Latest / Chatting with The Experts with Paula Okonneh / How to Find your Unique Eating Style
Transcript
- 0:03Hello and welcome to another episode of Chatting with the Experts where I speak
- 0:07with phenomenal women from Africa, from the Caribbean, and in the diaspora.
- 0:12They bring such expertise to the show and they share my mission,
- 0:20which is to educate, to encourage, and to empower women globally.
- 0:28Today our topic is Eat Like You, finding Freedom in Your Unique Style.
- 0:37And what we'll be talking about with my guest when she joins us is how you can
- 0:42discover your unique eating style that aligns with your body and your lifestyle.
- 0:47She says it matters because eating in alignment fuels lasting
- 0:53energy, confidence, and freedom.
- 0:57Here's a bit about her.
- 0:58She's a physician, she's a transformational coach, and she's
- 1:01an Amazon best-selling author who helps high achieving women over 40
- 1:08transform how they look and feel to match their professional success.
- 1:16She's also a breast cancer survivor, and so she advocates for women's health.
- 1:23There's so much more to say about her, but I'll let her do that.
- 1:25And with that, I want to
- 1:26welcome Dr. Ukpong Nwankwo to Chatting
- 1:31with the Experts.
- 1:32So good to have you here.
- 1:34Thank you so much, , Miss Paula for this your forum and
- 1:38for having me in your space.
- 1:40It's such an honor and a privilege to join you today and your audience.
- 1:45Thank you so much.
- 1:46Oh my gosh.
- 1:47I am the one who's privileged to have you here.
- 1:50I mean, I love what you're doing.
- 1:52I came across what you were talking about on Facebook, and I was like,
- 1:56I've got to have her on the show to share what she has discovered, not has
- 2:03discovered, but what she's doing right now, because to me it makes a difference.
- 2:08And you know, eating like you, in other words, discovering a unique eating style
- 2:13that aligns with your body and lifestyle.
- 2:17In my case, I'm gonna say with my body and lifestyle.
- 2:20Wow, that's amazing.
- 2:23So let's jump straight into it and talk about what it is and
- 2:28how we discover how to do this.
- 2:30Okay.
- 2:31Thank you so much for that question.
- 2:34I would just say that as a busy professional woman, I was busy
- 2:39taking care of everyone else, and with time let myself slip.
- 2:44And
- 2:46I started, you know, with the load of work,
- 2:49fatigue set in, I gained
- 2:51a lot of weight and, but I kept pushing because I felt like
- 2:55I needed to serve everyone.
- 2:57And my wake up call came with the breast cancer diagnosis and
- 3:02it was an aggressive cancer.
- 3:03And I was told in order for it not to come back, I had to release weight.
- 3:09I had to lose the weight.
- 3:10Mm-hmm.
- 3:11And so, I now embarked on the journey to do that, to lose weight,
- 3:17and I thought that it was simple.
- 3:19It was easy, but it led from one frustration after another.
- 3:24I would try keto.
- 3:25It felt so unhealthy, the amount of fats, and I was not comfortable with that.
- 3:32My husband even went to Nigeria and saw a friend who lost weight and tried
- 3:35the Cambridge diet and asked him, and they, he brought it back to me.
- 3:39I succeeded in losing eight pounds, but gained it back because it was
- 3:43too debilitating, constipation.
- 3:46So I said to myself, it mustn't be this tough, it mustn't be this hard.
- 3:50And that was when I now invested in going to a nutrition school and
- 3:56really what occurred to me was that diet, like clothes have to fit you.
- 4:02Just like you have a style, like you love to wear, it has to fit you.
- 4:05I was like, ah, that's probably why this is, hasn't worked for me.
- 4:09And then I started experimenting.
- 4:12And I was able to release 70 pounds and keep it off.
- 4:16Thank God this is like 10 years after, 11 years cancer free.
- 4:20Thank God for that.
- 4:22So, yes, and , to further, you know, say what it is because.
- 4:28Even when I lost my weight, you know, it was because I was experimenting.
