Pursuit of Wellness - The Risks of Ozempic, Fruit First Diets, Intermittent Fasting & Health Influencers w/ Cara Clark

Episode Date: May 13, 2024

Ep. 98 Today we’re talking all about holistic nutrition with Cara Clark, renowned integrative nutritionist and wellness educator. From advising A-list celebrities to guiding Olympic athletes and NBA prospects, Cara shares her wealth of knowledge on fostering a healthier relationship with food. Join us as we explore topics ranging from managing glucose levels and histamine issues to fertility tips and navigating pregnancy cravings. With insightful discussions on weight loss, the impact of social media, and practical advice for feeding both kids and infants, this episode is a treasure trove of wellness wisdom. Whether you're seeking guidance on nutrition, fitness, or overall well-being, Cara's expertise offers valuable insights to help you thrive. Leave Me a Message - click here! For Mari’s Instagram click here! For Pursuit of Wellness Podcast’s Instagram click here! For Mari’s Newsletter click here! For Cara Clark’s Instagram click here! For Cara Clark’s Facebook click here! For Cara Clark’s Website click here! For Cara Clark's Spring Wellness Renewal Challenge click here! Sponsored By:  Visit BetterHelp dot com slash POW today to get 10% off your first month. That’s betterhelp.com/POW. Today my listeners receive 20% OFF any AquaTru purifier! Just go to AquaTru.com and enter the code “POW” at checkout. If you visit Carawayhome.com/Pursuit  you can take an additional 10% off your next purchase.This deal is exclusive for our listeners, so visit Carawayhome.com/PURSUIT or use code PURSUIT at checkout. Caraway. Non-Toxic cookware made modern. Show Links: The Dessert Book by Cara Clark CHOMPS Beef Sticks Simple Mills Crackers Siete Chips Wild Grain  Outside the bread box Jolly Llama Ice Cream Once Upon A Farm Baby Food Topics Discussed 02:42 - Getting started in integrative nutrition 07:46 - Learning how to slow down  13:45 - How histamine issues affect different people 17:37 - Progesterone   18:33 - Managing your glucose and diet suggestions 20:06 - The “fruit first” concept 21:56 - Doing less and the negative impact of HIIT workouts 24:06 - Fertility suggestions 26:18 - Cravings and diet during pregnancy 30:16 - Most common barrier to losing weight 33:51 - Thoughts on Ozempic 35:50- Processed foods 39:36 - Working with celebrities 42:45 - Biotoxin binders 43:05 - Dissociative eating 44:46 - Disordered eating 45:39 - Dangers of social media influence 48:02 - Keeping kid meals fun and nutritious 50:32 - Baby food recommendations 51:55 - Fan Q+A 56:03 - What wellness means to Cara

You manage your glucose, you manage your energy, you manage your moods, like you prevent so many diseases. This is the Pursuit of Wellness podcast, and I'm your host, Mari Llewellyn. Hi guys, welcome back to the show. Today we have an amazing episode in store. I know you guys are going to love it. We are talking to Cara Clark. I flew to Nashville to speak with Cara. She is an integrative nutritionist, also a celebrity

nutritionist to clients like Carrie Underwood. She's a wellness educator and certified in sports and clinical nutrition, blood chemistry, and integrative health. She has helped thousands of clients from group challenge participants to celebrities to Olympic athletes and NBA and MLB draft prospects to feel better in their bodies by moving away from dieting and instead understanding the connection between what we eat and how we feel. She had such a good perspective on food and nutrition. I felt like we really connected right away, not just because she brought me energy balls. Guys, I walked in the room and Cara had brought me these delicious energy balls, which is exactly what I needed because I had like four podcasts in one day

in Nashville. And I just thought that was so cute. She also has four daughters. It may be three, but I think it's four. So she's a mom. She's incredible. She's a superwoman. And I just love her approach to health. We talked about so many different topics. We talked about the most common barrier to losing weight, her thoughts on ozempic, managing your glucose and diet suggestions, metabolic dysfunction, how histamine issues affect people, progesterone, what she thinks of the fruit first concept, fertility suggestions, she had a lot for that, so my fertility girls listen up, cravings and diet during pregnancy, processed foods, working with celebrities, biotoxin binders, dissociative eating,

disordered eating, the dangers of social media, and how to keep kids meals fun and nutritious, plus baby food recommendations. I had so much fun with Cara. I really feel like we connected and have a very similar approach when it comes to food. I know you guys are going to absolutely love this episode. So without further ado, let's hop right in and talk to Cara. Cara, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited. We've already been having such an in-depth conversation behind the scenes because I feel like we have a lot of similar beliefs in this space and I'm so excited to dive in.

You are an integrative nutritionist, a wife, mother of four girls. I can't wait to dive into that and talk more. But I'd love to start with how you became so interested in this field and how nutrition has played a role in your life personally. Yeah, and there's different stages of that. So I'll try to make it quick. But I was also a college basketball player. And I forgot to mention that. But that's a big piece of my story. Because back when I was playing, I don't even know how many years I can't do math that fast. There was nobody to guide us through performance nutrition. And I always knew that this was something that was like a hole, you know, and

even at a collegiate level, they would literally give me the same meal plan as the football players. And I was like, this is not right. And why am I getting sick every playoff season? Four out of four years during playoffs, I got sick. And it was really frustrating because I was a starter. Like I, that's when you're supposed to be feeling your best. So is my coach, God love him. He was a psychologist and he thought he knew better, but he would not let me study science because he was worried about how it would consume my time. So I was broadcast journalism in college and which has been helpful for writing and that

kind of stuff. But anyways, after college, I not only went through an identity crisis, I didn't know how to feed myself because nobody taught me. I still wanted to perform, but I didn't know for what. And so I kind of went down the rabbit hole of disordered eating. And in order to kind of pick up my own pieces, I started studying nutrition, like what I was always so curious about, like God put that in my heart to be so curious about performance nutrition. And so I kind of developed my philosophy

