September 2, 2025 • 33 mins
Are you in Peri? If you are listening to our podcast you probably bloody are. Fun one!
Brooke sat down with Amelia Phillips who is a Nutritionist and Exercise Scientist. She knows her shit thats for sure. Amelia breaks it all down for us and tells us what to do and what to take!
Amelia also has her own podcast called Healthy Her. You can listen to it here.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello everybody, and welcome to Iconic. This episode of Icronic
is a little bit different. We are minus Monty Diamond
and we are plus the fabulous Amelia Phillips. For those
of you that don't know Amelia, she's a fitness and
nutrition expert and TV presenter and trainer. Where does she
(00:28):
fit in all of this? I don't know. She's super
passionate about helping women live healthy lives and just an
all round awesome woman. Welcome to our Icronic show, Amelia.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Oh thank you so much for having me, Brookie. I'm
excited for leisure. Today.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
We are going to talk all things pery menopause, because,
let's face it, if you're over forty, this is what
you're thinking about right now.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
This is what everyone's talking about right now, having a moment.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Oh my god, this is like the only ads I'm
getting served on Instagram are like menapause.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
She's over forty?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah totally. So can you start by telling us, Amelia,
what is peri menopause?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah? Absolutely, so we all understand. Well, let's let's start
with menopause because we're all working towards that date, which
is around in Australia, the average age of menopause is
fifty one years old, and.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Am I correct in saying that menopause is actually only
one day, Well, Perry is like your whole life.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
No, So menopause is defined as the twelve months in
the absence of a period. Okay, so once you've had
your last period and then twelve months later you are
officially post menopause. Okay, so that kind of that year
you're going through menopause. But peri menopause is the very
(01:54):
slow lead up to menopause, and it's where your hormones
are starting to shift. It's where your eggs so you're ovaries.
You know, we're all born with around a million eggs
and then they slowly decline throughout our life, and those
eggs are starting to the egg carton is starting to
get towards the bottom of the pack. And so with perimenopause,
(02:20):
it's there's actually two quite distinctively different stages. There's early
stage pery and then there's late stage pery. And I
think it's really useful for us to understand the signs
and symptoms to know which stage we're at because a
treatment around that and the symptom management is actually quite different.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I've never heard this.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Okay, tell me it's good, all right, So we work backwards. So, okay,
the easiest way to work this out is if you
know any close female relatives and you know when they
went through menopause, So you ask your sisters, your mum,
so it'll If you don't know that answer, then it'll
just assume you're going to go through it around fifty
one years old. Late stage age peri menopause is the
(03:01):
one to three years before menopause, So basically, from around
forty eight, chances are you've shifted into late stage perry,
and I'll explain what that is in a moment. And
then early stage perry is that sort of you know,
three to up to ten years before menopause. So pretty
much like you say, in your forties, you're most likely
(03:25):
in peri menopause. Some people start a lot earlier, around
thirty five. And again, it just you've got to work
If your mum went through menopause at forty five, for example,
then yes, if she had an earlier menopause, you may
have started perry.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
So sorry to interrupt, Does this have anything to do
with when the age when you got your period?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
No, because one of the first signs is that your
period starts to your whole cycle starts to shorten. So say,
for example, you're on a twenty eight day cycle, you
may start to notice it consistently it's now twenty six days.
And this is why if I can give you one
piece of parting advice to my ladies that are maybe
at the beginning of their pery journey, start tracking a period. Okay,
(04:08):
it's really helpful. It's just two taps a month, you know,
once on day one to say, oh, my period just started,
and once on day four or five, oh my period
just ended. You just do that. I've been doing it
ever since I was family planning, so I've got fifteen
years now of dataw so I can see. I can
see very clearly when my period was bang, bang, twenty
(04:29):
eight day. I've got the chart, and then it just started.
There was a short period of twenty seven and now
it sits between twenty five and twenty six days every month. Wow,
So I know that that I know I'm in early
because then what happens in late stage pery is the
opposite happens and your cycle starts to lengthen. And a
really good sign is if your period, or your cycle
(04:51):
is varying by more than seven days in a month,
then that's a sign that you're now getting into late
stage perimenopause. So for example, one month that was twenty
eight days, and then the next month it's thirty five days,
and then the next month it's twenty seven days, and
then the next month it's thirty three days. So when
you're starting to see these bigger breaks between a period,
(05:14):
that's when we're starting to see your estrogen levels really
starting to tank and really starting to go down because
there's less eggs, there's only a few eggs left in
the ovaries. And whereas early stage perimenopause, which I find
really interesting because people associate perry and menopause with a
decline in estrogen, which is what happens, and by the
(05:34):
time where postmenopause were, estrogen levels settle at about the
same low levels that it was as it was before puberty.
But what's really interesting I find is that in that
early stage perimenopause, you can actually have a lot of
estrogen dominance, and you can actually have higher estrogen levels
than you've ever had in your life. Hey, okay, and
(05:55):
we roller coasters, right, Okay, and does that have anything
to do with our moods, Like when that happens, our
moods also roller coaster, yes, and so so in that
early stage perimenopause, it tends to be the it tends
to be the roller coastering of your hormones that cause
(06:19):
a lot of the symptoms. And because what's happening is progesterone,
so estrogen tends to fluctuate. So it will spike around
ovulation around day fourteen and then and then it drops down,
and then it starts to climb towards the end of
your period, and then and then it tanks just as
you get your period, and progesterone throughout early stage Perry
(06:40):
just tends to just start it will it does fluctuate
a little bit, but you start to see progesterone gently
just declining, Whereas in late stage Perry, that's when what's
happening is your estrogen is starting to really peter out.
And so that's when things like hormone replacement therapy, particularly
around estrogen, can be super helpful. But for some people
(07:00):
they're put on estrogen in that early stage Perry, if
they're seeing a doctor that met might not be as
experience in hormone management, and I've seen this happen a
lot in members in my program. So I run a
program Vitality three sixty with an integrative GP where we
do a lot around hormono HOV. We see a lot
of people coming to us who have been put on
(07:21):
estrogen in that early stage and they're actually getting now
really bad estrogen dominance symptoms. So wow, that is interesting. Yeah,
they shouldn't have been put on it so well, that.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Happens a lot. I can imagine that happens a lot
because a lot of the feedback kind of eye here
from a lot of people around my age is that
like a GP just doesn't know much about home menopause,
Like you really need to go to a specialist because
otherwise you're just not getting the right They.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Absolutely, they just don't. It's not their fault. They just
don't get the training. They haven't had the training, we
haven't had the research out there. There is an amazing
book and a bible, So to recommend this to any
of your ladies that are really super interested and wanting
to navigate this season really well. It's called The Hormone
(08:10):
Repair Manual by Lara Brydon and Lara is. It's great
because she is based in New Zealand and in Australia,
so the drugs she talks about are all Australian brands.
