Episode 72

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Published on:

15th Oct 2024

Empower your Heart Health Series: Building a Heart-Healthy Diet

Hello Heart Buddies! Our October series continues with cardiac dietitian extraordinaire, Michelle Routhenstein. We dismantle the myth that heart health is all about cutting foods out and dive deep into the necessity of nutrient sufficiency. Michelle shares real-life examples, including her own experiences with clients, to explain why just losing weight isn’t enough to optimize vascular health. She also teaches us about how the right balance of nutrients — rather than restrictive dieting — can improve your digestion, energy levels, and overall quality of life. If you’ve ever found yourself lost in a maze of restrictive diets like I was, this episode offers a refreshing and liberating approach.

How to find Michelle

Michelle Routhenstein, MS, RD, CDCES, CDN

Cardiology Dietitian and Preventive Cardiology Nutritionist

Owner of Entirely Nourished, LLC

Sign up for her next Optimize Group at here. This is an affiliate link and by signing up, you support this podcast. Thank you!

About the program: Optimize is a six-week virtual heart optimization group program designed to teach you how to protect your heart through science-based nutrition. In this live program, Michelle Routhenstein, a cardiovascular dietitian, leads Zoom lectures that delve into arterial health and how to enhance your cardiovascular risk profile. She addresses underlying issues like inflammation, oxidative stress, and insulin resistance using evidence-based nutritional strategies. Throughout the six weeks, you'll also have access to a private community for questions, support, and the implementation of science-based heart-healthy changes to safeguard your heart for the long term.

Get in touch...P: (646) 979-0328 E: Michelle@EntirelyNourished.com

http://www.entirelynourished.com 

Join the Patreon Community! The Joyful Beat zoom group is where you'll find connection and hope that you aren't alone in your journey.

If you just want to support the show as a one-time gift (thank you), go here.

**I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. Be sure to check in with your care team about all the next right steps for you and your heart.**

How to connect with Boots

Email: Boots@theheartchamberpodcast.com

Instagram: @openheartsurgerywithboots or @boots.knighton

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/boots-knighton

Boots Knighton

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Open Heart Surgery with Boots

Transcript
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I don't want you to be in this mindset of

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I need to get rid of all these foods for my heart health.

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Because when you are focusing, for instance, I've had clients who say the

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doctor told me to lose weight in order for my heart health. They've had two

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to three heart attacks, and the doctor's like, you just need to lose weight. So

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they go on whatever diet they want and they have another heart attack because what

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you're eating is not feeding and optimizing your vascular

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system. Welcome to a special October

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edition of open heart surgery with boots.

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All month long, we're diving into heart healthy

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eating with none other than my cardiac

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dietitian, Michelle Rothenstein. Each

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Tuesday, we are serving up bite sized ten to

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15 minutes episodes to give you practical tips

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to keep your heart in tip top shape. Whether

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you're recovering from surgery or just looking to show your heart a

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little extra love, Michelle's got you covered. Don't

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forget to check out our

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patreon@www.patreon.com

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openheart surgery with boots. There we are building

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a community of fellow heart buddies where we are going

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to start meeting up on Zoom and being of support to each

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other. And I'll be curating special, special

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playlists to help you get started on your heart

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journey if you're just starting out. So thank you so

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much for being here. Thank you for supporting this podcast.

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I am so excited to bring Michelle to

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you every Tuesday for the month of October. So let's get

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right to it. Hello. Welcome back to another

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episode of Open Heart Surgery with Boots. If you've been

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listening for a little bit, you know I've brought on my

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extremely extraordinarily talented, brilliant

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cardiac dietitian, Michelle, who has

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been dropping truth bombs for us in the last two episodes,

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and she's back for a third. We're doing this all month, and there were several

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reasons why I wanted to do this. I've just experienced so much

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success with Michelle, and I explained in

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our first of this series how integrity is everything

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to me. And if I am going to suggest anyone to you,

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if I'm going to elevate any healthcare provider,

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it's going to be because I directly benefited. And

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I cannot believe how much Michelle

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has graced my life, mind, body,

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spirit when I first started working with her as a

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client. And Michelle, feel free to jump in from your

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perspective, but we had some serious work to do. My

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gut was messed up. I was on a heavily restricted diet

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for a variety of reasons. I had come to

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fear food because I had developed such

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an intense case of IB's, and I

