Releasing Stubborn Weight with Louise Digby [Ep. 105]

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This is the Eat well, Think Well, Live Well podcast.

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I'm Lisa Salsbury, and this is episode 105 releasing stubborn weight with Louise Digby.

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If you are wondering why your methods for dropping weight in your twenties, aren't working in your forties.

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This episode is for you.

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Uh, Louise is a registered nutritional therapist and women's weight loss expert.

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We discuss several ways.

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You might not be thinking about that.

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Go way beyond your calories, that can help you narrow in on your fat loss goals.

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Welcome to Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well; the podcast for women who want to lose weight, but are tired of counting and calculating all the food.

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I'm your host, Lisa Salsbury.

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I'm a certified health and weight loss coach and life coach, and most importantly a recovered chronic dieter.

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I'll teach you to figure out why you are eating when you aren't hungry, instead of worrying so much about what you are eating.

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Welcome to the eat well, think well, live well podcast.

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I'm delighted to be joined today by Louise Digby.

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She's a registered nutritional therapist living in the UK, which is very fun to always connect with people across the globe.

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So welcome Louise, let us know a little bit about what you do.

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I'd love for you to just introduce yourself, tell us how you came to this work and how you help women.

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Hi, thank you for having me.

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So I specialize in women's health, as you say, particularly weight loss for women over the age of 40.

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And part of the reason why I specialize in that area is because I find that it's a time of life when weight can become particularly tricky.

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And, you know, when I first started out in the world of nutrition, I worked with everyone and anyone in terms of, you know, whatever problem they had, be it depression or IBS or diabetes, you name it.

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Um, but what I found was that everyone that I worked with, whatever their health goal was, they also wanted to lose weight.

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And so as part of that, I kind of learned a lot about weight loss, but also I had clients that came to me purely just to lose weight, not to work on anything else.

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And what was interesting was it was the people who were coming to me to work on IBS or depression or whatever else was going on that got the best results when it came to losing weight.

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And so that really, that's Ped my curiosity, um, because what I was finding was that the people that were focusing just on their weight and were doing more portion control and calorie control and that sort of thing, they weren't getting such good results, particularly women who were in that perimenopausal, menopausal stage.

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So that really showed me that there's a lot more to weight management than just how much you're eating and how many calories you're burning.

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And now.

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What I've discovered over the years is that we get far better results when we work on optimizing health and addressing the underlying imbalances in the body, rather than just trying to come up with creative ways to get people to eat less.

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Yeah, because that's when we get back to, Oh, just calories in calories out.

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And it's just so much more complicated than that, because like you say, there's so many other health complications or health issues that go into it.

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So, so do you find if you are tracking things like you mentioned, IBS, a lot of times I have clients that are tracking digestive symptoms.

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And so then when they start to avoid foods that are.

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you know, upsetting their digestive system.

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They tend to be able to lose weight easier because things are just going better.

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Not because they're like avoiding a certain food.

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And so, okay, well, I'm going to lose weight because I've cut out that particular food.

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Cause usually they're adding in something else, but it just seems like when things are healthier than you're Better able to release weight.

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Yeah, definitely.

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You know, the gut is a great example because when your gut isn't happy, there can be a lot of inflammation in the body.

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There can be a higher toxic load from imbalanced gut bacteria.

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There can be poor nutrient absorption, which has a knock on effect on hormones and various other things like fat burning.

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And also, if your gut isn't happy, then you can end up having more cravings, lower mood, less energy, which none of that helps when you're trying to make healthy food choices.

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So definitely work on those underlying issues.

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It all has a knock on effect on the way that our body actually burns fat and stores fat.

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Yeah, for sure.

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So let's talk about why it seems more difficult for women after 40 to lose weight.

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Why do we get this issue where, I mean, I also have had clients that come to me.

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They're like, well, I've gained 10 pounds since I turned 40.

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I've gained 15 pounds since I turned 45.

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Like they all can kind of like see this birthday time and they're like, since this age and, and also not only do they gain weight, but they tell me what worked for me in my twenties.

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Like if I, You know, had, you know, a vacation or whatever things were, what happened that they maybe put on some weight in their twenties, taking it off a lot of times seemed pretty simple.

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They could do a few things and it would drop away and it was no big deal.

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And now they do those same things and it's like nothing happens, nothing works.

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Why do you think that is?

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Yeah.

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I have women come to me every single day who have had that exact experience and they say, that, you know, the diets you used to work aren't working anymore.

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They used to just cut back a little bit and the weight would come off and now that isn't working.

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And in fact, they're now doing more than ever, working out more than ever, cutting back more than ever, and actually gaining weight rather than losing weight in many cases.

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And, you know, As to why that happens, there's kind of a double whammy, there's two big things that happen.

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One is that, after the age of 35, we start to lose muscle mass if we're not taking steps to maintain it.

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And that's a big deal because your muscle is metabolically active.

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So what that means is that even if you're not moving, not working out, if you're sleeping, you're still burning calories and the more muscle you have, the more you're burning at rest.

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So when we start losing muscle, essentially our metabolism or metabolic rate is decreasing.

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So that means that we can eat less.

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and still maintain our weight.

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So that's a big thing that happens.

