← My So-Called Midlife with Reshma Saujani
My So-Called Midlife with Reshma Saujani
Fitness After 40: What You Need to Know with Stacy Sims
00:42:37
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- [00:01]
Discover Card Representative
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- [00:20]
Megan
Hi, I'm Megan and I've got a new podcast I think you're going to love. It's called Confessions of a Female Founder, a show where I chat with female entrepreneurs and friends about the sleepless nights, the lessons learned, and the laser focus that got them to where they are today. And through it all, I'm building a business of my own and getting all sorts of practical advice along the way that I'm so excited to share with you. Confessions of a Female Founder is out now. Listen wherever you get your podcast.
- [00:56]
Reshma Sajani
Lemonader. Welcome to my so Called Midlife, a podcast where we figure out how to stop just getting through it and start actually living it. I'm Reshma Sajani. I've been super honest with you on this podcast about how hard midlife has hit me in terms of my body. I try to eat well and stay active, but, like, things just don't work the way they did 10 years ago. I don't look the way I did 10 years ago. I've got this persistent belly fat that I just, I can't get rid of and I hate it. I have trouble sleeping and I used to sleep like a log. I mean, there's just so many things that have changed about my body that I'm just struggling to accept and understand. I thought I was doing all the right things. And then I came across Stacey Sims. She's an exercise physiologist and a nutrition scientist who aims to like, revolutionize nutrition and performance for women. And let me tell you, she's done exactly that for me. Stacy gave a viral TEDx talk about how women are not small men, and that includes how we age. Women age differently than men. In this episode, she's going to give you tons of incredible practical advice for all you midlifers, including best practice practices for aging, plus workout and nutrition tips for women over 40. You want to listen to this episode? It has literally changed so many things about my routine. So I work out like pretty much five to six times a week. And I thought I knew how I was working out to like see the changes that I want to see, especially at this stage while I'm in like the thick of perimenopause. And I realized after talking To Stacy, like I didn't know everything. One of my favorite takeaways from this conversation was what Stacy had said about high intensity workouts. I was conditioned. We're all conditioned to think that we gotta feel smashed after workout. Like if I'm not walking out a sweaty, gross mess, that I did something wrong, I didn't work out hard enough. Turns out that's wrong. That's exactly the wrong kind of workout for women in midlife. So Stacy told me I can still go to my Barry's boot camp that I love, but I gotta make some changes and adjust what I do there so I'm not completely drained and smashed when I walk out the door. Like, that's not the goal. And maybe even more importantly, I learned different routines for when I wake up in the morning and I'm going to go work out instead of like pre scheduling all of my workouts. If I wake up one morning and I'm like, I'm tired, it's okay not to go to boot camp, it's okay not to go to the gym because my body is telling me, hey, Reshma, maybe not today. And I need to listen to her. See, I'm someone who has their entire life scheduled. I mean, I got my meetings, my workouts, my kids, stuff planned out for like six to eight months. So if I wake up in the morning and the calendar says boot camp, 9am I go to boot camp. I don't listen to my body. And let me tell you, the thought of like listening to my body and ignoring my calendar, woo, that feels like crazy talk. Like there's no way I could do that. I've never done that for like 30 years of my life. But Stacy, she gave me some new goals and I think she's going to do the same thing for you too. So you're really going to get something out of this conversation. So enjoy. So we start on this show by talking about how we feel about midlife. And so I wanted to know, like, what are the words you would use to define this period of your life?
- [05:07]
Stacy Sims
Difficult. Yeah, we say difficult.
- [05:11]
Reshma Sajani
Tell me more.
- [05:14]
Stacy Sims
I often have this conversation with friends because we're at a point where we should be old enough not to care about a lot of the small things, but we still do. And we also aren't aged enough for people to look at us as, oh, okay, you're in the older category. So it's like this big mishmash of where do I fit? Do I fit with people who are in their 30s and 40s or do I Start looking for people who are at their end of their 50s and 60s. It gets just really confusing from a managing standpoint. And then I'm the oldest mom, so it's like, okay, my friends are often 15 years younger than me because their daughters are the same age as mine. But I'm a later having a kid mom, so there's lots of confusion in the identity. So it's like really difficult trying to navigate. And yeah, it's just interesting.
- [06:12]
Reshma Sajani
How old are your kids?
- [06:13]
Stacy Sims
I have one, she is 12.
- [06:15]
Reshma Sajani
Ah. I got a 10 year old and a 5 year old and I'm turning 50, so I do feel like an old mom.
- [06:21]
Stacy Sims
Oh, you feel it? Yes, you're right in it with me.
- [06:24]
Reshma Sajani
Yeah, I'm right in it with you. So you are one of the badass best experts in the world when it comes to women's health and physical training. I wanted to know, how did you get involved in this work? Like, how did this become your thing?
