The Wellness Industry Has Lots Its Mind. Here's How to Navigate It with Michael Ulloa

In the ever-expanding world of health and wellness, it can be challenging to discern fact from fiction. With vast amounts of information available at the click of a button, knowing which advice to trust, especially on social media, is critical.

Today on the podcast we have Michael Ulloa, an online personal trainer and performance nutritionist known for his no-nonsense, evidence-based approach. Together, we delve into the realm of wellness culture, addressing misinformation and the rising problematic trends in the fitness and nutrition industry.

You'll hear today:

1. Problematic Patterns and Dangerous Trends in Wellness Culture

2. How to Navigate the Noise of Social Media and Advice Found There

3. Recommendations from Michael of Trustworthy Sources 

4. The Wisdom in Focusing on How Habits Make You Personally Feel

Episodes Discussed:

“How Much Protein Should I Have?” Part 1 of 4

Why Intermittent Fasting May be Sabotaging Your Health

How To: Fitness Podcast

Recommended Instagram Accounts by Michael: 

​@this.is.mallory​

​@dr_idz​

​@drjengunter​

​@dr.adrian.chavez​

​@dr.andrealove​

​@soheefit​

​@foodsciencebabe​

Connect with Michael:

www.michaelulloa.com

Instagram: @michaelulloapt

Facebook: /michaelulloapt

YouTube: @MichaelUlloa

Join The Stronger Collective

Nourished Notes Newsletter

Core Essentials: Episode 1 2 3 4
30+ Non-Gym Ways to Improve Your Health (free download)

Connect with Amy:
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Instagram: @GracedHealth
YouTube: @AmyConnell

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Transcript

The Wellness Industry Has Lost Its Mind. Here's How to Navigate It with Michael Ulloa

How do you know if the fitness and nutrition and wellness advice you see on the socials is actually true? Can you trust it?

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Today, I'm diving into this with the how to fitness host, Michael Ujoa, And we are discussing how wellness culture has lost its mind and what to do about it. Stick around. Hey, I am so glad you have joined us for the graced health podcast today. I am so excited truly to have Michael Ushua with me. I first met Michael, if you want to call it me, meet over on Instagram where he has an amazing account. Let me tell you a little bit about Michael and then we're going to get into it.

He is an online personal trainer and performance nutrition Nutritionist known for cutting through fitness and nutrition, misinformation with a no nonsense evidence based approach. And this is what we're talking about today. He helps people build strength, improve performance, and develop a sustainable relationship with food and exercise as host of the how to fitness podcast, Michael industry myths and provides practical advice in a way that's engaging, accessible and refreshingly honest. Michael, welcome. I'm so glad you're here.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited. Thank you.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Okay. So I have been thinking for a while, and I have to say, Michael, like you kind of inspired this and

this I've been having, you know how it is. Like we have these conversations with people and, The one thing that I keep saying is the wellness industry has lost its mind.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: hmm. 

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: It is bananas out there. I think you are leading the way.

You are a wonderful voice in tackling this and all of the misinformation out there and all of just the craziness. I actually listened to a podcast just yesterday with Dr. Sarah Berry was on the diary of a CEO and she calls it Nutribullets. I think I

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Hmm. 

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: in the nutrition world.

Cause she's a research scientist or professor. And so I thought, you know what, rather than me doing all this work, I'm just going to invite you on. Cause you've already done the work. You do the work over on how to fitness. And I just, I'm thrilled to have this conversation. So my first thing is when I say the wellness industry has lost its mind, What's the first thing that comes to your mind?

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: There's so much, there is so much. It really has. I feel, do you know, it's really hard. So every day I create social media content. I always like to think, right. We're fighting a good fight here. Like this is going to have like positive long lasting impact, but I do feel like over the last maybe three to six months, I'm, I'm almost getting the feeling that we've lost and that's, that feels really sad to say as someone who is an educator online, who works with people every day, trying to kind of like sift through the nonsense and show them the right way of eating and exercising.

But I do feel like. It's just a tidal wave at the moment of just complete misinformation. And I truly feel like there's for every good person out there on the internet, who's trying to tell people, no, don't listen to that. This is the way that you should do it. And there's so much nuance around that.

There's like 20, 30 people just trying to make as much money from exploiting as many people as possible. And it's, it's just really heartbreaking to see. I wish I had the answer of the way that we could kind of slow that tidal wave, but I. I, I do start to feel a little bit disheartened at the moment. And sometimes creating content can feel a little bit like a, I could feel a bit of a slog, but we, we keep going.

