← The Thyroid (and Hormone) Fixer Podcast: Thyropause, Menopause, Metabolism and How to Fix It
The Thyroid (and Hormone) Fixer Podcast: Thyropause, Menopause, Metabolism and How to Fix It
553. What You're Doing To Destroy Your Body in Midlife
00:52:17
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to the Thyroid Fixer Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Amy, and we're diving deep into the world of hormones, especially for all you fierce women in perimenopause and menopause and anyone dealing with hypothyroidism. If you're struggling with weight gain, you feel like shedding those pounds is an impossible feat. If you're dealing with plummeting energy levels, gut wrenching fatigue, or a libido that seems to have left town, then you're in the right place. And don't even get me started on the hair loss if these symptoms are sounding all too familiar. You sound you're vibe welcome. Because my goal is to educate, empower and shake up your world, I want you to embrace every inch of that badass woman that you truly are. So if you're ready to dive in and fix things, let's get started. Let's talk about something that's been part of my daily health routine for a while now and honestly, I'm not letting it go anytime soon. Kion Aminos as someone who's consistent with training, I eat clean. I'm always looking for ways to optimize my energy, my recovery, definitely my performance. This is one of the few things that I always keep in my stack. I've been using essential amino acids for a long time now and they're a complete non negotiable in my routine. It's one of the easiest things I do every day to support my muscle, my energy, my long term health. So here's exactly what I do every morning before I hit the gym. Mix a scoop of Kion Aminos into a water bottle. Shake it up, drink it down. That's it. No weird fillers, no sugar, no heavy bloated protein shakes before and then I drink it throughout the entire day cuz I love how it tastes and how it flavors my water. Kean aminos are actually six times more effective than whey protein which is wild and they're so much easier on your body. I feel more fueled, I recover faster, I can push harder without feeling worn out later. And yes I still eat plenty of protein and I still do protein shakes. But this is different. It feeds your body with amino acids all day long. On top of that Kion just does it right. Their products are third party tested non GMO vegan. Did I mention the taste? So my obsession, my go to flavor right now is mixed berry. But if you're on the flavored drinks they also offer it in capsule form. But what I love is that it it's just not about a quick fix. It's about giving your body what it needs. Those beautiful amino acids for your muscles, for your hair to just keep going. So if you're already putting in the work, you want to keep showing up at your best. You want to keep working out, you want gorgeous hair, you want beautiful skin. Kean aminos are a hundred percent worth adding to your routine. You can save 20% with my link. No code needed. Just go to getkeon.com forward/thyroid. That's G-E-T K-I-O-N.com forward/T H, Y R O I D. And you'll get your discount. They have a 60 day money back guarantee, so you have nothing to lose by trying it. You have questions about your thyroid, about your labs, what they mean. What about your hormones? What about insulin? Why are you gaining weight? Why are you so tired? Why are you losing your hair? Why won't my doctor listen to me? Why won't my doctor test these things? All of these questions that you have running around in your brain and you know that if you just had the answers that that could push you over the edge into optimal health, that you could be that badass human that you are meant to be. Well, I got you covered there because I am going live every single week in the just fix your thyroid Facebook group. That is my Facebook group. A beautiful community just filled with amazing people. Where I am in there, my nurse practitioners are in there, my health coaches are in there, there are patients in there that have been with me for so long, they're experts in their own right and they answer just the way that I would. So we have you completely covered in this group. So not only can you post your question every single day, every single hour, if you want, you can mark your calendars for our weekly live Q and A sessions where you get to ask your question to me and I'm going to answer it live on air. And not only that, we are doing product giveaways. We're doing working with our team giveaways. You're going to want to be in there and actually be live on that call. If you're at work, go into the closet, Just shut the door. Take minutes for yourself, take a half an hour for yourself, take an hour for yourself so that you can get the information that you need to bring yourself into optimization land where you're not looking sideways at a brownie and gaining weight at the same time, where you can feel amazing every single day. Because that's my goal. For you. You know that I love, love, love to answer your questions and this is the place where you can get them answered live. Carol, thank you so much for jumping on and welcome to the Thyroid Fixer Podcast. Excited today to talk to you about really all things, we'll say nutrition, but nutrition also includes liquid, I eat alcohol. What we put into our bodies really in, in perimenopause and menopause, which is the majority of my audience. You young kiddos in your 20s and 30s, this is going to benefit you as well. So don't tune out just because I say perimenopause and menopause. I want you all to listen, but the reality is, is that our bodies start to change in our 40s, 50s and beyond. And so for my 20 and 30 year old listeners, this is information that I wish I knew in my 20s and 30s. Now, would I have listened to it? I'm not sure, but at least I could say that somebody told me and that maybe I could start making some changes now so that when I get into midlife, when I start to experience those hormonal shifts that occur in perimenopause and menopause, maybe I could get through it better, maybe I could feel better, maybe I could keep off the weight, maybe I could keep my brain functioning. Maybe I could do things now that would affect how I feel now for my ladies, in perimenopause and menopause, you can make the changes now. You can still start to shift what you're putting in your mouth and shift how your body responds. So that's what we're going to talk about today with Ms. Carol. Thank you so much for jumping on today, Amy.
- [06:32]
B
Thank you for having me. I'm really looking forward to this conversation.
- [06:37]
A
I mean, your whole business is centered around working really with this population. You talk about exercise, you talk about really forever staying fit. I mean that, that's your brand and that's your belief. It's, it's in your core. So when you are working with a perimenopausal, menopausal woman, let's just say a, a woman over the age of 40, we'll just categorize it like that. What are some of the key nutritional factors that you see that women are, are missing or leaving out? I want to start there and then we'll kind of get into, you know, wonky diets that they're trying and, and just crazy stuff they're doing to their body that is not helping.
