Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill
Changing Conversations Around Age, Potential, and Possibility for Women in MIDLIFE
Crossfit can sound scary. It can leave many of us in midlife thinking about throwing around heavy weights, and that it’s only for super buff people working out, and that if you were to attempt it all you’re going to do is injure yourself! Or, if you’re like me, you might walk by a Crossfit gym and feel intimidated by the people in there dropping heavy weights and grunting LOL.
One of the things that comes along with being 50+ and menopause is that just don’t care what people think as much any more. But then again, as a woman, people pleasing is in our nature – and aren’t we all pretty terrified of what people think? Being judged by friends? What will so and so say? Kind of scared to go for your dreams in fear of what people might think or say about it. It’s a very REAL stop for people when it comes to doing things they want to do – especially women in midlife.
What About Nutrition in Changing Your Body Midlife?
Instead of worry about dieting, focus on eating smarter. Instead of focusing on eating LESS, focus on eating REAL food. When you’re going through menopause you are in a sensitive state to excess stress. So if you’re starving yourself and over exercising, your body isn’t going to react the way you want it to. It’s going to be hard to recover, you’re not going to feel good, and you might be pushing yourself toward adrenal fatigue. When you’re trying to build muscle, you will more than likely need to really up your protein intake. But the KEY to nutrition is to always think in terms of what I’ve always taught which is: protein, fat, healthy carb for every meal!
HPA: Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal Axis and Adrenal Fatigue
The HPA starts in your brain and when it senses that you are overstressed, it begins to shut down and disfunction. When it shuts down is when you see hormonal issues, thyroid issues, etc. because all of the overtaxing stress you put on your adrenals causes your brain to tell it to shut down. So in perimenopause, super long heart thumping and adrenaline pumping cardio with a major focus on calories burned is the LAST thing you want to do. Instead, it is important to think of stress in terms of “doses”. You want smaller doses. Weight lifting is just that! A smaller “dose” of “stress” vs. driving yourself into the ground for 2 hours of cardio. You want small doses of intense exercise, and then recover like crazy: get sleep, have boundaries, and stop driving yourself into the ground.
Muscles and Metabolic Health in Midlife
Muscle improves metabolic health. In fact, current ongoing research is showing that by introducing women with cancer (who are even into their 70s and 80s) to controlled environment weightlifting, improves their outcome, shrinks tumors, and no return of cancer. In short, the metabolic upgrades you get from lifting weight increase the flow and productivity of your entire system!
The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn at rest overall, so the better your metabolism will work. In addition, the more muscle you have, the leaner you are going to look! When you eat carbs, they are absorbed by your liver and your muscle. Your liver can store about 100grams and your muscles can store about 300grams — BUT — with increased muscle mass, the more they can absorb carbs 🙂 It’s been said that elite athletes can store up to 800-900 grams of carbs in their muscles! Carbs only turn into body fat when they have nowhere to go when your muscles and liver storage are full. So the secret is to BUILD your muscles so you’re not only using the stored carbs, but are creating even more space for them to be stored there instead of turning into body fat.
Midlife Biohacking
Tara Garrison is the founder of HIGHER, a Health & Life Coaching company that offers training, nutrition, mindset and biohacking coaching and is the author of Short-Term Keto, host of the Inside Out Health Podcast, creator of Higher Retreats and producer of the Coach Tara App. She has helped many celebrities, professional athletes, and top executives optimize their health. She is a mom of 4, avid weightlifter, Boston Marathoner and lover of nature.
You can find her on Instagram and TikTok as @coachtaragarrison, where she shares health tips and the inner workings of her life.
In this episode, you will learn:
For women 40 and over, FIBER IS MAGIC. I repeat, fiber is magic! And many people are missing the mark here. First, fiber is great for slowing down the rate at which insulin attacks things in your body — with fiber, it’s a slow release, not a hard and heavy insulin hit. Second, is that when we eat fiber, we release hormones very differently. When we age, it’s known that we can have “estrogen dominance” that naturally occurs as progesterone starts to dip. One of the natural ways you can STABILIZE your hormones during this time is to eat fiber. The fiber works with your microbiome to release the estrogen! This is one reason it’s so important to not leave these out of your diet
Diets should do just three things:
With that trifecta, you will have freedom and transform — and spoiler alert, bone broth is the superstar when it comes to this. Your gut wall and intestines have a VERY thin layer of protection, and it’s very very easy to puncture. This is why it’s important to have something to HEAL it (or as Dr. Kellyann says “spackle” it!) Bone broth does this thanks to both Glycine and gelatin! Glycine (an amino acid), which is found in bone broth, has actually been found in studies to heal and seal the gut wall. So bone broth is your one, two, punch to healing your gut and increasing your anti-aging effects.
Are you a vegetarian? You can look up “potassium broth”. It’s not quite as great as bone broth, but it definitely checks off some of the boxes.
Benefits of Bone Broth:
You can see more on bone broth (and find a recipe) in this previous Benefits of Bone Broth blog.
Kellyann Petrucci, M.S., N.D., is the author of the New York Times bestselling book Dr. Kellyann’s Bone Broth Diet, Dr. Kellyann’s Bone Broth Cookbook, and The 10-Day Belly Slimdown. She also is the host of the PBS specials, 21 Days to a Slimmer, Younger You and The 10-Day Belly Slimdown. Dr. Kellyann makes regular appearances on the Dr. Oz show.
Dr. Kellyann came to realize the ancient power of collagen and bone broth to heal the gut and slow aging while studying biological medicine at the Marion Foundation and Paracelsus Clinic, Switzerland. By focusing her practice on a lifestyle that stops and reverses inflammation, Dr. Kellyann is able to help patients and readers reduce dangerous belly fat to become slimmer, younger, and healthier.
You can learn more about Dr. Kellyann here and you can pre-order her brand new book Dr. Kellyann’s Bone Broth Breakthrough: Turn Back the Clock, Reset the Scale, Replenish Your Power on Amazon!
In this episode, you will learn:
