Fueling Your Hormones: The Latest Nutrition Guidelines

The old food pyramid? Outdated.

In this episode of Shift Happens: Hormones Unfiltered, we break down what modern nutrition guidelines really mean — especially for women navigating perimenopause and midlife.

If your metabolism feels like it shifted overnight, this conversation will help you connect the dots. We unpack how to fuel your body for energy, hormone balance, and long-term health — without fear, restriction, or following outdated advice.

We cover:
 • Why protein needs increase in midlife
• The connection between blood sugar stability and hormone balance (we need fiber!)
• How to separate real science and bioindividuality from social media noise

Spoiler alert:
🥩 Protein matters more than you think
🥦 Fiber is vital
🥑 Blood sugar stability is everything

This episode is about fueling your body with intention, not fear.

Key Takeaways

• Prioritize protein for muscle maintenance and metabolic health
• Keep blood sugar steady to support hormones and energy
• Question restrictive diets and trendy advice — science over social media
• Nutrition is bioindividual

Work With Us

If you’re navigating perimenopause, menopause, or unexplained hormone symptoms, we offer a unique approach that combines clinical hormone care with personalized health coaching.

Together we support women with:

✨ Functional medicine hormone insight
 ✨ Root-cause testing and individualized care
 ✨ Sustainable lifestyle and nervous system support
 ✨ Coaching for lasting health behavior change

👉 Learn more or book a consultation:
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https://www.melissagaskin.com/

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Disclaimer

This podcast is for educational purposes only and does not replace personalized medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider regarding your individual health needs.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Skip Happens Hormones and Filters. This goal was we decoded a wild, wonderful, and occasionally WTF of perimenophons and menopause and everything in between. We're your host. I'm Joanna Lancaster, a women's health nurse practitioner and functional medicines provider at ONU Youth, specializing in empowering women to understand the root cause of fuel hormone imbalance and helping you feel like yourself again.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

And I'm Melissa Gaskin, a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coast at City Center, supporting clients through sustainable lifestyle changes for root cause healing. Together we are your science meet school, clinical material life, hormone dream team.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

A volunteer, nothing is off limits. Hot flashes, mood swings, tweets that disappear like your favorite pair of beings. Yeah, we're talking about all of it.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Our mission is simple: cut through the noise, ditch the chains, and help you understand what's actually happening in your body with zero judgment and a lot of laughs.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

So whether you're shifting, pausing, or wondering why your homework feels like they're gonna boot the text without you, you're in the right place.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

Grab your tea, your electrolytes, and your secret midlife snack. No judgment, and let's get into today's episode. Today we're taking on the new food pyramid. So we're gonna break down what's new, what we like about it, and what's really given us a pause.

SPEAKER_00 1:37

This is our take. Yeah, exactly. So the we're we're gonna start with just summarizing what are the new um changes all about. And you might have seen a lot of different content on social media. Everybody posts their take on this food pyramid. So we thought we'd jump on the bandwagon and and give it a functional perspective. So the what's what's new, right? The the new pyramid is literally flipped upside down, so we can see that it is has a small tip at the bottom. Um, the the old pyramid had a huge base of grains where we were supposed to eat, you know, the majority of foods coming from from grains. And um the new food pyramid is is upside down, and the the small piece is grain. So we're we're completely flipping this around with the majority of foods coming from vegetables and whole proteins. So the um emphasis is on less grains, and especially they they are um defining ultra-processed grains and and refined grains as leaving those out and recommending to focus on whole grains. Um in general, the recommendations are now for whole foods over processed and and fat-free foods, so that's a big shift because um the old food permit really was everything was low fat, low fat dairy, low fat foods, um, and fat as the bad guy. And now we are understanding that good fats are really important, um, and and so this new food permit really focuses on that. Whole foods, full fat dairy. Um, and then we have a a really great development with stronger language that identifies ultra-processed foods and added sugars, um, even even sweeteners are in there and and advised against. So that's really wonderful. Um the the high protein intake is uh is a big piece of this new food pyramid where we we're really um ramping up the the general food protein intake. Um and yeah, do you want to tell us a little bit about the the whole My Plate story?

