April 12, 2025 • 40 mins
Dr. Shamistra Barathan breaks down the science of midlife weight gain and reveals the three missing pieces of the puzzle for women struggling despite diet and exercise changes. Some key points:
- Weight loss struggles are often tied to hidden hormonal imbalances
- Calories-in/calories-out model outdated – it's about hormones telling your body to store or burn fat
- Insulin resistance can exist for years despite normal blood sugar readings
- Chronic stress creates cortisol patterns that tell your body to store fat
- Muscle loss accelerates after 40, reducing your ability to burn calories
- Simple habit changes like morning protein, standing breaks, and basic resistance exercises can create significant results
- Perimenopause accelerates these challenges as estrogen declines
Take back control of your health with these practical, science-backed strategies to address the root causes of midlife weight gain!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today we are welcoming Dr Shamistra Barathan,
or Dr Shammy, to everybody else, including her clients.
Dr Shammy is an integrative GP,founder of the Mint Clinic,
host of the Six Hats podcast,and today Dr Shammy is joining
(00:21):
us week four of the AlcoholFreedom Challenge, and today
we're focusing on a few things,specifically alcohol, weight
gain and perimenopause thattrifecta that tends to impact
well so many, if not most, womenin midlife.
A huge welcome, Dr Shammi.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thank you.
I'm really excited to be here,isabella, and this is a topic I
absolutely love talking about,and just because there's a lot
of myths out there and there's alot of confusing information
whether it's social media,whether it's going to see your
GP, whether it's specialists andso many many women struggle
around you know, from latethirties, forties, just reaching
(01:07):
perimenopause to menopause, andso over the years, just
researched, worked it out and sojust made it really simple and
it's actually not hard, and onceyou know what your body's doing
, it's actually really easy totake back control.
So today it's all about why dowe gain weight and, especially
(01:28):
during those hormonal changes,why is it accelerated?
Fantastic, so just to startactually on your journey, and
it's really interesting.
So when clients come to me,they've often gone I'm eating
less, I'm exercising more, butI'm still not losing weight.
So you may have tried a bit offasting, may have gone to your
(01:49):
doctor and said, right, let medo a blood test.
Often the thyroid is tracked,maybe the sugars are tracked,
that's all normal.
And then you might have gonemaybe to a naturopath or a
functional doctor and go right,I'm going to look at my gut
health.
Is there anything going onthere.
So what's next?
And that's where we're going togo today.
So what else can we do?
And often many women are stuck.
(02:10):
They're stuck.
Well, I'm exercising more, I'meating less.
Why am I not losing weight?
So the key areas that we'regoing to talk about is just
debunking those myths of weightloss, the three missing pieces
of the puzzle that we're nottalking about enough.
And especially during thesehormonal changes, why are we
struggling?
But the ultimate goal, liketoday, you will actually walk
(02:33):
away with easy, practicalchanges that you can actually
start tonight, tomorrow and youwill see change.
But I'm going to start withsome really crazy statistics.
So 90% of women in Australiahave one risk factor for heart
disease, which is unbelievable.
Over 50% have two or more riskfactors and 73% of women around
(02:59):
this age bracket are overweight.
So it just kind of puts thingsin perspective.
How many women are sufferingalmost in silence, trying all
sorts of different remedies,maybe yo-yo dieting, whether
it's medication, but we haven'treally found the answer at all.
So we're going to look at a newapproach.
(03:19):
We're going to look at weightdifferently and what I normally
say to patients the first thingis to ditch that whole calories
in, calories out.
It's not the way the body worksat all.
And, more importantly, let'sditch the scales, because weight
BMI is inaccurate and it canhave a really psychological
impact, because if you're notseeing the numbers go down, you
(03:42):
go right.
I'm going to give up, I've hadenough, I'm just going to go
back to what I'm doing.
What's more important is bodycomposition.
More important is visceral fat.
So what's the fat around yourorgans?
Because, especially for women,we're dealing with estrogen.
We're dealing with femalehormones that can cause fluid
retention.
So it's much harder to gatherthat information just, and it's
(04:06):
not worth just jumping on thescales thinking, oh my God,
nothing's working.
So what I want to do is moveaway from just scales and really
reframe weight to go right.
Why is my body storing fat andnot burning it?
And when you reframe it in thatway, it's actually just brings
curiosity, brings a bit ofexcitement going right, what's
(04:27):
this missing piece of the puzzle?
Why is my body telling my bodyto store fat and why isn't it
burning?
So a much better marker isactually just waist
circumference.
Keeping it simple, because youwill see change with the
strategies I'm going to talk toyou about Fantastic.
So this is going to pop up acouple of times.
(04:47):
We're moving away from how muchdo you weigh to why is my body
well?
How can I get my body to burnfat instead of storing it?
So that's the key.
So this is when I go abouthormones.
Weight is actually all abouthormones, and the key four
hormones include insulin, whichwe're going to talk a lot about.
(05:09):
Thyroid.
We need to talk about cortisol.
This is not talked about.
It's so important.
I'll give you some couple ofpatient stories.
And then you've got estrogen.
I'm going to put it alltogether.
And then you've also got leptin, which you'm going to go into.
So it's actually about hormonesand all of these hormones speak
to one another.
For example, like as estrogendeclines, you're more likely to
(05:36):
become insulin resistant.
Higher estrogen affects thyroid.
High cortisol affects thyroid.
High cortisol affects insulin.
It all interacts and all speaksto one another.
So we want to gain a bit ofbalance.
So let's talk about insulin andwe're going to make it really
easy.
So insulin is the hormone thatthe pancreas pushes out.
(05:57):
The key thing, the key messagehere, is insulin tells your body
to put sugar into the cells,and the key thing is insulin's
released every time you eat.
So we're going to go into thata bit further.
So these are the key messagesit's released every time you eat
.
It tells the body to put sugarinto the cells.
Now what happens when there'sinsulin resistance is that when
(06:21):
it's not working well, so thecells are not hearing the
messages correctly, so sugarstays in your blood, not getting
into the cells, which is thenconverted to fat.
So what I really want to bringto home here is that when you do
a blood test, you can have acompletely normal fasting sugar
(06:44):
but a very high fasting insulin,and I see that a lot.
It's something that I routinelydo in many, many patients in
fact all my patients, becausemetabolic health is linked to so
many different conditions.
And so how do we work outinsulin resistance?
It's actually glucose timesinsulin divided by 22.
And we want a HOMA index lessthan two.
(07:05):
But the point I'm trying to makehere is you can be having
normal glucose levels for yearsand have no idea you're insulin
resistant.
And it's quite a wake-up callwhen you actually check fasting
insulin and go oh my God, thisis why I'm not losing weight,
because I've been told my sugaris fine.
But in actual fact, what'shappening behind the scenes?
(07:28):
So insulin resistance can begoing on for years and maybe two
to three years later, diabetes.
So we see that a lot and afterthis webinar you're going to
notice, you're going to go, oh,people around you when you think
about insulin resistance.
Go, oh, people around you whenyou think about insulin
resistance.
So many people are walkingaround insulin resistant, not
(07:49):
knowing it, and that leads toweight gain around your tummy.
So when insulin's high, thatweight gain around your tummy
increases.
Now, over time, actually,insulin resistance relates to
fatty liver, but over time, manyyears later, that's when you
get the diabetes, the heartdisease and stroke.
So there's a lot of work you cando now by reversing it, and
we're going to talk about howit's so easy to reverse.
(08:12):
So, first of all, it's easy topick up if we do the test and
it's actually really easy toreverse by looking at a couple
of strategies.
So you can do a lot ofprotection for yourself.
So the message here is insulintells your body to store fat.
It's all about insulin.
So if we can get that insulindown, you will be fat burning,
(08:34):
there is no doubt.
So this is a really goodreminder.
Insulin's released every timeyou eat and it tells your body
to store fat.
So so a big, big factor that Isay to patients is to stop
snacking, because every time youeat you're triggering your
insulin.
It's actually a really quickmethod to go towards weight loss
(08:55):
just by not snacking.
And I've just highlighted a fewareas.
