52- Navigating PCOS: Break the Diet Cycle for Women 35+

In this episode of MilesFromHerView, powered by KatFit Strength, host Kat interviews Liz Schonthal, a registered dietitian specializing in PCOS, prenatal perinatal nutrition, and disordered eating. Liz shares her insights into PCOS, its symptoms, diagnosis, and common misconceptions. The conversation delves into how nutrition can play a pivotal role in managing PCOS and the importance of intuitive eating. They discuss the impacts of diet culture, the necessity of sustainable nutrition practices, and the role of social and emotional well-being in overall health.

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lizschonthal@gmail.com

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00:00 Welcome to MilesFromHerView

00:48 Meet Liz Schonthal: Expert in Nutrition

02:07 Understanding PCOS: Symptoms and Diagnosis

06:19 Debunking Nutrition Myths for PCOS

10:24 The Importance of Sustainable Health Practices

19:30 Challenges and Misconceptions in PCOS Management

23:42 The Diet Cycle and PCOS

24:34 Rethinking Food Choices

26:36 Embracing Flexibility in Eating

27:56 The Role of Social Connections

32:48 Understanding Processed Foods

38:25 Finding the Right Support

40:00 Conclusion and Contact Information

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Transcript

Kat: 0:00

Welcome to MilesFromHerView, the podcast powered by KatFit Strength, where busy women like you find practical solutions to fuel your fitness journey with authenticity and resilience. I'm Kat, your host, a mom of two active boys, a business owner, and an ultra marathon runner and a strength trainer in her forties with nearly two decades of experience. I'm here to help you cut through the noise of fads, hacks, and quick fixes. This is a space where we celebrate womanhood and motherhood. All while building strength and resilience and reconnecting with you from a place of self-compassion and worthiness. Whether you're lacing up your running shoes to go out for a run, driving your kids to practice or squeezing in a moment for yourself, I'm right here in the trenches with you. Let's dive in. Liz Schonthal is a registered dietician with over 10 years of experience specializing in PCOS, prenatal perinatal nutrition, and disordered eating. As the founder of your nutrition partner LLC, Liz has spent the f the past five years helping clients cultivate healthier relationships with food using intuitive eating principles. She combines her extensive nutrition knowledge with compassionate client-centered approach to foster lasting change. Liz earned her master's degree in nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and has built a strong foundation in evidence-based practices throughout her career. Her passion for supporting individuals through their unique nutritional journeys drives her commitment to creating a safe and non nonjudgmental environment for her clients. Liz enjoys spending our time with her husband and 8-year-old daughter outside of our practice in Westchester. Welcome. I'm so excited to have you here today. How are you?

Liz: 1:51

I'm good. Thanks Kat. I'm happy to be here today.

Kat: 1:54

We have, a lot to talk about and, I love. I love your evidence-based practice and providing that compassion, especially surrounding nutrition and women's health and nutrition. Today we're gonna be primarily talking about PCOS and what it is, what it is not, to provide that knowledge and education backed understanding from an expert. So. Let's just dive in. Let's start with what is PCOS?

Liz: 2:26

So, PCOS is polycystic ovarian syndrome. It is. It can sometimes be like this umbrella condition. So not everybody with PCOS has the same symptoms. One of the reasons why it can be confusing. So normally you're gonna have, there's some potential criteria. You need to have several of these in order to get diagnosed. Like a lot of this, there's gonna be some, some nuance with it. And I've had a lot of clients. Who had one doctor say that they think they don't have it. Other ones think they do. So a lot of times, you know, there is criteria, but again, people get, get missed mixed messages. Usually it's gonna be, not ovulating or having regular cycles. I think it's about eight, eight or less a year would be kind of official count. It's going to be having some markers of higher androgens like testosterone. This can also manifest in, in signs and symptoms on your body, so that might be. Acne hair growth on like your face or chest thinning hair on your head. Also there could be with an ultrasound to see what's actually going on on the ovary. So it's, again, it's kind of a misnomer. Polycystic ovarian syndrome, when really it's follicles is the actual actually what's going on on the ovary. And you'd kind of would, it would look like a string of pearls. So a bunch of immature follicles that aren't maturing enough to develop to ovulate. And you can sometimes see that on, on the ovary, when you're looking at the ultrasound you're also going to see sometimes some meta it can manifest with some metabolic symptoms. So that being like elevated in insulin blood sugar, sometimes that could also mean blood pressure, cholesterol. These things can kind of also be present. That's not usually enough to diagnose on its own, but it's something that. People would be on the lookout for too.

