There is so much in the world to cause outrage and vexation just now. As my midlife fury and rage emerges I have decided to accept it, love myself through it and vent in a world that is exasperating.
Honestly, any woman still suppressing anger in 2022 is causing physical harm to her body; living in a world with inequality, power-over relationships, gaslighting of real issues and patriarchal systems of (unnecessarily violent) control.
Todays topic for my wrath is diet plans, the weight loss industry and the wrong headed advice often given to midlife women to “eat less and exercise more.”
Listen, YOUR BODY IS NOT A MACHINE!
You are a miracle of interconnected systems, hormonal messengers and chemical reactions. Your digestive tract contains the same number of neurons as the brain of a cat and a vibrant rich garden of 100 trillion microbes, carrying out cleaning, healing, and nourishing duties. Your body creates electricity to keep your heart beating and your nerves firing. Your heart emits a rhythmic electromagnetic field which can be detected 3 feet from your body and allows you to communicate electromagnetically with the energy of others. REPEAT AFTER ME! I am a miracle! You are a marvel in your uniqueness and perfectly you!
When the sole objective for your health is to make yourself smaller or lighter to fit a very specific, ever-changing image of what a female body should be, you are buying into the control of the patriarchy, are measured by the male gaze and neglecting your own mind and body to do so.
The patriarchy is pervasive to our society but the science behind weight loss is complex and nuanced; so let’s break it down…and yes! some of the statements below are going to contradict each other!!!
Calories are not created equally. Calories when eaten in a cinnamon bun or drunk from a soda can will spike blood sugar levels, drive inflammation, get laid down as fat around or even in your liver and create a greater risk of cancer. The same number of calories found in wild salmon or an avocado will balance blood sugar and reduce inflammation allowing weight to be released. These calories will protect brain health, improve your cardiac health, help to reduce your anxiety by balancing your blood sugar and gift you great looking skin. Sticking to a calorie intake without thinking about the quality of these calories will drive chronic disease, inflammation and ongoing poor health in your body.
Studies show that inflammation is a common underlying factor in all major degenerative diseases — including heart disease, cancer, hypertension, and diabetes — and that it can also cause weight gain and difficulty losing weight. When you are eating no-fat or low-fat products stuffed with chemical fillers and sugar, you are creating inflammation in your body and inflammation leads to weight gain. You are both restricting and fighting with your own metabolism in a lose-lose battle.
It is generally accepted by the medical profession that a lower body weight…using BMI as a measure…equates to better metabolic health and are less at risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
But muscle weighs heavier than fat on the body meaning that a woman with more muscle may register as being more at risk of metabolic disease using the simple formula of BMI and rendering the scales a useless tool with clothing being a better guide. The women I work with have bodies that change when they start to eat deeply nourishing foods, recover their energy to lift weights and begin to sleep like a baby through the night. The number on the scale does not change much to begin with….weight-loss for my clients, is a longer term benefit that comes only when their body is healthy.
Muscle mass offers the body a metabolic advantage, in that it burns more calories than fat and will help you to get lean.
Removing an entire food group from your diet or severely restricting your calories will result in weight-loss, but some of the weight lost will be muscle mass and you will lose your metabolic advantage as you suppress your metabolism.
Emerging science is indicating that sarcopenia or a reduction in our muscle mass which starts in our 30’s and increases in our 50’s can result in frailty and falls and can be a driver of aging.
New research coming out of the pandemic, links muscle mass to our immune health and recognizes reduced muscle mass as resulting in compromised immunity and an increase in infections.
(Let’s break those last three statements down: When you restrict your calories to diet, you will lose muscle mass. As you lose muscle mass it will be harder to lose weight as you lose your metabolic advantage AND at midlife, muscle mass is vital for your longevity and immune function….I mean, why would you?!?!)
In midlife, as estrogen is depleting, a reduction in calories or a dramatic increase in exercise registers as stress in the body, especially when we are already overwhelmed. It spikes cortisol our stress hormone, triggers the fight or flight response and causes our body to lay down fat around our middle. Cortisol disrupts our sleep at 3am and increases our anxiety. You may weigh-less on the scale as you lose your muscle mass, but carry more dangerous visceral fat around the middle.
Restriction of food groups and calories suppresses the activity of our thyroid gland, a master gland that manages our metabolism, our circadian rhythm and our menstrual cycle. (Hint: your thyroid gland is already struggling in menopause as it attempts to manage change. It needs additional nutritional support at this time.) 1 in 8 women will develop a thyroid issue in her lifetime and it is estimated that there are 15 million more undiagnosed women who do not know they have a problem. Could this be because we are always yo-yoing on and off a diet?
In order to grow more muscle on your body you need to eat more protein and calories and your food intake should represent all food groups and not look like a diet!
