The Hidden Reason High Performers Struggle

What Is Food Really Supposed to Do? The Truth About Nutrition, Performance, and Fad Diets

Most people think food is about weight.

The reality is that food is information.

Every meal influences energy, focus, mood, recovery, sleep, productivity, and long-term health. Yet we live in a world filled with conflicting nutrition advice, fad diets, social media influencers, and endless debates about what we should and should not eat.

In this episode of Performance Matters, Dr. Lawrence Salone sits down with registered dietitian Elizabeth Courville to explore one of the most important questions affecting performance today:

What is food actually designed to do?

Together they discuss how nutrition impacts physical performance, cognitive function, emotional health, and overall capacity. They also examine popular fad diets, common misconceptions about healthy eating, and whether the Food Pyramid deserves the criticism it often receives.

In this conversation, you'll learn:

• How food affects energy, focus, and performance

• Why nutrition is about more than weight loss

• The role food plays in mood, stress, and recovery

• Common mistakes people make when trying to eat healthier

• The truth about popular fad diets

• Whether the Food Pyramid got it right or wrong

• How to evaluate nutrition advice in today's information overload

• Practical ways to improve your performance through food choices

Whether you're a business leader, entrepreneur, athlete, parent, or simply someone trying to feel and perform better, this episode will help you better understand the relationship between food and performance.

Performance is not just about what you do. It's also about what fuels you.

Subscribe for more conversations on performance, health, leadership, mindset, and human potential.

#PerformanceMatters #Nutrition #HealthyEating #Dietitian #FoodAndPerformance #Wellness #Productivity #MentalHealth #HealthPodcast #DrLawrenceSalone

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode with Empowerment with Dr. Lawrence. I am your host, Dr. Lawrence. Thank you for making us a part of your day. I realize that you could have been anywhere else and you're choosing to spend this time with us. Well, listen, today we're going to be talking with Elizabeth Corville. She is the owner, the founder of Harvested Nutrition, and we're going to be talking about what exactly what role nutrition plays in performance, what role nutrition plays in our mental well-being, what role nutrition plays in just how we overall feel. So listen, this is one that you definitely want to take a uh take notes on, get your pen and paper out. We're going to have a fun time. So I want to start off by welcoming you to the show. So welcome. How are you today?

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Thank you so much. I'm doing really well. Really excited to chat today. This is this is what I love to do.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

This is what you love to do. So we had the privilege of working with you on an event that we did a few months ago called Mom's Matter. And one of the things that stood out to me was your passion. You said passion, and I and I see that. I know that from firsthand experience. When you got up to speak to those in attendance about the role that nutrition plays uh in our overall well-being, you know, a lot of things resonated with me. So I'm excited to talk with you today about what that looks like. But let's just start with what does nutrition mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Yeah, yeah, I love that question. So my interest in nutrition started in my teen years in high school. And I think what sparked my interest was seeing like chronic disease prevalent in my community, within my family. And so the wheels kind of started turning then. I think at the time, you know, social media was new. And so like there was just a lot more access to nutrition information. And I started there just, you know, kind of quote unquote doing my own research, finding books to read that were written by doctors, experts in nutrition. And uh eventually I decided, hey, like this actually could be a career path. Um I decided to go into majoring in dietetics. Um it was a hard hard decision. Actually, I noticed you have a 337 number.

SPEAKER_03 2:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Uh so I'm from Lafayette, uh, Louisiana.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Uh and so at the time, the university there had cut their dietetics program. And so really my next best option would have been to go to LSU. Um, I was lucky enough to get in, and uh it was an amazing program. And over the years, like throughout undergrad and then into graduate school, um, I think my specialty uh areas and interests started to kind of kick in, and like the things um that were outside of general nutrition uh started to catch my eye in terms of performance nutrition.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Okay. Um So what does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Yeah. So I mean, get to your question on what does nutrition mean to me. Um I think that the first thing that always comes to mind on that end is and something I learned a lot in my schooling and my internship is like eating enough is first and foremost, like the most important thing we can do with our nutrition.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

And when you say eating enough, what what does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Yeah, I mean like being able to eat enough to meet your body's needs.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Oh, oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Yeah, yeah, like food access, you know, so many people struggle to just eat enough food, right? So that I think is like the biggest part of nutrition for me, and I think it like has to be for so many people. Like, how can we actually first eat enough before we have the opportunity to optimize things and to really get into the performance side of things?

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Um, and I know we'll get into that later, but we should yeah, we should so one of the things that jumps out at me, um, and I really started looking at this in a deeper manner uh after the pandemic, right? Um is the notion of nutrition. We see at our at our clinic um an uh an increase in anxiety. And then you started seeing why, because the levels of anxiety that we see today are abnormal. We've never seen this in world history. And and the research says that people are, you know, uh we see more uh we see increased levels of anxiety because of chronic stress that has a lot to do with money. We see um an isolation component and you know, with the the rise and adoption of social media and so forth. But the thing that stood out to me the most was what I call dopamine wars, and what that is is our relationship with sleep, our relationship with the things that we put in our body. And uh today, you know, when you hear nutrition and you hear, you know, I go back to when in the in the 80s and 90s there was an argument whether eggs are good or whether they're not good and so forth. It it brings me to a question that I was I've been I've been really um anticipating asking you is one, what is what is food, and two, um what should we be eating? Because depending on what special special interest groups are are funding something, you don't I I don't feel like we really know. And and when you came and spoke with our organization, um the the feedback that I got was I didn't know this. I didn't know the portions, I didn't know what constituted food, carbs were not bad. You know, these are things that folks, you know, that are in the healthcare community did not know. So I'm gonna ask those questions again because I don't I tend to talk. What is food and what should we be eating?

