So many women have questions around metabolism and body weight, especially in midlife.

That’s why I’m excited to introduce you to Nagina Abdullah. She’s a weight loss coach for women in midlife and founder of the website MasalaBody.com. She helps women improve and boost their metabolism naturally.

I first met Nagina in a hot tub at a conference. It was like friends at first sight. We discovered that we both have backgrounds in science. I studied science for my bachelor’s degree as well, so I totally get her background of studying cell biology and biochemistry. She took that science background and found ways to translate the science of the body to help women with their weight and metabolism.

The Journey from Dieting to Metabolism Boosting

Nagina had struggled with sugar cravings and weight her entire life. She tried every diet out there, from Weight Watchers to Nutrisystem, South Beach to calorie counting and exercising more. She would lose a little weight but then put it all back on because she didn’t want to restrict herself from foods she loved.

She realized she couldn’t keep gaining and losing the same ten to twelve pounds. With her molecular and cell biology degree from UC Berkeley and graduate degree from NYU, she turned to scientific journals to find other ways to achieve a healthy body weight without restricting. She discovered the concept of increasing metabolism instead of restricting calories. By adding specific foods and spices to our diet, we can actually increase our metabolism so that even while sitting, we burn more calories.

She started implementing this approach and lost forty pounds in nine months from adding foods, and never felt restricted. It felt so easy and doable that she started sharing with others. People kept asking what she was doing and how she lost weight after children. She started MasalaBody.com to teach women how to increase their metabolism, what foods to add, how to combine them, and how to know they were eating enough.

I also have a degree in nutrition and saw the same thing. When we just restrict and count calories, it doesn’t work. Most times when we follow old dietetic guidelines, we end up gaining weight because it isn’t how the body works. My patients are surprised when I teach them to eat more food, especially more protein at regular intervals, and then they lose weight. We think if we need to lose weight, we need to eat less, but the danger is when women eat too little, the metabolism gets affected.

Understanding the Danger of Eating Too Little

If we eat too little, our metabolism slows down. Our body needs less energy to do its normal processes and is just surviving. If you eat too little, your body stores the food because it doesn’t know when it’s getting its next meal. It hangs on to whatever you give it.

When someone has an optimal high metabolism, you’re feeding your body. You’ll be hungry because you’re burning energy right away. When you’re eating more, you’ll be able to burn fat because your body has enough to survive and isn’t scared to release the fat.

You know your metabolism is slow if you’re dieting, intermittent fasting, or cutting calories and not seeing weight drop. You need to speed it up by eating more of the right foods, the actual metabolism boosting foods that get your body burning fat faster.

We need to rewrite the programming in our minds. If we need to lose weight, it’s not about eating less as much as eating the right food at the right intervals. What we’re trying to do is burn fat and decrease fat composition while maintaining or increasing muscle mass. That’s the key and requires this different strategy.

Rethinking Weight Loss and Fasting

Fasting has been so trendy, but sometimes it can work against women if it disrupts their metabolism. Fasting can have its place and can be healthy in the right situations, but only when you’re eating enough so your body has enough nutrients. Then you contrast with fasting, and your body can wash away zombie cells or senescent dead cells.

The problem with fasting is that many people have heard of someone losing thirty pounds with intermittent fasting, so they start fasting but don’t notice differences. They keep trying, but it’s actually leading them to under eat and slow their metabolism more.

If you’re eating nutrient dense foods that keep your metabolism high, they’re full of protein and fiber. It’s really hard to eat enough within a small window of time every single day. With an eight hour fasting window, it’s really hard to get all the right foods, enough calories, fiber, and protein. You’re putting your body in a deficit.

It’s important to eat and fast in a way that’s healthy for your metabolism while ensuring you’re getting enough protein, calories, and nutrients. It’s really important to have support. Many people try to figure it out on their own, but at the doctor’s office, medical doctors and most practitioners aren’t trained in nutrition, so they don’t know what to recommend with diet. To know that Nagina is here as a weight loss coach to help, this is important to get support with. Don’t try it on your own as it can be dangerous.

Is Abdominal Distention Bloating or Weight Gain? 

For midlife women, we experience bloating and inflammation, which is different than fat gain. It’s confusing because it can look similar. Women ask if this distension is fat around their belly, which is the most common place for midlife women to gain weight. The question is whether it’s bloating or what’s causing waist distension.

