TVAD_Transcript_Ep 10_Chalene Johnson
JJ Virgin: [00:00:00] I have such a treat for you today. I have someone who I’ve known for years and I have huge respect for it. And it turns out that we independently have been like of. Playing around with the same concept, which we’re going to be talking about today, which is really all about taking personal responsibility for your diet, really how you dial in what’s right for you.
And how to know that. And plus, we’re going to be kind of pulling back the curtain on the whole fitness and nutrition industry. What are some of the challenges with it? So I have the perfect person to be doing this. I have Chalene Johnson with me. And I just have so much fun with her every time I’m with her.
And I’m very excited to be sharing this with you. So if you have not heard of Chalene and I’m sure you have, she’s the New York times bestselling author of Push she’s a lifestyle and business expert, motivational speaker, podcast host, and she and her husband, Brett. Are the founders [00:01:00] of SmartLife movement.
Now you may know her from her Beachbody infomercials. She’s done so many fitness videos over the years. She also does has online academies, membership sites sold out seminars, but what’s really exciting, fun, and new is that she has put together. The 131 Method and her new book, the 131 Method book.
And I am just like, I didn’t know what was really going on with it until we started talking on this podcast. And I’m just kind of flabbergasted because I have found my soul sister. That’s all I have to say. You’ll, you’ll get it. When you start to hear this Podcast and I want to let you know, she has put together the most awesome, amazing gift for you at JJvirgin.com/Chalene, C H a L E N E. You’re going to want to grab this. I’ll let her tell you all about it, but if you like to eat, if you like recipes, if you like cooking, but you want it easy, she has got you covered. So you’re going to want to [00:02:00] grab that now. I am crazy about this title of this.
Every podcast. I do a shout out to someone who’s left review and this title just kills me. So here’s the title and this is from Andy Schultz. My dogs chiropractor changed my life. Okay. Like how could you not want to, I was like, look at this and I went huh? And it’s a five-star review on apple podcasts. It says face-to-face with my dogs, chiropractor.
I found out about JJ and the Virgin diet. My knees were in terrible pain with arthritis and my brain fog interrupted my thoughts throughout our conversation in his adjustments. She strongly suggested I go, gluten-free get your book and read it. Not just look at the diet. I’ve been following the guidelines for a couple of months and feel immensely better.
I’m only 57 and have osteoporosis and osteopenia, I’ve just discovered a podcast and one directly about bono. Thank you, JJ, for my 11 pound weight loss, clear head, better health and a new outlook on life. And I’m looking forward to seeing my [00:03:00] next bone density test results too. Awesome. I love that. And I love that title and I just so appreciate you leaving.
And by the way, I’d love to shout you out too. So all you have to do is jump on over to iTunes while you’re there. Of course be sure to subscribe. And I would love to shout you out as my favorite review of the week. Now, before we dive into this amazing interview with my buddy Chalene, I want to share another favorite with you.
Alright. Chalene it’s about time. You got on the show, so great to be here. Thank you so much, JJ. I know why I thought, I thought you’d actually had already been on a couple times, so I don’t know quite how
Chalene Johnson: we talk. We were talking on a podcast or
JJ Virgin: were we just talking oh my gosh anyway, I’m happy. You’re here. For everyone, we are going to be, we’re going to be bringing up some controversial step, but let’s not start there.
Let’s [00:04:00] even though it’s very tempting to, let’s kind of go back a bit, like how long have you been at the whole fitness health, nutrition thing?
Chalene Johnson: Oh, that’s a good question. Quite by accident, 25 years. Twenty-five years, you know,
JJ Virgin: it’s so funny. I don’t know if you know this, so I know you got your start way back then, and then you started doing some stuff with beach body, and one of the founders of beach body actually was my college boyfriend’s roommate.
I mean, it’s just so I like my memory. John. Oh, John, he’s so fun. It’s so funny. So I was like, go, I was watching this whole thing going, oh my gosh. I cannot believe what these guys are building. It’s so good. It’s crazy crier. Did you get your start with beach body or were you doing something? No.
Chalene Johnson: Yeah, we initially my husband and I started a certification company in 1998, I believe.
