F*ck, My Hormones Are Sabotaging Me! | with Zoe Bingley-Pullin

🎙️Episode 4: F*ck, My Hormones Are Sabotaging Me! | Zoe Bingley-Pullin on Food, Hormones & Feeling Like Yourself Again

🔥 Midlife, hormones & food—WTF is happening?! 🔥

One minute, you’re cruising through life, eating whatever you want, running on no sleep, and bouncing back like nothing happened. The next? Your metabolism is in witness protection, your moods have a mind of their own, and one glass of wine feels like a full bottle.

Sound familiar? You’re not alone. And that’s why today’s guest, Zoe Bingley-Pullin, is here to break it all down. 🥑🥗✨

Zoe is a nutritionist, chef, author, and total genius when it comes to balancing hormones through food. She’s also a long-time friend, fellow sushi lover, and the only person I trust to talk to me about food without making me feel guilty about loving butter and chocolate.

In this episode, we’re getting into:

💥 WTF is actually happening to our hormones in midlife?

🥑 How food can help (without becoming a green smoothie person)

🍷 Why we don’t have to give up wine & chocolate to feel good

🚫 The biggest diet myths we need to leave in the past

😴 How to beat cravings, stress, and bad sleep without going nuts

And if you’re ready to take it one step further, check out Zoe’s book, “Eat Your Way to Healthy Hormones”, for a practical guide to making food work for you instead of against you. Or if you’re craving a full reset, her next retreat at Gwingana in May might be exactly what you need. I’ll pop all the links below! ⬇️

🎧 LISTEN NOW: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2454886/episodes/16854963

📺 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Mb28VYDHDPc

📲 FOLLOW ALONG: https://www.instagram.com/fckimnearlyfifty 

📚 GET ZOE’S BOOK: https://www.zoebingleypullin.com/

📲 FOLLOW ZOE: https://www.instagram.com/zoebingleypullin 

Hit LIKE & SUBSCRIBE if you loved this chat—because trust me, we’re all in this midlife madness together!

Because f*ck, we’re nearly 50—but isn’t it amazing? 😍🎉

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🔥 Let’s keep the conversation going…

If this episode made you think differently, I’d love you to be part of the F*ck, I’m Nearly 50! community.

⭐ Loved the episode? Leaving a quick review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify is one of the best ways to help more people discover these conversations.

🌐 Explore more: Visit www.fckimnearly50.com to find your next conversation. Explore the Start Here guide, browse episodes by topic, and discover practical tools and resources to help you navigate the second half of life.

💌 Subscribe to F*ck Notes for behind-the-scenes reflections and practical ideas inspired by each conversation.

📺 Watch on YouTube, and let’s keep the conversation going on Instagram (@fckimnearlyfifty) or LinkedIn. I’d genuinely love to hear what resonated with you.

❤️ If someone came to mind while you were listening, send them this episode. Midlife is better when we figure it out together.

Because f*ck, we’re nearly 50… and isn’t that amazing? 🚀

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Transcript

Dom Hind 0:00

Hi, I'm Dom Hind, and fuck, I'm nearly 50. Actually, I'm 47 in two months, but who's counting? The thing is, time moves fast. One minute you're eating whatever you want, running on no sleep and bouncing back like it's nothing. And then suddenly you wake up and your body feels like it's staging a quiet rebellion. Everything shifts hormones, metabolism, energy, and no one gives you the manual. And that's exactly why I wanted to sit down with today's guest, Zoe Bingley Pullen. Zoe has been a friend for years. Our girls have grown up together. We've shared way too many dinners at Fishhmongers and Mushuku. And I've always loved how she talks about food. No guilt, no extremes, just real practical ways to make it work for your life. She's a nutritionalist, a chef, and now the author of Eat Your Way to Healthy Hormones, which, let's be honest, is the book most of us need right now. Because if you've ever found yourself crying in the car for no reason, rage texting your partner over absolutely nothing, or wondering why one glass of wine now feels like an entire bottle, you're not alone. It's always helped so many women stop fighting their bodies and start working with them. And today we're getting into it. Why our bodies suddenly feel like they're betraying us, how food can actually help us feel normal again, and the biggest midlife diet myth we all need to let go of. Most importantly, she's going to tell us how we can do this all without giving up wine and chocolate. Because if that's the deal, particularly with the chocolate, I'm out. So let's get into it. Because fuck, I'm nearly 50 and isn't it amazing? If you've ever had a meltdown over something ridiculous, felt like your metabolism is personally attacking you, or woken up wondering what the hell is happening, this is the episode for you. Zoe isn't just an expert in eating for hormone imbalance. She's also my go-to when I need to decode what's happening with my body. And there's a lot. And honestly, she's the only one I trust to talk to about food without making me feel guilty for eating or loving butter, chocolate, and all those things in between. We've been friends for a very long time. Our girls have grown up together. We've debated midlife mysteries over sashimi, and we've spent too much time laughing at Michael bringing his avocado. That's so good. So when Zoe released Eat Your Way to Healthy Hormones, I knew we had to have this chat because let's be real. Most of us have no clue what's actually happening inside our bodies. And we're going to talk about everything that feels like changing in there, how to stop fighting food and start using it to better health and make sure that your biggest nutritional myths are left behind. Way behind. And a simple no BS food hacks to keep our hormones happy without having to completely overhaul our diets. Zoe, welcome to Fuck I'm Nearly 50. Oh God, I love that title so much.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Like exactly.

Dom Hind 3:47

Every time I say it, I'm like, oh my God, no, I am. Um how would you introduce yourself in the most Zoey way possible? I mean, awesome note.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Yes. Took a long time to say that, I might add. Um, look, I am a nutritionist and a chef, but I think ultimately what I am, I'm a passionate foodie. Uh, I try to kind of debunk some of those myths about what is actually good and what's not good when it comes to food, because the reality is if we pedestalise food and we put it up here, what we don't do is put it on the plate. Yeah. It's about incrementally making these changes, understanding the dynamic input that they these foods actually have in our lifestyle, but making it enjoyable because you, you know, we are what we eat and we are what we absorb, but you really can, you know, eat your way to better health. Yeah.

Dom Hind 4:30

And that's what I love is that you don't judge and you do. What a waste of time that is. No time for judgment. Yeah, there's too many other people that do that. Oh, exactly. Exactly. Get in line. Um, so let's start with the basics. Yeah. Why do our hormones suddenly act like total dicks when we're in midlife? Yeah, look, it's it's a time thing.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

The reality is when your body ages, you have ob your, you know, your ovulation is changing and your ovaries are changing. And what we get is we get complete surges in different hormones and decline in different hormones, primarily things like estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone. So, really, what's happening is we're having what used to be sort of a modulated consistent, because obviously, as we know, you know, when we go through our cycle, we, you know, we naturally have our estrogen levels rise. We get levanizing hormone and we get follicle stimulating hormone coming up, and then we get testosterone, so we get a horny and we want to have sex. And then that comes down naturally, you know, sort of hopefully gracefully, it doesn't know, every or no. Estrogen comes down and progesterone comes up, and then you know, the cycle starts to happen all over again. But what's happening there is that we've slowly got this estrogen sort of declining, but it doesn't just drop, you know, it's not like testosterone that has this sort of gradual change, you know. Mind you, I think my husband might be going through menopause.

Dom Hind 5:48

Yeah, Juzzy's getting very hot and sweaty all the time. I'm like, what's going on? The other day who never swears, was like, Jesus, fuck Zoe.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

I was like, that's that's normally me. I'm that human being that basically has a bloody mouth. Yeah, exactly. Michael is a definite no. So, but again, you know, what what's happening is it's you know, it is the new puberty. Yeah. I mean, the reality is it it is, you know, that period of time, you know, when we were going through all those beautiful hormonal changes and we're getting our period, it's the opposite. We are stopping menstruating, we've coming to the end of our cycle. And for me personally, that should be another celebration. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we celebrated so heavily when I mean my mum made up some story that we went out for champagne when I got my beer. That's complete bullshit. That did not happen. I just she did have one of the most wicked menopauses. I mean, that's sort of partially what motivated me to kind of look beyond the veil. Yeah because I really didn't understand what she was going through. I just thought she was a bitch, basically. So and I don't want Emily looking at me that way. I mean, she can justify the bitchiness if necessary, not because of my hormones. No, not when there's something that I need to understand.

