November 18, 2025 • 45 mins
In this episode of Asking for a Friend, we’re getting real about what’s happening inside your body in midlife—far beyond diet culture, quick fixes, or another “Motivation Monday.”
I’m joined by Christa Tyler, functional nutritionist, founder of Your Gut Goddess, and breast cancer survivor whose near-fatal sepsis and reconstructive surgery complications sent her on a mission to rebuild health from the inside out. From a hospital bed to a thriving practice, Christa’s story is a powerful example of why midlife women can’t afford to ignore their gut, hormones, and metabolism any longer.
We dig into:
- The blood tests every woman should be asking for in midlife: fasting insulin, A1C, vitamin D, hs-CRP, homocysteine, lipids, B12, and more
- Why “normal range” on labs isn’t always optimal—and how to track trends over time
- The difference between a short-term diet and a sustainable wellness lifestyle (and why 95% of diets fail)
- How gut health, fiber, and the microbiome influence cravings, weight regulation, mood, and long-term disease risk
- The real impact of alcohol on gut health and hormones
- How to help your 20- and 30-something kids build a foundation for longevity now
- Movement, steps, and simple daily habits to nursing-home-proof your future
If you’re a midlife woman navigating perimenopause or menopause, confused about your labs, or wondering where to start with gut health, this conversation will give you the questions, tools, and mindset to become your own best health advocate.
_________________________________________
1:1 health and nutrition coaching or Faster Way - Reach me anytime at mailto:mfolanfasterway@gmail.com
If you’re doing “all the right things” and still feel stuck, it may be time to look deeper. I’ve partnered with EllieMD, a trusted telehealth platform offering modern solutions for women in midlife—including micro-dosed GLP-1 peptide therapy—to support metabolic health and longevity.
https://elliemd.com/michelefolan - Create a free account to view all products.
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https://michelefolanfasterway.myflodesk.com/i6i44jw4fq
🎤 In addition to coaching, I speak to women’s groups, moderate health panel discussions, and bring experts together for real, evidence-based conversations about midlife health.
Transcripts are created with AI and may not be perfectly accurate.
Disclaimer: This podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional healthcare services. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your qualified healthcare provider with any questions regarding a medical condition.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Michele Folan (00:00):
I'm really curious, how many recipes have
you saved over the last month?
How many random workouts aresitting in your camera roll?
And how many times have yousaid I'll start Monday or maybe
in the new year?
Here's the truth (00:13):
you don't need more Pinterest boards or
another motivation Monday.
You need a plan that actuallyties it all together: nutrition,
movement, mindset, and in a waythat's doable and sustainable.
That's exactly what I do in mymetabolism reset with Faster
Way.
I'll teach you how to eat,train, and recover like a woman
(00:34):
who's done making excuses andready to feel strong, confident,
and in control again.
Check the show notes to join usbecause this time I've got you.
Health, wellness, fitness, andeverything in between.
We're removing the taboo fromwhat really matters in midlife.
(00:56):
I'm your host, Michele Folan,and this is Asking for a Friend.
The truth?
You can't supplement, sweat, orspin your way out of what's
happening inside your body.
This week I'm joined by ChristaTyler, functional nutritionist,
founder of Your Gut Goddess,and a woman whose own health
(01:19):
crisis turned into her life'scalling.
From a hospital bed in themiddle of the night to helping
hundreds of women rebuild theirhealth from the inside out,
Christa's story is a powerfulreminder that real healing
starts long before the labresults come back.
We're diving into the bloodtests every woman should be
asking her provider for, thedifference between diet and
(01:41):
lifestyle when it comes tomidlife health, and how to help
your young adult kids build afoundation for longevity now
before symptoms ever start.
Because at every age, your gut,hormones, and metabolism are in
constant conversation.
And it's time we all startlistening.
Christa Tyler, welcome toAsking for a Friend.
(02:02):
So great to be here.
Thanks, Michele.
Well, I have been dying to havethis conversation with you.
And I told you when I wasprepping for this, I was getting
even more excited because Irealized that a lot of these
topics aren't things that we'vetalked about on the podcast
before.
So we're going to dive in.
But I want to really talk aboutyou.
(02:24):
And you have a story.
You talk about in the wee hoursof the morning from your
hospital bed.
You were at one of your lowestpoints.
And I'd love for you to sharethat story with our audience
just to get started.
Absolutely.
Christa Tyler (02:40):
So when I was 28, I was diagnosed with breast
cancer, super out of left field,no real family history to speak
of.
And I opted to have a bilateralmastectomy with a direct
implant reconstruction.
Easy peasy as far as the wholeprocess goes, or so I thought.
And I had multiple surgeries tocorrect it.
(03:01):
And ultimately, that did notsolve anything.
And I ended up septic oneevening.
I everyone else was in thehouse.
I said, It's really chilly inhere.
Can we turn the heat on?
And my husband's like, Well,it's June and it's like 75
degrees out.
So what's actually happening?
And I went upstairs to mybedroom and I took my shirt off
and I was fire engine red frommy clavicle to my ribs on one
(03:22):
side.
Michele Folan (03:22):
Oh God.
Christa Tyler (03:23):
So that was the beginning of the demise and what
turned out to be sepsis fromthat dying breast tissue.
So of course I went to thehospital naively thinking that,
hey, they're gonna save thisimplanted, you know,
reconstructed breast mound.
And I remember vividly one ofthe nurses in the emergency
department stating, We're nottrying to save your breast
(03:46):
implant, sweetie.
We're trying to save you.
And that really was the firsttime I was like, oh, this is a
really big problem.
I was the model of health.
I exercised, I ate really well,I was young, I was a
non-smoker, I barely drank.
I was the person who sailedthrough the surgery.
But yet here we were.
So of course I was admitted tothe hospital for massive doses
(04:08):
of IV therapy.
And it was one evening where Ifelt absolutely horrific.
I tried to sleep.
I was up all night, and I wasjust laying there.
And I said, if I can somehowcome through the other side of
this, there has got to be abetter way.
There's a better way foreducation of what actually
happens in these surgeries andwhat, you know, just how do I
(04:31):
help other women through this?
And that was sort of the firstlight that went off in my brain
of wanting to make sure no otherwoman went through the same
thing as I.
And of course, I can't preventthat on a global scale.
But the education that I waslacking, I naively just went
into the surgery thinking, oh,it's like 1% of people that this
(04:52):
happens to.
It's really not 1% of people,it's much higher than that.
And that was where my missionkind of started.
Through recovering from thathorrific ordeal, I tapped into a
lifelong love of food, superhealthy eating, really changing
my gut health.
I went back to school.
I studied nutrition.
And it was all really at thatpoint to figure out how to help
(05:15):
myself and make sure my kidsnever went through this.
And when I came out on theother side, I was armed with all
of this knowledge.
And I said, I have to somehow,at some point in my world, share
my knowledge with other women.
And slowly it transformed intowhere I am today.
Michele Folan (05:32):
So you had a decade, I think, of managing a
home health care practice.
Yeah.
Was this before or after youhad this horrific ordeal?
During.
It was all during.
Christa Tyler (05:45):
Yeah.
Michele Folan (05:45):
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
And then what was the finalstep to becoming a functional
nutritionist?
So tell me a little bit aboutthat journey.
Christa Tyler (05:57):
So I was in healthcare management.
I sat on the other side.
I managed schedules.
I managed providers.
I did billing.
I did all of the management ofthings.
And after my ordeal, my wholehealth journey, I started
listening when I spoke topatients.
And I listened to in adifferent light, not like, oh
(06:17):
yeah, I can't make thatappointment.
Can you do this?
But like, what were yourstruggles?
I'm so sorry that that happenedto you.
And I would start to ask thesehigh mileage questions.
And people are like, is thislike a counseling appointment or
what is this?
I'm just trying to schedule anappointment.
I'm like, I am so sorry.
I will get you scheduled.
And I slowly started to realizethat it wasn't isolated to me
(06:38):
with my journey.
It was so incredibly widespreadof a low health IQ, not
understanding their diagnosis ornot managing it properly.
And slowly, every day, I waslike, this is my calling.
This is where I'm supposed tobe.
I'm not supposed to be overhere scheduling and managing and
coordinating provider care.
(06:58):
And it was my husband andmyself, our home health care
company, and I sat him down oneevening and I said, I don't
think this is for me anymore.
And he's like, Yeah, I don'tthink so either.
I hear you on the phone, andyou need to figure out what that
journey looks like to you.
(07:18):
And I took sort of theeducational leap and I felt that
functional nutrition for me wasthe path that he was the most
impactful for me.
So I went back to school, got adirect certification in that,
and slowly started not marketingmyself, but talking with
(07:39):
friends.
And I'm like, oh yeah, I hearthat there's something more
there, and working with someonehere and working with someone
there.
And my husband finally said,like, you need to either come
back full-time to this or youneed to just dive headfirst into
what you love, into yourpassion and what you really
light up for.
So with his shove, it reallyhelped thrust me into this
(08:02):
world.
Michele Folan (08:02):
And you call yourself the gut goddess, which
I love.
And you know, it's funny whenyou sit and you chat with
friends or whatever, you realizethat women in midlife, we got a
lot of gut issues that I thinkwe just tolerate.
Is that what you see in yourexperience?
Christa Tyler (08:24):
Yeah.
So we all have gut problems,but nobody wants to talk about
it, right?
No one wants to talk aboutthat.
I went to an ice cream standwith my kids and I ended up with
explosive diarrhea 25 minuteslater.
No one wants to discuss thisstuff.
So we we just quietly sufferwith it.
We don't talk about theconstipation that went on for
eight days that landed us intothe emergency department.
(08:45):
Nobody wants to talk aboutthat.
And through my journey, Irecognized that when my
nutrition was dialed in, I wasthe best version of myself.
I had normal bowel movements.
My skin literally glowed.
It was the I had no headaches.
My psoriasis cleared up andmagically went away.
And it was, I felt like agoddess when my nutrition was
(09:07):
really dialed in and exerciseand doing all of the different,
you know, pillars of health thatI practice, that's when I felt
like a goddess.
And it all originates from yourgut.
So it became your gut goddess.
Michele Folan (09:18):
You know, and we do talk about that every once in
a while on the podcast aboutthe gut brain connection and how
much happier we feel when ourguts are happy.
And, you know, I know it soundslike woo-woo, but it is not
woo-woo.
