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Guest: Rebecca Washuta

Release Date: 4/8/2024

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

Steve Washuta : Welcome to Trulyfit. Welcome to the Trulyfit Podcast where we interview experts in fitness and health to expand our wisdom and wealth. I’m your host, Steve Washuta, co-founder of Trulyfit and author of  Fitness Business 101.  

Steve Washuta : On today’s episode, I have my sister Rebecca Washuta, on who’s a licensed dietician, nutritionist. And we’re going to be discussing trending topics in the health and nutrition world, things that you see not only in the news, but maybe across your social media platforms that we feel like we need long form conversations, to parse these things out.  

Steve Washuta : For any new listeners here, just to let you know, typically on Mondays, these are interview episodes wherein I take the backseat and try to feature my guest, my guest will be somebody in the fitness, medical, or maybe even business realm that is interconnected with health. And we go over one particular sub subject that they are an expert in.  

Steve Washuta : And we talk about that to unpack a thesis, if you will, so that I can pass on that knowledge to you guys that I can also obtain that knowledge and maybe I can pass it on to my clients if that’s important, but that you guys get something out of the episode. It’s educational. Also, quick housekeeping here. I’ve been on a few podcasts recently, the health and wealth podcasts and also the downloading dollars podcast.  

Steve Washuta : You can find those on YouTube as well as any listening platform. In case you want to learn more about me my book, my story, my background, as opposed to me just being the interviewer. If you want to know more about me specifically, feel free to reach out to me also on Instagram at Steve Washuta on Instagram. If you have any questions or concerns with no further ado, here’s Rebecca and I Alright everyone, welcome to the truly fit podcast back.  

Steve Washuta : Thanks for joining us again, before we get into the questions and conversations today I’m gonna go over a little bit about what is going to be on the trillion foot podcast for April. We have a lot of really great guests. We’ve already recorded a podcast today is April 1. April Fool’s Day. I’m not doing any fools type jokes. None of this conversation is tomfoolery. Just to let you know, I don’t I don’t partake in April Fool’s.  

Steve Washuta : But we just released a podcast on the gut brain access and gut microbiome probiotics, prebiotics, post biotics, psycho biotics, which I didn’t even know existed with Dr. Noel, Pat, no, that was released today on April 1, upcoming The following week, is it will be podcast with Corey Sterling. He is a lawyer who specifically deals with health and fitness industry businesses he’s been on before. He’s a wealth of information.  

Steve Washuta : So we’re gonna go over what we discussed last time, in addition to some new things that that came up, in my mind that are great questions for Cory to kind of pass on to my audience. Who else we have on Dr. Blair steel, we’re gonna be talking about parenting and mental health. She is a PhD therapist. And then Dr. Chris Swart has been on two or three times on the podcast. He has his PhD and a few different things I think he’s he’s studied in some nutrition related things.  

Steve Washuta : And then like exercise physiology. And he’s a, again, a wealth of knowledge in the fitness industry and the nutrition industry, but we’re going to be talking about addiction recovery. He actually struggles with this. So he’s gonna talk about his struggles and just random questions that I have for him about reduction, addiction recovery, excuse me.  

Steve Washuta : So that is what’s going on for the APR podcast and truly fit. But let’s jump into today. First topic here, Becca, I’ll have you answer this. What do you feel about gatekeeping in the industry, it’s a huge issue that I find in my industry and fitness in nutrition as well, you’ll see people say,  

Steve Washuta : Well, if you don’t have these credentials, you shouldn’t talk about this. And what they end up doing is they spent all of their time or majority of their time, putting down others who were putting out information instead of just trying to put out good information on their own. And I feel like it takes up too much of their content. But what do you feel about that?    

Rebecca Washuta : Yeah I totally agree. I hate this. I feel like these people are the equivalent to like ambulance chasers, you know, where you need to be creating value and putting value out there. I think if you see someone who is giving out information that is dangerous, maybe you can refute that, but that shouldn’t be more than 10% of your time, right 90% of the time, you should be giving out valuable information.  

Rebecca Washuta : I think that a lot of people have this scarcity mentality where they think, you know, if Steve is saying the sky is blue, and I know the sky is white, then you know, we can’t both be white. We can’t both be right. But actually we can write because some days the sky is blue some days the sky is white. And people think that you know in order for me to grow an audience in order for me to get more popular, you need to lose popularity.  

Rebecca Washuta : And that’s just not true, right? Because the majority of people who are following people in the fitness space or the nutrition space or really you know any genre for that matter, they follow more than one person right you’re gonna get your information from from a wide variety of people and then you sort of pick and choose what what works for your lifestyle. So you know, I also think in in both of our industries, everything is so nuanced and has to be so personalized, right?  

Rebecca Washuta : So if you give me 10 minutes, I could find you a peer reviewed journal. An article that says oatmeal causes diabetes. And then if you give me 10 more minutes, I could find an article from another very, you know, widely recognized journal that says the opposite that says oatmeal is actually great for you the fiber, it’s going to prevent diabetes.  

Rebecca Washuta : Right. And, and all of this is nuanced, because it depends on what are you eating with oatmeal, how much oatmeal Are you eating? Are you exercising after the oatmeal? Right? Like, there’s all of these little things. And so I think you can go back and forth like this all day, you can literally refute anything, right? Like, well, like water is good for you.  

Rebecca Washuta : But not all water is good for you. And this person said, What are you? So it’s just like, it’s exhausting? And I think, yeah, I see this all the time. And and I think it’s Catty, I think it’s childish. And I think it’s a reflection that the people who are doing it don’t have enough to offer don’t have enough to put out there.  

Steve Washuta : Yeah, I don’t mind it as a that was well severed, I don’t mind it as like an initial power move. If it’s backed up by facts and reasoning, if you’re like, Hey, I know this person said this, these are my credentials. This is what I’ve learned. And then you unpack scientifically, rationally, reasonably whatever, about what exactly how you think that topic should be discussed. If that person is misrepresenting said study or misrepresenting whatever that is in the health and nutrition world. So I don’t necessarily mind that.  

Steve Washuta : So I don’t think like throwing your credentials out there is just this like, a you can’t do that. Where you can’t tell anyone else but I do. Where I see the problem is that most people are talking past each other. And what would be better is if they just did what we did, invited them on for a long, long form conversation to say, hey, can we unpack this thoroughly?  

Steve Washuta : Because I know that I’ve done it, like, I’ve read somebody’s post really quickly, or their, you know, whatever, their their tweets, or their ex now, because it’s not Twitter anymore. And, you know, I am not necessarily triggered. But I’m upset by something that they said. But I took it out of context, right? I didn’t get the context that they were putting it into why? Because it’s difficult, but I’m reading it.  

