Welcome to Everyday Wellness Podcast. I'm your host, Nurse Practitioner Cynthia Thurlow. This podcast is designed to educate, empower, and inspire you to achieve your health and wellness goals. My goal and intent is to provide you with the best content and conversations from leaders in the health and wellness industry each week and impact over a million lives. This is the start of a new Thursday series called the Midlife Minute that is really designed to address listeners' questions in a little bit longer length of time and or deeper dive into topics. Ideally we're going to keep these podcasts under 20 minutes. Occasionally we make over to 30, but I'm trying to reinforce some key concepts and ensure that I'm addressing listeners' questions in a way that's really helpful. So the questions that I will be addressing topics are going to be items that I'm being asked over and over and over again. I hope you enjoy this series. Please share with your friends. And as you know, you can always send your questions to support at synthiethurlow.com. I appreciate each and every listener. Today is a second in a series of three talking about fiber specifically for middle age. Today is fiber hormones and blood sugar and why midlife kind of reframes the rules. I want to talk about something that surprises a lot of women in middle age. They come to me and they say my eating hasn't really changed, but my body has. Shifts in body composition are a source of utter frustration. I feel like I'm more sensitive to carbs. This is especially for women who have otherwise always been metabolically healthy, insulin sensitive. I'm gaining weight around my midsection for the first time in my life and I'm doing everything that used to work before and nothing now works. Or they're experiencing energy crashes more easily and readily than they did before. And so I oftentimes will say midlife doesn't just change our hormones. It changes how our body responds to food and we have to respond accordingly. We have to eat for a physiology. One of the biggest net impact things that happens in perimenopause and monopause is alterations in estradiol. And as I remind people, estradiol is not just framed in this perspective of bikini medicine or infertility. It is critical for insulin sensitivity, fat distribution, mitochondrial function as our mitochondria become more dysfunctional. Not only does hormone replacement therapy become more problematic, but it also means that our energy levels become a bigger issue as well as brain fog, appetite regulation, and just overall inflammation. So when estrogen levels are higher in our body or estradiol, which is our predominant form of estrogen, our body makes prior to menopause. We tend to handle glucose more efficiently. We store less fat around our abdomen and we recover much more readily from stress and sleep. As I talk about all the time, we become much less stress resilient. That is a byproduct of alterations in hormones like estradiol and progesterone, but also alterations in neurotransmitters, GABA, serotonin, as well as the other hormone melatonin. So we know that as estradiol is declining, we start having this slippery slope. And so we may be dealing with more cravings, more belly fat, more blood sugar dysregulation, and fatigue after meals, which is so frustrating. And this is where I think fiber really becomes an important part of the conversation. I think about fiber as a metabolic stabilizer. And so we know that fiber helps slow the metabolism and absorption of blood sugar or glucose from the foods that we eat. That means we get smaller spikes in glucose. We get more stable energy. We don't have as many energy crashes. We're better and more insulin sensitive. And this is particularly important because one of the overarching themes throughout middle age is that we suddenly become more insulin resistant. And there's a lot that we can do to fight against this. I think about fiber as a buffer along with strength training, along with stacking your macros in your favor, along with stress and sleep, et cetera. I think of fiber as a buffer. It's not a magic pill literally. But it can strongly influence a lot of the side effects and symptoms we experience. It also plays a role in fat distribution. So when blood sugar is much more stable, insulin levels are more stable. And when insulin is more stable, the body is less likely to store fat centrally around the abdomen or otherwise. And this is why I think about fibers being so intricately interrelated with metabolic health. There's also a fiber and estrogen connection. You may not be aware of this. Fiber plays a role in how our bodies handle estrogen. So there's something called the astroblom. This is the estrogen processing plant of our microbiome. And we know that our liver is also very important for how we process estrogen. We know that when our liver processes estrogen, it's sent into bile and then into the digestive tract. Fun fact, as