April 28, 2025 • 33 mins
Have you ever considered that your waistline might be whispering secrets about your health? On today's podcast episode, we unravel the mystery of belly fat's impact on women's health, with a spotlight on those navigating perimenopause and menopause. I'll guide you through the nuances of visceral fat, how it differs from other body fats, and why it's a paramount health indicator. We'll explore the two major dietary villains that could be padding your middle and how to sidestep them.
But it's not all tape measures and food foes; we also dive into the sugar-laden minefield hidden in your everyday beverages. Sharing my own battle scars from sugar addiction, I'll help you spot and sidestep the sweet deceptions lurking in your drinks. You'll learn how to satisfy those sugar cravings with healthier choices, recalibrate your palate, and navigate dietary changes with confidence, especially during hormone fluctuations. Remember to subscribe to our podcast, and for those in the throes of perimenopause seeking more support, make sure to grab the free Radiant Reset Hormone Detox Guide from our show notes. Let's embark on this journey together towards a more informed and healthful life.
Are you a woman feeling stressed, flat and experiencing the challenges of perimenopause?
It’s time to reclaim your youthful energy, radiance and self-assurance (and your ideal weight).
I’m here to help with my proven method.
Here's how I can support you -
1. Hit your health and wellbeing goals this year, balance your hormones and lose weight with your own personalised protocol, based on your body's biochemistry. Sounds awesome right!! Book a free 30 minute Peri Weight Loss Assessment with me so we can discuss your health and wellbeing goals and also see how I might be able to support you. Book your call here.
2. Follow me on Instagram and Facebook - @the.perimenopause.path
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Susie Garden and this is the Ageless and
Awesome podcast.
I'm an age-defying naturopathand clinical nutritionist and
I'm here to bust myths aroundwomen's health and aging so that
you can be ageless and awesomein your 40s, 50s and beyond.
The Ageless and Awesome podcastis dedicated to helping women
(00:24):
through perimenopause andmenopause with great health, a
positive mindset and outrageousconfidence.
Hit, subscribe or follow nowand let's get started.
Hello, gorgeous one, andwelcome to this week's episode
of the Ageless and Awesomepodcast, and I'm going to be
talking about one of my favoritefavorite topics this week, and
(00:48):
I may even do a little series onthis topic.
Topic is belly fat.
I love talking about thisbecause it's something that we,
as women, often can strugglewith, and it's also hugely
underestimated by the generalpopulation of how much having
(01:09):
belly fat influences youroverall health, your longevity,
your ability to have kind of agood I don't know good, a
pleasant I don't know if any ofthese words are right, but it
will absolutely impact yourmenopausal experience, your
perimenopausal experience and,let's face it, for most of us it
(01:30):
is something that, just from anaesthetic point of view, we
would prefer to have a smallerwaist and that comes down to, I
guess a bit more of a primalthing of the fertile woman's
shape, which is of having anarrow waist and childbearing
hips.
So I'm going to be talkingtoday about the two foods you
(01:52):
need to avoid at all costs toavoid belly fat, and why belly
fat is bad for you in terms ofdementia risk, cardiovascular
risk, hormone issues so manythings.
There's a lot to cover.
As I said, I may break this upinto a couple of podcasts.
I'll see how I go, but it isone of my favorite topics.
(02:15):
I have spoken on this topicbefore and so you feel free to
look back in the catalog to seewhat I said last time.
So this will be a little bitmore of an update from that
particular podcast, but therewill be some of the same
information covered as well,because, to be honest, we've
(02:37):
known about this for a long time, but I really don't think that
this is something that isproperly communicated from a
health point of view and it'ssomething that when women come
to me and they're talking to meabout their bodies and their
goals, their health goals, theirweight loss goals, et cetera,
et cetera, the belly fat isalmost always referred to in
(03:00):
terms of the aesthetic and notso much as in terms of improving
their future health andwellbeing and their aging.
So let's get stuck into it.
So why is belly fat such a bigdeal?
Well, we have a couple ofdifferent types of fat in the
(03:22):
body and the fat thataccumulates around the kind of
waist area, and that can be.
When we're talking about that,we're not just talking about at
the front of the body.
It's very, very sneaky.
You can get this weight at theback, on the back.
You know we refer to it as backfat.
You may have heard that term,you may have used that term, but
(03:44):
yeah, it's not just whathappens around the front of the
body, it's also around the back,and that's why taking a waist
measurement is really importantto make sure you're capturing
everything that's going on inyour body.
When we're talking particularlyabout belly fat.
But the belly fat is actuallysomething called visceral fat.
But the belly fat is actuallysomething called visceral fat
(04:05):
and it's not like the fat thatis, say, in our face or in our
arms or in our legs.
That is very different type offat.
That fat is pretty inactive,it's just pure energy stores.
The fat that we have around ourmiddle, our belly fat is
(04:26):
actually can be quite dangerousbecause it infiltrates around
our organs.
That's one part of it, and theother part of it is that it
actually starts to act as itsown organ.
When you get enough of thatbelly fat accumulating and you
actually don't need that muchfor this to start happening it
actually starts producing itsown hormones.
(04:47):
And that can be quite tricky,particularly when it comes to
long-term weight loss.
Because if you have belly fat,like if you're an apple shape
that's what we refer to an appleshape in a pear shape You've
probably heard that pear shapetend to store their fat in their
butt and their thighs and theyyou would have heard that that's
(05:11):
a much safer place to store fatyou don't have that increase in
cardiovascular risk when youhave belly fat.
That does increase yourcardiovascular risk because it
shows us that as healthcarepractitioners, it shows the
researchers that your body has atendency to have insulin.
(05:35):
Let's call it dysregulation orinsulin resistance.
So I'll get into that in aminute.
Like this is a pretty complextopic.
So where to start?
Let's talk about belly fatinitially, as in some numbers,
let's look at some numbers, allright, so what should your waist
circumference be?
(05:57):
What is a safe waistcircumference.
A really easy one to start with, I guess, is know your height.
So let's say your height is 170centimeters that's my height,
170 centimeters then your waistmeasurement should be no more
(06:19):
than half of your height.
It's pretty easy.
So half of that is 85centimeters.
