Cori (00:00):
Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. This is the show where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a review or leave a five star rating or even better share with someone you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone. So let’s jump right in. Our diet really gives us so much ability to control and impact our health for the positive and for the negative. And after seeing a comment this last week about making changes, feeling like all of a sudden something was out of their control in terms of their heart health and their cardiovascular health, I really wanted to bring Julia in to talk about nutritional changes we could make to improve our cardiovascular health, take care of our heart, fuel our body well, because there is so much we can do to really impact in a positive way how we’re feeling and our health.

(01:01):
So Julia, thank you so much for joining me. I want to jump into right away some background on what a heart healthy diet really is. Some of the changes we can even see, because I think especially this one client was struggling with some new changes in her blood levels despite not necessarily eating any differently than she had previously. And there’s some things that can happen as we get older and go through menopause that can impact our heart health as well. So can you dive into a little bit of background for me?

Julia (01:27):
Of course. Yeah. I’m excited to dive into this. I think we hear all the time what a heart healthy diet is, but we don’t exactly know what to do, so we’ll definitely get into that. But first off, just some signs that you should be focusing on your heart health. Like you were saying as far as blood levels, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, if you have high blood pressure as well, or if you are someone in that menopausal time period, because we know that our estrogen declines during menopause and that really works hard to have a positive effect on your blood vessels. Keeping those inner linings flexible and then just for overall health as well, right? Because you always want to be on the preventative side versus that reactive side where you’re getting back those blood levels and you’re kind of feeling that frustration. So really just for anyone looking to improve their health overall as well.

Cori (02:14):
And it’s key to note that these numbers will change. Again, with menopause, we might see changes with changes that are fueling with changes, even our weight loss. During the weight loss process, our numbers can be impacted. So not everything’s necessarily a sign that we need to freak out and do a whole bunch of dramatic changes, but at the same time, when we do see that change in blood numbers, we want to know where it’s coming from and what we can do to really positively impact that. Usually we hear a lot about those healthy fats For your heart, can you go over the different types of fat and the impact they might have?

Julia (02:47):
Sure. So first off, we have saturated fats, which are those that are really highly demonized when we talk about heart health. They’re mostly found in animal foods, but they can also be found in things like coconut oil or palm oil. Next step, we have trans fats. These can increase the bad cholesterol while simultaneously lowering the good cholesterol. So overall really increases our risk for heart disease and these can be found in things like commercial baked goods, margarine, microwave, popcorn and non-dairy creamers and fried foods. And then finally we have those good fats that we want to add in. So these are our unsaturated fats. These can be our monounsaturated and our polyunsaturated fats, which are found in those plant-based foods. Things like almonds, avocados, nuts and seeds, and then those omega threes. So we hear so much about these and these can really help lower those triglyceride levels or reduce inflammation and prevent blood clots to really support our heart health. And these are found in things like fatty fish, like salmon, mackerel, tuna, shrimp, sardines, and also plant-based foods like walnuts, chia seeds, flax seeds at aama and olive oil. And for this, we really want to be within that one to 1.5 gram range per day. So this can be as simple as having four ounces of salmon or a tablespoon of flax seed.

Cori (04:08):
I love that you mentioned all the nuance and the different types of fats because I think often they just get demonized as, oh, low fat is key, but really there is not just a blanket statement that you can make. You want to make sure that you’re adjusting the type of fat that you’re consuming and paying attention to those quality sources that will impact you positively. And not only increasing potentially the good ones, but taking a look at, hey, maybe I’m already including a ton of positive ones, but I have a lot of the ones that are not necessarily promoting health in the way that I want also included. And so you can cut back, but it’s that fine line of addition, but also sometimes subtraction off of that, we hear often demonize salt when it comes to our heart health. Can you talk a little bit about the impact that salt really has and whether or not we should be as worried about it as we are?

Julia (04:56):
Of course. So we hear all the time to cut sodium because a high sodium diet can lead to high blood pressure and that is a risk factor for heart disease. Ideally, we want to be under that 2300 milligram range per day, but if you are someone who maybe you know this is something you need to work on, your doctors told you you have high blood pressure, some things you can do would be limit eating out as those are higher sodium foods. Typically limiting processed meats, whether this be lunch meat sausages, things like bacon burgers, opting for no salt added options if you’re buying canned foods. So for things like tuna or beans or veggies, just opting for a no salt option if they have it or just seasoning your food differently. So instead of going for those really high salt seasonings, going for things like herbs, garlic, onion peppers, or just lemon juice or I know they have that brand mustache, the salt-free seasoning. So that’s another really great option to watch that. But overall, if you are someone who is sweating every single day, you’re pretty active. Watching your sodium probably isn’t going to be super important for you, especially if you are an athlete who is very active and endurance athlete, you most likely have higher sodium needs. So this doesn’t exactly apply to every single person.

