#21 Lose Weight by Eating Detox Week with Best-Selling Author Audrey Johns

02/19/18 • 34 min

Clean Eating for Women with Carrie Forrest, MPH in Nutrition

Audrey Johns is a blogger and cookbook author with an amazing story. She lost 150 pounds by eating real food and cooking at home. She is here today to talk about her new book Lose Weight by Eating Detox Week. In this episode of the Clean Eating for Women podcast, We talk about:

Audrey’s eating and weight loss story
How clean eating has changed Audrey's life
Thinking about the long game when making food choices

Some highlights of this episode:

Audrey had been heavy her entire life. She tried many different diets, and she would lose a little and then gain it back. Then she came across a clean eating cookbook and thought she would give it a try. A light went on she found something easy that made sense to her. She lost 150 pounds in 11 months by just replacing processed foods with whole foods. [02:17]
People kept asking her what she had done to lose so much weight, and she had trouble articulating that, so she decided to start a blog and share her recipes. Her blood turned viral, and she now has two cookbooks and has been on the Rachael Ray Show three times. [03:33]
A baby step to beginning your health journey can be giving up diet soda. It makes you hungrier at mealtime and you are also hyped up on caffeine. [04:14]
Audrey is always looking for the good in things. This is why she called her book Lose By Through Eating. We need calories for fuel, so they shouldn't be considered a bad thing. Filling our body with fake foods is worse for us even if they are low calorie. [05:38]
The convenience trap and thinking about the long game. Think about how a convenience foods make you feel afterwards. Think about the long game and your life as you're getting older. Think about how the food is going to affect you in the long run. Our food should taste good and make us feel good. [07:31]
Anyone can learn to cook. It's as simple as following directions and having a little bit of kitchen confidence. If ruining dinner is the worst thing that happened today, you're doing pretty good. [10:41]
The equation of how to make a perfect salad. You need protein and healthy fats. Audrey loves using things like walnuts and goat cheese. Healthy fats tell your body that it's okay to release the fat in the body. Audrey’s salads are supposed to be big. She wants you to be so full and satisfied that you aren't reaching for chips or processed food. [13:01]
When Audrey refers to detox she means removing chemicals and processed foods from our diets and replacing those things with healthy whole foods. Replacing laboratory foods that confuse your body with whole foods that your body already knows how to digest. She shares an equation for our plates where it should be 50% vegetables, 25% lean protein, and 25% Healthy carbohydrates. [15:35]
Tips for kids who are picky eaters include using baby spinach in your smoothie. You can also put your smoothie in a cup so the kids won't even know it's green. Baby kale is also more mild than regular kale. You can also use half kale and half spinach. [20:06]

Links mentioned in this episode (some affiliate links included):

Lose Weight by Eating: Detox Week: Twice the Weight Loss in Half the Time with 130 recipes for a Crave-Worthy Cleanse
Books by Audrey Johns
Lose Weight By Eating
Lose Weight By Eating on Facebook
Audrey on Rachael Ray with Bob Harper
Mammoth Bars (use code CLEANEATING for 20% discount during checkout)
Otto’s Cassava Flour (use code CLEANEATING for 10% discount + free shipping over $35 during checkout)

Audrey’s eating and weight loss story
How clean eating has changed Audrey's life
Thinking about the long game when making food choices

Some highlights of this episode:

Audrey had been heavy her entire life. She tried many different diets, and she would lose a little and then gain it back. Then she came across a clean eating cookbook and thought she would give it a try. A light went on she found something easy that made sense to her. She lost 150 pounds in 11 months by just replacing processed foods with whole foods. [02:17]
People kept asking her what she had done to lose so much weight, and she had trouble articulating that, so she decided to start a blog and share her recipes. Her blood turned viral, and she now has two cookbooks and has been on the Rachael Ray Show three times. [03:33]
A baby step to beginning your health journey can be giving up diet soda. It makes you hungrier at mealtime and you are also hyped up on caffeine. [04:14]
Audrey is always looking for the good in things. This is why she called her book Lose By Through Eating. We need calories for fuel, so they shouldn't be considered a bad thing. Filling our body with fake foods is worse for us even if they are low calorie. [05:38]
The convenience trap and thinking about the long game. Think about how a convenience foods make you feel afterwards. Think about the long game and your life as you're getting older. Think about how the food is going to affect you in the long run. Our food should taste good and make us feel good. [07:31]
Anyone can learn to cook. It's as simple as following directions and having a little bit of kitchen confidence. If ruining dinner is the worst thing that happened today, you're doing pretty good. [10:41]
The equation of how to make a perfect salad. You need protein and healthy fats. Audrey loves using things like walnuts and goat cheese. Healthy fats tell your body that it's okay to release the fat in the body. Audrey’s salads are supposed to be big. She wants you to be so full and satisfied that you aren't reaching for chips or processed food. [13:01]
When Audrey refers to detox she means removing chemicals and processed foods from our diets and replacing those things with healthy whole foods. Replacing laboratory foods that confuse your body with whole foods that your body already knows how to digest. She shares an equation for our plates where it should be 50% vegetables, 25% lean protein, and 25% Healthy carbohydrates. [15:35]
Tips for kids who are picky eaters include using baby spinach in your smoothie. You can also put your smoothie in a cup so the kids won't even know it's green. Baby kale is also more mild than regular kale. You can also use half kale and half spinach. [20:06]

Links mentioned in this episode (some affiliate links included):

Lose Weight by Eating: Detox Week: Twice the Weight Loss in Half the Time with 130 recipes for a Crave-Worthy Cleanse
Books by Audrey Johns
Lose Weight By Eating
Lose Weight By Eating on Facebook
Audrey on Rachael Ray with Bob Harper
Mammoth Bars (use code CLEANEATING for 20% discount during checkout)
Otto’s Cassava Flour (use code CLEANEATING for 10% discount + free shipping over $35 during checkout)

