S03E14 – The Keto Connection – Shirley

00:06
Ali
Hey, everybody, welcome back. Another episode. I’ve got a wonderful guest for you guys today. The conversation will be very interesting, for sure. For sure. If you haven’t met me yet or haven’t listened to any of the podcasts, for sure. Gonna find out how much I love my food. So this young lady in the studio today, I don’t know how it’s going to go, guys, because seldom things get between me and my food. Food is life. Life is priority. Ma’am, would you like to introduce yourself?

00:39
Shirley
First of all, Ali, I want to go and say thank you for going and having me here today and for all the listeners out there. I share the same passion, Ali, for food. Okay? Some people, they go and work to go and live. I live to go and eat, okay? Simple as that. But yes. And everyone who listens to this podcast and to go and make it possible and they are going forward and learning about their health, they’re taking the time. And even if they go to one person to go and say how to better their health, we are going to another new generation of people actually biohacking their way to enjoying their food as well as living healthy. So thank you.

01:21
Ali
That sounds fantastic. I think it’s very important to connect food to life because you literally eat for your body to physically survive. But if that’s what we need to do, I think there needs to be an element of quality. There needs to be an element of joy, there needs to be an element of purpose. Look at me going on and on.

01:41
Shirley
Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier. So I’m Shirley and I started keto coach as a coaching functional nutritionist. Last six years ago, I was 35 kilos overweight. If you go and check out any of my social media and that’s what brought me to the journey, right? Like, I always loved food and I was like, I’m not going to try anything until I can enjoy my food. Obviously I’ve done fat diets and stuff and this what got me into the journey of actually learning what to go through. And one of my first certifications was nutritional keto.

02:18
Ali
Oh, fantastic. Now that you mention it, I know there’s a lot of people who think they know what it is. I got a lot of buddies like, oh, dude, I’m on keto. And I’m like, do you know what that is? Because what people tell me and what I read is sometimes there’s gaps. So just to get the conversation going, can you tell us what keto is?

02:36
Shirley
Okay, so the full form of keto is ketogenic, right? And it comes from the derived where the body actually is in ketosis. What? Most people don’t realize that we are all born as babies in ketosis. Breast milk is pure protein and fat. What does ketosis means? That means our body is functioning and burning fat for fuel, not glucose, then we start the stage where we start relying on carbohydrates and glucose for burning is when we introduce other food groups. But you can still be in ketosis when, say, for instance, we do fasting for Ramadan, we do fasting for length, religious purposes. If we work out on a fasted state, it’s something very naturally, our body goes through ketosis when we’re doing keto diet. Now, there’s different versions on Google. Sometimes Google is your friend, but not always because it’s always trying to sell you something, right?

03:33
Shirley
It’s trying to sell you the next packaging that comes along with their beliefs and why you should do that or increase that. So there’s dirty keto, there’s clean keto, there’s nutritional keto. And hence, when you meet so many people go and says, I’m doing keto, and then you meet someone else and they’re like, this version is keto. But no, that person told me it’s not, and this person told me it is. So that’s where it comes confusing. So in a nutshell, keto is when you’re putting your body in ketosis back again and burning fat for fuel.

04:07
Ali
I like that. But what’s happening right now, if we look at average diet of the type of foods that are accessible and easy and the people generally eat, you’re working, you’re having a long day, you pick up the phone, you order something, and something shows up. So if you’re talking to me about a keto type of food, which is proteins and fats, which is basically what were born into, how is our diet today different?

04:33
Shirley
So I always go and tell my clients this, we’re going back to how our ancestors used to go and eat, right? Now, briefly, I’m going touch when I work with my clients, it’s not one diet fits all. So when we go back to eating protein, fats and carbohydrates from good vegetables, but within a portion, we’re going back to our ancestral we’re going back to where were born and what we used to go and eat without the preservatives, without the package, without complex carbs. And the processing, that’s where the damage is today. So when you’re talking about protein, like everyone goes and says, oh, grass fed meat. Does anyone really know? Do you know the difference? Grass fed like a steak is a steak tastes good over here. It doesn’t taste good to me. But that’s the thing. It’s like not that you need to go and buy grass fed, it’s more expensive.

05:26
Shirley
It’s not pocket friendly for everyone. But the thing is like, okay, then you need the magnesium, you need the nutrients. But then you get all of these beef sticks and beef in a plastic bag. I mean, our grandparents would probably roll over and go and say, what the hell is this? Right? But that’s what we need to avoid because lifestyle today is so fast paced and everything is convenience. Like today we can get every fruit under the sun, even although it’s not seasoned.

