Cori (00:00):
Welcome to the Redefining Strength Podcast. Everything you need to succeed on your health and fitness journey, even the stuff you don’t want to hear. Are you blaming your age? Are you blaming your hormones? Well, guess what? Michelle and I are going to bust those excuses today. Okay, got to be a little weird. Have a little fun. But seriously, I know it can feel like our hormones have just been thrown out of whack and we’re seeing weight gain and all these different symptoms that we don’t know how to navigate, and we think, what can I do about this? Am I just doomed? But you’re not, and there’s so much we can control in our diet to help us see fabulous results at any and every age. So thank you, Michelle, for joining me today. I know this is a topic that you are especially passionate about as well, so I’m excited to jump in with you.

Michelle (00:45):
Yeah, thanks for having me. I always love talking about women’s hormones. Health, we

Cori (00:50):
Hear a lot of excuses, right? We hear, oh, well, I’m middle aged. I’m just doomed to gain weight. Oh, well, menopause means the Meno pot. I have to accept it. What do you say to that?

Michelle (01:02):
I say throw it all our way because it’s just like you said, it’s an excuse. There’s some things that we tend to just accept as the new norm when we don’t have to. And truthfully, it’s easier to accept it as the norm versus actually changing to actually confront it and make it so it’s not your normal. And that’s really what I want to bust through is you can take your power back from this, but it does require some work on your end. And we don’t like getting uncomfortable and it’s sometimes it’s going to make you a little

Cori (01:32):
Uncomfortable and it’s a thing of your body has changed, therefore other things in your lifestyle need to change. And it’s where we see that disconnect. And I actually had a comment just today on Facebook about this of, but I haven’t changed my diet. I haven’t changed my workouts. Why am I gaining weight? And that’s actually the problem. Our body, our needs, our goals. Heck, sometimes even without hormonal shifts, our lifestyle has changed. And if other things don’t evolve, including our diet and our workouts, we’re going to have a system that’s not matching where we’re at right now, and then we’re not going to see the results and progress forward that we really want.

Michelle (02:10):
I love that. And that’s honestly something I see that comment all the time is I’m not changing anything. So why is this happening to me? And a hundred percent it’s because life isn’t stagnant no matter how much we try. You can’t stop your body from aging. It’s going to happen. So if you can’t stay stagnant in that moment, your diet can’t stay stagnant. Your exercise state can’t stay stagnant. You have to adjust and work with your body and stop trying to work against it.

Cori (02:40):
But one size doesn’t fit all when we’re making changes, and I think a lot of times we hear about the recommendations for a specific age, for a specific time of life, and so we jump right to doing those things and then it doesn’t fully fit and then we feel even more broken. So because of that, I’d love for you to really dive into what’s changing in our body at different times and what hormone fluctuations we might be seeing so that we can understand the impact and then determine what the right course of action is for us because our activity level, our lifestyle, are going to impact things, and it’s not just the hormones that completely dictate everything. So what’s going on that we might have to navigate so we can dive into then how to navigate it?

Michelle (03:17):
Absolutely. So the first things first, and this one, I want to say it almost is in charge of everything else. It’s the domino effect. It starts here and then other hormones become affected. Your lifestyle needs to change, and it really comes to estrogen. I know you probably aren’t surprised that we’re talk about this because you hear about it so much when you are hitting perimenopause. Menopause age is estrogen does decline. That’s natural. No matter what you do, you cannot stop that clock. Your estrogen levels are going to change. However, what this is actually affecting within your body is it is going to affect how you actually metabolize food. It’s going to affect your muscle mass, how your capability of actually being able to gain muscle, and again, this isn’t another excuse that I’m handing you where it’s like, oh yeah, this is a harder time in your life where it’s going to be harder to put on muscle.

(04:12):
No, it’s just different. You just have to make sure you’re providing your body with the right nutrients. We’re doing the right workouts to combat that. Estrogen is a little bit lower and it is going to affect that muscle mass. Those are going to be the key things first. And I’ll be honest, so often I see people just be like, oh, estrogen’s low. I need to do X, Y, Z. Like you were saying, I have to get on the HRT. That’s going to be the number one thing. And that’s not bad. It’s an option. It’s something that you can pursue. But something that I really, if this is the only thing you walk away from, this is what I hope it is, is no matter what you are doing, even if you get some hormone testing done, no matter what that test is, you have to continue to reevaluate and you can’t fall victim to a rigid result.

