Dr. Nastasia Irons, ND, is a fellow naturopathic doctor and CCNM class of 2014 graduate. She also completed a 2-year residency program, furthering her training in acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, cosmetic acupuncture, and herbal medicine. She has a special interest in hormones, skin, and digestion, but has a passion for fitness and movement and is a prominent fitness advocate within our naturopathic community. She is a spin instructor and inspires everyone (particularly women) to build mental, emotional, and physical resilience by lifting weights and building muscle.
Dr. Nastasia Irons discusses her transformative journey into fitness and its integration with her work as a naturopathic doctor. She shares how fitness helped her during a challenging breakup and highlights the importance of mental health and strength training, particularly for women. Dr. Irons offers practical advice for beginners, emphasizing consistency, accountability, and addressing misconceptions about strength training. She underscores its long-term health benefits, especially for women, and shares her personal experiences with resilience through fitness. The conversation concludes with an invitation for listeners to engage and find joy in their movement.
Episode Chapters
Introduction to the Journey
Discovering Fitness and Mental Health
The Shift to Strength Training
Getting Started with Strength Training
Overcoming Barriers to Exercise
Long-Term Commitment and Body Changes
Personal Resilience Through Fitness
Understanding Muscle and Body Composition
The Importance of Strength Training for Women
Building Consistency and Community
Supplements for Muscle Health
Motivational Mindset for Returning to Fitness
Closing Thoughts and Resources
Transcript
Speaker1:
[0:02] Hey welcome staz dr nastasia irons yes either one’s fine we look so similar i know i think an ex of yours like thought i was you there was like a drama do you remember there was something about this i don’t know i
Speaker0:
[0:24] Don’t remember Dory from Finding Nemo so yeah but I think yeah there is that
Speaker0:
[0:30] in this world people have told me that before too.
Speaker1:
[0:32] Yeah it’s good it’s like
Speaker0:
[0:34] On the same in the same neighborhood.
Speaker1:
[0:36] Yeah that’s true yeah you work like near High Park right which is where I um I live kind of the opposite end of the park but in the same area yeah wow yeah so we’re here I wanted to talk to you guys I was just saying for a while um because you’ve been posting a lot of really cool stuff on your Instagram very inspiring about, I don’t know what you would call it, like a fitness journey.
Speaker0:
[0:59] Yeah.
Speaker1:
[1:00] Yeah.
Speaker0:
[1:01] Just like I got into the fitness world a little bit after I became a naturopathic doctor. And the combination of the two for me has been really nice. Like from a personal journey, it was something that helped me get through some darker emotional times. Like when I was going through a really bad breakup, I actually found a spin class, tried it for the first time. And it just allowed me to feel like me again, almost. And then I did that for years. And I still teach spin. But then I got into strength training a year ago more seriously. And that’s when I realized that this is a huge part of women’s health that we’re not taught a lot about.
Speaker0:
[1:42] And it’s probably one of the best things you can do for your body long term. And so I want of focus a lot of my practice now, which is a lot of my patients are actually women, not all of them, but just teaching people how to incorporate nutrition and strength training into their everyday life.
Speaker1:
[1:59] Yeah, this is so cool. It’s such a big thing now. I don’t know what you would say, maybe in the last, it seems like five years, maybe 10, where now women are interested in and building muscle and strength training. And how did you find your way into it? Like, so it was for your mental health and then.
Speaker0:
[2:19] Yeah, fitness was, I used to be a dancer. So before I became a naturopath, I was a competitive dancer. And then when I moved to Toronto, I didn’t have a community anymore to, that felt like the same as my dance team. So I started going to the gym, I joined a few gyms here and there, but I still also felt like I was just walking around by myself. And I was really lost in terms of what to do. So I stopped working out. And then when we became students at CCNM, I think that just took over my life. And I lost like, that other side of me that I think was part of my life since I was a kid. And it wasn’t until I became an ND that I decided to explore fitness again, I think, because we finally had time. But spin was one of those moments that it was life-changing for me from my first class till even now. I just taught a class this morning. I had this moment in the room where I felt like myself or part of my personality came back. And it’s like when you go through a lot in life, you sometimes lose yourself a little bit in that. And when you’re in a job where you give energy out to people all day, you, again, don’t have a lot of time to hear your inner voice or really connect with who you are. For some reason in the spin room, I did. I had that moment where I was like, oh, this is missing in my life and I feel better. So I want to be able to do that for other people.
Speaker0:
[3:41] And so I did that for years. But then last year I was noticing, OK, like I’m in my late 30s now. So why is that not working for me? Like my fitness seems like it’s getting thrown off, even though I’m doing so much. And I think I hear this story all the time from my patients where they’re like, I’ve been doing the same thing my whole life, but all of a sudden now it’s not working. And so I started to really explore, okay, like what’s going on with our hormones? What’s going on with our body composition as we age? And why is cardio not enough
Speaker0:
[4:12] for people and like maintaining body composition? And that’s when I looked into strength training and started incorporating it for myself as like an experiment to see, okay, if I do this, what happens? And then it started to work. I was feeling better, stronger, noticing that my muscles were growing. And then I realized, oh, I’m going to teach women how to do this. And so that for a year now, I’ve been strength training a few times a week and learning how to teach others. And I might become a personal trainer too. I’m just trying to find time. That’s cool.
Speaker1:
[4:44] That’s good. Yeah. Because personal trainers are great people to refer to because like how did you maybe you can explain kind of your journey and getting into it because I feel like it’s daunting for people to know where to start how to begin like you know what exercises do I do how do I put a plan together like you know specifically
Speaker0:
[5:02] Yeah I think that um, Obviously, nowadays, we have a lot of resources online. So if you have internal motivation to get yourself to the gym or if you have a gym in your condo or weights at home, you can start on your own. But I find that the biggest hurdle for people is just the day one. Like, when do you start? What does that look like? And if you walk into a gym and you feel kind of like you don’t know what you’re doing, it doesn’t feel very fulfilling. And strength training is different than going in and doing a cardio class because it might not feel like as sweaty or as intense, but the reality is, is what’s happening in your body is really beneficial. So it’s about the long game and learning how to stay committed and keep yourself consistently going for about six months. Then you start to really feel different. But the best way to get started is to either get yourself set up with a personal trainer. So if you have money to pay someone just to watch you work out and help you a couple sessions at a local gym would be really helpful. If that’s not in your budget, then I would say the next best thing to do would be if you have a naturopath or someone you work with on your health team who could design a plan for you, they could design a plan that has like, okay, let’s start with two times a week, upper body and lower body, four workouts each time. And here’s a link to a YouTube video on how you could do it. So I do that for people.
Speaker0:
[6:30] Then you can actually in the visit, go over like the workouts with them, make sure they understand. If that’s still not in your budget, that’s okay too. You can honestly just go online and like type in what you’re looking for. There’s a lot of apps that exist now that you can use to design your own plan or you can pay for like a yearly membership, which is usually pretty affordable to something like the sweat app or Marcus Philly has a bodybuilding app and they go through whether you’re a beginner intermediate or advanced they’ll design a plan for you and then videos and everything to take you through it so how to do it is actually getting easier and easier these days the the getting yourself there and starting I would say has to come from within so there has to be some desire to do it and then it’s all about whether you can get yourself there or if you maybe set a plan with a friend or someone you do it with and go with them. That’s another way I help, you know, get people to motivate themselves or stay motivated. Um.
Speaker0:
[7:29] Oftentimes I find like booking yourself in with a trainer or a class or getting started by like putting it in your calendar and making yourself like Tuesday at 7 a.m. This is what I’m doing. And that it’s like booking a class like the morning of if you canceled, you would have to pay $30. So maybe incentivize yourself somehow to like take $30 out of your bank account and put it somewhere else if you don’t do the workout. I mean, I don’t know. You have to find little ways. But I think once you get started, then it’s much easier to keep going. It’s just about that, like, first couple weeks.
Speaker1:
[8:03] Yeah, you find, like, you’re, yeah, the scheduling it in, like, I recently started doing that because I was doing a whole course on insulin resistance, and a huge part of that is, like, strength training. And I was like, I don’t, I’m, like, preaching how to support your insulin levels. I’m like, I don’t think I do strength training twice a week. I randomly sprinkle it in. So I started actually scheduling it like, okay, Tuesdays, Thursdays, lift a kettlebell, like, you know,
Speaker0:
[8:29] Even if you have to.
Speaker1:
[8:30] Yeah.
Speaker0:
[8:31] I have a lot of patients who just have their own dumbbells at home and just have to do a couple different workouts. That’s getting started. And people are always like, oh, well, if I don’t go to the gym and put an hour in, then I’m not going to go. But honestly, 15 minutes is great. Like wherever you can start. And there’s a lot of free videos on YouTube that you can use to just watch and learn. Um and we can link them after if people want some idea yeah yeah yeah and i think um, we can we’ll talk about this later but like with strength training there’s a lot of options even if you only have um like a couple dumbbells you can do more than uh just use heavy weights you can use like slower movements to help gain muscle for example um and like do a couple tricks so that you’re slowly building muscle and not staying the same, even from what you have access to at home.
Speaker1:
[9:24] Yeah, that’s a good point. There’s somebody I follow I’m thinking of who taught me a lot just from kind of following her. She’s just an Instagram influencer built by Becky.
Speaker0:
[9:34] Oh, cool.
