The Best Tips for a Successful Ketogenic Vegetarian Diet – With Dr. Sonya Jensen

Dr. Mindy
So I know you have a guitar lesson to get to, which is I’m envious. And I just want to point out resellers that this is my self care guru. She is the I should say, my self care mentor, she, this woman has mastered self care like nobody’s business. And she’s the one that’s always telling me, I need to take up more time off and get more habits. You’re the one that introduced me to the Russian woman syndrome, I have so much gratitude for you. And the way that you, you show up constantly, taking amazing Care of Yourself inspires me. So I’m happy to release you from this webinar. So you can go and do your guitar lesson. Oh,

Sonya Jensen
thank you so much. It’s always fun to learn a new skill. I can’t say that my ear has picked up the guitar just yet. I’m definitely more of a drummer. Interesting process for sure. And thank you. I mean, I still look up to you and everything that you’re doing with your resetter group. You guys are doing amazing work in the world. So thank you.

Dr. Mindy
Thank you. So here’s what I’m gonna do you guys, we’re gonna jump right into it. This is a webinar format, which is different than our zoom calls. So you’re just going to see Dr. Sonya and I. And yet you can ask questions in the chat. Jessica and my team. They’re monitoring the questions. And what is really unique about Dr. Sonya is that you’re a vegetarian, do we do you say you’re a vegetarian? I heard that you’re making a few changes.

Sonya Jensen
I’m calling myself a flexitarian. Oh, I, I am 98% vegetarian? I’m gonna say 95 to 98%. Yes.

Dr. Mindy
Beautiful. Okay. So this is really, really important, because you’re going to get to see how she uses the principles that we teach in the reset Academy in this experience, and she fasts and all the things that, that I’m teaching you guys, she does, and she mixes it with a vegetarian lifestyle. So so let’s start off with this. Give everybody a little bit of a background as to like your, your, your medical experience. And I’d also love to know like, why you’re a vegetarian, why don’t we start off with those two things?

Sonya Jensen
Yeah, so I mean, I grew up with in an Indian household. So being vegetarian was quite easy. And from a young age, I was taught how to combine different vegetables and foods and tastes. And I didn’t realize that I was getting taught this because it was just our way of life. And throughout my high school years, I was vegetarian. And then I started experimenting with some meat and not really feeling that great. And, and to be honest, when Dr. Nick and I got together, he was vegetarian. And then so I just switched into being vegetarian with him again, because it was easy for me. And at that time, we were still eating fish. And then I watched Earthlings. I don’t know if any of you out there has seen that documentary, Earthlings. Yes, it’s a documentary. And at that time, we were living in Taiwan. And we decided, okay, well, while we’re here, we’re gonna go back to just being strictly vegetarian. So there’s lots of layers to why I chose this lifestyle, one, my health just feels a lot better. My skin feels good, my digestive system feels good, my mood, my hormones, everything do really well on this lifestyle. And the other layer for me in my teen years was the ethical peace with animals, I said to myself, if I can look that animal in the eye and kill it, then I can’t eat it. So that was one of my choices that I made there. And then as I started to learn about the environment, and that’s a whole other conversation, and overall kind of touching on, I started to understand the relationship between us humans and animals and the world that we’re living in. And my perception at that time was that if I’m eating this animal, and its physiology is similar to mine. So if that animal is under stress, I’m then taking on that animal stress. And from a yogic philosophy, it’s taught that when we’re in wanting to be in a state of self discovery, or self mastery, by eating another animals energy we’re taking on their karma. So then we’re taking in all this energy that we are still working on our own karma and our own discovery that those energies are going to get mixed together, and it creates confusion or an internal battle within the body. So those are some of the layers why I chose this lifestyle. And in my practice, I have noticed individuals that do it well do really well with their hormones mainly and with digestion, but those that don’t know the ins and outs and the tricks that you have to utilize when you’re going vegetarian, especially in today’s world. That’s where I see failure. And that’s where it’s your frustration. Yeah,

