Latest / Eat More Carbs | A Period Recovery Podcast / 148. New 2025 Dietary Guidelines: Will They Get Your Period Back?

Transcript

148. New 2025 Dietary Guidelines: Will They Get Your Period Back? · Eat More Carbs | A Period Recovery Podcast

• 0:00
  Hey girlies, just a quick reminder before we dive into
• 0:02
  today's episode. The information shared on this
• 0:04
  podcast is intended to be general sports nutrition advice
• 0:07
  and education related to period recovery for female athletes.
• 0:10
  This is not specific to anyone individual and it may or may not
• 0:13
  apply to your situation. If you are looking for
• 0:15
  personalized guidance, be sure to apply to our RBSN Period
• 0:18
  Recovery nutrition coaching program.
• 0:20
  Our four month period recovery program is designed to help you
• 0:22
  sustainably get your period back and keep it.
• 0:24
  You can apply now to get started in our program and we'll leave
• 0:27
  the link for the program below. This is the Eat more Carbs
• 0:29
  podcast. Hello and welcome back.
• 0:36
  This is the Eat More Carbs podcast.
• 0:38
  We're Riley Beatty Sports Nutrition, and we're a team of
• 0:40
  dietitians and we talk every Thursday about sports nutrition
• 0:43
  for the girlies. I'm Jenna and I'm the host of
• 0:45
  this podcast. And I'm Riley.
• 0:46
  I'm the founder of Riley Beatty Sports Nutrition, we like to
• 0:48
  call it around here RBSN. Before we get into today's
• 0:51
  episode, we are going to do our high and low.
• 0:53
  So sharing just a little bit about our week, the good and the
• 0:55
  parts we wish have gone a little bit differently.
• 0:56
  As always, Riley, can you kick us off?
• 0:58
  Yes. So super excited high today
• 1:01
  because today, January 15th is Tartar's birthday.
• 1:04
  If you are new, if you have not listened to the podcast of four,
• 1:07
  I do have a daughter named Charlie and today is her second
• 1:10
  birthday so she's 2 which is mind blowing.
• 1:14
  I can't get over it. I'm speechless obviously.
• 1:16
  It's just wild that she is 2 years old.
• 1:17
  It doesn't feel like 2 years ago that you were pregnant.
• 1:21
  Like, I remember that so vividly with being, like, checking my
• 1:24
  phone every 5 seconds to see if you had texted me back because I
• 1:26
  knew when you were at the hospital if, like, there was
• 1:28
  news or anything like that. Like, I can't believe that that
• 1:31
  was two years ago. But happy birthday, Charlie.
• 1:33
  Yeah. Happy birthday to the queen.
• 1:34
  So that's my high. I guess my low could also be
• 1:37
  that she's two years old because time just honestly flies and I
• 1:41
  know that it's been a little bit of a heck to two years.
• 1:44
  Like we definitely, you know, had a big move and there's been,
• 1:48
  you know, some things going on, but it just is a high and a low
• 1:51
  because it's like bittersweet because I I love this age right
• 1:55
  now. I feel like I struggled a little
• 1:56
  bit in the baby phase, but I'm loving like showing her
• 2:00
  personality her like doing her little outfits and running and
• 2:04
  all of that stuff. So it's, I think a high antelope
• 2:07
  because it's bittersweet it. Makes me like happy, sad for you
• 2:09
  guys. Yeah, it's again, it's like it's
• 2:11
  a happy sad. So it's a high antelope.
• 2:13
  So that's that's what's going on this week.
• 2:15
  We have lots of birthday activities, even though I try to
• 2:18
  keep it like as minimal as possible.
• 2:19
  But the grandparents, you know, got a grandparent.
• 2:22
  So some fun activities planned this week.
• 2:24
  So I was going to ask because I was going to ask if you guys
• 2:26
  were doing anything to celebrate because I know you guys have
• 2:28
  like a really cute themed 1st birthday party.
• 2:31
  So do you have another theme for this birthday?
• 2:33
  Jenna, I am still getting over Christmas.
• 2:36
  Fair. It just happened.
• 2:37
  We are doing a birthday haircut, so we're getting our first
• 2:40
  haircut later today, so that will be interesting.
• 2:43
  I'm not doing like a party or anything for her.
• 2:46
  She's really into like doing activities and stuff like that.
• 2:50
  So Robbie's parents, my in laws are coming on Saturday and then
• 2:53
  my parents are taking her. I don't know if you've ever
• 2:55
  heard of this place. I've heard Have you heard of the
• 2:57
  Great Wolf Lodge? OK.
• 2:59
  I feel like I've commercials for it.
• 3:01
  Is that the is that the one that has like an indoor water park or
• 3:04
  am I remembering wrong? OK.
• 3:05
  Yes, OK. Yes, so my parents are actually
• 3:08
  taking her to like the one of the great wolf lodges, which is
• 3:11
  like an indoor water park because she loves like pools and
• 3:14
  water and all of that stuff. So they're taking her there for
• 3:17
  a day and then Robbie's family is coming and we're we're doing
• 3:20
  something locally. Gonna be so much fun.
• 3:22
  She's gonna have the best time. And also, like, gives me a
• 3:25
  break. I'm like, oh, this is my
• 3:26
  birthday, too. Great.
• 3:28
  I can take a nap. Perfect.
• 3:29
  So yeah, yeah, I think it's just kind of hard right now, like
• 3:32
  because she just is more of a like I want to do activities
• 3:36
  with small groups of people versus she gets kind of
• 3:38
  overstimulated and shy and like a group in big environments.
• 3:41
  So we're keeping it simple this year.
• 3:43
  I love that. How's your week going though?
• 3:44
  My week's. Going pretty good I'm going to
• 3:46
  start off sharing my love today. I love the lactose free Faye
• 3:50
  Greek yogurt. I think it tastes better.