05:55
Ali
Not seasoned. They ship it in.

05:57
Shirley
They ship it in. But are you really getting any of those nutritional benefits? Are you getting any sustainance for your body? Or are you even causing more damage because it’s on the shelf and it needs to last there longer? So when we I don’t know, man.

06:12
Ali
Me and vegetables, sorry to cut you there, but me and vegetables, we don’t got no good relationship. I think the most interesting thing I read last year maybe, or the year before, was that broccoli isn’t a natural product. Broccoli has been engineered to become broccoli from something else. And I was like, when you messing with making more vegetables, I know the world is ending.

06:31
Shirley
A lot of the vegetables like carrots. If you go and record and you go and see exactly what carrots used to look like, and you do get it in a lot of the local farms in the UAE, these purple carrots and everything they sell more expensive. But this is what originally carrots used to look like. I mean, imagine not perfect long nose type of perfect carrots, like the snowman. No, that’s not how carrots used to originally go. And be a lot of the vegetables are modified. Hence I would always go and say, look for local produce. Look for not only produce that doesn’t look good, but it’s like what is in season and what is easily planted. And can you plant it in your backyard or in your balcony? Then you know it’s right, like and so I would go and say, yes, winter is coming.

07:17
Shirley
But look at UAE locally. You’ve got a lot of jagjeeer, you’ve got a lot of the spring onions type of this thing. You’ve got a lot of the root vegetables, so those ones are really good. And you got them seasonal. And you’ve got local kale and stuff as well. Why spend so much for engineered perfect looking kale?

07:35
Ali
Oh, agreed, agreed. I mean, at the end of the day, just going to turn mush anyways. But I hear what you’re saying. Talk to me a little bit more about are we talking about a lifestyle shift or are we talking about an eat, no eat type of list? What am I looking at if I’m looking to get into keto?

07:52
Shirley
So I always go and tell the client, why are you coming to me? Right? So Ali, if you don’t mind me going and asking, don’t mind me going and telling me what are some of the health changes that you are probably doing in your current life right now?

08:07
Ali
As in positive health changes?

08:09
Shirley
Positive health changes.

08:10
Ali
Nothing you want. It honest, nothing.

08:13
Shirley
Is it like you’re maintaining, okay, I’m going to walk 10,000 steps. Am I ensuring I have three meals?

08:21
Ali
I think everybody’s body, obviously everybody’s body is different. And over many years, I’ve realized what works and what doesn’t. Work for me.

08:27
Shirley
Okay?

08:28
Ali
Usually I have a very hectic schedule. I’m very bad with my sleep. I have almost never had regular sleep time wise, duration wise, or even a smooth night. It’s always been restless relationship with food is I love food, but having said that, a lot of times I eat out of convenience. So I’ve been busy the whole day, haven’t done anything, and I’ll just whatever is in front of me. Okay, you know what? Two cheeseburgers. Let’s go. So I don’t have time to think about it. Or even if I go home and there’s good quality home food, I will overeat because I have been starving the whole day. And then my body is not deciding to regulate my brain in telling it’s enough. And then I feel like bloated afterwards. What I have done over the past is and ironically enough, I start this at the tail end of winter, and most half of summer, I’m even able to continue is walking 5 km outside every day.

09:23
Ali
But that happens for six to ten weeks maybe. And then all of a sudden, my schedule is in chaos again and the whole year is gone. I fluctuate between my average max and my average min is about ten kilo difference. So I don’t have huge extremes on either side, but I’ve got like a ten kilo buffer. And right now, I’ll tell you, I’m 94, 95 kilos right now, generally, I’m between the 94 95 to 105. I think the last time I was even close to 90 or 91 might have been high school. So overall, not good. I’ll tell you straight up, not good.

10:02
Shirley
No, at least you’re doing some few changes. But I was 35 kilos overweight, right? Let me go and tell you. So the one thing when you say it is really good food and you can’t control and you overeat because you’re not having it’s because at that point you’re increasing a hormone called grelin hormone.

10:20
Ali
Gremlin.

10:21
Shirley
Gremlin.

10:22
Ali
I got a gremlin inside people, the hungry gremlin.

