Paula: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to another episode of Chatting with the Experts where I speak with phenomenal women from Africa, from the Caribbean, and in the diaspora. They bring such expertise to the show and they share my mission, which is to educate, to encourage, and to empower women globally. Today our topic is Eat Like You, finding Freedom in Your Unique Style. And what we’ll be talking about with my guest when she joins us is how you can discover your unique eating style that aligns with your body and your lifestyle. She says it matters because eating in alignment fuels lasting energy, confidence, and freedom.
Here’s a bit about her. She’s a physician, [00:01:00] she’s a transformational coach, and she’s an Amazon best-selling author who helps high achieving women over 40 transform how they look and feel to match their professional success. She’s also a breast cancer survivor, and so she advocates for women’s health. There’s so much more to say about her, but I’ll let her do that. And with that, I want to welcome Dr. Ukpong Nwankwo to Chatting with the Experts. So good to have you here.
Ukpong: Thank you so much, , Miss Paula for this your forum and for having me in your space. It’s such an honor and a privilege to join you today and your audience. Thank you so much.
Paula: Oh my gosh. I am the one who’s privileged to have you here. I mean, I love what you’re doing. I came across what you were talking about on Facebook, and I was like, I’ve got to have her on the [00:02:00] show to share what she has discovered, not has discovered, but what she’s doing right now, because to me it makes a difference. And you know, eating like you, in other words, discovering a unique eating style that aligns with your body and lifestyle. In my case, I’m gonna say with my body and lifestyle. Wow, that’s amazing. So let’s jump straight into it and talk about what it is and how we discover how to do this.
Ukpong: Okay. Thank you so much for that question. I would just say that as a busy professional woman, I was busy taking care of everyone else, and with time let myself slip. And I started, you know, with the load of work, fatigue set in, I gained a lot of weight and, but I kept pushing because I felt like I needed to serve everyone. And my wake up call came with the [00:03:00] breast cancer diagnosis and it was an aggressive cancer. And I was told in order for it not to come back, I had to release weight. I had to lose the weight.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Ukpong: And so, I now embarked on the journey to do that, to lose weight, and I thought that it was simple. It was easy, but it led from one frustration after another. I would try keto. It felt so unhealthy, the amount of fats, and I was not comfortable with that. My husband even went to Nigeria and saw a friend who lost weight and tried the Cambridge diet and asked him, and they, he brought it back to me. I succeeded in losing eight pounds, but gained it back because it was too debilitating, constipation.
So I said to myself, it mustn’t be this tough, it mustn’t be this hard. And that was when I now invested in going to a nutrition school and really what occurred to me was that [00:04:00] diet, like clothes have to fit you. Just like you have a style, like you love to wear, it has to fit you. I was like, ah, that’s probably why this is, hasn’t worked for me. And then I started experimenting. And I was able to release 70 pounds and keep it off. Thank God this is like 10 years after, 11 years cancer free. Thank God for that. So, yes, and , to further, you know, say what it is because. Even when I lost my weight, you know, it was because I was experimenting.
But to really document and pinpoint this, I did a recent training on this, and it was on epigenetic testing. And what really surprised me was that everybody, like I had already, you know, got to know, has their unique eating style. It’s, like a blueprint. It is like trying to restore an old building.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Ukpong: And [00:05:00] then , you know, you are in today 2025 and this building was in maybe in 1935. You have to have the blueprint, and that’s what epigenetic testing is the blueprint of how you were created, your natural tendencies, how best you thrive, the foods that are good for you. So I actually did this epigenetic testing. And to my biggest delight and surprise, the foods that I love naturally are the things that are, a lot of them are good for me.
Paula: Wow.
Ukpong: So, and then you begin to flow in your natural state.
Paula: Hmm.
Ukpong: You know, you don’t struggle anymore because a lot of these diets. You know, they’re like, they are branded as one size fits all, but one size fits all doesn’t fit everyone. That’s why some people struggle and then they now feel like a failure. They feel frustrated and then they give it up. So, but when you find what is your unique style, what works for you, it’s easier on your body because it’s tailored to you. It is not tailored to somebody [00:06:00] else. So it takes away the struggle, it takes away the frustration.
You now enter what is called the flow states where you are doing things effortlessly.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Ukpong: You are going with the flow rather than swimming against the flow, against the currents, which takes more energy. But when you are in your strength zone, you are, you know, you are in your best life. It’s going well for you, even with me that I was like, I don’t need to lose anymore weight. Now that I’ve dialed it down to exactly me and the thing, it’s not just diet ooo. For some people, their body types, it might be how you handle stress.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Ukpong: And just the little things that, you know, they told me to do in terms of my stress. It’s like the stress in my mind, the stress in my body followed, whew. I dropped five pounds. It’s like, wow.