• 3:51
  I don't have any problem with lactose.
• 3:53
  I don't, but I genuinely think the lactose free version tastes
• 3:58
  better. Unfortunately the stores near me
• 4:00
  stopped carrying it so the only store in the greater Phoenix
• 4:05
  area that still carries it is like 25 minutes away and it's
• 4:08
  expensive like that. Yogurt is.
• 4:10
  We have some beef with IE because I every time I go to the
• 4:14
  grocery store lately I feel like it was more expensive.
• 4:16
  At the beginning of 2025 we were paying like 499 and now we're
• 4:20
  it's like 749 and I am very upset.
• 4:23
  I'm like, I'm supposed to pay $7.50 for this tub of yogurt and
• 4:27
  I do it every single time. There's no way around that.
• 4:29
  I still do it because I want it, but now I'm like, I have to
• 4:32
  drive 25 minutes and spend 750 or more on my yogurt.
• 4:37
  And I just have I have a problem with that.
• 4:39
  I'm like, why did we stop carrying it?
• 4:40
  And I'm sure it's because, you know, like I was the only person
• 4:42
  buying it or whatever, who knows?
• 4:44
  But I'm just like frustrated that now I have to drive further
• 4:47
  to get my yogurt. That's make no go make.
• 4:50
  I know I should, I should just be like, yeah, on your way home,
• 4:52
  can you swing by and get this? And he's like, swing by and get
• 4:55
  this. That is far out of the way,
• 4:56
  sister. And I feel like, well, you know,
• 4:58
  man's got to do what a man's got to do.
• 5:00
  Happy wife, happy life, isn't that what they say?
• 5:02
  I have heard that you deserve it.
• 5:04
  Oh, thank you. Anyway.
• 5:05
  My hi, I was talking to a client yesterday.
• 5:07
  She listens to the podcast, so shout out.
• 5:09
  She shared something and I want to share about it.
• 5:12
  I think it also kind of like plays into our episode today
• 5:15
  talking about the updated dietary guidelines.
• 5:17
  A little bit of a back story on her.
• 5:19
  She is a collegiate athlete, She's a runner.
• 5:21
  She trains very early in the morning.
• 5:22
  Something that we have worked really hard to do in order for
• 5:24
  her to get her period back is have adequate amount of
• 5:27
  carbohydrate before she starts running.
• 5:28
  One of the things that works super well her is pop tarts.
• 5:31
  We've talked about pop tarts multiple times.
• 5:33
  We love a pop tart for pre run. It works super well for her.
• 5:36
  No stomach issues, all that good stuff and we're able to hit her
• 5:39
  carbohydrate goal when she has pop tarts.
• 5:41
  A boy on her team made a comment about why don't you have
• 5:45
  something healthier before you run something along those lines.
• 5:49
  And we had a conversation about it how she was like before year
• 5:52
  ago maybe. Plus she was like, that would
• 5:54
  have been such a triggering comment of like, maybe I should
• 5:57
  change this made her second guess whether or not she
• 6:00
  actually needed that pop tart. And now she's like, I just
• 6:02
  looked at him and kind of laughed because it was such a
• 6:04
  silly comment because she was like, it's just carbohydrate.
• 6:06
  And he said something along the lines of like, why instead of
• 6:08
  that pop tart, don't you have like a granola bar?
• 6:10
  And she's like, what's the difference between this and a
• 6:12
  granola bar? This works well for me.
• 6:14
  This helps me stay energized through my run.
• 6:16
  And she is consistently putting down best times throughout this
• 6:19
  entire season using pop tarts. So I'm just super proud of her.
• 6:22
  That was my high that she like felt so good about that.
• 6:25
  Like didn't have a second guessing moment of just like
• 6:28
  what she should be doing. She was just like, it's just my
• 6:30
  carbohydrates that work really well for me pre run and I'm just
• 6:32
  so freaking proud of her. She listens to the podcast, so I
• 6:35
  just wanted to give her a shout out for like, how proud I am of
• 6:37
  her, how far she's come. And like, that's a huge win.
• 6:40
  Pop tarts are a secret when it comes to feeling they're like a
• 6:43
  cheat code. I have so many people on them
• 6:45
  too. I understand how she feels
• 6:47
  because every time that I've posted that pop tarts are like a
• 6:49
  good source of carbohydrate for pre run pre training people like
• 6:53
  literally come for me. So I've stopped posting it
• 6:55
  because I'm like, I don't need this negative energy in my life.
• 6:57
  I'm just trying to help people. So it is a secret that we
• 7:00
  reserve now for the podcast and also for clients.
• 7:02
  Yep, I wish more people would unlock the secret of pop tarts
• 7:05
  because like like I said, she's consistently putting down best
• 7:08
  times. She feels strong when she runs,
• 7:09
  she feels energized, and she has a period now.
• 7:11
  So look at the power of Pop Tarts.
• 7:13
  Most of the people who are eating pop Tarts like who I'm
• 7:15
  working with, I don't know how if you are different, are like
• 7:17
  are my elite athletes, like my top level athletes, like they're
• 7:20
  the ones who are like, I know that I need to get in like 60 to
• 7:23
  80 grams of carbs before my training.
• 7:25
  And like pop tarts are really energy dense way to do that.
• 7:28
  And if there's a lots of different varieties there too.
• 7:30
  So if you are looking for like a little bit of a more like if
• 7:33
  you're looking for an organic product, I know Trader Joe's has
• 7:35
  toaster pastries. There's a bunch of different
• 7:37
  brands out there too. So it doesn't have to be like a
• 7:39
  pop tart, but like just a generic toaster.
• 7:41
  Pastry works. And it works well if you are an
• 7:44
  athlete. If you haven't tried pop tarts
• 7:45
  for some pre training carbohydrates, give it a go.
