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The Rejuvenating Health Podcast
Join Women's Health Nurse Practitioner, Lindsey VanSchoyck for a weekly dose of Precision Medicine as she addresses the hot-button topics specific to Women's Health, Fitness and Nutrition, interviews expert guests and hosts round table discussions with the team of dedicated functional health care specialists.
The Rejuvenating Health Podcast
E161 | Ask Us Anything For Women’s Health
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
You don’t need a more complicated routine, you need a more consistent one, and that’s the thread running through this Ask Us Anything Q and A. We’re pulling questions straight from coaching calls, DMs, and our community and giving you both the science and the real-life behavior side so you can actually follow through.
We start with magnesium glycinate and the stress people create around “perfect” timing. If taking it right before bed makes you forget, skip it, or worry about waking up to pee, we’ll tell you what matters most and how to anchor it to a routine you already do. From there we get into bloating from “healthy” foods, including why protein shakes and “clean” dressings can still trigger symptoms through additives, gums, sweeteners, or the protein source itself, and why stress and nervous system state can shut down digestion. We also explain when gut health testing is worth it so you stop guessing.
Next, we talk skin health during weight loss and why youthful skin starts internally: adequate protein, muscle preservation, hydration, sleep, cortisol control, and the role of estrogen in collagen, elasticity, and dryness. We cover brain health foods and brain fog causes, including blood sugar instability and low ferritin, plus practical staples like omega-3s, eggs, berries, olive oil, leafy greens, and more. We also set the record straight: collagen is great for connective tissue, but it does not count as complete protein for muscle building.
We wrap with body recomposition strategy, postmenopause estrogen targets based on symptoms and protection, how to choose high vs low intensity workouts, and how HRV and VO2 max tie back to recovery, zone 2 cardio, and daily movement. If this helps, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave us a 5 star review so more women can find it.
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Ask Us Anything Kickoff
SPEAKER_00Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed on the Rejuvenating Health podcast are solely those of the speakers and are intended as such. Please consult your trusted healthcare practitioner for medical advice. Let's go, girls.
SPEAKER_03Welcome back to the Rejuvenating Health Podcast. Today's episode is one of my favorites because we are answering your real life questions, ladies. So this is our Ask Us Anything episode. And the questions that come up in coaching calls, DMs, our Facebook groups, conversations that women are having with their coaches. This is where we're answering them today. So if you submitted a question, you should hear it.
SPEAKER_00Hopefully, if we get to it. Yeah, there's a lot. If we get to all of them. Yeah, there's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. And honestly, like these are the best episodes because they're really practical. So we're talking about the stuff that women are really struggling with bloating, body composition, collagen, magnesium. What supplements should I take? Brain fog, skin health, hormones, exercise, muscle building, like basically just gonna do a masterclass here in women's metabolism, recovery, aging, and nervous system health.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and we're gonna give both the science and the coaching side because we want to look at it from a place of you know, like medical, but also change behavior scenario. And that way you can kind of get both.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. So you can know what to do and still not implement it if it doesn't really kind of fit into your real life.
SPEAKER_03So yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03All right. So let's get rolling right into it to make sure we can get as through as many of these as
Magnesium Timing Without The Stress
SPEAKER_03possible. So the first one was around magnesium timing, and many clients forget to take magnesium 30 to 60 minutes before bed or don't want to wake up to pee. How important is the timing of when they take the magnesium?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I love this question because it highlights one of the biggest mistakes in health coaching and regarding around supplements. Like people obsess over optimization before they establish consistency. And we're obsessing over being perfect before we're doing the thing consistently. So magnesium is one of the most important minerals in your body. It has over 300 enzymatic reactions, it helps with nervous system regulation, blood sugar balance, muscle recovery. It helps your bowel moves, it helps your cortisol, but here's the truth. The best time to take it is when you can actually remember to take it consistently every night consistently.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And that's gonna be, you know, that's something that could be applied across the board to probably a lot of things that we're gonna talk about today. But yeah, it's like the whole idea of done is better than perfect. And yes, we want to take it around bedtime because that's it's suiting that purpose. But if that's not conducive to you actually taking it every single day, then move it to a different time. Take it right after dinner or put it somewhere where you're gonna see it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, there are some supplements that have to be taken at a certain time and at a perfect time, but we have to stop acting like supplements are magically are magical if they're only taken at a perfect time.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yes, magnesium glycinate, I want you to take it before bed because it can help with parasympathetic nervous system activation, muscle relaxation, melatonin production, sleep quality. But if you're forgetting it nightly and getting stressed out about the timing of it and skipping it consistently, then none of the benefits happen. Like just take it when you can remember to take it before bed.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's like it's counter counteractive or counterproductive if we're stressing out about doing it just the right way or telling ourselves that it that goes back to that all or nothing, right? Like if I don't do it this way, then it's not gonna work. So it's not gonna work if you don't just get consistent with it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I'm not exactly sure that waking up to pee is the magnesium.
