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00:03
Welcome. Hi, I'm Mikki and this is Mikkipedia, where I sit down and chat to doctors, professors, athletes, practitioners and experts in their fields related to health, nutrition, fitness and wellbeing. And I'm delighted that you're here.

00:24
Hey everyone, Mikki here, you're listening to Mikkipedia, and this week on the podcast, I speak to Amber Shaw. She's a health and wellness coach, a recognized authority in this area, all about her hormonal fat loss blueprint. These are four pillars that help a woman understand how best to approach diet and lifestyle as we head into our 40s and beyond. So we talk about

00:53
blood sugar regulation, exercise, stress management, and flexible intermittent fasting. Fasting gets a bit of a bad rap, partly from me actually, but it's more how people often do things in a way which doesn't help improve their overall health outcomes and body composition and how they feel. Amber and I talk about the best way to approach intermittent fasting.

01:22
able you to achieve results and not be worse off for it. So this is a fun interview, I think you're really going to love it. And for those of you unfamiliar with Amber, she is a mind and body transformational expert and founder of the Wellness Revolution, which is a leading global movement for thousands of women over 40, empowering them to rediscover their confidence and recreate a lifestyle that is effortless and sustainable.

01:51
a recognised authority in the health and wellness industry, and a motivational speaker, Amber coaches women all across the world on achieving sustainable weight loss without dieting their way through life. She is a board certified health and wellness coach, certified personal trainer, and her insights have been featured in numerous media outlets such as NBC, Fox,

02:20
So I think you're really going to love this. I'll put links to where you can find Amber, she's a podcast host as well. Her podcast is great. I absolutely love it. In the show notes. And just before we kick off, I'd like to remind you that the best way to support this podcast is to hit the subscribe button on your favorite podcast listening platform. That increases the visibility of the podcast out there and it makes the literally thousands of other podcasts. So more people get the opportunity.

02:49
learn from the guests that so generously sort of donate their time to helping us understand better health factors that impact our lifestyle. All right team enjoy this interview with Amber Shaw. Awesome amazing okay so Amber so great to have you here thanks so much for taking the time and most health coaches and nutrition coaches who are really effective in what they do in that sort of

03:19
personal transformation story. And I know that you fall into this camp and you're able to sort of take and integrate your own experience with your knowledge and your background to provide the most effective service. So can you just chat a little bit about your own story and what inspired you to do what you do now? Yes, I would love to because you're right. I mean, it is so much the cornerstone of how I teach and the foundation of how I teach is.

03:45
not only through my knowledge and certifications and all of that, but even before that, it was really just my experience and the way that I lived my life and what I overcame and how I changed my life. And actually at an older age, I mean, at around the age of 40 is when my life really shifted. And so it really kind of started for me when I was a little girl, you know, from the age of about nine years old, I can remember having this

04:13
sinking yet overwhelming feeling that the body that I was in just wasn't good enough. Meaning like, you know, I was never an overweight child, but I was an athletic kid, I was tall. And just from a combination of having different female figures in my life, you know, unknowingly and and and in love, it was never out of, you know, being mean or anything like that, they just didn't know any better.

04:40
But just making comments about my physical body, right? That maybe I was bigger or like, you know, just certain things that, you know, as a nine-year-old little girl, I mean, it just, it was very hurtful. And so, and then the other part of that was just being in that culture. You know, I'm 44, so I was born in 79 in the early 80s. I mean, good God, diet culture was in full swing, right? And so we didn't have these body positivity movements. There was such a lack of awareness.

05:09
to, you know, of how we speak in front of like little girls and like really the important, the emphasis, there was a lack of like emphasis on raising girls to be proud of their bodies, to be athletic, to be strong. You know, it's much different than it is now. And so I can just remember growing up in a time where, yeah, I did see my mom on the scale all the time. I did see aunts and TV commercials and just all of it, like constantly criticizing their bodies. And so...

05:37
For me, that was a message that was deeply ingrained in my subconscious from a very, very early age. And so how this kind of progressed for me was I can remember starting my first calorie restricted diet when I was about 14. I didn't even know what a calorie was. I literally though just knew that I wasn't supposed to have very many of them. Like that's it. So everywhere I went, I was always like looking at what's like the lowest calorie thing I could eat, right? And

06:06
Simultaneously, I was just really attaching so much of my worth to the external. I felt like if I was wanted, if I was desired, if people thought I was pretty, then I was okay. I just didn't realize just really the slippery slope that I was going down because when I was in my early

06:35
And I was actively participating in bulimia. And I was just a very, very sad girl. And so fortunately I had the wherewithal and like I had the resources to get help, getting to heal from bulimia. But I didn't realize at the time, the thing is that I was able to stop the physical act of throwing up, like the binging and the purging.

07:03
but I didn't do anything to really work on the mindset piece. I didn't really do anything. The therapy didn't really get to the root cause of my worthiness issues, of my abandonment issues. My parents divorced at a very young age. I didn't get to my origin story. I just sort of slapped a bandaid on it. I just slapped a bandaid on it and just kept going. And at this point, at 23, 24, this is now this way that I look at my body, the constant criticizing, the constant,

07:32
you know, mental calculations of every morsel of food I'm putting into my body, the exercising twice a day, the doing every single diet on the planet. Like this is just becoming like a way of life for me. Like this is at this point, like this is just my life. And so fast forward to, you know, my early thirties, I had two kids.

