Episode 108: Lower Your Inflammation Drastically By Doing THIS

Menopause leads to increased inflammation for the vast majority of us. What we don't need are hundreds of pills, injections, and supplements. What we absolutely need is THIS. 

The biggest event in MindStrong history kicks off Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026! MindStrong's Runway to Summer: 3 Day Metabolism Boosting Challenge is 3 days, live on Zoom with me, for a deep dive into all things metabolism healing (complete with a live Q&A each day)! 

Reserve your spot here:

www.MindStrongFitness.com/challenge

Transcript

Becoming MindStrong Season X Episode 108

SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Menopause symptoms, Big Three, cortisol, inflammation, gut health, estrogen drop, joint pain, brain fog,
dry skin, weight gain, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidant-rich foods, blood sugar balance,
well-balanced plate, metabolism boosting challenge.

SPEAKERS
Speaker 1
Speaker 1 00:00
Matt, welcome back to becoming mind strong podcast. If you've been following along. In order,
you know that this season, we have kicked off with what I call the Big Three of menopause. So
if we were to take a look at every single menopause symptom out there, we would see it's a lot
more than hot flashes and night sweats. There are actually hundreds, and trying to tackle each
one individually would be a lot. We would get overwhelmed. We probably wouldn't stick with it.
But when we can tackle what I call the Big Three, cortisol, inflammation, gut health, when we
can get these under control, all those other symptoms that fall under it, are going to also get in
control. And all of these big three bleed into each other. So it is the quickest, most efficient way
to tackle these menopause symptoms. And if you hung out here before, you know I am all
about efficiency, which is why I love this conversation. So we have been talking about two of
the big three, and in this episode, we are going to dive into the third inflammation. Check it out.
Speaker 1 01:02
You welcome to the becoming mind strong podcast, the official podcast of mind strong fitness. My name is Rachel, and I'm the CEO of mind strong and we are here for two things. We're here
for hope in a stage of life where it feels like we are doing everything right and nothing is
working. I am here to tell you you are not broken. This is fixable, and I promise there is hope.
And number two, we are here for truth in an industry that is designed to keep us confused with
shake systems and point systems and frozen meals. I promise you it doesn't have to be that
difficult. Someone can teach you the skill of riding a bike, someone can teach you the skill of
knitting, and I can teach you to master the skill of nutrition. So are you ready? Let's rock and
roll. You
Speaker 1 02:00
so we're going to break this conversation into a couple parts. Number one, we're going to talk
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so we're going to break this conversation into a couple parts. Number one, we're going to talk
about what's actually happening in my body. Why is inflammation such a big deal in
menopause? And then, of course, we'll talk about those action steps to get it under control.
Now, if you've been paying attention so far this season, there is a theme, right? Biologically, as
we enter menopause, our estrogen starts to naturally drop. We've learned that that drop in
estrogen raises our cortisol and it impacts our gut health. Not going to be a surprise for you.
Then to learn that as estrogen drops, one of estrogens other main roles in the body is to help
reduce inflammation. So as our estrogen drops, much like cortisol, our inflammation naturally
rises. Now you also heard me say that these big three bleed into each other, right? So in
addition to this drop in estrogen, raising our inflammation, our gut health also raises
inflammation. As that microbiome shifts, it's adding to our inflammation and stress. Cortisol is
our stress, our stress. Hormone, as our stress increases, that also leads to inflammation. So it
goes without saying, inflammation is a big one. As we get those under control, inflammation
will die down. As we get inflammation under control, we can help control the other ones, right?
It's a two way street. So that, that's why inflammation is such a buzzword. How do we know if
we've got inflammation going on in our body? One of the biggest ones that I see time and again
is joint pain, right? We hear from people. I've always had low grade and suddenly it's flared up.
For some people, it's like, whose body is this? Where is this joint pain coming from 99.9% of the
time. We can say glaring neon light. That's an inflammation level of issue coming up. Brain fog
is another one we see time and again. We talked about that a little bit with gut health as well.
Dry skin like all of a sudden your skin just feels itchy and dry. And then, of course, weight gain.
There are way more symptoms than that. Those are kind of the heavy hitters that we see that
when we do our symptom checklist, we know, okay, this is an inflammation issue going on.
Let's get our hands in the dirt and start tackling that. So we're going to talk about the again.
There's a lot of threes in this, in this series, the the three tips to start getting inflammation in
check quickly and efficiently. The one of the reasons I love talking about that's a weird
statement. I love talking about inflammation, but I find that inflammation is one of the I
hesitate to use the word quicker, because none of this is as quick as we would like, and we can
make a dent in inflammation through the three steps I'm going to teach you fairly quickly,
right? If you hung out here before, you know, I don't sugarcoat weight loss in a menopausal
body, especially if you need a healing stage. If you're already eating low calorie and not losing
weight, it can be a slow or tedious process. There's no way around that, right? Inflammation,
we can start to get under control quite a bit faster than. Some other menopause related
symptoms. So I like talking about this, because as someone who likes getting to work and doing
