102: Live Your Best 365 & Get Rid of the Processed Foods | Alisa Bloom

Alisa Bloom  00:00

70% of the

Alisa Bloom  00:01

Excess sodium in people's diets come from processed foods. So we want to think about think outside the box as you eat outside of a box. So if you can try to practice not eating in a box, you're automatically limiting your sodium. You're automatically limiting preservatives which have negative effects on your brain on your which correlates with appetite. it correlates with just body what's going on in your body, their microbiome, all of these things, the processed foods, the additives can preservatives attack.

Maya Acosta  00:35

Welcome to the Plant Based DFW Podcast weekly show with Dr. Riz and Maya. Our podcast focuses on lifestyle medicine, which is the use of evidence based lifestyle therapeutic approaches, such as a whole food plant based diet, regular physical exercise, adequate sleep and stress management to treat and even reverse the lifestyle related chronic diseases that are all too prevalent. Every week, we will feature physicians, dietitians, health coaches, and everyday people who will share those stories and speak on one of these lifestyle medicine modalities. Let's meet today's podcast guest. Alisa bloom is a registered dietician who has had her share of food sensitivities. She has suffered with brain fog, bloating, digestive ups and downs, aches and pains, weight resistance and food cravings. using evidence based research she discovered the root cause of food and chemical sensitivities that were wreaking havoc on her immune system. She now chooses anti inflammatory foods tailored to calm her system, while supplementing correctly to support and repair that gut brain connection. Understanding the origin of inflammation has become Elisa his life passion, she works to help others who suffer from these symptoms feel better, she gets to the root cause by incorporating food as medicine and the right forms of vitamins, minerals and supplements for realistic, effective and lasting change. Alisa does have a six week course coming up this month. So make sure to check the link that I will include in the show notes and her website is live your best 360 five.com I hope you enjoy this episode. I can't wait to learn more from you, Alisa. So welcome.

Alisa Bloom  02:16

Well, thank you for having me here. I'm excited to be here.

Maya Acosta  02:18

So I like that you're also board certified in lifestyle medicine. 

Alisa Bloom  02:22

Yes I am. Yes.

Maya Acosta  02:24

What year did you take your board exam?

Alisa Bloom  02:26

So I took it in 2019. And actually, just to kind of add a bonus. I was um, I remember I think it was four years prior to that was my first lifetime medicine conference where I was excited. Why? Because I'm a dietitian. And so with this, this is about food. This is about food as medicine for lifestyle. And I remember being in the buffet line for lunch behind who heads up the the nursing group at Nursing Working Group at the time, and I turned to her and I said so. So where's the dietician, group? I can't wait to take part of this. And she just stared at me and stopped. I said, Well, I guess I'll be starting one. So that is how the rdn or the dietitian working group came to be So to your point, I did feel a wonderful obligation to take part of being board certified.

Maya Acosta  03:19

Ok now this is kind of like the better version you know for the graduate program I think that Dr. Frates' put together...

Alisa Bloom  03:26

but yeah, they're what I have to confess that I think I had a leg up only because um, Yes, you did mention that I'm a health and wellness coach. So I became into the health and wellness coaching arena through well coaches who was also a sponsor of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. So here I was already incorporating aspects of well coaches the health and Welch's the health and wellness coaching program. And you know, all that's part of the test. So I had that and dietitian background. So that was kind of that

Maya Acosta  03:59

I'm familiar with Well Coaches. I've also known other health coaches, I have been that have gone through that program, but I hear good things about it. But I guess it's your previous background and training and whatever other field but um, congratulations for being board certified and lifestyle medicine. 

Alisa Bloom  04:15

Thank you very much.

Maya Acosta  04:16

Well, you also have Well, a lot of credential. So you have a Master's in Public Health.

