Health
Diet crisis in America: Celebrity fitness trainer and mom touts 'no rules' nutrition plan
A nutrition trend known as “intuitive eating” is aiming to avoid the strictness of traditional dieting.
Intuitive eating isn’t a diet plan. It’s an “approach to eating based on one’s internal needs,” according to the Harvard School of Public Health.
The choice of food will vary based on a person’s physical or emotional needs, regardless of food type, calorie count or time of day.
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Intuitive eating has been used as a weight-loss strategy and a treatment for disordered eating, according to Harvard.
Megan Roup, a celebrity fitness trainer in Los Angeles and founder of The Sculpt Society fitness app, spoke to Fox News Digital in an interview about how she’s adopted intuitive eating.
Intuitive eating focuses on satisfying hunger instead of eating diet food options that leave people feeling “empty.” (iStock)
While Roup is not a nutritionist, her approach to sustainable physical training has trickled into her overall lifestyle, including at home with her two kids.
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“I’m all about listening to my body and eating intuitively,” she said. “That means I’m not restricting food … I’m really listening to my hunger cues – eating when I’m hungry, stopping when I’m full.”
Roup said she selects foods that make her feel “good or energized.”
Megan Roup, pictured, a celebrity fitness trainer in Los Angeles and founder of The Sculpt Society, spoke to Fox News Digital about hoe she’s adopted intuitive eating. (Megan Roup)
In her early 20s, Roup admitted that she fell victim to “every fad diet” instead of nourishing her body and listening to what it needed.
Following strict guidelines around food can make it “harder for us to listen to what our body actually needs and wants,” she said.
As an intuitive eater herself, Roup doesn’t restrict her kids, either.
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As a busy mom, she said she’s “all about quick, easy recipes,” such as overnight oats for breakfast that include organic ingredients like almond milk, nuts and berries.
Roup also shared a smoothie recipe that her kids enjoy, which blends almond milk, strawberries, blueberries, half a banana, a scoop of almond butter, chia seeds and spinach.
As a busy mom, Roup (not pictured) said she’s “all about quick, easy recipes,” often including her children in the process of preparing food. (iStock)
Her children are also involved in the cooking process, as Roup noted that her 3-year-old enjoys throwing the ingredients into the smoothie blender.
“It’s good for her to see what we’re putting into the smoothie … striving to eat whole foods that make us feel good,” she said.
Pairing fitness and nutrition
Just as with food, Roup advises against following strict rules and ditching the “all-or-nothing mentality” when it comes to fitness.
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In her own training practice, Roup said she encourages her clients to discard the idea that they must work out for hours each day.
The fitness expert recited one of her favorite mantras: “Commit to less so you can show up more.”
The Sculpt Society is an online fitness platform that combines “low-impact, full-body sculpting with very easy-to-follow dance cardio,” said Roup, pictured here. (Megan Roup)
“I would rather my clients show up for 10 minutes a day and do that consistently throughout the week,” Roup said.
“Build that habit so it is something you can sustainably show up to daily – and I think it’s the same with food.”
There is no rule book, she noted — and fitness and food aren’t “one-size-fits-all.”
A nutritionist’s perspective
Registered dietitian and nutritionist Ilana Muhlstein weighed in on the intuitive eating lifestyle in a conversation with Fox News Digital.
While she said she understands the appeal of the concept, especially to people with a history of strict dieting, Los Angeles-based Muhlstein said intuitive eating can be “impractical and unrealistic for most people, particularly children.”
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“Proponents of intuitive eating suggest that if you crave cookies, you should eat cookies; if you want fries, eat fries; and if dessert before dinner sounds appealing, go for it,” she said.
Ultra-processed foods are “dangerously easy to over-consume,” a nutritionist said. (iStock)
“In a society flooded with highly palatable and addictive ultra-processed foods, following every craving can lead to unhealthy outcomes,” she warned.
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The more processed foods you consume, the more you crave them, according to Muhlstein.
“Without practical guidance, such as encouraging people to fill half their plate with vegetables or to prioritize foods high in protein and fiber, many will fall into the trap of overindulging in ultra-processed foods,” she said.
Setting an example
Intuitive eating could help kids form healthy relationships with food, according to Roup.
“It starts with modeling that behavior for them,” she said. “If you are talking about yourself badly, talking about food being good and bad, putting a lot of emphasis on certain foods … they pick up on that.”
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Parents should set the example by staying active and prioritizing their health, Roup advised, as well as demonstrating a “joyful practice” of preparing and eating food that makes them feel good.
Intuitive eating is about “taking away the rules and giving the autonomy back to myself and my body, because everybody is different,” said Roup. (Megan Roup; iStock)
Muhlstein, however, warned that allowing children to eat “whatever they want” can be just as dangerous as letting them “watch whatever they want” or “go to bed whenever they want.”
As a mother of three, the nutritionist emphasized the importance of introducing nutritious foods to children.
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“With pediatric obesity and diabetes at all-time highs, teaching children to love and enjoy wholesome, nutritious foods is more crucial than ever,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“Moreover, food genuinely tastes better when you’re hungry, so ensuring that kids consume plenty of fruits, vegetables and protein is essential.”
Research suggests that children who eat more fruits and vegetables and less sugar perform better academically and experience improved mental health and well-being, Muhlstein mentioned.
