Today, I am delighted to connect with my dear friend, Dr. Mariza Snyder. Dr. Snyder is a best-selling author, dedicated wife, and wellness advocate passionately committed to empowering women through lifestyle changes, whole food nutrition, essential oils, and other health practices.
In our discussion today, we dive into the perimenopausal journey, looking at the warning signs and ways to rediscover ourselves. We explore the impact of lifestyle choices and the importance of understanding cravings in middle age, offering practical strategies for navigating perimenopause and menopause. We get into the benefits of continuous glucose monitors and glucometers, the critical role of fiber and fermented foods, and the supplements Dr. Snyder recommends for optimal brain health. We also address gut health and the misconception that constipation is normal.
I am confident you will find my conversation with Dr. Snyder as enlightening and enjoyable as I did.
IN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL LEARN:
Why women need to educate themselves about perimenopause and its symptoms
Common early signs of perimenopause
How lifestyle choices significantly impact the severity of perimenopause symptoms
Why women must eat enough protein
The importance of maintaining stable blood sugar levels
The benefits of using continuous glucose monitors
How strength training helps women maintain muscle mass and functional strength
The benefits of fermented foods for supporting the gut microbiome
Why managing stress and getting enough sleep are essential
The brain-boosting supplements Dr. Snyder recommends
How to avoid constipation
BIO:
Dr. Mariza Snyder is a functional practitioner, women’s hormone expert, and the author of eight books: The newest book, The Essential Oils Menopause Solution, focuses on solutions for women in perimenopause and menopause and the #1 National Bestselling book, The Essential Oils Hormone Solution, focuses on balancing women’s hormones naturally. For the past fifteen years, she has lectured at wellness centers, conferences, and corporations on hormone health, metabolic health, nutrition, and detoxification. She has been featured on Dr. Oz, Oprah Magazine, Fox News Health, MindBodyGreen, and many publications. Dr. Mariza is also the host of the top-rated Energized Podcast, (with over 11 million downloads) designed to empower women to become the CEO of their health. Check out her website, drmariza.com, for women's hormone tips, including recipes and supplementation.
“I fiercely protect my sleep like it's a million-dollar meeting.”
-Dr. Mariza Snyder
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Energized with Dr. Mariza (Podcast)
Dr. Snyder’s books are available on Amazon
Transcript:
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:00:02] Welcome to Everyday Wellness podcast. I'm your host, Nurse Practitioner Cynthia Thurlow. This podcast is designed to educate, empower, and inspire you to achieve your health and wellness goals. My goal and intent is to provide you with the best content and conversations from leaders in the health and wellness industry each week and impact over a million lives.
[00:00:29] Today, I had the honor of connecting with my dear friend, Dr. Mariza Snyder. She's a bestselling author, wife, and wellness advocate who's passionate about helping women become empowered with lifestyle, whole food nutrition, essential oils, and other health habits.
[00:00:48] Today, we spoke at length about warning signs of perimenopause and the journey and rediscovery of ourselves, the impact of lifestyle, why cravings matter in middle age, specific strategies to help navigating perimenopause into menopause, the use of continuous glucose monitors, glucometers, the role of fiber as well as fermented foods, specific supplements that she feels are particularly beneficial for brain health, and lastly, gut health and why constipation is not normal. I know you will love this conversation as much as I did recording it.
[00:01:32] Welcome, Mariza, such a pleasure to have you on the podcast.
Mariza Snyder: [00:01:34] Cynthia, honey. I'm just honored. I get to see you, I get to connect with you. Thanks for having me.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:01:41] Of course, of course. And I thought it would be relevant/timely for listeners that have not yet crossed over into the menopause valley. For so many listeners that are in their mid to late 30s, early 40s and are trying to make sense of a constellation of symptoms. Let's talk about and I'm going to put it in air quotes because it's not pejorative, "warning signs of perimenopause," because I still think that there's a lack of understanding, there's a lack of education by a lot of healthcare professionals or many of us that are doing a great job around this, but many others who don't really prepare their patients and their clients for what is to come. So, in your experience, what are some of the big warning signs that maybe get overlooked or women are gaslit, probably the number one being weight loss resistance. It's like, "You know, you're 40, maybe this is just the way things are." That's certainly what I heard.
Mariza Snyder: [00:02:36] Oh, yeah. Oh, my goodness. Just infuriating. [Cynthia laughs] Well, let's start with some of it, because again this is a journey, it's a continuum that could last, sorry ladies, 10+ years. And so, in a lot of ways it can be gradual, for some not so much. But because, as you know, natural menopause can happen anywhere between 45 and 55 years old, that means that perimenopause, which is the transitional period to that one defining moment, that one day that you haven't had a period for 12 months, it is a process, it is a journey. And I call it a reckoning [laughter] in so many ways. But that means that some of us can start to experience warning signs or symptoms as early as our mid to late 30s.
[00:03:22] And what I'll normally see in the beginning, often they'll say that your period stops or your period's changing. And that's a lot of what the literature indicates, that perimenopause, one of those signs of perimenopause is that you just have irregular periods. And I wish, I wish that's all that there was, but I rarely have ever had a woman come to me and say, "I think I'm in perimenopause because my periods are becoming irregular." No, there's always symptoms that come up right before or many years prior to even when your menstrual cycle begins to shift and become more irregular. So those early signs and warning signs, I guess, in terms of peri, are often in relation to the low progesterone. That was definitely for me, I noticed out the gate, "I'm like, what is this?"