• 7:48
  Report back. Let us know, yeah.
• 7:49
  Tell us your favorite Pop Tart flavor in the comments.
• 7:52
  If you're an athlete that feels with Pop Tarts, let us know.
• 7:55
  Jenna, our rating is going to go down because of this
• 7:57
  recommendation. Like everybody's in a one star.
• 7:59
  How dare. They recommend pop, I know, but
• 8:01
  hey, we're gonna stick with what we know.
• 8:03
  Stick to the science, which is exactly what we're going to do
• 8:06
  today, talking through some science related information.
• 8:09
  We're discussing like a pretty new hot topic in the world of
• 8:12
  nutrition because the updated 2025 Dietary Guidelines came
• 8:16
  out, as some of you may already be aware if you've been on
• 8:19
  social media because so many people are talking about this,
• 8:21
  the updated 2025 dietary Guidelines were released last
• 8:25
  week on January 7th. That was much to the
• 8:27
  disappointment of so many Stranger Things fans who are
• 8:29
  really hopeful they were going to get some type of a bonus
• 8:31
  episode. If you were following that on
• 8:33
  social media last week as well, we are going to be talking about
• 8:36
  that today. Specifically the guidelines and
• 8:38
  what that means for you as an athlete and what that means for
• 8:41
  you as an athlete going through period recovery, because that is
• 8:43
  the lens that we're viewing this from, is from HA recovery and
• 8:47
  for athletes, not necessarily any other situation that might
• 8:51
  be going on. Before we get into that though,
• 8:53
  we're going to do a little bit of history and back story on the
• 8:56
  dietary guidelines and kind of talk about what this all means,
• 9:00
  why they exist, and all of that good stuff.
• 9:01
  I'm so excited for a history lesson.
• 9:03
  I actually taught about this like a couple years ago when I
• 9:06
  was teaching at the College of Charleston, but I'm excited to
• 9:09
  kind of like dive more in and to hear what you have to say about
• 9:12
  it. So I'm going to summarize this
• 9:13
  as best I can. So that way we're not talking
• 9:15
  about the history of the dietary guidelines and all of that good
• 9:18
  stuff, but essentially we get new dietary guidelines once
• 9:21
  every five years. And that's because they're
• 9:23
  legally mandated. And under the 1990 National
• 9:26
  Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act, the US, CA and the
• 9:31
  Health and Human Services publish a joint report every
• 9:34
  five years. This report makes sure that the
• 9:36
  federal nutrition policies stay up to date with scientific and
• 9:40
  medical knowledge as best they can, which is why this updated
• 9:43
  every five years. Yeah, quickly before you start,
• 9:47
  I just, I've been messing up my dates.
• 9:48
  Is it the 2025 or is it the 2026 guidelines?
• 9:51
  Because it's 2026, right, Right. Yeah, it's 20 right now. 24
• 9:54
  Despite the fact that I have been writing 2025 on like
• 9:57
  literally everything, still right now it is 2026.
• 10:01
  What is that my saying right 2026?
• 10:02
  That sounds so weird when I say that.
• 10:04
  It's like that TikTok trend right now where they go like ice
• 10:07
  Bryce, ice rice. Have you seen that?
• 10:09
  No, I haven't. Absolutely.
• 10:11
  We'll have to get our TikTok correspondent.
• 10:13
  Seriously. But yes, some of you may be
• 10:14
  noticing that even though it is 2026, we are coming out with the
• 10:18
  2025 dietary guidelines. They're usually a year late.
• 10:21
  It's kind of a running joke within the dietitian community
• 10:24
  because every five years they're updated, but they're usually not
• 10:28
  released until a year late. And that's because there's a lot
• 10:30
  of bureaucracy that's going on, a lot of lobbying and things
• 10:33
  like that. So it takes a little bit of time
• 10:35
  before they're actually published.
• 10:36
  In 2010, the guideline didn't come out until 20/11/2015.
• 10:39
  The guide released in 20162025. We have a lag again, and it's
• 10:43
  2026 that we're finally seeing these dietary guidelines.
• 10:46
  Can I ask a question what are these mandated like?
• 10:49
  What is the purpose of these guidelines?
• 10:51
  So a lot of them were kind of created and based off of this
• 10:54
  idea that we needed some type of standardization for the American
• 10:58
  recommendations for dietary guidelines based on current
• 11:01
  research. A lot of it also plays into some
• 11:03
  of like the social programming around like school lunches and
• 11:06
  things like that. So school lunch is based off of
• 11:09
  these dietary guidelines and things like that.
• 11:11
  That's kind of the biggest one. There are some other programs to
• 11:14
  like SNAP benefits, I believe, as well that are based off of
• 11:17
  these dietary guidelines, which are federal programs tied to
• 11:20
  that. So that's kind of like the basis
• 11:21
  of what they're doing for those programs, if that makes sense.
• 11:25
  It does. So this is public health
• 11:27
  guidelines and this is like a public health conversation which
• 11:29
  we we obviously focus really on like athletes, but like athletes
• 11:33
  are part of the public too. Yeah, 100%.
• 11:35
  So then a little bit out of my realm here.
• 11:37
  So if I say anything wrong or if I say anything incorrect, like
• 11:40
  please point it out to us. But I am going to kind of go
• 11:42
  through like the original dietary guidelines which were
• 11:44
  released in 1992 and kind of talk about what we've seen in
• 11:47
  the past from the guidelines and how it's evolved over the years.
• 11:50
  So in 92 was actually that food pyramid that were so many of us
• 11:53
  are used to. So many people think that
• 11:55
  dietitians still use that original food pyramid.
• 11:58
  So one that if you were in the school in the 90s, you probably
• 12:01
  saw carbohydrates were at the bottom of that food period.
