#265: This is How a Dietician Would Fix Your Diet w. Ilana Muhlstein

May 6, 2024 | HEALTH, NUTRITION, The Gabby Reece Show

Listen: Apple | iHeart | Spotify

How do you feel physically at this moment? Are you currently at your peak health, or do you feel like you may be struggling? It’s no secret that obesity remains a prevalent issue in our society. Around one in three adults are overweight, and nearly 20 percent of children and teenagers are affected. To put it into perspective, that equates to approximately 14.7 million children. These statistics are not just alarming but also concerning. Everyone deserves to feel healthy and in command of their own bodies. However, navigating the American health and dietary landscape can be challenging, despite our best efforts. If you’re feeling daunted by your health journey, this discussion is tailored for you.

Our guest for this episode is Ilana Muhlstein, who once faced similar struggles. She grappled with establishing sustainable habits that would foster a healthy and confident lifestyle. However, through transformative strategies, she managed to shed 100 pounds—and completely turned her life around. Today, Ilana is a respected dietitian and nutritionist holding a master’s in applied nutrition. She also serves on the esteemed executive leadership team of the American Heart Association, where she has positively impacted numerous individuals by reshaping their approach to nutrition.

I’m thrilled for you to hear Ilana’s insights. Whether you’re contemplating significant lifestyle changes or seeking simple actions to boost your well-being immediately, this conversation will empower you with valuable information and inspiration.

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[00:08:00] Gabby: I know I go into the weeds and the science on a lot of topics and we’re going to do it a little different today. So let me ask you for starters, how does your body feel right now?

Are you in the best health of your life? Or do you feel like maybe you’re in the worst? We all know that obesity has been an epidemic in this country for a long time. Nearly one in three adults are classified as overweight and nearly 20 percent of children and adolescents have been diagnosed. And if you want to put that in numbers and put that in perspective, that’s 14.

7 million children. Those numbers are staggering and they’re even painful. Everyone deserves to feel healthy and in control of their own body. But so much of the American health and dietary system is stacked against us. Even when we know what we’re doing. If you’re feeling overwhelmed about your own health, This episode is for you.

My guest today is Ilana Muhlstein, and she was exactly where you are now. She was struggling with creating long term habits that would have her feeling healthy and confident, but that was before she found strategies that helped her lose a A hundred pounds and transform her life. She’s now a dietitian and nutritionist with a master’s in applied nutrition and sits on the prestigious executive leadership team for the American Heart Association and has helped countless people rethink their relationship with nutrition.

I’m really excited for you to hear what Ilana has to say. So whether you’re looking to make big changes or need ideas for small actions, you can take right now. To feel empowered. You’re going to get a lot out of this conversation. Hi everyone. Welcome to the Gabby Re show.

Ilana, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for navigating the Canyon. I know you, uh, you weren’t loving that.

[00:09:51] Ilana Muhlstein: I, I just, um, listen, I could hike high levels on a Canyon because I feel like I can control my feet, but the car it’s like, what, uh, I don’t even want to think about it because there’s nothing at home.

But, um, these are, these are high cliffs, they are like a thousand foot up cliffs.

[00:10:09] Gabby: So speaking of a thousand feet, after learning about your story, it feels like you, you did make the thousand mile journey from somebody who was from really young, what, seven, eight years old, dealing with weight to someone who decided, even at a very young age, Know that you weren’t gonna, you weren’t going to live forever like that.

Right. That you’ve not only made that journey, but I think the interesting thing of losing it, keeping it off, understanding how to keep it off. Totally. And now sharing it with people. so many other people.

[00:10:47] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah, I’m obsessed with that piece.

[00:10:50] Gabby: You can feel it. It’s genuine. And so when I was getting ready to do this show today, a lot of the conversations I have here are really ultra science y and you know, all of that.

And then I started thinking about, this is a huge opportunity. Because more people are navigating what you went through than trying to figure out their macro micronutrient intake.

[00:11:10] Ilana Muhlstein: Totally.

[00:11:10] Gabby: I mean, that’s a, that’s all fine and dandy. And there is a place for that. But I really think that your message and your practices can really help someone.

So maybe you can just share, first of all, as a young kid, and I know maybe it was lifestyle that you inherited.

[00:11:27] Ilana Muhlstein: Oh, yeah.

[00:11:28] Gabby: And, you know, early divorce. But what other things What do you think created, uh, the weight gain?

[00:11:36] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah, this is a great question. And it’s something I’ve been able to analyze really intensely the more I talk about it and I, you know, come out of it.

But my first memories were my parents getting divorced. You know, the first memory I have is chaos. Fighting, separating, packing bags, leaving my home. Just really tumultuous life. Havoc and so I think from the youngest age possible. I was seeking comfort stability and Reassurance that things were going to be okay.

My siblings were much older and my parents were very much like in that, you know Dating marrying, you know going out traveling and so we were really on our own like before we were Recording we were talking about independence. Like I was walking to school by myself on 72nd Street in Manhattan As like a 10 year old, you know right now my daughter so dependent on me at that same age And I was just completely on my own I remember I would walk to school by myself go to the corner store pick up a snickers bar.

That was breakfast For dinner, it was just takeout. We had an account at different takeout places and I would just like Get what I wanted without oversight, eating by myself, and that stool in the kitchen in front of Nickelodeon was my form of stability and comfort. And it really, you know, Was a problem and it’s crazy to think that it was a problem From the outside before I internalized it on the inside because I’m six years old I don’t I didn’t even see weight at that point.

You know, I was still popular I still had friends But then my doctor my parents everyone would come up to me and I was like a walking billboard of an issue that they created in me and no one was changing anything. My parents were not role models for health and like, and lifestyle and wellness and mindful eating.

So at eight years old, my doctor was finally like, enough’s enough. We’re shipping her off to weight loss camp, like, you know. quote unquote fat camp as most people like to know of it and I went away for nine weeks eating these portion controlled meals and Exercising non stop and most people would look at that as horrible But for me it almost happened before I could internalize what was happening.

And so I looked at it as a very positive Refreshing thing where I got to have friends who didn’t judge me. I got to take care of the issue Everyone was saying is so, you know polarizing in my life and when I would get back home into the school year, though I would just gain it all back and more because there was no lifestyle change.

[00:14:02] Gabby: And what is the way an adult talks? Do you remember? In what way a doctor or a parent talks to an eight, nine year old about Yeah,

[00:14:13] Ilana Muhlstein: I remember such distinct lines. I remember my doctor showing me a growth chart and showing me I was over it. So I’ll like never forget, you know, this is the 100th percentile.

This is the 50th percentile. And here are you, like just a whole notch above the 100th percentile. Uh, so that I remember. And then I remember very distinctly her looking at my parents, making it, you know, critical enough to send me away to weight loss camp for two months at a time. Um, I remember my doctor saying, I’m seeing lab values that you would see in a middle aged man.

Like in terms of her cholesterol and her blood sugar levels, like this is not something we see in eight, nine year olds, at least back then. And so that was, you know, it was a very sweet and wonderful pediatrician. Like I actually love her a lot and I look at her as, really saving my life when there wasn’t another tool to help me, but um, that, that came from her.

I had a great aunt who had a hearing aid. She was totally deaf and she would just scream about my weight. And the one line that she would say and so many other people would say is, it’s such a shame because you have such a pretty face. And that was one thing that like really hit home constantly. I would get told that by my friends, grandmothers and parents.

And, you know, it was, it was definitely really deep. Like

[00:15:30] Gabby: did they say, did anyone, and do you think you could understand at that young age that, Hey, this isn’t your fault. There’s just things in place. There’s habits or bad habits in place that are, are kind of creating this reality. Was there ever conversation around that?

[00:15:47] Ilana Muhlstein: Or it’s just like making the connection.

[00:15:47] Gabby: Yeah. Or is it just, Hey, you have this issue. And we have to fix you.

[00:15:53] Ilana Muhlstein: Right. Well, the problem was, back then, you know, before I came to the realization of what I would need for myself, back then, everything was about portion control. Everything. Everything was about portion control.

And so it was like, eat protein the size of a deck of cards. And, you know, have half a fist worth of rice. But then at the same time, it was, you know, Eat 8 to 11 servings of grains a day based on the Food Guide Pyramid. And I wasn’t very active because I was too insecure to run around with friends because everything would just jiggle so much.

So I, it was a lot of backwards advice and I think that made it extra hard for me to connect the dots there, especially without the, you know, role models to show me and model what healthy eating looks like.

[00:16:37] Gabby: Yeah. And that could be as simple as somebody, and it’s hard in a place like New York City too when they’re such easily readily delicious.

Take out food everywhere. Right. But that if maybe someone did you have grandparents that cooked or anybody that

[00:16:50] Ilana Muhlstein: we were a very food centric family So everything was about food everything revolves around food like good times bad times and so forth My dad would always say kids what’s better than food free food He still says it to this day Like it’s just I remember going to a friend’s house After I decided I got to take this under control after going to weight loss camp for seven eight years I decided enough’s enough Ilana You You only get one body.

You might as well make it rock. No one’s doing this for you. There’s no magic cure all. You’re gonna have to take this into your own hands. It’s gonna be hard work, but you’re gonna do it. Before I even like took that change, you know, the language was was constantly negative, you know. My father, I remember, and I love him for it.

I talk about it in my cookbook, even in the intro, like he would tell me if it tastes good, it’s not good for you. So my messaging was like, oh gosh, I’m gonna have to suffer you know, and a lot of that restriction suffering.  And then thankfully, you know, I broke out in a way.

[00:17:50] Gabby: So you were 13 or so when you somehow got this personal epiphany.

So what does it look like? Because regardless of your 13, the only difference, and maybe not even as much in your case, because you did have a sense of, you know, you had some freedom. What’s the first, what’s the first step?

[00:18:09] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah, it’s a great question. Uh, so I remember at that point I was a yo yo dieter.

Like by 13 I had done this lose 30 pounds in the summer gain 50 back in the school year pattern for Like five, seven years at that point. So, and I think I was exhibiting those dieting habits that people do to this day, where they just overeat right before they think they’re going to start a diet. Like maybe subconsciously I was eating more during the school year, because I knew I could rely on the camp.

And so, the thing I changed most, once I had that epiphany, I was going into high school. And going into high school, I was like, I might not want to come back to this camp and actually there aren’t a lot of more bunks available You know, then it becomes counselor There’s also like a few years between being a camper and a counselor where it’s not that fun to go And I needed something different.

So I started Really analyzing what was working at camp and that I could bring in and implement into my school year and the first thing I did was, you know that summer I remember I went from like 215 pounds to like 185 or something like that. How tall are you?

[00:19:13] Ilana Muhlstein: I was five foot two at the time. Yeah.

Yeah, it was like, uh, very, like, very short. And, like, not really developed, too. You know, it was, like, really all, you know, in my body. It wasn’t necessarily on my chest or anywhere else. And, uh, I remember just saying, you know what, you’re at like 185 leaving this camp, just don’t go over. Like, at the very least, just don’t gain a back.

Just keep it off. If I just keep it off, it’ll be a good thing. And I remember that in camp every summer, they would put us on the scale. We had our weigh in days. We would take before pictures, after pictures. They would measure our inches. And it wasn’t stigmatized. It wasn’t demonized. It was kind of like a thing we did on Tuesday mornings or whenever your weigh in day was.

And I realized. Why am I never looking at the scale when I come back? So what I did for all those summers is I would leave down 30 pounds Then I wouldn’t look at a scale again for 10 months And I would have the shock value every time I go back to camp and I realize stop being shocked Just go on it more regularly to help moderate what’s working and what’s not and that’s when I really opened up my whole life That’s when I realized wow, I could actually Still eat X, Y, and Z and stay the same weight.

Wow, maybe if I drink more water, it helps me control my appetite and I, I, I actually lose more weight and it helped me realize and to this day having a healthy relationship with the scale I think is a very powerful tool I give people so they don’t feel like they have to do the The next crash diet, because they, they know what works for them.

[00:20:39] Gabby: That exploration as a young person, was it literally just trial and error?

[00:20:43] Ilana Muhlstein: Totally trial and error, with the scale being a positive metric for me. And it really helped me You know if I did have an episode where I’d eat three slices of pizza And a ton of fries and regular soda or whatever it is I’d still go on the scale the next day and i’d be like, oh It does go up four pounds when I eat that stuff and but then I would have nights where I would just Order like three orders of caesar salad like not even think about portion control eat like huge amounts of cheesy Broccoli or something like that, but then i’d see wow, it actually stays the same where it goes down I could eat as many vegetables as I want.

I mean there’s No salad dressing in the world that’s going to make me gain weight, you know? So even though on the news you had personal trainers saying this salad is the same as a McDonald’s burger fries I was like, no, it’s not for me. And it really helped me, you know Figure out what works and what doesn’t by trial and error

[00:21:35] Gabby: and I think you know for me The important thing is like hierarchal of needs, right?

So let’s say someone is saying hey, I’m trying to you know, run a Five and a half minute mile and I’m doing this race. Okay. That’s a certain kind of eating And I think also kind of graduating to those levels where all of a sudden you’re like, I feel really good Maybe if I took this out, I might feel better or sleep better or get more energy But I think Not taking it all on that.

Everything is bad for you Being afraid of food and this approach that you’re talking about, I think is such a powerful tool for people to keep them, uh, so that they’ll start.

[00:22:12] Ilana Muhlstein: Oh, totally. It’s so much more liberalizing and freeing than people make it out to be. And there’s a lot of fear factor in so much of the nutrition information and diets out there right now.

And And it’s really damaging in the long term. I think I’m very blessed I got to start this early and started my own plan early before the infiltration of all these like toxic diets because yes, you might go back after you lose the weight, you might go back and you gain weight, but those messages are really hard to get out of your head.

And you know, I am so grateful that I could be like a breath of fresh air approach to people to weight loss. And I think it’s because. My basis in nutrition and weight loss is associated with summer camp like it really wasn’t such a negative thing for me It was actually an amazing retreat from my life.