Speaker1:
[9:35] Yeah. Have you heard of her? Yeah. So she, one of the things I learned from her is just like how long it takes to, for the body recomposition. Like she’s like, I’ve been doing this consistently for four years. So we think we’ve been kind of coached or taught to think that it’s like, 10 weeks or two weeks or lose 10 pounds in half a day.
Speaker0:
[9:59] Honestly, I think that’s my biggest problem with like some fitness influencers online right now. They’re selling products like here’s my eight week total body shred program. Okay. If you look at my Instagram, you can see from a year ago, I started this journey and I said on end, I was like, okay, it was like July 8th. So I’m coming up on almost a year. And I told everybody, I’m going to do this like 10K a day walk, 10K steps a day walk. I’m going to do strength training. And in eight weeks, I’m going to check back in and show you what happened. And obviously we’re all different and like everybody’s story is different. And I did start with a bit of an active background already, but you can see like in those eight weeks, your body composition can change a tiny little bit. Within 12 weeks, you can see some muscles start to show. Like there obviously is change. People always want to know like how long will it take. I mean, within 12 weeks, body composition will change, but noticeable long-term changes to things like your measurements, stepping on the scale, seeing a change there, which we can talk about later, but like that’s kind of a useless one. But measurements and muscle growth, really we’re looking at six months and then check back in in a year. You will be shocked at how your body looks. It will be different. I suggest that people take a picture of like one picture of in their underwear, keep it for themselves, but do it every four weeks.
Speaker0:
[11:21] If that triggers you maybe only every like once every four months like every quarter but, it should help you see that maybe what you feel on the inside is like you’re not changing at all or the scale is going up or like all these things that people are afraid of like or they’re going to get bulky what you’ll actually see is the the what you see it first of all in your own picture is probably better than what you think it’s going to be even from that first one and then as you go along you’ll see the change to your body more than what like if I just asked you if you feel different that’s a harder thing but when you look in the pictures you’ll start to see the definition and the muscle growth and it’s pretty amazing yeah.
Speaker1:
[11:59] That’s cool and to like think of it as like a long game like a long game
Speaker0:
[12:02] Yeah like every year every year if you stay consistent and it seems really it seems like so much when you’re just starting I get that it’s like looking up at a mountain thinking oh my god I have to hike that whole thing but one day you get to the top and you’re like, okay, I did that. Right. And then if you look back, it doesn’t feel that long. So it’s just getting started.
Speaker1:
[12:22] Yeah. It’s like four years goes by anyway. So you might as well look shredded at the end of it.
Speaker0:
[12:27] And then honestly, like the benefits are incredible. So it’s worth it. Even if, um, if you’re doing it for a purely just look changing the way you look, that’s one thing, but the benefits to gaining more muscle on your body go way beyond how you look.
Speaker1:
[12:42] And we’ll talk about that too but I also want to say just to acknowledge what you said before about you can do kind of slower more intentional movements not necessarily using like huge weights and that’s another thing i learned from the build by becky like her whole style was just to do like pulsing like very intentional very slow very mindful um movement using like dumbbells basically at home and that was the whole plan so yeah that’s a good point that it doesn’t have to be like you know huge barbells where you’re squatting like your body weight or more you know
Speaker0:
[13:18] Like definitely if the weights are heavy you’re going to see more change especially as you get into like perimenopause um when your estrogen levels start to change a little bit we have less of that tissue response to build muscle that anabolic response so you are going to get more results the heavier you can lift but that’s not necessarily like humongous humongous um barbells it’s just that your um the two ways to stimulate muscle that are really going to help you are one time under tension. So what we talked about, like going a lot slower and with the purposeful movement, focusing on your form. So for example, if it’s like a bench press or something and you’re pushing the dumbbells out, you’re going to push out for one and then you’re going to pull in for three long seconds. And so that time that your muscles are under all that tension is longer than if it was just like one, one, one, one, and that’s going to build muscle. So you can, a lot of times when you do it slower, the weight feels way heavier. So it’s okay to use lighter weights. And then you also want to use progressive overload technique. So over time, those weights are going to feel a little easier and you should be stimulating the muscle a little more by going up a couple pounds, go up a couple pounds. It doesn’t have to be huge jumps, but if you’re training properly and eating enough protein, your body should be feeling like it can handle a little more. And that progressive overload is going to get you bigger muscles too.
Speaker1:
[14:44] That’s good. That’s really good tips. Yeah. So yeah, the longer, it’s not about like maybe as many reps as like, yeah. And then, um, and then yeah, like slowly adding more weight, which if you’re just starting, you could maybe start with body weight or resistance bands and work your way up. Yeah.
Speaker0:
[15:02] And the other thing too, is that, um, what feels like a nine out of 10 when you’re just starting is going to be different than one year in. And one thing I think, especially women, um, what holds us back a lot is our feeling of confidence when we go to the gym or when we’re going to lift a weight. It’s like, oh, I don’t think I can do that. I’m going to push, use 10. I see women all the time. They’ll choose 10 for themselves, but by the time they’ve worked with me once, they’ll take 30s when they’re doing a chest press because you actually can lift a lot more than you think. It’s your head that keeps you back. So your true nine out of 10 feeling means like we talked about this in the gym a lot. It’s like nine RP. So what does that mean? It means that you probably could do one or two more probably only one if I asked you to but you couldn’t do three so if if you can still do more reps and you’re not getting to that eight or nine out of ten and like you could do another six it’s not heavy enough for you uh-huh.
Speaker1:
[15:56] Yeah so you’re like you should be able to kind of like really
Speaker0:
[15:59] Yeah I guess with.
Speaker1:
[16:00] Good form get one more in yeah
Speaker0:
[16:02] Yeah yeah so keep your form good right because if you have to totally change your form to try to get that rep in probably it’s too heavy but but if you can keep good form and and do three more then maybe you can go up in your weights a bit so that that feeling of a little bit of a struggle when you’re getting that last couple of set reps should be there for if we’re looking at true strength training that’s.
Speaker1:
[16:24] I think like the beauty of having a trainer is having somebody kind of like helping you get out of your head and like no i know you can do it like let’s give me one more And then that extra rep is probably making a huge difference in progress.
Speaker0:
[16:39] And that’s what you learn. So when I started the journey last year in June, July, I was doing it on my own using an app and just going to the gym and trying it. And that was fun. It felt really like empowering. And I was getting stronger. But then I started working with a trainer a little at this gym called Strong. His name is Callum. He’s amazing. And he was like, pick a heavier weight, Jazz. And every time he made me go heavier and heavier. And I thought like, is this what it’s supposed to feel like? It’s trembling. I thought it was going to throw up a little, but it’s just calmly like, you know, pushing me beyond where I would normally keep myself. And then I got stronger way faster. I learned to have confidence in my own ability at the gym and I learned what a true nine out of 10 is. So now I can push myself on my own to that limit. You still will always work out a little harder with a trainer, but that experience having someone just look at you and help you do a little more and give you the right confidence and form recommendations at first is.
Speaker1:
[17:39] Really valuable that’s a good yeah that’s i love that like oh is this what it’s supposed to feel like and then you’re basically gonna puke but i don’t okay and then yeah then then also like this part about like one thing i don’t do at the gym enough i think is like resting between sets and yeah okay
Speaker0:
[18:00] The thing this is a really cool fact okay so because typically uh women do a lot more cardio than men at first. Yeah. When you go to the gym and you start doing strength training, your cardiovascular ability is usually pretty high. So when you’re lifting weights and they’re not maybe as heavy yet, you might feel like you don’t really need to take breaks. Like, you know, when you see people at the gym and they’re like, and like, they’re kind of making weird noises and they’re taking time and you know, a minute goes by and then they go back. I always used to think to myself, that’s taking so much longer. Why don’t you just push the reps So like, let’s go get in, get out.
Speaker1:
[18:37] Phone, get out, get back on it.
Speaker0:
[18:40] When I talked to my trainer about this and he was like, you know, I think women at first don’t feel like they need the break because their cardio is better than their strength. Once your strength starts to get there and you’re doing that split squat and you’re like, you have, you do eight and then you like, I need the break in between. I almost feel like if not, I’m not going to feel well. Like you should be feeling a little bit like, like your heart rate’s picking up enough that you actually need to take a minute to breathe. The other purpose is just allowing your muscles to refill with blood and get like rested enough so that you can push again and get a true 9 out of 10 experience again. So you’re not just like failing at five because then your body just needs a little bit of time in between each one to recover, to get the most out of the workout.
Speaker1:
[19:24] Yeah. And I’m also just thinking too, the nervous system, like when you’re at that point where you’re pushing so far beyond kind of like what feels like a limit or I mean you’re really at your limit I guess like you’re nine out of ten it takes some time to kind of like recalibrate that all like with your nerves even you know
Speaker0:
[19:41] And like normally feel like a tiny bit dizzy you know pushing it really hard and that’s the goal uh and then you take a minute everything kind of settles and you try again and then a couple of those and you know on to the next workout or call it a day like whatever that workout time is for you make make the most out of it but definitely do it heavy enough that you need to take a little bit of like I would say like a 60 second to 90 second break between each one yeah.
Speaker1:
[20:10] So all this sounds unpleasant
Speaker0:
[20:13] Yeah I know it’s selling it am I you’re.
