Episode 18 of Fast Keto: Turn on Your Brain & Supercharge Your Body with Keto

Episode 18 of Fast Keto: Turn on Your Brain & Supercharge Your Body with Keto

Celebrated ketogenic nutritionist and best selling author, Leanne Vogel is here sharing major insight in the pursuit of health. Vanessa and Leanne talk all about how to turn your brain on, heal and balance your hormones, "Carb Ups" and how they work and played a huge role for Leanne, and even the carnivore diet! Leanne has made it her mission to serve up keto free videos, The Keto Diet Podcast, recipes and keto-friendly resources on her blog, healthfulpursuit.com. 

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Show Notes

Timestamps

• Robin Switzer talks about the super exciting things to expect on KetoCon Austin 2018. [00:03:27]
• Introducing Keto Diet nutritionist/author/host, Leanne Vogel. Leanne talks about where people can see her during her upcoming book tour. [00:09:12]
• Leanne talks more about her book and where she plans on touring to introduce it to people. [00:14:10]
• Our keto nutritionist shares her journey to finding the ketogenic lifestyle. [00:14:59]
• Can keto help repair hormonal dysregulation in women? [00:27:04]
• Discussion of what our body's compensatory mechanisms are in terms of cholesterol regulation. [00:30:42]
• Tests Leanne recommends to people to do when they're looking at or they might suspect that their hormones could be off in any way. [00:31:14]
• Is having hormonal balance different depending on the person? [00:33:39]
• Leanne's take on managing hormonal imbalance through collaborating with physicians and following prescription medications. [00:38:54]
• Do you recommend taking information to a hormone specialist and requesting specific tests to be done, or can they do it with a lab or online? [00:42:23]
• What kind of doctor/specialist do Leanne recommend to people if they are looking to have their labs analyzed from a nutritional standpoint? [00:45:59]
• What does keto mean to you? [00:47:40]
• Leanne's opinion regarding carnivore keto diet. [00:50:40]
• Is doing carb ups helpful with cycle and weight loss? [00:55:08]
• Is there any concern with combining high fat and high carb? [00:56:53]
• Leanne's message in relation to body love, body positivity, and self-love? [01:00:53]
• What are three things that totally blew your mind that you learned from some of your guests on your podcast? [01:04:56]
• Are there any influencers or people in the health space that inspire you more than others? [01:08:15]
• If you could put a billboard out there for everyone to see what would it say? [01:10:08]
• What are you really excited about right now? [01:11:35]
• Leanne shares her diet styles and patterns. [01:13:37] 

People Mentioned

• Robin Switzer http://certifiedketogenic.com/robin-switzer/
• Lisa Saff Koche http://spectrawellness.com/what-we-do/
• Jeffry N. Gerber, MD, FAAFP https://denversdietdoctor.com/about-dr-jeffry-gerber-md/
• Dr. Ryan Lowery
• Rebecca Scritchfield https://www.bodykindnessbook.com
• Linda Bacon https://lindabacon.org
• Nina Teicholz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Teicholz

 Selected Links from the Episode

• Keto Essentials: 150 Ketogenic Recipes to Revitalize, Heal, and Shed Weight by Vanessa Spina. https://www.amazon.com/Keto-Essentials-Ketogenic-Recipes-Revitalize/dp/1628602643
• Subscribe on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/ph/podcast/fast-keto-with-ketogenic-girl/id1344681226?mt=2 or your favorite podcast app.
• Fast Keto with Ketogenic Girl website http://fastketo.libsyn.com/website
• Ketogenic Girl website https://www.ketogenicgirl.com
• Ketogenic Girl on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRbb6xK4GpWtUIc9wxknKTw
• Ketogenic Girl on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Theketogenicgirl/
• Ketogenic Girl on Twitter https://twitter.com/search?q=ketogenic%20girl&src=typd&lang=en
• KetoCon Austin 2018 https://www.ketocon.org
• Healthful Pursuit's Happy Keto Body Program com
• Spectra Wellness http://spectrawellness.com
• Denver Diet Doctor https://denversdietdoctor.com

 

Transcript

 

Vanessa:                [00:00:00] Hey guys! Welcome to Fast Keto. I'm your host, Ketogenic Girl.

[00:00:17] Hey guys! Welcome to this week's episode. I am super pumped today.  We have Leanne Vogel joining us today of Healthful Pursuit, the author of The Keto Diet book, Keto Diet podcast. I always love getting to chat with Leanne. We just did a podcast last month, episode 83 of the Keto Diet podcast called Reaching Optimal Ketosis. It's just so much fun chatting with Leanne. Not only is she a wonderful person but we have so much in common. We are both ketogenic authors but we're also Canadian born women who are really passionate about keto. We both travel fulltime. [unclear 00:00:57] has been travel fulltime in the US, and my husband and I travel pretty much full time in Europe. We just have so much to talk about every time we chat. I love talking with her.

[00:01:10] Today, we talked about so many things that she's such a wealth of knowledge on including being a keto nutritionist which is so so cool. She has such an interesting perspective on healing hormonal balance with keto, with fixing your hormones, her own experience with it, with talking about what keto means to her, with how she eats now, talking about carb ups which is really a term that she coined. We even talked about carnivore keto.

[00:01:38] We get to talk about so so much. I hope that you enjoy the podcast as much as I enjoyed getting to chat with Leanne. I would love to hear what you think of it so be sure to leave any comments on Instagram. I always love hearing from you guys and what you think of each episode, so. I know you'll enjoy hearing so much from Leanne today. But today I also have Robin joining us from KetoCon. She's talking a little bit about what you can expect from KetoCon which is happening in a couple of weeks in Austin. I will be there. Leanne will be there. So many incredible people in the keto space will be there presenting. It's going to be such a fun event.

[00:02:18] Before the episode begins with Leanne, we talked a little bit about KetoCon and the event itself. Also, if you haven't checked out my cookbook yet, it's called Keto Essentials. It's available on Amazon. It has 150 of my most favorite ketogenic recipes. It has tons of info on how to get into ketosis, how to analyze your results, and so so much more. Check it out on Amazon under Keto Essential. Be sure to leave me a review if you get a chance or tag me in photos of any recipes that you make. I love getting to see those.

 

Vanessa:                [00:03:03] Robin, it's so great to have you here. I am so excited for KetoCon. It's coming up in just two weeks.

Robin:                     [00:03:10] I know. I can't believe it. It's coming up so quickly that you know when you start planning an event like this a year in advance it feels like it's never going to happen and then all of a sudden you only have two weeks left to put the finishing touches on everything. So, its super exciting.

Vanessa:                [00:03:26] What are you the most excited about, do you think?

Robin:                     [00:03:27] Oh goodness. Wow! So, this event has just grown so quickly to a level that we just didn't really know what to expect. So, for me, the most exciting part is just seeing on opening day when the doors open, and the speakers are coming in and the exhibitors have already been set up, and you know the momentum starts to build. The excitement is just kind of--. Even talking about it I'm starting to get goosebumps.

Vanessa:                [00:03:54] Me too. Me too. I think conferences are just always such incredible things to be a part of because they become so much larger than the sum of its parts, and so much magic happens from people connecting and sharing ideas. This should bring together so many people who are so passionate about health. It's just incredible looking at the line of speakers that you guys have.

Robin:                     [00:04:16] Yeah. It really is exciting. You really mentioned something that's so poignant about the things that happen as a result of these events that you really don't, and you can't plan for. That was something that I walked away from the event last year. The feedback that I got that they felt that the community was so inclusive, and they walked away with collaborative plans and relationships with other keto star companies that brought them into more plans and more growth. Being part of that is super exciting.

Vanessa:                [00:04:51] That's so fantastic. I do love the keto community. I think one of the best things from all of this has really been the friendships and new connections that I've gotten to make with obviously people who are interested in similar things but also just such incredible people. I love hearing that you're saying that people's feedback was that it was so inclusive, and that people got to make so many connections. That's something that people can really look forward to coming. What are some other fun things that people could look forward to?

Robin:                     [00:05:19] We have 77 booths filled just outside of that.

Vanessa:                [00:05:24] Wow! That's a lot.

Robin:                     [00:05:25] It's a lot. Last year we had 30 so it's grown exponentially. We're super excited about that. But also, happening all the same time with all that activity on the second floor of the hall we have breakout session rooms. So, there's a general attendance breakout session rooms where we have additional speakers and that is open to everybody in the hall and is pretty basically first come first serve as long as we have seating in that room.

