Jennifer Smith: Welcome to You're Not Crazy. It's Perimenopause. If you're a woman over 40 and feeling more anxious, not sleeping well, or disconnected from your body, this podcast is for you. I'm your host, Jenny Smith, Functional Medicine Health Coach, here to help you understand what the heck is happening in Perimenopause. Each week, we're diving into real-life conversations about how our changing hormones impact anxiety, sleep, and stress. And I'll share simple strategies to help you feel normal again. So grab a cup of tea or beverage of choice, get comfy, and let's dive in. Welcome back to You're Not Crazy, it's Perimenopause. I'm Jenny, and today we have a topic that I think is not talked about enough and super important for this season of life as we are navigating Perimenopause. And you know, we hear so much about protein in perimenopause and for good reason, but we don't hear enough about fiber and how the two work together. So today we're gonna talk a little bit more about fiber. It's super important because women are just not getting enough. Women over 40 need about 25 to 30 grams. Daily, preferably from whole food sources, if possible. The average American woman eats only about 15 grams per day. That might be international as well, but these stats are only for the United States. So the average American woman eats about 15 grams per day. When we need around 25 to 35 grams, and only about 11% of women are actually meeting the recommended intake. This is a big concern. Why? Because if we don't eat enough fiber, several things can happen in our bodies. Eating fiber helps control our appetite, satiety, which keeps us full, and it helps control our weight. And so many of us in perimenopause are complaining about the sudden weight gain that we're experiencing. So today I am going to share with you the five issues that can arise when women are not eating enough fibrous foods, the types of fiber that we need. And I'm gonna share with you the foods that are higher in fiber. So, first, let's talk about the five issues that can arise when we're not eating enough fiber. Number one, and guess what? It has all to do with blood sugar. I talk about blood sugar a lot on this podcast. When we're not getting enough fiber, our blood sugar becomes harder to control. So, as our estrogen levels begin to decline, then our Insulin sensitivity decreases. So we want to be insulin sensitive, not insulin resistant. It is so common for women in perimenopause to be insulin resistant. And when that happens, we have more cravings, we have weight gain, we have more anxiety and mood swings. So our blood sugar becomes less stable if we're not balancing our nutrient intake with enough fiber. Soluble fiber, and I'll explain what that is in a minute. And what foods contain soluble fiber, it slows our digestion. So that helps reduce the glucose spikes and it keeps you full longer. One of the biggest complaints I hear from women is that they're hungry right after eating. It seems like their appetite is off the charts and they're frustrated by that. So that's one reason why fiber-rich meals can help reduce those cravings. And the afternoon crashes that you get from meals. The second issue that can arise when we're not eating enough fiber is our cholesterol often rises. So women notice that their LDL cholesterol increases in perimenopause and after menopause, even if their diet hasn't changed. And the reason being is because they're just not simply getting enough fibers. So cellul soluble fiber binds to the bile ducts in the digestive tract. Helping remove cholesterol from the body. So, foods like oats, beans, apples, and cheese seeds, those are especially helpful for removing cholesterol from the body. We want to make sure that we're removing the bad cholesterol. Issue number three, and this is a doozy, ladies, and this is something that I experienced recently. Constipation becomes common. There is nothing worse than not being able to go. Poop for more than a day. If you go to the bathroom, if you go number two, if you go poop twice a week and you're like, yeah, I'm good, I'm normal. No, it's not normal. You should be going poop at least once a day, minimum once a day. Ideally after every meal. I know that it's not very common for many of us to go poop after every meal. So if you're not getting enough fiber and our hormones, especially in perimenopause, impact. our gut motility. And so as hormones begin to climb, our digestive often slows down, constipation is more common, and bloating begins to increase. So I'm going to give you an idea. I'm going to explain a little bit more about the types of fiber. But there are two types of fiber that we're going to talk about soluble and insoluble. So I've just mentioned soluble for the first two can really help with blood sugar as well as cholesterol. And then I'm going