Kat: 4:32

Does PCOS, is it one of those things where you're born with it or can it develop later in life?

Liz: 4:41

Like so many conditions that happen in female born populations, it is under researched underfunded so kind of, this is sort of like the best. We got with more room to learn more. So kind of what's best understood is that it's a condition that you are born with. That, or that could be kind of turned on some kind of something happens environmentally or whatever that could cause it to like show up. But it can run in families. A lot of times that when you go back a generation or two, then no, nobody knows what this is. It's was not really diagnosed. It didn't mean it didn't exist. It's been around forever. But it just wasn't diagnosed. It didn't, like, it didn't, it wasn't showing up Even now. It shows up in about ballpark eight to 12. 14% of the female born population potentially have PCOS, but it's still a, a lot of people don't even know what it is. But it's relatively common. So yes, it can believe to be something that people are born with, but symptoms wouldn't show up till puberty until cycles are gonna start. Is kind of how it, it goes for a lot of people.

Kat: 6:01

that makes sense. And the one thing I wanna highlight there is. A lot of funding for females are so it's underfunded we're learning still so much about women's health because it has historically been underfunded and historically women have not been included in trials or studies. Looking in the frame of nutrition, I, I, I tend to hear clients like, oh, I've been told I need to avoid all carbs. I need to avoid all this. I need to only intermittent fast. I need to do an insert whatever here. I'm gonna issue this with a disclaimer. Everything on this podcast is here to educate and inform, and if you, if something resonates with you, have a conversation with Liz and her information will be at the end and in the show notes or contact your own doctor or speak with your own registered dietician. Is there validity to avoiding certain foods or is there a certain way? And again, this is generalization because as you have already pointed out, it is unique to each individual. And, and even in general, I'll say with strength training and nutrition, it is unique to each individual. So that's nothing new with just PCOS, but are there certain things that you see

