Full Transcript for The Perimenopause Reset: 8 Habits I'm rethinking as a mom over 35

I do believe there is a history of alcohol abuse. And so I've always kind of known that alcoholism is a thing that I could potentially have to worry about. you know, at one point in time there was this thought or this belief that having a little bit of alcohol was fine. potentially even, you know, healthy. And I'm kind of using that in air quotes. but more of the research is showing that, you know, maybe alcohol is not really healthy in any amount. And so I think, you know, for me, it's just being really clear on if I am going to drink, why am I drinking? Do I like those reasons? And just noticing how much alcohol affects My sleep, especially, which we're definitely going to talk about that, my sleep, and whether or not it's worth it. Right. So I'm not like anti alcohol. I think if you want to still be drinking, that's totally fine. I think, you know, just know why you're drinking. What are the reasons? Do you like those reasons? Are there any net negative effects that you're experiencing? And then making your decision from there. I think it's kind of cool, you know, as I've been, you know, drinking less and less, it's really cool to see how many companies and brands out there are starting to create some non-alcoholic options for beer and wine and even cocktails and spirits. so I think, you know, this is definitely a big movement. you know, there is, I think, a lot of research, a lot of science out there that is kind of showing that you know, alcohol's effects are maybe inconsistent across, you know, the literature and things like that. but you know, a lot of women that I work with definitely start to notice alcohol hits a little bit different as their hormones are shifting and changing. So again, just you know, if you are gonna drink That's totally your choice. Just know why you're doing it. Do you like those reasons? Do you like the relationship that you have to alcohol? And are you noticing any net negative effects with that? for me personally, definitely something I'm wanting to do less and you know, possibly just not even drink at all, which kind of leads into thing number two that I've really been working on. is my sleep. And I have joked a few times on social media or just with friends and clients that it is fascinating to me how much of my life now in my 40s is oriented around how is that gonna make me sleep later. you know, like I said, with the alcohol, I noticed that definitely there's an impact. I think it does kind of depend on what I'm drinking for sure. I notice wine tends to be. one of the bigger culprits there. but you know, so much of my life is organized around sleep in terms of, you know, we've always been told not to eat a really big meal before bed because we need to let our digestion rest. And you know, we need to just really make sure that the body is prepared for sleep. So being mindful for me of like screen times, or screen time rather, how much I'm On the blue light or getting that in before bed. But for me, what I was

actually noticing is that I think I needed a little bit of a snack before bed. So, you know, looking for something with some fiber, looking for something maybe with some slow digestion, digesting carbs, some fat, some protein, just something that was gonna kind of hold me over because. I noticed a little bit of a disruption in sleep where it was like I was constantly waking up, but then I was noticing that I was hungry when I was waking up, which kind of led me down the rabbit hole of, you know, could I be having obviously like a blood sugar drop in the middle of the night that's causing me to wake up? I know I am not the only woman that that has happened to. I've had other clients who, upon having their hormones done, the doctor that they were working with actually recommended a little snack with some carbs, some protein, and some fat to just kind of help stabilize their blood sugar throughout the night. So, you know, so like I said, so much of my life, the nutrition and the food and the snacking, the drinking is just, you know, it's like, how is this gonna impact sleep later? exercise and activity. So Just trying not to work out too late because I noticed that whereas in the past that might not have had as big of an impact, definitely if I am too stressed before bed. And, you know, we all know we know that exercise is a stressor on the body, that it can definitely impact your sleep as well. So it just is funny how so many of my decisions now are getting filtered through the question of how's this gonna make me sleep a little bit later. just kind of shifting into how am I sleeping and kind of making that one of the main priorities, which is interesting because I think for a long time sleep was one of the aspects of health that we kind of ignored, or maybe we just didn't think was really that big of a deal, especially when it came to health, but also with fat loss and building muscle and you know, a lot of the clients that I work with, those are some of their main goals as, you know, body recomp, losing fat, building muscle. And so sleep definitely has to be one of the priorities. It has to be one of the training pieces, if you will. It's just as important as your workouts, as your nutrition, not something we can afford to skip. Especially if you're kind of moving into a period of life where due to hormonal changes, you might be noticing some disruption to your sleep as well. So this might be just a good time to kind of check in and see, you know, how is my sleep? How are some of my lifestyle choices potentially impacting that? Fiber. so my goal right now is 30 grams a day. And part of the reason that I am focusing on fiber is one, yes, it helps us feel that satiated, that full experience after eating, which again, if you have a goal around any sort of fat loss or something like that, then you know we want to stay as full as we can be. We want to feel as satisfied and as satiated as we can when we're eating, especially if you are. like cutting calories at all, which that's kind of a whole