And we started certifying fitness instructor. So I started in fitness at age 18, started teaching fitness classes. As a hobby I was planning on going to law [00:05:00] school
JJ Virgin: well, but it wasn’t like I saw that you went off to study law, but I started teaching when I was, I started teaching calisthenics. Cause I’m a little older than you.
And there was, there was no aerobics. No, there wasn’t even aerobics yet. Oh, my first. First it was calisthenics and there was Jazzercise then came aerobics and leg warmers. And I think you were probably post leg warmers where you, which is so sad.
Chalene Johnson: Legwarmers were just about that time. But it’s interesting.
You mentioned Jazzercise because that’s really what I built my first business. Looking at their model. I started teaching fitness classes and realizing like, this is a losing proposition. You spend several hours creating these workouts with perfectly timed music and sound effects and you know, well choreographed moves and the appropriate warm-up and the appropriate cool-down you’d spend hours and hours and hours.
Minimum wage for an hour. And you
JJ Virgin: had to buy your own music and your workout clothes and everything else. Like total total definitely a
Chalene Johnson: labor of love. No one does that initially to make money. And [00:06:00] so I just was like, okay, I’ve got this really cool. I’ve done all the work. And the class is really popular.
It’s resonating with people. I should just offer this. Sell it to other fitness instructors. And it took off by word of mouth and eventually just in our local area. And then it started to spread into surrounding states. And by the time we had sold our first business we were in, we had 60,000 fitness instructors across the globe and something like, I don’t know, 20 different countries.
And we had certified hundreds of thousands of instructors and we created an apparel line that caught the attention of. Infomercial companies, because at our height was about the time. I’m sure your listeners will recall the Tae Bo craze. So all the infomercial companies were on the hunt for the next fitness program that they could bring to consumers.
JJ Virgin: All right. So they found you, yeah, they
Chalene Johnson: found me and, and, and, you know, by the way, I never had intended. To be [00:07:00] in fitness. I hadn’t studied fitness or nutrition. I just used it to keep myself in shape and solved a problem for people. And because it wasn’t because I was super knowledgable that I was successful.
I was, I think I was successful because I could relate to, I almost
JJ Virgin: wonder though, is that, were you successful in what you were able to do because you weren’t coming from, you know, this place, like I was in graduate school in fitness and everything was fitness, fitness, fitness. And you came from the outside and looked at it much more of a, how do I solve this problem on much bigger scale where the rest of us were like in the.
I think that might
Chalene Johnson: be true. Cause I definitely, there was definitely a silliness to my workout. So I was like, oh, we can’t take it so seriously, you know? Oh, so we did eight counts on the right and seven on the left. No one’s going to die. You know? And so it, it did, it just really resonated with people. But.
Kind of felt like an imposter, you know? So when I had, especially when I had incredible success,
JJ Virgin: you’re like a I’ll tell you, everyone feels [00:08:00] that way though. Chalene. I remember when I was on Dr. Phil, I kept waiting for them to, when I drive up to a lot, I kept going, someone is going to tell me.
Get off the slot right now, missy. You know, like you don’t know what you’re doing. Right. So I think it’s pretty common us feeling that way. So you like had this whole breakout thing, you had such a fun approach to, you know, like great personality then, like when did you start getting into the nutrition side of things?
Chalene Johnson: Well you know, it kind of relates to that imposter syndrome. So I I didn’t know much about diet nutrition. I repeated what I heard everyone else. You know, as I think most today is influencers do it’s my, my issue with fitness influencers of which I was one,
JJ Virgin: but don’t you think don’t you think? And I’m sorry, just jumped in here.
I’m like, don’t you think that what I saw back when I was a personal trainer was zero nutrition knowledge back then. And I was reading shape magazine to try to get some nutrition knowledge. And was that the minute you’re a fitness person, they [00:09:00] assume. That you must know nutrition, right?
Chalene Johnson: Yeah. You’re absolutely right.
And thank you for making me feel a little better about that because, but I also feel like it’s almost an excuse because I had a responsibility. So the very first program I ever created, I remember sitting down with the, the lead nutritionist and him saying, so what’s the nutrition program that you have people losing all this, you know, I had this big book of before and afters for people who have been doing my workouts.