07:54
And with both pregnancies, I gained about 65, 70 pounds, which is not a healthy amount of weight to gain. And I gained it really fast. I mean, I was on bed rest with my first baby and that's because my blood pressure was so high. And the reason why is because from years and years of just constant restricting, because constantly being on a diet, I really did use the nine months as like basically an all out binge. It was like, that was sort of my like,

08:22
I basically had a, I call it the case of the efforts, you know, efforts when you're like, forget it, like I've already messed up on my diet and might as well just keep going, right? Like I know some of the listeners are probably like, yes, I know I've said that to myself many times. And I basically had a case of the efforts for nine months with both pregnancies. And so I did lose the weight with both, after both babies, but it was super unhealthy. Like I was really going back, cause it like set me into a tailspin when I no longer was pregnant and had the excuse that I was

08:52
pregnant to be carrying around all of that weight. I mean, I can remember the most traumatizing, and this is so crazy looking back, but this is just how broken I was. I can just remember like I was so, the most traumatizing like moment for me at that time. And it just sent me into, cause I was so unhealthy. It sent me into such a tailspin. I can remember.

09:12
I was so tired, I had nothing to wear because nothing was fitting me. I couldn't fit into the maternity stuff because I wasn't pregnant anymore and that just wasn't fitting. I couldn't fit in all my old clothes and so I had to go to the mall and buy some stuff and I had to buy some clothes that were like, I don't know, four sizes too big and like that I normally would wear. And I mean, you would have thought like somebody died. I mean, I was just, it was terrible. The self-loathing and the hating and the disappointment and the way I spoke to myself.

09:40
and how disgusted I felt with myself. I mean, it's just crazy. I literally had just had a baby, but still it just that carrying around that kind of weight just really, really was hard for me. And so I did lose the weight, but I lost it very fast and very unhealthy because I was in such a tailspin. And so again, then it just kind of went back to normal life, right? Well, fast forward to when I was turning 40, I

10:09
was at this point in my life, from the outside looking in, my life was very picturesque. I was crushing it in my sales career. At that point, I'd had a sales career for about 16 years. I was making multiple six figures, doing well. I could do it in my sleep. And I was married to a super attractive attorney, very successful. We'd been best friends since I was seven years old. We were like the perfect couple, two beautiful, healthy children. Everything was perfect.

10:39
But it wasn't perfect, actually at all. From the inside, looking out, my life was a total freaking mess. Like my marriage was falling apart. I was on like the brink of divorce. I was crumbling right before me. I was so unhappy in my job because I knew in my core that I was just made for so much more, but I felt stuck and I didn't know what to do. And so I was very unsatisfied in my job.

11:06
And ultimately I was very unhappy with myself. I mean, this is just years and years of like abusing my body and abusing myself with the way I spoke to myself, the constant criticism, and I was just tired. I was tired of living like that. And so you couple all of that, combine all of that with, I was just getting ready to turn 40, okay, which is a big birthday coming up.

11:29
And I really decided to, I needed to spend some time, like just getting quiet with myself and really like figuring out what are my next steps. And so in life, right? Like I was like, I'm turning 40, like what do I want my next 40 years to look like? And so I decided for my 40th birthday to take a trip to Costa Rica. And it was a yoga retreat. And my intention on the trip was actually to get a little clarity on what I wanted to do

11:58
my career. And I came back from that trip with just some really kind of just a true understanding of where we're supposed to go next. I was sitting on a beach in Costa Rica, I was meditating, and I was just asking God, like, what is my next step? And I just started writing down, like, what are things I'm good at? What do I like? And then it was just like, all of a sudden, it was like the word coach just hit me.

12:25
And in that moment, like if you've ever had, if you're listening to this and you know, and even you, Mickey, if you know, like you've ever had a moment where you just know it in your core, right? That that was like a divine intervention, or you just know with every fiber of your being that that was a direct message. And I just knew, and then that moment I knew, and I just, I felt God saying to me, like all of this that you're going through right now, Amber, is like not in vain.

12:54
Like this, like, oh, you have the ability now to take all this pain and all of this like self-healing. Cause at that point too, I'd been doing a lot of therapy work like to try and heal my marriage and like all of these things. You know, you have the opportunity now to turn that pain into purpose. And that, you know, I really walked away feeling like, you know, spirit has my back. And so I...

13:17
I'm a doer, like I am definitely a doer. So I listened to it and I immediately came back and I enrolled in a year long integrative nutrition program. And I wasn't exactly sure what it was gonna like exactly look like as far as the coaching was concerned. I knew I wanted to coach women, but as I started going through, well, let me back up and say this. I knew I wanted to coach women, but there was no way at that point that I was ever gonna coach women.

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on anything to do with like weight loss or fitness or like any of that, because I was so messed up in my own stuff, for me, that was terrifying because I was like, oh my God, I'm gonna constantly be on display. Like no way would I ever do any like photos of me like in a sports bra, like I'm not doing any of that, like no way. And so I was like, no, I'm not doing that. And I will say that as I started my

14:16
year-long program and I later then got board certified in health coaching, I really started, things started to change for me. I started to look at food differently. I started to learn about nutrition and health and wellness from more of a holistic, you know, viewpoint, more, you know, diving more into like integrative medicine and functional medicine and I was really fascinated by all of that. And so it really just started, I started to heal my relationship with food too. And I really drew a line in the sand that I wasn't going to diet anymore.