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Yeah. I think at its simplest, food is energy. And I think so many people forget that. Uh you know, everybody's walking around, oh, I'm so tired, oh, I'm low energy, oh I have this afternoon crash. Well, have you eaten today? Did you skip breakfast? Okay, did you eat lunch? Did you eat a snack in between those meals?

unknown 6:16

What do they eat?

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Food is energy. So that's like to me as a dietitian, food is energy. Food is energy. Right, like calories is a measure of a unit of energy, right? Any food we consume that has a calorie in it contains energy. Um, now what to eat? Great question. It's gonna be different for every single person. And that, as a dietitian, is I think our biggest challenge is to take generalized nutrition recommendations that are evidence-based and individualize it to the person because there is no one size fits all.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

True. So you mean like I remember at the gym um a couple years back, they were I'm O-positive, some of a blood type O-positive, and I learned that there are certain things that I shouldn't eat. No alcohol, I don't drink, I I gave up drinking almost eight years ago. So no alcohol, um, bread, the things that I really enjoy, dairy, these are things that I had to cut out of my diet for me to get the most out of my workouts, or just to overall feel better. So when you see you you're saying that we should have customizable um nutrition. Okay. But the government and and all the learning institutions put out the food pyramid. And I remember the food pyramid changed. We should have more proteins, we should have more, you know, grains and so forth. What what is a a great baseline or just starting point for people? Because if I don't know, I don't know. And and that um that can cost you.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

For sure. Yeah, I mean, the food pyramid has been not the standard for quite a while. Like the original food pyramid. Like if you look at that thing, yeah, that that's ancient.

SPEAKER_03 8:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

And it was really, you know, and I think it stood out and why eventually they changed it. You know, it wasn't helpful for the individual, right? It was just like kind of a ranking hierarchy, right? Situation. And unfortunately, the current guidelines are very much in that similar format, except it's flipped upside down.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

It did flip.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

I I personally don't think it's very helpful, like that format. And actually, what I was able to talk to a lot of your staff about is a balanced plate method. So if we are able to check a couple boxes, we can feel good about what we're eating.

SPEAKER_03 8:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

So if we can make about half of our plate color fruits, veggies, okay, plants, things that have fiber, that is a great gold standard. And then the other half of our plate, we're gonna divide that into two quarters, one quarter being carbohydrate foods, so grains, starchy vegetables, the other quarter of our plate being lean proteins. Okay, for the most part. Um visually, that makes so much more sense for people to be able to portion their plate out and to be able to check off those boxes. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

But we're so busy. So my day starts every day at four. I get up, you know, I pray, I read, I, you know, plan out my day. Um, I learned through a friend of mine in Chicago, Dr. Olga, she said that uh I consume too much coffee because I love coffee. And I on your website I saw that you love coffee, so that's that's amazing. But I love coffee. And she said, well, start your day with water. At least, at least get a bottle of water before you have your coffee and and you know, get the engine started in your in your body. And I was like, okay, and I and I did that for a little while, right? And I and I noticed the effects, and I felt better. Right. But man, the the mocha chocolates are just amazing, you know. Um we're busy in in this fast-paced society.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

You know, we at my household, we we can cook on the weekends because everybody's leaving. You know, I have a daughter that gets something, she likes to go work out. Um, whether that's at home or she's walking around the neighborhood or she's going to the gym. I get up, you know, my my first three hours are planned, and then I gotta get out, you know, get to the office and so forth. Or I have a conference call with someone in another part of the country, and the time variances are different. So I don't have time to eat. So, how can somebody do the plate method when we're as busy as we are today? Like that's how that's real. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

You're right. Absolutely. I mean, and that's one of the biggest barriers that I think the clients that I work with run into is, you know, yeah, we can have all this information, right? And everybody, even if they're not working with a dietitian, has access to lots of nutrition information, whether it's actually helpful, individualized, or evidence-based or not. Oh, it is.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Um Chad GPT says that I should have cookies. It's gonna agree with you with everything.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Yeah. So, so when we think about being busy, that's where I always try to work with my clients. Like, how can we meet ourselves in the middle? Right? Because you mentioned some things about like fast food restaurants, like less than ideal, but there's a middle ground in between you cooking from scratch and you eating fast food or takeout. There is convenience foods at the grocery store. There are things that are already chopped and prepped and cooked for you. Right. So that's usually my go-to for my busy people. Um, outsource some of your time when it comes to food. And that doesn't have to mean we're compromising on health. You know, if something's if something's processed, right, processed foods are all the rage right now in terms of, oh, well, this counts as ultra-processed, we shouldn't be eating that. Like there's all this lingo around processed foods. But at the end of the day, uh a piece of produce that is chopped up at the grocery store is a processed food. Right. By the definition, it is it is okay to use some of those more processed foods or foods that are already taking a little bit of work out for you to be able to meet your needs.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

But what about? So I read something, um, just take bread. Um, one of the last podcasts I did, we ended up talking about real food versus fake food. And and, you know, bread that you buy today may last a month before it and it may never mold. And I remember growing up that that wasn't the case, and you you learned that they take nutrients out of the out of the grain to make it, you know, preserved, and that that's harmful to the body. So when you say processed food, help and I know that could be a a discussion in itself, but what what are some things that people should stay away from? Because bacon is processed, sausage is processed. So what what are some of the the foods that are processed so that we're not just giving a label to something and misinforming people because they may not do the research that we're gonna do? What what are some of the processed foods that they should stay away from?

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Right. Yeah, I mean, this is an interesting question because like as a dietitian, I really believe that most foods can fit and there really isn't anything that one person should completely stay away from unless they're allergic to it.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Okay, okay, that's fair.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

Uh when it comes to processed foods and a person's health, right? Thinking about what their access to food is, what their medical history is like, what their activity level's like, you know, depending on all those different variables, genetics, like just whatever their goals are, right? There's so many factors I would take into consideration. But for most people, yeah, like it is great to try to eat mostly whole foods, right? And as least process as possible, right? And that's arbitrary, but I think it can give people some peace of mind because there is a lot of fear-mongering that's happening around food right now. So, like if somebody, you know, their only realistic lunch is, you know, uh a sandwich and a side of some canned veggies and fruit. Like if that is the only way they're gonna be able to eat lunch, that's all they can afford. It's gonna help them to get to the gym later. Like, right, hey, that's actually super helpful for them to be eating, right? If if somebody has better access to food, maybe they can do something better, right? Something more whole-grained, less processed. So it is there's the individualization, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:29

So all right, and in that, some of the some of the things that I look at um when you if you watch TV, whether you're streaming, because they do commercials now, or you're watching traditional TV, uh every three minutes they're gonna hit you with a commercial. And it's you know, increasingly there are there are skin diseases, there are things that are that they're selling to us as a result, in my mind, of what we eat. And I'm gonna base this statement off of uh a conversation that I had and when I was a younger version of myself earlier in my career. I was at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, and a physician told me, she said that 95-97% of the uh the healthcare problems that we have in our country would be alleviated if we ate right, slept, and and exercised. And and and that's an interesting statement. And so fast forward to today when you are watching the various medications to try to treat skin diseases and so forth, from from personal experience, when I am very strict with what I put in my body, uh, skin issues improve, sleep improves. How do we, if if we're gonna shift to the lens of performance, just overall health performance, what are the foods, I mean, what what are the what are the parameters? Stay not that you put in in food, but what are the parameters that we should be looking at in terms of just having a healthy baseline?

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Yeah.

unknown 15:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Yeah, yeah. I mean, going back to the balance plate method, if we're if we're let's say working out three to four times a week, whether that's weightlifting, CrossFit, running, something endurance-based, um, the recommendation is gonna change a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 16:16

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

So for the average, less active person, right? That balance plate method where we have about half our plate color, quarter of our plate carbs, quarter of our plate protein, that's great for them. And that meets their needs on average.

SPEAKER_02 16:29

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

For someone who's more highly active, what I recommend is a performance plate method. So we actually shift to half our plate carbohydrate sources, quarter of our plate color, quarter of our plate protein. Because carbohydrates is your body's preferred energy source. Okay. And you're, of course, burning through more of that when you're more highly active. So that is like the easiest shift somebody can make if they're wanting to fuel their performance better. Like just eat more carbohydrates. Now that's hard because carbohydrates are typically demonized in the society we live in. Now, yeah, there's different types of carbohydrates, and some are gonna be better for you at certain points in the day, depending on when your workout is. But we have to undo that mindset that like carbohydrates are the devil. They're not, they're truly not. Like, that is just the the science, like food science as a basic getting enough macronutrients, right? The three macronutrients, everybody's counting macros, right? Carbs, proteins, fats. Out of all three of those, okay, we need the most carbohydrates every single day.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

And that's and that plays a part in brain health, though.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Okay. So so if if we are, and I've I've I was a CrossFit guru. I love that. I mean, and it was a for me, it was the challenge of can I do this at this stage in my life? And then the community supports that. And you know, they um I know at the gym that I went to, um, there was an emphasis on like the whole 30. And you do see peaks in performance when you when you cut things and become clean. It brings me to a question though. So, so and I'm gonna make this statement because I didn't quite know this. Um where do sugars fit in in the equation? Because when you say carbs, you know, one's mind may go directly to sugars. It may, and I know, I know most of the foods we we eat will break down into a sugar, but what I'm talking about are the you know the donuts that are dripping with the glaze. So what where do sugars fit in a healthy diet? Yeah because it's in everything today.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Right, exactly. Yeah. When it comes to added sugar, added sugar.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Added sugar.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

We want to try to limit that to between 25 to 35 grams a day. If you can do less than that, that's great. And that's gonna help to prevent dental caries.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Well, how much how much is that? Just layman's terms, 25.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

That would be, I mean, like visually, that might be like not a lot of a soda. Like, you know, it's a regular soda. I mean, there's it's like triple to quadruple that amount. So let's say, right, a soda.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Maybe not gonna fit within that parameter. But when we think about performance with my athletes, with my endurance athletes, with my highly active people who are doing a lot of weight training, CrossFit, any anything in those parameters, I personalize that range for them because simple sugars and sometimes added sugars can actually be helpful for performance. Really? They're super easy to digest, metabolize, and give you that quick energy. Like as a runner, you want that. As a distance runner, I'm taking in gels during my run, and it's straight sugar. But it's the only way I can do it, and it's the only way if you want to perform well, you can do it.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

So you said something earlier, and go back to something you said. You said that calorie is the the metric of energy. But we have these zero calorie drinks, these these soda pops or these uh uh soda drinks, or however you want to call it, depending on what part of the country you're from. But these zero calorie things, and and we're consuming it because the notion is that you're eating healthy or you're consuming something that's healthy. How what does that mean when when we need that to that energy source, but it's void of what that really is. So, you know, should we be ingesting these zero calorie right?