For example, snacking afterdinner, snacking after lunch,
and the key thing is we actuallyjust want to bunch our meals
together.
So, whatever you're snacking on, put it to your dinner, bring
it to your lunch, bring it toyour breakfast and learn to go
without those meals in between,and your body loves it.
(09:18):
Your body's not designed toconstantly process food
throughout the day, not toconstantly have these spikes of
insulin.
So you can imagine, constantspikes of insulin will lead to
insulin resistance.
So it's actually a really quickstrategy.
And often you know why are wesnacking?
Is it a habit?
(09:38):
Is it hunger?
So we're going to go into that.
Or majority of the times itcould just be a habit.
Like an hour after dinneryou're going, I'm going to have
my cup of tea and a biscuit, soit could easily just be a habit.
That's now.
You're conscious of that.
You go right.
What can I do differently?
So the next thing is whattriggers insulin?
(09:59):
So carbs is the highest.
Then comes protein, but fat isnot triggered to release insulin
.
So that's why keto diets workso well.
It's sitting around fat andprotein.
What actually satiates you isfat.
What actually keeps you full isprotein.
So this is where we sort ofhone in, why you know, a high
(10:21):
protein diet good fats work sowell.
Now, 50 years ago, when fat wasdemonized, in comes sugar and as
a result, you couldn't eat foodwithout the fat because there
was no taste to it, so you hadto put the sugar in, and that's
when everything skyrocketed.
(10:41):
So we need to go back andunderstand how important the
good fats are and why protein isso important, which I'm going
to go into.
So let's do a quick summary.
So what raises insulin?
We know it's sugar, we knowit's carbs, but I want to make a
point about wheat.
So wheat, that's breads, pasta,maybe croissants that you're
(11:04):
snacking on, or biscuits.
Wheat by itself containsamylopectin B, which triggers a
spike in insulin, and it's quitephenomenal that just by even
removing wheat in someone's diet, and especially if they're
diabetic, how quickly the sugarsdecline.
It's so scary to watch andthink, wow, this is just one
(11:25):
simple food group, but if youremove it, it can have a
significant impact on your sugarlevels.
And in today's Western world,wheat is very heavy, so it
features in a lot of places Forexample, your breakfast, then
your snack, then your lunch andthen your snack again and then
your dinner.
So it's very wheat heavy.
So what lowers insulin?
(11:51):
Absolutely.
We all know about reducingsugar intake, we all know about
low carb intake, but, yes, we'regoing to add in two other steps
.
You know, just by looking atalternatives to wheat um, avoid
and avoid snacking.
So that's the two things thatwe've already learned massive
impact on your sugar levels.
So we's the two things thatwe've already learned.
Massive impact on your sugarlevels.
So we're going to learn threemore.
So, three of the missing piecesof the puzzle, one that's not
(12:11):
talked about enough is thestress response.
So I'm just going to do a quickreminder of what exactly is the
stress response.
What's going on in your body?
And it's actually all startswith a thought, and that thought
can be very automated.
So the logic mind goes I'mdoing fine and my life is great,
but internally it could bereleasing a fear response and
(12:34):
it's detected by the amygdala,which is the glands that sit in
your brain and what it does?
It just sends signals to therest of the body, especially to
the adrenal glands that sit ontop of your kidneys, releasing
cortisol, adrenaline oradrenaline.
The point I'm going to makehere is your amygdala can sit at
your baseline and your baselineis whatever is familiar to you.
(12:54):
And that's really importantbecause you could be in years
and years and years of chronicstress.
And in my intake form and alsoin my first consult, we just go
right back.
You know what was life growingup, what was life like as a
child, you know, were yourparents anxious?
Were you on edge?
Were you in a fight or flightresponse from childhood?
(13:15):
And that tells me a lot of howlong the body's been in this
automated chronic stressresponse.
And why is that important inthis automated chronic stress
response and why is thatimportant?
Chronic stress affects everypart of the body and we're not
talking about it enough.
So it could be years and yearsof this high cortisol, this
(13:36):
fight or flight response, thissympathetic nervous system
causing imbalances to your body.
And one thing of course isweight gain, but also, you know,
to your body.
And one thing of course isweight gain, but also you know
our irritable bowel, sleepissues, anxiety.
So what I often see in theclinic, a lot of patients will
come in I'm tired, I've gotanxiety, I've got gut issues and
(13:59):
, yes, there's weight gain.
And when we look at their story, they've been in chronic stress
for years and so we want tomake the connection.
We want to talk about theconnection because if you're in
chronic stress on a day-to-daybasis where you're in that hyper
vigilant state you go, oh mygod, I've got so much to do, so
many things.
Um, there are some aspects of itthat we're going to go into
where you could be shallowbreathing.
(14:20):
Then it affects your foodchoices, it affects your sleep
and it really has an impactthroughout your body.
So this is just a greatreminder.
We want to go back to abeautiful circadian rhythm.
We want to go back to justspiking cortisol once in the day
, at nine in the morning.
That's what our body designedfor.
(14:41):
But in today's world we'respiking throughout the day.
So we could be spiking in highin the morning, we could be
spiking high in the evening, andthat could be for multiple
reasons, which I'm going to gointo.
For example, shallow breathing,blue light exposure, alcohol.
So many reasons why we're goingto be spiking cortisol.
(15:03):
And the other aspect is themelatonin.
Melatonin could be so low, soyou've got this complete
imbalance.
So I'm actually seeing so many,so many women actually who go,
right, I'm eating so well, I'mexercising, but why am I not
losing weight?
And we actually do a salivatest or urine cortisol test and
(15:27):
that's when we get sort of theresults and the confirmation.
Well, actually, do you knowwhat?
Your cortisol is sky highthroughout the day.
It's not designed for that.
Remember, cortisol tells yourbody to release sugar.
So you could be eating well,you could be exercising, but
your body's releasing sugarthroughout the day, telling your
body to store fat.
So this is a really goodreminder of why it's so
(15:51):
important, how we need to goback to that stress response and
that's often the basis.
Looking at root cause work.
That's one of the root causestrategies we've got to look
into.
So this is going to be areminder for all of you.
You know all of this.
It's just a great reminder ofhow you know, of connecting the
dots.
So the first thing I always sayis it can be quite overwhelming
(16:13):
to start the strategies ofstress reduction, so just to
pick one.
It's always about picking onehabit and working on it, but a
great place to start is toensure you've got great sleep
hygiene.
It sets the stage foreverything, and that means you
know if you get beautiful deepsleep.
So great way of assessing it iscan you get to sleep quickly,
(16:35):
stay asleep and wake up withenergy?
Many, many people are waking upin the middle of the night,
maybe going to the toilet, andthat's normalized.
It's actually not normal.
We want beautiful deep sleepthroughout the night and if
example I'm just going to goback to here If you're waking up
in the middle of the night,you're spiking your cortisol in
the middle of the night, and sothat's the best time, for fat
(16:57):
burning is actually at night,when cortisol is the lowest,
insulin is the lowest.
So if you're a light sleeper,you're awake, you're getting out
of bed a couple of times, andnow it's so normalized you're
spiking your cortisol.
So we want to work on deepersleep.
But when we work on deepersleep, you will see a huge
domino effect.
For the rest of the day youwake up with energy, you're
(17:19):
alert, you're focused, you makebetter decisions, you make
better food choices.
You're consciously making thosechoices, whether it's alcohol,
whether it's food or whetherit's your stress response.
So sleep is number one priorityand it's something that I always
talk about is caffeine intake.
So if you're not sleeping,you've got to look at your
(17:40):
caffeine intake.
So, again, we've normalized it.
One caffeine in the morningshould be okay.
Some have got three, some havesix cups of coffee.
But caffeine is dependent onyour genetics.
So, yes, you could bemetabolizing it great.
But also there's another coupleof chemical reactions that go
right, I'm going to createcortisol really quickly in you
and not get rid of it.
(18:00):
So get rid of it slowly.
So you can be in a false fightor flight response with three
weeks with caffeine.
So I always say really, have alook at your caffeine intake.
And on a side note, I had apatient who was doing all the
right things but just not losingweight.
When we did the saliva test itwas sky-high cortisol.
