Speaker 1: Do you know what creating is or do you know
Speaker 1: why everybody is talking about it being the buzz supplement
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty five, or more importantly, do you know
Speaker 1: how some people may actually benefit from taking creating? On
Speaker 1: today's episode of The Nutrition Couch, we chat all things
Speaker 1: creating and the signs that may be worth taking to
Speaker 1: potentially optimize your energy, your mood and even your body composition. Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm Leanne Ward and I'm cd Burrow, and together we
Speaker 1: bring you The Nutrition Couch, the weekly podcast that keeps
Speaker 1: you up to date on everything that you need to
Speaker 1: know in the world of nutrition, as well as the
Speaker 1: benefits of creatine. Today we have a new study that
Speaker 1: looks at the links between LDL cholesterol and metopause. We
Speaker 1: also have found a new light high protein lunch on
Speaker 1: the go option in the supermarkets. And our listener question
Speaker 1: is all things protein water and if it's actually beneficial.
Speaker 1: But to kick us off today, Susie, we're talking all
Speaker 1: things creatine because we're still getting so many questions about creating.
Speaker 1: But we do have a new creatine love to the party,
Speaker 1: don't we, Soothie?
Speaker 2: Well, I had worked with creat you know twenty years
Speaker 2: ago with athletes, so I was very familiar with it,
Speaker 2: and you had said to me that you'd been taking
Speaker 2: it after you had Tilli, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: you know, Land's pretty lean.
Speaker 1: And then we launched it and.
Speaker 2: It just went crazy before Christmas, Like I don't think
Speaker 2: I've ever been so busy. And we're so grateful to
Speaker 2: the support from our nutrition podcast family in our Design
Speaker 2: by Dietitians range. But the stock arrived just before Christmas.
Speaker 1: We had boxes.
Speaker 2: Everywhere, we had orders everywhere. It was like chaos, and
Speaker 2: I literally until the kids went back to school, I
Speaker 2: hadn't been to the gym, like I just have not
Speaker 2: had a moment to myself. So finally last week I
Speaker 2: went thought, right, I'm going to get into the gym.
Speaker 2: I took the Energy, that's my preferred flavor. I know,
Speaker 2: we've got Pure which is flavorless you can add to
Speaker 2: smoothies and things, and then we've got Vitality, which has
Speaker 2: a gorgeous watermelon berry. But I am a tropical girl.
Speaker 2: I like the tropical idea. So off I went to
Speaker 2: the gym last Monday afternoon with my taco dog cup
Speaker 2: and my little serve of our product, and I was like, oh, like,
Speaker 2: I really felt good, And of course you think, oh,
Speaker 2: maybe it's anecdotal, but no word of a lie. I've
Speaker 2: been really feeling much better on it. Usually in the afternoons,
Speaker 2: I would feel pretty tired, you know, juggling a lot
Speaker 2: of things. I would normally have some diet soft drink
Speaker 2: or a coffee some days, and I have not done
Speaker 2: that one day, and I've just been really looking forward
Speaker 2: to having it.
Speaker 1: So I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm certainly perry, if not pretty close to menopausal. I
Speaker 2: would say, I don't know what's going on down there,
Speaker 2: but not a lot. So yeah, I'm a big fan
Speaker 2: of the Creating supplements. I think it's working really well.
Speaker 2: So of course we popped it up on our Instagram
Speaker 2: over the weekend and it just went crazy. So there's
Speaker 2: certainly interest in it. And we thought that because it's
Speaker 2: kind of whilst it's an old supplement in the sense
Speaker 2: we've used it for athletic performance, it's certainly new in
Speaker 2: the world of women's health and nutrition, and we thought
Speaker 2: we'd get so many questions on our Instagram and dms
Speaker 2: and emails asking us whether it's right for them, And
Speaker 2: so I thought it was really good to chat to
Speaker 2: our listeners about just going through. We have got a
Speaker 2: whole podcast on it, but this is a bit more applied.
Speaker 2: What is it, who will it benefit and how do
Speaker 2: you know if it's worth trying for you? So you
Speaker 2: kick yourself there and you know, run us through what
Speaker 2: it is, and then I can talk about you know,
Speaker 2: who I think potentially can benefit and how is the
Speaker 2: best way to take it?
Speaker 1: Yeah. Sure, So Creatine is the most studied nutritional sports
Speaker 1: supplement in the world. It's also one of the quote
Speaker 1: unquote safest as well. It's been around, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: for a really really long time, so we know that
Speaker 1: it works. We know athletes and people who are exercising
Speaker 1: really benefit from it. But what a lot of people
Speaker 1: don't know is that creating is a really naturally occurring substance.
Speaker 1: So it's found in the body. Creatine's even naturally found
Speaker 1: in mum's breast milk. And I know a lot of
Speaker 1: people are like, oh, and this was myself for so
Speaker 1: many years, Susie, Like, I remember I had my PT
Speaker 1: suggest I take creating years ago before my wedding because
Speaker 1: I was like, I want to be really you know,
Speaker 1: like leaning like you know, quote unquote shredded for like
Speaker 1: my honeymoon, and he's like, why don't you take some creatine?
Speaker 1: And I was like nah nah, nah nah. And this
Speaker 1: is years ago, but I must say I really joined
Speaker 1: the creatine train. Now I'm really a massive fan of it,
Speaker 1: but I never really understood how naturally occurring it was.
