April 3, 2025

115: Creatine, Blood Tests & Supplement Hype with Sarah Gray

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115: Creatine, Blood Tests & Supplement Hype with Sarah Gray

Supplement confusion is at an all-time high, with social media feeds flooded with miracle promises targeting menopausal women. But how do you know what you actually need, what works, and what's just expensive snake oil?

Pharmacist and nutritionist Sarah Gray brings her dual expertise to this conversation, offering practical guidance for navigating the overwhelming world of supplementation. 

Unlike most health professionals who specialise in either conventional medicine or natural approaches, Sarah bridges both worlds, providing uniquely balanced insights into what supplements might actually benefit women in midlife.

This episode delivers specific, actionable advice you can use immediately. Learn the simple trick for identifying quality supplements (look for the AUST-L or AUST-R code), understand which baseline blood tests you should request from your doctor, and discover why blindly following supplement trends can waste your money and potentially harm your health. 

Sarah warns against the common practice of continuously adding supplements without removing any, explaining how this can lead to accidental overuse of certain nutrients.

We take a deep dive into the essential blood work every midlife woman should request annually. Sarah explains how certain symptoms commonly attributed to perimenopause could signal nutritional deficiencies that won't necessarily improve with hormone therapy.

And you don't want to miss our discussion about Creatine - arguably the most evidence-backed supplement for women in midlife - which offers benefits for muscle strength, mood regulation, and the immune system.

Take control of your health by understanding exactly what your body needs rather than what clever marketing suggests you buy. Your journey through perimenopause and beyond deserves an evidence-based approach to supplementation that works.

Links

Sarah Gray - Nutrition Pharmacist website

Sarah on Instagram

Sarah on Facebook

The Benefits of Creatine by Dr Mary Claire Haver

Why Creatine Matters for Women 40+ by Harvard Lifestyle Medicine

Effects of six-month creatine supplementation on patient- and clinician-reported outcomes, and tissue creatine levels in patients with post-COVID-19 fatigue syndrome


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Chapters

00:01 - Welcome to Dear Menopause Podcast

00:40 - Meet Sarah: Pharmacist and Nutritionist

04:14 - How to Choose Quality Supplements

11:54 - Determining What Supplements You Need

18:24 - Essential Blood Tests for Midlife Women

35:49 - Supplements and Hormone Therapy

40:46 - The Creatine Revolution

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:01.582 --> 00:00:04.107
Welcome to the Dear Menopause podcast.

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I'm Sonya Lovell, your host Now.

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I've been bringing you conversations with amazing menopause experts for over two years now.

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If you have missed any of those conversations, now's the time to go back and listen, and you can always share them with anyone you think needs to hear them.

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This way, more people can find these amazing conversations, needs to hear them.

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This way, more people can find these amazing conversations.

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Welcome to Dear Menopause this week.

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I am delighted to be joined today by Sarah Gray.

00:00:37.299 --> 00:00:37.581
Welcome, Sarah.

00:00:37.581 --> 00:00:38.143
Thank you so much, Sonya.

00:00:38.162 --> 00:00:40.008
Thanks for having me Really excited to be here on this wonderful podcast.

00:00:40.008 --> 00:00:40.509
So let's jump in.

00:00:40.509 --> 00:00:46.048
Why don't you do a much better job than I did and explain to everybody who you are and what you do?

00:00:46.640 --> 00:00:49.630
Yeah, absolutely, I'm a nutritionist and a pharmacist.

00:00:50.412 --> 00:01:01.490
I started by studying pharmacy in my first degree out of high school and I learned a few years into working in community pharmacy that there was just a bit more I wanted to be able to help people with.

00:01:01.490 --> 00:01:09.373
I felt like I would give them things to fix their problems, but not necessarily try and prevent things so much so I had a really interested in nutrition.

00:01:09.373 --> 00:01:18.328
So, being the curious person I am, I went and did a master's of human nutrition at Deakin University and so now I hold both those degrees and it's really interesting.

00:01:18.328 --> 00:01:31.260
Actually, I thought I'd actually hang my pharmacist hat up and put my nutritionist hat on, but as time went on, hang my pharmacist hat up and put my nutritionist hat on, but as time went on I realised the two actually went really well together and there's more and more I explore about this every day.

00:01:31.260 --> 00:01:41.879
Yeah, they work well together in terms of being able to look at someone holistically and think about medicines, supplements, lifestyle, having that pharmacy background of medical conditions.

00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:44.269
It's actually turned out to be perfect.

00:01:46.260 --> 00:01:59.796
Sarah, that's amazing and I can absolutely see how, working in a pharmacy, you would especially if you're someone that was quite kind of holistic in your approach to health really feel that there was areas where you could be able to expand on that advice.

00:01:59.796 --> 00:02:04.049
And I've actually come across a pharmacist and a nutritionist before.

00:02:04.049 --> 00:02:15.919
My local pharmacist was a nutritionist as well, so it totally makes sense and I think that's a beautiful use of all of your skills and probably all your interpersonal skills as well.

00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:20.252
So how do you support women today as a nutritionist and a pharmacist?

00:02:20.762 --> 00:02:22.046
I don't still work in a pharmacy.

00:02:22.046 --> 00:02:25.189
I do the odd shift to help friends if they need some help.

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I do love working there, but I'm probably much too talkative and want to have a full consultation with people, so I'm not probably the fastest as they would like.

00:02:32.808 --> 00:02:43.086
But what I do now is I have an online clinic where I help all people, but I tended to get lots of women booking in and I was getting lots of women coming with low energy.

00:02:43.286 --> 00:02:44.348
It was a common theme.

00:02:44.427 --> 00:02:58.312
That was just time after time after time and then when you do further exploration, you'd find there's the brain fog, the stubborn belly fat and hormonal symptoms and not saying it was every time, but tended to be around these kind of hormonal changes.

00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:12.328
So I now say that my mission is to help women better navigate the really confusing health and wellness space, because this then means you're sort of empowered to make those great choices and you can spend your cash on things that will work, based on science.

00:03:12.328 --> 00:03:23.967
You can get cut through the overwhelm, because the biggest thing that happens is they come to see me and they say I've eaten eight different types of supplements, I've tried intermittent fasting, I've tried all types of different things, I've cut out carbs.

00:03:23.967 --> 00:03:27.805
But when I asked them, well, have any of those things made you feel better?

00:03:27.805 --> 00:03:29.870
The answer is generally no.

00:03:29.870 --> 00:03:41.483
So my mission is to try and help people use things or try things that work, and if they don't work, know that it's okay to sort of trial things, but doing it with a systematic approach is better for you and you'll feel better because of it.

00:03:42.165 --> 00:03:46.360
Yeah, that's so awesome, so important and so needed.

00:03:46.360 --> 00:04:10.997
So one of the things that we agreed when we sat down and chatted about recording an episode was what aspect of all the amazing work that you do can we really narrow our focus on and speak specifically to, a topic that I know is really top of mind for a lot of people when they are trying to feel better and they're on that elusive search for whether it's supplements or nutrition advice.

00:04:10.997 --> 00:04:14.246
But today we decided we were going to really focus in on supplements.

00:04:14.246 --> 00:04:19.913
We're going to deep dive into some of the things you touched on then, which were really beautiful around.

00:04:20.276 --> 00:04:24.810
How do you not waste your money on supplements, which is super easy to do.

00:04:24.810 --> 00:04:25.672
We've all done it.

00:04:25.672 --> 00:04:41.012
How do we know what is a good supplement to take, versus the marketing hype that exists and is just being further amplified now that menopause in particular, and perimenopause is this hot topic, and how do we know when we actually need supplements?

00:04:41.012 --> 00:04:44.363
So they're the kind of conversations that you and I are going to dive into today.

00:04:44.363 --> 00:04:45.966
So, sarah, why don't we start off with?

00:04:45.966 --> 00:04:49.399
How do we know what is a good supplement Like?