We go, okay, what's going onhere?
(18:21):
Because she's she's doingreally well, she's spiritual,
she's deep breathing.
She suddenly had this lightbulb moment.
She was sipping on caffeine forthe first six hours of the day,
just sipping on caffeine, andit just spiked her cortisol.
So massive realization therecaffeine is a stimulant.
We've normalized it, we've saidit's okay, but it's actually
(18:43):
could be just one simple factorwhy what's up?
Why some women can't loseweight?
Then you know all about alcoholand the impact it has on sleep.
It can make you anxious thenext day.
So, and of course, that sugarintake, and of course sugar.
I do want to mention blue light.
In today's world, we aresitting in front of blue light
throughout the day.
At night, whether it's ourphones, laptops, tv.
(19:07):
We go to bed with blue light.
It is triggering the release ofcortisol, it is affecting your
insulin, and so we're, as humans, we're designed to be outdoors
in nature for six to eight hoursa day.
We're not designed to beindoors, and so I make a massive
.
I really encourage my patientsto think about blue light
blockers, putting blue lightblockers on your laptop, wearing
(19:30):
blue light blockers at nighthuge impact.
You suddenly feel wow, I'm justso less stressed, I have more
energy, I'm sleeping deeper.
And then the whole spiralstarts the next day, where you
can make conscious choices whenit comes to your habits and, of
course, emotional health.
I see so many women who, when Iask the question what brings you
(19:51):
joy in the week?
They stumble and they don'tknow what brings them joy,
because life has just taken overthe carers, the problem solvers
or, you know, everyone goes tothem to get things done and
they've forgotten aboutthemselves.
So how it's so important tocarve out me time and the
magnesium I love talking about.
(20:12):
Magnesium, it's the mothernutrient.
It's needed for over 600chemical reactions.
And why is that important?
You lose it by drinkingcaffeine.
You lose it by drinking alcohol, by sugar.
So can you imagine on a day today how much magnesium we're
losing, not only only fromstress, sugar, alcohol, caffeine
, and that means magnesium.
(20:35):
As you're deficient inmagnesium, it makes you more
prone to stress, which you loseand you're caught up in the
cycle.
So I really advise my patients,which I advise, on the right
dosing for magnesium, how it'simportant almost just to start
with that nutrient.
It's vital nutrient.
It's vital.
So let's go to the next thing.
It's actually being sedentary.
(20:56):
Again, we've normalized it.
We've normalized how it's okayto sit for six to eight hours
actually more because if you'renot in a really active role in a
job, you are sitting for longperiods of time.
And going to the gym for anhour studies have shown it it's
really counteracts the fact thatyou're sitting for long periods
(21:17):
of time.
So I really want to justhighlight it.
It was great.
So Jean Vernicost wrote the bookSitting Kills and she was
working with NASA.
She was a research scientist,so she looked at the problems
weightlessness cause and I'mgoing to link it to what it
means, how it's linked to beinga sedentary.
So weightlessness going up tospace caused bone loss, muscle
(21:41):
loss, insulin resistance develop, so that's you know, highlight
that Suppressed immune systemand a sluggish gut.
Then she realized that when shedid the study on people who
were sitting for long periods oftime, the exact same thing
happens.
So again, we're not designed tosit for long periods of time.
(22:03):
It's all about moving.
I'm just going to highlight,just for sitting develops
insulin resistance, muscle loss,bone loss, all these things
that women have to think aboutas they approach 50s and above.
So practical steps to avoidsitting because, you know, often
patients go.
Well, that's my job, that's myrole.
I need to be focused.
(22:23):
I'm there for four hourswithout moving.
You can create an environmentwhere you are getting out of
your chair.
So, whether it's right, I'mgoing to put my printer on
another side of the room.
I'm going to get up and getsome water.
I'm going to do walk and talkmeetings.
We can create an environment.
We can be creative.
It doesn't have to be that waywhere you're sitting for long
(22:45):
periods of time and all she saidwas all you need to do is stand
up every 30 minutes, that's all.
Sit and stand.
It's so simple, it's soachievable.
But there's so many other ways.
So nice, now just be creative.
What does that look like if youweren't sitting for long
periods of time and so many, somany businesses can start
(23:06):
actually implementing it?
You have much better focus.
You have, you know, it's somuch more productive rather than
sitting for long periods oftime.
So I'll let you be creative onthat one.
Design your environment thatyou can move more.
We've created an environmentwhere it's so convenient that
you know some people sit in achair and can reach for
(23:27):
absolutely everything, whenactual fact, we don't want that.
We actually want movement.
We actually want you to get outof your chair.
Why Movement is so, soimportant?
Excellent.
So again, sitting and weightgain.
So the third missing piece ofthe puzzle is muscle mass, and I
(23:47):
can't talk about it enough,especially especially for women.
So we lose muscle mass from theage of 30, at least 1% every
year.
And muscle mass is so importantfor mopping up your sugars,
managing your sugar levels, andliterally it's a massive risk
(24:09):
factor for insulin resistance.
Yes, for aging, but these arethe risk factors, not only aging
, but that sedentary lifestyle,that what we talked about
previously just sitting for longperiods of time so it's working
against you.
Sitting for long periods oftime loses muscle mass.
But also that's actuallyalready happening as you age,
(24:31):
and then you've got you know ifyou're sitting, that's an added
risk factor.
So these are just a couple ofyou know strategies to how I
really encourage women to dosome resistance training.
So what actually works is notgoing to jump into a HIIT class
or a boxing class when youhaven't exercised for a long
period of time.
(24:51):
What's brilliant is to startweight training and if you
haven't been to the gym for many, many years, start at home.
It could be 10 squats whilesomething's boiling.
It could be choosing the stairsrather than the escalators.
It could be having a stair athome and going up and down.
So anything against gravity, soarms above your head squats
(25:15):
builds muscle.
It's creating resistance andthat builds muscle.
And so there's so many ideasthat you can actually just start
at home and it could just beright.
I am going to start standingevery 30 minutes and doing 10
squats, I'm going to take thestairs rather than the lift and
the whole idea is to startmoving.
And yes, you can always go to agym, find a personal trainer
(25:39):
and get into a brilliant program.
But what can be quitechallenging is the whole idea of
going to a gym.
How do I start?
What do I do?
So I always advise think abouta personal trainer, because that
will just guide you, give youthe confidence.
Know exactly what you're doing,because you haven't exercised
in years.
There's such a high risk forinjury because we don't know
(26:03):
where you are, we don't knowwhat your joints are doing, we
don't know what your ligamentsor tendons are doing.
You could be really tight insome areas and all of a sudden,
when you pick up a heavy weight,you can injure yourself.
And the great thing aboutresistance training, which I
absolutely love, is you startlow.
You start with two kilos it'sso achievable and you work on
your own program.
(26:24):
It's not about looking at thepeople around you going oh my
God, they know what they'redoing or they're carrying heavy
weights.
It's your journey and it's sopersonalized, and it's that
consistency will lead to musclegain and you will notice it in
so many other ways not onlyweight, but mental health, sleep
(26:45):
, but also reducing the risk ofinjury and increased function,
for example, going up hills.
Walking up hills is suddenlyeasier.
You feel amazing.
You've got so much more energy.
So when we think aboutresistance training, it's such a
great start on your exercisejourney because the whole idea
of a HIIT program or boxing canbe overwhelming.
(27:08):
This is easy, it's almost likemeditation and it's doing so
many good things for you, ratherthan a massive cardio workout
when you're not nourished, whenyou're not sleeping and when
you're in high cortisol stateexcellent.
So another really importantfactor here is protein, and I
see a lot of patients are justnot eating enough mainly animal
(27:33):
protein that I focus on.
So how much protein do you need?
You need about one gram perkilo per day, but that's bare
minimum.
You can actually go up to 1.5.
For example, if someone weighs60 kilos, it's about 60 grams,
and how do I calculate it?
That means you times it by four.
You need about 240 grams ofanimal protein.
So that make it even easier 100grams of animal protein with
(27:57):
each meal, and that's the bestform, that's the most protein
that you're going to get.
