Holistic Nutrition Without Food Restriction With Cathy Biase

by | May 5, 2020 | Podcasts | 0 comments

GCM 99 | Holistic Nutrition

 

The biggest deal-breaker for people that want to lead a proper and healthy life is the thought of having their food options restricted. In this episode, Cathy Biase provides a holistic approach to nutrition that will make you think twice. Cathy is a Holistic Nutritionist and a Cancer Coach. She talks about stress as one of the biggest contributors to illnesses and how food can be a great weapon against it. She also educates about approaching your medical team in an integrative way and the big difference that it makes for both you and your medical practitioner.

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Listen to the podcast here:

Holistic Nutrition Without Food Restriction With Cathy Biase

Part of being a game-changer, being successful in reaching your goals and objectives in life, and being your best self is taking a holistic approach to your nutrition. I bet you weren’t looking for that. We get caught up in the action we need to take, the mentality we need to have, the mentors we need to have, the social media presence, the marketing and all of that stuff. If you’re not taking a holistic approach to the nutrition that’s going into your body, all of that is for naught. I have a special treat for you. I have Cathy Biase with me.

She’s a holistic nutritionist and certified professional cancer coach. She received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto at St. Michael’s College, majoring in Psychology. She’s a graduate of the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition and received her Cancer Coaching Certification from the National Association of Professional Cancer Coaches. Cathy specialized in the functional application of nutrition for root cause health improvement in the area of chronic disease, which focuses on cancer care. Help me welcome Cathy Biase to the show. Welcome to the show, Cathy.

Rodney, thank you for having me. It’s a real pleasure.

I love the work that you are doing. I was doing some research on you and I am a health freak and nut. I’m into nutrition and what you put into your body. I realized that based on my own story, it makes a significant difference. One of the things that stood out for me was you believe that our bodies are always speaking to us. It’s telling us of thirst, hunger and disease. It’s what we begin to understand what we are being told. That determines the path that we are going for good health. I wanted to get into that. I found that in your bio on your website and I want to dive in. What do you mean by that? Help us understand how we begin to understand what we are being told by our bodies.

We have to start by taking back the intuition that we’ve lost. We have all sorts of signals. Our tummy grumbles maybe when we’re hungry, headaches that might occur that weren’t occurring, maybe your nails are breaking. It could be a number of different things. We need to start understanding what baseline is so that when we stray from baseline, we know that we might be having a health shift. Once we get that, once we start to know our own story, and once we are able to realize different symptoms and what our body is trying to tell us, we can dive into our health and figure out how to get back to where we need to be.

We’ve lost that. We’re relying on external cues from people. We’re relying on going to the doctor, getting blood work done and having the tests come back. That’s all part of health but we need to initially understand what is normal for us and when we start to go along a different path. That’s what holistic nutrition is about. It’s about knowing our mind, our body and knowing what’s maybe not right. It’s understanding that symptomatology is our body’s way of speaking to us and getting rid of symptoms isn’t reading between the lines. I find it important to always be asking why. Why am I sleepy at 3:00 in the afternoon? Why am I having trouble getting up? Why is this cough here? It’s important that we get to the root of that, not only make it go away.

How do we do that? The normal reaction to a symptom or if you want to find out the status of your health is to go to the doctor. How do we determine what baseline is?

Understanding the impact of where your mind can lead you is a profound piece of health. Click To Tweet

The question for me is if you initiate that contact with the doctor, when we know that there’s something going on. We don’t want to face that there’s something going on. We were too busy. It’s when we take that initial step and then we work with the doctor. The patients are understanding that it must be a two-way street. When you’re getting test results back, ask questions, ask why, “My iron is low, but why is it low? What is causing that?” These are questions that we need to teach people so that they can provoke more conversation with the doctors, so they can get their medical team. We have many wonderful different types of practitioners, but I’m integrative. I love working with doctors, but people have to take responsibility for their own health and initiating some important questions when they go work with their medical team or their holistic team.

I want to get into something here because what you’re describing is a gap between the doctor and the patient. There’s a level of education that’s necessary in order to close that gap.

