The Dr Louise Newson Podcast - 89 – The six lifestyle changes that support your hormones and health

Starting point is 00:00:00 Today on the podcast I've got Dr Claire Neeland, who is a GP and specialises in lifestyle medicine, something that we should all be doing. We talk a lot about how to prevent diseases, thinking about our lifestyle, how we move, what we eat, our mental health, how we sleep. All of that feeds in, obviously, with balancing hormones too. So it's a great conversation and I hope you'll come away wanting to improve your lifestyle from it. So Claire, it's great that you're here. You are like me, a GP, lifestyle guru.

Starting point is 00:00:37 And it's really confusing out there because there's lots of wellness, lots of lifestyle, longevity, health span, lifespan, lifespan. Some of it, dare I say, is really commercial. And in my mind, a lot of it is common sense. But I've learned a lot just through my own personal journey, but also just being older, wiser. but a lot of lifestyle nutrition, even exercise, we didn't get taught at medical school. And I don't think they still do now, do they?

Starting point is 00:01:05 Well, it's becoming slightly more common. So some universities are teaching lifestyle medicine, some medical schools are, which is great. But, I mean, I think for me, if I think back eight to ten years, I was sort of introducing lifestyle medicine to my patients without really knowing what it was. I didn't really know that it was a specialty in its own right. And it wasn't until I went to a call. conference and I discovered the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine that I discovered it's actually a subspecialty in its own right and I joined BSLM and I've never looked back because I think I was at the

Starting point is 00:01:38 point where what I was doing with my patients as a conventionally trained medic wasn't really working. You know, we're taught to treat the end disease and actually we don't really look upstream to what's causing that and that's really where lifestyle medicine for me offers such a such hope to patients because we can really tackle the sort of underlying factors that are causing that end disease. And I'm not sure whether your listeners will know what lifestyle medicine is. Shall I just give a... Absolutely. Just say because it does mean different things, and even to different doctors, I think it means different things. Yeah, absolutely. So lifestyle medicine is, it's a rapidly growing

Starting point is 00:02:18 specialty. You can now do postgraduate qualifications in it, which I have. It's based on three fundamental principles. So the first principle is a knowledge and understanding of the wider determinants of health. And by that, I mean things like environmental factors. So do you have access to green space to get out in nature? Do you have access to good whole foods? Are you in employment, for example? And then it's the six pillars, which I'll come back to in a sec. And then it's the thing that I think is the magic here is a knowledge and understanding of behaviour change. So how we really work with patients on an individual basis to help nudge them closer to better lifestyle choices. So those six pillars, which is what lifestyle medicine is based on, are physical activity,

Starting point is 00:03:07 nutrition, sleep, stress management, avoidance of unhealthy substances and the one that often gets forgotten about social connection, which is a great factor in longevity. Yeah, and the seventh one, it's got to be hormones. I know, I've heard you say that before. And I do think you're absolutely right because actually if we don't think about it, I think we're missing a trick. So many of my patients and me as well

Starting point is 00:03:30 find it impossible to do any of those six pillars if our hormones aren't balanced. And I think people have been so scared of what hormones are. But even it's very obvious when you talk about it, but it's not obvious. And I think a lot of people who haven't been had training in lifestyle medicine, they almost think if I start talking about it,

Starting point is 00:03:51 that's my whole 10 minute consultation gone. Whereas even as a GP, I used to just say to people, do you do any exercise? And it's like a yes or no answer. And then I'd find that come back to me and go, do you know what? I felt so embarrassed that question you asked me. I've now started to go for a walk or go for a run. And I thought, and I just thought ages ago, wow, I don't have to be taking a full history of how many minutes or what exercise.

