March 28, 2025 • 47 mins
In this episode of MilesFromHerView, host Kat dives deep into the world of creatine supplementation with expert dietitian Shelby O'Neill. They discuss the potential benefits of creatine, ideal dosage, and considerations for different individuals, with a special focus on women's health. From understanding the science behind creatine to debunking common myths, Kat and Shelby provide a comprehensive guide to help women make informed decisions about this popular supplement.
00:00 Introduction and Disclaimer
00:42 Meet Your Host, Kat
01:30 Guest Introduction: Shelby O'Neill
02:45 Diving into Creatine: Misconceptions and Basics
03:45 The Science Behind Creatine
05:03 Creatine in Diet and Supplementation
10:53 Creatine for Women: Benefits and Considerations
12:48 Creatine for Different Life Stages
15:42 Creatine and Bone Health
20:12 Nutritional Foundations and Supplementation
24:51 Balancing Nutrition in a Busy Life
25:26 The Importance of Snacking
25:36 Common Pitfalls in Women's Diets
26:40 Creatine: Dosage and Best Practices
27:14 Loading Phase vs. Maintenance Dose
35:16 Creatine and Brain Health
39:47 Addressing Myths and Misconceptions
42:15 Positive Outlook on Women's Health
44:31 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kat (00:00):
Before we dive into today's episode, I want to remind you.
(00:04):
That the content discussed isfor informational purposes only.
Today we are talking aboutcreatine supplementation,
including potential benefits.
Dosage recommendations inconsiderations for different
individuals.
However, this discussion is notintended to diagnose, treat, or
replace professional medicaladvice.
(00:24):
Always consult with a qualifiedhealthcare provider before
adding creatine or anysupplement to your routine,
especially if you're pregnant ornursing, have kidney or
metabolic conditions or takemedications that may be affected
by supplementation.
With that in mind, let's getstarted.
Welcome to MilesFromHerView, thepodcast powered by KatFit
(00:46):
Strength, where busy women likeyou find practical solutions to
fuel your fitness journey withauthenticity and resilience.
I'm Kat, your host, a mom of twoactive boys, a business owner,
and an ultra marathon runner anda strength trainer in her
forties with nearly two decadesof experience.
I'm here to help you cut throughthe noise of fads, hacks, and
(01:07):
quick fixes.
This is a space where wecelebrate womanhood and
motherhood.
All while building strength andresilience and reconnecting with
you from a place ofself-compassion and worthiness.
Whether you're lacing up yourrunning shoes to go out for a
run, driving your kids topractice or squeezing in a
moment for yourself, I'm righthere in the trenches with you.
(01:29):
Let's dive in.
Shelby O'Neill is a double boardcertified dietician with
expertise in sports nutritionand pediatric nutrition.
She holds a bachelor's degree innutrition and dietetics from
Penn State University and amaster's degree in nutrition
from Westchester University.
Shelby began her career as apediatric clinical dietician
(01:51):
specializing in pediatriccardiology and neonatal
intensive care.
Unit.
She later transitioned intosports nutrition, serving as a
graduate assistant atWestchester University, where
she supported the nutritionneeds of over 500 student
athletes.
Her expertise has beenrecognized in the sports and
human performance nutritiondietetic practice group
(02:13):
expeditions, where she has beenpublished twice on topics such
as hydration in winter sportsand multivitamin supplements.
Currently Shelby is the leadsports and women's health
dietician at Time to ThriveNutrition, and an adjunct
faculty member in the nutritiondepartment at Westchester
University.
Shelby, I'm so excited to haveyou on the show today with your
(02:35):
background in both sportsnutrition and women's health,
and as such, such a perfect fitfor this conversation.
Thanks for being here.
I'm so excited to be here.
I'm looking forward to chattingtoday.
Yeah, it's gonna be, it's gonnabe a awesome topic and one I
know I get asked about, and asyou get asked about we're diving
into all things creatine.
We'll kind of start with when wehear creatine, it's associated
(02:56):
with like bodybuilders andreally bulking up and that's not
what it's all about.
So I think let's dive into kindof some of those misconceptions
and what creatine really is andwe'll keep going from there.
We're gonna cover it all or mostit,
Shelby (03:11):
yeah.
Creatine is definitely somethingthat, I know we were talking a
little bit before about how.
Something I get asked about alot, especially from my female
clients, also my male clients,but mostly my female clients and
something recently I feel likethat has kind of had an uptake
tick of people wanting to knowmore about it.
Mm-hmm.
And I always tell all of myclients that I think knowledge
(03:31):
is power, right?
So I am happy to provide youwith my knowledge on the topic
and let's talk together.
This is really the right fit foryou.
You know, sometimes.
Things can get kind ofoveremphasized as being, you
know, way more important thanthey actually can be for us.
But let's, let's get to thatknowledge part, right.
So when it comes to creatine itwas originally started, it was
originally identified in like, Ithink the late 18 hundreds.
(03:52):
But it was started to beresearched in terms of athletics
in about like the 1990s.
And why they originally startedto research it was that they
noticed that when athletes weretaking it, or active Indi,
individuals were taking it, thatit allowed them to get a better
quote unquote pump in.
Right?
It allowed them to exercise forlonger duration without getting
as much fatigue, and that thenled to greater gains in muscle.
(04:16):
Right?
What is interesting aboutcreatine is that because it was
starting studying, starting tobe studied back in like the
1990s, is that it's one of thelongest running research
supplements.
So in terms of safety, it's,it's fairly safe because we do
have a lot of research on it.
But originally that's where theresearch came from it.
So a lot of people associate itwith kind of.
(04:38):
Exercise and maybe getting bulkyor getting that pump in, like I
said because that's where theoriginal studies were in and
what it was used for.
I like to first kind of educatepeople around why it does help
you to exercise longer and athigher intensities.
And that's all relating to whatit does in your body.
And when we understand kind ofwhat it does in your body, you
(04:58):
can understand better, is thisright for me?
Does it really add bulk?
Is it doing something else forme?
So when you think aboutcreatine, we actually can eat
creatine.
So it's in meat sources, it's inshellfish sources.
I mean, like, I think you haveto have like, what is it, like a
pound or two of beef to havelike one gram of creatine a day.
So it's not in very highamounts, but it's there.
So it's always been present inour body in some, in some
(05:21):
amount.
So our, our body has theprocesses needed to figure out
what to do with it and break itdown.
When it comes to creatine storesin our body, though, our body
stores it in our skeletalmuscle, and actually in your
brain a little bit like 95% inyour skeletal muscle and about
5% in your brain.
And the, what the research hasshowed us over the years is that
(05:41):
our stores in the skeletalmuscle in the brain are not a
hundred percent saturated.
So that means thatsupplementation can have an
impact on increasing thoselevels.
We'll get, like later on, we'lltalk more about what that means
and if that's needed, but can beimpactful.
Right?
And so what does it do?
So how it helps activity and howit helps you to exercise longer
(06:04):
and maybe lift higher.
So kind of delayed fatigue.
Aspect is when you exercise, theenergy systems you're using
depend on the type of activityyou're using.
So if you're doing more aerobic,like running, then you're using
an energy system that glucose.
Is going to be used to make aTP, which is the preferred fuel
source if you're using ananaerobic energy system, so like
(06:25):
you're lifting, right?
Then your body's not gonna havethat ability to convert glucose
into a TP.
So that means that it's gonnaburn through that a TP, which is
that energy source fueling yourmuscles through activity.
It doesn't really have a goodway to get that keep coming to
your muscle, so you'll fatigueearlier, essentially.
So what.
Happens and how creatine helpsto prevent that fatigue is you
(06:47):
lift a weight, right?
You exercise your muscle, ashort, high intensity burst, and
your body uses a TP as an energysource for your muscles.
When a TP is used at that energysource, we're getting a little
sciency here, but it essentiallytakes away a phosphate group
from there and a TP Aine, triphosphate turns into adenine,
diphosphate, a dp, and then itgets recycled out.
(07:08):
That's no longer usable as anenergy source.
What your body does to recyclethat and make it usable again
and turn it into a TP, is itdonates another phosphate to it
from creatine phosphate.
The more creatine we have, themore creatine phosphate that's
available to our system, thefaster we can get that a TP back
from a DP and then the moreenergy we have faster to your
(07:30):
muscles.
So that's like at a molecularlevel what's going on.
So I think a misnomer is peoplethink creatine automatically
adds on bulk.
No, it just helps you exerciselonger at higher intensities.
Kat (07:40):
Yeah, you were bringing back some major memories to
like, I know, right?
I was like, oh
Shelby (07:45):
my God.
Kreb cycle, ATP ire cycle.
I know, but it's like when I,when I just, I just was talking
to a patient earlier about itand they were pharmacists, so I
was like, I feel like you'regonna track with me on this.
Like, let's talk about a TP.
They're like, oh my God, Ihaven't thought about at TP in a
while.
I'm like, I know science nerd.
But yeah, so I just like, I loveto think about things on a
molecular level, like what is mybody actually doing with it?
But but yeah.
Yeah.
Kat (08:05):
And I wanna highlight a couple things and that I think.
Generalization.
So maybe people knew this, maybepeople didn't know this, but
it's already in your body.
You're already consuming it withanimal-based products.
And I like how you said aboutthe amount of it and like how,
and we'll get into a little bitlater, we're gonna kind of still
stick on like understanding therole and then we're gonna dive
into like the role of how itpertains to being a woman.
(08:29):
But.
I like how it's already thereand already present.
'cause I do find for myself whenI have these conversations with
clients that they're like, wait,I am already consuming it.
Well, why do I need more?
Well, and and to your point, youput it beautifully.
So I'm not even gonna try andreiterate it because it was
really well, well said.
And I actually, I'm like, oh,this makes more sense to me
Shelby (08:48):
I'm a little bit of a creatine nerd, so I've read a
bunch of the research on it'cause we'll get to it later,
but it has an impact on brainhealth.
And so personally, just for myown health history I have used
it for brain health reasons.
So I just have a lot of.
Nerdy background on it.
So it's a passion project ofmine.
Kat (09:04):
Yeah, I will say, I mean, I, I take it I was a long time,
I wanna say, I don't wanna say anaysayer of it when I was in
college athletics, so datemyself in the early two
thousands.
But you're young.
What are you talking about?
It was like, there was, it wasaround the time I, you know,
bodybuilding started having itsgrowth like I guess in the
(09:24):
sixties and seventies.
And Arnold Schwarzenegger wasthe godfather of bodybuilding.
And I feel like the ninetieswere like the big boom of a lot
of bodybuilding.
And so there wasn't, there wasfederations out there for like
clean sport and stuff like that.
Yeah.
So when I was a college athlete,it was really hard to find
potentially clean proteins andcreatines.
And it was also around the timeof the ephedrine or ephedrine
(09:47):
ban and all of this type ofstuff.
And so our coaches were like,just don't take anything because
we were a highly competitiveteam.
We won multiple nationalchampionship titles, so it was
like.
We don't wanna risk what we'redoing.
So like I had heard of it andthen, going through my adult
life, I was like, do I reallyneed this?
But what the ultimate turningpoint for me was I was like, no,
(10:09):
this is really useful.
And as I got into my laterthirties and now early forties,
the one thing I noticed not onlywas yes, that energy benefit
from it with strength training.
But I had more cognitiveclarity.
Mm-hmm.
From the get go, like, it wasn'tlike, it was like, whoa, like I
felt like my mom brain wascleared up.
(10:30):
Yeah.
So I
Shelby (10:31):
felt there's a lot clarity.
There's research about just acouple that came out about sleep
depriving, sleep deprivation andcreatine, and how it very much
has shown a positive effect in asleep deprivated state, which.
Not a mom yet, but all the momsI know can maybe attest that
you're in a sleep deprived statemore often than not.
So it can have benefitsAbsolutely.
Outside of exercise which I'msure we'll get into, but Yeah.
Kat (10:53):
Yeah.
And you know, let's segue itthere right now.
I work with all, all women andthe age range is.
30 and above, primarily in thebulk age range of 30 to 45.
