How To Have Anti-Aging Skin

Transcript:

MELANIE: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition, brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. If you've been listening to Dishing Up Nutrition every Saturday morning, or listen to the weekly podcast as you are out for your morning walk, what was one of the nutritional concepts that caught your attention? When I first tuned in to the radio show and learned that I could eat fat, even bacon fat, and not gain weight, I have to say I was pretty excited. It was true 20 years ago, and it is true today that good fats and oils are healthy.

Keep listening because we prepare these shows and podcasts to keep you inspired to eat real food and take care of your health. Even better, it is like a free class; can't get any better than that, right? I'm Melanie Beasley, and I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian and see clients individually and also teach many of our nutrition classes. I think we have a topic today that will interest most of you, especially if you are over the age of 35. The topic is how to have anti-aging skin. Joining me as our cohost is Britni Vincent, a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. Britni, I have to tell you, I think even younger than 35.

BRITNI: Oh yeah, I agree.

MELANIE: People are getting interested in their skin way earlier than I did.

Smoking & alcohol consumption damage & age skin

BRITNI: I agree. I think this podcast today and radio show is going to appeal to everyone. So think as we we talk today, think about what are some lifestyle habits that are aging your skin, and maybe what are some habits that you feel like you could let go? Smoking is no doubt the most harmful. Smoking is one of the most difficult habits to quit, but many people do it every day. Drinking alcohol, even those two glasses of wine or really any type of alcohol before bed, especially for women, damages and ages your skin.

MELANIE: And that's even before bed.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: So if it's at noon, it still affects your skin. Right?

BRITNI: Even at 10:00 AM, that bloody mary brunch, that's still going to affect your skin.

Sugar ages our skin

One more habit that ages your skin is eating more than six teaspoons of added sugar a day. No surprise to hear that one, I'm sure. So after listening to Dishing Up Nutrition, you already know that many of those special coffee drinks at your favorite coffee house have several teaspoons of sugar; the high fructose corn syrup type of sugar, the worst one. This type of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, drives inflammation, which is connected to weight gain, obesity, and again, damages your skin.

MELANIE: Let's give a little example. A small pumpkin spice latte; it tis the season.

BRITNI: Yes it is.

MELANIE: It's delicious. But it contains 42 grams of carbohydrates. Divide that by four, you get the number of teaspoons of sugar, and that's 10 teaspoons of sugar listeners.

BRITNI: Yikes.

MELANIE: Yikes. Your cardiovascular health, of course, we don't want that. Only six teaspoons of sugar maximum daily is recommended. And you may not smoke, you may not drink alcohol. Maybe occasionally you have a cocktail, but because of a special coffee habit and you add in maybe a muffin, 'cause that's delicious with your coffee, or definitely if you have those three pieces of pizza you are eating by the end of the day, more than six teaspoons of sugar daily, which could be leading to wrinkles and a fatty liver.

BRITNI: Mm-Hmm.

MELANIE: So we don't want those wrinkles.

BRITNI: No, definitely not.

MELANIE: Nobody do.

BRITNI: And we do not want fatty liver.

MELANIE: High fructose corn syrup and sugar in general is a major contributor to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD, which is currently affecting 70 million adults or 30% of the population. By 2030, it is estimated that 50% of the U.S. population will have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. After fructose causes your liver and to store fat, it spills over into your bloodstream and that's what makes high triglycerides, which in turn puts you at risk for cardiovascular disease.

BRITNI: So by reducing the sugar intake, you're going to reduce your triglycerides.

MELANIE: Check.

BRITNI: Which can happen pretty darn quickly.

MELANIE: Yeah.

BRITNI: Within a few months you can see a drastic decrease. We want them below a hundred, and then it's going to make your skin beautiful by reducing that sugar.

MELANIE: Check, check, check, check! That's exactly what we want. Right?

BRITNI: I think we've hopefully convinced everybody to reduce sugar 'cause they want that beautiful skin. I recently heard an interesting comment that food is like a pharmaceutical compound and how it affects the brain. So taking that a step further, we need to consider the negative effects a high sugar diet has on the brain for cognition, memory, possible gene expression for Parkinson's disease, dementia, and Alzheimer's. The effects of too much sugar on the brain is way more than just having wrinkles and acne. And we do have lots of previous radio shows diving deeper into this topic. In fact, Melanie, you just did a show with Dr. Mary Newport on fats and brain health specifically talking about Alzheimer's. Right?

