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How Do You Plan A Diet?
Amy Dirks • 2022-06-07
Dylan Carnahan:Welcome to the Simple Questions Podcast. This is your host, Dylan Carnahan. You're listening to Drowning This House by Til Willis. Til was born in the heat of 1980 Mississippi and raised in the mountains of Colorado. He's been performing and writing songs since he was 13 years old. Currently, when not performing solo, Til plays with his band, Til Willis and Erratic Cowboy, which has been around for a decade now, and as a part of a folk duo, Solo Hot. The question for this episode is, how do you plan a diet? You will learn in this episode what macronutrients are and how to incorporate them into your diet, how to look for foods to include in your diet, and helpful tips on how to stick to your diet. Our guest is a registered Sports Dietitian-Nutritionist and Wellness Consultant. He is skilled in nutrition education, wellness coaching, sports nutrition, integrative and functional nutrition, and health promotion, who in 2017 and 2018 assisted Sporting Kansas City with their nutrition choices as a Sports Performance Nutritionist and is the founder of Amy Dirks Sports Nutrition. I introduce to you all Amy Dirks. Well, firstly, Amy, thank you for being willing to come on and discuss this topic with myself as well as our listeners today. I know we greatly appreciate you taking the time.
Amy Dirks:I'm happy to spread the good word.
Dylan Carnahan:Now, you have a lot of cool credentials and licenses by your name and you have your own business. It seems like a great place to start would be, what made you want to become a dietitian?
Amy Dirks:Right, well, first of all, I will say in regards to all those letters behind my name that it's not so much that education and the certifications as it is the life experiences that have taught me so much. So I'll start with that. But I was a Division I athlete myself and was constantly asking the athletic trainer and the coaches, what do I eat? What supplements should I take? And I never had that expert to help me with that. And I was experiencing some of my own issues, like gaining the freshman 15 and hormones and inflammatory conditions. And I would go see a doctor for allergies and they would give me medicine. And then I would go see a dermatologist for acne and they would give me an antibiotic. And so I was being treated for all these things that I was experiencing separately. And really the body is synergistically, it's meant to work as a whole and one system affects another. And so where I went to school at Arkansas State, they did not have a dietetics program, which is why I was really intrigued by. So I had majored in exercise science. And as soon as I graduated, I got my CSCS, which is my Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. And then later went to get my CPT, Certified Personal Trainer. And so I started in personal training, long story short, which when you personal train people, they always ask, well, what should I eat and what supplements should I take? And again, I didn't feel like I knew some things at that point, but I was not supposed to, you know, be giving out all that information. So I went back to school. Luckily, I was working in corporate wellness at the time. I was a fitness specialist. And so they had tuition reimbursement and I was able to go back to school to be a dietitian while I was working for them. And so that's pretty much how my dietetics career began.
Dylan Carnahan:Wow, that's a little unconventional journey. Like good for you, good for you going back, seeing something. You know, you kind of had some personal curiosity I know being a former athlete myself, I mean, those are questions that you have to find an answer for because you're expected to perform right. And to kind of continue that passion and make that your profession. Good, good for you.
Amy Dirks:That's right. Well, thank you. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing because I know there are lots of athletes in my position or the position I was in that want to perform at the top level. They, maybe they have injuries and they're not recovering properly. And so I want to give back to sports because it did so much for me in my life. So yeah.
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah, that's a very noble, noble rationale. How did your career go from there after you kind of go back and get this degree? Where do you go from there?
Amy Dirks:We actually moved to a small town and not a lot of job options. So I ended up working as a WIC Nutritionist. I was PRN at the hospital as a clinical dietitian. So I kind of had a lot of odd-in jobs. And then I sort of started my own personal training business, so I would do that as well. And then I had babies, and that took up a lot of my time. So luckily, I was able to be a stay-at-home mom, but also continue my personal training, which eventually I added the nutrition component to that as well. So I would say my niche was like a wellness dietitian. And I would see clients on both aspects of physical activity and then added the nutrition component as well. And then I would volunteer in sports at colleges and with teams and so forth to try to help them. And really just because that was fun for me. But it wasn't like anything paid. So but a passion.
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah. And now you have this Amy Dirks Sports Nutrition. So how does that work? What do you do with that?
