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Creatine for Women's Health · HER

0:07
Pam Peeke, MD: Hi, I am Dr.
0:08
Pam Peak, and this is episode number 500.
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And 45 closing in on five five oh of the Bold and the Brave, her podcast.
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Now, today I am joined by someone.
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I had a stalk for months to get 'em on.
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Come on now, Darren.
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I am so excited I can't stand myself, so I'll just immediately share who this
0:32
very, very special person is, hailing from the beautiful country of Canada.
0:40
What can I say?
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Dr.
0:42
Darren Kow now he is a professor and director of the Aging Muscle and Bone
0:48
Health Laboratory Director of Research for the Athlete Health and Performance
0:53
Initiative, and passed associate Dean of the Graduate studies and research
0:59
in the faculty of kinesiology and health studies at the University of.
1:05
Regina, no, I'm not gonna say it the other way.
1:08
Um, of Regina Canada.
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Oh my gosh.
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like, that's an entire sentence I don't even know where to begin with that.
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literally one of the world's experts in this field.
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and, I gotta say I got a chance to meet, Darren, last month for the first
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time when I was, Moderating a panel, an expert panel, and I'm just telling
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you, Darren, you're totally cool.
1:35
Welcome to the Herb podcast.
1:37
Darren Candow, PhD: Oh, thanks so much for having me and the, and the fine
1:40
words and I'm really excited to be with you and, to talk about everything
1:44
health, especially for females.
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Pam Peeke, MD: Okay, so.
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This lovely episode is gonna be popping up right at the beginning of the year.
1:52
We're talking January.
1:54
All right.
1:54
You know what's happening.
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First of all, I'm just really curious to know, 'cause I'll share my thoughts too.
2:01
Are you someone who sets resolutions like at the beginning of the year?
2:05
Do you kind of go down that rabbit hole?
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What do you do?
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Darren Candow, PhD: It's a great question 'cause I think we're all susceptible to
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always wanting to improve and, do better.
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And I, I would say, yeah, there's always little things
2:16
like, oh, maybe I wanna exercise differently or change some things.
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And I think the last two years for me personally, I was like, okay,
2:23
in 20 24, 20 25, can I get an additional amount of sleep per night?
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I think that's really important.
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And then of course life happens.
2:31
You get busy, you fall back to the same pattern, and that's probably why.
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For those that are encouraged by a New Year's resolution, just say
2:37
for a fitness center, it usually lasts about two weeks and then for
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some reason everybody goes away.
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And the originality people, uh uh, stay there as well.
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But one thing I've learned, especially with the holidays.
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is that you need to be kind to yourself.
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I think life has gotten really stressful, especially since COVID.
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I think that's where we've identified stressors and you turn on the
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news, whichever it is, and life has just really become stressful.
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And I think if you need to reward yourself or take some time with family or.
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To eat that extra chocolate, whatever it is at the holidays
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to make you feel better.
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I think you can be okay and, kind to yourself with the idea that when the
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holidays are over and we're back to sort of normality, there's a few little things
3:19
that people can focus on and hopefully we get a chance to talk about it today.
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They're not grand in gesture.
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I think, uh, I think a lot of people when it comes to health
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and fitness, we think we have to revolutionize the, whole industry.
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I think we can just do a few key things, which will substantially help.
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Pam Peeke, MD: You know, research actually shows you're absolutely correct.
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at the gym it's like, we used to call them resolutes.
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So they show up and it's like between two and four weeks.
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It's like they do the disappearing act and it breaks my heart.
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and actually for people who are really trying to hold onto some level of a, as
3:53
it were, resolution, kind of good to go for 60 to 90 days and then things start
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petering out if they haven't already.
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so there's a lot of that going on.
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Interestingly, over the years, and I'm sure you found this too,
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There are a number of people who actually do incredibly well with,
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what we call milestone start dates.
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I started reading about some of this when I looked at milestone birthdays.
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when the last number in your age is nine, You're perched
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on the precipice of rot row.
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another zero, especially after the age of 40.
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it really tends to stimulate people, so there is.
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Research that shows, this could be, really compelling motivation.
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I have memories of patients who, absolutely surprised me.
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By doing exceptionally well, by choosing January one is kind of a day to, restart,
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hit the, you know, reboot, button, and then come back at it a year later.
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Why it's it's kind of easy to remember.
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It's like a January one kind of, power play here.
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they're in the grand minority.
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The mass majority are, kind of stumbling around and, okay, so now
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you're gonna hear my philosophy.
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My philosophy is simple.
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Every single day is a day to do a new reboot.
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Every single day they're all sacred.
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It's just that some come with a little bit more meaning, like the birthday things.
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What do you think of my thoughts?
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Darren Candow, PhD: No, totally.
