Latest / F*ck, I’m Nearly 50! / Bones, Strength and Menopause: What Matters Now? | Karen Van Esveld | F*ck, I’m Nearly 50!

Transcript

Bones, Strength and Menopause: What Matters Now? | Karen Van Esveld | F*ck, I’m Nearly 50! · F*ck, I’m Nearly 50!

• 0:00
  Dom Hind: Hi, I'm Dom Hind, and fuck, I'm nearly 50.
• 0:02
  Dom Hind: Actually, I'm 48 and a half now.
• 0:05
  Dom Hind: And what I've noticed lately is the questions I ask about my health have completely changed.
• 0:10
  Dom Hind: In my 20s and 30s, the question was usually, how do I lose a few kilos?
• 0:15
  Dom Hind: But in my 40s, it's becoming something very different.
• 0:18
  Dom Hind: Is my body actually strong enough for the next 30 years?
• 0:22
  Dom Hind: Because aging suddenly stops being theoretical.
• 0:25
  Dom Hind: You realize your body isn't something you push through with day to day.
• 0:29
  Dom Hind: It's something you have to understand and take care of properly.
• 0:32
  Dom Hind: And sometimes all it takes is one conversation to change the way you think about everything.
• 0:38
  Dom Hind: For me, that moment happened with today's guests.
• 0:40
  Dom Hind: We were chatting about health and nutrition, and she casually asked me, Have you ever had a DEXA scan?
• 0:46
  Dom Hind: And I said, No, because honestly, I barely knew what it was.
• 0:50
  Dom Hind: But she encouraged me to go and get one, and when the results came back, it was a wake-up call.
• 0:56
  Dom Hind: Because suddenly I wasn't guessing anymore.
• 0:59
  Dom Hind: I could see my bone density, my muscle mass, and my body composition in actual numbers.
• 1:05
  Dom Hind: And when you see that, something shifts.
• 1:07
  Dom Hind: You realize aging well isn't about luck.
• 1:10
  Dom Hind: It's about information strength and paying attention earlier than most people do.
• 1:15
  Dom Hind: Because, fuck, I'm nearly 50 and isn't it amazing?
• 1:20
  Dom Hind: All right, here we go.
• 1:34
  Dom Hind: Karen Van Esfeld is the founder of Wellset Nutrition and Pilates, a Sydney-based practice focused on helping people understand their health through the powerful combination of nutrition, movement, and metabolic insight.
• 1:49
  Dom Hind: Interestingly, Karen didn't begin her career in health.
• 1:54
  Dom Hind: She started as a graphic designer, someone trained to notice patterns, structure, and the smallest details most people overlook.
• 2:03
  Dom Hind: But over time, the same curiosity about systems and how they work led her to the most complex system of all, the human body.
• 2:14
  Dom Hind: She retrained as a nutritionist and Pilates practitioner, eventually founding Well Wellset, where she helps people take a smarter, more personalized approach to their health.
• 2:26
  Dom Hind: Her philosophy is simple but powerful.
• 2:30
  Dom Hind: Instead of guessing what your body needs, understand it through nutrition, strength, testing, and real-life habits that support long-term health.
• 2:41
  Dom Hind: She also happens to be the person responsible for sending me off to get my very first DEXA scan, which completely changed how I think about aging.
• 2:53
  Dom Hind: Karen, welcome to Fuck I'm Nearly 50.
• 2:56
  Dom Hind: Thanks, Dom.
• 2:57
  Dom Hind: You're starting.
• 2:58
  Dom Hind: Let's start.
• 3:00
  Dom Hind: If someone met you at a dinner party and you weren't allowed to say nutritionalist, how would you explain what you did?
• 3:11
  Karen Van Esveld: Well, firstly, I'd probably I don't really like people to let people know that because they're like, oh no, who sat me next to the nutritionist?
• 3:17
  Karen Van Esveld: She's gonna judge every drink and everything I every choice I make this evening.
• 3:20
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, but I think what I do is I help people fill the gap.
• 3:25
  Karen Van Esveld: The gap of where they're actually they are now and where they they want to be.
• 3:30
  Karen Van Esveld: Because most people I talk to, they actually they want similar things, but they've been overloaded, I think, with information.
• 3:38
  Karen Van Esveld: You know, they probably put their bloods through Chat GPT, they've, you know, the things are popping up on their Instagram telling them they need this, they need that.
• 3:47
  Karen Van Esveld: But most people I talk to, they want the same thing.
• 3:49
  Karen Van Esveld: They want to feel great.
• 3:50
  Karen Van Esveld: They probably want to lower their body fat, uh, possibly their visceral fat, build muscle.
• 3:56
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, they want to optimize everything they can.
• 3:59
  Karen Van Esveld: They want to be operating at peak performance and they want to be good in their last marginal decade, you know, the last 10 years in particular.
• 4:08
  Karen Van Esveld: But even now, we're well, I'm a little over 50, but you know, what are the next 30, 40 years look like, you know, and how are you gonna be at that last 10?
• 4:17
  Karen Van Esveld: Is it gonna be horrible and you're gonna be managing something really hideous or you're gonna be good cruising through Europe, you know?
• 4:23
  Dom Hind: Yeah.
• 4:24
  Dom Hind: And I and it is it is it's interesting because I I love talking to nutritionalists because I think that everyone has their own perspective, but so much of it is in the data and in the data, and making sure that you can understand the data and that you understand the data truly.
• 4:42
  Dom Hind: Because I think that's one of the biggest things is that we've got so much data at our fingertips now.
• 4:49
  Dom Hind: But what do we actually do with it?
• 4:50
  Dom Hind: And how can we actually make sure that we are using it to our advantage?
• 4:55
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, and that is the thing that probably I see the most.
• 4:57
  Karen Van Esveld: And even sometimes, unfortunately, you people I'll put them on a protocol and they still come back the following week and they're like, Oh, I did what you said, and then I put it through chat and they said I should be adding berberine and I should be adding this.
• 5:08
  Karen Van Esveld: So I've just added those in as well.
• 5:09
  Karen Van Esveld: I'm like, oh you know.
• 5:11
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, but yeah, it is people being overloaded with info and just it's trying to understand like what is clinically relevant to them.
• 5:19
  Karen Van Esveld: Like, even say they know they've got elevated inflammation, maybe it's come back on their bloods, they've got high CRP, ASR, or even if they've done a microbiome test, you know, they've got systemic inflammation.
• 5:31
  Karen Van Esveld: But there's so many ways that you can address even that.
• 5:34
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 5:34
  Karen Van Esveld: But like what actual chemical pathway or what what is driving your inflammation rather than just going, oh, I'm just gonna take a random fish oil, or you know, maybe even something that's off iHerb or don't want to say names, but something that's not maybe a really high quality fish oil.
• 5:48
  Karen Van Esveld: Or yeah, there's so many anti-inflammatories as well, you know, like acumen and turmeric or so many herbs, and people text me even through Instagram and say, What do you think of milk thistle?
• 5:57
  Karen Van Esveld: Well, for what?
• 5:58
  Karen Van Esveld: Like, you know, yes, it's and what's the rest of your body doing?
• 6:01
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, like can't just blanket prescribe.
• 6:04
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, exactly.
• 6:06
  Karen Van Esveld: So what are your liver enzymes elevated or what's the reason you're, you know, I think people just hear about these things and think, oh, I should be on it.
• 6:12
  Karen Van Esveld: NMN, NR, you know.
• 6:13
  Dom Hind: Yeah.
• 6:13
  Dom Hind: See, I'm definitely one of those people who I'll go, ooh, I need to be doing this this week.
• 6:20
  Dom Hind: Ooh, let's try and do this.
• 6:22
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, I have nearly stopped my peptide um fascination for the time being, just because you're like a- All my clients, I don't want to do any of the basics I don't shoot, I just want to shoot up some peptides, six of them, not look at the drug interactions.
• 6:34
  Dom Hind: Not like, yeah, don't worry that it actually hasn't been probably tested or where it's come from.
• 6:39
  Dom Hind: But you know, that's it.
• 6:40
  Dom Hind: We all want the quick fix.
• 6:41
  Dom Hind: Everyone wants a quick fix.
• 6:43
  Dom Hind: Everyone does want a quick fix, which it's yeah, but it does come back to what makeup your body actually needs.
• 6:52
  Karen Van Esveld: Like, what does your body actually need?
• 6:54
  Karen Van Esveld: And what are your genetic predispositions?
• 6:56
  Karen Van Esveld: What are you, what yeah, what's your deal?
• 6:58
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, you know, what is going on over there?
• 7:01
  Karen Van Esveld: Exactly.
• 7:02
  Dom Hind: So yeah, I think it's good to get the data, but yeah, and then do something with it.
• 7:06
  Dom Hind: Yes, you do.
• 7:07
  Dom Hind: That's specific to you, not to the general population.
• 7:10
  Dom Hind: Okay.
• 7:11
  Dom Hind: Um, was there a moment in your life where you realised nutrition and health were far more powerful than people realise?
• 7:21
  Karen Van Esveld: Uh, there's been a few points.
• 7:22
  Karen Van Esveld: I I went even in my even in my 20s, I've always been fascinated with all of this, and I've always tossed it up between design or you know, studying health and nutrition.
• 7:32
  Karen Van Esveld: And I think I went to some little conference or some, you know, health retreat thing, and somebody said, eat to live, don't live to eat.
• 7:40
  Karen Van Esveld: And I was like, ooh, that's interesting.
• 7:42
  Karen Van Esveld: So I and I've always kind of thought like that, but I think a lot of the things that I've done because I just didn't have the right information, I've actually caused more damage than good in a lot of ways.
• 7:53
  Karen Van Esveld: Like I really went hardcore on that whole low-fat craze that we grew up through.
• 7:57
  Karen Van Esveld: I did not let a bit of fat like touch my body.