- [06:42]
Stacy Sims
I kind of fell into it. Like if someone were to ask me what my life plan is or was, I wouldn't ever imagine I'd get to this point. I just have always been, even from a really young age, the person asked why and wanted to find out why. And if it, if it didn't kind of fit into the moral ethos of being fair, then I'd want to know, well, why? Why is this happening? So, yeah, throughout my academic and athletic career, I've always had these questions of, well, why is this happening? Why are we not seeing the results as women? Or why are you telling me to do this when I know that my body responds differently? So I've had that, that curiosity around it and I'm like, well, if I have these questions, why? And I have the opportunity to answer some of them or dig into the research to see what's there and what's not, then obviously there are other people who don't know that, because I have that innate opportunity by the nature of being involved in the certain bubbles that I am from an academic and a sports standpoint that other women don't have. So I'm like, I want to know these answers and then I want to share these answers. And so the more I shared, the more people wanted to know. And the more people wanted to know, the more research questions came up. So it just became this curiosity, growing thing into the community.
- [07:57]
Reshma Sajani
One of the things you also talk about, which I didn't appreciate until I got older, was that men and women just age differently, right? Men age in a linear fashion. And women have a definite shift. Right. In their 40s and then I think again in their 60s. Tell me more about that.
- [08:14]
Stacy Sims
Yeah. So when we're looking at how women age, most of the research, if not all of it, does not take into account perimenopause into menopause, the whole transition. And we see every system of the body is affected. On the outside, you're seeing skin and hair changes. Right. And we're also seeing body composition changes that look very apparent, which is why women are like, why am I putting on so much belly fat?
- [08:38]
Reshma Sajani
Yeah. Like I can remember from a time I turned 43 to 45, like literally a physical change in my body.
- [08:45]
Stacy Sims
Yeah. And we know this from anecdotal stories and all of us talking. And then when you go to present the research, it's not done on active women, it's done on sedentary women, the general pop. So people are like, oh, oh, well, it's just because they stop moving so much because they're getting older. It's like, well, actually, no, we see a change in muscle quality. We see one of the first things that go is people's power and their strength. So if you're not feeling good, of course you're not going to move so much. But if we are looking at, how do we attenuate that? By implementing certain strategies, like putting in strength training so we don't lose the muscle quality or we're looking at doing some impact. So we are maintaining bone quality and we are reducing joint injury. If we're looking at women in their 40s, in through their mid-50s, and saying, okay, this 15 year span is a time where we really need to look at aging and perimenopause and what are our strategies, then we're setting ourselves up really well for 55, 60, 65, 70, where men don't have to start worrying about that until they're in their 60s. But when you start to argue that point.
- [09:52]
Reshma Sajani
So like, nothing changes in their body at all?
- [09:55]
Stacy Sims
Not really, they'll start to lose some muscle mass and some strength and they'll start to put on some more visceral fat, especially if they're drinking, but not nearly at the rate of change that women have. So when you present this to people who are in the aging research, like, nah, it's just age. I was like, but you can't say that all of this happens in such a short period of time for women. And it's just age related. So there is that conversation that still needs to be had that aging for men is different than aging for women. If we want to age and not get old, we had to put these strategies in earlier in women than we do in men.
- [10:32]
Reshma Sajani
I want to talk about that. What are some of those best practices? So like if you're listening right now and you're like 38, 39, right. You're before that, that 45 year old cliff call it, how can you prep your body before menopause? Like what are the things that if you knew now, or maybe you did know then, like you would do, I.
- [10:50]
Stacy Sims
Might have known it, but I didn't start implementing it until I got to the situation and I was like, oh, okay, got it.
- [10:56]
Reshma Sajani
Now you're like, here it is, here it is. Belly fat.
- [11:03]
Stacy Sims
So I think I always look at it as like there's. There's four key things that women really need to be aware of. We think about our mindfulness and our ability to engage in socio cultural constructs and understand what is a trend and what is not really a trend and what is affecting us from a negative standpoint and what is affecting us in a positive standpoint. So we have a really good handle on who we are in our community and how we're giving back. Because if we're always reactive, then we're not ever able, able to have a mindfulness and be able to relax. And I think this is a massive problem right now across all age groups. But it's really particularly important for women who are in their late 30s, early 40s to get a handle on that. Because we see changes in mood and anxiety issues that come with early perimenopause, like the onset of perimenopause. So understanding that we need to put some mindfulness practice in and be able to remove ourselves from that day to day stigma that causes the comparison and causes the stress that we can't do anything about. I often put guilt in that. Like I'm guilty of having guilt, right? I think we all are. But when we think about it, definitely it's like guilt is an emotion that only breaks us down. So we have to be able to take a removal step. So if we're able to put some of those mindfulness practices in, then it feeds forward into things like better sleep. We see that sleep is very, very important, but it becomes very fleeting when we get into perimenopause, especially later perimenopause.
- [12:38]
Reshma Sajani
You don't have to tell me.
- [12:39]
Stacy Sims
Yeah, I know we're waking up in the middle of the night going what? My brain's going around. So if we're doing things beforehand, maybe understanding mindfulness practices or some cognitive behavior therapy to retrain our brain how to sleep, which is very effective. Instead of taking sleep meds, then when we get into the situation where we are waking up in our brain churning and we can't get good sleep, then we have the tools to put into practice early. And instead of waiting until we get to a point where we absolutely can't sleep.