Because you're right, you've got some incredible hormone expert. Louise
Newsome is the kind of queen oh yes and a pause,
but she often talks in because she's in the UK, right,
(08:32):
okay language. And the great thing about Lara's book, I've
actually got it sitting right behind me, the Hormone Repair Manual.
The great thing about it is that she also says
questions to ask your doctor, and she has these breakout boxes.
You could literally take the book into the doctor's surgery
and use it like a script, and she says, and
if your doctor says no, you should do this, this
(08:54):
and this, she says, oh well then you say this
to your dog.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Oh that's amazing. Okay, I'm getting that book, and I'm
going to recommend that everybody listening get that book.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah you will, yeah you it's mine. Is covered in
green highlighter and you know, doggie it and all that
sort of stuff. It's a great bible because this period
I liken it to a storm season and if you
think about if you think about a good sailor, they're
out on the Caribbean. It's nice and calm. This is
your you know, mid thirties, late thirties. It's nice and calm.
(09:24):
But then you get news that there's a storm on
the horizon. So what the sailor does is they do
what sailors do. They lock the cupboards, they batten down
the hatches, they get the ropes all ready to go,
they pop their jacket on, they prepare themselves as best,
they arm themselves as best as they can. Then the
storm hits and they're making quick adjustments along the way,
(09:44):
which is the equivalent of our symptom management, which I
thought will chat about in a moment, making those quick
adjustments as the storm progresses. And then once the storm
season passes, the beautiful sun comes out again, mooth sailing waters,
and those that have navigated the storm season well, their
boat is less battered and bruised and the mass hasn't snapped.
(10:08):
And that's the equivalent of chronic disease. You know, if
we can some of us will sell through this period
with great ease. And you know, we might have a
few symptoms, but will come out the other side not
too battered and bruised. Yeah, I see a lot of
women who because they weren't educated, they didn't know, they
did not they weren't prepared for the storm season, they
(10:29):
weren't able to navigate it. They didn't have the support,
and so off the other side, they're battling with chronic diseases,
with metabolic issues like insulin resistance, type two diabetes, autoimmune
flare ups, gut issues. So that's why it's so important
to navigate so important.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Can I want to talk more about that, but can
I go back to there being the two stages and
ask are there you know, obviously your period changes and
that's the indication of where you're at. Are there any
symptoms that are specific to early and late Perry.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Well, I'll talk about high estrogen because I think that's
I think that's something that you see more of in
early stage Perry. And so if you are having a
bit of a high estrogen month, some signs of this,
for example, are really sore boobs. Okay, So I don't
know if you've noticed that this happens with me. Where
(11:27):
some months around day fourteen, around ovulation, I'll get really
sore boobs, and then they might disappear, and then maybe
in the week before my period they'll get sore again.
That's kind of the normal what should happen when your
cycle's quite normal and healthy in regular. But then there'll
be some months where they get really sore on day
fourteen and they stay sow all the way through to
(11:48):
day twenty eight, and that's the sign of a high
estrogen month. And then like last month, for example, I
didn't get saw boobs at all. I like kept pressing them,
going there's nothing I reckon. I was having a lot
estrogen month, and so I changed some of my behaviors
and my symptom management to support more estrogen on the
(12:09):
month where I could feel I was low, and then
on the months I had for high estrogen. Because what
happens when you've got a lot of estrogen floating around
in your body, your body has to metabolize it. And
when it's not very good at metabolizing estrogen, that's when
you get really bad symptoms like for example, headaches, mood disturbances,
(12:30):
brain fog, etc. So yeah, so that's the symptoms. And
then toward in late stage pery, you tend to get
more of those hot flushes and those night sweats, although
I am starting to get night sweats already in early
but yeah, i'd say that estrogen dominance. Also, if you're
carrying a bit of extra body fat, you're more prone
(12:50):
to estrogen dominance things like facial hair and anyone within
demetrious or PCs will know a lot about those kind
of estrogen dominance, But unk about more of those subtle
day to day changes.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yes, that's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Ce emilia.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
I don't get a period, I don't ovulate, Hence I've
got two little IVF babers, so I often think, how
will I know? But I guess my estrogen levels will
be the way I'll be able to tell where I'm at.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
And FSH So there's another hormone I haven't really spoken
about that is less important from a symptom perspective, But
FSH is follicular stimulating hormone is Think of it like
the coach and think or and it's the coach that's
shouting to your ovaries the players okay, And when you're
(13:43):
ovulating and you've got a normal cycle, FSH is just
you know, being the good, nice, quiet coach on the sidelines. Yep,
you guys are doing your job. Players, off you go.
Then as the eggs start to run down, and think
of it like the base I don't know the balls,
the balls start to decline and fuddally the coach has
to start to yell a bit louder and say, hey, guys,
(14:03):
come on, get out on the field. What are you doing?
And so you'll see FSH starting to climb, so you
so I would if I were you, I would be
going and speaking definitely to women's health doctor that really
specializes in this, and they'll know all the right tests
to get, but that climbing FSH will be an indication. Okay.
(14:23):
And you know if you ask someone that's got a
unique situation like you're not ovulating or you've had a
partial or complete hysterectomy, then you know every case is
unique and you need to work very closely with your doctor. Okay,
all right, thank you, I will.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Can you tell me about you talked to a little
bit about how you're able to manage your symptoms? Can
you give people listening some advice on how to manage
their symptoms?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yeah? Absolutely so. I guess the two big factors that
as a blanket are going to help you the most
is around sleep and alcohol, so more reduction. So I
will so I will tell you a few things. So
if you're someone that's starting to really notice these symptoms
(15:12):
dialing up, whether it's mood changes, headaches, before your period,
you know, fatigue, brain fog, the rage, the rage I
hear about the time and mine is very much in
that week before my period. One thing that will really
help to temper that is really good quality sleep. Okay, okay,
(15:37):
you metabolize your hormones. A lot of that. A lot
of that metabolism happens while you're asleep. So so for example,
if you've had those surges that you know, I was
talking about the roller coaster, when you've had a surge
of estrogen, for example, your body needs to clear it out,
but it's doing a bad job of clearing it out.
That's when you've got things like salt boobs. That's when
(15:58):
you'll get those headaches, that's when you'll get those feelings
of rage. So we want to help you metabolize estrogen better.
So sleep is really really and so not for that.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
What if you can't, what if you're having trouble sleeping,
which also happens at this.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Well, look, I always say with sleep, there's you control
the controllables. So there are factors in sleep that are
within your control, for example, hours in bed, you'll sleep hygiene,
you know practices. So starting by controlling the controllables and
doing all your sleep hygiene, I think we all know
what they are. Phone out of the room, you know,
(16:34):
scre scrolling away two hours before bed or all that
sort of, all those sleep hygiene. I've got a great
sleep hygiene checklist if anyone needs it. And then if
you are suffering from insomnia for you know, various reasons,
it's then working with someone to help address those. If
(16:55):
all the controllables are working well for you, then you know.
