Sold Out Everywhere: The Supplement Flying Off Shelves for Good Reason

Ever wondered why creatine suddenly became the supplement everyone's talking about? After attempting to order some last week, I discovered all my distributors were completely sold out – and for good reason. This once-athlete-focused supplement is transforming how women navigate perimenopause and menopause.

Creatine, an amino acid naturally found in protein-rich foods, does far more than build muscle. While 95% of it resides in your muscles, the 5% in your brain plays a crucial role in cognitive function. Research shows that creatine supplementation may significantly improve memory (especially after those menopause-related sleepless nights), enhance cognitive processing, combat age-related mental decline, and even boost mood faster than antidepressants. For women struggling with hormonal brain fog and mood swings, this represents a simple yet powerful intervention.

Beyond brain benefits, creatine works wonders for preserving muscle mass and bone density during hormonal transitions. Many women notice their muscle definition disappearing in perimenopause despite maintaining their exercise routines – I certainly did! Studies confirm that women combining resistance training with creatine supplementation experience improved bone density and muscle performance. This isn't just about looking toned; it's about maintaining metabolism, preventing falls, and ensuring you can continue hiking, traveling, and living actively for decades to come. Taking just 5 grams daily with food containing carbohydrates can help maximize your stores and provide these remarkable benefits. If you've been curious about this trending supplement, this episode explains exactly why it's worth considering as part of your menopause wellness toolkit.

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Episode Transcript

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.
Today's podcast is kind of amix of some new information and

(00:46):
I'm also going to rerun part ofa podcast I did late last year
on creatine.
Creatine has become one of thehottest supplements this year
and I tried to do an order lastweek at all of my distributors.
I use a number All of mydistributors are out of stock of

(01:08):
creatine and it is justeverywhere in terms of people
talking about it on social media.
The benefits of it for women inperi and post-menopause are
numerous in peri andpost-menopause are numerous and
a lot of women are taking it andfinding that, yeah, they're

(01:30):
feeling so much better on it.
Their muscles are happier,their brains are happier.
So I thought I've just listenedto that episode I did last year
and a lot of it is still very,very relevant.
So I wanted to replay that foryou because I get so many
questions still every week fromclients about it and clearly,
with it just running off theshelves, it is really really

(01:53):
topical at the moment.
So I'm going to start that playof that episode and also just
wanted to put a littledisclaimer here.
Obviously, this is notindividualized advice, so if
you're thinking about taking asupplement like creatine more
long-term, you may want to speakto your healthcare practitioner

(02:14):
about that and about what doseis right for you.
So I just thought I'd put thatout there.
This is general information foreducational and entertainment
purposes only.
If you are one of my clientslistening to this and you're
interested in creatine, pleasefeel free to email me, message
me, and we can have aconversation about it, perhaps
at your next appointment.

(02:35):
All right, I hope you enjoythis episode.
So creatine is an amino acid, soit's a building block of
protein and you get it from food, mainly the higher protein
foods such as meat, seafood,that kind of thing and when I
was more of a generalnutritionist, creatine really

(02:56):
was something I used withathletes and people that wanted
to improve their muscle mass,their sports performance, and
it's taken in supplemental formfor those people.
So I was kind of used to usingit in that context, not so much
in our perimenopausal andmenopausal women.

(03:18):
But what I have found sinceexploring creatine a little bit
more is that it might actuallybe quite valuable to take as a
supplement daily, whether or notyou're actually a bodybuilder
or someone like that.
But I know for me personally,when I entered into
perimenopause, I really noticedmy muscle dropping, my muscle

(03:42):
mass dropping, and you know,even though the exercise I was
doing was the same, it wasreally hard to actually grow
muscle.
And I remember a PT saying tome when I was in my early 40s
that you know, once you get over40, it's very, very difficult
to build muscle.
I've since learned that it'sactually not 100% true.