And he said, well, what’s the nutrition plan you have them following. I don’t have one. And he said, well, we need to create one. What are your ideals? What, what do you believe? You know, what, what is it you’re teaching people. I’m like, I guess I’ve never figured that out. And literally, I just kind of regurgitated what I was hearing and reading on magazines when I was hearing other better known fitness and health and nutrition people saying, but I never, I never understood the responsibility I had
to look into it, to, to, to educate myself, to look at research, to ask [00:10:00] who says, and why, why do we believe this is true? And so I got really caught up in that myself and meanwhile, I was because I, I always felt like, gosh, I, you know, I’m five two. If I gain two pounds, it looks like 20. I never felt like I was supposed to be there.
I didn’t have the abs of these tall statuesque, beaut, beautiful bodied, super lean. So lean. You can see their outline of their liver. I didn’t have that physique. And I was so afraid of gaining even a pound. Like I was happy with my body. I never had body issues until I started doing consumer videos. Cause that’s a pretty horrific experience.
And I was so paranoid that if I gained five pounds, I would be without a job, I would be without influence. People would find out that I just slowly just trying to maintain, started eating less and eating less and eating less and exercising more and exercising more and exercising more to the point where.
You know, I was exercising like probably three hours a day, very small amount of food. Any protein [00:11:00] bar protein, shake protein cookie know if it said low fat, high protein, I was buying it. And when was this cheese all the way up until probably 2000 and I would say, oh, probably 2011. Yeah, yeah, probably 2011.
And it was at that time, I was I was about to film a new fitness infomercial and my husband got a call from. The producer we have was like, why are they calling you? I mean, I’m, I’m the one like working on the choreography what are they calling you for it? He came home and just said this is really uncomfortable for me to tell you, but they would like for you to lose some weight and get leaner for your next program.
And I mean, I can, it still makes my face turn red. Like I was, I was. Oh, you remember your fear of driving into the parking lot at Dr. Phil and them stopping you? That was, I just had got stopped in the parking lot. That’s what it felt like. And [00:12:00] I I was embarrassed. I was ashamed. I felt like, oh, now everyone knows.
And also, meanwhile, I also knew I was living a lie because here I am selling these programs to people and saying, you can get these results in 30 minutes a day. Now I wasn’t lying about them. I believed other people could do it. I just. That’s just not true for me. Like I, if I were down for 30 minutes a day or eight follow this meal plan and I gained 20 pounds
cause I had destroyed my metabolism. I know
JJ Virgin: I was just going to ask you at what point did all of a sudden you go, something’s got to change here. Cause this isn’t working.
Chalene Johnson: It was that it was that video series. Like, and people always try to figure out which one it is, don’t bother, but I’ll tell you this.
I lost like, oh, I think just five, six pounds enough. And that, you know, again, when you’re short, that looks like.
JJ Virgin: You’re always wearing those big, huge. I remember, I think we did something, a video together where we stuck you in your big high shoes on an apple box.[00:13:00]
I know the positive, like if I lose five pounds, you can’t tell you lose five pounds. Yeah.
Chalene Johnson: So when you’re doing videos, you and I want to just preface this by saying I didn’t have to do anything. It was suggested that I do that. No one, you know, held me down and said, you’ve got to do this, but because my metabolism was thrashed because I was already eating very little and I thought I was eating clean.
I had no choice, but to exercise more. So I upped my workouts. So like four hours a day. And do you want it? This is, I have to be honest because there’s no other thing to be, but to prepare for that video I ate sugar-free Jello. I drank diet Coke and I ate air popcorn.
JJ Virgin: Yeah. Maybe with some butter buds.
Yeah. I still remember all but 77. Yeah. Alba 77. And like diet sodas, diet, jello. All of a sudden you realize you just spent, like, I don’t know how much money and there’s no actual real. [00:14:00] Right. You know, what’s crazy. I look back at the time when I was working out, like I would work out four to six hours a day eat.
I was eating almost no fat, all fat free. And I am leaner, fitter healthier now than, you know, working out a quarter of whatever used to work out and eating.
