Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / #HURDLEMOMENT: An Expert On How To Reduce Inflammation In the Body

Transcript

#HURDLEMOMENT: An Expert On How To Reduce Inflammation In the Body · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It is important to know where your inflammation levels are
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: because when it goes kind of that undetected and unaddressed,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: it can start to breed more inflammation over time and
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: actually makes it harder to recover.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Hey everyone, Emily Avadi here, you are listening to another
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: installment of Hurdle Moment from Hurdle.
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  Speaker 3: A wellness focused podcast.
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  Speaker 2: Reconnect with everyone from your favorite athletes to top experts
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  Speaker 2: and industry CEOs about their highest highs, toughest moments, and
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: everything in between. We all go through hurdles in life,
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  Speaker 2: and my goal through these discussions is to empower you
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: to better navigate yours and move with intention so that
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  Speaker 2: you can stride towards your own big potential and of
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  Speaker 2: course have some fun along the way. For today's conversation,
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  Speaker 2: I am bringing in Michelle Darien is a registered dietitian
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  Speaker 2: as well as a marketing manager for Inside Tracker for
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  Speaker 2: Science and Product and we are connecting today because I
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  Speaker 2: recently did a new Ultimate panel with Inside Tracker and
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  Speaker 2: I had questions specifically about inflammation and Ferreton and iron
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  Speaker 2: that I knew getting answered on the show could be
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  Speaker 2: really beneficial. As I talk about with Michelle today, I
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  Speaker 2: make it a habit to get a blood panel done
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  Speaker 2: before I start any big training effort, this one at
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  Speaker 2: the top of my build up now for Knox on
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  Speaker 2: Wood everywhere around me the Berlin Marathon. And I found
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  Speaker 2: out in the process that Inside Tracker actually just added
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  Speaker 2: some new biomarkers that they're testing for as a part
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  Speaker 2: of this panel. So not only did I get information
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  Speaker 2: about forty eight different blood biomarkers including cholesterol, glucose, magnesium, cortisol,
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  Speaker 2: vitamin D, et cetera, but add to that three different
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  Speaker 2: hormone health biomarkers, so critical info for anyone in the
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  Speaker 2: prime of their reproductive years, the metopausal years. This is
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  Speaker 2: what we need to pay attention to period. But anyway,
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  Speaker 2: Michelle and I today we're talking a lot about inflammation.
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  Speaker 2: As you know, I've been navigating injury for quite some
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  Speaker 2: time now, so it was not surprising to me that
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  Speaker 2: my blood tests showed a lot of inflammation in my body,
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  Speaker 2: and I had a lot of questions about how to
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  Speaker 2: reduce that inflammation, what was within my control environmentally, emotionally,
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  Speaker 2: and then of course within my diet, what I should
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  Speaker 2: be eating, what I should be cutting out, and I
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  Speaker 2: found Michelle's explanation of why inflammation can be helpful really
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  Speaker 2: critical because so so often we are told that we
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  Speaker 2: want to get rid of all of it, and that
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  Speaker 2: is not entirely the case. Plus we talk about iron
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  Speaker 2: and farridin and why they are also critical for women's health,
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  Speaker 2: why you may feel sluggish especially during activity if your
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  Speaker 2: levels are low, and what foods you can be integrating
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  Speaker 2: into your diet on the regular to make sure you're
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  Speaker 2: taking care of yourself. So much intel in this convo.
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  Speaker 2: So grateful for Michelle's time. Of course, like I said,
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  Speaker 2: she does work for inside Tracker. Full disclosure upfront. Inside
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  Speaker 2: Tracker has been a sponsor of Hurdle for some time now.
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  Speaker 2: If you yourself are interested in getting an inside Tracker test,
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  Speaker 2: you get twenty percent off the entire store by heading
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: on over to inside tracker dot com slash Hurdle today. Again,
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: that is inside tracker dot com slash Hurdle. Make sure
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  Speaker 2: you're following along with Hurdle over on social It's at
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Hurdle podcast. I myself am over at Emily a Body
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  Speaker 2: and with that, let's get to it.
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  Speaker 3: Let's get to hurdling today.
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  Speaker 2: I am sitting down with Michelle Darien. She's a registered dietitian.
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  Speaker 2: She's also the marketing manager for science and Product over
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  Speaker 2: at Inside Tracker.
