Why I Take These Supplements in Menopause

Real quick, before we dive into this episode, I have a little sleep secret I want to tell you about. Look, sleep is crucial for your fitness, but it's crucial for just plain old everyday life and function.

And I find I sleep great unless I have a migraine.

And I've had more than my fair share since perimenopause all the way through postmenopause. My secret weapon was Blue Sky CBD sleep gels. Each gel contains 25 milligrams of CBD and 25 milligrams CBN for deep restorative sleep. Something about it helps to reduce inflammation, which I believe for me was key in helping me get to sleep. But the biggest thing is so many of the over-the-counter solutions, whether for sleep or migraines, can ruin gut health, and liver health. Neither one of those did I want to be problematic for me. So this option is recommended by healthcare providers worldwide and backed by thousands of happy customers, many of whom come from our Flipping 50 community. There is zero THC, so it's non-habit-forming. It's made by a trusted family-owned company that we all can feel good about. Third-party tested for purity and potency. And if you're interested, you too can try a sample for just $6. But even better, you can get 30% off forever with discount code FLIPPING50. That's FLIPPING50. Just go to flipping50.com/blueskycbd. We'll put that link in the show notes and you'll find it everywhere on Flipping 50 at My Favorites. What are you waiting for? Good night. A couple years ago, I hosted a retreat for women in our Flipping 50 community in my home, and much of it was we would come here in the afternoons. We spent some time usually doing cooking a meal. We do things in groups. We, we do some games, some fun activities, presentations. Lots of things occur right here in my home. Inevitably, when I posted in my home or a house that I was living in at the time somebody would come in and say, do you mind if we open up your cupboards in your pantry to see what you buy? So think of this as your opportunity to peek inside of my cupboards and what I'm doing, and I'll talk about why I'm doing it.

I'm Debra Atkinson, and you're listening to Flipping 50. I started this podcast over a decade ago to answer questions about fitness in menopause and beyond. Before you know to ask them. The goal: to help accelerate your results with the science and the practical application of proven protocols while living your best life. There's no more powerful health influencer in the world than a midlife woman.

It's not just you, but it's the 3 generations that you influence.

My unique 40-year career, including being a university senior lecturer in kinesiology, an industry subject matter expert and international speaker to founder of the first and the only exclusively made for menopause and beyond fitness membership in the world. Every week I interview experts behind the science of optimal hormone balancing, fitness, and longevity, and share answers to our community's questions so you can have the vitality and the energy you want, need, and deserve.

