454: The Real Deal on Nutrient Absorption and Liposomal Power with Mareya Ibrahim-Jones

Creatine is not just for muscle building, which I think is what all the bodybuilders have taught us, but it's so important for gut health and brain health as we age and really, really vital for women.

Welcome to Midlife Conversations. I'm your host, Natalie Jill, and I'm passionate about having amazing conversations that matter to us midlife women. On this podcast, I do what I do best, taking complicated health topics and breaking them down simply so that we can optimize aging together. I share actionable steps to help you thr in what I believe are our best years to come. Join me as I interview the most inspiring people living their best midlife years and dive into essential topics like hormone changes, health optimization, weight management, blood sugar, emotional well being, relationships, beauty, and so much more. Have you ever felt like you were taking all the right supplements only to feel absolutely nothing? Or are you eating clean and moving your body and you're doing all those right things you're told to do, but you still feel foggy, tired, inflamed, or just like nothing is moving the needle for you? Could the way that you've been taking your vitamins be the reason your body's not responding? And have you been missing key components with what you need to combine? For example, did you know that taking things like collagen need other vitamins for your body to utilize it? Today I've got Maria Ibrahim Jones. She is here to break this all down for us because nutrient delivery is key. We've got a lot of talk about. She herself is 56 in midlife. She has her hands all over the space. She's got a top rated podcast. She is an expert in so much when it comes to nutrition and our wellness. Thank you so much for being here today, Maria.

Thank you, Natalie. It's great to be here with you again.

Now, I haven't seen Maria or caught up with her in years, but gosh, we met years ago from our friend Chalene Johnson, a mutual friend. I met you at a conference and then we ended up doing some fun Facebook lives together when that was a popular thing. When she owned and founded Eat Cleaner, which was a spray that washed, you were like, you saw this before everybody else like that. We needed to clean, get all the junk off our vegetables and our fruits. You saw this early on before everybody else. You were kind of cutting edge with that.

Yeah. Thank you. You know, I think food is our well being. It's, it's who we are and what we put into our body is really important. And I think you Know, people are now catching up with that, which is great, but Eat Cleaner was just the inroads to being able to help people thrive. And I'm just thrilled that we can continue this journey together.

Now you are in very much in the fitness space, and you don't look 56 at all. And I know how we look is not everything, but when. When I. When people look at you and you say that your age, I'm sure that they're shocked. I'm sure that's the reaction you get. What do you chalk that up to?

You know, I. I'm really a big believer that it's not just in your genes, because, you know, we know now that epigenetics play a big role in how we. You. Um, but I think it's all the inputs. It's lifestyle, it's exercise, it's food, it's supplementation, and it's. It's here, you know, what we. What we tell ourselves. I. I don't believe in old speak. I never say I'm too old for that. And, you know, you have to believe that as long as you have breath in your lungs, you have the ability to live purposefully.

Oh, I love that.

That's really just been my motto.

I love that you just said that, because I find there is such a commonality with midlife women, especially, that are thriving, that have this thought process, as I believed it was possible. And you just said that. You said, I have to believe. And it's interesting, because when you talk to midlife women about shaping and changing things for them, if you bring up the word mindset, it's like this. Don't say that I have the right mindset, but I don't believe that they do, because people that actually have the right mindset, they understand that key component. Can you just lean into that a little bit more? Because you kind of slid it in there, but I picked up on it right away.

Yeah. I mean, Natalie, you've known me for a long time. I was a single mom for 13 years. You know, I started a business during a recession. You know, there were so many things working against me, so to speak, that I kind of feel fearless in a way. You know, the headwinds were strong, but you just keep pushing because you have your eye on a goal. And I've just never left that mindset behind. You know, I believe that I was put on this earth for a reason. I feel like I have, you know, a passion for helping people. And, like, why would I sell myself short? Especially when I look around and see so many other amazing women like yourself and Chalene and, you know, other women in midlife that are just killing it, crushing it, like, why would I do that? And I have mentors that are older and younger than me. And you know, the mentors that I see kind of forging the way for me just give me inspiration every day. I have one of my best friends is a 73 year old bodybuilder. So I believe that again, as long as we have purpose and as long as we, you know, have a message that the, the clock does not end until we don't have any more breath left. You know what I'm saying? And I, I really feel like I came back to life in my midlife because.

So many, you know, different life things happened to me. I sold my business, I got remarried, you know, I, I, I started a whole new career path. So it's like I'm just getting started.

