SAM CUTLER - THE FIT FATALE

My guest today, Sam Cutler, better known on social media as the Fit Fatal, is a Harvard-trained nutrition coach, founder of the Mindful app, a nutrition-focused platform offering whole food-focused meal plans, health coaching, and a very supportive community of women in over 30 countries. Mindful aims to break the stigma around women's health

moving away from dieting, tracking and measuring

and instead teaching women how to nourish themselves, build confidence in the kitchen with whole foods, and understand the science behind ingredients. Sam is the social media force behind the Fit Fatal, an online community of over 450,000 women, where she has spent the past 10 years sharing her own story, healing chronic inflammatory conditions and operating as a high-performing CEO and totally, totally transforming her body and her life.
I love her videos. I think she's insanely inspirational.
If you are struggling with getting in better shape, if you're struggling with losing weight, this is the way to do it. I hope you guys enjoy my great conversation with the gorgeous and super talented Sam.
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It's such an honor having you here. Thank you for having me.
I'm very excited for today's chat. Yes, so am I because I found out about you a while ago and I became a huge fan.
I've been following your work. I love your energy.
So the first thing I want to say is congratulations, because I think you're building this amazing, incredible community and it's so empowering for women out there. Thank you.
That's so sweet. I mean, that's a big part of what we wanted to do is just bring women together.
And I think we have felt isolated over the past few years. And it's really a beautiful thing to just feel like

we can come together on common ground about health and bettering ourselves. Yes, absolutely.
But

before we talk about mindful and we talk about your, by the way, I love the name fit fatal. I

think it's super cute. But I, for people that don't know about you, don't know about your work,

let's rewind. You are not always this fit and fabulous fit fatal that you are today.
And you're