Speaker 1: And when I learned that there was creatine naturally occurring
Speaker 1: in mum's breast milk, I was like, ahh. And it's
Speaker 1: in a lot of the foods as well, like most
Speaker 1: animal based products. It's in dairy, it's in our meats,
Speaker 1: it's in our you know, chickens and fish in that
Speaker 1: kind of thing. So, creatine is a naturally occurring compound
Speaker 1: which is found within our muscle cells in the body,
Speaker 1: and it helps the body to produce energy during high
Speaker 1: intensity activity. Basically, so creatine increases our phospho creatine stores
Speaker 1: within the body and without getting two sciency on our listeners,
Speaker 1: that facilitates the production of our ATP cycle. And this
Speaker 1: ATP cycle provides the body's primary energy source. Basically. Now,
Speaker 1: why we love it for women and why it's so
Speaker 1: important is because that women typically have seventy to eighty
Speaker 1: percent less endogenous creating stores than men. Women also consume
Speaker 1: less dietary creating typically than men, because we tend to
Speaker 1: eat far less meat than what our male counterparts do.
Speaker 1: So that is backed in the research. It's backed by size.
Speaker 1: Women don't eat enough creating, and we certainly don't store
Speaker 1: or hold enough creating within our body. Now, there's been
Speaker 1: emerging research for quite some years now that has really
Speaker 1: highlighted the benefits of creating across the women's entire lifespan.
Speaker 1: We're talking about pregnancy, we're talking about the postpartum period,
Speaker 1: during you know for women during really heavy menstrual cycles,
Speaker 1: we're talking about perimenopause, actional menopause, and also postmenopause as well.
Speaker 1: So not only does it support energy production, it also
Speaker 1: supports muscle strength and recovery. But what I'm most excited about,
Speaker 1: particularly for women's is the emerging evidence that shows that
Speaker 1: creating has a potential role in cognitive function and also
Speaker 1: mood regulation. So that's where for men who were busy,
Speaker 1: who are juggling, who are experiencing that brain flog, whether
Speaker 1: it's in the postpartum period or whether it's like just
Speaker 1: going through those periy years, or just that busy juggle
Speaker 1: that so many women are doing. This is where creating
Speaker 1: can really give us some benefit. And one of the
Speaker 1: top questions that we've been getting is I don't exercise,
Speaker 1: can I still take creating? And I remember saying to you,
Speaker 1: and I was like, have you tried it? Have you
Speaker 1: tried it? Have you tried it? And then what you'd
Speaker 1: finally started the creating, You're like, no, I'm waiting till
Speaker 1: I go back to gym. And I said to you
Speaker 1: don't have to, like, you can take it. You're going
Speaker 1: to get the benefits from like a brain boost and
Speaker 1: a cognitive perspective. And then when you started taking it
Speaker 1: and you were like, oh, trually good, I was like,
Speaker 1: come on, I've been telling you for months now. Please
Speaker 1: I'm honest.
Speaker 2: Though, I think it's good to be honest and authentic
Speaker 2: with our audience, you know, in terms of you know,
Speaker 2: I'm at that age a lot of our listeners are
Speaker 2: wondering if it's right for them. And I'll just think
Speaker 2: back to a belief is that creating will put weight
Speaker 2: on all fluid weight and certainly in the old days
Speaker 2: of using it with athletes, if you loaded athletes they
Speaker 2: would gain a quit lord to a fluid in the muscle.
Speaker 2: But it's very different from the way we're prescribing it
Speaker 2: now for women and performance. So those doses were much
Speaker 2: much higher, you know, twenty grams at some points per day,
Speaker 2: followed by a five gram load continual dose. So I
Speaker 2: had someone message me online and they said, I've put
Speaker 2: on two kilos, and I said, no, it should not
Speaker 2: do that. Like, I haven't noticed any change, and I'm
Speaker 2: trying to get into address for the weekend, so I'm
Speaker 2: closely monitoring my fluid status on a daily basis, and
Speaker 2: I haven't seen any change in my body. I haven't
Speaker 2: felt bloated or anything. And when I asked her, I
Speaker 2: was glad I did because she said she was taking
Speaker 2: five or ten grams a day, and I was like,
Speaker 2: oh no, no, no, no, no, that's way too much. Just
Speaker 2: three grams a day is clinically proven to yield these
Speaker 2: cognitive benefits, which is really just very low. Like I
Speaker 2: had someone else tell me that they have stomach distress
Speaker 2: from it, and I actually question that, Like in all
Speaker 2: my years of working with people, it should not cause
Speaker 2: stomach distress. There is nothing in that substance that should
Speaker 2: cause issues, and we'll talk about quality in a minute,
Speaker 2: you know, and using our own product, which is Career Pure,
Speaker 2: which is one of the strongest types of creation and
Speaker 2: because it's German sourced. Leanne'll talk about that in a minute.
Speaker 2: But there should be no stomach problems from it. If
Speaker 2: you're having stomach promitts from it, I would argue that
Speaker 2: it's been consumed in a form with other foods that
Speaker 2: might be giving you stomach distress. So if you're putting
Speaker 2: it in smoothies and things, or if you're not using
Speaker 2: our brand designed by dietitians, you know, if you're using
Speaker 2: products that have different types of sweetness or additives, possibly,
Speaker 2: but certainly in the mix that Leanne and I have formulated,
Speaker 2: there is no reason that any of those should be
Speaker 2: giving any level of stomach discomfort because it's just nothing
Speaker 2: really in it. It's just very simple. It's mostly water,
Speaker 2: and the pure substance is not associated with any form
Speaker 2: of abdominal distress. So I would be questioning what else
Speaker 2: you're eating if you feel that it's affecting you. I've
Speaker 2: only felt no issues whatsoever with it. And then so
Speaker 2: the other questions that are coming up a lot, is
Speaker 2: when should you take it now? Really, it doesn't actually
Speaker 2: matter because a lot of what we're trying to achieve
Speaker 2: is getting rid of the brain frog, improvement in mood,
Speaker 2: cognitive function. Myself, if I'm going to the gym, because
Speaker 2: I like to take it with a lot of water,
Speaker 2: I will put it in my drink bottle at the
Speaker 2: gym because I'll be drinking a lot then and I
Speaker 2: find it really refreshing. But if I haven't gone to
Speaker 2: the gym, I'll have it usually through the morning, similar
Speaker 2: to a coffee, or if I haven't, like I'm having
Speaker 2: it today, we're recording at eleven or in the afternoon
Speaker 2: again when you're having that kind of afternoon lull. And
Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about protein water later and my
Speaker 2: concern with how people consume it. But in the case
Speaker 2: of this drink, I have no concern with people drinking
Speaker 2: it over a relatively long period of time. It's very
Speaker 2: low calorie, there's very little in it. If you sip
Speaker 2: it over several hours, I don't have any course for concern,
Speaker 2: do you.