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Think to your point, I, I think a lot of people have false or overhyped
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expectations when they start this resolution and, and it becomes too
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daunting because the question is why did they start and then suddenly stop?
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and the question is, you is it, the stress of winter, uh, lack of daylight,
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too busy, the cost of gym memberships.
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And I think a lot of people don't realize they can still get fitness
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benefits from things at home.
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They may can slightly alter their diet or composition of their diet slightly.
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I think what happens is personal trainers may.
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Indirectly sell a product that can't achieve as quickly.
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So I think a lot of people may join a gym and think magically that a
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personal trainer will substantially put on muscle mass and lose body fat.
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And as we all know, that takes a months and months and months of dedication.
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And I think sometimes a lot of people go into it, pay a lot of money
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in January for a gym membership.
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And after two weeks of saying I, I'm not noticing any results.
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If anything, I'm more stressed 'cause I have less time to play with my kids.
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I'm stuck in traffic.
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So I think the achievability.
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Uh, what we're selling is overhyped.
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And I think if we come back to understanding what works and what
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doesn't, it might be more achievable or attainable for a lot of people.
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But I agree, every day is a new day.
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It's like the movie Jerry McGuire.
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You jump outta bed, clap your hands and say, let's go.
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and I think if we can have that, the glass is half full mentality,
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instead of it half, empty and leaking, we'd be better off.
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Pam Peeke, MD: I completely concur.
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I'm also a firm believer of low hanging fruit.
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What's most accessible to you?
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Right.
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given the craziness of your life.
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So if it's a pair of sneakers and mismatched socks and out the
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door you go for, a long walk.
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Rock on.
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That's a fantastic way to start this whole thing.
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And if it's a mile, kudos to you, and you build up over time and you
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feel better and better all the time.
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Everything starts.
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With smaller steps.
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you and I have been athletes and athletic for years, because we're smarty
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pants, because we work in this field.
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You know, I'm surrounded by my colleagues at the American College of Sports Medicine
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and my lord, you've been at it forever up there in that beautiful country of yours.
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So, for us, we know how much work is involved in building the muscles
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that we have and the strength that we have, the endurance and
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flexibility and balance that we have.
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It is, I mean, I'm sorry folk.
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It's work.
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However, that being said, you could divvy that work up into smaller steps.
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Much smaller steps.
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And this is where, when people were first told about high intensity interval
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training, they ran the opposite direction.
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They went, oh no.
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It was like, oh my god, that looks like torture.
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But what if I told you, you just had to hold it for one minute.
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So that's your little friend up there in Canada.
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What's his name?
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Martin?
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Yep.
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Darren Candow, PhD: Marty Gal and John Little have shown these exercise snacks.
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So if you see a set of stairs, take the stairs.
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And, and it's funny you bring up A-C-S-M-I was at A-C-S-M-A few years ago in
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Denver, and this is a medical conference.
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Everybody was taking the escalator and I purposely took the stairs in
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the middle because you should be practicing, uh, what you preach.
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But yeah, any movement throughout the day is great.
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And you also bring up an important thing is I think, you know,
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when people talk about moving, I personally think walking is one of
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the most favorable ways to to move.
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this mythological 10,000 steps a day is there with no real evidence to say, why?
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What if you only did 9,800?
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It doesn't have to be 10,000.
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And I think a lot of people say on their watch, I only got 6,000 today.
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And then new research has come out that 3000 seems to be the minimal amount.
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So.
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Maybe if you're just starting out, say, my goal is to get 3000 steps
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a day, which is very easy to do by walking around the house and, and
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performing activities of daily living.
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So don't sell yourself short if you only get a few thousand a
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day and then work your way up.
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But I, I realize why they put the 10,000 steps, that should at least
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encourage more physical activity.
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Anything is better than nothing, and I think we need to realize that moving
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forward from a population health perspective, you can do resistance type
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exercises with body weights or light exercises in the comfort of your own home.
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you may have a treadmill, whichever it is.
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You know, here in Canada it's difficult to go outside and, and
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exercise in the winter months.
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icy roads, a lot of snow.
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So what do you do alternatively?
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And, and I think we need to provide more options for people to do that, but
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exercise snacks is a phenomenal way.
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If you park in the parkade and you have three floors before your apartment,
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take the stairs a few times a day, you'd be surprised at how much that
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improves cardiovascular benefits.
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And minimally, it'll have beneficial effects on endurance.
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So I agree, the more we do, the better off we'll be.
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Pam Peeke, MD: and starting again in small bites.
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And I think a lot of this and, let's go into some real delightful physiology.
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You exercise physiologist you, and that is, we're talking to women out there.
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And women are interested in knowing, well, how long does it take to build muscle?
