Natalie Tysdal (00:01)
Louise, all the way from the UK, thank you for joining me today.
Louise Digby (00:05)
Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Natalie Tysdal (00:08)
Well, let's get into your background and how you got passionate about helping women with their diets and their nutrition.
Louise (00:19)
Well, for me, when I first started in nutrition, I was working with everyone and anyone in terms of whatever problem they had or whatever goal they had. And what I found is that pretty much everyone wanted to lose weight as well as whatever their other goal was, whether that was IBS or eczema or you name it really. So I ended up researching a lot into weight loss. And what I found was that the people that came to me for health problems did better with the weight loss side of things than the people that came to me just for weight loss. And I think a big part of that is, know, weight loss is often a happy side effect of getting healthier and addressing underlying imbalances. And I also noticed that it was really women who were in their mid stage of life who were working the hardest, trying the hardest and getting the worst results when it came to lasting weight loss. So I really wanted to dig into that and help these women to not only lose weight, but to really optimize their health at this stage of life because, you know, so many of them are so determined to, you know, really live their best lives and thrive and ensure that they age in a way that's healthy. But there's so much misinformation out there and so many solutions quote unquote that really missed the mark that that's what really drew me into that area.
Natalie Tysdal (01:55)
I am so glad you brought this up because what I find most often as a health journalist is that everyone wants the quick fix. We love the quick fix, right? Just take this medication or do this thing and boom, it's all better all of a sudden. But then there are other issues. what I'm hearing you say is that there's not necessarily a quick fix because the fix is to get healthy and then the results start to come.
Louise (02:05)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, exactly. There's definitely not a quick fix. I wish there was, but it's really about focusing on the long term. And, you know, it sounds a bit corny, but focusing on the journey and enjoying the process. Because if you can find yourself a regime that you enjoy, one that is focused not only on food, but movement and
sleep and stress management and looks at things from all angles, if you can find a way of doing things that you actually enjoy, then you can let go of that fixation with the scales and that fixation on how much you weigh. And it's just a much more enjoyable process, a much less stressful process and a much more sustainable one as well.
Natalie Tysdal (03:17)
Because you think about it and sure go ahead lose the weight, if you don't feel good, why does it even matter? Right? Yeah.
Louise (03:24)
Yeah. Yeah.
And so many people, not just women, but so many people regain the weight after they've lost it. And I think the stat is that 95 % of diets fail. And essentially, what that refers to is the amount of people that put the weight back on again, and more. And a big part of the reason for that is because the standard diets that were sold,
just aren't sustainable long-term because they're completely based on eating fewer calories and burning more calories. And there's many problems with that, but one of the big problems with that is it ignores the fact that our bodies are really clever and adaptable. And when we eat less or if we burn more calories, our bodies will just adapt very quickly and burn fewer calories with other bodily processes.
you know, it conserves energy. essentially dieting makes our metabolisms slow down, sometimes temporarily just from the quick response of restricting calories and sometimes in the longer term because we lose muscle when we diet. So we don't want do that. Muscle is so important for maintaining our metabolisms, but also our long-term health. So that's part of the reason why not only
do we lose weight quite quickly? Sometimes we're losing muscle, but also because it's so difficult to keep that weight off because we've lost our metabolism when we've dropped that muscle.
Natalie Tysdal (05:05)
So for example, let's give an example of someone who's doing this. They're working really hard. They set a goal at the beginning of the year. Maybe I'm going to drop the 10 pounds. They restrict calories. They're starving. They drop weight. They're like, well, back into these jeans. I feel pretty good. But then all of a sudden, other things change. Give me the profile of a person like that. What's happening in the body? Even though you quickly drop it, you feel good that you can wear different things. What's happening in the body?
