Cori (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 work, 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. Our body is really all these systems that have to work together for us to see the best results as fast as possible. And too often we don’t pay attention to some of the internal things going on until it’s too late and we have problems and then we’re like, oh no, because of this thing, I can’t see results in this area. But what we have to recognize that is a lot of those things, our gut health, our hormone balance, are all due to how we’re fueling and even how we’re training in some of our lifestyle practices. So that’s why I’m super excited today to dive in with Rebecca into our gut health and what we can do to improve it through micronutrients. So welcome, Rebecca. Thanks for joining me for the first time today.

Rebecca (01:05):
Thank you so much. I’m so excited to talk to you today.

Cori (01:09):
Well, Rebecca is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to our gut microbiome and what we need to do to improve our health of it. Rebecca, I just want to jump right in. Can you talk to us a little bit about how we can improve our nutrition to really see improvements in our gut health and even why our gut health is so important to pay attention to?

Rebecca (01:28):
Love that. Yes. So we want this diverse range of nutrients to give our gut the very, very most fuel for that microbiome. And there are specific vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that have been shown to directly improve our digestion, our microbiome, and to really help rebuild and repair some of the systems that naturally get damaged as we eat and live and work out. And so we really want to stay cognizant of what we’re putting into our body.

Cori (02:06):
It’s basically like thinking of our body as this high performance sports car. And I don’t know why I go to this analogy. I don’t really know that much about cars, but you don’t want to put in that low grade fuel when you need that high quality fuel to be able to function. Otherwise you’re not going to see the best results as fast as possible. And I love that you touched on diversity. So jumping into the diversity, what would be that first micronutrient that you would have people focus on if they really want to improve their gut health?

Rebecca (02:32):
Oh, that’s a great question. So if I had to pick one, I would start with fiber because that is the direct food for the good bacteria in your gut. It regulates your digestive processes, it elimination, you get the most bang for your buck when you focus on fiber first.

Cori (02:55):
And so fiber, it’s one of those common ones that people bring up a lot. They’re like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Rebecca, I know about fiber now diving in a little bit more because I think sometimes we don’t consider some of the other vitamins and minerals that might have an impact. And if we’re deficient in one or we have a nutritional gap that can have a greater far reaching impact even than just our gut health. So I noticed you mentioned zinc and vitamin B is two you wanted to touch on today. Can you go into why these are very important for our gut health?

Rebecca (03:27):
Absolutely. So zinc is a major player in the creation of DNA and the growth of cells, building proteins, healing damage tissue, and supporting an overall healthy immune system because your immune system really does start in your gut. And B, vitamins also help regulate digestion. And I feel like those are two that are really slept on because we hear about B vitamins for energy and mood. We don’t hear about them as much for digestion. And that broad range of all of the B vitamins is so key for that.

Cori (04:01):
And it’s key too, thinking about this, you bring up B vitamins for energy, and so someone might even be taking some of those or considering taking some of those because they’re seeing an impact in their energy. And if you’re also seeing something that’s going on with your gut, there’s sort of the double whammy, right? The more we can think about all the overlap between these different micronutrients that we’re including, the more we can fill our nutritional gaps to see better results. So if someone’s like, okay, great, this sounds really good. I want to increase these two micronutrients, what foods can they turn to be able to increase their intake of zinc and vitamin B?

Rebecca (04:34):
I would start with poultry and seafood. And then for our plant-based girlies, I would start with chickpeas. They’re really going to have the higher concentration so you don’t have to eat quite as much volume to get the baseline levels that we’re looking for. And I also like to make the distinction between you might be supplementing B vitamins already, but if you’re not digesting them, your body’s not using them. So it’s just another plug for focusing on our gut health because we can supplement with absolutely everything, but if it’s not being utilized by your body, then it’s just a waste product with everything else.

Cori (05:18):
It really is thinking about those micronutrients not just in isolation, but how they play in, and even the food forms that they do come in and the other things that those food sources might have. Just even like you often see magnesium complimenting zinc in different things, and I know magnesium is really important for our gut. Can you go into why that’s also a key micronutrient?

Rebecca (05:38):
Yes. So there’s at least seven different forms of magnesium. There might be more now, I don’t know, but specifically magnesium citrate for gut health and digestion, that is a vital role in maintaining gut motility, meaning how your food moves through your digestive system. It’s a process called peristalsis. So I don’t want to bore everyone by getting down into the nitty gritty of it, but it’s basically the wavelike contractions of your body that moves the food through your digestive tract. So we don’t want our food to hang in our body for any longer than necessary. We have this super intricate system that is already set up for us that we don’t have to think about, thank goodness. So to give that a boost, we want to focus on magnesium citrate, and it’s really found in leafy green vegetables, nuts, seeds, and again, the diversity of those not only having the same leafy greens every day, but having different forms and different types.

