[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 1: Thank you all for coming.
I'm thrilled to be welcoming Kelly LeVeque to Google
today to talk about her wellness approach and her new book "Body
Love."
So Kelly, if you don't know, is a wellness expert,
nutritionist.
You have from many certifications--
KELLY LEVEQUE: Too many.
SPEAKER 1: --under your belt. But I really
connected when I learned about Kelly
with her scientific approach to health and wellness
and nutrition, and just found it really fascinating.
And kind of for me-- cut through a lot
of the clutter that's out there and just confusion
around what advice to listen to-- so super excited
to have her here.
And just to kick off, Kelly, you have a really unique approach.
And you love using scientific studies,
evidence-based nutrition.
So can you tell us a bit about how you developed that strategy
and what led you to your overall nutrition philosophy?
KELLY LEVEQUE: Sure, so I'd have to take you guys all back
to the beginning of my career.
I had an eight year career in cancer and genetics
where my job everyday was to read studies and determine
if they were biased or unbiased, if they had
significant p-values like how many people were involved
in this study.
Who was funding it?
What was the goal?
And was it correlation versus causation?
Which you find a lot in nutrition studies,
because if you think about it, it's
really hard to determine if an apple a day is good for you
if one person's eating cheeseburger,
another person's eating fries, and another person's
having a Fab Four smoothie instead.
But what it was for me was always a passion, always
something that I've loved.
So I've loved health and nutrition
since I was probably 13 or 14 years old.
I was that girl who read diet books in high school when--
I mean we joked about this when I got here--
when I was not allowed to watch "The Simpsons" or "90210."
But I was allowed to read those books.
And it was something that obviously was a hobby
and then became more.
Because what I was able to do once
I learned how to read those studies and go into--
you guys have Google Scholar, which I love.
It's a great place to find studies.
I can look up what I'm--
something that I'm searching for whether it's the benefits
of curcumin, which is the active ingredient in turmeric.
Or what's better, two meals a day or six?
There's a lot you can get from the research.
And understanding how to read the research
allowed me to just mine that nutrition knowledge and figure
out what I thought was the most important.
And what I kept finding was that there
were a lot of things that overlapped.
Whether you're eating a Mediterranean
diet, or an Atkins diet, or a paleo diet, or a Keto diet,
or your blood sugar balance, or you were Weight Watchers,
I kind of just didn't want the eat and do not eat list.
I just wanted to understand the science
and say, how am I going to feel my best.
How am I going to stay fueled?
How am I going to stop snacking on junk
when I wanted to reach for Goldfish?
I grew up on Goldfish.
Those are great.
But for me it was really trying to decipher what was
the most important thing here.
And that came down to what do your--
what do your cells need to proliferate?
Because your body is constantly breaking itself
down and rebuilding itself.
You rebuild your body about nine times over your life.
So I wanted to know what did my cells need.
And then what's going to make me feel my best
and perform and function my best?
And so that's kind of what led me to my philosophy, which
is a light structure around eating that isn't an eat
and do not eat list.
Because I think for a lot of people who decide,
oh, I'm never going to eat rice again, well, what
happens when you go on a trip with your husband
to Japan, like I just went.
Am I not going to have sushi?
Of course I'm going to have sushi.
But it's understanding well, what
do these macronutrients do?
How do they break down in my body?
How do they make me feel?
And making choices around food based on that knowledge--
so that's also kind of how it all happened.
SPEAKER 1: So coming out of learning all that research,
what are some of the biggest biological takeaways that you
want to communicate to men and women?
KELLY LEVEQUE: Sure, well a lot of you guys
got a copy of my book.
And I talk about something called the Fab Four,
which are, I think, the four categories that I think
are important for you to be aware of,
the first being protein, the second being fat,
the third being fiber, and the fourth being greens.
And by greens I mean vegetables like leafy greens, things
deep in color.
And the reason for that is that you
have essential amino acids, which are from protein,
that your body needs.
You have protein stores in your body
that are used to rebuild these cells that we break down.
The programmed cell death is apoptosis.
So if your body says, oh, this cell is not functioning right,
you'll kill it off.
You'll rebuild it.
And that's what I was talking about when
I said your body breaks itself down and rebuilds itself.
So you need protein to do that.
I don't by any means think that you need 200 grams a day.
If you're on a bodybuilding website,
that might be the recommendation,
but something around 20 to 30 grams at each meal.
And there are going to be meals where there are less.
And there are going to be meals where there are more--
but just to keep those stores up.
Fat-- I think fat is really important.
And I think there was a big period of time where
people ditched fat, because it's higher in calories per gram.
And if you're a calorie counter, that's
a really easy way to cut calories, right.
But when it comes to satiety and feeling full and calm,
which is so much about my philosophy--
I'm just all about eating food that turn off--
turns off hunger hormones so you don't have to think about food.
Fat is really good at doing that.
When you eat fat, your body releases
a hormone called cholecystokinin,
which is a really strong satiety hormone.
I mean think about it.