Starting point is 00:04:15 And I don't know what you're saying. We absolutely don't have to because sometimes it's just asking the right question at the right time and getting people to, think about it. And actually in NHS primary care now, we've got lots of allied healthcare professionals that can pick that conversation up. So for example, we've got health coaches, we've got social prescribers, you know, we've got clinical pharmacists. So if we just ask the right question at the right time and you're right, we don't have to spend the whole 10 minutes talking about it, but it just gets people thinking and it opens the door to that conversation. And the more I think about it,

Starting point is 00:04:47 the more I think there have been so many missed opportunities over time, both in my own consultations, and those of my colleagues. And I almost think we're doing a disservice if we don't mention it because we know, you know, lifestyle medicine is an evidence-based approach to prevent, treat and reverse chronic disease. And I almost feel like if we're not even thinking about it, then we're certainly not practicing good medicine

Starting point is 00:05:12 because it's a basis of good health. You know, it's the fundamentals. And I think coming back to hormones, you know, yes, women may need a little bit of hormonal support to start on that journey to better health. But if we're not having those conversations about lifestyle medicine, then maybe a woman will get so far with hormones, but then she feels like she's reached the end of the road. And absolutely not. We need to help in all those six pillars. Yeah, absolutely. And in my mind, it's the foundation of everything, regardless of what else is going on.

Starting point is 00:05:43 And like you said at the start, it is about preventing disease. you know, every healthcare system in whichever country you look at is having a crisis because there is too many chronic diseases as in chronic long term, but they're related to inflammation. Yeah. The source of everything is inflammation. And if we can reduce that and we know that lifestyle measures will reduce inflammation, so therefore reduce diseases.

Starting point is 00:06:07 Yeah, absolutely. And inflammation or whatever you want to call it, you know, if we can use our lifestyle measures to reduce inflammation, we're reducing our risk of long-term chronic lifestyle-related diseases. And, you know, living with perimenopause and menopause, we're going through more than just hormonal changes. You know, we're seeing cardiovascular risk rise, Alzheimer's disease risk rise. Other diseases like type 2 diabetes because our blood sugar control, you know, becomes slightly difficult to manage. So we're seeing a rise in other lifestyle-related diseases at this time. And therefore, it's a brilliant opportunities to open those conversations. And let's not forget, you know, a lot of this starts in our 30s and our 40s. It's not all about what we're doing. No, it's good to be done really early. You know, even thinking about other times of hormonal change, so women with PMDD premenciled disorder, they have a real decline of hormones in the second half of their cycle study came out last

Starting point is 00:07:09 year showing those people have an increased incidence of inflammatory diseases. Again, associated to the anti-inflammatory properties of our hormones. But I feel strongly, and I'm sure you do as well as a doctor that I should be setting an example for my patients. I feel like there's no point me talking about exercise and never doing it or telling people that they shouldn't smoke and then smoking. I don't smoke, by the way.

Starting point is 00:07:33 But I feel it's not ingrained in us enough. I mean, we do have to be some sort of role model for our patients, do you think? Yes and no. I think you can still be a good doctor. I'm not saying it's a good doctor, but I feel that we have some responsibility to help ourselves as well as educate others. Yes, because I think the other thing is lived experience. If you know how good exercise feels, you're more likely to recommend it to your patients. If you know how good your body feels when you've had a whole real food meal, nutrient dense meal, you know, no ultra-processed food and you're not having that mid-afternoon slump, you're more likely to. recommend it to your patient. So I think you've got, you've absolutely got a point. And I do. You know, I walk the walk as well as talk the talk. But that's because for me, I need to turn up being

Starting point is 00:08:24 the best version of myself that I can be. And I know the only way that I can do that is to prioritize my sleep, to eat well, to make sure I'm managing my stress, you know, all these things that we based lifestyle medicine on. I mean, I think just to come back to something you mentioned earlier about spending the whole 10 minutes talking about lifestyle medicine. Sometimes I wonder what would the NHS look like if we have much more of a focus on lifestyle. And, you know, hopefully this is coming as we sort of look at the 10-year plan, but there's by no means enough focus on prevention. But lifestyle medicine, we can prevent, we can reverse and we can treat chronic disease.

Starting point is 00:09:03 So you've only got to look at the work of David Unwin, who you know, and you very kindly spoke at our conference the other week. But David Unwin, who's working with the public health collaboration, uses lifestyle to help reverse type 2 diabetes. And I've been doing that in my practice and he's been a great mentor to me. And it's amazing to see the difference that makes. And when you can deprescribe medication as a doctor, it feels great. It's amazing.