Dr. Mindy
yeah. And thank you for bringing that up. Because I think this is what I really want to pull out of you because As I don’t even really, since I don’t live a vegetarian lifestyle anymore I did when I was in my 20s. Applying the vegetarian lifestyle with ketogenic principles is a little difficult. And so yeah, I, as you and I both are in alignment on, we’re not we know we’re not meant to be in the ketogenic mode all the time. So variation can come in handy. And I really resonate with what you said about this idea of the stress hormones because I became a vegetarian when I was 20. Because I read a diet for a new America. Have you read that book?

Sonya Jensen
No, I haven’t. Oh, you haven’t?

Dr. Mindy
You haven’t heard this. I’ve never told you this story. Oh, okay. So the short version of it is that John Robbins was set to inherit the Baskin and Robbins fortune. And before he was to take over the business, he found out that because of all the ice cream eating now, we probably know more, that it had a lot to do with the sugar. But he found out that it was contributing to cardiovascular health, along with the inhumane way in which animals were treated along with all the antibiotics that were put in the hormones that were put into the animals. And so he legitimately was like, Nope, I’m not going to take over the inheritance. I’m not going to take over the family business. And he decided to become a vegetarian. And he wrote a book called a diet for a new America. And you should read it, you’d like it. His name is ocean raw? Absolutely. Yeah. His name is ocean Robbins ocean. So he, but I read the book, and it was all about the inhumane way animals are treated. And I just decided at 20 years old, I’m going to be a vegetarian. And I did wrong. And quickly, within a couple of years of being a vegetarian, I gained like, oh, yeah, he’s John Robbins. Yeah, ocean Robbins is his son. Now, I gained like 1020 pounds. I got chronic fatigue syndrome. Like I became sick very quickly. Because what I became was a carb Attarian. I didn’t become a vegetarian, I just ate carbs. So, so explain to us just so we can get like really down into the nitty gritty, what does it mean to do vegetarian? Well, and what does it mean to not do it? Well?

Sonya Jensen
Yeah, so I think you really hit the nail on the head when you said you turn into a carb Attarian. And that’s one of the main things that happens when somebody converts into a vegetarian diet. They look at their plate, and they start piling in carbs, like pastas, and breads and things to fill themselves up. Because if you’re used to eating meat, you’re used to a certain feeling of satiation after a meal. And if you’re turning into a vegetarian, not necessarily receiving that same feeling. So to fill that gap, many people will eat more bread and more pastures, and just more carbohydrates, and then not feel good, of course, because of all the things that you’ve taught with the high glucose levels, and then the hormones are off, and now we’re gaining weight, and our not digesting our food. So bowel movements are off, and then that, in turn, is going to turn into depression, anxiety, and all these other things. So when we’re not doing it, well, we’re not combining our foods appropriately. And also, according to our own constitution and our own bodies. So from my perspective, when I look at an individual, you look at their IRA constitutions as well. So I am a very Botha person in an Ayurvedic world. And what that means is that my body needs oil oils, I need them a lot. So if I’m going vegetarian, my oils and my fats are going way up with lots of vegetables. So in order to do vegetarian diet, correct, go ahead. You were gonna say, no, no, I

Dr. Mindy
know you keep going. I have another question on this. But keep going. Because I liked where you’re going with this.

Sonya Jensen
Yeah. Yeah. So when you’re trying to do this the correct way, when I say to a vegetarian, if you look at your plate is most of it actual vegetables, because some people will call themselves vegetarian and not have any vegetables on their plate. So you want to see is it actually vegetables, and I’m gonna say 50% of that plate needs to be vegetables. And then you want a big portion of the other part to be healthy fats. And then you have that small amount of protein and what that protein is going to look like it’s going to be different than someone that eats meat. So some of that eats meat might have like a small portion of beef, chicken, or whatever it is, for us. It’s going to be maybe some lentils, and legumes, maybe different vegetable combination that brings out the amino acids in each in each other. Those that do do grains, sometimes combining certain grains with vegetables will also bring up more amino acids. So learning how to combine these foods and learning and understanding the seasons that we’re in can also contribute to better digestion because not even so much what we’re eating is what we’re absorbing from the food itself. absorbing the amino acids, if we’re absorbing the nutrients, it’s gonna make a huge difference being a vegetarian.