This is the piece that integrative health brings. It’s the piece where we’re teaching and educating. We’re our own best health advocates. We can start to figure out the pieces of the puzzle. When we start learning different things and that we’re not saying, “My finger hurts. It’s just my finger” or “I’ve got a tummy ache. It’s just my tummy.” Maybe there’s something else going on. When you have pains in your knees, is it arthritis or is it maybe we’re eating something that is not agreeing with us and it’s causing inflammation and that’s where it’s landing? These are all things that are important for us to dive into. Have you had a shift in your life? Have you had a stressor in your life? Have you changed your diet? Has your exercise pattern changed? How are you sleeping? These things are key aspects of health that need to be asked by your doctor and you need to say to your doctor, “Here’s where I’ve had a shift and this is what’s resulting.”

I’m speaking from my personal experience and I’m speaking for some of the readers as well. When you go to the doctor, 9 times out of 10, there’s a prescription, something that is prescribed or some type of medication that you have to take in order to make things better. What you’re saying is a little bit different than that. I don’t know if the doctor is the right person to ask for that because doctors are mostly educated to prescribe something for a particular symptom in order to treat you. When you start asking those types of questions, it’s a different approach, it’s a holistic approach. A holistic approach initiates a different type of conversation.

It changes the dialogue, so it’s not a directive when you’re speaking with your doctor. I find that the doctors are wonderful chatting about things. The more that you know, the more they appreciate and the more that they will maybe pause. There are medications that people need to take. We’re fortunate that we have great medications. I take medication myself. I’ve had breast cancer and I’m on hormone therapy. This medication has been researched and has saved lives. I’m fortunate that I am able to have that 100%. There’s no problem with taking medication for relieving a symptom, but also in the background working to promote that symptom so it doesn’t come back again.

If cholesterol is not something that’s inherent in your family, it’s a lifestyle thing. You’re taking medication, you work with it in the background. Maybe you can work with your doctor and say, “I’ve made some big lifestyle changes in my diet and my exercise pattern, can we regroup after a year and see where things stand?” That’s the way you need to approach things. You need to take health into your own hands. If you don’t, what is the doctor going to do? If you’re not taking a step back and trying to work on your own health, what is the doctor supposed to do other than relieve you of the symptoms that are causing your problems? It’s not in the hands of the doctor? You have to start that dialogue. It’s important. That’s my perspective on it.

Where does one begin? Maybe that’s the question if they haven’t seen a holistic nutritionist before or a holistic doctor. Maybe they attempted to initiate a conversation with a medical doctor and that conversation hasn’t gone so well. Some medical doctors are amenable to the conversation and maybe perhaps some are not. As a holistic nutritionist, what would be your recommendation as a starting point to someone who wants to explore the holistic side of their health?

GCM 99 | Holistic Nutrition

Holistic Nutrition: People have to take responsibility for their own health and initiate the important questions when they go work with their medical team or their holistic team.

 

Do the research. There are many different types of practitioners. Where do you need help? For instance, do you need a naturopathic doctor who knows more about how body systems work and how they can integrate certain supplementation to try and get your system? We are one system. We’re not just a liver or a kidney. Everything works together. Do you need somebody to educate you on how your systems work? Are you having trouble getting your weight under control or getting your sleep patterns under control? Do you need to speak to somebody in changing a lifestyle modality? A lot of people don’t know where to go. Once you initiate yourself into integrative health. You will be guided by the people that are there. A good integrative practitioner knows their scope and knows a referral place when they are beyond what they can offer you. That’s the beauty of it.

Let’s talk about that term, integrative health. Maybe that’s not a term that is often used in society. You have the medical healthcare professionals and that’s the most common terminology that people are familiar with. When you talk about integrative health, help people understand exactly what you’re talking about.

Integrative health is when you’re working with practitioners for your better health. Integrative health in the cancer front, that’s what I know and this is what I’ll talk about. I had an integrative protocol. I did work with my medical team, but I also had people working with me on nutrition, people guiding me in the exercise path. I had different people and we worked together as a team. Integrative is much different than excluding somebody from your path. It’s an accompaniment to the medical system. It’s integrating everybody whether the doctors are included in your plan. Generally speaking, we’re talking about the medical and integrative practitioners working together for your better health. A team is the best approach to things.

Is that something that you want to think about prior to having some type of traumatic illness or terminal illness. When we have cancer or some type of illness like that, you want to approach all the members of your team to make sure that you’re getting the best care possible. Someone who may not have a terminal illness, some type of injury or something like that may not feel that this is necessary. What are your thoughts on that?

