My Top 5 Health Related Podcasts

I listen to so many podcasts. I walk 5km everyday with my dog and I love nothing more than popping on a podcast and zoning out. As I am obsessed with all thing’s health, I have some favourites I would like to share with you as I often get asked what I recommend as there are so many. I have a short attention span, if its over an hour it’s unlikely I will listen to it unless I am super interested in that topic. So, all of these will be 30-60 minutes long.

My top favourite for easy Nutrition advice

Food for thought by Rhiannon Lambert

Rhiannon is a UK based registered Nutritionist. The episodes of no more than 40 minutes long and she has some great guests on covering everyday topics that are popular in the media. All evidence based, no mixed messages. I recommend you listen from the beginning. If there are any news mum’s, she did a whole season on all new mum topics (I skipped these lol). My favourites were the secret to skin health, how to fuel fitness and how to overcome anxiety.

My favourite for business

The Business Bible

This is a new one for me. They are actually a new company. They are really relatable if you are setting up a new business and every time they release a new podcast its usually reading my mind! 15 episodes so far, short and sweet with an expert in that field on each podcast. My most useful ones so far are SEO and getting found online and questions about Instagram reels

My favourite for overall Health

Deliciously Ella

I have followed her journey from the beginning on social media. I really like her as I find her relatable, give her a follow. I have her app for recipes too. She is totally plant based. She has a guest on every week talking about various subjects related to health both physical and mental health. I think its fair to say some of her guests have not been totally evidence based but I get something from each episode. They are usually quite uplifting and only around 30 minutes. I love the one with Fern Cotton called how to live your happiest life and finding gratitude in the hardest moments.

My favourite for quitting the booze

One Year No Beer podcast

I recommend you start from the beginning. If you are trying to cut down or stop completely this is the podcast for you. It got me through 6 months of not drinking last year and I truly believe this helped with my motivation.

Each podcast has a different guest where they share their experiences with alcohol and their journey to stop. Its not just alcoholics, its everyday people like you and me who maybe drink more than we would like. My stand out ones are with Suzanne Shaw and also Catherine Grey. They also talk about Health.

My favourite podcast for fitness/exercise

Mind Pump

This was difficult as I have a few, but what I am listening to the most at the moment is Mind Pump. There are over 1400 episodes which is overwhelming and some of them can be long but you can pick and choose your subject, you name it they have covered it. There are technique episodes which I am loving at the moment because I am doing my PT qualification. There is a great episode (1397) 5 ways to maintain muscle when sick or injured with was so helpful to me after a recent operation.

I really hope you find this helpful 😊

How Are Our Hormones Really Affecting Our Fat Loss Goals?

I want to tackle two areas in this article.

The first is, are our hormones making us gain weight? We have all said or at least know someone who has said that our contraceptive method has made us fat.

Here is the harsh truth that I know many will not want to hear.

Only consuming more energy (food) than you burn will make you gain fat! Energy balance, it’s the principle of fat loss. FACT!

BUT (phew there is a but)

Hormones can play a role in helping us consume that energy. I will explain.

The appetite hormones

We have what is called the “hunger hormone” AKA Ghrelin. This stimulates our appetite. Then we have Leptin. Leptin tells our brain we are full and promotes energy balance, we like leptin!!

These two hormones can be affected by lots of factors. Lack of sleep can make your hunger hormone (Ghrelin) for example sky rocket making you hungrier that day. We want to keep ghrelin low during a fat loss phase so eating a whole foods diet with lots of protein will keep you fuller for longer.

We want to be more leptin sensitive. We can do this by getting enough sleep, resistance training, avoid crash dieting, getting enough fibre and so on. Oh, wow look at that, balance and moderation!

Lady hormones

So, we are all aware of the hormone’s estrogen, progesterone and testosterone.

I will tackle each individually.

Estrogen – this increases in the first 14 days of our cycle (known as the Follicular phase) then decreases very quickly after ovulation around day 14. Let’s call Estrogen the nice hormone, we like estrogen. It keeps us on the straight and narrow and sane 😊 It also plays role in decreasing our appetite during the first 2 weeks of the cycle. If you are to start a diet for fat loss then this is when you want to do it.

Testosterone – We don’t have lots of this as its predominantly the male hormone but this is at its peak for us around ovulation. As this is when we have this highest chance of getting pregnant and testosterone improves our sex drive. Women who have PCOS can have 2-3 times more testosterone than women without and their cycle can be as long as 35 days compared the average 28 days of someone without PCOS. More testosterone can bring symptoms with it and women with PCOS hold body fat more central.