Steve Washuta : I’m seeing it through my lens and my experience, and I don’t get all the details that maybe they’re trying to convey, given the study that they researched, or whatever it is that they’re trying to promote. So I, there are people who on the internet, this is the only thing they do. Yeah, they just they just refute. Yeah, they find clips of people they don’t like and they just refute, I don’t think that’s good.  

Steve Washuta : If it’s if it’s a small part of your business, and you’re doing it in a thoughtful way, where you’re actually explaining why something is, you know, dangerous or deleterious to someone’s health. And you’re going to explain the right way to go about it. I think it’s fine. But again, like I said, if you’re going to use your credentials, as the only reason while you’re saying this, instead of actually explaining the science and rationale behind it, I don’t think that’s good.  

Rebecca Washuta : Yeah. And I think, you know, relying on your credentials only isn’t fair, right? Because we all know doctors, we all know PhD scientists who don’t stay up to date on the information, right? There’s people in my field, there’s people in your field, you haven’t opened up a textbook, right? Or haven’t? Aren’t you keeping keeping up with the journals?  

Rebecca Washuta : And so they have antiquated information? And, you know, just throwing around like, Okay, I got my, my doctorate 10 years ago, well, what have you done since great, so you studied really hard, and that’s awesome. You are dedicated. That doesn’t mean, you like, know, everything. You can’t, that doesn’t mean you know, everything.  

Rebecca Washuta : And I think, you know, there’s a way to do it, where you can correct and put out the right information. But you don’t have to call people out because I think then it just gets into like, you just want attention, you want this back and forth.  

Rebecca Washuta : Right? You want like the like conflict creates a tension, you know, and it draws it draws people in and I just, I don’t want anything to do with that. I think what you give your energy to you create more of so it’s like, why would I want to give my energy to this person who’s wrong, right? Instead, I’m just gonna continue to put out the right information and do what I think is right.    

Steve Washuta :Well, I’ll be a contrarian, not that I actually disagree. But the why would I want to do this. The reason they do want to do this is because it’s shown to be successful, because I’m talking about social media. So people have gotten famous, just by doing this, Hey, let me show you what this person says. And why it’s wrong. And I’m going to refute this. So people get the likes and the clicks  

Rebecca Washuta : and the admiration for doing it. Right. Yeah, controversy,  

Steve Washuta : so why not? And also, it is a source, as you can imagine, have on limited content. So you don’t even have to go out and create your own content before. Before you and I have this podcast today. I have to look up subjects that are trending, I have to look up things that that I think are worthwhile for us to talk about in the audience.  

Steve Washuta :  You don’t have to do that. If you’re just refuting people. I just find five or six people who I think are idiots and then I play their videos and I find something they say that’s idiotic, and boom, there’s my car. content. So it’s almost in a bad way. It’s an easy way out for people to make content by just finding things that other people say that are hot topics that they disagree with, and then using it against them.  

Steve Washuta : Yeah. Not a fan. Well, on to the next topic here, I thought this was interesting. And I the first thing I thought of was you and what you would say about this when I asked you so I heard somebody who I don’t want to say I’ve necessarily respect or don’t respect, but somebody who is getting very famous in the fitness and nutrition and health industry.  

Steve Washuta : And recently he came out with a real and the question was, if you got to decide one of these two for view, and I guess you would say for your clientele as somebody who you know, is a nutritionist, would you pick organic vegetables, organic fruits, now, you could still eat fruits or vegetables in general, but you can only have one of them in the organic version from now for the rest of your life. Which one would you pick and why?  

Steve Washuta : Easy organic vegetables conventional fruit. And this is for two reasons. One is the majority of your diet should be vegetables, it should, you shouldn’t you should not be eating equal amounts, vegetables and fruits. And obviously, this depends on what kind of fruits you’re consuming, right berries are higher in fiber and lower in sugar than say bananas.  

Steve Washuta : But generally speaking, you should everyone should be eating more vegetables. So you want the majority of your diet to be organic. The other reason I say this is because a lot of fruits have peels. So think about a banana, an orange, a kiwi and avocado right? They have these peels, and the peels can prevent the spraying pesticides from getting into the fleshy part of the fruit which we eat.  

Rebecca Washuta : So they can actually be protective. And it’s not, you know, it’s not 100% protection, but it does act as a little bit of a shield. It doesn’t always the pesticides don’t aren’t always able to seep through the peel. Whereas vegetables, right?  

Rebecca Washuta : Think about celery, think about cucumber, you’re you’re eating the entire vegetable, there’s no there’s no protection there, right, the broccoli or you’re eating at all. And so if those are sprayed with pesticides, spinach, you’re going to be consuming all of that. So 100% organic vegetables, and then conventional fruit  

Steve Washuta : are returning. I was a guest because he’s never been on the podcast. So I’m sure it never will be but a returning person who we’ve talked about before. disagrees. Okay, so Gary brecha, who we’ve I’ve done a whole podcast on him before.  

Steve Washuta : Yeah, said he would pick organic fruit. And this is his reasoning is because some fruits, the fruits that he eats, mostly because he doesn’t eat things like bananas, because you know, the people who are crazy about fruits will only eat berries. He says we’ll take in some of their nutrients through their skin.  

Steve Washuta : And because of that, he would pick fruits. Now all the reasonings that you gave seemed much more logical number one, you’re going to eat more vegetables and fruits. And a lot of fruits do have a casing so to speak a skin which isn’t going to allow it. He disagreed with that. What are your thoughts on that?  

Rebecca Washuta : So he said, You can take it in through the skin? Can you repeat that?  

Steve Washuta : Yeah, so he said there are fruits. He didn’t say the fruits specifically, but I assume he means berries, because that’s what he is mostly, mostly, some of the berries will actually take in nutrients through their skin, rather than just through the soil.  

Steve Washuta : So therefore, if they’re sprayed, then they will be taking in those pesticides, with the rest of the nutrients and through their skin. I don’t exactly know what he means. I don’t know how that works mechanistically through the fruit of the skin, but this is what he said.  

Rebecca Washuta : Yeah, I cannot speak to that. I think it’s I think it’s very similar, right? If you spray a cucumber or you spray a strawberry, you know, both of them don’t have thick skins, it’s going to absorb into the into the you know the flesh of of what you’re eating. So I disagree with you, Gary, I think we gotta we gotta go with the organic vegetables.  

Steve Washuta : Yeah, well, most people do disagree with him these days, although he’s, he’s become quite the overnight success here. Okay, I need you to pick out two random thinks for me. Think of anything? 

Rebecca Washuta : So,two things. And this, this is different from your question to me because you can have one or the other. You can’t have both. Okay, so for the rest of your life, the next you know, 50 years. And this is also something you’d recommend to clients if they could only do one thing for their entire lives. Running or yoga.  

