Transcript
Speaker: Welcome to What's My Age Again, the realest podcast for women who are done chasing trends and ready to feel empowered. Hi, I'm Kim. And I'm Tanya, holistic nutritionists and childhood best friends who've been there, done that, and bought the collagen.
Speaker: more than once. Each week we provide actionable steps that you can start today to help you thrive through every decade to come. We're cutting through the wellness noise to bring you honest conversations about aging, hormones, health, beauty, mindset, and everything in between.
Speaker: You see, we're also on a mission to age gracefully, one WTF moment at a time. Backed by research and real life, we're here to share what actually works, what's a waste of time, and how to truly thrive through the messy, magical midlife transition.
Speaker: We're so happy you're here. Let's dive in. Hey everybody, welcome back to What's My Age again. Kim, how's it going? I'm good, Tanya. Hi, everyone. Welcome back. um I'm good. I'm, as always, excited about this ah episode, excited to talk to you today.
Speaker: Me too, because this has been a supplement in my mind that I literally have just like ignored. I ignored this supplement, I feel, for a decade. I was like, doesn't exist in my universe. Not for me. Because this supplement, and I swear, even if I talk to certain people about it now, my husband, I said, oh yeah, we're going to do, spoiler alert, here it is, we're going to do an episode on creatine.
Speaker: And he just kind of looked at me, he's like, on the podcast that you record normally, like for women, what's my age again? And I was like, correct, because it's like that bro, that gym bro supplement. So I literally just put it in a box and I did ignored it for like a decade until I didn't. Right. And I think that there's so much emerging research coming out around creatine and women.
Speaker: How could we not talk about this today? Yeah. And well, you guys listening know this because you messaged us. And as soon as we had that collagen episode, we got all the questions. Okay. thanks about Thanks for the information about collagen. But what about creatine?
Speaker: What about creatine? That was like the top question. So you guys are already aware. Some of you are probably already using it. And so we wanted to dive into it today for those of you who are thinking about it and want to learn more.
Speaker: And maybe for those of you are actually taking it because you heard it's good, but you're not sure why you're taking it, right? This is, again, getting to the core, the cut through the noise episode because there's so much out there about creatine. So we want to talk about what the heck it is, what it can do, who it can be for, and ways that you can actually intentionally use it um as a woman in their stage of life, you know?
Speaker: Absolutely, Tanya. Okay, let's dive in because tons of information today. So Tanya, let's start with what is creatine? Yeah, that's a good one because I, you know, a couple years ago when I started doing this research, I was like, I don't even know what this is because I black boxed it, right? So creatine is just a naturally occurring occurring compound.
Speaker: in the body that we store mainly in our muscles and in our brain. And it does have a lot of jobs, which we will kind of get into when we talk about why it matters, but it definitely um works with our ATP, the way we produce energy. um It's found in small amounts, unfortunately, in meat and in fish. So you're kind of out of luck. It's a little bit difficult on a vegetarian and a vegan diet. And here's a fun fact about creatine. Women, even though, you know, I totally called it a Jimbrose supplement, not just me though. Come on, you, everybody, you know. thought about greek yeah
Speaker: Yeah. um Women actually tend to have creatine. natural stores than men. So that's wild to me because, sorry, I'm going to go out and I'm going to say it.
Speaker: This has been classically a supplement that has been marketed to the gym and to men, right? Absolutely. It's ah heavily marketed to men. And what we're going to dive into today is why it's so important and can be really supportive and matter during perimenopause and ah perimenopause and menopause.
Speaker: Right, because we know during perimenopause and menopause, what is happening? Lots, lots is happening, Tanya. is what everybody well One of the main things that is happening is that hormones, in this case, estrogen are declining. And here's the fun facts about that. um Declining estrogen, you know, impacts more than just sexual health. It impacts our muscle mass, our bone density, our brain function, our metabolism, and our energy. And all of us are nodding and being like, yeah, tell me something. I don't know because a lot of us are feeling changes in these areas. But here's the thing about creatine.
Speaker: Before we go into it, I know, Kim, we always say this. It's not a magic fit. I mean, it's not a magic fix.
Speaker: but it's a tool, as you say last time with the collagen, in your toolkit. Absolutely. It is, and it can be very supportive, and we're going to get into this, but I love that, Tanya. I love that you're starting with that because, as always, ladies, we have to go back to the foundations, our diet, our movement, our sleep. Those are the most important, but creatine can be something that if you haven't considered before, it's something to take a look at.