10:24
Shirley
Did you think it’s grellin? And honestly, I call it the Cookie Monster Hormone. Okay? I like it. The reason I call it the Cookie Monster is because you’re seeing Cookie Monster, there is no stopping it’s. Like, one cookie, it doesn’t matter what’s falling, the no, you’re going to keep on and there’s no and then you’re just like, Cookie Monster. You’re like, that’s it. Brain dead, brain fog. And this is how it affects your mental energy, right? So if I was to go and push you onto keto, I would first go and say, let’s try, but be committed for a period of four weeks.

10:54
Ali
That’s not bad.

10:55
Shirley
Four weeks. I always go and tell the client, taper on for four weeks because it’s a lifestyle change, it’s not a diet. So I start going, So you want to go and have a burger? You’re like, Surely I need a burger. I’m like, all right, let’s go to XYZ down the road. Let’s minus the bun. Let’s minus the ketchup. Let’s have it in lettuce. Let’s have your mayo. Let’s have your cheese. Have a bunless burger.

11:19
Ali
Wait, I’m just trying to think what’s left. So you want me to have a steak? That’s what you’re telling me? You took everything else out.

11:24
Shirley
I took everything else out, but it still gives you that flavor.

11:28
Ali
I’m good with steak and salad every day.

11:30
Shirley
Yeah, so that’s the thing. And you’re like, oh, okay, if I need to do so, there’s small changes that I’m going to do into your incorporate your diet, where I’m actually going to make protein and fat. Now, a lot of people have this misconception of keto. It’s like, add fat. I can’t stand fat. Like, this much of cheese and this much of let’s. Drizzle everything with olive oil and there’s, like, slabs of butter. No, not this. No. Keto is a high fat diet because calorie wise, 1 gram of fat is three calories, and 1 gram of protein is one calorie.

12:06
Ali
Okay, that makes sense.

12:07
Shirley
So when people go into keto and they’re like, oh, I’m losing weight. I’m sick, I can’t handle I can’t eat this food. It’s because they’re eating so much of cheese and all fatty.

12:15
Ali
They’re doing the wrong weight, so much.

12:16
Shirley
Of processed, like sausages and this, they’re not feeling good because they’re not choosing the right food. Okay, so rather than going to a bundleist burger at McDonald’s, which was like, emergency, you can still have it, I would go and say, go to another more decent restaurant and then go and choose a bundleist. Like even five guys. Five guys is like, amazing burger. There’s no process. And they go and say, and especially in UAE, convenience, like, with what can be delivered, what’s around the corner, with few removals, you can be on keto.

12:53
Ali
Okay, I like it. I like it. So we’re getting rid of mostly the carbs.

12:57
Shirley
You’re getting rid of, like, processed carbs. Processed carbs. So you’re getting rid of lentils, all right. You’re getting rid of root vegetables, anything that grows under the ground. So you’re talking about modified carrots and potatoes. You’re getting rid of that. You’re trying to go up your quality of your protein based on season. So you like a steak, have a steak now and again, but don’t forget the seafood. Like, we’re in the Middle East, the ozone, the know. We’re blessed over here with really good local safi the seafood. And there’s a reason why it’s around over here and why the climate is like that. Enjoy that. Tradition goes and tells you all of this in the weekend. But problem is we’ve not followed tradition.

13:36
Ali
Yes.

13:37
Shirley
And then we have traditional food and we say, oh, traditional food is making me fat. No, sweetheart, it’s years of damage, the weak damage, and then going on that.

13:47
Ali
I want to talk to you a little bit more about preexisting health conditions. I’ve got a buddy of mine, actually a few friends of mine who are diabetic, and it just wasn’t being managed until they tried keto, and now they’re swearing by it. Can you share a little bit more on that?

14:03
Shirley
So if you do, go and see in some of my handles, I work a lot with prediabetic, so insulin resistance, type two, it is a proven fact. There are studies already, and I work with several doctors over here. Now, can you do the normal keto diet for type two diabetes? It really depends. No, because you need to have still more carbohydrates, but slightly in the different range of the food group. So each person is different. Can it reverse type two? Yes.

14:28
Ali
Oh, excellent.

14:29
Shirley
Yeah. And I’m going to tell you something really interesting, right. Type one is not reversible. Okay. I’m going to ask you a weird question. How hot do you think Halle Berry is?

14:38
Ali
Halle Berry hot?

14:40
Shirley
Halle Berry is hot. Do you know how long she’s been on keto? Take a wild guess.

14:45
Ali
Don’t ruin it for me.