Cbt I, that's Cognitive behavior Therapy for insomnia is something
to look into. That's a really great one. It's proven,
it's very very effective. Oh okay, yeah, cbt I. You
can just sort of google it. There's podcasts on it,
and there's practitioners that will okay, yeah, that will help you.
(17:17):
And so yeah, so I would start by controlling the controllables.
In my experience, there's a lot of levers that can
be pulled.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Okay, I'm just writing down CBT I because yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, cognitive. But so it's basically talk therapy. But then
they have these particular protocols you have to follow. One
of them is actually sleep restriction, where they actually limit
it's a whole other episode, but they actually reduce the
amount that you are in bed for for a period
of time. So it's a whole process. It's a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Okay, okay, but if you're having trouble sleeping, that it's
worth doing something like that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah, yes, if this is chronic for you, because chronic
insomnia is going to have such a big knock on
effect for so many health issues, not just managing perimenopause.
But we need to sleep well. And I have noticed
anecdotally with myself the months that I'm fanatical about my sleep,
I will have much much lower symptoms, particularly that week
(18:17):
leading up to your period. Even if you go Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday night, I am fanatical about my sleep. If that
means that you know, that's the night I'm not watching TV.
I'm going straight for my bedtime routine. Even if you
can just now three nights a week and that's it,
then go for it. So sleep alcohol alcohol, If you
(18:37):
are like, I love a good drink, but if I know,
like for example, if I if I'm feeling that I'm
quite symptomatic this month, that week, but that few days
of ovulation and that week before my period, I am
kneel by mouth with it.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Okay, okay?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
And why what does it do? What are the effects?
Alcohol is a is what's called a high priority fuel poison.
So when our body is flushed with alcohol, it has
to basically put all those other kind of less important
processes on hold while it metabolizes this toxin. So that's
why you absorb more fat from a meal. If you
(19:15):
eat a pizza with a beer, you're going to absorb
more fat from that meal because it disrupts your digestion,
you know, hormone regulation, sleep, All of those get shunted
and they get pushed to the side because the only
thing the body and liver wants to metabolize is it
wants to get rid of this poison. That's wow.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Okay, that's so. And do you recommend all like only
kind of staying off the alcohol for that period of
time like before, or I mean in general just kind
of be more conscious.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Look, I don't want to tell your listeners what to do,
and I think that everyone's on their own alcohol journey
when I as soon as I started tracking my sleep,
it's basically made me a teetotaler because yeah, I've I've
heard this so much. But it's actually great because it
wasn't hard to stop drinking. It just it was a
(20:07):
priority shift. I looked at, Yeah, what it was doing
to my sleeping heart rate was jumping ten beats per minute,
So every minute my heart was beating tenets higher, like
I was in a state of stress, and I know
that it just didn't agree with me. I just looked
at and I thought, you know what, I'll just get
a mocktail. Everyone else is having a Margie. I'm just
having a mocktail more.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, good on you. I've heard this from like where
I go strength training. There's quite a few women who
have those rings like.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
The aura Aura. Yes.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yes, they say that they can now see the effects
after they have alcohol, what it does to their sleep
and their body for the twenty four hours afterwards, and it's.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Just not worth it. Yeah. So that's why I'm saying, like,
if you absolutely love a drink, then just look at
that day twelve to fourteen can you just have some
AFDs alcol free days there, and then if you feel
like you've been symptomatic and it's enough that you get
in the mummy rage and you're getting all those things,
then go off it. There's a couple of other supplements
(21:02):
I recommend as well for really good symptom management. There's
a supplement called nac NAC, which is yeah, yeah, it's
an amino acid, and so you take this combo together
Nack and Dim. There's a brand Switch Nutrition sell them
as a powder. You can have them anytime of the day,
but they help you metabolize estrogen really well, so they'll
(21:25):
help you if you're having high estrogen, but they'll also
help you if you're having low estrogen as well. And
they're compounds that are found in chrysiferous vegetables, So you
can have the KNACK and DIM combo or you can
also this is another thing I've started doing is having
a lot of cruciferous veggie. So I'll literally have a
big bowl of steamed broccoli with a bit of tamari
(21:46):
and some toasted sesame seeds or Brussels sprouts or cauliflower.
So in that week leading up to your period. Really
load up on the chrysiferous vegetables because they contain NAC
and DIM. That will also help you tabilize your issuagen
a lot better.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
That's interesting. I don't know. I haven't like prior, you know,
until probably like six months ago, I had never heard
of NAK. I've still never heard of DIM, but I've
heard of it because of Sally Overmeter's brand Swish and
they're they're talking about it all the time. Important. Yes,
I'll have to check her one out. Yeah, So I
(22:23):
am going to go and get myself some of that now.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yeah. It helps with glutathione production, which look all of
these all of this just starts to deplete as we
go through that Perry menopause stage. So it's definitely worth
trying to from a symptom management, I found it really
helped me.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Okay, amazing. That's such good advice, Amelia. I want to
also talk about the changes to our bodies during in
terms of our appearance during Perry, because I hear all
the time and I can tell myself now, like if
I've put on weight, it's much harder to lose it
now than it used to be. And a lot of
women say that, and we want to be doing things
(23:07):
in the healthy you know, in a healthy way, and
you're restricting ourselves because what is the point of that?
So can you tell us how we go about that
in a healthy way?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yeah? Absolutely, so, yeah, you're not wrong. What tends to
happen is as we lose the protective element of estrogen,
our metabolic health, which is kind of our ability to
manage our weight, for example, starts to decline. So it's
something called metabolic flexibility. You want to be very metabolically flexible,
(23:39):
where you're switching between burning sugars or glood glucose and
fat and so normally, you know, in a healthy cycle,
we're very good at having that flexibility to switch from
fat to sugar. But as we hit Perry and late
stage Perry, we start to find it a lot harder
(24:00):
to switch on that fat burning that lipolysis, and we
tend to prioritize burning glucose, and then we see the
insulin resistance starting to develop. I highly recommend tracking this.
So for example, in our program, we measure fifty five
key blood biomarkers and including a whole bunch of metabolic
ones where you can literally see if you're insulin resistant
or you can see that number climbing, so you get
(24:21):
a sense of that. So managing your metabolic flexibility so
that you stay nice and sensitive to insulin will stop
you that weight shifting to the middle, because a big
sign of insulin resistance is where you start to notice
a bit more belly fat and it's more dangerous.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
What if your levels are high, like then do what
do you do?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
So there's a whole bunch I'll throw. I mean, there's
all these great strategies. I'll throw three quick ones at you.
So switching to a savory breakfast, making sure that the
breakfast you have is very low lowering carbohydrates and higher
in protein and fiber, so you know, avocado on you know,
a much thinner slice of you know, sourdough multi grains
(25:04):
as opposed to a high glycemics moothie for example, or
a bowl of cereal that's very high glycemic and sweet,
a sweet breakfast and lots of eggs for example. So
starting the day with a savory breakfast is a really
quick way to improve your metabolic flexibility. Feeling hungry below
(25:24):
the neck twice a day, what what does that mean?