If you're going to have chicken and steamed
broccoli versus chicken, broccoli, and a pesto sauce,
I mean obviously you're going to feel a lot more satisfied when
you're adding fat to that.
And that's also going to slow the digestion of that meal
and elongate your blood sugar curve,
so we aren't reaching for snacks,
which is another thing that I like people to do--
is add to their plate instead of depriving themselves.
And things to make something last longer in your body.
And fat does a really good job of helping you absorb all
of your fat soluble vitamins.
There was a study that came out on avocados.
And by adding avocados to a salad,
you're actually increasing phytochemical absorption
by over 300%.
So when you think about those nutrients
that you're trying to get, those anti-oxidants
that are fighting the oxidative stress of day-to-day life,
you're not going to get there without the fat.
So I love fat.
And then fiber and greens comes down to your microbiome.
It comes down to detoxification.
It comes down to feeling full.
So the physical stretching of your stomach does something.
It helps your body with the hormone called ghrelin.
And ghrelin I like to think of the gorilla hormone.
If you don't have that physical stretch of your stomach,
you're going to be starving.
You just want to eat all day long just grabbing for another
leaf, but-- or hopefully a leaf--
sometimes not-- but the real stretching of your stomach.
So when we grab a green juice--
I know juicing became really popular.
Grabbing a green juice, you're not really turning off
that hunger hormone.
So you're going to be hungry later.
And then the greens, specifically leafy greens,
great source of fiber, great source of phytochemicals.
But also the source of a sugar, a sulfur-based sugar that
feeds your probiotic bacteria.
So when you think about all of the gut
bacteria in your body, 10 cells of bacteria
to every human cell on your body,
you want to make sure that that's proliferating
and that you're just really a walking around ecosystem
of bacteria that's giving off gases, free fatty
acids, and things that tell your genes what to do.
So for longevity purposes, detoxification purposes,
whenever you can say, I'll just add a cup of spinach
to that smoothie, or I'll get a side salad to start my meal,
I mean it's a great way to stay full.
It's a great way to get really good nutrients, too.
So those four things, I think, is my way
of helping people turn off hunger hormones
and elongate their blood sugar curve
and eat an anti-inflammatory diet.
So instead of just saying, oh, I can't have this anymore.
And I can't have that anymore.
And I'm not having gluten, or I'm not having dairy,
or I'm not--
it's a lot of "I'm not," which creates a lot of food drama.
I like to say, OK, look at my plate.
Do I have a good source of healthy fat?
Can I add olive oil or avocado to this?
Can I add slivered nuts to this so
that it will make me feel a little more full.
So that 3 o'clock doesn't roll around and I don't go, oh,
is it time for a brownie?
Because we're all going to get that depressed feeling around 3
or 4 o'clock where a coffee, a brownie,
a cookie sounds awesome, and that's a hormonal thing
that's happening inside of you.
It's also due to the fact that whatever you had at lunch,
your blood sugar can go up and come down on average
about three hours.
So depending on when you eat lunch between 12:00 and 1:00,
that crash is going to happen.
And if we can elongate that window,
you don't have that crash.
And we can be aware of the way that we're hormonally
going to react at that time.
We can have strategies to deal with it, move through it,
and hopefully continue to eat clean.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, so what are your top tips then
for elongating that blood sugar curve.
You touched on your Fab Four items.
But how does that actually play out in our bodies?
KELLY LEVEQUE: Right, so if any one of you guys have heard--
for example, if you had a sweet potato, or you
had a sweet potato with coconut oil, or almond butter,
or grass-fed butter on it.
The actual adding of fat slows down
the digestion and breakdown of your food.
And when you add greens and fiber, the breaking-- your body
has to physically digest those things.
And your digestion happens with two chemical byproducts,
hydrochloric acid.
Which if you have acid reflux, that's that feeling, right.
That's the acid.
You want that acid.
It's really, really good.
Actually, a lot of time when people have acid reflux,
we're finding that they actually have not enough acid
to bring their stomach acid down low enough
to shut the sphincter between your esophagus
and your stomach.
So would be interesting, if you do
have that issue, to talk to a functional medicine MD
and see if you can add a little hydrochloric acid to your diet.
And the other thing is enzymes.
So think about everything that you eat.
It needs to be digested like a brick wall.
And enzymes and hydrochloric acid dissolve the mortar.
And you absorb brick by brick or nutrient by nutrient.
So the more that you can add fiber and fat
to your meal, the slower that digestion happens,
and the longer you feel fueled and satisfied.
SPEAKER 1: That's great.
So here at Google we're presented with a really unique
food challenge.
Food is basically everywhere.
We're never more than a hundred feet away.
Most Googlers eat about two meals a day here.
Plus we have kitchens with snacks all the time.
So what do you think is a good, smart approach to buffet style
eating, constant presence of food situations?
KELLY LEVEQUE: Yeah, I mean you guys are definitely--
we call it-- well, you can call it a perk.
Or we can call it a challenge.
I think if I was here, I would be like, it's a perk.
Oh my gosh, it's a challenge, because it's almost like you
guys are on a cruise ship 24/7 or back
in college with the meal card.