to heal my disordered eating cycle, but also to support people that wanna perform on a daily basis and not just as athletes. And obviously I have an athlete protocol as well, but I think generally like people are always complaining about their energy. Energy is what? Performance. And so like I created something that was sustainable, that wasn't a diet, that could help people perform and have energy and then also be preventative of so much disease. And so I got

started with sororities because I knew they were also struggling with disordered eating. So I was kind of just like preaching to my own choir and trying to help these girls develop security around food and teach them how to grocery shop and all of that. And then I started having babies out the wazoo. So that slowed my role with the sororities. But then, you know, and you know how business grows and expands, like turned into seasonal challenges that turned into a subscription model that turned into a membership model that turns into like group health pods that, you know, all these things turn. But after I was done having kids, I had four kids in five years. What? Yes. What? Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I got pregnant on my honeymoon.

So that says a lot about me. Like, I was ready to be a mom. Like, my husband, God love him. I've fallen more in love with him, you know, in these last five years than I did at the beginning. He was just my means to an end. I wanted to be a mom. He was a means to an end. I wanted to be a mom so bad.

Like, my whole life, all I ever wanted was to be a mom. And so that, in so many ways ways was like it healed my identity crisis. It healed so much for me that I was like yearning for. And, you know, and marriage is obviously its own thing. But yeah, I'm like, we're 15 years married. We have a daughter going to high school next year. So there's been a lot of ebbs and flows. But when I was like two years out from nursing my fourth child, I got really sick. And in that process, I was healing my four-year-old's,

dare I say, injury from conventional medicine. And I was working with a functional medicine doctor and some other specialists and doing my own stuff with her to heal her, put her on several protocols. And as I was working with that functional medicine doctor, she's like, when are we going to work on you? And I was like, what about me? And she's like, you're so stressed. And I was like, I've always been this stressed. And she's like, that's the problem. So I had what she diagnosed as walking mono for like nine months. I couldn't even turn my neck. Like functional mono. Mm-hmm. Wow.

Like just the Epstein-Barr flare-up to the max, which made sense because I had a history of chronic histamine issues with hives and stuff like that. So I went on my own healing journey outside of food and exercise, which I was doing so perfectly that I was almost ashamed to admit I was so

sick. And there was more happening. I had insomnia. I like couldn't have a business meeting without crying. Like I felt bad for anybody meeting with me. I would just sob. Like I was so overwhelmed. I never asked for a career for one thing. And then all these people just kept coming. So when I worked through my own health issues, I developed a more integrative approach to helping clients that includes the nervous system, that includes circadian rhythm, that includes hormone health. And most of the time I'm telling people to eat more and slow down, you know? So in terms of your histamine issue and nervous regulation issue,

like how did you approach that? Because I can relate in a lot of ways. I feel like I can eat the right things, take the supplements, exercise the right way. But when it comes to slowing down, I think that's the biggest challenge in a way. It totally is. And I learned how to like really meditate

and I call it listening prayer because I have a very strong faith worldview. And I had an experience with my listening prayer once where I could actually cry, but Jesus walked me through healing waters and I never got hives again. And so there's, you know, there's so many sides to it, but we are not, we're not calculators. We're not just clinical. We're not just physical. There's so many sides to it, but we're not calculators. We're not just clinical. We're not just physical. There's so much more to the human than just what appears.

And so the histamine system, I've learned over the years, is really kind of controlled by the adrenals. And so when the adrenals are not functioning well, and this can happen, like I was saying before, sorry to get emotional. No, it happens all the time on the podcast. Something comes out, you know, for me too. Yeah. And I've never really shared that on anything outside of my own stuff, but it's a longer story too. But I had hives, you know, chronically here and there from the time I was eight to 34. And then I've never gotten them again. So there was some

spiritual healing involved. And then, you know, the emotions of regulating the nervous system and learning how to breathe, right? Like, I don't think I knew how to breathe through my diaphragm because nobody ever taught me. And then like having nervous system dysregulation and cortisol metabolic issues can, like I said, happen in vitro. Like this isn't something that I started. Do you think it's passed down from our mothers? Yes. And I learned this the hard way because I have a daughter that has been struggling with asthma.

And so I had to go back to that route and keep digging for that route. Like why is her histamine system more sensitive than the other girls? Why does she have spring allergies? Why does she have asthma during basketball? Like I started asking myself these questions and digging into similar podcasts to yours and, you know, going to my favorite experts for help because I don't, I'm not the end all right. So when I started working on her adrenals and I saw the improvement in her histamine system and really like regulated her asthma, her lung issues, I'm like, OK, well, this this is there's something to this, you know, that's our own story. I'm not promising, you know, these crazy healing

stories for everyone. But. this show is sponsored by better help i feel like we all have our own problems and stresses that's something i've realized through you know having acne or trying to conceive we all have things that are kind of weighing on us constantly and i personally find that when I bottle it up is when the problems get bigger and bigger and bigger. Therapy has been the best resource for me in terms of talking about the things I'm struggling with. Just even hearing myself say it to someone really helps me sort through my own thoughts. I feel like learning positive coping skills and setting boundaries has been a huge part of my inner healing. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient,

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and enter code POW, P-O-W, at checkout. That's 20% off any AquaTrue water purifier when you go to AquaTrue.com and use code POW. would you say histamine issues show up differently in everyone because for me i've struggled with acne for 10 years some people have horrific gut issues like i really psoriasis i feel like these show up in different ways do you feel like the solution can still be applied to everyone like would adrenals benefit me? Would they benefit someone with psoriasis? Yeah, and I think it's honestly easier for adults a little bit

because we, you know, food. Food obviously plays the biggest role in gut healing. Like I have a daughter that's 14 that's also struggling with some skin issues and we're working on healing that, but she's also a very competitive skin issues and we're working on healing that but she's also a very competitive athlete that needs a ton of calories and it's hard for her to you know be out with friends and not get ice cream or whatever it is so I have an autoimmune protocol which is really like an anti-inflammatory protocol and it really kind of cuts to the chase on a lot of

different issues so it it takes all of the energy, not all of it, but like 60% of the energy your body is using on digestion. So our body's digestion is a lot of energy, which is why some people say like, go longer without eating, give your body a longer break, because it's consuming. It's, you know, you have to use energy to digest. So the autoimmune or anti-inflammatory protocol, it actually floods your body with nutrients without using all the energy. It doesn't take as much energy to digest it. And so that would be like my kind of like all in approach on a lot of like inflammatory issues. So, and the reason I say inflammatory is because histamine alone is not ever the problem.

There's other things associated. And so now we're talking adrenals. Well, adrenals too, there's usually other things stacked, right? And that's why we need an integrative approach. There's a lot of people I won't work with that aren't already seeing a therapist. You know what I mean? So there's that emotional piece with adrenals that's sometimes very hard to work through for some people.

So can you just take a supplement and heal the adrenal system? No. But with my 12-year-old who has some asthma and histamine issues, we do breath work a lot. We do a lot of prayer. I'm very available to her when she's heightened. I understand like my kids' emotional needs. And I feel like that's what helps to resolve the adrenal system.

As adults, like we can do a more restrictive diet, so to speak, to help heal the inflammation and sort of reset our system. We can fast. We can do stuff like that, not intermittent fast. I'm not promoting that for women. I'm not a fan of intermittent fasting. I wake up starving. Right. And you should, as you should. The woman's internal clock, it doesn't function like a man. So whenever somebody tells me, so-and-so said to intermittent fast, I'm like, were they a guy? Listen, my husband loves it.

He'll go a whole day. Mine's fine. And he's fine. But I really do think there's a huge difference between men and women in that way. For women, it's much better to incorporate fasting with the full 24 hours. Or like when my clients get to 36 hours, they're like, I can do 72. I never recommend more than that. And I always would like them to be monitored. I'm can do 72. I never recommend more than that. And I always

would like them to be monitored. I'm not like giving the green light to all of that. But if you need a full body reset in 24 hours, it's not going to be the 14 hours, 16 hours, and then cramming all your food into this, you know, period of time. In fact, my philosophy says to eat within the hour of waking up. Oh, really? Yeah. Because of hormone health? Mm-hmm. Okay, that's interesting. Cortisol. Yeah. And then cortisol protects progesterone.

And so the female endocrine system relies on the food that we eat. So we're not using cortisol. I feel like progesterone is like kind of an epidemic right now. Everyone has really low progesterone. Me included. Right. I had to start taking bioidentical progesterone yeah so i agree with you there is an epidemic in that and that's a very bio individualized approach i would love to dig in to that with you um but yeah cortisol is a precursor

for progesterone and if you're on the west coast or like in new york like people think it's really good to you know stress out you know good to, you know, stress out. You know, you just live it. You thrive in stress. And a lot of people do. Yeah. What's hard is slowing down. What's hard is regulating cortisol.

So I incorporate like the circadian rhythm. Like, okay, what time are you up at night? Are you being able to fall asleep? Cortisol is the yang with melatonin. And so if your melatonin is dysregulated, cortisol is probably going to be dysregulated. So that would be like my starting point with somebody is circadian rhythm and cortisol. When you say anti-inflammatory diet,

what does that look for you? Are you more of a keto approach, more of a paleo? It's funny we're getting into this right away because that's not even my philosophy. That's my philosophy to heal. So when people come to me, I'm like, do you want to just have energy and feel better or do you want to heal? So I leave it up to them. You know what I mean? I'm not the driver. I'm just MapQuest, like ways in this day and age. I'm not going to determine that for them. So my philosophy is very non-restrictive,

that the body knows, that you get to decide for yourself. It's intuitive. But with that in mind, I teach you within the hour of waking up. I teach you every four-ish hours after that, especially if you're a cycling woman. If you are not cycling anymore, so perimenopause or postmenopausal, then you can get away with five hours. And you can get away with some other things too, but that's another conversation.

So even within that hour of waking up, every four hours after that, always combine your macros. So here's my like big, big, big one is you manage your glucose, you manage your energy, you manage your moods, like you prevent so many diseases by utilizing the glucose, by getting it to your glucose, you manage your energy, you manage your moods, like you prevent so many diseases by utilizing the glucose, by getting it to your brain, by getting it to your liver, by not over driving your pancreas on insulin production. So managing glucose, in my opinion, is like the king of everything. So if you're going to have, let's say, fruit, you'd want to pair it with protein as well and fats. Have you seen this concept that some people follow of fruit first? Yes, I have.

And that's kind of actually an older concept. I know the girl's name, but I'm not going to say it. And I would say like, okay, I understand like you want the antioxidants, you want the vitamins to hit, but you also have to be protective of your glucose. So that is the most important pillar of my philosophy. While it's not the first pillar, I do it in order. Eat within the hour of waking up every four hours.

Always combine your macronutrients. And I teach 50% carbs, which is like unheard of, but I like to work with women. I don't like to work with men. So I'm very much like pushing them on. I don't blame you. And then eating five colors a day. So we kind of talked about how you grew up eating and you were the meat and potatoes and sandwich and bread kind of person. Same. I grew up in the Midwest of America. Same thing. But eating five different colors a day adds the variety to our gut microbiome, but also the antioxidants, the different fruits and vegetables. So yeah, I'm not a fruit first

person, but I'm also not super particular on the order as long as it's all eaten within the same 30 minutes. Our body's not as particular as we think. You know, we're not calculators. We can't like calculate calories. Calories are information. They're like a messenger, just like a hormone, you know? So then we teach people to drink about half their body weight in water, a pure water, adding a little Celtic salt. So that's kind of the, we're gonna hydrate the whole body so that your hair shines and your skin shines and you're getting water into the cell, which needs a little sodium.

