Break Through Weight Loss Plateaus, Improve Your Mood, and Relieve Hot Flashes with Dr. Anna Cabeca

Hi, I'm Dr. Tabitha the Gutsy Gynecologist. I'm a triple board certified, OB, GYN and Functional Medicine physician. I've embraced the world of functional medicine and wellness through my own personal health journey. And I'm super excited to share my wisdom and unique perspective as it pertains to women's health. After caring for thousands of women, I've come to realize that your gut health determines your gyne health and your overall health. And it's a super gutsy thing for me to go against conventional gynecology practice to bring you the truth. No more band aid medicine, ladies. We're talking root cause resolution on this show. So if you're struggling with hormone imbalance, weight gain, period issues, anxiety, insomnia, you name it, then you've come to the right place and I want to be your gutsy gynecologist. So welcome. All right ladies. I'm really excited about this episode. So way back two years ago I recorded episode seven of the Functional Gynecologist podcast. It was brand new and one of my idols, Dr. Anna Kabeca, came on and talked about her book the Hormone Fix. So listen to episode seven. It's really good and it's still just as important to know this information. But Anna is back so I'm really excited. She, since being on my podcast, wrote keto green 16 and now she's about to come out with menu pause. So it's a really awesome book that takes you through different ways of eating as a way to pause mentally, emotionally and physically in your gut to shift things up and create new diversity in your gut, new healing opportunities. So this book is really cool. I'm excited that it's coming out and we're going to talk all about all those healing opportunities today. We're going to talk about weight loss plateaus and how important it really is to to get your gut health dialed in in order to balance your hormones and have health overall as a woman. So she and I think so much alike. I just love Dr. Anna Kabeca. So I'm really excited for this episode. I wanted to mention a shout out. I got a 5 star review from busy lady Michigan. Thank you so much. It says. Thanks for all your helpful information. I have a question about episode 91 with Katherine Arnsten. She recommends algae for energy and nutrients in pregnancy, but how much is considered safe when talking about vitamin A content? Can I take it with my prenatal? So the recommendation is to max out at about 10,000 IUs a day in supplementation form so take a look at what's in your prenatal and then you can compare to what else you're adding in. If you're eating things with vitamin A and don't worry about that, it's really hard to get too much vitamin A in this day and age, especially if you do have gut issues, because we're not necessarily absorbing our fat soluble vitamins very well. I've actually seen a ton of this in my practice this past winter is that women not only have low vitamin D levels, but they also have low vitamin A levels. So I've actually never seen elevated vitamin A in anyone in 20 years. So I think it's really hard to get that excess point. But if you stick to 10,000 IUs a day in supplementation form, I think you're going to be totally fine. So thank you so much for that, for your question. I love it. And please everybody, like send me your questions. I am here for you. I want to be on this journey with you and help guide you. But you got to let me know.

What you want to hear.

So, you know, I guess I go by other people's dms and emails and.

That type of thing.

But I would love to hear what resonates with you. Hopefully this episode does today because Dr. Anna Kabeca is awesome. She and I are doing so much of the same work, so let me just sing her praises. She's a fellow do an obstetrician, gynecologist, so she's also triple board certified as well as I am. And so she and I just were kind of the same thought processes of like first you gotta heal your gut, you gotta dial in the diet and the lifestyle. You want to incorporate intermittent fasting and you want to work on the mindset, mind shift piece of it. You got to learn to love your body again. Take those pauses throughout your day, throughout your life to really get back to who you are, what fills your cup and have gratitude and from everything that God has given you and that is more healing than any supplement or any diet or anything. So I just love, love how she views things because I totally agree. So let me sing her praises. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Anna has served over 10,000 women in her private practice and millions more through her books, online videos and articles. When her own health took a troubling turn during menopause, she sought out the wisdom of healers around the world. She learned that modern medicine and time tested natural remedies are not at odds. Working together, they create indisputable results and True well being. Using delicious healing foods and simple lifestyle changes, Dr. Anna reclaimed her health and life. Fueled by her belief that every woman deserves to be empowered and in control of their health and life, she developed the Keto Green lifestyle, which has helped thousands of women opt out of menopause misery and experience a joyful transition to the next stages of their lives. With her methods, you too can breeze through menopause into your second spring feeling the best you ever have. So we are going to talk about her new book, Menupause, and I know you're going to get a ton out of this episode.