Dom Hind 6:57

So then I can explain it to her as well. And I think it is actually really interesting to think about celebrating it rather than commiserating and going, oh my gosh, we're nearly at the end.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Look, I, you know, it's quite interesting because we, you know, we we we say that all these different cultures celebrate in different ways. It's actually bullshit. No one celebrates it. There's no culture that I can see. You know, the reason why Japanese women, you know, it's it's spoken to it because they actually don't go to the doctor very much. And the reason why there is not a word, you know, in China, the Chinese language, because there is no word for hot flush in there. Yeah, so because so it's really actually a case in point. This is not just a westernized, you know, impression of what we're going through. We haven't lived as long. You know, generationally, we're living longer. And we're not only living longer, we're living in a lifestyle and a quality that we've never had before. You know, we have careers that are dynamic or they're just happening. They're just getting happening diet, but we are still in a career at this age. Yeah. We often have that, you know, that you know, double sword where we have young children, we have elderly parents, so we have all of these very visible, you know, important things still happening that we didn't have. You know, if you went back sort of one or two generations ago to the same level of significance.

Dom Hind 8:08

And I I also think that people are talking about it more. Like we are actually talking about it more, and women now have a voice to talk about.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

I think this is kind of if you likened it to sort of feminism, that we are going through a beautiful historical point where feminism was what women were fighting for. Now what we're fighting for is hormonal equality. We actually want to understand this because it is so awful, some of the symptoms. You know, it is so overwhelming how you actually feel. And to feel when you've, you know, we've fought so hard to have control and to understand our careers and to understand motherhood. And now that feels like that, it's happening to us. It's not an external thing happening, it's actually internally is what's going on. And we don't understand it and we don't have control. So it's really a very vulnerable time. Yeah. And I think, you know, womanhood together, we're pretty powerful bitches, you know. You know, together we can we can understand and we can share. Because I mean, what we're also looking at is, you know, that the medical, you know, environment hasn't had the training. It hasn't had, you know, I mean, we're I think we're hearing more and more and more about, you know, even you know, gynecologists, OG by OG white bees and GPs, you know, sometimes minimal weeks or months worth of training to understand menopause. I mean, that's disgraceful. Yeah, it is. It's actually disgraceful. So I think we're, I think me personally, um, I'm a bit of a tough woman, I know that, but I do think it's really important that we handle this correctly as women, and we don't go in and we start screaming and shouting and fighting to be heard. We understand that there is a way that we can, men, women, all, you know, all industries link together to solve this problem quickly rather than drag it on as another argument. Yeah. You know, this is often what I'm seeing that within the medical industry, the fight against, you know, different viewpoints, circumstances, medication, you know, objectives. Whereas Yeah, shouldn't that be like the individual?

Dom Hind 10:09

Like everything about this should be down to the individual.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Yeah, like I think the individual, I mean, there's a there's cost parameters in some times in some types of these circumstances. Um, often what will happen is that, you know, I'm very lucky, you're very lucky, because although HRT is definitely something that I've never closed off to doing, um, you know, that's a cheaper option where I can afford to go down a slightly more expensive option, which sucks for other people, but it's also where my priorities lie. You know, I will give up a number of different things so my nutrition is paramount. Yeah, yeah. Um, I will give up a number of different things so I can exercise and, you know, see a trainer or do the things that for me, for my mental health. And I think where my story sort of came about, it was it was very much prioritized over mental health.

Dom Hind 10:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Um, I was losing my shit and I didn't know why. Yeah. You know, I was, I'd already gone through such a battle. I had had, you know, from 29 when I first found out I couldn't have children. Um, so you know, I mean, I was had a miscarriage, didn't know what it was. And by the time I kind of got back, I was away at the time. By the time I got back to see a doctor, he goes, You're fine. You know, you are that age. You know, you should be you're healthy. I kept getting these labeled. I was like, these fucking labels, you know, you're healthy, you're fine. Just start trying. And I was like, okay, all right. So didn't grieve, uh, didn't question because the authority had said not to question. Yeah. And so just kept chugging on. And then, you know, three months, six months, a year later, still not pregnant, again, feeling completely rejected, hopeless, thinking, I'm a nutritionist. I should know better. I should know what to do. Yeah. No idea, had no idea what to do as well. And again, it was only because I have had this gorgeous friend, Lisa Lane, who's also, she's got a great company called the Wellness Lane. She's also in the natural health industry. Love her today. She's like a second older sister to me. She's wonderful. She just said, look, something's not right here, Zoe. Yeah. You need to kind of look a little bit deeper into it. So that another woman called Blinda Matheson, you know, we like, we looked, they gave me these tools, and I'm so grateful, you know, as older women who had had experience to kind of look at IVF. And I subsequently found out that I had what's called a low antimeralia hormone. So that's the hormone that basically, you know, dictates how many eggs. It's very broad, but you know, the range is meant to be between 15 and 30, and mine was two. So wow. It was an indicator that at a young age that I there could have been problems along the line. But what really kind of closed the deal is when I actually sort of pushed on seeing specialists and and you know, really having my voice being heard, we actually found out that both my fallopian tubes had so much scar tissue in it, there was no way I was ever going to have I had systemic fluid building up in my uterus that was flushing out, you know. Yeah, yeah. I just thought I was peeing my past. Yeah, I thought a little tinkle was going on. What it was, it was actually systemic fluid. So I mean, far grosser actually when you think of it. I don't know about you. So, like, you know, then it was like this journey of five years.

Dom Hind 12:57

Five years. But it I find it so fascinating that even with, you know, my health issues with melanoma, if I didn't own that journey, you know I was so proud of the proud of you for us done.

SPEAKER_01 13:09

I know, you know, I was you know, I saw what you went through. Like you you questioned and you asked, you know, you asked the right, you know, you you forced your voice to be heard, but it's I mean it's frustrating because it shouldn't be that way. No, it definitely shouldn't. Look, I'm not labelling this primarily, I mean, hormonally, obviously it's it's a female thing, but I think the medical industry as a whole, male or female, unless you have a strong voice, or what I often recommend with my clients, you know, when you go and see a GP, if you kind of turn up and go, look, I think I should get a blood test, because of Medicare, if everyone did that, I mean, Medicare would be, I mean, it's already, it's almost crashing as it is, but you know, I mean, like it would actually be, it would layer the problem. So you've really got to talk symptoms. Yeah, you know, and as a doctor, they have to create a diagnostic diagnosis. So it's really important. So you know how you, you know, if you want to find out more, I don't want to say Google things, but talk to your girlfriends. Find out what they're, you know, how they find, you know, and as I think this it's so relevant, people say, you know, if you you went and got a haircut and you didn't like your haircut, you wouldn't go back to that hairdresser. That's it. It's the same with doctors. Find the doctor that responds to you, that you can talk to, that you feel open. But if it's if it's as simple as putting some notes on your phone, because I mean, who hasn't gone into a doctor's surgery and forgotten what they're gonna say? Like, yeah, get your notes. Yeah, look at your notes, talk to your doctor, look at your notes. I always say to my clients, I mean, I this is a bit of a one-on-one thing I do, even in meetings. At the end of a meeting, I said, just so, because I've got ADHD, I say, just so we're on the same page, is this what I heard you say, you say? Yeah, yeah. Because you need to often, yeah, no, I've interpreted interpreted, I don't think it's just radiation. No, no, no, I think it is. Everyone does. Everyone goes, Oh, what? Or you have different ways of absorbing information.

Dom Hind 14:48

Yeah, well, and I think that it is amazing putting notes together. And I know this is like could be controversial, but even with you know, my liver stuff that's been happening lately, I know why. Yeah, um I was using and consulting Chat GDP just to make sure that I get the right questions to actually ask.

SPEAKER_01 15:09

So you just don't know. I mean, look, you know, chat GDP needs to be used and it's in it's had its infancy. You I mean I need to use it as I've, you know, I think what's um asked, I mean, take information, ask the questions, then go into it, do go into another source and ask questions. Because I have found I love chat GDP. It's like, you know, being a sole proprietor owning my own business, it's like having a staff of five. Yeah, it's just it helps me so much. You've got to do some asking the right questions for certain contracts. Just you know, you don't then go not get a lawyer, but what you do is you cut out going when you do go to your lawyer. I did just saw my lawyer, yes, I was like, this is what I want the coach. So that cost me probably a thousand dollars less, you know. It's just exactly it's just those little things. And also I've found it quite empowering because it's phrased things in ways I've gone, that's interesting, actually. I'm gonna phrase it that way next time, or I am going to refine those three questions into one question by saying it that way. Yeah, I mean and it is just a good way.

Dom Hind 16:08

I but I do think the whole like area that you touched on, you owning it, you put the notes in, you like that is something. Be your own self-advocation.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

It is a hundred percent your own advocator of good health. Yeah, that's it. You know, and you do we do need to do more research around that.

Dom Hind 16:24

That's it. Um, so we've to spoken about menopause, yes, perimenopause. Yes. Is this like are we coupling that all in one?

SPEAKER_01 16:34

I mean, so menopause by diagnosis is the year after menses, as well as your last year, it's a year without period. But I think what it is, what we don't say is menopause is forever. Yeah, right. No, there is there's no sort of menopause. I mean, although we term it menopause and postmenopause, menopause, I guess, is when that year's done and then you know, it sort of starts from there. So that's kind of you know, it sort of drops off and stays drop off. You can't, unless you're taking HRT, you can't pick these hormones back up as well.

Dom Hind 17:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Um, perimenopause though is obviously the fluctuation. That's kind of when the fluctuation starts. And the thing with that is that can start, you know, that can be two years, that can be 10 years. Yes. And, you know, I mean, I was on a panel the other day, and this person quite interestingly said, you know, there aren't a hundred symptoms of perimetopause. And I felt like, well, going, look, sure, sure, yeah. Clinically. Hang on, you felt like going up to him, number one. I mean, I'm not man-bashing or anything, but I did go, right, okay, here we go again. Right. But I mean, cynically, obviously, you know, the symptoms that we know about is trivagina, hot flushes, but there are such subtle things because of the influence of estrogen and testosterone. I mean, estrogen itself, we have estrogen receptors in our brain. Yeah. We have estrogen receptors in our gut. Certain bacteria have estrogen receptors. It's a pro-collagen producer. It is a enzyme protector for vitamin D. It has collagen elastin pathways. It basically helps how we build muscle. So, sure, they are, you know, as estrogen declines, sure, they're not like singly, you know, menopause or pistmenopause, but they are a contribution. And those symptoms are. And what it is is that we can't deny them. No. Nor does it does anyone give the right to like label because again, otherwise you get this I am crazy moment again happening to you. Yeah, isn't that just every day? No.

Dom Hind 18:28

Um I like my crazy question. Uh you say food is one of the best tools we have for balancing hormones. How does that actually work?

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Yeah. So it's really interesting when it comes to the foundation of a good diet. And the thing is, it doesn't start when you you your perimetal pause, or ideally, it starts at the beginning as well. Um, but there are key foods that we can actually help to, you know, support. So, number one thing I always kind of look at with clients is really liver and absorption. I mean, I know it's a bit of a cliche, but you know, if we are not working with those pathways, we are wanting to make sure those, you know, these four phases of detoxification are actually doing their job. Purely because they already have, you know, the hormonal serum, you know, they basically have to metabolize hormones, blood. They have to metabolize everything and clear them. Then when you start eating a poor diet, you just compound that and you have to see, there's almost like a pecking order when it comes to kind of how we're metabolizing and getting rid of toxins. The more toxic thing, the thing that's the thing the body, you know, has to kind of get rid of on top of everything else as well. So if we're having a cleaner-style diet, then what that does, it just means that the body's able to focus on what its natural biological responses are. But there are certain foods that can support that process. So we need lots of sulfur genic foods. So we need those beautiful, colourful foods like beetroot and carrot. Um, we also need all those brassica families. So, you know, your bok choy and your cauliflower and your um, you know, your broccoli and your diet as well. For me, you know, that is very much. I mean, I just pack it all into one. I have a cold quest juice every single day. It's kind of my my non-negotiable. You do not need to juice every day. Yeah, ideally, sure, if you've got time to do it, but I don't have time to do it. No, no, no. So I do it on a Sunday and I juice enough for three days. I do beetroot, carrot, ginger. Um, I put something sort of bitter in there as well. So it's not me the lemon, grapefruit, again, increasing those stomach enzymes, help me sort of process and digest the food. Um, I juice it, I put it into a glass container because again, we need to be mindful of a little bit of those xenoestrogens and the um the plasticizers again from the hormone disrupting contribution. And I put it in the fridge. Now I have it as my pre-workout, so I get up in the morning and I have it every morning at about, you know, 250 mils with a bit of water before that. And that's that's energy as well to help me exercise. The key thing with juicing, though, is making sure there's a high level of fibre, but that also has a big picture when it comes to how we get rid of fats and toxins within our body. Most of us, you know, we are, most of us are getting enough protein. What we're not getting enough is enough quality protein. Yeah. And that does become affected when we are kind of fluctuating in our hormones because of things like our digestive enzymes get affected through different period phases of perimenopause. Uh, but it's also that we need to have a bit more of those sort of cross-sections of fibers because so we've basically got soluble and soluble fibers, which obviously help to kind of pull fats out or increase bowel motions. But then we have something called resistant starch. And this is a really interesting one. So resistant starch is exactly like the meme states, it's resistant. So what it means is that when you digest that food, it's going to go all the way through your gastrointestinal tract and it's going to get broken down in your colon. And there's a lot of bacteria within your colon as well. So you feed the coal the bacteria with all this good fiber. It's like a prebiotic. So we know the probiotic is the bacteria, the prebiotic is the food that feeds the bacteria. And we need a lot of this in our in our diet overall. So they come in things like I was just. Yeah, there's always leave, there's always but wait, there's more. Um so they are often in when we cook and cool certain foods. So when we cook things like potatoes and but yeah, what it what is that like with the cooking of potatoes interesting, isn't it? So what actually happens is that the co um this again, I've done a bit of research on this, is I'm trying to get sort of a definite answer in it because a lot of people say, but if you eat it again, does it change it? Yeah. So what is it in the in the cooking of it, it changes the molecule structure, and then I guess when it c closes it, it changes it again. So it makes it less digestible. So it takes longer to be broken down. Okay.

Dom Hind 22:32

And then when it actually gets to the colon, it's broken down in that area as well. So does that mean those cold roast potatoes are actually a great thing? They are. Oh wow. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Potato salad back on the menu. Okay. But it's also things like um legumes and pulses and nuts and seeds. Yes, nuts and seeds, but also it's in things like um green bananas. So we just green bananas. Yeah. And again, it's yeah, yeah. It's almost like that chalkiness in your mouth. I know it's not the nicest. So again, we just need to pepper these foods into our diet.

Dom Hind 23:00

Yeah, okay, good. And what are the foods or are there any foods that naturally help with things like mood swings, bloating, and energy crashes?

SPEAKER_01 23:11

I mean magnesium, magnesium, magnesium. Okay, you're right. Okay, so again, it's probably the key nutrient, it's in 300 ends enzymatic functions within our body. Yes. Um, you can get in things like nuts and seeds, different grains in the diet. But again, I am, and again, I can't necessarily advocate that you go and take a supplement, but something that I think is often in supplement form, it's just more absorbable and you can get a higher dose of it as well. So um it's really important though when you are choosing magnesium, because there's magnesium and there's magnesium. There's so many different types. So what you want is you want a glyconate form of magnesium, that means the molecule is actually more absorbable than other forms of magnesium as well. Otherwise, you'll find that some of those pore clockhes they just flood the colon and you actually end up going to the toilet more regularly. So all getting, you know, not so bad on uh from a bowel emotion point of view because it's not it's not disrupting, it's just pulling water, but not great from what we're wanting. Not the absorption, absorption of it. So why magnesium is so good, really? It works on our nervous system. Yeah. So really that's the one that has that sort of slight soporific effect, it calms you down. You know, what we all understand when we when we're less frenetic in a state of stress, we're actually using less nutrients as well, we're using less of those E-vitamins as well. But again, we do need to get a lot of good quality B vitamins in our diet. Um, B6 and B5 are two vitamins that basically or two B vitamins that build a lot of the hormones. Yeah. So we do need to make sure that we're getting a lot of those and also very good from a nervous system point of view as well.