I think that's rewind the story. Tell us like a little bit about how you were and what happened and what brought you here.
Absolutely. So it's been a long journey.
So I'll try to tell the abbreviated version as better as I can, but you're spot on. If you are listening and you know me, you may know me as the Fit Fatal on Instagram, or you may know my company Mindful, but of course that's not where the journey started at all.
I'm not somebody who just was trained in nutrition or fitness and decided to share this with other people. And it came naturally to me, it was definitely a learning journey to overcome a lot of different obstacles that I faced in my life.
And that's really how the story evolved. And so as you're referencing, no, absolutely not.
I was not always this, you know, super fit, healthy person, but I didn't necessarily know that I wasn't. And I think that's where a lot of women can relate to the story.
Early on in my 20s, I was working in corporate fashion. I was living what was a toxic lifestyle, but didn't really know it was a toxic lifestyle, working 80-hour work weeks at time, drinking these sugary lattes until it was time for cocktail hour, grabbing whatever was easy to eat, usually processed package ingredients, things that were labeled maybe low calorie or sugar-free, not really actually knowing anything about what I was eating.
And then pairing that together with chronic stress, working crazy hours, like I said, being out late, a lot of just different lifestyle habits that I have today, obviously, but just these kinds of lifestyle habits that are compounding over time. And when we consistently don't sleep or we're not getting in movement or we're eating unhealthy, everything just sort of builds up.
So I found myself at a really young age, mid-twenties, facing things like stomach ulcer, chronic inflammation, mental health issues from depression to anxiety, severe, severe adult acne, which was a really, really tough one. Anyone listening with any type of skin issue or acne, it's debilitating.
You feel like you can't be seen. You don't want anyone to see you and go to work and go to the gym, even because you feel like your skin is such a barrier to your confidence and also not fit.
And what I understood about health was really diet culture. And what I grew up exposed to was these diets of do this temporarily and you'll reach a result, but not a sustainable lifestyle fit.
And so I was on this constant cycle of saying, okay, I have a fun job and I'm doing all these things and everyone else seems like they've got it figured out and they're in their twenties and they're not crashing and burning. And what it was, was really not one particular thing that I was doing or something that I could stop temporarily.
It was a full lifestyle haul that was really needing to happen. And these compounding unhealthy lifestyle habits that really drove me to burnout, um, you know, truly deteriorating gut health, dysbiosis in my gut, all of these chronic conditions.
And it wasn't just one thing. And I kept going to a doctor and doing blood tests and, you know, checking my vitals.
And I'm saying, well, you're fine. Like you're in normal, you know, your metrics seem normal, your results in your labs come back in normal range, which, you know, again, what is that normal range? You know, it's so broad, but seems fine.
And it was never one specific thing that anyone could tell me, oh, just take this pill or just, um, you know, cut this out. You're allergic to this.
This must be the answer. And so over time, 10 years, quite literally, I had to go through the process of getting to know my body and healing it.
And that's really where the fixate health came from, which was telling my story of learning about myself and learning about my health. Amazing.
Hold on. By the way, I forgot to record recording in progress the video.
So here we go. Okay.
My assistant just gave me a sign behind the camera. Perfect.
Okay. So amazing.
But I know a lot of people out there listening and I know people look at the Instagram and they're like, when, because they see the end result, right? They see you beautiful, fabulous, skinny, gorgeous in fabulous shape. And I know so many women, I hear this phrase all the time.
Oh, but it's so hard. It's easy for her because she's fit.
It's so hard to get started. Was there a turning point that you were like, you know what? I want to become fit.
I want to live a healthier lifestyle. Or for someone out there listening that they think sometimes it's an impossible, impossible mountain to climb.
Is there a first step to literally turn the game around, so to speak? Totally. That's such a great question because so many people ask me that all the time.
And we hear this again and again in our community, like what's the one place I should start? What's the one thing? The reality is, and some people might not want to hear this, but the reality is that it's consistency in anything, right? There are things that I can tell you from nutrition to fitness that will improve drastically if you're not already doing them. And they're really easy, low hanging fruit to start and grab for.
And I'll definitely share those. But ultimately across the board, if you want to change your life, it's about consistency and it's about what you do regularly that compounds over time.
Like I just previously told the story of the negative that has the same impact, the positive does the same. It was not one mistake that I was making and it was not one big thing that I did that created that negative situation.
And it was the same for the positive. And so what I truly believe when it comes to overhaul of your life or getting fit or getting healthier, changing your nutrition is starting with one habit or one shift and layering on top.
Because what we do is we run a straight forward and we try to change our entire lives. January 1st comes or our birthday comes and we make the pin board and we do the vision board.
And I think that's powerful. It's great to understand what we're working towards.
But if you do not have a foundation to step on top of, if you are trying to do all of these crazy things at once, or maybe not crazy, but we haven't reached that level, just like you're going through an e-course in a way, we need to look at it like that. And so I think it's really important that we start at baseline.
For me, baseline is truly our nutrition because we're not adding anything into our life or adding any stressors. We're already eating and we eat every single day.
And so what's powerful about understanding our nutrition is just getting to know what we're actually eating. So if someone's listening and they have zero foundation, they don't know where to start.
I would say, take a look at your fridge, take a look at your pantry and take a look at your plate without judgment and just know where you're actually starting from. Like what is your baseline? Cause so many people come to me and go, I think I'm eating healthy.
I believe I'm already doing the stuff. Okay.
Well, when we take a look at your fridge and actually mostly processed items. I think, but this is one of the hardest things for a lot of people, right? I, cause I'm kind of like you, I changed my life a few years ago and I eat crazy clean.
I got more and more into it. And the more I got into it, the more I enjoy doing it because it's a process.
But I know I have friends, even my sister, they're like, oh my God, this is impossible because health food is so expensive and they don't know how to eat clean. And it's hard to get rid of sugar and everything.
So I know you said maybe that's the first step, but for a lot of people, because obviously you're a Harvard trained nutritionist, you know your game, but for a lot of people, it's overwhelming. They look at their fridge and they're like, where do I start? How do I do this? Yeah.
And so that's what I think is like looking, if you have a lot of packaged ingredients, looking at the back and reading the ingredients and can you pronounce or do you even understand what they are? So that's really simple because I'm not asking you to go and purchase any type of, like you said, these health food that is really expensive or maybe eating gluten-free is more expensive for the option. I totally get that.
And I can empathize with that because I do it and I feel it myself, right? But at the end of the day, can we grab what we already have just so that we almost do an audit on ourselves? I actually make this comparison quite a bit, but if we think about debt, if you want to get out of debt, you actually can't build a plan to get out of debt. If you don't know how much debt you're in and you don't know where it is, is it a credit card? Do you have a student loan? Do you have a line of credit here? Which bank? Can you look at understanding what it is that you're trying to tackle? And so when we talk about our health and we talk about nutrition in particular, you have to know where you're starting from.
You can't say tomorrow I'm going to eat healthy because that is the most broad statement. And healthy means different things for everybody and culturally, because of course in North America and in the U S different, you know, ingredients or preservatives are allowed into our food.
So we have to really just look at the back and say, can I strip down and get back to more basic ingredients? And, and what I mean by that is really looking at whole foods. And so that's really easy for a lot of people.
Once we break it down to anything that is in its natural state, one ingredient items versus everything else,

whether it's processed, packaged or not, but whether it's in its natural state. And I'll give an example.
It's really easy for people to understand. So chicken.
Chicken is a whole

ingredient item. You have a piece of chicken.
You can add spices to it, olive oil. Amazing.