Yeah, I love that. And I, I really encourage anyone listening. If you've been in this block of like, I don't feel good, I don't like aging. You have got to take this mindset piece seriously because I don't know anyone that is thriving that has not grasped this. And I, and I believe most people that have grasped it, if they had not, if they had gone the other way, they would be, their reality would be the other way. Can you share? You had something that was very similar to me. You had some major injuries in midlife. Can you talk about that and what that took with what changed for you as far as your belief set and how you kind of powered through that?

Yeah. So let me take you back to 2020. It was a pretty pivotal year for everybody on the planet. I had gotten remarried after again being single for 13 years in February. It was the day after Valentine's Day, and little did we know that a complete shutdown was coming within a few weeks. So I had moved my family from Orange county to Ventura county. And, you know, My husband had three kids, I had two. We were seven in all. And all teenagers, ranging in age from 14 to 19. So you can just imagine.

Yeah, I have one teenager, so I.

Can only imagine five of them with a lot of hormones. And, you know, that was hard enough, but then when, when everything shut down, we were literally just trying to figure out our reality and forge this new family together and navigate, you know, this, this world crisis. Within a month, I had a freak accident where I tore, completely tore, my acl, had a longitudinal tear in my meniscus and fractured my tibia of all things, playing basketball. And I had never. Natalie, had such a major ligament tear before. And everybody that I know, because I've been an athlete most of my life, everybody that I know that had had an ACL tear, there was no. No question you would have surgery. And I was scared. And I'm just gonna say it. Scared. I was scared to death to have to go have surgery during that time period. And I just like, asking all my friends, like, what did you do to rehab? How are there any other options? And honestly, I just really prayed about it. And, you know, after surveying, I just decided to rehab it on my own. I went to three physical therapy sessions, and then I just started weight training.

Okay, wait, I got questions here. Hold on a second. Because I'm like, surgery queen here. I've had so many different surgeries from injuries. What made you. Why. Okay, you said you were scared of surgery, but why wouldn't that have been quicker? Like, what was your thought process there?

Well, number one, I had never had surgery on any, you know, like that at all. And I had heard that the rehab time was about a year, and I just couldn't imagine being off my legs for a year. I mean, I'm also a chef, so I'm on my feet a lot, and, you know, just being active and stuff. I don't know. I just. And I think during that time, I was just really nervous about going into the hospital, you know, And I know that's just kind of me and my own kind of, you know, my reservations. But I had spoken to two of my good friends who had had two ACL replacement surgeries each, and they retort them again. Oh, wow. So I knew that the. The rate of, you know, acceptance or, you know, your recovery rate was only going to be around 80% anyway with the surgery. And I had heard about people rehabbing without surgery, without cutting. So I just did my research and started changing how I ate, how I exercised, how I supplemented, and definitely my mindset about it.

But was that something that could heal? Were you told that was an option to heal on your own? Like, I'm thinking of, like, when I tore my bicep, there was no possibility about healing on its own.

Like, they.

If they didn't reattach the ligament, my bicep would be up in my shoulder. So was. What was the deal with that surgery?

Was there.

Did you. Had you already heard there was a possibility it could heal with the right things?

Yeah, you're. I mean, your ACL is never going to grow back. I mean, when you tear a ligament like that, it doesn't regenerate like a bone would, for example. But what I had heard was that you could strengthen the muscles around the ligament and, um, and, you know, work on your connective tissue. Like, you know, most of our connective tissue is made of collagen. So if, if I would strengthen the muscles around the, the torn area and just work on strengthening my body in general and again, overcoming a lot of pain. I mean, I'm not going to lie, it was very painful. I couldn't walk for a good two weeks at all. I couldn't put any weight on it. But the more and more that I would strength train and build the muscle. I had never really focused on strength training before. I was always kind of a cardio queen. The more strong I felt and the more I was able to go back and strengthen. Because you can't just go in and strengthen something that you can't walk on. That makes sense. So it was just small steps to recovery. And since then I've done two bodybuilding competitions. So I can say with a lot of, you know, security that I think it's a combination of all these things.

That is, it's pretty incredible. And I'm like, I've not heard somebody ever explain that that way. And I, and I do agree that when we strengthen muscles around a certain area, we can do that. I do that with my lower back disc. I think of my rupture out of L5S1, but I never thought of it with like an ACL that you could do that. So that's, that's wild. How did. Because I have so many questions for you about supplements, so I want to start kind of here. What changed about your view on supplementation prior to that injury in midlife versus now? Like, what, what did you, how did you used to view supplements and how. What changed based on that?

I used to view supplements as something that you didn't necessarily need to take as long as your diet was well rounded, you know, because I come from a classic nutrition background where, you know, supplementation is, quote, never as good as eating the right way. But the truth is that a lot of our food is void of critical nutrients because of the way agriculture looks these days. You know, we're using radiation, you know, radiated, you know, techniques to, to address crop growth where.

Finding that our soil is void of a lot of the important nutrients, you know, genetically modified crops are, they require more pesticide usage. So even the time that it takes for food to get to us, you know, food is traveling from around the world. It takes an average of 1500 miles and, you know, five days to get to us. And when you look at something like vitamin C, for example, which is incredibly critical for our well being and our immunity, if you get an orange from, you know, Florida to California, I mean, we're talking five to six days just in traveling, you've lost 40 to 60% of the vitamin C in it. So, you know, I changed my perspective a lot when I saw that and when I saw that. A lot of the recommended daily allowances that we see on, you know, supplements, for example, are really just to avoid chronic disease. You know, if you don't want to get rickets, take this much. But is it the same as what we would need to take to thrive? You know, that's questionable. A lot of doctors would back that up.

That makes a lot of sense there. Now, when we had talked earlier, and I'm going to ask you more about what you've moved into with supplements, but you had said something to me I'd never heard before. You had said a lot of midlife women are taking collagen and you're a fan of collagen, but you mentioned that it has to be paired with vitamin C to work. Can you explain that?

Yeah. So there are a lot of vital nutrients that our body is, you know, composed of, but in order to keep it at a level that is beneficial to our bodies, especially as we age and our hormones change, you need other supplements and vitamins to actually activate them. And collagen is one of them. And you need vitamin C in order to, you know, produce collagen effectively. And I did not know this initially.

So. So even if you're to produce it, but you're saying even if you're taking collagen, you need it to make sure it works, or.

Yes, in order to, you know, properly activate it. You know, you can think of it that way. You need vitamin C in order to properly activate it. So if you're just taking collagen supplements and you don't have enough vitamin C in your bodies, and I Learned this from Dr. Thomas Levy, who is like one of the foremost experts on vitamin C. And he mentioned to me that it is the one of the most deficient of all nutrients in our bodies, especially as we age. And it's critically important for so many things, including immunity. And so when we don't take it, immunity and preventing oxidation. So if we don't take it, most of the diseases that we're seeing today are oxidative. So cancer, diabetes, um, these are all byproducts of oxidation. So all of these things work together. You know, we need this in order to achieve that, but we need that in order to actually absorb it and help it to work.

I've never heard that about vitamin C, but it makes sense because I know with some prescriptions they say not to take vitamin C because it breaks it down too quickly. So I'm assuming that's kind of connected there.

Exactly.

You reason you would not take it for a prescription, a pharmaceutical is the same reason we need it for some supplements to get it. Is that make. Am I jumping to a conclusion?

I mean, you know, I'm not a doctor, so I don't know exactly scientifically if, if that's the exact parallel. But what I do know is that it will be critical to stimulate collagen production. So, you know, if you think about it as being kind of like the, the match, so to speak, to ignite the fire that does produce collagen. And especially as we age, you know, after 35, our collagen production slows down dramatically, and we need that on a regular basis. That is the primary protein for our, you know, okay, bodies.

I want to ask you about other things you take, but I want to, while we're on vitamin C is when we hear liposomal. And I. And I'm actually taking a liposomal vitamin C right now, just because it's the trendy thing to do, I guess.

I don't know, and I don't even.

Really fully understand liposomal. Can you help me? It sounds like you've got a good understanding of this because we actually take the same vitamin C. So why liposomal? What does that mean? And why is that important for some vitamins?

Yeah. So if you think about lipo means fat. Okay, so liposomal is made of a fat compound and they're microscopic spheres that are basically made of the same kind of structure or the same material as our cell membrane. And remember, cell health equals longevity, cell health equals survival. So we need to make sure our cells are as healthy as possible, particularly the mitochondria, the center of the cell. So taking a liposomal supplement mimics the cell structure most closely. So that's why it's so efficient in uptake of the nutrient. And remember, it's a delivery system. So kind of just imagine your bloodstream and this little liposomal aircraft kind of making its way through your body. It's going to enter the cell membrane because it looks like what the cell membrane looks like more closely.

Okay. I'M going to dig deeper here. And I know you're not a doctor or scientist, but I want to, like, you have a better understanding than me. And I have to, I have to understand things at like a second grade level and then I can. Then it makes sense and it clicks forever. So, okay, so liposomal, is it kind of like saying fat soluble or is that so?

