In this episode, we’re diving into one of the most powerful things you can do for your health: getting your blood sugar regulated. When your blood sugar is stable, your body can burn fat more efficiently, cravings calm down, and your energy finally feels consistent.
In this episode, we’re diving into one of the most powerful things you can do for your health: getting your blood sugar regulated. When your blood sugar is stable, your body can burn fat more efficiently, cravings calm down, and your energy finally feels consistent.
If you’ve hit your 40s and noticed that your old diet tricks don’t seem to work anymore, or you’ve been blindsided by new symptoms like anxiety, digestive issues, or allergies, you are not alone. After 40, estrogen levels drop, muscle mass naturally declines, and your metabolism doesn’t play by the same rules. But here’s the good news: smart nutrition can stabilize blood sugar, preserve muscle, and help you feel in control of your energy and your body again.
I’ve coached women for over 30 years, and I see the same patterns over and over. Women who have been doing well suddenly feel thrown off by unexpected health challenges. This episode is here to help you get back on track and stay that way.
You’ll learn the three key things to focus on when experimenting with new nutrition strategies, a simple approach to regulating blood sugar that makes eating easier, my go to protocol for what to eat to keep glucose stable, and how to mix and match your favorite foods to hit the minimum effective dose of the key macronutrients your body needs.
One of the first nutrition mistakes I often come across is the idea that some foods are simply good and others bad. Instead, I encourage you to think of foods by macronutrient categories — carbs, protein, and fat — and learn where your favorite foods fall. Every food has one dominant macronutrient, and eating with that in mind is one of the fastest ways to feel better, boost energy, reduce hunger, and eliminate cravings.
When you start eating for blood sugar regulation, there are three main steps that make the biggest difference. First and most importantly, get into the habit of pairing protein with carbs every time you eat. Avoid eating carbs or protein alone and you will immediately improve glucose control. Second, add fat and fiber to slow digestion and smooth out blood sugar spikes. Third, eat every three to five hours (except when sleeping) to keep your brain and organs fueled. The more active or lean you are, the shorter that window may need to be.
Eating healthy foods is a great start, but without paying attention to the amount of carbs, protein, and fat you are getting, it’s easy to stay stuck. A simple way to start is with a 50 25 25 distribution of carbs, protein, and fat. Use a tracking app to get a sense of your portions. This shouldn’t feel restrictive but will give you clarity and room to adjust.
Finally, pay attention to how individual foods make you feel. As estrogen decreases, gut inflammation can increase, which means certain foods may start to affect you differently. Common culprits include cow’s milk, wheat, corn, eggs, coffee, chocolate, and some grains. You don’t have to cut them all out at once, but if you are uncomfortable, experiment with reducing or eliminating them to see what helps.
This process is about eating smarter, not stricter, so you can stabilize your energy, support your hormones, and feel like yourself again!
I hope you enjoyed this episode!
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Holly Perkins 00:00
If you've ever wondered why your old diet tricks don't seem to work anymore, or you've been blindsided by strange health issues like allergies, digestive issues, or mood changes, you might find this episode illuminating. After 40 it is a whole new world. Estrogen declines, muscle mass naturally dips, and your metabolism doesn't play by the same rules.
Holly Perkins 00:26
But here's the truth: smart nutrition can be your greatest tool to stabilize blood sugar, preserve muscle, and keep you in control of your energy and body composition. In this episode, I'll share the strategies that I've used with thousands of women to help them eat in a way that supports holistic health and vitality. So keep listening.
Holly Perkins 00:50
Welcome to the Holly Perkins Health Podcast. If you're a woman over the age of 35 and have health, fitness, or nutrition questions for your body, you're in the right place. I'm Holly Perkins, a women's strength and nutrition expert with over 30 years of experience helping thousands of women transform their bodies to be stronger, more resilient, and more energetic inside and out. Every week, you'll walk away with a real plan for improving your body composition so you can feel better now, reduce inflammation, and create lasting health. So if you're ready to create the body that you need to keep up with the life that you love, let's dive in.
Holly Perkins 01:37
Hello and thank you for being here. If you are new, welcome. I'm Holly Perkins, and I help women, mostly over 40, to improve body composition to at least 70 percent lean muscle so that you can reduce your risk of disease, stay in the game of life and out of the rocking chair in the years ahead, and look great while you're doing it.
