Healing Protocols Podcast: Episode 4 – Jay Vilar

Episode 4 of my collaborative project with Rory Linehan of The Paleo PI and Petra Chambers-Sinclair of BiohackU – two of my favourite peeps in this corner of the health caper world – is up and running!

The three of us all hail from different corners of the globe and have very different life experiences, but we share both friendship and passion for seeking health through an holistic approach. The intention behind our podcast is to seek out and interview others who share the same goal – and hopefully impart what we learn and have a little fun along the way. We hope you’ll join us!

[su_divider divider_color=”#009999″ margin=”0″]

In this episode, Nutritional Therapist Jay Vilar joins us from Washington DC to share how healing with food allows each of us to find and re-invigorate our life’s purpose. Jay also reveals the powerful strategies he is using to continue to generate healing and connection during these turbulent sociopolitical times.

Listen on: iTunes|Stitcher

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider leaving a positive review in iTunes or Stitcher. It would help us spread the word and it would mean the world to me.

Show Notes

0.00 Introduction to the Healing Protocols: the global edition

1.20 Rory: Welcome to Episode 1: Interview with Jay Vilar

2.51 Jo: Tell us about you & your history. Why you started your healing journey and what approaches you’ve used.

• 05: Started out of vanity. To lose weight I thought I had to starve myself. I started to pay attention to the counter culture in health and nutrition through podcasts, and learned about ketosis and using fat for fuel. When I started to use more fat and eliminate sugars experienced high energy, clear thinking, deep sleep and lost the body fat. After a lot of research, I realized that wasn’t fat, I was malnourished. I started a new conversation with my health and healing and then I wanted to take the conversation out into the world.
• 11: There is so much to understand about how the human body works and the politics of food.

7.27 Rory: What are you doing on a daily basis now to improve your health?

• 41: I started with a very strict ketogenic diet. I was a gram counter and still motivated by vanity. Then I started to evolve in my thinking and tap into my body’s innate intelligence. Diet now is mostly vegetables, fats and probiotics. Kim chi, sauerkraut and bone broth are my staples and my fuel. I now eat for healing and occasionally have food that isn’t healing: but I had to work extremely hard to get to that point and to learn about how foods interact with my particular body. My hope is that everyone can start tapping into the wisdom of their bodies, learning what nutrients are missing and how to source them. We all have that intelligence. Real food is what enables a human being to live the life they need to live. A lot of people are ruled by carbohydrates and sugar, they can’t think for themselves because candida, for example, is running the show and causing food cravings.
• 49: You have to approach change with grace and ease. When people start there can be a lot of shame.

 16.00 Petra: Sounds like this has been a real transformation for you, not just physically, but for your entire life…

• 22: I believe that each of us is born with a gift that will enable us to leave the world a better place. When we are poisoned through our food supply, we operate our lives at a low level of energy. We think that’s normal. I was a high functioning vice-president of an advertising agency in that state. When I changed my food, I went from a 3 to an 8. Enthusiasm is my everyday life now. My purpose in life is about helping people get from that low-level ‘normal’ to high-level functioning. That increase in energy can then be invested in whatever it is we each are here to do.

20.48 Rory: Summary

21.18 Jo: It sounds like it’s about connection. You get joy from conveying this to other people.

• 37: The common denominator is food: we all have to eat. My hope is that we go back to the principles of health and healing that humanity was gifted at the beginning. When we heal, we encourage others to do the same.

23.36 Jo: As a gay man, as a person of colour who is committed to health and healing and who lives in Washington DC where Trump is about to be inaugurated as president of the United States, can you tell us how that larger social context is impacting you and what steps you are taking to support your well-being at this time?

• 50: I woke up on November 9^th in shock. I remember thinking: now more than ever is my time, and the time of those that are also on this journey, to their work. I imagine and hope and dream that people can start healing themselves with food. My belief is that the healthy organism to protect the larger organism. Get away from the politics and have conversations about why our kids are so sick, why there’s so much autoimmune, why our food supply lacks minerals and nutrients, and why it takes so much work in order for us to heal ourselves. If we can start asking and answering those questions together, that could outshine the politics. “Those people that are concerned with the current state of politics in the United States, the best thing that we can do is to really hunker down, do what you can, stand up for yourself, and love whoever is around you. I have hosted more dinner parties in this past year, simply because I needed my community around me and I have been sharing myself and loving more than I ever thought I could. The access point for me in that new mode or methodology is I’m standing up for what is important to me. What is important to me is my relationships and my community and I refuse to be bullied into issues and politics and concerns that are just going to cause harm. So I stand up for myself and for my community and for what’s right when it comes to our food and our health and I am adamant about myth-busting as I go along.”

29.41 Jo: You are creating community and connection through food. It’s a grassroots movement.

• 20: I love sharing the experience of nutrient density. When folks leave my house after a dinner party they are on a food high.

31.42 Rory: Committing to any healing protocol takes work. What is your advice to someone who is just starting out?

• 08: What I recommend is two things: 1.) Continue to educate yourself; 2.) Heal your gut: ingest some sort of live probiotic every day*.

35.04 Petra: Who has been the most influential person for you as you have pursued your healing protocol lifestyle?

• 26: My mum is a holistic nurse practitioner. It took me 30+ years to start paying attention, but when I did it all came back to the principles that my mum has been sharing with me all of my life.

37.30 Where to find Jay online 

38.08 Closing

*Make your own fermented vegetables. Here’s how I do it: Essentials – How to Ferment Your Vegetables

Jay is a board-certified Nutritional Therapist Practitioner. He spends his time teaching people how to use food to heal their body and speaks to businesses on how to optimize focus and productivity using nutritional and behavioural science.

Jay’s website is Nourishingdc.com. You can also find him on Facebook and Instagram.