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women, look at some of the usual gym goers and see women
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who've been in there for years.
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and they look very toned and strong and they've got some muscles that
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are really popping here and there, depending upon your genetics, obviously.
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which is extremely important.
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but, let's reign in expectations and make it real.
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So go for it.
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Darren Candow, PhD: So I think if you're consistently training, just say
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at least two days a week, it could be a whole body routine, whichever it is.
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It's likely the, based on the evidence-based research, it's
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gonna take three to four weeks to notice a minimal detectable change.
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The longer you do it, the better.
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But as a caveat here.
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a lot of machines that you will get at any fitness center, whichever,
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is simply measuring lean mass.
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Now, for those listening people think, oh, that's muscle, right?
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unfortunately no lean mass is everything from blood to connective tissue
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to organs, a soft tissue, but one component of lean mass is muscle and we
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estimate of 50% of that i, is muscle.
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So don't get discouraged by if you think you're not, I
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improving a lot of muscle mass.
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It does take a long time to do that.
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And as a preface, when you do a resistance training session, your muscle proteins
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are turned over for about 24 hours to 36.
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So you need to do that for weeks and weeks on end before they sort of get bigger
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proteins and allow the muscles to grow.
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I think if you're looking for the quickest results, and this is important
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for those that are thinking of the New Year's resolution, I think.
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Muscle performance benefits come almost instantaneously.
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In other words, if you go to a personal trainer or you start to exercise, I
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think instead of thinking of muscle mass, which is crucially important, think
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of, I'm gonna get muscle performance benefits first, and then the muscle
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mass benefits may become later.
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The only evidence we see where they come almost simultaneously is with
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something called blood flow restriction.
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Now, that's a very specific type of training.
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that's for older adults or athletes, but for the general population, I
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think you should expect an improvement in strength and endurance first, and
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then afterwards, when you do those repetitive bouts, muscle mass will occur.
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So I like the idea that, hey, I'm starting in January.
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I'm hoping to improve the amount of weight I can lift, or the amount of times I
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can lift it in as little as a few days.
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So for example, if you were to train, just say bench press on
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Monday, the very first day in January.
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And you come back Wednesday or Thursday, you can likely do the same amount
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of weight or the same repetitions, but a few days later over the week.
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And when you come back you're like, wow, I increased it by five pounds and
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I did the same amount of repetitions.
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That's a good news day because your neuromuscular system has been turned
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on and is creating more of a, a, stimulating effect to the body.
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And a lot of your viewers likely know this, but the number one reason you're
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placed in long-term care facilities worldwide is not the lack of muscle
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mass, it's the lack of strength.
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Frailty a hundred percent.
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If you're able to, carry groceries, shovel the driveway by yourself, walk
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those stairs, that's where we get into muscle performance benefits.
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The muscle mass will come later.
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Crucially important for glucose disposal and, and longevity, but I
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think focus on performance first and then the muscle, will come after.
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Pam Peeke, MD: A myth I've heard from so many women at.
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Any age, but, you obviously know this is gonna be an order of magnitude.
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As women get older, you said, oh, I'm gonna take a month or two off.
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I'll be fine.
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I'm not gonna lift weights for one or two months and you know, I'm getting busy and
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I got some stuff going on and whatever.
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And then lo and behold, when they get back to lifting again, they're shocked.
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Okay.
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Now tell us what happened Darren.
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Darren Candow, PhD: So the old myth is that, oh, my muscle turned a fat, and
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this is typically during the holidays.
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People say, I went away and didn't train for a month, and my muscles
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got really soft and flabby, so the tissue actually turned a fat.
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And unfortunately, that's not what we see.
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So muscle goes through a period of atrophy or shrinking when
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it's not being stimulated.
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We all know Arnold Schwarzenegger got larger muscles with bodybuilding,
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that's called hypertrophy.
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So we all can adapt and respond to exercise.
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Obviously females have a lot lower, uh, anabolic hormones and structure
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of the muscle, although we respond on a relative basis the same way.
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they're not gonna get massive, big and bulky without anabolic steroids.
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So that's one of the biggest myths there, that anybody on the planet
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should definitely resistance train.
15:13
That's, that's.
15:13
the first.
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The second is that what happens during periods of forced inactivity,
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bedrest, immobilization, you broke your leg or you choose not
15:22
to exercise your muscles shrink.
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Then your metabolism shrinks, and then we all know how easy it is to eat a
15:28
surplus of calories and put on body fat.
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So I think one of the foundational things for the listeners is please exercise,
15:36
but at least focus on weightbearing or resistance type of training to
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stimulate that muscle to sort of maintain what I call an anabolic environment.
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If you like to do massive amounts of cardiovascular exercise, you get
15:49
substantial health improvements.
