Strength Renewed

00:21
I was thinking about you were getting something to drink and I was thinking about that I just upgraded my Stanley. So now this is the extra large version of this. Oh, did you have a smaller one? I can't believe I've got this very large thing. It's 1.2 liters. Are you doing a 1.2 liters? I don't even know what this is. just know it was bigger. Oh, get it girl. Mine is, yeah, I guess I'm in, I joined the ranks too.

00:50
but it is helping me drink more, but, and yet they're genius, but it fits in the cup holders. I'm like, fine, you continue to do it. Although I can't leave you anywhere because you still spill over the place. Yeah. And then also you can't really leave it anywhere because it's so expensive. can't believe how expensive is. I did just accidentally lose it, which I've never done before. And then refound it again. And it was like, Oh God, now I have two.

01:14
So I got myself an extra large version. now hail to the Stanley everybody. You can make sure you stay very hydrated and keep it in your cup holder. But there is something about it that makes me drink more and it's all really worth it because hydration is key. Well, it really is. mean, Jake got a virus. My son got the virus. was telling you about this and he had gone Mickey all day as 14 year old boys do at this amusement park, not

01:43
having anything to drink, okay? So, and literally, I think he had a Sprite, a soda, Sprite soda, okay? But no, I'm like, where was it? Nothing, because you know, those things are just, you're I'll be fine, you're racing to the next roller coaster. And he came home, it was probably 10 o'clock that night, and he had the next day, like Monday, he was really sick. Like, I'm sure that that contributed. He was dizzy, he didn't feel good.

02:10
And the doctor was like, you need to get electrolytes in him ASAP. And sure enough, as we started pumping it out, he was feeling better. But I saw the direct effects of it. Yeah. And it's interesting how much having a bigger bottle actually just encourages you to drink more. So I came back from holiday and just was having my 700ml bottle. And I would fill that a couple of times. I'm still thirsty. I'm like, actually, I've got to swap it out for this one.

02:35
which kind of feels intimidating. see that put up to the camera so I can see It's the same one. It's the same one as yours. Oh, we're so cute. I wish I was wearing my Avia Renucian so that we could be matching in every way. I'm glad we're not. I know, that just doesn't gel with me. Isn't it funny? Like, oh, I want to do that. I love that I'm so not That's also what makes us kind of great. I wish we were just doing it because then you wouldn't have to even think about it. But I'll take the matchy-matchy Stanleys.

03:03
So how many of these do you drink? Three, four? What's the deal? No, no, I was what I was saying was I just had to swap my drink bottle and just make sure I finished it. So because I was finishing two of them, I was suddenly getting an extra liter of water, which was exactly what I needed. Actually, do you do what are the major things? I will just quickly touch on this because I am curious when you're not hydrated. I always just go based upon the color of my pee and my energy levels. What what do you look at when you

03:32
or feeling dehydrated? I mean, just objectively know that if I didn't do it, I wouldn't be drinking enough. But it's exactly that. Your heart has to work a lot harder to pump the blood around your body because your plasma volume reduces. Because you're dehydrated, so you don't have as much fluid in your bloodstream, essentially, running through your capillaries. So everything is harder, and that's why you feel the fatigue. But of course, you also get the headaches.

04:00
And you can have cravings and you can get thirsty. Well, no, not, I'm sorry. Of course you can get thirsty. Not everyone, not everyone has a thirst mechanism that sort of, that is online if you like. And you feel the fatigue, you can't work out as hard and you get grumpy. All of these things. And you think you're hungry, but actually you're thirsty. So so many, so many good reasons to drink water. I think the heart, I always drink about the heart. That your heart has to work harder. What was the plasma again? I don't know.

04:30
Plasma volume is like the volume in your blood. So when you're hydrated, you've got lot more fluid running through you. But if you're not, then it's much more concentrated and then your heart is just having to work that much harder. And then how many electrolyte packets would you say you have a day in your water? I will put half to one in one of these. I also have one, sometimes I have the chocolate as a hot drink.