- [13:10]
Reshma Sajani
So, Stacy, what is a mindfulness tactic that has worked for you or that you've seen people use?
- [13:16]
Stacy Sims
I mean, it's everything from breath work. And we see a lot of people are, let's do box breathing. Let's really take a step away meditation. Some people are like, I just need to go for a walk outside with no noise, no music, no traffic. For me personally, it's getting up before anyone else in the house and going outside and having a cup of coffee without any noise, no conversation, no voices, nothing like that. Just to be able to, like, take that breath with no stimulation. So it's really what works for you. But there are so many different ways of doing it.
- [13:55]
Reshma Sajani
Yeah. One of the things that's worked for me is also, like, when I go to bed at night, I just, I review the past day. Right. So then it's like I've processed all the thoughts and all the things that have happened to me, and I feel like I can go to sleep a little bit with my mind clear.
- [14:11]
Stacy Sims
Yes. And I've gotten into the habit of writing down the sticky points of the day. It used to work for me where I could just walk away, but now I like, write the sticky points and then they stick with me. And so when I go to bed, that note is like, right in front of me. So I have to say, okay, I have to visualize tearing up the note and like, letting it fly away. Otherwise all those things are going to, like, be in my brain when I wake up in the middle of the night. So things change. Right. So your strategies also change with the times. And then when we get into that aspect and then we get into having a handle on sleep, we can review the other real important things. And that's physical activity and nutrition. And they're very polarizing. Both of those two can be polarizing from all the conversation in social media and challenging what we thought was the gold standard when reality is, it's been generalized from male bodies.
- [15:25]
Reshma Sajani
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- [16:52]
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- [18:07]
Reshma Sajani
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- [19:24]
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- [20:06]
Reshma Sajani
I want to talk about culture because we talked about the role of like science. But culture plays a big role too. So like we both grew up in the 80s and 90s and remember it was all about cardio. I remember seeing Olivia Newton John with her step aerobics, right? And so I grew up doing cardio, right? And I remember I was always kind of like culturally turned off of weights because there's this fear of bulking up, right? What do you think the consequences of that are now?
- [20:34]
Stacy Sims
Oh my gosh I see it in DEXA so much now because I work with a company that one of the intakes is with Dexa. And when I take on people, I want them to have a dexa.
- [20:44]
Reshma Sajani
What's a Dexa? Sorry.
- [20:46]
Stacy Sims
DEXA is a bone mineral density scan. So it's a total body like. Like checking out bone density and body composition.
- [20:52]
Reshma Sajani
Okay.
- [20:53]
Stacy Sims
So I'm seeing that in our age group, you know, late 40s, upward, there is a significant loss in bone mineral density. So that means that the bones aren't strong, but also an increase in that visceral fat. So that means that the fat has shifted, and it's around the organs. And on the outside, the women look super fit and thin, but on the inside, their bones are like chalk, and they have a high amount of metabolically active stored fat that is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. So it's like, okay, on the outside, this cardio culture has really pushed women into thinking they have to look a certain way. And Kate Moss and all those supermodels, right?
- [21:38]
Reshma Sajani
Yes. Heroin chic.
- [21:40]
Stacy Sims
That's right.
- [21:41]
Reshma Sajani
It's still in right now because.
- [21:42]
Stacy Sims
Yeah, now we have the Ozempic craze that is. Is reinvigorating the ballerina figure and. Yeah. And the cheekbones and everything. So, yeah, it's. Yeah, it's a problem.
- [21:55]
Reshma Sajani
So, like, resistance training helps with, basically, bone density, everything. So what exactly is resistance training? Like, what type of workouts does it consist of?
- [22:08]
Stacy Sims
The basic idea of resistance training is pushing and pulling a load that is against your body weight. Because we don't. I was at a conference, and one of my friends was. Was giving a keynote, and he goes, we are in a situation right now that is exactly what our bodies do not need. We are sitting down in a comfortable environment. So that means we're not moving. We're not challenging our body at all. It's just there, and the body's like, what's going on? Then there are nibbles for us to have when we're not hungry, so we're not in tune to our hunger. And then there's people with water bottles all the time who are sipping, sipping, sipping, and don't have the opportunity to understand what it means to be thirsty. And that's the situation we're in all of the time. Right. We sit in these comfortable environments and never have a challenge. So part of that is resistance training. Like, when you get up from your chair to stand, that's a little bit of resistance training. That's a test. Sit to stand. But when you're standing and you're pushing up from your chair and you're aiding yourself to get up, that's reducing the load. So we have to look at, if we are in our 50s, sure, no big deal, we can get up. But when our 80s, if we have to push off the chair handles to get up, that's a problem. So when we talk about resistance training, it's how are we challenging our body with some kind of load every day to just keep improving and keep telling the body, here's a challenge, let's overcome it. Because we have to do that. Especially when we are looking at how our society is now and how we are designing ourselves to be in a lazy environment. Environment.