to explain ⁓ How they both work and why we need both sources of fiber. So for constipation, it's important that we have both sources of fiber to make sure that we get things moving. If we are not going to the bathroom every day, we are dealing with toxins in our body, we can feel sluggish. I went on a trip recently to go visit a friend. And you know, when you travel, you're just off your routine, you're not eating the same things that you normally eat. And let's just say that I indulged in a lot of cheese. And cheese can be constipating for people. And it certainly is very constipating for me. And I overdid it on the cheese. So let's just say it took me a couple of days to get back into my rhythm. And I struggled those two days that I couldn't go to the bathroom. It was really ⁓ frustrating. It I just didn't feel good. I felt like I was six months pregnant. I felt really fatigued and lethargic, probably because I wasn't detoxing by going to the bathroom. Okay, so constipation is a huge annoyance for so many of us. It's very common in so many of us, but it's not normal. It is normal to go to the bathroom every day. It's not normal to go to the bathroom two to three times a week. We must be going every day. Okay, issue number four our gut microbiome changes in. Perimenopause and timenopause. When we think about eating fiber, fiber is feeding our good gut bacteria. Beneficial gut bacteria ferment certain fibers, and that supports our gut lining integrity. You've probably heard of the term leaky gut. Leaky gut causes all kinds of problems. And when we are eating good quality fiber, that helps with the integrity of our gut lining. When we have good healthy gut, we have great immune health. We have reduced inflammation. We are happier. When you have a healthy gut, you have a healthy brain and mind. And it's often not really considered when we're thinking about some of the health challenges that we're experiencing. It's like, how is your gut? And this is what we focus on in my coaching programs. In my hormone reset project and the 14-day jump start, we focus on the balance weight method and prioritizing protein and fiber so because fiber is essential as I'm sharing with you in this episode the reasons that we need it. All right and the issue number five with why we need more fiber and if we're not getting enough it impacts our estrogen metabolism. And this is super huge. The liver's job is to detox and we need to detox the estrogen that's in our body. The excess estrogen that we have They use estrogen, we need to eliminate it. And if we don't, then that can cause estrogen dominance, which you probably heard about. And I can certainly share more about that in another episode on estrogen dominance. But if you are not pooping every day, if you're not getting a full clean out, because sometimes you can go to the bathroom and still feel really constipated, you can still feel really bloated because you didn't get a good clean out. If you're not Then estrogen may be spending more time in the gut and can be reabsorbed in the body. And this can cause lots of problems in just how you're feeling and inflammation. And so we really want to make sure that fiber is an integral role in our hormone health. So there's all these other ways to support our bodies, right? If you've listened to my previous episodes, I talk a lot about sleep, nutrition. ⁓ stress, all of that, plus what we're eating, protein and fiber. So, fiber is an important role in how we're feeling and creating an overall healthy digestive system. So, now let's get into the different types of fiber and what it means. So, soluble versus insoluble fiber. You have probably heard about both of these, and we need both. So, soluble fiber, I want you to think of it as like a sponge, it absorbs water. And what it does is it helps with slowing digestion, it stabilizes your blood sugar, it lowers cholesterol, feeds good gut bacteria, and it increases fullness. And the foods that contain soluble fiber, take notes, ladies. Pause this if you need it right now, but take notes. Oats, beans, lentils, chia seeds, flax seeds, apples, berries, pears. Those are just to name a few of the foods that contain soluble fiber. So it's like a sponge, it's like cleaning up all of the junk to help improve the processes of your blood sugar, your cholesterol, good healthy gut lining, and increasing satiety so that you're not hungry all the time. Insoluble fiber, you want to think of it as like the broom, and it sweeps the waste. Through the digestive tract. So the benefits of insoluble fiber is it adds bulk and so it helps promote regular bulve movement. So it's like it gets in there, it goes through your intestines, and it gets ready to eliminate all of the waste. It really helps with preventing constipation. And so with insoluble fiber, you want to think about foods like