It's still one whole ingredient item, right? Now, if we have chicken fingers or chicken nuggets,

We're going to be right back. You have a piece of chicken.
You can add spices to it, olive oil. Amazing.
It's still one whole ingredient item, right?

Now, if we have chicken fingers or chicken nuggets, we're talking about the chicken potentially,

you know, itself being processed.

But then if you look at the actual package, oftentimes there's going to be tons of additive preservatives, probably sugar often added in there, which is crazy.

People don't realize this, you know, the breading, all of the binding agents. So that no longer, all those start at the one ingredient, whole food item, eating that chicken nugget, or even just sometimes a frozen version of a whole ingredient item or something that we might think is whole is not.
And so that's where the power comes from just checking. And now you might choose differently when you go to your local grocery store, say I'm grabbing chicken for dinner with your partner.
Now you have the option to choose a whole piece of chicken versus the one you were previously getting. But we don't know until we bring awareness into that.
Oh my God, 1 million percent. And I personally think, tell me if you agree with me or not, most people fail because they use this word diet.
They want an overnight result.

And then you go on a diet and I'm like,

of course, the minute you're out of the diet,

what are you going to do?

You're going to go back to all your bad habits.

They gain the weight back.

They get frustrated.

I don't care what it is out there.

I think it's a horrible idea for me.

It's the word you use.

It's the only thing that works in my life.

It's the lifestyle.

I've been doing it for so long. It makes me feel so great.
I want to do it more and more and more and more. And I think even like the Ozanpuk craze, all this bullshit is like, okay, so what are you going to do? You're going to go on a diet for a week and then you're going to eat the chocolate again or the sugar or whatever it is.
So, and I know so many women out there, they're like, cool, but Atkins work for me. And this one works for me.
And the carnivore, what would you say to people like that? If you're planning to feel a certain way for the rest of your life, then you have to be doing something that you're willing to do for the rest of your life. And that's what I always say.
So if you feel great on whatever diet, it may be temporary diet. If you're not going to keep that as the way that you eat for the rest of your life, then it's not a sustainable solution.
And the most powerful thing that anyone can do when they're saying, I want something that works, but I also want to continue to feel this way is like I said, with those steps. So starting somewhere, like for example, on mindful, we talk with a lot of our community and our customers about a gut reset.
So a gut reset is something you can do for three weeks or four weeks until you start to feel a little bit better. But what that is, is actually educating yourself on the ingredients that promote healthy,

good gut bacteria that helps lower inflammation, that improves digestion, that improves your mental health, that supports blood sugar regulation, that supports your hormones, all of these pieces together. And so if you want to do something that you're like, I feel really motivated by, you know, a four week or a three week or whatever it is, starting with something that's a educational tool and also helps reset where you are.
And so with things like a gut reset, oftentimes we don't realize, and this was a lot of my issues, we don't realize that our gut has been so negatively impacted by the food, the processed ingredients, our environment, our stresses, so many other pieces, but negatively impacted. And so everything that we're eating is making us feel sick or bloated or coming out in, in my case as, you know, acne or hair lots.
We all have different symptoms from it, but a lot of the time it does them back to our central operating system, which is our gut. So when we can get that to a better place, it's almost like a deep clean, right? For your house or for, um, you know, the operating system or what we want to clear our desktop on our computer, whatever you can, you know, connect it to in your day to day life.
It's very similar. So it's not a temporary solution, but it's healing in a way that supports your gut to really grow back and build that healthy bacteria to support.
So you can go on to then testing what does work for me here and there as I add different things into my nutrition. And it's very similar.
A lot of people will start and they'll be like, hang on, there's carbs in it. Like I'm eating, I'm eating real like asterisks and normal things.
Yes, we need that. And that's the issue where we see with diet culture.
It's constantly restricting, constantly counting calories, constantly counting grams, instead of saying, no, no, you need, you want to build strong muscle. You want to build that fitness piece to remain strong and support your longevity.
You need carbohydrates. You need fiber in that equation.
It's not just one piece. And so when we restrict and cut out big chunks, that's where we get into trouble because it's not sustainable.
Oh, my God. One million percent.
I love how you put like this very real videos on your Instagram and you show yourself how you were before. You are not obese.
You are just a little chubby. I think you said you have like this.
You had the roundish face. And then you put the videos of your transformation which is absolutely incredible and it's very

inspiring to me for sure and and thousands and thousands of people out there how long did it

take you like in your journey from what you were to what you are now

i like i said i feel like i've been on a 10-year journey like my health i would say

um every time i share different pictures they're all from different stages

and so you know i'll hear from people oh you look strong there or whatever because every kind of

