WEBVTT - Dr Libby Weaver will fire up your energy levels 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.560 Oh get a welcome to healthy Ish, your podcast from 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:04.720 Body and Soul. I am your host at Felicity Harley 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:09.080 and today I'm joined by the delightful nutritional biochemist and 0:00:09.160 --> 0:00:12.400 women's health expert from a home in Queensland, Doctor Libby Weaver, 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:16.360 to discuss all things energy. Yes, she is going to 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:19.560 help you feel more energized in twenty twenty five. Today 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:23.159 we discuss well. Doctor Libby gives us the lowdown on 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:27.320 the biochemical pathways of energy production and shares her insights 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:33.479 on maintaining energy through all sorts of ways, sleep, nutrition, mindfulness, 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:37.400 and also we discuss the impact of iron deficiency on 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:41.840 overall vitality and confidence. I always love chatting to doctor 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:43.920 Libby and I know you are going to enjoy this 0:00:44.520 --> 0:01:02.000 interview as well. Doctor Libby, thank you for coming on 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:02.720 healthy Ish again. 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:04.920 How are you well? Listening on? Really well? 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:07.279 Thank you so much for having me join you. Oh 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:10.200 it's joyous. I always love chatting to you. Now tell 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:14.280 me how are you attempting staying healthy ish this year? 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:16.560 Give me one or two habits you're focusing on. 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:19.280 Well. I've always been obsessed with. 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:22.520 Light and in previous years I've closed my laptop and 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:23.479 watched the sunset. 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:25.640 That was one of my little rituals. I like that. 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:29.920 But this year, I'm still really obsessed with light, but 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:32.000 my focus is different. I'm getting up with the sun 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.240 and then every day and then at the end of 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.400 the day, as the sun disappears, I'm turning all of 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:41.080 the lights in my home to be really dim and 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:44.360 have a really yellow gloss. I've changed light globes and 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:48.000 everything's very warm and yellow rather than cool blue light. 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:53.400 And it's actually ridiculous the difference of my personal experience 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:56.160 and my nervous system and the calm. But also I 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:59.000 just really notice how relaxed I feel and way more 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:01.880 ready for bed. That's a shift, a big focus on light, 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:04.440 trying to live more with those rhythms that nature guides 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:08.400 us with. And the other one I started the new 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:11.080 you really committed to having an organic daily greens powder, 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:13.120 so and I notice a real difference with my energy 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:13.760 when I do that. 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:15.880 So yeah, just back to the light. 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:17.440 I think it's really interesting to talk about that because 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:19.320 I feel like this is an emerging era of science. 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:21.360 I feel like the gut health was maybe the last 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:23.440 five years and the next five years are all going 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.160 to be about light. What time are you getting up 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:27.919 and then what time do you actually go to bed? 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:32.000 So I get up at five in the morning and 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:35.119 go to bed usually about it quarter. 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:38.400 To nine, nine o'clock. I love a lot of sun. 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:43.240 And I really apologize to listeners who have young children 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:45.279 who right now want to punch me in the face. 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:48.440 At the sound of because most of us with young 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:50.320 children are up at five am anyway, although I might 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:52.760 a bit older now, but you're up at five am 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:54.920 when they get up at five am, and then I'm 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:58.160 like crawling into bed at nine pm, so we match. 0:03:00.720 --> 0:03:03.720 But it's and obviously when when slend is a real 0:03:03.760 --> 0:03:07.320 struggle for people with little with little children, I think 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:09.520 it's really important to remember that they're young for such 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:11.560 a short amount of time in your very long life, 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:13.880 and they're very long life, and then it won't last. 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:16.520 But yeah, that's my that's they're my rough times. 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:20.200 So the biggest impacts have been on your energy levels? 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:24.720 Yeah, yeah, very much so. And a real feeling of 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:26.799 not just energy in my brain and in my eye 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:29.280 what I describe as energy in my eyeballs and the 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:32.520 clarity of vision, but I can feel it in my muscle. 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.720 So when I exercise, yeah, there's a I can really 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:38.720 feel the energy reserves there just from those shifts. 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:40.040 So it really. 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:43.960 Reminds me that really small changes can have a big impact. 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:45.400 And obviously everything's individual. 0:03:45.520 --> 0:03:47.680 Not everyone will notice a difference with those things, but 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.680 it's finding your things. And I think it's good to 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:53.800 remember that there's a voice inside us that has our back. 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:57.520 And you know, we're forever looking outside of ourselves for 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.800 advice and information and that can feel over welming at times, 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:03.280 but we also have a great inner knowing and sometimes 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:04.920 when you just get a little tap on the shoulder, 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:07.120 why don't you try this and lead you out a 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:08.160 really rewarding path. 