155. Brigid Titgemeier: The impact diet and lifestyle has on mental health.

People are going into their doctor. The doctor goes to the prescription pad to mask the symptoms of a disease that's created or exacerbated by nutrition and lifestyle. And we can't continue to go on that way. Like we can't continue to mask the inflammatory consequences of food with pharmaceutical drugs. We know that 88% of Americans have poor metabolic health. More than 25% struggle with mental health disorders, an enormous rise of autoimmune disease, digestive issues, joint pain and arthritis, infertility, and the these are all on the rise despite spending more on healthcare than any other country. So I feel like we owe it to the world to do better in the way that we're addressing chronic disease, mental health, autoimmune conditions, and switching the focus from not just treatment and a band aid approach, but to one that prioritizes nutrient dense foods that helps to decrease our toxic body burden and allows for the body to truly heal itself in the way that it's capable of doing.

Welcome to the Courageously youy Podcast. I'm Tara, a mama, therapist and most importantly, an everyday girl just trying to navigate this thing called life. I struggled alone in silence for years and now I'm on a mission to make sure no woman struggles alone. You can consider me the best friend you never knew you needed. In this show we talk about mental health, hormones, relationships, navigating, postpartum, holistic living, infertility, trauma, addiction, spirituality and so much more. No topic is off limits here. I believe that it takes courage to show up in life and I'm here to help you find it. If you're ready to courageously step back into your life, grab my hand and let's do this. Hey friend. Welcome to what I think is a freaking amazing episode today. The beyond brilliant Brigid Tigemeyer is hanging out with us on the show to help me create a conversation about the impact diet and lifestyle has on our mental health. Bridget is a functional Medicine registered dietitian, entrepreneur and a mom who is on a mission to help you use food to create health. She is the CEO and founder of Being Functional Nutrition, a digital coaching company that has helped more than 20,000 people use targeted nutrition and lifestyle strategies for better labs, symptoms and relationship with food. She also teaches integrative and functional nutrition every fall at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, a curriculum that she co created seven years ago. Previously, Brigid was a co founding dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic center for functional medicine under Dr. Mark Hyman. Bridget has a Master's degree in Public Health Nutrition, a board certification in Integrative and Functional nutrition from the Integrative and Functional Nutrition Academy and completed completed her advanced practitioner training through the Institute for Functional Medicine. She's seriously a wealth of knowledge. You all in today's episode we talk about the current mental health crisis where conventional medicine gets it wrong, how gut health influences brain health, how you can optimize your gut health, how blood sugar fluctuations mimic anxiety, why it's important to eat a blood sugar stabilizing diet, the impact nutrient deficiencies have on mental health, why you need more magnesium to help calm your nervous system, the impact stress has on your B vitamins and the role inflammation plays in depression. We don't stop there though. We also talk about the importance of exercise, why you need to spend more time in nature, how going at mental health struggles with medication alone is failing people the top three foods she'd encourage you to eat less of the importance of preconception health, how to increase energy and mental clarity Postpartum why we need to redirect our focus from weight loss to overall health Postpartum how you can include more protein into your diet and so much more Brigid seriously took me to church this episode. Before we jump in though, I need your help. Can you please share this episode with anyone who you think would love it too? I am on a mission to create this small but mighty podcast, a number one mental health podcast and I cannot do it alone. I really need your help. Tell your friends about it. Share it on social media. Heck, I don't even care if you tell a stranger at the coffee shop about it. I just really need to get this podcast out into the world and I can't do it alone. Alright, if you're ready, let's jump into my chat with the amazing, brilliant Brigid. Today's episode is brought to you by Thrive Market. I love Thrive Market for many reasons, but my number one reason right now is that I can get clean ingredient foods delivered to my doorstep. As a new mom, going grocery shopping feels so overwhelming and I am in a season of needing easy. That is why I order all my favorite high quality clean ingredient foods off the Thrive Market app. Think Siete, Serenity Kids Kettle and Fire Bone Broth, Hue Kitchen Chocolate Side Dish Condiments, Simple Mills, Crackers and so much more. Not only is it delivered to my door though, I'm also saving money. Thrive Market is like the child of Whole Foods and Costco. You get clean high quality foods for less. If you're also in a season of kneading easy and you crave Food with high quality ingredients without the garbage. I would strongly encourage you to check out Thrive Market when you use the link in today's Show Notes. Thrive Market will give you 40% off your first order. That's 40% off your first order when you click the link in today's Show Notes. Happy shopping. My friends, I am beyond excited to talk to you today for multiple reasons. When I first found you, I found you through the Jenna Kircher podcast, like two years ago, and I've been a huge fan since. And I wanted to have you on to help me create a conversation about how nutrition plays a role in mental health. And then I got pregnant, and then I also got to a place where I'm like, oh, nutrition might actually be important postpartum. And so this is kind of like a two for one special. But I'm just so excited to have you on today to just help me create a conversation about all this.

I love it. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited.

