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“No need to cut out specific foods to lose weight; all foods can fit into a healthy diet.” – Justine Jeddy

 

This week on the podcast I’m joined by Justine Jeddy, an evidence-based health and nutrition coach specializing in women’s fitness and nutrition. And I wanted to get to the truth about diet culture, weight and nutrition in perimenopause, menopause and midlife.

 

We debunk myths and clear up misconceptions about metabolism and insulin resistance, discuss the (surprising) long term impact of diets on weight loss, and address the challenges of perimenopause and menopause. Justine also offers strategies for navigating hunger, cravings, and fatigue. It’s a must-listen for women in midlife!

 

Discover Justine’s “2 thirds method” for balanced meals and her insights on importance of structured, balanced meals for sustained energy. 

 

I had a lot of questions and used my own experience of midlife weight gain to understand the truth behind some of the weight and health misconceptions that are currently doing the rounds!

 

Tune in to gain valuable insights and be inspired to prioritize your health and well-being in midlife and beyond. Let’s navigate this midlife journey together, prioritizing our health and embracing the power of community and support.

 

About Justine Jeddy

Justine is a Peri+Post Menopausal Fat Loss, Nutrition & Fitness Coach with over 9 years experience helping peri+post menopausal women to lose weight for the last time, have a healthier relationship with food and get their mojo and confidence back. 
 
Instagram: @iamjustinejeddy 

 

Follow Meegan on Instagram here

 

Join the waitlist for The Midlife Upgrade Course:
https://meegancare.co.nz/course/

 

Please note: Nothing within this podcast constitutes medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or qualified healthcare provider.

Full Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] Meegan Care: Well, welcome to the podcast, Justine Jetty. So grateful that you’re here.

Tell us who you are and who you help.

[00:00:07] Justine Jeddy: Thank you for having me here. So yeah, I’m Justine Jetty. I am a certified women’s fitness and nutrition coach, and I specialize in peri and post menopausal health and fitness. I’ve been a coach for close to a decade now. So nine years this year. And I predominantly worked, I I’m based in Sydney, Australia, but I predominantly worked in gyms in Sydney, Australia when I first started, and then I moved my business online and kind of expanded my scope and who I could serve and, and, and help essentially.

Yeah.

[00:00:35] Meegan Care: And we were just chatting that you, you work with a lot of New Zealand women.

[00:00:40] Justine Jeddy: Yes. Like most of my clients in New Zealand, I have got clients in Australia in different parts and in America, but most of my clients are in New Zealand. Awesome.

[00:00:49] Meegan Care: So today what I want to do is bust some myths about health, well being and, and for want of a better word, weight loss, I suppose, you know, that’s a big conversation for women in my age group.

And I was just saying before we started recording I think I’ve put on about 10 15 kg, something like that, over, over this journey. And it’s been a lot for me to get my head around and I don’t also want to make it an obsessive focus for myself. And I know that your evidence based, trained, right?

So that’s really important to you. And I know that you work with so many women around this midlife age range that I wanted to really hear from you, bust some myths. Here we go. So let’s start. Let’s talk about metabolism, right? So this is what I hear is that our metabolism slows down in perimenopause menopause.

What are your thoughts on that? Yeah,

[00:01:52] Justine Jeddy: that’s a common misconception. I see a lot in the perimenopause, menopause health and fitness space, and especially around weight loss. So the thing to understand with metabolism is it’s not, it is harder to lose weight in peri and post menopause, but it’s not due to metabolism.

And that’s because the research and the studies show us that our metabolism doesn’t really change that much from 20 to 60 years of age. And when we enter perimenopause resting metabolic rate only drops on average across the board to about 54 calories less a day, which when you think about it, and that’s regardless of body composition.

So if you’re a woman listening to this right now, who’s a hundred kilos, or you’re a woman listening to this is 60 kilos, that average is pretty much. Pretty standard across the board. So it’s not, it’s not metabolism that is making it harder for women to lose weight at this age and stage of their life.

What is that then? I knew that was coming. So I just want to, before I go into that, I think I want to bust another major myth that I hear a lot in this space. And it’s that insulin resistance is the next thing. So if it’s not metabolism, insulin resistance is kind of the next thing. Big guy that a lot of people like, Oh, I can’t lose weight because of that.

And I just want to clarify that even though insulin is our main storage hormone. And so it’s responsible for moving fatty acids and glucose into fat cells. It can only store fat in the, In the presence of a calorie surplus. So if you’re in that calorie deficit, you will still lose regardless of whether you’re insulin sensitive or not.

And so I just want to clarify that for any woman who’s listening, who’s been told, Oh, you’re you’re because of your insulin resistance, you can’t lose weight, or it’s harder for you to lose weight. Now, I don’t want to obviously oversimplify this. I’m sure there’s a lot of women that are probably listening to this.

They’re like, Oh, calorie deficit. that I’ve heard that before, like it’s not that simple and it isn’t the, the, the four main reasons why it is harder to lose weight in peri and postmenopause is predominantly the symptoms. So the symptoms that women struggle with that impact their ability to show up for themselves.

So fatigue, lack of sleep. Some women really struggle with joint aches and pains increase in hunger. That’s The second thing, so an increase in hunger and cravings is very common in peri and post menopause. And a lot of women don’t realize that as our Easter. And hormone drops, a hunger hormone, ghrelin increases.