14:46
And so basically I launched my business right around, right before the pandemic hit, I didn't realize that that's like, was the best time to do it apparently. And I mean, not for this in the state of the world, but for a lot of online people that, you know, that was a good time to be in that position, to be able to help people remotely. And so I was already set up for that. And so, yeah, I, you know, the pandemic hit and I was-

15:14
really started leaning into helping women over 40 and their health and wellness. And that's really just sort of how it all came together for me. Yeah. You know, Amber, I think so many aspects of your origin story people will relate to and will resonate with because so many of us like you are in that over 40s, we had...

15:40
mothers who, as you say, you always saw your mum on the scale. Like I went on my first diet with my mum when I was like 13, because as a twin, I was always the bigger twin, you know, and I very much mimicked and looked like my mum in that sort of aspect. So it was really normal, but it was almost, this will sound, well, I'm not sure weird, but it was like a bonding experience for us, because I actually didn't have a lot in common with my mum, other than the fact that we both were bigger.

16:07
You know, and so this was something I could do with her and spend time with her. And it's not, and you're right. Like it was never, we didn't have the knowledge back then that that could be detrimental to how we saw ourselves. And so you can't blame, we absolutely can't blame our parents for that. But it's, um, I think so many people will, will resonate with that. And, and your feeling of being stuck. I talked to so many women who are absolutely in that space as well, either it's stuck.

16:36
with their, with typically actually, and I have heard you talk about this, that they are crushing it in every other aspect of their life, but it's their diet and their exercise where they're constantly feeling like they're failing. Yeah, no. So this is, I mean, the thing is, is what people don't realize is those two things are actually directly related. And here's why. It's because...

17:01
Women typically who are crushing it in all other areas of their life, they are the go-getters. They are probably doing very well in their job. They have, you know, successful family life, whether or not they have children or not. But what comes along with that with just kind of the personality type is that perfectionist mentality. And so, right? And so we develop this all or nothing. We have this all or nothing mentality in all areas of our life. That's just the way. In fact,

17:30
I've always said, I'm like, my name is like Amber Balls of the Walshaw. Like that is who I am. Like that's how I operate. Um, but so that's not, that's not a coincidence. We, so when we, when we're like that and we were personality, again, high achievers, we also have this mentality when it comes to our nutrition, this all or nothing mentality, and at the end of the day, that actually is what keeps people stuck. That mentality.

17:58
that you have to be perfect. It's the all or nothing. That's what keeps you starting over on a Monday. That's what keeps you eating well all week long. And then falling apart maybe on the weekend because maybe you've been white knuckling it all week long with your nutrition, not listening to your cravings, not feeling satisfied, feeling hungry maybe. And so then eventually, because willpower is a muscle, that fatigue, you go all in and now you feel like you failed, right? Because you demand perfection.

18:28
And then you go right, you start right back over. So it's like, that is so, people just miss that, I think. A lot of women miss that, that that can be, the thing that actually is your strength can also be kind of one of your weaknesses, especially when it comes to nutrition and exercise, if you are having that all or nothing mentality.

18:49
Absolutely, and I certainly noticed that with people I work with that the people who are much more comfortable in that sort of grey zone, you know, not that they're just a little bit more chill, they actually, they respond so much better to diet and exercise sort of interventions if you like, because they recognize that you don't have to be perfect in life actually. You're that that's the consistency of what you're doing is actually is the main sort of thing that keeps someone successful. Yeah.

19:18
Yeah, absolutely. It's about it's not about, you know, diets teach us about perfection, right? Because if you think about it, a diet, like there's no room for error. If you're trying to, you know, count your adhere to a calorie count of, you know, 1500 calories or whatever, you know, exactly there's no room for error for that. You're supposed to hit 1500 calories, right? Or like your macros, you're supposed to hit your macros exact, right? Or if you're like, lose, you know,

19:42
10 pounds in eight weeks. Like there's no room for error, but when you're talking about an actual lifestyle where you're not on a diet, you're not being super restrictive. You are making good choices the majority of the time, right? And that is actually what's sustainable. It doesn't require perfection. It requires you to be consistent most of the time over time. I mean, that's what that is. Yeah, that's the requirement, not perfection.

20:10
Yeah, but diets don't teach us that. Yeah. No. Now I've got a question that's absolutely related, but a little bit of a tangent. You mentioned body positivity. These messages weren't around when we were younger. Nowadays, everyone's all about body positivity, and I absolutely love it to a point. Same. I know where you're going with this, and I'm like, I'm with you. We're tracking. I'm with you on this. Yeah. And I just, you know, there's actually a lot of backlash these days.

20:38
against people like us who want to counsel people in eating better to improve their body composition. Like I talked to a lot of women who almost feel ashamed that they want to change their body, that they're not happy with their body. So what are your thoughts on that Amber? Obviously you see the same sort of thing. Yeah. I mean, in fact, it's so funny. I did a podcast interview on my show not that long ago with the neuroscientists and we're talking about

21:04
I'm not a neuroscientist, neurologist, and we were talking about this same thing. And what we both said is that I am not on board with body positivity when you are ignoring like health markers, right? Like there's science behind, you know, the different markers like your blood pressure and your A1C and like your cholesterol. And it's not a secret typically.

21:33
And it's not in all cases, you can also be what people call like, you know, skinny and unhealthy, right? You can still be skinny and have high cholesterol. But there is like research and science that shows that your risk for having those, you know, those unhealthy markers are higher when your body fat percentage is higher, right? Like when you, especially if you're falling into that obese category, or if you are again, just...