- 4:33But to really document and pinpoint this, I did a recent training on this,
- 4:40and it was on epigenetic testing.
- 4:44And what really surprised me was that everybody, like I had
- 4:49already, you know, got to know, has their unique eating style.
- 4:54It's, like a blueprint.
- 4:56It is like trying to restore an old building.
- 4:59Mm-hmm.
- 4:59And then , you know, you are in today 2025 and this building was in maybe in 1935.
- 5:05You have to have the blueprint, and that's what epigenetic testing is the
- 5:09blueprint of how you were created, your natural tendencies, how best you
- 5:15thrive, the foods that are good for you.
- 5:17So I actually did this epigenetic testing.
- 5:20And to my biggest delight and surprise, the foods that I love
- 5:24naturally are the things that are, a lot of them are good for me.
- 5:28Wow.
- 5:28So, and then you begin to flow in your natural state.
- 5:33Hmm.
- 5:33You know, you don't struggle anymore because a lot of these diets.
- 5:36You know, they're like, they are branded as one size fits all, but one
- 5:41size fits all doesn't fit everyone.
- 5:43That's why some people struggle and then they now feel like a failure.
- 5:46They feel frustrated and then they give it up.
- 5:49So, but when you find what is your unique style, what works for you, it's easier on
- 5:55your body because it's tailored to you.
- 5:57It is not tailored to somebody else.
- 6:00So it takes away the struggle, it takes away the frustration.
- 6:04You now enter what is called the flow states where you are
- 6:09doing things effortlessly.
- 6:11Mm-hmm.
- 6:12You are going with the flow rather than swimming against the flow, against
- 6:16the currents, which takes more energy.
- 6:19But when you are in your strength zone, you are, you
- 6:23know, you are in your best life.
- 6:24It's going well for you, even with me that I was like, I don't
- 6:28need to lose anymore weight.
- 6:30Now that I've dialed it down to exactly me and the thing, it's not just diet ooo.
- 6:36For some people, their body types, it might be how you handle stress.
- 6:42Mm-hmm.
- 6:42And just the little things that, you know, they told me to do in terms of my stress.
- 6:49It's like the stress in my mind, the stress in my body followed, whew.
- 6:54I dropped five pounds.
- 6:55It's like, wow.
- 6:58While eating.
- 6:59While eating.
- 7:00The things that you like, because you have discovered it works best for you.
- 7:04Absolutely absolutely.
- 7:05That is the truth.
- 7:07That is the truth.
- 7:08Wow.
- 7:10I'm blown away.
- 7:11But I see, I don't wanna say the simplicity, but I see how that comes
- 7:17into place because if you find out what works best for you, then it makes
- 7:22sense to do what works best for you.
- 7:25And because, you know, we are made up, we're all different, but our
- 7:29epigenetically, we have our own unique way of handling stress, even handling,
- 7:35you know, happiness or handling like during the holiday seasons.
- 7:40When people let their hair down and you eat all sorts of things.
- 7:43But knowing that, okay, this doesn't actually work for me,
- 7:46and this does work, really is a guide to the after holiday blues.
- 7:51You know, many times where we are like, oh no, why did I eat that?
- 7:55Why did I do this?
- 7:57So I think this is so important.
- 8:00I'm grinning from ear to ear because it's like I found a solution for me.
- 8:05It is like handing you your own manual.
- 8:08You know, people say, oh, I wasn't born with a manual, but actually
- 8:12we've been born with a manual.
- 8:14And they give you your manual.
- 8:15This is your manual.
- 8:16This is how you thrive best.
- 8:17This is the best place you can live.
- 8:19This is how you can understand your relationship.
- 8:22This is how you can understand your food.
- 8:24It goes beyond food because like I said, this five pounds that
- 8:28I lost, it wasn't because of.
- 8:30What I did differently with my food per se, is just the stress.
- 8:34Mm-hmm.
- 8:35That I had to let go of.
- 8:37It's like decluttering your space.
- 8:38It's a lot of things.
