Liver's Role in Metabolism & Body Composition

Philip Pape 0:01

Your liver converts thyroid hormones from form to active form , processes every gram of protein you eat and determines whether nutrients get shuttled to muscle or fat . Yet most people , focused on body composition , never think about liver health . Today , my guest explains how this overlooked organ controls your metabolic rate , muscle protein synthesis and fat storage , and why liver dysfunction might explain why you're struggling with your fitness and nutrition . You'll learn how to recognize when liver function is limiting your results , which common foods and lifestyle factors can impair liver performance , and evidence-based strategies to optimize liver health for better body composition . Welcome to Wits and Weights , the show that helps you build a strong , healthy physique using evidence , engineering and efficiency . I'm your host , philip Pape , and today we're discussing how thyroid and liver function affects metabolism , muscle retention , fat loss and more .

Philip Pape 1:02

My guest today is Sarah Banta , a certified supplement expert , health coach and founder of Accelerated Health Products . She's also the host of Accelerated Health with Sarah Banta . Go , give that a follow . She's got well over , I think , 600 episodes covering health optimization and so many topics that you guys really care about . So give her a follow .

Philip Pape 1:23

And Sarah , the reason I wanted to have her here is she has experienced firsthand how addressing some of these health issues , some that we don't talk about enough or understand enough . The thyroid , the liver , function , everything going on in your body , how they can impact your results , your training , your metabolism , and why some people might get frustrated or hit plateaus despite doing all the right things , despite sound nutrition and sound training protocols . So today you're going to learn how thyroid and liver affects more than just the processing of what you eat and your hormones . It's evolved in hormone conversion , nutrient metabolism , muscle protein utilization , all that fun stuff that we're going to nerd out on . Today . We're going to explore what the research shows about the function of the systems in your body and with your body composition , look at lifestyle factors that can impair your health and discuss evidence-based strategies , as always , to support optimal thyroid and liver health for better results . Sarah , welcome to the show .

Sara Banta 2:20

Thanks for having me Super excited . I love that you mentioned efficiency and energy in your intro , because I feel like so many people are banging their heads against the wall with workouts and not eating enough or trying to figure out what to eat , when they just have to figure out how their body assimilates and makes energy and becomes efficient with the results . So , anyways , I'm super excited to dive into this because we're going to tackle all of those things .

Philip Pape 2:50

So you're saying it's not about cutting out whole food groups ? Is that what you're saying ?

Sara Banta 2:54

No , it's not and it's not about taking a weight loss drug . It is about your body trusting you . It's about getting all the systems on without the clogs in the wheel per se . So we need everything to be working right and the things that disrupt it . That's what we're going to get into as well , and it does come down to thyroid and liver . Before we get into that , I thought I'd tell my little story .

Sara Banta 3:23

I've been an athlete all my life . I was a rower , played volleyball in high school , rode at the national level , and those aren't . Rowing especially is not an easy feat . All three of my kids have done it and they've had their own health issues along the way with it . But you have to be dueling right . You've got to have strong muscle , you've got to have good cardio .

Sara Banta 3:45

But what happened to me almost coming up on a year is I was hit with spike protein viral activity . Well , what was happening to me is my thyroid numbers went down , so my metabolism slowed down . Numbers went down , so my metabolism slowed down , and then I was eating over 200 grams of protein , which , as you know , is a lot of protein for someone my size . But my body was not assimilating that protein and turning it into muscle . And then , fortunately and fortunately , philip , I'm really boring I'm so consistent with my workouts , with my eating regimen and all of that . So anything that goes up or down , it's kind of there's like this outside factor that you've got to look at . So I was not only not building muscle , which was my goal , I was actually losing muscle and my thyroid numbers were going down . My testosterone was going down . I've always had a good , healthy testosterone . So something was amiss .

Sara Banta 4:49

And when your body is under a stressor whether it's financial stress , your spousal stress or an internal stress of a virus , an allergy or liver being loaded , an allergy or liver being loaded , overloaded your body goes into this survival mode and it says , hey , shut down all these systems . We're not going to worry about building muscle and burning fat , because we've got to take care of this thing over here . And so my liver was not . The wheels had come off . And what people don't understand is your liver and your thyroid are directly connected . Now , regardless of what your diet is , what you're eating even you know eating nothing , you're not going to burn fat and you're not going to lose weight , because your thyroid is in charge of your metabolism . It's in charge of your metabolic rate , your body temperature and for all of you out there going well , I think I have a healthy thyroid . My doctor says it's healthy . They tested my TSH and my T4 . That doesn't tell you the whole story . That's two of the many thyroid hormones .