So a lot of women whether they know it or not, they might feel a lot more hunger and cravings at this time of their life, and they don’t really know why. And that, that is the reason why it’s because of that hormone change. And so hunger and cravings will then impact our ability to obviously create and stay in that calorie deficit.

And I just want to, if, if anyone on here doesn’t know what a calorie deficit is, it is essentially consuming less. Energy or less calories than your body expends in a day. And so every single diet out there, that’s being advertised to you, whether it’s keto, intermittent fasting, clean eating, whatever special menopause diet that some doctors trying to, you know, try to sell is, is just a calorie deficit in disguise.

And again, going back to the research and the studies, cause I don’t waste time with fads or popularity, but going back to the evidence that, you know, And, and the research is not any of those diets is superior for fat loss. So there is not a single diet that is superior for weight loss or fat loss. So then the question then becomes not what’s the right diet for me to lose this weight, but what’s the right calorie deficit for me?

What’s the right approach for me in order to lose this weight, because every single diet out there is a calorie deficit,

right? Oh, that’s really interesting. Isn’t it? Because yes, you know, I am. a prime candidate to be advertised to for all sorts of diets. And I’ve never really been a diet person, played a little bit around with intermittent fasting when I was in perimenopause or early stages of menopause.

So you’re saying that, that any sort of diet that’s out there is, its foundation is on calorie deficit.

Right. Yes. Yes. So that is essentially the methodology. So they can advertise whatever you know, whatever front that they want to put on it, whatever angle, but at the end of it, the scientific structure formula to it is a deficit.

And to give you an example, just to clarify this even further, In theory, intermittent fasting creates a calorie deficit by shortening your feeding window. Therefore, in theory, you eat less within a day because your feeding window is shortened. And I’ve worked with many clients who’ve come from intermittent fasting and didn’t lose any weight because surprise, surprise, they still ate the same amount in that, in that window.

Right. Yeah. So. It’s not about meal timing or any of that. Like your body doesn’t know what time of day it is. It doesn’t say, Oh, it’s 6 PM. I’m going to store fat now. Like that’s not how our metabolism and our body works. So yeah, that’s how intermittent fasting essentially creates. That deficit keto is another popular diet creates a calorie deficit by essentially removing one third of the macronutrients from our diet.

So we’ve got protein carbs and fats, which are the three major macro nutrients. We’ve got micronutrients as well, which are vitamins as well and minerals and things like that. But essentially keto by, by removing carbohydrates creates that deficit by removing a large, quite large food group. I think a lot of people, you know, But their pasta, their bread their cheese and crackers, whatever it is, right?

Chocolate, all of that. So removing that creates that deficit of, of eating, essentially eating less energy. And again, I’ve worked with clients who are on keto who haven’t lost any weight. And again, for, for women who may not know this, but protein and carbs, they’re roughly four calories a gram, whereas fats are nine calories a gram.

And we absolutely need fats and carbs. In our diet, we need healthy fats, especially going through peri and post menopause, we need healthy fats for healthy hormone function. However, you could be doing keto thinking you’re eating less, but for a lot smaller portion of fats, your, the energy you’re consuming is a lot greater than the carbs that you’re consuming.

Not in all cases, but in, in the cases that I’ve seen where women have, have been trying keto for a few months and they haven’t lost any weight. They’re not actually in that energy deficit. I hope that makes sense. It

[00:08:00] Meegan Care: does make sense and it’s just kind of blowing my little mind. This is not an area of expertise for me in any way.

So I’m, I’m learning as we go. Tell me about what you see in your experience and your clinic for women. Cause it’s a very, I guess, risky time for, for disordered eating.

[00:08:23] Justine Jeddy: Okay. Yes.

[00:08:24] Meegan Care: And so I did want to cover that from your perspective as well because I think it’s very important for us as women and I think that the more high risk time is in our teenage years, but then it’s that perimenopause, menopause, midlife time.

It’s quite a risky time.

[00:08:41] Justine Jeddy: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think the main thing that I see with a lot of the clients I work with, and I do, I see a lot of food diaries. I see a lot of what women are eating on a daily basis when they start with me. And the biggest thing I say to them is you need to eat more.

So many, so many, yeah, so many. Yeah. So many women, it’s either one or two instances. I either see women who snack throughout the day and therefore don’t have a proper meal. And in their minds, they’re thinking that they’re eating less, but those snacks are actually higher, like a cupcake, which would be like 50 grams could be 300 calories, which could be a small meal, whereas you could have like some, I don’t know chicken and veggie stir fry, and that could be the same amount of calories and give your body the nourishment it needs.

Right. So there’s that, there’s that element to it where a lot of women, I See a snacking throughout the day and not having any structure to their meals and that’s impacting them because that’s still not meeting their nutritional needs. But then also the hunger and cravings is just out the window because they’re, they’re, they’ve got that they’re struggling with side notes, sleep also impacts hunger and cravings, which I’ll get to in a 2nd, but.

There’s that side of it as well. And then on the other side, I see women who like I had a client that started with me a month ago and she’s like, yeah, I’m eating really healthy, but I’m not losing weight. I’m like, cool. Just send me some pictures of what you, what you normally have in a day. And she sent me a picture of her lunch and it was like a side salad.

