Turo Virta: 1:07

Today's conversation is about something I see all the time in coaching. Most people don't need more nutrition information. They already know many of the basics. They know protein matters. They know vegetables are good. They know eating at night when they are not hungry is often not really about hunger, they know extreme diets don't work long term, but knowing what to do is not the same thing as doing it in real life, because real life has stress schedules, low energy days, emotions, health challenges, family, work, traveling, and there are always days where the plan looks good in the morning, but falls apart by the evening. That's why I'm excited for today's guest, Nicholas Kelly. Nicholas is a registered dietitian, public speaker, TEDx speaker, and a patient advocate. He also brings a very unique perspective, because he has lived with the two stick fibrosis since he was three months old, so he does not only understand nutrition from textbooks or clinical work, he understands what it means to apply health advice in real life with real challenges and still find a way forward. In this episode, we talk about why nutrition advice often fails, how to make food habits more practical, and how to build awareness without shame, and why behavior usually matters more than just having more information. So, if you have ever thought, I know what to do, but I still can't seem to do it. This conversation is for you, so let's get into it. So, Nicholas, before we go into nutrition, first of all, I'm so excited that you found time to come to my show. So, could you share a little bit about who you are and what led you to become a registered dietitian.

Unknown: 3:10

Well, hello, hello. Thank you for having me so much. It's truly a pleasure. So, like I said, my name is Nicholas Kelly. I am a registering licensed dietitian. I also have my master's in food and nutrition. So, how I became a dietitian is actually a funny story. When I went to college, I actually wanted to go for computer technology. I wanted to build the biometric scanners that FBI uses, but the year I got to Bowling Green State University, they got rid of the major, so I had to figure out what I wanted to do. So I decided I was going to transfer, but I didn't want to do it at the beginning of the year. My twin sister, who also went to Bowling Green, she was a nursing major, so she was taking a nutrition class, and she goes,"Nick, will you take this nutrition class with me? I said,"Absolutely not, have zero interest. So she goes, "Okay. She comes back a couple days later and goes, "Nick, I just looked, and some of our friends are taking the class, will you take it with me now? I said,"Absolutely not, you won't be alone. So I have no interest. So she comes back to me one more time and goes, "Okay, I'll make you a deal. You take the class and I'll help you and do your out-of-class assignments and your homework. I said, "Okay, that sounds like a good plan. Let's write up the contract and I'll be in class the next day. So I went to class the next day, and I remember sitting in class, and the professor name was Dr. Jillian Wilford, Dr. Joe, and he was not a dietitian, but the way he spoke about nutrition was one of the single greatest puzzles I ever heard, and I remember sitting in class and just being in awe. I literally left class, called my mom, say, 'Mom, how do you feel? If I was a dietitian, I changed my major the next day. The craziest part is my sister hated the class so much, I end up doing her work.

Turo Virta: 4:58

Oh, nice. That's that's a funny story, and coincidence. You never know what is what is happening in our life, and how what kind of path we are getting. So, you have lived with two stick fibrosis since you were three months old. Would you tell a little bit about this disease first, like what it is, and like what is the diagnosis?

Unknown: 5:27

So, cystic fibrosis is genetic disorder. So, I was diagnosed when I was three months, so you have it your whole life. But the interesting part about my story starts with it was actually my mother who diagnosed

Turo Virta: 5:40

me, because

Unknown: 5:41

39 years ago they didn't think African Americans could have the disease, so no one would test me for it. So, it was actually my mother who did the research, and she was the one who diagnosed me, but GI CF predominantly affects your lungs, your GI system, and your pancreas, but what they don't tell you is it can affect every other part of you as well, so your. Entire body, what happens is the body builds up this thick, sticky mucus that plugs up all these different holes, and your body plugs up all these different areas, and in this lungs, what happens is it plugs up the different airways, and then it collects bacteria that bacteria causes scarring, and over time that decreases your lung function, and that ultimately is what makes the disease terminal.