Sara Banta 6:00

You need to look at the big picture . You need to look at free T3 , reverse T3 . That will tell you what your metabolism is and what your level of stress is . That your body is seeing , because my T3 was

Thyroid Function and Metabolism Connection

Sara Banta 6:15

low and my reverse T3 , which was my stress hormone , was extremely high during this period . What is that telling my body ? You are in survival mode , shut down metabolism . Not only shut down metabolism , but we're going to have this added propensity to store fat because we need to protect these expensive muscles around our belly , our liver , our kidneys , our gallbladder , all of these , our heart . That's why you get the belly fat when you're under stress , right , and you get that thin butt look and the big belly and the big shoulder pads . So your body goes into the survival mode and so your body actually adds on more fat than you would in a non-stressed state .

Sara Banta 7:04

If you don't have a healthy thyroid , you're not getting energy to the brain and this is what you don't realize . Your body produces T4 and T3 , just a little bit of the T3 , which is the active thyroid hormone . But T4 needs to convert into T3 . T4 is inactive into T3 . T4 is inactive , t3 is active . 80% of T4 has to be converted into active T3 . And guess where that happens ? In the liver . There we go . So how is my liver going to do the job for the thyroid if it's dealing with all of these other things over here the microplastics , the endocrine disruptors , the PFAs , the artificial sweeteners and it's going to disrupt your gut ? Now some people could probably eat it fine without any issues . I definitely couldn't . My body said no , so I went back to just whole foods , boring as it is , I did . But your liver cannot help your thyroid if your liver's overloaded with all of this stuff . So when you start seeing a slower metabolism , fatigue , even though you're eating or you're sleeping dry skin , thin hair , cold hands , cold feet , the brain fog , weight gain , especially around the middle that could mean that your liver is not converting that T4 to T3 . And that is where the T3 is . What gives your cells that energy , the cellular energy inside the mitochondria . That is where the ATP gets up .

Sara Banta 8:47

Now , part of this issue with the thyroid is a lack of iodine . And what does that iodine do ? It increases your metabolism , right , but not only that . It helps with the protein being used for muscle building and fat oxidation . So you're going to increase that fat oxidation and increase that muscle protein synthesis . Iodine helps that metabolism slow down after , during weight loss . If you're in a cut and you usually see a metabolism slow down , iodine can keep that metabolism boosted because it increases that ATP within the cell . So if your thyroid can't work properly , it's going to make it harder to gain the muscle , to assimilate the protein that you're taking in and turn it into muscle , and easier for you to gain fat . Iodine helps with cleansing the blood so the liver can do its job . It increases the efficiency of the mitochondrial function . Without healthy mitochondria you will not have fat oxidation or muscle performance . You will also have better brain activity .

Sara Banta 10:02

Iodine deficiency is the number one cause of brain fog , depression , anxiety . Most people on antidepressants are not getting their thyroids tested . Most people on antidepressants if they just corrected their thyroid , they probably would let go of their antidepressant medication . So iodine also helps balance out the hormones growth hormone , testosterone and even the estrogen , progesterone . Most men and women are suffering from estrogen dominance . What does that look like ? Man boobs not able to develop the muscles in the body , low testosterone levels . Our testosterone in our men , as you know , I'm sure , is just plummeted .

Sara Banta 10:49

Well , iodine plays a key role in hormone regulation , not just in the thyroid but through the whole endocrine system ,

Sarah's Personal Health Journey

Sara Banta 10:58

and it also boosts that detoxification in your liver and your lymph . So the iodine is supporting the thyroid , but it is also supporting the liver and helping cleanse the heavy metals , the plastics , the xenoestrogens , the halogens . So , with that being said , like I mentioned , it helps with the focus and if your focus is better , guess what you're going to do in the gym ? You're actually going to have better performance because you're more motivated . When you have brain fog or you're depressed , who wants to work out ? I just want to sleep in bed , right , so that is all related . But then it gets to the liver .