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Like listening to your belly, to your hunger sides.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Do this all exercise. The next time you feel hungry,
ask yourself, do I feel hungry below the neck or
above the neck?
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Because that's so good, Okay.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Because when you feel hungry below the neck, that's true hunger.
That's when what's happening is your blood sugar levels are dropping,
and so a lovely hormone called grillan okate, I always
think about like a gremlin. Grelan lights up and it
starts to make you feel hungry. You get that rumble
in your stomach. Okay. Every time you feel that you
are improving your insulin sensitivity, what is happening is you're
(26:09):
switching into fat burning. I've actually got this really cool
device I'll show you here. It's called the lik I
always test all these amazing This tells you whether you're
in You blow. It looks like a vape, but you
breathe into it and it will tell you on your
app whether you're burning bluecoas or fat or bluecoast. But
every time when you feel hungry below the neck, you
are switching on lipolysis, so fat burning, and you're improving
(26:32):
your metabolic flexibility. Many of us never feel hungry. I
can't tell you how many of our members come to
us going I never feel hungry for breakfast. I just
eat it because I'm told to eat it, but I'm
not hungry.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
But how can you never feel hungry?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I so many people trust me and they just or
they're so what happens is they they're eating breakfast when
they're not hungry, and they're not hungry because either their
digestion hasn't dialed on, hasn't come online, your digestion kind
of comes off line in the morning, or because they
ate so much the day before they just don't need
They're still burning carbohydrates for fuel, so greelin doesn't light up.
(27:08):
So a really good trick is to not eat until
you feel hungry below the neck. If you feel hungry
above the neck, it's usually craving. So it's usually a
taste in your mouth or a feeling in your brain.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Or you're watching TV and you let's want to.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Eat for the sake of it. Yes, you see someone
into that KFC crunchy chicken. You hear the crunchy like,
oh yeah, wow, I feel like some fried chicken.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah yeah, yeah. Such good advice. I'm going to do
that from now on.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, and there's one more for insulin sensitivity. There's a
great supplement that's very safe to take. That's why I
can recommend it. It's called myo inosatol and it's a
natural compound that is got a lot of research behind
it for in improving your insulin sensitivity. It helps you
burn fat. So google Mayo and ocatoll. We put a
lot of ladies on that and we see their insulin
(27:55):
resistant markers drop down even though they've hardly changed anything else.
Just like a capsule every day, it's a powder power.
I just take it. Yeah, you just follow the packet instructions.
I do say to people, kind of tie traight up.
Start on maybe a third of a dose for a
few days, so like a third. I think it's that
there's a little scoopa a third, then go to two thirds.
Just a couple of people have will get if they
(28:17):
go straight to the full dose. They might get some
tummy discomfort, loose stalls as their bodies adjusting to it.
But it's an insulin sensitizer, myo inocetol.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Okay, all right, adding that to KRT right now too.
This is all so interesting. I don't know any of
this stuff. I love it, and I'll write down all
your suggestions and things like in the in that when
I pop it up in so people can yet nowhere
to go and what to get.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yeah, okay, okay, so sorry, go just before we move
on to your next question, because I feel like I
only partially answer your question. You're like, what can Your
question was about the body and what we can do
to kind of help our bodies navigate, And I just
spent a lot of time talking about managing your metabolic health. Okay,
and I also want to talk about muscle mass as well,
(29:05):
because oh yes, and then I'm going to talk about skin,
So let me just I'll touch on these super quickly.
So it's really really important to protect and preserve and
try to build our lean muscle tissue throughout our forties.
So that's where a lot of our ladies that have
maybe never done strength training before, we need to get
into strength training. Pilarates is a great place to start. Yes,
I love pilarates, nothing against it, but it is not enough.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yes, I hear this all the time, and big my
goal for this year is just to get stronger, and
I love going to my strength classes. I feel so
good doing it. And I used to do strength and
pilates and I you know, again as you said, no
offense to anyone who is doing pilates and that's working
for you great. But just due to time, I'm like,
(29:50):
I need for myself to skip doing the pilates and
do strength instead, so more strength, less of that.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I'm already feeling so much stronger.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
It is.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
It's empowering, don't you get so quickly? And you have
all these other great halo benefits about less joint pain.
You know, you don't get the saw backs anymore. You
just feel amazing at boosts your energy levels. You're able
to walk up and downstairs or throw that you know
suitcase into the boot with no issues. So definitely metabolic
(30:24):
health really work on your strength because it declines. And
then the third thing is collagen, skin and collagen. By
the time we lose by the time we are in
our postmenopausal stage, we have lost thirty percent of our
bodies collagen.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Who so should everyone be taking a collagen supplement?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Look, you know, horses for courses. I'm always a food
first girl, except interestingly, collagen is one of the very
few supplements where actually the supplement form of it is
uptaken better by the cells than the food form of it.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Oh wow, so you're better off taking it in capsule
form than eating or powder.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, it's make sure you're taking hydrolyzed collagen. I love
if you want to taste you want. There's two brands
that I love if you want like's just absolute most
clinically research. There's a brand called Designs for Health Whole
Body Collagen that has the three most research types of collagen,
tasteless powder to have at any time of the day
however you want. But then Chief does a hot, hot
(31:31):
chocolate collagen and it is my lifesaver because I've got
such a big sweet tooth. So it tastes amazing and
just a scoop in your in your teacup with boiling water.
I put a splash of milk. Actually put my Meaga
three oil in it, which is though it tastes, it
tastes like a jaffa because it's got the citrus. And
I have that when I'm craving something sweet, so for
(31:53):
my afternoon tea after dinner, Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
I love that. Yes, I'm always craving something sweet.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
After that's a great idea. Yeah, and it helps with digestion,
it helps with joints. We always not like we think
about hair, skin and nails, but you forget that your
intestines are also very similar structure to your skin. You
get ringed test sines and you gut permeability changes. So
if you've got any digestive issues you're noticing through Perry
an increase in IBS symptoms, collagen can be really helpful. Amazing.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
I've never heard that either, and I have a lot
of that so I and I've never taken collagen. Now
I feel like I'm embarrassed, like I should have known
to do that.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
We should be really interested in you doing. We do
this big functional gut health test, complete microbiome mapping. I'd
love to understand yours to see if there's to see
how your MS is affecting, because I think you were
talking about the kind of the neurotransmitters, but whether there's
anything in the actual structure. That test looks at the
(32:55):
four key drivers as optimal gut health, and so you
might have three drivers that are just nailing it and
one that's a bit out of whack, and so yeah,
be a bit lazy. Yeah, yeah, or you know, it
could be your your could be the gut barrier lining,
it could be your digestive enzymes. There's a whole, but
it's great to break it down. It would be interesting
to see. Yeah, this is done to your gut function. Okay, amazing.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Well, thank you so much for joining us, Amelia. I
have learnt so much. Yay, so thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Absolute pleasure. Okay, bye bye.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
That was so good.