14:47
Shirley
Take a wild guess. How long has she been ten years, maybe. She’s been 35 years managing her diabetes. True. Keto. And so, I mean, you probably Google this right after to go into the shore, but yes, it is. She markets it, she goes, she says it.

15:03
Ali
When did she start? When she was two. That woman don’t look 35 to me.

15:06
Shirley
She’s a woman is 50.

15:08
Ali
What?

15:09
Shirley
Yeah, exactly.

15:14
Ali
Wow. That’s amazing. That’s amazing. That’s absolutely amazing. Very cool. So definite advantages for somebody who’s type two, diabetic or pre diabetic. So, like you said, even though it’s called a keto diet, but we just talked earlier about how it being essentially a shift, a lifestyle shift. Downsides. What are the downsides, aside from me missing donuts?

15:39
Shirley
So the thing is, when most of my clients come to me, they come for a goal, right?

15:43
Ali
Okay.

15:43
Shirley
So I’ve got a wedding to attend to. I’ve got a family occasion now I’ve got Christmas or either, whatever. So I’m like, okay, you want to lose it? Let’s do four weeks. I don’t make them go and commit, and then I go and catch up. Because your body’s changing in four weeks, you’re going to be having lunch and dinner. Then you’re like, surely I’m not hungry, but I’m good not hungry. Because the ghrelin hormone, the cookie monster, is asleep. Okay. There is something else called the leptin hormone that goes and increases. So what goes and happens after you have your dietary fat? Your body starts using your own body fat for fuel. It’s like a literal shift from, like, burning diesel. You are finally on functioning proper petrol.

16:24
Ali
Nice.

16:25
Shirley
So that’s the shift, right? Yeah. But I explained to my male clients, they understand this, like, oh, yeah, I want to be efficient. I want to be on the right fuel and efficient. Keto has been introduced a lot in terms of military camps, already there are studies that are going shown the benefits. Not only because when you tap into your fuel for fat, your own body fat, so you’re removing a lot of toxins when you are in that ketosis phase. So that’s burnt out because our cells hold memories. They hold more on the toxins from preservatives of everything is the wrapper. You know it’s bad for you when you go and make the wrapper sound and your dog is coming, you know it’s bad for you, right? Like this is your indication that is our food, right? So the military, they go and do it because it actually helps with the brain clarity.

17:15
Shirley
So most of my clients, after four weeks, they’re like, I’m not missing the donut. They’re like, I feel so good, I am sleeping so good. Fantastic, right? It increases things like the ability to go and work out. I’ve never thought about working out in so long. I walked like this much with my kid. I actually could run. I’m fitting up in jeans. I really love this pair of jeans. We all have that pair of jeans in the back of the closet. I look so good in that. I’m going to fit back into that. It’s like I’m fitting into this. I want to continue this. Because they feel good, right? It increases their sex drive. It increases their ability to go and function better at work. They’re like, I’m more efficient. I want to continue. So later you want your donut. For me, come every eid.

18:01
Shirley
It’s a nostalgia thing. I was born and brought up in Bahrain and it’s a nostalgia thing. When it comes to Eid, I need to have lugamat. Okay, that’s the mini Arab donut like, if y’all people do not know what it is like, yeah, I am going to have it. I can’t be Halle Berry. So that’s my hence I don’t look like Halle Berry. But at the end of the day, I am healthy. I don’t have diabetes. I was insulin resistant. I was borderline cholesterol, my high blood pressure, and this is a family history. But I realized I was diagnosed with these symptoms much more younger than my parents. And that’s happening today generation.

18:43
Ali
We’re seeing that. We’re seeing younger and younger people getting diseases that we thought were only for old people.

18:48
Shirley
And there’s different specific hospitals that they just open just for that. So I think going and ensuring when you’re doing it’s not only the weight loss and why do I go and say nutritional keto is better and why the four weeks is because the transition period. And if after four weeks some people, they do come back and they go like, shirley, I really enjoyed this, but I think it’s a little bit difficult for my lifestyle. Then we can go to Primal. So I’m Primal certified, which again, your body is already tapped into burning fat for fuel, but you still get good carbs, which makes it easier. So if you want the rice, okay, I’ll tell you to go and switch to not the regular white rice that’s been processed and refined and bleached and to look white. I’m talking about red rice, wild rice, the fat rice, this thing.

19:38
Shirley
So include that. And then people are like, oh yeah, okay. Because your taste buds change.