Cori (06:46):
Diversity really is so key because it keeps us wanting to hit our macros, it keeps our meals interesting, and then it really does help us make sure that we’re hitting micros in a way that benefits us fully. And I have to say, you missed an opportunity to be like, you don’t want to go over all the dirty details, but maybe that’s where my brain goes. But also with that, I think it’s really key to highlight how important magnesium is for the clearing of our gut and that motility just because we think so often of fiber only, and if you’re increasing your fiber intake and you’re not necessarily seeing the results that you want, that’s where you might want to dig in further to some of those other micros. Moving on from that vitamin A really key why.

Rebecca (07:29):
So I like to think of vitamin A as the mis congeniality of the vitamins. She is besties with all the others. She’s the friend of the party that’s like, hi, this is my friend. They do this. This is my other friend. She is putting things together in a way to influence our immune system function and regulating certain cell responses. So that is a great one. We hear about vitamin A for our eyes, we don’t hear about it as much for gut health, so I always like to make sure to mention that we do need that one as well.

Cori (08:11):
I have to admit, I’ve never heard it called the mis congeniality of micros or vitamins, but I love that analogy or that reference just because I do think it goes back to how much everything really does work as a system. And so often when we’re thinking about these different vitamins, we might pick out one or a mineral and we’ll use it in isolation. Then we wonder why we’re not seeing the benefit of it fully because we’re not filling some other nutritional gap or we’re not getting it to work in the way that it should because there’s a missing component. So it really is key that we step back and go back to that diversity of fruits and vegetables and foods that we’re including, which is what foods would be helpful in terms of boosting your vitamin A content.

Rebecca (08:54):
The easiest ones going to be carrots and broccoli, and I feel like those are the ones that the majority of people are already familiar with and try to include in their diet. So I would say just bump that up a notch and pair the carrots and broccoli with the other nutrients as well. We don’t want single ingredient plates, we want the whole rainbow.

Cori (09:15):
It’s thinking about all these different things that we’re going through, and I gave this challenge in a previous live stream. How can you build a recipe with them thinking about the leafy greens, thinking about the poultry, thinking about the carrots, it’s how can you combine these different things to make a delicious meal so that it doesn’t feel like you’re having to cram all these different things in a different points Because a lot of them can overlap, even if it’s not necessarily a ton of something in one meal, it can still be delicious. Exactly. So off of that, some other foods that work pretty well if we’re building out this recipe also include vitamin D. Vitamin D is very popular. We all hear get out of the sun more, but also supplement. Why is vitamin D so important for our gut health?

Rebecca (09:57):
So I feel like by this point, enough people have heard the buzzwords of leaky gut. We’re familiar with that term now, even if it’s not always recognized in certain communities, but so that leaky gut they’re talking about is the mucosal layer of the gut, and we really, really want to keep that intact. It is so important. That is what keeps the good stuff in and keeps the bad stuff from infiltrating throughout the rest of your body. And so to maintain that mucosal barrier, that’s where vitamin D comes in. It helps maintain the physical and functional integrity of it, and there’s a very specific type of cells that it corresponds directly to, and it helps to modulate those tight junctions because again, going back to that phrase of leaky gut, if that barrier is broken and things can slide through, we want to keep that nice and tight. We want our nutrients in our body and we want to keep the bad stuff out. So we really want to maintain that integrity of the gut mucosal barrier.

Cori (11:12):
I also really like that this is about adding something in to improve that, because I think a lot of times when we have IVS, leaky gut, different intolerances, GI disturbances in general, we go to cutting out, oh, I’ve got to look at all these different foods, see what I’m intolerant to, and cut things out instead of saying, Hey, what’s one thing I might even be able to add in as I’m investigating how foods really impact me to see better results? And vitamin D, especially if we’re seeing GI disturbances as we’re going through menopause, can be incredibly important. Now I wanted to circle back. Oh, sorry, did you have, okay, well, I wanted to circle back to you brought up immune function, starting with the gut, and vitamin C is really key to gut health. Can you talk more about that? Because I think it’s something that we don’t often consider vitamin C immune system. Yeah, we go to that, but the impact in the gut I think is very interesting.

Rebecca (12:06):
Yes, I love this as well because we do, we see all the vitamin C things for immune boost and stuff like that, or what’s the brand name on emergency? But vitamin C is actually an antioxidant and it helps protect your cells against the effects of free radicals. So free radicals are kind of the broken down state of certain things in your body and there’s a variety of things, but as things get broken down, they just kind of wreak a little havoc in there. And so the vitamin C just kind of ties them up into a neat little bow and says, exit stage left,

Cori (12:46):
You have the best. I don’t know if they’re technically analogies, I should probably look up the definition of that, but the best way of putting it so that you can really remember what each micronutrient does. So I love that, Rebecca, but even talking about that, if we’re building this recipe, what foods can we include to get more vitamin C?