Dom Hind 24:41

And how are we consuming those? Or should we consume those? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

I mean, again, yes, again, it you would get them in lots of nuts and seeds and meat and things like that. Okay, great. Um, but again, you with what's quite interesting, particularly with things like the MTHRF genes, so these gene mutations. Yes, a lot of the B vitamins that you're buying as supplement are not being absorbed because they're not methylated. Yeah, yeah. They've got to kind of bypass, and this is where things like sometimes NMN is quite a useful reading a little bit more about that. NMN sort of bypasses that methylation process. Right. And so this is why a lot of women, particularly or men and women, feel pretty good. Um, those gene mutations, I mean, the statistic is it's around 30% of the population. Now, that's people that are going getting tested. So it's probably far more than you've probably got genetically now two parents that have it, then pretty much more DK than that child would have it. That's not to say, again, that that gene will be expressed or not, because you know, genes are one thing, and epigenetics is the sort of the expressor of you know whether that's turned on or off. But the reality is when you're buying a B vitamin, you should just, because we don't know, it should just buy a methylated B vitamin or what they often call an activated B vitam activated.

Dom Hind 25:49

Okay. That makes me be able to remember it. Yes, yeah. Let's go with those words. Um, now this one doesn't apply to me, but is coffee really the enemy? Do you not drink coffee? No, I've never had a cup of coffee in my life. Michael. I know. We're so me bringing an avocado to dinner.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

I on the other hand, um, I think coffee can be fantastic, but it's when you have it. Okay. So it's really important, caffeine in general. Uh, if you look at the fluctuation of cortisol, you know, one of our you know, energy stress hormones, if you like. So cortisol is at its peak around six o'clock in the morning and sort of starts to kind of dip down around sort of nine comes back up, uh, sort of twelve, come back down, around two, three comes back up, and then goes back down, and then melatonin does exactly the opposite ideally. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, if you think about that when you're having a coffee, which like or any caffeinator, most of us are having it first thing in the morning.

Dom Hind 26:46

Yeah, when you're already spiked.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Yeah, you're already spiked. So that decline is going to feel greater. But the other thing also is that when cortisol level goes up, insulin will also be affected as well. Why? So then what happens is sort of coupled with this kind of effect on blood glucose levels, and it's then very hard to then go and choose the right types of sprues. So is it then best to have it at nine o'clock? Perfect. Or if you are going to have it, you have it with definitely with you know, some sort of protein, so whether it be milk, your MCT, you know, your virgin coconut oil, because what that will do is that sort of encapsulates the caffeine in some way and slows the because that's a very similar release for me. Yeah, okay. But also it means you put something in your gut as well. So it decreases the chance of inflammation. So that's the other thing.

Dom Hind 27:30

I love what you said before about when you're in a stressed or heightened anxiety that you are burning or of a nutritionist. I just I hadn't even thought about it, but it makes total sense.

SPEAKER_01 27:41

And the other thing also is it redirects blood flow. So blood flow will go from sort of muscle, muscle health and what have you, to basically the primary organs, you know, your brain, your blood, you know, you know, it's just you need to get out of your brain, sorry, I should say your brain, your heart. You just need to and your muscles to get the hell out of there. So it's really then, you know, digestively, it's that whole kind of rest and digest. You know, we talk about the sympathetic nervous system or you know, the autonomic nervous system, and you've got the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system. Your sympathetic nervous system is your fight, flight, or freeze. Yes. So again, that's when that blood flow is going to kind of go into brain, your heart, muscle, get the fuck me out, get before you over here situation.

Dom Hind 28:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

And then it's not going to go to digestion. Yeah, right. So a lot of the time that will affect how we're absorbing our food because, again, we're not assisting with that process. Where rest and digest is the parasympathetic nervous term. And look, you don't want to either be in one permanently. No, no, no. What you want is that undulation to be balance. I hate using the word balance because the human body is not meant to be in balance, it's meant to fluctuate with you know correctness. Yeah, yeah. And this is why, you know, I mean, I think nutrition is so important. I always do think timing of food is really important. Know your eating habits. You know, yeah, it's really old school, but keeping a food channel is an incredible way to understand your eating cycles. I mean, when Emily was a little girl, I would I actually for a couple of days would keep food dials with her just to see what was going on because she'd often be like, I'm not hungry, I don't feel like eating, I've got a sore timing. And I was like, Oh, even me, like I was like, oh my god, I know what the point is. So I kept a food tie. What I found out with Emily is that she was a kid that just wanted to eat a huge amount in the morning. I can give Emily an omelet, a smoothie, I can give her a piece of toast, I can give her quite much food in the morning. Yeah, yeah. And then she's just not that interested. And like even when we get to dinner, it's like, you know, we used to play all these different games. Obviously, we don't anymore. She sort of looks at me as if I'm an idiot these days. I tell you like, you know, she's not as interested, but at least I feel I've got such a beautiful section of foods, slow releasing, low glycemic, full of protein. There was a there was a really interesting study that actually, and we're talking digressing a little bit, but you know, happy children really makes everyone happy in that life. The opposite makes everyone traumatized. So it was saying that if you give a child, they were talking about eggs. Oh yes, yeah, an egg a day, an egg a day, their average IQ is up like 15 points or something. And simply because, you know, A, you're giving them something that the body actually needs as fuel, it's slow releasing. You know, when your body's eaten, it has less of a stress response because it's not setting markers saying, quickly, go for food, go find food. Yeah.

Dom Hind 30:26

And again, they're karma. Oh, so much. You know, we've been I've been hard boiling eggs for the kids. Yeah, it's just like every day, okay, yeah, at breakfast. I should do that to snacks as well.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Well, it it's just problem with dudes, you should just find that they they Emily just won't sit down at lunch. That's half the problem. I've actually handed over lunch to Michael. Oh, yeah. So I've handed a lot of things over to Michael, but it's been very subtle. He doesn't actually know that. I'm just slowly stepped away. I'm like, um it's purely. Because I think also, you know, sometimes my lunches, you know, they're healthy. Yes. And Mark's lunches has a lot more excitement. Yeah, yeah. So and also he's I think he's just a bit more practical. He gives her a sandwich, you know, something that she can run around and hold it. Where I'm giving her like, you know, nettle soup or a you know, uh, she's not very into the salads, but just well, she does, she was she's right into the um sesame dressing. Oh yes, but she wanted it. It was just the most random thing. She's like, I want I think one of her girlfriends at school, I think sadly, I think some of them are actually talking about weight, which is quite, yeah, yeah, I think it was really sad to hear, you know, already at such a young and eleven year old to be able to talk about that.

Dom Hind 31:34

Um, talking about weight, but more for us. Um we grew up in the low-fat calorie counting era. What's the biggest croc of advice that we can try to overcome this? Because it's I mean, it's so ingrained. It's just fat.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

I mean, I have never ever eaten a low-fat diet.

Dom Hind 31:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:56

I have always had, I mean, apart from going to England and getting the Heathrow injection and putting 10 kilos out on. I mean, we all know why that. I had I had no money. I was studying at the corner. And my, like, you know, if I made 10 cram cram caramels, that was the cheap breakfast, lunch and dishes. And beer. I was eating so much beer. You never walked anywhere in England. So, you know, I think it's really understanding that, you know, every every single cell in the human body needs fat and proteins. We need these, these are fundamentally important. I mean, again, it's trans fats that are the problem. They're the ones that are carcinogenic and then rob the body of those, you know, those and can very um aptly imbalance the things like the the good cholesterol versus the bad cholesterol. But every fat in every meal and every snack. Now, what the benefit of that is. Okay, so fat in every meal. Every meal, every snack. Okay, every snack. Every snack. Every meal, every snack. And when I talk fat, we're talking we could be like three macadamias with the apple that you're eating.