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From a cardiovascular perspective and longevity, the only issue with long
15:54
duration or lots of cardio without weight training is you decrease the size of your
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muscles because cardio is very catabolic.
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So I think for those listening and really trying to improve body
16:05
composition, I think you need to do both.
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If you wanna live longer and better, I substantially recommend
16:10
doing weight training and cardiovascular exercise with that.
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Pam Peeke, MD: Yep.
16:14
That makes all the sense in the world.
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And then my thought is this, with the aging process as a woman ages,
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let's say now she's 50 to 60 and she's trying to play the same games again.
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Okay.
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My feeling is, and you tell us the science, is that the older you get.
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your wiggle room disappears.
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So when you're 20, yes, you do have more wiggle room.
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There's no question you're metabolically hotter and you
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know, more efficient, et cetera.
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But once you get past 50 60, alright, you lose that edge.
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And so, in my feeling, you tell us what the research shows that in the aging
16:59
process, you'll, Regress back to, a much weaker place and drop that lean
17:07
body mass strength and performance much faster than if you were 20.
17:12
Am I correct?
17:13
Darren Candow, PhD: A hundred percent correct.
17:15
So as we agree, the biological process of aging is awful.
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and this is interesting, it starts usually in the fourth decade.
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So we have a, a, a classification called sarcopenia, that's the age
17:27
related reduction in muscle performance, muscle mass, and functionality.
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And we're all susceptible to that.
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Does that mean we're all going to get diagnosed with sarcopenia?
17:37
No.
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But let's preface this.
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Typically compared to our twenties and thirties, as we get older, we're weaker.
17:43
We have less lean mass and we're not as functional.
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So that means performing activities around the house is definitely more difficult.
17:51
We seem to accumulate more body fat.
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And then of course, if we have a reduction in muscle, that's probably having a
17:56
detrimental effect on bone density.
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So from a physiological perspective, some of the viewers may have heard of
18:03
something called anabolic resistance.
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And this is a documented theory that as we get older, we have a blunted or
18:10
less response to resistance training and dietary protein specifically.
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So in other words, as we get older, we actually need to do more weight
18:19
training and we need to eat more protein.
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I think we failed for a couple decades saying we needed to do less.
18:25
And the rates of accumulation or growth are substantially reduced
18:30
compared to we when we were young.
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So I think it's more crucial now if you're 40, uh, years of age and listening
18:38
and older, you need to exercise on a regular basis for the rest of your life.
18:43
You wanna emphasize high quality proteins to compensate for the muscle loss, and
18:48
I think it's better to start earlier on, than ever, especially from a muscle
18:52
memory and a bone health perspective.
18:54
So I think the only fountain of youth, if we can come up with anything, is exercise.
18:59
To be honest, I don't think any pillar powder will ever come close to exercise.
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Pam Peeke, MD: I, I so agree.
19:05
when people come up to me and they say, oh, I want your
19:08
glow and I want your body, I.
19:11
Said, that's, that's nice.
19:12
And they said, well, what do you do?
19:13
What are your supplements?
19:14
What do you, you know, there's gotta be something.
19:16
And I said, yeah, well come to the gym with me, you know, I'll
19:20
show you exactly what I do.
19:22
and then it's like, no, I don't wanna be part of that.
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I'll sweat and my hair will go to hell.
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so, at the end of the day, in all seriousness, it's like
19:31
thinking of your future self now.
19:33
I know it's kind of strange.
19:36
And weird.
19:38
I know that it's kind of strange and weird to try to imagine yourself
19:42
at like, so let's say you're 40, 45 and you're trying to say, how am
19:47
I to improve my 70-year-old self?
19:52
Okay.
19:53
It's very difficult to understand what that is, quite frankly, because
19:57
the stereotype of someone who is 70 is like a little marginal here.
20:03
and so then you say, well, gosh, what am I aiming for and what's going on?
20:09
So I just, I think your point is so powerful.
20:12
Build the foundation right now.
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Just build it.
20:16
And there is a sarcopenia, okay?
20:19
sarcoplasmic is muscle and penia means less of.
20:22
So what's happening in the seventh decade of life is an age related sarcopenia.
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That's normal.
20:30
That is comp.
20:31
I don't care who you are, a master's athlete, whatever.
20:34
No one's gonna escape this.
20:35
However, if you enter.
20:39
Your sixties, which is when this occurs.
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If you enter your sixties with a higher level of total lean body mass, right,
20:47
and also performance and functioning strength, then the delta or the change
20:53
from that to the age related change is gonna be a nothing burger now.
21:00
the only way you're really gonna know in a big way, is you
21:03
look at your own performance.
21:05
If you're an elite athlete, say a master's track and field, you'll
21:09
see a change your performance.
