The Get Healthy Tampa Bay Podcast

E93: The Impact of Plant-Based Nutrition in Metabolic Health with Dr. Shayla Toombs Withers

• Kerry Reller

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Welcome to the Get Healthy Tampa Bay Podcast with Dr. Kerry Reller! This week, I am joined by Dr. Shayla Toombs Withers, a board-certified physician specializing in family and obesity medicine. In this episode, we delve into the powerful connection between plant-based nutrition and metabolic health. Dr. Withers shares her personal journey towards a plant-based lifestyle and explains how it can help manage conditions like insulin resistance and obesity. We discuss the mind-body balance approach, strategies for stress management, and the importance of intentional movement. Tune in to discover practical tips for incorporating more plants into your diet, improving your metabolic health, and achieving sustainable lifestyle changes!

Having practiced a plant based diet for numerous years, Dr. Shayla Toombs-Withers incorporates her lifestyle into educating others how to improve and overcome their chronic diseases as a Family and Obesity Medicine Physician and Metabolic Health Coach. She founded Essence of Health Wellness Clinic & Coaching in Chattanooga, TN to help individuals heal their bodies and improve their health using her signature Mind Body Balance approach. And now offers services across the country within her Virtual Group Coaching Program, The Mind Body Balance Collective, which helps individuals with Insulin Resistance Conditions to improve their health using a holistic approach. Her basis for health are in line with two of her favorite quotes “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” and “let food be thy medicine.”

0:28 - Introduction to Dr. Shayla Toombs Withers
1:44 - The transition to plant-based nutrition
5:07 - Understanding "plant forward" eating
9:22 - The mind-body balance approach
12:46 - Strategies for stress management
20:57 - The role of medications in obesity management
22:13 - Using continuous glucose monitors for personalized care
30:25 - Success stories from patients adopting plant-based lifestyles
32:58 - Top three tips for improving metabolic health
36:34 - How to connect with Dr. Shayla Toombs Withers

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Email: TeaTimeEOH@gmail.com

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Kerry:

Hi, everybody. Welcome back to the Get Healthy Tampa Bay podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Kerry Reller. And today we have a very special guest, Dr. Shayla Toombs Withers. Welcome to the podcast.

Shayla:

Thank you so much for having me. Excited to be here.

Kerry:

Yeah. I'm excited for our discussion today. And as always, I like to have us hear about who you are and what you do.

Shayla:

Yeah, for sure. So by trade, I am a physician. I'm board certified in both family medicine and obesity medicine. But I also do metabolic health coaching to folks virtually throughout the country. I've been practicing for a number of years and really just, you know, I found that that a lot of folks struggle with their metabolic health. And we're seeing more of that come about. And so a lot of what I do now is a focus on lifestyle medicine. I also have a background in plant based nutrition and I'm plant based myself, so I tend to incorporate a lot of that into helping folks with their metabolic health. I'm based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where I have a brick and mortar clinic practice as well.

Kerry:

Awesome. Okay. Well we definitely have a lot of things in common, that's for sure. But what kind of brought you into focusing on plant-based nutrition, kind of as the key component of treating metabolic health disease.

Shayla:

Yeah, yeah, for sure. And so, you know, even just within myself, I transitioned my own diet to a more plant based diet after I had my first kid years ago, and it was really just, after going through residency training, I call him my residency baby because I had him my last year residency you know, all the stress and everything that comes with that. And so after that, I was like, I need to, you know, get healthy for my baby. And so I transitioned my diet. I started and the more I started eating more healthfully, I naturally just wanted to do more for myself because I started feeling better. I felt, you know, I was feeling less stress. I picked up running. I had never been a runner before. And started running like five Ks and then marathons and so I just saw what amazing results I saw in my own health. And then the more I just read about plant based nutrition and how this really affects our metabolism and how it can be useful in preventing and reversing common chronic diseases that we see. And so I just, you know, started incorporating naturally more into that and the way that I was just talking to patients, just even in clinic and then seeing them even get those results. Being able to, you know, take people off insulin back when we were kind of having everybody on insulin, but, you know, getting people lowered on their insulin doses and taking them off and seeing their cholesterol improve and just seeing these changes. And so that just really propelled me forward more into doing this. And now, after getting my fellowship in obesity medicine and really seeing more of the studies and things related to obesity and how just having the nutrients and that fiber and those things that we get from plants and the effects that it can have on weight management and metabolic health from that, that's just really gotten me more on track with knowing that this is something that people need to know and its helpful.

