Latest / All Figured Out with Andrea Barr: Figuring Out Work, Life and Parenting / 116. Longevity doctor: Why busy moms are under-fueling & how to fix it - Dr. Valerie Hertzog

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116. Longevity doctor: Why busy moms are under-fueling & how to fix it - Dr. Valerie Hertzog · All Figured Out with Andrea Barr: Figuring Out Work, Life and Parenting

0:00
We don't need to be always snacking, so we want our body
0:02
also to be able to digest the food and have a period of time
0:04
where it's not busy digesting, so every three to four hours is
0:07
truly what's recommended. Ohhhhh yeah, that's interesting.
0:11
What is perimenopause? We're born with the number of
0:14
eggs that we're going to have, and then the eggs reduce over
0:17
time. And then we reach a point where
0:19
we don't have many eggs left. And then over time, eventually
0:23
it stops, right? We are out of eggs.
0:25
How crazy is that? We don't know.
0:27
This stuff, No, we're not taught this stuff.
0:29
Doctor Valerie Hertzog, welcome back to the All Figured Out
0:33
podcast. Thank you so much for having me,
0:35
so great to do this in person. Too I know so this is I'm 2 for
0:39
two now yesterday I met a friend who have known for just as long
0:42
probably 18 months, who I'd never met in person and now I
0:46
get to meet you in person today. This is so cup filling.
0:50
This is just the best it's. Wonderful.
0:52
So thank you for flying out just for this.
0:53
Of course, anytime. You are coming to do a business
0:59
retreat day with our mutual coach, Kristen Constable, which
1:02
is amazing. So tell us, how has life
1:05
transpired? You know, I know you're going to
1:08
be talking about some of this stuff tomorrow.
1:10
So that's what made prompted me to think like how what does life
1:13
looked like since we last spoke? Yeah, well, life's been great.
1:16
It's been busy, as you know, with the juggling kids and life
1:20
and work, but really, really wonderful.
1:22
Yeah. I've been growing my coaching
1:23
business, working with more wonderful women, kind of get
1:26
getting clearer with my programs and who I'm working with, which
1:29
has been wonderful. Yeah.
1:30
And then I've also transitioned to a new clinical job where I've
1:33
been now for the last almost 8 months, which has been just
1:36
fantastic as well. Congratulations and super
1:39
anybody who has not. If you missed Doctor Valerie's
1:44
Doctor Val Val Val. Whatever you want to call me.
1:49
E-mail you personally, I'm like hi.
1:51
Hi Doctor Valerie, hello Doctor Herzog.
1:54
Um, if you haven't heard episode 1, um on with Val.
1:59
It was beautiful. She shared her story of, oh, my
2:02
goodness, everything, so many things of having her son and
2:06
then twins, autoimmune condition, alopecia, which
2:09
caused her to lose her hair, your hair.
2:11
I'm speaking about you right here and being a medical doctor
2:15
through all of this and also now a coach.
2:17
So we, we won't double back on the whole story, but wow, what a
2:22
friggin journey you've had And congratulations for making your
2:26
latest career pivot. Tell us more about this new
2:29
clinic. You were telling me a little bit
2:30
before we hit record and I was like, wait, we need to stop.
2:33
I need like you have got to put this on the pod.
2:35
This is insane. So there is a longevity clinic
2:38
in Ottawa, Canada that you work at?
2:42
Yes, exactly. Yes.
2:44
What does that even mean? I know, right?
2:46
It's, yeah, it's really cool. It's, it's brand new.
2:48
We've been open now since May 1st, so almost 8 months now and
2:52
it's been really wonderful. So it's a longevity focus clinic
2:55
where we help people live longer, better.
2:57
So really focus on proactive care, preventative care, looking
3:01
at the pillars that I talk about that we talked about in our last
3:04
episode as well. So looking at things like
3:05
nutrition, exercise, stress management, and sleep, but also
3:09
using all of the data that we accumulate over time as well
3:12
with testing. So it's really, really cool.
3:14
And we get to sort of apply all of these things and kind of be
3:17
cut more cutting edge, definitely.
3:18
So evidence based, but a little bit more cutting edge and really
3:21
looking at what is going to move the needle and how are we going
3:23
to get people to live better, longer and really feel their
3:26
best as they get older. Yeah.
3:27
So it's one thing to live to 85, but if for ten of those years
3:30
you're not living in a way where you're mobile you and do things
3:34
that you love to do like that is that's part of longevity.
3:37
Yeah. So there's lifespan, which is
3:39
just exactly how long you live. And then there's health span is
3:41
how healthy are you as you live, right?
3:43
Because I think most of us would agree that we don't want to just
3:46
live longer. We want to be as healthy as we
3:47
can be for as long as possible. So that's really the focus of of
3:50
the clinic, which is called Lifespan MD.
3:52
Wow, OK, I have got to ask, given I know nothing about the
3:57
Canadian regulatory bodies that govern things like our medical
4:01
system, the law, etcetera. However, my first question would
4:05
be, OK, so how have, how has this clinic been able to
4:10
navigate positioning in a way that is so different from how
4:14
the medical system typically works in Canada?
4:16
Like, were there hoops that they would have had to have jumped
4:19
through to open this type of specialized clinic?
4:22
Yeah, it's a great question. So you're right, it is a little
4:25
bit different from, you know, primary care.
4:27
And I do come from a background of, you know, family practice.
4:30
And, you know, a lot of my friends and colleagues are
4:32
wonderful family, family doctors.
4:34
But we do find that often, you know, there's just not enough
4:36
time in the way that the system is.
4:38
It's just there was a time crunch.
4:39
You're busy trying to see patients trying to just kind of
4:42
solve problems as they come up and kind of more of like a
4:44
Band-Aid solution. And there's not a lot of time,
4:46
unfortunately, for that preventative proactive care,
4:49
which is what I really love to do.
4:51
So when I was first approached by the two cofounders of this
4:54
clinic, they told me about their vision, which really aligned so
4:57
well with my vision. And then we're able to do it
5:00
under the private system. So it's a membership based
5:03
clinic. So people come in, they pay to
5:05
have access to all of these services with the dietitian of
5:08
fitness. Um, you know, we do all sorts of
5:11
different testing as well. And, um, yeah, we have a lot of
5:14
different services that just aren't available in the public
5:16
system, unfortunately, Yeah, yeah.
5:18
So it's almost like the, what is it called, like paramedical
5:22
services that you would have access to say under your
5:26
benefits plan with work. So all the things that are like
5:29
like you could talk to a dietitian, you could talk to a
5:31
counselor and things like that. So what you're kind of doing is
5:33
you're bringing it under one house.
5:35
And my understanding would be those types of like your type of
5:37
clinic would be very much like your chart is exhaustive of all
5:41
these different areas you're not just seeing.
5:43
Because I think the problem is where you see a massage
5:45
therapist who doesn't know who your dietitian is, who doesn't
5:48
know who your doctor is. And it's so isolated.
5:51
So it is a kind of bring all those people together under one
5:54
house. Yes, it definitely does.
5:55
And we actually, we actually even have like a gym in house as
5:58
well where we can do our fitness testing.
6:00
And then it's really the model is based on these comprehensive
6:03
Wellness assessments, which are a four hour assessment that
6:06
people come in and do and they spend time with each of the
6:09
mental health professionals in the clinic.
6:11
And then we come up with this really, really sort of detailed
6:16
plan for them. So we come up with this action
6:19
plan, this whole report that we send them that's 10 to 15 pages
6:23
with all the results, everything that we found.
6:25
And then their next step was really clear us to like what to
6:27
do and how to take action. And then we can follow them and
6:30
make sure that, you know, they keep improving and that they
6:33
make the changes. And yeah, we can follow the
6:35
data. We can follow them as well,
6:36
which is really wonderful. Oh, that's very cool.
6:39
OK, how do you feel about all the testing that is now becoming
6:43
available at the drop of a hat that we're all getting served on
6:46
Instagram? So things like, I don't know, I
6:49
can call out brand names because I don't there's no affiliation
6:52
here. But say something like print
6:53
Nuvo or I don't even know what that is.
6:55
But I have been getting and now we're going to get more because
6:58
our phones are here. But the Instagram ads for like,
7:01
it's like a huge CT scan in the ad and it's like, don't you want
7:05
to know about like what's inside your body?
7:07
I don't know. It's a little fear mongering.
7:10
Yeah. OK.
7:11
I don't actually know if it is, but it does how it lands with
7:13
me. What do you think about, like,
7:16
how much? How much testing is now being
7:18
done? Is too much information ever
7:20
bad? Yeah, it's a great question.
7:22
I think it can be like, I think if we have too much information
7:25
that's not useful, it can be bad.