21:10
Well, duh.
21:11
You know, you're 65 and you're not 55 anymore, and
21:15
you could really see it there.
21:16
Right.
21:17
But, Hmm.
21:18
so I think it's really important, to build that foundation.
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one of the things I'd love for you to do.
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Right now is to just go through the life of muscle in a woman's body,
21:33
the trajectory throughout life.
21:35
So she starts life out at little baby and little girl.
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What's going on with the muscle?
21:41
Darren Candow, PhD: Yeah, it's turning over quite rapidly during infancy, and
21:44
that's usually why they require the highest amount of protein of, of anybody
21:48
on the planet for growth and development.
21:50
And then we go through peak height, velocity, you know, the
21:53
increase for, for, uh, females, progesterone, sterol, estrogen,
21:56
and a small amount of testosterone.
21:57
And then we get to the adolescent.
21:59
Years.
21:59
And then once peak height velocity occurs, we typically think, and this goes
22:04
for males as well, that we've probably achieved the most amount of muscle mass
22:08
we're going to have usually entering the age of 30 or around that proximity.
22:13
The good news is it's never too late to start.
22:15
We can have centenarians who have never lifted weights, start
22:18
performing resistance training and get beneficial effects.
22:21
So.
22:22
With that saying, why not build up the mountain as much as you can in
22:25
your adolescent and early teen years?
22:27
And that's why I'm a big proponent of children performing
22:30
resistance type of training.
22:32
I really think it has a plethora of benefits there.
22:34
And specifically for females bone density, the bone will
22:37
respond to loads placed on it.
22:40
So if we can get the highest amount around the third decade.
22:43
Then if it does start to creep down, you know, you get busy with, life
22:48
having a family, you decide, I don't want to exercise, whichever, at least
22:52
you had more to maintain functionality.
22:55
Can you do things around the house like carrying groceries, walking the
22:57
stairs, that'll help maintain activity.
23:00
but we all know the catastrophic effects during the perimenopausal menopausal
23:04
transition for females, My God.
23:07
I don't know why we have such limited research in this area.
23:10
I do think it's a hot topic, but we don't actually know the catastrophic effects
23:15
of estrogen cessation from the ovaries.
23:18
What is the detrimental effects it has to skeletal muscle and bone.
23:21
We think it is there, and that's why I really encourage the populations
23:26
in the the postmenopausal.
23:28
And late post-menopausal please resistance train.
23:30
At least that's gonna be a stimuli to, the body independent of estrogen or
23:35
hormone replacement therapy or not.
23:37
So compared to males, females go through way more catastrophic
23:41
detrimental effects from a human physiology perspective, regarding
23:45
hormones and muscle and bone loss.
23:47
So we try to achieve it peak, and then of course, obviously we
23:51
want to have more when those age-related reductions come down.
23:54
Yeah.
23:55
Pam Peeke, MD: It's like banking, bone and banking muscle so that
23:59
you know what's gonna happen.
24:01
There's absolutely no question.
24:04
again, I don't care who you are.
24:06
Your bones will lose bone mineral density.
24:10
there's a simple trajectory, right?
24:13
it sort of somewhat follows the muscles early on in life, you know,
24:16
in terms of peaking around the age of 30 or so, and back and forth.
24:20
This is assuming again, forget the outliers.
24:23
Who are the super elite athletes and also people who are kind of genetic.
24:28
Wild people, who are just born with a boatload of muscle, to start with.
24:33
Well, there are a lot of them.
24:33
You know, look at, Serena Williams, for God's sake.
24:37
You couldn't pray for that muscle.
24:39
You know, it's there, it's her.
24:41
and then, when things happen, like you fracture an ankle and you can't
24:45
really move around or back and forth.
24:47
you're starting from a higher point and, I know that life is simply gonna hit, you
24:53
become pregnant, you can't exactly start marathon running, it's not gonna happen.
24:59
And you gotta be careful about resistance training during that time too.
25:03
So really at the end of the day, you have that full.
25:08
Trajectory, but What is the body composition of an 80 or
25:11
90-year-old woman look like?
25:14
Darren Candow, PhD: Yeah, so there's a substantial reduction in lean mass.
25:16
And, and, uh, an accumulation of of adiposity or, or body fat, primarily
25:21
around the limbs and in trunk areas well.
25:24
And then sadly, the tissue that we never see in the mirror is bone density
25:28
and that will go down a as well.
25:29
So unfortunately, the two precious tissues go down.
25:32
And the one that most of us, likely don't want I is an increase in, in body fat.
25:37
It goes up.
25:37
So there is body repurposing a recomposition in a negative way.
25:42
and again, we think exercise can have a profound beneficial effect.