- [07:17]
B
Absolutely. So the first thing that I see, and you probably See this as well is a lack of adequate quality protein, and that's number one. And, and really, I, I run into this all the time where women are eating maybe, I don't know, 30 or 40 grams a day. And of course they're not seeing the results. So even if they're working out hard, they're not seeing those results because they're not supporting the lean muscle mass with adequate protein. So that's going to be number one. And then also the choice of carbohydrates and fats. So neither one is an issue. I really, not for any extremes. I believe that carbohydrates really can help us with our energy levels. It's our, you know, primary source of energy that our body reaches for when we work out. But oftentimes women have the balance of macronutrients. Really, I don't want to use the word incorrect, but it's off balance. So what I'll see is very high carbohydrates or high carbohydrates and fats with very low protein. And the other thing I'll see is the choices of the carbohydrates. So ultra processed, refined fats. We certainly need them, we need them for hormone production, brain health. Absolutely. But I'll often see, once again, maybe those are way too high in relationship to protein or the sources they're choosing are, are not the best ones. So, so those are the three mistakes. And, and then of course, alcohol plays into this as well. I, I think it's something that, and, and I can attest to this. No judgment. I would track my food and often not track those, those glasses of wine. And a pour is, what is it? A restaurant pour is like 5 ounces, I think. But the average person is, you know, maybe like 8, 9, 10 ounces that they're pouring so often. We're drinking more than we realize. And when we're doing that, the body is going to metabolize the alcohol first because it is, it is a toxin. So that means fat burning, processing the other things we've eaten throughout the day, that kind of goes on the back burner while your body attends to this substance. So this can hold us back as well.
- [09:36]
A
Okay, well, I'm, I'm just going to start right with the juicy and we're going to talk about alcohol since you ended with that, because what you just said is amazing. I have said for years to my clients, to my audience that. Exactly that, that your body will literally stop the fat burning process when you drink that one glass of alcohol. Now One thing that we don't know is, does it stop it for five hours? Does it stop it for 24 hours? So the. I mean, you know, these ladies, they're like, I just need my one glass of wine at night to wind down and relax. And so I say to them, I'm like, well, that one glass of wine every night might be sabotaging all of your efforts. So you're getting up, you're busting your ass at the gym, you're tracking your macros, you're packing your food, but you got to have that one glass of alcohol every single night. That can literally be shutting down your progress for maybe 24 hours, maybe 20 hours, maybe 19 hours. I'm sorry, but when I am putting effort in to improve my body composition, that's the last thing I want to do, is throw a monkey wrench in every day. That's going to really derail all of the effort that I just put in. So it's amazing to me. And the other thing I'll say is I would rather have you drink. I mean, ultimately, we. We. We're going to talk about removing alcohol from your life and why, but I would rather have you drink seven glasses of wine one day a week than one glass seven days a week when it comes to fat burning. Now, of course, we know that drinking seven glasses of wine one day a week is also going to be detrimental to your health in a variety of other ways, but when it comes to the fat burning aspect, doing it every day is. Is detrimental.
- [11:20]
B
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I mean, it is linked to. I think it's like six or seven different cancers. It is linked to the shrinking of the brain and dementia, Alzheimer's, things such as that. So aside from the fat burning, we all want to look great. We. We don't want to have that pooch in the belly. And I found that that was always a problem when I drank alcohol. That. The bloating, the. The bloating in the face, the redness. But aside from all of those things, the. What I call more vanity measures, there's what it's doing to our body, and we simply just don't metabolize it as well as we age.
- [11:58]
A
Right, Right, exactly. Well, you and I were talking off air before we jumped on that. We both stopped drinking alcohol. So what was your ultimate. Why? What. What brought you to that place? How much were you drinking before? And then what made you decide to cut it out of your life?
- [12:13]
B
Well, as far as what I was drinking, I would say I was in the daily wind down habit, it would get to be a certain time of day or I'd be cooking, pour a glass of wine. And it is just so easy to go back over and top it off, you don't even realize how much you're having in an evening. And I didn't see it as really a problem because I wasn't stumbling around intoxicated. I wasn't having DUIs. There was no. People often assume when you quit drinking that you have a rock bottom moment, and that's just not the case. It's like the only substance that we have to justify stopping, you know?
- [12:49]
A
Right. Oh my gosh, you are. I, I never even thought about it that way. But you're right. When you tell people that you don't drink, the immediate thought in their mind is, oh, you must be an alcoholic. So that's why you had to stop. Or that you got a DUI or hit a rock bottom. You're right.
- [13:06]
B
I think it's so, so much more nuanced. Yes, people can hit a rock bottom, but I think there's many of us in that kind of gray area where we know it's not good, we know it's not the best habit, but it's, it's like, it's comforting, almost like, oh, you know, the day is winding down. And that was always a signal to me, okay, the day is winding down. Maybe I'll have a glass of champagne, glass of sparkling wine, Prosecco, whatever. So that's where I was at. And then I began to learn the facts. Initially, I had my fingers in my ears, like, la, la, la, la la. I really don't want to hear this. So if I was listening to Huberman and he talked about alcohol, I was like, oh, I'll pick another episode. Because I didn't want to give up my habit. And then I learned my sister had Alzheimer's and she just recently passed from Alzheimer's. And no, I don't, I don't believe alcohol was necessarily a part of why she got that. But it just made me think, why would I do something that is going to put the odds against me? I'm 63, I'm going to be 64 soon. And we already have this, we can have this cognitive decline that occurs as we age. So why would we do things that amplify that? And it really got me thinking. I am a person of faith. So I was like praying about it for several months before I actually did it. We were flying back from Vegas, of all places. And you know how it is Vegas. You're at shows, you're having drinks, whatever. And I thought, I am tired of this. This is it. And I can't explain why, but that was my defining moment. And I went to my husband the next day. I said, I'm not going to drink anymore. I. I think I'm done. And he said, well, I'm done, too. Which shocked me, because I told him, you know what? You do what you have to do. I'm not telling you to stop. I think that's very, very important. Not to go lecture the people in your life. But he came along for the ride. He's lost 20 pounds. He feels great. It's been seven months now, and I just really don't want to go back. I mean, yet. Could I have a drink? Yes, But I'm choosing not to.