Here we go.

Well, welcome, Dr. Kabeca, to the gutsy Gynecologist show.

Oh, my gosh. I love this time together. So I've been so looking forward to it. Tabitha, thanks for having me.

Oh, congratulations on becoming a grandma.

Seriously, like, you hear about how amazing it is, and I never would have believed it until, you know, I've experienced it myself and. And I was blessed, you know, as an obgyn, I was really blessed to be able to deliver her. So I was able to deliver her, and it was like after delivering hundreds and hundreds of babies, I don't know, over 500 babies, it really was the most amazing delivery.

Oh, my gosh. That's so beautiful. Yeah. I remember when I delivered my grandson, like, it was overwhelming. You know, it's like you've come full circle and you're bringing this life into the world and you're seeing your daughter as a new mom and seeing that experience, it's like, it doesn't get better than that, right?

Oh, my gosh. It's so good. But how old is your grandson?

He is almost 4, so it just gets better and better. And I like, there it is the best.

That is so good. Yeah, I'm looking, I'm looking forward to it. So redefining being a grandma, like, what did that like? For me, it's been this transition because my mom was very sick, you know, when my first daughter, Amanda was born and she had her first heart surgery at 52. I'm 55 now, so she really struggled for many years, passing away at 67. And my daughter Amanda was only a year and a half, so she never really knew. This amazing woman was like, food was medicine, food was love, and that's the life I grew up knowing. So she just left such a huge gap and diabetes on both sides of my family, and diabetes is really what killed both my parents. And so when I was thinking about this and becoming a grandma, I was thinking, okay, what does being a grandma look like? Like, what does that look like? And what I know because I've only known my mom as a grandma. I didn't know my own grandparents because they all passed at youngish ages. And I had this vision, okay, subconsciously, it's sick on oxygen, struggling. And I've really kind of been trying to this daily practice that I have to re. Envision myself as a grandmother, like the future myself with my third generations around me. And what does that look like? What do I feel like? What am I doing? How am I envisioning myself? What's my health like, right? And then it's optimum. It's. It's energetic, it's. It's fun, it's kind, it's powerful, it's affluent. I mean, it's all, you know, it's all these things that, you know, I keep. Have to put my next right step forward in order to do this and not slip back. Because, you know, it. It changed how it is, it really depends. Like, menopause is the same thing, don't you think? It's how people perceive it. What have they seen? How have they witnessed people go through it or live the second spring, I like to call the time after menopause the second spring of my. Of our lives. How we live out the second spring.

Of our lives, without a doubt. Oh, my gosh, that's so beautiful, because you have just broken this generational curse, right? Like this idea that as you age, you have to get sick and you can't be like, this amazing, vibrant grandma who's involved in running around the yard and doing all this stuff, and you're making that happen. It's so cool. I don't know how many times I've heard from my patients, like, I know it's time for me to have a hysterectomy because my mom did, my grandma did. We just get this idea in our head of sickness being passed down, and it's so unbreak. It's so breakable. You know, it really is just making a shift in our mindset and then changing our behaviors. So I love this book because it really gives women tools to do that. Right? So I'm really excited about this.

Yeah. Thank you. And it really has been birthed from my other two books, so started with the Hormone Fix, which you interviewed me on your podcast, and. And I loved it. So, you know, the Hormone Fix, it's foundational, right? Foundational. It takes more than hormones to fix our hormones. And it's really important to understand what's what's happening. So that's the hormone fix. And then from there I build out keto green. 16. Increasing intermittent fasting, making the recipes and plans simpler. And now from there, you know, as people have been now doing my Keto Green plans and lifestyle hacks for the last eight years. Eight, nine years. Oh, my gosh. How many? Five, six, seven? Yeah, seven, eight years. Now that, you know, they, sometimes they get a, they hit a stumbling block, like I'm, I'm slipping backward or, you know, I'm not breaking through this plateau. I've stalled out and I'm not doing anything different. So that's where Menupause, I know, great name, right?

