June 9, 2025 • 26 mins
Are you doing “all the right things” and still feeling tired, puffy, inflamed—or just off—during perimenopause? In this episode, Susie Garden breaks down why inflammation ramps up during this life stage and why an anti-inflammatory approach to food is essential for balancing hormones, boosting energy, improving sleep, and managing weight.
Forget restriction or calorie-counting—this is about nourishment, not punishment. Susie walks you through the exact foods to eat (and what to minimize), how they support your hormonal health, and small, simple changes that can make a big impact.
If you’ve been feeling foggy, moody, or like your body isn’t cooperating, this episode will help you understand why—and give you real tools to turn things around.
🎧 In this episode, you'll learn:
- What chronic inflammation is and how it sabotages your hormones
- The surprising connection between estrogen, progesterone, and inflammation
- Which foods reduce inflammation—and which ones make it worse
- How inflammation affects weight loss, mood, and sleep
- Easy ways to start eating anti-inflammatory without overhauling your life
💫 Mentioned in this episode:
- Susie’s signature program: The Glow Protocol®
- Wholegrains, omega-3s, and other anti-inflammatory tools
- How to build your plate for blood sugar and hormone harmony
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
Mark as Played
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.
This week's episode is inspiredby my gorgeous friend, christine
(00:47):
, who asked me aboutanti-inflammatory foods in
perimenopause and I thought whatan awesome topic.
That is like totally my jam.
It's totally what I do with theGlow Protocol, so I hope you
really enjoy getting a bit ofinsight into not only what
anti-inflammatory foods are, butwhy they're so important,
(01:09):
specifically for women in periand actually post-menopause as
well.
So let's dive into one of myfavorite topics, I have to say.
So let's go.
You've probably heard the termanti-inflammatory.
You've probably heard about youknow, I've even seen it in the
grocer.
They talk about certain veggies, for example, or this one
(01:32):
lowers inflammation in the body,and a lot of people don't
really understand what thatmeans.
I mean, I think we understandthat inflammation is bad and
maybe you think, if you don'thave pain in your body like
arthritis or something like that, that maybe you think.
Well, that doesn't really applyto me.
I don't have inflammation.
Unfortunately, I hate to breakit to you, but the majority of
(01:57):
us do walk around with low grade, chronic inflammation, and
particularly in peri andpostmenopause, because of the
hormonal changes.
This is something that is goingto impact us even more.
It's the silent driver, if youlike, behind many of the
symptoms that you might bedealing with in peri or even
(02:18):
postmenopause, but also evenother illnesses and diseases
that you might have.
We know from research thatinflammation is the root cause
of pretty much every physicalhealth condition, every mental
health condition, and there's alot we can do about it by our
lifestyle choices.
(02:39):
So some of the things if youdon't have pain in your body,
some of the things that youmight notice that could be
because of inflammation in yourbody.
It could be that you've gothigh cholesterol.
It could be that you're feelingbloated, noticing that weight
is difficult to shift, waking uptired even after a full night's
sleep Just even that sort ofstuff can be signs of
(03:02):
inflammation, it's not justabout pain.
So you know, the problem withchronic inflammation is often
we're not aware of it and itwreaks havoc over time and when
we have the hormonal shifts,such as the reduction in
(03:24):
estrogen and progesterone.
Estrogen, in particular, has abeautiful anti-inflammatory
effect and if you've experienced, like I have, the joint pain,
particularly in the elbows, thehips, the shoulders, that you
can get from that lowering ofthe estrogen, it is not fun, it
(03:45):
is not something to, it's notsomething you can ignore.
Actually, I know my experienceof it is.
It wakes me from sleep when Ihave it.
So it's something that if youknow, if you know that you've
got an answer by using food.
It's such a simple way and sideeffect free way to treat these
kinds of aches and pains, forexample.
(04:07):
So, yeah, even things like skin, skin health is dramatically
impacted by inflammation.
So we want to really make surewe're managing inflammation as
best we can through our choiceswith in terms of food, stress,
et cetera.
(04:29):
What you eat really, reallymatters.
Nutrition is something that wemake choices about every single
day, and this food as medicineapproach is so powerful.
It is so powerful.
This is not about doing a diet,this is a strategy.
This is a way to give your bodywhat it needs to feel calm,
(04:51):
because, yes, inflammation canmake you feel irritated and
irritable.
So feeling calm, balanced andsupported during this hormonal
transition time throughnutrition is unbelievably
powerful and so important, andit's something that all of us
can do, no matter what yourbudget is, no matter what your
(05:12):
level of education is.
If you have this knowledge,then you can make awesome
decisions that are going toimpact not only the symptoms
that you're having, whether theybe perimenopause symptoms or
other kinds of symptoms frommedical conditions.
This is also about yourlong-term health, your long-term
vitality, your longevity.
