Transcription:
Holistic Approach to Weight Loss

Maggie McKay: There are a lot of weight loss alternatives, but many don't treat the whole person. Today we'll talk with Dr. Allison Becker about the holistic approach to losing weight. Welcome to Stoughton Health Talk. I'm Maggie McKay. Thank you so much for being here today. Dr. Becker, Can you please introduce yourself?

Allison Becker, ND: Thank you Maggie, for having me. My name is Dr. Allison Becker. I am a naturpathic doctor and acupuncturist and I practice in a small community just south of Stoughton in Evansville. I've been practicing in this community for 16 years.

Maggie McKay: Wow. So it's not just about what to eat and what not to eat. There are many other considerations that may not get discussed in a standard doctor's visit. So tell us about your whole person approach for someone struggling with obesity?

Allison Becker, ND: Sure. So one of the principles of naturopathic medicine is to treat the whole person. And when we're talking about weight loss, which of course in so many people come to us looking for solutions and looking for a plan that is an alternative to any drugs, of course, but also looking for more than just what do I eat and how do I exercise, right? What else could be going on that might be, exacerbating my weight or contributing to my weight gain or difficulty losing weight. So, we do talk a lot about diet, certainly we talk about exercise fundamentals.

We talk about sleep quality and stress management, but then also looking at hormonal balance. Looking at, the health of your thyroid or the health of your stress hormones or your blood sugar. Also looking at the health of your gut that has a lot of influence over your metabolism and how well you digest your food, as well as the microbial balance in your gut actually influences your metabolism and ability to lose weight. As an naturpathic doctor, we look at a lot of different things and talk about the whole person again. And not just, their weight but also what else is going on in their life that may be contributing.

Maggie McKay: So compared to a traditional diet, what are the benefits to losing weight holistically?

Allison Becker, ND: Compared to a traditional diet? Well, I, guess when you ask that question, are you thinking about sort of a standard American diet?

Maggie McKay: Yes.

Allison Becker, ND: Okay, so a standard American diet tends to be, a diet that has a lot of simple carbohydrates in it is very low in fiber low in dense nutrients low in fruits and vegetables. And, high in sugar, bad fats. That's sort of a standard American diet, honestly. And so when we're looking at, so looking at, what's best for our bodies, doing the opposite of all of that, right? So really eating whole foods, eating fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, whole grains. Healthy meats. Healthy fish beans, nuts. Seeds, that's what we're looking at in terms of a whole foods type diet. And that's really how our bodies are designed, is to eat and digest the, those foods and get the nutrients from those foods. And that's what contributes to health, really.

Maggie McKay: So you mentioned meats, healthy meats. Would that be organic?

Allison Becker, ND: I mean, organic is certainly great. You're going to have a lot of times you'll find that the quality of the fats in organically grown meats, especially grass fed beef, much higher in omega 3s and lower in omega 6s. So more of an anti-inflammatory kind of effect. So how the animal is raised does affect the quality of the meat. In my community, I work with people all different ages and all different socioeconomic backgrounds and organic meat just isn't practical for a lot of people. But certainly it is better quality nutrient wise if you can get it.

Maggie McKay: So, I'm guessing, correct me if I'm wrong, that you don't have to become vegetarian or vegan to, practice a holistic diet.

Allison Becker, ND: No, you don't. and you know a lot of people, come to me and they want to An answer that fits everyone, and that's not how people are made. No one answer fits everyone. And people are always looking for what diet is? Can I try this diet or that diet? Maybe keto, maybe intermittent fasting, maybe vegetarian, maybe vegan. And all of these diets exist because they're going to fit different people. So some people do really well on a vegetarian diet, and if you do a vegetarian diet where you're eating a lot of fruits and vegetables and it's not, vegetarian just meaning. Avoiding meat, but still eating, bagels and muffins and not getting a lot of fresh food.

it's not a healthy vegetarian, right? So there are different ways to be vegetarian or vegan that can be healthy and unhealthy. The same goes for caribous diet. You can either have a healthy carnivorous diet or an unhealthy carni virus diet, but I really encourage people to pay attention to their bodies and see what feels right to . , what feels right to them, because people can also be intolerant to certain. And they may think, Oh, I really need to eat a lot of beans, but maybe beans, really, they can't digest them well. Right?