[00:23:03] Gabby: And then you went on and went to school and yeah, and really Studied this now I do you mentioned the food pyramid. Can we agree that that’s just kind of a farce? Oh, yes. I mean, how many servings?

[00:23:14] Ilana Muhlstein: Thankfully, even the USDA I mean, they joke, like,

[00:23:16] Gabby: we should actually almost, um, right, almost flip it kind of upside down.

[00:23:20] Ilana Muhlstein: Well, fruits and vegetables weren’t even, like, close to the bulk of everything. And

[00:23:24] Gabby: I always find that interesting. Like, there are people who go, like, I get my calcium from my milk. And I go, really? Like, and, you know, I get those certain servings. So I just, I guess the, the other important thing is that a lot of this is a personal discovery.

You and I could eat the same food, and I might feel tired after, and you get energy. However, you convert, you know, food to energy to calories, it’s different than me. And people think, oh, well, if you’re, you know, athletic or you’re thin, this is how you metabolize animal protein. You don’t know that. Right. So I always invite people to do what you’re saying, which is experiment and see, there’s a guy named Paul Cech.

He is extreme. I’m not gonna, he’s, he’s like, I can listen to

[00:24:05] Ilana Muhlstein: extreme and filter out. A lot of people can’t. But

[00:24:07] Gabby: he always had a good suggestion, which was you have a plate. and experiment on your own for a week. So do like a third, a third, a third, normal protein, carbohydrate and vegetables, even the vegetables and carbohydrates.

Okay. Try more top loaded of a veggie. And less of an animal protein and come and the other way because certain people cannot metabolize You know animal proteins and they go I want to take a nap or whatever And he’s like you have to figure that out for yourself

[00:24:31] Ilana Muhlstein: Absolutely. I always say try it track it and see if it works for you like I never Am not into prescriptive meal plans ever because I remember even early days becoming, you know a registered dietitian having Private practice clients in Beverly Hills or at UCLA, I would recommend to a client in a session.

Okay. So tonight you’re going to go home. You’re going to have chicken thighs and steamed broccoli. And then I would see them next week and be like, Oh no, no, no. That night I ended up going for sushi. You know, so like we have to be flexible in our approach. We have to be open minded because what works for one person or even you a year ago is not necessarily going to work for you today.

[00:25:06] Gabby: Right. That’s so true. And even seasonally, I think warm weather, cold weather. A hundred percent. So you you’ve worked with a lot of people and you have a lot of people reaching out to you. What is What is it in your world that why people fail over and over with diets? What is it? What are what is it that you’ve seen that you know is a universal truth on that?

[00:25:26] Ilana Muhlstein: Mindset 100 percent like where is your mindset and there’s so many examples of Okay, so first off is self sabotaging. The self sabotage, the rate of self sabotage is huge. Like, I have a chapter in my book, you can drop it, all about stop self sabotage. And so many people tell me it’s their favorite chapter.

It’s one thing that really amazes me. I mean, I have periods in my past where I would do it too. Like I remember I was at a plateau for a long time in the low 140s and every time I’d go into the 130s for a second, I would have a bigger breakfast. Like it was almost like that fear factor of can I, should I, is it possible for me?

And you you see self sabotage everywhere. The question is where does it stem from? Why does it happen? How to overcome it? Which is deep, you know, it could be because In your childhood, you were always the big kid and everyone said, Oh, you know, Sally, she’s the biggest sibling. And so she gets that extra serving and so that you can’t help, but get that out.

You know, it’s, it, that runs really deep of like the self sabotage of just not believing you’re enough, not believing you’re worthy, not believing that it’s possible for you. I think some people are almost like, I don’t want to say addicted to the struggle, but like, I think it’s much harder for some people.

To get out of it than other people I speak to Um, so you have to believe it’s possible for you is the next thing a lot of people just doubt they’ll tell me But i’ve tried every diet in the past. This is so different My approach to weight loss is just completely different than any other thing So you can’t say you’ve done everything because even if you’ve done my plan, you still haven’t done everything, you know And I think everyone has to believe that they’re destined to be a healthy happy person who doesn’t have to overthink Their food constantly you might have to think about it more At the start, but it should become effortless with time and there’s always a tool and solution to get someone there So I think that that’s it too emotional eating not having better coping strategies for pain sorrow difficulties You know having this relationship with food where you think it’s a cure all when maybe it’s a creative outlet that’s going to take you out or you know something Something deeper inside of you that you need to tap into there are just there’s so many reasons and then in addition to all of that So sure there’s the emotional then you have actual genetics, but the genetics and the nutritional piece I really feel like I had every it’s very hard to be morbidly obese by five years old Like I have those genetics.

I think you can come out of them But the actual environment environment is a huge piece of this puzzle. You know, we both live in LA in the area I took my kids to a trampoline park like an hour and a half away. I’m always prepared with water, with veggies, with healthy snacks. In this event, I was like, this is two Sundays ago.

I was like, no, no, I could trust that I could find something there. We were in a rush. We had a reservation for this trampoline park. I got there. There literally wasn’t anything. It was all frankenfoods or whatever you want to call it. Just ultra processed. I mean, there wasn’t a thing. Then there was a cafe, like it said bakery cafe around the corner.

I’m like, perfect. You know what? When we’re done with this, I’ll get a salad. It wasn’t a cafe. It was just a bakery of pastries. And so environment does play a massive role. There are people who live in food deserts who don’t have the kind of access to things that, you know, others do.

[00:28:46] Gabby: Well, and I think too, it’s people understanding when, if you’re metabolically compromised, it, you, even if you do the same thing as the person next to you who isn’t, You’re not going to get the benefit.

And so you think, well, wait a second, I eat even less than they do. And I am training maybe, you know, in whichever way, and I’m not getting that success. And so I think there’s some interesting phases I would imagine that people go through where it’s like, do you have a trick or a way that you get them to sort of suspend belief until the body’s able to.

You know, get a little bit of momentum where they can start to see change.

[00:29:23] Ilana Muhlstein: I think most people who do like my program, most people see weight loss like right away. I mean, there’s definitely a lot of lifestyle changes. Of course, people say, you know, there’s been no change, but it’s very hard to do everything right.

You know, my program is based on. I lost then 50 pounds through high school, just to go back to the story, like, you know, really with that trial and error. But then I decided I was giving advice to my friends moms who were struggling and teachers and all this stuff. I realized if I was going to give advice, I should get the utmost credibility.

So that’s why I became a registered dietitian, got my master’s degree. And I started teaching weight loss seminars at UCLA and working with my private clients before I kind of scaled it with everyone. And You know, in those UCLA classes, too, you had every socioeconomic status, you had older people and younger people and every nationality, and there was literally always something that you can improve by 5 percent to see a change.

And I think a lot of people feel like, I tried everything, I tried everything, like, I always say like every one of my program videos or chapter my book it unlocks the next five pounds and I’m not perfect there is Not one perfect way to do the program There’s not one template but like maybe it’s 20 ounces more water a day or maybe it’s you know Like you said in percentages of the plates, maybe you don’t metabolize carbohydrates as other people.

I have a you know menopausal Metabolism since I’m five years old. I can’t tolerate carbs like some other clients I have worked A decade older than me. So I think you always have to be open to learning and adapting And there’s always something we can do I think we listen to like arbitrary advice like 1200 calories and a gram of protein for every pound of body weight And it’s just not that simple like we have to kind of figure out our own bodies and needs

[00:31:09] Gabby: From an overview and I know it’s nuanced.

Um, what are the levers so we have Within within it you just mentioned like 20 ounces more water. What are some of those levers? Big levers even journaling. Yeah that you are are sort of always Tweaking and fine tuning with people and encouraging them to mess around with.

[00:31:28] Ilana Muhlstein: So I have my core four principles I call them the two bunnies because if you hold up two fingers It looks like two bunnies and I created this when I was postpartum with my daughter and using all the principles on my own self And it looked like image in the book.

I was reading her the night before but anyway It’s these four core principles that I found in working with other people hundreds and hundreds of people at the time, everything was coming down to these four core principles. So this was like, it didn’t matter if you were keto, or you were intermittent fasting, or you were this or that, everything came down to the four core principles.

And to this day, I know it to be true. I’d say like at least 60 percent of weight loss can be manipulated, or adapted, or changed in some way with these four core principles. So, my first two are water first, veggies most. Um, that’s why like I trademarked that slogan, I think it’s It’s timeless. Really, if you look at every sort of program or plan, it really comes down to drinking lots of water and eating lots of veggies.

And then the scale and the tracker, right, is like accountability and some sort of accountability. And that doesn’t include like counting macros or anything, but it’s just write it down. And each of these four core principles is deeply rooted on research and science. So I remember like I was growing up in an era where everyone was talking about portion control.

I was even working for a dietician, world renowned on portion control, so many books on portion control and I loved her, I respected her, but I couldn’t, I could not relate, like I cannot eat a petite little thing and feel full and satisfied. And I remember seeing little images as a kid of like, You know, a tiny ounce of trail mix is the same calories as this massive thing of, you know, celery with even peanut butter powder mixed with water, like changed my whole life because I need volume in order to feel satisfied.

[00:33:12] Gabby: You talk a lot about that in your, in your communication, which I think people really probably appreciate that.

[00:33:17] Ilana Muhlstein: Well, because it’s, it’s like the secret that no one shared with me, you know, is that food can taste good and it can be big and it can be satisfying and, you know, we, like, demonize the clean plate club, but if your plate looks pretty good, you can finish it, you know, and you don’t have to feel bad for not eating all of it, and I’ve always been that way, even, um, a girlfriend of mine who’s, like, tall and slim and doesn’t struggle with her weight, she said when she gets like hangry in the middle of the day and she hasn’t eaten for hours.

She just told me this on Friday night. She said she’ll put a little peanut butter on a spoon with a little jelly on a spoon and she’ll eat it like that. And I laughed because I had like a very similar craving the same day for peanut butter and jelly in the middle of the day. But I needed it to be cottage cheese with peanut butter powder mixed in so I get the peanut butter flavor and fresh strawberries.

Which if you think about it, it’s probably very similar in calories, but To me that little spoon would do nothing for me,

[00:34:16] Gabby: right? It wasn’t gonna satisfy and and the idea of like, okay fiber with your strawberry, right? A hundred percent instead of sugar only a higher protein exactly. So in the principles You you know The whole thing that I get from what you’re doing is empowering people and even encouraging them to experiment Totally, so maybe we can actually I’m curious about something as somebody who was a certain way and known You Right.

It’d be like me being known for being tall. That’s not going to change, but let’s just say like, Oh, you’re, you know, everybody we’re all, Oh, you’re that kid who’s good in math or it’s weird how we do get identities labeled and identity. So when you, when you lost the 50 pounds in high school, are there times where you’re white knuckling going, Oh man, I hope this doesn’t come back.

Like what liberates you from, from knowing, Hey, I have the tools to get myself in and out of trouble.

[00:35:09] Gabby: and I’m okay, right, you know because I would imagine there’s times where you think oh, I don’t want that to come happen again and You know, there’s a maybe a great period where people aren’t sure that they’re actually in charge right?

[00:35:22] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah I mean even with each of my pregnancies I mean definitely my first pregnancy because that at my first pregnancy I was already down 75 pounds and leading weight loss seminars at UCLA and counseling clients So after being in control my weight for so many years Having this period where it start, the scale starts going up and it could go up three pounds overnight just from fluid and feeling that lack of control that really did make me feel uncomfortable and I had a really not great pregnancy.

My first pregnancy was highly emotional. Sometimes they say it’s the estrogen of carrying a girl. I don’t know what that is, but if that’s true, but I think between that and my body changing, I really had a hard time with it and once I lost the weight all back afterwards with my program, the to be mindset.

I was so like excited to get pregnant the next times and I think that idea of being cautiously optimistic Is a little healthy, you know, I think it’s you don’t want to be completely fearless because sometimes I see my clients They thrive they lose 50 pounds with me Everything’s amazing, but they’re almost like cocky and I always tell them you can never be too cocky because there’s one trip There’s one vacation.

There’s one thing that can really throw you off course and overnight you can find like wait You Why am I thought I was in maintenance mode and all of a sudden I have to go back into that weight loss mode thinking and and kind of like fine tune things a little bit. So I think I’ve oh, I’m always on the era of like cautiously optimistic to this day.

I have to I have to follow my principles. If I don’t. You know, I can gain weight just as easily. I can look at things and gain weight. Like I definitely still have that metabolism that I have to be smart and savvy with. But it’s never scary. It always feels like I can do this, not a big deal. And I always tell people, you can always lose the weight as fast as you can gain it.

And that really like shocks people. They’re like, is that true? Is that possible? And with time, you, a lot of people who do my program, they see like, oh yeah, you actually can. And like, as much as it can. You know, a night of cocktails and chips, like it, you could also bring it down with a couple of days of clean eating and all the things.

So I think like bringing out, bringing down the fear, like making people feel more empowered, like they can control this is super important. And I do whatever I can to make people feel like they’re in greater control with their environment, with their emotions, with their nutrition.

[00:37:39] Gabby: You’re, you’re definitely like an upper person, right?

Like you have that where I could see where people come to you. Now. A lot of people, and you wonder what it is, right? Like you go, hey, are they that busy? Is it their lifestyle? Um, maybe they’re, they, uh, they don’t have a family. So you’re not, maybe you don’t want to cook for one. Right. That’s a huge one. And I get that.

Right. Like, or, or their kids are gone and you know, whatever, whatever the million reasons are. But then you have these, these emotional little hidden landmines. I feel like. When people were talking about kind of navigating let’s say at least weight management or body composition or whatever The terms are that we now say for weight, right?

in your practice like When it’s those hidden emotional things it’s an un you know dealt with Relationship totally because I feel like that’s usually the impetus Totally. Mostly.