Steve Washuta : Yoga, no doubt. Okay. Yeah, wouldn’t even be close. Because it’s a generality. There’s so many people who have you know, we’re all very bio diverse, so many people who genetically are just not built to run. Whether that’s, you know, their gait, their cue angle as a, you know, as a female, whether it’s maybe it’s not sports Typically genetic, but it could be, you know, ACL issues.  

Steve Washuta : They’re finding out our genetic, there’s so many genetic predispositions on how your built were in running could be harmful for you. Also, you know, just the long term pounding the wear and tear. Yeah. Is is tough on us. So, you know, yoga is, is is much safer for the general person. Again, this is these are general questions, right? You’re not saying, Hey, you have to tell Bob, who’s 47, who lives in San Diego, what he’s what he needs to do.  

Steve Washuta : But if if this was just for the general population, or even, even myself, I only got to do one of those two activities. It would be yoga, it’s also you’re working a lot more muscle groups in yoga than you are running, right? So running, you’re limited on working, you’re not doing any pushing, you’re not doing any pulling. You’re not really doing much rotation, there’s a little bit of that transverse movement when you’re running left and right.  

Steve Washuta : But really, it’s what we call, you know, you’re in sagittal plane, you’re just going forward. And you’re mostly just working your lower body where yoga can really be a good full body exercises, you’re moving through all the major movements that I’ve talked about push pull, hinge, lunge, squat, rotate, plank, you’re doing all those movements. So for me, that’s also a no brainer, it would be yoga.  

Rebecca Washuta : You’re doing it all. Yeah. So I asked, because I agree with you about the injury from an injury perspective, right? You’re much more likely to I think, get injured running. But that being said, there’s like, very little to no cardio component to yoga, right?  

Rebecca Washuta : Like, are you really getting your heart rate up to where it needs to be cardiovascular wise, and, you know, to prevent weight gain, and and all of these issues we see later on down the road? You often if you see someone in their 50s, who has been running for 20 years, they are fit. If you see someone in their 50s, who’s been doing yoga, they’re not necessarily as fit, right. 

Steve Washuta : Sure, yeah, there know that you’re not wrong in that a part of the reason is, is twofold. I think it’s a little bit of a chicken before the egg thing, people in fitness like to do the things they’re good at and fitness. So I have friends who are offensive linemen and defensive linemen in high school, let’s say, which are typically bigger people who weigh you know, in their mid to hundreds, what they’re doing now lifting wise is benchpress, and squat and deadlift.  

Steve Washuta : Why? Because they can do more of that, right, they’re not great at yoga, yoga is not for them, they have to hold up their bodies, so they’re more likely to go ahead and do that. Whereas in, there might be women who weigh 120 pounds, who are hyper flexible, and they’re just more likely to go into yoga, or even women who are slightly maybe, if you want to use the term overweight, I don’t know if we can even say overweight anymore.  

Steve Washuta : But they’re not very muscular, but they’re very flexible. And they’re they can do yoga. And maybe they’re not aggressive by nature. And Yoga is not an aggressive lifting like an Olympic lifting or CrossFit is right. So I do think there’s a chicken or the egg, we’re we’re certain types of people will gravitate towards certain things.  

Steve Washuta : Who are the people who are usually running well, skinny people who are fast. Those are people who are mostly running, right. So there’s that there’s that component. But yeah, there’s the other component where obviously, if you’re running, you have probably a chance to burn more calories. You can run for longer durations of time, and you’re going to develop a different look than you will in yoga.  

Steve Washuta : But that but to go back to the initial thing you said it depended upon how you go about yoga yoga is such a an umbrella term there, there’s various different kinds of yoga. And then if you’re not going to even follow a particular form, if you just want to take the movements of yoga and do them in your own way, a really fast flow way and challenge yourself. You can you can make it very very difficult.  

Rebecca Washuta : You could get your heart rate up Yeah. Okay, good to know.  

Steve Washuta : Moving on speaking of that, the different body types and health healthy at any size is a term that has been floating around our industry for a while now. It I think at one point was something we all thought was a positive term, you know, healthy at any size, meaning let’s not focus so much on on vanity and everyone can be involved in these health and fitness and nutrition game.  

Steve Washuta : But now it sort of took what I consider like a public relations political tactic where it is being used by everyone in ways where it doesn’t make sense. We can’t be healthy at 500 pounds, we can’t be that healthy. If your BMI is over 45 we just we have the statistics now. So what do you think about this term? How do we maybe move away from this or do you disagree with me and think this term is okay?  

Rebecca Washuta : No, I agree with you on this and the idea that we can be 100 150 200 pounds overweight and still be healthy is insane, right i And I love the idea of removing the stigma. But we still have to empower people to say like you can strive for health at any size.  

Rebecca Washuta : And that doesn’t mean that you don’t love your body right so you can love yourself. You can love your body but want to make improvement It’s so I love my home, right? A couple years ago, we bought our dream home, it’s wonderful. Every weekend, we’re doing things to improve our home every single weekend, right? We’re doing things and we love it, but we still want to improve it and make it better.  

Rebecca Washuta : And I think we have to, like capture that mentality that you can love yourself. And you know, want to feel your best. Obesity. You know, there, it’s complex. And I know we’ll get into this later on in the podcast, too. It’s a very complex condition. And there are a lot of different causes. But there is a huge lifestyle component. And it doesn’t mean it’s your fault.  

Rebecca Washuta : But we can still take some accountability for the choices that we do have that may be contributing to it. And I think healthy at every, every size makes people complacent. It makes people say, Oh, it’s healthy to be, you know, five, four and 225 pounds? No, no, it’s not, you know, and again, you know, you need to work with a professional, we need to look at your biomarkers, it’s more than just BMI and weight.  

Rebecca Washuta : But yeah, how healthy they are, every size to me, is sort of just, I think it was created by the food industry, right to just keep keep people eating, and, you know, let them know, like, they don’t have to make changes when you do you really need to, like take your health into your own hands and, and advocate for yourself and make the changes necessary to feel your best. 

Steve Washuta : Yeah, well said, I think it was stolen for lack of a better term by a small minority of people who are pushing an agenda. And, you know, Bunk science, certainly. But just bad messaging, meaning, as I stated, when I first introduced this, I do think there was a really positive belief system and push behind this, when it started out, Hey, you can be a little bit heavier.  

Steve Washuta : And you can be, you know, not the ideal body type, but still be healthy, right? We need to look at things like you just talked about your labs and biomarkers and there are some people who might be what we consider, you know, not the Fitness Model S body type that are still very, very healthy.  