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And that's linked in with the other big thing that happens, which is the change in our hormones.

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So again, after around the age of 35, we start seeing a gradual decline in our, in our sex hormones, the estrogens, the progesterones, and in many cases, for women, the testosterone as well.

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And This is a totally normal thing that happens.

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It's a natural decline in hormones over the course of about 15 years up till, uh, menopause.

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But with our modern day lives, all the stresses and the lack of sleep and the toxins we're exposed to and nutrient poor diets and lots of other things.

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This.

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really causes disruption to this whole menopausal transition.

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And that can mean that the hormone levels decline faster, or it can mean that the levels fluctuate more.

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So you get more of these symptoms associated with fluctuating hormone levels.

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So it's, It's that disruption to this normal menopausal transition that can wreak havoc on our, on our, you know, everything that's going on the bodies because there's so many different symptoms that we can experience, but stubborn weight is one of those key symptoms.

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Yeah, for sure.

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I, I mean, I just, I don't really know what to say other than yes, I concur.

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Yeah.

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So we get some of that like hormone issue.

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And so now we have that stubborn weight, like then what?

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So we've established, don't worry, you're normal.

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If you're listening to this and you find that you are gaining weight or feeling like, okay, That's me.

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So now what, like, what do we do?

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What can we do about the fact that it becomes more difficult?

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How do we lose weight after 40?

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The first thing to acknowledge is that the problem isn't usually overeating or under exercising.

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And so doing more in terms of working out more or eating less isn't going to get you the results that you would expect it to.

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Instead, what we need to do is take steps that are going to support our hormone balance, take steps that are going to support maintaining a healthy metabolism and lowering inflammation in the body, you know, and start taking steps that are going to address these, these root causes of the stubborn weight.

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And none of those things are to do with eating less or exercising more.

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So, in terms of what that looks like, you know, it depends on the exact imbalances you might have.

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But the first thing to think about is what does my body need?

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What might my body be lacking?

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Because your standard approach is to, to losing weight is what can I cut out?

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But actually, if we look at it from the other way around and look at what does my body need to thrive?

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Well, in most cases, the first thing to think about is protein, because I've looked at probably thousands of food diaries by now, and I very, very rarely see one that has enough protein in.

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And protein is so, so important, and people are probably sick of hearing about it, but I'm going to keep talking about it.

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I know.

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Yeah, I, for sure.

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I've been also hammering this one lately too, is just like, it's, you just have to be so very, very conscious of your protein intake and it can't just happen as it like naturally just throughout the day of eating.

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Oh, you'll probably get enough.

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That's the amount you would get.

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I don't know what the UK recommendations are, but in the U S the recommendations for protein levels for females are absolutely abysmal.

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They are so, so low.

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That's the amount you would be getting if you weren't paying any attention and just sort of eating whatever you wanted, you'd probably get the U S.

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Recommendation for protein.

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I'm not even going to say what it is because it's ridiculous.

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But what do you recommend for protein?

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and I think a good starting point for most people is about 20 grams per meal per day.

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Um, some people need more than that and you can obviously, you know, do it per gram of weight.

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You know, if you, if you want to, I think you can obviously get a bit more technical, but I like to keep it as simple as possible and go with 20 grams of protein per meal per day, particularly with breakfast, because, you know, if you can get your breakfast right in terms of getting enough protein into it.

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It's going to set you up for feeling energized, avoiding those energy slumps and the cravings.

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And that also helps to support your hormones as well, because if your blood sugars are up and down all over the place, then that can disrupt your blood sugar hormones, your stress hormones, your sex hormones, and, and that just throws you off balance as well.

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Okay, good.

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So we're prioritizing protein.

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just for my listeners, I probably recommend a little bit more.

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And I don't know if you do more than three meals a day because in 20 then you're on a Three meals, that would be 60 grams.

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I probably recommend a little more upwards of like 100 grams for most of my clients.

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Um, but it depends on if you're doing snacks with those 20 grams per meal as well.

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So I don't know what your total is for the day, but, um, I think there's lots of great recommendations and you have to try it out.

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You have to try out like is 20 grams enough in my breakfast or do I need 30 there and then 20 and other meals or, you know, vice versa.

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Yeah.

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As I say, I, I find 20 grams good starting point.

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Um, partly because it's often such a big jump from where people are to begin with, and then, you know, getting people used to to that and then building on that, um, I think is, you know, what tends to work well with, with my clients.

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And yeah, oftentimes people do need more than that, so, um, you've gotta listen to your body and, and see what works for you.

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Mm.

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I for sure.

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I'm glad you brought up breakfast.

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Cause I for sure notice that if I sort of slack on my breakfast or if I, eat, my kids want me to make pancakes or something.

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And I'm like, Oh, I'll just eat pancakes with them.

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And so it tends, you know, it's not a higher protein.

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I definitely have more cravings later in the day.

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Or if I wait too long to eat breakfast, if I'm busy and just.

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You know, don't get to it.

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And I ate much, much later in the day for my first meal, I feel like I just can never catch up with like missing that protein in the morning.

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So yeah, I think it, it really does help to have a good start with that protein in the morning.

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Okay.

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So that's number one.

