Empower your Heart Health Series: Building a Heart-Healthy Diet
Hello Heart Buddies! Our October series continues with cardiac dietitian extraordinaire, Michelle Routhenstein. We dismantle the myth that heart health is all about cutting foods out and dive deep into the necessity of nutrient sufficiency. Michelle shares real-life examples, including her own experiences with clients, to explain why just losing weight isn’t enough to optimize vascular health. She also teaches us about how the right balance of nutrients — rather than restrictive dieting — can improve your digestion, energy levels, and overall quality of life. If you’ve ever found yourself lost in a maze of restrictive diets like I was, this episode offers a refreshing and liberating approach.
How to find Michelle
Michelle Routhenstein, MS, RD, CDCES, CDN
Cardiology Dietitian and Preventive Cardiology Nutritionist
Owner of Entirely Nourished, LLC
Sign up for her next Optimize Group at here. This is an affiliate link and by signing up, you support this podcast. Thank you!
About the program: Optimize is a six-week virtual heart optimization group program designed to teach you how to protect your heart through science-based nutrition. In this live program, Michelle Routhenstein, a cardiovascular dietitian, leads Zoom lectures that delve into arterial health and how to enhance your cardiovascular risk profile. She addresses underlying issues like inflammation, oxidative stress, and insulin resistance using evidence-based nutritional strategies. Throughout the six weeks, you'll also have access to a private community for questions, support, and the implementation of science-based heart-healthy changes to safeguard your heart for the long term.
Get in touch...P: (646) 979-0328 E: Michelle@EntirelyNourished.com
http://www.entirelynourished.com
Join the Patreon Community! The Joyful Beat zoom group starts in September 2024.
**I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. Be sure to check in with your care team about all the next right steps for you and your heart.**
How to connect with Boots
Email: Boots@theheartchamberpodcast.com
Instagram: @openheartsurgerywithboots or @boots.knighton
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/boots-knighton
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Transcript
I don't want you to be in this mindset of
Speaker:I need to get rid of all these foods for my heart health.
Speaker:Because when you are focusing, for instance, I've had clients who say the
Speaker:doctor told me to lose weight in order for my heart health. They've had two
Speaker:to three heart attacks, and the doctor's like, you just need to lose weight. So
Speaker:they go on whatever diet they want and they have another heart attack because what
Speaker:you're eating is not feeding and optimizing your vascular
Speaker:system. Welcome to a special October
Speaker:edition of open heart surgery with boots.
Speaker:All month long, we're diving into heart healthy
Speaker:eating with none other than my cardiac
Speaker:dietitian, Michelle Rothenstein. Each
Speaker:Tuesday, we are serving up bite sized ten to
Speaker:15 minutes episodes to give you practical tips
Speaker:to keep your heart in tip top shape. Whether
Speaker:you're recovering from surgery or just looking to show your heart a
Speaker:little extra love, Michelle's got you covered. Don't
Speaker:forget to check out our
Speaker:patreon@www.patreon.com
Speaker:openheart surgery with boots. There we are building
Speaker:a community of fellow heart buddies where we are going
Speaker:to start meeting up on Zoom and being of support to each
Speaker:other. And I'll be curating special, special
Speaker:playlists to help you get started on your heart
Speaker:journey if you're just starting out. So thank you so
Speaker:much for being here. Thank you for supporting this podcast.