- 8:40It's a library of information about you.
- 8:44I mean, it makes it sound like we are narcissistic, but you know what?
- 8:47When you understand yourself.
- 8:49And you're able to care for yourself well, you're now are in
- 8:53a position to serve other people.
- 8:55Just like you're in an aircraft, you're traveling with a 1-year-old, they say
- 8:58in case of turbulence, what do you do?
- 9:00Put on your mask first so that you can help that child.
- 9:04Because if you pass out without putting your mask out first,
- 9:07you can't help that child.
- 9:08So now we are putting on our masks so that you can do your God-given purpose.
- 9:14You can shine brightly.
- 9:16You can, you know, live your best life.
- 9:19You can, you know, see the doctor less often because you are in good
- 9:23condition, good state of health and mind.
- 9:27So it's a wonderful place to be.
- 9:29Wow.
- 9:30Wow, wow, wow.
- 9:33I know we kind of like, we introduced this about your eating style,
- 9:37you know, but let's talk about how it impacts, like your energy.
- 9:42You said it dropped, helped you see stress differently, and you dropped five pounds.
- 9:47Is that something you can talk about?
- 9:49Because I mean, I'm so encouraged just listening to you.
- 9:53Well, one of the things that, you know, I did for myself and my eating
- 9:59type or my body type is the stress.
- 10:02You know, I, first of all my friend came to my office and decluttered my workspace.
- 10:09Wow.
- 10:10You know, it's like you have too many folders here.
- 10:12You have... she just carried everything from my desk.
- 10:15Only that just released something inside my soul.
- 10:20Wow.
- 10:20And then I had a lot of work that I had not done.
- 10:24It had piled up.
- 10:25And then all I asked like, no, no, no, no.
- 10:27This is weighing in heavily on me.
- 10:30So I had to sit down and break it down and how I can now
- 10:34get it done, get it together.
- 10:37So that in itself, I was able to finish my notes this past weekend.
- 10:42So all that was like a stress on my body.
- 10:48You see, you are, when you are stressed out, as for some body types, your body
- 10:52tells you it's not safe to release weight.
- 10:54Mm-hmm.
- 10:55So you might be eating healthy, you might eating all the right things,
- 10:58eating vegetables, eating everything.
- 11:01But if you, you know, there are other aspects of life, like for me, my health
- 11:06type stress relief is very important.
- 11:10And for me, my body type being outside in the outdoors is very
- 11:15healing and therapeutic for me.
- 11:17So, like for myself, for my lunch break, I put on my sneakers, put on
- 11:22my jacket because it's getting cold in layers and I get outside and walk.
- 11:27And, you know, just listening to the natural sounds.
- 11:31, I'm not listening to anything.
- 11:34The birds, you know, just the sounds.
- 11:36And then I have time to pray and meditate and reflect.
- 11:41All that is nourishing to my soul.
- 11:46So it's not just what is on our plate, because sometimes we do everything
- 11:50right, but there are other aspects of our life that needs to come into
- 11:55alignment to give you the energy that you need to make you feel that freedom.
- 12:00You gain that freedom, and then you are fully attuned with your body.
- 12:04You know, you feel energized, you feel confident.
- 12:07Mm-hmm.
- 12:08It is such a good place to be when you are at home in your body.
- 12:13And that's the way God designed us to be.
- 12:15He don't want us to fight against our body and struggling, Hey, don't eat this.
- 12:20Don't eat that.
- 12:21You know, sometimes we focus on the don'ts and when we focus on the
- 12:25don'ts, it's not a good place to be.
- 12:27No.
- 12:28Yes.
- 12:29No.
- 12:30And someone said to me.
- 12:32Many times when we focus so much on the don't, you don't realize that by saying
- 12:36no to something, that means you're opening up the opportunity for Yes.
- 12:40So instead of focusing on, I can't, I can't focus on all the new things
- 12:46that you can do that you opened yourself up to, being aware of, being
- 12:50able to do, being able to sense, you know, it makes a world of difference.
