Episode 191: Ten Ways to Easily Feed Yourself and Your Kids Healthy Food (AND Get Your Kiddos To Try New Things!)

In this new episode, Dr. Lisa shares some of the best nutritional advice she has received from previous guests on how to incorporate nourishing foods into your family’s diet that your kids will actually eat. She shares some of her favourite meal prep hacks to save you time and frustration. A great listen for preparing to go back to school or work, after getting off track with a routine during summer holidays.

In today’s episode, we cover:

  • How you can make breakfast on Sunday for the whole week
    • Roasted Root Paleo Crepes recipe can be found HERE
  • Why you would want to give your kiddo dessert after breakfast instead of after dinner
  • How you can put food or supplements your kids won’t otherwise take into a smoothie or popsicle
  • The importance of letting your kids pick out food at a farmer’s market, a summer festival or even at Costco, without you intervening
  • The importance of talking with your kids about how they might like something they don’t like right now in a month or year
    • Give them an example of how your own taste buds changed
  • Why you don’t want to make any foods forbidden
  • How to slowly wean your kids off juice or slowly switch from cow’s milk to goat or non-dairy milk
  • How buying 2 lunch containers can make your life easier
  • Why you want to ask your kids what their friends bring for lunch or what they are having at school or daycare
  • The importance of getting your kids involved in cooking, baking and meal prep with you

Check out these past Perimenopausal Mamas Podcast episodes about nutrition:

Episode 5: Healthy Food Habits for Your Family – Interview with Amanda Beatty, Holistic Nutritionist and Health Coach

Episode 68: Intuitive Eating for Kids with Jay Baum

Episode 84: Overcoming Your Child’s Picky Eating Challenges with Rebecca Oliver

Today’s Mama Must-Have:

Dr. Lisa loves her ice cream maker

What’s Else is Happening?

Dr. Toni’s next HypnoBirthing session for expecting parents looking to decrease fear and anxiety to support their natural instincts around labour and birth is happening this fall. Join her at https://www.hypnobirthingcalgary.com/register

Thanks for listening!

Email us or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram.

We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5-star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

You can also support us by visiting our Patreon page.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

Disclaimer: The information provided is not meant to replace treatment with a licensed health care practitioner. It is for informational purposes only. Consult with a Naturopathic Doctor or other licensed health care professional to determine which treatments are safe for you.

Episode 188: Unknown Nutritional Mess-ups You Might Be Making in Perimenopause (Part 2)

In this episode, Dr. Lisa and Dr. Toni share 6 more nutritional mess-ups you may be making that could be sabotaging your hormone health in perimenopause and beyond. They discuss: the importance of timing your food intake to support your hormones; getting enough calories and healthy fats; how not getting enough fibre may be impacting your period, skin and gut health and more.

What’s Else is Happening?

Dr. Toni’s next HypnoBirthing session for expecting parents looking to decrease fear and anxiety to support their natural instincts around labour and birth is happening this fall. Join her at https://www.hypnobirthingcalgary.com/register

Thanks for listening!

Email us or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram.

We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5-star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

You can also support us by visiting our Patreon page.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

Disclaimer: The information provided is not meant to replace treatment with a licensed health care practitioner. It is for informational purposes only. Consult with a Naturopathic Doctor or other licensed health care professional to determine which treatments are safe for you.

Episode 187: Unknown Nutritional Mess-ups You Might Be Making (Part 1)

In this episode, Dr. Lisa and Dr. Toni share 5 nutritional mess-ups you may be making without realizing they could be sabotaging your health outcomes in perimenopause and beyond. They discuss: the benefits of tracking your protein and how including organic soy in your diet can reduce perimenopausal symptoms; how not to “drink” all your calories unintentionally; the importance of staying hydrated (and options other than just plain, old,boring water); and how the timing of your last meal or snack may be impacting your sleep, worsening your hot flashes and more.

Episode 92: Love-Led Nourishment & the Importance of Eating Live Food with Cristina Tahoces

In today’s episode, Dr. Lisa talks with holistic nutritionist Cristina Tahoces about Love-Led Nourishment. Learn how the intentional choice towards live food helps you connect to your own positive feelings of love and self-worth. Stuck in a cycle of mindless binge eating or feeling deprived? If you don’t have a positive relationship with food, you’re not alone. This episode is for you.