Starting point is 00:09:29 But actually, you know, listening to him talking about how doctors are paid to prescribe, you know, with part of the cough, the quality outcome frameworks, then disincentivises doctors to do lifestyle. It's so easy to just prescribe something. If someone's got diabetes or raise blood pressure or raise cholesterol, then it is. And I used to, I've never been a partner, so my salary was the same regardless of what I did.

Starting point is 00:09:56 And I used to really frustrate my partners because I would be not rushing to prescribe and thinking about lifestyle and giving it time. But I was very lucky because I knew my patients really well, and I knew the ones that were more likely to engage, age with lifestyle than others. And some of them you could almost have a bit of a joke and shame them into it when you saw their blood pressure going up with the amount of alcohol they were drinking and the number of fags that they were smoking. And you could sort of call them out.

Starting point is 00:10:22 But it was a very, I was very privileged because I worked in the same practice for 20 years. So I really knew the patients. Like now I think it's hard. If you don't have a relationship with a patient, it could really undermine that whole confidence in your doctor if you're trying to call them out because it's difficult. A lot of people, these are addictive substances. Yeah, very much. Yeah, very much. So many threads I could pick up on that. I mean, a couple of things.

Starting point is 00:10:46 Look, I'm senior partner in my practice. I've been there 17 years and I practice lifestyle medicine. So it is very much not about the cough points in our practice. And I have, you know, my doctors are all on board with this. It is about the person in front of us. It's about trying to help them to be healthier, be fitter, be strong, fit, resilient and not rely on medication. And I think use the word shame there. And I think that's a really important point because what we try and do is empower our patients,

Starting point is 00:11:17 help them understand maybe what those changes are that's going to lead to better health. And then use behaviour change. And I think obesity is a really good example. You know, as doctors, we've been afraid to talk about obesity with our patients because of fat shaming. Because there's some implication that it's their fault. And I think if you can remove that blame and just talk open and honestly, you know, you've only got to walk around the supermarket and see what the food landscape looks like. It's very hard to buy healthy food. And I think if we can remove that sort of, you know, that shame that goes along with obesity, we can then start having really meaningful conversations. But the bigger picture is the food landscape and, you know, big food and big farmer and the people who make the policies. And I don't want it to become a political conversation, but I think there are bigger conversations out there.

Starting point is 00:12:10 You know, there is, farmers change the landscape a lot over the last 50 years, really, hugely. When you look at the, I'm very interested in the history of medicine, and you work out what goes wrong or what happens. And you do see what's happened. And it's like you said at the beginning, we're taught to treat disease as doctors, not to prevent it. Whereas if we prevent it, we don't want to wait for that heart attack. or wait for the stroke or wait for diabetes,

Starting point is 00:12:38 we should be intervening a lot earlier to avoid the medication, avoid the disease. But I feel, you know, a lot of my work is just empowering people with knowledge. And that's where this conversation is so important because everybody listening to this needs to be thinking, right, am I really the best version of myself?

Starting point is 00:12:58 We can't just be leaning on our doctors and waiting to prescribe something. I think, you know, maybe because I'm getting older, I don't know, but I'm so much more about, you know, I have to take responsibility for my health. And partly lots of people know I have migraine. And if I eat badly, if I have a lie in, if I go to predicate too late, I'll get migraine. So it's a devil and a, it's sort of, it's a good and a bad thing having migraine because it rules my life. And I don't know what it would be like if I didn't because I probably would slip up.

Starting point is 00:13:30 I probably wouldn't bother doing yoga and I wouldn't meditate and I wouldn't do all those things. but I have to. But I do feel we have to, as patients, have responsibility. Yes, I agree. I mean, I think just focusing on the migraine side of things, you can now frame that in a really positive light, that actually the benefit, if you can use that word of having migraines, is that you meditate, you do yoga, you avoid alcohol, you eat healthy food.

