Hey guys and welcome back to another episode of your Brains Coach podcast. My name is Angela Shurina. I'm your host of your Brains Coach and also Executive Coach 360, your nutrition, health, wellness, inner chatter and productivity coach all in one package. So you guys are lucky to have me with all these interests and certifications and passion for figuring out how to dial in different aspects of our well-being or just being in our performance, so we could get out there and be there our absolute best as often as possible and keep building our visions, our dreams and better world for all of us to thrive in.
Speaker 1Guys, today is Saturday's edition. At least it is for me and although I don't work on regular schedule Monday to Friday, it's kind of flexible, a little bit all over the place, but absolutely the best fit for me. So on Saturday isn't my day off. I actually absolutely love having Saturday as my coaching day, meaning I have a lot of clients scheduled for a Saturday morning, early afternoon, because usually on Saturday and Sunday people have a little bit more mind, space and time and space and all kinds of resources to think a little bit deeper, a little bit more about things like what it is I'm trying to achieve right now in my life and this week, this upcoming week, and what systems I can put in place to make my success almost inevitable. Because, believe it or not, guys, most success comes down to your systems, to things that you put in place in your physical space making certain decisions, buying certain stuff, scheduling certain things. That is a much bigger predictor your systems of your success than willpower will ever be. So, instead of trying to train your willpower and discipline when setting your goals for 2025, don't try to train your willpower or your discipline. Instead, think about systems that you can create that will support your goals, making them, if not easy, then super simple. Like, for example, I always tell my clients if you stock up your fridge, your whole house, your whole environment, if you stock up all of that with ready-to-go healthy meals and snacks, you put in your work bag or gym bag some protein-rich foods like dried meat or biltongi in South Africa, some apples and some protein-rich I don't know drinks, and if you put that everywhere and that's going to be the simplest, easiest to access option, guess what? That's exactly what you're going to eat when your hunger strikes.
Speaker 1I usually have some biltong or some dried meat somewhere with me and whenever I'm hungry, like that's exactly what I'm going to eat. That and rice crackers which actually well, rice cakes, that or corn cakes my newest obsession so basically like rice cakes but made of corn and they kind of taste like popcorn, but without all the added salt or sugar or butter or oil. So very low calorie and tasty. So that's what I usually have in the house, plus, obviously, a lot of fruit and vegetables. And when my hunger goes up, I don't starve myself. I'm like, okay, let me eat that meat or corn cakes and they hit my hunger and appetite and satiety receptors just in the right way. So I eat it to take the hunger edge off, but I never overeat it. It's not that super delicious that will drive me to eat more of it, right? So I create the systems that make me succeed. And so, looking into 2025 and your goals and your aspirations, and especially things that you've been failing with and keeping you frustrated with them, look at that and ask yourself where do I not have the systems to support success in that area?
Speaker 1Today, we're talking about nutrition. So what in my house, what's in my environment, what's in my decision-making doesn't support the goals that I say I want? Why? I'm talking about decisions here as well. It's making decisions in advance is one of the biggest, most effective hacks to do the right thing when you don't feel like doing the right thing or you are faced with temptations. Like, for example, if you're invited for holiday dinner, if you make a decision, what are you going to have there, like variety? You know, I'm going to have the meat whatever the meat they have and vegetables the less dressed vegetables, and I'm just going to have one serving or two servings, and I'm going to have a piece of cake, but I'm going to have one serving the smallest slice and try to imagine that as vivid piece of cake, but I'm going to have one serving the smallest slice and try to imagine that as vividly as possible. And what I like to call do this mental rehearsals how you're going to do about that and if somebody offers you a drink, what you're going to go for.