MELANIE: Yes. She was fascinating, fascinating.

BRITNI: Yeah. So I'd encourage you to check out that show that we did.

Genevieve’s secrets to having beautiful, radiant, wrinkle-free skin

MELANIE: When we are teaching a nutrition fact or concept, we understand clients learn better and remember more when we frame it in a story. And we love to illustrate our messages this way. Well, this is one of my favorite stories. Dar, our founder of Nutritional Weight and Wellness, has a story to share about how her mother, Genevieve, was able to have wrinkle-free skin until her sixties and seventies through good nutrition and lifestyle habits. It's no wonder she started this company. Today, Genevieve would be 108 years old if she was alive. And looking at a picture of both Genevieve at a young age and at an older age, she had beautiful, radiant skin with few wrinkles. What was Genevieve's secret? Keep listening.

Okay. She was 62 before she experienced menopause. She lived on a farm in southern Minnesota and didn't order face creams online or from the Sears catalog of the day. So you might wonder, what did she do to have beautiful skin? Well, she did have certain health habits that she did every day. When she went outside, she always put on a big straw hat to protect her face and neck from those damaging sun rays. She didn't sunbathe or go to a tanning salon. She drank water instead of soda. And every day she made a big pot of green tea she had with lunch and dinner.

Never did she drink alcohol. Did you know alcohol can lead to wrinkles? We touched on that. Perhaps not. But she wasn't going to start that habit. Because she was cooking for her three strong football playing sons, meals and snacks included real food, meat, eggs, vegetables from her garden and homemade bread with butter. Yes, butter was a strong staple along with bacon fat and lard. Yum. But never Crisco or vegetable oil; the real stuff. Chips were too expensive. But popcorn she had raised herself was a once a week treat. And of course with that butter.

BRITNI: Sounds like a delicious diet, lifestyle that she had.

MELANIE: Good old farmer's meals. Right? Desserts were homemade, often with cream as a topping and never Cool Whip. She was a farm wife who was very careful about her health and her appearance. And in her late eighties, she was still living on the farm, but alone by that time. She still wore her hat to protect her skin, still drank water and green tea. But some of those wrinkle producing foods started sneaking in like chips, breakfast cereal, store-bought bread, always some type of soda on hand for people who stopped by to chat.

Her homemade desserts got replaced with pre-packaged cakes and cookies. And as her good skin and health habits stopped, so did that radiant skin. And I see that a lot in clinic. The older my clients get, the more they start reaching for convenience foods. They're kind of tired of cooking.

BRITNI: Yep.

MELANIE: So we try to come up with ways to do it simply, but to keep those wonderful healthful habits in place, 'cause we want to age long and strong.

BRITNI: Absolutely. Many of them say something to the effect of I raised my children. I did all of that cooking. I'm just tired of cooking.

MELANIE: I'm over it. I may have said those words a few times to myself to be honest.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: But I know too much.

BRITNI: Yes. Yes. So what are some simple recommendations we can learn from Genevieve's story? I think it's such a great story and maybe your grandmother has a story similar to that or your great-grandmother. So let's go over some of those once we return from our first break.

MELANIE: You are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition, brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. I'm Melanie Beasley. I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. And daily I see the healing that occurs from just eating real food. If you have a health concern, I encourage you to set up an appointment. Call 651-699-3438 and share your concerns and we will help you find a great solution. We'll be right back.

Schedule Nutrition Counseling

BREAK

BRITNI: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition, brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. If you are struggling with health problems, I encourage you to make an appointment with a Nutritional Weight and Wellness nutritionist. Also, check with your health insurance because you might have coverage. And if you go on our website, there is a document that tells you all the information that you need to know to find out if your insurance plan does indeed cover our services. Many insurance plans cover six appointments, sometimes even more, sometimes unlimited. So definitely worth checking into. Start that conversation by calling us at 651-699-3438. And it may just be the best call you ever made.

MELANIE: Oh, the best call. I love that.

BRITNI: So before break, Melanie, you told Genevieve's story.

MELANIE: I love her story.

BRITNI: Which was, yeah. So wonderful to hear. And I just want to recap some important points from that story.

MELANIE: Good.