- [23:44]
Reshma Sajani
That's right. Is there anything you would recommend for the people that are listening if they are in a job where they're sitting most of the day to do some of that resistance training while they're sitting in their seats at work?
- [23:56]
Stacy Sims
Yeah, we look at isometric work like isometric training has come back. And it's really interesting when we're seeing isometric hold. So if you're at your keyboard and you're in front of your computer and you find yourself slouching, it's okay, let's pull our shoulders back upright, pull our bellies in. Maybe we squeeze our butt and we hold that, and we try to hold that for a minute and then maybe two minutes and then you relax. And then you can do single foot isometric hold. So you're pushing down on one foot and so you're activating all the way through the glute, the heel through the calf. So you can do these isometric holds. That is a challenge to the body and it also helps with blood flow. So you're not going to get the pooling. Of course, if you can get up and walk around. Cause one posture is in good stuff. Standing up all day isn't good. Sitting down all day isn't any good. So you have the opportunity, if you stand up so that you can do single leg stand on each side. Right. So you're balancing, you're using isometric holds. So don't be afraid of not doing a typical concentric eccentric. So think about a bicep curl. Up, down, up, down. If you're doing isometric holds throughout the day, that's also beneficial.
- [25:02]
Reshma Sajani
Got it. Okay. What type of workouts should women over the age of 40 focus on? So I was thinking about you this morning because I know you said, like, I love a Barry's Boot Camp and those classes where you go in and you, you know, you get your energy level and I walk out and I'm drained. Right. That's what I've been doing since I was like in my twenties. Today I did an hour and a half tennis clinic, but I did it with a bunch of 60 year olds. So I felt like maybe that was right because. But one of the things you said right, is like you're kind of not supposed to do those anymore, right? Like those aren't the best workouts for you at this age. Tell me more.
- [25:41]
Stacy Sims
Yeah, we've been conditioned to feel that we have to be smashed when we come out of a workout. We have to be a big sweaty mess and completely drained. And the fitness industry is kind of geared that. And we see that women in their early to mid-40s have a lot of buying power, but also at this point where our bodies are changing so much, so the fitness industry has grown, grabbed onto that and said, okay, these are the things we're going to do. Because we hear that, you know, some resistance training is great and some cardio is great. Let's combine them, let's make this class. It's going to make you burn and it gets smashed. And the reality of it is it doesn't really do much. It's great for community and culture and having to show up and own it, that's fantastic. But we have to think about what are we doing to our bodies when we go into this kind of intense, but not high enough intensity to invoke change. And, and it's definitely making us feel smashed. In the high performance world, we call that the gray zone, where it's too hard to be easy for any kind of recovery benefit or mental benefit and it's way too easy to be hard to cause adaptations that we want. So we try not to have our athletes stay in that gray zone unless their race capacity has to be in that gray zone. So for endurance. So when we look at that and we pull it into general population, especially when women who are at this time in our lives where our bodies are highly stressed from hormonal perturbations, plus all the things that we have with being parents, either young or teenagers, maybe we have older parents that are of a worry. We're at a point in our career where things are highly stressful and we have an increase in our sympathetic drive. So that's that tired but wired state. We try to go use exercise to kind of decompress and people are like, it's my stress release. But that kind of exercise just adds to that Sympathetic athletic drive.
- [27:42]
Reshma Sajani
So what am I supposed to do then? What's my workout?
- [27:45]
Stacy Sims
So if you love the Barry's boot camps and you love the Orange theories and the F45s, you love these group workout classes. I always tell women, remember, you are paying to be there. So you want that class to work for you. So you have to make a decision how you wake up. You go, how do I feel today? I feel a bit flat. I don't have much energy, but I'm going to go to this class because I always go and I see my friends. So then you just use that class as movement, right? You're just going to move through it all. Get your heart rate up. Don't really hit it too hard. Just use it for movement and community. But if you wake up and you go, I feel like I'm on fire today. I want to go, I have all this angst and I want to get into this class. Then on the interval parts, go hard, go super hard. Try to hit a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. But then you want to recover. So when they're having the high reps and you're having all these high kicks and all these things that you're supposed to be doing, it's like, okay, I can hold that for a minute or two minutes, but then I'm gonna actually take a minute and just really bring my heart rate down. So the next time we have to go into another interval, I can hit it harder. So you can make that class work for you.
- [28:50]
Reshma Sajani
So, Stacy, I work out a lot, so I wanna tell you what I typically do, right? I'll do two days of working out with my trainer. So we're just doing weights one day arms, one day legs. I'll do one day of tennis, I'll do one day of Pilates, and then I'll do one day of some sort of cardio. What am I missing?
- [29:11]
Stacy Sims
Mobility, balance, proprioception and jump training.
- [29:15]
Reshma Sajani
Okay, where do I find that?