Find out where you’re lacking. If you are tired all the time, if you are a little bit overweight and you want to get things more in line, you want to see someone who’s more specialized in the food area. A holistic approach is understanding that you can eat the right food but if your mind’s not in the right place. There are a parasympathetic plan and the sympathetic path for a reaction. One is you relax and eat phase and one is your fight or flight. Understand that if you’re not relaxed, the nutrient absorption will be greatly minimized. It’s starting with your head, figuring out where stress is playing. Stress is a huge piece of most illnesses. It’s figuring out where you need to put your emphasis. If you’re not ill and not needing to go to a doctor, but you’re not settled, you’re not sleeping, the worries are getting you down, your tummy might be a little upset all the time. You go to an integrative practitioner to try and help get things lined up for you.

You bring up a good point about having your mind in the game. Even if you are taking medication, you’re not taking a holistic approach, but more of a traditional medicine type of approach to a particular symptom or illness. I found and I’ve read studies where different medications are prescribed, they look at the results of giving someone a placebo. They tell them, “This is the medication and this is the symptom that is going to treat. This is the result you should expect.” You take another group and they give them the actual medication. They found that those that they gave the placebo to which is a sugar pill, experience similar results to the people that took the medication. The expectation was they wouldn’t experience that but there’s something to say about having the mental aspect of that.

The mind is a powerful thing. For instance, in the cancer field, if you’re diagnosed with cancer, in those first few weeks, stress can lower your immune system. That’s a physiological impact. This isn’t voodoo stuff. This isn’t stuff that’s out there. Understanding the impact of where your mind can lead you is a profound piece of health. We’re starting to understand that more because it’s starting to be worked into the sleep. The term is called sleep hygiene. This is a big area that people are starting to work on. If you can’t sleep, if you’re stressed, it’s not easy to shut the lights out and close your eyes and go to sleep. You must deal with that stress. You must understand what’s causing it. Whether it’s a Visa bill you can’t pay or you’ve been in a car accident, your body perceives in the same way and it must be addressed.

If you can't put stress back in line, everything else you do won't be as impactful as it could be. Click To Tweet

As a holistic nutritionist, what is your recommendation for a healthy regimen for the mental side of health?

I found that exercise is a huge piece in stress relief. It doesn’t have to be high intensity. It’s where you come from. I like to meet you where you’re at. Engaging in outdoor activity, walking, getting some exercise, bringing your blood pressure and blood sugar down. It all works together. If you’re inflamed and you can bring down the inflammation, the mind might be put into a better place. If you’re feeling better and you know that you’re working on your health, your mind goes to a better place. The impact of sleep is huge. Stress is so personal to people. You have to figure out where your outlets are. Do you like to read? Do you like to listen to music? One of the keys for me, especially in a personal capacity, was exercise. I found that to be profound. Surround yourself with people who are positive. Sometimes to move forward, you have to cut some baggage. That’s life. It’s not a selfish thing. You can’t be good for other people if you’re not good for yourself.

It’s toxicity. You’ve got to remove the toxins out of your life. That can be relationships and all types of things and being able to identify that. You brought up walking. I want to share something with you. I’ve met many people in my life, especially in this industry. When I meet older people, especially older people that are in good shape, they look good and it’s recognizable. You realize that they’re a certain age, and you’re like, “You look good.” They’re in shape, they’re mobile, they’re flexible and nimble. I always ask, “What is your secret?” I found that a lot of them walk. They will say, “I walk X amount of miles a day,” These are not one or two miles. A lot of them are upwards of 5 to 8 miles a day, which is seemingly a lot but I find that pays off. They don’t say, “I lift weights, I do jumping jacks all day or anything like that.” It’s simply walking and these people are in good shape for their age. There’s something to be said about simply walking every day.

It’s peaceful and it allows you time to think about things. There are lots of studies about the health of older people. Community is a huge piece. Having a community around you is a huge piece to health, moving, simple eating, not overeating. My father-in-law is over 90. He sets his watch. He won’t eat before 10:00. He won’t eat after 6:00. He walks and makes sure that he’s up and moving around every half hour. It’s simple. He doesn’t eat a lot and his diet isn’t vegetables, fruits, smoothies. It’s an adequate amount of nutrition at an adequate time. He goes to bed at 10:00 at night. This is what I said, we’ve lost our intuition. It can be simple. You look at the studies done in Greece, the Blue Zones and the Red Zones. It’s a simple way of life. These people get up, they socialize, they do what they do, they move around, they eat, they go to bed, rinse and repeat. They’re living long and healthy lives.