Christa Tyler (09:35):
Many people, they're like, oh, really?
There's a gut brain connection.
I was like, have you ever heardthe term where your gut is your
second brain?
Or when you get this feelingand you just in the pit of your
stomach and something makes youreally nervous or uneasy, and
you say, Oh my goodness, Ishould probably shouldn't do
that.
That's that gut brain access.
That is your gut, you know,pulling it and connecting it.
(09:57):
So that is exactly whathappens.
And there's a huge connection,diet and mood, right?
So you look, if you Google likeuh nutrition for depression, it
is not necessarily apharmacological intervention as
your first line of defense.
The first line of defense isactually nutrition for many
people.
And we feel literally you canimprove your mood through what
(10:19):
you put into your mouth andimproving that gut health.
Michele Folan (10:22):
Yeah.
And to your point, Christa,that's why it like when I work
with clients, the first thing Ido is I try to dial in on their
nutrition because I feel like wecan't really make any headway
with the fitness piece if we'renot feeling good and have good
energy and we're got sugarcravings all over the place.
So anyway, I appreciate thatand I love your story.
(10:44):
And it's so often on thepodcast, you know, we we go
through these life moments thatreally propel us into doing
something that really becomesour life passion.
So I love that.
Thank you for that.
So Christa very kindly did a, Iwould say, a training session
(11:09):
for my VIP clients a while back.
And one of the things that shediscussed with with our group
was the blood tests that weshould be requesting from our
healthcare providers.
And I've never seen so muchinterest in any topic that we've
covered.
And I thought this would be agreat place for Krista and I to
(11:30):
start.
Could you, first of all, walkus through what blood tests you
would recommend that my midlifeaudience what they should be
asking for and why?
Absolutely.
Christa Tyler (11:43):
So I do see clusters of people coming from
functional medicine practices,and all of a sudden they have
these beautiful labs and we'reable to see trends, right?
This is not a once-and-donekind of blood test.
These are tests that we need todo routinely and regularly to
start seeing trends.
The first one in sort of amidlife that we really should be
looking at is insulin levels.
(12:05):
This is going to be the firstbarometer that things are
starting to quietly shift andcreep up, which can often lead
to insulin resistance, which canlead to type 2 diabetes.
And many times you'll see aslight little increase, nothing
that anyone's really thinkingabout, until all of a sudden we
see three or four of these testsand their increase from what
your baseline was five yearsago.
(12:26):
In midlife, you change nothing.
And all of a sudden your entireworld changes.
You come back with highcholesterol.
You're, you know, told that youhave, you know, pre-diabetes or
type 2 diabetes, and you'resaid, but I've done nothing
differently.
I'm eating the same foods, I'mexercising.
It comes back to that hormonalshift as you go through
menopause and as you get older.
(12:47):
So the insulin levels is goingto be your first little
detective that you can startlooking at.
So I recommend that early andoften.
And even for children, youradult children, late 20s, early
30s, start looking at it.
Understand what that baselineis.
So when something does shift,you can be your own best
advocate and say, hey, fouryears ago it was five, and now
(13:09):
I'm at 16.
What does that mean?
Yeah.
And any physician is going tolook at that and say, oh wow,
that's a big problem.
That's a shift.
Yeah.
Michele Folan (13:16):
And you're talking a fasting insulin.
Yes.
A fasting insulin level.
Okay.
All right.
Christa Tyler (13:21):
So that's definitively one that I want to
see.
Obviously, the A1C is going toreally go hand in hand with
that.
That's nothing special.
It's not unique.
Most physicians are, you know,including that in routine
screening annually.
If for some reason you've neverhad one drawn, simply ask.
Most doctors are really excitedto take a proactive step.
Vitamin D is another one thatwe really want to see.
(13:44):
Most women are deficient in it.
And when we're deficient in it,we are not absorbing calcium
the way that we should be.
So we need those two things togo hand in hand synergistically,
which is also going to affectyour bone density down the road.
So you want to really make surethat you were, if you're
deficient, that you aresupplementing, speak with your
doctor of how that works.
(14:05):
But that is a really great oneto keep an eye on as well.
Another marker that I like tosee is high sensitivity C
reactive protein.
You may see it as HSCRP, andthis is a barometer of
inflammation within your body.
So again, it could be verysubtle and slowly shifting, but
that's something that we reallywant to keep our eyes on as
well.
Homocysteine is another onethat's not pulled as frequently,
(14:29):
but it is another barometer.
It can, you know, show earlyinflammatory markers that can
lead to heart disease as well ascertain cancers.
It can also be indicative thatmaybe you're not processing
vitamin B12 as effectively asyou could be.
So these are all reallyimportant to look at and have
them pulled.
So your next time at yourcheckup, you're with your
(14:50):
primary, start the conversationearly and often.
And even if you're going in foryour annual with your with your
gynecologist, ask them as well.
A lot of women are usinggynecologists as sort of that
primary role these days becausewe're so freaking busy.
And when do we have time to getto get another doctor?
Michele Folan (15:08):
Right.
And those are those are allgreat.
I want to backtrack on a couplethings.
So I was with friends last weekand this came up.
And I said, Have you all beento the doctor lately?
Have you gotten a vitamin Dlevel?
Because we were talking aboutsupplementing.
And of course, that's what wetalk about when we're in our 60s
that we're together withfriends.
(15:29):
And I was really surprised howmany hadn't had a vitamin D
level.
And I want to explain what awhat an A1C is.
So an HBA1C or an A1C is youraverage blood sugar over a two
to three month period.
So they kind of get an average.
So it just in case anybodywasn't certain what that was, I
(15:50):
thought I'd I'd throw that outthere.
The inflammatory markers,Krista.
What else do we glean fromthose?
Could those be precursors toanything else?
A lot of times, yes.
Christa Tyler (16:03):
Heart diseases being a big one, that high
sensitivity C-reactive protein.
So we really want to keep aneye on that.
And there's also fields ofstudy that are showing that it's
sort of like the earliest signof a cancer starting.
There's small bodies ofresearch.
Some people debunk this, that'stheirs.
But I, in my idea, the moreinformation we have, the better.
(16:25):
And if there's any studies thatare consistently showing that
it could be something of thatnature, I want to know about it.
Okay.
So those are the two bigs fromthe inflammatory markers.
Obviously, infection could beanother one that's, you know,
brewing.
But again, none of these shouldnot react off of one, right?
These are all trends.
This is what should be lookedat over a period of time.
Michele Folan (16:45):
All right.
I do want to talk a little bitabout our lipids because that we
all know, like along with ourfasting insulin levels, lipids
tend to go a little rogue afterwhen during menopause.
And I know everybody focuses onLDL, but shed a little light on
(17:05):
this because I know I talkabout this with my clients, but
can you shed a little light onHDL and your triglyceride HDL
ratio and how that plays a rolehere too?
Yeah.
Christa Tyler (17:17):
So everyone's concerned about slowly the LDL,
right?
Because it's the bad, it's thebad one.
But no one wants to see themodifiable factors of like HDL,
right?
So we know that there's thingsthat we can do to help increase
HDL levels, which also comesback to gut health and
nutrition, and to manage thetriglycerides.
So, and there's other, youknow, the LPA also is another
(17:38):
protein that we are now seeing.
You probably, if you've hadblood work done in the last few
years, you probably see this newaddition.
Um this is more of a geneticfactor for heart disease as
well, that we're looking, we'restarting to identify as a
factor.
So it is not just that badnumber.
We really need to see, youknow, if you have some people
still will have an elevated LDL,but a really high HDL, and
(18:03):
physicians are now not asconcerned with the total number.
So you have to start early andoften.
You have to know what you cando to modify your risk and know
that there are those threedifferent factors that we really
need to be to be looking at.
Yeah.
Um, and when you are loweringone, your your triglycerides are
typically going to fall a lotof times as we see that age the
(18:25):
good HDL rise as well.
Right.
Michele Folan (18:27):
And I'm a classic example of this where my LDL
has never ever in my wholeentire life been under 100.
And we won't get into thisbecause I have a philosophical
issue sometimes with the statinsand doctors prescribing statins
when we don't always need them.
But my HDL is is always superhigh and my triglycerides are
(18:50):
always very low.
I've never even been approachedabout being on a statin, even
though my LDL sometimes ishovering around 160.
So I just want people when youare getting these numbers, do
your research.
Make sure that you're not justlooking at the levels on the
(19:11):
test, do some research.
Be armed when you're havingthese conversations with your
doctors.
So you agree?
Christa Tyler (19:18):
Yeah.
100,000 percent.
Okay.
Not to jump down the rabbithole of statins, but very
quickly.
Also understand that yourdoctor is most likely going to
be less nutrition-oriented andmore pharma heavy.
So if you are consistentlyhaving high levels of LDL, ask
your doctor, hey, what can I donutritionally?
(19:39):
Will you give me a period oftime to really work on my gut
health and my diet?
And I do believe that a statinhas to go hand in hand with a
healthy diet.
What does that truly mean?
We can dive into those macros.
But really, when you make yourplate, 50% of that plate should
be vegetables.
And if you do end up on astatin, because they deem that
to be the best for you, reallyget serious with your diet.
(20:02):
It's not necessarily forever,but you have to go and you have
to ask the questions.
And you also have to ask if youcan start as like a low dose
versus just jumping head first.
Michele Folan (20:12):
So yeah, yeah.
I agree.
I agree.
Okay.
The other thing that I want totalk about with these blood
tests is they'll often say anormal range, but is that
necessarily optimal?
Not necessarily.
So let's look at B12, right?
Christa Tyler (20:28):
So you could be you have a B12 level pulled.
Some place levels will varyfrom institution to institution.
I had mine pulled locally at mylocal health mart, and it was,
let's say it was like 210, andthey said, You're perfect.
And then I went to a muchlarger teaching hospital two
weeks later, and they looked atthem.
(20:50):
They're like, dear God, that'sdeficient.
So we really, so B12 is likethe perfect one, right?
So it typically ranges from 250up to about 1200, and that's a
gigantic range, right?
You can see the numbers.
Where does that mean?
So that for B12 is somewherelike middle of the road.
And a lot of women start tonotice where they feel the their
best, have the most energy.
And when you're doing lab work,you can start to dial in and
(21:13):
say, hey, this is where I feelthe best.