Louise (05:35)
So aside from the loss of muscle that happens when we lose weight, there's also the impact on gut health because of the restriction. know, most times when someone is eating a low calorie diet, they're not meeting all their nutritional requirements for fiber, protein, nutrients, and that's something that will impact the gut microbiome in a negative way.
because our gut microbiome needs fuel. And that is something that can drive inflammation and food intolerances and further deficiencies, fatigue, cravings. So your body essentially, or you are working against your body when you're taking a restrictive approach like that. And your body is kind of fighting against
that approach, it doesn't want you to restrict calories. And so not only is your gut microbiome giving you the signals that it needs more fuel by giving you cravings, but your body is also screaming out for more fuel to meet its nutrient requirements, it will make you hungrier, it will conserve energy, make you more tired. know, willpower isn't enough to just ignore that and maintain the results that you've achieved. So,
Natalie Tysdal (06:56)
Hmm.
Louise (07:01)
you will go back to eating more or you will scale back on the exercise, there will be some sort of impact on your health and you'll ultimately not be able to keep up with those habits that you've put into place and everything will slip backwards, unfortunately.
Natalie Tysdal (07:18)
Yeah, you mentioned a minute ago, our bodies are so smart, smarter than us, right? Smarter than we think we are. And it will hold on to. So if you're restricting those calories, it's going to say, you're going to restrict me. I'm just going to pocket this fat over here because I can't, I'm just going to keep it over here. And it's going to be even harder.
Louise (07:35)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, exactly. And part of the reason why that happens is because of the loss of muscle and how our metabolism reduces. It's also a famine response. Our bodies are really good at putting on fat because evolutionary, that's a great advantage to be able to put on fat and hold onto energy for when there might be times of famine and a lack of food. But our bodies are terrible at burning fat.
Natalie Tysdal (08:03)
it.
Louise (08:08)
evolutionary, there's there's never really been advantage to being able to lose fat quickly. So most people aren't very good at burning fat. And when there is a lack of calories, because we've gone on a diet or because we're burning loads of calories, our bodies will down regulate everything, initiate that famine response and make our bodies cling on to the fat. And
Natalie Tysdal (08:32)
Mm-hmm.
Louise (08:34)
For women who are in this mid stage of life, who are in their 40s and 50s, that famine response is amplified in a way because one of the big shifts that happens is your ovaries are starting to wind down and produce fewer sex hormones. And then your adrenal glands, your stress glands, they are taking over some of the production of your sex hormones.
So with increased stress, which comes from under-eating, over-exercising, or just normal general stress, your adrenals are going to down-regulate the production of your sex hormones in order to be able to have a healthy stress response and produce enough stress hormones. So put that simply.
During this mid stage of life, we become much less resilient to the impact of and stress has a far bigger impact on our bodies, speeding up muscle loss, speeding up the estrogen decline, generating inflammation and just causing us to feel even worse.
Natalie Tysdal (09:49)
It's so interesting how we think we can fight this. And for me, in my 50s now, it's like, I just have to work harder. Like that was my initial response. Wait a minute, I'm not eating any differently. I'm just as active as I used to be. My body's changing. I just have to work harder.
Louise (09:58)
Mm.
Natalie Tysdal (10:07)
I have to work out more. Like those are the things I think our society probably tells us is you're not working hard enough or your willpower isn't strong enough, your discipline's not enough, and that's not the answer.
Louise (10:08)
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. And it's more about working smarter. know, the efforts that you've previously put into cutting calories or slugging out in the gym, shifting those efforts and focusing more on, it might be more lower intensity exercise and more kind of nurturing types of exercises that focuses on building strength and allowing your body to recover and repair.
Natalie Tysdal (10:25)
Mm-hmm.
Louise (10:49)
and focusing on fueling your body with nutrient rich foods as opposed to trying to avoid the calorie rich foods because often it is the calorie dense foods that are loaded with nutrients. And so when we cut them out, we miss out a lot of what our body needs. So when we flip the focus to be based on what does my body need to thrive instead of what do I need to cut out.
Natalie Tysdal (11:17)
huh.
Louise (11:18)
very different experience and your body will respond better to that because you're not going to be missing out on what it needs.
Natalie Tysdal (11:27)
And how great is that mindset? I love what you just said. That mindset, what does my body need to thrive versus what do I need to cut out? It's so much easier to do things when it's positive versus taking things away from what you enjoy in life.