I was talking to my grandfather and he had celebrated his 85th birthday. I said, “Granddad, you look great. You’re in great health.” He hasn’t had any type of serious health problems at all in his life. I said, “Grand-dad, when I get to your age, I want to be like you. What’s your secret? How can I get there?” He came back and he said, “Rodney, I don’t worry about anything. I control what I can control anything that’s outside of my control, no matter what it is. I don’t worry about it.”

Unfortunately for most people, that is a learned trait. If you’ve had an impact in your life, if you had a scare or an illness, you do take a step back and you brush away, “I can’t fix that. Why am I going to worry about it?” That is key. You can’t worry about things you don’t know what’s going to happen. You can’t worry about the next day. You try to put your plans in place and you let them unfold. It’s huge. When I got sick, people would say and had said to me, “You must have changed. It must have been profound for you and all these things that you did.” I said, “I wouldn’t do anything differently.” I was happy before I got sick. What I did change was and I try to impose this on my kids. What’s the worst that can happen? My daughter, “I’m not going to do all my exams.” What’s the worst that can happen? What if I fail? You fail. You may have to take the course and it may be a little bit of a bump in the road. You have to look at things like that because stress, I start there with everybody. If you can’t put that in line, everything else you do won’t be as impactful as it could be.

Does everything go back to stress? In your practice, have you seen all of the illnesses, if you were to pull the layer back, it would be diet and stress? I think about it a little bit more. Those are the underlying reasons or causes for a lot of illnesses. Would you agree with that?

GCM 99 | Holistic Nutrition

Holistic Nutrition: You have to make changes gradually, and everyone’s gradual is different.

 

Stress can cause inflammation. Your body doesn’t know the difference between a car accident, a Visa bill or your child’s sickness. It takes it as stress. It initiates hormones that can lead to inflammation and all of this is what causes disease. Inflammation is the root of the disease. That’s pretty well accepted in all circles. That is the simple pathway to it. In my practice, I’ve seen many. I’ve seen children. I’ve had young children pass. Where does that come into play? Where does stress come into that disease? It’s hard to say. There’s something that’s gone on internally and inflammation.

For children, that impact of stress doesn’t apply. That’s where the argument that stress is at the root of all disease makes a left-hand turn unless you’re going down that inflammation pathway. Definitely, for adults, I’ve had people come and see me who have been in terrible relationships. That’s not the cause of a disease, but it certainly doesn’t help to go through a disease. If you have stressors going through disease other than the disease itself and if you don’t have someone to support you, that’s not helpful for your health. Some of these things can’t be helped but they are stresses. Stress is a key piece of overall health.

Let’s talk about how we combat stress, inflammation and bad health in general. I know you believe that the power lies at the end of our fork. Talk to us about how we combat stress with the foods that we eat.

You want to stay away from processed foods. It doesn’t do your body any good. Your body doesn’t know what to do with it. You want to eat a whole foods diet. You want to stick to the outside of the grocery store and you want to be able to read labels. If there are ingredients in the products that you’re reading that you can’t understand or you have never seen before, chances are, your body doesn’t know what to do with them. A big piece when I’m talking with people is the timing of when we eat. We in the Western world tend to be grazers. We get up and a lot of us have had this idea that we have to eat at 8:00, snack, eat at 12:00, snack, dinner, snack. We eat too much. There’s an obesity and overweight problem that’s going on here in the Western world.

That’s improper food and an imbalance of hormones. We’re eating too much. We don’t need to eat 3,000 to 4,000 calories unless we’re training or we’re burning far more calories than the average person. We need to understand that we need to support our microbiome. We need to eat proper foods. The microbiome or the viruses and bacteria in our system that are so impactful on our health. This is new for many people. If we don’t keep that part of our body in good shape, it supports our immune system, inflammation, vitamin synthesis and detoxification. The food we eat makes our bodies work better. There are no two ways about it.

The beautiful integration that we’re seeing coming is that the science world, the doctors are understanding the importance of the microbiome. What science is saying is that the health of the microbiome is dependent on the food we eat, sleep we get, the exercise we get, and that is integration at its finest as far as I’m concerned. You need to have all these pieces of the puzzle together. This is why food is far more than taste, calories in and calories out. Your microbiome needs fiber and needs vital nutrients. What you have at the end of your fork is so powerful for your body and it’s a beautiful thing that it’s starting to come out in science.