Cori (06:12):
It’s really key. We note that point that it doesn’t apply to every single person because I think often when something is not recommended for a specific population, it starts to hit mainstream and we think all of us shouldn’t be having it and that can hold us back whether or not it’s reducing carbs or reducing sodium. So really understanding your needs is very key as well. And realizing the importance of sodium potentially in your diet. So don’t just write something off because someone else might need to adjust that for their health. Also assess what your current intake is to make those tweaks. And I love that you brought up the different seasonings because salt can be hidden in things sort of deceptively. And if we don’t pay attention to that overall intake, if we’re not tracking, we might not notice some of the places we’re getting it that we didn’t even realize with that too. We’re talking about hydration off of sodium as well often, and hydration is multifaceted. Can you talk a little bit about the importance of not only hydration but that electrolyte balance even for heart health?

Julia (07:11):
Of course. So a lot of times with these high sodium levels, we also see a lack of other really important electrolytes and these other electrolytes really work to keep that sodium balance in our body. So one of them being magnesium. Magnesium is essential for proper electrical signaling and muscle contractions of the heart, but also works to manage sodium levels as it helps transport potassium into our cells, which then regulate that sodium and water balance in the body. So if we see a lack of magnesium and potassium, that could also be contributing to high sodium levels in the body. Some ways to improve magnesium will be consuming foods like pumpkin seeds, darvy, green vegetables, rolled oats, cashews, nuts like almonds, peanuts, whole wheat bread, avocados, and this is a really big one because again, we see that such a large majority, I believe it’s over 70% of the population in the US is magnesium deficient. So again, a really great one to maybe even look into supplementing with if you are struggling to meet those needs through diet

Cori (08:16):
And even recognizing that those needs might change as you go through menopause, as you have different things going on and as we even do see changes in our blood numbers. So just because you might’ve been getting enough so to speak at one point doesn’t mean that right now you’re filling that nutritional gap. So paying extra attention to your needs as they change is really important. And I think so often we do jump right to what we should cut out when we want to improve our health over what we should add in. Can you go over some really great things to add into our diet if we are looking to improve our heart health and even manage some changes we’ve seen in our blood numbers with menopause or even with weight loss in general

Julia (08:54):
Of, so another big one when it comes to heart health, especially if you are someone who you struggle with, high cholesterol fiber is going to be really, really key just because fiber goes bind to that cholesterol and it helps us excrete it through our bowel movements. So getting this from foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and even plant proteins like tofu, Tempe, lentils or beans can really, really help. And for most of us, we should be aiming for that at least 25 grams of fiber per day. We can always add in a fiber supplement, but it’s not necessary in most situations if you are eating a balanced diet. So even just hitting that 25 gram range per day can look like having a half cup of oatmeal at breakfast, an apple as a snack, a half cup of black beans with your lunch, and then a cup of Brussels sprouts at your dinner.

(09:41):
So really just a balanced diet overall. And then when it comes to just overall health, menopause health, vitamin D is going to be another really, really big one. Again, a huge deficiency that we see across the board, but also really important for heart health is because it can improve bone and heart health and it’s really critical for that absorption of calcium. Calcium helps our blood clot normally. It helps our muscles and nerves to function properly. So overall, it really supports our heart and there has been some research conflicting in the past 10 years or 10 years or so showing that both dietary and supplemental calcium intake actually led to an increased risk of heart issues, whereas because it was believed to really contribute to that calcification building up in the blood vessels. But researchers have recently been finding that when supplementing with both vitamin D and calcium together, they see a decreased risk of heart disease as the vitamin D aids in that absorption of calcium. So again, a really big one to either supplement with or to get in through foods, things like egg yolks, fatty fish like salmon, tuna can also be really great sources through your diet

Cori (10:54):
And you’re going to hit on multiple things when you’re paying attention to these micros. Again, the healthy fats even. And going back to fiber, I think touching on the supplement part, and this occurred to me because while I am 100% in support of supplements to make things easier, I think always including and first going to that food diversity is so important and also recognizing why we want to supplement. A lot of times it can be good because we can’t get enough through our diet despite trying to include that diversity. But I think often with fiber supplements too, it’s because we want to so work in certain foods or not change our diet that we go to the supplement to increase overseeing how we can adjust and increase more fiber. And I bring this up because I actually had a comment just today on one of my posts about trying to decrease their sugar intake and wanting to pay more attention to that and break that down in their tracking.

(11:42):
And I said instead, why don’t you focus on that fiber intake? Because by focusing on higher fiber foods, you’re probably going to reduce just the sugar that you are consuming and get more quality carbs in instead of even turning to that supplement to increase fiber. So it slightly shifts the mindset from cutting out, which I think creates that restriction mindset, makes us rebel more to what we can add in, and I think that’s a super key focus with all of this, what can you add in that’s really going to help you see changes and results?

Julia (12:12):
Yeah,

Cori (12:13):
And I was going to say off of that, some key takeaways. If someone’s really looking to improve their heart health, they have seen their numbers change a little bit over time and they’re worried about it and they don’t want to turn to necessarily any sort of medication right now, if they’re really looking to make a change this week, what would you recommend? They start with

Julia (12:32):
Just taking anything that we talked about today, seeing where maybe in your diet you could be lacking, whether that be those omega threes that fiber that we talked about, or even those crucial micronutrients like magnesium and vitamin D, and seeing where you can really boost it in your diet. Again, it can be as simple as just adding a tablespoon of flay to your yogurt or your smoothie, something that already is in your diet. If you have eggs in the morning at breakfast, can you pair that with oatmeal on the side to really help bring down that cholesterol? Because adding that fiber in there while there’s so many different things that we can incorporate into our diet, also be honest with yourself about if you do need to supplement to fill in those gaps as well.

