Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
[Music] do [Music] good morning good afternoon good evening wherever you are in the world it’s Dr. Janice Fortman with Relationship Matters. This evening, because I’m in Chicago, it’s in the evening. Gonna have a very important conversation, but before we bring on our guest, I want to talk about something. And I know we all know that this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. According to the American Cancer Society, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Now, together we can help increase the conversation about breast health, family risk factors, and early screening among women, girls, and family risk factors. Now, family risk factors are important because men also get breast cancer, so we have to have early screening. We have to keep this dialogue open because it needs to be a top priority in all of our minds. Early detection saves lives. Now, personally, I do get my mammogram once a year, always. And unlike most women, the longest wait of the longest few minutes in your lifetime is between the time the technician leaves you and comes back. And a lot of times you try to read her face, you know, and I have been afraid, especially when she said, “Well, I need to take another picture because that one’s a little blurry.” Well, you know, everything goes through your mind. A little blurry? Did you see something? Whatever. But I have been blessed in that each time that has happened, there has been nothing. I’ve even had to have an ultrasound because they did think they saw something, and it was just a cyst. Really trying to reinforce here is that it is very important, ladies, if you have not gotten your mammogram, get your mammogram. And because this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I have on my earrings—oh, the wrong earrings—I have on my necklace, I even have a ring, and my t-shirt. My t-shirt says, “The fight is never over. Be aware.” So just thought I’d remind you all. Now, let’s get to our guest. Her name is LeJeune Singleton, and oh, you know, she has so many wonderful accolades here and things about her, but I would be reading it all night. But I’m going to just tell you a few things about her and then let her expound on it. She is an author, a speaker, a board-certified health coach, a mindset strategist, nutritional lifestyle coach, she’s a cycling instructor, and she’s a personal trainer with over 10 years of experience working with busy career women, kids, and families. And let me tell you about the areas that she works in: obesity, fitness, chronic illnesses, mindset, nutrition—which I really want to talk about—mental and physical health, and injury recovery. Tonight, she is going to provide us with some tools that we need—at least I need—to redefine our minds so that we can create the space necessary for important positive shifts in our health and wellness. So I am going to welcome LeJeune today. Hi, how are you?
LeJeune Singleton
I’m just great, and how are you?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I am great. Thank you for having me on.
LeJeune Singleton
Oh, it’s a pleasure. It’s a pleasure. Where are you located?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I am in the Maryland area, DC, Maryland area.
LeJeune Singleton
Okay, now do you all have a lot of rain? I know on the East Coast they’ve been talking about the bomb cyclone or the bomb hurricane or something. Does that affect you?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Um, we had rain, I believe, yesterday, and we’re supposed to have an 80 to 90 percent chance of rain tomorrow, so yes.
LeJeune Singleton
Okay, okay. Alright, but no flooding?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
No flooding, no.
LeJeune Singleton
Okay, alrighty. So, you know, I’m going to ask you how you got into health and wellness.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Well, I’ve always liked sports growing up. I’m originally from Louisiana, a small town, and of course, in the South, there’s a lot of obesity, a lot of chronic illnesses. That was something I always tried to stay away from but wasn’t so successful. In 2011, due to a knee injury, I got my personal training certification in 2010, 2011. I was ultimately working with individuals with developmental, physical, and intellectual disabilities, as well as women and kids. So, sustained a knee injury, went into a state of depression, gained a lot of weight. I was in the 120s at that time, and the highest I got to was 193. It was definitely a struggle, you know, trying to work, dealing with depression, dealing with grief. It was definitely a struggle, but I knew that it was some things that I needed to deal with when it came to childhood molestation, dealing with losing my dad at the age of six, and all those things played a part with me gaining weight, not just a knee injury. But those things started coming back up, and I knew for me, dealing with my past, other women and also men deal with their past, and it shows up in food, alcohol, whatever your, you know, addiction of choice is. So that’s how I got into the whole health coaching, and I started to realize with trying to lose weight, it’s not about the fitness side, it’s about the mindset and the nutrition. So if your mindset isn’t together, you’re not eating healthy, you can work out all day long, and you’re not going to see results. So that’s how I got into it.