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:09.840 And that is so true. 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:11.520 And even just the simple act of I mean I 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:13.800 just dim the lights, like after we have dinner, I 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:16.200 just all our lights go dim. And that is such 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:18.280 an easy thing that's now in the habit of everyone. 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:20.480 If I don't do it, you know, someone will say, 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:20.960 mummy going. 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:21.479 To dim the lights. 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:24.120 Oh yeah, got dim the lights, and it just brings 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:26.520 the energy of the house down for bedtime. 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:29.600 Say isn't that gorgeous? Yet? Love that I'm the same now. 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:31.440 There are obviously many other factors that can come into 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:34.560 play when we talk about energy and boosting our energy. 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:39.000 Now through your biochemical lens, talk to us about what's 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:41.680 going on in our bodies when we feel that, oh 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:43.920 it's heinous, low energy. 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.280 Really, so it can come felicity from a lot through 0:04:48.320 --> 0:04:50.440 a lot of different pathways if we sort of focus 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.360 on biochemistry for a sec So, the way the body 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:56.200 creates energy inside of itself is through the generation of 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.240 what's called ATP, which stands for a big, silly science 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:03.479 y word triphosphate. That's cellular energy and it powers every 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:05.560 little selling our body to do its work and then 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:07.240 we get to enjoy the benefits of that. 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:08.520 So, if you. 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:12.080 Can imagine that when you consume your food, your macronutrients, 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.479 your proteins, if fatsy carbs, imagine that as you digest them, 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:18.920 they're all fed down a funnel and that funnel then 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:23.760 pushes those macronutrients into a biochemical pathway called the CREB cycle. 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:26.000 Some people would know it as the TCA cycle. 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.320 Name doesn't matter, but imagine it's like a circle and 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.440 that cycle is spinning around and the food that gets 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:35.279 pushed through the funnel and it feeds into that cycle. 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.360 Every time the circle spins around, once one. 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:41.680 Unit of ATP is generated, but there are about eight 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:45.160 or nine biochemical reactions in that circle, and for every 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:47.800 single one of those nutrients are needed. 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.359 And so when we rely too much on ultraprocessed food 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:51.800 and we're not. 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.920 Getting enough of our just basic nutrition, our vitamins and 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:59.440 minerals going in our energy production cycle can actually be compromised. 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:03.320 The macronutrients give us energy, but the micronutrients allow us 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:06.360 to extract the energy from our food. So one thing 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:08.839 to keep in mind when we want better energy is 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:11.360 to think or for me, there's no such thing as 0:06:11.440 --> 0:06:11.960 junk food. 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:15.320 There's just junk, and there's food it course, throod whole, 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:15.839 real food. 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:18.839 But one little shift is just stepping in the direction 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:21.159 of eating more food and less junk, because there's the 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:24.400 micronutrients to start in the junk. There's plenty of macro nutrients, 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:26.039 and we think, oh, I will give us energy, but 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:28.960 there's no micro very few micronutrients, so that's a shift. 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:32.760 And then of course, once the food is inside of us, 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:37.080 one of the key micronutrients for actually delivering oxygen to 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:39.679 the cells, which is also required for energy. 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:41.800 The key nutrient for that is iron. 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:46.960 So the oxygen is delivered to the cells by the hemoglobin, 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:49.640 and the hemoglobin is inside our red blood cells, and 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:51.800 for that to occur we need good iron levels. And 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:55.400 iron is the most common nutritional deficiency in the world, 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:59.160 including in Austronia, particularly for women across the menstruation years, 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:02.680 for pregnant women and then also unfortunately for children. So yeah, 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:05.599 it's so focusing on having more food to feed that 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.000 cycle and check your iron levels to make sure they're 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:11.600 okay at two reason if they're out of whack, they 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:13.600 can be two things that contribute to ours the energy. 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:15.760 Let's talk a bit more about iron and food later. 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:19.320 What are some other common reasons that perhaps you hear 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:21.040 I mean, and you've written books on that. You wrote 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:23.760 a book many years ago on the rushing women's syndrome. 0:07:24.640 --> 0:07:27.440 What are some common reasons you hear that as to 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:31.040 why women particularly and men, I suppose, struggle with their energy. 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:35.600 Yes, so there can be this real sense of responsibility 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:38.840 that's almost like a mental load that bears a real 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:41.240 burden on us, and that can deplete our energy, and 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:43.760 we feel like our days are filled with kind of 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.680 ticking off our own to do lists, but ticking almost 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.200 ticking off the to do list of other people, And 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:51.000 so you can end up feeling like your brain has 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:54.520 eight thousand tabs open, and as it's almost as women. 