Rebecca (13:04):
So these are going to be things like citrus, tomatoes, peppers, and again, in that rainbow. So our oranges, our yellows, our reds, all of that highly pigmented color foods

Cori (13:21):
And vitamin C truly is slightly magical and that it helps with I immune function that helps with the gut, that antioxidant, which can help us recover faster. So all these things too, when you’re thinking about trying to fix one problem, even looking at the other things they can impact, you might realize that you have some of those other symptoms. And if you don’t, you might be looking at this whole list and be like, well, Rebecca and Corey, I don’t want to have to worry about all these different things. Find the one vitamin mineral, focus on fiber, focus on one thing that you feel like is going to hit a number of other things you have going on, because a lot of times there is overlap. Now with all of this, one of the things we often go to when we’re trying to improve our gut health or we’ve been told we need besides fiber is fermented foods. Can you talk a little bit about why? But also what if someone doesn’t like fermented foods? I like them. So I’m not saying this from personal experience, but what if someone doesn’t like them because they’re a little bit funky and different?

Rebecca (14:15):
Yes, exactly. There’s a little bit of a wang to it. So fermented foods are a great way to introduce new good bacteria into your microbiome, and the more diverse your bacteria is, the healthier and happier all the systems of your body are, and the better your digestion and overall quality is going to be. So some examples of fermented foods, sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi, yogurt is a really great one, but it has to specify active cultures on the label. Apple cider. I feel like that’s the one that most people are the most familiar with. And yes, there is a very particular flavor profile that goes with these foods that takes some getting used to. So I always tell people, start slow. One to two, tablespoons is plenty. And then slowly increase from there and note how you feel along the way. And I say that with all of these things.

(15:16):
Note how you feel along the way. Don’t do 10 different things at one time because then you’re going to be like, well, I don’t know which one actually worked. So again, start slow and let yourself adjust to that flavor a little bit. I also like to compare it to things like coffee or alcohol. No one loved those the first time they tried them. You had to acquire the taste, and I would say let your body acquire the taste. Especially with things like apple cider vinegar, you can mix that into a dressing and hide it, so it’s a little sneakier. You can put things in yogurt, especially if we’re talking about a whole milk yogurt or a Greek yogurt, something like that, that has the act of cultures. There’s so much you can do with that, especially thinking in terms of a recipe. Some of the others are a little stronger. Flavor. Kombucha is actually, hang on again, which I am here for. I love some kombucha. We want to look for the low sugar kind because when it’s high sugar, that can kind of undo some of the good benefits. But yes, I say starch slow and let your body adjust to it just like it did with coffee,

Cori (16:32):
And don’t add 10 different things at once because then you don’t really know what worked or what you actually need. And then you’re stuck sort of doing all of them, or at least reversing out of that, and you potentially overwhelmed yourself with a lot of changes all at once. And amazingly, you might have caused yourself more issues because when we do make dramatic changes to our diet, our gut is going to respond to it. I mean, right?

Rebecca (16:55):
Yes. And very, very quickly. The gut is highly responsive. You can change your entire gut microbiome in a week. That’s how fast the changes take place, especially when introducing new strains of bacteria. At first, your body might be like, hold on, what have you done? But we can convince our body that it was in fact a good thing. If you give it some time, be patient, start slow and include that diversity. And I feel like everyone’s familiar with eating dairy, fruits and veggies. That has been from, oh goodness, what was I going to say? So it’s like that has been, I don’t want to say touted, but that has been broadcasted for decades now, eat your fruits and veggies. Yes. But when we understand the why behind what we’re doing with those fruits and veggies, it has so much more impact.

Cori (17:54):
And going into the why, because as much as I’d like to say we all care about our health because we do, we often look to make changes to our diet, to our workouts because we want to reach an aesthetic. Can you talk a little bit about the importance of gut health for reaching aesthetic goals? Because I think the more we have that other purpose to something, the more motivated we are to make a change.

Rebecca (18:19):
Oh, absolutely. So when we think about gut health, we immediately think of elimination and how that feels in your body. So when we think about aesthetic goals, how much easier would your aesthetic goals be to hit if you didn’t have to worry about constant bloating and gas and all of these icky gut issues that pop up? When we make drastic changes, if we focus on our gut health and really go at it from a place of nourishment, it can have a direct impact on those aesthetic goals and on the health goals, I’m also a huge proponent of if we chase health, aesthetics will follow. A healthy body is a fit body. So if we come at it from that perspective of I’m giving my body what it wants and needs, and we also have a little bit of patience, and let your body adjust to it and listen to those cues from your body, a lot of times people will find that their body whispers what it needs at first and then shouts. So if we can catch it while it’s still whispering, then our outcome is going to be greater.

