She's Got It Together

The Wonderful Phase of Womanhood: Perimenopause with Tina Haupert

Season 1 Episode 28

Hey there! In this episode, I sit down with Tina Haupert from Carrots and Cake to dive into the often-overlooked topic of perimenopause. We chat about what perimenopause actually is, the different stages you might experience, and how it can affect everything from your mood to your weight. Tina shares her personal journey and how it led her to become an expert in this field.

We get real about the challenges of this transitional phase - like those annoying night sweats and unpredictable periods - and discuss practical tips for navigating it all. Tina drops some knowledge on the importance of building muscle, managing stress, and paying attention to those often-neglected minerals in our diets.

If you've been feeling a bit off lately and you're in your 30s or 40s, this episode might just shed some light on what's going on with your body. We keep it casual and fun, because let's face it, talking about hormones doesn't have to be a snooze fest! So grab a cup of coffee (or maybe some mineral-rich coconut water) and join us for this chat about embracing this wild ride of womanhood.

Hope you enjoyed this episode!

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Jessica & Samantha

Speaker 1:

fun. I would say it's the transitional phase of life. It's very natural, it's a natural part of life, but it's leading into menopause where, in menopause, our hormones are really low, they really start to decline. Your reproductive years basically come to a close and I think this perimetopause time is that time before menopause and menopause is really.

Speaker 1:

You haven't had a period or menstrual period for 12 months consecutively, so there's a lot of time that that transition can happen, and I've heard anywhere from eight to 10 years as far as this transition. I've heard 12 years, I've heard 15 years. I have a friend whose mother said it took her 20 years to make the transition.

Speaker 2:

I have a friend whose mother said it took her 20 years to make the decision. Hi everyone, and welcome to a brand new episode of she's Got it Together. I'm your host, jessica.

Speaker 3:

And I'm Samantha. Each week we peel back the curtain on what it really looks like to have it together.

Speaker 2:

From the messy moments to the milestones, we're here to share it all.

Speaker 3:

So grab your favorite drink, get comfy and let's dive into today's topic.

Speaker 2:

When was the last time you looked in the mirror? Probably not that long ago, right? Were you comfortable with what you saw? Did you feel like you're aging gracefully? I don't know if I am, I have not quite decided yet but I'm Jessica and we're here and we're going to talk about perimetopause. It's not a great and exciting topic, I guess. I mean, it's a good topic but it's not exciting. So today I feel like it's going to be a little bit heavier than we usually do on our episodes, but such an important thing to talk about. And with me to help with this is Tina Hoppert. She's from Carrots and Cake, which I have. Like I just told her I love the name of this. It's just, it's so appropriate. But she's going to be talking about the stages of perimenopause and how to navigate those challenges that come along with each one. So, Tina, welcome, so happy to have you here.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to chat about perimenopause, one of my favorite topics.

Speaker 2:

Yes, awesome, awesome. So before we get started, can you give us a little bit of background? You know how you became so knowledgeable on this subject.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so I'll give you the short and brief version of all this, because it is a long story. I've been on the internet for years, so I've done a lot of things over the years.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think honestly it's just because of my own health struggles and just facing a lot of dead end when it came to. I should preface this by saying I love the conventional system as far as medicine goes. I love doctors, I love prescriptions. You know they're great and wonderful, but I just feel like I was jumping through hoops. You know, working with doctors going in complaining about hormonal symptoms, you know just not feeling my best, gaining weight out of nowhere, and I just feel like I wasn't getting answers. And this went on for like a good decade. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1:

Just like running blood for these conversations and just leaving my doctor's office not feeling any better, feeling more lost and just hopeless and helpless, and I just kind of got sick of it, to be totally honest. And I had control. Yeah, I was just like, okay, I'm not getting answers, there's got to be a better way. And really what was going on is I had been on hormonal birth control, on the pill, since college, so all through my twenties, um into my thirties. I had my son when I was 34 and then went right back on the pill and at that point I just felt like a crazy person. I did not feel great. I always tell this story cause I just think it's so funny. I was standing at the kitchen sink doing dishes and I remember my husband walked behind me and his existence just annoyed me. He was just walking behind me and I just remember being like this is not normal.