[00:05:51] And then we also have the VIP breakout session room which is a much more intimate environment. More of a one on one with -- Not really one on one. More like 35 on one but it's set up as a breakout room for speakers with just the VIP ticket holders, so they have access to a more personal conversation with those speakers. That goes on from eight o'clock in the morning on Friday until 6:30 on Friday night. And then on Friday evening immediately after the show closes there's a dinner scheduled for the VIP attendees and the speakers and their guest. That's being held at an offsite venue.

[00:06:31] We're super excited about that. Big project to plan. And then Saturday, we start all over again. Eight o'clock in the morning until 6:30. And then Saturday evening we have a huge "Keto Cocktail Mixer" scheduled. There's a handful of exhibitors and speakers that have collaborated to plan this event. As soon as the show is over, everybody is going to kind of be shuttled outside to underneath a canopy area outside of the venue and it will be catered and there will be a bar.

Vanessa:                [00:07:02] Yeah. So, that's on the Saturday or the Sunday?

Robin:                     [00:07:05] That's on Saturday night after the show. And then Sunday we start all over again and the show opens again in eight o'clock so it's kind of like a whirlwind for three days. There's just so much going on, so much excitement. It's a lot of fun.

Vanessa:                [00:07:19] Awesome. Well, I am so looking forward to it. It sounds like there's going to be so much great content, great keto food, great connections and new friendships to be made. I really can't wait to be there. Thank you for putting on this great event. I hope that people will be able to get their hands on any remaining tickets. They can do that at… Is it ketocon.org?

Robin:                     [00:07:40] Yeah. They can still purchase tickets on ketocon.org. We'll also be selling tickets at the door as long as we don't surpass our capacity we'll continue to sell tickets.

Vanessa:                [00:07:50] Awesome. Well, thank you so much for telling our listeners all about the show. We hope to see lots of you guys there. I look forward to seeing you there too at the show, Robin.

Robin:                     [00:08:00] Thanks so much, Vanessa. We're really looking forward to meeting you and hear you speak as well.

Vanessa:                [00:08:04] Awesome.

 

Disclaimer:

A few disclaimers. By listening to this podcast, you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice as I am not a qualified healthcare provider. The information presented on this podcast is for educational purposes only. Ketogenic Girl is not qualified to provide medical advice. Consult your own physician for any medical issues that you may be having. This entire disclaimer also applies to any guest or contributors to this podcast.

Prior to beginning a ketogenic diet, you should undergo a full health screening with your physician to confirm that a keto diet is suitable for you and to rule out any conditions or contraindications that may pose risks or that are incompatible with a ketogenic diet. A keto diet may or may not be appropriate for you if you have any kind of health condition whether known to you or unknown, so you must consult your physician to find this out. Anyone under the age of 18 should consult with their physician and their parents or legal guardian.

 

Vanessa:                [00:08:52] Hey Leanne!

Leanne:                  [00:08:53] Hey! What's up?

Vanessa:                [00:08:54] Not too much. It's really fun to have you on the show. I've been actually really really looking forward to this. No surprise there. I'm really pumped that you're here today.

Leanne:                  [00:09:02] Yeah, thanks so so much for having me Vanessa. This is great. I always love chatting with you. I just said that, and I'll say it again.

Vanessa:                [00:09:09] Yeah, exactly. It's like thank you for the time.

Leanne:                  [00:09:12] Yeah.

Vanessa:                [00:09:12] You were just saying that you guys are about to do your book tour. Where is your first stop?

Leanne:                  [00:09:19] Someplace in Canada. What was it again? It's near Toronto. It's funny. I don't manage any of this anymore. My husband makes sure that I'm in the right place at the right time. It's Guelf, Guelf in Waterloo. We start on June ninth.

Vanessa:                [00:09:32] Oh cool.

Leanne:                  [00:09:33] Yeah, in Guelf in Waterloo. And then we do national -- Tampa, Austin, Houston, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Detroit. It's a mixture of places I've been before because people were very vocal about me coming back. And then new places because other people wanted to see me. So, that's really fun.

Vanessa:                [00:09:51] That's so awesome. You must be pretty excited to get started.

Leanne:                  [00:09:54] Yeah. I love… I love going on tour. It's probably my favorite thing in the whole world with my work. I just love it.

Vanessa:                [00:10:03] Yeah. I feel like getting to experience that was probably the highlight of everything I've ever gotten to do just from getting to meet everyone. It's also the most nerve wracking and scary thing I ever did but like "Wow!" Just to get to actually meet so many people in person and see and feel the love and all that and spreading it to hug so many people was like the coolest thing ever. I totally feel you there.

Leanne:                  [00:10:31] I agree with you on the hugs. Like when you work online and you're providing content to people and you're just hoping that it resonates and then you get to see these women and like hug them and talk to them, it just makes it so personal and amazing. I agree with you. It's literally the best ever.

Vanessa:                [00:10:51] You sound like you must be a hugger too.

Leanne:                  [00:10:53] Oh, yeah. I love hugs. It's awkward when you meet those people that don’t like hugs and you go in for a hug, and they're like "I don’t hug." It's like "Ooh, burn. Oh, sorry."

Vanessa:                [00:11:06] Yeah. I don't want to say but the limp handshake. I mean we've all been there. I got one actually yesterday and I was like "Hugging just avoids all of that." Like you sidestep that completely because you just go in and it's really hard to shut somebody down when their arms are open and coming for you.

Leanne:                  [00:11:26] Yeah, exactly. Exactly. When I lived in Montreal for a while, I learned that you do the hug and the kiss. Like that's a thing. I got very accustomed to hugging and kissing. That was really awkward for a very long time when I moved back west, and I was hugging and kissing people. They're like "No." That's boundary crossed.

Vanessa:                [00:11:49] Apparently in Africa they kiss four times. We had a family friend who went there and came back, and she did four separate kisses on the cheek. It was a lot. One kiss on the cheek. Were you doing like the kiss on the cheek and the hug?

Leanne:                  [00:12:03] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kiss on the left to the right.

Vanessa:                [00:12:04] Yes. It's very nice. My family is half from Quebec. I think that's where I get that extra affectionate side. It's so nice to get to share that. Also, with strangers it's kind of like an icebreaker in a way. If you can just hug someone, I mean that's it's not appropriate at all events, but it probably should be. But at a book signing, yeah, it's so fun to just get to connect with people and meet them. I'm so so excited for you.

[00:12:31] Your book has been such a runaway success. I am not surprised at all that people are clamoring for you to come back and do more. How amazing that you get--? Is it the second one or maybe even third one that you do?

Leanne:                                    [00:12:43] It's the fourth.

Vanessa:                [00:12:47] No way! Oh my gosh! That's incredible.

Leanne:                                    [00:12:51] Yeah, four in one year.

Vanessa:                [00:12:52] Wow! That's incredible. No wonder you're living out of like--. What do you refer to your vehicle?

Leanne:                                    [00:13:01] Well, if you ask Kevin, my husband, it's a motor coach. I just call it an RV.

Vanessa:                [00:13:06] Motor coach, okay. RV, okay. Because I know there's like different terms. I'm like very not educated on the different terms. It's my fantasy to live in one like you are but I can totally see why you guys have been doing that now.

Leanne:                  [00:13:19] Yeah, it's actually kind of a juggle to be in different places and plan your life when you live in an RV, so it'd be so much easier to do all of this from like a home base, but life isn't meant to be easy. If it's easy and everything's always the same -- were chatting about that yesterday -- it's like I knew every day for the rest of my life would be very similar and now I don't even know what I'm doing tomorrow and where I'll be so it's nice.

Vanessa:                [00:13:46] That's so amazing. I know you guys mentioned before that you were planning on maybe doing a little bit of it in Europe too. Are you guys still thinking about that?

Leanne:                  [00:13:55] Oh, yeah. We don't totally know what it will look like just yet but my husband's originally from Germany and I haven't seen a lot of Europe. I used to work there but only certain pockets, so I haven't explored Europe.

Vanessa:                [00:14:10] Has your book been translated into any other languages?

Leanne:                  [00:14:14] I know it has but I don't remember which one it is. It's kind of all like a blur.