Cori (13:11):
And think in terms of diversity is a fun challenge to hit your macros if you’re tracking or even just to eat more of the rainbow. I think the more we find ways to make it fun or a challenge that’s positive over feeling restricted or deprived or just too overwhelming and we just focus on that one small change and see it as a challenge, the better off we’re going to be.

Cori (13:32):
Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hack podcast. Again. This is the place where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the

Cori (13:44):
Podcast to leave a rating review

Cori (13:46):
Or share it with someone you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone you know

*Please Note: this transcript is auto-generated and there may be some errors in the transcript

(00:00):
Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. This is a show where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a review or leave a five star rating, or even better share it with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone. So let’s jump right in. Are your goals worth it? So I want to share a little story that one of my coaching clients shared in the group. She said, so yesterday my favorite cupcake place was featuring two of my favorite cupcakes, almond Raspberry, and one called the Irish Triplet. I was seriously considering heading there to buy one of each the sample, but I had just had a feeling the scale was going to budge.

(00:50):
I had been bouncing back and forth for a while, and I just felt like I was close to good news. So I skipped the cupcake. They’ll have the flavor next Saturday. So I told myself to wait, and yep, the scale budged. I’m down seven pounds since starting the program, and no cupcake would be worth missing this feeling, not at this point. Anyway, next week, if I feel good about it, I can work that cupcake into my day. So tempting, and I love the story and wanted to share it with all of you because I think this really highlights the choice that we have when we’re working towards our goals and also the assessment we often need to do when breaking old patterns. We have to ask ourselves, is our goal worth it? Because a lot of times we just repeat an old pattern saying, oh, well, I feel so deprived.

(01:33):
I don’t want to be restricted. I don’t always want to be that person on a diet. Instead of assessing, well, what actually does matter to me? What do I truly want? Is that this important right in this moment? And then we act forced into the decision over recognizing that we’re even choosing potentially not to allow ourselves to have something because we’ve prioritized our goal over the other thing because the short-term gratification isn’t worth it. Too often we just fall back into old patterns though, Hey, I’ve always gotten this. I deserve this. I should have it. The scale’s not budging. We think out of frustration, we’re going to do it. Instead of saying, Hey, is this a pattern? I’ve always repeated at this point when I’m a little bit frustrated when I really want this thing and it’s my favorite flavors, do I always fall back into the same pattern and then ultimately feel bad after the decision, not get back on it and not move forward.

(02:22):
So it’s not that her handling of this was the way you have to handle it, but the assessment is what I think we all need to do more of. We need to recognize our choice. We also have to recognize the fear of judgment that often plays a part. Are you judging yourself because you think someone else would judge you for this? Are you worried that if you are with other people and they’re like, oh, you’re not going to have one, that they’re judging you in a negative way, and do you not like the reflection back on yourself? We have to assess, am I really seeing this as my choice? What choice do I want to make? Am I worried about judgment? And how is that playing in? Am I being true to what I want? And is my goal really worth it? Because as she recognized, even

(02:58):
She go have those on a different week, it wasn’t that she was eliminating them forever even. And I think that’s something we often get caught up in. We think we’re developing this lifestyle and this is just the way it’s going to be when there’s really going to be evolutions along the way, and what we even do to accomplish one goal isn’t what we will do to maintain it. That balance will shift. Our priorities are going to shift in life and how we’re scheduling everything, what choices we’re deciding to make, they will evolve. And it’s key that we recognize that one size doesn’t fit all forever and it doesn’t fit us forever. So recognizing that, Hey, what is my goal? What do I have to do right now to achieve it? Even? How can I make a different decision in the future can really pay off, but don’t let what you’ve always done in the past.

(03:37):
Don’t let the instant gratification persuade you to do something that you’re not really ready to do, and that doesn’t really match your long-term goals. And I bring this up too because I think we often don’t recognize that we’re creating a new identity as we’re working towards a goal. The person that has that goal has a specific lifestyle, and if we don’t want that lifestyle, we’ve got to reassess if we actually want to reach that goal. But we’ve got to recognize the changes that will come into play, and even the fact that a lot of times the changes we rebel against to start, we actually in the end, we even say to ourselves, why didn’t I do this sooner? And again, going back to that exact example, while she’s making this decision right now, she knows next weekend she can make another choice. And she might even find that when she gets to that next weekend, all of a sudden it’s like, well, I actually don’t really care because I feel really good and I like the other flavors just as much, and I’ll have them in a few weeks with the other flavors, or it’ll come back around because they do make them in a cycle.

