Episode 92: Food, Mood and Menopause with Lisa G - Mini Menopause Pod Series
Welcome back to our mini menopause series with nutritionist and health coach, Lisa G where we chat about some individual aspects of the menopause, or as we’re calling it ‘Four Short Dives from Two Short Divas’.
In this episode we chat about the impact of declining estrogen on neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and adrenaline, and how this affects mood and stress. Lisa explains the importance of nutrients such as Vitamin C, B vitamins, L-Theanine, and magnesium for supporting adrenal health and mental well-being.
We also discuss food sources like leafy greens, supplements suitable for various dietary needs, and emphasise the importance of self-care (hello, Epsom salt baths!), understanding body changes, and making small, sustainable dietary adjustments during menopause.
Don't forget, Lisa is offering a free 20 min consultation, you can find her contact details on her website!
EPISODE TIMESTAMPS:
[00:55] - Food, Mood, and Menopause: Personal Experiences
[01:43] - Understanding Neurotransmitters and Hormones
[02:59] - Supporting Adrenal Health with Nutrients
[04:36] - Magnesium and Its Benefits
[07:56] - The Importance of Gut Health
[09:33] - Small Sustainable Changes for Menopausal Health
[10:17] - Adapting Exercise During Menopause
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EPISODE #92 TRANSCRIPT: Food, Mood And Menopause with Lisa G - Mini Menopause Pod Series
Jemma: Welcome back to Love This Food thing for number two of four bite-sized menopausal pods with nutritionist and health coach Lisa G. Hello. Hello. Why are we doing these? Well, if you have a history of eating disorders like me, or if you still have food stuff going on, the menopausal years can be even more challenging despite us flying the flag for menopause being a huge opportunity.
But we think fundamentally that women want to know about weight, mood, and sex. And second up. Are we doing hormones and hunger, or we're doing food mood, we're doing mood and menopause, we're doing mood,
Lisa: food
Jemma: and menopause. We're mood, food and menopause. And, um, so glad I'm on the ball. And um, I'm gonna set the pinger again and we're gonna go for 10 minutes, which is quite an ask, um, because there is so much to say.
So let's set the thing up. Here we go. Okay. What are we talking about? Food minerals. Here we go. Okay. Food, mood, and menopause. So I'm gonna tell you how it was for me. Was food a problem again? Um, yes, because I couldn't get away with not feeding myself properly, so I had to pay more attention to it, which was kind of like a catch 22 sometimes.
I also suddenly just found out I couldn't eat certain things that I had been eating. Maybe sugar. I was asleep within half an hour. Alcohol, that changed dramatically. Um, now I can do a bottle of vodka. A date. No, I'm only kidding. Um, food, mood and menopause. My mood was low 'cause I was fatigued and I actively started to really.
Look at the kind of foods that I was eating and what I was putting into my body. 'cause I had to, 'cause I felt so shit.
Lisa: Yeah. Yeah. What would
Jemma: you like to say about that?
Lisa: So what we're going to, what I'd like, first of all, you know, I think as Gemma said, there is so much to talk about around this, but what I would like to talk.
About today is there's some key neurotransmitters. Go for it. Neurotransmitters are brain chemicals. Yeah. The first one is serotonin. Mm-hmm. Our happy hormone. Mm-hmm. So estrogen declines, but estrogen is responsible for serotonin synthesis. It makes serotonin. Okay. And so declining estrogen can lead to irritability, sadness, depression, and sleep problems.
Jemma: Okay.
Lisa: And then you've got dopamine. That's your motivation, your reward again. The lack of estrogen affects your dopamine, and then you've got adrenaline, so that's your alertness, your stress response. So estrogen, the lack of estrogen can affect that.
Jemma: Okay? If you have been restricting food and you have lived a very busy, stressful internal.
Existence. And externally, yes. Your adrenal glands are gonna really
Lisa: feel it when you're menopausal, right? Absolutely. And also, when you go into menopause, your adrenal glands produce a lot of your sex hormones, right? Yeah. So dealing with stress and supporting your adrenals with the nutrients they need is really, really important.