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  Speaker 3: How are you doing today?
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  Speaker 4: I'm great? How are you?
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  Speaker 3: I'm so good.
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  Speaker 2: It's good to reconnect after God, When was the last
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  Speaker 2: time I saw you around marathon season?
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  Speaker 3: So last November?
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  Speaker 1: Oh, I know it's been a while, but kind of
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  Speaker 1: like the similar topics.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, similar topics for sure.
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  Speaker 2: I have the pleasure of chatting with Michelle today because
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  Speaker 2: I recently did an Inside Tracker panel and I noticed
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  Speaker 2: some things in my results that I knew would be
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  Speaker 2: beneficial to speak about here on the show. Specifically, our
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: conversation today will mostly revolve around inflammation and what we
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: need to know about that, and we also are going
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  Speaker 2: to talk a little bit about Iron and Farridan. Basically,
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  Speaker 2: again big effort on deck. Wanted to have an understanding
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  Speaker 2: about what's going on with my body before undertaking this.
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  Speaker 3: Big journey a woman in my mid thirties.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's honestly the perfect time to kind of test
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  Speaker 1: with Inside trackers. So we always recommend testing like while
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  Speaker 1: you're leading up into a large training block in order
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  Speaker 1: to really understand where your biomarker levels are because that
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  Speaker 1: can really help to kind of inform that training load
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  Speaker 1: and intensity that's coming with that next big training cycle
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  Speaker 1: leading up to that big day. So I think you
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  Speaker 1: tested at the perfect time.
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  Speaker 3: Well, thank you.
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  Speaker 2: And when you say that it can help inform training
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  Speaker 2: load and intensity, what do you mean by that?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, great question.
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  Speaker 1: So basically, with inside Tracker, we measure forty eight different
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  Speaker 1: blood biomarkers that can actually impact all of these different
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  Speaker 1: processes in the body, so from your muscle recovery to
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  Speaker 1: your fitness, to your metabolic health, all, etc. And the
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  Speaker 1: results of those markers, whether they're in that optimal range,
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  Speaker 1: whether they're high, whether they're low, can really impact the
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  Speaker 1: way your body is fun It can be predictive of
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  Speaker 1: how your body can function as you enter that larger
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  Speaker 1: trading cycle. So it is important to get those baseline
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  Speaker 1: levels to start to kind of inform whether maybe it's
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  Speaker 1: time to pull back a little bit to be able
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  Speaker 1: to speed up later, or to kind of go full
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  Speaker 1: steam ahead. So that's one way to be able to
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  Speaker 1: use those blood biomarkers in order to kind of inform
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  Speaker 1: that training load and intensity.
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  Speaker 2: There is no such thing as knowing too much about
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  Speaker 2: what's going on with your body. As someone who is
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  Speaker 2: a contractor, using something like inside Tracker makes a lot
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  Speaker 2: of sense for me, right because I don't have access
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  Speaker 2: to regular blood work, and if I was to go
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  Speaker 2: pay out of pocket to get blood work done, not
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  Speaker 2: only would it cost a lot as well, but then
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  Speaker 2: I wouldn't have the broad understanding that I get through
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  Speaker 2: the data and the tools that inside Tracker then provides.
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  Speaker 2: So it's like one thing to pay to go get
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  Speaker 2: a blood test done, it's another thing to feel as
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  Speaker 2: though you can actually understand and interpret what that test
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  Speaker 2: tells you to then use that data to your benefit.
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  Speaker 1: And you hit on two really good points there. So
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  Speaker 1: one of them is being able to measure all these
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  Speaker 1: blood biomarkers and just really understand how your body is
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  Speaker 1: functioning and performing. But the next one is really being
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  Speaker 1: able to take that data and kind of put that
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  Speaker 1: into context. So it's really all about, okay, so how
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  Speaker 1: can we take that specific data and inform you what
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  Speaker 1: your next steps are, whether that's with training, whether that's
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  Speaker 1: through food and nutrition, or even just switching up some
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  Speaker 1: lifestyle habits. So it is a really great way to
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  Speaker 1: be able to kind of set the foundation for what
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  Speaker 1: you do next.