Dr. Mindy
Yeah. And so when you like when you say that plate, my brain thinks two things. One is what does that do to your blood glucose? And this is a totally like off question, which is, what about those people that say vegetables are bad, like the lectins? And the oxalates? Like, how do we how do we rectify those two pieces of it?

Sonya Jensen
Yeah, yeah, I think, again, I’ll use myself as an example. So what I did is I tested my DNA. So when I look at my background, and I look at my ancestors and understand how they ate, and then look at my own body, and how I processed fats, and carbohydrates, and proteins, my body does better with vegetable protein, rather than meat protein. So some of these things like Dr. Gundry, talks a lot about lectins and lectins. And what it’s doing to our bodies, I think the missing piece there is how we’re cooking stuff, and also how we’re combining them. I think the art really is in that when we’re combining the different tastes. So if I’m having a bowl full of vegetables, it’s not just vegetables, I’ve got my avocado in there, I’ve got ghee on them, I’ve got oils, they’re like, you know, the oozing oil as I eating them. So by combining that you’re not then increasing your glucose. And also, in the fall, I’m going to have more root vegetables. But I’m not going to necessarily do that later in winter or the spring, because my body requires something different. So my glucose will not spike, because I’m eating according to seasons as well.

Dr. Mindy
Do you think you could take the if you didn’t eat according to seasons? If you just took that vegetables and legumes, and maybe a little bit of fat and you ate that same meal all year round? Do you think your blood sugar would respond differently to that meal in like winter compared to summer?

Sonya Jensen
I think so. Yeah, I think we were designed to eat with the seasons. And the body is miraculous, and how it changes even it’s it’s enzymes that secreting in different seasons, even how we’re digesting in different seasons, like digestion will slow down in the winter. That’s just what happens. It’s going to speed up in the summer. So I think if we’re not eating according to that variation, and eating a mono diet is going to create a whole host of problems, including blood glucose microbiome, all the things hormones,

Dr. Mindy
right. Okay, because that, that I’ve been really thinking lately from a ketogenic perspective, what we’re supposed to eat according to the seasons. And I feel like if you in the wintertime, we are meant to go, this is my feeling. And I don’t know, are you Vedic medicine? So please tell me what if there’s an opposing belief, I’m totally open to it. But in the winter, we can go long periods without food, because that’s how we were primarily designed when we were back in the cave person day. Whereas in the summer, we have so much access to food that I almost feel like we ketosis wouldn’t be we’re not as meant to be in ketosis as long because nature has provided us so many fruits and vegetables. And so I’ve been really trying to tap into this seasonal eating a little bit more. Do you think that if somebody’s going vegetarian, this becomes more critical. Then, like if somebody’s just doing like a straight keto, or they’re eating some meat and some vegetables,

Sonya Jensen
I think it’s critical for both. Yeah, in the wintertime, for instance, it’s in total alignment to what I think Medicine says as well. It’s in the wintertime, we are meant to hibernate, we’re meant to slow down so they call it the the coffee season. And that season, so metabolism has shifted. So just eating one to two meals a day is enough, being in ketosis is ideal. And those of us that maybe are more flexitarians. If we’re gonna eat meat, then winter is actually the time to do it. So you’re eating less, but you’re eating, you know, something that’s hearty, that’s going to warm the body up from the inside. So I think it’s crucial for us to start understanding and getting back to our relationship with nature, and what it’s providing us depending on where we’re living, and what season of life we’re also into. I think that makes a difference. But I think what you said before was key, it’s that bringing back that relationship with the Earth