I’m like, that’s not a proper meal. So I’m like, you need to eat more. So I think there’s definitely that. I think women. Maybe perhaps, and again, this is just my perspective, but in their desperation, I think because they’re what was working for them before with weight loss, if they tried to lose weight when they were younger, isn’t working now, I think desperately they go to extreme measures and they’re like, well, okay, I was doing this before and it’s not working.

So I’m just going to, you know, Starve myself, or I’m just going to really try and create these drastic method measures, which are obviously not healthy. And I think that definitely ties into developing a healthier relationship with their bodies and with themselves and with food. And that’s something I definitely teach to my clients in that process.

I believe that you can have a healthy relationship with food. And that actually makes your weight loss journey easier when you’re approaching it from a place of self love and, and, and respect for yourself and your health and your fitness, as opposed to a place of loathing and hating yourself. Yeah. So

[00:10:57] Meegan Care: that, that’s important for you, right?

That, that place of self acceptance and self love. Love rather than coming from trying to fuel our body from a place of self loathing which introduces so much of those restrictions Absolutely, right. So that is interesting, isn’t it? Because I think we’ve been taught to reduce Intake like reduce food, right?

And so many of us may well be undernourishing ourselves And that’s all wrapped up in that You Patriarchal paradigm, shall

[00:11:35] Justine Jeddy: we say? Yes. And diet culture, right? Every diet out there, what does it say to women is like, you’ve got to eat less and move more. Like that’s just the most unhelpful piece of advice.

That’s like saying to someone who’s stressed, just, just calm down. Like it’s not. Right. Yeah

[00:11:50] Meegan Care: slap in the face say that someone who’s really stressed out. Yeah, yeah that’s so true. So how, how, I mean it’s really fascinating for me that you, you work with women in this field and I’ve seen people raving about you in some of the groups that we’re in and how amazing you are and, and I really just couldn’t get my head around, you know, if, That, that sort of diet culture piece and then, but then Justine showing up in a different way And so I feel like I’m uncovering some of that today, which is fantastic.

Yeah, so you’re really teaching women how to, how to nourish their bodies. Absolutely. Yeah. Really healthy.

[00:12:26] Justine Jeddy: Absolutely. Yeah. No. And just speaking from, from my experience before I started my, my weight loss and health journey over nine years ago, I struggled with binge eating and emotional eating. I didn’t have a healthy relationship with food.

I struggled with my own body image issues. And it’s worse when you become a coach, because then You feel like you’re, you’ve got to meet this certain image. Right. As well. So I really struggle with that. And I really, I look back at that now and I’m really grateful for that time of my life because it helped, it’s helped me to understand my clients on a deeper level, not just with emotional eating and binge eating, which is something I see a lot with women at this age and stage of their life, but also just that body acceptance and, and, and love, and I think.

You know, on one side of the scale, you’ve got people who, who are all about body positivity, but in a, in almost like a fake and a fake positivity way where they’re not genuinely happy with who they are, or their body or their health or their fitness or anything of that, but they’re trying to kind of.

Trick themselves into being like, well, I just need to accept X, Y, and Z and whatever. And, and whilst I do think that with the best intentions, I think women say to one another, like, Oh, just accept that this is where you’re at right now and whatever, and out of kindness for yourself. I do think obviously kindness is very important, but I also don’t believe that.

Accepting something that is, is absolutely changeable and it’s not you settling for something that’s less than you deserve or less than the way you want to live your life is very kind to yourself either. So I think, you know, there’s that part of it. And there’s a lot of women I speak to in this space that just don’t believe it’s possible for them.

And so they give up, but that’s not being kind to yourself.

[00:14:03] Meegan Care: Yeah. So I really hear you on that. So acceptance, we talk about it so much through the mindfulness space and all that kind of thing. But we, we need to really differentiate between you know, levels of acceptance and settling and resignation and collapsing whilst not feeling good about ourselves and also within ourselves.

So my journey for health and my body has been about my vitality during the day and fatigue is such a big piece, especially in perimenopause and I’m a pretty long way out the other side now. So it’s kind of feels like it’s leveled and improving like as I include weights and include more exercises actually getting better.

But I went through that stage where it was just like shit all the time. You know, the only thing that felt like it solved it was sleep. So that’s, you know, a very long journey for me. Something that spiked my interest was the increase in hunger. Because I remember that well in perimenopause. And I was just like, the two breakfasts.

My partner called me a hobbit because I’d have breakfast and then 10 30 I’d be like

[00:15:09] Justine Jeddy: I’ve got to eat. I’ve got to

[00:15:11] Meegan Care: eat. I just didn’t know what was going on. And then you connected that with sleep as well. So lack of sleep is such an, a common symptom in perimenopause. So can you kind of talk

[00:15:22] Justine Jeddy: us through what’s going on then?

Absolutely. Absolutely. So to go back to what I said before So you’ve got with, with hunger, especially, like, if you’re not getting a good quality sleep studies have actually shown us that even just getting one hour less of sleep can increase our calorie intake by up to 500 calories and that’s without us knowing, like, we could just be going throughout our day consuming more.

Without even realizing that and as human beings, we get our energy from two sources, which is food and sleep. And so if one of those is out of whack, we’re not, which is sleep where we’re naturally going to gravitate towards the other, whether we’re aware of that or not. And so I really feel for women who, who struggle with a lot of hunger and cravings, because they’re not only battling with the hormonal changes of estrogen dropping and therefore.

