Dietitian Reacts to Ex Biggest Loser Trainer Jillian Michaels' Condescending Diet Tips

oh boy this one's gonna be a doozy hey everyone i'm abby sharp welcome to abby's kitchen [Music] today's video is sponsored by aura and we'll be reviewing ex-biggest loser personal trainer jillian michaels but first let me tell you about my sponsor aura as you guys know i have struggled with anxiety and insomnia for pretty much my entire life so i have tried a lot of different techniques to unwind but i recently discovered an award-winning mindfulness and sleep app called aura which has been used by over 5 million people to date and it's made a huge difference in my day so aura includes thousands of amazing meditations and stories plus playlists on cbt life coaching and spirituality depending on your needs and relaxation style this isn't like other one-size-fits-all apps because you fill out a short quiz which will then give you personalized tracks based on your anxiety and sleep needs my favorite section of the app is their morning meditations for better productivity and concentration which has really helped to set my intentions and deal with my decision fatigue on busy days so if you want to explore some new self-care strategies check out the link in my description box for a seven day free trial of aura plus 25 off of your first year subscription also of course be sure to read my disclaimer including a big big big trigger warning jillian isn't exactly known to sugarcoat diet advice so please feel free to skip this video if it's not supportive to your journey and if you are new here ring that bell so that you never miss out on a video all right folks as a quick little introduction jillian michaels is basically the og fitness influencer and has made her mark in the fitness industry through media appearances on talk shows and tv shows most notably her stint on the biggest loser she's also released countless fitness books and dvds posts her own podcast and even has a highly rated fitness app so yeah the girl stays busy even though jillian is basically a household name in the fitness industry she has come into some hot water for her controversial tough love approach to weight loss and dieting are you ready to work are you ready to work there's honestly a lot of stuff that i could discuss when it comes to jillian but i'm really trying to keep these videos shorter so today i'm gonna focus on her latest what i in a day video and when i say latest i mean at the time of filming which as you guys know is far in advance so who knows she could have an updated one since i filmed this let's take a look i'm the common sense diet i don't overeat i eat all three macronutrients and i try to avoid processed food 80 of the time i try to make 80 of my food choices good ones and 20 of my food choices are not so great ah and that keeps me sane okay so i know the 80 20 rule is more of a colloquialism at this point than an absolute percentage split but i still never loved the concept myself because i do think it dichotomizes food into good and bad categories like even processed food should not be so easily divided i'm not sure if she knows this but yogurt wine bread canned beans all healthy foods that she mentions in this video are actually considered processed foods having said that i think of having structure like this helps to keep her sane while also ensuring that she can maintain her fitness goals because yes i acknowledge that fitness is kind of her livelihood then i think that this definitely does make some sense and if it works for her it works for me i eat complex carbohydrates with lots of fiber whole grains beans legumes fruits vegetables i eat healthy fats polyunsaturated monounsaturated and a little bit of saturated fat not a ton but i get some my protein is ideally wild caught fish grass-fed grass finished beef i don't really compromise on that okay lots to discuss here first of all i really love that jillian is talking about getting in all her macros and she's focusing on high quality sources as well higher fiber carbs like she mentioned are energizing and promote better regularity satiety blood sugar control and heart health ditto for polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats over saturated fats now as for an occasional grass-fed beef meal i actually think that that's a great choice i mean i think we can all stand to reduce our reliance on red meat and if you do choose to incorporate red meat into your diet to do so sparingly as for the grass-fed versus conventional grain-fed argument a grass-fed beef will contain about five times more omega-3s and twice the conjugated linoleic acid or cla content which is also associated with reduced risk of heart disease and obesity and while it is generally more expensive to go this route i think if you're limiting your intake to a once a month burger you can perhaps be a little bit more splurgy it's a hamburger made out of meat on a bun with nothing i really try to get wild cut fish sockeye salmon in particular all of the great nutrients and the omega-3s that come from wild salmon especially things like salmon there are some things that are okay farmed but a lot of it has food dye and a bunch of garbage like read about it first of all i want to start by saying any salmon wild or farmed is a nutrient-dense choice rich in heart-healthy omega-3s that alone gets thumbs up from me but if you want to break down further i would say that wild salmon is considered nutritionally superior because it has slightly more calcium and iron less total fat and saturated fat and a better omega-3 to six ratio it also has slightly fewer calories compared to farmed now there's also concern that farmed salmon contains higher amounts of contaminants like