Speaker 1: I prefer my clients to drink it relatively quickly, not
Speaker 1: over the course of a few hours, just because creatine settles, right.
Speaker 1: We know that creatine isn't something that completely dissolves, so
Speaker 1: you may find that if you're sipping on it over
Speaker 1: the course of an hour, you're going to find some
Speaker 1: white sediment in the bottom of your cup. That's the
Speaker 1: creating And we really need you to get in all
Speaker 1: three grams of the dough. So the minimum dose to
Speaker 1: how a clinical effect is three grams. There is a
Speaker 1: smaller out of emerging research, very small that if you're
Speaker 1: going through menopause or postmenopause, you may benefit from a
Speaker 1: little bit higher dose, such as five grams of creatine.
Speaker 1: But I would always start at three and then taper
Speaker 1: up to five if you feel like you need it
Speaker 1: more so for the cognitive benefits basically, So that's the
Speaker 1: only reason I would say to drink it relatively quicker,
Speaker 1: or each time you have give it a good stove,
Speaker 1: give a little wiz with your hand whizzer, because it
Speaker 1: does tend to settle on the bottom, and if you're
Speaker 1: then just chucking that out, you're actually losing some of
Speaker 1: that creatine. That's the only concern I would have. If not,
Speaker 1: I don't really mind how long it takes you to drink,
Speaker 1: but make sure whatever sediments on the bottom, you are
Speaker 1: just adding a dash more water and trying to get
Speaker 1: that down because if not, you're just losing that valuable creatine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good point. So because what I do,
Speaker 2: I like things really cold, so I continually add ice
Speaker 2: and water and keep mixing it. So that's just naturally
Speaker 2: how I drink something like that. What I would say
Speaker 2: is which type is right for you. So if you
Speaker 2: are someone who doesn't like sweet drinks, you don't drink
Speaker 2: ever soft drink or flavored drinks. You struggle with water,
Speaker 2: I would say you're best to get pure and add
Speaker 2: it to something else. So add it to you smoothie
Speaker 2: in the morning, add it to your breakfast bowl, because
Speaker 2: then it won't be effort to drink it. I find
Speaker 2: because I probably need to drink more water, it's a
Speaker 2: good way for me to increase water intake. So if
Speaker 2: you either are used to having a water bottle on
Speaker 2: your desk it or need to drink more water and
Speaker 2: quite like something sweet. So I've got a client of
Speaker 2: mine who loves I'm sure she wouldn't mind if I
Speaker 2: said it. She feels she's addicted to v like We've
Speaker 2: tried several interventions to get off the V. She's tried
Speaker 2: the iced coffee is like, she just loves it, and
Speaker 2: she's got a really stressful job and it really she
Speaker 2: doesn't drink a lot of coffee, so it's her little thing.
Speaker 2: But she's been trying to get off it because of
Speaker 2: the growing data on gut issues and energy drinks. Anyway,
Speaker 2: for her, a swap to a flavored form like Our
Speaker 2: Vitality or Our energy's smart because if she's able to
Speaker 2: swap that four a diet soft drink or a V
Speaker 2: that's a massive win for her nutrition. But it depends
Speaker 2: what kind of person you are, each to their own.
Speaker 2: I have many friends I'll shout out to Michelle Tapower,
Speaker 2: who won't mind me mentioning her name and her brand
Speaker 2: not Stationary. She doesn't like flavored drink, so she loves
Speaker 2: pure because she has smoothies in the morning or protein shakes,
Speaker 2: and she was just not keen to have any kind
Speaker 2: of flavored drink. So I think it's more if you're
Speaker 2: a person who likes flavored drinks or not, go for
Speaker 2: Energy or Vitality. But if you're someone who prefers just
Speaker 2: a smoothie or shake or breakfast bowl added into that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, give it a go.
Speaker 2: Like I think my common observation of women, we work
Speaker 2: with women, we are women of these ages, we are
Speaker 2: juggling kids, businesses like we know, we get it. I
Speaker 2: think we're just looking for anything to make us feel
Speaker 2: a little bit better and for me nutritionally, if that
Speaker 2: is a substance that has a growing evidence space for it,
Speaker 2: that's going to be a million times better than a
Speaker 2: soft drink, some chocolate and all the other things we
Speaker 2: grab for when we're looking for an energy hit. So
Speaker 2: I think it's just well worth a go. And the
Speaker 2: reason that designed by dieticians is superior is that we
Speaker 2: have really invested in creer Pure, which is the German creatan,
Speaker 2: which is you talk about how it's better because you're
Speaker 2: more cross the science of it.