SPEAKER_00 20:43

So I think I would reply to that in a nuanced way, right? Like a diet coke, let's say, is by weight mostly water.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

So to me, if I have somebody who really loves Diet Coke and it's gonna get them an extra 12 ounces of fluids into their day, I'm I'm okay with that.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

You're okay with it.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

Yeah. Now, am I trying to convince them that it's like gonna change their health? Like it's it's extra fluids, so it is improving their health in that way. Okay, but it's not like replacing anything. I mean, it's it's not it's just filler. Right.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

So my father, uh, I talk a lot about my father. I mean, he's one of the the most important people in my life and and has shaped who I've become as a as an individual. Um his doctor, he's 81, 82, and his doctor told him, hey man, he drinks Coca-Cola, and he was like, I mean, I think he has stock in Coca-Cola. He would drink, you know. I mean, he he consumed a lot of it. And he switched to the diet coke for a little while, and now he's drinking Coke Zero. And are there sugars in it? Because you taste it, it it appears to be sweet, but there's no calorie in it.

SPEAKER_00 21:59

Are they lying to you? Us.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

Yeah, are they lying to us or is it a chemical? Like, what's what's going on? Like, are we consuming these things? Um and and look, half the country is obese. So the notion that we're opening the gym door is is probably more um a desire than a reality with most folks. So I I wanna I want to be careful here. Um I don't I don't know that we're I mean there are people that are performers, there are people that are gym rest, there are people that are ultra concerned about their health care. Um, but then there are the folks that are not and they consume poor food or they make poor food choices and it they slap a diet cocoa on there and then they're they're they're doing their part. So how how do you help somebody, you know, take a look at themselves in the mirror, literally and and and metaphorically, to help them get to a healthier state? Because it starts with food, it all starts with food in my mind.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, and food is is super important. Um, you know, you're you're into the gym and a lot of people are right now. Like you said, there's a lot of people aren't. But food, you know, I think there's there's some sort of saying or statistic that, you know, like food is like this important in terms of percentage, and then like the gym is like, you know, the smaller fraction. Um maybe that's health related or maybe that's uh you know, body weight related or aesthetics, but regardless, like food, right? We have to do it every single day. It's a non-negotiable. We have to make those choices every single day. And when we think about again, food access, right? Maybe for that person, their first step to better bettering their food choices is switching from regular coach to diet coach.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

So that's a starting point, not that that could feel really empowering to them.

SPEAKER_02 23:52

True.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

So it could be a starting point. Um when we think about, if we're still thinking about performance, again, eating enough, trying to utilize that performance plate, that's a great shift to make. If you're not already eating three meals a day and a couple snacks, as an active person, what I see hurt high performing athletes and active people is not eating enough.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

It's often less that they're eating the wrong things, but they're not eating enough. And it's actually a hindrance to them being consistent in other health behaviors, like getting to the gym, right? If you're not eating enough energy, you're low on energy, you have low energy availability, you're not gonna feel like getting out of bed. No, and going to the gym.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

It's a demotivator.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Exactly. So that's why I keep emphasizing like that is step one.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Regardless of what your food access is, if you can start eating more food, that's step one. You can work on optimizing things, and whether that's working with a dietitian or not, like you can work on optimizing things after you get to that point where you're like eating enough to fuel your body's needs.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

So on social media, TikTok, Instagram, um, Facebook, you know, at the top of the year, you know, we're gonna do the carnivore diet, we're gonna do the hard 75 hard, we're gonna do all these things. And our our Atkins or all these different fad diets. Yeah, these fad diets. What where does that fit? Because here's the thing about the carnivore diet, and I've I've never done it, but I I I read up on it, and it violates what you're talking about with the healthy plate method. And but if someone cuts weight, and and a lot of the the health conversation, it it it the undertone is weight loss, right? You know, what where do the these fad diets fit? Should they fit? Are they destructive? Because you're looking at it at at a very uh essential uh um foundational level, but these things they sell memberships, they sell community, and and that's not always healthy, but what where do the fad diets fit? And is there one that is more useful than others in your in your profane?

SPEAKER_00 26:20

Yeah. So fad diets maybe can have their place. Okay. Because maybe somebody feels like they want to kind of jump start their habits or feel like they get this clean start.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

Um, but none of them are sustainable.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

No.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

None. I've never heard anybody, and I've worked with so many clients who have done at least one, if not all of the fat diet. Guilty. And it they can't keep it up for more than a few weeks, a few months, maybe a year, maybe a few years if they if they're really strong-willed, but they're not meant to be sustainable. And like the diet industry, the wellness diet industry is billions of dollars. Right. Like the fad diets at this point, yeah, it's like memberships, they're selling you programs. It is, it's not about health anymore. Like it's it's truly about business plan. It's it's truly about business, and it literally sets people up for failure. Like that is their business model, right? Why would they keep coming back if it worked?

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Correct. So So then we look at one I will say this. One of the things that I've done, and I don't know if it uh constitutes a fad, per, you know, in your worldview, but the intermittent fasting, that was something that was was helpful um because it forced me to be conscious, A, of when I ate and what I was putting in my body and in, you know, in that time period. Um, I mean, fasting, there are benefits in general to fasting, but what where do you where does the intermittent fasting thing land in in your world?

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Yeah. I would say out of if we're gonna put that, I would say I'd put that in like fad diet territory.