Liz: 7:13

So at the, the root of PCOS, what's kind of driving a lot of symptoms that people are experiencing. Is, is believed to be that those elevated androgens, so that would be like the elevated male hormones or and or insulin resistance. So again, there's ballpark park numbers of, of how much people think ins they have insulin resistance as part of this. So like in theory kind of tr from a nutrition standpoint, it's like how can we. Treat the insulin resistance and these can kind of play off of each other. Like if we could insulin resistance improved, then we can kind of drive down some of those hormones that might be kind of showing up in people. However. The, like, everyone's situation is different and depending on where someone's coming from. So like in a nutrition appointment, no matter who it is, just gathering information before I'm making re recommendations because when I'm looking for, for everyone I, I talk to, even if, when I talk to them on the phone, they're like, my problem is I'm eating too much. I'm binging. I'm starting from is are you eating enough that that is often, I mean, sometimes that's where people are, are wondering, but a lot of times, especially with PCOS, that's not on the radar, but that's where I start from. Are we eating enough? Are we eating regularly? Are we having a good amount of variety? So it's really basic. Before even getting into specific types of food, combinations of food, carbohydrates, all the things, it's like, are we eating enough? And then when we get into the regularity, it's like timing, part of the timing of the day and, and getting into variety. And I think this is really important because where people, unfortunately, when there is a lack of research, then there becomes a vacuum of information out in the wild being. Social media and the internet. So we, so then there, there is information out there. People start Googling or going TikTok. There's there, there's people who are gonna say, I have the answers for you. You just do this, this worked for me, so you should do this too. Which is kind of a red flag unfortunately. It's like, you know, and, and maybe it did work for that person, but it doesn't mean it's like gonna work for every other individual. So I don't even remember what your question was. You, you answered it. Yeah. It was like more about like the whole, strict low car, no car keto that like what is all that, And it is, you know, you hit the nail of the head. I mean, when you, there becomes that vacuum of information because people want a solution. And it's not that there aren't, but I find it's, you have to. Understand you, and also to your earlier point is, are you eating enough? Sometimes we do feel like we're eating enough and maybe we are, but it's stacked on the evening and not in the morning. Mm-hmm. And that leads to that uncontrollable urge to eat everything. Yes. And things that maybe you knew you just didn't want to eat, but because you were so hungry, you ate. what works for you and having an expert that understands that what works for one person or even themselves is not the one size fits all that will work for every person because that it doesn't work like that at all, so, mm-hmm. That's why I know I cringe, in the fitness side of it when I see do this one workout is the absolutism for stopping this. Please run from that. That is a huge red flag because there is no one specific workout that is going to do it all.'cause it just, it just doesn't work like that. Yep. I could speak more to like the carbohydrates too. Yeah. Because I think that was your actual question. Or people get told with PCOS go low carb or go keto. And a lot of times that is coming from even medical professionals, from doctors. I think the thing to keep in mind is. Again, there's, there's things aren't black and white and there is some nuance to this. So sometimes the people, people will often say, well, this really worked for me. Like I, whenever I've done low carb, it's been the only thing that's worked for me. And so when I kind of play that back to people, it's like, well, okay, so what do you mean by worked? Because, okay, so that might mean weight loss symptoms improved. It might've helped with fertility. It might've like actually done all of the things, address the problems. But it's like, well then I will ask then why did you stop doing it? And that's the key, is that sustainable long-term like nuance is so much. More important than something that's going to be short term, but ultimately unsustainable. And that's what can happen with low carb diets. I feel like it would be very rare to have someone who can follow a low carb or keto diet forever without disordered eating like, and that that could be that.'cause for most people, I think the normal response to that is binging. Like. Is is when you are, you know, either holidays, birthdays, vacation or, or sometimes it's just like a stressful day. I'm just gonna have one bite and one bite of something. With carbohydrates. Can feel like you've ruined your diet and can be like, well, I'm going to. Eat all of the sugar, then get it outta the house and then start over Monday, which kind of promotes that diet, cycling that back and forth and back and forth, which even if you have lost weight following this low carb diet, when you lose weight, you don't just lose fat, you lose a lot of muscle. And when you regain weight, a lot of times you regain it as fat. So it ends up working against people. With their long-term goals. And that can really be really frustrating for people. So if we take a slower approach, we can kind of avoid some of those problems that can happen with that back and forth of diet cycling.

Kat: 13:38

Yeah. And I like what you said there it is. It's, you know, why did you stop if it worked before, why did you stop? And I think that is a question, we don't often think about. You know, if it did work, it should be sustainable. it should, you know, and I always press upon like the, the whole goal of building strength or changing that body composition isn't to constantly be in the state of change, but to get us to a point where we are maintaining that we can maintain our routine. There's gonna be some flexibility because we need flexibility in life. I talk with my clients a lot about is we need to be able to. Not never miss a workout, but be able to adapt our workouts and our plans with life without feeling this. Now I have to get back on the wagon again. Now I have to get back on the the track again. It's no on or off. It's let's adapt because if we're sustaining this for a lifetime, we need to work with ourselves. And I like how. Your ideologies around this, on how decoding it for the individual of breaking that diet cycle. Something that I think we fall into, whether we are aware or unaware, or we maybe were aware at one point and then we just routinely do it because we've become unaware of, okay, I can white knuckle it for a little bit here and then holidays, pop up, vacations, and then it's. This guilt and shame and now I have to white knuckle it again to get back to where I wanted to go. And another point you said, and I think this is something that isn't talked about enough, is when you lose weight, it does not discern against muscle or fact. It is just an overall weight, weight loss. And it is very critical. And yes, it is critical for women. After the age of 30 and we lose three to 8% of muscle mass. And then when we get into our forties and we're in that perimenopause flex, I'm gonna call it to menopause, our muscle mass loss is accelerated and if you are under muscle, but yeah, you might be at a healthy BMI or a healthy weight. That isn't going to be healthy for you. You become frail and that's not good. Or if someone is in that weight loss area and they lose weight, but they're losing more muscle, they're not having that component of strength training on the other side. It. It could be really bad, you know, for them, they could be setting themselves up inadvertently still for some metabolic syndrome despite, creating some change. So, I don't know if you also see that, but like, that's one thing I'm like, guys, let's, we don't, you don't have to do it all at the same time. Mm-hmm. But start to work in where it feels good for you.