[00:38:39] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah, like what did their parents tell them as a kid? Yeah. What made it, you know, really hard? I think one thing people have to change their mindset on is a lot of people think it has to be hard like they won’t Be successful unless it feels hard and then inadvertently I see people like actually make it harder for themselves Wait, in what way?

Okay, so like You know, I always say the mindset shifts are critical, right? You have to go from, I have to eat a salad to I get to eat a salad, right? Like that little shift is so big and transformative. I even like coined this term sexy salads. Like I have a whole chapter in my book and my cookbook of sexy salads.

I’ve been talking about it for, Eight years, like that hashtag goes back a long way. You could hashtag Ilana’s sexy salads. I did a big campaign with it like seven years ago when Instagram was, when I was at least early to Instagram. And the idea is like you’re so lucky you get to eat a sexy salad and it could be fun and it could be satisfying.

But I do think like to this day if you were told as a kid, you can’t have The fries, or the second piece of pizza, you have to have the salad, and listen, like,

[00:39:43] Gabby: Who knows,

[00:39:44] Ilana Muhlstein: Who knows, like, you know, in terms of teaching kids and having voiced kids, you never know what’s going to be damaging long term, but I think if the message is negative enough, then it will infiltrate, and I think if you had a mom who was always dieting and struggling, and negative self talk, you know, I think that that is really damaging, I think, for the next generation.

So, It’s a combination of all of it that I think really gets in people’s way but if you have an open mind and you literally like Listen to my podcast or whatever Like I I really see remarkable things and how people can change and what they tell me they used to think to now It’s possible.

[00:40:24] Gabby: It does because you do you hear a lot of lip services of like, well, you know I’m this age now or oh, this is so I can’t do it or I’ve always been this way and I you know I just bring that up because We are the ones who get in our own way

[00:40:39] Ilana Muhlstein: and we all

[00:40:39] Gabby: can have a million reasons.

[00:40:41] Ilana Muhlstein: There’s so many, I mean even PCOS when I was in school for becoming a dietitian I remember so pivotally like it was on a test Polycystic ovarian syndrome it affects 1 percent of women Yada, yada. We’re in, I mean, fast forward a decade or so, I mean, it’s almost like every third woman tells me that they have PCOS or something of it because it’s not an exact thing that you can diagnose.

It’s kind of like an umbrella of things that doctors slap on. Yeah, there’s like

[00:41:08] Gabby: eight things that fall under that.

[00:41:10] Ilana Muhlstein: And so if a woman feels like, oh, she has to like wax her mustache for, you know, and then, you know, because she’s a little hairier and then she’s having a hard time losing weight, it’s very, and she might see that she has insulin resistance, which, It could be from other things too.

It’s like, you know, people want to believe that. And the second a woman, hopefully the conversation is changing now, now that there are dozens and dozens of women who have had success with PCOS and lose weight and are thankfully becoming more vocal about it. But I remember seeing like five, six years ago, everyone was like, I have PCOS so I can’t lose weight.

My doctor told me I have PCOS so I can’t lose weight. Definitely women going through perimenopause. I’m going through perimenopause, it’s impossible. Is it impossible or is it possible, you know? And I think Sometimes I hear people say things that it almost Not in an obnoxious way because I’m guilty of this too, but it’s like sounds like things like my kids would say You know, my son always says forever.

I’ll be like, I’m sorry, my love Like you can’t have a playdate with that friend today And I’ll be like, I can’t have a playdate with him forever Like I’ll never have a playdate with him again And I literally hear some people say that like echoes things like that to me and they’re you know more mature They would I could say you know what you drink a lot last weekend You’re going out this weekend, but you really want to see some progress.

Like, is there any way we can maybe hold off on the alcohol this weekend? So like, wait, does this mean I’m never going to drink again? It’s like, no, but you know, there’s always, I always say you could have everything, but not all at once. So if this weekend is an alcohol weekend, then, you know, it’s also that birthday.

You say you love birthday cake. Like we’re going to have to just figure out the give and take.

[00:42:44] Gabby: It’s so interesting. So. So first, let’s just say like first principles then on this stuff. So it’s mindset.

[00:42:50] Ilana Muhlstein: Totally.

[00:42:51] Gabby: And then is it food? Is it exercise? Is it examining their entire day? Like what does that look like?

Yeah. And then it, you know, how do you tackle each person’s um, nutrition?

[00:43:04] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah. So the four core principles really do work. And every day. I designed this tracker. I could send you one. So, again, it’s not calorie counting. It’s not macros. But every day you just write what you eat. Because again, completely rooted in science and research.

Like, one of the reasons why people were successful on Weight Watchers, if you noticed, every two years they changed their point system. There was a constant change in point system. They had, Points, points plus, this plan, that plan, you could choose your plan. I remember when I was, as a volumeter, I remember I tried Weight Watchers at some point during the school year, one of those years, and there was a point where like a lot of things were free foods, and I remember like bananas being a free food, like, and I would just manipulate the system and figure it out right away.

But why do people still see success? I think I lost three pounds in four months, but like why? Because you’re simply just writing down your food every day. And that alone makes. a huge impact in becoming a more mindful eater and just starting to realize what works and what doesn’t. So people write crazy things on these trackers that, you know, I’ve seen everything.

Some people are like, you can’t see it. There’s not a fast food restaurant. There’s not an order I haven’t seen. I’ve seen everything. But as long as you’re writing it down, you’re always going to have more success. You’re always going to have more success. So when people write it down and they go on the scale every day, they’re So they put in the date, weight, what they eat, and then they, I really believe in the scale as a powerful tool and, you know, I could talk about that for a while, you start to realize, okay, like, this day works a little bit better, and it’s amazing because usually on the days where people are experiencing a greater weight loss, They’re not eating less.

Usually it’s a day that feels more abundant than the day that’s like, I was just too tired so I didn’t make dinner. I ended up just having like a few squares of cheese and crackers from the pantry. Like those are usually the times where people gain the most weight and it’s nice because it’s enlightening and it actually becomes very motivating to keep taking care of yourself.

[00:45:00] Gabby: Right. And like you said, that volume eating. Now I, I often think I, I, I weigh a lot. I mean, I weigh 180 pounds.

[00:45:10] Ilana Muhlstein: You’re also like a foot taller than me.

[00:45:11] Gabby:  I’m tall, but my, but even as an athlete, I, let’s say I competed more at about 167. Um,

[00:45:20] Ilana Muhlstein: And I love that you know your weight, just as a side note.

[00:45:22] Gabby: Yeah, but I, so what I will say this, I remember early on, I used to say to people, and this is, you know, continued learning, I think if you don’t typically navigate a weight issue that I always encourage people, how do your clothes fit, how’s your energy and how do you look in the mirror?

But I do want to say in the learning moment for me is that reminder that the scale in a positive way is just feedback.

[00:45:48] Ilana Muhlstein: Just feedback.

[00:45:49] Gabby: Yeah. It’s not something to live and die by. Not at all. It’s to use as it’s like, you know, when your kids are growing and you write the little line on the, yeah, exactly, on the wall, like, Oh, you, this is how much you’ve grown in a year.

It’s just. Just one. Neutral baseline feedback. And

[00:46:03] Ilana Muhlstein: like, I like pictures, I like measurements, but you know, if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. So we need, we need something, you know, and I think a lot of people want to avoid that one thing. And if you look at history, it’s actually the one thing that hasn’t changed.

Like we’ve seen scales for like a thousand years. There’s, we. See people use scales. It’s everything else that’s changed our lifestyles our food supply like our dieting industry Everything else is the amount we sleep the amount of air quality. We have like everything else has changed that’s the one thing that’s kind of pretty neutral pretty objective and I think we’ve It made it a more emotional issue because it took a really bad negative turn where we started demonizing it.

And the second we started demonizing the scale, our obesity crisis only worsened. And so again, it’s just a number. It’s just feedback. It’s, but I always find people are, especially if they don’t have a negative relationship and they don’t have a past disordered eating plan. That You know where the scale is really triggering if they do have like a somewhat healthy relation over the scale It doesn’t freak them out.

It’s usually better to know than to not know living in our current society You know if you’re going to move to a place where there’s a tiny obesity rate like japan You could totally very likely get away.

[00:47:22] Gabby: Right because you’re living like them in that environment.

[00:47:24] Ilana Muhlstein: Exactly, I always find like in america people who avoided it during covid people who avoided for six seven eight months people who avoided during really You hard times, it usually becomes a bigger deal because then they’re have this shock value.

And then it feels like it’s such a big number feels out of touch. And it’s lacks motivation that you could actually tackle it. If it feels like it’s eight pounds gained during a really hard six month period, you’re like, okay, you know what? It is what it is. Yeah, I could do that. But when it starts to feel like 35, it’s like, okay, well now this is a much bigger thing.

And so it’s just a healthy touch base.

[00:47:57] Gabby: So if someone comes in, you have your principles. Is there are, let’s say the person has a good, like a significant, it’s health, it’s a health issue now. Okay. It’s 40 pounds. It’s what’s right. Is there laid down principles that you go, Hey, for the next six months or three months?

We’re going to avoid alcohol. We’re going to move in these directions. We’re going to avoid these things. Like, cause you don’t seem like a person who tries to be restrictive to me. So how do you navigate? I need people

[00:48:30] Ilana Muhlstein: to come up with it on their own. Cause if I come up with it, it already seems. Harder scarier and everything.

So how do you do that? Well when it comes to alcohol for instance, because you bring that up There are some people who are like non negotiable. I have to have my alcohol And some people who are like honestly, i’m not that much of a drink. I just drink for social situations I always tell those people that’s your strength My goal, especially with a private client is find the strengths if someone tells to me like i’m actually don’t have that big of a Sweet tooth i’m like no Own it.

[00:49:00] Gabby: Lucky you. Own

[00:49:00] Ilana Muhlstein: it. Exactly. I can’t own that. Yeah. But people say that to me. And then they randomly eat like this. Like, you know, packaged cookies in the afternoon at work, I’m like, listen man, like, you gotta own it. If that’s your strength, you can’t be messing with packaged cookies. Like you gotta own that.

[00:49:14] Gabby: Right.

[00:49:14] Ilana Muhlstein: So, if someone’s not that into alcohol, I’m like, that’s your strength, don’t you mess with it. Like, it’s just not worth it. It’s never gonna be worth it. And there’s always room to enjoy the things you really love. But there’s very little room to just eat things quote unquote just cuz that just cuz is very pivotal I hear so many people be like I ate it just because it was there because I didn’t want to waste it because yada yada yada and like there’s very little room for that when you’re trying to Hit a goal and sustain it.

So you have to be really clever with where you prioritize the thing when it comes to alcohol is I have some clients, they do great with alcohol and even culturally, like you see some cultures, they drink plenty of alcohol and they still have a healthy weight. You have to know yourself, not test yourself.

That’s a big thing of mine. It’s like, got to know yourself, not test yourself. For me personally, when I drink alcohol, My appetite increases.

[00:50:07] Gabby: Maybe the mindless eating, right? It’s just,

[00:50:09] Ilana Muhlstein: it’s usually not. Who eats hors

[00:50:11] Gabby: d’oeuvres? Right. And then you have, you know, you’re somewhere and then they’re like, do you want the mini taco?

You’re like, I think I want eight of those. Right.

[00:50:18] Ilana Muhlstein: Exactly.

[00:50:18] Gabby: Yeah. And

[00:50:19] Ilana Muhlstein: so it’s usually not like the 300 calories in a cocktail or whatever it is, but it’s The additional chips, guacamole, dessert, pizza’s shared that, you know, so you’ve really got to know yourself and understand How much it helps you and how much it doesn’t and if you really want it We’ll plan in advance of what you’re gonna eat and we can make it work

[00:50:38] Gabby: Yeah, and then do you talk to them about movement?

Like hey, you you gotta get it in Yeah, how do you do it? How do you navigate the exercise part?

[00:50:45] Ilana Muhlstein: So I always say Food is everything exercise is extra credit because personally You That’s what I found. Like when I was at my highest weight, I was on the treadmill every night for three miles. I remember at the time Britney Spears was in that, you know, I’m a slave for you era with the crazy abs like doing a hundred crunches a night.

So I was like, I’m gonna do a hundred crunches a night, but When you’re carrying a lot of weight, you do not see the definition in your abs with that going on. So, exercise, I actually have grown more passionate about encouraging to people over the years as more and more evidence comes out that it’s critical for mental health.

But we always have to look at it, First and foremost as a great mental health tool because we see in studies that it literally is the same if not better at helping with anxiety and symptoms of depression compared to some medication. So we can’t not exercise and move our bodies just because the evidence is so there that it can make us happier.

When it comes to weight loss, there’s more and more evidence to show that it’s not necessarily a critical piece for, for weight loss. Uh, what we see in people who have lost weight successfully and have kept it off, there’s a great study called the National Weight Control Registry of people within the United States who’ve lost about 40 pounds and have kept it off for many years.

I’m actually part of this study.

[00:52:07] Gabby: What’s it, what, what’s considered. Is it three years or five years? Or what is it? You have

[00:52:12] Ilana Muhlstein: to have lost the weight and then maintained it. I don’t know. You could look it up. You could Google it. National Weight Control Registry. I’m in it. I’m one of the people in it. People like within America who’ve lost weight and kept it off.

And every year they send us like two surveys, I think twice a year, asking all these like really particular questions about what we do. And this has been going on for years. And they share the information. And one thing that they’ve seen is, one. Frequent weighing like this group of people who’ve lost weight now have kept it off They’re not afraid of the scale and they’re going on not necessarily daily But I think it’s like at least like once a week is average or so forth At least once a month like you’ll see that data.

But when it comes to exercise They do find that people exercise as a key for maintaining weight that it helps infuse the lifestyle of being healthy So while we don’t necessarily see that it’s a critical piece for weight loss It does help maintain the weight over years because it makes you drink more water, you know And it also relieves stress and when your stress is down, you’re not stress eating as much

[00:53:12] Gabby: and that’s right Like you’re more your level of homeostasis.