Vitamin D is also a really bigone where there's a really large
range, depending on how old youare.
But for sort of middle of thelife, it's gonna be 40 to 80 of
what you're sort of shootingfor.
So if you're walking in at 38,you're considered deficient.
Some places are not deficientunless you're under 30.
Um, but that optimal range isreally gonna be somewhere
(21:35):
probably 45 to 70.
Um, so there's a whole lot ofvariables.
There's with the um like theA1C, that's you know, there's
that's not a debatable.
That is like it is cut and dry.
But yeah, you have to startlooking at trends and you have
to start seeing if your body isconstantly sending these little
signals out to you of whereyou're feeling the best.
(21:57):
Um, and a lot of those othernutrients, you will start to see
what your happy level is.
And if you're consistentlytowing the line of quote, normal
and you have no energy and youfeel terrible, that's not your
normal.
And that's where you knowfunctional medicine providers
are amazing to help with that.
Michele Folan (22:13):
Okay.
The other labs, and and Ididn't tell you we were gonna
talk about this, but I I do wantto discuss this really quickly
is the estrogen testosteronelevels, because estrogen's a
little harder to nail downbecause it fluctuates so much
during the day, the week, themonth.
And um, so that's a littletougher.
(22:36):
So do you find that it's justbetter to use symptoms as a as
an indicator of where someone ison their estrogen?
I do.
Christa Tyler (22:45):
Okay.
I absolutely do.
Because again, it fluctuates sogreatly, and so many women are
on some sort of a birth controlor HRT.
So if you're on absolutelynothing, you have to see how you
feel.
You're going to feel atdifferent times at different
parts of the month if you'restill menstruating.
And that is going to be apersonal symptom sort of
journey.
(23:05):
The biggest thing that you cando for yourself before
appointments is really take afull month and notate how you
feel at different parts of yourcycle if you're still getting
one.
And notate anything that you'refeeling that's coming up,
because those can be reallygreat indicators into levels.
Um, again, I believe thatbecause estrogen can fluctuate
(23:26):
so greatly and it's so unique toeverybody, that has to be a
symptom-driven conversation.
Michele Folan (23:32):
And then I believe testosterone, you can
take have a better assessmentfrom doing blood tests on a
better assessment.
Christa Tyler (23:38):
Okay.
Michele Folan (23:40):
Okay.
Yeah.
And they do test mine regularlybecause I am on testosterone.
So we're going to take a realquick break, Christa.
And when we come back, I wantto talk about the difference
between diet and lifestyle.
Let's talk peptides.
These little chains of aminoacids are having a moment.
(24:00):
And for good reason.
Yes, they can support fat lossand metabolism, but that's just
the beginning.
Think glowing skin, thickerhair, deeper sleep, sharper
focus, stronger muscles, andeven better libido.
Basically, all the things thatstart to shift in midlife,
peptides help your body worklike it used to.
(24:22):
I've seen the difference myselfand only recommend what I
trust.
If you've been curious aboutpeptide therapy and want to
learn more, check out the shownotes for my preferred
telehealth partner.
Because midlife isn't the timeto slow down, it's the time to
optimize.
Okay, we're back.
You talk a lot about there's abig difference between your diet
(24:48):
and lifestyle because peopleare all diet-focused, right?
We all think about, you know,diet and we come from diet
culture, particularly women inmy age demographic, because
we've lived through the stepaerobics, you know, eat less,
(25:09):
move more, you know, era, right?
Can you define Forrest Kristakind of where you are in this
with diet and lifestyle?
And what's the best move tomake right now?
Yeah.
Christa Tyler (25:23):
So I don't believe in diets.
95% of diets don't work, orthey work for a period of time.
A diet is has a clearbeginning, middle, and end.
And that diet is not going toset you up for a wellness
lifestyle.
When you can land on a patternof eating that feels
sustainable, it's nourishingyour body, your brain, that
(25:46):
becomes your wellness lifestyle.
That becomes the baseline foreverything that you do.
Diets are from a place ofdeprivation.
They will never work.
You many women are like, well,I can't go to dinner because I
can't eat out at thatrestaurant.
That should never be the case.
Um, one of the things that I dowith private clients is I we we
navigate restaurants.
(26:06):
I have a few that don't cookand we have navigated
restaurants so well that theyeat out breakfast, lunch, and
dinner and they have lost weightand they feel good.
And it's a matter of creating areproducible, sustainable
pattern of eating and pattern ofliving for the long term that
really supports your overalllongevity, not trying to lose a
(26:29):
few pounds here in, you know,right before the holidays so you
can fit into your holidaydresses.
And then by February, we'reright back to the yo-yo effect.
So I don't believe in diets,simply put.
Michele Folan (26:39):
And I I will say this in support of what you're
saying.
I have had countless clientswho have done keto and they have
lost the weight, and thenthey're backseeing me saying I
game all my weight back.
And I said, So that's why ketodoesn't work long term, because
it's not sustainable.
(27:00):
And yeah.
So I think that message isstarting to be heard, I believe.
I don't think we're, at leastin my circles, I don't hear as
much about some of these extremediets, but they're still kind
of there.
They're still out there.
Christa Tyler (27:16):
And if you take anything away from today, I just
want you to know to eat moreand move more.
The average woman in thisdemographic that we're talking
about, even when you're not in aplace of restriction, you're
still not eating enough.
You're not eating enoughnutrient-dense foods.
So simply move your body moreand truly put more food on your
(27:36):
plate.
99% of the people that I haveworked with have fallen into
that bucket of not eatingenough.
And that was one of the biggestchanges that we added
nutrient-dense food dense foods,more on their plate.
And all of a sudden, they'resatisfied, they're sleeping
better, they're losing weight,and they can get through their
workouts consistently.
Brain fog lift.
Michele Folan (27:57):
Oh, right.
Exactly.
And so then my other questionis so a lot of us have children
that are in their 20s and 30sright now.
And they have probably alittle, uh, they probably don't
think that they need to worryabout this as much.
But what's one piece of advicethat you'd give them so that
they're set up for the nextdecades?
Christa Tyler (28:18):
You need to recognize that metabolic
dysfunction doesn't start inyour 30s and 40s.
Metabolic dysfunction starts inyour late teens.
And for women, sometimes whenwe're talking about PCOS and
other metabolic issues, it'sstarting as young as 13 years
old.
We're seeing, you know,changes, subtle changes that are
happening that typically, if itfollows without an intervention
(28:41):
by the third decade of life inyour 30s, you're already
experiencing metabolicdysfunction.
So it starts literally forthose 20-year-olds out there,
you know, children, it startsnow.
It is time to start looking atyour diet and your lifestyle and
making sure it aligns withwhere you want to be.
If you want to be in a nursinghome at 70, probably continue to
(29:05):
do horrible eating, don'texercise, and you are guaranteed
to be there probably by late60s.
If you want to have a vibrantlifestyle in which you can keep
up with your children and yourgrandchildren and nursing home
proof yourself, it starts now.
Start with your diet andmovement.
Michele Folan (29:24):
Well, we say this all the time, you know, you
can't outrun a bad diet.
And I think for these youngerpeople in their 20s and 30s, and
they're going out and they'redrinking beer every night, and
they're eating food late, badfood late, you know, their
metabolisms are still kind ofhumming along there.
But that that's not going to bethe case forever.
(29:45):
And then they wonder, oh God,like what happened?
Christa Tyler (29:50):
For those people who are eating all of the really
low quality foods really lateat night because you're like
hungry and hung over, justbecause your metabolism can Can
keep you in the clothing thatyou're wearing currently doesn't
mean of you know thatcardiovascularly is not taking a
massive toll now.
Michele Folan (30:09):
Yeah, for sure.
And then let's talk a littlebit about the gut and the
microbiome.
What role do they play inweight regulation?
Christa Tyler (30:18):
So it plays such a massive role in weight
regulation.
A lot of weight regulationstems from inflammation.
Inflammation fuels over 130chronic conditions that we do
not want.
Cancer, arthritis, diabetes,the list goes on.
Um, so the role that it playsis when we are have a really
healthy gut microbiome, we haveall of these healthy bugs that
(30:39):
are producing all of thesemetabolites, short chain fatty
acids, all of this goodness inour gut, it actually is
pro-inflammableanti-inflammatory.
And that will help with weightloss.
When your body is optimized ina really great way, you're
actually starting to produceyour own naturally occurring
GLP1s, which we all know canresult in weight loss.
It is of vital importance tooptimize your gut.
(31:02):
If you want to ward off those130-ish conditions, it starts in
your gut.
If you want to lose weight, ittruly begins in the gut.
When you have a healthy gutmicrobiome, your cravings are
going to slowly vanish.
Your drive for sugar is goingto slowly vanish.
And that's your body actuallychanging and starting to have a
(31:24):
healthier gut microbiome.
And you will be shocked of whathappens on the scale when this
begins.
All right.
Two questions.
Fiber.
How much should we be getting?
So I'm going to quote thestandardized American diet,
which is the sad diet.
And it truly is an abysmal SADdiet.
But even on the standardizedAmerican diet, it states that
(31:46):
women should be getting about 30grams of fiber.
I will tell you, about 95% ofAmericans are fiber deficient
and not even coming close tothe, I call it the BFM, the bare
freaking minimum.
We're not coming that close.
Okay.
The average woman that I get towork with is coming somewhere
between 9 to 14 grams of fiber aday.
(32:07):
So if you can baseline getyourself to 30 slowly over time,
if you go from nine to 30, youwill be constipated and
miserable and cursing the gutgoddess that she knows nothing.
So it's low and slow to slowlyincrease that.
Once you get to 30, you hangout there.
See how your bowels are.
Do you have loose stools?
Are you having several bowelmovements a day?
(32:28):
And then we can sort of gaugewhere you can go from there.
Most women in middle life issomewhere about 34 to 36 grams
of fiber as their comfort zone.
Okay.
And I'm talking about fiber inwhole food form.
I am not talking about taking asupplement to get you there.
Yeah.
A supplement is an addition toan otherwise healthy diet.
(32:49):
So I have some clients thatcannot get past like 28 grams,
and we have done all of thethings, and that's sort of their
comfort zone.
So at that point, once they'vehung out there for several
months and they can maintainthat, then you can talk about
adding a supplement to help withthe fiber.
Michele Folan (33:04):
All right.
And you're talking mostlyfruits, vegetables, those types
of whole foods.