Liz: 17:50

Right. I feel like I talk a lot with people about. What does a lot of times if we're, we're trying to work on workout, exercise, or nutrition, that they're trying to be healthy. And so if we think about what does health mean? Like a lot of times, unfortunately, it's very much overlapped with, with weight. It's like, you know, if you lose weight by any means necessary, that's good and that's healthy. But it's so much more complex than that. There's other components of health besides. Calories in, calories out or exercise. And, stress. Everybody's busy, especially like in that frame of life, working kids, family, everything. People are stressed. We need to think about what can we do that feels sustainable and working with your limited time and family and. Also getting enough sleep because these are things that drive blood sugar. It's like if we're not getting enough sleep, if we're feeling really stressed, these things are gonna work against you metabolically too. So I kind of feel like when I work with people, it's also talking about how do we work on those obstacles to life, like and some of those might even be like how important it is if you are the primary cook. To try to make meals that work for your whole family too. Instead of doing, if you go super low carb keto, a lot of times that means you're making something different for you and then the kids, and then the kids don't like all the things, so you gotta do different things for different kids and it's absolutely exhausting. So it's like, where can we, for the most part, make life easier for you? Also as a, I'm just gonna say a mom, that might not be everybody listening, but a lot of times it is. It's like, how can we. Take some of some things off your plate and that might not be, you know, so there's value for your health in not stressing yourself out by doing something that's taking up all so much of your time too.

Kat: 19:46

I love what you all that, what that you said there I think sleep. Is not talked about enough as to how valuable it is for hormones, blood sugar regulation, stress mitigation, lowering the cortisol, but we have that same principle of looking at the whole client looking at, okay, everybody has 24 hours in a day, but everybody's 24 hours is totally different. But what can we do to mitigate the stress and allow you to have that change knowing you are not the only person you're caring for? And that is huge. See a change that doesn't have to be restrictive or preventing yourself from living and fully enjoying who you are, who you wanna be, and what you wanna be involved with. So, yes, definitely. Yeah. PCOS there's still so much more that we need to understand with it.