Speaker 1:

You should not be for no reason and my hormones were a mess and the thing that kind of drove me crazy is that I would go see my primary care doctor, my OBGYN. I saw multiple doctors during this time and the solution was always the pill and I was like, no, I want to not be on the pill because it's making me crazy, and I just wasn't getting answered. So fast forward I ended up becoming a functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner and I learned how to read functional tests, so I know how to read a Dutch test and blood work and mineral testing and gut testing and really just that holistic functional approach really changed my health. But it took a lot of time, energy, education, money, investments, craziness to get to this point and now that I've healed my body, my hormones are a lot more balanced. I just want to be able to help other women and that's what we do at care to cake.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, awesome. I mean this is such an important topic, like I had said, and I think it's relevant to more women than you know are willing to admit. But yeah, I think this is going to be really, really interesting conversation, so let's kind of just dive in, but let's start with the basics, like what is perimetopause?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I think this is perfect place to start, but, yeah, fun. I would say. It's the transitional phase of life. It's very natural, it's a natural part of life, but it's leading into menopause where, in menopause, our hormones are really low, they really start to decline, your reproductive years basically come to a close and I think this perimetopause time is that time before menopause and menopause is really time. Is that time before menopause and menopause is really you haven't had a period, or you know menstrual period for 12 months consecutively.

Speaker 1:

So there's a lot of time that that transition can happen and I've heard anywhere from eight to 10 years as far as this transition. I've heard 12 years, I've heard 15 years. Um, I have a friend whose mother said it took her 20 years to make a decision. So I've heard all different things and we're starting to see this perimetopause transition start earlier and earlier, especially like working with women one-on-one. We'll see it start, you know, mid to late thirties. I think most women will start seeing changes when they hit their early forties and mid forties. But yeah, this can take a while to fully transition into menopause. So it is very natural. It just hormones start to slow down. I've actually heard perimetopause referred to as reverse puberty, just like you know when you're more hormones.

Speaker 1:

this is the opposite You're having fewer and fewer hormones, yeah, and it losing them Okay. And it's kind of like a crazy time as far as the hormones go.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and you know, I guess what I find interesting is that you don't hear about perimetopause nearly as much as I think we should. It's just menopause you either are in menopause or have gone through menopause or you know, and that's it. Like that is. That's what I've heard for years. So this whole concept of perimenopause just fascinates me and it's it's just a topic that I think needs more. I mean just needs to be spoken about much, much more often, because it'll explain this, this crazy season that we have. You know, like it's just that it's not you that there there's something hormonal going on with you, it's not, you're not losing your marbles, you're not whatever. You know, like you can't necessarily control it all. So I mean this is really really, really important for sure. So what are the different stages? I mean I'm guessing, since it's a block of time, I mean it can be significant If it can be more than 10 years there's got to be different stages within it. Is that? Am I thinking correctly here?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I can kind of talk about what you might experience. Of course, this is going to be very different for every woman and I really do think there's so many symptoms that can kind of go into this time and, yeah, we're not talking about it all that much.

Speaker 1:

I think it's starting to get a little bit more traction because I think there's so many of us that get to this stage of life like you have kids and then you're not quite in menopause but like a lot of weird things are happening hormonally. So I would say there's almost like three main stages and I would say it's early, mid and late. And again, this is going to be different for everybody and I think there's a lot of like fuzzy gray areas for this. This is going to be different for everybody and I think there's a lot of like fuzzy gray areas for this. But I would say, the early it could be you know late 30s, mid 30s, early 40s but you just start to see more hormonal shifts as far as maybe your periods get a little bit heavier, you start having some sleep disturbances. You know cycles might start to get a little bit shorter. You might have, you know, night sweats before your period or headaches around your period, Every symptom here right here now.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you're diagnosing me.

Speaker 1:

Yes, so it could be, it could be early perimetopause, but you're just starting to notice these symptoms. You're just kind of like oh, that's not what I'm usually used to and it might not be so bad, um, but you're like things are definitely different. Um, I would say anxiety starts to pop up. Then I feel like I hear that a lot from ladies, where you just can't handle stress like you used to. I would say mid perimetopause is like when you're in it, and I would say this you are definitely noticing symptoms Like your periods are suddenly heavier, your cycles are getting shorter, like you were the girl, basically 28 days, pretty regular all the time, and then all of a sudden you have like a 23 day cycle and then a 25 day cycle and then maybe you have a 27 day cycle, but you're starting to see shorter times between your periods. And then same thing, like you might have a really heavy day and then things kind of taper off more sleep issues, night sweats, I mean you might have some hot flashes or something like that. Again, it kind of depends on the person. I do think this is where you start to notice more issues with like blood sugar and weight gain, energy, like peaks and valleys as far as how you feel.