pcbs and dioxins but these compounds are ultimately found in both and the current consensus is that the health benefits of consuming fish definitely outweigh the risk now mercury levels are generally low in all salmon so that's not particularly a concern but antibiotic use in some fish farm regions continue to be a big problem canada for example has worked very hard to reduce their antibiotic use whereas chile which is the world's second largest producer of farmed salmon still relies heavily on antibiotics so if you're choosing a farmed salmon product ideally you want to look for a product that's been certified by a regulatory organization for example look for aquaculture stewardship council global sustainable seafood initiative or the monterey bay aquarium seafood watch cage-free organic eggs okay i'm just gonna intercept here because i'm hearing the o word a lot and not the good big o that we really like that's what she said i'm talking about organics now this is such a complicated debate and i think it's merit really depends on the food category and also where the food is being sourced i don't associate with anyone who eats conventional food i'm in a social class above that but for a very quick overview i actually discussed this in a little bit more detail in my sorel amore video right here now in the case of eggs it does feel like there are so many qualifying terms now that it can feel very overwhelming in the grocery store i came here for the same reason people go to the zoo caged eggs are eggs that very simply put come from hens that are not caged according to the usda the hens can freely roam a building room or enclosed area but do not have access to the outdoors if that was your preference you would want to be looking for free range and or pasture fed which is not a regulated term but organic eggs are from cage-free hens who have some access to the outdoors and who are fed an organic diet free of conventional pesticides and fertilizers are these specialty eggs healthier than conventional well when cbc marketplace tested a variety of conventional and organic options here in canada they found that while organics did have more omega-3s than conventional there otherwise weren't any major nutritional differences but if you're concerned about humanely raised hens my suggestion would be to get to know a local farmer and buy directly from them i do organic grass-fed yogurt okay intercepting again because again organic and in this case grass-fed as well which like i mentioned before it does have a slight nutritional benefit over conventional dairy so grass-fed dairy tends to have higher amounts of omega-3s and cla and lower amounts of omega-6 and saturated fat palmitic acid now organic dairy does differ from conventional at least in the states in that it's produced without any antibiotics or added hormones now obviously these attributes come at an added price but i just want people to know that both conventionally produced and organically produced dairy is considered safe ultimately this comes down to budget and personal preference like there's an organic cheeto um i'm not getting paid for this it's called luke's luke's lightning bolts it doesn't have a ton of chemicals in it so if i have like a half a cup of it with a sandwich or a salad the world's not gonna end right is it health food no is it gonna fight cancer no is it gonna cause it i mean not if you eat a tiny bit of it this is where the argument for organics feels a little shaky to me it's called the natural fallacy the belief that just because something is more natural that it gets a free pass it's like the mom who calls oreos poison what kind of poison did you use dwight i didn't poison you i was kidding but will buy her kid organic cream-filled chocolate cookie sandwiches no problem i'm not demonizing cookies of any variety but they're still cookies now also i want to make it clear that i'm not demonizing these cheetos these sound amazing and totally something that i would buy and i agree they're not going to cause cancer not even if you eat the whole bag it's not going to cause cancer on its own but you know what neither is this when we compare the ingredients in the organic cheetos versus like a regular cheetos we can see that the organic ones do not contain any food dye so that may be important to you if you are allergic or if you want to avoid looking like a chain smoker now the organic cheetos also contain some real cheese in addition to the cheese flavor in there which again might actually rule these out if you're concerned about artificial flavors but otherwise when comparing the organic versus regular cheetos both have basically the same amount of fiber and protein and almost the same amount of calories so despite the health halo no cheeto is going to fight cancer like she says nor will they single-handedly cause cancer either even if you eat more than a tiny bit of it or if you eat the non-organic version so i say choose a snack that you enjoy and eat it in the context of a balanced diet which it does sound like she does it's just too bad that it seems to come with so much moral baggage generally it's about four drinks a week topped and i do red wine white wine and sake don't really do much else because i want the health benefits if i'm gonna drink and i drink in moderation because studies have shown us that up to a glass a night or six drinks a week have health benefits okay so obviously i agree it's a good call to drink in moderation i don't know where i felt i could get a little drink around here do you but and she is right that most of the literature suggests that light to moderate drinking has some health benefits but heavy drinking has health risks now i don't think that this research is