So one egg is only six grams ofprotein, but 100 grams of meat
is 25 grams of protein.
And often we go slightly astraybecause we think oh, I'm eating
lentils, that's actually morecarbs than protein.
I'm eating chickpeas, I'msnacking on chickpeas, that's
(28:21):
actually three times more carbsthan protein.
And even oats, that spikes yoursugar.
So it's finding those hiddensugars and a lot of many, many
people are lacking in protein.
So why is protein important?
It switches off that switchingyour brain for sugar.
It literally just switches itoff.
(28:43):
It makes you so satiated, full,you don't even think about
snacking.
It's just quite amazing andwhen you've got to and I always
say, start the morning with areally good protein breakfast
and the rest of the day justfalls into place because you're
not even thinking about snackingbefore lunch and you're ready
for lunch, and then you've gotgood protein for lunch and then
you're ready for dinner.
So protein satiates you and itliterally switches off that
(29:09):
sugar craving.
But more importantly, proteinbreaks down, obviously, to amino
acids, and amino acids areimportant for every part of the
body, from serotonin, your happychemical to detox pathways to
enzyme reactions.
So we underestimate the powerof protein and all of a sudden
energy spikes, you're sleepingbetter, you feel better in the
day.
So let's put all our knowledgetogether.
(29:31):
And what happens during thechange?
What happens from the 40s?
Estrogen declines.
So what?
The definition of menopause isno periods for 12 months, and
all the symptoms that lead up toit can be classified under
perimenopause.
So you've got the range ofsymptoms that many of you are
familiar with.
But what really falls into thiscategory is that weight gain
(29:54):
that people struggle with.
So this is a good reminder.
As Eastern falls, you're morelikely to become insulin
resistant, and so literallythat's what your body's doing
anyway, and as a result, we cango back to all our great
strategies to even prevent that.
Excellent.
So it is actually when you'rereaching your fifties.
(30:16):
The muscle mass has declined,you've got that lower estrogen.
You might have a very sedentarylifestyle.
You might be in a period ofhigh stress with high
functioning jobs.
Your sleeping is worse, um, andthen you've got all the mood
swings.
So that affects a lot of things, from food choices to activity
levels.
So a lot of things arehappening in a woman's life
(30:37):
during the change.
But now we've got amazingstrategies to actually support
you through it so you canactually sail through it.
So this is just a good reminder.
So remember, insulin tells yourbody to store fat.
We want to lower insulin totrigger fat burning.
So we know all about those keystrategies from sugar, carbs,
(30:58):
wheat.
Now we can add on theimportance of really focusing on
stress reduction, buildingmuscle and how we can keep
moving.
So it's actually really simplestrategies and it's so
incredibly effective.
So the key take-home messagesthat I often find are not being
talked about the impact ofstress.
(31:19):
And then we go into the alcohol, the caffeine, the sleep, the
emotional eating.
We forget about strengthtraining.
We don't even often put it intoour list of things to do for
the year.
It's you know, a lot of peoplefocus on cardio, but it is
strength training, you know,such an easy missing piece of
(31:39):
the puzzle and, of course, tokeep moving and, of course,
protein, amazing.
So the key thing is what's yournext step?
And remember, this is justgeneral advice only and, of
course, see your own doctor formore support.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Dr Shammy, thank you so much.
You so beautifully described inan understandable way.
In an understandable way, thevicious cycle that the modern
woman in midlife is caught in,struggling with that fatigue,
the stress, the sleeplessness,then reaching for caffeine,
(32:20):
sugar, alcohol, not enjoying theway she looks I'm speaking for
myself, not anybody else hereand then exercising madly, which
.
So you're really in a cortisol,insulin, sugar cycle.
You've just I had a penny dropmoment of my next steps.
(32:40):
What's your next step?
I've got my caffeine.
So I wake up first thing andit's a double shot of caffeine
and I do what I tell my clientsnot to.
I don't have breakfast, that'swhat I have first of all, and my
cortisol, I know, is like thatthroughout the whole day.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, and it's really .
I'm so glad you shared that,because even if you just put a
couple of eggs before yourcaffeine, it could make a huge
difference.
Yeah, and that, and sugar aswell, if you just had caught
caffeine.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
This has been great for me.
I've got a lot of questions,but I'm going to open up to
people here.
Does anybody have a hotquestion to ask Dr Shammy?
Speaker 2 (33:22):
What could happen.
So each body is so different.
So if you're in a stressresponse, skipping breakfast can
actually create more of acortisol response, stopping you
from losing weight.
But if you're in a differentstage in your life and doing
really well, absolutely fastingcould help.
But it's so individual.
So when I see patients, when Isee the entire story, I go just
(33:45):
stick to a great breakfast withgreat protein and just see how
you feel and all of a sudden Igo, oh my God, I'm feeling so
much better.
I'm actually starting to loseweight.
So it's so individualized ratherthan one size fits all, so the
body doesn't know what's a goodor bad sugar.
We've just labeled it.
Sugar is sugar.
It will spike.
Fruit will spike as sugar.
So a lot of the times you knowthe high sugars, the apples,
(34:08):
pears, bananas, watermelons.
The low sugars would be berriesyeah, it's just sticking around
berries, maybe melon, the lowsugar.
So think of fruit as sugar.
So when I see someone's diet, Igo, wow, like exactly what you
said the yogurt, fruit andgranola, it's actually all high
sugar.
Oats, fruit is actually allhigh sugar.
(34:29):
So I would put a couple of eggsbefore it if you don't want to
give it up or you know, fruitbehind protein works really well
, just to avoid a spike.
Think of fruit as sugar.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
But I've got one question I'd love just to finish
up on, if that's all right.
You know we've all got our GP,uh, and we go in there,
particularly at this stage ofour life.
What's going on with myhormones?
What's going on with my hotflushes, my weight gain, all the
rest of it, in fact?
I've literally just gonethrough that process in the last
(35:00):
two weeks, but we don't tend toget the blood tests ordered
that you're referring to, orthey don't tend to come back
with additional help aroundsupplements and also those other
recommendations around cortisolmanagement.
But just back to the bloodtests.
How do we feel confident thatour doctor is getting the full
(35:25):
range?
Or is it find your integrativeGP?
Find you Dr?
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Shammy.
So it is.
Find an integrative GP.
You could say I'd like to testfasting insulin, yeah, and it
depends what relationship youhave with your doctor.
They might be great, abeautiful relationship.
We go.
Yeah, let's test it, let's findout, let's figure it out.
You know, some can be go.
(35:52):
I don't know what it is, I'mnot going to test it, so it can
be.
It depends on your relationshipwith your doctor.
And the thing is they may notknow how to interpret it because
obviously it comes in a rangeof going.
Oh, you're in the range, but weinterpret it so differently,
for you know metabolic health,energy, you know dementia
prevention.
It's so different in thefunctional world compared to
just looking at a range andsaying you're okay okay, thank
(36:13):
you very, very much.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Uh, just the final bit of information here is if
anybody uh is part of thischallenge or anybody who's going
to listen ultimately to um therecording, uh, where can they
find you?
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Absolutely so on this slide as well, so on socials,
instagram.
So we've got Mint Clinic andalso Dr Shammy, and so those are
the two areas of followers onthe Six Hats podcast as well.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Thank you, and I can only imagine the range of
questions you get asked.
If anybody has you sitting nextto them at the dinner table.
You know you don't want mesitting there because I would
just go through my entirehistory and just ask the
strangest, weirdest questionsI've got.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
so many of them.
I get it all the time and I try, and even when I'm relaxing,
like going for a treatment, Iget it and I go oh, oh, my God,
I need to switch off.
I've got it.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Exactly, um, just a huge thank you from the bottom
of my heart for your time, yourenergy, your knowledge.
Uh, on this topic, I've learneda lot, a lot of takeaways.
So thank you Amazing.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
And, yeah, it's so awesome to get this knowledge
out, help as many women, becauseit's so confusing out there and
I hope you know when you lookat it it's actually so
achievable, so doable, and thenyou can just take it on board
and take the power back back inyour you know, take the power
back that you can actuallycontrol your health.