7:26
It can cause a lot of stress if there's, you know, all of these
7:29
little things that we're worried about.
7:30
And depending on the type of person that you are, like some
7:32
of us are like easily stressed out by these things.
7:35
Other people don't let it bother them as much.
7:36
So, but yeah, I think like what we're trying to do is really
7:40
stay in the evidence case here. And of course there are some
7:43
things that are a little bit outside of that because a lot of
7:45
this longevity focused care is new and we don't have, you know,
7:48
decades of research necessarily, you know, backing everything up.
7:51
But I'm really looking at, OK, if we do this testing, like what
7:54
do we do with those results, right?
7:55
We want to make sure that they're actionable.
7:57
We don't want to just be doing testing for the sake of doing
7:59
testing. So we want to be proactive.
8:01
We want to make sure the tests are useful and that we can act
8:03
on them. I think that's really the key.
8:05
That makes a lot of sense. What are some examples of some
8:07
of the tests that could be longevity indicators of
8:11
longevity? Like what are some of those more
8:13
cutting edge that you're talking about?
8:14
I'm so curious. I'm like, yeah, where can I get
8:17
them? Yeah, I think some of the labs
8:20
that we do at the clinic are a little bit more cutting edge.
8:22
Um, so, you know, for heart, heart disease and metabolic
8:25
disease. So we were very proactive there.
8:27
We look at, you know, really four big categories at the
8:30
clinic. So we look at metabolic health,
8:31
cardiovascular health, we look at brain health, you want to
8:34
prevent neurodegenerative diseases and we look at cancer
8:37
screening and prevention as well.
8:38
So those are sort of the four big categories when we want to
8:41
optimize health span. So when it comes to labs like we
8:44
do things like lipoprotein A, which is a, a genetic marker for
8:47
heart disease. That's a relatively newer, a
8:50
marker that maybe not everyone might have heard of.
8:53
Um, so that's a really interesting one.
8:55
We do a POB, which gives us more information with cholesterol as
8:58
well, so that we can again see if there is increased risk for
9:01
heart disease overtime. And then one that I really like
9:04
to include in our metabolic labs is fasting insulin, which can
9:08
give us a bit more information around insulin sensitivity and
9:11
risk for insulin resistance, which can, you know, down the
9:14
line, decades on the line could, could lead to pre diabetes and
9:16
diabetes. OK, what does?
9:19
This is so perfect. Of course, I'm throwing all the
9:21
my previous questions that I've written down absolutely out the
9:24
window. But metabolic health, Val, I
9:29
don't know what that means. I hear metabolic health all the
9:33
time and I'm like, hmm, that sounds interesting and
9:37
important. Like what?
9:38
Because I think metabolism, which then I think like burning
9:41
fat, which is so that feels like a very surface level
9:44
understanding of like what? I don't know what the hell is
9:48
metabolic health. Great question, of course.
9:52
And I think that term is used a lot, right?
9:54
We don't really stop to think about like, what does that mean?
9:56
Yes, when I use it from a medical standpoint, I'm talking
9:58
about looking at like your blood sugar, your insulin, looking at
10:01
how you metabolize food, how your body reacts to food.
10:05
Hormonal health is very intertwined as well with that.
10:08
So looking at, you know, when you're eating something like
10:10
what does your insulin do? What does your blood sugar do?
10:13
Are there any signs that your body is struggling, you know, in
10:15
terms of like developing that insulin resistance, which
10:18
overtime can lead to diabetes? So we're looking at the whole
10:20
picture of yeah, how, how you respond to to food and your
10:24
hormonal health. And so everybody does.
10:27
I know that's like this would be basic, but like it's just
10:30
there's so many like broad stroke statements out there
10:33
about how we should be eating, what we should be eating, when
10:36
we should be eating. And then now we're getting
10:38
clear, really pretty clear that women are different than men.
10:40
Oh my God, shocker. And then we're starting to
10:43
realize, Oh, OK, women may be fasting isn't as great for
10:47
women. Actually, let's stop there.
10:49
Fasting in women. What do you?
10:50
Think Yeah, yeah. So again, there's a lot of
10:52
information and misinformation, I would say, on that.
10:54
And for a while it was like everybody should be fasting, we
10:56
should all be doing intermittent fasting.
10:58
Um, you know, which is that sort of a trend where you're fasting
11:03
for, you know, 12 to 16 hours at a time and you have a more
11:06
narrow window of eating. Um, so time restricted eating
11:10
is, is another word for that. And then, you know, the pendulum
11:12
kind of swung the other way being like, no, like for women,
11:14
it's terrible if we do that. And if you fast, you're going to
11:16
screw up your your hormones. And life.
11:18
Yes, exactly. I think we've kind of come back
11:22
somewhere in the middle. So I think for most, for most
11:24
people and most women that I work with, like I, I really do
11:26
prioritize breakfast. I think it is important for us
11:28
to have breakfast. I do say again, it's probably a
11:31
good idea to take a break and have a period where we're not
11:33
eating. So aiming for about 12 hours
11:36
overnight for most people, it's pretty doable.
11:38
And that gives your body time to kind of recharge and sleep and
11:41
focus on those repair mechanisms during sleep as opposed to
11:43
digesting food. But then, you know, starting off
11:46
the day with a protein fiber rich meal can be really helpful
11:49
for a lot of women just to help with that blood sugar control
11:51
throughout the day to help with energy.
11:54
Um, so that's usually for most people.
11:55
That's what I recommend. But that being said, some people
11:57
love fasting and works well for them and that's great, but we
12:00
kind of have to look at it and personalize it to the person.
12:03
Yeah. OK.
12:04
So how does this is so interesting how and this is
12:08
getting into our the meat of our topic today, which is moms
12:12
eating like so specific, but like we need to eat.
12:14
So, OK, if we talk about, so we're talking about metabolic
12:17
health, how our body responds to food, how it responds to sugars.
12:20
What is the relation between hormones and eating?
12:24
How do those two like? I'm going to be honest, I've
12:27
never really thought about the interplay between those two
12:29
pieces. We talk about hormones all the
12:31
time, we talk about eating all the time, but how do those two
12:34
fit together? Yeah, that's really an important
12:36
question as well. And so with hormones, you know,
12:38
I think when we say hormones, a lot of us will think about like
12:40
estrogen and progesterone, then the female hormones.
12:42
But actually, like insulin is a hormone, right?
12:45
There was thyroid hormone. Like there's different hormonal
12:47
systems in the body and they all work together and we need food
12:51
and fuel to be able to make hormones and to be able to
12:54
function optimally. So they're all interconnected
12:57
and they all play a role. And we know that as we get
13:00
older, some of our hormonal balances shift as well.
13:03
So it's even more important as we get old to make sure that
13:05
we're fueling ourselves properly so that we can stay, stay
13:07
healthy as we get older. OK, so do our hormones shift
13:10
like say in a 24 hour cycle? I always think, and again, this
13:14
is now we're talking about the cycle more, which is amazing.
13:16
It's so cool that we're like getting deeper and deeper in
13:18
these areas of information and I'm so obsessed with all this
13:21
stuff without actually being in this world at all, which is so
13:24
fun. And OK.
13:26
So in we talk about the hormonal cycle over a 2024 to 20, you
13:31
know, 30 day period as a woman. But what happens during a day,
13:34
during 24 hours, for instance? Like do our hormones change and
13:38
shift? Like are there, I don't know, I
13:40
feel like I, I feel like my hormones change throughout the
13:43
day from when I wake up to go to bed.
13:45
I'm like, I kind of feel like 3 different people.
13:48
Is there anything to that? Yeah, yeah, for sure.
13:50
And you know, there's a few different hormones we're talking
13:52
about metabolism and hunger and all of that.
13:54
There's a few hormones that play a role.
13:56
So those definitely shift throughout the day.
13:58
So naturally they shift just from our our daily rhythm.
14:01
And then also as we eat, right, like our hormones will shift as
14:04
well. So cortisol is happening
14:07
hormone, it's all, it's all over social media as well.
14:10
So that hormone and the cortisol is good.
14:12
We need it. Yoik helps keep us stimulated,
14:14
motivated, it makes us alert. It is one of the stress hormones
14:17
that's a really important hormone.
14:18
And that one naturally peaks first thing in the morning and
14:21
then slowly declines over the course of the day, hopefully.
14:24
And then, you know, so that would by bedtime we're our
14:26
levels are lower. We can go to sleep pretty
14:28
easily. So that's the, the sort of
14:30
natural curve of cortisol that can be dysregulated as well.