Christa Tyler (33:10):
Whole foods, low glycemic index, fruits, and I
like to say sort of transitionover to those veggies because
fruits are easy.
We can all get more fruit inour diet than vegetables
typically.
So around 12 o'clock, midday,we start transitioning over to
those veg.
And it's not just about eating,you know, 20 servings of
broccoli a week.
It's about biodiversity.
(33:30):
It's about making sure you'reeating sort of the color of the
rainbow with that fiber as well.
So you want diversity in theveggies that you're choosing.
Michele Folan (33:38):
Now that's a really good point.
Because I've put stuff outthere about eating the rainbow,
you know, getting more color inyour diet.
Make your plate look pretty, asyou know, you want to have
color on there.
But I know based on people'shabits and food aversions, that
we tend to gravitate towards thesame kind of foods and also
(34:00):
ease.
You know, it's like you can,you know, make a prep a bunch of
veggies, like say sweetpotatoes on Sunday and eat sweet
potatoes the whole week.
And I know yeah, right.
Christa Tyler (34:14):
But it's good to have some variety.
Diversify a fun way to do it.
Um, I think I stole this fromDr.
Will Bolshewitz, um, who'samazing.
But plant points.
Try to shoot for like 30 plantpoints.
Each veggie is a point, right?
A different veggie is a point,and you want to have a diversity
in that diet as well.
Okay.
Michele Folan (34:36):
Yeah, I like that.
All right.
Then the other one I have tobring up, because this comes up
with my clients, and thisactually goes hand in hand with
gut health.
What is your feeling aboutalcohol and gut health?
Alcohol and gut health don't gotogether, simply put.
Christa Tyler (34:52):
We know that moderation, we've been told, is
really the best.
You know, just have alcohol andmoderation.
Truly, when we get right downto breast text, it is no
alcohol, is the best for yourgut.
Is that going to be realisticfor everybody?
No.
Most of my clients, they willnot fully give up alcohol, but
they decrease it dramatically.
(35:14):
And even, you know, having aglass of wine a week is sort of
where people are starting tosettle.
Even that will be a massiveincrease.
But, you know, alcohol is knownto can lead to cancer
diagnoses.
It's inflammatory.
So there's really, if we'retalking about really truly
dialing in your gut health,alcohol really doesn't have a
(35:34):
place in that formula.
Michele Folan (35:36):
Yeah.
It's not, I mean, and I'm I'mwith you on that.
If I if I can just get clientsto just cut back and you know,
not have that glass of wineevery single night because then
it becomes just a habit.
It's it's not correct, it's notreally helping, it's not
(35:57):
helping our health journey.
And so I appreciate you youchiming in there.
Christa Tyler (36:02):
And I get accused of talking about alcohol too
much on my podcast, but I I it'sit's a hot ticket item, and
people need to know that justbecause you know, moderation is
what we've been hearing foryears and years, it's that's
just not the reality of it.
So cut back to the bareminimum, and even that will be a
huge step in the rightdirection for you.
Michele Folan (36:23):
You know, I mentioned to you about uh Peter
Attia.
Um, he was on 60 Minutesrecently, and he talked about,
yeah, sure, we can keep peoplealive, but when we get into our
70s and 80s, they term those asthose can be the marginal years.
(36:43):
Those are the last 10, 12,maybe 15 years of someone's
life.
And you talk about are we arewe just living or are we
thriving?
How can you best, I don't know,convince somebody that instead
of being more reactive and toproblems as they show up, to
(37:06):
being more proactive, likesetting up systems so problems
don't show up.
Christa Tyler (37:11):
Simply to overcome this barrier, because I
see this a lot, is I want youto conjure up a mental image of
what you want your 70s and 80sto look like.
Truly.
Sit there, conjure thatpicture.
If it is you spending time withyour grandchildren on a
vacation, then you need to takethe steps now.
That's gonna be diet, lifestylemodification, and movement.
(37:34):
I cannot stress this enough.
People that I have been workingwith that my husband sees in
his private practice, if they'relate 30s, cannot get themselves
off the floor without theirhands.
If you can't do that now, howthe heck are you gonna do that
when you're 70 or 80?
So the biggest thing is giveyourself that goal of what you
want it to look like and thenreverse engineer into what do I
(37:56):
have to do to get myself there?
And that starts in those 20s,in those 30s.
That is movement.
It is, of course, diet, it is,of course, trying your very best
to keep all of your blood workin a healthy range.
But if you don't move it, youwill lose it.
It's simply put.
Do not wait until you're 50 tosay, hey, I really need to get
(38:18):
back in shape.
I really put on 30 pounds inthe last, you know, X amount of
years.
It is from your late 20s, Iwould argue.
You are fighting to keepyourself full of muscle, your
bones strong to be able to setyourself up.
The visualization exercise doesseem to overcome a lot of
roadblocks and then reverseengineer that plan.
(38:39):
And just as a recommendationand a reminder, at a bare
minimum, you should be getting150 minutes of exercise a week,
which sounds like a lot to some,but that is really what you
should be striving for now.
So you can maintain as you getolder.
Michele Folan (38:53):
All right, let's do the math on that.
That's 30 minutes five times aweek.
Christa Tyler (38:57):
Yeah.
Michele Folan (38:58):
I'm gonna bet that people spend a whole lot
more time on Instagram andFacebook.
So when people say I don't havetime, maybe we need to start
quantifying where we're spendingsome of our other time.
Christa Tyler (39:13):
Yeah.
It's when you start looking atyour day, I call it perfect day
scheduling.
You go through and you set yournon-negotiables.
Exercise should be one of yournon-negotiables, as well as
other, you know, reallyimportant things.
Scrolling on Instagram is not anon-negotiable.
That is the first thing thatgoes out the window.
All of these extras, you haveto get really honest with
yourself of where you, whereyour time sucks are, and what
(39:37):
can you do to swap that out?
And if you're just so addictedto Instagram, walk on your
treadmill while you're scrollingon Instagram.
Get on a stationary bike.
Stationary is the optimal wordthere, so you don't end up in a
tree or a ditch.
But you need to start making ita priority, simply put.
It's not, it sounds like a lotof time, it's not.
Michele Folan (39:58):
No, it's it's really not.
And so on that note, walking ona treadmill, how many steps a
day do you typically try to get?
Christa Tyler (40:06):
It's a good one.
I am now trying to get about12,000 steps a day.
I sit at my desk and I talk topeople remotely all day.
So if you are on my schedule,there's a good shot you'll see
me on a walking treadmill.
12,000 is for me my baseline.
When I'm working with clients,if you're coming from completely
sedentary, we just take smallincremental micro goals to get
(40:27):
you to an end goal of what wouldbe appropriate.
Most people, if you can shootfor 10 strive too and not
overnight, but work your way upto 10,000 steps a day, you are
making a huge step in the rightdirection.
The average woman who works,it's really scary.
They're getting about 3,000steps a day.
That's sedentary.
Michele Folan (40:46):
Correct.
Anything under 4,000 steps perday is considered sedentary.
That's frightening.
Correct.
And that is the vast majorityof women who are working at an
office job.
Yeah.
You know, we we talked aboutthis.
Um, I had Megan Dahlman.
Do you know Megan?
She's um, she's she's she'sreally good at getting people
started on a exercise journeybecause, you know, we we've got
(41:10):
to start with the right form andeverything.
But we were talking aboutexercise snacks and getting up
and doing doing squats next toyour desk, taking the stairs,
walking around the parking lotoutside, you know, particularly
after you eat, if you can getout and get some movement in
after you eat.
That's that's always such agreat, great thing to do.
(41:32):
Any other tips?
Christa Tyler (41:33):
Park as far away from the grocery store as
humanly possible.
When you were going somewhere,push yourself out, make yourself
uncomfortable, make yourselfwork for whatever it is that
you're walking in to go do.
After dinner, grab your kids,grab your husband, your partner,
whomever.
Go outside, get fresh air andmove your body.
There is everyone's gonna comeup with a reason as to why it's
(41:54):
not gonna work.
I can't do that because of.
I don't care if you do jumpingjacks in your living room.
I don't care if you do burpeesor squats, move your body
post-meals and make yourself alittle uncomfortable outside of
your comfort zone every singleday with movement.
Michele Folan (42:09):
Yeah, I agree.
So, what's one of yournon-negotiables?
Like when it comes to your ownhealth, what is one thing that
you do every day, regardless ofanything?
Working out.
Okay.
Christa Tyler (42:21):
Working out.
That is my I have finally,finally recently gotten myself
up in the morning.
Exercise for me, I I love it.
I've always done it.
It used to be midday, jobchange that doesn't work
anymore.
And I floundered.
And I was the woman looking atmy Apple Watch and saying, I got
2,200 steps today, and I'msitting here preaching to
everyone else that they need toget up off their butts and move,
(42:43):
and I'm not doing the same.
It is morning exercise.
It is done before the worldwakes up and I can go about my
day without it hanging over myhead.
I feel productive and good.
So movement is my number onenon-negotiable that is scheduled
before everything else.
Michele Folan (42:59):
Yeah.
You're a good woman.
I do not do that first thing inthe morning, but I do try to
get it in sometime in themorning.
But then sometimes it's fouro'clock in the afternoon.
So it just, but it gets done,right?
That's the most importantthing.
Exactly.
Whatever it gets done, justmake sure it gets done.
Correct.
All right.
You do work with clients.
(43:20):
I would love for you to sharewith the listeners how you how
you work with clients.
What does that look like?
So I do have a privatepractice.
Christa Tyler (43:29):
Um, you come in, we go over all of the
information that you bring,goals, your struggles, what
health diagnoses you're dealingwith.
Um, I like to look at familyhistory as well if you're
perfect health, but sometimes weknow that these familial
diseases may be creeping up.
So we can start putting a planand a program for eating to
abate that and keep that at, youknow, under wraps.
(43:50):
I do a lot of food journaling,mood journaling, poop
journaling.
It's the weird one, butelimination is super, super
important.
Um, I can do one-on-onesessions.
I have some groups that I runas well.
And I really, my biggestphilosophy is I want to meet
women where they're at.
So you might, I might not havesome perfect program for you,
but I will tailor a program tobe able to work with you, meet
(44:12):
you where you're at and get youresults, whether it's weight
loss, whether it is simply guthealth optimization, or I have a
few clients that are justnursing home proofing
themselves.