Chalene Johnson: Cause I just saw
JJ Virgin: you just saw each other and you looked fabulous. So I think this is an important thing for anyone listening, going, oh my gosh, I’ve done that too.
Is like, you can totally damage your metabolism and you can turn it around. But that whole idea that your body’s a bank account and you need to do more working out, eating less. Oh my gosh. It does not work because your body is not a bank account, so. All right. So you had this epiphany, so what the heck did you do.
Well,
Chalene Johnson: shortly after I finished filming that I was destroyed. I I went to the doctor thinking there was something wrong with me. I couldn’t think I had my stomach was bloated. I like could gain a pound just, I could gain five [00:15:00] pounds just by looking at healthy food. And so I went to the doctor and he said, well, you know, hate to break it to you, but this is called you’re entering menopause.
I’m like, I just, I don’t think that’s it. So I went ahead and nutrition panel done. I had my hormone levels tested and I had my brain scanned. I went to the amen clinic as well. And I basically got a failing health grade. And even though I looked leaner than I’d ever been, I was smaller. I was getting praised like crazy in social media, which is just the BS cycle of all this.
And it just kills me that there’s so many people, you know, hashtag goals over people’s bodies on in social media. And you just don’t know how unhealthy they are. I mean I was on the fast track for. First of all at auto immune disease and Alzheimer’s,
JJ Virgin: this is why we have to be so like, we really need to look at health in such a different way.
And I saw it back when I was, I used to, when I was a personal trainer, trained people down at Gold’s gym in [00:16:00] Venice, and what people would do to get to these crazy unrealistic bodies was I was like, oh, ya know. The other thing it’s like, we’ve got to show it real bodies look like real women’s bodies have body fat it’s if you don’t have body fat you’re not a woman, you know, that’s part of what we have.
We have curves. It’s a good thing. Pretty, and I hope it
Chalene Johnson: changes. Gosh, it has to change. I sat there. It was like, literally that. It wasn’t a gradual thing. It was like that the day I got my results, I don’t cry. I’m a, you know, I’m always a happy person. I went and sat in my car and I cried and cried and cried because I, the thought of my children having to take care of my personal hygiene, like them, me being in a state of dementia and not being able to care for myself, like 20 years earlier than I should have, because of things I did.
I did in the name of health, just it, it was them. It was like, they became my why. And the very next day I, I [00:17:00] gave up most of my fitness classes and I said, okay guys, I’m stepping away from the business. I’m going to, if I’ve done this to me, and I’m a health and fitness expert, what have I led the others who followed me?
What, where have I led them? So let me heal myself, let me get the answers. And then I’m going to share what I find out, no matter who it pisses.
JJ Virgin: So, what did you find out
Chalene Johnson: a lot. You know, first of all, I had to learn about my metabolism. If I could summarize it, I would say this, I. That no one thing works for all of us.
Oh,
JJ Virgin: amen. Amen. I am so sick of, you know, I do an event every year and what I’m really proud of is I bring 500 doctors and health experts together and we’ve got plant-based keto, paleo, you know, intermittent, they all together, and they all get along. They all get together. And it’s like the idea that there’s one size fits all diet just it’s like.
It’s the most ridiculous concept ever, or that there’s one diet that’s going to work for you for your whole life. [00:18:00] You know, especially when it
Chalene Johnson: was hard for me to understand. Cause I’m like, but wait. This does work for a fill in the blank. This particular way of eating does work for a lot of people for a long period of time.
So what’s going on there. And then it was just doing my research and really understanding that we were meant to cycle like we, for whatever reason, we’ve accepted that for a really long time when it comes to fitness. But if you just look at. Biologically, how we were designed. And you think about nutritional availability of resources.
You know, our ancestors didn’t have the same available resources and nutrients in the summer that they did in the winter and their diets changed. And we were we’re meant to cycle. Everything happens in cycles. Everything happens in phases, phases of the moon phases of our hormones cycles of life cycles of plants like and why.
So why aren’t we doing that? So it was a couple things. It was learning that our epigenetics, you know, your age, [00:19:00] how much you exercise your metabolic flexibility and just how your body works.