Speaker 1:

And then I would say the late perimetopause is where your cycles actually get longer, and a lot of times that's because you don't have enough progesterone to sustain that whole cycle, or maybe you're not ovulating and that can start happening where one month you might ovulate and the next month you might not, and then you'll have a 40 day cycle or a 50 day cycle, and then that will continue to happen. The periods will just get longer and longer apart, and then you are officially in menopause once you've gone 12 months without a period, which is also kind of fun too. We actually have a practitioner on our team who she was at like 375 days or something, and she's like, oh my God, I'm officially in menopause, and she was. She was pretty excited about it, to be honest and then she got her period. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, we're not in menopause. We're going to do this whole thing again.

Speaker 2:

So, yeah, it's almost, you want that closure. You just want to get through it, like just know where you're at. Yeah, I mean gosh what, what a path, though. But yeah, you definitely are speaking to the choir here with that, I don't know. I mean that's. It's like a box of chocolates, basically, with your cycle, you know, you never know what you're going to get.

Speaker 1:

And the hormones really do fluctuate a lot, just like I was saying, with like reverse puberty, like you can have high estrogen and low progesterone, or you could have low estrogen and low progesterone. I don't think you're really ever have progesterone and perimenopause you never know anything's possible and then a lot of times with low testosterone, although we've seen high testosterone too. So again, it really depends, and this is where you know hormone testing could be helpful, but I don't think anybody needs a test to navigate this period of time either. I think a lot of it really is listening to your body.

Speaker 1:

So, you can feel your body, yeah, very good.

Speaker 2:

So I mean age wise, we kind of touched on this, but so basically, like late thirties, mid thirties kind of, is a typical starting period for that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it depends, I would say I've I've seen forties too. It really just depends on the woman and her overall health.

Speaker 2:

Got it. One of the questions I had which I don't know if you'd be able to answer this or not, but so I had a lot of fertility issues, getting pregnant with my kids and like my cycle was all over the place, but I just wonder if that has any bearing on going through the next phases of womanhood. No, I mean, is this something that's going to cause me to, you know, have or be into menopause earlier or later, or anything like that? Or even you know different fluctuations within perimetopause? Is there anything that you know concrete that actually can change just with your, with you know, fertility issues at a younger age?

Speaker 1:

I mean it's hard to say. I mean, obviously I would want to run some testing on you, get to know you a little bit better. But I think if you had, you know, irregular cycles at that point in your life, I don't doubt that you'll probably have some irregularity in perimetopause because it's so common. But I think you're also probably pre-decision to it a little bit, but again it depends on so many factors and we can talk about some of the things that could make this transition easier too.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yes, let's move on to that. That sounds more fun. Let's go and talk about what exactly we can do to, I guess, calm the waters maybe.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think one thing that is important for ladies to know is that if you have any sort of hormonal imbalance, your hormones are usually the last thing to be affected by what's going on in your body. So I always like talking about or I use this image when I'm teaching our clients is that it's almost like an iceberg, where on top, sticking out of the water, are all the hormone imbalances, but then below the surface of the water is really where all the root causes are. So a lot of times if hormones are out of balance, it could be related to gut issues, it could be related to stress, it could be related to blood sugar and insulin issues, lack of minerals and nutrient deficiencies and things like that. So a lot of times if there's a lot of hormonal chaos essentially going on, a lot of times you have to look elsewhere because the hormones didn't just get off just because you know what I mean. There's something driving those hormones and making them out of balance. So the way I like to sum it up for our clients, or at least make it easy, because it really is so personal and obviously that's what we do at Carrots and Cake Like we're very personalized with our approach and recommendations and we really try to get to know our clients.

Speaker 1:

But two things happen when our hormones start to decline in perimenopause, and one is we just become less resilient to stress and I think if you think about how you lived your 20s and your 30s, like you could do a lot of crazy things. I always joke that you could stay up all night drinking beer and the next day you could go for a five mile run and you're going to lose five or 10 pounds before your vacation. Like you can do all these extreme things to your body and because you have all those extra hormones and great cortisol levels and adrenaline and all the things you can do, all the things and your body bounces back. Your body can recover to that type of treatment. But as those hormones begin to decline, we become less resilient to that stress. Like I don't know about you, but I can't stay up all night anymore. I can't even drink more than like a couple of glasses and you know my nerves my nerves are like shot.