Michele Folan (44:20):
Ah, yeah.
Christa Tyler (44:22):
Yeah, that's a big one.
It is a big one.
And it's a, you know, it's aprogram of movement, it is a
program of eating, stressmanagement, sleep, social
emotional connections.
It all comes into play withinprivate practice.
Michele Folan (44:35):
That that's my goal.
I am I am uh nursing homeproofing myself right now.
It's my big goal.
All right, Christa, where canthe listeners find you?
Christa Tyler (44:48):
Instagram is probably the easiest at your gut
goddess.
Feel free to DM me asking for afriend, and I will shoot you
over.
I put together a recipe bookand just a food mood poop
journal to start understandingyour body's uh rhythms and
what's happening.
So DM me there and I'll get itover to you.
Michele Folan (45:05):
Wonderful.
Christa Tyler, thank you somuch for being here today.
This was so informative, and Iwill put all your information in
the show notes so everybody hasuh where to find you.
Amazing.
Thank you so much for havingme.
This is amazing.
Thank you.
Thanks, Christa.
Thank you for listening.
Please rate and review thepodcast where you listen.
(45:28):
And if you'd like to join theAsking for a Friend community,
click on the link in the shownotes to sign up for my weekly
newsletter where I share midlifewellness and fitness tips,
insights, my favorite finds, andrecipes.
I'm really curious, how many recipes have
you saved over the last month?
How many random workouts aresitting in your camera roll?
And how many times have yousaid I'll start Monday or maybe
in the new year?
Here's the truth (00:13):
you don't need more Pinterest boards or
another motivation Monday.
You need a plan that actuallyties it all together: nutrition,
movement, mindset, and in a waythat's doable and sustainable.
That's exactly what I do in mymetabolism reset with Faster
Way.
I'll teach you how to eat,train, and recover like a woman
(00:34):
who's done making excuses andready to feel strong, confident,
and in control again.
Check the show notes to join usbecause this time I've got you.
Health, wellness, fitness, andeverything in between.
We're removing the taboo fromwhat really matters in midlife.
(00:56):
I'm your host, Michele Folan,and this is Asking for a Friend.
The truth?
You can't supplement, sweat, orspin your way out of what's
happening inside your body.
This week I'm joined by ChristaTyler, functional nutritionist,
founder of Your Gut Goddess,and a woman whose own health
(01:19):
crisis turned into her life'scalling.
From a hospital bed in themiddle of the night to helping
hundreds of women rebuild theirhealth from the inside out,
Christa's story is a powerfulreminder that real healing
starts long before the labresults come back.
We're diving into the bloodtests every woman should be
asking her provider for, thedifference between diet and
(01:41):
lifestyle when it comes tomidlife health, and how to help
your young adult kids build afoundation for longevity now
before symptoms ever start.
Because at every age, your gut,hormones, and metabolism are in
constant conversation.
And it's time we all startlistening.
Christa Tyler, welcome toAsking for a Friend.
(02:02):
So great to be here.
Thanks, Michele.
Well, I have been dying to havethis conversation with you.
And I told you when I wasprepping for this, I was getting
even more excited because Irealized that a lot of these
topics aren't things that we'vetalked about on the podcast
before.
So we're going to dive in.
But I want to really talk aboutyou.
(02:24):
And you have a story.
You talk about in the wee hoursof the morning from your
hospital bed.
You were at one of your lowestpoints.
And I'd love for you to sharethat story with our audience
just to get started.
Absolutely.
Christa Tyler (02:40):
So when I was 28, I was diagnosed with breast
cancer, super out of left field,no real family history to speak
of.
And I opted to have a bilateralmastectomy with a direct
implant reconstruction.
Easy peasy as far as the wholeprocess goes, or so I thought.
And I had multiple surgeries tocorrect it.
(03:01):
And ultimately, that did notsolve anything.
And I ended up septic oneevening.
I everyone else was in thehouse.
I said, It's really chilly inhere.
Can we turn the heat on?
And my husband's like, Well,it's June and it's like 75
degrees out.
So what's actually happening?
And I went upstairs to mybedroom and I took my shirt off
and I was fire engine red frommy clavicle to my ribs on one
(03:22):
side.
Michele Folan (03:22):
Oh God.
Christa Tyler (03:23):
So that was the beginning of the demise and what
turned out to be sepsis fromthat dying breast tissue.
So of course I went to thehospital naively thinking that,
hey, they're gonna save thisimplanted, you know,
reconstructed breast mound.
And I remember vividly one ofthe nurses in the emergency
department stating, We're nottrying to save your breast
(03:46):
implant, sweetie.
We're trying to save you.
And that really was the firsttime I was like, oh, this is a
really big problem.
I was the model of health.
I exercised, I ate really well,I was young, I was a
non-smoker, I barely drank.
I was the person who sailedthrough the surgery.
But yet here we were.
So of course I was admitted tothe hospital for massive doses
(04:08):
of IV therapy.
And it was one evening where Ifelt absolutely horrific.
I tried to sleep.
I was up all night, and I wasjust laying there.
And I said, if I can somehowcome through the other side of
this, there has got to be abetter way.
There's a better way foreducation of what actually
happens in these surgeries andwhat, you know, just how do I
(04:31):
help other women through this?
And that was sort of the firstlight that went off in my brain
of wanting to make sure no otherwoman went through the same
thing as I.
And of course, I can't preventthat on a global scale.
But the education that I waslacking, I naively just went
into the surgery thinking, oh,it's like 1% of people that this
(04:52):
happens to.
It's really not 1% of people,it's much higher than that.
And that was where my missionkind of started.
Through recovering from thathorrific ordeal, I tapped into a
lifelong love of food, superhealthy eating, really changing
my gut health.
I went back to school.
I studied nutrition.
And it was all really at thatpoint to figure out how to help
(05:15):
myself and make sure my kidsnever went through this.
And when I came out on theother side, I was armed with all
of this knowledge.
And I said, I have to somehow,at some point in my world, share
my knowledge with other women.
And slowly it transformed intowhere I am today.
Michele Folan (05:32):
So you had a decade, I think, of managing a
home health care practice.
Yeah.
Was this before or after youhad this horrific ordeal?
During.
It was all during.
Christa Tyler (05:45):
Yeah.
Michele Folan (05:45):
Oh my gosh.
Okay.
And then what was the finalstep to becoming a functional
nutritionist?
So tell me a little bit aboutthat journey.
Christa Tyler (05:57):
So I was in healthcare management.
I sat on the other side.
I managed schedules.
I managed providers.
I did billing.
I did all of the management ofthings.
And after my ordeal, my wholehealth journey, I started
listening when I spoke topatients.
And I listened to in adifferent light, not like, oh
(06:17):
yeah, I can't make thatappointment.
Can you do this?
But like, what were yourstruggles?
I'm so sorry that that happenedto you.
And I would start to ask thesehigh mileage questions.
And people are like, is thislike a counseling appointment or
what is this?
I'm just trying to schedule anappointment.
I'm like, I am so sorry.
I will get you scheduled.
And I slowly started to realizethat it wasn't isolated to me
(06:38):
with my journey.
It was so incredibly widespreadof a low health IQ, not
understanding their diagnosis ornot managing it properly.
And slowly, every day, I waslike, this is my calling.
This is where I'm supposed tobe.
I'm not supposed to be overhere scheduling and managing and
coordinating provider care.
(06:58):
And it was my husband andmyself, our home health care
company, and I sat him down oneevening and I said, I don't
think this is for me anymore.
And he's like, Yeah, I don'tthink so either.
I hear you on the phone, andyou need to figure out what that
journey looks like to you.
(07:18):
And I took sort of theeducational leap and I felt that
functional nutrition for me wasthe path that he was the most
impactful for me.
So I went back to school, got adirect certification in that,
and slowly started not marketingmyself, but talking with
(07:39):
friends.
And I'm like, oh yeah, I hearthat there's something more
there, and working with someonehere and working with someone
there.
And my husband finally said,like, you need to either come
back full-time to this or youneed to just dive headfirst into
what you love, into yourpassion and what you really
light up for.
So with his shove, it reallyhelped thrust me into this
(08:02):
world.
Michele Folan (08:02):
And you call yourself the gut goddess, which
I love.
And you know, it's funny whenyou sit and you chat with
friends or whatever, you realizethat women in midlife, we got a
lot of gut issues that I thinkwe just tolerate.
Is that what you see in yourexperience?
Christa Tyler (08:24):
Yeah.
So we all have gut problems,but nobody wants to talk about
it, right?
No one wants to talk aboutthat.
I went to an ice cream standwith my kids and I ended up with
explosive diarrhea 25 minuteslater.
No one wants to discuss thisstuff.
So we we just quietly sufferwith it.
We don't talk about theconstipation that went on for
eight days that landed us intothe emergency department.
(08:45):
Nobody wants to talk aboutthat.
And through my journey, Irecognized that when my
nutrition was dialed in, I wasthe best version of myself.
I had normal bowel movements.
My skin literally glowed.
It was the I had no headaches.
My psoriasis cleared up andmagically went away.
And it was, I felt like agoddess when my nutrition was
(09:07):
really dialed in and exerciseand doing all of the different,
you know, pillars of health thatI practice, that's when I felt
like a goddess.
And it all originates from yourgut.
So it became your gut goddess.
Michele Folan (09:18):
You know, and we do talk about that every once in
a while on the podcast aboutthe gut brain connection and how
much happier we feel when ourguts are happy.
And, you know, I know it soundslike woo-woo, but it is not
woo-woo.
Christa Tyler (09:35):
Many people, they're like, oh, really?
There's a gut brain connection.
I was like, have you ever heardthe term where your gut is your
second brain?
Or when you get this feelingand you just in the pit of your
stomach and something makes youreally nervous or uneasy, and
you say, Oh my goodness, Ishould probably shouldn't do
that.
That's that gut brain access.
That is your gut, you know,pulling it and connecting it.
(09:57):
So that is exactly whathappens.
And there's a huge connection,diet and mood, right?
So you look, if you Google likeuh nutrition for depression, it
is not necessarily apharmacological intervention as
your first line of defense.
The first line of defense isactually nutrition for many
people.
And we feel literally you canimprove your mood through what
(10:19):
you put into your mouth andimproving that gut health.
Michele Folan (10:22):
Yeah.