22:00
you know, if your body fat percentage is up and you're carrying especially like a lot of visceral fat, right? Like, you know, which is super dangerous and super unhealthy. And so I just think that like body positivity, yes, I am all for it, right? Like loving our bodies and being confident and because I do feel like confidence is an inside job and like all of those things. But like however,

22:26
You know, it is not about ignoring like science. It's not about ignoring health. I think we like confuse the two. You don't have to have a six pack, right? But if you're walking around with a ton of belly fat and it's that deep visceral fat, that's actually fricking dangerous to your health. So like don't, don't, I think that body positivity and I'm, maybe I'm going to get some fire for this. I don't know, but if only if it's taken out of context, I guess. But I think, you know, body positivity.

22:54
I just think it can be a lazy excuse if you're not using it for the right reasons. Right? I think that that can... And so I just think we have to be careful with... I also think too people... I think people use it to their advantage or use it in the wrong way. Again, body positivity was not started as a movement to be unhealthy and be okay with it. They're two totally different things.

23:23
I think the body positivity and the way I take it is that, yeah, bodies do come in all shapes and sizes. And again, you don't have to be a size two or a size four. I mean, you can still be healthy and be a size 10 or a 12. I mean, like that's not, but it's not about ignoring, again, those super important health markers. I think that's really dangerous. Absolutely. And I totally am on the same page. And the other thing is people conflate loving your body with loving yourself.

23:53
really like yourself and love yourself, but not necessarily love how you were looking or how you were feeling at the same time. So it's that, I think it's really important to really back yourself and have that self-confidence and like yourself, but also you don't necessarily have to love the stage that you're in with regards to your body composition and body fat and the rest of it.

24:21
Well, absolutely. I mean, personal growth can mean something different to everybody, right? And so there's nothing wrong. Nobody should be shamed for having goals, right? If your goal is, hey, you know what I do? I really, it's my personal goal. Like I love myself regardless. Here's when it gets dangerous. It gets dangerous. And this is where the difference is. If you attach the statement to, I will be happy when I get to 20% body fat.

24:46
That to me is, again, you are sort of like outsourcing your happiness to something external and that can be dangerous. So I don't think, and I don't think people should be ashamed for it. I don't think there's anything wrong with loving yourself, but then also wanting to, you have goals and better yourself and whatever that looks like for you. So, yeah, I totally agree with you on that. Yeah, nice.

25:11
Now, Amber, I love your podcast, by the way, The Wellness Revolution, and of course, we will link to it in the show notes. And I really want to talk to you about your hormonal fat loss blueprint, which is part of sort of a bigger picture that you discussed in these sort of five different shifts that women can make. And the way that you describe it, you've got sort of four pillars that you lean on that help lead to sustainable fat loss for women. And you'll...

25:37
you'll probably be on the same page. I'm imagining about this is that women often think, oh, it's my hormones. The reason why I'm not making any sort of ground on my body composition goals or how I'm feeling is my hormones are out of whack. And then how do I test them? What supplements do I take? What medications can I go on to help improve it? But you talk about four pillars, which we could sort of start thinking of first that help

26:07
optimize sort of hormonal balance and hormonal health for women. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I do think, you know, my, who I coach is women 40, 50 and beyond. And that is, you know, absolutely our bodies are changing for sure. Right. And so I will tell you that if you are somebody who is struggling with your hormone, I'm sorry, struggling with your weight loss, hormones do play a huge piece of it.

26:29
It's not the only piece though, right? So I always advise clients very first step is making sure you are like up to date, at least on your annual like blood work. I mean, getting, you know, like a thyroid checked and, you know, and, and checking, you know, different, different markers are super important just because you could be really doing an uphill battle. Um, if, if your hormones really are unbalanced and you're, you feel like you're doing everything else right. And you're still not seeing movement. So, um, that is definitely a big piece of it, but the reason why I, you know, I came up with the, the, um,

26:59
kind of my methodology for teaching and how I coach nutrition, especially teaching women how to build that lifestyle, right? That's effortless and sustainable because that's really what it's all about. I coach women how to lose weight without the dieting and just make it, like I said, a doable and sustainable lifestyle that works for them. But such a, and so I do a lot of like mindset work and a lot of my programs and we do all that, but there is a definitely a very like tactical part of what I teach.

27:28
which is the hormonal fat loss blueprint. And it really does kind of sum up my approach to sustainable weight loss. And it's a very simple approach. The very first pillar that I talk about is eating for blood sugar control. And I'm gonna explain why I teach this because I am not a calorie counting coach. I'm not a macro counting coach. That is not the way that I, because for me, that the way I was...

27:54
lived my life, all of that was under the umbrella of diet. And anytime I'm forced to track anything or doing it to me, that's very triggering. It feels like a diet. I don't have time for it. I don't want to live like that. Right. And so, you know, what I found is that when I really started leaning into just, you know, forgetting, not worrying about counting grams and calories and da da da da, but I just really actually made the very simple approach of just eating less stuff

28:24
focusing on a more whole food nutrition approach and more balanced approach, I noticed that not only did the weight start coming off more effortlessly, but it just felt more doable. And so the reason, yeah, and so the reason why from a hormone standpoint, I talk about eating for blood sugar control is because when you do that, it absolutely affects your insulin levels. And insulin is as known as the fat storage hormone.