estrogen is declining, guess what is impacted bile? Bile is really important for emulsifying and breaking down fat. I see a lot of women at this stage of life that are fat-mal absorbed. They struggle to break down that rib eye, the duck, the salmon. They'll struggle more with those denser animal fat proteins as opposed to like a chicken breast or a piece of cod or a filet. And the thing that's interesting is liver, estrogen, bile to the gut. And from there, two things happen. It can get bound to fiber and we can poop it out or it gets reabsorbed and recirculated. And this will magnify all these symptoms of estrogen dominance, the brain fog, the joint pain, the mood issues, the tender breast, the weight loss resistance. And so if your diet is very low in fiber, that second pathway may not be optimal. And we think about how fiber supports a healthy balance of estrogen metabolites by prompting proper elimination, which means you poop on a daily basis through the digestive tract. I think for a lot of women, they think that constipation is normal, meaning that if you poop once or twice a week, that's completely fine. I'm here to tell you we should be pooping every day unless there's a specific reason why that's not happening. So fiber is not just about blood sugar regulation. It's also about hormone balancing. If you're in perimenopause or menopause and are feeling more fatigued, dizzy, lightheaded, struggling with headaches or noticing your workouts feel harder than they used to, electrolytes may be part of the missing piece. As estrogen declines, we lose some of the fluid regulating and vascular protective effects that hormones once provided. That means blood pressure regulation can shift, cortisol can run higher, and many women become more sensitive to dehydration, especially if you're strength training, walking more, intermittent fasting, or reducing processed foods. That's why I love Element. It is my favorite electrolyte formulation, and I've exclusively used their products for the past six years. Element contains a science-backed ratio of sodium, potassium, and magnesium without sugar, artificial ingredients, or unnecessary fillers. It supports hydration at a cellular level, helps reduce muscle cramps, improves energy, as well as recovery, and can even support better stress resilience. This is particularly helpful in midlife when we're prioritizing metabolic health and muscle preservation. I personally use Element throughout the day, and it's become a staple in my routine as well as my household. If you'd like to try it, go to drinkelement.com slash Cynthia to receive a free sample pack with any purchase. Stay hydrated, stay strong, especially in midlife. If you're in your 40s and 50s and feel like your body suddenly stopped responding the way that it used to, you're not imagining it. Bloating, waking, sleep disruptions, food sensitivities, and unpredictable energy are incredibly common in perimenopause and menopause. But here's what most people aren't told. Your gut microbiome is changing right alongside your hormones, and those changes can influence everything from how you store fat to how well you sleep to how your body processes estrogen. That's exactly why I wrote my new book, The Menopause Gut. In this book, I walk you through the science of how the microbiome, metabolism, immune system, and hormones are all connected during midlife. But most importantly, I give you practical, realistic strategies you can start using right away without extreme diets or complicated protocols. You'll learn why the same diet that worked in your 30s may not work now, how your gut influences hot flashes, mood, and weight, the truth about fiber, protein, and blood sugar in midlife, and the daily habits that help your body feel safe, stable, and resilient again. If you're tired of blaming yourself for changes that are actually biological, this book will help you understand what's really happening and what to do about it. You can pre-order The Menopause Gut wherever books are sold, and when you do, be sure to check out the special pre-order bonuses I've put together for you. Again, you can go to www.CynthiaTherlo.com. You'll click on the banner. It'll take you to multiple options for where you can order The Menopause Gut in pre-sale. The other thing that I think is really interesting is that when we are doing intakes on patients and we're looking at food diaries and fiber intake, it's not uncommon to see as your fiber intake declines, your cravings may go up. So, women will say, I don't feel satiated. I crave sugar and carbohydrates in the evening. I don't feel satisfied after meals. If you're looking for something sugary after a meal, that can sometimes be a sign. It's not a willpower issue. This is really a physiology piece. Fiber adds volume and slows digestion. It's twofold, and this creates a sense of fullness and satiety and steadier energy and more stable blood glucose. Without fiber, our meals