SPEAKER_03No, I think it's like how like drinking water to take the pills before pee.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, if you're drinking it with a huge glass of water, then yeah. Um but if you're waking up like to pee, that's probably more of a blood sugar dysregulation or cortisol or sleep apnea or estrogen decline, essentially.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So then what if that is something that you're struggling with, what would be the best thing to do in that case?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so have it stack it, like put it near your toothbrush. You I guarantee you're brushing your teeth every night. Pair it with another bedtime routine you have, put it in a pill organizer, take it at dinner if bedtime doesn't work. I know all of y'all are eating dinner at 8 p.m. and not right before bed. You're not eating three hours before bed like you should be. Just be consistent and remember like it is an important thing to take consistently because magnesium deficiency can cause anxiety and headaches and constipation and insomnia and palpitations and you know, chocolate cravings. And so it's more just like remembering to take it daily than it is about perfect timing of it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So long story short, ideal window would be what up somewhere between like two hours up to bedtime and just consistently daily is the goal.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_03Somewhere in there. Exactly. All right, next question.
Why “Healthy” Foods Cause Bloating
SPEAKER_03Getting bloating from quote unquote healthy foods. So the question was why do healthy foods like, and I know this is gonna get dragged a little bit, but the OWYN protein shake or the primal kitchen dressings make me bloated. But the first thing is it's like we're comparing when we say healthy in quotes, it's like greenwashed things. Like these are still processed foods and there could be something in it that's having a reaction.
SPEAKER_00I don't know that I would say these are like healthy. Are they better alternatives? Comparatively Yes, yes. And this can be a super common issue because one of the biggest signs that one of the biggest signs that healthy doesn't mean your body automatically tolerates it. Like it's still processed. Like bloating is not random, it's usually some kind of impaired digestion, dysbiosis, food sensitivities, poor enzyme production, gut inflammation. In these two specific, it's probably more of some type of gum or additive or artificial sweetener and emulsifier that's causing the bloating.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00If you're getting bloating.
SPEAKER_03And sometimes it's sometimes it's the pea protein itself. Like I don't tolerate pea protein very well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And if you're getting bloating from healthy foods like fruit and vegetables, well, that's just probably because you increased your fiber too dramatically, and your body just has to adjust to that fiber intake. But but like the Owen shakes have they have pea protein in them, which your body might not handle. They have gums, they have stabilizers, they have natural flavors. And with the dressings, like even the clean dressings, they're gonna have gums and vinegarles and seed oils and preservatives. Like they still don't expire. Like if something doesn't have an expiration date in a week or two, it has some type of preservative in it. And some people just don't tolerate those well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and I would say, like, yes, the shake in of itself is gonna be more of the ingredients. I know, like I use primal kitchen dressings. They are pretty clean, they don't have seed oils in them, but it may not be the dressing itself, it may just be the thing that you're putting it on. So it's like, for example, uh, and this may be a little trial and error. I love, I love salads, but I can't get salads with shaved Brussels sprouts in them. Because if I eat shaved Brussels sprouts, my gut does not react very well to that. And I didn't realize that for quite a while. And I was like, why every time when I eat this certain salad, I feel awful. But then I realize, oh, the common denominator is I when I eat Brussels sprouts, I have to eat them like really, really cooked. I can't do the raw version in those bag salads. So you might want to look at what you're putting that dressing on as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I mean, just it doesn't mean that your body's broken because you're getting bloating from it. Like that's where you kind of start thinking of what's in it. But then also is your estrogen low? So you're lacking digestion enzymes. Do you have some bacterial overgrowth, sluggish bile, histamine issues? Like that's kind of where we can use gut health testing to help with that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah, that's why testing is really important. If you if it's something that you're having chronically as well, it's worth getting tested.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would say pretty much everyone in our program is getting gut health testing these days, and they all have a whacked out gut. Like if everyone has a messed up, a messed up gut. Like, and those are so important because they can reveal bacterial overgrowth, inflammatory markers, digestion insufficiency, short chain fatty acid production, yeast overgrowth, pathogenic bacteria. And if you don't know what you're treating, then you're just gonna keep guessing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because not all of those things are gonna be treated the same. And so if you're trying out, you know, this probiotic that you saw and it's not necessarily treating the issue that you have because you don't know what it is, that's where testing can be really, really useful and it's really beneficial. What are some like immediate things that someone could try?