[00:04:06] And for many of us, that'll often be in that luteal phase, that late luteal phase, that's when we have progesterone and it's that late luteal phase where our PMS symptoms aren't there, but then I find that they get kind of amplified. So, women will notice a lack of stress resilience. All of a sudden things that they could handle, they're not able to handle as well. They find themselves just a little bit more or maybe a lot more irritated than they used to be, maybe noticing other mood changes like more anxiety, more depression, more rage, called the perimenopausal rage and sleep issues, and yeah you start to notice that weight resistance, the bloating that begins to happen towards the end of that second week of the luteal phase. So those will be some of the early warning signs I'll notice for women in perimenopause.
[00:04:53] And then as time goes on, symptoms begin to really ratchet up. And so, women will start to notice a lack of word recall, a lack of alertness, more fatigue, especially in the middle of the day, they'll begin to notice the weight resistance, as you've mentioned, all of a sudden, even if the scale doesn't move, the fat has relocated to the belly and not where it used to be. And it's not as easy as it used to be. They may notice themselves less strong in that they're losing muscle mass. And then obviously, some of the more kind of what I consider to be really overt symptoms like palpitations and itchy ears, itchy scalp, again, like severe low energy. We start to notice a slew of symptoms as they move into that second phase of perimenopause, the late perimenopause, where estradiol and progesterone are beginning to drop. Estradiol is also wildly fluctuating.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:05:49] It's really interesting to me because if you look at the way estrogen is distributed over the course of perimenopause, we have some of the most wild fluctuations of our entire lifetime. And it does that for a while, and then toward the latter stage of perimenopause, things kind of drop off a cliff. And what I find so interesting is that most of what I experienced as a woman was magnified x10. I had those crime scene periods, I had trouble sleeping, I was weight loss resistant. But all those quirky things that your dermatologist will just give you a steroid cream for the skin itchiness.
[00:06:28] And colleague of mine just reached out the other day and said she has seen five specialists for itchy skin. And I finally said, "Has anyone talked to you about estrogen?" And she said, "No." And she said, "I'm going to go ask for a prescription immediately because I'm tired of being itchy inside my ears." You mentioned the scalp, but she said her entire body is just itchy, and she's done everything. So, I think it's both reassuring for individuals if they're experiencing these symptoms, but also for those who have yet to have gotten to that point where they're experiencing symptoms, letting them know that our perimenopausal journey is so governed, I think, by lifestyle.
[00:07:04] The choices that we make in lifestyle that can either magnify or can reduce some of the symptoms that we are expected to experience. And so, this is where I think talking to patients about nutrition is like one example, because I know that for me, I had crazy cravings. There was a video I did that I just stumbled upon. There was a Halloween where I was just handing out candy, and I think I ate 20 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, the small ones--
Mariza Snyder: [00:07:33] Were they mini? Yeah.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:07:35] Yes. But I felt horrible, but I thought to myself, what is going on that I feel compelled to eat that much sugar? And so maybe we can segue into talking about the lifestyle piece that is so important at this stage of life. So, the cravings, I had crazy sugar cravings which more often than not can be amplification of the need for adrenal support.
Mariza Snyder: [00:07:57] Yes.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:07:58] And do you find that many of your patients experience either salt or sugar or carb cravings, and how do you help them investigate what the root cause is of some of these concerns and symptoms?
Mariza Snyder: [00:08:10] Absolutely, yeah. Insulin resistance, which I think can be a driver of that, but also, again, a deregulated stress response system due to lower levels of not only progesterone, but then wonky cortisol levels as well, I think are all driving this. I wish I could say it was one thing.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:08:27] Yeah.
Mariza Snyder: [00:08:28] Women always ask me, "What's the thing?" And I'm like, "It's probably a multitude of things. It's also probably the amount of obligation that you're signed up for, the amount of caring for everybody you are doing, the lack of sleep that you're getting at night, because you're trying to get everything done that you didn't get a chance to do that day." And so, lifestyle is probably the most critical foundation that we can sit on.
[00:08:53] I know that there's a lot of conversation around hormone replacement therapy right now as the magic bullet, but these hormones are powerful optimizers, and they only work really, really well when our lifestyle is really, beautifully kind of curated to work in our favor. And so, nutrition is always a big, big piece when I'm having a conversation with women about how do we create great metabolic health? how do we create great metabolic energy? And so, for me, that always starts with making sure that we're hitting our protein needs that we're getting. I try to aim, I always tell women to aim for about 40 g of protein in the morning, not only to feel satiated, but also to have energy for the day and to address those cravings.
[00:09:39] I also know that how we set the tone for our day in the morning is going to affect the rest of our day, even into the next day, particularly around our blood sugar. And if you want to jump on that blood sugar roller coaster, there's no better way to do that than with a more carb or sugar-driven breakfast. What a lot of people don't know is that what you eat in the morning is going to shift your blood sugar for up to 48 hours. I've seen it on continuous glucose monitors over and over again, like, you want your fasting glucose to be back to that baseline. It's going to take a couple of days to recover from that more sugary, carb-driven breakfast. So, kicking off your day with protein and fiber and healthy fats, I think, is one of the most important ways that we can support women. And particularly in midlife, I think that that way of kicking off our morning is critical. And I have a lot of other habits that I love for the morning. But I always loved a quote by Louise Hay that says, “How you live your life is how you start your day.”
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:10:38] Oh, that's perfect. And I think for a lot of people, it's kind of finding this reframe. It's not that we're coming at these changes from a place of lack, it's just helping them build components into their lifestyle that are sustainable long term, like, not as a quick fix, but as something that is long term and sustainable. You and I certainly grew up in the time when fat was bastardized, we feared fat, everything was carbohydrate centric, and there's healthy carbs and then there's processed carbs. And so, we're talking about two different carbs.