• 8:01
  Karen Van Esveld: Uh, and I've as a consequence, I think that has uh impacted my, you know, I've got osteoporosis, so yeah, has impacted my bone a lot.
• 8:09
  Karen Van Esveld: A lot of nutrients were cut out, uh, and I just took that too far.
• 8:14
  Karen Van Esveld: So I think then, um, but it wasn't really probably until the first year of my degree that I really started to understand the body chemical pathways, how you need certain nutrients to upregulate, you know, different chemical pathways or even make enzymes activate or whatever it is.
• 8:31
  Karen Van Esveld: Like the biochemistry was actually the most fascinating part of my degree.
• 8:34
  Karen Van Esveld: And when I started to see that in action, I was like, food really is medicine.
• 8:38
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 8:39
  Karen Van Esveld: I also used to be vegetarian, but then once I started studying, I was like, if I just eat a bit of meat, that's gonna tick a lot of boxes.
• 8:46
  Dom Hind: And no, you're not vegetarian now.
• 8:48
  Dom Hind: No, no.
• 8:49
  Dom Hind: So we need how you know the protein.
• 8:51
  Dom Hind: Anyway.
• 8:52
  Dom Hind: Oh no, yeah, it's another story.
• 8:53
  Dom Hind: Yeah, I know.
• 8:54
  Dom Hind: That's interesting.
• 8:54
  Dom Hind: So I grew up, um, my mum still has anorexia and she's 72, and it was interesting, even like that low fat trend.
• 9:04
  Dom Hind: Like it's just something that we all grew up with.
• 9:07
  Dom Hind: And even now I have to check myself to go, it doesn't matter if it's low fat, like just go the full fat because if they've taken the fat out, they're putting something back in.
• 9:16
  Karen Van Esveld: Exactly.
• 9:17
  Karen Van Esveld: And they're processed the hell out of that, yeah, or maybe it's a lot higher in sugars or whatever it is, but I still can't.
• 9:24
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, that's still in the back of my brain as well.
• 9:26
  Karen Van Esveld: I find it really hard to tap out of that.
• 9:28
  Dom Hind: It's just like, oh, but even with the milk, like I drink full fat cow milk, and I'm probably the only one in the world who still does, but I like uh I'm not going with that.
• 9:39
  Dom Hind: But yeah, because it's I Well, yeah, if you don't need to.
• 9:42
  Karen Van Esveld: So a lot of people do have issues with dairy, but yeah, if you don't, why?
• 9:46
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 9:46
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 9:48
  Dom Hind: Um, I like that live, what was it?
• 9:50
  Dom Hind: Live to eat to live, not live to eat.
• 9:54
  Dom Hind: And I do, yeah.
• 9:56
  Karen Van Esveld: I mean, I was 20 when I heard that.
• 9:57
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 9:57
  Karen Van Esveld: I was like, I'd never thought of eating like that.
• 10:00
  Karen Van Esveld: I mean pretty basic, but No, I know, but it is basic, but it's it it just changes the way you think about food.
• 10:06
  Karen Van Esveld: Mm-hmm.
• 10:07
  Karen Van Esveld: Rather than it just being I mean, food can obviously be very fun.
• 10:09
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 10:10
  Karen Van Esveld: But it shouldn't be fun every day.
• 10:12
  Karen Van Esveld: Three meals a day.
• 10:14
  Dom Hind: Yeah, I agree.
• 10:16
  Dom Hind: Um, what's something that you see people doing in the name of health that makes you quietly cringe?
• 10:25
  Karen Van Esveld: Well, I've probably done most of that.
• 10:27
  Karen Van Esveld: I think I've done every stupid stupid health hack there is, every crazy diet.
• 10:33
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, so I'm probably not one to look at others and and judge, to be honest, if I if you saw some of the unhinged stuff and some of the stuff that people tell me, I'm like, whoa.
• 10:42
  Karen Van Esveld: Um it's probably uh I've got quite a few uh disordered eating clients and an anorexic like as well that's been with me a very long time.
• 10:52
  Karen Van Esveld: And even my own daughter, they do show me things on TikTok and things that I see, and I'm like, that's just so confusing.
• 10:59
  Karen Van Esveld: And I guess we weren't exposed to that, uh, which is comforting.
• 11:03
  Karen Van Esveld: But yeah, for example, uh one of the things I saw was this really gorgeous, you know, very lean-looking girl.
• 11:10
  Karen Van Esveld: Uh, she was having, I think it was eight dates stuffed with ghee.
• 11:14
  Karen Van Esveld: That was her breakfast.
• 11:14
  Karen Van Esveld: Then lunch was like this piece of meat with all this fat on it, and you know, it was just all protein, but animal proteins, and there were no vegetables.
• 11:22
  Karen Van Esveld: And then, yeah, this um client of mine said, What do you think of this?
• 11:25
  Karen Van Esveld: And she looked amazing.
• 11:26
  Karen Van Esveld: And I'm like, that I just don't believe for a second that she's eating that, first of all.
• 11:30
  Karen Van Esveld: Like I can spot disordered eating a mile away because I've had it.
• 11:33
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 11:33
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, so I guess things like that, you know, they kind of concern me.
• 11:38
  Karen Van Esveld: You've got daughter as well.
• 11:39
  Dom Hind: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:40
  Dom Hind: It's it is really interesting, but it's not only what's happening.
• 11:44
  Dom Hind: I saw a campaign that's just launched in New Zealand um for teens on what's actually happening and what messages that they're getting sent or they're getting pushed every day on TikTok.
• 11:56
  Dom Hind: And it's actually disturbing just the content that is there.
• 12:00
  Karen Van Esveld: It's especially if you want to rub it, if you want to go down some of those rapid holes too.
• 12:04
  Karen Van Esveld: Like we we'll just feed whatever you I think if I had been exposed to that when I was young, like Yeah, I I yeah.
• 12:11
  Dom Hind: I think yes, the um and that's where it is.
• 12:14
  Dom Hind: Like even with Hallie, like I'm very focused on your food is really important.
• 12:20
  Dom Hind: We need to make sure that you're eating healthy, but also eating for your body.
• 12:24
  Dom Hind: Because, you know, last year it was last year, we found out she had two parasites, and you know, that's what what playing up with her gut.
• 12:33
  Dom Hind: So, you know, specific things for her are really important, and what's happening for her is not what's happening with my son or even with me as well.
• 12:42
  Karen Van Esveld: So making sure that uh well girls are tricky in particular.
• 12:46
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, my daughter's got a lot of stuff going on as well.
• 12:49
  Karen Van Esveld: She won't want me to say what's happening in case she kisses this podcast.
• 12:52
  Karen Van Esveld: Um but also I've just been very careful with my language around her.
• 12:57
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 12:57
  Karen Van Esveld: Because my mum too was very disordered eating.
• 13:00
  Karen Van Esveld: And even she just passed away recently, but um, even all her life, she'll just talk about people, oh, but they're a bit fat.
• 13:07
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, the weight's fine.
• 13:08
  Karen Van Esveld: She's always talking about people's weight.
• 13:10
  Karen Van Esveld: She's obsessed with it.
• 13:11
  Karen Van Esveld: And even thinking about my childhood, how disordered her eating was.
• 13:15
  Karen Van Esveld: She used to pick, like, never ate meals and yeah, just snacked on this, lunch might have been a cream bun.
• 13:22
  Karen Van Esveld: Like it was just, I don't know, it was just not normal eating and just so much chat about someone's weight, and I just think, no wonder I you know.
• 13:32
  Karen Van Esveld: So I've been very careful around my own daughter.
• 13:34
  Dom Hind: Yeah, I'm I'm exactly the same.
• 13:35
  Dom Hind: I'm like, no.
• 13:36
  Dom Hind: I don't talk about it.
• 13:37
  Dom Hind: I'm not sure.
• 13:37
  Dom Hind: I'm not going there.
• 13:38
  Karen Van Esveld: She's like, what are you?
• 13:39
  Karen Van Esveld: And I'm like, you look amazing.
• 13:40
  Karen Van Esveld: I'm not going.
• 13:42
  Dom Hind: How do you feel?
• 13:43
  Dom Hind: Do you feel okay?
• 13:44
  Dom Hind: Well then you look amazing as well.
• 13:46
  Dom Hind: Yeah.
• 13:46
  Dom Hind: Because how you feel is, you know, how you show.
• 13:49
  Karen Van Esveld: Oh well, boys and boys are much easier, I think.
• 13:51
  Karen Van Esveld: My son's very interested in, you know, is this gonna make me strong?
• 13:54
  Karen Van Esveld: And you know, she am I eating enough protein?
• 13:56
  Karen Van Esveld: And he's already young, but I think that's the Chatter and all boys' school too.
• 13:59
  Karen Van Esveld: They're all about how we're gonna get strong and it's very sporty.
• 14:02
  Dom Hind: Particularly when you have to go to the gym and lift weights already when you're in grade seven.
• 14:07
  Dom Hind: Um, do you ever see people who think they're doing everything right, but their data tells them something completely different?
• 14:18
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, yes, absolutely.
• 14:20
  Karen Van Esveld: I think people can be, you know, they can be well, believing they're being super, super healthy for sure.
• 14:26
  Karen Van Esveld: But uh, you know, maybe they have got certain things going on in their bodies, maybe they actually do have a real issue with gluten.
• 14:33
  Karen Van Esveld: I see a lot of people with gastrointestinal stuff going on, and I think they're just exposing their body every day to things, and sometimes people are drawn to things, and I think that they sh just shouldn't be eating.
• 14:44
  Karen Van Esveld: Dairy is one of them.
• 14:45
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, it's an actual thing.
• 14:46
  Karen Van Esveld: Um where people are addicted to dairy, some people who should not be having it.
• 14:50
  Karen Van Esveld: But I think, yeah, like if your gut is very compromised and you've got possibly IBD or some you know, glutins just you just constantly, you know, and some people who are having so much bread or whatever it is.