Love it.

That's where menu pause came from. So there are five different menu plans that each pause something as if when I was working with my clients and with my online community, think, okay, well what are you doing? Well, let's pause this. Let's try this. And it can be based on their medical history, their symptoms, you know, how far they've come with Keto Green and what's going on. So that's how Menupause was born.

Oh, my gosh, you're speaking my language. You know, as the gutsy gynecologist, I truly believe balancing your hormones requires gut health. It all begins in the gut. And you are really helping women understand, like what you put in your body completely has an effect on your hormones and your health in general. So I would love for women to like, really get that drilled into their head, explain to them why the gut matters.

Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, our gut, the bacteria in our gut, you know, are responsible for keeping us healthy. They're a first line defense. It's, you know, first line defense as if they were our military on the front lines. That's how important the gut is. And as a gynecologist and as I started working with, you know, detoxification and working with really foundational, you know, medicine, a foundational medicine approach, I would always detox my patients first and they would come back saying, oh my gosh, I feel so much better. Because we're addressing detox the liver and we're addressing the intestines, the gut health. And we know within 72 hours, that's why fasting is so important. Within 72 hours, the gut mucosa completely regenerates. So hence that's why each of my five plans are six days, two 72 hour cycles.

Awesome. So you have five different plans, they're six days long.

And it's.

The idea is that you're going to pause from what you're currently doing and you're going to do a new strategy. I love that because I've heard you talk about it before. We have seasons for a reason. Our gut likes diversity. Our. That's why so many people do well on any diet change, Right? Yeah. Talk about that a little bit more.

Yeah, it's just the same thing. You would never do the same exercise every day. And that's where this muscle confusion comes in. We know the more diverse your diet is, the more diversity we have in our gut microbiome. And a diverse gut microbiome is associated with longevity and that's really powerful. And we have the estrobolone within the gut bacteria that are critical in healthfully detoxing our estrogens. And they'll either go down a healthy pathway or an unhealthy pathway. And so again, strong, healthy, diverse, with the building blocks and nutrients that the gut bacteria need, that we need. So the methylators, the glucuronidators, the sulfate, all these little micronutrients that are critical for our survival and our health become important to, you know, to balance our hormones and decrease that inflammation.

Yeah. So I love it so much. I love that you have five different plans and that you're kind of addressing everybody's food choices, you know, or dietary choices. Because there are some strong opponents who will like, challenge you. Like, don't eat vegetables, don't eat meat. Like you don't be that way. But I like that you are showing us how to try that stuff. So talk about your plans.

Yeah, yeah. And I think it's. It's key what you said. Just trying it. Right. Try something different. And there's so much dogma. Well, we're only in the paleo camp or we're only in the keto camp. And you know, and that's often a keto dirty camp, not clean camp, which is the keto green camp. So, you know, we're vegan, vegetarian and we're strict and I was a vegetarian for many years, so I know that that was a really unhealthy way for me and my body after a while. Now, for short term, I think we all need to cycle through vegetarian. I think we all could benefit from cycling through a four days, a few days of carnivore. And we need to learn what is our body telling us. Are we resilient? Are we adept to change? Are we that flexible enough and seriously supporting? You know, I think it is. It's part of that confusion, like that fun Confusion. But also. So I start out with the Keto Green Extreme plan. And you can be coming in from any plan. We've got a little menu pause quiz you can take. And you don't have to start in any order, but I put these plans in order in the book for a reason. So I want to talk you through this and get your feedback too, because I know this is your area of expertise. And so, like, a lot of people in my community have been doing Keto Green, but you don't have to. You can keep coming from anywhere. The first plan is a Keto Green Extreme plan and it's where I've taken out additional inflammatory foods like the nightshades, for example. So my clients with Hashimoto's or some autoimmune diseases, you know, can really just see how do we do in two, you know, two 72 hour cycles in six days without, without nightshade. Then you'll get an idea. Yeah, this is, this is making me feel better and I feel already so much stronger. You can continue on that plan or you can go right in. And so nightshades being eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, those can be very inflammatory for people. And I took out pepper, so it really follows an autoimmune protocol. I love the work of Dr. Terry Wahls. I mean, it's groundbreaking in clients with multiple sclerosis. And that affects women more than men. And so we need to take that into consideration. How are we doing pending those inflammatory foods? So then the second plan is because many people experience constipation when we go keto. Right. And constipation means that the gut is not working well. And this is a really critical period of definition, because I would ask on my inventory, my questionnaire, when patients come into my office, you know, are you constipated? And they'd be like, no. And so I do a pelvic exam, like, I feel constipated. And you know, well, how many times do you use the bathroom a day? I don't use it daily. I use it once or twice a week. Right. Have a bowel movement and you're like, okay, that's constipation. We've got a problem here. Like, well, this is how I've been for 30 years. I'm like, I promise you, you'll be a happier person. And isn't it true once they go from constipated to having regular daily bowel movements, they are happier people? Oh my God, they're happier people.