Speaker 1: So you can get creatine basically throughout the words. You
Speaker 1: can source it from two places. You can source it
Speaker 1: from China and you can source it from Germany. So
Speaker 1: our brand is sourced from Germany and the German creatine
Speaker 1: is create Pure. If you see create Pure on the label,
Speaker 1: it's been sourced from Germany and it's ninety nine point
Speaker 1: nine percent purity. Now, most brands, because it's far cheaper
Speaker 1: and it's also mixed and cup with other things, will
Speaker 1: source their creatine from China. Now, if a brand doesn't
Speaker 1: say where it's from, even if they say it's one
Speaker 1: hundred percent creating monohydrate, Susie's laughing at me. I'm very
Speaker 1: passionate about this in case you guys could tell it's
Speaker 1: cut with other things like this, and it's also the
Speaker 1: Chinese creatine as also, doctor Cecims talks about this. It's
Speaker 1: been acid washed as well. She was talking about it
Speaker 1: on the Hovemann podcast, very very reputable nutrition sclientists. It's
Speaker 1: they both swear by you only take German creating. The
Speaker 1: Chinese creating is not pure. It's not good. You don't
Speaker 1: know what's in there, and that's why so many people.
Speaker 2: And it's also associated with some gut discomtred percent.
Speaker 1: So if the brand hasn't said where it's from, it's
Speaker 1: from China. I can promise you that because German creating
Speaker 1: create pure is so much more expensive that if a
Speaker 1: brand is sourcing it from Germany, they will tell you.
Speaker 1: It will have creer pure written all over the label.
Speaker 1: It will say German source like Susie and Als does
Speaker 1: all over the label and the brand will be proud
Speaker 1: to say that. If the brand doesn't say where it's from,
Speaker 1: or it just says one hundred percent creatine monohydrate, that's cool,
Speaker 1: but it's still not from Germany. It needs to say
Speaker 1: either source from Germany or have the Creer Pure logo
Speaker 1: on the packet to ensure that it is the highest
Speaker 1: purity in the world, and you can actually notice the difference.
Speaker 1: I didn't really understand this until I really deep dived
Speaker 1: into creatine. I was just buying what I thought was
Speaker 1: the best creatine. I was buying a brand that said
Speaker 1: one hundred percent creatine monohydrate on the label, thinking that
Speaker 1: that was top quality, and not understanding that it was
Speaker 1: still sourced from China. And then once I learned about
Speaker 1: create Pure and I just bought Creer Pure, I compared
Speaker 1: both of the different textures. You can actually notice the
Speaker 1: texture difference, and then I also notice it from a
Speaker 1: bloating perspective as well, So it's really important that you
Speaker 1: source it from Germany as well. Now I've got a
Speaker 1: couple more points. One quickly, just in terms of creating
Speaker 1: is a supplement, So We don't really recommend supplements unless
Speaker 1: you're a healthy individual. If you do have some medical conditions,
Speaker 1: if you are taking different types of medication, absolutely touch
Speaker 1: base with your dietician or your doctor and just make
Speaker 1: sure that that's appropriate for you, particularly if you are pregnant,
Speaker 1: you are breastfeeding, you have different types of medical conditions,
Speaker 1: make sure you check with your medical professional. The other
Speaker 1: thing is that pure. We get a lot of questions
Speaker 1: because it's unflavored. Can you just take it by itself
Speaker 1: in water? It's unflavored, but I wouldn't necessarily say it's flavorless, Susie,
Speaker 1: So I wouldn't. I personally wouldn't take it in water
Speaker 1: because I'm kind of like, oh, it doesn't to me
Speaker 1: taste that good. I would be adding it into my
Speaker 1: overnight odes smoothie. Just have it without nourish protein powder.
Speaker 1: That's how I would take the pure, unflavored version of it.
Speaker 1: You can add it into your tea and coffee. We've
Speaker 1: had a lot of emails from women asking if they
Speaker 1: can add it into their hot drinks. Hot or warm, yes,
Speaker 1: not boiling, So make sure you're not adding it into
Speaker 1: boiling liquid or fluid, but warm or sort of like
Speaker 1: more room temperature is completely fine. And the last thing
Speaker 1: is I'll come back to your point about timing, Susie.
Speaker 1: So the most important thing with creatine is that you
Speaker 1: need to take it daily because females don't retain it.
Speaker 1: It needs to be taken consistently on a daily basis.
Speaker 1: If you're just going to sporadically take it two three
Speaker 1: times a week whenever you remember, sometimes for a couple
Speaker 1: of days, sometimes forget for a few days, you will
Speaker 1: not get the full benefits from actually supplementing with creatines.
Speaker 1: If you're going to take it, you absolutely need to
Speaker 1: be consistent about it. Try to take it at the
Speaker 1: same time each day, so you're getting that regular supply
Speaker 1: into the body, You're getting the regular benefits from the
Speaker 1: energy production, the cognitive benefits, and then you're continuously retopping
Speaker 1: that up at a similar time most days. The timing
Speaker 1: doesn't so much matter. You just need to take it
Speaker 1: each day if you are looking for the exercise boost
Speaker 1: alongside the brain and cognitive boost. There is a small
Speaker 1: amount of research that says that creatine is better up
Speaker 1: taken with a one as to one ratio of carbs
Speaker 1: and protein. The best way to do that is to
Speaker 1: take your creatine with a meal. So go to the gym,
Speaker 1: do your training session, come back, have your breakfast, your
Speaker 1: lunch or your dinner, have your main meal and take
Speaker 1: your creatine after that. That's a good way to have it.
Speaker 1: Or come back and have a protein shake creatine inside
Speaker 1: it and have a banana or something that'll do the
Speaker 1: same sort of benefit. That's really only if you're looking
Speaker 1: for some of those hashtag gains in the gym, which
Speaker 1: we know that creatine is really great in terms of
Speaker 1: providing as well, particularly for females. That's one of the
Speaker 1: biggest questions we get, isn't it so far? Yeah?
Speaker 2: I like the one about the hot drinks. I actually
Speaker 2: didn't know that. So you're here educating me all the time.