(04:30):
So it’s truly recognizing what we want and not getting caught up in the moment or in the old patterns that we’ve always repeated. So question, why you’re holding onto something, question why you even have that feeling of restriction versus seeing it as a choice and stop worrying about judgment from other people and even recognizing when that judgment is really coming from yourself. But in a situation where you are faced with a hard choice, where you might’ve always gone one direction and you might need to slightly overcorrect the other way, ask yourself, are my goals really worth it? Because that will highlight so much and impact so many of the decisions you make moving forward, knowing that you can make another choice at a different time. Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hack Podcast. Again, this is the place where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a rating, review or share it with someone you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change life of someone you know

*Please Note: this transcript is auto-generated and there may be some errors in the transcript

Cori (00:00):
Hey guys, this is Cori from Redefining Strength. Welcome to the Fitness Hacks Podcast. This is the show where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m not going to ever fill this episode with sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a review or leave a five star rating or even better share with somebody you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone. So let’s jump right in.

Cori (00:28):
Let’s talk about nutritional strategies to manage the symptoms of menopause. And I’m so excited to be joined by the fabulous dietician, Michelle, to really go over not only some micros that we can include that we might know a little bit more about, but also some ones that are often not talked about as frequently that can have a huge impact in our results and the symptoms that we’re experiencing. So welcome Michelle. Thanks for joining me today.

Michelle (00:55):
Thank you. Happy to be here and talk all things micronutrients and menopause.

Cori (01:01):
So I know you mentioned some common ones we go over calcium vitamin D, we often to talk about omega threes as being really important. Can you touch on those just a little bit before we dive into some of the ones that we don’t discuss quite as frequently?

Michelle (01:15):
Yeah, so I really look at those as your base foundation. Let’s start there. Let’s make sure we’re getting adequate amounts of calcium, vitamin D and Omega-3 because when we hit menopause, oftentimes our bone health is concerned. Osteoporosis risk rise, and that’s really where the calcium and vitamin D come in. Menopause is also known as kind of being a slow simmer state. You have slightly higher inflammation that it’s occurring. So omega threes are really going to help kind of combat that and it’s just overall you’re going to get benefits for your brain health as well. So those three are really key components, but they’re not it. And I feel like people focus so much on those three that they kind of forget that there are other items as well that we want to be paying attention to. Now I’m not saying you need to be completely crazy and be looking up every single amount every single day, but it is to your benefit to have at least little checkpoints where you actually look and see, oh, am I getting enough vitamin K? Am I getting enough of these other micronutrients in my diet through Whole foods? And if the answer is no, if you are looking at all the food list and what each micronutrient is in, then we need to potentially either look at adapting your diet or a supplementation route.

Cori (02:34):
And it’s really important that at every stage, at every phase, we’re constantly reassessing our balance because with menopause, we are seeing shifts in our hormones, we are seeing shifts in how we’re utilizing things, we are seeing an impact in our recovery, and so we have to adjust our fueling to health. And I love that Omega threes are talked about so often as one of those foundational things because we go a lot to bone health and those different things, which is really important, but also we see an impact in our recovery. And I’ll constantly have clients coming in saying, I’m not recovering as fast, I’m not feeling ready for my workouts, but I want to train as hard. And omega threes might be a really key component of that while we’re dialing in their macronutrients and even paying attention to their mobility work. So it’s really important that at every stage we’re constantly reassessing what our balance is, realizing that what might’ve been even enough at one phase might not be enough now. So now diving into some of the lesser known or lesser talked about micros, you mentioned vitamin K. Can you go into why that one is so important?

Michelle (03:35):
So the big thing, vitamin K gets kind of pushed to the side when it comes to bone health, but it actually plays just as an important role when it comes to your bone health as vitamin D and calcium. It’s as easy as is to forget the importance of vitamin K. We do want to make sure that we are consuming adequate amounts of it, and most people’s diets really are low in vitamin K food sources. This is really where you are going to be looking at fermented food products, things like sauerkraut, keefer, dark, super dark, leafy greens are going to also have it. But the big thing is is vitamin K works synergistically with calcium and vitamin D to actually be able to help and kind of improve your bone health, which is, as I already mentioned previously, it’s a big concern when women start hitting menopause, osteoporosis risk go up.

(04:30):
But on the other flip side of this, your heart is also another area that we want to pay a little bit more attention to. Estrogen is heart protective. So when we have lower estrogen levels, all of a sudden you may have gone your entire life with not having any cardiovascular concern or heart health concerns and all of a sudden your cholesterol, your blood pressure may all of a sudden start to be rising and you’re kind of like, what the heck is going on? I haven’t changed anything. This is actually going to help with that as well as making sure that we are doing everything we can for your heart health at this stage.

Cori (05:05):
It’s why not to repeat myself, but it is so important we’re constantly reassessing things because what used to work might have even been good. It’s not that it was bad, but it might not work now to match what we need. And even paying attention to vitamin K when you mentioned some of those foods, I’m like, well, that’s great for gut health and we might see more symptoms of bloating or GI distress or disturbances with menopause. So it’s a lot of times when you’re focusing on some of these micros, you’re going to see a far reaching impact just by adjusting your food type. Now you did mention if we’re struggling to get in those foods, maybe we don’t like them. Maybe we are really doing everything we can even from a nutritional standpoint, but we’re still seeing issues or we want to increase further. How much would you recommend that someone supplement with in terms of vitamin K?