You can tell by how your stomach is shaped. If the bottom of your belly is more bloated and coming out, that’s a symptom of gut health issues, very common in midlife. When there’s bloating, no amount of calorie cutting or even adding protein will help. You have to eat anti-inflammatory foods that are soothing and will release that inflammation.

The inflammation is there because our hormones are declining. Estrogen was protective in having inflammation released. As hormones decline and are gone at menopause, we experience more inflammation. It’s about washing that inflammation away.

You need to eat enough food, then you can do one or two days of intermittent fasting to surprise your body. But it only works if you’re eating enough, and most women have no idea they can eat so much and their bodies will feel better. You’ll get slimmer and wipe away not only fat but also bloating by eating enough of the right foods.

GLP-1 Agonists, Low Carb Diet, and The Protein First Rule

It’s now common to use GLP-1 agonists as a quick way to lose weight or as a last hope. They can be healthy in the right situation, but you still have to create a healthy lifestyle. GLP-1s specifically will also decrease muscle mass, which is important for our metabolism. If your muscle mass goes away while taking them, once you get off, your metabolism will slow even more.

Another issue is eating too little carbs. No carb or low carb diets could work in someone’s twenties or thirties, but starting in late forties and beyond, low carb often doesn’t work anymore. If you’re eating too high carbs, you might need to bring it down, but if you go too low, you impact your body. Our thyroid, our metabolism boosting gland, thrives off of carbs. Many people develop hypothyroidism in midlife, partly because they’re under feeding their body, especially not feeding enough carbs.

When you’re eating too little, you start having more cravings for sugar. Your body needs calories and energy. If you’ve deprived yourself all day, at night your body catches up and you start craving sugar. You reach for temptations because your body needs quick energy since you didn’t give it the fuel it needed during the day.

This is why giving yourself more protein throughout the day and fiber like chia seeds, half an avocado, and veggies at every meal increases your fiber intake. That keeps you full and satiated. Protein increases your metabolism, and when you have that throughout the day, you won’t feel sugar crashes in the afternoon or evening. You prevent yourself from being tempted by unhealthy foods.

This really helped me with my weight because I also struggled earlier in my life. I use the same things we’re talking about to this day. I created a rule for myself: every time I eat, there has to be protein. If I follow that rule, no matter what, even if I’m craving carbs, I say to myself, you have to have protein first. Then whatever you still want to eat, you can have. It’s the protein first rule that makes such a difference.

Putting an End to Sugar Cravings

Dealing with sugar cravings and carb cravings is such a common concern. It could be that we haven’t eaten for too long, but it can also be when we’re under stress. Let me share what is possible. Nagina thought she was born with sugar cravings that could never be controlled. Now she chooses sugar. When she wants it, she enjoys it, but she never craves it. If she’s eaten the right amounts and someone brings pastries or chocolate, she’ll say she’s okay and doesn’t need it. But if she wants to, she’ll choose to have it.

This is a place we can get to, no matter how strong our cravings are. Our cravings exist not because we’re born with them but because we’re not feeding our body the right amount of energy. Our body needs fast energy, and sugar provides that. One of the worst pieces of advice is to just take sugar out of your diet. When we’re forbidden from eating foods, that’s all we think about. When people tell themselves they won’t eat sweets or chocolate, that’s all they think about. Our brain focuses on that.

If you just take out sugar, you’ll end up wanting it more. That’s never going to solve your problem. The aspect of willpower and trying harder to control cravings means you’ll always feel disappointed because those cravings are really strong. Instead of fighting cravings, the way to get off sugar is to no longer have those cravings, to attack it from the root cause. Give your body more of what it’s searching for.

When our body is craving sugar, what it’s actually craving is protein. It’s craving energy but needs something immediately because you waited too long. The advice to wait till you’re hungry to eat isn’t something we agree with. We should eat at regular intervals. When you know you’re going to be hungry, eat a little ahead because then you’ll control what you’re eating rather than being controlled by strong sugar cravings requiring fast energy.

The number one thing to add is protein. When you eat enough protein, it’s surprising how you’ll no longer have those strong cravings. This can switch quickly. If there are a couple days where someone doesn’t get their usual protein amount, they immediately feel hungry and start looking for sugar. It’s not about how you were born or even necessarily a habit. It’s about how you’re feeding your body. If you give your body the right nutrition, it won’t seek other forms of quick energy. It will be content and happy.

This could change as quickly as tomorrow by adding a metabolism boosting breakfast with thirty grams of protein. Have two eggs with Greek yogurt and berries. Sprinkle cinnamon, which helps lower blood sugar and helps with fat loss when you keep blood sugar even. A smoothie with thirty grams of protein powder or Greek yogurt, plant based milk like almond milk, half to one cup of strawberries, half cup of spinach, and a tablespoon or two of chia seeds or flax seeds gives you fiber and healthy fats. It keeps you full and satiated.

That combination keeps you full. You won’t crave sugar because you’ve given your body the energy it needs. Understanding more about nutrition, how to combine foods, and how to eat regularly throughout the day will completely wipe out sugar cravings. You’ll be excited and surprised at how easy it will be to lose weight and reach your physical goals.

Getting Protein from Various Sources

Many people ask what to have for breakfast. The American breakfast is too many carbs and not much protein. High protein cereal, bagels, croissants, doughnuts, pancakes, waffles, or toast don’t have enough protein. For breakfast, you can get protein from eggs or smoothies.

The typical American breakfast is very high in carbs or is intermittent fasting because of convenience where people skip breakfast, losing the opportunity to fuel their body. It’s hard to get enough protein without breakfast. Skipping breakfast thinking it will help you lose weight, if you’re not losing weight, means you’re under eating.

Two eggs is only twelve grams of protein, so you can’t stop there. We’re looking for at least thirty grams because that makes you feel full and helps you achieve the levels needed for the day to activate fat burning and give your body the nutrients it needs. Add a cup of egg whites to two eggs for thirty grams of protein. Add veggies for a big scramble.

If you feel that’s too big to start with, begin with two eggs and half a cup of egg whites. You’re going to start getting hungrier because your metabolism is increasing. Give it one week and you’ll want more. That’s good because it means your body’s burning calories and soon will burn fat. Start with that half cup of egg whites, then add on another half cup when able.

Favorite proteins are salmon, which can be grilled or roasted at the beginning of the week and kept in the fridge. Salmon is incredible because it has omega threes, really important for midlife women to add because it helps reduce swelling. We often get too many omega 6 fats, and omega threes bring swelling down.

Seafood like scallops, white fish, turkey, and chicken are all great options. Fast options are hard boiled eggs, smoked salmon, tuna in a packet or can, or crab in a can. These are high protein things you can find at the supermarket to quickly add on. You get into a groove once you start prioritizing this and realize how good you feel.

In the freezer, keep frozen wild salmon or frozen free range chicken ready to be cooked as backup protein. In the refrigerator, have free range chicken that’s grilled or cooked and always available for salads with arugula and grilled chicken for lunch.

Always have sliced turkey, but get a clean version without preservatives, like Applegate or organic free range turkey slices, as a nice backup. At the grocery store, get chicken, turkey, grass fed beef, or filet mignon at least once a week for nutrients from healthy beef sources.

Some people are surprised that as a naturopathic doctor, I eat animal protein, but it’s because of what we’ve been explaining. There are times to eat fully plant based, like on retreat when not in the usual work or movement schedule, and sleeping more, then I follow a fasting mimicking diet.

But in usual busy life with physical activity, animal protein is needed for my body. There are benefits of animal products. It’s important to eat high quality, organic animal products, which makes the difference. Then you’re not getting exposed to hormones or chemicals found in non-organic sources.

Nagina shares that you can get protein from plant based sources, but it’s definitely harder to do fully plant based. There are vegetarian and vegan clients who have lost significant weight, but you really must prioritize protein. It’s important to have a protein powder if you’re plant based, relying on it at least once a day, plus tofu a few times a week. There are hacks like nutritional yeast and hemp seeds with ten grams of protein per serving, but make sure you’re not eating too many carbs as part of your protein.

For those fully plant based or vegan, there are solutions. Pea protein is something many use for protein shakes, even plain organic non-GMO pea protein for shakes or to add to different foods for extra protein. There’s also hemp protein powder. You have to be creative and incorporate it into meals to get adequate grams of protein.

You have to be intentional about getting protein, just like being intentional about getting enough fiber, really important to stay full throughout the day and push food and inflammation out of our body. The more intentional you are about protein and fiber, you will see results. It’s not impossible because in midlife it sometimes feels hopeless. You wonder what’s happening to your body, why bloating is happening.

But once you understand that you have to eat enough of these foods and be intentional throughout your day instead of leaving it to chance, it’s hard to get healthy if you’re just hoping for it. You want to plan for it and know what you’re eating throughout the day.

Addressing Gut Health and Constipation

If there’s constipation and things aren’t moving, that makes it difficult to shift your metabolism. Getting the bowels moving is important. If anyone listening isn’t having at least one bowel movement every day, we need to get that happening first. There are good natural ways to support regularity with fiber like ground flax seeds, chia seeds, and other types of fiber. It’s very unique to each person.

Getting bowels moving, alleviating constipation, will also help with symptoms like eczema, which is related to gut health. If you’re constipated or can’t get your bowels moving, you may find certain fibrous foods difficult to eat. If so, there’s definitely something happening with your gut health that will impact your metabolism, but you can resolve it.

If you’re having these issues, Nagina recommends to start trying different sources of fiber to see which works for you. Some people feel uncomfortable eating chia or flax seeds but can eat avocado, which is high in fiber. Start with that, and over time you can eat other foods and add chia and flax seeds.

Some people who had eczema, as they added more fiber and enough protein and ate the right kinds of healthy carbs with fiber so they weren’t spiking blood sugar, found their eczema completely disappeared. They’d been using lotions their entire lives and didn’t need them anymore. 

When constipation goes away, so many things can change, and your body moves more efficiently. You get inflammation out and fat burning going because you’re eating foods that push other things out.

We often just focus on wanting to lose weight and get hyperfocused on the weight part. If we realize it’s about getting healthier, the skin improves, digestion improves, mood improves because your body’s getting fed in a healthier way. The weight comes off as an outcome, as a result of feeding yourself better versus the main priority.

In this whole concept, we’re no longer fighting our body. Instead, we’re working with our body, helping it perform better, absorb the right nutrients so it can detox and release the right things so we don’t have inflammation.

When we have high enough metabolism, which is easy to do, if you eat the 30 gram breakfast for even one week, you could potentially lose two to four pounds just by eating thirty grams of protein with low sugar fruit, keeping blood sugar even in the morning.

When you add lunch and dinner with nutrient dense foods, it’s magical what can happen. It’s no longer hard. It’s actually freeing. You have more energy, fit into clothes you want, and feel full, never feeling like you’re on a diet again because you created a lifestyle.

Creating a Sustainable Lifestyle

That’s how our lives truly change and how we’ll be healthy for decades beyond because we don’t want to just lose weight and have it back three months or a year later, feeling constantly on a diet. What’s being described is learning to feed yourself in a way that you’re not restricting and instead you’re actually enjoying your food. You don’t even feel like you’re on a diet. You’re okay with eating this way and continuing to maintain your weight this way.

You don’t feel like you’re on a diet because you love what you’re eating. You no longer have sugar cravings because you’re eating the right way throughout the day. You’re still choosing sugar. Nagina still loves having a chocolate croissant on weekends. She’ll have that and combine it with eggs because if you combine sugar with protein or healthy fat, you don’t elevate blood sugar. That’s how we gain fat, when blood sugar elevates and goes up and down quickly.

When you balance blood sugar, eat enough protein that increases metabolism, and eat the right amount of fiber that pushes inflammation out and keeps you full, you never feel like you’re on a diet and you actually enjoy the food. When you add spices onto food, you make it taste good, adding another element of metabolism boosting. Cinnamon helps keep blood sugar even, brings it down, and helps curb sugar cravings. And it makes everything delicious.

How the Gut Microbiome Plays a Role in Metabolism

Nagina hosts a Metabolism Boost Workshop online where there is discussion about inflammation, the exact things to do for gut health, and how it releases bloating. There’s talk about foods to add and the fact that when you feed your body specific foods, it grows bacteria that’s not good for your gut. Because you’re growing that bacteria, it causes more sugar and unhealthy food cravings. But you can reverse that by feeding your body healthier foods.

When you feed your body more vegetables, you grow bacteria that craves vegetables. Instead of craving sugar, you can now crave vegetables. Whenever sitting down for a meal, you want to eat vegetables first. It makes it so much easier to be healthy when you actually want to eat those foods. Making them taste good is part of it. If you use spices on vegetables, you’ll want to eat vegetables.

You can completely reverse your gut biome in as little as three days where you can be off sugar and want to eat healthy foods. 

You have to know about where sugars are hiding because they’re hiding in many healthy foods. In the Metabolism Boost Workshop, there’s sharing of a list of healthy foods hiding sugar. When you eat sugar even in the form of healthy foods, it breaks down to sugar and makes you addicted to more sugar because you’re growing that bacteria.

