The Uneducated PT Podcast - #43 Dan Feldman - Powerlifterdietitian

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

In this episode of the Uneducated PT Podcast we speak to Dietitan and powerlifter Dan Feldman. We speak about a number of health and fitness topics from how to leave clients better off then when you found them, what makes a good coach, what Dan would like to see changed in the industry and much more. 

Hello and welcome to the uneducated PT podcast with me, your host, Carlo Rourke. The goal of this podcast is to bring on interest and knowledgeable people from all walks of life, learn a little something from each conversation and for you, the listener, just learn something from each episode. So don't forget to subscribe to the channel, press the box below, show some support and I'll see you on the next episode. Dan, welcome to the uneducated PT podcast. Can you give me a bit of background into your profession before we get into it?

Yeah, man, thank you for having me, obviously. I'm Dan, I am a registered dietitian here in the United States. I don't know if your viewers are from other countries here in the US. I'm also a certified personal trainer, have a master's degree in human nutrition. Deadly, deadly. And can you give me a little bit of an insight into, let's say, the type of problems that clients come to you to help themselves?

Yeah, so obviously it varies. The most common issues that my clients come to me with tend to be body composition, so weight loss, you know, weight loss, muscle gain, that kind of thing. A lot of my clients, you know, since I do accept insurance here in the United States, how do you get more of a general population, you know, rather than kind of very fitness-specific. So for those folks, it is a lot of, again, kind of weight management, managing cardiovascular disease risk, that kind of thing. I do also get some more kind of fitness-minded

folks, especially, you know, kind of on my Instagram, I do more like the power lifting stuff. So I do have some kind of folks that are more so kind of, either trying to lose, you know, a few pounds for aesthetic reasons or gaining muscle. So body composition, weight loss,

you know, that is really, I would say, most common. Occasionally, you know, folks will have kind of specific medical conditions you know, as well. But, That's really most common, I would say. Yeah. You said you touched on the powerlifting and I want to go into that topic as well.

But before we transition into that and into your sport, you touched on even taking insurance and helping a lot of the general population. What are some of the struggles you think that the general population are facing right now in terms of their health and their weight? Yeah, so, well, obviously, again, here in the U.S., the majority of adults do struggle with their weight. You know, obviously we do live in, you know, what some call an obisogenic society where a very kind of calorie-dense, hyper-palatable foods are readily available. So it's very easy to eat in a calorie surplus for a lot of folks. and obviously it's very easy to be very sedentary

just with kind of how many of us work when office settings and whatnot so just you know some of the biggest challenges are you know not becoming obese because of you know just how our society is kind of set up you know also the fact that kind of obviously

social media is so so so big now, you know, we do see a lot more nutrition misinformation or disinformation. You know, so a lot of people struggle with their weight and also are confused about how to go about losing weight or improving their health as well. So that's kind of a big component there, you know, as well. You know, so many people have, you know, these really common health issues, be it obesity or other issues related to nutrition and lifestyle and they're not in a lot of them are confused about what to do they get all these different mixed messages from all different people um so again obviously you know

i could probably go on about the different issues that people the general population struggle with but just off the top of my head you know that's one of the biggest yeah and what i really love about your account is is first of us you come off very empathetic in regards to that subject and also you obviously come with a lot of signs towards that. What are some of the misconceptions you would say that people have around obesity?

So there's a lot. One of those, and I know you mentioned on the, you kind of touched on empathy, something that some people kind of think is that people with obesity are inherently lazy, which I would say is not true. You know, obesity is very multifactorial.

I mean, it's both simple and it's also complex because, yes, it is ultimately calories and calories out, eating, you know, too many calories, but... Which is the only component we hear from a lot of people. Move more, eat less. Right, right. But it's, yes, calorie balance is the driving factor, but there's, so many different factors that affect calorie balance. You know, like emotional kind of regulation, for example,

struggling with, you know, different emotional states, people with anxiety, depression, ADHD, you know, these kind of mental health issues make it extremely difficult for people, you know, and something else is that, I think for folks like maybe you and me, maybe some of your listeners, you know, for those of us that are really sort of inclined towards fitness or, again, I can kind of speak towards myself, kind of obsessed with fitness. I mean, it's my entire livelihood is nutrition. It's literally my entire identity as sad as that is. Yeah.

So for people like you and me, it might be easy to look at, you know, people who struggle and be like, well, you're just lazy. Like, just do better. but we all operate with limited resources, limited time, limited energy. And for people whose lives don't revolve around fitness, you know, it's a lot different. You know, some people may have, you know, several kids or they may have kids who, you know, I don't have any kids. It's very easy for me to say, oh, just work harder. But I don't have kids.

I can kind of sleep until whenever I want. myself, you know, I'm very privileged and a lot of people don't have that privilege. You know, they do have, you know, kids that they have to take care of. They've got a lot of other kind of life stressors or maybe they have, you know, elderly parents need to take care of. Maybe they're a single parent. Maybe they have to work a night shift, you know, and are forced to get really poor sleep or have to work multiple jobs to keep food on the table. It's very easy for us who are very fitness oriented to kind of say for people who do struggle like, hey, you just need to do better. But unless we have that empathy and we kind of understand why it's so difficult for so many people

and how, you know, until we kind of start to understand others kind of worldview, you know, I think the idea that people who struggle with obesity are inherently lazy is not true. and it's also very unhelpful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do you, because you understand that and because you understand the nuance around obesity or even weight gain in general, does that help you. When trying to help a client in terms of, you know, understanding realistic expectations for what they're going to achieve in a certain time and then trying to help them to understand. them expectations.

Yeah, yeah. I certainly try. I certainly try to communicate that. You know, a lot of people, and I'm sure you've encountered this as well, a lot of people who do want to lose weight or improve their health, you know, especially if they're in kind of a very low point. You know, they have at least at one point in time, they have very high motivation and they want to do a lot all at once.

They want to completely change their diet. want a zero sugar diet or eliminate all carbs or they want to, you know, lose three pounds a week and they want to make really drastic changes, you know. And I think that understanding of the nuances of obesity and how there's so many different factors that come into play, like I was saying, you know, if someone has kids, if someone has like a lot of other life responsibilities, I think having that understanding and also that empathy is really, important if you do work with clients to, like you said, kind of set expectations. You know, generally what I tell people is, you know, with some exceptions, but generally,

if someone who wants to lose weight or improve their health, progress, sustainable progress is probably going to be slower than they would want. Yeah. But, you know, slower progress that is sustained is better than faster progress or faster weight loss that you end up gaining the weight back. So I do try to, you know, really kind of set expectations and encourage patients, you know, among folks that are trying to lose weight. Obviously, it's easier said than done, though, because most of us is humans, you know, we want, you know, when we're working really, really hard, we want to see results immediately. And it's really hard not to see that.

Yeah, 100%. I've, so, like, I even notice it in myself if I have a goal or something I want to achieve, whether it's a fitness goal, whether it's a business goal, you know, I'm saying to myself, oh, but I want that now and I'm getting frustrated now. And then if you were to coach yourself as you would coach a client in weight loss, you have to say, well, you can't really force the result because you're not going to, you're not going to get the behaviors and habits in that time if you try to do it too quick. Yeah, I'm the same way. I naturally have sort of an addictive personality, which in some ways helps.

It helps with kind of having a business. and I'm sure you could kind of attest to that as well, but it makes it hard to stay patient. And it's something I, you know, like I noticed in myself, like I said, if I have, you know, a specific goal or like if you have a specific goal, we want to just go really, really hard for you and get it right away. So I try and kind of remind myself of that

when I'm working with clients to really understand, like they're just a person too. And I have to kind of acknowledge just their desire for results immediately. So that is definitely pretty important. important. Yeah. When you do get them like quick results, whether that is losing a kilo or two, like, that's also motivating to keep them on track to go on though as well.

So it is important to have, even though you want them to stick at it long term, to have them initial quick wins or to go all in at the start. I suppose there is a benefit to that. There is. There is. And I know there's some folks that advocate for, you know, wanting to kind of try to be more restrictive early on to get that quickly weight loss. weight loss to get people more motivated.

It's not necessarily something that I agree with, but yes, if someone does experience a rapid loss on the scale, they're going to be more motivated than if, you know, you spend your first several weeks with them as a personal trainer, a dietitian, or a clinician, or what have you, and they lose half a pound, they might be more likely to fall off, you know, and these are all things that we have to consider as practitioners, as personal trainers, as coaches, what have you um you know and and i mean towards that end i do try to kind of have you know kind of also kind of encourage encourage other markers of success in progress rather than just waiting on the scale it's not always super effective but you know kind of uh focusing on you know if someone

has changed uh you know certain habits um you know if someone has you know has you know gone from eating takeout six times per week to eating three times per week. That end of itself, independent of any progress, is a win. You know, that person is making more home-cooked meals. They are probably saving money. You know, they are, you know, oftentimes they'll feel better, just kind of objectively feel better. You know, it's the kind of focusing on those wins or obviously going to the gym, you know,

more regularly if that's Simmons goal, you know. So I do think it can be effective for practitioners to try and kind of think of how, what are other like rewards that people can kind of obtain during the process? How can you make the process of, you know, behavior change, weight loss, etc., kind of more rewarding in it of itself. Obviously, it's a lot easier to just said than done, and it doesn't work for some folks, you know. but that's particularly do you think that's just

dead down to different personalities different personalities yeah um you know again a lot of people aren't ready for change and that's okay you know but it definitely depends on the individual depends on their