So if your waist circumferenceis under 85, that's a pretty
good start.
If you're 170 centimeters tall,there is one other number I'd
like to briefly mention.
If your waist circumference is100 centimeters or more, then
(06:42):
the research tells us that 100%of people that have a waist
circumference of 100 centimetersor more, then the research
tells us that 100% of peoplethat have a waist circumference
of 100 centimeters or more havea degree of insulin resistance.
And this is super important inthe context of a conversation
around belly fat, becauseessentially, the people that
tend to store fat around theirwaist tend to be more prone to
(07:06):
that insulin resistance.
And so what is insulinresistance?
If you're a long time listener,you know I've spoken about this
a lot.
I've got a bunch of blog postson this as well, but essentially
what happens and this is just anormal part as we get older is
our insulin doesn't work so well.
So insulin is a hormone and itdoes a number of things.
(07:29):
I'm just going to talk about acouple of them.
So, firstly, you would haveheard of insulin, probably when
we talk about diabetes andpeople that have diabetes often
end up on insulin.
If it's type two, if it's type1 diabetes so that's the one
that starts in childhood thenthey are always going to be on
insulin, and I describe insulinas a key that unlocks the cell
(07:53):
so that glucose can get from theblood into the cell, which is
where we can actually use it.
So that's pretty simple, right?
Insulin is the key that unlocksthe cell, gets the glucose out
of the blood into the cells, andthat's how it regulates our
blood glucose levels, and it's apretty important job.
The other job, one of the otherjobs that insulin has, is to
(08:17):
store fat.
So if there is excess sugar inour blood, then insulin will
help to store that as fat,because we are wired for
survival.
We are wired for back in theday where we didn't have access
to supermarkets andrefrigeration and cooking and
(08:38):
electric lights.
Whenever we wanted to, we couldeat, and electric lights, you
know.
Whenever we wanted to, we couldeat, we could get access to
food, and in our Western culture, we can have food whenever we
like, and that has led to thissituation for many of us, where
we are putting on excess weightand the body will just keep
putting it on and putting it onand putting it on, because we
(09:01):
have an unlimited capacity tocreate and store fat.
Fat is just simply energy thatwe can use later on.
And now there is another factorhere.
There is another criticalfactor here.
It's not so much that we canhave food whenever we want.
The problem is the type of foodthat has now become a huge part
(09:24):
of our staple diet, which iscompletely unnecessary, and that
is processed foods.
And this is a major, majorproblem.
And this is why and I'm talkingto any of you out there that
are struggling with your weightit is not your fault.
It is not your fault.
We have been absolutely dupedby what I like to call big food.
(09:47):
Yes, and what this means isthat when we look at processed
foods so processed foods areshelf-stable foods they come in
a packet and it is what they'vegot in them.
That is really, reallydisturbing.
(10:07):
And that is going to lead medown into the two different
foods you should really avoideating if you want to avoid
belly fat.
But before we get there, I wantto spend a little bit of time on
processed food.
The body just doesn't know whatto do with all of the chemicals
that are in processed food andthis is why I get, when I start,
(10:27):
people on the GLOBE protocoland metabolic balance, which is
a whole foods diet fruits,veggies, meats, legumes, bread
all of these things completelyprescribed for the individual
based on their blood tests,their body measurements, their
medical history.
We don't have processed foodsand packaged foods in the
(10:51):
program.
We just don't, because yourbody is is an organism, it's an
animal and it doesn't do wellwith processed foods.
Now that doesn't mean you can'thave treats.
Let me be clear.
I love my treats, I love them,and you've got to enjoy life as
well as have a good quality oflife and a good length of life.
(11:15):
So it's getting the balance.
It's absolutely getting thebalance.
But if you eat a diet that'srich in whole foods, you
probably aren't going to have anissue with obesity, being
overweight, having insulinresistance, having belly fat.
I'm not guaranteeing it, butI'll tell you what.
That's a really good place tostart and the reason I say it's
(11:40):
not your fault is because bigfood have big budgets.
If you've ever watched any ofthose documentaries on big food,
you will know exactly what I'mtalking about.
I'll never forget watching one,and they were talking about
corn chips.
It was a really good example.
And they have this machine thatwe're using to test the
(12:03):
crispness of an individual cornchip to calibrate it to the
exact and I'm talking by micronsexact crispness of a corn chip
that people gave the bestfeedback on, and that would be
the crispness that they wouldmanufacture this food to so that
(12:27):
people would buy that brandpreferentially because they
enjoyed the mouthfeel better.
And there's other aspects tothis as well, with all of the
flavorings and things that getput on there.
But if you pick up a bag ofcorn chips that are flavored,
have a look at the ingredientsand I'll guarantee you there'll
be things there that you don'trecognize and you don't know
(12:47):
what they are.
They're not actual, real food.
And this is across the big foodindustry.
Now, I have worked in big food.
I have seen for myself some ofthe things that go on and it is
all about getting you to buy theproduct.
I have seen for myself some ofthe things that go on and it is
all about getting you to buy theproduct again and again and
(13:10):
again.
You notice you'll rarely seeads for fruits and veggies and
even meats and other unprocessedfoods, unless they're by the
supermarket or unless they're bya government agency that's
trying to get people to eat morehealthily.
And if you look at thosebudgets compared to the budgets
with big food have to throwaround, they don't even compare.
(13:33):
So not only are you gettinggosh I feel like I'm really on
my soapbox now, but it's so trueNot only are you getting beaten
over the head with thisadvertising, you're also
manipulating the food to makesure that you want to buy it
over and over and over again andthat you will actually crave
this food.
And the reason you crave it isbecause of these two ingredients
(13:56):
that I'm about to talk aboutthat contribute big time to
belly fat.
So let's get into them.
The first one I'm going to talkabout and you're going to roll
your eyes and go well, of courseit's obvious, but clearly it's
not because it's still a bigproblem and that is the first
one is refined sugar.
Refined sugar, as you canimagine, is a massive
(14:18):
contributor to belly fat becauseit, just as soon as it goes
into your bloodstream, theglucose shoots up, the insulin
is right, let's go.
And it's going to store fat.