I really love your approach. I feel like a lot of people in this space tend to be quite intense and I even fall in the trap sometimes because I have so much information coming at me. It's easy to get really controlling with the order we eat our food, the supplements we take. And at the end of the day, we just need to be also managing the cortisol. And that kind of defeats the whole purpose if we're being so anal about everything we do. Yeah. When people

hang out with me, they're like, oh, you live a little bit more loose than I expected. Well, yeah, like the whole point is live more, like feel better, live more. And that's what I've kind of taught forever. And then even with exercise, we obviously include that as part of our like philosophy. But a lot of times we're telling people to do less. Do you feel like women are doing too much HIIT workouts lately? I just think that they're not mindful of their stage of life, their stage of hormone life, as well as like their stress, and their cycles. So like, I know that's kind of a lot at, you know, coming at women. But when you have this intuitive approach of life, which is that's the final piece of our philosophy, is like, it's intuitive eating,

it's intuitive living. Like, avocados are so good for most people, but for some people, they're terrible for. They cause them more inflammation. They're, you know, an intolerant food or whatever. Like, some people do great with chickpeas, and some people do horrible. Some people do fine with oats. Some people do terrible, but you can't go by somebody else's standard. You have to intuitively know that yourself. So I look at workouts the same way. Like, am I waking up feeling like pretty low energy or like stressed or overwhelmed? Like what is going to support me that day? And I'm looking at the big picture, like, where am I in my cycle? Okay, I can push through. Like if I'm in my follicular stage, I'm going to push through, I'm going to take advantage of muscle building in that stage. If I'm like premenstrual, which is right now, I'm going to

like take it easy and probably go for a longer walk and do some sort of like Pilates. And I shouldn't say Pilates is easy, but like it's something more flowing and not so like hard hitting. For someone listening like myself who's trying to get pregnant, we're in the fertility stage. What do you recommend for nutrition and working out? So same as the philosophy I just said, but like so many other people that have been on your podcast, I'm a big fan of supporting the foundation. So like supplementally, I would want to just do like the core foundation support. And then potentially if somebody's dealing with chronic inflammation, so that's what we were kind of getting into, I would actually

recommend them do the anti-inflammatory protocol, which is not limited carbs. It's not, it's the same like macro breakdown as what I teach, but it's food restricted based on supporting the foundation of your body, getting rid of excess inflammation. So that's not conflicting with a healthy pregnancy, you know? So inflammation in turn is important to lower when you're trying to get pregnant. Yes, absolutely. And so I've had a couple of clients get pregnant using my anti-inflammatory protocol and they're like, but I'm not having pregnancy symptoms. And I'm like, you're not inflamed anymore. Wow. She's like, should I be taking magnesium? I'm like,

well, we'll see. Like you may not need it. I wish I knew this when I was pregnant because I was severely ill. Okay. So what should you take if you're severely ill and pregnant? I mean, there's, that's the thing is people are always like, what should I take? But a lot of times it's like, what should I take away? You know, I should have been doing more detox baths. I should have been taking magnesium. I didn't, you know, I was 24 to 31 when I was pregnant. So this was like premature and the integrative part of my, I was eating balanced blood sugar. I, you know, I ate all the right things. I was eating high omega threes, flax seed and all the seeds and obviously fish and that kind of stuff. But yeah, I think again, like anti-inflammatory, getting rid

of all the excess inflammation and letting your hormones, you know, work, respond well, really helps a lot. And it's not a guarantee that you won't be sick. I think there is some genetics involved and, you know, the hyper mimesis or whatever it's called. So yeah, B6 and gender was like my go-to all day long. And then there's acubans or whatever. I've seen those. How do you handle pregnancy cravings? Because I see on TikTok and other, you know, pregnant influencers, this might be controversial to say, I'm just going to say anyway, but I often see women who are pregnant sort of like caving to these cravings that are kind of extreme, like the chick-fil-a

and high sugar, like processed foods. And that makes me sort of cringe a little bit, I guess, because I'm trying to get pregnant. And in my head, I'm like, oh, if I'm so lucky to get pregnant, I would never eat something like that. Well, and it's good that you understand that and see that because I have so many people that are like, can I do your program if I'm pregnant? I'm like, not only can you, but you should. You should, like now is the moment. You should be flooding your body. You're growing a human. Yes, exactly. But people don't see it that way because, you know, the standard was when I was having babies, you know, 10 years ago, you need to gain 25 pounds. You need to gain this much weight.

And so people think, like my mom was telling me at one point, you need to drink a milkshake. And I'm like, how does that support the end goal here? Because I only gained like 12 to 15 pounds, but my babies were still like seven to eight pounds a week early. There is this conception that you have to double the amount you eat. No.

And I was speaking about it with my friend Celeste who has a baby and she was like, oh no, it's literally like a couple hundred calories more. It's like 1.15. Which is kind of sad. I was really excited to kind of like bulk up but you know you know what though you will have a very intuitive approach and the nice thing about like cravings is there's always a healthy alternative maybe not at a fast food restaurant

but like we've come so far with recipe development there's always a healthy alternative yeah yeah like go make your own panko chicken crusted whatever. Chick-fil-A sandwich or a dark chocolate strawberry or something. Right, right. Like I have so many, like I have a whole dessert book, you know, with peach cobbler and stuff like that. And I don't restrict, right? And I think that's the whole thing is people let themselves like think that because that's what the system

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or use code pursuit at checkout caraway non-toxic cookware made modern. Let's talk about weight loss. When people come to you and they want to lose weight, what would you say is the most common barrier for them? Like, what's the most common issue getting in their way? That they think it's weight that they need to lose. Like they think, if I just lose this weight, that I'm going to feel a certain way. And losing, again, go back to numbers, we're not calculators. That's fleeting. And so I've seen, you know, I've been doing this for 17 years. And I've seen the scale really be a driver for people and then their results aren't sustainable because then they go right back to the way they were eating or whatever.