Mariza Snyder: [00:11:07] Yes. Processed carbs.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:11:11] Yeah. And it's not that carbohydrates are bad. I think that for a lot of people, it's finding that reframe of really leaning into protein. Because if listeners don't already know this, because you probably have heard me say it a thousand times, we start losing muscle mass as we get into our 40s, and this can show up in different ways. The changes in fluctuations of estrogen or estradiol, we can get changes insulin resistance and insulin sensitivity, and helping people understand that consuming adequate amounts of protein is not just going to keep you satiated, keep your blood sugar stable, but is also going to help you go on to build and maintain muscle. And the fun fact that I love always interjecting is that we develop insulin resistance in our muscles first.
Mariza Snyder: [00:11:56] Mm-hmm.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:11:57] So, it's not just an aesthetics thing, it really is metabolic currency. It is important for metabolic health. One of our good friends, Dr. Casey, has a book that's out today, Good Energy, really focusing in on metabolic health and metabolic health crisis. And so, I love that you wove into that conversation a bit about the protein piece. So, listeners may be listening and they're like, I like my oatmeal. I like my French toasts or I like my pancakes. And there's always healthy fixes for just about everything. So, I remind people, if you love oatmeal and that's something that you desire, there's ways to make it healthier. It might be smaller portions. Protein pancakes, I always say, you can make that with whey protein if you tolerate that, you can add more eggs.
[00:12:42] When I tolerated dairy, I used to actually make a pancake, "With whey protein, a little bit of banana and an egg." And it was more protein heavy and not nearly as sugary. And that was the way I worked around that. So, there's always a workable solution to just about everything that you love to make it healthier for you. What are your thoughts on women that are not consuming enough protein, who find that they want to eat everything and anything in their pantry at 9 o'clock at night, what does that really speak to? So, if women are listening and they're like, "Well, I'm trying to eat more protein, but I have a lot of cravings at night," what can that be a sign of?
Mariza Snyder: [00:13:22] Hmm. A couple things that come up for me is one, blood sugar deregulation is a big one here, insulin resistance. Just naturally, we're going to be a bit more insulin resistant at night. And if we've been on that roller coaster since the morning or at any point in the day, we're just kind of chasing that blood sugar crash and kind of that rise and crash.
[00:13:43] And the other thing I see, too, kind of paired with that is going to be cortisol levels wired and tired. They just haven't calmed down the way that they should. And then also circadian deregulation, we're just not getting enough sunlight during the day, and we are watching Netflix in front of a big TV screen in the evening, or we're just not giving ourselves the opportunity to fiercely protect our sleep routine. So those, it's usually, I think, a trifecta of all three, and each of them are working against us in their own way, but you combine the three of them, and honestly, how do you even stand a chance at that point? And so, there's a lot of different things that we can help to mitigate that, and I can share some of those, but I think that's often what's going on.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:14:30] Yeah. And it's interesting to me that I sometimes will say that "If you feel like you finish a meal and you weren't satiated, the question is, is it because of the macros you put together?" I usually say "If you eat enough protein, you should be full, ideally."
Mariza Snyder: [00:14:44] Oh, absolutely.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:14:46] It's the right types of carbohydrates. And I think, unfortunately, a message that has become the norm is that everyone needs to be low carb or keto and that doesn't necessarily work for everyone. And I'm in the midst of working my way through a microbiome course. And the big takeaway that I've taken from the microbiome course thus far and relevant to listeners is that, particular to women, if you don't have a healthy gut microbiome and you're eating copious amounts of fats, in particular, saturated fat, which is in and of itself is not an unhealthy thing. You get that in meat and other things like coconut oil. But if you're consuming copious amounts of fat and you have an unhealthy gut microbiome, it can make it harder for your body to actually heal the gut. And without going down a rabbit hole and talking about things that will take us completely off course, focusing on perimenopause, I think it's important for listeners to do a little bit of N of 1, finding out like where their sweet spot is. This is where I think sometimes if we're looking at carbohydrates specifically, it's really thinking about, what is your carbohydrate threshold? And it might be a little different for each one of us.
Mariza Snyder: [00:15:54] Yeah.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:15:55] Do you find that you're using glucometers and continuous glucose monitors quite a bit to help-
Mariza Snyder: [00:15:59] All the time.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:16:00] -your female patients figure out where are their tolerances.
Mariza Snyder: [00:16:03] It's so rare that I am not putting a CGM on someone. I'm always, anytime I'm running labs, I'm running a full lipid panel, inflammatory panel, I'm looking at homocysteine, I'm looking at fiber-- I'm looking at everything, but I'm looking at fasting insulin, fasting glucose, hemoglobin A1c, and I'm just seeing how that looks. And it's so rare, especially women in midlife, where something isn't moving in an unfavorable direction.
[00:16:29] And when women are struggling, mostly are coming to me with weight resistance, along with a lot of other things. But that's the one thing that they would really love to get under control, mainly because they know that it's associated with the unfavorable lipids and blood sugar and things that they're seeing on their lab, or they're C-reactive protein is just higher than they would love to see. So, a lot of that inflammatory weight. And again, it's the microbiome as well. All of this is playing a role. And so, I want them to have that moment where they get to see how is sleep impacting their blood sugar.
[00:17:00] I always feel like-- I think it's as important to know your blood sugar numbers as it's to know how much money you've got in the bank, because it's so much of our lifestyle is going to show up on that continuous glucose monitor, you running around to get to a meeting, it's going to show up. What you ate for breakfast, it's going to show up. What you ate for dinner and what time you ate dinner, it's going to show up. You'll know your fasting. You'll know your blood sugar before going to bed. You'll know how that impacts you the next morning. And so, I think that just gives us such powerful data that we can take to the bank and then really make real-time changes that day. So, to me, that is profound.