- [15:18]
A
Well, for anyone that. And I encourage you to pop over to YouTube to check Carol out, because when she just said her age, my mouth dropped open and I literally looked at her again, like, oh, my God. I had no idea. I would. Girl, I'm looking at you going, maybe, I don't know, 47.
- [15:38]
B
Wow.
- [15:39]
A
But I'm serious. And I know that you just stopped drinking, but kind of back to your comment about the skin. I mean, that's something that you really do notice immediately. So if you stopped in January, I stopped pretty much a year ago. Right now in the summer, I did notice a shift in my skin for sure. Did you. Did you notice that as soon as you pulled out the alcohol, that your skin started shifting a little bit?
- [16:03]
B
Yes. Like, my face wasn't as puffy and. And round, because I already have this very round face with big cheeks, which.
- [16:10]
A
Is youthful, by the way. So that's helping you out. Look 47 when you're 63.
- [16:15]
B
Oh, you're too kind. But I would feel like I looked bloated. My stomach would be bloated. And then that redness, constant redness in the cheeks. And so that is pretty much gone. Like, my face, I notice, is not puffy. It's. It doesn't have the redness. I don't feel like I need to put on foundation every single day to hide redness. I feel like I can just, you know, go without makeup and be fine. So I did notice that right away. Like, that was very quick.
- [16:46]
A
Yeah, no, that's something I noticed as well. So. And then when you look at people who do drink, and. And again, we're not even talking about, look at an alcoholic. We're talking about look at people that regularly have that wind down glass of wine, or the dudes that maybe they don't have a beer belly, but they like to enjoy a couple beers after a long hard day at work and just look at their age and look at their skin. Nine times out of ten you're going to say that person looks a few years older than what they actually are. But when you take people who cut out alcohol, they will actually look a couple years younger than they are. And you had mentioned Alzheimer's. I'm so sorry to hear about your sister, by the way. And my mom also passed from Alzheimer's, so sorry. It's tough, right? I mean, unless you have seen Alzheimer's in action, you literally can't describe it to another person. But of course, when it's in your family, you start thinking about what caused it for them and what can you do to prevent it. Because now it's. It's in the genetics, right? It's in the genetic pool. So you and I are naturally a little bit more predisposed. And I did. I had my genetics done and I do have one copy of the APOE4 gene. So I know that I'm at a slight increased risk. My mother had it and her father had it. Now my mom was one of those. And again, her decisions and behaviors were all pre what I know now. So if I could go back in time and overlay all of the information I know now from Dale Bredesen's work to just, you know, the alcohol component, the type 3 diabetes component, I believe I could have helped her. But in examining her behavior, she drank a glass of wine a night or two, or sometimes three, quite often. I mean, at least four or five nights a week. And that was just a habit. So did that contribute? I mean, we ultimately won't know, like you said, but I think there's some contribution because just like Andrew Huberman does say in that podcast, it's a poison. It's. Whether you like it or not, alcohol is a poison coming in. And the reason you get levy and chill is because the poison is going to your brain.
- [19:09]
B
Absolutely. And it is both a stimulant and a depressant at the same time. So you've got these highs and these lows and, and your body, you know, this causes, of course, the craving where you want to get back to that initial, you know, that kind of fuzzy, oh, I'm relaxed now, first few sips of champagne. But in reality, as the night wears on, as you have more drinks, you never get back to that initial fuzzy feeling. It Just feels gross at the end of the night and your sleep is trashed and you wake up feeling maybe a headache, maybe fuzzy in the clouds, brain fog. So, yes, it is. It is definitely a poison.
- [19:52]
A
Yeah. Now, have you noticed with your, with the, the women you work with, does tolerance decrease as well? Does the effect of alcohol on the body almost increase? And I can speak for myself, what I'm saying basically is now I just feel like garbage the next morning. I didn't always feel like. I mean, and I mean with like, maybe two glasses of wine. That's it. I'm not talking about two bottles, but just two glasses of wine. It will linger in my system. It's like I don't metabolize it well anymore. Is there a connection between age and maybe hormonal decline and our ability to actually process the alcohol and get it out of us?
- [20:34]
B
Yes. And both men and women experience this where we, as we get older, I would say past the age of 50, maybe even sooner. Depends on the individual. You just don't recover from having those glasses of wine. They do linger. And it. Boy. And then when I turned 60, I was like, what am I doing? And I would look, I wear an aura ring, and my oura ring would squawk at me. I would have no REM sleep. I would have some deep. But I would have no REM sleep. And it would tell me every single day, your heart rate remained elevated. My heart rate variance was. Boy, it was terrible. I wasn't recovering and my ring would pick that up. And so that was kind of this reminder too. I started to learn things, started to hear things. Once you know the truth, you can't unknow it. And, boy, that was a wake up call for me. I'm like, every day, I am not recovering. I am not fully present that day. How can I be fully present that day?
- [21:36]
A
Yeah, exactly. Oh, my gosh, you're nailing it. So. And you are correct, men and women. So men get hit with andropause just the same as we get hit with perimenopause and menopause. And I truly believe that, that for men that decrease in testosterone, even if they're on trt, there's something that. That shifts in their body. And. And I see this in. In my husband, I see this in some of his friends, where the happiness and that chill that you get from alcohol quickly shifts to almost that depressive mode.
