Discover practical tips for cutting sugar this holiday season with healthy alternatives that don’t compromise on flavor. From natural sweeteners like monk fruit, stevia, and erythritol to strategies for making small, incremental changes, learn how to enjoy the holidays while keeping your health on track.

Explore the benefits of smarter choices, from swapping sugary drinks for low-calorie options to understanding the latest weight loss innovations like GLP-1 medications. This conversation dives into balancing indulgence with wellness, making it easier to stay fit and healthy without sacrificing your favorite treats.

Highlights of the Podcast

00:20 – Tips for Cutting Sugar

01:18 – Benefits of Monk Fruit

02:23 – Healthier Drink Choices

03:19 – Weight Loss Drugs and Health Costs

04:19 – Small, Sustainable Changes

06:26 – Resources for Better Health

Host [00:00:00] My next guest, Dr. Matt Chalmers, is on the game show and I want to talk to you. You’re a healthy living expert and as a healthy living attempt of a person over here, this is the most challenging time of year. Any any advice for people like me who want to at least pretend to be healthy over the holidays?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:20] Probably the biggest thing we can do is start cutting some of the sugars out of what we’re eating. A lot of a lot of what happens is the weight gain comes from the constant grazing as we go through, before you start swapping some of those sugary stuff out with, you know, berries. And he used sweeteners like cream, but that helps quite a bit. Cut back on the sugar, which in turn makes us fat.

Host [00:00:41] Well, listen, I’m an anti sugar guy and so I was very excited to see the scientific community come up with some great sugar alternatives, but they get Pooh poohed on for other reasons, you know, whether it’s saccharin or aspartame or sucralose. I love all of those. What’s your opinion on those?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:58] So those have come up with some some pretty negative research on them. So I use Erythritol Monk fruit, stevia allulose. Those are usually the ones that wing on.

Host [00:01:09] Let’s go back to that. I’ve heard of stevia. What were those other ones?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:13] Allulose and Monk Fruit and Erythritol. Those are the ones we’re using.

Host [00:01:18] Are you saying two words Monk fruit?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:21] Yes.

Host [00:01:21] I’ve never heard of this. The first time in my life I’ve heard of Monk fruit.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:25] It’s a fantastic it’s a it’s a natural sweetener that has no glycemic or talk effect. And so you can use that to be keto or to just really reduce the amount of sugar you’re consuming.

Host [00:01:38] Yeah, well, I do it for vanity sake. You know, I try and be as presentable as possible. So, you know, I’m trying to, you know, keep Ms.. Parker interested. And that’s the reason I do it. It’s just for vanity. It’s not for health.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:51] And that’s fine, too, because if you’re if you’re keeping the fat off your by regulating your sugars, it’s going to help your health as well. You can be you can do the vanity and the health thing at the same time. It’s actually easier to do it that way.

Host [00:02:03] Right. Well, I mean, it’s just being healthy is a good side effect of being vain is what I’ve noticed. So what do you think about my health tip? Look, I like to drink my version of the Jack and Coke, though, is a Bourbon and Dr. Pepper. I feel like since I was switched to Dr. Pepper zero, I’ve at least taken one of the bad things out of that equation. The high fructose corn sirup.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:23] You know, And that’s one of the things we do all the time is we’re like, what’s the better option? Like, you know, the texture is zero and the bourbon isn’t as good as water, but it’s a heck of a lot better than what it was. And so that’s a great that’s a great trend in the right direction.

Host [00:02:37] Thank you. All right. Look, there was a headline that had me thinking about you right before the show started. I’m like, don’t we have like a medical guy on today? There was the proposed proposal floated of the idea of these new weight loss drugs as Semaglutide or GLP ones or whatever they’re called, being covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Now, look, me being a live in limited government capitalist pig, usually I’m like, I don’t think we should be having the government pay for more things, but if we’re going to be paying for their medical care anyway, maybe we would get a better deal if we did. If we funded their weight loss instead of funding like their insulin or their knee replacement surgery or their bariatric surgery or whatever, whatever else. Your thoughts.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:19] So the GOP is actually activate a very natural pathway. It’s off of glucagon and it helps the body to reset the way your body uses sugars that you gave us so you can use it to end diabetes. And so it’s a much healthier way in a much, much, much more cost prohibitive way of treating long term health. So 100% if we can start using that stuff and sort of, like you said, paying for everything else, it’s a again, a giant step in the right direction.