Dom Hind 32:51

Yeah, okay. It's not hard.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

It's really not hard. I mean, I sort of have the kind of in my sort of programs when I work with clients, I've sort of say, look, a tablespoon in every meal, every snack is pretty much guaranteed that you're pretty, you're gonna tick the box and you're gonna get your recommended daily intake of good fats over the course of the day as well. Ideally, what we're trying to eat is essential fatty acids. But I mean, saturated fats have their place without a doubt. But again, if you're someone who has compromised cholesterol and you are very overweight, having a high saturated fat diet as opposed to a high essential fatty acid is not going to be well balanced. I mean, again, that's word. It's not going to be to your advantage. Yeah. But if you have a high essential fatty acids, which again often has a cross-section of other things, it's often how you're getting them, you're getting them really good sources of protein as well. You'll be getting them in fish and nuts and seeds. These are beautiful sources of protein. Um, grass-fed meat, you know, has beautiful essential fatty acids. Great. You're ticking the boxes of other sources of nutrients as well. You're getting a beautiful source of fiber in them. So that's probably the number one thing I'd say. And the other thing also is that, you know, I mean, we do, I mean, not that it's a croc of shit, but you know, diversity really is important. Yeah. And it's for a number of different reasons. We need to get those 30 servings of fruit and vegetables. Now, we're not just talking about, I mean, it's more vegetables than fruit, to be honest. It's plant-based foods. So we're not just, you the good thing about that, you don't just have to get vegetables. Think of herbs, spices, cumin, coriander, nuts and seeds, legumes. They all fit into this, you know, realm. I also like the fact that, you know, when you start leaning a little bit more on those vegetarian sources of protein, like your legumes and your pulses, if your gut can handle them. Yes. Um, they are so heavy in fibers, they're so heavy in protein, they're inexpensive. Yeah. So you just kind of, you know, and I don't mean go and eat like a whole thing of like go get a tin of lentils and start your lunch yet, because I mean that would affect anyone's gut. But again, we just getting some of those diverse foods is good not only for the cross-section of nutrients, but also our microbiome.

Dom Hind 34:48

Yeah. Okay. What is your go-to snack? Oh, it's always macadamia's.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

Oh, is it?

Dom Hind 34:53

Always.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Always macadamias. I love macadamia's. I always have them actually, they've got they're not in this bag, but they're in the car. I, you know, I go to the gym and I I'm going to a new gym. I'm actually training with Leah Simmers because I'm doing her, I'm designing her nutrition plan. Nice. Oh, for Kai. For those of you who don't know Kai, go and have a look. It's remarkable. It looks amazing. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Absolutely. But it's been like I'm deadlifting and you know, squatting. I'm like, oh, it feels so good to be powerful, you know. Just such a nice feeling too. And again, it's it's made me understand more about, you know, the importance of strength, particularly as as you're old. As we get older, yeah, as we get older. As you age, not old. Um, but again, I'm very so the point just to quickly talk about I'm very organized and always having snacks. I put on before I leave. I have all my powders, you know, which are protein powders and collagen and you know, whatever, my welco products or whatever I've got in there, they're all in there ready to go. And I'm actually drinking that the whole way through my training sessions as well. So I'm not dropping or spiking. I'm consistent. I'm consistent. And then often, you know, I mean, I've come from that to have a quick sauna to you. Yeah, yeah. Didn't have time to have Brecki. So I've got, you know, my macadamies, which I know will get me through, and then I'll have something. I'll have quite a I'll have an early lunch but quite a large one. Yeah, yeah. And that will just sort of fit the bill.

Dom Hind 36:09

And I like the the drinking of the whatever they are, the supplement or yeah, the yeah, throughout training.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

Yeah, yeah, as well. It's really, I mean, I used to, I mean, I still do work with things like um, you know, marathon runners and people who are sort of high endurance type exercise exercises. And it was quite interesting. So, you know, I've been in this industry 22 years, and when I started working with them, it was very much about carbohydrate, carbohydrate gooze. Yeah. I said to them, I sort of go, really, can we just test this out? So I'd get my clients to basically have one bottle which was pure protein and one bottle that was electrolytes. So the carbohydrate was coming in, and we put a little bit of carbohydrate within that electrolyte and alternating. So every 15 minutes they were alternating, they just they said they were getting PBs, they were doing better than ever before. Now that's common practice now to actually do not that I'm saying in any way, but before that I started that because I didn't. I think there was a you know, I I mean I think that's what I heard. Yeah, no, it was definitely not a lot. I mean, I like toot my, I mean, I probably should toot my own heart a bit mere first to be honest.

Dom Hind 37:06

Anyway, um women over 40 get told to do everything. Yeah, fasting, keto, protein loading, carp cutting. Yeah, how do we know what works?

SPEAKER_01 37:16

Yeah, I mean, everybody's different. That's one. I think pick one thing and give it a good three or six months because you consistency is the key. Um I think, you know, sometimes I mean I always have this saying, anything's better than nothing. Yeah. And I, you know, when it comes to my exercise personally, what was, and I feel like I am the fittest and healthiest I've ever been in my life. Honestly, you look amazing. My weight, my body fat, my body fat was 15.9% the other day, my bio age was 30. Now I'm treating my own horse. And I got a, you know, when we did my e-volt, I was like a 9.4. Now I was so proud of myself because this has been because of my, you know, my shit mental health, and because I got so sick and when I got perimolar perimetopause, I had just lost a baby, you know, sort of, or gloss of, you know, a miscarriage, so you know, however you want to term that. Um, I tried again, didn't work. Then went into, then, you know, told I was the reason why I wasn't gonna work was because I was perimenopausal, then got Ross River virus, you know. So it was just like I was roller coasted and rocking. And I didn't, I wasn't, I'm not the kind of person, I'm very outspoken, but I'm not very good at asking for help. Yeah. I'm just a push-through kind of person. So I just sort of said to myself very gently, you know, I was 39 at the time, I said, my next 40 years are gonna be the best 40 years of my life. Yeah, and I'm gonna start now. So I'm 36 now, it's taken six years to get here. So that's my point, people. You know, it doesn't matter when you start this, it's not gonna happen straight away, but I you just it's like I am now, I'm now the tortoise. I'm not the hare. I have my hair moments. Yeah, I mean, everyone probably still thinks I'm the hair. You should have seen me before. So, but it's really like consistency, finding what works for you. Don't be frightened of food and don't be frightened of exercise. Yeah, it is, you know, fueling your body. You are better to fuel your body with more of the good stuff. Because again, often what happens, you know, if your blood sugar levels are falling, it will then affect all of those other. It's a cascade, it really starts to affect your anxiety and your depression because again, you're feeding into and you're declining some of those other hormones that are happening at the same time.

Dom Hind 39:22

Yeah. Um, what's the biggest mistake women make when they try to eat healthy for their home hormones?

SPEAKER_01 39:29

I think we often follow a diet, yeah, and then we put we apply stress into that process as well. So be flexible. You fuck up, you fuck up. Who cares? Like, start again. Start again. Like, I mean, I might say is it's not how much you, you know, how badly you fuck up, it's how long you fuck up for. Yeah, that's you know, and that's really the thing, you know, start again tomorrow. It's no big deal. We're not children, we don't need to self-flagellate and beat ourselves up because we don't do it the perfect way. And that is the problem. Yeah, women think we have to do it perfectly. And what's I mean, I don't want to bash on other women, but often what other women are doing, they're judging us in the process as well. Yeah. So find your find your crew. Yeah, find your supportive human beings, whether it be men, female, children, animals, it doesn't matter what it is. You put the things that make you feel loved around you when you're trying to make change and you're sad because you need to be able to prop yourself up in any way. And the other thing also is, you know, I do, and I, you know, a game changer for me was meditation. You know, I started transcendental meditation. The theory, obviously, it's the neuroplastesis process. You tear, you know, that 40-day process of doing it repetitively, it weaves new synaptic pathways. So, what that simply means is that next time you're in a shitty situation, you can drop into that other situation faster because your neural pathways know what it feels like. So, although I don't practice meditation twice a day, I have weaved that the mechanisms into my everyday life now. So, whenever I'm feeling overwhelmed, I have this thing called I call it hand in hand. Doesn't matter where I am, I hold my hand. It's literally the two versions of me, the good, the bad, the crazy, the smart, joining together. And we I I mean, I get overwhelmed even when I do it now, but it's just kind of it sort of surges all the feelings that we're trying to cut off. But then I get the opportunity just to calm down. Yeah, and I can do it quite quickly now. So you can make up your own little tools and tricks. I mean, I studied some did some psychotherapy courses to kind of understand a bit more about the unhooking of the immediate process and getting out of the immediate because yes, we know that there are these elements of issue on the outside, but you can't focus on them when you're in a state of flex. So you need tools to unhook you in the here and now as well. And then you can focus on your nutrition and you can focus on those other things. So, you know, it's working out maybe if that's the core to start with, then start there.

