#77 – Zoe Melvin and John Mason – Ketogenic Generation
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Meet Zoe and John:
John:
After 25 years in the teaching profession, I evolved to become a ‘Lifecoach’, specialising in exercise and nutrition. One consequence of studying nutrition was to learn about the ketogenic/LCHF, which I have been advocating for over a decade now.
I’m based in the UK and am co-Founder of Ketogenic Generaton, and give advice, talks and consultations on both a Ketogenic Lifestyle and exercise. I also run a website called shrinkthatfat.co.uk. Whilst as an Ambassador for The Public Health Collaboration, (a charitable organisation, which promotes a low carbohydrate approach for Type Two Diabetics) I have been able to persuade employees of our National Health Service to consider other approaches in health care.
Over the years I have helped many people to lose weight and, more importantly, to restore their metabolic health. It was a logical step to complete The Nutrition Network course and it has more than justified my approach to diet and exercise.
I can be contacted via my e mail address. gymwizzard1@gmail.com, or via my facebook page, ketogenic generation.
Zoe:
Before I was introduced to a Ketogenic w.o.e and lchf I had always struggled with my weight, I had to work SO hard at the gym especially in my 30.s where it became more of an obsession , another job if you like.. the 3 years before I went keto I was training up to 4 hours a day ( 3 years of it! ) class after class, sometimes up to 5 classes a day then going for a run!! I would then go home and eat the wrong foods because I was so hungry! Low fat foods etc, healthy whole grains! And then sleep! For about 3 hours! With work in the evenings that’s what my life became! I was heading for a burn out, but I believed the more I did the better it would be for weight loss, it was a never ending vicious circle!! And I was knackered! I suffered with acid reflux for at least 9 years and was on long term medication every day, my moods were always up and down, I was tired and frustrated that I felt like I wasn’t getting anywhere with ALL this Training (the wrong training) . And at weekends! Gosh did I reward myself with such terrible foods! I would eat and drink rubbish and my mindset was ,Oh thats o.k I will burn it all of next week!! Hmmmmm doesn’t work like that!!
So one day I got talking to a friend( Phil Ingleby) who had personal training with a guy called John Mason, he told me that his methods were a bit unorthodox but he could help ( as I was becoming increasingly frustrated) with my training methods.
MONDAY APRIL 27th 2015!! WHAT I CALL MY RED LETTER DAY!! 11AM I went to visit John Mason with regards to training , little did I know we would talk about nutrition too!! I had just finished 3 classes and I thought John would be impressed! John mentioned you would have been better off getting extra sleep ( now I know he was right).
The next 3 hours I was absolutely Mind Blown!! John explained about Sugar and carbohydrates and the damage these foods can do! And I got to learn about healthy fats, I had a light bulb moment, I learnt so much in that short space of time that when I left I went a did my first keto shop! After 14 years research John’s knowledge is amazing .I have Never looked back and Now in my mid 40,s I have never felt healthier, no visit to the doctors in 4 years! No inflammation and no acid reflux and BEST of ALL no spending hours and hours and hours at the gym! I have my life back!!
So in the next few months myself and John became more than friends and we have been together nearly 4 years, John reversed his heart disease after having 2 heart attacks in his 40,s. We live eat and breath keto, our training methods are H.I.I.T and weight training ( 25 mins each session 3x times a eek ) which is very effective with this w.o.e..
Keto has now become more than just our daily w.o.e… 4 years ago we opened a group ketogenic generation,( I just needed to share all this knowledge I was learning) we started a like page, and we have our own website www.shrinkthatfat.co.uk ( we have over 8,000 followers)
We have become ambassadors for the Public Health Collaboration with Sam Feltham and just recently finished our course in #lchf professional training with Nutrition Network ( Tim Noakes)
This lifestyle is amazing, The health benefits are amazing and WHATS EVEN MORE AMAZING IS SHARING OUR KNOWLEDGE TO HELP OTHERS J Thankyou for Reading J www.shrinkthatfat.com
Show Notes:
ABOUT JOHN
- I am 64 years old
- I was a teacher and retired after a nervous breakdown
- Before I retired from teaching 20 years ago, I started looking into health and nutrition
- Back in the early days of the internet, I started doing some research
- And fast forward, I came across Ketogenic and we are more carnivores
- Now, I have reversed my heart disease
- For me, it is all about my own personal healthcare and I start to share and people want to know more about it
- 4 years ago, Zoe came into my life
ABOUT ZOE
- 4 years ago, I was struggling with all the training that I was doing and I did not feel that I was getting anywhere
- A friend asked if I want to see John because he’s an orthodox and can help me
- I went to see him and 3 hours later I have learned about sugar, carbohydrates and the foods that I was eating – low fat healthy grains
- After training every week, I would binge out really bad food on the weekend because I felt like I earned it
- When I met John, I was learning so much
- So, that’s how our Facebook group and the live page came about, and we have a closed group
- From there, I thought to myself that I have to share this knowledge, I have to share what I am studying for people that is ready to listen
- We love to share and seeing their success stories from people who sent us messages
- Me and John got this journey together that we can share some great things
John:
- We got a lot of clients who find it difficult because they’re tempted when someone cook differently
- What we try to do is to encourage the partner to try it as well
Zoe:
- John has been doing Keto for 13 years and I have been doing Keto for 4 years
- And, I think when we see what sugar does, you would never go back to sugar and carbohydrate
- Sugar can do a long-term damage to your body
- A lot of people call sugar a treat, you are putting a poison in your body
- They need to find something they can adapt to a change because the outside world has a lot of temptation
- Moms needs to find something that they can change or adapt to that cake
RESULTS YOU FELT FROM KETO LIFESTYLE
John:
- When I was in my 30’s, I was a P.E. teacher, fitness coach, and I am power lifting coach as well so, I was always going to the gym
- I was eating according to what I should be eating in the 90’s and I had a heart attack
- So, I did my own research and now, I am 64 years old and I could probably hammer anybody in gym that certainly younger than me
- Fitness wise, health wise, all my bloods are perfect, my triglyceride is really low, my HGL is high and my ratio is fantastic
- Everything that I have done in the past 10 years or so, prolonged my life
- I have 2 brothers. One died with cancer last year and one has been diagnosed with cancer – they won’t listen
- We really do need to understand that nutrition is at the center
- You are made of what you eat
- Medication won’t make you better, it will just make us sick
- I was 40 years old when I had my heart attack – very young
- I feel like I am in perfect health now
Zoe:
- When I met John, it wasn’t initially about the weight loss because I was training so much
- My problem was, I was always looking at these fitness Instagram models and asked myself why I am not looking like that
- They might look amazing, but to get to that stage it’s not healthy at all
- Initially, that’s what I thought, to keep training and training to look like those models, and no, it does not work like that
- For me, I had acid reflux for 8 years and after 3 days of going Keto, I have not been taking tablets anymore
- After going to see numerous doctors over the 8 years, not one doctor said that I have change my diet
- Then, everything better
- My sleep got better, I felt less stress
- Before I met John, I am at the gym every day and burn myself out and ever since changed in every way
John:
- It was December of 2017 that we decided to experiment
- We used to love Greek yogurt and decided to cut it all out
- But we do have cheese, we do have eggs, we are not that strict
- And we have been that way for 15 months now
Zoe:
- After switching from Keto to carnivore, I just felt less bloated
John:
- One piece of advice that I give to clients if they say that it is not working, I would say to do a meat and water and cut out everything else
- Kind of like an elimination diet
- If we ever went back to eating plants, we would feel cool about it but at the moment, we don’t feel any need
Zoe:
- We do have daily about 2 squares of dark chocolates – 85%
- We are not really strict carnivore, but we do enjoy our dark chocolate
- Dark chocolate is a great source of potassium
TYPICAL DAY OF EATING
Zoe:
- After the gym, we’ll probably do about 17-hour fast
- So, we’ll eat at 7:00 at night
- Our window will probably from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM the next day
- I like my cheese, so I have the lactose-free cheese
- We eat eggs probably everyday with meat
John:
- We are trying to cook down on the Vitamin A
- So, choline is good for the liver and so is Vitamin A
- 3 egg yolks or lamb steak or lamb chops or a nice ribeye steak and give it an adequate choline, but we keep the Vitamin A down
- We kind of have a half to a quarter of recommended allowance of Vitamin A
- But the amount of choline, we get 600 to a 1000 mg
- I might see my doctor and I would love to see what is happening on my liver, which has been perfect by the way
- But, I just want to get a confirmation that my liver and Zoe’s liver is not in harm by having all of these Vitamin A or by having an insufficient choline
- Biohacking all the time
- We throw the egg whites away
- Meat gets broken down by the protein
- The fat gets broken down by the gallbladder
- By the time it reaches the large intestine, it is non-existence
Zoe:
- Because we use the food for energy, it is not storing in our intestine
- You don’t need to get rid of it because we are reusing it in a cellular level
John:
- You have got get your hydration right otherwise, the choline is not going to release that water
- It is going to dry out the poo and can cause constipation
- So, more salt, more hydration in the body, the choline will release the water and you’ll keep flowing nice and smoothly
- Yes, we still have tea or coffee in the morning
Zoe:
- When I get up for work in the morning, I tend to have green tea first
- I am surrounded with all of these beautiful meats, so sometimes my hunger levels go a bit down
- About 10:00, I am thinking that I am not normally hungry at this time, so I try to extend my fast a little bit when I am at work and just drink tea until I go home
WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU
John:
- We got a website that has been upgraded/rerun
- It’s called ketogenicgeneration.com (shrinkthatfat.co.uk)
- We do regular consultation with clients
- I do my personal training still
- We do lots of research
- We just finished a nutrition course, and maybe next year we are going to do the next step of the course
- I think, we’ll just keep spreading the message
- Years ago, we have a weekly podcast called, Smash the Fat
- And we’re trying to educate to lower the carb intake for type 2 diabetes
HOW CAN PEOPLE FIND YOU
Zoe:
- We got a website which is under construction at the moment
- Facebook Group: Ketogenic Generation
- Facebook Page: Ketogenic Generation
- Website: ketogenicgeneration.com or shrinkthatfat.co.uk