Speaker: For sure, because this is a supplement that has been mis-marketed up until, you know, very recently. And now, unfortunately, the pendulum's kind of gone the whole other way. And we're like, whoa, this is way too much information. What is true? What the heck is going on here? But creatine is something that can actually support all of these multiple symptoms. You know, what but what I just listed, the muscle, bone, brain, all of this stuff.
Speaker: at once. So it's definitely worth diving into and looking at one of our favorite things, maybe calling them the big benefits or the pillars of creatine, you know, as it relates to women's health.
Speaker: Absolutely. Well, number one would be helping support muscles, strength. um As you mentioned, Tanya, that loss of estrogen that we experienced during perimenopause,
Speaker: equals and leads to faster muscle loss in less. And so that's why in so many podcasts, and I'm sure you ladies that are listening or men, I'm sure you people who are listening are are thinking, you know, we're all told to focus on strength training exercises to really focus on building that muscle because as we age, as we lose estrogen, it leads to faster muscle loss, you know, and muscle, we know,
Speaker: leads to longevity, independence, being able to have those functional movements, getting up off the ground, metabolic health, you know, as we age.
Speaker: For sure. And I'll be honest with you, I have noticed in myself, and I hate it, um a change in muscle mass. And that's actually probably the number one thing that led me to start to look into creatine. And say, could this be something for me?
Speaker: Like, sometimes I like look at my calves and I'm like, are these mine? So yes, it's just one. Kim, sometimes my arm, I'm not even lying in a certain way when I hold my arm and I look liquor around my elbow. I was like, why does this look like what my dad's arm look like? I don't know what I did.
Speaker: You are focused. I like I know you were doing an upper body the other day and you are focused on muscle building. So that will change. I bet you when you continue and we say this to clients, too, is that you might feel stronger than you did when you were in your 30s if you haven't focused on supporting. you know, building muscle until this point. So. And that's the belief. And that's again, like a big, you know, positive for the creatine, that muscle preservation and strength, because I i believe you and me and you both say we feel better now than we did in our twenties and thirties. So the same can be true with the right tools and the consistency and all of the things, not just the creatine.
Speaker: to get where, you know, we want to be. Because for me, that muscle, like you said, equals all of those things. it equals freedom for me. It equals growing old, living, and not just existing to be able to do what I want to do. So basically, when we are looking at creatine in terms of muscle preservation and strength, it increases your muscles, creatine stores, And it allows you to perform better during exercise, recover faster, and it improves your strength. And here's the big one for me. As I look at my little calves, not little, less muscular calves, it helps build and maintain that lean muscle, right?
Speaker: Absolutely. So creatine and coupled with your resistance training at least three times per week, um it will improve your strength. For sure. Or may improve your strength. Yeah. Another pillar that we can get into, and Tanya, you alluded to this before, is that bone health support.
Speaker: Yeah, that's also a big one too, right? Again, here's the fun part. As estrogen declines, we get that accelerated bone loss. And that's scary, right? And we do the exercises that build bone, even just a couple jumps a day, you know, jumping on the ground, like yeah that you know that impactful, you know, building of the bones, but there is so much more that we need to be doing. And I think that, you know, we've been told like calcium so many decades by our doctors, pop a calcium, drink your milk.
Speaker: No, the thing is, is that muscle and bone are so deeply connected. And unfortunately, when we have muscle loss, there's likely bone loss. The problem is we just can't take a glance. can't glance at my calf bone and be like, oh, there's a little bit of bone loss there. Right. So that's happening silently in the background. But as creatine helps improve your muscle strength, as you said, Kim, while you're resistance training and while you're weight training, just not in its own, it's also stimulating the bones and it actually may support the cells that build up your bones. Like how important is that?
Speaker: So good. Yep, absolutely. Another one that you talked about to Tanya, which again is so important is that brain function and brain fog. There is there's surprising research that creatine actually supports this.
Speaker: Yeah. And that's shocking, eh? Because again, just thinking about it, I've always just thought about it in the past as muscle muscle and body. Yeah. And body and all of that. But like, we talk about it all the time. I'm always like, words, where's my words? We're forgetful.
Speaker: We walk into a room and we're like, why am I here? Do you know how many times a day i open the fridge and I say out loud, I'm like, Tanya, think for a second, refocus. What are you doing in here?
Speaker: And, you know, creatine supports that brain energy, that cognitive processing. And again, mental resilience. That's what it's such a heavy hitter. Again, it's a like we said at the start, it's this tool that like hits on multiple levels for us women, you know?
Speaker: Absolutely. And you mentioned at the beginning that brain that creatine supports our mitochondria, our energy centers, that ATP. And so again, that that also supports brain health, as well as the brain fog piece that you were talking about.