Cori (19:37):
I like that shift in mindset to focusing on health and the aesthetics will come. Then I think sometimes it can be hard because we come in with one ultimate outcome we want, but the more we do that, the more we celebrate some of the other wins. But it also just speaks to how all the systems are so connected. If you’re eating your fruits and vegetables, you’re improving the quality of your health, but those foods have a higher thermic effect. The whole natural foods over the processed foods, which is going to help you see better fat loss results, it’s going to help you be able to use the nutrients more efficiently and gain that muscle and recover faster. You’re going to be treating your body in a way that all the systems are more efficient because you’re getting your body the fuel it needs. And the more efficient our system, the more balanced our hormones, the more everything’s working together, the better our aesthetic results, the better our health. So it really is so interconnected in terms of closing thoughts for someone like, okay, I’m sold on this. I want to hit all the different things Rebecca told me to hit. What would you recommend the first step be that they take to really start to improve their gut health?

Rebecca (20:37):
Eat the rainbow every color as often as you can. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, and you want to introduce as many good bacteria into your gut as possible because it’s not you are what you eat, it’s you are what you digest. And so if something is going on with your digestion where it is less than optimal, then that is a key indicator that we’re not digesting our food properly. So definitely keep an eye on how your gut feels. Notice which foods have a direct impact on your gut. I just spoke with a lady earlier today who said she can’t eat popcorn because every time she’s immediately bloated and feels terrible. So take note of things like that and add in the full rainbow of fruits and veggies and keep your digestion on its toes a little bit. We don’t want to only eat carrots every day. We don’t want to only eat broccoli every day. Let’s find as many sources of those colors as we can.

Cori (21:48):
And just to give a big shout out to what you basically tell people to do, it’s just track, which I’m a huge advocate of, but what gets measured gets managed, and the more you’re tracking not just those macros, but that food diversity, the more we can see is a meal timing impacting us? Is a load at a meal timing impacting us? Are we getting in foods that maybe don’t make us feel so good versus feeling like something’s out of our control or we can’t make a change? So the more we track, the more we can hit that diversity, we can make sure that we’re fueling well and we can eliminate things that don’t make us feel good. Rebecca, thank you so much for joining me today. These tips were incredibly helpful. 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

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

(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 you know. So let’s jump right in.

(00:28):
So you want to see those muscle gains. Well, I’m going to talk about 15 reasons why you might not be seeing the results that you want, because there’s nothing more frustrating than feeling like you’re working really hard to not see the results snowball in the way that you feel that they should. And while effort doesn’t always equal outcome, there are lots of practices we often clinging to that we think are good, that we’ve heard are good for our health that helped us lose the weight that are actually sabotaging us moving towards another goal. Because what worked for one goal, what worked in one stage of life doesn’t mean it’ll be right for another stage, another goal. And often what even worked for one goal might hold us back from achieving another, especially when it comes to weight loss. So if you’ve done some of these practices to lose the weight and you’re a little scared to let go of them, I’m going to tell you, you might have to if you now want to focus on gaining muscle.

(01:13):
And there are ways to gain muscle without gaining fat, and it’s all about the systems working together. So I want to touch on 15 reasons you might not be seeing the results you want and what you should really focus on. So number one, you are not eating enough. It’s scary when we’ve lost the weight to first come out of that deficit because we’re going to see the scale increase because we’re no longer deficient in anything. You’re going to see those glycogen stores become full, and that means you’re going to gain some water weight. You are not gaining fat, but because you are no longer depleted from being in the deficit, you’re going to see a little scale increase. This is why the process of retraining your body to eat more needs to be done slowly. But if you clinging to that calorie deficit, if you clinging to trying to eat less and you fear that scale going up, you are not going to see the muscle gains that you want.

(01:55):
And the scariest part about all that is that as you see the scale increase, you might even need to increase your calories further to help you build and retain that lean muscle. Muscle is built slowly, but especially coming again out of that deficit, you’re going to see those stores become full and that is needed to be able to build the muscle. So make sure you are eating enough, make sure you’re slowly increasing those calories, maybe a 50 to a hundred daily and maintaining that over a couple weeks before you then increase again. But you need to eat more and as the scale increases in you’re training hard, you might even need to increase calories further because you’re burning more at rest. And this isn’t just the muscle mass itself that’s burning more calories, but it’s all the processes in place and even the thermic effect of the food that we’re eating is going to have an impact on how much we’re burning to digest it.

(02:35):
So again, building lean muscle, you’re going to have to eat more. Next, you are training fasted. I like intermittent fasting, I like training fasted, but also if you are struggling to build and retain that lean muscle, it might be because you are training fasted, you don’t have the energy supply there that you really need to be able to lift as much as possible. You’re not getting your muscles what they need to repair and rebuild right after. So I’m not saying that you have to give up training fast. If you feel best doing that, you’re training first thing in the morning, but if you’re unwilling to change that meal timing, consider adjusting your meal late at night the night before or even consider for this muscle building phase because you are a hard gainer because you’re really struggling to get in more calories to really create that calorie surplus you need.