Amy Dirks:OK. So that came about when, again, I'm a wellness dietitian. But I know a lot of practitioners, like chiropractors, and I'm actually married to a physician and massage therapist and all the things. And so we kind of did this concierge wellness team. And we had several high profile CEO clients. And one of them was involved with Sporting Kansas City. And the strength coach for Sporting KC approached me and asked me if I wanted to help. They were going to try to start a sports nutrition program. And would I be willing to do that for them? So I was like, yes, this is an amazing opportunity. These are professional athletes. So the first season I worked with them, I was more of like a consultant. And I would come in two to three times a week and mingle with the players when they were eating and pre and post practice and really just took research on like, OK, this is what they need and we've got to get rid of these things. And so I kind of formulated a plan. So I did a lot of presentations with the players to try to get them all on the same page. Because what I found was I worked with the Academy, the USL team, and the first team. So they're all different ages from all over the place. And they're still a nutrition knowledge deficit amongst all of them. And so I needed to present this basic foundational sports nutrition information to them. So that's what I did. I spoke to the Academy. I spoke to the USL and to the first team. And to even some of the Academy parents, because they're the ones for 10 to 18 year olds are doing the grocery shopping and cooking. And so all of these resources that I'm creating at the time, I looked online for resources to help me. And I just wasn't finding what I wanted that had my same nutrition philosophy. I come from a more holistic standpoint. I think if you can do things naturally, you should. There's tons of chemicals and horrible stuff in our food. And they promote that to athletes a lot of times in these protein powders and sports drinks and so forth. And so I created all of my own stuff. And the second season, I worked with the team. I went full-time. They created a full-time position for me. And man, that rocked my world because the schedule was so different than what I was used to with my kids and their activities because they're both in sports and school stuff. And I was missing out on a lot of things. And so I kind of knew that I wasn't gonna be able to maintain that. And so at the end of that season, I quit, but I had created all of that. So I took it with me. And during COVID, I was able to create an online version because I thought, well, if I can get this online, there's gotta be tons of other sports teams that wanna start a sports nutrition program, but don't know where to start, can't afford in the budget to hire a sports dietitian, but maybe they can afford to buy my program, and then it's just plug and play. You get to implement it however you see fit. So that is pretty much what Amy Dirks Sports Nutrition is. It's an online platform for individual athletes or teams to utilize in order to teach that foundation of sports nutrition.
Dylan Carnahan:Wow, that's very entrepreneurial of you, right? You have like this, you're creating content. As a fellow, you and I are both content creators. It's just a different theme, right, or topic. And you're building this catalog, so to speak, about foundational nutrition knowledge. And you're able to, you found a niche. Hey, if you're an introduction, if you will, to this kind of topic, here's where you can start and here's where you can go.
Amy Dirks:Exactly, yep. Now I just have to market it and get it out there.
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah, that's the fun part, that's the fun part, right?
Amy Dirks:Yeah, you know what? Like it's difficult, it's a full-time job within itself and I didn't major in marketing, so I'm just kind of winging it. And I feel like I'm spending more time on that business side of things than I am engaging and creating content, which is what I love to do. So yeah, I need a personal assistant.
Dylan Carnahan:Amy, we can talk after the episode. Fortunately for you, I am a marketing major. Well, the collab can happen after the episode, but I'll be happy to talk to you about some things. Yeah, okay, foundational nutrition knowledge. We got the expert here, Amy. What are some typical goals of a diet? If we're just like, we're hearing the word diet, diet gets thrown around so much, it's almost become, it's normalized. We're too close to the elephant. What are some just typical goals for diet?
Amy Dirks:Okay, and we'll get to what diet, that word means to me later, but I would say the number one goal of a diet for most people would be to lose weight. That's what you get asked most of the time as a dietitian, like I need to lose weight. For athletes, it might be to gain lean muscle, to lose body fat specifically, to detoxify. There's lots of detoxification diets, disease reversal. Type two diabetes, for example, can be reversed with diet and lifestyle. And really just in general, any more it's to feel better, sleep better, just feel better overall.
Dylan Carnahan:You brought up earlier, what does diet mean to you? What's your definition?
Amy Dirks:So a diet to me is like, it's your style of eating. It's not like this temporary thing, it's not supposed to be a fad. It's kind of the way that you eat. It's your style of eating. And you have to be practical with that and be able to see yourself doing it almost every day, or else you're not gonna stick with it. So that to me, it's such a stigma for people to, because it means restriction or taking things away or eating foods they don't even like. And that's not what a diet should be. A diet should be what you can do and how you eat and stick with it.
Dylan Carnahan:That's a really interesting frame, right? A style, because much as you're saying, when I hear the word diet, I think like strict adherence, a regimen, right? And yeah, that's just a really interesting way of looking at it. And it does, it's more helpful, honestly.
Amy Dirks:Well, it's very negative in a lot of people's minds and rightfully so, because we've been pushed, that there's so many diets out there. But deep down, we kind of know what's good for us and what's not. So there shouldn't be one diet that we follow because it's not one size fits all.