Speaker 2: I'll put that down for my professional development, lean But
Speaker 2: what I will say is that, you know, when it
Speaker 2: comes to supplements, this is really important. You have to
Speaker 2: get supplements from people who are qualified to be developing them,
Speaker 2: and Leanne and I are on a bit of a
Speaker 2: crusade to bring some credibility to wellness. You know, this
Speaker 2: has all been in the media recently because of the
Speaker 2: Bell Gibson It's not a documentary. It's a series, Isn't
Speaker 2: an Apple Side of Vinego? Which I'm really enjoying actually, just
Speaker 2: to such a reminder that there are so many people
Speaker 2: out there who are not qualified to be delivering personalized
Speaker 2: nutrition information. And they may be famous, they may be
Speaker 2: very beautiful, they may talk the talk, but if they
Speaker 2: don't have a science degree, don't buy their supplements. And
Speaker 2: I feel really strongly about that because our work is
Speaker 2: evidence based. We do a lot of research to make
Speaker 2: sure that we have a reason for everything that we design,
Speaker 2: and we just don't want you to waste your money
Speaker 2: and make sure that if you are spending your heart
Speaker 2: earned on supplement products to help you feel and look better,
Speaker 2: that you're actually getting what you pay for. So buyer beware,
Speaker 2: and yeah, make sure it's credible whenever you're spending your
Speaker 2: money on it. All rightly, and well, I've got some
Speaker 2: new research to talk about which our listeners are going
Speaker 2: to love. It's from our good Well i'll say good
Speaker 2: friend because I'd like to be friends with her. But
Speaker 2: Mary Fair Harbert, who is of course the menopausal guru internationally,
Speaker 2: and she puts up some I don't know how she
Speaker 2: gets so much content up whilst doing her job, like
Speaker 2: she records so many videos, like you know, she's the
Speaker 2: doctor kid, She's amazing. But she publishes some great research
Speaker 2: study which is really relevant to anyone who is in
Speaker 2: their late thirties and beyond because it started to really
Speaker 2: take a closer look at the changes in cholesterol levels
Speaker 2: in women through the lifespan and the correlation between increasing
Speaker 2: levels of inflammation and it being indicative of the menopause
Speaker 2: or phase you're in. Because one thing I'm seeing a
Speaker 2: lot of well, I always see doctors routinely do cholesterol checks.
Speaker 2: They don't routinely do a HbA one C or glucose,
Speaker 2: but they always seem to do cholesterol. Now I don't
Speaker 2: I think it's just taking the box because in some
Speaker 2: cases you'd be like, if you haven't had a history
Speaker 2: of our cholesterol and you have a blood test every year,
Speaker 2: you probably don't really necessarily need it. But it's just
Speaker 2: something that's easy to do and people keep an eye
Speaker 2: on it. But what this study is showing is that
Speaker 2: there is a gradual increase in LDL levels, which is
Speaker 2: indicative of the menopausal changes. So you can act and
Speaker 2: sort of prevent or help to reduce the information that
Speaker 2: occurs in these phases in life from dietary changes very
Speaker 2: early in the piece, rather than waiting ti cholester rolls
Speaker 2: really high before you do anything. Because one of the
Speaker 2: issues I'm also having is a lot of women are
Speaker 2: using HRT or I have had a marina put in,
Speaker 2: and hence they're not necessarily aware what's happening with their
Speaker 2: natural mentrual cycle. So they don't know if they're still
Speaker 2: getting a period or not. But they've been told there's
Speaker 2: benefits to take versions of HRT, whether it's the pill
Speaker 2: or gels or whatever they're using, so they actually don't
Speaker 2: even know, and that can be misleading from a blood perspective,
Speaker 2: and you just don't know where you're up to in
Speaker 2: terms of information. So the study is published in it
Speaker 2: just recently, very very recently in Frontiers in Endochronology in
Speaker 2: January this year, and it took a closer look at
Speaker 2: the small particles, the very inflammatory low density or LDL
Speaker 2: lipoprotein and cholesterols across the cross section of women over
Speaker 2: two thousand, which included women twenty percent who were in
Speaker 2: premenopause four point two percent in perimenopause, and then seventy
Speaker 2: four percent who are actually postmenopausal. And basically, the studies
Speaker 2: showed that the levels of Eldier cholesterol gradually increase over
Speaker 2: those different time frames in.
Speaker 1: A woman's life.
Speaker 2: And why I thought that was really interesting was that
Speaker 2: if you routinely get an annual or buy in your
Speaker 2: blood test and you've noticed your cholesterol creeping up over time,
Speaker 2: it's an indirect measure of the stage of menopause that
Speaker 2: you're in. And as I said, because the general menopause
Speaker 2: will shift is pro inflammatory in women, and this is
Speaker 2: why so many issues come up in your late forties
Speaker 2: and fifties, when it comes to joints, when it comes
Speaker 2: to sleeping, when it comes to blood sugar, when it
Speaker 2: comes to weight control, when it comes to cholesterol, and
Speaker 2: our disease risk increases so significantly because the whole system
Speaker 2: in our bodies is pro inflammatory. So basically the take
Speaker 2: home message today is if you've started to notice your
Speaker 2: LDL cholesterol creeping up, I don't care so much about
Speaker 2: the total. Your HDL might be quite high, you might
Speaker 2: have had a calcium score done, you've got no family
Speaker 2: history of heart disease, you're not worried. But if it
Speaker 2: is creeping up, it is probably then worth taking a
Speaker 2: closer look at your estrogen levels progesterone in general, having
Speaker 2: some specialized advice on managing the peri and menopausal period
Speaker 2: to keep on top of it, because like all things,
Speaker 2: it's much easier to bring down some ld or cholesterol
Speaker 2: early in the piece. You know, you can add some
Speaker 2: plant sterols in, we can add some walnuts, we can
Speaker 2: reduce the animal product in your diet. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of dietary strategies to keep on top of it before
Speaker 2: it blows out and certainly be causing damage to the
Speaker 2: heart over time. So I think, yeah, go back on
Speaker 2: some old blood tests and just check and if if
Speaker 2: your LDL isn't increasing, quite likely you're not even in
Speaker 2: perimenopause yet. But if it's starting to creep up, it's
Speaker 2: a sign you might want to proactively see a dietitian,
Speaker 2: get some specialized dietary advice about it, or really look
Speaker 2: into eating for inflammation to help reduce that process which
Speaker 2: will naturally occur in the body. But we can certainly
Speaker 2: be on top of it, and that's really relevant for
Speaker 2: anyone who is using HRT or has a marina and
Speaker 2: you just don't even know if you're still getting your
Speaker 2: periods or not to really keep an eye on it.
