Type-1 diabetic (How to lose weight & reduce insulin)

written by Nina Shantel, blog: RealDietHelp.com, published June 28, 2022

To lose weight as a Type-1 diabetic, there are two strategies that you will want to implement for quick and permanent weight loss, which, also, will improve your overall health.

Strategy 1 – Reduce insulin

Reducing insulin is essential for weight loss because insulin pushes fat into cells, the more insulin we produce or take in the form of a pill or liquid injection, the fatter we become. Reducing insulin is accomplished by eating certain foods (and these may surprise you), limiting particular foods, and avoiding specific foods. You can reduce insulin with diet.

Keep reading or scroll down to watch the YouTube video at the end of this post

I was watching a YouTube TED talk with a woman who explained that she manages her blood sugar and reduced her insulin needs by running marathons and eating a high fat, low carbohydrate, moderate protein, animal flesh-based ketogenic diet.

I had no intention of running marathons, but I wanted to take less medication. What I really wanted to know was how much insulin she was taking. She revealed that she administers 30 units of insulin a day. I was shocked! She was eating no more than 50 grams of carbohydrates per day (which is hardly anything) and has to take that much insulin! Currently, I can eat over 300 grams of carbohydrates and inject less than 30 grams of insulin, so her diet didn’t seem very effective to me.

At that time, I was eating a low oil, vegan ketogenic diet, but I was experiencing new complications, such as brain fog, limited circulation, and debilitating pain and swelling in my fingers and toes. I didn’t have these symptoms when I was eating a dairy-free standard American Diet, or when I was eating a vegan diet, so I figured the painful symptoms were caused by the excess fat from the excessive consumption of nuts, seeds, and coconut I was eating on a daily basis; this prompted my search for better diet options, suited for Type-1 diabetics.

I came across an interview with two fit-looking men who lifted weights, exercised a lot, and are both Type-1 diabetics, which resonated with me. They co-wrote a book titled “Mastering Diabetes.” They explained that they were both eating low carb, ketogenic diets and found their insulin resistance progressing and their blood sugars rising even though they weren’t eating more carbs. My blood sugars were rising, and my insulin resistance was getting worse as I continued eating a ketogenic diet too. I had to keep lowering my carb intake because my blood sugars kept going up.

These two men explained, one is a doctor, that fat, not carbs, cause insulin resistance.

If total fat intake exceeds 10% of one’s daily intake, the fat you eat goes into the cells first, which makes it harder for glucose to enter the cells. The more fat you eat, more insulin is needed.

Once you cut down the fat, you can increase fruits and starchy vegetables.

I was very worried about high blood sugars and weight gain if I dove right into adding a lot more carbs, so the first thing I did was lower my fats: no oils, no animal products, which contain saturated and trans fats; no coconut, limited guacamole and chocolate, and no more than an ounce of nuts and seeds a day.

I added more beans right off the bat since beans have a glucose lowering effect, gradually increased fruits, then potatoes, and lastly, added whole grains like quinoa and oat groats to my daily diet.

I can eat 300 grams from fruit, starchy vegetables, and legumes now with less than 30 units of insulin a day. Remember that TED talk? She was eating under 50 grams of carbs a day with her high fat ketogenic diet and was injecting more insulin than I do.  I can eat 10 times as many carbohydrates on my low-fat diet and administer less insulin than her.

I’d rather eat carbs than fat. In addition to losing the excess weight, my brain fog went away after switching from a ketogenic diet to a low-carb, plant-based diet. I no longer have pain in my fingers and toes. My circulation has improved, and my total cholesterol went from a high of 201 to a healthy 148.

Carbohydrates can be problematic if the carbs are in the form of sugar, such as sucrose, which is commonly referred to as table sugar. Other processed foods to avoid are flour, pasta, bread, soda, chips and/or French fries. Once you limit processed foods, lower fat intake, and add exercise, you can eat fruit, whole grains, corn, potatoes, beans, peas, and lentils. The combination of a low-fat, plant-based diet and exercise will increase insulin sensitivity and reduce insulin needs.

A low-fat diet is one where you limit total fats to 10% of your daily calories. If you eat 2000 calories a day, which is actually too high for most people, 200 calories of fat is your limit. 2000 calories x 10% = 200 calories.

In order to really understand how much fat is in the foods you eat, and how much are in the foods you eat regularly, you’ll want to keep a food diary for a few weeks and plug in the foods and amount of foods (ex: 1 banana, ½ cup rice, 1 ounce of walnuts) into an app. An easy app, that’s free is http://www.cronometer.com

Strategy 2 – Exercise

Certain exercises lower blood sugars more than others and burn more calories. How often you exercise and how long you exercise will make a difference in how much insulin you must administer, so exercise can have a double weight loss effect, if consistent and strategic.

Exercise can lower blood sugar, requiring less insulin, but it depends on duration and intensity. You want your heart rate elevated high enough so that your muscles will uptake circulating blood sugars, but not so high that too much cortisol is released, which will increase blood sugar levels.

What you want to aim for is 30-60 minutes of low-impact cardio after a meal or when your blood sugar is high, that’s challenging enough to make you sweat and feel energized. If your blood sugar is high, you may not feel well and exercise may be the last thing you want to do, so planning your workout schedule is a better idea.

In addition to cardiovascular exercise, like brisk walks, swimming, dancing, and cycling, as examples, you also want to include 30-60 minutes of strength training, with any combination of weights, resistance bands, and bodyweight training, like squats and push-ups, three times a week with minimal breaks to keep your heart rate up.