Speaker1:
[20:20] Just like yeah you should be like vomiting and like you’re dizzy and you want to died but and i guess you know there’s like we can get into like the mental health benefits of even that repeatedly like entering into that experience where you’re like pushing yourself into an uncomfortable place then you’re overcoming that like repeatedly like you’re doing that multiple times in a set in a workout and then you’re doing that a few times a week and like you know the effects on your mind and body of just being able to push yourself feel uncomfortable and survive it and get stronger from it
Speaker0:
[20:57] Yeah oh it’s such an amazing thing to learn I feel like that probably was the reason for why I loved spin so much and it got through a lot of um let’s say like challenging times in my life one being like the grief I experienced right before finding the spin class and then feeling like I could yeah push myself through the times that were challenging I also experienced five years into my teaching spin journey and being an ND I was riding my bike home one night.
Speaker0:
[21:28] And I got hit by an Uber while I was riding my bike. And so I had a fully broken femur inside the hip joint. So like broke my hip. I had to spend time in the hospital. They obviously had to like put the titanium rods in my hip to hold it all back together. I was in a wheelchair for a while and had to learn kind of the basic things like walking again and balancing. Thing my legs turned into like spaghetti noodles like oh I lost all my muscle and this was the day after I had auditioned for a really big spin job in Los Angeles so my life would have taken a very big turn and then it didn’t and it seems kind of sad but in that moment I mean I actually felt really loved because I could all my friends came to the hospital and like I really saw you know, this you have this feeling of feeling really loved and supported once you’re going through something but then as time goes on you’re you still feel alone again in that journey it can get dark again because um you’re still going through it but maybe like the the shock of what happened to you fades for everybody else around you yeah.
Speaker1:
[22:36] So it’s in
Speaker0:
[22:36] Yeah those are the moments where your own self-resilience needs to come back up so a lot of times I explain this to people like it’s like a feeling of darkness inside of you or maybe there’s like a little light like a little tiny like flame from a match whereas before maybe it was a big bright light so you feel lost you have to try to find that and then it will grow inside you again so like that light can become bigger it’s just about you know going through what you have to go through and then also finding resilience so knowing that the light is there is a big thing and I talk about this in a workout too so like when you’re having a moment where you want to give up or you find it very challenging it’s the same as when you’re going through grief and you just kind of want to lay in bed all day. We’ve been there. It’s very hard. There’s times where you have to be okay with that and let it happen. And then there’s moments where you’re like, okay, I’m going to get out of bed now. I’m going to take some steps. I’m going to have a piece of bread. And then that’s like, you know, in the gym, you make choices to continue to push, even though you’re uncomfortable. That’s the same thing that you can take out into your real life. And that’s for me, like the mental health strength that we gain through feeling
Speaker0:
[23:44] uncomfortable in a workout yeah.
Speaker1:
[23:46] Thanks for sharing that that’s cool yeah it’s like that finding that flame it’s not completely out it’s just a lot dimmer than it might have been before the accident before the grief whatever you’re going through and then you’re trying to like okay what is it telling me to do is it you know I just rest today and don’t get out of bed or is that spark kind of asking me to push a little bit whatever that means you know yeah
Speaker0:
[24:14] Sometimes hard to hear and then there’s times like I when I went through a really bad breakup during COVID this was after the accident so like six months later I actually had tried out for the spin studio again I got the job after everything and then everything shut down in the world and like it all got taken away from me again is what it felt like and then I went through a big like huge breakup there was a lot of infidelity and like emotional abuse I was probably in the darkest place I’ve ever been in my entire life and I was all alone um in Canada at the time like my family wasn’t there so I had no one to really help me through it and so I had to my family would facetime me to try to get me out of bed to like walk to the kitchen and eat but it was hard I spent two or three weeks just in my bed under the covers. Like it was a dark time.
Speaker0:
[25:04] And I remember just feeling like you use what you can. So like the little FaceTime calls or like going for a walk maybe and trying to be listening to podcasts to make me feel better, trying to read a book, like little things, but like that flame was basically dead. And then one day I started going for a bit of a longer walk, which turned into like a little baby jog. And that turned into like a 2K run. And then it was a 5K run. And then all of a sudden I was running 13K in the winter and like feeling like myself again. And it was, it was that feeling of, okay, like wherever you’re at in your life, if you can come back to maybe, maybe fitness or any kind of movement, then maybe that’s the way to like bring that light back if you feel like you’ve lost it. So I feel like throughout the past decade in different part times that I’ve had, my journey with fitness has always helped me through. So that’s what I want to try to help people learn so that they can do that too.
Speaker1:
[26:00] Yeah that’s beautiful yeah I mean and it’s I think really important because if we were like to pull up your Instagram right now it’s like it’s probably like you’re at the gym like you’re really fit you’re healthy you’re happy it’s like oh wow like Staz has something like one might think like Staz is something I don’t have like that’s a different person it’s a fit person so for someone who’s looking at that not just you Like anyone who’s kind of in the fitness world or the health world, somebody who’s like, I’m currently like, can’t get out of bed and I don’t even have the strength to like eat anymore. You can like kind of disidentify or feel alienated from that. But to know that it’s like you’ve been there and and maybe a background in fitness gave you that connection where you’re like, I know that this helps or I know that this is part of my identity. Um but it is possible to like build up from like like starting over completely physically but also mentally emotionally like coming back from heartbreak just being in like a total rock bottom and like building yourself up from there you know so and that’s i
Speaker0:
[27:10] Think that that’s a really important thing that you brought up and i want people to know that i just want people to know that I know what it’s like to start over and to really bad place and to try again. And I, and multiple times it’s been very hard. And I would say that, yeah, looking at my Instagram now, if you don’t know that about me, or when you come to a spin class and you don’t know that you might just think, Ooh, that’s an unattainable level of spin. Like I can’t do that. Or I can never get there. Like it’s annoying that she’s doing pull-ups. Like I’m here. But I just, yeah, and it’s okay if it’s triggering because that like the fitness wellness world can be but i i want people to know that wherever you’re at in your journey whether it’s like you’re considering strength training or you don’t even know what what that would look like for you there is a space for you and there’s someone who can help you get there and i would be one of those people totally.
Speaker1:
[28:05] Yeah because it’s like i you know i know what that’s like or you know yeah you’ve been there and the bleakness of like I’m sure that in those moments when your family is like okay go get something to eat you’re not thinking about you know, like a few years later when you’re going to be like, yeah, doing pull-ups or something like you’re, you’re just taking it one moment at a time, not even a day at a time, probably.
Speaker0:
[28:31] Yeah. It was more like every, maybe if I could fill every hour, try to get through the hour, then maybe the next hour would feel better. I, there was a time back then that I would try to sleep in as late as I could so that the day wouldn’t be long. And then I would go to bed as early as I could so that I wouldn’t have to be awake for a lot. Like that was the worst time. So I’d probably try to wake up around lunchtime and go back to bed around six. And within that six hours, I’d go for a couple walks, cry to my family on the phone and like try really hard to eat something, but mostly couldn’t. Like it was bad. yeah um but like anything in life it doesn’t last even though it feels like it will you know like sometimes you can feel like whatever situation you’re in right now is going to be like that forever but it it doesn’t last and time does keep moving so if you can learn to just like yeah take one step in front of the other whether it’s going for a walk again or doing something that makes you feel good. That’s always a way to get through stuff. Fitness doesn’t have to mean going to the gym and lifting weights. It can just be moving your body in a way that feels good.
Speaker1:
[29:45] Yeah. My life is like walking in the park. Just go outside.
Speaker0:
[29:50] Yeah. I love that. I know. Just that. And then the gym doesn’t have to feel like this big scary place. You can learn so much. Just pair yourself with someone who knows or have either a mentor, an Instagram account, a health provider, anyone, a trainer, and then you can start and then that confidence will come.
Speaker1:
[30:10] Yeah. It’s also making me think too of like, you know, coping mechanisms. Like we all have a variety of ways that we cope and that we can like, in a dark place, you start kind of reaching for it. So it’s like… In your psyche, in your identity, you have fitness. And so there are probably people out there, maybe listening who have not like, don’t identify at all with fitness. Like they’ve never really been athletic. They’ve never really gone to the gym. Maybe they did like cardio machines or something. So in that case, it can be something like you’re starting like a totally new thing, you know, not just kind of starting over, but it’s, this is like completely foreign thing that you’re even contemplating so um but I think the spirit is is similar where it’s like okay like then in that case maybe it’s helpful to reach out to a guide or someone that can introduce you to the world you know
Speaker0:
[31:04] Or take a class where you know that um maybe like an instructor if this is something you want to try like through class pass or something or they can help motivate you and like you can become part of a family so for me it was like the community building of being at a spin studio or something like that really helped me make friends as an adult and then love fitness again and then from there you can start to get more confidence to go to the other gyms yeah so maybe it’s that that helped me yeah.
Speaker1:
[31:33] That’s actually yeah that’s cool that’s a cool thing about spin that there’s like it’s it has it’s more than just a workout it has like kind of a spiritual like mental health components like a therapy session like a motivational thing you know
Speaker0:
[31:46] Yeah and that’s there’s really cool research on that which you’re probably really already aware of but uh like different parts of your brain that light up when you’re doing physical activity versus just talking and where we store trauma is different parts of our brain but definitely in the posterior section versus like the frontal lobe and when we’re just talking the frontal lobe will light up and we’re definitely talking about you know our experiences and our traumas but then And when you’re actually activating the back of your brain through working out and then you’re having maybe a positive message come in or you’re processing some things, I think that’s where you can start to target some deeper information. Stored thoughts, maybe memories, maybe, you know, any kind of PTSD that they’re the same thing. Like there’s research, I think, on like different types of hallucinogens and the ways that that can activate your brain. Exercise has a similar effect. So in a spin room, you’ve got someone saying maybe some motivational things as you’re struggling on the bike, but it’s not just about that moment. Maybe it’s helping you through other things that you have processed in your brain.