Dom Hind 41:46

Yeah, and I think that is it is a it is a big thing. Like even to try and reduce my stress levels, I did that meditation course and it was amazing. It's like it's just having that time to yourself. How lovely that brings up that right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's great. Yeah, and I think it was, you know, for me, just that time for yourself. And no one could take it away. You didn't, there weren't the rules that like with every other meditation, it's just the time to yourself.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

Yeah, I mean, I like transcendental is I think for me personally, the one that works for me. Yeah, it's just repeating life, the mantra over and over and over again. I mean, I also like yoga nidja, which is the body's planning. I think that's a really good one. It's great for kids once I think there's, you know, and also it's picking kind of what is your personality because I kind of undulate between those two because sometimes if I'm in a more sort of hyper state, going, you know, I'm I can't repeat my mantra, I'm not gonna repeat what it is. We are very just a quick, very funny. Sorry. So one of my closest girlfriends, we did this together. And then when we left, because we did pride, we went to Bali and did it right. And um, then we both came out and we were like, Does your one sound like this? And she's like, room. Like we were trying, we were trying, we were trying to guess what each other's match. I'm like, mine's like room, yeah, with a cup, you know. And we're just like she's like, okay, kapuku, yeah, it was just I we were in hysterics. So now we're like, now I think even that moment injected humour into it. Okay, so I kind of I mean, there is, you know, you can use all these tools, and sometimes we've just got to replace the shitty stuff with some good stuff, some good old ways.

Dom Hind 43:19

And that's it. You do, you definitely do. Um, for women who don't have time to make the green smoothies or uh whatever it is every morning, yeah. What's one small realistic change that they could make?

SPEAKER_01 43:32

I I think water would be a real simple, simple thing that we can do. Yes, I'm let's have one now.

Dom Hind 43:40

Lindsay, I didn't get you a water. Oh selfish. I know. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:46

So look, I mean, I think um we are we particularly with those body temperature changes as well, we are fluctuating within sort of, you know, our temperature changes, our thara is a lot, you know, going a little bit more over the place, our muscle ability has changed. So just, you know, water everywhere you go. The other thing, also, you know, even putting a little bit some Celtic sea salts just to get those electrolytes and get those that sort of mineral balance back a little bit as well is a really simple thing. Um, but also what I find, it's just a process. You know, sometimes if I've got my water bottle and all those those annoying, you know, expensive water bottles that my daughter seems to begin everything. I don't know. I don't know. It's just ridiculous, it just drives me insane. But I have stolen one and because it is so big. Sorry, Emily. Um, because it is so big, the volume is a lot easier. Yeah, yeah. So it's in the car, it goes everywhere with me. So that's one simple thing as well. Um, from a nutrition point of view, I just eat wake up and eat something.

Dom Hind 44:44

Yeah, bottom.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

You know, and I know you might not feel like it, but it will, particularly something slow releasing. And we're talking a very small amount. It could be a couple of tablespoons of you know, a good quality yogurt. Yeah, yeah, yes. Yogurt. So ideally natural yogurt with berries and honey. But if you're going to get a flavoured yogurt, just read the label because there's a lot of crap sort of in a lot of these products. Um, yalna is a good, again, I'm not sponsored by any of the brands, but yalna is a good one to um sort of add into there. Uh, but I think you know that because what that does immediately it will kind of give you some energy, yeah. Well kind of metabolically kind of get them, you know, the metal metabolism furnacing as well. And look, intermittent fasting is a really interesting thing, but I I do find for our age bracket or our hormonal bracket, I shouldn't even damn it an age bracket because it's it is a hormonal bracket, I find that fasting in the evening is more effective because again, because of the compromise already, you know, cortisol's, you know, up there rocking. Often we're like, there's a thousand things happening in our life. But also what I find is that if you can set the intention and have that, whether you make a chia pudding the night before and you put these little pots, and as you drive the kids to school, or as you're driving to work, or you're taking the dog, or you might just be sipping it in a snow or you might be whatever, just to kind of actually I just picked it, it might be hard to walk a dog in a chia pudding.

Dom Hind 45:58

But I do now every morning have three tablespoons, and I'll probably get in trouble, yes, of chia, hot water, lemon, and honey, and just drink it, and it's like great.

SPEAKER_01 46:10

I mean, it's a gelatinous product, it helps kind of clear out, you know, some of things. But I think you probably find that the water and the lemon is probably the thing that's probably the magic and it's that combination kind of works really well. But again, it's two parts, you know, it's a process. You're immediately putting intention into yourself. Yourself, I am worth having something having something, you know. And I, you know, I it, I mean, my husband is the human being. I always laugh. He's either going to bed late or he's getting up early. There's no in between with Michael, it's just nothing, you know. So I um but because of that, it has actually taught me to get up earlier. So I do get up at five now, just so I've got 15 minutes to unpack the dishwasher, put Emily's lunch out. We do it up the night before, get the rest of Michael to kind of finish the, you know, the line, all the sandwiches and he does the main part of it. But then I just kind of I put all my powders in, I have a couple of tablespoons, I make a coffee so I can have that in the car, you know. So I've had all my smoothies and I've had that just to kind of get me going. And you know, it's just there. Yeah. And I just just it's made life, I feel better.

Dom Hind 47:13

Yeah, I feel better. I do think if you do like there's two things. I hate water, like I know I shouldn't say that, but it's water hates you too. Yeah, it's just so boring. Like it's just such a boring drink. But I try and now you're not like coffee. I mean, you're not wine to talk. Or wine. Um either. But the collagen, like if I put collagen in it, I can actually drink it. Yeah. Like as a warm drink.

SPEAKER_01 47:38

You know, I mean, these products are expensive, but again, these products are actually, I mean, so collagen is quite interesting. So if you look at things like collagen and creatine and some of these branch chain amino acids, you know, they're the starting, the starting point of how we actually build amino acids. So they are really important, particularly when we are at these phases when we're not absorbing or breaking down or building these things as effectively. I mean, it's something like 15 to 30 percent reduction in the ability to build muscle. So I, interestingly enough, um, you know, I I mean Michael was I mean, the person who actually got me onto creatine. And I was like, no, it's just, you know, it's just an internet fad, really. I've taken protein, I'm doing this. I've never really taken collagen, but I've started taking both of them and really good, really good products. My nail and hair have been better. So I can only put it down because I know I because I'm very succinct. And that's why you've got to be a bit careful with supplements. If you're taking 20 supplements, you're not gonna know what's happening. You're not going to know the impact. It is really important that you get quality, you get advice. You don't buy off the internet.

Dom Hind 48:39

Yeah, not like getting like mushrooms and like having uh like 20 of them rather than two.

SPEAKER_01 48:46

That's it's called common fucking sense, but anyway. Well, that just tasted so good. Let me do water next. Down them with water, yeah, exactly. And to note for everybody, this is what not to do.

SPEAKER_02 49:02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:04

So look, I mean, I think that is a simple thing that we can apply. Yeah, again, you know, good quality protein, please. It's just so important. Yeah, the um the um the amount is basically one gram per kilogram of body weight, yeah, is what you're supposed to be having. Now I'm 65 kilos, 65, this is usable protein. Who's gonna go and calculate that? Yeah, yeah. 150 gram steak has about 30 grams of usable protein, but really. So again, it's just I always say to my clients, just make sure you're getting the best quality protein in every meal and every snack. The benefit of that is not only is it the building block, it's a very slow-releasing food. From a glycemic point of view, if you're eating something a little bit more high glycemic, you're eating it with something that's low glycemic, you'll get the average. Yeah, so from a sustaining of appetite and a regulation of blood sugar levels, that's a really key component. Um, you know, in the space of tiltering into the world of longevity now, what we are really heavily looking at is blood glucose. Yeah, you know. Yeah. And I do think, you know, I mean, I've always been a massive advocate. I get all my clients to, you know, follow them a more like low glycemic style diet. Always have done, you know, moderate protein, moderate fat. Um, but I do, you know, I've worked, you know, there's so many great supplements, chromium, vitamin C, magnesium, you know, berberine, NMN, these are all heavily, you know, regulating our blood glucose levels. And there's going to be a lot more research that goes into that. There's also some GLP1 drugs now that are natural that are coming out that are fantastic, you know, for the regulation of those neurochemical appetite regulating hormones. Yeah. So it's it's a really interesting space as well.