In that time period, you'rebuilding your family, your
career is at, you know, an alltime, I don't wanna say an all
time high, but you're in yourcareer, you're moving up you're
also knocking on that door ofperimenopause to menopause.
(11:14):
So there's a lot of differenthormonal shifts that are
happening there.
How, how does Creatine supportwomen through, I mean, I just
threw at like whole lifespan oftransitions there.
You're good, but how, how wouldthat impact?
And you know, for me, I don't,I'm gonna say as a personnel
trainer and you know, I onlyhave a nutrition certification.
(11:35):
But I always recommend like gowork with a dietician to see if
creatine especially is right foryou.
But for someone who is pregnant,how would you, and again, and
I'll just say this as aprerequisite, we're not here to
diagnose or treat.
Yep.
We're here to inform.
So anything you hear on thispodcast is just information I
strongly suggest, speaking with,getting in contact with she
Shelby.
Her information will be at thebottom or contacting your own
(11:58):
medical professional or aregistered dietician.
If.
You know, creatine sounds rightfor you.
So blanket statement there,because not here to diagnose or
treat.
Shelby (12:05):
So glad you put that in there.
But yeah, so let's kind of lookat it through the lifespan.
So again, creatine has gotten somuch cool, new research out
there in the past couple years.
There's this great great.
Researcher in the creatineworld.
Her name is Dr.
Abby Smith.
Ryan, she's out of, I believeit's UNC or Duke.
I'm so sorry if I'm getting thiswrong.
I think it's UNC.
She does a ton of research inher lab related to creatine and
(12:27):
she's on a lot of the new papersthat are out there.
So I like follow her onInstagram.
'cause I, you know, she just isgreat and she has a lot of
helpful information, but.
A lot of great women out theredoing research on creatine that
helps help us, helps us put itforward.
So just like you said, we arenot, you know, diagnosing or
treating here, but like I said,knowledge is power.
So let's get the information outthere and you talk to your
(12:47):
medical provider.
So when it comes to, let's startabout the first stage of life
pregnancy right, or fertility.
When it comes to pregnancy, allof the research out there on
Creatine team with pregnancy isdone in animal models.
So, yes, some of it shows thatit could be safe.
But I, here's how IH ourresearch for my patients, right?
Is in vitro.
(13:08):
If it's in vitro, it's in apeach.
It's in a Petri dish.
Interesting.
But I'm not gonna make arecommendation based off of
that.
If it's in an animal.
Okay, we got a little bit morebackground and data, and this
could be something promising,but when it comes to something
like pregnancy, I'm still gonnabe hesitant.
Right.
Human randomized control trialsgreat.
That means that we have it inhumans and we know it's safe.
(13:29):
So when you think about thecreatine research, from my
knowledge on it, it's mostlystill in the animal model stage.
It does, I think, show that it'snot harmful and it may benefit,
but.
With caution, right?
We don't have that human data.
So I always just, when women askabout it in pregnancy, give them
the knowledge.
Say, you can ask your doctorabout this, but this is not
something I'm gonna feelcomfortable doing with you while
(13:50):
you're pregnant, after you'redone breastfeeding and you wanna
start weightlifting again.
Sure.
Let's talk about it.
But when it comes to thatpregnancy stage that's my
recommendation.
I mean, if you look at theanimal research, it does show
some positive benefits of thefetus and the mom, but there's
no human, random, randomized,controlled trials.
I'm not gonna feel comfortabledoing that for someone.
Same kind of applies forbreastfeeding.
(14:12):
If they talk to their doctor andtheir doctor said, that's fine,
and they were on it duringpregnancy, then okay, you can
keep on it during breastfeeding.
But if it's coming to me for therecommendation, that's usually
what I choose.
But again, those animal modelsdo show some promising
information.
So maybe if we get some humanrandomized control trials, then
that could be more out there assomething.
That we use for people when itcomes to, again, like childhood
(14:32):
adolescents, that data justisn't there as much.
Although again, some of thoseanimal and there is some actual
human trials with kids doesn'treally show any negative side
effects that I've seen.
But I always get cautious withkids.
I don't like giving supplementsto kids.
So if you're under 18, probablynot gonna do it.
If you're over 18 and you're acollege athlete.
Let's discuss it.
(14:53):
But I always go food first.
That's my approach as adietician.
Food should be the foundation.
And then if we have all of thatsquared away, then let's talk
about creatine.
Because if we're not eatingright and eating enough and
eating enough protein andspacing it out and meeting all
our other needs, creatine isn'tgonna do much, right?
For our goals.
So when people come to me inthose life stages.
(15:14):
Asking for creatine for this,what else is going on?
So that we cannot use that whenit comes to you know, active
twenties, thirties, et cetera.
The key part is active, right?
So with creatine, when your goalis to build lean muscle, right,
or retain lean muscle, theresearch is very clear that you
want it to be paired withresistance training.
And you want it to be pairedwith a good diet too.
(15:36):
Right.
We don't want this to be like apatch over a over you know,
other good stuff not going onunderneath.
What's really cool about the newresearch and in particular when
you were talking about theperimenopause, post menopause
population, some really cool newresearch is coming out about
creatine with bone mineraldensity and bone health in the,
the menopausal population.
(15:56):
Perimenopause, post menopause.
You know, I know a lot of UShealth providers know bone loss
occurs as we age.
Especially with those hormonalshifts that go on with
perimenopause, exacerbates it alot.
And what the research now showswith creatine and those older
adults, those perimenopausal,post-menopausal, is that if you
do two to three days a week ofresistance training and you add
(16:17):
on creatine there is verypositive effects with either
stopping bone loss or evenstopping our bone density a
little bit.
It's hard to up it when you're,when you're postmenopausal, but
at least stopping the loss canbe very beneficial.
Kat (16:29):
Which is so huge.
I'm gonna pull out some thingsthat you said.
Just to reiterate, one, I lovethat you spoke about 18 and
under kids.
'cause it is something, I have a13-year-old and he's very big
into strength training andsports and all the things.
And he sees mom and dad takingcreatine and he's like, well,
can I do that?
And I'm like, no.
It's food, it's strengthtraining, it's this.
(16:50):
And he is like, well, why areyou guys taking it?
And I'm like, well, first off,we have fully matured bodies.
I haven't read all the research,but the research just isn't
there, and so he's like, Ugh.
I'm like, I know.
It sucks to have an educatedmom.
Shelby (17:03):
I know, right?
And the research in theadolescents with it is mostly in
those with like musculardystrophy or because it's being
kind of used in research likeParkinson's or kind of trying it
out with a lot of differentthings.
So that's where it mostly iswith the research with kids and
with any kid, unless it's like amultivitamin or they have a low
vitamin D, for example, and theyneed to bring that up.
I don't like supplements becausethey're still growing.
So I, in that way, like, youknow, with your son, which I'm
(17:24):
sure you did, we'd focus onfood.
So like meat has creatine,right?
Yeah.
You know, let's see how we cando that.
But the kids, it's, it's veryout there these days and they,
they very much want it.
Kat (17:32):
Yeah, exactly.
I told him, I was like, well,you know, meat has protein.
It's protein and creatineprotein too.
Yeah.
So, and he's like, really?
And I said, yeah, so you'regetting it in the diet.
I said, and I had to tell him, Iwas like, you're growing.
There's so many factors that arechanging.
I said, when your body hits,quote unquote, that steady state
when you're mature mm-hmm.
It's sort of easier to know whatyou're, what you're doing.
(17:55):
Mm-hmm.
And so he was, he obliged by itand he was like, okay, that
makes sense.
Mom.
Mom was like, you know, I'm nottrying to be like
Shelby (18:00):
only ours, but Yeah.
Well, and you know what I tell alot of kids too is a lot of the
information they see out there,hear from their buddies or they
see on social media, it's allmet for a different decade of
life.
I say, yeah, right.
Yeah.
This is meant for us in ourthirties, twenties, whatever,
and not younger.
Unfortunately, a lot of theinformation out there is not
meant for younger kids yet.
That's what they're seeing.
Exactly.
(18:20):
Yeah, exactly.
Know.
Again, in the future, maybethere's research that shows it's
great and that's, that's then,but as you know, a practitioner,
we're research based.
Right?
And so you wanna do what the.
What the research says.
Exactly.
Kat (18:33):
Exactly.
I also loved that you read that,you know, study about the bone
mineral density Yeah.
And loss.
And I was like, this isincredible.
it is one that for me and theway I train my clients is yes,
we are going to, I'm like, haveall the aesthetic goals you
want.
Mm-hmm.
Brilliant.
I'm all for that.
But let's.
(18:53):
For as much as you can.
I understand exercise is notalways, you know, I don't always
love exercising, but we're notalways in love with the process,
but if we embrace the processand understanding, the strength
training is gonna back it up.
When we are, and depending onwhen you conclude your family,
it's like we want to make surewe're fortifying our body.
We want to make sure that whatpregnancy and that postpartum
(19:18):
time period, took from your bodythat we're getting it
replenished, gaining thatstrength back, making sure that
nutrition is there, that sleep,that stress mitigation, because
the more those big, foundationalblocks are there.
Mm-hmm.
So far the research, again,there's still more research
(19:39):
needed.
Mm-hmm.
Is there that you fare a bitbetter through perimenopause and
menopause?
Again, there's an exception toeverything but.
Most research shows that youhave less muscle loss, less bone
density loss.
If you are strength training,you have that good nutrient
dense whole food diet and you'resleeping better and that stress
(20:04):
mitigation is there.
So I always talk to clients.
I'm like, you know, and I lovethat you mentioned that.
It's like those foundationalblocks have to be there before
we add on.
Shelby (20:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
That's a supplement's only.
Something I add after.
Everything else.
Our diet, we're meeting ourcalcium needs, our vitamin D,
our magnesium, other things thatare really important for, for
bone health too, right?
Mm-hmm.
And what I find too, a lot oftimes is maybe'cause of kinda
like the air they grew up in,kind of the, the diets that were
popular then.
But a lot of women that arenearing menopause or in
(20:34):
menopause or post menopausereally don't eat a lot of
calcium rich foods.
'cause a lot of them are high indairy.
And so it's a very big, bonehealth is a very big component
that's missing.
And.
It can be motivating sometimesto kind of let them know about
the science.
Like, listen, we don't want thisto get further down the road.
You know, we have this bone lossoccurring.
Let's, let's talk about ournutrients that are important for
(20:55):
bone health.
And if you're not eating enoughoverall, right?
Yes.
Your, your body is going tostart to leach calcium and
phosphorus from your bones,right?
If you're not eating, if you'rein too big of a calorie deficit.
And so we need to make sure allthat's secure and all that's
good.
And if that's all great, thenlet's add on some creatine.
Kat (21:12):
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
That's huge.
And I love, love that youbrought up, you know, if you're
too much in a calorie deficit,like that's so detrimental.
I could, that's a whole otherpodcast, whole other topic.
Shelby (21:23):
We could do a whole nother thing on that.
Yeah.
Passion project of mine.
But I could see it, and I'm sureyou see it all the time, is.
And it just makes me, I justwish we could get the word out
there more.
Like, this could be doing moreharm than good for you.
Right.
And it's, I would tell people,especially with bone health,
you're not gonna feel it rightnow.
You're not gonna feel it whenyou're 30, when you're gonna
feel it when you're 50 andyou're 60.
Yes.
(21:43):
Yeah, yeah,
Kat (21:44):
yeah.
I, yeah, it is one.
I'm just like, I'm like, pleasejust eat.
And as I tell my clients when I,like I said, I do.
Nutrition coaching where I'mlike, let me just see what you
eat.
Yeah.
And oftentimes I'm like, you'renot eating enough.
And they're like, oh, I can'teat anymore.
And I'm, I'm like,'cause you'vetrained your body to undereat.
Yeah.
And when I help them articulatethe signs of hunger cues or.
(22:09):
The undereating cues of thefuzzy brain, the energy drops,
the moodiness, the one thatthey're always surprised at is
the interrupted sleep wherethey're waking up mm-hmm.
Multiple times the night.
And I said, yes, if you'rewaking up, especially in that 12
to 4:00 AM time period, that'slike peak.