Speaker1:
[32:51] It’s like rewiring stuff. And actually, that’s a good point that I didn’t really put together because you have EMDR, right, where you incorporate like very basic movements, just bilateral movements, like whether it’s eye or you’re tapping bilaterally. But if you’re spinning or walking like you’re doing this bilateral kind of rhythmic thing that yeah you’re like liberating or like kind of moving stuff from other regions of the brain to like allow it to be processed and then your brain’s rewiring because it’s intense exercise and you have all this blood flow and so it’s like yeah you’re putting your body in this different physiological state you’re also like activating your nervous system in a way that like you’re you’re comfortable in kind of that fight or flight space you know yeah and
Speaker0:
[33:37] That’s that’s really a very important thing for especially the type of like world we’re living in now to be able to notice when maybe your nervous system’s coming up and you’re feeling like a higher heightened feeling of stress and being able to notice that and still like stay grounded in that experience.
Speaker1:
[33:54] Yeah yeah that’s one thing definitely like higher intensity exercise or like strength based exercise like can do it’s like yeah you’re comfortable like your nervous system expands to hold more of that stimulation and more of that stress and tension and then it almost like lowers your baseline activation you’re like okay like you know I brought it up to a nine out of ten and now it’s back to like a three whereas maybe I was living at a six all the time you know
Speaker0:
[34:24] Yeah, totally. And that’s actually one really cool thing about saunas too. So you can incorporate heat after a workout. And for women, that’s been shown to be really beneficial for like improving blood flow, increasing our stress tolerance and increasing our temperature tolerance too. So helping with things like dehydrating the muscle more and getting more results at the gym, but also reducing your experience of hot flashes if that happens to you as we get older and your tolerability to hot environments. So like the summertime and not feeling as like heated, saunas help with that.
Speaker1:
[34:58] Yeah, I’m a huge sauna lover, especially in Canada. It’s kind of like, you know, a necessity. I think everyone needs one.
Speaker0:
[35:08] I agree. I’m like, just need to save up some money and get myself. Yeah. A lot of gyms have saunas. So that’s a benefit.
Speaker1:
[35:15] Yeah. We need more communal saunas and cold places. Maybe. Yeah. Like we need more of these spaces, I think. And, and so let’s talk about some more of the benefits of like muscle building and, you know, for somebody who’s like, I don’t know, I don’t want to get, you know, I hear this less and less, I think, but I’ve still, I’ve heard it in the last year, let’s say like patients being like, I don’t want to get bigger. Yeah. I want to be smaller.
Speaker0:
[35:41] And people are afraid that it’s going to cause them to like look bulky, that word. It’s definitely something we have to coach people through because it’s scary at first when you’re coming to see someone for body composition goals. Let’s say that patients are like, I want to lose weight. What should I do? And then I start talking about strength training. And then everybody’s like, oh my God, is that going to make me bigger? So one, no. Two, muscle is called lean tissue for a reason. So it’s definitely going to cause a change in your body size that will most likely look smaller, even though you’re building muscle, because muscle is an expensive tissue to keep on your body. So it costs a lot of energy for your body to hold it there, which means the more muscle you have, the more calories you actually need to eat to stay that way. So it’s kind of like if you want to talk about building your metabolism or increasing the fuel you’re burning, more muscle equals more calories you can consume just and just be a human living on this earth and have a higher metabolic rate. So more muscle equals more calories, more metabolic activity.
Speaker0:
[36:45] In addition to that, it helps with your cholesterol levels, your blood sugar levels, blood flow to the brain, your mood. But from purely just building muscle and having that change your body, what’s going to happen is you’ll most likely, because you need to all of a sudden eat more calories to keep it there, your body starts to actually lose fat the more muscle you burn. So that’s a way to actually change your body by still eating a lot, still loving your life, build more muscle, and then your metabolism comes up. So it’s slower because you’re not going to just be cutting and cutting and cutting, which by the way, doesn’t work. You just lose all your muscle.
Speaker0:
[37:21] By the same way that I explained like if your muscle is expensive and you have to eat a lot to keep it there if you’re not eating enough it’s the first thing you lose so if you’re losing weight by not eating enough you’re actually losing muscle first which you don’t want because of all the things I said about like your insulin and your cholesterol and all those things that need muscles you don’t want to lose all that so anyways building muscle will actually cause your body to one day like work more efficiently a little bit slow but that eventually tips over you build and then your body starts to shed the fat. So as fat like comes off the muscle tissue around your body, then you actually look a lot leaner. And I always tell people who are afraid of looking like huge after a workout, like if you do a strength training workout, you’ll see your muscles look bigger in the mirror after, right? Like your body has more veins, a little bit more like blood flow to everything. So if you look in the mirror right after that workout, that’s the extent of how big you’re going to get. Like your muscles fill, that’s what they look like. Then a day later, all that’s gone. And then you’re still like, you know, looking the exact same until your body starts to change. So there’s no bulk effect.
Speaker1:
[38:26] Yeah, like, it’s pretty hard to get that like huge. Like you probably take testosterone.
Speaker0:
[38:35] And we would have to so like bodybuilders will take creatine, but they’ll take like 18 times the amount we recommend on a daily basis for people. And then they will work out constantly and eat a lot and then do things to change right at the end so that all their muscles show. But we can only gain a couple pounds of muscle every year with consistent working out. So think of how long it would take to change.
Speaker1:
[38:59] Yeah, that’s actually a good frame, right? Where like, yeah, I heard that like, like one pound a month is like massive. Like that’s like really crazy. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So one or two pounds a year that I didn’t even know that.
Speaker0:
[39:13] I would say like five pounds a year would be pretty amazing. Yeah. And that’s the thing too. So when your body at first, when you’re working out and eating and like people are chopping on a scale, like, and they’re not seeing it come down, there’s, there’s a lot of changes going on in your body though. Even though you haven’t seen and movement in the scale, like water retention, water flux in and out of the body, your progesterone levels change throughout the month, which can affect like carbohydrate intake and how your body processes water again. And then also over time, you might see the scale like go down a little and come up a little as you’re building muscle. That’s not really a marker of your progress. And I think people should just use the scale as a way to just, I guess, like look at consistency, but then you should do it pretty much every day and take an average of the whole year. So like, it’s not really that important. Even if you only dropped a couple pounds in the year, what you might notice is your circumference. So your measurements around your arms, your waist, your legs, that will change way more. Even if the scale goes up, that’s a better marker for your body size changes. And then pictures. So like photographic evidence is your best friend.
Speaker1:
[40:23] Yeah, and those things are slower to change than we expect the scale to change. But yeah, I agree, because I think this like really hit home for me. One time I weighed myself. And then I was like, Oh, I don’t like that number. Then I weighed myself the next day, seven pounds difference from who knows what, seven pounds.
Speaker0:
[40:44] I’ve had that after like a night of going out for like Vietnamese soup and having rice noodles. And then I think I ate like an entire loaf of sourdough that week. Think of all the water you’re bringing in. Yeah. And I stepped on the scale and I was like, what? And it is, it had changed again. Or with Callum at the gym, we were doing my measurements and the scale kind of went down a little at first, then it went back up and I was really mad because it always gets to us. Yeah it’s like we’re human but measurements have consistently dropped so it’s just like if you use the scale and it stops you from reaching your goals because you feel like you’re not meeting them um and it’s it can be just discouraging when in reality your body is actually changing a lot and the scale is a really bad tool yeah.
Speaker1:
[41:32] It’s yeah it’s funny too like i think i just had a conversation with um the person who filmed my course he was like really into fitness and he He was like on this fitness journey and he was, he was like, He’s like, you know, I’m not losing weight on the scale. And he’s like, but my measurements are going down. And I just like pause to see if he would like. But even in his brain, like he just needed someone to be like, OK, no, it’s fine. Like you’re losing fat.
Speaker0:
[42:00] Yeah. But we all need it. I step on the scale all the time at work because there is one at my clinic and for measuring like people’s height and weight. And I’ll randomly be like, you know, I’m curious. It does not move ever. But I’ve been on this journey for now, I think, yeah, eight months, nine months, my body has changed a lot. The scale has barely budged. So I’ll talk about that when I do a, I’m going to do like a one year post and I’ll talk, I’ll show all the measurements just so people can get an idea of like in a year, body weight stays the same, but look at the changes. There are some, but even if, even if they’re minuscule, it’s still a very positive experience overall. And learning how to lift weights is so important and for women as we age and our bone mass can get like it can decrease because our estrogens decrease bone mass gets preserved the more muscle you have and the more you strength train and increase resistance on that body so like you want your bones to get stimulated to keep growing throughout life they start to decline a lot in our 60s and 70s so our muscle mass drops a lot then too so you want to try to hit
Speaker0:
[43:09] a peak in your 40s and 50s if you can strength training is really for everyone but yeah.
Speaker1:
[43:16] Yeah I’m happy that there’s a lot more attention like for women especially in like perimenopause menopause for strength training and it’s not just about being as tiny and like you know and
Speaker0:
[43:29] You know.