And the thing is, when we thinkof refined sugar, you might be
thinking, well, I don't havesugar in my coffee or you know
that kind of thing, but the bigproblem is what I would call
(14:39):
liquid sugar.
So this is.
I'm talking about things likesoft drinks or sodas.
If you're one of my Americanlisteners, it's just like
shooting sugar into your veins.
Things like your chocolate milk, for example.
I know a lot of people thinkthat's a healthier option
because it's milk, but it is.
There's so much sugar in thesethings and I used to eat them
(15:03):
and drink them rather, I used tobefore I got trained in
nutrition.
I used to think they were ahealthier option than having a
soft drink, but they're dreadful.
Orange juice is another classic.
People still have orange juicefor breakfast.
Have an orange, not an orangejuice.
There is so much sugar andthat's not even refined sugar
(15:25):
necessarily, but it is justputting it into your veins.
It's terrible, yeah, so any ofthose energy drinks is another
classic, even some of yourthings like kombucha.
That's another one that peoplethink is really healthy.
Not necessarily.
It depends on how they've madeit and how much sugar, because
(15:47):
we definitely use.
I've made kombucha, I used tomake it for quite some time and
you put quite a lot of sugar init.
It's quite extraordinary howmuch sugar you put in it because
you've got to feed the SCOBY,which is what gives you your
bacteria, and the SCOBY will usea lot of that sugar.
But depending on how long youspend with that fermentation
time will influence how muchrefined sugar is still in that
(16:11):
product.
And I don't know for sure forthis, but I'd be pretty
confident to say that there'sprobably a fair amount of sugar
in this product, that theyprobably don't do the
fermentation time for as long sothat it tastes better, so that
you buy it again.
What this is all about isgetting the customer to
repurchase the product, sorefined sugar.
(16:36):
So when you're looking for this,you're looking for high
fructose.
If you're looking on a label,is what I mean high fructose?
Corn syrup is sugar in disguise.
Glucose sucrose, all those sortof things.
They're all sugars in disguise.
Be very, very mindful of thosesort of things.
(16:56):
On labels You'll rarelysometimes you see things like
cane sugar, as if that'shealthier, organic cane sugar.
You know, it's just not.
It's really just not.
The alternatives to that arethings like I mean, rice malt
syrup's not a bad alternative,stevia is not a bad alternative.
(17:18):
They're both plant-based,they're not artificial.
Now, I'll be honest, they donot give you the same kind of
buzz I guess I'd call it assugar.
They don't satisfy necessarilythat sugar craving because they
aren't sugar.
So just be aware of that.
If you're going to substitutestevia, for example, in your
(17:41):
coffee or your tea, then youwill know you'll go oh, it
doesn't taste as good.
What I would suggest,alternatively, is to actually
wean yourself off the sugar sothat you're not having any of it
.
No sugar replacement,definitely no artificial sugar.
We know that there are plentyof people that that, people that
(18:04):
have like the diet sodas, thediet soft drinks and have the
artificial sweeteners.
A lot of those people haveobesity and so it's.
There's definitely a link there.
I won't go into it because Idon't have the researcher in
front of me now, but I've seenthe research, probably a couple
of years ago.
Now it's been around for awhile and, yeah, we know for
sure that there are links there.
So just of the research infront of me now, but I've seen
the research, probably a coupleof years ago now it's been
around for a while and, yeah, weknow for sure that there are
(18:26):
links there.
So just stay away from thosesoft drinks altogether.
Have sparkling mineral waterinstead.
You just need to retrain yourtaste buds and I know you're
going to miss it.
You are.
I'm a sugar fiend myself.
I love sugar and I reallycontinually have to work on my
(18:46):
addiction to it, and if I stayaway from it it gets easier and
easier and easier.
But if I go out and I have adessert because that is my sweet
, my absolute kryptonite isdessert and ice cream and
chocolate and things like thatIf I go out and have a dessert,
oh man, I am done for probablyfor weeks afterwards until I go
(19:10):
okay, I've got to get a handleon this again and I have to.
Yeah, just stop.
So I would highly recommend andthis is coming from someone for
me I used to have tea with milkand three sugars.
Yes, I did, and I started doingthat when I was probably in high
(19:32):
school I think grade 11 or 12,because I didn't actually like
the taste of tea very much and Idefinitely wasn't going to have
coffee, because that was justdisgusting to me at the time and
so clearly I was just havingsugar water with a bit of tea in
it and yeah, I really found itvery easy to just wean myself
(19:55):
off sugar by just reducing it byhalf a teaspoon every few days
to get myself down to no sugarin the tea and it was completely
fine, completely acceptable.
So I strongly encourage you, ifyou are someone that has sugar
in your tea or coffee, start towean yourself off it, because
(20:20):
you're really doing yourselfdamage, even if you're someone
that's quite slim.
I'm quite slim, but I know I'msomeone that you would call
skinny fat.
For sure, where I tend to puton weight, if I do put on weight
, it is around my middle.
I've got quite slim legs and Iknow because you know I am a
woman in perimenopause that I'mgoing to have more of a tendency
(20:41):
to store fat now, as well as mynatural tendency because of the
hormonal changes that are goingon, I'm going to be way more
likely to store fat on my middle.
So I have to be very, verymindful.
So if you're a perimenopausalwoman and I know from my stats
that the majority of you thatare listening pausal woman and I
(21:02):
know from my stats that themajority of you that are
listening are.
I know I've got some blokes aswell, which is great, um, cause
I love working with men also, uh, but yeah, I really recommend
that you get the sugar out ofyour coffee and your tea.
If you are someone that has softdrinks, even if it's just once
a week or twice a week, get ridof it.
Get rid of it, because thesethings do just keep building
that attachment and thataddiction that we have to sugar,
(21:24):
and that extends to things alsowith some of the alternative
milks.
Some of these alternative milksare so full of sugar, even if
they're organic and they mighthave organic sugar in them,
they're still not good.
So if you're thinking thatswapping out to almond milk, for
(21:44):
example gosh, that is a con.
Please don't have the almondmilk, please go.
If you really must have milk,then go for an organic dairy or
organic, whether it's cow orwhether it's a goat or whether
it's sheep, whatever.
Do that, but make sure it'sorganic and full fat, not skim.