Vanessa:                [00:14:21] Yeah. That's really cool though because it'd be really cool for you to get to do some of your book tour maybe in Europe. I'm sure people ask you all the time.

Leanne:                  [00:14:30] Yeah. That and Australia. That would be so fun.

Vanessa:                [00:14:33] I know. Australia would be amazing. It seems like there's such a huge huge paleo, low carb, keto force in Australia and New Zealand. Tons and tons of people are into fitness a lot too so it kind of makes sense.

Leanne:                  [00:14:50] Completely. Yeah. I have always wanted to go there. That would be too cool.

Vanessa:                [00:14:55] It's happening. It's going to happen for you. That's incredible. I see that a lot.

Leanne:                  [00:14:58] Yeah, I feel it.

Vanessa:                [00:14:59] I hope people will get to catch you on this fourth installment of your book tour. That's incredible. Well, for anyone who is out there and hasn't heard of you, in the keto space there's probably maybe one or two people, but anyone who doesn't know your story maybe you could share a little bit about it for those couple of people out there.

Leanne:                  [00:15:21] Yeah, you bet. Oh, for the book tour you can go to ketodietbook.com/tour to see the dates and the places if you're curious. Okay.

Vanessa:                [00:15:28] Awesome.

Leanne:                  [00:15:29] My name is Leanne. I studied nutrition about 11 years ago. I've been vegan. I've been paleo. I've done all the different diets you could possibly imagine. That was really to lose weight even though looking back it would have been cool if I just embrace my body from the very beginning. I would have saved a lot of time, energy, and money, and probably been healthier at this point but you know things happen.

[00:15:56] My life path was a different one and so I went off birth control right when I was studying nutrition. I never got my period back. Fast forward seven years and I'm an athlete. I'm trying to gain muscle and I can't. And so, I found the low carb diet to try to get my hormones back online. Then I found keto, so I was like "Okay. I'm going to do this keto thing for 30 days, see what happens." It was the best 30 days of my life. That was four and a half years ago. Since then I've been able to get my period back. I've gone off my ADD medication. I'm just a better human overall.

[00:16:29] I was chatting about this yesterday when I was recording on my podcast, the Keto Diet podcast, just that keto does something around like the one-year mark for most people where it's like all of a sudden you see life in a different light. I think because your brain is just so lit up. All your mitochondria are doing awesome things. You have more of them. You're just a different human being. You've created this different brain and think things mean different things to you and all of a sudden I was like "Who am I? What am I doing? Why am I so obsessed about this weight thing? How can I show up in the world in a different way? How can I serve people?" And I never would have had this conversation with myself being vegan or carb fueled. That was really cool. That's really what I do now is just sharing the good word of keto specifically for women with more of a gentle tone to it than eat-this-not-that, you're-bad-if-you-do-this, and test your ketones and all the crazy things that get us really obsessed about it when it really doesn't need to be. So, that's me.

Vanessa:                [00:17:39] What you just said was so incredibly profound. I need to take a moment. The way you vocalize how keto changes the brain, I've been experiencing so many of the same things. I honestly say I feel like superwoman since I've gone in a keto diet. I don't say these things to hype it. I don't say these things to like to overhype it in any way at all. Just sharing my personal experience because I don't want people to do keto when it may not be the right thing for them. I really really don't want that. But honestly, for myself personally, putting the fat back in my diet, I didn't realize how deprived my brain was of fat from all these years of being fat phobic and coming from that diet culture and being so obsessed with the way that my body looked and felt that I was like I always say I was using like the spray can of oil and even that scared me. I literally was so scared of fat because I thought eating dietary fat meant that you would have adipose tissue on your body. I was terrified of it. Now that my body is getting all these incredible fats and not just the fats it needs but also ketones. I mean there's a reason why it's having such incredible therapeutic benefits with Alzheimer's and all these conditions. It has to do with I know the brain not being able to uptake glucose probably but there's something to it. I love the way that you put it. I love the way that it's made me reassess things too about what's really important. I never really made the connection till just now so thank you for putting it that way. It's really powerful.

Leanne:                  [00:19:11] Yeah. It's like a spiritual experience. It really is. There's just something to it. I mean it'll be cool if there could be research about this. What exactly happens? Why does this happen? But I think just experiencing it is enough for me to just be like "Okay. Well, there's something to this." I really hope other people can experience it. I mean even back when I had an eating disorder kind of thinking of how amazing this would have been to feel this way throughout treatment I mean there's so many thoughts that go through my head on the whole fat.

Vanessa:                [00:19:46] Wow! That's amazing. It's so true because when you are in a disordered eating pattern as well like if the brain is being deprived of not just fats but other nutrients as well like how much that contributes to the cycle of it. That's incredibly powerful too. I love how--. I'm not sure if you're familiar with Bitten Johnson. She's an expert on sugar addiction.

Leanne:                  [00:20:13] No. I'm not actually.

Vanessa:                [00:20:15] I met her at Keto Ladies event this spring in Majorca and she talks about how that's one of the first things that they do is really just trying to get the diet right at first from the beginning because it helps so much with sticking to it in itself. The diet itself keeps it going. Anyway, I'm digressing. I want to just focus on you and what you've done and what brought you to keto.

[00:20:38] What I really find fascinating is the connection that you have, and experience that you had with keto and hormones and losing your period. That's pretty unusual for someone to lose their period. I guess with amenorrhea, is that after three consecutive cycles or how many cycles is that? I don't really know.

Leanne:                  [00:20:56] I feel like it is three. There's two different types of amenorrhea. The one where you never get a period, so you hit your teenage years and you just never get it, that's one. Then the other one is the cessation. You had a period and then it went away. I blame birth control a lot for it because I think had I not been on birth control I would have found out much sooner that my hormones were messed up. The worst thing I hear on a daily basis is like "Oh yeah, my hormones are fine. I get a period." I'm like "Well, are you on birth control?" They are like "Yeah. Yeah. I get it." I'm like "That's not actually a period. That's not a natural period."

[00:21:33] And so, you can think that your hormones are fine, but I got away with more for a longer period of time when I got off birth control. I was prescribed birth control when I was fifteen, so I had only been having a period for like less than a year because I had acne and my doctor was like "This is the best way. This is hormonal acne. Just go on this and you'll be fine." That was the option. I had gone on Accutane a bunch of times. I think it was three separate rounds of Accutane. My skin was horrible. Looking back, it was because I ate dairy. I'm so allergic to dairy. I went on birth control and that just started the rigamarole of my cycle.

[00:22:17] I had an eating disorder and that didn't help things. I think had I lost my period sooner throughout that experience it would've been like "Oh, okay. Well, that's one more drop in the bucket." But you know looking back I didn't really care about what was happening to my body. I think if I had lost my period then it would have been like that. Even when I did it wasn't a big deal. I mean so many of us--. I was chatting with a doctor the other day about amenorrhea. She was like "Well, that's a great thing. You didn't have your period in your 20s, it's awesome." I'm like "What? No." That was the response I got from so many doctors. They were like "Well, do you want kids?" "No." Like that's a problem. This is the most powerful biomarker. Forget blood work. Forget testing your ketones. How's your period?

Vanessa:                [00:23:05] Right. I know like--. There's a friend of mine in the keto space, Ximena De La Serna, and she always says like whether you're planning on having kids or not you need to be ovulating. It is such an indicator of overall health.

Leanne:                  [00:23:20] Yes, completely. And also, intuition. There are tribes. I'm not exactly sure. I can't remember which tribes and where it is but where when the women get their period they go into this tent to be like all intuitive and like make decisions and do stuff. That's awesome.

Vanessa:                [00:23:36] Yes. I always heard about that. That they kind of isolate themselves. I always thought it was because the village made them do that but if it's a spiritual practice and you're going in there to commune with your spirit and it's a full moon and all that, I love all of that.

Leanne:                  [00:23:53] Me too.

Vanessa:                [00:23:54] Do you think that the birth control--? You were saying that that's kind of where it started. Is there a connection to that with hypothyroidism and adrenal dysfunction? You're saying just generally having low hormones?

Leanne:                  [00:24:07] Oh, yeah. Man, probably. Because your hypothalamus really controls the game for all of that. I mean it's so hard to pinpoint from my own experience. I think it was a bunch of different things or a combination of activities and things I should have been doing to my body. It's really interesting now when I do those things. If I fast for too long or I don't eat enough I can get spotting, or my period is really painful, it comes early, I miss it. If I work out too much, I'll skip my period that month.