I think is more you have greater, you know, sort of even keeled and I think You That, um, feel like you said earlier, food being a comforting, it’s another drug just is, I mean, it’s the one drug that. You still have to try to do it two, three times a day. And that’s what’s so tricky about it. Totally. It’s like, yeah, yeah, I have a thing with this, but yeah, we got to figure out.

[00:53:38] Ilana Muhlstein: Well, that’s why I say like not everything in moderation. You know, I think there’s a huge conversation now of like everything in moderation and intuitive eating. And I’ve worked with a lot of people and I know there are some foods. For some people, that just turns them into a different person.

[00:53:53] Gabby: Well, it opens the door. Like sometimes you eat certain food and even for women, I think at a certain time of the month and all of a sudden it’s like game on. Right. I’m going to eat, you know, eat this whole thing. So is there another do you talk about sleep with them? Oh, I

[00:54:07] Ilana Muhlstein: love sleep. Love sleep. I even I own the website Gain sleep lose weight because I knew CLA that was a big thing that I was focused on and I thought I was gonna write A whole book on it Cause the studies with sleep and appetite are, you can’t dismiss them.

They’re so there. They’re so factual. And they always say that like when you sleep less than let’s say seven deep hours of sleep per night, our hunger hormone is up, ghrelin, which is like growling and leptin, what tells us we’re full is down, right? So we can eat more. We crave more. We tend to crave more carbs and sugar, but then we feel less satisfied.

So you end up just eating a lot more. And. We see that lack of sleep contributes to weight gain and so forth. So I remember for a couple years I took that research and anytime I took a red eye or whatever I would just eat more. I’d be like, okay, I’m a product of what’s going on. I didn’t sleep last night.

So I’m gonna be hungrier. I’m gonna crave more carbs. This is that. But then I realized, No, nothing is a sentence. Everything is always within your control. And so now when I don’t sleep, even like last night, Well, and

[00:55:05] Gabby: you have three little kids. Exactly.

[00:55:07] Ilana Muhlstein: I just know, do all the things that help with appetite the next day, right?

So like drink more water, which can help with appetite. Eat more veggies, that can help with appetite. Write down your food so you’re more mindful of those pics and licks and tastes. When you’re choosing a carb, make it a higher fiber carb. Don’t just make it like, let’s say, a white rice cake. Like, make it.

You know raspberries that are high in fiber or something that’s gonna keep you fuller longer. So be smart with the lean protein So it’s not fried chicken wings. It’s actually tuna or whatever it is. So, you know, it’s always within your control I think it’s important to know that it can make you hungrier so that when you have those hunger pangs You know how to deal with it.

But at the end of the day, you’re the louder voice in your head saying you got this You’re okay, even though your body’s messaging to you that you need to be eating more You Try to eat similarly than yesterday that you felt like you ate enough and felt satisfied, you know, and, and do all the, do all the things.

[00:56:01] Gabby: I think we don’t give water because it’s kind of boring and it’s everywhere. We don’t give it enough credit because it, a lot of times when we think we’re hungry, we’re thirsty, we’re dehydrated. All the time,

[00:56:12] Ilana Muhlstein: constantly.

[00:56:13] Gabby: Do you, cause stress, like for me, if I gain weight, I mean, mine would usually be sleep or let’s say if I go up three pounds or something.

On me, that would be a big jump throughout my day. I’m going to be a five pound variation easily, but let’s just say It’ll be that. I haven’t slept enough and I have extra stress It’s almost like you can feel the inflammatory response to the body Even if my eating isn’t different my

[00:56:38] Ilana Muhlstein: face looks totally different today after just the

[00:56:40] Gabby: being yeah is different So do you have conversations because it’s hard. I know that you’re kind of navigating the plate

[00:56:47] Ilana Muhlstein: Right.

[00:56:47] Gabby: Um, but are you having these? You Sort of off site conversations about stress because I do feel like you could do it All right, but if you were not naturally a thin person, and you were a stress person, I think it’d be hard to get down to the weight that you wanted to.

[00:57:06] Ilana Muhlstein: Absolutely. Yeah, I mean I have someone I’m close with I won’t say if it’s friend or family or anything, but You know, she’s tried everything, everything, everything. Refuses to sleep, like literally walks around functioning on two to three hours a badge now? It really feels like a badge. They’ve been in this like really intense job for a long time that might be changing and I’m like that’s no longer gonna be your crux.

Like that’s, then that has to stop being your excuse as to why you can’t sleep because without sleep, I mean, that, that’s our recharge. That’s where our hunger hormones get stabilized. And there’s just no reason to stay up at all hours of the day. It will mess with your weight like nothing else. And, and stress too, you know, stress too.

If people are just chronically stressed or believe that they have to be stressed, you know, I always tell my husband, like, you can be just as successful stress. Like I know a lot of very successful people who are very chill. And I think that you can respond to things better when you’re chill and so forth.

It’s not easy. We’re not. We’re definitely both not hardwired to be chill, but like, Even I think everything you can work towards, you know My natural inclination when I see food left over on my kids plate is still My natural inclination still goes back to don’t waste food and and finish it because you don’t want to go waste it but then I override it with the mantra of Better in the waist than on your waist like it’s still wasting if you don’t need to eat it And so with the right mindset with the right, you know phrases and shifts, I think everyone can be Much more successful.

[00:58:39] Gabby: Yeah, and I think you can be a hard charging person intense person who’s focused and determined, uh, and somehow stay somewhat calm. I think it, it doesn’t, they don’t have to live together necessarily. Um, that, you know, you’re, grinding your teeth and getting so much done. Right.

Let’s talk about kids for a second. So you have three little kids. Um, and is it, is it first, so for parents, you know, Oh my God, the big stress, my kid won’t touch anything green. And I heard one time that, um, a lot of times little kids don’t have certain enzymes, uh, in their stomach to break down certain vegetables.

So in a way that that’s also part of why they don’t like it, but, you know, I also think it’s probably exposure. Right. Like we wouldn’t think to be like, yeah. Here’s spinach, you know, I don’t know. What do you find just in your own world? What’s the, what are kind of your principles as a parent?

[01:02:16] Ilana Muhlstein: Right. Um, I love talking about kids nutrition.

This is definitely going to be my phase two of my career.

[01:02:23] Gabby: And

[01:02:23] Ilana Muhlstein: they’ll

[01:02:23] Gabby: be like,

[01:02:24] Ilana Muhlstein: soda,

[01:02:25] Gabby: you know, I’m kidding. I’m kidding. No,

[01:02:26] Ilana Muhlstein: they, listen, my kids, what I love is that I have three, but they’re all three completely different and their eating styles are completely different. So it really challenges me in a whole new way because I’ve been seeing kids for nutrition.

First way before I even had them myself. So it’s definitely fun. Um, and it keeps you on your toes.

[01:02:44] Gabby: What if you have a picky kid? And their parents have obliged them and give them chicken McNuggets and noodles.

[01:02:51] Ilana Muhlstein: Well, that’s step one is the oblige, right? Because the hardest part of parenting, and I think most people will agree, the hardest part of parenting is disciplining.

It is not fun. If your kid keeps doing something that’s not fun, Annoying and you ask them to please stop and then they keep doing it and then you say if you don’t stop I’m gonna have to take you to your room or whatever And then they keep doing it. The most annoying thing is telling them that they actually now have to go to their room and you have to walk them there because that just ruins your dinner too.

It’s so unfun, like disciplining and following through is not enjoyable. And that’s why it’s really easy in forms of any tantrum. When your kid is like, I want to watch TV. I want to watch TV. Like you just want to chuck on my iPad and tell them to stop. But I think the number one, thing that people have to just to open the conversation about kids nutrition is we have to view it as a critical piece of parenting.

So the same way you wouldn’t let your kids stay up till 3 in the morning, you don’t let them have white toast and call it dinner. You know, and so that I feel pretty adamant about is that like the same way that you want them to brush your teeth So they don’t have cavities is the same way that you want them to have protein before going to school in the morning And I think talking from a place of sensibility and holding your own in showing how it’s important will always pay off And the biggest thing people are scared of is they’re so scared of saying the wrong thing to their kid They’re so scared of saying one wrong thing.

That’s gonna mess the kid up forever. And What do you mean like? People are terrified of giving their kid an eating disorder. I mean, I hear that on the daily. Like parents are just, you know, that’s why they meet with me. Like, I don’t know how to talk about kids nutrition. I’m so scared of giving my kid an eating disorder.

And I’m like, kids are much more resilient and I’m gonna help you freeze things. So like, it would never go down that path. A lot of times that comes from women who have a history with that themselves. So like, that’s the last thing they want to, you know, contribute to. But when it comes from a place of Education and it’s straightforward and it’s compassion.

I’ve never met an adult who grew up in a healthy household as a kid Who’s upset about it? Every adult who I speak to even if it’s someone who’s gone off course and got unhealthy over the years They’ll say gosh, it was it really was great in my childhood. Like we always had a vegetable on table We always had a protein.

We always had a carb like they’re always grateful for that upbringing and I think it’s really important that we come to a place of balance with this because You You know, I haven’t spoken a lot about kids nutrition in the past because every time I try to, I get canceled. It is so temperamental and a hot topic.

Why? Because people are sensitive? They can’t be. People are, well, so sensitive. Because

[01:05:22] Gabby: parents, we’re not objective about our children. And, um, like, I’ll give you an example. I had a situation, my now 20 year old, when she was 13, she went through a very hard time. And, um, she said, and that way that you do something, like the way I communicate or something.

that’s like the worst way for me. And in my mind in that moment, I’m like, I’ve been doing that for 13 years. Right. Like, did I botch up the whole thing? Right. Instead of saying, okay, I can take a look at that. Right. So I think, I think parents get defensive because then somehow does that mean that they weren’t well intended or they didn’t do a good job.

But if you, if you were gonna like, my rules are pretty much no food is taboo. I, I never made a thing with my kids, but this is what we make for dinner. Right. And if you want to eat all of it or some of it, great, knock yourself out. Um, I’ve allowed my teenagers to bring really weird processed foods into my home.

It’s never soda, but it’s, But you’re not

[01:06:25] Ilana Muhlstein: necessarily buying them, they’re bringing it in. Yeah, they’re

[01:06:26] Gabby: going to whatever store, you know, doing it. And you know what you find, the bag’s opened, a little bit’s been eaten. I was just

[01:06:33] Ilana Muhlstein: cleaning my car and if people saw the wrappers I found in my car, just from goodie bags, from birthday parties.

[01:06:39] Gabby: So, And what you realize is, um, they, they usually get through it. My middle daughter cooks, like she won’t eat any hard seed oils. She cooks crazy. She travels and she’s like, it’s so difficult to find healthy food. But this was a kid who ate more carbs and sugar. And she’s the one that I said had a challenging time.

Yeah. She was also using food to

[01:07:03] Ilana Muhlstein: get through that time soothe herself. Right.

[01:07:04] Gabby: So I think we think, Oh no, this kid’s going to be, you know, go like this. It is. Everything is a phase. It is.

[01:07:10] Ilana Muhlstein: Everything is a phase when it comes to kids. Like I find that that’s, you know, they’re sleeping and then all of a sudden they’re teething and they’re up.

You know, like we have to adapt, but I think as long as the parents hold their ground on some things and are always positive role models, the kid usually is. You know, works out well. So there’s a lot to navigate in that front because right now we’re in this era where I haven’t wanted to share nutrition information because every time I do, my comments are crazy.

People get nutty. People are getting so nutty. Like just let your kids eat McDonald’s. And it’s like, and now every study is coming out. Ultra processed food directly linked to greater rates of anxiety and depression. Like our new, really good study just came out on that. At the same time that Ozempic is getting younger and younger prescribed to young

[01:07:55] Gabby: Did you see that?

Exactly. So now what they’re saying about Ozempic, which by the way, if you’re morbidly obese, it could be an interesting drug for you. If you’re just trying to drop that 20, uh, get started, give me a break and, and it’s supposed to be a forever drug. And they’re saying FDA saying, Oh, we’re going to suggest this for 12 year olds

[01:08:15] Ilana Muhlstein: and never give the 12 year old an opportunity to have a healthy relationship with food and understand.

[01:08:20] Gabby: What about your gut? It’s 95 percent of your serotonin is made in your gut and there are people who take ozempic and their guts paralyzed

[01:08:27] Ilana Muhlstein: Oh, I have several clients who’ve gotten like their gallbladders removed and so forth. So

[01:08:32] Gabby: so, okay, so we won’t go down Yeah, but now we’re in a

[01:08:35] Ilana Muhlstein: face of extremism now, which is why even though it’s so controversial the things I say I think I’m gonna have to take a big step forward with this

[01:08:43] Gabby: I think it’s worth it because I think for example, let’s just use juice as an example Okay, so juice is sugar without fiber Right. Straight to the, straight to the gut. I mean, straight to the liver.

[01:08:55] Ilana Muhlstein: Yes. Juice is people think sugar spike, like I’m going to do something better,

[01:09:01] Gabby: right? It’s not a cola, it’s a juice and just getting people to realize that may not be serving you. I used to do like, sometimes I would take like this much juice and put it in a big thing of water. The girls wanted to get great.

[01:09:14] Ilana Muhlstein: Anything that gets you drinking more water, you know, but I,

[01:09:17] Gabby: I just, when you have parents come to you. So it’s, Hey, if you can cook at home. I know it’s hard. It takes more time. It takes planning. Um, that’s always best. Family dinner. Totally. Um, not maybe cereal before school.

Right. I know it’s easy. Or there are

[01:09:33] Ilana Muhlstein: so many better cereals now, which is

[01:09:35] Gabby: cool. But, I mean, let’s face it. Most of that stuff. Right. Not great. Like food. Like you said, like something. Scrambled eggs. Avocado. Yeah, it takes two seconds. Yeah. Because people are always like, it’s busy and I go, how busy are we?