SPEAKER_01 4:10

So MyPlate, I feel like, is more of this in-between, like a stepping stone between the original pyramid from the 90s and early 2000s. My plate came around 2011 until just this last year. And there were some shifts there that really focused on this ratio of like 30% of your plate being grains, 40% being vegetables, 20% being protein, and 10% fruit. So it looked at the plate and half of it was fruits and veggies, and then the other half of the plate essentially was your protein and your grains. And they did say at that time, like half of your grains to be whole grains. Um so it was this shift away from the grain dominance, but also in kind of a step into what just was launched this last week as far as the grains on the plate. But the dairy focus was still low fat, you know, um, this real but big focus on just less fat. And I don't think it had it gave enough clarity around how to fill the plate. You know, you have this image, but the description, most people won't read the description, they're just looking at a picture. And so I think, you know, these steps, I think, is is the progress that we've gotten into what is today. Yeah. So let's dive into each of these categories. Let's look at each one of them and yeah, absolutely. Talk about them. So protein dairies and healthy fats. So this protein target on the new guidelines is 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, is this new recommendation. And in America, we really have this background of pounds and you know, ounces and teaspoons and tablespoons. We don't think in grams and kilograms as a society. So I think that already creates confusion for many because they don't, and most people don't have a food scale in their kitchen weighing specifically to know. Um, and it's something that comes up a lot with clients when looking at sugar, because it's like X amount of you know, eight eight grams of sugar versus how many teaspoons is that? And so people get very confused often on well, what am I supposed to be eating? So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Um and that that equates to basically if we're looking at this 1.2 to 1.6 grams, if you're you know a 140-pound person, that equates to a minimum of about uh you know 80 80 grams of protein a day, which makes sense for most people, right? But then we have to look at the the source of the protein and what we're looking at here just in the in the picture. Now the dietary guidelines do mention some plant-based sources of protein, beans, legumes, dairy. Um, uh dairy is not plant-based, but you know what I mean. Yeah, beans. And if we look at this picture from this new food pyramid, we're seeing a whole uh fried chicken, is what that looks like, right? We're seeing whole milk and we're seeing a huge piece of cheese and a steak. That's kind of the top of this protein category. And if we just took that and went uh you went to the grocery store and and got that and ate your veggies with it, um this is not something that everybody should be eating, right? This is a very high fat meat. Both both meat sources here are really high-fat chicken with skin on it, incredibly full of cholesterol, um, whole milk and cheese, also uh problematic, right? That we can have this whole discussion about dairy, that especially women with hormone imbalances often should stay away from dairy. Uh, autoimmune diseases, gut inflammation, you definitely cannot eat any dairy, really. And in our country, we also have some problems with dairy. You know, as dairy is not very um clean here, even if we buy an organic product, it can still contain pesticides, it can stay still contain hormones. We have now have eight-year-olds uh who have full-grown breasts and are starting their period because they're getting too much dairy and there's too many uh hormones in there. So is it this is not completely unproblematic. And um, also talking about people that have a high genetic uh risk for cardiovascular disease, huge family history, they have some genetic markers, they have high cholesterol. Should they really be eating all this animal fat and protein? Uh, probably not, right? So we need to personalize.

SPEAKER_01 9:06

What I see a lot of is a lot of omega-6, whereas majority of our society is heavy in our omega-6, because we get that not only from protein sources, but we get that from our fats, we get that from our um processed anything foods, all of that, and that's standard in American food. Yeah, inflammatory oils. You're it were inundated, and so to balance out, if you're eating at a restaurant and you know that it's canola oil, to balance that out, it's like you can't also add on more omega-6 foods. You really want to prioritize your omega-3 foods, right? And so those are some things that just looking at it without knowledge or or just understanding of nutrition, it can be very misleading if you're walking in a grocery store and you're like, okay, I'm gonna eat better and I'm gonna follow this protein diet, dairy, and healthy fat recommendation. Um, another thing I want to point out too is this whole stick of butter on the side. You know, in America, most people aren't buying raw, clean butter. Most butter, if you look closely at labels, have some type of oils added in there. Right. And so that's another layer of just an extra dose of your omega-6s right here.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

And we even call margarine butter. You know, it's it's really you have to read the label and see what is actually in there.