I think level of motivation you know I do think it's it's as practitioners dietitians personal trainers etc I do think that we can use components of like motivational interviewing to basically enhance

people's intrinsic motivation, you know, I think that we can all do that. You know, I think that providing that kind of encouragement and support can be helpful. But yeah, it really just depends on the individual. It depends on someone's readiness for change. Depends on someone's kind of trust in the process. It depends on someone's trust in you, you know? So, and I also think it's like realistic, it's important for us as practitioners to,

kind of acknowledge the fact that not everyone is necessarily ready to change right now and that that's okay but if you can even you know start to enhance someone's intrinsic motivation for change even if they end up kind of quitting

or giving up that doesn't mean that what you did was a waste of time you know you might have like maybe let's say you have a client you're working with them for like a month or two maybe they lose a couple pounds but then they get kind of demotivated and they stop, you know,

the guidance and help that you may have provided them out to that point, some kind of suggestions or tips around nutrition or general ideas around how to kind of view, you know, nutrition and habit changed in general, maybe six months or a year from now, or two years from now, when they have, you know, more motivation again, maybe something happens where they kind of want to kick things into gear, maybe what you said or what you did in the long, run does actually benefit them and they remember that.

And again, I may be kind of going off on a tangent, so stop me, you know, if I am. But I think it's important for us, like something I try and think of whenever I'm just working with a client. And I personally work people one-on-one through, you know, video calls. I try and just kind of think, how can I help this person right now to the best of my ability and be kind of present with them, you know? even if they do end up kind of they don't want to see me again or whatever or, you know, I don't work with them forever.

How can I just be of benefit to this person right now in this moment? And I find if I take that kind of attitude, I'm more likely to be a value to them, whether or not they hit kind of their immediate goal. If we can kind of think more long term, like, hey, if you're working with a client, if your personal trainer in the gym, if you are working with clients, if you're a nutrition coach or what have you or a dietitian, you're working with people, when you're with, working with people or doing your check-in, how can you just one human to another human,

how can you, with your knowledge and expertise, how can you help them? And maybe that's even just by being empathetic and by just being there with them during a challenging time, you know? So I guess kind of, this is a very long way of saying, like, don't think that just because,

you know, maybe someone didn't achieve their goal of losing one pound this week, or maybe they, you know, stopped after several sessions with you. Don't let that deter you from providing being of value to other people. And I think even independent of like making money, obviously we want to make money, like we're independent of the client's goals. Like there's a lot of ways that you can just be of benefit to other people.

And it'll make your life and your kind of career more fulfilling if you kind of think of things in that way. I completely don't remember what your question was. but no it was it was about that because it was about the personalities of being ready to to take on board the information but i suppose like like you just said you know if you have loads of different metrics of how people can win it means they're more likely to win they're more likely to see it that there's there's more metrics of success and when you were speaking there it actually brought me back to an old client that i had she I think she finished with me six months ago. She was from New York.

And, you know, she didn't really have that much weight to lose, to be honest. Yeah. And in the six months, she didn't lose anyway. And, you know, she said that to me. She goes, you know, I haven't lost any weight in the six months. But everything has changed because, you know, the weight that she didn't really needed to lose wasn't physical. It was like the weight of unreal expectations.

She was putting on herself. She was always putting herself down. She was, you know, she didn't have any relationship with. exercise now she runs half maradins and you know it was she came for weight loss and it wasn't really about weight loss in in the long one i need it anyway it was it was about her relationship with food it was about her relationship with herself um and they're all metrics that people don't think about about when they come in to to work with a professional yeah and i mean if you really want to be kind of like meta about that think about how now that she has a better relationship with

herself, like maybe in a better relationship with food, maybe she has more, you know, mental space and bandwidth to build stronger relationships with other people, you know, and think about how much of a benefit that will have to her entire life and the people around her because you worked with her for six months. So, yeah, you worked with her for six months. And this is just an example. She didn't lose any weight. You know, you could kind of look at that very superficially and be like, well, I didn't do my job. When in reality, you know, think about the value that you put into this person's life and just into, again, I'm not trying to get too meta,

but like into the universe because of like what you did. So it's really important, again, just to think about like supporting people to the best of your ability and just trying to be helpful. And I think by doing that, by taking that approach, you know, it can take a lot of pressure off of us as practitioners, personal trainers, coaches, what have you. You know, I think for many of us,

we kind of, uh, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to, to get our client's results, to do our job, to get clients what they want, even though there's a lot of factors that might not always get them that direct result,

but if we can just think of in terms of how can I be of the most benefit to this person. Obviously within reasonable, while being reasonable, um, it, it really opens up a lot of ways to be of value to other people. to other people. So yeah.

And that's a really good point that you mentioned as well because I know myself, if that was me maybe six or seven years ago when I didn't have the experience, I would have put pressure on myself to be like, okay, this person has lost weight. I need to push them further to lose weight when they aren't ready to lose weight.