Paula: While eating.
Ukpong: While [00:07:00] eating.
Paula: The things that you like, because you have discovered it works best for you.
Ukpong: Absolutely absolutely. That is the truth. That is the truth.
Paula: Wow. I’m blown away. But I see, I don’t wanna say the simplicity, but I see how that comes into place because if you find out what works best for you, then it makes sense to do what works best for you. And because, you know, we are made up, we’re all different, but our epigenetically, we have our own unique way of handling stress, even handling, you know, happiness or handling like during the holiday seasons. When people let their hair down and you eat all sorts of things. But knowing that, okay, this doesn’t actually work for me, and this does work, really is a guide to the after holiday blues. You know, many times where we are like, oh no, why did I eat that? Why did I do this? So I think this is so [00:08:00] important. I’m grinning from ear to ear because it’s like I found a solution for me.
Ukpong: It is like handing you your own manual. You know, people say, oh, I wasn’t born with a manual, but actually we’ve been born with a manual. And they give you your manual. This is your manual. This is how you thrive best. This is the best place you can live. This is how you can understand your relationship. This is how you can understand your food. It goes beyond food because like I said, this five pounds that I lost, it wasn’t because of. What I did differently with my food per se, is just the stress.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Ukpong: That I had to let go of. It’s like decluttering your space. It’s a lot of things. It’s a library of information about you. I mean, it makes it sound like we are narcissistic, but you know what? When you understand yourself. And you’re able to care for yourself well, you’re now are in a position to serve other people. Just like you’re in an aircraft, you’re traveling with a 1-year-old, they say in case of turbulence, [00:09:00] what do you do? Put on your mask first so that you can help that child. Because if you pass out without putting your mask out first, you can’t help that child. So now we are putting on our masks so that you can do your God-given purpose. You can shine brightly. You can, you know, live your best life. You can, you know, see the doctor less often because you are in good condition, good state of health and mind. So it’s a wonderful place to be.
Paula: Wow. Wow, wow, wow. I know we kind of like, we introduced this about your eating style, you know, but let’s talk about how it impacts, like your energy. You said it dropped, helped you see stress differently, and you dropped five pounds. Is that something you can talk about? Because I mean, I’m so encouraged just listening to you.
Ukpong: Well, one of the things that, you know, I did for myself and my eating type or my [00:10:00] body type is the stress. You know, I, first of all my friend came to my office and decluttered my workspace.
Paula: Wow.
Ukpong: You know, it’s like you have too many folders here. You have… she just carried everything from my desk. Only that just released something inside my soul.
Paula: Wow.
Ukpong: And then I had a lot of work that I had not done. It had piled up. And then all I asked like, no, no, no, no. This is weighing in heavily on me. So I had to sit down and break it down and how I can now get it done, get it together. So that in itself, I was able to finish my notes this past weekend. So all that was like a stress on my body. You see, you are, when you are stressed out, as for some body types, your body tells you it’s not safe to release weight.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Ukpong: So you might be eating healthy, you might eating all the right things, eating vegetables, [00:11:00] eating everything. But if you, you know, there are other aspects of life, like for me, my health type stress relief is very important. And for me, my body type being outside in the outdoors is very healing and therapeutic for me. So, like for myself, for my lunch break, I put on my sneakers, put on my jacket because it’s getting cold in layers and I get outside and walk. And, you know, just listening to the natural sounds. , I’m not listening to anything. The birds, you know, just the sounds. And then I have time to pray and meditate and reflect. All that is nourishing to my soul. So it’s not just what is on our plate, because sometimes we do everything right, but there are other aspects of our life that needs to come into alignment to give you the energy that you need to make you feel that [00:12:00] freedom. You gain that freedom, and then you are fully attuned with your body. You know, you feel energized, you feel confident.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Ukpong: It is such a good place to be when you are at home in your body. And that’s the way God designed us to be. He don’t want us to fight against our body and struggling, Hey, don’t eat this. Don’t eat that. You know, sometimes we focus on the don’ts and when we focus on the don’ts, it’s not a good place to be.
Paula: No.
Ukpong: Yes.