Liz: 20:43

Not everybody with PCOS is in a larger body, but a lot of times they are, especially if they're running into challenges with healthcare, with medical providers or, or why they're prob not, again, not everybody, but if they're seeking help with nutrition, a lot of times that is the case. So. Given that a lot of times there people have had challenging experiences in that space and a big one being that they're not believed.'cause I feel like, especially with PCOS, when you have these hormones that can promote weight gain, so insulin levels are often high with people with PCOS. So that can, that's a storage hormone. So when you do eat that kind of can make your body hold on to more weight. And like the testosterone can kind of play off of that as well. So there are, there are people out there who are eating very restrictive diets and over exercising who are in larger bodies and that a lot of times that is just not understood or believed and that's very, very frustrating. So anyway. Whereas a kind of a good starting off point, like if somebody's kind of eating, regularly eating, then, then it's, then I think thinking about that's where the balancing the carbohydrates along with protein, which is not gonna affect blood sugar as much, and foods with higher fiber. So those could be carbohydrates that are higher fiber. That's where getting your fruits and vegetables in can be important, but, but if somebody's like not eating. Or has been like on like one diet after another. I'm not gonna start and say like protein and and vegetables because that just is going to immediately turn into another diet. And that's kind of not the point. So that's where it's like, again, I'm just tons of, tons of nuance, but, but there can be, it's like, okay, like it might even be a matter of how could we shift things around on your plate. A big thing I talk to talk about with people I. Is, and this is where intuitive eating, which I mentioned in my bio, it comes into play. But learning to feel, learning to see, to read your own cues about what your body's telling you. Now, the term intuitive eating is, is more than just eating when you're hungry, stuffing when you're full. There's a lot more to it than that. But a lot of people are disconnected from hunger cues and fullness cues. Or, and that is, is really kind of a result of dieting because when you're dieting, even though we don't, dieting is not a popular word anymore. We know we do like, it's wellness culture. It's like cleanses. It's whatevers. It's, but let's just, it's gonna call it what it is. It's, it's a diet. If somebody's kind of saying like, this is. What you should eat in this way, then it's, you know, that's gonna be a diet. So if you're, when you do that then you're, you're, it doesn't matter if you're hungry, if you're full, if you've burned through all your points, or if you have a ton left over then you know you're supposed to disregard what your body's telling you and follow the plan. Because if you don't lose weight. When you follow someone else's plan, a lot of times it gets thrown back on you for not doing it right. The problem's not the plan. The problem is you, the individual who didn't do it right, and this is one of the many, many problems with the diet industry, it's designed to be impossible. I mean. Numbers are somewhere about like 95% or so of diets don't work. And by work means if some, if, if a diet worked, people would just follow it and ride off into the sunset, and that would be the end of that. But they don't, it's like, did it work? I need to start back again on the same one or need to try another one, kind of following this diet cycle. There's a predictable pattern to it. And it can be exciting at first. Ooh, this is gonna be different this time. And then it's like. Something happens and ooh, I got thrown off. And then it goes into the like, oh shoot. Can't do it. And then everything off.'cause you know, anticipating, eventually you're anticipating that restriction again of like the sugar, the, all these bad foods, they're gonna be going away. So I gotta get'em in now because I'm gonna be starting again next. So that. A lot of times with people with PCOS, they're kind of been on the diet cycle for a long time. So, yeah. Again, I lost, I lost the question, but, but I don't start with just like specific foods. But again,'cause that's gonna, especially people are doing a lot of diet, are gonna, dieting are gonna latch on like, cool, I got it. Like, and that's what they want. Like just tell, just tell me what to eat. Just tell me what to do. I'm really good at that. And it's like, I know, but that's why. It's worth it to try something else because it hasn't really worked long term.

Kat: 25:46

Yeah, I agree with everything you said there. It definitely pertains to PCOS and to everybody who may not have PCOS It's the same thing with all these different workout plans out there. Mm-hmm. And these 21 day challenges, six week, eight week, it's designed that way because it's moving the goal poles further and further. Where as I describe it to my clients is, being curious about yourself

Liz: 26:10

yeah. Yeah. Sounds like I'll break it down to people.'cause it, it's very, in this space, it's very easy to have like black or white thinking and perfectionism thoughts. But it's like, if we think about for, for food, if we think about meals even in a week. Three meals a day, seven days a week, 20 we've got 21 meal opportunities in a week. We could go, you know, break, keep going from there. So it's like one meal, like, like one week. Like none of it, like in the long term it all comes out in the wash. That's where like getting trends that work for you. Long term matter so much.'cause people will. I'll flip it on people sometimes who will be like, I'm doing, I'm bringing my salad with chicken on at lunch, which is like the diet or lunch. if you like it, you know, a lot of times, we'll, like, let's throw a carbohydrate with that too. I know you love your salad and there's nothing wrong with it, but sometimes it's like leaves you, gets you hungry in a couple hours. But if we go, if we're doing like eating perfectly. For a whole month. And then we have a, something that would kind of be seen as like a, an unhealthy meal. It doesn't undo the whole month.'cause it, if we flip it the other way, it's like if you had pizza, like three meals a day for the entire month and then you want one meal of like salad with chicken on it, that doesn't like make it go like, okay, we've just like undid all of that for the, it doesn't, that sounds ridiculous to people who are like, you know, again, these are really invested in wanting to be healthy. So it's like, how could that possibly make sense that one night of pizza on undoes, on undo all the things in one month, you know? And yeah.

