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27: Going Grain-Free: A Midlife Nutrition Revolution with Nina Cucina

• Marnie Martin- Midlife Mentor, Empowerment Coach, Happiness Expert, Best Selling Author • Season 1 • Episode 27

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Have you noticed your body reacting differently to foods you've always enjoyed? You're not alone. As we navigate midlife, our nutritional needs undergo significant shifts that can leave us confused and frustrated when our tried-and-true eating habits suddenly cause bloating, inflammation, and weight gain.

In this eye-opening conversation with Nina Cucina, former Food Network star and founder of the Nina Cuchina Lifestyle Jumpstart Program, we uncover the revolutionary approach to nutrition that's transforming health for women over 50. Nina shares her fascinating journey from restaurant industry child to clean eating pioneer, revealing how she discovered the inflammatory effects of wheat long before books like "Wheat Belly" and "Grain Brain" hit the shelves.

What makes this episode particularly valuable is Nina's practical, no-nonsense approach to creating a sustainable grain-free lifestyle. She explains why protein prioritization (approximately one gram per pound of ideal body weight) becomes crucial during menopause, how wheat enzymes can cross the blood-brain barrier creating addiction-like dependencies, and why digestive enzymes might be the missing link in your nutritional puzzle after 40.

You'll discover why there's no such thing as an "essential carbohydrate," how to meet your fiber needs without grains, and practical strategies for transitioning to clean eating without feeling deprived. Nina's approach emphasizes replacement rather than restriction – finding delicious alternatives that satisfy cravings without triggering inflammatory responses.

Whether you're struggling with unexplained weight gain, digestive issues, or simply want to optimize your nutrition during this new chapter of life, this conversation offers a roadmap to feeling your best. Your body is communicating important information about what it needs now – it's time to listen and respond with the nutrition that supports your vibrant midlife journey.

Ready to transform your relationship with food? Subscribe to Life is Delicious and visit https://www.lifeisdelicious.ca to download your free copy of the Midlife Manifesto.

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Speaker 1:

Hey, beautiful friends, it's Marni. I don't know about you, but over the past six months or so, maybe even a little bit longer, my gut has been doing a lot of really weird things and I've been experimenting with going a little bit more grain-free and a little more gluten-friendly, just a little less dairy, a little less bread, and I'm getting some results, but I haven't quite got it all dialed in yet. So I'm really excited to talk to today's guest, and you may recognize her. Her name is Nina Cucina and she had her own show on NBC called Healthy Cooking with Nina Cucina, and then she later starred in the Food Network series Wild and Spicy with Nina Kuchina, blending adventurous travel with the joy of cooking healthy, flavorful dishes. Nina is the founder of the Nina Kuchina Lifestyle Jumpstart Program, which is a unique nutritional and lifestyle program that transforms adversity into long-term wellness success. She has helped countless women over 50 look and feel their best with her signature formula healthy eating plus fit living, equals being well. I can't wait for us to hear all of her clean eating approaches and I'm excited to share it with you. And if this is something that you're curious about, I hope you'll stick around, because you're not going to want to miss this.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to this episode of Life is Delicious. I'm Marni Martin and I'm so glad you're here. And if this is your first time here, welcome to the Life is Delicious family. This podcast isn't about surviving midlife. It's about crafting your next chapter life overflowing with purpose, joy and delicious possibilities. Listen, midlife doesn't have to be a crisis. It can be a beautiful invitation to remember who we are, to rediscover a new version of ourself, or to completely reinvent our life to reflect who we are becoming now. So if you're tired of being exhausted, living life on autopilot and putting everyone else first, then you are in the right place. Each week, we'll bring you thought-provoking ideas and practical strategies, as well as inspiration, to help you prioritize yourself again. It's time to take back your joie de vivre. So grab a notebook and pen and pop in those earbuds and let's go get it. Notebook and pen and pop in those earbuds, and let's go get it.