[00:24:43] All these activities that I was back then like not eating, or not dieting, not eating enough fat, really pushing myself at the gym -- I was a marathon runner so I was training a lot for so many different events. And then, I got into triathlons which only made it more hardcore. I was pushing myself too far. And so, I think the way I like to think of it is this three-legged stool with your hormones. You have your thyroid, your adrenals, and your hypothalamus. When one of those go out, like think of a three-legged stool, if you get rid of one of those legs that still cannot stand. It just falls over.

[00:25:24] And so, it could be that you're not eating enough, you're forcing yourself to fast, you're really pushing yourself at the gym. That's going to affect your hypothalamus. When your hypothalamus goes down those other two don't do very well. Same with your adrenals. If you are always stressed out… It's interesting. My husband Kevin doesn't display stress like a normal person. He is never really stressed. It's very strange. But when we tested his cortisol, I have never seen that high of cortisol on a human being.

Vanessa:                [00:25:57] Really?

Leanne:                  [00:25:58] Yeah. How his body was able to just like cope with that I don't even know. It was really interesting. I really coursed in to like "Okay. Let's just test your cortisol. Let's see. Let's see what's really going on." because I knew it was like there's no way he could do what he was doing and not be high cortisol.

[00:26:18] And so sometimes people say "Well, I'm not stressed. I'm fine." It's like that's not an indicator at all." I think for me it was that perfect storm. I'm sure you see that too with women that are just pushing themselves so hard giving themselves so much to other people and feeling like we have to be these like athletes when we have full time jobs and families and then we have to show up at Cross Fit and be like the number one athlete in the gym. It's just too much. It's just too much. So, that was my experience. Once I removed all of that and completely redesign my life, it was like, my period came back. Now I know, as soon as I go back to the gym and I'm doing high intensity interval training and I'm pushing myself too hard, I don't get a period. It's as simple as that. It's crazy.

Vanessa:                [00:27:04] Wow! I mean I think it's so important that you're sharing this. I was lucky I didn't take the pill and so I probably avoided some of that hormonal dysregulation. I definitely got it from other things like dieting culture and stuff but it's so many of the things that you talked about. So many women have taken the pill when they probably didn't need to. It is a very strong drug. I mean the things that it can do and the fact that you have to repair that or that you can repair that with keto is amazing so I'm so glad that you're sharing that and helping women to find that balance back especially with keto. Do you think that's kind of the best way to do it?

Leanne:                  [00:27:45] Yes, for some people. It's hard. Like for me I was eating vegan so my insulin… I had a lot of insulin issues. In fact, right when I found keto, my [unclear 00:28:01] was like "You are kind of on the verge of like metabolic issues. If you keep doing whatever you're doing, you're going down the road of diabetes. This is going to happen for you." It wasn't something that would have happened in the next six months but the fact that I was showing markers in that way was kind of concerning. And so, I think if we're filling ourself with carbs, we're pushing really hard, we're not getting our period, what I really needed was a massive boost of cholesterol. Like my cholesterol is so much higher than it was when I started keto.

[00:28:35] When you start to understand cholesterol and how it works, I know at first when I got my first test and my doctor was like "Uhm, so have you heard of statins before?" I am like "I am not going there." And right when my cholesterol was at its highest that's when I started getting a period. That cholesterol is--. Think of it like the precursor for the sex hormone you have in your body. You need that cholesterol. If you're starving yourself of fat and your body can't produce it -- because your body creates over 75% of the cholesterol in your body, it's not dictated by what you eat but if you don't have that precursor it becomes very challenging for your genes to express themselves properly because it's a genetic thing. I would say that if a woman isn't getting her period, fat is definitely the answer. Is keto the answer? Maybe but I feel fat 100% plays a role in that whole thing.

Vanessa:                [00:29:31] That is so so interesting. I never really heard it put that way - the connection with cholesterol and your cycle.

Leanne:                  [00:29:38] Oh yeah. It's so important. It's so important. If you have a doctor that--. And I'm sure you know this too. It's like if you have a doctor that's saying "Oh my gosh, your cholesterol is high. This is danger! Danger!" Please ask them for an NMR test and that will tell you what your LDL particles are doing. If your LDL Particle A comes back really high, then it's kind of an issue but LDL Particle A is also increased when you have any gut issues specifically like parasites. If you just went to Mexico and downed all the water, your LDL A could go up. There's a lot of reasons why it can be high as well. I mean the cholesterol issue is such a big one and it's something that some of my family members struggle with and they won't listen to me and it's so frustrating that they're eating low fat and all the things their doctors are telling them to do. Sometimes you just got to sit back and be like "I'll be here if you need more help but yeah I'm not concerned with my cholesterol and I really love that I have the cholesterol I have to have the hormones that I do."

Vanessa:                [00:30:42] Well, I find that cholesterols can be a complicated topic but the way that I've read it communicated the most simply is just the body's going to make a certain amount per day whether it's 1000 or 2000 milligrams. Whatever you eat that day in terms of cholesterol, if you eat some eggs and you get like 300 milligrams of cholesterol your body will just compensate either by making less or by making more depending on what you're eating. Is that what you found as well?

Leanne:                  [00:31:12] Yeah, exactly. Totally.

Vanessa:                [00:31:14] So, it's really not the danger marker that we've been told it was which has more to do with the connection which we've now proven to be or that is being proven to be erroneous. It's just that the connection between eating fat and having heart disease being a marker, but I love the test that you mentioned. Are there other tests that you recommend to people to do when they're looking at or they might suspect that their hormones could be off in any way? Do you recommend people test their thyroid? What are kind of some your go-to?

Leanne:                  [00:31:47] Oh my gosh. How much time do we have? No, I'm kidding. It's not that complicated. If you're concerned specifically about your sex hormones, things like blood tests that you can get, specifically morning cortisol. I really really really love saliva cortisol tests. It's a lot more accurate, I find. But a morning cortisol test is really good. And then a full hormone panel such as estradiol, free testosterone, total testosterone, progesterone, pregnanolone, DHEAS.

[00:32:21] One that doctors don't really test for which I always love to is your SHBG, that's your sex hormone binding globulin. With that test if it's super super high, so basically think of sex hormone binding globulin as these little Velcro pieces that go through your blood and attach to hormones so that hormones can't do what they want to do. SHBG is a good indication of a ton of stress in your life, or plastics, toxins. Like what are you washing your clothes with? What makeup are you using? If your SHBG is too high, it's attaching to all the hormones that you want out doing its thing. If your SHBG is too low, it could mean that it's not attaching to enough hormones, so the hormones will be really really high.

[00:33:12] And so, it's a fine balance between having enough but not having too much. And the cortisol will kind of point to like where you're at with your stress. And then the estradiol and of course the progesterone will depend on your cycle. The best time to test is between day 17 to 21 of your cycle because that's where you can find the best… It should be the best balance of both estrogen and progesterone.

Vanessa:                [00:33:39] It's so interesting because you have to have all these different levels. Is having hormonal balance different depending on the person?

Leanne:                  [00:33:48] It's funny. I was just chatting about this yesterday about blood work and how when you're on a ketogenic diet and you go in for blood work and people are like "Oh my gosh, your levels are too high/too low." It's like we're comparing normal ranges of glucose fueled individuals who were sick and then say you're on keto and you're a healthy human being and your levels are weird. It's hard because we don't have a lot of data on what happens to your body in a ketogenic state specifically women and even I mean pregnant women and nursing women and what happens in these states when you're ketogenic. Maybe you've been ketogenic for six months. I'm in for years. I mean my body is still doing crazy things and improving when you're comparing that to other levels. So, I think that there's a delicate balance for each individual.

[00:34:41] A great example is my free T3 needs to be 6.5 and this is US and Canadian numbers. It's the same no matter where you are. I think it's Europe. So, 6.5. My T3 needs to be 6.5. I chatted with a guest for the podcast and he say that when his free T3 is 2.9 that's when he feels good. So, you can see… I mean some of my clients too like women feel really great at 3.5. If I'm on a 3.5, I'm in bed. I'm not eating. My hair is falling out. My skin is peeling off my face. So that's a really good example of your normal… Like I'm on the high end of normal. When I go to a regular doctor and they see my free T3 at 6.5 they're like "Do you have hyperthyroidism?" I'm like "Nope." I need to be there.