(03:17):
Consider not training facet even if it’s something small and make sure that your meal timing even after is really good. But just because training facet worked really well for fat loss just because maybe it even feels best overall, if you have a specific goal you want to drive towards and you want to see better results, especially if you’re a more advanced exerciser where those 1% improvements and tweaks are really going to pay off because you’re adapted to so much training stimulus already, you might want to consider getting in a little meal pre-workout even if it’s a simple carb and a protein source as well. But you want those glycogen stores full because it’s not only energy, but it’s getting your muscles needed fuel to repair and rebuild quickly. Number three, you’re not eating enough protein. So while our protein needs are potentially a little bit higher when we’re in a calorie deficit to help us protect that lean muscle mass while we’re dieting down, and if you are in that deficit and trying to build lean muscle as you’re still continuing to lose fat, then yes, protein is even more essential.

(04:08):
But if you’re starting to go into that calorie surplus because you are at your desired level of leanness, you still want to keep that protein high because that’s going to help you avoid gaining unwanted fat. Your muscles also need amino acids to repair and rebuild. If you don’t get them the appropriate amount, they are going to break down muscle tissue to try and get the amino acids to build muscle tissue back up, which is going to basically negate all of your hard work in the gym. So make sure that you are getting plenty of protein to help you rebuild off of this. Number four, you can’t fear carbs or a meal timing. And I bring these up together because I already slightly touched on the facet training, but often we do fear carbohydrates, especially when trying to lose because you see more jumps in the scale, you see more fluctuations on the scale when you increase carbs because you also gain water weight.

(04:53):
Now the thing to note too with carbs that is extra interesting, at least in my opinion, is the more muscle you have, the more fluctuations on the scale you’re going to see potentially daily because the more glycogen storage you can actually have with more muscle, you can store more glycogen, which is really good because it helps you build more muscle. It helps you even if you’re going to train for a race and you want to be able to PR and have those energy stores, it’s great, but it can lead to more fluctuations. But you can’t see our carbs despite seeing that change on the scale or those fluctuations on the scale because they are that immediate fuel. When we’re training hard, a lot of times we feel like I’m going at a hundred percent intensity. I’m really, really working hard, and then we’re not quite pushing those loads in the same way.

(05:30):
We’re not quite advancing in the same way, and it’s because a hundred percent doesn’t mean a hundred percent, it means a hundred percent of what you have that day. So if you’re not fueling correctly, you might feel like you’re giving it all, but you’re going from a depleted state. So you need to make sure that you actually have the energy there to be able to push hard to keep progressing in your workouts, to see that stimulus for muscle growth. So make sure that you are getting enough carbs. They’re also protein sparing. That means that you can potentially protect your lean muscle mass while being in that deficit can also get the needed fuel. And then you’re not going to necessarily need even more protein to see the same results because it is protein sparing. And with that, it’s all about the meal timing. So if you’re like, I’m in menopause, I’m doing better on low carb ratios, but I really do want to see those muscle gains, or you are somebody with a health concern that might dictate lower carb being right, you can adjust your meal timing and this is where again, potentially giving up your FT training might be key or even making sure that you’re getting more carbs right around your workout.

(06:24):
Even post-workout can be especially important. So don’t fear adjusting your meal timing, whether you’ve usually done maybe two meals over six meals or six meals over two meals. Don’t fear adjusting your meal timing or even the breakdown of how you’re splitting up your macros over the day to make sure that you’re getting them when your body needs. And this is also why I don’t recommend carb cycling or changing macro ratios day to day because your body needs fuel on the days you’re not training to repair and rebuild. And also keeping those stores full so that you go into your next training session, not in a depleted state is especially important when you’re trying to gain muscle without getting fat. Number five, you’re timing your cardio wrong. What I mean by this is a lot of times we will put our cardio as priority in our workouts, whether it’s because we’re training for a race or we think that that’s going to help us lose fat faster.

(07:13):
I see a lot of people putting cardio first, and if you put cardio first when you’re trying to build muscle, you’re going to go into your lifts more fatigued, and so you’re not going to be able to push the weights in the same way. You’re not going to see that same progression and growth. So you need to make sure that your timing, your lips lifts first. You also want to consider that you’re not doing your cardio in a way that impacts subsequent workouts so that you’re again, training in a depleted state. So make sure that you are timing your cardio if you’re doing any cardio after your lifting sessions around them so that you are maybe doing the cardio on a day where the next day you might be doing more upper body and so you’re lower body if it’s fatigued from the cardio, it won’t really impact the next workout.