Louise (11:37)
Mm.
Yeah.
Yeah, definitely. And I think it also helps you to avoid that guilt because so often when we're trying to lose weight, we are doing things from a point of view of how can I burn as many calories as possible? I didn't work out for as long as I meant to. And so I didn't burn as many calories as I should have done or, I had that cake. And so I've, you know, I feel guilty about how many calories I've consumed.
And when you flip it around to be more focused on supporting your body and giving it what it needs, you really don't get that same guilt and the same regret that you get, you know, day in, day out with these quite toxic diets.
Natalie Tysdal (12:29)
Yeah, I've interviewed so many people over the years being a health journalist and I hear so many different formulas. And as you mentioned, sometimes this works for a quick fix, but what do you think in your opinion is the long-term success that people are looking for? Is there a specific diet?
Louise (12:39)
Hmm.
Natalie Tysdal (12:53)
Or I know you're talking about the whole person and all of that, but is there one that sticks out that people are most successful with of the fad type things if we turn them and don't make them fad?
Louise (13:07)
Not really, to be honest. I'd say probably the thing that comes closest to being the most sustainable and effective is a paleo type approach, where you are focusing on whole foods, you are not overdoing the grains or maybe keeping grains as a very, very small part of the diet and ensuring that
processed foods are a very small part of the diet as well. I think paleo is something that is adaptable in the proportion of proteins and carbs and fats for each individual. And that's the thing that I found with everyone that I work with, although they've all got the same goals and they pretty much all have the same problem, which is this stubborn midlife weight, everyone is very different. And the medical histories are different, the genetics are different.
and their lifestyles are different, et cetera. And so the solution is different. So a paleo approach is quite a good foundation starting point and then building from there and adapting how much protein you have, et cetera, based on how much exercise you do or whatever your individual goals might be.
Natalie Tysdal (14:30)
would be your top three tips for women who are listening thinking, I'm frustrated, I know I need this holistic approach. What are the top three things you could say someone could do right now to start feeling better?
Louise (14:39)
you
I'd say the first thing is the thing that we're hearing so much of at the moment, which is make sure you're having plenty of protein in every meal. And I think probably people are sick of hearing it, but I'm still talking about it because I'm still looking at food diaries and people aren't doing it.
Natalie Tysdal (15:02)
We're still not doing it. We're hearing it, but not effectively
doing. What does that look like?
Louise (15:07)
So it could be having two to three eggs with breakfast, or it could be having a homemade granola that's based on nuts and seeds, as opposed to a shop bought granola, for example, or there could be a shop bought one that is again, paleo, or it might be labeled up as keto or grain free, that would tend to mean that it is based on nuts and seeds. It might mean for lunch having
some mackerel with a salad or with some roasted veg, or it might mean having a lentil soup, or it could mean having a chicken soup or something like that. It's looking at your meals and making sure that it has got around about a palm-sized portion of meat or fish or eggs. And if it's a plant-based protein, then about double that to ensure that you're getting enough.
into each meal. And it doesn't mean that as of tomorrow, you suddenly have to ramp up your protein to that level. It could be a gradual increase or you might just start by focusing on breakfast. And then once you've got that sussed move on to thinking about the other meals, because again, that's something that sets people up to fail trying to do too much too soon. It might sound simple, but actually changing each meal requires quite a lot of thinking and adjust to
your shop and your cooking and all of that sort of thing.
Natalie Tysdal (16:36)
family used to call it to be successful just the grocery store diet. It's like when you shop and you actually buy the right things you're setting yourself up for success because you're not scrounging around saying what should we eat tonight like you've planned it so maybe it's the it's the planning diet if you plan ahead you're gonna do it.
Louise (16:41)
Yeah.
Definitely. Definitely.