(05:33):
It's so important and becausemany women in this life stage,
in their 40s and 50s inparticular, are juggling stress,
juggling sleep issues, bloodsugar imbalances and often not
eating in a way that supportstheir unique biology, this is
super important.
What you eat matters more thanever.
(05:54):
It's not that you're broken,it's that your body is simply
asking for something different,and one of the most powerful
shifts you can make is choosinganti-inflammatory foods.
So, as you know, I work in mywork with nutrition, with the
GLOBE protocol, I work inpersonalized nutrition, but also
(06:15):
it is all about loweringinflammation, and I'm going to
give you some genericsuggestions for
anti-inflammatory foods, but Ialways like to just put in that
little kind of precursor herethat this may not be right for
everybody.
This is not personal advice toyou as an individual.
(06:37):
This is general knowledge.
Okay, and always I will suggestthat, if you want to, if you
have a medical condition, achronic medical condition, uh,
if you want to lose asignificant amount of weight,
then please do work with ahealth care professional that
knows what they're doing withnutrition.
(06:58):
Okay, so I will put that outthere.
Uh, and when I work with womenin the GLOW protocol, we are
absolutely nailing down theideal foods for them using their
blood tests, using their bodymeasurements, so their waist,
hip and thigh measurement, usingtheir medical conditions and
food preferences.
So this is not the kind ofadvice that I would give clients
(07:20):
working with me on the GLOWprotocol, because they would get
their own personalized foodslist that is ideal for them, all
right.
So, that being said, there is alot you can do just with
anti-inflammatory foods.
Now, anti-inflammatory eating isnot about cutting calories.
It's not about going keto oreating clean 100% of the time.
(07:41):
It's about building your platewith foods whole foods generally
that support your body and calminflammation, and it's also
about avoiding pro-inflammatoryfoods, so foods that promote
inflammation in the body, andthere are many of them.
So I'm going to talk about bothof those.
(08:01):
Firstly, what are some of themost powerful anti-inflammatory
foods you can include?
Now?
You can probably Google a lotof this, so if you're in the car
right now or going for a walkor a jog or something like that,
don't worry.
I mean you can always go backand you know, re-listen and make
notes, but you can get a lot ofthese foods lists off the
(08:24):
internet as well.
So something that's just reallyeasy to remember is color.
If you're having brightlycolored vegetables and fruits
especially berries, leafy greens, sweet potato, broccoli, red
cabbage these brightly coloredfoods are generally going to be
(08:45):
rich in antioxidants that helpreduce oxidative stress, which
is really important.
Omega-3 rich foods like wildcaught salmon, walnuts, flax
seeds, flax seed oil, chia seedsthese are powerful inflammation
fighters and we get a lot ofexposure to omega-6.
(09:07):
You may have heard of omega-6,omega-3, omega-9, all of those
sorts of things.
Omega-3s are where we really,probably for many people, don't
get enough of, and I know justfrom speaking to people in my
periweight loss assessment callsand looking at people's
dietries or diaries and things.
Often fish is an under eatenfood and the Australian dietary
(09:35):
guidelines recommend threeserves of fish a week as a
minimum and most people arebarely getting one.
So unfortunately, the qualityof our fish is something that is
really kind of hard to dealwith because there are a lot of
heavy metals, there's lots ofantibiotics, things like that,
in our farmed fish and just evenin our ocean fish for the heavy
(09:59):
metals.
So you do really need to lookat the quality of the fish that
you're getting and unfortunatelythat is quite expensive.
But things like walnuts, thingslike flaxseeds, flaxseed oil,
chia seeds they're all available.
They're not super expensive.
Let's see what else Herbs andspices, even anti-inflammatory,
like turmeric I mean I think weprobably all know about turmeric
(10:20):
.
Unfortunately, turmeric as afood, you'd have to eat a lot of
it to get a good benefit and ifyou've tried it, especially the
fresh root, it is prettyhardcore.
It's pretty hardcore.
I've tried juicing it and whoa,that just kind of rips your
throat out.
So it is hard to eat as muchturmeric that you need to
(10:45):
actually get ananti-inflammatory benefit.
Supplementation for turmeric issomething that I will often
recommend for people that needthat additional
anti-inflammatory support Thingslike ginger, cinnamon, rosemary
these are naturalanti-inflammatory herbs and,
bonus, they make food tasteamazing, so that is really
(11:07):
awesome.
Whole grains like quinoa, brownrice, oats especially important
for blood sugar stability andthat helps reduce inflammation.
And also high quality proteins,so they can be plant-based,
they can be animal proteins.
(11:28):
I would be cautious on havinglots and lots of red meat.
Red meat can bepro-inflammatory for many people
.
So and again, the Australiandietary guidelines recommend no
more than three serves of redmeat a week.
Hydration is super importantand you can hydrate with water,
you can hydrate with herbal teas.
(11:49):
That helps your body just detoxproperly and flush out
inflammatory compounds.