nother podcast, I think, because I actually have been eating more recently and am noticing some positive changes in my body recomp. So maybe we'll save that for another day. But the 30 grams a day. Now this is something that can be Really hard to hit, especially if, you know, maybe you're only averaging 10 to 12 grams of fiber a day. as much as I love vegetables, I'm team veggie, team plant. Eat as many of them as you can throughout the day, including fruit, because there's actually a few fruits that I have found that tend to be kind of heavy hitters. it can be challenging to get it in, especially if you are on the low carb train. So some of my kind of go-to's is berries. So strawberries and blueberries specifically. Raspberries, I believe, also are pretty high in fiber. I want to say it's passion fruit that has like an absurd amount of fiber. If you can find passion fruit, that's that could be a great source of fiber for you. Avocados are surprisingly high in fiber. seeds, chia seeds in specific, that is like one of my go-tos. I like to mix up some Greek yogurt. I do some plain Greek yogurt. I'll do either a scoop of vanilla protein or chocolate protein, just depending on how I'm feeling. And then I will add in usually like three tablespoons of chia seeds. And so if I do the chia seeds, the protein powder, and some berries. I think I calculated it yesterday and I got like 19 or 20 grams of fiber because my protein powder has, I think, like five grams per serving. The chio seeds were 10 grams. And then the berries, I think, had, you know, roughly nine grams. So we actually I think we were way over 20 grams, even just in that one meal. So you know, that's one of my go-to meals. The avocados, again, surprisingly high amounts of fiber, but also great, you know. Healthy fats for hormones. So that's awesome. but you know, start by increasing it slowly. Unfortunately, as much as I love veggies and I love plants, when you look at how much fiber is in a serving, it's dismal. And you would have to eat so many cups of vegetables, which is probably kind of the point. I'm sure our ancestors were eating a lot more plants than we are now. So more power to you if you want to get 30 grams of fiber from your veggies, that's fantastic. That besides that chia protein yogurt mix that I just told you about, some of the other ways that I'm, you know, getting closer to that target every day really and truly has been incorporating more carbs. And I don't mean just bread, although if you can find a quality bread. That also has, you know, three to four grams of fiber per slice. I think that's that's a great choice. Like that could be something that really could fit into your overall healthy plan. Eating your potatoes, but also making sure that we eat the skin. So whether that's sweet potato or white potato, rice, quinoa, oatmeal, seeds, like I said, flax seeds have some protein. Chia seeds, I think by far take the cake on

that. But The fiber is great not only for the satiation and you know, kind of keeping things moving in an appropriate way in our digest digestion system, but also cholesterol, which truthfully that was one of the big drivers. So I had lab work done back in June and found out that I have the genetically high cholesterol marker and part of I think, you know, besides that part being genetic, I think some of the other things that were contributing or maybe made that worse is you know, maybe not getting enough carbohydrates. and then also potentially alcohol. So even in modest amounts. So fiber, I'm team fiber, 30 grams a day is kind of a good target for women. But again, just depending on where you're starting from, you might want to start a little bit lower and then build your way up. Protein. so this is another big one, right? And if we can hit multiple of these, like that's some amazing multitasking. And that's what we're all about because we've got a lot going on. We are carrying, you know, usually we're busy taking care of everybody else as well. And so it's important for us to make sure that we are still taking care of ourselves, fueling properly. And if we can hit multiple points with one thing, that's fantastic. So that Greek yogurt bowl that I shared, you know, not only is it getting me around 20 grams of fiber in a serving, but I'm probably getting close to 40, maybe 45 grams of protein in a serving. I'm not for sure on the macros on that just because sometimes it depends based on how much of it you actually make. So, you know, that's a great one because it knocks that fiber, that protein out. Again, if you did some sort of like a rice bowl or a green bowl with some lean protein, some avocado, some you know, rice or quinoa or something like that, you can get a decent amount of protein and fiber in one, plus those carbs, which is great, right? Helping with the cholesterol again. So, general rule of thumb is you know, one gram of protein. Per your target body weight in pounds. Now that's kind of the quick and dirty math of it. I think really it's more like 0.7 to 1.2 grams. but if you're looking just for some easy math, just one gram per pound of your target body weight. but this is something that you have to be really intentional about hitting consistently day after day. It's not something that. You know, we can do every once in a while and then expect to see some magic results, right? It's like with everything, you're gonna get better results the longer you're doing it, the more it's compounding, the more consistent we are. so protein is a huge one. I am a big fan of protein shakes. I like to do whey protein for myself personally. I found a pretty good protein powder that. doesn't taste horrible with water. So oftentimes I'll do maybe one to two scoops of that, depending on my day, and just kind of, you know, am I going to have a lot of time to eat or not? And then I'll put in some of that PB2. That right there is going to get me almost 60