00:04:49.399 --> 00:04:53.672
How do we know we're not just flushing our money down the toilet at the end of the day.

00:04:54.319 --> 00:04:57.769
Yeah, such a great question and I do have some tips I give people.

00:04:57.769 --> 00:05:06.391
I'll go through them in a really sort of simplified way because we don't want to have a science lesson today, but I'll give you some tips that are kind of practical that you can use next time.

00:05:06.391 --> 00:05:11.966
You're kind of staring at that mega aisle of supplements or online choosing or being recommended.

00:05:11.966 --> 00:05:25.942
So the one thing I do want to start with is it is best to get personalized advice, because I often hear, oh, my friend used this, or my neighbor used this, or my Pilates teacher used it and I overhear it, probably very tuned into these conversations.

00:05:25.942 --> 00:05:31.826
But just because it works for you and it was safe for you doesn't mean it will work for someone else or be safe for someone else.

00:05:31.826 --> 00:05:32.889
So it's very personal.

00:05:33.630 --> 00:05:38.610
I tend to find women are taking a whole bunch of things just because people have told them and they just add and add and add.

00:05:38.610 --> 00:05:47.509
So my first recommendation is if you want to treat or alleviate a symptom or prevent a disease, you'll need a therapeutic product.

00:05:47.509 --> 00:05:55.564
So you can get foods that are kind of I call them kind of dressed up in fancy marketing packaging to make them look like supplements, and some of them.

00:05:55.564 --> 00:06:03.252
A few of them are actually compliant with the claims they can make, but some of them often go a bit off kilter on being a bit exaggerating on things they can do.

00:06:03.252 --> 00:06:04.646
It's hard to be able to tell that.

00:06:04.646 --> 00:06:11.029
So the first thing to do is say, well, I'm treating something therapeutic, I should get a therapeutic good.

00:06:11.029 --> 00:06:17.168
And the way you can find that is by looking on the label for a little OST-L or OST-R on the bottom right-hand corner of the label.

00:06:17.168 --> 00:06:20.504
So that's your first tick to say this is actually a supplement.

00:06:20.826 --> 00:06:22.350
So sorry, Sarah, is that OST-L?

00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:28.923
And why so sorry Sarah is that OST, a-u-s-t-l yes, okay, and then R?

00:06:28.923 --> 00:06:36.528
Now, the reason that that's a good idea is because foods don't usually have the right dose of an active ingredient at the right amounts and formats to give a therapeutic outcome.

00:06:36.528 --> 00:06:39.744
Because they're foods that are functional, they boost and support the diet.

00:06:39.744 --> 00:06:40.947
So they still have a place.

00:06:40.947 --> 00:06:49.009
But if you want to improve your sleep, you may need a dose of magnesium of a certain format that's proven to help you with sleep in certain conditions.

00:06:49.009 --> 00:06:50.382
That's why you can do that.

00:06:50.382 --> 00:07:00.822
It doesn't mean it's perfect, it just means it's the first thing that you can look at and in a space where it's so hot this topic right now, it can be overwhelming with what you get served up.

00:07:00.822 --> 00:07:02.045
So that can be your first thing.

00:07:02.045 --> 00:07:18.071
Then the second, which I wish was much more wide, but it's particularly only for sports supplements is there a third-party certification that tells you tick, this product is and you probably know about this well, sonia in your space like is this a high-quality, high-potent product?

00:07:18.071 --> 00:07:19.797
Is it something I can rely on?

00:07:19.797 --> 00:07:27.771
So a third-party comes in that has nothing to do with the supply or manufacture or selling of the drug or the supplement, I should say, and they put a stamp on it.

00:07:27.771 --> 00:07:38.728
Independent, more for sports supplements, but super relevant because things like magnesium and creatine, which are becoming popular in this space because of their efficacy, will often have those.

00:07:38.728 --> 00:07:40.151
So it's another thing you can look for.

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The third is the claims.

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Can you trust the claims?

00:07:43.666 --> 00:07:51.812
Now, this is what I say is the ultimate can of worms, and I wish I had a really easy way of telling you what you could and couldn't trust.

00:07:51.812 --> 00:08:04.305
I will say the TGA products can only contain ingredients that are approved by the TGA and only list claims that are from a set of claims the TGA allows you to select from, so that's a good thing.

00:08:04.305 --> 00:08:05.718
However, not every single product is detailed reviewed by the TGA allows you to select from, so that's a good thing.

00:08:05.718 --> 00:08:10.035
However, not every single product is detailed reviewed by the TGA before it goes to market.

00:08:10.074 --> 00:08:14.291
You sort of apply for it, you get a number and then they may check you afterwards.

00:08:14.291 --> 00:08:19.668
So there may be some claims that are exaggerated, but it's less likely for the therapeutic good.

00:08:19.668 --> 00:08:35.621
So this is my kind of pragmatic way of how you should check this, based on what I've seen Look at the label, which is usually really compliant because it's highly regulated and if the label is completely different to what's on the Instagram page and the website, that's a red flag.

00:08:35.621 --> 00:08:38.292
So the label says it may support energy levels.

00:08:38.292 --> 00:08:46.581
If the Instagram page says you're going to go from one to 10 out of 10 energy levels in two days, well, that sounds a little bit exaggerated.

00:08:46.581 --> 00:08:55.159
So that to me, is a red flag that you may want to choose a different brand in that case, just because you can't be confident that's truthful information, because it's exaggerated.

00:08:55.480 --> 00:09:01.823
I think that's a really good point to dwell on for a moment and that is that exaggeration of claims in marketing.

00:09:01.823 --> 00:09:08.905
And I've actually seen a few examples of these recently crop up in my social media feeds of particular products.

00:09:08.905 --> 00:09:11.331
And there was one recently that caught my eye.

00:09:11.331 --> 00:09:13.667
I'm not going to name what the product was, although I don't know.

00:09:13.746 --> 00:09:30.552
Sometimes I am tempted to name and shame, but I'm not going to today and it had a image of a probably middle-aged woman and she was standing side on so that you could see her shoulder and she had like a tank top on.

00:09:30.592 --> 00:09:58.594
I think she looked like she was at the gym, maybe exercising, and she had her hand up and written on her hand with a marker looked like she'd written it on there said frozen shoulder disappeared in and this isn't going to be correct, but it was something like five days or two weeks it was an actual time and it was quite from my perspective, very short period of time and it was an advertisement for a particularly well-known menopause related.

00:09:58.594 --> 00:10:17.231
It really caught my eye because I thought that is hugely exaggerated, because I know that you are not going to fix a frozen shoulder taking this particular product in that period of time, and I think that's really good to point out to people because it is a really easy way to identify.

00:10:17.231 --> 00:10:21.427
Does this claim that the product is making seem exaggerated?

00:10:21.427 --> 00:10:26.741
Does it seem a little like they're expecting great things in very short periods of time?

00:10:27.423 --> 00:10:30.932
yeah I'm glad you brought that up, because I think that's something we need.

00:10:31.032 --> 00:10:42.451
We can easily look for, but we can also really easily fall prey to yeah, and my common saying is and this is in everything in life, not just this space if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

00:10:42.451 --> 00:10:50.129
And um, but the reason why I anchor you back to looking at the label is they are often very compliant on the label.

00:10:50.129 --> 00:11:01.932
So if you see an ad like that, think, oh, I'm not sure if the label doesn't say it's going to remove your, alleviate your frozen shoulder in three days, it's probably not something that they were probably allowed to say within their claim.

00:11:01.932 --> 00:11:03.365
So use the label as your guide.

00:11:03.365 --> 00:11:12.386
That's a really kind of you know less markety type piece that tells you what it might do, so that hopefully they're helpful.

00:11:12.407 --> 00:11:13.109
The next one is around safety.

00:11:13.109 --> 00:11:21.063
So, although this is not how you can choose one, just being more conscious when choosing, just because a supplement's natural or herbal, it doesn't mean it's 100% safe.