The math is not mathing and the idea of denying yourself is not making sense, when all of these statements are true at the same time. The science based facts stated above create a complex matrix of conditions for the weight you see daily on the scale, dependent on your hormonal profile, your muscle mass, your exercise regime, your thyroid health, your adrenal health, the quality of the food you eat, inflammation and your current metabolic health
The one size fits all mantra of ‘eat less and exercise more’ is at best unhelpful and at worst downright harmful and detrimental to the health of a woman in peri-menopause. It spikes cortisol causing estrogen to plummet, pushes her towards exhaustion, crashes her sleep, suppresses her thyroid function, reduces her muscle mass and makes her vulnerable to falls and fractures in the future.
But, weight-loss is what we all want!!!
I have never had a female client fill out her intake forms, prior to working with me, who has not stated weight-loss as her health goal. We are talking about women who are depleted with zero energy, with off-the-chain symptoms of peri-menopause or who experience chronic pain. The goal they desire is weight-loss.
I am not your weight-loss coach. I am never going to tell you to prioritize your weight or size over your health! I do not want to become your guru on how to cut back on calories or offer advice on intermittent fasting. I will never be found promoting a quick fix, guaranteeing so many pounds off in so many days or giving deets on the latest, magical weight loss tea or supplement.
I will never market myself as a weight loss coach and remove myself as far as I can from the weight-loss industry. I had words with one client I coached, who had been using NOOM and weighed herself daily and made it a requirement she threw her scales away, if she wanted to continue to work with me!
My personal health journey has included (buckle-up!) severely restricting food at 15 and again at 18 (resulting in anemia), weight gain after giving birth 3 times in 3 years (do not recommend!), emotionally eating myself to my highest weight prior to an unwanted overseas move with three toddlers, dramatic weight loss on The Atkins Diet at 35 but no love for self, complete exhaustion and weight gain at 44 due to poor adrenal health, sudden weight loss with stress of divorce at 49, stress weight gain after subsequent Complex-PTSD from divorce at 50 and having been so continually verbally shamed about my body for years, I decided to forge a whole new relationship with myself by spending an entire summer, eating croissant almost daily, whilst reading self-help books, learning to love myself and ultimately unhooking my opinion of myself from the food I was eating.
What I do say to the women I coach is this; an unhealthy mind/body will not release weight without losing muscle mass, so let’s make your goal the most vibrant health, love and appreciation of unique you, and the weight loss will follow.
When I am coaching for health, we work on introducing foods that support the thyroid gland to support a healthy metabolism, especially when there have been years of on and off dieting!
When the goal is health we work on introducing foods to support your adrenal glands so you can regain your sleep and feel more energized to get moving. (Getting adequate sleep at night is linked to success with weight loss in clinical trials)
Vibrant health requires bringing more foods into the diet that reduce inflammation and support the liver and the detox pathways of the body. Reducing inflammation has the added bonus of rapidly reducing menopausal symptoms on the daily. (The science behind the link between women who experience extreme symptoms of menopause and inflammation in the body is ongoing, but the phenomena is real)
There are foods that support digestive health, so you know you are absorbing everything you eat and you start to see a reduction in cravings.
When you add in the foods to build health in your body, you are going to be eating MORE. MORE leafy greens and lean proteins. MORE berries and cherries, nuts and seeds. MORE fish and vegetables of every colour. MORE healthy fatty foods such as rich oily salmon and creamy avocados and the calories do not matter because you are fuelling the metabolism and shoring up nutritional deficiencies.
This requirement for MORE when you are deeply nourishing your body and have vibrant health as your single goal, is the complete opposite of diet and restriction culture. It is the opposite of what is being sold to us online and in weight loss groups. It is the antithesis of the quick fix or miracle tea. Eating to build health in the body does not compute with the diet industry.
A better question to ask yourself as you support your body through hormonal change is this…
How can I best love and nurture myself, my body and my health in this moment and at this point in my life?
By answering this question with dense nutrition, appropriate movement, rest and love, long term health outcomes will be met, cravings and emotional eating will reduce or vanish and, as you play with calming your nervous system, deepen your sleep and build strength and movement into your life, your body will find the most perfect shape that it prefers to be for you.
If you want to use ALL of 2023 in a year long commitment to build health and energy in your body, that may or may not result in changes to your mindset, vibrancy and body composition, Menopause U is for you.
The focus of Menopause U is health. We will be working on our mindset to gain a more empowered and positive view of aging and our bodies and we will be sharing community and chasing joy daily.
This is not a drill or a beauty contest, it is your life.
Click the link below to join.
www.louisecarrnutrition.com/menopause-u
P.S. Here are the thoughts of my client who I separated from her scale after we had worked together on her health for 3 months....
Before my work with Louise, I was simply exhausted. My skin was red and ruddy. I dealt with near constant urinary tract and yeast infections. Today, I have more energy. My immune system is more functional. I have not lost weight in pounds, but I went down a pants size - my body composition is definitely changing!! My skin went from red and patchy to creamy white. I feel a lot younger, and I have a lot more flexibility. You will not regret working with Louise. She is upbeat and kind - and she cares more about your health than a number on a scale.
-Andie-
