Inspired Evolution with Amrit Sandhu: A Mind, Body & Soul Podcast

In this episode, I sat down with Celebrity Nutrition Expert and Fitness Hall of Famer, JJ Virgin. JJ has launched over 10 businesses, is a 2-time Inc 5000 Founder, and is recognized as an authority on transformational leadership, a Top Ten Finalist for the John C. Maxwell Award, as well as winner of the Mindshare Summit Pinnacle award. Her current endeavors include Founder of The Mindshare Collaborative, the most influential professional community in health.Book available HERE.

She also founded her successful personal brand, JJ Virgin & Associates, as well as co-founding The Unicorn Club, a group for women entrepreneurs with 7- to 9-figure businesses. JJ is a prominent TV and media personality, whose previous features include co-host of TLC’s Freaky Eaters, 2 years as the on-camera nutritionist for Weight Loss Challenges on Dr. Phil, and numerous appearances on PBS, Dr. Oz, Rachael Ray, Access Hollywood, and the TODAY Show. She speaks regularly and has shared the stage with notables including Seth Godin, Lisa Nichols, Gary Vaynerchuk, Mark Hyman, Dan Buettner, and Mary Morrissey. 

JJ is the author of four NY Times bestsellers: The Virgin Diet, The Virgin Diet Cookbook, JJ Virgin’s Sugar Impact Diet, and JJ Virgin’s Sugar Impact Diet Cookbook. Her book, Warrior Mom: 7 Secrets to Bold, Brave Resilience, shows mothers everywhere how to be strong, positive leaders for their families, while exploring the inspirational lessons JJ learned as she fought for her own son's life. 

JJ also hosts two popular podcasts, Mindcast for health experts and entrepreneurs and Reignite Wellness with health tips for consumers, with over 5.5 million downloads and counting. She teaches her clients how to break through food and carb intolerances, so they can finally lose the weight to transform their health and their lives. She also regularly writes for Rodale Wellness, Mind Body Green, and other major blogs and magazines. Her most important role is as mom of two budding entrepreneurial young men.

Here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll hear:

• JJ’s lifelong obsession with nutrition and healthy eating. Growing up engaged in the theater world got her really interested in the nutrition space to stay healthy and fit for her dancing career. She shifted from teaching dance and calisthenics to settle on aerobics, and that’s how she ended up becoming a personal trainer when there wasn’t even a name for it. It’s in that space that she really quickly realized that someone cannot out-exercise a bad diet and so she had to dive deeper into studying nutrition. Find out more at 02:40

• You know how we all think that if someone wants to lose weight they need to eat less, exercise more, and create a 500 calorie deficit, and all that? Well, that’s all wrong and JJ will bust that untruth big time. How to successfully lose weight boils down to weight training to build more muscle which requires more energy to be on the body and improves insulin sensitivity, and also enables the body to burn fat much more easily. Go to 06:05 to learn more about that.

• Why grazing is super rotten for you. If you want to be younger and live longer, you have to have good insulin sensitivity, and JJ couldn’t stress this enough. When you eat, your body’s blood sugar goes up and your pancreas secretes insulin to bring blood sugar back down because when it’s up it’s toxic to your body. If not properly balanced, it all leads to diabetes, weight gain, and all around unhealthiness. Here’s a tip JJ shares, “Try getting a little hungry and if you feel hungry, take some water, and wait. Then when you get really hungry, eat something” Listen in at 09:53 for some more enlightenment on that.

• The Virgin Diet and how it helps in losing weight. There are a lot of things that cause weight loss resistance (the inability to lose weight) including genetics, menopause, thyroid problems, stress, lack of sleep, and gut issues. One of the ways to lose weight is by figuring out your hidden food intolerances from leaky gut. You can also try intermittent fasting or a ketogenic diet, but you have to get ready for it gradually instead of starting immediately. Go to 18:32 to get all the actionable advice from JJ on how to lose weight by figuring out your food intolerances.

• The 7 foods that you should avoid if you wanna lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Gluten is the worst culprit of them all. It makes you more insulin resistant, makes your gut more leaky, and is just horrendously bad for your blood sugar, your gut, and of course, keeps you from losing any weight . Another culprit at the top of the list is dairy and eggs especially because we get factory processed dairy products and eggs. The best way to go when it comes to those two foods is to get them from grass fed or pastured animals. Goat or sheep’s milk is also much better than cow’s milk. Learn more about the rest of the foods you should avoid at 30:55.

• Working on your longest term relationship; your relationship with food. One of the most important things you can do to adopt better eating habits is to connect the dots between what you eat, how you feel, and what you weigh. And JJ’s virgin diet will help you do just that by helping you design an eating program that will work for you in the long haul. Find out more at 40:43

• Learn more about how you can massively change your life with the right diet HERE

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