapted and utilizing them. It takes a long time. That’s why There’s a misconception and then there are compliance issues because people quit right before they really get going, you know?

Steve Washuta: Yeah, that makes sense. If you don’t wait long enough for anything, and you’re saying this isn’t working, well, it’s not working because you read online that it happens in four days. And actually, it takes longer than that. And then also, all of our bodies are different, right? I think I saw some sort of deal with like Rob Wolf, or someone and his wife, who sat down, and they were both in a state of ketosis.

And they had a, I don’t know, like a 700 calorie plate of spaghetti. And then on the hour, every hour after that we’re checking sort of their level of like ketones or ketosis, wherever the marker is, and they were both very off, right? There wasn’t the same because Yeah, yes, whether you’re fat-adapted or not are going to get in and out of those levels differently, because we’re also different.

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: Then we also have different MCT transporters. I forget the scientific name for it. It’s like a really long, there’s transport, there are ketone uptake transporters that basically help you utilize the ketones and everybody’s different on that. So like, I could test my blood levels and have like a point five, and that’s great for me, right, but then you could test yours. And then you could be at a point eight, I’m not bad, because I’m not in at eight. I’m just good for where I’m at. I don’t know how many transporters I have compared to you. So that’s probably why that they were having two different readings, because their transporters and their adaptions, and all of that stuff is all different as well.

Steve Washuta: I think that’s another problem with not just specifically, but anything that’s new is that people don’t have a sense of all the nuances. So all they know how to do is compare. So they’re going online, and they’re just comparing, oh, that person had that number, I have this number, something must be messed up.

That person was acidosis and four weeks, I’m not and it’s week five, something is messed up. When it’s like, no, all our bodies are very different. And there is a trial and error kind of phase to all diets whether you’re doing an elimination diet, or ketosis diet, or whatever it is, you’re doing paleo diet, and you have to be comparing yourself to yourself. I talked about another podcast about why I think it’s important to get labs, I get labs over six months, wholesale labs, everything from like, you know, just common, like CBC panels to hormone panels to lipid panels, all these different things, liver stuff, but I don’t compare it to your numbers. I looked at my numbers when I was 26. And then compare them to when I’m 36. And say, yeah, is there any difference here? Because my numbers are specific to me.

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: Yeah, and that’s a problem too. Like, just like, there are hundreds of Facebook groups, and like everybody, Joe Schmo is interjecting his opinion on how to do it. And then people are taking their advice. Like, that’s why I actually have transitioned, like, I love teaching and talking and doing the diet and educating on that because that’s super important. But I’ve been really working like the meal plan is totally not going to work for you if you don’t have your mindset right around it. And then if you’re doing this meal plan, and then comparing yourself to Sally, Sarah, Jill, you’re gonna be pissed off at yourself.

And then I have to come in and like, talk to you about why Sarah, Sally, and Jill are completely different physiological responses to the diet that you’re doing. So it’s just more mindset stuff. And then a lot of like the diet meat, veggies, healthy fats, move your body, drink some water, drink, electrolytes, the practice of care, get good sleep like that’s what it really is simple. But it’s that mindset comparison stuff that sabotages you and doesn’t create compliance because you think there’s something wrong with you inherently, or you think that the keto diet or XYZ diets not working when you have done it consistently. And then you’re comparing yourself to everyone else.

Steve Washuta: Yeah, it makes sense to fuse those things together, right? You have to put your clients in the right mind space beforehand. As personal trainers, we, you either adapt it or you fail, like you have to ask that to like, convey to your clients and I just did like a solo podcast about like tempering expectations, where you have these clients who come in with, you know, they’re 53 years old, they have 28% body fat and 40 pounds overweight and they’re like, I want a six-pack. It’s like okay, like, that’s not gonna happen.