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  Speaker 2: Right, So before we dive into chatting about some of
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  Speaker 2: the biomarkers that I found super interesting, what I think
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  Speaker 2: could be really helpful is if you could give the
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: hurdlers a little intel on your background and how your
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  Speaker 2: passion for improving population health started early on.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so it's interesting. So when I was growing up,
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  Speaker 1: I'm armene In an Italian. So those are both cultures
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  Speaker 1: that are centered around really empowered conversations and also food.
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  Speaker 1: So I grew up really like using food as a
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  Speaker 1: way to celebrate my culture and also to bring people together,
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  Speaker 1: and so I was always really interested in like kind
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  Speaker 1: of like the cultural aspect around food, and then really
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  Speaker 1: kind of out of nowhere, one day as a teenager,
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  Speaker 1: I was like, I'm going to go vegetarian, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: the Armenian side, the Italian side are like, that's not
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  Speaker 1: what are you doing. That's that's not what we do here,
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  Speaker 1: and so it was it was super interesting to kind
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  Speaker 1: of say, like, no, I'm putting my foot down, this
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  Speaker 1: is something I'm interested in trying. But what I found
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  Speaker 1: really interesting about that experience was that the foods I
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  Speaker 1: was eating as a result of just kind of taking
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  Speaker 1: the leap and becoming a vegetarian actually made me feel
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  Speaker 1: really really good. So I was sleeping really well. I
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  Speaker 1: just had a ton of energy, and I was was
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  Speaker 1: pretty surprised by that, and I was like, Okay, maybe
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  Speaker 1: there is really something to this kind of what you
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  Speaker 1: eat actually really does impact how you feel. And so
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  Speaker 1: I kind of use that as like the stepping stone
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  Speaker 1: into studying dietetics in college and I got super interested
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  Speaker 1: in just like how nutrition impacts the body kind of
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  Speaker 1: at that chemical level as well. But it was really
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  Speaker 1: through my certificate and global health that really showed me
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  Speaker 1: how the like the foods that we eat can actually
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  Speaker 1: impact population health at that larger.
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  Speaker 3: Level and so or interesting.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I really that was kind of the catalyst
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  Speaker 1: into me studying nutrition and then public health in grad school.
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  Speaker 1: I really wanted to find ways to be able to
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  Speaker 1: kind of disseminate this like nutrition message and scientific communications
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  Speaker 1: to as many.
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  Speaker 4: People as possible.
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  Speaker 1: So kind of that that was kind of my journey
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  Speaker 1: into being really interested in nutrition, and the passion has
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  Speaker 1: only increased since.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that context is really helpful and it's
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  Speaker 2: also really refreshing to hear that you have also experimented
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  Speaker 2: with your nutrition, learn from that experimentation, and now are
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  Speaker 2: on the other side helping others to understand that they
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  Speaker 2: too have that opportunity to try new things, see how
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  Speaker 2: it feels, and move forward with new knowledge.
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  Speaker 1: And that was kind of like, the how I was
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  Speaker 1: feeling was really impacting what I then wanted to eat,
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  Speaker 1: and then what I was eating really was starting to
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  Speaker 1: impact how I was feeling.
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  Speaker 4: But it was really also like.
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  Speaker 1: When I was measuring my objective measures of health, like
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  Speaker 1: with through blood biomarkers, that I actually started to make
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  Speaker 1: some other changes as well. So at some point vegetarian,
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  Speaker 1: like the being vegetarian for ten years wasn't really what
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  Speaker 1: was best for my body at that point, and so
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  Speaker 1: I started incorporating fish back into my diet and slowly
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  Speaker 1: seafood and.
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  Speaker 4: Things like that.
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  Speaker 1: So it's interesting that that it's kind of an iterative
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  Speaker 1: process really, where you know something that's working for you before,
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  Speaker 1: maybe something else can be working for you later. And
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: so yeah, it's again it's it's like it's kind of
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: like a fun aspect of nutrition to be able to.
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  Speaker 4: Kind of.
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  Speaker 1: Different approaches different types of foods and kind of see
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  Speaker 1: how you're.
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  Speaker 3: Feeling, yeah, for sure.
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  Speaker 2: So the main thing that I want to talk about
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  Speaker 2: in our conversation today is inflammation. I saw in my
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  Speaker 2: blood test results that I have a trend personally over
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  Speaker 2: the last three years of testing with Insidetracker that my
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  Speaker 2: inflammation is increasing, which means that the inflammation indicator, the buyer.
