Habits and Hustle
Episode 424: Liron Kayvan: The Top Nutrition Mistakes to Avoid + Are Seed Oils Bad for You?
Fri, 14 Feb 2025
Do you feel like you're doing everything right when it comes to nutrition, but still not seeing the results you want? In this week's Fitness Fridays episode on the Habits and Hustle podcast, I sit down with my friend and fellow fitness expert, Liron, to discuss the most common nutrition mistakes people make that sabotage their health goals. We dive into the importance of protein and fiber in your diet, why eliminating entire food groups is a bad idea, and how to balance healthy eating with enjoying your food. We also discuss the surprising truth about seed oils and your health. Liron Kayvan founded BFLA in 2019. He’s a NASM Certified Group Fitness Instructor, Personal Trainer, and Transformative Life Coach. Liron has competed in Amateur MMA, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Rugby and has been a Fitness Coach for over 10 years. What we discuss: (01:00) Nutrition Mistakes and Protein Consumption (13:47) Calories in vs. Calories Out (24:00) Restaurant Deception and Food Ingredients (28:43) Food Deception and Responsibility (34:59) The Dangers of Seed Oils Thank you to our sponsor: AquaTru: Get 20% off any purifier at aquatru.com with code HUSTLE Therasage: Head over to therasage.com and use code Be Bold for 15% off TruNiagen: Head over to truniagen.com and use code HUSTLE20 to get $20 off any purchase over $100. Magic Mind: Head over to www.magicmind.com/jen and use code Jen at checkout. BiOptimizers: Want to try Magnesium Breakthrough? Go to https://bioptimizers.com/jennifercohen and use promo code JC10 at checkout to save 10% off your purchase. Timeline Nutrition: Get 10% off your first order at timeline.com/cohen Air Doctor: Go to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code HUSTLE for up to $300 off and a 3-year warranty on air purifiers. BioMe: Go to bio.me and use promo code JENNIFER20 for 20% off you first order Momentous: Shop this link and use code Jen for 20% off To learn more about Liron Kayvan: Website: https://www.beyondfitnessla.com/ Instagram: @beyondfitnessla Find more from Jen: Website: https://www.jennifercohen.com/ Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: https://www.jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: https://www.jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements
Chapter 1: What nutrition mistakes are commonly made?
You'd think I'd know the name by now, but...
You've got a lot of things going on.
I do. I actually do. But it's super easy when you're here because it's so easy. We've known each other for so long. We're also neighbors. We're also neighbors. And we just like to blab about all things health and fitness. But today we're going to be covering a lot on nutrition because I think people are making big mistakes with their nutrition. Agreed.
And because of that, they're not reaching their overall health goals. 80% of your goals, fitness-wise, body-wise, comes from your nutrition. It's not... You're not going to be making... That's what they say, like, abs are made in the kitchen. They're not made at the gym. And you can be squatting all day. And you can be lunging all night. But if you're not eating properly, then good luck to you.
And so... I really wanted to do an episode, a fast episode, short episode on, I believe, the top nutrition mistakes that people are making. And then you can tell me what you think, okay? How's that sound? Sounds great. I believe some of the top nutrition mistakes that people are making that really can overhaul your overall goals if you just watch on these. The first one is your portions.
I think portions is where people always fail. We think we know, we eyeball it. We think, okay, that's a chicken breast or this looks like a normal size of rice or pasta. And we're always wrong. Because if you actually look at what an actual portion is to what we're actually eating, very, very different. And that can make a major difference in your overall calorie intake.
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Chapter 2: Why is portion control important in a diet?
So if we are much more mindful of our portions, it will save you a lot of heartache. That's the first one. Another big one that I think is really important is supplementing. I think that we rely on supplements way too much over our actual nutrition, like what we're actually eating. And it's not making us any healthier.
I think if we actually ate the nutrients that our body needs, it would help us with our overall satiation. Yeah. Right? For sure. And another, I know this is another big one, and I know you're going to definitely agree with me on this one, is people are not consuming enough protein. Yeah.
protein is like the number one.
That is like the real, that is like the number one. I mean, protein satiates you, right? Like if I'm not eating enough protein, I am starving, literally starving. And I think if people would uptake their protein, it's like a game changer.
Chapter 3: How crucial is protein for fitness goals?
Again, I think that one goes down, I talk about this a lot, but it goes down to evolution. Like we've evolved to eat protein. So our guts are like protein seeking machines, you know? And so when they register the amino acids, like that umami flavor of protein, it's just extremely satiating because that's literally just how we're built.
Well, first of all, it also regulates my blood sugar. Like I'm like, I shake if I'm hungry. And the second I eat a piece of chicken, I feel so much better. And I'm a big animal protein person. I think that's like the really, like to me, you don't have to be an animal protein person. You can be eating, you can eat other things that are not animal protein. You can try. You can try.
But animal protein to me is like the number one source for my protein.