You can do this for sure.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Yeah, I felt very powerless quite recently just
with the changes happening to meat the moment, just with all of
it, with fatigue and weightgain.
So thank you.
So, just from everybody here, Ihope you have a lovely night.
We'll all sort of wander offand go our own way into the
evening.
(38:09):
And, yes, thank you again, drShammi.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
And all the best on your journeys.
Thank you, thank you.
Today we are welcoming Dr Shamistra Barathan,
or Dr Shammy, to everybody else, including her clients.
Dr Shammy is an integrative GP,founder of the Mint Clinic,
host of the Six Hats podcast,and today Dr Shammy is joining
(00:21):
us week four of the AlcoholFreedom Challenge, and today
we're focusing on a few things,specifically alcohol, weight
gain and perimenopause thattrifecta that tends to impact
well so many, if not most, womenin midlife.
A huge welcome, Dr Shammi.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Thank you.
I'm really excited to be here,isabella, and this is a topic I
absolutely love talking about,and just because there's a lot
of myths out there and there's alot of confusing information
whether it's social media,whether it's going to see your
GP, whether it's specialists andso many many women struggle
around you know, from latethirties, forties, just reaching
(01:07):
perimenopause to menopause, andso over the years, just
researched, worked it out and sojust made it really simple and
it's actually not hard, and onceyou know what your body's doing
, it's actually really easy totake back control.
So today it's all about why dowe gain weight and, especially
(01:28):
during those hormonal changes,why is it accelerated?
Fantastic, so just to startactually on your journey, and
it's really interesting.
So when clients come to me,they've often gone I'm eating
less, I'm exercising more, butI'm still not losing weight.
So you may have tried a bit offasting, may have gone to your
(01:49):
doctor and said, right, let medo a blood test.
Often the thyroid is tracked,maybe the sugars are tracked,
that's all normal.
And then you might have gonemaybe to a naturopath or a
functional doctor and go right,I'm going to look at my gut
health.
Is there anything going onthere.
So what's next?
And that's where we're going togo today.
So what else can we do?
And often many women are stuck.
(02:10):
They're stuck.
Well, I'm exercising more, I'meating less.
Why am I not losing weight?
So the key areas that we'regoing to talk about is just
debunking those myths of weightloss, the three missing pieces
of the puzzle that we're nottalking about enough.
And especially during thesehormonal changes, why are we
struggling?
But the ultimate goal, liketoday, you will actually walk
(02:33):
away with easy, practicalchanges that you can actually
start tonight, tomorrow and youwill see change.
But I'm going to start withsome really crazy statistics.
So 90% of women in Australiahave one risk factor for heart
disease, which is unbelievable.
Over 50% have two or more riskfactors and 73% of women around
(02:59):
this age bracket are overweight.
So it just kind of puts thingsin perspective.
How many women are sufferingalmost in silence, trying all
sorts of different remedies,maybe yo-yo dieting, whether
it's medication, but we haven'treally found the answer at all.
So we're going to look at a newapproach.
(03:19):
We're going to look at weightdifferently and what I normally
say to patients the first thingis to ditch that whole calories
in, calories out.
It's not the way the body worksat all.
And, more importantly, let'sditch the scales, because weight
BMI is inaccurate and it canhave a really psychological
impact, because if you're notseeing the numbers go down, you
(03:42):
go right.
I'm going to give up, I've hadenough, I'm just going to go
back to what I'm doing.
What's more important is bodycomposition.
More important is visceral fat.
So what's the fat around yourorgans?
Because, especially for women,we're dealing with estrogen.
We're dealing with femalehormones that can cause fluid
retention.
So it's much harder to gatherthat information just, and it's
(04:06):
not worth just jumping on thescales thinking, oh my God,
nothing's working.
So what I want to do is moveaway from just scales and really
reframe weight to go right.
Why is my body storing fat andnot burning it?
And when you reframe it in thatway, it's actually just brings
curiosity, brings a bit ofexcitement going right, what's
(04:27):
this missing piece of the puzzle?
Why is my body telling my bodyto store fat and why isn't it
burning?
So a much better marker isactually just waist
circumference.
Keeping it simple, because youwill see change with the
strategies I'm going to talk toyou about Fantastic.
So this is going to pop up acouple of times.
(04:47):
We're moving away from how muchdo you weigh to why is my body
well?
How can I get my body to burnfat instead of storing it?
So that's the key.
So this is when I go abouthormones.
Weight is actually all abouthormones, and the key four
hormones include insulin, whichwe're going to talk a lot about.
(05:09):
Thyroid.
We need to talk about cortisol.
This is not talked about.
It's so important.
I'll give you some couple ofpatient stories.
And then you've got estrogen.
I'm going to put it alltogether.
And then you've also got leptin, which you'm going to go into.
So it's actually about hormonesand all of these hormones speak
to one another.
For example, like as estrogendeclines, you're more likely to
(05:36):
become insulin resistant.
Higher estrogen affects thyroid.
High cortisol affects thyroid.
High cortisol affects insulin.
It all interacts and all speaksto one another.
So we want to gain a bit ofbalance.
So let's talk about insulin andwe're going to make it really
easy.
So insulin is the hormone thatthe pancreas pushes out.
(05:57):
The key thing, the key messagehere, is insulin tells your body
to put sugar into the cells,and the key thing is insulin's
released every time you eat.
So we're going to go into thata bit further.
So these are the key messagesit's released every time you eat
.
It tells the body to put sugarinto the cells.
Now what happens when there'sinsulin resistance is that when
(06:21):
it's not working well, so thecells are not hearing the
messages correctly, so sugarstays in your blood, not getting
into the cells, which is thenconverted to fat.
So what I really want to bringto home here is that when you do
a blood test, you can have acompletely normal fasting sugar
(06:44):
but a very high fasting insulin,and I see that a lot.
It's something that I routinelydo in many, many patients in
fact all my patients, becausemetabolic health is linked to so
many different conditions.
And so how do we work outinsulin resistance?
It's actually glucose timesinsulin divided by 22.
And we want a HOMA index lessthan two.
(07:05):
But the point I'm trying to makehere is you can be having
normal glucose levels for yearsand have no idea you're insulin
resistant.
And it's quite a wake-up callwhen you actually check fasting
insulin and go oh my God, thisis why I'm not losing weight,
because I've been told my sugaris fine.
But in actual fact, what'shappening behind the scenes?
(07:28):
So insulin resistance can begoing on for years and maybe two
to three years later, diabetes.
So we see that a lot and afterthis webinar you're going to
notice, you're going to go, oh,people around you when you think
about insulin resistance.
Go, oh, people around you whenyou think about insulin
resistance.
So many people are walkingaround insulin resistant, not
(07:49):
knowing it, and that leads toweight gain around your tummy.
So when insulin's high, thatweight gain around your tummy
increases.
Now, over time, actually,insulin resistance relates to
fatty liver, but over time, manyyears later, that's when you
get the diabetes, the heartdisease and stroke.
So there's a lot of work you cando now by reversing it, and
we're going to talk about howit's so easy to reverse.
(08:12):
So, first of all, it's easy topick up if we do the test and
it's actually really easy toreverse by looking at a couple
of strategies.
So you can do a lot ofprotection for yourself.
So the message here is insulintells your body to store fat.
It's all about insulin.
So if we can get that insulindown, you will be fat burning,
(08:34):
there is no doubt.
So this is a really goodreminder.
Insulin's released every timeyou eat and it tells your body
to store fat.
So so a big, big factor that Isay to patients is to stop
snacking, because every time youeat you're triggering your
insulin.
It's actually a really quickmethod to go towards weight loss
(08:55):
just by not snacking.
And I've just highlighted a fewareas.
For example, snacking afterdinner, snacking after lunch,
and the key thing is we actuallyjust want to bunch our meals
together.
So, whatever you're snacking on, put it to your dinner, bring
it to your lunch, bring it toyour breakfast and learn to go
without those meals in between,and your body loves it.
(09:18):
Your body's not designed toconstantly process food
throughout the day, not toconstantly have these spikes of
insulin.
So you can imagine, constantspikes of insulin will lead to
insulin resistance.