I typically recommend eating a snack like a banana, or a small meal, ranging from 300-500 calories, to fuel a workout. This pre-workout meal should be low in fat and fiber and contain no dairy products to prevent stomach cramps.

By doing at least 30 minutes of cardio daily and adding resistance training three times a week, will burn more calories, not just during your workout, but after, which should reduce your insulin needs and reduce your bodyfat, as long as a low-fat, plant-based vegan diet plan is also followed.

If this post is located on any other website other than mine, which is RealDietHelp.com, it’s been unauthorized, plagiarized (copied without my permission). The other social media sites where my articles and videos are approved to be published are on my YouTube channel (Nina’s Nutrition & Exercise Videos), my Fit Girl Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheHighFiveDiet/ and my Twitter account https://twitter.com/medairyfree

Arguments against going vegan (why I resisted going 100% vegan)

written by Nina Shantel, blog: RealDietHelp.com, published June 21, 2022

Whenever I read articles or saw headlines stating vegans were more likely to be a healthy weight and had much lower rates of diseases, I thought, “no duh!”

All the confident, sun-kissed, fit vegans, doing handstands with ease, traveling the world, spreading love, seeds and goodwill, living pure lives without harming a soul, do think they are better than the rest of us?

Scroll down towards the end of the post if you would prefer to watch the video

Vegans are always pushing their agenda, like it’s a religion, preaching, with their obnoxious slogans like “meat is murder.”

I’ve always cared animals, but what about my health? I’ve heard that grains and beans aren’t good sources of protein and contain anti-nutrients. 

There’s no way I can get enough protein on a vegan diet. I don’t want to be weak and frail.

Besides, being vegan is not a guarantee of good health. We need cholesterol. I eat fish for omega 3s. What about getting enough calcium without taking a supplement or eating dairy products? Don’t I need to eat beef to get enough iron?

Aren’t vegan foods: salads and gross or bland-tasting food? How would I get enough calories?

Myth: Vegan food is bland or disgusting

I didn’t want to give up burgers, fried chicken, and beef stew. Although today, there’s a vegan equivalent to practically every animal product.

“Beyond beef” vegan burgers supposedly taste like meat. They aren’t healthy, but neither are fatty beef burgers.

There are dairy-free coconut and almond yogurts, vegan dark chocolate bars, and vegan sausages at my local supermarket. Those are easy swaps I can make.

Fruit smoothies with almond milk, corn on the cob, sweet potato fries, oatmeal with blueberries and walnuts, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bean burritos, roasted potatoes, spicy black bean soup with tortilla chips, spaghetti, and garlic bread are all vegan. I like those foods.

I’ve eaten at vegan restaurants, where I enjoyed the sweet and sticky mock-chicken, mock-beef and broccoli, and Thai salad with spicy peanut dressing. I even ate a delicious mock-shrimp dish at a Chinese restaurant. Not all my friends or family are open to eating vegan foods, though.

At home, one of my favorite appetizers is an arugula salad with sliced strawberries, chopped apples, topped with crunchy walnuts, drizzled with a tangy balsamic vinegar. I’m trying to eat more meals without any animal protein. While I’m okay with just a salad every now and then, my husband would be hungry, and would grill a steak to eat with the salad.

I found a vegan YouTube channel called Sauce Stache where a male chef shows how to recreate every meat lover’s cravings, from fried “chicken” drumsticks, pepperoni, “steak,” and gooey “cheese” from various fruits, starches or vegetables, mixed with spices and oils. He says you can hardly tell the difference between the vegan version and the original, but he’s overweight and does not look like a vegan.

Myth: You cannot get enough protein on a vegan diet

When my vegan friends tried to push me to be vegan too, I pushed back and said, “I can’t get enough protein on a vegan diet.” They countered with, “you don’t need much protein,” which I didn’t believe.

Why should I question what I’ve believed to be true, and what I’ve eaten my entire life?

It’s good to be skeptical. I know science evolves and new data is released.

I’ve seen muscular vegan male bodybuilders, but they put lots of vegan protein powder in their smoothies. I assume they inject steroids to get that muscular.

I ask myself: Why aren’t I receptive to dissenting opinions and changing my mind? Why am I not open to new ways of thinking of things?

Doctors once thought smoking cigarettes was harmless, a woman’s uterus would drop out if she ran more than two miles, washing hands wasn’t necessary, and that bloodletting helped people heal. How could they have believed those things?

People used to believe the earth was flat.

Moderation is not key. I’ve tried that. It doesn’t work. Moderation made me sick and fat.

I believed my personal fitness trainers who had strong, muscular bodies who ate high animal protein diets who said I needed extra protein and superior protein comes from animal flesh. These trainers said I needed to try harder to lose weight and gain muscle by sticking to baked or grilled meats, but I don’t like baked or grilled meat without lots of BBQ sauce. 

Every few months, when I was at the gym, someone told me of another lean, muscular male body builder who died from a sudden heart attack. Maybe the heart attack was caused from steroids or maybe it was from all the animal fat and cholesterol building up in his veins and blood vessels over the years; maybe all those heart attacks were caused by the combination of high-protein diets and steroid use. They should do a study on that.

Like many bodybuilders, I ignored the RDA guidelines and questioned their recommended protein dietary allowances of .8 grams per kg of bodyweight being adequate (1). That means a woman who weighs 125 pounds only needs 46 grams of protein per day, and a man who weighs 170 pounds only needs to consume 62 grams of protein per day.

