Vinnie Tortorich

Fitness Confidential Podcast

THE ANGRIEST TRAINER 341: THE Truth about the BIGGEST LOSER

by Vinnie Tortorich

Vinnie and Anna discuss an article that recently appeared in the New York Post. It was written by a former contestant of the popular reality show “The Biggest Loser”. She reveals the unhealthy, inhumane, degrading treatment contestants are routinely subjected to and how generally contestants gained back all the weight they lost once they were off the show. Today, Vinnie puts the “angry” into The Angriest Trainer. Stay tuned and listen to Vinnie as he takes on “The Biggest Loser” and reveals the truth…

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WHY VINNIE DOESN’T LIKE “THE BIGGEST LOSER”

  • The show seeks people that are so desperate, they will do anything to lose weight
  • They are put through brutal workouts and starvation diets
  • Contestants are screamed at and put in unsafe situations
  • They call each other “Losers” and are worked out to the point of vomiting or collapsing

THE SHOW IS A FAT-SHAMING DISASTER…AND PEOPLE LOVE IT

  • 7,000,000 people watch each week
  • 200,000 people audition each season
  • 2/3 of this country is overweight or obese; so there’s always interest in losing weight
  • No one cares that this is not a sustainable lifestyle

WHAT THE CONTESTANTS ARE PUT THROUGH

  • They are taken to the Gillette Ranch in Calabasas where they are locked in their rooms and their cell phones and computers are taken for 24 hours.
  • Many contestants believe they were bugged.
  • Their first workout is 4 hours long and they were subjected to workouts that lasted from 5-8 hours without a break
  • Calories were restricted to less than 1,000 per day and all food had to be approved by a trainer

VINNIE CHALLENGES JILLIAN MICHAELS

  • In 2014, Jillian quits the show saying she was deeply concerned about the show’s poor care of the contestants.
  • Vinnie goes on a rant…”Now she’s concerned? Why wasn’t she concerned 16 seasons ago? No…she had to wait until she became more famous than the show!”
  • Vinnie challenges her to come on the show…We will keep you posted

Angriest Trainer 318: Daniel the Dietitian

by Vinnie Tortorich

It’s Tuesday and that means we have Anna and Vinnie trying to play nice. Today’s guest is Daniel Tisi, who is a registered dietician from Canada and works in a hospital setting.  He has seen the physical and psychological benefits of Paleo and NSNG life styles.  Daniel T contacted Vinnie because he is frustrated and angry…and Vinnie loves angry people.

What Daniel is Angry About

  • He has researched and seen the benefits of eating Paleo/NSNG 
  • It has been 11 years since he earned a Masters in Nutrition…They are still teaching calories-in/calories out and fats are bad
  • Daniel is frustrated because he has to fight hospitals and gets no support

What Does He See at the Hospital

  • They have morbidly obese people reduce their fat intake and count calories
  • When Daniel started slowly introducing a more Paleo-like diet, he began to see changes
  • His patients saw great results and the hospital didn’t want to hear about it

Doctors Go With Government Programs

  • That is what is being financially supported
  • Don’t stop and ask “How is what we are doing helping patients, especially long-term patients?”
  • Hospitals choose not to face the facts
  • This applies to mental health as well

Standards in Nutrition are all the Same

  • All government funded
  • Institutions don’t want to lose funding so are scared to change
  • It took Daniel almost 4 years to get salmon on the menu

More About Daniel Tisi…

Angriest Trainer 310: Listener Questions

by Vinnie Tortorich

Anna on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last week.

Today’s episode is brought to you by Audible! Get your free audiobook by going here.

Another Laugh and Learn with Vinnie and Anna.  Tune in and join them as they answer listener questions.  They cover everything from diet and PTSD to Vinnie’s new multi-vitamin/mineral – Pure Vitamin Club.

Listener Question – Does NSNG and Paleo Diets help with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) especially in our war vets?

  • Vinnie has asked around about this and there really is almost no information
  • Most people feel better when they are NSNG 
  • Anecdotally, it seems to help with hormonal balance
  • Vinnie is going to do further research and report back

Do Supplements Help with NSNG?

  • Looking into most supplements, there are usually 25-50 added ingredients beside the vitamins listed
  • Some are helpful, some are harmful
  • An example of a harmful “other ingredient”…Titanium Dioxide, used in many vitamin brands, is very harmful

Listener Questions – What About Carbs While You Are Doing An Ultra Event?

  • This is sometimes called “Eat to Perform” and it encourages carb intake before and after workout.
  • There is a place for carbs, but you must be fat-adapted meaning you don’t have to be in full ketosis, but you must be already using stored fat as fuel.
  • Ketosis is the most extreme form of fat-adapted
  • The bottom line it is different for different people
  • You need to get off the carb/sugar train

Anna’s voice telling you to watch TGIT on ABC:

 

 

Angriest Trainer 306: The History of How We Got Fat

by Vinnie Tortorich

Vinnie and Anna get to talk about everything under the sun.  Get to hear Vinnie go off-topic and Anna pull him back.  And while you are laughing, you will learn about exercise, diet, how sugar infiltrated our lives and tons more.  Go ahead…have fun and learn.