So I guess let's just first start with mental health, because that was what really drove me to wanting to talk to you is I believe that we are just in a mental health crisis right now, and I feel like a lot of people seek medication to improve their symptom. And I recognize that diet and lifestyle plays such a huge role in improving our mental health and also negatively impacting it. And so I would just love to hear your thoughts maybe about both how American diet is impacting our mental health and also, like, why it's important to prioritize good health, diet wise.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. We are absolutely in a mental health crisis with at least 25% of the United States pop having anxiety or depression. And it, you know, is even more concerning when we're looking at children in teens. I think that it's estimated about 30% of children between the ages of 13 to 18 suffer from anxiety alone. And the problem is, is that in conventional medicine, you know, you go to your doctor, the doctor pulls out the prescription pad for an SSRI or a pharmaceutical intervention. And in most cases, that's the only treatment that's recommended. There's no mention of our toxic food supply and the food system as a whole and the increased toxic body burden as a whole that everyone is faced with because of environmental pollutants and the heavy metals that are in our water and the plastics that are creating estrogen disruption and so many other factors that, you know, it's really hard for the body when we are assaulted on all these different levels to be able to come out of it thriving. And so we are absolutely not in a state of thriving, thriving as a country and people aren't being given the help that they need. Even if you look at websites, public health agency websites like the adaa, there is no mention of diet or nutrition interventions. We are completely missing the mark. There's an unnecessary level of pain and struggle that people are experiencing that could be dramatically improved if we took more of a stance around the importance of nutrition and lifestyle as the first line of intervention, instead of thinking of it as an afterthought. This is the foundation of mental health. What you're putting in your body directly impacts your gut and your neurotransmitters. And we can dive deeper into the actual physiology if you're, if you're interested in going deeper. But it's, you know, it's so sad for all the people that are struggling that they aren't even given the option or the, the suggestion to change their nutrition and lifestyle and to take more ownership of their health. I mean, we know even that there's this emerging field called nutritional psychiatry with a program at Harvard, because there's such a close connection, even in the research between nutrition and mental health. So it's not that the research doesn't exist, it's that we aren't seeing conventional medicine embrace this way of thinking or this way of practicing. And one of the most common outcomes that are reported amongst the thousands of people who go through my company nutrition programs is improved mood and mental health. And in the Fortune 500 companies that we work with, where we're working with the executive teams, they consistently report better emotional resilience during stressful situations. And this is, you know, even larger than people that are just struggling with anxiety and depression. It directly impacts mood on every level for every person.

Yeah, and I love that. And I would love to go deeper into the physiology, if you're cool with that.

Yes, I would love to. I mean, the first place that I would start is the gut microbiome. So we know that at least 90% of your serotonin, which is that feel good chemical, is produced by the bacteria in your gut. So you have your microbiome. Your microbiome houses hundreds of trillions of microbes that live primarily in your small intestine. And these microbes have bacteria, they include fungi, and they are directly influenced by the foods that you eat. So the bacteria, they eat the foods, foods that you eat. And if you're eating optimally, then they're going to create more Beneficial compounds like short chain fatty acids. When you eat optimal foods, their population grows. And then these beneficial microbes, they compete with more harmful bacteria and the chemicals that they release, they impact your metabolic flexibility and risk of insulin resistance, but then also mood regulation, sleep energy, literally every single facet of your well being and the way that you live and breathe. So this can be optimized by incorporating more fiber rich foods and probiotics, prebiotics, polyphenol rich foods, like a lot of the colorful fruits and vegetables that directly impact your, the, the production of these beneficial compounds. And your gut brain axis, which is that bidirectional highway that is connecting your gut to your brain, that directly impacts the health of your brain. So your gut and your brain are in constant communication. They are constantly impacting one another. And because we know that the most influential way to change your gut microbiome is through diet and nutrition interventions that impacts your brain health as well. And so we're looking at brain health not only when you look at the concerns with depression and anxiety and the mental health crisis that we're faced with, but also when it comes to cognition and memory. Because at the same time the brain is being assaulted in the same way that's manifesting in some people as poor memory, dementia, Alzheimer's disease that we're seeing extreme rise in, without any real pharmaceuticals on the market that exists that have been proven to be effective. So the, it all starts with the health of our gut. So that would be pillar number one, is creating a healthy gut microbiome, eating foods that create healthy beneficial chemicals that to actually have the ability to change your physiology and to change your, your mental health overall. The second would be blood sugar regulation. So I know, I think you've done the blood sugar reset, which is one of my programs that we do that helps with, that helps people to follow specific nutrition protocols and meals that help to optimize blood sugar. Because we know that at least 50% of the United States population has abnormal blood sugar levels. Pre diabetes, type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes, it is like rampant. Because of our food supply and our sedentary lifestyles, our lack of exposure to nature. We are literally human beings that are being pulled from all of the basic fundamentals that we need to not only survive, but really to thrive. So the goal is to have tightly regulated blood sugar levels, which is directly associated with neurotransmitter production like gaba, which is the neurotransmitter that helps you feel more calm, dopamine that can help you feel more Motivated. So when you have symptoms of high or low blood sugar, they often mimic symptoms of anxiety because it increases your stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. And this primes your body to then be in fight or flight, which can then result in some of the symptoms that you would commonly experience during bouts of anxiety, like a pounding heart and shakiness and cold sweats. So this can happen when you go long periods of time between meals where you're not eating enough and then you get to that place that you're like so hangry and you're shaky and you need like the next thing that you're putting into your body. It can also happen when you're eating more high glycemic foods that are causing