25:46
Diet will also be there, but exercise has gotta be there.
25:50
If you're having or hoping to have any achievements, you bring up a great point.
25:54
Typically, as we get older, you talk to a financial advisor about
25:57
your pension for retirement.
25:58
No one ever talks about, okay, let's talk about a health pension for longevity.
26:02
We want everybody to live longer free of disease.
26:05
Why would anybody wanna live longer with a, a chronic metabolic disease?
26:08
So it is interesting.
26:09
We don't have these health coaches that sit down and say, what are you doing now
26:14
to get you to the healthy retirement?
26:16
From a health perspective, it's usually just financial advice.
26:19
So it is interesting that you're gonna have all the money in the world,
26:22
but if your body's deteriorating, it doesn't mean anything.
26:24
Yeah.
26:25
Pam Peeke, MD: I love that issue.
26:26
Pension,
26:27
just as pensions in the USA are disappearing.
26:30
Great.
26:31
You had to bring that up.
26:32
A little trigger point there.
26:34
Alright.
26:34
Now when we come back, I'm gonna share, I think, a little bit of a
26:42
solution for what happens when you're not a hundred percent engaged, but
26:47
you wanna keep that metabolism stoked during funky times in your life.
26:53
Okay, so when we come back, I'm gonna share
27:55
and we're back.
27:56
Okay.
27:57
So life hits, things are looking a little funkadelic.
28:01
This is the way I look at it.
28:03
See if you like this, Darren.
28:05
Okay.
28:06
If you're someone who's quite sedentary and Terry and has never
28:10
lifted weights and has really not done much of the physical activity thing.
28:16
Alright, then what I love to do is think about this.
28:21
I remember the first time I built a fire, it was an epic failure.
28:26
It was horrible.
28:28
I didn't know what the heck I was doing.
28:31
Just keep throwing logs at it and they say, Hey, where's your kindling?
28:35
And, and then the damn fire would go out.
28:37
And I was learning how to do this early on you know, one of my friends said.
28:42
Figure it out, use your head now, come on now.
28:45
We got multiple degrees here, we can make this work.
28:48
So I thought, Hmm, okay.
28:50
So I slowly but surely methodically built up the fire and then I would light at
28:57
it, and then it would get hot and the flames would kind of come up, and then I'd
29:01
nurture it a little bit more instead of just sort of throwing everything at it.
29:06
And then lo and behold.
29:09
Yours truly had a roaring fire, then I discovered something else.
29:13
Okay.
29:14
To keep it going right.
29:17
All I had to do was throw in a little kindling, Just stoke it.
29:22
Stoke it.
29:23
That's the important thing.
29:25
I was stoking it and then, it would just keep going and I always,
29:30
in the back of my mind, get back there and stoke that little mother.
29:33
Okay.
29:35
I look at physical activity the same way.
29:39
At some point you just build the fire.
29:42
you don't have to have a roaring fire, you have to burn the house down.
29:46
but you gotta have something as a base, right?
29:50
Then when life hits and weird things go on, then what you do is you stoke it.
29:58
So instead of, let's just say for some reason you can't do
30:01
high intensity interval training like you normally used to.
30:04
Well, you can walk.
30:07
That's stoking it.
30:08
Right?
30:09
And let's just say you have a fractured ankle.
30:11
Last time I looked the rest of your body looked pretty good.
30:15
Okay.
30:16
So how about working your upper body in your core?
30:20
Kinda like in that, and from what I gather, I could be wrong.
30:24
Uh, just by doing that it also stimulates, the legs, very nicely too.
30:29
'cause there's, kind of a holistic integrative, Response of the body.
30:33
So there's always, knock on wood, outside of you being comatose or
30:38
something, there's always a little something, something you could do.
30:42
And I think that people minimize that.
30:45
They say, well, I'm not doing the big workout, so address that issue,
30:51
why is it that that is so important?
30:54
rather than just throwing the whole thing out and saying, oh, I'm gonna
30:57
have to start two months later.
30:59
Darren Candow, PhD: Yeah, I, I totally agree.
31:01
I think doing anything during the day keeps blood flow.
31:05
Heart pumping really well, more active cognitive effects.
31:08
It's a plethora of benefits, and I love that analogy of a little bit each day.
31:12
Soaking the fire.
31:13
It's very similar to nutrition about eating, starting with
31:16
a, a good fire with energy.
31:17
And then when the fire's dying out, put in a little bit more energy
31:20
there and you metabolize it, but.
31:22
I love those ideas and I think what's happened is I believe in the
31:26
United States and here in Canada, we recommend 150 minutes of moderate to
31:29
vigorous physical activity per week.
31:31
And and most people say, whoa, that's impossible for me.