Dylan Carnahan:Now within these styles or diets, I know that macros are kind of the building blocks how we can form these styles or diets. So what are macros?
Amy Dirks:So macros are basically your three major nutrients that most foods are gonna fall into that category. So you've got carbohydrates and you've got proteins and you've got fats. Those are the three major ones. And then all of your vitamins and minerals kind of fall as a micronutrient, so to speak.
Dylan Carnahan:And so we have, we kind of have these three elements. How, I guess, what's the importance of each one and how can you use them to create a diet?
Amy Dirks:Okay, so this is usually one of the first things that I try to teach people because when you have a goal and let's say it's to lose weight and someone tells you, you really need to cut back on your carbs and you need to increase your protein intake. If you don't know what foods fall under those categories, then you're not gonna succeed. So it's education first. So I always teach foods that are carbohydrates are foods that are gonna break down into sugar in the body. Now there's subcategories of that because there's complex carbohydrates and simple carbohydrates, but essentially, it's all your vegetables, fruits, grains. Even dairy has lactose, so it's a carbohydrate. You have cakes, candies, crackers. There's so many foods that fall under the category of carbohydrates. And then your proteins are gonna be obviously anything from an animal, but you also have plant proteins. So you have nuts and nut butters and peas. And so, you know, again, dairy has protein in it. So there's some foods that mix into different categories, which can be confusing. And then fats, for the longest time, got the worst reputation whatsoever. Thank you, sugar industry, because that's what their goal was, to take fat out of food and add sugar into the food. So fats are not bad. In fact, you need fats for so many things. You need fat to lose fat, actually. You need fat for your brain. You need fat for your hormones. And it's the most dense energy source that we can eat. Really? Yeah, when you look at the actual numbers, you have carbohydrates and proteins as four calories per gram, and fats are nine calories per gram. So for a small amount, you get a lot more energy density. And then, you know, your healthy fats are going to be like those fatty fishes, like salmon and herring and sardines and mackerel, and then like nuts and nut butters and olives and olive oil and avocados and avocado oil, and there's all kinds of healthy fats. So those are your three main macronutrients and kind of some of the foods that fall into those categories.
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah, it's interesting. Unfortunately, fats, specifically that macronutrient, I mean, there's a negative connotation just inherently because you're saying, hey, I want to lose fat, and now I need to incorporate a diet, and then you have this variable that is fat, right? You kind of want to intuitively just limit that. And much as you're saying, it's like, hey, it's actually, you know, beneficial.
Amy Dirks:Totally, totally. I mean, you have like the keto diet, for example, is 70% fat, 5% carbohydrates, and, you know, 20, 25% protein. So but then there's other diets that, you know, are way more carb-heavy and really low in fats. And so again, it's not one size fits all. It's truly what it's almost like an experiment. You just have to sort of try different things and see what works best. I mean, if you can like do some tests and kind of find out like maybe what you're sensitive to, maybe what your body needs more than others. And I mean, there's ways of getting really specific with it. But when you're just generalizing, you know, it's best to try to incorporate all three of those macronutrients into every meal in some form or fashion.
Dylan Carnahan:Now we're getting down to macronutrients, but the big buzzword or thing I think a lot of people focus on is calories. So how do you set the number of calories you should eat?
Amy Dirks:Man, here's another thing like the whole fat. Calories, for the longest time, it was about energy balance. Calories in versus calories out. You have to burn more calories than what you take in in order to lose weight. And we're realizing that that is not at all correct. Maybe from a formula standpoint, it looks right, but in real life, that's just not the way that our bodies work. When you decrease calories, your metabolism slows down. Because it's almost like, okay, well, I'm not getting as much fuel, so I need to chill out.
Dylan Carnahan:And self-preservation.
Amy Dirks:Exactly. So what is that going to do to you over time? You might lose a little weight at first, but then you have to decrease calories again in order to get over that plateau. So it down regulates your metabolism. So really, over time, it's going to do the opposite effect, unless you're just like, you're not eating anything at all at that point. And when you think about calories, think about the quality. It's not the number, because that becomes very like, you know, obsessive almost. It's about the quality of the calories that you're eating, because you can't tell me that a piece of 100-calorie cheesecake does the exact same thing in the body as 100 calories of broccoli. Like, inside the body, food is breaking down into chemical messengers to our cells, and it's telling ourselves what to do. So, I mean, sugar feeds cancer genes. You know, let's just put it that way. So, that cheesecake is flipping on that cancer light, you know, and the broccoli is doing the opposite. So, I just, I think calories are outdated and equated, if you will. And it's, I guess you could say it is more about the macros, but it's really about the quality of the foods and the combinations of what you eat. But if you wanted to calculate calories, I mean, you can just as kind of a range. So, you sort of know, maybe you're using MyFitnessPal or an app. And while you're learning about foods and macronutrients, you use the calories as a range. But it takes into consideration your height, your weight, your age, your activity level. There's kind of a scientific formula, if you will, to use in order to calculate your calories.