And there are many, many, manymore foods that are
anti-inflammatory.
So, as I said, you can Googlefor more.
Otherwise, I'd be here for along time just listing out all
these different foods.
But, as I mentioned before, youwant to really reduce your
(12:11):
intake of pro-inflammatory foodsas well, because it's all very
well to be having lots ofanti-inflammatory foods, but if
you're just going to offset thatwith pro-inflammatory foods,
then it's just going to canceleach other out.
So increase anti-inflammatoryfoods and reduce
(12:34):
pro-inflammatory foods to getthe best outcome.
So the kind of things that youwant to reduce are highly
processed foods.
So highly processed foods arefoods that don't really look
like food that your ancestorswould recognize as food.
Generally it'll come in apacket.
If you look at the ingredientslist, you won't recognize the
(12:56):
ingredients.
So anything that kind of fallsinto that category is what we
would call a highly processedfood.
That's anything that kind offalls into that category is what
we would call a highlyprocessed food.
Obviously, white foods likewhite sugar, white flour, white
rice, white pasta they're allconsidered fairly
pro-inflammatory.
Again, sometimes with some ofthese things, you know if you're
(13:19):
having one serve like afortnight or something like that
, it's not such a big deal.
But if you're having serves ofwhite foods three times a day,
which many, many, many people inAustralia are, then that really
does have a compound effect andwe can really see a huge
benefit in people that removeall of those foods and just
(13:41):
bring them into like what Iwould call a treat meal scenario
.
Industrial seed oils likecanola oil, soybean, all things
like that can sometimes beinflammatory for people.
Excessive alcohol, sorry people, yeah, generally the carbonated
beverages such as your highsugar beverages, like any of
(14:05):
your soft drinks, they wouldfall into that refined sugar
category, so they arepro-inflammatory.
If you burn your meats, if youreally love a well-done steak
and you've got that black char,that is pro-inflammatory as well
(14:26):
.
So it's not only the fooditself, it's the way that you
cook it sometimes.
I think that's probably all Iwant to talk about with that one
.
So, yeah, that's a reallyimportant point that I want to
reiterate is, if you're going to, if you want to make a
commitment to yourself tosupport your body, to support
your health, your hormones,especially in peri and
(14:48):
post-menopause yes, increaseyour anti-inflammatory foods and
reduce your pro-inflammatoryfoods, and that will get you the
best outcome.
So what does inflammation haveto do with weight loss?
You may have heard me saybefore or if you're a client of
mine, listen to this you'vedefinitely heard me say this
before that inflammation is ablocker to weight loss.
(15:11):
There's a few reasons why.
So inflammation can disruptinsulin sensitivity.
Insulin is management is superimportant for weight loss.
It can mess with your thyroid.
It can interfere with leptin.
Leptin is the hormone thattells you when you're full and
obviously, if you're not gettingtold that you're full, you're
(15:32):
going to feel hungrier, soyou're going to eat more.
All of this can stall fat lossand block it, especially in the
belly sort of area.
Now, visceral fat, because thatvisceral fat it's not just
about calories, it's abouthormones, including cortisol.
So stress comes into that aswell.
(15:53):
And inflammation Chronicinflammation also affects your
mood.
So it's been linked todepression, anxiety, which these
conditions can feel worse inperimenopause.
There's also a perimenopauseassociated depression and
anxiety which, for clients I'vespoken to that have this, they
(16:15):
say that have actually beendiagnosed with anxiety and
depression in the past will saythat this type of anxiety or
depression in peri feelsdifferent.
It doesn't feel like for themtheir sort of generalized
anxiety disorder or theirdepression.
I don't know if that makessense, but I think what we do
(16:38):
know, just generally with thoseconditions, that inflammation is
linked to it.
So again, if you're feelinglike your mood is really being
impacted in peri andpost-menopause, perhaps lowering
inflammation in your body isgoing to help with that.
Certainly, things like thebrain fog.
I see really fast improvementsin brain fog on the GLOW
(17:01):
protocol and I do think it'sbecause we're reducing
inflammation quite quickly inthe body in the first couple of
weeks.
So if you're feeling mentallyfoggy, if you're feeling anxious
or have these mood swings oryou're not just feeling like
yourself, anti-inflammatoryfoods may be a game changer for
you and sleep Inflammationinterferes with your sleep.
(17:25):
So, again, if that's somethingyou're struggling with, then
perhaps reducing yourpro-inflammatory foods,
increasing youranti-inflammatory foods are
going to make a difference.
And again, this is not justabout reducing symptoms.
It's about reclaiming yourhealth, reclaiming your future
(17:47):
health, because remember thatwhat you do now is going to
impact your health down thetrack.
And for someone, as an example,like myself with osteopenia,
what I do now before I getosteoporosis, with osteopenia,
what I do now before I getosteoporosis, what I do now is
going to make a huge differenceto what my bones are going to
(18:07):
look like in 5, 10, 20 years.