That's all we can do. Right.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: I admire that. I have been trying to figure out what I want my relationship with Instagram to

be in the last like six months. And therefore I have hardly put any content on there. And I think it's because it is disheartening and I'm like, I just sit there and look at it and think, do I even have the energy to fight this?

Which is such a terrible attitude. But it's, yeah,

it, it is really

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: It's really, really, tough. And it's, I mean, it's only now going to get worse, unfortunately, because Meta has announced that they're kind of dropping a lot of the restrictions and we're kind of encouraging each other to police the platform, which we all know kind of what happened with Twitter slash X when that happened.

It just became this kind of very toxic place. But yeah, it's it's really hard. It's really hard, but I'm I'm determined to keep going. We we have to and for every Like even if you create a video and one person watches it and they think oh, okay Maybe i'll try a different path then then we've won right like that's that's that's worth it in my opinion

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Right. Right. And I definitely have content that I feel that way about. Yes, I totally agree. Why do you think there is so much fear mongering on the socials? Because I think that that is the root of a lot of this problem is just like creating the fear if, if then.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: That could be quite a deep question. I think identity has something to do with it. I think a lot of people they like to belong to something. Whereas I think there's so many different aspects of society now where they don't have that thing that they belong to, whether that is kind of religion or whatever it is.

I think people have, they're looking for something to cling on to that gives them a sense of purpose, it gives them a sense of community, and unfortunately, because there is zero regulations around nutrition advice, that is something that a lot of people are kind of gravitating towards, and that is now becoming their identity, and their community is the keto crowd, it's the carnivore crowd, it's the crossfit crowd, you know, like sometimes these can be good, I'm not saying CrossFit's as bad as keto or carnivore, but I'm saying like, people are looking for these groups and unfortunately, if they find a bad one that is incredibly problematic, it's really difficult to drag people out of that because they have surrounded themselves with people who are championing that same cause.

It's yeah, it's, it's really, really difficult. I have conversations with people daily that belong to these groups and, you know, They all use the same arguments, however, flawed and trying to break through that is really tough. It sometimes just takes a lot of effort to, you want to have healthy, constructive conversations with people online, but unfortunately, social media isn't the place to do that a lot of the time.

So it's, it's, it's very difficult.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Yeah, I agree. And unfortunately too, you know, if we go out to the grocery store, there's going to be a lot of people there who have a lot of different feelings about a lot of different topics.

And so you're just going to naturally have, I mean, not that you're talking with a bunch of, so the grocery store is not a great example, but like, if he's talking with a lot of different people, like my book club, right. We we feel differently about different topics and that's okay. And we, we talk respectfully about it. But the problem with Instagram too, is like, Oh, I'm going to click on this. And then they're like, Oh, she likes that. So I'm going to send you more. And then you had, and you're like, what? Even if I'm like, what the, what, like

watching it, then they started giving me more of that stuff. So it is, it is a very dangerous slope. And I think that's interesting with the identity and sense of purpose.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: it is. I also think people are losing the ability to to accept criticism or to encourage healthy debate to like, I feel like a lot of people are very defensive on social media. I know I've been there in the past, especially when I first started creating content. If someone came at me and attacked my content, I would take it very, very personally.

Whereas now I, I always like to take a bit of a step back and I think like, right, why is this person coming at me? Why are they criticizing my content? And I think if If you can take the time to do that, you realize that a lot of people are lashing out because they are confused. They are wrapping up their entire personality into an approach that might be problematic, but it still means a lot to them.

So, there's a way that we can have these discussions. But unfortunately, social media just doesn't encourage that whatsoever. People would rather attack than kind of Ask and explore nuance.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: That's a very generous perspective that you're giving the other side.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Yeah, do you know you had so I had the reason I do this is I had a conversation last year. Actually, it's a very, it's a very short story, but I'll explain it. So someone commented on my content and attacking the way that my body looked. For anyone who follows me on social media, I don't post any content about the way I look or the way I perform because I don't think it's important to my following.

And I'd rather just show people that look, this is me. I like exercising and doing stuff. That's enough. And someone came onto my content and was criticizing the way that my body looked, saying that I shouldn't be a personal trainer because I look like this, even though he doesn't know how I look anyway.

And I shared a screenshot of that on my stories and a friend of mine, Beth, shout out to Beth she's lovely but I wouldn't mess with Beth. So she sent him a DM as well, being like, that was really mean. I'm. Paraphrasing now, but that was very mean. Why did you do that? And I had a DM from him the day after apologizing saying that he was really sorry for the way that he lashed out.