Their hunger hormone ghrelin increasing as a, as a by product of that. But then if they’re also on top of that, not getting a good quality sleep, they’re naturally hungrier anyway, on top of that. So they’re kind of battling those two things. And so the two, the two ways that I look at combating hunger and cravings in peri and postmenopause is number one, working on your sleep.

First and foremost, it doesn’t mean that you can’t have an exercise or a nutrition routine, but that’s really the area you want to attack first, because it’s, it’s pretty much foundational to you as, as you’ve mentioned, Megan, like getting up and being able to do your weights or do whatever, because you’ve got that energy to go and fatigue is such It impacts our ability to show up for ourselves in so many ways and impacts our mood and how we feel about ourselves.

So it’s really kind of a foundational thing to kind of address first and foremost, and then on top of that, from a nutritional perspective, looking at adding more structure into your meals and adding proteins, a big one, adding I say to my clients aiming for roughly 25 to 30 grams of protein in each of those meals, because protein is our highest satiety macronutrient.

So it’s going to keep you fuller for longer. Yeah. And so the combination of, of those 2 things with getting better quality sleep and getting more protein and fiber as well, might I say, because fiber also fills us up, but protein and fiber in, in our meals that’s what I’ve seen. Hands down across the board has changed.

So many of my clients lives. Just it sounds simple in theory, a bit harder in practice to implement, but, but those are the 2 things that I’ve seen that have had the greatest impact on my client’s energy levels and their sleep and their sleep quality as well.

[00:17:45] Meegan Care: Powerful. Something that ticks me off about that, the about diet culture and what we hear is like, people talk about 25 to 30 grams of protein, I’m like, but what does that actually translate to in

[00:17:57] Justine Jeddy: food?

Yeah. Yes. I have no idea.

[00:17:59] Meegan Care: And it’s just knowledge for you if you’re a coach, but.

[00:18:03] Justine Jeddy: Yeah, no, something. I think I’ve had a few questions where I’ve had plants are like 20 grams and I’m like, by the way, 20 grams or 30 grams of protein doesn’t mean 20 or 30 grams of chicken as an example, just to say. So protein when we talk in, in, in the fitness industry, about 25 to 30 grams of protein, we’re talking about pure protein.

So, protein Not the actual source of protein. So to differentiate the protein source would be like red meat, white meat tofu and tempeh if you’re vegetarian, as an example fish, prawns, that kind of stuff, that that’s the protein source. And on average, 20 percent of, of that is pure protein. So if you were to have, say a salmon fillet that was yeah, a hundred grams, you’re getting roughly 19 to 20 grams of protein from that salmon fillet, as an example.

Does that make

[00:18:51] Meegan Care: sense? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So 20 percent off. Yeah. That makes sense. So if I’m having a hundred grams of fish, then I’m sort of getting what? Nearly 20 grams of protein am I?

[00:19:02] Justine Jeddy: Roughly. Roughly. Yeah. Roughly. The thing is you’ve got some protein sources that might be slightly higher or slightly lower, but roughly around 20 grams.

Yeah. Like 130 grams of chickens around like 35 grams of protein or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

[00:19:18] Meegan Care: So. That that’s good to know. I want to feel my body in a, in a way that really supports my energy. I do not want to be counting calories and I am completely aboard like weighing food and all that kind of stuff.

I’m not up for that. What can someone like

[00:19:37] Justine Jeddy: me, like, I love that question. Yeah, no, absolutely. So I’ve got some clients that love counting calories just because they love the data that want to, like, you know, it fits certain people, but it doesn’t fit others. And I’ve also got a lot of clients that don’t track their calories.

And so you do not need to track calories in order to lose weight. So something that I suggest is what I call it a two thirds method. It’s my own method that I made up, but it’s like a two thirds method where if you get really good with say breakfast and lunch, where, you know, you’re getting roughly like a palm size.

I go off hand portioning. Cause that’s easy to visualize. None of my clients weigh their food, stuff that. I don’t weigh my food either. I just think that’s ridiculous. But going off the hand portioning is a really good tool, like a visual tool to help. So you want to be looking at say like a palm size serving of protein a fistful size serving of like starchy carbs.

So like potato, rice, something like that. And then you want two fistfuls of like your veggies or your fruit or like the really high fibrous foods. Foods in there as well. As an example, that’s kind of the basis of like a structured balanced meal. And you might find that in the morning. You might find that you put together a meal that say got, got that good protein in there and you might even have some healthy fats because healthy fats are good for cognitive function.

So, something that I’ve put in place with some of my clients and again, this is an individual by individual basis, but if they find that they really need that mental clarity and function in the morning, we’ll give them like, we’ll put together like a high fat, high protein breakfast for them. And then we’ll save carbs for like lunch and dinner instead.

Now for like a real life situation, Most people are social in their evenings, like dinner is the most social meal of the day, would you say? Like most people eat their lunch at work and they might have that with the colleagues or they might have it by themselves while they’re still doing work at their desk breakfast.

You’re either having on the go or you might have it at home, depending on your schedule and what you’re doing. But dinner seems to be the most social event. Cause you’re either having that with your partner, with family or friends on the weekend, especially. And so the two, three method that I’ve created is kind of like, if you can get.