Thank you. I would say, every time I share different pictures, they're all from different stages.
And so, you know, I'll hear from people, oh, you look strong there or whatever. Because every kind of moment, as I discussed, is really about layering and figuring it out.
I think when I first went on this journey, I said, okay, I have to lower my stress. So that was kind of the first piece that I took on.
And then I said, and then my hair started to grow a little bit more, you know, and my skin started to clear a little bit more. And then I think you can layer on top.
And that's what I really did was saying, okay, now I'm understanding stress. Now, how do I support that stress? Well, let's get into fitness a little bit more because my previous understanding of fitness was going on the elliptical for 16 minutes and just doing, you know, cardio and not really building any muscle and not, um, you know, building any type of, um, routine that was sustainable and fun, like work here should be fun.
And so for me, that was really the process of, okay, now let me understand how I can start to, you know, build muscle, um, improve my body composition, all of these different pieces. And then when things really clicked was when I really understood that inflammatory ingredients were getting in the way of a lot still and a lot of my progress.
So for me, a lot of that was gluten and dairy, but also packaged ingredients. So we talk a lot about inflammatory ingredients across the board.
And I think that some of them are definitely fine in moderation, but again, it's about that 80, 20%. I love that.
That's what I do too. Yeah.
Right. And so it's just really, for me, that was like a huge, huge moment of when my health really shifted was when I cut out gluten and dairy because I'm extremely sensitive to it.
They are inflammatory to most people, but I was also eating a lot of it. Right.
So it's also, again, if you have a little piece here and there, I don't, but if somebody does and they're feeling fine, that's great. But if you're having tons and tons of dairy throughout your day, or you're having tons of package ingredients, you're causing a lot of this inflammation.
So you're never really able to get ahead. And that's where that hamster wheel comes in.
And so, like I said, if you look on my Instagram or my socials, the journey looks like, oh, it's here to there, but it's been so long. And I try to really communicate that effectively.
And it's always about, you think you're somewhere else in a year from now or two years from now, I'm going to show you guys me then versus now and have some type of improvement, right? And say, oh, I've built, you know, right now I'm in my building muscle phase and trying to really optimize for supporting my longevity of my body's functionality. And so that was, that's been a harder piece for me.
And so that's really where I'm at in my journey now, but I've worked my way up to getting there. I don't think we can just head to the gym and look at starting to build muscle if we don't have a foundation for even, you know, healthy nutrition at home or healthy lifestyle habits or sleep, all those pieces.