So it is a fat membrane. So when you have something that is water soluble, like vitamin C, for example, how would you think that water could penetrate a fat membrane? It can't. So it's encapsulated in a fat so that the fat can enter into the cell wall, which is primarily made of fat. So if you think about, like vitamin C doesn't just course through your bloodstream, it also wants to enter the cells. So that liposomal delivery, it's like a spacecraft that's going to. Has access to enter into that cell wall.

So in comparison, like, sometimes people will get an IV for vitamin. Right. And they're saying that that's like the fastest delivery. But most people are not getting an IV every day of their, of their vitamins. So if you're just orally taking a vitamin C, for example, if I'm hearing you correctly, when you take it liposomal, like, like in a, in a fat membrane, your body will absorb that faster and utilize it the right way.

Is that at the cellular level? So really important that we stress that at the cellular level, because your body can still use vitamin C that's entering into your bloodstream. Okay. But if you want to utilize it more effectively, where it's getting directly into the cell, it's kind of like, it's just that direct, you know, that direct application that is so important. Keep in mind that a lot of supplements that we take to have coatings, they have things added to them. You know, when you take a liposomal supplement like the one that we both take, which is made by live on labs, you're also getting a pure delivery and you're getting it without sugar, without additives, without coatings. So, you know you're getting it in its native form, in the most pure form.

Okay. So it's funny how you describe. Okay, I just. If you guys are watching us on video, I'm going to show you this right now. It's kind of fun. And this is honestly the whole reason I even tried this supplement to begin with is it just looked fun. I was like, okay, I don't. It comes in this little packet.

Yeah.

If you guys can see me, but you drop it In a little water in a container. And it's literally it what you're. If you can see my video, if you're watching it, like, swims in there. So the way you just described it, it's like a little things.

A little blob. Yeah.

And then you.

Just a little blob. But.

So why are we mixing it with water then, if it has.

Yeah, let's clarify that. Because you don't actually want to mix it. You don't want to break the spheres up. Yeah. You can dispense it into water and let it float. But what you don't want to do is mix it up because the integrity of the. The sphere itself is what helps the delivery to stay intact.

So the water is just the shot to help you get it down. Basically, yeah.

And to be honest, I take it right out of the packet.

I do. I actually like the taste. I know some.

I just squeeze it right out of the packet. It is so good for an active lifestyle because you can throw it into your gym bag. You can throw it into your carry on when you travel. It's really easy to take on the go. It doesn't upset your stomach, which I don't know about you, but I can't take supplements on an empty stomach. They make me.

No, I don't either.

Nauseous. But I can take them. Those on an empty stomach and be fine.

Okay. I want to. I'm going to dive deeper into liposomal a minute. But I want to first understand what. I know there's a lot of supplements that we all take, but how can you give me, like, your top list if you were just to say what, like, what are your top ones that you would say? Gosh, every midlife woman, no matter where you are, like, there's a lot of things that I think are not for everybody, but like, if you were just a list, like, what are. What have you found to be the most helpful and that you would say to your friends and your relatives, like, hey, this is what you really need to take in midlife.

Yeah, well, the top three. And then I'll go from there. Vitamin C, definitely.

Okay.

Incredibly important.

I take a B complex, which helps with stress management and cortisol, because that is definitely something we all face in midlife. Magnesium. And let me tell you a little anecdotal story about magnesium. I was having really bad heart palpitations and like, literally anxiety attacks. I'd never had one before in my entire life. And I really didn't know what was happening. I thought I was Having a heart attack and crazy story. It happened at church, so it wasn't like even a place where I would be stressed out.

Yeah.

And I had to leave and go get some fresh air because I could not breathe. And I went home, cried my eyes out. I was like, what is happening? This is scary stuff. And a friend of mine was like, you know, are you taking magnesium? And I was like, I have a container sitting on my shelf, and honestly, it's still intact. I've never taken it, never thought about it, never really understood why I would take that alone as a supplement. I took one dose, Natalie, and I felt a hundred times better just from one dose. And what I found out is if you're a coffee drinker and you are low in magnesium, the coffee will literally leach the magnesium out of your bones just because you need it so badly. Oh. So it really. It's. It's when you say rider, die now.

Sorry. That when you say magnesium, there's so many different types of magnesium, and I think people get confused here. Like, what's your take on that? Do you think we need all the different types? Is there, like, specific. Like. Like, there's literally, like, a gazillion different types of magnesium. Like, one's for sleep, one's for relaxation, one's for pooping. Like, I don't.