Philip Pape 11:38

Early on in what you were just talking about with your own personal experience . I love that you brought up the fact you were super consistent and quote-unquote , boring with your routine . Those are actually my favorite clients because then you could easily tease out the variables Not easily , but you could at least isolate the variables , like you said , and try to understand what else might be happening . You know we're doing all the right things but still something's frustrated . Is it menopause ? Is it because I'm old ? Right , you get all the classic kind of reasons or excuses and it might be some cascade with your liver , your thyroid , the environmental inputs coming into your body with the modern food environment . So I think that's really important for people to understand first is don't assume and fearmonger for yourself that it's like the sky is falling all over the place . It's , if you can be consistent you can help tease these out . The second thing you mentioned is this big cascade between the thyroid and the liver , which is probably news to a lot of people , and it's not surprising to me how interconnected everything is , because we see , for example , muscle and bone are more connected than we ever thought . Hormonally , right , Fat and muscle cells are more connected , and so your personal experience of , okay , checking my hormones , looking at and seeing the T4 , the T3 , this that you know when you first do that , people are still overwhelmed , they don't quite know what's going on and they slap a bandaid on it with just they might go straight to HRT . That may not be the solution right . And the fact that it's then linked to your metabolism .

Philip Pape 13:02

Now we get to the special sauce here of weight loss resistance . And why can't I lose fat ? And why is all the fat that I am gaining going to my belly ? Why am I eating so much protein , like you did , and not able to utilize it ? And finally , that gets us to two things incoming toxins and then mitigation of those toxins in the body . So when we talk about toxins , I've talked about it before in the context of chronic inflammation right , Because we often blame inflammation on , like , specific foods , but it's really the context of your lifestyle and the environment and everything coming together . Answer this question for me , Sarah is our liver capable of detoxifying quite a bit of junk that comes in from the outside if we are doing other things right , or is there a point at which , like it's just kind of a lost cause and we really have to unload those toxins coming in , If you , if that , if you feel me on that and we really have to unload those toxins coming in .

Sara Banta 13:55

if you feel me on that , from what I've gone through and the way I live my life , I truly believe at this point in modern day society we have to support our livers with the proper supplements . But the other thing I wanted to touch on was you mentioned hormones like let's get on HRT , or I had doctors saying , oh , you need to get on a free T3 medication or you need to get on testosterone . Your testosterone is too low . My body was in a survival stress mode . It was adapting to this condition that I was dealing with . If I had thrown hormones on it which my liver would have had to process on top of everything else I was dealing with , if I had thrown hormones on it which my liver would have had to process on top of everything else I was doing , it was going to make me feel worse . And in fact a side scenario was my own 18-year-old daughter , whose menstrual cycle pain went from a five level five to a 12 , where she's throwing up and wanting to yelling at me saying mom , help me , pass out , just hit me . I can't deal with this pain , something a mom should never have to witness . It was horrific . And but what I witnessed was the doctor put her on progesterone to bring up her progesterone . Well , that was going to back up her liver because she was fighting a viral issue as well , and her liver was overloaded . Within one day of using the progesterone , she got even more nauseous . She couldn't even drink water . She got that bad . So throwing on more hormones or things that your liver , your liver's got to process everything , good and bad . So you don't . You want to remove as much as you can .

Sara Banta 15:45

When we talk about muscle growth , it starts in the liver . Your liver plays that huge role in amino acid metabolism , protein synthesis . This is the other thing , philip . When I was eating , all that protein didn't matter because my liver was not able to break it down and repackage it , those amino acids to send to my biceps and my quads . It wasn't doing what I thought it was supposed to do . So this is where the body builds and repairs muscle tissues . And so if your liver cannot properly convert amino acids or clear out ammonia from protein breakdown , you won't see results .

Sara Banta 16:25

And the toxins , the plastics , heavy metals , excess estrogens , they get stored in the fat tissue when your liver's too backed up to eliminate them . And so when you try to burn fat without supporting the liver , those toxins just get reabsorbed , trigger inflammation , slow your metabolism and your hormones . We're talking about hormone health , the thyroid hormones , estrogen , testosterone , insulin , cortisol . They're all activated , broken down or detoxed in the liver . If your liver isn't working , you're going to see a sluggish metabolism , estrogen dominance , low testosterone , insulin resistance , cravings , high cortisol .