Speaker 1:

As we all know, life isn't always delicious, and one of the only constants we have in life is that things are always changing. Life can be a beautiful mess of twists and turns and as we grow through each unique season of life, our needs change, our goals change, our priorities change and our responsibilities change, and sometimes, when the really hard stuff shows up, as it inevitably will, we can find ourselves lost and without a clear direction. Sometimes that can happen when we've had a huge life transition, like a divorce or a diagnosis, or we realize that our babies are all grown up and ready to be out on their own. And sometimes it can be a subtle or not so subtle restlessness that tells us we're ready to step into a bigger, bolder, more authentic version of ourself. But one thing is for sure we can't transition into what's next happily until we get really clear about what's weighing us down, what lights us up and what we truly want, when our soul whispers its truth.

Speaker 1:

Happy is Not an Accident is a guided journal created to bring you back home to your truest self, to remember who you are and to give you a safe place to explore and reflect on where you've been, where you really want to go and who you want to become now, with deep, inspiring prompts, thought-provoking questions and powerful exercises to help you excavate your most authentic self. Happy Is Not An Accident will be the daily ritual that you look forward to as you step into this next awesome chapter of life. Give yourself the gift of self-reflection and create this beautiful life of yours on purpose and with intention. Get your copy, or one for somebody that you love at lifeisdeliciousca forward slash happy.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the show, nina. I'm so grateful to have you here today. Marnie, thank you for having me. We have so much good stuff to talk about. But first, before we get into the details about some of the gluten-free and grain-free solutions, why don't you give us a little bit of your background? I know you come from a family in restaurants, but tell us how you got started and having a love for food and how it led you into the work you're doing now.

Speaker 2:

Well, definitely from the restaurant industry, for sure. I truly grew up in the restaurant. When we were kids we would come home from school to the restaurant. We didn't go home, we went to the restaurant. So you know, afternoon homework or playtime was definitely around the restaurant and there was a definitive knowledge of food because I saw it come in, you know, through the wholesalers. I mean, I saw live fish and live lobster come in every single day, sides of beef, you know I understood who the pastry chef was. I didn't even know that tuna came in a can until I was about 12 or 13 when I discovered it in a supermarket when I was shopping with my dad Isn't that weird? And he said we don't eat that stuff, that's junk food. We don't eat food out of a can. So you can imagine that it's very different from the average child of today who eats out of a can and out of a box, right, everything is processed.

Speaker 2:

I learned the basic sauces, the French sauces. I learned to cook at a very young age. It was ingrained, it was so much a part of life, it was life. The restaurant was life. Yeah, it definitely set me up to really understand food and nutrition.

Speaker 2:

And I didn't really get into it until I was in my late 40s and married a man who needed to lose weight and correct his health. He was 45 pounds overweight and I had just finished an Olympic triathlon, so there was a little bit of a difference in value system there that I had I felt that I had to correct. I started with very basic stuff like what I call the chicken, the grilled chicken and broccoli diet, which I mean if you eat enough of it yes, you will you will definitely lose weight. It's low fat, it's low carbohydrate, high protein. You're going to lose weight, but it's boring and we would go out on Friday night for date night and he would dive into the bread basket and I will tell you that he'd lose two pounds during the week and two and a half would come back on Friday night. That led me into. There's got to be something really inflammatory about the grain. And this is before the books Wheat Belly and Grain Brain, before people were talking about it right Right.

Speaker 2:

This is before we had all this really in-depth, wonderful information that you can just you know literally pick up on Amazon and educate yourself. I had to figure it out. I couldn't find any literature or that many scientific studies. I've always been kind of a geek that way. But I started doing the research and I did an experiment on myself. I was a fit young female and I decided that I would go off coffee and go off grain at the same time off coffee and go off grain at the same time and I started to get horrible headaches and I thought, oh wow, it must be the caffeine. So I went off and I did this for one month. I went back on the coffee. I still had the headaches and I thought, god, I'm not a headache girl, marnie, I'm just not a headache girl.