28:53
Um, you know, as you know, and, and so when we are really eating to keep our blood sugar more stable, not only is it going to help with your insulin sensitivity and really just make sure your body is kind of working like a well oiled machine, but you're also going to notice that your, um, you know, your energy is more stable because you're not experiencing those spikes and then crashes, right? You're going to also notice that your hunger is probably, you know, at bay.

29:21
Right? And all of these things play a role in the choices you make and your ability to lose weight. And also, you know, if you are somebody which, to be honest, it is I was I was having this conversation with a physician just the other day on the show is that insulin resistance is actually something that is more common in women at over 40 than people realize because of yeah, because of the life because of lifestyle. Right. Because of high stress, you know, not getting a lot of sleep.

29:50
You know, eating a lot of sugar, a lot of processed and packaged foods. And so when we constantly have that elevated blood sugar, as you know, um, that absolutely can affect the way that our insulin works, which ultimately, without going into too in depth of an explanation of, you know, insulin resistance, it's, you know, that ultimately affects the way you store fat. And so if you have some weight loss goals, um, you really want to be making sure that you're doing everything you can to really

30:17
have your insulin regulating in a healthy way. And so one of the ways to kind of keep that in check is to eat foods that are going to be less processed, less refined, and again, keep your blood sugar just a little bit more stable. And so the reason, so that's like the big reason from a hormone standpoint, because here's the thing with hormones too, as you know, you know, hormones are all related, right? They are especially like cortisol, insulin, like they go back to back with each other, right? And so,

30:46
And even the sex hormones, progesterone and estrogen, like they're all related. And so when one is way off, it can absolutely throw the rest off, right? And so I think sometimes we can, as women, we can get so focused on like just estrogen and progesterone and we kind of ignore like cortisol, the stress hormone, but we just don't realize how much of an impact it's actually having on our other hormones as well.

31:11
But the other thing why I really like to kind of simplify things for women when it comes to our nutrition is because number one, it doesn't have to be that complicated. We have like diet culture is way over complicated nutrition, right? But I but what I have found because people ask me all the time, how do you coach weight loss when you don't like ask like you don't have women track? Like how is that even possible? And I do focus on portions and it's also about focusing on like your quality of food. But what I've noticed is that

31:38
when you start to just reduce stuff in a box or a package, you start to reduce like, pay attention to your added sugars, right? And you kind of like go about your nutrition through the lens of keeping your blood sugar more stable. You are going to most likely go into a little bit of a caloric deficit because you're, you are ruling out a lot of the garbage, a lot of the calorie dense garbage that can really, you know, blow your caloric intake.

32:05
And so I find that you don't need to count and track when you're just eating, you know, plus you're gonna reduce inflammation in the body, your detoxification pathways are gonna improve, you know, all of these things matter when it comes to weight loss. Right? So that's my first pillar and why that's really kind of the very, if you're listening to this and you've got some weight loss goals, I can tell you like even taking just that very first step of starting to notice how like the amount of added sugars you're taking in a day.

32:34
can be a massive game changer. And just to give you a point of reference, for women, most women, it's under 25 grams of added sugar. And if you start really paying attention to your labels, you're gonna notice that adds up really quickly. And for me, yeah, I just decided, I'm like, I don't need sugar in my salad dressing and my ketchup and my, you know, sugar's in everything, right? And when you start really paying attention, I'm like, I would rather save my sugar and take for like chocolate during the day, right? And so,

33:04
So yeah, so that's a very big like first step. So that's my first pillar. And I love it. And I think a couple of things which I was thinking about as you were describing that is a lot of women think they don't get a lot of sugar in their diet because they think about their Monday through Thursday diet. But they don't think about what goes on in the weekend. And that almost always for a lot of women who are struggling with their weight, it's the

33:30
It's that Friday, Saturday, Sunday where things might just go a little bit off the rails and it's far more often than what they think it is and it's far more food or far more sugar or junk than what they think it is as well. I think that's certainly something which I notice in my clients. When you put alcohol in the mix as well, not that I love a wine and I love a craft beer, so I'm not totally against alcohol or anything like that. But it's...

33:59
does impact on food decisions and also how your body processes the nutrients that it's eating. Yeah, and what I was going to say too is I think where a lot of women underestimate the amount of sugar that they're eating is also because they don't think about the hidden sugar. So that's what I'm talking about with like the hidden sugars in bread and you know different cereals and you know different condiments and salad dressings. I mean so there when people are like I don't need a lot of sugar they're just thinking about like cookies and

34:25
Yes. Like the obvious ones. But once you really start educating yourself about how much hidden sugars are actually in a lot of the food we eat, it's a really big eye-opener for sure. Totally. And the other thing is that insulin isn't a hormone that's regularly tested, at least in labs here in New Zealand. They always sort of go for the second cab off the rank, which is your A1C or HbA1C and even fasting glucose. But

34:53
very seldom, like you have to ask for insulin to be tested, but you could look like you've got good sugar control, but you have no idea what's going on in the background as well. So what are some signs that you see Amber, that might indicate that someone might have some sort of issue with blood sugar regulation? I mean, the biggest one that I see in my practice and it's like, I can always just spot it from a mile away is it's like.