14:33
So if we're in a high stress mode, the hormone can stay more
14:36
elevated. That can lead us to feeling kind
14:38
of like wired but tired. You know that feeling at night
14:41
where we're exhausted but we can't sleep.
14:42
That could be because sometimes our cortisol is is too high and
14:45
it's not coming down as it should.
14:46
Postpartum, that was a big one for me.
14:49
Yeah. And that seems like a lot of
14:51
girlfriends of mine had like wild anxiety, couldn't sleep,
14:54
had really, really like were so exhausted, but like couldn't
14:58
baby would finally go to sleep and then they couldn't.
15:00
And I'm like, that makes sense because as we know, hormones are
15:04
a little bit dysregulated perhaps when we're when we're
15:07
postpartum. Sorry I interact but I'm like I
15:09
feel seen. For sure, for sure.
15:11
I think a lot of women can relate to that.
15:12
And then also in perimenopause, a lot of women will find that
15:15
they're kind of wired but tired and having a tough time sleeping
15:17
in. Again, cortisol could be one
15:19
thing. There's many things that can
15:20
contribute. That's an important piece to to
15:22
look at. And then there is, you know,
15:24
insulin, which is our hormone that is released when we eat
15:26
food. So it helps us to get our blood
15:29
sugar back into the cells so that we can use it for fuel.
15:31
So insulin naturally will go up and down throughout the day.
15:34
So when we eat something, it will go up to help us deal with
15:37
the blood sugar and then it should come back down.
15:40
And we want to try to avoid those really large peaks and
15:43
valleys because that's what can make us feel kind of hungry, can
15:46
lead to cravings, irritability. So we want to kind of have like
15:49
nice smooth curves throughout the day as much as possible.
15:52
So that's a really important piece.
15:55
And then there's two others that I'd like to talk about as well.
15:57
There's Gremlin and there's leptin.
15:59
Ghrelin is our hunger hormone. So that's the one that tells our
16:02
body that is time to eat. So that's a really important
16:04
hormone. And leptin is our appetites,
16:06
sort of suppressing hormones. So tells us when we're full and
16:09
those two can get this regulated, um, based on how
16:12
stress we are, if we don't sleep well, they can be affected as
16:15
well. Um, so they also play a role
16:17
throughout the day. I am just eating this up.
16:20
I could talk to you for hours and you're so knowledgeable and
16:24
you're such a good way of explaining things to like the
16:27
average person and. Oh my gosh.
16:29
Thank you. This is so fun.
16:31
OK, can I give it? Can I ask you a question?
16:33
Of course. Yeah.
16:33
Free advice. I personally.
16:36
So there's some people that I know who when they're stressed,
16:38
they get really hungry or they're craving like, you know,
16:40
whatever carbs and just like, uh, all the things when I'm
16:42
stressed, I can't eat. So when my husband was in the
16:46
hospital, you know, that whole story, there's a whole podcast
16:50
episode on it. But I was also pregnant, so I
16:53
was really forcing myself to put something in my body, but my
16:57
appetite is gone. Is that like a dysregulation
17:00
because of stress that's like impacting that leptin?
17:04
Yeah, yeah. So yeah, definitely.
17:06
And people will react differently to stress.
17:08
Some people will tend to overheat and it's sort of the
17:10
opposite end of the spectrum. And other people like you will
17:12
feel just like no appetite at all and they're just cannot eat
17:15
at all. And I think it's just the way
17:17
that your body responds to stress.
17:18
And it's a bit of a vital mechanisms.
17:20
It's just like your body is like, I don't want to focus on
17:22
food right now. I've got too much else to focus
17:24
on. Yeah.
17:24
And yeah, yeah. So definitely it causes this
17:27
imbalance of the hormones. And yeah, she's.
17:30
What does it? Balanced hormone?
17:33
OK, what are the signs that somebody, let's start with the
17:37
positive that someone's hormones are doing what they're supposed
17:40
to and they're working with them?
17:41
What does that feel and look like?
17:43
Yeah, yeah. And again, there was many
17:45
different hormones. So it would sort of depend on,
17:47
before talking more around the, the hormones that deal with food
17:50
and appetite and metabolism, we'd expect somebody to, um, you
17:54
know, overall have good energy throughout the day, um, feel
17:57
sort of mentally sharp, like able to focus.
18:00
Um, you know, they're not feeling too irritable.
18:03
Mood is pretty good. Yeah.
18:04
Overall, just able to get through the day without too much
18:07
trouble, you know, getting hungry at regular intervals, but
18:10
not, you know, starving all the time, feeling full relatively
18:14
easily as well when they eat a good meal.
18:16
Yeah. Right.
18:17
Eating and being like, wow, I feel satiated.
18:20
I'm going to stop exactly. And then being a two hours later
18:23
being like, oh, I'm a little bit hungry versus like I'm starving.
18:26
I'm a ravenous animal. Rights.
18:28
OK, exactly. How often is there any research
18:30
saying, you know, as women, I know you specifically work with
18:32
women kind of in their 30s, thirty 5 plus, etcetera, which
18:35
is totally this audience. Is there research on how often
18:39
we should be eating kind of like like a baby, how it's like over
18:42
2 hours, feed them whatever, like right.
18:44
Is there anything on that? Yeah.
18:45
And again, it was a little bit different, but for the most
18:47
part, like I usually say, every three to four hours, we want to
18:50
be having something. Probably don't need to eat every
18:51
one to two. That's probably too often.
18:53
We don't need to be always snacking.
18:55
Yeah. Because we want our body also to
18:56
be able to digest the food and have a period of time where it's
18:58
not busy digesting. So if we're always eating where
19:01
it's kind of a bit of a stress on the body because it always
19:03
has to be doing something. So every three to four hours is
19:05
usually what's recommended when you look at the research.
19:08
And. Yeah.
19:09
And that's, you know, pretty. That means pretty much like 3
19:11
meals a day for most people. Oh, right.
19:13
Yeah. Maybe with a snack in there at
19:14
some point, but not necessarily awake for.
19:17
Just a bit over 12 hours, but you're allowing yourself to say
19:20
start, start your non eating window like, you know, 7 or
19:23
something like that. Seven to seven.
19:25
OK, that makes sense. See, I know that we don't want
19:27
to always want to play by like hard and fast rules, but just
19:30
guidelines are kind of nice. Like I know everyone shits on
19:33
the Canadian Food Guide, however, it's a guideline like,
19:38
right. Like guidelines are kind of nice
19:39
to give you this ballpark. It's like our conversation last
19:41
time we talked about sleep and you said, you know, between 7:00
19:45
and 9:00 hours is the, is the ideal.
19:47
And that's what the research shows that for I, I just love
19:50
that part of when you talked about sleep because you're like,
19:53
we talked about the person who says that they can survive on
19:56
five hours and you're like, there are people who function
19:58
very well on five hours. However, what the research shows
20:02
is from a longevity perspective, are they doing really well?
20:05
Maybe not. Is it impacting them in that
20:08
long term sense? I just feel like we're so
20:10
obsessed with these short term quick wins right now and I'm
20:13
like raising my hand in that too.
20:15
But it is I love your approach and really thinking about, OK,
20:18
how is this affecting? Like you know, you, your mood,
20:20
your irritability, your parenting style right now.
20:24
Those are good symptoms and signs, but I just love that
20:27
reminder of like, what is this doing to future you?
20:31
Like what is where is that? What how is this impacting your
20:34
like 60 year old self and what have you?
20:37
Now we've got to talk about perimenopause.
20:40
Yeah, such a hot topic right now.
20:43
It is such, such a hot topic and my, I feel like it is kind of
20:50
like how five years ago people started talking about pregnancy,
20:54
infertility, miscarriage. And I'm like, yes, like, let's
20:57
do this. Let's talk about these things.
20:59
And then it gets to a point where it does kind of start to
21:02
fear monger and make people feel very afraid and feel like it
21:06
happens to every single person. And I don't know, I have
21:08
conflicting views on like how these things get like over
21:11
heightened perimenopause. How do you feel about this
21:16
trend? I will call it a trend of really
21:19
over, not over just talking about perimenopause laws.
21:22
How do you feel about this? Yeah, I think there's good and
21:24
there's bad there for sure. I think it's great that we're
21:26
talking about it because I think even if we look bad, like our
21:28
parents generation, like I don't think, you know, like our
21:31
mothers and grandmothers really spoke much about menopause.
21:33
And it's one of those things that we kind of hid right as a
21:36
society. And it wasn't, you know, sort of
21:38
OK to talk about it, which is terrible because a lot of women
21:41
suffered or they would go to their health professional and,
21:44
you know, talk about their symptoms and they weren't taken
21:46
seriously. They were getting the treatment
21:47
that they could have gotten that would have helped them with
21:50
their symptoms. So I think we're definitely that
21:52
we're talking about it is amazing and it's great and it's
21:54
really important. So I'm celebrating that.