So it's actually a really quickstrategy.
And often you know why are wesnacking?
Is it a habit?
(09:38):
Is it hunger?
So we're going to go into that.
Or majority of the times itcould just be a habit.
Like an hour after dinneryou're going, I'm going to have
my cup of tea and a biscuit, soit could easily just be a habit.
That's now.
You're conscious of that.
You go right.
What can I do differently?
So the next thing is whattriggers insulin?
(09:59):
So carbs is the highest.
Then comes protein, but fat isnot triggered to release insulin
.
So that's why keto diets workso well.
It's sitting around fat andprotein.
What actually satiates you isfat.
What actually keeps you full isprotein.
So this is where we sort ofhone in, why you know, a high
(10:21):
protein diet good fats work sowell.
Now, 50 years ago, when fat wasdemonized, in comes sugar and as
a result, you couldn't eat foodwithout the fat because there
was no taste to it, so you hadto put the sugar in, and that's
when everything skyrocketed.
(10:41):
So we need to go back andunderstand how important the
good fats are and why protein isso important, which I'm going
to go into.
So let's do a quick summary.
So what raises insulin?
We know it's sugar, we knowit's carbs, but I want to make a
point about wheat.
So wheat, that's breads, pasta,maybe croissants that you're
(11:04):
snacking on, or biscuits.
Wheat by itself containsamylopectin B, which triggers a
spike in insulin, and it's quitephenomenal that just by even
removing wheat in someone's diet, and especially if they're
diabetic, how quickly the sugarsdecline.
It's so scary to watch andthink, wow, this is just one
(11:25):
simple food group, but if youremove it, it can have a
significant impact on your sugarlevels.
And in today's Western world,wheat is very heavy, so it
features in a lot of places Forexample, your breakfast, then
your snack, then your lunch andthen your snack again and then
your dinner.
So it's very wheat heavy.
So what lowers insulin?
(11:51):
Absolutely.
We all know about reducingsugar intake, we all know about
low carb intake, but, yes, we'regoing to add in two other steps
.
You know, just by looking atalternatives to wheat um, avoid
and avoid snacking.
So that's the two things thatwe've already learned massive
impact on your sugar levels.
So we's the two things thatwe've already learned.
Massive impact on your sugarlevels.
So we're going to learn threemore.
So, three of the missing piecesof the puzzle, one that's not
(12:11):
talked about enough is thestress response.
So I'm just going to do a quickreminder of what exactly is the
stress response.
What's going on in your body?
And it's actually all startswith a thought, and that thought
can be very automated.
So the logic mind goes I'mdoing fine and my life is great,
but internally it could bereleasing a fear response and
(12:34):
it's detected by the amygdala,which is the glands that sit in
your brain and what it does?
It just sends signals to therest of the body, especially to
the adrenal glands that sit ontop of your kidneys, releasing
cortisol, adrenaline oradrenaline.
The point I'm going to makehere is your amygdala can sit at
your baseline and your baselineis whatever is familiar to you.
(12:54):
And that's really importantbecause you could be in years
and years and years of chronicstress.
And in my intake form and alsoin my first consult, we just go
right back.
You know what was life growingup, what was life like as a
child, you know, were yourparents anxious?
Were you on edge?
Were you in a fight or flightresponse from childhood?
(13:15):
And that tells me a lot of howlong the body's been in this
automated chronic stressresponse.
And why is that important inthis automated chronic stress
response and why is thatimportant?
Chronic stress affects everypart of the body and we're not
talking about it enough.
So it could be years and yearsof this high cortisol, this
(13:36):
fight or flight response, thissympathetic nervous system
causing imbalances to your body.
And one thing of course isweight gain, but also, you know,
to your body.
And one thing of course isweight gain, but also you know
our irritable bowel, sleepissues, anxiety.
So what I often see in theclinic, a lot of patients will
come in I'm tired, I've gotanxiety, I've got gut issues and
(13:59):
, yes, there's weight gain.
And when we look at their story, they've been in chronic stress
for years and so we want tomake the connection.
We want to talk about theconnection because if you're in
chronic stress on a day-to-daybasis where you're in that hyper
vigilant state you go, oh mygod, I've got so much to do, so
many things.
Um, there are some aspects of itthat we're going to go into
where you could be shallowbreathing.
(14:20):
Then it affects your foodchoices, it affects your sleep
and it really has an impactthroughout your body.
So this is just a greatreminder.
We want to go back to abeautiful circadian rhythm.
We want to go back to justspiking cortisol once in the day
, at nine in the morning.
That's what our body designedfor.
(14:41):
But in today's world we'respiking throughout the day.
So we could be spiking in highin the morning, we could be
spiking high in the evening, andthat could be for multiple
reasons, which I'm going to gointo.
For example, shallow breathing,blue light exposure, alcohol.
So many reasons why we're goingto be spiking cortisol.
(15:03):
And the other aspect is themelatonin.
Melatonin could be so low, soyou've got this complete
imbalance.
So I'm actually seeing so many,so many women actually who go,
right, I'm eating so well, I'mexercising, but why am I not
losing weight?
And we actually do a salivatest or urine cortisol test and
(15:27):
that's when we get sort of theresults and the confirmation.
Well, actually, do you knowwhat?
Your cortisol is sky highthroughout the day.
It's not designed for that.
Remember, cortisol tells yourbody to release sugar.
So you could be eating well,you could be exercising, but
your body's releasing sugarthroughout the day, telling your
body to store fat.
So this is a really goodreminder of why it's so
(15:51):
important, how we need to goback to that stress response and
that's often the basis.
Looking at root cause work.
That's one of the root causestrategies we've got to look
into.
So this is going to be areminder for all of you.
You know all of this.
It's just a great reminder ofhow you know, of connecting the
dots.
So the first thing I always sayis it can be quite overwhelming
(16:13):
to start the strategies ofstress reduction, so just to
pick one.
It's always about picking onehabit and working on it, but a
great place to start is toensure you've got great sleep
hygiene.
It sets the stage foreverything, and that means you
know if you get beautiful deepsleep.
So great way of assessing it iscan you get to sleep quickly,
(16:35):
stay asleep and wake up withenergy?
Many, many people are waking upin the middle of the night,
maybe going to the toilet, andthat's normalized.
It's actually not normal.
We want beautiful deep sleepthroughout the night and if
example I'm just going to goback to here If you're waking up
in the middle of the night,you're spiking your cortisol in
the middle of the night, and sothat's the best time, for fat
(16:57):
burning is actually at night,when cortisol is the lowest,
insulin is the lowest.
So if you're a light sleeper,you're awake, you're getting out
of bed a couple of times, andnow it's so normalized you're
spiking your cortisol.
So we want to work on deepersleep.
But when we work on deepersleep, you will see a huge
domino effect.
For the rest of the day youwake up with energy, you're
(17:19):
alert, you're focused, you makebetter decisions, you make
better food choices.
You're consciously making thosechoices, whether it's alcohol,
whether it's food or whetherit's your stress response.
So sleep is number one priorityand it's something that I always
talk about is caffeine intake.
So if you're not sleeping,you've got to look at your
(17:40):
caffeine intake.
So, again, we've normalized it.
One caffeine in the morningshould be okay.
Some have got three, some havesix cups of coffee.
But caffeine is dependent onyour genetics.
So, yes, you could bemetabolizing it great.
But also there's another coupleof chemical reactions that go
right, I'm going to createcortisol really quickly in you
and not get rid of it.
(18:00):
So get rid of it slowly.
So you can be in a false fightor flight response with three
weeks with caffeine.
So I always say really, have alook at your caffeine intake.
And on a side note, I had apatient who was doing all the
right things but just not losingweight.
When we did the saliva test itwas sky-high cortisol.
We go, okay, what's going onhere?
(18:21):
Because she's she's doingreally well, she's spiritual,
she's deep breathing.
She suddenly had this lightbulb moment.
She was sipping on caffeine forthe first six hours of the day,
just sipping on caffeine, andit just spiked her cortisol.
So massive realization therecaffeine is a stimulant.
We've normalized it, we've saidit's okay, but it's actually
(18:43):
could be just one simple factorwhy what's up?