And maybe that results in me putting pressure on unhealthy methods to get someone to lose weight. when in reality the goal is just to be helpful to that to that client yeah exactly exactly thinking about like again how how you can best be helpful and provide value um you know so so i think it's it's just very you know important both for kind of getting the clients the in the long run what helping giving them the results that they really need even if it's not necessarily the results that they initially came to you for. And also just, it's also just good for our peace of mind as practitioners to go to bed

knowing, hey, we did good. You know, for most of us, I would say, for a lot of us, you know, maybe we get into the fitness space because of our own struggles or we, at least part of us wants to, genuinely, we want to go to bed at night knowing, hey, I genuinely helped someone. And that can really help us with that by just taking that approach of again, when you're working with someone or a group. people, how can I be of most benefit to the best of my ability to this person or this group of people? And as long as you do that, even if it doesn't, even if it completely doesn't, oh well,

which, you know, happens, things happen, you at least know that you did the best that you could. Speaking of actual body composition changes, I wanted to go through a few of, a few of your quotes that I really enjoyed. And I just wanted you to kind of a deep dive a little bit more into them. So one of them was fat loss necessities, feeling hungry, at least occasionally, you need to be comfortable with occasional discomfort. Can you go in a little bit on that one? Yeah. So for folks, I mean, for folks who need to lose like a lot of weight, they might be able to just make some very basic changes with like eating more vegetables, more protein and not even feel that hungry. But, you know, for most folks, at least for folks who it's like they more sort of, you know,

want to lose weight aesthetically. Like the less, so the less weight that you need to lose, the more discomfort you'll generally feel. And just in general, when you are trying to lose weight, as obviously you know, you need a calorie deficit, which kind of quite literally means you're giving your body less energy than it needs to maintain its current body weight. So that is going to necessitate usually some level of physical. hunger. And I think a lot of us, myself included, kind of we do everything we can to avoid feeling

hungry. You know, I think certainly a lot of folks do kind of, they forget what that physical hunger feels like. So feeling at least a little bit of physical hunger now and then, you know, maybe in the periods kind of like surrounding our, you know, before meals is very common and to be expected when we're eating in a calorie deficit. So I think towards that and having a more acceptance-based approach towards hunger, like knowing it's going to come up at least now and then, and that's okay, is very beneficial. Now, that's not to say to kind of just starve yourself

or allow yourself to feel really, really hungry, but having a little bit of hunger, you know, before meals is going to be, if, in my opinion, inevitable, Um, you know, obviously in the extreme example of someone who's like doing a physique show where they're getting to unhealthy levels of low body fat, they're going to feel a lot of hunger. But I think having an approach where, you know, you're making dietary changes to obviously get the most satiety for your calories. So that's going to be, as I'm sure you know, very, like relatively high protein, relatively high fiber, eating a lot of foods that are low in calorie density.

So not a lot of kids. calories per gram of food. That's going to be like your fruits and vegetables, you know, your very low fat popcorn, things like that. You know, obviously doing that,

but being okay with the fact that occasionally you will feel some levels of physical hunger, that that's okay. For fat loss is really, really important. What, let's say,

let's say your diet and down to a low level of body fat, what are some things that you make sure that you implement that? okay we know we need to eat more protein we know we need to eat more fiber and we know that we're going to feel hungry at stages but we don't want to we want to make sure to you know crave that as much as possible what are some other things that people can do to help them along going into a dieting phase or just getting that little bit leaner that makes the process a little bit easier yeah so especially if someone's trying to get like pretty leaner

like a relatively low level of body fat so like for men where you can see a six pack in my opinion it's going to be a hard not impossible but harder to do that if you're not

keeping quantitative track of your calorie intake again you can get that lien and people have certainly gotten that lien without tracking their intake but you know you are kind of to some extent going against your

physiology a little bit. If you're trying to get to lower levels of body fat, your body doesn't want to get really, really lean. So, you know, I do think that being kind of intentional about your calorie intake and having that quantitative data

is going to be helpful. I mean, what I generally recommend to people is, you know, a lot of folks may track their intake and use like my fitness power or something and just kind of whatever arbitrary targeted sets for them. What I recommend to people, if they do want to use calorie tracking as a means for fat loss, and like I said, if you want to get really lean, it's something that will be very helpful

for a lot of people, is to first track their intake, to track their intake as accurately as possible without necessarily following a very strict calorie target and also tracking their weight in the mornings, once per morning on a daily basis. And doing that for several weeks, daily wanes first thing in the morning and tracking their intake just as accurately as they can. You know, people with a menstrual cycle

may need to do it a bit kind of longer because weight fluctuations will occur during, you know, depending on the phase of the menstrual cycle. But doing that for several weeks time and then looking at average, you know, body weight and calorie intake and using that to

determine, okay, what is my maintenance? So then what do I need to eat in order to lose weight? You know, so for example, say, you know, you track your calorie intake, not worrying about whatever kind of goal, the whatever app you're using has, but just tracking what you're eating and you're eating over four weeks, an average of 2,500 calories per day. And let's say over that time, you're looking at your trend weight,

you know, your average weight over time, and over that few weeks, you lose half a pound per week. theoretically. Or you lose, I think I said, four weeks. So two pounds over that four weeks. You know you're eating in about a 250 calorie deficit. So because 3500 calories is a pound, so you know that then your maintenance is 2750.