35:19
If we've been at a pretty good rhythm for several weeks of eating pretty healthy and minimizing a lot of this processed foods and all of that, and it is just nothing is happening. That is my first and they're just not seeing any movement. It's like my first thing is like, I wonder if you've got some insulin resistance going on. One thing to know about insulin resistance, I think what a lot of people miss is that

35:44
there is a spectrum of insulin resistance. So like at its highest, right? It's like, we're talking type two diabetic, right? But like, you can still have some insulin resistance going on because it's almost like, cause it compounds, right? Like it, like eventually it can get to that, but it's definitely a spectrum. So it can fly really way under the radar for a lot of women. But that to me is, that is the biggest one that I see is it's just like,

36:14
They're really like they are doing all the right things, sleeping, getting exercise, you know, and really cleaning up their diet and just nothing has happened. Also a lot of times too, if there's like an excess of like a lot of belly fat going on and I know menopausal, like menopausal women can also get that as well. But if you, and here's the other thing I want to say, actually what's interesting is that, you know,

36:38
Menopausal women, actually, their chances of insulin resistance actually increases, because as estrogen and progesterone drop, that can affect your insulin as well. So it's just, they all go kind of hand in hand. And so yeah, the inability to lose weight is usually a big one. Yeah, no, that's great. And so, which actually leads really nicely into your second pillar, which, and I love this, your flexible, intermittent fasting. And what I love about this, Amber, is that

37:07
A lot of times women are told they absolutely cannot fast. It's almost like set in stone. No women aren't allowed to fast. Too stressful on them and there's, you know, you just, it's not an option. Whereas you approach it in like a different way and how you talk about it is just much more open minded, I think. Well, I appreciate that. I mean, my biggest thing is, and the reason why I talk about this flexible intermittent

37:37
The very most important thing is that you don't treat intermittent fasting like a diet. It is not a diet. And what I mean by that is that you never let the clock trump how you're feeling. So I am always a really big fan and how I coach my clients, it's like...

37:57
One of the cool things about intermittent fasting is because it is just a scheduled way of eating, right? And yes, your body does get a little more regulated and like get into the rhythm of it when you can be consistent with it. But it's never supposed to be like a white knuckling thing where it's like, oh my God, it's 10 o'clock and I'm starving. I can't eat. I can't wait until I eat until my app goes off and says I can eat at noon. Like that's when women fail at it because it feels like a diet and it doesn't have to be like that. You know, I got asked the other day.

38:25
Can you intermittent fast all week and then not fast on the weekends? Well, sure you can. You're not gonna mess anything up. Like again, I find that when you, I intermittent fast seven days a week just because my body has now gotten into the rhythm of it and just what works for me. But like, would I screw anything up if I like, you know, if I didn't do that, if I didn't fast on the weekend? And the answer is absolutely not, right? So there is more flexibility in it than people realize. And one of the benefits that I talk about with intermittent fasting,

38:53
Again, this goes back to hormonally, what it can do to improve your insulin sensitivity. Not only are you giving your body a break, you know, digestively, which is important for the gut and the microbiome, I think, can be really helpful, but also it can help to, like I said, improve your insulin regulation. So kind of going back to the hormones. Now,

39:15
The sweet spot that I really found for women is really between like 14 to 16 hours when they talk about putting too much hormonal stress. Now everybody's different. So if you have some underlying health conditions, you know, you've got, you know, some, you know, some hormone imbalances going on. You always want to check with your physician, but you always, you always also just want to see how you feel. This is why I recommend women start slow, right? Like start off with just a 12-12.

39:41
I mean, and you could get great benefits for just fasting for 12 hours and eating for 12 hours, right? And then slowly work your way up. But I will say I had the head physician over at Prolon, which is the fasting mimicking company. And this is over in the States, this is a company that was actually paid by the US government to do longevity studies. And this is how the company Prolon came about because it was a government funded like program, like looking at intermittent fasting and how that ties to longevity and all of that.

40:11
And what he was saying is that really, the research shows that there's really not a lot of difference as far as the benefits between 14 hours and 16 hours. And so there's no need for you to white knuckle it to 16 hours. If you're trying to maybe reduce your calories in your day and you want to do 16, that's OK. But you're not really getting a lot of benefits from the fasting standpoint.

40:41
That's really when I talk about flexible intermittent fasting. That's what the biggest thing again is just not treating it like a diet, always listening to your body and just, like I said, just allowing yourself to recognize your hunger cues and things like that because treating it like a diet, that's where you set yourself up for failure. You really do. And that's what I love about how you approach it because oftentimes how people tend to do

41:10
they perceive that they're not seeing any results. They just want to fast harder and fast longer and move from 16 to 18 to one meal a day. And I think that's when it can go downhill pretty quick. Yes, I agree. And I'll be honest with you. I actually, my coaching programs, I actually don't even introduce intermittent fasting until much later in the program, because this is what I see.

41:34
Most women over the age of 40, under eat. I can tell you in the hundreds of clients that I've coached, I'm not even joking you. I think, I swear to you, I think I've coached like two that were overeating. Most women, because we've been so programmed to move more, eat less, right? And we keep cutting, we get impatient, we keep cutting and cutting and cutting. I don't even introduce intermittent fasting because what I see is that if you are already under eating,

42:00
Like I'm talking under 1200 calories a day, then you go to intermittent fast, now you're grossly under eating, like six, 700, 800 calories a day. And as you know, I mean, it's terrible, not only for your health, but for your metabolism. I mean, for the inflammation in the body, the stress, like hormonally, like all of it. And so I wait to teach intermittent fasting until I make sure women are eating enough. Yeah, no, that's great. And then also of course, with the...