- [22:09]
B
Yes.
- [22:10]
A
Where, you know, we're not in our twenties anymore partying and like, yeah, let's go now. It's like when you go into that depressive mode after alcohol takes its toll on you, you start thinking about life and just all the hardships of life, of what you've gone through once you hit the age of 50. So who needs more heartache and depression, right? We should be doing things to uplift and to lighten the load and to raise our vibration rather than to bring us down. And then we have the ladies that their hormones are shifting. Then there's something called thyro paw, which I always talk about. So that's when your thyroid gland shits the bed after you at the 40.
- [22:48]
B
Yes.
- [22:49]
A
And now you're in a, you're in a state where you are more prone to anxiety and depression anyways. Progesterone is dropping, so you're going to be more anxious. Estrogen is dropping, testosterone is dropping, you're going to be more depressed. And now you add on a depressant. Well, what, what does that do to your overall quality of life? It, it literally doesn't make sense when you break it down like how, how we're talking about it right now in simple logistic terms, it almost doesn't even make sense why anyone would drink.
- [23:20]
B
Not at all. Because you think about all the symptoms we have in perimenopause. I remember it was the brain fog, anxiety, depression suddenly came on me. And I've had a lifelong problem with anxiety, but boy, did it ramp up in perimenopause. And you're not sleeping as well. And alcohol is just going to amplify all of these things, the blood sugar levels, just that alone, because we begin to have a problem with regulation of blood sugar levels, with becoming insulin resistant as we approach menopause. So this is just going to amplify all of the things, the hot flashes, the lack of sleep, sleep, the anxiety, brain fog, depression. It's not helping. We feel like it might be helping. We tell ourselves, oh, this will help me sleep, or this is going to help me unwind. But in reality, no. And boy, when I would lay down to go to sleep, I would, because I already do this anyway, go down the rabbit hole of every little thing that could potentially bother me, whether it's my kids, my own life, whatever it is, and I start unpacking it, laying in bed. That was so much worse with alcohol, so much worse.
- [24:27]
A
And there's science with that too, that we already go into when it gets dark out, that our, our minds and our, our thoughts naturally shift a little bit more negative. So now you add on a depressant essentially on top of that and your mind really can spiral and then tying it back to the blood sugar. So this beautifully ties it back to why you're not going to lose weight if you're drinking that glass of wine every night. I was wearing a cgm, and I kid you not, my friend just told me, like days before she goes, you know, I'm wearing a CGM too. And it turns out that, like, did you know that when you drink alcohol, your blood sugar actually drops? Now, I of course knew that it spiked, and we talked about that already. The sugars and whether or not you track alcohol on your tracker and track those macros. So we all know that that alcohol, alcohol, even the keto alcohol, like Rob Wolf says, drink tequila, it still is going to spike your blood sugar. Well, naturally, where there's a high, there's a low. So here's me. This is before I stopped drinking. This is years ago. I have a CGM on. I had two glasses of wine at my friend's birthday party, and in the middle of the night, there's an alarm going off. My husband wakes up, what the hell's happening? Like, I don't know. And I check my phone and it's my CGM alarm going off because my blood sugar had dropped to like 45 or 50. And I went, that's what she was talking about. Now, if I hadn't had the CGM on and the alarm didn't go off, I probably would have slept through it. Now, I'm using air quotes here. Technically, though, that would have been a wake up. My body still would have woken up and that sleep would have been dysregulated. I would have come out of any kind of deep sleep or REM whether I open my eyeballs or not. That's what alcohol does. It disrupts your sleep. You're not going to get deep, restorative sleep when you drink without sleep. We also know that you can become insulin resistant and basically diabetic.
- [26:34]
B
Yes, absolutely. You know, not to mention those hunger hormones. You're not sleeping and the hunger hormones become dysregulated. Ghrelin, leptin. Leptin tells us that, hey, we're full, we're satiated, we're satisfied. Ghrelin is that driving force for hunger. These get dysregulated and we're not hungry for tilapia and broccoli. I know for myself. We're hungry for, for some quick energy. Our brain wants that spike of energy. So it typically, it's gonna be something refined and with added sugars.
- [27:06]
A
Yeah, so very true. No, no. There are days if I don't sleep well, whether alcohol induced or not, if I don't sleep well, I'm. I'm on the seafood diet. If I see it, I eat it. Like, it's. It's everything. I'm famished. Like, it's a weird hunger that I'm not used to. I'm like, what is this? Oh, that's right. I only got five hours of sleep and like a half an hour of deep sleep. So, yeah, that's why I feel this way. Are you sick of hearing me talk about Young Goose yet? Well, that's too bad because I love them and I have been using them now for years, probably about two or three years. And I can honestly say that my skin looks great. So I go to my plastic surgeon's office to get a little bit of Botox, right? And he says, what are you doing for your skin? Because your skin looks great and I'm 50. It's going to be Young Goose. You know, I've never had the ability to do those ablative lasers that are supposed to refresh and renew your skin. I just can't do it. I break out. So I love a good product line that is actually going to do something with my skin and help me not age. So whether we're talking about eye cream, finding that perfect eye cream, whether you're finding that perfect collagen boosting cream that smooths out wrinkles, Young Goose has it all. I use pretty much everything in their line, but my favorites are going to be the care moisturizer. This has NAD and NAD boosting powers to it, which obviously helps your skin. We love NAD for anti aging, I use the hyperbaric mask. At night. I put that on. Oh, my gosh. It just renews and replenishes and hydrates my skin. I use the Pro Care serum. This is an anti aging serum. It's senolytic, meaning it's going to seek out and destroy the bad cells and promote new cell growth. I use the adaptogenic cleanser. I use the amplifying essence, which really kind of boosts up your skin care Overall Bio C peptide spray as a toner. Their entire line is fantastic. If you even start with two to three products, you will notice a difference in your skin. So you're going to go to young goose.com and you're going to use the code Dr. Amy. This is going to save you 5% off. Now, is it a ginormous savings? No, but their line is so precise and so grounded in science, this is what they can offer. And you know, I love the owners too. I think buying from, from a family owned company is so important. And if you met the owners, you would fall in love and want to use their products every single day because you know that their heart and soul is literally behind this line. So young goose.com use the code. Dr. Amy, you will notice a difference in your skin. So let's go into the, the protein component that you mentioned in the beginning. That is huge. That is so huge. And I'm so happy that you mentioned that because I try to drive the point home to my ladies that we need protein now. Isn't it true that we need even more protein as we age? Not.
