Episode 15: Transitioning Between Diets, Disruptive Hormone Signaling, and Fasting For Women with Christina Rice

Listeners can find Christina Rice at her website Christina Rice Wellness, and on Instagram @Christinaricewellness

Christina Rice is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and Reiki Practitioner turned holistic business coach who helps ambitious health coaches build and scale successful online businesses. She is the blogger behind christinaricewellness.com, host of Wellness Realness podcast, and creator of the Paleo Women Lifestyle Program.

Christina became a holistic practitioner after overcoming her own health struggles including SIBO, candida overgrowth, parasites, heavy metals toxicity, amenorrhea, depression and anxiety, hypothyroidism, mold illness, and autoimmune disease. She has worked with thousands of women to help them naturally heal from digestive issues, disordered eating, and hormonal imbalances, and now she focuses on teaching other purpose-driven health coaches to expand their businesses with online platforms.

Don't forget to take a screenshot and tag @rachelgregory.cns on Instagram!

In this episode, we talk about Christina’s nutrition and diet experiences, carb phobia, keto for men vs. women, metabolic flexibility, fasting and more!

Episode Top Takeaways:

• Different diets serve different purposes; feel free to switch it up according to what your own body needs, and know that transitions take time.
• Fasting is a powerful tool if used correctly...especially for women!
• Your diet is a major part of your overall lifestyle. It should be enjoyable.

Show Notes:

• [5:00] Christina shares her personal struggle of unwellness and how that led her to become her own health advocate, treating her leaky gut, depression, and ongoing battle with severe digestive issues.
• [9:45] Christina used the paleolithic-ketogenic, and variations of the keto diet to control her symptoms, before switching to a carnivore diet. She now describes her diet as “carnivore-ish”
• [11:15] Christina is open to trying many new diets and approaches, she even tried the potato diet and the raw vegan diet!
• [12:30] “... at one point I was so carbohydrate intolerant, I would faint after two bites of sweet potatoes.”
• [13:15] Sweet potatoes are not real potatoes because they do not contain nightshades
• [16:15] Fat and carbohydrates should not be paired together at high levels in a diet
• [18:15] What is carbosis
• [21:50] Christina struggled with disrupted leptin signaling (the satiety hormone) after a long period without carbohydrates that caused chronic hunger
• [24:20] Women especially need to be cautious about forgoing carbs entirely for long periods of time, as it can disrupt leptin signaling and lead to carb intolerance.
• [26:00] Christina shares her story of overcoming carb phobia and incorporating carbohydrates correctly for maximum benefits
• [32:00] What does healthy fasting look like, for women in particular?
• [36:00] Feel free to mix up your fasting routine. Dr. Pompa talks about intermittent fasting 
• [37:50] Not everyone is ready for fasting; there are steps to getting there
• [42:00] Christina’s recommendation on how to move toward a carnivore diet 
• [44:20] Allowing adequate time to see results with a diet is crucial, up to several months. Transitioning between diets -- keto, carnivore, carb cycling -- can take several weeks.
• [48:00] Christina also uses diet from Craig Emmerich to control symptoms of mold allergy and Lyme Disease
• [45:00] “There’s a lot of power in experimenting for yourself and listening to your own body, rather than what the media is saying, and being metabolically flexible because you don’t have to pick just one diet.”
• [52:00] “Constant stress over maintaining a rigid diet is ultimately counter-productive to health and well being. It's better to aim for flexibility and be able to enjoy life with food as one component.”

Listen to the full episode HERE. 

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Rachel Gregory (@rachelgregory.cns) is a Board-Certified Nutrition Specialist, Strength and Conditioning Specialist, and Author of the best-selling book, 21-Day Ketogenic Diet Weight Loss Challenge. She received her Master’s Degree in Nutrition & Exercise Physiology from James Madison University and Bachelor’s Degree in Sports Medicine from the University of Miami.

Rachel helps her clients transform their lives by starting with the physical (body), realizing the power of the mental (mindset), and ultimately gaining massive confidence that bleeds into every aspect of their lives (family, relationships, work, etc.).