Speaker 2:

I mean, I have a short fuse now. I think that's one of the biggest things I noticed is even with my kids much shorter fuse. But I have this I don't know like fears now. Different fears are so much bigger to me and it's weird because it's just like. You know, 10 years ago it was no big deal. Yeah, I didn't like it, but it wasn't like causing me to have a meltdown, yeah, but yeah, it is crazy. All the changes.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, like the stress, resilience, for sure, but yeah, just how you like you handle a situation or how quickly you are to like snap at your kids or your dog or something like that. Like I just feel like I was a lot more chill and balanced, exactly.

Speaker 1:

And then in my forties, I was like what is going on here, like why am I upset that my husband is walking near me? You know what I mean? There's just like these mood things that this is very different. He's breathing my air. Yeah, we become less resilient to stress, and then what goes hand in hand with that. So we work with a lot of ladies who want to lose weight and change their body composition but, like I'll hear this a ton Like I gained weight out of nowhere, I didn't change my diet that much, I didn't change my exercise. Like why am I gaining weight? And our bodies also become less sensitive to insulin and insulin is an important part of this whole blood sugar, weight gain, weight loss and whatnot. And we'll see a lot of like insulin resistance, prediabetes, working with clients and a lot of times when you run your blood work through a doctor, you know things are quote unquote normal, but a lot of times those ranges are for the conventional population everybody in the population, which includes healthy people and not so healthy people.

Speaker 1:

So your insulin might be normal, where you don't need, you know, insulin or medication or something like that. But it's not optimal for you to feel your best and especially if you're struggling with hormone issues, a lot of times we can backtrack it to blood sugar issues or insulin issues. So for really for our clients I hate saying this because people are like, okay, they're like rolling her eyes, but you need to manage that stress which I think for a lot of us it's setting boundaries, saying no, asking for help. You know it's hard. It's hard being a mom, especially like a working mom, and a little bit of perfectionism mixed in there.

Speaker 1:

Um, we, we attract those types of people, and then also just being really on top of your nutrition and, um, we want to get into the specifics. We can talk about that too, but I think those are the two things. If you just realize I can't treat my body the way I used to, and also, like this blood sugar, insulin thing yes, it's important for, like, weight loss, but also just how you feel as far as energy and mood and just getting yourself through the day.

Speaker 2:

Keeping yourself balanced. I mean, I think that's really really important. Now, as far as the weight gain and things like that, something that I've noticed, I mean I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir again, but do you have suggestions on? You know, is there a diet that you should be following? Is it very personal? You know person to person. I mean, what are we looking at with that?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I would say personal for sure, and again, that's you know what we do over here. We're very personalized as far as our recommendations go and that's why we use the functional testing. It's really helpful, but I would say kind of like the pillars of perimetopause and weight loss and just looking and feeling your best. Number one is always building muscle, and if you're a product of the 90s or even the 2000s, I think we're all obsessed with cardio and running. I mean, I used to do marathon.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, boxing and the elliptical and cardio is great.

Speaker 1:

I mean, I used to do marathon, boxing and the elliptical and you know cardio is great. But I think when you get to your forties, like the more muscle you have on your body, the more resilient your body is going to be, but also like your body's going to look a very different way. And of course, the more muscle you have on the body, you know, the more metabolically flexible your body will be, as far as you know burning calories when you're have on the body, you know, the more metabolically flexible your body will be as far as you know burning calories when you're sitting on the couch and sleeping and whatnot. But the other thing I don't think women realize is that muscle is almost a sinkhole for that glucose and insulin. So the more muscle you have on your body, the more balanced your blood sugar is going to be. And I always joke the more muscle you have, the more cookies you can eat.

Speaker 2:

You can be a little bit more flexible with your diet it doesn't need to be perfect all the time.

Speaker 1:

So I would say building muscle is a huge one. And as far as the nutritional recommendations, we're big on protein. But protein is great for building and maintaining muscle but also keeping that blood sugar balance, keeping you satisfied so you're not craving sugar and cookies and things like that. And fiber kind of goes hand in hand with that too. So fiber can mitigate that insulin spike and of course it's going to fill you up. It's good for your gut health. So those are kind of like the main things we focus on.

Speaker 1:

We also love walking, just because you're moving, and every time you're moving, your muscles, your body's becoming more and more sensitive to glucose and insulin. So I would say those are kind of like the big dial movers. And then of course, it's going to depend on the woman and kind of where she's coming to us in this whole journey, Because some ladies are really dialed in on their nutrition. They're counting macros, they work out all the time, and then we have other people coming to us where they're eating, you know, Pop-Tarts and Starbucks for breakfast and like they've never worked out. So it really just yeah yeah, completely understand.