I think you really have to focus on your hormones.
You really have to focus on shutting down those hunger
hormones early.
And I will say, I do have clients
that were in LA that work at Google,
that work at Netflix, that work at Facebook.
And they're challenged with these same type of perks.
And the thing that I would say is
it's probably really important that you fuel up
with a good breakfast.
And I talk a lot about the Fab Four smoothie in my book.
And what I talk about is that it does a really good job
of keeping people full, sometimes until 1:00 or 2:00
in the afternoon where they're not thinking about food.
Which is interesting, because a lot of times when people
have the opportunity to come in and have a buffet,
they decide--
they opt out of breakfast.
And they decide, oh, I'll just--
we get free food at work.
So I'll just wait until we're eating at work.
And then if you are getting to a place
where you're so hungry by the time lunch
rolls around, that hunger can really
derail those healthy choices.
Because when have you ever when you're starving,
and you're trying to make a healthy decision,
you order a salad.
And it comes with a French baguette.
And you're that hungry.
Odds are you're probably going to go for it.
So my advice would be know who you are.
Know how hunger affects you.
And if you can, if you're the person who ends up
over eating because they've waited too long,
and they're in a crash, craving, hungry state,
then do something about that in the morning.
Make that healthy choice.
And know that the perk is always here.
Right, you always have food all around you all the time.
Eating to satiety and making those meal choices over snacks
is going to serve you in the long run.
Back in the '60s, people didn't snack. '50s and '60s,
snacking wasn't a thing.
You had three meals a day.
We had way less disease states in regards to type 2 diabetes.
There wasn't insulin resistance.
We didn't have metabolic syndrome.
We weren't being faced with this.
And this is all based on the fact that there's food
around us all the time, right, and especially the food that
gives off dopamine.
Right, if you were to have a brownie or my Flaming Hot
Cheetos, or--
think about probably what you're being offered here.
Not only is that a source of fast blood sugar
that's going to hit your brain.
But it also releases dopamine like a drug,
sometimes as much as eight times as--
eight times as strong as cocaine.
So to feel like you're not addicted to those type of foods
and that you can just make non-emotional food decisions
around them is a little silly.
You're going to feel those connections.
And food is laced in with memories, and emotions,
and relationships.
So I would say especially here at work,
don't make the indulgences, the little mini kitchen,
crappy snacks.
Right, it's not-- it's not the healthiest decision.
So try to make sure that you're fueled up at meal time
so that you're not feeling the urge to do that as often.
SPEAKER 1: So we live in a really strong fad diet culture.
There's advice coming from a million different directions.
So how do you approach distilling
the right information and finding actual facts that you
believe in and want to promote?
KELLY LEVEQUE: Well, there's a lot of really amazing nutrition
research.
But we're in a state-- we're in a day and age where
we have Google, and Google Scholar,
and bloggers, and people like Tim Ferriss, or Dave Asprey,
or you name it, people who are sharing a lot of information
based on studies.
And I like to look at these as tools.
I don't over analyze them.
I think, I say, oh, intermittent fasting, that's
pretty interesting.
Tell me about that OK, well what is intermittent fasting?
It's a limited time of eating.
And how can that benefit someone?
It can increase insulin sensitivity.
It can lower hepatic or liver fat.
It can lower belly fat.
It can lower cravings.
It is really good and healthy, so how can I implement it?
I look at it as a tool.
And I say, OK, what kind of person am I?
Am I the kind of person that can get up in the morning,
just have coffee and tea, and not eat until 2:00 PM?
I'm not that kind of person.
I wouldn't probably be fun to be around.
But I also see, OK, that's really interesting.
How can I implement that in my life?
I'm definitely the kind of person
that I'll get up have breakfast, have a lunch,
maybe have a light snack at 3 or 4 o'clock and then say,
I'm going to skip dinner tonight.
But I'm going to eat to feel full and satisfied.
So making the choice to not--
to have a-- have a bone broth dinner or to skip dinner
is a lot easier than white knuckling it for me
until 2:00 PM where I can't concentrate and can't focus.
So all of these things are tools.
And if you understand them on a biological level,
like the bullet proof coffee is a great example.
Why is that popular?
Well, fat like we talked about really is a great--
does a great job at releasing a satiety hormone in your body.
It also has the less--
the least and lowest response of insulin.
So say you had to a donut for breakfast.
That donut immediately turns to blood sugar.
I like to joke around about emojis.
I think about the donut emoji floating in my bloodstream.
And that's my blood sugar ratcheting up, right.
Insulin's the hormone that picks up that sugar
and starts to put it away in your body.
It will store it in your liver, in your muscles.
And if there's no space left, it's storing as fat.
And the process of converting it to triglycerides
is a little bit inflammatory.
And insulin is one of those hormones, a chemical messenger
to store fat.
So what's so great about bullet proof coffee?
Well, it's going to turn off some hunger hormones.
Or it's going to release a satiety hormone in your body.
And it's not going to release a ton of insulin that's
going to make you store fat.
It's going to keep your body in that fat burning state.
So all of these things are just tools for you guys.