Speaker:I am so excited to bring Michelle to
Speaker:you every Tuesday for the month of October. So let's get
Speaker:right to it. Hello. Welcome back to another
Speaker:episode of Open Heart Surgery with Boots. If you've been
Speaker:listening for a little bit, you know I've brought on my
Speaker:extremely extraordinarily talented, brilliant
Speaker:cardiac dietitian, Michelle, who has
Speaker:been dropping truth bombs for us in the last two episodes,
Speaker:and she's back for a third. We're doing this all month, and there were several
Speaker:reasons why I wanted to do this. I've just experienced so much
Speaker:success with Michelle, and I explained in
Speaker:our first of this series how integrity is everything
Speaker:to me. And if I am going to suggest anyone to you,
Speaker:if I'm going to elevate any healthcare provider,
Speaker:it's going to be because I directly benefited. And
Speaker:I cannot believe how much Michelle
Speaker:has graced my life, mind, body,
Speaker:spirit when I first started working with her as a
Speaker:client. And Michelle, feel free to jump in from your
Speaker:perspective, but we had some serious work to do. My
Speaker:gut was messed up. I was on a heavily restricted diet
Speaker:for a variety of reasons. I had come to
Speaker:fear food because I had developed such
Speaker:an intense case of IB's, and I
Speaker:was hardly eating anything, I was getting hardly
Speaker:any nutrients, I was taking too many supplements, I wasn't
Speaker:able to pee well at night because my kidneys were freaking
Speaker:out and I would have like four bowel
Speaker:movements every morning. And so it was just
Speaker:amazing how much my body was just so
Speaker:dysregulated. And Michelle and I have done so much good
Speaker:work together that I take virtually no supplements,
Speaker:minus like some magnesium and a B vitamin. And
Speaker:then I only have one bowel movement in the morning,
Speaker:which is been just life changing. And I have
Speaker:no problems peeing before bed. Like, I, I
Speaker:mean, and that's just the start of it. And, and then on top of it,
Speaker:I am tolerating most foods now, and I look
Speaker:forward to cooking. And, like, that doesn't
Speaker:even talk that, you know, don't get me started on like, all the positive
Speaker:effects on my heart, but like, that's like the 50,000 foot
Speaker:view. But let me tell you people, when your gut is messed up and you
Speaker:are pooping so much, it really affects your quality of
Speaker:life. And I'm not trying to be crass, but it really does.
Speaker:It's okay to talk about poop. Let's normalize that.
Speaker:We have to. It's so important for heart and health. It's all correlated.
Speaker:It's a sign of inflammation. You know, I really appreciate you being
Speaker:vulnerable and sharing this with many individuals, because it's
Speaker:too often where I see someone come to my office and being
Speaker:like, I don't. This is a whole list that my functional medicine doctor told me
Speaker:I cannot eat right. And so, you know, I asked you the first time,
Speaker:you were on like maybe twelve restrictions. It was like,
Speaker:low histamine, low fodmap, low
Speaker:oxalate, low, literally low everything. And I go to
Speaker:you, so what are you eating on a regular basis? And you looked at me
Speaker:on that first call and you're like, nothing. I actually give up because
Speaker:it's so restrictive that I eat whatever I want, which is probably
Speaker:not even what I'm supposed to be eating. And the
Speaker:biggest thing was, for me, was that you weren't just
Speaker:going to the bathroom frequently, you were seeing food
Speaker:in your stool, meaning your body was not absorbing these nutrients,
Speaker:which is a sign to me that there was a lot of inflammation
Speaker:and a lot of gut health issues that we needed to
Speaker:address. And I think it's important to really
Speaker:put this into the context of every single person and
Speaker:majority of people. When you ask them what are you
Speaker:eating? They will talk about what they're not eating, right. So if you
Speaker:ask someone, what's your diet? What do you follow? It's always talking
Speaker:about, oh, I don't eat this. Oh, I don't eat this. Of course I don't
Speaker:eat that. But it's never about what you're actually eating
Speaker:and the balance and the way it's cooked and how
Speaker:you're eating it in terms of metabolism that actually
Speaker:allows for your body to digest it, absorb
Speaker:it, put it into the cell that belongs, and excrete what it doesn't need to
Speaker:excrete. And so when you aren't urinating or when you're not
Speaker:going to having good, effective bowel movements,
Speaker:you're going to be a nutrient deficient because you are
Speaker:kind of excreting too much of things that aren't solid. But
Speaker:b, your body's not having a good detoxification
Speaker:system, right. Your body gets rid of toxins
Speaker:naturally when you feed it and fuel it properly.