• 15:03
  Karen Van Esveld: Um but yeah, I think also sometimes people are doing a lot of fasting and it's really not working for them.
• 15:09
  Karen Van Esveld: Do you fast ever?
• 15:10
  Karen Van Esveld: Uh I I personally don't.
• 15:12
  Dom Hind: Yeah, um I don't like it.
• 15:14
  Karen Van Esveld: I just well most nearly everyone I see, or a lot uh of people, they're fasting a lot and it's never working.
• 15:22
  Karen Van Esveld: And they have a lot of uh adipose tissue, like they've got a lot a lot of abdominal fat.
• 15:27
  Karen Van Esveld: I just think also it just makes a lot more sense to me eating with your circadian rhythm.
• 15:32
  Karen Van Esveld: Like just eating normally, yeah, fast overnight for sure.
• 15:35
  Karen Van Esveld: Give your body a good break, I think.
• 15:36
  Dom Hind: Yeah, don't don't wake up and go, oh, I might have a snack.
• 15:39
  Dom Hind: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 15:40
  Karen Van Esveld: Give it a good 12, 14 hours, I think, is good overnight.
• 15:43
  Karen Van Esveld: Let your body have a good rest and digest.
• 15:45
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, trying to, yeah.
• 15:46
  Karen Van Esveld: I think if you finish your meal three hours before bed, it's gonna help with your sleep.
• 15:50
  Karen Van Esveld: Your body's not like trying to digest food, but I think anything extreme from even that's my personality.
• 15:57
  Karen Van Esveld: So I just try not to do anything too extreme anymore.
• 16:00
  Dom Hind: Yeah, okay.
• 16:01
  Dom Hind: I think that's a good, good, good call.
• 16:03
  Dom Hind: Yeah, but I mean it does work for some people.
• 16:05
  Karen Van Esveld: It does, and there is science on it, you know, the whole autophagy, you know, um, yeah, there is definitely science there.
• 16:11
  Karen Van Esveld: But from what I've seen, it's just in clinical practice, yeah.
• 16:14
  Karen Van Esveld: And from what I see with people, it's not working for them.
• 16:17
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, a lot of time.
• 16:18
  Dom Hind: It's funny, I think that I do so much right with what I eat and what I don't eat, but I'm sure if I kept a food journal, I would be, I would definitely be surprised with what I was and wasn't eating.
• 16:33
  Dom Hind: And I don't think I get enough protein.
• 16:36
  Dom Hind: Like I definitely know I don't get enough protein.
• 16:38
  Karen Van Esveld: Okay.
• 16:39
  Dom Hind: And I think that I try and supplement that with a highly processed protein bar to, you know, tough up my protein, where you know, it's all for me about trying to get the best out of my my body for my later years, but I know, even for me.
• 16:58
  Karen Van Esveld: Okay, we need to have a little chat.
• 16:59
  Karen Van Esveld: It's very easy to do, Dom.
• 17:01
  Karen Van Esveld: Very easy, I think, without a protein bar.
• 17:04
  Karen Van Esveld: I'm not a fan of them.
• 17:06
  Dom Hind: Oh my god.
• 17:06
  Karen Van Esveld: But I think even if you start your day and make sure, even with a lot of my clients, I just try to make sure you've got 30 grams of protein in the breakfast.
• 17:13
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:13
  Karen Van Esveld: Even if you did a like a good clinical collagen, something that's got science on it, and a lot of the like the ones that I have, the practitioner only ones, they've got patents on, like they've they've shown that it they work, specific uh strains of collagen for different things, but that's got 16.5 grams in it.
• 17:29
  Dom Hind: Yeah, yeah.
• 17:29
  Karen Van Esveld: So it's not for muscle mass so much, it is counting towards your protein for the day.
• 17:33
  Karen Van Esveld: So there, you've had a coffee with some protein, or you've put it in yogurt, the c or the collagen, and then you've had 30 grams of because you've already got, yeah.
• 17:40
  Karen Van Esveld: I mean, you and I probably only need a hundred and a bit.
• 17:43
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 17:43
  Karen Van Esveld: So you almost ticked that box without having yeah, I don't like protein.
• 17:48
  Dom Hind: I knew, I knew you'd be like, Well, yeah, I well, I'm about protein, but I'm also about hitting your fibre content.
• 17:56
  Karen Van Esveld: Uh big on the fibre from a gut health and well for many reasons really.
• 18:01
  Dom Hind: Well, I think fibre's great from and I think Dr.
• 18:04
  Dom Hind: Craig Haefer was on and he's a gastroentrinologist.
• 18:07
  Dom Hind: And one of the things I always take and think about when he was speaking was you need to think of um it like a river from your mouth to your anus.
• 18:16
  Dom Hind: And fibre is literally the only thing that will help make sure that the flow is real.
• 18:24
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 18:24
  Karen Van Esveld: He's right.
• 18:25
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, I'm I I'm not yes, I totally agree with this.
• 18:29
  Dom Hind: Um have you had a moment where a client's health results genuinely shocked you?
• 18:34
  Karen Van Esveld: Uh yes, for sure.
• 18:35
  Karen Van Esveld: Absolutely.
• 18:36
  Karen Van Esveld: Uh I feel like a lot of I I do have a lot of clients who are high performing execs.
• 18:41
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 18:42
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, I feel like a man can follow like hide a lot under a business suit.
• 18:46
  Karen Van Esveld: Like they can look very sharp.
• 18:48
  Dom Hind: Yeah, yeah.
• 18:49
  Dom Hind: And with the yeah, the patted shoulders, yeah, nipped in waist.
• 18:53
  Karen Van Esveld: You know, look very polished, they're very assertive, and then you get the blood spec, you're like, whoa.
• 18:58
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, there's a lot of things going on with um, you know, insulin resistance, fatty liver, the liver enzymes are really elevated, maybe they've got high homocysteine, just a little um blood lipids, a lot of stuff going on metabolically.
• 19:09
  Karen Van Esveld: Uh so yeah, that does surprise me a lot.
• 19:12
  Karen Van Esveld: Microbiome tests as well.
• 19:14
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 19:14
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, well, execs in particular, I I think when you've got really high stress, yeah, there's a lot of inflammatory, like a lot of IBS type stuff going on.
• 19:24
  Karen Van Esveld: That's very common.
• 19:25
  Karen Van Esveld: But also sometimes I get a gut test back and I'm like really shocked by the bugs, maybe.
• 19:30
  Karen Van Esveld: I had one recently, it was almost 50% E.
• 19:33
  Karen Van Esveld: coli.
• 19:34
  Karen Van Esveld: Oh.
• 19:34
  Karen Van Esveld: I actually called the lab and I was like, they were like, yeah, we've never seen one this high.
• 19:39
  Karen Van Esveld: And they were like, How's that how's that patient feeling?
• 19:41
  Karen Van Esveld: And I'm like, they're actually not too bad.
• 19:43
  Karen Van Esveld: So oh wow.
• 19:44
  Dom Hind: So they'd obviously just adjusted to it over time.
• 19:47
  Karen Van Esveld: Just I think that becomes your norm.
• 19:48
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 19:49
  Dom Hind: Wow.
• 19:50
  Karen Van Esveld: I mean, they did have a lot of health stuff, other stuff going on.
• 19:52
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 19:53
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, and I do think, you know, the gut impacts everything.
• 19:56
  Dom Hind: The gut does impact.
• 19:57
  Dom Hind: It is literally your central system for everything.
• 20:01
  Karen Van Esveld: Everything.
• 20:02
  Karen Van Esveld: So yeah, well, and then sometimes, you know, I get stuff back and it's perfect.
• 20:07
  Karen Van Esveld: I'm like, so yeah, it can be surprising.
• 20:11
  Karen Van Esveld: Maybe sometimes not so surprising.
• 20:12
  Karen Van Esveld: You've got someone in front of you and you know, they're not eating any vegetables and they're doing, you know, drinking lots of alcohol.
• 20:17
  Dom Hind: And yeah, you know.
• 20:18
  Dom Hind: What impact does drinking a lot of alcohol have on the body?
• 20:22
  Karen Van Esveld: Oh, do you wear an aura?
• 20:23
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, I I've got a whoop.
• 20:26
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's inflammatory, you know, it dehydrates you, pushes your heart rate up.
• 20:32
  Karen Van Esveld: I notice it big time on my aura myself.
• 20:34
  Karen Van Esveld: Even one drink will elevate my heart rate overnight, so my sleep metrics will be impacted.
• 20:39
  Karen Van Esveld: So for me, it's probably accountability just for sleep and alcohol.
• 20:43
  Karen Van Esveld: That's been a big game changer because I do like a I do like a drink.
• 20:46
  Dom Hind: Yes.
• 20:47
  Dom Hind: See, I I haven't had a drink for a while now.
• 20:53
  Dom Hind: And it is like I sleep so well, all of it, not that I was a big drinker before, but it's just it does change the way that your body Well, I literally feel poisoned if I have more than two, probably.
• 21:06
  Dom Hind: Yeah, right.
• 21:06
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 21:07
  Karen Van Esveld: I mean, and I used to be able to get away with a lot more.
• 21:09
  Karen Van Esveld: I just can't get away with it.
• 21:11
  Karen Van Esveld: But I mean that's we're on this podcast, right?
• 21:13
  Karen Van Esveld: And that it's this age where you just can't get away with it.
• 21:16
  Dom Hind: You can't eat more.
• 21:17
  Dom Hind: You literally can't.
• 21:18
  Dom Hind: No.
• 21:18
  Dom Hind: Like it's every and that's why like everything you put in, it's gonna have an impact on your body.
• 21:24
  Dom Hind: Like everything you put in.
• 21:26
  Dom Hind: Doesn't matter what it is.
• 21:28
  Karen Van Esveld: Food, liquids, yeah, all the little routines, yeah, and just all these little things.