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What else?

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so making sure that the foods that you're eating nutrient dense, because I think for a lot of people.

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We've been conditioned to choose the lowest calorie options, the sort of quote unquote lightest options, and unfortunately, with low calorie, with light options, tends to come very nutrient poor foods, but your body has Real high demand for nutrients.

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So when I say nutrients, I'm talking about vitamins, minerals, amino acids, antioxidants.

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and we need them.

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We need them to be able to ban fat.

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We need them to make hormones, we need them to repair.

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Um, so if we are lacking in them, then we are never gonna be running as efficiently as we can in terms of burning fat and making energy and, and thriving as well.

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So.

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Trying to move away from looking at the calorie part of the label and instead thinking about, okay, how fresh is this food?

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Um, you know, what nutrients is it going to give me?

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Is it rich in fat?

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And is it going to be like a natural plant based fat, like, uh, from an avocado?

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Or is it going to be some omega 3s like from oily fish or something like that?

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So, you know, a lot of these.

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Healthy foods can be a little bit more calorific, particularly when we are talking about fats, but that's not something that we should be afraid of and so, so often, you know, there's, there's kind of key things that I hear clients say, um, and notice.

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And one of the things that many of them notice is the difference that bringing in some fat makes to their diet and, you know, to their, To their satiety, to their skin, and they just really enjoy having those fats back in the diet as well because many of them have followed a low fat diet for quite a long time.

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I think too, when we're talking about, adding in these nutrient dense foods and then know, I can hear the listener going, but if I eat all of that, it'll be too many calories.

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What's going to happen is you're going to be so satiated.

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You're going to feel like you've had enough.

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You're less likely to grab the snacks in the afternoon, eat on the couch while you're watching TV.

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So if you look at your total overall for the day, Not that we're, you know, not that we're back to like counting calories, but energy balance does matter.

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And that's what happens is you end up being, like I said, when we're eating, like when I'm doing like a higher protein breakfast, I tend to have less sugar cravings.

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So then I'm eating less later.

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And I think that's what really makes such a really nutrient dense, excellent fats, all of that.

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nutrition in that we end up not wanting to snack because we weren't satisfied at mealtime.

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Do you find that to be true?

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100%.

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I think our bodies are incredibly good at regulating our food intake and our appetites when they're getting what they need.

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And then when you're eating nutrient poor foods and you're not getting enough protein, get enough nutrients in, get enough fats in, your body is still hungry.

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Even if you're getting in the calories.

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Your body is hungry for those nutrients, particularly protein, and you will keep getting hunger pains and cravings until you meet those nutritional requirements, which is why the nutrient poor foods, typically the ultra processed foods, it's part of the reason why they are so malnourished and so addictive.

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is because you, you have to eat so much of them to get anywhere near your nutritional requirements.

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So yes, if you, if you start with focusing on what your body needs, protein, nutrients, fats, um, you will feel less hungry later on.

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You'll have fewer cravings and you'll just feel more satisfied from your food and you'll be less likely to eat more.

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eat to the point of discomfort because I find with those, um, more nutrient poor foods, it's very easy to over consume them because you kind of don't get that satiety signal and then you find yourself feeling really uncomfortable because you've eaten too much in one

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Yeah.

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Again, I agree.

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It's fun to talk to someone that's like minded and just really help people understand, like, we're not the only ones.

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You're, you know, There's, there's so many people as much as you see, like the crazy advice on, on Instagram and you know, other social media and stuff like there are just people out here saying like, actually, just eat nutrient dense foods like it's not that complicated.

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This really speaks to one of my concepts I call crowding out, which is rather than talking about these are the foods I want you to start avoiding.

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We talk about these are the foods we want to start adding in.

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And so we're adding in these nutrient dense foods.

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We're adding in the avocado and the fish, like you talked about, like some healthy fats.

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We're adding in that protein and let that crowd out the foods that we don't want.

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Really want to consume like the ultra processed foods on a regular basis and let that, let those foods crowd out the added sugar, because you'll find that you aren't craving that as much.

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And so when we really focus on what we're adding in, it's easy to crowd out instead of just, having a list of do nots every diet I ever went on before always had a list of foods to avoid.

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Do not eat these things or it was like only choose from this list of foods, which meant everything else was off limits.

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Right.

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And when we're talking about like, please include these foods.

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It's not because everything else is bad.

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It's because we want to prioritize these kinds of things.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, exactly.

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That's a really important message and I am totally on board with that approach of crowding out, um, the, the not so nourishing stuff and, and focusing on the stuff that is going to give you all the goodness instead.

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it's a much more positive way to go about improving what you're eating.

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So yeah, completely on board with that.

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Absolutely.

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All right.

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So we've got protein and adding in those fats, anything else you feel like helps women release some of this stubborn midlife fat.

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Yeah, one of the biggest things is actually not food related, it's stress management.

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Stress is one of the biggest things for women in this stage of life, because We're basically, we're less resilient to the effects of stress during this phase.

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And that's to do with the way that your body is changing, the way that your ovaries are reducing their production of sex hormones and shifting so that your adrenal glands or your stress glands are starting to take over some of the production.