are digested more quickly, and blood sugar can rise more quickly and then drops. That can in and of itself trigger hunger, cravings, irritability, low energy, which is also a sign of low blood sugar. When fiber is present, this should stabilize things. Now, fiber is a very bio-individual. I say this all the time. Everyone that's listening may have a different fiber imprint, but you can over time increase your fiber intake. For an example in 2019, as I've talked about a lot, six weeks of antibiotics, six weeks of antifungals, my gut microbiome was decimated. It took a very long time for me to be able to tolerate more fiber, but I'm now there again. It takes a long time if you've had that length of antibiotics and a long hospitalization. For anyone that's listening that says, right now I can't tolerate more, that's okay. It's something we can work towards. If you're thinking, I probably need more fiber, I want you to think about this as small, consistent changes. We're not going from 10 grams total a day to 50. You will be miserable and bloated. I want you to think about every meal, where can you add some fiber? It could be that you add a little bit more cruciferous vegetables. It could be that you add seeds to a salad. It could be that you're adding flax and chia seeds to a smoothie. It may be that you just get really strategic. Maybe you go to the grocery store and you try something new, like artichoke hearts or hearts of palms. Put something new and novel into your meals so that there's some variety and it's not the same all the time. Like, I love broccoli. I can eat broccoli every day, but you better believe I don't need it every day. Because my body needs that variety. Fiber really works best when we're also properly hydrated. I think this is sometimes the forgotten. It's not a sexy thing. Mentioning fiber and hydration, not sexy things. It's not a bright, shiny abject. But I'm here to tell you that you want to make sure you're drinking sufficient amounts of water and staying hydrated. If you're drinking a lot of caffeinated beverages, you're going to need more water. It's just a fact. I always say try to make sure you're drinking water throughout the day. I have a 60-ounce glass pitcher in my kitchen, so I know exactly how much water I've consumed during a day. I fill it up in the morning. At the end of the day, I can reassess. Certainly with book launch stuff, I'm doing a lot of talking and I have to drink even more water. And the way that I can see when I'm dehydrated beyond the obvious things, like my skin can be dry. I might not have as much energy. Am I not asleep as well? My HRV tanks when I'm dehydrated. So that's always a good tell. You want to make sure that you're eating in a relatively calm state. We talk about how digestion starts in the brain and why it's so important to be taking a couple deep breaths before you sit down to a meal. You don't want to be standing while you're eating. You don't want to be in the car. You don't want to be having an argument with a loved one while you're trying to eat. And then just savoring the meal itself, not rushing through it. I think we are a nation that really enjoys racing through things. I want to finish the check the box. I want to finish my meal so I can get back to what I was doing before. So if you feel like you are more sensitive at this stage of life to stress and carbs and meal timing, you're not imagining it. Your physiology is changing, but instead of fighting your body, I want you to work with it. And so one of the most powerful things you can do, and this is keeping things really simple, right? We want things to be simple and actionable. We want consistent fiber in our meals, which supports your blood sugar, your hormones and your gut. And like I mentioned earlier, the astroblom. I've done a couple really great sub-stack articles talking about the astroblom and a little bit of greater detail of it, something you're interested in learning more about on these midlife minutes. Please let me know. You can send questions to support at synthyatherlo.com. We also have a free Facebook group called the midlife pause backslash my name. Had I known that we were going to name this book, the menopause gut, it would have been the menopause gut, but we didn't know that a year and a half ago. So the group is called the midlife pause backslash my name free Facebook group. Just think about it. We want no extremes, no perfection, just steady, consistent changes, adding a little bit of fiber and then just really understanding how that little bit of fiber is really going to improve your health over time. One of the most common questions I get is, are there specific supplements that I like that are fiber centric? Try to get it from food first, track your macro, see where you are, and then we can add in fiber there if we really indeed need it. If you love this podcast episode, please leave a rating and review, subscribe and tell a friend.