I am gonna just roll it into theword of healing time where the
body really recovers.
(22:30):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And that is where you don'twanna be waking up.
I mean, we wanna get to bedbefore midnight Definitely.
But like, if these are all signsthat you may be under eating and
when we look at like theirwhole, I like to see at least
seven to 14 days.
I'm like, put everything inthere.
I'm not judging.
I'm here to help and see It is,they're just not eating enough
(22:53):
because we hear cut calories,cut calories, restrict,
subtract, and I'm like, no,let's add, we're gonna be
adding, yep.
I want to add more.
You know, add a vegetable, youdon't know what to do, just add
a vegetable add a fruit, add aprotein, animal-based or
plant-based,
Shelby (23:09):
yeah.
And to that knowledge too, a lotof'em just don't know how big of
being in that big of an energydeficit, what that does to your,
your body systems, right?
Yeah.
It's, and getting that knowledgeout there, getting that
education out there, even thoughmaybe it's kind of what.
Going against what they've beentaught for a while.
I love that you use those hungercues at them.
Like my one thing I always do atthe first visit, or most of the
(23:30):
time I should say, I don't wannahave my clients calling me out.
Like, you didn't do that with meat the first visit, Shelby, it
was the third.
I have a hunger and fullness cuescale.
Kat (23:36):
Yes.
Shelby (23:36):
And they're like, well, I'm not hungry.
I'm like, okay, but are wefeeling faint?
Do we get a little irritable?
Do we have a headache?
That's hunger, right?
Your body is just notrecognizing it as that.
And you know, if I always have'em make a fist and I'm like,
this is the size of your stomachat rest.
Your stomach's a muscle, so youhave to train it.
Right.
And so if you're only eating alittle amount and your, your
muscle that you're training isonly used to opening a little
amount, yeah, you're gonna getfull fast.
(23:58):
But you can train it just likeany muscle to accept more food.
And so that initial fullnessfeeling with trying to eat a
little bit more food will goaway.
It's just takes a little bit oftime and consistency.
Kat (24:09):
Exactly.
That's what I tell'em.
I also tell'em too, they'relike, well, in the mornings I
just can never eat.
So I don't wind up eating untilone.
And I'm like, okay, here's whatwe're gonna do.
You can break the meal into twomeals.
I'm like, I love a firstbreakfast and a second
breakfast.
I'm all about that.
Again, mornings could be rushed,but let's really.
Provide that nutrient start off.
So we also don't have, on theflip side, you are now in i I
(24:31):
color code my hunger cue to likethe red zone.
Think about your toddler.
And if it's been a moment, thinkback to those tantrums.
That's what your body's doing.
All the alarm bells are goingoff.
And so then you wind up grabbingsomething that maybe you weren't
really excited about or reallywanted to eat.
And so now we're dealing with alot of guilt and shame, which we
wanna be excited about, what wewant to eat.
And I always come from thestandpoint.
(24:53):
We all know fruits andvegetables and lean proteins and
healthy fats are what we need toeat.
But what happens is, is.
No fault of our own most oftenis we're in a highly pressurized
society where you're on the go.
Mm-hmm.
And so, and being, a mom, you'rean afterthought, Yeah.
It just happens that way.
So how do we put in things toset ourselves up for success
(25:15):
it's, and it's hard.
I always tell'em, I'm like, youknow, it's simple, but that
doesn't mean easy.
It can be hard to start thinkingabout yourself in that way, or
getting little bits ofnourishment.
And when we've been taught,don't snack, it ruins meals.
Well, actually, I love snacking.
I love
Shelby (25:31):
a snack.
And you know, I, I wish, and I'mglad that we have this platform
to do this.
I wanna get the message out somuch.
So many women come to me andthey try to eat as little as
possible throughout the day.
Kat (25:40):
Yes.
Shelby (25:40):
And that is their goal.
And then inevitably they failbecause their body needs food.
Mm-hmm.
And then it sends them thesevery strong hunger cues at
night, and they feel out ofcontrol around food, and then
they beat themselves up forthat.
And really, you're just settingyourself up for failure
throughout the day.
I.
Let's shift more of our energyand take during the day.
That's when you're busy.
That's when you're doing things.
Yeah.
And sometimes this is whencreatine can come more popular
(26:02):
because it's like, oh, well it'seasier just to take a supplement
than it can be to kind of workon some of these structural
things.
'cause your life is so busy.
Yes.
You're asked to do so much.
And so just like you said a lotwith the moms, it's, let's put
ourselves first a little bit.
What can we do once this week toput ourselves first so that
you're getting the nourishmentyou need so that creatine can
be.
The icing on the cake and notlike a bandaid over a bullet
hole is the analogy I like touse.
(26:24):
I like that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So IF firmly am very on boardwith everything that you are on
board with as well, with, withkind of teaching women how to
refuel their body when they weretaught the improper way through
societal norms or et cetera, etcetera.
Right.
Kat (26:37):
Yeah.
Oh yeah, a hundred percent.
So with creatine, let's diveinto the dosage amount.
Yeah.
When to take it.
Is there best practices or kindof if someone's you know what,
this sounds like it's right forme, and It's that one more thing
I have to do, how can I fit itinto my crazy lifestyle?
If I also find that women aredon't wanna do it wrong, and I
(27:01):
get, with working out well, isthere a best time to work out
during the day?
no.
Whatever's easiest for you.
Which is work out.
Yeah.
There's no science behind whento work out to get them best,
the best benefit of it.
Just work out.
Yeah.
Shelby (27:13):
No, absolutely.
So when it comes to creatine.
It depends.
There's two different ways youcould do it.
So there's something, onceagain, we've decided that your
diet is good and everythingelse, and we're adding this on
top.
So there is a loading phase youcan do, and then there's just
kind of taking one serving at atime and slowly working up those
stores.
So again, it's going back tothose, those stores in your
body.
What we wanna do is.
(27:34):
Generally are Korea stores.
What the research says isthey're like maybe 60 to 70%
full just from diet stuff.
So if you're a vegan orvegetarian, it's gonna be lower.
They respond better becauseagain, it's found in those
meat-based sources.
And so the loading phase gets upto that a hundred percent.
So goes from 70% stores full inyour body, from normal diet to
closer to a hundred.
Again, we don't know the exactamount.
(27:54):
Not everyone's a creatineresponder either.
That's a fun fact niche.
Not everyone responds to it.
So it's hard to tell if you're aresponder but we know that not
everyone responds to it.
So, the loading phase is usuallypeople do it a little bit
differently, but usually it's 20grams a day for like four to
five days.
That being broken off into fivegram doses four different times
(28:14):
throughout the day.
So like five grams of breakfastin the morning, early, some time
around lunchtime, afternoon, andthen dinner.
You do that for four or fivedays, and then you go to a
maintenance dose of three tofive grams a day.
That is the way to get yourstores up faster.
Now with that can come some ofthose side effects that you hear
about on the internet bloating,water, weight, et cetera.
(28:37):
A lot of that I would say is alittle bit more anecdotal than
seen in the research.
But.
When we do see it anecdotallyfrom people, meaning like people
telling us about it versus itbeing in the research, it's it's
more with the loading phase.
So I always tell people ifthey're worried about water
weight gain a couple pounds,bloating don't do a loading
phase.
So if you don't do a loadingphase, it's just literally
starting three to five grams aday.
(28:58):
And continuing on with thatthat's how I have most people do
it because I don't work unlessyou're using it for like
traumatic brain injuryprevention, which we can talk
about how it can help with brainhealth.
I.
Or you have an athlete that'sreally highly competitive that
has an event coming up, there'sreally no need to get your
stores up in a week versus threeweeks.
So I just try to do normallyjust the three to five gram dose
(29:20):
with individuals so that wedon't really have any GI side
effects, and we eventually getup to full stores in the body.
Kat (29:25):
Yeah.
Like when I first started takingit, I did the kind of like the
buildup, like yeah.
And I did notice, and it wasn'tthat bad.
It felt like literally my cyclewas about to start, you know?
It wasn't bringing on my cycle.
I wanna do, you know, be veryclear about that.
It just was like bloating.
This is a familiar blow.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But, but yeah, that was, thatwas the one thing.
(29:47):
And then, you know, I just do itfor me and, and we can go into,
is there a best time or not forme?
Mm-hmm.
I just do, it dropped in myblack, I drink my coffee black.
Every morning I'm typically amorning workout so for me, I
just, morning is when I take it,and that works for me.
I'm not gonna fuss over thelittle percentages.
(30:08):
Or if there's a vast percentageand you're like, no, no,
actually you're not getting thebest results, I will, I'll
gladly.
So
Shelby (30:13):
I'm the same way.
So when it comes to creatine,also, we, we wanna make sure
that it's creatine monohydrate,right?
Mm-hmm.
I think we would probably get tothat later anyways.
Yeah.
But so we wanna make sure it'sthe creatine monohydrate that's
the most well researched andwell tolerated, creatine.
There is other ones out there,it's also not that expensive
compared to other supplements.
So with the creatine, I alsojust do it in my morning coffee.
(30:34):
So what the research shows isthat.
Yes, if you want like the 1%different benefit, you can take
it within like an hour pre topost workout with 15 grams of a
simple carbohydrate that's goingto best optimize absorption.
What the research overall showsis you just need to get it
consistently every day.
If that's breakfast that youremember to do it, that's great.
(30:56):
That's why I tell people justwhat's one time a day that
you're going to remember to doit.
'cause consistency is key.
So really what I tell clients,it does not matter if you're,
again, an elite athlete.
That's training and timematters.
Okay?
Let's consider that cut off.
Otherwise, just anytime a daythat works best for you and you
remember.
I just say not at night because,you know, sometimes it can have
(31:17):
a little bit of burst of energy,not burst of energy, but it
helps give you that mentalclarity and acuity.
So if you wanna sleep, well,maybe not at night, but but
yeah, otherwise the same thing,just a time of day that you can
take it consistently.
I do tell people it does not mixwell in water.
So I always do it.
Oh yeah.
So I always do it in a hotbeverage or a food.
Okay.
So if you put it in water itjust tastes a little, like, it
isn't my experience.
(31:37):
A little like crystally almostlike you're kind of drinking,
like it's kind of chewing alittle bit.
So I always put it in a hot,like liquid.
It dissolves.
So a food so.
Kat (31:45):
That's good to know.
Yeah, because it was just easy.
I have my coffee every morning.
Yeah, you remember it, you do itin there.
Yeah.
it's perfect that's good to knowthat it's just consistent.
Yeah.
Consistency and getting in anevery day.
Now I did see one of my clientsbrought it up to me and I don't
know if you've seen this,creatine is being paired with
multiple things.
Ah, yes.
(32:05):
And so, you know, I'd love tohear your thoughts on that going
back to like I say that bestpractices and just, you know,
sometimes it's like what I feelis too many things paired
together.
It's just not getting what youneed.
It's just.
Marketing and making money.
And that frustrates
Shelby (32:26):
me on so many levels.
So I am always a singleingredient supplement person
besides like a multivitamin whenI can.
Right.
And not, and not everyone needsa multivitamin, I don't think
either.
Right.
Is if your diet is, is sound,you got everything in there.
But yeah, I don't pair creatinewith anything.
The, the, the thing, you'll seeit infrequently that if they
love it and they don't wannastop it, that's fine.
(32:47):
It's like a pre-workout.
Mm-hmm.
But.
No, it's, I haven't seen thescience on it actually being
absorbed better when paired withother things.
Maybe I'm missing something andit is, but no I only like to use
it by itself.
And from the research that I'veseen it, it's very well absorbed
by itself.
I agree.
I, the more things you add intosomething one, the less likely
that we know what is causing thepositive or negative effect.
(33:10):
And two, is that inhibitingabsorption of the creatine.
You know, we don't know, so, andI always try to avoid those
supplement stacks, like I say,meaning like multiple
supplements in one product if I,if I can with clients.
Yeah.
Kat (33:21):
Yeah.
I believe that too.
Shelby (33:23):
And, and too with supplements, you know,
supplements are regulated sodifferently than food too.