Like, that’s it. You could put a hero’s effort in, right? It could take you down years, maybe you can do it if you’re working out every day with me. And if you have a very strict diet, but like this is unlikely like you’re in the one-percenters if you can make this happen, given your current predicament and situation. So like, you have to be upfront and temper expectations. And a lot of that’s just a mindset thing. And sometimes it’s the other way around. Sometimes people are working too hard on the diet and which is hurting them the other way. So what I struggle with clients and again, you know, dessert caveat here, and I’ll say it on the front end of the intro, neither of us is like registered dieticians.

Right? So we’re, we’re giving information but we’re also we’re not charging for it live here, right? This podcast doesn’t cost anything. So we’re not breaking any rules. But I have clients who you know, help with nutrition, and some of them can’t get the concept through that they don’t have enough calories, right? And their goals are to gain muscle and to and to be bigger, and they keep calories because they’re like, well, it just doesn’t make sense for me. I’m like, well, you’re eating you know, you weigh 215 pounds. You’re eating 800 calories a day, we can’t build muscle this way, it’s not going to work.

And it’s counterintuitive. And it’s a mindset thing. It’s convincing your clients that, hey, well, first we have to understand that I’m not only am I doing everything I can to help you but that a lot of this stuff is counterintuitive. Whether you’re on the keto diet or you’re on whatever diet you’re on, and that you have to just follow the path. And you can’t step on the scale every night. You can’t check your ketones, check your kippah you can’t lift your shirt up in the mirror and say, I don’t see ABS this diet not working.

And guess what? Yeah, your sleep, right? The variable of sleep, the variable of stress, the variable of weather and temperature, I know that sounds woo-woo. But it’s not because if you’re outside of it or not, it’s sunny out and you’re getting more vitamin D. And in the winter, we hold on to fat storage is more because it’s just like a natural inclination for your body to say like, it’s cold, I don’t want to die. So there are all these other variables that nobody ever wants to look at. And typically, people tend to I don’t want to go on too much of a rant here, but they blame it on something like the diet or the trainer.

When it’s always it’s always an externality, right? It’s like, like, How many? You’re like, I’m not losing weight. I don’t know, we need to change our training up. It’s like, well, you work out three hours a week with me. What are you doing in those hours? On Saturday night, right? Oh, you went out? Oh, you had seven cocktails. And you think like that? That’s not playing into the fact that you didn’t stay in ketosis and you think?

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101 : Yep.

Steve Washuta : So tell me before we get we’ll just we’ll deviate, we’ll go off track for a second here. Tell, tell me what you do mindset coaching-wise, and then we’ll get back to ketosis.

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101 : I really set expectations. First and foremost, I love that you talked about that. But yeah, like just really just okay, the meal plan will not work if you are not willing to do the meal plan. So we need to figure out what’s going on there. What are you avoiding? What are you sabot? Why are you sabotaging like, what are you soothing, like people self soothes with food, right, but they also celebrate with food.

And your brain has no idea if you’re self-soothing, or if you’re celebrating. So breaking that habit is like has been really powerful for a lot of people creating new habits around the way that they manage their emotions and their emotional eating and stuff like that. I do a lot of self-love, and I am a little bit on the woo-woo side.

So you’re totally in the right company there as well. But yeah, just I do like NLP neuro-linguistic programming some processes there. But it’s not like one size fits everyone. And really just getting to the root of like, because I think truly, self-love is the foundation to everything if you don’t love yourself enough to do the meal plan if you don’t love yourself enough to get your ass out to the gym, because it’s cold outside, like we get to that, like how can we build tools and habits around loving yourself so that you get that confidence in those quick wins.

Then I also love that you talked about just setting expectations around your sleep and your hydration and self-care and stuff because I talked about the five pillars of health, your nutrition, your sleep, your self-care, your hydration, and that movement, like are all so important. You can’t just cherry-pick one or the other. Like we’re so food-focused as a society because that’s what we’re programmed.

But your self-care like Suzy from accountings pissing you off at work, and then you’re annoyed so then you’re like, oh, I’m gonna just go and buy a pizza. And I don’t care about my diet because Susie is making me mad. Well, how can we put a boundary around Susie, from accounting to help you manage those emotions better so that you’re not sabotaging yourself with food? That’s what I do a lot.