So it's never too early tostart and we really feel when I
say we, I mean the people inhealthcare, in research, that
are looking at this feel likethe earlier you start, the
better, and you're missing anopportunity.
If you're just cruising throughyour 40s feeling like rubbish
(18:28):
but not really wanting to changewhat you're doing, you are
missing an opportunity for yourfuture health.
So this is really important tolook at and if you can do it
with food and I know this isn'teasy, I know it's not easy to
change food, but even just I'mgoing to talk about how to start
(18:50):
in a minute but yeah, justreally starting to think about
it and maybe just making adecision that the way you're
feeling now is not the way youwant to feel for the next 10, 20
, 30 years.
Then, just even making thatdecision, you can start thinking
about okay, I need to do myresearch, what can I eat, what
should I be letting go of tofeel good?
(19:13):
And I know that what I've saidalready might sound like a lot,
but it doesn't have to beoverwhelming.
You can, if you like to startsmall, start with what feels
manageable.
So here's a couple of ideas.
So you could just add one morebrightly colored vegetable to
your plate at each meal.
(19:34):
So if you're someone that tendsto have, you know, the same
three veggies, for example,three or four veggies during
your week, change it up a bit,but add something that's rich in
color.
Okay, change it up a bit, butadd something that's rich in
color.
Okay, swapping your, if youhave a from what I've just said.
Know that.
Oh, I've got a pro-inflammatorycooking oil.
(19:55):
Change that for ananti-inflammatory cooking oil
Add if you're having a smoothie,for example for breakfast I
know it's getting cold here inAustralia, so maybe that's not
really smoothie where I'm stillhaving smoothies cause I love
them, um, but you know, I add atablespoon of chia seeds to mine
pretty much every morning and Ialso love flax seeds and flax
(20:18):
seed oil.
So putting that in yoursmoothie, you don't even know
it's there really.
Um, you know, switch, reducingyour alcohol.
That is a bit of a game changeras well, particularly for women
in peri and post-menopause.
So either changing to I don'treally recommend this changing
to a non-alcoholic kind of wineor a low alcohol wine.
(20:41):
If you're drinking wine everyday, it's probably a good idea
to start really kind of lookingat why you're doing that.
And for a lot of people it'sabout stress management or it's
a habit, or perhaps it'ssomething they do with their
partner every evening.
It's something that you mayreally wish to reconsider.
And switching, I know for me,just even having your wine glass
(21:05):
and putting sparkling water init or something like that can be
.
Just, you know, you're holdingthe glass, it feels different,
it still feels nice, but you'renot going to feel like rubbish
later on, it's not going toimpact your sleep.
Don't aim for perfectionnecessarily.
Aim for progress.
You know your body isconstantly responding and
(21:26):
changing depending on what youfeed it.
You know your body isconstantly responding and
changing depending on what youfeed it and every single time
you eat something, it's a chanceto lower inflammation, balance
hormones and to start feelingbetter again.
Now, if you want a personalizedplan, of course that's a
completely different kind ofconcept.
So that would be having a chatto a practitioner.
(21:47):
So that would be having a chatto a practitioner.
I'm always taking on new clients.
I don't kind of base mypractice on intakes, I'm just
always taking on new clients.
So if you're thinking, well,maybe that's something I should
explore you can book in aperiweight loss assessment call.
It's free and we just get on aZoom call.
It's no obligation.
I get a lot out of talking topeople.
(22:10):
It's great market research forme.
It helps me with podcast topics.
It helps me with addingdifferent things into the GLOW
protocol, because I'm constantlyupdating that as well.
So that is an opportunity thatyou have as well, specifically
for people in Australia and NewZealand, and the link is in the
show notes opportunity that youhave as well, specifically for
people in Australia and NewZealand, and the link is in the
(22:31):
show notes.
So I guess in closing I want tojust say you know,
anti-inflammatory eating isn't afad.
You know, we have a lot ofresearch that backs
anti-inflammatory eating up, andI remember even 10 years ago,
when I was studying nutritioninitially, I actually started
(22:51):
putting together what is now theGLOW protocol.
At that time I well actuallyI'm not going to say what the
name is because I might use itlater but I had a really fun
name for it and it was all aboutlow inflammatory eating and
lifestyle, so particularlystress management.
(23:12):
So this is something that'sbeen around for a long time.
It's not going anywhere and itis something that everyone can
benefit from.
So I think that's about it.
If you have any questions, dolet me know.
I'm happy to revisit this topic.
If you loved this episode, I'dbe so grateful if you could
(23:32):
leave a review, share it with afriend, maybe, screenshot the
podcast, pop it in your storiesand tag me at the perimenopause
path on Instagram.
I would love to see that.
It always makes me smile.
And, yeah, you could follow thepodcast as well, so you get
every episode delivered straightto your device each week and
(23:54):
you don't even have to thinkabout it.