And you know, that is the first thing that anyone needs to think about is planning ahead, sitting down, thinking about what you're going to eat for the week, thinking about, okay, what nights am I going to be busy or short on time or out and about? Are there nights where I need leftovers or do I need to cook some things and put them in the freezer ready for whatever is going on? So thinking about what's going on and then planning your meals around that.
writing a list and then doing a shop and sticking to the list. You it sounds very obvious, but actually most of us aren't doing it. And when you do do it, it saves time, it saves energy, it saves money. And it's more difficult the first few times you do it, but once you've done it a couple of times, you know, you've got your previous lists to draw from and you can just copy and paste.
Natalie Tysdal (17:45)
Yeah, okay, so of your three tips, your first one was get your protein just plain and simple. And what would be next?
Louise (17:53)
The next one I would say is focus on stress management. And this is something that I think is so greatly overlooked when it comes to wellbeing and the impact that it has on our metabolisms and our hormones. And if we are very stressed or if we're just constantly busy, you might not recognize that we're stressed, but we might be constantly busy going from one thing to the next and never really getting much.
downtime or me time, then that's something that will keep you in fight or flight mode. And when we're in that mode, it's very difficult for our bodies to repair, to build muscle. And it's very draining on the body will burn through a lot of nutrients. And, you know, our need for nutrients will greatly increase. And along with that, we don't tend to have a lot of time to actually
feed ourselves and fuel ourselves properly. So focusing on stress management is absolutely key and I think it's a non-negotiable when it comes to addressing this stubborn midlife weight. That doesn't mean that you have to get rid of the stress, it just means that we need to build in some practices that help our body get into the rest and digest mode, which is the opposite of fight and flight mode more often.
And that could be something as simple as taking two minutes to stop and do some deep belly breathing to try and steal our mind and just stop and let our body rest for a minute. It could be something as simple as sitting in silence and chilling with a cup of tea and just allowing our bodies to not have all that stimulation because so often we've got
the telly going or the radio going or we're listening to something, we're watching something, we're scrolling and this constant simulation that again prevents us from truly getting into that rest mode. So sometimes something as simple as just sitting in silence and chilling for a minute can be what we need.
Natalie Tysdal (20:07)
Yeah, I think that's so important and overlooked. I worked in the news industry for so long that stress was just a normal part of life. And I didn't know what it felt like to be outside of that until I got out of it. And so sometimes we don't realize that we're so stressed because we've normalized it. So to take a hard look at your life and to say, where do I need that peace and calm so my body can recover?
Louise (20:10)
Mm.
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Yeah, definitely.
Natalie Tysdal (20:37)
I'm glad you brought that up. All right, what would be your third tip?
Louise (20:41)
I'd say on a similar theme and it's sleep. We've got to make sure we are prioritizing sleep. And it's for very similar reasons. You when we're not sleeping properly, our bodies aren't repairing and recovering. It's very inflammatory for our bodies to be sleep deprived. It will disrupt all your hormones, your sex hormones, stress hormones, thyroid hormones, hunger hormones.
So it's going to be more difficult to make positive choices, be that food choices or exercise choices, whatever it might be, when we are sleep deprived. focusing on sleep hygiene, know, making sure that we are trying to get to bed at the same time every night and making sure that we're in a nice cool dark room and all those tips that we always hear about sleep, they do make a big difference.
Um, and, know, try not to hit that snooze button and try and get up at the same time every day. It all makes a big difference to kind of training our bodies to, to sleep at a certain time and, and stay asleep for that whole time. Um, so yeah, I'd say focusing on sleep is absolutely key.
Natalie Tysdal (21:58)
Yeah, I've done so many episodes on sleep and we've learned so much about sleep and how, as you mentioned, like it's almost your body hitting that reset button and it has to clean, your brain has to clean every night and if you're not getting that full night, not broken, like I did that for many years on a TV morning show, is I would sleep for four hours, work, and then come home and try to a long nap and that doesn't offer that.
Louise (22:23)
you
Natalie Tysdal (22:26)
restorative sleep that our bodies really need.
Louise (22:30)
Yeah, and you know, we can't make up for lost sleep. know, we unfortunately napping, doesn't undo the damage that not getting that sleep initially does. It definitely makes us feel a little bit better and it helps but there's no such thing as kind of burn in the midnight all week and then sleeping all weekend to catch up with it. That's unfortunately doesn't work like that. So aiming for, you know, consistently getting
Natalie Tysdal (22:33)
Mm-mm.