00:11:21.063 --> 00:11:28.322
Often can interact with other supplements, medication, foods, certain diagnosed medical conditions.

00:11:28.322 --> 00:11:29.225
You shouldn't take them.

00:11:29.225 --> 00:11:33.264
So be very careful to read the warnings or speak to a health professional and be conscious of that.

00:11:33.264 --> 00:11:36.111
Don't just think if I can bite so easily, it must be safe.

00:11:36.111 --> 00:11:51.101
It's not the case, and we see things like ashwagandha, a very commonly used adaptogen herb, which does have its place for some people, being used really a lot at the moment, and then studies showing that higher level doses over extended periods may actually impact our liver.

00:11:51.101 --> 00:11:58.509
So remember that they are still active substances most of the time, so just bearing that in mind is really important.

00:11:58.669 --> 00:12:20.860
I think that reminder as well of interactions with either other conditions or other medications or even sometimes other supplements that you're taking, can be really problematic, which is why I think your very, very first advice, of seeking advice from an expert first, is actually so beneficial and highly suggested 100%.

00:12:21.041 --> 00:12:23.909
And I end with that one again just to kind of double up on the importance.

00:12:23.909 --> 00:12:29.552
But the reason why I end on seek advice at the end is just check who you're getting the advice from too.

00:12:29.552 --> 00:12:31.102
So is the person.

00:12:31.102 --> 00:12:33.208
Not all health professionals do the same thing.

00:12:33.208 --> 00:12:34.312
We all do different things.

00:12:34.312 --> 00:12:41.322
So I sort of put the analogy like I wouldn't tell somebody how to manage a chronic dental issue, I would refer them to a dentist.

00:12:41.322 --> 00:12:45.369
Or how to manage their frozen shoulder'd probably send them to a physio and a doctor.

00:12:45.369 --> 00:12:51.187
So just be conscious that just because you have one qualification doesn't mean you know so good things to look for.

00:12:51.187 --> 00:12:53.860
Are they sort of pharmacists that generally have the knowledge?

00:12:53.860 --> 00:12:56.547
Have they got added like lovely to hear that you're older.

00:12:56.547 --> 00:13:01.870
Where you used to live the pharmacist there was also nutritionist degree qualified naturopaths.

00:13:01.870 --> 00:13:03.153
So just checking, they've got a degree.

00:13:03.153 --> 00:13:08.591
Lots of the ministry have wonderful health science degrees now clinical nutritionists and integrative doctors.

00:13:08.591 --> 00:13:10.384
So have they got that expertise?

00:13:10.384 --> 00:13:13.980
Because they're more able to support you in a more rounded way as well.

00:13:14.061 --> 00:13:18.850
So yeah, and do you happen to know where GPs would fall into that?

00:13:18.850 --> 00:13:31.240
Obviously, we see our GPs to prescribe medications, but many women and I think I've probably done this myself at some point in time has been having that conversation with the GP and what supplements should I take as well?

00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:33.144
My girlfriend's taking creatine should I?

00:13:33.144 --> 00:13:38.341
So are GPs likely to be as educated in supplements?

00:13:38.863 --> 00:13:39.443
Good question.

00:13:39.443 --> 00:13:41.087
It again depends on the GP.

00:13:41.087 --> 00:13:44.101
They'd have a very good knowledge of the things we're talking about.

00:13:44.101 --> 00:13:48.913
Whether or not they're experts in specific types of supplements would be another question.

00:13:48.913 --> 00:13:50.543
So it really is dependent.

00:13:50.543 --> 00:14:02.172
There is also GPs you can find that have done a lifestyle medicine degree and you can find that on the lifestyle medicine website and also integrative doctors, through the Australian Institute of Integrative Medicine, I believe.

00:14:02.172 --> 00:14:05.383
So you can actually check for doctors who have done additional study.

00:14:05.383 --> 00:14:07.629
That's more about lifestyle and supplements.

00:14:07.629 --> 00:14:08.792
So that's the case.

00:14:08.792 --> 00:14:13.532
But you may also find there's a GP in your area who really has specialised in this and looked into it.

00:14:13.532 --> 00:14:19.682
So just look into it, because they'll often say, on the hot doc or wherever you book, they'll say what their specialty is.

00:14:19.903 --> 00:14:21.205
Yeah, fantastic.

00:14:21.245 --> 00:14:24.871
Then you're more likely to get a sort of more well-rounded response, I guess.

00:14:25.552 --> 00:14:26.533
Yeah, great advice.

00:14:26.533 --> 00:14:32.726
And while we're talking about healthcare practitioners, let's dive into.

00:14:32.726 --> 00:14:36.159
One of the most common questions that I imagine comes up is how do I actually know what I need to take?

00:14:36.159 --> 00:14:42.008
You touched on earlier like everyone at the moment is talking about creatine, and personally I think that's for good reason.

00:14:42.008 --> 00:14:43.982
I think creatine is amazing.

00:14:43.982 --> 00:14:50.073
I've been taking creatine daily for about five years, but I just continue to see more and more studies come out.

00:14:50.073 --> 00:14:56.106
Isn't it the most researched supplement that's on the market?

00:14:56.106 --> 00:15:00.423
So you might be someone that's heard a lot of buzz about creatine and so you're thinking, oh, do I need to take creatine or do I need to take magnesium?

00:15:00.423 --> 00:15:02.004
Do I need to take vitamin D?

00:15:02.004 --> 00:15:08.375
Like there are so many questions around, just because someone else is taking it or because it's getting a lot of media attention, how do I know if I need it?

00:15:08.375 --> 00:15:12.291
So what's your recommendation in getting to the bottom of that?

00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:14.384
Yeah, I do agree with you on creatine.

00:15:14.384 --> 00:15:16.730
I think it's as wonderful, as you say as well.

00:15:16.730 --> 00:15:17.192
I guess.

00:15:17.192 --> 00:15:18.001
A couple of things.

00:15:18.001 --> 00:15:23.655
Firstly, we mentioned blood tests earlier when you and I were talking before this session was recording.

00:15:23.655 --> 00:15:25.801
So blood tests are really great.

00:15:25.941 --> 00:15:28.948
Once a year Check for any, or if there's any specific symptoms.

00:15:28.948 --> 00:15:36.063
First we want to say, well, do we have any deficiencies or sort of at-risk areas that might need a bit more of supplementation?

00:15:36.063 --> 00:15:39.840
That's the first place, because you want to correct anything that needs correcting.

00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:41.846
The other thing then is symptoms.

00:15:41.846 --> 00:15:46.841
So are there specific symptoms that you can't manage with diet and lifestyle?

00:15:46.841 --> 00:15:48.306
So I have this analogy.

00:15:48.586 --> 00:15:49.308
It's about a cake.

00:15:49.308 --> 00:15:52.846
I know not all cakes are healthy, but I love cakes, so I use the analogy of cake.

00:15:52.846 --> 00:15:56.904
So when you've got a cake, you've got the flour, the eggs, the butter, the base of the cake.

00:15:56.904 --> 00:15:58.691
For me, that is if you've got any symptoms.

00:15:58.691 --> 00:16:01.508
You've corrected nutritional deficiencies through blood work.

00:16:01.508 --> 00:16:02.289
You've got symptoms.

00:16:02.289 --> 00:16:05.701
Is your diet optimized?

00:16:05.701 --> 00:16:06.263
Is your lifestyle optimized?

00:16:06.263 --> 00:16:07.787
Are you doing all those good things movement, mindfulness.

00:16:08.307 --> 00:16:13.649
Then supplements are kind of like the carrot and walnuts or the chalk chips or whatever the flavor is.

00:16:13.649 --> 00:16:15.019
It makes the cake taste better.

00:16:15.019 --> 00:16:19.251
You don't really need it, but in some cases it makes the cake better and it actually boosts it.