05:00
Yeah, it's really nice actually, particularly in winter. and sometimes I have most times I have one alongside my coffee in the morning as well because sometimes coffee is a bit harsh. Sometimes I don't even we've got a got a nice coffee machine now that has nice beans. I still find it that I just need something to counter the coffee. So yeah. I do the same thing. Beside, beside. Beside, right. Yeah, you don't put in the coffee. You're like, do not.

05:27
Please, I would never even think, good thing, I would never think you would put that in there, dear God, that's really disgusting. Some people love it. Some people love it. But that doesn't sound, it's a miracle I put collagen peptide in my coffee because for years it was just black coffee in half and half and that was just sacred. And then now I put that in. And actually I really, I kind of like it, gives me, it kind of.

05:55
you know, whatever, it's a little bit of collagen, a little bit of protein, fine, you know, it's easy, it's relatively low calorie and I don't really taste it. It just actually makes it a bit more creamy to me. And so that's fine. I don't know, but some people are like, no way, not, I did it, it's gross, I can taste it. And I'm like, you can taste it, really? But I would think if I put an element in there, I would definitely be able to taste it, but maybe not. Yeah, no, I think you would and people love it. It's like, it's a mocha thing. You know, if you put chocolate element in there, it'll be like mocha.

06:24
And people rate it and they put it with that half and half or creamer or something. Oh, they do? Yeah, it's not my jam. actually literally, when I said together, I didn't even think about that being an actual thing. So people actually take the chocolate flavored element, put it into their coffee. And the idea behind that is it's just another way to increase their electrolytes in the course of the day. Yeah, but equally there is something about when you put salt in coffee, it takes the edge off and makes it a bit less bitter.

06:54
So if you're someone who, and so there is something there, but I think the sweetness and the flavor of the element don't work for me. So I don't, with the coffee in the same, I don't mind the chaser, but that's about it. I'm the chaser. I do a chaser, but that's good. But I definitely noticed that. And probably what we're about to talk about a little bit is inflammation in the body, foods.

07:23
what sometimes can cause that. I also know when I'm hydrating, I don't know why, but when I'm drinking more, I don't feel as, I don't feel as bloated, oddly enough. I don't know why that is. Perhaps you're, maybe you're going to tell me that's just weird, Most people do feel bloated when they're hydrated. I don't. So I don't know. no, actually there is, again, it's to do with that water balance. If you feel, like if drinking water makes you feel less bloated, even though that feels counterintuitive,

07:53
asking CHAT GPT because it's the source of all information. Not always correct though. So people know it's not always correct. So when you get CHAT GPT to give you a meal and give you macros, don't always believe it because it's been seriously wrong. But obviously, bloating can be caused by gas buildup from slow digestion or constipation. So water can help move things through, particularly if you've got a bit of sodium in there, softens stool and reduces the chance of that backed up bloated feeling. Yes.

08:22
But also when you are dehydrated, your body holds onto water as a protective mechanism, which is probably what you're referring to. Yes. So it can lead to puffiness or bloating. So drinking enough water signals to your body that you can let go of excess fluid. And that's actually probably number two. I think that's probably what you might experience, particularly if it's hot and you're coaching a lot of the day and you're probably focused on other people and you may not have gotten in what you need.

08:52
from hydration wise and that actually that could definitely be a thing. And then just in the spirit of like, know, also talking about like perimenopause and just in general causes of bloating, people don't want to feel bloated. Why do we typically feel bloated? So there are a few reasons for that. So there's estrogen related water retention.

09:19
So estrogen can cause the water to retain sodium and water, and that will lead to the puffiness and the bloating. And the thing is with perimenopause is that estrogen can be three times as high, even though it is sort of on its way out over time. Acutely, you can really have these peaks and troughs, and the peaks of estrogen means that you've got a whole lot more of it there than you would otherwise. So that'll just contribute to more of that sort water retention and the sodium.