Hello everybody, and welcome to Iconic. This episode of Icronic
is a little bit different. We are minus Monty Diamond
and we are plus the fabulous Amelia Phillips. For those
of you that don't know Amelia, she's a fitness and
nutrition expert and TV presenter and trainer. Where does she
(00:28):
fit in all of this? I don't know. She's super
passionate about helping women live healthy lives and just an
all round awesome woman. Welcome to our Icronic show, Amelia.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Oh thank you so much for having me, Brookie. I'm
excited for leisure. Today.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
We are going to talk all things pery menopause, because,
let's face it, if you're over forty, this is what
you're thinking about right now.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
This is what everyone's talking about right now, having a moment.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Oh my god, this is like the only ads I'm
getting served on Instagram are like menapause.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
She's over forty?
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah totally. So can you start by telling us, Amelia,
what is peri menopause?
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah? Absolutely, so we all understand. Well, let's let's start
with menopause because we're all working towards that date, which
is around in Australia, the average age of menopause is
fifty one years old, and.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Am I correct in saying that menopause is actually only
one day, Well, Perry is like your whole life.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
No, So menopause is defined as the twelve months in
the absence of a period. Okay, so once you've had
your last period and then twelve months later you are
officially post menopause. Okay, so that kind of that year
you're going through menopause. But peri menopause is the very
(01:54):
slow lead up to menopause, and it's where your hormones
are starting to shift. It's where your eggs so you're ovaries.
You know, we're all born with around a million eggs
and then they slowly decline throughout our life, and those
eggs are starting to the egg carton is starting to
get towards the bottom of the pack. And so with perimenopause,
(02:20):
it's there's actually two quite distinctively different stages. There's early
stage pery and then there's late stage pery. And I
think it's really useful for us to understand the signs
and symptoms to know which stage we're at because a
treatment around that and the symptom management is actually quite different.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I've never heard this.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Okay, tell me it's good, all right, So we work backwards. So, okay,
the easiest way to work this out is if you
know any close female relatives and you know when they
went through menopause, So you ask your sisters, your mum,
so it'll If you don't know that answer, then it'll
just assume you're going to go through it around fifty
one years old. Late stage age peri menopause is the
(03:01):
one to three years before menopause, So basically, from around
forty eight, chances are you've shifted into late stage perry,
and I'll explain what that is in a moment. And
then early stage perry is that sort of you know,
three to up to ten years before menopause. So pretty
much like you say, in your forties, you're most likely
(03:25):
in peri menopause. Some people start a lot earlier, around
thirty five. And again, it just you've got to work
If your mum went through menopause at forty five, for example,
then yes, if she had an earlier menopause, you may
have started perry.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
So sorry to interrupt, Does this have anything to do
with when the age when you got your period?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
No, because one of the first signs is that your
period starts to your whole cycle starts to shorten. So say,
for example, you're on a twenty eight day cycle, you
may start to notice it consistently it's now twenty six days.
And this is why if I can give you one
piece of parting advice to my ladies that are maybe
at the beginning of their pery journey, start tracking a period. Okay,
(04:08):
it's really helpful. It's just two taps a month, you know,
once on day one to say, oh, my period just started,
and once on day four or five, oh my period
just ended. You just do that. I've been doing it
ever since I was family planning, so I've got fifteen
years now of dataw so I can see. I can
see very clearly when my period was bang, bang, twenty
(04:29):
eight day. I've got the chart, and then it just started.
There was a short period of twenty seven and now
it sits between twenty five and twenty six days every month. Wow,
So I know that that I know I'm in early
because then what happens in late stage pery is the
opposite happens and your cycle starts to lengthen. And a
really good sign is if your period, or your cycle
(04:51):
is varying by more than seven days in a month,
then that's a sign that you're now getting into late
stage perimenopause. So for example, one month that was twenty
eight days, and then the next month it's thirty five days,
and then the next month it's twenty seven days, and
then the next month it's thirty three days. So when
you're starting to see these bigger breaks between a period,
(05:14):
that's when we're starting to see your estrogen levels really
starting to tank and really starting to go down because
there's less eggs, there's only a few eggs left in
the ovaries. And whereas early stage perimenopause, which I find
really interesting because people associate perry and menopause with a
decline in estrogen, which is what happens, and by the
(05:34):
time where postmenopause were, estrogen levels settle at about the
same low levels that it was as it was before puberty.
But what's really interesting I find is that in that
early stage perimenopause, you can actually have a lot of
estrogen dominance, and you can actually have higher estrogen levels
than you've ever had in your life. Hey, okay, and
(05:55):
we roller coasters, right, Okay, and does that have anything
to do with our moods, Like when that happens, our
moods also roller coaster, yes, and so so in that
early stage perimenopause, it tends to be the it tends
to be the roller coastering of your hormones that cause
(06:19):
a lot of the symptoms. And because what's happening is progesterone,
so estrogen tends to fluctuate. So it will spike around
ovulation around day fourteen and then and then it drops down,
and then it starts to climb towards the end of
your period, and then and then it tanks just as
you get your period, and progesterone throughout early stage Perry
(06:40):
just tends to just start it will it does fluctuate
a little bit, but you start to see progesterone gently
just declining, Whereas in late stage Perry, that's when what's
happening is your estrogen is starting to really peter out.
And so that's when things like hormone replacement therapy, particularly
around estrogen, can be super helpful. But for some people
(07:00):
they're put on estrogen in that early stage Perry, if
they're seeing a doctor that met might not be as
experience in hormone management, and I've seen this happen a
lot in members in my program. So I run a
program Vitality three sixty with an integrative GP where we
do a lot around hormono HOV. We see a lot
of people coming to us who have been put on
(07:21):
estrogen in that early stage and they're actually getting now
really bad estrogen dominance symptoms. So wow, that is interesting. Yeah,
they shouldn't have been put on it so well, that.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Happens a lot. I can imagine that happens a lot
because a lot of the feedback kind of eye here
from a lot of people around my age is that
like a GP just doesn't know much about home menopause,
Like you really need to go to a specialist because
otherwise you're just not getting the right They.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Absolutely, they just don't. It's not their fault. They just
don't get the training. They haven't had the training, we
haven't had the research out there. There is an amazing
book and a bible, So to recommend this to any
of your ladies that are really super interested and wanting
to navigate this season really well. It's called The Hormone
(08:10):
Repair Manual by Lara Brydon and Lara is. It's great
because she is based in New Zealand and in Australia,
so the drugs she talks about are all Australian brands.
Because you're right, you've got some incredible hormone expert. Louise
Newsome is the kind of queen oh yes and a pause,
but she often talks in because she's in the UK, right,
(08:32):
okay language. And the great thing about Lara's book, I've
actually got it sitting right behind me, the Hormone Repair Manual.
The great thing about it is that she also says
questions to ask your doctor, and she has these breakout boxes.