Dr. Mindy
with the earth. I did it when I you know, you and I are both Zack Bush fans and I’ve spent a lot of time in the recent months listening to a lot of plant based experts. And I would say that this is the one thing I feel about a vegetarian diet is that it is that we are meant to live in sync with with the planet. And when we are living in sync with the Planet, we are in harmony within our body. And we have gotten so out of sync with what nature is providing for us. So I look at the vegetarian diet like, oh, that I can take that concept. And I can apply it to my life, I can look at what nature has provided for me. And I can lean into that. And then the Keto part of my brain says, and then how do I do that in a ketogenic way. So the other piece that you mentioned that I thought was really interesting is that you how many oils you use on your food, would you say that every meal has some heavily loaded with fat, it is,

Sonya Jensen
especially this time of year. So this time of year for me winter being in Vancouver, it’s very cold, and very drying. So my nature is already so dry that those six tablespoons of fat per day isn’t enough for me that I need to pile in some more to keep me in that steady state of ketosis. And also to just lubricate the insides of my body so that things are moving as they should be. So think my metabolism just naturally will slow down like everybody else is in winter. So in the season, having more of those oils, so maybe I have two to four tablespoons. Sometimes

Dr. Mindy
I was gonna say Give us an example. Because in so in this reset experience, we’ve got some low keto or some keto vegetarian days, and that it comes up all the time, like how do we help vegetarians bring their blood sugar down enough to be able to go into ketosis? And it sounds to me like what your strategy is, is you really up your oils.

Sonya Jensen
Yeah, so I’m eating two meals a day right now. And then in those meals, I’m upping my oil. So right before I have my meal, I’m gonna take a tablespoon during I’m making ghee, so then I’ll pour that overtop of it as well. And then maybe even after, and I know, you’re, you love Aundrea seed oils, as well. And he’s got some great ones that you can do before and after meals for digestion, but they’re also helping support that oil. And that fat content in your diet, too.

Dr. Mindy
You do his oils before and after? Which one do you do?

Sonya Jensen
So fennel. I do before and then the coriander I do afterwards.

Dr. Mindy
He’s a huge fan of the coriander. He like loves to talk about the Korea does. And I like I don’t really know why, but I need to go. So you do the federal because I’m thinking phenols licorice, so it’s good. Good for digestion. Is that what is it? Yeah,

Sonya Jensen
it’s a digestive stimulant, and it calms the digestive system down and it helps to absorb foods. So it just helps support digestion in general.

Dr. Mindy
Okay. And then you do it afterwards to stabilize blood sugar, what’s the after oil for

Sonya Jensen
it’s the same it’s for digestion and and also it helps support immunity and circulation. So then I find because things kind of slow down after you eat something. So you want to provide it with just a little bit more support to help absorb the nutrients.

Dr. Mindy
And how do you do like a table A spoonful? Like is there a strategy behind it?

Sonya Jensen
So the fennel, see, because his comes in the dropper. I’ll do two dropper fulls and then the coriander is about two teaspoons.

Dr. Mindy
Okay, every meal or just your biggest meals

Sonya Jensen
every every meal in the season. Yeah, every meal

Dr. Mindy
in this season. Okay, okay, cool. Okay, now, how often do you test your blood sugar.

Sonya Jensen
So I’m going to be honest, I haven’t tested my blood sugar in a little while, but we’re gonna be fasting this week. So I will be testing it. I would say, every couple of months, I’m testing to see what my food is doing to my body. And that’s because I’m fasting during those times, or I’m changing something up, because the season is changing. So I want to see what my body is doing and how it’s responding to the shift. So it gives me an idea. And I think that’s a great tool to use when you are transitioning into a new way of eating or if some of your resellers that are already vegetarian or not. Knowing which foods are going to spike their glucose levels during the before and after can give you a lot of insight, because I’ve come to a space now where I can get into ketosis very, very easily. So if I just test my blood glucose during the day, when I’m just having my two meals a day, I’m in ketosis very quickly. So okay, yeah, the more people can do that, the easier it is for them to understand what vegetarian foods are going to help them or not help them.