things efficiently, this is a topic where we can do just that. So three tips to reducing
inflammation. First two are kind of quick and dirty, and then the other one, we're going to have
them. The third one, we're going to have a more in depth conversation about number one,
adding in omega three fatty acids. So these are food choices that you're going to slowly add
into your day. Again, if you've hung out here, you know that we teach macros. It's like having
your own budget each day. So how much of these should I eat? Well, it depends on where your
macros are set. Right for the purposes of this conversation, what we need to understand is this
is not just fish. A lot of times people hear omega threes and they're like, oh, but I'm vegetarian,
oh but I'm vegan. This is not just fish. It is true that foods like salmon, foods like sardines, they
are great for omega threes. And if you're a vegetarian or vegan and you don't eat those things,
you can also introduce flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, all the seeds are also great sources.
So start spending, quote, unquote, some of your fat on omega threes. It's going to help with
this inflammation. Thing. Number two, adding in antioxidant rich foods. So I'm going to give you
some examples. But again, a lot of the things under the category, a lot of the foods under the
category of antioxidant rich foods, they tend to be a carb source. So how much do I need? Well,
let's look at your carb budget, quote, unquote, and see where we can fit in. These are foods like
berries. A lot of berries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries. It's like a forest. Gump here,
fried shrimp. A lot of berries. Are powerhouses at antioxidant rich foods. So spending some of
your carbs on berries, fantastic way to get some of those antioxidants in kale, spinach, broccoli,
cauliflower. These are all powerhouses, kind of the fun ones, quote, unquote, fun spices, spices
like turmeric and ginger. These are fantastic for anti inflammatory. So if you think about that,
we can look at what's in our antioxidant we can look at what's in the foods we're eating. We
can look at teas we drink, right? I tend to eat a lot of turmeric and ginger. Drink a lot of
turmeric and ginger tea. We can spice up our plates, spice up our food with some of these
spices. It's not just the foods you eat. You can also, I don't know if garnish is the right word
there, but add to spice up, using things like turmeric and ginger as well. Okay, so we've got,
adding in some omega threes, salmon, sardines, flax, chia, hemp. We've got anti oxygen, rich
foods, berries, leafy greens, veggies, certain spices like turmeric and ginger. The third one
we're going to spend some more time on, because one of the names of the game with getting
inflammation in check is balancing our blood sugar. And the way that we can balance our blood
sugar. There's a few sub categories of that, and I want to spend some time digging in. First and
foremost is a well balanced plate. Now I want to pause here, because if you know me, you know
I'm not a fan of rainbows and glitter and unicorns. And here's a perfect day, because life don't
go like that, right? This is in an ideal world. As much as your schedule allows, right, as much as
your schedule allows, the more we can have a balanced plate. And I'm going to talk about what
that looks like in a second. The better it's going to be for your blood sugar, the better it's going
to be for your inflammation levels. Now, am I going through life eating three square meals a
day with this perfectly balanced plate and filling in with snacks that is laughable? No, I, if I, if I
can get a dinner that looks like this, I call it a win. If I can get a breakfast and dinner that looks
like that, holy cow, I'm on fire that day. The reality is, most days I get to work, I look up eight
hours have gone by. I'm like, holy cow, I should probably eat something right now, and then I'm
scrambling to get food in. Is that the best thing for my body? No, and realistically, that's what
my life looks like some days. And I'm sure it's the same for you. Real quickly, the biggest event
in mind, strong history is coming up, and you are hearing about it first, from March 3 through
fifth, 2026 I am hosting my runway to summer metabolism boosting challenge. It is totally free,
and it is going to be the biggest event that we have ever done in the history of mind strong.
You can go to www dot mind strong fitness.com/challenge,
Speaker 1 09:21
or just use the link in the show notes below to reserve your spot. I cannot wait. I will see you
there. Now, let's get back to the episode. So I'm harping on that because this is where I hate
diet culture, and we tend to get into all in, all out, thinking, Oh, I ruined my day because I didn't
have a perfectly balanced plate. Start with one. If your day doesn't look like this, start with one
perfectly balanced plate for dinner. If you can get in, more fantastic. The more we can do this,
the better it's going to be. So what is a perfectly balanced plate? And I'm going to put perfectly
in air quotes, because there's no such thing. It means we have a good combination of healthy
proteins, of fiber, Rich. Carbs, of some healthy fats, and then we call it eating the rainbow fruits
and veggies, right? The proportion of that. This is, I hate the question, how much should I eat of
that, right? Because if you've hung out here, it's going to depend. Your macro numbers are
going to look very different than mine, and going to look very different than your your best
friends. They're anyone who tells you, Well, one size fits all. This is exactly how much you
should be eating. They're pulling it out of their rear end, because that's not how this actually
works, and within your personal macro budget, this is how we're going to work to design our
plate. So some great protein choice, choices. If you are someone who eats meat, it might be
some grilled chicken. It might be some turkey. If you're not, if you're a vegetarian or vegan,
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maybe you do some tempeh, maybe you do some seitan, maybe you do some tofu, right?