LeJeune Singleton
Okay, so you’re talking about your mindset. How do you develop the mindset, especially, let’s say, if you’re obese and you love food, or you know that you need to work out and you really don’t want to? So how do you develop the mindset?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So the ultimate thing is, do you really love food, or is food a crutch for you? Is food a go-to thing? Because I know personally for myself, that used to be my thing. I would have a bad day, and I was like, “Oh, I need a turkey burger,” or “I need Mexican food to release that stress.” So those are things that you have to look at. You have to figure out the reasons why you’re eating the way you’re eating. Developing that mindset, you have to really be ultimately focused. I can tell clients that, “Okay, hey, you need to do a food sensitivity test.” Clients have gotten those results back, and they’re like, “Oh, I have to give up chicken, I have to give up this,” you know, my favorite things. But it’s a mindset. If you really want to see results, you’ll do it. I did it. I gave up chicken, I gave up eggs, I gave up a lot of dairy, cheese, a lot of things. It is hard because you go out and you want to have it, but at the same time, and I ultimately, you know, sometimes try to introduce it back because it is a sensitivity to see how my body reacts to it.
LeJeune Singleton
So now I’ve never heard of a food sensitivity test. I’ve heard, you know, like a test to find out if you’re allergic to certain foods, but a food sensitivity test, what does that tell you?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So a food sensitivity test, the one I did was with Everly Wells. You do a blood prick of your finger into like five or ten little circles, and you mail it in, and they analyze all the foods you’re sensitive to. So all the foods I was sensitive to were the foods I was eating almost every day that I love. I love pineapples, I was eating boiled eggs because, you know, you’re told boiled eggs is the best morning protein for your scrambled eggs, chicken, mushrooms, cashews, almonds, goes on and on. And it was like, wow, this is stuff I consume on a regular. But how we eat our foods, we eat our foods together, so we don’t eat our foods separate. So how do you know the reaction your body is having? So when I stopped eating it, I dropped down 12 pounds because basically, it’s inflammation in your body from the sensitivity of foods that you’re eating. It was around Thanksgiving, so I had mac and cheese, my face broke out, I started getting bloated, and I was like, okay, so those are the sensitivities that I’m experiencing.
LeJeune Singleton
Oh, now I’ve never had a sensitivity test, but that’s something I’m going to think about. But I just found out, not just found out, but just through eating, I found out that I was lactose intolerant. And what I think this has been maybe about 20 years ago, and I went to the doctor, and you know, they ask you, you know, what’s wrong, and I said, I think I have colon cancer. And he said, why do you think that? And I said, well, you know, they always talk about, you know, your BM’s changing and stuff like that, and I started, you know, describing everything. So he looked at me, he said, um, do you drink milk? I say, every day, because I eat cereal every day.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Right, right.
LeJeune Singleton
He said, um, you eat ice cream? I say, yeah, as often as I can. I love Breyer’s butter pecan ice cream. Then he says butter, and he just went through all the dairy.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Right.
LeJeune Singleton
And so he said, well, what I want you to do is, uh, I want you to come back in two weeks, but during those two weeks, don’t eat any dairy. And I thought, what? What? And so, and let’s say about a week, I noticed things were a little different. Then I thought, ah, you know what, I’m gonna have me some ice cream. And so that’s how I found out that I was lactose intolerant. And then later on, um, and I think now when I’m, because I’ve never heard of a sensitivity test, but if I had, I wouldn’t have gone through all the stuff I went through. I found out that I couldn’t handle salt. And, um, one morning I couldn’t get up out of the bed. It was, I had vertigo, you know, and I thought, oh my God, you know, now what’s wrong with me? So, you know, going to the doctor and everything, and when they start talking about vertigo and what could cause it, it ended up being salt. Now, no salt and no dairy, I’m like, wait a minute, and chocolate, I can’t even eat chocolate. And so I can see, you know, what you’re saying about how your body responds to certain foods. And I guess if we’re all, if we think about it and we think about inflammation, it is good for everybody to get a food sensitivity test to find out, you know, what it is that you cannot have because of the reaction to your body. A friend of mine recently found out, I told her she needs to live in the desert. She loves shrimp, she can’t eat seafood anymore, just all the different things that she loves for some reason now she cannot eat. And, uh, but it was an allergy test and probably that food sensitivity test also. So thank you so much for that, uh, because I, I, I never, never heard of that. So now you say be focused. So how do you get focused when you know there’s certain things you can’t eat?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
If you think about how it’s affecting your body, um, it’s kind of like individuals that have high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, you know what causes those things, but are you willing to let those things go to have a healthier lifestyle overall? So when you think about, okay, I want to be healthy, I don’t want to take these pills every day, sometimes two, three, four times a day, I want to be able to have that substantial life where I can go out and enjoy myself and not worry about getting sick from anything. So that’s where the focus comes in, is wanting that change. When you want change, you do different.