Dr. Mindy
Okay. So that so you test when you’re moving in and out of seasons. You use oils pre and post meal, you use a lot of fats in the mail. And do you count macros at all?

Sonya Jensen
No, again, in the beginning, yes, when I was transitioning into eating more keto, and just in those transition moments, I want to know more about once you kind of get an idea of how your body feels and what you’re doing. I think accounting is great to understand in that moment when you’re trying to figure more out about your body Then, then you know, you just let the relationship kind of take over and you, you understand how you feel after certain foods. It takes the rigidity away from what we’re doing and actually creates like love over the food instead of like it being a chore that we’re having to eat or a task.

Dr. Mindy
Yeah, yeah, I feel like there is this. It’s like a step. So the first the way most people’s relationship to food is, is they just choose food off their tastebuds. So it’s like I just make based off of what my taste buds say that when they realize that, hey, I need to look at quality of ingredients, I need to stop counting calories, then they come over and they and many of them in our world will start to understand, oh, there’s these things called macros. And so then they start looking at the protein, carbohydrate and fat. And then once you get that down, you tend to go into what you’re saying, where there’s this really natural cycle that you have with food. And I think for this group, this is really what I’m wanting people to do is if they signed up for this experience, their desire is to step out of that not having a relationship with food, just choosing taste bud, chant your taste buds make the decision. Now we’re counting macros, but what I love what you said, because I would say that Sequoia and I are in the same place where we don’t count macros, we’re very clear, you can tell what a food does to you, you can tell when you’ve when you’re in harmony with eating, and you’re not. And I think that’s where freedom exists, right? I mean, that’s where we can totally be free to love on food. And when we love on food, it’s gonna love us back. So, so I, so I love that. But when I ever I go to teach a resetter, about how to do vegetarianism with keto, they, there’s this question around what macros should I do? When you’re helping the women in your clinic? Do you teach a macros at all?

Sonya Jensen
I don’t, I’m not big on counting, because I also have a population of women that have had eating disorders and other things show up for them. So I try not to create a fixation around numbers for them. But I do recognize that it’s also needed in order to transition appropriately into a different way of, of eating. So when I look at protein, carbs and fats I’m going to look at so vegetables will cover like the carb carbohydrate kind of section in the vegetable, vegetable, diet or plate. So again, mine is going to be between 50 and 60%. And then I’m looking at like 2025 30% fat, and then the rest is protein. So it’s definitely a lower protein. So we’re looking at if you’re looking at grams, when it comes to proteins we did between 20 and 30 and 40. And we go lower than 20 when we want to do more of the autophagy. And we’re doing more of the fasting and we’re trying to play around with what that’s going to look like for that individuals. So that’s kind of what I would look at for the protein. I love that

Dr. Mindy
so and what do you do for protein? Is it pretty much beans that your main it’s mostly

Sonya Jensen
lagoons and lentils for me um, some beans I do not do well with and some people don’t do well with beans. And so lentils for me is a big source of protein.

Dr. Mindy
Okay, so if you wanted to go into a toffee G, we just got done doing a toffee G fasting last week. So this is perfect that you said that if you want to go into a toffee G and stay under 20 grams, you would just bring your bean amount down your lead to amount. Yeah, free measure it.

Sonya Jensen
Yeah, yeah, I would definitely pre measure then. Yeah, and you’d be surprised at how much protein you get in a meal that’s vegetable based with just some beans or lentils end up hitting a high amount of protein. So you actually do have to work at bringing that lower than 20 grams when you’re doing the autophagy fasting.