And then from there, you can kind of plan your diet around that and make adjustments accordingly. So it's kind of a long way of way of saying, to answer a question, I think quantitative, quantitative tracking is something that is going to be very, very, very helpful for trying to get really lean and I would recommend doing it by first

just tracking without a specific target and then using your own data to determine, you know, an appropriate calendar target. Is tracking, quantitative tracking for everyone, no. You know, certainly, you know, folks who have histories of distorted eating disorders,

it may be contraindicated. But it is something, and I think also when those folks trying to get really, really lean is also contraindicated. But you know, that's at least one thing that I think is going to be helpful for a lot of folks. I mean, besides that, you know,

really just a way of being in a calorie deficit that is sustainable for the individual, I think, is really the biggest thing in that varies. Tremendously, from person to person. Yeah, I think definitely at the leaner, you get the less room for use of a better word, mistakes. There's the less mistakes you can make

with the leaner you want to get down. So being able to be as accurate as possible is probably going to be helpful. Well, then going from, let's say, someone who wants to get relatively lean to someone who does want to lose weight but wants to make it more of a lifestyle change so they can feel better about themselves. One quote of yours is treat social events, vacations and occasional restaurant meals as practice opportunities. Why is that an important thing in terms of someone?

wanting to lose weight in regards to like a lifestyle. Yeah. So again, within the context of someone who's trying to lose weight, not necessarily trying to get ultra-lean or lean for a competition, but just trying to lose weight for general health. You know, eating out, take out, vacations and social events. Obviously, all of those instances make them more difficult to eat healthfully,

but those are all components of just kind of, having a balanced life and most of us will I mean hopefully most of us are able to take vacations now and then you know engage in social events and we need to have these skills to be able to eat in a way

that is relatively consistent with our goals while still enjoying life you know it's easier on paper to lose fat when you're eating you know all 21 meals per week or what have you at home your way.

Hiding in your room until you leave all the weight that you want. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, is that really a way to live? No. And where do people most struggle when they're on and I say on a diet, quote unquote, because I try to kind of steer people away from that thinking, not so much

they all or nothing, but people tend to struggle most when they have, you know, a meal out with people, you know, and they don't know what to do. You know, or they have a vacation or, you know, birthday or some things. So learning how to maybe not be as strict with your nutrition in those instances, but still eating in a way that doesn't really set you back. And that's a skill to do.

You know, for example, if your partner wants to go out to eat, you know, it's your anniversary. Are you going to tell them, no, I need to stick to my macros. I'm going to have my chicken and rice and broccoli in the fridge. No, I would not recommend doing that. I would go out with your partner, but, you know, depending. And again, this is kind of something where it depends on kind of your goals. Maybe you do have more kind of a treat meal, but, you know, maybe you more so opt for a dish that's centered around a non-fried protein, like a sirloin steak or, you know, a chicken or salmon dish or even like a burger, rather than a huge thing of pasta. that might be 2,000 calories in and of itself, right?

Maybe you limit or avoid caloric beverages, which save you several hundred calories. Maybe you share dessert. Like if you go to the cheesecake factory, a piece of cheesecake's got like 1,600 calories. Maybe you share it, you know, or maybe you get, you know, you share French fries. You know, kind of thinking in those terms or like, you know,

when you go on vacation, you know, again, you know, enjoying the vacation, you know, enjoying kind of some meals out, but also not having every meal be like a binge fest because, you know, you're being so strict when you're not on vacation that you just have to go all out on vacation. You know, maybe you kind of find more of the middle ground. But yeah, you know, you enjoy some more fun foods like pizza, pasta here and there, but maybe instead of having four slices of pizza, you have one or two, you know, or maybe if you get a big thing of pasta, you eat some of it and you bring the rest of it home. Thinking about these kind of middle ground type things or

you know if it's if it's like your daughter's sixth birthday party you know you have a slice of cake rather than four you know these are things that take practice you know it takes practice to do that especially in the context of social events

and you know where others might be kind of eating you know a lot and you're not kind of within the control of your own environment but a lot of people struggle especially with that kind of all or nothing mindset when they are following, especially when people

think of it as a quote unquote diet. Following a diet, right? So then it's like I'm not following a diet when I'm at my daughter's sixth birthday party. So, you know, I'm going to eat whatever I want because I'm not on the diet. I get to cheat. We don't want to think like that. We want to think your body doesn't know

whether you're on a quote unquote diet or not on a diet. It just digests and assimilates food. So if we can kind of think of things in that kind of more so like a spectrum, like I've posted before I was actually just talking about this with the client that I had before we hopped on, you know, about thinking of your nutrition, less like a light switch where you're either on or off, but more like a dimmer where it shines at various intensities.