Dylan Carnahan:Now, you being that we've kind of talked about, there's this paradigm or I guess notion that the amount of calories should basically guide your diet, really. I guess what do you think should guide these styles of eating then?
Amy Dirks:So, I think the combination of macronutrients, like I was saying, like if you have, you need protein consistently with every meal, it kind of depends on your goal. Like if you do want to lose weight, you probably don't want to have as many carbohydrates with each meal. But having a little bit of fat and some protein along with those carbohydrates is going to help tremendously because it slows the rate of blood sugar rise and how fast insulin is going to be released in order to take that sugar out of the blood into the cells. So not only does it help with blood sugar regulation, which by the way, insulin is the fat storing hormone. So the more of those carbohydrates that you eat and raise that blood sugar level, the more insulin you're going to release. And if you don't utilize that insulin in the cells, then you will probably gain some fat from that. So I really think having that combination of macronutrients, also like I was saying, so if you put a salting cracker on your tongue and don't eat it, it just digests right there. And that's kind of what carbohydrates can do in the blood. But if you add some fat and protein to that, and maybe your carbohydrate has some fiber because it's a vegetable instead of a cracker, that's going to sustain your energy levels a lot longer too because fat takes a long time to break down and protein does as well. So it's really about combining those macronutrients that is going to help you have the energy that you need to maybe do some physical activity and not store fat because you're regulating your blood sugar.
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah, much as you're saying, you said earlier, experimentation and diversifying those meals in a way, because they do have physiological responses, much as you're saying insulin and the storage of fat. So having that one-dimensional meal has repercussions.
Amy Dirks:Yep, you got it.
Dylan Carnahan:What other factors should you consider when making a diet? We got a couple of buzzwords, we got macros, we got calories. Is there anything else to be on someone's radar?
Amy Dirks:Well, like foods to include or foods to exclude, that sort of thing?
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah, or in general, maybe. Foods to include, foods to exclude, or vitamins. I know that we hadn't talked about that, that kind of been excluded outside of macros.
Amy Dirks:Yeah. I mean, we could do a whole podcast on supplements alone, but I will say a supplement is just that, is to supplement what you're not getting in your diet. However, most people aren't getting everything they need in their diet, so I almost always veer towards just to have extra insurance, to take a multivitamin, to take a probiotic for your gut, and to take a fish oil so you have those healthy fats. But I think the main thing you want to focus on is, again, not what you're taking away, what you need to add. Because then you feel deprived. But if you talk about what you should take away, it's Frankenfoods, it's all the fake foods, it's the processed foods, the fried foods, the fast food. Those are going to be the ones that cause weight gain, that make you feel like crap, that can cause diseases down the road. Because they're literally made in a lab. They're chemicals. And that's not what our bodies were meant to utilize for energy and for all the processes that it goes through. So what it does is just tax the liver, because the liver is trying to detoxify all of those chemicals. And again, when our gut doesn't recognize, okay, there's preservatives in this food, it has a shelf life of 100 years, what do you think is happening inside your gut? Like, it can't break down those preservatives either, so it usually stores it as fat, you know. So you want to avoid those kind of foods if you can. Now, convenience foods are a huge part of the American diet now, so it's hard to like completely take them away. So maybe you want to try to veer towards some of the healthier options. But again, it's about adding real foods into your diet. Like you want to have foods that grow from the earth, that die, that don't have a label in the store, because those are going to be the foods that provide all the, you know, nutrients and vitamins and minerals that you need. So again, vegetables, that's the best thing, the best medicine that we can have are incorporating vegetables into our diet. Fruits are also really great, lots of antioxidants and nutrients. But they do have fructose, so they do have some sugar. So I think vegetables are more important, but fruits are also really good. Again, those healthy fats that I mentioned earlier, you know, the nuts and seeds and healthy oils, lean proteins. And that's a whole other story too, is like knowing where your meats come from if you are a carnivore, and getting quality meat, because you don't want, you know, chickens that are pumped with hormones and antibiotics, because then your body takes that on, and you don't need that extra hormone or antibiotic. So you really do have to watch a lot more these days than what we used to. You know, there's more knowledge out there because we have access to it, but there's so much more to think about now than what we used to have to, because we ate more from the earth back in the day. There wasn't as much of those convenience foods available.