00:20:45.571 --> 00:20:47.672
of those sex hormones.

00:20:47.892 --> 00:20:58.321
So when you're under stress, your adrenals not only have to produce your stress hormones, but they're also having to take over some of the production of the sex hormones.

00:20:58.862 --> 00:21:00.571
So that has an impact.

00:21:00.922 --> 00:21:22.247
And also, you know, we make our And our body is really smart and adaptive and when we're under stress we're going to be shifting those resources to making stress hormones and trying to conserve resources by reducing our output of sex hormones to a certain extent.

00:21:24.112 --> 00:21:31.872
Because of that menopausal transition where we're making the shift, it means that stress has a bigger impact on us at this time.

00:21:32.261 --> 00:21:39.271
But unfortunately, it's also a time when we, we seem to be under more stress because of everything that's going on in life.

00:21:39.271 --> 00:21:43.422
You know, oftentimes there might be children that are involved.

00:21:43.422 --> 00:21:46.731
There might be older parents that are starting to need care.

00:21:47.781 --> 00:21:50.271
You're probably still working full time.

00:21:50.551 --> 00:21:57.721
You're unfortunately more likely to have bereavements at this time and divorces and relationship problems.

00:21:57.721 --> 00:22:01.082
And, you know, all of this could be going on and more.

00:22:01.491 --> 00:22:09.051
Um, and you know, that has a big impact on your, on your hormones and therefore your metabolism.

00:22:09.332 --> 00:22:14.362
So taking steps to support your body through that stress and try to build up.

00:22:15.112 --> 00:22:23.382
Your resilience and improve your stress response is really, really helpful for helping to manage the impact of all of that stress.

00:22:24.028 --> 00:22:32.734
So tell me what those steps are, because honestly, I was, in a therapy appointment a few weeks back and she's asked me, well, what does your self care look like?

00:22:32.755 --> 00:22:35.275
And I'm like, well, you know, I never miss a workout.

00:22:35.275 --> 00:22:39.150
Like I'm listing some things and I could tell she was like, Hmm.

00:22:39.890 --> 00:22:41.289
I don't have anything else to offer.

00:22:41.329 --> 00:22:43.900
And clearly you're still like stressed out.

00:22:43.930 --> 00:22:46.119
I'm like, I know I'm really trying.

00:22:46.890 --> 00:22:51.950
And I think our stress management, it's got to go beyond just get a massage and have a pedicure.

00:22:52.019 --> 00:23:00.670
Those are kind of the typical things we suggest for women, but I feel like we need some more concrete things, on a day to day basis, how can we reduce some of that stress?

00:23:01.400 --> 00:23:05.789
Yeah, so I think you need to take a three pronged approach, right?

00:23:06.170 --> 00:23:13.660
First one is the hardest one, and that is looking at the sources of distress and doing what you can to address that.

00:23:13.670 --> 00:23:17.619
And that can be where, you know, sometimes it's impossible to get rid of the stress.

00:23:17.630 --> 00:23:23.859
Sometimes it can be that there's difficult decisions to make, you know, to your life in order to reduce that stress.

00:23:24.089 --> 00:23:25.204
So that's the difficult one.

00:23:25.204 --> 00:23:26.615
Most difficult one.

00:23:26.765 --> 00:23:33.575
It might involve delegating some things and trying to get some outside help, but there's other things that you can do as well.

00:23:33.755 --> 00:23:39.664
So the the second thing you can do is you can support your body through that stress.

00:23:39.964 --> 00:23:52.605
So when we are stressed, we burn through a lot of nutrients and we have a very high demand for some nutrients, particularly magnesium and B vitamins, and.

00:23:53.289 --> 00:23:56.259
So making sure that your body has enough of those nutrients.

00:23:57.230 --> 00:24:03.519
helps you to have a healthier stress response, helps you to not deplete your body so much by that stress.

00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:15.700
And then also, you know, magnesium is a very calming mineral, so it can help to lower your cortisol levels a little bit and help you just feel a little bit more calm as well.

00:24:16.119 --> 00:24:23.160
So making sure that you've, you're fueling your body through that stress and protein should be on that as well, because that's very important.

00:24:23.160 --> 00:24:38.845
And then the third prong is doing little things, little habits that help to put you into that rest and digest mode and take you out of that fight or flight mode as often as you can.

00:24:39.305 --> 00:24:41.315
And those don't need to be big things.

00:24:41.355 --> 00:24:44.075
You know, they could be really simple.

00:24:44.460 --> 00:24:51.440
Things like doing a couple of minutes of deep belly breathing, you know, whenever you can, at least daily.

00:24:51.640 --> 00:24:54.700
But, you know, if you can do it multiple times daily, then great.

00:24:55.160 --> 00:25:03.099
And it's something that you can do wherever you are, at your desk, sitting in traffic, when you're just about to sit down and eat your dinner, or whatever it might be.

00:25:03.349 --> 00:25:03.789
So.

00:25:04.819 --> 00:25:17.980
Simple things like that and, you know, other things like singing have been shown to help to put you into the rest and digest mode by stimulating your vocal cords, which stimulates your vagus nerve.

00:25:18.809 --> 00:25:22.269
and on the same thing, humming does the same thing.