Alisa Bloom  04:20

So here's kind of the background I for for being a dietitian, you actually the difference between dietitian and nutritionist. Anyone can technically call themselves on nutritionist. So that's a generic term. The dietitian credential is what incorporates the licensure, the the mandatory credentialing every year and the hours in the education. And so I got that process done. And as I started practicing, I remember I was in an ICU, I was doing the, the the tube feedings and all the all the types of complicated feedings and I just remember looking around saying it would like to help keep keep people out of here. And so ended up flipping that flipping, inverting the pyramid, if you will, from being very narrow, really clinically focused. And that's where I ended up getting a Master's in Public Health, so that I could teach people even though I love the science and can do that, I could teach that in lay terms to the public. And so moving forward, I every job that I've had has, has correlated with nutrition. And so it's always been a passion that continues to still be. And then what ended up happening was, I also enjoy the psychological components, more of the motivational interviewing part, the what makes people why do what they do. I, if I work with what I like to call the seven to 11 dinner, where people are done with dinner, and then they just keep going back and forth, and back and forth. And, you know, until it's 11, and what stops them is I did it again. So you know, that's not so much knowing that you're supposed to stop. That's kind of having to work with what issues have you do that in the first place. So when I, when I found well, coaches through the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, really, I thought that was just a perfect merriment, because that incorporated more of the psychology of why. And then I could use the the training that I have as a dietitian, and just confound that. And then as I, I was hoping, because I would use that more to work with people nationally. And then we fell into a pandemic, where that happened sooner than I probably would have done. So, you know, I am a glass half full kind of person. So it ended up working well, because then I as a coaching, you can teach more broadly, nationally as an option versus licensure a dietitian is more by state when you get into specific medical nutrition therapies.

Maya Acosta  07:02

So can we touch a little bit on that then? Because I've often wondered like, now, what are those limitations? And you just kind of touched on it a little bit as a registered dietician, like who can you see two insurance companies cover this? I guess that's kind of going a little bit more in depth. 

Alisa Bloom  07:16

Oh I mean, there is there is a relatively simple answer. It's, for example, whoever comes to me with work, whichever state they may be in, I take a look at that state's licensure registration requirements. And if they require a license, I have contacted state boards before to simply pay a fee, and then have that reciprocity. Some states do not have that at all, in which case, I have a wonderful network of colleagues that I can refer people over to. Other times, even as far as, as covered. So for example, I'm in Illinois, I had someone come to me from Indiana, and I had looked at that route to see what needs to be done and also contacted her specific insurance carrier who said, we have reciprocity she's covered, you're covered. So, you know, things happen. But they do have to be done on a case by case basis.

Maya Acosta  08:08

How did you even take interest in all of this? What led you initially to want to help people through nutrition and then just sending them towards better lifestyle approaches?

Alisa Bloom  08:18

Hmm, that's interesting question. I do like that question, though. Well, you know, first, I do like to say that I come from the ancillary family, meaning that my father was a pharmacist and my brothers are podiatrists. So you know, hey, another ancillary service as a dietitian, but it was more of I was always fascinated by what goes in the body and how it affects you. And that really stems from the fact that I have a strong Self and Family history of being sensitive to so many things, that we were literally affected by the foods that we ate. And I didn't understand what that was, or maybe it was sort of trying to get a mastery of you know, what is going on? I don't know. But I've always had that, that interest. And it always came from what was going in and how people viewed food and how the role that food played in your life. And so from there, I just that's where it started. That's where I started to teach it myself ways about nutrition ways about eating, but they were always more, not just the the basic thing that you could read on the internet, it wasn't that simple. It was just more of a lot of the whys behind and a lot of dealing with the emotions within and then and the reactions to them the things that happen. And it really wasn't until later in my career that I was able to get to the root of the things that were that were causing issues for me and my family. So that was kind of interesting that I do so that only rekindled everything for my interest. So that was helpful put it that way.

Maya Acosta  09:53

I found your website and started going through your blog and I said my goodness, are you really educate your public. 

Alisa Bloom  10:00

Thank you, someone found me and they I'm grateful.

Maya Acosta  10:02

Thank you. Yeah, I was wondering if we can just kind of start with what you talk about on your blog. And last year, you did a wonderful job of really being consistent with your blog, and touching on topics to support your followers. Last year,

Alisa Bloom  10:16

when I started blogging, if you will, I think it was first a matter of you know, and I'm involved in business mastermind, colleagues and courses, things like that. But it became what the biggest thing is consistency and, and I just, I really wanted to continue to help people. So that's still always been a part of who I was. And so it became, alright, the newsletter has to be consistent. So so you know, so that I can understand and talk to my audience. And And out of that became just simply an expanded version became a blog. And so really, what you see on there, thank you is just a compilation of consistency. If anyone's ever heard that, in many different ways, different forms in your life, that's a product of consistency is just simply just taking, taking a higher level or consistent, consistent educating. So there's a bunch of topics up there.

Maya Acosta  11:12

Yeah, well, this focus on two, one of them is why we should stay away from processed foods and the other one is how we can strengthen our immune system. As we're going through this pandemic.