21:56
And I think there definitely is this movement of women just
21:58
standing up for themselves and their health and being like, no,
22:00
I'm going to go get the care that I need and I deserve, you
22:02
know, to get good care. And I think the research is
22:04
lacking, but we're coming like it's coming.
22:06
There's more research now in women in perimenopause,
22:08
menopause. We have great treatment options
22:11
as well. So from a medical standpoint,
22:12
it's really exciting as well. I was just at a conference a few
22:15
weeks ago on on perimenopause and menopause for women
22:17
physicians. It was really wonderful bringing
22:20
together lots of experts talking about like the evidence based
22:22
treatments. So there's a lot there and I
22:25
think it's just going to the next 10 years, which is going to
22:27
learn more and more, which is great.
22:28
How fortunate are we to be alive in this time and to be the young
22:32
women that we are? Young.
22:34
Yeah, yeah, we're still young. I'm not 40.
22:37
I feel like I'm still. Considered we're good, we're
22:40
good, yeah. But it's just it's so incredible
22:43
how I just feel very privileged that to be this age at this time
22:48
where everything is coming, like all the chips are on the table,
22:51
which is so cool. What are some of the
22:53
contraindications of excess information in this space?
22:57
Perimenopause, particularly menopause.
22:59
Yeah, I think you were saying around fear mongering.
23:01
I think like a lot of women now were like just out of the
23:03
childbearing years. Like, Oh my gosh, Perry,
23:04
menopause is coming and there's this fear around like, what does
23:07
that mean for me? And, you know, and like, just
23:09
from a, from my own clinical experience, like some women will
23:12
go through perimenopause and barely have any symptoms and
23:15
other women will have, you know, pretty severe symptoms.
23:17
So it's a spectrum. And we don't really know how
23:19
it's going to go for us until the time comes.
23:21
We can look at, you know, family history, looking at mothers,
23:23
sisters, aunts to get an idea. But for most of us, you know,
23:26
we'll only know once we get to that point and, you know, when
23:29
it happens. Also, there's this huge spectrum
23:31
in terms of, you know, when symptoms will start for somebody
23:34
and can last, you know, 10 years or more.
23:35
So it's really hard to know. So I think, you know, when we
23:38
think about that, there can be a lot of fear around what will
23:40
that look like and how will I go through it.
23:43
And I think there's the other, the other piece is just
23:45
misinformation, right? And it's an industry, it's a
23:47
huge industry. So just trying to sell products
23:51
and things to women that aren't evidence based as a way to make
23:54
money, which is unfortunate, but kind of the reality that we're
23:58
in right now. Can you spill the tea again?
24:00
I love asking you questions because you're the kindest
24:02
person I think I've ever met. And you're like, like just so
24:06
politically correct. But what are some of them that
24:08
you've seen that you're like, OK, this is a bit much, what's
24:12
out there? Yeah.
24:13
I think supplements, like in general, there aren't really
24:16
supplements that are indicated for menopause or perimenopause
24:18
that there's no ones that actually work.
24:21
If you look at the evidence, there are some that are useful.
24:24
I don't want to say like, you know, like vitamin D and iron
24:27
and B12 and we can talk more about that.
24:29
But in terms of specifically for menopause symptoms,
24:31
unfortunately we don't have good evidence that any of the
24:35
supplements really work. Because it would be person
24:38
dependent, right? Like it would be depending on
24:41
your makeup. Do you need more magnesium?
24:43
Do you need more of this versus they're trying to say, oh, in
24:46
this bottle is like the cure to your perimenopause?
24:49
Exactly. Yeah, yes.
24:51
Creepy. Yes, yeah.
24:55
It's like that all of that stuff is so weird.
24:57
You go and it's like this like multivitamin for men over 50
25:01
years, like for women over this or women it's like, OK, sure,
25:05
prenatal because it has the full light you need or whatever.
25:08
But other than that, I'm like really like I love me.
25:11
I love the multiple. Don't be, don't like yeah, OK,
25:15
interesting. OK, this is my next silly
25:18
question, but This is why this is called all figured out.
25:20
We're figuring this out. What is perimenopause?
25:24
So my question I'm asking is because it feels like it's over
25:28
your lifetime, your hormones ebb and flow and shift, why is it
25:32
that we've given this particular period and name?
25:35
Hmm. Yeah.
25:36
So it's it's really there is sort of that period of time
25:39
during our reproductive years where, you know, our hormones
25:42
will predictably shift throughout the month.
25:44
And that's how we have our cycles, we have our periods and
25:47
then we reach this time where our bodies are changing, right.
25:51
And you know, as a woman were born with the number of eggs
25:54
that we're going to have and then the eggs reduce overtime.
25:57
And then we reach a point where we don't have many eggs left.
26:01
And then that causes fluctuations in hormones where
26:03
the body is working really hard to release the eggs.
26:05
We can have fluctuations in our progesterone, estrogen.
26:08
And then over time, eventually it stops, right?
26:10
We are out of eggs. We reach menopause, which is
26:13
really just that one year without a period.
26:15
And we are now in the post menopause phase of our lives.
26:19
Come on. So it's it's when you're at.
26:21
I see. I didn't know any of this.
26:23
How crazy is that? We don't know.
26:25
This stuff not taught this stuff right.
26:27
Unless you're, you know, in the medical field or in the health
26:30
field, it's not something that's common knowledge.
26:32
Did you even learn a lot about this in medical school?
26:34
Be honest. No, I did not know Women's
26:36
Health in general. I did not learn a lot,
26:38
especially around perimenopause and menopause.
26:40
I know so many of the studies used to just be done on like the
26:42
university aged young men who were like going to do the
26:45
trials. Right.
26:46
Right. Oh my God.
26:47
Yeah. OK, So it's it's a depleting of
26:49
the eggs. And then your body is like,
26:51
wait, but there's no eggs here to release.
26:53
And that's what's going on. That's the indication back to
26:55
the body that like, OK, we're starting to transition this
26:58
phase where we don't need to be dropping these little eggs
27:00
anymore. Exactly.
27:01
Yeah, yeah, the high level, that's basically what's
27:04
happening for sure is complicated when you get into
27:06
details, but yeah, it's it's a good way of looking at it.
27:08
And just like, yeah, we're moving out of those childbearing
27:12
sort of reproductive years into the post menopause.
27:15
OK. And then menopause itself, is it
27:17
one instant in time? Like one second in time?
27:20
Yeah, it's exactly that. It's like one day.
27:22
It's it's the way that we define it medically is one year without
27:24
a period. Right, which indicates that that
27:27
means that you have or go out some point in one moment in time
27:30
you hit menopause, in which case after that is post menopause
27:34
Exactly, exactly it's. Funny because if we grew up
27:36
like. Thinking menopause is this 5 to
27:38
10 year period. The whole thing is menopause,
27:40
perimenopause. Is is what we're thinking of.
27:43
Yes. The whole thing is OK, OK.
27:45
Now let's switch gears and talk about food.
27:50
What are the trends that you saw?
27:52
I want to ask you, what are the trends that you saw in 2025 that
27:56
were interesting to you being in this space, being on Instagram,
27:59
being, you know, a coach and everything like that?
28:01
What are some of the trends you're like, oh, interesting.
28:03
Like this is what I saw a lot of in this year or heard from
28:05
clients. Yeah, I think protein.
28:07
Like let's talk about protein. It's like the number one thing
28:09
right now that's trending. And I think it's yeah, we've
28:12
swung completely like the other way with pendulum again, where
28:14
it's like so much protein. We need like a ton of protein,
28:16
proteins, amazing, which it is. But sometimes we can also, you
28:20
know, kind of focus too much on protein and forget about other
28:22
things that are important, like fiber and, you know, vegetables,
28:25
fruits, whole grains. Like those are also important
28:27
and part of a balanced, you know, plan in terms of our
28:29
nutrition. Um, so proteins, that big one,
28:32
um, I don't know if they're like, I feel like that's been
28:34
the major trend lately. I don't know if I've seen that
28:37
many other. Yeah.
28:38
And if there's any that have come up for you now, that was
28:41
the one. But you know what was funny?
28:42
I remember at the beginning of the year I was listening to
28:46
wasn't it was probably, I don't know, some podcasts for sure
28:48
since I am obsessed with podcasts.
28:50
And the person said, mark my word, 2025 is going to be the
28:54
year of fibre. And I feel like it didn't have
28:57
its moment that I thought it was going to have because proteins
28:59
been like really hyping up for the past two years ish.