And generally if you can just think,
I want to generally eat healthy.
What do my cells in my body need?
Cool.
If you want to be paleo, or Keto, or vegan, or vegetarian,
that's fine.
But you still need to understand blood sugar.
I was telling a friend the other day,
I don't care if you're a Keto as long as your fat sources are
healthy, like clean sources of fat.
I don't care if you're vegan or vegetarian
as long as you understand your blood sugar
and you understand what's releasing--
what's turning into blood sugar and how much insulin
you're releasing.
And I don't care if you're paleo,
but let's pick healthy sources of protein.
Can you get in touch with a company like Butcher Box
to deliver grass-fed protein to your door?
Or can you go to a farmer's market
and make those healthy choices?
Because just because you're bucketing yourself
in a lifestyle diet doesn't mean that you're eating clean.
So it's more about understanding the biology
and then being able to say, oh, I'm Keto today.
Or I'm paleo tomorrow, or I'm vegetarians on a Friday.
But understanding your blood sugar
and understanding the science of that kind of sets you free.
And that's honestly what the book was about
was teaching people blood sugar so they
understood, when I eat something,
what's happening in my body.
I have that donut.
My blood sugar goes up.
My blood sugar is going to start crashing at 90 minutes.
And all of a sudden I'm going to want a morning snack.
I'm going to feel the crash.
I'm going to want a bar.
I'm going to want an apple.
I'm going to want to use caffeine to push myself
through to lunch.
And I'm going to release a ton of insulin.
And it's going to tell my body to start storing fat instead
of burning it.
And that insulin is going to last for six to eight hours.
So from a donut you start the time clock of insulin.
And you turn it off six to eight hours later.
So I like science, because I don't feel bad
when I make a decision to say, yeah, it's my anniversary.
And bring me the creme brulee and the glass of wine.
But I also know--
SPEAKER 1: And that way you're not cheating.
KELLY LEVEQUE: Yeah.
SPEAKER 1: Or you're being aware.
KELLY LEVEQUE: There's no such thing as cheating.
It's a choice and knowing, OK, so maybe I'm
going to release a lot of insulin.
And my blood sugar is going to go up,
and it's going to crash down.
And tomorrow morning, yeah, I'm probably going to want a bagel.
But how do I turn off my hunger hormones and push through that?
Maybe I make a chocolate almond butter smoothie.
And I feel calm and full and make it to lunch.
And then start the healthy train again.
SPEAKER 1: So what are two of the biggest mistakes that you
see people make eating a lot of the time
now in regards to their nutrition or fitness.
And what are your tips for avoiding or redirecting
from there?
KELLY LEVEQUE: Yeah, well I mean, I think everyone--
to each their own, right.
And we all have a different experience.
And there's a lot of bioindividuality.
But I will say that the idea that big bowls of acai
or big smoothies that are all fruit are healthy is a mistake.
There's no way that you would sit down
to a banana, an apple, and a pear,
and a whole head of Romaine and--
and eat all of that in one sitting.
And when you talk about the amount of fructose that is
and where it's metabolizing.
Fructose metabolizes in--
100% in your liver.
And it's hard on your body.
It gives off free radicals.
Which is kind of interesting, because fruits
are high in anti-oxidants.
So I think that that's so amazing the way nature works
that we metabolize fruit.
We give off free radicals.
They have anti-oxidants to neutralize it.
I just think that that's super cool.
You just would never sit down to that many.
And I see people do it day after day after day after day.
And then they're having glasses of wine at night.
It's metabolizing in that same liver.
We don't need three to five servings of fruit a day.
A serving a day I think is great--
a great way to get anti-oxidants.
But to start your day on that blood sugar roller coaster
where half of the fruit is being metabolized to blood sugar
where you go up and down.
And half the fruit is being 100% metabolized in your liver
and giving off free radicals, I would say a serving is probably
a good place to start.
And then second would be the idea
that we need to be working out-- or eating before we work out.
There's a really big idea that we
should be having a small protein and fat-based snack before we
work out or a bar.
And people get worked up about it.
I have had clients who have always done it.
And so it's really scary to think,
I'm not going to have a bar before I
go to this HIIT training class.
And I'm going to feel nauseous, and I'm not
going to feel great.
But this is your opportunity for your body to kick in.
Not only will your liver release some blood sugar
so that you can actually get a great workout in.
But this is the time where your body will
release a hormone called glucagon
to bring blood sugar back up.
And what glucagon does is it lowers bad cholesterol.
It decreases belly fat.
It's anti-inflammatory.
I mean we just never use it, because we're always
eating and then having a snack and eating again.
And our blood sugar never gets low.
And our body doesn't bring it up naturally.
So there's also a really big benefit to working out fasted,
especially in the morning.
You get a huge surge of human growth hormone and testosterone
that does a great job of burning away fat
and holding on to lean muscle mass, which
is just great for the body.
SPEAKER 1: Awesome.
So you just published your first book this year,
"Body Love," which is awesome.
KELLY LEVEQUE: Thank you.
SPEAKER 1: What was your approach to writing the book?