• 12:04
  And we were told that that should be the main points of our
• 12:06
  diet. And then the tears up on the
• 12:08
  pyramid went higher. And that was supposed to be, you
• 12:11
  were supposed to include less of those things in your diet.
• 12:14
  It had a lot of like backlash over the years for sure.
• 12:17
  And that's because it didn't really like quantify the types
• 12:20
  of carbohydrates that you should be including.
• 12:22
  It was also like pretty much one that encouraged people to
• 12:25
  replace a lot of the fat in their diet.
• 12:27
  So that's what we saw a lot from the food pyramid in 92 from like
• 12:31
  the evolution over time. We're going to kind of jump
• 12:34
  ahead the 2005 recommendation. We were still using the food
• 12:37
  pyramid at that time, but they also kind of stuck in this stick
• 12:41
  figure as well that tried to individualize it a little bit
• 12:44
  more and kind of talk a little bit about like some of the other
• 12:47
  important components of this. Do you remember that?
• 12:50
  Is this the guy like walking up the pyramid?
• 12:53
  Yes. Why did I like forget about that
• 12:55
  one? But like that, like 1992, like
• 12:57
  food pyramid is like stuck in my brain and like I told you
• 13:00
  offline too, like Robbie and I like always joke about it
• 13:02
  because like, that's what he thinks I do all day.
• 13:05
  He's like, you just talked about the food pyramid and like I was
• 13:07
  like born the year before the food pyramid.
• 13:09
  Like I came out. Right.
• 13:11
  Yeah, we saw it a lot, but we also saw that little stick
• 13:13
  figure guy. But like, I don't remember him.
• 13:15
  But as soon as I started like looking into it, I was like, Oh
• 13:17
  yeah, I kind of remember that now.
• 13:18
  But yeah, it's the guy that's like walking up the side.
• 13:20
  And I think it was to actually like emphasize exercise was the
• 13:23
  original like thought behind that, but I'm not 100% sure on
• 13:27
  that. That's just kind of what I
• 13:28
  remember in two, 2011 is actually when we stopped using
• 13:32
  the pyramid and we attempted to kind of switch over to how the
• 13:37
  plate was actually designed. So this was the kind of big
• 13:41
  shift from like the foundation of the pyramid to a different
• 13:44
  version of like what we're going to be doing on our plate.
• 13:47
  So we have a lot of the talk around this time about switching
• 13:50
  to the my Plate method. I actually like my plate a lot
• 13:54
  better than I like the food pyramid.
• 13:55
  So I do like, again, like with our history and our timeline, I
• 13:58
  do like this change because I do think like a plate method is a
• 14:01
  much easier way to digest information, right?
• 14:03
  Like with the food pyramid, you know, it makes sense, but it's
• 14:06
  like also very, very up to interpretation.
• 14:09
  And I do think like the plate modeling is a lot easier.
• 14:12
  And that's also why we use like something like my plate in our
• 14:16
  period recovery program. So we use the performance plate
• 14:18
  method, which is a similar type of plate method, but it's built
• 14:21
  for athletes. It's also one that we use, but
• 14:23
  we have different types of plates based on different
• 14:26
  athletes, activity levels and things like that.
• 14:28
  So it's not that we're only using one plate all the time for
• 14:31
  all athletes. We're using different types of
• 14:33
  plates as outlines or bases to help explain what the plate
• 14:36
  should look like for certain athletes, which I think is
• 14:38
  really important. And something that we can
• 14:40
  probably talk about like as we continue to have this
• 14:42
  conversation is like you have said so many times, and I'm
• 14:45
  going to butcher this, but like the oversimplification of
• 14:47
  nutrition that makes it more complicated.
• 14:49
  And I think that really applies to a lot of these like very,
• 14:53
  very like basic graphics that were essentially like given to
• 14:57
  base our entire fueling off of. I think it's almost, it's too
• 15:00
  simple to make it. That makes it more complicated,
• 15:02
  if that makes sense. It does and it's really hard to
• 15:04
  make public policies like at the meta level just because like
• 15:08
  nutrition is so individualized and we talk about this all the
• 15:11
  time, but like this is the E more carbs podcast.
• 15:13
  Like we are here for sports nutrition recommendations.
• 15:16
  We help athletes get their periods back.
• 15:18
  We help them become the best athlete they can be.
• 15:20
  And some of this information like might not be right and not
• 15:23
  even might is not right for other populations of people,
• 15:26
  right? Like a lot of the time we hear
• 15:27
  from high school athletes that they eat very different than
• 15:29
  their. Their parents or their friends?
• 15:31
  And it's like, yeah, because you were a very different person
• 15:34
  than your parents and your friends.
• 15:36
  Yes, I'm so glad you said that. And I think that that's
• 15:38
  definitely something I want to touch on.
• 15:40
  When we talk about the updated dietary guidelines in 2015,
• 15:43
  that's really when we saw like a lot of like what we might
• 15:46
  consider like the war on added sugar.
• 15:48
  The guidelines on that one really emphasized that like we
• 15:51
  reduced added sugar in our dietary intake.
• 15:54
  So that was kind of when we saw that one.
• 15:55
  We're still using kind of that plate based method.
• 15:58
  Same with 20/20/20, we've really included recommendations
• 16:01
  throughout the lifestyle. So we started to see more
• 16:04
  guidelines and more inclusion of different stages of life as well
• 16:08
  within that document. And when I say document like
• 16:10
  these are long documents, like they're not short documents.
• 16:14
  Like the last one in 2020 I believe was like 164 pages.
• 16:19
  It's a long document. It includes disclaimers for
• 16:22
  different disease states because we can't blanket statement
• 16:25
  recommendation. And so we want to let those
• 16:27
  people know that this recommendation might not be
• 16:29
  correct for you. So that included a lot of that
• 16:32
  in the 2020 guidelines. I don't know if you remember
• 16:34
  Riley, but 2015 was around the time that I graduated from
• 16:38
  undergrad. And I remember those came out
• 16:40
  the year late in 2016. And I remember doing a lot of
• 16:43
  like looking through those updated guidelines and being
• 16:45
  like, wow, there's a lot in here.