[01:09:47] Ilana Muhlstein: Right. What’s important? And it’s, you know, people spend a lot of other time, you know, also, I always say like, in my book, I say, kids don’t need a Martha Stewart. You know, all these moms, they spend so much time baking these elaborate cakes for their kids birthday or spend a fortune on, you know, these balloon arches and things like that.

And then they give their kid the cheapest, most ultra processed snacks that have no protein and fiber. And it really does. Priorities, but now that we see that proper nutrition can set your kids up for such I mean IQ scores are improved with proper nutrition and lower rates of anxiety and depression. It is so important It is such a critical piece of parenting Obviously, it’s like easy for me to say because that piece of parenting is I, I enjoy more.

It’s in your wheelhouse. It’s in my wheelhouse, um, compared to other things, but it’s just so important. And for instance, my daughter’s in a very picky stage right now, which is super frustrating. When she was born, I had a whole Instagram account of her breakfast. Every morning I’d breakfast with Olivia.

Showing off her chia seeds stuck to her one year old face and eating them so happily. That’s when you were in control. Blended kale. Exactly. Now it’s like total revolt in such a picky stage. The other night like she refused dinner yada yada, and I’m like, you know what? No, I’m gonna make her another thing like I’m gonna make her let’s say like scrambled eggs yada yada and No shade to my husband because you know, we’re tired and we’re working Yeah, but he’s like, uh, why even bother and I looked at him and like snapped like because she’s my daughter Yeah, because it’simportant.

[01:11:17] Gabby: Did she eat the eggs?

[01:11:19] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah, I think she did.

[01:11:21] Gabby: You know, that’s the other thing Sometimes as we have these power struggles with our kids You know if it’s if it’s not a Constant, I think it’s okay once in a while to go clearly you’re having a day, right? I can do extra for you.

[01:11:36] Ilana Muhlstein: Totally exactly and

[01:11:38] Gabby: I that doesn’t mean we’re we’re their servants, but it does mean I get it It’s one of those days this is you know,

[01:11:45] Ilana Muhlstein: exactly so real, you know, everyone gets upset when their kids don’t eat their dinners But I feel like I’m backwards on this because when they don’t eat my dinner, I’m usually like Awesome.

I’ll have the leftovers tomorrow. My husband will say, I don’t mind doing one other thing that I know they’re going to appreciate more and actually eat happily. Yeah.

[01:12:01] Gabby: I have, I make some funky stuff sometimes. And my one daughter’s like, I don’t know about that. I go, I get it. Maybe I pushed it too far. Yeah, exactly.

So, so real food, do you have any, cause I mean, kids have to navigate even school lunches. Totally. I mean, and nobody, they get to a certain age. They’re not, they don’t want to bring. Their lunch to school, right? I mean, I’ll be honest with you as a parent. I have just kind of succumbed To that where I go. I know that we have enough good food in this house.

I know our family dinners I know what’s in them great. I know my kids know the difference We always say between food and fun great like they know a bagel is not food. It’s fun, right for the most part And so for three or four years, it might be weird, right? I don’t know You Yeah, and they all they all Come back to it.

[01:12:53] Ilana Muhlstein: Oh, yeah. I mean I grew up on literally like diet coke and oreos and i’m okay today I think there’s a lot of food mongering and Some parents I speak to they’re on the opposite end of the spectrum they’re like refuse to give their kid like a lick of seed oil or whatever, you know like that and A little bit when it’s the last ingredient and it’s actually a bean based puff, you know And you’re in the middle of nowhere is going to be better than not.

So I think that You You know right now we’re in this era of like people are saying the soil of our fruits and vegetables like

[01:13:23] Gabby: yeah

[01:13:23] Ilana Muhlstein: You can do this until you’re like blue in the face Like you got to get to the point where you have a moderate healthy relationship with food and you make sensible healthy choices And yes, I’m a big believer in that like control what you can control, you know parents come to me all the time with their kid and they’re like You know, I want my kid to meet with you.

I’m like, your kid is six. I can’t meet with your kid. You know, I want to meet with you because under 13, I got to meet with the parent. Yeah, because there’s so much more in the control of what you can do to get the conversation started before the kid even has to notice. I’ve worked with so many parents.

I never had to meet the kid and the kid changed significantly in growth charts and everything else. So, you know, parents usually don’t like to say that, but you know, Yes, there’s birthday parties. Yes, there’s sleepovers. Yes, there’s weekends and churches and synagogues and things like that But dinner at night breakfast in the morning you can do at least 50 60 percent of the puzzle there

[01:14:18] Gabby: yeah, I think that’s a that’s a really important point because if it starts all of a sudden and I Live obviously in the space of I am looking at seed oils and other things.

I’m looking at all Anything that has a name for sugar all great 13 names or whatever we have

[01:14:34] Ilana Muhlstein: Sugar is the biggest to me

[01:14:36] Gabby: Yeah, well, it’s what everything ends up turning into right pretty much And what we didn’t have any kids didn’t have diabetes till like what the 80s, right? It was a rare case, right?

So I think you know, it’s also don’t make things overwhelming For example, I am not physically that flexible. I’m strong, but I’m not that flexible Now if I looked at it and they go what the goal is gonna be for you to get your chest on the floor I wouldn’t even start right but if they go here’s your six exercises totally I don’t worry about the result.

And so I think that with food, it’s first like what you’re saying, um, you know, on how to navigate it, write it down. The other thing is, do you have, and I, I never like hacks. But I feel like on nutrition, when I see all the recipes you have, yeah, you sort of saying, Hey, in lieu of this, use that ops are huge.

Yeah. So let’s talk about swaps and what are some of your favorites?

[01:15:29] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah. Um, for adults and kids, like we can go through meals and stuff like that. Um, listen, sugar is the biggest thing. Like saying food is drug. The only food type that we see actually exhibits drug like qualities in every study is sugar.

Like, hands down. It’s not up for discussion. Like, we see withdrawal symptoms when they give rats and mice sugar, and then they take it away from them. We see withdrawal symptoms that are similar to cocaine and, you know, in studies. Wild so and morphine. It’s so crazy. So like sugar is a real thing Sugar is my number one priority in terms of the kids.

How do you navigate that at home? Yeah, so my kids know how to read food labels like their mom. Can I have this? I’m like, I don’t know and they’ll be like it only says nine grams of sugar, you know Which I I think is is nice for them to see Kids don’t have to be eating or consuming more than 25 grams of added sugar in a day so I think when they look at something and it says Like a can of soda has more than 25 grams of added sugar in one thing.

So they definitely have an idea of that. You know, I like for them to be able to read a label and make it, it’ll be like, it has protein. I’m like, great, let’s bring it on over. You know? So I think that that’s. A great conversation to have these are type of things where online people are like, no, that makes kid obsessed No, it doesn’t that makes them aware of what they’re putting in their body

[01:16:51] Gabby: Like you might have a day where you go.

This is how i’m spending it today. Exactly It teaches them to prioritize

[01:16:58] Ilana Muhlstein: My daughter knows she’s a chocolate girl. Like I think that’s great that she knows she’s a chocolate girl and she literally is You know, there’s so many I’ve never ever ever restricted her told her like no to things I’m super conscious about that and I would never pull anything away from her Especially in public like anything that clients have told me is really harmful in the long term.

I would never do to her

[01:17:19] Gabby: Yeah,

[01:17:19] Ilana Muhlstein: um, but like with time of me talking like that of like, oh Olivia like oh You know, there’s so many, so many candies here at this birthday party. Like, what do you think you’re going to enjoy the most of? And like, with time, she’s even told me like, frosting is my favorite part of a cake.

And then with time, I’ve seen like, she will leave the bottom of a cake, and she will eat all the frosting. And when she asks for a piece of cake, she’ll be like, Mama, I want that rose, and I will, Give her the biggest thing of frosting because I know she’s learned that sense of intuition. I think that’s special Yeah, you know, so like you

[01:17:49] Gabby: said, what are your strengths like I can give up a lot of things But I know like on certain things that’s what I want

[01:17:54] Ilana Muhlstein: exactly

[01:17:55] Gabby: So I saw like for example, you did a tuna recipe and instead of mayonnaise you used Greek yogurt, right?

[01:18:02] Ilana Muhlstein: So great even for kids like I’ll do, you know, half mayo half Greek yogurt I mean tuna is already a protein So I don’t necessarily have to get in more protein But protein is so important for kids like especially especially kids for their growth and development, right? They’re constantly Growing out of their pairs of shoes because they’re constantly growing and they need those amino acid building blocks to keep repairing their cells and catching up with their growth.

So, you know, my kid who has a sweet tooth, like I make Wonder Whips, I have a recipe for it in my cookbook, like a whole section on Wonder Whips. So you basically take Greek yogurt, you could also use plant based yogurt, um, but like you mix it with cinnamon and monk fruit or stevia or even a little maple syrup and honey and like you whip it into, uh, Like a wonder whip and then it’s delicious and it’s a protein and it’s something that like if you give them to a bowl of it while watching TV, it’s like a yummy like thing and no, it’s not a scoop of ice cream, but they know that there’s place for scoop of ice cream and it’s not mindlessly while watching TV on a Tuesday night,

[01:18:58] Gabby: right?

It’s like a fun thing at a birthday party or you go with a grandparent. We’re going to get ice. Exactly. Yeah, I think that I think it makes it more fun. I have one of my daughters. I’ll make something that’s more helpful in a dessert and she’s like, that is disgusting, right? But then I’ll notice that she circles back.

She just does that to be like, Oh, my family does it. You know, don’t tell me it’s gluten free. And I’m like, Oh yeah. Okay. So I think it’s also. Sometimes just putting it out there. But someone said to me a long time ago, if when you’re little, you’re drinking soda, that is your baseline of what’s sweet. And so really it’s also pushing it off long enough.

Cause if kids get older, if you get a 10 year old and you gave them soda, pretty much, they’re not really going to drink it.

[01:19:37] Ilana Muhlstein: I mean there are people who never grew up around this stuff and you know, they don’t crave it We crave exactly what we’ve had in our past You have to be very careful about pushing these things off.

The more kids you have the harder it is Yeah, like my baby my third it’s it’s it’s humiliating. I mean, it’s really it’s He eats, he’s, he’s like, he’s in love with sugar. He just is so, he has so many more sweets. It’s so good. But it’s funny. Cause like my daughter, I was able to push it. My daughter didn’t know pasta wasn’t black because there was this bean based black bean based pasta, this organic black bean pasta from explore cuisine that I was giving her, she would have.

black pasta at night, her diaper would reflect it and it was iron and it was protein, had one ingredient, organic black beans in it. And that was pasta tar. And I’ll never forget, like we went somewhere on a play date and she’s like, Oh mommy, this is white pasta. And you know, it’s like, that’s all it takes.

Meanwhile, my baby now he’s exposed to sugar so much sooner and all these things because the older kids bring it down. Yeah, exactly.

[01:20:35] Gabby: They’re damn friends.

[01:20:36] Ilana Muhlstein: Exactly. So you definitely have to get savvy. Um, You know, I have another recipe in my cookbook for like jumbo burgers. Like if you take cauliflower rice, you could blend it yourself or you could buy it.

If you put it into ground meat, you can make hamburgers and you literally, you can’t even see it. You can’t see it. You can’t taste it. And what’s really nice is it’s also very budget friendly because it extends one pound of meat. I love throwing vegetables in ground meat. Like I find a grated zucchini, a grated carrot, It go, that’s, you can hide it.

You can really hide it. Yeah. So I, I think it’s really important that you do both. Like you have vegetables that your kids eat openly and willingly ’cause that’s important. And then you have, you can sneak and lean into that when needed. It, it should be a nice balance. And there’s. There’s always some vegetables your kids will eat.

I mentioned, uh, recently to someone that, like, you should have at least five vegetables that your kids eat. And she looked at me horrified. Like five was a huge mountain to climb. Like beyond broccoli. But, like you said, it’s one at a time. Yeah. Right? So you have to start somewhere. If your kid is not eating a vegetable now.

Start with sliced cucumbers and a sprinkle of salt. Like, start with, if you’re making roasted potatoes, to throw, you know, Turnip in there in the roasted sheet, and they’ll take one bite. They’re not gonna realize because they look so similar. They won’t. Right, and you have to step by step.

[01:21:50] Gabby: Yeah, that’s where manipulation is

[01:21:51] Ilana Muhlstein: okay, I think.

I think so, too, because at the end of the day the intentions are right.

[01:21:55] Gabby: That’s right. So, is it safe to say, and people don’t like it, and I have many of my close friends, uh, who don’t enjoy cooking, and so I want, I just want to say to people, It’s okay if you don’t enjoy cooking. Like, it isn’t about I don’t love it.

Yeah, I mean, I, I like it, but I’ve been doing it so long that I joke with my husband, like, you’ve got a couple more years and I might be done with this. But it’s safe to say that we are more successful if we prepare it at home.

[01:22:21] Ilana Muhlstein: Oh, it’s not even a question. Like, Even to understand what’s the difference between ultra processed food and minimally processed food, right?

Like what’s the difference between like I was seeing like the layered coconut powder, um, you know coconut water powder Which is such a genius product, by the way Like I can’t believe how smart that is of a product. It’s so smart Like that’s something you need to keep in your garage in case of an emergency.

There’s so many electrolytes. It’s so smart I can’t wait to get that but like that’s I’m not against products because there’s some products that are brilliant, right? like that’s a Minimally processed product versus an ultra processed product and the number one way you can tell the difference is Do you have those ingredients at home?

[01:22:58] Gabby: Yeah,

[01:22:58] Ilana Muhlstein: you know So like if you have the ingredients at home It could be fine and great for you If you start to not be able to understand what is happening in there and it’s a huge long list of a potato chip That doesn’t make sense, right because potato chips you’d think potato salt oil.