They can't wait to have a brownie again or whatever it is. So with weight loss, I always say, well, what got you here in the first place? Okay, let's evaluate what got you here in the first place and let's do like a root cause assessment of why you have the weight. Why did your body adapt to this size? Because you can't just do a deficit and lose and sustain that because your body's already adapted. So we need to target the reason why it adapted. And again, that's like cortisol, adrenals, like stress, trauma, like you name it, those are all a part of it. And so I evaluate people. I don't work a ton of one-on-ones. So don't just like email me out the zoo asking. I have programs in place for all of

this. I actually have a weight loss masterclass where I break down the hormones. And that's like, remember I was saying yin and yang with melatonin and cortisol, there's yin and yang with your hunger hormones. There's yin and yang with every hormone in the body, estrogen, progesterone. And so we break all that down. And then we break down like, is it visceral fat? Okay. If it's visceral fat, that's a really hard kind. It's been there for a while. There's probably some insulin resistance involved. There's probably, you know, like our body's not optimized. We need to change some things. We need to support the liver. We need to do more sauna, that kind of

stuff. When there's subcutaneous fat, which is the really soft kind, you actually don't have to work as hard to lose it, you know? And then when there's inflammation, you need a whole different approach entirely. You need that anti-inflammatory protocol. I often feel like when I get questions about weight loss, people have this perception of like magic food. Yeah. Like, oh, if I eat green beans, therefore I will lose weight. Right, but you do salad every day.

Right, which is just kind of... They think that they have to be hungry to lose weight and it's actually the opposite. You actually need to be fueling your body for where it's at now. So like, if you're a higher weight, you need more calories to burn efficiently. A hundred percent. And I feel like when I started learning about nutrition, I realized that let's say a Starbucks Frappuccino that has 800 calories is a whole meal. Like you could eat salmon and potatoes and salad yeah and be full

for much longer than the frappuccino right and I remember that being a big like aha moment yeah choosing the things that I felt like were going to get me through the day right and just that switch alone I mean when I first started eating healthy I pretty much copied my husband's style of eating and he's a bodybuilder so I did oatmeal eggs yeah definitely way too much food the fitness way but like it was a better choice than the two muffins I was doing prior absolutely and I was able to have a better mood it was just like a better step in the door right and I do think a lot of women struggle with this idea of like overly restrictive eating yeah over exercising I mean both of us lived in Southern California.

It's rampant there. And people are now using Ozempic to curb their appetite. How do you feel about Ozempic? That's a question I'm getting a lot and people are very curious about right now. There's so many other things I would like to try before resorting to something that could potentially harm several different organs,

especially your stomach. I'm hearing, you know, research is finally coming out a little bit. And that's the thing about taking something new is you don't really know. You're the guinea pig. Yeah, you're a guinea pig. It's a crab shoe. So nobody really wants their stomach paralyzed forever. And, you know, we're not sure what the risks associated are and for what. I don't know anybody that's been like, I feel so good, right? And then also then what happens when you come off of it? But the problem is with our culture and like we've already talked about this is people just want to take.

They want to consume. We're just a culture of consumption. We overconsume everything. We overcons of consumption. We overconsume everything. We overconsume information. We overconsume supplements. Like people come to me taking like 30 different things. And so they're looking for the next best thing that they can consume that's going to give them what they want. And, you know, losing your muscle tone, like you're risking your muscular skeletal system. there's just so many risks in my opinion associated I would love to try so many other options including the

anti-inflammatory approach um and a lifestyle approach but the problem is is people aren't willing to put that time and energy there because they don't have energy you know and I think social media is contributing in a negative way because we're seeing people drop 30 pounds between two posts right do you get what I'm saying like all of a sudden someone we knew is has lost 30 pounds overnight and the comments are like oh she must have done a zen pic like it's kind of when they're saying I'm eating whatever I want oh right stuff like that and it's like, why do you want to eat goldfish? It's like a bite of a goldfish.

Yeah, like why do you want, like, let's get to that route. How do you feel about processed foods? Like what would you tell someone who comes to you who's eating a majority diet of processed foods? Yeah, it just like, so I was telling you before we started recording, sorry, you guys missed out on such a good conversation. Such a good conversation. Before we recorded.

It's exclusive. It's exclusive. It's exclusive content. So I always look at somebody's like food log, for instance, or I take a day in their life and I try to adapt it so that it's easy for them to adjust to. I don't think most people are capable of 180s in their life. And so there are some options for processed food or like, for instance, I just sent a client, he's going on, he's in the music industry going on tour for a month with minimal control. We utilize a lot of healthy processed foods, you know, like bars and that kind of stuff. So I don't, I don't know if that's what you mean by processed foods, but like Simple Mills, like Siete, like there's good brands out there that

are doing what I would do if I were to like make a homemade cracker or homemade chip, which I'm never going to do. I love that you're saying this because I do think there's this like umbrella, like no processed foods ever. And currently I'm traveling from Austin. I'm eating a bar. You know, I'm doing what I need to do to feel good about my choices and I think a lot of time with the fear mongering online it's like well if you don't like what the options are make it yourself yes you know what I'm saying yeah and that really pushes people away because they're like I don't want to spend I heard on average people spend three hours a day in the kitchen oh you know how many I think I do yeah I do too and I don't mind but not everybody wants to I enjoy it yeah

I'm there by choice right I am too I don't feel good when I everybody wants to. I enjoy it. Yeah. I'm there by choice. Right. I am too. I don't feel good when I eat out. So like I'm going to, when I go on the road, which is every weekend with my kids sports, I have bars, I have oranges, I have apples. Those travel easy. I have all the things, hard boiled eggs, like things that travel easy, hummus, vegetables. But yeah, you have like simple meals, crackers, or like another cracker similar to that. So yeah. And I love chips. I'll be very honest. Like chips are kind of a vice for me.