(05:01):
And I say this because if you are actively trying to improve your diet, trying to improve your workout, putting on that muscle, that is going to affect those results in a positive way. So we want to make sure that we aren’t getting stuck in, oh, well this is what my test said a year ago or six months ago. If you are actively trying to improve, those levels are going to change. I just had a client who has had RMR testing done to see what it was, and within the program, she actually found that because she’s regularly testing, she found that it increased by 200 calories. And she’s like, what happened? It went up. And I was like, well, yeah, because you are putting on muscle, you’re improving your metabolism, you’re doing all these things, and so you are going to see some changes at a hormonal level as well.

Cori (05:55):
And I want to equate this. I think when we’re talking about these things, we want to understand what’s going on, not to place blame, but to allow us to make accurate adjustments. And I want to use this example because I don’t think we often think of it this way. We do. We just say, well, I have to write myself off because of this. But estrogen levels changing means that other things in our diet and our workouts need to evolve so that we can still put on muscle because it is still possible. Yet going back to the muscle building thing, we don’t really hear people just blaming, oh, well, I’m an experienced exerciser, so I can’t put on muscle as easily, so I’m just doomed to be stuck, never putting on muscle. But actually the more advanced you are, the longer you’ve been training, the harder it does become to build muscle because you’ve adapted to more training stimulus.

(06:36):
Yet we rarely actually just blame that and write ourselves off. We say, oh no, I can push harder. I can do these other things. We almost see it as more incentive to do more. And so I would say when you do all these different things, it’s owning the reality to address it, to move forward because knowing that it is harder to building muscle, that you actually are potentially using protein 40% less efficiently as you get older, even you just increase protein knowing that as an advanced exerciser that you’ve adapted to more training stimulus, you find new training stimuli to use to help you improve your results. It’s owning your reality and even understanding that what once was could shift, and that means that you have to continually adjust and adapt even more. But it’s all opportunity. It’s not placing blame and writing yourself off.

Michelle (07:24):
Yes, and that is so key because it is so important that we are making those little adjustments. You are your unique self and you are going to be the one that’s going to help drive that forward. And you can’t. I feel like the biggest disservice we can do is just allow ourselves to be placed in a box.

Cori (07:44):
And with seeing these hormonal shifts, we can think, oh, well, my metabolism is now more sluggish. I need to eat less. But we wouldn’t generally recommend that. And as you even brought up with your client, when she learned to fuel properly could build more muscle, she increased her metabolic health and her caloric demands actually went up. So it is a weird thing of we think dieting means deficit means eating less, but that could backfire during this phase where we see these hormonal changes.

Michelle (08:13):
And that is often because, and I’m going to say the science is still there, calories in versus calories out. Yes. But the problem is there’s so much nuance to that. So even this client that still is having great results, we’re increasing calories, she’s doing that and she still is technically in a deficit. We just have in our mind that again, we have that rigidity issue where it’s like, oh, well I was losing last time. I was losing weight in my twenties. I ate this many calories, so I need to go back to that. And you’re not taking into account, but you’re also putting on muscle mass. Do you still have the same muscle mass as you did in your twenties? Have you improved it a lot? I see a lot of women in our program improving that muscle mass and they have more muscle than they have in their forties and fifties than they even did in their twenties,

Cori (09:01):
And that’s despite it’s supposedly getting harder to do so, but it’s owning your reality. And with that, we’re seeing estrogen levels decreased. What can we do or what other dominoes might we need to address that might be hit by that falling over? And then what can we do from a nutritional standpoint to help ourselves own where we’re at to move forward?

Michelle (09:22):
Yeah, so when estrogen kind of goes it, like I said, it kind of dictates the balance of a lot of other ones. So it’s one of the things that your body is kind of like, oh, well, it’s a feedback loop. So when that starts to dip, we’re going to start to see other hormones also dip a little bit as well. And then in some cases even have some higher levels. So this is where progesterone, testosterone, yes, women, we have testosterone as well, and it’s something that we want to make sure that we’re staying in balance, but it all kind of comes back to what’s happening with our estrogen levels. So some things to keep in mind, and I’m going to start very basic and then we’re going to get into a little bit more nuance, but one is going to be protein. We highly recommend that you are hitting at least 30% of your calories coming from protein.

(10:12):
And the reason being is that is really where research actually shows the benefits start. That’s not to say 30% is the cap, but if you are looking at trying to make sure that we’re seeing some of these improvements, you’re able to put on more muscle mass and make sure that we are improving strength metabolism and even insulin sensitivity, which guess what? Estrogen actually affects your insulin sensitivity, which is often why we do put on a little bit more weight if we’re changing our diet because we have issues with some carbs. I’m not demonizing carbs. We just have to adjust. So it’s something that we want to make sure that we are actually consuming more of is going to be that protein and specifically dividing it throughout the day. One of the things that I see often is, I call it back loading, where you wait until the very end of your day and then all of a sudden you’re trying to get all your grams of protein in before you go to bed. And the reason is is we do want to make sure that we are balancing some blood sugar throughout the day. Protein’s really going to help that. It’s going to help with satiate, satiety said that word wrong, satiety and going to help even some cravings throughout the day. So that’s really where we want to make sure that we’re spreading that out.