Starting point is 00:13:54 So frame it in a really positive light. But I think for patients, for individuals, look, being healthy suddenly feels really hard. I mean, you've only got to go on social media and see what people are putting on there so that, you know, do this and you'll feel 10 years. You know, please, it's not about social media and lifestyle medicine keeps things really simple. And I think being healthy, it absolutely can be simple. You've just got to navigate your way through the rubbish that's out there. And I think that that's where the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine comes in,

Starting point is 00:14:28 training clinicians on the evidence base around lifestyle medicine. so that it's not just, you know, sticking a finger up in the wind and guessing, it's using the evidence to support our patients. And I think from a patient's perspective, having that knowledge and understanding, look, if any of your listeners think to themselves today, gosh, you know, I'd actually like to learn a little bit more about this. What is it in my lifestyle that could impact my health moving forward? Then brilliant, go and do some research, go and see your doctor and have that conversation.

Starting point is 00:15:00 because we know in menopause, well actually over the age of 40, our muscle bulk is decreasing. We're at risk of sarcopenia. Our bones are thinning. We're at risk of osteoporosis. Our risk of cardiovascular disease, et cetera, goes up, as we've already said. So yes, that's where the hormones come in. But it's also about where the strength training comes in and the protein comes in and, you know, managing our stress and our cortisol levels. And, you know, there's so much more to it. And it doesn't have to be difficult. Before we continue, I'd like to tell you about Newsome Clinic, the sponsor of this podcast. I founded Newsom Clinic to improve access to expert, evidence-based hormone health for women.

Starting point is 00:15:47 Our specialist clinicians support women with perimenopause, menopause, PMS, PMD, PNATO depression, endometriosis, PCOS or PMOS, and other hormone-related condition. My clinic makes this podcast possible, allowing us to continue sharing free education and information to help women better understand their hormones and health. To learn more about Newsome Clinic or book an appointment, visit newsomehealth.co.uk. This link is also in the show notes. The real art of medicine is personalising care. It's really interesting and important that we look at the science. but I'm very interested in how we personalise medicine

Starting point is 00:16:34 and that includes lifestyle because you know you can't tell everybody to eat the same because they all have different metabolic responses to the same food or to exercise or whatever and that's really important and somehow I think in medicine the personalisation has almost been lost a bit it's all quite guideline driven it's quite formulaic and that seems a shame doesn't it?

Starting point is 00:16:58 Well yes and that's where lifestyle medicine really shines because it is about personalised care. It's about the person in front of you. So it's about meeting that person where they're at. Look, if they can barely get up out of a chair, there's no point in me telling them to start lifting weights. You know, actually for them, maybe just going for a gentle walk is the first step to them doing some physical activity. So like you said, it comes back to knowing the person in front of you. And really being interested in them, you know, what is it that they might like to do? How would their life look better? And then using the health coaching techniques to help them nudge them around that cycle of change.

Starting point is 00:17:36 So I think there's a lot that can be done with the person in front of you, not using, I mean, look, what are guidelines? Guidelines are just that. They are not tram lines. They're guidelines that give us a bit of a framework around which we can build a really rich and nuanced conversation with our patients. And I think, you know, I'm a GP trainer and I'm passionate about training and they're really useful for younger GPs, you know, who are perhaps a little bit less experienced. But I think as you get older and wiser, you know, with age comes experience and wisdom. And I am very happy to use the guidelines as just that as guidelines and have a really nuanced conversation with my patient in front of me. And if that means maybe stepping outside the guidelines, if I'm safe, then that's fine.

Starting point is 00:18:27 And the thing about lifestyle medicine is I am not going to do any harm with lifestyle medicine. You know, and one of our overarching ethical principles is non-mileficence, isn't it? Do no harm. I'm not going to do any harm with lifestyle medicine. And I see so much benefit from it. Yeah, absolutely. And I do think this whole deprescribing is really important. You know, if you look at the Maudley deprescribing guidance for gabapentin and progivalent, highly addictive drugs.

Starting point is 00:18:55 Like they are being prescribed so much. When they came in and they were given a lot for depression and mood stabilising, I'd never got into that because I couldn't understand how they worked. And now we're trying to, you know, whole books written about deprescribing. But there's very little about lifestyle and very little about hormones as well. The two things that really improve mental health. And so we de-prescribe a lot. And it's like you say, it's really rewarding.