Speaker1:
[43:30] The the scale also reflects like how much how heavy your bones are so seeing weight go down is a good thing
Speaker0:
[43:37] And then with muscle yeah like losing lean mass like your like your muscles and your bone mass is dangerous and we don’t want that and we also that’s something that goes down a lot with the popular medications that have been coming out now for weight loss they have really good benefits for your insulin levels and body fat but you’re also going to lose a lot of lean tissue and over time that’s dangerous for your body. So if you are doing anything like that, you want to also make sure you’re strength training to try to preserve your lean mass as much as you can.
Speaker1:
[44:09] And smoking back protein because you’re not, they work by reducing your hunger. And so it’s hard to eat chicken breast when you’re not hungry or don’t want food.
Speaker0:
[44:19] Exactly. So I know that’s the other thing too. And that’s one important piece is like making sure no matter who we are, no matter what medications we take and our journey with our body, we do need to focus more on protein and fiber and carbs and stop villainizing carbs. Like carbs are important for muscle recovery and for our mood. And as women, like if we have a menstrual cycle, then our lining of the uterus needs carbs to get nice and nourished every single month. So from like ovulation onwards, your body’s going to crave more carbs because progesterone is telling you to put more nutrients into your uterus. So you need it. That’s why we can be meaner during that time, especially if you’re eating low carbs. Don’t ever do that.
Speaker1:
[45:06] Until I’ve had my sourdough,
Speaker0:
[45:08] Yeah, sourdough toast. But then also, yeah, protein is another like important target when you’re strength training and just making sure you’re kind of getting close ish to your body weight and then you’ll be okay.
Speaker1:
[45:19] Yeah. In grams.
Speaker0:
[45:21] Grams. Yeah. So if you weigh 150 pounds and try to eat like 130 to 150 grams of protein every day and use things, if you’re not that hungry, protein powders can help. Otherwise just finding ways to add protein, like greek yogurt is really good um lean meats can be really good um and then um i like egg whites i add that sometimes to things and, I use protein patties, though, too. I have to. Or else how do you eat? I couldn’t eat it all.
Speaker1:
[45:50] Yeah. Yeah. Like, I think, yeah, it’s interesting that it’s become kind of controversial. It’s gone both ways. It’s gone like I, you know, as an ND, like there’s different like trends or things that we talk about, then everyone talks about them. And I like to think the NDs kind of lead the charge on things. And then then, you know, but so it like starts off with like, oh, you know, people are not eating enough protein. And that’s what you keep coaching patients to do. And now it’s like everybody knows about protein. And now there’s this whole marketing thing around protein where people are like, okay, you know, you want me to have protein pasta, so I’m going to eat protein cereal and protein bread.
Speaker0:
[46:26] And then it’s gone. They’re like, I’m so constipated. Yeah. Cause you don’t eat any fiber. Yeah. It is about keeping a balance for sure. And trying to get your food from whole foods and, and get your protein from real sources first. And then you need to, you can supplement like with anything.
Speaker1:
[46:45] Yeah and i think i just interviewed so in this topic of kind of insulin resistance and what we should be eating for that and even the the idea of carbs like one thing that i don’t yeah one thing i think maybe was missed in uh so if anyone’s listening and listen to the conversation on the low insulin lifestyle where it’s more about like you know having foods that don’t spike insulin, when you’re strength training, you do want there to be insulin because insulin is anabolic and it tells you to store fat, but it’s also important for muscle synthesis. So, you know, this idea of like, there’s different contexts in which we find ourselves with our health and that our nutrition supports. So, you know, there’s You know, you can kind of reduce your insulin resistance a number of ways. Like you can do it purely through diet. You can do it through resistance training, adding more muscle. You can do it ideally with a combination of both of those things, you know.
Speaker0:
[47:51] Yeah. And going too much to one extreme can then obviously butterfly effect. It then hurts your body in other ways. So you definitely, that’s a really good point. So we don’t want to have no insulin or no cortisol because obviously that’s not, We’re not going to feel like we can grow any muscle and we won’t have a feeling of being alert throughout the day, right? So like there’s times for these things to come up and times for the hormones to come back down. And for some people, it’s that they’re never coming back down or our body stops responding well to the signals that are there. And it’s about just improving that. That is one thing that muscles, having more muscle on your body will help with. So that’s something I tell my patients a lot. Like our insulin receptors are on muscle cells. The more cells you have, the more receptors that come to the surface and help us with that. So we definitely want to keep that issue alive.
Speaker1:
[48:44] Yeah, basically, yeah, the more muscle, like the more you soak up your carbs, like you can absorb.
Speaker0:
[48:51] We love carbs.
Speaker1:
[48:54] I had a glorious like foray into just eating bread again for a while. It didn’t work ultimately, but it was fun while it lasted.
Speaker0:
[49:01] I convinced myself that sourdough, I mean, it is, it is like, it’s better for you less like, you know, the ingredients are pretty minimal. The gluten levels are lower. And I was like, I’m just going to eat this and I’m going to be fine. And then I was like, well, I have an itchy rash all over my body. Oh yeah. I can’t really have gluten. But if you’re going to, it should be a beautiful piece of sourdough or like an off-roissant.
Speaker1:
[49:21] Yeah. Or just, yeah. and just yeah it’s all this it’s balance you know it’s all about how do we just how do we make it last forever like for the next 30 years 40 years like if you’re not gonna do this for the next 40 years then don’t make it like a plan because it’s you know you’re it’s not gonna be I mean it it by definition is not sustainable then um yeah yeah so yeah like what else about motivation I’m thinking just about like like you mentioned having people to inspire you having friends having kind of that accountability the the family like having um you know classes that you go to where and i think that’s huge actually if i think of patients who have really gotten into strength training they’ve joined gyms where it’s like whether it’s all female and there’s this like community people that check in like you know it’s okay if you’re not coming in but just wanted to make sure you’re okay like that’s so powerful yeah the
Speaker0:
[50:20] Biggest thing is just making friends as an adult is so hard and so when you’re in a group like a like a fitness class or a strength training class or um class pass like studio hopping but you see you go with people or you meet people there it’s a really fun way to just build your community back um when you’re not school anymore but the the motivation i would say for me like a huge motivator is honestly if you book yourself into of these things ahead of time, then even day of, if you don’t feel like it, canceling, you lose money. So then you just go. It helps keep you consistent. When I was first starting, the best way for me was I had a friend who also started to like spin. So she would sign us up in the morning and I would wake up that morning and be like, oh, no, like, no, it’s way too early. And she was already on her way there. So it’s not like I could cancel and be that one person who didn’t show. So I started just dragging my body there because we had already signed up and I had a friend doing it with me. I think with the trainer too, like they book you in and you’re paying for it. So you’re motivated to see change. When it’s on your own, I do see a lot of patients who life gets busy and stuff happens. And then the first thing that a patient will drop usually is their self-care and their gym time because other things get in the way.
Speaker0:
[51:39] So really being consistent with finding a to schedule it as if it’s a class like as if it’s something you can’t get out of and uh, I would say like sticking with that as much as you can and start to build a community within your friend group. So if you’re telling people, oh, I’m going to start working out, do you guys want to do this with me? Anyone want to do like a class here or a sauna session here? Or just talking about it out loud is also a way to get other people on board and to support you.
Speaker1:
[52:09] Yeah, that’s good. It’s like almost like capitalize on your people-pleasing obligation like book it in and and that’ll hold you kind of accountable like an appointment that you don’t want to disappoint people but in the end it’s serving you and your self-care it’s a good idea yeah we
Speaker0:
[52:28] Have these things in our life that we know are non-negotiables like brushing our teeth um like drinking water otherwise you start to feel bad i think the the the working out thing feels like a a negotiable for a lot of people because they’re like, well, I don’t have time or I just, but over the span of your life, being active and having muscle and moving is so important, especially for the later years where we’re going to try to still maintain everything, but we need to be mobile and healthy to do that. So if you can turn it into a non-negotiable, like just like all the other tasks that we know we have to do for our health, I really think that movement is one of those, but we don’t see it that way enough. So instead of thinking, okay, how do I motivate myself? Like, do we need that much motivation to brush our teeth? A little, but it starts to feel weird if you don’t, right? If you’re like, oh, like you forgot your toothbrush and you’re camping, you’re like, oh God, my teeth.
Speaker1:
[53:23] Can’t wait to get my toothbrush back.
Speaker0:
[53:26] Yeah. Like we’re disassociated with what it feels like to not move when we haven’t done it in a long time, if we didn’t grow up doing it. But I think once you get into that pattern, it does start to feel weird when you don’t whether it’s like going for a swim surfing in lake ontario like going for a walk anything if your body can move and finding something you like to do starts to become a habit because your body likes it and then it’ll feel weird when you don’t.
Speaker1:
[53:51] Yeah it starts to like set like a new base like i’m thinking just about surfing i haven’t surfed for like for forever it just hasn’t been and you feel like this it’s like a depression kind of feeling like if you’re like a withdrawal of something and then you kind of forget you misplace it and then you’re you surf again you’re like oh wow oh right okay now I feel corrected like something kind of switched back on but it’s yeah if you don’t have that you’re just like yeah life is just kind of you know so you can get it through like other forms of activity but yeah like it it feels like something’s missing or something there’s like a baseline thing that’s not there you know yeah
Speaker0:
[54:34] And I think like being in tune with ourselves and knowing um once you start moving and seeing the results and like seeing how good you feel maybe seeing a little bit of like a muscle start to show that gets addictive and that becomes a pattern too like, way you feel, how you feel good about yourself or whatever that feeling is for you starts to feel good enough that I think it becomes a pattern we like. And just like how when you have, you know, you go to bed at a certain time and like your body gets used to that certain time. It’s the same thing where if you stopped doing that or you went to bed really late for like a month, it would be hard to go to bed early. It’s like we, if we stop working out for like five years, it’s hard to get back into it but once you start it starts to feel good again it’s like this self-perpetuating thing so it’s all about just starting even if you really don’t want to and then allow yourself to like it again because it’ll happen.