Cori (11:23):
We also don’t utilize it as efficiently and we need more of it to stimulate the same muscle protein synthesis response. So by spreading it out and even getting larger portions of 40 grams in a sitting 30 grams in a sitting, we’re going to see a better response to that, especially around our training. But I bring this up too because a lot of times you’ll hear, oh, 20 to 30 grams is all you can use, guys. These are done on supplement studies first off, and also that’s what goes to muscle protein synthesis alone, and protein isn’t just involved in building muscle. It is important for so many other processes, which I can let Michelle touch on. But on top of that, we have to recognize that our goals really dictate what we need. 30% is sort of that magical starting point where you can really see great results, whether you’re building muscle or trying to lose fat, but especially in a deficit, you need a little bit more protein because you not only will help improve the thermic effect to burn more calories so that you’re seeing better fat loss results, but also protect your lean muscle because you’ll always have those amino acids readily available to repair the muscle tissue and you’re deficient technically in enough calories to really do so as efficiently.

(12:30):
So you need that extra protein versus in a muscle guine phase, yeah, you might be closer to that 30% where you were at 40% for the fat loss phase, right? Different goals will dictate different amounts, but it’s understanding when it’s even important to increase further for other reasons outside of just that muscle building. Protein is oddly a really good weight loss tool because it is so filling because it does protect that lean muscle and because it puts us at less risk for putting on fat. They’ve done studies where carbs have been higher, fat has been higher, but ultimately what really leads to the best results is always protein being higher. But Michelle, I do want to touch on the other benefits of protein because we so often just hear about only consuming this much and we forget that that’s just the amount that goes to muscle protein synthesis, and especially as we’re going through menopause, it is important to get protein for so many other things.

Michelle (13:19):
And you kind of touched on it a little bit, but one is people when they hear protein and they tend to think animal products, there’s other plant-based options as well, but they still are only looking at the product as just protein. They’re not realizing what comes within the package. And oftentimes that is going to be the micronutrients. There’s vitamins, there’s minerals, there’s things that are in there that we tend to need that we gloss over. But one of the big things too is when you are looking at what women respond best to, and we’ve kind of touched upon it, I’m going to talk about fat in a little bit, but you are looking at making adjustments to mainly your carbohydrates, probably going to see a little bit of adjustments within your carbs. And when we do that, you can’t just take away, you got to fill that gap with something that’s going to be where we look at protein.

(14:08):
And one of the big things, we talk about the amino acids for the muscle mass and making sure that we’re protecting that lean muscle mass when you’re in a caloric deficit. But one of the things that we kind of, I feel like gets glossed over is let’s talk about metabolism when you are getting adequate amounts of amino acids and specifically even making sure that you’re getting enough calories in general, but if you’re making sure that you’re getting those amino acids, getting those vitamins and minerals, those pathways that we tend to turn off, I always say it’s like having light switches. We can flip on or off. When you aren’t providing your body with adequate amounts and with adequate amounts specifically in a caloric deficit because we’re trying to lose weight, your body will start turning off those light switches. So there’s no such thing as a broken metabolism.

(14:58):
It’s often that you’re not providing your body with enough of those micronutrients and amino acids that your body’s able to actually perform all those pathways because we put things in a hierarchy of needs. Your body just trying to keep you alive, running your organs efficiently is going to be top priority. When those switches get turned on, you’re going to find, oh, you’re, and I know we’ve talked about this before and it seems so small, but it’s such a big thing, you’re going to actually find your cellular turnover increase. Your skin itself is going to have some improvements in it. You’re going to find your hair growing, your nails growing. I’ve had clients that were like, I wasn’t sure about this. And all of a sudden I realized I haven’t shaved in two years and I needed to start shaving because my body, she goes, I just thought that my body stopped producing hair on my legs. Turns out, nope, your body had turned off that switch because you weren’t providing it with enough quality nutrients. So that’s something important to keep in mind and why we want to make sure that we’re giving our body not just adequate, because truthfully, if you look at the RDA, that’s just for to stay alive, to keep things running. We want optimal nutrition. And to do that, we are going to be increasing, most likely you’re going to need to increase your protein