Once you’re aware of what foods sugar is hiding in and you substitute with other things, this journey becomes easy. Your body is wanting healthy food. Research shows that our cravings can be created by the microbes in our gut. We’re the ones choosing what to feed these microbes.

Every time we eat, we have to think where do I get nutrition from me, and what do I want to be feeding the microbes? If you’re feeding them vegetables, you’ll grow microbes that like vegetables and create cravings for vegetables.

This is how we can break this whole code and break through the metabolism issue by outsmarting the cravings, by realizing we need to be intentional about what we put in our mouths so we’re feeding our body and feeding the microbes that will help our health and not work against us. That’s why you can truly change your cravings, get off sugar, no longer have sugar cravings, and have an easy journey to getting healthy. That’s how you create that lifestyle shift when you start making these internal changes.

Next Steps: Eating Your Favorite Foods and Still Losing weight

I’m so grateful for Nagina sharing all this with us as a starting point so you can start experimenting with these tips. We know there are so many reasons to be at a healthy weight. Part is how we feel, but at a healthier weight, we’re preventing other health issues. We’ll prevent cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and dementia. It’s a lifestyle of eating in a way that helps us feel good in our body today and in our clothes but also helps our health going forward.

When you do it the right way, it’s not hard. It’s actually enjoyable. It’s about learning the steps, learning what to add to your breakfast to start, and then knowing some of the other key foods to keep adding into your day. You’ll start seeing changes happen, making you want to do even more.

I know sometimes it’s hard to overcome thinking it’s too good to be true to eat favorite foods and still lose weight because of everything we’ve been taught. But I’m here to say that exactly what Nagina teaches is what I do for myself for many years. I know what she’s saying will work because it works for me and my patients.

If you want to learn more about Nagina and how she can help you make sure to check out her 5-Day Metabolism Boost for Midlife Women online workshop here. You can also find her on Instagram @masalabodyand Facebook @MasalaBody.com by Nagina Abdullah.

Last Word: The Underlying Causes of Weight Gain

Whenever struggling with any health issue, we need to consider what is underlying, and that is also true for weight gain. If we don’t address the underlying causes, the issue can recur over and over again. Common underlying causes of metabolism issues and weight gain include hormone imbalances (thyroid, estrogen, insulin, cortisol, and more), digestive issues (microbiome imbalances and leaky gut), toxicity from mold and other environmental toxins, as well as stress and trauma.

It’s important to work with a practitioner who can help you look deeper to uncover what is really leading to weight gain or difficulty losing weight so that you are able to finally break the pattern. 

For those who would like to follow a diet plan I created, to decrease inflammation and support detoxification, as well as blood sugar balance, I definitely encourage you to check out my 14-Day Detox Program.

This program includes two protein shakes per day with 18 grams of protein, and two meals per day with a meal plan that I created based on making sure you get at least 20 grams of protein in each meal. It also includes antioxidants, and videos from me to teach you to use mindfulness, as well as to replace toxins in your food and home. In this way, you can reset your diet, lifestyle and cell health all while carrying on with your daily activities and routine. 

If you’re dealing with chronic stress or want to recover from trauma, you’ll find my most recent book: Master Your Stress Reset Your Health to be helpful. In the book, you’ll learn all about the human nervous system and stress response, how we all respond to stress and trauma uniquely as individuals, and how we can use natural approaches (diet, lifestyle, nutrients, herbs, and more) to help you recover from stress and trauma. You’ll find out your Stress Type and how to optimize your cortisol and adrenaline levels to effectively erase the impact of stress on your biology.

I can tell you that it IS possible to heal from stress and trauma, to recover from anxiety and depression, and to rebalance what was disrupted by stress, such as hormones, digestion, neurotransmitters, and immune function. In this way, we can also prevent long term health issues, including risk of cancer, heart disease, and cancer.  

I help patients to do this in my practice every day – by phone and zoom, anywhere in the world. You can set up a one-on-one appointment here. Once I meet with you one on one, we will create a strategic plan based on your health needs, including sessions with the health coach on my team to help guide you to implement my proprietary C.A.R.E. and Stress Mastery programs. 

Thank you all for joining me for this fascinating discussion with Nagina. I hope this conversation has provided valuable insights into how to take control of your nutrition in a way that’s both enjoyable and sustainable.

Remember, the goal isn’t perfection but progress. Small, consistent changes in how you approach food can lead to significant improvements in your health over time. 

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