Kat: 27:51

It's so true. If it matter, it's not that every effort doesn't matter, but if your plan had to be so meticulously executed. No one would receive results. And that's not part of living. I mean, you would have to be in a controlled area. And that's, that's not life. So it's meant to learn how to be adaptable and, it's showing up and doing the consistent things, the good basics. Mm-hmm. I'm like the boring basics, like yes, that is where it's at. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Like there are some controllable and uncontrollable. So we have to look at the controllable factors and, if we're, strength training and moving our body and doing the mobility and having those good social emotional connections, more times than not, that is going to, be a lot better. And it allows for, I don't wanna say that's a bad choice. You're able to. Hopefully not mentally sweat over. Oh, I decided to have a donut on Saturdays mornings breakfast. Mm-hmm. Like, you know, it's just, it's okay to do these things. Mm-hmm. But we need to have that good base. And I love that example that you said, like, if you had pizza three times a day for whole month and then one salad it, that's not gonna, that's not gonna cancel all out.

Liz: 29:07

Yeah. Yeah, and I mean, I really feel like making all foods fit is really important for that long-term sustainability. I also try to, and it's hard'cause you're really going upstream as far as like messaging out there, but trying to be as like neutral as possible with food and really thinking about how all food can fit. Protein's not like the best food and like carbohydrates are the, you know, trying to make your life miserable foods. We need to have like one of the like, there's, there's room for everything and a lot of times when, and this is intuitive eating principle, but like allowing yourself the possibility. It's always a possibility at first as someone who's not considered it, but the idea of eating like whatever you want, whenever you want, like for someone who's done a lot of dieting that just does not like, well then I would just only eat cookies and ice cream and I wouldn't eat. Any salads, I would just go crazy. But when you kind of learn to, to notice how your body feels, like how, beyond just hunger fullness, but how do you feel And sometimes giving yourself that permission and have an have a lot interesting reaction for people. There's that push pull of. This is going to be going away. Like it doesn't matter if I don't want to eat the cookies and ice cream, but Monday they're gonna be gone. I don't know when they're gonna come back. So I've gotta eat them now even though I'm full. Like that's happens a lot. But if we're just like, I can have a cookie, I'm an adult, I can go buy cookies or make cookies whenever I want to, like any time. A lot of times when you start to like truly embrace that. You can kind of check in and be like, what sounds, what would feel good in my body? And sometimes that is a cookie. Sometimes it's like, yep, that was it. That was perfect. It was delicious. It was awesome. It might also be like, well, I haven't eaten anything else, but so maybe if I have my lunch and then have a cookie afterwards, that might feel better than just a cookie on an empty stomach might make you feel not great. There's that potential too. So, but trying to be really neutral about it. It's like, you know, you might eat, we just like really embraced it. Like you just eat whatever you want to for, you might have several days of like only sweets, only french fries, only all these things. But usually it can be like, okay, actually, I liked that salad I was making for lunch and I kind of miss having those vegetables.