Roup encourages her clients to speak to a nutritionist if they are looking for more guidance on intuitive eating. (iStock)
“Nutrition is a critical aspect of parenting,” she added.
“Providing positive guidance while encouraging healthy choices from a place of love is essential to ensuring that the next generation doesn’t suffer further.”
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Surviving cancer as a child or young adult may have a lasting impact on aging, new research suggests.
Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center looked at whether life-saving treatments, like chemotherapy and radiation, could speed up biological aging.
They also aimed to determine whether this age acceleration was linked to cognitive issues related to memory, focus and learning.
The team analyzed blood samples from a group of 1,400 long-term survivors treated at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, using epigenetic clocks — tools that estimate biological age by examining chemical tags on DNA.
Biological age is determined based on damage the cells accumulate over time, versus chronological age, which is measured by how long someone has been alive, according to scientists.
Biological age is determined based on the damage cells accumulate over time, according to scientists. (iStock)
“These well-established aging-related biomarkers have previously been associated with neurocognitive impairment and decline in older non-cancer populations, particularly in cognitive domains related to aging and dementia, such as memory, attention and executive function,” the study stated.
Most of the group consisted of acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivors, or Hodgkin lymphoma survivors. Participants were at least five years past their treatment, though some had survived for several decades.
They underwent neurocognitive testing to measure their attention span, memory and information processing speed.
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Chemotherapy was found to have the greatest impact on aging acceleration. The study suggests the treatment can alter DNA structure and cause cellular damage.
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“It’s no surprise to find out that young people with cancer who have chemo early in life are affected in terms of long-term aging,” Dr. Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for Fox News, told Fox News Digital.
Participants underwent neurocognitive testing to measure their attention span, memory and speed of information processing. (iStock)
Researchers also found that cellular aging was closely linked to cognitive performance, as survivors of a higher biological age had more difficulty with memory and attention.
“Chemo poisons and damages cellular function — hopefully the cancer cells more than normal cells, but there is a significant impact on normal cells as well,” said Siegel, who was not involved in the study.
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“There is also something called ‘chemo brain,’ which causes at least temporary difficulty with memory, concentration, word finding and brain fog,” the doctor added.
The research team hopes to use these findings to focus on intervention efforts, specifically by determining when accelerated aging begins.
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“Young cancer survivors have many more decades of life to live,” lead study author AnnaLynn Williams, PhD, said in a press release. “If these accelerated aging changes are occurring early on and setting them on a different trajectory, the goal is to intervene to not only increase their lifespan, but improve their quality of life.”
The team hopes this research will help in the development of early intervention tools that aim to prevent cognitive decline. (iStock)
There were some limitations to the study. The researchers could not adjust for chronic health conditions or education because they are directly impacted by treatment.
Additionally, the study only looked at the survivors at a single point of time, so it could not directly prove causation.
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The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for comment.
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A popular class of weight-loss drugs may prevent life-threatening cardiac complications by opening microscopic blood vessels that often remain blocked after a heart attack, according to a study published this week in Nature Communications.
The research, led by the University of Bristol and University College London, identified a biological brain-gut-heart signaling pathway.
This discovery appears to explain how GLP-1 drugs — which mimic glucagon-like peptide-1, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar and appetite — protect heart tissue from a condition known as “no-reflow.”
“In nearly half of all heart attack patients, tiny blood vessels within the heart muscle remain narrowed, even after the main artery is cleared during emergency medical treatment,” Dr. Svetlana Mastitskaya, the study’s lead author and a senior lecturer at Bristol Medical School, said in a press release.
“This results in a complication known as ‘no-reflow,’ where blood is unable to reach certain parts of the heart tissue.”
In nearly half of all heart attack patients, tiny capillaries (blood vessels) remain narrowed even after the main blocked artery is cleared. (iStock)
This lack of blood flow increases the risk of heart failure and death within a year. GLP-1 medications could prevent this, according to the researchers.
How it works
When the GLP-1 hormone is released in the gut or administered as a drug, it sends a signal to the brain, which then sends a signal to the heart that switches on special potassium channels in tiny cells called pericytes.
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When these channels open, the pericytes relax, which allows the small blood vessels (capillaries) to widen and improve blood flow to the heart muscle, the researchers noted.
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The new study used animal models and cellular imaging to track how GLP-1 interacts with heart tissue. When the researchers removed the potassium channels, the drugs no longer protected the heart — confirming they play a key role.
The findings suggest that existing GLP-1 medications, already used for type 2 diabetes and obesity, could be repurposed as emergency treatments. (iStock)
The findings suggest that existing GLP-1 medications, already used for type 2 diabetes and obesity, could be repurposed as emergency treatments during or immediately after a heart attack to reduce tissue damage.
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The researchers noted several limitations, including that the study relied on animal models.
Clinical trials are necessary to determine whether the brain-gut-heart pathway operates with the same timing and efficacy in humans.
While the study highlights the drug’s immediate benefits during a heart attack, it des not establish whether long-term use of these drugs provides a pre-existing level of protection. (iStock)
Additionally, while the study highlights the drug’s immediate benefits during a heart attack, it does not establish whether long-term use of the medication provides a pre-existing level of protection.
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The research was primarily funded by the British Heart Foundation.
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