Strengthen: Recent Episodes
Gabriela Barreto
Strengthen is a podcast dedicated to inspiring you to become your strongest self. Founded + Hosted by Gabby Barreto (@gabbymbarreto on IG) this podcast will feature powerful women in fitness, nutrition and wellness to share their stories and expertise to empower you. You’ll learn about their struggles and achievements, how they use their knowledge and experience to lift those around them, plus get the latest on research-backed nutrition, health and fitness trends. Each episode will leave you more motivated, more educated and more empowered to step into your limitless strength.
High protein diets are touted by gymfluencers and docfluencers all of social media. But what do they mean and is a high protein diet right for me?
In this episode I take a dive into the recommended daily intake of protein, what I recommend for most of my clients and address common misconceptions and shedding light on the various factors influencing individual protein needs.
I discuss how I decide macros for clients and how a LOT of times a very high protein diet does not work. Adequate gains in the gym can be made without an insanely high amount of protein!
I also discuss the potential dangers to certain individuals who may be harmed by a high protein diet and why I think there needs to be more nuance in posts by professional on these apps!
Last
From cleanses, to detoxes, to supplements and ice baths, wellness culture has convinced us for years that expensive treatments are the only pathway to a healthy lifestyle.
But do we really need to buy into the influence? And how can this damage our relationship with food?
Wellness culture is very similar to diet culture. Both give the "eat like me, look like me" message and that thinness (and youth) are a societal success. In this episode I discussed the link between diet and wellness culture, define both and its ties to disordered eating.
In this episode I discuss my own journey through wellness culture, discuss its links to disordered eating and define orthorexia.
Social media will sell womens a problem, while also selling them a fix. In this podcast episode, I take a dive into the complex world of hormone balance for women while examining the significant influences of diet culture, wellness culture, and the supplement industry.
From hot girl walks, to detox drinks and supplements, the scene on social media when it comes to women's health and hormones is not based in research and scientific evidence. In this episode a briefly breakdown women's hormones, where some imbalances may be and why, as well as lending some signs and symptoms you want to look out for the ensure you are taking care of your health.
As always, send your questions to nutritionbygabby@gmail.com
The almond mom: a mom with an unhealthy obsession with thinness, dieting, and exercise who project that onto their own children. In this episode I breakdown what the "almond mom" is and take a deep dive into the complex relationship between almond moms, diet culture, and eating disorders.
In a world where wellness trends, superfoods, and diet fads seem to be constantly evolving, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by the pressure to maintain an idealized image of health. Many of us have heard about the so-called 'almond moms,' individuals who often prioritize clean eating, exercise, and wellness to an extreme degree, but what lies beneath the surface of this seemingly healthy lifestyle?
In this episode I dive into the background of the almond mom, often trapped in diet culture themselves. We'll also explore the broader implications of the almond mom and diet culture and how it can contribute to the development of eating disorders.
Gut health supplements are literally "trending" on social media. And as a nutritionist I am here to debunk (and debloat) the loads of misinformation, false marketing and overall shams of the diet and supplement industry. In this episode I talk about glutamine supplement, greens powders, and very popular herbal remedies for "gut health" as I dive into its link to thinness, weight loss and diet culture.
Links from this episode:
Citrus Labs
https://www.citruslabs.com/testedproducts
Bunny Rabbit Wheatgrass Study
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20508870/
In this episode I discuss three mindsets to have when you are healing from disordered eating/body image from Toxic Diet + Fitness Culture:
1) Healing your relationship with you body from a disordered eating lense isn’t healed by changing your body
2) Healing your relationship with food cannot happen with more restriction
3) Cutting off people, places, things that may be triggered - not permanently, but for some time.
I hope you enjoy the episode- contact me @gabbybarreto on IG or nutritionbygabby@gmail.com for questions.
In this episode I discuss what is toxic fitness culture, how in is intertwined with diet culture, how to spot it and how to combat it. Everyday in gym, social media and in our culture, women are pressured to look and be and ideal way, promising that if we looked a certain way this would bring us happiness. But with all my years working with women in the disordered eating and eating disorder space, I have rarely seen this happen amongst this population. With the rising rates of poor body image and eating disorders, this episode discusses the origin of this posed as the objectification theory. Enjoy :)
Dieting and being small is popular, but the consequences of consistently underfueling our bodies comes with some pretty crappy side effects. The obsession with our bodies is more than a mental health concern, it takes a physical toll. In the episode I discuss the impacts to women's bodies from experiencing low energy availability: dysregulation of hormones, impacts to cardiovascular, immune, reproduction and bone health. This is a beginner to nutrition and human physiology friendly podcast and will not dig super deep into science, though terminology is used and explained.