(22:06):
But yeah, the switch to oatmilk, to almond milk.
There is virtually no protein inthose products, and same with
rice milk as well, and usually,to get it to be palatable,
they're filling it with sugarand also gums and things that
(22:28):
give it a better mouthfeel, sopeople enjoy it.
Go for your black if you wantto.
I would even say a very goodquality soy milk and some people
might crucify me for sayingthat as a natural health
practitioner but if you'relooking at a very good quality
(22:48):
soy milk, soy is a completeprotein Obviously you're wanting
an organic, non-gmo soy, butthat is a complete protein and
it's going to be better for youthan going for an almond milk or
rice milk.
I will just clarify that andsay if you have a thyroid
condition, soy is not a goodoption for you, but other than
(23:09):
that, it's quite fine to have.
Uh, I think that's all I wantto say about sugar.
So that's my number one food tostay away from to avoid belly
fat.
The other one, of course youprobably already guessed, is
wheat flour.
That's what I'm talking aboutRefined white flour.
(23:31):
So substituting that withsomething like buckwheat flour
can be a good one.
Coconut flour can be a good one.
Almond flour can be a good one.
There's quite a lot of options.
I used to make my own almondflour.
I actually used to.
I'm just going to contradictmyself now.
I used to make myself somealmond milk and that was making
(23:53):
it myself.
So if you want to make ityourself, you use a good amount
of almonds with water and youmight want to chuck a date in it
or something like that to getsome sweetness.
But that is not a bad option tomake your own almond milk.
I used to do that quite a lot.
And then I do get the almondpulp and dry it out in the oven,
throw it in the blender to getit really nice and fine, and I'd
(24:17):
use that to make cookies andthings like that.
When I was into having snacksbefore I got a little bit more
education around not havingsnacks, so we'll talk about that
in a minute.
But yeah, that would be a way.
Okay, if you wanted to usealmond milk, that would be a way
to do it.
But just do it for flavor.
Don't do it because you thinkyou're doing something more
healthy for yourself, becauseyou're really actually not.
(24:39):
But absolutely, if you'replant-based and you don't have
any animal product, then thatway of doing an almond milk to
enjoy, to have with your oats orto have with your what else
your tea or coffee.
That's fine, but do know you'renot getting a lot of protein
(24:59):
with that, so you will need tomake sure you're getting your
protein from other things.
A lot of people think thatalmond milk is full of protein
and it's actually not All right.
We digress.
So let's get onto flour.
So, yeah, wheat flour and I'mtalking the highly refined white
flour, flour, and I'm talkingthe highly refined white flour
(25:23):
is a problem for many people interms of bumping up blood sugar
levels.
And, yeah, the alternativeflours can be fantastic,
depending on what you're making,because remember, like, for
example, coconut flour I quitelike using, but it does have
that coconut flavor.
So if you avoided refined wheatflour and refined sugar, you
(25:43):
would have a massive improvementin your health and, most likely
, your waistline.
Now, I did mention snacks, so Iwill cover that today in
today's podcast.
But I can see already intoday's podcast, but I can see
already I've got so many notesof things I wanted to talk about
today and clearly we're alreadyat, you know, half an hour
(26:06):
almost, and I don't want to makethis podcast a one hour podcast
.
So let's talk about snacks andthen we'll wind up.
So snacks man, oh, I used tolove having snacks, loved it,
looked forward to it.
I was a snack queen.
Of course, during the course ofmy nutrition training, I
(26:31):
learned a little bit more aboutsnacks.
Snacks are completelyunnecessary and a lot of you
probably are aware of that.
Anyway, these days, because ofall of the fasting ways of
eating that are out there,they're all about avoiding
snacks, and the research that Ihave seen that I connect with is
(26:52):
the three meals a day, nosnacks.
Now, I did talk aboutintermittent fasting last week
and one of the big kind ofdrawbacks of intermittent
fasting can be the muscle lossthat takes place, and three
meals a day, no snacks, seems toavoid that.
So, yeah, I would highlyrecommend making sure that the
(27:13):
meals that you're havingdefinitely have a good amount of
protein, that they have healthyfats and obviously lots of
brightly colored fruits andveggies, things like that.
I can tell you that that, yeah,you definitely again need to
wean yourself off the snacksbecause you crave them.
(27:37):
The snacks because you cravethem Because what happens is
your blood it's sugar.
So, firstly, just a habit isprobably number one.
It's habit Sometimes it can beboredom that leads to snacks,
because it's something to dowhen it's three o'clock in the
afternoon something to break upthe afternoon.
You go and have a coffee or yougo and have.
(27:59):
You know, when I worked in anoffice I'd have cream biscuits,
which was the beginning of theend for me in terms of weight
gain.
And yeah, so there's thecombination of habit but also
sugar craving if your mealsaren't beautifully balanced.
And what happens when you havesnacks is you're just keeping
(28:20):
your insulin and your glucosebeing produced all through the
day.
And when your insulin is beingproduced all through the day,
you're just gonna keep storingfat and keep storing fat and
keep storing fat.
You're not gonna get into fatburning when you are sticking to
three meals a day and no snacks.
You will go into fat burning inbetween meals.
(28:42):
Sort of five to six hoursbetween meals is a really kind
of sweet spot to get that goodregulation of glucose and
insulin.
And guess what?
Your brain will work better,you'll think more clearer,
you'll make better decisions,you'll feel calmer, you'll feel
more in control and you won'tget that afternoon energy dip,
(29:07):
as long as your meals arebeautifully balanced, exactly
for you.
So that's where I'm going toleave it today.
It will also help burn yourbelly fat.
That's where I'm going to leaveit today.
I would love any questions thatyou have so I can address in a
future episode.
I'm definitely going to do onenext week.
This may even stretch intothree weeks of episodes just
(29:29):
looking at belly fat, because Iknow how much it plagues women,
and particularly women that aregetting into their perimenopause
years and postmenopause.
So I hope you've enjoyed it.
I'd love to hear your feedback.
I want to give a shout out to abeautiful listener who left me a
review.
I don't see many reviewsbecause it's really hard to get
(29:53):
people to actually write them.