Speaker1:
[55:27] Getting through that yeah I like too what you said because we talk about motivation but it seems like it’s it’s like booking in whether it’s like booking it in or like being accountable or declaring something with a friend or like having a community that’s kind of yeah like encouraging you to do it it’s like transcending motivation it’s actually maybe not even about relying on our like how do I feel today do I feel like working out and vomiting no obviously so it’s more about just it’s scheduled it’s happening and then over time you build those neural connections where you like it but you probably still don’t like the vomiting part you like what how you feel after you like that the accomplishment that you did it or like the overall feelings you get,
Speaker0:
[56:13] You know, or like, if you like feeling strong, cause you’re going to feel stronger, like whatever it is that you start to like helps you get over that hurdle of like the part where you’re like, man, I’d rather sit and not do that. Or I have so many things I can’t do that. It’s just that initial like barrier. That’s the hardest part. And I think that’s why working with someone like an ND or your trainer or just having someone keep you accountable, whether it’s your partner or your friends,
Speaker0:
[56:40] that gets you through that initial phase. And then the rest is a lot easier for anyone.
Speaker1:
[56:47] Yeah, that’s, yeah, it’s a good point. Because it’s interesting, like this top, like this idea of motivation where there’s almost like a like it’s almost like an either or when it comes to like self-compassion and just like it’s okay to lie on the couch and eat ice cream and like don’t feel bad about yourself for that or this like how much should we push or kind of encourage and how could that still be compassionate and you know I think maybe the maybe the topic is like the shame that comes in when we feel that sense of obligation, or we feel like, oh, I should be doing this, or I didn’t go to the gym again, you know, so yeah,
Speaker0:
[57:31] Yeah, there’s a lot of that there, too. And like, if you’ve got that feeling of, oh, I didn’t do it. And I know I should, or is this person going to judge me because I still haven’t done what they said, or the internal shame that comes with maybe knowing it’s good for you. Like I said, it’s like should be something like brushing your teeth, but then you just still don’t do it. I think a lot of people struggle with that. And it’s maybe a bit more of a silent struggle for them. And I think that there’s a lot of room there to explore that and to just talk about it and be open with that experience too. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just that working out and strength building is not easy and it’s not something that everyone loves to do. It is good for your body. So there’s just got to be a way to find something that feels fun first and see what happens if you try to add maybe some strength to it. Or if that’s the thing that’s fun, then see what happens if you just start. I think a lot of that shame will start to go away and the joy will come and then we can build from there.
Speaker1:
[58:34] Yeah. Then you start to feel better about yourself and what you can do. And even having the experience of having pushed through something uncomfortable, like builds that feeling of, okay, like I can do that maybe I can even apply that to not wanting to work out like I can kind of yeah through that feeling too
Speaker0:
[58:51] And to take a whole like the body composition side of it all and just think of it as like moving for medicine like moving to help your body feel good that’s the initial step just to have more blood flow to change your mood a little bit to help everything feel better in your body digestion even your skin health and then from there we can look at what to do next but like take away the shame and the body stuff and focus more on moving so that your body can feel a sense of calm and happiness that comes with it and then move up from there yeah.
Speaker1:
[59:27] That’s good that’s good advice yeah What about supplements like creatine? I know you’ve talked about that before. I’ve talked about that. I was scared of creatine, but yeah, I started taking it for like the cognitive benefits more. Yeah.
Speaker0:
[59:43] So if the body has storage forms of creatine and like our brain tissue loves it and stores it, our gut health, so our gut lining, and then also our muscles are areas where creatine can build up. And it’s something you get from eating meat.
Speaker0:
[59:58] But you can take it as a supplement because it’s going to give you more than like eating like six beef livers that day. And the dosage is around three to five grams for most people. And that’s way, way, way below the like bodybuilding dosage of creatine. So this is just like general maintenance, really important for women because women store less of it than men. So they’re going to get a bigger response from taking a little bit extra.
Speaker0:
[1:00:23] It helps your brain. So there’s a lot of research coming out on creatine and depression and helping with mood, helping with preventing memory changes as we get older and memory loss. Um and really cool research on ibd so like Crohn’s colitis and celiac and and having some intestinal health improvements from taking it because it’s stored in the gut too and then yeah for your muscle specifically so it’s going to help prevent that like, fatigue sensation from coming in too quickly. So creatine is a way that our body makes energy, just it uses this creatine phosphate pathway. So instead of making ATP, make this, and that’s a way to substitute when your body runs out of ATP. So like set eight, you might be like, okay, I’m done. My muscles are done. My body is shaking. You need to sit down. With creatine, your body might have like two more reps in that set. And then that means your muscles are going to get a bit stronger because you’re able to push a little more and your sensation of exhaustion is a little less. So over time, you just recover better, you feel better. And then one other cool thing it does is it brings water into the muscle, which can actually cause the scale to go up a little. So you would see like weight gain traditionally on the scale, but it’s not fat gain or anything like that. It’s like muscles will look juicier in the mirror. So you’ll have like a little bit more definition, which is really nice.
Speaker1:
[1:01:41] Yeah. And it’s hydrating to your muscles too. Yeah.
Speaker0:
[1:01:44] Can cause a little bit of dehydration though. I find some people get like dry lips and headache a headache at first usually within the first month it’s just a bit of like your body’s taking more creatine in and then it will get full and so then you just have to maintain so you just have to get used to that first little bit and obviously like because it gets broken down into creatinine that marker in your blood work will look a little different so your body might should be showing signs of the kidneys changing it’s not actual kidney damage or any problems there. It’s just that you have a bit more creatinine breakdown in the tissues.
Speaker1:
[1:02:18] Yeah. So that, yeah, that number can go up if you’re like well-muscled, if you just had a heavy workout, you’re taking creatine. So yeah, people ask about that a lot.
Speaker0:
[1:02:27] It’s not damaging your kidneys. And if you stopped that, it would come back down.
Speaker1:
[1:02:32] And people ask about hair loss too, but I believe there was just one I don’t even know if it was like a full study, but there was some connection with it and increasing testosterone or DHEA. Yeah.
Speaker0:
[1:02:45] I haven’t really seen any research on it anymore. Like there’s, creatine has been studied so much in probably more than most supplements. Actually, it has tons of research on it. I don’t really think, I think if you have a high, high sensitivity to androgens and you’re experiencing hair loss from that, creatine theoretically could worsen it, but I don’t think they ever have ever seen that really in research so I wouldn’t be too worried about that everybody is different though so there are some people who just really don’t tolerate they’ll take it they don’t feel good and then they stop but I would say that that is definitely like very much the.
Speaker1:
[1:03:21] Minority yeah it happens like with any supplement that’s like we’re like everyone should take this like magnesium like there’s handfuls of people throughout the years who are like magnesium does this for me or I got like a pain in my wrist from it or whatever and all of that I guess is possible but yeah I think generally it’s a safe supplement like it’s like been proven over years that it’s you know well tolerated and and I did not know that about the gut health like the IBD connection that’s really cool really
Speaker0:
[1:03:51] Awesome I think like it’s been life-changing for a lot of people in my community and so I feel like it’s worth a shot.
Speaker1:
[1:03:59] Talk to talk
Speaker0:
[1:04:00] To your naturopath about.
Speaker1:
[1:04:01] It yeah ask yeah ask your naturopath everyone book an appointment use your benefits of let’s yeah yeah and the thing with the the car i saw a study um of it improving iq in people age 65 and older like seniors essentially so i i bought some for my parents and i’m like take your creatine like are you you have to load for a month like take a scoop every day like prevent your routine
Speaker0:
[1:04:29] Too i have her on i need to talk to my dad about that.
Speaker1:
[1:04:32] And then there’s another uh i think it was a study um that if you’re sleep deprived so not to necessarily encourage that but if you take like even uh double or quadruple the dose of like something like 10 to 20 grams like a high dose of creatine after sleep deprivation it like mitigates the cognitive dysfunction from being sleep deprived. So that’s interesting. Yeah. So I was doing that when I needed to like function and I didn’t feel rested or I didn’t really feel like my brain was on. I just took a high dose of creatine and I think it helped. I, you know, it’s hard to say, but I didn’t feel like dumb.
Speaker1:
[1:05:12] So it’s really cool because everyone’s looking for like nootropic or like what can I take for brain health or cognitive health so you just use your creatine that you already have yeah
Speaker0:
[1:05:23] I’d say try to go back to the basics like what feeds your brain before you start doing the herbs and everything else yeah.
Speaker1:
[1:05:31] Very cool any other supplements that you tend to recommend for like muscle health or muscle building or this yeah
Speaker0:
[1:05:39] Well obviously protein and creatine are like big ones I depending on the person I would say maybe some fish oil and magnesium can be helpful too for like inflammation and muscle recovery. But in like the strength world, then you have L-glutamine for muscle recovery and electrolytes. Again, same thing to replenish kind of what you’re losing in your sweat, depending on how much you’re working out and how many saunas you’re taking. So just like maybe even salt and squeeze a lemon can be really good for people. Just get some salts back in. There’s also a bit of research on beta alanine and helping with endurance and reducing that fatigue response and a bit on L-carnitine as well. I don’t do that as much. And obviously this is like patient specific because those can be harmful for some people and not for others. So the two biggest ones would probably be protein, creatine, and then electrolytes.