All right, until next Tuesday.
Take care, look after yourselfin the cold.
If you're in Australia, I knowI do have a lot of listeners in
the Northern hemisphere.
You're coming into summer youlucky things, so take care of
yourselves and nourish your bodylike you love it.
(24:15):
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
button if you're on Spotify, sothat you get each new episode
delivered to you every singleweek.
If you feel like writing me afive-star review, you would
(24:37):
absolutely make my day.
If you found this episoderesonated with you, head over to
my Instagram and DM me attheperimenopausepar.
I would love to connect withyou.
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.
This week's episode is inspiredby my gorgeous friend, christine
(00:47):
, who asked me aboutanti-inflammatory foods in
perimenopause and I thought whatan awesome topic.
That is like totally my jam.
It's totally what I do with theGlow Protocol, so I hope you
really enjoy getting a bit ofinsight into not only what
anti-inflammatory foods are, butwhy they're so important,
(01:09):
specifically for women in periand actually post-menopause as
well.
So let's dive into one of myfavorite topics, I have to say.
So let's go.
You've probably heard the termanti-inflammatory.
You've probably heard about youknow, I've even seen it in the
grocer.
They talk about certain veggies, for example, or this one
(01:32):
lowers inflammation in the body,and a lot of people don't
really understand what thatmeans.
I mean, I think we understandthat inflammation is bad and
maybe you think, if you don'thave pain in your body like
arthritis or something like that, that maybe you think.
Well, that doesn't really applyto me.
I don't have inflammation.
Unfortunately, I hate to breakit to you, but the majority of
(01:57):
us do walk around with low grade, chronic inflammation, and
particularly in peri andpostmenopause, because of the
hormonal changes.
This is something that is goingto impact us even more.
It's the silent driver, if youlike, behind many of the
symptoms that you might bedealing with in peri or even
(02:18):
postmenopause, but also evenother illnesses and diseases
that you might have.
We know from research thatinflammation is the root cause
of pretty much every physicalhealth condition, every mental
health condition, and there's alot we can do about it by our
lifestyle choices.
(02:39):
So some of the things if youdon't have pain in your body,
some of the things that youmight notice that could be
because of inflammation in yourbody.
It could be that you've gothigh cholesterol.
It could be that you're feelingbloated, noticing that weight
is difficult to shift, waking uptired even after a full night's
sleep Just even that sort ofstuff can be signs of
(03:02):
inflammation, it's not justabout pain.
So you know, the problem withchronic inflammation is often
we're not aware of it and itwreaks havoc over time and when
we have the hormonal shifts,such as the reduction in
(03:24):
estrogen and progesterone.
Estrogen, in particular, has abeautiful anti-inflammatory
effect and if you've experienced, like I have, the joint pain,
particularly in the elbows, thehips, the shoulders, that you
can get from that lowering ofthe estrogen, it is not fun, it
(03:45):
is not something to, it's notsomething you can ignore.
Actually, I know my experienceof it is.
It wakes me from sleep when Ihave it.
So it's something that if youknow, if you know that you've
got an answer by using food.
It's such a simple way and sideeffect free way to treat these
kinds of aches and pains, forexample.
(04:07):
So, yeah, even things like skin, skin health is dramatically
impacted by inflammation.
So we want to really make surewe're managing inflammation as
best we can through our choiceswith in terms of food, stress,
et cetera.
(04:29):
What you eat really, reallymatters.
Nutrition is something that wemake choices about every single
day, and this food as medicineapproach is so powerful.
It is so powerful.
This is not about doing a diet,this is a strategy.
This is a way to give your bodywhat it needs to feel calm,
(04:51):
because, yes, inflammation canmake you feel irritated and
irritable.
So feeling calm, balanced andsupported during this hormonal
transition time throughnutrition is unbelievably
powerful and so important, andit's something that all of us
can do, no matter what yourbudget is, no matter what your
(05:12):
level of education is.
If you have this knowledge,then you can make awesome
decisions that are going toimpact not only the symptoms
that you're having, whether theybe perimenopause symptoms or
other kinds of symptoms frommedical conditions.
This is also about yourlong-term health, your long-term
vitality, your longevity.
(05:33):
It's so important and becausemany women in this life stage,
in their 40s and 50s inparticular, are juggling stress,
juggling sleep issues, bloodsugar imbalances and often not
eating in a way that supportstheir unique biology, this is
super important.
What you eat matters more thanever.
(05:54):
It's not that you're broken,it's that your body is simply
asking for something different,and one of the most powerful
shifts you can make is choosinganti-inflammatory foods.
So, as you know, I work in mywork with nutrition, with the
GLOBE protocol, I work inpersonalized nutrition, but also
(06:15):
it is all about loweringinflammation, and I'm going to
give you some genericsuggestions for
anti-inflammatory foods, but Ialways like to just put in that
little kind of precursor herethat this may not be right for
everybody.