Michelle (05:49):
So we are typically looking at about 180 micrograms of vitamin KA day. So it is something that can very easily be hit with your diet if you’re putting an effort in there. So again, if these foods aren’t something that you typically consume, if fermented foods just really aren’t your thing, even though as we mentioned it is so great for your gut health as well, which is a whole other thing that we can get into when it comes to menopause and your gut, but it is making sure you have that. So if you’re not going to be getting that amount through your food, we do want to make sure that you are at least supplementing with that amount and maybe even slightly higher the bioavailability of micronutrients when it comes to vitamins and minerals, you’re not always going to absorb everything that’s actually stated on that bottle just because not everything is going to be processed as easily when it comes to supplements. So even something that’s at least 180 a little bit higher, you’re going to probably be looking for if you’re looking for a supplement.

Cori (06:49):
Now the next micro I know you mentioned you wanted to touch on was B vitamins. And I think this one is also very interesting and I always have to slightly tangent off to go over this because not only do we talk about increasing protein because of the benefits for muscle building when we aren’t able to utilize it as efficiently, especially during menopause and as we get older and building retaining lean muscle is so important to our metabolic health as we go through menopause, but we don’t often talk about the micronutrients that are really available in specific forms only in protein sources. And so I think B vitamins are specifically interesting for that reason, but can you touch on why they’re so important during menopause?

Michelle (07:28):
So this actually can start actually before menopause. Your body naturally starts declining on its ability to actually absorb vitamins as you age. So we’re actually looking at the age of 40. We’re wanting to make sure we are putting an emphasis on our B vitamins and this is going for menopause specifically. We’re actually looking at B vitamins to actually help support some of that hormonal balance during menopause. So if you’re someone that’s really struggling with some highs and lows, B vitamins are going to help regulate that. One of the biggest things I see with people is their moods. Your mood changes often when you are in menopause. You can have higher levels and symptoms of anxiety and depression and vitamin B six for example, is involved in the synthesis of those neurotransmitters for both serotonin and dopamine which help regulate your mood and alleviate those symptoms.

(08:25):
So there’s B six and when we talk about B vitamins, there’s quite a few B vitamins. I am going to go over a few of ’em. B six is one that we do want to pay attention to when it comes to our mood. There are things like vitamin B12, B12 is often known as the energy, the energy vitamin and it is because it does have a crucial role in your energy metabolism and can help feelings of fatigue. And a lot of times that’s another symptom that I see a lot with clients. They’re just tired, they’re wanting more energy, they’re looking for that and it could be simply that they have low B12. Another one. I

Cori (09:01):
Love that you touch on that, not to interrupt you, but I love that you touch on that because I think that also could be something that if you are feeling fatigue instead of just turning to the caffeine instead of just saying, oh well I need to get more sleep and then not really doing anything about it, exploring the other reasons why you might be seeing changes is super important from mood to fatigue because otherwise you’re going to get yourself potentially stuck in that cycle of over caffeinating sleeping worse, feeling more fatigued when there might be one little missing link where if you increase your consumption of B12, all of a sudden you can see improvement. So there’s not magic pills but there are filling nutritional gaps now going back to the other forms of B vitamins.

Michelle (09:38):
Yeah, and I love that you added that because it really is true sometimes people are looking for these drastic changes or overdoing it with training and thinking they need to cut more calories or they need to work out harder and it could just be a simple adjustment to the diet. So some other things to pay attention when it comes to the vitamins in particular are looking at B nine or folate. A lot of people probably know of folate if you’ve ever been pregnant, but it does actually help with reducing the frequency and severity of hot flashes. And then there’s B one and B two which also helps support the nervous system and those can actually help things like insomnia and irritability. So those are just a few of the B vitamins that I’m going to go over. But what’s interesting with all of those two is they also can help with your bone health as well by helping regulate homocysteine levels. So elevated homocysteine levels is actually associated with an increased risk of bone fractures. So making sure that we have the adequate amounts of B vitamins are going to lower that risk and also lower your risk of falling victim to any bone fractures in the future, which again, that risk increases by the time from 50 to up your bone fractures risk increase.

Cori (10:58):
I just think it’s so interesting how all these little micros play such an important role and yet so often we jump to bigger things and don’t get me wrong, we have to dial in that foundation first. You have to pay attention to macros, you have to pay attention to workouts, right? The big things to sleep. But at the same time when we start to see changes that we’re like I’m not doing anything differently, the more we can say, Hey, what could have an impact? That would be even an easy adjustment to my diet, to my training, adding in a little bit of foam rolling, the better off we’re going to be and often the more that little thing can really be that 1% improvement that truly does pay off. And so off of that, if someone were looking to adjust their diet, making sure that they’re getting enough of those essential B vitamins to really see results, what would you recommend they start to really focus on?