People are confused as well because you know as well as I, that it has been ingrained in us that you need breakfast, lunch and dinner. You need snacks in between. You want to stick to around 2,000 calories a day. That’s all we know. Unless you’re an athlete and you need to eat six times a day, you need a proper amount of protein. In your view, what is the right way to eat?

People start to feel better when they start to see the difference in the small little changes. Click To Tweet

This takes us back to intuition. If we’re listening to our bodies, if we’re swollen a little bit, we’ve got some edema. Are you getting enough protein? Are you hungry? Are you sleepy? Are you eating enough? When I’m talking to people about eating between, 12:00 noon to 8:00 PM, I’ll have people that have come back and say, “I’m tired. This knocked me off my sock.” We then go on a diet. Are you eating enough? Tiredness, there’s a cue, “I’ve changed my eating style. I’m tired, I don’t have any energy. Why is that?” Those are the questions that we need to start asking. This is how I’m feeling. Why is it? I need someone to help me address it. That’s the ‘why’ and the integration. This is what I would talk to people about who are starting to try. They want to start changing their lifestyle maybe for whatever reason it is, for longevity, for anti-aging or losing weight. You need to start listening to your own body. For me, there are certain textures I don’t like. I always think that there’s food that I don’t like and there’s a reason I don’t like it. I am not going to try beets. I hate beets. That’s number one on my list.

They’re good for you. You have to eat them.

There are many other foods. They smell like feet to me. I know they’re good for me, I know that they’re great for my blood and liver, but they can’t pass my gums. Something else will work. I want to enjoy my food and this is another piece of the puzzle. People are like no fat and all fat. It’s the same idea. People are either onboard like they want to swing this way or swing that way. Enjoy your food. That’ll take away one of your stressors. I always use this story because it was so profound to me. I had an elderly gentleman sitting in front of me with his wife who was going through cancer. She was lovely and she was trying to support him as best as she could. She was researching. She was doing it all. He sat down with me and we sat down and I said, “Where we at like food-wise?” He didn’t look at her. He looked at me. She said, “If I see anything else green in that fridge, I will shut down. I won’t need anything else.” In her beautiful heart, she was kale, spinach and this is what he needs. He was like, “I don’t enjoy anything that she’s giving me to eat and I’m not going to eat it.” There’s a line here.

You fill your pantry with good wholesome food, you sit down and you enjoy it because when you’re enjoying it, you’re relaxed, you’re in that parasympathetic nervous system, and you’re absorbing your nutrients. If you sit down with the kale salad and you are blinking stress because your guests didn’t show up when she was supposed to and you’re like, “Now what?” You’re going to sit down that kale salad, you’re going to be anxious, you’re going to be upset with your guest that had to switch time. Are you going to absorb those nutrients? I’m going to sit down and I might have a small little salad and a bowl of cereal. Mine might go a long way. We tend to overthink and I find that what I do with people is I bring them back.

You can’t google everything. Sit down, what is your body liking? What do you like? Why do you like it? If you’re someone who’s like, “I love McDonald’s as well,” we got to make changes and we’ll do it slowly. We’re going to teach your body what it needs. It’s a process and for some it’s difficult. Our busy lifestyles force us to eat often in a quick, “I’m going to grab a bar. I’m going to grab a smoothie from somewhere.” We need to stop and smell the roses and take time. It’s more changing our perspective I find it with people. People know how to eat. People know that when they’re going to McDonald’s and so forth that it’s probably not the best for them, but it’s bringing them back to where they should be that I find is the biggest piece of the puzzle.

I’ve heard people say, “You can’t eat anything.” That’s their words, “You can’t eat anything. Everything is bad for you.” It doesn’t matter. Whatever you’re eating is probably not good for you. What they consider good for you is horrible to take. Who can eat that? What are your thoughts on that? People sometimes lose hope and they say, “I’m going to eat what tastes good to me because I feel that I’m not going to win either way.” If I eat this, it’s either not going to taste good, I’m not going to like it, it’s going to cause cancer or it’s going to make me fat or whatever the case may be.”

You’ve got to sit, chill and you’ve got to step back. You’ve got to start enjoying it. Most of us were not brought up on McDonald’s. Most of us, our parents fed us well as youngsters and somewhere along the way, we made a wrong turn. You have to eat what you like, but you have to understand that we may have a period of adjustment here. Pulling away from the simple fast foods. You need to stock your pantry slowly. I can’t expect someone who’s getting the kids out, they’re trying to get to work and they’re grabbing a yogurt and they don’t eat until the end of the day. I can’t expect to say, “When you come home, you need to have this ready and that ready.” Let’s work on habits. Let’s work on adding one thing. Instead of looking at it as removing things from your diet, let’s add some pieces to the puzzle and maybe we can squeeze out some of those things that we don’t want in there.