• 21:35
  Karen Van Esveld: And again, like they're the clients that have the most success with me.
• 21:38
  Karen Van Esveld: They're the ones that do all the little things.
• 21:40
  Dom Hind: Yeah.
• 21:41
  Karen Van Esveld: There's no one pepto.
• 21:43
  Dom Hind: Sorry, sorry, sorry.
• 21:45
  Dom Hind: My one that has 75 of them in there, anyway.
• 21:48
  Dom Hind: Um, so you actually started your career as a graphic designer.
• 21:52
  Dom Hind: What drew you to that originally?
• 21:56
  Karen Van Esveld: Oh, look, I'm a very visual person and I'm all about it.
• 21:59
  Karen Van Esveld: And I think that was a lot of my problem in the first place with health and fitness and everything.
• 22:04
  Karen Van Esveld: I always wasn't so much when I was younger, I wasn't that concerned about how healthy, probably at the end of the day.
• 22:10
  Karen Van Esveld: I just wanted to look a certain way.
• 22:11
  Karen Van Esveld: I tossed up between design and a bachelor of dietetics when I was in my early 20s.
• 22:17
  Karen Van Esveld: But I thought there's no way that you're gonna be able to do biochemistry.
• 22:21
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, and to be honest, I probably didn't have the headspace for it back then.
• 22:26
  Karen Van Esveld: I think um, you know, I can get really hyper-focused, and uh I just had to be, I think, in the right, you know, frame of mind.
• 22:34
  Karen Van Esveld: I think later in life, like I'm just so interested in this now and knowing how my own body works and how to optimize all of that.
• 22:40
  Karen Van Esveld: So I do love both of those things, and even I mean, those skills are not useless.
• 22:46
  Karen Van Esveld: No, you can still use them.
• 22:48
  Karen Van Esveld: It's kind of expensive having a very strained eye.
• 22:51
  Karen Van Esveld: You walk into places and you're like, oh, that cornice is bothering me.
• 22:54
  Karen Van Esveld: You know, just I see things all the time.
• 22:56
  Karen Van Esveld: But I the biochemistry, yeah, as I said before, that was the most fascinating part of the degree, to be honest.
• 23:02
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, wow.
• 23:02
  Karen Van Esveld: And really understanding the body.
• 23:04
  Karen Van Esveld: Like the more you get into it.
• 23:06
  Karen Van Esveld: I just wish I was a doctor now.
• 23:07
  Karen Van Esveld: Oh, really?
• 23:08
  Karen Van Esveld: Do you like it that much?
• 23:10
  Karen Van Esveld: I thought about going and doing it, but I thought I'd be so old.
• 23:13
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 23:14
  Karen Van Esveld: Like, you know.
• 23:15
  Dom Hind: Yeah, but you'll be ha you'll have so much experience and you'll be able to I know, I'd be like 60 by get out.
• 23:23
  Karen Van Esveld: I'm gonna go and see the geriatric doctor.
• 23:25
  Karen Van Esveld: No, I always try and focus on being a really good nutritionist.
• 23:28
  Karen Van Esveld: I think.
• 23:28
  Karen Van Esveld: Okay.
• 23:29
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 23:29
  Karen Van Esveld: My daughter's gonna do medicine.
• 23:30
  Dom Hind: Oh, is she?
• 23:31
  Dom Hind: Okay, well, then you go.
• 23:32
  Dom Hind: You've got one in the family.
• 23:33
  Dom Hind: That's all right.
• 23:34
  Dom Hind: Um, designers are trained to see patterns.
• 23:37
  Dom Hind: Do you think that that skill has helped you identify those patterns in people's health?
• 23:44
  Karen Van Esveld: You definitely see uh, yeah, I guess patterns and things that are visual.
• 23:50
  Karen Van Esveld: You you I definitely do see that.
• 23:52
  Karen Van Esveld: And I can't help sometimes when I talk to different people.
• 23:54
  Karen Van Esveld: I'm assessing their levels of inflammation and right.
• 23:57
  Dom Hind: What have I got then?
• 23:58
  Dom Hind: There are eyes on my puffing in my cheeks, my eyes are all crying at the moment.
• 24:02
  Dom Hind: Don't know why.
• 24:03
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, a little bit like that.
• 24:04
  Karen Van Esveld: Uh no, I think sometimes you can look at someone's eyes and think, oh, I wonder if there's something going on with the thyroid, you know, little things like that.
• 24:10
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, but I think it's more patterns in maybe the type of people that I see.
• 24:16
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 24:17
  Karen Van Esveld: Like there's the people who really like proactively really want to understand their body.
• 24:23
  Karen Van Esveld: And I think at this age you have to, and I think I've heard you say it before, you've got to take ownership for it.
• 24:29
  Karen Van Esveld: Absolutely.
• 24:29
  Karen Van Esveld: You can go and see your GP, they're gonna answer some of your questions, they're gonna help you, but they're not gonna help you holistically put the all the dot, you know, put the whole picture together.
• 24:37
  Karen Van Esveld: Hence where clinical nutritionists, naturopaths, people like that, or some kind of functional doctor who's gonna do, you know, look at all the things and connect all the dots and look at your nervous system and your sleep and your stress and yes, your nutrition, but like there's so many pieces to it.
• 24:54
  Karen Van Esveld: But I know a lot of really smart people who they're just putting their head in the sand.
• 24:58
  Karen Van Esveld: Oh, oh, I'm on some heart pill.
• 25:00
  Karen Van Esveld: Like they don't even know what they're on.
• 25:02
  Karen Van Esveld: Like they I just don't really want to know.
• 25:05
  Karen Van Esveld: And then it's like, well, okay, what about all the other things with that?
• 25:09
  Karen Van Esveld: And how are you addressing that through your diet or your lifestyle, or you're just taking your heart pill and hoping that that's fixing it up?
• 25:16
  Karen Van Esveld: Is it even a statin?
• 25:17
  Karen Van Esveld: Is it a PCKS9?
• 25:19
  Karen Van Esveld: Like they don't even know in here.
• 25:20
  Karen Van Esveld: So I find that, yeah, it kind of baffles me a little bit.
• 25:24
  Dom Hind: It's the same thing.
• 25:25
  Dom Hind: Like I I think health and finances are two things that people either take full ownership of or bury their head in the sand.
• 25:34
  Dom Hind: And I think if people are scared about what they'll find is when they don't want to know.
• 25:41
  Dom Hind: Um, but yeah, it's it is really interesting because I mean, for me, I've even for the kids, I'm like their health profiles are they've got everything in, like what results, their bloods, everything.
• 25:55
  Dom Hind: Every year we get blood tests because I want to make sure that they've got good baselines and they know what what's happening and where.
• 26:03
  Karen Van Esveld: And even you know that you like what your genetic predispositions are.
• 26:06
  Karen Van Esveld: So you're looking for those in your children.
• 26:08
  Karen Van Esveld: So yeah, I'm looking at my daughters, you know, making sure her bone is good.
• 26:12
  Karen Van Esveld: And then yeah, I'm looking at their guts, I'm looking at, yeah, her hormone panels, like, yeah, just making sure that because you try and give them the best start, you know, in terms of their education and all the other things, but like, yeah, we also and just educating them on how they if they start now and they've got a baseline as well, like how they can, I don't know, manage it all the way through rather than getting to maybe 50 and going, oh, what's going on?
• 26:36
  Dom Hind: What did I do then?
• 26:37
  Dom Hind: Uh what did I have then?
• 26:39
  Dom Hind: I know it is interesting, and I think it it is a change, you going, yep, I need to own my health rather than let the medical professionals own it, because you know, my even my grandparents, my nan is still alive, but she's very much, no, we'll trust the doctor.
• 26:56
  Dom Hind: We'll trust the doctor, which is great, but the doctor also sees about another 200 people.
• 27:02
  Dom Hind: And if you're not owning it, they're not gonna own it.
• 27:05
  Dom Hind: So, yes, it is interesting.
• 27:08
  Karen Van Esveld: I do think young people are getting a lot more on it.
• 27:10
  Karen Van Esveld: I'm seeing 30-year-olds now.
• 27:12
  Karen Van Esveld: Wow.
• 27:12
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, who, you know, were going through everything, and I'm like, so when was your last blood test?
• 27:17
  Karen Van Esveld: And I think they are only 30.
• 27:18
  Karen Van Esveld: I'd probably never run bloods on myself.
• 27:20
  Karen Van Esveld: And then, yeah, I do find things in those bloods that they should be aware of.
• 27:25
  Dom Hind: It was interesting.
• 27:26
  Dom Hind: On Tuesday, I I took Leighton and Hallie to um cognitive testing and brain mapping just to see what's going on with their learning.
• 27:36
  Dom Hind: And just looking at how Leighton's brain is mapped and how it's like always on 200% has made me go, all right, that's come from somewhere, and it's probably me.
• 27:47
  Dom Hind: I need to be going and having a look at my brain, which I haven't done, only CT scans, just to see how it works and how it functions too.
• 27:55
  Dom Hind: So, yeah, that's my next uh that's my next health thing is look at my brain and see uh I'm kind of looking at that as well at the moment.
• 28:03
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, because I'm seeing things in my son, I'm like, oh, that came from one of us, and it's certainly not my husband, it's me.
• 28:10
  Dom Hind: Oh, and brain health is just so important as well, because if that slows, then your later li later years are just gonna be like the health or the joy that you have if your brain isn't working properly.
• 28:25
  Dom Hind: 100%.
• 28:26
  Karen Van Esveld: I went to the Healthy Brain Symposium recently, and there was a really interesting where they had all kinds of people, the geriatrician in particular, and he was talking about the glymphatic system.
• 28:36
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 28:36
  Karen Van Esveld: So like the lymphatic, but it's the the glymphatic is the brain system at night when and that's what happens when you're in that deep sleep.