Your breakfast and lunch nutritionally sound for yourself. So again, not tracking stuff, but if you have like, say a similar breakfast every day and you have, maybe you might vary lunch every now and then, but again, that palm size serving of protein, and you’ve got some veggies in there, some starchy carbs in there, however you want to make it, then you’ve got a bit more leeway for dinner where you can have that flexibility.

And something I see with a lot of my, my perimenopausal clients that are busy moms and that, you know, they’re kind of. Cook for their family and things like that. They don’t want to be happy having a second dinner or having to cook separately from what they’re cooking their family and nor should they need to.

And so it’s like having that flexibility with that social meal means you’re still on track in terms of with, with weight loss or fat loss, but you’re able to enjoy that meal and you’re able to have that flexibility there where you can have whatever, whether you’re eating out or you’re eating in. And not have that restriction some good options for breakfast that I really love is like having like protein and oats.

So like, I’ll have like a scoop of protein powder in my oats. And that’s like a really good way, like adding protein powder to actual food or like yogurt as well. Having some pieces of fruit in there. Whether you want to have like eggs on toast with some spinach or something like that, like, or salmon, like there’s, there’s so many different things you can do.

Similarly with lunches, like you can have like, like a really fulfilling lunch. Like chicken, chicken salad lunch with like noodles or like pumpkin or sweet potato or something in there that’s really filling. And it’s just really comes down to personal preference. Like, as long as you’re getting enough protein and enough veggies and like whole foods in your main meals, then it’s giving you that space to have one meal, like have that meal in the evening.

If, if, you know, it’s going to Maybe not be as, as healthy or as, you know, like still have that flexibility. And something I say to my clients as well around snacking is if you have a solid structure with your main meals and you’re getting what your body’s nutrition needs are with your protein and your fiber in those main meals, it means then that when you choose a snack, you’re choosing it purely out of pleasure.

You’re not choosing it to fill a need of like, Oh, I’m hungry. So I’m just going to eat this. And that makes the whole like process more enjoyable as well.

[00:23:38] Meegan Care: Three PM I’m flagging, I need to stuff food in my face because, and then you just feel so tired

[00:23:44] Justine Jeddy: afterwards. Yes. And it’s cause a lot of women, I don’t know about you, but like, I find a lot of women like either go light with lunch or they don’t really have a substantial lunch and then they’re waiting till dinner.

And then naturally they’re like, like by that point, and I made that mistake when I worked in corporate, I like kind of skipped over lunch or I didn’t have that much of a good lunch. And then by the time I got home, I wanted to eat the entire fridge. Yeah.

[00:24:06] Meegan Care: Yeah, so I like that two, two, three method that you talked about.

So I’ve tried to focus for my energy in the afternoon flags at around two, three. So I’ve tried to focus on increasing my protein in the morning to see if that will help. I can’t eat eggs. They make me really inflamed and

[00:24:25] Justine Jeddy: headachey. I got really, really bad like, really, I think I was always sensitive to them as a kid, but I got a really awful food poisoning from them.

And that was it for me. I just couldn’t have them anymore. So

[00:24:38] Meegan Care: interesting. Yeah. Mom told me before she passed away that I used to vomit them up when I was a kid, but I loved them. I adore them. I still look longingly at them when my dad eats them and I’m like,

[00:24:49] Justine Jeddy: Oh, that’s so beautiful. I miss them, but

[00:24:51] Meegan Care: not that much.

Yeah. Anyway, so. Oh yeah, so I tried to focus on increasing my protein in the morning at breakfast for my energy, and that has, but there’s only so many smoothies a girl wants to drink, right? But, I will say that it has really changed things for me. I just feel more, Nourish during the day, not like I’m trying to have to fuel myself.

So I feel like I’ve sort of got that dialed in and I love those suggestions that you just made for breakfast, like including protein powder in the oats and that kind of thing as it starts to get colder here. So that, that’s amazing. And so then I kind of feel like then if I can have that, that nourishment available at lunchtime, real

[00:25:34] Justine Jeddy: simple, right?

Protein and vegetables

[00:25:37] Meegan Care: and maybe some carbs, whatever. If that’s available to me then I feel like I’m kind of more on track in a simple way where I’m not overthinking the whole food

[00:25:46] Justine Jeddy: thing. Absolutely. No, a hundred percent. And I think that, and I say this to my clients a lot, because I think a lot of, especially those that have come from diet culture, I think there is a false perception that to plan ahead with meals meal means you have to meal prep, or you have to meal prep every single meal and have like, you know, 50 Tupperware containers ready to go.

Yeah. And yeah, that, that it’s absolutely not the case. Something that’s helped my clients a lot is just planning to spending five, 10 minutes the day before planning for the next day. And if, and, and, you know, if you know, the days that you’re getting your grocery shopping, making sure that whatever you’ve got on that list is covering the period of time until your next grocery shop.

So you’re not running out of stuff that you want to either. Put in a lunch or put in a smoothie or whatever. So you’ve just, and I know it sounds really simple, but you’d be surprised how like that small bit of planning goes such a long way.

[00:26:39] Meegan Care: So I see a lot of women asking about how to lose weight and then they get a lot of reply backs on some of the groups I’m in to do intermittent fasting. What’s the data on intermittent fasting for women in midlife perimenopause?

[00:26:56] Justine Jeddy: So unfortunately to bust a lot of people’s bubble is there’s nothing special about it.