Vanessa:                [00:35:37] Wow! That's so fascinating to me because I think there are so many things even we're starting to see various vitamin levels in the body and what those mean and how those kind of levels of vitamins are even like protein intake all these different things are different when you're on keto and it's so cool to think about them because just as you said we're comparing blood tests and things which we're so limited with a population that is mostly not doing keto. So, it'll be so interesting to see more and more data come out about what those things are. But in the meantime like you said it's important to just figure out what those magic numbers are for you as an individual instead of maybe relying on kind of an average based on a population that's not reflective of you or may even not be well.

Leanne:                  [00:36:30] Totally. Even if blood work is completely not an option for you, you can also go off how you feel and symptoms that you have. If you are always really tired and you feel like your cortisol is messed up, DHDA really helps with your adrenals so you may find that your DHDA is low, so you can kind of get around it. It just gets a little bit dangerous like supplementing with hormones. I've seen this a lot especially with DHDA because it's available in the US for just anyone to pick up and take it.

[00:37:02] The dosage starts at like 50 milligrams. If I take 50 milligrams for two days I'm actually physically ill. And so, it gets a little bit dangerous when you're just picking up some desiccated thyroid at the health food store and some DHDA and you're just like "Oh, let's see what happens." You just need to be careful with that. There is science that you can point to, but I highly recommend testing until you get your levels in a place and then maybe test once a year just to make sure that they're still okay.

 

Vanessa:                [00:37:31] Hey guys, just taking a really quick break to talk about the 28-Day Ketogenic Girl Challenge. If you're interested in doing a ketogenic diet for yourself, it's a great place to start. I teach you everything about how to follow a keto diet to get yourself into nutritional ketosis. It includes 28 days of meal plans. It comes with weekly shopping lists, how to interpret results, how to test yourself, a complete guide to getting started on keto. If you've been keto for a while and you're just not getting the results that you want to in terms of your health or fat loss or you are brand new to keto, the 28 day challenge is a great option because it also comes with my free coaching and support in our member's Facebook group and you can post any questions that you have about the meal plans, about keto, and I am there supporting you. We have an amazing community in our group. I like to call it the happiest place on Earth because everybody in there is so excited about following keto, about having found something that really works well for them. Everyone in there is just so kind, caring, generous, and supportive. It's a really fun place to be and hang out. If you like more info on it, you can find it at ketogenicgirl.com. It's the 28-Day Ketogenic Girl Challenge. Now, back to our interview.

 

Vanessa:                [00:38:54] Great! And there's probably a lot of health partners or physicians out there that you can work with to subscribe the right levels to. I mean I know a lot of it is probably guesswork and playing around with things. Especially if you're kind of empowered and you can bring in materials with you to go and see your doctor and maybe work with them so they're a partner with you on it. I couldn't imagine going out and getting my own things. You can order probably any of these things online too and just playing around with them. Yeah, I think that's great advice. You definitely want to make sure that you're getting the right amounts and prescribed to you from again actual doctor, physician, or endocrine specialist.

Leanne:                  [00:39:36] Yeah, because it can get a little bit tricky with hormones. You just want to make sure that you're setting yourself up for success. I mean even progesterone creams and those sorts of things that are really helpful. If you've tested your levels and you're low, 100% let's do it. I think that there's… A lot of us get ashamed and I was definitely ashamed when I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism it was like a really big deal. I was super ashamed for a really long time that I was taking desiccated thyroid to help my thyroid. I even said on podcast videos like "Don't worry guys. I'm going to get off this stuff and medication." But there's a time and a place for medication and it's totally changed the way that I see prescriptions.

[00:40:19] It's like there are some prescriptions that are super helpful. I take desiccate thyroid. It makes it so that I can get up early and record a podcast with Vanessa. Otherwise I'd still be in bed and be really grumpy and not a good human being. And so, that's okay. That makes me show up in a different way, but I think when we rely on medication and we're not getting to the underlying cause like antidepressants, there's a time and a place for antidepressants. I think I've worked with so many clients and so many friends and even myself personally where I was on the verge of going to antidepressants because I just couldn't handle my life because I wasn't eating enough fat. Now I can't imagine going on them. Sometimes it's just we need to avoid these things and sometimes they're there to actually help us to get out of a not so awesome situation.

Vanessa:                [00:41:07] Yes. I think that's such a great point because they are life raft for so many of us. To have those things is invaluable. All of this, like getting so much incredible nutrition from healthy foods and nutrient dense foods is so helpful but that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with taking medication. It's just like you said. It is not being dependent on them especially if maybe there's a potential for you to live without them. But I think Synthroid is… I think [unclear 00:41:36] said it's like the biggest selling medication or drug in the US. The market for it is insane.

Leanne:                  [00:41:44] And really the only place where Synthroid might work is Hashimoto's because they seem to respond better to Synthroid than with desiccated thyroid. But if you have hypothyroidism, desiccated thyroid known as nature-throid, WP thyroid. There's a couple of names in the States. In Canada it's just desiccated thyroid. It is by far the best. And yeah, I was on Synthroid for two days and I didn't feel right. It gave me the worst headaches. I didn't feel good. No. Just no. But it can be helpful with Hashimoto. I've seen it be helpful there.

Vanessa:                [00:42:23] So do you recommend that - I know you have a wonderful program for people that involves a lot of testing. Do you recommend to people to kind of take a bunch of information to a hormone specialist and then kind of request specific tests be done, or can they do it like with a lab or online or?

Leanne:                  [00:42:43] Yeah. I have a bunch of different programs. The one, specifically, that works like very much in depth with hormones is called Happy Keto Body. You can find out more details at happyketobody.com. Registration is probably close right now depending on when this episode goes live but the way we're going to be doing registration is that every time we open up registration we're going to be emailing the people that tell us that they want to hear about the program. So, if you go to happyketobody.com and enter in your email, we'll just email you when it's open again.

[00:43:15] In that program, we offer online lab work. It's an additional cost but we worked with a partner lab that was like the most successful in the United States. You can just get your labs done and they're reviewed by a doctor at that lab and then sent to you. And so, if you need to do it that way, whether you do it through Happy Keto Body or just Google ordering labs online and you can find a couple of options. I was able to get like a sweet deal on labs which is really great but they gave us a discount for our people but there are lots of different options online.

[00:43:53] A lot of them will be reviewed by a doctor and you can do it that way if you feel like empowered to do it yourself but if you don't and you have a doctor… I mean I'm currently in the US and I've had to visit the doctor a couple of times down here and I just… the quality is better than Canada, I'll say that but when I have to drop $300 because I've had a sore throat for like 20 days and I pay $300 I'm like "Seriously?" I mean that's really… That's hard. $300 is a lot of money. That's a lot of money.

[00:44:24] And so, if you have healthcare and you can find… So, I've never had personally a good experience with endocrinologists at all ever. I've never worked with an endocrinologist that I trust, that's made good decisions for me, but it's not to say that they're not out there. I've met a lot of functional medicine doctors that I love. If you're in Tampa area or you want to fly to Tampa, Dr. Lisa Coach is the most amazing human being that is very very good. She runs Spectra Wellness. That's one doctor that I've met in the US that's really fabulous. But it can be hard. It can be challenging to find a doctor but not impossible. But I've never found an endocrinologist that gave me good options. But if somebody's listening that's like a really great endocrinologist that's helpful, let's talk.

Vanessa:                [00:45:16] Yes. Yes. Exactly. That's one of the questions I get all the time is like is there a resource for finding a keto doctor health practitioner. I know looking up a functional medicine practitioner usually find someone who's like incorporating nutrition into their practice to an extent. I know I think Dr. Jeffry Gerber on his website maybe Denver Diet Doctor has a list of keto and low carb doctors. And maybe Ryan Larry does. I'm not sure. I think maybe in his book, but those resources are so important. If you are a keto low carb doctor, let yourself be known so that we can recommend people find you.

[00:45:59] So you recommend more that someone goes to a functional medicine practitioner than… like specifically an endocrinologist if they're wanting to have some of these labs kind of analyzed from a nutritional standpoint?