Mm-hmm.
So it's, I just always amcautious with them.
Kat (33:32):
And then are there specific types of creatine monohydrate
that are better?
like you said, I mean,supplements are so regulated
differently and it is.
Largely an unregulated mm-hmm.
Field.
Mm-hmm.
So, and, and that's where, I wasexplaining to I stick with what
is it?
National Sports Federation.
(33:53):
NSF Oh, NSF Sports Certified.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
So I stick with those.
I don't think I'm gonna.
I'm a runner.
I compete.
I am not a lead.
I'm just out there
Shelby (34:04):
for a
Kat (34:04):
good time.
Shelby (34:05):
So yeah, no, I always recommend third party tested
supplements, even if you're notbeing drug tested, because I
just feel safer with them.
So, and third party testing isgonna be NSF Sport.
USP verification or likeInformed Sport or Choice are
usually the ones that I lookfor.
GMP is is a third partyification, good manufacturing
practices, but I find that theirstandards for GMP are lower than
(34:27):
when it comes to something likeA USP or A or NSF sport or an
informed choice.
But yeah, so Thorn I use there.
I personally use their creatteam Monohydrate.
They're a third party tested.
Momentous is third party tested.
There's a couple out there nowthat are third party tested.
The creatine monohydrates, but Itypically will go with either
Thorn or momentous if I'm takingit or recommending it to
someone.
But it doesn't mean there aren'tother brands out there, third
(34:47):
party tested, but those, theones that I know of, that I use,
like I use Thorne.
I love Thorne.
Yeah.
I find it has a pretty goodprice point too.
It does.
It really does.
And I just, I think that theymake a, they make a good quality
product and it's third partytested, so I feel safe.
Kat (35:01):
Yeah.
I love all their supplements,you know, and I'm not
affiliated, I'm not just, youknow, just saying no.
Yeah.
But, and the best part is theycome right to my door, so it
makes it easy.
Yes, absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm trying to think what elsehaven't we covered here?
I think it would be interestingto kind of go a little bit into
that brain health because, ohyeah.
(35:21):
One of the things that's comingout, and especially for in that
perimenopause menopause area isbrain health, and I obviously
spoke to, when I took it, Inoticed I.
More cognitive clarity.
Mm-hmm.
I felt literally like I wasplugged back in for the first
time since having kids.
Mm-hmm.
So I was like, this is amazing.
I didn't realize, I personallyhad not realized that benefit to
(35:43):
18 when I started it.
So, yeah.
Shelby (35:45):
Yeah.
And, and it all comes back tohow, what it does to that a TP
molecule, that very scientificthing we were chatting about in
the beginning, right?
So a TP is the fuel source foryour body cells, right?
And so we know that again, itcomes back to where the creatine
stored so stored in your musclesyour skeletal muscle, and then
in your brain.
So the research doesn't showit's as good with the doses are
(36:08):
what's interesting and notquite, not adequately confirmed.
I guess there's some researchthat shows that maybe higher
doses are needed for it to havea, a better effect on the brain
than just the five grams a day.
That's still kind of beingdebated, but what we know in the
research is that one, we sawthat research on the men
increased mentals acuity insleep deprived states.
And two, it's used a lot withpeople with TDIs or concussions.
(36:28):
And so some of the researchshows that when you have it on
board before or you take itafter, it has a better you have
a better likelihood of decreasedsymptoms and recovery.
And so it's, and again, I, itall comes back to that
energetics of how it powers thea TP in your brain.
So again, same with yourmuscles.
If we're thinking about ittheoretically, right.
Then when that.
Brain cell uses that a TP and itrecycles it out.
(36:51):
And it's a DP, that creatine,that phospho creatine can donate
a creatine, a phosphate, andphosphorylate, that's a TP
again.
So more energy, faster to thosebrain cells is one of the
theories as to why it could beso effective for brain health.
But research is still.
Coming out about that, but it'svery promising.
And, and there was a good reviewby the International Society of
Sports Nutrition from thousand17, I think it is on creatine.
(37:13):
I like the reviews'cause they'revery wide ranging, but they also
give like lovely little bulletpoints at the end that's like,
here's the main from this 20pages here is the main point.
So I love that.
And they show that they're doinga lot of research now.
Can't say it's been successful,I don't think.
Yeah.
But with Parkinson's andAlzheimer's and different
(37:33):
muscular dystrophy, like I saidcool stuff that maybe in the
future research is gonna showthat it can actually have an
impact for,
Kat (37:40):
Now I'm gonna throw a question at you.
Can't remember the study, butthere was a study and one study
singular does not mean it'slike.
Yeah, and all be all, but it, ittalked about how, in particular,
for women, and it showed alittle, it talked a little bit
more towards the men too, thatafter the age of 60, creatine
isn't beneficial.
(38:01):
Now I.
I would, I'm just curious onyour thoughts on that.
'cause it was like I said, itwas one study, so I kind of take
that and I didn't push itfurther.
'cause most of my clients, arein that like 35, 45 range.
And
Shelby (38:14):
so Yeah.
That's so interesting.
I've, I've actually never seenthat.
Okay.
So yeah, I would, I wouldactually, and, but I love to
learn new things, so I wouldlove to read that study and, and
kind of figure it out and, anddice it apart.
Like, was it in vitro, was itanimal or what kind of a study
population was?
Do they already have likeosteoporosis or something?
I had never heard that.
That's interesting.
I'm trying to think in my brainlike what the mechanism might be
(38:34):
for that, but I don't know.
So to answer the question, Ihave not heard it, so I'm not,
I'm not sure.
But in my experience, it hashelped preserve some bone mass
for individuals that I know Iwork with that get DEXAs so that
I can like actually see their,their bone density.
So again, not necessarilyincrease it, but prevent it from
from dropping when paired withproper diet and resistance
(38:56):
training.
Kat (38:57):
Okay.
Shelby (38:58):
Yeah.
Kat (38:58):
Yeah.
I'll have to, I'll have to trackdown that study.
So I just kind of like took itwith a grain of salt and I was
like, well, I'm not there yet.
Shelby (39:04):
And I'm, it's always good to keep your finger on the
pulse.
Right.
And, and that's the, the goodthing, I guess, good and bad
about research.
It's always changing.
So, you know, just because weknow one thing to be true now,
it, we might actually find outthat it's not Right.
Right.
Prete does have some morelongitudinal, so like 40, 30
year studies on it.
But that's why I like scienceand I like keeping my pulse on
(39:24):
it is it can change and then weadapt, but but it's good to keep
your pulse on it and findinteresting stuff like that.
'cause hey, maybe it doesn'twork after 60, but not that I
have seen at least yet.
Kat (39:34):
Let's see here.
I mean, we covered a lot.
We covered, like,
Shelby (39:37):
I can talk, I
Kat (39:38):
don't know if you notice, but also not, I don't have a
problem talking, which is great.
I've seen a lot of buzz aroundand that's why I was the expert
in it.
I need, I need someone who knowsall about it.
And, and we can really decode itbecause there are a lot of
apprehensions in taking itbecause of the myth of getting
too bulky.
You know, it's only forbodybuilders or I'm not an
athlete.
And I, I always tell my clients,I'm like, you are an athlete.
(40:00):
Mm-hmm.
You know, yes, you may not becompeting for a team or an
athletic competition, but youare an athlete for life.
You are trying to get your bodyin as best peak condition so
that you are thriving and notjust surviving to get to that
quote unquote finish line.
It's like we want to feel good,so if there are things that can
(40:21):
enhance after we're doing thosefoundational blocks, then this
will help.
What would you say to someonewho's like, oh, I just don't
know, like, kind of on the fencewith it, you know?
Yeah.
Shelby (40:31):
I, I always kind of go back to like.
First, educate them on like,here's how it works in your
body, and then what are ourgoals, right?
Mm-hmm.
Maybe your goal isn't to put onlean mass or isn't to preserve
bone density or for your brainhealth.
Maybe their goal is somethingelse, but if your goal is one of
those things, then let's do someeducation about how it can help
(40:51):
those things and talk aboutsafety around supplements and
what we can do in our dietFirst.
See if that helps.
If it doesn't, then we add thison.
So it's always, like I say withthem, I'm sure with you too,
it's like a partnership with myclient.
Mm-hmm.
I have the education in thebackground, I'm gonna let you
know, but you're the expert onyou is what I always like to
say.
And so I usually just start withwhat their goals are, the
education around it.
(41:12):
And so if an individual came tome now and asked it that's what
I would do.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Knowledge is power, like I said.
Kat (41:18):
A hundred percent.
Yeah.
Big proponent of, clients arealways in the driver's seat and
I'm here to help.
Guide them to their outcomes.
I mean,
Shelby (41:25):
we live the dream, right?
Yeah.
We get to do our jobs are whatwe are very interested in and
our nerdy little hobbies that weget to turn into a career.
So I, I will just enjoy what Ido and I think you do too.
And I think that translates forpeople.
And so the more that I can, Ijust genuinely like to help
people.
And so the more knowledge I knowabout something, the more I can
(41:47):
help other people.
And I think that in the end thatjust.
Helps more people.
Right.
So, and I love that you have aplatform that kind of helps to
get messages out there too, thatmatters.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Yeah.
Kat (41:58):
It's a passion project, but it's also something that came
outta frustration of just somany nuanced things being
screamed into this wide void.
The, the research is gettingbetter.
This still has a long way to goin which a lot of the research
is still on small populationsof, of subsets of women.
I tell clients today you are inone of the best times to be
(42:18):
alive and being a woman.
Mm-hmm.
And going through prenatal,postpartum, perimenopause,
menopause.
Because the amount of researchthat is coming out a long term
study, 10 to 20 years is comingout now, which is huge.
It's huge.
That longitudinal data is huge.
Yeah.
And, and the coolest part for meis.
(42:38):
It's all positive.
Mm-hmm.
That hope isn't lost.
Yeah.
When I was going through, youknow, I was pregnant with my son
the first time with my firstson, it was you've ruined your
body.
Yeah.
And, and I'm like, that's so notthe case.
And then this fear aroundperimenopause and menopause It
means I can still be in anaction ready body to continue
(42:59):
running, to strength train, tostill see what I want and still
thrive and climb the mountainsand whatnot.
Yeah, it's, it's huge.
So,
Shelby (43:05):
and, and I, and I think, you know, and you, I'm not in
that life stage of perimenopauseyet, but I think, and take this
with a grain of salt as ayounger individual, but that it
was almost viewed as inevitable.
This is just going to happen.
Yeah.
This decline is going to happen.
And now we know that there'sactually things we can do to
mitigate that and to improvethat quality of life.
And just like you said, it's sopositive.
It's not just inevitableanymore.
(43:27):
We can help ourselves andthere's new science that shows
that doesn't have to be thisway.
Kat (43:31):
Yes, exactly.
And that's, I, that's what Itell my clients.
I kind of love in the Asiancountry, the mindsets are, it's
a new spring, it's a newbeginning.
And I'm like, and that's whatthey call, they don't have
menopause as the term, and Idon't know the word I, if I knew
what I would butcher it.
Yeah, no, that's, that's, but,and it's a new coming of age.
How amazing is that?
And so that's why I tellclients, I'm like, don't look at
(43:53):
it as a try to think, yes, youcould do all the strength
training, the stress mitigation,the mobility and the cardio.
There are still going to besymptoms.
There's going to be hormonalchanges.
We can't control that.
But what, with the studies thatI've been reading, that it does
help mitigate on the other sidethat if you are creating those
foundational habits andstrengthening them now, no pun
(44:15):
intended to keep strengthening,you're going to have a better
outcome on the other side.
Shelby (44:19):
Yeah.
So, and the hardest part is,when there's no immediate reward
for it.
Mm-hmm.
Convincing people and showingthem that this matters, I
promise.
And hopefully with the rightmessages out and research
showing that it does, that canhelp to further and further kind
of get that out there forpeople.
Kat (44:32):
This was awesome.
If anyone has questions, you canmessage the podcast.
Shelby's information will be inthe show notes.
Time to Thrive has.
Virtual sessions as well.
So you don't have to be local.