(07:50):
Even consider how you’re timing your workouts based on your stubborn areas. So if you want to lose more fat off your thighs, if you want to lose more fat off your upper body, your core, what you train earlier in that workout will impact where the fatty acids are mobilized from. So no, you can’t spot reduce scenario, but if you are trying to really get lean and you’re dialed in your workouts and you’ve dialed in your nutrition and you’re still trying to maintain that lean muscle mass while losing fat, think about timing your workouts after those stubborn areas that you want to lose from. On the flip side with trying to focus on building lean muscle, do not put your workouts after an area that you are struggling to gain on. You want to focus those cardio sessions on days opposing like muscle groups that are not areas that you’re struggling to gain.

(08:34):
If you’re struggling to gain muscle on your legs and thighs, do not put cardio after it’s going to be catabolic, it’s going to hinder your results. So really be strategic in how you’re designing your workouts and where you’re putting that cardio. Number six is you’re doing too much steady state cardio if you are including more steady state cardio, and if you’re a runner cyclist, you love doing it. I’m not telling you not to include it, but I want to make you aware of the reward and cost of everything you’re including. That is a more catabolic activity to muscle mass. So I always recommend for my runners that we’re really trying to build new muscles so that they can PR in their next race that we lower the mileage for a point to make it easier, especially the more advanced in exercise where they are because they already have adapted to more stimulus to training progression so they’ve adapted to that they can handle more, so it’s going to take more to see the same results.

(09:18):
It’s those 1% improvements. So if you’re doing a ton of study, say cardio and wondering why you’re not seeing those muscle gains, this might be why, especially if you aren’t really, really extra super conscious of your nutrition, again, dialing in that diet to really make sure you’re in that surplus, you’re getting enough carbs, you’re getting enough protein can be especially important, so you have to be very aware of how everything’s working together, but it could be a perfect time if you want to focus on building muscle to lower your mileage and again, focus on that timing of even those cardio sessions so you’re not putting ’em after an area that you’ve struggled to gain muscle in. Then number seven, you aren’t creating true progression in your workouts. Part of this goes back to what I’ve mentioned a couple of times in that you aren’t actually training at a hundred percent intensity.

(09:57):
You are in a depleted state, you don’t have the energy, so while it feels like you’re giving a hundred percent, it’s not the a hundred percent you could truly lift because you don’t have the energy to do that. Also, a lot of times we’re not following a schedule. I’ll see people being like, why am I not gaining muscle? I’m like, well, what does your weekly schedule look like? Well, I kind of do this here and I kind of do that here. How can you track progression? You can’t say, Hey, I’m doing a reverse lunch and I lifted forties here and I’m going to lift 40 fives the next week. Or I lifted forties here and now the next week I did forties for an extra rep, so then therefore I lifted more loads. You can’t track the progression if you don’t do the same workouts week over week.

(10:28):
This doesn’t mean you have to have boring workouts over the course of the week and repeat the same workout multiple times. I don’t recommend that, but you want to have a weekly schedule. You do repeat and that you’re pushing progression in some way while staying focused on what you feel working, but you need that schedule so you can progress week over week. I also don’t recommend doing the same workout multiple times in the week because one day you’re going to be fatigued from another day, and so you won’t see progression the same way if you’re doing a sumo deadlift three times with a barbell, and that can lead to you tearing down the same muscles in the same way, which will not allow you to rebuild stronger and not see the same results. So with this being said though, when you’re creating the progression, you don’t want to stay on a progression too long.

(11:06):
I will find people get very comfortable with workouts and then they feel like they’re working really hard because it still hurts, but they’re not pushing that progression. They get a little too comfortable, they’re clinging to the same things, the same forms of progression, and therefore they’re not pushing themselves outside their comfort zone using those other ways to stimulate muscle growth. So don’t get so caught up in repeating a progression for too long that you aren’t really pushing that progress. Even though it might feel hard, then don’t fear a rep range or other forms of progression. I love lifting heavy. Lifting. Heavy is a great way to drive muscle growth is one of the easiest ways to drive muscle growth, but it’s not the only way. And the more advanced an exercise you are, the more you might hit some of those upper limits of what you can lift, especially without potentially addressing some weaker links or using other forms of progression.

(11:48):
Some of those things can make you realize, I actually haven’t hit my cap. I just was only pushing progression one way. So I would tell you, even if you love that heavy barbell deadlift or that heavy back row, try a unilateral move while it might feel uncomfortable, while you might not enjoy the instability because you have to really check your ego to go down in weights, that progression through the same but different by creating instability, by using that unilateral move can really pay off in even helping you increase weights in other movements. But it can also help you drive that muscle growth because there are so many ways besides loads to really drive that progression, create that stimulus from muscle growth. And it’s not only doing different movements, harder variations with different ranges of motion, it’s using different rep ranges. It’s maybe saying, Hey, I’ve been working in that eight to 12 rep, the six to 12 rep range with hyper hypertrophy, but I maxed out the loads.