Fiber, rich carbs. We're looking at those nutritious carbs, things like brown rice, quinoa, maybe
some oats. Then, then from there, we eat the rainbow. So those leafy greens that we talked
about, right? You see the overlap here, they're also great for antioxidants. So we could put
some kale, we could put some spinach, we could put some broccoli, maybe let's put some
berries on our plates. We want color and bonus. Not only are we getting those extra fiber rich
carbs, not only are we eating the rainbow, they're also great antioxidant sources. Win, win.
Okay, so under the category balancing blood sugar, having a well balanced plate as much as
possible is one of the absolute keys. I'm going to add two other points under the category of
balancing our blood sugar, number one or number two. I guess if we're counting our plate as
number one is we want to avoid naked carbs, and this is going to lead into number three, which
spoiler alert is that low carb is one of the worst things you can be doing in a menopausal body.
I'm going to talk about that next. We need carbs. We absolutely need carbs for weight loss.
Again, we're going to talk about that. What we want to avoid is what you'll hear called Naked
carbs, meaning you don't want to eat them on their own, because then your blood sugar is
going to spike quickly. So it's very simply, if you're going to have some carbs, pair it with some
protein and a little fat. I'll give you an example. I love pretzels. Pretzels are like my favorite
nighttime chill on the couch. Have a cup of turmeric and ginger tea and have a handful of
pretzels that fit my macros. What I don't want to do is just have those pretzels by themselves.
So I'm going to pair it with a little bit of fat, little bit of protein. Maybe I put some almond some
almond butter in there, right? A great example is a slice of whole wheat toast with a bit of
peanut butter, almond butter, sunflower or butter, or whatever your choice is. The reason is
that that fat and protein is going to slow down the burn of those carbs. I have a much earlier
podcast episode about what to eat before and after you work out, and we talk about carbs are
great slow burning energy. That's why they're great workout fuel. What we want to do by
adding in those carbs and fat is to slow the process down even more so that our blood sugar
doesn't spike. Okay, so have your carbs. We're going to talk more about that right now and pair
it, or have some, have some protein and fat in your belly first before you dive into those carbs.
Last point on this, when it comes to the topic of blood sugar, low carb, no carb is one of the
worst things you can do in a menopausal body. If you've been to my workshop, you hear me
say this, and I preach it from the rooftops all the time. I'm not saying she's not out there
somewhere in the world, maybe there's a person who defies the odds. I personally, having been
in this industry for over a decade, worked with over 3000 women. I have never personally met
a menopausal woman who is successfully losing weight without carbs, right? We are not living
in the same body of our 20s and 30s. So when women come to me and say, Yeah, but in my
20s and my 30s, my kind of cheeky answer is, how's that working out for you? Now? Right? We
need to be thinking about blood sugar control, which takes those nutritious fiber ish carbs. We
need to be thinking about cortisol control. Carbs are our body's natural energy source. If we're
not giving our body carbs, our cortisol is skyrocketing, making sure you have some healthy,
nutritious, fiber, rich carbs on your plate is absolutely key. And if we're having them as a snack,
we're just going to pair them with some fat and protein so that we're not spiking our blood
sugar, we're avoiding those naked carbs. So let's zoom out and just kind of bullet point here,
because we covered a lot, and I know that on the topic of symptoms, it can feel very
overwhelming. My goal is to make this very straightforward. Here's some simple steps we can
take to start lowering inflammation. It's natural, right? We talked about as estrogen drops,
inflammation naturally rises, gut health, stress, all that play in which means, as we tackle all of
these, they're all going to get better. That's a beautiful part. We don't have to address 150
symptoms as we tackle the big three. They're all going to fall into place when it comes to
inflammation. We can look at omega threes, right foods like salmon sardines, flax chia, hemp
seeds. We can look at adding in those antioxidant, rich foods, berries, leafy greens, veggies,
some seasonings you. And the big one is balancing our blood sugar, which means as much as
our schedule allows, having a well balanced plate of nutritious protein, fiber, rich carbs, some
healthy fats in there, things like avocado, olive oil, and then eating the rainbow filling in with
those fruits and veggies that bonus are also going to be antioxidant. As I said in the beginning,
what I love about tackling inflammation is that we can feel it. I'm going to say the fastest.
That's not the same for everyone. But as inflammation starts to go down in your body,
obviously inflammation is not fat, and if you're inflamed, your clothes feel tighter. So as we
start to tackle inflammation, it's like, oh, these genes actually fit again. Maybe that wasn't fat, maybe that was inflammation my body, and that can happen faster than weight loss tends to in
menopause, which, if you love efficiency, like me, you'll dive in with inflammation. All right, I
hope this helped. This kind of summarizes the big three, cortisol, gut health, inflammation. As
we go about the season, we're going to dive more and more into tips and tricks that help to get
these symptoms under control in our menopausal body.
Speaker 1 16:11
I am hosting the largest event we have ever done, in mind, strong history, and you don't want
to miss it, from March 3 through fifth, 2026 join me live on Zoom totally free for mind Strong's
runway to summer, my three Day Metabolism boosting challenge to join. And for more details,
go to www
16:32
dot mind strong fitness.com/challenge
16:35
or just use the link in the show notes below. You
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