And what did you most want it to teach readers?
KELLY LEVEQUE: Well, I do feel like there was a lot of-- there
are a lot of people out there that didn't really
understand blood sugar.
They might have read Atkins or Mediterranean--
the Mediterranean diet.
Or they might read about balancing their blood
sugar in "Health" or "Shape" or whatever magazine.
But I don't think that there were--
I didn't feel like there was a real understanding of how
it worked.
And I didn't see anything out there that simplified it enough
to say, no, this is exactly what happens when you're only having
a piece of toast for breakfast.
Your blood sugar goes up.
90 minutes-- we're starting to crash.
You feel hungry automatically an hour and a half later.
At three hours, you're hitting that low blood sugar state.
You're feeling like, yeah, I absolutely
have to have a snack now, right.
And I just think knowledge is power.
And so I tried to simplify it and then give
people a really light structure, easy plan to say,
I can do this.
It isn't about deprivation.
It isn't about cutting things out.
It's really about enriching my life, adding to my plate,
and learning how to elongate those windows between meals.
Because a lot of the science is pointing
towards less meals being healthier for us
in the long run and elongated windows between meals being
really good at increasing fat burning and even
brain functioning, which is super cool.
SPEAKER 1: I've heard you talk a bit about your husband's
less healthy eating habits.
KELLY LEVEQUE: Yeah, that's real.
SPEAKER 1: And I think in this community, too, it surrounds--
I mean eating is a big thing here at Google.
We go to lunch with people.
We grabbed snacks or froyo with our teammates.
So how do you like to approach eating with people that you
love and making that a communal experience while still staying
true to what makes you feel your best?
KELLY LEVEQUE: Sure, so my husband's Instagram
is bebadbychris.
I'm bewellbykelly.
He is trolling me on the internet.
He posts pictures of pizza, and ribs, and burgers, and fries.
And he pops champagne bottles.
We keep it light, because that's real life, right.
So in no way do I eat 100% perfectly.
And no way am I, when I'm stressed out, feeling
like I don't want a brownie.
That's a real thing, right.
I want dopamine, and I know where to get it.
But the thing for me is in the celebration.
How often is it happening?
How often are you getting froyo with your team?
Is it every week?
Do we need to be celebrating a team meeting with froyo
every week?
And so what I tell people is start with the Fab Four.
If you go to a party, search out your protein,
fat, fiber, veggies.
I mean there's got to be a crudite somewhere
and some chicken somewhere.
And then think about the celebration.
And ask yourself who are we celebrating?
I mean is it your birthday or your coworkers?
Do you know the coworker who's birthday party it is?
Ask yourself who you're celebrating.
And save your celebrations for you.
Celebrate your anniversary.
Celebrate your birthday.
Celebrate on vacation.
I think we're always looking for reasons to celebrate.
And now we have all these horrible days
like National Brownie Day, National Donut Day.
It's Champagne Day.
And it's like an insta phenomenon.
But what I would say is just try to ask yourself,
am I celebrating myself or the people that I truly care about.
And if you are, then you need to celebrate, not
feel bad about it, and not take guilt forward into the future.
And then the second thing would be--
would be not only who am I celebrating,
but why am I-- why am I celebrating?
Or why am I drinking?
I think that's a really important thing to think about.
Are we drinking to feel comfortable in a networking
social situation?
Are we drinking with our best friends
and opening a bottle of wine to laugh like old times?
Because I think it's really different if you're just
feeling uncomfortable going into a networking event
and grabbing a glass of wine, because you're like,
oh, I don't know anyone.
Hurry, quick, feel comfortable.
And so I always challenge my clients
to never drink to feel comfortable.
Drink to celebrate.
SPEAKER 1: Totally, so we have some time now for the audience
to ask a few questions.
So you can think about questions you have for Kelly.
We can start that off.
AUDIENCE: Hi, thank you so much.
So my husband also doesn't eat super healthy.
And I try to cook healthy for us at night and whatnot.
But what do you--
I mean you love your husband, and you
want him to be around for as long as you're around, right.
Do you guys have conversations around how
the food that he's eating is impacting his health
and his cholesterol maybe?
KELLY LEVEQUE: Yeah.
AUDIENCE: My husband has bad acid reflux.
And so he's taking Prilosec every day.
So what can I do to help him?
And then I'm going to pile on a little bit.
I chew gum a lot.
I wanted to know what you think about that.
What is that-- why am I doing that kind of thing
from a science perspective?
And then I also usually want a piece
of chocolate after my lunch.
And why am I doing that?
[LAUGHTER]
KELLY LEVEQUE: So we're going to attack this in three parts.
First, your husband.
Yes, I think it's always really important
to give positive reinforcement.
So for Chris, when we first got together,
he had chicken and rice.
That was his healthy meal.
And he had cereal for breakfast, but he
would have the whole box.
And then it really was up for grabs.
I mean we were young when we met in our early 20s.
And I mean he came from a frat house
to living with a bunch of guys.
And he was just eating out.
And so my whole thing is we have something
called "fat Chris Friday" where he gets
to order whatever he wants.