They're all.

For so many different reasons.

Yeah. And I've, you know, I've kind of taken some supplements that have all of the different magnesiums represented. You know, I like the live on labs magnesium just because, again, it's easy to take, and I feel like it's getting into my body and being utilized most efficiently because it doesn't. Keep in mind, too. This is really important that we didn't talk about that I want to make sure everybody understands is if you have gut issues, if you've ever suffered from a gut imbalance or you have problems that you're trying to heal with a preexisting condition, if you swallow something, you're relying on your. Your gut to also process and break down those nutrients. So I've had my fair share of gut issues, and so anything that I can do to bypass that, I kind of prioritize.

Got it. Okay. So when you look at. You're not so much concerned with, like, what's the right type? You just want to make sure you're getting it in you. Like, I know, like, what. How does liposomal. Is this the same thing with magnesium? Like, are we not typically digesting it or processing it?

Well, Like, I think you can say that for all, all delivery systems that anything that's going to get into your body and actually penetrate the cell and work more efficiently is going to be a good direction to take. It's just going to be, you know, more of a direct source that will have a quick impact.

So why is not everything like Bisomal, like, how come we just have a few things that are.

Because it's, you know, it, it's a delivery system that helps something that would be water soluble get into your cell more efficiently. So not everything necessarily has, you know.

That requirement because we've got fat soluble too. Okay, so you mentioned. So it's important to you. B complex, C, magnesium. Tell me more about the B complex. You said it's calming. Did I hear you right or what was the reason?

It's calming. It helps to, you know, bees in general help with stress management and in our, you know, hyperactive world. And, you know, I have a tendency to hyper produce cortisol. I'm just a Middle Eastern. We're stressed out people. You know that that's just been my mainstay. And, and I would add to those, something that I take absolutely every day is creatine.

Okay, tell me. I love creatine. To tell us more about why you lean to that.

Yeah. Last year I got my brain health coaching certification because I've been so fascinated by how, you know, we talked about mindset and how our brains play such an active role in our overall health. And what I learned is creatine is not just for muscle building, which I think is what all the bodybuilders have taught us, but it's so important for gut health and brain health as we age and really, really vital for women. And it's, it's, if not one of the most, the most studied of all supplements. So it's, it's really easy to take, it's really safe and it's made such a huge difference for me.

So do you care about if it's monohydrate or hcl? Like there's different types of creatine. Do you have a favorite that you.

I take monohydrate. That's what I've taken since day one. And that works well for me.

And then do you take it just around your out or do you just take it daily no matter what?

I take it daily, no matter what. The science that I've seen shows that it doesn't really matter what time of day you take it, just as long as you're taking it consistently.

Okay, what about what are some other things that you're, you're like, these are the things that I must take. And I think every other woman should look at too.

Yeah, I'm a big fan of digestive enzymes.

Oh, me too. Love digestive enzymes.

Tell us why you, you know, because again your stomach acid starts, everything starts to kind of decline totally. So your stomach acid starts to decline as we get older as well. You know, I have never been a big fan of taking like, you know, acid reflux type medication or heartburn medication because they have their own side effects. So taking enzymes with every meal has been a real game changer for me and I tend to break down food a lot better because again we want to make the body utilize the inputs. You know, if you're eating well but your body's not absorbing nutrients properly, it's, it's just a waste of money and time. So you know, if you can, you know, if you're going to eat meat for example, and you don't have the enzymes to break down a nice grass fed steak, it doesn't really matter, you know, if it's not doing anything for your body. So enzymes have been really helpful. And I also do take a probiotic that has a prebiotic as part of it. You know, prebiotics I don't think get spoken about enough but we really want to prime the, you know, fertilize the garden, so to speak and get your, your.

Your system ready for the benefits of probiotics.

Yeah, I had recently, that way it's fertilizing. Recently interviewed Tina Anderson who founded Thrive and she was telling, explaining it as that probiotics are like the gardener but the prebiotics is like the actual garden. I'd never heard it described that way. That was, that was important to understand.

Yeah, yeah, you wanna, you wanna get your garden fertilized first because if you just start throwing seeds on it and the soil is not ready, it's, it's not gonna produce.

So now you mentioned three other things that I wouldn't have added in and I'm curious why when I, before we started recording you had said Ashwagandha calcium and omega 3 and I wouldn't have brought those up as my top three. But I'm curious why those felt not your top three but you're like top ten. Why, why those fell in for you.