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  Speaker 3: Marker HSCERP, is on the rise.
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  Speaker 2: And that's not exactly surprising to me, considering I've been
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  Speaker 2: navigating an injury for so long, but it is scary.
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  Speaker 2: So why is important to be cognizant of what's going
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  Speaker 2: on with the inflammation in your body.
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  Speaker 1: You might have heard of inflammation as always kind of
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  Speaker 1: this bad thing that you always want to avoid, and
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  Speaker 1: for the most part, I mean it can be, but
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  Speaker 1: really evolutionarily there is there are some benefits to inflammation
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  Speaker 1: after you're exercising, but the problem is when those when
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  Speaker 1: that inflammation level stays high over time. So basically, when
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  Speaker 1: you're exercising, you're increasing your body's inflammation levels. So through exercise,
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  Speaker 1: your body is kind of breaking down these muscles in
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  Speaker 1: order to start to build them back up, and inflammation
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  Speaker 1: is part of that process that helps to build those muscles.
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  Speaker 3: Back up. So with that rise in.
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  Speaker 1: Inflammation, you're really increasing your blood flow to that area
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  Speaker 1: and it helps to start to kind of remove all
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: of those toxins from that specific area, removes those those
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: harmful substances, and that it helps to also stimulate repair
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  Speaker 1: processes to build your muscles back up stronger. So that's
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  Speaker 1: how inflammation can be kind of beneficial in the body,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: but over time it can actually start to become pretty harmful.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: So it's more it's kind of the more isn't always
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: better type of a thing. So with inflammation, over a
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: long period of time, inflammation can actually breed more inflammation,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: so the body can start to detect that inflammation again
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  Speaker 1: as something that shouldn't be there, so it starts to
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: increase inflammation in a way to try to get rid
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  Speaker 1: of it, but in turn it actually ends up making
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  Speaker 1: get worse, so that inflammation level can start. When that
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  Speaker 1: continues to rise, it can actually start to kind of
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  Speaker 1: send your immune system into that overdrive and it can
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  Speaker 1: start to impact even healthy cells in the body. So
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  Speaker 1: it's one of those things that it's important to be
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  Speaker 1: able to kind of understand where your inflammation levels are
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  Speaker 1: because you might see inflammation as maybe swelling. Let's say
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: your ankle is hurt and you roll your ankle, you
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: might see some swelling. But inflammation isn't always something that's
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: kind of like visibly present. So it is important to
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: know where your inflammation levels are because when it goes
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  Speaker 1: kind of that undetected and unaddressed, it can start to
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  Speaker 1: breed more inflammation over time and actually makes it harder
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  Speaker 1: to recover.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and this is all super helpful.
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  Speaker 2: Also, of note, you said that this inflammation marker can
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: vary based on a few different factors. I know, one
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: for women, specifically where you are in your cycle you
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: may have more inflammation. And then also if you happen
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: to be using hormonal contraceptives, that can also impact this marker.
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  Speaker 2: When I told my PT this morning that I had
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: really high inflammation markers, he was like, I'm not in
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  Speaker 2: the least bit surprised. You come in here every Tuesday
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: and you cringe. He's like, so the question then becomes
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: what do you want to do about it? And I
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: was like, well, perfect, I'm hopping on this podcast in
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: an hour and a half and that's exactly what we're
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: going to talk about.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's perfectly timed, but yeah, to your point, it
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: is kind of no surprise that it was at that
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: higher state. But then again, the good news is there's
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: a ton of different really science based, evidence based practices
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: that can help to start to support reducing that inflammation.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: So okay, Michelle, So let's dive into some of those.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: Where does someone begin if they want to get a
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: handle on high inflammation in the body.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Let's start with lifestyle habits. So there's a bunch of
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: different lifestyle habits that you can implement to start to
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: kind of improve that inflammation. And one interesting thing to
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: is that I think as a dietician, I was expecting
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: to talk to people a ton about always about nutrition,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: but actually when it comes to kind of that whole
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: body health, there are so many different aspects, including a
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: lot of those lifestyle habits that can really impact your body.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: The first thing I would look at, or the first
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: two things I would look at, are stress and sleep.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: So stress levels, whether that's kind of that physical stress,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: like if you're kind of let's say you're being chased
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: by a bear, That physical stress can increase inflammation levels,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: but so can the emotional and mental stress as well.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: And of course easier said than done, but being able
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: to kind of keep those stress levels at bay is
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: something that can also help with inflammation.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: Emotional stress can really manifest in a way that can
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: be detrimental to more than just your feelings, right, It
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: really does impact us holistically. I know that through some
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: of the data on my whoop strap that I was
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: wearing for quite some time. There would be days where
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't be physically challenging myself to the max, but
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: it was just such an emotionally draining day. Work was
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: really a hectic that I would have such a high strain,
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: and that strain was based on the fact that I
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: was truly just taxed period.