This is not personal advice toyou as an individual.
(06:37):
This is general knowledge.
Okay, and always I will suggestthat, if you want to, if you
have a medical condition, achronic medical condition, uh,
if you want to lose asignificant amount of weight,
then please do work with ahealth care professional that
knows what they're doing withnutrition.
(06:58):
Okay, so I will put that outthere.
Uh, and when I work with womenin the GLOW protocol, we are
absolutely nailing down theideal foods for them using their
blood tests, using their bodymeasurements, so their waist,
hip and thigh measurement, usingtheir medical conditions and
food preferences.
So this is not the kind ofadvice that I would give clients
(07:20):
working with me on the GLOWprotocol, because they would get
their own personalized foodslist that is ideal for them, all
right.
So, that being said, there is alot you can do just with
anti-inflammatory foods.
Now, anti-inflammatory eating isnot about cutting calories.
It's not about going keto oreating clean 100% of the time.
(07:41):
It's about building your platewith foods whole foods generally
that support your body and calminflammation, and it's also
about avoiding pro-inflammatoryfoods, so foods that promote
inflammation in the body, andthere are many of them.
So I'm going to talk about bothof those.
(08:01):
Firstly, what are some of themost powerful anti-inflammatory
foods you can include?
Now?
You can probably Google a lotof this, so if you're in the car
right now or going for a walkor a jog or something like that,
don't worry.
I mean you can always go backand you know, re-listen and make
notes, but you can get a lot ofthese foods lists off the
(08:24):
internet as well.
So something that's just reallyeasy to remember is color.
If you're having brightlycolored vegetables and fruits
especially berries, leafy greens, sweet potato, broccoli, red
cabbage these brightly coloredfoods are generally going to be
(08:45):
rich in antioxidants that helpreduce oxidative stress, which
is really important.
Omega-3 rich foods like wildcaught salmon, walnuts, flax
seeds, flax seed oil, chia seedsthese are powerful inflammation
fighters and we get a lot ofexposure to omega-6.
(09:07):
You may have heard of omega-6,omega-3, omega-9, all of those
sorts of things.
Omega-3s are where we really,probably for many people, don't
get enough of, and I know justfrom speaking to people in my
periweight loss assessment callsand looking at people's
dietries or diaries and things.
Often fish is an under eatenfood and the Australian dietary
(09:35):
guidelines recommend threeserves of fish a week as a
minimum and most people arebarely getting one.
So unfortunately, the qualityof our fish is something that is
really kind of hard to dealwith because there are a lot of
heavy metals, there's lots ofantibiotics, things like that,
in our farmed fish and just evenin our ocean fish for the heavy
(09:59):
metals.
So you do really need to lookat the quality of the fish that
you're getting and unfortunatelythat is quite expensive.
But things like walnuts, thingslike flaxseeds, flaxseed oil,
chia seeds they're all available.
They're not super expensive.
Let's see what else Herbs andspices, even anti-inflammatory,
like turmeric I mean I think weprobably all know about turmeric
(10:20):
.
Unfortunately, turmeric as afood, you'd have to eat a lot of
it to get a good benefit and ifyou've tried it, especially the
fresh root, it is prettyhardcore.
It's pretty hardcore.
I've tried juicing it and whoa,that just kind of rips your
throat out.
So it is hard to eat as muchturmeric that you need to
(10:45):
actually get ananti-inflammatory benefit.
Supplementation for turmeric issomething that I will often
recommend for people that needthat additional
anti-inflammatory support Thingslike ginger, cinnamon, rosemary
these are naturalanti-inflammatory herbs and,
bonus, they make food tasteamazing, so that is really
(11:07):
awesome.
Whole grains like quinoa, brownrice, oats especially important
for blood sugar stability andthat helps reduce inflammation.
And also high quality proteins,so they can be plant-based,
they can be animal proteins.
(11:28):
I would be cautious on havinglots and lots of red meat.
Red meat can bepro-inflammatory for many people
.
So and again, the Australiandietary guidelines recommend no
more than three serves of redmeat a week.
Hydration is super importantand you can hydrate with water,
you can hydrate with herbal teas.
(11:49):
That helps your body just detoxproperly and flush out
inflammatory compounds.
And there are many, many, manymore foods that are
anti-inflammatory.
So, as I said, you can Googlefor more.
Otherwise, I'd be here for along time just listing out all
these different foods.
But, as I mentioned before, youwant to really reduce your
(12:11):
intake of pro-inflammatory foodsas well, because it's all very
well to be having lots ofanti-inflammatory foods, but if
you're just going to offset thatwith pro-inflammatory foods,
then it's just going to canceleach other out.
So increase anti-inflammatoryfoods and reduce
(12:34):
pro-inflammatory foods to getthe best outcome.
So the kind of things that youwant to reduce are highly
processed foods.