Okay, true confession. So I'm not using notes, and a lot of times, many of you may know, I will create notes. I'll create it in a short outline, or more often than not, I actually write an article. I write a blog post, and then we decide behind the scenes, are we going to share this as a podcast with show notes, or are we going to share this as a blog post, a literally text-only kind of thing? And at any or usually we go the former. So we'll do the podcast, we'll do with show notes, but often our show notes read like a podcast. So for those of you that prefer the text to the actual, you know, here's the audio so that you can go for a walk with me, which I love, there's something so meta meta about that for a fitness podcast. But I want to let you know, I'm riffing right now, so I, I actually have no notes. I found a window of opportunity I didn't know I was going to have, so I'm going to just share with you what I'm taking right now and literally from memory what I've taken in the last 24 hours and why I'm taking it. So this is going to exclude anything that is related to HRT supplementation, so I'm not gonna talk about the estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and yes, yes, and yes, I'm taking those, but I'm going to talk about everything else. So here's how I think of this, and before we jump into this, I want you to know there are a couple of things that you could take without a lab test, and I'll talk a little bit more about that in a follow-up podcast. Do you need a lab test? Do you need a cortisol saliva test, for instance, to check on your cortisol levels? Or what would you do instead? Because inevitably, if you were gonna start and you know, what am I doing with the results of that test? You can say, well, why don't I do that now? You know, if it's no harm, no foul, we're not taking supplements that are gonna be harmful, or we're not gonna change habits that are harmful, they're actually gonna be good for you no matter what. Why wouldn't I do that now and see if it improves? And so I don't have to check my cortisol. There is that thought. So we'll dive into that and unpack that in a next upcoming podcast. But right now I just wanna go through this and every once in a while, you know, there's a duplicate or there's content that I've released earlier on YouTube. And in this case it is also true, but here we go. So number 1, not necessarily in this order, but there are a couple different supplements that, or micronutrients, that whole aura of vitamins versus minerals that many, most of us, high percentages of us are depleted in or insufficient. So those words can be used kind of simultaneously, interchangeably, but magnesium is a big one. So the number, you know, varies depending on who you're consulting, but 70 to 80% of us are deficient in magnesium. Why am I taking it? Well, number one, because of that, but number two, you look at how many enzyme actions magnesium needs to be there for. So it may be needed in a very small amount for this enzyme action, but if it's not there, then that action is not actually happening. It's not functioning. So it's just like this small part, but it's a really important piece. So many of those enzyme actions are related to your metabolism, maybe related to muscle and or to bone, but there's so many other things. So your ability to sleep, that's one of the signs that you may need magnesium if you're not Staying asleep could be a sign if you're not regular. So if you're, you know, not pooping every single day, you're not regular. By the way, you may say, well, I go every 3 days. Not enough. At least once every, every day. And there are experts who would suggest if you're eating the right kind of diet and your stomach is in great shape, that you go after every meal. Now that may seem a little bit extreme to some of us who that's not the habit in, in a life that live today, just on the go and constantly in stress, may not even be realistic. But just want to float that out there so you realize that there's a wide continuum of, number one, what we think is normal, what really is. So if you're not going a minimum of once a day, that's something I would look at. It's one of the ways we just remove toxins from our bodies. And secondly, you don't feel probably as motivated to move if you feel heavy and you're walking around with, you know, a bloat that is not distention in your, your belly from digesting something you just ate, but it's actually you're bloated because you're constipated and your intestines are full. So that is not a good feeling. When you feel lighter, you want to be more active. So magnesium is one. So let's get into just a little of unpacking that. But I am going to share a podcast interview I did with Dr. Carolyn Dean, probably the best discussion on magnesium we've ever had on this show, really unpacks it. She's also got a book if you want to read a little bit more. But you will find— and I just found this yesterday, so I wanted to research this a bit— there's still— you're going to land on the website somewhere and somebody's going to say the maximum daily amount you should take for a woman is 350 milligrams. It's actually not true. So I want you to do a little bit more of your 'where did that number come from' research. I want you to look at recommended daily amounts at 400. But remember where those RDAs came from, you know, that was to prevent disease, that was to prevent you from getting sick. It wasn't necessarily to help you thrive. It wasn't a time when we weren't exposed to the toxins and the stress that we are now. So you also want to know that with certain micronutrients, almost all, if you're in high levels of stress, stress depletes magnesium. So whatever you might be taking on a normal basis, you may want to increase when you're under greater stressors. So whether those stressors are you're training for some kind of physical endeavor and you're exercising more, may need more magnesium. You're under stress from emotional trauma, you're going through relationship issues, divorce, it's not pretty. You are, you know, suffering day to day because you're a caregiver. And we know that's a sacrifice you probably wanna make, and yet still a stressor. So magnesium, if you are irregular or need a little help in that department, you may wanna take magnesium citrate, citrate, citrate. It's spelled the same, how you pronounce it, up to you, but that's what you would want. So it's not quite as easily digested and that's why it actually helps you rid, rid it from your system as it helps you be more regular as well. But you may also wanna mix the types that you're taking. Magnesium glycinate, for instance, could be better absorbed and really getting into all your cells to help with muscle, muscle relaxation, to help with headaches, migraines if you tend to get them. Those things can also help muscle cramping, leg cramps. Glycinate may be your ticket. There's threonate that actually can help more specifically with brain cognitive function, the headaches and the migraines. That one may be the route to go. So I experimented myself with this by starting with 200 or 250 milligrams, so a small dose, taking that for 3 nights. Is my sleep any better? Is my regularity any better with citrate, which is what I was taking? If you don't want anybody to touch that, you're just thinking only sleep or energy levels, metabolism, muscle, leg pains, or leg cramps, you might be taking one of the other forms but doing the same kind of experiment. Not experiencing any change, that I might double it. It's why we start so small. So 200 goes to 400. If you start with a 500 milligram cap, you're, you're doubling to 1,000. That's, that's pretty significant. And it's not, again, that maybe, maybe you need that upward of somewhere between 800, 900, 1,000, you know, and more. And I know I've got colleagues who take more than that and need it and benefit from it. Your body will tell you generally if it's absorbing it or not. I know many people who will take sprays, they will put that directly on their feet for absorption, potentially before they go to sleep or for relaxation or muscle cramps. It can be better absorbed through the skin. It's the largest organ of our inter— of our body, right? So absorption is fairly easy. So looking at it from that standpoint may work. Taking an Epsom salt bath, again, that's magnesium. So you actually will absorb it across your skin if you need it. If your body doesn't, it's no harm, no foul. You're still going to get the relaxation effect from the bath. So magnesium is number one. I take mine with dinner because it's better absorbed with food. If you're taking other smaller doses throughout the day of, say, glycinate, you might want to take like 200 milligrams in the morning and take it throughout the day. You'll learn more in the episode I did with Dr. Carolyn Dean. The next one many of us are deficient in is vitamin D. D3, actually beneficial, but this is one where you don't want to just take it and guess.