LeJeune Singleton
Okay, now when it comes, you talk about physical fitness also.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes.
LeJeune Singleton
So, and you are a personal trainer.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I am.
LeJeune Singleton
Uh, and so when you have your clients, um, do you not only train them as, uh, as far as, you know, their physical fitness and exercise and stuff like that, but do you and also incorporate nutrition and all of that with, with it?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I do. Um, when clients come inquiring about personal training, I tell them personal training, it’s only 20% mindset, nutrition is 80%. So if you’re still eating and drinking like crazy, I love money. Hey, if you just want to throw it at me, you just give it to me right now because all that other stuff don’t really matter. So that is a conversation I have. I tell every client, even clients that don’t sign up with me, I tell them do a food sensitivity test. I tell them every company that I’ve done tests with, which is Everly Wells, my allergy test, I just did a new one, is based on your genetics and your lineage. So foods that you should eat based on your lineage, um, and it tells you what exercises you should be doing, which supplements you should be taking, things like that. And that’s something important if you think about how our ancestors, the things that they ate, how healthy they were. So that’s, you know, conversations I have with them. Um, I check in with them every, before every workout, how’s your day, you know, what’s going on. We discuss, even if they’re having a bad day, we discuss that and doing the workout because that’s important because you’re not going to be focused on a workout if you’re thinking about how your supervisor upsets you or if a family member or your spouse or whatever.
LeJeune Singleton
True, that’s, that’s very true. So now, um, I know you focus on busy career women and usually women who, let’s say in corporate America, uh, really don’t have good nutrition, I would say, uh, right, you know, just, just because of the fact that they’re working from nine to five, you know, they might have to learn.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah.
LeJeune Singleton
So, so what are you, what, and what do you do with them? I mean, you know, how do you get them to eat, you know, with nutrition in mind?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So the thing of it is, I explained to everybody, you know, I am just the person there to hold you accountable and support and encourage you. It’s your decision on the lifestyle changes that you make and what you incorporate. And I tell myself, hey, I’m, I get very busy. Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays are my busiest days where I’m seeing eight to nine clients in a day and I’m not coming home. So I don’t have time. My first client is typically at six in the morning. I have to get up at four in the morning to, you know, get ready and go to her house. So I am stopping to eat and I do acknowledge that. Now tell them, hey, I’m not telling you anything different from what I personally do. Yes, I may stop at a Chick-fil-A and get some fries and I get the effects of that because I get bloating, but I also know, okay, you need to step back and you need to take the weekend to detox. Most people are not gonna do that. Um, so I talk about that. I detox, I may detox during some days, like my Tuesday and Thursdays, I may detox because I’m not as busy and I will take a protein drink with me. I will get the little pouches of applesauce. I get a green juice that’s organic from 7-Eleven. And those are the things that I do on the days that I’m not busy, busy, busy. Um, I have started doing better with meal prepping where when I do come home, I have something I can heat up and it’s not just I’m finding somewhere to get something quick from. So I tell them that because I think when they see, okay, I understand there’s somebody like me that’s struggling. Nobody wants to work with somebody that’s like overall perfect. Oh my God, you know, you’re trying to tell me this. No, I don’t want to do that. But honestly, I experienced that because when you’re busy, you’re busy and you want to get something quick. I can’t order a salad from a Chick-fil-A or whatever restaurant and try to eat it and drive at the same time. It’s unrealistic.