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:57.000 I wrote about this in Rushing Women's Syndrome. Yes it 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:58.960 was back in twenty eleven, which blows my mind, was 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:02.960 fourteen years ago. But it's likely triage our problems or 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:05.000 triage what we've got to get done, you know. So 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:07.840 you might think, oh, there's a rip in the rug, 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:11.120 and I need to get that sorted because someone's going 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:13.120 to trip on that and break their arm, and then 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.120 that'll become a bigger problem. But then you get a 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:17.440 phone call from school and your son actually has broken 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:19.200 his arm. So then suddenly that goes to the top 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:21.040 of the pile and you've got to get there. But 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.040 then there's four thousand other things that were also on 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.000 the list that you needed to do that day, and now, 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:27.440 because the priority is attending to your son with the 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.680 broken arm, those things don't get done. So I speak 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:33.000 with haste about that sort of because I think it's 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.320 how our brains feel, or it's how we think with 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:37.439 all those tabs open. 0:08:37.480 --> 0:08:40.559 And we can feel incredibly depleted during. 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:42.040 The day and at the end of the day when 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:45.080 that's happening, so you can we label that as feeling really. 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:46.480 Busy or even overwhelmed. 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.280 And when that comes up as a topic for women, 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.520 because I'm all about solutions rather than focusing, let's hear 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:56.560 the problem, but then let's find a solution. I think 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:00.480 a couple of strategies can make a difference, and one 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:04.600 of them is scheduling rather than having. 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:05.080 To do lists. 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:08.480 And I know I resisted this personally for a long 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:10.840 time because I felt like all the spontaneity, not that 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:15.280 I had a lot of spontaneousness really long, but mentally 0:09:15.400 --> 0:09:17.840 I just thought, this is a ruin any spontaneity that 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.360 can occur during a day if I schedule my life. 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:24.439 But what I found was when something arose and I'd 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:26.840 capture it as a concept that needed to be dealt with. 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:29.040 But then once I popped it in, okay, I'm going 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:29.520 to do this. 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:32.480 At this time, I could forget about it, Whereas when 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:34.920 it sat on it to do list, I just would 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:36.880 round back to it in my mind, I must attend 0:09:36.880 --> 0:09:38.960 to that. And what I found was when I actually 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:42.840 scheduled laws, more free time, more leisure time kind of 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:46.080 opened up and that was a great gift. So I've 0:09:46.160 --> 0:09:50.040 noticed that scheduling things can make a difference. And then 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.600 when really genuinely urgent things happen, like a broach out 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:55.319 with the broken arm that you need to attend to, 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:59.120 it's I think there's this moment of Okay, this is 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.319 why I have urgency, because I'm going to get to 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:02.840 the hospital as quickly as I can. 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:05.560 And we have this little moment I think where we 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:07.000 can ideally. 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:09.640 Laugh at ourselves and go, I didn't need to feel 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:14.679 urgent about the sixty five emails groceries that is actually 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.760 not urgent. So sometimes those things put, we get things 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:20.640 put in perspective and we can take a breath and 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:22.520 then start to approach life. 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:23.360 Just a little bit differently. 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:23.800 Yeah. 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:25.400 I like that idea of going, Okay, I'm not going 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.120 to worry about this, you know, whatever whatever around. 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.000 The house this month. Let's do it next month. 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:32.599 And then you're mentally put it in that compartment of 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:35.240 next month, and that's one thing I don't need to 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:36.640 worry about right this minute. 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:37.880 Yeah, exactly. 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:40.480 And it's like and it's accepting that isn't it, rather 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:41.559 than struggling. 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:43.320 With that in our heads. You know, one thing. 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:45.199 I mean, obviously, I've also written a book on how 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:48.280 do I with a mental load? And I've been practicing 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.920 something I think I heard. There's a psychologist who's out 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:55.280 of Harvard Universe or maybe Stanford anyway, one of them, 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:58.679 and her name's doctor Ellen Langer, and she she's all 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:02.720 about mindfulness, and she's all about recognizing three things, new 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.680 things every day and just being in the moment. And 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.400 I'm really practicing being more in the moment, which actually 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:10.440 takes me away from my mental load. 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:11.640 I know that sounds like a. 