Hey, this is Debra Atkinson, and there's one thing that you can't do in the gym at your age, and that's get all the protein that you need. You've got to do that in the kitchen. To make it easy for myself to not only get the protein but the fiber, fruits and veggies that I want daily, I started drinking a smoothie a day over 30 years ago. When I realized all the junk, the sugar, and the extras that you don't want hiding in most protein powders or pre-made shakes, I finally caved in after years of saying I'd never ever ever sell supplements. Look, stop skipping, skimping, and sabotaging yourself in the morning and after workouts by always being prepared. Protein plus fiber kill cravings and boost satiety and build muscles and a strong future. Use code PODCAST for 10% off your first order at flipping50.com.

Today. So the unit is called international units. So it's the recommended that everybody has at least 2,000 vitamin D international units per day. But this one actually can be— you don't want it to go high, you want it in the Goldilocks sweet spot of optimal ranges for functional doctors. And you can find this just like I can online. So I'm not advising, I'm not diagnosing, I don't treat, I, I'm I'm not a doctor, not playing one, but the recommended range of optimal is 60 to 80. And often you'll get back your norms and be potentially far lower than that, but maybe not have great energy or not have great muscle tone, can't gain it. You're probably in the norm. Norm means you're just like everybody else who's deficient. So you want to think about that. What does norm mean when you get those labs back and look at what's optimal? Because sometimes it is different, sometimes it is not. So you want to know, what am I looking at here? So optimal 60 to 80, you want to be in that sweet spot. If you get a lot of exposure to sunshine, you may be okay, but many of us are covered in sunscreen, and so we may not be hitting that need. So just so that you realize, you know, don't just look at norms and don't blindly supplement with this one. So if you've dug yourself in a hole, the amount you need may be upward of 5,000 or 10,000, but you don't wanna self-prescribe in that case. You wanna look at where am I, how low am I? And then maybe temporarily you wanna bump that up, but then you wanna say, and I'm going to retest in 6 weeks cuz I don't wanna constantly take that really high level. I wanna see if I've brought my level back up and now if I can sustain that by backing off to a more reasonable level. That would be the way that would go.

Omega-3.