A lot of people give me a fivestar, which I love, so I do
appreciate it, thank you, but itreally warms my heart, and I
think this lady's name might beJane left me a review, I think a
couple of weeks ago now, and Ijust wanted to point out to you,
jane, that I have seen it andit really meant a lot to me.
So thank you very much.
(30:13):
Anyway, guys, I will be back onThursday with Q&A.
Have a great week Until then.
Thanks so much for joining metoday on the Ageless and Awesome
podcast.
If you liked today's episode,please make sure you click the
little plus button if you're onApple Podcasts, or the follow
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(30:33):
delivered to you every week.
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the link to receive my freeRadiant Reset Hormone Detox
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I'd love to connect with you.
Hi, I'm Susie Garden and this is the Ageless and
Awesome podcast.
I'm an age-defying naturopathand clinical nutritionist and
I'm here to bust myths aroundwomen's health and aging so that
you can be ageless and awesomein your 40s, 50s and beyond.
The Ageless and Awesome podcastis dedicated to helping women
(00:24):
through perimenopause andmenopause with great health, a
positive mindset and outrageousconfidence.
Hit, subscribe or follow nowand let's get started.
Hello, gorgeous one, andwelcome to this week's episode
of the Ageless and Awesomepodcast, and I'm going to be
talking about one of my favoritefavorite topics this week, and
(00:48):
I may even do a little series onthis topic.
Topic is belly fat.
I love talking about thisbecause it's something that we,
as women, often can strugglewith, and it's also hugely
underestimated by the generalpopulation of how much having
(01:09):
belly fat influences youroverall health, your longevity,
your ability to have kind of agood I don't know good, a
pleasant I don't know if any ofthese words are right, but it
will absolutely impact yourmenopausal experience, your
perimenopausal experience and,let's face it, for most of us it
(01:30):
is something that, just from anaesthetic point of view, we
would prefer to have a smallerwaist and that comes down to, I
guess a bit more of a primalthing of the fertile woman's
shape, which is of having anarrow waist and childbearing
hips.
So I'm going to be talkingtoday about the two foods you
(01:52):
need to avoid at all costs toavoid belly fat, and why belly
fat is bad for you in terms ofdementia risk, cardiovascular
risk, hormone issues so manythings.
There's a lot to cover.
As I said, I may break this upinto a couple of podcasts.
I'll see how I go, but it isone of my favorite topics.
(02:15):
I have spoken on this topicbefore and so you feel free to
look back in the catalog to seewhat I said last time.
So this will be a little bitmore of an update from that
particular podcast, but therewill be some of the same
information covered as well,because, to be honest, we've
(02:37):
known about this for a long time, but I really don't think that
this is something that isproperly communicated from a
health point of view and it'ssomething that when women come
to me and they're talking to meabout their bodies and their
goals, their health goals, theirweight loss goals, et cetera,
et cetera, the belly fat isalmost always referred to in
(03:00):
terms of the aesthetic and notso much as in terms of improving
their future health andwellbeing and their aging.
So let's get stuck into it.
So why is belly fat such a bigdeal?
Well, we have a couple ofdifferent types of fat in the
(03:22):
body and the fat thataccumulates around the kind of
waist area, and that can be.
When we're talking about that,we're not just talking about at
the front of the body.
It's very, very sneaky.
You can get this weight at theback, on the back.
You know we refer to it as backfat.
You may have heard that term,you may have used that term, but
(03:44):
yeah, it's not just whathappens around the front of the
body, it's also around the back,and that's why taking a waist
measurement is really importantto make sure you're capturing
everything that's going on inyour body.
When we're talking particularlyabout belly fat.
But the belly fat is actuallysomething called visceral fat.
But the belly fat is actuallysomething called visceral fat
(04:05):
and it's not like the fat thatis, say, in our face or in our
arms or in our legs.
That is very different type offat.
That fat is pretty inactive,it's just pure energy stores.
The fat that we have around ourmiddle, our belly fat is
(04:26):
actually can be quite dangerousbecause it infiltrates around
our organs.
That's one part of it, and theother part of it is that it
actually starts to act as itsown organ.
When you get enough of thatbelly fat accumulating and you
actually don't need that muchfor this to start happening it
actually starts producing itsown hormones.
(04:47):
And that can be quite tricky,particularly when it comes to
long-term weight loss.
Because if you have belly fat,like if you're an apple shape
that's what we refer to an appleshape in a pear shape You've
probably heard that pear shapetend to store their fat in their
butt and their thighs and theyyou would have heard that that's
(05:11):
a much safer place to store fatyou don't have that increase in
cardiovascular risk when youhave belly fat.
That does increase yourcardiovascular risk because it
shows us that as healthcarepractitioners, it shows the
researchers that your body has atendency to have insulin.
(05:35):
Let's call it dysregulation orinsulin resistance.
So I'll get into that in aminute.
Like this is a pretty complextopic.
So where to start?
Let's talk about belly fatinitially, as in some numbers,
let's look at some numbers, allright, so what should your waist
circumference be?
(05:57):
What is a safe waistcircumference.
A really easy one to start with, I guess, is know your height.
So let's say your height is 170centimeters that's my height,
170 centimeters then your waistmeasurement should be no more
(06:19):
than half of your height.
It's pretty easy.
So half of that is 85centimeters.
So if your waist circumferenceis under 85, that's a pretty
good start.
If you're 170 centimeters tall,there is one other number I'd
like to briefly mention.
If your waist circumference is100 centimeters or more, then
(06:42):
the research tells us that 100%of people that have a waist
circumference of 100 centimetersor more, then the research
tells us that 100% of peoplethat have a waist circumference
of 100 centimeters or more havea degree of insulin resistance.
And this is super important inthe context of a conversation
around belly fat, becauseessentially, the people that
tend to store fat around theirwaist tend to be more prone to
(07:06):
that insulin resistance.
And so what is insulinresistance?
If you're a long time listener,you know I've spoken about this
a lot.
I've got a bunch of blog postson this as well, but essentially
what happens and this is just anormal part as we get older is
our insulin doesn't work so well.
So insulin is a hormone and itdoes a number of things.
(07:29):
I'm just going to talk about acouple of them.