09:49
arm retention if you're dehydrated. So when you're well hydrated, your kidneys are much more efficient at flushing out that excess sodium and fluid. So that'll reduce that estrogen driven bloat. And interesting, progesterone, of course, it works as a neurotransmitter in the brain, but it also has a calming effect on smooth muscle, including a calming effect on the digestive tract. I did not know that about progesterone.

10:17
When it drops, digestion can slow down. And in fact, a lot of women finally get constipated in their luteal phase of their cycle, just potentially maybe when you get that progesterone drop off just before your period starts. obviously that slower motility can lead up to gas and constipation, and that could cause a bit of bloating, I suppose. So water, again, just helps support that GI tract.

10:45
Um, another really important thing actually is just the overall gut change during perimenopause. So hormonal fluctuations. that. Let's talk about your gut. Yeah. Well, you get those hormonal fluctuations and we have estrogen receptors on our, on our, um, you know, everywhere in our gut as well. And if you've got these estrogen receptors and you're having these sort of peaks and troughs, like, I guess your estrogen is all over the shot and your receptors don't know whether, you know, like what's going on.

11:13
is a really unscientific way to sort of describe it. you've got these hormonal fluctuations can alter the gut microbiota and to gut barrier function. And that will contribute to gas and bloating as well. And a lot of women do, you can get this increase in histamine release with the increased estrogen too. I don't understand what that means, describe that. hear this, I hear that like,

11:39
that particular sentence a lot and I don't really understand it. So we can quickly deconstruct it. So histamine is a, it's like this, it's not, I'm just going to call it an inflammatory molecule and it might be wrong and I can be corrected for that. So please correct me if I'm wrong, but it's released in the gut and it's responsible for actually increasing inflammation. there are certain foods can trigger histamine, a lot more histamine release for some people. And we do,

12:10
And also estrogen does as well. So particularly in the luteal phase, and not just the luteal phase, because we've got a peak in estrogen around ovulation as well, just before ovulation, that rise in estrogen can trigger more histamine to be released. But then when you've got more histamine in the being released, that actually triggers more estrogen to be sort of circulated. So it's this perpetual cycle, and that in itself can cause inflammation.

12:39
and can cause bloating and gut related issues as well. it's... you're not like on HRT, for instance, and you're just trying to like somehow find a way to, you know, balance naturally, right, before you go on to that. What are like some ways you can balance your histamine or your... I mean, we talk about hydration. That's super important. What are some other things that

13:08
that can ease that because again, this kind of just goes back to an overall feeling like your gut feeling kind of sluggish or you're feeling bloated or you're whatever multitude of different things you're feeling but I'm just kind of relating it right now to inflammation and the gut and bloating. So a few things from a dietary perspective, often what helps is removal of gluten, removal of A1 dairy,

13:37
Right. Removal of sugar, removal of alcohol, and overall reduction in processed food. Like all of these things which can just promote excess inflammation, not in everyone, but particularly if you've got a lot of gut-related symptoms, bloating, gas, and then you've also got perimenopausal symptoms like pot flushes, or you've got night sweats, or you've got tender breasts, or you've got heavy periods.

14:07
All of these things, just, I mean, this is 101, but it can be a really good start. Some women also get a trigger in their gut for foods that contain the FODMAPs, which are a type of carbohydrate-based sort of fibers, if you like, or a type of carbohydrate, which your gut can be sensitive to and can trigger inflammation, trigger bloating and gas and cramping and things like that. So being on a low FODMAP,

14:36
diet or at least part of the month can also help reduce that gut inflammation. And that's just like steering clear of particular foods as well. What does that entail again? for if you were to do it? That's it. there's an app called the Monash Food App. it is this really great app that details out foods that are low, medium and high in the FODMAT group. And FODMAT is an acronym for

15:06
the different type fructans, oligosaccharides, disaccharide, monsaccharide, and polyols. So there just this bunch of different carbohydrate types. And as I said, there's that Monash food app and you can sort of look on there and assess which foods might trigger worst bloating and then try to avoid or minimize them. a lot of the time it does come, like stress is a big one as well. Stress is a huge contributor to gut related issues.