Starting point is 00:19:25 But it's not just the mental health drugs, blood pressure drugs, diabetes drugs, pain killers. You know, in my mind, lifestyle and hormones go so closely together. Yes, absolutely. I'm sure they're the similar drugs that you're do prescribing as well. Yeah, absolutely. One of the other things that we do in lifestyle medicine is something called group consultations where we bring together people who have the same chronic disease. And it's often things like type 2 diabetes or obesity or menopause is another really good one.

Starting point is 00:19:55 Because, I mean, they get social connection, but patients get the opportunity to share what's worked for them and share tips and advice. And then as a clinician, I will go in and do their one-to-one consultations. But when I can stop prescribing something, the patient loves it. I love it. I've saved the drug budget, a bit of money.

Starting point is 00:20:18 You know, it's really, it just feels great. It's very powerful and it's almost counterintuitive because we're taught so much. this is a disease, this is the guideline, this is the treatment, whereas we're sort of doing things differently, but actually to deprescribe when you don't have an alternative to offer could be really hard. You know, I think back and shudder when I was a GP 15, 20 years ago,

Starting point is 00:20:42 and it would always be the middle-aged women that were addicted to the benzodiazepines and that no one wanted to prescribe for them. And these were women who then, it started in middle age, so they were 60-70, and they were really struggling without them. So I would be the person that saw them, spent lots of time with them, try and reduce the amount to as much as possible. But I never once thought about hormones.

Starting point is 00:21:05 I feel really bad because I know now, you know, once you give hormones, then they start to exercise, they're sleeping better. They know themselves, they don't need those medication. So it's really easy. I was trying to explain to a psychiatrist recently how much easier it is to de-prescribe when you've given them something, else instead. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's where lifestyle comes in as well, because actually

Starting point is 00:21:29 what it does is it shows people that there's a different way. It doesn't have to be all about medication. And showing them there's a different way that can achieve the same, if not better outcomes, you know, we all know that if you eat ultra-processed food and your body's inflamed, your risk of mental health, mental health problems is going to increase. So actually, how can we get you to exercise a little bit more. What are those small steps that we need to take to make you make you do that? And once people find that out for themselves, it's very empowering. So just on ultra processed foods, there might be people that don't know what that means. Okay. Can you, it is so important. Yes, it really is. I mean, look, you can use the standard Nova classification,

Starting point is 00:22:16 but for me, keep it simple. If you're buying something and it's got more than five ingredients on the packet, put it back, essentially don't really. buy anything out of a packet, unless you really have to. And look, I totally get that people are living on a budget and not everybody has the means to buy expensive whole foods. But you can still avoid ultra-processed foods and eat well on a budget. And actually, where I work in Maidenhead, our primary care network has done a piece of work with our community, teaching people how to cook from scratch on a budget, because you very easily can. But I'm not. I think we've sort of lost that kind of basic understanding somewhere along the line.

Starting point is 00:23:00 And we are led to believe that to eat within a budget, you have to eat rubbish or get the two for ones. And actually you really don't. So I think there's something there about teaching children how to cook in schools, making sure that our children on next generation are educated around what real food looks like. and then, you know, teaching people how to cook well on a budget using real food because it's the ultra-processed foods that's driving a lot of inflammation, it's driving our obesity epidemic, it's driving type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, you know, all the problems we've already spoken about. Because they have caused a lot of inflammation, don't they, in the body?

Starting point is 00:23:43 And they're highly addictive as well. It's really difficult. It's a sweet spot, yeah, of fat and sugar. The very clever food processing companies, you know, know that they make us, they're hyper-palatable, and they don't fill us up. So one conversation I often have with my, in our menopause consultations, is about the importance of protein. And using protein and fat, fat is our friend. You know, good sources of fat are really important and we shouldn't be afraid of fat in our diet. And, you know, the importance of getting enough proteins so that we are feeling full and we can go and lift some weights if that's what

Starting point is 00:24:23 we choose to do and actually it helps us sleep better. And sleep's the other thing, you know, sleeps are super power. And for women who are going through perimenopause and menopause and they're awake at three in the morning, it's exhausting. It's absolutely exhausting. So what can we use from a sleep hygiene perspective that's going to help? You know, yes, hormones absolutely transform women's sleep. But what can we do from a sleep hygiene point of view that means if they are still waking at three in the morning, what measures can we put in place that mean they're not reaching for their phone and they're getting that dopamine hit? So that's where lifestyle medicine comes in as well. But you're right. People learn from each other. They learn good things, but they also