The importance of protecting the skin from excess sun exposure

So she protected her skin and eyes from that harsh sun by always wearing a hat; really smart to do that. Sunbathing, which was so popular in the sixties, seventies, eighties, has really been found to be very damaging and aging to the skin. Too much UV radiation from the sun or sunbeds can damage the DNA in our skin cells. And if there's enough DNA damage that can cause the cells to grow out of control and lead to skin cancer. And it is the primary cause of skin cancer.

MELANIE: I love how ivory skin is trending.

BRITNI: Yes.

MELANIE: I love that so much. Both of my daughters have very ivory skin, so it's nice to see that they're okay with it now.

BRITNI: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I am fair skinned. So I agree with that.

The importance of eating healthy fat for skin health

MELANIE: Well, the part I liked about Genevieve's story was that she ate fat. I love fat. And only natural fat. She didn't follow a low fat or a fat free diet. She ate butter, bacon grease, and even lard. Now you have to be careful in the grocery stores. Now if you pick up lard, you may find that it's got hydrogenated oils in it, BHT, a whole bunch of things that are not great for skin.

BRITNI: That's a really good point.

MELANIE: So if you go to like a Whole Foods or your health food coop and buy lard or local farmer, you're better off. I also use butter and bacon fat all the time; my favorite delivery device, or anything is butter and bacon fat. So many clients are not aware that bacon fat is lower in saturated fat than butter and higher in monounsaturated fat like olive oil. I love to roast my vegetables in bacon fat. They come out pretty yummy. It also has a high smoke point. So you can cook it a little higher heat with bacon fat. If I ever see my husband dumping the bacon fat out, oh, there's a conversation. Another trick I want to share is that when you rub bacon fat or lard on your skin, we soak up all the vitamin D, which helps to minimize dark spots and wrinkles.

BRITNI: You might smell like bacon though.

MELANIE: You might smell like bacon.

BRITNI: Just a forewarning.

MELANIE: So your dogs will love you.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: Not sure about the populace. Okay. Genevieve, 50 years ago used the correct fats to avoid wrinkles.

BRITNI: I think this is so key to healthy skin.

MELANIE: Yes.

BRITNI: I've seen many clients benefit from adding healthy fats from just a general health perspective, but for skin. I remember last winter, one of my clients came in: really dry skin, always struggled with it, even in the summer months, but of course it was winter time. So really bothersome for her. And within a couple months of introducing those healthy fats, her skin was softer. She didn't need to lather the moisturizer as much as she used to. She really noticed a huge improvement in her skin, just adding those healthy fats in.

MELANIE: Those healthy fats help us to make hormones.

BRITNI: Yes.

MELANIE: And those hormones also help us not to age.

BRITNI: Mm-Hmm.

MELANIE: So it, it all works together. I was talking with a coworker the other day and her brother is farm life. He's a farmer. And he just recently in the past few months, he stopped eating sugar. He stopped eating processed foods like chips with fat, with the unhealthy fat. And she said, I said, how's his skin? And she said his face is glowing.

BRITNI: Oh, that's amazing.

MELANIE: So I don't know if a man really notices that. But I know as a woman, that's what we want.

What are some healthy fats and which should we avoid?

BRITNI: Yeah. Let's review these healthy fats because I know that it's a confusing topic for a lot of people.

MELANIE: Right.

BRITNI: So we've talked about butter, we've talked about bacon fat, olive oil, avocados.

MELANIE: Avocado oil.

BRITNI: Yep.

MELANIE: Lard.

BRITNI: Yep. Nuts, seeds that are either raw or dry roasted. Otherwise you're going to get some of those refined oils in there.

MELANIE: You want to avoid that peanut oil, canola oil, cottonseed oils.

BRITNI: Soybean oil.

MELANIE: Soybean oils. None of those are healthy fats.

BRITNI: Nope.

MELANIE: So really you want to avoid any seed oil with the exception of avocado. And that avocado oil should be cold pressed or expeller pressed. So the rest of the seed oils, even if they sound like they should be healthy, like sunflower oil, they're highly processed. And that's the one they're sneaking in now. And it's confusing.

BRITNI: It is very confusing.

MELANIE: So that animal fat is really healthy and duck fat is wonderful to cook with. I know you can get that at a health food coop or Whole Foods or probably Amazon. Amazon I think rules the world. They probably have everything.