He's been feeling really bad about the way that his body looks and just my content hit a nerve and he lashed out at me at the time. And even though I shouldn't be someone's punching bag ever since that moment, I stopped. kind of reacting quite harshly or quite directly as I may be used to like a couple of years ago.

Like a lot of people, as I said, are lashing out because we're talking about really sensitive topics, right? Like the way we eat is so complex. The way that social media encourages us to look in terms of exercise and nutrition is, is so complex. So I need to appreciate that. Okay. Some of my content is going to strike a nerve and I just need to be a bit more balanced in the way that I respond to that.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: that's, I, I really admire that. And it's hard, it's hard to have that perspective and give them the grace of like, okay, well maybe they're just in a different spot or maybe this is how we make progress is by striking a nerve and then engaging

actually in a, in a real quote unquote, real right over the DM

conversation.

I know that this is gonna, this would probably be answered differently if I asked you this six months ago or six months from now, but what are some of the wellness trends right now that you are seeing that just make you shake your head because you see a lot more, cause you comment on a lot of things and you're, you are a braver person than I am to go into that world and watch it. But I'm just curious. So that way people like if maybe if they're not on Instagram. Or they're not, you know, but they're getting that the mentality from other places. I'm just, just to kind of bring people up to speed of like, what are some of the crazy things that you're seeing that you're just like,

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Yeah, the kind of animal based carnivore approach is becoming more and more popular. It was one of those trends that you thought, okay, this is, this is taking up, but I think it will die off quite quickly, and it, sadly, it isn't. So there's a lot of people, there are a lot of people out there who are purely eating animal products, whether it is Eggs, bacon, meat they're starting to demonize vegetable intake, telling you that vegetables are bad for you.

You shouldn't be eating it. They have defense chemicals. That means that it's kind of like anti nutrients. They like to call them. And this is, this is one of the trends in my whole time of being a personal trainer. I've been a trainer now for a decade. I've been creating content on social media for around seven ish years consistently.

It's definitely the most dangerous trend. That I've seen the knock on impact that this is having for so many people, even the person who kind of created or at least popularized the carnivore approach carnivore MD, his name is Paul Saladino incredibly problematic person on social media. I have no issue in saying that on a, on a podcast platform because he is even he has kind of backpedaled and is now incorporating certain fruits and vegetables into his diet because his health was suffering.

So when the person who was kind of the figurehead of this movement is already backtracking and saying, Oh, actually, no, we should be eating some vegetables. You know, that something is very, very wrong. So yeah, I definitely put that at the top of the, in the problematic category, along with the kind of vegetables and fruits are bad for you crowd because of antinutrients or sugar or whatever it is.

That's it's kind of these core things that there is so much research around showing why we need to be eating them as part of a healthy diet. When people are coming out saying that they're bad and they've got no evidence to back up their claims. It's just, it's incredibly dangerous.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: I agree, you know, and it's so funny because we have a wide variety of conversations on this show. I mean, it's physical, mental, spiritual health, and it doesn't matter if we are talking about gut health. If we were talking about cognitive health, mental health sleep, like it doesn't matter. All roads lead back to eat a wide variety of plants.

And I have no problem with carnivores. I eat meat, like, you know,

all, obviously that can be integrated into a well balanced in a variety, a diet full of

variety, but like the concept of taking out plants. Yeah. It's just, it's crazy to me. And honestly, it makes me think about like their bathroom situation must

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: hmm. Agreed. Yeah. Completely agree. I don't know how these people are functioning on a day to day basis. It must be awful.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: It must be so bad.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Yeah, it's not good. I, yeah, it's like in, to some extent I can, once again, I'm kind of stepping back and I'm. thinking like, right, why are people gravitating towards this diet approach? And it might be that there are some fruits and vegetables that these people are having issues with. They've maybe gone to their doctors.

They've maybe reached out to people for support, and they're not getting the support that they need. Therefore, they've gone to the extreme of cutting out all of these things. And they think, Oh, actually, I feel great. Because I'm not, you know, bloated anymore, not gassy anymore. I'm not being bunged up. Like I get that, like I do completely understand, but it's just, we need to get to that part in a safer and a more constructive way with the support of a practitioner who knows what they're talking about, kind of going cold turkey and just cutting out all fruits and vegetables.