Steve Washuta : Yeah, and it’s no easy task because everyone’s dealing with it now. I’m sure all those goals are completely different, right that some people are struggling at work, some people are struggling with their families, some people are struggling with finances, and some people are struggling with all three I I wanted to ask you a question. But then something else came up. And I know, I know.

We’re a little all over the place here. But if I was starting a keto diet today, and I had you it would be easy, right? So let’s say finances aren’t a problem. I call it Mandy and go, here’s a blank check. Tell me what the hell I have to do here. write it all out. Tell me what I have to do I have to go to the store. It’s that’s easy or easier. Okay. But what if I’m somebody who doesn’t have the finances to work with a coach? What information would you give them if they wanted to start this journey and they knew absolutely nothing more than what they learned in this podcast in the last 15 minutes?

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101 : Start today and start because I hate that excuse me to start on Monday. I’m just gonna start when it’s better timing like no like the five pillars are what you need to focus on every day a little bit better than you were yesterday to build momentum and confidence.

So what are you eating specifically every day? The only diet that will work is the one that you will do. So you can but yes, keto is great. Yes, they will get you results quickly. It’s a meat veggie healthy fat diet. But that’s Pretty much clean eating in general. So how about most of your meals via meat and veggie and then be better than you were yesterday? So focus on your nutrition, then your hydration, what are you drinking for water? When are you going to sleep? Like how are you?

What’s your sleep routine? are you staring at the lights and their electronics all night? Or are you having good sleep hygiene? self-care again, practicing, you know, boundaries, self-love, like really? What are you doing for that aspect as well? How are you managing your stress? Are you even having fun in your life, like, that’s a good pillar to explore as well? And then movement, like go get your butt and go move.

But if you don’t have the ability or finances to like going to buy a gym membership or something like that. You can go for a walk, right? Or you could do squats. If you’re super busy, like every time that you go pee per day, go do some squats, but it’s not. We overcomplicate or we think that we have to have these gimmicks or like I’ve been to the keto diet have to do the Paleo diet. I have to do crowdfunding I have to do cardio. I have to do all this. Yes, it all works. But how long? Or how consistent? Are you? and intense Are you that will produce the results? So there you go. There’s the diet plan. It’s the mindset stuff that will help you do the diet plan.

Steve Washuta : Yeah, no, I’m with you and listen to it. It all makes sense. And I conveyed the same things, to my client. Yeah. However cheesy, it’s a marathon, not a sprint, it’s not gonna happen quickly. it is a lifelong process of you tinkering with things, finding out what works for yourself, not beating yourself up not weighing yourself every day.

Not having all of these short-term goals overrides your long-term goals, right? You can have short-term goals along the way. But guess what you’re not, you’re not going to meet all of them. That doesn’t mean you stop doesn’t mean you miss one short-term goal to lose an inch off your waist. In three weeks. It doesn’t work. And then you go this whole thing’s not working.

You just stay the path, and you tinker with things and you figure it out. So let’s go talk about specifics. Now here I am somebody who wants to start the keto diet. Like I just said, I took all of his information, five pillars easy done. Good to go. Give me some snacks and give me because that’s the problem that people seem to have is like, no, I can make fish and broccoli for dinner. I can Yeah, wake up in the morning and have four eggs, I can do these things, but I don’t have enough snacks to fill it. What are the snacks that you use to maintain ketosis?

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101 : Um, I like a lot of beef jerky, actually. I just eat really, really high protein. And that’s another misconception. People are like, oh, keep protein will turn into glucose and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, for sure.

But like you have to eat like hundreds of grams of that for actually an app. And so like stop fearing the protein. And most of the women that I work with a very deficient in protein. So just being protein-heavy will actually prevent you from wanting snacks.

But I mean, we all want to have a great you know, we want to have like an overall health and wellness lifestyle. And sometimes we can’t have a full meal. So I do a lot of beef jerky, a lot of nuts. Pork rinds are great. I do the keto crate, like a snack subscription box, which actually are all keto-compliant snacks. So definitely check them out too, because it’s like a once-a-month subscription. It comes with a whole bunch of stuff there.