It’s just very good marketing. I’ve had women that have gotten angry at me cause they’ve read up on books by specific doctors really pushing intermittent fasting. And I totally understand why that is, because I think doctors are still seen as the authority to do that. In the weight loss and nutrition space, but I just want to clarify that most doctors have zero nutritional qualifications, then not studied in nutrition.

And so that they’re the authority in medication and medicine, essentially. So that’s where I think a lot of confusion comes from. I’ve had clients that their GP has told them, Oh, just cut carbs. And it’s like, did they give you a reason why they said that to you? No, no, no. They just think that. And it’s just like, it’s, and it’s, it’s it’s a real problem because yeah, people look to doctors for solutions around their health, but it’s also understanding what authority doctors have around specific aspects of a person’s health and nutrition, unless a doctor has nutritional qualifications they shouldn’t be.

Advising anything around nutrition, just, just being real and I know that there’s a lot of doctors that are jumping on the menopause bandwagon and there’s a lot of doctors in the space. Can I just say that I, that I really admire and I, I, I value and I support and they’re incredible. Like, you know, people like Dr Louise Newsom.

She’s incredible. Big fan Dr Stacey Sims as well. You know very, two evidence based people know what they’re talking about. Don’t bullshit with fads or anything else. Sorry. Hope I’m allowed to swear. But yeah, don’t, don’t you don’t just tell it how it is and give people the facts and, and the, the correct information.

And so you know, that’s, that’s the problem in this space at the moment is there’s a lot of supplement companies and there’s a lot of people trying to advertise special menopause diets, especially diets and supplements that balance your hormones, quote unquote, balance your hormones, which just blows my mind.

And I totally appreciate that women in their desperation are trying to find a solution to not just weight, not just weight loss, but as you mentioned, like fatigue, like lack of sleep, all of those things. Right. But. I just want to just want to clarify, like, if, if you see any diet that claims to balance your hormones or any supplement that claims to balance your hormones, I just want you to know that that is pure marketing and it should be taken as an orange to red flag, because the idea that one single supplement or one single dietary change can balance your hormones completely disregards the complexity of hormone regulation.

And also. You know, it, it doesn’t allow for variable individual variability and women from woman to woman have different, you know, hormone levels, different estrogen levels, different progesterone levels. So to say that one supplement can, you know, just cure all your symptoms and, you know, balance your hormones is, is it’s completely unrealistic essentially.

Sorry, I know I went off on a tangent there, but I’m

[00:29:52] Meegan Care: really, this is. because as the menopause conversation opens up, we’re all seeing the wellness bandwagon being jumped on for around menopause. It’s huge. And I say that, you know, Hey, we’ll balance your hormones. Like you said, the supplements, this will balance your hormones.

And so you’re saying if it looks like a quick fix, that’s a

[00:30:17] Justine Jeddy: red flag, red flag. Yeah. That’s not to say that there aren’t evidence based supplements that can support a woman through peri and postmenopause, but again, it’s such an individual by individual basis. Based on, you know, what she’s, you know, what she’s experiencing, what what’s going on for her, like, what, what are the unique struggles that she’s dealing with on her journey?

But there are definitely evidence based supplements, for example, creatine, probably one of the most heavily backed evidence based supplements that support women with PMS symptoms with muscle support. Yeah, so, and, and with performance in, in their training as well. And that’s evidence backed now and, and one that doesn’t have like no side effects.

So it’s safe to take, you know so, so that would be some, just as an example, that’s an evidence based supplement that could support a woman through peri through peri post menopause and is also would. Help her with her training and her her fitness as well. If she’s doing like whatever training or exercises she’s doing that would support her with that.

[00:31:16] Meegan Care: Interesting on the Creatine because I started taking it after my partner started taking it and I was like, Oh, so I did a bit of research and I’m like, Oh, this feels good. I mean, I don’t notice anything in particular, but I think it’s a, a long term situation with that.

[00:31:31] Justine Jeddy: Yeah, totally. Totally. Yeah. Yeah.

Sorry. I realized I didn’t answer. I don’t know if I answered your question with intermittent fasting, but I guess the main takeaway is it is just another calorie deficit and all the health benefits that they proclaim with intermittent fasting, you would get from a regular calorie deficit. I just want to clarify that.

So whenever you see keto advertising, it’s health benefits and being like, Oh yeah, it gives you better. I don’t know, cognitive function or intermittent fasting, or it clears up your gut health issues, whatever. You would get the same benefits from creating a regular calorie deficit. Wow. That

[00:32:08] Meegan Care: that’s so helpful.

I will admit I tried intermittent fasting when I was in, you know, early stage menopause and I lost a little bit of weight and I. Felt good in the morning and really bad in the afternoon and just long term because I’m aware of what’s going on in my body. I felt like my stress hormones were

[00:32:33] Justine Jeddy: higher. And I’d sometimes get a bit high off it, like a bit like,

[00:32:38] Meegan Care: but then I think there was a bit of a crash after I would eat, but yeah, it wasn’t

[00:32:42] Justine Jeddy: for me.

Yeah. So the thing with specific foods, so going back to what you said about, you know, the 3pm slump, that’s something I think a lot of corporate women or women who like, you know, have a busy day and like, you know, they, they kind of crash around that 3pm cause you’re, you know, concentrating through. And the thing is they’ve done studies.

