 Hi friends, welcome back to my channel and a special welcome if you're new here. My name is Jen. I'm a certified weight loss and nutrition coach and I'm on the WW personal points plan. I've been getting a lot and I mean a lot of questions about the new way that I'm eating update wanting updates on my health and just questions overall about how I'm utilizing the WW personal points program as well as counting calories. So I wanted to do a quick little Q&A health update for you. I posted in both my Facebook group and on my community tab here on YouTube for questions, any questions that you have regarding my health, the new way that I'm eating, how I came into this new way of eating and really anything that you wanted me to answer. So today I'm going to be answering all of your questions as well as sharing a health update with you. So if you are excited, give this video a huge thumbs up. Subscribe if you're not. I would love to have you here. I do upload five days a week. So make sure you're subscribed and your bell notification is turned on so you never miss a single video. Check out the description box down below for nutrition coaching. I offer personalized to you macros and calories highly recommend and if you need one-on-one coaching, I offer that as well. Links discounts to all of my favorite things as well as my Facebook group coming over join us there. We would love to have you in that community as well are all down in that description box. So I have lots and lots and lots of questions to answer and a health update to give you. So let's jump in. I'm going to start with all of the questions that were asked over in my Facebook group because this is where I got the majority of the questions and the first one is what is your focus? Is it low carb, low sugar, etc. Right off the bat. I'm going to reference the health update video that I put out into what I eat in a day a few weeks ago. I will make sure that that video is down in the description box for you so that you can watch that as I go into detail on my health as well as what I'm going to be doing moving forward as far as the foods that I'm eating and kind of what my new lifestyle is going to be. So I'll make sure that video is linked down below for you. But in that video, I did share that due to some health concerns. The way that I'm eating has drastically changed in a nutshell. I am following a very high protein, high fiber, low carb, low sugar diet, more specifically a very high protein diet with very little sugar. I focus on 30 grams of sugar or less per day and most of this is going to be coming in the foods that I'm eating. So the fruits that I'm choosing versus having table sugar that's added to sweet treats and snacks. So again, it's high protein, high fiber, low fat, low sugar. The next question is what made you decide to make these health changes? Again, in that video, I mentioned that I was feeling really fatigued that I was noticing that I had a lot of inflammation and I was struggling to lose the amount of weight every week that logically, nutritionally made sense for me. The calorie deficit that I was in should have produced well over a pound of weight loss every week and I was struggling with point this and point that. Now I want to stop right here and let you know that for me, the scale isn't everything. I'm grateful that I lost point this and point that because it all adds up to a pound, but something in my body just didn't feel right and we know our bodies. We know when something isn't right. So I actually made an appointment to see my primary care physician. We ran a full blood panel and with the results of that blood panel, that's where my dietary changes came into play and in that blood work, I found out that I have a very, very, very underactive thyroid and that I suffer from a lot of inflammation. So that's what essentially sparked these changes. The next question is, will the medication that you're going to be taking be all that you need without having to make these dietary changes? Are they both necessary? So the medication that she's referring to is a thyroid medication. I started on my thyroid medication on January 10th. Now I've gotten a lot of questions on that as well. Why don't you just start your medication when you made the dietary changes and that's because my doctor decided not to overwhelm me with having to completely change the way that I'm eating and start a new medication. So we kind of took baby steps. I really worked on the dietary changes, got those under control, got those to where I'm consistently doing those and then as of the 10th, we implemented the medication. So for me, it is required that I make the dietary changes and take the medication. Since switching to your new way of eating and following WW personal points, have you found that you're eating a lot less calories than you used to? Absolutely. At the end of all of my what I eat in a day is I always share with you how many points I ate that day as well as how many calories and if you watch back to both prior to my dietary changes, I was generally eating on the low end of 16 to 1700 calories to about 1900 to 2000 calories every single day, which is a deficit for me, which would produce one to two pounds of weight loss every single week. Now with these dietary changes and just