Dom Hind 50:37

What would be a great 3 pm craving hit my soul?

SPEAKER_01 50:43

So can I what's interesting about that? If you had it about 2:30, that's what's even more effective. Yeah. Because what you're going to be getting is three o'clock naturally, cortisol levels low, anyways. Your body's kind of a bit fatigued as it is. Often that's, you know, from a digestive point of view, you've eaten around 12:30. So digestively, your blood sugar levels are falling. So it's know your timing. Yeah. So if you eat half an hour before, what you're going to catch is you're going to catch it on the decline, not at the bottom. Very hard to then, you know, you have to have a lot of willpower to get to get. Yeah. So I mean, what you then timing's definitely one thing. And obviously, you know, again, I can't I keep going on about the sort of froat protein and good fats and low GI carbs. There's some really good protein balls that you can. I mean, I hate protein balls to be honest. But I think it literally feels like I'm going to be constipated from life before I eat them. But again, things like that are quite simple. I'm a real sort of fan of saving some of my lunch. And keeping that. It's actually a great idea. Because I like food. I'm not, I'm not, apart from having my nuts, I'm not so much of a snacker. I'm a meal maker. You know, I love to have a meal. That's why I would rather, you know, and I'm looking smoothies are great and everything, but I'm not a smoothie drinker. I put my powders in and drink, have that in water. And that's kind of like like my medicinal supplement that I have like when I'm training. That's kind of like a training kind of program, if you like. Um, occasionally I'll go and buy a smoothie, but again, I always find them a bit too sweet. I don't necessarily like the chalkiness of the protein. So they're expensive, you know. $15, $16 per smoothie. I'm like, They're ridiculous. Wow, that's just that's a lot of money. Yeah, you know, when you're getting that every day and definitely what the average person can't afford as well.

Dom Hind 52:19

I do love the save your save some of your lunch. Like it's great. Like eat 80% for lunch and then talk to 80%. It's great digestively.

SPEAKER_01 52:26

Yeah. Because often we're not, then we're not overeating. It's a lot more, I'm a little more, a lot more inclined because I'm a lot more interested by what I'm going to eat. Yeah. Um, I think about it, you know, there's something, the mental phase or the cephilic phase of eating is when you actually you think about food and you you produce side um salivary amylase and protase and lipase through your saliva. Yeah. So it actually helps digestion of that food. So it's just I find a bit of a go-to for me personally. Um, but again, you know, half a banana and some macadamia is something again. I want a macadamia macadamia, please. I think you should just get a farm up there. A macadamia farm.

Dom Hind 53:04

Oh man, I'm not so I can't even buy a bag, it's not my thing. Um, you've worked with so many m women. What's the common aha moment that they have?

SPEAKER_01 53:15

Yeah, I think look, the common aha moment is two things, interestingly enough. When they realise they can eat more and weigh less. Yes. It's still, you know, I mean, I feel I mean, I eat more than most people would actually realise based on the way I look, you know, it's because I fuel my body correctly.

Dom Hind 53:30

Yeah, I've been out to dinner with you and you uh keep eating everyone's leftovers.

SPEAKER_01 53:33

I have I am food cuised, I'm known within my friends. I'll be like, I'm I'm forever like annoyed by my own meal that I've ordered and I just want everybody else's. Um, and the other thing is training, you know, weights training. I think for me, my personal aha moment was I mean, I've always trained. And again, again, I think it's just something it's worked really well for me. It's a great I'm known from a mental health point of view. It's been, you know, my get out of jail free card in some way. Um, but again, I like the feeling of being strong. Yeah, it is yeah, and I I but I I think there was so much misinformation for quite a long time, and I wasn't really coupling it correctly with my diet. Interestingly enough, at this age, I find it so much easier to actually have found that balance. But also, weights training is like, you know, you can do the most amazing small weights training, like you know, sumo squad as a deadlift, which is what Leah's teaching me, is a full body workout. Yeah, absolutely. But you just feel like you feel incredible. Yeah, you you feel, I mean, I don't want to say feel like a man because that's not that's not what I want to say. If there's a feeling like what a man feels like, that strength and what we've all kind of had, that archetypal kind of viewpoint, that's what I feel like, but still as a woman. Yeah. Um, what about sleep? How important is sleep? Oh, so sleep is a doozy, you know, and again, as we age, men and women, melatonin starts to decline. What's really interesting again, melatonin, you know, we need certain amino acids to build melatonin. Right. So you can see it gets coupled, it gets affected quite quite rapidly. You know, women will say I was a great sleep, and then all of a sudden I can't sleep.

Dom Hind 55:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:10

Um, I wake up at two o'clock. Yeah, they can't get back to the city. So the interesting thing is waking up at around two, three o'clock. And I often, when I'm doing my my workshops, I'll say who wakes up and the half the class. Yeah. That is where that's when the cortisol starts to increase. Oh, really? So what's happening often within that space is there's some bit of a you know adrenal dysregulation going, and just even enough of that spike is enough to set you up. Now, what then we do is we start trying to solve the world's fucking problems at two o'clock in the morning. So there is some health hygiene, sleep hygiene that we need to. So it's not just that we need to nutritionally or supplement-wise work in that space. We need to then say, it's all right, sweetheart. Like I I call myself sweetheart, you know, because I've had to speak so nicely to my, you know, I've had this all, I'm a Gemini, and like, you know, there I'm certainly got the duality, you know, because I've got one that says you're a fucking nightmare, and one, you're so wonderful, you know. So it was trying to kind of get them to sort of work together, you know. So that's what it's that mental health side of things and the meditation and just saying it doesn't matter if I lie here all night, it's not the end of the world, but now is not the time to think about these things. So I just keep repeating that saying. Now is the time to think about these things. A lot of the time. And I just keep, you know, saying it and saying it. Well, it's like a meditative. Well, it is, it is, it is exactly, it is a manshaft within itself as well. But in saying that, I also have worked heavily on my own and with my clients' adrenal, you know, the adrenal support. So yeah, where I have done that is mainly with through adaptogenic herbs. Okay. So ashwagonda, withania, ginseng, I mean, with ania and ashrogunda the same thing, but what they actually do, they're modulators. So, for example, if you have a dysregulation with your adrenals and they're sort of upregulating, yeah, it will kind of balance it up. But if they're downregulating, it will help to bring them up. So it's it's a perfect balancing act as well. You need to be mindful though that these herbs, you have to have a good tolerance to liver. You know, you need to be able to metabolize these things. Like anything we're putting in our body, whether it be a supplement or a food, the more we put on all these things, the more we have to process them as well. So that's why I'm always sort of saying lots of liver health, lots of gut gut health, you know, lots of support that way. Because these things work really effectively, but they work even better. Yeah. If every mechanism's, you know, working the way it should do.

Dom Hind 57:19

And the only reason I'm I'm laughing is because my liver and my like 7,000 supplements that I was having a day, and they're going, oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:26

The liver guy said, Yeah, no, just I'm really proud of you, the letters like what I love about what you did, Dom, is that you you had quite a few doctors saying this is the way it's going to be forever. And I was like, I was like, good on you, you just kept pushing and pushing, pushing and pushing. No, it's great.

Dom Hind 57:40

No, it has off to you. Pushing a lot and a lot of hats. Yeah, it's off. Yeah. Um, if we make small changes now, what are some of the long-term benefits that we can actually see?