a rise in your blood sugar that's then followed by a complete drop. So we have the blood sugar roller coaster where when you're eating high glycemic foods, a lot of processed foods, ultra processed foods that are high in refined grains and added sugar, it's leading to this quick rise of blood sugar that's then followed by a sharp crash. A lot of times you go down lower than where you even started at the beginning of the meal. And this is what creates or mimics a lot of those symptoms that are similar to when a person is experiencing anxiety. So negative mood states have been shown to stimulate a preference for comfort foods like high sugar, high fat and high salt foods, which can create this vicious response where it's, it feels impossible to ever make your way out of it. And then you end up, you know, being diagnosed with clinical depression or anxiety. And I'm not saying that every single person's anxiety or depression are because of the foods that they're eating. I think that in some cases nutrition is absolutely the culprit in driving these physiological changes that are manifesting as anxiety or depression. And in other cases, it's multifactorial, where the foods that you're eating are exacerbating the problem and can provide an immense amount of relief if you're able to at least control for, you know, the optimal choices that you're making to make it easier for your body to function and thrive with less work. So studies have shown that the risk of depression is 25 to 35% lower in people who eat a Mediterranean style diet, which is focused on whole foods that are going to help to control blood sugar and decrease that blood sugar rollercoaster. Thinking about your fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, thinking about your beans and lentils as more of those plant based sources of Protein thinking about healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil and avocado. This is the premise of the Mediterranean diet that has been shown in study after study, and not just small studies, but like randomized controlled trials that show that depression can be lowered and minimized by following a Mediterranean style diet. So thinking about blood sugar is definitely important. The third one would be nutrient deficiencies. Looking at the food supply as a whole, you know, our soil quality is so much lower than what it was 100 years ago because of the conventional agricultural practices that are used in conventional farming. Not just the issue of spraying everything with pesticides and insecticides, but also the way that we're actually farming our soil, that's leading to lower soil quality, that leads to lower nutrients that you're actually deriving from the soil that the foods are grown in. So I don't think people realize that, like if you're eating the exact same as your, your grandparents ate a hundred years ago, and you're eating the same foods, you're automatically at a nutrient deficit compared to them because of the foods containing fewer nutrients. So when we look at nutrient deficiencies, which pretty much everyone is at risk of, of our food supply, we look at magnesium and B vitamins as being two extremely prevalent nutrient deficiencies that can impact anxiety, depression, and overall mental health. So I know that there was at least one big meta analysis that had, you know, really confirmed the importance of magnesium for the nervous system. I mean, there's tons of studies, but specifically this one large meta analysis showing that supplementation even can be beneficial for reducing symptoms of anxiety. And magnesium, you know, is that chill, chill nutrient, it has a lot of functions. It impacts over 300 enzymatic functions in the body. But one of those being that it can calm your central nervous system, make you feel just more in tune with what's happening around you, helps you sleep better, and can also improve energy. And then at the same time, B vitamins, you know, you have lots of different B vitamins. B1, B2, B3, there's a whole list of them. And these B vitamins are critical for supporting neurotransmitter synthesis. So when you don't have enough B vitamins in the diet, which I have run thousands of nutrient deficiency tests over the last 10 years in the thousands of clients that I've worked with, it's very rare to see someone that has optimal B vitamin status. So, and that's also because when you have more stress, you are burning through your B vitamins at a faster rate than when you don't have a lot of stress. Most people think they aren't stressed. But pretty much every American is living with a level of chronic stress. Unless you're, you know, like meditating regularly and spending a lot of time in nature and unplugging from your screens and all the things that can really create more stress. So overall, increasing your intake of B vitamins through foods that you're eating, like high quality animal proteins, legumes, leafy greens, this is associated with lower rates of depression and anxiety. And I would say the fourth one is inflammation. So inflammation is highly correlated with mood disorders a lot of times. Dr. Hyman, who's a pioneer in functional medicine that I worked under for many years, he would describe it as inflammation of the brain. He would describe depression as inflammation of the brain because we know that there is a close connection there. So thinking about, you know, there's so many different ways that we can experience more inflammation where your body is increasing those inflammatory cytokines in the production of them. Much of it comes from our food supply, though, and the foods that people are ingesting that's creating this low grade chronic inflammation that is not, you know, like a huge level of inflammation that's happening like when you're sick and you generate more white blood cells and those types of things, but more of like just this low grade decline that's happening in people's functionality and the way that they're feeling because of this low grade chronic inflammation that's persisting underneath the surface. So those would really be the four that are most closely tied to nutrition. Your gut health, your blood sugar, nutrient deficiencies, inflammation. But then I would also add that it's not just about nutrition, right? You can't, you can't exercise your way out of a bad diet. You can't supplement your way out of a less optimal diet. So there have been plenty of research studies that have shown that exercise is as effective as antidermox depressants and mild to moderate cases of depression. Again, that doesn't mean that there's not a need for antidepressants for some people, but that everyone that is struggling with their mental health should be incorporating exercise on a regular basis because of the impact that it has on your actual brain physiology and the neurotransmitters that you're able to produce. So movement and nature. There is so much research that's coming out showing that even just 10 minutes a day of daily exposure to nature can improve mental health significantly. And there have been results that show that nature exposure compared to the effects of SSRIs like Zoloft and Prozac. So I think that, you know, those are really the core from a nutrition and lifestyle standpoint that we have to be incorporating into the first line of care for people that are struggling with their mental health. Maybe it's alongside an ssri, maybe it's before an SSRI or some kind of antidepressant or whatever the medication. But going at it with medication alone is absolutely failing the people who are struggling in this country with anxiety and depression.