I presumed those guidelines were for inactive people who don’t lift weights. I was trying to eat 100 grams of protein, when the RDA, for someone my size and weight of 100 pounds, only requires 36 grams of protein. Isn’t that too low?

In contrast, the FDA asserts that everyone only needs to consume 50 grams of protein per day. Without eating any animal protein, after plugging in the foods I’ve been eating throughout the week, I easily consume 50 grams of protein from beans, fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds (2).

If I wanted more protein, I guess I could add vegan protein powder to my smoothies instead of the beef collagen I was using. (My blog has many vegan protein powder reviews at RealDietHelp.com).

there are some delicious protein powders available now, but they are a processed, unnecessary food

Hard-core vegans like Dr. McDougall says that protein powders are “toxic,” but he doesn’t lift weights or exercise like I do.

I’ve heard that high protein diets can cause kidney disease, but I thought that only applies to people who have poorly functioning kidneys. I recently learned that people with kidney disease are often able to reverse their kidney disease and improve their kidney function by reducing their protein intakes.

I want more muscle and a smaller waist, so my trainer cut my carbs and increased the animal protein. I ended up fatter, my waistline even wider than before.

Why was I believing my trainer and not the FDA? When I was a kid and I asked my mom why, she would say, because I said so. Teachers, churches and employers chastised me for asking questions. Why shouldn’t I question authority? Just because something has been done a certain way, doesn’t mean there isn’t a better way.

True: Going vegan won’t guarantee good health

Becoming vegan is not a guarantee of good health. If I have lots of stress, don’t sleep enough, breathe in mold or toxins, and exercise in an area with lots of pollution, a vegan diet will not fix all my problems.  

If I eat gluten since I have a gluten sensitivity and a leaky gut, just cutting out animal products, won’t be sufficient.

Removing inflammatory foods can resolve a lot of my issues, but, sadly, not all of them.

Eliminating all animal products from my diet won’t improve my health if I keep eating vegan processed foods with oil, sugar, or flavoring chemicals.

Soda, skittles, and tortilla chips are vegan.

Vegan ice cream can have as much sugar and fat as dairy ice cream. I love SoDelicious Mint and Chip ice cream. I need to stop eating that.

Fried foods, GMOs, and conventionally grown plant foods with toxic pesticides give me a stomachache so I avoid those now. Deep fried breaded zucchini is not much healthier than fried chicken, so I stopped frying my food.

Frequent dining at restaurants where portions are oversized, with too much salt,  flour and oil, just makes me gain weight and feel terrible, so I try to eat out just once a week.

The restaurant bean burrito, where the refried beans are fried in lard, which is pig fat, and is wrapped in a high calorie, glutenous flour tortilla makes my blood sugar and the scale go up, so I make burritos and tacos at home now with corn tortillas, canned beans, and a mashed avocado and salsa.

I have yet to find a truly healthy, low-fat vegan restaurant.

Excess fats, even good plant fats from avocados, peanut butter, nuts and seeds, cause me to gain weight, which puts me at an increased disease risk.

There are unhealthy, fat vegans with heart disease. Margarine and butter are both terrible fats to eat so it’s good I don’t eat either of those.

To be a healthy vegan takes more control; I need to focus on whole plant foods that Mother Earth provides us.

When I decided to try a vegan diet and to ensure I was getting sufficient nutrients, I followed Dr. Greger’s daily dozen checklist: 

Myth: We need to eat meat, because we need cholesterol

When people eat animal products, their cholesterol levels go up, no wonder my cholesterol levels were high. If high cholesterol isn’t bad for us, then why do doctors prescribe statins, which are cholesterol lowering drugs in hopes to prevent strokes and heart attacks? We need cholesterol, but our bodies make cholesterol, so we don’t need to add it to our diets.

People promoting certain diets or foods they like to eat, will push misinformation, data they think is true, and/or disinformation, information that they know is false, either because that falsehood makes them money, and/or because they don’t want to change the way they eat. What BBQ restaurant, dairy producer, or beef rancher wants the message out that their product makes people sick?

If I keep listening to views I agree with and ignore opposing views, I believe these view points even more. Isn’t it possible that my current opinion is outdated?

Things once thought of as impossible are possible today.

Myth: We need to eat fish, because we need their omega 3s and DHA

I ate fish because I knew that omega 3s are in fish and I liked baked almond-crusted tilapia with capers over pasta. I always ordered Teriyaki salmon with white rice when I went out for Japanese food, which I thought was a healthy dairy-free option.

I didn’t realize fish get their omega 3’s from the algae they eat, or that plant foods contain omega 3s too. I could eat nori vegetable sushi rolls, or ground flax and chia seeds for omega 3s and DHA.

I didn’t need to eat fish and learned that fish are contaminated with PCBs, chemicals, toxins, and microplastics. All fish contain mercury and cholesterol, so I stopped eating fish.

Yes, fish has cholesterol in it, which I didn’t know. In fact, all animal products contain cholesterol.

Plant foods do NOT contain cholesterol.

Doctors are learning more by looking at past studies to see what they ignored and how flawed hypotheses were made.

Myth: We should eat like those back in the Paleolithic era

I read books and articles that argued to avoid grains and beans and look to paleolithic times when people were healthier and eat what they ate, but in paleo times, people ate beans and grains, and they also ate animal organs, drank animal blood, rarely lived to 40 years old, and had high rates of heart disease.