SPEAKER_00Well, for one, slow down while you're you're eating. If you're stressed, rushed, multitasking, your digestion kind of shuts down. And that vagus nerve controls digestion. So if you're in fight or flight, you have less stomach acid, weaker motility, you're gonna have issues. Simplify your ingredients. So instead of highly processed healthy foods, do whole food protein, right? Homemade dressings, fewer additives, add in digestion enzymes, bitters, magnesium, um, things that can improve your bowel movements, like make sure you're drinking enough water or you're chewing thoroughly, like those can dramatically help. And then look at your total stress load, right? Like your nervous system affects your gut. So yeah.
SPEAKER_03So basically slow down, monitor your stress, don't eat at the counter, standing up while you're trying to do 10 other things.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03And then be mindful of what the products are and what the products are going on, because sometimes it's not the culprit that you think it is. Exactly.
Skin Health During Weight Loss
SPEAKER_03All right, next question: skin health during weight loss. So this is interesting because disclaimer, we are not dermatologists, so just saying that. But the question was what is the best thing for skin while losing weight so it stays youthful and healthy? And I'm assuming that this is around like not wanting skin to lose its elasticity as you're dropping weight.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and then it's like a valid concern. Like if you've ever seen someone that's lost a dramatic amount of weight, they have that loose, sagging skin. And that dramatic weight loss can absolutely affect collagen integrity, elasticity, hydration, skin thickness. And, you know, women often think skincare products are the answer, but like healthy skin really starts internally. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So what is it that actually matters the most as far as internal medicine, which is what we're gonna look at as far as versus topicals?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I mean, you're looking at protein, like women dramatically underestimate how much skin depends on amino acids, collagen, hair too, ladies.
SPEAKER_03We've talked about that before, but like making sure that your protein intake is high enough for healthy hair and preventing hair loss.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean, collagen production requires glycine and proline and lysine and vitamin C and copper and zinc. And if someone's deficient in these things, which most women are, and you're under-eating protein, crash dieting, losing weight rapidly, chronically inflamed, like your body doesn't really care about your skin quality. And like, I will like the amount of people that blame their skin on their hormones and it's their gut that causes their skin to be crazy is mind blow. That's a side tangent, but yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. And this is why muscle preservation during weight loss is really, really important.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean, things like adequate protein and resistant training and collagen peptides and omega and hydration and sleep and blood sugar regulation, like all that's gonna matter. But also estrogen matters a lot. Like when your estrogen starts declining, you're gonna lose that skin thickness and collagen and elasticity and hydration, and which is why so many women notice those like huge dramatic skin aging occurrences during menopause.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, like that crepiness or like it, you know, like drier skin or more fragile, it feels like almost. And cortisol accelerates this too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because cortisol steals. It doesn't just steal your hormones, but it also steals your collagen. So if you're not sleeping, if you're overtraining, if you're under eating, if you have chronic stress, like that's gonna age your skin faster as well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So being mindful of your protein intake, obviously hydrating, making sure that you're drinking enough water, but focusing on what you're putting into your body and sleep. Like I would say that's those are gonna be the biggest contributors to healthy skin throughout weight loss as opposed to something topical. Now, if we're looking at topical things, again, not a dermatologist, but you're gonna want to prioritize skincare that is taking care of the skin barrier itself. Like a lot of these really trendy products are really fancy and they smell nice and they claim all these things, but it's like getting down to the nitty-gritty, like what is increasing the integrity of your skin barrier health that is gonna help and go a long way as far as like skin elasticity. Yep, yep. All right, next question There's like a crazy echo.