Kerry:

absolutely. So speaking of that, they need to know. So how about let's define what is plant based and I mean, you kind of alluded to it already, but how about why, why plant based?

Shayla:

Right. Yeah. Yeah. So, I start with the umbrella because nowadays, you know, we got a label for everything. But plant based up under that umbrella can fall vegetarian, veganism, even pescetarian. And so really is the key is just putting more plants on your plate, having a plant predominant, I'm getting tongue tied, a plant predominant way of eating where that is really the focus. And so if we look at a lot of lifestyles from other countries and continents, especially in the world of plant based nutrition, a lot of the research actually came from looking at Asian populations and populations where people just tend to live a whole lot longer than we do in America. And what they found in those populations is that not necessarily that they're all vegan, because that's just more of a, you know, a label that we slap on things, but that they eat a plant predominant diet. So, even if they do eat meat, meat is more of the garnish. It's just a little small side, just a garnish. And it's more a plant focus versus a lot of times here in America, we do the opposite of that, where, you know, you go to a restaurant and you get your little two pieces of broccoli and then you have your, you know, 15 ounce steak. And so, you know, just that's the difference. And what, you know, I mean, when I say plant based or plant forward versus a more meat predominant diet.

Kerry:

Yeah, I was about to say I've heard the term plant forward and how would that, how would you kind of wrap

Shayla:

Right. Yeah. I think just over time, kind of the community, especially those of us who are in healthcare, as well as plant based, we've kind of changed the terminology just because, if I say the word vegan for a lot of people, that's going to bring up a whole lot of other thoughts and not all of them are going to be positive thoughts. And I've even had people who you know, come to my practice and say, well, I don't know if I can be vegan. And I'm like, that's not a requirement to work with me that you be vegan. I am going to tell you how to hopefully get more plants you know, in your plate and into your nutrition. But you don't have to think of it that way because the other part to being vegan is also beyond just nutrition. You have people who are vegan for ethical reasons, a variety of things. And so those folks will also tend to only wear certain clothing or, you know only buy certain goods if they haven't been tested on animals. And so, you know, veganism itself just brings about a whole other set of things beyond just nutrition. So that's why a lot of us will use the term plant based or plant forward when we're just kind of sticking more in the nutritional Aspect of it. Now, the other key with plant based, especially if you see whole food plant base. I do like to break that separate part down for people. And so whole food plant base is going to be all plant products. So no animal products, no meat, no chicken, no fish, no eggs, no dairy. But also whole food plant base eliminates oils. It eliminates added sugars as well as a lot of times salt too, for people who are, are really, you know, sticking to that whole food plant base. And, you know, we do know that there are tremendous health benefits to eating that way. But I also am, you know, realist to know that not everybody is going to be able to stick to that from a sustainability approach, and that's really one of the keys with the metabolic health is helping people to do something sustainable. A lot of times folks who've had metabolic conditions, they've been on every diet, so it's not about just putting them on another diet. It's about an approach that's going to be helpful, yet sustainable. And so that's why I don't particularly just say Got to just be all, vegan or this or that kind of thing.

Kerry:

Yeah, I'm not sure if I knew or heard of that definition for the whole food plant based my, my opinion of that, or what I thought it was more of like, not thinking that beyond beef was included. So, like, eliminating the process foods that are plant based. So,

Shayla:

Yeah. And so, and the reason the processed foods are eliminated and whole food plant based is because of the oils and the additives. Right.

Kerry:

Mm hmm. Okay. That makes sense. So you mentioned this metabolic health. How would you define that? And what does that all like mean really?