grams of protein. So for me that's kind of a quick win, a heavy hitter. again doing that Greek yogurt bowl, that could be another one. That also doubles as a a nice dessert. So if you're looking for more of that cheesecake route, I would go with the vanilla protein, maybe some of that PB2. If you're looking for more of like a yummy chocolate mousse, then that's where I tend to lean and I add the chocolate protein into the Greek yogurt. Another one of my favorite things that I've been making lately with the protein is I'll do lean ground turkeys. So the 991, I'll just kind of season it up with salt, pepper, some garlic powder. And then like sweet potato, avocado, a little bit of salsa and some cheese. And that's great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Super simple to make. You can make a couple packages of the turkey at once, cook up extra potatoes, and you could have that for multiple meals. So those are a couple of my go-to strategies right now, or really kind of those go to quick heavy hitters for me. Another thing I've been doing, and you know, there's maybe some research out there on it. Some of it's kind of anecdotal. I think really the science around it or like the scientific research is a little bit muddled here. But I thought, what the heck? Let's just experiment with it. I have been not doing coffee on an empty stomach. So eating a little something before I dive into coffee and You know, while this might be an N of one, I think a lot of this stuff is, right? It's like at the end of the day, we can take the research, we can take what the science says, but we won't really know how our body responds to it until we start playing around and and testing it out and seeing how it works for us personally. So I've been doing a little something in the morning before I have my coffee. In fact, You know, don't hate me, but I've been doing a little bit of raisin bran. So that's another thing that's getting some carbs in. Now, of course, we could argue are those the perfect carb sources? No. Are they refined or processed? Yes, they are. But it's got some carbs, it's got a little bit of fat with the milk in there, and then a little bit of protein. But that raised the raisin bran I'm getting also has a ton of fiber in it too. So that's another little extra. So having a little tiny bowl of cereal before I have some coffee in the morning. I'm only noticing positive shifts from that. So I think I'm gonna keep rocking with that. that might be one of the things that you kind of want to play around with yourself. If you are doing coffee on an empty stomach, maybe you try having a little something with some protein, some fat, some carbs, and just see if you notice anything different. for the longest time, I would just get up and I would do coffee because I was having half and half. I was putting some collagen in there. but you know, like I said, I'm only noticing positive things from adding a little snack in before the coffee. So I think I'm gonna keep doing that. one thing I've kind of talked about sort of throughout this episode is just adding in more carb. So for the longest time, I have definitely been on the lower carb spectrum or lower end of the spectrum of carbohydrate consumption, however we want to work that out. and you know, probably part of that was maybe residual from just being in sort of the diet world for so long. and for me, like when I lost weight initially, what the two things I really remember doing in the beginning was like, Going low carb and then cutting out sugar. since then, you know, obviously carbohydrates are not the devil, they are not the enemy, they are not something that we can or should be cutting out completely. Now, does that mean that all carbs are created equal? Also, no. Does that mean that everybody's body is going to respond the exact same way to carbs? Also, no, or to amounts of carbs or types of carbs. No, that is why, like I do strongly believe and kind of encourage my clients to take on this N of one. Mindset, I guess, when it comes to applying some of the strategies that we talk about in the fit and field, some of the the coaching that I give is that it really is a lot more individual than I think we initially thought when it came to nutrition and exercise. Now, of course, we know in general certain things are going to work for most people. But that doesn't mean that everybody's going to get the same response, which I think sometimes creates a lot of frustration because we're like, what the heck? I've been doing the same workout, the same you know, diet or meal plan as so and so or as somebody told me, and I my body doesn't look like theirs, or my body, you know, isn't changing at the same rate as somebody else's. So, you know, just kind of taking on that end of one mindset of like, take what you're hearing here, take what sounds like it might apply to you, test it and just see what results you get. So just really experiment with it and just see what comes back. so for me, you know, with that cholesterol, definitely upping the carb. So, you know, trying to help lower the cholesterol number there, trying to get the fiber in. And then also just trying to feel better, feel more energized through the workout. So definitely not demonizing carbs. and just checking with yourself. Like even if you've been listening for a while, even if you've been applying what you've been hearing for a while, and you feel like you are mostly out of the woods when it comes to the diet mentality around food, you might be surprised that there's still some of that lingering. So just be curious and go on the look for it. another change that I'm making, so I think we're on change number seven right now, is Definitely shifting into more strength training and muscle building, and less of like the hit style workouts or like the boot camp style workouts. And this has truthfully been a change that I made a while ago, but you know, my current workout schedule, if you will, looks like two