They make. Like just keto bars and overall, keto bars are actually a really great company as well. They have dessert bars that taste delicious. And they’re pretty high protein and not chocolate tasting. Because that’s like a huge thing. Everyone’s like this is the best bar ever. But usually, they’re terrible. But it’s a high-protein high-fat bar that I really like as well. Um, what else do I eat? I think that’s it. Yeah, beef jerky and nuts are but the biggest ones.

Steve Washuta : Yeah, same here. And I’m not, you know, full disclosure. I don’t do a keto diet. But yeah, it’s not for any reason I eat very if you were to look at my cattle, if you were to look at my cabinet, you would think I was keto in so far as I eat, you know, proteins, and vegetables heavy for dinners.

I always snack on nuts and beef jerky and protein bars that are sometimes keto compliant, sometimes a little bit outside of that avenue with five to seven grams of sugar. And I’m having omelets and veggie. So I eat keto esque, but I have pizza every single week of my life because my wife is a she’s a red sauce nut. So we either have spaghetti or pizza like once every seven to 10 days.

And I don’t care because I work out twice a day so I can afford to eat those sorts of things. But not everyone can. Right. And that’s also right, a right point that I’m sure you make to your clients is, you know, a lot of the things you eat are sort of needs to be balanced off of how often you’re working out because I have a lot of people who go Oh yeah, I’m on the keto diet. It’s crazy.

What are you doing for exercise? I got nothing. It’s like okay, well, like that’s not how this works like this is a full, a full-body health and wellness thing that you’re integrating with. You can’t just go down one path and even if you go down apart like, they’re these are like keto nuts, but they don’t work out like, that’s not going to work that way you still you’re, you’re not giving your body, the machine, all of the things that it needs by being, you know, sedentary and going through the keto diet.

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101 : Yeah, I totally agree. I just think I’m not a zealot at all. I mean, not like I said, I eat chicken waffles in a burrito on occasion, I mean it, but it’s eating to your goal. And if you’re significantly overweight, and you have significant body fat to lose, then you should significantly pay attention to what nutrition you’re paying attention to are doing.

But you can’t just be so food-focused and then forget that you need to go move your body but people associate moving your body with just working out or losing weight. But that’s not what it is. Like, I had a really tough morning this morning. I was like, all over the place the solstice and stuff like, I know, that’s weird, but it was definitely like the energy was like definitely like getting to me.

And I’m like, oh, what’s going on? then I realized that the energetic pool from the earth was actually bothering me. And I was like, Okay, I can’t cancel the gym. So I’m gonna go, I feel great. Now, like I went and worked out. And it wasn’t because I needed to go to the gym, because like, I’m trying to build muscle. Yeah, of course, that’s part of the reason why I have my own trainer. But on the other hand, I wanted to go and just get out of my own funk and like people don’t like realize that there’s so much more to working out. It’s not just about food, it’s got to be a balance of like food, nutrition, or food, movement, sleep, and all the other pillars. So

Steve Washuta : I’m with you. Let’s go to the keto flu here. You know, that’s something that people have talked about a lot. I know that with, with a lot of diets in general, or big changes, it doesn’t matter what the change is, when I love running, I tried, it’s, I’m not gonna get into my workout routines.

But when I go off of running for a little while, and I go back to running the first time I run, it’s as if somebody filled my lungs with a weird smoke, right? I am wheezing, I’m coughing, I can’t do it within like three runs. I feel like I’m an Olympian again, right. So there’s a process in which when you’re starting something, it’s been a little bit more difficult than you think your body is adjusting. I assume it’s just that is it more than that, and have you experienced that anecdotally, or the clients you’ve worked with?

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: Yeah, it’s a combination of everything. It’s hard to say what specifically would be but like, for me personally, um, or clients in general, like, it’s mostly because you lack electrolytes because you’re transitioning from a poor diet, turning over from being a sugar burner to like now transitioning to a fat burner, which also has a diuretic effect. Plus, you’re drinking more water, and it’s now hot outside.