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was hardly eating anything, I was getting hardly

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any nutrients, I was taking too many supplements, I wasn't

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able to pee well at night because my kidneys were freaking

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out and I would have like four bowel

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movements every morning. And so it was just

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amazing how much my body was just so

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dysregulated. And Michelle and I have done so much good

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work together that I take virtually no supplements,

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minus like some magnesium and a B vitamin. And

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then I only have one bowel movement in the morning,

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which is been just life changing. And I have

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no problems peeing before bed. Like, I, I

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mean, and that's just the start of it. And, and then on top of it,

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I am tolerating most foods now, and I look

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forward to cooking. And, like, that doesn't

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even talk that, you know, don't get me started on like, all the positive

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effects on my heart, but like, that's like the 50,000 foot

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view. But let me tell you people, when your gut is messed up and you

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are pooping so much, it really affects your quality of

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life. And I'm not trying to be crass, but it really does.

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It's okay to talk about poop. Let's normalize that.

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We have to. It's so important for heart and health. It's all correlated.

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It's a sign of inflammation. You know, I really appreciate you being

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vulnerable and sharing this with many individuals, because it's

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too often where I see someone come to my office and being

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like, I don't. This is a whole list that my functional medicine doctor told me

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I cannot eat right. And so, you know, I asked you the first time,

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you were on like maybe twelve restrictions. It was like,

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low histamine, low fodmap, low

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oxalate, low, literally low everything. And I go to

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you, so what are you eating on a regular basis? And you looked at me

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on that first call and you're like, nothing. I actually give up because

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it's so restrictive that I eat whatever I want, which is probably

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not even what I'm supposed to be eating. And the

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biggest thing was, for me, was that you weren't just

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going to the bathroom frequently, you were seeing food

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in your stool, meaning your body was not absorbing these nutrients,

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which is a sign to me that there was a lot of inflammation

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and a lot of gut health issues that we needed to

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address. And I think it's important to really

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put this into the context of every single person and

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majority of people. When you ask them what are you

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eating? They will talk about what they're not eating, right. So if you

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ask someone, what's your diet? What do you follow? It's always talking

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about, oh, I don't eat this. Oh, I don't eat this. Of course I don't

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eat that. But it's never about what you're actually eating

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and the balance and the way it's cooked and how

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you're eating it in terms of metabolism that actually

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allows for your body to digest it, absorb

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it, put it into the cell that belongs, and excrete what it doesn't need to

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excrete. And so when you aren't urinating or when you're not

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going to having good, effective bowel movements,

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you're going to be a nutrient deficient because you are

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kind of excreting too much of things that aren't solid. But

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b, your body's not having a good detoxification

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system, right. Your body gets rid of toxins

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naturally when you feed it and fuel it properly.

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Talking about having good bowel movements, urinating well

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and regularly without issue. And then the other one is

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sweating. And I remember in our work together, you mentioned,

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Michelle, I'm having magical poops. Like, that was a wahoo

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moment. You were like, I'm actually urinating at night. Like, I used to, like, feel

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like I had to go to the bathroom, but I couldn't go. That was a

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positive. But then in about a month into our work, you're like,

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Michelle, I've sweated for my first time in a very

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long time. And I'm like, yes, because that's a, the signs that your

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body is working for you. And so I really,

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really appreciate you sharing this story. And I think it's important for people to

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recognize that what you're eating is so important

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for combating inflammation and optimizing your gut

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health and optimizing your heart health and your vascular health so

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your heart can pump blood easily and effectively without

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overstressing. And so instead of having this restricted

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mindset of, nope, I don't eat this, I don't eat that. I don't eat this.

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It's, well, what are you eating? Are you nutrient sufficient? One

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more thing that I want your audience to take from this too,

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is I don't want you to be in this

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mindset of, I need to get rid of all these

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foods for my heart health. Because when you are focusing, for instance,

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I've had clients who say, the doctor told me to lose weight in order for

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my heart health. They've had two or three heart attacks. And the doctor's like, you

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just need to lose weight. So they go on whatever diet they want and they

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have another heart attack. Because what you're eating is not feeding and optimizing

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your vascular system. It's not improving your cardiometabolic

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metrics. So while weight loss is one risk factor of heart disease,

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it's important that we are also considering, well, what is that? What

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are we eating to allow for a caloric deficit? When you focus only

