Health expert Dr. Ian Smith gives tips, dispels myths on clean eating …

Now, we are predisposed to be more curvaceous, but that’s different, that’s soft tissue. Our bones are the same size. What we pack onto our bones is up to us, the shape of it is genetic. The way we deposit fat and soft tissue is in a curvaceous form. We are made to be more curvaceous but not to be heavier.

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As you travel around the country, what have you found that people struggle with the most?

People are having a hard time being able to access and afford healthy foods and figuring out how to squeeze their workout into their day. Granted, some of that is that people just don’t like to work out. Another part of that is that people are stressed and busy. You have single parents and people with scheduling issues.

My intention with “Clean and Lean” was to think about someone with a limited income, someone who’s busy and doesn’t have two hours to spend in the kitchen cooking. I wanted to create a program that would work for them.

Dr. Ian Smith says dinner can include options like grilled chicken with brown rice and vegetables.

Let’s talk about a popular weight management trend, intermittent fasting. Critics say those who commit to the practice will gain the weight back when the fasting period is over. Is there a certain profile (age, weight, pre-existing conditions, etc.) that you’d recommend avoiding intermittent fasting?

Everyone intermittent fasts. When you are asleep, you are fasting. Intermittent fasting is periods of eating, or fueling, with periods of fasting. Some of us have longer fast periods. Some of us are more disciplined in respect to fast. I think intermittent fasting is healthy, if not done to the extreme. The three tracks that I believe in are: 16-hour feeding with an 8-hour fast; 14-hour feeding and a 10-hour fast, and a 12-hour feeding with a 12-hour fast.

To speak to the issue of gaining weight back, typically if you are losing weight via an extreme measure, then when you stop applying the extreme measure, you’re going to gain the weight back. To me, keto is extreme. Keto is effective for short-term weight loss. However, when a person stops eating in a keto fashion they will gain the weight back plus some.

Now that Dr. Ian explained why we should stop blaming weight gain on being big boned, it’s time to begin making healthier lifestyle choices. Maybe it’s increasing your physical activity or decreasing your intake of processed ingredients. Instead of focusing on summer body goals, let’s make changes this spring to improve the quality of our lives.

Nakisha Washington is a journalist who interviewed America’s first self-made female billionaire, a presidential candidate and her favorite reality TV personality all within 72 hours. Catch her talking career and lifestyle tips to curious millennials on her blog, theprofashionalist.com.