In this episode I interview Dr. Cate Shanahan, who’s an author, physician, and nutritional consultant for professional sports teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets. Cate has been studying the relationship between diet and health and wellbeing for a long time now and recently published a book on the matter called Deep Nutrition, and I wanted to get her on the show because of how many people in the fitness space have little regard for the nutritional quality of their diets. Thanks to the rising popularity of flexible dieting, more and more people are realizing that they can more or less eat like shit and still be lean and muscular, which is why you see the social mediaz full of such people boasting about how much crap they can “fit into their macros” while still having abs, as if it’s some sort of “lifehack” or dietary achievement. Well, what they’re failing to realize that our bodies need a lot more than just “macros” to function optimally and stay healthy and, ultimately, disease-free over the long-term. And I don’t know about you, but I’m more interested in making sure that Future Me is healthy and vital than pleasing Current Me with mountains of junk food delights. So, that’s the topic of the discussion that I had with Dr. Shanahan. In it, she shares quite a few insights on how our food choices affect our physical and mental health and performance for better or worse, including... The two biggest problems with most people’s diets. How eating a lot of vegetable oils and sugar screws up your metabolism (among other things). How you can use flexible dieting in a way that gives you the best of all worlds: a great physique, enjoyable meal plans, and outstanding long-term health and vitality. One simple dietary change everyone can make to immediately improve their health and possibly even body composition. And more... 5:41 - What is the concept of deep nutrition? 7:00 - How much do lifestyle choices contribute to diseases? Can you offset poor dietary choices with exercise?    9:26 - What are the effects of processed foods on your body? How does it affect your metabolism and energy? 20:40 Can you manipulate your macros for maximum muscle gains? 22:41 - What is epigenetics? 32:29 - Does a high carb diet benefit training? 43:13 - What are the common types of vegetable oils and why are they bad for you? 47:20 - What are some common foods that are rich in vegetable oils? 50:57 - What are some dietary changes people can start on today? 56:33 - How can people connect with you and follow your work?    Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/