And to your point, Christa,that's why it like when I work
with clients, the first thing Ido is I try to dial in on their
nutrition because I feel like wecan't really make any headway
with the fitness piece if we'renot feeling good and have good
energy and we're got sugarcravings all over the place.
So anyway, I appreciate thatand I love your story.
(10:44):
And it's so often on thepodcast, you know, we we go
through these life moments thatreally propel us into doing
something that really becomesour life passion.
So I love that.
Thank you for that.
So Christa very kindly did a, Iwould say, a training session
(11:09):
for my VIP clients a while back.
And one of the things that shediscussed with with our group
was the blood tests that weshould be requesting from our
healthcare providers.
And I've never seen so muchinterest in any topic that we've
covered.
And I thought this would be agreat place for Krista and I to
(11:30):
start.
Could you, first of all, walkus through what blood tests you
would recommend that my midlifeaudience what they should be
asking for and why?
Absolutely.
Christa Tyler (11:43):
So I do see clusters of people coming from
functional medicine practices,and all of a sudden they have
these beautiful labs and we'reable to see trends, right?
This is not a once-and-donekind of blood test.
These are tests that we need todo routinely and regularly to
start seeing trends.
The first one in sort of amidlife that we really should be
looking at is insulin levels.
(12:05):
This is going to be the firstbarometer that things are
starting to quietly shift andcreep up, which can often lead
to insulin resistance, which canlead to type 2 diabetes.
And many times you'll see aslight little increase, nothing
that anyone's really thinkingabout, until all of a sudden we
see three or four of these testsand their increase from what
your baseline was five yearsago.
(12:26):
In midlife, you change nothing.
And all of a sudden your entireworld changes.
You come back with highcholesterol.
You're, you know, told that youhave, you know, pre-diabetes or
type 2 diabetes, and you'resaid, but I've done nothing
differently.
I'm eating the same foods, I'mexercising.
It comes back to that hormonalshift as you go through
menopause and as you get older.
(12:47):
So the insulin levels is goingto be your first little
detective that you can startlooking at.
So I recommend that early andoften.
And even for children, youradult children, late 20s, early
30s, start looking at it.
Understand what that baselineis.
So when something does shift,you can be your own best
advocate and say, hey, fouryears ago it was five, and now
(13:09):
I'm at 16.
What does that mean?
Yeah.
And any physician is going tolook at that and say, oh wow,
that's a big problem.
That's a shift.
Yeah.
Michele Folan (13:16):
And you're talking a fasting insulin.
Yes.
A fasting insulin level.
Okay.
All right.
Christa Tyler (13:21):
So that's definitively one that I want to
see.
Obviously, the A1C is going toreally go hand in hand with
that.
That's nothing special.
It's not unique.
Most physicians are, you know,including that in routine
screening annually.
If for some reason you've neverhad one drawn, simply ask.
Most doctors are really excitedto take a proactive step.
Vitamin D is another one thatwe really want to see.
(13:44):
Most women are deficient in it.
And when we're deficient in it,we are not absorbing calcium
the way that we should be.
So we need those two things togo hand in hand synergistically,
which is also going to affectyour bone density down the road.
So you want to really make surethat you were, if you're
deficient, that you aresupplementing, speak with your
doctor of how that works.
(14:05):
But that is a really great oneto keep an eye on as well.
Another marker that I like tosee is high sensitivity C
reactive protein.
You may see it as HSCRP, andthis is a barometer of
inflammation within your body.
So again, it could be verysubtle and slowly shifting, but
that's something that we reallywant to keep our eyes on as
well.
Homocysteine is another onethat's not pulled as frequently,
(14:29):
but it is another barometer.
It can, you know, show earlyinflammatory markers that can
lead to heart disease as well ascertain cancers.
It can also be indicative thatmaybe you're not processing
vitamin B12 as effectively asyou could be.
So these are all reallyimportant to look at and have
them pulled.
So your next time at yourcheckup, you're with your
(14:50):
primary, start the conversationearly and often.
And even if you're going in foryour annual with your with your
gynecologist, ask them as well.
A lot of women are usinggynecologists as sort of that
primary role these days becausewe're so freaking busy.
And when do we have time to getto get another doctor?
Michele Folan (15:08):
Right.
And those are those are allgreat.
I want to backtrack on a couplethings.
So I was with friends last weekand this came up.
And I said, Have you all beento the doctor lately?
Have you gotten a vitamin Dlevel?
Because we were talking aboutsupplementing.
And of course, that's what wetalk about when we're in our 60s
that we're together withfriends.
(15:29):
And I was really surprised howmany hadn't had a vitamin D
level.
And I want to explain what awhat an A1C is.
So an HBA1C or an A1C is youraverage blood sugar over a two
to three month period.
So they kind of get an average.
So it just in case anybodywasn't certain what that was, I
(15:50):
thought I'd I'd throw that outthere.
The inflammatory markers,Krista.
What else do we glean fromthose?
Could those be precursors toanything else?
A lot of times, yes.
Christa Tyler (16:03):
Heart diseases being a big one, that high
sensitivity C-reactive protein.
So we really want to keep aneye on that.
And there's also fields ofstudy that are showing that it's
sort of like the earliest signof a cancer starting.
There's small bodies ofresearch.
Some people debunk this, that'stheirs.
But I, in my idea, the moreinformation we have, the better.
(16:25):
And if there's any studies thatare consistently showing that
it could be something of thatnature, I want to know about it.
Okay.
So those are the two bigs fromthe inflammatory markers.
Obviously, infection could beanother one that's, you know,
brewing.
But again, none of these shouldnot react off of one, right?
These are all trends.
This is what should be lookedat over a period of time.
Michele Folan (16:45):
All right.
I do want to talk a little bitabout our lipids because that we
all know, like along with ourfasting insulin levels, lipids
tend to go a little rogue afterwhen during menopause.
And I know everybody focuses onLDL, but shed a little light on
(17:05):
this because I know I talkabout this with my clients, but
can you shed a little light onHDL and your triglyceride HDL
ratio and how that plays a rolehere too?
Yeah.
Christa Tyler (17:17):
So everyone's concerned about slowly the LDL,
right?
Because it's the bad, it's thebad one.
But no one wants to see themodifiable factors of like HDL,
right?
So we know that there's thingsthat we can do to help increase
HDL levels, which also comesback to gut health and
nutrition, and to manage thetriglycerides.
So, and there's other, youknow, the LPA also is another
(17:38):
protein that we are now seeing.
You probably, if you've hadblood work done in the last few
years, you probably see this newaddition.
Um this is more of a geneticfactor for heart disease as
well, that we're looking, we'restarting to identify as a
factor.
So it is not just that badnumber.
We really need to see, youknow, if you have some people
still will have an elevated LDL,but a really high HDL, and
(18:03):
physicians are now not asconcerned with the total number.
So you have to start early andoften.
You have to know what you cando to modify your risk and know
that there are those threedifferent factors that we really
need to be to be looking at.
Yeah.
Um, and when you are loweringone, your your triglycerides are
typically going to fall a lotof times as we see that age the
(18:25):
good HDL rise as well.
Right.
Michele Folan (18:27):
And I'm a classic example of this where my LDL
has never ever in my wholeentire life been under 100.
And we won't get into thisbecause I have a philosophical
issue sometimes with the statinsand doctors prescribing statins
when we don't always need them.
But my HDL is is always superhigh and my triglycerides are
(18:50):
always very low.
I've never even been approachedabout being on a statin, even
though my LDL sometimes ishovering around 160.
So I just want people when youare getting these numbers, do
your research.
Make sure that you're not justlooking at the levels on the
(19:11):
test, do some research.
Be armed when you're havingthese conversations with your
doctors.
So you agree?
Christa Tyler (19:18):
Yeah.
100,000 percent.
Okay.
Not to jump down the rabbithole of statins, but very
quickly.
Also understand that yourdoctor is most likely going to
be less nutrition-oriented andmore pharma heavy.
So if you are consistentlyhaving high levels of LDL, ask
your doctor, hey, what can I donutritionally?
(19:39):
Will you give me a period oftime to really work on my gut
health and my diet?
And I do believe that a statinhas to go hand in hand with a
healthy diet.
What does that truly mean?
We can dive into those macros.
But really, when you make yourplate, 50% of that plate should
be vegetables.
And if you do end up on astatin, because they deem that
to be the best for you, reallyget serious with your diet.
(20:02):
It's not necessarily forever,but you have to go and you have
to ask the questions.
And you also have to ask if youcan start as like a low dose
versus just jumping head first.
Michele Folan (20:12):
So yeah, yeah.
I agree.
I agree.
Okay.
The other thing that I want totalk about with these blood
tests is they'll often say anormal range, but is that
necessarily optimal?
Not necessarily.
So let's look at B12, right?
Christa Tyler (20:28):
So you could be you have a B12 level pulled.
Some place levels will varyfrom institution to institution.
I had mine pulled locally at mylocal health mart, and it was,
let's say it was like 210, andthey said, You're perfect.
And then I went to a muchlarger teaching hospital two
weeks later, and they looked atthem.
(20:50):
They're like, dear God, that'sdeficient.
So we really, so B12 is likethe perfect one, right?
So it typically ranges from 250up to about 1200, and that's a
gigantic range, right?
You can see the numbers.
Where does that mean?
So that for B12 is somewherelike middle of the road.
And a lot of women start tonotice where they feel the their
best, have the most energy.
And when you're doing lab work,you can start to dial in and
(21:13):
say, hey, this is where I feelthe best.
Vitamin D is also a really bigone where there's a really large
range, depending on how old youare.
But for sort of middle of thelife, it's gonna be 40 to 80 of
what you're sort of shootingfor.
So if you're walking in at 38,you're considered deficient.
Some places are not deficientunless you're under 30.
Um, but that optimal range isreally gonna be somewhere
(21:35):
probably 45 to 70.
Um, so there's a whole lot ofvariables.
There's with the um like theA1C, that's you know, there's
that's not a debatable.
That is like it is cut and dry.
But yeah, you have to startlooking at trends and you have
to start seeing if your body isconstantly sending these little
signals out to you of whereyou're feeling the best.
(21:57):
Um, and a lot of those othernutrients, you will start to see
what your happy level is.
And if you're consistentlytowing the line of quote, normal
and you have no energy and youfeel terrible, that's not your
normal.