- [29:17]
Stacy Sims
Well, you can work it in with your trainer. Because if you're like, okay, I have a trainer, and I need to really start working on mobility, so I want to get in range of motion. So this isn't stretching. This is actually like using big resistance bands to kind of distract the joints to be able to get into better range of motion. You can use that into a warmup. So if you're going to do heavy squats, you want to get into the hip capsule and open it up. You want to get into the knee and you want to open it up. So that you can get full range of motion and you're not going to injure yourself. As well as being able to stimulate the joint and joint capsule so that you're reducing the risk of the joint injuries that we see. When we get into perimenopause, we look at proprioception. So if you're looking at squats, maybe you're instead of just doing our heavy squats, we're doing some contrast training. So this is heavy squat into some plyometric work. So you're taking some of that heavy movement and putting into fast twitch. So that really stimulates proprioception. So you have to work with your trainer on that. Jump training, this anybody can do. We look at it as low jumps. So maybe a couple of inches where you're landing hard flat footed so you're absorbing the impact in your bones and not how we've been taught through our muscles.
- [30:39]
Reshma Sajani
And that's not bad, bad for your knees or is it?
- [30:42]
Stacy Sims
It's not, no, no. People are like, oh, I can't do that because it hurts my knees. It's like what, you know, a couple of inches of a jump isn't. We're not saying jump off a high stair or do a box jump. We're looking at absorbing that impact in our skeleton. So Maybe it's not 2 inches, maybe it's just an inch. We don't want to invoke pain, but we want to have a really hard ground reactive force through the skeletal system so that we can maintain a stimulus for bone density.
- [31:09]
Reshma Sajani
So if someone's listening right now and they're like, okay, I'm not doing nothing, like I'm, maybe I'm going to the gym jumping on elliptical. But how does someone start and they're just intimidated by it. What would you say?
- [31:22]
Stacy Sims
I tell women that the bedrock of anything is, is strength training. So if you have no history in strength training whatsoever and you're intimidated to go to the gym and start strength training, then we can start at home. Home. Like there are several different really fantastic programs that you can get online that start with body weight and movement. So you're learning how to move under some load. And as you're learning that and you're learning the range of motion and then you're learning what it means to add load, that's all resistance training. Because you know, I'm on one end where I'm talking about lifting heavy and doing plyos. But I've been in this world for many, many years and it's taken a very long time to learn proper how to do that without getting injured. So if you're someone who's sitting on the couch and you're like, oh, how do I get started? Don't have the eye to going to the very extreme end of lifting heavy and plyo work. Let's first start with how are we moving? How are we squatting? How are we putting a backpack with some canned goods in it to add a little bit of load? Or maybe I am holding my squirmy little two year old in the front and doing some front squats, right? So there's ways of moving with a little bit of load and as you get comfortable under load, that's when you can start gravitating a little bit more to dumbbells and kettlebells and then you can get into barbell work. So it is a journey.
- [33:02]
Reshma Sajani
I didn't start investing until a lot later in my life and I wish I had known back then what I know now. Knowing what to invest in and navigating the complicated financial world can be hard, but you're not alone. Acorns makes investing easy and accessible Today's episode is sponsored by Acorns. Acorns is a financial wellness app that makes it easy to start saving and investing for your future. Future you don't need to be rich. Acorns lets you get started with the spare money you got right now, even if all you got is spare change. And you don't need to be worried about being an expert. Acorns recommends a diversified portfolio that can help you weather all of the market's ups and downs. You just need to stick with it. And Acorns makes that easy too. Acorns automatically invest your money, giving it a chance to grow with time. I didn't like talking about finances. I thought I'd let other people decide for me, like my husband or parents. But Acorns makes me feel empowered about my finances. The app is very user friendly and makes it easy to track all of my finances and investments in one location. It was truly a game changer for me. Sign up now and join over 14 million all time customers who have already saved and invested over $25 billion with Acorns. Head to acorns.com midlife or download the Acorns app to get started. Paid client endorsement compensation provides incentive to Positively promote Acorns Tier 1 compensation provided investing involves risk. Acorns Advisors LLC and SEC registered investment advis. View important disclosures@acorns.com Midlife have you ever been to a therapist who only has openings in the middle of your workday or a primary care doctor with a literal six month wait to get in for a visit. Well, I'm here to tell you that you don't have to settle anymore when it comes to finding the right doctor. With Zocdoc, you got options. ZocDoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare high quality in network doctors and click to instantly book an appointment. Appointment we're talking about booking in network appointments with more than 100,000 doctors across every specialty from mental health to dental health, primary care to urgent care, and more. You can filter for doctors who take your insurance, are located nearby, are a good fit for any medical need you have, and are highly rated by verified patients. Once you find the right doctor, you can see their actual appointment openings. Choose a time slot that works for you and click to instantly book a visit. As a midlifer, I want to stay up to date with my preventative care, so finding a primary care doctor that works with my schedule and does have a six month wait list is essential. With Zocdoc, I was able to find the perfect primary doctor within my neighborhood and it's easy to make same day appointments. Zocdoc makes taking care of yourself so easy. Stop putting off those doctor's appointments and go to Zocdoc.com midlife to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's Zocdoc.com midlife Zocdoc.com midlife life I'm.