Speaker1:
[1:06:38] Yeah, those are good. Yeah, those are good. Yeah. Electrolytes has become a big thing now. And I think like for this kind of like adrenal fatigue or that dip in the afternoon and just like hydrating a little bit more completely like
Speaker0:
[1:06:53] I’ll yeah like.
Speaker1:
[1:06:55] Yeah like when you’re drinking tons and tons of water and you feel like it’s just draining through like you actually
Speaker0:
[1:07:01] Dehydrate yourself from from that right because your body’s like sodium system is then getting more depleted the more diluted it is so then bring a bit back then it can help you feel more alert and more hydrated.
Speaker1:
[1:07:12] Yeah like i know on hikes like a couple years ago i was doing a lot of like Bruce trail hikes and everybody in that kind of community was like oh my gosh Talia’s always talking about bringing salt with you and it it like you drink your water and you’re like yeah I guess that tastes okay and then you drink your water with salt you’re like oh that’s delicious yeah like
Speaker0:
[1:07:32] Your body like saves it yeah.
Speaker1:
[1:07:34] Yeah just it tastes so much more it tastes smoother it tastes more watery than water you’re like oh this is the best like but then if you’re not dehydrated that and you try it you’re like oh this is horrid it’s like salt yeah yeah
Speaker0:
[1:07:47] Yeah I know it’s a weird thing it’s i always tell people what their body’s really craving is often a sign of something so like you’re like i really want chips you’re actually probably dehydrated because your body’s wanting the salt.
Speaker1:
[1:07:57] Or if you’re
Speaker0:
[1:07:58] Craving chocolate it’s probably a magnesium.
Speaker1:
[1:08:00] Thing some nutrients
Speaker0:
[1:08:02] I mean it’s also just chips and chocolate are delicious but yeah like hence craving is usually a sign.
Speaker1:
[1:08:07] Yeah that there’s something specific that you’re looking for that you you’ve learned over time that you can kind of get from that food yeah yeah yeah um and then And what is like the the regime that you would recommend people do or like and obviously I know it’s individual, but like how many times a week and what does that kind of look like for? Yeah.
Speaker0:
[1:08:30] Well, I think like first strength training is are we talking about that specifically?
Speaker1:
[1:08:35] Yeah.
Speaker0:
[1:08:35] I would say like two times a week is a really great place to start. Definitely giving yourself like a day or two to recover in between. And then if you could do three, I think then you’re in a nice, like, you might start to see results a little faster. You have a day, basically like, let’s say you walk every day. The days between your strength, you’re doing a little bit more walking. And then you have like Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, or something like that, where you’re pushing heavier weights. And then you give your body a nice day to recover and then you do it again. That would be ideal. Once you get really good at it and you feel great, you could probably go up to five and honestly like still get incredible benefits and you’re not too tired but I think at first you want to find this media happy medium between allowing your body to recover and build and then also having a day where you can push hard and it’s actually true nine out of ten and not just because your body’s exhausted yeah.
Speaker1:
[1:09:29] That makes sense
Speaker0:
[1:09:30] Three a week would be like pretty good three to four is, perfect yeah you’re starting zero uh one two two would be a beautiful thing to do for the next couple months and then maybe try to add like.
Speaker1:
[1:09:45] Maybe like i think you said like four exercises a session or you know
Speaker0:
[1:09:51] So like you could in two a week you could do like a whole body both times, uh you’re doing four a week you could do like two uppers two lowers maybe and but but really what you want to do is pick like a couple movements that are going to use more of your body than just like a bicep curl. So like something like pull up, for example, which people don’t love, but a pull up is going to use your core, it’s going to use your arms, your chest and your back. So that’s a lot of muscle groups. Or something like a split squat where your one leg’s in front of the other and you’re dipping down and coming back up uses more than just, well, for one reason, and you’re doing it on both legs, you’re getting more out of that workout. And you’re using like a lot of key balancing muscles. Again, you’re using your pelvis, your glutes, your quads. So you’re getting a lot from that movement. And if you’re holding weights while you do it, you’re also doing a lot for your upper body too. So it’s like a compound movement, a deadlift. So that’s where you take weights and you bring them down in front of you. And then you use your butt and you squeeze it and you bring it back up. That’s using your lats, your arms, your legs. So there’s just so much, so, so workouts like that, instead of just like, um, one muscle group are going to give you a little bit more for that movement. And then if you pick a couple of those and do them each session, then yeah, that’s good enough.
Speaker1:
[1:11:11] Yeah. That’s it. What, um, you know, I forget which trainer talks about this, but he’s like, he’s like, yeah, you’ll, you’ll follow workouts and there’ll be like these kinds of interesting things people do. And he’s like, but like most of it is going to be split squats, squats, deadlifts, pull up, like the basics, you know, it’s going to be those same exercises over and over again and heavier weight yeah
Speaker0:
[1:11:32] Yes press pull up split squat and then a deadlift just do those yeah.
Speaker1:
[1:11:38] That’s yeah that’s great yeah because sometimes that’s where i stumble sometimes i’m like what am i doing today like am i doing you know i want to do something interesting and then yeah but it’s easier to just yeah just go back
Speaker0:
[1:11:52] Kind of walk around and be like what should i do today but then i started just following up okay for these four weeks or five weeks i’m gonna do this this day and this this day and my partner always talks about this but like weightlifting like the traditional just like showing up at the gym and doing your workouts is kind of boring because it’s very similar it’s the consistency that makes the change in your body and and you don’t need to always change it up I mean you obviously want to increase the weight so little and um you can do like every four to five weeks a slightly different movement to not create injuries but it’s very just consistently like pushing pulling use weights do a little bit party at the end and go home yeah.
Speaker1:
[1:12:34] Like lifting pushing yeah
Speaker0:
[1:12:37] But it it is for what it’s doing in your body yeah.
Speaker1:
[1:12:41] And it’s just yeah it is just kind of those movements over and over in the same muscles and yeah um yeah and then what else did I want to ask you Yeah. So a couple of times a week, up to four times. Yeah. I mean, I think too, I noticed like when you’re just starting out, you do a workout and then you’re sore for like a few days after. So it just makes sense to not do another workout the next day. But then you’re saying, yeah, as you get better at it, as your body gets used to it, your recovery time is probably faster. Faster.
Speaker0:
[1:13:15] And you might feel like a little sore, like a little bit like, oh, that muscle got worked. But you actually shouldn’t feel like, you know, and you roll around in bed and you’re like, ow, ow, everything hurts. It can barely walk. That happened when you first get started because it’s new. And that is a discouraging moment for people because they’ll be like, this is horrible, but it will not last. Now you want to feel a tiny, maybe a little bit sore, maybe, but it’s actually normal if you don’t. And it doesn’t mean you didn’t work hard enough. It’s just your body has gotten really used to this type of thing where if you’re eating well, you’re rebuilding your muscle and then you’re breaking tissue down again and then you’re building. So that feeling will not last. It is just the initial phase. I used to get this every year as a, as a dancer, when you take this, you kind of take the summers off after a competitive season. And then in the end of the summer, you go back to your intensive training before the year starts. And like that first week, I’d always be like, Oh, all the little baby muscles in my legs and everything. It’s like, I could barely walk yeah so if you’re new to the fitness journey this happen just drink a lot of water and know that it will pass and get dense you know work with your again your naturopath or acupuncturist or RMT and then you eventually will that will go away even with spin like that feeling of like your pelvis hurting because you’re sitting on the bike that goes away yeah that’s.
Speaker1:
[1:14:38] Good to yeah that’s good to to remind people i remember i like i walk into like a body pump class at good life years ago and somebody was like just don’t pick as heavy as his body pump style it’s like you’ll do one muscle group for an entire song so it’s like a lot like a like high rep you know and um they’re like just go lighter than you think especially on your first try like here I could barely go up this down the stairs afterwards yeah
Speaker0:
[1:15:06] Yeah those few I remember that I’ve been there and like those days are how we were like oh these muscles like hello there they are like you feel them that feeling is intense um but it it that’s only like at first then your muscles get very used to it yeah.
Speaker1:
[1:15:24] And it’s also good to know like to not rely on that as a sign of the quality of your workout either like i think
Speaker0:
[1:15:30] I never get that.
Speaker1:
[1:15:32] Anymore yeah you’re like yeah
Speaker0:
[1:15:34] If i did a really hard workout i might i might have like a like some sensation of a soreness for the day in one muscle group maybe or two but it’s much milder um if i’m starting a whole new set maybe of of stuff where i haven’t worked that muscle group in a while i might get that like, it hurts to go down the stairs feeling. But again, it’s very, very, very uncommon once you get to a place where your body’s in, it’s conditioned. It’s just at first. So that’s why being motivated, having friends, having a plan set in place for when you start will help you with your consistency because it’s always in that first. People will feel really motivated. They’ll get started and something causes them to stop. So having a plan B for when that happens and to help keep you there is going to be good yeah.