Leanne:                  [00:46:10] Yeah. And a very very good naturopathic doctor. What I really look for in a good doctor is one that has a bunch of different modalities. So maybe they're an orthomolecular doctor, maybe they're also a naturopath, maybe they've dabbled in chiropractic, and they also have a medical degree. Like they are a family physician and they just found the light with natural medicine and kind of move toward that.

[00:46:37] My doctor in Calgary Alberta in Canada has a bunch of different modalities that she practice, and so she understands the benefit of prescription drugs when it helps because she use that physician but then she also understands how we can heal the body, support the body. She's really good with parasites and those sorts of things. It's a lot easier to have a full conversation with her. It's like a one stop shop. Although you pay for it, you don't have to go to all these different doctors to get all the different support. So, it's really nice to work with somebody but if that's inaccessible to you, you can do it yourself. It just requires you to be massively an advocate for your own health.

[00:47:18] I think all of us should get like a master's degree in our own bodies so that we can understand completely and show up no matter what doctor or individual were talking to about our bodies. I think it's really important even if you're working with a doctor and they're saying like blah blah blah do this and you're like "No. That's not a good idea." You can say that.

Vanessa:                [00:47:40] I love that. Get a master's degree in your own body. That's so so helpful because… Especially when it comes to keto too. There's different ways of doing keto. You asked me a really great question on your podcast so I want to ask it to you but what does keto mean to you?

Leanne:                  [00:47:56] Freedom. Yeah, freedom and joy. I think had I been asked this question the first six months of keto, I really didn't enjoy the diet. I felt very restricted. I felt really restricted. I have pins and needles. I hadn't figured it out. It was really tough. So, those are the words I would have used back then but now having figured out my body in keto, it's freedom. It's not having to pack snacks with me anymore and being able to order a ton of meat in my favorite barbecue joint and be like "Yes! I'm going to eat this." And not have guilt around the foods that taste so good.

Vanessa:                [00:48:44] Freedom is such a good way of putting it. We went to celebrate my husband's birthday last night. We went to this Brazilian steak house and they do this churrasco thing. Have you tried that?

Leanne:                  [00:48:54] I saw the video. That looks so good.

Vanessa:                [00:48:58] Amazing! They literally had 20 different kinds of meat on sticks and they just brought them. It's like if you're ever feeling like having, I don't know salmon and steak and duck and pork and everything at the same time but like in small amounts and brought to you at your table, you've got to find a churrasco place because I had never tried it before and it was just like… It was ridiculously awesome. But the cool thing is and I want to ask you a little bit about Carnivore because one thing I found last night is I kind of sometimes avoid going to buffets because I just find it's an exercise in self-control that I don't want to put myself through. This place had a buffet and it also had like the meat coming from the tables.

[00:49:45] I was like "Well, I'm just going to go and do this like Carnivore." because when I just eat meat only like I did a seven-day trial in carnivore and I've been kind of continuing to explore zero carb, when I just eat meat, I get full really easily. Not like too full too fast but just nicely happily full and like satisfied. And then I'm like I just felt like I was able to enjoy the evening and try all these small morsels of different kinds of meat without feeling like afterwards leaving a buffet situation where I'd be feeling maybe like shameful buffet behavior like just overdoing it, going to the buffet a couple times. But with carnivore I was able to enjoy the evening really easily and not feel bad about any of my choices. Have you tried zero carb at all? What do you think of this carnivore trend?

Leanne:                  [00:50:40] Oh my gosh! I feel like the universe is yelling at me to try this carnivore thing because every single human being I have chatted with over the last couple of months is like what do you think of carnivore? Are you doing carnivore? Oh, keto. That's that carnivore thing, right? I'm like "Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh."

[00:50:59] I mean it's interesting. Something happened after I wrote the book. I hated cooking after that. And if anyone's written a book, a cookbook, you know exactly what I mean. I did not want to be in the kitchen. I didn't want to talk about food. It's just like leave me alone. Don't talk about food photography or cooking with me for at least a year. And so, throughout that, I started going toward like easy to make meals that didn't really take a long time. And the easiest thing to do is just like put meat in a crockpot or like I have an instant pot and just cook it and eat it.

[00:51:35] And so lately, I've been finding like I just naturally gravitate toward more meat and then there's a story in my head that's like "Well Leanne, where are all the vegetables? You need vegetables." And then I'm like begrudgingly peel a cucumber and then eat it and like "This is disgusting." Like I just want some brisket. And so, I think naturally my body is tending toward more protein.

[00:52:01] I agree with you. Yesterday, I needed lunch. I was super hungry. I ate three packs of keto karne which is the best turkey ever. Then I'm like "That was satisfying." It kept me full and I was really happy but there was no fat in that. I've been playing around with it, but I mean when I heard about carnivore I'm like "This is nuts. This can't be healthy." But I thought the exact same thing about keto and so I am open to it. I just don’t know if…

[00:52:34] Like with keto. When I started keto, I was like "I'm going to do keto 20 grams of carbs for the rest of my life. This will be great." There's a lot of gray area in keto and I feel like with anything there's going to be a lot of gray area in carnivore. So, would I be eating meat and steak for the rest of my life, like no vegetables ever? No. That's not a thing. I think I would need like chimichurri. Like that would be off limits because there's like herbs and stuff. Like fresh herbs, would that be off limits? Maybe. I don't know. I couldn't live without chimichurri. My life wouldn't be the same. I think it's just making it work for you, but I'm not opposed to it. I feel like I should try it. Just maybe not right now.

Vanessa:                [00:53:17] Yeah, I was just really curious on your take on it especially because I noticed that too. It does remind me kind of when I first went keto which was around the same time as you in 2014. I remember… When I started posting, I just did seven-day trial of it. And some of the reactions that I got from people were just very like "This is so unhealthy." I understand because when I saw a few posts about it, at first, I also thought "Well, this is just too far." They just gone too far. We need to weigh it back in. There's no way that you can be healthy without vegetables. It's not that I'm saying that you can. It's just that I'm interested to learn more about it and I've been trying it. The reactions that I noticed from people are very much similar to when I first went keto and people were like "Well cholesterol are so unhealthy." It's not that I want to defy those things, but I just want to understand more about it.

[00:54:16] I find for myself personally that I've learned that I'm very carb sensitive and I struggle still even on keto sometimes with carb cravings and sometimes with food fixation like even just with having a very strict amount of carbs that my cravings totally go away when I do just carnivore. Like you said, there's no way I could imagine life without vegetables. There's just no way. Especially long term but doing a day carnivore, doing a meal carnivore like zero carb, doing zero carb is basically just keto without that extra 20 grams of carbs or 30 grams or 40 grams, whatever it is for you. It's not all that different from keto itself so I find it really interesting. But one other thing you brought too because you do carb ups and you are kind of… That's kind of… I feel like it's a term that you coined.

Leanne:                  [00:55:07] It is.

Vanessa:                [00:55:08] Maybe I'm on the high. It is, right? So, you do carb ups and you found it to be helpful for yourself like with your cycle and with weight loss as well, right?

Leanne:                  [00:55:18] It was interesting when I was healing my thyroid and all my hormones. I was doing carb ups every night. I couldn't go a day without them. My energy was so poor, and I just needed them. It was helping boost my estrogen, regulate my progesterone, like all good things because estrogen is driven by insulin so having that a little bit higher will help move things along with your estrogen. And so, when I was trying to figure all that out carb ups played a huge role.

[00:55:48] Before my birthday, like for my birthday, I had like birthday cake and pizza. We went all out. But before that I hadn't had a carb up in five weeks. And before that it was probably like three. So, I think slowly over time as my body is healing and I'm in a different space and my gut is in a better place… Like a couple of years ago I couldn't even eat a red onion, not even a bit of it. It would aggravate my gut lining. I would be a hot wreck for days. Now I can do that. And so, as my body is healing, and things are going well I just find I don't need them as much but it's still nice to give myself permission to have a sweet potato once in a while or if I'm out with my sister or having I don’t know. Like popcorn at a movie. By giving that permission, it's like I have a couple of handfuls. I'm like "Actually, I don't really like popcorn. I'm good." Whereas if you go to it of like "Oh my gosh, I'm eating popcorn. This is so not allowed. Oh my gosh." You end up eating the whole bag even though you don't really like it. And so, I like to keep it open so that I don't go off the handle.

Vanessa:                [00:56:53] As a nutritionist, you probably have more insight into this than I do. I'm not a trained nutritionist. I'm a food blogger. Is there any concern with combining high fat and high carb?