• 16:47
  And almost feeling like at the time, because I was in college
• 16:49
  at the time that I like, wished I had something that could like
• 16:52
  summarize all of those recommendations because it's a
• 16:54
  long document. Like it's, it's typically not a
• 16:57
  short document, which is why it was very surprising that in
• 17:00
  2025, the updated guidelines had been reduced to 10 pages.
• 17:04
  We also see the resurrection, if you will, of the food pyramid,
• 17:07
  except for now it's been flipped so it kind of looks like a piece
• 17:09
  of pizza. And Riley, can you take a second
• 17:12
  to explain visually what it looks like if you haven't seen
• 17:15
  it already? Yes.
• 17:16
  And before I do that, I really would just want to like
• 17:18
  emphasize on how you clarified there that like there is a
• 17:22
  document with guidelines and then there is a graphic because
• 17:25
  I think that's something that is very confusing is like it's not
• 17:29
  just a pyramid. Picture of a plate.
• 17:30
  Historically, there's been like hundred 150 plus pages.
• 17:34
  Again, like going back to like the teaching moment, I just
• 17:37
  remember like the kids being so mad.
• 17:38
  I was like, this is 150 page document that we're going to go
• 17:41
  through like over the next couple of weeks because like it
• 17:44
  is so nuanced and I think that there's pros and cons to that,
• 17:47
  right? Like the average person is not
• 17:49
  going to be reading 150 page document about the dietary
• 17:52
  guidelines. A lot of professionals are not
• 17:55
  going to be reading that. And I think that's actually
• 17:57
  something that's really important to remember is like
• 17:59
  the dietary great guidelines are guidelines and recommendations
• 18:02
  for like practitioners. And I think that's something
• 18:05
  that is also really confusing. I feel like the graphic is very
• 18:08
  like public facing, but then the document itself is supposed to
• 18:11
  be built to help like practitioners and health, space
• 18:14
  health, public health, individuals, people who are
• 18:16
  making policy. It's supposed to help them guide
• 18:19
  those things and guide that care.
• 18:21
  And when we have maybe a shortened version, it leads a
• 18:24
  lot up for interpretation. And I do think that by
• 18:28
  shortening the guidelines that we're seeing, you know, as we
• 18:30
  saw, you know, last week, leaves a lot more up for
• 18:32
  interpretation. Yes, I'm so glad.
• 18:34
  You brought this up, and this is something that I probably should
• 18:36
  have touched on when we talked about at the very beginning of
• 18:38
  this, like why these exist in the 1st place.
• 18:41
  There's a lot of research on nutrition that comes out on a
• 18:43
  year to year basis. So providing something for
• 18:46
  providers that give a guideline of, hey, this is a synopsis of
• 18:50
  all of the research that's been done within the last five years
• 18:53
  that you can base your practice off of, or how you might want to
• 18:55
  update how you practice based on these new guidelines from
• 18:59
  emerging research. And then based on new research,
• 19:01
  they change that recommendation, which is a good thing that we
• 19:04
  have updated a new research that's being done and it's a
• 19:07
  good thing that we have updated recommendations that follow that
• 19:09
  new research. Yes.
• 19:11
  And again, like this is a very far out bird's eye view of
• 19:15
  nutrition. And when we look at the specific
• 19:17
  population of individuals that we work with, our
• 19:20
  recommendations are probably going to be very different
• 19:22
  because again, like this is very nuanced and this is very
• 19:24
  individualized. But we wanted to chat with you
• 19:27
  all today about this just because it is again, a very hot
• 19:30
  topic and there's a lot of confusion about it.
• 19:32
  So like Jenna said, we can kind of jump into that graphic.
• 19:35
  I'm sure if you're listening to this podcast, you probably have
• 19:38
  seen the graphic, but I think Jenna did a really great
• 19:41
  explanation of it's like a piece of pizza.
• 19:42
  And at the top we have, you know, our animal proteins where
• 19:47
  we have our vegetables as well. And then as we kind of go down,
• 19:50
  we start to see some dairy products, we start to see some
• 19:53
  more fruits, we start to see addition of maybe some
• 19:57
  carbohydrates. And then of course, I'm very
• 19:59
  upset, but the whole grains and we're not getting there yet, but
• 20:01
  the whole grains is at the bottom.
• 20:02
  This is the E more carbs. Podcast.
• 20:04
  So you may have already guessed why that makes Riley and IA
• 20:06
  little bit upset. But I think what we have to kind
• 20:09
  of keep in mind the whole time we're having this conversation
• 20:11
  is that essentially this is a massive blanket statement for
• 20:14
  the general public. And we're going to try to kind
• 20:16
  of summarize the key points as to why these guidelines might
• 20:20
  not be something that if you are an athlete or if you are working
• 20:23
  through HA recovery, aren't something you should attempt to
• 20:26
  implement as part of your fueling journey.
• 20:28
  Or maybe the pieces that we do want you to implement from that
• 20:32
  perspective as well. Because like all things, I don't
• 20:34
  think everything is 100% bad or 100% good.
• 20:37
  So we're going to do our very best to kind of summarize what
• 20:39
  you should be doing if you're working on HA or period recovery
• 20:42
  or as an athlete from these updated guidelines.
• 20:45
  So we have key points that this document, because there's a 10
• 20:48
  page document that goes along with this piece of pizza.
• 20:51
  And one of those big things is like a real food mandate or an
• 20:55
  emphasis on real foods, an emphasis away from processed
• 20:59
  foods. And Riley, I really want to talk
• 21:00
  to you about that. For sure.