Speaker 1:

So that was probably quite concerning then, because I'm not a headache girl, marnie, I'm just not a headache girl. So that was probably quite concerning then, because I'm not a headache girl either.

Speaker 2:

It was very, very concerning and disconcerting because it was kind of messing up my life. You know, I just didn't feel good all the time. What I later found out and it's right there in the book Grain Brain is that there are enzymes in wheat that can cross through the blood-brain barrier enzymes in wheat that can cross through the blood-brain barrier. So when a woman says to me, you know, I'm a carb queen and I'm addicted to carbs, I believe her, because I realized, I mean, I wasn't eating that much of it and I was going through terrible withdrawal and at the end of the month I thought, okay, great, I can go back on now. I didn't really want it. I kept drinking wine, I kept eating chocolate and I kept my healthy lifestyle, but I lost four pounds in a month and I thought, okay, I got to find out what this is about because really, my caloric intake has not changed, my exercise regime has not changed. So what did I lose? Did I lose fat? You know, it started to dawn on me that it was an inflammatory process. Then I started to read more and more and more and more and more and more and I said, okay, that's it, we're taking grain out of the diet and I had to relearn, because you know, I make a killer chocolate, eclair Marty.

Speaker 2:

I grew up in a gourmet restaurant. I was taught to make that stuff. I had to change my entire way of thinking and I started experimenting with creating grain-free breads, cookies. If a guy has been eating muffins all his life for breakfast, just because you come into his life doesn't mean that's going to change. I thought it would change, but that's just not the truth. So I had to create muffins, and this was before it was on the market.

Speaker 2:

Now you know, you go down the baking aisle in Whole Foods and you can get packaged muffin mix that's grain-free. You add two eggs and water and you water and oil and you have grain-free muffins. It wasn't that way. I had to figure it out and I threw away a lot of ingredients doing it. Trial and error yeah, trial and error here. Honey, taste this. That tastes like a frisbee. No, really does it. No, it tastes like a frisbee. I really got it down pat. And that's when I wrote my first cookbook, Because a girlfriend of mine said you know what you should do, you should write a cookbook. I said okay.

Speaker 2:

So I did you were doing all this revolutionary stuff, which was revolutionary back then. Right yeah, I didn't think it was, but it really was. It changed his life Over a number of years. It changed his life Over a number of years. He went from 245 pounds.

Speaker 1:

He went down to 185 pounds, amazing yeah. It really was remarkable because he was doing it when he was in his 60s. It wasn't like a crash diet or anything, it was just replacing one thing with something else Over years, really over years.

Speaker 2:

There was always travel and there were events in life. There's Christmas, so it was over a period of years. I found that it wasn't so difficult after all. I built my confidence. I'm like well, I can create anything that's grain-free, anything. I did pasta, I did breads, I did cookies, crackers, I was cooking it all because I wanted to create a system of eating, a lifestyle that was replacement therapy, so you didn't feel like you were missing anything one of the reasons I was so curious about what you're doing?

Speaker 1:

because I've been, you know, going through some of my own just, you know, challenges through menopause and feeling like certain things that I used to eat don't feel good anymore. And I've never had any issues with bread, I've never been a big bread eater, but just little things. And so I think for me it's not. I don't, I don't want to diet anymore. You know, like we're over that.

Speaker 1:

But, to be able to create something that is sustainable and becomes your lifestyle. Then that's so much easier to manage because it doesn't feel like a diet, it doesn't feel like you're deprived, right.