[00:17:40] And again, I do agree that we need to be an N of 1. One of the things that I did last year was increase my protein intake and what I saw, I have a history of cardiovascular disease in my family big time, diabetes as well. But my sister, who was younger than me, had a stroke last year. And so, for me, I've always been fiber focused. And, in order for me to step up my protein, my fiber had to step down. And I run my labs every quarter. And what was fascinating, when I really stepped up the protein and fiber kind of got bumped to the wayside a little bit. My lipids went up and my ApoB went up, and I was like, "Oh."
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:18:19] Interesting.
Mariza Snyder: [00:18:21] Interesting. So, it's a really fascinating as an N of 1 to see how my body responded to more protein in my diet, really hitting my numbers. And what the big lesson for me was is that fiber really needs to play a role that my microbiome would have preferred, the amount of fiber I was consuming every day had stayed the way it was. And so, I brought back a lot of my cruciferous veggies, my chia seeds, brought my smoothies back. Again, making sure I had 20 g of protein in my smoothie. And I ran my labs another three months, and everything was pretty much back where I needed to be. And so, I just wanted to speak to that, because I think that measuring whether we have CGMs or we're looking at labs a couple of times a year as we're making these changes to our bodies, especially in midlife, to be able to measure, not guess, I think, is really profound and powerful. So that was a big lesson for me.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:19:16] That's so interesting. For me, what I've found is my body is happiest with lean protein, so I don't do well with a fatty cut of steak like a rib eye or duck or salmon. I do much better with lean protein and lots of vegetables. And I agree with you about the fiber, it's amazing. I think people unfortunately think of fiber just as inulin, psyllium husk. But, there's fiber in so many--
Mariza Snyder: [00:19:44] The powder you put in your smoothies and water. That's nasty [laughs] Do what you got to do.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:19:48] Exactly. I think I just ate a cup of Brussels sprouts with my lunch that was like, okay, check the box. I've had a good amount, but I think for a lot of people, when you look at ultra-processed food, so 70% of us eat ultra-processed food, predominantly in our diet. So, we're not eating a food that has a lot of fiber in it and very likely a lot of seed oils and other things that are less than ideal. But I'm also a complete realist, and so there's nothing wrong with having a clean protein powder. There's nothing wrong with buying prepackaged cut up vegetables or fruit, even prepackaged cut up pieces of meat, things that just make our lives a little bit easier. But what is it about fiber that you feel is most beneficial when we're looking vis-à-vis at the gut microbiome? Because I think some people perhaps aren't able to kind of make those connections about the role of pre and postbiotics and all these wonderful things that go on in the microbiome vis-à-vis the foods that we choose to consume.
Mariza Snyder: [00:20:49] Yeah, I think this is what you're probably learning a lot inside of your course right now regarding the microbiome. In my house, we call them tummy friends.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:20:58] Aw, so cute.
Mariza Snyder: [00:21:00] My son's always asking, "Is this going to feed my tummy friends? Are my tummy friends going to love this?" So, I'm always pointing out to him the foods that our tummy friends, our microbiome love and what's going to feed them and really replenish them. Obviously, we have a diverse microbiome, and there are definitely microbes in there that are more opportunistically driven than others. But if we want happy mitochondria, good blood sugar balance, hormones that are well optimized, and even a great mood and brain that is working for us, feeding our microbiome fiber-rich foods.
[00:21:37] And I think about diverse fiber-rich foods, foods that are pigmented with bright, gorgeous color. Like that's what's going to move the needle in us. And then, yes, if you don't feel like you're hitting your numbers, you want a little bit more, add in the soluble and unsoluble fiber that you can get in powder form. But we sprinkle chia seeds on everything. We do basil seeds. We just get really creative and make things really bright and beautiful and fun inside of our house. And I think that level of diversity is what's going to set us up.
[00:22:07] One of the things, one of the magic things that I love about fiber specifically outside of feeding the microbiome, is how beautiful it stabilizes our blood sugars. It's one of the best ways that we can absolutely do that. And again, that has a lot to do with kind of slowing down that digestive process, allowing our microbiome to be fed with the right foods. And to me, there's only so many side benefits to consuming fiber. And I think that we all inherently know that plants are, should be a big part of our diet. And, there's so many ways to get to enjoy those.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:22:41] Yeah, I love that. And it's interesting in the midst of this course, because one of the big takeaways is ferment.
Mariza Snyder: [00:22:45] Yes, ferment.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:22:46] I think we as a culture like supplements. And the biggest takeaway from listening to all these experts in this course is that fermented foods, however you decide to consume them. And there's something new that I learned about, it's like a fermented plum paste. And we'll link it up in the show notes. I have no affiliation with the company. You can get it on Amazon, but even having like half a teaspoon a day, it's one of those ways. It's like fertilizer for the gut microbiome. But whether or not it's fermented vegetables, if you tolerate dairy, like full fat Greek yogurt, kefir, miso. Like, actually, the female physician that was teaching was talking about miso. She has miso in her tea almost every evening. And it's just part of what she does to support the gut microbiome. So accessible, easy things that we can all be doing. Get creative. Go to your farmer's market or go to your grocery store. I love HEX ferments. They're based out of North Carolina, but they have really interesting flavor profile for fermented veggies. Like, they have one that's got curry and fennel seed in it that's really delicious. And every once in a while, I run across. A container of that can last me, I don't know, a couple months because no one else in my house eats sauerkraut but me, but that's okay.