People who feel better and lost weight on a Paleo or keto diet, initially get healthier because they aren’t consuming wheat and gluten, maybe they were celiac or gluten sensitive and didn’t know it. These diets cut out sugar and flours which are inflammatory and high in calories. When a person lowers calories, even if the diet consists of only Doritos, weight loss and better health outcomes results.

I tried Paleo, Keto, and Whole-30 diets and never lost weight. People I know on these diets have lost weight, but they are still overweight, and they all have high cholesterol levels. These high-protein, high-fat diets increase fat build-up in the body, increase heart disease and overall disease risk, and increase insulin resistance, setting more adults and children up for Type-2 diabetes.

Sadly, I hear too often of people’s parents or grandparents that wanted to lower their blood sugar levels, so they changed from a standard American diet to a ketogenic or a low-carb, high-protein diet. Their blood sugars improved. They lost weight. They had heart attacks or strokes.

I can find a study to support any viewpoint, but studies with few people analyzed over short time frames, like ketogenic diets, are not proof.

To claim a low-fat diet isn’t beneficial when the “low-fat” diet was only slightly lower in fat to the comparison group, is like claiming more exercise is not better when people add only five minutes to their time on a treadmill.

Comparing junk food vegetarians against whole-food meat eaters is not a fair comparison. There are fat vegans.

Myth: Grains and beans are bad because they have anti-nutrients

I used to limit grains and beans because they are carbohydrates and contain anti-nutrients; these phytates protect us against cancer.

I can soak grains and beans to remove most of the phytates; but I don’t have to eat grains or beans if I don’t want to, if I ever decided to become a vegan.

Myth: Soy is bad for you and causes cancer

I stopped drinking soy milk when it was theorized that soy has estrogenic effects, increases estrogen levels and cancer risk. Phytoestrogens are actually protective against cancer, and those who eat more tofu and edamame have a lowered risk of cancer.

Dairy milk, not soy milk, increases estrogen. I still don’t drink soy milk because I prefer coconut milk, hemp milk, and almond milk.

I eat edamame as a snack and have fun making tofu into “salmon” wedges, “chicken” bites, or “cream.” My husband likes pressing tofu and making it into spicy “riblets” or “steaks” with fish-free Worchester sauce on the grill.

Myth: being vegan makes you weak

Vegans are skinny and weak! As opposed to being fat? Eating animal protein doesn’t make muscle or increase strength; exercise increases muscle mass and promotes strength.

Is vegan tennis champion Venus Williams, or vegan football player Colin Kaepernick weak? I didn’t know they were vegan.

There are more professional athletes, and even bodybuilders, going vegan to get shredded, gain muscle and improve their edge in their sport. I didn’t know that.

Myth: We need to drink milk to get enough calcium to protect our bones

I’ve never drank milk because of my severe dairy allergy to milk protein, and avoided dairy my entire life, except for the times that my food was cross contaminated with a dairy product, and yet, have never broken a bone.

When I was in elementary school I fell while roller blading and ended up with a sprain, so if not drinking milk causes weak bones, my wrist should have broken to bits and pieces.

Countries that consume the most dairy, like Finland, have the highest numbers of fractures.

Dairy products contain pus, antibiotics, hormones, harmful bacteria, excess calcium, cholesterol, casein, whey, saturated fat, is acidic, and promotes insulin resistance, obesity, and autoimmune conditions like cancer, Type-1 diabetes, lupus, thyroid diseases and rheumatoid arthritis.

I knew dairy was bad for me, but I was shocked to learn, from reading “The China Study,” that Dr. Campbell, who worked for the NIH (National Institutes of Health), that casein, the main protein in dairy, grows tumors. The more dairy one eats, the more a tumor grows. He was able to shrink tumors by reducing dairy.

Growing up in a farming family, Dr. Campbell ate dairy products and lots of animal meat, so he was shocked to learn that animal protein increases cancer risk too.

Dr. Campbell found, through his research, that animal protein intake exceeding 10% of total calories, increases one’s likeliness of cancer and disease. This is where the 10% of protein and 10% of fat rule a lot of people are promoting came from. The probability of getting sick is directly correlated to how much dairy and animal flesh is eaten.

Myth: We need to eat meat to get enough iron

After a getting a blood test, I found out I was anemic, so I started eating chicken liver and eating more steak, but my iron levels remained low, so I started taking iron pills. My well-educated doctor in nutrition told me to stop the calcium and the iron pills, eliminate all animal proteins, and eat large green, raw salads daily.

He explained that animal products are acidic to humans, so our bodies try to neutralize the acids by releasing calcium from our bones, which makes our bones weaker. Dairy and meat intake make our bones weaker, not stronger!

Green salads contain plenty of iron, which I didn’t initially believe, so if I’m eating too much iron, especially heme iron which is only in animal products, my body will try to create balance, by excreting the excess iron.

After I stopped popping the calcium and iron pills and ditched the animal products, my iron and calcium levels normalized, which is great because now I don’t have to buy those expensive supplements or worry about iron toxic overload.

Vitamins and supplements are not without risks and are considered over-the-counter drugs.

Myth: There is nothing we can do to save the planet

I’ve been frustrated with government’s inaction in helping people live healthier lives, but I felt much better when learning that going vegan may reduce greenhouse gasses by an astounding 80%. This is important because we need to breathe clear air and drink clean water.

We cannot survive freezing temperatures in the winters, fires in the warmer seasons, and excessive heat waves in the summer. Many of us cannot afford the excessive costs of heating and air conditioning our homes.

As the earth becomes hotter, rivers dry up, crops die. Farmers are forced to leave their land and migrate to other countries.