“The only why that is strong enough to counter stress and the voice of the inner critic is love”

Cristina Tahoces

Cristina Tahoces is a holistic nutritionist and owner of Thrive Nutrition Practice, a global online wellness business focused on building physical and mental health resilience to stress through a nutritional approach she calls “love-led nourishment”. A former corporate banker, Cristina turned to nutrition to help herself heal from chronic allergies & adrenal fatigue. Over the years, she has helped clients with high stress profiles improve sleep, immunity & energy levels, relieve irritable bowel symptoms and reverse high blood pressure – all through her in-depth knowledge about how to use food therapeutically.  In 2017, she shared her nutritional strategy “Sleep Love Poop” on the TEDx stage as part of the TED Women’s Global Conference. She uses the themes of Sleep Love Poop to help her clients both in private consultation and through her group programs, which she runs several times a year.

In this episode, we cover:

  • How the food choices we make, especially under stress, are dictated by emotion instead of logic
  • The importance of asking yourself what you could choose to eat that would show yourself love, kindness, compassion and respect
  • The difference between “live” food and “dead” food and their impact on your energy
  • How to get your kids excited about live foods like fruit and how to make an apple doughnut
  • The key to pressing pause on your inner critic and increasing self-compassion
  • How practicing is more important than knowing
  • The importance of re-labelling dinner time as an investment in your physical and mental health instead of a chore
  • How to trade up your food with nutrient dense foods to feel satiated and prevent overeating or feeling deprived
  • The importance of switching from fight or flight mode to rest and digest mode in order to practice intuitive eating and Love-Led Nourishment
    • Vagus nerve breathing exercise: inhale to count of 4, pause for count of 3, exhale through the mouth to count of 8
  • How drinking water can massively impact your mental clarity and energy level 
  • The importance of protein and a variety of vegetables with every meal

Watch Cristina’s TEDx talk Sleep Love Poop here: https://www.ted.com/talks/prahlad_kakkar_sleep_love_poop_nutrition_s_role_in_mind_body_strength

Connect with Cristina on Facebook at Thrive Nutrition Practice and Instagram at @thrivenpcristina

Check out Thrive’s “Sleep Love Poop” Group Coaching Programmes

https://www.thrivenutritionpractice.com/sleeplovepoopbootcamps

Thrive & AmyA Fitness Bootcamps: where the best in mindful fitness & nutrition is combined to give you the results you want on a platter. New Bootcamp coming in October. 

Women. Lead. Now.: a leadership coaching masterclass series for women looking to rewrite the rules of leadership and lead with clarity, confidence, competence and courage. Starts October 5th.

https://aspiring-growth.mykajabi.com/women-lead-now

Today’s Mama Must Have:

Cristina loves being glued to her 600ml Lifefactory glass water bottle instead of her phone and her Kitchenaid mini food processor for chopping veggies, dips and sauces.

Dr. Lisa is a big fan of super comfortable Smash and Tess Rompers. 

Dr. Toni’s next HypnoBirthing info session for expecting parents looking to trust their instincts and their body during labour and birth is September 27. Join her at https://www.hypnobirthingcalgary.com/register

Dr. Lisa’s Wild Collective begins again in Fall 2021: get on the waitlist: wildcollectivetoronto.com

Email us or connect with us on Facebook and Instagram

We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5-star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Stay safe and healthy everyone!

Disclaimer: The information provided in this presentation is not meant to replace treatment with a licensed health care practitioner. It is for informational purposes only. Consult with a Naturopathic Doctor or other licensed health care professional to determine which treatments are safe for you.

Episode 88: Exhausted, Gaining Weight and Forgetful – Is it Your Thyroid? (previously released as Episode 42)

We refer to this past episode from October 8, 2020 so often that we decided to re-release it! Is your thyroid the reason you are exhausted, depressed, constipated, forgetful and gaining weight? We discuss signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism, how to properly diagnose imbalances, how to eat to support thyroid health and how we approach assessment and treatment as Naturopathic Doctors.

One in eight women will develop thyroid disease at some point in their life and women are 5-8 times more likely than men to experience thyroid issues.

As Dr. Lisa shared previously in Episode 3, she realized that her thyroid wasn’t functioning properly after giving birth to her son. It is common for women to discover thyroid issues in the postpartum period. Proper blood work, addressing stress and taking dessicated thyroid were crucial for Dr. Lisa to feel her best. 

Why is your thyroid so important?