00:25:22.269 --> 00:25:25.799
So if you're not much of a singer, then you can do some humming instead.

00:25:26.430 --> 00:25:30.470
Cold showers or cold plunges can so do that.

00:25:31.799 --> 00:25:33.595
I know that's not for everyone and I'm not.

00:25:33.710 --> 00:25:34.269
for me.

00:25:35.265 --> 00:25:39.045
I'm not going to claim that I'm having cold showers every day because I'm definitely not.

00:25:39.404 --> 00:25:53.775
Um, but it's something that a lot of, it was surprising me how many people, um, you know, I run a five day challenge and one of my recommendations as part of that is to do something that gets you into rest and digest.

00:25:54.125 --> 00:26:01.015
And, uh, it always amazes me how many of the women opt for the cold plunge or the cold shower and really get a lot out of it.

00:26:01.505 --> 00:26:02.994
so yeah, don't knock it till you tried it, but.

00:26:03.446 --> 00:26:07.616
there's a cold plunge at my gym and I got in that thing and I thought there is no way.

00:26:07.666 --> 00:26:08.616
Oh, it was horrible.

00:26:09.616 --> 00:26:10.856
It was so horrible.

00:26:11.231 --> 00:26:13.432
Yeah, not for everyone, absolutely.

00:26:13.557 --> 00:26:19.767
that I, I know you have to like build up resilience and I have, I do have a friend that's like, it absolutely.

00:26:20.017 --> 00:26:22.176
does help her feel better throughout the day.

00:26:22.176 --> 00:26:23.146
So yeah.

00:26:23.227 --> 00:26:25.686
And I mean, that's just anecdotal, like one friend.

00:26:26.156 --> 00:26:32.997
but interestingly, I know that there's a couple of weight loss studies on it and they've only, it's only been successful in men.

00:26:33.007 --> 00:26:39.067
So just in case you've, in case you've seen those, be sure to read the, the fine print of who it worked for.

00:26:39.537 --> 00:26:46.701
So don't expect it to work specifically for weight loss, but it does, make a big difference on stress.

00:26:46.701 --> 00:26:46.882
Yeah.

00:26:46.892 --> 00:26:47.592
I know it works.

00:26:47.612 --> 00:26:48.132
I'm sorry.

00:26:48.172 --> 00:26:53.142
I'm just so I'm just like, I'm just a person who's kind of always cold, which is lame.

00:26:53.142 --> 00:26:54.132
I live in California.

00:26:54.132 --> 00:26:55.692
Like I really should be fine

00:26:57.741 --> 00:26:58.771
Yeah, no, I totally get it.

00:26:58.801 --> 00:27:04.852
If you're someone who's always cold, then the thought of getting into a cold plunge, there's nothing worse.

00:27:05.561 --> 00:27:08.821
That's how I feel in the winter, but in the summer I'm a bit braver.

00:27:10.584 --> 00:27:25.433
So yeah, in terms of other things that can help get you into rest and digest laughing, you know, so watching something funny or having a good catch up with a friend, even if it, or, you know, a quick chat with a friend can help as well.

00:27:25.604 --> 00:27:26.203
So.

00:27:26.608 --> 00:27:37.219
You know, we talk about self care and we often think of, you know, things like having a massage or doing things that's quite time consuming, but it doesn't have to be something that's really time consuming.

00:27:37.409 --> 00:27:42.788
If you can get those, yeah, or costly, but if you can, you know, do those things, then great.

00:27:42.989 --> 00:27:51.864
But also, you know, a foot massage at home by rolling your foot over a tennis ball or getting your partner to rub your feet has a very similar impact.

00:27:52.203 --> 00:28:00.493
So little things like that that you can build into your day consistently are going to have a bigger impact probably than going for a massage once a month.

00:28:01.163 --> 00:28:01.574
Perfect.

00:28:01.574 --> 00:28:01.884
Yeah.

00:28:02.094 --> 00:28:10.324
Thinking about those, the, the day to day things rather than the big, you know, I have to wait all week for this appointment and that sort of thing.

00:28:10.324 --> 00:28:10.693
Yeah.

00:28:10.693 --> 00:28:10.763
Yeah.

00:28:11.183 --> 00:28:11.644
Perfect.

00:28:12.104 --> 00:28:17.624
Um, speak a little bit more if you could about, you mentioned at one point, um, belly breathing.

00:28:18.193 --> 00:28:24.064
I think that that is one of those things that's so overlooked is some of the breathing techniques.

00:28:24.433 --> 00:28:28.114
Are you able to speak a little bit about some of those things for stress reduction?

00:28:29.364 --> 00:28:33.116
well, it's something that, you know, it doesn't have to be a complicated thing.

00:28:33.557 --> 00:28:46.676
really, you know, when we, when we, most of us are breathing, particularly when we're stressed, we're often shallow breathing, you know, we're breathing almost like panting, and basically breathing into our, into our chest, into our upper chest and throat.

00:28:47.451 --> 00:28:53.622
But what we want to be doing as, as much as we can is take, taking proper deep belly breaths.

00:28:53.821 --> 00:28:59.192
So where, when we breathe in, we're feeling our belly rise and fall rather than just our chest going up and down.