Gut health is the buzziest buzz word in the social media world, but as a consumer of content, do you really know what it means? In this episode, I breakdown what gut health even means, how it impacts your overall health, the microbiome, pre/pro/syn/postbiotics and how to navigate these words as you scroll away. While I do use big words like "proliferate" and "histone deacetylase", this digestible episode will arm you with facts on facts on facts.
I mention in the beginning it will be a two part episode and in fact, it will. I'll dive deeper into the myths and trends and how to spot the BS out there. I'll also dive deeper into how this stuff actually "works".
Enjoy and DM me @gabbymbarreto with your questions.
In this episode, I told with myself (while my 7th month old plays and eats breakfast LOL) on 2 myths and 1 trend that has to go. I know the last one isn't a myth, but I made the list and then realized that it's not a myth but just an overall harmful practice.
Below are the 3 myths I discussed (all coated in diet culture BS)
1) Your metabolism is "ruined" and you need to reverse diet to heal it (but like restrictive dieting is like way worse for you than just this/doesn't happen to the degree people think and say it does but KKKKKK).
2) You should be synching your workouts and nutrition with your menstrual cycle (STOP it. Like now. Just go and eat and workout).
3) Why "what I eat in a day" videos are toxic.
Love you BOOs.
Maddie Myer's is definitely a GET TO KNOW trainer in NYC. In this episode we discuss what a body neutral approach to fitness is and how you can enjoy your fitness journey without the annoying #abz culture it brings. Because it's boring, right? And fitness is a feeling we don't always need to quantify, set goals for and micromanage (Something Maddie and I discuss and thoroughly agree on).
After listening to this episode three times (because I messed up editing), Maddie brings a fresh energy this industry 1000000% needs (the toxic fitness industry that is). A PA girl, with a NYC attitude, we're so grateful she left (boring) corporate life to join (the very fun) fitness industry.
In this episode, I sat down with NYC Trainer Amanda Katz for a conversation where literally, we did NOT hold back on our experience and observations about the state of the fitness industry: overly and unhealthily obsessed with our aesthetics and pressures to be "fit" enough. We discuss our journey to having a healthy relationship with exercise, our profession and how to help you weed our toxicity in your fitness practice.
Amanda is also an avid runner, and her approach to running is unique, fun and smart. In this episode we also discuss the importance of strength training and kettlebells for runners, having a positive mindset while running and approaches races from a radical perspective (Amanda is great at surprising people by showing up and racing unannounced, and I love it!).
Find Amanda on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amanda_katzz/
Learn more about her practice here: https://www.amandaskatz.com/
I took some time off and now it's game time. A whole year off to have a baby, publish some academic papers and some other fun things. Take a glimpse into the update of my professional and personal growth + 5 Nutrition Hacks for Strength Training Women (you're going to want to stick around and listen to that!). PLUS, head to my IG story on 3/1 and 3/5 to get your AMA (ask me anything) question in for my 3/29 episode (you can also DM me :) @gabbymbarreto
An attorney by trade, May is a fighter for social justice, including social justice in the fitness space. As we evolve in understanding more about body shape and size in relation to health, we still see the same bodies represented in fitness. We question, especially in a progressive city like NYC, how we can start to bring more of that to life. Listen in on May’s experience as we discuss her lifelong relationship with food and her body, her joy of boxing and mission to make all bodies comfortable, confident and present in the fitness space.
What helps me through negative thoughts best is a guided mindful meditation. This episode is my FIRST mindful meditation on this podcast I needed to post with the overwhelming need to help my followers, clients and the world move through the comments about their bodies this holiday season. This meditation will help you feed your mind with POSITIVE affirmations to help you move into a future self that isn't bothered or moved by others comments (or bothered less). This meditation uses imagery, a technique that allows us to image a future where we aren't affected by comments about our bodies.
Your feedback is appreciated! Hit me at gabby@gabbymbarreto.com or here on instagram with you feedback.
You'll hear it from both us of: we are so over toxic messages of over excising, under eating and beat yourself up in the fitness industry. Because your FITNESS journey should be beneficial to your HEALTH, no detrimental.
I seriously loved every moment and every work Gabi said because we share a similar journey and mindset around fitness, food and our ED experience. People like her are a RARE experience, so I highly recommend you tune in HARD.
Trigger warning: eating disordered are discussed. No descriptive or vulgar behaviors are discussed in depth (AS always because that doesn't help anyone!).