Your thyroid gland regulates your temperature, energy production and metabolism. When your thyroid is under functioning, it is called hypothyroidism. High thyroid function is called hyperthyroidism.

Symptoms of hypothyroidism include:

  • Fatigue and exhaustion
  • Unexplained weight gain
  • Increased sensitivity to cold and temperature changes
  • Constipation
  • Dry skin and thinning hair
  • Puffy face
  • Cravings for sugar and carbohydrates
  • Muscle weakness, aches, tenderness and stiffness
  • Pain, stiffness or swelling in your joints
  • Heavier than normal or irregular menstrual periods
  • Depression and anxiety
    • as many as 15% of women on antidepressants have an undetected thyroid problem as the cause of their depression 
  • Brain fog, poor memory and concentration
    • Studies of women in their 60s have shown that low thyroid function can cause dementia-like symptoms and treatment can improve cognitive function and have a protective effect on the brain
  • High cholesterol
  • Increased risk of heart attack, cardiac arrhythmias and congestive heart failure due to the regulatory control of the thyroid on heart rate and rhythm
  • Fertility issues, increased risk of miscarriage and preterm birth
  • Increased risk of prenatal and postpartum depression

Why do so many women have thyroid issues?

Possible Causes of Your Thyroid Issue Include:

  • Environmental exposure to different chemicals, xenoestrogens and heavy metals
  • Certain medications including birth control pill
  • Vitamin and mineral deficiencies
    • Iodine, selenium, vitamin D, zinc, iron, vitamin A
  • Low calorie diets
  • Infections
  • Stress
    • High cortisol levels due to chronic stress:
      • reduces thyroid hormone production
      • inhibits your conversion of the inactive form of thyroid hormone T4, to the active form T3
  • Gut issues
    • Leaky gut (also known as intestinal hyperpermeability) and imbalances in your gut microbiome have both been shown to impact hormone imbalances and fluctuations, like when you are postpartum or in perimenopause
  • Autoimmunity
    • Environmental toxins, chronic stress, nutritional insufficiencies, leaky gut, food intolerances and having chronic inflammation are all factors that can contribute to autoimmune disease
    • Your immune system is triggered to produce antibodies that can attack your thyroid, which is what is happening when you have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis

How do you properly test your thyroid function and the underlying causes of thyroid issues?

Blood work: 

Full thyroid panel: TSH, free T4 and T3, thyroid peroxidase antibodies, thyroglobulin antibodies, reverse T3

Vitamin D, iron

Celiac screen 

Gluten and other food sensitivity

Saliva and urine testing for hormones including cortisol, estrogen, progesterone

Urine testing for heavy metal exposure (eg. cadmium, mercury)

Temperature checks every 3 hours during the day to see if your body is using your thyroid hormones properly

What can you do about an underfunctioning thyroid?

Avoid raw goitrogenic foods – soy and Brassica family veggies like broccoli and cauliflower

Increase your intake of thyroid supporting foods 

  • Seaweed like dulse for iodine, brazil nuts for selenium, pumpkin seeds and oysters for zinc

Reduce toxin exposure

Replace nutrient deficiencies

Consider adrenal and stress support:

  • Address your throat chakra – speaking your truth, asking for help
  • Herbal support with ashwagandha, kelp, bladderwrack, Coleus forskohlii

Thyroid hormone replacement with Synthroid or Dessicated thyroid

  • Take in the morning, on an empty stomach, away from caffeine

Why would you consider dessicated thyroid?

  • If you’re on monotherapy like Synthroid (T4), you still night suffer from anxiety and depression even if your TSH levels are normal
  • T4 may not be enough to restore your T3 levels in your blood and target tissues
  • It contains all four natural thyroid hormones – T4, T3, T2, T1, plus iodine, thyroglobulin

Today’s Mama Must Have:

Dr. Toni loves having a healthy and easy recipe like Egg Muffins from Amanda Naturally that the whole family will eat for breakfast or a snack. Check out Episode 5 for more tips for healthy food habits from Amanda.

Dr. Lisa knows that Dessicated Thyroid is an absolute must have for her!

Thank you for joining us today! 

Connect with us at our website www.perimenopausalmamas.com, on Facebook and on Instagram. We’d love you to subscribe, leave us a review and a 5-star rating if you enjoyed this episode.

Please tell your perimenopausal mama friends about us, too!

Stay safe and healthy everyone!