Host [00:03:44] Well, I’ve always been kind of pushing back against because I’m a medical skeptic myself. But other medical skeptics, I think, take it too far when they’re like, well, when if your doctor is giving you a pill, instead of telling you to diet and exercise, you’re going to the wrong guy. And it’s been my observation that nobody likes dieting or exercise. And so you better give them the pill, because if you tell them to diet and exercise, they’re going to lie to your faces like, Yeah, sure, I’ll do that. Sure. And they’re just going to go continue killing themselves. So I think this sort of solves that problem. And the problem is really Americans reticence or hesitance to diet and exercise.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:04:19] You know, a lot of times it’s because they don’t know how to do it because like a lot of times, like, why do I want to give up my pizza, my ice to my cookies? You can have all those things as long as you change the chemistry. And so it’s very important, actually, if you’re going to change someone’s diet, if you don’t take away their favorite foods. So a lot of times that will change the diet properly and even the exercise can get people to really kind of start changing the way they’re doing things. As long as it’s not a giant inconvenience and as long as they have their favorite foods, it makes it easier on them.

Host [00:04:47] Well, and I’ve also tried this works really good on guys. It’s like you should think not so deeply about things. You should be a little more shallow about it because like, when I’m going, you know, I’m looking up a flight of five stairs and thinking, should I take these stairs or take. Elevator, I think. Well, what would find me more favor with Miss Parker and Miss Parker? Dammit. I would take the stairs.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:08] And, you know, that’s. That’s the thing we should start looking into is, you know, how could I make myself more appealing to my wife? Because, again, at the end of the day, you want to maintain those relationships that that stress of the marriage is a lot easier if you guys both maintain your attractiveness. So that’s a great plan of thinking of it that way is like, how am I going to maintain the attractiveness for my wife? That’s a phenomenal thought, right?

Host [00:05:29] And if we’re all going to be, you know, thinking with the wrong body part, let’s at least point that in the right direction. I, I the only reason I have any semblance of health now is because of, you know, I’ve managed to turn one of my carnal desires into a positive.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:43] Well, you know, that’s one of those big things. It’s the you know, you value your wife, you value relationships. So you’re willing to do the work in order to maintain that relationship. It’s a phenomenal way of looking at it. And it’s I think more people should start looking at it that way.

Host [00:05:56] Dr. Matt, thank you for not shaming me for being pro alcohol and talking about drinking and switching out Coke Zero, because I have like my little friends who are like, You’re killing yourself with zero sodas. Stop it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:08] You know, there’s there’s other choices you can make as you go down the line. But at the end of the day, we all get to start somewhere. And this is the big thing because like, you go like, I like all these things, I’m a negative five. I don’t want to go to a positive five. That’s way too much change. Well, great. Let’s make small incremental changes as we go. And sooner or later, you’re going to end up pretty healthy.

Host [00:06:26] All right. Well, you won me over. Find him at Charmers wellness.com. Who needs to go to Chalmers wellness.com.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:34] Pretty much anybody who’s looking for a way to find better health for them. So like I do a podcast every morning on Dr. Chalmers on X, X and Facebook. So you guys look that up, you know, you get some good information on how to keep yourself healthy.

Host [00:06:47] Well, I’ll look it up because after Covid, I find I agree with about 4% of doctors on planet Earth and you may be one of them. So thank very much, Dr. Matt Chalmers, everybody.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:57] Thank you, sir.

As always if you have any questions, please send them to [email protected]

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Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Before taking any action based on this information you should first consult with your physician or health care provider. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions regarding a medical condition, your health, or wellness