We're in southeasternPennsylvania, she's in
Phoenixville, but if you're alocal, you can do in person or
they have the ability to dovirtual, which is amazing, so
(44:52):
you can reach more people.
Thank you so much for coming on.
I know I learned more aboutcreatine and definitely gotta,
jog back to the days of all theanatomy
Shelby (45:01):
yeah, I expect a full memorization of the glycolysis
cycle by the time we meet next.
No, it's been absolutely lovely.
So thank you so much for havingme on.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you for coming on.
Kat (45:10):
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(45:32):
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Until next time, keep movingforward one mile at a time.
Before we dive into today's episode, I want to remind you.
(00:04):
That the content discussed isfor informational purposes only.
Today we are talking aboutcreatine supplementation,
including potential benefits.
Dosage recommendations inconsiderations for different
individuals.
However, this discussion is notintended to diagnose, treat, or
replace professional medicaladvice.
(00:24):
Always consult with a qualifiedhealthcare provider before
adding creatine or anysupplement to your routine,
especially if you're pregnant ornursing, have kidney or
metabolic conditions or takemedications that may be affected
by supplementation.
With that in mind, let's getstarted.
Welcome to MilesFromHerView, thepodcast powered by KatFit
(00:46):
Strength, where busy women likeyou find practical solutions to
fuel your fitness journey withauthenticity and resilience.
I'm Kat, your host, a mom of twoactive boys, a business owner,
and an ultra marathon runner anda strength trainer in her
forties with nearly two decadesof experience.
I'm here to help you cut throughthe noise of fads, hacks, and
(01:07):
quick fixes.
This is a space where wecelebrate womanhood and
motherhood.
All while building strength andresilience and reconnecting with
you from a place ofself-compassion and worthiness.
Whether you're lacing up yourrunning shoes to go out for a
run, driving your kids topractice or squeezing in a
moment for yourself, I'm righthere in the trenches with you.
(01:29):
Let's dive in.
Shelby O'Neill is a double boardcertified dietician with
expertise in sports nutritionand pediatric nutrition.
She holds a bachelor's degree innutrition and dietetics from
Penn State University and amaster's degree in nutrition
from Westchester University.
Shelby began her career as apediatric clinical dietician
(01:51):
specializing in pediatriccardiology and neonatal
intensive care.
Unit.
She later transitioned intosports nutrition, serving as a
graduate assistant atWestchester University, where
she supported the nutritionneeds of over 500 student
athletes.
Her expertise has beenrecognized in the sports and
human performance nutritiondietetic practice group
(02:13):
expeditions, where she has beenpublished twice on topics such
as hydration in winter sportsand multivitamin supplements.
Currently Shelby is the leadsports and women's health
dietician at Time to ThriveNutrition, and an adjunct
faculty member in the nutritiondepartment at Westchester
University.
Shelby, I'm so excited to haveyou on the show today with your
(02:35):
background in both sportsnutrition and women's health,
and as such, such a perfect fitfor this conversation.
Thanks for being here.
I'm so excited to be here.
I'm looking forward to chattingtoday.
Yeah, it's gonna be, it's gonnabe a awesome topic and one I
know I get asked about, and asyou get asked about we're diving
into all things creatine.
We'll kind of start with when wehear creatine, it's associated
(02:56):
with like bodybuilders andreally bulking up and that's not
what it's all about.
So I think let's dive into kindof some of those misconceptions
and what creatine really is andwe'll keep going from there.
We're gonna cover it all or mostit,
Shelby (03:11):
yeah.
Creatine is definitely somethingthat, I know we were talking a
little bit before about how.
Something I get asked about alot, especially from my female
clients, also my male clients,but mostly my female clients and
something recently I feel likethat has kind of had an uptake
tick of people wanting to knowmore about it.
Mm-hmm.
And I always tell all of myclients that I think knowledge
(03:31):
is power, right?
So I am happy to provide youwith my knowledge on the topic
and let's talk together.
This is really the right fit foryou.
You know, sometimes.
Things can get kind ofoveremphasized as being, you
know, way more important thanthey actually can be for us.
But let's, let's get to thatknowledge part, right.
So when it comes to creatine itwas originally started, it was
originally identified in like, Ithink the late 18 hundreds.
(03:52):
But it was started to beresearched in terms of athletics
in about like the 1990s.
And why they originally startedto research it was that they
noticed that when athletes weretaking it, or active Indi,
individuals were taking it, thatit allowed them to get a better
quote unquote pump in.
Right?
It allowed them to exercise forlonger duration without getting
as much fatigue, and that thenled to greater gains in muscle.
(04:16):
Right?
What is interesting aboutcreatine is that because it was
starting studying, starting tobe studied back in like the
1990s, is that it's one of thelongest running research
supplements.
So in terms of safety, it's,it's fairly safe because we do
have a lot of research on it.
But originally that's where theresearch came from it.
So a lot of people associate itwith kind of.
(04:38):
Exercise and maybe getting bulkyor getting that pump in, like I
said because that's where theoriginal studies were in and
what it was used for.
I like to first kind of educatepeople around why it does help
you to exercise longer and athigher intensities.
And that's all relating to whatit does in your body.
And when we understand kind ofwhat it does in your body, you
(04:58):
can understand better, is thisright for me?
Does it really add bulk?
Is it doing something else forme?
So when you think aboutcreatine, we actually can eat
creatine.
So it's in meat sources, it's inshellfish sources.
I mean, like, I think you haveto have like, what is it, like a
pound or two of beef to havelike one gram of creatine a day.
So it's not in very highamounts, but it's there.
So it's always been present inour body in some, in some
(05:21):
amount.
So our, our body has theprocesses needed to figure out
what to do with it and break itdown.
When it comes to creatine storesin our body, though, our body
stores it in our skeletalmuscle, and actually in your
brain a little bit like 95% inyour skeletal muscle and about
5% in your brain.
And the, what the research hasshowed us over the years is that
(05:41):
our stores in the skeletalmuscle in the brain are not a
hundred percent saturated.
So that means thatsupplementation can have an
impact on increasing thoselevels.
We'll get, like later on, we'lltalk more about what that means
and if that's needed, but can beimpactful.
Right?
And so what does it do?
So how it helps activity and howit helps you to exercise longer
(06:04):
and maybe lift higher.
So kind of delayed fatigue.
Aspect is when you exercise, theenergy systems you're using
depend on the type of activityyou're using.
So if you're doing more aerobic,like running, then you're using
an energy system that glucose.
Is going to be used to make aTP, which is the preferred fuel
source if you're using ananaerobic energy system, so like
(06:25):
you're lifting, right?
Then your body's not gonna havethat ability to convert glucose
into a TP.
So that means that it's gonnaburn through that a TP, which is
that energy source fueling yourmuscles through activity.
It doesn't really have a goodway to get that keep coming to
your muscle, so you'll fatigueearlier, essentially.
So what.
Happens and how creatine helpsto prevent that fatigue is you
(06:47):
lift a weight, right?
You exercise your muscle, ashort, high intensity burst, and
your body uses a TP as an energysource for your muscles.
When a TP is used at that energysource, we're getting a little
sciency here, but it essentiallytakes away a phosphate group
from there and a TP Aine, triphosphate turns into adenine,
diphosphate, a dp, and then itgets recycled out.
(07:08):
That's no longer usable as anenergy source.
What your body does to recyclethat and make it usable again
and turn it into a TP, is itdonates another phosphate to it
from creatine phosphate.
The more creatine we have, themore creatine phosphate that's
available to our system, thefaster we can get that a TP back
from a DP and then the moreenergy we have faster to your
(07:30):
muscles.
So that's like at a molecularlevel what's going on.
So I think a misnomer is peoplethink creatine automatically
adds on bulk.
No, it just helps you exerciselonger at higher intensities.
Kat (07:40):
Yeah, you were bringing back some major memories to
like, I know, right?
I was like, oh
Shelby (07:45):
my God.
Kreb cycle, ATP ire cycle.
I know, but it's like when I,when I just, I just was talking
to a patient earlier about itand they were pharmacists, so I
was like, I feel like you'regonna track with me on this.
Like, let's talk about a TP.
They're like, oh my God, Ihaven't thought about at TP in a
while.
I'm like, I know science nerd.
But yeah, so I just like, I loveto think about things on a
molecular level, like what is mybody actually doing with it?
But but yeah.
Yeah.
Kat (08:05):
And I wanna highlight a couple things and that I think.
Generalization.
So maybe people knew this, maybepeople didn't know this, but
it's already in your body.
You're already consuming it withanimal-based products.
And I like how you said aboutthe amount of it and like how,
and we'll get into a little bitlater, we're gonna kind of still
stick on like understanding therole and then we're gonna dive
into like the role of how itpertains to being a woman.
(08:29):
But.
I like how it's already thereand already present.
'cause I do find for myself whenI have these conversations with
clients that they're like, wait,I am already consuming it.
Well, why do I need more?
Well, and and to your point, youput it beautifully.
So I'm not even gonna try andreiterate it because it was
really well, well said.
And I actually, I'm like, oh,this makes more sense to me
Shelby (08:48):
I'm a little bit of a creatine nerd, so I've read a
bunch of the research on it'cause we'll get to it later,
but it has an impact on brainhealth.
And so personally, just for myown health history I have used
it for brain health reasons.
So I just have a lot of.
Nerdy background on it.
So it's a passion project ofmine.
Kat (09:04):
Yeah, I will say, I mean, I, I take it I was a long time,
I wanna say, I don't wanna say anaysayer of it when I was in
college athletics, so datemyself in the early two
thousands.
But you're young.
What are you talking about?
It was like, there was, it wasaround the time I, you know,
bodybuilding started having itsgrowth like I guess in the
(09:24):
sixties and seventies.
And Arnold Schwarzenegger wasthe godfather of bodybuilding.
And I feel like the ninetieswere like the big boom of a lot
of bodybuilding.
And so there wasn't, there wasfederations out there for like
clean sport and stuff like that.
Yeah.
So when I was a college athlete,it was really hard to find
potentially clean proteins andcreatines.
And it was also around the timeof the ephedrine or ephedrine
(09:47):
ban and all of this type ofstuff.
And so our coaches were like,just don't take anything because
we were a highly competitiveteam.
We won multiple nationalchampionship titles, so it was
like.
We don't wanna risk what we'redoing.
So like I had heard of it andthen, going through my adult
life, I was like, do I reallyneed this?
But what the ultimate turningpoint for me was I was like, no,
(10:09):
this is really useful.
And as I got into my laterthirties and now early forties,
the one thing I noticed not onlywas yes, that energy benefit
from it with strength training.
But I had more cognitiveclarity.
Mm-hmm.
From the get go, like, it wasn'tlike, it was like, whoa, like I
felt like my mom brain wascleared up.
(10:30):
Yeah.
So I
Shelby (10:31):
felt there's a lot clarity.
There's research about just acouple that came out about sleep
depriving, sleep deprivation andcreatine, and how it very much
has shown a positive effect in asleep deprivated state, which.
Not a mom yet, but all the momsI know can maybe attest that
you're in a sleep deprived statemore often than not.
So it can have benefitsAbsolutely.
Outside of exercise which I'msure we'll get into, but Yeah.
Kat (10:53):
Yeah.
And you know, let's segue itthere right now.
I work with all, all women andthe age range is.
30 and above, primarily in thebulk age range of 30 to 45.
In that time period, you'rebuilding your family, your
career is at, you know, an alltime, I don't wanna say an all
time high, but you're in yourcareer, you're moving up you're
also knocking on that door ofperimenopause to menopause.
(11:14):
So there's a lot of differenthormonal shifts that are
happening there.
How, how does Creatine supportwomen through, I mean, I just
threw at like whole lifespan oftransitions there.
You're good, but how, how wouldthat impact?
And you know, for me, I don't,I'm gonna say as a personnel
trainer and you know, I onlyhave a nutrition certification.
(11:35):
But I always recommend like gowork with a dietician to see if
creatine especially is right foryou.
But for someone who is pregnant,how would you, and again, and
I'll just say this as aprerequisite, we're not here to
diagnose or treat.