Kat: 31:42

Yeah. To me, establishing trust with yourself, knowing that yes, you are capable. Mm-hmm. And I think that is definitely the number one thing that diet culture takes away. It takes away mm-hmm. Your authority on your body that mm-hmm. Sense of I can control myself, when they start to articulate and get more in touch and are curious about themselves and wake up a little bit more of like, yeah, no, actually I really do enjoy eating vegetables or I really, mm-hmm. Despise eating salad and chicken for lunch. I actually really enjoy and I'm like, mm-hmm. Good. Or like, you know, it's like those things that you find with yourself and you, I'm like, food is meant to, you are meant to enjoy it. You're meant to enjoy Yes. Living on this earth and moving your body and eating and socializing. Let's bring the it. Let's bring that autonomy back to yourself. So. So you enjoy it. I think it is just a huge, huge piece and that's I love the way you practice and help individuals articulate that for themselves and switching the messaging and it's, it's simple, but it's not easy. It is, these are hard things and mm-hmm. They are simple in understanding hard. Mm-hmm. To employ and yes, even myself, I have to catch myself mm-hmm. I enjoy all foods this past Saturday, we went out for coffee and a treat, and this one bakery makes the best chocolate chip cookies. And it was right around lunchtime and I'm like hungry. It was like a celebratory thing and like mm-hmm. Did it ruin my lunch? No, I still ate a healthy lunch. Mm-hmm. I just inverted having the cookie mm-hmm. Before lunch. And it was really, my mind, my first thing was like, well, you shouldn't really do that. You should really, go home, like save it for after your lunch. And I'm like, no, no, no. This is part of the social emotional balance. I'm having a great time. I'm here with my husband, my, my boys. We're enjoying and. I know I'm going to eat more nutrient dense foods. My body's not gonna say, well, you ate a cookie, so we're canceling out, your lunch of this. Right? No, it's like it, your body only knows kind of the checks and balances of what's going in. It doesn't discern, or the order or the ti. It's like, we just want the nutrients, so.

Liz: 33:56

Mm-hmm. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think that that's really important too, is like that. When people are following strict diets, it, it takes them out of those potential. Those like social connections, whether it's your family at dinner or going out to celebr, going out to celebrate or feeling stress around. I'm supposed to go out to dinner with for somebody's birthday, but I don't know if there's anything I can eat there. Or there's a party I'm supposed to go to, but I don't know, Maybe I, maybe I won't go because I'm afraid that I'm gonna be tempted by all the things there. I mean, we know for sure, you know, there is research that's like having, those social connections really, really matter. And so if you feel like you can't, and part of being human is, is connecting over, over food. So if you're taking yourself out of that, it's not without, potential risk. So it's just something people don't always consider.'cause it feels like the most, the most emphasis is on, like you eat perfectly, exercise as much as possible, then that's the best thing you can do for your health. It doesn't matter if it impacts sleep or like you're not interacting with people or you're making five meals, or you're all really stressed about. Making the food as the, without being, like, there's been a lot of talk and research about ultra processed foods, and it's like not, just we're already having people so squeezed for time, and then it's like, now you're supposed to be like getting, everything without, it's not prepackaged and it's just, it's just, it's a lot

Kat: 35:33

Yeah. For people trying to do Oh, yeah. It can feel so overwhelming. I wish it was getting better sometimes. And I feel like it gets worse and it gets even more overwhelming and, you know, but it, this is why it's so important and that's why I am like, I love what you do and, and how you work with clients and returning that humanistic side to it and that self-compassion and you know, to your point, life is really busy and there are certain times where we do need to have ultra processed foods in our diet Yes. And processed foods. Mm-hmm. And I always say, I'm like a processed food, is any processed from the time it is from, its like original aspect to the time. Mm-hmm. It gets to your plate and it's what creates. Something more process is the more steps it gets there. Mm-hmm. So you can, pluck a carrot from the ground. That's one process. Wash it as another process. Mm-hmm. Peel it as another process. Slices it as another process. And yeah, you can make the argument, well that's gonna be nutrient, more nutrient dense then. I think if canned carrots, well, if you don't have the ability to grow your own carrots. But you have the ability to buy canned carrots. Well, you know what, it's almost negligible. And they've, they've done so many studies on, frozen versus canned versus mm-hmm. Like all of different stuff. And at the end of the day, I'd rather see clients getting, you know mm-hmm. The foods that they can, that are affordable and, working with individuals like yourself who understand the complexity sometimes of. Just being a human and bringing that

37:03

back

Kat: 37:04

to them because it's,

37:05

it's

Liz: 37:05

huge. Life is hard now. It's interesting with Right, exactly. The ultra process stuff, I think it's in, it's interesting. I think it all falls apart when it's like, especially if people are interested in health and then it's like, I mean, a, a protein shakes are super ultra process. But it's like, also, it's one of these like often promoted things.