SPEAKER_03 28:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Um, if we look at all of the fad diets, this one has the least amount of research to back it up.

SPEAKER_03 28:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

So I'm not the biggest fan. Now, again, like maybe it has the place for uh an individual person, right? Maybe they are wanting to pay attention to their timing, maybe they just want to experiment. And I'm so for that, right? Because everything does need to be individualized.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

But in general, the fast we do overnight is enough. Is enough.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

That's that's been throughout history. So okay. So then the notion this brings us into interesting uh school of thought. Um, the notion of when do we eat, how many times do we eat, three times a day, five times a day, should you have the meal snag, meal snag, meal snag regimen? Should like where and and I and I know it it depends and it's it is highly individualized, but if we're just talking in generalities, right? Um, how many times should someone be eating a day?

SPEAKER_00 29:10

That's a great question. And that's often one of the first tweaks that I make with clients is how consistently they're eating throughout the day. Because it makes a huge difference in how you feel, your energy availability, your blood sugar levels, right, your focus. Um, I would say if a person's not already eating every three to four hours, they should start there. Okay. Get there. Yeah. And that might mean you're eating four or five, maybe six times a day, just depending on your wake and sleep schedule. If you're a high performing, high active person, you might do better eating every like two to three hours, small, frequent things throughout the day.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

So so where do so when these these intervals that we're eating, what you know, can we do a meal supplement? So the protein shakes and so forth. My son's an athlete, and um, you know, he's he's doing football in the morning, they do Pilates on Tuesday, you know, uh all of that, and that stretches them out. Then he does basketball, and then you know, he he cuts grass and so forth. He is burning through calories.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

Right, and busy.

SPEAKER_01 30:16

And he's busy. The the interesting thing is when he's hanging with his friends, they all want Skittles or these little nerd gummy ball things, and and you eat that stuff and you fill up on that stuff, um, and you eat to you're full. But you're eating the wrong thing. So how does that, you know, where does the candy and the and the th what do those things help and fit? The chips, uh, what do those things fit in our diet?

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

It's something we put in our mouth, but is it food?

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Well, when we think about candy, I mean, it is mostly simple sugars. Okay. It's providing us energy. So technically, it is food. It is energy. Now, where should it fit in our diet? For people who aren't as active, maybe we limit that a lot, right? Because again, you have to ideally stay within that 25 to 35 gram range to prevent dental caries and to avoid ups and downs and blood sugars. Um, for him, actually, what I would recommend is having a handful of nerd clusters right before football practice. Really? I think he'd feel amazing if he did that because it gives you that quick burst of energy. Okay, and that's going to carry him through a good bit of his practice, not the entire practice, but once he's able to grab a Gatorade or something, bring his sugars back up, yeah. It's it that can actually be helpful. Now, should that be his post-football meal? No, ideally, we have some complex carbs, some lean protein, some fiber, some plants. Like that would be ideal for post activity. But the candy can fit. And again, like as an endurance athlete myself, like I do consume simple sugars. Right.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

But you're active, you're a runner. So I wanted to ask this, and and I want to I do want to get to the performance thing because I want to connect the performance physically with how we perform in our day-to-day lives, but I wanted to address or get your your take on the brain fog. So one of the things that came out of the discussion when when you met with my organization was um you explained why what and this is the feedback that I'm getting, you explained why when they ate certain things, they had an uh uh a notion of brain fog. Is is that just simply our body's response? You know, are we just making insulin? Is this brain fog the result of insulin spikes and and and us trying to get rid of the uh level out the sugar that we put in our body? But you know, where where are you seeing that? Because whether we're performing or not, if we have brain fog and and we're in a in a work environment, that's a real thing.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Right, for sure. Yeah. So a few of the major causes of brain fog would be a not eating enough.

SPEAKER_01 33:02

Oh not eating enough.

SPEAKER_00 33:03

Your brain not getting enough glucose, which is its primary fuel source. And you can obtain glucose from complex carbs, simple carbs, you know, just in general from carbohydrates, not eating consistently enough, right? Let's say you have a solid breakfast. Okay, five, six hours pass, you're starting to feel the brain fog, starting to feel the crash. Okay. It makes sense. Your body, every three to four hours, needs that top-off and energy. So, and that includes your brain. Okay. Again, glucose, primary brain for brain, brain fuel source. Um, and then uh so frequency, carbohydrate intakes, not eating enough. Like those are gonna be some of your main reasons for now, depending on like if we're balancing our plate, kind of extending our energy levels, balancing our blood sugar levels with the lean proteins, with the fiber. If we're having mostly, let's say, simple carbs, right? A couple times a day, right? Like let's say a donut for breakfast, let's say uh pasta for lunch, and then topping it off with a sliced pizza for dinner. There's gonna be so many highs and lows in your blood sugar level. And yes, that does impact your brain's ability to be able to focus, find clarity, and for it to just be able to function right.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

So, so switching gears to performance. And we we talked a lot about athletes and you know what they need, and and and some of the things you've introduced are are very interesting to me because um that was not my thought process on it. So if I'm not athletic, if I'm if I lead a rather sedentary life, uh I'm busy, you know. Um it's funny, you know, I read a study not long ago that the health of physicians as a group, as a collective across the country is poor. And these are the you know, people that are in charge of our day. Well, when you look at why that statement is is a foundational statement, it's because of the lifestyle. They, you know, they're at work, they don't have that life work balance. How does someone and and I know and I keep in mind that you know the thing you keep coming back to that is specific to that individual, but how do I, as a sedentary, sedentary employee, worker, guy, gal, how do I start the process of proper nutrition?