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: And that's so true.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: And it's one of those things too where it's like
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: you have to like kind of take note of that
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: like within your body and then be like, okay, so
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: how can I pull back or where can I pull
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: back to start to help to keep that kind of
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: at bay and then like propel yourself forward for the
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: next kind of for the next thing.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: So yeah, and that is definitely where different mindfulness tactics
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: come in. Breath work, meditation, and also journaling, speaking with
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: someone that you care about. These are all very simple,
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: easy tools that are available to us at no cost
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: that we can keep in the toolbox to pull out.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: To keep that.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: At Bay, we first and foremost talked about keeping your
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: stress levels in check. You also mentioned the big buzzword,
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: which is sleep.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Yes, so sleep is, like, it's interesting that sleep is
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: kind of a hot topic right now and kind of
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: the wellness and endurance and even come of the longevity
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: world right now. I say it's interesting because it's often
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: really the most simple, zero cost tool that you can
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: use to kind of impact your health. So it's one
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: of those things that it's like if you just do
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: it for seven to eight hours per day, then your
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: body is like going to be pretty happy. So that's
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: why I think sleep is it's interesting that sleep kind
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: of is is so important because it is so relevant.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: So basically, during sleep and rest, the body is able
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: to kind of start to send itself into these repair processes,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: so that deep sleep is really important for being able
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: to repair itself. And then it can also help to
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: keep inflammation levels low as well because it supports a
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: healthy immune system.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: For someone who may feel as though they struggle with sleep,
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: I know I'm talking to a dietitian. Is there anything
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: that you can recommend when it comes to how we
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: eat or fuel ourselves that can result in better sleep
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: and then as a result less inflammation.
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: Oh.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, So I would say kind of that biggest piece
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: I would say when we're talking about nutrition for sleep
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: would be magnesium. So magnesium is kind of that anti
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: stress mineral that helps to relax the body and helps
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: to kind of send it into sleep through the production
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: of melatonin in like in a natural way. So magnesium
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: is an important mineral, really important for like over three
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: hundred chemical processes in the body, one of the most
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: abundant in the body as well, and not only could
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: it impact sleep, but it's actually really commonly suboptimal in
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: endurance athletes. So magnesium can be lost through kind of
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: that fluid loss, whether that's through sweat or frequent urination
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: in endurance athletes. And one of those great examples about
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: how like one specific thing in the body can impact
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: so many other processes throughout.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: And I was low in magnesium when we did this
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: last blood panel, which I found to be super interesting.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: So that was one of the first things that you
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: and I spoke about when it comes to maybe shifting
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: any supplementation I'm doing.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: I know that regularly I take AG one.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: There isn't a lot of magnesium in there, so that
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: is something that I may want to add into the mix,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: just like I did a couple of years back with
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: their vitamin D three K two.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: I think magnesium is a great option there, especially because
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: those magnesium levels were low, and that RBC magnesium level
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: was low as well, So I would say that, in
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: combination with wanting to stimulate those repair processes in the body,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: makes a magnesium supplement a great option. I recommend taking
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: that magnesium supplement at night, maybe one or two hours
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: before bed, to help to kind of stimulate that production
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: of melatonin.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know that there is magnesium, for instance,
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: also in the element that I'll drink when I'm doing
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: like an endurance activity. So if I'm going on a
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: bike ride or going on a long run and I'm
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: bringing my own bottles, oftentimes I'll have at least one
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: to two element packets. But the thing there again is
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: that each serving of element only has sixty milligrams of magnesium,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: which is only fifteen percent the recommended daily value. So
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: being cognizant about how much you're actually taking in and
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: knowing that just because something says like it has magnesium,
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: does it mean that it's giving you exactly what you
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: need to fill that RDV.