Dr. Mindy
And the the way to kill to make sure that the hunger doesn’t kick in is with the fat

Sonya Jensen
with the fats. Yes,

Dr. Mindy
that’s because, yeah, because last week, oh my gosh, so many people were like, I’m so hungry. I’m so hungry. And I want everybody to hear this. You guys definitely register this, whether you’re vegetarian or not that what she’s doing. She’s really leaning into fat to make this work for her blood sugar. Would you? Absolutely. Would you say that’s part of your secret?

Sonya Jensen
Oh, absolutely. That’s the secret I would say is the increase in fats. Because if you think about what the fats are doing, they’re the carriers of your vitamins and minerals. So the only way your cells are going to feel satiated with the right vitamins and minerals that it needs to kind of give that signal to your brain that you’re full is for it to have a carrier across that membrane and that fat is what’s allowing that to happen. So you need those extra fats in order for that to happen for your for your brain and just for your appetite and all those things.

Dr. Mindy
Yeah, I love that. Okay, what do you say to the other thing that I’ve I’ve been really like pontificating on is amino acids. So there’s a lot of belief out there, that if you’re vegetarian, you’re you’re missing key amino acids. Do you feel like that’s accurate? Or is there a way? How do vegetarians overcome that?

Sonya Jensen
Yeah, I think it can be, I think it can be depending on how you’re combining your foods. If you’re, again, if you’re having too high of carbohydrates, I think that takes away from that. I think testing your amino acids is really important when you’re a vegetarian to make sure that you’re not already depleted going into such a diet. I do take amino acids once in a while if I am doing a heavier workout, or if it’s that season, where maybe I am not eating well, there’s stuff going on in my life, I just lost somebody very dear to me last week, and that week, I made sure that I was eating a lot of amino acids or taking the perfect aminos. So I think recognizing those moments where you can’t pay that attention to food combining and knowing what you need on your plate, that is unnecessary thing, especially for women and your hormones. I mean, my hair was starting to change. And I was like, Okay, I’m not combining the way it should be. So I started adding the perfect aminos. And that ended up changing interest quality of my hair again,

Dr. Mindy
interesting. I love the little subtleties. We were a couple hours before this, we were on a call with our detox group. And I was sharing the little subtleties that I tap into that are from that I know it’s time to detox. And, but what I love is that and this is again, what I want you guys to get across is if you decide to go keto, vegetarian, or I call it keto, vegetarian, I think what you’re doing is probably just vegetarian, what do you Oh, you’re a pescetarian. That’s what you said. I’m a flexitarian. flexitarian. Yeah. Yeah, I love it. I love it. It redefines it. So but what what I’m hearing from you is that because this amino acid piece is critical, that you have little subtleties that you go, Hmm, I need to maybe I need to supplement. Now, is there anything else other than hair and stress being high, that you

Sonya Jensen
tap their stress and just yet, skin is another one and just energy levels. So looking at your energy levels, if the way you’re eating isn’t serving you, then your energy will be low. But if it is serving you, you’re going to feel good, you’re going to feel healthy, you’re going to feel energized when you’re eating a certain way. And when you’re not, there’s something going on because foods or medicine and when it’s not behaving that way, there needs to be a shift that needs to be made.

Dr. Mindy
Okay, awesome. And I wanted there’s some questions I’m looking at on here. So I want to make sure that we address them. And this is the question we get everything every like this is probably the most common question doesn’t matter what expert we have on and that is, what fats are you eating? How do I eat more fats? Yeah, give us an example of your favorite.

Sonya Jensen
Yeah, ghee is my favorite coconut oil I use for cooking olive oil I use for drizzling and like just all over my food. And again, olive oil. I know there’s some discrepancies around that and making sure you’re getting good sources. I use walnut oil a lot. And then Andrea seed oils, the five seed oil. I say that was one of my favorites. And that’s what I drenched my salads. And so those are like the big oils that I would use on kind of a daily basis.