29:02
And I thought that, yeah, I totally thought fibre was going
29:05
to like really hit. Did you find that?
29:07
It was like I remember hearing about.
29:09
Fibroid beginning as well. And like I always talk about
29:11
fiber, I think it's super important, but protein is still
29:14
sort of taking over. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
29:16
OK, interesting. OK, Why?
29:18
Protein, Protein, Protein, protein.
29:23
Why do we need it? Like, what does it actually do?
29:26
Hmm. Yeah.
29:27
So protein is one of the macro nutrients.
29:29
So there's three main macro nutrients that we need in our
29:31
bodies. So protein, fat and
29:33
carbohydrates. So we need all of those, um,
29:36
they help us, you know, just to sustain our energy.
29:39
Our cells need those material building blocks and materials.
29:41
Proteins contain essential amino acids with our body uses and we
29:46
can't make ourselves. That's why it's important to
29:47
consume protein. Oh.
29:50
Yeah, that's interesting. Yeah, OK, OK.
29:54
Yeah. And then protein is really
29:55
important. Also, when we look at muscle and
29:57
building muscle and strength right like protein is needed as
29:59
well. And what is it that the?
30:01
What? Why do we need?
30:02
What does protein have to do with muscle?
30:04
In particular, it helps us to build muscles.
30:07
So if we don't get enough protein, it can be hard for us
30:09
to maintain our muscle mass and also build muscle.
30:12
So it's almost like a fuel. Into the muscle.
30:14
So like you're training and training, training, but you're
30:16
not eating if protein, so your body doesn't have what it needs
30:19
to make the muscle. Yeah, exactly.
30:21
Exactly. When we're looking at muscle,
30:23
there's two main stimulus. So you need to actually look,
30:26
look at progressive muscle overload where you're putting
30:29
enough, um, you know, effort so that your muscle is stimulated
30:32
and grow and then you also leave the building blocks to grow the
30:35
muscle, which come from protein. Oh, OK, Progressive.
30:37
Muscle overload. Yeah.
30:39
Is that what you said? Yeah.
30:41
And that's when you're upping the weights exactly.
30:43
You're just using the 5 LB weights exactly.
30:44
Weights repetition. You're just putting more stress
30:46
on the muscle because if we're always doing the same movement
30:48
at, you know, the same weight, same number of repetitions are
30:51
muscle will just stay the same and won't be stimulated to grow.
30:54
So we need to be putting to load and that can be with going
30:57
heavier with our waste overtime, it could be doing higher
30:59
repetitions. We could, you know, change
31:01
things up in the gym as well. But we really want to be um,
31:04
yeah, building that muscle through progressive muscle
31:06
overload. Why do we?
31:07
Need to build more muscle versus work to sustain whatever muscle
31:12
you have. Yeah, so.
31:14
We do lose muscle mass. So as of the age of 30, we lose
31:17
about 1 to 2% of our muscle mass every year.
31:21
And so if we look at that over time, like we could be losing up
31:23
to 30% of our muscle mass, you know, by the time we're in our
31:25
80s. So if we don't do anything at
31:27
all, um, if we're not doing any weight training, we're not doing
31:30
anything to maintain our muscle naturally, we decline.
31:32
And that can lead to what we call sarcopenia, which is low
31:35
muscle mass and can lead to frailty, which is obviously such
31:38
an important consideration as we get older.
31:39
We want to be as strong as possible.
31:41
So, you know, the minimum we need to be maintaining our
31:43
muscle mass. And really for most of us, we
31:45
want to be building muscle mass really important so that we kind
31:47
of build our muscle bank, like make sure that we have more
31:50
muscle in the bank as we get older and as we will be losing
31:53
muscle, right? Because if you're.
31:55
Losing the muscle, then you have to replenish and hopefully build
31:58
a bit more. So like you're not just trying
32:00
to stay the same because you're not going to be saying same
32:01
because you're losing muscle mass exactly.
32:03
So you have to actually, OK, that makes so much sense.
32:06
What is it about? Um, what is it about the like
32:09
osteoporosis in women? And do you need high?
32:13
Like how do you prevent osteoporosis?
32:15
Feel like I heard that you need like impact.
32:17
When I did my yoga teacher training, which I know you did
32:19
too, they were always like, oh, these are good postures for
32:22
preventing osteoporosis, like weight bearing and things like
32:25
that. Can we talk about that?
32:27
The bone density? What is all that?
32:29
Of course. And they're they're very.
32:30
Interrelated, so muscle and bone health interrelated.
32:32
So as we're building muscle, we're also building bones.
32:35
So they go together because as we're putting more load on the
32:37
muscles, we're putting more load load on the on the bones as
32:40
well. So training is really great for
32:42
for bone health. Cool.
32:43
Yeah. And then also you're probably
32:45
thinking of some of the higher impact exercises as well.
32:48
So things like jumping is also really good for just putting
32:51
again, more stress on the bones. Again, if we don't, you know, if
32:54
we're coming from a place where we're the healthy bone, that's
32:56
like for people with osteoporosis want to be careful
32:58
because we don't be doing anything that could cause
33:00
fractures. But if we're looking at
33:02
preventing and justice building bone, definitely doing strength
33:06
training and doing some higher impact activity can be really
33:08
helpful. OK, how?
33:10
Often, like, how many times a week are we talking?
33:12
Like what is like, what is the research saying of like, yeah,
33:14
what's the bare minimum our mothers listening can do That's.
33:18
So important, I would say 2 * a week for a first range training
33:22
would be the minimum and looking at your car, gaining all the
33:25
major muscle groups. So lower and upper body doesn't
33:28
have to be very long. Like the fitness trainer.
33:30
Our clinic will say like you could probably do like 20
33:32
minutes. As long as it's a really good
33:34
plan and you're being really effective with it.
33:36
You can hit most muscle groups in 20 minutes.
33:38
I usually do 30 minutes three to four times a week.
33:41
Personally, I break it up into like lower body, upper body.
33:43
Sometimes I'll do both together, but for the most part I'm doing
33:46
three to four times a week. But you know, we want to be
33:49
stressing the muscles at least twice a week to be able to see
33:52
impact. Like once a week.
33:53
It's great, but we probably won't be seeing much impact.
33:55
Um, yeah, overtime. OK.
33:57
And then if you wake up and. Do like 10 jumps.
33:59
Is that like part is that like, hey, great check.
34:02
We've got the we've got our jobs in we're like stressing the
34:05
bones. Oh no, because you said that you
34:07
can you're putting enough impact on the bones with strength
34:09
training. Yeah.
34:10
So both both. Can play a role.
34:12
So, um, again, like, I don't know if there would be a study
34:15
that would say like, Oh, if you do 10, that's enough, but it's
34:18
better than nothing, right? So starting with something and
34:20
then building on it. Yes, right now I'm doing high
34:23
intensity training once a week where I'm really working on
34:26
improving sort of like that Sprint ability.
34:29
And for me, that's looking at something we talked about VO2
34:31
Max, which is one of the best measures of health span.
34:35
And that's just because we can test it in my clinic and I'm
34:37
very motivated to increase my VO2 Max.
34:39
So Sprint interval training where you do something really
34:42
intensely for 40 seconds is what I'm doing and then you rest for
34:45
two minutes and you repeat that a few times.
34:47
So if you were to be doing that jumping, that would be you could
34:49
do it. It's sort of in that format so
34:51
that you would get a little bit more impact like the old school
34:53
Tabata. Remember the Tabata training,
34:55
which was like hard, hard, hard and then take a break.
34:58
OK, yes, I'm so happy you brought that up.
35:00
Peter Attia, like all the Chris Williams, Williams, Williamson,
35:05
just all these podcasts and like big names who are like very
35:08
vocal on health things that is always talked about.
35:12
What does that actually mean? Yeah.
35:14
So VO2. Max is your capacity to take in
35:17
oxygen, basically. So you're measuring how much
35:19
oxygen you're taking in at your maximal effort.
35:22
So you're really going as hard as possible and seeing how you
35:25
how you use that oxygen. And that's one of like in study
35:28
after study, like that's one of the best markers for longevity.
35:30
People with a very high VO2 Max tend to live longer and better.
35:34
And our VO2 Max naturally declines with age as well, just
35:37
as as we get older. Yeah.
35:40
So you want to be almost like starting from.
35:42
A high level so that as it naturally declines you, you
35:44
know, you don't go down as much and you're able to see it a good
35:47
level. And we want to be looking at
35:48
like, what is it I want to be able to do when I'm 80, right?
35:51
Like if I want to be able to play with my grandchildren or
35:54
carry my heavy groceries home, go for a walk.
35:57
Like we need to be looking at what does that look like and
35:59
what do I do to be doing now in order to be able to get there?