SPEAKER_00It's because my stinking headphones keep disconnecting, driving me crazy. Better what about now?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the echoes gone. Can you hear me? Can you hear me now?
unknownYeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Now there's an echo again. No, now we're good.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02You good? Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'm good. Stupid headphones.
SPEAKER_03All right, next
Foods That Support Brain Function
SPEAKER_03question. Best foods for brain health. So the question was what foods keep the brain healthy and alert? I love this question.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, it's a really good question because your brain is massively energy dependent. Like your brain loves energy, it loves stable blood sugar, it loves omega-3 fats, it loves antioxidants and micronutrients and oxygen delivery. So literally the worst thing that you can do for brain function is to have like blood sugar chaos and underfueling.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and this is really important to clarify because a lot of people associate brain fog with just being tired. Like they think, oh, I can't think clearly because I'm not tired, I'm not getting enough sleep. Now, sleep is super important to brain health, but when it comes to how we're feeding our brain, that's a different thing entirely. And that can also contribute to brain fog in a serious way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, brain fog can come from insulin resistance, inflammation, poor sleep, anemia. Low ferritin is one of the number one things I see people having brain fog from. Gut dysfunction, low estrogen, your thyroid not working. Like foods that are really going to help support that are things that are rich in iron, things that are rich in omega. So your salmon's sardines, your eggs, yes, eat the yolks. That has choline in it, which helps with the brain. Blueberries and all the berries because they're rich in antioxidants, olive oil and avocado for those healthy fats, leafy greens, walnuts, green tea, and like honestly, muscle matters a lot because that's what's going to keep you um insulin sensitive and metabolically flexible. So you're not having those crazy blood sugars that are gonna affect brain health and brain fog.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And those foods are across the board that would fit into any food sensitivity situation or like food aversion situation. There's lots across the board to choose from. So making sure that you're incorporating at least one or two or three of those regularly is gonna be highly beneficial. And taking, um, we've talked about this before, like it is difficult to get your amount of omega-3. So supplementing a fish oil, we recommend everybody supplement a fish oil. That's gonna be really beneficial too for the brain.
SPEAKER_00It's so good for your cholesterol and your heart and all that stuff. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, everything. All right,
Why Collagen Isn’t Real Protein
SPEAKER_03next question. Does collagen count as protein?
SPEAKER_00No.
SPEAKER_03And this is like everybody likes to do the collagen powder and the coffee. And and we've talked about this before. We've definitely done a previous episode around like, you know, what counts as real protein and and what doesn't. And this is important because I think a lot of women get caught up in the craze of, oh, I have this, you know, this collagen creamer, or have this, you know, all these fancy things that I just add to my coffee, and then I'm having this protein coffee, and that is easy to take care of my grams of protein for the morning. Unfortunately, ladies, that is not the case.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um, it's great for your hair, skin, and nails, like we talked about, but it lacks leucine. It's not a complete protein. So it it does not count towards your protein intake.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And again, it's not that caught like keep the collagen in your coffee. It's not that it's not beneficial towards other goals, but it's not necessarily going to contribute to a muscle building goal. And so we don't count it towards that 30 grams per meal that we're seeking.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. Exactly. Um, and so it should not replace your complete protein. If you want to take it for your skin and joints and connective tissue and gut lining, awesome. We're not taking it for muscle building. We're not like that. We need eggs and meat and fish and Greek yogurt and whey isolate and all something that's full of those amino acid profiles.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So long story short, collagen adds to intake as far as some of the things that it benefits for the whole system of the body, but it shouldn't be counted equally as a protein gram for gram because it's not giving you the same benefits as far as muscle building that we're looking for. Exactly. All right, next question.
Cut, Build, Or Maintain Decisions
SPEAKER_03Cut versus build phases when we're talking about body composition. And this one is a really good one. And I know that a lot of ladies have this question in the back of their minds, or not in the back of the front, but how do you know when to cut, build, or maintain when we're talking about body composition?