So highly processed foods arefoods that don't really look
like food that your ancestorswould recognize as food.
Generally it'll come in apacket.
If you look at the ingredientslist, you won't recognize the
(12:56):
ingredients.
So anything that kind of fallsinto that category is what we
would call a highly processedfood.
That's anything that kind offalls into that category is what
we would call a highlyprocessed food.
Obviously, white foods likewhite sugar, white flour, white
rice, white pasta they're allconsidered fairly
pro-inflammatory.
Again, sometimes with some ofthese things, you know if you're
(13:19):
having one serve like afortnight or something like that
, it's not such a big deal.
But if you're having serves ofwhite foods three times a day,
which many, many, many people inAustralia are, then that really
does have a compound effect andwe can really see a huge
benefit in people that removeall of those foods and just
(13:41):
bring them into like what Iwould call a treat meal scenario
.
Industrial seed oils likecanola oil, soybean, all things
like that can sometimes beinflammatory for people.
Excessive alcohol, sorry people, yeah, generally the carbonated
beverages such as your highsugar beverages, like any of
(14:05):
your soft drinks, they wouldfall into that refined sugar
category, so they arepro-inflammatory.
If you burn your meats, if youreally love a well-done steak
and you've got that black char,that is pro-inflammatory as well
(14:26):
.
So it's not only the fooditself, it's the way that you
cook it sometimes.
I think that's probably all Iwant to talk about with that one
.
So, yeah, that's a reallyimportant point that I want to
reiterate is, if you're going to, if you want to make a
commitment to yourself tosupport your body, to support
your health, your hormones,especially in peri and
(14:48):
post-menopause yes, increaseyour anti-inflammatory foods and
reduce your pro-inflammatoryfoods, and that will get you the
best outcome.
So what does inflammation haveto do with weight loss?
You may have heard me saybefore or if you're a client of
mine, listen to this you'vedefinitely heard me say this
before that inflammation is ablocker to weight loss.
(15:11):
There's a few reasons why.
So inflammation can disruptinsulin sensitivity.
Insulin is management is superimportant for weight loss.
It can mess with your thyroid.
It can interfere with leptin.
Leptin is the hormone thattells you when you're full and
obviously, if you're not gettingtold that you're full, you're
(15:32):
going to feel hungrier, soyou're going to eat more.
All of this can stall fat lossand block it, especially in the
belly sort of area.
Now, visceral fat, because thatvisceral fat it's not just
about calories, it's abouthormones, including cortisol.
So stress comes into that aswell.
(15:53):
And inflammation Chronicinflammation also affects your
mood.
So it's been linked todepression, anxiety, which these
conditions can feel worse inperimenopause.
There's also a perimenopauseassociated depression and
anxiety which, for clients I'vespoken to that have this, they
(16:15):
say that have actually beendiagnosed with anxiety and
depression in the past will saythat this type of anxiety or
depression in peri feelsdifferent.
It doesn't feel like for themtheir sort of generalized
anxiety disorder or theirdepression.
I don't know if that makessense, but I think what we do
(16:38):
know, just generally with thoseconditions, that inflammation is
linked to it.
So again, if you're feelinglike your mood is really being
impacted in peri andpost-menopause, perhaps lowering
inflammation in your body isgoing to help with that.
Certainly, things like thebrain fog.
I see really fast improvementsin brain fog on the GLOW
(17:01):
protocol and I do think it'sbecause we're reducing
inflammation quite quickly inthe body in the first couple of
weeks.
So if you're feeling mentallyfoggy, if you're feeling anxious
or have these mood swings oryou're not just feeling like
yourself, anti-inflammatoryfoods may be a game changer for
you and sleep Inflammationinterferes with your sleep.
(17:25):
So, again, if that's somethingyou're struggling with, then
perhaps reducing yourpro-inflammatory foods,
increasing youranti-inflammatory foods are
going to make a difference.
And again, this is not justabout reducing symptoms.
It's about reclaiming yourhealth, reclaiming your future
(17:47):
health, because remember thatwhat you do now is going to
impact your health down thetrack.
And for someone, as an example,like myself with osteopenia,
what I do now before I getosteoporosis, with osteopenia,
what I do now before I getosteoporosis, what I do now is
going to make a huge differenceto what my bones are going to
(18:07):
look like in 5, 10, 20 years.
So it's never too early tostart and we really feel when I
say we, I mean the people inhealthcare, in research, that
are looking at this feel likethe earlier you start, the
better, and you're missing anopportunity.
If you're just cruising throughyour 40s feeling like rubbish
(18:28):
but not really wanting to changewhat you're doing, you are
missing an opportunity for yourfuture health.
So this is really important tolook at and if you can do it
with food and I know this isn'teasy, I know it's not easy to
change food, but even just I'mgoing to talk about how to start
(18:50):
in a minute but yeah, justreally starting to think about
it and maybe just making adecision that the way you're
feeling now is not the way youwant to feel for the next 10, 20
, 30 years.