Oh, my gosh. He just took me to church. With all that you touched on so many things I want to talk about. So one of the things I am huge in is when it comes to anxiety, I believe that there's three different, like, stressors that can trigger anxiety, one of them being mental trauma stressors and internal stressors. And with the internal stressors, it's things like blood sugar, thyroid inflammation, hormones, stuff like that. And so if you're cool with it, I'm just gonna kind of unpack a little bit of each of those, just really quick to get more specific. So one of the things, like, I've. I feel like I've seen this on social media a lot. I don't know if, like, the algorithm's trying to tell me something, but seed oil seems to be like a controversy thing right now. I know the Time magazine, there's an article that's been out. And so can you help us understand, are seed oils inflammatory? Are they bad? Should we avoid them? What are your thoughts on seed oils for inflammation?

Yes. So seed oils, the problem is that the majority of foods in the food system are produced with seed oil. So we're talking about canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil. These are the primary seed oils that are just inundated in our food supply because they're cheap and they help to add stability to the foods, and they help to make the mouth feel improve in the foods. So the issue is that it is rampant in our food supply, which means that it's creating an imbalance in our omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acid balance. So what that means is these foods tend to be higher in omega 6 fatty acids. You have two essential fatty acids, omega 6s and omega 3s. Omega 6s are where you're gonna are. They're very high in a lot of the seed oils. So when you're consuming them on a regular basis, which most people are without realizing it, it's not only in packaged and processed Foods. If you turn around any food label, you are bound to see it even in, you know, something as simple as roasted nuts that are pretty much always roasted in some kind of oil like this. So it's there, it's in restaurants, it's anytime that you're eating out because again, they're cheap and they help to improve the mouthfeel. So this is what's creating an imbalance with people getting too many omega 6s in their diet and then not enough omega threes. Omega threes are more have more prominent anti inflammatory effects that help to decrease our overall level of inflammation. Actually, omega 3s also play an important role in decreasing risk of anxiety and depression. And so what happens for a lot of people, and I've run thousands of tests among the people that I've worked with and who have gone through our programs looking at their fatty acid profile, is that most people have an imbalance of omega 6s to omega 3s. Too many omega 6s, not enough omega 3s. And these, these two types of fats, they compete for the enzymes that are broken down to help them serve as basically whether you're producing more inflammatory eicosanoids or anti inflammatory eicosanoids, Yicosanoids being these inflammatory components or anti inflammatory. So the goal is to really minimize seed oils as much as humanly possible. I think that it's, I try to be realistic as well just in how many people I've worked with. And maybe it's not possible to remove them 100%, but if you can significantly decrease them, avoid them in, you know, every processed food that you're eating and then just to eat out at restaurants, or if you can, you know, use extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil as your primary oils and then just use occasional, you know, we'll cook occasionally with sesame oil for instance, just because of the additional flavor compounds that it adds. But in a way that you know, is like a high quality organic, unrefined oil that doesn't necessarily change the omega 6 composition. But I think I personally feel a little bit better about that. So what really stands out to me is that seed oils are absolutely creating a negative health impact. And so much of it is that the dose is creating the poison that we are inundated with this mass amount of seed oils that our body just doesn't know what to do because they were not in the food supply at this level like they are now 100 years ago. So it's like the body does not know how to process it, which absolutely contributes to inflammation, which absolutely can contribute to all of the issues that we're seeing with mental health. Health.

Yeah. No, I love that. So are there any, like, foods that you're like, I really would not eat these to help reduce inflammation or minimize even becoming inflamed.

Added sugar and refined grains would be definitely number one because of the impact that they have on your blood sugar levels. Imbalanced blood sugar levels directly creates more inflammation. So really paying attention to those food labels, looking for those added sugars on the added sugar line, on the nutrition facts information, being aware of the added sugar that you are incorporating into, you know, different foods that you're making or. Or cooking. And then the refined grains, paying attention to those grains that are stripped of the outer layers, they remove the brand and the endos, or they remove the brand and the germ and they just keep the endosperm, which is that starchy component that is the. The basis of all refined grains that, you know, are pretty processed food that you see on the market incorporates some level of these. These refined grains. So added sugar and refined grains and more of those omega 6 seed oils would definitely be three of the top ones that I would recommend trying to be as intentional as possible around and minimizing as much as you can. The other thing that I would say is there is always a difference when it comes to quality. So thinking about, you know, maybe you're not going to have something like ice cream when you're eating that is that has a bunch of different chemicals in it and artificial coloring if it's, you know, some kind of colored ice cream or that kind of thing, and it has, you know, more highly processed sugar where it's different when you're eating it, when it's made out of your kitchen, where you're able to actually choose the higher quality ingredients that don't necessarily make the blood sugar rise any less significant, but can improve the overall quality of ingredients that you're exposing your cells to. So it's going to be different to make a homemade cookie where you're minimizing the. The ingredients and the added sugar, specifically where you're making it with maybe like maple syrup and it's derived from a more natural source or honey or something like that, and you're able to control for how much is being added compared to eating a highly processed cookie that you're buying from a local bakery.

Yeah, no, I love that. I am really picky about that sort of stuff. Like when people bring in stuff to work, if it's. It is not like good quality ingredients. I don't even want to eat it just because of, not because it's any healthier, but because of the quality of the ingredients.

Exactly.

So one thing I want to touch on is blood sugar, because this was before I had any awareness of the role diet plays in anxiety. But back in the day, I used to have horrific panic attacks. And it got so bad to the point I was taking Xanax for it. And now looking back, I absolutely see it was blood sugar because it was. I was trying to lose weight. And by losing weight, I was essentially starving myself. And so I want to go a little bit deeper into just the blood sugar, the stress response it can create, and maybe how it can lead people to having panic attacks. Because I think a lot of people don't recognize that we're just riding these blood sugar roller coasters all the time. And like, your panic attacks and increased.

Anxiety could really be due to that, that 100% especially. So I would say that stress and blood sugar are very closely connected, and that is very closely connected to things like anxiety or, or panic attacks. Not to say that that is the only cause of a panic attack. Of course, again, like I already said, it's very multifactorial when it comes to things like panic attacks. But if you can decrease or minimize the blood sugar spikes and the, the cortisol spikes that you experience, it will play a role in helping you feel more calm throughout the day. So when it comes to not eating enough, like you said, and, and the impact that that can have, sometimes stress and not eating enough or fasting for too long or those kinds of things can actually exacerbate the anxiety because it increases your cortisol response. And without even eating a lot of added sugar in the diet, if you're increasing your cortisol response, there's a process in the body called gluconeogenesis, where your body breaks down the stored form of sugar that you have in your liver and converts it into active sugar in your bloodstream. So what I see in people that wear continuous glucose monitors that are monitoring their blood sugar on a regular basis is they will have like a stressful situation that increases their cortisol, like a presentation for work or a stressful lunch with an expat spouse or something along those lines. You'll see a giant rise in their blood sugar even though they haven't eaten anything. So this is what is called gluconeogenesis, where your stress, the stress that you're experiencing in your day to day life from low calorie diets from, you know, really any of those scenarios that I just laid out, increase that cortisol, which then increase your blood glucose levels that then can make everything heighten the response that you have as a whole and the experience that you have with the panic attack or anxiety exacerbating it. The other thing that can happen is through food. So when you're eating higher glycemic foods that cause this increase in blood sugar that creates more of a stress response. And because of that it will also often increase cortisol levels. And so then you have, you know, this fight or flight response that you're faced with in addition to your body feeling like it's under attack because your cells can't adequately utilize the resources that it is equipped with to be able to break down the sugars that you are inundating your cells with too quickly. Or then it just leads to an absolute cascade that can increase the experience of a panic attack. So when you are able to control for those factors, to incorporate more stress reducing practices into your life, expose yourself to nature, not be on your screens all the time, decreasing your exposure to, you know, really toxic people that make you feel worse about yourself. All of these things in addition to then limiting the foods that create this assault on, on your cellular level that can help with improving your mental health stability.