00:28:59.582 --> 00:29:02.491
And by doing that, it helps to stimulate your diaphragm.

00:29:02.801 --> 00:29:10.155
And that in turn stimulates your vagus nerve, which is a massive nerve that runs through your body and stimulating that.

00:29:10.905 --> 00:29:16.625
Helps to lower cortisol levels and get you into that rest and digest mode.

00:29:17.096 --> 00:29:22.026
There's different ways that you can do this type of breathing with loads of different techniques.

00:29:22.145 --> 00:29:25.665
and the simplest form is just to breathe in and out slowly.

00:29:25.905 --> 00:29:34.695
There's ones where you can do like box breathing where you, uh, breathe in for four, hold for four, breathe out for four, hold for four.

00:29:35.152 --> 00:29:38.298
and all sorts of different varieties of, styles.

00:29:38.304 --> 00:29:45.648
And, um, I think it's worth trying a few different ones because different ones, you know, people prefer different ones, basically.

00:29:45.794 --> 00:29:48.443
but you know, there's also apps that you can use to help you with it.

00:29:48.653 --> 00:30:14.671
Now I've got an ancient Fitbit and, uh, it's probably about eight years old now, but it still has like a breathing thing on there where it's just basically a circle that gets bigger and smaller and you breathe out with that, And there'll be all sorts of apps that you can use, like Calm, Headspace, and I'm sure other apps as well, which you can just follow along, um, to help you just do some breathing.

00:30:14.790 --> 00:30:29.441
And, and if you, you know, focus your, your thoughts on your breath and, you know, try not to allow yourself to think about too many other things and keep bringing your thoughts back to your breath, then it's like a form of meditation as well.

00:30:30.201 --> 00:30:37.310
I think it's so important to really remember that these types of tools are available to us anytime, anywhere.

00:30:37.750 --> 00:30:47.263
I love those kinds of tools, where you can just use them when you're driving or just when you're cooking, like just all along throughout your day.

00:30:47.304 --> 00:30:48.443
I find that to be helpful.

00:30:48.443 --> 00:30:48.689
Like cooking.

00:30:48.689 --> 00:30:58.098
Um, my clients know I teach like a hunger scale, which instead of counting calories, it's a tool that's available to you, no matter where you're eating, you can always check in with your hunger scale.

00:30:58.098 --> 00:31:01.118
And I think this like breathing is kind of the same thing with stress.

00:31:01.479 --> 00:31:03.909
This is something that's always available to you.

00:31:03.909 --> 00:31:05.548
You can do it wherever, whenever.

00:31:05.548 --> 00:31:10.122
So I just think it's important to like really focus on that for a second and just say this is important.

00:31:10.132 --> 00:31:11.471
This actually works.

00:31:11.471 --> 00:31:25.071
There is so much research on this, on the, effects of the breathing and just like yoga Nidra, which is just laying still and doing this breathing, which you could do to help you go to sleep or just take a break in the middle of the day.

00:31:25.082 --> 00:31:33.192
If you don't have time for a nap, even just a few minutes laying down and doing this non sleep, deep rest kind of thing is so helpful.

00:31:33.632 --> 00:31:43.237
So, um, Anything else in our lifestyle that we can do that doesn't look like a diet, but that also helps us release some of this way.

00:31:43.247 --> 00:31:44.727
Any last tips there?

00:31:45.518 --> 00:31:53.198
Yeah, I think another area that is massively overlooked and hasn't really got much to do with diet is toxic load.

00:31:54.887 --> 00:32:04.917
We know we are exposed to toxins constantly, and I think the word toxin has been, um, one that has been banded about a lot.

00:32:04.998 --> 00:32:10.228
And so it's kind of lost its impact almost, um, but toxins are a real thing.

00:32:10.498 --> 00:32:22.228
And you know, we're, what we're talking about are things like pesticides and pollutants and chemicals that we get in skincare products like phthalates and sulfates and.

00:32:23.272 --> 00:32:25.232
PCBs and those, yeah, parabens.

00:32:25.232 --> 00:32:25.972
That's what I was trying to think of.

00:32:26.343 --> 00:32:33.502
and there's all sorts of things that we are exposed to and your body has to process it.

00:32:33.502 --> 00:32:36.573
Your body has to eliminate it because these are damaging.

00:32:37.083 --> 00:32:48.212
And the part of the problem with them when it comes to weight management and hormones is that a lot of these toxins are estrogen mimicking.

00:32:48.432 --> 00:33:03.573
So they're very, very similar in chemical structure to our own and that's a problem because they can disrupt your estrogens, they can bind to your estrogen receptors in your cells and kind of get in the way of your own estrogen doing its job.

00:33:04.192 --> 00:33:11.222
They have to be eliminated via the liver down the same pathways that we eliminate our estrogen down.

00:33:11.423 --> 00:33:28.423
And so if that pathway is very congested, then you can end up recirculating estrogens around your body, which can, you know, go on to contribute to estrogen dominance, which is where we have either too much estrogen or too much in relation to progesterone.

00:33:29.083 --> 00:33:31.873
And also these toxins can get recirculated too.