Turo Virta: 6:30

Wow. And how are you doing at the moment, or how old are you now? And what kind of struggles you have had? I

Unknown: 6:41

am currently 39 years old, and currently, knock on wood, I'm in some of the best stretch health of my life. Actually, I'm doing super well, so it's really exciting. Because I went through, I've gone through really highs and lows. I've went through a stretch where I was really struggling for a while. So I'm currently in a really good state. So that's really exciting for me.

Turo Virta: 7:03

I'm so happy to hear. So, how you think this, your diagnosis disease has shaped the way you look at health and nutrition.

Unknown: 7:15

You know, it's kind of a combination, you know. For me, being mindful of health, being mindful of what it takes to be healthy, is always on my mind when dealing with this disease, you always want to do things that try to allow you to be healthy. You want to be mindful of medication schedules, you want to be mindful of the things that trigger you, the things that you know help you. So, you're always really mindful of those things. And then you couple that with the dietitian work that says, okay, you know, I tell people all the time, I eat the way I eat subset of my profession. However, it's hard to tell someone, eat fruits and vegetables without realizing the importance of eating them yourself.

Turo Virta: 7:57

Yeah, of course, that is, I bet that you have a true motivation, like what many other, like dietitians or clinicians don't have like that, having you kind of have to do it, you have no other option, right? So it's either you're going to do it or not, but what do you think being both like a patient and clinician teach you that textbooks never could,

Unknown: 8:31

it gives you a appreciation of perspective. Textbooks don't allow you to have that real world perspective of what it's like to be sick and what it's like to deal with chronic disease, or what it's like to deal with any disease. The, you know, most patients will never be clinicians, and most clinicians will never be patients, and so there's a gap that exists there, and so what has allowed me to have so much success, I believe in my career, is because I'm able to bridge that gap, because I can understand both languages.

Turo Virta: 9:03

Yeah, yeah, I think that is so powerful, because many people give advice, but not everyone understands what it feels like to actually live with the advice, and

Unknown: 9:15

absolutely,

Turo Virta: 9:17

Hannah, why you then think that so many people know what to eat, but still struggle to

Unknown: 9:25

do it? No, it's kind of a combination, because I'm not sure if a lot of people know what to eat. I think there's so much miscon misinformation out there that people are confused, that a lot of people are confused on what to do, what's what's great. You know, you just hear teeth will talk about carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are not the enemy, but they often get a bad rap. And then on the other side, it's being mindful, you know, a lot of people look at health as this big, big pie to be obtained, and trying to knock all over the climb, the whole mountain is exhausting. It looks exhausting. You just look at it and go, "Man, I don't want to do that. That's exhausting, that's tiresome. And so people need to take the smaller steps, like, okay, I'm going to climb this little step today, I'm going to climb this little step today, and it'd be much more palatable, and it'd be much more easy to do, but that's not how we often are trained to look at things, we look at the entire whole, and then we feel like, okay, I have to scale this whole mountain, and people already defeat it before they start,

Turo Virta: 10:26

so what is then what do you think that are what are most common mistakes people make when they try to improve their nutrition, like you mentioned, that there is, because there is, it's obviously it's a lot of like a big mountain, like you said, and if you try to get everything done in a one, it might feel that it's, it's way too much that you are not able to do it, but what are, what are the most common mistakes you see people are doing?

Unknown: 10:57

I think the biggest mistake is people try to make too many large scale changes at once, they go from zero to 100 said okay. It this, you know, today they're eating everything they want, no structure, no anything, and tomorrow they change their entire diet, throw everything out, and they change their entire diet, but that's not realistic, because it's not sustainable long term.

Turo Virta: 11:20

Yeah, and

Unknown: 11:21

that's I think the biggest challenge I see people make is they want this wholesale change, and when it doesn't happen quick for them, then they revert back to the changes, they revert back to their original lifestyle.