Like if I'm gonna make- She's a chip girl. I am. I like salty stuff. I like butter and I like salt. Oh, that's me. Yeah. A savory girl. I call it butter babes.

Yes. Yeah. So like if I'm gonna have a cookie or a baked good, like it needs to be semi-sweet and super buttery. Yeah. Like a croissant is like, everything. You can't eat a croissant in America. No, you cannot.

No, you cannot. Actually, wild grain. Have you heard of wild grain? Yeah, I have. So good. Really? Because you just put them in the oven for 20 minutes. Okay.

They actually sponsor the show, but this is not sponsored. Like I am obsessed with it. Okay, that's good to know. I make them for my husband every weekend. It's like his little cheap one. I have a gluten-free entirely kid, one kid. And she loves croissants. Are they gluten-free entirely kid, one kid. Um, so, and she loves

croissants. Are they gluten-free? Oh, are they? I don't know. Croissants? They can be. So wild grains, not. No, it's not. It's not, but it's good ingredients, you know? Okay. Yeah. I'll check it out for sure. The bread that we get from Colorado, um, it's called outside the bread box. If you butter that bread up, it tastes like a croissant. No. It's so good. Outside the bread box. And it's only got like five ingredients. No way. I need to check that out. Yeah.

So I rely on like processed foods. You know what I mean? Like I don't, obviously I make most of my foods and most of it comes from the refrigerator, but I would be lying if I said that it all did. I love that. Even with lentils, like sometimes I'm going to buy the pre-made version and not soak them for 24 hours. I don't, my brain doesn't work that way.

So I have to just do the best I can with what I have. And it's also about doing the best like most of the time and then giving yourself grace when you can't. Right. I always say consistency pays interest. That's like my new favorite phrase because my husband's in finance. So we talk about interest and stuff like that a lot. And I'm like, no, no, in my world,

consistency pays interest. Like you, if you do this like 75% of the time, then that 25% is like accumulated interest. Like it's forgiven. Yep, 100%. So you just mentioned that you're working with a music artist on tour. And I know you're Carrie Underwood's

personal nutritionist. So I'm friends with Carrie Underwood's personal nutritionist. So I'm friends with Carrie Underwood. Got it. Yeah. So does she follow my teachings perfectly? No, but I would say that she probably tries a lot, but you know, it's hard on the road. I've seen her do so good. Like I've been there, but I wouldn't say I am her personal nutritionist. She doesn't totally listen to me. I love the honesty. She would appreciate that. But she thinks for herself.

Let's just put it that way. I think a lot of people would be very curious about, you know, working with celebrities. Are they coming at nutrition with the same goals as like us, like average people? Kind of. Or are they on the go more? Like what's the vibe?

Yeah, I think they're just trying to feel good. And that's why my book that comes out in a year, publishing world is really slow right now. It's called The Feel Good Way. And I think that like people, like the entrepreneurs and the entertainers and the people like that that I work with, they just want to feel better.

And to be very honest, they're feeling gaslighted by their doctors, you know, and I don't want to throw doctors under the bus at all. Cause I think it's actually the insurance system. That's the problem. And I will throw that under the bus. But anyways, I, they come to me and they're just like, I need to feel better. Like for instance, and I'm not going to name any names, but the, this guy, you know, he just, he didn't, he felt like he couldn't get deep breaths and like, you know, he just, he didn't, he felt like he couldn't get deep breaths and like, you know, a couple tweaks and he's like, I am breathing better than I ever

have, you know, and they aren't getting proper sleep. And so like trying to manage that kind of lifestyle with, you know, the techniques that I teach, the food, the exercise, the water with Celtic salt, magnesium, you know, the foundational support, that kind of stuff. It really does change their life. It adds more value because it's a very hard life. People don't understand. I've worked with professional athletes and the same thing, like perform but like sleep in a hotel. You know what I mean?

But perform. I think that's wild. Like even me just being away from home, I have my supplements ready. Like I'm trying to stay so on routine, but just being in a new environment in itself is really difficult. Like I never sleep as well in a hotel as I do at home. Yeah, try an RV.

Like that's what these people, like when they live on tour buses and stuff like that, or like, you know, I think of the NCAA March Madness because I was a basketball player. Some of these guys, if you're looking at their time zone, they're playing at 11 o'clock. No. You know what I'm saying? Like that's not good for anybody. And so like managing this lifestyle, they just want to feel good. Yeah. That's all. They don't want to be injured. They want to feel good. And that's all they they care about it really confuses me even with taylor swift on that errors tour when they're like i mean how many concerts did she do i don't know it's like that's crazy yeah i can't even imagine like the inflammation

cortisol circadian rhythm issues i'm too sensitive for that i could i am too i could never i i'm so sensitive that when i travel i have to take biotoxin binders because I just don't know what the environment holds. Wow. What's a biotoxin binder? It just binds up anything that like is new to your body or like I don't want to give people an out, but like if you're going to have a glass of wine. I need that. Yeah, so high vitamin C, biotoxin binder after,

and it doesn't cause the same harm. Huh. Okay, good tip. It pulls it out. It's kind of like magnet. I feel like a lot of us eat in kind of a dissociate. I think we're all dissociated all the time, if I'm being honest. Like when you see people walk around with their head in their phone. This is such a good point. You're eating in the car, like everyone's just dissociated eating and running around. Like how does that affect our digestive system? Well, it's almost like you knew I wanted to say this because digestion starts with smell.