BRITNI: And we forgot to mention that Genevieve also had a big pot of bone broth.

MELANIE: Yum.

Bone broth and/or collagen supports skin health

BRITNI: On the stove. And she drank that in place of coffee. So she drank a big cup of bone broth for breakfast. So what is in bone broth to support healthy wrinkle-free skin? It is a wonderful natural source of collagen. Adding collagen in either the form of bone broth or from Key Collagen powder or both daily is really going to help prevent skin dryness, wrinkles and the development of those deep folds that can occur. And what happens naturally throughout the aging process, our collagen production reduces.

And that really is a huge contributing factor to wrinkles and sagging skin. So we encourage a cup of homemade bone broth or one to two scoops of Key Collagen daily, and you can actually find a video on our website, weightandwellness.com, about how to make your own bone broth.

MELANIE: weightandwellness.com. We've got some great videos on how to make a lot of things. But the bone broth is really pretty easy. So a little tip that I have when my clients, they, if they have a look of horror on their face, when I say bone broth, it sounds terrible.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: And I said, when your grandmother cooked a chicken all day in broth, and then you refrigerated it and it would get the sort of that little gelatinous texture that's bone broth. So it's really just grandma's broth is what we're talking about.

BRITNI: It's a good point.

MELANIE: Nothing crazy. Another little tip on bone broth is I love if I shave carrots, if I cut off the ends of onions, if I have some leeks or anything like that. And the things that you peel off or I throw it in a bag in the freezer.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: Once I have a bunch of that and I have enough about a pound of bones, of chicken bones, I throw it all in crockpot and let it cook all day. And that's it. Easy. You didn't have to buy any separate special vegetables. The end of the celery, it all goes washed and in my bag in the freezer.

BRITNI: Simple.

MELANIE: Cheap.

BRITNI: Yeah. It saves you a lot of money than buying the store-bought versions. That is for sure.

MELANIE: And then you can throw in some chicken broth seasoning. It's delicious. And I always have several jars in the freezer that when I'm making a soup, I pull that out because it's additional, you can sauté your vegetables with it. Yum.

BRITNI: This time of year, I have some clients that incorporate that as part of a snack. They just sip on a cup of it. You're actually going to get some protein from the bone broth as well. And so it can feel really nourishing and comforting. Instead of grabbing that afternoon cup of coffee, try grabbing a cup of bone broth instead.

MELANIE: Yes. We'll call it grandma's broth.

BRITNI: There we go. Yeah. Sounds more appealing.

MELANIE: It does.

BRITNI: Let's talk about where else are we going to find collagen in our foods?

MELANIE: It's in the joints.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: Of the bones.

BRITNI: Yep.

MELANIE: So if it's, I like to cook with the whole, I make a whole chicken instead of buying the boneless skinless chicken breast, because A, I love the skin. And B, I want that collagen.

BRITNI: Yeah, that's great. And it's cheaper to buy a whole chicken than buying chicken breasts. And then the protein itself provides us with collagen too.

MELANIE: Yes.

BRITNI: Yeah.

BRITNI: So that is…

MELANIE: There's some collagen in the chicken skin.

BRITNI: Mm-Hmm.

MELANIE: So I, I do love some fried chicken skin. I am from the south. But we'll talk some more about chicken skin and bone broth when we come back. You're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. Many of our first time clients are convinced about eating fat once they've had dry skin or dry vaginal tissue. And they're willing to incorporate about seven tablespoons of fat a day. Now that's one to two tablespoons per meal and one with snacks. And then if they add in about eight to 10 glasses of water, slowly over time, this makes a huge change in that dry tissue. Make those changes and check your progress in three weeks. Of course, we're talking about the healthy fats found in nature. We'll be right back.

BREAK

Omega-3’s support skin health and much more

BRITNI: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. One other specific type of healthy fat that I recommend to my clients that are struggling with dry skin or really I think anybody could benefit from these are omega-3 fatty acids. So this is an essential fatty acid, meaning that our body does not make it. We need to get it from food or a supplement. Natural food sources would be fatty fish, salmon, mackerel, trout, sardines are great sources. Realistically, myself included, most of us are not getting enough of those fatty fish each week. So relying on an omega-3 supplement can be really beneficial. A lot of people find themselves around a therapeutic dose of 3,000 milligrams a day, which would be three of our Omega-3 1000. And that, along with the, the food changes we've been talking about can really, really make a difference in the skin.