36:04
OK. And.
36:05
So is that cardio? So is that what it's?
36:07
It's that basically like with the layman's terms be like, oh,
36:11
how much cardio can you can your body handle?
36:13
Yeah. Are those, is that the same
36:15
thing? It's a type of cardio for.
36:17
Sure. But it's like a very high
36:18
intensity. So that would be, you know,
36:20
you've probably heard of the different zones for cardio.
36:22
So that would be probably zone like 5, like the highest zone,
36:26
zone 1:00 to 5:00. So you'd be in the zone 4 to 7
36:28
five. And then if we're talking about
36:30
just general cardiovascular health, also important for
36:33
longevity would be more the zone 2, which is of moderate
36:36
intensity exercise. So that's where we're looking
36:38
at, you know, optimizing that as well, making sure that we're,
36:41
that could just be walking. Like for me, that's, that's
36:43
mostly my zone too, is walking at a moderate pace.
36:45
I love it and it gets me around and I get to be outside.
36:48
Could be biking, it could be dancing, swimming, whatever it
36:51
is that you love. But they're, they are sort of
36:53
two different, different things that we're targeting.
36:55
Do we need to get into? Zone four and five, like on a
36:57
weekly basis is that is it important to get at your Max
37:01
ever or is it, you know, yeah, it depends on what your goals
37:04
are. For sure.
37:05
So, you know, if you're not exercising right now and you
37:07
just want to start somewhere, like we don't need to be doing
37:09
it all at once, both starting with Allison 2, starting with
37:12
strength training is probably really wonderful and you'll get
37:15
a lot of gains from that. If you're at the point where
37:17
you're doing that, you're straining, you are doing your
37:19
own too, and you want to even go further.
37:21
Like that would probably be the next step.
37:23
If you want to add in, you know, one or two sessions of that
37:25
higher intensity. OK, I.
37:28
Think I'm missing a bit of the cardio?
37:30
Yes, going. Up and down the stairs we live.
37:32
In a townhouse, it's just very tall, so many stairs and I'm
37:36
just up and down the stairs and I'm like I'm doing 3 * a week
37:39
strength training. I do so or Pilates, reformer
37:43
Pilates once a week. I'm like I'm doing all the
37:45
things. However, I've definitely haven't
37:47
been prioritizing like my cardiovascular health.
37:50
So for me it would that would be the next layer would be like
37:54
maybe, yeah, just just incorporating that getting on
37:57
the spin bike and it doesn't have to be these like hour long
37:59
things, right? Yeah, no.
38:01
And you're probably like if. You are training like, I don't
38:03
know how intense you're going, you probably getting some cardio
38:06
benefit from that as well. Like if you're lifting heavy and
38:09
doing that and then, you know, going up and down stairs,
38:11
walking throughout the day, like those add up as well.
38:14
So that is good. But if you're wanting to look at
38:15
more sustained cardiovascular exercise and even adding in like
38:18
20 minutes, you know, like a couple times a week, this has to
38:21
be two hours at a time, OK. We got to get into under
38:25
fueling. This is such a thing that I have
38:29
personally, I can only speak on behalf of me, not women
38:31
everywhere, but I have found this to be such a weird part of
38:35
motherhood that I didn't expect or I didn't know.
38:38
And my children are four and two.
38:40
And it's almost like more recently I've been just noticing
38:44
that I'll go feast or famine and then when I'm in my famine, it
38:49
is around 3:00. I get anxious, I get irritable.
38:53
I am the worst version of myself.
38:55
I'm like, what is wrong with me? Like I'm questioning life.
38:58
I'm like, this is something is up.
39:00
And so when you sent an e-mail in your newsletter, which is a
39:03
fabulous newsletter, you were talking about fueling your body.
39:06
You were talking about protein as replied, let's talk about
39:10
this on the pod and you're like, sign me up And we understand why
39:14
it's happening. Parents are freaking busy.
39:16
This is a population, this audience here, they're working
39:18
parents. There's so much happening.
39:20
What what are like if we were to be like OK, this is the risk of
39:24
under fueling, not eating enough, not fueling yourself in
39:27
the right leg and other risks there Yeah no, it's such an.
39:30
Important topic and I think as moms, as parents, like we we
39:34
that's the default, right. We're always taking care of
39:36
other people first, like we will make sure that we fear our
39:38
children and then often will forget to feed ourselves and
39:40
we'll just grab whatever is leftover right on the table.
39:42
The cross exactly the client recently.
39:44
Be like, I just had crusts for breakfast and we don't even
39:48
realize we got a lot of. Time like, oh, wait a second,
39:49
like This is why I am starving and why I'm in a bad mood,
39:52
right? So it's easy to put other people
39:54
first. And then there's a time piece as
39:56
well if we're busy and it's just it's hard to prioritize
39:58
ourselves and figure out what to eat.
40:00
And the mental load I think too plays a role.
40:02
Like there's just so much on our minds.
40:04
But yeah, I think like over time, if we're under fueling
40:06
like it like you describe, right, we're not feeling great.
40:09
We had those energy tips, We feel irritable, we're maybe not
40:11
getting enough nutrients to support our body, and our body
40:14
functions are hormone health like we're talking about before.
40:17
If not getting enough protein, potentially 2 week, you know,
40:20
our muscles as our muscle mass decreases, we're not getting
40:22
enough to sustain, um, so a lot, yeah, lots of, lots of downsides
40:26
over time and just just really not feeling our best and um,
40:30
yeah, can lead to even, you know, down the line if we're
40:32
really under feeling potentially chronic illness and other things
40:34
too, but hopefully, hopefully not.
40:36
Yeah, yeah. Is there something about weight?
40:38
Gain and like this like weird reverse or inverse relationship
40:42
where it's like to to be under fueling constantly and then
40:45
working out and then like you're disrupting your home can that
40:49
can that lead to not to make this about like a weight loss
40:52
episode but just like you know like that midsection weight or
40:55
just like that when you're like this doesn't make sense that I'm
40:58
gaining weight yeah are those related yeah they can be like
41:01
when we talk about. Stress hormones as well, like
41:03
whenever our stress hormones are high and they stay high because
41:05
it really optimally with the stress cycle you want to be, you
41:08
know, it's OK if we have surges of stress hormone, we want to be
41:10
able to bring those back down and complete that stress cycle,
41:13
right? So we're always in this chronic
41:14
state of stress that her body goes into survival mode.
41:17
And if we look back, you know, um, evolutionary, like our
41:21
bodies would be wanting to consider, right.
41:23
If there was stress, it'd be, we wouldn't be wanting to lose
41:25
weight. We want to conserve our weight
41:26
because we wouldn't know when our next meal was going to be.
41:28
And you know, so the priority wouldn't be to, to optimize
41:32
health and to, to lose weight would be to conserve and to try
41:35
to stay in that protective state.
41:37
So yeah, definitely there is, you know, there's some research
41:40
around that as well where, why, you know, if we're under
41:42
fueling, if we're stressed, if we're not sleeping enough, all
41:44
those things make it harder to lose weight.
41:46
Oh my gosh. Oh, yeah, That's OK.
41:49
This all makes a lot of sense. This makes.
41:51
This makes sense. So how can we fuel?
41:54
You're so good at giving, like, rules of thumb and just like
41:58
things to think about visuals, you know, what are some of the
42:00
tips that you'd be giving to this audience who are working
42:03
parents or just parents who are busy?
42:06
How can we. Yeah, do this in a simple way?
42:10
Yeah. Yeah.
42:11
It's all about. Simplicity, because if we try to
42:12
create these complicated systems and plan, it's just not going to
42:15
work, especially when you know, you have a kid that's sick and
42:18
you know, life that throws unexpected things your way.
42:22
Um, so I would say start with one thing.
42:24
So proteins are a great place to start if you're not sure where
42:27
to start. And I would say start with
42:28
protein at breakfast, making sure you're getting, you know,
42:31
30 gram ish of protein, um, to start your day.
42:34
That's a really good way of fueling yourself.
42:36
I would also include fiber with that.
42:38
We want to be aiming for about 25 grams of fiber per day as
42:41
women. So including, you know, 5 to 10
42:43
grams of fiber in the morning, including your, your protein.
42:46
And that can look like it could be Greek yogurt.
42:49
I love Greek yogurt, Greek yogurt, um, you know, with chia
42:52
seeds or flax seeds and hemp hearts and some fruit.
42:54
So that's not a very complicated breakfast.
42:56
It could be a smoothie. If you like smoothies, you can
42:58
throw in some protein powder in there.