Yeah. Well, let's talk about Ashwagandha. So any of the ladies out there feeling like you're just spent and have had, you know, a lot of anxiety buildup where you just feel like you can't handle things. I mean, you could be suffering from adrenal fatigue, and that's again, very common, especially as our cortisol levels start to increase because, you know, you're not sleeping as well. You're not, you know, your hormones are changing, so maybe you don't have the tools to manage stress as well. Ashwagandha is really, really helpful and helps, you know, kind of just even you out. I think it, it gives me the, you know, because it's an adaptogen. So it helps to just kind of calm the fire if you think about it that way, so that you can make more sound decisions and feel like you can breathe through things rather than kind of just like abruptly reacting to them.

Makes that total sense.

Omega threes, let's see. I mean, brain health and heart health, so critical. And again, it's one of those things where you can get it from natural sources. Like you can get it from wild caught seafood and you can get it from, you know, seeds and things like that. But a good quality source just helps to get it more directly into your body.

And then what about calcium? Because, yeah, I think about years ago, like, my mom would take Tums for calcium, and I was like, wait, we've somehow we've gotten really off track here that people think they should take Tums for calcium. So to explain your take on calcium and do you get it from dairy or are you taking it as supplement too?

Yeah, I take a supplement and I'll do like fermented dairy. So I'll do like raw, you know, yogurt and cheeses and things like that. But I'm a big fan of taking a bone density supplement because I am scared to death of osteoporosis and breakage. And, you know, the statistics are once you break a hip, your chances of recovery are very, very slim as you get older. So. And those are precursors to, you know, mortality. So I really, you know, I found them to be beneficial. I have a problem with bone density myself. It runs in my family. I'm very petite. You know, I'm all of five foot tall. So that's been something that's helped me along with weightlifting, because that's a natural way to just kind of give pressure to your skeletal system to. To grow bone naturally.

Now, are you a fan of HRT for you?

I am not on it currently. I believe I'm agnostic about it. I think that's really a personal choice. You know, I, I have studied it. I'm not opposed to It, I'm open to it if I get to a point, you know, in the not too distant future where, you know, I've been in menopause for one year, I had my men oversary last, last month. But if I get to the point where I need it, I have no problem with taking it. I think the, the literature that we were fed years ago was completely, you know, kind of one sided and not, and not articulated correctly. But I'm just, you know, I just kind of feel like the less prescription drugs that I take the better. And ironically I'm the daughter of a pharmacist.

So funny.

It's just kind of how I, you know, I kind of just went the other way.

So where what I'm picking up on too is one of the biggest ways that reasons we lose Bowen is declining estrogen. Like that's a, there's a big link to that. So yeah, especially for the women listening that are not doing hrt, the calcium might be very important right there I would imagine to, to help preventative. And I, I don't know and I, that's something I gotta dig a little deeper on and how much calcium like what's more important?

Both.

And I don't, I don't know. It was, it's almost like we got, I think the dairy industry for a long time was really pushing calcium for bones. Then we kind of that, that kind of lost wind. So I don't. You're the first one that's brought it up recently like about needing calcium for bones still. I think we talked about enough and.

Again it's, it's kind of a combination of things that are going to help with your bone density. You know, if, if you just, I don't really like rely on a calcium supplement for bone health. You know, it's, it's a combination of things. Eating vegetables, you know, getting natural silica from vegetable skins is important for you know, calcium uptake. So there are other things that we can do besides just taking a supplement for that. To me it kind of like fills in the gaps. You know, if it's kind of rounding out the full spectrum of all the supplements that I'm taking in addition to food. And, and I really want to emphasize this because it's not just like take the supplement and don't do anything else. I think that would be, yeah. Would be, you know, wrong for me to try and convey it that way.

Yeah.

Really. In addition to the food, the hydration, the exercise, the stress management, the sleep, all of those combined produce that you Know, kind of that well rounded approach.

To health makes total sense there. What about one thing you didn't mention was glutathione, and that's another, like, kind of trendy one that people talk a lot about. What are your thoughts on glutathione? Do you take it and that one, one that you do. Liposomal.

Yeah, I do take glutathione and I take it liposomal. I take it at night when I go to sleep to help with recovery and cell, you know, maintenance. Glutathione is referred to as the master antioxidant. I interviewed probably one of the foremost, you know, scientists in this space on it and learned so much from him, Dr. Patel. But I think that.

You know, when you look at antioxidants in general, again, oxidation is the cause of so many of the chronic diseases that we're seeing. So, you know, that coupled with vitamin C, I think gives you a very. It's like your bodyguards, right? It's like the two, two big bodyguards standing at the door.