We cannot keep feeding animals grains, which are our food. There just won’t be enough land and food to feed all the people in the world unless we all join in a vegan revolution.

Each person can make a difference to protect our land and our future!

Myth: I will be an outcast if I become a vegan

Most people don’t want to be different, or weird, or difficult, but don’t we all dislike certain foods, and avoid certain foods? Aren’t we all different, a bit weird and are sometimes difficult?

Co-workers made fun of my brown bag lunches, acquaintances called me a tree hugger, and a tofu lover. I no longer care what people think about me. I’m going to eat what makes my body strong, energized, and nourished. Now that I’m 100% vegan, people have told me they admire me, look to me for inspiration, and want to eat more like me. I didn’t expect that.

Fact: We are all becoming more vegan, without know it.

There didn’t used to be plant milks to drink, yet everyone I know either has almond or oat milk in their refrigerator. More of us are replacing butter with olive oil. Most of us can pronounce the grain quinoa. We all know what coconut water tastes like, but not all of us like it.

I didn’t know what chia seeds looked like or what they were used for, but today, most of us know chia seeds are the key ingredient, along with plant milk, to a healthy chia pudding.

There aren’t many vegans now, but the numbers are growing. More meat eaters are going plant-based. Meatless Mondays are as popular as casual Fridays. Dairy milk producers are making almond milk because the sales of dairy milk is going down. Vegan restaurants are popping up all over the world. Burger joints often offer vegetarian bean burgers.

Remember when most people smoked cigarettes and doctors said cigarettes posed no harm and were perfectly safe? Cigarette ads showed smokers as sophisticated, acceptable, and normal. Today, everyone knows cigarettes direct link to lung cancer; many consider smoking disgusting.

Remember when going gluten-free seemed weird? It’s likely that eating meat will be considered a character flaw and being vegan, the norm.

Myth: There is no way I can be a vegan

I thought there was no way I could stop eating animal products entirely. I made two attempts at just eating plant foods, but I didn’t feel good, so I went back to eating meat, but looking back, I was just trying to find an excuse to revert back to my old eating habits.

Myth: Vegan diets are inadequate because supplements are needed

When I became deficient in vitamins and/or minerals, we don’t feel good. Vegans must add a B12 supplement to their diet due to the depletion in our soils. Doctors are now recommending that meat-eaters should also take a B12 supplement.

Taking iodine or eating sea vegetables, like nori is another supplement and/or food all vegans should consume.

The argument that a vegan diet is not the ideal diet for humans because it’s recommended to take a few supplements, is ridiculous because every meat-eater I know takes supplements. In fact, the body builders who eat high protein diets, primarily from animal meat, take the most supplements.

Myth: I’m old and cannot change

I was eating a certain way, eating some form of animal protein with every meal, and found it hard to change my ingrained eating habits. I didn’t go vegan overnight, my mind resisted it. There were struggles. I stopped and resumed. I learned what works and doesn’t work. Having my whole family join in the vegan revolution in my home made a huge difference. I’m a 100% vegan now and wish I ate this way my entire life.

The only animal protein in my house today is in little round tin cans for my cat.

Myth: I don’t know how to go vegan

In 2021, I created a transition book with motivational stories, strategies that work with delicious recipes to help others go vegan. That book is called The High-Five Diet which you can order from my website theHighFiveDiet.com

Make sure to order the food diary too, it’s the transition book companion, to keep you accountable.

For those that want a coach for one-on-one help with your transition, you can contact me.

You can be a healthy vegan or an unhealthy overweight vegan, but you cannot be a truly healthy omnivore. If you still have doubts, what evidence would change your mind?

Are you open to ideas that are different than what you’ve been told your entire life?

I care what other people eat because I’m saddened by how many people are sick, how animals live and die in brutal conditions. I want clean air and water for everyone. Not eating animals may prevent future pandemics. I want everyone to be vegan because I want to see more people well, than sick. I think the world would be a happier and kinder place if animals were let to live their full lives in nature.

I want every person to stop eating animal flesh and to stop hunting animals and fish because I’m scared about my future if things don’t change.

For me, being vegan is not just a diet, it’s my new lifestyle. I feel and look so much better today, that I want to share it with others.

No one should be saddled with outrageous, unnecessary medical costs, surgeries, and drugs due to over consumption, processed foods, dairy, meat and fish.

What would it be like if no one worried about belly fat, heart disease or Type-2 diabetes?

For those that follow an oil-free, LFPB (low-fat, plant-based) vegan diet, you can expect to lose excess bodyfat, feel better and see improved health markers, sometimes as quickly as one week. My total cholesterol went from 201 on dairy-free Standard American diet, down to 148 when I switch to a LFPB diet, and that was with just losing 9 pounds. I didn’t believe what other vegans were telling me either.

What do you think about eating more fruits and vegetables and eating less meat? Aren’t you a little curious to find out how a different lifestyle would benefit you?

Do you believe eating animal products and excess calories is harming your health, or people you know?  Would you be willing to try a vegan diet and get your blood tests before and after 30 days to see the test results for yourself?

Let me know in the comments below. I would love to hear from you.

Make sure to order the food diary too, it’s the transition book companion, to keep you accountable.

For those that want a coach for one-on-one help with your transition, you can contact me.

