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This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.

When trying to lose weight and get in shape, it's easy to become focused on number. For some it's the number of calories we consume. For others it's the number we see on the scale. Some of us focus a lot on our body composition or body fat. What percentage of our body is fat and how can we get that number down.

For Scot, one of his major turning points in his life was when he found out his body fat percentage. He had assumed he had been putting on some weight, but didn't realize just how much. He went to a professional to get his body composition measured, and was shocked to find he was sitting at 29% body fat.

Knowing that number led Scot to make a lot of serious changes in his lifestyle. He worked hard to get that number down. It was a benchmark for him that he finds crucial to defining his level of health and fitness. Knowing his body fat and seeing it drop because of his efforts is a great motivator for him.

Meanwhile, Troy has never had his body fat tested. Troy is not a "numbers guy." He doesn't sweat his calories. He doesn't weigh himself daily. He's never weighed his food to make sure he gets the perfect portion size. Instead,Troy focuses on how he looks in the mirror and how his body feels throughout the day.

Troy wonders if framing your health around a number like body fat percentage could ultimately be stressful, demotivating, and detrimental to everyday people. Too Much Body Fat is a Bad Thing

Don't be mistaken, too much body fat is a bad thing. According to Nick Galli, a high body fat percentage is a reliable indicator of a slew of serious health problems including:

• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Certain types of cancers
• Osteoarthritis
• Fatty liver disease
• Kidney disease

A high body fat percentage often indicates a high amount of visceral fat which sits under the skin and around the organs. For men, this fat often will form around the stomach. If a person has too much visceral fat surrounding their organs, the fat will interfere with how well those organs function.

A simple rule of thumb: if you can keep the amount of excess fat in your body down, your overall health will be better. Body Fat is Only a Part of Your Health

Nick Galli has worked with everyday people and elite athletes. He works to help them achieve their health goals and stay motivated. Nick believes that body fat is a superior metric for assessing your health than body weight alone, but it shouldn't be the only thing you focus on.

"Any time a number is involved, we run the risk of becoming a slave to that number," says Nick.

Becoming fixated on a single body metric can lead to bad thinking. The perception of success or failure in health can become tied to how that one number is doing. This can lead to an unhealthy relationship with a number like body fat percentage. A person may become overly rigid in their behaviors to control that number, which can lead to mental health problems and even physical problems.

For example, when considering body fat, genetics is still a factor. Some people's body's are predisposed to have a higher body fat. They're perfectly healthy, but their measured number is higher than the average. No matter what they do, they will never be able to get their body fat percentage down to the "acceptable range" prescribed by the Center for Disease Control.

And that's okay. Health isn't just a single number. Too Much Weight Loss Can Be Worse Than Being Heavy

If you're trying to lose weight and are using body fat percentage as your goal, be careful. It's easy to assume that the lower that body fat number goes, the healthier you will be. This is not the case.

Yo-yo dieting is a term to describe when a person adopts a strict diet to lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time, then gain that weight back once they stop dieting. This is not a healthy way to lose weight. According to Nick, research has shown that losing and gaining a large amount of weight is actually worse for your body than being consistently overweight. Yo-yo dieting puts a lot of stress on your body and should be avoided.

Additionally, having too little body fat can be just as dangerous - if not more so - than being overweight. How to Measure Your Body Fat

There are plenty of ways to measure your body composition, each with their own strengths and weaknesses:

• Skinfold Caliper Pinch Test
  The pinch test is one of the oldest methods of testing a person's body fat percentage. Folds of skin are pinched by a professional at different sites all over the body. These folds are then measured by a caliper. All the measurements are placed into an equation which provides a relatively accurate body fat percentage. It's relatively quick and pretty reliable.

  There are a few downsides to the pinch test. It requires another person to do it reliably which can be inconvenient. The results may vary depending on the skill of the person conducting the test. And it can be uncomfortable to be pinched and measured.

• Smart Scale
  Smart scales and other handheld body composition devices rely on bioelectrical impedance to measure your body fat. These devices send a very small electrical current through your body and uses the signal to calculate how much fat is present in the body.

  These devices are relatively affordable, easy to use, and the technology is pretty reliable in modern devices. While they may not be as accurate as a professional test, these devices are a great way to track your weight loss progress day to day.

  For the most reliable measurements with these devices, consistency is key. Make sure you repeat the same conditions every time you step on that scale. Wear the same amount of clothes. Take the measurement at the same time of day. Decide whether you'll measure before or after breakfast. If the situation is inconsistent, your numbers will be inconsistent.