[01:23:14] Ilana Muhlstein: and if there’s potato chips 12 ingredients of this and that what the heck is in that, you know thing that they say once you pop you can’t stop like Maybe it’s because there’s more than three ingredients and we don’t know how they’ve been designed to manipulate us

[01:23:27] Gabby: Yeah, and then you talk a lot about which I really appreciate is making cost effective Healthy meals because it is expensive to eat healthier. It just is everything.

[01:23:38] Ilana Muhlstein: It’s so expensive to buy products out

[01:23:40] Gabby: Yeah, and food right now. I mean the cost since Kovat I think I Probably about 30 percent more expensive. So you, you have, do you have favorite kind of small Hacks, uh, just to you. I mean, we, we talked about adding certain things into meat, but you’re not afraid of organic frozen vegetables.

[01:23:59] Ilana Muhlstein: Oh yeah. No, not at all. I mean, frozen is the best that’s like, everyone should know that frozen vegetables and fruits sometimes have more nutrients in them than fresh, fresh fruits and vegetables in a grocery store could be sitting there for three weeks. It could be a month since they were picked from the farm in the transport sitting there.

And with every. Day they can degrade in their nutrient level versus frozen picked up peak ripeness and you know Well preserved in like the cleanest healthiest environment Method of preservation, which is just freezing, you know, frozen mango is so sweet and ripe and delicious when I buy mangoes now There tastes like flavorless and pale and you know, nothing to him so much fruit lately.

I’ve been getting is like not been great I guess it’s out of season but the frozen stuff It’s especially berries because berries are truly one of the best superfoods of all time for brain health for inflammation for everything I mean, it’s very expensive even in LA To buy organic berries. I mean, I’m holding, I can hold in one hand like 15 worth of berries that my kids will eat in an hour, you know.

So frozen fruits and vegetables are incredible. Um, you know, I love like a sack of whole carrots, you know, very cost effective. They’ll last forever in your fridge. And again, you can grate them into meatballs. You can eat them whole with hummus. Um, you can boil them if you have a toddler and you’re scared of it as a choking.

Um, Hazard. You can throw it on the bottom of your chicken dishes. You can slice it up and air fry it and turn it into fries. So, you know, we could throw it in smoothies, make like a carrot cake type smoothie. Carrots are amazing. Obviously so nutrient dense. I love cabbage. Cabbage is one of like the best underrated vegetables.

So cheap, like really, really, really not expensive. It’s should be like 3 for a big head of cabbage that you can cut into steaks and split into two meals. Um, sometimes people are like 3 for a cabbage. Like, What about like two dollars for that bag of chips that has no fiber, you know,

[01:25:55] Gabby: that’s a good point

[01:25:56] Ilana Muhlstein: And doesn’t have, you know, all the other benefits that cruciferous vegetables have, um, so.

[01:26:02] Gabby: Do you snack? I know you like when to eat, when it’s time to eat. And maybe not every meal, but to have it. Or do you snack throughout your day? Or do you, are you sort of having isolated eating windows? Or you just go based on how you’re feeling?

[01:26:14] Ilana Muhlstein: I think every day is a little different, which is why we try it, we track it, we see if it works for you.

Um, I am a big fan of a meal. Like, eat, enjoy it, and move on. You know, there was a lot of, oh, there’s like a horrible fad diet that has these, like, fuelings and wants people to eat every two hours. It’s like, you gotta have a life, right? Like, if you have to be focused on eating every two hours, What are you going to do?

Like, if you’re a professional athlete, I get it, and you’re trying something. Or a

[01:26:42] Gabby: bodybuilder, maybe. Yeah,

[01:26:43] Ilana Muhlstein: exactly. But, um, we gotta live. And my favorite thing is, I went from someone who’s highly preoccupied with food, always thinking about my next meal, to someone who is not scared by food. Like, it’s just, I have a very pleasant, happy relationship with it.

It’s like, not threatening. It’s a neutral thing, you know? It, it could be great for you, right? And I think part of that is eating enough to get full and satisfied, and being able to. Do other things for the next couple hours and I think people don’t eat filling enough meals And then they find themselves snacking and preoccupied with food constantly, which is truly exhausting So I definitely prefer that style of eating but like even today I woke up super early.

So I started having, you know, lots of veggies around 11, which means I had A protein and an apple like on my way here. So I think you know, you got to be flexible I do like snack like foods sometimes like Protein chips or something that feels a little bit more snacky, but I try to anchor it as part of a meal

[01:27:39] Gabby: Right and not just something separate and and what about?

You know, you’re the gut because I think a lot of times people get themselves into situation Maybe their their gut health isn’t great. They haven’t maybe cultivated a diverse diet So right they don’t you know, how do you get them to consider and do you consider? Because cravings, I think, are connected to what’s going on in our gut.

Yeah, totally. So how do you, I mean, it’s because it’s a lot of conversation to have with people when they don’t listen. I’m just trying to get off food from the drive thru and like do something new. But I think that this was something that boosts their success a lot more.

[01:28:19] Ilana Muhlstein: Oh yeah, you know, Bacteria in our gut is like a fascinating conversation that I love to have.

I like to simplify it by basically explaining to people, this gut that everyone’s talking about is huge. It spans from our mouth all the way to our bum. And that might not seem like a long journey, but it’s actually a very windy roller coaster in order to get there because our small and large intestine really like wind about through our like entire, you know, abdomen.

And along this huge, uh, Journey we have trillions of these bacteria that live in there and you got to treat them like they’re little pets that live inside of you and I think that analogy really helps people because Sometimes we care much better for the pets and children in our lives than we do our own selves So you want to be thinking that like you are nurturing this other species living inside of you Which is very cool because it’s different than a cell.

It’s not a part of us It really is kind of like this foreign entity of all these bacteria and they live in this ecosystem Called the microbiota Whole universe where they live and we all have bad ones and good ones And that’s literally how they’re explained like the bad ones and the helpful ones, which is the probiotic is the helpful bacteria There are friends and our allies inside our system and we all have bad and good.

So we’re all walking around with some Mild amounts of like E. coli and like some of these bad things But it’s when you tip the balance where you have more of these bad bacteria than good bacteria like lactobacillus That we start to get sick that we start to have, you know All of the health all the health issues that come with it, which whether it’s like, you know skin irritations and eczema or mental health degradation and I mean inflammatory diseases, like all these things that we’ve seen over time and in recent years are connected with poor gut health.

The definition of poor gut health is that this population of quote unquote bad bacteria is larger than the population of good bacteria.

[01:30:13] Gabby: Right.

[01:30:13] Ilana Muhlstein: And when you understand that I think it could be very motivating because, okay, well, let’s now do our part for a clearer skin, for improved mental health, for all potential, right, like it’s, it’s growing studies to see, but like, let’s try to do our best to help promote these good bacteria.

And I think the number one, every, And the number one thing people like to say is take probiotics and eat probiotic rich foods like kraut. And I’m a fan of probiotics. I have them in my things, but it is kind of like having a drop in an ocean. As people like to explain, it’s like having a drop in the ocean when you have take a probiotic every morning, but it can build up in that ocean, which is why I still take them right to your part, whatever you can do, but there’s more that we can do, right?

Yes, we could be consuming these good bacteria, but again, there’s trillions, right? So you have to keep that in mind. So what about nurturing the good bacteria we already have? And you have to learn what feeds the good guys and what feeds the bad guys. So first up on what we know feeds the bad guys, um, or what we’re definitely seeing research feeds the bad guys is sugar.

They love sugar. The bad bacteria, they eat sugar, they proliferate. They like, you know, like cockroaches, like they have a little bit, they grow tremendously. And it can start to feel out of control. But the interesting thing is we’re seeing in some research that they can also influence our cravings.

Because if you have a lot of these sugar loving, quote unquote, bad guys in you saying, We want our food, we want our food that can manipulate your cravings and lead you to more sugar. So a lot of people say like, what should I do with my sugar cravings? Sometimes you have to observe them and not go for them.

If I say that on social media, people will rip into me. It’s not for what? Because they’ll be like, if I deprive myself of that sugar, I am going to revolt and I’m going to binge. Listen, you got to know yourself, not test yourself.

[01:31:58] Gabby: Yeah.

[01:31:58] Ilana Muhlstein: But in my history and even seeing in some research and with many clients, If you actually drink a lot of water, take a walk, have some veggies and protein, that craving might go away without you feeling like you need to revolt.

And actually, after that huge grilled chicken salad with roasted sweet potato and 30 ounces of water, if you still feel like you want that Sugar or sweet you will probably eat in a much more controlled fashion than if you ate it at the start Okay, because that’s a huge message is like no you can’t deny your cravings.

You can push them off

[01:32:29] Gabby: What is that people are out of it? I’m a lot. I’m 20 years older than you. I mean people are nuts these days. Well, it’s not that it’s like you can’t expect for an end result, but it’s like but I don’t deny myself

[01:32:39] Ilana Muhlstein: Right.

[01:32:40] Gabby: It’s like I don’t drive my truck over half the people. I want to drive through the road It’s like it’s the same thing for our health.

I think it’s sometimes at a certain point Um, somebody, there’s a book called 10 percent Human, sort of an interesting book about the microbiome or the microorganisms that we’re in a cooperation with. Like, it talked about how the human body didn’t develop certain things because we’re in this cooperation with these microorganisms.

And they’re doing certain jobs, so we didn’t develop these traits. But what they said, to your point, is They, they literally send a telepathic message to your brain, and tell you to eat this crap. And so your point of observing it, I just want to bring that up to people because we think Oh, it’s like, no, it’s strong.

[01:33:20] Ilana Muhlstein: The more sugar you eat, the more sugar you crave. Yes. And so if every time you crave sugar, you eat sugar, you are programming yourself and your microbiota to consistently eat them. And so if you’re not open to, like, having a craving and, and having a smarter swap instead, like that was Wonder Whips or, you know, something else that’s smarter, that’s sweet, chopped fruit, like strawberries.

Even if it’s strawberries with, you know, A little squeeze of honey. It’s still, it’s a lot less sugar than a packaged candy. Well, plus it has that

[01:33:49] Gabby: fiber. Exactly. And one, I think it’s just reminding And

[01:33:51] Ilana Muhlstein: polyphenols.

[01:33:52] Gabby: Exactly.

[01:33:53] Ilana Muhlstein: Which also feed the good bacteria.

[01:33:54] Gabby: So I think it’s, right, so it’s diverse, all the colors.

[01:33:57] Ilana Muhlstein: Yes, because that’s the food that the good bacteria like, fiber.

[01:34:01] Gabby: Booze is sugar. Yeah. And people, nobody likes to hear that. See, I don’t drink. I know. And I just.

[01:34:07] Ilana Muhlstein: I don’t drink a lot, but I, it’s a sensitive subject. People who like their booze, they love their booze.

[01:34:12] Gabby: I know. And it’s, I think it’s great. Do what you got to do, but it’s don’t think it’s not sugar too.

A hundred percent. And so it’s, it’s sort of really an important delineation. Well, that’s why when people get off of alcohol,

[01:34:22] Ilana Muhlstein: sometimes they gain a lot of weight because of the sugar.

[01:34:25] Gabby: Well, my husband, he didn’t gain weight, but he used to drink wine every night. Um, and then about 16 years ago, I think he saw that it was, it wasn’t really working.

So with him, he’s very active. Uh, and he never eats dessert, uh, sliding desserts. He swapped his bottle of wine out for Pellegrino, a swap, which I think is so important. Swaps are so important. Swaps are very important, because people get into that ritual of something. Swaps are critical. They’re critical.

[01:34:49] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah. I mean, sometimes people be like, no, I don’t need a water enhancer. It’s like, Just have it. Just have it. Like, you use all these tools for gaining weight, like, like those wine subscriptions you got in COVID. Like, now go for tools that help you. Yeah.

[01:35:02] Gabby: It’s. And it does really help. But the, but to your point, the sugar, and I was giving him desserts for like probably three months because of that wicked sugar craving.

So I think people, even if it’s just, it’s like never letting, you don’t want to let people off the hook, but you also want them to understand why it’s happening. So it’s like, Hey, this is hard.

[01:35:21] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah.

[01:35:21] Gabby: You can be in charge of it. But it is hard, but that’s on you now, right? Like it’s time to, it’s

[01:35:27] Ilana Muhlstein: in your control.

[01:35:27] Gabby: Do you, do you encourage people to sort of have a dinner cutoff point in relationship to their sleep or how does that work?

[01:35:34] Ilana Muhlstein: I have like a core principle within my program called dinner and done. I don’t tell people a time. Cause like, if you tell people it’s eight o’clock and done, you then get invited to it.

Like I’m invited to a dinner tonight. It’s like called for eight o’clock. No,

[01:35:45] Gabby: come on. Are you serious? I know. I told my husband, I’m like,

[01:35:49] Ilana Muhlstein: no one’s expecting me to like eat a huge meal then. Right. Cause like I’m. Plan on going to sleep right when I get home. Yeah, I wake up super early to work out and before the kids are up and everything but um Like there’s obviously no like strict cutoff because life gets hard nurses work Overnights and so forth but dinner and done like when you have that last meal dinner and done because For anyone listening to this who’s like never gonna get my book or program doesn’t want to get start if you obviously water first veggies most and all that stuff, but if you Just get a handle on that late night eating.

That’s a critical piece. But it really all goes in a cycle. Like I find people who are late night eaters then typically are not hungry enough for breakfast, right? And so like it kind of cycles in itself, right? Because and then people don’t eat all day and then they justify at night Well, I haven’t eaten all day.

So of course like I have wiggle room or X, Y, and Z, you know, to do all of this. And so it really is a full, a full spectrum thing. But late night is definitely super tricky for weight management. It’s very tricky. People say like, you know, I see like Instagrams of like The same calories at 10 p. m. are the same calories at 10 a.

m. It really is not true. Like we’ve seen lots of really good research where they measure basal metabolic rate and something and we know that people burn more calories in the first half of the day when we’re more active than we do late at night when we’re laying in bed.