00:16:19.251 --> 00:16:24.607
And then, for me, then, the icing on top, which I know we'll talk about later, is that hrt or mht, which you know not all cakes need.

00:16:24.607 --> 00:16:29.934
It is that HRT or MHT, which not all cakes need it but often taste better with it and make them easier to eat.

00:16:29.934 --> 00:16:34.907
So it's kind of a weird analogy that I've built up over time to explain that.

00:16:34.927 --> 00:16:37.056
But supplements you need are things to help you treat symptoms.

00:16:37.056 --> 00:16:49.865
So if you're let's use an example so when you sit down and think about what symptoms you're having, you've corrected your nutritional deficiencies, let's just say, with blood tests, so your iron's back to normal if it wasn't, et cetera, but you still cannot sleep.

00:16:49.865 --> 00:16:53.620
That's where we think, okay, what can we do before we go to?

00:16:53.620 --> 00:16:55.345
Maybe sleeping tablets?

00:16:55.345 --> 00:16:57.610
Or if you are on HRT, we can talk about that.

00:16:57.610 --> 00:17:00.205
But what can we do to try and support your body to sleep?

00:17:00.205 --> 00:17:06.542
So we look for something like a magnesium glycinate or bisglycinate, which is a relaxing form of magnesium.

00:17:06.542 --> 00:17:09.911
We try that, but we don't just keep taking that forever.

00:17:09.911 --> 00:17:11.621
We try that for three, four months.

00:17:11.621 --> 00:17:13.105
Is it making a difference?

00:17:13.105 --> 00:17:16.444
No, it's not making a difference, then we might try something different.

00:17:16.444 --> 00:17:24.164
So it's about treating the symptoms and if they don't work I often ask this question if it's not making a difference, you shouldn't continue taking it.

00:17:24.246 --> 00:17:35.251
Some things you can't feel, for example, caveat with if you're using certain types of omega-3s to manage your cholesterol levels and your HDL and LDL, your good and bad cholesterol.

00:17:35.251 --> 00:17:45.127
You won't feel that, but you will know if that's having an impact when you have that next blood test, which may be more frequently than 12 months if you're treating a cholesterol imbalance.

00:17:45.127 --> 00:17:47.231
So that's sort of the way I look at it.

00:17:47.231 --> 00:17:49.535
You know, is it a deficiency or do you have symptoms?

00:17:49.535 --> 00:17:54.163
And the other one would be.

00:17:54.163 --> 00:17:56.536
Then I have kind of a set of general supportive supplements that are really great for women in this phase of life.

00:17:56.536 --> 00:17:57.160
Creatine is one of them.

00:17:57.160 --> 00:17:59.220
Probiotics are another really good one.

00:17:59.220 --> 00:18:04.011
But again, firstly, have we looked at how you might get some of those pre and probiotics through diet?

00:18:04.011 --> 00:18:06.919
Firstly, have we looked at how you might get some of those pre and probiotics through diet?

00:18:06.919 --> 00:18:11.153
Not possible for everybody, so there's some that I sort of have as kind of general supportive supplements that I'll recommend.

00:18:11.153 --> 00:18:13.362
But generally you want to look at symptoms and see how you can support somebody.

00:18:13.561 --> 00:18:22.647
Okay, cool, doing some blood panels with your healthcare practitioner to get an idea of those, the big identifiable markers.

00:18:22.647 --> 00:18:34.625
Like you mentioned, iron, I know vitamin D is one of those ones that you can test on a regular basis, looking at where those are sitting with your health practitioner, but then also going through that symptomology.

00:18:34.625 --> 00:18:48.026
And I loved your suggestion of just because you start taking something doesn't mean you keep taking it forever, checking in every 12 weeks, six months, whatever it is, and saying, okay, but am I actually noticing a difference?

00:18:48.026 --> 00:18:50.613
Because of this, I think that's really good advice.

00:18:51.380 --> 00:18:58.085
And also what happens is sometimes people layer things on, layer things, and I'll just give an example where that actually might be not great.

00:18:58.204 --> 00:19:02.801
So vitamin B6 recently has been in the media with the TGA.

00:19:02.801 --> 00:19:12.393
So if you have too much vitamin B6, it actually can cause things like tingling or numbness in your extremities and a range of symptoms because it can cause kind of nerve sort of type damage.

00:19:12.393 --> 00:19:21.170
But vitamin b6 is actually sort of thrown into a lot of supplements, like if you're taking a women's health blend or a greens or this or that, it can often be added in.

00:19:21.170 --> 00:19:33.219
And what the tga were finding is people were taking lots of different things, just kept adding and adding and adding oh, I'm not sleeping, I'll add the greens, I'm not doing this or that, and that cumulative increase in the b6 was actually causing almost a toxicity.

00:19:33.219 --> 00:19:35.162
So it's not about one's not working.

00:19:35.162 --> 00:19:44.702
Add another, put, put a Band-Aid on that, it's about well, I don't like recommending more than one or two supplements at a time for someone, because if you add five and it's working, what do you do?

00:19:44.702 --> 00:19:45.726
You stay on the five.

00:19:46.515 --> 00:19:47.919
Well, yeah, it's a great point, isn't it?

00:19:47.919 --> 00:19:52.317
Like how do you then join the dots of which one is actually having the most impact?

00:19:52.317 --> 00:19:53.778
So I think that's good advice too.

00:19:53.798 --> 00:19:54.979
Yeah yeah, that's good advice too.

00:19:54.999 --> 00:19:57.162
Yeah, yeah, that's how I see it.

00:19:57.162 --> 00:19:57.461
Awesome.

00:19:57.461 --> 00:20:05.329
Now, I did ask my Instagram community for any questions and, while we're talking on this topic, I think there's one that is relevant to this.

00:20:05.329 --> 00:20:06.590
I'm going to throw it in right now.

00:20:06.590 --> 00:20:23.269
So, whilst we're talking about diet as well as supplementing on top of that, if we looked at the population in general, how many of us are actually getting what we need from our diets on a day-to-day basis without then the need for additional supplements?

00:20:24.152 --> 00:20:41.588
Yeah, and I haven't looked at sort of any evidence to respond to this one, but in terms of like statistical views, because really our national nutrition survey is pretty dated so we probably don't really know how well people are eating, I would just say, anecdotally, you'd be surprised like most people are actually getting a lot of what they need.

00:20:41.588 --> 00:21:01.348
So if you're eating, you know you may not be eating that great in terms of snacking and things in between, but if you're getting sort of three decent meals and you're generally getting most of what you need, I do find that people who don't get what they need, they can't even a buckets, so they might have a chronic disease where there's impact on the way that they can eat.

00:21:01.348 --> 00:21:14.180
If you've got an ulcer or something, it may impact the amount of food you have, or maybe it's somebody who is eating more plant-based, so therefore they're really going to have trouble with our iron, our B12 and some other things and creating deficiencies there.

00:21:14.180 --> 00:21:23.017
So, without having a statistic, I'd probably say like seven or eight out of 10 people that I see I generally feel pretty comfortable that they're getting the right type of food.

00:21:23.017 --> 00:21:26.866
It's just are they getting it in the right quantities to optimize their health.

00:21:27.055 --> 00:21:32.877
So and we'll talk about blood work later but you know you get that range of okay if you get your iron tested.

00:21:32.877 --> 00:21:40.981
It can be from the low range to the high range and a lot of people, yes, are in the middle of that average, but many people sit right at that bottom edge.

00:21:40.981 --> 00:21:49.597
So they might be getting enough, but are they getting enough to actually optimize their energy levels and ensure that they're in a really optimal range?

00:21:49.597 --> 00:21:54.375
So it's that view of you know the doctor's view more is it outside of the range?

00:21:54.375 --> 00:22:02.436
It's a traditional view, whereas a more integrative practitioner might say well, actually towards the bottom end, so let's actually give you some now to improve your outcomes later.