Sara Banta 17:09

So all of these things and without that strong bile production . So bile is that detergent for the fat , so it and I put people through a liver cleanses where on that last day of a two week process of eating real food and taking some some herbs , on that last day you do a drink of olive oil and citrus fruit . But that olive oil is kind of that . It emulsifies with the bile to push all that bile and the dirty toxins out of the body in one big push . But without

Iodine's Impact on Hormones & Energy

Sara Banta 17:44

that strong bile production you can't absorb fat soluble vitamins like A and D , e and K . So here you are popping your multivitamin , not doing you any good because your body's not using it .

Philip Pape 17:58

Let's take a step back before we get to . But you mentioned briefly , not a protocol , but kind of a hierarchical approach that people should take . Where they do the basics , they do the foundations , let's start there . When it comes to you mentioned gut health . You mentioned , of course , stress and the link between stress and your thyroid metabolism , and that's such a loaded topic . Other things to come to mind when you talk about fat , like just being recovered and sleeping and being consistent with your training and maybe not dieting all the time . So , yeah , what does that hierarchy look like ? So people are like okay , I've done that , I've done that and I've done that . Now I should look at the next , like the 1% , the 5% solutions that I haven't dealt with yet .

Sara Banta 18:37

So number one is is free ? It's that sleep . None of this stuff matters . I don't care what you eat , what you do , what supplements you throw down your throat . You're not sleeping , you've got . That's step one , and it's easier said than done . My , I wear my aura ring , and it's , it's my , my priority . And what's also interesting , though , is your liver . If you're waking up at three to four in the morning , that's your liver waking you up . That's your liver screaming at you that it wants some support . So sleep is number one . Stress , Stress , easier said than done , though , right , I mean stress is the killer . It's the killer . It causes cancer , it causes brain fog , it causes headaches , it causes your hair to fall out . Why is your hair falling out ? Because your thyroid shuts down , and your thyroid says we need to conserve energy . I don't know if we're gonna go through a famine for six months , or if we're being chased by a tiger , or if I'm fighting with my husband . It doesn't care . It is going to shut down your metabolism .

Philip Pape 19:42

So for all these things we talk about where your thyroid is suspect , if you just went and got blood work , would it show up in your numbers ?

Sara Banta 19:50

Okay , but you have to get the full thyroid panel . Sure , the TSH tells you nothing . That is a thyroid stimulating hormone , that's actually a pituitary hormone . So it's telling your thyroid to produce T4 . But T4 does you no good unless the liver converts that T4 to T3 . And so I even have a very astute thyroid client who just got her thyroid numbers done , and she had . I saw the TSH , I saw the , the T4 . And I'm looking , I see the reverse T3 , and I'm keep looking down her test . I'm like where's your free T3 ? And then I went back because I'm like no , my eyes are just not seeing it . I said where's the free T3 ? She goes oh my gosh , I can't believe we didn't do it . And that is it . That is your metabolism . Now your reverse T3 says a lot as well , because that's your stress hormone .

Philip Pape 20:47

So just to put a cap on this right , like , if you get that blood work and it looks good , is there still potentially an issue ?

Sara Banta 20:54

Yes .

Philip Pape 20:54

Okay .

Sara Banta 20:55

Okay . So you are different than me , Just the way that your cells can be resistant to insulin . Your cells could be more resistant than mine to thyroid hormone . So what's floating all in the blood doesn't tell the whole story , and it's a snapshot , because did the person take their thyroid medication an hour before or or not , you know ? Not at all before they got the blood test . Did they just have a spike of cortisol from a huge stress moment right before their blood test ? Have they been under chronic stress for months ? All of these things you have to take into account and it's just a snapshot . So your thyroid numbers can go up and down and personally I'm super sensitive .

Sara Banta 21:46

I feel my body go hypo and hyper . It does this and so it's constantly . I'm managing and I take different doses of supplements for my thyroid based on how I'm feeling . And what do I look for ? Better digestion , edema or a lack of edema ? My energy , of course . How is my brain working that day ? Those are just signs , without a blood test to say , okay , your thyroid's on point today or it's not . And when it's not , I go okay , let's go back to the fundamentals . Where's my sleep , Where's my stress ? And it's never . It's never about caloric restriction or I need to work out more , because that those , those thoughts of working out more or eating less is an additional stress .