So maybe that isn't right for them. Or maybe, they have these ideas that they think they need to be eating this certain sort of healthy food, but it doesn't feel right to them. So listening to their own bodies, teaching people to listen to their body is, really, really, really.

Maggie McKay: What about dairy? I'd love to know your thoughts on that, you know what I hear conflicting reports.

Allison Becker, ND: Yeah, and I'm in Wisconsin, so I'm in the the dairy capital of a country here.

Maggie McKay: You're in the heart of it. Yeah.

Allison Becker, ND: I am, I am. And dairy's one of those things too. That it can be a beneficial food if you can digest it well. I personally think that dairy should be more as a condiment. I mean, we have, we've got fantastic beautiful cheeses and fermented yogurts and these beautiful foods that can be very good sources of protein and fat and are really calorie dense for people that maybe have a hard time gaining weight or for children that have a hard time gaining weight, those kinds of things can be really beneficial. But in our culture and especially Wisconsin, we really overdo it in so many different ways. And, particularly overdoing it in dairy and beer, which makes the state famous. those are two big contributors to obesity for sure. The dietary choices in general.

Maggie McKay: You mentioned that you treat all ages and I'm wondering how do you get a child who has been raised on what we were talking about before, a lot of sugar and chips and all that, and they go to school with kids who eat the same way. How do you get a child to switch over to a holistic diet? That's gotta be a challenge.

Allison Becker, ND: That is a really big challenge. That's a really big challenge, and a lot of it, I mean, starts with parents. So it's about what kind of foods are the parents offering what do they have access to? And, a lot of education, when I'm sitting with a family and I'm sitting with a kid it's really about teaching the parents about how to have healthy choices available for your children, and then to con, depending on the child's age, right, the younger they are, the more sort of malleable they'll be in trying, maybe trying some things or doing things that are out of the norm like eating fruits and vegetables rather than eating candy. But then when you get into elementary school and you start getting into more pressures from other kids, it is difficult.

It is really over difficult. It's all over and it's, yeah. It's really difficult and it's, I think we need to be practical too, right? We don't wanna create, food issues in our children or make them afraid of eating, Right. And so we don't wanna create more problems and we don't wanna socially isolate our children either. So, it's a little bit of a dance, trying to figure out, and every parent is gonna find, is gonna figure out their own balance. I love working with teenagers when they wake up to how food makes them feel.

That's amazing because they, Oh my gosh, when they realize that, especially like teenagers that come in that are athletes or maybe they have skin issues or they've got something that's really motivating them to be healthier and they realize that, Oh, when I actually choose, when I don't choose the french fries and I choose the carrot sticks instead. My skin doesn't break out as much, right? So it's very motivating in and of itself.

Maggie McKay: you talk about the rainbow diet. My husband, if I hear him say it one more time, Dr. Becker, I am telling you what I'm gonna throw the plate at him. Not really, but he's a big believer in that concept. Talk about that rainbow plate.

Allison Becker, ND: Sure. So the concept of the rainbow plate or eating the rainbow is to really recognize that all of these different beautiful fruits and vegetables that we have, available to us are different colors because they're made up of different nutrients that are beneficial for us. So, like the berries, for example, are very high in different antioxidants that are very beneficial for our eyes and our blood vessels and our heart versus something like the oranges and the lemons and the limes very high in vitamin C, very beneficial for our immune systems, right?

So all of these fruits and vegetables have different nutrients in them, and if we eat the same fruit and vegetables all the time, we're really missing out on that diversity of nutrition. And so eating a rainbow is, eating all the colors right? So eating your raspberries and your blackberries and your beets and your, all your purple and red foods, and then eating your green vegetables, your broccoli and your kale and your salad, then your carrots and your orange sweet peppers, and, go through the whole rainbow, right? So when you look at your plate, how colorful is it?