And if that means he--
and he's an adult. He can make all his own decisions.
I don't-- I care, because I want him to be here for the long
run, right.
And I want him to be healthy.
And I want him to feel good in his body.
And so yeah, I mean, that means he'll sometimes
order a pizza, burger, and fries on a Friday night.
That's the truth.
But the thing is when he knows he
has that, he'll make healthier decisions throughout the week.
And I just support him.
I make clean dinners.
And if he needs to have--
and he does this.
He'll have a rice cake with peanut butter
after if he doesn't feel satisfied by that.
Or he'll do-- and note that's a pretty healthy decision, right.
But he's on the green smoothie train.
So what I started doing when we first
moved in together six years ago was I'd make a green smoothie.
And I'd put peanut butter in it instead of almond butter,
because he likes that better.
And then I'd give him his.
And he got used to it and really liked the way he felt.
And it became something where I'd always
compliment him and say, oh my gosh, so much
vitamin K, so many phytochemicals.
You're just-- this is the most--
just lots of positive reinforcement and always
supporting the process.
And then I mean if it's a Reuben, fries,
and for IPAs when I'm not around,
or even when I am around, it's his life, right.
So I would say definitely support him.
Along with the acid reflux stuff,
I definitely would search out a functional medicine MD.
There's a company that's here in San Francisco
called Parsley Health.
It's a membership-based, VIP type of medicine company
where they're going to do gut bacteria.
They'll take cortisol test to see if there's stress.
They'll do an acid reflux test.
He might have a food allergy that's causing this acid.
He might also have a low acid, which
is causing an inability for his sphincter to close tightly
without having acid reflux.
You can also check to see if he has any type of hernia
there inside.
Second-- the gum thing.
So artificial sweeteners-- we taste sweet.
And some people's liver--
livers will-- or pancreas will overreact and release insulin
at just the taste of sweet.
So that's kind of interesting, because it's almost like you're
giving yourself a taste.
But you're never going all the way there with real sugar.
Right, my biggest recommendation for people who have a gum issue
is to get-- and I have one here.
It's an herb pharm.
It's an organic herbal spray.
And they do peppermint, spearmint, cinnamon.
It's a real essential oil.
And it's like old school Binaca, but it works great.
And you can give it a spray and--
to kind of clear your breath and also
stop the chewing, because you just don't want
to perpetuate sugar cravings.
Also fake sugars feed bad bacteria
like candida and yeast in your gut, which also,
when they overgrow, make you crave more sugar.
And we all have a certain amount of yeast--
candida and yeast growing in our body at all times.
You just never want that to overgrow.
Fake sugars like Splenda, aspartame, that all feeds that.
And then what was your third question?
AUDIENCE: The chocolate after lunch.
KELLY LEVEQUE: Oh, yeah, and so I have a fix for that.
It's called freezer fudge.
It's in the book.
It's a sugar free coconut oil, almond butter,
and unsweetened cocoa powder.
You blend it.
You melt it, blend it together, and put it in ice cube trays.
And you pop it.
And it's healthy fat, but it tastes like fudge.
And it can kill the craving.
You can use a little bit among fruit or a little bit of stevia
if you really need the sweet.
But also a dark piece of chocolate works great.
And I would just say, have it right after.
Don't wait.
Right, because if you wait, and then you just have the sugar,
then it becomes a blood sugar thing.
But if we have it together, we can actually
keep the fat and the protein.
And the mixed macronutrients of our meal
will help that elongated curve.
And that's a habit thing.
SPEAKER 1: The same thing with stevia.
Can stevia also make your--
KELLY LEVEQUE: Unfortunately, yeah.
It's the newest-- the newest studies are showing that
we're getting--
we're not having the blood sugar response.
But we're getting the insulin response,
which is a bit of a bummer.
Because we can't have our cake and eat it too anymore.
Yeah, yes.
AUDIENCE: And since I'm the mic [? gal, ?] I'm
going to piggyback.
What percentage of-- or if it's dark chocolate,
do you have a percentage of cacao?
KELLY LEVEQUE: I just go 70 up, yeah.
AUDIENCE: Hi, so you actually just
touched on what I wanted to ask about,
about having the dark chocolate or chocolate with--
close to the meal.
So I understand what sugar in the form of whatever it takes
does to your insulin.
I understand that fat helps turn off the hunger hormones
and provides a lot of satiety.
But I'm less sure about--
I hear a lot of if you're going to have a piece of white bread,
have it with fat and with protein.
And the overall insulin spike in your blood is not as high.
Is that true if I really can't give up a carb, which
I can't right now, in a meal?
Does having more of the good healthy fat,
like if I have toast with avocado on it,
does that actually really help my insulin spike, and how much?
KELLY LEVEQUE: Yeah, well, I'd have to--
we'd have to prick you and test you to find out how it really
works in your body, because everyone's a little bit
different.
And people's blood sugar response
also has a lot to do with their gut bacteria.
Because if you think about it, you
have this tube that runs through your human body.
And you have this layer of bacteria.