It's just never going to end well, unfortunately. And that's the bang, the drum that we need to keep on banging because Yeah, there's there's just far too many people following that diet now. And it's scary.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Right. Well, and I think, I think there's a loss of discernment and a loss of individuation. I think I just said that word. I bungled that word up, but

like, a lot of the ability to discern and And individualize what the stuff is out there. Like, for example, I am allergic to onions, like nasal allergies. It's, it's just a thing. Never in a million years would I tell people, well, you shouldn't have onions. Cause you're not going to feel very good. Like they're great. I hate that I can't have them, but for me, it's just something that I try and avoid. And so I think, yeah, I mean, people like seem to be taking these little bits of pieces of information.

They're like, okay, this worked for me. So of course it can work for you. And of course this is going to solve your problem.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Exactly. And it's, it's kind of along the same lines of when people have gone through kind of extreme weight loss in the past, and then they see themselves as an authority figure when it comes to helping other people lose weight. Unfortunately, because everyone eats, Everyone thinks they're an expert when it comes to eating and that's just absolutely not the case so it's yeah, it's finding a way to like the beast is too big with social media, right?

We're never gonna kind of get all of this nonsense back inside. And and behind some sort of sensible regulations and but we need to find a way that we can navigate this new landscape of how people consume social media content and we Can do it in a sensible and balanced way, but yeah, I don't know how we do that 

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: navigate this? Like, how do we, how are we able to see something that might make sense at first glance, if we're watching something on YouTube or Instagram, or even hear about it from a friend that when you first hear, you're like, huh, okay, well, that's, you can have all kinds of thoughts about it.

Like either that seems easy or that seems extreme, but I'll try it. But maybe it is, maybe it's not as bad as the carnivore diet, but, and I'm trying to think of, I'm trying to think of one off the top of my head, but, or like maybe avoiding all carbs.

Like, like let's go back to mid nineties of like, well, carbs are bad or all carbs are terrible for you.

You should cut that out. You know? Okay. Well. That can result in some body comp changes, which that's a whole different conversation that we've had plenty of on the show. But how do we even discern what might be problematic versus what is?

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: think the way to do it is by listening to the way that someone delivers the information that they're giving. So, so if someone is giving out fitness, nutrition advice, and they're speaking in absolute saying, this is the way that everyone should be doing it, you automatically just know that they're doing the right thing.

they are lying to you, like point blank, they're lying to you. Like every good practitioner, everyone who is evidence based and cares about the people that they're providing, they're providing information to, if they're not starting off with, it depends or talking about a certain demographic for a certain reason, when they're giving out nutrition advice, they're automatically spouting nonsense.

So the way that we deliver the information is just as important as the actual information itself. So if someone is saying it depends, great, carry on listening to them. I'm not to say that. That means their information is absolutely correct. But at least you know that there's some nuance behind the information that they're providing.

But the way that every single one of us eats is unique to the, to us, like the way I eat would be awful for where you eat. I like eating onions, whereas I can't eat eggs and dairy. So I'm sure if you had to cut out eggs and dairy, you'd probably not be very happy. With the way that your diet works. Yeah.

Right. So we just have to find the way of eating that works for us. And that's the beauty. And also the frustration when it comes to nutrition, because it means that it's really difficult to find the right path, especially if someone's coming at this with kind of no previous education in nutrition and they're thrown into social media with Paul Saladino saying, don't eat vegetables.

You've got other people saying you should only eat fruits or like, it's just, if anyone's saying this approach is for everyone, dismiss it, like dismiss it and find someone else.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: I think too, as you're talking, it's kind of getting my head spinning. I think a lot of it comes down to as well. Like we just want the easy button. We just want to be like, I mean, I have heard so many people, whether it's fitness related or food related, just tell me what to do and I'll do it. Just tell me what to do.

I'm like, yeah, I'll do it. It's not that simple. And this is a beauty of one on one personal training where you can tweak and adjust things or of the, of the nuance of the conversation, because we just want to, a lot of us know that there's so much out there and there's a lot of these quote unquote rules and the people just want to know what rules are going to follow.

So they will win. So they will do it right, but that's just not the

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: They're not, but there's also people willing to exploit people's desperation there and just wanting the easy route. And that's where it becomes quite difficult for coaches like myself who are saying, no, there's nuance. There's a method to the madness of trying to get us to the point we need to be. So yeah, it, it is really frustrating.

It's the reason I never work with coaches. with meal plans. I couldn't prescribe food to people. I think the meal plans are kind of mostly only good for helping people learn how to follow meal plans. You need to find, as I said, a way of eating that works with you and the foods that you really enjoy eating.