Dr. Mindy
So you cook with them you say you like, like, but I could sit down at the table, I put some salt on my food. And I have done a lot of research on how great salt is I’m thinking that and next time you and I get together and have a meal together. I’m gonna observe what you put on. But I’m thinking that yeah, you probably if I was in your home, you would be pouring oil on top of your food even once it came to your to your table.

Sonya Jensen
Yes, yeah, we so we cook with it, we pour oil on top of it. I’m eating it straight as well. Nuts and seeds is a big part of my diet as well. So I get some oils out of that. But when it just comes to specific oils with my food, that’s what I’m doing on a daily basis. Okay, and it secret?

Dr. Mindy
Yeah, no, we would need your tests. That’s why

Sonya Jensen
well, your skin because your skin is the largest organ and where a lot of your absorption happens. So in the wintertime, I’m putting sesame oil on my skin, but 20 minutes before taking a shower and just letting things soak in that way too. Because the thing that we want to do is we want to wake up those cells and those cell membranes so that the oils can again, move those nutrients from the vegetables into your cells. So we sometimes forget how important what we put on our skin is and so bathing in oil is the option.

Dr. Mindy
I never even I never even thought about what goes on my skin is I mean I think about it as it connects to my microbiome. But what I’m hearing you say is your key to stabilizing your blood sugar with all of this is oils everywhere. oils

Sonya Jensen
in everywhere, everywhere.

Dr. Mindy
Do you bathe everywhere?

Sonya Jensen
It’s like a fountain of oil.

Dr. Mindy
You probably put oils like in your bathtub like oils, oils, oil hands, how you is how you manage this flexitarian life?

Sonya Jensen
That’s right. Yeah, that’s right.

Dr. Mindy
Okay, what’s the 2%? You said you’re 98% Vegetarian, why are you 2% meat eater.

Sonya Jensen
I am 2% meat eater because my youngest son is a meat eater. And I started to recognize he was feeling some shame around being someone’s constant. He has a constitution that I think requires meat, whereas my older son has a constitution like mine, and it doesn’t. And so I started dabbling with him a little bit. And then I started to notice when around my cycle, I actually do better by having one or two meals that have some meat in there. And I’ve noticed in the winter now, there’s times where I dabble and I feel a little bit better, but I don’t do it in the summer, but I will have some meat with him. So that’s why my 2% is is for my youngest little guy.

Dr. Mindy
I love that. I love that. It’s like my daughter said to me when she was like nine years old. She was like, why don’t we eat organic? Do we always have to eat organic? And so I was like, Okay, well, let’s have a meal that’s not organic. Like we had a really crappy meal. I’m like, let’s see how we feel on that. And then once we ate it, she was like, Oh, I see why we eat organic. I’m like, Yeah, let’s show and tell works really well. So what’s interesting, that’s interesting. You’re doing it around your your cycle? Are you doing it right? Like, like, Do you have a timing with it? Are you just sort of intuitively doing it?

Sonya Jensen
I’m doing it the week before because if you think about what happens is we start craving carbs that week. So then I thought to myself, well, what if I added a little bit of meat during that week? And what is that going to do? And it actually kicked my carb cravings. So what I decided to do is just one or two days before I will have a little bit of meat.

Dr. Mindy
And what did it feel like to eat meat when you have any meat in a long time?

Sonya Jensen
I’m not gonna lie the first time not so good. Because you know, my enzymes, my everything is so used to it was like a shock to my system. But then as I started doing a little bit more regularly, it’s been okay, I feel I feel okay. And I eat just enough to feel satiated. So I’m not overdoing it. But it’s just just enough.

Dr. Mindy
Good. Eventually,

Sonya Jensen
yes, yes, it did. It did taste good. Yeah, I have no issues with the taste whatsoever.