Without a doubt. Because you're not reabsorbing all those toxins. You know, I know when I'm constipated I get a headache, I get grumpy, I feel bloated, I don't want to see anybody. You know, it's not fun.

It's not fun. And it's so true. And this is something like I've, I, I had dairy sensitivity and I didn't even realize like how constipated I'd been from a young kid till I figured this out in my 30s, right. And so, so that you know, when I have dairy there's that little element of constipation. But you know, like I know it right away and I take extra probiotics, extra magnesium if I've had dairy and enzymes if I've been exposed. But I had dental surgery recently. I had some root canal pulled and so I, they gave me pain medicine afterwards and I forgot like how many times when we treat a patient we do surgery like, okay, these are going to make you constipated. Well, like within, within a few days. I'm like, oh my God. And that was so painful. It was so painful to be constipated too. And you have hemorrhoids. I mean I've delivered four big babies, but hemorrhoids, you know, and especially as we get older, you know, fissures, those are really big problems that can really affect you. And I, you know, I've known clients that, and this was way back after I delivered my fourth child that, you know, having to put fingers in your vagina to have a bowel movement, I mean that can be prolapse, rectal prolapse, those issues. So all that came back and I'm like, okay, thank you God for Jova. I don't have to do that. Still have good strong muscles, you know, and all that tissue is really healthy. And so, so the plant based plan is really to support that gut microbial diversity and give you that glimpse and support detoxific and support hormone balance. And it's an anti inflammatory keto ish, keto greenish plan and in a, in a vegan presentation. So really nice. And then I go right into carnivore. So eliminate. Because some people, you know, have trouble digesting vegetables and that creates inflammation. They have small intestinal bowel overgrowth, they have such a leaky gut that they're really having trouble with this. And, and so there's arguments for those with different autoimmune diseases or when other things feel like see how you feel with going carnivore. But there are Right and wrong ways to carnivore. Driving through and just getting meat patties is not the same thing. And believe me, I've heard a keto speaker on stage just say, oh, yeah, go get two burgers from Whataburger without the bun. I'm like, you know, just the meat patties, I'm like, okay.

Oh, my gosh, it is not good. I did the same thing back in the day when I first started dabbling with health, quote, unquote. I would go to McDonald's and just eat the cheeseburgers without the bun. And I just think, oh, my gosh, what was I doing? But really, people are misinformed. So thank you for pointing that out.

I think it's really welcome. It is. And it was a realization for me, too, because I am on the road a lot with my daughter Ava, the rodeo and hauling horses. And sometimes it's like, okay, we get a Buc EE's every once in a while. But you're, you know, like, sometimes I haven't had time. And again, single mom with kids, running a business. I don't have time to prep the nice. Nice to go food for the. For a while. But, like, driving through and you can feel there's a difference. If you look at the ingredients in these, it's not meat. I mean, it's not just meat. There's lots of other stuff in there that, you know, is. Is difficult to pronounce. And so you're getting a lot of hormone disruptors. Plus, what we eat, ate or was injected with or treated with and how they lived and what their stress levels were is passed down to us. It's so true.

Yeah. If you're eating, you know, a cow that was raised on GMO corn.

Yes.