• 28:42
  Karen Van Esveld: So if your gymphatic system is not working optimally, you're not getting enough deep sleep, you're not clearing out the amyloid plaques from your brain, which was really interesting.
• 28:50
  Karen Van Esveld: And he was talking about also um in studies that have shown that taking melatonin two weeks before, if you're gonna have a general anesthetic, can help as well.
• 28:59
  Karen Van Esveld: Really?
• 29:00
  Karen Van Esveld: Apparently, we know how some people can wake up from a general anesthetic when you're older and you can have some kind of cognitive decline.
• 29:07
  Karen Van Esveld: Oh, really?
• 29:09
  Dom Hind: Yeah, yeah, that's lucky I had all my surgeries now.
• 29:12
  Dom Hind: No, don't go in for any massive surgeries.
• 29:14
  Dom Hind: That takes melatonin for two weeks before, anyway.
• 29:16
  Dom Hind: Okay, great.
• 29:17
  Dom Hind: Um what pushed you to retrain and create well set?
• 29:25
  Karen Van Esveld: It was probably a bit selfish to be honest.
• 29:26
  Karen Van Esveld: Like, yeah, yeah, I just really wanted to understand my health, my body, all of that.
• 29:31
  Karen Van Esveld: And I think, I mean, I've always loved design and I always will, but I just got a bit over.
• 29:36
  Karen Van Esveld: Well, once you kind of become, you know, the creative director, the um head of design, you are literally, well, you start doing less of the fun things.
• 29:45
  Dom Hind: You do less of the stuff that you were good at.
• 29:48
  Karen Van Esveld: You're managing more the people.
• 29:49
  Karen Van Esveld: But even then, you are kind of doing the same thing over and over.
• 29:52
  Karen Van Esveld: It's a different client, it's a different problem.
• 29:54
  Karen Van Esveld: But yeah, you are coming up with the latest look, what's the latest typeface, doing mood, but like, you know, feeding into fashion and design.
• 30:01
  Karen Van Esveld: I don't know.
• 30:01
  Karen Van Esveld: I just I want to do something where I help people and maybe something a bit more fulfilling.
• 30:06
  Karen Van Esveld: And then once I tapped into or started on this whole thing about the body, I realised how complicated and I'm never gonna master or you know, ever learn as much as I like.
• 30:15
  Karen Van Esveld: I still want to learn more.
• 30:16
  Karen Van Esveld: I think I'll be 99, I'll be like, I still want to understand methylation better.
• 30:20
  Karen Van Esveld: Like, you know, like there's always more, you know, there's always another conference, there's always someone with a bit more knowledge in that particular area.
• 30:29
  Karen Van Esveld: It's just so interesting.
• 30:30
  Dom Hind: What what's the thing that is really sparking your interest now?
• 30:34
  Dom Hind: Genes.
• 30:37
  Karen Van Esveld: Genes.
• 30:37
  Karen Van Esveld: Okay.
• 30:38
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, really understanding them.
• 30:41
  Karen Van Esveld: But even then, it's just so complex.
• 30:43
  Karen Van Esveld: Oh, yeah.
• 30:44
  Karen Van Esveld: You know, like people coming in and seeing me and they're on methyl Bs because I heard they're under methylating, and like it's just it's even more nuanced, it's more complex.
• 30:51
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, right.
• 30:52
  Karen Van Esveld: So, yeah, I want to go much deeper down that rabbit hole.
• 30:56
  Dom Hind: Yeah, okay.
• 30:57
  Dom Hind: Great.
• 30:58
  Karen Van Esveld: That's a whole nother podcast.
• 31:00
  Dom Hind: Exactly.
• 31:00
  Dom Hind: Um, so you are the person who put me onto the DEXA scan.
• 31:04
  Dom Hind: And for people who've never heard of it, what is a DEXA scan?
• 31:08
  Dom Hind: A DEXA scan.
• 31:09
  Karen Van Esveld: It is a dual energy X-ray.
• 31:12
  Dom Hind: Great.
• 31:13
  Dom Hind: Thanks.
• 31:14
  Karen Van Esveld: No, well, well, that is kind of interesting.
• 31:16
  Karen Van Esveld: You look, it can put an X-ray through your body and decide and will work out how much is bone, how much is fat, uh, how much is muscle, because it's measuring through the tissues.
• 31:25
  Karen Van Esveld: But there are two types of DEXA.
• 31:27
  Karen Van Esveld: So there's the DEXA scan that's diagnostic for osteopenia or osteoporosis and your fracture risk, and then there's the DEXA scan that's the full body composition, which only came out in the 1990s.
• 31:39
  Karen Van Esveld: But it is obviously an amazing tool to motivate you to maybe go and do something if it's because it's gonna rank you in percentiles as well and say you're in the lowest 10% or 10th percentile for muscle mass, which is concerning because we know that that's associated with longevity and muscle has so many uh extra benefits besides strength, it's metabolically active, going to help with blood glucose regulation, insulin resistance, all those things.
• 32:04
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, and so yes, the body composition one can be very motivating for people to know your muscle, where your body fat, but where is your actual fat?
• 32:14
  Karen Van Esveld: If you've got a lot of visceral fat, well, that is a concern as well.
• 32:18
  Karen Van Esveld: So you might want to, you know, adjust your diet and lifestyle.
• 32:21
  Karen Van Esveld: So that's a very good metric.
• 32:22
  Karen Van Esveld: So we usually do them in a clinic where I work out where we do them four months before, and then we're gonna go again in four months after.
• 32:29
  Dom Hind: And what is what is the optimal time to have like a in-between a DEXA scan?
• 32:33
  Karen Van Esveld: Well, we we operate on four months.
• 32:35
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, right.
• 32:35
  Karen Van Esveld: We feel like that's enough time to see some shift.
• 32:38
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, okay.
• 32:38
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, and then also with the bone part of that, so that DEXA scan does measure your bone, but it's not diagnostic.
• 32:44
  Karen Van Esveld: So it's going to put you in a reference, or it's gonna say you're in the lowest 10th percentile or 20th, or and we're gonna say, okay, you're potentially high risk.
• 32:52
  Karen Van Esveld: So now we need you to go to, for example, the bone density clinic at St.
• 32:57
  Karen Van Esveld: Vincent's Hospital and have the bone density diagnostic one through your hips and lower spine, which will tell you, are you, you know, osteopenic?
• 33:04
  Karen Van Esveld: And if you are, which is something I found out but didn't take that seriously, yeah, but you can obviously stop it then from going into osteoporosis.
• 33:12
  Dom Hind: And what do you have to do differently now with your osteoporosis?
• 33:16
  Karen Van Esveld: I actually don't do anything differently, really.
• 33:18
  Karen Van Esveld: I mean, in terms of like I'm uh trained in Pilates, I've done two methods.
• 33:22
  Karen Van Esveld: The American first method I did, I mean, they're like all the osteoporosis.
• 33:27
  Karen Van Esveld: I never told, like everyone who's got osteoporosis, you'd never do this.
• 33:30
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, but you know, they say no flexion, no loaded flexion.
• 33:33
  Karen Van Esveld: But it as long as you've got high muscle mass protecting your bone, but I think it's much more important to load the bone.
• 33:40
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 33:40
  Karen Van Esveld: So I'm still careful in terms of doing loaded flexion, like where I'm putting a lot of load into the bone, yeah, you know, under the bugs equipment and stuff like that.
• 33:50
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, but yeah, I try and just make sure I've got high muscle mass and very active.
• 33:55
  Dom Hind: What do you think about bouncing?
• 33:56
  Karen Van Esveld: Like the craze?
• 33:57
  Dom Hind: Oh, really?
• 33:58
  Dom Hind: Well, don't yeah, lift and okay, good.
• 34:01
  Karen Van Esveld: So it's probably something I haven't.
• 34:02
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, I mean I skip and I do box jumps, but I don't rebound.
• 34:07
  Dom Hind: I bought a rebounder.
• 34:08
  Dom Hind: Because I I love I I love getting sold to on Instagram because I like just buy hope.
• 34:14
  Dom Hind: I buy hope in bucket loads.
• 34:17
  Dom Hind: And my friend and I joke about like what hope we're buying this week, but I did buy a rebounder and it's sitting there and I'll occasionally go and have a jump.
• 34:27
  Dom Hind: And you know, Chat and I have had a chat about what I need to be doing, and it says I need to be doing at least 10 minutes of jumping uh three times a week.
• 34:35
  Dom Hind: And I'm like, okay, when I get back from holidays, I'm gonna get onto this jump uh rebounder and start doing 10 minutes.
• 34:42
  Karen Van Esveld: Okay.
• 34:42
  Dom Hind: Is it for it for bone or for bone?
• 34:44
  Dom Hind: Yeah, I for bone.
• 34:45
  Dom Hind: Yeah.
• 34:45
  Dom Hind: To try and just load the bone because I don't run anymore.
• 34:49
  Dom Hind: Okay.
• 34:49
  Dom Hind: It's like a I skip and I do box jumps.
• 34:52
  Dom Hind: Yeah, okay.
• 34:53
  Dom Hind: Yeah.
• 34:54
  Karen Van Esveld: So as long as you as you yeah, right.
• 34:56
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, but yeah, maybe that's probably the only thing I'm not doing.
• 34:59
  Karen Van Esveld: Um maybe I need to include that.
• 35:01
  Dom Hind: Maybe you need a rebounder carrot.
• 35:03
  Karen Van Esveld: I think I do, isn't it?
• 35:04
  Dom Hind: I haven't um who are those really cool?
• 35:06
  Dom Hind: There's uh there's these hilarious classes in the US where they've got like 50 rebounders and they literally are high impact rebounding, and it is just the best.
• 35:19
  Dom Hind: Like I'm gonna do that.
• 35:20
  Karen Van Esveld: I'm sure I've seen some super fit, gorgeous, yeah, yeah.
• 35:23
  Dom Hind: Yeah, is it Tracy Anderson who does that or somebody like you?