Steve Washuta : We can’t just strive for vanity but then it got sort of you know commandeered by the like a small minority of people who are again, 100 150 200 300 pounds overweight, extremely obese, who say, Nope, you could actually be healthy at any size. I mean, this literally not, if not figuratively, and don’t worry about what anyone else says.  

Steve Washuta : And that’s, that’s bad messaging, both scientifically. I know there’s like an empathy component to this, like we feel bad. But we have to be rational sometimes right? To put that empathy side of the brain down and say, What’s rational here? If I really want to help this person, I have to explain to them that no, you actually can’t be healthy at any size there. We have the metrics to show that by losing weight.  

Steve Washuta : This is not just a few things, right? People go Oh, obesity, which we’ll talk more about this is everything from, you know, metabolic issues, to heart disease to, you know, kidney Absolutely. Thyroid cancer, yeah. Disease, Cancer, right. All like all of these things are potentially going to be more prevalent in somebody who is above a certain BMI or a certain weight.  

Rebecca Washuta : Yeah, absolutely. And I think, you know, it’s big, it’s gotten to a point where health care professionals can’t even speak to their patients about it, right? Because like you said, you’re like, Am I allowed to say overweight, we don’t know, what’s what’s, what’s PC anymore. And, you know, I think the the idea behind it is good, we do want to remove the stigma.  

Rebecca Washuta : And we want to be able to tell people like you have a disease, obesity is a disease similar to like you have diabetes, here are the things that, you know, maybe you’ve done over the last 20 years that have contributed to that, here’s how we can get the ball rolling and get you in a better position. Right? Like, your lifestyle choices also contribute to other diseases.  

Rebecca Washuta : So let’s treat it like any other disease. But you wouldn’t say like diet, diabetes, you’re super healthy, right? It’s just it’s so bizarre to me that with all of these other conditions, it’s like something you’d like to eradicate. And now, like there are people defending obesity, it needs to be really make clear that it’s dangerous.  

Rebecca Washuta : Like you said, it increases your risk of the top killers heart disease, cancer, kidney disease, all of these things. So yeah, the healthy at Every Size movement is has gotten to a point where it doesn’t make sense anymore. I think it’s dangerous. Agreed.  

Steve Washuta : It’s a bit of a gaslighting term. And that segues perfectly into our next topic, which is Oprah who was recently promoting weight loss drugs. And she said something to the extent on her long form interview, I think she stepped down from the board. She was on the board of Weight Watchers.  

Steve Washuta : And she said, Yeah, listen, you have obesity. It’s a disease the doctor who she was Speaking was like, yeah, it’s no different than asthma. Right? This is just something you have. What do you think about the the way? She She phrased that?  

Rebecca Washuta : We could have an entire podcast on this. This is this is like such a great topic. It’s such a great question. As I touched on before, obesity is complex. So when I was in grad school for nutrition, we had entire concentrations on obesity. So not just one class, like multiple classes, right, that are semester long to get into all the all the nuanced information.  

Rebecca Washuta : So I think there are multiple causes, right, there is an environmental factor. And by that, I mean like environmental toxins, right? Those could be things you’re breathing in, that could be air pollution, and that can they can act as hormone disruptors, right? Endocrine disruptors that are going to disrupt your hormones, making, you know, throwing off your insulin, throwing off some of your hunger hormones, and actually, you know, like, getting the ball rolling and causing diabetes.  

Rebecca Washuta : So there’s environmental factors, there are genetic factors, right, there are a lot of populations that that gain weight in a different way. So if you look at a lot of Asian populations, you know, a lot of people in those cultures are getting diabetes, but their normal weight, but it doesn’t matter, because they’ve been you know, they have been eating poorly.  

Rebecca Washuta : Or maybe you’ve been, you know, eating too many carbohydrates. For all this time, I know that my my best friend is Filipino. She could eat you under the table, Steve, right, like she just consumes can can can eat very well, and is still 90 pounds and will never gain weight.  

Rebecca Washuta :  So there is a part that’s genetic, right, some people are more likely to, to carry carry more weight, and the the way that we just distributed on our body is also genetic, right? It’s a lot more dangerous to carry weight in your midsection than it is, like in your legs say Right. And that’s also genetic. So there are these components where yeah, it like any other disease, it’s outside of your control.  

Rebecca Washuta : But again, there are lifestyle factors. And I think, with obesity compared with something with compared to something like asthma or cancer, the lifestyle factors are more important, right? We we know that diet and exercise, and even sleep and stress really can contribute to weight gain.  

Rebecca Washuta : And I think we have to empower people to you know, make make those changes, and not just feel like this happened to me, right? When you, when you say this happened to you, it’s genetic, you feel like there’s nothing I can do. And there there are things that that people can do.  

Rebecca Washuta : But that being said, you know, as a nutritionist, I work with people who take ozempic, who take some other similar drugs, and I think there is a space for them. You know, I think that if you’re taking these drugs in conjunction with, you know, working with a trainer working with a nutritionist, what it’s going to do is it’s going to curb your, your hunger hormones.  

Rebecca Washuta : It’s going to curb your cravings, and then you’re able to make better decisions, and you’re able to create those good habits. For some people, they’re so overwhelmed in the same way that someone who’s prone to being like a gambling addict, right, your reward pathways in your brain are thrown off. So if so for some people, food does that for them, your reward pathways are thrown off that you can’t make logical decisions, you’re going to eat poorly. 

Steve Washuta : And so part of the reason they’re thrown off, though, is because of the food types that they’re choosing. Right? So you’re talking about, there’s companies like Nabisco, who, who have whole science departments who are just trying to get the right flavor profile and the right snap on their cookie to get you addicted. So unless people are start making better choices and make the first change, they’re going to probably fall back down the rabbit hole of obesity.   

Rebecca Washuta :For sure. But for some people, I think they’re more prone to it right in the way that you and I could go to Vegas, and I could spend 24 hours gambling and feel fine. And maybe you would be more addicted to it. Like, I think that there is a genetic component to addiction. I do believe that.  

Rebecca Washuta :   But again, I don’t be believed that it’s binary, right? It’s not all or nothing, it’s maybe your reward pathways work in a slightly different way than mine do and your brain releases more dopamine. That doesn’t mean it can’t be overcome, right. So you know, with the ozempic, I will say it can be helpful when you do it the right way.  

Rebecca Washuta : And when you’re committed to while I’m on this drug, I’m also going to be working really hard to change these habits and you know, make better lifestyle choices. So when I’m off it, I can continue to work towards a long term solution because you really can’t be on it long term and they haven’t yet established how long you should be on it. Right? If you talk to your doctor, they’ll say, Oh, it’s fine.  

Rebecca Washuta : The studies are too new. It can cause gastroparesis, and pancreatic cancer and thyroid cancer and all of these issues. I tell my clients, you know, the shorter the better. If you can be on it for three months, great if you have to be on it for six months, fine, but you really don’t want to be on it longer than that.  