Alisa Bloom  11:24

I started a course I did a course last year and I'm probably gonna repeat a course this year but it's gonna have is going to come to us ditch ditching processed foods was essentially the the basis of it, it will incorporate part of that too, is that, um, you know, a lot of times people they get stuck, they don't know where to start. If they think about becoming completely plant based, plant centered, how do I start? What do I do? How do I prepare and and the issue is, for a lot of people, simply you can get plant based garbage to eat, it's pretty easy to do. But when you when you don't, when you're not used to a one big part of a plant based diet is having to actually prepare things yourself to avoid eating what I call like a third grader, little piece of this piece of this piece of that. And why is that so difficult, because most people have some experience with grabbing fast type foods. I don't mean that, you know, grabbing fast food isn't always I'm not talking about just the drive thru. I'm talking about a thing prepackaged pre prepared something with with its own powdered sauce, okay, it's something that you reconstitute, that's going to have high sodium in it. So as you we touched on it 70% of the excess sodium in people's diets come from processed foods. So we want to think about, think outside the box as you eat outside of a box. So if you can try to practice not eating in a box, you're automatically limiting your sodium, you're automatically limiting preservatives, which have negative effects on your brain on your which correlates with appetite. it correlates with just body, what's going on in your body, the microbiome, all of these things, the processed foods, the additives, and preservatives attack. And you're also eliminating probably a lot of empty, nutrient dense calories. So empty, high calorie foods. So if you could just start by eliminating processed foods, look at the amazing things that can happen. What technically happens is the inflammation automatically goes down. So you have a lot less bloat. You're you're feeling, you're thinking clearer, you have more energy, you can sleep better. So it really attacks a whole lot, just by simply taking away processed foods.

Maya Acosta  13:46

It is true now 2020 kind of has forced a lot of us to just not only be at home, but not eat out as much. So now we're spending more time in the kitchen. But it can get tricky because then you have all the other convenience foods that you can buy from the grocery stores

Alisa Bloom  13:59

that or your favorite takeout that still isn't ideal. So you can still kind of figure out, you still have to maneuver. Ideally, we in an ideal world would it be nice if we could create our own fast food counterparts, you know, so you still you still have to preserve some of your favorites but but in a different way,

Maya Acosta  14:18

Reading labels and understanding what is actually found because a lot of times, I mean, who who teaches you how to read a label.

Alisa Bloom  14:24

So when I was doing my, my internship, so as part of the training for a dietitian, you have to do a dietetic internship, much like the medical field. And I did that in Cincinnati, and because of the nature of the stipends. And that just particular year, I was on food stamps. And so food stamps forced me to eat outside of the box. I didn't realize what I was doing. I just had to meet my requirement to help budget. So you know, you have a lot of beans, you have a lot you have all these things that are unprocessed and they're Whole Foods. I felt fabulous. And it was just it was just interesting. How when When I started to look at my diet, even decades later, it was Wait a minute, I've already done this, I just just kind of like, you know, go back there pretend like that was it. When people say it has to be expensive, it doesn't have to be

Maya Acosta  15:14

No. And as a matter of fact, when you cook from scratch, and then if you batch cook, not only is it less expensive, because you're preparing things from scratch, but also then you're making life easier. So you it's like you say you make your own versions of fast food at home, when you have the food cooked at different levels. 

Alisa Bloom  15:32

You people do have to they underestimate the planning part. And so, and also to, quite frankly, underestimate hunger. So think about the people who get or when you inadvertently whatever reason you ate too much. And you just don't you feel uncomfortable. It's not working for you. What do you think I'll never eat again? You know that this typically happens the morning after Thanksgiving, right? I am never eating again. Diet starts today. So you come to that, let's use them. Let's continue with the Thanksgiving frenzy. So you wake up Friday, that's what happens. You don't eat anything by one two o'clock, guess what? Your blood sugar went down? you're starving, what are you eating, you're eating the Thanksgiving leftovers again. So you know a lot a lot of times even when I work with people, I tell them we work to accept hunger, and that the body will naturally give you your your appetite back, that's what you want. And if I give you a bucket of the worst food for you, guess what, you're still gonna be hungry six hours later. So so if we work to accept that as part of naturally who we are, versus being disappointed and angry and resentful that you're hungry again, oh, then then things change, because it stops the scarcity problem.