- 12:55Even as you mentioned now, going for a walk during your lunch
- 12:59break without any headphones, I'm assuming without any distractions.
- 13:03You're just taking in nature.
- 13:04The wind as it's blowing the leaves, as they're falling, the birds as they're
- 13:09singing, you know, it does make you stop.
- 13:13Well, not literally, but it makes you, you know, reflect, reflect on life.
- 13:18Sometimes I even walk and I look at the clouds or how blue the sky is, if it's a
- 13:22bright day, even if it's not a bright day.
- 13:25But you know, it's not overcast.
- 13:26Just looking at the wow the aircraft flying and I'm thinking.
- 13:32God, you are wonderful.
- 13:34However, heavy aircraft like that can be in the sky.
- 13:36I can't even fly myself, my own body, but he's given mankind opportunity
- 13:42and the ability to, you know, to know the science and how to do that.
- 13:47It does relieve stress.
- 13:50Yes, ma'am.
- 13:51Absolutely, absolutely.
- 13:53For some body types, stress needs to be released for you to see appreciable
- 14:01difference and in what you're doing.
- 14:04Give you the payoff of eating right, so that you be encouraged.
- 14:07You be encouraged because if you do something long enough and
- 14:10it's not working, you don't see results, you get discouraged.
- 14:13So, you know, being in your strength zone helps you get encouraged
- 14:17because you're going to see results.
- 14:19You're going to see results.
- 14:20And with coaching, you see, that's where a coach helps you to be able to say,
- 14:25okay, this is, you know, how can we read your label for you, your inside the jar?
- 14:29But someone outside can read the label for you and say, okay,
- 14:33alright, ask you the right questions.
- 14:35And then you begin to say, aha.
- 14:37This might be it.
- 14:38Aha.
- 14:39This is where I need to adjust.
- 14:40Aha.
- 14:41And then you do it, and then you see results.
- 14:43It's so real, you know?
- 14:45You feel so good that something is working.
- 14:48Something finally after you've had so many repeated failures and
- 14:53then something starts working.
- 14:55Oh my God.
- 14:56You feel on top of the world.
- 14:59Absolutely.
- 15:00Absolutely.
- 15:01So I know offline we talked about good food freedom.
- 15:06What's that?
- 15:07I think that's a benefit of course, but what's this good food freedom?
- 15:12Yes.
- 15:13It's looking at food in the sense that every first of
- 15:16all, that every food is good.
- 15:17Yes.
- 15:18Okay.
- 15:20So when you do the epigenetic testing, it tells you the foods that are
- 15:24the best for you, they're in green.
- 15:26The foods that are okay, they're yellow, and then the ones
- 15:29that are red are not so great.
- 15:32But you can still eat those ones in red once a week.
- 15:37You can have it so you don't feel deprived.
- 15:40Okay, so you don't feel deprived.
- 15:41Like last week I ate so clean.
- 15:45I ate so beautifully.
- 15:46Well, and I said, I'm gonna mess it up.
- 15:47I wanna mess it up now.
- 15:50So when I went for office lunch, I took a cherry pie.
- 15:54Okay.
- 15:54I'm gonna eat it because I want to do something to give myself extra calories.
- 15:59Yeah.
- 16:00And when I ate it, honestly speaking, it didn't feel good
- 16:04in my body, so I just stopped.
- 16:07So, you know, but things like mangoes for me and for my health
- 16:11type is a lot of calories.
- 16:13Mm-hmm.
- 16:14So when it's in season, I do have it, but I might have it once a week for my refeed
- 16:19day where I can have something that I like that not necessarily is the best for me.
- 16:24Mm-hmm.
- 16:25Because we know that if you go feeling deprived, it's just a
- 16:30matter of time you will just say, Hey, this thing, I'm tired of it.
- 16:33So we don't want you to be tired of it.
- 16:35So it's everything is incorporated.
- 16:38Plus the ones that are great for you, not so, you know.
- 16:41Great.
- 16:41And the ones that you know are on the red zone, you can still have
- 16:44that so that you don't feel deprived.