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.400 Weirk kind of connection, but I'm like, Okay, what am 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:16.840 I noticing right now? It doesn't matter about all those lists. Oh, 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:19.320 I'm noticing the sunshine or And that's just helped me 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:22.800 shift it a little bit. And also, I think what 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:25.760 I'm thinking affects how I'm feeling. So if I'm thinking 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:28.320 and I'm looking up and I'm noticing what's around me more, 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:31.839 it's just calming me down and perhaps raising me to 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:34.400 do at the same time, rather being so overloaded with 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:36.760 the mental load. And then you know, it's like you 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:39.720 just carry that on your shoulders and you literally do 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:41.959 a lot of women, you know, complain about short saw 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:44.040 shoulders and net you carry your mental load. You know, 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:47.440 what you're thinking is how you feel. Anyway, that's my 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:47.960 little tip. 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.560 No, and I love that. I felt myself relaxed on 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:52.680 the inside as you said that. 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:56.320 And Ronnie Ware wrote a fabulous book called The Top 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:59.960 Five Regrets of the Dying and as on short books, Yeah, 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:00.760 it's exceptional. 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:02.439 And she's a very special human. 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:06.040 Being when and she talks about how when you talk 0:12:06.040 --> 0:12:07.599 to people who are dying and you ask somew what 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:09.160 they're going to miss the most in the world, they 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:11.400 tell you the most ordinary things, like the feeling of 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:14.240 sun on their back, or the night sky, or the. 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:16.600 Feeling of their dogs fur under their fingertips. And we 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:17.960 have all of that right now. 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.720 And I think when we let ourselves have what we 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:23.520 already have, which is kind of what you're describing in 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:26.720 that mindfulness, in those moments, that when you let yourself 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:28.840 have what you already have, it gives you this extraordinary 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:32.040 sense of joy with the privilege of that experience. And 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:34.520 I think joy gives us and your replaceable depth of energy. 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.520 So rather than always being on the pursuit of things, 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:41.320 achieving things or fixing things, or changing things or doing things. 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:42.800 I think that letting. 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.599 Ourselves have those moments as often as we can, I 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:47.280 think that's great for energy too. 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:49.640 We'll be back after this short break with more from 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:52.760 doctor Libby. Talk to us a bit more about nutrition 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:56.680 and iron. I mean, nutrition is obviously really important. What 0:12:56.760 --> 0:13:01.280 you eat again will dictate how you feel, particularly about iron. 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.240 I mean this is you teld our print. Addition longerg, 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.839 you can also have an impact on confidence. So and 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:10.120 low iron feeds into this. So perhaps talked to us 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.640 a bit about how low ion affects energy, and then 0:13:12.760 --> 0:13:15.319 and things we can do to help boost our ironstores, 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:17.200 and then how in turn it affects other areas of 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:18.480 your life, like your confidence. 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:19.320 Yeah. 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:24.959 Sure, So obviously we need iron for oxygen transportation throughout 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:28.040 the body. That's what That's one of the big reasons 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:31.280 why when we are low in iron, energy is compromised. 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:34.320 But it goes beyond that felicity. So we actually need 0:13:34.400 --> 0:13:36.640 iron to be able to produce some of our key 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:40.600 neurotransmitters that we know feed into energy and happiness and motivation. 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:43.160 So we need it for dopamine production. We need it 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:46.120 for serotonin, we need it for gabba. Gabbas are very calming, 0:13:46.360 --> 0:13:51.439 relaxing neurotransmitter, so iron feeds into our mood in myriad ways. 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:55.520 It's also needed for thyroid functions, So your thyroid gland 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:59.560 literally cannot make thyroid hormones without iron. And I've found 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.440 in my cical practice that it was very common for 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:05.680 women to not necessarily have a full blown thyroid disease, 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:08.440 although I saw that a lot, but a thyroid that 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:10.920 just wasn't working as well as it was ten years ago, 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:13.280 so you could see from hormone levels that its function 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:16.840 had was headed to become underactive. That would go hand 0:14:16.880 --> 0:14:20.320 in hand with iron deficiency very commonly, and for some women, 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:22.680 not all, but for some women in that situation, you 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:25.480 improve their iron status and the thyroid function would improve. 0:14:25.960 --> 0:14:28.800 So obviously thyroid is key for energy as well, because 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:32.080 every cell in the body has a receptive for thyroid hormones, 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:35.000 and it's a key driver of metabolism and temperature regulation. 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.600 So iron is needed for almost everything you can think 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:41.880 about that requires something inside you. Iroon's pretty much needed 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:44.280 for all of those things. And so then if we 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:47.960 take that forward into kind of real world consequences because 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:52.880 it so drastically affects energy and mood and motivation. That's 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:55.520 how I see it can so very much affect our 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:59.520 confidence because you think through when we're tired, we're more 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.000 likely to go rab takeaways we drive home from work 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:04.760 rather than think, oh, yeah, I'm going to cook something, 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:09.000 and you're less likely to exercise in a consistent way. 