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And I think it's important that you mention it's not like an overnight thing, right? It's a journey. It's like long term.
It's not like and it's the famous January 1st. All the gyms are like insanely packed.
And then like 30, most people give up after 30 days, 60 days because they don't see results. And I'm thinking like, what kind of result? I think it anything in life, right? But with our bodies, what kind of result do you think you're going to get in 60 days? I think it's like you said, you got to look at it like a lifelong journey of self-improvement and feeling better about your health and your body and your wellbeing, right? Totally.
I mean, Kat, if you gave up on this podcast after 60 days, you wouldn't be where you are today. And I think we all need to connect that when it comes to our health to every other area of our life.
Totally. You know, you're going to be living, you're going to be eating, you're going to be doing these things.
Why not optimize them for the better? They're happening either way, right? Six months will come. I know.
I love that. And for me, you mentioned gluten and I know it's very controversial, but the day it was the same.
I kept, because I'm thin, but I, you know, I felt like I needed to get better and better and better and better shape. And I couldn't put my finger on what was making me bloated.
I always felt bloated, bloated, bloated, bloated, and I'm like, what's going on? What's going on? And then I went to the doctor, and he mentioned, well, do you eat? I'm half French, and French people have this habit, like we eat a little bit of bread every single day. When I cut that out, like my well-being, like you said, gut health, my body changed.
I feel so much better. It's definitely a sacrifice, but it's worth it for me and for my body because it was life-changing for me.
So I agree that it's not for everybody, But if you can pinpoint what is making a few bloated or, you know, making a few not well, that's a big help and a big step in the right direction. Absolutely.
It's funny you say that because I'm originally from Montreal. So we have the French culture and totally thought on like bagels, baguette, croissants is all part of my culture.
And so that was a really big shift big shift and really hard now i think you know yeah it's probably been five years or so i'm gluten-free but yeah now we have a little bit more options there's some stuff coming out but it's still not and your body gets used to it right after a while i think for i'm obviously for you but for me the same the more i eat clean the more my body cra that food. And then if I try to eat something heavy or something unhealthy, I get super sick.
I'm like, oh, my God, I shouldn't have had that. So hopefully that motivates people.
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Oh, God, I'm desperate. Down on streaming platforms.
out there because i know in the beginning it's so difficult changing your diet and getting rid of things you enjoy, but in time your body appreciates it so much that it makes you feel better and better. And I think there's so many alternatives now that we don't really need to get rid of a lot of the things we do enjoy.
It's just about bringing mindfulness into it as well. So if you do want to keep things that you notice cause inflammation or cause irritation, I think there's a few ways to look at it.
One is about equipping yourself with the information. I always use alcohol as an example because we all understand this one.
We go out and we have a drink or two and we might not feel as optimized the next day for performance, right? To think cognitively, to hang out with our kids, have the energy, whatever. But when we make that choice the night before, we do so knowing, okay, do I have a meeting at 9 a.m.
or do I have a meeting at 11? Like, what does my morning look like? We kind of, we optimize or we understand based off of how our performance will be because of the choice that we're making. When we look at nutrition in the same way, we bring mindfulness without guilt and without restriction and say, okay, I can have this heavier meal.
Maybe it's a little bit later for me. I try to eat with enough time frame to digest.
So when I eat late, I almost feel the same way as when I have alcohol. It feels very sluggish.
You don't fully digest. You maybe don't sleep as well.
All of that is a ripple effect. And so if we make those choices, say, okay, I know tomorrow's Saturday.
It's not going to be as big of a deal or I don't have anything in the morning. And so we have to bring mindfulness.
It's not about the choice of, oh my gosh, I'm never going to do this or I'm never going to have to, I'm going to use these moments of learning opportunities to understand how I perform best, how these feel best for me. And now I go into that with a open mind and, and truly control over your decisions.
And I think what we feel right now across the country is that we've lost control over nutrition. We've lost control.
We go out to restaurants and it's a free for all. I don't know what they're going to put on my plate.
I don't know what it's going to be in it. I'm buying a package ingredient.