Progesterone – Let’s call this the horrid hormone. This rises from day 14 (luteal phase) right up to us getting our period. This causes the mood swings, can affect our sleep causing us to be irritable. We burn a higher number of calories in this phase, it can be up to 300 more. We also become more resistant to insulin which means we don’t tolerate carbohydrates as well but we crave them. Combine this with the affected sleep making our ghrelin hormones rise we end up consuming 500 calories on average a day more during this phase, hello weight gain!

So, you could say your hormones are helping you gain weight but its still energy balance that is what makes you gain fat. Understanding this can help you if you do suffer with the symptoms of the follicular phase.

As we head towards menopause these hormones decline and periods will stop eventually.

Is my pill/coil/implant etc. making you fat then?

Not directly, but it will be affecting your hormones and all the above will be happening! You can however hold a little more water with some contraception though which you will see on the scales.

It’s very different for everyone. Some are affected and some don’t even see any difference.

Exercise and the female cycle

The second thing I would like to discuss is training and exercise in relation to hormones.

Have you ever been to the gym and lifted a personal best only to find the following week you can’t lift it off the floor! Or done the best run of your life to two days later feeling like a slug?

It’s our menstrual cycle messing with us.

We mention above the Follicular phase and the Luteal phase.

Follicular phase – days 1-14 of our cycle. This is when out Estrogen is high and when we are at our strongest. This is when we should be doing our heavy lifting and HIIT sessions, we also get less muscle soreness during this time. Around day 14 (ovulation) out testosterone is high; we may get out best work out here!

The Luteal phase – days 14- 28 ish. Progesterone starts to rise and that yoga pose we were doing a week ago now seems impossible. Our balance and co-ordination are off, we can’t lift for shit and our works outs are just less satisfying. Planning the lighter exercises here would make sense.

I think once we know this and we understand where we are in our cycle then we can give ourselves a break, not beat ourselves up as much.

Take away – understand your cycle. If you are in a fat loss phase you can try and do your deficit in the first too weeks and then hit maintenance calories in the 2nd phase. You will still make progress. Its important to point out that we are all so different, some months we are good and others it hits us hard. If you suffer with PMS plan your training around this, don’t force yourself to do a workout that is possible not going to benefit you.

Its tough being a woman but we just have to get on with it!

PCOS In A Nutshell

It’s very difficult to put PCOS in a nutshell but I am going to give it go. All that I talk about is based on current evidence. PCOS is still not fully understood even by the specialists, there is ongoing research being done and things change the more that is discovered.

What is PCOS?

Polycystic ovary syndrome. To have the syndrome you will be diagnosed with two of the following and some females can have all three.

• Hyperandrogenism – high levels of androgens causing symptoms such as oily skin, acne, facial hair, irregular periods and also alopecia

• Polycystic ovaries - ovaries develop numerous small collections of fluid, called follicles and may fail to regularly release eggs

• Oligo/Anovulation – where ovulation is irregular or not there at all

What are the characteristics of PCOS?

• Menstrual dysfunction which can also lead to infertility or increased pregnancy complication

• Insulin resistance and increased risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease

• More prone to anxiety and/or depression

• More prone to obesity or weight gain as metabolism could be up to 40% slower

It’s difficult to say what the treatments are exactly because it depends on what symptoms you have as no one case is the same.

Of course, see your doctor and they will provide medical treatment.

So how can a Nutritionist help?

We can help a huge amount. Lifestyle is a key treatment.

Getting to a healthy weight/BMI - is shown to improve PCOS symptoms dramatically. This will improve insulin resistance. The method we use again will depend on the symptoms. For example – one study shows that a low GI diet can improve menstrual regularity and improve insulin sensitivity.

Metabolic adaptation – this means that you require less calories than someone without PCOS. Sometimes it can be up to 40% less. The harsh reality is that you will be on a lower calorie diet. Seeing a nutritionist to help with this is beneficial as we can set you where you need to be and make sure the method for the lower calorie diet is that one that benefits your health.

Exercise – aside from helping to boost mood therefore helping to reduce depression and anxiety symptoms its help can help you reach your weight loss goal. Resistance training will improve insulin sensitivity too.

Supplementation – research is still ongoing but there are some great studies suggesting supplementing with vitamin D and omega 3’s is very beneficial.

Summary

It’s a very complicated syndrome with no one way to treat it. It needs a dedicated period of experimentation and recording to find them method for the specific symptoms.

I would suggest seeing a Nutritionist (me please) and committing to a 12 week plan.