- [30:26]
B
Yes, absolutely. So we eat that chicken BREAST when we're 24, we're going to take in all that nutrition, all of the protein. We eat the same amount of chicken in our, say, our 50s and we're not utilizing all that protein and, you know, just a percentage of it. So we have to have more quality protein as we age. And then of course, to support that muscle mass and that loss of muscle that we experience once we lose estrogen, testosterone.
- [30:54]
A
Yeah, no, definitely. And so with the added protein, where do you like to see your ladies take their protein levels to on a daily basis? You had mentioned earlier, like most are only eating 30, 40, maybe 50 grams max of protein. Where do you like to take them to and how do you get them from, from point A to point B if they're only, let's say, taking in 30 grams of protein? How do you build them up to reach what your goal is for them?
- [31:22]
B
So I feel that 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of ideal body weight, you know, depending on, are you in the gym lifting? Are you lifting heavy? You might even need a little bit more. For myself, I set it at about, I weigh 120. I ate about 120 grams, give or take. Sometimes a little under, sometimes a little over. That's what works for me. So that's what I like to see women do. But oftentimes, and I have found this, and I don't know if you found this too, Amy, but women will even have an aversion to eating protein where it's, they want the carbohydrates. They've gotten used to a diet high in carbohydrates. Maybe they're grabbing Special K bars, they're grabbing granola bars and it's, it's, they're running on sugar. And so suddenly you're asking Them to consume, consume more protein. That doesn't sound good to them. It doesn't sound good to their bodies screaming to keep eating that sugar, that refined carbohydrate. So what I like to do is just very gently encourage them to, okay, can we do 10 grams more? You're eating, you ate 4 ounces of chicken at lunch. Could you do 5? And we move it that way. And sometimes it could take months and months to get them to where they need to be.
- [32:39]
A
Well, yeah, because realistically, if you put a brownie in front of me versus a chicken breast, I mean, what's gonna be more appealing, right? We know that, but we have to make decisions based on our goals too. Like, yeah, you can eat the brownie, but do if you want to live life feeling like garbage and walking around with an extra 20 to 100 pounds on you, then keep eating that way and avoid the protein. But it's all about what do you want for your overall body comp Health, the way you feel, look, perform all of that. Now, will you ever use protein powders to try to try to get a woman to increase her protein intake that way? Because it, it legit is hard. I mean, I even know the importance. I came from the bodybuilding world where I was same weighing, right? Oh my gosh, we are so much alike. Where I was weighing my food pre packing it, you know, all of that, I mean, you know, and, and there was a time where I had to pull protein shakes, especially pre competition, and I had to rely on all whole food sources. That's hard to do. It's really hard now. I'm busier than I was back then, so it's really hard. So what are your thoughts on building it up through, let's say protein sources like a powder?
- [33:48]
B
I'm fine with it as long as it's a clean, good source. There's a lot of those protein powders that aren't clean, that have metals in them, toxins. So you do have to be careful of the brand and the source. The way I draw the line is if somebody is doing it all day long, it's like breakfast, lunch and dinner, or they're reaching for the protein bar, the shake numerous times a day. They're relying on these sources because I feel it's never as good as real food. It's never going to ramp up your metabolism like real food can. And yes, it's a tool, it's a supplement. I typically do a shake a day and I throw fruit and all kinds of things in there, but it shouldn't be our main source.
- [34:30]
A
Right, right. And to your point about the quality, I only recommend like a beef isolate or like a bone broth collagen based protein powder. I always tell my ladies to stay away from the whey because, you know, back in the days when we were in the bodybuilding world, whey protein initially came out for that 220 pound muscular dude that just threw around heavy weights. The gym depleted his glycogen stores and now he drinks a whey protein shake that spikes his insulin to drive nutrients into that glycogen depleted muscle. Whey protein was never ever meant for a woman to be sipping on through the day as a meal replacement. You know, she's £130 and wants to lose 10. Like no, no. Whey protein just spike. I find that it spikes a person's insulin and it just wrecks your digestive tract. I mean, I remember the days of my stomach like talking to the world as I walked around. Like it was always gurgling and making.
- [35:35]
B
Weird noises and I'm laughing because I can relate. I remember I was on seven meals a day. We ate every two hours. And not only was it the protein shake, the church tore my stomach up. It was like a cup of rice with every. This was not the lean down period, but it was usually the growth phase, a cup of rice. And so I'd be sitting in the gym with cold tilapia, my cold rice and my digestion just wrecked and my stomach sticking out like I was going to have a rice baby or a whey baby or so. You know, great point because I feel we cannot be taking in those nutrients properly if we are bloated and having those digestive issues.
- [36:19]
A
Yes, yes. And I'm so happy you mentioned the six meals, seven meals a day too, because that's another myth I would like to bust at the moment. What's your take now? How have you shifted your own meal timing and what do you do now for your clients?