So how do you do that? So there's some beautiful nutrients to support your adrenals, vitamin C. Really important for your immune system. So you're gonna find
Jemma: that in citrus fruits, citrus vegetables, fruits,
Lisa: vegetables, um, but vitamin C we don't make it. So it's the one supplement we really should take. And how much would you supplement?
Everyone is different. Um, you can't sort of od on, I know, on vitamin C Yeah. You'll, you'll know you've reached your tolerance if you get a bit of a stomach upset. Yeah.
Jemma: Or diarrhea or something.
Lisa: Exactly. So you could take. A thousand milligrams a day. And would you take it in powder form? Powder or, uh, capsule.
Okay. Or, you know, whatever suits you. Okay. I think. But adding, but because also it's very good for the immune system. Okay. Then you've got B vitamins and you, it's pantothenic acid, which is B five. That's particularly good for the adrenals, but I think B vitamins should be taken in a complex because they're synergistic, they work better together.
And where would you find them in food? Um, they're in most foods, meats, potatoes, a lot of these sort of complex carbs. What
Jemma: happens if you
Lisa: don't eat meat? Um, legumes, legumes, you'd find B vitamins. In Marmite and Marmite. You've got nutritional yeast, which is really high in B12, which is fantastic. I use a lot, which is fantastic.
Yeah, if you don't eat cheese, you can sprinkle that on absolutely anything. Then you've got L-Theanine, which is. Beautiful for focus and concentration. That's in green and black tea. Really good. Okay. As in an anything else? They're the main sources of Alpine or you can take it as a supplement. Okay. Then you've got magnesium, which is literally nature's tranquilizer.
Jemma: So can we just talk about this thing back to kind of like the episode before, but this embodiment can also happen through. Magnesium salt baths. Ah,
Lisa: Epsom salt baths are just incredible. Incredibly relaxing that you can really land. Yeah. If that makes sense. And they're fantastic when you have sleep problems.
Amazing. If you have sleep problems.
Jemma: And there's also something I want to mention, which is, uh, sweet Bees organic magnesium butter, which you can rub on the soles of your feet and your calves. Yes. Yeah.
Lisa: And then also if you are anxious, you can rub it around your heart area. Ah, it's a really. Beautiful. It's a fabulous company, but it's a, that their magnesium balm is really beautiful.
Okay. You can sort of rub, especially for sleep. It's really good.
Jemma: Yeah.
Lisa: On your, the soles of your feet. But if you're feeling anxious, just rub a little around your heart area. Okay. So I think that's really, sorry I cut you off. Sorry. Go. Don't worry. That's really important. So, um, magnesium, green, leafy veg, salmon, avocados, nuts and seeds.
Okay. If you are vegan, do you have to supplement these things?
Jemma: I think it's hard being menopausal and vegan. It, it, I just wanna put it out. It
Lisa: is, it is hard and it comes down to, I think, really understanding about nutrients if you are vegan. I started to eat. Fish
Jemma: again, right
Lisa: when
Jemma: I was perimenopausal, like properly.
Yeah.
Lisa: Yeah. I think that it's,
Jemma: and some dairy,
Lisa: lots of beans and lentils and pulses and grains.
Jemma: Mm-hmm.
Lisa: Um, again, the nutritional yeast is really good for B12.
Jemma: Yeah.
Lisa: Because you may need to supplement B12 being a vegan.
Jemma: Yeah.
Lisa: Because B12 is really important. Um, then you've got, um, if we're talking about the adrenals, there's toine that's, but that's only in.
Animal protein. Okay. That's again, really, really important. Um, oh, you got tofu as well in tempo to, yeah, tofu, tempes, ami beans, soy, ami beans. All of that is, is really, really important.
Jemma: Okay. So more, do you have something more to say about that? I'm just showing you something else. Oh my God,
Lisa: I've got, so, go on diving so many different things to say.