• 20:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and that's a great point too.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: A lot of these, like these different supplements and stuff
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: can help to start to fill in some of those gaps.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: But really the best way to kind of know if
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: you're in that optimal level or if you've had enough
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: that's best for you given your activity level, is to
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: be able to understand where those baseline levels are.
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: Definitely okay. So we've talked about stress, We've talked about sleep.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Now talk to us a little bit about the good
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: stuff about the diet. Where does someone begin when it
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: comes to wanting to reel in their diet to be
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: cognizant of their inflammation levels.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: So there are a lot of dietary practices that people
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: can start to implement to improve their inflammation levels. I'll
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: talk about three, so one of them being the first
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: being antioxidant rich foods, and then the second kind of
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: bucket of them being those foods that can support gut
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: health and some of those different strategies there. So when
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: it comes to antioxidants, antioxidants really help to help to
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: limit the damage of free radicals on your cells. And
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: that's something that's really important because that free radical damage
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: can increase oxidative stress and actually lead to inflammation. So
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: I would say when it comes to those antioxidant rich foods,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: there are a few that can be very beneficial. One
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: of the antioxidants that people might have heard about when
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: it comes to their immune system is vitamin C. So
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: I think when we're all little, it's when someone when
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: you think that you have a cold coming on, someone
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: might have told you, all right, let's take some vitamin C.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: Let's try to knock out that cold. But it's interesting,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: so that actually is it's kind of tried and true
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: and actually backed by science. So vitamin C is an
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: antioxidant that can help to limit that oxidative stress in
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: the body. So when it comes to vitamin C, I
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: would recommend foods like oranges, fairies, broccoli, bell peppers, all
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: great sources of vitamin see.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: I know also in my analysis from the blood work
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: panel that I had two other foods that are mentioned
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: here are soybeans and chia seeds.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: Let's talk a little bit about that.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely so you'll see those types of foods because
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: of their impact on the gut health and how gut
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: is really impacted impacted by and impacts inflammation. So you
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: might have heard something like the Commons saying, all right,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: seventy percent of your immune system was within your gut,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: but actually, in fact it might be quite higher than that.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: So the gut is really beneficial for being able to
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: kind of stimulate these immune responses. And it's really important
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: to enrich and diversify the good gut bacteria that you
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: do have, and a couple of ways to do that
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: are through foods. So the soy is the soy is
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: an example of a fermented food that can help to
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: diversify and enrich the good gut bacteria in your body,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: which can help to improve your gut lining and which
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: also impacts the immune system and inflammation levels. And then
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: gia sets are a great example of a fiber rich
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: food which you might also hear of as a prebiotic food,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: which can also really help to increase the diversity and
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: enrichment of your gut bacteria.
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I hear often as well that fatty fish
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: can be good for inflammation.
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: Is that true? Yeah?
• 23:22
  Speaker 4: That's another thing that can also help.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: So fatty fish is really high in those omega three
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: fatty acids, which can be very beneficial there for your
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: inflammation levels. It helps to also increase the absorption of
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: certain nutrients in the body as well. That can also
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: help with inflammation and repair processes and all of that.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: So I think what would be helpful now is then
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: to inversely talk about some things that you may want
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: to avoid if you are working to lessen inflammation.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: So where does someone begin there?
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah, no, that's a great question.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: So I would say, first and foremost to kind of
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: lessen that inflammation, I would look at the different activities that.
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: You're participating in.
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: So if you have that really high level of inflammation,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: participating in like high intensity activities for the next seven
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: days can be it can be kind of challenging because
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: that inflammation can start to breed more that inflammation and
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: inflammation is associated or can be increased by some of
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: those higher impact activities. So then kind of conversely, I
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: would say, any kind of like way to incorporate some
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: of those low activity, low impact activities can help to
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: start to reduce some of that inflammation as well. So
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: it can kind of keep your body in motion, but
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: have a little bit of a lesser impact on your joints,
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: your muscles, and hopefully some of that pain.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: And then from a food pov, I know things we
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: hear all of the time. Sugary beverages, refined carbs, too
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: many desserts, processed foods. And I'm laughing a little bit
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: because you talked about your upbringing and your family. It's
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: all the things that are going to likely be at
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: like your family barbecue on a Saturday.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Oh totally, yeah, So a lot of those foods can
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: exactly like you mentioned, can increase that inflammation levels. So
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: those sugary foods, those foods that are really those are
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: that are higher and saturated fat can increase inflammation levels
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: as well because they are pro inflammatory. But what I
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: will say, it's still fun to participate in that family
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: barbecue and you know, kind of all hang out and stuff,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: but I would say to kind of reach for some
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: of those foods that might be more supportive of it
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: inflammation levels, like those berries, maybe some of the veggies
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: that are on the grill.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Got it super helpful now for someone who whether it's
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: inflammation or something else that they're wanting to work on
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: or focus on. What would you say is one of
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: the best ways to get a handle on your diet
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: and what you're putting into your body so that you
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: can make positive changes.