- [35:52]
Hasan Minhaj
Hasan Minhaj and I have been lying to you. I only pretended to be a comedian so I could trick important people into coming on my podcast. Hasan Minhaj doesn't know to ask them the tough questions that real journalists are way too afraid to ask. People like Senator Elizabeth Warren. Is America too dumb for democracy? Outrageous parenting expert Dr. Becky how do you skip consequences without raising a sight a path?
- [36:17]
Stacy Sims
It's a good question.
- [36:18]
Hasan Minhaj
Listen to Hasan Minhaj doesn't know from Lemonada Media Wherever you get your podcasts.
- [36:23]
Reshma Sajani
Other People's Problems was the first podcast to take you inside real life therapy sessions. I'm Dr. Hilary McBride and again, we're doing something new. The ketamine really broke down a lot of my barriers.
- [36:37]
Stacy Sims
This work has this sort of immediate transformational effect.
- [36:42]
Reshma Sajani
Therapy using psychedelics is the new frontier in mental health. Come along for the trip.
- [36:48]
Megan
Other People's Problems, Season 5 available now.
- [37:04]
Reshma Sajani
Okay, I want to talk about food and nutrition.
- [37:06]
Stacy Sims
Yeah.
- [37:07]
Reshma Sajani
So what are the three things that you would want women admitted Life to Focus on when it comes to their nutrition.
- [37:13]
Stacy Sims
Very first is circadian rhythm. So I know that's a weird thing to put in nutrition, but.
- [37:19]
Reshma Sajani
Yeah, tell me.
- [37:20]
Stacy Sims
Yeah, so we look at a lot of the chronobiology work, and we see that all of our cells have its own circadian rhythm. So that's our 24 and a half hour cycle, as well as whole body. And the way that it can get reset is through light and dark and food and intake. So if we are delaying food and our body has seen light but we haven't had any food, there's a misstep in our circadian rhythm and we start to have issues sleeping, we start to have issues with our appetite hormones. We start to have issues with our normal hormone pulses. And this includes our natural rise of cortisol and our drop of cortisol, our testosterone, our estrogen. All of our hormones that are involved in the endocrine system have their own kind of daily pulse that we see in response. So when it comes to nutrition, I really, really want women to understand. You want to fuel during the day for the stress that your body's encountering. So that could be just normal life stress where you're like, okay, I got to get up and have a busy day. I've got to get the kids out the door. I've got to get to these meetings. I've got to do this xyz. So you want to fuel for that because your body's using energy. If you're adding training in as well, you want to fuel for the training and you want to recover afterwards. I know that I've gotten slammed recently for talking about women shouldn't fast, but there's a rationale behind it. Because if we're talking about fasting in general, what are we looking for? Like, what are the nuances that people are so attached to? Fasting, it's body composition change, and it's for autophagy and longevity. Well, we see that exercise is a stronger stress for autophagy or stronger stimulus for autophagy. We see that exercise also is one of the keys to aging. Well, and then when we talk about fasting for body composition change, the research shows that in women, if you do a training session fasted, you actually have a higher hunger and move less later in the day because your body is stressed from no food. But if you have a little bit of food beforehand, you can hit the intensities you need to, and it feeds forward to more fat burning at rest, a better hold on your appetite hormones, and you actually have more energy to hit all of the nuances of movement throughout the day. So that's why I'm like, circadian rhythm. We want to work and fuel appropriately for the stress. Now, how we fuel, that's a whole other cultural kettle of fish.
- [39:57]
Reshma Sajani
Do you want to try to get into it a little bit?
- [39:59]
Stacy Sims
We can put parameters on it. Yeah, this is a parameter. So as we get older, both men and women become more anabolically resistant. So that means we don't respond as well to protein and resistance training. For women, we see that again in the perimenopausal into postmenopause transition. For men, it's a little bit older. So women need to put a precedence on protein. So we know that the research is looking, with really good nitrogen studies and looking. Looking at actual tracing of amino acids that active women need at least 0.8 grams per pound of body weight, ideally 1 gram per pound of body weight. As we get older and into training blocks and looking at higher stress and the fact that our body needs more protein to induce lean mass, we're looking more of that 1.1 gram per pound of body weight, or around that per pound. Yeah, 2.2 grams per kilo. And it doesn't have to be one big whack. We can look at every eating opportunity we have adding a little protein. So people are like, whoa, I have to have 150 grams of protein a day? How do I get that in? It's not about having a big lump of meat on your plate. It's like, okay, well, what am I having for breakfast that has some protein in it? We have some chia. We have some oats, we have some yogurt, we have some nuts. We have some whole grain toast with all of that. All that has protein in it. At lunch, we look at multi colorful fruit and veg, and then we have some lean protein dinner. The same thing. We want to try to get about a palm and a half size or, you know, a cup of different kind of legumes with that palm and a half size of lean protein. So that gives you 35 to 40 grams at each meal and then having about. You got it, 15 grams at each snack. So every eating opportunity have a little bit of protein. And that is how we really try to increase the protein intake through women. And then the other thing that we want to do is take care of our gut microbiome. So you're reaching for colorful fruit and veg, fibrous foods at all your eating opportunities. So if you're thinking about what am I going to eat? Just keep those two things in your head, fiber and protein. And then that kind of follows with not having exclusivity to your diet, gives you more flexibility in the food choices that you have to fit in with where you are with your family or the culture within which you are circulating.