Like if we wrote you up a nutrition plan that in, you know, Incorporated loads of foods that you don't enjoy and you're just never going to stick to it long term. So yeah, there's once again It's that kind of nuance aspect, isn't it? And it's doesn't sound very sexy when I say It's a process that works for a few months and we'll slowly find the way towards what works right for you together And it's it's just really hard to sell.

It's not a shiny 12 week plan. That you can package up quite nicely

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Well, and I don't know how it is in the UK, but in the States I'm a certified nutrition coach through NASM and it is out of my scope of practice to be able to provide a meal plan. Like you only registered dietitians are supposed to be able to provide actual meal plans with regard to nutritional guidance. And so that's something to be aware of too, that. You know, I feel like I know a decent amount, but I don't know as much as someone who has undergrad and graduate

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: I think it's, is it different for other states as well? Like it's the rules are different state by state too in regards to that too, I believe. I apologize if I'm wrong, which also just adds to the confusion, right? And I think that's what, that's what allows people to kind of go through the cracks there.

Like, even though there are these rules, I don't think personal trainers in the UK are supposed to give out meal plans either, but they do. But there's just no one policing that at all. Like I've never, Out of anyone being kind of held to account for giving someone a meal plan. Like it just doesn't happen, unfortunately, even when bad things go wrong, you know, like when things go wrong, I still have never heard of people being held to account from doing that.

So these coaches are going to do it because they can make a lot of money doing so.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: absolutely. And I'm sure the powers that be, whomever they are going to pick their battles.

So,

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Yeah.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: yeah. Okay. Let's, I want to touch on one, because this is something that I've had a lot of people ask me and I, I know what your answer is going to be, but I want to hear kind of your

response and that's part of the fun of your Instagram account.

And then. And then also your podcast really dives deep into these individual issues, seed oils. Okay. I've had people are like, are they really bad for you? I hear they're terrible for you. All that kind of stuff. I'm just going to let you take it from here because I feel like this is one of those like red flag

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: It is.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Problematic

narrative. 

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: of these, it's weirdly one of these topics that gets people very angry as well, I don't know why, I think it's just because there's really prominent figures within the, especially within the nutrition space who have kind of made or created quite a big following from saying how bad seed oils are and then giving you these kind of really expensive alternatives as if people have like 50 spare to go spend on like a different type of flour that they've got in the supermarket, right?

So yeah, I think if you look at the research behind seed oils, they are quite good. Not bad for you. I know it's kind of quite oversimplistic. We talk a lot about kind of inflammation when it comes to seed oils. And they say the seed oils are causing inflammation and just the evidence just never backs up the claims of all these anti seed oil accounts.

So I think once again, if we're looking for who should we trust when it comes to social media, if you've got someone who is consistently banging on about seed oils being bad for you, they're wrong, like they just simply are wrong. Like provide the evidence that these things are bad for you. And then we will change our minds.

But if you are looking at the evidence. There's just no reason to be scared of consuming seed oils in moderation. As with any food, it's just, it is just one of these really weird topics that, that everyone seems to get up in arms about. And I just, I just don't get it. Just really don't get it.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: I agree. Yeah. I, I I have not paid a lot of attention to it, honestly, just because I'm like, I'm not gonna waste my,

this is where I don't have the energy. I'm like, I'm just like, no, like just whatever.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: just, there's just so many other things. Like if you're looking to improve your health, there's just so many other things that you should be prioritizing rather than worrying about seed oils appearing occasionally in the products that you consume. And I know that comment will probably annoy a few people, but I truly just think there are just so many different places that you should be putting your emphasis on, such as lowering stress drinking enough water, prioritizing your sleep, making sure you're eating enough vegetables.

Like, if you're doing all of these basics consistently, then you can start worrying about all these tiny little things, but even then, seed oils are fine within your diet, so don't worry about those either.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Yeah.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Yeah.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Totally agree. Okay. So let's say someone is scrolling along on Instagram, they see something then and they're like, huh? Okay. Is this real? Do I want to believe this? What would you suggest that they do from there? Like, where do they go? I mean, I think, you know, I know. Michael, that you do a lot of research and you're going to, you're going to the papers and you're reading that kind of stuff.