• 35:26
  Dom Hind: But yeah, but they're literally just pouring in sweat after being on this property.
• 35:32
  Karen Van Esveld: It'll pop up on my phone after this anyway, so don't worry.
• 35:34
  Karen Van Esveld: I'll I'll I'll be getting one for sure.
• 35:36
  Dom Hind: Um uh with so it's interesting.
• 35:39
  Dom Hind: I did my DEXA scan in January before my knee, shoulder, eye surgery.
• 35:46
  Dom Hind: And I I think I was doing it then because I was probably the fittest I've been in a very long time.
• 35:51
  Dom Hind: I'm actually scared about doing my next one because I know that I haven't been doing as much as what I used to.
• 36:00
  Dom Hind: But I think what I might do is I might set myself a goal of the first of September, is when the next one is, so that at least it's a proper true representation of uh me being fit and strong.
• 36:12
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, well it's I mean, it's just for you, really.
• 36:14
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, I know.
• 36:15
  Dom Hind: I know it is.
• 36:15
  Dom Hind: And do you know what?
• 36:16
  Dom Hind: It was great because it it made me realise I was so worried about my bones, but my bones are actually healthy, which is great.
• 36:24
  Karen Van Esveld: Just need to but I've kept mine stable.
• 36:27
  Karen Van Esveld: I didn't really say that.
• 36:28
  Karen Van Esveld: I found out when I was 38 and it did go osteoportic, but then yeah, it hasn't gotten any worse.
• 36:33
  Dom Hind: Right.
• 36:34
  Karen Van Esveld: And is that because of the lifting?
• 36:35
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, I think all the things I do, yeah, yeah.
• 36:39
  Karen Van Esveld: And then also watching my diet, but then yeah, K2, watching my vitamin D levels, um, the clinical collagen that I take has um they have shown in studies that it helps uh impost menopausal women.
• 36:52
  Karen Van Esveld: And I also think hormones, so the MHT, um, HRT.
• 36:56
  Karen Van Esveld: So mine is very much, it depends what's driving it.
• 36:59
  Karen Van Esveld: I mean, I've got um strong genetic component, both my parents and my both my brothers who are younger, they're osteopenic.
• 37:05
  Karen Van Esveld: Oh wow.
• 37:06
  Karen Van Esveld: Yes, they're both, you know, I think that's a big thing.
• 37:09
  Karen Van Esveld: But mine's been caused by low estrogen, so I think it depends what it was caused by.
• 37:13
  Karen Van Esveld: So mine was in my well, under eating when I was younger, disordered eating, and then losing my cycle.
• 37:19
  Karen Van Esveld: So um hypothalic dysmenorrhea, and then and which is something I try and tell all my disordered eating clients, it's a big concern.
• 37:27
  Karen Van Esveld: Because your pink bone happens at 27.
• 37:30
  Karen Van Esveld: What have you got?
• 37:31
  Karen Van Esveld: That is unbelievable, isn't it?
• 37:32
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, I wouldn't know uh young girls wouldn't know that.
• 37:35
  Dom Hind: Yeah.
• 37:35
  Dom Hind: But I don't think many, like I can't remember the I only found that out like six months ago that at 27 is where you don't.
• 37:44
  Dom Hind: Yeah.
• 37:44
  Dom Hind: And so you've got those for the next 70 years if you get to 97.
• 37:50
  Dom Hind: But you know, like but that's a that's a big responsibility of and no one knowing.
• 37:57
  Karen Van Esveld: I know, and that's why, yeah, with our girls, right?
• 37:59
  Karen Van Esveld: We try to make sure that they at least hit as high as they can.
• 38:03
  Dom Hind: Yeah, so they've got a good baseline that they can come back from.
• 38:06
  Karen Van Esveld: And even their hormones, like my daughter had did have she won't mind me saying this, but a high prolactin there for a while.
• 38:11
  Karen Van Esveld: And then when your pro prolactin goes really high, your estrogen goes low.
• 38:15
  Karen Van Esveld: And so I was really worried about that as well.
• 38:17
  Karen Van Esveld: So any hormones, yeah.
• 38:19
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, anytime a girl's hormones are really unbalanced, it can be detrimental.
• 38:23
  Karen Van Esveld: So obviously the nutrients as well.
• 38:25
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 38:25
  Karen Van Esveld: But yeah, they've shown in you know, everyone thinks calcium, but calcium is just such a small part, and that's the thing too.
• 38:31
  Karen Van Esveld: Most people who maybe it's your next question, but like if you can like improve your bone density, it's usually stacking multiple interventions.
• 38:38
  Karen Van Esveld: So it's yes, it's the dietary ones, but it's possibly bouncing.
• 38:41
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, bouncing.
• 38:42
  Karen Van Esveld: Like the well, you know, yeah, the resistance training and yeah, high impact, but multiple things and the hormones is huge.
• 38:50
  Karen Van Esveld: Okay, good.
• 38:52
  Dom Hind: Um, so what is oh I'm not gonna ask that, but why is bone density such a big issue for women in their 40s and 50s?
• 39:01
  Karen Van Esveld: Uh yeah, I think because well, really, the steepest bone loss isn't actually at menopause itself.
• 39:08
  Karen Van Esveld: It's actually a few years either side of it, which probably women don't realize.
• 39:13
  Karen Van Esveld: Uh, a lot of women are actually losing bone the fastest when they're actually in carrying menopause.
• 39:19
  Dom Hind: How do you actually lose bone?
• 39:20
  Dom Hind: Like what does it do?
• 39:22
  Dom Hind: Does it just disintegrate?
• 39:24
  Karen Van Esveld: Like, or does it just you're this becoming more have you seen have you seen a bone that kind of is osteoporotic?
• 39:30
  Karen Van Esveld: It kind of looks like a crunchy that's got too many holes in it.
• 39:33
  Karen Van Esveld: Like it's not it's not dense.
• 39:35
  Karen Van Esveld: It's not dense, yeah.
• 39:37
  Karen Van Esveld: So it's much more porous inside.
• 39:39
  Karen Van Esveld: So um the osteoclasts are breaking it down faster than the osteoblasts are building it.
• 39:45
  Karen Van Esveld: Um and I think it's because you're it's mainly because of the estrogen.
• 39:49
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, and that was my case as well.
• 39:51
  Karen Van Esveld: So hence why that is a huge thing.
• 39:54
  Karen Van Esveld: And hence it's an you know important thing for women to consider around this age, yeah, in terms of am I going to go on, you know, menopause yeah, MHT, HIT for that reason.
• 40:05
  Karen Van Esveld: And I mean the cognitive benefits as well.
• 40:07
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, you know, there's so much science on it now to say there's a lot of reason to do it.
• 40:11
  Dom Hind: Yeah.
• 40:12
  Dom Hind: Um and it can your bone density increase?
• 40:15
  Dom Hind: Like when we get to this age, can you actually be actively doing things to increase it?
• 40:22
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, well, I think again, I think it depends what maybe is causing it.
• 40:25
  Karen Van Esveld: If it's being caused by low estrogen, definitely that um hormones are gonna help.
• 40:29
  Karen Van Esveld: Diet, nutrition.
• 40:32
  Karen Van Esveld: Diet, nutrition, yes, absolutely.
• 40:35
  Karen Van Esveld: Genetic, I think, is stressful.
• 40:37
  Dom Hind: What about emotional factors like stress?
• 40:39
  Dom Hind: Does stress play any impact or does it have an impact on your body or your body?
• 40:43
  Dom Hind: Stress impacts every part of your body, I think, yeah.
• 40:45
  Karen Van Esveld: I mean, if also if you've it so impacts your gut.
• 40:48
  Karen Van Esveld: I think stress impacts people's gut more than anything.
• 40:51
  Karen Van Esveld: And if you've got low-grade systemic inflammation or even high intestinal, or you've got you know, intestinal permeability, you've got um gut dysbiosis, you're not gonna be absorbing your food and your nutrients as well.
• 41:04
  Karen Van Esveld: And say, well, also if you're a celiac or you'd even a lot of people aren't even diagnosed, you know, if your gut wall is very inflamed, you're not gonna be absorbing nutrients as well.
• 41:13
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, it just depends, I think, what's caused it.
• 41:15
  Karen Van Esveld: But I mean, there are things like biphosphonates.
• 41:17
  Karen Van Esveld: So I haven't been able to actually gain, but I've seen every endo in Sydney, I think, professor of endocrinology, all the all the bone specialists, and I have just gone on a biphosphonate.
• 41:28
  Karen Van Esveld: So six months ago, I'm just gonna do it for six months and see if I can literally buy um build.
• 41:32
  Karen Van Esveld: He doesn't know if I can either.
• 41:33
  Karen Van Esveld: He said, let's just do a bone density scan in you know, a year's time and see have you actually been able to increase.
• 41:41
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 41:41
  Karen Van Esveld: So I've tried to do all the things.
• 41:43
  Karen Van Esveld: Yes, and now I'm gonna chuck a pharmaceutical, you know, and medication at it and see if I can, you know, get all that help.
• 41:50
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, but my husband has because he's osteoborosis as well.
• 41:52
  Karen Van Esveld: And that's the other thing about you know, what tests should you do around 50?
• 41:56
  Karen Van Esveld: You know, you should definitely do a DEXA, you should do a calcium score test, go and do a VO2 max to give yourself a little kick up the butt that you need some cardio fitness.
• 42:04
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, but he went for a DEXA just as a longevity thing, and he had osteoborosis.
• 42:09
  Karen Van Esveld: Oh wow.
• 42:09
  Karen Van Esveld: Well, what?
• 42:10
  Karen Van Esveld: Um both his parents have got it.
• 42:12
  Karen Van Esveld: Uh but his was from a different thing.
• 42:15
  Karen Van Esveld: So you can check your CTX marker in the bloods, which will show you how quickly you're excreting your calcium.