31:34
I barely have time to eat.
31:35
I'm so busy.
31:36
And then as we already previously talked with these little exercise
31:39
snacks, can they accumulate?
31:40
So I think what happens is the messaging, I think a lot of people
31:43
realize or, or maybe are getting misinformation that we need to do.
31:47
Hours a day, and if I don't do hours a day on a week, it, it's
31:50
not gonna make any difference.
31:52
And I think we're starting to get the message out that
31:55
anything is better than nothing.
31:57
You don't have to do an cumulative amount per, you know, I don't have to go out
32:00
and run two and a half hours on Monday.
32:02
I can do a certain little amount.
32:04
Walking at lunch with a friend, most people think, oh, I didn't
32:07
even know that had any benefits.
32:09
But yes it does.
32:10
So I think awareness, is an important and more messaging.
32:13
But I love that idea.
32:14
Stoke the fire when you need to.
32:16
Life throws you curve balls.
32:18
You know, with holiday travel you guys just had in the United States
32:20
on the eastern seaboard, there was big flight delays out of Atlanta.
32:23
People are like, okay, now I can't work out today.
32:26
I'm stuck in the airport and I'm like, you probably are stuck there for a few hours.
32:30
Did you realize if you walk through that Jefferson airport,
32:33
you're gonna get 10, 20,000 steps?
32:35
But they're not thinking of it because they're focused on other things.
32:37
So I think take advantage of, life.
32:40
When life throws curve balls at you kind of, sort of embrace it.
32:43
and by walking through the airport, that's your day of physical activity and
32:47
maybe you'll get some cognitive effects to deal with some of those stressors
32:51
of a delayed flight or snow storm.
32:52
So I think we try to look at every day, as you mentioned, reset, what can
32:56
I do today to cause some positivity for that health pension down the road?
33:02
Pam Peeke, MD: Just assuming the vertical position instead of
33:06
sitting on your behind at the gate, waiting for yet another delay or.
33:11
Or whatever the issue is.
33:13
Many times I'll just stand up and what I'll do is, I'll do my, calf raises.
33:20
It feels so good, so I'm up and down.
33:22
People, stare at me and that's fine because I look good
33:26
and there's a reason why.
33:27
Okay.
33:28
And when I say I look good, I look fit.
33:31
Okay.
33:31
The only word I want anyone to use is.
33:34
Fit.
33:35
Yeah, she looks fit.
33:36
No wonder she's doing those little calf raises and, doing that kind of thing.
33:40
And, and then I do my, calf stretches.
33:43
You know, I could pull against one of those chairs and back and forth and, one
33:47
day, uh, one of the women behind the desk, came up to me and, and she said, you know.
33:54
You've inspired me.
33:56
She says, I'm usually stuck here too, and I haven't really
34:00
thought about what else I can do.
34:02
So like, what's that about?
34:04
why aren't I doing a little something too?
34:06
And then she said, tell me what you do.
34:09
And then I, I'm sitting there giving a little lesson and everything
34:11
in the middle of the damn gate.
34:13
two hour delay.
34:14
and I mean, that's the way to really keep this going.
34:19
start a fire.
34:21
Keep it stoked and then, life hits.
34:24
You said it yourself, in a big way.
34:27
Now let's pivot over real quickly then.
34:31
we want strength training.
34:32
If you haven't heard that, that is one of the most important things
34:36
you could ever do in your lifetime.
34:38
Then you better clean out your ears because.
34:42
That's what we've been saying and ranting and raving about.
34:44
Let's pivot quickly to nutrition.
34:47
Women are now, oh no, get off that TikTok right now.
34:52
Okay.
34:52
I saw you doing that.
34:54
you're like, but it's the latest craze and you know, all I have to
34:58
do is drink water in the morning.
35:00
And you no, no.
35:02
how are your little muscles gonna feel?
35:04
With no food on board, no fuel.
35:07
So how do you do this, Darren, in a reasonable, low hanging fruit way that
35:13
is easy for a woman to understand.
35:17
Darren Candow, PhD: Yeah, well first is probably ignore 95% of social media.
35:20
Uh, I think.
35:22
Doing way more, way more harm than good.
35:24
And ironically, a lot of people who think their famous influencers have,
35:27
have never done a research study or measured anything in the body.
35:30
So first thing is probably ignore 95% of what you hear on social media and then
35:35
go to the science where they've actually measured changes in the human body.
35:39
And I think the easiest thing from a nutrition standpoint, perspective
35:43
is if you're trying to lose weight.
35:45
You need to go on a calorie reduction.
35:47
If you're trying to gain weight, you want to go on a calorie surplus,
35:50
and that's easy to say because then someone says, well, how am I gonna
35:53
know I'm on a, what they call the diet?