Mariza Snyder: [00:24:00] That's okay.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:24:02] When we're thinking about strategies for navigating perimenopause into menopause, we've talked a little bit about macros. We've talked about continuous glucose monitors, wearables, things like that. Thinking about fiber, what are your thoughts about, what is the most efficacious way to be exercising? So, exercise in and of itself is not what we do to lose weight. So, I think that's one kind of reframe that I think many of us have to kind of wrap our heads around. What are some of the things that you do in terms of physical activity that you feel like are the biggest needle movers for you at this stage of your life?
Mariza Snyder: [00:24:39] I've come from years of exercise burnout. I would say that exercise was probably the Achilles heel that really finally tipped me over for Hashimoto's thyroiditis. And so, I have recovered from some pretty intense HIIT training classes over the years. But, what's important to me, and I think that's important to all of us, is that I want to be able to not put, I want to be able to throw my luggage into the overhead compartment at 5'2”. I want to be able to pop up from the floor. I want to be able to pick up my sick three-and-a-half-year-old off the floor if he just doesn't have the energy to do it and not even bat an eye. And, yeah, strength is so critical to me. And so, the thing that I prioritize three to four times a week is strength training and with progressive overload so that I'm getting stronger over time.
[00:25:29] But the other thing that I do, I really do feel like, it's probably the magic bullet of magic bullets is walking. I walk so much. I walk in the sunshine as much as possible, I walk after dinner, I walk after lunch, I try to walk after breakfast. I would say that I walk probably four to five times a day. Like, if I have a ten-minute window between two meetings, I grab shoes and I'm out the door, that is what I'm doing. And I clock somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000 steps a day. And I'm not necessarily doing it for the metabolic aspect, more so for me, it's clearing my mind. It's a moment to myself. It's recalibrating my stress response system. It's telling my body that I'm safe and it's something that I just get to do for me.
[00:26:14] And as a mom and an owner of a company, no one gets to mess with me. I'm so protective of my time, and walking is one of the most beautiful ways that I do that. And again, there's so many beautiful benefits. I've worn a continuous glucose monitor on and off for almost three years now, and I will say that hands down, if I want to get my blood sugar back into optimal range, which for me is 70 mg/dL to 110 mg/dL. Girl, I'm looking for optimal. Okay, the walking is the ticket. So, if you wanted to bank on longevity, I think for all women or all people listening, like that's the way to do it. And when you get to do it with family, you get to connect in that way. It's just a beautiful way to boost that oxytocin and to get to kind of calm that nervous system energy.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:27:00] Yeah. And I love that you really emphasize you're doing this throughout your day. It's not like you walked for 3 miles or 4 miles in the morning that you integrate this throughout your day, and you've seen significant health benefits. The one thing that I've really been disciplined about doing for the past year is wearing a weighted vest.
Mariza Snyder: [00:27:17] I know. I love it. You look good. [laughs]
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:27:20] I've only started featuring it on social media because I kept saying, I talk about it, and I'm not showing people what I'm doing. And it was interesting, it was humbling, because you put the weighted vest on and it's balanced. But I started with 10% of my body weight, and I remember saying to my husband the first time I wore it, I could go about 15 or 20 minutes, and then I just felt like, "Oh, my gosh, so much more weight on my frame." Having said that, I think it's so helpful to know that it gets my heart rate up into that solid Zone 2. For me, I do feel like the one thing I've really noticed is I've been hungrier. So, to me, I kind of convey that I'm doing more benefit to my body. It's a little bit more hormesis or hormetic stress, but not in a negative way. It's not like I'm not recovering. And I 100% agree with you that I am really cognizant of getting on and off airplanes and lifting my own bag. And I'm sure there's lots of wonderfully chivalrous human beings out there who always graciously offer, and I always say "Thank you, but no, thank you, I need to do this," because one of the things that precedes muscle loss is strength loss. And so that, to me, is something I want to avoid.
[00:28:27] The other thing that I have found to beneficial is trying to balance one leg. So, balance work is important. Like, my husband will sometimes look at me like "What are you doing?" I'm like, "I'm putting on my shoe. I'm tying my shoe and I've got one leg bent," and I'm doing it to balance. And I said, "Balance is really important as we're getting older." It's not only telling our bodies where we are in terms of proprioception, where we are in time and space, but also shows me where I need to do more work.
Mariza Snyder: [00:28:55] Yeah, I do a lot of unilateral training. Yeah, I'm always testing one side of the body, either one leg or arms. So, I do a lot of unilateral training. And, gosh, it is so-
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:29:08] Humbling.
Mariza Snyder: [00:29:09] -humbling. I also brush my teeth with, I'm left-handed, so I brush my teeth with my right hand. And, yeah, it's always, it's all very humbling. I love Zone 2 training as well. I probably do it three times a week. It's not my favorite. I would much rather lift weights and just go for walks. But I'm committed to my cardiovascular health. I do some sprint training too, not as probably as often as I should, but whatever. And I've been wearing a weighted vest. I'm at 10 pounds, that's where I'm at right now, and that's working for me. And, yeah, it is a very humbling experience, but it's such an easy thing to do to add to your walking routine or workout.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:29:46] Absolutely. And again, 10% of your body weight. So, my husband bought me a 20-pound vest, and I put it on, and I was like, "That's a little heavy, little spicy." [laughter] I'm not ready for that.” In terms of managing stress and addressing sleep, what are some of your favorite ways to support both? because stress is part of life.
Mariza Snyder: [00:30:08] Insidious. Yeah. And part of life.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:30:12] Yes. It's kind of like, I don't know anyone who lives a stress-free lifestyle, but obviously healthy boundaries and finding ways to manage the stress that we do have that sometimes we have no control over.