Turo Virta: 11:32

Yeah. Oh, that is it. Is it? Is like you said, it's, it's very challenging, and those, like, because it's, it's, you have to think like it's, I always like to compare it somehow with the exercise, like for some reason, like people, let's say somebody wants to haven't been running for past 20 years, and then you know you start to, you want to somehow you get the goal in your mind that you want to run a marathon, and probably everybody knows with the exercise that, okay, maybe it's not the smartest idea to go try to run 42k in a first workout and see how it goes. You know that it starts step by step with the exercise and you work your way up there towards that big goal, ultimate goal, but with the nutrition, it's often like you said that it feels like that. Okay, I just need to fix this, and you do it. You start from zero to go 400 in a very short period of time, and then you think that, oh, why this is failing. So, what do you think people usually need more information, or is it about their systems they are using?

Unknown: 12:58

Both, I think if they had more information, they could have better systems. So, I think people are implementing the information they have because they have half truths or faulty information, you know. It's, it's easy to say, eat more vegetables. I think people can accept that, they know that, but what's harder is understanding meal timings. That's something they may not understand, they, they won't understand, like, how the body wants to process food. They may not understand that, you know, a lot of people, you know, say don't eat at night, but don't understand where that information comes from. In reality, it's not about because if you're a third shift worker, then are you not supposed to eat at night? That's what I tell people, you know it's just about what you do afterwards. A lot of people eat, and then immediately go to sleep. You don't want to do that in the middle of the day either. So, it's not about when you eat, it's about what you do after you eat, and how long you give your body time to process if you exercise after. So, there are different things that people don't understand, and then that's where you see some of the issues,

Turo Virta: 14:10

yeah. When, when you hear someone is telling that, you know, I know what to do, like, like you mentioned, I need to eat more vegetables, I need to, whatever it is, and but I then they are telling themselves that I just don't do it. Where do you start

Unknown: 14:32

figuring out the why? I think the most important thing as a clinician is to figure out the why. Figure out why they want to change, figure out why they want to do this, and figure out what their objective is. You know, if they want to just get, you know, lose 10 pounds for their friend's wedding, then they may be looking for a fast out, which means they're probably going to lean towards a crash diet, because the problem with crash diets is they work in the short term, they're just not long term sustainable, that's the problem, so that's why people gain, gain the weight back after doing those things, so it's like, okay, what, what objective do they have? And then, if we figure out what objective they have, then we can do things to try to maximize their efforts,

Turo Virta: 15:23

so you, you are talking a lot, how to make clinical guidance practical. What does that mean in real life?

Unknown: 15:38

So, making small changes. So, for example, one of the examples I give is what I call my chocolate cake lip. So, say a person loves chocolate cake, they chocolate cake five days a week, and they eat a huge piece, you know, like this, right? So, huge piece like this. So, when I tell them, I, you know, a lot of dietitians, or a lot of people in general, would tell them, don't eat the chocolate cake, eat a chocolate rice cake. Well, that's just silly, because it's not the same, and by telling them that. You're going to lose them initially. They're going to be like, "Yeah, I'm not doing it. So, but it's not enough to tell someone what to do. You have to give them options on how to do it. So, instead of I talk by saying, "Okay, instead of eating this chocolate cake five times a day, let's cut it down to three times a day, three times, excuse me, not five times a day, five times a week. Let's cut it down to three times a week, and instead of a piece this big, let's cut that in half and have a piece this big. Okay, so that's step one. Next step is open up a can of pineapples or cut a pineapple up and have it in your fridge ready to go, so when you have that desire for those chocolate cake eat the pineapple, and some someone's gonna tell me, but a pineapple isn't the same as chocolate cake, I'm aware, but that sweet sensation it gives you is similar, so instead of that, those two days you're not eating the chocolate cake, you eat the pineapples, so now we have a functional solution, and decreasing the chocolate cake we input, decreasing the size of it, and we're getting a replacement. As for the pineapples being the substitute for the chocolate cake, that's how we make practical changes, because we're not asking someone to get rid of the thing they love, or get rid of something all at once. We're going to scale them down, and the ultimate goal is we get them to twice a week, twice or once a week, and we have them at a small piece, and then we have them substituting that out. That's how you do, that's how you make practical choices.