reason to start drinking if you don't already drink because there are way more nutrient dense ways in your diet to get those same benefits but if you're enjoying a few drinks a week i don't see a huge concern i don't overeat i balance the amount of calories i take in with the amount of calories i put out so i eat about 1800 calories a day if i work out particularly hard i eat 2 000 calories that day well if i've worked out extra hard i can eat a little bit more i can have the treat food um so i'd say that 1800 to 2000 calories a day sounds likely adequate enough for jillian's needs and she may even need a bit more than that depending on her physical activity now while i want to trust that jillian knows her body best and will provide it with the fuel that it needs this is her profession she has also made some controversial comments about intuitive eating that i'm going to talk about in a minute and also about discussing manipulating her weight down to a very specific number i don't know i have to question how in tune she actually is with her true needs also i don't know who needs to hear this but you can still have a treat food even if you didn't work out extra hard i just don't think it's healthy to be thinking about everything in our day as this kind of transaction you know add the have a couple bites of my kids mac and cheese it's okay oh gosh feel really sad for people who worry so much about others validation and appraisal of their diet that they need to justify having a bite of their kids food to absolute strangers and honestly i feel worse for people who have small enough lives that they actually give jillian my dear no one will judge you for eating non-organic mac and cheese i wouldn't even judge you for eating a whole box like there are a lot of bites that make up a day to be worrying about what everyone thinks about each and every one i generally eat same three things for breakfast i'll have either eggs scrambled eggs with a little bit of organic cheese or eggs over easy with two pieces of organic whole grain toast eggs with veggies or eggs with a little bit of fruit on the side but i'm getting protein fat carbs right if we were to take a shot every single time jillian said the word organic i'm not sure i'd make it to the end of this video oh my god but honestly playing the organic card in every breath is starting to feel a bit more like an elitist flex than a teachable moment and i'm not feeling it i'd like to tell you about the benefits of eating organic i'm not interested but i will say organic or not this breakfast does sound solid like she says we've got some protein and fat from the eggs and the cheese and carbs from the toast and fruit for my lunch i'll usually do protein salad it could be like a taco salad for example maybe with shrimp so it has the black beans the shrimp some salsa on top all my veggies mixed in occasionally i'll have a sandwich but it could be even grilled fish tacos i'm low-key a little relieved that we didn't hear the big o word here but i'm sure there's more of that to come having said that these are all great options for lunch because like she says she's all about hitting all three macros at most meals and while she didn't specifically mention like sources of fat i would definitely be adding in like some guac to those tacos or salad and maybe a nice little pesto or cheese to the sandwich for a snack um i'll usually have an apple i don't really like almond butter i recommend it because it's good for you but i don't really like it so i have organic peanut butter like an apple peanut butter or like piece of fruit and an organic cheese stick a little bit of trail mix some dry roasted nuts and a piece of fruit but basically again the protein fat and carbs i keep it super simple first of all it makes me kind of sad to hear almost like the embarrassment and shame in her voice when she admits to eating or liking something that doesn't conform to her food rules like a bite of her kids mac and cheese or in this case the peanut butter folks peanut butter is great it's actually an all-in-one hunger crushing combo and it has more protein than other nut butters i don't know why everyone demonizes it but the girl obviously does know how to build a balanced snack and ultimately i'm just glad she's not forcing herself to eat something that she hates and dinner same like tonight i'm gonna go get sushi so what am i gonna have i'm gonna have uh yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno i'm gonna have uh probably six pieces of sockeye salmon sushi i'm going to have a seaweed salad um i do get the spicy tuna roll they tell them no mayo and then when i go for something like chi food i'll split a soft shell crabble i love sushi because i think it's inherently quite balanced with the fat and the protein in the fish and the carbs and the rice but do we really need to call half of a soft shell crab roll cheap food now aside from the fact that we have got to stop moralizing foods with this language if you're doing it stop it a half of a soft shell crab roll has like 150 calories i think we're gonna be okay if you have the whole roll as your alleged cheat food this is exhausting i eat every three to four hours and i create a minimum of a 12 hour fast one and i try to get at least a 12 hour window but i aim for 14 and i do cheat it i have organic cold brewed coffee in the morning as i cheat the fasting window from 12 hours to 14 with heavy whipping cream and you don't break the benefits of that overnight fast uh are you gonna tell her or am i cause that will actually break a fast it might not kick you out of ketosis but most of the benefits of ketosis aren't actually seen on super short overnight bouts like this as it usually takes two to