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah, no, they definitely are more prevalent within our diet these days, especially you think about during the pandemic when it's like, hey, I could just Uber Eats or DoorDash, right? That's made it even all the more convenient.
Amy Dirks:Totally. And, you know, I'm guilty of pushing the easy button, you know, from time to time. Like, we're busier than we used to be. Like, we're, I don't know, it's just, you know, but 80-20 is kind of like my rule that I go by and what I tell people is practical. 80% of the time, you know, try to cook from home, try to eat whole foods and get sleep and do the right thing and so forth. But 20% of the time, you're going to mess up. You're going to eat out. You're going to make bad choices and have the whole bag of Doritos or, you know, whatever that vice might be that you have. Because again, if you're depriving yourself of those things that you, maybe you love, you'll be angry about it. You'll crave it more. And so, you know, I think I always tell myself, like if I'm having French fries, this is not the last time I'm going to have French fries. So I don't have to eat the whole basket of them. You know, I just eat enough to where I'm satisfied, I got to have French fries. So it's a mindset.
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah, it is absolutely a mindset. I think, and you hit kind of hit upon it right there, psychologically, I will never do this again. Always inevitably leads to, I am for sure going to overindulge and do this as much as possible, right?
Amy Dirks:Never say never.
Dylan Carnahan:Now, you brought up kind of your principle, this 80-20 principle, right? You are going to, for someone say that they are at 40-60, 40 on the healthy end, right? What would you say to that person to kind of get them to change their style of eating, or if they want to more adhere to a healthier style of eating?
Amy Dirks:I like to start with what people drink, because I think a lot of times, they're sabotaging their health or diet by what they're drinking. And again, access to all the sugary Starbucks drinks and sodas and energy drinks, and people don't drink water. And so that's where I start. It's like as simple as just let's replace that diet soda with some water. And maybe you add some lemon or mint or something to spruce it up, but it truly can be as simple as that. And that's where I start because again, the whole sugar thing, you know, sugar is what makes you fat, not fat. So we need about, I think it's like six teaspoons of added sugar. Is it six teaspoons? I could be saying this wrong right now because I've kind of lost the numbers. But basically, women should only have like a very small amount of added sugar a day, and men can have a little bit more. But when you look at like a Starbucks drink, it has like three times the amount of sugar than what you should be having in a day. And that doesn't even count like what you're eating in addition to that drink, you know? So I feel like sodas and coffee drinks and things like that really do contribute to a lot of people's, you know, weight gain, so to speak. What was I going to say? Oh, and diet soda. I wanted to touch on that really quick because I think people think, oh, well, it's calorie free, so it's not going to, you know, add any weight. Realistically, that artificial sweetener in it tells the brain that you're having sugar anyway. And so guess what? Insulin is still released. And so your body goes through the same hormonal cascade that it would if you were having the real sugar itself. And so you're going to end up storing fat anyway. So people that are drinking diet sodas all the time thinking that they're doing themselves of a health favor or not. You're better off just having the real thing.
Dylan Carnahan:Wow. So it may not actually be within the contents of whatever you're consuming. Your body, however, is going to, it's been bamboozled. It's going to act accordingly as though you had.
Amy Dirks:That's right. You got it.
Dylan Carnahan:The premise of starting with what you drink, that's an excellent one because for me personally, I think it's far easier to consume calories, macros, whatever, through drinking as opposed to eating.
Amy Dirks:Yeah, I know. Especially like I was saying with our fast-paced schedule that we have and stuff, it's easier to grab something to drink than it is to actually eat food. And that's where, you know, unfortunately, you guys, we have to plan ahead a little bit, you know, and it doesn't have to be like major gourmet foods or anything. But truly, drinking a smoothie is one of the best things that you can drink, depending on what you put in it, of course. So if you are one of those people that, let's say you skip breakfast, but you have coffee, bulletproof your coffee and have like a little healthy fat in your coffee, or maybe you throw some collagen protein in your coffee, and you still have some nutrients in there. And then if you do have a smoothie, gosh, that's like a salad and a drink. So I think that's a great way to get macros and micros into your day, and it's usually pretty quick and easy.
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah, if you're already going to do that, why not balance it out a little bit further by adding something in there?