really focusing on whole real food, it's so much more satisfying and filling and now I'm eating between about 1300 and 1500 calories a day. Now I was concerned about this because you guys know that too severe of a calorie deficit is not something I wanted to go into because it creates metabolic adaptation and it's hard to lose weight and maintain your weight, but I ran this through my doctor and because the foods that I'm eating are so full of all the minerals, vitamins and nutrients that I need and I'm just not hungry, we decided that that this is an acceptable caloric limit for me as long as I'm getting in my protein for the day, my fiber for the day and my calcium for the day just so my body is not lacking any of the essential nutrients. So the next question is, I would love to know more about what made you decide to switch over to cleaner eating and what do you look for on nutrition labels. I have an entire playlist where I shared the reasons why I transitioned over to cleaner eating as well as lots and lots of videos on the topic. So I'll put that down in the description box for you as well so you can binge watch all of those clean eating videos, but the main reason that I switched over was I was having some stomach distress. I was finding that my stomach was bubbly and gurgly and just uncomfortable and I figured out that that was from the foods that I was eating. So I started doing some research into nutrition which led me to getting a nutrition certification and now being a weight loss and nutrition coach and that's what kind of sparked me to change the way that I was eating and when I'm looking at nutrition label, I'm mainly looking for ingredients that I need to avoid for my body for inflammation for that upset stomach. Those are the ingredients that I'm looking for on the labels. I also want to make sure that the macro profile is balanced. I don't want it to have a lot of calories with zero nutritional value and now even more so than ever. I really don't eat a lot of processed foods at all. So nutrition labels have become really a bigger part of my life now. The next question is how did cleaner eating affect you? Did you find that you had more energy that you slept better that you had more weight loss? How did it affect you overall? So switching over to cleaner eating made a huge and I mean huge impact in my overall just day to day life. I definitely slept better. I have much more energy now eating nice clean whole real food, even though it's substantially less calories than I even did before and that's because of the foods that I'm choosing. I've also noticed a big difference in my hair and my skin. All of these good foods just do a body good and I've noticed so many positive changes in my body. Now I am now having to eat more sugar free items because I have to watch my sugar but I still have those in moderation and I just really focus on a clean whole food real food diet and it has done wonders. The next question is are there any supplements that you take regularly that are related specifically to your thyroid? So the only medication I take related to my thyroid is thyroid medication but I do take quite a few other supplements every single day. Number one is my personal probiotic from Thrive Gut Health which is now Ombre Gut Health that has made a huge difference in my life. Both Troy and I take our personalized probiotic. I cannot recommend the Gut Health test more. It has been a huge game changer. I'm noticing zero stomach distress. I'm definitely much more regular and I just feel like things in my body are moving along a lot better. I also take a greens powder every single day and then I take a mushroom supplement from Vitacap which is for focus and clarity which I've definitely noticed has made a difference as well. And lastly I put collagen in my coffee every single day. I can't tell you how many benefits I've noticed just from the collagen. In fact yesterday I went and got a pedicure. The woman doing my pedicure made a comment about how strong my nails are. She really had to put pressure on those clippers to clip my toenails and that's because collagen really helps with hair, skin, nails and joints. So collagen has been a big game changer for me and something I take every single day. I'll make sure that all of my favorite supplements are linked down below for you. Next is what is your go to WW favorite recipe? Honestly, I don't have one. There are so many WW recipes that I've made that I love and that I make over and over and over again. You can find all of the recipes that I've created on my recipe website and I also have four recipe ebooks breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts that contain 15 recipes points included calories included as well as all of the cooking instructions. So I'll make sure I link my ebooks and my recipe website down below for you. I can't just choose one. There's so many great recipes that I've made. Someone else asked how I started my clean eating lifestyle and again off that playlist will be down below for you. And then the next question was are there any cleaner dessert options besides fruit? Absolutely there are. Now fruit is generally my go to. I like to put a little bit of a light whipped cream on my fruit. You can also gravitate towards things like sugar-free