Cori (16:16):
And optimal as our body changes. And that means potentially having even more than prior, even though often we think protein bodybuilders, we think the bros in the gym, nope. The older we get as we go through menopause as females, we need extra protein. It only helps us. Now I do want to tangent a little bit into the carb discussion and touch on fiber. And before I let you go into that, this is where I want to circle back to what I mentioned at the beginning of understanding why we’re making certain recommendations is really key because there’s always nuance or the but situation to them because you’ve already alluded to the fact that we might see a little bit more insulin resistance creeping in when we’re getting a little bit older as we’re going through menopause. However, just demonizing carbs can sometimes be what’s holding us back because we hear in menopause, reduce your carbs, but then we have someone super active come in who’s an endurance athlete and that backfires massively. So understanding why the recommendations are being made to also understand why they might not fit you is super important. But Michelle, let’s go into a little bit adjusting your carb intake, why fiber is so key.

Michelle (17:26):
So oftentimes we’re usually low. In general, we are low in fiber, and the reason why we really want to put an emphasis specifically when we are in perimenopause menopause age is because fiber does actually help bind and eliminate excess estrogen. Now I know you’re probably like, wait, you just told me that estrogen is dropping, so why do I want to put an emphasis on this? And this is where it’s key to know is estrogen doesn’t just disappear. It still exists in circulation, it’s still there, it’s still in your body even in menopause, and your body’s still going to produce some small amounts usually from adrenal glands and even from fat tissue. That’s actually why we kind of get the menopause is because that’s kind of our body’s a little bit of a, I don’t want to say defense mechanism, but basically a little bit of a defense mechanism because we start to produce more estrogen there.

(18:19):
Or of course you could be getting it from HRT if that’s a route that you’ve chosen. And the goal isn’t to with fiber, it’s not to eliminate estrogen, it’s to make sure that we are properly metabolizing and clearing any excess or unbalanced estrogen metabolites. So what can happen is even if you have low estrogen, if your body isn’t actually metabolizing that correctly or even utilizing it in the correct way, we want to make sure that we’re providing the body with a way to eliminate what is going to potentially cause us to have issues. So you can still be low estrogen and be considered estrogen dominant about that balance of estrogen to even progesterone within your body. So this is really where fiber is key. And I know, yes, we talk about fiber not just for satiety, we talk about fiber. If you’ve heard of GLP, fiber can actually help produce more GMPs within the body so you can actually have that kind of going for you as well.

(19:21):
And we do, one of the big things too that I’m going to touch on briefly is fiber feeds the gut bacteria. We’ve talked a lot and you probably have heard a lot about the gut microbiome. There’s been a huge emphasis on it. And if you’re not providing your body with fiber to make sure the good gut bacteria is getting fed, you are actually going to have an imbalance within your gut and be having issues with digestion and all that fun stuff. So that is just a few reasons why fiber is so key at this stage. It’s really to make sure that we are helping our body actually be able to find a balance even with estrogen

Cori (20:04):
And fiber is magical for our health and a lot of times that’s what we even think about fiber for gut health, overall health, but it really is essential for faster fat loss too. And that’s the sexy component that we don’t think about. So we don’t prioritize it, which I know sounds weird, but let’s face it, a lot of times when we start making dietary changes, it is for aesthetic reasons and that’s not a bad thing, but these can also pay off our health, but we have to own how much fiber is involved in that fat loss process and really important. And part of that too is even the balance of blood sugars, which we really need to focus on even more as we see these hormonal shifts.

Michelle (20:40):
And I’m going to still saying from one of our coaches that you can eat your carbs naked but don’t eat a naked carb. So again, we’re not demonizing carbs. Carbs are needed carbs often, or you’re choosing a different one. Oftentimes you’re going to have that fiber package be part of it, but we do want to make sure that we are doing that so that our body is also not having these huge spice and drops with insulin itself. So it’s natural to have rises and dips with our blood sugar. We want that, but we don’t want to have these huge spikes and these huge drops. We would like to keep it more steady throughout the day.

Cori (21:19):
And with talking about fiber and protein, there’s another component that I know is very near and dear to your heart, hydration. How important is adjusting our hydration? Which we know the answer very important, but can you talk a little bit about the importance of hydration and not only how it helps with that hormonal balance with everything in terms of fat loss because it’s very important for fat loss as well, even though for some reason this very simple habit is very hard for a lot of us, myself included at times, but I feel like one of your favorite subjects, Michelle.