- 16:47You see, you want to feel satisfied, satiated, you know, food is meant for
- 16:53fueling, so we don't want you to use it for an emotional crutch, but at the same
- 16:58time, we don't want you to feel deprived.
- 17:02Got you.
- 17:04So I know you're a coach, and I know with the epigenetics, you're
- 17:07a physician, you're a coach.
- 17:10You are very much into, you know, using the mindset to empower or guide
- 17:17women towards energy, confidence.
- 17:20So I'm wondering, do you have one success story you can tell us about?
- 17:23Oh, I know there are many, but just choose one so that we can hear it ourselves
- 17:28and say, okay, I'm like that, or, Hmm.
- 17:31That's something I can do.
- 17:32Okay.
- 17:33There's a lady, I will call her Nelo.
- 17:35She came to me.
- 17:36She actually lives in Nigeria.
- 17:37For those who think that, oh, there are not enough good foods
- 17:41for me to choose from, you know, so she came to me, she felt weak.
- 17:45She had aches and pain.
- 17:47She's like about 49 because she just when I work for her, she just turned 50.
- 17:52Mm-hmm.
- 17:52So she felt sluggish and everything.
- 17:55So, when we worked together, first of all, in the first three months,
- 17:59she released 45 pounds, and up to now she's lost like about 60 pounds.
- 18:04And not just that, she feels more confident.
- 18:08She's the one that gets all the women in her neighborhood, takes them on a walk.
- 18:13She's a school teacher.
- 18:15She's made more confident so that whenever the principal is out of school,
- 18:19she puts her there as her, substitute, you know, someone to stand in for
- 18:23her and her business, her personal business on the side has 10 x because
- 18:27now she feels confident I can do this.
- 18:29She keeps thanking me.
- 18:31Keep thanking.
- 18:31I say, for what?
- 18:32For what?
- 18:33But because, you know, we now use the foods that we eat in Nigeria.
- 18:39Mm-hmm.
- 18:39Our native foods, you know, you can, people can still eat rice, people can
- 18:43still eat, swallow, but we now measure it and then add all the different
- 18:48foods that will help to balance it out.
- 18:51We worked on the mindset, we worked on so many things that on, from time
- 18:55to time I go to her WhatsApp status.
- 18:57She has posted her new body.
- 18:59She's so confident.
- 19:00She's taking pictures.
- 19:01She's doing this, she's doing that.
- 19:03She's happy.
- 19:04Wow.
- 19:04So, you know, that's one.
- 19:07Then, you know, that was just a younger lady.
- 19:09There's another lady, she was in her seventies, the one that I told you
- 19:13about that was Donna Summer's manager.
- 19:15Yes.
- 19:15When Donna Summer was alive.
- 19:17Mm-hmm.
- 19:17So she still works in Hollywood, but you know, when you get older it becomes
- 19:22a competition with the younger ones.
- 19:24So she wanted to lose 20 pounds and she's Italian.
- 19:26She loves red wine.
- 19:28So telling an Italian not to drink red wine, you are wasting your time.
- 19:32Yes.
- 19:32Red wine is calories.
- 19:34So she knows that and I know that.
- 19:36So I tried to work with her.
- 19:38Oh, I don't have time for this.
- 19:40I don't have time.
- 19:41Finally, I asked her, so what can you do?
- 19:44Mm-hmm.
- 19:44And then she said, oh.
- 19:46I love to use Weight Watchers.
- 19:47I said, okay, we are gonna use Weight Watchers.
- 19:49We are gonna add your red wine for you.
- 19:52And now exercise.
- 19:53You travel a lot.
- 19:54What can you do?
- 19:55Can you take your sneakers with you?
- 19:57Yes, I can.
- 19:58So when you get into the airport, put on your sneakers before your
- 20:01flight, do some laps in the airport.
- 20:03In three months, my lady lost 20 pounds.
- 20:08That's what she was trying to lose.
- 20:10Wow.