pudding, sugar-free jello. Those are great options for sweet treats, especially if you don't mind consuming sugar-free and also another dessert that I lean towards a lot are smart sweets and also any type of sweeter protein bar like a built bar. Those are things that all gravitate towards for a sweet treat because they're getting because I'm able to get in some protein, some fibers and vitamins and minerals along with my sweet treat. But I will say that my go to now is probably sugar-free popsicles and of course fruit with a little bit of whipped topping. Honorable mention for sweet treat. I like to take my favorite low sugar yogurt, which I generally choose the too good yogurt and I put a little bit of Lily's white chocolate chips in it and stir it up. It is so good. I don't know what it is about that white chocolate chip in yogurt combination. So good. Definitely satisfies my sweet tooth. You're getting in lots and lots of protein plus again, it just gives you that whole dessert vibe. The next question is how are you feeling with all of these changes and do you allow yourself to have one sweet treat every week and how do you navigate eating out? I feel absolutely amazing. I feel so much better. My fatigue has subsided quite substantially. My thyroid is now getting back into check and honestly, I don't miss the processed foods. I don't miss the junkie food. The foods that I'm eating are satisfying and they just make my body feel good, which is really, really important not to mention they're leading to just much more weight loss than I had before. I don't have a sweet treat every week. I generally have a sweet treat every single day. I have a dessert every single day. I just make good food choices kind of like the ones we just talked about in the best dessert option question. And as far as eating out before having to really change up my diet, I would just do my absolute best to make the healthiest choice on the menu. Honestly, I don't eat out a lot. I don't really eat fast food very often and now with these new dietary restrictions, I really just try to avoid eating out as much as possible because I don't necessarily know what's in the food and how that's going to affect my body and generally the foods that you find eating out whether it's fast food or dining in are just too many calories, too much fat, too much carbs for me. So I've really just skipped eating out overall since transitioning over to this thyroid inflammation type of diet approach. I must have missed it, but what were you diagnosed with? So again, a quick recap. Inflammation, fatigue and underactive thyroid. I've noticed that you're moving away from full fat dairy. Is there a reason that you're doing that or is it just tied to your thyroid issue? I'm a big advocate of full fat dairy. If you do not struggle from any issue with having full fat dairy, I highly recommend that you have that versus low fat dairy. And the reason for that is because when they process the fat out of dairy, they process out a lot of the vitamins and minerals. So you're missing all of those in low fat dairy and generally full fat dairy is very, very few calories or points more than the low fat. So if it doesn't affect you to have full fat dairy, I would highly, highly recommend that. But for me, because my dietary restrictions are low fat, I have to stay away from full fat dairy. I have to focus more on low fat or light dairy. But I'll tell you if I didn't have these dietary restrictions and what I've always done in the past is absolutely gravitate towards full fat. The next question kind of goes with this dairy full fat dairy question and that is what about sour cream and cottage cheese? I really like the flavor of the full fat better and the nutrition label isn't much different. That's what I was just mentioning is that the full fat dairy versus low fat dairy. There's not a lot of differences except for the vitamins, minerals and nutrients that you're getting. So absolutely focus on full fat dairy. The next question is since changing your diet, how do you still eat the desserts that you prepare in meal prep? For example, your churro cheesecake bars. Yes and no. I did try the churro cheesecake bars. I had a bite of those off-limit foods. I just have to really watch processed foods, high sugar foods, high fat foods, high carb food in moderation. So yes, I had a bite of the churro cheesecake bars, but as I mentioned, in that video, that's a recipe I made primarily for my husband. As far as my high protein jello mousse that I made, I ate that the entire week. I ate all five of those. It depends on the dessert item that I make. Sometimes I like to make one that's more suited for my husband. Sometimes I like to make one more suited for me. And sometimes what I make works for both of us. The next question is I've heard that sugar free is bad for you. That sugar is bad for you. What's the 4-1-1? What's the deal? Apparently this person had some family members cut out sugar and they saw great results from that. Pretty much everything is bad for you. They say coffee is good for you. Coffee is bad for you. Sugar is good for you. Sugar is bad for you. No food is bad or good. It's just how it affects it interacts with your body. Now, I'm somebody that can't tolerate a lot of sugar, so I gravitate towards sugar-free