The antioxidants.

Exactly.

That's what I came from.

Yeah.

And so liposomal to you, because that also is going to help the delivery of it. So it gets in your cells in a more rel fashion, if I'm hearing correctly about why that is a thing with liposomal.

That's right. You know, it's. It's the fastest delivery system. Anything that's going to enter into your body and work in a way that's effective and quickly is. Is something that you should think about in your, your approach, in your protocols. And there are ways to take it, you know.

On the skin, for example, that can absorb into your body quickly. But I just prefer the liposomal delivery because I just open the packets. I literally stack my supplements. So I'll take like one after the other one time in the morning and then one time at night. That's how I break them up.

When you look at what do you think that the main mistakes that women are making when it comes to supplements.

I think number one, you know, the quality of the product is just so incredibly important. You know, if you're taking something that is not being absorbed by your body and you're swallowing a bunch of stuff and just kind of hoping that it's going to work and seeing your urine turn bright yellow, you know, maybe it's not working. Maybe it is. But I think, you know, we have to like, understand that there are limitations to taking something that is just in a capsule form that has to release through a, you know, A coating, you're. You're adding more work to your body. I think when you look at supplements too, you know, I think you have to look at the science. We get a little bit far away from the science, and I think sometimes we just kind of like assume that the manufacturer's done the work for us, that we could just trust what they've done because they have a name and they're on the shelf, but they're not all created equally. So I would encourage everybody to be kind of put your student hat on and at least learn a little bit about the science. Do they have patents on their, you know, on their products? Do they explain it? Do they have scientists and doctors on board that actually want to, you know, kind of help people and break down the information? I think that's all really important.

And number three, you know, is it something that you're gonna take? Because I think it, like, it's a silly thing to think about sometimes, but if you have a counter of supplements that just look pretty on your shelf, but you're like, I can't imagine swallowing 30 supplements. You're not going to.

No.

So what is easy to take? What is not going to give you indigestion? What doesn't have fillers and sugar and all of these other additives that are not, quite frankly, not good for us? I've seen supplements that have inflammatory, and I'm going to say inflammatory seed oils, because not all of them are inflammatory, but, you know, what are they mixing with it that you don't really need in your body? So I encourage people to just think like, what is the supplement that you're actually going to take on a regular basis? And I, I find that the liposomal ones, you know, at first I was kind of like, it's like breaking out of a habit. When you're used to taking something, you just are used to it. But then when I started taking the packets, I'm like, this is so much easier and, and more conducive to my lifestyle.

Okay, I've got a bunch of questions for you about just lifestyle in general and like your nutrition. But I just want to, for those of you that are like, what is this liposomal somal stuff that you both are talking about with Live On? If you go to liveonlabs.com it's L, I V O N labs.com forward slash NatalieJill they actually have. This is. I personally take the vitamin C and the B. Those are like the two. I've tried all of them, but those are the Two, I definitely, every day I'm taking from the package. Now, you can drink them right out of the pack or you can mix them like I just showed if you're watching on video. But they do have a little bundle for you where you actually can get a free B complex when you get the midlife bundle. So that's something we try. Liveonlabs.com forward slash. Natalie, Jill. I'll put that in the show notes as well. And that's what me and Maria are both taking for the liposomal and all. Everything we mentioned is not in liposomal, but they do have liposomal for the vitamin B, the vitamin C, the glutathione and vitamin. I'm sorry. And magnesium. They have a magnesium that's liposomal. So all of that's there. Maria, tell me a little bit about your diet and how that's changed.

So, you know, I was always kind of a more of an intuitive eater. You know, I'd be hungry, I'd eat. And that doesn't really work in midlife. You know, we have such requirements for protein that if you just kind of wait until you're hungry, it's going to be really hard to get that, you know, that require, you know, that recommended amount in. And my goal is always to shoot for about 100 to 120 grams of protein. So that was the big thing that I changed was starting the day with protein and eating regular protein throughout the day, just trying to spread it out. 20 to 30 grams is my goal for each meal. So, you know.

And are you doing any supplements for that? Are you just having like real meat or what are you doing for your protein?

Protein, I take a whole combination of things, everything from eggs and egg whites to, you know, chicken, turkey, fish, red meat, but more occasionally with a red meat. I'm not like a hardcore carnivore or anything like that, but I like to get a variety of different types in less and less, relying on protein powders, that used to be like a real mainstay for me. And I'm trying to eat my protein more because the data shows us that and we, we can uptake it and utilize it more when we're actually eating it and digesting it. So if I'm really like, you know, kind of behind one day I'll do it, but it's more of a. I treat it more as like a supplement every once in a while versus like a focus.