15:36
know, digestion starts in the brain. So if you're highly strung and you've got a lot of anxiety, which picks up a lot around this time, then you can also have issues with gut related problems. So thinking about stress management is a really big thing too. Like these are sort of big pillars, if you like. Yeah, I think it makes a lot of sense. think

16:01
And people probably know this anyways, but you can never know enough and you can never repeat enough because sometimes the obvious isn't obvious. hydrating is really important. And it's just good for me to even think about it. I just even forgot about the heart having to work over time. Rebalancing plasma levels, that wasn't something that I just immediately thought about. And I think it's also good to note. Of course, estrogen and progesterone and the imbalance of that is just

16:30
has so many effects on the body, but it is nice if you're not quite on or at a place where you're ready to do or we even want to do HRT, it's nice that you can still control some of these things that are happening, the symptoms at least, right? looking at, if you're not ready to go gluten free, that's fine, but just maybe like I go gluten light, just sort of cut back on some of these things, right? To your point.

16:59
just to see how you're feeling with a little bit less of that in your diet. I've just been really feeling and could be, stress could be that part of it for me too, but I'm like, my God, like why am I feeling it's like all the time. And it just, I don't want to feel this way all the time. So, and I'm, and I know I'm not the only one. I have so many women complain of feeling just bloated, you know, but I'm speaking myself particularly. And if nothing has changed in your diet, then maybe it's outside of your diet that is.

17:27
like the stress or sleep disruption. know, you're right. Temperature. There are so many other things which contribute or the award to your, like the way that you eat, like if you eat super quick or on the run and you've been away, like, you know, you're, you're out of your usual environment. Like all of these things are going to contribute to gut function and can cause that sort of bloating. And sometimes it's you, you need to do things that you wouldn't otherwise do.

17:54
If you always have dairy, then maybe you just pull it out for a week. Like, does it actually make a difference? Like nothing is set in stone either. No, I think that's super important. Like, feel free to experiment with the body, right? Feel free to understand why you're feeling a certain way, like almost the permission of it all, right? Like, I think we're so quick to go, well, we talked about this before, like, like a, know, a gel beer, we're just gonna go straight to your tortilla. It's like.

18:22
Those are all fine, but you still have to get to the root cause of things before you do any of the stuff, right? Like that's the most important piece of it. But I think, then, and then is this kind of sort of tie right into like inflammation then like, like, is this a separate thing when you think about an inflammation as opposed to what we were just talking about, like bloating and peri-menopause or, you know, the imbalance, is it different? They're not the same, but they're related. So.

18:50
You know, and that inflammation is, can be driven by stress related changes like cortisol, for example, like increased anxiety. And also when you're dehydrated, it is a, like your body will act in a stress response as well because of that dehydration. So, you know, it's sending, sending alarm bells to your brain. That histamine.

19:15
that I mentioned. And in fact, I just Googled histamine before and it's an inflammatory molecule, but of course it's actually, it's made from an amino acid called histidine. And I do know this, but it is stored in something called the mast cells and also basophils, which is a type of immune cell. So it acts on an immune response. So we get a histamine release to allergens or an injury or things like pollens and stuff like that. But it also

19:45
is triggered by estrogen, there is that estrogen histamine link. So that is a clear sort of inflammatory thing that is occurring as well. again, that's the imbalance of estrogen levels in the body will create a histamine response because you're I only understood. Okay. It's excess estrogen. Okay. But that's still be considered an imbalance in some way, right? Yes, but

20:15
we never I think of about an imbalance. It's almost like in comparison to what and really this is just it's not an imbalance. effing clue. You're 100 % right. Yeah. don't even I don't know what I all I know is that you go into this like mode of when you think about like perimenopause all of a sudden I guess you I see it as like you're just being stripped away of like I don't even know what the the right percentage of estrogen is in the body. have no effing clue. Same with production. I just think about it like

20:44
here are these two amounts that you should have in your body, right? Or these two hormones, there's testosterone too, that you don't, that you clearly have less or not enough of or something, which is why that response is happening, histamine or otherwise. That was my point. And then like, and we're just trying to like balance it. Like it's a scale, like we're just trying to keep it so it's not.