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on calories, you don't focus on nutrients and nutrient

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quality. That's really going to help improve your heart health, too. Wow. And

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that was really revelatory for me. And I just want

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everyone to just take a second and think about

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how it feels to have a restrictive

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diet. Like, really check in about that and think about

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just living in life of restriction

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versus. Okay, now think about

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adding, adding in for your heart

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health. Adding, like, yummy, soul

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filling foods. Like, when Michelle gave me my meal

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plan and I read through it all and I started

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experimenting with all the great recipes she gave me,

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I felt like I was eating a

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hug. Now, bear with me. I know that sounds a

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little on the corny side, pun totally intended, but,

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like, it matters. Like, how we approach our

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meals and, like, the mindfulness and the intention of what

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we put in our bodies, it really does

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matter. And so when I make the fun

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sauces and, you know, just thinking about how,

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like, I. My heart deserves this extra little bit

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of effort I'm putting in to my breakfast, lunch and dinner,

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and I'm intentionally using the turmeric and all these

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other yummy things, and it's. I cannot tell you how

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much happier I am. And that whole

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saying, you are what you eat has never felt more

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true. By putting joy behind my cooking

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and putting intention behind my cooking really

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has had a positive effect on both me and my

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husband. And that's so important to recognize.

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I think a lot of times when it comes to food, it's hard

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because it's complicated. Right. You may love cooking and find

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joy in cooking and cooking for you and your husband and just

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smelling the smells and enjoying all what you're eating and the

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right balance and how it makes you feel and how it lowers inflammation in your

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body, et cetera. But to someone else, that might sound intimidating. Oh, no. I have

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to cook all of my meals. So I always kind of like to start with

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saying that or really bring up the point that you

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don't need to be cooking for hours in the kitchen to be heart

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healthy. It needs to be something realistic. For you,

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but I really wanted to emphasize on the ability to really focus

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in on, if you are on a restricted diet, really

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hone into, well, what nutrients do you need to add from

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other things to get your needs in, right? Like if you avoid

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dairy for instance. Well, are you getting calcium from other food sources to

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meet your needs to prevent osteopenia, osteoporosis and bone

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mineral density, which also increases vascular calcification. If you

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don't have enough calcium, are you getting enough probiotics? If you're

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eliminating dairy, there's certain nutrients found magnesium,

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potassium, there's certain nutrients found in certain food groups. And if you are

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in a restrictive mindset, you really need to, or you have to restrict because

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of allergies, intolerances. It can all be worked in from

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a heart health perspective, but we must understand what we need to

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replace those foods with to make sure that you're having a nutrient

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adequate diet. A lot of times people will come to me and go,

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oh, are you going to put me on a vegan diet? Are you going to

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put me on a keto diet? Are you going to put me on a diet?

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And I say no. I say, I want to understand you and then I'm

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going to make sure that your nutrients sufficient so I can personalize the

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science. If everybody goes on the same exact diet, it doesn't

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work. There's so much cultural emotion day to

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day, there's so many variables for a diet to work. And

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my goal is for you to optimize your cardiometabolic metrics. It's

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to optimize your, and lower inflammation, oxidative stress,

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insulin resistance, all the things that cause havoc in the blood vessel.

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But by doing this in a way that's enjoyable in a way that you, in

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that you actually like the food you're eating and you're not complaining that it's bland

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or tasteless or just disgusting or too restrictive,

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I want you to enjoy it. There's so much emotions that come with

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food and we need to take that into account. So that's

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why I don't prescribe the same diet, because a, it doesn't

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work and b, a lot of times it gets lost in

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translation. If I were to just say, everyone go on the mediterranean

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diet, well that's 21 regions across the Mediterranean. Which one are

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you talking about? They're all, they all have different foods and cultures. It doesn't give

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you, I mean, I had a client who came to see me and said, oh

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yeah, I follow mediterranean diet. I don't know why I have heart disease. And when

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I went into what he was doing, his mediterranean diet definition was drinking a

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cup of olive oil every day. That was how he defined it, which is not

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a healthy volume of olive oil for anybody to consume.