And if you don't have antibiotics,
take medications, and you have--
you eat fairly clean.
And that fiber and greens keeps that ecosystem growing.
Then they ferment a lot of the carbohydrates that we eat
and sugar, which can lower your blood sugar response.
So what I would say is yes, absolutely.
Try to choose whole grains, or maybe a sweet potato,
or a squash, or something like that.
And yeah, I would absolutely have it with the meal.
Keep it in a serving size.
A great rule of thumb is net 30 grams of carbohydrates.
So a lot of times if you look at the total carbohydrates
and the fiber, subtract the fiber from the total and that
will give you net.
So that would be, for example, a half a cup of quinoa.
A lot of times when I sit down with people,
they go to these places.
And I think you guys have one here
in San Francisco where you can literally not talk to a human.
And a quinoa bowl pops out of a microwave type of a box.
But that's two cups of--
two full cups of quinoa, which is
close to 100 grams of carbohydrates.
And there's only so much space in your body
to store that as fuel.
And when we store it as fuel, it's
like a little goes in our liver.
The rest goes in our muscles.
If there's no space left, your body
still has to bring that blood sugar down.
It's not just going to hang out high for very long.
So I would say yes to a starch.
I would try to maybe look at each meal of the day and say,
is there one meal where I cannot have a carbohydrate.
AUDIENCE: I was just about to ask, sorry, as a follow up,
if there were-- is it really better
to not have it with dinner versus lunch?
I mean I understand you're less active after dinner.
But I can run after dinner if it means I could
have a starch with dinner.
KELLY LEVEQUE: Yeah.
AUDIENCE: Because I want it more with dinner
than I want with breakfast or lunch, but like--
KELLY LEVEQUE: I like bookending it.
So yeah, I would like for someone to either--
which is why I created the fruit free smoothie in my book.
It has protein.
It has fat.
It has fiber like chia flax.
It has a handful of greens.
It can be flavored like matcha.
It could be flavored like chocolate almond butter.
It doesn't have to-- it could be savory,
sweet, filling, thick, not like a thin juice.
Right, so you can skip that fruit spike in the morning.
And then I just tell my clients when
I meet with them one on one, can you
pick between lunch and dinner?
If you're more emotional at dinner,
and you can get away with making a big salad at your cafeteria
here, loading it up with veggies, adding avocado,
getting a good healthy fat on there, and you're like,
I can make it to dinner, great, you
should do that and not worry about
if one way or another is a little bit better.
What I would say if you're a big starch night person,
I would say, let's try to move dinner back.
Don't be the European 11:00 PM dinner person.
Can we pull dinner back?
Can we can we have dinner at 6 or 7 o'clock at night.
And if that's not feasible, maybe two nights
a week, you commit to having dinner at 5:00 or 6:00.
Then all of a sudden you're getting the benefits of what
would be an intermittent fast.
And you're letting your body deal
with the sugar consequence, no problem.
We work around.
AUDIENCE: OK, I like have kind of two questions.
So fasting, I was always under the impression it can slow down
your metabolism.
So I wanted to hear your thoughts about that.
And then also, I always wake up hungry.
Someone could feed me in bed.
That's how hungry I am when I wake up.
And so I'm wondering if that's a problem
or if it has anything to do with metabolism, too.
KELLY LEVEQUE: No, OK, so first things first on fasting.
So there's a guy named Brad Pilon.
And he tried to do his thesis on--
his book is called "Eat, Stop, Eat."
He tried to do his thesis proving that fasting
killed your metabolism.
And he proved the opposite.
It actually increases your metabolism.
At 24 hours worth of fasting, your body
releases human growth hormone and testosterone, which
holds on to lean muscle mass.
And lean muscle mass is your metabolism.
You start to oxidize fat in your mitochondria
instead, which is super awesome, right.
But what happens when we are lowering our metabolism
is when people become at a calorie deficit.
If you decide that you--
your metabolic burn is, let's say, 1,800 or 1,500 calories
a day, and you go, oh, I want to lose all this weight.
I'm going to try and eat 900 or 1,000 calories a day,
which is crazy.
You should never do that.
Your body will eventually catch up and lower your metabolism.
Some things can happen like the lowering
of like your heart rate.
Your organ functioning goes down.
Your brain functioning goes down.
And that's your body going, oh, this is all we're getting.
So we're going to respond.
And the cool part about fasting is
you can eat the same amount of calories
and fuel yourself the same way in a smaller feeding
window, which is why intermittent fasting is
becoming so popular.
And then your second question was about eating in the morning
and being starving.
AUDIENCE: I always wake up hungry [INAUDIBLE] breakfast
immediately.
KELLY LEVEQUE: Cool, I think it probably has
to do with a number of things.
If you were a kid whose mom got you up and was like,
time for breakfast, and that's been a habit for you
for a long time, it's probably the case.
And honestly, if you have growling or you
feel sour stomach, and you're like,
yes, I want to eat something right away, the studies, I mean
granted they're a little bit older,
but they all show that breakfast eaters weigh less overall,
have less food anxiety, and have less scale change
than non-breakfast eaters.