Amy Dirks:Right, right, exactly. And you asked me the question earlier, and I said, I start with what you drink. I mean, there's so many categories that you could focus on. So really, it's individualized. It's maybe someone's not sleeping well. And so I'll focus on sleep because that has to do with your hormones as well and your weight gain or weight loss. So I'll give strategies to help you sleep better. Let's say you're sedentary and you're not moving your body at all. Our bodies are meant to be laborious. They were meant to work in the field, and we're not meant to sit at a desk all day and look at a computer screen. And so I find ways to incorporate movement throughout the day. And then when it comes to diet, again, there's lots of things that you can focus on, but I try to meet people where they are and kind of get an idea of what their week is like and then where can we maybe get in a home-cooked meal. And if you do cook at home, you cook way extra, so you have lunches for the week. It really is individualized. It really just depends on the person, what their goals are, what their lifestyle is as of now.
Dylan Carnahan:Now, from your, I guess, you're tailoring this per person to their preferences, what do you target? Is it the thing that's easiest to change, the habit that is easy? Hey, oh, I could easily sleep another hour, or is it the most, how do you go through that?
Amy Dirks:Usually it is the easiest because small successes breed more successes. And so I don't want to set anyone up for failure. So if we focus on what I think would help them the most, but is the hardest thing for them to change, that's not going to set them up for succeeding. So I always tell them in the beginning, you know, this is going to take time. If you expect like a quick turnaround, and some people do lose weight fast and stuff, but again, that's individualized as well. And it depends on how serious they take everything. But I always say, you know, it takes, it took you this long to get to this point in life. It's going to take you a while to reach these goals. So have realistic expectations. And, you know, whatever you do, you have to try it for at least three to four weeks before you like give up on it. So I try to set that tone. And again, focus on those little things first, and then we build from there.
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah, no, that's a great way to handle things as far as, you know, you're going to boost your confidence. And, you know, winners win, right? So let's start with a couple of small wins and carry that momentum through. And maybe we can, you know, get that Queen Bee that's, you know, disproportionate. Hey, maybe it's hard for me to change the fact I'm sleeping two hours a day, Amy, but we can start on throwing some collagen in the coffee and see where we get, you know, eight weeks from now.
Amy Dirks:Right, exactly.
Dylan Carnahan:As someone who, as someone who has been a calorie counter, who has been on the macros, as someone who has MyFitnessPal that, you know, is barcoding everything known to man, this is a pretty specific question, but for people that are really strictly adhering to a diet, you know, it's set in stone. Hey, I can grind it out. I'm a habitual person. I got it figured out. Is it safe to eat the same thing every day?
Amy Dirks:You like the data. So that is to answer question, yes and no. It depends on what it is, first of all, you know, because if it's really healthy for you, then it's probably a good thing, right? However, you're missing, what you're missing is the variety. So it's going to get boring and also the nutrients. So you're only getting those specific set of nutrients from that food that you're eating all the time. So even if it is good for you, you're missing out on lots of other stuff. So I think it's important to, maybe you do that for a little bit, but it's important to change it up. The body adapts. It's like, okay, this is not doing it for me anymore. It's kind of like a workout. If you do the same workout all the time, you'll get results at first, but eventually you stop. And your body needs, like it needs variety. It needs a change from time to time. And so I really think more than anything, you're just missing out on a lot of key nutrients if you're eating the same thing all the time.
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah. And if I'm not mistaken, I think like the athletic equivalent, I think it's called muscle confusion, right? That's the kind of philosophy of like, hey, if I'm doing back squat every day for 200 years, maybe the 201st year, I throw in some front squat, or something different. And so just being moderate and having a variety in a diet is important because you're saying if you're eating, very habitual about what you're eating, one, it's important if you're eating the same thing all the time, it better be something good, right? And then the second thing is that, again, if you're only eating that, what are you missing out on?
Amy Dirks:Right. And let's say you are very regimented. You can do something called a cycle menu where you kind of plan out your meals, let's say for the month, and you have the same meal within those four weeks, but you're only having it one time per week. And so it can be the same thing over and over, but it's spread out over a month's time. And if you do that kind of meal planning cycle menu and do it seasonally, so what's in season for where you live at that point, that is going to give your body like plenty of variety, and plus it's easy for you to think about because you're recycling the same meals throughout the month. But every few months, you kind of change that whole cycle menu. Does that make sense?
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah, no, it does. You can, especially if you think about it from an extreme example, okay, I ate an apple. That means I'm never eating apples again. I already had it. It's not like that. Hey, it's in season. It's available. I can include that, especially if you add in like a home cooked meal. Hey, this is in my toolkit, my kitchen book here. It's like, hey, I can include this again. It's not burned. I guess that's the other extreme, right? I constantly, and I think that you're saying, hey, find a regimen that works with you, that's in season, and add some variance. Right.
Amy Dirks:Maybe it's, okay, I'm going to try one new recipe a month and throw that into my cycle menu. That's a great way to add to your repertoire and to get in the kitchen and try some new things and get some different nutrients in there.