Steve Washuta : Yeah, and I would argue most drugs, not all but most drugs. You don’t want to be on for an infinite amount of time, right? Giving, working with the proper professionals to say, hey, how do I wean off this at some point like my goal is to not take this drug anymore? Is that is that a positive ability, something like blood pressure drugs, that’s a different story, right?  

Steve Washuta :  You’re talking about strokes that you’re gonna have to be but something like a cholesterol medication, where you’re not going to die instantly if you start taking your cholesterol, your cholesterol medication, right? There’s ways to wean off. I’ve gotten my clients stop taking their their cholesterol medication right over time.  

Steve Washuta : So I do think there needs to be a plan in place to say, Hey, I’m going to do all the right things in the back end lifestyle wise to eventually wean off of these drugs. These are just catalysts to get me going. But I guess my problem is, I’m going to maybe talk through two sides of my mouth, because I’m usually very more science based, but I’m going to be a little hippie dippie here. I think we’re just pathologizing and medicalizing the stuff a little bit too much. It’s really not that difficult.  

Steve Washuta : I watch the show called alone. It’s so addicted to it. It’s these people they send onto like these islands in Vancouver, right and have to survive. Oh, yeah. For as many days as they can. It’s like, yeah, it’s like Bear Grylls, it’s like Bear Grylls in real life. But there’s a competition. So it’d be for people on various points of the island.  

Steve Washuta : And whoever doesn’t give up wins $500,000 You have no idea how long the other people are staying on the island. Yeah, it’s one of those things, right. So. So they all lose a ton of weight. Why? Because it’s so fucking hard to get food. So like, they’ll catch a rabbit. And they’ll break down crying as if their first child was just born, right? Because that’s like food now for them for a week.  

Steve Washuta : And they’re so excited, they all lose a ton of weight. I’ll get to the point here. Why? Because they’re moving around all day, because they don’t have a lot of food. So we know like, we know the science behind this, like this, this is a lifestyle thing. Losing weight, ultimately is a lifestyle thing, if you’re going to move around a lot. And if you’re not going to have a lot of calories, you’re going to lose weight.  

Steve Washuta : Now I’m not telling you, that’s the healthiest way to go about it, that you should go onto an island in Vancouver, and walk around all day and worry about bears eating you and catch one rabbit. But what I’m saying is, if you look at that from a, you know, just a high level perspective, moving around a lot, and eating less, we’re gonna lose more weight. And the more we pathologize and medicalized this, the more people think they can rely upon drugs, and the less they’re gonna change their lifestyle. 

Rebecca Washuta : I get it. Yeah, it makes it feel like it’s out of their control. I will say this, it is a little bit more complicated than calories in calories out, right? So so if that were true, then no one would lose weight on a keto diet. Because a keto diet is high in calories, you’re having a lot of fat, you’re having a lot of protein, carbs are lower in calories naturally, right.  

Rebecca Washuta : So so it is it is more complicated. And the reason why the keto diet works is because it works on your hormones, it’s balancing your blood sugar. And so you know, very similar if you’ve ever met someone with type two diabetes, and they, you know, aren’t able to produce insulin, they can eat 10,000 calories a day and never gain a pound.  

Rebecca Washuta : Right. So like it does have to do with your hormones. And there are things in our environment that that can control our hormones. But it’s it’s a small piece of it, like you said, your your choices and your ability to move your body and eat well really, really matter. But I want to go back to what you said about the show and how the people who win, it’s about their mindset, right? It’s about who doesn’t give up, basically.  

Rebecca Washuta : So I’m gonna go off on a little bit of a tangent here, but I’ll circle back, I saw an interview with Jay Z once. And so he grew up, I don’t know, either in the Bronx or queens, and you know, like, is very poverty stricken, right? It wasn’t a good situation. But he was able to go into Manhattan and see these skyscrapers, right and see, like, oh, there are people with tons of money like this is, you know, so when he was able to, like, open up his perspective and see just, you know, a couple of subway stops away, people are making tons and tons of money, I can do that too.  

Rebecca Washuta : Then he went back did his thing. I think he sold drugs, like I’m not promoting that. But you know, he was able to, like, get himself out. And you know, now he’s probably one of the richest people in the world. I think for a lot of people, if your parents are overweight, if your grandparents are overweight, and you’re living in sort of like Middle America and all you see if everyone you know is overweight, you’re gonna think I have no choice. I like I this is just gonna happen to me, I’m going to be overweight. So I think it’s your mindset too, right? It’s like switching your mindset to think I can I can do this.  

Steve Washuta : Yeah, that’s well said I, I’ve had obesity medicine specialist, specialist on excuse me, who was Dr. PROLOGO, who is also interventional radiologist. And he does a procedure in which basically, through interventional radiology, they they put basically like a catheter esque thing through you into your stomach and and singe the hunger nerve, so that you’re less hungry right?  

Steve Washuta : So this is somebody who specializes in Yeah, this is somebody who specializes in obesity he knows knows a lot about it, but he still thinks that there’s you know, obviously a mental and physiological component to this right so they like there’s a there’s a there’s hunger cues and hunger nerves it’s it’s harder for some people, but we’re also bio and psycho diverse to get to get over this and others and I in no way mean to you know, minimalize the difficulty of this by just saying,  

Steve Washuta : Hey, move more and eat less but what I’m saying is, if we don’t Want to admit that this is mostly lifestyle? And I want to say we have to admit that this is mostly lifestyle that you can, you can just change your lifestyle, in most cases, to lose weight doing all the proper things, then all we’re going to do is pour more money into research pathologized this like this is this problem.  

Steve Washuta : We can’t figure out oh, this is so intricate. How do we get people to, to, you know, to not to lower obesity rates? It’s like, well, this is mostly just a cultural problem. Also, you know, because we look at other cultures who don’t have this problem.   

Rebecca Washuta : We Don’t have to guess cultures don’t have diabetes, like you don’t have the access to. Right.  

Steve Washuta : And it’s like, well, that’s not because of their biodiversity as far as like, their insulin levels are more likely to raise, which is like the thing people would research. I feel like we found out, no, there’s some tribe, we found that everyone’s in really good shape. There’ll be some fucking scientists come and be like, oh, we need to do some research on maybe their gut microbiome.    

Rebecca Washuta :Because maybe that’s the reason it’s like, no, because there are 14 hours a day. 

Steve Washuta : Yeah, they’re climbing the climb in the fucking Himalayas shooting rabbits like that. This is the reason why they’re, by the way last right now, because they have a different gut microbiome. So I just think we go so deep into the research, because who, like, let’s, let’s take that back, who’s profiting from that?  