Speaker 1If you make all of these decisions in advance and rehearse them several times, what you're going to say, what you're going to answer, believe it or not, even with a little bit of alcohol in your blood, you're still going to make right decisions. And my clients, once they start practicing that, they're blown away by how effective it is, how making a commitment in advance to exactly what you're going to do, how well it actually works, and then, all of a sudden, all of the temptations and things you said were going to do, how well it actually works. And then, all of a sudden, all of the temptations and things you said were awkward to say, all of a sudden they don't bother you anymore. You rehearsed it in advance, you committed to that. That is aligned with who you want to become, what you want to do, the result that you want to get, and most of my clients are blown away by how effective that actually is.
Speaker 1You making decision and rehearsing mentally what you're gonna do when this situation happens. So that is also a part of your system. Today I'm going to this outdoor open air concert and I've already decided I'm going to eat protein-rich stuff, chicken like I have chicken in my fridge in advance with some salad, and then, if there is biltong or somewhere where I can get it, I'm going to have a serving of that. And then I'm going to be drinking water or maybe a Roy Bush unsweetened tea, and that's all I'm going to have. And guess what? That's exactly what I'm going to have, and when somebody offers me something else, I'm like no, and the answer will be so easy for you folks. So start practicing that.
Speaker 1Make decisions and commitments in advance and mentally rehearse them. The more you rehearse them, the more you build up that neural circuit which your neural signals, or nerve signals, will follow along once you are in the situation that you imagined. In coaching, creating the systems and making decisions in advance and one cool book that's called Switch Changing when the Change is Hard, switch the book, check it out. But then also in coaching, we call this shaping the path, meaning organizing your environment, external and internal, to make the thing that you want to do easier, kind of like following the path right, the actual neural path that you create in your brain and which is supported by the environment outside of you, which you shape to a lot, to a bigger degree than you even think about. You have so much say in how you design your environment physical, social, mental and cognitive and, at the end of the day, that's exactly what's going to define whether you succeed with your goals or you're going to fail and struggle just like you did last year.
Speaker 1Speaking about goals and aspirations for 2025, as promised by the title of this podcast. We're going to talk practice. Today. We're going to talk about two nutrition numbers that you absolutely have to figure out and consistently implement if you are the kind of person who is interested in their peak health and fitness and nutrition and most of the world guys do the exact opposite. The number that has to be lower most of the world gets it higher. And the number that has to be higher most of the world gets it lower. Numbers and these numbers all the latest research, all the top voices in nutrition, in longevity, in fitness these are the numbers that people keep talking about, and I've been in the field for more than a decade, like 15 years. It's scary sometimes how old I get. I'm like I'm old, but in a good way. I've been on earth for some time Anyhow. Two numbers that have been consistently repeated and talked about and they never really changed. We just now got more data and more research that, yes, these numbers matter. That, yes, these numbers matter and these are the guidelines to get them right so you could get into your peak health and fitness and vitality, no matter the age. Obviously, you can't get younger, but you can feel pretty damn good at any age.
Speaker 1Two numbers that matter the most, besides eating a ton of fruit and vegetable. That's never going to change, so eat that. But besides that, two numbers that matter the most, and you won't guess them. You have to figure out how to do the math, how to measure and track your foods. It's the key skill if you want to stay healthy in the world where abundance of food and food advertising and eating cues and triggers the amount is just overwhelming. So these numbers, you have to know them. You have to know develop the skill to follow them.
Speaker 1Two numbers Number one calories. You got to understand how many calories. You got to learn how many calories you consume. If you don't get this number right, you're going to get more and more and more health problems. And guess what In our current environment? But food industry does not support the right thing Meaning. Food industry wants you to eat more because that will make you spend more money and that will make them more money. So advertising and marketing in most cases works against you. So food industry wants you to eat more and every time you step into the supermarket, that's what you gonna be prompt to do Eat more, buy more. Understand this that unless you have a good system in place, you're not going to do the right thing. So, calories First skill. You've got to learn how to track them, how to research it's super easy actually, especially with the eye and Google how many calories is in this or that. Super easy to figure out Again, chat GPT, google it, it's available and then measure your food.