Turo Virta: 17:45

Yeah. No, there's very smart Legos. It's a. it made makes so much sense, and, and ultimately, it's, it might sound like that it's easiest advice is to tell that just don't eat it or don't do it, but that is usually the one would probably like most of the people, if they have little bit willpower, it might work for a week or two, but it's never going to be long-term solution. And, like you mentioned, what you said, just said that cutting down the portion size, having a replacement in a place that it's not just don't eat anything, it's always there is always something, and it's kind of like I like to call it, like, little bit planning things ahead when those cravings come, and then having a plan, how to actually do it

Unknown: 18:36

exactly. So, putting in a plan in place, having a plan in place, and that's part of that system, or having that system in place.

Turo Virta: 18:45

How do you.. then I'm curious to know, how do you help someone turn general advice like eat more protein into something you can actually do every day.

Unknown: 18:59

So, one of the things I tell people, which is easy enough to do, is smoothies. Smoothies are a great way to get extra calories in, get healthy fruit and vegetables in, get protein in, and it's a low effort. It takes five to seven minutes to make, and it's low effort to actually consume, because sometimes you're not hungry, especially in the morning. Some people aren't naturally hungry in the morning, so you can drink your calories, drink your protein, because you can make add Greek yogurt to it, you can add peanut butter to it, so you have all these, you have these options, dairy, so you have these options to make this beverage higher in protein or higher in calories, and fruit and vegetables, you know, some spinach, maybe some kale, some fruit, some frozen fruit, and it's more cost-effective, because you can use frozen fruit, so you don't have to worry about going bad, so you have all these options to make functional ways to increase your protein or increase your nutrition by having this easy to consume thing

Turo Virta: 20:04

that's smart, and what is the like, because at least here in Europe, I see a lot of dietitians or nutritionists. They give kind of perfect plans for people. And what is your take on giving someone a perfect plan, or giving them a plan they can actually repeat,

Unknown: 20:29

no such thing as a perfect plan, because nobody's perfect, so you try to give a plan that is most realistic, and when I make goals with my clients, I always say, okay, let's make goals together, because I ultimately don't have to do these goals, you have to be able to do them, I don't want to give you goals to me that doesn't make sense. I need goals that we can do together, and I even have my clients signing, and I sign them, so we can say, okay, we're doing this together, we're in this together, this is something we both agree is reasonable to do. So that's how we give plans, that's how we give progress for. Least, for me, and I think more dietitians should implement that, and not just dietitians, but more individuals in general should implement that.

Turo Virta: 21:15

It's very true, very true, and I love your approach doing it. I wanted to talk with you a little bit about that emotional eating and awareness, because I think those are huge struggles, at least the people I see in my coaching all the time, and in my recent episodes I have talked a lot about eating after dinner and asking, am I hungry or am I looking for something. How do you use awareness with your clients,

Unknown: 21:52

so for me one of the big things is trying to be aware and be mindful. I believe when people become more mindful, they make better choices because they're thinking about what they're doing, you know. If you become more mindful of drinking more water, and then you start drinking more water, and you feel more energized, then you start becoming aware, like, okay, this is makes sense, and so the next time you go through the drive-through, you may get a water instead of a pop, or if you're next out, time out, you realize, okay, I'll just drink more water instead of going and get this snack, so you start finding ways to implement different things, and I think it's going to be the same thing with emotional eating. If you become more aware that you're doing it, you can try to figure out what's the trigger,

Turo Virta: 22:42

and how do you, how do you figure out the trigger, or do you have some favorite tricks? How to, how to do it.