So it starts in our nasal passage. And if we're not being mindful of the moment, then we're already like skipping a couple steps. If our digestion is starting with taste, we're in big trouble. Then that didn't give our stomach enough time to create the acids and the enzymes that we need to break down food. So I try to get people when the first thing I say, I can't digest this. I can't digest that. What can I take? You know my answer. What can we take away? First of all, but second of all, let's relax the nervous system. Let's get into parasympathetic nervous system before you eat.

Like prayer before a meal or breath work before a meal. So I have them do like five breaths in, hold for five. Five breaths out, hold for five. Five times. So five, five, five, five times. And it gets their body into parasympathetic mode to improve the digestion so that digestion is starting with the smell and not when it hits the stomach. I actually didn't know that.

Oh, good. That's good for me. I'm glad I taught you something new. And do you want to like sniff the food? Is that part of it? I mean, it is. I mean, it's aroma of like cooking it. You know, when you go into a restaurant,

you start the digestive process by the smell. But yeah, you do want to sniff it for sure. Do you feel like with the dissociation and social media and kind of where the world's at right now, is that contributing to disordered eating? Like, are you seeing an increase in people struggling with that? You know, I haven't actually seen an increase. A lot of people that are struggling with disordered eating, they don't necessarily want help, you know, or they're not asking for help.

Somebody is asking for help for them. And so that's kind of the tricky part there. I have worked with people that have suffered immensely from disordered eating, and they were the ones asking for help. And so I honestly, I feel like the new disordered eating and they were the ones asking for help. And so I honestly, I feel like the new disordered eating is like ozempic. Wow. You know what I mean? Yeah. That's a great point. I mean, we're seeing a whole new wave of disordered eating. Right. And they're not calling it what it is. That's true. And I also have had conversations about the fact that some health influences online

are potentially struggling themselves and then almost promoting what they're doing and people are interpreting it. I mean, young girls are on TikTok and Instagram watching this information and thinking that it's health advice. Right. And my daughter's friends, my kids don't have social media and they probably never will. That's another conversation for another day. But their friends are asking them to ask me. Wow. Because they want to know about the skincare. They want to know, like they're eager to know,

but they're not just consuming it, which is actually quite impressive to me. That is cool. Yeah. That is really cool. But I was telling one of my daughters, because they still like get on YouTube and then they find TikTok on YouTube and stuff like that. And I was like, these people are getting paid to, to say what they say. So like, you have to be really careful. You know, I don't know if you saw that article that came out that says only 2% of health advice is true on TikTok. Wow. 2%. People are using it as a search engine for information. Right. I don't know. I'm not on TikTok. I don't know. I wouldn't, I wouldn't even, don't even dip a toe. I'm too old. I think I'm bridging on too old as well, frankly, because I'm on there and I'm like, I don't relate

to any of these people. I'm just, I think I'm in the wrong place. I feel like you're definitely an old soul. I'm millennial, but just, you know, yeah, I'm an old soul. And I think just from what I've been through and being in fitness and health, it kind of like speeds up your maturity a little bit and I'm just not anyway. Well, and I think that you're aware of like the dopamine cycle of it too. And I think that that's kind of the thing that, in my opinion, that people are struggling with is like getting their next hit instead of like regulating their neurotransmitters which is a part of this whole process yeah you know and it's an addiction the speed of everything people are playing videos on 2x mode because they can't even stand to sit there oh my gosh yeah you're like terrified

i am so your kids are not on social media. That's impressive because the oldest one's 14, you said? Yeah, she's asked for Instagram. She's asked for Snapchat and it's just a hard no. Wow, good for you. That's impressive. I'm the mean old mom, but I really like hanging out with my kids. Like I take them everywhere with me. I do everything with them.

So like we have a lot of like real connection and not virtual. How do you keep your kids meals fun and exciting, but also nutritious? So my kids could literally teach what I teach by now because they're, they want to feel good. They all play sports. They're, you know, they strive to do well in school, even without me putting pressure. They want to look a certain way, you know, so they know what I teach. They know that they're supposed to eat five colors a day and they know they're supposed to eat a protein with every meal. And I think that's, you know, what gets lost with kids. It doesn't

translate. Kids just eat carbs and a lot of processed carbs all day long and like high sugar. And I don't restrict that from my kids. I mean, obviously I don't have it in my house, but even when they're at a friend's house, they take chomps with them. Yes. Stop. That is amazing. And then this morning, my daughter was having sourdough. She's the one who's gluten-free, so she can only eat homemade sourdough.

I mean, that sounds pretty great. I like long ferment it. But she was like, Mom, I don't have any protein. And can you like warm me some bone broth? What an adorable child. I mean. Yes. And so like my kids are a little bit weird.

College is going to hit them hard when they don't have all the options in the world. But where's my sourdough? Where's my long fermented sourdough? Yeah, mom, the sourdough was clearly not fermented for 24 hours because it hurt my tummy. So my, when it comes to the kids, I'm teaching them the basics, like how to fuel your body, like how to have healthy hair. They all have really like shiny, long, thick hair. And

like, that's part of it. Like your cells can only function optimally when we are fueling them. My, my youngest hates when I say fueled, because she says that's not a word. That's a nonsense word. Fueled. I was like one time on the way to practice, do you feel fueled enough by the food you ate? Because she didn't get a whole dinner in. She just had like a snack and she's like, fueled is not a word. It's a nonsense word. I think it is a word. It is a word word but she doesn't get it yet yeah she still knows my youngest is eight and she still knows like i'm gonna have a couple nuts with my oranges that's incredible yeah that is incredible yeah they know what carbs are they know what um

protein is they know what healthy fat is and like that's what we have at our house yeah but we still have like those llama whatever ice cream cones that are gluten and dairy free from sprouts oh my god amazing they're so good I love that that sounds like a really healthy approach yeah and they eat acai bowls homemade every single morning yes out of curiosity how did you handle baby food because I feel like baby food there's not a lot of options am I right in saying that yeah I just always did real food and I didn't necessarily do like the baby led weaning because that was a little bit premature for me. But I just did like smashed avocado and smashed bananas and smashed eggs and stuff like that. I fed them when I was feeding, but I kind of like processed it a little bit.