You could literally take the book into the doctor's surgery
and use it like a script, and she says, and
if your doctor says no, you should do this, this
(08:54):
and this, she says, oh well then you say this
to your dog.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Oh that's amazing. Okay, I'm getting that book, and I'm
going to recommend that everybody listening get that book.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah you will, yeah you it's mine. Is covered in
green highlighter and you know, doggie it and all that
sort of stuff. It's a great bible because this period
I liken it to a storm season and if you
think about if you think about a good sailor, they're
out on the Caribbean. It's nice and calm. This is
your you know, mid thirties, late thirties. It's nice and calm.
(09:24):
But then you get news that there's a storm on
the horizon. So what the sailor does is they do
what sailors do. They lock the cupboards, they batten down
the hatches, they get the ropes all ready to go,
they pop their jacket on, they prepare themselves as best,
they arm themselves as best as they can. Then the
storm hits and they're making quick adjustments along the way,
(09:44):
which is the equivalent of our symptom management, which I
thought will chat about in a moment, making those quick
adjustments as the storm progresses. And then once the storm
season passes, the beautiful sun comes out again, mooth sailing waters,
and those that have navigated the storm season well, their
boat is less battered and bruised and the mass hasn't snapped.
(10:08):
And that's the equivalent of chronic disease. You know, if
we can some of us will sell through this period
with great ease. And you know, we might have a
few symptoms, but will come out the other side not
too battered and bruised. Yeah, I see a lot of
women who because they weren't educated, they didn't know, they
did not they weren't prepared for the storm season, they
(10:29):
weren't able to navigate it. They didn't have the support,
and so off the other side, they're battling with chronic diseases,
with metabolic issues like insulin resistance, type two diabetes, autoimmune
flare ups, gut issues. So that's why it's so important
to navigate so important.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Can I want to talk more about that, but can
I go back to there being the two stages and
ask are there you know, obviously your period changes and
that's the indication of where you're at. Are there any
symptoms that are specific to early and late Perry.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Well, I'll talk about high estrogen because I think that's
I think that's something that you see more of in
early stage Perry. And so if you are having a
bit of a high estrogen month, some signs of this,
for example, are really sore boobs. Okay, So I don't
know if you've noticed that this happens with me. Where
(11:27):
some months around day fourteen, around ovulation, I'll get really
sore boobs, and then they might disappear, and then maybe
in the week before my period they'll get sore again.
That's kind of the normal what should happen when your
cycle's quite normal and healthy in regular. But then there'll
be some months where they get really sore on day
fourteen and they stay sow all the way through to
(11:48):
day twenty eight, and that's the sign of a high
estrogen month. And then like last month, for example, I
didn't get saw boobs at all. I like kept pressing them,
going there's nothing I reckon. I was having a lot
estrogen month, and so I changed some of my behaviors
and my symptom management to support more estrogen on the
(12:09):
month where I could feel I was low, and then
on the months I had for high estrogen. Because what
happens when you've got a lot of estrogen floating around
in your body, your body has to metabolize it. And
when it's not very good at metabolizing estrogen, that's when
you get really bad symptoms like for example, headaches, mood disturbances,
(12:30):
brain fog, etc. So yeah, so that's the symptoms. And
then toward in late stage pery, you tend to get
more of those hot flushes and those night sweats, although
I am starting to get night sweats already in early
but yeah, i'd say that estrogen dominance. Also, if you're
carrying a bit of extra body fat, you're more prone
(12:50):
to estrogen dominance things like facial hair and anyone within
demetrious or PCs will know a lot about those kind
of estrogen dominance, But unk about more of those subtle
day to day changes.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yes, that's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Ce emilia.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
I don't get a period, I don't ovulate, Hence I've
got two little IVF babers, so I often think, how
will I know? But I guess my estrogen levels will
be the way I'll be able to tell where I'm at.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
And FSH So there's another hormone I haven't really spoken
about that is less important from a symptom perspective, But
FSH is follicular stimulating hormone is Think of it like
the coach and think or and it's the coach that's
shouting to your ovaries the players okay, And when you're
(13:43):
ovulating and you've got a normal cycle, FSH is just
you know, being the good, nice, quiet coach on the sidelines. Yep,
you guys are doing your job. Players, off you go.
Then as the eggs start to run down, and think
of it like the base I don't know the balls,
the balls start to decline and fuddally the coach has
to start to yell a bit louder and say, hey, guys,
(14:03):
come on, get out on the field. What are you doing?
And so you'll see FSH starting to climb, so you
so I would if I were you, I would be
going and speaking definitely to women's health doctor that really
specializes in this, and they'll know all the right tests
to get, but that climbing FSH will be an indication. Okay.
(14:23):
And you know if you ask someone that's got a
unique situation like you're not ovulating or you've had a
partial or complete hysterectomy, then you know every case is
unique and you need to work very closely with your doctor. Okay,
all right, thank you, I will.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
Can you tell me about you talked to a little
bit about how you're able to manage your symptoms? Can
you give people listening some advice on how to manage
their symptoms?
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yeah? Absolutely so. I guess the two big factors that
as a blanket are going to help you the most
is around sleep and alcohol, so more reduction. So I
will so I will tell you a few things. So
if you're someone that's starting to really notice these symptoms
(15:12):
dialing up, whether it's mood changes, headaches, before your period,
you know, fatigue, brain fog, the rage, the rage I
hear about the time and mine is very much in
that week before my period. One thing that will really
help to temper that is really good quality sleep. Okay, okay,
(15:37):
you metabolize your hormones. A lot of that. A lot
of that metabolism happens while you're asleep. So so for example,
if you've had those surges that you know, I was
talking about the roller coaster, when you've had a surge
of estrogen, for example, your body needs to clear it out,
but it's doing a bad job of clearing it out.
That's when you've got things like salt boobs. That's when
(15:58):
you'll get those headaches, that's when you'll get those feelings
of rage. So we want to help you metabolize estrogen better.
So sleep is really really and so not for that.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
What if you can't, what if you're having trouble sleeping,
which also happens at this.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Well, look, I always say with sleep, there's you control
the controllables. So there are factors in sleep that are
within your control, for example, hours in bed, you'll sleep hygiene,
you know practices. So starting by controlling the controllables and
doing all your sleep hygiene, I think we all know
what they are. Phone out of the room, you know,
(16:34):
scre scrolling away two hours before bed or all that
sort of, all those sleep hygiene. I've got a great
sleep hygiene checklist if anyone needs it. And then if
you are suffering from insomnia for you know, various reasons,
it's then working with someone to help address those. If
(16:55):
all the controllables are working well for you, then you know.
Cbt I, that's Cognitive behavior Therapy for insomnia is something
to look into. That's a really great one. It's proven,
it's very very effective. Oh okay, yeah, cbt I. You
can just sort of google it. There's podcasts on it,
and there's practitioners that will okay, yeah, that will help you.
(17:17):
And so yeah, so I would start by controlling the controllables.