Michelle (21:50):
It is my favorite subject because it’s one of the cheaper, one of the easier way it wants to do. And no one, I’ll be honest, hardly anyone that I coach or chat with as probably is coming to me drinking enough. And I always say, it wouldn’t be a chat with me if I didn’t say something about water. So it’s going to impact your thermo regulation, how your body’s actually able to break down and digest foods. It is a huge part of your hunger cues. Oftentimes as we age, our thirst signals go down and we actually misinterpret hunger cues for when we’re thirsty. The other reason is you mentioned is fat loss the role it has in fat loss. So for your body to go through the process of lipolysis of actually breaking down those fat cells, it has to start with lipolysis where the water is required to actually start that process of breaking it down.

(22:45):
If you are not providing your body not with enough water, now again, I’m staying away from adequate, we’re talking optimal water, optimal hydration levels, your body isn’t going to prioritize that process, so we want to make sure that you are getting enough water. So we probably always have heard the saying of drink six to eight glasses of water a day or half your body weight in ounces. That is typically just making sure you have adequate water. We’re looking at optimal. I tend to recommend that we are looking more at 70% of your body weight and ounces of water. And the reason is one, because we are doing optimal protein levels. And when you do that, that means your carbohydrates are naturally going to typically be decreased and carbs hold onto water. So you’re going to be a little bit more inclined to be slightly more dehydrated because of, but we also want to make sure that we are providing the body with more water because as estrogen declines, estrogen also circulates the body and kind of acts like a sponge.

(23:55):
So I’ve had some women that were like, I had zero menopause symptoms except I had to start taking eye drops or my knees are starting to hurt, and typically that’s a sign that their hydration level is off. So this is really where it’s key. And we’re going to talk about muscle too. Yes, you have to have proper hydration levels to even make sure that the transient system of getting nutrients to the right spots is well armed and that’s going to require water. So drink your water. If you are sitting there right now and you don’t have a water bottle near you, I want you to be that person that is always walking around with water in your hand. And I am going to talk just a little bit too, because it’s not just about that hydration, but it’s also about making sure that you’re properly hydrated, not just water alone. Most of us will benefit if we add at least an electrolyte throughout our day.

Cori (24:51):
Hydration truly is key and all these components are these fundamentals. If you focus on them and emphasize them, you’re going to see such a better balance and faster results towards your goals, whether it is muscle building or fat loss or that elusive body recomposition we’ve been told can’t happen losing fat as we gain muscle, which it can. You have to prioritize one goal a little bit over the other, but that process can happen. When we go back to these basics and other symptoms, we see skin health is a big issue or concern. Drier skin, crepey skin, right? Focusing on protein, focusing on water, wanting that fat loss and to address bloating and different digestive issues a lot of times. So a little bit more focused on water and fiber can be really key. There’s so many different ways all these things combine to make us feel our most fabulous.

(25:37):
And I love that you brought up muscle and water too because a lot of times when we’re trying to build muscle, we see the scale sort of jump initially where we’ve increased calories potentially. And with that we’re storing carbs, but we’re storing water rate and this is needed. It’s why with creatine when someone goes on it, it does bring water into the muscle that helps with the anabolic process. Now, with all these, there’s one final component that I know is so important. Fats, fats don’t make us fat and they’re often super essential during menopause. And before I let you jump into that, Michelle, I do want to bring up too, guys, when we’re talking about hormonal balance, what we’re really talking about is optimizing for your current hormone levels. And I only say that because I think we have this idea that we’re bringing up or we’re bringing down and we’re doing that and not that we aren’t sometimes changing the levels of different things with how we’re fueling, but a lot of it is about optimizing our diet and our workout to work with our hormone levels and address what we need to see the improvements that we need.

(26:34):
But Michelle, I want you to dive into fats and even your commentary on that.

Michelle (26:39):
Yeah, absolutely. And I love that you’ve shared that because I think it’s important to when you’re going, and I’m going to just put this plug in right now, when you’re making these dietary changes, it’s going to feel a little hard, a little bit weird at first. You are going to have potentially even some dietary distress where it doesn’t feel quite as well. And I’m saying that just because your body is working on learning how to break it down, working on developing the good bacteria, so it’s better to break down. So when you’re doing these changes, don’t just try it for a day or a week and be like, well, that doesn’t work. I’m out. We do want to make sure that we’re at least giving this at least a solid month and actually comparing what our energy levels are at what we’re dealing with and kind of addressing from there.