Maya Acosta  16:47

Yeah, that's such a good point, you're talking about the psychological component to all of this and any kind of hobby, anything new that you are interested in learning how to do if you really, if you're, if your y is strong, you keep going, you know, when I learned to cook a little bit healthier, it was like it just it made the process a little longer as I was learning but then you know, you get your partner involved or a friend involved and then you do it together and it's a lot of fun

Alisa Bloom  17:14

And there are ways to schedule that too. You can schedule it so it's not overwhelming.

Maya Acosta  17:18

Yeah, so I do want to talk about your support group because you also recently did a challenge was it the staying away from processed foods kind of challenge dish the processed foods it

Alisa Bloom  17:30

was actually the kind of a flavor if you will of bleeding into the course that I had offered at the time. So it was five days of let's let's do this together and try to see what it feels like just to take processed foods away. And the reason behind five days quite honestly is because it takes about as you probably know, between about three and four days when you can really start seeing the benefits of things turning around for you when you when you've cleaned up your diet. Some would say as I have said you can feel as good as your next meal. But if you want to take that even further go ahead and take it out three four or five days and then you can make a difference so that's that's what I did. I held that in my my facebook group Food Sanctuary.

Maya Acosta  18:11

And that's what it's called Food Sanctuary I love it What kind of people are part of your group who joins it?

Alisa Bloom  18:16

Oh people who are interested in how food affects your mood how it can help heal you how it can play a balancing role in your life. So we do we do fun stuff do poles do fun facts, things about you know what is Does anyone really know what a one one spaghetti noodle is? It's it's the ghetto in case you didn't know. But and work with with how food as medicine things that that you know if we pay attention to what, how food goes in and how it can make you feel and I do answer some supplement questions, things like that.

Maya Acosta  18:49

So do your group members. Are they open to the idea of what you just said that food can be medicine?

Alisa Bloom  18:56

Absolutely. Yeah, and I know that value by dialogue in there and I'm I go live there every week on Fridays at 5pm Central. So if I talk about I guess a theme for the week would be on in on Instagram or Facebook Live your best 365 and and then I'll give a flavor of that. And then I take a deep dive on Fridays at 5pm Central in the Facebook group. 

Maya Acosta  19:23

I love challenges there a lot of fun. They're kind of you know, it gives you something to work with. And it makes it fun because then you can share photographs or share stories

Alisa Bloom  19:33

And it was fun it wasn't it wasn't simply wake up and say okay, five days Eat, eat nothing in a box go kind of like that, but not quite. And we worked with water to really to address the hydration component because a lot of times people are walking around under hydrated and you can see it makes a difference. So we worked with those types of things and how to plan and then besides eating outside of box

Maya Acosta  19:56

Many times when someone is craving or feeling hungry, it's really thirsty.

Alisa Bloom  20:01

Hunger is confused as thirsty. Yeah, other way around. Yeah, yeah, it can be.

Maya Acosta  20:07

What was the feedback in terms of what did they notice is hard about staying away from processed foods.

Alisa Bloom  20:13

It's interesting. They their responses ran the gamut it became everything I eat is out of his inbox. And I didn't realize it, because when I went to go try to eat something outside of the box, I got hungry and nothing was around. So there was the planning component, which you know, we work to do that. But when you don't plan that, those are the kinds of situations you get into, I got into people's feedback, I have not felt better. And I didn't realize it could happen this quickly. So there were some some benefits to that. I worked with substitutions or something that people were craving or their favorites. So I would give them you know, if it was hard to find a salad dressing in a bottle, so I gave them some salad dressing recipes that were easy to prepare, and it was oh, you know, if I do this, I feel better. I don't feel as as negative as I did. And other times it became one of them. Particularly it was the water was just I don't drink anything. I didn't realize it. And I didn't realize how much you know, I really well, I wouldn't be a dietician, if I didn't talk about some level of elimination, but it's true. Things don't move as well, when you don't when you aren't properly hydrated. So people were pleasantly surprised that wow, I don't need to you know, anything to help me eliminate. Now, I can't.

Maya Acosta  21:30

I don't give a lot of advice. But if people ask me what what's a good tip I like the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has said this, but I'm sure other people have too, which is, we're creatures of habit. So we don't really eat too many different foods throughout a week or the month. And so if you've just focus on three healthy meals, and then incorporate another healthy meal next week and incorporate another healthy meal, then you're not overwhelmed. And that's what kind of like what I tell my mom, what foods do you like, let's make the healthier version.