Good Samaritan Heart Symposium

  • Vinnie was invited back to speak…talked about exercise and how it essential
  • Gave history of how we got fat in this country
  • Heart disease is not caused by cholesterol…caused by plaque buildup
  • One thing all the speakers agreed on…if you are overweight, you are at risk for heart disease

Exercise, Diet and History

  • Exercise – it’s imperative, we need it to live
  • We are not meant to be sedentary
  • Ancel Keys, an American scientist, did a study in the 60’s that said we should eat more grains and less fat
  • By 1972, hurricanes had destroyed cane crops in the south and sugar prices shot up
  • The U.S. started importing high fructose corn syrup from Japan as a cheaper alternative

American Weight Problems

  • By the 1980’s, we began to see rise in obesity
  • We were told a good diet had little to no fat, but our foods had more and more sugar
  • This was considered “heart healthy”
  • Sugar was  used to make low-fat/low-calorie food more palatable
  • We’ve become addicted to our sugars and seen a rise in childhood obesity
  • We consume approximately 200 pounds of sugar, per person, per year

Vinnie Will be a Guest on the Carol Alt Show

  • Ex-super model, Carol Alt, has a show on Fox
  • Vinnie flying into NY on October 14th to tape show
  • Listen in to hear air date

Links

Book: “Extra Virginity” about olive oil

“Extra Virgin” by Debbie Mazar

Angriest Trainer 304: Follow Up with Dr. Sara Gottfried

by Vinnie Tortorich

Today’s guest is Dr. Sara Gottfried, a Harvard trained MD with over 20 years experience and author of the New York Times bestseller, “The Hormone Cure”.  Dr. Sara, Vinnie and Anna discuss the enormous effect that hormones have on our well-being, our weight and our health.  Somehow, Vinnie gets to talking about Farrah Fawcett’s famous poster and its affect on him. So tune in and find out…

Anna’s Lab Results

  • Shows signs of adrenal fatigue
  • Too much stress…needs to hit pause button
  • Meditation helps raise serotonin and reduces inflammation which reduces pain, foggy brains and helps you to lose weight
  • Pregnenolone  – the hormone precursor – responsible for memory and calm mind, among many other things

Cortisol

  • Body’s most important hormone
  • People who are “jacked-up” on stress make too much cortisol which produces high blood pressure and blood sugar
  • You start to run low after a while

Ketosis

  • Being in ketosis strains the “Charlie’s Angels” (hence the Farrah Fawcett discussion) of hormones:  cortisol, adrenals and thyroid
  • Need to be aware of your carb threshold…some people don’t do well in ketosis and need a certain amount of carbs
  • Adrenals and thyroid need about 100 gms of carbs a day…symptoms of deficiency include hair falling out, low thyroid and insulin resistance

Endocrine Disrupters

  • Environmental causes of hormonal problems
  • Need to reduce burden by avoiding plastics, receipts that are coated with plastic and canned food which is lined with BPA
  • Probiotics help
  • Fiber, 35-40 grams a day helps rid your body of Endocrine Disrupters

Links:

“The Hormone Cure” by Dr. Sara Gottfried

Angriest Trainer 301: 1-on-1 with Isabel Foxen Duke

by Vinnie Tortorich

Isabel Foxen Duke is a Brooklyn-based Life Coach who teaches a master class called “Stop Fighting Food” that focuses on food and our mindset around food.  She discusses the physical and emotional reasons that diets and calorie restriction actually encourages binge eating.  Join Anna and Isabel and learn how to cultivate a new attitude toward dieting and food.

We Live in a Diet Culture

  • Look at diet from the evidence-based standpoint that “the degree to which we have restriction in our lives is the degree to which we tend to lean on food for emotional comfort”
  • Emotional eating is impulsive and a craving that is out of our control 
  • We are taught to use willpower to actively fight our body’s needs

Why People Fail at Diets

  • Dieting is deciding what your body needs by some external plan rather than our individual needs
  • In “calorie deprivation”, the need for food now – our biology – will win in the attempt of getting our blood sugar back up
  • There are two parts:  The physical aspect and the emotional aspect

Emotional Aspect

  • There is guilt, shame and moral judgement for making “bad” food choices
  • This is a precursor to spiraling binge-eating…we’re either off the wagon or on the wagon
  • Need to get to a place of peace around food…taking our power back from food
  • We give food so much power – as if eating a cupcake makes us a “disgusting fatty”

“Stop Fighting Fat” Course

  • Learn new coping mechanisms
  • If I do eat emotionally, how do I do I keep from binging
  • Develop an ease and sanity around food
  • Learn to finally drop the fight and make food about instinct and biology

One of Anna’s fave quotes from this episode: “How can we finally drop the fight and make food about our instincts and our biology?” –Isabel Foxen Duke

Stop Fighting Food teaches women how to “stop feeling crazy around food.” That means, get off the diet-binge cycle, stop feeling “out of control around food,” and finally have a life that doesn’t revolve around trying to lose the last 10 (or 50) lbs. This program addresses the thinking that underlies compulsive eating and obsession with food, rather than giving specific behavioral instructions or nutrition information. The Free Video Training Series (an introduction to the work) covers topics like: 

-Why trying to control yourself around food always backfires

-The two primary reasons people eat outside of physical need (The difference between Emotional Eating & Binge-Eating)

-Why having a “normal” relationship with food requires liking your body first

The Master Class goes into extensive depth on topics like “intuitive eating,” “emotional/binge eating,” “body positivity” and will leave women with all of the mental tools they need to take their power back from food.

Stop Fighting Food (affiliate link) and Stop Fighting Food (non-affiliate link).  We offer you guys both links so you can choose what you’d like to use.