(12:34):
Maybe I need to do some maximal strength to see if I can improve my strength to lift more for that hypertrophy rep range. Or, Hey, I’ve been neglecting the higher reps because I don’t really enjoy them or I have heard that’s not as essential for muscle growth, but that too can drive muscle growth because there are different drivers, three different drivers of muscle growth and using the high rep range can be really beneficial. Even how we combine those things can really pay off. So we can’t fear working outside our traditional hypertrophy rep range. We can’t fear not only or we can’t only focus on heavy loads as well. Number nine, you’re not using isolation moves. Compound moves are going to give you the most bang for your buck. If you are short on time, go to compound moves. Do not deviate from compound moves. And what I mean by compound movements or compound exercises is these are exercises that work.

(13:19):
Multiple joints require lots of large muscle groups to work together in unison. They’re things like deadlifts, they’re things like squats, lunges, the barbell row, the pushup things that require lots of muscles to work together. They’re going to help you burn more calories in a single session and they’re going to require you to move heavier loads. They’re going to be a great bag for your buck if you want to build muscle and see that great body recomp. However, isolation moves are really important if you are a more advanced lifter, if you do have the time to work them in, especially for stubborn areas because they’re going to help you bring that muscle to fatigue, especially some of the larger muscle groups potentially that with the compound exercises won’t be worked to fatigue because smaller muscles might fatigue first, but you need to include some of those isolation moves to really target and hone in on those moves to target and hone in on the stubborn muscles.

(14:07):
Hopefully I said that correctly brain cut out there. But number 10, you’re sticking with body parts splits. We see body parts splits all the time for the bodybuilding competitors, but not only are they generally using other things which impact recovery, how much they can lift all that jazz, but a lot of times we just don’t have the schedule ability to fully optimize those things. Not to mention, a lot of studies have shown that with pushing ourselves two to three times a week, training an area, especially stubborn areas can be really beneficial. So I would tell you if you’ve really fallen into the bodybuilding, ask type workouts where you’re doing glutes one day, biceps another, make it a little bit easier on yourself and make your schedule a little bit more efficient, make sure that you’re also getting that training frequency in for areas, because a lot of times you’re not going to stretch your workouts out to hours long and include a ton rest between things and it’s just not as efficient.

(15:00):
And with some of the advanced bodybuilding training techniques that we’ve sort of lost the old school techniques like compound burner 6, 12 25, you can get a lot of bang for your buck by increasing your training frequency. So let go of the body parts splits if you’ve been clinging to them, consider hemisphere splits. So upper, lower, consider anterior posterior of front backside. These things can help you really be efficient and even spend less time in the gym while seeing better results. And they can mix it up too if you’ve been clinging to those old or the more traditional body parts splits and not seeing the results that you want as you become more advanced in your training. 11, you don’t push to true failure, so you’re not embracing being comfortable in ways outside your comfort zone. A lot of times, again, going back to the thing I mentioned at the beginning, we’re not fueling adequately.

(15:44):
We’re not in that calorie surplus. We’re not giving yourself enough fuel to be able to push. Also with this, we’re not embracing discomfort through the unilateral moves, through creating that instability through increasing the drainage of motion, we get comfortable being uncomfortable in certain ways. We are okay feeling challenged by the heavier weight with specific movements. We might even avoid specific exercises. I know I personally really don’t like step-ups, but I’ve made an extra effort to include them because I know part of the reason I don’t like them is because they challenge me in a way I’m not comfortable with. And the more you do them, the more comfortable you become with that. But that can help you push to true failure. And I even bring this up when it comes to rep ranges because I’ll have people sort of fight against me sometimes with the higher rep ranges when I include a move, even specifically with the compound burners, I’ll have them do a compound exercise like a lunge and followed it up with 15 to 20 reps on a more isolated movement, whether or not it’s like a glute exercise or a quad exercise depending on the lunge variation, and they’ll sort of fight me on those higher reps until they really try it out and then they’ll realize wholly moly, I’m taking that muscle group to failure in a new way where I even have to stop at 15 reps with a lot lighter load than I thought.

(16:47):
And then even when I go back to that next round of lunges, that way feels so much heavier and that really pays off. So we have to find different ways to take ourselves to true failure and not just stop when something feels hard. There’s a lot of times we’ll stop put down the weight, and it’s like, could you do two more reps? Sometimes you got to try it, and yes, we don’t want our form to break down and put ourselves at risk for injury, but even if you’re a little afraid of pushing through, maybe you do rest pause technique. You say, I did my A reps. Put it down for just 15 seconds. Pick it up and do two more just to make sure your form is on point, but you’re still doing two more reps. But we have to push that failure, especially for women.