So, firstly, you would haveheard of insulin, probably when
we talk about diabetes andpeople that have diabetes often
end up on insulin.
If it's type two, if it's type1 diabetes so that's the one
that starts in childhood thenthey are always going to be on
insulin, and I describe insulinas a key that unlocks the cell
(07:53):
so that glucose can get from theblood into the cell, which is
where we can actually use it.
So that's pretty simple, right?
Insulin is the key that unlocksthe cell, gets the glucose out
of the blood into the cells, andthat's how it regulates our
blood glucose levels, and it's apretty important job.
The other job, one of the otherjobs that insulin has, is to
(08:17):
store fat.
So if there is excess sugar inour blood, then insulin will
help to store that as fat,because we are wired for
survival.
We are wired for back in theday where we didn't have access
to supermarkets andrefrigeration and cooking and
(08:38):
electric lights.
Whenever we wanted to, we couldeat, and electric lights, you
know.
Whenever we wanted to, we couldeat, we could get access to
food, and in our Western culture, we can have food whenever we
like, and that has led to thissituation for many of us, where
we are putting on excess weightand the body will just keep
putting it on and putting it onand putting it on, because we
(09:01):
have an unlimited capacity tocreate and store fat.
Fat is just simply energy thatwe can use later on.
And now there is another factorhere.
There is another criticalfactor here.
It's not so much that we canhave food whenever we want.
The problem is the type of foodthat has now become a huge part
(09:24):
of our staple diet, which iscompletely unnecessary, and that
is processed foods.
And this is a major, majorproblem.
And this is why and I'm talkingto any of you out there that
are struggling with your weightit is not your fault.
It is not your fault.
We have been absolutely dupedby what I like to call big food.
(09:47):
Yes, and what this means isthat when we look at processed
foods so processed foods areshelf-stable foods they come in
a packet and it is what they'vegot in them.
That is really, reallydisturbing.
(10:07):
And that is going to lead medown into the two different
foods you should really avoideating if you want to avoid
belly fat.
But before we get there, I wantto spend a little bit of time on
processed food.
The body just doesn't know whatto do with all of the chemicals
that are in processed food andthis is why I get, when I start,
(10:27):
people on the GLOBE protocoland metabolic balance, which is
a whole foods diet fruits,veggies, meats, legumes, bread
all of these things completelyprescribed for the individual
based on their blood tests,their body measurements, their
medical history.
We don't have processed foodsand packaged foods in the
(10:51):
program.
We just don't, because yourbody is is an organism, it's an
animal and it doesn't do wellwith processed foods.
Now that doesn't mean you can'thave treats.
Let me be clear.
I love my treats, I love them,and you've got to enjoy life as
well as have a good quality oflife and a good length of life.
(11:15):
So it's getting the balance.
It's absolutely getting thebalance.
But if you eat a diet that'srich in whole foods, you
probably aren't going to have anissue with obesity, being
overweight, having insulinresistance, having belly fat.
I'm not guaranteeing it, butI'll tell you what.
That's a really good place tostart and the reason I say it's
(11:40):
not your fault is because bigfood have big budgets.
If you've ever watched any ofthose documentaries on big food,
you will know exactly what I'mtalking about.
I'll never forget watching one,and they were talking about
corn chips.
It was a really good example.
And they have this machine thatwe're using to test the
(12:03):
crispness of an individual cornchip to calibrate it to the
exact and I'm talking by micronsexact crispness of a corn chip
that people gave the bestfeedback on, and that would be
the crispness that they wouldmanufacture this food to so that
(12:27):
people would buy that brandpreferentially because they
enjoyed the mouthfeel better.
And there's other aspects tothis as well, with all of the
flavorings and things that getput on there.
But if you pick up a bag ofcorn chips that are flavored,
have a look at the ingredientsand I'll guarantee you there'll
be things there that you don'trecognize and you don't know
(12:47):
what they are.
They're not actual, real food.
And this is across the big foodindustry.
Now, I have worked in big food.
I have seen for myself some ofthe things that go on and it is
all about getting you to buy theproduct.
I have seen for myself some ofthe things that go on and it is
all about getting you to buy theproduct again and again and
(13:10):
again.
You notice you'll rarely seeads for fruits and veggies and
even meats and other unprocessedfoods, unless they're by the
supermarket or unless they're bya government agency that's
trying to get people to eat morehealthily.
And if you look at thosebudgets compared to the budgets
with big food have to throwaround, they don't even compare.
(13:33):
So not only are you gettinggosh I feel like I'm really on
my soapbox now, but it's so trueNot only are you getting beaten
over the head with thisadvertising, you're also
manipulating the food to makesure that you want to buy it
over and over and over again andthat you will actually crave
this food.
And the reason you crave it isbecause of these two ingredients
(13:56):
that I'm about to talk aboutthat contribute big time to
belly fat.
So let's get into them.
The first one I'm going to talkabout and you're going to roll
your eyes and go well, of courseit's obvious, but clearly it's
not because it's still a bigproblem and that is the first
one is refined sugar.
Refined sugar, as you canimagine, is a massive
(14:18):
contributor to belly fat becauseit, just as soon as it goes
into your bloodstream, theglucose shoots up, the insulin
is right, let's go.
And it's going to store fat.
And the thing is, when we thinkof refined sugar, you might be
thinking, well, I don't havesugar in my coffee or you know
that kind of thing, but the bigproblem is what I would call
(14:39):
liquid sugar.
So this is.
I'm talking about things likesoft drinks or sodas.
If you're one of my Americanlisteners, it's just like
shooting sugar into your veins.
Things like your chocolate milk, for example.
I know a lot of people thinkthat's a healthier option
because it's milk, but it is.
There's so much sugar in thesethings and I used to eat them
(15:03):
and drink them rather, I used tobefore I got trained in
nutrition.
I used to think they were ahealthier option than having a
soft drink, but they're dreadful.
Orange juice is another classic.
People still have orange juicefor breakfast.
Have an orange, not an orangejuice.
There is so much sugar andthat's not even refined sugar
(15:25):
necessarily, but it is justputting it into your veins.
It's terrible, yeah, so any ofthose energy drinks is another
classic, even some of yourthings like kombucha.