Then, just even making thatdecision, you can start thinking
about okay, I need to do myresearch, what can I eat, what
should I be letting go of tofeel good?
(19:13):
And I know that what I've saidalready might sound like a lot,
but it doesn't have to beoverwhelming.
You can, if you like to startsmall, start with what feels
manageable.
So here's a couple of ideas.
So you could just add one morebrightly colored vegetable to
your plate at each meal.
(19:34):
So if you're someone that tendsto have, you know, the same
three veggies, for example,three or four veggies during
your week, change it up a bit,but add something that's rich in
color.
Okay, change it up a bit, butadd something that's rich in
color.
Okay, swapping your, if youhave a from what I've just said.
Know that.
Oh, I've got a pro-inflammatorycooking oil.
(19:55):
Change that for ananti-inflammatory cooking oil
Add if you're having a smoothie,for example for breakfast I
know it's getting cold here inAustralia, so maybe that's not
really smoothie where I'm stillhaving smoothies cause I love
them, um, but you know, I add atablespoon of chia seeds to mine
pretty much every morning and Ialso love flax seeds and flax
(20:18):
seed oil.
So putting that in yoursmoothie, you don't even know
it's there really.
Um, you know, switch, reducingyour alcohol.
That is a bit of a game changeras well, particularly for women
in peri and post-menopause.
So either changing to I don'treally recommend this changing
to a non-alcoholic kind of wineor a low alcohol wine.
(20:41):
If you're drinking wine everyday, it's probably a good idea
to start really kind of lookingat why you're doing that.
And for a lot of people it'sabout stress management or it's
a habit, or perhaps it'ssomething they do with their
partner every evening.
It's something that you mayreally wish to reconsider.
And switching, I know for me,just even having your wine glass
(21:05):
and putting sparkling water init or something like that can be
.
Just, you know, you're holdingthe glass, it feels different,
it still feels nice, but you'renot going to feel like rubbish
later on, it's not going toimpact your sleep.
Don't aim for perfectionnecessarily.
Aim for progress.
You know your body isconstantly responding and
(21:26):
changing depending on what youfeed it.
You know your body isconstantly responding and
changing depending on what youfeed it and every single time
you eat something, it's a chanceto lower inflammation, balance
hormones and to start feelingbetter again.
Now, if you want a personalizedplan, of course that's a
completely different kind ofconcept.
So that would be having a chatto a practitioner.
(21:47):
So that would be having a chatto a practitioner.
I'm always taking on new clients.
I don't kind of base mypractice on intakes, I'm just
always taking on new clients.
So if you're thinking, well,maybe that's something I should
explore you can book in aperiweight loss assessment call.
It's free and we just get on aZoom call.
It's no obligation.
I get a lot out of talking topeople.
(22:10):
It's great market research forme.
It helps me with podcast topics.
It helps me with addingdifferent things into the GLOW
protocol, because I'm constantlyupdating that as well.
So that is an opportunity thatyou have as well, specifically
for people in Australia and NewZealand, and the link is in the
show notes opportunity that youhave as well, specifically for
people in Australia and NewZealand, and the link is in the
(22:31):
show notes.
So I guess in closing I want tojust say you know,
anti-inflammatory eating isn't afad.
You know, we have a lot ofresearch that backs
anti-inflammatory eating up, andI remember even 10 years ago,
when I was studying nutritioninitially, I actually started
(22:51):
putting together what is now theGLOW protocol.
At that time I well actuallyI'm not going to say what the
name is because I might use itlater but I had a really fun
name for it and it was all aboutlow inflammatory eating and
lifestyle, so particularlystress management.
(23:12):
So this is something that'sbeen around for a long time.
It's not going anywhere and itis something that everyone can
benefit from.
So I think that's about it.
If you have any questions, dolet me know.
I'm happy to revisit this topic.
If you loved this episode, I'dbe so grateful if you could
(23:32):
leave a review, share it with afriend, maybe, screenshot the
podcast, pop it in your storiesand tag me at the perimenopause
path on Instagram.
I would love to see that.
It always makes me smile.
And, yeah, you could follow thepodcast as well, so you get
every episode delivered straightto your device each week and
(23:54):
you don't even have to thinkabout it.
All right, until next Tuesday.
Take care, look after yourselfin the cold.
If you're in Australia, I knowI do have a lot of listeners in
the Northern hemisphere.
You're coming into summer youlucky things, so take care of
yourselves and nourish your bodylike you love it.
(24:15):
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
button if you're on Spotify, sothat you get each new episode
delivered to you every singleweek.
If you feel like writing me afive-star review, you would
(24:37):
absolutely make my day.
If you found this episoderesonated with you, head over to
my Instagram and DM me attheperimenopausepar.
I would love to connect withyou.
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