GCM 99 | Holistic Nutrition

Holistic Nutrition: It’s not an easy thing to change how you approach your health. You need all the help and support you can get if you want to do this.

 

Let’s start with pop. Instead of having a Coke, let’s get one of those little not too expensive machines that makes some fizzy water. Instead of your pop, maybe we’ll have juice. Someone is going to say, “Juice is full of sugar.” I’d rather you have the juice than have the pop. Let’s pull back in that direction. It’s a pullback. It’s educating people. When people start to feel better and they start to see the difference in the small little changes, as small as, let’s have some more water. Have a water bottle and make this commitment. Put your timer on or put your app on and make a commitment to have some more sips of water. When they start to see that they’re feeling better. Maybe they had problems going to the bathroom and all of a sudden, adding water to their diet has made a huge difference. It’s like, “Now what can we do?” This is working. Let’s take the next step. You can’t go all in. It’s too difficult. You have to make changes gradually and everyone’s gradual is different.

Let’s take it a little bit deeper for those that have taken that step and are ready to move beyond. A lot of the foods that we eat are mass-produced. Based on my knowledge and research, there are a lot of preservatives, a lot of things in the food to increase the shelflife of the foods that are not so helpful for you. When you talk about fruits and vegetables, there are a lot of pesticides and chemicals, especially when you talk about canned foods. When you talk about a holistic approach to eating foods, it’s to avoid those chemicals as much as I can. What are some of your recommendations for that? What are your thoughts about the fact that we have to eat foods that are mass-produced? What about foods that are organic versus those that are not. I know a lot of organic stores and companies are popping up. You have those options and a lot of health food stores are coming up. Give us your crash course on foods that are mass-produced, the chemicals, the pesticides and things that are induced into those foods.

Organic has been researched to have more nutrients and less pesticides. That’s the gold standard. Where do we run into trouble? It’s expensive. That’s the first line and in some places, it’s not as readily available. The second line is you have to eat what you have available to you. You cannot worry about that. If what you have available to you is non-organic produce, wash the products well, but you can’t be worried about taking a bite out of an apple and it’s going to kill you. We can’t have that outlook in life. It is what it is. We’re living with where we’re living. There are certain things that we can work with and there are other things that we can’t. Shelf that idea. Someone who’s going to walk into a grocery store and start shaking. You’re already there and we are talking about stress. There you are stressed. You’re starting up. Do what you can do because people have eaten far worse than you probably and gotten a lot farther along because they have that whole Hakuna Matata attitude. You go and you eat simply. That’s the other thing. I am going to put up a post-up about eating a carrot. Why do we have to sauté or julienne the carrot? Eat the carrot.

If you want to snack, eat the carrot. Forget about having to add the goji berries and all that stuff. Eat what you can eat. It’s simple. Buy simple things and start off simple. If you want to experiment, if you have time and you want to take the next step, then you can start doing that. If you can’t have the organic, you have the non-organic. You can buy frozen foods. Frozen foods are good for you, especially if they’re flash-frozen. That’s always an alternative for you. Some canned foods are fine. Look at the label, you’re looking for sugar and sodium. Make sure that you’re not getting a huge amount. You look at some of the yogurts that have the fruit bottom yogurt or have the fruit mixed in. You may be getting twenty grams of sugar in that little container. Understand that.

Take a little bit of honey, take plain yogurt and add some berries. These are simple things that we need to educate ourselves with that will make profound differences. Beyond the buying of food, how you eat your food is profound. If you chew your food well, you start initiating the hormones in your mouth to start digestion. You let the microbiome in your mouth eliminate some of these toxins that you may be getting with your food and you are helping your digestive system. How you eat and when you eat, we talked about that period. Sitting in front of the TV watching a scary movie and eating. Back to that nervous system, your body can’t tell if you’re anxious because you’re watching a scary movie and you’re eating. You’re not being mindful. These are huge things that will impact nutrient absorption, digestive processes, your microbiome. It’s not just the ‘what.’ The ‘how’ is huge and profound.