(27:21):
So off of that, going into fat. So one of the biggest things when it comes to hormone levels changing is oftentimes we kind deal with a level of inflammation that’s going to occur. Oftentimes you’ll hear menopause is being the slow simmer state. And one of the big things with that is, yes, we’re going to be able to eat high anti-inflammatory foods, so making sure that we’re having omega threes is going to help with that. But one thing that I don’t think is emphasized enough as to why we are focusing a little bit more on fat is because when you eat dietary fat, it does help with hormone production and it helps it in a more like what you have said is finding that optimal level for you so that your body can actually produce things accurately. So one thing that does happen is because estrogen is heart protective is we often find cholesterol levels jump when we hit menopause.

(28:20):
And this can sometimes cause people to overcorrect where they’re like, oh, I got to avoid fat, I got to avoid cholesterol, I got to avoid all this stuff so that my cholesterol level is good. Your sex hormones are actually produced by cholesterol, so it’s still something that your body requires. I’ve seen some people take it way too low and we’ve had and have kind of worsened their response and their symptoms because their cholesterol was too low. So we’re really, the recommended level is really about 300 milligrams of cholesterol. Then that’s really just to make sure that we are being able to actually create and produce those hormone levels. So we’re really looking at those healthy dietary fats, omega threes, monounsaturated fats, saturated fats. So we’re looking at the olive oils, the nuts, the seeds, the fatty fish. That’s really what we want to make sure that we are focusing on so we can maintain optimal hormone production. And I’m going to say that optimal level changes with age. So this isn’t us trying to get to the same level that we were in our thirties or twenties. This is us making sure that our production is where it needs to be at the phase we’re in.

Cori (29:33):
And it’s also remembering that fats have benefit in terms of our nutrient absorption from other foods. I think we forget about that and we start to just see foods or macros in only one way or is only one benefit. And we’re like, well, then I’m getting enough because I’m doing X. And if we’re eating a lot of vegetables, making sure that we’re getting fats with them and healthy fats. Not only are we getting the healthy fats alone that really help, but they’re making other things more valuable. Everything really is so interconnected and I don’t bring that up to make you feel like you have to do everything at once, but also to recognize where maybe one area is lacking and that could be impacting the benefit you are seeing from something else else if you feel like another change isn’t fully paying off.

Michelle (30:19):
And I think that’s huge too because I mean, I think we know that bone health is important. We talk about bone health, we talk about getting in that calcium, but if you’re not eating enough fat, you’re not getting enough, your body is not able to absorb as much vitamin K and vitamin D. And those two vitamins also decline our ability to absorb and produce, sorry, not produce. Our ability to absorb does decline when we age. And so we want to make sure that we’re getting adequate fat because that is what’s required to actually be able to absorb those. And you need vitamin K. I know you probably pieced it together, but you do need vitamin K and vitamin D along with calcium to actually be able to improve your bone health and bone density.

Cori (31:02):
So we’ve touched on fats, we’ve touched on hydration, we’ve touched on fiber, we’ve touched on protein and the importance of all these things and adding them in to some extent. And we really do like that nutrition by addition, focusing on controlling what we can control in a positive direction to feel really full and fueled. Now I do want to touch on two things that we might want to reconsider our intake of. And I bring this up as a person who consumes both probably wants to consume both for the rest of her life, but also wants to understand the impact of everything I do so that I can weigh the cost and reward. Because for me, one of these things, well, I’ll give a little hint. Alcohol, I’m a craft cocktail girl, but there are phases of the year where I’m driving towards a specific goal and I might not include it knowing it is detrimental to that goal. And then in another time of year I’m like, this fits this balance. So choosing to include or not include with understanding the cost and reward of these things is really key, but also understanding the changing impact they might have. So Michelle, two things we might want to at least understand more of the cost of when we’re seeing our hormone levels change.

Michelle (32:12):
So that’s going to be caffeine and alcohol. And this is really, and again, I like that you’re saying this, it’s the balance, right? There’s going to be times where you are going to be like, yeah, this is worth it to me, and that’s completely fine, but it is just owning that choice. So when it comes to alcohol in particular, oftentimes we just kind of change in how we’re able to metabolize it and hormones do affect that. So you probably have heard like, oh, if you drink alcohol, it can slow your body’s ability to build muscle or loose fat. At the end of the day, alcohol is something that your body is going to prioritize to get out and remove from your body and how we’ve talked about your body has a hierarchy of needs and a focus that is one that it will focus and prioritize. I’m not saying that you can’t drink alcohol and lose fat and gain muscle, but I am going to tell you, your body is going to prioritize the removal of that from your body first and foremost. So if you’re someone that’s drinking a lot and very consistently and not seeing results, it may be something that you want to start removing and seeing if that is actually going to help you move forward faster. Now, oh, go