Sara Banta 22:39

Right , and not even just that , but not even just doing anything different , but thinking about the fact that , oh my gosh , I'm going to gain fat because my thyroid's not working . Do you not think those thoughts aren't going to affect the way your metabolism , your systems are working ? Your thoughts are so powerful . So that's another thing and that's free . So train your thoughts . But with food , I prioritize wild animal protein . I love my venison , my bison , wild fish those are my go-tos . I'll eat grass-fed , grass-finished beef so your body is able to assimilate wild animal protein , wild fish , much more easily . And when I was going through this huge issue with my liver and realized what was going on , I essentially tended to eating a mostly pescatarian diet , which drove me nuts .

Philip Pape 23:40

And I got as an elimination effectively .

Sara Banta 23:43

And it was just for a month , just to like my liver a little bit of a break and breathing room . And I was shocked that I actually saw a difference in my muscle tone and things improving . And I thought wait a second . I thought I would get all of that from my all the good red meat I was eating , not the wimpy little fish . But what was happening was the more animal land meats were harder on my liver . Now my liver's healthy now I eat tons of those meats now . So these things are not long-term Fixed . Yeah , they're just a short term to get your body back .

Philip Pape 24:21

So , okay , you mentioned sleep , stress , food , but you also mentioned the whole conversation about T3 was , I think , one of the takeaways for listeners . There is the importance of biofeedback and the importance of really understanding your body and that hormones and all of these things can vary within the day , day to day , week to week . It's going to depend on your stress levels and everything else . Just like when we talk about fat loss and muscle building , it's like different times of the year . You're a different person . You might even weigh a different amount , you might have . You know it's winter versus summer . There's different things going on . I like the thing about . I like what you talked about eliminating as well . Is there a standard

Liver's Role in Muscle Growth

Philip Pape 24:59

kind of elimination protocol that you suggest for people Like doing a I hate to say carnivore , because , again , I'm not I don't advocate specific diets ever , but like cutting out what people think of as the trouble foods , let's say , like dairy or gluten or something like that ?

Sara Banta 25:10

Yeah , I do tend to prioritize wild animal protein . Fill in with the carbs and the fat , depending on your health goals . Personally , I tend to like carbs more than fat . Most people have fatty liver disease . Fatty liver disease for the American population is over 50% . If your liver is backed up , like mine was , it cannot process that very well . So any ketogenic diet , any high fat , low carb diet , is probably not going to work for you . So that's where the protein is number one and then you fill in with the fats or carbs , depending on what your preference is . I noticed when I started adding in more carbs , my metabolism went up . Imagine that when I started not fasting like I used to , my metabolism went up . Why ? Because my body is trusting me .

Sara Banta 26:08

How much money do you have in the bank ? You only got $20 . You're only going to spend a very little amount . If you've got millions in the bank , you're going to spend more money and your body does the same with its metabolism . So it's not about protein , carbs or fat . It's more about the specific wrong or right proteins , carbs or fats , and I'm sticking to the more whole foods or wild animal proteins like the bison , the elk , venison these foods also , phillip , there are so many ranches around the country . You just Google at delivery , bison , delivery and you will have plenty of websites show up . They're family owned , they're high quality meats . They're directly delivered to your doorstep in these nice dry ice frozen packages , no more expensive than going to get your meat from the market and it makes it super easy . So it's not a cost thing because the ultra processed foods those costs a lot of money . Your Starbucks costs a lot of money compared to this , the these whole foods that we're talking about .

Philip Pape 27:18

Yeah , we had a cattle rancher on recently and she was talking about like one of the best places you get food is just your local farmers , your farmer's markets , like just you know , cause at least you can talk to the people raising the food and ask them about their process and what's in it and pesticides and all that stuff . I like that tip .

Berkeley 27:35

Hello , I am Berkeley and I wanted to give a huge thank you to Philip of Wits and Weights . He has helped me so much , gave me a completely free 30 minute call where he answered all of my questions , gave lots of great insight into programming and nutrition . All of his content is really wonderful and he has a great Facebook group that is supportive and informational . He has tons of free resources that I really really enjoy and they're all super science-based . What I really love about Philip is that he always updates his guides and he makes time to answer any questions , even though I am not currently a paying client . He really has helped me so much and I'm just so grateful .