00:22:02.436 --> 00:22:05.946
So without a percentage, that's my kind of best guess at that one.

00:22:06.755 --> 00:22:21.211
Yeah, that's great, and I think it's also really encouraging to hear that, from your perspective and the anecdotal evidence that you're kind of got available to you at your fingertips, that there is a higher percentage of people that are actually getting a lot of what they need from their diet.

00:22:21.211 --> 00:22:34.544
And yeah, which, again, if we go back to that marketing kind of hype, it can be a trope that gets rolled out there, isn't it that you know, like you're not getting this in your diet, so therefore, you should, you know, be topping it up with our wonderful supplement.

00:22:41.355 --> 00:22:43.323
And maybe I have a skewed view of the world because people come to me want to work on their health.

00:22:43.323 --> 00:22:45.130
I don't know, maybe they're already doing that, so at a population level I wouldn't know.

00:22:45.130 --> 00:23:03.365
But yeah, I do often think, you know, are we sort of making people fear they have to have these powders and things daily to top up their nutrition, where they're probably not doing too bad a job anyway, yeah, awesome, yeah, if you're really getting your, your serves of veg and your fruit and, like you said, you're dripping your protein out throughout the day and all those things.

00:23:03.385 --> 00:23:30.981
I think one of the things you touched on there which is so important, because it doesn't just come down to protein, but that plant-based diet versus and even for someone like me who eats everything that's on offer, except I am not a big seafood eater and so therefore, I use an omega supplement because I know that I don't eat anywhere near as much seafood or fish as I would need to get that naturally.

00:23:30.981 --> 00:23:34.336
So that, for me, has always been something I've been really cognizant of.

00:23:34.336 --> 00:23:46.165
Yeah, but I think, yeah, there's many people that perhaps aren't as aware of how much they're eating of certain things across their day versus their week to understand what they should and shouldn't take.

00:23:46.394 --> 00:23:47.540
Yeah, don't get me wrong.

00:23:47.540 --> 00:23:52.704
We do, as a nation, need to eat more vegetables, but we've always needed to eat more vegetables ever since I've known.

00:23:52.704 --> 00:23:55.380
So you can always throw in a few extra serves of veg in.

00:23:55.380 --> 00:23:57.944
Yeah, but yeah, on the whole pretty good.

00:23:57.964 --> 00:23:59.769
Awesome, fantastic.

00:23:59.769 --> 00:24:04.566
Thank you for answering that question and I hope that it answers the question for the listener that sent that through.

00:24:04.566 --> 00:24:08.786
So let's talk about blood work, because we have touched on it a few times already.

00:24:08.786 --> 00:24:19.183
I am a huge believer and if the government follows through on their promises, we will be getting a specific Medicare code for this.

00:24:19.183 --> 00:24:33.163
But I'm a big believer that there should be a midlife health check for women that they go in and they have, whether it's when they turn 40 or when they turn 45 or somewhere in those fees that triggers this checkup.

00:24:33.163 --> 00:24:34.426
That is really broad.

00:24:34.426 --> 00:24:39.664
I firmly believe everybody should get a DEXA scan and know what their bone density is at that point in time.

00:24:39.664 --> 00:24:41.989
But let's focus on blood work.

00:24:41.989 --> 00:24:48.607
So what blood work do you recommend for women that fall into, let's say, this midlife health check?

00:24:49.255 --> 00:24:52.825
Focus in on more is what are those kind of general things you want to get checked.

00:24:52.825 --> 00:24:56.422
When I'm saying, oh, go to the doctor and get your annual blood test, well, what do you need?

00:24:56.422 --> 00:25:01.464
And if you go to the doctor and ask for that, they're probably just going to give you the basic stuff, which is fine.

00:25:01.464 --> 00:25:09.924
But it can be a good conversation to have with them about some of the other things that you might like to have tested as well, and I can give you examples of what I usually recommend.

00:25:09.924 --> 00:25:27.775
And the good thing as well is I have this other sort of full of analogies, but full of like sort of analogies, but like we shouldn't have tunnel vision on this either, because even though we're in our midlife phase and we are likely to be going through hormonal changes as we transition into menopause, there may actually be something else going on too.

00:25:27.775 --> 00:25:33.896
So it's important that we don't just assume that our brain fog or our low energy is because we're in perimenopause.

00:25:33.896 --> 00:25:37.665
That could be things like low iron or issues with thyroid levels.

00:25:37.665 --> 00:25:50.061
So that's why, also, like I really I'd love that idea what you said there, sonja with the dexa and everything else being incorporated, because there's other things at play that you may just pick up as well um in this and be able to sort of treat those.

00:25:50.061 --> 00:25:52.715
So then you can treat the hormonal stuff kind of separately.

00:25:52.715 --> 00:25:54.118
So I have a few things I recommend.

00:25:54.118 --> 00:25:55.121
So a full blood count.

00:25:55.121 --> 00:25:57.365
What that just means is it's called an FPC.

00:25:57.365 --> 00:26:02.663
That just means they're going to look at your red blood cells, your white blood cells, your platelets, checking all your immune cells.

00:26:02.663 --> 00:26:04.259
Already you've got enough red blood cells.

00:26:04.259 --> 00:26:08.301
It's a pretty kind of baseline test that you'll do and most blood tests would have this.

00:26:08.301 --> 00:26:11.263
And the second would be a comprehensive metabolic panel.

00:26:11.263 --> 00:26:16.604
So this one looks at things like your liver function, your kidney function, really want to know how they're operating.

00:26:16.604 --> 00:26:22.585
Also, that impacts the types of medicines and herbs you can use, because if it's not optimal some things won't work as well or aren't as safe.

00:26:22.585 --> 00:26:29.583
They'll also look at your hydration level, so look at electrolytes like sodium and potassium and sort of give you an idea about that.

00:26:29.583 --> 00:26:31.864
So they're the first kind of almost like the baseline.

00:26:32.115 --> 00:26:34.820
Then the next, most important I think, is the lipid profile.

00:26:34.820 --> 00:26:47.663
So your doctor will test your levels of hgl, your good cholesterol, which takes the cholesterol out of the body, the bad cholesterol, triglycerides and total cholesterol, just four different ways of talking about cholesterol.

00:26:47.663 --> 00:26:59.136
The doctor will give you an indication, but essentially you want more of the good, less of the bad, and we especially want this because estrogen works really hard during our lives to earlier lives to help us control cholesterol.

00:26:59.136 --> 00:27:11.804
And then we're losing that amount of estrogen, getting to very low, if none, towards very low, I should say, in menopause, and therefore you know your risk of heart problems actually rises, particularly see some dyslipidemia or lipid changes.

00:27:12.084 --> 00:27:13.827
The third is around diabetes.

00:27:13.827 --> 00:27:17.983
So fasting, blood glucose and what we call hba1A1c.

00:27:17.983 --> 00:27:19.728
What are we looking at here?

00:27:19.728 --> 00:27:28.645
So we know that as we transition, we can actually see some women experience what's called insulin resistance, which just means your body doesn't respond.

00:27:28.645 --> 00:27:34.684
You have sugar, your body, your pancreas, shoots out some insulin to help you get that sugar and use it up for energy.

00:27:34.684 --> 00:27:42.304
Essentially, in a nutshell, as you transition into this phase of life, your body's not as responsive to insulin for some people.

00:27:42.304 --> 00:27:44.656
So tests like these can help you understand.

00:27:44.656 --> 00:27:45.799
Is that a problem for me?

00:27:45.799 --> 00:27:47.503
And it's not a problem for everybody.

00:27:47.503 --> 00:27:51.662
You might read it is, but it actually may only impact some people more than others.

00:27:51.662 --> 00:27:55.559
So you want to test fasting, which is kind of like random, if you.

00:27:55.559 --> 00:28:02.248
And then hb1c, which actually looks at your average blood sugar control over the past two to three months.

00:28:02.509 --> 00:28:05.578
Then nutritional deficiencies we spoke about a couple of these.