In my experience, there's a lot of levers that can
be pulled.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Okay, I'm just writing down CBT I because yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, cognitive. But so it's basically talk therapy. But then
they have these particular protocols you have to follow. One
of them is actually sleep restriction, where they actually limit
it's a whole other episode, but they actually reduce the
amount that you are in bed for for a period
of time. So it's a whole process. It's a whole thing.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Okay, okay, but if you're having trouble sleeping, that it's
worth doing something like that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah, yes, if this is chronic for you, because chronic
insomnia is going to have such a big knock on
effect for so many health issues, not just managing perimenopause.
But we need to sleep well. And I have noticed
anecdotally with myself the months that I'm fanatical about my sleep,
I will have much much lower symptoms, particularly that week
(18:17):
leading up to your period. Even if you go Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday night, I am fanatical about my sleep. If that
means that you know, that's the night I'm not watching TV.
I'm going straight for my bedtime routine. Even if you
can just now three nights a week and that's it,
then go for it. So sleep alcohol alcohol, If you
(18:37):
are like, I love a good drink, but if I know,
like for example, if I if I'm feeling that I'm
quite symptomatic this month, that week, but that few days
of ovulation and that week before my period, I am
kneel by mouth with it.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Okay, okay?
Speaker 2 (18:53):
And why what does it do? What are the effects?
Alcohol is a is what's called a high priority fuel poison.
So when our body is flushed with alcohol, it has
to basically put all those other kind of less important
processes on hold while it metabolizes this toxin. So that's
why you absorb more fat from a meal. If you
(19:15):
eat a pizza with a beer, you're going to absorb
more fat from that meal because it disrupts your digestion,
you know, hormone regulation, sleep, All of those get shunted
and they get pushed to the side because the only
thing the body and liver wants to metabolize is it
wants to get rid of this poison. That's wow.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Okay, that's so. And do you recommend all like only
kind of staying off the alcohol for that period of
time like before, or I mean in general just kind
of be more conscious.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Look, I don't want to tell your listeners what to do,
and I think that everyone's on their own alcohol journey
when I as soon as I started tracking my sleep,
it's basically made me a teetotaler because yeah, I've I've
heard this so much. But it's actually great because it
wasn't hard to stop drinking. It just it was a
(20:07):
priority shift. I looked at, Yeah, what it was doing
to my sleeping heart rate was jumping ten beats per minute,
So every minute my heart was beating tenets higher, like
I was in a state of stress, and I know
that it just didn't agree with me. I just looked
at and I thought, you know what, I'll just get
a mocktail. Everyone else is having a Margie. I'm just
having a mocktail more.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, good on you. I've heard this from like where
I go strength training. There's quite a few women who
have those rings like.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
The aura Aura. Yes.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Yes, they say that they can now see the effects
after they have alcohol, what it does to their sleep
and their body for the twenty four hours afterwards, and it's.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Just not worth it. Yeah. So that's why I'm saying, like,
if you absolutely love a drink, then just look at
that day twelve to fourteen can you just have some
AFDs alcol free days there, and then if you feel
like you've been symptomatic and it's enough that you get
in the mummy rage and you're getting all those things,
then go off it. There's a couple of other supplements
(21:02):
I recommend as well for really good symptom management. There's
a supplement called nac NAC, which is yeah, yeah, it's
an amino acid, and so you take this combo together
Nack and Dim. There's a brand Switch Nutrition sell them
as a powder. You can have them anytime of the day,
but they help you metabolize estrogen really well, so they'll
(21:25):
help you if you're having high estrogen, but they'll also
help you if you're having low estrogen as well. And
they're compounds that are found in chrysiferous vegetables, So you
can have the KNACK and DIM combo or you can
also this is another thing I've started doing is having
a lot of cruciferous veggie. So I'll literally have a
big bowl of steamed broccoli with a bit of tamari
(21:46):
and some toasted sesame seeds or Brussels sprouts or cauliflower.
So in that week leading up to your period. Really
load up on the chrysiferous vegetables because they contain NAC
and DIM. That will also help you tabilize your issuagen
a lot better.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
That's interesting. I don't know. I haven't like prior, you know,
until probably like six months ago, I had never heard
of NAK. I've still never heard of DIM, but I've
heard of it because of Sally Overmeter's brand Swish and
they're they're talking about it all the time. Important. Yes,
I'll have to check her one out. Yeah, So I
(22:23):
am going to go and get myself some of that now.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
Yeah. It helps with glutathione production, which look all of
these all of this just starts to deplete as we
go through that Perry menopause stage. So it's definitely worth
trying to from a symptom management, I found it really
helped me.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Okay, amazing. That's such good advice, Amelia. I want to
also talk about the changes to our bodies during in
terms of our appearance during Perry, because I hear all
the time and I can tell myself now, like if
I've put on weight, it's much harder to lose it
now than it used to be. And a lot of
women say that, and we want to be doing things
(23:07):
in the healthy you know, in a healthy way, and
you're restricting ourselves because what is the point of that?
So can you tell us how we go about that
in a healthy way?
Speaker 2 (23:19):
Yeah? Absolutely, so, yeah, you're not wrong. What tends to
happen is as we lose the protective element of estrogen,
our metabolic health, which is kind of our ability to
manage our weight, for example, starts to decline. So it's
something called metabolic flexibility. You want to be very metabolically flexible,
(23:39):
where you're switching between burning sugars or glood glucose and
fat and so normally, you know, in a healthy cycle,
we're very good at having that flexibility to switch from
fat to sugar. But as we hit Perry and late
stage Perry, we start to find it a lot harder
(24:00):
to switch on that fat burning that lipolysis, and we
tend to prioritize burning glucose, and then we see the
insulin resistance starting to develop. I highly recommend tracking this.
So for example, in our program, we measure fifty five
key blood biomarkers and including a whole bunch of metabolic
ones where you can literally see if you're insulin resistant
or you can see that number climbing, so you get
(24:21):
a sense of that. So managing your metabolic flexibility so
that you stay nice and sensitive to insulin will stop
you that weight shifting to the middle, because a big
sign of insulin resistance is where you start to notice
a bit more belly fat and it's more dangerous.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
What if your levels are high, like then do what
do you do?
Speaker 2 (24:42):
So there's a whole bunch I'll throw. I mean, there's
all these great strategies. I'll throw three quick ones at you.
So switching to a savory breakfast, making sure that the
breakfast you have is very low lowering carbohydrates and higher
in protein and fiber, so you know, avocado on you know,
a much thinner slice of you know, sourdough multi grains
(25:04):
as opposed to a high glycemics moothie for example, or
a bowl of cereal that's very high glycemic and sweet,
a sweet breakfast and lots of eggs for example. So
starting the day with a savory breakfast is a really
quick way to improve your metabolic flexibility. Feeling hungry below
(25:24):
the neck twice a day, what what does that mean?