Mariza Snyder: [00:30:24] Mm. I would say that if you ask friends of mine. Definitely, if you ask my husband, I am the boundary queen. And because I was boundary lists for so long. So, boundaries, I think are super important, but I think boundaries even around how you live your life. And so, I have boundaries around my sleep. I fiercely protect my sleep like it's a million-dollar meeting. And unless you are my million-dollar meeting you cannot interrupt, including my husband. I'm like, "Uh-uh get out." So fiercely protecting my sleep.
[00:30:55] I kick off my sleep routine in the morning. Yeah, I try to be up before my family's up, and family, I mean, my son, my toddler. And I'm outside. Well, it's sometimes gloomy, I'm on the coast, but I'm outside in the sun or outside for at least five to ten minutes, usually walking, just walking around, just up and down the street. I know I shouldn't go too far because my son's going to be looking for me pretty quickly. So that's one of the best ways I know to help to support my sleep. And then in the evening-- And other thing I do all day is, like I said we talked about, I'm moving throughout the day. I am clearing that cortisol. I am making sure my body is good to go. We eat early because I know that our blood sugars benefit, and it gives us an opportunity to walk as a family to the ocean. So, we do that. So, I usually have a three-to-four-hour gap before that in bed.
[00:31:43] And then I kick off my bedtime routine after I get my son to sleep, which is, he's in bed by 8 o'clock. I kick it off with my supplements, and girl, I take supplements. I have my magnesium. It's Inflammatone by DFH. It's a wonderful kind of systemic enzyme, me with Hashi’s I always want to make sure that I'm just gobbling up anything that's left over that's residual. I take my progesterone in the second half of my cycle.
[00:32:05] And so, when I do my supplements, that kickstarts my hour sleep routine that I am fierce about. And at that point, there is no stopping me from getting into my rhythm of sleep, which is reading and journaling, low lights, making sure the bed is ready, that I'm cozy, I brush, you do all the things you do. And so that I'm in bed about an hour prior to actually going to sleep, and I am consistent every single day. So those are the things I do for sleep.
[00:32:34] For stress, there are a lot of ways that I manage and support stress. I have no problem admitting that I used to be addicted to stress. I used to think that it was my slight edge. And so, I have recovered from a lot of being in survival mode, deregulated cortisol levels to the point where they were actually extremely low. And so, I have learned that I have some deeply embedded patterns that I'm still healing, and I am very actively on that journey. And so, in order to mitigate my kind of default patterning that likes to come on in, all that, she's always just like, "Hey, let's be this way." And I'm like, okay, maybe that doesn't support me. Walking is a way that I mitigate listening to meditations, even walking meditations, because, again, that little efficient version of me is always like, you could do two things at the same time. And so, walking meditations, reading, breathing in, sometimes breathing essential oils, doing breathwork, I'm really big into breathwork, either by myself or facilitated breathwork. I'm in therapy with an internal family systems therapy. So, there's lots of hugs and kisses from my son. So, there's just a lot of things that I do every single day to help mitigate what I call some deeper embedded patterns that can kind of drive me back into a survival-based state.
[00:33:54] And I also do a lot of things that help me feel safe as well. So, sending voice memos to dear friends and besties, best friends in real life. I try to see best friends in real life every single week. I try to create kind of a safe bubble for my body, knowing that I'm in this perimenopausal continuum, knowing that my body is profoundly changing and knowing that I have a lot of responsibilities, I build in a lot of intentional rituals to manage and mitigate a lot of the stress that comes along with life.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:34:25] Well, I love that you have cultivated a really beautiful way of supporting yourself physically, emotionally, intellectually. And I know that we both share some childhood trauma, and without unpacking too much, and I know you mentioned you actively are working on boundaries and trauma. And if someone's listening and they have a high ACE score, I've been very open that my ACE score is 9. And I always jokingly say I will be in some form of therapy for the rest of my life because there's always something little that needs to be worked on. What have you found to be the most helpful resources if there's someone listening and really is ready to start doing that internal work? I know that we both have interviewed Dr. Sara Gottfried and she has a wonderful book that came out earlier this year with lots of great resources.
Mariza Snyder: Yeah, it’s there on my desk.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:35:20] Yes. What are the things that you have found to be most helpful to you and to your patients in this area specifically?
Mariza Snyder: [00:35:29] Yeah. So, again, I have, yes, a lot of trauma, a lot of child abuse. I have an ACE score of a 7. And when trauma hits us in so many different ways you don't even have to have an-- I think even an ACE score of a 3 or 4 is going to have a profound impact on your nervous system when we hold trauma in our body, in our fascia, in our cells, and in a lot of ways, like the stress response system, we're dealing with lots of stressors, it is insidious, and it has an impact on how we respond to stress, how we respond to life. And so that's something I'm always really mindful of.
[00:36:03] What's really moved the needle for me has been a lot of somatic work. So again, the breathwork, working with the somatic therapist to kind of move a lot of that trauma out of my system. Working with someone like an internal family systems therapist, you can really go in to find those hidden parts of you, those more precious. You and I are both more slayers. We just handle business. And so, my protector self, it does a great job of protecting my smaller little self. And so really tapping into the deeper part of me.
[00:36:37] I've also done a lot of craniosacral work that's connected into working in my subconscious, where I have some trapped trauma as well. I know Dr. Sara Gottfried talks about plant medicine as well as an opportunity to move through some of that stuck trauma and stuck energy. And again, to each their own in terms of their own journey. And then also, I believe that a lot of the trauma work that we get to do is really about the daily habits that we create for ourselves that keep us safe, because a lot of these other modalities I speak into, they do cost money. They do require going and seeing somebody or working with someone. And I think it's a combination of a yes, and like, yes, go and find somebody who can help really mediate some of that. I've done EMDR. I have done a bunch of energy work and all these types of trauma work.