I love all of that. So I want to touch on energy because I think right now a huge reason why I'm trying to be so mindful of my blood sugar is because I'm nine months post baby. I don't even know if you can call postpartum anymore. But I'm nine months out from having a baby and, and I just feel like I have no energy. And on the days where I don't eat good, I absolutely notice like it's way worse. And so how can we use food to improve energy, increase energy? Because I think we live in a world where everyone's quick to caffeine.

Yeah. Which then can also exacerbate anxiety because caffeine is not always the most helpful when, when you struggle with anxiety. So I would say I completely understand. I am almost 4 months postpartum, also 15 months postpartum at the same time. So I completely get it. And the, the issue is that sometimes when you're so low on energy that you don't have enough energy to prepare something for yourself, it leads to less optimal choices which creates that vicious cycle then of just having absolutely no energy. So this is a time where it's anytime that you're busy in life, whether it's postpartum and taking care of a baby or it's because of your job or, or whatever the case may be, it makes it more difficult. But it's also the most important time to try to prioritize your health and your nutrition as much as possible. So I would say that postpartum nutrition really starts with prenatal nutrition. And when I say prenatal I mean like preconception nutrition. Thinking about that three to six month window before you get pregnant, that has an enormous impact on the health of your egg eggs and the health of your partner's sperm. So a lot of times we think about conception and a healthy pregnancy is just being the woman's job. And this could not be further from the truth. It's a 5050 equation. It is a team sport. Fertility is a team sport and creating a healthy child is a team sport. So we know that up to 50% of miscarriages are attributed to males, not females because of low quality sperm. And we know that there's a continual decline in sperm count year after year because of the to the toxic environment that we're living in when it comes to preconception health. You want to be on a high quality prenatal for both him and her. I'm a medical advisor for the company Wenatal that I can send you my code for if you're interested. But that's a high quality prenatal. That's. I helped to formulate that based on the latest research in order to get the highest quality of nutrients, but then also in the most bioavailable form forms with no additional excipients or additional ingredients like you see in a lot of other prenatals that have a long list and thinking about the, you know, like third party testing to make sure that there aren't other heavy metals and things that you don't want to be exposing yourself to. So it really starts with a high quality prenatal that I recommend for men and women in the preconception window and that you want to continue throughout your entire pregnancy and postpartum because we know that nutrient depletion is extremely common in postpartum and I don't think that it gets enough recognition. This is a huge problem that most people, most women just normalize because you're like, oh, I just had a baby. And you go to the doctor and you're like oh, I don't have energy. And they're like, well you just had a baby, that's why. But there are so many things in our control, like making sure you're repleting the nutrients that you just loss from growing this human and giving it all of the nutrients that, you know, it prioritizes the health of the fetus. So thinking about that for the baby and then the need for repleting those nutrients postpartum. So high quality prenatal preconception during pregnancy and postpartum can be enormous in terms of improving your, your overall postpartum experience, not only from an energy standpoint, but from a hair loss standpoint, from a, you know, improvement in your skin, from an improvement in your gut health, from decreasing inflammation. Like the list just goes on and on. The next thing that I would say from an energy standpoint is making sure that you're testing for nutrient deficiencies. Like I said, nutrient deficiencies are extremely common. Many of them include magnesium and B vitamins, but especially at this time, iron is a huge one. Iron deficiency anemia is extremely common in the United States population. And this is something that you want to have tested postpartum because you may be low in iron, which can contribute to lower levels of energy fatigue, brain fog, cognitive dysfunction, all of those things. The next one that I would say is hydration. Hydration is absolutely huge. Making sure that you're not only hydrating with reverse osmosis water to decrease any exposure to heavy metals and additional pesticides and things that are found in tap water water, but also pairing it with an electrolyte, or if you aren't buying an electrolyte, even just adding a pinch of high quality salts like I love the Redmond salts, making sure that you're repleting with those electrolytes that literally help to bring your water into the cells. So if you're only drinking water and you don't have enough electrolytes, which your need for electrolytes goes up postpartum, especially if you're breastfeeding, then you need to have those, those outside electrolytes from the sodium, potassium, magnes, magnesium that you can add to your water that help your, your fluids go from the extracellular fluid to intracellular fluid, which tells your cells that they're adequately hydrated. So that can make an enormous difference in mental clarity and energy and cognitive function. I personally notice an enormous difference with that. Blood sugar balance is extremely important at this time because of the exact reasons that we talked about when your blood sugar is rising and then dropping because you're just like eating a quick piece of your toast or grabbing the quickest thing possible without having a well rounded meal or snack. It's going to create that blood sugar roller coaster where your blood sugar is on the rise and then it's completely tanking, which is going to make you feel extremely tired when that tank happens, in addition to taking a hit on your mitochondria, which can lead to ongoing chronic fatigue. So I think that the important thing is that it is 100% possible to, to, to improve your postpartum experience, to decrease some of those symptoms that happen by taking care of your body, by nourishing your cells with the proper nutrients and information that they really need to be able to not only heal, but also get you to that state of repletion long term.

Can we like, stop and just like, admire how much knowledge you are? Like, I am just so impressed with how much you know know.