Previous Episode

#20 Flex it Pink Creators Anna & Elisha on Using Community to Inspire Women to Get Fit

Health and fitness is a huge part of wellness. I am thrilled to have Anna and Elisha the creators of Flex it Pink here to talk about Using Community to inspire women to get fit.In this episode of the Clean Eating for Women podcast, I talk about:

It’s OK to take time for yourself and take care of your body
Making a difference for your family starts with you
The importance of reinforcement through community

Some highlights of this episode:

Elisha is a mother who grew up overweight. When she hit 225 she knew it was time to make a change. She wanted her kids to follow a healthy path. She started working out and eating right and lost 82 pounds. [01:15]
Anna & Elisha were childhood friends and their Facebook page blew up when they started talking about fitness and support. This is what inspired them to start Flex it Pink. Their Flex it Pink page has about 95,000 followers and their Instagram has about 40,000. [03:29]
Anna is also a mom who loves fitness classes and empowering women. She never struggled with weight until after she had kids. One day she realized she was unhappy with her weight and fitness level, she signed up for the gym and hasn't looked back. Her message for other moms is that it is OK to put yourself first. [04:32]
Flex it Pink encourages women by supporting them. Women need to know that it is OK to take time for yourself and workout. Even if it means getting up at 4:00 AM. It also sets a good example for the family and their children. [05:56]
Flex it Pink empowers and supports women to live a healthy and active lifestyle by cheering them on. They also have virtual 5K runs where participants earn their medal at their own pace. It's a comfortable way to complete that 3 miles. Many go on to half marathons. [09:39]
They also partner with charities and the virtual runs are themed around that charities purpose. They have custom medals, shirts and race bibs. Participants register online. Then everyone runs on a certain week. They encourage all types of movement. After completing the 3 or 6 miles they send in a photo. There is extra support on the Facebook group. [12:26]
Challenges and setbacks that women encounter include roller coaster weight gain. Don't pay attention to the scale. Weight will fluctuate. Log what you eat, and you will understand why your weight is going up. Make changes based on how you are feeling. Be patient and keep making positive changes. Don't give up. Take measurements and pictures monthly. You will be surprised by the results. [16:46]
How exercising can be life changing and put you in a good mood. It just makes your life better. Starting a fitness journey can be easy once you fall in love with exercise, but dieting or eating for weight loss can always be a struggle. Cutting calories does not equal health. Have higher calories, but workout. [23:10]
How women have a fear of food. Eating disorders and not eating enough. Don't be afraid to eat. The old diet culture of the 90's, and how there are so many barriers that we have to overcome. [27:20]

Links mentioned in this episode (some affiliate links included):

Flex it Pink
Flex it Pink on Facebook
6 Week Stronger You Challenge Group 1
Flex it Pink on Instagram
@flexitpink on Twitter
Get Clean Eating 101 Free by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Email [email protected] with your review name.

Next Episode

#22 Eating Disorder Recovery & Finding Balance with Holistic Nutritionist Erin Holt

Erin Holt is a holistic nutritionist and a very strong woman. I have been listening to her podcast, and it is an honor to have her on the show today to talk about a subject that is very sensitive to me. Today, we discus eating disorders and recovery from eating disorders.In this episode of the Clean Eating for Women podcast, We talk about:

Erin’s health journey
Eating disorders and diet culture
Healing never comes through restriction (there is a time and place for therapeutic elimination diets)

Some highlights of this episode:

Erin grew up as a chunky kid, but as she grew and became more lean she received a lot of positive reinforcement. She started running and drastically reduced what she was eating, and she started a 13 year struggle with eating disorders. She started clinging to the restriction model in high school, but in college she was introduced to bulimia. [02:40]
Erin decided to get her life together and become a dietitian. After graduating, she decided she didn't want to become a dietitian. Conventional medicine looks at things in a black and white way. She became a health coach, a yoga teacher, she stopped dieting, and starting eating whole food. She finally started to heal. [05:58]
After getting married and having a baby, her health fell apart and she was diagnosed with systemic scleroderma an autoimmune disease. This influenced how she lived and practiced nutrition. She wants to empower women to live free of diet culture and chronic disease. [07:54]
We don't have to let diet culture dictate our lives. We can break free from that. How we live our lives and the thoughts we have all matter. [08:42]
How chronic illness makes us feel betrayed by our bodies. There is a huge correlation between eating disorders and body Image issues and the way chronic illness can make you feel. Your body hasn't betrayed you. These things are actually protective mechanisms to try to keep us safe and keep us alive. [10:03]
How responsibility means responding to the situation. We don't have to follow every restrictive message and take more and more things out of our diet. How restriction and the diet mentality is beat into us. How people with autoimmune diseases are taught that healing comes from restriction. Even with autoimmune disease, Erin tries to move away from the restriction. [13:19]
How healing never comes through restriction.The stress of the diets were outweighing the potential benefits for Erin. Why would you be given something in which the only solution is restriction. Food manipulation is pretty easy. Changing our relationships to ourselves, other people, and stress is where the hard work is at. This is also where the magic and the healing happens. [17:44]
First and foremost, things need to be approached with love. Weight loss and healing are not always simultaneous goals. It's very rare that Erin sees healing come through dieting. Erin actually had to put on 10 pounds to feel better. This really created an internal struggle for her. [20:17]
Listening to our bodies and connecting with how foods make us feel. How we need to find a way to get back online with our bodies. This is how Erin healed from an eating disorder and an autoimmune disease. Getting back in touch with yourself and feeling things including how your body responds to food and how you feel emotionally. [29:35]

Links mentioned in this episode (some affiliate links included):