Unknown: 22:52

So, one of the things that I think really is a benefit, or can help a lot, is by taking an analysis of when I'm eating. If it's the same time every day, so say, for example, I eat dinner, and then at 10 o'clock every night I get hungry, and I want to, like, or I'm not hungry, I just want to snack. But what do you do at 10 o'clock every night? Are you watching TV? So maybe you're realizing you need something to do while you watch TV. So maybe you want a snack, but you can do healthy snacks, eat some pretzels, eat some like no butter popcorn, so because maybe you want that sensation of chewing, or you can have carrots, because, or, and peppers, because you get that crunch. Sometimes people just want that crunch as they're watching something, so there's still ways to fulfill that mindless eating. There's ways to fulfill that by still being healthy with it, because sometimes people just want that sensation as they're watching TV, or they want that comfort before they go to bed, you know, that's where people drink the warm milk type of situation. So, there's a lot of options that people might have that we start wanting to figure out what's the pattern, and I think that's way to start figuring out the triggers, is trying to figure out what's the pattern.

Turo Virta: 24:12

Yeah, obviously, it's often like I say myself, I think for me definitely it's I'm that person, like maybe not 10 o'clock I go to bed at 10 o'clock, but a little bit before that I'm definitely someone who is when after they watching TV or Netflix, and then for me, I believe it's that boredom, like, because you are not, you are almost whole day going, going, going, and then when that short moment comes, it's kind of poor boredom, and then it's kind of habit to to have something in your mouth, but is there? Do you have some ways? How can you tell difference if it's a physical hunger, habit, stress, boredom, or is it some emotional eating?

Unknown: 25:05

It's kind of hard just to be to tell the difference, because there's so many different nuances that go into it. When we look at, like, if it's emotional eating, you know, that could be deciding, because we don't, without knowing, you know, a pattern or the trigger, it could be that, you know, it could just be hunger, you know, you're not eating enough, and then your body is processing out, depending on what your meals throughout the day were. You know, sometimes people skip breakfast and they eat a late lunch, they over-eat lunch, and then they don't have a dinner, and then, so, or they have a light dinner, and your body just hasn't have enough fuel for the day, so that's a, that's a possibility. Just because we eat throughout the day doesn't mean we're eating enough to fuel our body, and that's one of those misconceptions that people have. So, it's hard to say exactly what could be the thing without getting into their history and understanding, but that's where I say. Okay, the best a person can do at home, if you're listening and you're trying to figure it out, is just try to keep a pattern. If you notice your eating is a little out of whack, start trying to track your patterns, track to see what you're doing consistently, and then when you see what you're doing consistently, see if you can make changes inside of that. So, say, okay, I realize I'm not eating breakfast, like for example, if you wake up at 7:30am and you're not eating a breakfast till 10am Well, ideally you want to eat breakfast 45 minutes to an hour after waking up. So, if you realize you're not eating till three hours later, maybe that could be something, because starting eating breakfast early helps put your day in alignment when you talk about eating, because if, when you're not, you kind of push all the meals out and you tend to overeat, so that's like an example of something that we can do to help our bodies and help regulate our patterns.

Turo Virta: 27:02

Kristen, I, I see a lot of people telling that they are telling themselves that are feeling that they have no control around food at night. What would you say to someone who have that kind of feeling?

Unknown: 27:22

You are in control. You are the one who is in control? I think people need to be reminded that their choices are theirs, and you can find ways to navigate those feelings, and, like I said, sometimes it's leaning into it, so I don't have control at night to eat well, eat carrots, eat peppers, so if you're going to eat something, might as well eat something healthy, eat fruit, so if you're gonna, if you're gonna be eating, at least you're having something healthy options, you know, if you choose a gene junk food, then now the choice is not about eating, it's about what you want to eat, you're not, it's not just I have no control, it's like I'm physically choosing a less healthier option,

Turo Virta: 28:08

and this it reminds me, like, because I, one of my favorite phrases, what I tell the people is that awareness is not there to judge you, awareness is there to help you understand what is actually happening, and this is, I think, that awareness, when you understand when it's happening, why it's like that. Why might be a little bit harder to understand why it's happening, but if you start to become aware and somehow writing down at least that what is what you are feeling, what have happened, and then when you look, for example, your phone notes or somewhere notes that there you find a pattern, I think. Then you have already you are step closer to finding a solution. What could work at least to try some different strategies. So, what is then about food, some practical food habits. What are the first food habits you usually like to improve with the people?