Yep.
We're here to inform.
So anything you hear on thispodcast is just information I
strongly suggest, speaking with,getting in contact with she
Shelby.
Her information will be at thebottom or contacting your own
(11:58):
medical professional or aregistered dietician.
If.
You know, creatine sounds rightfor you.
So blanket statement there,because not here to diagnose or
treat.
Shelby (12:05):
So glad you put that in there.
But yeah, so let's kind of lookat it through the lifespan.
So again, creatine has gotten somuch cool, new research out
there in the past couple years.
There's this great great.
Researcher in the creatineworld.
Her name is Dr.
Abby Smith.
Ryan, she's out of, I believeit's UNC or Duke.
I'm so sorry if I'm getting thiswrong.
I think it's UNC.
She does a ton of research inher lab related to creatine and
(12:27):
she's on a lot of the new papersthat are out there.
So I like follow her onInstagram.
'cause I, you know, she just isgreat and she has a lot of
helpful information, but.
A lot of great women out theredoing research on creatine that
helps help us, helps us put itforward.
So just like you said, we arenot, you know, diagnosing or
treating here, but like I said,knowledge is power.
So let's get the information outthere and you talk to your
(12:47):
medical provider.
So when it comes to, let's startabout the first stage of life
pregnancy right, or fertility.
When it comes to pregnancy, allof the research out there on
Creatine team with pregnancy isdone in animal models.
So, yes, some of it shows thatit could be safe.
But I, here's how IH ourresearch for my patients, right?
Is in vitro.
(13:08):
If it's in vitro, it's in apeach.
It's in a Petri dish.
Interesting.
But I'm not gonna make arecommendation based off of
that.
If it's in an animal.
Okay, we got a little bit morebackground and data, and this
could be something promising,but when it comes to something
like pregnancy, I'm still gonnabe hesitant.
Right.
Human randomized control trialsgreat.
That means that we have it inhumans and we know it's safe.
(13:29):
So when you think about thecreatine research, from my
knowledge on it, it's mostlystill in the animal model stage.
It does, I think, show that it'snot harmful and it may benefit,
but.
With caution, right?
We don't have that human data.
So I always just, when women askabout it in pregnancy, give them
the knowledge.
Say, you can ask your doctorabout this, but this is not
something I'm gonna feelcomfortable doing with you while
(13:50):
you're pregnant, after you'redone breastfeeding and you wanna
start weightlifting again.
Sure.
Let's talk about it.
But when it comes to thatpregnancy stage that's my
recommendation.
I mean, if you look at theanimal research, it does show
some positive benefits of thefetus and the mom, but there's
no human, random, randomized,controlled trials.
I'm not gonna feel comfortabledoing that for someone.
Same kind of applies forbreastfeeding.
(14:12):
If they talk to their doctor andtheir doctor said, that's fine,
and they were on it duringpregnancy, then okay, you can
keep on it during breastfeeding.
But if it's coming to me for therecommendation, that's usually
what I choose.
But again, those animal modelsdo show some promising
information.
So maybe if we get some humanrandomized control trials, then
that could be more out there assomething.
That we use for people when itcomes to, again, like childhood
(14:32):
adolescents, that data justisn't there as much.
Although again, some of thoseanimal and there is some actual
human trials with kids doesn'treally show any negative side
effects that I've seen.
But I always get cautious withkids.
I don't like giving supplementsto kids.
So if you're under 18, probablynot gonna do it.
If you're over 18 and you're acollege athlete.
Let's discuss it.
(14:53):
But I always go food first.
That's my approach as adietician.
Food should be the foundation.
And then if we have all of thatsquared away, then let's talk
about creatine.
Because if we're not eatingright and eating enough and
eating enough protein andspacing it out and meeting all
our other needs, creatine isn'tgonna do much, right?
For our goals.
So when people come to me inthose life stages.
(15:14):
Asking for creatine for this,what else is going on?
So that we cannot use that whenit comes to you know, active
twenties, thirties, et cetera.
The key part is active, right?
So with creatine, when your goalis to build lean muscle, right,
or retain lean muscle, theresearch is very clear that you
want it to be paired withresistance training.
And you want it to be pairedwith a good diet too.
(15:36):
Right.
We don't want this to be like apatch over a over you know,
other good stuff not going onunderneath.
What's really cool about the newresearch and in particular when
you were talking about theperimenopause, post menopause
population, some really cool newresearch is coming out about
creatine with bone mineraldensity and bone health in the,
the menopausal population.
(15:56):
Perimenopause, post menopause.
You know, I know a lot of UShealth providers know bone loss
occurs as we age.
Especially with those hormonalshifts that go on with
perimenopause, exacerbates it alot.
And what the research now showswith creatine and those older
adults, those perimenopausal,post-menopausal, is that if you
do two to three days a week ofresistance training and you add
(16:17):
on creatine there is verypositive effects with either
stopping bone loss or evenstopping our bone density a
little bit.
It's hard to up it when you're,when you're postmenopausal, but
at least stopping the loss canbe very beneficial.
Kat (16:29):
Which is so huge.
I'm gonna pull out some thingsthat you said.
Just to reiterate, one, I lovethat you spoke about 18 and
under kids.
'cause it is something, I have a13-year-old and he's very big
into strength training andsports and all the things.
And he sees mom and dad takingcreatine and he's like, well,
can I do that?
And I'm like, no.
It's food, it's strengthtraining, it's this.
(16:50):
And he is like, well, why areyou guys taking it?
And I'm like, well, first off,we have fully matured bodies.
I haven't read all the research,but the research just isn't
there, and so he's like, Ugh.
I'm like, I know.
It sucks to have an educatedmom.
Shelby (17:03):
I know, right?
And the research in theadolescents with it is mostly in
those with like musculardystrophy or because it's being
kind of used in research likeParkinson's or kind of trying it
out with a lot of differentthings.
So that's where it mostly iswith the research with kids and
with any kid, unless it's like amultivitamin or they have a low
vitamin D, for example, and theyneed to bring that up.
I don't like supplements becausethey're still growing.
So I, in that way, like, youknow, with your son, which I'm
(17:24):
sure you did, we'd focus onfood.
So like meat has creatine,right?
Yeah.
You know, let's see how we cando that.
But the kids, it's, it's veryout there these days and they,
they very much want it.
Kat (17:32):
Yeah, exactly.
I told him, I was like, well,you know, meat has protein.
It's protein and creatineprotein too.
Yeah.
So, and he's like, really?
And I said, yeah, so you'regetting it in the diet.
I said, and I had to tell him, Iwas like, you're growing.
There's so many factors that arechanging.
I said, when your body hits,quote unquote, that steady state
when you're mature mm-hmm.
It's sort of easier to know whatyou're, what you're doing.
(17:55):
Mm-hmm.
And so he was, he obliged by itand he was like, okay, that
makes sense.
Mom.
Mom was like, you know, I'm nottrying to be like
Shelby (18:00):
only ours, but Yeah.
Well, and you know what I tell alot of kids too is a lot of the
information they see out there,hear from their buddies or they
see on social media, it's allmet for a different decade of
life.
I say, yeah, right.
Yeah.
This is meant for us in ourthirties, twenties, whatever,
and not younger.
Unfortunately, a lot of theinformation out there is not
meant for younger kids yet.
That's what they're seeing.
Exactly.
(18:20):
Yeah, exactly.
Know.
Again, in the future, maybethere's research that shows it's
great and that's, that's then,but as you know, a practitioner,
we're research based.
Right?
And so you wanna do what the.
What the research says.
Exactly.
Kat (18:33):
Exactly.
I also loved that you read that,you know, study about the bone
mineral density Yeah.
And loss.
And I was like, this isincredible.
it is one that for me and theway I train my clients is yes,
we are going to, I'm like, haveall the aesthetic goals you
want.
Mm-hmm.
Brilliant.
I'm all for that.
But let's.
(18:53):
For as much as you can.
I understand exercise is notalways, you know, I don't always
love exercising, but we're notalways in love with the process,
but if we embrace the processand understanding, the strength
training is gonna back it up.
When we are, and depending onwhen you conclude your family,
it's like we want to make surewe're fortifying our body.
We want to make sure that whatpregnancy and that postpartum
(19:18):
time period, took from your bodythat we're getting it
replenished, gaining thatstrength back, making sure that
nutrition is there, that sleep,that stress mitigation, because
the more those big, foundationalblocks are there.
Mm-hmm.
So far the research, again,there's still more research
(19:39):
needed.
Mm-hmm.
Is there that you fare a bitbetter through perimenopause and
menopause?
Again, there's an exception toeverything but.
Most research shows that youhave less muscle loss, less bone
density loss.
If you are strength training,you have that good nutrient
dense whole food diet and you'resleeping better and that stress
(20:04):
mitigation is there.
So I always talk to clients.
I'm like, you know, and I lovethat you mentioned that.
It's like those foundationalblocks have to be there before
we add on.
Shelby (20:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
That's a supplement's only.
Something I add after.
Everything else.
Our diet, we're meeting ourcalcium needs, our vitamin D,
our magnesium, other things thatare really important for, for
bone health too, right?
Mm-hmm.
And what I find too, a lot oftimes is maybe'cause of kinda
like the air they grew up in,kind of the, the diets that were
popular then.
But a lot of women that arenearing menopause or in
(20:34):
menopause or post menopausereally don't eat a lot of
calcium rich foods.
'cause a lot of them are high indairy.
And so it's a very big, bonehealth is a very big component
that's missing.
And.
It can be motivating sometimesto kind of let them know about
the science.
Like, listen, we don't want thisto get further down the road.
You know, we have this bone lossoccurring.
Let's, let's talk about ournutrients that are important for
(20:55):
bone health.
And if you're not eating enoughoverall, right?
Yes.
Your, your body is going tostart to leach calcium and
phosphorus from your bones,right?
If you're not eating, if you'rein too big of a calorie deficit.
And so we need to make sure allthat's secure and all that's
good.
And if that's all great, thenlet's add on some creatine.
Kat (21:12):
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
That's huge.
And I love, love that youbrought up, you know, if you're
too much in a calorie deficit,like that's so detrimental.
I could, that's a whole otherpodcast, whole other topic.
Shelby (21:23):
We could do a whole nother thing on that.
Yeah.
Passion project of mine.
But I could see it, and I'm sureyou see it all the time, is.
And it just makes me, I justwish we could get the word out
there more.
Like, this could be doing moreharm than good for you.
Right.
And it's, I would tell people,especially with bone health,
you're not gonna feel it rightnow.
You're not gonna feel it whenyou're 30, when you're gonna
feel it when you're 50 andyou're 60.
Yes.
(21:43):
Yeah, yeah,
Kat (21:44):
yeah.
I, yeah, it is one.
I'm just like, I'm like, pleasejust eat.
And as I tell my clients when I,like I said, I do.
Nutrition coaching where I'mlike, let me just see what you
eat.
Yeah.
And oftentimes I'm like, you'renot eating enough.
And they're like, oh, I can'teat anymore.
And I'm, I'm like,'cause you'vetrained your body to undereat.
Yeah.
And when I help them articulatethe signs of hunger cues or.
(22:09):
The undereating cues of thefuzzy brain, the energy drops,
the moodiness, the one thatthey're always surprised at is
the interrupted sleep wherethey're waking up mm-hmm.
Multiple times the night.
And I said, yes, if you'rewaking up, especially in that 12
to 4:00 AM time period, that'slike peak.
I am gonna just roll it into theword of healing time where the
body really recovers.
(22:30):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
And that is where you don'twanna be waking up.
I mean, we wanna get to bedbefore midnight Definitely.
But like, if these are all signsthat you may be under eating and
when we look at like theirwhole, I like to see at least
seven to 14 days.
I'm like, put everything inthere.
I'm not judging.
I'm here to help and see It is,they're just not eating enough
(22:53):
because we hear cut calories,cut calories, restrict,
subtract, and I'm like, no,let's add, we're gonna be
adding, yep.
I want to add more.
You know, add a vegetable, youdon't know what to do, just add
a vegetable add a fruit, add aprotein, animal-based or
plant-based,
Shelby (23:09):
yeah.