That's another one that peoplethink is really healthy.
Not necessarily.
It depends on how they've madeit and how much sugar, because
(15:47):
we definitely use.
I've made kombucha, I used tomake it for quite some time and
you put quite a lot of sugar init.
It's quite extraordinary howmuch sugar you put in it because
you've got to feed the SCOBY,which is what gives you your
bacteria, and the SCOBY will usea lot of that sugar.
But depending on how long youspend with that fermentation
time will influence how muchrefined sugar is still in that
(16:11):
product.
And I don't know for sure forthis, but I'd be pretty
confident to say that there'sprobably a fair amount of sugar
in this product, that theyprobably don't do the
fermentation time for as long sothat it tastes better, so that
you buy it again.
What this is all about isgetting the customer to
repurchase the product, sorefined sugar.
(16:36):
So when you're looking for this,you're looking for high
fructose.
If you're looking on a label,is what I mean high fructose?
Corn syrup is sugar in disguise.
Glucose sucrose, all those sortof things.
They're all sugars in disguise.
Be very, very mindful of thosesort of things.
(16:56):
On labels You'll rarelysometimes you see things like
cane sugar, as if that'shealthier, organic cane sugar.
You know, it's just not.
It's really just not.
The alternatives to that arethings like I mean, rice malt
syrup's not a bad alternative,stevia is not a bad alternative.
(17:18):
They're both plant-based,they're not artificial.
Now, I'll be honest, they donot give you the same kind of
buzz I guess I'd call it assugar.
They don't satisfy necessarilythat sugar craving because they
aren't sugar.
So just be aware of that.
If you're going to substitutestevia, for example, in your
(17:41):
coffee or your tea, then youwill know you'll go oh, it
doesn't taste as good.
What I would suggest,alternatively, is to actually
wean yourself off the sugar sothat you're not having any of it
.
No sugar replacement,definitely no artificial sugar.
We know that there are plentyof people that that, people that
(18:04):
have like the diet sodas, thediet soft drinks and have the
artificial sweeteners.
A lot of those people haveobesity and so it's.
There's definitely a link there.
I won't go into it because Idon't have the researcher in
front of me now, but I've seenthe research, probably a couple
of years ago.
Now it's been around for awhile and, yeah, we know for
sure that there are links there.
So just of the research infront of me now, but I've seen
the research, probably a coupleof years ago now it's been
around for a while and, yeah, weknow for sure that there are
(18:26):
links there.
So just stay away from thosesoft drinks altogether.
Have sparkling mineral waterinstead.
You just need to retrain yourtaste buds and I know you're
going to miss it.
You are.
I'm a sugar fiend myself.
I love sugar and I reallycontinually have to work on my
(18:46):
addiction to it, and if I stayaway from it it gets easier and
easier and easier.
But if I go out and I have adessert because that is my sweet
, my absolute kryptonite isdessert and ice cream and
chocolate and things like thatIf I go out and have a dessert,
oh man, I am done for probablyfor weeks afterwards until I go
(19:10):
okay, I've got to get a handleon this again and I have to.
Yeah, just stop.
So I would highly recommend andthis is coming from someone for
me I used to have tea with milkand three sugars.
Yes, I did, and I started doingthat when I was probably in high
(19:32):
school I think grade 11 or 12,because I didn't actually like
the taste of tea very much and Idefinitely wasn't going to have
coffee, because that was justdisgusting to me at the time and
so clearly I was just havingsugar water with a bit of tea in
it and yeah, I really found itvery easy to just wean myself
(19:55):
off sugar by just reducing it byhalf a teaspoon every few days
to get myself down to no sugarin the tea and it was completely
fine, completely acceptable.
So I strongly encourage you, ifyou are someone that has sugar
in your tea or coffee, start towean yourself off it, because
(20:20):
you're really doing yourselfdamage, even if you're someone
that's quite slim.
I'm quite slim, but I know I'msomeone that you would call
skinny fat.
For sure, where I tend to puton weight, if I do put on weight
, it is around my middle.
I've got quite slim legs and Iknow because you know I am a
woman in perimenopause that I'mgoing to have more of a tendency
(20:41):
to store fat now, as well as mynatural tendency because of the
hormonal changes that are goingon, I'm going to be way more
likely to store fat on my middle.
So I have to be very, verymindful.
So if you're a perimenopausalwoman and I know from my stats
that the majority of you thatare listening pausal woman and I
(21:02):
know from my stats that themajority of you that are
listening are.
I know I've got some blokes aswell, which is great, um, cause
I love working with men also, uh, but yeah, I really recommend
that you get the sugar out ofyour coffee and your tea.
If you are someone that has softdrinks, even if it's just once
a week or twice a week, get ridof it.
Get rid of it, because thesethings do just keep building
that attachment and thataddiction that we have to sugar,
(21:24):
and that extends to things alsowith some of the alternative
milks.
Some of these alternative milksare so full of sugar, even if
they're organic and they mighthave organic sugar in them,
they're still not good.
So if you're thinking thatswapping out to almond milk, for
(21:44):
example gosh, that is a con.
Please don't have the almondmilk, please go.
If you really must have milk,then go for an organic dairy or
organic, whether it's cow orwhether it's a goat or whether
it's sheep, whatever.
Do that, but make sure it'sorganic and full fat, not skim.
(22:06):
But yeah, the switch to oatmilk, to almond milk.
There is virtually no protein inthose products, and same with
rice milk as well, and usually,to get it to be palatable,
they're filling it with sugarand also gums and things that
(22:28):
give it a better mouthfeel, sopeople enjoy it.
Go for your black if you wantto.
I would even say a very goodquality soy milk and some people
might crucify me for sayingthat as a natural health
practitioner but if you'relooking at a very good quality
(22:48):
soy milk, soy is a completeprotein Obviously you're wanting
an organic, non-gmo soy, butthat is a complete protein and
it's going to be better for youthan going for an almond milk or
rice milk.
I will just clarify that andsay if you have a thyroid
condition, soy is not a goodoption for you, but other than
(23:09):
that, it's quite fine to have.
Uh, I think that's all I wantto say about sugar.
So that's my number one food tostay away from to avoid belly
fat.