Philip Pape 28:26

So now , what about movement strength training ? So I'm obviously so grateful . So now , what about movement strength training ? So I'm obviously huge in the strength training and one of the things that surprised me being in this industry now is how much that unlocks your body's capability , is the way I'm going to put it like down to the cellular level , how much of our body is tied to . It's not just having muscle mass and looking good , it's the act of training the myokines that get released and the signaling and you're using your body in space like we're meant to do . What are your thoughts on that ? Tied to liver and thyroid health ?

Sara Banta 28:56

Oh , it's huge . Your cells are communicating

Sleep, Stress and Nutrition Hierarchy

Sara Banta 29:00

right , and so when you are strength training , you're essentially telling your brain I want to be strong to live life , I want to be more capable , I want to be more grounded . I know that when I feel too thin or not enough muscle on my body , I feel very weak in the mind . So there's this mind body connection there . The muscle is going to burn more fat and burn more calories . Your muscles are glucose storage banks . So the more muscle you have , the more carbs you are able to eat and sponge up .

Sara Banta 29:42

And the chronic cardio especially for women , it's not going to pay off . Your hormones are going to be wrecked , your hair's going to fall out , your skin is going to look awful and your body's going to go back to that bank thought of hey , I'm not getting enough money in my bank to be expending on an eight mile run right now . So I'm going to lower my metabolism and maybe I'm going to burn a lot of calories during that run . Then I'm going to shut it down . So with I'm a huge believer in strength training . I lift heavy weights . I try to bulk up . It's very difficult , women . You're not going to get bulky unless you're taking testosterone shots , and even then it's going to be difficult , so I'm a huge proponent of that .

Philip Pape 30:32

My general thought . Having watched the industry and seeing how things have gone , my general advice to people is but I'm curious about your thoughts on the fasted training piece , cause that's where a lot of people go to like EAs , even if they have no problems handling the muscle , the protein coming in right and the amino acids , if they're very efficient with that , do you find them valuable or not ?

Sara Banta 30:52

Yes , so I tend to work out early in the morning and I take my iodine . I take the essential amino acids after and then I really do follow up with a big meal to help fill in and support my caloric need . Personally , that works for me . Some people need a meal in the beginning or in the morning before their workout , especially women . I feel like men can get away with a lot more . Women need to really think through their hormonal balance and how they're feeling .

Sara Banta 31:25

So do you have to be fasted in a workout ? No , Is it a possibility ? Yes , but you really need to be listening to your own body and where you are . If you're in a very stressed period of time in your life , not a time to be fasted , right , we want to . If our bucket's full of stress , we don't want to add another one . Just like if our liver bucket's too full of toxins , we don't want to add another one . We need to take care and see where we are , and it might be it might be it might change in a month from now and then change back again for you .

Sara Banta 32:02

If you are constantly doing the same routine every single day , with the same workouts and the same food , your body's not going to make any big adjustments because it's just going to settle right into that routine .

Sara Banta 32:18

You know there's that study where they've looked at different tribes around the world where they're doing a whole lot more physical activity than we are , but they're eating the same amount of calories because their bodies adjust . You know your metabolism is going to adjust . So the two biggest things when you're talking about fat loss or muscle building and getting results is your liver and your thyroid . And , like I said , if you choose to eat a meal before your workout or if you choose to be fasted , that's not going to make or break you if you have not addressed the thyroid and the liver . And those things are also related to your sleep and your stress . So it's all interconnected . The cells are talking . Your cells are , just like in your interview about bone and muscle , how they're interrelated , which is super fascinating and makes total sense . All of our cells are talking , All of our organs are talking . You're not just having the head doctor and then the liver doctor and the kidney doctor and the muscle doctor . They're all connected .

Philip Pape 33:31

I feel like Eastern medicine has known this a lot longer than we have , right ? Yeah , absolutely . I think there's one little elephant little or big elephant in the room . People are thinking because we said liver about 100 times and that , of course , is some of the biggest toxins that we're all aware of that maybe we shouldn't imbibe in on a regular basis . Let's just hit on those Alcohol . But I also want to talk about smoking . You would think by now anybody health conscious would not even think about smoking , let alone addiction and all that . But I'm even curious about pot and like cigars and pipes and all that because I've got friends who are like , yeah , I celebrate with my cigars , no big deal , but they're super health conscious everywhere else . How much toxic load does that stuff put on your liver ?

Sara Banta 34:11

Oh , it's not even just your liver . All of the toxins from smoking love your thyroid . Oh , yes , love your thyroid . So you're slow , you think you're suppressing your appetite and you're going to have a weight loss effect from that smoking . It's actually slowing down your thyroid . But , yes , all those toxins are hitting your liver .