42:28
with them just focusing on their whole foods. And if they do have blood sugar regulations, it's a much easier ride to then come into intermittent fasting when they've now got some level of control over their blood sugar too, right? Yes, yes, for sure. Yeah, so I always like to get women to a little bit of a healthier place before we introduce that. Yeah. Nice. Now with exercise, Amber, what do you see the normal patterns that women sort of engage in exercise in the woman that you coach? And...

42:57
how does that impact on their ability to lose weight or lose body fat? So, and how do you then approach exercise? Because this is an area where I see like a lot of, a lot of things that aren't as helpful as what you would expect. Yeah, so this is definitely my third pillar, which is really exercising for hormone optimization. And I will say that, you know, the pattern that I see,

43:24
It goes back to that eat less, move more mentality, right? And I think that for so many of us, we think, well, oh my gosh, if I want to lose weight, yeah, I've just got to work out more. And I think that especially for women over 40, this actually can work against you because what women don't realize is that cortisol, the stress hormone, which you've already been talking about, we know that that does affect your ability to lose weight.

43:50
You know, your body responds with a cortisol release, a cortisol production release and all of that, the same way as if you're under emotional stress, if you're under physical stress, like exercise or under eating, or like environmental stress, right? Like the toxins we, you know, different things that we're putting on our skin and just toxins in the, you know, pesticides, toxins in the air, like all of it, right? Your body responds the same way. It thinks it's under attack, right? So it's like...

44:19
cortisol, the stress hormone, is designed, it's a good thing if you're being chased by a bear. But for most of us, we're just walking around with high levels of cortisol all the time because we are overly stressing and overly taxing our bodies in those three areas, emotionally, physically, and environmentally. And so when it comes to exercise, because your body does react the same way, as far as from a cortisol standpoint,

44:48
It's really, really important that we are taking care of our bodies as we age, you know, as our estrogen and our progesterone are dropping, it's this is the perfect time to start working in more restorative exercise. You know, this is the perfect time to start taking more walks, getting your steps in, doing yoga. I am a huge, huge fan of strength training. I mean, that is everything, especially for women over 40. But.

45:17
you don't want to be overdoing it. And so, I always get asked, what's kind of the protocol for women in exercise over 40? And I always say, like, you can do exactly what you used, what you did in your 20s and 30s, you just have to be taking care of your body. So that means like stretching, right? Before and after, so stretching for injury prevention, doing, incorporating some restorative work, like I said, going for that walk, going for the hike, getting some yoga in, and then getting some strength training in as well. So,

45:47
I don't recommend that women do high intensity workouts more than like three, four days a week. It actually can, you can, like I said, it can start to work against you. And that stress overload can cause you to hang on to the fat. Yeah, totally. And often it's a case of sort of under recovering because we...

46:09
Because what I love about how you approach it is that it's not like you're saying, if you're over 40, you are not allowed to do XYZ. It's actually just appreciating. You just might need a little bit more time to recover. You can do what you like, but it's just taking care of yourself as well. Oh, yeah, girl, listen, I still have a competitive edge in me. When I go to my workout classes, you best believe I'm racing those little 20-something year olds, and I beat their ass all the time, not going to lie. And so, yes, I can still do. Yes, I'm 44. Listen, I'm not trying to back down.

46:38
but I'm smart about it, right? I make sure I get enough protein in my diet to support my, you know, to support my, you know, muscle growth. And I also make sure that I'm getting enough sleep and I make sure that I'm stretching a dynamic, you know, warmup and I'm doing a cool down. I never skip that. I make sure that I get yoga in once a week. I go for a walk, right? So I just take care of myself and give myself ample time to recover.

47:04
So that yeah, when it's time to go, like I'm ready. Just like I was when I was 22 years old. Yeah. Yeah, no, I love it. I talked to so many women who are doing F45 in the morning, they're going for a run in the afternoon, and they're doing these crazy ass long runs in the weekend and they're wondering why they feel exhausted and they've got the belly fat and they're losing muscle. And I'm like, unfortunately, that's just not the path to better health or body composition.

47:32
No, it's not. I mean, I have a client, perfect example. She came in and she was doing seven days of CrossFit a week and she took my advice. We backed off that, started doing CrossFit more like four days a week. She started incorporating yoga and she lost like 8% body fat. It was something wild. I mean, like, yeah, I mean, it was crazy. And she was doing less, but just working out, but giving her body more rest time. And she saw better results. So, yeah.

48:00
And I think this does lead into your last pillar about stress management. I have to say, and I bet you that we'll be on the same page with this as well, women aren't very good at knowing when they're stressed. And in fact, unfortunately, they equate sort of that going out for a run or doing F45, that is part of their stress management, not recognizing the potential negative sort of impact that it can have. Yes, absolutely. I mean, yeah, I think that we...

48:29
You know, we are, it's almost like because for so many of us, you know, kind of the culture now is that women, especially high achieving women, we are wearing so many hats all the time, that this like kind of this stress overload, it just becomes like our norm. It just becomes like our baseline, right? And so we don't even realize. And so some of the things that maybe can be some dead giveaways are like, are you sleeping? Right? Like if you're not sleeping.

48:54
uh, well, then that could be a dead giveaway that you are like overtaxed. Um, and so, yeah, I mean, stress mitigation, this goes back to kind of a little bit, like you said, what we were talking about before with like exercise and cortisol and all of that, this is just such a huge one that I think that we, we, we, we get so tunnel vision. I like, if we've got some health and wellness goals on just our nutrition and just our food. But I think the bigger picture that so many people miss.