35:55
If that becomes a little bit too difficult for you, then I want you
35:58
to sort of alter your perception and say, I'm gonna focus on high
36:02
quality protein throughout the day.
36:04
The nice thing with protein is it really doesn't like to get stored as body fat.
36:08
It has a plethora of benefits in the body, and if you consume too much of protein.
36:13
You actually get an increase in metabolism and a decrease in body fat.
36:16
Unfortunately, if you increase too many carbohydrates or fat,
36:19
it doesn't have the same effect.
36:21
So I think the first thing people should do is look at a total amount
36:24
of calories they're consuming.
36:25
Secondly, emphasize high quality proteins.
36:28
You can also get very high quality proteins from, plant-based sources.
36:31
So if you're a vegan, vegetarian, don't worry.
36:34
for those that do consume animal based products.
36:36
dairy and or meat has a high concentration of what they
36:39
consider essential amino acids.
36:42
So those are the two first things I would consider.
36:44
The nice thing with protein.
36:46
Also, it increases your, fullness or satiety.
36:49
Therefore, that might reduce the amount of cravings for sugars or saturated fats.
36:54
Pam Peeke, MD: Darren, it is so important to get that protein in in the morning.
36:59
So why should women do that?
37:01
And especially people who are saying, oh, but I'm doing intermittent
37:04
fasting and I'm not supposed to start eating until like 2:00 PM.
37:09
Darren Candow, PhD: when you wake up, you're sort of in a
37:10
net catabolic state to the body.
37:12
Think your muscles are sort of craving for energy or building
37:16
blocks, and those little Lego blocks are the amino acids in protein.
37:19
So it's a very great way to get protein into the body early on.
37:24
And Don Lehman's clearly shown that early on protein ingestion
37:27
has favorable effects on building bigger and stronger muscles from a
37:31
muscle protein synthesis perspective.
37:33
So the other good thing, using your fire analogy, if you have protein early on.
37:37
High quality protein breakfast, you only need smaller amounts throughout the day,
37:41
and it might be easier to achieve that.
37:43
So I'm a big proponent of having a high quality protein breakfast.
37:47
Pam Peeke, MD: So we've come full circle.
37:48
We've looked at the entire trajectory of muscle strength performance
37:53
throughout a woman's life to.
37:55
Time and Dr.
37:57
Darren Kau has given us the guidance to how you nourish that by
38:03
having a protein centric mindset.
38:07
That's what you do, and stop all that other stuff.
38:10
But I want all this to happen overnight.
38:12
Take your patient's pill.
38:14
Write now.
38:16
Okay.
38:16
Rain in your expectations, you're going to do just fine.
38:19
Consistency, please.
38:22
Consistency.
38:23
If you can brush your teeth, if you can take a shower on a routine
38:27
basis, literally rinse and repeat and keep that maintenance going.
38:32
Well, you can do it here too.
38:33
And oh my gosh, the rewards are absolutely amazing.
38:38
Alright, Dr.
38:39
Darren Kow one.
38:42
Short little nugget of wisdom for women to run home now and just put to use.
38:53
Darren Candow, PhD: Think of exercise as the cake.
38:56
Protein is the really nice icing that'll cause you to have it taste better.
39:01
And then there's a whole bunch of other things called sleep, hydration and
39:04
socialization with family and friends.
39:06
That is the cherry on the cake.
39:08
So I think those things should be really emphasized moving
39:11
forward from a health perception.
39:13
Pam Peeke, MD: Okay.
39:14
This cake has no calories.
39:15
So,
39:15
ladies, just C.
39:16
C, calm down, calm down.
39:18
We're, we're in fantasy land right now.
39:20
Dr.
39:21
Kdo, I cannot begin to thank you enough on behalf of the entire community and
39:27
the team here with the Herb Podcast.
39:30
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
39:31
This I could just go on forever, but then you wouldn't like me anymore.
39:35
So, but thank you so much for being on the Herb
39:38
Darren Candow, PhD: Thank you so much for having me.
39:40
Thank you.
39:40
Pam Peeke, MD: All right, so now I wanna also thank my wonderful
39:47
sponsor, SORAY Vitamins, minerals and Herbs, rooted in nature and
39:52
their new her Life Stages products.
39:56
Scope 'em all out at soray, S-O-L-A-R-E y.com.
40:02
And now take a moment to leave us a review because we love hearing from you.
40:06
That's why.
40:07
Now everyone, this has been a production of Podcast Health.
40:12
I got a little something for you and that is your time in this world
40:16
may be limited, but the things you can do with that time are not.
40:22
So get on out there and car a dm.
40:25
Come on now.
40:25
Seize the day.
40:27
Rock on.
40:28
Thanks for listening everyone.