Michelle (11:42):
So you already kind of touched on this, protein is going to be a huge thing specifically in meat. So animal-based products are going to have a lot of B vitamins. If you’re someone that doesn’t consume a lot of meat, we are looking at making sure your diet is filled with legumes seeds and leafy green, but this is even one that in particular, no matter what stage you’re in, a lot of times we do suggest that vegan and vegetarians do supplement with a B complex. So if you’re not finding this in your diet or not able to add those items in particular to your diet, you do want to focus on a B complex. Oftentimes you will look at supplements and they’ll actually load it often with high amounts of B12, which is great, you’re going to get that energy, but they’re doing it because it makes you fill better, which we all want to feel better, but sometimes they’re missing out on the other B vitamins. So you’re really wanting to look for something that says a B complex.

Cori (12:40):
And as you do this, you might find you need more or less of something and that’s where you can start to dive into more details. And again, we don’t want to get bogged down, so this is feeling at all overwhelming. Remember small little changes add up, but even as you’re trying to hit your macros, maybe you start focusing on, hey, okay, I want to get a range of these things so I’m going to make sure I even just focus on more dark leafy greens because I know I’m going to get more B vitamins and I’m going to hit on that vitamin K from there. So think in terms of the most bang for your buck when you are making adjustments while keeping things simple, but just also recognize that if you are seeing changes and nothing has changed dramatically in your diet, it might just be that you have a nutritional gap that has now popped up with getting older with having those hormonal changes. So off of that, another essential micro magnesium. Can you touch on why this is so important for us to focus on during even menopause?

Michelle (13:28):
So often women struggle with sleep and it’s very common because your hormones actually that regulate your sleep and your deep sleep in particular become dysregulated. And so this is where I actually have, I’ve had this conversation many times where they’ll be like, my partner is waking me up or my pet is waking me up and they’re just rolling around and they’re not sleeping well and it’s causing me to not sleep well. And I always have to break the news that most likely their partner or that pet is doing the same behavior that they have been doing. It’s actually that they’re not hitting that deep REM that they used to. So they’ve become a lighter sleeper, so they’re waking up to slight sleep disturbances that before they would’ve slept through magnesium helps get you into that deep and deep rem. And part of that is because it helps actually calm your muscles and helps ’em the ability to be able to relax.

(14:22):
It eases anxiety and it’s going to help with those sleep disturbances that we oftentimes experience. So one of the big reasons with that too is when we are talking about muscle cramps, which oftentimes magnesium is used for estrogen, again acts like a sponge within the body so it holds onto water. So you actually become less hydrated as estrogen levels drop. And if you are focusing on a high protein diet, which you should be because muscle is important and we want to encourage muscle growth and retention when we hit menopause, oftentimes people don’t increase their water intake when they do that. So if you’re having a higher amount of protein, slightly lower carbs and all of a sudden lower estrogen levels, you could be dealing with more muscle cramps. So this is really going to help with that.

Cori (15:14):
We often, most of us at least I think are always like, oh, I need more sleep. And we know we compromise and make sacrifices where our sleep is, what sacrifice to fit in other things in our daily life, whether or not it’s getting up early for a workout or working later doing all these different things. But I think so often we do get focused on that quantity over the quality and really making sure that we’re getting that quality sleep from the bedtime routine we do to even paying attention to our micros is super important. And I bring this up because I think sometimes too knowing we’re doing something even that can help us, whether it’s the placebo effect or actually that did fill a nutritional gap, it can help us relax better when we go to sleep, which can help us improve that quality. So if you’re like, well, I have a pre-bed routine and I’m still not sleeping better and I can’t get more because it just doesn’t work for my schedule, think about some of these little micro adjustments actually adjusting your micros to see if you can help yourself improve that quality of sleep because it might be the missing component and it could really pay off so that you are feeling better rested and also going to sleep more relaxed knowing that you’ve sort of done that as part of your routine to help yourself.

(16:16):
So if someone were looking to boost their magnesium intake, what foods could they include in their diet?

Michelle (16:22):
So nuts and seeds are going to be a great option for this. Legumes are another great one and my favorite is dark chocolate. So even if you’re looking at adding cocoa powder to your shake or things like that, you’re going to give yourself a boost of magnesium intake. And the benefit of this as well, we kind of touched upon this earlier, but menopause does come with some GI changes. Oftentimes it’s slowing the transit of food through the gi. I mean magnesium also helps with that. So if you are dealing with any issues, again, it helps relax muscles and that includes the muscles within your gi. So if you’re dealing with that, this is also another option to kind of pay attention to.

Cori (17:04):
I feel like if we look at all the micros that we’ve talked about, there’s something here where we can make some sort of really delicious dessert where you can still have your dark chocolate, maybe you work in some nuts and seeds, you can get a little balance going right there. I definitely feel like there is a dessert recipe we can make out of this, especially for those that want that sweet treat like myself at the end of the night. So if someone was like, Hey, I’m really consuming these foods, what would you recommend in terms of supplementing to get enough magnesium? And I know also there are so many different forms of magnesium, so depending on what you have going on, you might want to even dive a little deeper into the nuance of some of that. But in general, someone were looking to supplement with it.