Dylan Carnahan:Now, earlier, Amy, we talked about, you kind of brought up some supplements. So I kind of want to dive into that a little bit more. Can we talk about what were some supplements that you recommend? And also, I believe that when we first talked, we talked kind of about, you had mentioned that athletes were using some supplements that you didn't think favorably of. Kind of talk about that.
Amy Dirks:Right. Well, again, as far as athletes go, there's a lot of stuff pushed on them and there's good marketing with that. Oh, this is going to make you faster. And they don't know any better, typically. They don't know to look immediately to that ingredients list to see what's in it. And most of the time, we don't know what those ingredients are anyway. You know, unless you're used to it and you know, like me. But I look at ingredients labels and if I can't pronounce it and I don't know what it is and my grandma didn't cook with it, then I'm probably not going to eat that food because I know that it's too processed and it's fake stuff and it's not good. So there's also a lot of sponsorships with athletes. And you know, there's products that these supplement companies want the athletes to use or they get for free. And again, they're crap. And so they cause gut problems, they spike blood sugar. They're just not what athletes need to fuel their bodies with. So protein powder was one of those things that I mentioned earlier. And there's so many products out there now that are protein powders. It's like kind of overwhelming. Like one brand that comes to mind is called Naked Nutrition. And the reason why it's called Naked is because it's stripped of, it is literally one to two ingredients. And that's what, when you look at ingredients, less is more. You know, you don't want a whole lot of ingredients. But whey protein powder is one of those that a lot of athletes uses. And a good quality whey protein is fine. It's good for recovery. It's easier to digest. So you just have to be careful though with the ingredients for sure. Collagen protein was another one that I mentioned. It's been a little bit newer, I would say, focused. Collagen, you decrease the amount that you make in your body over time. So as you age, it goes down. And that's why we kind of lose our skin elasticity. And maybe our nails aren't as strong as they used to be. But collagen protein is great for joints, because it sort of helps with the kind of the matrix around our joints. It's great for the gut. It helps heal our guts because it has amino acids in it. It's obviously good for hair, skin and nails. So, you know, for women that maybe are aging, it's probably a good idea to incorporate some collagen protein. A couple brands for that is Vital Proteins and Ancient Nutrition. Those are two that I trust and use a lot. And then, again, I set a multivitamin because we're probably not getting all the micronutrients that we need in our diet. And so, I mean, my kids are 11, almost 11 and 13, and I've had them on a multivitamin for a long time just to be on the safe side. And then, now, I'm getting more into them having probiotics, which we can talk about this in a minute, but gut health is huge for everything. So you've got to have good bacteria in your gut in order to have optimal health. So a probiotic daily is good. And it's good to change those up, too, because most probiotics have different strains of bacteria, and a different amount of those colony-forming units. And so the more variety that you have of probiotics, probably the better off your gut is as well. And then, let's see, what was the other? Oh, omega-3s. So, yeah, omega-3s is huge for inflammation. It's huge for heart health, brain health. If an athlete has had a concussion, omega-3s are amazing for the brain healing. And so, those are three actual supplements, besides the powders, that I highly recommend to start off with.
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah. And to go back to your conversation about gut health when you're talking about probiotics, I guess, what are some other things you should consider when talking about gut health outside of just, hey, I'm going to take a probiotic, and hey, I'll vary it up, you know?
Amy Dirks:Sure. Well, watching your sugar intake is one thing, because sugar feeds those bad bacteria and yeast in your gut. And so if you end up having an overgrowth of bad bacteria, then you're going to have some intestinal issues. The gut is actually the second brain, is what they call it. And the reason why is because our gut creates neurotransmitters, which are like, they talk to the brain, you know, they're chemical messengers to the brain. And so when our gut is unhealthy and off-balance, then usually maybe we're foggy, mentally foggy. Maybe we're depressed. Maybe we have high anxiety. There's a lot of symptoms that can come from having an unhealthy gut. And also like over time, unhealthy gut, like let's say you're eating a lot of gluten and you actually have a sensitivity to gluten, it can cause leaky gut. So you get these little holes basically in the gut lining. And so food particles and stuff are leaking into the body that aren't digested that can cause problems as well. Maybe it's allergies, like you're presenting with skin issues, nasal issues, ear issues. Like there's a lot of things that what we put into our bodies and what happens in our gut, like what can be digested and absorbed, can really systemically affect everything in the body. So inflammation, you know, inflammation not from an acute injury, but from horrible foods that we eat can lead to diseases down the road. So our gut is the first thing that we really should focus on when it comes to our overall longevity and health.