43:00
Throw in the, the chia, the hem, the flax, whatever fruit you
43:03
like, even throwing a vegetable in there too if you would like
43:06
for extra fiber. And it could be, you know, like
43:09
scrambled eggs are great, adding in some egg whites for extra
43:11
protein or tofu Scramble doesn't have to be very complicated.
43:15
I love overnight oats as well. And I usually for those, I'll
43:18
add in all of my, my things. I'll add a scoop of protein
43:20
powders times in there too, just to up the protein.
43:22
Yeah, that's a really good way to start the day.
43:24
OK, OK, so breakfast. I've been digging, uh, I'll,
43:27
I'll add in what things that I've been liking as I've been on
43:30
this journey, like breakfast sausages.
43:33
I don't know if that's like too high in fat, but there's like, I
43:35
don't know, there's sometimes it's funny for me, I actually
43:38
find, and this goes back to the personalized approach to it all
43:41
versus like, what do you crave? Like I really do.
43:43
I would rather eat a bigger breakfast and lunch in a smaller
43:46
dinner. Like my body just doesn't really
43:48
want that. Like, I'd actually rather have,
43:50
like, steak in the morning than I would just take at night,
43:53
which is so funny. But like, that's for me is like,
43:55
OK, how could I have some leftover meat or potatoes from
43:58
the night before and make, like, a hash?
44:00
Yeah. And just like, warming up the
44:02
microwave or fry it up or something like that.
44:04
That's wonderful. There's no rules like.
44:05
You can definitely, you can have dinner for breakfast.
44:07
Like, why? Why do we make these roll around
44:08
like breakfast needs to be sweet or needs to be eggs?
44:10
Like you can be anything you want.
44:11
And in different countries in the world, they don't know.
44:13
They don't have cereal. They don't have those brackets
44:15
where they just eat like they would any other meal.
44:17
Yeah, Yeah. When we were in Peru, we were
44:19
in. This tour and we were, we were
44:22
with this group of people and there was this hysterical French
44:25
woman that I was sitting with at one point, I think we're eating
44:29
breakfast together. And she looks at me and she was
44:31
kind of like that, like stereotypical French way.
44:34
She was like looking at me. Is that eating like putting some
44:36
jam on my toast or something like that.
44:38
And she's like, you know, in France, like you don't have
44:40
sweet in the breakfast. You don't have it until at least
44:42
11 AM or something like that. And I was like, what?
44:45
And then we were like laughing. And she was, she was explaining
44:48
she's like, yeah, we do savory in the morning.
44:50
Like you would never have something sweet.
44:52
Typically in the morning, you would have like your panel
44:54
chocolate, like, OK, you're French.
44:56
I'm like butchering that. But you, you would have that in
44:59
the afternoon or for good taste, like you would have it like
45:02
later on. And I was like, and it's just
45:04
stuck with me. I'm like, oh, that's so
45:06
interesting. And I do crave salt in the
45:09
morning, which we understand. Electrolyte things are
45:12
happening. Replenishing your salt, perhaps.
45:15
Yeah. Yeah.
45:16
And your minerals. Yeah, yeah.
45:17
So. Oh, very.
45:18
Very interesting. OK, as we moved on to the day.
45:21
So case study yesterday, I had such a crazy day.
45:24
I was here at the studio recording, I went for lunch with
45:28
a friend afterwards, went to a Christmas party and I packed
45:31
this little bag with the weirdest snacks in it.
45:34
And I really wish that I had easier things on the go to just
45:38
be like nibbling on every couple hours throughout the day.
45:41
What are some of those things that we could be I don't know,
45:44
but the more on the go like yeah, that aren't complicated.
45:48
Yeah, again, yeah. Like these like ridiculous like
45:50
meal preps that happen on Sundays and you're like, I will
45:53
never do that, No. And like I wish I.
45:55
Could like, I wish I had, you know, hours on a Sunday to do
45:57
milk. I just don't, right?
45:59
I have the kids and we're busy with activities and yeah, I want
46:02
to be spending time with my family as well right now,
46:04
spending hours in the kitchen. That's the problem.
46:09
Yes, you have to. Choose Yeah.
46:11
Feels like or. Or there's some sort of balance,
46:13
right? So for me, I like, I don't meal
46:15
prep huge meals on the weekend, but I like to meal prep a few
46:17
components. So if we're cooking something
46:19
for dinner on Sunday, if we're making salmon, for instance, I
46:22
will make extra salmon that I can then use in a lunch, right?
46:25
Or use for a meal later on in the week or cooking up.
46:27
So usually like I like to cook a protein.
46:29
So whether it's chicken or salmon or tofu, whatever protein
46:31
you like, and then some sort of vegetable as well.
46:34
So whether it's just prepping, cutting up some veggies.
46:36
I also like to do sheet pan roasted vegetables.
46:39
So if I have the oven already on, I'll throw in a sheet kind
46:41
of vegetables and then I can build like a bowl or a salad or
46:44
you know, throughout the week. So having those components in
46:47
your fridge makes it a lot easier to build healthier
46:50
lunches and dinners. But it doesn't have to be
46:52
complicated. Can be like one or two things
46:54
and it just starts you're building blocks, right?
46:56
It gives you something to go from.
46:58
And then in terms of things to bring with you, it doesn't have
47:01
to be like a sandwich or a salad.
47:03
It could literally be like a Bento box, right, With things
47:05
that you like in there could be some whole grain cracker, there
47:07
could be some got chicken, could be a fruit or vegetable hummus,
47:11
um, handful of nuts like you can build like kind of like what we
47:14
do for our kids, right? We come into school 100% yeah.
47:17
Oh. I know the Bento thought the
47:19
Japanese just feels so evolved. It feels like they're just life
47:24
times ahead of us. Like they've always been doing
47:26
this. They eat in moderation.
47:28
They eat whole grain foods and real food, you know what I mean?
47:31
And then they've got the Bento box going on.
47:33
And I remember, you know, 10 years ago, we would been like,
47:35
what, adults with a little lunch box?
47:37
But yeah, that's just that's their way of life.
47:40
Japanese. We can learn so much.
47:42
Yes. OK.
47:44
I love that. I really want to get myself a
47:46
little Bento box. Yeah.
47:47
Something class maybe. Yes.
47:49
Or stainless steel. OK, OK.
47:51
Yeah. OK What else should we be
47:54
considering? Do we talk about fiber?
47:57
Like I think fiber is one that I don't really understand how you
48:00
measure the amount of fiber you need.
48:01
Are there any like it is something about like the palm of
48:03
your hand or. Yeah.
48:05
How do we measure how much we need?
48:06
That's a good question. Fiber is a bit.
48:08
Trickier for protein for sure. Like we can look at, you know,
48:10
one to two palm sizes. It's a good measure of protein.
48:13
Like if you're looking to get about 30 to 40 grams of protein,
48:16
OK. Um, fiber is a little bit harder
48:18
because it's a bit more hidden in the foods.
48:20
There's different sources of fiber and there's soluble,
48:22
insoluble fiber. Both important, but looking, I
48:27
think the best way really is to track to be honest for a couple
48:30
days just to just to know you don't have to track everything,
48:33
but just you can enter the food that you're eating and just see
48:35
like how much fiber there is. You know, something like a
48:38
tablespoon and 1/2. Think of chia seeds has 5 grams
48:41
of fiber. For instance, there are certain
48:43
fruit that have more fiber than others.
48:44
Pears are really high in fiber. Raspberries for some reason are
48:47
higher than blueberries. So if you're looking at just
48:49
wanting to add in, you can quickly Google like how much
48:51
fiber is there at half a cup of raspberries And then you can add
48:54
that to your smoothie, add the chia seeds.
48:56
Oats are a great source of fiber as well.
48:58
And then just in general, like vegetables, fruit, um, are
49:01
really great. Yeah.
49:02
It takes a little bit of effort. Like once you've done it for a
49:04
couple days and you get an idea of how to do it, You don't need
49:06
to be to keep tracking overtime. Yeah, OK, that's good.
49:09
Yeah, the whole macro. Counting them, like, who
49:11
honestly has time for that? However, I did do a food log
49:14
with my trainer and it was not to say like there was no like,
49:17
oh, you must do this, you must do this.
49:19
It was more like, how did you feel on those days when you ate
49:21
this? But it was very interesting to
49:23
be like, oh, this is what I'm putting into my body and this is
49:26
what it does for me. Or how much fiber I'm actually
49:29
getting. I thought I was getting enough.
49:32
OK, beautiful. What else?
49:35
Oh, you know what? This is a question I need to ask
49:37
you. Of course.
49:39
Cravings. Yes.
49:40
What do cravings mean? Is there anything behind them?
49:43
My mom used to always say, like, if you're craving something,
49:45
that might be telling you something about your body.