[01:37:11] Gabby: Well, they have, um, they can tell you that your insulin is When you’re tired and you eat something you’ll have more of an insulin spike because you’re tired

[01:37:19] Music: Mm hmm

[01:37:19] Gabby: of the same exact food the same amount of a serving versus when you’re well rested.

It’s so cool I mean people it’s

[01:37:26] Ilana Muhlstein: it’s sleep is also like to immune health like they’ve done studies where they basically say Um, spray people with the flu, the common cold, and they don’t contract the virus. They don’t get the common cold when they’re well rested, but if they don’t sleep, the doors open.

Yeah, exactly. So, you know, everything plays a piece in this. And I like to hit people where they are step by step to building the healthy lifestyle.

[01:37:48] Gabby: No, I found your, your message not only encouraging, but it’s like, Hey, you’re going to figure out how this works for you. Absolutely. Absolutely. and you can get it done your way.

Um, so I’m just gonna, uh, just ask very basic questions because these might get used sort of maybe more directly for social media or what have you, but they’re gonna, they could be repetitive, but I’ll just ask them. Um, we, I think I asked this, but for you, what you’ve seen, what is the, You know, the largest reasons that diets fail for people.

[01:38:24] Ilana Muhlstein: They’re unrealistic. They’re set to fail, right? Like, they’re unsustainable from the start. They don’t equate for stress, sleepless nights, when you’re traveling, you know, they’re completely unsustainable. They cost a lot for food delivery or for certain products that you’re just not going to find everywhere else.

Um, you know, That’s a huge piece is like you’re following an unrealistic plan you don’t have a healthy mindset about it where it’s almost like you’re only losing this weight because you want it for a special event or Wedding or thing but you’re not actually considering Keeping it off forever, right and things like calorie counting sure for a few months But you don’t want to be 85 in calorie counting on a trip to Italy.

So they’re not sustainable from the start They’re also not simple right? They’re like overly restrictive or you’re like, you know need an excel spreadsheet to understand the numbers of it, then that’s not going to work. When life gets hard, that’s going to be the first thing to get chucked. And then lastly, that they’re not sensible.

A lot of them, you know, they work because your neighbor did it, but like, do we really know how cavemen ate? And like, did cavemen, did cavemen eat? Have the exact same lifestyle you have now or it’s not sensible in a means of like demonizing things like beans that we know people who live the longest and have some of the lowest rates of cancers and Inflammatory diseases eat the most of so You know if there’s a demonizing quality that kind of outrules foods that we know are Wonderful for our overall health based on some pseudoscience that’s trendy Then that’s probably also not going to work in the long term

[01:39:58] Gabby: I heard a great thing about beans which was because a lot of people like I get gassy It’s like yeah So eat a little bit and then eat a little more and slowly build up those digestive enzymes You can actually build up to the point about the gut health.

So I think that’s a that’s a really smart. Uh, A smart reminder if you were a parent Let’s say you had to navigate what your parents navigated. Let’s say you wouldn’t have this situation because of your home environment, but let’s say you have a parent who comes to you. How would you guide a parent to most productively and in the least damaging way really support their child into new habits and into new lifestyle?

[01:40:37] Ilana Muhlstein: First things first, I would do introspection and see how healthy your relationship is with food. And if it’s not healthy, I’d highly recommend, you know, reading my book, finding another dietician to help you reshape your relationship with food and health and habits. Because a big piece of the kid nutrition puzzle is in role modeling.

Like, first and foremost, kids do what they see more than what they think. So you have to be a positive role model and improve your self talk. So if you’re walking around saying like that food’s bad and that food’s good, then it starts to bring the shame onto the kid. Well, I like that food. Does that mean I’m bad?

Right. So like really improving your conversation with food, with your own body will be the first step in helping your child in the short and long term.

[01:41:21] Gabby: You said I got the impression when I read about your parents and I know they’re not together and I know you’re very close to your dad especially, but.

it felt like they weren’t sort of great in the one part, but then they really were supportive and trying to figure it out.

[01:41:37] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah.

[01:41:38] Gabby: So it was like, Hey, they weren’t maybe having the meals on the table and kind of,

[01:41:41] Ilana Muhlstein: but they sent me to the weight loss camp.

[01:41:43] Gabby: Right. But then, so they had this push and pull. So I think it’s, it’s also important.

And parents, we don’t know, and every kid is different. And so it’s just about the willingness to learn and also continue to change. Totally. And don’t be afraid of that. That doesn’t mean you didn’t have their best interests. Right. Or you didn’t love them. When you were blowing it

[01:42:01] Ilana Muhlstein: Exactly. We all need tools and it’s never too late to get it together and there’s always something that could be helpful One thing my mom did is every time I’d gain 30 pounds like every school year She kept getting me bigger clothes and she kept like making sure that even at one point There were no clothes for me to get because plus size wasn’t as you know easily accessible at the time She would take me to a tailor and we would go downtown we’d get cheap fabric and we’d make Skirts and things that I couldn’t find in stores and I think that Even though she couldn’t give me the positive role modeling, she did make me always.

Try to feel as happy in my body as possible when she would see that I would have mental breakdowns and clothing fitting rooms Like she would just get out of there, you know, not try to keep keep it going Um, and I think that that was a very loving approach that always made me feel good And I always tell parents to this day like, you know, sometimes it’s it’s it’s You know, they’re going to grow out of that weight a little bit.

In the meantime, get them bigger shorts. Get that because they need to feel comfortable in their clothes. If you don’t feel comfortable every day in your clothes and you’re nugging at it and you’re feeling discomfort, then it’s going to show up in that kid’s personality. It’s going to hold them back from doing other things.

[01:43:08] Gabby: Yeah, that’s really important.

[01:43:11] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah, I think that was a huge thing my mom did for me. Because to be a kid.

[01:43:14] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah.

[01:43:14] Gabby: Oh, they’re fine.

[01:43:15] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah, I was watching my friend’s kid on the basketball court wearing these like really tight shorts and she was like, he’s growing so fast, like he’s really gaining a lot of weight.

I’m like, first things first, get him bigger shorts. Like he can’t be like, he’s not able to run.

[01:43:29] Gabby: Oh, and by the way, kids do that like 10, 9, They go big sometimes, and then they go up, and they go big, and they go up, and that’s very natural, too.

[01:43:38] Ilana Muhlstein: Totally. Same thing with six month olds. Like, sometimes I see someone calling their little baby chubby or F.

A. T. Worse, and I’m like, they’re getting ready to crawl and burn it all off, you know? Like, you have to, you have to have some grace with kids, for sure.

[01:43:51] Gabby: I have a kid who is very tall and weirdly narrow. She’s just a narrow kid. I don’t, she’s, you know, unusual. She was my Largest baby, you know, that wasn’t her body type.

Right. He was just a really healthy large baby, right? Which kind of cracked me up For you you talk about mindful eating and when you share with people come to see you or you know You write about it in your books, you know, what does that really mean? It does, you know, it does you don’t have to take a one hour lunch and sitting under a tree But what does that mean?

[01:44:23] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah, I think that’s the theory and there was actually like this big movement of mindful eating called like IE and intuitive eating where it’s It was, it had really good intentions and I, like, I don’t put it down because I think it’s helped a lot of people, um, but I’ve had a lot of clients where it wasn’t necessarily helpful because it was really just trying to say, like, what are you in the mood for?

And if you’re just going by what you’re in the mood for and all the marketing, there’s billions of dollars of marketing around you saying, oh, when you’re hangry, grab a Snickers, and when you’re in this kind of mood and you’re stressed from your kids, you should lock yourself in your pantry and eat Dove chocolate because that was literally an ad, you know?

It’s really hard to know what you’re feeling in that moment. And so that’s why, yes, there’s an era of like, you know, be intuitive. But when I was 100 pounds overweight, like I wasn’t intuitive. Like I couldn’t say if something made me feel more energetic or less because I was in such a disconnected place with my body.

So I think we need a little bit more guidelines than that, which is why I like to walk people through. The food groups, the purpose of them, and what to eat when for best energy, so that even when you’re feeling exhausted, stressed, and whatever, and your whole body is feeling like it would be happy with a donut, you’re going by, you know, smarter principles that your actual body is probably seeking more than that donut.

And then again, delay not deny. If you want the donut, maybe it’s afterwards, but you first give your body what it needs before you give it what its feelings want.

[01:45:47] Gabby: I think that’s a really important thing is you’re saying have strategy. Yes, have a real strategy.

[01:45:52] Ilana Muhlstein: Absolutely. I always say eat smarter, not less.

[01:45:56] Gabby: You have, I mean, pretty much it by the time you’re, you know, getting out of high school, you basically transformed your life when you’re with your relationship with food. I mean, that’s very unusual.

[01:46:11] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah.

[01:46:11] Gabby: What, what do you think the magic was in there? What, what did you, you know, What also belief did you have that you’d be able to do it?

[01:46:18] Ilana Muhlstein: It’s a really good question I think the huge change and I still when I look at these women I look at them with so much admiration, but I did not have a positive Romal role model household to look to for inspiration and when I went into high school I started meeting a lot of friends who were not city kids They were sweet suburban kids with these sweet families and family meals and I would see that they really were that quintessential You Starch protein salad on the table every single night and when they would talk about things like weddings They were talking about who is the photographer?

Where is it versus my family was like how early could we be there for hors d’oeuvres and who’s catering like everything is around food Yeah, and so that Really inspired me and that made me realize wow it’s so Mindset focused and I was obsessed with trying to emulate what they were doing and a lot of my program is based obviously on research but also on literally admiring people who are living healthy happy lifestyles and trying to Follow the crumbs of what they were doing and the way they were thinking about food and treating it.

And um, That is a big piece of this is is really going over, you know, really trying to emulate an effortless Relationship with food and so that was my big start, but it was two pounds at a time Which I always say it was two pounds at a time it was small and steady and there are things that I Was messaging to people on social media like everything in moderation and eat everything and be so healthy and happy Which is very easy for me to say now when i’m at a very strong place with my relationship with food But one of my best friends from high school called me up who’s in new jersey and she’s like Ilana I heard you say something and it was And I was like, I love feedback. Give it to me.

[01:47:58] Gabby: Especially from a Jersey girl. Exactly. A Jersey girl, straight shooter.

[01:48:01] Ilana Muhlstein: You gotta have a backbone to be in this friend group. And she said to me, she’s like, It’s just not true. Like, there were points where we would all be eating pizza, and you would say, I don’t eat pizza. Like, with conviction.

Like, I didn’t say, I eat some pizza, or I like pizza. Like, I would just say with conviction, like, Oh, I don’t eat pizza.

[01:48:17] Gabby: Yeah.

[01:48:18] Ilana Muhlstein: And, I, when she said that to me, I was like, Wow, that, That really makes sense, right? Because I didn’t know how to eat in moderation back then. Now, I can. I can have a corner of my kid’s pizza and then not eat again for six months, and then, you know, eat it again and not care.

But back then, I actually had to follow my rule that I always recommend to people is like, know yourself, not test yourself. And I probably did test myself with the pizza and saw every time I had one, I was like, I’d go for five and every time I’d go for five, it then led to soda and fries. So then I just decided, you know, know yourself, not test yourself.

And it actually made things a lot easier for me. So I think that’s another piece of my high school puzzle that really worked in my favor. That I always see that the people who really lose a hundred pounds with me, my program, I have a lot of these, what we call Ilana isms, like my little mantras. But I noticed that that is one that a lot of people linger on to, like, I gotta know myself, not test myself.

When I make Christmas shortbread cookies, I eat the whole tray. This year, I’m gonna buy them. You know, and I think we all have to lean into our strengths, because we’re living in a world where, you know, we’re gonna face our weaknesses, whether we like it or not. So again, like, you gotta lean into those strengths.

[01:49:26] Gabby: Do you ever find that you, if I cook or bake or do anything, I eat way less? Cause I’ve been around it. No, I’m just saying in that instant, if somebody cooks for me, I’m like my, one of my girls cooks a lot and I will overeat it. But when I cook it and I cut it and I prepare it and I’m smelling it or baking it, I don’t want it as much.

It’s an interesting. Most people are the opposite. I have other weaknesses. Don’t get me wrong. But that’s great. That’s a good thing to know about yourself. One thing. Yeah. Um, what, uh, what allowed you to be. The new version of yourself because I think a lot of us what keeps us to when we talked about identity.

[01:50:05] Ilana Muhlstein: Oh, yeah

[01:50:06] Gabby: It’s also how did you? Let go of it. It’s not even like oh, I’ve become this it’s just this is who you are Yeah, where did you did you have to do work on? Sort of that acceptance and being like no, this is me

[01:50:21] Ilana Muhlstein: a hundred percent I have two men in my life who are critical in this piece first is my husband So when I met him, I had just graduated college I was down 75 pounds and I remember we were like very seriously dating about to get engaged and I said to him and we We were very quick to get married and engaged and I said to him like it’s important.

I tell you something I’m like, okay I used to be fat and like he was like really that’s awesome. And it was something I was Terrified to tell guys I was dating because I thought that if they you know, then they would be looking for the stretch marks They’d be looking for my loose skin like they would hold it against me They would see me as less sexy and less attractive and I was very nervous to tell my husband but he was like His reaction was unbelievable.

It was the best reaction I could have ever, ever, ever thought up. I thought it would, I thought that would be it. Like, that’s how scared I was. I thought if he knew I used to be heavy, it would be like kind of almost the end, which is a horrible fear I built up in my head, but that’s what fears are. It’s like really having anxiety over things that didn’t happen.

And his acceptance was like, Whoa, that’s so cool because you want to be a nutritionist.

[01:51:31] Gabby: That’s such a, that’s such an awesome thing. It reallylined up for you.

[01:51:31] Ilana Muhlstein: Exactly. And I was like, Whoa, no, no, no, I don’t plan on sharing my story anywhere. He’s like, what are you kidding? You have to share your story. And.