19:42
Ali
Okay, that’s interesting. I didn’t know that. Yeah, that’s lovely. You brought up primal. So I want tangent a tiny bit. Not less tangent, more pivot. Talk to me about biohacking because this seems to me very much along the lines towards that direction where we’re like, you know what? We know the system. Let’s figure out how the system works and then let’s optimize on how we run the system. Just before were recording, we’re talking about the book I had read by this gentleman, I think the same guy who came up with the coffee butter coffee thingy, right?

20:13
Shirley
Bulletproof coffee.

20:14
Ali
Bulletproof coffee. My bad, that one. So the first time I was going through that, I was like, Wait, what? And then a couple of pages later, what? You can what? I don’t understand this. So talk to me a little bit more about the whole biohacking perspective of things.

20:27
Shirley
So biohacking is huge, right? Like, when we’re talking about it, there are so many different things today, and we’re literally going back to how ancestors we are just paying extra money to go and live how our ancestors used to. Right? That’s all that’s happening. Like my glasses, like EMF in terms of radiations screens and stuff like that, because now it’s nighttime. Because like you, I used to suffer from sleep, but we’re always on our mobile, you’re here, these lights and everything. So that’s probably one of the reasons you don’t get to sleep, because when you work for yourself and you’re doing your own things and your interest always working, always busy. Yeah. There is no cut off. So how do you switch and go and says, okay, fine, it’s bedtime, I want to sleep. But your body is not a machine. Right? So in biohacking, so basically you’re taking your bio.

21:16
Shirley
So means everything natural. You’re hacking into it for as you go and says, first of all, to reverse aging. So everyone goes and loves this. So aging, when we say it’s not only in terms of your skin and looking ten years, 20 years younger, it’s your biological age. So you can go to the hospital. And there’s a lot of testing centers already in UAE, and instead of saying you’re going 40, your biological age is 28. That’s brilliant. So it means your organs are much more functional compared to everything else there is, like products which are naturally derived, like peptides. There are a lot of online. I’ll send you a whole list of people that I work with online, like NMN and stuff like that. Bulletproof coffee. Would I go and tell everyone to go and include it. Yes, but I’m talking about grass fed butter.

22:07
Ali
So it’s bigger, it’s just bigger than the one singular thing.

22:10
Shirley
Yeah, the people is like, oh, bulletproof coffee, I’m going to lose weight. Yeah, they’re going to fit. But what type of butter? Because lurpark, if you go and read on the label, is 75% canola oil.

22:20
Ali
Yes, it’s more oil than butter.

22:22
Shirley
Yeah. And what is canola oil? Canola oil was actually invented, as if you go back to history, was invented for car fuel, so it’s completely processed. So we’re talking about good grass fed butter. We’re talking about coconut oil because coconut oil has the C eight or C ten capric acid, which is only found in breast milk.

22:45
Ali
Wow.

22:47
Shirley
That’s the only flavor. So you got proper MCT, proper coconut oil. MCT oil, which you probably heard, and you add that to your coffee. You’re talking about Mother’s Nature’s boost right up there. Right. Without being I’m going to say I’m going to drink milk every single day because that is not going to give you’re not a baby cow. So you can’t go and drink milk and we can’t go back to our mothers and say, please give me this nutrient. But there’s coconut oil. So add that, do a bulletproof coffee. Yeah. And then you won’t have the Cookie Monster awake all the time.

23:19
Ali
I like the Cookie Monster.

23:20
Shirley
So once you come to biohacking with your food, then we’re talking about biohacking for your health. And that could be like sound therapy, radiation, eye spots, red light therapy. These devices which are now available in the gyms available. You can buy the devices completely off there. And then you’ve got peptides which are naturally derived, like NMN and a few others as well, which I based on, the client’s cholesterol or fertility or this thing, add those, increase that, because then you’re just increasing that hormone, which no side effects.

23:59
Ali
I was just about to ask.

24:00
Shirley
No, zero side effects. So this is why it’s biohacking.

24:05
Ali
Right, fantastic.

24:06
Shirley
So, yeah, great.

24:07
Ali
It’s very useful information, but I always like asking this question just for the sake of people who are listening, who are like, okay, this is great information, but what do I do with it? So where and how do we get started?

24:20
Shirley
When any client goes and comes to me, I always go and say it’s a personal journey of what they want to achieve. And at the end of the day, you don’t have to do everything. It’s about your health. I’m going to share some personal story, if you don’t mind. Please. Recently, I lost my father at 84. It’s something that’s made me realize, like, more than anything else, health comes first. And I think we can work, we can go and get the money we’re going to spend. But when you’re sitting down in that room my dad is 84, he’s a very good age touchwood for a short time he was you would pay anything to go and help someone in that health issue. So your health is not only for you and your biohacking, the age and everything, it’s not only for you, it’s for the people that you love around you.