four days to get into ketosis to begin with also heavy whipping cream while high in fat still contains small amounts of protein and carbs there's a lot of things wrong with this little hack [Music] also some research suggests that you can still reap the alleged benefits of intermittent fasting in a modest 12-hour fast so i would say rather than trying to push yourself into an arbitrary 14-hour fast with whipping cream i don't know just eat that's my eating schedule which is really important by the way because if you're grazing all day long your blood sugar is always high you want that overnight window where your body is not breaking down food so it can do housekeeping i think what jillian is referring to is the migratory motor complex which i mentioned in my sibo and sam ozkerel videos here and here now the mmc is like a broom that helps move food particles through the digestive tract every 130 minutes or so so you don't actually need to wait five whole hours between meals it's more like two and a half to trigger this natural cleansing response and if you're having trouble with blood sugar management make sure that you're focusing on the hunger crushing combo you don't need to be holding back on eating between meals if you're hungry unnecessarily try to avoid the refined sugars and processed grains and all that crap drink in moderation and i promise you'll be fine man does anyone else find her healthy eating is so easy stop complaining vibe like super condescending i mean i also acknowledge that i have no lived experience in a larger body but at least i'm not over here suggesting that manipulating your body is an obvious walk in the park so let's talk about my overall thoughts on jillian's diet now while jillian coins her diet as the common sense diet i would argue that her way of eating is actually not that common at all that is unless you're a whole foods groupie that can afford to eat exclusively organic grass-fed cage-free and wild-caught foods while shaming yourself over a single bite of organic mac and cheese or cheese puffs even though her diet sounds very well balanced and nutritious of course it's actually wildly inaccessible for most people it's also interesting to me that even though she claims to follow the 80 20 rule to keep her sane she still holds quite a bit of shame when she does give herself permission to eat treat foods even if they are organic or something highly nutritious like peanut butter it's as if she can't just let herself eat a cookie or donut as is without some sort of health halo around it to justify it with that said it's really no surprise to me that she dishes out diet culture rhetoric like referring to meals as cheats or garbage or suggesting that you need to earn your food through exercise or demonizing inorganic processed foods so while her body language and tone feels super chill and relaxed if you listen to the words coming out of her mouth it's clear to me that she's actually remarkably restrained and given her controversial commentary on intuitive eating which largely missed the mark it's my feeling that jillian can't really comprehend a relationship with food beyond dieting and weight loss for example in her video about intuitive eating she constantly describes food and movement from the lens of seeing results and not so much as something that is to be enjoyed or make your body feel good in her eyes giving yourself unconditional permission to eat the foods that you enjoy is a sign of lacking self-control she also denies that diet culture even exists and that our health aka size comes down to willpower in other words your size is a you problem and is something that needs fixing houston we have a problem so it's really no surprise that she's hell-bent on suggesting that someone's size determines their health and that someone in a larger body can't possibly be metabolically healthy and while i don't want to discredit jillian's expertise as i do know that she is a highly knowledgeable voice in the fitness space i personally find her patronizing language around weight loss really difficult to swallow not gonna say it again she has a tendency to overly simplify weight loss and wellness with a real condescending tone as if you should feel guilty or dumb for not already following these simple rules as if it's your fault that you can't be thin because hey this is common sense i especially found it frustrating that she attempted to dumb down losing the last 10 pounds to what she describes as a few simple steps like drinking more water sleeping eight hours and cutting out booze which she said that alone will get it done um raise your hand if you drink a ton of water and you still don't look like her jillian my dear you need a reality check but i guess this is also the jillian michaels who is caught on camera motivating her clients by telling them that you can't stop unless you faint puke or die not my style but appeals to someone apparently honestly i could rant all day but i will save it for part two if you guys want so on that note that is all that i have for you today thank you again to aura for sponsoring this video if you liked it be sure to give it the thumbs up leave me a comment below on who you'd like to see me review next subscribe to this channel and i'll see you next time on abby's kitchen bye you

Channel: Abbey Sharp

Views: 350,698

Keywords: abbeys kitchen, abbey sharp, dietitian reviews, dietitian reacts, intermittent fasting, jillian michaels, Jillian Michaels diet, Jillian Michaels workout, the biggest loser, Jillian Michaels the biggest loser, Jillian Michaels what I eat in a day, weight loss, how to lose weight

Id: z0mhoZ5Zy50

Length: 23min 55sec (1435 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 14 2021