Speaker 2:

So I mean, let's kind of move away from the weight aspect, because I kind of feel like weight, yes, it is very relevant in this perimetopause, but it's something that we like me I've struggled with this my entire life, so you know, it's something that I don't know necessarily changes drastically during perimetopause. Maybe it's just the way that you need to to to lose it or to maintain it and things like that, but you know, with the things that we're losing. So minerals, what what do you recommend as far as maybe supplements or getting those in different you know? Um foods, what do you recommend for women in perimetopause, you know, to consume?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love minerals. It's probably like the thing that changed my life I don't want to say life, that sounds like really dramatic, but you know, I've been on this health journey for a while now. But I think when I discovered minerals and when I say minerals it's really just seeking out foods that are high in nutrients and high in minerals I think I really was the product of the nineties and two thousands, where it was just about calories and I ate a lot of like diet food, processed food, a lot of quest bars and light fit yogurt.

Speaker 1:

You know what I mean. It was all about calories. It really wasn't about the nutrients in the food, and when I switched my thinking on that and just started seeking out good quality wholesome foods, I started to feel so much better.

Speaker 3:

So I felt like red meat.

Speaker 1:

I think so many people are scared of red meat and I'm like actually red meat's like really nutritious for you. Fruit, I mean I can't. I've avoided fruit and fruit juice for I don't know 20 years.

Speaker 1:

I had too much sugar, Right, sure you know I eat a lot of beans and lentils and squashes and oats and things like that, so really like seeking out these nourishing foods. So with minerals, like when we are stressed out, we'll lose minerals. And the example that I share with our clients is if you've ever done any sort of endurance event so I used to run marathons and half marathons and do all that, but my skin would actually get salty from me sweating so much and that is your body losing sodium. I mean, that's an electric. I mean.

Speaker 1:

This is obviously a very extreme example, but anytime we are stressed out physically, emotionally, mentally our body loses minerals. And so if you think about eating a lot of diet food that's not loaded with nutrients and minerals and whatnot, and then you add in exercise, that endurance training, pregnancy, pregnancy, the big one and you think about what you're doing, growing that little human, and then you were giving birth to that human, and then if you decide to breastfeed or nurse that child, they're taking so much nutrition from you and minerals and whatnot. So a lot of times moms are just left depleted and of course we're exhausted, we're taking care of this tiny human, we're not sleeping, we're probably not feeding ourselves the best, but also you've lost so many minerals and things that will give you energy, and minerals are quite literally the spark of our cells. So if we lack those minerals we're just not going to feel our best and the minerals actually run the enzymes that run our hormones. So if you're dealing with mineral imbalance, if you're dealing with fatigue I would say that's probably like the big thing you probably need a little bit more nourishment in your body and we'll see that a lot on tests.

Speaker 1:

We'll see just kind of like low minerals across the board and if you have low minerals in your body it's very depleted and you will actually feel like that, like it'll be hard to get out of bed in the morning. You'll need coffee to get going. You have that like afternoon slump. You hit the pillow like the second you get in bed you're just totally exhausted. You just feel like you're dragging your butt everywhere. I think that would be a good indication that maybe your body needs like a little bit more nutrition. As far as some of those like nourishing foods go but I think you did ask me about like what minerals are important.

Speaker 2:

I know, well, I mean, all minerals seem very important, but, yeah, like there's specific ones you know that we kind of want to watch for, or that we could, you know, just consciously make sure that we're eating better, yeah, so, we like.

Speaker 1:

Again, I think the testing is really helpful because it looks at like what your body needs, in particular as far as where are you depleted or what minerals might need a little bit of love. But I think across the board and this is what I do with our group coaching clients is that we usually start them with potassium, magnesium and then sodium, those three electrolytes, just because they are kind of that spark, and especially on the potassium front, so many of us don't get enough. So we always start there, and that's not one that we'll normally supplement. Our bodies just absorb it better through food and if you think about some of the top potassium foods out there, they're really healthy for you. So you know our favorites are potatoes, bananas, avocados, coconut water. Um, did.

Speaker 2:

I say avocado.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, for sure, for sure. And we actually just tell our clients you can Google a list. I mean we have a list that we give our clients, but every single day, just prioritize those foods. And same with magnesium. That's where we might add a little bit of supplementation as far as the magnesium goes, because, again, a lot of us are deficient in it and magnesium is so important. It's involved in hundreds, if not thousands, of processes in the body and, again, when you're stressed, it's one of the first minerals that we lose. And then same with sodium. I think a lot of people are still kind of afraid of sodium, or like they don't want to get too much sodium.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's kind of a bad rap, I'd say.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it just kind of depends on the person, and if you're somebody that exercises on the regular, I would say you definitely need the sodium and potassium for sure. The magnesium probably too, but I would say those three are where we start. But again, I would definitely push people more towards the whole foods before adding in any sort of supplementation, because I don't know, I just feel like you have to eat, so why not?