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm gonna say 99% of the population shouldn't be doing cut building or any of the things because they're not doing consistently healthy habits.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00Consistently. But if you are in the bodybuilding world, um I'm so if you have a body fat percentage over 30%, you should not be bulking. Like you should be cutting for your health. But this is where women get really trapped in that chronic dieting where they've stayed in a deficit for years, and eventually your body kind of adapts and you get that lower thyroid conversion, increased cortisol, lower meat, metabolic adaptation, muscle loss.
SPEAKER_03Um Yeah, and then they wonder why, like why they can't lose fat, like why their fat loss stalls.
SPEAKER_00So this is where you need to go back and listen to that reverse dieting episode that we did. So if you want body recomposition, you do have to periodize stuff. If you want like body composition changes, you have to go through periods of fat loss, maintenance, muscle building. You can't ex unless you're a beginner, you're not going to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. If you're just, just, just beginning with exercise, yes, you can get a little bit of that adaptation. But if you've been someone that's exercising for a while, you are either gonna have to increase your calories to put on muscle, or you're not gonna have the body composition changes. And that's really important because that muscle is metabolically healthy. So if you're a woman, you know, we have a lot of women that are skinny fat. Like I don't, you know what I mean? But you might have to put on a little bit of weight to build some muscle that is metabolically active and then just let's um let's rebrand that.
SPEAKER_03I don't like skinny fat.
SPEAKER_00Let's call it muscularly challenged. Okay, that's better. Like you might have gained a little bit of weight.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. And I think this is really difficult because you know, obviously, women have a common association that they're always trying to make themselves smaller. But what would be some good indicators that would tell me, okay, it's time to hop off the chronic dieting wheel? Like I don't need to continue to focus my main priority on shedding weight right now.
SPEAKER_00If you're it's time to stop dieting and time to eat more if you're chronically fatigued, if your recovery is poor, like if you wear any type of tracker and your HRV and resting heart rate, like if your HRV is in the toilet and your resting heart rate is elevated and you are like dragging yourself out of bed the next day to work out, like stop. If you're having a ton of sleep disruption, if you're irritable, if you're like losing your hair, if you have no libido, if your weight loss is stalled, if you're constantly thinking about food, if you're like going into your workouts and you're like, oh my gosh, I can barely like push through at all.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So that's gonna, that's gonna be a lot of people. And I think a big thing that we need to reframe for ourselves is that maintaining is not failure. Like there's nothing wrong with getting to a place of consistency so that our body can feel safe and actually be available for a body recon.
SPEAKER_00I mean, yeah, I would say the majority of your year should be in maintenance.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00And maybe you go through one or two bulk and cut cycles. Maintenance is where healing happens. You need to hear, like, you do not build a strong metabolism by constantly starving it.
SPEAKER_03Right. And you have to heal the body before you can ask it to perform. And muscle building, also on the other end of this, like you said, often requires more food, not less. And even though women think that they want to be smaller, the toned bodies that they are looking at and aspiring towards are muscular bodies.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Like toning requires muscle in order for you to be able to see it.
SPEAKER_00We've talked about this before. Like, people would die if they saw how much food that you and I eat. I know I'm like super lean, but the amount of food that I consume is ridiculous. Like Matt and I were talking about this weekend when we were gone. He's like, How do you eat that? Like, it's weird. Anyways, but you also have to eat carbs. You can you especially have to eat carbs if you're lifting heavy, if you're trying to build some glutes and muscle and improve your hormones and lower cortisol. Like eating ultra-low carb and chronically dieting can all can often sabotage your process. I'm not saying like you eat gummy bears while you're working out, like no. No. But eat some like good complex carbohydrates.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, like surround, especially surrounding your workouts. Like you need to be able to support that movement. So it's like maybe oats or sweet potatoes or you know, fruit, like something around your training. So, long story short, the goal for most people would be to maintain and get to a place of homeostasis where you're not having big fluctuations and your body starts to respond well and you feel really good, you're not having any of these symptoms that are coming up, and then you can look to identify a cut. And this is also where. Coaching comes in, which is really beneficial to be able to work with somebody to identify when those time seasons are applicable to you and what's also going on in your life at the time. Because even though you may be in a phase where you want to cut, it may not be a good time with other stressors that you have going on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
Postmenopause Estrogen Targets And Symptoms
SPEAKER_03All right. Next question: optimal estrogen postmenopause. So, what level of estrogen is optimal postmenopause?
