Kim Shapira, MS, RD is a celebrity dietitian, nutritional therapist and author, with a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from Tulane University and a Master’s degree in Human Metabolism and Clinical Nutrition from Boston University. Shapira has spent more than 25 years helping people lose weight and keep it off (with a giant emphasis on keeping it off), both in her private Los Angeles, CA practice, in hospitals, sports clinics, addiction centers and universities. When she’s not helping her clients take back their relationship with food, she is a wife and mother of three children and three pups. Shapira often appears as a guest expert for Yahoo!, Just Jenny, Sky News, Vanity Fair, Pop Sugar and podcasts.
Q: What inspired you to write This Is What You’re Really Hungry For?
A: I’ve always felt inspired to help people feel stronger and to know that they’re stronger than they are. So many people in their relationship with food prevents them from taking good care of themselves. I’ve also feel strongly that I have the answers to make everything so much easier for people to be the healers of their own stories.
Q: What are your six rules people can follow to improve their overall health?
A: 1. When you’re hungry, take your normal portion and cut it in half, eat it slowly, love what you’re eating and let 15 minutes pass before you come back to the second half. Then, see if you need more.
2. Eat what you love, make sure the food loves you back.
3. Eat without distractions
4. Get 10,000 steps every day
5. Drink eight cups of water every day
6. Get seven hours of sleep every night.
Q: In the book, you want people to identify their “why.” Why is this important?
A: We have very short-term memories, and when we experience any form of discomfort, our mind will always jump in and give us a way to make the moment more pleasurable. For many people it’s in the form of food. But if we can learn that our mind isn’t always telling us the truth and that it’s OK to stay in discomfort. Because if we have a greater goal, we will be more successful than if the food came out of nowhere and was presented as a good idea—that really is a trap.
Q: You encourage people to eat “what you love,” but to eliminate foods that “don’t love you.” What does this mean?
A: Many people have various forms of stress occurring in their body, and that could show up as inflammation. I believe many people are not connecting the food they eat to their physical bodies. Instead, many people say they know a food is healthy, but they don’t eat it. Or they know what they should or shouldn’t eat in an effort to get rid of this disordered pattern. I want people to know exactly how food is making them feel so they can make an informed decision. I do not believe people burn themselves intentionally once they can see that something is hurting them. They’re more likely to make changes from a place of positivity rather than negativity or restriction. This is how it becomes sustainable—by educating the person or rather by letting the person educate themselves.
Q: How important is a good night of sleep? How can people get a better night’s rest?
A: As our energetic bodies are resting, there is so much cellular activity that’s going on through the hormone melatonin that it is literally cleansing ourselves and helping our bodies’ inflammatory process. This lowers our bodies’ level of stress. When we get good sleep, which is a minimum of seven hours, we are more likely to make the right decision for our bodies throughout the day. We are more motivated to move our bodies, to hydrate and stay consistent. Our bodies thrive with consistency. When we shake it up, it causes stress, which then increases our cortisol levels, changes our hormone levels and affects our insulin. Just by getting good sleep we’re able to lose weight and maintain it. There are many weight-related diseases that we can prevent.
Q: What tweaks can people make to their routines to achieve 10,000 steps per day?
A: Every one of us needs to carve out time in our day to move our body. I always recommend doing this first thing in the morning and again at the end of the day if that’s a possibility. Our phones are counting our steps, so we don’t need extra gadgets, but it’s always great to have one if you can. Most of us have sedentary jobs, so we need to learn to do those jobs a little differently. Maybe we walk and talk during meetings, maybe we forfeit drinking meetings for walking meetings. Also, try using restrooms on different floors in an office building, don’t rush through your laundry, don’t rush through emptying your dishwasher—take your time. Instead of carrying three dishes, carry one—put more effort into making everything about moving your body.
Q: You call water “the secret sauce.” What is your advice to those who say they “hate water?”
A: In my experience if someone hates water, it’s because they’re usually addicted to something that is sweet. I get it—sometimes we must force ourselves to do things that are uncomfortable and create new habits. Our body is made up of 60 to 70 percent of water if we’re lucky. If we’re dehydrated, it causes us to feel fatigued—even fluish. When we don’t drink enough water, it causes our liver to have to work harder, and our liver is more prone at that point to then store fat in the form of triglycerides, body fat and cholesterol. By drinking enough water, about eight cups a day, it helps your body function better overall. I would say everything in moderation because there is such thing as drinking too much water.