LeJeune Singleton
You’re right, you’re right. But when you talk about detox, you know, uh, you read a lot and you see a lot of advertisement for different detox, you know, get this detox tea or get this detox drink. Do you make your own?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So my detox is not consistent of getting a detox tea or anything like that. It’s basically I’m drinking water throughout the day that I’m not going out. So I’m giving my body a rest from eating.
LeJeune Singleton
But wait, so we don’t eat on those days?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I don’t eat some those days. I don’t eat. I can’t go to a smoothie and the smoothie will have blueberries, it’s gonna have spinach in it, it’s going to have, it’s a banana milk that I use. Um, that’s it. So that is the course of what I’m doing throughout the day because I’m giving my body a break from, you know, eating at, um, whatever restaurant that I’m passing by that’s convenient for me. Um, some days I may stop at Tropical Smoothie and get a smoothie. So I’m not, you know, I’m giving myself that break where I’m not, you know, overdoing it and giving yourself a rest. And that’s important. So it’s kind of like, you know, people do the intermittent fasting, um, which is great, but also it is those times you do need to give your body that break. And it also helps with mental clarity too. So that’s another reason why I do it for mental clarity, that stillness, that silence, just to be able to hear, you know, God speak to me on what my next move.
LeJeune Singleton
I’m trying to see if I could just one day drink nothing but water all day and don’t eat anything.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, you can’t do it, Dr. Janice. You can’t believe it. When you put your mind to something, you can’t do it.
LeJeune Singleton
Okay, okay, LeJeune. I gotta take a break, a quick break, and I will be back. Um, and we’re gonna talk some more, uh, about some, uh, chronic illnesses and, and injury recovery. I, I want to talk a little bit more about that. And then, uh, my, my, uh, I have a trainer and, uh, I have some confessions. Okay, so we’ll be right back. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we have frozen are frozen oh empty I can’t come back [Music] [Music] we had a little computer glitch but we are back and um I said we I wanted to uh talk about um injury recovery and I um and I said as far as uh physical fitness and and working out I work out three days a week uh Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and uh but I think what’s lacking is uh nutr the nutrition part of it because it’s and and I know a lot of women have this issue I cannot get my tummy down you know I lose I’ll lose wherever but but so is that inflammation or that’s what I’m eating?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So it’s a combination of what you’re eating and your hormones.
LeJeune Singleton
So I don’t think I have any more hormones.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, you, you got hormones. So even though you [Music] experienced, yeah, medicine, you still have stress levels, your cortisol levels. So that impacts us as women because with women, we hold our stress in our stomachs and in our hip area. That’s where it goes.
LeJeune Singleton
Well, I don’t have any hips, but I gotta stop.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Well, it’s some women that have hips. So that is our struggle is our hormones of stress because we are not good with handling our stress at all. So it literally just goes to our midsection. I did a, um, female test and it was the cortisol levels and it was like morning, lunch, um, dinner and before bed you had to do a saliva test in the morning. Mine was high at lunchtime, it was normal, I think at dinner time it was kind of elevated and before I went to bed it was high.
LeJeune Singleton
Really? Yeah, girl, you got all kinds of testing that we should take. Yes, my goodness gracious. So, all right, now how often should we work out and does it depend on your age?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So it doesn’t depend on your age. I actually have a client that will be 72, um, next month. So I don’t, you know, I work with retire read women as well. The oldest I had was in her 80s and they worked out three days a week with me. So it’s not in the 72 year old, she works out at least two other days or one other day outside of working out with me. And it’s not about how many days is basically what you’re eating. So for me, when after I did the food sensitivity test, I dropped 12 pounds. That was not exercise at all. It was basically I cut out everything that was on that list and I changed my mindset and I dropped 12 pounds. So that’s what that is about. The fitness aspect is about getting you tone and getting you moving and you know, getting you healthier.