(04:03):
You can still absolutely buildmuscle.
It is a little bit morechallenging.
You do have to work hard at it.
You have to get the nutritionright as well as doing the
lifting of the heavy things withresistance training, but it is
possible.
But creatine seems to be ableto help.
It's certainly in terms ofmuscle energy and therefore, you

(04:27):
know, being able to lift heavythings in the gym.
So if you're looking atcreatine itself, where it is in
the body, about 95% of it is inyour muscles and about 5% of it
is in your brain and that, eventhough it's only 5%, that's
actually really importantbecause when you're looking at
the research around creatine, itseems to be some additional

(04:49):
benefits in terms of brainhealth.
So let's get into it.
Let's start with what itactually does in the body.
So, as I've mentioned, it doeshelp with your muscles and it
serves as an energy reserve inthe body, okay, and it gives you
more energy in your muscles.

(05:09):
It helps to create more.
Let's take the simple routehelps to create more ATP.
So if you've done biology atschool back in the day, you
probably have heard of ATPbefore.
That's our energy in our cells.
That's what we use for energyin our cells.
So taking creatine helps tocreate more ATP, which is our

(05:33):
energy in our cells.
And what creatine can be usefulwhen we're looking in
perimenopausal and menopausalwomen is that studies have shown
that women who are doing aconsistent resistance training
program and then add in creatinesupplementation, these studies

(05:53):
have shown an increase in bonedensity, which is super
important muscle mass andperformance.
When this creatinesupplementation is added, you do
have to get the diet right andyou do have to get the
resistance training happening aswell.
This is not just a magic kind ofpotion that's going to suddenly
have you looking like Popeye,but I reckon when we get to this

(06:15):
sort of stage of life, anyincremental benefit is going to
be worth it, particularly whenwe're looking at bone health as
well, and particularly I knowfrom my own experience of losing
muscle mass anything that I cantake that's going to help get
that back.
I'm going to do it because itjust it's so good.

(06:37):
It's not just about what youlook like in terms of getting
some muscle definition, althoughthat's really nice.
The more muscle mass you have,the more energy you burn at rest
, so it's very important whenwe're looking at healthy weight
management.
It's also fantastic for makingsure that, as we get older, that
our mobility stays at the levelthat we want it to stay.

(07:00):
I don't know about you, butcertainly, as I'm getting into
my 50s and, I'm sure, my 60s,70s and beyond, I still want to
do fun things.
I want to go hiking, I want togo traveling, I want to be able
to lift my luggage.
I want to be able to do myreformer and do my yoga and all
the things I really enjoy inlife, and if I lose my muscle

(07:22):
mass it's going to make itincreasingly difficult.
Also, as we know, as we getolder, with that mobility kind
of reduction, reduction inmuscle mass makes us more
inclined for injury and fallingthat kind of thing.
I don't want to be falling overand breaking a hip.
As a nurse when I worked in ahospital, I saw so many older

(07:46):
women doing that falling over,breaking a hip, ending up in
hospital and then complicationshappen.
It's really not.
It's kind of it can be a veryslippery slope if that happens.
So keeping that muscle mass andour bones healthy super
important.
And then, with creatine, if wehave this extra benefit of an

(08:07):
increase in brain functionbecause, remember I said, 5% of
creatine is actually in thebrain and there have been some
studies that have shown thattaking creatine may actually
improve brain function in olderwomen, especially if you're not
getting enough sleep, which formany of us in peri and
postmenopause sleep is a massiveissue and what these studies

(08:29):
showed?
That there was an improvementin memory, particularly after
sleep deprivation.
So often we have something thatwe call brain fog, and often
one of the signs of brain fog isan inability to remember
people's names, inability toremember words.
You get kind of a little bitlost in a sentence and can't
kind of remember how to finishthe sentence.

(08:49):
It can also enhance cognitionand processing, so it helps you
think more clearly, helps youthink more quickly and also the
studies have shown it can combatage-related cognitive decline,
so it can help you, as you getolder, maintain your mental kind
of acuity or sharpness.
Another study showed that ifyou're taking creatine

(09:12):
supplements it can help withtasks that require quick
thinking, and it didn't evenhave to be older people.
One of the studies was youngadults either on creatine or a
placebo for six weeks, andpeople that were on the creatine
scored higher on tests ofintelligence and working memory.

