Summary:
In the Flat Belly Cure Podcast, Episode 8, Mark and Stephen talk about the bothersome symptoms of menopause. One that at least 90% of women complain about is that they suddenly store fat on their belly, where they previously did not. They can also suffer from lack of sleep or poor quality sleep from depleted magnesium levels, which also adds to fat storage on the belly. Finally, hot flushes are a large symptom of menopause. In this interesting podcast, they discuss the symptoms and offer helpful tips and actionable advice on how to combat them and ward of the negative effects of menopause.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 00:01 – Introduction to the episode.
- 01:12– Mark and Stephan talk about their weekends. I (Stephan) went to McDonald’s. Some friends and I were going to do some “Tough Mother” training, which is where you jump and run over obstacles on a long course. So, I went to McDonalds’s and had a coffee first. I haven’t been there for a long time. I noticed how easy it is to buy and also that they now have the calorie amounts on the foods. There are about 500 calories in one muffin!
- 03:30 – If you have to go to McDonald’s, the only thing you should buy is a coffee. The coffee is actually pretty good. Yes, organic coffee would be better, but it’s still not bad.
- 04:50 – Anyway, moving on, we wanted to talk about menopause today. The average age of The DVCC clients is 42, so it’s something that we know a fair lot about.
- 05:11 – Even if you’re a man, you’ll probably know someone that this affects.
- 05:40 – Let’s talk about the main things that women encounter when they’re going through the menopause. Many find that they start storing weight around their belly area when they didn’t before. When you go through a hormonal change you become more insulin-resistant, which means you’re less able to handle carbohydrates, particularly processed carbohydrates.
- 06:46 – About 90% of women at that age say this is one of the most annoying thing about menopause.
- 07:00 – Nowadays symptoms of this can come on a lot earlier. It used to be from 45-50 before women even thought about it. Now you can start feeling hormonal changes from 35.
- 08:00 – What can you do about it?
- 08:11 – The most effective way is to eat a much lower carbohydrate-based diet, especially processed. East as much fibre as possible, from green leafy vegetables. If you are going to eat carbohydrates, they should be low GI ones, like sweet potato. Move away from white potatoes and white pasta. Low GI carbs are far less likely to store body fat and they don’t raise your insulin as much.
- 08:55: Another thing that women tend to be scared of is fat. But, fat really regulates your blood sugar. So, if you’re becoming more insulin resistant, by having more healthy fat in diet, your blood sugar is going to be much more regulated and you’re less likely to store fat. Even if you’re a man or a woman not going through menopause, you probably don’t have enough fat in your diet, because of low-fat foods. But saturated fat is divided into good and bad. Saturated fat from coconut oil is good for you, for example.
- 10:00: Interestingly, one of the symptoms of a low-fat diet is a lack of sex drive in both women and men. That’s really apparent as you get older, as you need to have healthy fat to regulate all your hormones.
- 10:19 – So, the best way to reduce body fat is to increase fibre, loads and loads of green vegetables, kale, cabbage, broccoli, those sorts of things. You can also supplement the fibre to regulate your blood sugar.
- 11:12 – If you are going to take a fibre supplement, just start off low and then increase, as it can be an irritant. Also, rotate brands and try different ones so that you don’t build up a tolerance.
- 11:42 – OK, that is fat around the stomach, now what’s another symptom? A lack of good quality sleep, as your magnesium levels deplete. It’s harder to get to sleep and increases your stress. Things that you could handle before seem more stressful now. Hot flushes can also wake you up at night, but sleep quality is important, especially when it comes to storing fat.
- 13:08 – Sleep is a massive deal, you cannot lose body fat if your sleep is not good.
- 13:27 – So, how do you fix it? Well, the easiest way is to take a magnesium supplement. Find a good quality, chelated magnesium. Don’t get magnesium oxide, all that will do is help you go to the bathroom better.
- 14:15 – When you’re exercising you deplete magnesium, so it’s good to take when exercising as well.
- 14:52 – Probably the last major symptom to talk about that affects a lot of people is hot flushes. Where you get very warm and red and can’t control it. Can happen night and day and can have a really negative effect on confidence as well, as you don’t know when it’s going to happen.
- 15:56 – One thing I have found to be very effective in combating these is vitamin E. It’s important that you get the right sort. You can get tocopherol. Like magnesium, you need to get the right one. Look for gamma tocopherol, as this is the most effective.
- 17:37 – It’s amazing as it’s a natural occurring drug, not like having to take synthetic medicine or HRT. You can do it naturally, or at least you can try to go the natural route first.
- 18:10 – I’m going to give you two things you can do to help with menopausal symptoms (and women are going to love me for this):
- 18:18 – Number 1, eat 70% percent or more dark chocolate daily. The antioxidants have been shown to be very beneficial to menopausal symptoms.
- 18:55 – The most effective way to get the benefit of that is to grate the chocolate, then place it on your tongue and press it on the top of your mouth. It might sound weird, but it gets into your blood stream quicker and you’ll get the benefits quicker. Stick to about 100 grams a day, no more.
- 19:47 – The other awesome thing and maybe even more exciting than chocolate, you may have Spanish red wine daily. Why Spanish? Because it contains a lot more of an antioxidant called resveratrol, which is very beneficial around menopause. You can also buy this in a pill form, but it’s expensive and a lot of people like drinking wine, so one-two glasses of wine in the evening is good. One glass is better than two for fat loss, but we’re talking about decreasing menopause symptoms for now.
- 21:53 – If you like this, if you find it helpful, please do comment below, on the blog, or through Facebook. We really appreciate your feedback and it helps a lot. Until next week, goodbye!
If you want to learn more about The DVCC, you can go to thedvcc.com where there is plenty of information and you can download a pricing guide if you wish!
3 Key Points:
- The three main symptoms of menopause that can have a negative effect on women are storing fat around the belly, getting a poor quality of sleep, and hot flushes.
- The best ways to combat these symptoms are to reduce your intake of processed carbohydrates and increase your fibre and good fat intake. Take a quality magnesium supplement to promote better sleep and take quality Vitamin E to ward off hot flushes.
- Two excellent ways to reduce symptoms of menopause are eating about 100 grams of 70% or higher dark chocolate a day, and drinking a glass (or two maximum) a day of Spanish red wine.