Speaker 1:

prioritize those foods. Put those foods in your shopping cart, you know. Plan your meals around these foods instead of just, you know, taking a pill.

Speaker 2:

It's a good habit, you know to yeah, as opposed to just popping a pill.

Speaker 2:

I feel like that's what we do these days. I mean that's, that's what's always pushed. But you know, the other piece of this is that you know, minerals aren't talked about very often. I mean, when I go to the doctor, it's about my vitamins, I mean like folic acid. I've always been low on and they don't like they don't test, they don't run these tests to tell you, and it just seems like they're missing such an important piece of the puzzle when they don't. But I guess that's why you're here for us.

Speaker 1:

Just a different approach. We have a different approach, different toolbox, all right.

Speaker 2:

Let's move on a little bit here again and let's just kind of talk about do you have tips to kind of feel more comfortable in your own skin? I mean things that you know, just it's, it's a mindset, I believe it's just that mindset. But do you have any tips that you know, that you work with your clients on, or anything like that that you can share today?

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, I love that question too. So I love strength training and this is kind of like the hill that I will die on as far as what is going to make a difference in your health, and I just think using exercise as a way to get stronger and lift heavier, I think it can be really empowering for women. And I know it sounds like a little bit cheesy, but I'm also like I just think you get so much out of it in the sense that, like you're able to do hard things, you're able to do things you never thought you could do, and build that confidence yeah, a hundred percent. And then I also think you can change how your body looks. And I also think building that muscle is so good for our hormones and just our overall happiness and healthiness and all that. So I'm a big, big fan of the muscle building and, like I was saying, getting more muscle, more cookies it does lead to a happier life.

Speaker 1:

And then I think also again, it's a little cheesy to say, but listening to your body. I think we as women, especially if you're in this perimetopause phase we have gone so long not listening to your body. I think we as women, especially if, like you're in this like perimetopause phase. We have gone so long not listening to our bodies and listening to diet culture and everything that's around us. Like you should be doing this diet, you should be eating this food, you shouldn't be eating this food, and I think there's a lot of mixed messages and confusion, to the point where we don't know what to do and we're questioning everything that we know, and things contradict each other.

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, which is always, which is always like why are we listening at all? Because you know tomorrow it's going to be the opposite. So let's just go back to healthy eating, like, literally, fruits and vegetables and, you know, get your fruit. I mean, it just seems so simple, but it's not, and it's. There's so much noise out there about everything.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and I think it really is like. This is what we say to our clients is really like slowing down and just paying attention to how you feel. So something that we do with our clients that you know anybody can do is that when you eat a meal 90 minutes ish after that meal, like assess how you feel, Like do you feel satisfied, Are you happy, Are you balanced, Are you hangry, Are you exhausted? I just think slowing down and really just like listening. It's like cheesy and like a little woo, but I think it can just tell you so much about your food choices and how you're kind of living your life. So I know it's like cheesy and it's probably not the first thing that people want to hear, but I think it makes such a difference because we are all so different.

Speaker 2:

Oh sorry, you froze for a minute. We'll just cut that out. Oh did I? Yeah, just for a minute. Oh sorry, no, no, it's fine, all right. Well, that was a great conversation. So, tina, where can folks find you? Because I know they're going to have questions for you and I want them to reach out, so just lay it out when can we find you?

Speaker 1:

So I'm at carrotsandcakecom, so it's carrots, the letter N and then cakecom. I'm probably most active on Instagram. So if you do want to send me a message or find out more Carrots and Cake on Instagram and then I also have a podcast same name Carrots and Cake I'm Carrots and Cake everywhere. So if you want to stalk me YouTube channel, I have a cookbook. I have all sorts of stuff but Carrots and Cake everywhere.

Speaker 2:

Awesome. Well, again, thank you so much for being here. I think this was such a great conversation and I hope everyone at home enjoyed it as well. We will be back next week for another episode.

Speaker 3:

We hope you're walking away with a smile on your face and a bit more confidence in your step.

Speaker 2:

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Speaker 3:

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Speaker 2:

Join us next week for more stories, more laughs and more real talk.

Speaker 3:

Until then, keep embracing your unique journey and remember you've got it together more than you think.

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