(09:36):
So I don't know about you, butif I can do stuff that's going
to make me a little bit smarter,I'm going to do that, and
particularly because creatine isjust a really easy supplement
to take.
Another benefit of taking it isimproved mood.
We know, obviously, that as ourestrogen and our progesterone

(09:58):
drops, we have lots of estrogenand progesterone receptors in
our brains, our progesteronedrops, we have lots of estrogen
and progesterone receptors inour brains and when those
hormones drop then that canreally impact our mood, our
ability to handle stress.
There's perimenopausal anxiety,perimenopausal depression, and
studies have shown that takingcreatine might help actually

(10:19):
improve mood, might reducedepression symptoms, which is
pretty cool and also it could.
Some research has shown thatthe creatine could even treat
mood issues faster thanantidepressants.
So you know, we know withantidepressants they take around

(10:39):
four to five weeks to work.
So often with many medicationsactually it can take time to
work.
With creatine potentially feelbetter much quickly.
So that might be something tothink about, particularly if you
do have mood issues it's notjust all about muscles.
If you do have issues with yourmood, particularly low mood,
then just taking some creatinemight be something really easy

(11:05):
and effective to help you.
Now, how do you take creatine,how much to take?
Because generally when you buycreatine it's just in a bag and
you may not know how much totake.
In the studies, generallyspeaking, they're using five
grams and usually that's I know.
For me I'm taking just a bit ofa teaspoon, maybe just a little

(11:25):
bit more than a teaspoon.
I'm putting it in.
You can put it in yogurt.
You can put it in.
I put it in my smoothies, thatkind of thing.
Just put it in some fluid andhave it.
Some of the sources that I readabout creatine says that you can
actually load it.
So what that means is you takea higher dose for a short period

(11:46):
of time to really bring up thestores in your muscles and in
your brain.
So the recommended loading doseis 20 to 25 grams of creatine
every day for just like five toseven days, and that can really
rapidly increase your stores andthen you drop it back down to
five grams a day for maintenance.
Now I didn't bother doing aloading dose because, again,

(12:10):
research has shown that you canjust take the five grams a day
and you will maximize yourstores of creatine.
Might take a little bit longer,but I didn't feel like doing
the loading of it.
So you definitely don't have to.
But I think that's probablyabout all I want to say about

(12:31):
creatine.
Obviously, this is generaladvice.
It's not taking into accountany of your personal
circumstances.
So if you're not sure whetheryou know if you have medical
conditions, if you're onmedications, you may want to
chat with a healthcarepractitioner about whether or
not creatine creatine issomething that's suitable for

(12:53):
you.
Yeah, I just always like tokind of put that out there.
Just don't go and smash thecreatine, just in case it's not
right for you.
But, as I said, you're gettingit in your diet anyway, but it
is good if you are in thatperimenopausal or menopausal
stage that you might want tojust increase it a little bit.

(13:17):
Actually, there is one morething I did want to say in terms
of your timing.
It used to be that we thoughtthat you needed to take creatine
pre kind of workout orimmediately post workout, and
you can do that.
But in this context that we'retalking about in peri and
post-menopause, you can justtake it as a daily supplement.

(13:38):
You just need to take it in thepresence of carbs, so like,
that's why putting it in someyogurt, putting it in some like
a smoothie, that kind of thing,any kind of food really, um, is
going to be helpful for itsabsorption.
But yeah, I that's somethingthat I'm doing that you may want
to consider.
So I hope that's been helpful.

(13:59):
Uh, if you have any questions,please let me know.
Otherwise I will see you nextweek on the pod.
Thanks so much for joining meon the ageless and awesome
podcast.
If you liked this episode,please make sure you click the
little plus button if you're onApple Podcasts, or the follow
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(14:21):
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If you found this episoderesonated with you, head over to
my Instagram and DM me attheperimenopausepath.
I would love to connect withyou.
Head over to my Instagram andDM me at theperimenopausepath.
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