So you’ve got low, low GI food, sorry, low GI carbs and high GI carbs, right? Like. Do you know, like the, the, those two? Yeah. So, so low GI or low glycemic index carbs are carbs that burn energy slowly. And then the high GI carbs, which tend to be more processed carbs give you an energy spike and then you seem to crash afterwards.

And so again, not to say that I’m a big believer that all foods can fit into a healthy diet and be consumed whilst losing weight, never in my nine years of being a coach, have I said to a client, you have to cut this out or you have to cut that out in order to lose weight. So. Something I just want to clarify, though, with the slump with 3 p.

m. slump is high GI carbs impact our blood sugar levels because they create that surge of energy. And then that that quick drop off. And so something that I would nuance and say is, like, if you’re going to have carbs in the day, whether it’s for breakfast or lunch, Keep them low GI and keep your high GI carbs.

If you’re going to have them to the evening all carbs in general can support sleep and recovery as well. So I definitely recommend having carbs in your, in your dinner meal to support your sleep and recovery. But yeah, just being mindful of the types of carbs you’re having, cause you want to ensure if you’re having like say sweet potato, brown rice.

You know, stuff like that in, in your lunch meal, that’s going to provide you longer lasting energy than say, having like white bread or like, I don’t know, a croissant or something that’s more processed kind of baked goods that’ll support you to, to have more energy in your afternoon as you, as you kind of reach dinnertime.

[00:34:28] Meegan Care: Yeah, beautiful. I really, yeah, that’s really, really helpful. Yeah. So eat more good food, don’t obsess about it, get those veggies in and that protein. Where would, I feel like this is all about me, but I’m sure

[00:34:46] Justine Jeddy: it’s going to be helpful for everyone

[00:34:47] Meegan Care: who’s listening, but it’s just, it is really, really helpful.

Where’s a good place to start for someone who’s sort of on their, their journey and, you know, a little bit like me, it’s like, Oh, you know, I don’t obsess about food, but I’m, you know, I want this body to be well fueled. I’m more interested in having good energy, getting stronger

[00:35:09] Justine Jeddy: and getting fitter. Absolutely. I think something to be aware of cause I, I speak about mindset a lot with my clients. And I think a lot of people. Kind of focus firstly on on the practical side of like nutrition and fitness and perhaps sleep or stress management.

But I think starting from a place going back to what I said before about starting from a place of self love and not self loathing is really crucial. And it’s something I’ve seen a lot throughout. A lot of my clients journeys, it’s not only impacted the enjoyment of their journey, but it’s also impacted the results they’ve got because it impacts how you show up for yourself.

Right? And so what I mean by that is a lot of women I see struggle with the kind of all or nothing thinking. And I think it prevents them from actually starting because in their mind, all or nothing thinking is just essentially perfectionism. And it’s perfectionism basically says to you, if you can’t do it perfectly, then don’t bother trying.

And so I just want to take it a step back and say, if you’re a woman listening to this too, like wants to, you know, Wants to be healthy, fit and strong and whether that’s losing, you know, weight or, or not it’s, it’s really comes back to getting connected with your why behind your goal, like getting clarity on your goal, first and foremost, but then also connecting with your why behind that, because in my 9 years of being a coach, I’ve never sat down with a woman and her, Said to me, oh, Justine, I want to get healthy, fit and strong, or I want to lose 10, 20, 30 kilos because I just want to see that number on the scale.

There’s always a deeper reason as to why she wants to to be that way to whether it’s whether it’s flexibility, whether it’s strength, whether it’s being able to do things she’s currently at the moment isn’t able to do, whether it’s having more confidence, more energy, whatever that is. I think it’s important to get connected with the why because a lot of people in the health and fitness space talk about motivation and motivation is such a fickle thing.

I don’t believe you need motivation to reach your goals. You know, and, and that, and just being real, like you’re going to have days where you feel more motivated and days that are not. And truth be told, you don’t need help on the days you get up and your day goes well. Right. And you don’t need, you don’t need help on the days where you’re feeling like you got it.

You got to skip in your step. You got your favorite music. Playing like you just, you’re ready to attack the day. Everything’s great. You don’t need support on that day or encouragement on that day. It’s the day, the bad days that we have, which is where, you know, we, if we, if we’re able, if we have the better tools and understanding to navigate and equip ourselves with those tools to navigate it, we’re able to make our bad days, less bad, I know that’s bad English, but less, less bad, and that actually.

Goes a long way in terms of the results we see and the, the enjoyment and the experience that we have on our health and fitness journey. So I think with, yeah, starting with all or nothing thinking, just again, just allowing yourself to take imperfect action forward is probably the 1st step is, is knowing that imperfect action will beat perfect inaction every time.

Um, And so to, to, to have the courage to take that first step and something from a practical point of view that I would encourage any woman listening is to focus on one thing because I, and I’ve made this mistake many times in the past, and I’ve seen a lot of women do it with the best intentions. You’re like, yep.

Especially on a day, if you’re feeling motivated, you’re like, yep, I’m going to do. I’m going to have a salad every day and I’m going to do this and I’m going to do that. And, you know, you’re just like, you’re super excited or motivated to get after what you want, but you try and attack everything at once.