Speaker:Talking about having good bowel movements, urinating well
Speaker:and regularly without issue. And then the other one is
Speaker:sweating. And I remember in our work together, you mentioned,
Speaker:Michelle, I'm having magical poops. Like, that was a wahoo
Speaker:moment. You were like, I'm actually urinating at night. Like, I used to, like, feel
Speaker:like I had to go to the bathroom, but I couldn't go. That was a
Speaker:positive. But then in about a month into our work, you're like,
Speaker:Michelle, I've sweated for my first time in a very
Speaker:long time. And I'm like, yes, because that's a, the signs that your
Speaker:body is working for you. And so I really,
Speaker:really appreciate you sharing this story. And I think it's important for people to
Speaker:recognize that what you're eating is so important
Speaker:for combating inflammation and optimizing your gut
Speaker:health and optimizing your heart health and your vascular health so
Speaker:your heart can pump blood easily and effectively without
Speaker:overstressing. And so instead of having this restricted
Speaker:mindset of, nope, I don't eat this, I don't eat that. I don't eat this.
Speaker:It's, well, what are you eating? Are you nutrient sufficient? One
Speaker:more thing that I want your audience to take from this too,
Speaker:is I don't want you to be in this
Speaker:mindset of, I need to get rid of all these
Speaker:foods for my heart health. Because when you are focusing, for instance,
Speaker:I've had clients who say, the doctor told me to lose weight in order for
Speaker:my heart health. They've had two or three heart attacks. And the doctor's like, you
Speaker:just need to lose weight. So they go on whatever diet they want and they
Speaker:have another heart attack. Because what you're eating is not feeding and optimizing
Speaker:your vascular system. It's not improving your cardiometabolic
Speaker:metrics. So while weight loss is one risk factor of heart disease,
Speaker:it's important that we are also considering, well, what is that? What
Speaker:are we eating to allow for a caloric deficit? When you focus only
Speaker:on calories, you don't focus on nutrients and nutrient
Speaker:quality. That's really going to help improve your heart health, too. Wow. And
Speaker:that was really revelatory for me. And I just want
Speaker:everyone to just take a second and think about
Speaker:how it feels to have a restrictive
Speaker:diet. Like, really check in about that and think about
Speaker:just living in life of restriction
Speaker:versus. Okay, now think about
Speaker:adding, adding in for your heart
Speaker:health. Adding, like, yummy, soul
Speaker:filling foods. Like, when Michelle gave me my meal
Speaker:plan and I read through it all and I started
Speaker:experimenting with all the great recipes she gave me,
Speaker:I felt like I was eating a
Speaker:hug. Now, bear with me. I know that sounds a
Speaker:little on the corny side, pun totally intended, but,
Speaker:like, it matters. Like, how we approach our
Speaker:meals and, like, the mindfulness and the intention of what
Speaker:we put in our bodies, it really does
Speaker:matter. And so when I make the fun
Speaker:sauces and, you know, just thinking about how,
Speaker:like, I. My heart deserves this extra little bit
Speaker:of effort I'm putting in to my breakfast, lunch and dinner,
Speaker:and I'm intentionally using the turmeric and all these
Speaker:other yummy things, and it's. I cannot tell you how
Speaker:much happier I am. And that whole
Speaker:saying, you are what you eat has never felt more
Speaker:true. By putting joy behind my cooking
Speaker:and putting intention behind my cooking really
Speaker:has had a positive effect on both me and my
Speaker:husband. And that's so important to recognize.