(17:21):
We are more endurance based and whether or not it’s truly genetic or whether or not, it’s also how we’ve always the sports we’re more usually into when we’re growing up, we can handle a lot more volume often and we can also, we have a lot more strength endurance. So pushing a little bit more to failure is really key for us, especially as we go through menopause. Number 12, you want to be sore and are constantly sore. Seeking to be sore is not our focus when we want to build muscle progression, seeing that we’ve done a little bit more each and every week throughout the weeks is what we need to see when we seek to be sore. A lot of times what we’re not realizing is that we’re just including movements that cause muscle tissue damage and not using the other drivers of muscle growth.

(18:03):
We’re potentially not recovering correctly and we’re not fueling correctly. So seeking to be sore is not what we want to do. It probably is holding us back, and it’s probably even meaning that we’re not repeating workouts consistently that we’re, again, not recovering, but then stringing together random new things, which is just keeping it sore because new makes us sore more than anything else. Muscle tissue damage, so moves like the deadlift and things that put more stretching the muscle under load are what caused more muscle tissue damage and that soreness, and it’s not a bad thing to be sore, but you should see over your progression that you’re becoming less sore as you’re able to handle more loads because you’re adapting and recovering correctly to build that lean muscle, then you’re not focusing on recovery. We can only train as hard as we can recover from Recovery is undervalued.

(18:46):
I’ll tell you that we focus so much on how can I burn more calories? How can I do more in the gym? How can I lift more? But if you’re not recovering, you’re not going to be able to push in the gym the way that you should. So focus on your sleep, focus on your fueling, focus on the macros that you’re using. Focus on the mobility work to get more out of your training sessions. But don’t ignore your recovery. Not every workout should be a hundred percent intensity. Even there are going to be some workouts that should feel easier so that you’re rebuilding in that time. We rebuild when we recover. So you need that recovery to see the results that you want in those muscle building efforts. Even consider how you’re including your mobility work and your activation. That activation really uses that metabolic stress to even drive muscle growth.

(19:23):
So there’s even a point to that and those pumper based movements that might not make you a sore the next day, but that will drive muscle growth in a very valuable way because you can recover more quickly from it. Then number 14, you’re not training a true a hundred percent intensity. I’ve mentioned not going to failure and not having the energy to train as hard, but you have to truly push that a hundred percent. So you’ve got to say, Hey, am I recovering to a point where I feel like I’m actually moving forward in my workout sessions? Am I able to lift more? Am I able to progress? Am I able to have that my body connection or am I coming from a depleted state? Assess those things because you might realize you need more calories, you need more carbs, you need to focus on protein, you need to focus on sleep a little bit more.

(20:03):
Maybe you need to take that deload week because you are even mentally not able to push as hard because I think that’s something we don’t focus on enough too. We think about how our body feels, but not how our mind feels. And mentally, if we are stressed at work, if we have all these different things going on, we might be depleted mentally and then go into our sessions and not have the wherewithal to push yourself to be uncomfortable in that way on that day. So assess where you are at mentally because sometimes you need to back off and let some of the other stressors be taken care of first and even use that deload week to maybe address some of the weaknesses that you have. So when you come back, you come back stronger, but then you’re able to make yourself more uncomfortable in the gym setting to push those forms of progression to see the results you want.

(20:43):
Now, last but not least, you expect results too fast. Not recognizing that experience actually slows progress. Muscle gains are slow. When we talk about, or people will mention faster muscle gains, a lot of times it is because now they have glycogen storage in the muscle mass that they built. But the more advanced you are, the slower those gains will be over the course of the year, and even one to two pounds over the course of a year might be all you can expect. Now, saying this, a lot of times we might see on some of those body scans, the body fat testers quicker changes, and it’s because those things are impacted by hydration. But also because in some of our dieting practices, even when we’re doing things strategically, we are going to lose a little bit more muscle. So all of a sudden and trying to retrain our body to eat more, even eating at maintenance, you might see a little bit of the muscle mass you lost come back on, and again, as that muscle is regained and you’re not in a deficit, you’re going to not be in a depleted state.

(21:31):
So you’re going to see that glycogen storage, that water weight. So that’s where the fluctuations on the scale might change while you still look even leaner. But just remember, results are slow, but only through constantly pushing that progression are we not only building muscle, but we’re retaining what we had previously as we get older, which it does become harder to build a retaining muscle because we’re not utilizing proteins efficiently and our hormonal environment is simply not optimal. So you need to keep pushing that form of progression, even if you’re just trying to maintain what you had. So hopefully these 15 tips are really helpful so that you can see those better muscle gains. But just remember guys, what used to work or what worked for one goal might not necessarily be what you need to drive forward towards the next one. So letting go of some of those tactics, realizing they’re not part of our identity is really key, as hard as it can be, especially when they did work to help us see the results we wanted prior. But I want you all to see those muscle gains and I hope these tips helped.

(22:28):
Thanks for listening to the Fitness Hacks 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 somebody 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 I.

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