Alisa Bloom  22:00

I had a similar thing. This is how I talk to people with whom I work is if I gave you a dictionary and said go home and read it. Are you kidding me? How am I supposed to do that, versus if somebody told you go learn one or two new words a week, guess what happens over time. And that's how I address people with whom I work in terms of learning new recipes, and finding incorporating new foods is let's pick one if that's if it's that's where we're going to start or maximum two, I often tell people don't get so excited that you think you're going to do this every day, four times a day, because it's not going to last. And so once once I work with people to have them understand, kick back and relax, because this is lifelong change. You don't have to read a dictionary or recipes, you know exactly kind of what you described is Yeah, let's back up, let's just do one or one or two new recipes a week.

Maya Acosta  22:50

Yeah. And so I like the idea of meeting people where they're at when you're working with them either as a dietician or health coaches, finding out where they're at, and then seeing how much change they can make within their own journey. Because you know, expecting someone to just make a change overnight is kind of a little bit unrealistic. But when you work with clients, and you're working one on one, you're you're basically meeting them where they're at, I know that your goal is to get people to eat more plants, more vegetables, just and that's your main message. 

Alisa Bloom  23:21

When I work with people, and I just try to essentially move the needle. So if wellness is, is its own spectrum, if you will, you have a left side, you have a right side. And if people can move an inch in one way towards bettering themselves. Well, to me that's more meaningful that one inch that can be maintained versus going all the way over this goldstar standard that can be maintained for maybe one day, maybe two maximum days, and then it doesn't work. And and I have people who come to me with all sorts of backgrounds in terms of how they view plant center diets. I do explain to people that while technically, there are there are studies that support you can go 100% plant based, but evidence will show that your lab chemistry can change if that number is 60% for you 70 80 90%. We don't know what that is, but it does vary among people. And so when people come to me, I just say you know what, there are so many benefits of adding more plants. Let's see where you are. In fact, I most often tell my clients, you're going to have to meet yourself halfway. So how can we do this? And I've had people come to me who have hardly touched a vegetable and I can't tell you how long so with them canned vegetables, go right ahead. We'll just try to lay off the salt we'll we'll have them drain all the liquid and there's just ways to do this. And and it's okay, there's no there's no shame in how you start to feel better and and start to start to take care of yourself. So a lot of times sometimes people are ready To say, let's just start with one plant based meal a day, how are we going to do that? And, and I teach them how to do that. And usually, what ends up cascading kind of like ditching the processed foods, once you start to feel better, it propels itself, because you want to continue to feel that way. And a lot of times people who come to me, they just don't feel very good. And it's really a cumulative effect of inflammation, which has so many different symptoms, we could list them all day, right. And the issue is, is plants decrease inflammation, a whole food plant based diet will decrease your inflammation, where they fall on that, hey, I'm willing to try and see where that is, whatever percentage, if it's a meal, if it's a snack, if it's two meals, if they want to go all in, then I can support wherever they find themselves can do this at a realistic point

Maya Acosta  25:57

I like that you take that approach of providing the right foods to reduce inflammation.

Alisa Bloom  26:02

And I think to that, I don't know if you find this, but Well, maybe different in some clinical universes, but for the most part, people don't understand that it's inflammation that they're suffering from. And, and so we really go by symptoms, and you know, as even even things as intense food cravings, or poor blood sugar balance, whether or not they're diabetic, poor sleeping habits poor. So these are all the really a lot of what I talk about and like to talk about to my audience is, is the way food can help in these all these aspects. So that's probably what you're noticing in terms of saying, Oh, that is well rounded with, to me, it's dull inflammation. Inflammation really affects everything. So there's lots of places to go, where you were, if you use food as medicine to decrease some of that inflammation, most more than likely with more plants and Whole Foods, then you reap the benefits in so many other areas.

Maya Acosta  27:03

Yes, and I noticed the difference too, in my own diet, depending on what I eat, I'll have like previous injuries suddenly hurt, like on my wrist or my ankle, suddenly there's a little bit inflammation, or I have to stay away from fried foods and and a lot of oil, because I'll immediately start to break out, wouldn't you say that's also inflammation? 

Alisa Bloom  27:23

Absolutely. 100%. And a lot of things too, that people don't people underestimate is that anything that you're trying to do for for, for just bettering your health or decreasing inflammation begins with healthy digestion. So when you look at that, as the center before things that you're trying to do, incorporating more plants, well, they certainly help better digestion, and then how we absorb nutrients. My website is live your best 365 calm, you can take a free digestive evaluation to take a look at your own digestion. And it just gives you a snapshot of where you're at and how things are moving or not. So

Maya Acosta  28:01

That's a really cool, you really have put together such a great program in terms of your support group, and also your blog. That's so informative. Can we just talk a little bit about where we can get our omega threes, we keep hearing that fish oil is not necessarily the best approach?