So a lot of foods that offer omega-3 fatty acids, and there, there are many of them with healthy fats in them, but all of them also have omega-6 in a higher ratio. So it's hard to be in the right ratio. We should be at about 1 to 3 to 4 parts. So 1 part omega-3 to a ratio of about 3 or 4 omega-6. Many of us are more like 1 to 20, meaning the inflammation inflammation faucet that omega-6 turns on is on and running, and the turn it off ability of anti-inflammation of omega-3 is not enough to overcome it. So you've gotta look at if you have a lot of salmon, you have a lot of olive oil, those are the only two things that are higher in omega-3. And yet, you know, many of us are snacking on nuts and seeds can be a healthy option. However, again, we're throwing that off. So I do omega-3s and I do it for many reasons. Number one, I do do it for muscle. It's not directly related to muscle, but it is related to decreasing the inflammation that could be getting in the way of your developing the muscle. So many times in my 40-year-plus career, I come across people whose limiting factor in exercising is their joints hurt. So for knees particularly, one study that sticks with me has for a very long time showed that high doses of omega-3 actually helped people with significantly compromised knee function and knee pain the most. Now, people who had lesser pain also benefited, but their improvements were lesser. But if you think about weight loss, that makes sense, right? We have 4 pounds, 5 pounds we'd like to lose. We don't see change as rapidly as those who have 100 pounds, right? So, you know, no, if you're in great deal of pain, you stand to improve the most. Right. So I will take though a serving, a normal serving is I think 1,000 milligrams of E, um, D— oh gosh, EPA and DHA. Those are the keys that we want. We don't want and other, right? That's kind of filler, but you want 1,000 milligrams of the combination of the two of those. When I'm exercising or under high stress or I'm doing more I'm hiking for a retreat, for instance. I will take 2 to 3 times that per day to bring down inflammation. And others will notice sometimes that'll help if they're like, face is inflamed, they're breaking out, can't figure out why. So omega-3s are a big one. Magnesium, omega-3s, D3 we've talked about, also related to muscle. I'm currently not taking that because my levels are fine. And remember, we don't want to over dose on that. We just want sweet spot. The next one is B12, and actually I take an entire B complex. I take methylated because I am one of those people who needs the methylated to absorb it. But B12 is necessary for your thyroid to function. So any of you who think, I don't know, do I maybe have a sluggish thyroid, or you're on a thyroid med, you need to know that, you know, you don't want to have to take more and more of that. You need that B12 in order for your thyroid function, it's like a precursor. So I take that daily. And then now kind of getting into more broadly nutrition supplements, protein. So if I'm not able to eat all the protein I want, I weigh about 130, you know, really would love to weigh about 125. This is every woman everywhere almost across the world. And you know, I'm also not gonna drive myself crazy to obsession to do it. I'm not going to be miserable because if I'm miserable trying to get there, staying there is even worse. Maintenance takes more. So I want you to keep that in mind. But if I'm not getting my essential amino acids or I'm sorry, the protein in a diet, I will take essential amino acid supplements. So in capsule form versus powder, it does come in that, but the powder is really the aftertaste icky. It's not great. So nobody wants to take more supplements in capsules. I get that. But, you know, in this case I will, and I will take that. I'll travel with it in case I've got a bad day. I reassess at bedtime, how was my protein intake today? If I didn't hit it, I know I can get at least the equivalent of another 30, 35 grams of protein in at bedtime with, you know, no calories. So it's not like I'm eating right before bed, but at least I'm hitting that quota. And if you want to maintain your lean muscle mass and metabolism, As you age, you've got to hit that protein quota. So I use that, and I use responsibly things like protein powder. It's why we carry it and have since 2016 and created one with, you know, fewer than 6 ingredients that we can pronounce, no artificial sweeteners. We don't count stevia or monk fruit as artificial sweeteners, and it's clean and I trust it. So it's why I created it. And we have options that are beef beef, paleo. So you're getting some collagen in there as well. You are getting an animal-type protein with essential amino acids, but not necessarily the whey, which many of us can't tolerate dairy anymore. So I will do that responsibly as a meal. So I'm putting lots of good food in with it. I'm not trying to say, oh, this is like a diet food, you know, because a good high-quality smoothie can have 400 to 500 calories as well. We're not looking at fruit-only smoothies. We absolutely need to get protein, healthy fat, healthy fiber in it, a little bit of fruit, but otherwise mostly veggies and other goodies. So I've got to hit that protein quota. And then creatine is the one I'll close with here. And creatine, we're hearing about so much, but the one that I use is creatine HCL, so it is better absorbed. It's great for brain. There are different uses of But muscle, of course, is the one that's leading me to it. And, and we've known about creatine and its benefits for probably 25 years. We didn't know how good it was for older adults and aging adults. We now know so much. And it's good for muscle, it's good for brain, and it's good for bone. And, you know, taking that minimum or taking that serving size, let me say that, of 5 5 grams a day. You may not want to start there if you have a very sensitive stomach. May start with 2 to 3. Bump your way up slowly over time as you get used to it. You do want to have that every day, not just days I lift. You want it in your system, kind of like an IV drip needs to stay at that level so you're always there and able to gain and maintain that muscle. There's a difference between creatine mono and creatine HCL. I started also with mono. My preference is the HCL. It's better absorbed. I feel like I am stronger, recovering faster, use of it is better, and my brain function is a little bit better. And I'll take that right now, right? You know those moments, right, between about 1 and 4 in the afternoon, I sit down to work on a project and it's like 'Um, what was I doing here?' Right? Something that was gonna take, you know, 20 minutes is like spreading out to 70 because just it's like, bring your attention back and, 'What am I doing again?' Reading that sentence again. So little things like that, I have noticed an improvement in using creatine HCL. So I will put the link to the, um, ones that I use here that dedicate you to and send you to the essential amino acids I use. I'll share with you a special link for a discount off protein for your first-time use at Flipping 50, and to the creatine that I use, and with my affiliate link getting in on that, you know. And I highly recommend that you try those. So look at where you are and realize, again, you're like a car driving down the road without all the parts. Unless you have micronutrient sufficiency. And if you've dieted for a long period of your life, you've skimmed, you've skipped, or you're eating and avoiding certain food groups, you may want to take a close look at that. You can do the micronutrient testing and you'll know best. I hope that's been helpful. Just a peek inside my pantry.

Thank you so much for listening. To listen and access a decade of episodes and the show notes, visit flipping50.com where you'll be able to find all of our prior episodes. And I made it easy for you to make the most of your listening time by selecting 5 specific areas most commonly high priorities for our community and giving you top 10 lists if you let me know you'd love them. If you know a midlife woman, or a soon-to-be one who wants to optimize her midlife energy and time with the right exercise and lifestyle changes and a mindset shift about just what is possible, share this podcast with her, and I thank you. There is no more powerful health influencer in the world than you, midlife woman.