JJ Virgin: I’m getting the biggest girl crush on you. You’re saying all my favorite words.
Chalene Johnson: You had this figured out long before everybody else.
JJ Virgin: And so I got, so like everybody thought I was crazy. Well, I was just, I was just a trainer and I went, wow, I’m making people work out a ton and starving them and it’s not working. So what what’s going on, you know, I mean, it’s just like when you really pay attention, just like you were looking at this going, oh, And this doesn’t work.
And you know, then as you start to dig into it and go, all right, just like what you said, metabolic flexibility. We would never, like, I still remember that I was teaching this class to doctors and I was teaching them to have breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and the snack. And one of them goes, why are you, why, why, why all that?
And I go, it was because I was on Dr. Phil at the time and it was. And I go, oh my gosh, I’m getting my nutrition advice from like, hello, you [00:20:00] know? And then let’s really look just like you said, a thousand years ago, there was no breakfast, snack lunch, snack, dinner, snack, snack snack. I just saw this thing.
They had they queried like 10 top nutritionists about what snack they have after dinner. And literally on was saying, you know, I got to fuel myself for the night. I’m like, what are you doing at night? Like, are you going out to a nightclub all night? Cause unless you’re doing that, I don’t know what you’re, what are you fueling for?
Chalene Johnson: You know, we are hungry because we’ve been the way that we’ve been consuming our food. The, the amount, what, not the amount of calories, but the types of food that we’re eating, have an effect on our hunger. And so we’re walking around with broker broken hunger hormones. And so, you know, for me, it was really like, okay, okay.
So here’s the. JJ. And I know, you know, this is that the majority of the population has been brainwashed to believe that they’re not smart enough to figure out how to do what works for. They can’t be trusted. They’re going to fail. Just [00:21:00] tell me what to do. Tell me what to do. Tell me what to eat. Tell me what to eat.
So the struggle in creating the 131 Method was that, and we really did struggle for the first year when we started testing this, we tested it eventually with a thousand, 2020 5,000 people, until we could figure out how to get people, how to give them the structure that they need. To create their own approach.
Because even if you give people all the information, it’s still too scary to create their own approach. They think they’re going to get it wrong because that’s their only experience because people fail on diets. So they think, well, if I create my own. That means I’m left to my own devices and
JJ Virgin: what if you’re failing on a diet because diets aren’t actually meant to be, see, I believe we need two different words for diet.
This is where the main problem comes in. You know how Eskimos have, like, I don’t know, a hundred words for snow. I think we have the short-term therapeutic thing that we do that we learned something like which foods work for you when should you eat? And then we have the way we eat and. The way we eat will change, you know, depending on what’s going on, just like you said, your [00:22:00] epigenetics and your goals, but you know, you find out these things, you go, oh, you know what?
I do better when I don’t have gluten or, or I do better when I eat breakfast or I’ll do better doing a, you know, a Sunday fast, you know, you just learn that stuff about you. But it doesn’t mean it’s forever. What if you get like you get a brain injury, Hey, you’re going to have to shift some things while you’re healing from that or you have surgery, or you’re under trauma, you know, a mess of stress.
So I know it’s, it is a wrestle. It’s your won
Chalene Johnson: approach. It’s your own method. And so what I do in the book is try to teach people well, we do teach people how they’re creating their own structure, their methods, you know, and, and I think. I, if I, if I can just talk to any other fitness, nutrition, fitness, influencer, nutrition, influencer, a social media influencer who’s listening is I just wish we would stop being so dogmatic and like waving a flag for a particular style of eating.
Cause you know, 10 years from now, you’re going to be saying, waving a different [00:23:00] flag. So why don’t we just say, this is what we know right now. And based on my personal experience, this is what I’m recommending, as opposed to just people hanging the flag out front that they’re Keto or they’re paleo, or they’re fighting and fighting each other.
Like let’s just figure, how about we all learn a little bit more about our bodies than what we learned in high school, understand how it works and understand how to tweak it and adjust it just the same way a doctor adjust medication. We can do that with our food.