- 20:10And then when she went to Israel on one of the rooftops, she did a
- 20:14live testimonial for me, thanking me and, you know, saying, whatever
- 20:18this girl is doing, just go with her.
- 20:21So it does work.
- 20:23It does work.
- 20:24When you find your strength zone, when you find your unique pattern,
- 20:28your blueprint, you know, your manual.
- 20:32It's gonna work, but if I try to give you what work for me or
- 20:35another diet, it doesn't work.
- 20:37But what is your unique blueprint is what will work for you.
- 20:42Wow.
- 20:42Wow.
- 20:45So, because I know everyone in the audience is probably waiting to ask
- 20:50you so many questions, and this is a global issue for those who haven't
- 20:54been able to join us in the audience, how can people follow you, get engaged
- 21:00with you so that they too can have this unique success that's just for them?
- 21:06My main place is on Facebook.
- 21:08I'm there as Open one call.
- 21:09You can DM me and if you DM me because you are especially on Ms Paula's show.
- 21:16Ask me for my energy recipe guide for women.
- 21:20I made that guide.
- 21:21It's beautiful.
- 21:23And I designed it on Canva.
- 21:25I will share it with Ms. Paula.
- 21:27I love it myself.
- 21:28Anytime I look at it, it makes me feel good.
- 21:31. So you can find me on Facebook and, you know, that's where I do
- 21:36most of my posting, , my teaching, my sharing of my journey and
- 21:41stuff like that is on Facebook.
- 21:43What about LinkedIn?
- 21:44I'm a LinkedIn fan, so I'm always like trying to talk about, find out the people
- 21:49are on LinkedIn for people like me.
- 21:52I mean, Facebook I love, but I'm just getting acquainted with it.
- 21:57Is there any other place?
- 21:58Do you have a website?
- 21:59I'm also on LinkedIn.
- 22:00I'm also on LinkedIn.
- 22:01I'm trying to understand it.
- 22:05My website is livehealthydoc.com.
- 22:09Live healthy Doc.
- 22:10Okay.
- 22:11We put all of that in the show notes.
- 22:12We'll drop it in the chat.
- 22:14Yes.
- 22:14Oh my gosh, Dr. Nwankwo.
- 22:16This has been amazing.
- 22:18I learned so much.
- 22:19One of my mantras is that I have to learn one thing new every day.
- 22:26So...
- 22:26Wow.
- 22:27This is one of my one things.
- 22:30One can be multiplied by many things.
- 22:32So by the end of the day I should have like 20, but this is really, really good.
- 22:37So for those of you who are listening to this online or viewing
- 22:42this on YouTube, I love to invite you to be a guest on the show.
- 22:49I mean, of course you got to reach out to me first on my website,
- 22:54which is Chatting with the Experts, or you can contact me on LinkedIn.
- 23:00We'll have a conversation there.
- 23:02I'm also on Instagram.
- 23:03My handle there is at chat_experts_podcast.
- 23:08I'm on Facebook, as you heard me say.
- 23:10I'm getting more and more active on Facebook.
- 23:13My social media choice, platform has always been LinkedIn, but I can change.
- 23:18And last but not least, talking about social media platform,
- 23:21I'm really active on YouTube.
- 23:24I'd love for you to like this, subscribe to us 'cause there's so much that you
- 23:28can learn from these amazing women.
- 23:31And I stretch out amazing because they truly are.
- 23:34And we've also had some very fabulous men.
- 23:37In fact, we're gonna have a show primarily for men.
- 23:41Men talking to women about how men feel.
- 23:43That will still be coming up soon.
- 23:45So tune in for that.
- 23:46Thank you, thank you.
- 23:47Thank you, Dr. Ukpong Nwankwo for being...
- 23:50Thank you Ms. Paula.
- 23:51Thank you, ma'am.
- 23:52Thank you.
- 23:53And now we'll open up the floor for all who joined us so they
- 23:56can ask you the questions that I couldn't remember to ask you.
- 23:59This is so good.
- 24:00I'm so excited.
- 24:03Thank you, ma'am.