Holly Perkins 2:01
I've been in practice now for over 30 years, and one of my favorite things about what I do is hearing the stories of the women who reach out to me for coaching. While each person truly is unique, I do see recurring themes in terms of the struggles and the health issues that women are battling today, and more specifically, those issues that they bring to me.
Holly Perkins 02:26
One of the most interesting, to me anyway, is when a woman comes to me and she was going along just fine in her life, not having any major issues, and feeling pretty good for the most part. Then one day, out of nowhere, she gets blindsided by a big hurdle, a big health issue, something like IBS or Crohn's, severe allergies, anxiety, or even crippling fatigue.
Holly Perkins 02:53
She tells me that she's never had these issues before, so she doesn't understand why, quote, unquote, all of a sudden she can no longer tolerate dairy, grains, alcohol, or even coffee. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard this type of story, because it's that common, but no one is talking about it. In fact, the same thing happened to me at the age of 44 when I was the picture of health and fitness. I came home from the gym one day, it was a Tuesday, around 11:10 in the morning, and literally fell to the floor with an anxiety attack that lasted for hours.
Holly Perkins 03:37
This wasn't just the worries of the world. This was a hardcore, out-of-nowhere biological earthquake. Keep in mind, up until then, I had never had a single day of anxiety in my life. In fact, I tend to be the opposite type of personality. Historically, I was more prone to sadness and depression, not anxiety. I've shared this story in other episodes, so I'm not going to belabor it here, but my point is this: if you're a woman over 40 and you're noticing strange symptoms that are new, that came out of nowhere, this episode is for you. I'm going to share the smart nutrition strategies that have worked for me and my clients. In this episode, you'll learn three things to look at when you're wanting to experiment with new nutrition strategies so that you can feel better, an approach to regulating blood sugar that makes things super easy, my simple protocol for what to eat to keep blood sugar stable, and how to mix and match your go-to foods so that you can get what I call the minimum effective dose of key macronutrients. If already you can relate in any way, please know two things.
Holly Perkins 04:52
Number one, your body is not the same as the one that you have lived in for all of the years up until now. The hormonal shifts that happen in midlife are an earthquake to your biology. Some women suffer more than others, but we all have to navigate these waters. And number two, this does not mean that you are in a new reality that is going to continue for the rest of your life. It simply means that you must adopt new habits to support this new biological environment. I promise you can find your way through to feeling better.
Holly Perkins 05:31
How surprised would you be if you discovered that you could actually have more energy, less hunger, and fewer cravings, alongside a reduction in any of those uncomfortable health issues that you might be struggling with? I believe those habits that you thought were working for you in your 20s and 30s actually weren't working at the time. It's just that you were getting along fine because you had more estrogen and therefore less inflammation. What I'm going to share today really is a protocol that I think all humans should have been following all along.
Holly Perkins 06:09
I'm going to share some of the overarching themes from my nutrition methodology that has worked miracles for the thousands of women who have worked with me. Keep in mind, I can't fix all of your problems through a public platform like this, because there are just too many variables in each woman's life. This is why I offer coaching programs like the Body Composition Project, so that we can work together to refine your nutrition and habits.
Holly Perkins 06:42
That being said, if you do nothing else but apply what I'm about to share today, I can nearly guarantee that you will feel better, have more energy, release inflammation, and experience less hunger and fewer cravings, maybe even eliminate them. The first mistake I want to address is thinking that some foods are good and some foods are bad. This might surprise you. Now, listen, I'm not saying that drugstore candy is good or that dairy is overtly bad. In fact, I'm saying that when we're talking about the foods made by Mother Nature herself, no foods are good or bad.
Holly Perkins 07:31
If they were, they would be toxic and we wouldn't be able to eat them because they would kill us. Instead, I encourage you to look at them from an objective perspective on their qualities. For example, I personally don't believe that maple syrup is bad. When I say maple syrup, I'm referring to a simple sugar. It's not table sugar, it does have a little bit more nutritional value, but there are people out there who will say all sugar is terrible. I don't agree. I also don't agree that raw vegetables are always good. I don't believe that at all.
Holly Perkins 08:10
I also don't believe that more protein is the answer to all of your problems, or that carbs are causing you to gain or lose weight. Instead, I encourage a reframe. When you consider all of the amazing foods created by our beautiful earth, start to think of them in categories. You've got the obvious categories, like fruits, vegetables, dairy, and meat, but I want you to take it a step further and start to learn where your go-to foods fall in terms of the three macronutrients: carbohydrates, protein, and fats. These are the macronutrients in all foods that we eat that contribute calories in our diet.