• 21:02
  Changes in that limitation on added sugars and things like
• 21:05
  that is another big thing or a recurring theme throughout the
• 21:08
  paper. For overall, a bigger theme
• 21:09
  being a lot of emphasis on on protein vegetables with the
• 21:12
  reduction of carbohydrate based off of that graphic that goes
• 21:16
  along with these. So first I want to talk about
• 21:19
  the processed food before we even get into.
• 21:20
  This I cannot stop laughing at the fact that we're not supposed
• 21:23
  to eat whole grains and processed food and we have just
• 21:25
  deemed this a pizza. Pizza, right?
• 21:26
  Yeah. I know a lot of people are
• 21:28
  referring it to the flipped pyramid, but I prefer the pizza
• 21:31
  so we're going with. Pizza, that's what we're talking
• 21:33
  about. Yeah, it's our pizza pyramid,
• 21:35
  our food pizza. So I'm really glad that you
• 21:36
  brought up like the processed food piece because there's a big
• 21:39
  emphasis on both the graphic, the website is called like
• 21:42
  realfood.gov. And then also within the
• 21:44
  guidelines, there's a big emphasis on like eating Whole
• 21:47
  Foods, which I don't think you and I like disagree at all on
• 21:51
  that, right? Like we want to eat high quality
• 21:53
  products, we want to eat high quality foods.
• 21:55
  But I think sometimes we use fear marketing and tactics for
• 22:01
  that versus focusing on the positive things.
• 22:04
  Because when you actually even look at our food pizza or upside
• 22:08
  down pyramid, I would say probably half of those foods on
• 22:10
  there have been processed in some way.
• 22:13
  But it's processing that we for somehow I guess deem OK when
• 22:18
  processing of other foods is is not OK.
• 22:20
  And I don't know if that makes sense.
• 22:21
  No, I think that. Makes perfect sense, at least to
• 22:23
  me, because when I'm thinking about this, I'm thinking, OK,
• 22:26
  there is no true definition of what is an ultra processed food.
• 22:30
  What is a processed food? Most food that you're purchasing
• 22:33
  in a grocery store has been through some type of processing.
• 22:35
  So at what point do you deem the processing that that food has
• 22:38
  been through saying something that's approved or disapproved
• 22:41
  based on this piece of pizza? So like I find that a little bit
• 22:44
  confusing. Just like Riley mentioned, like
• 22:46
  there are some foods on there that you might think of as a
• 22:49
  quote, UN quote whole food, but would be technically considered
• 22:51
  processed if we picked it up in the grocery store.
• 22:53
  So I think that's really confusing.
• 22:55
  I also think that it's really confusing that we don't have a
• 22:58
  definition for what they mean by what's considered or what
• 23:00
  they're considering ultra processed foods.
• 23:03
  Like maybe we could make some assumptions, but are all of our
• 23:05
  assumptions going to be the same?
• 23:07
  Likely no, and goes back to like the.
• 23:08
  Assumption piece right and I think that just again is super
• 23:11
  confusing, right like for example, if you look at the
• 23:14
  upside down food pyramid or our food pizza, at the very very top
• 23:17
  there is a frozen bag of peas and that's processing, right
• 23:22
  Processing has definitely gotten a bad reputation but we have to
• 23:25
  kind of go back to like what is the purpose of processing food
• 23:27
  And I think the biggest two things when it comes to food
• 23:29
  processing is like safety and then availability, right So
• 23:33
  making sure that food is safe like pasteurizing dairy and then
• 23:37
  and making sure that food is I guess kind of going back to the
• 23:39
  safety piece again but widely available like something like a
• 23:42
  frozen vegetable that has a longer shelf life yeah can be
• 23:44
  brought. To areas of the country that
• 23:46
  don't have the ability to have fresh produce in a store.
• 23:50
  Yeah, exactly. I definitely like, I love frozen
• 23:54
  vegetables. We do a ton of frozen vegetables
• 23:56
  at our house because Charlie can't always eat raw vegetables
• 23:59
  because all of her teeth aren't in yet.
• 24:01
  And so like sometimes I'll just add a couple frozen vegetables
• 24:04
  to like a dish or a pasta or something like that.
• 24:06
  And and instead of having to buy a whole package of fresh produce
• 24:10
  and then that fresh produce going bad because I'm not using
• 24:13
  it at the right speed, I'm able to like continue to provide
• 24:17
  fruits and vegetables to her and the right amounts.
• 24:19
  So we're not disagreeing. That that's on there, but it
• 24:22
  also kind of doesn't align with this idea of like reduce the
• 24:25
  price of processed foods because technically it's processed, yes,
• 24:28
  and I don't even know. If we have time to talk about
• 24:30
  this today, but like there's such a big emphasis right now
• 24:33
  also on supplements and if you follow a diet that kind of is
• 24:38
  resembled in this food pyramid, there's probably going to be
• 24:41
  need for supplementation and supplementation.
• 24:44
  This is a very processed. Method of getting it, that's a
• 24:47
  very processed method of getting in micronutrients.
• 24:49
  Something I really want to point out from the processed
• 24:52
  perspective is that we talk a lot about like simple
• 24:55
  carbohydrates and the uses so beneficial for athletes and
• 24:58
  those going through period recovery because it can be
• 25:01
  something that's like easy for those individuals to get in and
• 25:04
  they serve a great benefit when they're done at the right times,
• 25:07
  like right before you train or something like that.
• 25:10
  Simple carbohydrates during your run.