Shayla:

yeah. And so that's those conditions that are metabolism, if you will, as an effect. So that are things diabetes. Prediabetes, Prediabetes those insulin resistance type conditions that we see some metabolic syndrome, which is having elevated blood sugar, having elevated cholesterol, having challenges with weight loss. And so chronic obesity falls up under that umbrella as well. And then even PCOS hormonal changes fall under that umbrella with insulin resistance and metabolic change and issue. And so really it's the, it's constitution of conditions where our hormonal system, if you will, is out of balance. You know, you and I know that insulin is a hormone that we naturally make, unless you have an autoimmune condition and that's a whole nother umbrella there but insulin is usually, you know, that hormone that we make and then in these conditions, though its become resistant. So it's not working as well to keep our blood sugars at that steady state. And so because of that, then we start developing these other symptoms and syndromes that have to do with these other conditions that I mentioned there.

Kerry:

Mm hmm. Yeah. So the hormones, we're not just talking like male, female hormones. We're actually talking about there's all these other sorts of hormones in the body that work and control appetite and glucose and regulate like all of the regulatory systems. And I mean, even thyroid, I guess, would be pertinent there too. But so how do you need uniquely approach the conditions of insulin resistance with your therapeutic management?

Shayla:

So I teach people from a method that I call the mind body balance approach. And so in looking at that, we look at your nutritional aspect. We look at your movement and I term it intentional movement and not just exercise. And I can break that down in a moment. And then the other aspect to that we look at is your mental health, that mental health aspect, and not just so much of, you know, if you have a diagnosis of depression or anxiety or what have you, but even what your mindset is you know, how are you setting goals and how are you going to achieve those things and then as well as stress and sleep falling under that, that, that mindset and mental umbrella because we do know that those components also play a part when they're out of whack. They can also throw those hormonal levels that we talked about out of whack as well and can contribute to those hunger hormones being off balance, that insulin being off balance and those things that contribute to metabolic disease.

Kerry:

So this whole mind, body balance approach, I think is well, you know, obviously a great approach. And I think some of that is going to incorporate some of the obesity medicine principles that you were trained in, right? And you did an actual fellowship versus just continuing education, which is really interesting as well. So how do you like, bring in the plan based approach to all of those things or tell me about what you

Shayla:

Yeah. So when the way I look at it with my body balance and with our, even our nutrition is, you know, I like to give the example of like, if one of these things are out of balance. So let's say you had a stressful day at work. So that piece that your mindset is probably going to be a bit shook and off balance there. And so then what tends to happen is for a lot of us, Then emotional eating may come into play. So we may not make the best nutritional decision at that moment. So then we go eat that cheeseburger, you know, bacon double, whatever. And then now we're feeling sluggish. So we're not going to go get any movement. Because now we've eaten this really heavy high saturated fat meal. And so now, it's affecting our movement because we're not going to feel like going to do that. And so all of these things are a balance within each other. Now when we're optimizing Even just one of these components, it can tend to impact the other. So if you are already, you know, focusing using that same example, if you were already focusing on changing your mindset about things. So, yeah, you may have had a stressful day at work, but we've been working on some of your mindset strategies and we've been working on some stress management strategies together, you may go do a breath work exercise. And so now you feel that stress has come down. Yeah. And so now, you know when you go eat, you're focusing on nurturing your body in a way that's going to further promote health for you. And so you're going to make a more conscious decision and a better decision for what you're eating. So now you may go choose that plate of brown rice with some lean plant base protein on top of it instead. And then you're gonna feel even more energized. And then you might go for that 15, 20 minute walk because now you're feeling more energized and you've got that clarity in your mind to know that, yeah, when I go for this walk, it's going to even take my stress down further and I'm going to feel better overall. And so that's, you know, just an example of, of how I work with folks to incorporate these pieces.

Kerry:

Yeah. So you mentioned breath work, right? So the 1 way to bring stress down are there other things that you use to try to help with the stress management so that, you know, Like you said, they can be ready to make better decisions and be more mindful of what they're eating and

Shayla:

yeah, yeah. So a couple of things. So breathwork is definitely one. I like another one. I like it, especially because a lot of the folks I tend to see are our business professionals, you know, like you and I, they, they're working hard full time. A lot of moms with kids and they're trying to do all the things. So another thing I like is just, you know positive affirmations and even just guided meditations and for these, they don't have to be long and I told people a lot of times people think you tell them to go do a meditation and they got to go, you know, sit on a special carpet in a quiet room for 30 minutes. But that's not what it has to be. You can do a five minute guided meditation just sitting in your car because you, you know, decided to take a break from your office for a few minutes, just to kind of bring your stress down. And you can just do that quick guided meditation that way. And that's, you know, another way of bringing that, that stress down for you to then help regulate your body and regulate your system. Some other things, especially surrounding sleep. A lot of times we don't prioritize sleep, but in terms of getting good sleep, that's also another way of managing your stress. And even if you're feeling more stressed at bedtime it can go back to those meditations, sleep meditations, you know, and I think those have become more popular, which is good to see. But sleep meditation, sleep sounds aromatherapy is another thing that I found to be helpful for individuals. So things just like a lavender oil even just, you know, you can spray it on your pillow if you're going to sleep, or even just a little dab on your arm. If it's, you know, more towards the middle of your day and you need something more calming even things like acupuncture, massage therapy, those are all other good self care stress, regular stress regulation tips and helpful things as well.

Kerry:

Yeah. So overall, these things are, you know, helping with stress management and perhaps bringing those cortisol levels down. Right. So they kind of maybe help reset in a way. Right. I don't like to usually talk about willpower, but You know, you only have so much of that in the day. So you're more likely if you find these times to do these specialized things, to help with stress management, you're more likely to reset and be able to make those good decisions. Right. So I think those are really good tactics that you're using.

Shayla:

Yeah. And I like that word reset. I, I, I've never, you know, used that for that, but yeah, but you're exactly right. It is. It's like a, like a, you know, a mind antibody reset, if you will. Yeah.

Kerry:

So I mean, that's like, you could do that midday. And then you mentioned that sleep, which is also very important to get that in the, you know, a routine for that to help have better sleep with a lot of people having anxiety from work or, those elevated stress levels. I often sometimes refer patients to those apps if they want to, like Headspace and Calm are some, and then there's also Free stuff everywhere For helping those guided meditations. Cause when I bring it up to patients too, they're always like, you know, that's woo. That's woo. We don't really want to do it, but it really does, kind of help and you

Shayla:

it does. Huh. Yeah, you really can. And then, you know, I tell people, it's like, what's the worst that can happen? You know, you sat and listen to somebody talk to you for five minutes. It's not going to harm you.

Kerry:

right. And then I mean, you're supposed to wander off and bring yourself back to it, right? So that's, that's definitely part of it as well. Yeah. So I mean, obviously, I think if you're making better decisions, but overall, if you're working on your stress, you're going to improve that insulin sensitivity in and of itself, right?

Shayla:

Right. Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, what we know about chronic stress, like you mentioned cortisol, it does it raises your cortisol level and we know cortisol then can lead to higher blood glucose levels, which can challenge your insulin more and make it worse. Promotes that insulin resistance, making it harder for you to achieve healthy weight loss to achieve more balanced blood sugar if you, you know, if you're someone with diabetes or pre diabetes. So it is, it's really important. It can also affect those hunger hormones and make Those become unbalanced, which is why, you know, a lot of times we do tend to have cravings more for more food and for more unhealthy foods. When we're feeling more stressed or when we like sleep, you know, a lot of times people at night. So I just need some ice cream before I go to bed. Well, you probably just really sleepy and just need to go to bed. But, you know, your hormones are telling you, you know, go have that ice cream kind of deal because of that.

Kerry:

Yeah. And some of that I'm sure you address is like out of habit of doing that too. And you mentioned setting goals and changing things like that. I guess we could get to that later, but so you also mentioned intentional movement. So how does that fit into improving metabolic health?