• Girth Measurements
  Body fat can also be estimated by using what are called girth measurements. A professional will measure different parts of your body and use equations to calculate your body composition. This includes measuring wrists, forearms, hips and waists. The hip to waist ratio is the most common.

• Bod Pod or Air Displacement Plethysmograph
  The gold standard of body composition testing is the Air Displacement Plethysmograph - commonly called the Bod Pod. This device is a giant egg shaped bod that the person climbs into wearing a speedo and swim cap. The device uses the displacement of air within the device to give an extremely accurate reading of your body composition in a quick and painless way.

  While the Bod Pod does give the most accurate numbers available, the test can be expensive and hard to access.

  Regardless of how you choose to measure your body fat, it's important to remember that there will be day to day fluctuations in your body. Have multiple data points and keep an eye on your weight loss trends.

Nick Galli works to help athletes and regular people get motivated to be healthy. He's in favor of helping people find whatever method works best for them to make the changes they want. Whether it be Scot's focus on measurable metrics or Troy's quality of life approach.

Every person is different. It's important to find the motivational strategy that resonates best for the individual and fits best with their lifestyle. For some people, constantly measuring body fat can be very stressful. For others finally seeing that number go down can be exhilarating.

Find the method that works best for you. Recognize the discrepancies in your health. Identify where you are and where you want to be. Then come up with stair step goals and a strategy to help you achieve them.

Healthcare professionals, dietitians, personal trainers can all help you best identify your health discrepancies and help you come up with an effective strategy to reach your goals.

Most importantly, don't only focus on the numbers. Focus on the way you're feeling and the satisfaction you get from working towards getting healthier. Just Going to Leave This Here

On this episode's Just Going to Leave This Here, Scot explains why books make for the worst gifts and Troy is delighted to be a part of this podcast. Talk to Us

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, email us at hello@thescoperadio.com.

This content was originally created for audio. Some elements such as tone, sound effects, and music can be hard to translate to text. As such, the following is a summary of the episode and has been edited for clarity. For the full experience, we encourage you to subscribe and listen— it's more fun that way.

Dr. Rich Doxey is a culinary medicine expert and physician at the internal medicine clinic of University of Utah Health. He's a young doctor who decided to start taking his health seriously during his undergraduate studies.

Rich had no medical problems at the time, but after reading a book on nutrition he started taking control of his health. He had read about how food interacts with your genes and your body. He learned that the food you put into your body creates chemical changes the same way medicine can, so nutrition needs to be taken seriously.

He swapped out frozen burritos and occasional fast food, for fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains. He soon was cooking his own meals from scratch every day.

He feels that he has avoided a lot of illness due to his diet change and taking his nutrition seriously. What is Culinary Medicine?

Dr. Doxey's early interest in his own diet led him down a path as he entered medical school. He had a strong desire to get engaged with ‘lifestyle medicine' that not only treats and prevents illness in patients, but teaches them how to take control of their own health.

There were not a lot of options available in medical school or this new field of medicine, but that changed in residency. Dr. Doxey searched online and found Dr. Timothy Harlan, a doctor running a website called "Dr. Gourmet." It focused on treating serious health conditions through dietary changes and approaching food as medicine. Dr. Doxey was inspired and after a bit of work, found himself in New Orleans as the first resident to study culinary medicine under Dr. Harlan.

Dr. Doxey would work in the New Orlean's teaching kitchen, running cooking classes that taught members in the community how the skills and nutritional know-how to cook healthy dishes that were cost effective, fast, and - most importantly - delicious. And he would bring the culinary medicine skills he learned in New Orleans back to Utah and apply them to his practice. The Mediterranean Diet is One of the Best Diets

For patients looking to change their diet, Dr. Doxey will begin with taking a 24 hour diet history to get a feeling of what the patients are already eating. He then prescribes one to two small changes they can make today to help improve their lifestyle.

He makes his recommendations based on science and research. And he has found that the Mediterranean Diet is the most researched, most evidence based diet strategy, to show significant improvement in heart health and promote weight loss.

The second most effective diet is a vegan-whole food plant based diet, but he has found that it is very difficult for most patients to sustain such a drastic change in their daily eating habits.