Speaker 2:

Correct, and that is what is so important. And what I find is that when I ask a person, especially women in our age group, marnie, what did you eat today? I mean, I get all kinds of crazy answers. And so many of these of the women that I'm speaking to are not giving their bodies enough nutrition. I don't want to say that they're under eating because somebody is coming to me. She's maybe 15 pounds overweight, so she's not doing something. Obviously something is affecting her weight.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's kind of fascinating because I think you know, I have a pretty small appetite and my friends are always like, why are you not a size two? And I'm like I don't know, because I just always have had a small appetite.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, I think it so much has to do with the quality of the food that you're eating the quality of the food, because once you start to go through menopause and you have that much fat on your body, fat is an endocrine organ, as is muscle. Now, if you want to choose between those two organs, you want to choose muscle because it will help you regulate hormones, especially insulin and blood sugar, so you won't become insulin resistant as you get older. The more steady you can stay, the more youthful I'm going to use in quotes that you can stay when it comes to your hormone regulation. The longer that you're going to last, the better you're going to feel and the less lower tummy fat you're going to get.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and it's all about feeling good. Right and that muscle, it's about feeling good.

Speaker 2:

So if you can get 50 grams of protein at breakfast, then I don't care if you eat lunch. Your minimum protein intake you should be taking in one gram of protein per pound of body weight. My optimal body weight is 130 pounds. It's not easy to take in 130 grams of protein, so minimum is 100, maximum is 130. So you have that grace area. All right. You're going to take something like Ziggy's Greek yogurt. It's got 19 grams of protein for three quarters of a cup. You're going to take a scoop of whey protein. That's 30 grams of protein. You're going to stir it together. You're going to do a squirt of liquid stevia in there, some vanilla extract or lemon extract or orange extract, whatever kind of flavor you like for your yogurt. You're going to stir it up and you're going to get 50 grams of protein. That way You're going to be full and your brain is going to start to function because you've got real energy.

Speaker 1:

That's interesting. Now I know when I was experimenting with that because I didn't really understand the whole protein component although I do eat a lot of protein and lean veg is kind of my go-to but to get that amount of protein. At first I was like, oh my gosh, like how on earth do you like get that much protein? And I started doing the shakes. But I think at this point in my life I have because I love Greek yogurt. But I think at this point in my life because I love Greek yogurt and so it was easy for me to put all those things into my smoothie or add my chia seeds and all the things. But I think my body is having a little bit of a pushback with dairy.

Speaker 2:

So how do you navigate that? Digestive enzymes? It's not unusual.

Speaker 2:

And I've gone through it myself and I will tell you that. You know I'm very waste sensitive and when I was training for competition, that was a big problem for me because I was trying to get it down, so to speak, and it was just simply making me sick. I was just getting really nauseated. So I started I literally started testing every single whey protein powder on the market isolates, non-isolate, you know everything. It was crazy and I have found one that works for me, but I still take digestive enzymes with it.

Speaker 1:

Okay, that's interesting. So do you find that you have to use whey, because I know there are plant options, and can that work for somebody who has a dairy sensitivity the way that?

Speaker 2:

I do whey very funny. Ha ha ha.

Speaker 1:

The way that I do it.

Speaker 2:

ha ha ha is if somebody is really whey sensitive, first I try the digestive enzyme. If that doesn't work, then I go to egg white protein, because that's the second most absorbable and then, a pea protein or a pea blend.

Speaker 2:

A lot of people are sensitive to pea proteins. They are not easily digested and I mean it's all processed food. Would I prefer that people do meat and veggies three times a week, three times a day, rather? Yes, of course I would. Eating closest to the ground is best for the body, but not everybody can do it. You have to put protein first and as I've gotten, it's become more and more important.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I do definitely put that as a major thing, and I could eat a sirloin maybe not at 5 am, but I could eat one for breakfast for sure.

Speaker 2:

Oh yeah, me too. That's what I had. Yeah, that's essentially what I had for breakfast.

Speaker 1:

Let's digress just a bit and let's talk a little bit about. I know the protein's a really huge piece of this puzzle, but explain to the audience how we are able to actually pull grains out of our diet and what we can do to replace them, so that we're getting the nutrients that we need and we're still feeling full.

Speaker 2:

Well, if you're eating the right amount of protein, protein is the most satiating macronutrient that there is is the most satiating macronutrient that there is. So if you're eating the right amount of protein, it's hard for a woman to not feel satiated with 130 grams of protein.

Speaker 1:

So that's the main goal get all the protein you can.