Why some women can't loseweight?
Then you know all about alcoholand the impact it has on sleep.
It can make you anxious thenext day.
So, and of course, that sugarintake, and of course sugar.
I do want to mention blue light.
In today's world, we aresitting in front of blue light
throughout the day.
At night, whether it's ourphones, laptops, tv.
(19:07):
We go to bed with blue light.
It is triggering the release ofcortisol, it is affecting your
insulin, and so we're, as humans, we're designed to be outdoors
in nature for six to eight hoursa day.
We're not designed to beindoors, and so I make a massive
.
I really encourage my patientsto think about blue light
blockers, putting blue lightblockers on your laptop, wearing
(19:30):
blue light blockers at nighthuge impact.
You suddenly feel wow, I'm justso less stressed, I have more
energy, I'm sleeping deeper.
And then the whole spiralstarts the next day, where you
can make conscious choices whenit comes to your habits and, of
course, emotional health.
I see so many women who, when Iask the question what brings you
(19:51):
joy in the week?
They stumble and they don'tknow what brings them joy,
because life has just taken overthe carers, the problem solvers
or, you know, everyone goes tothem to get things done and
they've forgotten aboutthemselves.
So how it's so important tocarve out me time and the
magnesium I love talking about.
(20:12):
Magnesium, it's the mothernutrient.
It's needed for over 600chemical reactions.
And why is that important?
You lose it by drinkingcaffeine.
You lose it by drinking alcohol, by sugar.
So can you imagine on a day today how much magnesium we're
losing, not only only fromstress, sugar, alcohol, caffeine
, and that means magnesium.
(20:35):
As you're deficient inmagnesium, it makes you more
prone to stress, which you loseand you're caught up in the
cycle.
So I really advise my patients,which I advise, on the right
dosing for magnesium, how it'simportant almost just to start
with that nutrient.
It's vital nutrient.
It's vital.
So let's go to the next thing.
It's actually being sedentary.
(20:56):
Again, we've normalized it.
We've normalized how it's okayto sit for six to eight hours
actually more because if you'renot in a really active role in a
job, you are sitting for longperiods of time.
And going to the gym for anhour studies have shown it it's
really counteracts the fact thatyou're sitting for long periods
(21:17):
of time.
So I really want to justhighlight it.
It was great.
So Jean Vernicost wrote the bookSitting Kills and she was
working with NASA.
She was a research scientist,so she looked at the problems
weightlessness cause and I'mgoing to link it to what it
means, how it's linked to beinga sedentary.
So weightlessness going up tospace caused bone loss, muscle
(21:41):
loss, insulin resistance develop, so that's you know, highlight
that Suppressed immune systemand a sluggish gut.
Then she realized that when shedid the study on people who
were sitting for long periods oftime, the exact same thing
happens.
So again, we're not designed tosit for long periods of time.
(22:03):
It's all about moving.
I'm just going to highlight,just for sitting develops
insulin resistance, muscle loss,bone loss, all these things
that women have to think aboutas they approach 50s and above.
So practical steps to avoidsitting because, you know, often
patients go.
Well, that's my job, that's myrole.
I need to be focused.
(22:23):
I'm there for four hourswithout moving.
You can create an environmentwhere you are getting out of
your chair.
So, whether it's right, I'mgoing to put my printer on
another side of the room.
I'm going to get up and getsome water.
I'm going to do walk and talkmeetings.
We can create an environment.
We can be creative.
It doesn't have to be that waywhere you're sitting for long
(22:45):
periods of time and all she saidwas all you need to do is stand
up every 30 minutes, that's all.
Sit and stand.
It's so simple, it's soachievable.
But there's so many other ways.
So nice, now just be creative.
What does that look like if youweren't sitting for long
periods of time and so many, somany businesses can start
(23:06):
actually implementing it?
You have much better focus.
You have, you know, it's somuch more productive rather than
sitting for long periods oftime.
So I'll let you be creative onthat one.
Design your environment thatyou can move more.
We've created an environmentwhere it's so convenient that
you know some people sit in achair and can reach for
(23:27):
absolutely everything, whenactual fact, we don't want that.
We actually want movement.
We actually want you to get outof your chair.
Why Movement is so, soimportant?
Excellent.
So again, sitting and weightgain.
So the third missing piece ofthe puzzle is muscle mass, and I
(23:47):
can't talk about it enough,especially especially for women.
So we lose muscle mass from theage of 30, at least 1% every
year.
And muscle mass is so importantfor mopping up your sugars,
managing your sugar levels, andliterally it's a massive risk
(24:09):
factor for insulin resistance.
Yes, for aging, but these arethe risk factors, not only aging
, but that sedentary lifestyle,that what we talked about
previously just sitting for longperiods of time so it's working
against you.
Sitting for long periods oftime loses muscle mass.
But also that's actuallyalready happening as you age,
(24:31):
and then you've got you know ifyou're sitting, that's an added
risk factor.
So these are just a couple ofyou know strategies to how I
really encourage women to dosome resistance training.
So what actually works is notgoing to jump into a HIIT class
or a boxing class when youhaven't exercised for a long
period of time.
(24:51):
What's brilliant is to startweight training and if you
haven't been to the gym for many, many years, start at home.
It could be 10 squats whilesomething's boiling.
It could be choosing the stairsrather than the escalators.
It could be having a stair athome and going up and down.
So anything against gravity, soarms above your head squats
(25:15):
builds muscle.
It's creating resistance andthat builds muscle.
And so there's so many ideasthat you can actually just start
at home and it could just beright.
I am going to start standingevery 30 minutes and doing 10
squats, I'm going to take thestairs rather than the lift and
the whole idea is to startmoving.
And yes, you can always go to agym, find a personal trainer
(25:39):
and get into a brilliant program.
But what can be quitechallenging is the whole idea of
going to a gym.
How do I start?
What do I do?
So I always advise think abouta personal trainer, because that
will just guide you, give youthe confidence.
Know exactly what you're doing,because you haven't exercised
in years.
There's such a high risk forinjury because we don't know
(26:03):
where you are, we don't knowwhat your joints are doing, we
don't know what your ligamentsor tendons are doing.
You could be really tight insome areas and all of a sudden,
when you pick up a heavy weight,you can injure yourself.
And the great thing aboutresistance training, which I
absolutely love, is you startlow.
You start with two kilos it'sso achievable and you work on
your own program.
(26:24):
It's not about looking at thepeople around you going oh my
God, they know what they'redoing or they're carrying heavy
weights.
It's your journey and it's sopersonalized, and it's that
consistency will lead to musclegain and you will notice it in
so many other ways not onlyweight, but mental health, sleep
(26:45):
, but also reducing the risk ofinjury and increased function,
for example, going up hills.
Walking up hills is suddenlyeasier.
You feel amazing.
You've got so much more energy.
So when we think aboutresistance training, it's such a
great start on your exercisejourney because the whole idea
of a HIIT program or boxing canbe overwhelming.
(27:08):
This is easy, it's almost likemeditation and it's doing so
many good things for you, ratherthan a massive cardio workout
when you're not nourished, whenyou're not sleeping and when
you're in high cortisol stateexcellent.
So another really importantfactor here is protein, and I
see a lot of patients are justnot eating enough mainly animal
(27:33):
protein that I focus on.
So how much protein do you need?
You need about one gram perkilo per day, but that's bare
minimum.
You can actually go up to 1.5.
For example, if someone weighs60 kilos, it's about 60 grams,
and how do I calculate it?
That means you times it by four.
You need about 240 grams ofanimal protein.
So that make it even easier 100grams of animal protein with
(27:57):
each meal, and that's the bestform, that's the most protein
that you're going to get.
So one egg is only six grams ofprotein, but 100 grams of meat
is 25 grams of protein.
And often we go slightly astraybecause we think oh, I'm eating
lentils, that's actually morecarbs than protein.
I'm eating chickpeas, I'msnacking on chickpeas, that's
(28:21):
actually three times more carbsthan protein.
And even oats, that spikes yoursugar.
So it's finding those hiddensugars and a lot of many, many
people are lacking in protein.
So why is protein important?