And that's where you knowfunctional medicine providers
are amazing to help with that.
Michele Folan (22:13):
Okay.
The other labs, and and Ididn't tell you we were gonna
talk about this, but I I do wantto discuss this really quickly
is the estrogen testosteronelevels, because estrogen's a
little harder to nail downbecause it fluctuates so much
during the day, the week, themonth.
And um, so that's a littletougher.
(22:36):
So do you find that it's justbetter to use symptoms as a as
an indicator of where someone ison their estrogen?
I do.
Christa Tyler (22:45):
Okay.
I absolutely do.
Because again, it fluctuates sogreatly, and so many women are
on some sort of a birth controlor HRT.
So if you're on absolutelynothing, you have to see how you
feel.
You're going to feel atdifferent times at different
parts of the month if you'restill menstruating.
And that is going to be apersonal symptom sort of
journey.
(23:05):
The biggest thing that you cando for yourself before
appointments is really take afull month and notate how you
feel at different parts of yourcycle if you're still getting
one.
And notate anything that you'refeeling that's coming up,
because those can be reallygreat indicators into levels.
Um, again, I believe thatbecause estrogen can fluctuate
(23:26):
so greatly and it's so unique toeverybody, that has to be a
symptom-driven conversation.
Michele Folan (23:32):
And then I believe testosterone, you can
take have a better assessmentfrom doing blood tests on a
better assessment.
Christa Tyler (23:38):
Okay.
Michele Folan (23:40):
Okay.
Yeah.
And they do test mine regularlybecause I am on testosterone.
So we're going to take a realquick break, Christa.
And when we come back, I wantto talk about the difference
between diet and lifestyle.
Let's talk peptides.
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(24:00):
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(24:22):
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optimize.
Okay, we're back.
You talk a lot about there's abig difference between your diet
(24:48):
and lifestyle because peopleare all diet-focused, right?
We all think about, you know,diet and we come from diet
culture, particularly women inmy age demographic, because
we've lived through the stepaerobics, you know, eat less,
(25:09):
move more, you know, era, right?
Can you define Forrest Kristakind of where you are in this
with diet and lifestyle?
And what's the best move tomake right now?
Yeah.
Christa Tyler (25:23):
So I don't believe in diets.
95% of diets don't work, orthey work for a period of time.
A diet is has a clearbeginning, middle, and end.
And that diet is not going toset you up for a wellness
lifestyle.
When you can land on a patternof eating that feels
sustainable, it's nourishingyour body, your brain, that
(25:46):
becomes your wellness lifestyle.
That becomes the baseline foreverything that you do.
Diets are from a place ofdeprivation.
They will never work.
You many women are like, well,I can't go to dinner because I
can't eat out at thatrestaurant.
That should never be the case.
Um, one of the things that I dowith private clients is I we we
navigate restaurants.
(26:06):
I have a few that don't cookand we have navigated
restaurants so well that theyeat out breakfast, lunch, and
dinner and they have lost weightand they feel good.
And it's a matter of creating areproducible, sustainable
pattern of eating and pattern ofliving for the long term that
really supports your overalllongevity, not trying to lose a
(26:29):
few pounds here in, you know,right before the holidays so you
can fit into your holidaydresses.
And then by February, we'reright back to the yo-yo effect.
So I don't believe in diets,simply put.
Michele Folan (26:39):
And I I will say this in support of what you're
saying.
I have had countless clientswho have done keto and they have
lost the weight, and thenthey're backseeing me saying I
game all my weight back.
And I said, So that's why ketodoesn't work long term, because
it's not sustainable.
(27:00):
And yeah.
So I think that message isstarting to be heard, I believe.
I don't think we're, at leastin my circles, I don't hear as
much about some of these extremediets, but they're still kind
of there.
They're still out there.
Christa Tyler (27:16):
And if you take anything away from today, I just
want you to know to eat moreand move more.
The average woman in thisdemographic that we're talking
about, even when you're not in aplace of restriction, you're
still not eating enough.
You're not eating enoughnutrient-dense foods.
So simply move your body moreand truly put more food on your
(27:36):
plate.
99% of the people that I haveworked with have fallen into
that bucket of not eatingenough.
And that was one of the biggestchanges that we added
nutrient-dense food dense foods,more on their plate.
And all of a sudden, they'resatisfied, they're sleeping
better, they're losing weight,and they can get through their
workouts consistently.
Brain fog lift.
Michele Folan (27:57):
Oh, right.
Exactly.
And so then my other questionis so a lot of us have children
that are in their 20s and 30sright now.
And they have probably alittle, uh, they probably don't
think that they need to worryabout this as much.
But what's one piece of advicethat you'd give them so that
they're set up for the nextdecades?
Christa Tyler (28:18):
You need to recognize that metabolic
dysfunction doesn't start inyour 30s and 40s.
Metabolic dysfunction starts inyour late teens.
And for women, sometimes whenwe're talking about PCOS and
other metabolic issues, it'sstarting as young as 13 years
old.
We're seeing, you know,changes, subtle changes that are
happening that typically, if itfollows without an intervention
(28:41):
by the third decade of life inyour 30s, you're already
experiencing metabolicdysfunction.
So it starts literally forthose 20-year-olds out there,
you know, children, it startsnow.
It is time to start looking atyour diet and your lifestyle and
making sure it aligns withwhere you want to be.
If you want to be in a nursinghome at 70, probably continue to
(29:05):
do horrible eating, don'texercise, and you are guaranteed
to be there probably by late60s.
If you want to have a vibrantlifestyle in which you can keep
up with your children and yourgrandchildren and nursing home
proof yourself, it starts now.
Start with your diet andmovement.
Michele Folan (29:24):
Well, we say this all the time, you know, you
can't outrun a bad diet.
And I think for these youngerpeople in their 20s and 30s, and
they're going out and they'redrinking beer every night, and
they're eating food late, badfood late, you know, their
metabolisms are still kind ofhumming along there.
But that that's not going to bethe case forever.
(29:45):
And then they wonder, oh God,like what happened?
Christa Tyler (29:50):
For those people who are eating all of the really
low quality foods really lateat night because you're like
hungry and hung over, justbecause your metabolism can Can
keep you in the clothing thatyou're wearing currently doesn't
mean of you know thatcardiovascularly is not taking a
massive toll now.
Michele Folan (30:09):
Yeah, for sure.
And then let's talk a littlebit about the gut and the
microbiome.
What role do they play inweight regulation?
Christa Tyler (30:18):
So it plays such a massive role in weight
regulation.
A lot of weight regulationstems from inflammation.
Inflammation fuels over 130chronic conditions that we do
not want.
Cancer, arthritis, diabetes,the list goes on.
Um, so the role that it playsis when we are have a really
healthy gut microbiome, we haveall of these healthy bugs that
(30:39):
are producing all of thesemetabolites, short chain fatty
acids, all of this goodness inour gut, it actually is
pro-inflammableanti-inflammatory.
And that will help with weightloss.
When your body is optimized ina really great way, you're
actually starting to produceyour own naturally occurring
GLP1s, which we all know canresult in weight loss.
It is of vital importance tooptimize your gut.
(31:02):
If you want to ward off those130-ish conditions, it starts in
your gut.
If you want to lose weight, ittruly begins in the gut.
When you have a healthy gutmicrobiome, your cravings are
going to slowly vanish.
Your drive for sugar is goingto slowly vanish.
And that's your body actuallychanging and starting to have a
(31:24):
healthier gut microbiome.
And you will be shocked of whathappens on the scale when this
begins.
All right.
Two questions.
Fiber.
How much should we be getting?
So I'm going to quote thestandardized American diet,
which is the sad diet.
And it truly is an abysmal SADdiet.
But even on the standardizedAmerican diet, it states that
(31:46):
women should be getting about 30grams of fiber.
I will tell you, about 95% ofAmericans are fiber deficient
and not even coming close tothe, I call it the BFM, the bare
freaking minimum.
We're not coming that close.
Okay.
The average woman that I get towork with is coming somewhere
between 9 to 14 grams of fiber aday.
(32:07):
So if you can baseline getyourself to 30 slowly over time,
if you go from nine to 30, youwill be constipated and
miserable and cursing the gutgoddess that she knows nothing.
So it's low and slow to slowlyincrease that.
Once you get to 30, you hangout there.
See how your bowels are.
Do you have loose stools?
Are you having several bowelmovements a day?
(32:28):
And then we can sort of gaugewhere you can go from there.
Most women in middle life issomewhere about 34 to 36 grams
of fiber as their comfort zone.
Okay.
And I'm talking about fiber inwhole food form.
I am not talking about taking asupplement to get you there.
Yeah.
A supplement is an addition toan otherwise healthy diet.
(32:49):
So I have some clients thatcannot get past like 28 grams,
and we have done all of thethings, and that's sort of their
comfort zone.
So at that point, once they'vehung out there for several
months and they can maintainthat, then you can talk about
adding a supplement to help withthe fiber.
Michele Folan (33:04):
All right.
And you're talking mostlyfruits, vegetables, those types
of whole foods.
Christa Tyler (33:10):
Whole foods, low glycemic index, fruits, and I
like to say sort of transitionover to those veggies because
fruits are easy.
We can all get more fruit inour diet than vegetables
typically.
So around 12 o'clock, midday,we start transitioning over to
those veg.
And it's not just about eating,you know, 20 servings of
broccoli a week.
It's about biodiversity.
(33:30):
It's about making sure you'reeating sort of the color of the
rainbow with that fiber as well.
So you want diversity in theveggies that you're choosing.
Michele Folan (33:38):
Now that's a really good point.
Because I've put stuff outthere about eating the rainbow,
you know, getting more color inyour diet.
Make your plate look pretty, asyou know, you want to have
color on there.
But I know based on people'shabits and food aversions, that
we tend to gravitate towards thesame kind of foods and also
(34:00):
ease.
You know, it's like you can,you know, make a prep a bunch of
veggies, like say sweetpotatoes on Sunday and eat sweet
potatoes the whole week.
And I know yeah, right.
Christa Tyler (34:14):
But it's good to have some variety.
Diversify a fun way to do it.
Um, I think I stole this fromDr.
Will Bolshewitz, um, who'samazing.
But plant points.
Try to shoot for like 30 plantpoints.
Each veggie is a point, right?
A different veggie is a point,and you want to have a diversity
in that diet as well.