Speaker 2:

That's the main goal. Now, you know there are plenty of breads out there that are made out of nuts and seeds that are a lot more nutritionally dense than the wheat we are growing in the United States. When it comes to fiber, really there isn't that much fiber. You're getting a lot more fiber when you're throwing your chia seeds into your shake than we're getting from eating two pieces of quote-unquote whole wheat bread and it's, you know, the glycemic load is pretty spectacular. You know, I said I always say you're going to have to choose your carbohydrates and we really don't need as many carbohydrates as we think we do and our bodies can make carbohydrates.

Speaker 2:

There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate. There are essential fatty acids. There are certain fatty acids that you must ingest because your body can't make them. There's essential amino acids. There are certain amino acids that your body cannot make, so you must ingest them, but that's not true of carbohydrate. If you're eating protein and you know obviously some fat if your body needs extra carbohydrate and it's extra energy that it cannot pull out of your fat cells, it will convert protein to carbohydrate. Okay, interesting, you're not at. You're not. There isn't a fear for not getting enough carbohydrate, there might be a fear of not getting enough fiber, but if you're eating a diet rich in fruits and veggies, I mean, you know, an avocado has 12 grams of fiber.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's amazing, okay, so yeah, I mean, and if you do that, and a cup of blackberries and a cup of raspberries, you're just about hitting 25 grams of fiber for the day. So there are very easy ways to do it.

Speaker 1:

Is there a particular formula that we should? Because you're talking about there's a formula for the protein, so you want to have, for every pound of body weight, one gram. So if you're, yeah, so if you, I had heard it's half of your body weight.

Speaker 2:

Well, it depends. Yeah, I I do shoot high because there's a non-negotiable when I work with a woman over 50, she must lift weights, there must be resistance training and that's part of the reason for the protein and the way that I do the protein. For people that don't want to track, I say okay, you have to weigh your food. You have to, at least until your eye gets used to what four or five or six ounces looks like. Get yourself a scale on Amazon. I can recommend one for $10. That's really accurate and at least weigh your protein and then do an average, an average of 8 grams of protein per ounce. Now, scallops are 7, 6 or 7 grams and chicken breast is 9 grams. So I've just kind of taken an average just to get people on, just to get gals on track. So if you're eating a five ounce burger, then you're getting 40 grams of protein approximately. Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, and it gets. It gives people, it gives gals a way to easily track.

Speaker 1:

So you can say okay.

Speaker 2:

If I'm doing that three times a day, all right. So maybe I should have one that's six ounces. Or, you know, I should have a little protein shake as a snack, or I should do the yogurt with the whey protein trick Gives people an opportunity to meet their protein goals and if you're meeting your protein goals and you're still hungry, I honestly have not run into that.

Speaker 1:

So what about the fiber? Is there a formula for the fiber so you know how much fiber you're supposed to be taking from your weight?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I typically give my clients a list of low carbohydrate, high fiber foods, and they're what I mentioned. And then I do put even peas on it, which is they're not low carbohydrate but they're high in fiber Raspberries, blackberries, avocado. It's really quite easy to do, Marnie if you were to make yourself a smoothie with an avocado and blackberries and raspberries, you would hit your fiber goals. A cup of raspberries has eight grams of fiber.

Speaker 1:

Wow.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, a cup of cooked spinach has four grams of fiber. So if you're eating your veggies and your fruits, you're getting it. I think what happens is we tend to under-eat those foods, you know.

Speaker 1:

Well, whole food is kind of the goal anyways, and I've just put in a garden this year, and so this year has been so much fun.

Speaker 1:

Well, I had a little bit of a garden last year, but it's a lot bigger. It's about three times bigger this year and it's amazing because it's cut down on my grocery bill so much and I'm eating things that I actually just go pick off the vine. Oh, how wonderful, so good, and your body notices the difference, I feel, anyways. Sure, in terms of the grain, like I've experimented with making, you know, greek yogurt bagels with almond flour, and I've experimented with the cottage cheese breads and all the different things. So what do you think is really the most important thing to do when we're trying to go grain-free and gluten-free and how to keep that sustainable in our life? Because I think I could in my brain, I think I can go like part of the week without and then, you know, have a day or two with you know, but how do you actually incorporate that so that you become that, just becomes a lifestyle grain-free and gluten-free?