The other one, of course youprobably already guessed, is
wheat flour.
That's what I'm talking aboutRefined white flour.
(23:31):
So substituting that withsomething like buckwheat flour
can be a good one.
Coconut flour can be a good one.
Almond flour can be a good one.
There's quite a lot of options.
I used to make my own almondflour.
I actually used to.
I'm just going to contradictmyself now.
I used to make myself somealmond milk and that was making
(23:53):
it myself.
So if you want to make ityourself, you use a good amount
of almonds with water and youmight want to chuck a date in it
or something like that to getsome sweetness.
But that is not a bad option tomake your own almond milk.
I used to do that quite a lot.
And then I do get the almondpulp and dry it out in the oven,
throw it in the blender to getit really nice and fine, and I'd
(24:17):
use that to make cookies andthings like that.
When I was into having snacksbefore I got a little bit more
education around not havingsnacks, so we'll talk about that
in a minute.
But yeah, that would be a way.
Okay, if you wanted to usealmond milk, that would be a way
to do it.
But just do it for flavor.
Don't do it because you thinkyou're doing something more
healthy for yourself, becauseyou're really actually not.
(24:39):
But absolutely, if you'replant-based and you don't have
any animal product, then thatway of doing an almond milk to
enjoy, to have with your oats orto have with your what else
your tea or coffee.
That's fine, but do know you'renot getting a lot of protein
(24:59):
with that, so you will need tomake sure you're getting your
protein from other things.
A lot of people think thatalmond milk is full of protein
and it's actually not All right.
We digress.
So let's get onto flour.
So, yeah, wheat flour and I'mtalking the highly refined white
flour, flour, and I'm talkingthe highly refined white flour
(25:23):
is a problem for many people interms of bumping up blood sugar
levels.
And, yeah, the alternativeflours can be fantastic,
depending on what you're making,because remember, like, for
example, coconut flour I quitelike using, but it does have
that coconut flavor.
So if you avoided refined wheatflour and refined sugar, you
(25:43):
would have a massive improvementin your health and, most likely
, your waistline.
Now, I did mention snacks, so Iwill cover that today in
today's podcast.
But I can see already intoday's podcast, but I can see
already I've got so many notesof things I wanted to talk about
today and clearly we're alreadyat, you know, half an hour
(26:06):
almost, and I don't want to makethis podcast a one hour podcast
.
So let's talk about snacks andthen we'll wind up.
So snacks man, oh, I used tolove having snacks, loved it,
looked forward to it.
I was a snack queen.
Of course, during the course ofmy nutrition training, I
(26:31):
learned a little bit more aboutsnacks.
Snacks are completelyunnecessary and a lot of you
probably are aware of that.
Anyway, these days, because ofall of the fasting ways of
eating that are out there,they're all about avoiding
snacks, and the research that Ihave seen that I connect with is
(26:52):
the three meals a day, nosnacks.
Now, I did talk aboutintermittent fasting last week
and one of the big kind ofdrawbacks of intermittent
fasting can be the muscle lossthat takes place, and three
meals a day, no snacks, seems toavoid that.
So, yeah, I would highlyrecommend making sure that the
(27:13):
meals that you're havingdefinitely have a good amount of
protein, that they have healthyfats and obviously lots of
brightly colored fruits andveggies, things like that.
I can tell you that that, yeah,you definitely again need to
wean yourself off the snacksbecause you crave them.
(27:37):
The snacks because you cravethem Because what happens is
your blood it's sugar.
So, firstly, just a habit isprobably number one.
It's habit Sometimes it can beboredom that leads to snacks,
because it's something to dowhen it's three o'clock in the
afternoon something to break upthe afternoon.
You go and have a coffee or yougo and have.
(27:59):
You know, when I worked in anoffice I'd have cream biscuits,
which was the beginning of theend for me in terms of weight
gain.
And yeah, so there's thecombination of habit but also
sugar craving if your mealsaren't beautifully balanced.
And what happens when you havesnacks is you're just keeping
(28:20):
your insulin and your glucosebeing produced all through the
day.
And when your insulin is beingproduced all through the day,
you're just gonna keep storingfat and keep storing fat and
keep storing fat.
You're not gonna get into fatburning when you are sticking to
three meals a day and no snacks.
You will go into fat burning inbetween meals.
(28:42):
Sort of five to six hoursbetween meals is a really kind
of sweet spot to get that goodregulation of glucose and
insulin.
And guess what?
Your brain will work better,you'll think more clearer,
you'll make better decisions,you'll feel calmer, you'll feel
more in control and you won'tget that afternoon energy dip,
(29:07):
as long as your meals arebeautifully balanced, exactly
for you.
So that's where I'm going toleave it today.
It will also help burn yourbelly fat.
That's where I'm going to leaveit today.
I would love any questions thatyou have so I can address in a
future episode.
I'm definitely going to do onenext week.
This may even stretch intothree weeks of episodes just
(29:29):
looking at belly fat, because Iknow how much it plagues women,
and particularly women that aregetting into their perimenopause
years and postmenopause.
So I hope you've enjoyed it.
I'd love to hear your feedback.
I want to give a shout out to abeautiful listener who left me a
review.
I don't see many reviewsbecause it's really hard to get
(29:53):
people to actually write them.
A lot of people give me a fivestar, which I love, so I do
appreciate it, thank you, but itreally warms my heart, and I
think this lady's name might beJane left me a review, I think a
couple of weeks ago now, and Ijust wanted to point out to you,
jane, that I have seen it andit really meant a lot to me.
So thank you very much.
(30:13):
Anyway, guys, I will be back onThursday with Q&A.
Have a great week Until then.
Thanks so much for joining metoday on the Ageless and Awesome
podcast.
If you liked today's episode,please make sure you click the
little plus button if you're onApple Podcasts, or the follow
button if you're on Spotify, sothat you get each new episode
(30:33):
delivered to you every week.
If you like free stuff, thenhead to the show notes and click
the link to receive my freeRadiant Reset Hormone Detox
Guide for Perimenopausal Women.
Or if you'd like to continuethe discussion, head over to
Instagram and DM me atsuzygardenwellness.
I'd love to connect with you.
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Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.