• 25:12
  Like I think about those types of things like goos and gels and
• 25:15
  things like that, that I've used so frequently to help fuel my
• 25:17
  run to make sure that I don't bonk and that I still have
• 25:20
  energy throughout my entire run. But those would be essentially
• 25:22
  things that are considered ultra process, but they work really
• 25:25
  well in order to make sure that like I'm adequately fueled for
• 25:27
  what I need to do. I think that we would be doing
• 25:29
  you a disservice if we didn't point out that like some of
• 25:31
  those things are really, really important to include in your
• 25:34
  fueling. If you are working on like
• 25:37
  performance nutrition and working on making sure that like
• 25:39
  you're getting your period back. Like technically a bagel or a
• 25:42
  Gatorade would be a great option for an athlete, but that might
• 25:45
  be considered ultra process based on these new guidelines.
• 25:48
  Again, we don't know what ultra process means to everybody, but
• 25:51
  if that was something that was considered ultra process, like
• 25:54
  it would be really useful for an athlete and this kind of goes.
• 25:57
  Back to like what we talked about, like processing isn't
• 25:59
  bad, it's not bad. And if you're an athlete, it's
• 26:02
  going to be very challenging to meet your energy needs from
• 26:06
  carbohydrate, just overall energy needs without processed
• 26:10
  foods. And I think this is actually a
• 26:11
  really good segue into the focus on the new guidelines against
• 26:16
  added sugar. There is a lot.
• 26:17
  Of emphasis on added sugar. Think that the updated
• 26:21
  guidelines mention something about limiting or not
• 26:24
  introducing added sugar before the age of 10.
• 26:27
  My thought is just that do we not have birthday parties
• 26:29
  anymore? Also, do you?
• 26:31
  Not have a child. Good luck.
• 26:33
  Right, exactly. Like I heard so many other
• 26:35
  dietitians like online talking about how like, you know, their
• 26:38
  three-year old son goes over and we want to create a positive
• 26:41
  environment around fueling. So they go over and they're like
• 26:44
  ice cream and you know, they're like, Yep, ice cream's on the
• 26:46
  menu tonight, like perfect and things like that.
• 26:48
  Like that's part of feeling. Part of feeling should be fun,
• 26:51
  enjoyable. I'm not a pediatric.
• 26:52
  Dietitian, So I can only speak from my experience as a mom.
• 26:57
  This is just anecdotal experience like we are, you
• 26:59
  know, very evidence based within our period recovery program and
• 27:02
  what we're recommending for our athletes.
• 27:04
  So this again, this is an antidote I have found that just
• 27:07
  like our athletes, right, incorporating like little bits
• 27:11
  of foods that are like fun or enjoyable or like things like
• 27:14
  sprinkles into Charlie's fueling plan makes it just like so much
• 27:19
  more at first enjoyable for her. But then she doesn't seem to
• 27:22
  like really care about certain things because there's less
• 27:26
  pressure on certain foods, right?
• 27:28
  So like, here's an example is like she likes ice cream.
• 27:31
  And so sometimes what I'll do if she's like, I want ice cream,
• 27:34
  I'll get like a tablespoon or just get a little scoop of ice
• 27:37
  cream and I'll put some like berries in, in like a little
• 27:40
  bowl for her. And then she has like 1 bite of
• 27:42
  ice cream and then she goes for the berries because it's just
• 27:45
  like another food item. It's not this like big no, you
• 27:48
  can't have that. But I want it like, no, you
• 27:49
  can't have like we're not making it a big deal.
• 27:51
  We're just like, this is like a food like this is a fuel.
• 27:53
  Like you eat it. You can eat other things with
• 27:55
  it. Like we're not making it a big
• 27:56
  deal. And I think if we're like, no,
• 27:58
  kids can't do this. And I know people are going to
• 28:00
  come for me with this, the internet's going to be very
• 28:02
  upset with this. But when we start to make like
• 28:04
  these things like such a big deal or we make them so
• 28:07
  polarizing it actually I think there's more harder than good I
• 28:10
  completely. Agree with you.
• 28:11
  Again, we don't specialize in Pediatrics, but I think that
• 28:15
  there is a higher likelihood of the development of disordered
• 28:18
  patterns or disordered relationship with fueling when
• 28:20
  food is labeled as off limits or something that you can never
• 28:23
  have or certain foods are really demonized in a house.
• 28:26
  And we see a lot of those individuals who have had kind of
• 28:29
  past relationships with that or conversations like that around
• 28:32
  fueling in their home growing up that then are working with us
• 28:35
  now later in life, trying to work through those food fears
• 28:37
  that were established years and years ago.
• 28:39
  So I completely agree with you on that.
• 28:42
  I also know too. That there's so many behaviors
• 28:45
  that are developed in those early childhood years and kind
• 28:49
  of just like you said, right? Like if we're not making a
• 28:51
  positive environment around all types of food at like such a
• 28:54
  young age, then it's just going to lead to worse behaviors and
• 28:58
  disordered eating behaviors later on in life.
• 29:00
  Agree. Two things.
• 29:00
  I want to talk about from these updated guidelines, one being
• 29:04
  the very clear reduction of or limitation on carbohydrate,
• 29:09
  especially when it comes to athletes and HA recovery.
• 29:11
  I don't even know what to. Say like, I just feel so bad for
• 29:14
  people because like, no wonder athletes and people are so
• 29:17
  confused, so confused. I have had so many like European
• 29:21
  athletes, like message me since I've been posting about like the
• 29:24
  new pyramid. And they're so confused because
• 29:26
  they're like, our guidelines here look so different.
• 29:28
  And I think it's just so hard because like, what are you
• 29:32
  supposed to do, right? Like we're on here, we're saying
• 29:35
  like, hey, you like you need to eat more carbohydrates.
• 29:38
  And then somebody else like, you know, the government is saying
• 29:41
  no, you don't need them. I think this is when it.
• 29:43
  Really kind of comes back to that idea that this is a massive
• 29:45
  blanket statement and we have to remember that you're an athlete
• 29:48
  all the time and we can't just say, oh, we need more
• 29:51
  carbohydrates around training. You are an athlete all the time.
• 29:53
  You need more carbohydrate than the general population.