Oh, thank you. I've been doing this for 10 years and I've worked with a lot of people, so I really like to nerd out on all the things because also it's like this is. I personally got into this field because of my own health journey. I started as a patient 20 years ago. I was falling asleep nearly every second of every day. I would be eating and sleeping at the same time. Like literally sleeping with my eyes open at the dinner table. I was at the same time having 20 to 30 mini seizures per day, day that would last for five to 10 seconds. I was diagnosed with a neurological autoimmune condition called narcolepsy with cataplexies that is also a sleep disorder. So I was chronically energy depleted and at the same time I had horrible acne and was seeing a dermatologist for that. I was having anxiety and panic attacks and was referred to a psychiatrist. I had debilitating period pain that would literally lead me to pass out sometimes times. And was seeing an ob GYN for that. I had horrible bloating and crippling GI symptoms where I would curl up in a ball and was getting workup done with a GI specialist for that. And I was going to each of these specialists, they were pulling out their prescription pad and just saying, here's your solution. We're going to mask these symptoms with these drugs. And my parents asked, is there anything that we can do to help to improve just how she's functioning on a daily basis before we use the medication. And the answer was always very clearly no. And my parents just chose not to listen to that. I saw a functional medicine doctor in 2005 and it completely changed every single aspect of my life. And when I told my Neurologist about my progress after seeing this functional medicine doctor, he was visibly upset. And he adamantly stated over and over again to my mom, very condescending to us, very rude, and said, nutrition has nothing to do with your condition. There is no research to support this. And I was 16 years old when I told my mom, there has to be a million people who are just like me who are going to their doctor and being diagnosed with a condition that's either exacerbated or created by a nutrition and lifestyle imbalance, who aren't being given the opportunity to take their health into their own hands. And I'm going to help those people. And what I'll say is that what I sensed then holds true more than ever, that my story is the same as hundreds, hundreds of other, hundreds of thousands of other stories where people are going into their doctor, the doctor goes to the prescription pad to mask the symptoms of a disease that's created or exacerbated by nutrition and lifestyle. And we can't continue to go on that way. Like, we can't continue to mask the inflammatory consequences of food with pharmaceutical drugs. We know that 88% of Americans have poor metabolic health. More than 25% struggle with mental health disorders, an enormous rise of autoimmune disease, digestive issues, joint pain and arthritis, infertility, and these are all on the rise, despite spending more on healthcare than any other country. So I like to geek out on all of this and really love the work that my dietitians and I do and feel so proud of it because I feel like we owe it to the world to do better in the way that we're addressing chronic disease, mental health, autoimmune conditions, and switching the focus from not just treatment and a band aid approach, but to one that, that prioritizes nutrient dense foods that helps to decrease our toxic body burden and allows for the body to truly heal itself in the way that it's capable of doing.

Yeah, and I love that because I think it's easy for people to look at experts and be like, oh, you say that because you studied it, but it's like, no, you say that because.

You lived it 100%. Exactly. Exactly. Yes.

No, I love that. And so I guess, like, just to make this, like, the easiest thing for people to digest, if, if I'm gonna just focus on blood sugar, because I'm a huge fan of blood sugar. But what can people do that are easy little steps to support their blood sugar? Like, what does it look like in the morning when you wake up what is like a good snack? What's maybe something not to do? Just like the easiest low hanging fruit.

Yeah. I would say then the first thing would be to start out with enough protein with your breakfast. This can make an enormous difference with your energy, with your satiety because protein is the most satiating macronutrient. It also, you know, protein breaks down into amino acids that are the building blocks of your neurotransmitters. So not only from a blood sugar standpoint, but also from just supporting the health of your neurotransmitters, which of course you can also do by you know, minimizing blood sugar spikes. So I would say at least 20, ideally 25 grams at minimum of protein with breakfast. So that could look like three eggs with half of an avocado. And for, for the healthy fat and more of those micronutrients and the dietary fiber that we talked about for supporting gut gut health alongside possibly like you know, a piece of sweet potato or a piece of apple or some kind of fruit. I do think that sometimes people experience anxiety if they're going too low in carbohydrates. So I work with a number of people who have experienced that. So I would say, you know, like being mindful of having whole food carbohydrates if it does help you feel good. So that could be breakfast, half an avocado, three eggs and let's say like an app or it could be a smoothie where you're incorporating a scoop of protein powder that has at least 20 grams of protein and then you're adding something like chia seeds and almond butter that will give you a little bit more of the protein from those plant based protein sources alongside like some berries for those polyphenols for the gut health and fiber and carbohydrates. And then you incorporate. I typically recommend frozen berries in a smoothie because then you don't to need need ice. And cauliflower rice is always the base for all of my smoothies and all of our programs. I shouldn't say always, but most of the time is the base because cauliflower rice is going to give you more fiber. It creates a creaminess for the smoothie and helps you get at least one serving of vegetables first thing in the morning. It's also cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable so it gives you specific nutrients that help with supporting detoxification function which can be helpful for hormonal balance for people who have like estrogen dominance which can also be an issue for mental health. So Thinking about that well rounded smoothie, a cup of water. The cauliflower rice. Like a cup of cauliflower rice, frozen cauliflower rice, 3/4 of a cup of frozen berries. A scoop of protein powder with a high quality source of protein powder. Like I love my friend by all by Kelly's protein powder. That is a beef based protein powder. I know that sounds weird, but it's. It provides a really well rounded amino acid profile. And it comes in chocolate or vanilla with just three ingredients, super high quality sourcing. And then you have, you know, a tablespoon of almond butter and your possible like flax seeds or chia seeds. And so that could be another breakfast. You could do a chia seed pudding that has, you know, a scoop of protein powder in it because otherwise chia seed pudding won't give you 20 to 25 grams of protein. So you can do some chia seeds and then you know, some kind of fluid like almond milk or water or the, the fluid of your choice. This helps the chia seeds gelatinize so that you can make a big batch of it and then they swell into the, the chia seed pudding that also is amazing for supporting your bowel health and supporting, you know, like decreasing constipation, which I know can be a struggle for women postpartum. Like get off of that stool softener as fast as you can. And some of the ways that you can do that is by incorporating like magnesium and magnesium rich foods and supplementation in addition to something like a chia seed pudding that you could do. Like I already said, the chia seeds, the fluid at the base, you could do some fruit in there, like berries that you throw in with then a scoop of protein powder. I like a little vanilla extract, some salt. All of those things will help with giving you a fresh start to the day. That can really help to improve your energy, your cognition, decrease those cravings, decrease the need to impulsively snack in the middle of the morning or even later at night because the meal that you start your day with sets the tone for the rest of the day. So that would be my suggestion.