- [36:38]
B
I definitely space out the meals more. I typically do a 12 hour fast that most of that I'm sleeping. Hopefully once I break my fast, I am doing meals. You know, I space them out throughout the day. Three meals and then a shake is typically what I do and that's what works for me. Some women might do better with, you know, just the three meal a day, but I find to get all that protein in, I, I need that fourth little boost.
- [37:06]
A
So what is wrong with like. I know the answer, but I want you to say it. What's wrong with eating Every two hours.
- [37:13]
B
A few different things. You don't get that digestive rest. That was big for me. I think that's why I was always bloated. I hadn't even digested the last meal and I was pouring fuel on the fire, gasoline on the fire. So you don't get that digestive rest. You, of course, are spiking blood sugar. It can, you know, wreak havoc on insulin levels. You brought up the shake, raising the whey shakes, raising the blood sugar levels. And I found that I wore cgm, I found that exact same thing. I was very, very surprised. I was like, well, there's no sugar in this. How can it, you know, how can it be? I'm just mixing it with water and it's spiking my blood sugar. So just giving time for that digestion, for that rest. And of course overnight, you know, having that good window where you cut it off, close the kitchen and go all the way to breakfast, I think is just crucial for those insulin levels.
- [38:07]
A
Yeah, exactly. Because we didn't know back then that every single time you eat, your pancreas has to secrete insulin. So now you're never in a fat burning mode. You're always just literally burning off that meal that you just keep eating every two hours. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Now, what about fasting? You had mentioned that you 12 hour fast, what is your take on fasting? It for a woman specifically and then for a woman with shifting hormones.
- [38:37]
B
So. And it depends is the answer. I know that's a terrible answer. I can't stand when people do that to me. But it depends on the woman, it depends on her situation in perimenopause. It's such a roller coaster ride and the body is under so much stress, the mind is under so much stress. So maybe that's not the time to dive into a 16, 18, 20 hour fast. I think everyone can do a 12 hour safely. Regardless. I am a proponent of fasting. Under the right circumstances, 16 Hour Fast would be as far as I would encourage most of my clients to go. But you have to look at energy levels, sleep stress levels. If you are feeling terrible when you wake up in the morning, probably that's not the day to do a 16 hour fast. If you've recently been sick, if your body is under any type of stress like that, backing it off a little bit. And I found for me, 12, 14 hours, 16, I tend to just not be able to get in the nutrients that I need throughout the day and my energy level is a little low. So I think it depends on the individual. Now if you have somebody and they're not lifting, they're not exercising daily, they have a lot of weight to lose, then perhaps a longer fast might be more beneficial for them.
- [39:56]
A
Well, that's, that's what I was going to ask you is how do you balance that? And I totally hear you on the 16 hour fast being the max because how in the world would you get in 120 or more grams of protein in a tiny little eight hour eating window? And, and you know, I mean even if you use part of that 16 as your sleep, okay. You're sleeping through most of that, you still only have a short amount of time to get in 120 plus grams of pack protein. So how do you balance that versus, let's say a client, a woman who is metabolically broken, she's insulin resistant. Will you use fasting as a tool? Maybe go a longer fast a couple times a week and then just say, okay, those days you're just not going to get in the amount of protein that we need.
- [40:46]
B
I generally will recommend with them a 14 to 16 hour window and I might even lower the requirement of the protein down to that.07 grams per pound of body weight. So it's at a manageable level. Typically, you know, a hundred grams, most women could get that in feasibly if they plan out their meals, but it's more of a tool and it's not right for everyone. So it's on a case by case basis. That bio individuality is so big. I mean we're all so different and what works for me at this point in my life might not work for someone else.
- [41:25]
A
Very true. Yeah. And, and then it's the different conditions that you might even be dealing with. So if you are dealing with cancer. I just had this discussion yesterday with someone that, who asked me would I have done a seven day fast when I initially received my cancer diagnosis. And I said if it was anything other than a stage one, yes, I would have. But because it was a stage one, I didn't go into that seven day fast because I know it's a give and take. If I did that seven day fast, I probably would have lost a little bit of the very hard earned muscle that I've been busting my ass for, for the last few years. And, and I didn't want to do that. I didn't feel like it was necessary. But if I had a stage two, stage three, God forbid, stage four, I mean, yeah, you bet your ass I'd be fasting and Then just give up some muscle loss, possibly for the benefits of the autophagy and killing the cancer cells. So to your point, I think it's condition specific as well. And goal specific.
- [42:25]
B
Very much so. And then with cancer patients, of course, if they're going through chemotherapy, you're, you're wanting to get that nutrition in and they're not feeling like eating. And so, you know, we have to come up with a plan that's going to be a little bit different for that individual that's going through those therapies and the nutritional support.
- [42:47]
A
Yep, I completely agree. So the processed foods, I mean, that kind of ties into what we're talking about too, because if you're not eating enough protein, then you're grabbing that processed food, the, the brownie instead of the chicken breast, beyond just weight. Because everyone goes, yeah, yeah, I know if I choose the sweet potato fries or the, the brownie instead of the chicken breast, I know that I'm probably going to gain some weight. But I don't think we talk enough about the underlying effects of those chemicals that are in processed foods. We're not talking about carbohydrates in the form of a real sweet potato or fruit in your protein shake. We're talking about the processed garbage. And I don't think people step back and go, I am going to consume this and it's going to go through a process in my body and my body has to break down these unknown man made Frankenstein chemicals. And what are those things going to do at a cellular level?
- [43:50]
B
Exactly, exactly. I find too, there's kind of this trend right now where to get protein. Women will buy these packaged products that have, you know, added protein. Protein or keto products or whatever it is.
- [44:04]
A
Right? Yeah.