And then it all comes crashing down. Right. And you end up starting back at square one. So I know it sounds simple, but I would just start with one thing, whether that is one nutrition goal, maybe it’s adding more vegetables into your lunch and dinner. For the next week maybe it’s adding more protein into your, maybe it’s having more, more water, keeping a bottle of water that that’s got electrolytes in it, in case you’re wondering why it’s red, but, but, you know, having that, that bottle of water there that’s, that, you know, that you can sip on, so you’re hydrating yourself and you’re keeping self hydrated, just starting with one thing maybe it’s, you know, committing to doing a 10 or 20 minute walk every day.

Where you currently just currently sedentary or not moving much. So I would just start with 1 thing to work on and make that 1 thing 5 or 10 percent better than what you’re currently doing with it. And the reason why I say that is again, it’s very easy to create intensity with a habit. But intensity burns out, and if you have something that’s too intense, the consistency dies off.

And so we’re really wanting to aim for consistency with any new healthy habits that we put in place because consistency is what’s going to get us results and what’s going to get us longer lasting results and create longevity with our approach with our health and fitness. And so I know it sounds simple, but it is, it is very powerful if you implement it and are able to be consistent with that.

Yeah,

[00:39:54] Meegan Care: and look, I think if I take myself back seven or eight years, when I was right in the thick of all the symptoms that were happening, and the fatigue, and every day was just a survive day, and you know, I might have a Good day every now and then, but it was, I was really pushing. I could only change, one thing I really could.

And, and so like to get out of that mindset of all or nothing, it’s got to be perfect or we won’t do it at all because that’s just not going to help us when we don’t have those reserves. when we’re in that perimenopausal phase. So starting with one thing, and what did you say, five or ten percent improvement on that?

Yes. I can really see how helpful that would be.

[00:40:41] Justine Jeddy: It’s like one, one lady I’ve, I’ve worked with when she started with me, she was lucky to leave her house twice a week. So she got maybe one 10 or 20 minute walk in now, like she’d been with me for months. She’s dropped two dress sizes, but I think the biggest thing with her journey is she’s because she’s lost the weight and she’s feeling healthy, strong and fit.

Now she now. Has, has just, as of last week resigned from her job that she’s had for 17 years to create her own accounting firm. And so I just want to, I know it’s incredible. Her family, it’s something her family had been encouraging her to do for 17 years and she hasn’t done it. And so what, what really inspires me with that story is like.

Because I know there’s a lot of women that I speak to, and maybe there’s a lot of women you speak to as well, that they really struggle to put themselves first. They really struggle and not realizing the impact that that has, not just on their life, but the impact around them as well. Like, I think it’s so important to make yourself a priority.

Knowing that that’s not selfish knowing that you need to take care of yourself. You need to make yourself a priority in your own life. Because that is whether you want to believe it or not, it’s going to have a ripple effect with those around you, with how you shop at work, with how you show up just in your own life and the things that you want to get done or do or enjoy it impacts your quality of life in such a way.

And so yeah, I just, it’s something I see a lot. So I just want to encourage any woman listening that it’s, it’s It’s okay to put yourself first or to put yourself higher up on your list of priorities. And I think that’s important, not just for mental health, but for physical health and longevity and enjoyment of quality of life.

So important, isn’t

[00:42:19] Meegan Care: it? And also so, so hard when we’re at that stage of life and our energy is low and it’s like, well, no, I just got to do the things that I’ve got to do for everyone else. Cause once that shit’s off my plate, all that. whatever’s off my plate, then I can rest. But it is really about nourishing and oxygenating our whole self first.

And, and just one small step. I love that. And I see that in my group as well, one small piece changes and behavior, self concept thought, and it ripples out into the rest of your life. And that’s what, what I heard from, from your client has been that big shift for you.

[00:42:57] Justine Jeddy: Absolutely. Yeah. I’m so

[00:42:59] Meegan Care: inspired. Thank you for sharing your time with us today.

How can our wonderful listeners get in touch with you, learn more about how you can help them? What’s a good way to connect with you?

[00:43:14] Justine Jeddy: Sure. Absolutely. So you can reach me on my website, which is coach Justine jetty. com, or you can just send me a message on my Instagram, which is I am Justine jetty. I can put my email here or I can share that with you to share, but feel free to reach out.

Yeah. And don’t be shy. Like I’m happy to answer any questions anyone has from this, this podcast. Yeah. Something I’d like to note with what we’ve talked about is, I think you can spend a lot of time collecting information. I think for a lot of women in peri and postmenopause, there’s a lot of confusion around what’s happening for them, their bodies and everything and it’s easy to get stuck in that information trap.

And whilst having the correct information is super helpful and super important. You know, when it comes to health and fitness and, you know, self care, it’s really an implementation problem and a misguidance problem. And so it’s really important. I think to have the right support around you, whether that’s, you know, a group that you meet with, whether that’s an online community or a face to face community, whether it’s social media.

Even just your partner cheerleading you. But like, I think it’s important to have the right support and to be in a space where you’re connecting with like minded women who are on a similar journey. So that, especially if you’re struggling to get started, I think it’s important to, to have the right people in your corner, cheering you on.

[00:44:32] Meegan Care: Absolutely. And what a perfect place to conclude our conversation today. Really appreciate you. Thank you so much, Justine.

[00:44:41] Justine Jeddy: Thank you. It’s been a pleasure. Thanks for having me on.