SPEAKER_01 10:29

Yeah, butter shouldn't spread, no, like spreadable, you know, cartons of butter. That's that's oils in there to break it down, which creates a lot of disease. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah. So overall, it this idea of eating more protein and eating adequate protein is a great idea, and and shifting away from grains to protein, but we've we still have to personalize it and we still have to look at who can eat all this animal protein, who should be more plant-based protein, um, and and and quality sources uh of protein and reading labels, definitely really important.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

And the other piece, too, that I want to add before you move on is if you aren't able to process, I mean, we have a lot of lactose intolerance also in our country, and many people go to an alternative of like almond milk or soy milk, etc. And that also needs to be bioindividualized. And also reading those labels because a lot of those almond milks have gums and other things that can create gut dysbiosis and leaky gut, et cetera, with messing with the lining of your gut. So really looking at labels in alternatives when you are making substitutes from things that you know you can't have on the pyramid, it's is really ideal.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Yeah, and then we could get into the vegan cheeses and all that, but 100% maybe another thing to read labels on, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:52

Yeah, yes, absolutely. Um so on to veggies and fruits. Um, recommendation currently is three servings a day of vegetables and two servings of fruit, which I personally feel is really low. I uh work with like a sugar detox group every year, and I always recommend close as close to 10 per day as possible of your servings, being vegetables, and they can be cooked vegetables, they can be steamed, they can be, you know, raw, whatever raw, all different ways. Um, oftentimes cooked vegetables are a little better on your digestive system. So if you're introducing vegetables and you haven't been eating a lot, yeah, you know, boil them, steam them, etc., so that you have easier um digestible.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Yeah. Um and if if this renew recommendation says you need protein with every meal, which is great, then we also have to have fiber with every meal, right? You can't just eat protein, then you're gonna get constipated, and your cholesterol and your liver and and gut all are not gonna be very happy with you. So we need the fiber to go with it. Now, um, what's your take on how do you recommend people get, you know, over six servings of vegetables? Is there a special trick?

SPEAKER_01 13:12

I think the biggest thing is have them readily available. So every weekend, that's always my goal is have raw fruits and veggies ready to go where you can grab them when you're hungry, and then incorporate things if you're having like an egg breakfast or something like that. Incorporate some sautéed veggies from the night before or have make extras when you're cooking something to have leftovers, and then also you can always incorporate with protein shakes and things like that that have your vegetables added in there, so you're getting those phytonutrients in different forms. It's good to mix it up, you know. Um, I always challenge people to do a re-eat every single color of the rainbow every day. And I do like that in this image it does have all different colors of the rainbow.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah. Um, and so you can't just eat carrots and broccoli every day. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

It's not gonna need diversity in your microbiome. And that's what all these different phytonutrients from the different colors, yeah, they create that diversity in the gut. And so vegetables really are like like plant forward really does help reverse metabolic issues. It really does help it, and so being more plant forward is is optimal, but not fake plant forward, real true vegetable forward um nutrition.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

But I do like the aspect that they added the frozen peas here on the picture, you know, because we um vegetables are expensive, and especially if we're trying to be mostly organic to avoid um all the pesticides and things, then frozen is often a really good option. And also for busy moms, you know, where absolutely uh don't have time to chop veggies all day long. You buy a blend that's uh frozen, great, throw it in the pan and you have your uh protein already prepped and ready to go.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Frozen cauliflower rice, like that's one of my favorites because it's that's an easy add-on to a taco night, but it's in lieu of all the extra grains, oftentimes, you know. So having that ready to go, or it's just ready, it makes it easier to do. And a lot of times you can get frozen vegetables for much cheaper, like you mentioned. Yeah, and I think that's you, you know, you can find deals and buy one get ones and that type of stuff on frozen foods, yeah, which is you know, frozen is actually flash frozen and optimal peak nutrition when it's ripe and ready. Whereas oftentimes in the grocery store, I hate it when you know when vegetables and fruit go bad in my house. It's like it bothers me. Yes, it's upsetting. It is because you're like, oh no, we have to eat this, but you know, they flash freeze it, and it's so it's optimal peak nutrition there when you're getting a package of frozen food. So there's definitely a lot of good, I think, from having fruits and vegetables being the top. Um, and personally, primarily I think vegetables, like lead with those veggies every day. Yes, for great so many benefits.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