Michelle (17:42):
So if you are someone that’s dealing with things more like constipation, blood pressure, looking to focus on osteoporosis, magnesium glycinate is typically the one that most people use and it’s often usually fairly universal and that’s going to provide you with all those things. So it’s going to help with your heart, it’s going to help reduce blood pressure, even plays a role in combating and improving your bone health, but it’s also going to help with that constipation and again, just that muscle relaxation. So that would be the one that I would start with. Now I’m saying start with because as you mentioned, there are a lot out there, so if you’re trying to find the one that works right with you, it doesn’t mean you need to be stuck with that one and be like, oh well that one didn’t work for me because there are so many other options out there to kind of explore. But starting point, I would start there because going to be your most cost friendly and usually you’re going to get more bang for your buck with that one. If you’re looking for something in particular, then I would start looking at a different option for magnesium.

Cori (18:49):
Keeping things as simple as possible is always good again, but knowing that there are so many opportunities for these adjustments. Now moving on to the next micro vitamin E, why is this one so beneficial during menopause and managing some of the symptoms?

Michelle (19:05):
So it does help with hormone regulation during menopause by actually helping with estrogen activity. So I think there’s kind of this myth that when you hit menopause that you have zero estrogen, you still have estrogen, it’s just going to be in lower levels, but vitamin E is actually going to help regulate that activity. It also does act as an antioxidant, so it’s going to help protect cell membranes from that oxidative damage, including damage that could occur when you are doing helpful and healthy stress that you’re putting on your body such as working out. We talked about recovery may be slower for you when you hit menopause because you’re kind of in this slow simmer state and vitamin E is going to help with that as well. So we do want to make sure that we are just increasing our daily intake of it and there is a lot of research that does show that. It also helps with lowering your nervousness and lowering your chances of experiencing hot flashes and even plays a role in dealing with sleep disturbances as well.

Cori (20:10):
Adding in some of these micros or paying attention to some of these micros is kind of like greasing some of the cogs on the machine, right? The machine might be running but you might see it starting to slow or not operate quite as efficiently and by just greasing some of those cogs, all of a sudden you could really see improvements and that’s what we’re doing with these. You’re doing little things that might help you sleep better, which then can help you feel better in your workouts, which then gets you that better training session so that you can see the battery comp that you want. So then you feel energized during the day. So then you want to eat better so then you sleep better. It can be that little change that often adds up and snowballs so that you get that momentum going. So really think about how you can address certain symptoms you’re seeing with even just one change. So as you notice a lot of these do hit on multiple different things. Maybe pick one that covers the most of the symptoms you are seeing or the changes you are seeing. So off of this, what foods can we consume to boost our vitamin E intake?

Michelle (21:05):
So again, nuts and seeds are going to be a huge option here. Dark green leafy vegetables and fish are going to be your top sources when it comes to vitamin e intake

Cori (21:16):
As a nonsolid eater, all these dark leafy greens just make me think more salads, but I feel like you can make a pretty delicious one with all of this as well. And there are other options. If you’re not a salad eat, just got to throw that out there if everybody else is thinking the same thing. Oh, do I have to eat salad? Cause unless it has a tundras, I’m not going to go there. But anyway, that is a tangent off of that. So let’s just say you don’t even like that you’re struggling to get vitamin E. What would you do in terms of supplementation for that? So

Michelle (21:41):
I would, again, I’d be looking for something that’s probably a little bit higher than the daily recommendation just because oftentimes you’re not going to absorb everything that’s actually listed, but I’m not telling you to go completely crazy when it comes to the levels. We are just looking for something that’s slightly higher than the daily recommendation and the daily recommendation for that is 15 milligrams a day. So if you were looking at something that had 20, that would be probably where I would consider anything higher. We’re kind of looking into overdoing it in vitamin D and with everything with the body there is that happy balance. We don’t want to have anything too much and we don’t have want to have anything too low because you are going to have other issues if all of a sudden we are supplementing with very high amounts of things,

Cori (22:29):
There is such a thing as too much of even a good thing. So going off of this talking about fiber, because I think too much of good thing while we want to increase fiber, you have to do it slowly, otherwise you can see some disturbances you don’t want to see and actually go against why you’re increasing your fiber in the first place. So doing this slowly, even though it’s a good thing is very key. Can you talk about why really paying attention to your fiber is so important?

Michelle (22:56):
So we mentioned it a few times, but your gut health does change and there’s lots of research that shows that the gut microbiome itself, so the bacteria that’s residing in your GI system does not stay the same when you hit menopause and this has a lot to do just with hormones changing and your body just producing things in different levels. So because of that, I mentioned that oftentimes things slow, your food transit slows through your GI system. So we do want to make sure that we are feeding the good bacteria to encourage a healthy environment to be able to produce more good bacteria, but we also want to increase fiber so that we’re also encouraging food to transit faster. And so to do that, we’re looking at, like you mentioned, we’re looking at things that are going to oftentimes hit multiple areas. So we mentioned vitamin K, fermented foods are a great option to hit your vitamin K.

(23:52):
Oftentimes those are also going to have a lot of health benefits for your GI and even increase your fiber intake. So there is even research out there that is showing that insulin resistance, which is something that often increases during menopausal years, fiber is going to help with that as well. So it is something that is going to not just benefit your gut health, but it’s also going to benefit your health overall and even help you achieve your results. A lot of times we’re seeing people that are struggling with their gut microbiome, their weight actually becomes an issue. So you actually store more fat if that balance is off.