broccoli, cauliflower, leafy greens. Green beans, nuts, seeds, and if it's tolerated, whole grains. But again, you need to make sure that you have both, not just one, ⁓ making sure that you're including lots of fibrous foods on your plate. I want to share with you that there was an interesting study ⁓ that looked back at 3,000 women in midlife. To see whether fiber intake was linked to mood. And researchers found that perimenopausal women who ate the most fiber had significantly fewer depressive symptoms than those who ate the least. So interestingly, they didn't see the same association in women who were already in early perimenopause. Now, this doesn't mean that fiber prevents depression. It was just an observational study. So it can only show a relationship. It's not a cause and effect. But it's interesting, right? Because it does add to the growing research on the gut-brain connection. Fiber feeds the beneficial bacteria in our gut, which produce compounds to help reduce inflammation and support communication between the gut and the brain. And there are so many case studies where people who really focus on gut health and they remove inflammatory foods. And they re-inoculate the gut with low inflammatory foods, anti-inflammatory diet, making sure that they're getting all the good quality nutrients, the protein, the fibers, really, really plays a role in your gut health, which then in turn plays a role in your brain health. And so many of us are struggling in this season of life where we're we're short fused, we're irritable, we're easily stressed. Let's take a look at what's on our plate. Let's take a look at what we're feeding our gut. What are we feeding our gut in order to feed our brain? And fiber is just not important for digestion, it's super important for our brain health. And it's just another thing to consider when you're looking at like the big picture when it comes to your health and your nutrition habits. Are you getting enough fiber? Track your fiber and see if you're getting. At least twenty five grams a day. So let's look at a typical day of what twenty-five grams of fiber looks like. This is a sample meal plan with getting enough fiber. So for breakfast, you have chia seed pudding. It's two tablespoons of chia seeds, that's 10 grams of fiber, half a cup of raspberries, that's four grams of fiber. So that gives you a total of 14 grams of fiber for breakfast. Then for lunch, you have a big salad. Let's say it's two cups of mixed greens, that's about two grams of fiber. Half a cup of avocados, about five grams, vegetables, adding like a you know, a bunch of other vegetables, bonus points, the vegetables that I shared earlier for the soluble and insoluble fiber gives you about three grams. So it's about 10 grams total just for lunch. So that's about 24 grams so far with breakfast and lunch. Now going into dinner, let's say you add broccoli, that's one cup, that gives you about five grams of fiber. So now you're nearly at 30 grams without having to take supplements or you know, metamusle, which is metamucile, throw it in the trash if you have it. It's junk, okay? It is not what you should be feeding your gut. Look at the ingredients, pronounce them, tell me what you think. Tell me if that is something that is fueling your gut or if it's just, you know, making you go to the bathroom. We want to make sure that we're doing both. Okay. So go ahead and track your fiber for the week and see how much you're getting. Are you getting the 15 grams of fiber? Are you getting at least 25 to 30 grams of fiber? Other ways to add in. More fiber is to add in berries at breakfast. Eat vegetables before you eat starchy foods, include beans and lentils a few times a week. Sprinkle the chia seeds and ground flax seeds into smoothies or yogurt. ⁓ eat an apple instead of drinking the juice because you have the fiber. When you are drinking juice, all the fiber is stripped. Keeping the skin on potatoes is when possible that helps boost your fiber intake. And making sure that you're getting vegetables at lunch and dinner. That will keep you full. That's gonna keep you satiated. So some of you might be wondering, well, what about fiber supplements? I just can't get enough fiber. And obviously, I recommend getting your fiber from food first. But ⁓ you know, there are opportunities to fill in the gaps with supplements, especially if you're traveling. Like for me, I like to Bring my fiber supplements when I am traveling, because I do feel a little off my routine when it comes to the food that I'm eating. And so ⁓ you know, I try to be intentional and adding more legumes and fruits and vegetables when I'm traveling. So my go-to for boosting fiber is first and foremost, if you can bring flaxseeds with you, ground flax seeds, all you need is about a tablespoon, which includes two to three grams of