It’s called steps to good digestion. That’s the front page of where I start with people. Chew your food, don’t drink a lot, make sure you’re in a calm, quiet place and don’t overeat. Start with that and you’ll find right then in there how much of a difference. You chew your food. For someone who’s looking to lose weight. If they chew their food well, their hormones will be initiated, their leptin and ghrelin will be in balance, which is your satiated and hungry hormone. That is a huge impact on weight loss. Imagine sitting at a restaurant and you’re finished in three bites. You’ve got someone beside you who’s chatting, chewing and their plates still half full, you’re looking for more food yourself. Your body may not know that you’ve had all this food. It hasn’t had time to catch up with what you’re eating. How you eat is huge. These are all key simple things that you can start implementing. Stop reading and go start chewing your food.

What is your recommended timeframe for eating? You’ve mentioned that multiple times. When should we eat?

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There are different types of intermittent fasting. For the people, I work with and you can also change them up. There’s a one day fast that I’ll do every once in a while that I like as a kick start to my intermittent fasting. I personally eat between 12:00 and 8:00. If I’m out and it’s a little bit later, I’m not going to kill myself. I’m doing my best, which is another key. Everyone can’t do this. There are certain people that this is not good for, but for the majority of the public, they can do this. Where I would start with somebody’s, we have rhythms in our body. Generally speaking, we want to be eating when it’s sunny between the hours of 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM or 8:00 PM. That’s part of our circadian rhythm when our body is digesting the microbiome and the liver. They’re all saying, “Now is the time. Do you want to eat? This is the time and I’m on point for you. After this, the liver wants to repair, detoxify and they’re running on two different lanes.” We don’t want to mess that up.

We want at night, our body to be detoxifying and repairing. If we eat too late at night, you’re messing up the system. The body has to digest first and what is it for the sake of is for the repair and detoxification. The first place I would start with people is to stop eating three hours before bed. If that’s difficult, you can have some herbal teas and some water. Three hours at least, you’ve gone through a stage of digestion and you’re giving your body, your liver, your kidneys, your microbiome, the space to detoxify and start repairing. When we’re lying flat, the reason we do that is so fluids and everything in your system can easily flow back and forth from the blood through the liver, the microbiome to detoxify. We don’t want to be digesting during that period of time. That’s huge and that’s usually where I start. A lot of people are on this intermittent fasting train already and are seeing great results. There are many things that can impact but that’s where I would start with people.

What are your thoughts about the consumption of meat?

I am not a strict vegetarian. I don’t eat meat a lot but I will eat meat. I’ve never liked meat. That’s my body talking to me. It should be kept in check. I don’t think we need to have red meat every night. Somebody who is a meat-eater, I would encourage them to fill their plate with grains and complex carbohydrates and a smaller piece of meat. Studies have shown that it does change your microbiome, especially red meat. If somebody is B12 deficient, I have no problem with telling them to introduce a little bit of red meat. Make sure it’s good quality red meat in your diet and you don’t need to have it a lot but introduce it. It’s an easy source of iron for you. I don’t recommend one particular way of eating. This is going back to understanding your own body.

I love your approach in getting away from the cookie-cutter approach to health, eating and getting in tune with your body and what you’re saying and being okay with that. There is a lot of pressure in society that this is the way it has to be. Being able to travel the path that’s right for you even if it means it’s different than everyone else or the majority of people. That’s okay and that’s key to optimal health. It’s not only significant but it has to be specific.

It has to work into your lifestyle. You do need adjustment. It’s not an easy thing to change how you approach your health. You need the space and the support of people around you if you want to do this. It doesn’t have to be stressful. You do it piece by piece. Changing your health is supposed to be liberating. It’s supposed to make you feel healthier. It’s not supposed to be a stressor for you. People are on the internet are trying to figure out the best diet, “Is this the right diet?” Sit back, what do you enjoy? What is good? People know what’s healthy to eat. I seldom have people that come in and are profoundly shocked when I say, “Don’t eat French fries. They’re probably not the best thing for you.” It’s not that they don’t know. It’s trying to figure out how to make it all work together. That’s the key piece.

It’s the balance. Food should be enjoyed. Finding out what is acceptable in your diet that may not be the best thing for you, but coupling that with those that are good for you and striking that balance between food.

GCM 99 | Holistic Nutrition

Holistic Nutrition: Look inward. Understand that your best you is going to come from understanding who you are and what your body is trying to tell you. There’s no better guide for your health than you.