Speaker 2: So I thought it just really interesting association between LDAL
Speaker 2: specifically and inflammation and the menopausal phases.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I agree, and I think it's always really interesting
Speaker 1: because I do, certainly as well, have a lot of
Speaker 1: clients who are going through those perry and those metopaus
Speaker 1: or years are also out the other side, and they
Speaker 1: do report increasing cholesterol levels despite not changing anything with
Speaker 1: their diet. And I think that's the most indicative sign
Speaker 1: that you're reaching those menopause or years is when you
Speaker 1: haven't really changed anything different, but your cholesterol is increasing,
Speaker 1: You've got a lot more you know, brainfall, cognitive issues,
Speaker 1: and then also you're experiencing a little bit of weight gain,
Speaker 1: particularly around that you know, that abdominal area as well.
Speaker 1: So just another really great research to kind of, I guess,
Speaker 1: a paper that shows us what we already know clinically,
Speaker 1: don't we were seeing this reported in our in our
Speaker 1: female clients already. But also a really good point Susie
Speaker 1: to actually go and proactively book in with a dietitian
Speaker 1: because there's so much we can do from a cholesterol perspective.
Speaker 1: There's also more research coming out about, you know, nutrition
Speaker 1: strategies for cholesterol as well. And it's not just food,
Speaker 1: there's some lifestyle strategies as well. So a really good
Speaker 1: important I guess measure to just go and find a
Speaker 1: great dietitian to book and with to just give your
Speaker 1: diet a bit of a once over before your cholester
Speaker 1: gets to the point where the doctor says, all right
Speaker 1: now we need medication. All right now, this is getting
Speaker 1: a bit dangerous. You want to catch the trend before
Speaker 1: it kind of becomes too late, don't we. True?
Speaker 2: True, And yeah, I think we often underestimate the power
Speaker 2: of diet in cholesterol, and it's quite powerful. But even
Speaker 2: just general anti inflammatory eating is imperative once you reach
Speaker 2: those peri and menopausal years. So there's plenty of content.
Speaker 2: We've covered it before, we'll cover it again, but being
Speaker 2: on top of those changes and getting them early is
Speaker 2: key in positive aging, I guess for one of a
Speaker 2: better word.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right then, And our latest supermarket find is
Speaker 1: something that my mum, Sophie was eating the other day.
Speaker 1: She came over and helped me look after the kids,
Speaker 1: and she said, oh, have you seen this, and she
Speaker 1: threw it into a bowl and put some spinach and
Speaker 1: some tomatoes and beefed it out a little bit and
Speaker 1: it looked great, and she showed me. It's the new
Speaker 1: subcol pouches of tuna. But they've got some additions to them.
Speaker 1: So there's I think two or three in the range.
Speaker 1: One of them is a red bean and quinoa one
Speaker 1: and the one that she had, there's another lentil and
Speaker 1: black rice one, and then I think there's another one
Speaker 1: with a few x beans and maybe like a little
Speaker 1: bit of chili or something in it. She had one
Speaker 1: that was sort of like a pery pery flavor or something.
Speaker 1: It was quite tasty. So they are pretty light, they
Speaker 1: are great on the go lunch option, they don't need refrigeration.
Speaker 1: They're fairly affordable, like budget wise. So the one that
Speaker 1: we're going to do today, Susie is the lentils with
Speaker 1: sweet corn and Thaie black rice. So at retails in
Speaker 1: Woolworths currently for three dollars fifty for one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty gram pouch. And you would argue that you would
Speaker 1: eat the whole pouch. It's only small and then per serving,
Speaker 1: so for the full one sixty gram pouch. It's seven
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy six kilogel, so not even two hundred
Speaker 1: calories like they're very light. Seventeen point three grams of protein,
Speaker 1: which is quite high protein. Two point six grams of
Speaker 1: that with only point six of that being saturated. Two
Speaker 1: thousand milligrams of amgis free, which is great from our tuna,
Speaker 1: with twenty one milligrams being EPA and one hundred and
Speaker 1: forty three milligrams being DJ. Twenty one point three grams
Speaker 1: of carbohydrate perserve predominantly coming from the additions of the beans,
Speaker 1: the legumes of the corn, six point nine grams of
Speaker 1: s I think there's a very small amount added in
Speaker 1: terms of Mediterranean vinegarrette, and the rest is just naturally occurring.
Speaker 1: Four point four grams of dietary fiber, which is actually
Speaker 1: quite good for like a small pouch, let's be honest.
Speaker 1: And four hundred and eighty five milligrams of sodium. So
Speaker 1: I quite like this, Suzia. I think they're a great
Speaker 1: little option. They're a good option for snacklet. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: really call this a meal. I would call it a
Speaker 1: very light lunch option that you would add stuff to
Speaker 1: to bulk it out, or it could be a great
Speaker 1: little high protein, high fiber snack for a lot of
Speaker 1: women in between meals, just to kind of get them
Speaker 1: through a couple of hours until meal time. So looking
Speaker 1: at the ingredients, we have got twenty five percent skip
Speaker 1: jack tuna, followed by twenty percent Mediterranean vinegarette, which is
Speaker 1: made up of water, sugar, vinegar, salt, garlic, sunflower oil.