Dylan Carnahan:And that, you know, just going off of kind of everything you've said about the gut makes a lot more sense why in this whole conversation you've been very holistically approached. You have this very holistic approach. And I think that kind of ties that up right there. And it's interesting, you know, like the neurotransmitter element jumping out here on a wild limb. But you bring up, you know, anxiety. I mean, sometimes people that is exhibited in their stomach, right? Like, you know, your child may not want to go to school because their stomachs are, well, maybe it's because they have a test or maybe they're getting bullied or something like that.
Amy Dirks:Right, right. So I was one of those people that, like I was telling you earlier, I had all sorts of problems, and the gut was one of those. And, you know, I was taking that antibiotic to help with my acne, but that was killing all the good bacteria in my gut. 70% of your immune system is in your gut. So it makes sense that, you know, I would get sick or that my allergies were affecting me big time. And then, you know, you take a pill for that. And again, I'm married to a physician. So we like, we butt heads a lot on subjects, but he has come to realize how important it is to treat the body as a whole, to focus on lifestyle factors for your health. And why would you be willing to pay for a pill and take that that causes all kinds of side effects before you would maybe change a few things in your diet? Like, we have so much more control over our overall health if we would just be our own dietitian and doctor. But we want the easy pill. We want the magic pill. We just want to go the easy route and be able to take a pill for whatever symptoms we're having and forget about it and not change. It's hard to change. And so people don't want to do that.
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah, and as far as what we've gone through, I know as a former athlete, especially sleep is a big one. And if you're saying, hey, I'm having all of these issues, and those are symptoms of say, you just need to sleep more. But getting that two hours of sleep when you have a busy schedule and everything, that could be really difficult. So you might opt to go take an energy drink or something like that. And then you kind of, that queen bee of sleeping more has now precipitated all these other things. And then much as you're saying, that can lead to something that harms your gut health or something.
Amy Dirks:We tend to put a band-aid on it. And I'm not dogging doctors at all because they're there when we need them. And they mean well. They did not become a doctor to not help us. They came a doctor to help us. But we do tend to mask our symptoms, whatever that may be. And so we are sort of in this vicious cycle of whatever the underlying issue is, we're not addressing it. We're just adding the coffee or whatever. You know, to make us more awake and alert. And then, you know, to go to sleep at night, maybe we're having a glass of wine or two and to unwind. And then the alcohol is interfering with our sleep, and it also makes us gain weight. But that's in my 20%, so I'm not going to say too much about that. But anyway, we definitely tend to mask our symptoms, and we walk around in this, like, just fog. And don't even realize how good we can feel until we... Most of the time, you don't know what your health is until you lose it. But I try to get people to think about being proactive versus reactive, because... and they'll say, oh, well, I don't have time or I don't have money, or, you know, to invest in my health right now or whatever. And like, well, if you don't now, then you're going to have to have time and money to go to the doctor later whenever you're experiencing a lot more problems. So it has to become a priority for you. So...
Dylan Carnahan:Yeah, no, no, that's definitely a great point. Best to be proactive. Take a proactive approach on those things, right? Usually, much as you said, hey, you know, I didn't really worry about stretching, you know, as a pitcher, I didn't really worry about stretching my arm, but now it hurts. So I think I'm going to do some stretching, right?
Amy Dirks:Exactly.
Dylan Carnahan:Amy, how can people find out more about you and the work you do?
Amy Dirks:I have a website. It's www.amydirksportsnutrition.com. So it's kind of a mouthful, but... And then my Instagram is at Amy Dirks SN. The SN is for Sports Nutrition, of course. And then I have written articles on soccertoday.com. I'm on LinkedIn. So it shouldn't be too hard to find me, for sure. And on my website, if you go to it and you happen to want to send me a message or something, there's a little link at the top that you can send me a message, and it goes right to my email. So I can converse with you that way as well.
Dylan Carnahan:Awesome, awesome, awesome. Thank you for coming on and sharing this information. I know I got a lot out of it, and I'm sure our listeners will as well.
Amy Dirks:I'm so happy that you invited me.
Dylan Carnahan:That wraps up our conversation with Amy Dirks. We talked about eating styles, recommendations on supplements to take, and what to look for in supplements, and about eating balanced meals. Follow Amy on social media, and check out her website. Do not forget to listen to Til Willis' music on Apple Music, Spotify, or by going to tilwillis.net. Drowning in This House was off of Til's 14th album, so Til has a ton more music out there for you guys to listen to, so go check those songs out. And lastly, subscribe to Simple Questions Podcast to get notified when our latest episodes are released. Thank you for listening, and remember to keep asking questions.