Speaker: Yeah, which brings to the other pillar, the energy like you just brought up and fatigue. Because when we are supporting biology 101, why do I love this? I don't know. I know I keep saying it. The mitochondria, I love the cell parts, the energy powerhouse of the cell with creatine, then we are better able to process and make ATP.
Speaker: And what does that do for us? We have that energy, right? Mm-hmm. which Absolutely. And so for so for for you know for you out there who may have had may have some broken sleep due to perimenopause or suffer from insomnia, creatine can be supportive to help support your energy. And obviously, we're working on our sleep in the background here, absolutely, as well.
Speaker: But you know it can help provide um more energy. Yeah, and not the energy where you're like, give me a Red Bull. I hope that you both aren't like, give me a Red Bull. If you are, ah like no judgment, but maybe definitely take a little bit of a peeky peek into the ingredients and what it might be doing. But like, it's not like that stimulant or like 10 cups of coffee, not that kind of energy.
Speaker: This again is working at that cellular level in the mitochondria, root level magic, different kind of energy. Absolutely. And another pillar, another benefit here is metabolism and body composition.
Speaker: So, you know, as we talked about during perimenopause, our metabolism can slow and this can be because of, you know, the changes in insulin. ah We talked about the domino effect during that perimenopause 101 episode where Tanya, you dove deep into as estrogen declines, it knocks over the other dominoes, including insulin. which is common during prairie menopause.
Speaker: And so creatine, what it can support is, again, muscles, which if you listen to our blood sugar episode, you know, supports um glucose, supports insulin, and increases metabolic activity, you know. And so, again, more muscle, better glucose and insulin uptake, and the metabolism, you know, like helps our metabolism.
Speaker: Yeah, even at rest. And that's the thing. I feel like this is the seller for me when I'm doing my strength training. I mean, there's a lot of things that sell me on strength training, but I'm going to be honest with you.
Speaker: I have a bit more weight gain in like the last eight months and it's frustrating. And I know a lot of you guys can relate to that. We're doing all of the things, but it's these internal shifts. So I remind myself with every thrust of the weights or, you know, those squats or whatever, Tanya, the more muscle you have to fat ratio in your bod,
Speaker: It's going to do work for you later when you're sitting in the backyard in the sun reading a book. What do I mean by that? Exactly like you said, Kim, better metabolism even at rest because muscle is faster metabolically than fat. That's just science. So the more lean muscle you have, the quicker your metabolism is working. And I like to know that things are working for me even when I'm not working. So that is a huge, huge sales thing for me. in terms of, you know, really helping to support my metabolism.
Speaker: Absolutely. And, you know, i think You know, when we talked about at the beginning how creatine was marketed sort of as the gym bro. And there are a couple of myths that, you know, because everybody, as you said, there's lots of talk now, more and more talk about creatine. And one of the sort of myths um that we see is that it causes weight gain. I do get asked that a lot. Will it cause weight gain? I've heard it cause weight gain.
Speaker: So maybe we can speak to that for a second. For sure. I hear that all the time too. And when I started taking it, I was like, oh, good Lord, I already have enough issues with weight gain. Creatine, don't do this to me, girl. Like, don't do this to me. So here's the thing.
Speaker: um I think we're going to bring up something that needs to be talked about as well. A lot of times when we think about creatine or we read about it or we read the package, they talk about a loading period.
Speaker: right? And that simply means literally as it literally as we've talked about loading, you load up on it on higher levels than what your maintenance dosage would be.
Speaker: So from what I've researched and from what I've seen, there can be chances that you will retain some water, you know, from this big change of no creatine to a whole bunch of creatine inside the muscle cells.
Speaker: Well, exactly, Tanya, because creatine draws water into our muscles, right? So when you're loading, it can, you know, we we can, you are, you can increase that muscle size or so that can be what this weight gain is, that temporary full, like, you know, with water getting drawn into the muscle.
Speaker: Yeah. And exactly like you said, it's temporary. It's not fat. It's not permanent weight gain weight gain. And in my experience with myself and clients and from what I've researched, I feel like that's really happening for the people that are actually doing a load.
Speaker: um I never did. a loading period, I just got my creatine and I just started with my maintenance dosage and I just carried on that way. And I think maybe we can touch up a little bit upon that um at the end of the podcast when we talk about how we're using creatine and, you know, with tips on how to use it. But so no, there is no weight gain depending on how you start your, you know, your process. You might have some water retention and it is temporary, right? So no need to worry about that.