SPEAKER_00Uh nuanced. Um, because symptoms matter more than a lab number. But for protection, including osteoporosis protection, cardiovascular protection, stuff like that, we kind of want at 70 to 100 for protection. After that, it's how are your symptoms? How is your sleep? How is your vaginal health? How is your libido? How is your cognition? How is your hot flashes? How is your bone health? Your body composition. I have some women whose estrogen is 50 and they're like, I feel fine. I'm like, okay, well, I still need to up it a little bit just to get you protection. I have some women whose estrogen is 150 and they're like still having all these symptoms. It some of that depends on your um symptoms, but there is a sweet spot where we need it to be above 70. That way we can make sure that you're not having bone loss, cardiovascular resistance or cardiovascular risk, insulin resistance, skin aging, cognitive decline, all those type of things.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And we have to get away from what we've been told as far as well, low estrogen is just something that's normal during this phase of life, and it's just something that happens and you have to deal with it. That's not the case. No, not at all.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, normal doesn't always mean optimal.
SPEAKER_03Most of the time it does not.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So again, that goes back to testing, understanding where your levels are and what optimal looks like as far as levels for you and going that route based on not only what the level is, but the symptoms that your body is displaying.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_03Just like you said before a million times, like HRT is an art. And so each thing, each each way that it's applied has to be in line with how that subject is responding to it. It's not like a okay, well, you're at this age, we're gonna insert this amount. But that's not how it works.
SPEAKER_00Yep, exactly.
SPEAKER_03All right, next question: high versus low intensity exercise.
High Versus Low Intensity Training
SPEAKER_03How do you know if higher or lower intensity workouts are better for you? This one's a good one.
SPEAKER_00Your nervous system a lot of times will tell you. Um high intensity is not always better. If you are someone that has adrenal fatigue or adrenal dysregulation, you're not recovering well, sleep issues, elevated cortisol, hormone imbalance, Hashimoto's. Sometimes that too much hit can backfire.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Especially in perimenopause ladies when they're at season where cortisol is really, really important to be monitoring. And these headphones are gonna have a fit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean, zone two is incredibly underrated. It improves mitochondrial function, fat oxidation, metabolic flexibility, recovery capacity, it can also preserve your muscle tone and bone. You should do some high intensity exercise if your body can handle it. And this is like where we had a really good GLP1 discussion with our coaches the other day. And if you're on a jail, if you want and you're not losing weight, like you have to get some cardio. But the best type of cardio depends, and it's something that you can recover from, that you can do consistently, that supports your hormones and that improves your energy instead of depleting it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And I think it's not as black and white as saying, like, what's better for me, higher or lower intensity workouts, because high intensity doesn't always mean high intensity cardiovascular workouts, right? Or we would for everyone. Right. What we would consider cardio, like high intensity may be the way that you are lifting weights or the load that you're using and the amount of brakes that you're using in between your sets. Like again, you have to, it's getting more in tune with the body and understanding how your body tolerates it and how it responds to it. And that may take a little bit of trial and error of testing it out, but really both are essential. And can we make sure that we're including a little bit of high intensity to push our threshold on our heart rate? And we're including that and what Lindsay was referring to, that zone two cardio is like that steady state cardio where you're still able to maintain a conversation. That type of cardio needs to be included as well. So it's both and based on what your body tolerates.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, listen, I can do a 20 rot backs max squat that takes me what, two and a half minutes, and I'm gonna be way more taxed from doing that than I am running two miles.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and we're the opposite in that. Like if I run over 400 meters, I'm gassed, but I can lift for an hour and it doesn't even register on my aura ring.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like you know, yeah.
SPEAKER_03So everybody's different, and it's like how your body responds.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03All right, next one.
HRV Basics And How To Improve It
SPEAKER_03How to increase HRV? So, how do you improve your HRV?
SPEAKER_00This is such a hard question.
SPEAKER_03I know, it's really complicated.