LeJeune Singleton
Okay, so [Laughter] so now a couple of questions came in. Um, what has been the biggest challenge you have had to face with one of your clients?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
The biggest challenge, um, of course clients get frustrated because they’re not losing weight and I explained to them what are you eating? We talk about what they’re eating. I had one client, she was like, well, I’m not giving up my, my sodas. Okay, well, there you go. Um, so those are the challenges that I’ve had, um, which is, you know, again, I can’t force anyone to do anything. You have to be ready to make those changes.
LeJeune Singleton
So what, what, what has been your biggest challenge as well? Yeah, as far as health, wellness, and nutrition personally?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah, so my biggest challenge, um, is definitely like I said before, um, dates my busy days I’m eating, I’m out and I do have to stop and eat at restaurants. Um, sometimes I have to get chicken and it’s like, okay, now I have to have a period. I mean, not a period, a pimple for how many ever days and now I’m bloated because of I had to stop and get that because a lot of places don’t sell fish. If it is, it’s not real fish. Um, it’s a lot of places that don’t sell shrimp or everything is fried. So it’s no real options for me when I’m out and about where I can just grab something to go. So that will probably be one of my biggest challenges.
LeJeune Singleton
Okay, um, and this other question, and I think you kind of touched on it, uh, what are the best say two to three suggestions, suggestions to improve our health?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So I would say two and three suggestions definitely do a food sensitivity allergy or intolerance test. And it’s, they also have environmental tests as well because some of the products that we use, um, chemicals that we use, it affects our health and it does cause inflammation, it causes illnesses and things like that. So figure out if some of those things are you have a reaction to. I did that as well. Um, I would, I always recommend that. So that’s something, um, also kind of start paying attention to what you eat and how it affects your body. Like you said, when you used to drink milk or eat any dairy products, you felt sick. And the top thing within African Americans, we are extremely lactose intolerant. So it’s something that is, yeah, it’s something that is in milk that causes that because I’ve ran into so many women and men that say I’m lactose intolerant.
LeJeune Singleton
Yeah, fully. Yes. Well, now I have a confession. Now I bought lactate pills.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yes, and that’s what they do. They, you know, they buy lactate pills and they say it kind of works, but they’re like, uh, it’s kind of, you know, sometimes I, it’s, I don’t get as sick.
LeJeune Singleton
Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. I didn’t know, I didn’t know that. Um, okay, uh, I’m gonna look that up now. Um, when you talk about injury recovery, exactly what is that?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So injury recovery, um, like I said, I experienced an injury, um, my right knee, I had torn cartilage and a bruised bone. So I know the struggle I had recovering from that injury and it wasn’t just the injury, it was trying to get back to work out because, um, I was in a car accident. I’ve been in three cars since in the last two and a half years. I was recently in one in May. So I’m, you know, recovering from that and it starts to feel good. You, you like, oh yeah, I can do it and do it. And then it’s like, okay, I did too much too fast and I didn’t rest. And that’s what happened with my knee because I literally was trying to go back and work out and I was setting myself back. Um, so I work with clients who have like a bulging disc that’s on the left side, um, arthritis and the knees, different things like that. So of course when we hear those things, the first thing we say is what? Oh, I’m not going to work out because I’m in pain. Okay. I always find something that each client can do so they can still be active and that’s not an excuse.
LeJeune Singleton
Okay. Alrighty. Ooh, gee, are you, are you a hard taskmaster?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I, I am not. Um, any of my clients will say I come to, I work with them and we work together as if we are long time friends. Okay. Um, I pay attention to their movement or their breathing, things like that, because that’s important. Um, because if you’re not breathing right, you are going to burn out. I pay attention to, I can tell when they haven’t had anything to eat because they’re sluggish in their movement. So I’ll say, okay, did you didn’t eat breakfast today, did you? Oh no, I didn’t have time. Okay. I need you to eat breakfast because you’re gonna be more effective if you do eat breakfast. If not, you’re gonna want to go to sleep. I can tell my clients haven’t had sleep. So all those things play a part with a successful workout.