You've got four minutes talk. Also, what happens is if we go back to serotonin, the happy hormone, that's really, really gonna affect your mood.
Jemma: Yeah.
Lisa: Um, the precursor to serotonin is something called tryptophan. Okay. Have we heard tryptophan is like your. People say, you know, after a Christmas lunch, they're so full up.
Yeah. And it's because, you know, if you do eat meat, Turkey is very high in tryptophan. Okay. So you've got one of the pathways and there's little other areas when there's pathway, but it's tryptophan, serotonin, and melatonin.
Jemma: Okay.
Lisa: So tryptophan, um. Can cross the blood-brain barrier. And what if some people, when they get those sugar cravings, yeah, you are going to eat, um, tryptophan food that needs carbs and then you'll get a sudden rise in serotonin so you'll feel suddenly happier.
But then you will get that absolute. Crush. Okay. Yeah. And you just land and you feel sort of miserable and you have that blood sugar rollercoaster. But serotonin is also made in the gut. Okay? And because estrogen is needed to make serotonin, you get a lot of women post menopause, get gut issues. Ah, so sort of gut motility.
Okay. So, you know, maybe slightly more constipated because there's that lack of serotonin. Can that be helped with a, you could Good probiotic and fermented food. Absolutely. So I was gonna talk about diversity.
Jemma: Okay, you've got two minutes. So you
Lisa: need those, um, prebiotics, which is the fiber rich foods we did.
Yeah. The live bacteria, which are the probiotics. So you, you need, you need that because you need that, um, microbial diversity.
Jemma: And also you can help yourself by drinking kombucha.
Lisa: Yeah. Ke or ke. Yeah. You can
Jemma: drink water ke. Yeah. You can drink coconut. Coconut kefi and
Lisa: dairy. Ke and dairy kefi. Yeah.
Absolutely.
Jemma: And you can drink. Drink. You can eat. Sauerkraut.
Lisa: Sauerkraut.
Jemma: Kimchi. Kimchi. Yeah. Pickles.
Lisa: Absolutely.
Jemma: Well, yeah, absolutely. They are fermented. So what we're really trying to say is that. Uh, all these changes are going on. You might not be feeling great. You might be feeling terrible. This is an ideal opportunity to act in a completely different way.
Yeah. And really do a deep dive into yourself and looking after
Lisa: yourself. Yeah. And it's also, I think what's really important is to be kind and gentle with yourself. Yeah. And it's about trying, if you are able to, educating yourself, and also it's about small sustainable changes. Okay, what's, give me three small sustainable changes.
So if, for example, you are not eating, whether you are vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, if you're not eating enough protein mm-hmm. For example, because protein is, is so important, but especially during menopause because protein is needed for muscle synthesis. We're gonna talk about protein in a minute. Making, building about the muscles.
So if you are having maybe. One egg a day. Yeah. Have two. Have two, have two. Just be very gentle and kind and try and there are so many books out there to help. There are so many websites that you can go to. Mm-hmm. To learn, to educate yourself.
Jemma: And also, if you're used to doing lots of exercise, you might find that your body doesn't wanna do it.
You might find that you don't have the strength, that you don't have the cardio. Well, it's like I felt that I just lost the energy in the tank. Yeah. I couldn't push through. Yeah. So I stopped pushing through. Yeah. I used to practice yoga in a really hot space with lots of people, and one day I just went, I'm not doing this anymore.
And I, because everything's changed
Lisa: because everything, everything changes. Our body is gently whispering to us. Please just give me different things.
Jemma: Yeah. And it's
Lisa: learning to. As I've said before, sit with the uncomfortable and trying to be in tune with what your body's asking because it's, it's changing, it's going through changes
Jemma: new times.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Thank you.
Lisa: But,
Jemma: so Lisa is also offering a, did you say 15 or 20 minutes? 20 minutes. 20 minutes. So cash, 20 minute consult, freebie if you are interested. Okay. Thank you.