Speaker:I think a lot of times when it comes to food, it's hard
Speaker:because it's complicated. Right. You may love cooking and find
Speaker:joy in cooking and cooking for you and your husband and just
Speaker:smelling the smells and enjoying all what you're eating and the
Speaker:right balance and how it makes you feel and how it lowers inflammation in your
Speaker:body, et cetera. But to someone else, that might sound intimidating. Oh, no. I have
Speaker:to cook all of my meals. So I always kind of like to start with
Speaker:saying that or really bring up the point that you
Speaker:don't need to be cooking for hours in the kitchen to be heart
Speaker:healthy. It needs to be something realistic. For you,
Speaker:but I really wanted to emphasize on the ability to really focus
Speaker:in on, if you are on a restricted diet, really
Speaker:hone into, well, what nutrients do you need to add from
Speaker:other things to get your needs in, right? Like if you avoid
Speaker:dairy for instance. Well, are you getting calcium from other food sources to
Speaker:meet your needs to prevent osteopenia, osteoporosis and bone
Speaker:mineral density, which also increases vascular calcification. If you
Speaker:don't have enough calcium, are you getting enough probiotics? If you're
Speaker:eliminating dairy, there's certain nutrients found magnesium,
Speaker:potassium, there's certain nutrients found in certain food groups. And if you are
Speaker:in a restrictive mindset, you really need to, or you have to restrict because
Speaker:of allergies, intolerances. It can all be worked in from
Speaker:a heart health perspective, but we must understand what we need to
Speaker:replace those foods with to make sure that you're having a nutrient
Speaker:adequate diet. A lot of times people will come to me and go,
Speaker:oh, are you going to put me on a vegan diet? Are you going to
Speaker:put me on a keto diet? Are you going to put me on a diet?
Speaker:And I say no. I say, I want to understand you and then I'm
Speaker:going to make sure that your nutrients sufficient so I can personalize the
Speaker:science. If everybody goes on the same exact diet, it doesn't
Speaker:work. There's so much cultural emotion day to
Speaker:day, there's so many variables for a diet to work. And
Speaker:my goal is for you to optimize your cardiometabolic metrics. It's
Speaker:to optimize your, and lower inflammation, oxidative stress,
Speaker:insulin resistance, all the things that cause havoc in the blood vessel.
Speaker:But by doing this in a way that's enjoyable in a way that you, in
Speaker:that you actually like the food you're eating and you're not complaining that it's bland
Speaker:or tasteless or just disgusting or too restrictive,
Speaker:I want you to enjoy it. There's so much emotions that come with
Speaker:food and we need to take that into account. So that's
Speaker:why I don't prescribe the same diet, because a, it doesn't
Speaker:work and b, a lot of times it gets lost in
Speaker:translation. If I were to just say, everyone go on the mediterranean
Speaker:diet, well that's 21 regions across the Mediterranean. Which one are
Speaker:you talking about? They're all, they all have different foods and cultures. It doesn't give
Speaker:you, I mean, I had a client who came to see me and said, oh
Speaker:yeah, I follow mediterranean diet. I don't know why I have heart disease. And when
Speaker:I went into what he was doing, his mediterranean diet definition was drinking a
Speaker:cup of olive oil every day. That was how he defined it, which is not
Speaker:a healthy volume of olive oil for anybody to consume.
Speaker:Wow. So I say this to really put into
Speaker:perspective that what you're eating is
Speaker:important and the nutrient composition and
Speaker:the nutrient adequacy is what we need to be focusing
Speaker:on for you and making it something that's
Speaker:doable. I want this to be something that you can
Speaker:implement, not just for the time I'm working with you, but really
Speaker:for the rest of your life. So when you understand the why, when you understand
Speaker:the pairings, when you understand how it gets metabolized in your
Speaker:body in certain volumes and certain times, et cetera, you're more
Speaker:likely to implement it for the long term because you have the
Speaker:understanding and the knowledge to do so. Yeah, love
Speaker:that. And before we end for today, I just also
Speaker:want to say I was not perfect out the gate
Speaker:and still am not like it is. It has been such
Speaker:a sea change for me on so many
Speaker:levels. Mind, body, spirit. And
Speaker:so if you're listening and your eyes are really
Speaker:big as you're driving down the road, wondering, like, how can I
Speaker:institute change? Well, you can. It's just
Speaker:one. I have this motto, 1% better
Speaker:every day except for Sundays. And
Speaker:Michelle is so patient. She re explains things.
