(0:40) Welcome
Hey listeners - welcome back to The Paleo View!Stacy and Sarah geeked out over the math specialties of this episode number 369Sarah wished Stacy a Happy Birthday!Stacy talked about what happens when you get older and what she is noticingToday on the show, inspired by Stacy's own aging journey, the hosts are going to talk about aging as a womanSpecifically perimenopause and menopauseAs we get older what happens from a physical perspectiveWhat can we do about it from a lifestyle perspectiveStacy wants to remind people before they dive into this topic that the great think about heading into perimenopause and aging is that you are still aliveStacy feels like this is lost on a lot of peopleFeeling gratitude to be alive and to focus on finding your best healthSarah gave a shoutout to this week's episode sponsor, EverlyWellStacy and Sarah love this at-home lab testing company that offers a variety of tests, ranging from Food Sensitivity to Metabolism, to a Thyroid Test, Vitamin D to a comprehensive Women’s Health PanelThe Paleo View listeners can use the link below to get 15% off their order with code ‘ThePaleoView’https://everlywell.com/thepaleoview(5:42) The Science
Often the term menopause is used as this catchallIt actually means the end of the change of lifeThe time in a woman's life when she can no longer reproduceIt is marked by at least a year without a periodPerimenopause refers to that period of time that is the transition between pre-menopausal (reproductive years) and menopause (no longer reproducing)For most women, the transition will start sometime in their 40's, usually late 40'sSome will start to notice some changes in their mid 30'sIt can be almost instant to more than a decade in timeBetween 4 to 10 years is averageWhat is happening during this period of time is that estrogen levels are starting to dropAs estrogen drops, it can drop rapidly, and that hormone shift can cause a lot of the symptomsThroughout perimenopause, estrogen can cycle in a weird wayIt stops being the regular cycle that we have during our menstruation cyclesIt starts being more unpredictableThis is what drives all the symptomsSymptoms:Hot flashesSleep problemsVaginal drynessIrregular periodsWorse PMSBreast tendernessWeight gain that isn't linked to diet and lifestyleChanges to your hairMore rapid heartbeatCardiovascular disease risk factors will often increaseHeadachesLoss of libidoCognitive challengesChallenges conceivingMuscle achesUrinary tract infectionsNight sweatsFatigueDry skinOveractive bladder or urinary incontinenceHyperthyroidismChronic disease risk implicationsStacy is feeling a bit of anxiety over all of the symptoms Sarah mentionedStacy's mom hasn't gone through perimenopause yet and it is interesting to Stacy how much variability there is in one person's experience to the next and the role that genetics playSarah and Stacy discussed if/how pregnancies impact one's menopause timelineWhen looking at this list of symptoms, Sarah wants to emphasize that some of these can be driven by stress levels and/or early perimenopauseIf you have a hormonal imbalance this is a good situation to work with a functional or integrative medicine specialist and do some hormone balancingThese symptoms can be alleviated by balancing hormonesHormone balancing protocols are typically very personalized and involve tweaking hormonal doses to get them into the normal rangeThe way to test is to look at the female hormones specificallyEverlyWelldoes offer a very comprehensive Women's Health panel
Sarah's non-medical recommendation would be to combine this with a cholesterol and lipids testAlso measuring Vitamin D levels would be helpful to measure at this pointStacy recommends going back and listening to the Functional M.D. podcast episodeif you are wanting to figure out how to find someone who can help you with some of these thingsTaking these tests yourself and looking at the information is going to be the best way to not just hear someone tell you that your only option is to get old and medicateEducate yourself with these tests and know where your inflammation markers are so that you are educated when you talk to a medical professionalSarah notes that the conventional medical model is symptom alleviation with prescription medicationsThere are situations where women are on 8 to 10 different medications that are each for an individual symptom of menopauseThere are some really interesting studies that look at diet and lifestyle interventions and show that they are far more effectiveGiven the link between nutrition and lifestyle and how easy this biological transition/tradition is that we go through, Sarah thinks that it is a real lost opportunity to educate people in terms of a healthy diet and lifestyleThere have been studies looking at other cultures and their traditional dietsThese studies have shown that women in those cultures have a far lower rate of reporting symptoms of perimenopauseEx: Only 10% of women in China, 17% of women in Singapore, and 22% of women in Japan report hot flashes as part of perimenopauseIn contrast, in the US, 75% of women over the age of 50 report having hot flashesIt does look like these diets are much higher in vegetables, fiber, lower in fat contentThere is a collection of research showing that the typical Western diet (high fat, low fiber, a lot of animal foods) can cause high estrogen levels in womenWhich means as these women enter perimenopause they are going to experience a more dramatic dropThere have been studies now looking at vegetable and fruit consumption and menopausal symptomsThese studies show that the higher vegetable and fruit consumption is, the fewer symptoms of menopause are experiencedIt's inversely correlated with sugars and fatsThere is a fair amount of evidence showing that fiber is really importantFiber helps to bind with excess hormones and eliminate themSo it is a very important element to hormone regulation(36:20) The Role That Diet & Lifestyle Plays