MELANIE: It makes a difference. It needs to be wild caught.

BRITNI: Great point.

MELANIE: It needs to be GMP certified, four party tested to remove contaminants like mercury. These are important pieces that we don't want to miss.

BRITNI: Absolutely. And those omega-3’s are also really important for brain health, eye health. Our retina specifically has very high concentrations of those omega-3’s.

MELANIE: Yeah. Really, really important.

BRITNI: Lots of benefits.

MELANIE: So as we age, we're protecting not only our skin, but our eyes, and our brains.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: Yeah. Important stuff.

Drink enough water for skin health

BRITNI: So you were talking about drinking enough water. So that really plays a role in our skin.

MELANIE: We can throw fat at it all day, but if we don't hydrate the tissue, then we're going to have a problem. And if you think about the lining of your digestive system is skin and tissue. So the lining of the vaginal wall, our eyes, if you've got dry eyes, but that skin is on your face and on your body is what we're talking about.

BRITNI: Mm-Hmm.

MELANIE: So if you live in the northern area and you have that dry climate, it's really, really important to hydrate, whether it's warm water or cold water to hydrate and hydrate all day long. So I have a few clients that have a profession such as teaching, or they're dental technicians and they have a difficult time staying hydrated.

BRITNI: It's hard.

MELANIE: So we try to work up a plan literally to keep them hydrated all day so that we're not flooding the kidneys at the end of the day and trying to play catch up. The body doesn't work as well that way.

BRITNI: Yeah, good point. So focusing on the water can really improve the hydration status of your skin.

MELANIE: It plumps you up.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: Plumps up that skin. That's what we want. Well, another additional health habit that Genevieve had was once a week liver and onions was on the menu. I wish I loved liver. I know so much about it, but I can't do it. Can you do it?

BRITNI: No, I can't. My grandma used to trick me and tell me that it was chicken when it was liver. But I was not a fan.

MELANIE: Britni said, no, it's not. Well I, I know that one of the tricks is, and we have another nutritionist and she gets grass fed liver and she has it ground. And then she puts maybe a fifth of it in with ground beef. I have not tried that yet.

BRITNI: Neither have I. Yeah. I think I'd have to have my husband do it.

MELANIE: You have to be tricked.

BRITNI: Yep.

MELANIE: I would too.

BRITNI: Yep. So I don’t know it’s there.

Vitamin A supports healthy skin & hair

MELANIE: But I know a lot of people love it. Yeah. And it's fabulous.

BRITNI: So good for you.

MELANIE: So once a week liver and onions was on the menu. And how does liver support healthy skin; you might be asking. Liver is high in vitamin A. Vitamin A is a fat soluble micronutrient necessary for the growth of healthy skin and hair. You want enough vitamin A, but not too much.

Because it does build up in the liver. It can harm the liver, but food, you're not going to get too much of it. So a four ounce serving of liver is the perfect amount. If you're not a liver fan, like Britni and I, you can consume one to two teaspoons of cod liver oil. They've got them flavored now. There's lots of flavor and so it doesn't taste like it sounds.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: Yeah. And you can throw it in a smoothie. You won't even notice it by the way.

BRITNI: I think there's a lot of healthy habits that are necessary to have healthy, radiant skin. Back in Genevieve’s time, skin healthy habits were the way most people ate. And this is, I think a simple way to think about modifying your food and your lifestyle is it's really just going back to how we used to eat before processed foods existed. Today, to eat a skin healthy menu, it really takes knowledge, commitment, and support. Because we are bombarded with those processed foods everywhere. You turn around, the hardware store, the…

MELANIE: Gas station.

BRITNI: Craft store.

MELANIE: Yes.

BRITNI: Gas station; it's, it is literally everywhere.

MELANIE: Every checkout line.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: So when you're in line and you're tempted because you're hungry, you forgot your snack, just ask yourself cost benefit analysis.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: Think of Genevieve.

BRITNI: Yes.

Avoid processed food for skin health

MELANIE: And I think it's important for us to sort of recap or go over some foods that we want to avoid if we want to have good, healthy, glowy skin. I'm going to start with an American favorite. Don't turn off your radio: chips. Due to the damaged fats that stimulate inflammation in the body, deep fried chips such as corn chips, tortilla chips, impair cell respiration. And they result in skin aging and you just thought you had a chip. Right?