SPEAKER_00 35:33

Yeah. Yeah, uh when it comes to being busy and wanting to pay more attention to nutrition and start making better choices, I think that cutting time and again being efficient with it is key. So maybe that person barely has time to grocery shop. Let's do a grocery order.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

Or okay, working with someone. So okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

Right, like for that person to obtain the nutrition they need, right? That's step one, right? We can talk about optimizing nutrition all day long, but like the person has to actually obtain food in some way, right? So if they are struggling to have enough time, okay, when they're on their quick 15-minute break at work, place your Walmart pickup order for you to pick up on your way back from work so that you can get home, prep some stuff. Right. And I think just like each person's momentum is important. I think once you're done with your busy day, you're not gonna feel like doing your meal properly. True. So a big tip that I recommend for my busy people is if if they aren't, you know, utilizing, let's say, like a meal delivery service, right? If they have the access to that, that's a top recommendation of mine. And especially for the medical providers I work with, the OPGYNs that I work with who are on call at all times a night.

SPEAKER_03 36:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

I'm like, you've got to get a meal delivery service because you have to be eating regularly. So that's great, but not everybody's gonna have the financial ability to have all those meals prepped and ready for them from a service like that. But place that order, pick it up right when you get home, at least rinse off your produce. Take your beans out your can, rinse them off, put them in tupperware, put them in the fridge. If you can prep a protein or a complex carb, like some quinoa, like do one thing right when you get home before you crash.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

Before you crash out.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

And at least you have that one thing and you can build from that. Maybe you have a can of tuna you can add to the side of your quinoa, or you already chopped some veggies you can throw in there. Like if you just start with one thing, I think everybody's so overwhelmed. The busy people.

SPEAKER_01 37:46

Yeah, if you don't know where to start until it's too late.

SPEAKER_00 37:49

Find one simple foot in the door. Like, find one small thing you can do for yourself, but utilize the momentum you already have from your day, right? Working long hours, like it's it's tough because like energy availability, right? If you don't have that many breaks, if you're working through lunch, right? That's why I keep coming back to like you have to be eating enough first. So whatever they have to do to do that, because if they don't have enough energy to cook or to go to the grocery store and pick up, like it kills it. We have to find one small way just to get our foot in the door.

SPEAKER_01 38:22

True. So health is a a big and important thing for me. Um and I'm conscious of it. You know, you read the studies, you know, a man whose waistline exceeds 40 is is more likely for diabetes, mellitus, or heart, you know, issues and so forth. For me, I I got to see not got our yeah, I'll I'll leave it at that way. I was able to see people that I love make bad food choices and we justify it with cultural things and and they die prematurely. Right. When you have those types of life events or motivating factors, um, it it increases your opportunity or or the the desire to uh do do better and make better choices. But I find that if you're not if that's not been a a situation for you, or you know, I find that people are comfortable with the diseases that they carry, um, even though they can be prevented. Um so there's a motivation there. How how do you help people eat better? Even start the process of of starting with that one thing. How do you, in your, in your opinion, how do you get someone to get to that point before it's too late?

SPEAKER_00 39:49

Right. Yeah, that's a good question. I think it's gonna be so different for each individual. Like you said, if if somebody, maybe someone in their family has a heart attack, it usually within the family sparks the discussion. Right, everybody's like, all right, we're going on a diet. But until it happens to them, like for some people, it has to something bad has to happen for them before they actually make changes. And I'll say as a dietitian, one of the first things we look at is the person's motivation for change. Like, what are we looking at here? Right? Can't can we actually help this person?

SPEAKER_02 40:20

Right.

SPEAKER_00 40:21

They have to have some sense of motivation for themselves, and everybody's motivation's source of motivation will be different. And, you know, we can try to appeal to that as dietitians and as mental health providers. Um, but it really comes down to that person to whether they want it. When we think about chronic disease, you know, it is largely genetic. So I think for some people, the the sense of lack of control can absolutely shut them down. So I try to empower if I have I have if I have clients who have chronic diseases that has been in their family for generations, right? Like, look, okay, this was highly genetic. Maybe some factors, lifestyle factors, did kind of turn these genetics on, we can prevent and manage things from getting worse. There's always a chance for that. Like with most chronic diseases, especially any that are turned on or off via nutrition, we have a chance, you know. So trying to appeal to that and just being really real with clients about how big of a factor genetics does play in chronic disease. True. Um, it it's I think a lot of people don't realize that. And I do think a lot of lingo and messaging around nutrition, right, being the only thing, you know, that has led to them getting diabetes, food doesn't necessarily cause diabetes. It's highly genetic, but our lifestyle behaviors do turn on or off those genes.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

It it does, and well, so if you look at the the trends, we're trending more um um as a society. The trend line is that we are more obese, that diabetes is you know increasingly um more common. Um I when we were younger, uh I'm in my 40s, and I remember I made I made a I made light of this uh on a on a podcast I was on a month or so ago. In the 70s, the people within and the TVs were big and now the people are bigger and the TVs are smaller. I mean there so those there may be some environmental factors, um, there may be some genetic factors, but but if you are eating more, if you're eating donuts, a pizza every day, pops, drinking alcohol, you're not exercising, you're not doing yourself any favors. How you you said something just a second ago. You said that you know you have to assess what their motivation is. When do you pull back from a client? When when do you pull back?

SPEAKER_00 43:03

Yeah. It usually is the client that pulls first.

SPEAKER_01 43:07

Really?