And it just, there’s so many things that you’re more, you know, you’re sweating more and all of that, you need to replace those electrolytes. People don’t think that that’s so crucial. But it actually is not only from just the keto flu perspective, but from a nervous system perspective, I did a podcast with a mineralogist from an electrolyte that I actually use.

And he was just saying the nervous system and having those electrolyte profiles are so important to regulate that as well. So it’s a whole combination, but the keto flu can definitely be prevented and significantly reduced symptoms wise, simply by getting a quality electrolyte and I’m not talking about a sports drink or you know, the, you know, that kind of stuff that it literally says on the bottle, only 1% electrolyte does that help in a pinch when you’re like, not really feeling the best, and you have nothing else in the house for sure.

But I would say eat some pink salt, or you know, Redmond salt or pickle juice even before drinking those sugary drinks. And even if they say 000 on them, like they’re still going to give you an insulin response. If you’re not paying attention to what sugar or fake sugar or chemical sugar replacement, it is in there as well. And that’s a big misconception also. So preventing the keto flu, definitely just get a quality electrolyte. I’m saying like a good one, not just the sports drinks stuff.

Steve Washuta : Yeah, I think there are good ones. And I don’t want to speak to them because I forget the name. Exactly. But a lot of the cyclists have powdered electrolytes that are not as fake, as one would imagine.

And they’ve shown that they’ve, they work in the body of a little bit better than your average sugary electrolyte sports drinks. Of course, like you said, read the back, if there are 63 things on there that you can’t pronounce, it’s probably not working their body the same way as, as electrolytes also do but that’s a good reason why the sort of the keto flu happens.

And again, like anything else, when you’re starting something out, and your body is reacting, it’s in this case, you’re sort of changing fuels for lack of a better term. Yeah, they’re right. There could be a point in which you feel off but you like we’ve talked about time and time again, this podcast, you have to wait for these things out, right? This is there are no quick fixes here to get you this is trial and error, and you wait things out. So we talked about some snacks. And I think you talked about a few brands, but walk me through a full day, walk me through a full day of something that you’ve recommended your client to eat, and timelines or even yourself from morning until bed.

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: My role for most people is eating when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full, obviously, yes, we will talk about the cold, making sure that you’re eating enough and all of that, but that’s custom individually, but I do a lot of fasting.

And especially for people that have significant I work with a lot of like very overweight women that just have significant body fat to lose. So fasting and stuff like that is very fundamental in my practice, personally. And if you have body fat to lose, it’s been my experience that let the body fat burn and doesn’t feel that and especially when we’re doing the keto diet as well. So just practicing some intermittent fasting and don’t overthink that, like everyone’s like, I can’t make it till the 18 bla bla bla like all those ratios. I’m like, no, we’re not throwing all that research and all that stuff out. Not saying that that’s wrong.

Please don’t get me wrong. Anybody that’s listening. You have to do what works for you. But people The problem is, they get so over confused on, how to do it, right. It’s like, then they don’t do anything. Yeah. So what I teach is like, eat when you’re hungry. Stop when you’re full. You know, meat, veggies, healthy fats, you know, really just pick what feels good to you.

Personally, I haven’t eaten today, it’s 345. Yet I actually worked out fasted, I drink exogenous ketones. And then I have some ribeye following that I’m gonna throw in the air fryer. And then I’m going to eat some broccoli, and then I’ll drink a protein shake, like probably later after, just to get some more calories in. But it really is just cooking meat in healthy fat and pair it with some veggies. Like it sounds really boring. But we overthink so many things. And that has been proven time and time again like people laugh at me all the time. They’re like that’s your tagline. Meat, veggies healthy fats, but it’s not. It’s that simple. Yeah, no,

Steve Washuta: it is that simple. And even if you were doing the diet wrong, you would still see results, you-

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: Don’t see results.

Steve Washuta: So let’s explain that somebody who it was somebody who was connected in the family. And they contacted me and was telling where they were telling me what they were eating on their diet.