Louise (22:58)
seven to eight hours sleep per night, maybe more potentially if you can, is ideal. And for a lot of people, particularly women in this mid stage of life, sleep becomes disrupted partly because of hot flashes and night sweats or anxiety or various other symptoms that come along with the perimenopause and menopause. And a lot of what we've been talking about today in terms of
getting protein in and trying to reduce processed foods and managing stress. Those are all things that will help reduce inflammation in the body and restore balance in the body, which will have a knock on effect on sleep because sometimes it can feel like it's a bit of a vicious cycle of sleep. being told you need more sleep to help with your health and your weight, but then, you you can't do those things. So yeah, it's, it can be frustrating to hear, you just need more sleep.
Natalie Tysdal (23:49)
can't get it. Yeah.
Louise (23:56)
but everything that you do throughout the day, the food choices you make, the time, what you do in the evening, what you do when you get up, it all has an impact on your sleep. There's lots we can do.
Natalie Tysdal (24:08)
Yeah, it all works together, doesn't it? You do one of these things, it helps the other one, and there's no, as we started, there's no quick fix. You can't just do one thing without the others. So taking that whole approach.
Louise (24:10)
Mm-mm.
Yeah, definitely. And, you know, I think a lot of people struggle with the whole not going for the quick fix and looking at the long term because we obviously want to see some sort of return on investment. We want to see that the efforts we're making is achieving something. But when it comes to losing weight, it is something that when you're doing it the right way,
It can be very slow at first and it might even speed up with time once your body gets healthier and more in balance and you build in more positive habits. So it's best to focus on your intentions rather than focusing on did I lose two pounds this week?
Instead, focus on, I follow through with my intentions for the week? Did I do that 20 minutes of Pilates or whatever it was that you intended on doing? And if you did, then celebrate that. That's a big part of making the journey an enjoyable and positive one. And also focusing on non-weight wins. So things like your energy levels and your sleep improving and your skin improving. These are all things that can happen quite quickly.
when you are taking steps that are truly supporting your body.
Natalie Tysdal (25:40)
Yeah, yeah, and I found, and this is true not just in overall health, but just in life, that it's hard to focus on so many things all at once. That's when we get overwhelmed and we give up. So maybe one week it's the grocery store diet. Just do it. And then the next week I'm gonna focus, and it starts to build to overall success.
Louise (25:50)
Yeah.
Yeah,
that's definitely the best way to go. There's a very, very small proportion of people who can overhaul their lives and then just keep that going forever. Instead, doing one thing at a time, you know, I always recommend doing one thing per week and then if that went well, then bring in the next one. If it didn't go well, then let's look at why it didn't go well and go about it a different way. And I think what a lot of people don't appreciate
Natalie Tysdal (26:20)
Yeah.
Louise (26:28)
is that even a small change like drinking more water actually requires many shifts throughout your whole day. It might mean, you know, waking up and drinking a glass of water. It might mean getting a water bottle and carrying that around with you all day. It might mean swapping some of your teas or coffees to water or other drinks that you might have. So there's lots of micro changes that might have to happen for you to achieve that one thing of drinking more water.
And that in itself can be challenging. So it's no wonder that people struggle when they decide they're gonna drink more water, get to bed earlier, do five workouts a week. Yeah.
Natalie Tysdal (27:08)
more protein, workout. There's
a lot that we just mentioned that can help you, but can be overwhelming. So give yourself some grace. Do one thing, feel good about it and build on it to a better life. Louise, thank you so much. Some great tips today. I love your approach, your overall health approach. And I know you're, helping a lot of people and I just appreciate your expertise and time.
Louise (27:12)
Yeah, definitely. Yes.
Definitely.
thank you so much for having me. It's been great chatting with you.
Natalie Tysdal (27:33)
I'll put links in the show notes for anyone who would like to get in touch with you and follow you. And we'll hopefully talk again soon.
Louise (27:41)
Awesome. Thanks so much.