Steve Washuta : Right? When you make this a disease? That’s where all the money comes into researching things? We don’t we don’t we don’t get people like me and you who can just work with clients, it gets pumped up the ladder, the doctors to give out medications?  

Rebecca Washuta : Yeah, you know, but I think you said it’s a cultural thing. And I agree with that. And I don’t think this is the only case, right? I think similarly, if you look at, like anxiety or depression, right? So do do anti anxiety, drugs help? Yes. Like, just some people need it?  

Rebecca Washuta : Yes, for short amounts of times. But at the same time, should you be working with a psychologist or a therapist to figure out why you’re depressed, right? Like, you’re like, Oh, it’s a chemical imbalance. But how did you get there? And what are your lifestyle factors that are contributing to this?    

Steve Washuta : And how so there’s always Sorry to interrupt, there’s always so many studies on the people who have an issue, and not enough studies on the people who don’t, right? Can we just reach out to all the people who tell you openly that they have no anxiety? Hey, I have no anxiety whatsoever?  

Steve Washuta :  What is that person doing? Right? Can we look at? Can we look at them? We don’t want to do that. Because what we do is we say, oh, that they’re just lucky. This is just a roll of the dice. Oh, there  

Steve Washuta : If you don’t believe in this, this is like a free will conversation, right? I don’t believe in free will is sort of another story. So like, because I don’t believe in free will. What I mean is every decision I’ve ever made, is based off the fact that I was born, I didn’t choose that I was born and choose where I was born.  

Steve Washuta : I didn’t choose where my mother fed me and how many times she fed me and every every decision I’ve ever made comes from the initial decisions that I didn’t make, right? It’s all interconnected. It’s all one web that’s woven together. So yeah, I have I have choice in the moment. But those choices are all affected by prior decisions that have nothing to do with me. So that’s that’s what I mean by free will. That’s a whole another conversation. 

Rebecca Washuta : But yeah, the you’re in, like, into the Marvel Universe here.  

Steve Washuta : Yeah. But I guess what, why I say that is because yeah, I am lucky, in a sense for certain things, you’re lucky people are lucky. But but they are doing things that allowed them to have whatever those things are whether again, freewill or not, they’ll allow them to not have anxiety. And we need to study those people more than studying all the people who have anxiety.  

Rebecca Washuta : Of course, yeah. And you know, on that note, there’s a ton of research that says, exercise is just as good as any antidepressant pill. Like they literally, in fact, done, you know, double blind placebo controlled studies and exercise and the right diet, right.  

Rebecca Washuta : There’s a whole field now. And I know we’re going off on a tangent, there’s a whole field now called nutritional psychiatry, where a psychiatrist comes in and says, oh, like you’re low on B vitamins, right? Maybe your body’s able to methylate or maybe you haven’t had any omega threes and all these things. And so, like, going back, I think, regardless of what the condition is, there are lifestyle factors that can improve it.  

Rebecca Washuta : And specifically for obesity. It’s, you know, I don’t want to give it a specific percentage, but it’s a it’s a large chunk of the pie. That is that is lifestyle, and we need to start empowering people, rather than saying, Oh, it’s outside of our control. But like, you know, going back to your initial question, Oprah talked about asthma and cancer. I think there are huge lifestyle components to that.  

Rebecca Washuta : And I know that I’ll like take some take some heat for that right? And I’m not saying if you got cancer, you deserved it, but your diet, your stress level, your exercise, how well you’re sleeping, that all plays a role in your immune system and your body’s ability to fight that similarly with asthma, stress, and then they found that trauma can like really and not not that you can avoid trauma, but you can environmental.  

Rebecca Washuta : Yeah, exactly. And environmental so like, what are you around? What are you exposing yourself to? Are you using scented candles? Like what is your air conditioner unit look like? So there are things that you can do and so I think there’s a way that like, and this ties into the the earlier topic of healthy at Every Size, there’s a way to say, hey, this isn’t your fault. This happened, but there are things you can do to change it and improve it.  

Steve Washuta : Yeah, you’re not wrong there. And I do I do agree with with most of that, I guess the small difference would be a lot of the environmental things are so hard to get away from and change. Not that you can’t, but they’re really difficult. 

Rebecca Washuta : I think knowing that they exist and and being aware of them. No. So you can you can minimize them. I get it. If you live in New York City, you can’t control the pollution. But can you control the air filters you have in your house? Can you if you know there’s like a better time to be outside? If you do have asthma like there? I think we still need to acknowledge them. You know, totally.  

Steve Washuta : Paula, do you think she in that case, was was almost saying the opposite. So you and I agree that these things, asthma, cancer, obesity, some a lot of a lot of these diseases, there are some components that are environmental, and that are lifestyle related that add to this, what I think she was saying is, all of these are diseases in which you have no say in what goes on, you are just born with it. It just happens to you, right?  

Steve Washuta : You have cancer, you didn’t obtain cancer by anything that you’ve done, even though you went into a tanning booth for the last 12 years, two times a day, the skin cancer was just bad luck. So I think there that there is that component where and I agree with you, but I think Oprah wasn’t saying that there are lifestyle things that have to do with cancer. There there. There are no lifestyle things. I think that’s what she was saying.  

Rebecca Washuta : Yeah, you know, I think this goes back to something that we’ve talked about on previous podcast that in this field, there tends to be a pendulum, right, where you’re either like, healthy at Every Size. Or maybe you’re anorexic, right, and it doesn’t have to it doesn’t have to be that way.  

Rebecca Washuta : So I think, you know, Oprah is Oprah’s intentions, I’m guessing here, but I believe her and her intentions is to take some of the shame away, right? Shame is like a really negative emotion and shame is probably going to make people feel paralyzed and not do anything. So to remove the shame to say, hey, take this medication.  

Rebecca Washuta : But and then you know, this is something that happens, you take this medication, and it will help. But I think there also needs to be like, again, a way of having accountability, like, let’s remove the shame to say this, this isn’t 100% Your fault. But we have to empower people like it can’t just be, it can’t be all or nothing, it can’t be this binary, we have to find a middle ground where we’re educating people in an effective way.  

Rebecca Washuta : And then also, you know, emphasizing them, but also encouraging them to, you know, to make the changes they need for long term results. Because what I found is that clients are basically cycling on and off these drugs, like as you would steroids, which you shouldn’t be doing.  

Rebecca Washuta : So they’ll take it for six months, they’ll lose the weight, they’ll gain it back, they’ll go back on it, and they’re not safe. They’re not safe enough to do that. It’s that’s not the idea. The idea is to go on it, make the changes, get the support team in place, so you don’t have to take the medication anymore.  