Starting point is 00:25:05 learn bad habits as well. And it is throughout generations you can see that people are getting lazier. They're not learning to cook. And, you know, but it's really hard in some some areas to even buy fruit and veg, you know, if that's what makes it so difficult. Yeah, it's called a food desert. And I mean, you know, you've only got to look up and down some of the streets in London where we are today and really appreciate how difficult it is for people to get their hands on good whole food. Yeah, but it is about investing in the future. But I think also unless you try changing your lifestyle, you don't know how much better you feel because it's really easy to think this is as good as I get.

Starting point is 00:25:47 And I do worry sometimes about GLP1s, how people think that's just a quick fix. And obviously they do reduce some inflammation in the body, but you still need the nutrient. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I bang on about this all the time because I find obesity medicine really fascinating and I've worked in that field.

Starting point is 00:26:09 And the landscape of the GLP ones is changing very rapidly. we've got many more drugs not only available now but coming to fruition. So there will be more drugs available. And what we do in my clinic is we make a deal with the patient that actually if we're going to start a GLP one, which probably is the right thing for some of my patients to have, then they work really closely with our health coaches on the nutrition and the physical activity. Because all that happens otherwise is you go from being an unhealthy person living with obesity to an unhealthy person who's a bit slimmer.

Starting point is 00:26:45 Yeah. Because what we really want to see is the metabolic changes. It's not just about the weight. Yeah. And moving people away from just the weight on the scale. And, you know, that's why I measure things. I quite like data. So, you know, that's why I'll measure lipids in HBA1C.

Starting point is 00:26:59 And in my private clinic, both at the Windsor Wellness Clinic and Hook in London where I work, we will measure markers of inflammation so that we can see the needle move. And that's not possible on the NHS within our budgets. but some of the simple tests like lipids like HBA1C like CRP, we can measure those and we can see the needle move, but it is about getting those lifestyle factors in place

Starting point is 00:27:22 so that you still become, you're becoming healthier, not just slimmer. Yeah, and that's a problem. I think people are so fixated on how they look and forget that muscle is metabolically active. Absolutely. So that's where making sure that we're moving and exercising all the nutrient. that we need all those vitamins.

Starting point is 00:27:43 Yeah, absolutely. If you're not eating, you can't get them from anywhere else. No, absolutely. And we do see problems with the GLP ones. You know, we've seen some deficiencies in nutrients that have caused real problems. But the other thing about that is the rise of the skinny culture. And I think that is a really dangerous way to go.

Starting point is 00:27:59 And so I'm very much about promoting strong, fit, resilient women, not skinny women. Because skinny is as unhealthy as obese. And so actually, we need to be promoting. what fit and healthy looks like. And that's where the role of sport comes in for young women, you know, getting young women into sport because it's about understanding how you need to fuel your body

Starting point is 00:28:22 rather than, you know, how you look. Yes. And that is so important. And I think that's where people are looking more into weights as opposed to doing high-intensity workouts, which can be really beneficial for anybody of any age as well. And trying something new. my middle daughter's really into Pilates.

Starting point is 00:28:43 She's travelling at the minute. So she sent me a video of her this morning doing a Pilates class in Indonesia just to make me really jealous. Oh, amazing. But she does reformers. She really enjoys it. And it's great because she had sepsis of her pelvis

Starting point is 00:28:57 a few years ago and it really stopped her exercising. So she's had to find something that works for her. But now it does. It's great to see her really enjoy and want to build her body in a very positive way. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. To find the right exercise, and you must see it in your patience as well, it's not always the first exercise.