Cori (24:32):
And I think it’s really important that we do highlight the importance of fiber because I think during menopause, while often lower carb ratios are promoted and pushed and can be very beneficial, sometimes it’s not changing the macro ratio, it’s changing the type or way you’re hitting your macros. So paying a little bit more attention to fiber. If you’re like, well, but I’ve always felt better on higher carb. How can I go low carb or that doesn’t seem to match your activity level despite the changing hormone levels you’re seeing during menopause. Pay attention to even your fiber intake with that. In terms of this, Michelle, if someone were to be adjusting their diet a little bit to increase their fiber, what foods would they want to focus on?

Michelle (25:09):
So you’re going to be looking at things like legumes, lentils, artichokes, raspberries. My favorite tip is, again, I mentioned it for magnesium, but cocoa powder. A tablespoon has two grams of fiber. So if you’re just looking at slowly increasing and you’re already drinking a chocolate protein shake, add a tablespoon and make it a dark chocolate protein shake and you’ve already upped your fiber intake for that day as well.

Cori (25:36):
My head instantly went to the raspberry because you got the cocoa powder, you got the raspberries, you can add some Greek yogurt, you get some nuts and seeds in there. See I told you we’re getting a great dessert right there, but if someone were to say, Hey, I’m eating some of this foods, I want to make sure I’m really hitting my fiber intake. Any other suggestions in terms of supplementing or what they should do?

Michelle (25:57):
So if you’re going to go the supplementation route, the biggest thing things like Metamucil, I’ll hear so often like, well, I’m taking Metamucil, so I’m good. Metamucil only has about five grams of fiber per day or per serving. So while absolutely it’s awesome if you’re looking to kind increase your fiber for the total of the day, it’s not the only way to go about it, but we are going to be looking for supplements that are going to have things like cilium husk in it, inulin, those are going to be the things that I would look at in a supplement route. But just know you still have, even if you’re supplementing with it, you still need to be focusing on it in your diet. It’s not something that you can just say, oh, I took a serving, I’m good. It needs to be something that you are still continually to make sure you’re hitting in your diet

Cori (26:46):
And off of this, talking about managing those symptoms overall balance, you kind of brought it up too with the cramps and magnesium and I wanted to circle back to it even off of fiber, but water intake. I know you love to talk about water intake, so of course I had to bring it up for you, but it is also incredibly important during menopause and off of that in electrolyte balance. Can you touch on that just a little bit? The importance of water, the importance of making sure you’re still balancing those electrolytes as you’re staying hydrated?

Michelle (27:15):
Yeah, so this is a favorite topic of mine. So when you hit menopause, we’ve already talked about, and I hope you all know at this point, the importance of a higher protein intake. Higher protein means you are most likely going to have a little bit lower carb intake. It is most people respond better to a higher fat than carb ratio when it comes to menopause and carbs, hold onto water. So we’ve already talked about how estrogen acts as a sponge in the body, so it actually helps you stay hydrated. I’ve had so many people tell me that the symptom that they suffered the most was actually having dry eyes and it’s because of just a hydration issue. So when you are having high protein, slightly lower carb and you’re not focusing on your hydration, you are going to deal with things like constipation. You are going to actually slow your own results because the very first step of even weight loss is lipolysis.

(28:13):
And to be able to do that, water has to be able to go in and actually break up the fat so that you can actually utilize it and burn it. So to make sure that we’re doing that, we want to make sure we are properly hydrated, and that’s not just water. So often people focus on water alone, but I actually find that most menopausal women benefit from consuming an electrolyte drink. It doesn’t need to be anything crazy. I’m not saying go out and go get the ultra marathon super high sodium levels, but if you’re just focusing on adding one electrolyte based drink in the afternoon, oftentimes I’ll have women tell me their headaches go away, the brain fog goes away. All of a sudden their need to actually rely on things like ibuprofen when they’re working out actually decreases because the biggest issue is just making sure that their joints are actually properly lubricated. So water and electrolytes are going to be probably the most overlooked and easiest fix when it comes to a woman’s diet. When they’re in menopause.

Cori (29:22):
It’s not just ignoring symptoms or accepting them, it’s seeing what little changes you can make from a dietary perspective. And not that you won’t pursue other modes of help, but controlling what we can control. And that’s easy low hanging fruit in my opinion, because you can go take a look at your diet for your fueling today, tomorrow, and make little adjustments can be really helpful. And I’d actually love to hear in the comments what little maybe meals you’re even making out of some of these foods because I think there’s a lot of creative fun you could have trying to include these things and create a dinner recipe or even a dessert recipe, which I’ve been obsessed with off of these things.

Cori (30:00):
Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hack podcast. Again, this is the place where I share all my free workout and nutrition tips. I’m never going to run sponsorships or ask you to buy anything. All I ask in return is if you’re enjoying the podcast to leave a rating review or share it with someone you think it might help. This will only take a few minutes and it would mean the world to me and possibly change the life of someone.

*Please Note: this transcript is auto-generated and there may be some errors in the transcript