Steve Washuta : Yeah, no, we’re we’re beating the subject to death. But I do think it’s important to say, in certain cases, you’ll win, we need to actually break down what the medication does. And if it’s even a possibility that this is a catalyst, or if it’s something you’re relying upon. So for example, if you’re somebody, and I’m just making this up, who just says, Hey, I have such low energy, like, I don’t know what’s going on, I have really, really low energy, I can’t do anything. It’s hard for me, I feel like I haven’t rested.  

Steve Washuta : I go to sleep, I’m in bed for eight hours. I don’t know if I’m getting bad sleep, whatever. And they find a way to get you a little bit more energy, whatever, whether it’s maybe you maybe it’s caffeine, maybe it’s some other sort of drug that they give you a Provigil, a new vigil that says sleep work, shift disorder, right? And now you’re able to do a bunch of other things that you couldn’t otherwise do.  

Steve Washuta : You can fit more into your day, you can exercise and workout and maybe they eventually say, Hey, we’re going to try to wean you off this little by little or this is just so great for your life, we have to leave this as an intervention or long term intervention. We believe that the positives outweigh the negatives. The problem is with something like ozempic is because you are not hungry, right?  

Steve Washuta : Because the purpose of this is to make you not hungry. That’s not a way to stave off hunger pangs because when you’re off of this, those hunger pangs are going to come back or you’re not developing good habits. The good habits are like, let me learn about foods. Let me eat the proper foods and the proper new nutrients.  

Steve Washuta : Let me not think that hunger pangs are bad let me just eat when I’m hungry, like normal people do but I’m gonna have better food choices. But if you’re relying upon the drug, then you’re not making the proper you know, mindset switch to say how do I learn more about food? How do I put the proper foods into my body?  

Rebecca Washuta : Yeah, yeah, and 60% of people regain weight on ozempic. I just I just wrote an article. So I like I looked at the stats, 60% of people when they get off the drugs, they regain all that weight back.  

Rebecca Washuta : And so it’s like, you know that what is that 30% doing? And how can we get everyone else to fall into that camp, I imagine that they are working with professionals like you and I to really, to change their habits.  

Steve Washuta : I’m going to read a quote here, and then I’m going to tell you who it’s from surprising given the quote, I almost don’t, I almost don’t believe it. Your brain is likely to skip over information that feels like common sense and hunt for the novel, extreme approaches that you’ve convinced yourself are more likely to lead to the desired outcome.  

Steve Washuta : The antidote to wellness starts with shifting what you think it takes to succeed, behavioral change, the foundation of improving your health, or any skill is rooted in a simple concept, make it hard to fail. Pretty well said. I don’t think anyone disagrees with this. It was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who you don’t think is super well spoken and insightful.  

Steve Washuta : But yeah, he went for Arnold Press. Yeah, he might have had a writer put that out for him. But I thought it was really insightful, and especially at the end of it, right. You know, behavioral change, the foundation of improving your health or any other skill is rooted in one simple concept. Make it hard to fail. What do you think about that? Do we not do enough with our clients in the people in health, the fitness industry to just make it hard to fail?  

Rebecca Washuta : Yeah, so you know, first answer that question, I think, we have an uphill battle because of these built environments, right? Like the the environment that we live in, sets you up to fail, we have DoorDash, and Uber Eats and Netflix and Disney plus, right? Like our environments are setting us up to sit, sit at our computer, Senator TVs all day, sit in our cars, and then over consume processed foods.  

Rebecca Washuta : So you know, when everything around you is working against you, you need to work extra hard. But I love the idea of making it hard to fail. I have a degree in neuroscience shameless plug here, I work a lot with habits and really, you know, focusing on behavior change with clients, I have a course called Happy, Healthy Habits, helping people hack their habits and change their lives. I’m a big fan of you know, behavior change and really diving into effectively create good habits.  

Rebecca Washuta : So one of the most important things here is mindset. And I think like getting your emotions involved, right. So he talks about, like shifting what you think it takes to succeed. And I see this a lot with clients where if you are, you know, if you’re starting out and you say, I really want to become a runner, like let’s I just I want to run, and then you go for a run. And every minute, you’re like, gosh, I hate running, this is horrible, this is horrible, you’re not going to get anywhere.  

Rebecca Washuta : So dopamine actually helps to wire in new behaviors helps to wire and a habit. That’s why things like gambling, and all of these addictive behaviors, they involve dopamine, right? Because it makes it easy, easier for you to repeat that behavior in the future. And so I think, changing your mindset around it is one of the best ways I can i i seen for clients.  

Rebecca Washuta : The other part of that is, I think it’s important to set up your environment in a really effective way. And so, you know, if you, if you’re trying to lose weight, it’s not a solo sport, it has to be a team sport, right? And, and you’ve seen this, like, CrossFit is so effective, not because the workout is the world’s best workout. It’s because you create this community and you create this team, and you have these people to hold you hold you accountable and say like,  

Rebecca Washuta : Hey, why didn’t you show up yesterday, right. And so I think that type of environment too, also makes it really hard, hard for you to fail. So with clients, I work on emotions, I work in an environment. The other thing I work on, is like talking about eyesight. So this is one of the simplest things, but you know, we, it estimated that we think 80,000 thoughts per day. 80,000 thoughts per day is like the average right? And you know, with like, with a toddler running around, sometimes your brain is in a million different places.  

RRebecca Washuta : So even if you have really good intentions, you can just forget that you want to make something a habit, right? Like, if you want to start having smoothies in the morning, you get up, you get going and then you’re like, you know, it’s nine o’clock, you’re like shit, I forgot my smoothie. So having some type of eyesight cue is really important.  

Rebecca Washuta : I say, like, leave your blender in the middle of the counter, how will the ingredients out like you need something to remind you like, you need to go out of your way to set yourself up not to fail because our default is ease right? Our D our default is the easiest possible thing we can do. We’ve evolved in a way where we our bodies want to use the least amount of calories as possible, right because our ancestors never knew when there was going to be famine or you know, other really stressful circumstances.  

Rebecca Washuta : So that’s it’s super important. And I think we don’t give ourselves enough credit because people will try to do something and then maybe You know, three days in, they forget. And then they just throw in the towel where it’s like, you really have to work with a professional and put all these guards in place to set it up so that you can’t allow yourself to fail.   

Steve Washuta :   Yeah, that was well put, especially with concerning the habits, make it hard to fail is important. I think. And I’m going to talk a little bit about that. But before I do that, I think it’s impossible to not fail at some point. So I do think you also have to make is what what do you consider  

Rebecca Washuta : failure? Right? Because if you don’t give up, you didn’t fail. It’s a setback. It’s not like it’s not failure  to share.