Starting point is 00:29:18 So people that say I hate exercise is often they hate that type that they've tried. I think, I mean, I frame it, I use a word physical activity, because I think exercise traditionally can make people think, oh, no, I don't want to do that, get a bit sweaty and work on. Physical activity or daily movement. Yeah, just movement. Absolutely. You know, just so 10 minutes walking around the block at a brisk pace after eating will help with your blood sugar control. It doesn't have to be any more difficult than that. I mean, yes, it should be. We should be lifting weights three times a week, maybe a bit of cardiovascular exercise in there and maybe a bit of hit training. But it doesn't have to be that. Just because that's what I do doesn't mean to say that that's what everyone has to do. It's finding something that works for you and that you enjoy. And if you can do it with other people, then you've got that social connection as well, then even better. And exercise will help us make better health choices

Starting point is 00:30:13 with our food. It'll help us sleep. And it releases our happy hormones, you know, we feel better. We get that dopamine hit. And the other thing we haven't touched on at all, which may be out of the scope of today's talk, but is the gut microbiome and the importance of our, you know, of having good, healthy gut bacteria to help with the hormones and our kind of state of mind as well. inflammation. There's lots of other things. But they improve when we exercise as well, which a lot of people don't realise they think it's all about taking a probiotic or eating the right food, but actually moving helps

Starting point is 00:30:49 them as well, doesn't it? Yeah, absolutely. And you don't have to take a probiotic. I mean, I do think the food landscape's changing and I do wonder about the quality of our food these days. But, you know, if you're eating a diverse range of, you know, 30 plants a week and that includes herbs and spices you know it hasn't got

Starting point is 00:31:10 yeah absolutely it doesn't have to be 30 types of vegetables there are ways to get that into your diet then you'll get and I say to my patients look just eat the rainbow every day you know it's let's keep things simple because it goes back to being health

Starting point is 00:31:25 seeming so difficult again and it not needing to no I think making it as simple as possible makes it achievable as well and I think that's really important isn't it? Yeah absolutely And I think, you know, I would love to see lifestyle medicine become mainstream. You know, we are still working towards that.

Starting point is 00:31:44 We're doing a lot of education for clinicians. I think patient empowerment is really important. I'd love to see the NHS have, you know, when somebody joins a practice, let's give them a lifestyle medicine questionnaire to fill out, as opposed to just have you got heart disease, Alzheimer's, dementia, type 2 diabetes, which is what it is at the moment? Actually, how much are you moving? What's your alcohol intake like?

Starting point is 00:32:06 you smoking. Do you sleep well? Yeah, we need to be thinking differently to keep healthy and prevent disease. So I'm really grateful you coming today. So three take-home tips. People might be sitting there thinking it's all very well. They're really healthy. They've done it. What can you do if you're just overwhelmed and you want to improve your lifestyle? So the first thing I think I would say is make well-being your own self-care at the top of the list because for women, particularly those of us, who are, you know, in midlife, we're a caregiver, we're working, we're trying to be all things to everybody. If you don't look after yourself, you can't look everyone else, look after everyone else. So move yourself from the bottom of the pack to the top of the pack. And that self-care

Starting point is 00:32:51 might just be five minutes of deep breathing before you go to bed at night. It might be a little walk around the block to get some natural light exposure and some vitamin D. It doesn't have to be the big things that we've spoken about today. So put your self-care at the top of the list. Because if you don't put your health as number one, nobody else will, and then it suffers. I think the second thing is, have a think about what is one change

Starting point is 00:33:20 that you could make today, one really simple change that you could introduce into your life. And maybe it is, let's try and cut out ultra-processed food, let's introduce more protein. Maybe it is. Yes, I'm going to pick up some weights,

Starting point is 00:33:35 but just one change, but make it sustainable, make it so that it can become a habit that sticks because they're the things that will last and will serve as well. And I think the third thing would be, look, get involved. I mean, have a look at the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine website, see what it can offer if you're a clinician and you're interested, see what we do at BSLM, if you're not and you're a patient or, you know, if you're just a normal human being who's interested in lifestyle

Starting point is 00:34:05 medicine, a lot of resources on the website. So get involved and know what you can do for yourself and then put that into action. Fantastic. Thank you so much. Thank you for coming. Thank you. Thank you for having me. It's been great fun. Thank you. So just a quick one, it would be really great if you could follow or subscribe to this podcast. This will really help me reach more people with evidence-based information about hormones and their future health and also means you never miss a future episode. Thank you.

The Dr Louise Newson Podcast - 89 – The six lifestyle changes that support your hormones and health

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