00:33:32.502 --> 00:33:41.992
So exposure to these toxins can disrupt your sex hormones, um, as well as increased damage happening in your body from these toxins.

00:33:42.522 --> 00:33:55.502
And one of the ways that your body can protect itself from this high toxic load because it's so smart and adaptive is your body can basically store away those toxins in your fats.

00:33:55.893 --> 00:33:56.452
And.

00:33:57.178 --> 00:34:13.927
essentially stop fat burning from happening to help prevent the release of those toxins back into circulation, or even upregulate your fat storage to sweep away those toxins out of circulation and lock them away in fat, which is much more safe for your body.

00:34:14.668 --> 00:34:26.907
So sometimes when we're struggling with stubborn weight, it could be because we have a really high load that we're exposed to of all these various different toxins.

00:34:27.817 --> 00:34:35.257
I think one of the easiest ways that I have reduced this is in those personal care products, the parabens and the phthalates.

00:34:35.257 --> 00:34:51.072
And I kind of started years ago with stopping the use of sulfates on my hair because I started following the curly girl method, literally like 16 years ago with the first book that came out from that, like people on Tik Tok don't know that it was originally a book.

00:34:51.652 --> 00:34:55.422
Um, that's what we did back in the day before there was Tik Tok, we read the books.

00:34:55.942 --> 00:35:05.202
Anyway, I'm just saying I started with that and then just slowly replaced my products and all, all this means is the next time you buy lotion.

00:35:06.126 --> 00:35:07.766
By the one that's paraben free,

00:35:09.072 --> 00:35:09.492
Exactly.

00:35:09.771 --> 00:35:13.981
I did not go into my cabinet and be like, all right, sweep it all out.

00:35:14.030 --> 00:35:16.221
I just was like the next time.

00:35:16.791 --> 00:35:20.530
And then as I discovered Oh, this brand does not avoid that.

00:35:20.550 --> 00:35:24.701
And I remember even emailing a brand one, one time, like, what's, what's the deal with it?

00:35:24.701 --> 00:35:26.251
Like, am I right on this?

00:35:26.505 --> 00:35:26.925
Kind of thing.

00:35:26.925 --> 00:35:32.775
And they're like, we haven't found any research that shows that these, and I was just like, okay, well, that's fine.

00:35:32.815 --> 00:35:34.746
That's good to know that you do use them.

00:35:34.766 --> 00:35:36.306
I will not be using that brand anymore.

00:35:36.565 --> 00:35:37.565
It's not a big deal.

00:35:37.565 --> 00:35:38.635
I'm not mad about it.

00:35:38.635 --> 00:35:43.255
I'm not mad that I used it in the past, but just slowly replace those personal care products.

00:35:43.255 --> 00:35:46.556
So I find that to be one easy way.

00:35:46.596 --> 00:36:00.606
And then the other thing that I have done is, for years I have used A, fragrance free and, color free, all of that, uh, laundry detergent, and then switch to dryer balls in the dryer.

00:36:00.606 --> 00:36:03.675
So we're not using softeners or anything like that.

00:36:03.675 --> 00:36:08.545
So really keep your clothes also from having a lot of those chemicals.

00:36:08.545 --> 00:36:11.945
Cause the fragrances are where a lot of that comes from as well.

00:36:11.976 --> 00:36:12.356
Right.

00:36:12.851 --> 00:36:13.351
Yes.

00:36:13.371 --> 00:36:13.590
Yeah.

00:36:13.590 --> 00:36:14.911
Fragrances are a big one.

00:36:15.210 --> 00:36:27.601
And it's, it's interesting because I switched, you know, my, my laundry powders and softeners a long time ago and you very quickly get used to, you know, your clothes not having a really strong perfume smell.

00:36:27.900 --> 00:36:32.751
And I went around someone's the other day, they'd just done their laundry and I was sneezing.

00:36:32.760 --> 00:36:33.911
My nose was stinging.

00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:36.981
Like it was so strong and they couldn't even really smell it.

00:36:37.300 --> 00:36:38.360
And it just kind of.

00:36:38.581 --> 00:36:41.601
went to show just how strong these chemicals are.

00:36:41.760 --> 00:36:45.630
And, you know, they stay on your clothes for, for, you know, days, weeks.

00:36:45.731 --> 00:36:49.570
you can still smell them and that's a sign of a very strong chemical.

00:36:50.181 --> 00:36:54.780
Um, so yeah, the fragrances are big ones and, you know, getting rid of the air fresheners.

00:36:54.920 --> 00:36:59.181
And I think particularly the plug in air fresheners that are constantly pumping out the scents.

00:36:59.181 --> 00:37:00.451
I just think they're horrible.

00:37:00.460 --> 00:37:04.740
If I go around someone and they've They've got those, I get a headache almost immediately.

00:37:05.510 --> 00:37:08.740
and another easy switch is, your water bottle.

00:37:08.920 --> 00:37:14.650
So, you know, switching from a plastic water bottle to a metal or a glass water bottle.

00:37:15.121 --> 00:37:17.971
Um, and same for food storage containers.

00:37:18.181 --> 00:37:21.581
You know, if you can switch from, like plastic.