Steve Washuta : Yeah, that’s a good perspective to have. But I think people most people don’t see it that way. So would they see it as they see it as an easy out? Hey, I tried this, Steve, I did what you said on Sunday, I went to the grocery store, I bought all the you know, the organic vegetables and fruits, so that I know that I spent the money on them in advance, and I would eat them before they went bad.  

Steve Washuta : Because what most of them went bad anyway, I was just too busy. I couldn’t do it. This isn’t for me, I’m gonna stop. So people are almost looking for an out. So make it hard to fail. Part of that is like you said, make it hard to fail, wherein that is not considered a failure. You not completing that task isn’t a failure. It’s a misstep at worst in this journey.  

Steve Washuta : But it’s not a failure. Because if you tell yourself that you failed, then you’re just going to people almost looking to fail out of these things to go back to normalcy. Because the first few weeks are so hard. As you know, in building these habits, it’s always those, everyone’s different, but it’s always those first 234 weeks, where it’s really hard to gain that momentum. And to and to make those habits stick and make a more permanent change.  

Steve Washuta : So I think making these things, when you set yourself up to say, Hey, I That’s why I always say don’t go zero to 60. Make these things easy. With your writing out your meal, or your workouts, let me stick to my expertise. If you’re writing out your workouts for the week, and someone who just gets off the couch and goes, I’m gonna start working out, I signed up for Planet Fitness, I’m gonna go there.  

Steve Washuta : And these are my workouts. And when I do these Monday through Saturday, it’s like, Let’s do much you’re gonna fail, or you’re gonna do you’re gonna do your version of the fail, wherein you only make it two or three times and then you feel like, Is this even worth it? I didn’t make it all these times. So just say, Hey, I’m gonna go twice this week, I’m gonna give myself a little bit of flexibility when those two days can be, and I’m gonna stay for at least 40 minutes.  

Steve Washuta : That’s it right. And then each week incrementally make things a little bit more difficult. But make it hard to fail means make it easy to succeed, going with the easy, the easiest thing, conquer that easiest thing, and then make it people are always thinking about the long term dream scenario, right? What does my body going to look like, in whatever next April when I go on this diet, and then I have to go to this cruise.  

Steve Washuta : That’s great to maybe have that floating around somewhere in the background. But But man, you can’t think about that on a daily basis, you just have to grind and go through the process and make it easy to succeed and hard to fail. 

Rebecca Washuta : For sure. I love that. I tell my clients when it comes to you know, their goals, you want to scale it back and you want to break it down, right? So if my goal is to run five miles, okay, scale that back to one mile, and then break it down, what do you have to do to get out the door and even run one mile in the morning, right, I have to get dressed, I have to feed the dog, I have to leave my shoes by the door because like there, you have to focus on small wins, right.  

Rebecca Washuta : So by that point, if you if you scale it back to one mile, and you can get out the door, you can reflect on all the things you’ve accomplished to get there. And then having the small wins again, is going to create a dopamine surge in your brain. And that’s gonna lead you to feel good. If you feelings of success also helped a wire and wire and habit.  

Rebecca Washuta : If you’re feeling like your goals are too big and you’re feeling like you failed, you’re never going to be able to stick with it. So what I tell my clients is Go big or go home is just not the answer for lifestyle changes, right? You’re not going to do something overnight. I think that 75 Heart program is terrible. I you know, I completely disagree with that. It’s small, consistent changes.  

Rebecca Washuta : And again, working with a nutritionist working with a trainer, they are going to encourage you to keep going it’s I think it’s impossible to fail when you work with us, right? Because when someone says Hey, Steve, I wasn’t able to get to the gym, or maybe I could only do to three, three pull ups today.  

Rebecca Washuta : Okay, well, you’re going to encourage them and say that’s completely normal, your body’s sore next week, you’re going to be able to do more. So I think when people do it alone, they are so much more likely to throw in the towel early because they don’t understand that it’s not a linear path, right? It’s not here to here it kind of goes like that, you know until you until you reach your goal.  

Steve Washuta : And that’s why it’s important to have a professional who understands the psycho approach to this game. Because it’s not just about the science. It’s about analyzing the person and then developing a game plan. You know, I have clients who chase that At physiological high from exercise, and those are people who I have to sometimes kind of pull back and give them other things to do.  

Steve Washuta : Because they have no problem working out. The problem is they go overboard, and they torture their bodies. And every day, they don’t get that high unless they go do their workout, right. So like, I need to, I then need to develop a different game plan for them to say, hey, you know, we’re gonna, we’re gonna take a step back here, I know everyday you think you need to wake up, you’re almost addicted to like going to Orangetheory and doing these hit type things.  

Steve Washuta : But we’re not actually getting to your goals, because you’re just burning a bunch of calories, getting the high in your brain, and then we’re moving on, this is not going to reach your goals, we have to do this a different way. And vice versa. There’s people who hate exercise, and you have to find the things that they will like, you have to talk to them and say,  

Steve Washuta : Hey, what is it that you do? Like? What are the things you’ve done before? Right? people’s health history in nutrition matters about what you’re going to give them now? Right? What have they done in the past is really important for what diet they’re going to give? Well, same thing in my game in my world, when I’m game planning, what have you done in the past?  

Steve Washuta : You know, I find out that they love tennis, it’s like, okay, well, let’s start playing tennis again, let’s maybe we should reintroduce that into your health and fitness regimen. Because you’re you’re gonna I know that you like it, I know that you miss it. So it’s something that you’re more likely to do rather than me just introducing Olympic lifting. So it is important to work with professionals who look at you as the individual and come up with a proper game plan.  

Rebecca Washuta : I love that. And and I’m such a big proponent of that if you come to me and tell me you hate kale, and you hate smoothies, that’s okay. Like we can work around that right? Like, what do you like? What are foods that you like? And I think you and I both really emphasize this when we start working with clients, what has worked for you in the past, what hasn’t worked for you?  

Rebecca Washuta : What do you like, because that’s important, you’re never gonna stick with it, you’re never gonna stick with a, you know, a diet that I give you. If you don’t tell me that you you know hate kale and I have kale Caesar salads on there.  

Rebecca Washuta : You have to you have to enjoy it in order for it to be a long term solution. And so, again, that’s why I think having a personalized plan and working with a team to come up with customized solutions that work for you and your lifestyle and your preferences is so important.  

Steve Washuta : remind listeners where they can find everything about you and your business from the habits to the nutrition.  

Rebecca Washuta : Yeah, absolutely. So you can find me on Instagram at Happy Healthy nutritionist and my website, happy health nutritionist.com All sorts of free guides there and information about my course.  

Steve Washuta : As a reminder, they truly hit podcast is on YouTube. And it is on every listening platform possible. So if you’re listening now rather than watching, just know that you can watch these podcasts.  

Steve Washuta: 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.

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