I have no idea what those things mean. I'm just going to throw it out the window and trust that somebody's they've decided this is okay for me.
And we don't need to proceed in that way. We can one, obviously bring more awareness into looking at our packages, understanding what in things don't be afraid to ask waiters.
I always have this conversation. We talk about eating out it's their job.
They hopefully are, you know, really willing and helpful to support you. Maybe ask for softness on the side.
If you're not sure, go simple. Like there's ways to do things where you're not compromising on the things that you love, whether those are the ingredients, the foods, or, you know, going out to eat and really enjoying the process.
Like food is beautiful and it brings people together. We shouldn't be giving out on that just because we choose to eat a certain way.
Totally. I couldn't agree with you more.
I think, and I forgot who told me this phrase a long time ago with some nutritionist and I never forgot it. She said, food is not our enemy and it's not our friend.
It's just something that nourishes us, that keeps us going, that gives us energy. You just got to have a good relationship with it.
And this is one of the things that I love about your work. It's not about being obsessed or feeling deprived or it's literally just about nourishing yourself with the best possible types of food so you thrive.
Right. And like I said, we're going to do it either way, but I almost, I almost would debate that comment because I do think it is our friend.
I actually do think nutrition does power us and does optimize us for performance. And I think we talk about, you know, athletes, Olympic athletes, you know, football players, we just had the super bowl.
We just had the world champions with, you know, Canada versus the U S hockey. Like they know what they're eating the night before they're going, they know what they're eating before they know how they're like, they're really into their habits.
And so we just don't put as much pressure on ourselves. And I don't think we need to constantly be doing that.
But like I said, knowing what you're going to be having the next day, you can use food as such a super tool once you're educated on the ingredients and what they do. So knowing that you had a workout, feeding yourself, knowing that protein is going to keep you fuller longer, you're running out of the house and you have a bunch of appointments.
Pack some type of high protein snack with you to keep you energized. Once we learn these tools, we're truly equipped to actually make it this hack that's way more of a biohack than red light and ice bath, which I love.
I love all these things, but we're already eating. How can we optimize that to really achieve the life and the mood and the environment and the feeling that we want? Oh, my God.
I love that. I think the comment when she said the food is not your friend is because, you know, a lot of people when they're sad or they're going through a heartbreak or something, we even see like in movies, right? Funny movies, romantic.
They go and grab the ice cream, like comfort. Oh, this food is going to comfort me.
Oh, if I eat a box of bonbons, I'm going to feel better. Oh, let's get the ice cream.
So I think she meant it in that way. Like overindulging is not going to make you feel better.
On the contrary, you know, right? You wake up the next morning. It's almost like drinking alcohol.
You're like, oh, my God, why did I binge? Why did I do this to myself? I think that's kind of like what she meant. And that's what stuck in my mind.
Like there's, you know, you shouldn't go the extreme of not eating at all. And you shouldn't go the extreme of like binging because you think that food is going to make you feel better.
Totally. And over, you know, using it as a crutch.
And I think that's really where it becomes definitely more of a problem. But I think that's also, you know, a lot of people use food to numb an emotion instead of understanding what do I need right now? What do I want right now? And that's also where we see a block in getting mindful about our hunger levels and our nutrition and building a whole plate.
Something that we do that is kind of controversial is we don't do calories. We don't do measurement.
We are all video based on mindful. So everybody sees visually what I'm creating from a portion perspective, but we also have coaching videos on understanding what portions work for you, when you might need more protein or more carbohydrates based off your lifestyle, how to build a whole nourishing plate and what that looks like, optimizing for specific micro and macro nutrients throughout your day at what times for performance.
So I think there's a lot we can learn and educate ourselves. And the more we do that, the more it becomes just so easy, right? When you know something so well, it becomes second nature.
It's like your drive home from work. You know that drive.
You don't need to think about the drive and we do it mindlessly. And I'm not saying bring mindlessness into our nutrition, but I'm saying the more we bring mindfulness, the more we're equipped with, okay, I know this path.
Like I've, I've done this before. I've eaten these ingredients.
I

