Overcoming Health Issues and Surgery Living a Clean, Low Carb Lifestyle with Gigi Ashworth

In this episode, I am sharing the incredible conversation about clean keto that I had with The Salmon Queen, otherwise known as Gigi Ashworth. Gigi does not hold back with us. From professional snowboarding to getting her master’s degree in nutrition to her abundant social media platforms and YouTube channel, Gigi’s message remains the same. Helping people while entertaining them at the same time is what she truly loves to do. From her early years of disordered eating, autoimmune diseases, surgeries and learning about the ketogenic diet we get a true behind-the-scenes look at who and what Gigi is all about. Tune in today to learn about “The Gigi Approach” and how The Salmon Queen got her name and book. Learn more about stress, digestion, fitness, her go-to workouts, the difference between dirty keto, lazy keto and clean keto, and why we need to be eating more quality ingredients from the store. All this, and so much more on today’s show! Did you love today’s show? 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Watch the interview on YouTube CONNECT WITH CHERYL Website: https://healnourishgrow.com Show Notes: https://healnourishgrow.com/podcastepisodes Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healnourishgrow Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healnourishgrow YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/healnourishgrow Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/HealNourishGrow TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@healnourishgrow Dry Farm Wines: https://www.dryfarmwines.com/healnourishgrow Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/healnourishgrow Links to All of My Favorite Products With Discounts: https://healnourishgrow.com/shop CONNECT WITH GIGI Website: https://gigieatscelebrities.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gigieats YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GiGiEatsCelebrities1 Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. Cheryl McColgan:  Welcome. So Gigi, I've read your bio obviously, but can you just share with people in your own words, how you came to this way of eating and some of a little bit of your past? I think you have some really interesting, things that you have done leading up to some health issues that you had, where you had to change the way that you ate. Gigi Ashworth: Uh, do you have like 15 hours? I don't think people wanna listen that long, but anyway. So when I was around 14 years old, I actually was at a boarding school for snowboarding. I used to competitively snowboard back in the day. Whoa. And now I'm like, oh, don't get me here in the mountains beause it's too cold! Anyways, so when I was doing that, I was exerting a lot of energy, and I started to really focus on how I was feeling and I wasn't feeling good. It's really funny how when you start to do a lot of physical activity, you take note of how your body feels, even at the young age of 14. I thought, there's something off, there's something not right here. How Gigi Discovered the Keto Diet I did physical activity before I was on the track team and all that kind of stuff. But I guess I just didn't really care, pay attention or I was like to you into wanting be popular. So when I was in boarding school, I was complaining to my mom about it, who actually has been doing the keto diet for the last 30 years or so. Yeah. She's been doing it for a long time as a doctor and she always wanted to be a nutritionist, but her father was like, no, you're gonna be an OBGYN. So that's what she wound up doing. Anyways, I was complaining to my mom and she sent me book that didn't have a book jacket or anything on it. And she was like, hey, just read this book. And she took notes of things that I should really focus on in the margins of the book. And what I found, what I realized now, is it was a book about the ketogenic diet. It basically said to ditch the sugar, to not even eat many nuts, even though the keto diet's like, hey, you can eat nuts, but even eating nuts can affect your energy levels and that sort of thing. If you eat too many and if you're on a weight loss journey and you're doing the ketogenic diet, eating too many nuts, ain't gonna help. So anyway, I took a lot of notes from that book and I took it to heart and I started to feel better. That's what led me to a high protein, high-fat diet. Finding the Right Version of Keto for Your Goals So eventually I moved back home and then I also was diagnosed with a lot of food allergies and intolerances during that time period, as well as celiac disease and ulcerative colitis and IBS and blah, blah, blah. I found out because during the same time of not feeling well, my mom and I thought it would be a good idea to get some tests and stuff like that. So I started eliminating foods that aggravate things for celiac disease sufferers and that really helped me. When I was sort of eliminating food groups and all that kind of stuff, I did go to some extremes. I was anorexic for a little while. So that screwed me up a little bit.  I think what it comes down to and how I've kept this lifestyle sustainable for me is I have found alternatives. I wouldn't consider myself keto because I incorporate sweet potatoes and I'll do certain things that aren't necessarily "keto-approved," but they're paleo or whatever. So I call my diet if you will, like the Gigi approach, because I truly believe that everyone needs to educate themselves on multiple different types of eating regimes and then be their own guinea pig to determine what works for them and what doesn't. Clean Keto and Meat to the Rescue I know a girl, she's one of my best friends and she was vegan for the longest time. And then she was diagnosed with sjogren's disease, which is another autoimmune disease. And basically, it was telling her she couldn't eat vegan anymore. One day I'm like, girl, you just have to eat chicken and you have to eat other animal proteins and you have to see how that makes you feel. I understand that you may love the environment and animals and all that kind of stuff, but for your health, you may need to do this. She did. And now she does eats animal proteins because she can't eat the vegan lifestyle anymore because it's too grain-heavy and stuff like that. Grains just don't work for her. That being said, I have my master's in nutrition, thanks to the fact that I've been so passionate and interested in how food affects the body. So when people come to me asking for advice, or they want me to coach them through nutrition, I always tell them that they need to write down their food. We look at what they're eating and then we can determine the best approach to healthy swaps or what works for them and what doesn't, because I'm not necessarily gonna tell them, "hey, you gotta cut out that" right? If that right is what's giving them energy, I'm gonna simply tell 'em. Obviously, I'm gonna tell them sugar is just not okay for everybody. That's just a universally agreed and processed things are not great either.  If you're not eating so many packaged foods and you're eating a lot of things from the edges of the grocery store I think that is beneficial to one's health. How I've made this sustain for me is I'm I have a very, very strong willpower. I don't ever want sweets. I don't care. I have salt tooths. I could literally eat the exact same thing every single day of my life. And I do. I mean, a lot of people like variety, so I'm just kind of weird in that respect. I literally could subsist on salmon, sweet potatoes and spinach every single day of my life. It works for me and it's safe and I know I can digest easily and it won't necessarily cause any sort of issues. However, the food industry here in the United States is really messed up and. Sometimes I will eat sweet potatoes and spinach and feel totally fine. And then a couple days later I'll eat the exact same thing. I'll feel terrible which to me is weird. Anyways, in my opinion, what that means is there's something funky going on with whatever chemicals they're putting on the spinach I'm eating or the sweet potato or whatever. So that creeps me out a little, but overall I make it work for me and I try to help others give them advice as too, when they want it. Right? Never be forced to do anything they don't wanna do, but if they want advice, I mean I'll give it. Cheryl McColgan: You're very good about that and you're very generous about your time with all that stuff. There are so many things that you said there that we align so well which is probably one of the reasons I've enjoyed following your account for so long. Last night I was doing a live cook-along and, and we were talking about a cheesesteak in a bowl that I did.  So it had some onions and peppers and I said, some people will try to tell you, oh, that's too many onions and peppers, like for being strict keto or whatever. Meanwhile, nobody ever got fat from eating vegetables. Right? Gigi Ashworth: Thank you! Yeah. I feel like, I mean, I've been doing this diet for a good 17 years and I don't count macros or anything like that. Plus I think numbers drive me crazy. It just reminds me of when I was anorexic, I always weigh myself and I'm like, you are not defined by numbers. So for me, I don't really count macros. If I'm gonna have peppers and onions, I'm gonna have peppers and onions. Like I, I got Mexican food the other day and yeah, it was filled with peppers and onions and girl wolfed those down. Yeah.  What's the Right Amount of Carbs on Keto? Cheryl McColgan: I can just about guarantee you since you've been doing this lifestyle for so long and you're extremely active...