Sara Banta 34:32

Alcohol is a poison .

Strength Training and Hormonal Balance

Sara Banta 34:34

There's no storage capacity for alcohol in the body and you might think , oh well , that's good news , that means that I can drink and nothing's going to be stored . No , what that does is the body says , okay , stop , we got to stop everything else , anything that comes in , other than the alcohol , the carbs , the protein , fat . We're going to store it in our fat cells because we got to burn , burn , burn this alcohol right now , right . And so the liver is just under attack .

Sara Banta 35:05

And you know I have alcoholism in my family and I don't tend to drink . I've not , I have not said to myself oh , you're never going to be , you're never going to drink , because I don't want to do that to myself . But it's so funny because I'll go out and I'll be offered a drink and I'll think . You know , I feel too good , I don't want . It takes me down when you optimize your thyroid and your energy is up and you feel good . You don't want to be taken down .

Sara Banta 35:34

My kids , you know , they've experimented a little bit with alcohol . They don't care for it because they feel good on a regular basis and most people are suffering from anxiety and depression and they're using it as a coping mechanism . So the problem is , is alcohol and other drugs , but specifically alcohol makes you more impulsive when you're not drinking . It makes you more depressed when you're not drinking and obviously your tolerance goes up and you need more and more and more . And it's also empty calories and alcohol also crosses the blood-brain barrier . There are so many things that you're looking at it going . Why would I do that ? It's true .

Philip Pape 36:20

Okay , yeah , I know I just wanted to address that because again , people think about that . I'll call that an easy one , but it could be a very hard one depending on your history . But easy in that has a huge positive impact if you can reduce or eliminate and , like you said , reframe and focus on what is life without it and how great can that be and how wonderful it is when we're doing these health-focused activities and foods and drinks . Okay , is there anything I'll say like a misconception or a big thing we didn't hit on related to this topic that you want people to leave with ?

Sara Banta 36:49

I would just say we are no longer in our grandparents' generation , especially if you're wanting to live a vibrant , energy-filled life , and that does require addressing your thyroid , your liver , your stress , your sleep , and more chronic disease than ever before is occurring in everybody , in all ages . Our children one out of three children have a chronic disease that is going to last a lifetime . One in three 25% of children have fatty liver disease . Fatty liver disease used to be an alcoholic's disease and now our children have it . There's something going on that was not here before and it's it's time to wake up . It's time to face the fact that if you want to live a vibrant , healthy life and enjoy the muscle building , the fat burning , but just the energy , the pain-free lifestyle , lack of inflammation or disease , you'll have to be proactive , but you don't have to be constrained or restricted . Like I mentioned , the food guide has hundreds of foods that are delicious , that will help your body heal instead of causing inflammation and causing your chronic disease to worsen . So there are answers .

Philip Pape 38:13

Yeah , and that's the empowering message that , at the end of the day , we want to take from this . If you focus on yourself , you listen to yourself , you act like an engineer and stabilize some of the variables here and tweak one thing at a time and reach out to and listen to podcasts like ours and Sarah's , I think you'll be empowered , and then it's just a matter of your choice and your actions . So , speaking of taking action , sarah , where can people learn more about you and your work ?

Sara Banta 38:37

Everything's at sarahbantahealthcom . I've got free group coaching because after today you might be going . Wait a second . I have questions . You post the questions in the group chat . I answer daily , seven days a week , almost 24 hours a day , unfortunately for me and my family . But I also post tips and tools , new podcasts , new articles . I write tons of articles . I love writing articles , protocols . You can also get your free protocol off of my website . Just write in what your condition is and I will put together a supplement protocol writing articles , protocols . You can also get your free protocol off of my website . Just write in what your condition is and I will put together a supplement protocol for you . And I truly believe that God's put me on earth to help all of you , and that's my mission .

Philip Pape 39:22

And I can get on board with that . I feel you , that is our intent . We are trying to help in every way we can and lots of people need it and thank goodness for these platforms like our podcast . We're going to send folks to sarahbantahealthcom for all the stuff you just heard about the Q&A , the Tips to Pools podcast , the resources , the articles , everything . And Sarah , it's been a blast . Thank you so much for coming on . Wits and Weights , thanks , thank you .