And if it weren’t for him, I would never, and I mean that, I never thought I would share my story. I was going through college, studying nutrition, never thinking I would actually use my story to help other people. So, he was a huge piece of the puzzle. He loves it, celebrates it, he thinks it’s the coolest thing ever.

He literally thinks it’s cool that I used to be heavy. Mind blowing to me who is insecure and another person was the stylist Giovanni I met him while just like shopping at the Grove in LA in Top shop not knowing what to do and he was like, hey, let me help you upstairs Like it’s a free service that we do personal shopping and I’m not busy right now Let me help you and he started pulling all these random clothes for me and I was like, no, no No, like I can’t wear that at this point I’m down a hundred pounds like I’m at my absolute lowest body and he was like you have to wear them like oh I don’t wear sleeveless.

He’s like, what do you mean I don’t, you don’t wear sleeveless? I’m like, I have skin on my arms. I don’t like how they are. He’s like, girl, you are small. Like you are attractive. Like you could wear sleeveless. You could wear this. And I just, my mind was blown. It was literally the first time I ever wore sleeveless.

I ever wore certain colors and cuts and everything. And I love him and he doesn’t realize how big of a piece of the puzzle he was for me because I was always interested in fashion even as a young kid. My mom would have vogue magazines But I was shopping in like hot topic like any store that had big baggy clothes because that’s what fit I wasn’t wearing the dresses I always dreamed of and he was the first person to make me realize like I made it dress for it.

Yeah, and that was you know, well, you got to see

[01:53:12] Gabby: you the you that you are through someone else’s eyes

[01:53:16] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah, and I think sometimes it helps when it’s a man and it’s you know Sometimes women have little pings of jealousy or whatever. It’s like no, you’re so up as much right exactly Oh, I got plenty of that along the way.

When are you gonna stop Ilana? Are you serious? Oh, yeah And that was a relationship like I really had to consider in my life. Yeah. Yeah. Cause it was someone who struggled along with me at an earlier age and she was uncomfortable by the fact that I was having this be a thing that was behind me.

[01:53:44] Gabby: Well, and also what people have to realize, it’s not even about you.

It’s just what you represent and it’s not about, you know, you, it’s just that that person hasn’t wrestled it to the ground yet themselves. So if someone’s listening to this, um, you know, young adults that have to work really hard and they’re trying to build their life and they don’t have a lot of time.

What would be your kind of invitation to them about at least they may not be able to get out of the working hours or if their parents like yourself or any have got small children. So what would be your invitation to them? At least. for management or staying on top of.

[01:54:24] Ilana Muhlstein: What are first veggies most? You’re never going to go wrong with drinking a lot more water and eating a lot more vegetables.

Sometimes people meal prep so perfectly and it’s like these perfect containers of seven days of eating. And then when they run out of that, they just, you know, order takeout food and ends up being tortillas and taquitos and rice and and all this other pasta and garlic bread and pizza and fries and all that stuff.

And it’s like. If you order takeout, there’s still vegetables there. Every time you order pizza, order a Caesar salad. My kids love Caesar salad. We get pizza all the time. They, they love Caesar salad. Like, they see that that comes with it, you know? Um, if you order takeout, if you get convenience things, you can still do this.

At gas stations, they still sell pickles, you know, when you’re having something that you’re craving salty and crunchy. Try popcorn, try pickles, like, these things do exist. There’s jerky, at least you’re getting protein in you. So, it doesn’t matter if you need convenience items. I get that. Again, there’s a difference between minimally processed and ultra processed foods.

And the whole purpose of processing foods is convenience. And we’re living in a Day in this world where we need convenience So saying you’re only gonna do whole foods that take huge amounts of hours to prep is not realistic as a mom of three kids I eat packaged foods, but they have you know ingredients I could know and trust that I would have in my house and they have protein and fiber So I know that they’re gonna keep me full and they’re gonna help the microbes in my gut as well

[01:55:48] Gabby: Yeah, I appreciate that realistic approach. So you have Um This plate design.

[01:55:55] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah.

[01:55:56] Gabby: Tell me about this. This is so clever. This is really smart.

[01:55:58] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah, it’s called the plate it method and Basically when I was going through my undergraduate and becoming a registered dietitian, it was really revolutionary I think for the whole world when we moved away from the food guide pyramid and onto the my plate image and the my plate image is is brilliant.

It’s like, yes, we don’t eat in the shape of a pyramid. We eat in the shape of a plate. So fill half your plate with vegetables and a quarter of your plate with a protein and a quarter plate of your carb and you’re going to do great. And so when I started implementing that as a dietician, working with my clients, it really was successful.

But then with time, I would notice that especially for the last 30 pounds, last 20 pounds, last five pounds, you had to be a little bit more clear with those ratios and what it looks like because That’s only one plate. What about breakfast? Most people are not having half their plate vegetables at breakfast.

In America, by the way. If you go to other countries, if you go to Israel, there’s at least 50 percent of your plate is veggies at breakfast. It’s amazing. Um, but not in America for sure. We’re interested in either big stacks of pancakes or big stacks of, you know, waffles or cereal that are It’s 100 percent carbs and sugar.

And so 50 percent vegetables is totally unrealistic. So that’s when I realized, okay, what do we need at breakfast? We need to stay full. We need good sustained energy. We really need a 50 50. We need 50 percent protein. We need 50 percent high fiber carbs. And I always say veggies are extra credit. If you’re very hungry because you didn’t sleep, then you lean into more vegetables at that point.

You’d throw a ton of spinach and mushrooms in your omelet. So that’s breakfast. Then for lunch. That’s the most important meal of the day. That’s why we need all food groups on deck, so that plate looks very similar to my plate image, right? Veggies to get full, protein to stay full, fiber filled carbs to give us energy throughout the afternoon, it works.

But then dinner, you know, going back to dinner and burning more calories in the first half of the day than the second half of the day, we have to remember that carbs are for energy. And if you’re sitting on the couch watching, you know, TV, you’re not moving your body in any sort of way at night, right?

Then, how many carbs do we really need to eat? Why do we need to, you know, increase our blood sugar levels and our insulin levels if we, we have nowhere to put them, you know, if we’re not gonna burn them off as much? So, a lot of times people have plenty of success keeping the lunch plate method, having half their plate vegetables.

It can work for some people for dinner. A lot of other people, especially in the last 30 pounds, taking my full plate it method makes the biggest change to a person’s weight loss, which is basically saying at dinner time, we need 75 percent of veggies. We need food, we need to get full, we need protein to stay full, but we don’t necessarily need a ton more carbs.

And if you want them, obviously a bowl of pineapple is better than You know, 20 packages of brownies. So like, don’t be scared. It’s not like cut or dry, black and white. Nothing is restricted, but this really works. So like tons of cauliflower rice, you know, under some Chicken, you know, and then I call it accessories, things like avocado, and salsa, and dressings, and bacon that make things more delicious.

There’s a place for that in each meal, but um, 75 percent veggies, like meals based in spaghetti squash, meals based in cabbage steaks, stir fries with lots of bell peppers, and onions, and mushrooms. You know, we need a lot more vegetables at dinner, and the more people build up to that 75%, Usually the more success they have not just in their weight, but also in their overall health

[01:59:21] Gabby: Yeah, and I think it’s important vegetables, by the way Now you can get creative and people don’t realize like it’s not how in my family cooked where it was sort of I mean, I didn’t have a fresh Brussels sprout until I was an adult.

Wow. Nobody wants a frozen Brussels sprout. It’s, it’s not good. And I also want to say to people that your recipes are also very quick. So quick and easy. You’re not this, you know, it’s not a chef, right? So I also want to say that you’ve taken into consideration, uh, all of that. So any difference between you find the, males and females getting hung up.

Is there a hang up for men? Seems to be a more universal theme. And for women, what shows up

[02:00:00] Ilana Muhlstein: men are, I mean, obviously this is a generalization and women can be like this too. And men cannot be like this, but emotion over the scale is the biggest, biggest difference is like you tell a man to go on the scale often.

They’re like, sure. Great. Who cares? I check my stocks in the morning. I check my email. I’m going to go on the scale. It’s a whole thing like, okay, after I pee, like, you know, if I just got back from a trip, I want to avoid it. Yes. It’s like a whole thing. It’s, I really didn’t want to go on it. I was so nervous.

It’s like, Okay, like predict before you go on that’ll probably be up because you had alcohol last night or more salts the night before but Men like usually doesn’t care they’ll come to me like I can’t believe I gained that much overnight or I can’t believe I lost that Much overnight. It’s not as Emotional and I’d say the same goes for cravings, you know, I think women we tend to feel more we feel more I feel like I just needed a little bit more I feel like you know It’s my time of the month and and like we get in her head and then it’s like that Person on the internet is like, if I don’t give myself a craving, I’m going to overeat.

It’s like. Or you don’t, right? Like, or you don’t give yourself that craving, you focus on other things, you get distracted, and you forget about it. Right? So it’s possible you might, it’s possible you might not, but like, I just felt like if I, if I didn’t have it, then da da da, or, or a lot of guilt comes in.

Guilt is the worst, because, you know, I’m so guilty. I had to make those cookies for my kid, and I know I ate all of them, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t have a birthday for him without it. Really? Like, you could. You know, I think we get more emotionally Tied to things myself included and men can be a little bit more like all right.

I’ll try it. Yeah Well, it’s the

[02:01:37] Gabby: ability also to compartmentalize That I think the way the brains work and obviously there’s going to be Crossovers and such but I was just curious. Yeah dealing with

[02:01:46] Ilana Muhlstein: and then women though women are much better with the tracker I was

[02:01:49] Gabby: gonna say we adhere to we follow rules. Yes.

[02:01:52] Ilana Muhlstein: Yeah with the tracker women are so much better Like they have a a couple of cookies like they’ll write it down. The guys will be like You I ate perfectly yesterday like nothing else changed and their wife would be like honey, like you like totally ate all those cookies I baked for you and I’m like, oh, yeah those but like, uh, you know, so I think they also tend to not be as detail oriented.

[02:02:08] Gabby: What do we underreport like 30 percent of our calories?

[02:02:12] Ilana Muhlstein: Yes, exactly. Even dieticiansin these studies do which is why calorie counting is difficult. Yeah, it is. It’s tricky.

[02:02:17] Gabby: If there was any last thing that Just was important. Um, I also want to, before I forget the to be mindset, um, you have a lot of tools that you offer people everywhere.

So I just want to remind people, but is there something I’ve forgotten that, um, you know, you just would, it would be the last invitation to people, because I think obviously clearly with, you know, 93 percent of Americans being metabolically dysfunctional and, um, you know, 70 percent being obese or overweight.

A lot of people are navigating this. Totally. 100%. What would What would you want to say to them as somebody who has lost a hundred pounds and you are not seven feet tall, right? Just to remind them to you know, push them or encourage them that it is there for everybody. Yes

[02:03:09] Ilana Muhlstein: There’s a tool at every price point, you know, like obviously podcast is, you know, free advice, you know, my program My books are all different price point.

I would say private practice is important I’m really grateful that I now have dietitian associates that take insurance so if you want that specialized touch or you feel like you have some sort of syndrome or history where you You’ve had so much difficulty in the past and you might have tried my book and like something’s just not clicking, you need that personalized touch.

I obviously still see private clients and then I have amazing associates that also do at different price points and time availabilities. So you can have that personal touch. I also do retreats and things like that. So we can really get to the bottom of your story because sometimes people they need to share that story.

It really needs to get told and guided beyond a book and a program. I think it’s nice to start there or use that as a tool or a compliment, but the personalized touch does. Definitely help a lot of people. Yeah,

[02:04:02] Gabby: I think so. Do you ever get concerned that when you go through like menopause that you know, somehow your body will revolt against me. Do you think ever think about that?

[02:04:13] Ilana Muhlstein: Uh, I think it will. I think that I Why do you think it will? Well, no, not that it will, it’s just body composition tends to change in forties. That Like your muscle mass. Well, yeah, exactly. I have women like you to look up to, to realize that A lot of it is just. You know, it doesn’t necessarily have to be true and I’m doing everything I can in my 30s to prevent that, right?

So like I’m doing all I like to do the resistance training. It’s super important to do it when you’re younger So you set yourself up I’ve seen with so many of my clients get through perimenopause and menopause In a breeze because they set themselves up for success. They went into it at a healthy weight with a healthy relationship with food and there’s even a lot of you know support to show that women have lesser symptoms So you have fit healthy women have hot flashes But the likelihood of being overweight and having hot flashes and those type of increased symptoms Is more prevalent with people who struggle with their weight.

Yeah, so doing everything I can don’t

[02:05:13] Gabby: succumb now.

[02:05:14] Ilana Muhlstein: I won’t I never will

[02:05:16] Gabby: Thank you so much. Thank you. I really appreciate just your, not only your story, but being an example and now somebody who’s helping other people. It’s uh, it’s so important because I, I do think we’re at a place where we all need to help each other because I think the way it is set up right now, however it is, it, it’s very hard for people to navigate.

And so I, I think work like yours just really helps. Um, gives them a line to follow. So thank you.

[02:05:43] Ilana Muhlstein: Yes. Thank you so much for having me and for being an inspiration to me too.

[02:05:46] Gabby: Because you’re going to lift weights. Heck yes. Don’t. Never fold. Never fold.

[02:05:52] Ilana Muhlstein: Thank you.

 

About Ilana Muhlstein

ILANA MUHLSTEIN, M.S., R.D.N. is one of the most sought-after weight-loss experts in the world. She has a thriving private practice in Beverly Hills, is an acclaimed public speaker and influencer, and sits on the prestigious Executive Leadership Team for the American Heart Association. Ilana has been lecturing for the Bruin Health Improvement Program at UCLA since 2013 and is a contributing writer for distinguished publications including The Journal of Obesity, and has been featured in the LA Times, The Washington Post, Reader’s Digest, SHAPE, Health and Women’s Health. Ilana lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Noah and two children, Olivia and Julian.