Speaker 1: Though we've got a lemon concentrate, some citric acids, herbs
Speaker 1: and spices, thick and a natural color paprika, some green
Speaker 1: lentles at twelve percent, Thai black rice at twelve percent,
Speaker 1: twelve percent sweet corn, carrot, and red capsicum. So great
Speaker 1: addition of a lot of whole food type ingredients, different
Speaker 1: types of carbohydrates, fibers, and some plants in there as well,
Speaker 1: which is really nice to see. So I quite like them.
Speaker 1: I would just be hesitant to call it a lunch
Speaker 1: option because it is very light. I would be adding
Speaker 1: that to a bowl with perhaps a bit of feta,
Speaker 1: bit of avocado. You could put that into a wrap.
Speaker 1: You could add definitely some more veggie just to balk
Speaker 1: that out, some greens, a bit of tomato, a bit
Speaker 1: of capsicerm to really bulk that meal out a little bit,
Speaker 1: because the volume of it is quite small. When the
Speaker 1: calorie loaded, that is quite small too. And although it's
Speaker 1: good protein, particularly for a snack, seventeen grams is amazing,
Speaker 1: it's not enough protein for a meal. And again a
Speaker 1: lot of people would think, oh, that's a great high
Speaker 1: protein meal. We know that most women at a minimum
Speaker 1: need twenty grams of protein per meal, ideally thirty and
Speaker 1: if you're in a large body or you're a male
Speaker 1: new training really hard, you might even be looking at
Speaker 1: upwards of thirty grams potentially thirty five forty grams of
Speaker 1: protein for me. So for me, they get to give approval.
Speaker 1: I really like them, but I do think that careful
Speaker 1: with how you use them, because to me, they're not
Speaker 1: really a complete meal. They're a bit light on what
Speaker 1: do you think.
Speaker 2: I think they're great because when you're so busy, it's
Speaker 2: really tricky to get protein in. Like just think of
Speaker 2: all the things that we grab, like you grab sushi rolls,
Speaker 2: we grab big sandwiches, like they just don't have very
Speaker 2: much protein. So even if you use it as a
Speaker 2: compliment just to get that protein intake in there. The
Speaker 2: ingredients are pretty clean, the sugars are pretty good.
Speaker 1: It's good.
Speaker 2: You know, we liked a meal to have at least
Speaker 2: twenty grams of protein, so it's one of the highest
Speaker 2: out there. Easy to just chuck in a bag. Like
Speaker 2: I've got some clients who'll go and do hikes in
Speaker 2: camping and they'll take them quite often because it's really
Speaker 2: tricky you want to carry like tins of tuna around.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I think they're fantastic, and I think the
Speaker 2: price point is awesome because like just think how much
Speaker 2: you spend on lunch trying to get twenty grams of protein.
Speaker 2: It's like twenty bucks here, you're looking at three or
Speaker 2: four dollars, like really cost effective. So yeah, I'm a
Speaker 2: big fan of them if you use them as a backup,
Speaker 2: if you travel regularly for work, like even my regular
Speaker 2: commuters to Sydney and Melbourne. Like you go to the
Speaker 2: Quantus Club or the Virgin Lounge and there's hard boiled eggs,
Speaker 2: but not much else, Like you know, there's Nutcho's, it's
Speaker 2: often quite heavy food, whereas you can sort of get
Speaker 2: your plate and have, you know, whatever they're offered. And
Speaker 2: add that to it and you really have a nice
Speaker 2: complete meal so you're not as hungry and it's really
Speaker 2: cost effective. So big big thumbs up from me. Good find,
Speaker 2: so be good find all rightly and well. Our final
Speaker 2: segment of the day is a listener question that's come
Speaker 2: from our Nutrition Couch podcast Instagram account and we do
Speaker 2: absolutely get all our questions from there, and this is
Speaker 2: actually one that's come up before, so I was glad
Speaker 2: to see it again at the top of it today,
Speaker 2: and it was a question about protein water and is
Speaker 2: it a good choice nutritionally, And we had a little
Speaker 2: bit of a back and forth about this because we
Speaker 2: had a bit of a disagreement on whether we think
Speaker 2: it's good or not. Protein waters came to the market,
Speaker 2: I want to say five to seven years ago, and
Speaker 2: they were really marketed towards the gym crowd, is something
Speaker 2: that you could get your protein after training in a
Speaker 2: sort of portion control bodel. Then they became quite popular
Speaker 2: with anyone who'd had bariatric surgery because in the days
Speaker 2: before GOLP medications like call Goovian Manjaro, people who really
Speaker 2: struggled with weight would often or frequently be referred for
Speaker 2: weight loss surgery and have a gastric sleeve or a
Speaker 2: bypass or a lap band and then the slave luckily
Speaker 2: or for good for the people. Now you can often
Speaker 2: get that much better results with the GOLP drug, range
Speaker 2: of os in peak, etc. You don't have to have
Speaker 2: your organ taken away. So we would use a lot
Speaker 2: of protein water because it was really difficult for those
Speaker 2: clients to get their protein requirements in orally with solid food,
Speaker 2: so we'd supplement the diet with protein water. Now i've
Speaker 2: seen more recently they're really targeting mainstream. It's in supermarkets
Speaker 2: and I certainly have clients who use it.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's a bad product. I think that
Speaker 2: particularly if you're vegan vegetarian you struggle with your protein,
Speaker 2: it can be a great addition to get a good amount,
Speaker 2: like they've got about thirty grams of protein, which is high.
Speaker 2: I have two issues with them. The first, I find
Speaker 2: people sip them all day. They drink it like water,
Speaker 2: and to me, it's not water. It's got a significant
Speaker 2: calorie load with protein. It's not like you know in
Speaker 2: the case of our creator, and it's not like you've
Speaker 2: got a few calories in water. It's still largely water.