BRITNI: Right. It is more than that.

MELANIE: It seems so benign.

BRITNI: Processed foods, that's really anything found in a box, a bag. These are usually very high in sodium, low in potassium, which can result in water retention due to the imbalance of the sodium in potassium. Foods found in nature, like fruits, vegetables, meats are more balanced in regard to the ratio of potassium and sodium, which prevents the fluid retention that stretches the skin out over time.

MELANIE: Yes. If you've ever eaten fast food or pizza and you wake up in the morning and you've got that puff a doodle eye. Oof!

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: No one likes that. So when you're eating vegetables, you've got that balance.

Avoid excess sugar and caffeine for skin health

Alright. Energy drinks, they are very high in sugar; usually high fructose corn syrup and caffeine. And this creates dehydrated skin and an acidic cell that is damaging to the cells of the skin. So we want to avoid all sugar and caffeine to excess.

BRITNI: Yeah. And I think in a drink form, a lot of people are less aware of what they're consuming.

MELANIE: Because you're, it just, it feels like you're just hydrating. Right?

BRITNI: Yeah. You're just mindlessly drinking something.

MELANIE: So I always say roll that label over and read the ingredients and they make the bring your readers because they make those ingredients so hard to read. That's by design.

BRITNI: Yes. I think so. Sugary treats: you knew this one was coming. Sugar not only accelerates cell death and aging, but creates inflammation throughout the entire body and makes us feel older than we really are.

MELANIE: The aches and pains.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: You start feeling old and you remove that sugar and suddenly the aches and pains go, go away.

BRITNI: You, you reversed the aging process.

Alcohol robs the body of vitamin A, which is needed for skin health

MELANIE: Yeah. Alcohol. Alcohol robs the body of vitamin A, an essential antioxidant that helps with healthy cell turnover. We need that Vitamin A. We talked about cod liver oil in the liver. Well that alcohol is pulling and robs you of vitamin A.

Charred foods is inflammatory to the body & skin cells

BRITNI: Charred foods: they create AGEs, which stands for advanced glycation end products, which is very inflammatory to the body and the skin cells. So try to prevent burning, charring and blackening your foods. very often. Our body has methods to deal with the occasional blackened food, but too much of this can overburden the body and just create damage to our cells.

MELANIE: Yes.

High fructose corn syrup is damaging to the skin

BRITNI: Yep. And high fructose corn syrup. I'm going to touch on it again. I can't, I cannot express enough about high fructose corn syrup. It's sometimes labeled as HFCS in many labels. Not only does it create non-alcoholic fatty liver, but can damage your skin collagen and elastin, which ends up making you look wrinkled. So high fructose corn syrup; there is no high fructose corn syrup tree or bush.

BRITNI: There is absolutely not.

MELANIE: It is a Franken food. So we want to avoid that.

BRITNI: And you find it everywhere. So read those ingredients. You're going to be surprised where high fructose corn syrup is; even in a jar of pickles. It is time for our last break.

MELANIE: You are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. Recently I read that every day 6,000 women start menopause. Out of those 6,000, more than three quarters of women never receive any help with their symptoms. They just try to power through. Several years ago, the team of nutritionists and dietitians at Nutritional Weight and Wellness decided to educate women on how to have fewer hot flashes and how to get better sleep, how to slow down that menopausal weight gain.

We created a series of six classes with Kara and myself through a video presentation giving you suggestions on how you can reduce or eliminate symptoms. The original cost for this video presentation was $247. Now through December, we are offering at a $50 off discount, making it only $197. If you want to add on an individual consultation appointment with a registered dietitian or a nutritionist, we are discounting the package $100. Six classes plus 90 minutes of individual nutrition counseling for $300.

BRITNI: It's a, that's a good deal.

MELANIE: An individual appointment can address your personal symptoms. So what are your personal symptoms listeners? Ask yourself, are you struggling? Maybe it's lack of libido, osteoporosis, anxiety, sleep problems, weight gain, hot flashes, night sweats. These six classes will give you the information you need to make changes and the consultation will personalize it to your individual needs. To sign up, call 651-699-3438. Or you can do it online at weightandwellness.com.