You know, you're not going to feel good. It's not going to be good for you. So I do love the carnivore diet for, like, sibo in certain situations. So, man, I just love that you're tackling all these different plans.

Yes. Yeah. And in a way that really, like, made sense to me, using food as medicine. So here's a nose to tail plants. I've got liver in here. Cardamom seared liver. I made it for my daughter, Ava, and she didn't know what it was, and she ate two helpings. I mean, it is so good. These recipes are just like flavor bombs. And a friend of mine, actually, Caroline Ely, who does my photographs for my books and has helped me with many recipes, getting them from head to paper, which is so key. She Always says a combination and this is so true in my favorite recipes. It's citrus fat and salt. Citrus fat and salt. So that combination is a flavor bomb for your mouth. And so we use that plus medicinally using different spices. Like sumac for instance, is very widely used in the Middle east and it's an antibacterial, it supports your immune system, has activity to help your natural inflammatory, anti inflammatory processes. That sumac plus it's bitter and salty and has a little citrus. And it's really a very fascinating, very fascinating herb spice that we can use. So you can start adding that into your burgers, into your sauces, on your fish. So good that way. And so a little explanation on that in the book. But the nose to tail piece, I think it's really important when we're doing Carnivore now, you know, being like when our, my grandparents, you know, that was like my mom would cook that way. She made liver and chicken hearts and those were things that were part of.

That stuff growing up. And now I don't even know how to prepare it. So I'm excited for these recipes.

So from the carnivore plan, we're in high ketosis, so we're going to go right into a cleanse plan because we're not going to be hungry. So we can really support a very even more severe lower inflammatory diet, but supporting our body with some healthy smoothies, bone broth, alkaline broth, herbal teas and a liver gallbladder cleanse in the morning. And I introduced this to my girlfriend, Dr. Community pre book launch and had had them all do my cleanse plan because it is the strictest one. Now they've been doing keto green for a while, so they were all into it and I was like, okay. And then they're like, what this, you know, olive oil, lemon juice concoction, blended, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, trust me, we're going to do it for six days. And they're like, oh my gosh, can we, at the end of six days, can we keep doing this? I'm like, let's just do it for six days for now. We can try it again next, you know, in the, like it was winter, so spring, we can do it again. In the spring we'll do this plan again. But you know, that's, that's how powerful it was. And I had one client, she lost 11 pounds in those steps six days and kept 10 of those pounds off even after the Thanksgiving holidays. So I found that to be again releasing Toxic waste really giving your, your lining, your GI tract a chance to heal and repair.

Oh my gosh, that's awesome.

And then the fifth plan from there, it's a carb up plan. Because sometimes we're so carb restricted for too long. Like we've been so keto so ingrained in this or whatever it may be or so in the fasting lifestyle that we need to add back some sweet potatoes or root vegetables because they're medicinal, right? They're so good. Sweet potatoes are high in tryptophan and sometimes like if they've had difficulty sleeping or waking up in the middle of the night, that was a little shift they needed to make to just really feel great and even sometimes drop more weight, maintain their weight. But adding in a little carb up plan with some healthy grains and like, like gluten, all gluten free, dairy free. My recipes are all gluten free, dairy free. So it was just a big, it's just a beautiful combination. I think it was so fun playing on the word menu pause, creating something around that word and this time of life. Because I like to say there's magic in the pauses of our lives.

Oh my gosh, that's so beautiful. And I'm just so happy that you did the carve up portion of it because I see a lot of women who, they really do get fixated on the fasting and then they get this weight loss plateau and they're like, why can't I lose the last 10 or 15? And I try to explain, like, you are putting your body into survival mode. You need to help increase your metabolism. So I would love for you to talk about the fact that we do need to feast and famine and remind our body we're not starving. Right?

Absolutely, absolutely. And I will say there's like my 1080, 10 rule, give or take, but like 10% fasting, 80% keto green and 10% feasting.

Yeah, exactly. So that you're cycling in and out of it. You're, you're giving that body that muscle confusion like you were talking about earlier.

Exactly.

If you're doing the same thing every day, day after day, your body gets wise to the situation and it will turn down that metabolism. So I think this is really awesome. So where. Is there any place else where weight loss plateau can really be helped? Or is it with the carb up section?