25:14
Shirley
So when someone comes to me and we’re like it’s not about getting these ten products, getting these fancy glasses and I’m like, oh, I’m a biohacker now. No, take your journey step by step, right? Like you’re working hard right now. You’re around the clock, you’re this thing come winter, this is what I’m going to do. Push yourself. Okay, one more thing. I read that I think these are the points. So anyone listening from this podcast can drop us questions down and then we can talk about it more. Take that one thing, research more on it and start that they don’t need to go and do all the different stages. Okay, I’m going to start very strict keto. I’m going to start this thing. But do a little bit of research and do one single change will lead you to the next change talking about it.

25:58
Shirley
You’ll find the community, the universe is going to bring you around to those same people. And the brilliant part about UAE there is a biohackers club I would love to go and invite you next time. You’ll meet a lot of other people that actually from Germany. They’ve got the devices, the proven studies, the records. We’re talking about energy, we’re talking about your testing, your metabolic, age, everything, right? And so people want to come. We can list out these different seminars, but sometimes someone goes and says, just tell me what to do. Okay, let me break down their lifestyle and we just start with their health. And if they just start with their health in terms of working out and clean food not even talking about keto, I’m talking about clean food and incorporating a bit of workout here and there depending on what suits their body.

26:45
Shirley
I’m not talking about cardio. It’s not for everyone. Sometimes a little bit of strength training, take a couple of stairs up to your building office or whatever, that’s it. You start there.

26:58
Ali
There’s always skeptics out there. But I think what I want to kind of touch upon is how soon am I looking at to get results? Because I know a lot of people are like, yeah, I don’t know, I don’t want to try it. If I’m talking to a friend of mine like, okay, you got to go try this and you’re going to feel a difference in how many weeks are we saying?

27:18
Shirley
Two weeks.

27:18
Ali
Just as fast as two weeks.

27:20
Shirley
As fast as two weeks. You’re losing weight literally from the first three days.

27:24
Ali
Wow.

27:25
Shirley
On keto. Yeah. You’re losing weight literally within three days fast. The ten days you are smooth riding the first ten days is killer. I’m not going to lie.

27:34
Ali
Ten days isn’t too. Bad. Ten days on a rough patch isn’t too bad to get to the other side. That’s not bad at all, if you think about it.

27:41
Shirley
Don’t forget, a lot of us have already built habits. That 04:00 p.m.. I’m going to go for the Snickers bar and I’m going to go for this. And this is my juice time. And you don’t realize all of this hidden sugars that have the glycemic spike. So your body is run a routine. It’s like, where’s my sugar? So you’re talking about ang. There is a term hangry.

28:00
Ali
Oh, we’re going to get hangry. Ten days.

28:01
Shirley
There are ten days if you don’t go and substitute with, like, instead of that sugar, that quick little fix if you don’t have a quick bundleist burger available. So prep is obviously going to be your most important thing for the ten days. And then after that, you’re good.

28:16
Ali
Okay, that’s ten days is not bad at all. I’ve gone to the gym after a long time and I got body aches.

28:23
Shirley
For weeks, I’m telling you.

28:26
Ali
So ten days is not bad at all. As a trade off, I think that’s more than fair. That’s more than fair. Great. Fantastic. Anything to watch out for.

28:35
Shirley
Any keto products? Oh, my God.

28:39
Ali
Okay, there you go. I was just going to ask anything that’s just kind of like scammy and people are just taking advantage.

28:46
Shirley
When I started and I had my own coach, was like about seven years ago, and when I was going through my journey, there was no such thing as keto products or keto delivery. Nothing, right? So I had to really do the basics because she was based out from the States, but now this is keto and that’s keto. I’m like, short of a toilet brush, everything is keto, right? I kid you not. And when you look at the ingredients, they have, like, rice flour, and they’ve got all of this, like, people, no matter what lifestyle you choose, start reading the label. What are you putting in your body? Like, seriously, take a look. And then when you can’t understand it or you can’t pronounce it, just drop it.

29:30
Ali
I like, if you can’t pronounce it, drop it.

29:33
Shirley
Just drop it. Just put it back where it is.

29:35
Ali
Sounds fair. Sounds fair.