• 42:20
  Karen Van Esveld: And he was that was happening to him.
• 42:22
  Karen Van Esveld: Wow.
• 42:22
  Karen Van Esveld: So the biphosphonates now he's actually gained.
• 42:26
  Dom Hind: So that's interesting for your kids then as well.
• 42:28
  Dom Hind: If you're both like bones are going to be really important.
• 42:31
  Dom Hind: Yeah.
• 42:31
  Dom Hind: And make sure that's a little obsessed.
• 42:33
  Dom Hind: Yeah.
• 42:34
  Karen Van Esveld: Marsman's like, my son, drink your milk every morning.
• 42:37
  Karen Van Esveld: He's like, oh.
• 42:38
  Dom Hind: Um, okay, let's talk about what actually happens in our bodies in our 40s and 50s.
• 42:43
  Dom Hind: Um when does oh I guess we've we've talked about this, bent bone density starts to decline, pre-menopause, perimenopause and post, or I guess on the other side of going through menopause.
• 42:56
  Dom Hind: Um why do women lose muscle as we age?
• 43:03
  Karen Van Esveld: It's those sneaky old hormones again.
• 43:05
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 43:06
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 43:06
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, we yeah, I think also women typically they do lo quite often move a little bit less than they used to.
• 43:14
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 43:14
  Karen Van Esveld: Um, but the real issue isn't actually um that like it's the fact that their muscles just aren't responding to what you know, the same workout.
• 43:23
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah, yeah.
• 43:23
  Karen Van Esveld: Like it's just you know, the the research shows muscle building responses to um both resistance exercise and even protein can be blunted in older women.
• 43:33
  Karen Van Esveld: So the same training that you were doing, the same protein intake is in your 30s is simply gonna get you less results.
• 43:40
  Karen Van Esveld: So hence we have to really work a little bit harder and be a bit more targeted, you know, rather than just maybe working out for aesthetic purposes.
• 43:48
  Karen Van Esveld: We're actually trying to get stronger.
• 43:49
  Karen Van Esveld: We're trying to actually build muscle and yeah, I guess really watch the nutrients.
• 43:55
  Dom Hind: It's interesting.
• 43:56
  Dom Hind: I've managed to convince a lot of my friends who were doing you know, just the walking and that type of thing to go and do strength training because I think it's so important that they're doing it just to get that muscle strength so that they can actually stand up when they're older.
• 44:14
  Dom Hind: Or even or get up if they're fall if they've had a fall.
• 44:17
  Karen Van Esveld: Or even GLPs.
• 44:18
  Karen Van Esveld: Like if people are going on them, like it's just a non-negotiable.
• 44:21
  Karen Van Esveld: Like you can't go on one of those without lifting weights.
• 44:23
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 44:24
  Karen Van Esveld: Because I guarantee you know you're metabolically going to be so much worse off when you come out the other side of that.
• 44:30
  Karen Van Esveld: And you know if you're getting if you are getting it through a reputable like you're getting it properly through a doctor and you're being prescribed it.
• 44:36
  Karen Van Esveld: So I have some clients on a high dose of 15, then now on a you know they've hit a certain weight and the doctor's like right now you're coming down to a 10, we're taking taping you off this but I had one client recently he's basically just been having one steak.
• 44:48
  Karen Van Esveld: That's all he's been eating for about eight months and he has lost an enormous amount of weight.
• 44:54
  Karen Van Esveld: He's very young and now he's just like I know I need to get my nutrition in order.
• 44:58
  Dom Hind: But I'm you know we haven't done um and has he been doing strength training or so literally was just using that as a weight loss and yeah yeah that's it.
• 45:08
  Karen Van Esveld: So yeah I wouldn't you know it's just such a shame that people get given these medications and they're not given metabolic guidance in the first place like to go on that without at least getting your gut sorted out as well because it's obviously going to slow down motility.
• 45:20
  Karen Van Esveld: Like if you've got an inflamed gut or you've got constipation that is a big big problem but then yeah you've got to lift and you've got to get that protein in um or other constipation and you go on that you'll end up with intestinal like inflammation so bad and yeah it's gonna sit in there and rot.
• 45:37
  Karen Van Esveld: It'll be rock hard oh my god yeah terrible terrible so is muscle actually one of the biggest predictors of longevity um it's actually not mass or mass that much it's actually strength which is um two women can come carry the same amount of muscle but the one who's weaker for her size carries the higher mortality risk so which is why it's more important to actually train to be strong than just try and tone up.
• 46:06
  Karen Van Esveld: There were three meta-analyses that support the association between the weak grip strength which I'm sure you would have heard about as well so an all-cause mortality um and then they found in 42 studies that people had a low grip strength had 62% higher risk of early death so I mean yeah you've got to be strong yeah you know it's not just aesthetics anymore.
• 46:28
  Dom Hind: It's funny even um so Dr.
• 46:30
  Dom Hind: Mary who's a um she's a longevity doctor but has been she is great but she challenged me to actually hang and just hang and it was hard for a little while but it's it's good like I'm actually because I was so weak when I was hanging like I could only last 45 seconds and now I'm up at like two and a half minutes.
• 46:52
  Dom Hind: Well that's amazing yeah and it's great but all I do is just hang and hang and I get bored and then I have to do a little fidget or something.
• 47:00
  Dom Hind: But it's amazing how you can actually build it up too you can start at 20 work 30 go to 40 yeah yeah but yeah the grip strength and I think there was another study that I saw where you have to carry or be able to carry for five minutes like 75% of your body um and that will be like help you understand how you are actually going to get to older in life and the strength that you will have.
• 47:29
  Karen Van Esveld: Well also I think being able to just get up off the floor like all those kind of simple basic functional movements basically.
• 47:35
  Dom Hind: Yeah the functional movements oh my hips are not going to be uh anyway um okay so let's get practical for someone listening who wants to age well what numbers should they actually be paying attention to is it the daily protein the muscle mass markers bone density scores like what what should they be looking at?
• 47:59
  Karen Van Esveld: Hmm Dom probably all of them just everything everything just but without getting stressed about it that's the thing too people come overloaded yeah don't put it on yeah like have I hit my target of my protein what's my muscle mass like my bone density that's the thing that there's so many things there is there's just so many like I I got to the point where it was just overload because I'm like what else can I actually be doing?
• 48:25
  Dom Hind: I'm up at 515 going to the gym I'm doing weights three times a week I'm doing palat well what is questionable.
• 48:33
  Dom Hind: It's one thing I am I need to get better at but then you go okay you're supposed to be doing stretching in the morning you're supposed to roll your back out with your like your foam roller yeah you know scrape your tongue um use your face brush to get rid of your puffing like there's just so much so much I know I know there is I guess the main ones are the muscle mass is really important.
• 49:02
  Karen Van Esveld: The protein is pretty important but without overdoing it like I think a lot of people too they're getting so obsessed with protein and you walk through the soup plant now it's like hope it's almost remind me of the low fat grades you need to it is like the low fat yeah it's like don't go overboard.
• 49:14
  Karen Van Esveld: I mean the RDA sets it at 0.8 grams of protein per kilo of body weight which I find is extremely low.
• 49:20
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah that's that is low isn't it we we certainly don't set it that low um I was taught in sports nutrition to set it at two grams per kilo of your ideal body weight um when we do the DEXs we get um the uh fat-free mass is what we set it off so uh we set it at depending on the training but maybe 2.4 kilos a gram of um your fat-free mass which usually comes in lower than that two kilos of your ideal body weight anyway which is interesting um I guess the muscle mass marker is important on a DEXA scan knowing you know you can flag sarcopenia you know if you've got too lower um skeletal mass so I think below 5.5 a kilometer square in women is kind of you know yeah it's a bit of an alarm bell yeah um and then you yeah there's things that come up on the DEXA which are called the ALMI the ASMI so they are things that are basically putting you it's just giving you in your like ranking you in your um like your ages and stuff they're important I guess on the for the bone density your T score is important looking at that it'll give you your T and your Z score so your T is against a healthy 30 year old but yeah if you're below a certain number 2.5 obviously minus 2.5 you've got osteoporosis visceral fat levels that's important if you're over 100 like that's you know you gotta work on that fat around the organs the waste to hit ratio I mean that's pretty basic but that's a metric that I do use a lot of clients well yes I do like especially my corporate guys who come to me and even just to get them to do their waste because I had one recently uh he's told his doctor his doctor was old and he said I'm seeing a nutrition he's like you might as well just burn your money but he was on statins and all this blood pressure medication we've lost six centimetres of fat around his stomach with a tape measure so that's been a good metric and motivator for him.
• 51:09
  Dom Hind: So I didn't even it's funny because on my DEXA scan I actually hold all my fat in my hips like I think most women do.
• 51:16
  Dom Hind: But yeah I hold a lot in my hips and then not much on my stomach which is great but it's interesting where you know I know Jazz like holds more on his stomach and nothing anywhere else.
• 51:29
  Dom Hind: Yeah but I do see that in the guys yeah yeah and I mean he tries so hard but yeah it's just interesting how everybody's different.
• 51:38
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah but hopefully that is quite motivating for him to I mean it is I see him working hard at spirit yeah he does work very hard.
• 51:45
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah but you I guess you asked me which matters the most I guess for the women I'd say it's probably that muscle mass because it's a metabolic organ you know so that's it's working at several different ways not just strength falling over which is a big problem as well right a lot of people think cardiovascular disease is one of the things that's going to get you it's probably physically falling over.
• 52:06
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah well and breaking hip or do yeah that's yeah the what's it's like um the stats on that if you break a hip the mortality like it's and my own mum as well she fell over and she hit her head and like though she was never you know that people but die from really basic things like bowel obstructions and you know or even pneumonia they go into hospital and they never so it's kind of sometimes the things that just you might not expect um there's so much confusion around diets keto fasting detoxing it's just overwhelming what should people think about food instead I do really like what you said first eat to live not live to eat like I do think that that is and food is it actually is medicine and it can be medicine.