You know, maybe, you know, if you've got a couple weeks where you're just at home, you know, travel, you know, spouses away, you're kind of more on point, whereas, hey, if you're on vacation, the light shines dimmer, you know, you're more so having fun, but it's not off. You know, you're still, you know, or maybe it's just, you know, you're listening. to hunger and satiety cues, you know, stopping eating when you're at like a seven out of ten, you know, on the fullness scale instead of a ten out of ten, you know. So that's kind of, again, I apologize if I'm kind of rambling here,

but again, when it comes to social events, you know, meals out, occasional takeout, it's important that we, it's important that we enjoy life, you know, and that we have our fitness and, lifestyle revolve around our life and not the other way around. Obviously, there's kind of some nuances there. And yes, to some extent, obviously depending on the goal, but, but, you know, some sacrifices do kind of, to some extent, need to be made, especially if you're trying to get particularly lean or getting lean for a show. Like if you're trying to do a physique show, then, yeah,

you may have to avoid some of those social events or not get anything at those, but if it's just eating, like you said, just for general population, they're just trying to get a bit healthier, or reduce their risk for heart disease and diabetes. Thinking in terms of these terms of kind of thinking of these as practice opportunities is very important. And that, you know, kind of thinking about making the process more rewarding, you know, I like to kind of think of those as like kind of tell people that it's like a practice opportunity because it's a really good reframe when I read that. It's like, that's a really good reframe.

It's not something that you need to be worried about. It's something that you should encourage that, you know, this is. practice for life to get better at this thing that you're trying to do of, you know, practice an imperfect action. Yeah, yeah. And even if someone maybe doesn't do so great, they do eat a bit more and they're a bit bloated, rather than them saying, uh, hell, I, I screwed up. The hell with it, I'm going to binge you now.

Instead, we can say, okay, you know, it didn't go quite as how we wanted. Let's kind of use that as a learning opportunity, you know, for next time. And kind of having that approach. It keeps people in the game longer. keeps people growing longer, you know, so, so, um, so yeah, that's, that's what I think about. Do you think, you know, when, when you got into this space, the space of nutrition, you know, you would think that a lot of the time you were going to be speaking about nutrition, but it seems like a lot of the time you're actually speaking about behavior change and,

and changing people's perspectives on this kind of all or nothing mindset. Well, especially when it comes to the, to the one-to-one calls and the coaching. Yeah, so I actually remember, so here, at least here in the U.S., in order to become a registered dietician, you have to do a particular undergraduate degree. Now they're making you do a master's, but then you also have to do a 1,200-hour unpaid internship. It's kind of like a medical, like what doctors do for a residency. I remember my internship director during a rotation on, you know, counseling, I remember her saying most of the time it's not. about the food. I specifically remember her saying

in that. And it's true. I mean, for some people it is. Like it, you know, but when you're working one-on-one with people, especially the general population, most people know on some level that it does come down to calories.

Some people don't, but most people do. They know they should be eating more fruits and vegetables. They know they should eat more lean purging. They know they should eat less, ultra-processed food, less sweets, that they should exercise more. But again, a lot of it is kind of the way people think about food,

the way people use food to cope with difficult emotions, the way kind of people, like I said, the way people think, and specifically, I think the all-or-nothing thinking and the expectations people have for what they think they need to be doing, you know, versus what they actually, you know, need to do. they often think they need to do they need they think they need to be a lot more strict than they

actually do need to be so so it is it does very oftentimes come down to more than just the food it is oftentimes about these various other factors yeah well this literally uh ties into the next quote that i was going to quote yon which was the most underrated component of any nutritional regime is coping with stress anxiety depression and boredom yeah yeah no exactly and i think it's something that you know, I would say for probably the majority of folks that struggle with their weight. It is it is really about that.

You know, whether it be, you know, the foods that are higher in calories and more easy to overeat, are the foods that are hyper-palatable, which means they're just really tasty. You know, fried foods, sugary foods, and a big reason why a lot of people turn to those foods, it's not necessarily because they're lazier. It's not because they think those foods are healthy,

it's, you know, those foods are very rewarding. You know, they, from what I understand, increase, like, dopamine. Again, I'm not going to get in the whole, like, kind of like dopamine thing. But, you know, these foods, these sugary foods, fatty foods, foods, high in calories do make us feel good in the very short term. Anyone can tell you that. And I think a lot of people do get in the habit of using food, whether consciously or not, to cope with difficult emotional states.

It's myself included. Okay. So when I talk about these things, I am also human. I struggle with these things too. But, you know, you get anxiety, you know, and people want kind of food just to kind of numb that, you know, or depression or boredom especially. A lot of it comes down to those things, you know. So learning how to, you know, cope with those difficult emotions and how to quench those difficult emotions and how to quench those different. or in ways that are not food or in ways other than food.