If this post is located on any other website other than mine, which is RealDietHelp.com, it’s been unauthorized, plagiarized (copied without my permission). The other social media sites where my articles and videos are approved to be published are on my YouTube channel (Nina’s Nutrition & Exercise Videos), my Fit Girl Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheHighFiveDiet/ and my Twitter account https://twitter.com/medairyfree

Sources:

1. Cohut, Maria. “How High Protein Diets May Increase Heart Attack Risk.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 31 Jan. 2020,” https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/high-protein-diet-atherosclerosis-mouse-study#:~:text=But%20a%20new%20study%20in,potentially%20increasing%20heart%20attack%20risk.
2. Brazier, Yvette. “Protein: Sources, Deficiency, and Requirements.” Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 10 Dec. 2020, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/196279#daily-needs. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/196279#daily-needs
3. Campbell, T. Colin and Thomas M. Campbell II. China Study: Revised and Expanded Edition – the Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted. Benbella Books, 2016
4. Khambatta, Cyrus, et al. Mastering Diabetes: the Revolutionary Method to Reverse Insulin Resistance Permanently in Type 1, Type 1.5, Type 2, Prediabetes, and Gestational Diabetes. Avery, an Imprint of Penguin Random House, 2020
5. Shah, Reshma, et al. Nourish: the Definitive Plant-Based Nutrition Guide for Families. Health Communications, Inc., 2020
6. Aggarwal, Monica, and Jyothi Rao. Body on Fire: How Inflammation Triggers Chronic Illness and the Tools We Have to Fight It. Healthy Living Publications, 2020
7. “Diabetes Reversal with Dr Joel Fuhrman.” Life Heal. YouTube, YouTube, 12 June 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ALPFrKIdwo
8. Frazier, Matt. Plant-Based Athlete: A Game-Changing Approach to Peak Performance. HarperCollins Publishers, 2021
9. Bulsiewicz, Will. Fiber Fueled: the Plant-Based Gut Health Program for Losing Weight, Restoring Your Health, and Optimizing Your Microbiome. Avery, an Imprint of Penguin Random House, 2020
10. McDougall, John A., and Mary A. McDougall. The Starch Solution: Eat the Foods You Love, Regain Your Health, and Lose the Weight for Good! Rodale, 2013

Full strength workout with glute loop band & weights (45 minute strength workout video)

written by Nina Shantel, blog: RealDietHelp.com, published June 14, 2022

For this 45-minute beginner full body strength workout, you’ll want to get a chair, a glute band, a medium-sized towel, 2 sets of hand weights (1 set of 8-15 lb light dumbbells, and 1 set of 1-2 lb dumbbells), a mat, and 16 ounces of water or tea.

You can make this an intermediate or even an advanced workout by using heavier weights and following the more difficult modifications (full workout video at the bottom of this post).

Here are the 16 exercises performed in this workout, in order:

1. quadruped hip circles, forwards and backwards. 24 reps (12 each direction).

2. double-leg banded box squat with leg extensions. 10 reps. Advanced: single leg

3. double-leg, wide stance deadlifts. 15 reps. Advanced: add weights

4. 30 second calf raise pulses with finger flicks, followed by 10 full calf raises

5. single-leg hip thrust on chair (you can also do these on the edge of a couch). 10 reps. Advanced: add one heavy dumbbell

6. barbell-style dumbbell squats with towel rolled under heels. 10 reps.

7. quadruped banded hamstring curls. Place band on upper thighs. 15 reps.

8. three-way calf raises with dumbbells: 15 parallel calf raises, plus 12 calf raises with heels together with toes out, ending with 10 pigeon-toe calf raises.

9. cobra pose to child’s pose, round upper back to plank, repeat. 8 reps. This exercise works the shoulders, triceps and chest muscles.

10. bent-over rows. Two lat rows, two wide upper back rows. 20 reps.

11. figure eight arms with 1-2lb weights.

12. plank with knee-taps. 20 reps (10 per side)

13. side push-ups, 12 reps.

14. biceps hammer curl to supinated curl. 15 reps. I’m using 8lb weights.

15. plank to quadruped hover hold.

16. superman alternating leg and arm hold.

The workout ends with stretches for the entire body with tips on what foods to eat and which foods to avoid to lose bodyfat.

Click the play button on the YouTube video below to start this 45-minute strength workout

If this post is located on any other website other than mine, which is RealDietHelp.com, it’s been unauthorized, plagiarized (copied without my permission). The other social media sites where my articles and videos are approved to be published are on my YouTube channel (Nina’s Nutrition & Exercise Videos), my Fit Girl Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheHighFiveDiet/ and my Twitter account https://twitter.com/medairyfree

Critique of what Kaley Cuoco eats to stay thin (Does Kaley Cuoco eat a healthy diet?)

Critique of what Kaley Cuoco eats in a day by Fitness Nutrition Health Coach, Nina Shantel who answers the question: Does Kaley Cuoco eat a healthy diet? (Published 6/7/2022 from RealDietHelp.com)

Kaley Cuoco, the pretty blond that played the dumb, slutty neighbor in the popular, but now cancelled, TV show, “The Big Bang Theory,” shares what she eats daily, as if she’s proud of it, believing it’s good for her, which proves she’s ignorant in real life, at least about nutrition.

For breakfast she drinks an oat-milk latte (coffee) with sourdough toast topped with peanut butter. Caffeine is addictive and can be problematic for people who are sensitive to caffeine. If she needs a boost of energy, that indicates that she’s not sleeping enough, maybe staying out late, drinking alcohol, and/or not eating the right foods. A better caffeine substitute would be green tea. That breakfast could be high in fat depending on how much peanut butter she slathers on her bread, and has very low fiber, but it’s not a terrible breakfast. I would suggest that she add banana slices to her toast for added micronutrients. I give her a “B” for her breakfast meal as a grade. Unfortunately, her meal choices go down from here.