things. If sugar doesn't affect you and you prefer to have the natural sweetener that comes in sugar, honey, agave, definitely gravitate towards sugar. Everybody is different. So there's not just a one-size-fits-all answer. It's depending on your dietary needs and just what foods you enjoy and what foods you gravitate towards. And the last question from my Facebook group is, I don't really have a question, but I would love a health update. Let us know how you're doing with your thyroid medication and how you're doing with your dietary changes. I really wanted to give you guys a health update and I thought about filming a whole video about it. Then I decided to incorporate it into a Q&A because it's been a hot minute since I've done a Q&A. I have lots of new subscribers. We have a lot of new people joining WWW. So I thought that a Q&A-style health update would be a little more fun for you guys, but my health is doing much better. I'm definitely less fatigued. I still suffer from a little bit of fatigue. I don't, I can't give you a huge update on the thyroid medication because I've only been taking it for a short while. I'll know more when I go in for a blood panel here in the next couple of months. Kind of how that thyroid medication is working. But I feel really good with the foods that I'm choosing. I'm surprisingly not hungry on lower calories or anything. You, if you know me, you know I am a sweets lover. I love anything sweet and the only sweet types of things that I have are generally sugar-free or fruit and I don't miss the other sweets. I don't miss the bread, the pasta. I don't miss any of that. So I would say that overall things have drastically gotten better. I'm feeling a lot better. Now, am I a hundred percent? No, but I'm getting there. I think that with the thyroid medication and my continued dietary changes that my fatigue will subside entirely and again, my weight loss should pick up a little bit and I should just feel back to normal back to a hundred percent and also thank you guys so much for being concerned about me and reaching out and checking in on me and asking all these questions about my health. It really means a lot to me. The last two questions came directly from my YouTube channel on my community page and one of those questions I've already talked about. It was an update on how I'm doing how am I feeling how is everything going what changes I've made in my diet. Am I feeling more full and satisfied but there is one part of this question that I haven't answered yet and that is are you eating more artificial sweeteners sucralose stevia monk fruit than you were before and how is that affecting you I'm absolutely eating more artificial sweeteners now I try to choose good artificial sweetener my go-to's are a hundred percent stevia I really like the whole earth sweetener and of course my all-time favorite is the loconto monk fruit that's really the one that I gravitate towards because these are the more natural make sense these are the ones that affect your blood sugar definitely affect my body a lot less than say Splenda or some of those more processed artificial sweeteners those I actually try to avoid if you were to stop doing Weight Watchers what type of content would you put out in the event that I chose to stop doing Weight Watchers or WW my content really wouldn't change a whole lot I would still be putting out recipes weighing videos what I eat in a days I would actually still be sharing points if you didn't know WW offers anybody you me anybody a link for free month that you can share with friends and family every time someone uses your link and gets a free month with WW you get a free month with WW and because I've had a link for the last two and a half years so many people have used that link that I actually have WW for free through the year 20 29 8 more years of WW for free so even if I wasn't following WW I still have access to everything so I would still be sharing points in all of my recipes all of my videos all of my what I eat in a days so that wouldn't change at all if I ever stop WW it would strictly be to transition over to counting calories and macros because of my dietary restrictions but I actually am finding that the WW personal points plan especially works really well with calorie counting and with my dietary restrictions so I don't see myself making any changes anytime soon nothing on my channel would change at all so those are all of the questions that I received that's a health update again thank you guys so much for reaching out and asking questions of course and for being concerned about me you guys really are such a highlight of my day and you're such an important part of my everyday life and it means so much to me that you care enough about me some random person on YouTube to reach out and make sure that I'm feeling okay so thank you again so much from the bottom of my heart if you enjoyed today's video if you're not of course I'd love to have you here check out that description box for everything I mentioned today as well as nutrition coaching links and discounts to my favorite things and don't forget we'd love to have you join us on Facebook if you're looking for an amazing community to join thank you again for watching happy Sunday friends and I'll see you next time bye