understand how they work for me. Now I can test maybe new ingredients, new recipes, new portion,

and make these tweets. Like we talked about with nutrition, when it ties into fitness,

don't go straight there. I really do think you need the foundation, but as you've kind of created

that foundation, you want to optimize. Now you can layer on top.
Now you can say, okay, I want to

Thank you. then, don't go straight there.
I really do think you need the foundation, but as you've kind of created that foundation, you want to optimize. Now you can layer on top.
Now you can say, okay, I want to build more muscle and lower my body fat or whatever your goals are. As we've kind of created that foundation for understanding the power.
I love that. I think it's a snowball, right? The more you feel better, the more you want to feel better, the more you want to do it.
And you keep going and going and going. I want to talk about a video that you posted that I love, that I know it's a problem that...
So I know men too, but let's talk about women. Women have all the hair.
And you did an amazing video. You show your hair before when you had the roundish face, like you would.
And now you have this spectacular, beautiful, long hair, so healthy, so luscious. Even hair extension companies reach out to you because they think you wear extensions.
And you're like, no, this is my hair. I even had this part because I always had baby thin hair.
Same. Like a few years ago, I was going through such severe stress when my mom passed away, when my husband passed away.
I was literally like, I was like, oh my God, I'm going to go bald. Like I had patches, I had patches of hair loss in my head.
And my friend, Daphne Evangelista, big shout out to her. She was, she's like big celebrity hairstylist.
She said, Kat, you know, you got to do something to this hair. And we started by nutrition, same as biotin and all that stuff.
And that's what saved me. So can you talk about your hair health, how you went from where you were? And guys, by the way, if you're listening to the episode, go look at her Instagram.
The link is here so you can see her hair before and after, because it is a huge difference. Can you tell us what you did? Absolutely.
I think, like I said, your gut is a central operating system. So I really do believe that healing our gut, we think about it maybe as optimizing digestion or lowering bloat, but really improving our gut health improves every area of our life.
Like I cannot say this enough. And for me, yes, I was so frustrated.
My hair was short and it wasn't growing and it was annoying, but we can add extensions. We can do these things.
I think what I really actually focused on was my skin because I felt like there was nothing I could do for my skin. Like I just felt so hopeless.
I didn't know what I could do. And so in healing my gut, I started to see such an improvement in my skin.
And then I went, hang on, my hair is growing and I could tell. So with the blonde, because you can see what it grows out so well.
And so changing my nutrition and the proper absorption of your nutrients is vital in hair, skin, nails, all of this. But a lot of the times we're not absorbing all of the nutrients because of the state of our gut.
And so like you said, I mean, also taking biotin supplements, different supplements are really, really great to support in your hair, skin, nails, but just optimizing through nutrition, again, really lowering inflammation, lowering irritation of our gut, improving our gut lining so that it has the ability to absorb the nutrients. We're taking so many of these nutrients through supplements, but we can also get them through our food.
And that's really where we can just say, well, we're already eating. Like, I just love that.
It's like, we're already doing it guys. You're doing this.
Why wouldn't you want what you're doing to be successful? Oh my God. Yeah.
So what are the main foods that you eat and you would recommend for hair health? Yeah. I mean, healthy fats are going to be great.
Um, really incorporating healthy fats. Also, you know, things like strawberries and antioxidants are really, really great for your skin, hair and nails.
Um, I think salmon and like avocado, all of these are so, so good. Again, healthy fats.
Um, everything is so important in your hair health. And another piece that's really, really important is your scalp health.
And so I talked about, I think on this, on this post you're referring to as well is really looking at how you're caring for your scalp because that's where your hair grows from. So products that you're using or things that you're doing, the way you're tying up your hair, like there's so many different areas that we can look at and with beauty and what we're doing in regards to our, in, in like a complimentary to our food as well.
And then if you're coloring it, you know, how your colorist is actually doing that. If you're going to same colorist and you need to go, I said this in that post, if you're going every single month, you're really like, uh, affecting the hair fallible and you're impacting the growth, but you're creating a lot of breakage, especially if you're blonde.
So for blondes, oh my God. Yeah.
And like, it's so difficult. And so if you're okay with having, you know, the root look a little bit, having a colorist that can work with you and say, here's my goal.
Like go to your colorist and say, I have this goal. I want to grow it out.
I want to be able to weave my hair for multiple months. So can I do baby highlights? I don't want to skunk line.
Like I have roots here, but it's grown in, in a way that it works because my color is so talented. And she does that so that I'm not continuously bleaching and having broken hair.
And then the other piece is as we optimize for our gut health, we're also lowering inflammation and improving our hormones. And so our hormones impact our gut.
Our cortisol impacts our gut. You told this story, Kat, you went through a period of stress and your hair is falling out.
That's not just a reaction of stress. We think stress, hair falling out, stress, bad skin.
But the stress piece is impacting the gut. And that's where the full circle moment is.
So we always think, okay, I need to lower stress. We don't understand that there is this sort of trifecta of, yes, we need to lower stress, But the reality is.
So we always think, okay, I need to lower stress. We don't understand that there's this sort of trifecta of yes, we need to lower stress, but the reality is that it's the stress that's impacting our gut, that's killing away the good bacteria that's creating severe chronic inflammation.
And that's why the imbalance in our gut is impacting our hair loss is impacting, you know, our skin. And that was a big light bulb moment for me.
And then that's when we can improve our good bacteria in our gut and also increase absorption from all the foods that I'm saying that are helping with our skin, with our hair, chickpeas, lemon, parsley, all of this is so powerful in rebuilding our skin barrier, our hair, et cetera. But we're not getting that same nutrients absorption if we're in such a detrimental place.
Yeah. Oh my God.
No, I know that in my experience, you know, I grew up around all kinds of, my mom was a chef, right? Brazilian, Italian chef. My dad was French.
So I grew up around food, the culture of eating a lot, but like a lot of food, you know, Italians eat a lot, Brazilians eat a lot, French people. So as I was growing up,

I didn't really understand what it was to eat clean and eat healthy. And let's be honest,

in the United States, like the portions are like ridiculous, right? I die of a heart attack.

And I know for me, it changed my life. Physically, mentally, everything changes when you

Thank you. right? I die of a heart attack.
And I know for me, it changed my life physically, mentally, everything changes when you clean what you eat, when you go, you decide this is my journey for the rest of my life. So I'm hoping we can inspire somebody out there who is listening like, okay, I'm going to give this a try.
I love what they're saying. Let's talk about mindful for a second before we run out of time.
What would be a first step and your message in terms of like, because a lot of people try something and they kind of give up. What do you do to stick with it? Because I know, and I'm saying, if you stick with it, you're going to get used to it.
You're going to love it. You're going to be a new person.
But a lot of people out there, you know, they try something new and they're like, oh, my God, this sucks. So what would you say to somebody that wants to listen to us and get going? I think it's about lowering the stress and the guilt that you feel right about your eating.
And that's where we really see big, big differences in women that stop counting calories that stop restricting and stop being obsessed with, you know, the grams because the stress then compounds when you go out to eat, when you sit down to eat, that impacts your gut. Right.
And that impacts the food you're eating because the stress about what you're eating is sometimes worse than the food you're eating. And that is that, that when I understood that, that was such an eye-opening moment for me to really put the connection between, hang on, I can stress how many calories, I can stress about the ingredients here, but that stress is worse for my digestion.
That stress is holding on to more fat. That stress is limiting the breakdown of the ingredients in the absorption.
And so that was a big moment. So it's so much easier said than done to say, Oh, stop stressing.
But I think the real key to doing that is to start looking at your plate instead of counting calories. And that is so simple because we have a plate, you know, usually three times a day, maybe more something in front of us.
Okay. And I'm not telling you to change what you're eating just yet.
I'm saying just look at it. Like we talked about at the beginning of this podcast.