And again, this is kind of where like therapy can come into play. Or at the only least acknowledging that, you know, that it is about a lot more than kind of just the food and really, you know, people kind of kind of recognizing what kind of of emotional triggers they may have, you know, and kind of getting to the heart of that is really, really important for a lot of people. Yeah, well, I think, I think, as you just said, I think even just the awareness of it to be like, okay, I'm not lazy.

It's not that I don't have willpower, it's that I've had a hard day's work, so that I haven't got to do anything for myself. It's that I need to feel something, and that's why I'm opting for this chocolate bar rather than me willing, trying to willpower my way into these results. Right, exactly, exactly.

And like you said, it's about, a lot of people think they need wellpower, but we can't really white-knuckle our way into long-term habit change. Yes, some discipline is required, some sacrifices will hire it, but a lot of it is kind of coming down

to those sort of deeper issues and how we use food to cope with these difficult emotions. As a dietitian, what is something that bothers you about your profession or something that you would change in the industry. That's a tough one. I guess in the, I guess I'll just say kind of in the fitness industry as a whole,

rather than just dieticians. I do think... More even in the fitness industry, in the health space and everything that gets. Yeah, I mean, I guess the big one in this, may be kind of like going like really big term big uh fitness industry

I think there's a lot of focus on fear mongering um on what foods or what ingredients are really bad for you that you shouldn't have be it dairy be it gluten

be it to some extent red meat be it I mean the more kind of extreme folks who are like the carnivore folks you know, they'll kind of say all kinds of things or seed oils is probably like the most controversial one of all of them

about specific foods or specific ingredients your ingredients with kind of long names that you cannot ever have and I'll be honest, I don't think that's something that's going to go away. I just, I don't because much of the fitness industry or much of, I would say, I guess a lot of media

social media, which is obviously ever present now, we're just kind of websites or articles in general, which the goal of most media is to get your eyeballs and is to get your attention. It's an attention game, right? Social media, what posts get the most likes, most follows, etc. Generally, it's going to be ones that catch your attention. Extreme statements.

Yeah, yeah, or that, you know, with media in general, news media or what have you, they want to get your attention. you know, because, you know, it's just kind of the way social media is now. And demonizing certain foods saying kind of more extreme statements, you know, that this is bad for you. Like seed oils are terrible. We, as humans, respond to fear very strongly. And, you know, social media, like, or media in general, again, they want to get your attention. So people's, people are like a fear, a fear.

mongering headline or a headline or an idea that that kind of creates fear among people is going to get more attention. What do you think is the dangers of creating more fear around food for general public? Like why is it so detrimental? Yeah, because for most people, well, for one, outside of the context of, you know, specific foodologies or intolerances, there really are no ingredients or specific foods that are unequivocally bad for you. I mean, there's trans fats which aren't even found in the food supply anymore, but for the most part, your body is pretty resilient, you know, and that's just kind of not how nutrition works,

but the biggest thing, it kind of comes back to what you were talking about earlier is sustainability. You know, if someone thinks that they need to avoid all dairy, all gluten, and all seed oils, and all processed. foods in order to be healthy, it kind of encourages that all-or-nothing mindset, where if they end up having a piece of cake, oh, no, the gluten in the cake, the seed rolls in the cake, the hell with it, I might as well just eat a lot more. And it'll be there be, it really feeds into this very kind of strict all-or-nothing mindset. And the, you know, the more inclusive people,

can be in their nutrition and fitness while still getting to their goals, the better. We don't want to, because it is, you know, so much about sustainability. We don't, we want to do everything that we want to restrict as little as possible. I'm not saying there's no restriction involved. Obviously, the calorie deficit necessitates a calorie restriction, but we want to minimize the amount of restriction that people need to exert to make, things as sustainable as possible. So with the fear-mongering of, you know, various foods and saying certain foods or certain ingredients are bad for you, you know, people might tell me like,

why are you encouraging people to eat seed oils? Well, I'm not necessarily, but I'm discouraging people from, you know, worrying about whether a food has safflower oil in it, because it doesn't matter. If anything, actually, those types of fats are actually going to be more healthful, you know, from a cardiovascular standpoint than saturated fats. But, um, Because, you know, the more, like I said earlier, people have limited time, have limited resources, limited time, limited energy, limited willpower. More their time spent on things that they don't need to be focused on, like whether their salad dressing has sunflower oil in it or sunflower seed oil in it. Because, you know, Paul Saladino said that seed oil is bad, you know, the less time energy resources they have for more sustainable changes, the more likely they're. the more likely they are going to be kind of more,

you know, more towards that all or nothing mindset. So in terms of like the harms, that's kind of what I would say there. Yeah. And also, it can also put pressure, I spoke about this on a podcast recently,

also puts, depending on what they're trying to scare you away from and scare you towards, it can put a lot of pressure on people's financial situation as well. Yep. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, and again, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with getting all organic

or all on process, but it is going to be more expensive. And whole foods is more expensive. And if someone is spending extra money to get kind of organic produce, you know, or a certain brand that says they're like GMO free or CETA all free, you know, is it really necessary? Not necessarily. Like that's fine if that's what you want. But to believe that that's what you need because someone on the internet told you that