So one thing that I would really love to talk about is just what are some things that you're doing? Diet lifestyle wise to prioritize your mental health Postpartum?

Hmm, that's a great question. So I really, really try to practice what I preach we are as a household because this is something that's important to me as a person taking care of myself, but also now as a role model to my kids and Showing them what's possible for their health. I want to create an environment where it's just the thing that we do. It is choose whole foods that are minimally processed and mostly organic and support our blood sugar and make choices that are optimal. Not in a way that creates disordered eating or orthorexia, where they're afraid to eat anything imperfect, but in a way that just is. Like, this is how we fuel our bodies, because we want to show up in the highest version of ourselves. And we know that food and fuel helps us do that. So things that I'm doing to be able to support that is eating, you know, at least three meals a day, making sure that I'm not skipping meals, because that's when I'm going to feel, you know, like, lower blood sugar or, you know, just more tired, those kinds of things. Never skipping my supplements, that is so important to me. I always say never skip a day as my mantra for my high quality prenatal, which I'm still taking the we needle and magnesium and fish oil because the fish oil helps to increase the omega 3s of breast milk. Magnesium to help me sleep at night, like, never miss a day with my supplements is really important to me. Knowing how much of a deficit I'm in when it comes to my overall nutrition, knowing that I went from one pregnancy directly into the the next pregnancy. I got pregnant a week before McKinley turned three months months old. So thinking about supplements, thinking about staying hydrated, this is really important for also supporting breast milk. So I'm keeping. I like to keep a larger water bottle with me. Right now I have a 16 ounce, but larger, about 30 to 40 ounces. Typically helps me even more with prioritizing that level of hydration. We don't eat out often, but I will occasionally eat out. And that is just, you know, completely without judgment. I think having a healthy relationship, relationship with food is also extremely important for decreasing levels of anxiety. So this is something that, you know, I focus on where I gained 40 pounds in my pregnancy with McKinley, even though I was eating whole foods and balancing my blood sugar and all the things. I think sometimes hormonally you just gain more weight. Some people gain more weight. So I gained 40 pounds with her and had lost 30 pounds postpartum before I got pregnant with James. Then I gained 40 pounds with him. So I was about 50 pounds above my normal weight. And I have, you know, really committed to losing weight without counting calories because I prioritize my relationship with food as number one. And I want to focus on the nutrients that I'm infusing my cells with, the way that that's impacting my hormones, the way that that's impacting my inflammatory release, my inflammatory pathways, my metabolic health. And so sometimes when you just get to too specific on the calories, it, it pulls me out of that place. So instead I'm trying to just really eat more intuitively and paying attention and honoring my hunger and satiety cues, trying to limit mindless snacking and stress eating and, you know, desserts outside of just having some, like dark chocolate or, you know, an occasional treat every once in a while, but thinking more about how I want to feel and letting that be what guides through this postpartum stage versus like the stress of trying to get into a certain pair of jeans or like my brother's getting married next week and instead of trying to like cram myself into a dress, I'm like, this is where I'm at right now. And I honor my body, I respect it. I know that I'm at a higher place in my weight right now, But I have 100% confidence that in time I will get back to my pre pregnancy weight, which is important to me, but it's also important to me to support, support everything that my body has been through in these last two years of pregnancy so that I'm able to completely replete those nutrients and support my cellular rebound and just be able to thrive now as a mom and have the energy that I need to be able to take care of and support these two little amazing humans.

Yeah, I love all of that and I think a huge thing is just the energy piece. Like, I know for me, like I said it earlier, like I just crave energy so bad. And I think in a world we live in today, there's a very strong diet culture in the sense of lose weight. It doesn't support energy and it puts us in this vicious cycle that like I this. I'm hoping this conversation will break.

I hope so too, because it really, when you think about postpartum, there is so much more to it than just the weight that you've gained. Right. It's like the gut health, especially if you've had a C section and you're, you know, put on antibiotics or if you have strep B and you're put on IV antibiotics with birth, like your, your gut is taking a toll. Even if you're not on antibiotics, the NSAIDs that you're on for pain are also taking a hit on your overall gut health. So that's Going to sometimes not only lead to things like bloating and other GI symptoms for people, but can also be part of the constipation and other things that women experience postpartum. And thinking about skin health and how much people experience eczema and rosacea flares and other things. The acne flares because of the hormonal changes that impact your skin and things like thinking about your energy. Like you said, your cognition, like my brain is so important to me. It allows me to do the things that I, that I love doing on a daily basis to support people's health but also just to like function as an actual human being. And that also you take a toll and a hit with. And so I think thinking about all of these, your health holistically, your health holistically instead of just the weight really helps you prioritize. Like you said, like craving, just feeling good, craving, feeling like yourself again. So that, that is what's driving you to make these changes and to stay consistent with them.

One of the things I'm curious about before we jump off is what are just like easy ways to get protein in for snacks Because I know I, that's an area I struggle with. Is just like the snack department.