Shayla:

I like the term intentional movement. I started using this a while back instead of exercise because for a lot of us, we see exercise as a chore, it's like, Oh, I gotta go exercise. Who, you know, who wants to do that? And I know that because, you know, before I started running, I was one of those people like, ah, exercise, you know, and so you're not going to prioritize it because it's just, You know, thinking another chore versus if you think intentional movement, you're moving with the intention of achieving something. And so, and that helps you to not only choose what type of movement you're going to do, but also make you feel motivated to go do that movement. So, you know, that, for example you know, I'm going to go. walk for 30 minutes, but I'm going to really be aiming to get my heart rate up and really be aiming, you know, to accomplish so many steps or so many miles within that 30 minutes, because I know if I do that, I'm going to be able to lower my blood sugar by this much, or I'm going to be able to lower my overall caloric intake. For the day by that much. And so you're really thinking of intention, or I'm going to go lift weights for 10 minutes today because I know that I need more muscle strengthening because I know if I had more muscle strengthening, then it's naturally more metabolically active and I'm going to naturally burn more fat and calories with my body just by me going to do the strength routine. And so it's really, you know, rethinking the way that you do that. And so that intentional movement piece then will, you know, help you for those other metabolic conditions. Because when we do move, we do know that exercise naturally lowers blood sugar and in turn makes that insulin didn't have to work as hard to lower your blood sugar because it's already going to be lowering on its own. own. And so that helps those insulin resistance conditions as well. Movement helps that stress piece that we just, you know, got through talking about. And so then that way it just sets you on this more healthful cycle as well. When we move in bonus points, if you move outdoors, because then you're going to also get those endorphins, those happy hormones too, that are going to set off to make you feel even better, make you make more healthful choices and overall improve your metabolism, your health and wellness that way.

Kerry:

I really like like what you were saying about the muscle. So one thing I like to tell patients is, you know, with the more muscle on the body, It's like the only thing that can use the glucose up that you're eating without having insulin on board. So it's another way to get the insulin down and get rid of the glucose as well. Right. So having those more muscles and using them more, it's like a glucose sponge, if you will, like without needing the insulin, which is really good.

Shayla:

Yeah. And you know, and with the newer medicines too, I like to point that out because a lot of people I think tend to miss that part, even with a lot of the weight loss medicines that are on the market is that they can, you know, they help with weight loss, but they can also cause muscle loss. And so, you know, that's also why that's so important as well as you're just improving your overall metabolic health, even though you're losing weight, you still want to be mindful of building that muscle strength as well.

Kerry:

Right. If they're losing, you know, too much muscle, they're not really improving metabolic health, even with the weight

Shayla:

Yeah. Yeah. It's just the numbers going down.

Kerry:

Exactly. Yeah. So that's definitely something to really focus on as well. Now, do you also prescribe medications or?

Shayla:

I do. Yeah, yeah, I do as well. You know, we we know that medications can be helpful to people, because what we know about obesity now, which is also exciting is that we know that it's not a condition of willpower is and it's not a, you know, a condition of just calories out calories in it's not. so much more complex than that. And so that's really where these medications have really been helpful for targeting those other genes that have been identified and those other, you know, hormones and mechanisms that play within our bodies that have been affecting our ability to lose weight and sustain weight loss. And so those medications have been really helpful in showing promise there, but it's still, you know, A balance is that you do the medications, but we still important to do those lifestyle factors that we've been talking about as well.

Kerry:

Yeah, no, absolutely. So I mean, I agree like obesity is get the hormones and every, you know, disarray and it's important to improve upon those and the, the medications do help with the increase of growing and everything. So I think there, there's definitely an important role there. I was going to ask cause I was looking all over your website, but you also seem to use continuous glucometers, right? And I wanted to get your input on, you know, how and why you do that. Like,

Shayla:

Yeah. Yeah. And so the thing I like about the continuous glucose monitors is that it helps us to see what our bodies are doing at different Subsets of time. So I tell people, you know, don't use them because, you know, I do have some people who get really anxious and he's like, Oh, I just ate that apple. And now my sugar, you know, is showing 150 or whatever but don't look at it like that. We look at it more of the trend and what, what is it doing over a trended amount of time? And that's helpful for a couple of reasons. It's helpful to know that for instance, is every day during the week, especially weeks where you're working your sugars are higher than on the weekends, they're lower. And we know as a stress component, that's probably playing a part in your blood sugar, or, we know that when you're eating certain times a day, for example, then it makes your blood sugar higher at this other time of day. So, we know we may need to look at maybe intermittent fasting for you, or we may need to look at the types of things that you're eating for those particular times of day. So I really use it to help more. personalize and target for folks really, you know, the impact that they're not only their food, but also their lifestyle. You know, I've seen some where if you didn't get enough sleep that night before, well, now we seeing your sugars being much higher. And, and then I think that helps the patient as well to see that because it's, it's more tangible to see what that's doing. So not so much of just seeing as, you know, It's that one snapshot, which is what we see, when you and I just order a set of labs we're just seeing that one snapshot of a glucose, but more over that trended amount of time with those sugars are doing.

Kerry:

Yeah, I think they're really fun to use and very enlightening to patients and gives a little bit of accountability even, but they're, they can take it a little too far. Right? Like you said, they get a little anxious about it. And I think it's important like you're saying, you can point out other trends, not just what the food is doing, but what your, you know, environment is also doing, like your stress at work. The sleep, all of those things can also really play a role and are important. And one thing I think is a drawback is sometimes they say you're low and patients, get all concerned and they may you medicate with food when they weren't actually hungry. Yeah. Yeah. So, but I think they're so helpful in understanding, you know, the hormones of your body and how things can really affect you and everybody's different. So it's kind of nice to see, you know, what may affect someone more than another person.

Shayla:

And, you know, I'm glad you mentioned that too, about like those lows when they happen, cause they can, they can be really annoying and really loud. But it's also key for folks To know, to work with somebody, work with somebody like you or I, so that we can help you set those parameters. So then when you know, you get that when you're not so freaked out, you know, now they are selling these over the counter. There's a, you know, a brand of meters that come out over the counter now. So, before folks just go out and grab one and then, you know, you're freaking yourself out, just, you know, work with your doctor or your health coach or whatever to, to really set these parameters.

Kerry:

Yeah. So can you share some success stories from your patients who have adopted like a plant based lifestyle?

Shayla:

Yeah, I have one lady and this lady, she's a postmenopausal lady and she was a grandmother. And so when I started working with her she really, you know, had some some of those conditions that we typically see. So high blood pressure, high cholesterol pre diabetes. And she, you know, her doctor had told her, well, you know, we got to get some weight off. And then she wanted to get some weight off too because she had this big trip that was coming up. We started working like in winter and she had this trip coming up in the summer with her grandkids. And she was taking them to the beach, you know, you got the water in your background. And so she was excited to be able to, you know, want to be able to really like run around and really be active with the grandkids at the beach. And so. Plant based was like foreign to this lady because she just had never done it, had never really even, you know, heard of doing that, but she just really wanted this change in these goals. And so one of the first thing we did was really, one of the first things I always do with, with folks that I coach is we set goals and we set them in a way to make them achievable and to not feel intimidated by them. So we don't just set a, oh, I want to lose 50 pounds, just kind of thrown out in the air kind of goal. You know, we really, we sit down and really work through them. And so we look at why you want to, you know, make these changes. And so that's when, you know, we started talking about the, the grandkids and the things you wanted to do with the grandkids. And then also, as well as The health goals and the health conditions, you know, the medications she wanted to take less of and those things. And then we set the smaller goals, you know so that, that makes, once you achieve those smaller goals, then you are continuing to work on those larger goals for yourself. And so, we did that and then we delve deep into her diet. And this lady, she's, she's, I love her. She's so funny. And so she would drink these coffee drinks, and I had never heard of him before I even met her, but she called him frosty coffee. Apparently there is, you get a coffee and they put ice cream in it. And she would have it, she would have it every day though. Every day she went to work, she'd go, you know, for fast food at lunch and she'd get this frosty coffee with whatever other fast food meal that she was going to get. And so, you know, we talked about really like what that frosty coffee, how was it making her feel? Like, why was she feeling the need to have that frosty coffee? And, you know, sugar makes you feel more happy at that moment, you know, it makes you feel more happy and makes you feel good, but then when that comes down, then, you know, you're left with, Oh, I just had a bunch of sugar and fat and calories kind of deal. So. We redid some of that. We didn't take away all of the frosty coffees, but we took away the majority for the week. So, you know, instead of five a week, we took that down to one a week. And so that way, you know, she could, you know, just have a goal, you know, say, Oh, you know, I've done really well. So now I'm going to my goal I'm going to go have my frosty coffee for the week. And then we took down some of the other things she was consuming because she lived alone, she didn't tend to cook. So she would get a lot of the frozen meals. Well, you know, we know those things. things tend to have a lot of additives just by sheer fact, they have to preserve them on a shelf for a long amount of time. And so we talked about ways that she could cook and not feel wasteful but could still have healthful things that are just really easy and quick to put on the table. So some of the staples that I like to even mention for people want to incorporate because there are things that I do at home as well, but get to You can get the pre pre made pre washed, you know, lettuce, green spinach greens. I typically recommend getting a tub of the spinach, get the tub of the salad. And then, you know, that's one thing you got and you can start from there as your base. You can batch cook easily set a Brown rice. You can batch cook some quinoa. You can batch cook a set of beans. So, you know, a lot of things you can have beforehand and you can mix and match those things and put them, you can make a bowl easily. Then if you want to spice it up at different spices depending on what your taste is, or add a sauce, depending on, you know, what. flavor. If you're going for Italian, you know, make a tomato sauce. If you're going for Asian, put a little soy or peanut sauce or what have you over it, you know, to jazz it up. And then whatever other protein items you're doing. So, if you are truly plant based and you're doing tofu, then you know, Put you some tofu in the oven and have that to your bowl and dinner's done. So we went through some of these things and had her do some of these things so that she felt more empowered to be able to do this on her own and not feel like, you know, she has to cook for a large family, but just cooking for herself and not having to reach for those, those type of meals. And so she did, and she, she did these things. We met regularly. By the time she got ready to go to the beach with those grandkids, she said, Dr. Shayla my skinny jeans that I used to have ready for when I got skinny, she said, well, now they're too big. So we got a problem.