Speaker1:
[1:16:20] How do you kind of get back on to it yeah I think that’s the thing I’ve seen a lot over the years too whether it’s whatever health plan it is whether it’s dry supplements whatever people are doing they’re like I went I went on a cruise and then I you know I then I took a few months off and it’s more about just kind of how do you get yourself back you know like if you drift into the ditch when you’re driving like you don’t just like spiral off you know like you know gently coax yourself back on the path and like it’s okay and avoiding that all or nothing thinking
Speaker0:
[1:16:55] Yes there’s so those videos now on tiktok or like instagram people are like what you know this same mentality would be like if you dropped one sock in your pot in your laundry and then you’re like oh and you throw it all in that one you spill some water then you’re like well then you dump all the rats yeah that doesn’t need to happen just because you missed a couple weeks doesn’t mean you’re off the gym schedule now or you know like you’ve fallen off track because you ate whatever it is like that just
Speaker0:
[1:17:21] enjoy your life and then join again go back to what it is like pick up the sock and move on yeah.
Speaker1:
[1:17:27] And yeah what were the tools that got you on it and try and reach for those again and yeah
Speaker0:
[1:17:33] One thing that really helped me when I was first starting was outside of taking a class and going there, that was helpful. But the other thing was when I would go outside on like my runs, or walks, having a specific podcast or specific playlist I made for myself just so that I could with the songs I loved. And I would only let myself listen to it when I went to do the workout or whatever it was. So I would actually wake up and be like, I want to hear all I want to hear my playlist. I love that song that like set of songs. So I would go outside just to put the playlist on. And it kind of tricked me into like doing this little jog around the block.
Speaker1:
[1:18:12] I actually, I think I remember you just talking about that in school. And I remember being like, that’s genius. And I’ve told patients about that. I’m like, you know, I have a colleague and she.
Speaker0:
[1:18:22] I actually did talk about that in school. I think that’s when I started this because I really didn’t want to work out back then. And I think I wrote like an article on a website once about it or something. But I used that. And I think I have days too where you would, again, wouldn’t know if you just saw my Instagram. But like there’s days where I don’t want to do anything. And that’s okay. those are just those days and then other days where I loved it and I want to go and I’m motivated but I wasn’t always like.
Speaker1:
[1:18:47] This yeah I think it’s I think it’s actually like a like even for people the other way who are like I don’t know how I’m gonna listen to like I want to listen to this podcast on something that’s important for me but I don’t have time it’s like well just listen while you’re doing something else that you don’t want to do like pair two things together yeah but I love the yeah I love the like okay like I want to hear my song well I only listen to my song on whatever it is the spin bike or when I’m walking or when I’m running or when I’m working out and so then you’re like you’re kind of pairing this exciting thing with something that you maybe aren’t as excited about yet yeah like the gateway to doing the thing yeah it was my
Speaker0:
[1:19:27] Playlist was the gateway for me.
Speaker1:
[1:19:28] That’s a good yeah that’s great you’re like and and then you associate that song with working out and so you’re like you kind of like working out or you have positive associations with it i
Speaker0:
[1:19:40] Have there’s one playlist i mean for myself it was called like 5k run during covid when i had like the big grief episode and then was just taking myself for walks and i remember i’d get to the end of the like little jog or eventually like the 13k run or whatever and i would get that song and it was like i think i would start to yell at and scream it in the streets and like i just remember doing this and just feeling free and like my mood i could feel my mood finally like waking up and that playlist is it’s still here there’s so much power when you combine music with your mental health and the movement you’re doing.
Speaker1:
[1:20:16] Yeah that’s really great because it’s also like you know how songs can get tired and you’re like oh it doesn’t have the same meaning but because you’re like kind of containing the experience of it to be paired with like all those positive endorphins from your workout and like this all
Speaker0:
[1:20:32] Together if i hear that song now i remember there’s two songs there’s green light by lord.
Speaker1:
[1:20:38] And or
Speaker0:
[1:20:39] Is all saints like if those to come on it’s the start of that run in the end and i and it’s that feeling of like oh i’m gonna be okay me again like it was powerful and i still have it and that was from four or five years ago now.
Speaker1:
[1:20:54] That’s cool yeah that’s cool it’s like when you smell fragrances from a certain time era and you’re yeah but music yeah that’s cool that’s really that’s a good tip for anyone listening like think about yeah how can you make it a
Speaker0:
[1:21:10] Good tip so yeah and all the way to.
Speaker1:
[1:21:14] The end yeah i remember andrew huberman saying something about how it will like lower the dopamine of so if you if you like working out and then you pair your workout with something else that you really like it like you kind of lower the dopamine you get from the workout but what we’re talking about is like you already don’t really want it or you need encouragement you want to get a dopamine rise so you’re like pairing something that gives you dopamine yeah yeah and
Speaker0:
[1:21:43] Then you learn and I wouldn’t say that like now I can like turn music off and just go for a run I still want the playlist but it allows me to get excited for that.
Speaker1:
[1:21:52] Yeah totally yeah and yeah it’s like there’s no harm in listening to music every time you work out I mean and I’m sure that if your thing was broken you would still do it it’s just you know yeah exactly but because you’ve built that habit and you there’s enough of a reward from exercise whether it’s just even finishing in the workout um yeah you’ll still do it yeah that’s great yeah anything else does like anything you’re up to that you want people to know about or me I
Speaker0:
[1:22:25] Mean I yeah like I’m I talk a lot about fitness but I am still seeing patients regularly as a naturopath and this is like my biggest passion in life but using fitness maybe as a combination and just teaching people if they’re interested in that aspect of their health and lifestyle is another little like adventure I’m taking now and in my clinic time but I also teach spin outside of all of this and that can be really fun if you ever want if you’re looking for a class to join you can just come take mine I can guest people I can teach you the like, you know how to do it on the bike and feel like make it make cardio fun again yeah but where.
Speaker1:
[1:23:06] You work where’s the it’s
Speaker0:
[1:23:08] Sweat and tonic i teach for swim sweat and tonic cool yeah um yeah you can come anytime i find i just taught a dance hall class this morning yeah that’s.
Speaker1:
[1:23:20] Cool it’s like pairs the love of dance and like fitness and like you can yeah
Speaker0:
[1:23:24] Totally yeah sweaty and feel good i feel like it’s really an important journey for your mental health more than anything else in there. And then, yeah. And you can find me just like working out of the gym. So if anyone wants to go to a gym and like have someone to work out with, I’m there too.
Speaker1:
[1:23:39] Cool. Yeah. And then you’re working at?
Speaker0:
[1:23:42] Dallas Park Medical. Yeah. So High Park. Yeah. And I work there pretty much every day. My patient population is really varied because it’s a medical clinic that’s integrated. So we work all together with chiros and psychotherapists and medical doctors. But probably the patient population I see the most often will be people who have PCOS or some fertility goals or who are reaching perimenopause, menopause, and they’re wanting to learn about how to optimize their health. Those would be my main areas of focus. I do a lot of acupuncture too. So I find that that’s a really beautiful thing to kind of pair eastern and western medicine all together.
Speaker1:
[1:24:26] Yeah that’s cool yeah all right everybody check out stress where there’s a spin class an antropathic my back puncture session or workout that’s
Speaker0:
[1:24:37] Like i do i guess i do a lot if i say it all out loud like that.
Speaker1:
[1:24:40] That’s good though all
Speaker0:
[1:24:42] In the same world.
Speaker1:
[1:24:43] You know on the health space it’s good to kind of yeah like bring in more modalities and like expand beyond our like naturopathic education which is pretty comprehensive but there’s always like more tools that you find you need to accumulate as you work with people so it’s cool
Speaker0:
[1:24:58] Yeah and sometimes somehow it all just kind of comes to you you know like I’ve found all of this because I of what I was going through and this is how it helped me and I want to share it that’s usually that’s my passion when it comes to anything related to our bodies is just to like educate and eliminate fear and to help make it an empowered, joyful experience.
Speaker1:
[1:25:22] Yeah, it’s fun to get healthy.
Speaker0:
[1:25:25] Yeah.
Speaker1:
[1:25:26] I tell people, it’s like a meaningful pursuit in life because so much aligns when you’re pursuing health, like, you know, because it encompasses your relationships and your life purpose and creativity, like all the things that are important to you. Like on a health journey, those things kind of align, you know. so and what
Speaker0:
[1:25:45] Better thing to learn about than how our body works like we’re living in it we should learn how it works and how to what it means like what a menstrual cycle is and like what happens during it or like what our digestion system is meant to do and I think we should all learn that from a young age when I don’t think taught that enough so that’s probably my favorite rule.
Speaker1:
[1:26:05] Yeah I love that yeah it’s so true it’s like you know there’s yeah something extremely empowering about just understanding your body from that kind of knowledge level but like how you kind how you interpret that to interpret the signals of your body what it’s like to live in your body and you know cravings like we were talking about or that desire to work out or even identifying that flame that you were talking about too like that burning flame of motivation or that spark like you know yeah yeah thanks dad this is great this
Speaker0:
[1:26:41] Was so fun thanks for inviting me.
Speaker1:
[1:26:43] Yeah thanks for thanks for taking the time and for talking to me and we’ll put links and where people can find you in the show notes and yeah
Speaker0:
[1:26:52] Yeah yeah if anyone has any questions just reach out to me and then we can talk about anything that you learned today.
Speaker1:
[1:26:58] Yeah if anyone has questions let me know and i can we can send them to staz or contact her directly we’ll put your instagram and everything up, too.
Speaker0:
[1:27:06] Cool. Thank you.
Speaker1:
[1:27:06] Yeah. Thanks, Des.
Speaker0:
[1:27:08] Bye, Talia.
Speaker1:
[1:27:09] Bye.