I talk a LOT about bones. As women, our bone health is so fragile, especially as we age and hormones change. It's such a damn shame that we are sold restrictive weight loss as a means to better health when it has the potential to weaken the one thing we need the most care for. In this episode I discuss the reality of nutrition and bone health and how dieting and restriction affects women of all age (even young girls, very young).
PLUS this FALL I will be throwing down another Fuel Your Strength Nutrition program to help you fuel your training and improve you relationship with food at the same time.
Click HERE to learn more.
This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app
A Cali girl turned Brooklyner, Nancy Chen's story is one you don't want to miss. From college swimmer to boxer to yogi to an inspirational blogger, Nancy has used her strength as an athlete to empower to to view fitness beyond her body. She is notable for several accomplishments:
1) Her Spoon University blog, where she openly discusses her eating disorder which helped many other humans realize "oh shit I think I have this too!"
2) Her published book, "101 Amazing Uses of Cinnamon" which is currently on Amazon (listen to how she got to writing this!).
3) Her recent debut as a Rumble Trainer in NYC (we're both kicking butt in Brooklyn this summer!).
Together we discuss our experiences of being caught in the fitness industries trying to sell out aesthetics vs our skills, our challenges with disordered eating and how we lead healthy, fulfilling lives today!
Mallory Reilly Coach- OTR/L, CPT, RKC, SFGI, is an Occupational Therapist (OT) and a true kettlebell queen. In this episode, Mallory drives deep into connecting our senses to our training, how to listen and respect your body, and what it means to be READY. Her experience and perspective on training, body image while incorporating her career as an OT brings a novel, fresh perspective to the fitness industry. Catch her here and @malloryreilly_ot on Instagram.
Trigger warning: Up until around 27 minutes, this episode discusses weight cutting for fighting and weight class sports. After that we discuss her experience with gut issues and if you're experiencing them you want to listen!!!
Amber Trejo is a Functional Nutritionist and Trainer. The coolest thing about Amber? She actually competed in boxing. I met Amber in a zoom conference during COVID and I was like this girl is cool she fights. And I ADORE her as a person and a nutritionist and trainer. Her journey into fighting was similar to mine (but I never fought!). Listen to her experience as we talk about weight cutting and fight nutrition.
Amber goes on to discuss her experience with terrible gut issues, endless doctor visits, and a measly list of like 5 foods she can eat. Through healing her gut and her experience through the process, she helps other women find peace with their gut issues. Listen in to her experience and how she can help you.
Welcome back friends! Of course we return with a fellow Registered Dietitian Nicole Rodriguez. She is a seriously fun, smart, and dedicated to the cause of accessible nutrition education for all. We talk everything from strength training, to body image, her love of beef and beef advocacy (YES it's a thing!). And you're going to want to listen to hear about the most interesting ways she's used beef in her cooking (which I am dying to try).
Donatellafino is a body mechanics expert, genius, dope massage therapist and BARRE QUEEN. And she's on my latest episode of STRENGTHEN.
hear us discuss:
👉why you should stop using sweat as an indicator of a good workout
👉how peeing while you jump isn't normal (yeah, it happens)
👉finding smart fitness you love
And there are SO many gold nuggets of info in there from us to you. NO BS (that's our style).
We talk about things that matter.
Find her on @donatellafino on IG and donatellafino.com.
As a Dietitian, a part of my job and practice is to provide research backed nutrition interventions. This episode starts off discussing detox diets (juice cleanses, tonic, elixirs etc) and the evidence (or lack of) to their numerous health claims. Is it too good to be true? Short answer: yes.
This episode wraps with a topic many of us are accustomed to: the fear of gaining weight. Why do we have it? How do we escape it? Living in a society the idealizes thinness and shames fatness lead us into a mind game we have little control of the outcome (the outcome being your weight). Learn WHY your weight is pretty much OUT of your control, and how to heal from the inside out.
xoxo,
Gabby
Research and sources noted:
https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/handle/2123/16282/Sainsbury_Mol.Cell.Endocrinol_2010.pdf;jsessionid=13858B49947B596657CDA7474F3546A4?sequence=2
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25522674/
https://www.epa.gov/international-cooperation/persistent-organic-pollutants-global-issue-global-response#resources
Diet talk is inevitable. It was always be there but we don't need to partake in the conversation. We can also be the ones the change the situation and stand up for ourselves. We can be the ones to defend and protect ourselves (and maybe help change others, though that is not the point of this).
And why do we want to extinguish and disengage in diet talk for the greater good?
25% of dieters develop eating disorders
35% of dieters develop disordered eating
Teens who restrict are 18x more likely to develop an eating disorder
Learn more in this episode, how to respond and the impact you can have.