It's how we're designed. It's how we're built.
Oh, 100%. And like the other really big one is that eliminating food groups is a real mistake, right? Not eating enough carbs, thinking that carbs are going to make you fat. No, it's the portion and the kind of carb will make you fat, not an actual carbohydrate. Eliminating that from your diet is such a bad move.
You need fats, carbs, and proteins. At some point, you're going to need to check all those boxes.
You have to. In order to having a balanced plan is what it is, right? You can't just eliminate because your body is going to crave it and you're going to eat it somewhere. You're going to eat something else that's maybe not as good for you,
technically i think the only one that is not essential like from a scientific perspective is carbs because you technically don't need carbs to survive because your body will create carbs out of protein or fat like gluconeogenesis and stuff but in practice everyone needs it and also if you're an athlete and you're working out you also need it for performance your performance is going to suffer
tremendously your mental health suffers tremendously without carbs because it boosts serotonin and stuff you feel better so practically speaking you definitely need some formal carbs some formal fat some formal protein and trying to like shortcut or like cheat the system by just getting rid of one It's a nice idea.
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Chapter 4: Should you avoid entire food groups in your diet?
Don't want to lose fat and lose muscle at the same time. You only want to lose fat.
But it's really hard. So I think when you eat carbs, like you're saying, you may lose that water weight, right?
But your muscles are made of water. So you're kind of losing muscle in a way.
So then what would be a good strategy, in your opinion, where we can balance it, right? Because we don't want to overeat carbs or anything, right? Like, by the way, do you believe in this myth that eating too much protein will be bad for your kidneys? No. You don't believe in that?
Not animal protein. Like fake, possibly protein shakes. I doubt it even with protein shakes if they're animal-based, meaning dairy protein. I doubt it. But like natural, basically natural sources of protein, not a chance. Not a chance. I don't believe it for a split second.
You don't?
No.
Well, I see, this is the thing, right? Like to me, like we talked about protein is so important. People are getting their protein, let's say just from like their shakes. Are they getting enough protein then? Right. Because to me, people are exclusively getting it from their protein shakes. Yeah, well, to me, I feel like that you can't just exclusively get your protein from a protein shake.
I would advise that.
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Chapter 5: Are seed oils dangerous for your health?
Like you cannot, that's just a mathematical law of the universe. If your calories in more than your calories out, you will store weight. Whether that's muscle or fat is, is, potentially negotiable depending on what you're eating.
I don't get why that's even still a controversial topic.
No, that's just a fact. It's like gravity. That's just how it works.
But that's controversial. There's been times when people are like, what are you talking about? Calories in versus calories out? That's not how it works.
There's no point arguing about it.
I'm like, what are you talking about? Of course, that's just how it works. It is how it works because I'm a prime example, right? I exercise like a fanatic. I eat very healthy and But if I'm not watching how many calories I'm inputting into my body versus how many I am outputting, I gain weight.
I think where the conversation becomes more interesting and nuanced is where you start to talk about, you start to break that down and talk about what does calories in mean versus what does calories out mean. I mean, first of all, you would have to absorb the calories in.
So if your body, for some reason, decides it doesn't want to absorb those calories, if your gut says, you know what, I'm not absorbing these calories, I'm going straight out, then technically that's not calories in. It went into your mouth, but it didn't go into your body. So that's not something that happens all the time. But again, it...
It's like, where does that calories in versus calories out equation become relevant? What does calories out mean? Does it only mean walking? No. Your calories out could be growing your hair. It could be your reproductive system. It could be your digestive system. It could be your immunity.
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Chapter 6: Why is fiber an essential part of your diet?
Like focus, people don't focus enough on like nutrient density, not just macro, but micro, like the hidden invisible nutrients inside food. A lot of this has to do with color. So like colorful foods.
I was just going to say that, you know, it's funny. I was just going to say that because actually what I was actually going to say, what you were saying is like, I have, and I agree with what you were saying, but I also think that there's a little bit of a caveat to that. And that is, it's really important to have, I eat, I'm, I eat very boring, right?
Like I eat the same things over and over again.
To someone else it's boring or to you it's boring?
To anybody it's boring, right? Like I eat the same thing over and over again. But I will say that I do, even though I think it's important, I do think that I did my body an injustice, which is like, I think variety actually works better overall for your overall health. Like, because if you're not eating a variety of foods, you might be missing out on some nutrients that, that you otherwise need.
Like for me, forever, I would have like, I love asparagus and chicken, or like, you know, asparagus and salmon. But like I missed out on a whole, you know, rainbow of other vegetables that are really important.
Literally rainbow, like in terms of colors.
Literally rainbow, like all the colors. Like I feel like it's really important to incorporate vegetables
colorful food for sure into your diet and again this goes back to how we're built yeah why do like candy companies and just food companies in general so they just recently banned red whatever thank god red dye red dye number 40 but they're just they're gonna
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