Alisa Bloom  28:17

Well, we think about omega threes and we think first line to automatically goes to fish oil while the the purification of fish has changed over a decade. So that's the one issue. So if you're going to supplement you want to make sure that your sources are valid, they good use that USP standardized bar to get you some quality grade supplement. It also what people I don't know if you've come across this, but people don't understand that there are 11 types of omega threes. I'll say that again. There are 11 if somebody grabbed their bottle of omega threes right now, you'd probably see two or three. So that's one reason why the diet is is more comprehensive. But there are plant sources of omega threes. So the body has to do a little conversion but that's okay. Things like hemp seeds and walnuts and chia seeds. These things are helped build our omega threes but they're just in plant form.

Maya Acosta  29:15

The problem with it focusing on whether something just plant based or vegan, sometimes we forget what is actually in some of the food that we're eating that can affect our health. So, so you know a lot of soups are loaded with sodium.

Alisa Bloom  29:28

Soups are notoriously loaded in all you have to do is look at a can of soup look at a ramen package. A lot of times I tell people quite frankly to avoid soups when they're eating out or choosing in carry out these days, given the pandemic so this is one thing I work with quite frequently as I'll give people recipes to make their own stock make their own vegetable but root vegetables, you know type soups, but usually it's it's primarily in the stock because what will happen is just like we've touched on already Here is you get hungry, now you're in the mood for soup. Well, if you don't have a stock prepared, or the thought of making a stock at that moment, is a little daunting. So we touch on these things. And if I go through detailed preference histories of choices and things that people want to still have in their diet in some way, shape or form, then that's that's the meeting themselves halfway, well, then we need to get a plan in place, so that these things are ready for you that when you want to make a fabulous mushroom soup, you just are grabbing some stock from your freezer, and then we can put it together from there. 

Maya Acosta  30:39

Hmm, that sounds so nice and easy. Can we talk about excitotoxins because we don't touch on that topic at all on our podcast.

Alisa Bloom  30:47

Excitotoxins are basically kind of a kind of in the name excitotoxins. Well, they excite or stimulate the brain. And the taste buds is really what they're doing. They're they're making your it's basically your taste buds on steroids. So they're, they're in the form of preservatives and additives. So you can just leave a generic at that. But what they do is they so they if they're exciting, your taste buds, they're there. They're messing with the serotonin and dopamine interaction, because you want and crave more. They are. They're teaching your body and brain to respond to these types of chemicals. They can alter your insulin sensitivity and other hormones. They have you craving more of these types of foods, which are generally nutrient dense, high calorie, empty calories, and very high calorie and high salt. And they do serve too. They serve to bloat you they serve to add to that inflammation. People who are on medication or not medication, that excited Tory component to their brain can really interfere with day to day life sleeping. So many things that people react to me that I remember. Yeah, I know I'm dating myself. I remember when nutrasweet so they they aspartame, that's the blue package people guess what they gave you free gumballs in the mail. I don't know if anyone remembers this. But they sent out gumballs for to introduce aspartame. Well, nutrasweet aspartame, phenol alanine is 200 times sweeter than sugar. Well, who needs that? Think about it, who needs something to be 200 times sweeter than sugar. But those types of things. So we're getting our bodies and our tastebuds used to this. And if you take just the just the example of phenol, alanine or nutrasweet, that goes to the brain and that that enhances headaches and migraines and things like that. So there's, they're out there. And those are what these additives and preservatives and sweeteners and artificial things can do.

Maya Acosta  32:55

Yeah. And that's the saddest part. When aspartame first came out and became so popular, it was really being prescribed and given to people that have you know, that suffer from diabetes, or and now you find it in coke and other things? I don't know. And so and then they keep you wanting the bad foods as well. 