XOXO,
Gabby
Tatianna Lampa is a fitness idol of mine. She holds a B.S. in Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, is a Corrective Exercise Specialist and she's even a fitness model (totally super jealous of that!).
Why I respect Tatianna? First off, she's super sweet, friendly and intelligent in her craft. I met her at conferences and have seen her at a ton of workshops and conference throughout my career. I value education and staying informed, something we share in common.
Check out this episode to see how YOU can stop training through pain and the value of functional and corrective exercise in your practice.
Visit Tatianna @training_with_t and her website https://trainingwitht.com.
Xoxox,
Gabby
Dieting has harmed more people I have interacted with than it has done good. In this episode I discuss 5 ways (plus 1 bonus) that diets are harmful to our health and society. And while I discuss only 5, just know there are more out there to be mentioned. I urge you to listen with an open mind.
Studies noted:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6489475/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9550162/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30873463/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15183914/
Brittany Modell, MS, RD, CDN is a Registered Dietitian with a Masters from Teachers College, Columbia University where we connected. After learning nutrition science and the sneaky way diet culture is embedded in our education, she has moved on to practice and actually live the Intuitive Eating (IE) and Health at Every Size (HAES) life. Saving her from a life of dieting and weight concerns, Brittany dives into how IE and HAES can truly take you out of the diet cycle and obsession with body weight. Her story and knowledge is incredibly inspiring, motivating and provides a fresh perspective on what it truly means to be healthy.
You can find Brittany on Instagram @bmohealthy and at www.brittanymodellrd.com.
Enjoy xoxo
On this weeks episode, I sit down with Dianna Falzarano, a successful trainer friend of mine who shares her story of the grind, perspectives on fitness, and her journey of body image.
Dianna holds more certifications and trainings than most, proving her commitment to her craft (which is shown in her success and work with her clients). She specialized in functional training (which we discuss WHAT it even is), pilates, and pre/post natal fitness. What I love about her most? She's one of the nicest humans I've met in this industry and is supportive and uplifting to be around. You can find her @difalzarano and check out her online platform of classes on her website here. She also ROCKS Fabletics like a fitness model Goddess (because she really is!), and you can link up with her on Fabletics here.
In episode 4 I sit down with my good friend and colleague @merrrrcat aka Maria Catacchio for an inspiring convo about body image, fitness and self worth.
We also laugh and joke a lot, and if you know us, we are really unhinged.
And for those who listened, you can fine Pierre Boo from TikTok HERE: https://www.tiktok.com/@itspierreboo?lang=en.
Enjoy xo.
Ever hear "accept your body" and roll your eyes? Sick of toxic positivity that makes happiness seem like the ultimate feeling you should feel all the time? Yes, then this is for you.
Acceptance is a practice, an action of moving through negative emotions, feeling all of its stickiness and ickiness to get to a place of stillness. In this episode, I discuss how moving through these emotions are taking the actions are key to improving your relationship with food, your body and overall relationship with yourself.
I also discuss the Objectification Theory, posed by Barbara Fredrickson and Tomi-Ann Roberts in 1997, and how the overvalue of women's bodies has brought us to an epidemic of body dissatisfaction and the constant drive to look better to feel better.
But what if feeling the pain actually made you stronger?
Running isn't a favorite of mine, but Gab's expertise and guidance on running has made it much more enjoyable for me.
A childhood actress, Gab transitioned to a career in fitness to use her life experience to motivate others. And I will say, she's an expert at this.
You can find her on Instagram @gab.bolin and at https://www.gabriellebolin.com/.
ARRIVED.
Welcome to episode 1 where I, Gabriela Barreto, MS, RD, CDN, CFSC, take you through my journey to how I got HERE. What drove me to change my relationship with food and fitness, what strength means to me and how I made my fantasy a reality.
I look forward to sharing more as this podcast grows and evolves with a host of characters (aka my guests) who will absolutely move and inspire you.
You can learn more about me by following me on Instagram, Twitter, and on my website.
Episodes drop every Wednesday through mid December for Season 1.
Please note that while I pride myself on professionalism, I may use a swear word here and there. That is the true, real, raw me. So pop your headphones in.
Launching September 2020, Strengthen is a podcast dedicated to inspiring you to become your strongest self. This podcast has been a dream of mine for over 2 years and I finally found the drive to do it. Listen here for a little bit about this podcast and follow me on @nutritionbygabby on IG and visit www.nutritionbygabby.com to learn more about me and this podcast.
I look forward to inspiring you.