Speaker: Totally. And I think we do. let's Let's park loading for a second and talk about it in a second. um Because I totally agree. I want to get back to that one, Tanya. Because I think people probably want to know more. um Okay.
Speaker: Another myth. Again, gym bro thing. It's only for athletes. Yep. Only going to work for like the bodybuilders, the heavy hitters. And I'm like, that's not me. But guess what?
Speaker: Busy moms, women not sleeping well, women that are starting strength training. That was me. Women with brain fog, women without a lot of energy or lulls, it's for you too. It can be beneficial. It can be beneficial for you too, right? And many more women on this list, but that's the short list that comes to mind, right?
Speaker: Absolutely. And think about all the benefits that we just talked about. You know, it's not just for strength training. um And if you have any questions, reach out to your healthcare care practitioner, ask the questions, find out a bit more about it. um Because again, this could be beneficial for you.
Speaker: And here's another scary one that comes up because you never want to take anything lightly. with side effects that you hear and potential issues, right? So there's a lot of noise ah up that out there, I'm sorry, surrounding creatine and the kidneys. The myth being that is it is air quote, hard on your kidneys. So here's the thing.
Speaker: In healthy individuals, the research really does show that creatine is actually very safe, of course, within the recommended doses.
Speaker: hu However, this is why We always say in our you know personal lives, professional lives, and on our podcast, you need to work with your practitioner who knows you, who knows your health, who knows everything about you before you start anything new.
Speaker: And this doesn't differ with creatine. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's similar for somebody who's dosing high in protein. That's also hard on kidneys. So, you know, as Tanya mentioned, somebody who has kidney disease, polycystic kidney disease, creatine is so maybe something you want to avoid, but speak to your healthcare practitioner if you have any questions or concerns about kidneys.
Speaker: A thousand percent. So this is where, can we take the, can we talk about how to use creatine and kind of un-park the whole loading thing and maybe talk about it a little bit here? Yes, I love it. Let's do it. Because I think that's so important. So when we look at creatine, you're going to see probably the one that you see the most is creatine monohydrates. um This is the most researched, it's the most effective, and it's actually very affordable, which is nice in this economy to have an affordable, so unaffordable anything, should we say?
Speaker: Absolutely. And always look for a great brand that you that that um you know tests their products, take a look and make sure you you use ah a great brand.
Speaker: Yeah. Third-party testing so super important. um And there's the dose. Again, generalized, work with your practitioner, but the dose that you're going to see across you know all of these containers is three to five grams daily, right? And here we go.
Speaker: Consistency, consistency, consistency. So studies have shown that it's not a timing. It's not take upon rising or after a workout or before a workout. Just take it um take it in your smoothie, take it, you know, when, when you're done working out, take it in the mornings. um I actually can put mine in water at the start. I was like, makes it a little milky. It's like, you know, is this going to taste suspicious? But honestly it tastes like nothing to me. I put it in water. It tastes like nothing.
Speaker: It's sort of like what we talked about with collagen. It's something that you can just add in there and it won't affect, affect the taste. Absolutely. Yeah. Let's talk about loading for a second, because I know when you mentioned it before, people are probably like okay, tell me more. So loading is where you take a higher dose for a short period of time to load up your creatine stores. And so that could be a dose like 20 grams. And then once you've done your loading period, you back off and you have a maintenance dosage of, say, three to five grams, like Tanya mentioned. Right.
Speaker: Yes. And not necessary. It depends on why. I think we go back to our why, right? What is your why? If you are an athlete and you are bodybuilding and you have a competition on Saturday, you're probably going to want load. If you are Tanya Church, who is like, hi, calf muscles, can you come back? I'm willing to work on you and take time. I don't necessarily want to have water retention and, you know, and side effects. I'm I'm just not going to load. So that really is the difference there. It's more of a timing thing because studies show exactly
Speaker: It's like the sprint versus the marathon. We're all going to get to the finish line. The marathon will just get slower. But the studies show like your creatine, your creatine, the muscles saturation for creatine will equal out whether you load or you don't load. You're just going to get there slower, but the saturation will be the same.
Speaker: Absolutely. So Tanya mentioned, if your goal is to you know, increase your stores quickly, then loading might be the answer for you. But for someone, I, I as well, like you Tanya, when I started taking creatine, I did not load. I started with the maintenance dose of five grams, um,
Speaker: And that's what worked for me as well. I didn't feel the need to do the loading phase. I just did the slow and steady to build up my creatine stores that way. And so again, like Tanya said, it just sort of depends on, you know, you can absolutely look into loading if you wanted to do things quickly. The one thing is that generally those side effects that Tanya were talking about, maybe the bloating, the temporary weight gain, that can be from the loading, adding adding a lot of creatine or and a larger dose at the beginning yeah rather than doing it slow and steady.