Leanne:                  [00:57:08] No. When you're a fat burner, you burn fat. You become very metabolically efficient at burning that fat. And so, when you introduce carbs… If you want to gain a lot of weight on the ketogenic diet with carb ups, here's what you do. You eat fat and carbs together in one meal. Let's just pound all the fat, pound all the carbs in one meal. With a carb up, think of it like a teeter totter with fat and carbs. In a carb up, you're lowering the fat way down, increasing the carbs way up. By way up I mean like 100 grams of carbs, maybe if you're doing it once a week. So, you're on that and then your body's like "Thanks for the glucose." Glycogen is refilled. Then, before bed you've probably processed most of that carb that you ate four hours ago.

[00:58:01] A lot of people say, "I get hungry before bed, what should I have?" Go back to fat. It's totally fine. You can switch back and forth. Like when I'm in person and I'm telling this part, I'm like jumping back and forth between left side and right side. Your body becomes metabolically efficient and it can go like glucose - fat - glucose - fat - glucose - fat. And it starts to prefer fat, so it just goes right back to defaulting to fat. It's not an issue.

Vanessa:                [00:58:27] Right. You have that metabolic flexibility. I can see why you would gain a lot combining the two because you'd be preferentially eating a bunch of fat and carb. You'd preferentially burn all the glucose and then your body would just store all the fat really rapidly.

Leanne:                  [00:58:42] Yeah. It's the best way. When people say how do I gain weight on keto? I'm like "Let me tell you."

Vanessa:                [00:58:48] I know all about this. Yeah. I'm really really glad that you answered that because for example with my husband like he's not keto. He still eats quite a lot of carb and for him like if he… And it's the same with his dad. At one point we thought his dad was dying because his pants were falling off. We didn't know what was going on. Were like "Are you really sick? What's happening?" And it turns out he was doing keto. He had read about it online and he was making these almond butter fat bombs. He went off carbs.

[00:59:23] The same thing happened to my husband. He went gluten free and he rapidly lost so much weight. So then, he went back to eating gluten and just eating his regular diet but then I am cooking keto and then I'm like "Am I doing him a disservice by incorporating some healthy fats but then still serving him that side of potato or carb with it or like if it's healthy grain or quinoa or something?" Is that worse for him than just doing high… Like being one or the other. Your high carb, you know water, protein, or your high fat, water, protein like. It's really useful I think to know.

Leanne:                  [01:00:02] I think it's like the Paleo diet. People have success at the Paleo diet. I feel like they combine fat and carb together but it's "the right carbs". My husband, Kevin, hates the Paleo diet. He just hates it. He's like there's just no science behind this. Look at the ketogenic diet. I mean there are so many studies behind this. And he gets like so passionate about it, but I think there's that fine line between just finding what works best for you. I think at the end of the day if you're eating more fat, period, you're probably doing better than not eating it. So, if that means having it with a sweet potato, I legit don't care as long as you're eating more fat. That's like magic things can happen when you're having coconut oil every day so.

Vanessa:                [01:00:53] I absolutely love that. I've really been loving so many of the posts that you've been doing about self-love and body positivity. Especially something you said to me that was so poignant about… I think it was in response to someone's comment on your post about how a woman will just be killing herself to lose that last five pounds when she could just be embracing her body as it is instead. What's your message with body love and body positivity and self-love?

Leanne:                  [01:01:23] How much time do you have? No! So, I think it all just comes down to… There was a quote that I read a while ago. This kind of sums up how I view my body now. I'm paraphrasing because I'm not good at reciting quotes 100% but it's basically like "Instead of seeing our body as the masterpiece, let's see our body as the paint brush that allows us to create our masterpiece." That was a huge turning point for me of like "Wait. I am not my body. I am so much more than a body. I need to stop using my body as a currency."

[01:02:10] It is true. If you are "pretty" and the right look for this decade or this year because like now it's like six pack abs. Before it was like thinness but like not muscly. Before that it was like super bony and that was in. So, whatever society dictates as being the best, there's also a lot to do with like if you're not healthy you're not worthwhile. I mean we could talk for days about the word health and what that actually means because there are some people that aren't "healthy" and so they don't have a right to be in the health space because they experience cancer twice and that chemotherapy messed up XYZ and so they can't be healthy.

[01:02:59] Or with my parents they have issues. Like my mom was born with one hand and my dad had cancer and so his eye was removed. And so, there's so much issue with accessibility to health and what that means. I think when we step back and kind of look at when I'm 90 years old and my joints are a little bit tight and I'm looking back on my life thinking "Man, I really crushed it at that Cross Fit." At one point I was like the owner of that box and I just gave it my all and I had six pack abs and I did those rings like no other. No. I personally don't want that life. I want to be like "Do you remember that time we chartered a boat and we spent two weeks in our bathing suits and we got so sunburned I thought I was like… I was peeling for seven years after that. Like how fun was that when you jumped off the boat? Like those are the stories. Those stories are usually never about our bodies and they shouldn't be. Our bodies are this amazing shell that allows us to experience our life and touch things and smell things. How cool is it that you have two eyes to see dimension?

[01:04:18] My dad has not seen dimension in his entire life. He doesn't see that. And so, just taking a moment to look at your body as this amazing paint brush that allows us to design our life and it just changes the game. I just want to feel good, so I can do the things and charter the boats and run and feel the breeze and all those things. It becomes a lot more powerful.

Vanessa:                [01:04:45] I love that. I love that message. It's really beautiful. It's kind of making me emotional. I really love that. I love that you're sharing that.

Leanne:                  [01:04:54] I know. Seriously, I get so jazzed up about it.

Vanessa:                [01:04:56] It's so cool to hear your passion about it. I want to ask you. You've been doing your part cast for so long now. I think you had over 80 episodes. What are three things that totally blew your mind that you learned from some of your guests on your podcast?

Leanne:                  [01:05:10] Oh, man. Oh, gosh. Oh, okay. It's hard. Okay. Rebecca Scritchfield, she was on the podcast recently. Usually these things happen after we record and we chat for a little bit and something happens and I'm like "Whoa! Mind blown!" So, she's like a body love activist and stuff. After we got off the call, I said "So, this podcast is going to go live on blah blah blah. If you want to share it you can but I understand that it's like diet focused and you might not want to share it because you're more of like body love person." And she's like "That's crazy. We have to understand that even if we want to love our bodies and embrace our bodies there's going to be an eating style that works best for us." I was like "Whoa." I don't know why it hit me so hard. It was just like it kind of gave me permission and that's where a lot of this is coming from is like she gave me permission to be like I can be keto and I can tell people that I'm keto and I can also talk about body love and that's okay because in order for me to love my body and feel good in my body there's a certain eating style and certain foods that make me feel better so I can show up better. It's not about good or bad. It's just about feeling good and feeling better. So that was one.

[01:06:38] What was another? There was Linda Bacon. This was also off air. I said something like she has a son and we were talking about something about work and I just said "How cool is it that your son is like that. He's going to be a great husband one day." As soon as I said it, I was like I shouldn't have said that because people can show up in life different than a husband if he decides to be a different orientation and live a different life. I kind of put that label on him and I've been much more mindful of that lately. She called me on it. She's like "Well, what if he doesn't want to be a husband?" I'm like "Yeah. Yeah. He doesn't need to be a husband to show up in the world the way he wants to." That's something that I've been more mindful of lately and probably--.

Vanessa:                [01:07:34] Is that how you say her name? I've been butchering it.

Leanne:                                    [01:07:37] Nina Teicholz? She's just fearless.

Vanessa:                [01:07:41] that's good to know.

Leanne:                  [01:07:43] Teicholz. Teicholz. Yeah, she's fearless and I really liked that of just like this is my message, don't care. And so, I like that too.

Vanessa:                [01:07:56] She is so inspiring. Yeah, absolutely no fear. I'm so glad there's people out there like her because it takes a lot of courage to do what she's doing and kind of conform some of the people that she conforms and all that. Amazing. Amazing that you brought her on.

[01:08:15] Now, just as we went things down, I want to ask you who inspires you in the world of keto? Or I guess you probably mentioned a few people just now but are there any kind of influencers or people in the health space that inspire you more than others?