Kerry:

Yeah,

Shayla:

I said, well, that's a good problem to have, you know, your skinny

Kerry:

And clearly her goal was not to fit in her bathing suit.

Shayla:

Right, exactly. No, no. And it was, you know, just to really feel good with playing with those grandkids. And she did, and she achieved that just, you know, with these tangible approaches. Yeah.

Kerry:

I love, I love the coffee story and not that my patients are having frosty coffees is I never heard of it, but I mean, that's usually one thing where I'm like, Hey, you know, what are you doing every single day? Like you got a new diagnosis of prediabetes or diabetes, something that you're doing every day on a daily habit is doing something. So what is it? And sometimes it's dialing down into like, what's in the coffee, like tons of sugar. Like, Oh, I have three teaspoons in my coffee a day. Okay. Well, how many cups of coffee are you having a day? Right? So then it's like adding, adding and adding up of all these, you know, things that more sugar, which is obviously not helpful for the insulin resistance. So I love the I love attacking the coffee, but I'm also thankful that you allowed her to still have one a week. I'm sure she is

Shayla:

It's about balance. Yeah.

Kerry:

absolutely. So I guess what would be your top three pieces of advice to start improving your health today for someone who's struggling with insulin resistance or metabolic issues?

Shayla:

Yeah. So if you're getting started out and I always, like to say, Rome wasn't built in a day, so we, we don't expect, you know, these full changes to occur really quickly, but if you were starting out, so what I would recommend one, put more plants on your plate and it doesn't mean you have to go completely vegan, but even just, you know, starting by, you know, even if you just separate your plate, you know, most of us now know the plate method. So even if you just started by making half of your plate, just some dark leafy greens, for example, you're going a lot further than you probably have before. And you're going to feel a lot fuller if you even consume that first and you may not even eat the other stuff that's there, not eat as much of it. So the key, you know, first thing I would say is to definitely put more plants on your plate. The second thing I would say is to lift something heavy. And you know, that's because what we talked about with that muscle and the importance of having muscle mass so that you just naturally make your body more metabolically active and just make your body, you know, work for you throughout your day. So lift something heavy for sure. And then that third thing would be to get some support, you know, some. People don't feel like they have to go it alone. You know, there, there's a lot, there's a lot out there on the internet, but it's not all good stuff. And if you, you know, don't really know the difference in what's really helpful versus what's harmful, you might be choosing something that's more harmful. So really get support from someone, you know, who is experienced and who can hopefully help you to make these changes so that it's sustainable. And so that you're not feeling like you're on this rollercoaster all the time. So.