Cori (33:29):
Ahead. Oh no, I was just going to say sometimes we don’t understand how much things are linked. And if you think about menopause being the low simmer state, the slow simmer state where you see that chronic inflammation and then you’re adding in another inflammatory thing on top of the fact that it might make you feel like you’re sleeping well, but trust me, it is not improving the quality of your sleep. And if you’re feeling tired the next day reaching for that caffeine, which we’ll talk about shortly, not feeling energized, you’re creating this bad cycle and you might not realize that it’s linked to this one thing. And maybe just by cutting it out most nights and having it only on the Friday night, that fixes enough for you. It’s not that you have to do one straight elimination or maybe if you are like, I want fat loss and I want it yesterday, you do cut it out for a little bit knowing you’ll add it back in during your maintenance phase. But it is really looking at what are the struggles that you’re having and if you’re controlling a lot of good things, where might there be something that you don’t realize the impact of because of how your body has evolved.

Michelle (34:30):
I love that you touched on sleep. Yes. I so often will hear I end my evening with a glass of wine because that’s what helps relax me. That’s what helps me go to sleep. So the problem though is oftentimes alcohol, it can help relax you and can help you fall asleep. The problem is it actually affects your deep rem. Now when we are in menopause, that is something that actually is a little bit harder for us to have is good quality deep rem. So it’s something like you said to be aware of. If you are being like, oh, I just need this to be able to sleep, you may not realize that you’re putting yourself in a negative feedback where you are using that glass of wine to relax you to fall asleep, but you’re not getting good quality sleep. And so you are relying on the caffeine and the extra coffee at the end of your day to get through your workday. And then you’re building yourself up to meet to a state where now you have had this caffeine and now you need to relax yourself again so you can get on this negative circle and need to jump ship. And this is just way that we can kind of make sure that we are doing that is play around with it and see what that level is for you, see what that balance is for you, what’s worth it.

Cori (35:47):
But it’s also recognizing that what used to work might not now work and that it’s going to not feel good in the process of getting off this spiral, so to speak. You’re going to feel low energy, you’re going to feel a little cranky. That doesn’t mean it’s not working. It means that it probably is something you need even more. Now jumping into caffeine, and I want to start this off by saying I have in the past for fat loss phases, done coffee black in the morning before my workout. There’s a lot of now pushback against that with cortisol levels and different things like that. And my answer is always, that’s what worked for me in that phase to have the energy I needed to find the balance I needed just for the routine that I needed and wanted and how I like to break up my macros.

(36:26):
However, I would not necessarily recommend that for a lot of different clients or for a client in menopause. And I think it’s understanding that that doesn’t mean it was wrong. And honestly, I don’t do it as often now for a lot of my fat loss phases or I definitely don’t do it during a muscle building phase, but it’s understanding the nuance to things and how we can meet ourselves where we’re at to find something sustainable for our lifestyle. But I do want to talk about caffeine because I think it is both beneficial for fat burning but can also be detrimental with the hormonal shifts.

Michelle (36:57):
Yes, and that’s key too, is caffeine. Unlike other things, there are benefits to certain levels. So starting your day or even before if you work out in the morning and you’re using that black coffee as kind of a little bit of a pre-workout, isn’t necessarily a negative thing. Where we can get into trouble is if you are someone that has high stress levels, you’re seeing the me, you’re seeing the Meno pot, you’ve done some testing, your cortisols super high. That is something if you are starting your day with caffeine alone and you’re not eating, this is in combination with food, you aren’t allowing that cortisol level to kind of come back down. So what happens is our body’s natural rhythm, and I know this is kind of exact and everyone’s a little bit different, but they find that we tend to have spikes in our cortisol usually between six to eight in the morning.

(37:50):
So if you’re someone that is drinking caffeine and you are working out and you’re not consuming any calories or any protein in the morning, even after that workout, you’re setting yourself up where you are getting higher and higher levels of cortisol and you’re not allowing your body the things that actually requires to bring it back down. So that’s where people can kind of get in trouble with caffeine specifically in the morning. Now what I see is when we are having it later in the day is when we are hitting, and this is where it even goes back to hydration and electrolytes. So oftentimes I’ll find people feeling fatigued and when they’re feeling fatigued, they’re feeling tired, they’re like, oh, I need that extra cup of coffee or maybe an energy drink to get through the workday or to get through whatever their day has that it’s thrown at them.