Unknown: 29:17

I think that is breakfast, because I see a lot of people, a lot of people struggle with breakfast, whether it be they're not hungry in the morning, they don't want to eat it, they eat it too late, so that's one of the things I always start emphasizing with people, because breakfast is that important meal, because it breaks the fast, that's what breakfast, saying from breaking fast, so that nighttime fast you have, so that's why breakfast is so important, so that's one of the things that I always work on early, the spacing, eating between every three to four hours, so that's also another big thing that I tell people a lot of times, you know, these meals don't have to be these gigantic meals, for example, I use breakfast again, I know I'm harping on it, but there's a reason why, so people think about meals as these elaborate productions, you know, the grits, the sausage, the bacon, the eggs, toast, the fruit, like it doesn't have to be all that, it could be no yogurt, granola, glass piece of fruit, and then some toast with peanut butter. It doesn't have to be elaborate. Lunch could be a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, mustard, and then a side of fruit with a glass of milk, boom, that could be, or side of carrots, that these meals don't have to be these elaborate meals, but it's about proper fuel and healthy fuel for your body,

Turo Virta: 30:42

and what is then, how, what are your thoughts about meal prep, does everyone need to do it, or what is what you think

Unknown: 30:54

everyone doesn't need to do it, but it's a great option to do. I often tell people, do it on like a Sunday, and then just plan for the week, but one of the ideas I do tell people is. Cook the meat sometimes, and then that way, if you don't want a full meal prep, you can just cook the meats that way. You have those ready for the week, and then you can just make the sides the day of, because the sides are usually the quickest thing to make. So, if you don't want to meal prep your whole meal, that's an option, or you just cook it for three to three to four day increments, and then you have your meal prep ready to go, and then you can freeze them, you can have it. So, having options is going to be really important for your meal prep, but I think meal prep is an amazing option if you have the time and you have the ability to do

Turo Virta: 31:44

it. And is it like you said, that was what I, what I really liked. What you said is pre-cooking meal, but meats, but of course, if you don't enjoy, like we here in Italy, we don't eat that. I eat maybe once, twice a week meat, like it's, it's, I'm not a vegan or anything, but it says that basically, if you look, what is going to be like what I love to tell, always like, look, this, what is your going to be your protein source, and if it's going to be meat, fish, some vegan sources, and start building, because that is usually the hardest part, like for many, many people, even they know protein is important, but, but still people struggle building meals around it, and then going from there. So, what is then like if someone is that busy that you know you really don't have time for for preparing or planning things too much ahead. How does what does a realistic meal structure then look like for busy people?

Unknown: 33:00

Easy protein sources, so that could be nuts, that could be eggs, that could be dairy, so those are all easy protein sources. Beans, that's an easy one to get through, so easy protein sources. So, using that, creating meals that are low maintenance, I call low maintenance meals, so you know, rice and beans are a nice complement, and then you have a protein source, a carb source, and then add a vegetable in there, maybe some stir fry, and then now you have a meal that takes all that together, takes 20 minutes. So meals that are low maintenance, that don't require a lot of time and energy, and if you talk about only eating meals, you know, meat twice a week, seafood, salmon takes another 20 minutes to put in, so that stuff that doesn't take long, and then you can have it, you know, salmon, you know, you don't have to have a thing, asparagus or spinach, all things spinach takes really 10 minutes to make, put on some boiled water, put some lemon juice, some salt, and some little some olive oil in there, boom, good to go. 2010 minutes for the spinach, so things that don't take long amount of times. Peppers, peppers take to saute cut up some peppers, saute it. It's a 17 minute process, 10 minutes to cook, seven minutes to chop up. So things that are low maintenance meals,

Turo Virta: 34:26

that's that's a very good, practical way you mentioned earlier, a little bit about all or nothing thinking with dieting. Why do you think people often turn in one imperfect meal into a whole bad day?