JJ Virgin: Amen. And then you learn how to connect the dots and you actually pay attention to how you feel when you’re eating right.
And go yeah. You know, motivating. Yeah. Because then all of a sudden you’re not going to go do that silly thing. Cause you know how it made you feel and you’re smart and you learn to trust yourself. So I am like, I knew we were going to be on the same page with all this stuff. And I think that is the big takeaway.
Here is you are putting the power back into. Into everyone’s hands. We’ve got to take personal responsibility for [00:24:00] our health. We really are.
Chalene Johnson: You can, you can do it with grace and you, there’s no failing, you know, you’re on a continuum, a journey. It’s not a, that’s another thing I wish you would take out of our, yeah.
Our language is I’m on a diet or off a diet or I failed or I messed up you know, while I was. Can I start this after my vacation? It’s health, can you start health after your vacation. No, you need to be healthy every day. It’s a continuum. You’re going to have days that are better than others. It’s like parenting.
You don’t go. Whoa, man. I really messed up parenting. So I’m going to parent. I have to start parenting these kids again after
JJ Virgin: vacation for a while. We’ll just leave them at home. You know, clearly you’re
Chalene Johnson: alive. You got to take care of your kids. Gotta take care of you and stop thinking of it as a all or nothing, fail or succeed.
It’s it’s just a journey and a journey we’re all able to get. Well,
JJ Virgin: I am super excited because first off I love everything I’m hearing. I’m so there with you, this is where [00:25:00] I’m hoping within the next five years. It’s actually what my final, when I do find like my, literary agent keeps going. When’s the next book I got, I got one more and it’s all around this.
One more. I only it’s like, that’s a type of one more, but it’s all around this concept. And I love this. I love that you’ve written this book, the 131 Method and what I’m super excited about cause I know that our community loves. Recipes, and I love the way you’ve approached cooking too. Just like you have with, with your program in that you’ve got kind of something for everybody in your cooking collective.
So we are giving away the most awesome, cool thing. This is, so when you told me about it offline, I’m like, you’re giving this, like you’re giving this. And so you’re going to be able to get this at JJvirgin.com/Chalene. And that is spelled C H a. L E N E C H a L E N E Chalene. And it is, [00:26:00] oh, I’m going to let you tell about it, but just you, you, people who cook and like to.
They’ll love this. Oh my goodness.
Chalene Johnson: This really should be a TV program. Maybe it’s really great. It’s, it’s a, it’s like a cooking academy if you will, but you’ve got three different chefs, Brett, who is my husband and I am not responsible for anything he says on camera. He is a loose cannon. You’ve been warned then there’s Erin.
And she’s just, you know, a celebrity chef. She’s been creating recipes for many of the top nutrition programs that you’ve seen online. And she’s a mom of three. And then Ashley is a young mom who, who all of her recipes are, you know, crockpot based will last you the whole week. And they all have a different style.
They all have a little different approach to their nutrition. So there’s tons of really cool, easy to follow recipes, and they’re guiding you through them on video. So they’re, they’re, time-saving, they’ve got tons of tips in there even like prep, tips, and different gadgets to use in the kitchen. And they’re super entertaining and easy.
To make recipes for breakfast,
JJ Virgin: lunch, and dinner. Ah! You said the [00:27:00] important thing. What would that be easy? I have easy. I have not yet met anyone who says, you know what, JJ, could you get some really complicated recipes that are going to take all day in the kitchen? That would be awesome. Thank you so much.
That just never happened. So that’s fantastic. I love it. So again, you can get that at jjvirgin.com/Chalene. C H a L E N E. And oh my gosh. Thank you so much. We are bringing you back on. We, I want to go, I really want to go deeper in this cause I, what, what you don’t know is that I’ve actually been messing with this.
Now. This has been my last year and a half of messing with him, messing with messing with, and I’m like going, oh my gosh. Someone on the same. I be dipped into fasting. I, yes, fasting intermittent fasting. I, by our buddy. Do you know Dr. Joe Mercola?
Chalene Johnson: No. Oh, wait Dr. Mercola yeah.
JJ Virgin: So Joe, oh, Joe is a sweetheart.