And some people I like to do that kind of stuff too. I'll start digging in. Most people could not be bothered with that. And they're like, I don't know, just tell me. So where's the next best place to go or the next easiest place to go of like, how do I discern if this is actually true or

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: That is very difficult. One place that I always kind of direct people towards is a website called examine. com. I don't know if you've heard of examine. com or if you've been on it before. It's fantastic. So if someone says that you should consume a supplement or a certain thing or a certain product is bad for you examine.

com is a brilliant free resource. There are some paywalls to some aspects of it, but it will give you an overview of kind of what the research says about things. So if someone says you should go and consume. Magnesium for your joint pain, right? You could go on to exam. com type in magnesium and it'll be like right This is what this could help you with and to what extent really really simple outside of that, it's very very difficult because I I always find this when i'm researching topics for Podcast episodes that we do right like we do we deep dive into different topics and I find that even searching for good quality research papers, I have to sift through so much misinformation that I just feel really sorry for anyone who's trying to do that on the internet without any background in kind of reading research papers or any kind of biochemistry.

So what I would actually recommend people do is to find people on social media that you trust, someone that speaks with nuance, someone who is calling out the misinformation regularly and is open to feedback. Like anything I post, I welcome it. If You think it's wrong. If there's something I can improve on, I welcome it.

Cause I want to become a better educator and practitioner. But I, I welcome anyone message me like just, if you have a question, send it, I reply to every single direct message that I get, it might be a quick response because I can't respond in essays to everyone, but. If you can find people on social media that you trust, that you can just kind of quickly fire a message to and be like, this is kind of something I'm considering, is it good?

They should be able to give you like a fairly quick response of whether it's something worth exploring or to completely dismiss. So yeah, like find your tribe on social media. That is grounded in nuance and kind of never sitting in one camp entirely.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: So this is a good plug for me to tell everybody listening. Number one, Michael's a great place person to trust in this space. So go listen to him. And then also the how to fitness podcast is great with that as well. I really respect the work that you guys do with those deep dives. My question to you is who do you trust online?

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: I knew that question was coming so it it all depends on the The thing that i'm looking at at the time like there's a few people in different areas that I trust like for example when it comes to like strength and conditioning there's people like brad scoenfeld who are just So on it with the research.

Also in regards to kind of nutrition grounding there. They've They just tend to signpost you to pretty good information. There's accounts like Dr. Idz. So Dr. I D Z. He calls out a lot of misinformation online that I think is awesome. Oh my, wow, I've been put on the spot here. I'm gonna have to,

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: I know. I'm so

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: no, no, that's okay.

That's okay. I'm going to feel really bad. Cause I'm going to miss out loads of people who I think are fantastic. Do you know what? Could I, I'll send you like a few accounts I really like, and you can chuck them in the show notes, and then people can go over and follow them. Is that okay?

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Absolutely. Yeah, that's I was going to offer that. Since I did totally put you

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: No, no, it's okay. It's yeah, cause I know there are so many brilliant practitioners out there that are doing some fantastic things online that I don't want to miss any one out that I think will really help. So yeah, I'll, I'll send you a list of a few and you can, you can send them out.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: That sounds, that sounds great. That sounds great. Okay. Yeah, this is really good. What else? I'm just going to kind of give this an open door because I feel like we've covered a decent amount. What, what is burning on your heart? Around this topic of conversation that we have not yet discussed.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Body size. It's something I talk about. a lot. The fitness industry is grounded in incredibly problematic practices in terms of kind of what we should follow, but also the way that we have to look in order to be, first of all, fit and or healthy too. We are told that our bodies need to look a very specific way in order for us to be fit and healthy.

And it is completely nonsense. Like there is such kind of a wide spectrum of the way that bodies can and will look while still being perfectly healthy and strong and capable, right? So kind of one tip that I always give to people when they ask me like, how can I start Improving my relationship with my body or my relationship with food or exercise is if you're someone who uses social media a lot, diversify your social media feed, have all different types of people, different cultures, different body sizes, different abilities on your social media feed and see that the kind of array of human bodies and the way they can look and how they can perform is just so amazing.

So incredible. And I promise you within a few weeks of doing that, your mental health is going to be so much better and the expectations of the way you need to perform and the way that you look is going to completely change. I mean, that's really when the magic happens. That's when we start focusing on truly like what foods make us feel good and make us perform good.

Like what exercises do I enjoy? And it's just, it's such a key kind of cornerstone of, of making improvements anywhere across the board that. I really encourage everyone listening to do that.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Yeah. Yeah. And I feel like we were making some good progress

in health of any size and just kind of more body acceptance. And the last couple of years have changed a little

bit just because of the some magnitude. you know, all of the influx

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Sure. 

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: and it being used outside of, you know, what, where it's really beneficial and where it's really helpful. So yeah, I, you know, I use the words feel and function a lot. I'm like, let's eat and move in a way that makes us feel good and function.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Sure. 

