Make Food Your Friend, Not Your Foe

RadioMD Presents: To Your Good Health Radio | Original Air Date: January 22, 2015
Host: David Friedman, DC
Guest: Jay Cardiello

MELANIE:  Our next guest is a fitness and nutrition expert and personal trainer to celebrities. He's been featured on many TV shows, including the Today Show and Good Morning, America. He's the fitness editor at large of Shape magazine and contributing editor for Men's Fitness, celebrity fitness editor for Star and OK!. Boy, he's done a lot of stuff.

Here to show us how to eat right, get fit and healthy.

Welcome Jay Cardiello. Here's Dr. David Friedman.

FRIEDMAN:  Hey, Jay! Welcome back to the show.

CARDIELLO: Thank you so much for me having me on the show. I'm excited to be here today.

FRIEDMAN: Oh, great. You always have great information for the listeners. You know what's interesting? We, as a nation, we're more overweight and unhealthy than ever in history. Quite ironic considering we have access to more gyms, more weight loss supplements and diet books than ever in history.

Jay, why are we failing with so many remedies at our fingertips?

CARDIELLO: You know, you brought up a very, very interesting point. We're currently at 66% of America combined on overweight and obesity. That number's going to be increasing every year. We've studied it. We've looked at it. Why is that? You bring up a very valid point. With so much information out there, people can just click on their computer and get a whole bunch of workouts and information on nutrition. One of the biggest things, doctor, is we're not changing our behavior. If you think about it, people become addicted to sugar. They've shown it's so addictive. It's in the majority of foods that are out there, from not only processed foods, but what they do is, brands sneak it in whether they lower the calorie intake or take something away, they're adding in refined sugar. So, the big thing that we really need to focus on is changing our behavior. What I like to talk about, especially when I'm with a client and people say, "What is the first thing you do?" And, I say, "Work on their behavior." And they're like, "Well, what do you do?"

FRIEDMAN:  That makes sense.

CARDIELLO:  Generally, when I work with a client, we don't touch a piece of equipment, we don't break a sweat for a week or two. We just work on pattern disrupting. We're disrupting their negative pattern that brought them to being overweight or obese. We're implementing a new idea. It's just like depression leads to making poor choices. Implementing positive and strategic words. How you talk to yourself is what you become with affirmation. So, when you're implementing new positive ideas, you're changing out behavior and what you're having and creating is sustainable outcome.

FRIEDMAN:  It's funny you're bringing that up. A good friend of mine's a very successful personal trainer and he told me something interesting. He said he spends 80% of his energy motivating his clients so they come back for another workout and 20% of his energy training them to be fit. So, it's kind of interesting you say that, that you really need to strengthen that place between the ears, their motivation, their lifestyle, right?

CARDIELLO:  Of course, I say this jokingly, but with all sincerely. The most overlooked muscle in the body is actually your tongue. How you talk to yourself, how you perceive yourself. What you say is what you'll become. It's just like the rudder on a ship. It's the smallest thing, but it can steer you through the most harsh storms. If you say words like, "try", "can't", "beat". If you give affirmation to yourself that "I will", "I can", as opposed to "I should look like this", or, "Why do I look like this"? You're just giving yourself that negative affirmation. So, we really have to focus on how we perceive ourselves and how we talk to ourselves and really focus on that.

FRIEDMAN:  Yes. I was running on a treadmill next to a woman the other day and she said,
"I am so earning the donuts I had for breakfast." I think people aren't seeing results maybe in the gym because they're eating the wrong food. What are your thoughts on that? You probably see that a lot.

CARDIELLO:  Well, if you're going to eat the donut--this is a little joke--eat the middle. You'll always go right there. You know what? It is true. If you think about it, food is 80% of all fitness success. People put it all up on, "I've got to go to the gym. I've got to go work out." It's food that really does save most of you. I always have a little thing that "clothes shopping happens at the grocery store".

FRIEDMAN:  Oh, that's interesting.

CARDIELLO:  From the brands we pick to what we're ingesting. I mean, when you think about it, when you go grocery shopping, everything's at eye level. It's very bright. It's red. It's yellow. They entice appetites. You know, look up and down. It's not just shopping in perimeter, it's shopping looking up and down and being more aware. It's studying the labels. It's learning the labels. Don't fall for things. And I say this, I mean, I do train celebrities, but don't fall for what you read. You know? Gluten is for people who like have a disease. It's not a diet. Organic is not a diet. But, what we do is we get so impressed by all these words and we jump on board to them when we really don't have, I don't want to say the education, but really the know how to make great choices. And as I said, when you first walk in, your clothes shopping happens as soon as you walk in that grocery store.