[00:37:26] And I know that the things that I do daily are really going to set me up for success as well. So how am I going to tend to myself every single day? And some of those non negotiables are clean water and really fueling my body with metabolically healthy foods, or walking and watching the ocean, or journaling or getting into my sauna and doing a meditation. And so, I just have a lot of these built in. And I know you're thinking, "Well, Mariza, Cynthia, how do you even have time for that? You guys are running this business. You are moms, you are doing the things." And I promise you that if it's important to you and you know that you need that support, you will make the time.
[00:38:01] I used to think that working on myself at this way was more of a luxury that I didn't have time for. But that was my trauma. [laughs] That was my trauma the way that I thought about it. And it was just a major reframe that I deserved to heal my body, that I deserve to be loved, that I deserve to tend to my will wounds, my worthiness wound, betrayal wound, trust wound, abandonment wound, whatever those wounds are. And I can integrate that into the work that I do, into who I am. And at the end of the day, guess what, girl? I get it all done. And so, it all happened in a way, it's allowed me to reframe and repattern myself into what really matters. And I think at the end of the day, no matter what our missions are, who we tend to as women or as people, that life is really about savoring and its joy and its connection and its spending time with the people that you love. And so, I think those are the things that I've really reframed in terms of what actually matters. And I know that tending to myself really opens the door for more of that.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:39:01] I think it's so important. And for everyone that's listening, we're all on different journeys. I know that it took me being a certain age before I was ready to do the work. And I have a really wonderful functional medicine doctor who I've been able to share a lot of these things that I went through as a child. And every once in a while, just very lovingly, he'll say, "I think your trauma is talking." And then it helps me kind of find my way back. Like, you are right, my reaction to X, Y and Z is a byproduct of what I went through years ago, and this is something I need to work on. And I've found personally doing breathwork for me has been life changing. And that is something that is not a huge investment in time and it's something that is free and accessible. And I think for everyone listening, if you need to start somewhere, that might be a good place to start to help quiet that autonomic nervous system.
[00:39:52] You mentioned some supplements, but I'm curious, what are your favorite supplements? Like kind of loopback our conversation to the supplement piece. What are your favorite brain boosting supplements? I think a lot of people listening have expressed a desire to try things that help with brain health, obviously, foundationally, sleep, stress management, nutrition, exercise, all those things are foundational. You have to do the foundational stuff first. Don't go right to the supplements. But what are the supplements you have found other than hormone replacement therapy, which I'm sure we can talk about separately?
Mariza Snyder: [00:40:25] I was going to say estradiol and progesterone girl. [laughs]
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:40:31] Yes. Exactly, exactly. But if you were going to layer in something else for a patient that is otherwise doing the lifestyle stuff, maybe they are or are not yet on hormone replacement therapy, what are some of your favorite brain supportive supplements?
Mariza Snyder: [00:40:45] Absolutely. Well, as you know, I had a brain injury last summer to the degree that I couldn't shower, I couldn't drive my car, I couldn't even get my son ready in the morning, which is something I really love to do every morning to get to spend time with him. And there was a dark moment there where I thought, "Oh, my gosh, what if I don't recover?" Because oftentimes people with brain injuries, there's a part of them that just isn't there, so it was a very kind of scary time. But supplementing was so critical for me at that time.
[00:41:16] So, I just want to speak into my own kind of personal journey around that. And I will tell you that perimenopause, holy moly. We've talked about one of those signs or warning signs. I would say that more women come to me with noticing that their brain has shifted. They have word recall issues, they've alertness issues. They're afraid that they're going to mess up a presentation. They're not able to concentrate the way that they used to. So, I think this is a major issue, and that's why the little mini thing around hormone replacement therapy was mentioned. But I'm a big fan, obviously, of omegas. I'm a big fan of 5 mg of creatine every single day for brain boosting and metabolic support, muscle boosting. I love, I mean, I think vitamin D is so critical, probiotics, digestive enzymes. Again, the microbiome is so tied to your brain. I also love green tea. I know it's not a supplement supplement, but I do Matcha every single day. Matcha is beautiful for the microbiome, but also amazing for the brain.
[00:42:20] I love mitochondrial support because at the end of the day one of the hungriest, energy-consuming organs of the body is definitely the brain, and that's mitochondrial function right there. So, I love Acetyl-L-carnitine. I love again, vitamin D. I love B vitamins. I think that are absolutely critical. And then I also love glutathione, something that's going to really help support antioxidant support. So those are some of my kind of non-negotiable, every single day brain supplements that I love.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:42:48] No, I love that. And it's so kind of all encompassing. And I think a lot of people probably don't have a healthy enough amount of respect for vitamin D. And I think coming out of the pandemic, talking about how vitamin D is impacted in immune function and blood sugar regulation, insulin sensitivity, but also understanding that it is a pro hormone, it is not just a vitamin. And I think in many ways, it just doesn't get enough respect for sure.
[00:43:12] Now, when we're looking at supplements, I think this is an important thing to touch on. And you had a blog article on this, which is why I was like, oh, I'm going to bring this up. We haven't probably talked about this. Things to avoid in your supplements. So, if you're listening and you are vetting a supplement in Whole Foods, Amazon, Costco, etc., there may be things in your supplement product that you don't want. Do you have some non-negotiables, things that you think most people are unaware of or included in their supplements they want to specifically try to avoid. Because ultimately, if you're going to take a supplement with the highest quality product that we can actually get our hands on, but also avoid things like gluten, you know for many people--
Mariza Snyder: [00:43:56] I was going to say definitely gluten, no, thank you.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:43:59] Yeah. What are some of the other things that we should look for to avoid when we're purchasing supplements?