• 52:54
  Dom Hind: Absolutely so I've just answered your question.
• 52:56
  Karen Van Esveld: No but you're absolutely well it is and yeah I I that's the thing people know you know people know what a healthy diet is people know they should be eating more vegetables you know they should be watching their animal you know farts and getting good omega-3 like people know all these things but it's just very hard to actually put it into practice um so getting those fundamentals unfortunately you know there are no quick fixes you've got to get all those things right um you've got to get your stress under control you've got to get your sleep right um so plant based diet really is I mean the Mediterranean diet yawn yawn but I mean you know that is kind of where the science is at eat your fiber you know get your 30 grams a day it's kind of boring but that is five cups of veggies a day um two bits of fruit I think going on any diet even from personal experience it's super restrictive you know it's just long term I don't mind if people do keto you know they've got to really drop some weight quickly but that is a long-term strategy if I open a you know microbiome test of someone who doesn't eat fiber yeah their diversity scores you know and also that creates an environment for pathogenic bacteria and yeah you're not gonna end up being you know systemically well um it's gonna be reflected in you know your blood markers your gut's gonna be a mess um so yeah unless there's something really clinically indicated where you should be avoiding a certain thing you know I think diversity is important.
• 54:25
  Dom Hind: Okay diversity great answer there.
• 54:28
  Dom Hind: Um what does a really healthy day of eating look like well um probably what we talked about before.
• 54:35
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah I mean start your day with a if you get some good protein in the beginning I feel like people most people's dinner is pretty good.
• 54:42
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah I think that too most people just need to get out the door so they're being Yeah and then also if they are craving sugar in the evening or in the mid-afternoon it's usually because they haven't had enough protein in the morning.
• 54:53
  Karen Van Esveld: So they've kind and then they're becoming desperate and just grabbing for anything the mum's on the school runs and even I have you know um quite a few corporate clients who might live in Palm Beach but work in the city it's that drive on the way back where they're because I always try and find places with people like where are you losing it?
• 55:08
  Karen Van Esveld: Is it in the afternoon?
• 55:10
  Karen Van Esveld: Are you a snacker after dinner?
• 55:11
  Karen Van Esveld: Like is it in the sneaky in the kitchen?
• 55:14
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 55:14
  Karen Van Esveld: But a lot of the time it's breakfast is not good for people.
• 55:17
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah.
• 55:17
  Karen Van Esveld: Or you know their lunch choices are not that great.
• 55:20
  Karen Van Esveld: So I guess it's just making sure I mean even the protein if you just like I just went to a conference recently and she was all about metabolic health and helping people lose weight very successful.
• 55:31
  Karen Van Esveld: She's like um you know first treatment plan I send people away I'm just like okay you're just gonna make sure you've got 20 to 30 grams of protein at each meal bang off you go.
• 55:39
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah so it's just that you know if you can just do that you're gonna keep your blood sugar a lot more you know regulated you're not gonna be grabbing for stuff um drink your water boring you know get some healthy fats in yeah it's it's pretty basic really okay are there three nutrition habits that make the biggest difference for longevity I'm sure you're gonna say drink water eat your fiber eat your protein well avoid processed foods because they really are rubbish I know why why are we still allowed to buy them then like why I don't know because someone's making a lot of money out of it yeah I don't know I know even the health rating stuff is such rubbish yeah if we know that they're so bad for us why can we still get them yeah I don't know yeah I agree like why people just want convenience yeah but even a protein bar I don't want you eating yeah okay all right um lucky it was the last one in the cupboard but I think test and don't guess as well for people you know for the longevity thing yeah you know if you've got you you know if you know you're not right and if you also you go to the doctor and you get your bloods I mean you would have heard people like me say it a million times you know the doctor's oh you're in range yeah no you're actually just not in disease you know you're definitely not optimal I see people all the time their D is 55 oh you're fine you know we want to see you up around you know well over a hundred your vitamin B is way too low something's going on I think that's interesting you're not optimal that's great you're in you're in range but you're not optimal but you might be in the lowest 10 2.5% of the population who maybe not even that healthy anyway like yeah yeah um okay if a 45 year old woman came to you and said I've never lifted weights I don't track protein I've never checked my checked my bone health well with the the three things you tell them to do.
• 57:43
  Karen Van Esveld: First of all I'm probably going to try not to scare her off because I I feel like that is something that um I'm trying to be better at as well because I come in I want to fix everything I talk to my husband he's like you're just trying to do too many things with people so I try and meet people where they're at first off have empathy and I mean I sometimes tell people and I've been in design like that you know I haven't always been in this profession.
• 58:07
  Karen Van Esveld: Nothing you tell me is kind of going to scare me or whatever.
• 58:09
  Karen Van Esveld: But I'd well I'd probably want to start with some bloods let's find out where what's going on take a case history maybe I have to understand what her priorities are as well.
• 58:18
  Karen Van Esveld: So if I say to her well you know I think you should be doing this but she actually just wants to fit into some dress or whatever the so we've got to try and find that compromise I guess and um I guess it wouldn't be the same for each 45 year old woman either.
• 58:31
  Karen Van Esveld: But that's a good thing.
• 58:33
  Karen Van Esveld: Like everyone's different as we keep this as interesting as well people are different and their personalities but then you know their metrics their data it's it's yeah it's always a bit of a puzzle to be solved.
• 58:48
  Dom Hind: Yeah.
• 58:48
  Dom Hind: When you think about women you work with today what do you hope their bodies feel like when they're 70 well it's oh it's very interesting like most of the clients I'm meeting now they're similar age to us a lot of the time I am getting the younger ones as well but um you know sometimes it's the postpartum women and their thyroids are going weird and they're like looking for answers.
• 59:10
  Karen Van Esveld: But a lot of the time people are at this age they've accomplished a lot of things in their life they've got financial freedom or they've accomplished things in their career that you know they've ticked those boxes and now it's just like I really need to focus on my not lifespan but my health span.
• 59:26
  Karen Van Esveld: What is that next 30 years going to look like so I'm hoping at 70 you know they're still feeling like we are now they can go to Europe pop their you know thing in the overhead locker they can cruise around Europe you know without having a busted hip and um yeah you're just not going to be unwell.
• 59:42
  Karen Van Esveld: I mean Peter Atea I mean he's kind of you know we don't love him quite as much as we used to but he he does come out with a lot of good stuff.
• 59:48
  Karen Van Esveld: You know he talks about the marginal decade what does that last 10 years look like yeah and I've just you know um looked after a parent with stage five Parkinson's for nine years like you know I know what it you know I've spent a lot of time in those old people's homes I know what it looks like to be you know unwell and like just don't want to be there.
• 1:00:06
  Karen Van Esveld: Yeah and I'm hoping my clients you know as well if they proactively take control of yeah their data and kind of what's going on for them.
• 1:00:16
  Dom Hind: Yeah I think that's a good thing to be okay rapid fire fire round best underrated health habit optimise your sleep it's got to be really hasn't it?
• 1:00:27
  Dom Hind: Oh yeah okay good at least you didn't say drink water most overrated uh diet trend dieting dieting yeah dieting it's just crap one food you eat almost every day something green uh um one supplement women should consider toss up between most women don't get enough D but it's probably mag or a good fish oil okay um your midlife mood in one word purposeful oh I like it um what's one truth about health and ageing that people really need to stop ignoring stop plan stop me spending as much time maybe organizing your next overseas holiday that you could be spending like just organising your you know your health data and looking at that you know maybe just shift your priorities and I mean it doesn't even take that much effort really.
• 1:01:26
  Karen Van Esveld: Um get a professional help you good idea if you're overwhelmed um okay and then last question if you could challenge me to one thing that I should do before I turn 50 what should it be I mean if you haven't had your bloodstom within the last six to twelve I'm sending you for that but it's probably what we talked about before VO2 max calcium score test do your DEXA I haven't done the VO2 max I think I need to go and do that.
• 1:01:58
  Dom Hind: Yeah it's interesting I reckon you'll be pretty good you spin.
• 1:02:00
  Dom Hind: Yeah I spin yeah no as long as you well I think a lot of people are so focused on the protein and the weights yeah um you still do need a bit of that cardio thickness yeah yeah I do I like it's it makes such a difference to me if I haven't done cardio like and I only need to do it yeah for my head I only need to do it twice a week but I need to do it.
• 1:02:22
  Dom Hind: I need to do it I'm not I'm not a good person I'm definitely not a good person.
• 1:02:28
  Dom Hind: Yeah.
• 1:02:29
  Dom Hind: Okay.
• 1:02:29
  Dom Hind: All right Karen Thank you thank you so much for the conversation um and what I love about your work is that you take something that you can can feel incredibly overwhelming which there's just so much stuff out there and you make it feel practical and empowering.
• 1:02:49
  Dom Hind: So I think more people need to come and talk and take ownership of their health.
• 1:02:54
  Dom Hind: And you remind us that aging well isn't about chasing perfection it's about paying attention understanding your body building strength and making small decisions like don't eat that protein bar now that your future self will thank you for.
• 1:03:12
  Dom Hind: Because midlife isn't the beginning of decline it's the moment we finally realize that health is something we can actually actively build through strength, through nutrition through awareness and sometimes all it takes is someone asking the right questions like have you done a DEXA scan no I now I need to do another one.
• 1:03:37
  Dom Hind: Karen thank you for helping us and for so many people understand their bodies better.
• 1:03:44
  Dom Hind: If you want to learn more about Karen I will put everything in the show notes so that you can link to her, you can connect with her on Insta, you can just see how incredible she is and if this episode made you think differently about your body share it with a friend and someone who might need the same wake up call because conversations like this are how we change what aging actually looks like.
• 1:04:13
  Dom Hind: So thank you Karen thanks doll that was fun yeah because fuck I'm really 50 and this is amazing