Sign up for Menopause Solutions – Online and/or Schedule Nutrition Counseling

BRITNI: You are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. If you are new to this way of eating or you need motivation to get in the kitchen, I encourage you to take one of our cooking classes presented in a Zoom format. On November 8^th, Marianne will be teaching you how to make comfort food healthy and delicious. Who wouldn't love that?

MELANIE: Comfort food.

BRITNI: Yes. So you can go to weightandwellness.com to sign up. The fee is only $25 for an hour and a half. And if you can't attend the live class, you do get the recording for three days.

MELANIE: Here's the beauty of that class. I love these classes because you get a breakdown that you can print off, which is the grocery shopping list, the recipes, the instructions, and then you get the video for three days. So you can go grocery shop, come back, start the video, start cooking and pause at each step as you follow along with Marianne.

BRITNI: It's perfect.

MELANIE: It's perfect. It's easy. It's really affordable.

Sign Up for a Cooking Class

BRITNI: Yeah. Yeah. You know, I do want to mention the title of the show is about anti-aging skin. Maybe you're in your twenties or maybe you're a teen listening with your mom and you're not necessarily worried about aging skin, but you're struggling with acne. Well, all this information is absolutely relevant to that.  

MELANIE: Good point.

BRITNI: You know, I personally struggled with acne into my twenties.

MELANIE: You would never know it.

BRITNI: Well thank you. Which is an icky thing to deal with.

MELANIE: Yes.

BRITNI: Especially when you're an adult. And so I will say changing and modifying my food made a dramatic difference.

MELANIE: Tell us more specifics.

BRITNI: Yeah. So I think reducing sugar, the processed food, even though I was going to school to become a dietitian, there was a whole lot of processed food in my diet; not much healthy fat at all. Some of you longtime listeners might know that this is not necessarily what we're taught in school to become a dietitian.

MELANIE: Agreed.

BRITNI: Yeah. I really overhauled my diet in my early twenties and started to incorporate real food. So more of the healthy fats, cutting back on those refined, processed carbohydrates, ditching the sugar, which was hard. I've got a sweet tooth. And then the protein, that's a huge one for me. And I still need to be very diligent about that to get enough at my meals.

MELANIE: I would agree. I think that's a struggle for a lot of women is getting an adequate amount of protein.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: We're not talking a splash here and there. And it seems like as we age, we cut back on protein, which is the exact opposite. And you need protein for the cellular repair of the cells of your skin.

BRITNI: Yeah. Yeah.

MELANIE: And it carries collagen.

BRITNI: Mm-Hmm. So that is absolutely necessary. I do know there is personally a connection for me and dairy and more acne.

MELANIE: Mm-Hmm.

BRITNI: And there is for a lot of individuals. So we have had other radio shows specifically talking all about acne. We have articles on our website, weightandwellness.com. So again, if you are somebody maybe not necessarily worrying about aging skin, but have some other skin conditions, this is all very relevant information.

MELANIE: Because if your body is struggling with a skin condition now, it is going to age prematurely later. So getting the jump on it to have healthy, glowy skin now benefit, win-win. But also it's going to be a win-win down the road in how your skin is going to look.

BRITNI: And I was surprised to learn this years ago. Our skin is our largest organ. And you don't really think of your skin as an organ necessarily, but if internally we are inflamed, a lot of times it manifests through our skin.

MELANIE: Yeah. I, I think of it like an inflammation bucket. Right? It fills up, it fills up, it fills up. By the time you get a symptom, which could be acne, which could be excessively oily skin or dry skin, that's your body's flare gun.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: That says I'm inflamed. And so you need to address it because it means if your skin is inflamed, your entire body is inflamed.

Meal & snack examples of what to eat for healthy skin

BRITNI: Yeah. That is a really good way of thinking about it. So let's maybe talk about what do you eat during the day to, to promote this healthy skin, avoid acne? I had this morning in an attempt to increase my protein I had four eggs.

MELANIE: Good girl.

BRITNI: I know; with a little bit of potato, like maybe a half a cup. And then I had a couple cups of steamed broccoli with some butter on it.

MELANIE: So win with the butter.

BRITNI: Yep.

MELANIE: Vitamin A with the eggs; all very skin centric.

BRITNI: Yep.