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:12.960 You just want to stay sitting down when you're really tired. 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:16.320 And then from a confidence perspective, I think when we 0:15:16.360 --> 0:15:19.000 feel like that, when we feel really flat and low energy, 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:21.880 you think, oh, why would I apply for. 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:24.480 That job promotion, I'm not going to get it. 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:28.160 That's sort of the mindset of that biochemical scenario. Or 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:32.000 you might be invited to a social occasion you think, oh, 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:34.280 you know, I don't have the confidence right now to 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:35.480 stand and spend too time. 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:38.280 I'm not going to go. Yeah, I don't doubt I 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:39.800 don't have enough words left today. 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:40.840 Yeah. 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:42.800 And then so that then impacts I think the way 0:15:42.880 --> 0:15:44.720 we also then speak to the people we love the 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:46.480 most in the world, the people we might live with 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:49.800 or catch up with, and also our self talk. So 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:52.520 we're very harsh on ourself. We're very I think we 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:55.080 can be very self detegrating when we're in that head 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:58.160 space of lousy energy. So for me, the ripple effect 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:01.760 of lousy energy is really significant, and I've been on 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.080 a mission for a long time to try to I 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:07.400 wrote Exhausted to Energize actually book in twenty fifteen about 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:10.920 that topic. Because the road in to lowsy energy, whatever's 0:16:10.920 --> 0:16:13.880 creating it for someone, we want to address that's factor 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:15.760 because that will be their road out of it. And 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:18.760 as you say, for some that is iron deficiency. For others, 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:20.440 it's what's happening. 0:16:20.120 --> 0:16:20.760 With their thoughts. 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.640 For others it's you know, it could be the quality 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.640 of what they're eating, could be being sedentary. 0:16:26.280 --> 0:16:28.360 Poor sleep. You know, there are many factors obviously that 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:29.600 feed into lousy energy. 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:32.280 I think it's interesting with iron too, because often, I 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:34.760 mean regular listeners of this podcast will know that I've 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:38.520 gone through my own iron battles, and at the time, 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:40.800 you don't even think about iron, like we're unaware of 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:43.680 We're not really educated about iron, are we We're not 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:46.040 sat down at school and educated about it at least, 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:48.720 And often you're so tired and you just think it's 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:51.200 the mental load and everything else that's going on in 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.440 your life, but you don't really stop to think, hang on, 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:57.480 is it something to do with how my body's actually functioning? 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:00.360 And you don't go like it took me through years 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:01.840 to go and actually get a blood test because I 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.720 didn't have time, but wow, it was such a game 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:07.040 changer when I did. What are you finding, you know, 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:09.560 with the women that you were with then come across 0:17:09.560 --> 0:17:11.880 when it comes to iron, is it a problem? 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:16.600 It's so major felicity, and it's just become so incredibly common. 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:20.159 So so many women are diagnosed with iron deficiency in 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.080 their teenage years or even in their twenties. That's sometimes 0:17:23.080 --> 0:17:25.919 when you first find out about it because with menstruation, 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:29.840 our requirement actually increases from nine to ten milligrams a 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:33.240 day prior to that to eighteen milligrams per day. And 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:35.800 if someone eats in a vegetarian or vegan way, you 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:39.600 need to times that DII by one point eight, so 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:41.960 that gets it up around thirty two thirty three miligrams 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:42.560 of iron a day. 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:44.040 And it's hard enough to eat. 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:47.760 Eighteen milligrams of iron per day, let alone thirty two. 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.040 So there's it becomes incredibly common that we just can't 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:54.720 get enough iron rich foods going in and deficiency starts 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:57.760 to unfold, and some, yes, some women find out that 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:00.560 they have it. For others, as you describe, it can 0:18:00.600 --> 0:18:03.480 take years before they actually find out that that's actually occurring. 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.439 But in my experience, what I've found is that for 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:08.760 a lot of women, they just put on, you know, 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:12.240 really basic kind of iron supplements, which for some women 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:15.560 they find it irritates their gut or they become really constipated, 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:19.280 and so compliance with taking a supplement each day or 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.240 every second day is really poor when that happens, because 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:25.000 you don't like the consequences. And so, to cut that 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:27.280 very long story short, I feel that a lot of 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:29.919 women might have an idea that they're iron deficient, or 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.359 that they probably are, but they don't do anything about 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:34.760 it because they feel like the sort of the medicine's 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:37.760 worse than their reality or just as bad, and so 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:40.199