(38:42):
Now the problem with that is, is it does take our body a while to actually metabolize caffeine. Women’s sleep is so affected by our hormone levels when we’re going through the shift of hormones that it can negatively affect again, that deep rem. So that’s really what we’re protecting, and it can take up to six hours to actually be able to metabolize and remove caffeine. So even if you had that cup of coffee or that extra energy drink and that afternoon to get through the day, if you’re hoping to go to bed at eight, nine o’clock to try and get a full, I know that’s early for some people, but if you’re trying to get to bed at a decent time and get good quality sleep, your body may still be trying to process that. And what I’m leaning back with the electrolytes is oftentimes if you’re hitting that fatigue in the day, it can also be a sign of dehydration. And so I often recommend if you are someone that has been reliant on a caffeine drink midday or afternoon, I have seen so many clients have so much better results by replacing that or kind of reducing the caffeine with an electrolyte drink.

Cori (39:54):
It’s understanding the nuance and everything, and again, assessing what am I struggling with and what am I doing both positive and negative? And if the positives aren’t paying off, what might I need to eliminate? And I like going to the positives first because sometimes if we do a little bit more of those, we can find our balance as well. But adjusting simply the timing of your caffeine if you really enjoy your cup of coffee, could be enough. Maybe even if you do like it in the morning and you like it on an empty stomach, then maybe you shifted a few hours later after waking up even. I’m not recommending this for everybody, but there’s so much opportunity in seeing the options when you understand why with cortisol levels being higher at that time, or even if you do enjoy coffee before your workout and you really just, it’s part of your routine, maybe mentally you feel like it gives you that little push.

(40:40):
Hey, I now do shakes. They’re protein, coffee drinks, right? Or you can make your own protein coffee shake or you have protein in a little overnight oats, not protein, coffee in overnight oats, but you can make little tweaks to routines where it doesn’t feel like you’re having to completely do something different or throw out things you enjoy. It’s just understanding why these might be important, or even owning, Hey, this is a non-negotiable. What else can I adjust? Hey, I really like my coffee first thing in the morning, but I can give up the cup of coffee later at night. Or, Hey, I like my coffee early in the morning and I have wine at night, so maybe I’ll only try one because this other one’s more non-negotiable, right? It’s all about that balance. We’re not recommending everybody do everything all at once. And so with that closing thoughts, what you would have someone start with Michelle, how you would approach these different changes to meet ourselves where we’re at?

Michelle (41:31):
Yeah, so you mentioned this couple of times, but I’m going to repeat it, is this isn’t about restriction, it’s about rebuilding. It’s about working with your body, not against your body or trying just to force yourself into a box that you don’t have to force yourself in. So really when it comes to this, I know this probably isn’t going to come as a surprise if you were only to start with one or two things. My two things, and I know Corey’s going to reverse the orders, but my two things is water and protein. If that’s the bare minimum that we can do, and we’re looking at those changes, that’s going to be where I would say, let’s put the effort there. But if you are someone that has done, has gotten a little bit more information of where your body is right now, you can also tackle, you don’t have to, you can still see results with those two things, but if you want to be more pointed at whatever your results are, maybe you found that your C-reactive protein is super high indicating that you have high levels of inflammation, and for you, you want to focus on those fats to make sure that we are taking away some of those inflammatory triggers with the olive oils and kind of focusing on that you can.

(42:44):
But that would be kind of my main suggestion is I would say start with the basics. Start with the water, start with the protein, go from there and build.

Cori (42:52):
It’s addressing the lowest hanging fruit while understanding that sometimes the lowest hanging fruit are actually the hardest changes to make. And if we try and force those, like say, cutting out caffeine or cutting out alcohol, we ultimately sabotage ourselves. So just because it technically is the easiest to reach and pick doesn’t mean it’s actually the easiest to do, which I guess the analogy kind of dies there, but just really think about what will have a big impact, but might also feel so silly, simple. You could start it today because that’s going to lead to you wanting to do more to seeing those results snowball because you’ll be able to build off of it. So just because something seems like it would have a big impact or be in theory, easy to do because it’s just cutting out X doesn’t always mean it is easy because you have that mental resistance, you feel that restriction. It doesn’t feel like a choice. So really address not only the importance to you, to your health, but also what’s a change that seems really doable. Michelle, any other thoughts?

Michelle (43:54):
No, honestly, I would just say, like you said, I’m just going to reiterate, just start with whatever the lowest hanging fruit for you is not what someone else is going to say. I know I said water and protein, but really what it is going to be that you can work into your lifestyle.

Cori (44:10):
Well, this was fabulous. A lot of great tips, guys. I hope it really helped you see the opportunity in making changes to evolve your diet, to meet your body where it is at right now, and not use hormones or age as an excuse, stop blaming them, address them instead. Have a fabulous day and a great rest of your week.

*Note: This transcript is autogenerated there may be some unintended errors.