Leanne:                  [01:08:35] Oh. It's interesting. I don't really seek inspiration from other people in the health space. Is that weird? I find I'm very good presenting myself to other people. I enjoy consuming others content and cheering them on, but I try not to like to be inspired by others. I don't know I've never really been the type of person that enjoys being inspired. I just don't feel that way. I seek inspiration and guidance from the Healthful Pursuit community. I try to be really tap in to what they want, what they need, what they're struggling with, and I find inspiration there as opposed to out there. If I had to choose one person in the entire world who I'm inspired by it would be my husband. I look up to him so much and he is just such a driving force. I wouldn't be where I am today. I get so emotional when I say this because it's so true. He has been so amazing to just… He is the best partner anyone could ever ask for. I hope that every human being on this earth feels the love that I feel on a daily basis from that man. He's just oh my gosh. I crush on him and it's been more than a decade and I just love him so much. He is so inspiring. So that would be my person that's like I just want to be more like you. If I could just be a little bit more like you, oh my gosh that would be amazing.

Vanessa:                [01:10:08] I love that. I love that. Now, if you could put a billboard out there for everyone to see what would it say?

Leanne:                  [01:10:13] Oh! Oh my gosh. Well, I'd need to think about this because there's a lot of marketing behind it and I need to get really point but the first thing that came to my mind is like just be… like how about we just be and maybe it would hit one person of like how about instead of pushing, pushing, pushing like just be, just be. Yeah, just be. Just be.

Vanessa:                [01:10:34] Yeah. That's really actually super profound. I love that quote "We're human beings not human doings." That's an awesome thing to put on a billboard. I love that. One thing that you said, and I think people in our community really owe you with a lot of gratitude and other authors out there in the keto space because you mentioned when you were starting keto for first six months how it was such a struggle. It made me think. There are people who are starting now, and they have your awesome book to help them get going on it and like how wonderful for them that they can learn from you being a trailblazer and learning. I know most people probably already have the book if they're in the keto space, but it's called the Keto Diet. I think your tour you mentioned is starting next week? The podcast episode is coming out today so.

Leanne:                                    [01:11:29] Yeah. Oh, cool. Yeah, June 9^th I think. Yeah, June 9^th is the first day.

Vanessa:                [01:11:35] June 9^th. Awesome. That's super exciting. Also, what are you really excited about right now?

Leanne:                  [01:11:41] Well, we had a lot of changes to our team recently. I'm doing a lot of different things differently. We've kind of just like started from the ground up of the business redesigning the entire Healthful Pursuit strategy to make me feel good. I want to feel more lit up and I haven't felt lit up in a while. So, I'm very excited to do Instagram differently. I'm not focusing much on any other platform. I'm focused on Instagram and having conversations with people on there. The blog is changing quite considerably. I'm focusing primarily on the podcast. We're doubling up on episodes for the Keto Diet podcast. You're the first to know about this. I guess that's going live today. Surprise! We're going to start having Wednesday episodes. That'll just be me on the mike and your ears. It'll just be me chatting about my life and my struggles on keto, my wins, what I'm being inspired by, and just overall what a keto woman feels on a daily basis.

[01:12:47] We chose Wednesday because it's like that day it's not the weekend and it's not the beginning of the week and you're just like "Oh, my life." So yeah, I'm really excited to do that. Yeah. I think it'll just be great. You got to do things that make you feel good. Your work too. I just wasn’t feeling that thing that I used to feel and so we're making these changes. I'm really excited about them so that's fun.

Vanessa:                [01:13:16] I love that you're changing things up and you're not afraid to make those changes. I've definitely seen the difference even just recently in your Instagram, the way that you've shifted content and stuff. I love your podcast! I can't believe it's going to be two episodes a week. I get to geek out on that. That's amazing.

Leanne:                  [01:13:33] Yeah. They are like just mini. They're like 10 minutes, 15 minutes max.

Vanessa:                [01:13:37] Oh, that's awesome. I think everyone would love more content from you. I just have to ask you one last question before we end. What is your kind of eating? We didn't really get to hit on this. People love to learn and know how do you kind of eat these days?  Do you do any fasting or intermittent fasting or time restricted eating or that kind of thing? I think it would be a real miss if I didn't ask you that one question before we wrap things up.

Leanne:                  [01:14:03] Yeah. I love fasting when it just feels good. Right now, I'm fasting. When I'm not hungry I just don't eat and that happens more often than not, but I don't track it. I couldn't tell you if it's... That's probably between 12 and 20 hours. I don't know. I really try not to calculate it. That's taken me a very long time to get out of the habit of that. I haven't been doing fat bombs much lately. I've been doing a lot of like fatty teas in the morning.

[01:14:39] Usually, when I'm fasting now, I don't use [unclear 01:14:42] or fatty coffees like I used to. I really love starting the day with just like a ton of water, lemon water, herbal teas. I'm just drinking that until I'm hungry. And then I usually have a solid meal. And then, if I'm hungry between that solid meal and the next solid meal, that's when I'll have my fatty coffees. I'm just eating way more meat and not a lot of vegetables. That have been my path right now.

Vanessa:                [01:15:12] I think you mentioned something about being sensitive, is it to oxalates?

Leanne:                  [01:15:17] All things. All things. I was having intense pains and it felt like it was coming from my ovaries and I got really concerned. It turns out it was my kidneys. The doctor recommended… My doctor recommended like try to remove oxalates and just see how that goes. I haven't had the pain since. So, I removed oxalates quite considerably and it was actually really really really hard. Now, I'm just mindful of how many oxalates I eat in a day so I'm not doing a whole bunch of them, but I think that's kind of what sparked me to just be like "You know what? Screw it!" I'm just not going to eat a lot of plants. And when I do I'll make sure that I'm peeling the cucumbers and I'm not eating lemon rinds because those are really really really high on oxalates. And like I'm limiting my berry consumption, and then it's fine.

Vanessa:                [01:16:07] I think that's really part of one of the reasons that carnivore has been growing too is people learning more about the fact that yes, vegetables are extremely nutrient and vitamin dense but for some people, especially if you have been eating… if you tend to eat more healthy or you've been like I was vegetarian for 17 years, like I ate so many high oxalate foods like spinach, nuts, berries, all those things that tend to be like healthy foods that we focus on and you can get them in such high concentrations that it can actually create a sensitivity or it can activate a sensitivity. So, for anyone to learn more about oxalates if they want or need to.

[01:16:43] Thanks so much for sharing so much wonderful information especially about those hormone tests and levels. I get that question a lot. I think that's going to be so useful for people up. I'll put that in the show notes and people can find out more about that and awesome deal that you have for them with Happy Keto Body in terms of doing labs and everything so that's so awesome. Thank you so much for sharing your time and so much of your knowledge.

Leanne:                  [01:17:08] Yeah, you're welcome. Of course. Thanks so much for having me, Vanessa. This is awesome.

Vanessa:                [01:17:12] Great. I look forward to having you back again on a future episode. Until then. Thanks for listening guys.

 

 

Vanessa:                [01:17:19] Thank you guys so much for tuning in today. I had so much fun chatting with Leanne. She is such a wealth of knowledge when it comes to keto having done keto herself for several years now and being a keto nutritionist and working with so many people especially with their hormone health.

[01:17:36] I'll be putting all of the show notes together and transcript in the next few days, so you can check back for that at ketogenicgirl.com. Hopefully, we'll see you potentially in Austin in a couple of weeks if you're at KetoCon. I would love to see you and meet you there. I know Leanne would as well. You might also catch her on her book tour as she goes on the fourth round which is so incredible. I know she's going to have a blast. I'm wishing her tons of luck on the book tour, but I can't wait to catch up with her and some of you at KetoCon in a couple of weeks.

[01:18:11] Until then, if you have any questions at all about the 28 Day Ketogenic Girl Challenge send me a message on Facebook. The best place to reach me is https://www.facebook.com/Theketogenicgirl/, the official page on Facebook. I'm always over there doing support and coaching for members of the 28 Day Challenge so it's the best place to reach me if you want to hear from me and have any specific questions about the program. I'd love to hear from you there. Feel free to leave any comments on Instagram about today's episode or any future guests you'd like to have on. Be sure to hit the subscribe button so you can be aware of when new episodes are released. I would love if you left me a review on iTunes as well. I love hearing from you guys and what you think of the show. Until then, have a fat filled rest of your week. Catch you guys soon.