Yeah, I would say hard boiled eggs are amazing, especially postpartum because they egg yolks are an incredible source of choline which is a nutrient that is very high in need when you're postpartum if you're breastfeeding and even if you, you're not, but especially for if you're breastfeeding hard boiled eggs. I love beef or turkey sticks from a high quality source that's going to be like a grass fed beef stick or an organic turkey stick. And then thinking about even like I don't know if someone does pro or does dairy but thinking about like a cheese, cheese stick, those kinds of things that transport easily. You could do even like an Rx bar or I, I've been doing Rx bars because I had stopped eating dairy for a little bit, thinking that was an issue for breastfeeding. So just you know, like quick and easy sources. I'm not in love with using bars, but I do think that sometimes it's better than nothing not having anything with you or not having enough of the protein. So those are really like my 3 go tos when I'm on the road. In addition to then trying to do like turkey deli meat, you know, like as a quick, as a quick lunch option that you can make a quick turkey roll up with like a Siete wrap, some kind of lower glycemic wrap or even like a lettuce wrap where you're incorporating the several pieces of the organic turkey slices with maybe some like avocado oil, mayonnaise and some sriracha and some cucumber slices that you're just rolling up. Or you could do even like canned salmon. I live and die for canned salmon pieces. So easy. So making like a thing of canned salmon in a way that you would make canned salad tuna where you're just doing like some avocado oil, mayonnaise and some onion and pickles. And onion and pickles and celery is what I typically put into it. Thinking about those as options as well. In addition to also not being afraid of buying packaged protein sources like we buy an organic chicken burger from Costco that is such a lifesaver on times that I just seem like trying to make a really quick dinner. And that's going to be a great source of protein that typically is, you know, pretty much all protein and not much carbs or fat. So you can get those macronutrients from other sources. But I would say that. And shrimp, like even frozen shrimp is so helpful because you can make a quick stir fry with that to get the protein in. Using the freezer is absolutely something that I leaned on so much, not only for freezing milk, but also for freezing meals that I've prepped in advance and freezing those protein sources. So buying like a few big bags of frozen shrimp, of chicken breast, organic chicken breast, of some of those chicken burgers that I talked about in order to just have those sources on hand in addition to protein powder, you know, like making a smoothie is so fast and such an easy way for you to incorporate, incorporate additional sources of protein and if you can't do a smoothie because even just like cleaning out the blender seems like too much energy for you, which I was at that place in the first few weeks postpartum. You could even buy something like a Coia drink that's a company that has protein drinks. They're plant based protein drinks. They're pretty decent for the ingredient list. They're not perfect, but they're pretty good and don't have a lot of added sugar in them. So you could rely on something like that for convenience too.

So you mentioned canned salmon. I'm curious, what is your favorite brand?

I usually buy the Costco canned salmon because it's wild and BPA free can linings, which are the two most important things to look for. I do Love Wild Planet. It's just so expensive when you buy Wild Planet on its own. So the most affordable and, you know, quality to my standards is what I buy from Costco.

Awesome. Good to know. So I end every conversation asking, what does courage look like to you?

Courage to me looks like not being afraid to have a voice for things that are in need of addressing and talking about, even when it's not popular. So I think that being able to stand up for something that, you know, like the chronic disease epidemic, the enormous rise in child childhood chronic disease, and the mental health crisis that we're faced with in doing things that are not popular or not the norm, it's not an easy thing to do, especially when you're met with criticism from your family or from your friends. Like, for instance, we aren't allowing our kids to have added sugar until they turn 2 because I personally do not find one benefit to it. And it does fall in line with a lot of the recommendations that are of kind coming out. So that is something that we've gotten pushback from, for, for my family or from other people. And I think, you know, our kids need us to defend them more than ever because of all of the environmental assaults that they're faced with from, you know, so many different sources. And I think that it really, like courage is taking a stand for what you believe is important, not only having a voice for it, but living by it when it's not always popular and you're met and faced with opposition.

I love that for so many reasons, because I get pushback as a therapist. But even just recently, I was texting somebody who was watching my little about food, and I was like, I promise I'm not going to always be this neurotic. And I found myself apologizing for it. And I'm like, why do I feel bad about holding strong about what I do not want my kid eating?

Exactly. Because it's like if, if you were to do the opposite, which is just go along with whatever the wanted them to eat or whatever most other kids eat, then you will end up in the statistic of the increase in prediabetes in adolescents and teens and the increase in mental health disorders and all these things that are directly attributed to not only what we're putting into our mouth, but I'm sure for you as a therapist, even just paying attention to screen time and the screens that kids are exposed to, like being exposed to iPads in TV and cartoons and all these shows, like, very, very early on, is the norm. And in just the reading that I've been doing as a mom, this isn't my place of expertise. You know, we're in an enormous mental health epidemic because of so much of the screens and social media and children and all these things that are the norm but should not be the norm because the norm then leads to horrible statistical outcomes from a mental health standpoint.

Yeah. So you have covered so much. If people are listening to this and they want to work with you, learn more from you. The blood Sugar Reset. How can they help find you?

I would love, love, love to have as many people that want to join us for the blood sugar reset that we are doing in November. That is a 10 day blood sugar reset program that we send out the meal plan for that includes your breakfast, lunch and dinner for 10 days that are designed to help with supporting mood, energy and cravings. So definitely join us for that. I can send the links for the blood sugar reset and then I'll also send the links for our other programs where you can work one on one with one of my dietitians and do more of the functional lab testing. We have a number of different programs, a membership program, and so I'll include a link for you, Tara, that you can put in the show notes if people are interested in working with a team of functional medicine dietitians. I personally feel not only that therapists are so important in expanding your health care team, but really dietitians are special specialist in food and nutrition in ways that no doctor is because doctors receive, you know, an average of 20 hours of nutrition education in medical school. So what we really specialize in is making nutritional changes, doing functional testing. If you're working deeper with us, looking at potential root causes of whatever the condition is and thinking also about the holistic relationship with food while you're making the dietary changes so that you end up in a place where you're able to think really positively about your nutrition, nutrition and the way that you're approaching it.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for hanging out with me. All the shakes that I share on my Instagram are all from you. They're amazing. I love them. So if anybody's interested, definitely do the reset. I loved it. Great recipes. But thank you so much for creating this conversation and just helping to change the narrative because it's a narrative that desperately needs changed.

Thank you for having me.

Well, my courageous friends, thank you so much for listening to another episode of the Courageously youy Podcast. If you liked what you heard, be sure to rate, review and follow the show over on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you felt this episode added value to your life, feel free to share this episode with a friend. For more information on this episode, be sure to check out today's show notes. And as always, you can come hang out with me over on Instagram at Courageously you. Until next time. Biggest hugs.