Maggie McKay: Exactly. I don't wanna spend too much time on this one, but there are so many cleanses out there. What's your opinion on that method and which one do you choose? Like now are so many. And is it a good way to go? Is that a good way to go? Like for a weekend you just drinking, green juice,

Allison Becker, ND: Right. Fasting therapeutically, boy, that we could do a whole nother talk on that, there's a lot of history to that. There's a lot of incredible science and benefit to it, but when it comes to weight loss doing something really extreme, like a juice cleanse for weight loss is totally unsustainable. So if you're eating sort of a standard American diet and then you try to sort of kick it into high gear and do a juice fast for a few days, and then you go right back to your standard American diet. You're missing the whole point. you really need to make, changes that are sustainable for long term in terms of your food.

Maggie McKay: Yeah. Dr. Becker, I have to ask you about some very unique recipes on your website. One is, and this just got me because I like brownies anyway, chocolate, avocado and black bean brownies. And you have the big word in all caps. Yummy. Really and truly. I'm sold on the chocolate part, but I'm not so sure about the black. Or the avocado in my brownies. So what?

Allison Becker, ND: It sounds pretty weird, doesn't it. They're actually really good. They're really good. And there's something that happens and anybody who's done this before will understand, but it does sound really weird. There's something that happens with chocolate and avocado that is it's beautiful. So avocado will just take on the flavor of whatever else you put it with. Avocado exists for texture and for fat, And so chocolate, if you have a really nice chocolate, and especially if you add some vanilla to it, or you can add a little orange oil or different things you can make you can make a lovely pudding actually out of chocolate and avocado.

That's because you're getting the creamy part. So in the brownie recipe, the avocado, it creates the cream. And then the black beans, it really increase fiber and make for a really nice grain actually, even though it's not a grain it kind of gives that effect. Yeah. Did you try it?

Maggie McKay: Not yet . I just learned about it this week. I'm going to because we have nothing but avocados here. So, just in closing, for somebody who might want to switch from whatever diet they're on now to a holistic diet, what would you say to them? How would they get started? They might think it sounds overwhelming, how do you get started?

Allison Becker, ND: Oh my goodness, that's a really good question. I mean, Looking really honestly at where they can make sustainable changes and starting there. So I always have really honest conversations with my patients about, okay, so if you're eating a standard American diet, what is one thing you could do to move closer to a healthier diet? Right? So what is one thing? So maybe it's that you double your coleslaw at your fish fry, right? I mean, let's just start there, right? It could, we have to start in practical ways, or maybe it's that, you just really try to eat a salad three times a week.

So there are a lot of people, especially in the Midwest and in Wisconsin, that really are not eating enough vegetables. And so anytime I can try to encourage people to get more vegetables in their diet, that they're moving in the right direction and change happens. Sustainable change happens over a long time, right? So you have to make, you have to make small changes and make them habit. What does it take 17 days or something to make a habit stick?

So you have to actually do that repeated over and over and over again for 17 days until you can say, Okay, now I'm ready to, add some healthier snacks, right? I'm ready to start adding blueberries to my breakfast, or whatever it is, right? So one step at a time, moving in that direction. Much, much, much better than trying to change everything very quickly, which I see over and over, over again, and people fail.

Maggie McKay: You get discouraged.

Allison Becker, ND: So discouraging. Most people that come in here that have weight issues, have been struggling with their weight for a very long time. They've tried every diet under the sun and they're still having problems.

Maggie McKay: So it's a process.

Allison Becker, ND: It's a process. It's a process. for sure.

Maggie McKay: Dr. Becker, if someone would like to find out more or make an appointment with you, where would they go?

Allison Becker, ND: You can call my clinic as (608) 882-1388.

Maggie McKay: Dr. Becker, thank you so much for this useful and educational information and basically a new healthy way for us to look at weight loss.

Allison Becker, ND: You're welcome. Thanks for asking me to come join you today.

Maggie McKay: This podcast is for education purposes only and does not serve as an endorsement.

You can also visit stoughtonhealth.com. That's S T O U G H T O N health.com. That concludes this episode of Stoughton Health Talk. Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and all the other Stoughton Health Talk podcasts. I'm Maggie McKay. Be well.