Holly Perkins 08:57
Some foods are 100 percent carbohydrates, like maple syrup or berries, and some are 100 percent fat, like olive oil or butter. Many foods have two or all three of the macronutrients in them. Nuts are a great example. Nuts have protein, fat, and carbohydrates, each in different amounts. You might have thought that nuts are a protein, or you may think nuts are a fat. The truth is they have all three macronutrients.
Holly Perkins 09:31
Every food has one dominant macronutrient, even nuts, because while they do have protein and carbs, they actually have way more fat calorically compared to protein. So nuts are categorized as a fat, even though they are a source of protein. I'll talk about eating according to macros in a minute so that you can better understand it. First, I want you to learn the different categorizations of your go-to foods. I can't go through that exhaustive list here, maybe in a future episode, but I'm going to task you with looking at your go-to foods and asking: is that a protein?
Holly Perkins 10:20
Is that a carbohydrate or a fat? Start with just the foods that you eat on a regular basis. Of those, which ones are predominantly protein and which ones, like avocados, are predominantly fat? The fastest way to feel better, have more energy, reduce hunger, and eliminate cravings is to start eating for blood sugar regulation.
Holly Perkins 10:49
This is a common theme in my podcast episodes because it is, hands down, one of the most important factors in your overall health. It should be top priority if you want to feel well and actually be healthy. I will argue that you can't actually be holistically healthy if your blood sugar is dysregulated. This is what leads to insulin resistance, which is when your body's cells don't respond properly to insulin, the hormone that helps move glucose from the foods that you eat from your bloodstream into your cells for energy or storage.
Holly Perkins 11:30
To compensate, your pancreas makes more insulin, which can keep your blood sugar normal for a while, but over time this system gets strained, and it's what leads to diabetes. Don't think it'll never happen to you. According to the ADA, 1.4 million Americans get a new diabetes diagnosis each year. Blood sugar regulation is one of the body's most fundamental survival systems. Every cell in your body needs a steady supply of glucose, but too much or too little can cause immediate problems and long-term damage.
Holly Perkins 12:11
When it comes to eating for blood sugar regulation, there are basically three key components to be aware of when you get started. First, and I believe most importantly, get into the habit of pairing your protein with carbohydrates every single time that you eat. If you avoid eating protein by itself or carbs by themselves, you will immediately improve glucose control and blood sugar levels.
Holly Perkins 12:42
Second, fat and fiber are helpful because they slow down digestion and reduce the blood sugar spike after eating. Once you get into the habit of pairing protein and carbs, then you can start to incorporate more fiber and the right amount of fat. I'll talk about this more in a minute. Third, eat every four to five hours, except when sleeping. If you go longer than five hours between a meal or snack, your blood sugar will drop, causing a biological cascade of trouble. Your brain is a glucose hog and must have fuel to keep your organs operating optimally.
Holly Perkins 13:31
The more active you are, this window narrows to three to four hours. The leaner you are, it narrows even further depending on meal size. Some of my clients have to eat every three hours to the minute. The smartest thing you can do for holistic health is to get your blood sugar regulated. You'll feel better, and it allows your body to burn fat more efficiently and consistently.
Holly Perkins 13:59
If your goal is to build more muscle, lose fat, and improve your body composition, this is an easy way to start burning fat better. Up next, you'll hear more about eating according to macros and how food intolerances could be playing a role in your health symptoms. But first I want to share this: Hey friend, want to talk about my favorite topic? You might think it's food or strength training, and those are definitely up there, but behind the scenes, I am obsessed with sleep. It is my favorite pastime, and my husband teases me and says that I am the queen of sleep.
Holly Perkins 14:45
I love to sleep, but it hasn't always been this way. There were years when I would toss and turn, wake up multiple times during the night, and then not be able to go back to sleep. Or I would wake up in the morning and feel like I hadn't slept at all. There were a lot of those years, and that was a problem, because sleep isn't just about rest. It's when your body repairs, restores, and recovers. It's when everything resets.