SPEAKER_01 57:54

Massive, massive benefits as well. Like, I mean, for example, if you start eating a protein-rich, calcium-rich, you know, vitamin D rich diet now, you will decrease your risk of osteoprinia, osteoporosis. Some of the you know, the biggest issues that women actually have is although we live longer than men, the average is 85 years. Uh, you know, our health space or our, you know, our wellness actually caps out at about 65 to 70. That is a long time to often be on your own, you know, if you're not married or you're not with a partner, if you're you know, you have two women, you're lucky because you get lots of support. I'm like, I should have chosen that. But again, what it is, it's more that you know, you you want your you know, your health space to basically, you know, to be as long as it possibly can. That's one thing. The other thing also, you know, with resistance training, often what happens is that, you know, fools is what's put a lot of women or you know, in a situation where they're incapacitated, um, you know, financially can't work as well. And it really, you know, their their state of well-being and their lifestyle gets heavily affected. So just small amounts of resistance training, there is so much on the internet. You know, you don't necessarily need to see a trainer. There is so much free information out there as well. And again, you know, I think it's really important that we we build that community around us, you know, as there is lots of podcasts, there is lots of forums, there's lots of women, you know, there's lots of environments out there that you can actually speak to like-minded people. Yeah. Um, but I mean, ultimately, be your own health advocate. I have a great relationship with thankfully the doctor that you you introduced me to. Thanks, Dr. Susie. Yeah, Susie. Thank you very much. I'm so sorry, basically, I've like sent my entire network to you. And then every now and then I email going, can I text her, going, can you fit me? Yeah. Please. Um, but again, you know, get a get a good um support network around you medically, uh, whether that be psychologist, psychiatrist, if you need it from a mental health, you know, counsellor, meditation, build that around you. There's no shame in all of this. You would go if you had, you know, a broken arm, you would go to the doctor for that. Yeah, a broken brain, you go fix that too. Yeah, that's it. And again, get your get, you know, your GPs and get all that in order.

Dom Hind 1:00:05

And it's funny, something that I always think about is what would my 80-year-old self think? Exactly. And, you know, it does stop me doing some ridiculous things.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:16

Yeah, look, I mean, I definitely have curbed some of the elements in my life. Not because, you know, it doesn't serve me as well as it used to, as well, you know. I mean, drinking wine as much as I love it, we were talking about this before, it makes me feel really unwell. Um, so I don't do certain things that I know aren't going to, you know, I mean, I still have my binges like everybody else. Yeah, like, you know, it's just a cap some of those elements because it's just more effective long term.

Dom Hind 1:00:39

Yeah. Um, what's one thing you wish every woman over 40 knew about hormones, food, and not feeling like shit?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:49

I think it's just understanding that this is a wonderful process that we are all going to go through and to not be fearful of the process because that often feeds into the anxiety. The other thing also is that you know, food is your friends. You are what you eat. If you eat a crap diet, I'm sorry to say you're not going to be healthy. No. And there is no faking, there's no supplements that can help you with that. I mean, you can mitigate that as much as you can, but at some point something for snaps as well. Um, movement, we don't just exercise to look good, we exercise because that's what human beings do. You know, because we don't move the way that we were designed to. Yeah. You know, sure, we now have to term it exercise, but really we just need to move more as well. I mean, I am known for someone who will move, I just move a lot because it just makes me feel so good.

Dom Hind 1:01:35

Uh, I'm the same. I'm crazy. If I don't move or if I don't exercise, I can't. When I when I'm on a flight, even domestically, I am that person that goes to the toilet three passage.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:44

Just because I I I'm not gonna get up near the flight.

Dom Hind 1:01:48

See it, start stretching, and they're like, I'm that one.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:51

We all know where you're sitting, though.

Dom Hind 1:01:54

Whatever. All right, Zoe, thank you. This has been amazing. But before we wrap up, yes, I have got one last question. I'm scared. No, no, no, it's it's not not anything bad. If I could try just one thing before I hit 50, something to shake me up, get me out of autopilot, and just make me try something different. Yes. What would it be? You mean what would it be? What would I say as a nutritionist?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:23

Yeah, or what would I say different? I think, you know, injecting joy into your life is just so important. You know, I think the times that I've been out to change is when I've had a good fucking giggle at myself and I haven't taken myself so seriously as well. You know, I often am exercising going, why is no one else peeing their ass like I am? You know, I can't do this skipping. And I do it because I like laughing at myself. Yeah, you know, otherwise it's just life is just too serious. It is scary. Oh you know, it's a process, these hormonal fluctuations, and we need to circuit break it. And and laughter and joy is a really good way to do it. When it comes to nutrition, experiment, you know, have a food, be curious. I mean, inject yourself into environments that are exciting, you know, go to produce markets, go to Flemington market, go to these places that visually, sensually excite you to want to think about food. And you might then try something that you might not have put there before. Yeah. Yeah.

Dom Hind 1:03:25

That's I think I I love the joy. The joy is like I I mean, I try and do bring bring joy all the time. And I mean, for me, it is whoever has the most fun wins. Yeah. Because it has to be. That's why we're good for yourself. I'm not taking you so it's too serious. Again, my we get on well. Um, one thing we didn't touch on, your retreats that are coming up. Yes, I'm very excited about this.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:49

Yes, can you tell me about those? So a lot of my retreats I normally run out of Gwingana, but this is one that I'm doing myself. So we are doing a full immersive retreat for three days. So from May 16th to May 19th. I have got women that have helped me through my process as part of this retreat as well. So obviously, there'll be gorgeous nutrition seminars. I'm gonna kind of walk you through the A to B to C of hormones. I'm gonna explain to you sort of what you should be looking for, what foods you should aim to be eating, and then I'm gonna do a yummy cooking class, you know, and we eat all those delicious foods. We've got an ex-Gwingana chef who's gonna be cooking amazing foods, which are partially out of my cookbook, a little bit out of Guingana's. Yeah. Um, so you will be nourished and fed beautifully. And then my yoga teacher, um Tessa Canny, who's helped me immensely, she's gonna be doing that. And then we have a beautiful breathwork coach as well. Plus, the environment that you're in is just oh my god, it's in the Talabajara Valley. You look down this beautiful, you know. See, why didn't we say that as my why what that's what I should do before I'm 50? Oh, yeah. So you should come to my retreat. I thought that was a bit too bad tubulation, wasn't it? As well. No, look, you know, it's three. Oh yes, oh yes, yeah. Well, yeah, we'll you want to come? So anyway, look, it's it's just a really gorgeous experience. There's ice baths there, we have infrared sauna, we're gonna be doing yoga, there's weights training. And it's just a great way to bring, you know, women together. We can share a little bit of our own experiences. It's a I mean, the environment itself is just exquisite. I I'm really, really excited. I'm nervous, but I'm really really amazing. Nervous like from the curious nervous, not from the oh my god, what's gonna write? But um, yeah, I hope some you know people can join me for that one.

Dom Hind 1:05:31

Yeah, I think that will be amazing, and I am definitely signing up for it. Um okay, so thank you. Thank you. Um you rock.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:39

Yeah, thanks for doing and thank you for doing this because I think everybody needs to be talking a little bit about turning 50 and not demonizing it and making it scary. Or not judging.

Dom Hind 1:05:49

Yeah. Like it's just roll with us. Yeah, roll with it. Absolutely. Anyway, okay, all right, I'm gonna close. Okay. Um fuck, I'm nearly 50 is all about owning this next chapter, finding more fun or joy, uh, shaking things up and making sure we hit 50 on our terms. We've covered everything from hormones, food, stress, cravings, sleep, how to keep showing up for ourselves, how to keep snacking, and especially when life throws us those curveballs. If there's one thing I'm taking from this, hitting 50 isn't about restriction or playing it safe. It's about nourishing ourselves better, listening to what our bodies need, and making sure the next chapter feels energized and full of joy. If you want to die, delve deeper into anything, make sure you check out Zoe's books because she does have a few books. Um, or make sure that you do turn up to her retreats. Um, and if you are craving that reset, I would recommend having a look at the retreat in May 16th to 19th. Because midlife isn't about winding down, it's about getting really clear on what actually matters and making the most of it. If you love this chat, hit subscribe, share it with your friends, or just comment and engage on socials. And before you go, why don't you also take Zoe's one little thing or one-step challenge before you turn 50 and make sure you do find more joy and make sure that you are nourishing your body better. Try it for a week, see how it goes. Because fuck, we're nearly 50, and isn't it amazing.