Well, I mean, each one of them can really address the weight loss plateau. So when we, whether it's keto green extreme or switching to plant based and we're switching to carnivore or cleansing. Definitely each and every one of these plans can help. Can absolutely help. Depends on what your body is needing. And so that's where a little bit trial. There is a menu pause quiz and there's a questionnaire also that comes with the book that just says okay, this may be the best plan for you. If however, I do recommend cycling through all the plans. I really do. And I think doing it, we're going to be doing it in community in my, in my Keto Green community and my girlfriend doctor club. So we'll be doing this in community and going through this together. So I'm looking forward to really initiating, initiating that and see how everyone does with each of the plans. And yeah, I love it. I'm excited about it. Cool.

So where can my listeners find you and get in your groups?

So definitely easy to find me at dranna.com v r a n n a dot com and I'm in the Keto Green community on Facebook and at the Girlfriend Doctor. On Facebook and on Instagram. At the Girlfriend Doctor. Definitely follow me on Instagram because I'm there more than more than I want to be lately. But it's where I check up on my daughters and my granddaughter.

So. Oh my gosh, that's so awesome. Well, this has been a great episode. I think women really need to embrace the idea of food as medicine and being able to heal their guts with their food choices. Mixing things up, trying new stuff, taking a pause. Right. To actually heal. I love that. That's so good. So your book is out April 12th. Everybody needs to get it and follow you on Instagram. Instagram. Show us a picture because it is so beautiful.

It's totally beautiful. And there's over 120 recipes and lots of gorgeous color photography in here. So which is a big deal for publishers and my publishers, Rodale and I'm really grateful. And so we were able to do a lot of beautiful recipes and photography. So it's great. And the plans are in here now. I do recommend you get the buck. You can get it for from anywhere books are sold. And then Tabitha, you have a link for the book bonuses. So you enter your receipt number and you get amazing bonuses including batch cooking guides for each of the recipes, shopping lists for each of the recipes, my daily activity checklist because it's, you know, a big part of it is what we eat. But it's also there's a great chapter in here that talks about the things that no longer serve us like pausing Things that that don't serve us. And so I think that's a really important piece too. So journaling and again, extra, you know, a lot of bonuses. So on that book bonus page, be sure to get that pre order to get extra special bonuses.

Awesome. Those links are all in the show notes. Definitely check that out. That is so good. Well, thank you so much, Dr. Anna. You're just a wealth of knowledge and you just keep giving and giving and giving and we appreciate it so much. You're such a powerhouse. Thank you.

Thank you so much for having me and God bless you. It is a pleasure and an honor and a gift to spend time with you today.

Oh my gosh. I love talking to Dr. Anna. That was a great conversation. I love all of the ideas that she has surrounding food and taking a pause and trying something different. Increasing your gut microbiome diversity and allowing for gut repair. It's all really important concepts for you to try because I think so often we just overlook the gut. And it is about eating delicious, yummy food and getting your phytonutrients and enough protein and all of that. But we also have to love on our bacteria in our gut and they really do love fiber and healthy fats and all that good stuff. So check out those recipes. They look absolutely amazing. The links are in the show notes and I just wanted to mention that I have an awesome online Facebook group called the renew you sisterhood where you get daily inspiration and tips and guidance from me and my team. And so if you are looking for a sisterhood of women that just help you feel supported and motivated every day to keep making these changes that you've been incorporating, then the renew you sisterhood is for you. Like, I just, just get so much amazing feedback that, you know, women tell me, oh my gosh, this is what I've been longing for. And I didn't even know that I needed this. And I've just missed being in community and having the support of other women. It's amazing to not feel in competition, just, you know, collaborating and helping each other reach their goals. So I just love it. It fills my cup. It fills everybody else's cup in the group. So check that out. The link is on drtabitha.com D R T A B A T H A and shoot me your questions, give me your comments, let me know what you want to hear about. Okay, I'm here for you. I do this for you. And if you haven't hit the subscribe button, please do so that lets lets itunes know that you want to hear more of this and share it with everybody you know? So go have a guest week, ladies. Bye.