• 29:57
  There are textbooks, hundreds of textbooks that exist on the
• 30:00
  different guidelines for different types of athletes in
• 30:02
  the amount of carbohydrate that they need.
• 30:03
  We know that when we are working through period recovery.
• 30:07
  That most of those athletes are under fueling with carbohydrate.
• 30:09
  So reducing carbohydrate or encouraging the reduction of
• 30:12
  carbohydrate is definitely not the recommendation that we would
• 30:14
  have for athletes and those working through period recovery.
• 30:17
  Even if you're not an athlete or working through period recovery,
• 30:20
  like your brain needs 120 to 130 grams of carbs per day.
• 30:23
  And there's it's no, there's no way that you can get that if you
• 30:25
  follow kind of this ratio of nutrients here and of zoning in
• 30:30
  specifically on the athlete population, though, when you
• 30:32
  look at the recommendation for whole grains within the dietary
• 30:37
  guidelines, it recommends 2 to 1st servings per day.
• 30:39
  And if you've worked with us, you know that we're recommending
• 30:42
  more than that, like per meal. But again, I think just, that's
• 30:45
  why people are confused, right? Because people are trying to do
• 30:49
  the right thing. And I think that's what is so
• 30:52
  hard for so many of our period Recovery Girlies is they've lost
• 30:54
  their period because like they were trying to do the right
• 30:57
  thing. They were trying to fuel their
• 30:58
  bodies properly. They were trying to eat high
• 31:01
  quality food, They were trying to get better in their sport and
• 31:04
  they don't understand why. Like a doing the right air quote
• 31:07
  right things have resulted in their body becoming unhealthy.
• 31:12
  Yes, it's the. Unfortunate truth.
• 31:13
  So it is the second thing that I want to talk about before we
• 31:16
  kind of wrap up summary of this is the recommendation for full
• 31:20
  fat dairy. I mean y'all.
• 31:21
  Know about how we feel about that.
• 31:23
  We're actually on board with this one.
• 31:24
  But again, like, I think it goes back to like everything has a
• 31:28
  place. And I actually got a question
• 31:30
  about this, like on my story when I asked for questions about
• 31:33
  this episode, but somebody was like, do I have to eat animal
• 31:37
  fat? Because like animal fat and
• 31:39
  animal products are at the top of the new recommendation.
• 31:42
  It's just so confusing because no, you don't have to, but like
• 31:45
  that's what it's prioritizing. And we want you to eat full fat
• 31:48
  yogurt and dairy because it's a great way to help increase fat
• 31:52
  intake. And for period recovery
• 31:54
  athletes, almost everybody is not eating enough fat.
• 31:57
  So it's a very easy swap and a very easy change.
• 31:59
  But we're not only telling you to eat that, right?
• 32:02
  Like especially when you work with us and you get your
• 32:03
  performance plan, we're giving you so many different options or
• 32:07
  fat consumption and we have to figure out which one works best
• 32:10
  for you all goes back to it's so.
• 32:12
  Individualized, I think like a good lens to view this through
• 32:15
  and maybe I'm stretching here is like to help remind you that
• 32:17
  like this isn't for everyone. If you followed a vegan
• 32:21
  lifestyle, this would not at all fulfill your nutritional
• 32:24
  requirements because like beans and legumes are very, very small
• 32:28
  and the recommendation are very, very low on our inverted pizza
• 32:31
  triangle situation. And that's where a lot of those
• 32:34
  individuals get their protein, fiber or things like that.
• 32:37
  So it wouldn't work for them. So they're not going to apply
• 32:40
  these things to them. And we shouldn't maybe be
• 32:43
  applying all of these recommendations to yourself if
• 32:46
  you're an athlete, Yes, Another thing.
• 32:48
  Too is like this isn't ever, you know, look at or focus on like
• 32:52
  different styles of eating or different cultural preferences
• 32:54
  and different cultural foods. That is, I think a big mistake
• 32:58
  that this this new guideline is making and that is actually
• 33:00
  something they have deleted from the past guidelines.
• 33:03
  That is such a good call. Out to kind of summarize this if
• 33:06
  you're an athlete this it might not be for you if you're in HA
• 33:08
  recovery this might not be for you if you have certain disease
• 33:12
  states this might not be for you I think that we just have to
• 33:14
  remember that they have been oversimplified and we found a
• 33:18
  way to make nutrition somehow more complicated by trying to
• 33:21
  make it more simple yes so. TLDR if you are just tuning into
• 33:26
  this episode after our 30 minute conversation about this, if
• 33:29
  you're in a period recovery program, just keep doing what
• 33:32
  you're doing. We're not making really any
• 33:34
  changes based off of these new guidelines.
• 33:37
  Guidelines also. Don't include any
• 33:38
  recommendations for athletes or Reds HA at all anywhere in them.
• 33:42
  So just remember that. All right, well, this has been
• 33:45
  super down. You know what?
• 33:47
  Sometimes we just have to share the hard truths of nutrition and
• 33:50
  sometimes we have to come out and say that, yeah, there are
• 33:52
  some things about this that we agree with and there are some
• 33:54
  things about this that we're like, hey, if you're an athlete,
• 33:56
  might not be the recommendation for you.
• 33:57
  If you have questions specifically about the pizza,
• 34:00
  about the recommendation about HA recovery and why maybe we're
• 34:04
  disagreeing with some of these recommendations for it, like
• 34:06
  please reach out to us and always leave questions that you
• 34:08
  have on the comments of this podcast.
• 34:10
  Or you can reach out to us online.
• 34:11
  You can find Riley at Riley dot Beatty dot nutrition and you can
• 34:15
  find me at Jenna dot Fisher dot nutrition.
• 34:17
  And if you could, please make sure you rate, subscribe and
• 34:20
  review. And as always, remember to eat
• 34:22
  more carbs.