There is this new paradigm for understanding the symptoms of menopause where scientists are starting to make a case for them being largely driven by oxidative stressOxidative stress translates to inflammation, but it means that there are a lot of oxygen radicals in the bodyOxygen radicals in the body are not just driving inflammation, but they are also impacting cellular healthThey are impacting DNAOxygen radicals are the things that cause agingOne of the reasons why cruciferous vegetables are thought to be so beneficial for menopausal symptoms is because they are particularly high in antioxidantsThe data shows that deficiency in these nutrients can magnify menopausal symptoms, it is really mixed as to whether or not supplementation can helpIt emphasizes the importance of a healthy diet going into perimenopause and maintained throughoutVitamin EVitamin CVitamin B12Vitamin DVitamin B6Vitamin ASarah still thinks food sources are the best sourcesMenopause increases the likelihood of B12 deficiencyThis likely drives a lot of the insomnia symptoms that are experienced in menopauseA diet that includes organ meat, seafood and lots of plants would be the best way to structure a diet to meet these nutrient requirements that mitigate the effects of low estrogenStacy's favorite way to get the nutrients from organ meat is through liver pillsTo be completely upfront with the podcast listeners, Sarah noted that neither her nor Stacy are perfectThey cycle in terms of what a good job they are doing in terms of diet and lifestyleThey have both been really open about this on the showThis is a lifestyle that does require a renewed commitment from time to time, as it is importantBe able to recommit without guilt or blamePeriodically we all need a resetOne of the reasons why Sarah blogs and podcasts is to keep her accountablePerfection is an unachievable goalStacy reminds people that the aging process happens the moment we are bornWhen we can accept this process we can more easily learn how to manage the processLifestyle is also really important for menopausal symptoms, especially exerciseThere is certainly a stress link and there are many recommendations in the mainstream health resources available about how to reduce stressMeditationIn addition to mindfulness practices, getting enough sleep is another powerful tool when managing stressWith sleep disturbance as a part of menopause, the way to get enough sleep is to exerciseThere have been a variety of studies that tackle this from two waysOne: they look at women, their symptoms and how much they exerciseBasically moderate physical activity has less than half the amount of psychological and physical symptoms of menopause than those who don't exercise muchHigh levels of physical activity is not beneficial to menopausal symptomsAn hour(ish) a day of low to moderately intense activity is what to shoot for hereThere is a consistent reduction in symptoms with activity over timeOne study did 50 minutes of unsupervised aerobic training, four times per weekThey saw a 2% improvement in hot flashes per week, continuously over the 6-month length of this trialPlus there are a lot of other benefits that come with consistent exerciseImprove bone mineral densityMaintain muscle strengthImprove sleep qualityImprove moodReduce anxiety and depressionReduce irritability Reduce hot flashesIf we take all of this, we are boiling it down to: be active and eat a lot of vegetablesThese are the two recommendations that have the strongest support in the medical literatureMake sure cruciferous vegetables make it on the plate every dayIf you feel like you are doing all the diet and lifestyle things, but the symptoms are still really impacting your quality of life, there is definitely a time and a place for hormone replacement therapy for menopausal symptomsSarah recommends workings with a Functional Integrative Medical Practitioner who has training in hormone balancing and who is going to do testing and be up to date on the literatureStacy gets a lot of questions around skincare for aging skin, specifically as women enter their 30'sThis is when women's collagen and moisture in their skin goes downThe number one thing to keep your skin from aging is hydration and moisturization Also preventing oxidative stress with SPF and things like thatDamage to our skin is caused by environmental factors, as well and genetics and all the hormones Stacy and Sarah have talked about on this showSo you want to make sure you are addressing it from both angles if you want to reduce the signs of agingHydroxy acids or fruit acids are a powerful toolThese are widely studied as far as antiaging goesYou can often find them listed as AHA or BHAThis is essentially going to slough off the skin through exfoliationIt should cause a reduction in acne, scars, and pigmentationOther ingredients that are helpful: Hyaluronic acidUsing a moisturizer with hyaluronic acid in it is going to help maintain the moisture in your skinCollagenStacy takes it as a supplement every day, also drinks bone broth, and eats cuts of meat that is rich in collagenYou can increase topically your use of Vitamin C which helps synthesize collagenMost of the antiaging skincare products out there targeted to women's skin that is aging contain hormone-disrupting ingredients purposefullyBefore Stacy uses any products she goes to EWG and uses their Skin Deep DatabaseThe two things that Stacy has found the most results from are:Dermabrasion Stacy has a tutorial on this process on her Instagram storiesOnce you remove that top layer of skin, you are going to want to nourish that fresh skinStacy uses BeautyCounter's Overnight Resurfacing PeelThis product is free through the month of September You can learn more hereSarah uses a mix of brands that work for her skinHowever, Sarah did use the Resurfacing Peel that Stacy shared with her and was very impressed with the resultsStacy shared on how BeautyCounter tests their products for safety(1:15:27) Closing Thoughts
EverylyWell offers a lot of really great testing kits for accessing that health pieceIncluding addressing hormone imbalances, thyroid health, cardiovascular disease risk factors, cholesterol, vitamin D levels, and all the other things that are really important to women's healthYou can visit this linkto get 15% off your order with the ‘ThePaleoView’Stacy knows that this was a topic that has been highly requested by listeners, and she hopes everyone enjoyed itStacy thanked Sarah for all the time she put into the research required for this showIf you have follow up questions, Stacy and Sarah welcome themPlease remember that neither Stacy nor Sarah are medical professionals and they cannot give listeners specific advice for your particular health issueHowever, they are happy to address things from an overall perspectiveUse the comment forms on either Stacy or Sarah's site to submit questionsStacy and Sarah love to hear from listeners on social mediaPlease keep tagging Stacy and Sarah when you shareIf you learned something and enjoyed the show, please be sure to share it with someone who you think could also learn from this episodeThanks for listening!
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