And and the the the balance between uh animal fat and protein and and fiber from the veggies really has to be there. That that is a big, big key point, I think.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Well, and like our digestive enzymes decrease as we age, and so that's another thing is if we're not feeding good microbiome and creating a good gut flora, then we have less digestive enzymes to break down some of these very difficult to digest protein sources like steak. It does take much longer to break down in the body, and so yeah, it is it's you need an imbalance.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Same thing with the microbes and your your hormone balance, right? If we're talking specifically about women, so many hormone imbalances originate in the gut because there's an imbalance in those microbes and the enzymes that sit there and help metabolize estrogen, for example. Um, so we can't do that just on meat alone. Um, and yeah, so a lot more veggies would be great. And then we come to the grain category, and what I really love is the focus on whole grains. So shifting away from this nondescript um just just eat carbohydrates as you the base of your pyramids, but that could also include, you know, uh cereals that are considered heart healthy and are have an ingredient list of over 20 things that are all crap, or it can include um you know highly processed white bread and and all these things. So those are all taken out of the pyramid, and now we're focusing really on on gluten-free or or gluten-reduced um things like rice and oats, and their sourdough bread is a recommendation. So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

And I but watch your sourdough if you're getting it from a shelf, oftentimes it's not authentic sourdough. Exactly. Well, I make my own, you know. Right. Is it is it makes a huge difference in a homemade sourdough if you're getting it from a local baker, making your own, etc., versus something that's been store-bought or processed or what sort of flour do you use?

SPEAKER_00 18:16

You know, this could be a white processed bleached um flour that you're then um making a sourdough out of, but there's nothing in there, right? It's completely void. Oh, yeah, you're getting a few microbes. But um, so you know, whole grain, spelt and and um other kind of flour is a really a great way to make a proper homemade sourdough. But the recommendation here is um I find that interesting, two to four servings still on the grain category, which we know women, uh a lot of us, especially hormone imbalanced, um, we can't tolerate that many grains, you know, and it's um so again, we have to personalize this, and some people can't tolerate any grains, they just don't know it. Um, so we have to look at what's going on with you. What do you have autoimmune disease? Do you have gut issues? Do you have hormone imbalances? Then the grains are probably not your best choice and need to go for a while at least. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

So personal likes, I think, of our um just our reflection here. What are yours? What do you what do you like about this new pyramid?

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Yes, so I really love that it's um shifted the focus from um grains as the basis of our food pyramid to more whole foods, vegetables, lean meats, um, you know, and some grains. So that to me is awesome. Eat whole foods, that's that's really important, I think. Um I like that there are plant-based protein um options as part of the protein recommendations, and I think it's so important that we know that protein doesn't have to come from a piece of steak. You know, we have so many legumes out there that are just beautiful, you know, chickpeas, lentils, uh, all these things that we can use, beans. Um tofu also, you know, there's some controversy about that, but uh for some people, tofu can be a really great addition to the diet as well. So love that part. I like that fat is not demonized anymore, that we can say, yes, healthy fats are great for your body and you need those. Um, and that we took out the the sweetened, fried, highly processed foods. That's that's amazing. What I don't like, and and where I think we already talked about these um um specific areas of of protein sources, um dairy and grains, um, that we can't just say everybody needs, you know, four servings of grains a day, everybody needs to eat dairy. Um that's just not not adequate, and and we're we're unique individuals and need um personalized diet recommendations based on what our bodies and our biologies need. What is your take? What do you like about it?

SPEAKER_01 21:29

So when looking at like the MyPlate versus now, I like that there's not a separate glass of milk sitting there because it's really not necessary for our nutrition. Yeah, and um so I I feel strongly that you know, getting if you are consuming dairy and you can getting it from the best quality is great. But I do like that there's not that visual of like, oh, I need milk with every meal. Um, and then I love the that it specifically states like eat colors because that's a huge and we we spoke a good amount about that. And then I I am very optimistic that this will also impact what's coming in Snap, what's approved for Snap, and if that's what's also coming in school lunches and things like that, where that impacts, you know, our next generation and our kids.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

And both of us have, you know, younger kids that, you know, if they eat school lunch, corn dogs in school lunches, which mine right, but they're still that's what they have. Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