Unknown: 34:47

I think it's all because of that, all the method mentality people look at the, they won't, they say, okay, it's not enough to say, okay, I did this one thing, and they want it to compound it to all these other negative things, where it could be isolated, and say, okay, I did this less healthy meal, but that's just one meal, I have all these other opportunities to do something healthy, and that's not how people think about it. People often think about the totality of everything, and then that's how we get the all or nothing thinking, because they're looking at the whole mountain instead of realizing it's scaling by piece.

Turo Virta: 35:20

And how do you do you have any tips, or how do you help people move away from all or nothing thinking with the food.

Unknown: 35:31

Start noticing how you feel by doing one healthy option. Start, start noticing the difference with one healthy option. If you increase your water, you'll start noticing you have more energy throughout the day. You'll, you'll feel better. You'll, you'll have a like I said, more energy having an apple in the middle of the day instead of chips. You realize that you don't feel as boiled down having meals that are not high in fat, you'll feel lighter. So, these things you'll be able to do, and then track how you feel. You know, your body will talk to you, listen to it.

Turo Virta: 36:09

Yeah, and how then can someone insert the foods they love, if it's chips or chocolate or whatever, without feeling that they ruined everything?

Unknown: 36:24

Food is, you can't. So, I tell people, number one, there's no cheat days. You can't cheat on food, it's not how it works. Also, there's no good or bad foods, there's healthy options and less healthy options. So, you just want to make sure your healthy options outweigh your less healthy options, but that still gives you an opportunity to enjoy the food you love. But you just need to make sure your healthy options outweigh your less healthy options,

Turo Virta: 36:48

that's a very good advice. Then, what about those? Because you have, because you're of your own health journey. How do you think then about nutrition when life is not ideal?

Unknown: 37:07

We make time for all the things that we love or all the things that we want to be a part of, so that's the same thing. Let's make time for those things that we need for ourselves and our health. Sometimes we give everything else so much grace in our life, we give social media, we give other people's opinions, other people's time, we give work, we give all these things to external things, but we don't treat ourselves with the care we need first, and that's what we have to make sure we treat ourselves with the care that we need first,

Turo Virta: 37:40

and what is then what can people learn from chronic illness about patients and consistency,

Unknown: 37:50

we all go through challenges, and we all go through obstacles. My challenges are just like that, that's just one thing. My challenges are that everyone has their own challenges, but being mindful of these challenges, and saying, okay, am I going to let them dictate my life, and I'm going to let them control my life, or am I going to allow them to be a positive impact that allows me to drive towards something better.

Turo Virta: 38:18

What is then like one of the hardest things, or most common things? What I hear is that when someone is kind of losing motivation, and when they, that when the progress feels too slow, or their body doesn't respond the way they want. What do you, how you can stay motivated in those kind of situations?

Unknown: 38:42

Hold on to something small, something small they weren't able to do before, so if something as small as I wasn't able to walk two flights of stairs, now I can. That's progress. Focus on the progress that you do have, and don't focus on the progress that you haven't seen.

Turo Virta: 39:01

Yeah, that is, I think it's it's one of the best advice is to focus on what you are actually, what kind of progress you are seeing, and not what you are not seeing, because I don't, I think over 90% I would say, from my clients are not seeing the progress, or it's slower than they would like it to be, like those unrealistic expectations, and what is then some advice you would give to someone who feels frustrated with their body or health right now?