Okay.
Michele Folan (34:36):
Yeah, I like that.
All right.
Then the other one I have tobring up, because this comes up
with my clients, and thisactually goes hand in hand with
gut health.
What is your feeling aboutalcohol and gut health?
Alcohol and gut health don't gotogether, simply put.
Christa Tyler (34:52):
We know that moderation, we've been told, is
really the best.
You know, just have alcohol andmoderation.
Truly, when we get right downto breast text, it is no
alcohol, is the best for yourgut.
Is that going to be realisticfor everybody?
No.
Most of my clients, they willnot fully give up alcohol, but
they decrease it dramatically.
(35:14):
And even, you know, having aglass of wine a week is sort of
where people are starting tosettle.
Even that will be a massiveincrease.
But, you know, alcohol is knownto can lead to cancer
diagnoses.
It's inflammatory.
So there's really, if we'retalking about really truly
dialing in your gut health,alcohol really doesn't have a
(35:34):
place in that formula.
Michele Folan (35:36):
Yeah.
It's not, I mean, and I'm I'mwith you on that.
If I if I can just get clientsto just cut back and you know,
not have that glass of wineevery single night because then
it becomes just a habit.
It's it's not correct, it's notreally helping, it's not
(35:57):
helping our health journey.
And so I appreciate you youchiming in there.
Christa Tyler (36:02):
And I get accused of talking about alcohol too
much on my podcast, but I I it'sit's a hot ticket item, and
people need to know that justbecause you know, moderation is
what we've been hearing foryears and years, it's that's
just not the reality of it.
So cut back to the bareminimum, and even that will be a
huge step in the rightdirection for you.
Michele Folan (36:23):
You know, I mentioned to you about uh Peter
Attia.
Um, he was on 60 Minutesrecently, and he talked about,
yeah, sure, we can keep peoplealive, but when we get into our
70s and 80s, they term those asthose can be the marginal years.
(36:43):
Those are the last 10, 12,maybe 15 years of someone's
life.
And you talk about are we arewe just living or are we
thriving?
How can you best, I don't know,convince somebody that instead
of being more reactive and toproblems as they show up, to
(37:06):
being more proactive, likesetting up systems so problems
don't show up.
Christa Tyler (37:11):
Simply to overcome this barrier, because I
see this a lot, is I want youto conjure up a mental image of
what you want your 70s and 80sto look like.
Truly.
Sit there, conjure thatpicture.
If it is you spending time withyour grandchildren on a
vacation, then you need to takethe steps now.
That's gonna be diet, lifestylemodification, and movement.
(37:34):
I cannot stress this enough.
People that I have been workingwith that my husband sees in
his private practice, if they'relate 30s, cannot get themselves
off the floor without theirhands.
If you can't do that now, howthe heck are you gonna do that
when you're 70 or 80?
So the biggest thing is giveyourself that goal of what you
want it to look like and thenreverse engineer into what do I
(37:56):
have to do to get myself there?
And that starts in those 20s,in those 30s.
That is movement.
It is, of course, diet, it is,of course, trying your very best
to keep all of your blood workin a healthy range.
But if you don't move it, youwill lose it.
It's simply put.
Do not wait until you're 50 tosay, hey, I really need to get
(38:18):
back in shape.
I really put on 30 pounds inthe last, you know, X amount of
years.
It is from your late 20s, Iwould argue.
You are fighting to keepyourself full of muscle, your
bones strong to be able to setyourself up.
The visualization exercise doesseem to overcome a lot of
roadblocks and then reverseengineer that plan.
(38:39):
And just as a recommendationand a reminder, at a bare
minimum, you should be getting150 minutes of exercise a week,
which sounds like a lot to some,but that is really what you
should be striving for now.
So you can maintain as you getolder.
Michele Folan (38:53):
All right, let's do the math on that.
That's 30 minutes five times aweek.
Christa Tyler (38:57):
Yeah.
Michele Folan (38:58):
I'm gonna bet that people spend a whole lot
more time on Instagram andFacebook.
So when people say I don't havetime, maybe we need to start
quantifying where we're spendingsome of our other time.
Christa Tyler (39:13):
Yeah.
It's when you start looking atyour day, I call it perfect day
scheduling.
You go through and you set yournon-negotiables.
Exercise should be one of yournon-negotiables, as well as
other, you know, reallyimportant things.
Scrolling on Instagram is not anon-negotiable.
That is the first thing thatgoes out the window.
All of these extras, you haveto get really honest with
yourself of where you, whereyour time sucks are, and what
(39:37):
can you do to swap that out?
And if you're just so addictedto Instagram, walk on your
treadmill while you're scrollingon Instagram.
Get on a stationary bike.
Stationary is the optimal wordthere, so you don't end up in a
tree or a ditch.
But you need to start making ita priority, simply put.
It's not, it sounds like a lotof time, it's not.
Michele Folan (39:58):
No, it's it's really not.
And so on that note, walking ona treadmill, how many steps a
day do you typically try to get?
Christa Tyler (40:06):
It's a good one.
I am now trying to get about12,000 steps a day.
I sit at my desk and I talk topeople remotely all day.
So if you are on my schedule,there's a good shot you'll see
me on a walking treadmill.
12,000 is for me my baseline.
When I'm working with clients,if you're coming from completely
sedentary, we just take smallincremental micro goals to get
(40:27):
you to an end goal of what wouldbe appropriate.
Most people, if you can shootfor 10 strive too and not
overnight, but work your way upto 10,000 steps a day, you are
making a huge step in the rightdirection.
The average woman who works,it's really scary.
They're getting about 3,000steps a day.
That's sedentary.
Michele Folan (40:46):
Correct.
Anything under 4,000 steps perday is considered sedentary.
That's frightening.
Correct.
And that is the vast majorityof women who are working at an
office job.
Yeah.
You know, we we talked aboutthis.
Um, I had Megan Dahlman.
Do you know Megan?
She's um, she's she's she'sreally good at getting people
started on a exercise journeybecause, you know, we we've got
(41:10):
to start with the right form andeverything.
But we were talking aboutexercise snacks and getting up
and doing doing squats next toyour desk, taking the stairs,
walking around the parking lotoutside, you know, particularly
after you eat, if you can getout and get some movement in
after you eat.
That's that's always such agreat, great thing to do.
(41:32):
Any other tips?
Christa Tyler (41:33):
Park as far away from the grocery store as
humanly possible.
When you were going somewhere,push yourself out, make yourself
uncomfortable, make yourselfwork for whatever it is that
you're walking in to go do.
After dinner, grab your kids,grab your husband, your partner,
whomever.
Go outside, get fresh air andmove your body.
There is everyone's gonna comeup with a reason as to why it's
(41:54):
not gonna work.
I can't do that because of.
I don't care if you do jumpingjacks in your living room.
I don't care if you do burpeesor squats, move your body
post-meals and make yourself alittle uncomfortable outside of
your comfort zone every singleday with movement.
Michele Folan (42:09):
Yeah, I agree.
So, what's one of yournon-negotiables?
Like when it comes to your ownhealth, what is one thing that
you do every day, regardless ofanything?
Working out.
Okay.
Christa Tyler (42:21):
Working out.
That is my I have finally,finally recently gotten myself
up in the morning.
Exercise for me, I I love it.
I've always done it.
It used to be midday, jobchange that doesn't work
anymore.
And I floundered.
And I was the woman looking atmy Apple Watch and saying, I got
2,200 steps today, and I'msitting here preaching to
everyone else that they need toget up off their butts and move,
(42:43):
and I'm not doing the same.
It is morning exercise.
It is done before the worldwakes up and I can go about my
day without it hanging over myhead.
I feel productive and good.
So movement is my number onenon-negotiable that is scheduled
before everything else.
Michele Folan (42:59):
Yeah.
You're a good woman.
I do not do that first thing inthe morning, but I do try to
get it in sometime in themorning.
But then sometimes it's fouro'clock in the afternoon.
So it just, but it gets done,right?
That's the most importantthing.
Exactly.
Whatever it gets done, justmake sure it gets done.
Correct.
All right.
You do work with clients.
(43:20):
I would love for you to sharewith the listeners how you how
you work with clients.
What does that look like?
So I do have a privatepractice.
Christa Tyler (43:29):
Um, you come in, we go over all of the
information that you bring,goals, your struggles, what
health diagnoses you're dealingwith.
Um, I like to look at familyhistory as well if you're
perfect health, but sometimes weknow that these familial
diseases may be creeping up.
So we can start putting a planand a program for eating to
abate that and keep that at, youknow, under wraps.
(43:50):
I do a lot of food journaling,mood journaling, poop
journaling.
It's the weird one, butelimination is super, super
important.
Um, I can do one-on-onesessions.
I have some groups that I runas well.
And I really, my biggestphilosophy is I want to meet
women where they're at.
So you might, I might not havesome perfect program for you,
but I will tailor a program tobe able to work with you, meet
(44:12):
you where you're at and get youresults, whether it's weight
loss, whether it is simply guthealth optimization, or I have a
few clients that are justnursing home proofing
themselves.
Michele Folan (44:20):
Ah, yeah.
Christa Tyler (44:22):
Yeah, that's a big one.
It is a big one.
And it's a, you know, it's aprogram of movement, it is a
program of eating, stressmanagement, sleep, social
emotional connections.
It all comes into play withinprivate practice.
Michele Folan (44:35):
That that's my goal.
I am I am uh nursing homeproofing myself right now.
It's my big goal.
All right, Christa, where canthe listeners find you?
Christa Tyler (44:48):
Instagram is probably the easiest at your gut
goddess.
Feel free to DM me asking for afriend, and I will shoot you
over.
I put together a recipe bookand just a food mood poop
journal to start understandingyour body's uh rhythms and
what's happening.
So DM me there and I'll get itover to you.
Michele Folan (45:05):
Wonderful.
Christa Tyler, thank you somuch for being here today.
This was so informative, and Iwill put all your information in
the show notes so everybody hasuh where to find you.
Amazing.
Thank you so much for havingme.
This is amazing.
Thank you.
Thanks, Christa.
Thank you for listening.
Please rate and review thepodcast where you listen.
(45:28):
And if you'd like to join theAsking for a Friend community,
click on the link in the shownotes to sign up for my weekly
newsletter where I share midlifewellness and fitness tips,
insights, my favorite finds, andrecipes.
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