Basically, there was a lot of fruit. And like, This isn’t like your diets, right right now, like, you’re not keto compliant but compared to how you used to eat. This is like night and day. And this is why you’re losing weight. And like I almost didn’t have the heart, right? Like you think you’re on the keto diet, you’re not. But you’re doing fantastic. Like it’s okay that you’re having like orange and an apple in your smoothie every morning, although it’s not keto compliant because you used to have three bowls of cereal. So go for it, right? Like you’re [Yeah, yeah] slowly transitioning to a healthier lifestyle.

And that’s all that really matters. I talk more than usual, I don’t really like to talk about these things. So I want to give you sort of, I want to give you the last word before you plug your stuff. Any tips that people have, if they’re struggling? What do you have to say? Or if they’re just starting either one just starting the diet or struggling with it?

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: Yeah, kind of more, like I touched on earlier, it’s like, just start and just how you said, you know, Okay, stop with the labels like keto diet, paleo diet, grapefruit diet, like stop trying to fit yourself into like, I’m doing this diet, because XYZ person said, to do it like this, oh, blah, you don’t have a responsibility to XYZ person, you have a responsibility to yourself. So one, you have to figure out what you’re going to do and what you’re willing to do and make changes that were different than yesterday, and then just keep improving.

That’s the first mindset that I really just talked about with people, and then also to stop trying to chop down a million trees, because you’re only going to like, none of them are going to fall down essentially. So what I mean by that is like, you don’t take your ax and then chop down a couple trees while it didn’t fall over. Well, you only chopped it at three times. Like you need to keep chopping and chopping and chopping and chopping and chopping one tree. So it falls down like or, stop trying to drive in circles, because you’re never going to get anywhere kind of those analogies. It’s just like, pick something and try it.

But do it with full commitment, not half-assed, have the understanding that there’s going to be a little bit of a transition period that you’re not going to feel well. A little bit because you are detoxing from your poor diet. It’s not the current clean diet that you’re eating. It’s going to take your body a little bit of time to adapt to that clean eating diet. And then after that, keep going and dialing and editing and recalibrating the diet are going to work for you. You have to just do them with full commitment.

And then my last thing is to stop measuring the scale and start measuring your efforts. Because the scale will produce the results. For you, if you are fully transparent with yourself, and 10 out of 10 best effort that you know how to get after the scale result,. Right? Because the scale doesn’t mean anything, but your efforts mean everything.

Steve Washuta: I’m with you 100% there, let the audience know, and a lot of the audience is going to be personal trainers. So let them know where they can potentially reach out to you. If they have questions. Maybe their clients are going through the start of ketosis or want to hop on the keto diet and they have questions or they themselves want to be able to use the parlance and the jargon that ketosis coaches ketone coaches use. So that they can, you know, really talk to talk with their clients that they feel like they’re out of the loop and anywhere where they can find you, whether it’s social media or direct contact or website.

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: Yeah, so my website’s Mandyp.com. And then you can find and join my Facebook group at ketoclubwithMandy.com, and I’m on Instagram at MoreMandyP.

Steve Washuta: Awesome. Well, Mandy, I think down the road, I’m gonna steal you again for an hour and we’ll talk more about your mindset coaching and how that works. But I appreciate you hopping on the podcast.

Mandy Podlesy Keto 101: No, I loved it. It was great. Thank you so much for having me on. And anybody has any questions or anything at all, please feel free to reach out. I just am truly on a mission to help people whether like I said, keto or burrito. It’s important to just we have a lot of work to do and in this world with nutrition and diets and stuff. So I commend everybody that’s listening and doing the things with their clients. And it’s not easy from a business perspective or client perspective. So I love it and just keep doing the things.

Steve Washuta: Keep doing the things people. Thanks again, Mandy. [Yeah]

Thanks for joining us on the Trulyfit podcast. Please subscribe, rate, and review on your listening platform. Feel free to email us as we’d love to hear from you.

Social@Trulyfit.app

Thanks again!

CLICK FOR AUDIO OF PODCAST