Speaker 2:

Well, I've done it for so long and I am gluten sensitive and I really pay if I cheat, and so you know I definitely have sympathy for those that are really that just absolutely cannot eat gluten, but the way that I've done it over the years. Now there are so many brands on the market for grain-free breads and there are some that are also made with buckwheat, which is not a grain, but it sure acts like a grain and makes a great English muffin. Like I said, you just walk down the aisle in Whole Foods and there's so many choices. Really there isn't. There's so much to replace it with Grain-free pizza crusts, pasta breads, cauliflower crusts.

Speaker 1:

Cauliflower crusts. Yeah, I've even seen people make pizza crust out of like ground beef or, and, yeah, meatza, and I tried that and it was delicious, but my stomach didn't really like it very much, so I don't know what I did wrong.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you probably need a digestive enzyme. I met a naturopath many years ago and he said anybody over the age of 40 should be taking a digestive enzyme. And I was like I'm over 40 and I'm not taking a digestive enzyme and my digestion works just fine. And I started taking a digestive enzyme and I was like I'm over 40 and I'm not taking a digestive enzyme and my digestion works just fine. And I started taking a digestive enzyme and I thought, wow, my digestion's working so much better. It's a gradual process, the loss of digestive enzymes, so you may not even notice it until you start taking digestive enzymes.

Speaker 1:

Well, that's probably what I need to do, because I've been eating extraordinarily healthy and cooking most of my own meals, but even too much raw food actually just irritates my stomach. So that's obviously the solution. So I will look into that. It'll help. While we get to wrap up here, tell us about the program that you have available and how the listeners can get involved if they want to work with you, and where they can find you on social media.

Speaker 2:

You can find me everywhere on social media Instagram, facebook, linkedin. I'm there, I'm everywhere. You can always go to ninacuchinacom. That's where my program lives. The program is designed for women, for 50-year-old women and upwards, to lose fat and regain your health. I also take private clients.

Speaker 2:

That program is what I would call a hybrid program. You go through, you do a module and then you meet with me for about just under an hour, and then you do your second module. You meet with me. It starts with mindset, which is very important. It goes through everything what to eat, when to eat, how to eat, what not to eat. We have a sleep module. We have a habit tracking module. We have a supplementation module. It's very comprehensive. I didn't grow up in this country. I grew up in the Bahamas and when I came here I thought America was just this big shiny penny. And then I lived in Europe for a few years and I came back and people looked different, man, they looked different. We have a huge epidemic of unhealth here, you know. I feel that I need to do something to help that and that's why I do what I do.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's amazing and I'm sure we will put all of your links to Find you and to your program in the show notes. And it's been such a joy to talk to you. You have such a passion for what you do and there's so many listeners in our audience, including myself, that will get some amazing information from you.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much for having me. I've had a wonderful time, all right.

Speaker 1:

Well, we'll maybe get to do this again who knows? Love it. I hope you loved today's episode. I hope it inspired you or motivated you in some way to keep going and create your very best life. If you did, would you stop and take five minutes to leave me a review on Apple Podcasts? It's the best way for me to know that you're enjoying the show and it helps other listeners find us as well. And while you're at it, head over to lifeisdeliciousca and sign up for email updates so you'll get notified every time a new episode drops and I'll send you a free copy of my ebook, the Midlife Manifesto inspiring strategies for mastering the eight most important areas of your life. Sign up today at lifeisdeliciousca. And, if no one has told you today, there's not one person on this planet that is exactly like you, and the world is a better place because you're here. So thank you for being here. I'll be back next week and I hope you'll join me right here on Life is Delicious.