Mariza Snyder: [00:44:06] Also seed oils. I have been just shook by the amount of seed oils you'll find at Costco or Target supplements. So be on the lookout for that. Stearic acid, magnesium stearate, very common in about 90% of supplements, but can act as an immune suppressant, slow digestion. Also formaldehyde risk can be within that. Obviously, MSG, we want to avoid monosodium glutamate. We know that that can be a neurotoxin. And just super nasty. Lactose and dairy can be in supplements as well. And so, I know that both of us have dairy intolerances and many of us do. So again, looking at, if there's dairy inside of your supplement.
[00:44:47] Another one that I think is so fascinating that I see, especially because gummies are the thing right now, especially in kids, is going to be sugar. So, in the form of like sorbitol, corn syrup, and then artificial colors and artificial flavors. That's to also a big part, soy lecithin, soybean oil. Again, a seed oil or just like the processed oil, that's gross. Red dyes, some type, a lot of them can be adverse nasty dyes. So red number 33, so be on the lookout for that. And then another one that I'm always being mindful of is titanium dioxide, which makes pills and supplements really white and so it just can cause all kinds of-- It's just a chemical that you don't want in your body. It's linked to lung and respiratory tract cancers and also it messes with our liver's ability to function. And so those are some of my big ones. Also, parabens like methyl and propylparaben. Definitely not something you want because it's going to mess with the endocrine system. So those are some of my non-negotiables.
[00:45:44] I think if you notice ingredients that just, you can't pronounce it, you don't know what it is, and you don't know a lot about the company. I always tell people, is it third party tested? What are they saying about their quality? I know we buy a lot of our supplements from Amazon, but my recommendation is go directly to the source, the person who's selling it, the company that's selling it, and do research on that company to make sure that they are legit. That would be my recommendation.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:46:11] Well, those are some really good recommendations. And largely because unfortunately, the supplement industry is a multi-billion dollar-a-year industry in which I think there are some really nice pharmaceutical grade companies out there, but there are just as many individuals and companies that are completely the opposite. And you may be consuming something that says one thing on the label, and then when it gets tested, it's completely the opposite. Like as an example, I think there was a research article I was looking at and it was looking at omega-3s. So, looking at omega-3 fatty acids, these are the anti-inflammatory healthy fats that you can get from certain types of seafood, etc. And they were sampling things that were found in a major store within the United States, and it said omega-3s, and it was actually a bunch of seed oils. So, as I always say, let the buyer beware.
[00:47:00] So, to kind of round out the conversation today, let's touch on a favorite subject of mine, because I think it has been so normalized in our culture and especially in women. When I'm working with women and we're doing an intake, when I'm talking to them about how often they go to the bathroom, whether or not they're constipated. Why is it that we have normalized constipation and yet it is such an important topic of conversation? I think we work in healthcare, so we're commonly having these discussions, but I have patients that are almost embarrassed to share, "I only poop twice a week." And I'm like, "Okay, that's something we need to work on." But why it's so important, in particular in this middle age stage of our lives, when we're looking to be able to detoxify. And yes, detoxification is a natural process in our bodies, but we want to do as much as we can to support it, and why being constipated is ultimately problematic for our health.
Mariza Snyder: [00:48:02] Yeah. It's mind blowing. There's a lot of things that we normalize for women. [laughs] Constipation being one of those. And I believe that if you are not having a bowel movement every single day, at least one, you're not detoxifying, we're not moving it out, and that's when we got to really look at how our gut and our liver is functioning. But we know that if we are not moving things out of our large intestine, we're not moving that bowel out, that we are just recirculating, recirculating excess estrogen metabolites, other hormone metabolites, toxins, and that just puts even greater burden on our liver and our gut. And, yes, this is definitely an area that I think, again, we don't talk enough about, obviously, I wouldn't call it taboo by any means. It's just not something that anyone wants to talk about.
[00:48:50] Now, if you're a parent to a young child, poop is the conversation all day long. So, it's something I'm always talking about in my household. But, yeah, I mean, that's one of the first areas. Not only am I asking women about their cycle or especially if they're in perimenopause and menopause, what's going on with their hormones, their energy levels, their mitochondrial health, their blood sugar, but also what is the status of their bowel movements, like, how is that going? And I would say 8/10 women are not having bowel movements every single day.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:49:19] Yeah, I think it's fascinating to me that not only is there-- Even as healthcare providers, sometimes we're not asking those questions, and sometimes it can be totally benign. Like, you're not hydrated, you're not moving enough during the day.
Mariza Snyder: [00:49:30] Not enough fiber and fermented veggies.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:49:35] Not enough fiber or people need things like a squatty potty, like something that's so-- It just lifts your feet up. And for some people, anatomically, they just need that degree of support. And so, I've come to find there's a whole milieu of things starting from fresh ground flax and chia seeds all the way up to stimulants that we will sometimes utilize to get things moving.
[00:49:52] Well, I could talk to you for hours, but I would love for my listeners to figure out how they can reach out to you on social media, get access to your books, your amazing podcast, or which I've been a guest on twice, how can they connect with you and learn more about your work?
Mariza Snyder: [00:50:06] Absolutely. So, on Insta, which is one of my favorite places to play, it's @drmariza. The podcast is called Energized with Dr. Mariza. And yes, I just had you on and it was so much fun. And then my books are on Amazon that you can find them there. Those will be the places that I love to connect with people the most.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:50:26] Awesome. Thank you so much my friend.
Mariza Snyder: [00:50:29] Mm-hmm.
Cynthia Thurlow: [00:50:33] If you love this podcast episode, please leave a rating and review, subscribe and tell a friend.
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