Speaker 1You can't guess the weight of your food and for people at the beginning I always recommend doing one simple thing Simplify your ingredients to the bare bone. If you eat chicken, it's got to be plain chicken. If you eat meat, it's got to be plain meat. If you eat chicken, it's got to be plain chicken. If you eat meat, it's got to be plain meat. If you eat potatoes, it's got to be plain. In order to understand how many calories you actually eat, because if you eat complex meals, it's very hard to understand the caloric density Some AI apps and different solutions can do pretty good estimation.
Speaker 1Some eating out places would have calories, but the simpler you get with your foods to start tracking, the easier it's going to be. And then for a couple of weeks, you just learn how to track your food. You weigh your food, you get your food scales, you meal prep or you order food from some meal prepping solution that do the work for you, but I recommend doing it yourself to just learn about your food, what caloric density is of different foods and to kind of give you a small tip, fat is the most calorie dense. If you use cooking fats, if your food is cooked in fat, you're going to be consuming a lot more calories than a person who is on a lower fat side of things. So, anyhow, tracking your calories and knowing your calorie number is number one, number that, again, you got to get on top of.
Speaker 1If you are interested in your peak fitness, health and nutrition, even if you eat the healthiest diet but your calories are off, meaning you overeat them consistently not good news, and that's what the latest research shows us. It doesn't matter the quality of your food. If you overeat in energy, you're going to get negative consequences. Doesn't matter what you eat. You might be eating cashews and walnuts and overeat every day on that and that's still going to be a bad news. That's why I hear from so many people. But I eat so healthy. Why am I not losing weight? Why am I gaining weight? Why am I not feeling all that good? Calorie surplus, energy surplus is not good news, no matter what you eat. That's why you got to get on top of that number and understand how many calories you eat and then what helps you to stay in maintenance, and that you figure out through practice.
Speaker 1I usually recommend for women starting with 2000 calories and see how that works for you. Meaning if you gain weight if you are gaining weight week from week, means it's too much Like I don't care what you see, but you are eating too much. And if you're losing, it means you are in deficit, unless you do some weird stuff and I don't know, get yourself a diarrhea or something Like people do weird stuff. But in most cases that's exactly how it works. Calories you eat too much, you start gaining weight. You eat less than you need, you start losing weight. No magic here. Like math works and physics work really well. So this is the first number For me and physics work really well. So this is the first number For me. My maintenance is around 2000 calories. I usually tend to under eat during the week and over the weekends I can eat a little bit more nuts, maybe some chocolate dessert that I make from either avocados or some yogurt and add like a bunch of stuff there, from nuts and seeds too All healthy but just high in calories, right, and over the course of the week it's somewhere around 2000 calories, which allows me to stay in my normal weight.
Speaker 1For men, I recommend to start with 2500 calories and then see how that works for you. If you gain weight, it means too much. If you lose weight means you are in deficit. And then figure out what's your maintenance with practice. There is no better way than that. And then the second number is protein number how much protein you get, and here we have more is better, obviously keeping in mind that overeating and calories isn't great. So you got to have both playing together. Calories got to be stay in maintenance or deficit from time to time, yeah, from time to time, if you eat overboard in calories, as long as your long-term pattern is maintenance, not such a big deal With protein, again, more is better, but keeping in mind that overeating on calories is not great, no matter where those calories come from, right.
Speaker 1So you get your protein. For most people it's 1.6, that's current consensus, 1.6 grams per multiply. But amount of kgs of body weight you have. I'm 53 and I multiply that by actually three and I get somewhere around 150, 160. So that's my number that works well for the body that I have, for the amount of activity and weight training I do. But in general, what you want to do to start with no less than 1.6 gram multiplied by your weight in kgs, and you got to consume that in food. And again, how do you know how much protein each food has? Google it, chat, gpt there are so many plenty of ways. And also if you read the labels, if the food is packaged there are so many plenty of ways. And also if you read the labels, if you read this package, it also will tell you how many grams of proteins it has. And that's the number you need to usually ramp up.