37:23

Yes. To

Liz: 37:23

get in. It's like how, like, what is this food that, I mean we, you know, there's, there's a label, but it's like, it just foods get health halos too, where it's like, that's different. That's acceptable. And that's why the term, I know we're off a little tangent about ultra process food, but it's, but it's out there and it's something people are aware of, especially people who are trying to be healthy and it's, it's on people's radar, but it's like. Thinking about that term, it's not really telling you the whole story for it, it's just not getting all out. It doesn't, yeah.

Kat: 37:54

I know it's a tangent, but it is a good one to have because. You know, individuals who are promoting a very healthy, clean, Right. Lifestyle nutrient dense. Oftentimes it is promoting some sort of powder smoothie, mm-hmm. Et cetera, that is ultra processed. Even though it's this green and purple juice. It is so powdered down and so far removed from the substance that mm-hmm it is better for you. Just to have a handful of carrots or yeah. Even have, I'm gonna say, I'm gonna throw it out there. Even have a Big Mac. I mean, like, there, like, when there's even, you know, research, it shows it certain, ultra process protein shakes are not as healthy for you. And it's not just because of all the sugars in there, but it's so far stripped down that it's not mm-hmm. Providing you with the resources that it, it says it is. But that is definitely a whole other topic. I mean, it is, it is one that I kind of get. Fired up about where I, I feel and what I tell my clients. Like sometimes the best thing to do is not get sucked into the void of mm-hmm. All the information out there. It is very easy to scroll and see the little 32nd bits, but really research and, work with professionals that are well-informed evidence, based science backed mm-hmm. Information that has been out there, that has been proven multiple times over and over and, not selling a product other than, helping create that curiosity and discover in a better relationship with yourself and mm-hmm. That is, that's huge to me. So, yeah. Right. Yeah, where can everybody find you? And it will be posted in the show notes, so you can use it now, but it, it's, it'll be in the show notes.

Liz: 39:46

My website is probably best. I don't really kind of keep up with social media these days. So yeah, my website there's a, you can contact me through that. Yeah, and you'll give my email phone number. People can call that way too, but Yeah. Not. Currently really on social media. So yeah, kind of bo a little bit boring, but that's that's it. But it's for providers too. Like if you find a provider that you do like of any kind, it's helpful to find. I mean this might be make be common sense, but you can always ask for recommendations. You don't have to stick with the doctor just'cause you always have. It's a pain I know to switch, but sometimes you might find like, you know, if you. So a therapist, they might know people too. So if you and it, it is because PCOS does cross specialties, it can be tricky, but if you find like somebody that you're working with, then ch chances are they might be able to find somebody else. I feel like that's what I, I do a lot of times too when I work with people, it's like, how can I connect the dots with them too? Get other providers that that can work better with them.

Kat: 40:50

Which is huge. as we've already stated, I mean, women's health is so under. Under, I undervalued. I do the same. I help try and connect the dots for my clients because it is extremely frustrating to be misunderstood, not heard or seen or taken seriously with things that are going on. Mm-hmm. So, yeah. This is awesome. Like I said, I will have Liz's information in the show notes. Definitely reach out to her if you have questions about this episode, message the podcast, and I will pass'em on to Liz. Thank you so much for coming on, Liz. You're welcome. Thanks for having me. Thank you for tuning in to MilesFromHerView, powered by KatFit Strength. If this podcast inspires you, don't keep it for yourself. Hit follow or subscribe to stay updated on the new episodes, and leave us a review to help more women and moms discover this space. Your feedback fuels this podcast and I'd love to hear what's working for you or what topics you want to dive into Next. You can connect with me on Instagram at KatFit Strength, or share this episode. With a friend who is ready to embrace her strength. Remember, fitness isn't about perfection. It's about showing up for yourself and finding strength in every step of your journey. Until next time, keep moving forward one mile at a time.