Unknown: 39:40

I would tell them you didn't get here in one day, so you're not going to fix it in one day, just just reminding them of that, and reminding them that, do they want to be healthy long term? Do they want to, and this goes back to their why, do they want to be healthy enough, if it's older than you know, to walk their daughter down the aisle, do they want to be, do they want to be healthy enough to where beach seasons come in, and they want that six pack, you know. It takes work to get there, though. Like, nothing, nothing given is nothing earned is given. So we have to make those sacrifices. Are we willing to make sacrifices to improve our life? We're able to go to work because we know we need money, so why can't we invest in ourselves the same way we invest into someone else's job?

Turo Virta: 40:34

Yeah, what is then? I want to make it a little bit more practical, so if someone is listening and want to make their nutrition more practical this week, what are three things they could

Unknown: 40:51

do to make the nutrition more practical? Increase their water intake. Add two servings of fruit.

Turo Virta: 41:05

Hmm.

Unknown: 41:06

To their, to their meals throughout the week, so it doesn't have to be every day, but add two servings of fruit throughout the week, and eat breakfast within 45 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes of waking up. Three very practical tips that they can do. Yeah,

Turo Virta: 41:26

and those are very, very helpful. So, what is the one nutrition rule you wish people would stop following?

Unknown: 41:37

Carbs are the enemy. Carbs are not the enemy, you know. People look at carbs, make me fat, that's not true. Carbs don't make you fat. Carb sometimes carbohydrates absorb water, so sometimes they think this water weight is making a fat, but that's just that's that you key that out, so it's not a matter of making you fat. Carbs are what our body needs for exercise and fuel, so at my moderate to intense exercise, that's what our body uses. So if you're working out, that's what our body uses, that's the only source that our brain uses for fuel, so carbohydrates are not the enemy, and that's one thing I wish people understood.

Turo Virta: 42:13

And what is then one simple nutrition habit you wish more people practiced?

Unknown: 42:24

Eat breakfast, I think a lot. I know a lot of my clients. That's first thing they tell me is they don't really eat breakfast, they don't enjoy eating breakfast. So eat breakfast is going to be a big one.

Turo Virta: 42:38

So then time is flying. What is.. I want to ask you a couple things. What is one thing you wish every coach understood about helping people change

Unknown: 42:57

their goals are not always your goals, finding what their goals are going to be the most important thing, finding what's important to them, and then using your expertise to drive them towards those goals, but help shape their goals, make sure they're realistic.

Turo Virta: 43:14

That's very good, very good. If someone feels like that they have failed with food many times, what would you want them to hear? I

Unknown: 43:29

There's always another opportunity for success, because success is not an object to be achieved or obtained. It's merely a byproduct for the hard work you put in. So, to see success, to see results, you have to put in the work, but we can put in that work together. We just have to figure out what the best plan

Turo Virta: 43:53

is, and what is one thing you wish everyone understood about nutrition, like really in their heart.

Unknown: 44:06

Who's meant to be enjoyed. I'm not everyone should know. Food is meant to be enjoyed. There's healthy choices and less healthy choices, and all we need to do is make sure we make healthy choices more often than less healthy choices.

Turo Virta: 44:19

Very good. So, where people can learn more about your work.

Unknown: 44:27

So, you can go to my website, Nicholas Kelly rd.com So that's Nicholas Kelly rd.com or you can find me at my socials, which are Nicholas Kelly Rd at all social platforms. Or you can email me at Nicholas Kelly rd@gmail.com If you guys didn't notice, there's a little bit of a pattern there. Spelling rd is the way to find me, and the way to find me, and everything

Turo Virta: 44:50

awesome. And I will put all links to show notes, and you will, you can. I definitely can only recommend Nicholas knows what he's talking about. It's a great, have seen both sides being coach dietitian, but also at the same time patient himself. So, thank you so much, Nicholas. I really enjoyed this conversation, and I think the big reminder today is that nutrition is not only about knowing what to eat, it's about making it work in a real life with your schedule, stress, emotions, health with the life you can actually have, and thank you so much, Nicholas. I really, really enjoyed it, and I hope to talk to you soon again.

Unknown: 45:43

Thank you so much. I really appreciate you having me. It's been a pleasure. Thank.