you're going to destroy your health. It's not really fair. Right. I agree. I agree. As a dietitian, what information or advice eating that general public should know more about? Just in general. I mean, I think that people should know

that healthy eating is not... Healthy eating is pretty straightforward. you know, and that, you know, again, kind of another quote that I've mentioned before is boring nutrition advice is correct nutrition advice. So people, I think, need to know that, that, hey, kind of the, what you think of as kind of generally healthy, that kind of sounds obvious is kind of true, you know, kind of common sense. Like, eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, eat pretty high protein, eat a lot of whole grains, limit processed foods, limit sweets. people just need to know that and people need to know that they don't need to completely eliminate any foods and they have an allergy

or an intolerance. You know, and people also need to know that a lot of what they see on social media that's kind of like, or just general media in general. Like just, you know, just kind of like be at New York Times even

or whatever, CNN, that, you know, those kind of eye-catching headlines are not necessarily true and that the basics are really most important. I guess one other thing is, and again, this is a different tangent, is that for most folks who are physically able to,

some form of weight-bearing exercise is going to be really, really, really, really, really beneficial. Yeah. Well, that's moved me nicely onto what I wanted to speak about, which it last, which is essentially your sport powerlifting. How long have you been doing that? I have been, I mean, I've been working out with, with some forms of squats, bench, press, and deadlift, you know, since, like, 2012,

2013, 2014. I didn't really get into, like, competing in the sport till 2018, you know, until it's really just been the last handful of years or so that I've more so kind of focused on that. Why power listing? I just liked, I wanted to kind of have some kind of way to show off my strength and to have a means to have a kind of have a goal to work towards. So it just kind of made sense, you know, to have a way of, you know,

being proud of kind of my progress and being proud of like strength gains. Just kind of a way to, to kind of, I guess, kind of have something to show for my hard work. Were you just training regularly in the gym? Or did you have any other background in sport or something? And then you transitioned into that.

how does not much of a background in sports i mean i played some tennis growing up um which i was half decent at but um no i really just started you know weight training you know just like why everyone why all guys do for they're impressed girls or for you know what have you and you know i think that gradually kind of evolved me really enjoying lifting and wanting to like lift heavier weights but it kind of really is a sport that goes from like focusing on aesthetics to focus on performance then yeah yeah 100% it was kind of I would say it was kind of that, that evolution for sure. Yeah, yeah.

Do you convince any of your clients to go into that? Like, would it be a sport for beginners? Not necessarily, I don't tell people like, oh, they have to do powerlifting. Of course. I do something they want to do. I do tell, you know, I encourage folks. Well, first off, I encourage folks to do any kind of movement that they enjoy and find sustainable. I also do kind of gently encourage.

some form of weight bearing exercise does not have to be powerlifting. Just any, even if it's doing some like push-ups at home or working towards a pull-up or things like that, I do encourage people to do that just because of the benefits on like bone, density and all of these things, you know, that it can have.

Do you have any advice for any kind of novice trainers that want to get into powerlifting? I would say to, you know, start, just to really start, you know, working on, you know, back squat, bench press, deadlift, maybe higher a an experienced power lifting coach

or someone who really knows the sport who can kind of help with technique, especially technique that is competition, you know, kind of sufficient for competition for like a proper paused bench press, you know, squat with

you know, with proper depth, you know, deblifting, you know, locking your knees and not using straps, you know, so kind of just getting a feel for the main movements. You know, I'm working with a coach who's very experienced with it. What considerations would people have to make around their nutrition in order to optimize their performance in power lift them? Yeah, so the biggest thing is unless someone needs to lose a significant amount of weight

for their health, is just eating enough in general, eating enough to support muscle gain, eating enough calories, eating enough protein. you know if you are trying to lose fat not having the deficit be too large um you know and again kind of spending much of your time in maintenance or a slight surplus um for that reason i would say that would be kind of probably the biggest um you know biggest piece there um in terms of nutrition yeah that leads um where can people learn a little bit more about you and about your services yeah so i'm pretty active on instagram my handle on instagram am very not creative.

It's at power lifter dietitian. I think it's pretty like a not hard to find you. Yeah, and dietitian is spelled with two T's. So it's a power lifter D-I-E-T it's

power it's a power lifter D-E-T-I-N power lifter dietitian you know for folks, at least in the U.S. who want to schedule an appointment with me maybe, you know, their health insurance might cover it Dan FeldmanRD.com

also as well. But really my Instagram is kind of where I am most active. Yeah, I'll have it all in the show notes anyway. If anyone wants to reach out to you. And we have a bit of an American audience as well. So, listen, Dan, I really appreciate your time today. Can't thank you enough.

And I hope we get to do this again. Absolutely. Thank you for having me, my friend. Thanks for watching. If you like that episode and you want to see more content like this, make sure you're subscribed. And I'll see you on the next one.