It switches off that switchingyour brain for sugar.
It literally just switches itoff.
(28:43):
It makes you so satiated, full,you don't even think about
snacking.
It's just quite amazing andwhen you've got to and I always
say, start the morning with areally good protein breakfast
and the rest of the day justfalls into place because you're
not even thinking about snackingbefore lunch and you're ready
for lunch, and then you've gotgood protein for lunch and then
you're ready for dinner.
So protein satiates you and itliterally switches off that
(29:09):
sugar craving.
But more importantly, proteinbreaks down, obviously, to amino
acids, and amino acids areimportant for every part of the
body, from serotonin, your happychemical to detox pathways to
enzyme reactions.
So we underestimate the powerof protein and all of a sudden
energy spikes, you're sleepingbetter, you feel better in the
day.
So let's put all our knowledgetogether.
(29:31):
And what happens during thechange?
What happens from the 40s?
Estrogen declines.
So what?
The definition of menopause isno periods for 12 months, and
all the symptoms that lead up toit can be classified under
perimenopause.
So you've got the range ofsymptoms that many of you are
familiar with.
But what really falls into thiscategory is that weight gain
(29:54):
that people struggle with.
So this is a good reminder.
As Eastern falls, you're morelikely to become insulin
resistant, and so literallythat's what your body's doing
anyway, and as a result, we cango back to all our great
strategies to even prevent that.
Excellent.
So it is actually when you'rereaching your fifties.
(30:16):
The muscle mass has declined,you've got that lower estrogen.
You might have a very sedentarylifestyle.
You might be in a period ofhigh stress with high
functioning jobs.
Your sleeping is worse, um, andthen you've got all the mood
swings.
So that affects a lot of things, from food choices to activity
levels.
So a lot of things arehappening in a woman's life
(30:37):
during the change.
But now we've got amazingstrategies to actually support
you through it so you canactually sail through it.
So this is just a good reminder.
So remember, insulin tells yourbody to store fat.
We want to lower insulin totrigger fat burning.
So we know all about those keystrategies from sugar, carbs,
(30:58):
wheat.
Now we can add on theimportance of really focusing on
stress reduction, buildingmuscle and how we can keep
moving.
So it's actually really simplestrategies and it's so
incredibly effective.
So the key take-home messagesthat I often find are not being
talked about the impact ofstress.
(31:19):
And then we go into the alcohol, the caffeine, the sleep, the
emotional eating.
We forget about strengthtraining.
We don't even often put it intoour list of things to do for
the year.
It's you know, a lot of peoplefocus on cardio, but it is
strength training, you know,such an easy missing piece of
(31:39):
the puzzle and, of course, tokeep moving and, of course,
protein, amazing.
So the key thing is what's yournext step?
And remember, this is justgeneral advice only and, of
course, see your own doctor formore support.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
Dr Shammy, thank you so much.
You so beautifully described inan understandable way.
In an understandable way, thevicious cycle that the modern
woman in midlife is caught in,struggling with that fatigue,
the stress, the sleeplessness,then reaching for caffeine,
(32:20):
sugar, alcohol, not enjoying theway she looks I'm speaking for
myself, not anybody else hereand then exercising madly, which
.
So you're really in a cortisol,insulin, sugar cycle.
You've just I had a penny dropmoment of my next steps.
(32:40):
What's your next step?
I've got my caffeine.
So I wake up first thing andit's a double shot of caffeine
and I do what I tell my clientsnot to.
I don't have breakfast, that'swhat I have first of all, and my
cortisol, I know, is like thatthroughout the whole day.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah, and it's really .
I'm so glad you shared that,because even if you just put a
couple of eggs before yourcaffeine, it could make a huge
difference.
Yeah, and that, and sugar aswell, if you just had caught
caffeine.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
This has been great for me.
I've got a lot of questions,but I'm going to open up to
people here.
Does anybody have a hotquestion to ask Dr Shammy?
Speaker 2 (33:22):
What could happen.
So each body is so different.
So if you're in a stressresponse, skipping breakfast can
actually create more of acortisol response, stopping you
from losing weight.
But if you're in a differentstage in your life and doing
really well, absolutely fastingcould help.
But it's so individual.
So when I see patients, when Isee the entire story, I go just
(33:45):
stick to a great breakfast withgreat protein and just see how
you feel and all of a sudden Igo, oh my God, I'm feeling so
much better.
I'm actually starting to loseweight.
So it's so individualized ratherthan one size fits all, so the
body doesn't know what's a goodor bad sugar.
We've just labeled it.
Sugar is sugar.
It will spike.
Fruit will spike as sugar.
So a lot of the times you knowthe high sugars, the apples,
(34:08):
pears, bananas, watermelons.
The low sugars would be berriesyeah, it's just sticking around
berries, maybe melon, the lowsugar.
So think of fruit as sugar.
So when I see someone's diet, Igo, wow, like exactly what you
said the yogurt, fruit andgranola, it's actually all high
sugar.
Oats, fruit is actually allhigh sugar.
(34:29):
So I would put a couple of eggsbefore it if you don't want to
give it up or you know, fruitbehind protein works really well
, just to avoid a spike.
Think of fruit as sugar.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
But I've got one question I'd love just to finish
up on, if that's all right.
You know we've all got our GP,uh, and we go in there,
particularly at this stage ofour life.
What's going on with myhormones?
What's going on with my hotflushes, my weight gain, all the
rest of it, in fact?
I've literally just gonethrough that process in the last
(35:00):
two weeks, but we don't tend toget the blood tests ordered
that you're referring to, orthey don't tend to come back
with additional help aroundsupplements and also those other
recommendations around cortisolmanagement.
But just back to the bloodtests.
How do we feel confident thatour doctor is getting the full
(35:25):
range?
Or is it find your integrativeGP?
Find you Dr?
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Shammy.
So it is.
Find an integrative GP.
You could say I'd like to testfasting insulin, yeah, and it
depends what relationship youhave with your doctor.
They might be great, abeautiful relationship.
We go.
Yeah, let's test it, let's findout, let's figure it out.
You know, some can be go.
(35:52):
I don't know what it is, I'mnot going to test it, so it can
be.
It depends on your relationshipwith your doctor.
And the thing is they may notknow how to interpret it because
obviously it comes in a rangeof going.
Oh, you're in the range, but weinterpret it so differently,
for you know metabolic health,energy, you know dementia
prevention.
It's so different in thefunctional world compared to
just looking at a range andsaying you're okay okay, thank
(36:13):
you very, very much.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Uh, just the final bit of information here is if
anybody uh is part of thischallenge or anybody who's going
to listen ultimately to um therecording, uh, where can they
find you?
Speaker 2 (36:27):
Absolutely so on this slide as well, so on socials,
instagram.
So we've got Mint Clinic andalso Dr Shammy, and so those are
the two areas of followers onthe Six Hats podcast as well.
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Thank you, and I can only imagine the range of
questions you get asked.
If anybody has you sitting nextto them at the dinner table.
You know you don't want mesitting there because I would
just go through my entirehistory and just ask the
strangest, weirdest questionsI've got.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
so many of them.
I get it all the time and I try, and even when I'm relaxing,
like going for a treatment, Iget it and I go oh, oh, my God,
I need to switch off.
I've got it.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Exactly, um, just a huge thank you from the bottom
of my heart for your time, yourenergy, your knowledge.
Uh, on this topic, I've learneda lot, a lot of takeaways.
So thank you Amazing.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
And, yeah, it's so awesome to get this knowledge
out, help as many women, becauseit's so confusing out there and
I hope you know when you lookat it it's actually so
achievable, so doable, and thenyou can just take it on board
and take the power back back inyour you know, take the power
back that you can actuallycontrol your health.
You can do this for sure.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Yeah, I felt very powerless quite recently just
with the changes happening to meat the moment, just with all of
it, with fatigue and weightgain.
So thank you.
So, just from everybody here, Ihope you have a lovely night.
We'll all sort of wander offand go our own way into the
evening.
(38:09):
And, yes, thank you again, drShammi.
Speaker 2 (38:13):
And all the best on your journeys.
Thank you, thank you.
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