For lunch she likes to eat a tuna salad, tuna wrap or tuna fish with chips. Tuna is high in mercury, and our conservative FDA even recommends that tuna should be eaten no more than once a week. She likes to eat tuna fish daily. Instead of tuna fish, I recommend she mash garbanzo beans with herbs and spices, which is a fiber and nutrient-rich tuna replacement. Notice that her lunch does not contain any fiber, unless she is eating tuna fish with a salad.

For a snack, she likes to eat a Luna bar, which is a high fat candy bar made with sugar, oil and isolated soy or dairy protein. Dr. McDougall says all protein powders, even vegan protein powders are toxic because the protein has been isolated (molecularly taken apart, the fiber, carbohydrate and fat removed). Another snack choice she buys is an $11 high-fat ketogenic smoothie from Juice Ranch, called Scotty’s Mint Chip. https://juiceranch.com/products/scotty-s-mint-chip?variant=35124693336230

This ketogenic smoothie is another high fat item she likes, which contains the following high fat foods: avocado, almond butter and cacao nibs. While there is nothing wrong or unhealthy with those high-fat plant foods, fats should be consumed in small amounts, preferably no more than 10-15% of one’s total calories for the day.

I recommend people make their own smoothies with unsweetened plant milk, and frozen fruit. If you want fat in your smoothie, ground chia seeds or flax seeds are good choices since they are both high in omega 3 fatty acids and low in omega 6’s. If you need to run out and grab something, like a cold icy drink, Jambo Juice makes a vegan smoothie called “Apple ‘n Greens” that’s only 320 calories and made with fruit juice, kale, mangos, bananas and peaches. https://www.jamba.com/smoothies/plant-based/apple-green

Other snacks she’ll grab, which are preferable to the Luna bar and the ketogenic smoothie, are a rice cake, apples with peanut butter (she likes her fats), or a pear. Fruit is a great snack, but she shouldn’t limit her fruit to one or just once a day. Fruits are extremely nutritious and contain fiber, nutrients, and water. There are no limits on how much fruit a person should eat. What a person should restrict is fats, not fruit.

For dinner, she likes to eat salmon, more fish, which is another high-fat food, with a baked potato and veggies. All fish contain mercury, PCB’s, microplastics, cholesterol and toxic chemicals. Fish is poor protein choice. I used to eat salmon too, but now, when I want salmon, I make baked tofu “salmon” with nori. Tofu is high in protein, and the nori seaweed contains iodine and omega 3s. Tofu doesn’t contain cholesterol, and soy provides phytoestrogens which are protective against cancer.

She gets kudos for the potato and veggies, depending on if she puts sour cream on her potato and if the veggies are cooked in oil or butter. I like to stir-fry my veggies in either white wine, cooking sherry, vegetable broth, or water.

For dessert, she opts for Justin’s white chocolate pieces. I couldn’t find Justin’s white chocolate “pieces,” but I found Justin’s White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups on-line, so I’m assuming she meant that she eats pieces of the peanut butter cups from Justin’s brand. These white-chocolate peanut butter cups contain sugar, and peanut butter (here she goes again with the nut butter). Sugar is inflammatory and leads to tooth decay. Dairy intake increases one’s risk of numerous diseases and autoimmune conditions.

https://www.justins.com/products/white-chocolate-peanut-butter-cups/

She eats too much nut butter. Notice that she ate peanut butter on toast for breakfast, a smoothie with almond butter after lunch, and the peanut butter cup for her after-dinner snack.  

A healthier option she likes to eat for a snack is popcorn. Popcorn can be healthy or unhealthy, depending on if the popcorn is covered with butter or oil, and a lot of salt. Some people add sugar to their popcorn to make it an unhealthy treat. I air-pop my popcorn in the microwave and sprinkle in jalapeño hot sauce, which is sweet and spicy.

Cuoco doesn’t eat a ketogenic diet, based on what she said she eats in a day to the reporter, because the carbs from the toast, popcorn, chips or wrap with her tuna fish are over the 50 grams of carbohydrate threshold for a ketogenic diet. She’s definitely not vegan because she eats fish, but she may be a vegetarian because she doesn’t mention any other animal products that she eats. She may be dairy-free, or just avoids milk, since she uses oat milk in her coffee, and the other foods she eats may or may not contain dairy.

What type of diet does Kaley Cucoco eat?

To sum up Kaley Cuoco’s diet, it’s a high-fat diet, low in carbohydrates, low in fiber, low in micronutrients, high in mercury and toxins.The reason why she isn’t fat from eating all this fat is that her portions aren’t huge, and she doesn’t eat more calories than she burns off.

Being slim doesn’t make someone healthy. Fat doesn’t contain fiber or nutrients. Plant foods contain fibers, and those fibers are essential for good gut health. I recommend she add more fruit and vegetables to her diet, cut back on the nut butters, and swap out the fish for beans and lentils.

Kaley Cuoco’s diet is another example of someone famous who doesn’t have a clue about nutrition, but looks fit and fabulous. Does because someone is rich and famous and has a nice physique, doesn’t mean that person’s diet is ideal.

Even though I gave Kaley Cuoco’s diet a harsh review, she eats better than most people. All-in-all, I would grade her diet a “C.”