- [42:32]
Reshma Sajani
This was a game changer for me, Stacy, because I listened to one of your podcasts, and what I would do is I'd wake up in the morning, I'd have some water, a cup of coffee, and I hit the gym, and I'd be exhausted. And I know, I know. You're like, oh, God, we've all done it.
- [42:47]
Stacy Sims
We've all done it.
- [42:49]
Reshma Sajani
I know. But I think a lot of people listening to this show probably do it, right? Because for I. Again, going back to culture, be on an empty stomach, you'll burn more calories. Right. Literally. I feel like that's what I was told. So what I did, what you said to do, put a little protein powder in my coffee in the morning right before I go to the gym. And then the other thing that you said, which I think is really important for everybody who's listening, is to eat within 45 minutes after you finish your workout. Yeah, right. That. That's really important to build that lean mass. Why is that important for women?
- [43:20]
Stacy Sims
Yeah, it's more nuanced than just protein intake and muscle protein synthesis, because if we're looking in that siloed approach, you have up to four hours for really instigating and still having the signal for it. But for women, we have to look at how fast we return to baseline, meaning our blood sugar comes back down, and that's within 45 to 60 minutes. So we're losing the opportunity to refuel our liver and our muscle. We also have to think about the hypothalamus, which is the central region in our brain that's responsible for understanding our circadian rhythm, temperature control, hormonal control. And if it doesn't get food after a big stress of exercise, it's like, oh, wait a second, I need some nutrition, and there isn't any. Are we in a famine situation? I better start conserving. So for women, it's more than just muscle protein synthesis. It's also the signals from the hypothalamus to regulating all the other systems in the body. If we give it a little bit of food, not only are we protecting our endocrine system, including our immunity and our thyroid and all of the things that come with being healthy, but we're Also able to build the muscle and signal to the body that we're not in a famine state, which is how we get body composition change.
- [44:42]
Reshma Sajani
Got it. I want to ask you, is it true that your metabolism goes down the older you get, or is that another lie?
- [44:49]
Stacy Sims
There's mixed evidence in that. So we see part of the downturn is because people don't move as much. So they're talking about how your metabolism turns down. But that's because we're losing lean mass. And lean mass is both bone and muscle. So we're having a downturn in the amount of energy that our body needs because we're losing more and more high energetic tissue. When we're looking from, like, a resting metabolic state, it is the same thing. Right. We're losing lean mass. When we're looking at thyroid and thyroid function, we start to have a little bit of a downturn. So people associate that with a downturn in metabolism. But if we're taking care of ourselves and we are keeping lean mass or building lean mass, that's bone and muscle, and we're not having perturbation in our thyroid because we are eating when we need to, we don't see as much of an impact. So, yeah, we can say that it's an aging factor, but it's not a definitive factor.
- [45:46]
Reshma Sajani
Yeah, it can be counterbalanced. Okay, so what's your final Advice? I'm turning 50 this year, and my goal is to be the strongest I've ever been, to feel, like, the best, to have my body just be. And. And I'm not gonna lie, it's hard. Like. So I'll give you an example. Like, I started this year, and I said, all right, I'm gonna do Pilates. And I started doing Pilates. And the combination of having a new puppy and my baby sleeping on my arm and then doing a new workout, before I knew it, right? My back was out, and my entire right side of my body felt like I. I just like, every time I feel like when you're older, it's like our bodies punish us a little bit.
- [46:28]
Stacy Sims
Yes.
- [46:30]
Reshma Sajani
You're smiling. You know what I'm talking about, right? And so then I feel like it's like, you know, it's useless. Like, it's not gonna happen. I'm not gonna. I'm not. So give me some hope.
- [46:39]
Stacy Sims
Yeah, no, there is hope, but we have to allow ourselves a bit of a fudge factor. Like, I joke around. I'm like, yeah, I'm 51, so that means that I spend more time mobilizing and warming up. But I feel like I'm always fighting off an injury. Like right now I have a torn hamstring and a torn meniscus. Why? Because I thought it was going to be strong enough to do a competition when I hadn't actually been training that well for it. When 10 years ago I could have gotten away with it now? No. So you have to give yourself permission to kind of assess how you are in the day. So today I woke up and I was like, oh, I just. Just really need to get rid of this energy. But then I started moving like, oh, my God. I can't do any high intensity. I'm just gonna go do some strength. That's great. So you have to give yourself that kind of permission to know that there are days where, yeah, you can push hard, but there are days where you really have to listen. Whereas 10 years ago, you could have pushed through, it, can't do that now. And know that when you start looking at doing something new, stop before it's painful. Like, we don't. Like, our generation has been conditioned to no pain, no gain. Let's push, push, push, push, push. But when we're at this point, when our bodies are on the cusp of not being as resilient as we want it to be, it's better to stop before you hit that line of I'm exhausted, or stop before you hit that line of pain. Not all the time, but for the most part, give yourself permission to not really push as hard as you would have 10 years ago, because then you can be consistent. Because being consistent is really key for any kind of progress. Because if we push too hard, we get injured, then we're out. And it takes a long time to recover from an injury. So our consistency is down. So it's being consistent. Consistent. And how are we going to be consistent? By listening to what our bodies are telling us.