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Like listening to your belly, to your hunger sides.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Do this all exercise. The next time you feel hungry,
ask yourself, do I feel hungry below the neck or
above the neck?
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Because that's so good, Okay.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Because when you feel hungry below the neck, that's true hunger.
That's when what's happening is your blood sugar levels are dropping,
and so a lovely hormone called grillan okate, I always
think about like a gremlin. Grelan lights up and it
starts to make you feel hungry. You get that rumble
in your stomach. Okay. Every time you feel that you
are improving your insulin sensitivity, what is happening is you're
(26:09):
switching into fat burning. I've actually got this really cool
device I'll show you here. It's called the lik I
always test all these amazing This tells you whether you're
in You blow. It looks like a vape, but you
breathe into it and it will tell you on your
app whether you're burning bluecoas or fat or bluecoast. But
every time when you feel hungry below the neck, you
are switching on lipolysis, so fat burning, and you're improving
(26:32):
your metabolic flexibility. Many of us never feel hungry. I
can't tell you how many of our members come to
us going I never feel hungry for breakfast. I just
eat it because I'm told to eat it, but I'm
not hungry.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
But how can you never feel hungry?
Speaker 2 (26:45):
I so many people trust me and they just or
they're so what happens is they they're eating breakfast when
they're not hungry, and they're not hungry because either their
digestion hasn't dialed on, hasn't come online, your digestion kind
of comes off line in the morning, or because they
ate so much the day before they just don't need
They're still burning carbohydrates for fuel, so greelin doesn't light up.
(27:08):
So a really good trick is to not eat until
you feel hungry below the neck. If you feel hungry
above the neck, it's usually craving. So it's usually a
taste in your mouth or a feeling in your brain.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Or you're watching TV and you let's want to.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Eat for the sake of it. Yes, you see someone
into that KFC crunchy chicken. You hear the crunchy like,
oh yeah, wow, I feel like some fried chicken.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Yeah yeah, yeah. Such good advice. I'm going to do
that from now on.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Yeah, and there's one more for insulin sensitivity. There's a
great supplement that's very safe to take. That's why I
can recommend it. It's called myo inosatol and it's a
natural compound that is got a lot of research behind
it for in improving your insulin sensitivity. It helps you
burn fat. So google Mayo and ocatoll. We put a
lot of ladies on that and we see their insulin
(27:55):
resistant markers drop down even though they've hardly changed anything else.
Just like a capsule every day, it's a powder power.
I just take it. Yeah, you just follow the packet instructions.
I do say to people, kind of tie traight up.
Start on maybe a third of a dose for a
few days, so like a third. I think it's that
there's a little scoopa a third, then go to two thirds.
Just a couple of people have will get if they
(28:17):
go straight to the full dose. They might get some
tummy discomfort, loose stalls as their bodies adjusting to it.
But it's an insulin sensitizer, myo inocetol.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Okay, all right, adding that to KRT right now too.
This is all so interesting. I don't know any of
this stuff. I love it, and I'll write down all
your suggestions and things like in the in that when
I pop it up in so people can yet nowhere
to go and what to get.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yeah, okay, okay, so sorry, go just before we move
on to your next question, because I feel like I
only partially answer your question. You're like, what can Your
question was about the body and what we can do
to kind of help our bodies navigate, And I just
spent a lot of time talking about managing your metabolic health. Okay,
and I also want to talk about muscle mass as well,
(29:05):
because oh yes, and then I'm going to talk about skin,
So let me just I'll touch on these super quickly.
So it's really really important to protect and preserve and
try to build our lean muscle tissue throughout our forties.
So that's where a lot of our ladies that have
maybe never done strength training before, we need to get
into strength training. Pilarates is a great place to start. Yes,
I love pilarates, nothing against it, but it is not enough.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yes, I hear this all the time, and big my
goal for this year is just to get stronger, and
I love going to my strength classes. I feel so
good doing it. And I used to do strength and
pilates and I you know, again as you said, no
offense to anyone who is doing pilates and that's working
for you great. But just due to time, I'm like,
(29:50):
I need for myself to skip doing the pilates and
do strength instead, so more strength, less of that.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
I'm already feeling so much stronger.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
It is.
Speaker 2 (30:03):
It's empowering, don't you get so quickly? And you have
all these other great halo benefits about less joint pain.
You know, you don't get the saw backs anymore. You
just feel amazing at boosts your energy levels. You're able
to walk up and downstairs or throw that you know
suitcase into the boot with no issues. So definitely metabolic
(30:24):
health really work on your strength because it declines. And
then the third thing is collagen, skin and collagen. By
the time we lose by the time we are in
our postmenopausal stage, we have lost thirty percent of our
bodies collagen.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Who so should everyone be taking a collagen supplement?
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Look, you know, horses for courses. I'm always a food
first girl, except interestingly, collagen is one of the very
few supplements where actually the supplement form of it is
uptaken better by the cells than the food form of it.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Oh wow, so you're better off taking it in capsule
form than eating or powder.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, it's make sure you're taking hydrolyzed collagen. I love
if you want to taste you want. There's two brands
that I love if you want like's just absolute most
clinically research. There's a brand called Designs for Health Whole
Body Collagen that has the three most research types of collagen,
tasteless powder to have at any time of the day
however you want. But then Chief does a hot, hot
(31:31):
chocolate collagen and it is my lifesaver because I've got
such a big sweet tooth. So it tastes amazing and
just a scoop in your in your teacup with boiling water.
I put a splash of milk. Actually put my Meaga
three oil in it, which is though it tastes, it
tastes like a jaffa because it's got the citrus. And
I have that when I'm craving something sweet, so for
(31:53):
my afternoon tea after dinner, Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
I love that. Yes, I'm always craving something sweet.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
After that's a great idea. Yeah, and it helps with digestion,
it helps with joints. We always not like we think
about hair, skin and nails, but you forget that your
intestines are also very similar structure to your skin. You
get ringed test sines and you gut permeability changes. So
if you've got any digestive issues you're noticing through Perry
an increase in IBS symptoms, collagen can be really helpful. Amazing.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
I've never heard that either, and I have a lot
of that so I and I've never taken collagen. Now
I feel like I'm embarrassed, like I should have known
to do that.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
We should be really interested in you doing. We do
this big functional gut health test, complete microbiome mapping. I'd
love to understand yours to see if there's to see
how your MS is affecting, because I think you were
talking about the kind of the neurotransmitters, but whether there's
anything in the actual structure. That test looks at the
(32:55):
four key drivers as optimal gut health, and so you
might have three drivers that are just nailing it and
one that's a bit out of whack, and so yeah,
be a bit lazy. Yeah, yeah, or you know, it
could be your your could be the gut barrier lining,
it could be your digestive enzymes. There's a whole, but
it's great to break it down. It would be interesting
to see. Yeah, this is done to your gut function. Okay, amazing.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Well, thank you so much for joining us, Amelia. I
have learnt so much. Yay, so thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Absolute pleasure. Okay, bye bye.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
That was so good.
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