Source: Talbert, Sabrina. “Kaley Cuoco, 36, Swears by *This* Rule Whenever She Goes out to Eat.” Yahoo!, Yahoo!, 31 May 2022, https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/kaley-cuoco-36-swears-rule-204500810.html

If this post is located on any other website other than mine, which is RealDietHelp.com, it’s been unauthorized, plagiarized (copied without my permission). The other social media sites where my articles and videos are approved to be published are on my YouTube channel (Nina’s Nutrition & Exercise Videos), my Fit Girl Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheHighFiveDiet/ and my Twitter account https://twitter.com/medairyfree

Where to buy cute, comfortable, workout clothes made in the USA by women (supporting US small business women)

written by Nina Shantel, blog: RealDietHelp.com, published May 31, 2022

If you are looking for cute, sexy, comfortable, quality workout clothes, pole dancing outfits, pickleball clothes and pickleball sets, soft and stretchy leggings, half tops, attractive bell bottoms, dresses and/or jumpsuits, check out the USA made brand Mia Brazillia at http://www.miabrazilia.com by female entrepreneur and designer Kaneta Harmon.

Kaneta and I made a YouTube video showcasing and modeling her beautiful clothes, which you can watch below.

Wearing comfortable, breathable, flattering workout clothes is one motivational tool to encourage exercising. Health is the most important thing, so exercise at least 30 minutes every day.

You can call the owner/designer, Kaneta, directly at 858-997-8879.

To see her latest designs, follow her on Instagram or Facebook

Press play on the YouTube video below to hear the owner/designer of the Mia Brazilia clothing line discuss why she started this business, how she comes up with the names of her designs, why she makes her clothes, what the clothes are made of, who the clothes are designed for, how to put outfits together, and where her clothes are made.

I model several of her outfits so you can see how it fits someone small like myself (I’m 5 feet tall) who does not have a curvy body.

While exercise is healthy, exercising cannot undo all the damage from eating unhealthy foods. Avoid dairy products, oils, sugar, and animal flesh to keep your heart healthy and your weight down.

For healthy whole-food recipes and help transitioning to a plant-based, vegan 🌱 diet, order The High-Five-Diet paperback book for yourself (and maybe even another one for someone else you care about as a gift).

If this post is located on any other website other than mine, which is RealDietHelp.com, it’s been unauthorized, plagiarized (copied without my permission). The other social media sites where my articles and videos are approved to be published are on my YouTube channel (Nina’s Nutrition & Exercise Videos), my Fit Girl Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheHighFiveDiet/ and my Twitter account https://twitter.com/medairyfree

full bodyweight beginner strength workout with glute band (21-minute workout video)

written by Nina Shantel, blog: RealDietHelp.com, published May 24, 2022

In this 21-minute full bodyweight beginner strength workout, all you’ll need is a glute band, also referred to as a booty band. If you don’t have a glute band, that’s okay, you can still do the exercises without it.

The workout begins with a hip/glute strengthener on the mat, followed by the exercises below, in order:

• 15 banded clamshells, each side
• 15 Quadruped hamstring curls, each leg
• 16 banded squats with a side tap
• 15 Long-leg glute bridges to target the hamstrings
• Plank with push-up hold for 10 seconds, 2 sets
• 1-minute continuous narrow and wide standing rows to target the back muscles
• 20 calf-raises at a normal pace plus 5 quick calf-raises
• 1-minute kneeling lateral bent- arm raises. Resist as you bring the arms upward, lower slowly to increase strength. End with shoulder rolls.
• 10 standing crunches, alternating between upper/lower abs and obliques curls, each side. 2 sets for a total of 20 on each side.
• 10 good mornings with hands by the ears, to stretch the hamstrings and strengthen the low back
• Quad balance/stretch, each side

The workout ends with these gentle stretches: back bend with hands behind the low back to stretch the pectoral muscles, standing back stretch, standing cat-cow, finishing with a standing figure-four glute stretch.

Press the play button on the YouTube video below to start your workout

If this post is located on any other website other than mine, which is RealDietHelp.com, it’s been unauthorized, plagiarized (copied without my permission). The other social media sites where my articles and videos are approved to be published are on my YouTube channel (Nina’s Nutrition & Exercise Videos), my Fit Girl Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheHighFiveDiet/ and my Twitter account https://twitter.com/medairyfree

full body beginner workout with light dumbbells (30-minute strength workout)

written by Nina Shantel, blog: RealDietHelp.com, published May 17, 2022

If you want to increase strength, you want to add weights to your workouts. To gain and maintain muscle, exercise daily and add bodyweight and resistance training at least twice a week.

In this 30-minute full body beginner workout with light dumbbells, these are the exercises in order (watch the video at the end of this post to start the workout session):

15 side-lying leg lifts

15 frog pumps with two dumbbells

15 B-stance dumbbell squats

1-minute butt kicks, each side

10 Chest T-pushups

16 Bent-over rows, alternating between close to the ribs and elbow out to target the lats and the upper back muscles

15 Kneeling Dumbbell front raises to target the front of the delts (shoulders)

Biceps and shoulder combination with hammer curls, bent-arm lateral raises, scarecrows. 12 reps.

30 second rocking plank to strengthen the core and shoulders.

The workout ends with stretches

If this post is located on any other website other than mine, which is RealDietHelp.com, it’s been unauthorized, plagiarized (copied without my permission). The other social media sites where my articles and videos are approved to be published are on my YouTube channel (Nina’s Nutrition & Exercise Videos), my Fit Girl Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheHighFiveDiet/ and my Twitter account https://twitter.com/medairyfree