00:28:05.578 --> 00:28:09.106
These are where it gets a little bit, I wouldn't say, confusing.

00:28:09.106 --> 00:28:11.346
But vitamin d great one that you brought up before.

00:28:11.346 --> 00:28:22.086
So you're really good because it's important, especially with our bone health and immune health and a bunch of other things and things like zinc, you know and check if you how you're going with that, because it can health and immune health and a bunch of other things and things like zinc, you know and check how you're going with that, because it can impact your immune system and things like that.

00:28:22.086 --> 00:28:24.943
Then the one that I say is interesting is magnesium.

00:28:24.943 --> 00:28:38.123
So there's lots of studies when it comes to magnesium For the example I used earlier to keep that kind of story going with magnesium glycinate for sleep that show that you really get most benefit out of that for that particular indication.

00:28:38.123 --> 00:28:50.377
If you're deficient in magnesium, however, the magnesium blood test isn't as accurate as we would like, so we're actually only about one percent of all the magnesium in your body is in that blood serum oh, wow yeah.

00:28:50.397 --> 00:28:57.986
So even though you want to get it tested to have an idea, I often recommend with magnesium that trial or error kind of thing that I spoke about before.

00:28:57.986 --> 00:28:59.942
So try it for a few with sleep.

00:28:59.942 --> 00:29:02.564
It's about a month or two if you're not getting any benefits.

00:29:02.674 --> 00:29:05.203
Yeah, and that's a good thing to note with magnesium, isn't it?

00:29:05.203 --> 00:29:07.423
I actually had this conversation with my husband the other night.

00:29:07.423 --> 00:29:17.086
There is a compounding effect with taking the magnesium glycinate to when you are trying to get it to help for sleep.

00:29:17.086 --> 00:29:24.987
And this comes almost into what you were saying before about take something for 12 weeks or before you judge whether it's something you need to continue with or not.

00:29:24.987 --> 00:29:38.641
And I'm going to assume that magnesium is not the only supplement that this is the case with, where you do need to build those building blocks to build to a level and then maintain that level, and that can take a little bit of time.

00:29:38.641 --> 00:29:41.404
It doesn't happen the first night that you take your magnesium.

00:29:41.994 --> 00:29:45.682
That's a really, really great point, sonia, and I've actually thought of explaining that.

00:29:45.682 --> 00:29:47.000
So thank you for asking that question.

00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:50.025
It's not like a Panadol that you take two Panadol and your headache goes.

00:29:50.025 --> 00:29:53.964
A lot of these nutrients and supplements herbal supplements take time.

00:29:53.964 --> 00:29:55.640
Another one is iron, for example.

00:29:55.640 --> 00:29:56.683
You don't just take iron.

00:29:56.683 --> 00:30:00.839
It's actually a very slow process to use iron supplements and increase your iron.

00:30:00.974 --> 00:30:05.643
But then even things like you can talk about ashwagandha, which I recommend for some people therapeutically.

00:30:05.643 --> 00:30:09.539
You don't necessarily need it every day in a hot chocolate, but we can park that.

00:30:09.539 --> 00:30:18.577
But the ashwagandha, which is quite an adaptogen helping with your nervous system response, like even that one system response, like even that one.

00:30:18.577 --> 00:30:20.727
You're not going to just buy the ashwagandha gummies and feel calm that evening.

00:30:20.727 --> 00:30:21.731
It's actually going to have a cumulative effect.

00:30:21.731 --> 00:30:22.515
So it's actually a great point.

00:30:22.515 --> 00:30:23.875
So that was it.

00:30:23.875 --> 00:30:25.339
Nutritional deficiencies then.

00:30:25.339 --> 00:30:30.489
I know this is a lot, but if you just try and bucket them into I've sort of tried to bucket them into six for us all.

00:30:30.489 --> 00:30:36.002
So the fifth is iron studies, which is pretty standard in an annual blood test as well.

00:30:36.002 --> 00:30:51.221
You want to know how your iron stores are going, because iron is one of those things I've found with my clients and over time it actually can really mimic that brain fog, energy level and dizziness that is quite well-known with perimenopause menopause.

00:30:52.015 --> 00:31:26.387
And really important, and you may be going to touch on this anyway but specifically in that perimenopause phase, if you are having heavier bleeding than you might normally have or you're having more regular periods at some point, then the iron becomes really important, because we don't always link the fact that we're bleeding with we're losing iron 100% and I think it's something like you only lose about 80 mils of blood, so you don't have to lose a lot more for it to start to having that impact on iron.

00:31:26.428 --> 00:31:27.234
That's 100%.

00:31:27.234 --> 00:31:31.125
In this age it becomes quite common to see iron issues because of that.

00:31:31.125 --> 00:31:43.429
So in that case of course we want to treat that and you've got a wonderful episode I just listened to about heavy periods and what to do around that as well, and I often find the brain fog is really common with iron deficiency anemia.

00:31:43.429 --> 00:31:49.923
So that means your iron's got such a low point that the amount of oxygen that's attached to every one of your red blood cells is reduced.

00:31:49.923 --> 00:31:54.979
So you've got not as much oxygen kind of circulating in the body and that can actually really lead to brain fog.

00:31:54.979 --> 00:32:00.909
That's a real big one that I like to have checked for people, and especially plant-based as well.

00:32:00.909 --> 00:32:04.173
So again, it's a bit harder to get the iron absorbed in those cases.

00:32:04.173 --> 00:32:11.990
And then thyroid so a couple of reasons Like thyroid disorders are really common in women and a lot of us aren't aware we even have them.

00:32:12.112 --> 00:32:17.165
So first of all, and a lot of the perimenopause symptoms can mimic thyroid problems.

00:32:17.165 --> 00:32:18.429
Yeah, a hundred percent.

00:32:18.555 --> 00:32:20.162
It's like a kind of double-edged sword.

00:32:20.162 --> 00:32:27.038
They can mimic it, but then changes to estrogen might alter the thyroid hormone levels, so like it's really very important.

00:32:27.038 --> 00:32:37.410
My tip for this one is, if you can ask for a full thyroid function test the whole panel you want to see your thyroid stimulating hormones, the one that normally gets checked and that's kind of looking at.

00:32:37.930 --> 00:32:38.750
It's kind of the opposite.

00:32:38.750 --> 00:32:45.230
So a higher level of TSH says you're not producing enough thyroid hormone and a low level says you're producing too much.

00:32:45.230 --> 00:32:45.795
It's kind of opposite.

00:32:45.795 --> 00:32:51.376
But you also want to look at T4 and T3, which are the different types of thyroid hormone.

00:32:51.376 --> 00:32:58.759
But then there's some anti uh sort of I should say antibodies, anti-tpo and anti-thyroid globulin, being technical.

00:32:58.759 --> 00:33:08.239
But just ask the doctor for a full panel if you can, if they're open to that, because they actually give you not just the tsh, sort of says, okay, you either got too much thyroid hormone or not enough.

00:33:08.239 --> 00:33:15.436
These other tests on the panel give you a more specific diagnosis that make treatment of those things just change or tweak slightly.

00:33:15.477 --> 00:33:19.686
So for the panel once a year, I think is a reasonable thing to be asking for.

00:33:19.686 --> 00:33:22.203
And then you know they're the main ones.

00:33:22.203 --> 00:33:33.625
If you've got other symptoms the doctor might also want to do things to look for inflammation, so ESR or CRP, but that's usually if something's going on and those six are probably enough anyway.

00:33:33.625 --> 00:33:39.125
But they're pretty standard on kind of an annual test to check that everything's happening within your body the way that you would like.

00:33:39.775 --> 00:33:40.257
Yeah, great.

00:33:40.257 --> 00:33:49.688
So your recommendation, with these blood panels and all those pillars that you've just talked about ticking off with that, would be to keep that an annual exercise, at the very least.