Holly Perkins 15:17
The truth is, you can do all the right things, balance your macronutrients, strength train three times per week, and hydrate. But if you're not sleeping well, it's like trying to build a house on a cracked foundation. That is why I rely on Beam’s Dream Powder, a healthy nighttime blend designed for people who take their sleep health seriously with science-backed ingredients like reishi, magnesium, l-theanine, apigenin, and melatonin.
Holly Perkins 15:51
Beam's Dream Powder is formulated to help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and wake up sharp without the grogginess of other sleep aids. And I'm not the only one. Beam has already improved over 17.5 million nights of sleep, helping people across the country wake up and feel their best. Right now, Beam is offering up to 40 percent off their best-selling Dream Powder for my listeners. Perfect timing to lock in your summer sleep strategy. Just go to shopbeam.com forward slash Holly P and use code Holly P at checkout. That's shop B E A M dot com.
Holly Perkins 16:41
Forward slash Holly P and use code Holly P for up to 40 percent off. Grab the deal and give your sleep the same attention that you give the rest of your health. When it comes to smart nutrition for holistic health, especially for women over 40, the next thing to understand is the power of combining your foods specifically to achieve macronutrient balance each day. It's a mistake to think that it's enough to just eat healthy food items throughout the day if you're not also keeping an eye on the amount of carbohydrates, protein, and fat that you're getting.
Holly Perkins 17:18
My most successful clients get the best results when they get their blood sugar regulated by strategically pairing their go-to foods so that they end the day with a 50 25 25 distribution of macros. If this is a new language for you, let me simplify it. Eating according to macros means that you mix and match your food items and serving sizes throughout the day so that you get a specific amount of carbohydrates, protein, and fat by the end of the day. It's strategic eating.
Holly Perkins 17:53
This might mean that you combine some chicken, which is a protein, with some sweet potatoes, which are a carbohydrate, drizzled with olive oil, which is a fat. You strategically adjust the serving sizes for each of those foods so that you achieve a specific numerical target based on the total calories of that meal or snack or your total daily calories at the end of the day. Eating according to macros is the easiest, most effective way to improve your health if you're a woman over 40.
Holly Perkins 18:28
I believe when my book comes out next year, it's going to be the dietary wave of the future. Here is why. When you choose your foods so that you end the day between 40 and 50 percent of your day's total calories coming from carbohydrates and 25 to 30 percent of your day's total calories coming from protein and fats, you are able to get what I call the minimum effective dose for each macronutrient, provided you're eating sufficient calories for your current energy needs.
Holly Perkins 19:05
There's a minimum amount of protein you need in the day, but that also applies to carbohydrates and fat. There's also an upper limit to each of those things, so it's important to be in this window. In this day and age of protein protein protein and carbs are bad, it's quite possible that you are eating the right foods.
Holly Perkins 19:25
We just need to adjust the serving sizes and the pairings. Second, when you eat according to macros, you automatically improve blood sugar regulation because you're combining protein, fat, and carbohydrates every time you eat. When you eat according to macros, you're also able to eat in the least restrictive way that is sustainable and realistic for most people's lives, because it allows you to pick and choose the foods that you prefer, and it really opens up a lot of variety. It also brings balance, because...
Holly Perkins 19:59
You are forced to search out more variety and more food items, and you're actually able to eat some of your favorite treats and indulgences because you'll be incorporating them in a way that is less destructive. A great example here is alcohol. Having alcohol on an empty stomach is a real problem, but when you pair it, which is a carbohydrate, with protein, it makes it a little bit better.
Holly Perkins 20:27
If this is a language that you're already speaking, I usually start my clients off with a 50 25 25 distribution by the end of the day. If you're new to this conversation, here's how you can do it. Start with a diet tracking app so that you can enter what you eat in a normal day. You don't have to make any changes, just start entering the food items and a close estimate of the serving sizes that you normally eat. At the end of the day, navigate to the macronutrient distribution in your tracking app and see where your normal day of food lands.
Holly Perkins 21:07
The next day, simply adjust the food items or serving sizes so that you eventually land at 50 25 25 by the end of the day. By the way, that is a target. I generally like my clients to land somewhere between 40 and 50 percent carbohydrates by the end of the day. This is not a hard and fast rule. It's really just a target, and there is definitely lots of wiggle room. Once you've got that down, the trick is to start improving the quality of the foods that help you achieve that distribution, and then make adjustments so that you can hit 50 25 25 at each meal and snack throughout the day. The last piece of the puzzle in my approach to smart nutrition for holistic health and improved body composition is observing how the specific foods that you're eating make you feel and reducing or eliminating those that don't work well for your body.