One of the major strengths of the mediterranean diet is that it is based on a set of principles that can be easily adapted to fit any patient's needs:

1. Eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains
2. Eat fish a couple times a week
3. Use more unsaturated fats than saturated fats
4. Limit dairy and red meat to less than a serving a day
5. Consume only a moderate amount of alcohol

Dr. Doxey says there are three major barriers for his patients adopting a healthier diet: Time, cost, and staying power. He explains the challenge each one poses to a patient's efforts and how to overcome them.

• Time - Time is the biggest challenge to dietary changes. Buying ingredients and cooking your own meals can seem to take a lot of time out of your day, especially if you have a busy job or kids to take care of. But Doxey insists that if you actually compare the time to cook your own food to the time it takes to go out, the difference in negligible. By the time you drive to a restaurant, sit down, wait for the food, pay the bill, and drive home, you could have cooked dinner at home. The secret is to keep your meals simple so they don't take a lot of time to prepare.
• Cost - Buying fresh produce and whole foods every week can seem to cost more at the checkout line than the processed option, but it doesn't have to be. Doxey repeats to "keep it simple." Don't just buy the expensive so-called superfoods with the fancy packaging. Stick to the basics. The staples of a healthy diet will be legumes and brown rice. Buy them in bulk and they won't hurt your wallet. Also minimize your food waste by learning to repurpose ingredients from one dish to another and actually eat your leftovers. Less food waste means less wasted money. Do it right and cooking at home can cost much less than eating out.
• Staying power - The first week on a healthy diet can be a bit challenging, but doable. It's the second, third, seventh week where willpower can falter. Dr. Doxey suggest you commit and get social support. Get your spouse, partner, or friends onboard with your healthier diet.

Dr. Doxey's background in culinary medicine has shown him that all of these barriers can be easier to overcome if a patient has the ability to cook. Watch some videos online, take a cooking course. Your ability to eat healthier can best be served having some training to make healthy food quickly and make that healthy food taste delicious. If a Truck Driver Can Do It, So Can You

One of Dr. Doxey's success stories came from a trucker. The truck driving lifestyle sure doesn't make healthy living easy. Long hours of the day are spent sitting behind a wheel. Fast food and quick bites at gas stations are the norm. It can be tough to stay in shape.

This patient came to Dr. Doxey after getting some blood work test results back. He was in the early stages of diabetes and had gained over 100 pounds from driving and eating road food. If his diabetes progressed, he would have to start taking insulin, which would mean he couldn't drive anymore. He found himself not only in a health crisis, but in danger of losing his job. It was time to make a change.

By adopting the tenants of the mediterranean diet and following Dr. Doxey's nutritional recommendations, this trucker turned things around. Over the course of a few months he started losing a significant amount of weight. His diabetes marker dropped 0.6 points, which kept him in a healthy range. After changing his diet, he prevented himself from developing full diabetes, kept himself from needing insulin, and he kept his job.

For the rest of us, this story should serve as inspiration. Most of us aren't stuck sitting behind the wheel of a truck for most of the day, eating nothing but road food. If a trucker can get their diet and health on track, so can you. First Steps to Improving Your Diet

Dr. Doxey likes to keep things simple when it comes to diet. Cook simple meals that are cheap and don't take much time. Stick to the handful of rules of the mediterranean diet. His strategy for improving a patient's diet are straight forward too.

First, assess where you are. Write down everything you ate over the past 24 hours. No need for a month's worth of logging food. Just remember the last few meals, snacks, drinks, etc. and write them down. Take a hard look at what you're eating and see if there's anything that needs to change.

Next, start by making one or two small "congruent" dietary changes with your next meal. Dr. Doxey explains that a "congruent change" is one that stay in line with the eating habits and food you already like to eat.

It's near impossible to go directly from eating cheeseburgers and fries for lunch to a small serving of hummus and carrot sticks. Keep it simple. Make small changes and build on them.

Go from eating a cheeseburger and fries, to a hamburger with lots of vegetables and sweet potato fries. Next, replace those sweet potato fries with a baked sweet potatoes. Eventually swap out that hamburger to a chicken sandwich. Slowly but surely, these small congruent changes build up, without the shock of switching to the stereotypical health food overnight.

"Don't go whole hog on your diet," says Dr. Doxey, "It makes it impossible to maintain." Just Going to Leave This Here

On this episode's Just Going to Leave This Here, Scot has declared war on single use plastics and it's proving harder than he imagined. And Troy is shocked by a new study that shows a spike in avocado related knife injuries. Really. ER docs have seen a 10 fold increase in avocado knife injuries since 2013. Talk to Us

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, email us at hello@thescoperadio.com.