Paula: No. And someone said to me. Many times when we focus so much on the don’t, you don’t realize that by saying no to something, that means you’re opening up the opportunity for Yes. So instead of focusing on, I can’t, I can’t focus on all the new things that you can do that you opened yourself up to, being aware of, being able to do, being able to sense, you know, it makes a world of difference. Even as you mentioned now, going for a walk during your lunch break without [00:13:00] any headphones, I’m assuming without any distractions. You’re just taking in nature. The wind as it’s blowing the leaves, as they’re falling, the birds as they’re singing, you know, it does make you stop. Well, not literally, but it makes you, you know, reflect, reflect on life. Sometimes I even walk and I look at the clouds or how blue the sky is, if it’s a bright day, even if it’s not a bright day. But you know, it’s not overcast. Just looking at the wow the aircraft flying and I’m thinking. God, you are wonderful. However, heavy aircraft like that can be in the sky. I can’t even fly myself, my own body, but he’s given mankind opportunity and the ability to, you know, to know the science and how to do that. It does relieve stress.
Ukpong: Yes, ma’am. Absolutely, absolutely. For some body types, stress needs to be released for you to [00:14:00] see appreciable difference and in what you’re doing. Give you the payoff of eating right, so that you be encouraged. You be encouraged because if you do something long enough and it’s not working, you don’t see results, you get discouraged. So, you know, being in your strength zone helps you get encouraged because you’re going to see results. You’re going to see results. And with coaching, you see, that’s where a coach helps you to be able to say, okay, this is, you know, how can we read your label for you, your inside the jar? But someone outside can read the label for you and say, okay, alright, ask you the right questions.
And then you begin to say, aha. This might be it. Aha. This is where I need to adjust. Aha. And then you do it, and then you see results. It’s so real, you know? You feel so good that something is working. Something finally after you’ve had so many repeated failures and then something starts working. Oh my God. You feel on top of the world.
Paula: Absolutely. [00:15:00] Absolutely. So I know offline we talked about good food freedom. What’s that? I think that’s a benefit of course, but what’s this good food freedom?
Ukpong: Yes. It’s looking at food in the sense that every first of all, that every food is good.
Paula: Yes.
Ukpong: Okay. So when you do the epigenetic testing, it tells you the foods that are the best for you, they’re in green. The foods that are okay, they’re yellow, and then the ones that are red are not so great. But you can still eat those ones in red once a week. You can have it so you don’t feel deprived. Okay, so you don’t feel deprived. Like last week I ate so clean. I ate so beautifully. Well, and I said, I’m gonna mess it up. I wanna mess it up now. So when I went for office lunch, I took a cherry pie.
Paula: Okay.
Ukpong: I’m gonna eat it because I want to do something to give myself extra calories.
Paula: Yeah. [00:16:00]
Ukpong: And when I ate it, honestly speaking, it didn’t feel good in my body, so I just stopped. So, you know, but things like mangoes for me and for my health type is a lot of calories.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Ukpong: So when it’s in season, I do have it, but I might have it once a week for my refeed day where I can have something that I like that not necessarily is the best for me.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Ukpong: Because we know that if you go feeling deprived, it’s just a matter of time you will just say, Hey, this thing, I’m tired of it. So we don’t want you to be tired of it. So it’s everything is incorporated. Plus the ones that are great for you, not so, you know. Great. And the ones that you know are on the red zone, you can still have that so that you don’t feel deprived. You see, you want to feel satisfied, satiated, you know, food is meant for fueling, so we don’t want you to use it for an emotional crutch, but at the same time, we don’t want you to [00:17:00] feel deprived.
Paula: Got you. So I know you’re a coach, and I know with the epigenetics, you’re a physician, you’re a coach. You are very much into, you know, using the mindset to empower or guide women towards energy, confidence. So I’m wondering, do you have one success story you can tell us about? Oh, I know there are many, but just choose one so that we can hear it ourselves and say, okay, I’m like that, or, Hmm. That’s something I can do.
Ukpong: Okay. There’s a lady, I will call her Nelo. She came to me. She actually lives in Nigeria. For those who think that, oh, there are not enough good foods for me to choose from, you know, so she came to me, she felt weak. She had aches and pain. She’s like about 49 because she just when I work for her, she just turned 50.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Ukpong: So she felt sluggish and everything. So, when we worked together, first of all, in the first three months, she [00:18:00] released 45 pounds, and up to now she’s lost like about 60 pounds. And not just that, she feels more confident. She’s the one that gets all the women in her neighborhood, takes them on a walk. She’s a school teacher. She’s made more confident so that whenever the principal is out of school, she puts her there as her, substitute, you know, someone to stand in for her and her business, her personal business on the side has 10 x because now she feels confident I can do this. She keeps thanking me. Keep thanking. I say, for what? For what? But because, you know, we now use the foods that we eat in Nigeria.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Ukpong: Our native foods, you know, you can, people can still eat rice, people can still eat, swallow, but we now measure it and then add all the different foods that will help to balance it out. We worked on the mindset, we worked on so many things that on, from time to time I go to her WhatsApp status. She has posted her new body. She’s [00:19:00] so confident. She’s taking pictures. She’s doing this, she’s doing that. She’s happy.