LeJeune Singleton
Okay. All right. I’m, I’m, uh, right now, uh, our trainer, we don’t have a trainer, uh, because his wife passed and so we’re waiting for him to open up his gym, uh, back. But now, uh, my workout partner is, we’re both senior citizens. And, um, so we walk up briskly, um, I think it’s two and a half miles and now it takes us maybe about 17 minutes. And then after we walk, uh, we like, we have the three days a week. So Mondays we focus on legs, you know, where we do strength training. And then on Wednesdays we focus on, uh, chest and back. And so, uh, and then on Fridays, uh, we focus on, um, what is it, uh, our, uh, our, um, we do lifts, we with weights, you know, uh, and then sometimes it’s like, like this other day, I’m like, I’m tired of your body. I’m like, get these weights off my ankles. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do that. Let’s go. So now is it better? I, you know, you hear different things to work out in the mornings or in the evenings or does it depend on your body?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
It depends on the person because me myself, I would prefer to work out in the mornings opposed to the evening because later in the evening I’m tired and all I want to do is relax and get ready to go to bed. Um, but it depends on the person and what works for you. So I have clients that I have a surgeon that works out sometimes at six in the morning depending on her schedule and sometimes we worked out at 7:30 at night. So it depends on the person and what works for you and your schedule and what, and I have a client that works out with me at 6:30 in the evening. It depends on you.
LeJeune Singleton
It depends on you. Okay. So now I’m looking at your skin and it just seems like it’s just so clear and, and so, you know, and glowing and I’m sure and correct me if I’m wrong, I’m sure that that has to do with what you don’t eat.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
What I don’t eat and with this water. It’s another thing I tell clients, you have to, if you are over 120, you should be drinking half of your body weight.
LeJeune Singleton
Okay. So half of, okay. So half of your body weight, that would be 60, 60 what?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Half of your body weight. So wait a minute, you, okay. So, or so for me, I drink at least 12 bottles of water, um, bottles of what you just showed me. Yeah. And so that’s equivalent to how many is that a half a gallon, a gallon?
LeJeune Singleton
Yes. And I do sometimes I buy gallons and I’ll drink half a gallon. I actually have a friend that drinks a gallon a day. Um, and she’s not over like, she’s probably like one in the 140s, 150s or whatever, but she drinks like pretty much a gallon a day. Um, so basically that’s what I tell clients too. And most of my clients, their lead in the beginning didn’t drink a lot of water. They improve because everybody says the, oh, I drink the, um, you know, eight glasses or less a day. Okay. But you weigh more than that. So you need to be drinking more than that because your body is not hydrated. Sometimes people say, well, literally I only had maybe two glasses a day and I’ll drink coffee or I’ll drink tea and it has water in it. It’s like, it’s not the same because you now have added some creamer, you’ve added sugar, you’ve added all the stuff to it. So it’s not the same.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So does your body, okay. I know I don’t drink enough water. I’ve been trying now to drink more water. And so, but now I drink Essentia water and that’s supposed to hydrate you more. Does it, is that, does it make a difference if you’re drinking water like that or just regular water? If I’m drinking Essentia and am I hydrating more?
LeJeune Singleton
Water in general is hydrating. So, um, it’s all this controversy on the steel, uh, water with pH balance, this innocent, you know, purified spring, all this. My thing is this, as long as you’re drinking water, you’re hydrating. And when you are urinating and your urine is clear, your body is hydrated. I’ve had clients who’ve said to me, my urine has not been clear ever. It’s always been dark or it’s been, uh, yellow. That means your body is dehydrating. You can definitely tell. And that’s another thing people can’t tell the difference from when you’re hungry and when you’re thirsty because you, your stomach will growl when you’re dehydrated. And a lot of people don’t know that.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, okay. So now does your body get, now I’m thinking about what you say, uh, the person that drinks a gallon a day, it was seen to me that they would be peeing all day long.