fiber. It's also a great omega-3 fat source, which is great for the brain. And you can easily add those to yogurt, oatmeal, and smoothies. It's a whole food, it's inexpensive, and it's mostly well tolerated by most people. The other option is chia seeds to bring chia seeds with you or add chia seeds to ⁓ your meals, I had mentioned that earlier that it's a great add-in. Add about 10 grams of fiber in two tablespoons. It's rich in soluble fiber. And if you remember, soluble fiber is the sponge. It absorbs water, helps slow digestion, stabilizes your blood sugar. I have chia seed pudding ever almost every week. Not every day, because I do like to change it up a little bit, but this is one of the reasons why I like chia seed pudding because I feel like it really helps scrub my intestinal lining and get rid of all the junk and keeps me pretty regular. Cilium husk is another one. So metamucil is the over-the-counter option that many people will use as a source of like psyllium husk. I am a fan of psyllium husk. I think that you could buy good quality ⁓ psyllium over-the-counter. You can buy them at most health food stores and it is mostly soluble fiber. It helps support regularity, stabilize your cholesterol and your blood sugar. Start with a small dose and drink plenty of water. There is a supplement that I have heard great things about. It's called the Fibermend and it's by the company Thorn. It contains a gentle prebiotic fiber called sunfiber, which supports gut health, regularity, and healthy blood sugar. And it's often easier on the digestive system than some other fiber supplements. But as always, you know, check with your healthcare provider before starting any new supplement, especially if you have digestive concerns or take prescription medications. It's super important. I give all of my listeners a 10% off discount to my Full Scripts dispensary where I have high-quality supplements listed in there for you. And I will share some of my favorite fiber supplement options in Full Scripts. I'll link that in the show notes. Now I want to ⁓ share a little bit of caution with you. You don't want to jump into 30 grams of fiber overnight. If you're used to getting 10 grams of fiber and then you jump into 30 grams, that's going to be a shock to your system and it's going to probably cause some cramping. It'll probably cause some digestive upset. You've got to increase it slowly over a week or two. And as you're doing it with fiber, you want to make sure that you're drinking plenty. Plenty of water, otherwise it's going to make bloating and constipation worse. So gently ease up on the fiber intake. Don't go into 30 grams right away. I talk about this in everything, ladies, right? If you've been listening to this podcast, you know that I share with you that you should be getting at least a minimum of a hundred grams of protein every day. You don't just jump into 100 grams. If you're used to getting 50 grams a day, you've got to work your way up to it. It's the same with fiber. It's the same with any kind of health habit that you're working on. You gotta gradually work your way up to it. Okay. So don't start with it overnight, just gradually increase it. Before we wrap up though, I do want to mention something important. If you eat a high fiber meal and consistently end up looking six months pregnant or like you have a food baby. With painful bloating, excessive gas, or abdominal discomfort, don't just assume that that's normal. It's not. While it can take your gut a little time to adjust, if you're increasing your fiber intake, ongoing symptoms could be a sign that something else is going on. One possibility is SIBO, which stands for small intestinal bacteria overgrowth. With SIBO, bacteria that normally belong in the large intestine start growing in the small intestine. And when you eat fiber, And other fermentable carbohydrates, those bacteria ferment the food too early, producing excess gas and bloating. So if that sounds like you, don't give up on fiber. Instead, you want to work with a qualified healthcare practitioner. Usually, functional medicine practitioners are very knowledgeable on SIBO and know how to direct you to be able to ease those symptoms and get to the root cause of that. And the goal is to Avoid some of the fibrous foods until you start feeling better, until they can get your gut to tolerate and benefit from those high fibrous foods. All right, ladies, that's all I have for you today. Thank you so much for joining me and listening and learning all about fiber. I would love to hear your experiences with what you've gathered from this episode. If you're struggling with fiber intake, you could find me on Instagram, share with me at Jenny A Z underscore simple. If you found this episode helpful, I would love it if you shared it with a friend. And I will see you next week.