When it comes to sticking with it and staying motivated, I really think community and support is really crucial in that. So having a community you can turn to within the mindful app, we have community built in.
So it's all women. So you feel like you're in a safe place, women with similar issues, all different age groups, right? From students to new moms, to menopause, to aging and supporting longevity.
We really have women in all over the world, all different walks of life and culture and all different ages. And so there's a community there to say, I'm going through this with anybody else.
And it's really, really cool when someone writes back and said, I have a similar story, right? I'm feeling that. Or I was also just diagnosed with this autoimmune condition.
My doctor told me I have to be gluten and dairy free. I don't know what to do.
And we hear a lot of this and just feeling lost and isolated. And so, or just, I want to feel good.
I want energy to play with my kids, right? I want to see this change. And so realizing that it's going to take time, it takes a sustainable shift, but the more you can get really mindful about what's on your plate and in front of you and get educated on the ingredients.
We have an entire section on mindful with video, easy to digest. I'm all about like social media fast, like all the time to read that.
Let's just dive into quick thing. We have tons of videos that are like 10, 15 seconds long.
It'll tell you the power of salmon. It'll tell you the power of kimchi, what it's used for, what its benefits are.
So when you see them in our meal, you get to understand, oh, okay, hang on. So kimchi is fermented.
It's feeding my good gut bacteria. You make these connections, not that, I don't know, it's within the meals all the time, right? So I want you Kat or anybody to understand the power of what they're having.
Cause I don't want you to always be dependent on our meals. I want that to be a place, a resource, a community, but I want you to then go out and eat you, you to go to the grocery store and feel like, okay, I kind of got a role here.
And even if it's, you know, of course we want as much variety in our plants and in our food that we're eating. Great.
But if you have 10 ingredients where like, I got it. I know what these do.
These work for me. Let's start there.
And then let's build up. And you're going to see in across mindful, everything we do is simple.
Like a lot of our recipes are left behind the ingredients. We were really making things really easy and people don't realize that it can be that easy and taste that delicious.
And then the other thing I would say, if you're just getting started, the most powerful thing is, you know, if you're on, if you're joined mindful and hopefully women you're listening do today, introducing yourself in community, like I said, finding people to lean on and starting with the gut reset, I really do think is the most powerful thing, because if you're trying to optimize your nutrition, but your gut is in such a place that it's really been impacted year after year after year and habits of eating processed ingredients, once you can kind of bring that back to a stable place, now you can really see all of the success and the beauty that you can get from all of the different nutrients that you're adding in. And so that's really kind of the foundation of where we encourage most people to start.

Oh my God. I love that.
I love the message. I love the idea of community because I think it's very encouraging for people out there knowing that you're not alone and you can share your

experiences with other women. So the app is Mindful, correct? With two L's.
With two L's

and your Instagram, which is so adorable, Fit Fat fatale like i said it's like la femme fatale you know it well if you're in french i'm just a fun little play you know from from my background and growing up in a french community yeah and your videos are super inspiring guys if you don't know her there, check it out. I'm putting the link here on this episode.
Go watch the YouTube so you can see the videos. You can see her beautiful face and get inspired.
Our YouTube channel is Kat on the Loose Show. Sam, congratulations.
You're incredible. I love your work.
I'm definitely going to continue to follow you. I'm going to join Mindful for sure.
Can we do a code?

Yes, let's do it. Let's do a code.
Let's do a code for $50 off our annual membership. Maybe cat 50 or something? Yes, let's do it.
I will post on my Instagram. So guys, go for it, cat 50 to join the Mindful community.
So I think it's about being healthy. It's not just about being thin, right? It's about feeling amazing, full of energy and living your best lives.
And that's what sticks in the long run. Yeah.
And that's what impacts the people around you. You don't know who you inspire when you make healthier choices.
It's crazy. Your partners, your kids, everybody.
You're inspiring all of us. Thank you.
We really appreciate it. So go get the Mindful app and the call is going to be Cat50 or 50 Cat.
Yeah. Cat50.
Cat50. I'm going to put it on my Instagram as well.
And guys, yeah, go be healthy, eat healthy, eat clean. It's a big difference.
Thank you, Sam. It was such an honor having you here.
And I'll see you guys very soon. Many kisses.
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