LeJeune Singleton
Oh yeah, you, you hurt me. You are paying a lot. And when I have a busy day, I don’t drink a lot of water on those days because I may have a client that may be an hour from another client. Um, so it is days that I’m not, those days I don’t drink a lot of water, but when I do come home, I am drinking a lot of water. And on those days I’m detoxing. Yes, I am in the bathroom and I’m waking up in the middle of night and yeah, that is what I’m doing. But ultimately you’re releasing the toxins in your body because a lot of people suffer from UTIs and don’t know that they have.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, okay. Um, I’m going to try that one day when I’m home all day, not a gallon. I, I know I can’t do a gallon. Uh, I remember let’s try 10 to 11 glasses of water.
LeJeune Singleton
- So do me a favor, go ahead and get that essential bottle off the table. I cause I want to see, I did drink the whole one today and I want to see how much that is. And I think that one is like, um, 24 I want to say, let’s see. It’s like, I don’t have my glasses on. Why am I trying to see this? It says 56, 50.7 fluid ounces. Oh, one quart plus one pint. That’s good. Yeah. So you can do two of those in a day and you will be good. Two, three, two or at least one and a half.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I barely got through one and I’m like, every time I sit down, I gotta get up.
LeJeune Singleton
Yeah. Yes, yes. So I know you’ve probably seen the bottles that have the, um, the time to drink. So it’s a huge bottle and it, it’s a water bottle and it’ll say like start at eight in the morning and it’s every hour to two hours to three hours to remind people to drink. And when you get down to the bottom with some of them, it’ll say something like, um, great job. Let’s do it again tomorrow.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So, okay. So we have a comment here from, uh, Sandy Barney Ennis. Let’s see what she’s saying. She said, I used a strengthening instrument two years ago and pulled a muscle. It became horribly inflamed and I couldn’t move for a month. Last week I did what my personal trainer told me and pulled and pulled the same muscle at home by my ribs on one side. It hurts to breathe. Am I too old to exercise?
LeJeune Singleton
Is how much was the, um, the weight? Because sometimes we will go out and we will buy the heaviest weight. I have a client that has 10 pound weights, two hand weights that are 10 pounds and we’re doing exercises and she’s struggling. And I was like, okay, I’ve been saying for months now to get a smaller weight because you’re struggling and you’re doing exercises and we’re doing like 50 seconds of three sets. And I’m like, okay, well you decided to get this. You can also use your body weight as well, which a lot of people, you know, don’t realize you can use your own body weight to do exercises, um, which is really good because you are building muscle with your own body.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Sandy said two pounds. I see Sandy, I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing with you.
LeJeune Singleton
Well, Sandy, you probably need to rebuild muscle. And that’s one thing you end up losing muscle when you don’t use it. And that’s something I’m experiencing on my left side from being in car accidents and being hit and my left side suffers. So when I am in the gym, I am using lighter weight on the left side opposed to the right side.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, Sandy, so you, you need to build your muscles up and, and use lighter weights, your body weight or use your body weight. Use your body weight. Um, now we do, what do we do? We do eight and 10 pound weights, but then, uh, that’s because we’ve been working out for so long. I used to do bench press like almost 75 pounds, but, uh, now, um, I have a, what do you call it? Rotator cuff.
LeJeune Singleton
Yeah.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh my God. And I know that I need to exercise that, um, but it hurts.
LeJeune Singleton
Yeah, you can do like, um, stretch stretches for that. You can do kind of like, um, bands to help with that. So that’s something to help to rebuild it without using weight. Sandy, that’s something you can do as well. It’s used bands, um, you can get it from Amazon or Walmart and it helps really well, um, especially those injuries that you’ve already experienced.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah. Yeah. All right, Sandy, um, she’s in Chicago. You need to come out and work out with me and Maxine and we’ll help you. LeJeune, uh, I’m trying to see if it was anything else that I wanted to ask you about. Um, okay, uh, oh, what, excuse me, this other one came in on this other computer. What are the best foods to eat for good nutrition?