21:09
dipping too much one way or the other. Yeah, no, no, no, it's the excess estrogen. Yeah, yeah. it's not to do it's excess. So yeah, that's right. But it's to do. Yeah, but it's not an excess. I mean, it is an excess in relation to progesterone, but progesterone is not involved with the histamine response. So don't think about it like an imbalance, think about it as excess. It's easier to understand that way. Okay. So there's excess estrogen, which creates a histamine response in the body.

21:35
So if you have an excess of estrogen, you could potentially have a histamine response as a result of that. Okay. Yeah. Which then could make you feel off bloated. What are the symptoms of feeling a histamine response? What? that's what I was talking to you. It's like that inflammation you get, you can get sneezing, can get itching, you can, and then if you have this on top of sort of histamine containing or histamine triggering foods, then that can.

22:03
that can cause further sort of problems as well. yeah, there's a lot going on. And that's just one aspect. Like that's not even like a huge one, but it's one.

22:16
Imagine those would be in the same categories as dairy and gluten and whatever else, I mean, that can cause. Yeah, It's a whole list of really quite random foods. It's so interesting. So basically, if you want to look that stuff up, I guess if you were inflamed, how would you know it was a histamine response as opposed to something else?

22:42
wine and fermented foods give you more of that sort of, because they're fermented, they've got a lot of histamine, leftover meat. So if you're having leftovers the next day, creating like that, but it's more of like an allergy type response is how you might. Like a burning, like a increase like that. Okay. Yeah. would literally, because literally when I think about histamine, I think about colon. Yeah. Right? So I'm like, so I'll just

23:12
for my own dear brain right now, who like, I'll just kind of keep it in similar category for now. Yeah. Yeah. And then just when you think about inflammatory foods, because people always talk about why follow an inflammation, you know, you know, like a diet where there's not inflammatory foods, everybody's like, well, what does that look like? So that's like a whole nother kind of thing. how it's related. It's related to what I was talking about before with the dairy.

23:42
gluten, sugar, processed foods. And so what you're eating is you're fruits, vegetables, proteins, salmon, sardines, nuts, seeds, fats, avocado, things like that. Yep. Yeah. It kind of goes back, I guess, to that. So moral of the story, everybody is hydrate a ton. Try to...

24:12
Be mindful about, I always think about this too, like what I ate, you know I mean, or didn't eat, as it pertains to my feeling of overall bloating. Like, so I'm just gonna be mindful, you know, fruits, vegetables, high quality proteins, good fats. actually, actually, if you are bloating and you're not sure what it is, you just need to a food diary in a symptom diary. I know. I'm going back to that tonight.

24:39
Yeah, it's really helpful. did it. and do it at real time as well. just so you 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nice one. they keep it. Keep it there. Yeah. Well, everybody should carry their Stanley. Fill it up at least two to three times and put a little half element in there. I am not going to be the one to try the chocolate flavored element in my morning coffee.

25:03
But if our listeners do and you report back and it's the best thing that ever happened to you, I want to know about it. Amazing. Hydrated and caffeinated all at the same time. definitely pay attention and try not to throw the whole baby out with the bath water because some you do. I hope for people that are listening to this that you have more control.

25:28
Every time I talk about or think about perimenopause, it immediately elicits this feeling of we are not in control of our bodies. We're being hijacked, somebody's coming in, they're kidnapping everything that we know and holding it ransom. And I don't know, mixed for me, I just, I want people to feel like, I want them to take some level of control back. Like that's not entirely the narrative. Somebody's not just, it's not just immediate hijacking of your body. Here are some things you literally can do to,

25:57
to maintain your health and your sanity and some level of control over this part of the process. Yeah. Don't get emotionally hijacked. Yeah. So I'll be keeping that food journal. Nice one, Jess. All right. You have a lovely evening. You too. See you later. Happy drinking water.