00:37:21.661 --> 00:37:26.429
So if you don't have the budget to make food storage containers to glass then that's a really helpful switch.

00:37:26.429 --> 00:37:35.621
But if you can't, you know, if you don't have the budget to make that switch, then Just avoiding heating food up in those containers is a good place to start.

00:37:36.161 --> 00:37:41.931
Um, and you know, like you said, gradually replacing them as they, as they kind of get, worn.

00:37:42.210 --> 00:38:00.590
But I think with all of these things that whether we're talking about, you know, your, your fragrances, your fabric softeners, your skincare products, your plastics, Just gradually replacing them is definitely the way to go because it is a little bit overwhelming when you start thinking about it because you start looking at everything and like, Oh no, like that's a problem.

00:38:00.590 --> 00:38:01.351
That's a problem.

00:38:01.771 --> 00:38:05.740
Um, and it can feel like a lot to do and costly as well.

00:38:05.771 --> 00:38:09.641
But if we just replace things gradually, it's much more achievable.

00:38:10.425 --> 00:38:13.766
Yeah, because most of these things we're talking about are consumables.

00:38:14.306 --> 00:38:25.275
We're not, we're not really talking about, I mean, sure, like people have things about like furniture and mattresses and, you know, those kinds of things, but the day to day stuff they're consumables.

00:38:25.545 --> 00:38:27.295
You're going to be replacing them.

00:38:27.376 --> 00:38:31.326
And so it's just such an easy, easy switch the next time.

00:38:31.666 --> 00:38:32.556
You replace it.

00:38:32.746 --> 00:38:34.585
Just make, make the different choice.

00:38:36.295 --> 00:38:37.246
Yeah, good.

00:38:37.735 --> 00:38:46.956
I think there's so much of this that I have done like over time that I don't really point to it like, Oh, that's why I feel better.

00:38:48.286 --> 00:38:50.826
I just do feel better, you know?

00:38:50.826 --> 00:38:54.835
And so you won't maybe notice you're not going to be like, Oh, look at that.

00:38:54.835 --> 00:38:56.925
I lost 10 pounds when I switched my moisturizer.

00:38:56.945 --> 00:38:59.496
Like, no, it's

00:38:59.596 --> 00:39:00.226
only.

00:39:00.590 --> 00:39:01.021
Right.

00:39:01.670 --> 00:39:03.070
That would be magical moisturizer.

00:39:03.561 --> 00:39:15.851
but as we make some of these small changes over time, you, you will feel better and it will be easier to release the weight and, it'll make a difference over time.

00:39:16.715 --> 00:39:25.016
Yeah, I think this is why it can feel so elusive to find that answer to, you know, why you're struggling with stubborn weights.

00:39:25.425 --> 00:39:35.065
and it's because it's, it's not just one thing and it's going to be multiple things like we've been talking about today, like toxic load, stress, and, you know, pain.

00:39:35.291 --> 00:39:42.101
Potentially what you're eating, how you're exercising, you know, these are all things that are going to be having a bit of an impact.

00:39:42.161 --> 00:39:49.490
But when you put them all together, then they can have a big impact and that can be stopping you from getting to where you want to be.

00:39:50.780 --> 00:39:51.190
Great.

00:39:51.431 --> 00:39:52.690
Well, thank you so much, Louise.

00:39:52.701 --> 00:39:54.690
Where can people find you online?

00:39:54.690 --> 00:40:00.740
A lot of my listeners are in the U S so they're getting and definitely need to be finding you on the, on the web.

00:40:01.760 --> 00:40:02.150
Yeah.

00:40:02.150 --> 00:40:06.621
you can search on, on socials at Louise Digby Nutrition.

00:40:06.891 --> 00:40:09.096
You can find me on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

00:40:09.260 --> 00:40:16.041
And then my website is louise digby nutrition.com and we work with women all over the world.

00:40:16.800 --> 00:40:17.251
Perfect.

00:40:17.811 --> 00:40:18.490
All right.

00:40:18.840 --> 00:40:20.581
We will put all those links in the show notes.

00:40:20.590 --> 00:40:21.601
It's been lovely to have you.

00:40:21.601 --> 00:40:22.501
Thank you so much.

00:40:23.181 --> 00:40:23.661
Thank you.

00:40:23.666 --> 00:40:24.561
Thanks so much for having me.

00:40:24.561 --> 00:40:25.161
It's been great.

00:40:25.878 --> 00:40:26.268
If this episode.

00:40:26.389 --> 00:40:27.889
So it has helped you in any way.

00:40:28.128 --> 00:40:33.469
Could you do me a favor and just share it with someone, take a screenshot of this episode and post it to your stories?

00:40:33.829 --> 00:40:35.628
you can also just send it to a friend.

00:40:36.018 --> 00:40:43.278
If you're looking for that extra bit of personalized help with your weight loss, be sure to schedule your free coaching call with me and see how much you can benefit.

00:40:43.608 --> 00:40:45.318
Link for that is in the show notes.

00:40:45.469 --> 00:40:48.318
Have a great week and as always, thanks for listening to the eat.

00:40:48.318 --> 00:40:48.679
Well, think.

00:40:48.798 --> 00:40:50.449
Well live well podcast.