Dr. Mindy
Yeah. And I think that’s I was so we were I think I’ve told you the story that Sequoia and I were vegetarian for a very long time. And like a decade, and then I literally woke up one day I must have been about it was right before I got pregnant with Bodie. So it would have been like, you know, right, maybe it was like an intuitive hit, that I was going to start to think about having a baby and I just woke up and I was like, I need me. Like it was weird. It was like a switch got turned on. And perhaps it was my hormones. And so then we just went completely over to me. And I felt so much better. I dropped weight, and I had more energy. And I just felt so much better. But you know, I look back on it now. And I realize that a lot of that was just because I wasn’t managing my vegetarian life very well. And like I said, I see the benefit. And I watch people go plant based and I see how they do. And I also know stabilizing blood sugar is has to be at the top of our of our priority list with any diet. So I love the way you approach it was so many oils, the challenge we just get is that people I mean, what I’m hearing from you and I just really want to emphasize this to my receptors is there’s great care in how you put your food together, that you’re you don’t just slap a meal out there. You’re like very conscious about what’s on that plate. And fat has to be a big piece of that.

Sonya Jensen
Absolutely combining and for those of you that are eating meat, I know I brought up the the energetics of the meat and the animal. Yeah, all that. I think praying over the food or thanking the food if you know for not praying if because I think you know if you look at ancient cultures, there was a real true relationship with the animal there was like a give and take. So once you take an animal’s life, there was prayer and gratitude over the animal’s body. And we don’t get to do that in today’s world because we’re going to our supermarkets. So I think if you have that plate of meat on there, just having reverence for the food that’s going into your body, whether it’s vegetables or meat is makes a huge difference on the outcome of how we’re feeling.

Dr. Mindy
I love that there. One of my favorite people of 2020 that I met with Dr. Bill Schindler. And he has a book he’s writing right now called eat like a human. And there were two things that he that I learned from him that really sat A intuitively well with me and one was when you what you just said, when you eat meat to have extreme gratitude for the animal you’re about to eat. And in that he also recommends that you eat the whole animal that part of the respect of that animal of honoring that animal is that you go, I think they call it nose to tail to become the kind of become a buzz phrase. And then the second thing so So eating meat is more than just shoveling it in your mouth. But it’s actually honoring that another animal gave gave their life for your benefit. The other thing that he that I learned from him, and it’s on the lectin oxalate issue is that he said, If you for fermented foods, that in the fermentation process, you kill those toxins that the the vegetables are giving off. And he claims you confirm at almost anything, the only thing he hasn’t been able to ferment are potatoes. And so I’m curious, do you, does that sit well with you? And do you do a lot of fermented foods?

Sonya Jensen
I don’t my mother does. I’m still learning this process. So I will grab jars from her. And that’s a big part of our Indian upbringing, too, is we always had something fermented with our meals. And it wasn’t the entire vegetable serving, but we had fermented stuff in there. Again, that’s that combination. It’s the combining of the fermented food and even lentils before you make them, you soak them, you sprout them, and then you’re cooking them. So there’s a bit of a process to it. But you do it in that way. So that when you digest it better, and you’re actually getting the the minerals and everything that you need from there, and it’s easier for your body to break it down. So you don’t get those problems because there are many of us that can break oxalates down and especially children today. If you look at some kids with ADHD, even autism, if you look at their organic acid testing, you’ll see most of them can’t actually push their oxalates out of their body. So for them fermented few food is huge,

Dr. Mindy
amazing. Amazing. I love that. Okay to you gotta get your guitar. Tell me. Tell me I don’t want it. I don’t want to be the detractor of yourself. Tell me where people can find you because I know you probably picked a lot of interest for my receptors. Where do people find your information?

Sonya Jensen
Yeah, absolutely. So I’m on Instagram and Facebook. You can just find Dr. Sonya Jensen there. Our website is Divine elements.ca and also doctors Jenson’s dot co