And to that knowledge too, a lotof'em just don't know how big of
being in that big of an energydeficit, what that does to your,
your body systems, right?
Yeah.
It's, and getting that knowledgeout there, getting that
education out there, even thoughmaybe it's kind of what.
Going against what they've beentaught for a while.
I love that you use those hungercues at them.
Like my one thing I always do atthe first visit, or most of the
(23:30):
time I should say, I don't wannahave my clients calling me out.
Like, you didn't do that with meat the first visit, Shelby, it
was the third.
I have a hunger and fullness cuescale.
Kat (23:36):
Yes.
Shelby (23:36):
And they're like, well, I'm not hungry.
I'm like, okay, but are wefeeling faint?
Do we get a little irritable?
Do we have a headache?
That's hunger, right?
Your body is just notrecognizing it as that.
And you know, if I always have'em make a fist and I'm like,
this is the size of your stomachat rest.
Your stomach's a muscle, so youhave to train it.
Right.
And so if you're only eating alittle amount and your, your
muscle that you're training isonly used to opening a little
amount, yeah, you're gonna getfull fast.
(23:58):
But you can train it just likeany muscle to accept more food.
And so that initial fullnessfeeling with trying to eat a
little bit more food will goaway.
It's just takes a little bit oftime and consistency.
Kat (24:09):
Exactly.
That's what I tell'em.
I also tell'em too, they'relike, well, in the mornings I
just can never eat.
So I don't wind up eating untilone.
And I'm like, okay, here's whatwe're gonna do.
You can break the meal into twomeals.
I'm like, I love a firstbreakfast and a second
breakfast.
I'm all about that.
Again, mornings could be rushed,but let's really.
Provide that nutrient start off.
So we also don't have, on theflip side, you are now in i I
(24:31):
color code my hunger cue to likethe red zone.
Think about your toddler.
And if it's been a moment, thinkback to those tantrums.
That's what your body's doing.
All the alarm bells are goingoff.
And so then you wind up grabbingsomething that maybe you weren't
really excited about or reallywanted to eat.
And so now we're dealing with alot of guilt and shame, which we
wanna be excited about, what wewant to eat.
And I always come from thestandpoint.
(24:53):
We all know fruits andvegetables and lean proteins and
healthy fats are what we need toeat.
But what happens is, is.
No fault of our own most oftenis we're in a highly pressurized
society where you're on the go.
Mm-hmm.
And so, and being, a mom, you'rean afterthought, Yeah.
It just happens that way.
So how do we put in things toset ourselves up for success
(25:15):
it's, and it's hard.
I always tell'em, I'm like, youknow, it's simple, but that
doesn't mean easy.
It can be hard to start thinkingabout yourself in that way, or
getting little bits ofnourishment.
And when we've been taught,don't snack, it ruins meals.
Well, actually, I love snacking.
I love
Shelby (25:31):
a snack.
And you know, I, I wish, and I'mglad that we have this platform
to do this.
I wanna get the message out somuch.
So many women come to me andthey try to eat as little as
possible throughout the day.
Kat (25:40):
Yes.
Shelby (25:40):
And that is their goal.
And then inevitably they failbecause their body needs food.
Mm-hmm.
And then it sends them thesevery strong hunger cues at
night, and they feel out ofcontrol around food, and then
they beat themselves up forthat.
And really, you're just settingyourself up for failure
throughout the day.
I.
Let's shift more of our energyand take during the day.
That's when you're busy.
That's when you're doing things.
Yeah.
And sometimes this is whencreatine can come more popular
(26:02):
because it's like, oh, well it'seasier just to take a supplement
than it can be to kind of workon some of these structural
things.
'cause your life is so busy.
Yes.
You're asked to do so much.
And so just like you said a lotwith the moms, it's, let's put
ourselves first a little bit.
What can we do once this week toput ourselves first so that
you're getting the nourishmentyou need so that creatine can
be.
The icing on the cake and notlike a bandaid over a bullet
hole is the analogy I like touse.
(26:24):
I like that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So IF firmly am very on boardwith everything that you are on
board with as well, with, withkind of teaching women how to
refuel their body when they weretaught the improper way through
societal norms or et cetera, etcetera.
Right.
Kat (26:37):
Yeah.
Oh yeah, a hundred percent.
So with creatine, let's diveinto the dosage amount.
Yeah.
When to take it.
Is there best practices or kindof if someone's you know what,
this sounds like it's right forme, and It's that one more thing
I have to do, how can I fit itinto my crazy lifestyle?
If I also find that women aredon't wanna do it wrong, and I
(27:01):
get, with working out well, isthere a best time to work out
during the day?
no.
Whatever's easiest for you.
Which is work out.
Yeah.
There's no science behind whento work out to get them best,
the best benefit of it.
Just work out.
Yeah.
Shelby (27:13):
No, absolutely.
So when it comes to creatine.
It depends.
There's two different ways youcould do it.
So there's something, onceagain, we've decided that your
diet is good and everythingelse, and we're adding this on
top.
So there is a loading phase youcan do, and then there's just
kind of taking one serving at atime and slowly working up those
stores.
So again, it's going back tothose, those stores in your
body.
What we wanna do is.
(27:34):
Generally are Korea stores.
What the research says isthey're like maybe 60 to 70%
full just from diet stuff.
So if you're a vegan orvegetarian, it's gonna be lower.
They respond better becauseagain, it's found in those
meat-based sources.
And so the loading phase gets upto that a hundred percent.
So goes from 70% stores full inyour body, from normal diet to
closer to a hundred.
Again, we don't know the exactamount.
(27:54):
Not everyone's a creatineresponder either.
That's a fun fact niche.
Not everyone responds to it.
So it's hard to tell if you're aresponder but we know that not
everyone responds to it.
So, the loading phase is usuallypeople do it a little bit
differently, but usually it's 20grams a day for like four to
five days.
That being broken off into fivegram doses four different times
(28:14):
throughout the day.
So like five grams of breakfastin the morning, early, some time
around lunchtime, afternoon, andthen dinner.
You do that for four or fivedays, and then you go to a
maintenance dose of three tofive grams a day.
That is the way to get yourstores up faster.
Now with that can come some ofthose side effects that you hear
about on the internet bloating,water, weight, et cetera.
(28:37):
A lot of that I would say is alittle bit more anecdotal than
seen in the research.
But.
When we do see it anecdotallyfrom people, meaning like people
telling us about it versus itbeing in the research, it's it's
more with the loading phase.
So I always tell people ifthey're worried about water
weight gain a couple pounds,bloating don't do a loading
phase.
So if you don't do a loadingphase, it's just literally
starting three to five grams aday.
(28:58):
And continuing on with thatthat's how I have most people do
it because I don't work unlessyou're using it for like
traumatic brain injuryprevention, which we can talk
about how it can help with brainhealth.
I.
Or you have an athlete that'sreally highly competitive that
has an event coming up, there'sreally no need to get your
stores up in a week versus threeweeks.
So I just try to do normallyjust the three to five gram dose
(29:20):
with individuals so that wedon't really have any GI side
effects, and we eventually getup to full stores in the body.
Kat (29:25):
Yeah.
Like when I first started takingit, I did the kind of like the
buildup, like yeah.
And I did notice, and it wasn'tthat bad.
It felt like literally my cyclewas about to start, you know?
It wasn't bringing on my cycle.
I wanna do, you know, be veryclear about that.
It just was like bloating.
This is a familiar blow.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But, but yeah, that was, thatwas the one thing.
(29:47):
And then, you know, I just do itfor me and, and we can go into,
is there a best time or not forme?
Mm-hmm.
I just do, it dropped in myblack, I drink my coffee black.
Every morning I'm typically amorning workout so for me, I
just, morning is when I take it,and that works for me.
I'm not gonna fuss over thelittle percentages.
(30:08):
Or if there's a vast percentageand you're like, no, no,
actually you're not getting thebest results, I will, I'll
gladly.
So
Shelby (30:13):
I'm the same way.
So when it comes to creatine,also, we, we wanna make sure
that it's creatine monohydrate,right?
Mm-hmm.
I think we would probably get tothat later anyways.
Yeah.
But so we wanna make sure it'sthe creatine monohydrate that's
the most well researched andwell tolerated, creatine.
There is other ones out there,it's also not that expensive
compared to other supplements.
So with the creatine, I alsojust do it in my morning coffee.
(30:34):
So what the research shows isthat.
Yes, if you want like the 1%different benefit, you can take
it within like an hour pre topost workout with 15 grams of a
simple carbohydrate that's goingto best optimize absorption.
What the research overall showsis you just need to get it
consistently every day.
If that's breakfast that youremember to do it, that's great.
(30:56):
That's why I tell people justwhat's one time a day that
you're going to remember to doit.
'cause consistency is key.
So really what I tell clients,it does not matter if you're,
again, an elite athlete.
That's training and timematters.
Okay?
Let's consider that cut off.
Otherwise, just anytime a daythat works best for you and you
remember.
I just say not at night because,you know, sometimes it can have
(31:17):
a little bit of burst of energy,not burst of energy, but it
helps give you that mentalclarity and acuity.
So if you wanna sleep, well,maybe not at night, but but
yeah, otherwise the same thing,just a time of day that you can
take it consistently.
I do tell people it does not mixwell in water.
So I always do it.
Oh yeah.
So I always do it in a hotbeverage or a food.
Okay.
So if you put it in water itjust tastes a little, like, it
isn't my experience.
(31:37):
A little like crystally almostlike you're kind of drinking,
like it's kind of chewing alittle bit.
So I always put it in a hot,like liquid.
It dissolves.
So a food so.
Kat (31:45):
That's good to know.
Yeah, because it was just easy.
I have my coffee every morning.
Yeah, you remember it, you do itin there.
Yeah.
it's perfect that's good to knowthat it's just consistent.
Yeah.
Consistency and getting in anevery day.
Now I did see one of my clientsbrought it up to me and I don't
know if you've seen this,creatine is being paired with
multiple things.
Ah, yes.
(32:05):
And so, you know, I'd love tohear your thoughts on that going
back to like I say that bestpractices and just, you know,
sometimes it's like what I feelis too many things paired
together.
It's just not getting what youneed.
It's just.
Marketing and making money.
And that frustrates
Shelby (32:26):
me on so many levels.
So I am always a singleingredient supplement person
besides like a multivitamin whenI can.
Right.
And not, and not everyone needsa multivitamin, I don't think
either.
Right.
Is if your diet is, is sound,you got everything in there.
But yeah, I don't pair creatinewith anything.
The, the, the thing, you'll seeit infrequently that if they
love it and they don't wannastop it, that's fine.
(32:47):
It's like a pre-workout.
Mm-hmm.
But.
No, it's, I haven't seen thescience on it actually being
absorbed better when paired withother things.
Maybe I'm missing something andit is, but no I only like to use
it by itself.
And from the research that I'veseen it, it's very well absorbed
by itself.
I agree.
I, the more things you add intosomething one, the less likely
that we know what is causing thepositive or negative effect.
(33:10):
And two, is that inhibitingabsorption of the creatine.
You know, we don't know, so, andI always try to avoid those
supplement stacks, like I say,meaning like multiple
supplements in one product if I,if I can with clients.
Yeah.
Kat (33:21):
Yeah.
I believe that too.
Shelby (33:23):
And, and too with supplements, you know,
supplements are regulated sodifferently than food too.
Mm-hmm.
So it's, I just always amcautious with them.
Kat (33:32):
And then are there specific types of creatine monohydrate
that are better?
like you said, I mean,supplements are so regulated
differently and it is.
Largely an unregulated mm-hmm.
Field.
Mm-hmm.
So, and, and that's where, I wasexplaining to I stick with what
is it?
National Sports Federation.
(33:53):
NSF Oh, NSF Sports Certified.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
So I stick with those.
I don't think I'm gonna.
I'm a runner.
I compete.
I am not a lead.
I'm just out there
Shelby (34:04):
for a
Kat (34:04):
good time.
Shelby (34:05):
So yeah, no, I always recommend third party tested
supplements, even if you're notbeing drug tested, because I
just feel safer with them.