 

If you have you find that you have a deficiency, you get your blood test. You are deficient in B12 or iron, finding out the foods to take or eat and supporting your system, that way supporting your body. Food is great that way. It’s great for supporting you, but there are lots of ways you can get iron. You have a variety of things. Is your microbiome working? There are many different ways that you can achieve good health without making it a profound stressor in your life.

I found from my own experience that there are certain foods that you may not eat regularly, but when you find yourself experiencing certain symptoms, you can treat those symptoms with eating certain foods that attack that particular system or address that particular need. Understanding your body what the symptoms are and understanding what foods you can eat to improve. For example, iron. It’s not only the meat but the greens, there are a lot of greens that have a lot of iron.

That’s next level. That’s what we’re talking about in the progression of health. Once you get to that point where you’re like, “I’m sure that there’s something I can eat that will help me.” There’s nothing wrong with going on Google and saying, “Which foods are high in iron?” That’s optimal. That’s where we want to be. That’s integration in what you said. The doctors told me my iron is low. I might have to take medication. What foods can help support me? What foods can I do to bring it all together so that this is a onetime iron shot or this is a onetime stent of iron medication? That’s integration. I’ve got a problem. Let’s get you through it, but let’s make sure that we address the issue.

How can people find you if they wanted to work with you and learn more about nutrition? Maybe they want a nutritionist for themselves, how can they connect with you?

My website is the best. It’s CathyBiase.com. From there, you can see all my social media. I’m on Instagram and Twitter. @CathyBiase my Instagram. My Twitter is @Cathy_Biase. Go to my website and you can find everything you want there.

I want to say thank you for coming on the show. Nutrition, especially holistic nutrition, is something that’s overlooked. We need to address even though society is waking up a lot towards this. I still don’t think it is getting the attention that it deserves in terms of how important it is to not only being healthy but fighting disease. We’re being successful. This is fundamentally where you start. If you don’t have optimal health and you don’t know how to do the integration, you’re missing an important step into having optimal health. Being the best version of yourself that you can be is key. This is a great start because if you can master your health, you’re in the best position to master anything that comes in your life. Thank you for the work that you’re doing.

It’s my pleasure.

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What would be the game-changer for people that are reading? Maybe there’s a message that you will want to leave with them, maybe a takeaway that you want people to get from reading this and experiencing you.

I want you to look inward to understand that your best you are going to come from understanding who you are and what your body is trying to tell you. There’s no better guide for your health than you. That’s where it all starts. Don’t be afraid to ask the questions and find out where you can get help in different areas. You are your health master, nobody else.

Traditionally they would say, “The doctor knows best.” That’s not the case. You’ve got to take the responsibility to understand yourself. Cathy, thank you for coming on the show, sharing your knowledge and the work that you do. We appreciate the time spent with you.

Thank you for having me. It’s been a real pleasure.

There you have it, another successful episode of Game Changer Mentality. Take a holistic approach to nutrition, mind, body and soul. Remember, the power lies at the end of your fork. Recognize what you’re putting in your body, be attentive and conscious of what you are eating because it does make a difference in your overall health. It’s definitely a game-changer. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the show. Until next time, peace and love.

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About Cathy Biase

GCM 99 | Holistic NutritionCathy Biase is a Holistic Nutritionist and Certified Professional Cancer Coach. She received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto at St. Michael’s College, majoring in Psychology. She is a graduate of the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition and received her cancer coaching certification from the National Association of Professional Cancer Coaches. Cathy specializes in the functional application of nutrition for root cause health improvement in the area of chronic disease with a focus on cancer care.Cathy Biase is a Holistic Nutritionist and Certified Professional Cancer Coach. She received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto at St. Michael’s College, majoring in Psychology. She is a graduate of the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition and received her cancer coaching certification from the National Association of Professional Cancer Coaches. Cathy specializes in the functional application of nutrition for root cause health improvement in the area of chronic disease with a focus on cancer care.
Cathy has appeared on television and at speaking engagements educating people on topics such as nutritional support for cancer patients, managing side effects of allopathic cancer care, the Microbiome and its links to health, immune support, improving gut health and cancer coaching. She is the host of The Health Hub, a radio talk show and podcast covering various aspects of integrative health.
Cathy’s education along with her personal journey through a cancer diagnosis has given her a profound understanding of how vitally important proper Nutrition and Lifestyle are to achieving optimum health.

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