SPEAKER_00 43:08

Yeah. I mean, in the outpatient private practice setting, you know, again, a lot of the people I work with aren't necessarily being forced to see me, you know. Sometimes I'll get refer for referrals from doctors' offices and clinics, but for the most part, the people who find me and want to work with me, they already have that motivation to change.

SPEAKER_02 43:28

They have the motivation, gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 43:30

But, you know, if if someone is on the fence, you know, they might pull back, they might just cancel their session and never come back, um, which is hard to see. But I think as a provider, I've had to not take that personally. You gotta make peace with it. And you know, sometimes people come back and maybe barriers came up, life challenges came up, and they find that motivation again and they come back. Um, so yeah, I'm I'm usually not the first to to. Full level. Like I'm in it. You know, when I work with someone, I always hope that they are in it at the level that I am because I love what I do and I know how important all these things are. And I know how to adapt. Again, all of these recommendations that I have, I know how to adapt them so that they feel empowered and that they feel like these habits they're developing are sustainable. A lot of them may come from a history of fad dieting and just being on and off the train. We got to find that sustainability. And like that is that is what I'd say is my specialty. Like I am in it for the sustainability. And that is so empowering. No, it is. Because if if if a person, let's say, goes on a fad diet and loses 15 pounds and then goes right back off it, what was the point? What was the actual point? Because they wanted to be beach rated.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

They want to look good at the beach.

SPEAKER_00 44:53

Oh, yeah. Summer, summer beach bodies.

SPEAKER_01 44:55

Summer beach bodies.

SPEAKER_00 44:57

But that like that didn't do anything for their health, really. What you did for a month, even if you lost weight, didn't really do anything for your health.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

So so on your website, you you um you talk about being a runner, you you talk about you know your journey. We just came out of talking about motivation. So what is your motivation um to pursue this career? To to pour your heart into that. For my staff to give the feedback, and for folks like my family and I, we're gonna, you know, meet with you individually. Um, what is your motivation? Where did it come from? What was your launch point?

SPEAKER_00 45:39

Yeah. Again, I think my interest in nutrition started in high school. Um, and again, that was a lot motivated in seeing a lot of surrounding family members in the community struggling with their health. And so, like, I felt a lot of empathy and like, well, what can we do to help? Like, what do we have control over? Right. And like now that I am educated fully and have been practicing for almost five years, I realize that genetics is a big factor, but to empower a person, like the nutrition piece, right? You to re-empower a person who has been struggling with a chronic disease to say, hey, this is one controllable factor, and they can grasp that and that reinvigorates the motivation. Like that is huge. Um, for me in my running journey, I started running loops around my parents' tiny little neighborhood when I was in high school around the time I started finding interest in nutrition. And over the years throughout college, I would I would get in and out of running, I'd go into the gym, and then I'd have a season where I ran a lot. And it was kind of all over the place for a while. But I ran a couple of halves and a full marathon before I went into grad school. And at some point, I realized like I I think I'm doing something wrong. Like, I don't feel I don't feel like I have the endurance that I want.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Um, so I I really delved into performance research at that point because I was like, I want to be better. And eventually it turned into, well, I want to help other runners feel like this. To actually feel the ability to run a full marathon and not bonk and not hit the wall, and like to be able to progressively hit new PRs. Like, I was like, all runners deserve this, but a lot of runners don't have access to performance nutrition information um that is personalized to them. So it started off with like the personal passion, and then I realized, hey, there's there's no running dietitians in my community. Um, so I was like, I'm gonna fill this hole. Like, I want to fill this hole. Um, so a lot of it is just personal passion and experiences that led me to specializing in the things that I do now.

SPEAKER_01 47:59

So in accomplishing a goal, a lot of times it requires that you have a consultant, have a coach, have someone that's demonstrating the success in that in that area. And and you you saw where you didn't have it and you became that. This is interesting. So running, I don't run today. I like the roll machine. Um, I ran two miles a day for the duration of my military career. And um, I remember, oh my goodness, running up and down the hills at Fort Bennett and running up and down the hills in Kentucky, and and it's all fun and games until you know you gotta run in five in the morning, you gotta run five miles in the morning really, really slow. I remember though, um, they have a thing in the military, um, you know, the 300 club. And so the the army, I was an army officer, so you had push-ups, sit-ups, two-mile run. How many push-ups can you do in two minutes? How many push-ups, sit-ups can you do, and then how fast can you run? Uh, I would always max out the push-ups, I would always max out the sit-ups, and and the running became an issue. And so, you know, if I were to go to the gym and play basketball or racquetball or, you know, all those what I call burst of energy type sports, I did well. But to run two miles in 10 minutes or less, uh, and and back then, I mean, shucks, if you ran an eight-minute mile, they looked at you funny because it was, you know, these are highly competitive people. Um uh one of my NCOs, you know, sir, you you don't eat the right stuff. And and I I didn't know what I didn't know, but and he talked about he would eat pastas, he would do these things the day before the run. And and he, I mean, he shorter than me. I had longer legs, but he would, I mean, he just looked like Speedy Gonzalez flying around the place, and is because of the fuel source. Um, you've been able to take what's not there and you've created an environment where you're training athletes, you're training, you know, uh accomplished people, you have channeled um a frustration in your life into a goal. But what let me ask this what would be the one piece of advice that you would give someone wanting to start out on their health journey?

SPEAKER_00 50:33

Yeah. I think it comes back to what we talked about earlier, start with one step.