So, and third party testing isgonna be NSF Sport.
USP verification or likeInformed Sport or Choice are
usually the ones that I lookfor.
GMP is is a third partyification, good manufacturing
practices, but I find that theirstandards for GMP are lower than
(34:27):
when it comes to something likeA USP or A or NSF sport or an
informed choice.
But yeah, so Thorn I use there.
I personally use their creatteam Monohydrate.
They're a third party tested.
Momentous is third party tested.
There's a couple out there nowthat are third party tested.
The creatine monohydrates, but Itypically will go with either
Thorn or momentous if I'm takingit or recommending it to
someone.
But it doesn't mean there aren'tother brands out there, third
(34:47):
party tested, but those, theones that I know of, that I use,
like I use Thorne.
I love Thorne.
Yeah.
I find it has a pretty goodprice point too.
It does.
It really does.
And I just, I think that theymake a, they make a good quality
product and it's third partytested, so I feel safe.
Kat (35:01):
Yeah.
I love all their supplements,you know, and I'm not
affiliated, I'm not just, youknow, just saying no.
Yeah.
But, and the best part is theycome right to my door, so it
makes it easy.
Yes, absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm trying to think what elsehaven't we covered here?
I think it would be interestingto kind of go a little bit into
that brain health because, ohyeah.
(35:21):
One of the things that's comingout, and especially for in that
perimenopause menopause area isbrain health, and I obviously
spoke to, when I took it, Inoticed I.
More cognitive clarity.
Mm-hmm.
I felt literally like I wasplugged back in for the first
time since having kids.
Mm-hmm.
So I was like, this is amazing.
I didn't realize, I personallyhad not realized that benefit to
(35:43):
18 when I started it.
So, yeah.
Shelby (35:45):
Yeah.
And, and it all comes back tohow, what it does to that a TP
molecule, that very scientificthing we were chatting about in
the beginning, right?
So a TP is the fuel source foryour body cells, right?
And so we know that again, itcomes back to where the creatine
stored so stored in your musclesyour skeletal muscle, and then
in your brain.
So the research doesn't showit's as good with the doses are
(36:08):
what's interesting and notquite, not adequately confirmed.
I guess there's some researchthat shows that maybe higher
doses are needed for it to havea, a better effect on the brain
than just the five grams a day.
That's still kind of beingdebated, but what we know in the
research is that one, we sawthat research on the men
increased mentals acuity insleep deprived states.
And two, it's used a lot withpeople with TDIs or concussions.
(36:28):
And so some of the researchshows that when you have it on
board before or you take itafter, it has a better you have
a better likelihood of decreasedsymptoms and recovery.
And so it's, and again, I, itall comes back to that
energetics of how it powers thea TP in your brain.
So again, same with yourmuscles.
If we're thinking about ittheoretically, right.
Then when that.
Brain cell uses that a TP and itrecycles it out.
(36:51):
And it's a DP, that creatine,that phospho creatine can donate
a creatine, a phosphate, andphosphorylate, that's a TP
again.
So more energy, faster to thosebrain cells is one of the
theories as to why it could beso effective for brain health.
But research is still.
Coming out about that, but it'svery promising.
And, and there was a good reviewby the International Society of
Sports Nutrition from thousand17, I think it is on creatine.
(37:13):
I like the reviews'cause they'revery wide ranging, but they also
give like lovely little bulletpoints at the end that's like,
here's the main from this 20pages here is the main point.
So I love that.
And they show that they're doinga lot of research now.
Can't say it's been successful,I don't think.
Yeah.
But with Parkinson's andAlzheimer's and different
(37:33):
muscular dystrophy, like I saidcool stuff that maybe in the
future research is gonna showthat it can actually have an
impact for,
Kat (37:40):
Now I'm gonna throw a question at you.
Can't remember the study, butthere was a study and one study
singular does not mean it'slike.
Yeah, and all be all, but it, ittalked about how, in particular,
for women, and it showed alittle, it talked a little bit
more towards the men too, thatafter the age of 60, creatine
isn't beneficial.
(38:01):
Now I.
I would, I'm just curious onyour thoughts on that.
'cause it was like I said, itwas one study, so I kind of take
that and I didn't push itfurther.
'cause most of my clients, arein that like 35, 45 range.
And
Shelby (38:14):
so Yeah.
That's so interesting.
I've, I've actually never seenthat.
Okay.
So yeah, I would, I wouldactually, and, but I love to
learn new things, so I wouldlove to read that study and, and
kind of figure it out and, anddice it apart.
Like, was it in vitro, was itanimal or what kind of a study
population was?
Do they already have likeosteoporosis or something?
I had never heard that.
That's interesting.
I'm trying to think in my brainlike what the mechanism might be
(38:34):
for that, but I don't know.
So to answer the question, Ihave not heard it, so I'm not,
I'm not sure.
But in my experience, it hashelped preserve some bone mass
for individuals that I know Iwork with that get DEXAs so that
I can like actually see their,their bone density.
So again, not necessarilyincrease it, but prevent it from
from dropping when paired withproper diet and resistance
(38:56):
training.
Kat (38:57):
Okay.
Shelby (38:58):
Yeah.
Kat (38:58):
Yeah.
I'll have to, I'll have to trackdown that study.
So I just kind of like took itwith a grain of salt and I was
like, well, I'm not there yet.
Shelby (39:04):
And I'm, it's always good to keep your finger on the
pulse.
Right.
And, and that's the, the goodthing, I guess, good and bad
about research.
It's always changing.
So, you know, just because weknow one thing to be true now,
it, we might actually find outthat it's not Right.
Right.
Prete does have some morelongitudinal, so like 40, 30
year studies on it.
But that's why I like scienceand I like keeping my pulse on
(39:24):
it is it can change and then weadapt, but but it's good to keep
your pulse on it and findinteresting stuff like that.
'cause hey, maybe it doesn'twork after 60, but not that I
have seen at least yet.
Kat (39:34):
Let's see here.
I mean, we covered a lot.
We covered, like,
Shelby (39:37):
I can talk, I
Kat (39:38):
don't know if you notice, but also not, I don't have a
problem talking, which is great.
I've seen a lot of buzz aroundand that's why I was the expert
in it.
I need, I need someone who knowsall about it.
And, and we can really decode itbecause there are a lot of
apprehensions in taking itbecause of the myth of getting
too bulky.
You know, it's only forbodybuilders or I'm not an
athlete.
And I, I always tell my clients,I'm like, you are an athlete.
(40:00):
Mm-hmm.
You know, yes, you may not becompeting for a team or an
athletic competition, but youare an athlete for life.
You are trying to get your bodyin as best peak condition so
that you are thriving and notjust surviving to get to that
quote unquote finish line.
It's like we want to feel good,so if there are things that can
(40:21):
enhance after we're doing thosefoundational blocks, then this
will help.
What would you say to someonewho's like, oh, I just don't
know, like, kind of on the fencewith it, you know?
Yeah.
Shelby (40:31):
I, I always kind of go back to like.
First, educate them on like,here's how it works in your
body, and then what are ourgoals, right?
Mm-hmm.
Maybe your goal isn't to put onlean mass or isn't to preserve
bone density or for your brainhealth.
Maybe their goal is somethingelse, but if your goal is one of
those things, then let's do someeducation about how it can help
(40:51):
those things and talk aboutsafety around supplements and
what we can do in our dietFirst.
See if that helps.
If it doesn't, then we add thison.
So it's always, like I say withthem, I'm sure with you too,
it's like a partnership with myclient.
Mm-hmm.
I have the education in thebackground, I'm gonna let you
know, but you're the expert onyou is what I always like to
say.
And so I usually just start withwhat their goals are, the
education around it.
(41:12):
And so if an individual came tome now and asked it that's what
I would do.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Knowledge is power, like I said.
Kat (41:18):
A hundred percent.
Yeah.
Big proponent of, clients arealways in the driver's seat and
I'm here to help.
Guide them to their outcomes.
I mean,
Shelby (41:25):
we live the dream, right?
Yeah.
We get to do our jobs are whatwe are very interested in and
our nerdy little hobbies that weget to turn into a career.
So I, I will just enjoy what Ido and I think you do too.
And I think that translates forpeople.
And so the more that I can, Ijust genuinely like to help
people.
And so the more knowledge I knowabout something, the more I can
(41:47):
help other people.
And I think that in the end thatjust.
Helps more people.
Right.
So, and I love that you have aplatform that kind of helps to
get messages out there too, thatmatters.
Thanks.
Thanks.
Yeah.
Kat (41:58):
It's a passion project, but it's also something that came
outta frustration of just somany nuanced things being
screamed into this wide void.
The, the research is gettingbetter.
This still has a long way to goin which a lot of the research
is still on small populationsof, of subsets of women.
I tell clients today you are inone of the best times to be
(42:18):
alive and being a woman.
Mm-hmm.
And going through prenatal,postpartum, perimenopause,
menopause.
Because the amount of researchthat is coming out a long term
study, 10 to 20 years is comingout now, which is huge.
It's huge.
That longitudinal data is huge.
Yeah.
And, and the coolest part for meis.
(42:38):
It's all positive.
Mm-hmm.
That hope isn't lost.
Yeah.
When I was going through, youknow, I was pregnant with my son
the first time with my firstson, it was you've ruined your
body.
Yeah.
And, and I'm like, that's so notthe case.
And then this fear aroundperimenopause and menopause It
means I can still be in anaction ready body to continue
(42:59):
running, to strength train, tostill see what I want and still
thrive and climb the mountainsand whatnot.
Yeah, it's, it's huge.
So,
Shelby (43:05):
and, and I, and I think, you know, and you, I'm not in
that life stage of perimenopauseyet, but I think, and take this
with a grain of salt as ayounger individual, but that it
was almost viewed as inevitable.
This is just going to happen.
Yeah.
This decline is going to happen.
And now we know that there'sactually things we can do to
mitigate that and to improvethat quality of life.
And just like you said, it's sopositive.
It's not just inevitableanymore.
(43:27):
We can help ourselves andthere's new science that shows
that doesn't have to be thisway.
Kat (43:31):
Yes, exactly.
And that's, I, that's what Itell my clients.
I kind of love in the Asiancountry, the mindsets are, it's
a new spring, it's a newbeginning.
And I'm like, and that's whatthey call, they don't have
menopause as the term, and Idon't know the word I, if I knew
what I would butcher it.
Yeah, no, that's, that's, but,and it's a new coming of age.
How amazing is that?
And so that's why I tellclients, I'm like, don't look at
(43:53):
it as a try to think, yes, youcould do all the strength
training, the stress mitigation,the mobility and the cardio.
There are still going to besymptoms.
There's going to be hormonalchanges.
We can't control that.
But what, with the studies thatI've been reading, that it does
help mitigate on the other sidethat if you are creating those
foundational habits andstrengthening them now, no pun
(44:15):
intended to keep strengthening,you're going to have a better
outcome on the other side.
Shelby (44:19):
Yeah.
So, and the hardest part is,when there's no immediate reward
for it.
Mm-hmm.
Convincing people and showingthem that this matters, I
promise.
And hopefully with the rightmessages out and research
showing that it does, that canhelp to further and further kind
of get that out there forpeople.
Kat (44:32):
This was awesome.
If anyone has questions, you canmessage the podcast.
Shelby's information will be inthe show notes.
Time to Thrive has.
Virtual sessions as well.
So you don't have to be local.
We're in southeasternPennsylvania, she's in
Phoenixville, but if you're alocal, you can do in person or
they have the ability to dovirtual, which is amazing, so
(44:52):
you can reach more people.
Thank you so much for coming on.
I know I learned more aboutcreatine and definitely gotta,
jog back to the days of all theanatomy
Shelby (45:01):
yeah, I expect a full memorization of the glycolysis
cycle by the time we meet next.
No, it's been absolutely lovely.
So thank you so much for havingme on.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you for coming on.
Kat (45:10):
Thank you for tuning in to MilesFromHerView, powered by
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(45:32):
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Until next time, keep movingforward one mile at a time.
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