Kerry:

So I meant to ask this earlier, but what do you do for the patient who comes in saying, I hate all vegetables

Shayla:

Yeah, yeah. I actually love those, those patients. And I'll tell you why. Because usually it's something that we can find that they do like, and we start there. So, you know, for those people, and I've, and I've had a patient like this one that I recall and it was, it was a male, it was a man patient. And so he did, he was definitely a steak and potatoes, you know, kind of guy. And so we got down to it. I said, well, you know, I just start naming out stuff.. Well, you like this, do you like that, do you like that? And so we got down to string beans was one thing that he, he did like, and he would eat string beans and corn. And so we know corn is not exactly a vegetable, it's a grain, but you know, we could work with it. And so, you know, we started there with just having more string beans and then slowly trying some other things. And it worked, it did take him a bit longer to get there to improve this particular patient of mine, he was actually on insulin, so, but we were able to start being able to move his insulin down once we start getting more plants incorporated, but we did, we just started with string beans because there's typically something that somebody likes, but you just really got to, got to get to it, but he was definitely not my guy that I could go tell, you know, go make a salad bowl and, you know, Do that because he was not good

Kerry:

I also often like to discuss how they're cooking it or how they ate them previously. Right. Because I remember my mom putting lemon on broccoli and thinking it was terrible, but now. I do roasted broccoli. I mean, I use olive oil pretty good. And then salt and pepper and like, my kids love it. Right. I love it. Like I can't get enough of it. And so sometimes the way that you prepare the vegetables is a big deal, like canned and frozen while

Shayla:

Yeah. I'm glad you mentioned that as well. Cause for me it was cauliflower when I was a kid. Oh, this is disgusting, but you know, they all, they did too it was like boil it and, you know, give me like that overboiled cauliflower and I still will not eat it that way, but you're right. But if I roast it, I love it.

Kerry:

Yeah. Yeah. Boiling, I think also takes away the nutrients, but I think that was a lot of maybe that what they used to do previously. But I mean, I think the whole way she did Brussels sprouts, I always hated to, and then I had them roasted and guess what? They're delicious. Right? So I think teaching a little bit of how to prepare foods and having them try them again and again in different ways, I think is one way to have, you know, vegetables or something that they don't like that's healthy reintroduced. So like you said, you can get some plant on the plate for every meal. It's important. So is there anything else you'd like to share with the listeners on this topic of metabolic health and plant based nutrition?

Shayla:

Yeah. Yeah. So if folks, are looking to get started, I do offer a free program. It's called the nourish and flourish. It's a five day program. It's called a five day challenge, but really the challenge is you versus you. So, but it's five days and each of those five days, folks will receive a little reminder in their email box. And they can go watch a video. They could a healthful recipe that are plant, plant based recipes. So if you're looking for some healthful plant based, they're easy to prepare. So you don't have to be a chef to do it. But yeah, I will have them, you know, just start there. Take a look at the nourish and flourish five day challenge just to really get you started with, and it goes into those different mindset mind, body balance approach with the healthful plant based recipes incorporated.

Kerry:

Awesome. So is there somewhere they can find you or reach out to you if

Shayla:

Yeah, so they can find that@drshayla.com slash nf challenge, or my main website, which is dr shayla.com/eoh and that way they can find that Nourish and Flourish challenge and all the different ways to reach me. I'm on social media under Essence of Health and I'm at TikTok under Dr. Shayla.

Kerry:

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being a guest today. And we'll include all that in our show notes. And obviously if anybody needs a primary care doctor in Clearwater or Palm Harbor, please reach out to us at 727 446 1097. And please stay tuned for next week. Bye

Shayla:

you.

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Dr. Kerry Reller

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