Speaker:She's been accessible to me via email because of the way I, like,
Speaker:work with her. She has different ways that you can work with her where
Speaker:she makes herself self available to you. But she gave me
Speaker:such a great resource guide and I have
Speaker:probably, I think I've read it six times, seven times now might
Speaker:be seven. And every time I read it, there's like a
Speaker:new thing that jumps out of the page and your body is going to let
Speaker:you know when it's ready for that, like, next level
Speaker:of healing. And I'm really glad that I. That
Speaker:I have a great therapist. And if you've been listening to this podcast, you hear
Speaker:me talk about my therapist. I've been with her for ten and a half years
Speaker:now. It's been the greatest gift I've ever given to myself and
Speaker:my family is me working on my side of the street.
Speaker:And my side of the street lately, in the last few months, in
Speaker:conjunction with Michelle, is healing my relationship
Speaker:to food. And so when you start on this
Speaker:journey for your heart, on behalf
Speaker:of your heart, you are going to heal in unexpected
Speaker:ways that are going to be so beautiful. You
Speaker:just have to be willing to be a little uncomfortable for a minute
Speaker:while you make these changes. That's been my experience.
Speaker:And slow and steady. You don't need to be perfect. There's no such thing as
Speaker:perfect. You don't need to have a perfect diet. You don't need to eat
Speaker:perfect meals. It's no such thing. It's really
Speaker:about really instilling, and I talk about this in all of my work
Speaker:together. Let's prioritize two to four goals
Speaker:every two weeks. Let's see how they do. Let's address those
Speaker:challenges. If it's working really well, great. Add another one.
Speaker:Before you know it, you're doing 70% to 80% of this seamlessly. It's
Speaker:becoming part of your lifestyle. You're seeing really great results, and
Speaker:you're reaffirming. I don't need to be perfect because the
Speaker:perfect mentality of a diet leads to failure. And you
Speaker:don't need to be perfect to see results. Nope. And I love how
Speaker:recently I. One, a struggle of mine has been emotional
Speaker:eating. And recently, in conjunction with
Speaker:you, and I read, like, a quote somewhere, some meme, what would we
Speaker:do without memes now in the world? But anyway, it was just talking
Speaker:about, and you've helped me see this. Like, if I'm gonna have a little bit
Speaker:of ice cream or a little bit of chocolate, like, be mindful about that
Speaker:and be like, no, just enjoy the chocolate. Enjoying it.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, oh, right. I don't
Speaker:have to feel shame about enjoying some chocolate or a little
Speaker:ice cream. Right. Like, of course. Take the shame out of
Speaker:it. Exactly. This is. That was, like, mind blowing to
Speaker:me. Yes. I'm wearing big. This is the other thing.
Speaker:If you have that ice cream and you're like, this doesn't taste good, then it's
Speaker:not worth it. You want to savor it because it makes it so much
Speaker:more enjoyable. And you also then take out the guilt. You're like, this was
Speaker:great. This was enjoyable. And then you move on to your next meal without over
Speaker:obsessing over, oh, my God, I can't believe I ate that much ice cream. Why
Speaker:did I eat the ice cream? You start, we're so mean to ourselves that we
Speaker:need to be better in terms of positive talks. So enjoy the ice cream. That's
Speaker:so important. And it's important to balance this out, out so that you are
Speaker:living your life and having good quality of life is so
Speaker:important in your heart health journey, too. So. Yeah. Well, thank
Speaker:you. That's a great place. To stop for today. I hope y'all are
Speaker:enjoying this series that Michelle and I are doing. We've got two
Speaker:more, so be sure to come back next week. And
Speaker:again, take a look in the show notes. There's great ways to find
Speaker:how to work with Michelle in there. And I'm just so glad that you are
Speaker:coming along with us on this ride. And we'll be back next week. Thanks so
Speaker:much.