So you're leading with protein and then where do you stand with carbs and fats and like what are you choosing for those?

Yeah, I, I mean don't discard the, the carbs. We need carbs. We absolutely need them for, for energy and for metabolic health.

So a lot of what I do is vegetable based but I still love my pasta, I still love my bread and I still will eat rice. So I just, instead of doing those all day, I tend to focus on my carbs before a workout, like the early part of the day. So I try and get most of my carbs in like before 3 o' clock and then focus more on protein and like leafy vegetables, like more you know, non glycemic load kind of vegetables later in the day.

And then what about your fats? What do you choose for those?

You know, it's, it's the fatty fishes, it's the avocado nuts seeds. I do get some ghee in. I'm a big fan of ghee and I'm just starting to eat a little bit more like, you know, kind of like beef tallow and that kind of fat because I find like a little bit goes a long way and it's really, it's like, it's for satiety. It helps me feel fuller, longer so it helps with the gaps in between.

But you know, I, I don't lean into a whole lot of fat regularly. Just try and be particular with it and, and choose good quality sources.

Now are you and every like few hour eater or do you eat like three times a day and where do you stand on fasting and things like that?

Yeah, I eat generally every three hours. So that's kind of my, and my stomach tells me, I mean I'm, I'm ready to eat right when, you know, like at that three hour mark almost I've, I've just kind of trained my body. But I do fast, I fast twice a week. I do an intermittent fast. I'll do you know, usually like a 12 hour. So a 12 hour, like not eating.

I just recently did a two day no food fast because I was really curious how my body would react. Would it like create a glycemic kind of like shock to my body or what would it do? And I actually did okay with it. So I was just really intentional about hydrating. I was having some stomach issues too. So I think it really helped to just kind of clean out my system. I think fasting can, you know, is really, it's very individual. If you have blood sugar issues it can be tough. But I've trained my body to do it and I really like it. And I feel like it helps with mental clarity. It just helps with bloat. And digestion is really hard on your body. It's like the most metabolically intensive thing that we do. So it's good to give your body a break. I don't think you need to fast intermittently more than two times a week. That's what the data shows us. Like two days is, is enough.

Yeah. This is so helpful today. Okay, so just kind of a final tie it in a nice bow because you're thriving so well at 56. And even though you've got this huge background in nutrition and science and this is stuff that you've been doing for years, you're, you're, you yourself have navigated the setbacks in midlife. What advice do you want, like, tied in kind of a nice boat, midlife women to hear that are listening right now.

Yeah, I mean, start. I want to tell all the midlifers that this is not a downhill road. You know, don't believe that. You know, let's start there and believe that every day is an opportunity to do something better. You know, for a lot of us, we've raised kids, we've navigated professions, we've done a lot of heavy lifting. Like, don't be so hard on yourself. Give yourself a hand and know that it can be a, you know, one bite at a time thing. You can't eat an elephant in one bite. You know, don't be overwhelmed by it. But start with the critical things. And the critical things are drink enough water, you know, eat nutrient dense food. Don't be worried about, like, am I getting, you know, this many calories? Are my macros on point? Like, just start with the right, you know, intention, which is good protein, lots of colorful vegetables and fruits. Get the good fats and then take the supplements that you really need. I think. You know, When I interviewed Dr. Thomas Levy, he told me there are three things that everyone is normally deficient in, you know, and we talked about them today. You know, B vitamins are important. Yes. Get your magnesium, but vitamin C is the number one thing. So if we focus on the core things, I think then, you know, allow yourself to just kind of like unfold with those things and then you can start to add one thing at a time. But, you know, and I know you and I are really super into fitness. I don't think you have to train like, you know, a hardcore, you know, athlete every day. I think weight training a couple of times a week and getting your movement in, getting sunlight, get out in nature these these are the important things.

So good Maria. This is awesome. Where can people find you? Where do you want them to go to to learn more?

Yeah, you can find me@chef mariah.com that's C H E F M A R E Y A dot com. I'm on Instagram and Facebook at the same handle Chef Marea and yeah, just thrilled to be here. I've got a podcast too called the.

Real Dish Amazing and for what we were talking about the liposomal if you want to try live on and get that special deal if you go to Liveon Labs L I v o n labs.com forward slash Natalie Jill, you'll see a bundle there where you can get a free B complex. Thank you so much Maria. Thank you.

It's been great to be here with you.

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