- [48:24]
Reshma Sajani
I love that. I love that because I'll be honest, like, I don't listen to my body. I'm like, it's on my calendar. I'm supposed to go to the gym and work out today. And I just. I don't. And I think what you're saying is so important and so profound and I think something that we deserve.
- [48:38]
Stacy Sims
Yeah, exactly. So even if it is on your calendar, like, I block in wellness meetings, so I can go to the gym, see friends, get a workout. But if I front up, I'm like, I'm really tired. Like, today, I'm like, I just can't do this workout that we had planned to do. I'm just gonna do strength training and my friends are like, great, I'll do some strength training and then I'll finish with this part and you can join us in this high intensity or not. So we had our moments together where we're like, yeah, okay, we're pushing the strength training. And then they went off and did the finisher of high intensity. I'm like, I'm not. I can't do it. But that wellness meeting stayed on the calendar. I went, I showed up and I did what my body needed to do. So if you know that you have to go to the gym on that day, you go and you go to the gym and go. On a scale of one to physically today, I'm about a three. Mentally, I might be a two. Let's warm up and see if any of those change. If they don't change, then you modify your workout to work how your body wants you to do on that day.
- [49:33]
Reshma Sajani
Or you have a solo dance party by yourself.
- [49:35]
Stacy Sims
That's right. I love that.
- [49:37]
Reshma Sajani
And you moved.
- [49:38]
Stacy Sims
That's right. Absolutely.
- [49:40]
Reshma Sajani
That's right. Because you moved. Yeah, because you moved. And it's a win. And it's a win. And take the win. This was so great. Thank you so much, Stacey.
- [49:47]
Stacy Sims
You're welcome.
- [50:01]
Reshma Sajani
Thank you so much, Stacey, for joining us today. Check her out at Dr. Stacy Sims on Instagram for more tips, recipes and motivation. Like, she's my new obsession. One last thing. Thank you for listening to my so called Midlife. If you haven't yet, now's a great time to subscribe to Lemonada Premium. You're going to get bonus content like Brooke Shields talking about her experience with postpartum depression. Just hit the subscribe button on Apple Podcast or for all other podcast apps, head to lemonadapremium.com to subscribe. That's lemonadapremium.com thanks and we'll be back next week. I'm your host Reshma Sajani. Our associate producer is Isara Acevez and our senior producer is Chrissy Pease. This series is sound designed by Ivan Kurayev. Ivan also composed our theme music and performed it with Ryan Jewell and Karen Waltock. Our VP of new content is Rachel Neal. Special thanks to our development team, Oja Lopez, Jamie Mila, Zara Williams and Alex McGowan. Executive producers include me, Reshma Sajani, Stephanie Whittles Wax and Jessica Cordova. Kramer. Series consulting and production support from Katie Cordova. Help others find our show by leaving a rating and writing a review. And let us know how you're doing in Midlife. You can submit your story to be included in this show@speakpipe.com midlife follow my social media club Midlife wherever you get your podcast or listen ad free on Amazon Music with your prime membership. Thanks so much for listening. See you next week. Bye.
- [51:54]
Gloria Rivera
Parents. We know the child care crisis is not just another headline. It's a daily struggle playing out in millions of homes across this country. I'm Gloria Rivera and this is no One Is Coming to Save Us this season. We're demanding a child care system that actually works for kids, parents and educators.
- [52:14]
Reshma Sajani
We mean free birth to five, full.
- [52:16]
Gloria Rivera
Day nearby, easy to apply. No one is coming to Save Us Season 5 from Lemonada Media, out now.
- [52:28]
Reshma Sajani
Hi, I'm Emily Deschanel.
- [52:30]
Gloria Rivera
And I'm Carla Gallo. And we're here to bring you Boneheads.
- [52:33]
Reshma Sajani
The official Bones Rewatch podcast.
- [52:35]
Gloria Rivera
That's right, we're watching all the episodes of Bones, starting with episode one and we are the right people to do it.
- [52:41]
Reshma Sajani
I play Dr. Temperance Bradnon and I met Carla 16 years ago on set.
- [52:46]
Gloria Rivera
I played Daisy Wick.
- [52:47]
Reshma Sajani
Tune in every Wednesday to hear all our behind the scenes stories, conversations with cast and crew, and our favorite moments.
- [52:53]
Gloria Rivera
Boneheads from Lemonada Media is out wherever you get your podcasts.