Okay. So I don't, we would get the pouches for just easy access, like Once Upon a Farm or whatever. That's what I was going to say. I think those are still available. Yeah. But we never did like the jars and we never did the cream of whatever rice or whatever they want you to eat. Right. Kids, yeah.

Because when you look at the packaging, a lot of it's really high sugar and that always surprised me. Right. Well, breast milk is high sugar. Is that why? So baby's brains take a lot, like a different macro breakdown to develop. Got it. Yeah, so higher fat, higher sugar, like the letdown of milk is sugar and then it turns fattier.

I had no idea. So realistically, they should be eating more sugar. A little bit. Got it. Yeah. Okay, good to know. But it still needs balance. Like even breast milk is naturally balanced

higher in protein no fat they don't need a lot of protein got it okay this is good for me to know because I would have fed my baby like too much protein probably so yeah um do you mind if we do a little fan q a because the girls had a lot of questions really yeah let's do it let's do kind of a rapid fire okay best foods or diet protocol for postpartum? What I teach and it's not necessarily the foods but the philosophy, five colors a day, pairing your macros, energy bites, the things I brought you are like clutch when you're postpartum because you're ravenous if you're nursing.

You need to have healthy options around. Guys, Cara brought me energy bites and they look amazing. I'm going to eat them right after, I'm so excited. Nutrition tips for insulin resistance. So that's where I would go autoimmune or anti-inflammatory protocol. It kind of just like allows your body to heal and surges your body with nutrients you need. And then I would be dropping the carbs at that.

If you're sure you're insulin resistant, I would be dropping the carbs to allow the body to heal. Okay. Eating when you have high testosterone. Interesting. I wonder if this is a female or male. Female. Okay, so it's different for female and male.

Generally I would actually start with the anti-inflammatory protocol, um, because high testosterone can be associated with autoimmune reproductive disease and that's where I would start. Okay. Navigating a menu when eating out. Yeah, that's always a good question. Um, I examine the menus before I go because I don't want to feel the pressure to choose, but obviously people go with like a salad, but a lot of times I go with like a fish option and

then choose my own sides. We can't always control the oil that it's cooked in, but I think the goal is if you're going to be social and eat out is just to make the best choices and not worry about it. If I'm feeling brave, I will ask what oil they cook in. Oh, really? And I'll say like, I'm allergic to canola oil. Can you use butter? And they do? Yeah, they've done it before, but I get nervous. Yeah, I know. Because I don't want to be annoying. I know. I'm like that 11 out of 10 pedestrian that if somebody lets me go, I run across the street. And so I'm like weary at restaurants. Like I don't want to make somebody mad and have something end up in my food. Same. But I also feel like seed oils are in my body for three years and it gives me so much

anxiety. I know. I know. I agree with that. Okay. How to eat more protein as a vegetarian? That is tricky, but we use a lot of like seeds and legumes and marine collagen for our vegetarian options because I'm not really a big soy fan. But fermented organic soy once a week is okay. Have you ever helped someone on a parasite cleanse? Yes, but I don't recommend jumping into parasite cleanses without supporting the foundation for like 30 to 60 days. Okay. Any cleanses, no detoxes, no anything unless the foundation is supported. But yes, I have. Okay. What does that look like? I mean, they love to send me pictures. People love to tell me about their poop. It's hilarious. No. Yes. Because Emily always asks me about it. It's just so uncomfortable, you know? About your poop? Yeah. Yeah, I know. Yeah.

It's definitely uncomfortable with listeners. The stool tests, like the whole, you know, you got to get. You can tell a lot about people's health by looking at their poop. Oh my gosh, it's so revealing. Does it sink or swim? Or like the candida, like everything. Is sweet potato better than white potato? Yes and no. I'm a fan of all potatoes.

I don't like to rule out things that can be grown in our vegetables. But a sweet potato has a better effect on your glucose than a white potato. And people that struggle with like small intestine bacteria overgrowth struggle with white potatoes. I love sweet potatoes. Yeah, I do too. I think they're better. But I also love white potatoes. I love potatoes in general.

Butter, potatoes. I feel like I think they're better. But I also love white potatoes. I love potatoes in general. Butter, potatoes. I feel like I digest them way better than like rice. Totally. I'm a potato girl. I do fine with rice, but I don't do well with many other greens. Yeah, I feel the same way. But I'm with you. Like potatoes can go on the menu every night.

Because you can smash them. You can mash, like whatever. You can do so many things. Roast them. Yum. Yeah. Cara, now it's time for the question we ask every guest I started this podcast because I believe everyone's pursuit of wellness looks

different what does wellness mean to you for me it's that integrative approach of mind body and spirit like I really think that we take on food to build that foundation, to build the physical body so that we have the energy to pursue emotional health and spiritual health. So wellness to me is well in the mind, body, and spirit. Beautiful. Thank you so much. Where can everyone find you? You can find me on Instagram, Cara Clark Nutrition. That's where I'm the most active. Facebook. I think we do a little Pinterest here and there. And then my website is almost officially updated and it might be, I guess, by the time this launches. Yeah, amazing.

careclarknutrition.com Thank you so much, Cara. Excited for your book too. Yes, me too. Thank you for having me. Thanks for joining us on the Pursuit of Wellness podcast. To support this show, please rate and review and share with your loved ones.

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on our YouTube channel at Mari Fitness. Love you, Power Girls and Power Boys. See you next time. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and does not constitute a provider-patient relationship.

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