FRIEDMAN:  That makes sense. Now, Jay, I know when I have a good workout, I'm actually starving afterwards. When I work out legs, I can eat a large pizza and still not be full. It seems like a Catch-22. I don't know if you've heard this before. Is there something we should eat that doesn't bring in so many calories after a great workout and undo all of our efforts.

CARDIELLO:  You bring up a very valid point, but first what I want to point out is this. The day consists of 24 hours. So, what you eat at 9:00 AM  affects you later in the day. What you ate at 10:00 PM is the same thing. It's all calories. It's all sugar. It's all either good or bad nutrients that we're bringing in. So, we have to realize this: after we work out, when you go to the gym, you are actually destroying muscle. You're not building muscle. So, when you're destroying, I say you're in a receiving position. So, what they, some sports psychologists and coaches, call the anabolic window—that's our growth window when we want to pull in nutrients. So, yes, you may be hungry. Most of us are. The best thing to do is actually pull in a liquid. They've done studies, Rutgers University did a study for 2:1 carbs to protein ratio is up to 4:1 carb to protein ratio. You're really looking to replace your glycogen or carbohydrate stores within the muscle to one, create and repair muscle; also to bandage up the muscle; but then, actually get you ready for your next workout and to progress on your day. Because the food helps the muscle grow. We think that  lifting more gets that muscle big, strong and growing, but if you don't feed it right, it's not going to grow right.

FRIEDMAN:  That makes sense.

CARDIELLO:  That window of opportunity is about 30 minutes after you work out. You really have to get a liquid based carb, higher carb…

FRIEDMAN:  So, when you say liquid, do you mean like a protein smoothie or do you mean just water?

CARDIELLO:  No. Well, if you think about it, water's great, but you should have something placed in. Because, again, water is hydrating, but you need those nutrients. You need to replenish. You have that window of opportunity. Plus, too, doctor, when you take in nutrients or calories after, what's going to happen is that in an hour or two later, you're not going to have that gorging appetite where you feel like you can eat a whole food truck. It's going to help sustain your blood sugar levels, but it's also going to decrease that craving for food a few hours later.

FRIEDMAN:  Got it. So, fruit juice, probably not the best thing. Too much sugar after a workout?

CARDIELLO: Well, exactly. But, what I like to do sometimes is, I may put a Greek yogurt in, mix it in with whole fruit—not fruit juice—whole fruit because the sugar. We're talking about natural fruit versus added in. So, we're looking to get in something that's going to keep our blood sugar levels consistent after the work out.

FRIEDMAN:  Got it. That makes sense. Then, for snacks, if they're hungry 20-30 minutes, an hour later. Would you recommend, then, is almonds one of your picks?

CARDIELLO:  Almonds is a great choice. It's alkaline based. It's a great nutrient dense nut and then, also, too, I like snacking on a fruit that is especially…If someone has a sweet tooth, what they could do is, I like storing fruit in the freezer, putting it in a Ziploc bag. Then, if I'm driving home from the gym, maybe you get stuck in traffic, you feel like you're eating hard candy which is a great snack because it's going to slow the process down just throwing in a fruit and not worrying about eating so much of it.

FRIEDMAN:  That's a good tip.

CARDIELLO:  You know, a grape? It acts like hard candy.

FRIEDMAN:  Oh, and, I've had frozen grapes. You're very right. You feel like you're having candy. It's actually like a dessert versus just fruits because if you really freeze those grapes, it actually melts. It's almost like a sorbet.

CARDIELLO:  Exactly.

FRIEDMAN:  So, that's a good point. Yes. Fantastic. That's great information, Jay. That's fantastic stuff that you covered in short amount of time. So, hopefully, people took a lot of good notes.

MELANIE:  I hope they did, too. Thanks, Jay, for such great information.

To learn more  about Jay Cardiello or to purchase his book, Cardio Core 4 X 4 Fitness, go to CardielloFitness.com. That's CardielloFitness.com. He also has DVDs, meal plans, and recipes available to help you get healthy and into shape.

Remember, if you missed any of the great information, you can listen any time on demand or on the go at ToYourGoodHealthRadio.com. You can follow Dr. David Friedman on Twitter @DavidFriedman.

This is Melanie Cole with Dr. Friedman.

As always, having fun here. Remember to stay tuned and stay well.

[END OF RECORDING]