LeJeune Singleton
The best foods to eat is vegetables and fruits. Um, you should have more fruits and vegetables than you should have protein. It’s good to have meats and vegetables together. If you’re gonna have a carb, it’s good to have a carb and vegetable. It shouldn’t be mixed together because it’s harder to break down in your digestive system.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, so you say don’t eat carbs and vegetables together?
LeJeune Singleton
No, don’t eat meats and carbs together.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Really? Because from most plates you have meat, you have carb, and you have a vegetable.
LeJeune Singleton
Yep, but if you think about you’re eating meat that’s thick, you’re eating carbs that’s thick. So if your body is trying to break down two of these thick things that you’re eating, so it’s a challenge because now with our bodies, either our digestive system is messed up and I know personally for mine, my enzymes don’t work as great. So I have to take enzymes, um, and it takes longer to digest.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So if we eat meat, then we should eat meat with the, with vegetables?
LeJeune Singleton
With vegetables, yep. And also if you drink, you should drink 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after. You shouldn’t drink and eat together.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Really? Why?
LeJeune Singleton
Also your digestive system because you’re trying to wash down something and you are, and it’s not digesting properly. And also if you drink 30 minutes before you eat, you don’t eat as much.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Well, that’s true. That’s true. LaJolla, you have to get you, you have given us my, okay, Sandy said, uh, now she’s laughing, but you have given us so much, uh, information. And so if people want to get in contact with you, they can go to lejeunesingleton.com. And from what I understand, you not only work with people face to face, you also work with people virtually.
LeJeune Singleton
Yes, I do.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Alrighty. So, uh, this has been great. Now I looked at, uh, when I looked at your website, I saw, uh, this quote that you put on there from, uh, William Shakespeare and it says, “Our bodies are our garden to which our wheels are gardeners.” That’s pretty deep.
LeJeune Singleton
It is. And you know, hey, they say we are what we eat. So think about every time you putting certain things in your body, how it affects your body. So that is definitely some important things to look at.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Well, thank you so much, LeJeune, uh, for being my guest this evening. It has been extremely informational and inspiring.
LeJeune Singleton
Yes, I’m gonna check and see how that water is going for you.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, I’ll try to drink. Okay, I’ll, I don’t know about half, but I at least maybe like here and can we, can we bring it down to the, to the, to the E or the N?
LeJeune Singleton
Yeah, it’s right there.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yeah, yeah. Okay, the top of the end. Baby steps, baby steps.
LeJeune Singleton
Yes, I’m gonna try.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, but thank you so much, LeJeune. Um, this has been, it’s been a pleasure, uh, uh, having you on. I know, uh, that my audience has gotten a lot of information and I am going to get, um, um, a food sensitivity test. I really am because I’m, that’s, I’m really curious about that. Let me get my husband to do that too.
LeJeune Singleton
Yeah, so yeah, Everly Well and also my allergy test, um, my allergy test, it does a full panel of environmental, um, products as well as, um, I know rubber band and leathers was one of my foods, uh, sensitivity does all of that. Yeah, products that you use that may have chemicals that cause reactions. So like nail polish, cosmetics, all that. So, um, definitely get that test and see what’s reacting in your body and are you willing to make the change of letting those things go?
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Yep, I do. I want to, I want to live to be a 90. And I said this to everybody, just look, look at it because I’m proud. Yes, on the 3rd 5th of this year, I will be 80 years old.
LeJeune Singleton
Oh, you don’t look 80.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
And that’s a good thing. And I want to live to be like 100 and maybe 20 as long as, you know, I got some brains and, uh, so I’m gonna get that, uh, food sensitivity test so that I can continue on this journey of mine. So thank you so much, LeJeune.
LeJeune Singleton
Thank you for having me.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, and people, lejeunesingleton.com, go to her website and see all what she has done and what she is doing. And even though she’s on the East Coast in Maryland, virtually she can still inspire you, motivate you, and get your mindset together.
LeJeune Singleton
Yes.
Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Alrighty, bye-bye. Have a beautifully blessed rest of your day. [Music] and I am so happy that your relationship with your daughter has improved. [Music]