29:39
Shirley
That’s a simple thing. So just because it’s labeled keto, okay, it doesn’t mean it’s keto.

29:46
Ali
I always operate with a concept of path of least resistance. How most conveniently and easily can I chart this path? Right? So easier to kind of just start reading about keto and then try to figure it out, or easier to work with a coach. What’s my path of least resistance?

30:09
Shirley
See, all of us the reason why there’s more nutritional and functional nutritionist, and some of us are very straightforward in going and saying we’re doing nutritional keto. And there are some people who look at keto as taboo, but there’s still a lot of nutritionists that just change your diet and tell you what to eat and are still giving you keto. He says, oh, I did a diet like that. My doctor went and gave him, like, you were doing keto, but you were doing what they told you to eat. And that’s not how the least resistance. I would go and say any person needs to go and figure out what works for them. Like, you like a steak, but not everyone eats beef, right? Not everyone goes and likes that. Not everyone has the opportunity of eating late at night. So then you work it on terms of your lifestyle, what is your convenience if you’re stuck here?

30:54
Shirley
Like Chitex is going on or exhibitions are going on, how do you order food and what you order? Simple as that. So you can get, like, sashimi on the go. You can get some amazing Iranian kebabs with no preservatives and breads over there, which I really love, which are flavorful. I don’t like steak on a delivery. I’d rather have it then and there for sure. So that’s me personally. A good sea bass at a good cafe, restaurants and stuff. You can go and get that. And who doesn’t like chicken shishtok?

31:26
Ali
There you go. So we got options.

31:28
Shirley
You got options.

31:29
Ali
Okay, this is good. So this is I think the other thing that always troubles people is, hey, man, I want to try it, but there just aren’t enough convenient options, and I can’t be stuck in cold press.

31:39
Shirley
Comes in, you know what I mean? It’s like, how do you adapt to this lifestyle? This is what’s happening. And especially when you’re in that moment, you’re really hungry. Women go through different hormonal phases and cravings and stuff like that. So again, what do they eat for each stage of their cycle? Men go through burnout for work. Like they work, work. And they go to the moment. So there is male PMS. It’s real. And how do they feed their body during that period of exhaustion and get back to that level? It’s based on their nutrients. So our bodies are not a machine. You have to go step by step to go on this thing. It’s not machine. Gun says, okay, I’m going to eat, like, 500. I’m going to follow this every single day, and I’m going to keep on losing weight. No, because you’re going to have something.

32:31
Shirley
You’re going to have a Brunch. How do you eat? You can enjoy a brunch. For those who drink alcohol, they can still have alcohol. Those who enjoy certain flavors, local home cooked food. And the best part about it is, like, because I deal a lot of female clients, is that they’re cooking the same for the family.

32:49
Ali
Oh, nice. So we’re not cooking separate meals.

32:51
Shirley
No, you’re enjoying the same thing. There are certain times you’re going to say, okay, my husband’s got pizza. I’m like, okay, what’s your backup. And there is like a cauliflower base. There’s mozzarella, there is the meats, the mushroom, a little truffle olive oil. And she’s like, they ate my pizza. It smells good. They forgot their old pizza. This is what happens.

33:10
Ali
Well, that’s nice. Then you get the whole family in on it without them realizing. I like this. I think this perspective is important because no matter what you pick up on the Insta web and whatnot, and looking at people talking about various things, it’s always a miracle solution, and it’s always all this. And then people try and it doesn’t work, and then they try again and doesn’t work, and then they do these rubber band type of diets and their whole lives, and they just end up being frustrated. I think the key takeaway for me is we’re not talking about a diet per se. We’re talking about a change of lifestyle. And the change of lifestyle is something logical because it’s taking us back to how we started, the way our ancestors lived on the planet. And it makes sense if we are biologically created to function that way.

33:57
Ali
We have taken a massive tangent into this whole universe of processed commercialized food. I know the number of people you’ll be shocked. The number of people I know that every morning have a big bowl of cereal and think that it’s healthy. And I keep telling them, like, guys, you know how much sugar is in that? You cannot start your day with that much sugar and expect not to crash an hour and a half later. No, dude, but it’s cereal. Cereal is healthy. And like you said, if it’s got sugar or whatever on the label and then a bunch of things you can’t pronounce put it back.

34:28
Shirley
You probably need to cut this off the podcast, but I don’t know whether you’ve heard the story about Kellogg’s and why he actually came up with oh.