Alisa Bloom  33:13

Well, yeah. And what happened is, is is is at first it came I as I said, glass half full also benefited the doubt. So when it came out, it became it became true. I mean, if you're what they thought was, if you're going to have something sweet, that's normally high calorie, high nutrient, low nutrient quality, and just just something that we don't want, wouldn't it be better to have something calorie free or sugar free at that point, if you think of diabetes, the problem that they didn't know, but didn't discover until later was that it's so stimulatory to the brain, that if you for example, in the afternoon, if you've had an early lunch and you didn't eat enough lunch, and then your blood sugar starts going down, and you feel a little bit hungry, if at that point, you grab something like a Diet Coke or something with aspartame in it on an empty stomach, that artificial sweetener will actually stimulate insulin production. So now you're caught you have low ish blood sugar, because of the scenario I just painted. And now you've had something that's further stimulating the insulin. And within 20 minutes, people are wondering why they're in the pizza and the and the other stuff. I had no idea. Yeah, so they're finding that the artificial sweeteners just falsely elevate that your body thinks it's getting sugar, so it's reacting. And it also changes. If you want to talk artificial sweeteners for a minute. It changes the the gut flora. And so we're all about the microbiome. And in fact, I'll even say it here. My next course is going to include just a way to you can reset your microbiome in three days as well. So we'll talk about that if you want or not just a flavor coming through. And so these artificial sweeteners, they change that and type entire microbiome and they're the Now causing, they now know that in larger quantities of greater than one or two servings of an artificial sweetener a day can affect kidney function, so they're not that great.

Maya Acosta  35:10

So how do you feel then about the other sweetener, the earthwork tall that I've recently just touched on it in a video?

Alisa Bloom  35:18

Well, it's um, it's still an artificial sweetener, it is a sugar alcohol. So in large quantities of that you may be in the bathroom unexpectedly. And and for some of these newer ones, the truth of the matter is, is the jury just isn't completely out yet because there's not enough time behind it.

Maya Acosta  35:36

I saw one video where Dr. Michael Greger talked about how he might have an antioxidant potential. I guess the goal is not to try to replace sweetener with sweetener or sugar and all this but maybe to kind of get the body to stop relying on the sugar in general. What do you think? 

Alisa Bloom  35:51

What do I think? Oh, no, here's the I think that's a tough is a tough one. It is tough. So some people will say to that, you know, stevia is is okay. And if they're there, that is one of the more natural ones from a specific fruit, okay, but let's face it, all of our pharmaceuticals, they the lot of them came from plants, and they're not necessarily wonderful. So as long as you know, you do have to look at the research I am evidence based. And some of the research as I said before, isn't quite out. But you also have to weigh with the rest of the diet and lifestyle looks like and if somebody is just in that dire of a position where they do have just the lead values are so depressed or elevated is however you want to perceive that and and they need to cut calories quickly. But there are certain aspects of lifestyle they're not willing to change, then we can look with things like stevia like smaller amounts of erythritol. So but if you think about the ice creams that that tout themselves, because you can now eat a pint. Well, were you ever supposed to eat a pint of ice cream? I mean, I think that's the question is okay, maybe two servings or something but but should people really be encouraged to eat a pint of ice cream, no matter what it you know if it's better for you or not, I don't know. 

Maya Acosta  37:10

But I am other than mentality of do the best that you can. So I'm, if you have a little bit more time, I would like to touch on COVID and what 2020 was like, if you'd like to share how life changed for you in terms of your programs, because we did start off with that, you know, you were expecting 2020 to go one way and it went out in a different direction. 

Alisa Bloom  37:30

It changed. So, you know, when I look back at 2020 The truth is, is I was on my own precipice of having to go wanting to go I shouldn't say having to the truth is I wanted to go online, but I was absolutely afraid. Afraid to show my face. afraid to talk afraid, just afraid. Those in my inner circle. No, they're like, you just Just do it. No, no, no, I couldn't just do it. And for me, so glass half full, was something about the pandemic, especially when it first started. Honestly, I can't tell you that it came to me in any more dramatic way that I'm about to tell you. Well, if the world is on zoom, I won't be noticed. So I guess I'll just go ahead. And that's really how it started from the classic introverted heart person just became well if everybody's doing it I it's not that big of a deal. And out of that became habit. So that's really how it started me just developing a presence online and and really showing up and and this you know, that may sound however corny or however it sounds But the truth is, I enjoy being able to help more people and and that has been rewarding in itself. So it becomes do I want to help more people more than I want to be stuck being afraid or just hold back and and wanting to help more people one out so yeah, it's been very rewarding.

Maya Acosta  38:55

And so is that over the same time that you develop? you started your Facebook group support group or you already have that going on? 

Alisa Bloom  39:01

No, the Facebook group came with um, I did the ditch process foods course last around last October, and just wanted a place to further talk to people and help people. So the group came a little bit before that, probably a month before that. So yeah, that's where its food sanctuary was born. And it's been it's been fun, it's been rewarding.