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: that's where we are. And then my community is, you know, women, you know, 40s, 50s, 60s. And so let's maybe not be so worried about. Like what we used to look like when we were 20 and be more worried about like how we're going to be able to move with our grandkids.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: yeah, it's spot on. Yeah, honestly, it's spot on. And it's you, you're so right in regards to things going backwards within the fitness space. There's so many big fitness brands, like even like Nike Adidas like gym brands, like Gymshark, for example, within the UK, like they had, they were starting to have kind of a lot more body diversity on their social media feeds when it was kind of Popular I'm using air quotes as I say that, and now that it's seems to be trendy to criticize those areas of the fitness and wellness space, they've completely backpedaled on any kind of diversity in terms of body size on websites.

And it's, it's infuriating. I think so many people who had been kind of disenchanted or pushed out of the fitness world were starting to finally feel like they had a place to come and get involved within it. It, it seems to be completely gone now, unfortunately. So we just have to once again, just keep banging the drum to hope that it, it picks up again sometime soon.

Dunno if I'm hopeful, but we, we keep going. Mm-hmm

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: I agree. I, one account comes to mind. And it's kind of ironic because Alison Hanks fitness, I don't know if you know her, I've never met her. She does great stuff, but you know, it's funny, like she's strong and limber and Mobile and all of the things that we want our bodies to be able to do. And to me, I'm like, she's normal sized, but you know, I guess her whole thing is like body acceptance and body positivity.

And like, you just look like, I mean, like normal sized and like, it's really sad

that, that this is now, you know, she's like a poster child for body diversity and like, I don't know. I love her account. Actually, she does great

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: yeah, it is. I think it just goes to show that you can never win. Right? No matter how you look, you are gonna be bashed by people, especially on, on the internet. Within the fitness world, there are so many, once again, brilliant accounts that are calling this out regularly. Beth Rigby is another one who I know who is.

Awesome. Who does that? I'm going to get her Instagram handle because I want to make sure that people go and give her a follow. 

So her handle is sporty Beth CF. And her content is fantastic. She really kind of fights the corner of those who are exercising consistently in larger bodies and she gets a lot of hate from it.

So as I said, we just got to keep going.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: yeah, well, good for her for doing the hard work. And and that's unfortunate that she gets so much hate for it. People are just mean people are, uh, okay. So as we wrap up I've I've talked to them about how to fitness. I think it's an, Excellent show, you know, grounded in research. I love the banter that you have with your

cohost, Kate 

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Thank you. 

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Can you, so just for people who have not heard of it yet, because I think that they'll want to go listen to it. Tell it, tell everybody some about

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Yeah, sure. So I like to around two years ago, I reached out to Kate cause we followed each other on Instagram and I wanted to start up another fitness podcast. And I like Kate's content. She has a slightly different approach to fitness, which I actually really liked because I wanted there to be a little bit of a little bit of a difference in takes there on some topics.

So I reached out to Kate. She's from the U S but That lives in Mexico. And we, yeah, we basically meet up, we do deep dives into really cool topics, whether it's kind of GLP one weight loss medications to kind of intermittent fasting to kind of like the history of like diet culture and body standards.

And, and it's, I don't know, it's just a really cool thing. Like social media doesn't really give us much chance once again, to discuss nuance and go into topics in some really good detail. Whereas our podcast really allows us to do that. And I will say. Get to do it with someone who I, I'm really lucky to call a close friend now as well.

So we, we meet up, we have a little chat about how tired we are from both having very tiny children and then we, we chat fitness and nutrition. It's good fun.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Yes. Well, I I really enjoy it. So

Thank you.

for, for putting that kind of content out there. Cause that's a nice compliment and a deeper dive. Obviously into what you're doing online. So well done with

that. Okay. I've got two questions that I ask all my guests. And before I ask those, it's just the how to fitness. And then I'm going to put your Instagram handle. It's Michael Ujoa PT, but it's U L L O a everyone. If you want to go, so please go file, follow Michael, you guys. I mean, his it's great.

It's some of the stuff out there. Oh my gosh. Like, I'm just thinking of like the, the fermented raw meat. 

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Yeah. Yeah. That was yeah, the video the other day, some people, they just started eating raw meat and not even raw meat. It's like rotting meat as well. 

They're like leaving it to fester before consuming it, saying that it, it's kind of makes them have a bit of a high and you get quicker access to the nutrients or something.