Speaker 2: This is not This is thirty grams of protein in water.
Speaker 2: It's not insignificant. And I have an issue with the
Speaker 2: absorption of protein like that in water. I think my
Speaker 2: gut feeling with it, pardon the pun, is that protein
Speaker 2: is best absorbed within a context of a meal. So
Speaker 2: for that reason, if people are going to use it,
Speaker 2: I want them to consume it as or with a meal,
Speaker 2: not just sipping on it as a water. So Leanne
Speaker 2: disagree with me a little bit. She thinks that it's
Speaker 2: fine to sip on it, whereas I'm a little bit more.
Speaker 2: If you're going to have it, you need to have
Speaker 2: it as part of a meal in a controlled environment,
Speaker 2: not sip it over the whole course of the day.
Speaker 2: Do I think it's better than an omelet?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: Do I think it's better than a protein shape. No,
Speaker 2: Because when you have a protein shake and you have
Speaker 2: it as a complete meal or a smoothie, the nutrients
Speaker 2: in there are going to be absorbed in a synergistic effect.
Speaker 2: You're going to absorb the natural protein, the calcium. It's
Speaker 2: going to be better. Whereas I argue, I don't think
Speaker 2: protein water is as well assimilated into the body as
Speaker 2: protein in whole natural foods.
Speaker 1: So I think it's an option.
Speaker 2: It can really supplement a diet, particularly for plant based individuals,
Speaker 2: but it's never my go to, and I also think
Speaker 2: it's quite expensive, so I use it occasionally, but it's
Speaker 2: not my first and foremost, and certainly if people are
Speaker 2: consuming it, I want them to consume it as a
Speaker 2: meal with a meal, not just sipping on it as water,
Speaker 2: because to me, it's not water.
Speaker 1: I really don't mind them, like I think that they
Speaker 1: have a time and a place and it's a convenient food. Now,
Speaker 1: a lot of protein waters. I've had a lot of
Speaker 1: clients who you know, don't have dairy, and a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't realize that actually are based on dairy protein.
Speaker 1: The majority of protein waters on the market are based
Speaker 1: on way protein isolate. So if you are someone who
Speaker 1: is vegan or you don't eat dairy, that might be
Speaker 1: an issue for you. I don't believe there are many
Speaker 1: vegan ones out there if you're someone who just doesn't
Speaker 1: like the taste of dairy or I've had a lot
Speaker 1: of clients who just don't like milky things, like they're
Speaker 1: just like I don't like milky things. They might have
Speaker 1: something like that, But again it's more for convenience. It's
Speaker 1: never something that SUSI I would write into a meal plan, right.
Speaker 1: But if we've got a client and they're traveling and
Speaker 1: they're going on a really long car trip, or you know,
Speaker 1: they're training pretty heavy at the gym and they're going
Speaker 1: from gym directly to work, and you know they're going
Speaker 1: to take a banana and a coffee with them, and
Speaker 1: you know, sep on a protein water to get that
Speaker 1: protein in post gym because they don't like a you know,
Speaker 1: a protein shake. For whatever reason, it can work, but
Speaker 1: for me, it's more of a convenience option. It's also
Speaker 1: not inexpensive, like I think a bottle of protein water
Speaker 1: is a good few dollars, Like you're probably playing similar
Speaker 1: cost to a coffee, So it's not something that I
Speaker 1: would think that a lot of people could afford to
Speaker 1: buy regularly anyway. To me, it really is just a
Speaker 1: one off kind of convenience option. If you're traveling, if
Speaker 1: you're on the run, if you're caught out, you're at
Speaker 1: the supermarket, you just want a bit of a protein hit.
Speaker 1: Like to me, I would go more for like a
Speaker 1: protein yogat in a pounch or I would grab like
Speaker 1: a couple of two to sushi rolls or something like that.
Speaker 1: Like like you, I would prefer to get it more
Speaker 1: in a whole food source. But I'm not against them.
Speaker 1: I just don't think that it's something that we regularly
Speaker 1: need to be necessarily taking in. But yeah, I'm definitely
Speaker 1: not against them. I have certainly had clients who like them,
Speaker 1: who do use them, but they're not inexpensive, put it
Speaker 1: that way. So I think it's each to their own.
Speaker 1: I don't have anything against them. And like you said, SUSI,
Speaker 1: if you want to use it as a bit of
Speaker 1: a protein hit, it is good to have that kind
Speaker 1: of not all at once, like sculling it, but you know,
Speaker 1: in a sort of you know, twenty thirty minutes, as
Speaker 1: you would a meal or as you would take a
Speaker 1: protein yogurt to get that regular hit of protein in
Speaker 1: throughout the body. Because we do want those regular hits
Speaker 1: of protein regularly throughout the day. We don't want that
Speaker 1: kind of protein being sipped on all throughout the day,
Speaker 1: like you said, So I think it is it's a
Speaker 1: it's an interesting question but I don't really have anything
Speaker 1: against it, I just don't personally use them a lot.
Speaker 1: Put it that way, true, I agree. Well, that brings
Speaker 1: us to the end of the Nutrition Couch. Another exciting
Speaker 1: podcast for the week, Susie. We always think we've got
Speaker 1: nothing else to talk talk about, and yet you know,
Speaker 1: we seem to find something every single week. So thank
Speaker 1: you for your support. We appreciate it. And if you
Speaker 1: are wanting to check out our range of creatine products,
Speaker 1: our functional hot chocolates, and also our brilliant protein powder,
Speaker 1: the best tasting protein on the market. We are a
Speaker 1: little biased, but that's what we think. Check out our
Speaker 1: supplements at design Bydietitians dot com. Thank you for your
Speaker 1: support and we will catch you in next week's podcast.
Speaker 2: Have a great week.