pretty heavy full body days. it's actually I'm following the same programming that. I use with my clients in the gym here, but also a lot of the same programming that you'll find in Fit and Fueled. So doing two of like the heavier full body days, and then I've started doing two days where one day is a little is more upper body focused with some power and then, or even like some mobility, some corrective type exercises. And then the other day would be like upper body focused again with the mobility or some power, some extra, you know, a little extra cardio or some of those corrective exercises in there. so I'm kind of I'm getting essentially four days, but two of them are more heavy and then two of them a little bit lighter, maybe a little bit more foundational, I guess if you will. and so that's been a more recent change. So again, you know, just thinking about where is my body at now? What is the capacity? What can it handle? And what makes it feel good? And right now, that blend of having those two heavier days and then a couple of days that I'm still lifting weights, I'm still working on resistance, but I'm also including some of the things that it's really easy to skip. So that extra mobility. exercises that I had years ago in PT to work on some shoulder stuff. so if you have, you know, if you've done PT in the past, chances are you would still benefit from weaving some of those exercises in now. But you know, really shifting out of the mindset around calorie burn and exercise and not using exercise to burn calories. I know that feels like a totally foreign and probably counterintuitive. way to think about exercise, but really and truly that's not like exercise's job. I know that sounds crazy, but if we can start thinking about I'm lifting weights so that I can build muscle, so that I can get stronger, so that I can have stronger joints and all of those things. I'm doing cardio so that I can have a stronger cardio respiratory system so that we can reap the other benefits and we move away from the calorie burn. One It's gonna be more effective just all the way around. And two, it's gonna suck a lot less. So depending if you're one of those people that doesn't like exercise yet, try shifting the way that you're thinking about it, and that can be huge. you know, again, people are gonna experience things different, women are gonna experience things different, but a lot of the research, a lot of what I am reading. About perimenopause and sort of that shift into the second puberty, if you will, is that we do want to move into more of that building, right? Building muscle, building the bone, that strength training, less of more of that high intensity kind of boot camp style workouts that maybe used to work when you were 20 or 30. But if you've been exercising like that and you're not seeing the results that you want, it's probably. You know, it might be time to just switch it up and try something different. and then the last one, but definitely not

least, is working on moving into more of that rest and digest mindset or just like way of approaching life. and just working on kind of chilling out essentially and you know, minimizing stress where I can. which all of the things that we've been talking about today, ultimately that's what it's doing, right? It's like trying to bring my nervous system, bring my body out of a stressed state and into more of that rest and digest phase. I think especially if you're somebody that tends to be kind of high strung or maybe that high achiever, a lot of times it might feel like naturally you just kind of hum, right? Like maybe you just feel like you're operating at a little bit of a higher level. We don't want to be doing things in our lifestyle to increase that stress response on the body, right? It's like stress isn't bad. We want to have some stress, but then we want to get back to a resting baseline. And I think so much of our world right now is not designed by default to do that. So we then have to take responsibility, take ownership, and design our life in a way to where, yes, I can rise up, I can. have the stress, whether that's in the workout, running late, but then I'm able to kind of get back down to a more relaxed baseline. And then also just being really intentional about what actually makes it on my calendar, not being booked solid, you know, all throughout the day, but really carving out some pockets to have some white space in the evenings or in the morning on the weekends, between client meetings, whatever that looks like, however that's going to work for you in your life. Just start making those small changes. We don't have to change everything all at once. In fact, when we try to do that, that's usually when it ends up backfiring. So that's a little bit about what I've been working on for the last six plus months. I mean, if I'm being honest, it really is like the culmination or the journey over the last 20 years. And so my hope and goal is that by you sort of hearing where I'm at. We can speed that up for you. And it's not going to take you 20 years to get to where you want to be. so I hope that this encourages you. I hope it blesses you wherever you're at in your journey today. if you're listening to this and you're like, I love what she's saying, I feel like, my gosh, she totally gets me, and you're ready to take the next step. Then I wanna encourage you to check out the strongerway.com backslash work dash with dash us. Don't worry, you don't have to remember that. It's going to be in the show notes. And we have a variety of ways you can work with us. I know some of you are newer here and maybe you just want to dip your toes in and see a little bit more what we're about. Some of you have maybe been around a little bit longer and you're ready to actually see like what's behind the fit and fueled, or what would it look like to work with me one-on-one. We have space for that as well. So wherever you're at in your journey, you know, when you're ready to take that next step, we have it for you. And if this episode has encouraged you, if the show is helping you really move into a better space with your body, nutrition, exercise, then please consider sharing this with somebody, leaving a review, help get the word out about the show a little bit more. So until we meet again next week, have a great rest of your day, an amazing week, and we'll talk to you soon. Bye.