MELANIE: And I had a four ounce patty of hamburger. And then I had my healthy shake, which was a scoop of my protein powder, half a cup of strawberries and water and then coconut milk for the fat.

BRITNI: Great.

MELANIE: And I do a tiny little splash of lemon juice and it tastes like strawberry cheesecake smoothie. And then in butter I stir fry peppers, onions and mushrooms.

BRITNI: Delicious.

MELANIE: So it sounds like a lot.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: But it holds you.

BRITNI: Yeah, it really does.

MELANIE: I like to chew. I have to chew my protein and then I do an additional bump. Oh. And I put collagen in there too. 'Cause that collagen has Verisol in it, which is for hair, skin, and nails.

BRITNI: Yes. And I put some collagen in my coffee that I drink with my breakfast and then that's going to prevent the cravings for that processed food and sugar later in the day. It really does.

MELANIE: So anyone making breakfast right now is thinking that's a lot of food.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: Trust the process.

BRITNI: Give it a try.

MELANIE: It's a lot of good food.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: Yeah.

BRITNI: What do you have to lose? Right? So lunch rolls around. I know for lunch I have leftover pot roast that I made with some sweet potato, carrots, and then I'll have a side salad.

MELANIE: And what was the liquid in your pot roast? Bone broth?

BRITNI: Yes.

MELANIE: I knew it.

BRITNI: Yep. And then I keep it simple for salad dressing, I love just olive oil, some good balsamic, salt and pepper. If I want it a little, little creamy, again to avoid the dairy, I just put a little bit of mayonnaise in there.

MELANIE: I do the same.

BRITNI: And that works for me.

MELANIE: Yeah. I also avoid dairy. That works really well. I also like tahini, lemon juice and garlic for my salad dressing.

BRITNI: Yeah, that sounds delicious.

MELANIE: It gives it a little creamy. And then your snacks. What are you rolling around in your lunchbox when you're coming to work?

BRITNI: Right now I've got a big Costco sized bag of meat sticks, grass fed. So that is easy; some nuts, some raw nuts. And I usually keep a variety around at my house just to kind of switch it up. And then I'll either grab some raw vegetables; I always keep something easy on hand, like mini peppers, mini cucumbers.

MELANIE: I'm into sugar snap peas right now.

BRITNI: Ooh. Yeah. Yeah. Then you don't have to chop or fuss around with it.

MELANIE: When you're working, it's nice to have something just to munch on.

BRITNI: Yep.

MELANIE: It doesn't matter. So it's, many of the time I tell my clients, put a bowl of raw vegetables out like you used, we used to do fruit or candy. And just when you're walking around your house, munch on your vegetables and pretty soon you've gotten a cup or two down just because it's something to do when you're bored. Put it out and munch on it.

BRITNI: It's a good recommendation.

MELANIE: I'm a big fan of hard-boiled eggs or deviled eggs for my snacks.

BRITNI: Yummy.

MELANIE: And like I said, the sugar snap peas.

BRITNI: Perfect.

MELANIE: More eggs. We love those eggs.

BRITNI: They're simple. So dinner rolls around and sheet pan meals are easy.

MELANIE: Mm-Hmm.

BRITNI: Some chicken, roasted vegetables.

MELANIE: Are you a sardine fan?

BRITNI: I am not.

MELANIE: Oh, I love them.

BRITNI: I wish.

MELANIE: So my challenge for listeners today is the sardines are not the sardines of your childhood. Find one that's in olive oil. There's no head, skin, nothing looking at you. It's almost even less fishy than tuna. And it's a great high source of omega-3 fatty acids. So they're delicious. Double dog dare you. Britni?

BRITNI: I'll think about it.

MELANIE: Okay. If you're not a, if you're not, then you know, good old-fashioned salmon.

BRITNI: Yeah.

MELANIE: Wild caught salmon is delicious.

BRITNI: I recently made a pot of our pot pie soup that's on our, our website.

MELANIE: It's a fan favorite.

BRITNI: Super simple. I always use roast, or I'm sorry, frozen vegetables because they're already caught up. They're cheap. And in a soup form, that texture, that kind of mushy texture doesn't matter.

MELANIE: It's a comfort food. It and we love those comfort foods. Well, our goal at Nutritional Weight and Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. It's as simple yet powerful message. Eating real food is life-changing. Thank you for joining Britni and I today.

BRITNI: Thank you.