- [44:05]
B
Yes. And it's still a processed food. And I find that sometimes they really don't know. They're thinking they're eating whole foods. And that surprised me too, where I would tell clients, okay, you know, eat as many whole foods as possible. And then I'm looking at the food log and there's hardly any whole foods. And that food log, like 70% is something in a package. And so we have to get our thinking around. Okay, the least ingredients, the better. Okay. Chicken breast, one ingredient. Chicken, you know, a salad, one ingredient. The greens. And it's a shift. And initially I remember, and you coming from the bodybuilding community, you probably went through this too. That initial first show was when I first changed my eating habits. And boy, was that ever tough. I was used to Diet cokes, I was used to granola bars. I was used to running out the door with a banana and a granola bar. And when I first began to eat whole foods, add in the protein, it was a struggle.
- [45:10]
A
Oh yeah. Oh yeah, I remember that. I absolutely do. Now. I, I'm mistakenly, for that first show, I kept in the Diet Coke because I thought, well, this is the only thing that's giving me any kind of sweet taste in my mouth. And it kept me sane. But now we know, you know, years later, we didn't know back then about artificial sweeteners and how literally artificial sweeteners will spike your insulin and spike your glucose and cause insulin resistance and basically keep you from losing weight. And I was doing artificial sweeteners left and right. I remember buying the hundred pack from like Sam's Club of the little pink and yellow packets that you would put on everything, right. Because it's zero calories, it's zero fat. Right. So we thought it was good for us where that's a whole other thing. And I don't think our population of listeners uses artificial sweeteners as much. But obviously the general population, Standard American Diet does still incorporate in those diet drinks.
- [46:13]
B
Absolutely they do. And you had talked about how we had to cut the protein powders, all the powders, before we went to show, before we went to the stage. And there's a reason for that. You, you bloat from these things. And I would notice it right away, you would get that, just that degree of leanness that you needed when all of those artific. Because you know, the protein powder sometimes had artificial sweeteners. Maybe a pre workout, if you did that, a post work, you name it, it was all sweetened. And when you got rid of all that stuff, you really could see a difference.
- [46:43]
A
So how do you shift, like, what do you teach your, your clients like real food versus know this protein pizza, because it says it on the front that it's a protein pizza is not actually real food. There's a bunch of chemicals in it. Are you, are you label reading or how does one just know how. What do they ask themselves?
- [47:06]
B
Definitely the labels. You know, if you're looking at that label and half of it you can't pronounce and it's got 30 different things going down the label, probably not the best choice. But then there's of course what I call minimally processed foods that aren't unhealthy, so to speak. So you think of, you know, your rice or your quinoa or things like that. Yeah, they're processed, they're in a package. So really anything that's been packaged or had its original form change is going to be considered processed. But you're just getting rice or you're just getting quinoa and that. So I get them to read those labels with what is on there. Did they add anything to that? Or is it just the one or two ingredients in there? And that's going to be their, I believe, their number one tool. And then understanding added sugars, I think that's another thing that really gets people. They don't understand how these sugars are kind of sneaking in when they do sneak in.
- [48:02]
A
So what are we specifically looking for on the label for an added sugar?
- [48:06]
B
There are so many names that sugar can hide under, but I just, just actually look at the label now. Now they have to tell us added sugars. And many times they'll have the, the natural sugar of the food plus the added sugar. And I'm like, oh, my goodness. And so that's, that's the main, the easiest way rather than trying to memorize all these names of. Of sugar that it can hide under.
- [48:30]
A
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Now, I know we didn't really go deep into workouts, but we'll just touch on that last or, or last five minutes of this conversation because that's important as well. I want to know what are the biggest mistakes you see women doing with their workouts? Because I know that you have a free download that we're going to be giving people of five quick workouts that they can do to really break down, make it easy and, and simplify it. But what are the biggest mistakes that you see ladies doing with their, with their training?
- [49:03]
B
Great question. And there's a few different ones that might be different from the ones we see all the time on Instagram. Instagram about cardio and over exercising, things like that. But random workouts, I see a lot of women that are, are just, okay, I'm going to run over here and do a bicep curl. Then I'm going to walk on the treadmill.
- [49:21]
A
Okay.
- [49:22]
B
Okay. Yeah, I might go over here and do a tricep kickback. And there's no rhyme or reason. There's no structure to that workout. And I'm very intentional with working out. I've gone through two major, major surgeries, a back surgery and a rotator cuff. Had the rotator cuff in February, the back a year ago, a fusion. And in order to come back from that, get my muscle back, I had to work out smarter. I had to be very intentional with what I chose to do. So oftentimes they might be working out too long because they're doing these, these random kinds of things. Of course, overdoing the hiit. I believe there's a place for hiit, high intensity intervals. But you'll get these women that are not to pick on orangetheory, but they're at orangetheory every single day and just jacking up their cortisol levels. Another mistake would be not enough recovery. And that's what I'm guilty of because I love to work out. I'm a gym rat. I, yeah, I don't have problems getting to the gym. I love it. And I can get lost in there. Like I literally could get lost for an hour and a half, two hours. And that's not the best thing. Get in, get out, be intentional and then allow that recovery. We need more recovery as we age. I find in my 60s I'm requiring more recovery than I did in my 50s. So having, having that recovery built in would be essential as well.
- [50:48]
A
I love it now. Have you even checked out the, the Carol bike, which is like that 5 minute high intensity workout? Have you looked at that at all?
- [50:55]
B
No, I haven't.