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Wow. So I say this to really put into

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perspective that what you're eating is

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important and the nutrient composition and

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the nutrient adequacy is what we need to be focusing

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on for you and making it something that's

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doable. I want this to be something that you can

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implement, not just for the time I'm working with you, but really

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for the rest of your life. So when you understand the why, when you understand

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the pairings, when you understand how it gets metabolized in your

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body in certain volumes and certain times, et cetera, you're more

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likely to implement it for the long term because you have the

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understanding and the knowledge to do so. Yeah, love

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that. And before we end for today, I just also

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want to say I was not perfect out the gate

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and still am not like it is. It has been such

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a sea change for me on so many

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levels. Mind, body, spirit. And

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so if you're listening and your eyes are really

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big as you're driving down the road, wondering, like, how can I

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institute change? Well, you can. It's just

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one. I have this motto, 1% better

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every day except for Sundays. And

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Michelle is so patient. She re explains things.

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She's been accessible to me via email because of the way I, like,

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work with her. She has different ways that you can work with her where

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she makes herself self available to you. But she gave me

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such a great resource guide and I have

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probably, I think I've read it six times, seven times now might

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be seven. And every time I read it, there's like a

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new thing that jumps out of the page and your body is going to let

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you know when it's ready for that, like, next level

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of healing. And I'm really glad that I. That

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I have a great therapist. And if you've been listening to this podcast, you hear

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me talk about my therapist. I've been with her for ten and a half years

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now. It's been the greatest gift I've ever given to myself and

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my family is me working on my side of the street.

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And my side of the street lately, in the last few months, in

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conjunction with Michelle, is healing my relationship

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to food. And so when you start on this

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journey for your heart, on behalf

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of your heart, you are going to heal in unexpected

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ways that are going to be so beautiful. You

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just have to be willing to be a little uncomfortable for a minute

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while you make these changes. That's been my experience.

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And slow and steady. You don't need to be perfect. There's no such thing as

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perfect. You don't need to have a perfect diet. You don't need to eat

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perfect meals. It's no such thing. It's really

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about really instilling, and I talk about this in all of my work

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together. Let's prioritize two to four goals

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every two weeks. Let's see how they do. Let's address those

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challenges. If it's working really well, great. Add another one.

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Before you know it, you're doing 70% to 80% of this seamlessly. It's

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becoming part of your lifestyle. You're seeing really great results, and

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you're reaffirming. I don't need to be perfect because the

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perfect mentality of a diet leads to failure. And you

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don't need to be perfect to see results. Nope. And I love how

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recently I. One, a struggle of mine has been emotional

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eating. And recently, in conjunction with

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you, and I read, like, a quote somewhere, some meme, what would we

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do without memes now in the world? But anyway, it was just talking

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about, and you've helped me see this. Like, if I'm gonna have a little bit

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of ice cream or a little bit of chocolate, like, be mindful about that

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and be like, no, just enjoy the chocolate. Enjoying it.

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Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, oh, right. I don't

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have to feel shame about enjoying some chocolate or a little

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ice cream. Right. Like, of course. Take the shame out of

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it. Exactly. This is. That was, like, mind blowing to

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me. Yes. I'm wearing big. This is the other thing.

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If you have that ice cream and you're like, this doesn't taste good, then it's

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not worth it. You want to savor it because it makes it so much

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more enjoyable. And you also then take out the guilt. You're like, this was

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great. This was enjoyable. And then you move on to your next meal without over

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obsessing over, oh, my God, I can't believe I ate that much ice cream. Why

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did I eat the ice cream? You start, we're so mean to ourselves that we

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need to be better in terms of positive talks. So enjoy the ice cream. That's

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so important. And it's important to balance this out, out so that you are

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living your life and having good quality of life is so

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important in your heart health journey, too. So. Yeah. Well, thank

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you. That's a great place. To stop for today. I hope y'all are

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enjoying this series that Michelle and I are doing. We've got two

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more, so be sure to come back next week. And

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again, take a look in the show notes. There's great ways to find

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how to work with Michelle in there. And I'm just so glad that you are

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coming along with us on this ride. And we'll be back next week. Thanks so

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much.

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About the Podcast

Open Heart Surgery with Boots
A podcast for heart patients by a heart patient
Formerly called The Heart Chamber Podcast, Open Heart Surgery with Boots airs every Tuesday for conversations on open-heart surgery from the patient perspective. Boots Knighton explores the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual experiences of surgery with fellow heart patients and health care providers. This podcast aims to help patients feel less overwhelmed so you can get on with living your best life after surgery. You not only deserve to survive open-heart surgery, you deserve to THRIVE!
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