Speaker 1Most of the world does the exact opposite Overeating on calories, under eating on protein. What you want to do is under eat on calories or slow down on your consumption of those and ramp up your protein intake, and that's how you get to look like fitness enthusiast and then totally crush it in your fitness and health and active pursuits, feel good, look great and maintain healthy body weight. Calories down, meaning maintenance, and then protein up your norm 1.6 multiplied by kg weight in kgs or more, but keeping in mind that calories have to be at a certain number. Keeping in mind that calories have to be at a certain number. Again, most of the world does the opposite. That's what our food system is designed for Too many calories, too little protein. And look at the world around you it's not moving in the right direction. The last time I checked that was this morning for my blog. 43% globally of people are overweight and that is rising still, and 75% of deaths are caused by lifestyle stuff, naming that chronic diseases that can be prevented with good lifestyle. So not a great indication of how we're doing on lifestyle, and nutrition is a huge part of it.
Speaker 1I was listening to Peter Attia, one of the top voices in nutrition, health, longevity, and he was saying how he believes more and more that nutrition is key for anything health-related. And that makes sense because, number one, you are made of what you put on your plate. Cell by cell, gene by gene, you are literally made of the stuff that you put on your plate. And, even though some people kind of laugh at it, well, if I eat just carrots, am I going to be made of carrots? Well, kind of, yes, you're not going to look like one, but that's what your body is going to use. And if you use pizza as your main calorie source, that's the low quality stuff that you're going to be built off. And then it doesn't matter how many supplements you're going to take If you're built of crap, you're going to ride like crap. I always tell people imagine Ferrari built out of junkyard parts. That's what you're going to be. How far are you? Is that going to write? Not that far.
Speaker 1So food is not just fuel. It's what you literally made of every single molecule in your body, and that's why quality is important. And yes, these are the numbers you need to figure out and follow. But it also does matter where these numbers come from, whether you eat whole foods of the best quality you can find or some junk, some processed stuff what else? So my holiday challenge to you guys instead of loading up on cake and taking it easy and starting new year from Monday or the 1st, start the challenge now. Start tracking, start learning about what you do.
Speaker 1Numbers tell a story. Start learning about what you do. Numbers tell a story. So start learning your story so you could rewrite that story into something new, something that you are aspiring to have. Numbers don't lie. You know there is a saying or something. So start tracking, start measuring Numbers, don't lie, and that also will save you from frustrations of not getting the results that you don't want or not getting the results that you want. Track, adjust and start getting the ones you do want to have in your life.
Speaker 1What else? There is a link to a nutrition consultation with myself. It's Nutrition and Lifestyle. It's not free, but it's absolutely life transforming. That's what my clients have been telling me. Shameless plug, because I know that it works so well when you have the right kind of guidance in the right kind of form and you're clear on what you need to do in your specific life situation, with your specific goals and your character and that specificity of your situation. So the link to that nutritional lifestyle guidance is in the show notes. Also, there is a link to switch, how to change when the change is hard.
Speaker 1If you want to learn how to change better using the best psychology and science tools, pick up that book. Give it to people on Christmas and New Year, especially people who are committed to doing their best and changing their habits. Amazing book Again. It's been around maybe for a decade, maybe a little bit less, but it's a great book. You're going to learn a lot of coaching concepts that you need to change yourself, change your family, change your organization, change your team. It's a lot of those principles that just work for human being explained in a very simple metaphoric language.
Speaker 1Guys, thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in. My challenge for you today is to start tracking the numbers that matter your calories, your protein, figure that out, schedule the session if you need help with that and the implementation, and go get some groceries, because chances are, if you put all the good stuff around yourself, that's exactly what you're going to eat. Thank you, guys, for listening. Thank you for tuning in. Happy and measured grocery shopping and till next time, be awesome change. Put systems in place to succeed, and if you need any help with that, you know where to find me Check out the show notes.