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah, great question.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: I would say the really the thing is to kind
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: of listen to your body and like understand how it's feeling,
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: and then also to just like test out different things.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: So I think when you're really kind of in tune
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: with your body and how you're feeling, you can kind
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: of understand how it's reacting and responding to foods, autrition
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: and diet, and all of that is really quite personalized.
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: So what's great for my specific body and what's great
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: for your specific body might be completely different. So being
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: able to really be in tune with like how foods
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: are making you feel, I think is a really great
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: place to start and start to making those positive changes.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: This is all so helpful.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: So before I let you go today, there is one
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: other thing I want to make sure that we touch on,
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: and that is iron and farritin and their importance in
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: the body. I know that previously I was low in
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: both of these. Now they are in optimal zones, thank god.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: So why is this an area of concern, especially for women.
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah, great question.
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: So with iron and faretin, those levels can be lower
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: in women for a couple of different reasons, the main
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: one being kind of that blood loss that women experience
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: each month through menstruation, So that blood loss can also
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: can lead to that lower level of iron throughout the body.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: And then faretin is that storage form of iron which
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: can also be lower as a result of that prolonged
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: lower levels of iron through that blood loss. But it's
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: especially important for athletic females because basically, actually athletic females
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: are three times more likely to have lower ferretin levels
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: than even non athletic females. So not only is kind
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: of the is kind of the sex and the menstruation
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: something that's impacting those levels, but also that activity level.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: So when you're participating in those larger endurance activities, that
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: foot strike when your foot is hitting the ground can
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: actually break up some of that iron and reduce that
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: level throughout the body. So that's one reason that athletic
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: females are more prone to having that lower ferreton level.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: And why is it so important for us to make
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: sure that we are as close to optimize there as possible.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so iron is really it's helpful for transporting oxygen
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: throughout the body. So when that oxygen it's coming from
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: your lungs, it really needs to be transported into your
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: muscles and cells as you're participating in that in that activity.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: And I heard something that's helpful for that process. So
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: when you're where and you can imagine when you're kind
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: of in an endurance activity, you're kind of your body
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: is kind of craving some of that oxygen which iron
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: can help to deliver.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: Right, So if you are low in iron, then you
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: may feel fatigued faster because your blood vessels are not
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: delivering the oxygen where it needs to go.
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: That's exactly it.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: Again, so much helpful information in this conversation. I'm so
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: I feel so lucky that this is a tool within
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: my toolbox. If you are personally interested in getting an
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: inside Tracker test done, Inside Tracker is offering twenty percent
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: off their entire store if you head on over to
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: insidetracker dot com slash hurdle. I'm sure I will mention
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: that in the introduction as well. But regardless, knowing what's
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: going on your body like I said earlier, you will
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: never ever ever regret being armed with the information so
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: that you can feel and perform your best.
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: Before I let.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: You go, Michelle, is there anything else that you want
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: to add here?
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: For the hurdlers.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: We talked a lot about kind of listening to your
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: body when it comes to those different biomarket levels, and
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: I think also it's important to remember that not every
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: day has to be perfect. I think it's really important
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: to kind of do everything you can to start to
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: improve your health, but not every day is perfect. That's
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: also totally okay.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: It's okay not every day is perfect. Do the best
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: you can with what you have. Michelle, thank you so
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: much for your time today. How do the hurdlers follow
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: along with you? How do they keep up with you?
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: Give us your info?
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: My information.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: You can follow my website at Michelle Darian dot com
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: and I work at inside Tracker on Instagram.
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: That's at inside Tracker Beautiful.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: I'm over at Emily a Body and at Hurdle Podcast
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: Another Hurdle Conquered.
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: Catch you guys next time.