Maya Acosta  39:26

I love that name. I feel like so many people need support and whether you're fully on board as you know being plant based or not. The key is that at least I will help you incorporate more healthier foods. And by the way, you started to mention one of the programs that's coming out Ah, yes,

Alisa Bloom  39:42

I am embarking on a six week program. I will be launched in March and it's I took that took ditch the processed foods but I expanded it a little bit and it's a it's about better health, better energy and it's still incorporating ditching processed foods. And resetting your gut, the resetting the microbiome. So that actually you can better handle some not so stellar choices. And not but that's a way to tap to do that. But it once you start feeling better, if you if you tap on board to really feel better, that's when the changes really come. Because there's something about it that maybe you thought it wasn't for you, you wouldn't be able to attain it. You're just too old, you forget it that this is just a natural course of aging. And it's just not true. So we work with the pillars that that you talked about and move forward.

Maya Acosta  40:35

So we're learning and I'm glad you touched on gut health, we're learning more and more how important that is, that's probably more important than anything else. How long does it take for someone to sort of heal their gut? Well,

Alisa Bloom  40:45

it depends on the level of healing that we're talking about. Okay. So when I mentioned before that inflammation, you can feel better, within three to four days, you can feel better as soon as your next meal. That's the truth. But if you start with the example of prebiotics versus probiotics, so probiotics are essentially, gut bacteria. And what people don't understand, separate digression a little bit is that probiotics have very specific different functions. So if I tell you, for example, you're going to take a specific antibiotic to treat a certain bacterial infection. It's similar with probiotics, it's not always the case, to just grab anything off the shelf and expect it to do miracles for you, you have to first see what your specific symptoms are. That being said, once you get probiotics in, which are the right gut bacteria, if I don't give them prebiotics, which are the food for the probiotics, how is how are those probiotics going to survive? And they won't. So when we go back to how long does it take one of one way to get probiotics in the system is to incorporate beans on it, you know, half a cup cup a day, let's start there. People aren't going to feel as comfortable if they haven't had beans in a while. It's somewhat of a loading dose. So you might feel uncomfortable. Yeah, be gassy. You might be crampy, you know, is that going to make you feel better, as soon as that next meal. Now, that's gonna take a little bit more time. So when we talk about healing conditions, and really helping that, that that leaky gut, or where things are going through and passing through, that just aren't supposed to happen, and we want to really seal that up. It really I hate to be so diplomatic about this answer, but it's the truth. It's where people starting from, and if you have a very damaged gut, then you might need some help with certain supplements and in the quantities of the foods and we may have to work with with juicing versus smoothie so that we can get these nutrients in and we can heal. And so you may have to add more complicated components. And it could take you not just a month, not just six months, it could take longer could take a year. I mean, the possibilities of how long it could take are rather lengthy. But the truth is, is you should be able to notice results within a relatively short amount of time. That depends on the damage you have.

Maya Acosta  43:23

I had a list of a bunch of questions that I wanted to ask you. But I think our listeners can just go to your website and visit your blog to learn more about the other things that you talk about, like for example, the power of vitamin D when dealing with COVID-19, and then you talk about boredom, snacking, that's an important topic. So um, can you share with our listeners like how they can learn more about you and your social media? 

Alisa Bloom  43:50

Absolutely, you can always head to my website which is live your best 365 comm if you're interested in a specific consultation, you can schedule just a complimentary chat with me for a half hour. Also, you can head over to Instagram Live your best 365 or over on facebook live your best 365 with Alisa Bloom and the Food Sanctuary Facebook group is over there. And you can just hop over to join that group right from live your best 365 with Alisa bloom.

Maya Acosta  44:19

And do you have like a kind of like a final message or words of encouragement for our listeners? 

Alisa Bloom  44:24

Whereas if encouragement 21 start over? Well, you know, what is it what is that I was I was looking at some things today. It's you just got to persevere. We touched on this. We touched on this today and then the truth is, is in feeling as good as your next meal which is an absolute reality, not a possibility. That's where resilience and perseverance come in, is just understand that the fact that you could feel it feel better just as soon as your next meal means that that progresses is along the way and just keep moving one foot in front of the other.

Maya Acosta  44:59

Well, it's been It's such a pleasure having you on the show and getting to know you a little bit more. Thank you Alisa bloom.

Alisa Bloom  45:05

Thank you so much for having me.

Maya Acosta  45:07

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