34:33
Ali
Of course I know the story of Kellogg. I tell people and they’re, no, what are you talking about? I’m like, yes, Kellogg’s invented cereal for women who are feeling aroused.

34:45
Shirley
Yeah. And to limit it.

34:47
Ali
Yes. And the idea was that, oh, to limit this. You should have cereal in the morning. I mean, it’s hilarious. The things the guy did was absolutely hilarious.

34:56
Shirley
Yeah, his thoughts. But the people don’t realize that.

34:59
Ali
No, they don’t. So there’s a lot of interesting things, I think, out there. But for me, the key takeaway is we’re talking about a reengineer of a lifestyle, but surprisingly, not a major shift. If you think about what you’ve told me, doesn’t seem major. We’re talking about a ten day burn before we start to see some results and start to feel better, and a four week program and a four week cycle to improve or twist results within.

35:26
Shirley
The first three days. After the first ten days, your body’s already adapting. And once you go to different stages right where you become more fat adapted, which is like you probably read from Sinclair in terms you get more fat adapted. So it means your body’s more efficient in burning. So when you have that occasional donut or lugama, whatever, doesn’t put it down, like say this thing. If you’re going to go have a big meal, you’ll still go and feel a little bit sluggish. But then your recovery is fast.

35:52
Ali
Recovery is fast because your body’s more efficient.

35:55
Shirley
Right. Fantastic. And your opening introduction about love of food and I’m going to tell you, so for me, it’s not steak, but it’s.

36:06
Ali
Lamb chops.

36:08
Shirley
Traditional is like Monday. Friday was like always this Monday with like Pepsi and rice. Surely try to make that ketofied. And I seriously that’s too. I use the same spices. Like you’ll get it in union co op, make a good Monday, make it a cauliflower rice instead of the Pepsi. I go and basically get sparkling lemon perrier and stuff like that. I still feel good. And the tomato sauce is the same. The yogurt is the same. The room smells the same. And the lamb, it just drops off the bowl. I’m like, I don’t feel like I’m deprived.

36:40
Ali
I like that.

36:41
Shirley
And no one’s going and telling you to go and eat only this much. You’ll eat to feel full. You’ll adapt, you’re learning. It’s a journey. And that’s why a coach might be going. Helpful. Can someone go and learn this on their own? Yes. Try to go and do the right resources and everything. But I always tell my clients, look, whether you’re see I’m going to be very particular, I want you to communicate a lot more. That’s the only way I can help you because I’m not giving you a diet plan. You want a diet plan? Download something. Download $20. Yeah, don’t waste my time. But if you want me to go and help you in a one one coaching or like one of my private focus groups, I was going to dedicate post your pictures and everything because take that time to go and figure out what works for you.

37:26
Shirley
What this thing? Just because dairy is good for your friend doesn’t mean you can handle the dairy. Just because nuts is good for somebody else doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Just because cruciferous vegetables is good for one doesn’t work for you. So you got to learn and why you’re not losing weight. Once you find the tweak of your body individuality, then the journey is perfect.

37:47
Ali
Oh, I like that. I like that. So customized plan tailored to your body lifestyle reengineering near immediate results. I think at this point there’s no excuse not to try it.

37:59
Shirley
Yeah.

37:59
Ali
No, I like that. Thank you so much. Just to wrap up, can you just share how we can reach out to you, how the audience can find your socials, your webs, whatever’s?

38:08
Shirley
Okay, so I’m on keto. Coach DXB. Both on Instagram. On Facebook. I’m also partner to Food Deliveries, this thing which is actually done by two of my clients. So we look at the processed oils, et cetera. It’s called meal to heal ae. But if you have any questions on the podcast, go and send it to Ali or myself. And I’m more than willing to go and help you out on that. So when I do, in terms of keto coach, I am not only a keto coach, I’m also primal and low carb. Sometimes, based on the consultation, which I offer for free in the beginning, and I get where a client is or where the person is in their journey of health or weight loss, I get something. Can you make me lose five kilos in two weeks? I’m like, thank you, but there is ways.

39:03
Shirley
But that’s not what I’m talking about. And there’s other people for religious factors that need to have certain items or void certain items. So we work around that and we have different lifestyles. So hit me up on keep your coach DXP.

39:20
Ali
Fantastic. Thank you so much. This has absolutely been great, guys. Appreciate you listening in. Again, you can drop a DM on our podcast channels or reach out on any of the channels. I will have a little brief description thingy on the bottom with the socials linked up. This has been great. Thank you so much.

39:38
Shirley
Thank you.