- [50:57]
A
Okay, well you'll have to check that out because that, that's kind of cool and that you can get a 45min in five minutes. So when you were talking about recovery, I was thinking about that of, of, you know, on those days where. Yeah. Instead of going in and killing yourself and spiking your cortisol, if you need to do something, you know, just do something for a short amount of time. Or like go for a walk, do yoga, do something like that instead, where you're still moving, you're still burning those calories that we all wanted to do in the 80s and 90s, right. And, and you're still not necessarily building muscle when you're taking a walk and doing yoga. I mean, there's some resistance there, but you're, you're doing good for your body and then you go kill yourself at CrossFit or Orange Theory or whatever.
- [51:40]
B
Yes, you brought up a good point. Because even though I wouldn't say, okay, do formal exercise every single day where you're at the gym lifting every single day, or you're doing Orange Theory every single day. No, I would not say that. But I do believe in daily movement. So even if I am not at the gym, like today is, is one of those days. It's a rest day. I took a long hour walk, I got out in the sunshine. I wasn't a power walk. It was, it was brisk. I enjoyed myself. More of a zone two type. Not workout, but more of that zone two cardio yoga. I mean that can be so good. As long as it's not the power.
- [52:18]
A
Yeah.
- [52:19]
B
Kill yourself at 110 degrees yoga.
- [52:22]
A
Right.
- [52:22]
B
But the more restorative kind. So I do believe in daily movement because another mistake I see, and I should have said this, is that people make the workout. That's it, that's it for the day. So, okay, sit all day at a computer, drive to the gym, do an hour drive home. That's, you know, your body. I interviewed a scientist, this has been a couple of years back and it was so interesting. He said when you're just sitting, your body thinks it's asleep, so it shuts off the mechanisms for fat burning. I found that so interesting. So he said that our workout, it's not doing what you think it's doing.
- [52:59]
A
Man, I need to stand up more. Yeah, I know. I gotta get a stand up desk, Carol.
- [53:05]
B
I really do.
- [53:06]
A
Oh my goodness. That's scary. Yeah, I, I'm with you. Just movement through the day. Even just taking that break, going for a little walk, stand up, get up from your desk and break that up. But also get in your, your workout too. Don't just, you know, we don't want them to say like, well, I'm going to be sitting all day today, why the hell even work out? Carol said it wouldn't like. No, no, no, that's not what we're saying at all. You still want to get the workout in, right?
- [53:31]
B
Yeah. But you want more. I, I guess is a better way of putting it. The workout. Yes. That's the foundation. That's you're building your house by building muscle. But then that movement. Because sometimes when I see women not losing weight, they're, they're not moving enough during the day. Not that exercise is the driver of weight loss. It's not. But I do feel that that movement makes a difference. We all know that person that fidgets and they're like, they're kind of thin and they eat like whatever. They just fidget, fidget, fidget, pace. There's something to be said about that moving around.
- [54:05]
A
It's true. There's science behind that. With the fidgeting too. Burns more calories. Yeah, absolutely.
- [54:09]
B
Yeah, there is.
- [54:10]
A
So if you had to leave ladies or female listeners with three tips they can do to just be a little bit more fit in their midlife, what would that be?
- [54:22]
B
So first of all, look at that. Those protein Levels. Track your food with an app without judgment. Don't judge it. Don't. Don't freak out when you see those. Those macronutrients aren't where you want, but just look at it and go, oh, okay, I'm only getting 40 grams of protein. What can I do to increase that? So start where you are. Slowly. Increase strength training, of course. Absolutely fundamental. The science behind it, the research. We could go on and on and do a separate episode on that. And then I would say look at your relationship with alcohol and just, just take a look at that. It doesn't mean that you have to complete completely stop drinking. I, I stopped because I'm not a moderation person. I did the same thing with sugar. I just don't moderate things. I did. I don't moderate sugar, sweets, alcohol. It's just better if I largely stay away. But just visit that, you know, take a look at it. I started with Annie Grace's book and took a look at this. Naked Mind is the name of her book and her program. I started there and I learned a lot about the science behind it, and it also gave me a sense of not being alone through the process.
- [55:34]
A
Now, beautiful tips. That's amazing. Thank you so much. And would you tell people where they can find you? And then, of course, I had mentioned this earlier that you are giving a free. A freebie for my listeners of five quick workouts for women that we'll put down in the show notes. So tell them about that and then where they can find you.
- [55:51]
B
Absolutely. So the easiest way to find me is carolcabino.com very simple. For social media, I hang out on Instagram. Primarily I'm on Facebook, but not as. Not as much there as I am on Instagram. They can message me. I answer all of my messages. And the freebie is just some simple, quick workouts that you can fit into your day. Don't require a bunch of equipment, don't require a gym membership, because I know for many people that can be a sticking point. And so it allows you to just start where you are and build from there.
- [56:25]
A
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Carol. We'll put all that information down in the show notes and we'll definitely have you back on again to dive into that whole strength training thing and the science behind it. I think that'd be fascinating. So we'll definitely have you back.
- [56:38]
B
I would love that, Amy. Thank you so much. This has been a fun conversation.
- [56:43]
A
Beautiful. And thank you all so much for listening. The information shared on the Thyroid Fixer Podcast is intended solely for informational and educational purposes. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult with your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition treatment or before making changes to your healthcare regimen, including medications, supplements or other therapies. Use of the information provided in this podcast does not establish a doctor, patient or client, provide a relationship between you and the host, or between you and any other healthcare professional so featured on the show. Any medical opinions or statements made by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or affiliated parties. Statements regarding dietary supplements or health related products mentioned in this podcast have not been evaluated by the fda. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Some episodes of the Thyroid Fixer Podcast may include sponsorships or affiliate links. The host may receive compensation for discussing or promoting certain products or services. Any such sponsorships or affiliations will be clearly disclosed during the episode. All opinions expressed are those of the hosts or guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of any sponsors. The inclusion of a product or service does not imply endorsement by any healthcare professional featured on this podcast.