This week, I talked about my experience with having a lumbar spinal cortisone shot at UConn. Spoiler alert: it was a great experience! Just waiting for it to take full effect, but I already have a lot less overall nerve pain. It's exciting! Maybe I'll be back on the bike next weekend! I talked about the health benefits of acetyl-l-carnitine, an amino acid that can help with nerve pain and function. I'm taking it for my nerve pain, and I'll see if it helps! I started to discuss peri- and postmenopausal women and nutrition. Low energy availability and relative energy deficit are totally a thing, and women tend to arrive their because they undereat due to a fear of gaining weight! We get some expert opinions on why older women, especially athletes, should eat more.

This week I talked about my spinal stenosis, how I'm managing, what the MRI said, and how it'll be treated. Let's hope for the best! I also talked about the loneliness epidemic, how and who it's affecting, and how to help. We finished with natural progesterone and other things to help with menopause symptoms.

This week, we talked about two essential amino acids that are harder to obtain in a vegan diet, but not impossible: leucine and lysine. They can be found in beans, nuts, seeds, and pseudograins like quinoa and amaranth. They're both important for building muscle and collagen. Lysine is also important for immune function. We also got started on whether it's really necessary to take estrogen as part of a natural hormone replacement protocol. Hint: maybe not! We continue to make estrogen into our menopausal years, even if you can't see it in blood work. It's in the organs!

This week we talked about WHY we're all seeing those massive clouds of yellow blowing off trees. There is more pollen! Blame climate change, warmer temperatures, longer warm season, more light. Did you know that the wind blowing pollen is much less efficient for pollinating trees and plants then animal pollinators? Pollen in the air is much less likely to land on the specific plant for which it's intended. However, a bee or dragonfly or butterfly will hop from flower to flower, carrying pollen to other flowers within a species. SAVE THE POLLINATORS! We also talked about how people on a vegan diet may not be getting enough protein, and how they can improve that.

This week we talked about how THE OTHER SHOE DROPPED for me. I am having a femoral neuralgia/spondylolisthesis flare! If you have nerve pain in your back and leg, like sciatica or femoral neuralgia, you'll want to hear what I'm doing. Supplements, pharmaceuticals, chiropractic, acupuncture, even a visit to the spinal surgeon! Plus how weight training can delay or halt cognitive decline, even Alzheimer's.

This week, I talked about how you see this studies about how eating 2 cups of mango or 1 cup of blueberries or 1/2 cup pistachios EVERY DAY can affect this, that, or the other health parameter. I calmed the fire by letting you know that if the study says this, it might be a good idea to incorporate this food into your diet, but you don't have to worry about eating specific portions every day! But it's nice to know that certain foods have been studied to have specific health benefits.

Then I went into how it's not really healthy for peri- and post-menopausal women to eat a low carbohydrate and/or ketogenic diet. It can result in short term weight gain, but lowering carbs too much leads to increased stress, increased cortisol, increased weight gain, and increased symptoms! This doesn't mean eat donuts and candy bars. It DOES mean eat healthy carbs, like root vegetables, quinoa, whole grains, and fruits and vegetables. We also touch on some info about hormone replacement. Hint: estrogen is not ideal!

This week, I was back on with Ron after a while so got to catch up with him on the air. He is VERY proud of his son who just got married in Chicago to a lovely woman! We talked about the joy of the wedding. Then he updated us on his cervical spinal stenosis diagnosis, and the likelihood that he will have surgery. He'll find out just what that entails before the next show! Then some fun topics, like a great recipe for chia pudding, and how to make your morning coffee creamer healthier. We finished with the reduced calorie Mediterranean diet, a largely plant based diet (not vegetarian) that promotes both fat loss and healthy bone density!

This week I discussed how sucralose, the artificial sweetener, has been studied to INCREASE hunger even though it is basically non-caloric. It fools the brain into thinking it's going to get calories so sets up hormones to receive food. Better to use other alternative sweeteners, or small amounts of sugar! We then discussed how poor sleep can increase risk of dementia and Alzheimer's, and made suggestions on how to fix this. We finished with the Galveston diet, a lower carbohydrate diet that incorporates intermittent fasting for women in peri- and post-menopause.