Speaker: Yeah. You're literally there's other people as well. Another one that people get is bloating that feeling of bloating that can be that they've loaded. Right. And, and if that's, you know, so again, it's sort of what, what works for you and what works for your goals.
Speaker: Absolutely. So there's, you know, slow and steady if you need to go faster. The only the most important thing is just making sure it's right for you. You have something reputable and you've checked in and worked with your healthcare practitioner because It's for me, after doing all of the research, and before starting this a while back, I think it's especially important for women who are not eating any or a lot of animal protein, which was me when I start to really say like, I'm actually not really replenishing these stores, how am I getting this? And again, then I was noticing the muscle loss, the fatigue, the brain fog, even a plateau
Speaker: in my workouts, right? And I'd like to say I notice a difference in my energy and my brain fog. um My calves, they're still working on it. But like, again, i have no doubt that with my consistency in workouts and this consistent dose of creatine that I'm doing the right thing, right? And I think the other thing that we miss maybe when we were talking about um the myths about, you know, it being hard on the kidneys. No, it's just, you know, if you have issues with kidneys, I think it's also important to talk about interactions with certain medications. That's why you need to talk to your practitioner. And also, if you are pregnant, or if you're breastfeeding, it's a conversation that you need to have so you can make, you know, informed decisions that work for you.
Speaker: Absolutely. And another thing that's really important to consider too is hydration, making sure that you're hydrating um when you're taking creatine supplementation, well, making sure you're hydrating all the time. um And we just kind of back to timing for a second, as you mentioned, Tanya, you can really take it anytime, anytime you want. There is a slight, you know, there's You can suggest that it may enhance muscle uptake if you take it right after your workout. So which means essentially that you might absorb and store more creatine if you take it right after your your workout.
Speaker: But again, what works for you? Do it when it works for you. Yeah. And at the end of the day, it's a tool that It's not the foundation of these issues that we're talking about, you know, that we're experiencing as women.
Speaker: We still need to make sure we are using nourishing food. We are regularly strength training within our means. We're supporting our nervous system. We're getting the sleep. So I just think that it's so important to have this conversation because there's just so much noise out there. about creatine. And it was, you know, something that was really confusing. And I think that it's important to that, perhaps in the show notes, we can kind of link a peer reviewed article from PubMed, talking about creatine and the benefits benefits for females for those who are interested in doing a deeper dive and learning a little bit more after listening to the podcast.
Speaker: Absolutely. Absolutely. And this, again, this was just sort an education. It came from you guys. You guys asked the question. We got so much um requests for this topic. So just wanted to kind of, as as Tanya said, educate you, give you some things to think about and questions to ask your practitioner. And, you know, maybe this is something that you feel you can incorporate into your lifestyle. Yeah.
Speaker: For sure. And I also think in closing as well, I think, I'm sorry, I talked a lot about perimenopause and menopause, but um the benefits are just, you know, across the board in general, and also, ah especially for post menopausal women as well, because our hormones don't stop fluctuating after we stop menstruating, right? They continue to decline. So there is an argument basically for creatine for, i think, women in most walks of life. So I hope that you guys can take a quick peek at that article. And I really thank you for um this idea and this question for this episode. It was so amazing to be able to deep dive this and debunk some of the myths and, you know, see a supplement that I black box for so many years that I'm actually taking. And I have no problems. I have no problems eating my words. I ate my words in the collagen one where I said, Oh, 10 years ago, collagen date. Don't do nothing. And here I am taking my collagen and my creatine consistently.
Speaker: Well, and you know what? It goes back to we always we continue to learn. as Even as holistic nutritionists, we learn, we change everything. You know, science, we we learn more. And so, yes, I also take creatine and I found it a benefit as well. So yeah, thank you for this, Tanya. It's been a great conversation. We hope you guys learned a little bit and we look forward to talking to you again next week. Okay, guys, take care.
Speaker: Bye. i Hey guys, thanks so much for hanging out with us today. If this episode resonated with you, we would love it if you would hit like, subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend.
Speaker: We love to hear from you because let's be honest, this show is for you. If you have a topic you'd love us to tackle or want to learn more about something we talked about today, send us a message. We got you.
Speaker: Stay connected with us on social media at what'smyageagain.podcast for even more knowledge and inspiration between episodes. Kim and I aren't doctors or your healthcare practitioners.
Speaker: Everyone's body is unique, so always consult your own healthcare care provider before starting something new.