You got to know him and put him on your podcast. [00:28:00] He wrote a book keto fast, and it is the most genius thing about fasting all the latest research cause. He’s an obsessive researcher. So I think some of the most exciting things, once you are metabolically flexible, because if you’re not metabolically flexible and you try this, you’re going to fail and then beat yourself up.
And we don’t do that. You got to realize if you try something. And it doesn’t work. Then you got to go back and go, Hmm. Why didn’t, why didn’t this work? Did this not work? Because maybe this isn’t the right thing for me. Or maybe I’m not metabolically flexible or may, you know? So, so there’s all sorts of things.
That’s just information. It’s just a problem. If you keep repeating it over and over again and not learning, but the first, like these things are information and they’re really important. Anyway, we will. Let’s like, let’s go do some more deep diving on this. It will be super fun in the meanwhile, get the cooking collective that she is giving you.
That’s so cool. And thank you so much for being on the podcast. This has been my honor. I love you, JJ. Thank you. Now, after the break, I’ll be answering a listener’s question. [00:29:00] So stay with me.
Welcome back. This is the time where I answer a listener’s question. You know, I love to talk about figuring out which foods work for you and which foods don’t. And so I had someone jump on the other day and said, I keep hearing about gluten and dairy and all the problems with them, but how do I really know if they’re bad for me or not?
And, you know, I love the question and there’s a variety of different ways that you can. And I’m going to tell you a couple of the different ones. Now you heard the interview today and I’m sure you kind of gathered from that, that we are on that page of like, I think that you should use your own body as your own personal chemistry lab and test foods yourself.
So what I really like to have people do. Is pull out the foods that are the most likely culprits of food intolerance and those are gluten dairy, eggs, corn, soy peanuts, and then sugar and artificial sweeteners, because they actually can create food intolerance [00:30:00] by creating leaky gut. I like you to pull those foods out, give your body a little detox and reset, and then go back and connect the dots and try to food one by.
And see how you feel because ultimately that’s the most powerful thing at all. And, and we talked today about getting disconnected from your body where you’re like going, you keep doing the same thing, even though it doesn’t make you feel good, your body’s not working well, you can’t think straight. And that’s why I want you to really say, gosh, how do I feel when I eat these things?
How do I feel? You know, how’s my energy. How’s my, how’s my belly. How’s my focus. How’s my inflammation. Because if someone says, oh no, this is totally fine for you to eat. It looks fine on the testing, but you eat it and you feel crappy. Well, hello, don’t eat it. And so I personally like to do that. If you’ve got outlier foods that you don’t work for you, this is where testing can come into play.
And there’s a couple different ways you can look at testing. [00:31:00] Obviously there’s genetic testing for things like gluten celiac disease, fructose, and lactose intolerance. Then there’s food sensitivity testing. Now you can’t look at gluten that way, but you can look at wheat that way. And then you can look at all the different food proteins that way.
Then there’s other types of gluten intolerance testing. So you can look at all that. And I really especially like this for looking at, if you go through and you pull out the most basic foods that people tend to be intolerant to. And you’re not feeling remarkably better, then it’s time to go to the next level and really see if you’ve got outlier foods you may not know about, or maybe you have something going on with your gut microbiome that you need to heal.
Right. Dig deeper. And that’s an important thing. If you’re not feeling better, as you start to make some shifts or something you’re doing is making you feel worse. Use that information. That’s not a, oh, you fail. That’s a, oh, here’s really valuable information. That’s going to help you figure out what you [00:32:00] need to do.
So your body is communicating to it. You listen to it and have your body, you know, have that information means something, figure out what you should do. Alright, thank you so much for tuning in today. I want to remind you again, to go to JJvirgin.com/Chalene to grab that crazy, amazing gift she’s given you all her cooking collective.
I love the, like, when she explained to me, I’m like, okay, so how much. She’s like, oh no, it’s free. I’m like what? So super excited about all that. And I am going to dive in and go do a fun Instagram with Chalene, and that’s why I really hope you are dialed into my Instagram JJ.Virgin and my Facebook at JJ Virgin official so that you can check out all these fun lives.
All right. See ya!