SPEAKER_00But the issue too is like, you know, you have to compare your HRV to your HRV. Like, I can't compare my HRV to your HRV. And and what is HRV? HRV is heart rate variability.
SPEAKER_03And you have to track it over, like you have to look at trends. Like you can't like just start tracking it and be like, oh, well, this looks high. No, no, no. You have to have like, I would say, what, like 90 days of data before you understand like what your average HRV is and what that feels like for you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. And if you don't know what it is, it's heart rate variability. So it essentially reflects your nervous system resilience. So generally, higher HRV means better recovery, parasympathetic balance, adaptability, where lower HRV can reflect stress, overtraining, alcohol, sickness, inflammation, poor sleep under recovery. I mean, if you're looking for the best ways to improve your HRV, like not compared to other people's, get sleep. I don't know how many times we have to tell you this. Do some breath work, go on a walk, magnesium, blood sugar stability, nervous system regulations. For goodness sakes, take a rest day and eat adequate food.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, when I was more into tracking that metric, the number one thing that moves the dial, and this wasn't just me, it was across the board with anybody that I was talking to that was also tracking is sleep. That is gonna be your biggest bang for your buck in being able to improve your HRV is improving your sleep hygiene.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, for me, it's training. Like if I have a really hard training day, like my and I don't recover well, my HRV is in the tank. If I'm sick, my HRV is if my circadian rhythm, like consistent sleep and wait time, like if I'm traveling, my HRV is is messed up.
SPEAKER_03And you know, none of these Yeah, and all of that's tied to recovery. None of it is like push harder.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so how well are you recovering? That will tell you what direction your HRV is going.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_03All right.
VO2 Max, Longevity, And Daily Movement
SPEAKER_03Next one we're talking about VO2 Max. So is VO2 Max important? What is VO2 Max?
SPEAKER_00I mean, yes, but I don't even I like I wouldn't know what my VO2 max is. Right, yeah. Who's who's tracking this? How are you tracking? Like, I mean, it's one of the strongest predictors of longevity, and it it definitely reflects how efficiently your body uses oxygen. And and yeah, you if you have like a garment or something, I think there's some kind of thing on there that you can.
SPEAKER_03But I don't believe that's actually accurate. No, it's like you can only get your true VO2 max by going and doing the test where you have the mat like the breathing mask on on a treadmill and you're running certain intervals and they're tracking how your breath is methylating.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so like 99% of you, 99.9% of you are never gonna know what your actual VO2 max is. But yes, higher VO2 max is correlated with lower metality and better cardiovascular fitness and healthier mitochondria and better metabolic health. But most of you are never gonna know what that is.
SPEAKER_03But again, this is like if you wanted to improve it, if you did know what it was, you would be doing, like we've already talked about the other things, that zone two cardio, doing some interval training, having resistance training in the mix and consistency.
SPEAKER_00And just move your freaking body. Like walking matters more than people realize. You cannot exercise for 30 minutes to an hour and then sit your tushy in a chair for the rest of the day.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So that non-exercise activity is super important, ladies. Like we have to get some daily intentional movement in. It could be a walk, it could be a bike ride, it could be some stretches, like, but you have to move your body. Yep. Yep.
Key Takeaways And Listener Requests
SPEAKER_03All right, we did make it through all the questions.
SPEAKER_00Oh, good. Yay for us.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So thank you so much for joining us today. I love these episodes, like I said, because they remind remind us how nuanced health is. And like while a lot of people probably have these same questions, again, a lot of these answers are very specific to you and how you're responding to these different inputs and what your environment looks like as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and healing isn't about perfection. And I don't know how many times we can say that to you guys, but it's about consistency, nervous system safety, nourishment, muscle preservation, recovery. It's something that's sustainable.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. So if this episode was helpful to you, if you found these answers were something that you were looking for, please share it with somebody that you think would also find it helpful. Please leave us a review. We love it. We read them all. It's free for you to do. It costs you only 30 seconds of your time, and we appreciate it so much. And it helps us grow. Oh, and keep sending us the questions because these are these are really, really helpful. So if you do have questions that you want in a future Ask Us Anything episode, please make sure that you send them in.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER_03See you next time.