And I have kids that come home that are constipated if they do have it or their stomachs upset if they do have specific things from the school lunch because it's foods that we don't eat in our daily life. Yeah. And so I would love for us to all benefit from this, these changes and really see the systemically change what is seen as health, because there are some good things on eating whole food versus eating these highly processed packaged things that have been frozen for who knows how long in school lunches. Yeah. Um, and then another thing I love is that the processed grains are gone. Like there's no mention of highly processed or processed grains, white bread, anything like that. Like how many in the old pyramid, how many bread items were were listed there.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Now 11 servings was the old recommendation for daily grains. I don't even know how you would eat a loaf of bread for breakfast.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Right. It's a lot. And now it's saying only whole grains, which I think is a huge, that's a huge shift right there. So I do like that. Now I don't love with this focus on protein, how in our society people just assume, like, oh, that means I add protein to everything. Um, and even, you know, restaurants and fast food places are already marketing protein coffees and and things like that, where that's not the optimal type of protein. So that's a major dislike to me of what I think marketing and this like health, which we could probably have a whole episode on this, on how our choices are impacted by all of this information. And a lot of it is not true information, and it's very confusing for a consumer to navigate like what does my body really need? Um, because now people are gonna say protein, protein, protein, which I can already for you know, kind of foresee that this is gonna be an issue there.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Um, makes it look healthy, but it's not.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

We already have all these crappy protein bars that are highly processed and really nothing good in there.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

And you have, you know, influencers online that just market and advertise and monetize all of that where it's benefiting them monetarily, but a lot a lot of times they actually don't have it. Just like we were at a uh professional basketball game and they have all these Gatorade jugs. And I was like, I want to know if there's really Gatorade in there. So I asked and they said, no, it's water. And I said that right there is an example of marketing. Now, there might be some that have Gatorade Parade in it, but that's an example of marketing. A lot of these professional athletes, they're hydrating on other things, they're getting IVs, they're doing other things, they're not drinking a food-colored, you know, drink of the burger as a professional athlete. That's not how they're got there. So, you know, it's just it's marketing. Anyways, let's let's get back to this. Um and then I don't, I also don't love that there's like not enough conversation about the bioindividuality, um, as you mentioned, because I think that's that's something that I think is crucial for everyone to still be objective thinkers and question when looking at this food period pyramid and how to implement within their own lives and what their personal health really looks like.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

So yeah. Yeah, so so key takeaways I think are you know, individualize with do some testing, look at what's your cholesterol levels, what's your family risk, what's your genetic risk, uh, what are your hormones doing? Do you have any any symptoms that would make it worth looking at an individualized food plan and really targeting something specific to your uh makeup? And um, the the great, you know, overall really great improvements in this new food pyramid and shifting to whole foods, and we can only emphasize that that is the biggest piece of all of our nutrition plans is stay away from the box stuff. If it has more than two ingredients, it's probably not good for you, you know. Just read the labels. But if you can, just stay in the whole food areas, you know, whole vegetables, whole proteins, don't shy away from legumes if you do tolerate those. Um, and yeah, I think those are any other key takeaways?

SPEAKER_01 26:44

No, I think that's it. Well, thanks for joining us today. Our next episode will be all about sleep and as sleep may adjust and change, going through perimenopause, menopause, what you may expect, what you can do about it, and a little bit of the science behind why this occurs in midlife for women. So we will see you next time. Yeah, sleep tight.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

All right, friends, that's a wrap for today's episode of Shift Happens, Hormones Unfiltered. If your hormones are shifting and you want actual support instead of late-night googling, we've got you.

SPEAKER_01 27:24

Together, we offer a blend of clinical care and coaching that helps you understand your body, regulate your nervous system, and actually feel like yourself again.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

If you're looking for personalized hormone testing, functional medicine guidance, or support navigating parametropology and menopause, and you want accountability, habit change health, and mindset tools to go with it, check out our joint program.

SPEAKER_01 27:48

We work with women who are ready for root-cause answers and sustainable lifestyle tests.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

You can learn how to work with us by clicking in the link in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

Thanks for hanging out with us today. Your body isn't broken, it's shifting. And we're here to help you shift with it. See you next time.