Holly Perkins 22:09
Right now this is a big topic, and it's a little tricky, especially in a public forum like this. At times it's caused some raised eyebrows, but let me tell you, it also works miracles in midlife. As all of your hormones shift, there is a related shift in your digestive system. As estrogen decreases, we generally see an increase in inflammation, and inflammation almost always starts in your gut. It is helpful to address any food intolerances that you might have, even if you're unaware of them at this time, even if you've never had issues before. In short, some foods do cause more irritation to the gut lining, even if they've never bothered you in the past. This is just one of those wonderful side effects of getting older.
Holly Perkins 23:06
The body does change, and you can, and often do, develop intolerances or irritations, as I like to say, to the foods that most frequently cause issues. Personally, I believe those foods that cause the most issues are the very foods that you have eaten most frequently across your lifetime, and many of the following foods most people eat on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times per day.
Holly Perkins 23:37
So these are often the ones that cause the most trouble. I can't tell you how many women come to me for coaching and discover that, for example, cow's milk that they have always used and loved now causes constipation or allergies, or the oatmeal that they have been eating for 15 years now causes brain fog, or the coffee they have enjoyed since college now causes heartburn. Your body is now different, and therefore you might need to update and adjust your eating so that you can feel better and relieve some of the gut inflammation.
Holly Perkins 24:16
In truth, I believe that some of these things I am going to suggest we should have been doing all along anyway. If you are someone who is pretty healthy and does not have any of these symptoms, everything I have shared in today's episode is going to help you avoid the things that I am talking about. The foods that I have found cause the most trouble, and the ones you will want to consider adjusting or eliminating, are number one, cow's milk products like milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese.
Holly Perkins 24:47
Number two, wheat and all wheat products. Number three, corn is a big one, and it is in so many of our foods. Number four, and this one might surprise you, eggs. I am starting to see more people having more intolerances to eggs than I have ever seen before. I think it is because they have really been emphasized in popular media as a great source of health and also a great source of protein, which they can be. If you are eating two eggs every single day, there is a real tendency to develop an intolerance. Number five, this is a sad one, coffee and chocolate. Lastly, all other grains, oats and rice and quinoa, etc. This one is especially relevant if you have any thyroid or autoimmune issues.
Holly Perkins 25:38
Now, listen, I could go on and on here forever, and it is literally impossible to address all of the different considerations in your nutrition. You might be sitting there saying, I eat all those foods and I love all those foods. How dare you suggest I take them out of my diet when they are my diet. Please know that what I am saying is, if you have health symptoms or issues that are bothering you, like I have talked about, this is a great place to start. That is all I am suggesting.
Holly Perkins 26:09
That list of six food items is also in a triage. Start with the first one, cow's milk products. See how you feel if you take that out or reduce it. Later down the road, eliminate eggs and see how you feel. This is meant to be an experiment so that you can use trial and error and feel better after being in practice for 30 years.
Holly Perkins 26:32
These are the things that are top of mind to me that I see in my practice, and these are usually the first things that I address when people come to me for coaching when they are suffering. Let me tell you, when we address these things nine times out of ten or more, nine point seven out of ten, my clients get immediate relief and start feeling better than they have in years. I realize everything I shared today might feel like a lot. It is not intended for you to tackle all of these things at once.
Holly Perkins 27:06
Pick one little tidbit that really seems to ring true for you and try it out for a month, then try out some new change in your habits. It is really quite powerful. If today's episode rings true for you and you want to feel better and improve your body composition, just know that I promise there is a path to feeling better. If you are struggling, there is a reason, and it is not just your age, and it is definitely not a sentencing for the rest of your life.
Holly Perkins 27:37
I promise, this is a new paradigm, and we just have to pull the right nutrition levers so that you can start thriving again, or for the first time. I so hope that you enjoyed this episode and found it useful, and I hope you will stay tuned for another brand new one on Tuesday of next week. Stay strong, my friend. You
Holly Perkins 28:03
Paul, thank you so much for tuning into this week's episode. I am so happy that you are here, and I hope you loved it. If you did, please take a moment to subscribe, share with your friends, and leave a review. If you want more from me, check out my blog and coaching programs over at HollyPerkins.com. That is all for now. I will see you next week.