What a Balanced Plate Looks Like

But let's have a look now at what you want to be putting on your plate, um, at each meal. So as I mentioned before, we wanna always have protein and carbohydrates together to balance blood sugar. And with protein there's obviously, you know, you, if you can't- you're not, you're probably not a midlife woman if you haven't been bombarded with the message of protein, "Protein, protein, protein's so important. Protein for everything." And you see it every, even in the supermarket signs, like, "Everything's high protein." I saw protein water (laughs) in the supermarket the other day. I was like, "Okay!" You know, it is really important. Protein is so important for, you know, for, uh, you musc- building muscle. It's important for satiety. It's important for blood sugar balance. From a hormonal point of view, we carry progesterone through the blood via albumin, so, em, it's really important to have protein in there. Uh, it's important for, um, liver and thyroid function as well. It, we need enough, uh, amino acids, uh, in order to, you know, to, uh, for our liver, which is really important for, for hormone detoxification, and our thyroid, which is really important for our metabolism and energy and all these kind of things. We need protein. So protein is important. It is. And I think, you know, personally, I think that, um, animal protein is m- really easy, easily bioavailable, and it's easier to digest, especially if you're having a lot of, you know, digestive issues, which a lot of women in perimenopause do. So I like to, you know, m- mix up the types of protein, but I would say prioritize the animal proteins if possible, adding in some, uh, some vegetarian sources of protein. But I usually see those more as carbohydrates than proteins because they have a lot of starch in them. But anyway, so things like eggs, fish and seafood, meat, uh, you know, the best quality that you can get. Uh, dairy is really important, uh, when it comes to female health because most women don't have enough calcium in their diet, especially if they're avoiding dairy. Uh, and dairy has retinol in it, which is a really important nutrient for skin health. You know, when we're slathering retinol on our faces, dairy has that. (laughs) Uh, egg yolks also contain retinol, but retinol is also really important for, uh, the conversion of cholesterol to our, all of our sex hormones. So it's a really important nutrient, uh, for, also for thyroid function. And, you know, we t- we get that in dairy. Collagen-rich broth and gelatin, uh, you know, this is how we used to eat the animal back in the days when we had our own animals. We used to eat the whole animal, which was made of collagen and gelatin. Um, so prioritizing these types of protein with each meal is really important. And as I said, everybody's always going on, banging on about protein, protein, protein, protein, but the big piece of the puzzle that's missing is that whilst protein is important, if we are not eating enough carbohydrates (…0.6s) at- with the pro- (laughs) with the meal or in general, it's gonna have an impact on our blood sugar, but it's also going to have an impact on, uh, you know, on so many other functions of our body. And carbohydrates is one of those things that a lot of women actually will, uh, give up, uh, especially in, you know, in midlife because they, when, when start to put on weight or uh, you know, m- mainly because they're starting to put on weight right around midlife. So usually that's when the carbs get thrown out, um, to help with weight loss. But carbohydrates are so important, and this is, I think, one of the missing pieces of communications that we see in this sort of high protein message that's sent to women all the time. Carbohydrates are, you know, our body's main source of energy. Glucose is the main source of energy for our body, and we can (…0.7s) use energy, you know, we can make energy in other ways, uh, if we don't eat carbohydrates. And this is kind of the message that we get from, um, a lot of the, you know, low carb, ketogenic communities who are like, "Oh yeah, we don't need to eat carbohydrates. Our body makes it. It's called gluconeogenesis." And it's true, it does, but it's a backup mechanism. The body doesn't want to be doing that. It's a backup mechanism that happens. If there are no carbohydrates in the diet, the body will make its own by breaking down our own tissue to make carbs and gl- glucose. And this should sort of, when you f- hear that, when I heard this, 'cause I used to be like in the low carb, paleo kind of community, and I was like, "Well, hang on a minute. If the body's willing to break itself down to make glucose, maybe glucose is actually really important" (laughs) "for the body, uh, if it's willing to..." And the way that it does it, it's, again, it's, uh, eating, um, it brings out, you know, it uses cortisol and glucagon to, uh, to break our own tissues. So make our muscles, um, you know, our muscles and our tissues, our, um, our glands to, uh, to, to make co- uh, glucose. So, and this is a stressful backup mechanism. It doesn't want to be doing it, but it does so because glucose is so important for survival. So if we don't eat carbohydrates, our body will make it, make them from us. So, this is where, you know, you can't put on muscle or you lose muscle. There's a lot of, like, very low carb proponents and keto proponents, uh, proponents that have actually, uh, they're men- they're men that are very into, like, bodybuilding and stuff. And they've actually done research and seen that they lost muscle despite doing a lot of exercise because of, like, all these fasting and keto diets. Anyways, it's very important. And low carb can actually impact thyroid function, which will then have an impact on our metabolism. Without carbohydrates, we run on stress hormones, and this is gonna impact our progesterone. Remember, we make co- uh, progesterone, sorry, cortisol from progesterone. And if our progesterone is low, then we start to see these symptoms of estrogen dominance, which we talked about before. Carbs are also protein-sparing, so they help if we're wanting to put on muscle, which a lot of, again, it's another message that gets t- touted to us as midlife women, "Muscle, muscle, muscle. Really important. Strength training for our, you know, midlife years." I totally agree, but you need carbohydrates to fuel those workouts in order to make, you know, to p- to put muscle on. Uh, otherwise you're working out, not eating carbohydrates, the body's breaking down the muscle to make carbohydrates. So it's ki- you're kind of on this, like, um, you