Nutrition and health
The podcast episodes that look at nutrition are always some of our most downloaded - check out our curated selection below to find out more about how what we eat, and our gut health, can have a huge impact on our menopause symptoms and our overall wellbeing in midlife…
Professor Jack Gilbert gives us a masterclass in understanding our gut health and how the hormone changes in perimenopause impact our microbiome. We look at the key role of decreasing oestrogen in inflammation: leading to depression, anxiety, aches and pains, and gastrointestinal issues; why we should consider ‘priming’ the body to consume fibre with fermented foods; the long-term chronic health implications of not getting enough dietary fibre, which are often not felt immediately but accumulate over decades; HRT appears to ‘rescue’ gut dysbiosis (reduce inflammatory bacteria, more balanced microbiome); and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis (aka how your body senses stress): – cortisol keeps you alert and anxious, but the system can be hijacked by inflammatory bacteria, neuroinflammation triggers the HPA axis causing elevated anxiety, i.e. there is no reason to be anxious but the body is on high alert…and so much more!
Dietitian Abby Langer helps us bust some midlife and menopause nutrition myths! We kick off talking about the ‘firehose’ of nutrition information available on social media that can be either overwhelming, misleading, or both. We also cover: why she doesn’t recommend intermittent fasting or ‘no carb’ diets; the cultural pressures to stay slim and not age visibly; why alcohol may be sabotaging our efforts to improve nutrition, and the uptick she has seen in women’s alcohol consumption over her career; what is, and isn’t ‘inflammatory’ and why the internet loves to demonize specific ingredients; why dietary fibre is the unsung hero that needs a better PR team, and how to get more of it; plus ‘Red Flags’ to look out for when consuming content online about nutrition.
Karen Newby is the author of The Natural Menopause: her beautifully designed and easy to read book is a comprehensive guide to nourishing our bodies and our minds at this critical stage of life. The book is peppered throughout with “Small Shifts” which are a great place to start if you’re feeling a little bit of overwhelm at trying to change too much too quickly. There’s also a whole section dedicated to ‘symptom troubleshooting’ (eg aches and pains, allergies and intolerances, brain fog, fatigue, hot flushes, insomnia and more…) – including explanations of ‘why is this happening to me’ and therapeutic foods that may help. Her food philosophy is very much ‘eat more, not less’ – making sure we are giving our bodies the right fuel and ‘spark plugs’ as she calls the key nutrients! We cover so much in this episode – from how to move away from ‘beige food’ for kids to family meals we can all enjoy, and ditching our reactionary approaches to eating in ‘fight or flight’ mode and moving towards a state of rest and digest.