SPEAKER_03 50:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 50:40

And I mean, you talked earlier about accountability. I mean, I think that's a really great step to have, right? Whether that's if you can afford to work with a professional, if you have a buddy who's also wanting to get into the gym or get into running, hey, like having that accountability is huge. That could be your first step and the step towards momentum. So I think that's huge. Finding what your first step is, right? We are again so overwhelmed with nutrition information, with social media, all these influencers doing all these crazy workout splits, and we're like, well, how does this apply to me? Like, is this sustainable for me? Is this gonna be best for my health? Start with one small thing. See how it feels for you and build upon it. And build upon it, right? Find one extra step to go after that.

SPEAKER_01 51:34

Let me so so in our space, in mental health, um access becomes an issue. Sure, you can go on the internet and you know, find a company that's gonna prescribe you a stimulant, fantastic. But the access where I can go in and truly be taught and explain what's happening with me, uh, what's going on with me, um, that is not what it should be. But there are barriers on our side of the the aisle with regards to um providers actually taking insurance or making it, you know, making themselves available and so forth, and there are some economic considerations with regards to people getting mental health care. Um are your services covered under insurance?

SPEAKER_00 52:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 52:23

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 52:24

I do accept insurance. Um, I have limited availability in general right now, but yeah, I do accept most major insurances. Um, and then I offer sliding scale rates as well based off of net income if I happen to not take someone's insurance. Um, but yeah, it's a huge issue, and I will I will plug a resource um that's super helpful. Sure. Um I'm on a platform called Faye Nutrition.

SPEAKER_02 52:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 52:49

It is basically like this huge profile of dietitians who accept insurance. Come on. And you can see all of them virtually depending on their location. You could see them in person. Uh, you can scroll through specialty areas, the insurance they they take, um, the states they see people in virtually, like it's all laid out there for you. Um so faynutrition.com. F A Y Nutrition.

SPEAKER_01 53:14

Just FAY Nutrition.com. So do you accept clients in other states or are you just local to Louisiana?

SPEAKER_00 53:21

I'm licensed in several other states, and then there are some states who do not protect dietitian licensures, so I am able to see those people virtually. So there's if if you go on my Faye profile, um there's probably 15 states I think I'm able to see people in virtually. Come on.

unknown 53:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:40

So what are you most hopeful about with with the state of nutrition in the country? I know there's a lot of talk, not to get political, with um, you know, the the Secretary of Health and so forth. There are a lot of changes, there are a lot of feathers being ruffled. There's a lot of change in the environment. What are you most hopeful about right now with the current state of things in our country?

SPEAKER_00 54:04

Yeah, I mean, I am hopeful that we can continue to make progress in food access. Okay. Um, local food pantries, I think, have been doing an incredible job of holding their own. And um I think we need to keep food pantries open, however, we can do that. So food pantries, like I hope just food access, any efforts there, like I I think there's been a lot of struggles there, not just over the last few years, but I mean, I think we we can always use more assistance in that area. But what I'm really hopeful for is we continue to get research for uh funding for research. I think that's something that has taken a hit more recently. But nutrition research is always growing and changing and evolving, and there's so many studies that are have been on hold um more recently that are really, really important. So I really hope that we're able to get back to more research, right? Because all of the evidence-based nutrition recommendations, we have to get that new research coming in because we learn new things in the science field, right? All the time. There's still so many unknowns. So we need to continue doing research. And if there's, you know, there's we live in Baton Rivers, right? Pennington Biomedical, like enroll in a study, like help. They have a lot of cool research going on right now. So just getting involved in local food access efforts and research, however, we can do that. I think there's a lot of hope in those areas. Okay. A lot of progress that can be made still.

SPEAKER_01 55:31

So, how do we get in touch with you? How do we get in touch with Elizabeth Corvett?

SPEAKER_00 55:35

Yeah. So, for anybody looking for insurance-based dietitian care, I would definitely encourage you guys to check out faynutrition.com. It is an online portal for dietitians who see people virtually. You can check insurance benefits, you can check their specialty areas to fit whatever you need. Um, and then my handle for Instagram for my private practice is harvesting nutrition LLC. And then for any runners or runners to be, um, my performance page is running dietitian Liz.

SPEAKER_01 56:07

Well, listen, I thank you for giving us the laydown of all things nutrition today. This this was helpful and and it's important. Um, you know, we have a lot of families, we have a lot of, you know, I would call high performing individuals that that support this show. Um, and we always want an edge. And and I think some of the things that we discussed today are are very helpful with us being able to accomplish our goals because that is, you know, we're all pursuing goals, we're just not all pursuing them at the right rate or the same rate. And I think information like this is helpful with us accomplishing our goals. So I want to say thank you for joining us on the show, and I look forward to having you back again.

SPEAKER_00 56:54

Thank you so much for having me. It was great.

SPEAKER_01 56:55

It was great. So there you have it, guys. We talked about nutrition and why it's foundational to our ability to accomplish goals. And what you learned is that it is individualized to you. But the important thing is that you start today. So if you're in a situation where you don't like what you're doing, you don't like how you feel, if you know that there can be more, look, there are resources out there. They'll be at the end of this, they're the in the link below, but there are resources out there that allow you the opportunity to accomplish your goal. We talk about on this podcast about mentorship. Get a mentor, get with a dietitian that's gonna help you formulate a plan so that you can have the opportunity to be your very best because you're worth it. So, this has been Empowerment with Dr. Lawrence. I thank you for tuning in. Listen, share this with your community. Share this with your friends because it's important. Thank you. We'll see you next time.