know, uh, what I- w- what was the word I was trying to find? Um, yeah, it's a bit of, like, a vicious cycle in not being able to make it. So, uh, it's gonna also impact our progesterone production as well, where a lot of times women think, when they think of carbohydrates, they think of, like, ultra-processed carbs, right? Like donuts. It's like, yeah, okay, d- donuts (laughs) contain carbohydrates, but they also contain a lot of, you know, trans fats. Uh, so we want to be thinking about, like, the right type of carbohydrates that we want to include. So yes, a lot of times people are like, "Oh, I went low carb and I feel so much better!" But that's because they- they g- got rid of a lot of the ultra-processed carbs, like the, you know, the h- um, the store-bought cookies and cakes and donuts and croissants and all that kind of stuff. Yes, okay, we don't want to be having loads of those in our diet. I'm not saying never, but those shouldn't be the priority. But the carbohydrates that we want to include in our meals are things like fruit, um, fresh fruit juices in- if they're in season, root vegetables, squa- oh, I said squashed. Squashes, uh, properly prepared grains, uh, well-cooked veggies, properly prepared legumes as well can be a good source of carbohydrates, and they can have fiber that help us with daily bowel movements. Honey, maple syrup, those kind of things, you know, include. And we always want to pair carbohydrates with our proteins as well. So, what I often see is things like, you know, some fish and some vegetables, like some spinach or broccoli. That's not gonna be enough carbohydrates if there's not enough carbohydrates in the broccoli or the spinach to match the protein. So, you want to think about starches, fruit, root vegetables, those kind of foods to balance out (…0.6s) the protein in the meal. Uh, and I'll share some ideas in the next slide. And then fats, we want to be looking at, you know, healthy fats, um, things like olive oil, coconut oil, butter or ghee, chocolate, cacao. Those are usually more s- heat stable, um, and so they are less prone to things like oxidation and, uh, rancidity. They're not as inflammatory as some of the other more industrial oils like cotton seed, grapeseed, soybean oil, sunflower oils that are used in a lot of sort of processed foods, for example, or in a lot of foods, you know, in restaurants and takeaways. Again, it's okay to have them on occasion, but we don't want to have them as a main staple of our diets because they can be thyroid suppressant. They can have an, uh, a hormonally disrupting effect. They have more of like a xenoestrogen effect. Um, and, uh, yeah, and, uh, and obviously if the thyroid's not working properly, then we're gonna be struggling to sort of maintain, uh, a healthy weight, but also other like our moods, our, uh, energy levels, hair, skin, nails, all those kind of things. So, including some fats in the diet is really important because we make our hormones from cholesterol. But what I often see as well is women just overeating fats a lot, so things like nuts and seeds and nut butters and nut milks and all this kind of stuff. And, you know, they, if you're consuming too much fat with carbohydrates, then that can actually cause weight gain. So, I often see women saying, "Yeah, but if I eat carbs, I put on weight." Um, and it can be for a variety of reasons. It can be where the body's not able to utilize carbs if you've gone on too- too low carb for too long. But also if you're eating a lot of carbohydrates with a lot of fats as well, that can impact our weight as well. So, (smacks lips) you know, like, it's all nuance, but in general, we wanna be, th- the main thing we wanna focus on is protein and carbs. And obviously a lot of these proteins already have healthy fats in them. And then just be mindful of the fats that you're using when you're cooking, um, and, uh, f- focus on these, uh, more stable fats as well. So, here are some examples of what these would look like. So, this one up here on the, on the top left is actually my breakfast every morning. Uh, well, this is AI-generated, so I don't rem- I mean, I don't put that much butter on it. But I have eggs and toast with jam, and I have cottage cheese with fruit, and a milky coffee with collagen and maple syrup pretty much every single day. Uh, my omelet has cheese in it as well. So, things that you can see there, you've got protein, you've got the carbohydrates, uh, and it's quite a dense, you know, it's quite a substantial meal. I think it's like 500, 600 calories, uh, to start you off for the day. And I usually train after breakfast, so it really helps me, you know, give me that energy. But even on the days that I'm not training, it kind of helps my energy stay stable throughout the day. Other things here, you can have, you can have fish with some potatoes, like a salad, and some fruit. That way you'd have the protein, you've got the starches from the potato, you've got the fiber from the salad, and then the fruit as well helps to balance out the carbohydrates from the fish. Um, m- burrito bowls are a nice one as well. You can have, like, s- um, rice with some meats on top and then some, uh, some vegetables. You can have spaghetti. You know, pasta is all right. Pasta with some, uh, you know, with some protein a- a- source, like, um, p- pasta bolognese, for example, with some Parmesan cheese and a bit of fruit on the side is also a really balanced meal as well. Um, some snacks here, cheese and fruit is like the perfect- is a perfect pairing, uh, for- you've got the protein and the carbohydrates. You can have some yogurt with some fruit and some honey, a lovely combination. The carrot salad, which we've talked about already. And a lovely little bedtime snack here, hot chocolate with homemade marshmallows. Marshmallows are actually made from gelatin, um, and these can be a really great sort of anti-stress, um, foods to consume before bed to help you k- uh, sleep through the night. So, this is just- I just wanted to show you a couple of ideas of what a balanced plate would look like. But, you know, hopefully you can see here, there's no sort of restriction, uh, you see all the food groups, um, and a lot of these foods are foods that are really palatable, enjoyable, and family-friendly as well, um, y- we don't have to just be living on, you know... I personally, yeah, certain- certain things like a lot of the- the modern trendy foods, uh, I don't think that they might necessarily be the best to nourish our hormones, but these are some of the examples of the foods that you might want to include in your balanced plate.