49:47
Any merit, any truth in that? Yeah, I think.
49:50
I think. It's definitely telling you
49:51
something. I think it's telling you
49:53
potentially that you're undernourished, under fueled or
49:55
maybe you're not getting enough of the protein fiber.
49:58
I usually I talk about the three like protein, fiber, healthy
50:00
fat. Like having those together helps
50:02
to curb her appetite, helps to keep your blood sugar more
50:04
balanced. So, you know, if we're having a
50:06
very, like the carb, high sugar meal, like that will lead to a
50:09
crash later, which can lead to us having those cravings, right?
50:13
Hormones can play a role as well.
50:14
So a lot of women will find in that week before their period,
50:16
just because of like the hormonal shifts, like they get
50:18
more cravings. Yeah.
50:19
If we're tired, if we're stressed, that could also lead
50:21
to our body just craving, you know, high energy foods, which
50:25
can often be cravings, right. Yeah.
50:28
Yeah, I understand. So your body's like, ah, I feel
50:31
stressed or I'm like out of whack.
50:32
Give me the cinnamon bun exactly because.
50:35
It's like that is. Very quick. *** Yeah.
50:37
OK. Yeah.
50:39
So it's not telling you you need more sugar.
50:41
No, no. Well, come on.
50:45
Unfortunately. Most of us are not lacking in
50:48
sugar, yeah. OK, how do you feel about like
50:54
the fake sugars that are going on out there?
50:55
There's like, I have such an aversion to stevia, but there's
50:58
all these different like 0 sugar, but like, I don't know,
51:02
to me they're like sneaky weird. Like are they OK?
51:05
Are they? I don't.
51:06
Know, I think. Like everything in moderation.
51:08
So, you know, if you're having a little bit of it instead of
51:10
having, you know, a lot of sugar is probably OK.
51:13
There are some studies that show that our body metabolizes that
51:17
type of sugar because it's not sugar, but it metabolizes sugar
51:20
substitutes differently. So potentially could lead to
51:22
more cravings and increases in appetite later.
51:25
So sometimes, you know, we think that we're helping ourselves by
51:28
doing that. It could backfire if we're
51:29
finding that then we're, like, hungrier later.
51:31
Yeah. Weird.
51:32
Yeah. So my gosh, Yeah.
51:34
There's a little. Bit yeah, we're.
51:35
You know, I think for some people they work well.
51:37
For others they can cause, you know, some problems in terms of,
51:40
yeah, just craving other foods and moderation.
51:43
Such a. Thing isn't it?
51:45
Doctor Val, what would you hope to tell the audience on the
51:49
topic of Women's Health, longevity, aiding?
51:53
Like, what are some things that you're like?
51:54
I just want everyone to know this.
51:57
Anything. Yeah.
51:58
No, I think it's. It's all about just a simple
52:01
steps and justice focusing on you just have to be complicated.
52:04
We just want to be focusing on like Whole Foods and eating
52:06
regularly, like having those three meals a day, focusing on
52:09
protein and fiber, you know, and it's starting with one thing.
52:14
So like we were saying about the fiber, like if that's a priority
52:16
for you, like start just getting an idea of how much fiber you're
52:18
getting and then maybe add in 5 grams extra of fiber, maybe a
52:22
cheesy table 20CC that you're adding in and then build on
52:25
that. So don't do it all at once.
52:26
Like if you're only getting 10 grams, don't be like, OK, well
52:28
now I need to get 25g right away.
52:30
So we want to start small. And it's the same way protein,
52:33
right? Like, well, we look at how much
52:34
protein we're getting and then we start by adding maybe 10
52:36
extra grams of protein per day. Do that for a week and then
52:39
after that you'll start adding a little bit more.
52:40
So you're slowly building. And that's how we really make
52:43
sustainable changes over time. It's just slowly building and
52:46
not doing everything all at once because we're busy and life,
52:48
there's just a lot going on. Yeah, that's not what we're
52:50
complicate things. No, I feel like kind of.
52:52
Shocking for your body like when your digestion get a bit weird.
52:55
If it's all of a sudden you're like tripled your fiber intake.
52:58
For sure. For sure, yes.
53:00
Can be a lot on our gut. Gut health.
53:03
Oh my gosh. OK, that will be our.
53:05
Next one, the gut health, that was a couple years ago.
53:07
That was a big one. Now we're talking about protein.
53:09
But OK, our next, our next chat, I think we should get into
53:13
brain, gut, all that stuff. OK, There's like, I don't even
53:17
know what you would say to this, but Doctor Val, what are you
53:19
still trying to figure out in this moment this season?
53:22
Yeah, I think that's. A great question.
53:24
I think for me, it's honestly just like more spaciousness in
53:27
my life. And that sounds like a, a big
53:30
word, but I find that, you know, I love what I'm doing.
53:32
I'm balancing the coaching, the my medical practice, life, kids,
53:36
everything. And I, yeah, I'm working on like
53:39
a little bit more space in my week.
53:41
So I'm not just like saying yes to everything and just creating
53:43
those moments where there's a little bit of like that white
53:45
space. So something I'm working on,
53:47
hoping to carry forward in 2026 is something that I work on with
53:50
my clients and I want to increase that in my own life as
53:53
well. It's so beautiful and.
53:55
Where can everybody find you and how could you describe how
53:59
people can work with you? Like, how does this work?
54:01
I know it's it's just so cool. I feel so insane that that
54:04
people could have access to you who is a medical doctor but
54:07
could be operating in a coaching capacity.
54:09
Could you actually explain that? Yeah.
54:11
Thank you. Yes, of.
54:11
Course, so I work primarily with women 35 plus who are looking to
54:15
feel more energized, looking potentially to lose weight and
54:18
improve their body composition, just feel better in their bodies
54:20
overall. And I do all one-on-one
54:23
coaching, which I absolutely love.
54:24
And I have two main programs, really, where I work with people
54:27
for three to six months on average, and they can find me on
54:31
my website. I'm on Instagram and LinkedIn as
54:33
well. I'd love to just connect and
54:35
chat. And I always love to just talk
54:37
to people and see what's going on and, you know, helps provide
54:39
some solutions. Yeah.
54:41
Beautiful. And what could?
54:41
They expect so you're working with you for three to six months
54:44
and they, you know, they depending on their goals, say it
54:47
is stress management and maybe like a bit of weight loss or
54:51
something in that in that realm or gaining strength.
54:53
What could what does that look like with you?
54:55
Yeah, yeah, I work. So we would meet weekly, so we
54:58
meet through Zoom so I can work with people from all over.
55:01
So virtual appointments and then come up with specific action
55:04
plans. I have programs to where we
55:05
follow those different. We look at those 4 pillars of
55:07
health and nutrition, the exercise of sleep and the stress
55:10
and we look at optimizing each of those pillars and we work
55:12
really closely together. So it's personalized to their
55:14
goals and what they want. And again with those like
55:16
sustainable shifts over time. Cool.
55:18
OK. And then how does?
55:20
Somebody who's maybe across Canada, the United States,
55:23
Europe, how might they find a clinic kind of like what you're
55:26
describing? Is that a thing that people can
55:28
access in different provinces, countries and that sort of
55:32
thing? The lifespan, yeah.
55:34
Yeah, definitely. I think it's it's becoming life
55:36
identity is its own thing. Like there are no other ones
55:39
like that. So we're just not a lot.
55:41
But definitely, you know, I think just looking online at
55:43
what's there and looking at making sure it's incredible
55:45
clinic and space and looking at who the people in charge sort of
55:49
of the clinic are. But I think more and more, you
55:51
know, of these types of clinics will pop up as well as people
55:54
are just looking for that more holistic, proactive care and
55:57
just looking to yeah, to have a space where they can go and
56:00
really be listened to and can really focus on their health in
56:03
a really, yeah, holistic way. Beautiful.
56:05
And they would. Be.
56:06
What's the keyword they're typing?
56:07
What's the Google search that they like longevity clinic or
56:11
like private, maybe private medicine?
56:13
Yeah, private medicine. Healthspan longevity.
56:16
Yeah, yeah, yeah, OK, thanks. Cool.
56:20
Thank. You so much thank you for flying
56:22
across the country just for this, for nothing else, just for
56:25
this, anytime. Thank you so much and you're so.
56:29
Generous with your information and the way again, the way that
56:33
you describe things. I feel like I've I've just
56:35
learned so much. I'm just eating this up.
56:37
So please be our they all figured out podcast.
56:41
Uh, medical doctor and coach. If you want the role, I would
56:45
love it. It is yours.
56:46
Thank you. Thanks, Val.
56:48
Thank you SO. Much.