So even though intermittent fasting and Bulletproof coffees
and all of these things are really popular right now,
I would say you got to stick with what works for you.
And if you're looking to tighten up
in any way, which you have a totally adorable frame, so you
don't need to do that, or push yourself,
I wouldn't start with breakfast for you.
I would say, can I do a fasted workout in the afternoon?
Or can I put a workout in the morning?
Or can I eat dinner earlier?
Or hey, let me switch out my rice for cauliflower rice.
Little things like that can make a bigger difference for someone
like you than trying to jump on a fad,
if it's not working for you personally, yeah.
Yeah.
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
AUDIENCE: I just wanted to get your thoughts on multi-vitamins
or collagen powder and whether that's something
that you recommend.
And if so, which ones?
KELLY LEVEQUE: Yeah, I do really like collagen. Primal Kitchen
Collagen Fuel is great.
Vital Proteins is great.
Collagen was not popular for a long time,
because it's only a few amino acids versus something
like grass-fed whey or pea protein,
or even now the beef powder proteins like the paleo
proteins.
Because what we used to think is,
oh well, I need all the amino acids.
If collagen is only four or--
so-- and these other ones have 12 or 13.
They must be better.
Well, if you're eating protein at lunch and dinner
or have other sources of protein in your life,
collagen is a great source of protein.
Because not only are you getting the amino acids that your body
needs to synthesize protein, but there was an animal study that
showed that actually we don't-- what we used to think is that
you would digest and dissolve all of that collagen into its
individual amino acids.
But now we know that a certain percentage of those collagen
strands are being absorbed in their whole form, at least
in animal studies.
So it doesn't correlate to human studies.
But it is pretty cool that as we age,
we synthesize less collagen. So giving your body the inputs
to make it is great.
And then when it comes to multi-vitamins,
I would just be particular about the type of multi-vitamins.
All of the percentages on the side of those that say
recommended daily value are based on really old research.
So there's a company called Ritual which just came out
with a women's multi-vitamin.
And they took the studies and brought them up to date
and increased the dosages for current deficiencies in women.
But there are certain brands like Thorne and orthomolecular
products and certain multi-vitamins
that I think are good.
I think if you really wanted to know
if you needed to take a multivitamin,
you could do a vitamin testing with a type of functional MD.
But I always say my base is to get someone a multi-vitamin.
I think it's a good-- because I've had clients with a B12
deficiency or B6 deficiency.
And they're not hitting goals, and they don't know why.
And they're trying so hard.
And then we find out, oh, you have a vitamin D deficiency.
Or you're an inflammatory-- you have a high omega 6
content and low omega 3 serum content.
So the Ritual has the omega 3, the Ds--
the D, the Bs.
And I think it's another fun tech company that's
like $30 a month.
And they tell you everywhere they source their product.
The problem becomes when we walk into CVS
and just grab one off the shelf.
And it's not the bioavailable form.
Or It's kind of a me too product, too, with supplements.
People-- I could go out and make a supplement tomorrow.
I could call a company and say, I
want you to slap my name on the side of this bottle.
But for me it's like, I'm going to let the people who
are professional at doing this like a Ritual or a Thorne
or one of those do it, because they've proven themselves.
So I would say yes to collagen, yes to multi-vitamin.
My favorite things in multi-vitamins
would be B vitamins, omega 3, vitamin D.
And then on top of that if you have a sleep issue or digestion
issue, magnesium at night and a probiotic.
Those would probably be my--
I'm pretty minimal.
And if I can get it in one form, I'm like, that's perfect.
I could take two pills in the morning.
SPEAKER 1: OK, I think we could do one more question.
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
I just wanted to ask you about the connection between
[INAUDIBLE] and quality of sleep and those false cravings that
we have--
food craving.
And it seems like if you don't have enough sleep--
have more craving and vise versa.
So what's your thoughts about that?
KELLY LEVEQUE: Yeah, you're absolutely right.
That feeling of wanting more food and specifically
carbohydrates is very real.
You have an increase in hunger hormones with lack of sleep.
I mean if you've ever had a really great night's
sleep, like eight hours, and it may be as a Friday,
and you wake up Saturday, and you don't feel as hungry
and can easily get away with smaller meals,
That's a real thing.
So there's an increase--
a decrease in the sensitivity of leptin with poor sleep, which
is a hormone that comes from fat cells that tells
your body that you're full.
And insulin sensitivity is decreased.
So we have a little bit of an issue putting blood sugar away,
which also makes us more hungry.
So yeah, I mean that's--
sleep is one of those things if I have goals for a client,
whether it be a movie role or red carpet, a wedding,
you name it.
If I have a timeline person, sleep
is one of the number one things we work on.
Because again-- really derail our progress, absolutely.
SPEAKER 1: Well, thank you so much.
KELLY LEVEQUE: Yeah, my pleasure.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, Kelly will be here for a few minutes
if anyone wants to pop up, get a book signed, say hi.
But thank you so much.
Loved hearing from you, I hope everyone else did, too.
[APPLAUSE]