I don't know. Yeah. Some, some of the things out there are terrifying, but yeah, anyone wants to come and see me call out kind of diet culture, misinformation around fitness and X and nutrition, then yeah, come follow me there.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Yes. Yes. It's, it's great. I also think of the coffee enema one.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Yeah. They've been growing in popularity again, which is wild. That's one that I really, I like calling out. The Coffee Enema one especially, even though I've done it a couple times before, I'm really persistent because it's growing in popularity, especially amongst cancer nutrition forums and threads.

Like a lot of people are recommending people do this to help with kind of preventing or to treat them for cancer, especially within like the Crohn's community as well. A lot of people are pushing it. So there's these people who are really vulnerable looking for answers at like a really tough time in their lives.

And then these people who are selling coffee enemas there. A pouncing on that and willing to exploit them. So it's, it's a really important one. We have to laugh at it because it is so ridiculous and that kind of, it's what gets us through, but there's also that kind of serious undertone that we have to, we have to keep pushing back on it.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Yeah. Yeah. That preying on such a vulnerable population is

just 

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Yeah. It's really gross. Sure.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Okay, final two questions. One is I love learning about people's tattoos. I can see cause

we're on video. I can see that you do have one. So I was wondering if you could pick one that you have and share the meaning behind it.

Because what I have found is people who put body art on their body for the rest of their life typically have a meaning behind it. Not always, but typically.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: Yeah. I've got a few, I don't know how many I've got, maybe like eight or nine of them. So I've got a few, the one I'm going to do is like the first bigger piece that I got, I'm going to kind of show it up to the camera here so you can see it. So my dad is Spanish, hence my kind of slightly part, To pronounce surname he moved to the UK when he was 14. And has lived here ever since. But he's from a town called La Coruña. So it's in the very Northwest coast of Spain, Galicia. And he had a bit of kind of a broken relationship with Spain and the way that he came to this country and a bit of a. Tough relationship in terms of how often he wants to go back there too.

And there's something within me within the last five, 10 years, my dad had a major stroke about seven years ago now, and he's the last person in my family that speaks Spanish. And when my dad is no longer here with us, that would be lost. And I kind of feel quite responsible in carrying that forward.

So I've been practicing Spanish regularly. I've been going to Spain regularly to help practice that too. And this forearm piece is from the La Coruña flag. There's lots of cool elements on it. There's like. a lighthouse skull and crossbones and like a, like a crown and some cockle shells and stuff.

And I've got that made into a forearm piece as a little bit of a nod to kind of my dad and, and where he's from. Yeah.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Oh, that's so cool. I love that. Thank you for

sharing that. Is your dad still with

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: He is, he is, he's still, he's got some serious issues with his mobility and his speech is still really bad. Like a lot of the time you can't quite understand what he's saying, but he is, he, he basically was paralyzed on one side and couldn't even swallow when he first had a stroke.

So the fact that he's kind of, Functioning and moving about now is way more than we ever thought he would be. But yeah, he's, he's still here, which is great, but he's, he's he's been through a lot of rehab and still going. So we're, we're, we're pushing him hard. He's doing great.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Good, good. I'm glad to hear

that. Okay. And then you get the last word today. I like to leave my guests with one simple thing that you want us to remember about our conversation, big or small, but just one simple thing.

michael_1_01-30-2025_151025: simple thing, I think I might just bring it back to that comment that I made earlier in terms of like how our bodies are supposed to look, it's always at like the forefront of all the content that I create on social media, because I truly think it is so important. I know a lot of people. They do message me saying like, Oh, it's easy for you.

Like I, I look how social media says that we should look right. I am a slim white male. And this is what fitness is supposed to look like. And I think it can be really powerful when someone is within that demographic is saying, yeah, this is how someone can look, but it absolutely does not have to be like this at all.

If we can completely shift the focus away, there's nothing wrong with having, you weight loss goals, physique goals, whatever it is, but I just strongly encourage people to shift the focus so that this isn't the sole emphasis of everything you're doing in terms of nutrition and in terms of exercise, it can absolutely be part of it.

Don't get me wrong, but if we can start putting the emphasis on feeling good and performing well, you're just going to feel so much better about the entire process. So yeah, my final parting message here is. Put the focus somewhere else. It's, it really is when, when things start going well in terms of exercise and nutrition longterm is if you don't make that the sole focus.

So yeah, I hope that helps some people. I hope.

amy_1_01-30-2025_091025: Absolutely. I cannot agree more. Michael, thank you so much. And everybody go out there and have a graced day.