49:24
is almost like focusing on the nutrition and the exercise is almost like putting the cart before the horse. Because I got to tell you, if you are not in a place in your life where you are, you know, you feel organized, you feel happy, you feel joy, you feel like you're not so like balls to the wall all the time going 90 miles an hour, like your nutrition and fitness are always going to suffer. So like stop trying to focus on the nutrition and fitness and how about you just focus on getting organized?

49:51
How about you focus right on getting some better sleep because all of those things impact your decisions when it comes to nutrition and exercise. Like on the daily, I mean, think about it. If you're walking around stress at a time and the story you've created for yourself is, I don't have time to work out, right? Or I don't have time to go to the grocery store or whatever that looks like, what's gonna suffer? Like your nutrition and your exercise, right?

50:19
So I just think that, you know, so that's sort of why stress mitigation is such a huge piece of it, because I think we, you know, I think women know like, okay, we know that we want to reduce stress, but like it doesn't necessarily mean like taking a bubble bath and getting like a manicure, right? I mean, how about it could sometimes mean like, just like getting, you know, getting organized in your day and like maybe block, you know, setting an alarm in your phone to like plan out your nutrition for the next day, that even like five minutes and be like, okay, so.

50:47
Tomorrow, I need to make sure I've got this meeting and I've got this meeting. And so I need to make sure, man, I should make a smoothie before I go into that meeting because I know I'm gonna be hungry. Like just even that level of pre-planning can make such a huge difference. Yeah, I completely agree. And you did mention environmental stress earlier when we were discussing sort of cortisol and distress in general. So what kind of things, are there people who are more susceptible to the things that we're gonna put on our body than others? Or...

51:16
Yeah, what's your go around that? You know, I think that, you know, obviously every body, every human body, every body is unique and different and your body's detoxification processes can differ, right? Depending on like even like your glutathione levels and your gut health. And so yes, I mean, all of your liver, like all of those things matter. But I think, you know, some of the things as far as I'm environmental is, yeah, I mean, paying attention to.

51:44
a lot of the kind of the clean beauty and things you're using on our skin, which is our lagers organ and like things like, even things like, you know, different candles and things that we're breathing in and our air. And like, you know, just the different, just really, you can really go like kind of crazy with it. I don't think there's a need to do that. But I think just being mindful of maybe making cleaner choices, like, you know, how-

52:10
products you use to clean your house. Like you don't have to go like completely crunchy granola on this, but just being like mindful and maybe starting small, maybe just starting to sub a few things out, even like your laundry detergent, right? Like maybe going for one that's a little bit cleaner, that's a little more natural. All of these things absolutely affect your, you know, the toxic overload, the toxic load on your body. And that those can be big hormone disruptors.

52:41
cumulative, like the small things here are always going to just be contributing to your overall sort of health state and end goals of living your best, most awesome life. Yes, for sure. Yeah. Amber, awesome. Now, can we just finish up by you telling me how people can work with you? Like, are you group coaching? Do you one-on-one? What's the go? Yes. Oh my gosh, I love, thank you.

53:04
So yes, right now I have a six month program. This is the Wellness Revolution Lifestyle. And this is really my signature program that teaches women how to achieve that holy grail of building the lifestyle that works for you. I think we all want a life of longevity, of good health. And we want it to feel effortless. We want it to work into.

53:31
you know, our overall picture of how we want to live our life. We don't want to be on somebody else's program. We don't want to be on somebody else's diet. We don't want to be walking around constantly doing mental calculations with our foods and all. And we just want we want it to be easy. And so I take women through a six month, you know, a very small group program on how to achieve exactly that. So I'm really excited about this one.

53:58
That's awesome. And I know that you've got a ton of free resources and stuff on your website as well. Yes, thank you. Can you let people know how to find you on Instagram and on the internet? And of course, we'll put links to that in the show notes. Yes, of course. Well, I'm definitely, I get up in my DMs over on Instagram. I'm in there every day. It's my favorite way to communicate with people. So definitely get over there. I'm at Miss Amber Shaw. That's MSAmberShaw. And my website is AmberShaw.com.

54:26
And then of course, I would love for you to tune into the Wondrous Revolution podcast. Um, and, uh, we're just talking all things life of life after 40 over there. Yeah, that is awesome. And then I do love your podcast. It's such a, like you've got such a great way of like putting stuff across in a really like no BS way, you know, and it's just really practical, good advice. And I found myself just like nodding and agreeing with so much of what you say on this. So, um, I loved having this conversation with you. Thanks so much for your time.

55:07
Okay, hopefully you got some insights out of that and some practical take homes for you. So as I said, Amber has a podcast, definitely recommend checking it out and of course check out her hormonal fat loss blueprint also. So next week on the podcast, I speak to Alana McKay, postdoctoral fellow who has done a ton of research looking at iron metabolism, immune and diet manipulation. So,

55:36
We talk about all of these things next week on the show. Until then though, you can catch me over on Facebook at Micky Willardin Nutrition, over on Instagram and Twitter at Micky Willardin, and on my website, MickyWillardin.com, where you can sign up to one of my plans, book a one-on-one call with me. Don't forget as well that

56:01
Mondays matter and May is coming up at the end of this month so definitely jump on the waitlist if you think that that's something that you're keen to get amongst. Alright team, have a great week.