00:33:50.194 --> 00:33:51.136
Yeah, it is.

00:33:51.136 --> 00:34:11.349
And my other big tip is when you get the results, or if you get told, oh, your results are normal, you don't need an appointment, my high recommendation is that you please ask them for a copy of your blood test results that you keep for yourself and you may share that with your nutritionists or personal trainers or other relevantly qualified health professionals.

00:34:11.349 --> 00:34:16.362
I've got a wonderful personal trainer that has done a bit of extra training in this as well to understand it.

00:34:16.362 --> 00:34:26.699
So if you have that, then if you go and book an appointment with a naturopath or a nutritionist, they've got that information, which is really useful for them in the way they're looking at your health, and then you've got a copy of it for yourself.

00:34:26.699 --> 00:34:29.085
My Health Record should make that easier over time.

00:34:29.085 --> 00:34:30.327
Yeah, health, and then you've got a copy of it for yourself.

00:34:30.347 --> 00:34:31.588
My health record should make that easier over time.

00:34:31.588 --> 00:34:31.967
Yeah, over time.

00:34:31.967 --> 00:34:36.070
But not everybody is subscribed into the my health record, so that does become a little bit problematic for some people.

00:34:36.070 --> 00:34:41.721
I'm one of those people, but I've always always asked for my copies of my blood works.

00:34:41.721 --> 00:34:46.762
It is actually quite easy, if you you do a little bit of research, to understand what.

00:34:46.762 --> 00:34:57.523
And I think the most important thing and you mentioned this earlier is that some medical practitioners will literally just look at the baselines this is what's low, this is what high, and you fall within those, so you're okay.

00:34:57.523 --> 00:35:08.306
But if you do see a naturopath or a dietician or an integrative doctor and a lot of GPs now are becoming more educated on this is if you are still at that bottom or even the high.

00:35:08.306 --> 00:35:09.748
You need to address that.

00:35:09.748 --> 00:35:12.815
It can't just be well, you fall within this, so you're okay.

00:35:12.815 --> 00:35:19.369
If you are on that low end or the high end, you need to be looking at the why behind those and is it something that needs to be addressed?

00:35:19.389 --> 00:35:19.954
100%.

00:35:19.954 --> 00:35:26.757
It's certainly very important to contact the doctor and speak about it for them to give you the top level if there is things that are out of range.

00:35:26.777 --> 00:35:27.797
Oh yeah, always Of course.

00:35:27.838 --> 00:35:36.367
but having it for yourself that means you've got a copy of that, and usually if you go back to the same GP then we'll get sort of columns of the blood tests that will kind of show the dates.

00:35:36.887 --> 00:35:37.728
I know I love that.

00:35:38.228 --> 00:35:40.170
Well, you may also may not this day and age.

00:35:40.170 --> 00:35:47.378
You may not have a regular GP either, so make sure, if you've got it, then you can keep that yourself.

00:35:47.398 --> 00:35:47.778
Yeah, that's right.

00:35:47.778 --> 00:35:49.001
Awesome, that was wonderful.

00:35:49.001 --> 00:35:56.239
Thank you so much for covering off all of that and questioning around blood work and pathology, and I think that's awesome information.

00:35:56.239 --> 00:36:16.070
So if we throw hormone therapy into the mix, just for a moment, so if somebody is also using HRT or MHT however they prefer to refer to it one of the things that I think we need to talk about consistently is that that's not a silver bullet to anything other than topping up your hormones.

00:36:16.474 --> 00:36:20.692
So, on top of that, you need to still always be addressing your nutrition.

00:36:20.692 --> 00:36:22.239
You need to be looking at your exercise.

00:36:22.239 --> 00:36:28.099
You need to be looking at sleep and stress management, that lifestyle medicine degree that you talked about before, which I love so much.

00:36:28.099 --> 00:36:33.007
I have a friend who's doing her master's in it at the moment and I think it's just amazing.

00:36:33.007 --> 00:36:33.628
I'm tempted.

00:36:33.628 --> 00:36:38.476
Yeah, I know, don't worry, it crossed my mind too, and then I was like no, sonia, you don't need to do anything else right now.

00:36:38.476 --> 00:36:49.483
But so if we consider hormone therapy in that same kind of like holistic approach, where do supplements sit within that?

00:36:50.105 --> 00:36:50.967
yeah, I love that question.

00:36:50.967 --> 00:36:52.780
It's sort of my cake that I spoke about.

00:36:52.780 --> 00:37:09.744
But you know, hrt, or mht as you mentioned, tops up the hormones and should mitigate most of the hormonal symptoms you've got and then does a really great job, as you would know too, sonia of sort of preventing that kind of helping prevent the longer term kind of risks of heart disease and bone osteoporosis etc.

00:37:09.744 --> 00:37:28.822
But first I would say, if you're taking HRT and it's not really making things better, the first thing I would do is go back to speak to the doctor or specialist because it might not be the right dose, like I actually was writing an article the other day about the types of HRT and I can't, even as a pharmacist, keep up with the different formats, types that come out all the time.

00:37:28.822 --> 00:37:30.286
So there's different ones you can try.

00:37:30.815 --> 00:37:40.304
And it is very much something that, like we were talking about with supplements before, needs to be tweaked, takes a little while to kind of get into your system and start working on that compounding kind of effect.

00:37:40.304 --> 00:37:51.048
Yeah, but yeah, and you know, I think that's so important that you must always remember that it is a therapy that is going to be unique to you 100%.

00:37:51.048 --> 00:38:02.766
It's got to be tweaked and you should be going in and having regular checks, particularly in those early few months when you start on it, to make sure that you are getting the right dosage that you are absorbing.

00:38:02.766 --> 00:38:05.925
There are so many different little nuances with it.

00:38:05.925 --> 00:38:08.262
So supplements, absolutely the same.

00:38:08.735 --> 00:38:17.164
Yeah, so if the tick box is go check, everything is good with that, then you may actually need some supplements, as you mentioned, sonia, like HRT is not going to solve everything.

00:38:17.164 --> 00:38:23.329
So back to that kind of iron example if you're deficient in iron, hrt is not going to fix that, you will need an iron supplement.

00:38:23.329 --> 00:38:31.043
Or if you want to try creatine for the muscle, health and other benefits, that's not really going to be something that HRT is going to do for you.

00:38:31.043 --> 00:38:37.079
So you again look at those symptoms or things you want to prevent or support and you may add them on.

00:38:37.079 --> 00:38:50.934
The other thing that I also find interesting is something that remember at the start I was saying take off the pharmacist hat, throw on the nutritionist hat, but now I think I wear both hats is there's some nutrient depletions that drugs can cause as well.

00:38:50.934 --> 00:38:53.101
So I just wanted to touch on that briefly.

00:38:53.101 --> 00:39:03.322
I do want to caveat with it doesn't happen for everybody, but it is a possibility that some of our hormone replacement therapy medicines might actually impact us and deplete our body of certain nutrients.

00:39:03.322 --> 00:39:04.927
So just something to bear in mind.

00:39:04.927 --> 00:39:17.387
Give some specific examples here Estrogen therapy therapy and I believe this is similar for bio body identical and synthetic estrogen, again being quite the same possible in the literature.

00:39:17.387 --> 00:39:29.188
So it means it could happen may actually deplete your magnesium levels, which, if we know we spoke about before, it's kind of hard to know what your magnesium level is, so again, we might be compounded by having less magnesium.

00:39:29.188 --> 00:39:31.197
So trying some might be a good choice.

00:39:31.197 --> 00:39:32.663
Again, the right format.

00:39:32.663 --> 00:39:35.719
So I spoke about glycinate, but there's lots of other formats for different things.

00:39:36.521 --> 00:39:39.208
Then vitamin B6, another one we've spoken about.

00:39:39.208 --> 00:39:43.547
It can impact that metabolism, either making you more likely to have low or high levels.

00:39:43.547 --> 00:39:45.757
So again, that's something else.