Paula: Wow.
Ukpong: So, you know, that’s one. Then, you know, that was just a younger lady. There’s another lady, she was in her seventies, the one that I told you about that was Donna Summer’s manager.
Paula: Yes.
Ukpong: When Donna Summer was alive.
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Ukpong: So she still works in Hollywood, but you know, when you get older it becomes a competition with the younger ones. So she wanted to lose 20 pounds and she’s Italian. She loves red wine. So telling an Italian not to drink red wine, you are wasting your time.
Paula: Yes.
Ukpong: Red wine is calories. So she knows that and I know that. So I tried to work with her. Oh, I don’t have time for this. I don’t have time. Finally, I asked her, so what can you do?
Paula: Mm-hmm.
Ukpong: And then she said, oh. I love to use Weight Watchers. I said, okay, we are gonna use Weight Watchers. We are gonna add your red wine for you. And now exercise. You travel a lot. What can you do? Can you take your sneakers with you? Yes, I can. So when you get into the airport, put on [00:20:00] your sneakers before your flight, do some laps in the airport. In three months, my lady lost 20 pounds. That’s what she was trying to lose.
Paula: Wow.
Ukpong: And then when she went to Israel on one of the rooftops, she did a live testimonial for me, thanking me and, you know, saying, whatever this girl is doing, just go with her. So it does work. It does work. When you find your strength zone, when you find your unique pattern, your blueprint, you know, your manual. It’s gonna work, but if I try to give you what work for me or another diet, it doesn’t work. But what is your unique blueprint is what will work for you.
Paula: Wow. Wow. So, because I know everyone in the audience is probably waiting to ask you so many questions, and this is a global issue for those who haven’t been able to join us in the audience, how can people follow you, get [00:21:00] engaged with you so that they too can have this unique success that’s just for them?
Ukpong: My main place is on Facebook. I’m there as Open one call. You can DM me and if you DM me because you are especially on Ms Paula’s show. Ask me for my energy recipe guide for women. I made that guide. It’s beautiful. And I designed it on Canva. I will share it with Ms. Paula. I love it myself. Anytime I look at it, it makes me feel good. . So you can find me on Facebook and, you know, that’s where I do most of my posting, , my teaching, my sharing of my journey and stuff like that is on Facebook.
Paula: What about LinkedIn? I’m a LinkedIn fan, so I’m always like trying to talk about, find out the people are on LinkedIn for people like me. I mean, Facebook I love, but I’m just getting acquainted with it. Is there any other place? Do you have a website?
Ukpong: I’m also on [00:22:00] LinkedIn. I’m also on LinkedIn. I’m trying to understand it. My website is livehealthydoc.com. Live healthy Doc.
Paula: Okay. We put all of that in the show notes. We’ll drop it in the chat.
Ukpong: Yes.
Paula: Oh my gosh, Dr. Nwankwo. This has been amazing. I learned so much. One of my mantras is that I have to learn one thing new every day. So…
Ukpong: Wow.
Paula: This is one of my one things. One can be multiplied by many things. So by the end of the day I should have like 20, but this is really, really good. So for those of you who are listening to this online or viewing this on YouTube, I love to invite you to be a guest on the show. I mean, of course you got to reach out to me first on my website, which is Chatting with the Experts, or you can contact me on LinkedIn. [00:23:00] We’ll have a conversation there. I’m also on Instagram. My handle there is at chat_experts_podcast. I’m on Facebook, as you heard me say. I’m getting more and more active on Facebook. My social media choice, platform has always been LinkedIn, but I can change.
And last but not least, talking about social media platform, I’m really active on YouTube. I’d love for you to like this, subscribe to us ’cause there’s so much that you can learn from these amazing women. And I stretch out amazing because they truly are. And we’ve also had some very fabulous men. In fact, we’re gonna have a show primarily for men. Men talking to women about how men feel. That will still be coming up soon. So tune in for that. Thank you, thank you. Thank you, Dr. Ukpong Nwankwo for being…
Ukpong: Thank you Ms. Paula. Thank you, ma’am.
Paula: Thank you. And now we’ll open up the floor for all who joined us so they can ask you the questions that I couldn’t remember to ask you. This is [00:24:00] so good. I’m so excited.
Ukpong: Thank you, ma’am.