00:39:45.757 --> 00:39:50.302
If you're having sort of weird kind of neural symptoms, it could be you've got too much B6.

00:39:50.302 --> 00:39:52.123
So I find that super interesting.

00:39:52.143 --> 00:39:57.389
The B6, I should caveat to say that's more so with the oral contraceptive pill.

00:39:57.389 --> 00:40:05.336
It often has more synthetic forms but also a lot higher dose than HRT.

00:40:05.336 --> 00:40:13.344
So that's, if you put on an oral contraceptive pill which generally I see happen, as we mentioned before, to help with those heavy periods and for contraception, that can actually have a depleting effect on the B6.

00:40:13.344 --> 00:40:21.505
Increased calcium needs in this age of life I think it's 1,300 milligrams a day for a lady in menopause and so therefore you know the fact that it might impact.

00:40:21.505 --> 00:40:29.501
That makes it even more important to get your regular tests around your vitamin D, but also making sure your calcium levels are being topped up, dietary as well.

00:40:29.501 --> 00:40:36.927
Your doctor or nutritionist can help you navigate that if you think or want to ask questions about that for your personal situation.

00:40:36.947 --> 00:40:37.268
Yeah, brilliant.

00:40:37.268 --> 00:40:37.771
Thank you.

00:40:37.771 --> 00:40:39.016
That was some really good information.

00:40:39.016 --> 00:40:41.365
Okay, I want to end on a positive note.

00:40:41.365 --> 00:40:47.166
My first question is if you had a magic wand, what would you change about the supplement industry?

00:40:47.768 --> 00:40:49.775
Yeah, yeah, I think this will be positive.

00:40:49.775 --> 00:41:04.807
I would like there to be a world and we're imagining it's just complete free reign here that there's a world where every single supplement that comes to market has gone through a rigorous process of being tested Does it actually work, are the claims right?

00:41:04.807 --> 00:41:07.498
Is it suitable for all the things it says it's going to do?

00:41:07.498 --> 00:41:08.742
It's all checked thoroughly.

00:41:08.742 --> 00:41:17.766
And then we see really huge sort of restrictions, which exist, but like huge penalties that happen really fast when they do the wrong thing.

00:41:18.856 --> 00:41:23.905
There are things that TGA are trying to do about this, but there are only so many people and there's so many things happening.

00:41:23.905 --> 00:41:28.355
And I will say, in a positive note, we are really lucky in Australia.

00:41:28.355 --> 00:41:38.552
So we might think that these things frustrate us, that we see these claims they can't make, but compared to other countries, we've actually got a pretty good handle on this stuff and the TGR are doing a really good job.

00:41:38.552 --> 00:41:46.963
The magic one give them more resources, time and money to be able to make it even better, so people get what they need, it works and they're not wasting their money.

00:41:46.963 --> 00:41:47.746
That's the bit I hate.

00:41:55.074 --> 00:41:57.342
These things are expensive, so that would be a perfect world, in my opinion, amazing.

00:41:57.342 --> 00:42:00.192
All right, we talked about it right at the very beginning and I think it's a really hot topic right now.

00:42:00.192 --> 00:42:02.898
But what makes creatine such a great supplement?

00:42:02.898 --> 00:42:08.697
Not looking at athletes, necessarily, but specifically for women in this midlife phase?

00:42:09.320 --> 00:42:22.846
I was actually hoping this question would come up, I just think because it has the evidence that supports so many different things, which is and you mentioned before it's so well researched.

00:42:22.846 --> 00:42:27.764
I feel like it's having its time in the sun, but I've been talking about ages, I'm sure you have been too.

00:42:27.764 --> 00:42:36.083
So if we think about, yes, it helps with your muscle mass and strength, which is a huge thing in this phase of life, we're losing our muscle tone, our muscle strength.

00:42:36.083 --> 00:42:39.445
We want to make sure we do strength training and all that sort of stuff to do that.

00:42:39.445 --> 00:42:41.864
I personally love strength training, optimizing that.

00:42:41.864 --> 00:42:48.802
But the thing that I love about it is what's coming out around how it can actually improve mood and actually really help with that.

00:42:48.842 --> 00:43:00.284
Some of those hormonal things and for me, also very, very minimal side effects I'll mention one shortly but and also really only if you've got severe kidney problems, you can't take it.

00:43:00.284 --> 00:43:08.496
So it's pretty great for most, most of us in this phase of life and it helps with our muscles, it helps with our hormone balance, it helps with our mood.

00:43:08.496 --> 00:43:24.494
So really it does a lot of things with one scoop and often it's unflavored, so you can add it to things or add a few electrolytes or add it to whatever you can you can add it to your coffee yeah, add it to whatever the brand suggests you can on the back of the pack, because they'll know whether it's heat tolerant, whichever one.

00:43:24.516 --> 00:43:25.376
That it is right.

00:43:25.376 --> 00:43:26.599
But what a great thing.

00:43:26.599 --> 00:43:30.545
And look, if you hear that it may cause weight gain I'm sure you've heard this sonia like.

00:43:30.545 --> 00:43:32.748
It pulls water in, which is one of the things it does.

00:43:32.748 --> 00:43:36.001
So at the start you might feel a bit more sort of bloated or puffy.

00:43:36.001 --> 00:43:42.784
That will go away and I can guarantee I think you may have seen all these things on social take it every day for 30 days.

00:43:42.784 --> 00:43:45.097
That's three to five grams, and then you make it.

00:43:45.097 --> 00:43:50.416
You make a decision and remember we're saying don't take things if you don't notice a difference.

00:43:50.416 --> 00:43:54.545
You will notice a difference, I think, with this, and most people tell me they do.

00:43:54.545 --> 00:44:02.338
So I love that it actually does what it says it's going to do yep yeah, and, as I mentioned earlier, there's just so much research.

00:44:02.458 --> 00:44:07.579
even though it's already so well researched, there is so much research consistently coming out about it.

00:44:07.579 --> 00:44:13.612
The one one that blew me away recently is I think I've mentioned on here I've had COVID recently for the first time.

00:44:13.612 --> 00:44:20.717
One of my biggest fears is getting long COVID and I definitely want to do everything I can to avoid that the way I'm feeling right now.

00:44:20.717 --> 00:44:22.521
I'm pretty sure I've managed to do that.

00:44:22.521 --> 00:44:46.009
But a lovely friend, angelique Clark, who is a dietician and nutritionist, she sent me some research whilst I was ill showing that four grams of creatine taken daily for six months was showing was researched evidence that it was helping prevent or helping to recover from long COVID.

00:44:46.009 --> 00:44:57.918
I'll send you the research paper and for anyone listening, I'll also link it in the show notes because it is quite a new piece of research and it just really shows the breadth of the supplement.

00:44:58.358 --> 00:44:59.661
Sometimes it can be a bit.

00:44:59.661 --> 00:45:05.353
You get a bit stuck in the social media and think these things are being recommended, but this is one that makes me smile, I think.

00:45:05.353 --> 00:45:10.085
Oh, it's having its time in the sun and it should be having it, so it's a good thing of social impact.

00:45:10.387 --> 00:45:10.567
Yeah.

00:45:10.675 --> 00:45:12.842
This one really is the one that you can get on board.

00:45:13.463 --> 00:45:13.744
Awesome.

00:45:13.744 --> 00:45:36.702
I'll link through in the show notes just some general information on creatine Wonderful From great evidence-based sources, as well as that paper that we just talked about, and I'm going to link through to your website as well so that if anybody that's listening is as intrigued as I am by all of this conversation and they want to know more about you and perhaps potentially look at how they could work with you, they'll have all the information they need in today's show notes.

00:45:36.842 --> 00:45:37.724
Very kind, thank you.

00:45:38.514 --> 00:45:39.699
Absolute pleasure, Sarah.

00:45:39.699 --> 00:45:41.143
Thank you for being my guest today.