Why You Feel So Tired in Your 30s & 40s (Hormones, Stress & Low Energy Explained)

Maggie (00:01.954)
Are you feeling older than you should? And how can you get back your youth and vitality naturally? Welcome to Women Folk Revival, where we are deeply rooted and wildly intentional. I'm Maggie.

Meara (00:18.263)
and I'm Mira. And I've been noticing a shift lately and not just in myself, but with a lot of other women as well that I talk to. If you ever thought, why am I so tired lately? Or why can't I handle stress like I used to? Then this episode is definitely for you, because to me, it's not about getting older. It's actually just changing.

inside your body in your 30s and 40s and beyond. this is pretty much why and why no one really talks about it. But before we start, I have a brief little thing. I made some sweet mint from my garden with fennel and green cardamom pods. And I just I just discovered that the sweet mint is a powerhouse for women in perimenopause.

Maggie (01:02.994)
that sounds good.

Meara (01:10.797)
Spearmint may help lower excess androgens, which can support clear skin and reduce those little hormone chinny chin chin hairs. It also has cooling properties that can help heat waves or if you're feeling restless or wired. So I thought that was a cool little, did you know? Cause I was gonna be drinking that throughout here. anyways, at the time I brushed this shift that I felt

Maggie (01:29.272)
That's great.

Meara (01:40.959)
off as, okay, I'm just becoming a mom again because I had 10 years difference between my first two and my third and I was 35 when I had my third. But looking back with that being like, what, seven years ago and over this past year, I have really taken the time to understand what's actually going on in my body. And I realized that it's not just aging, it's our lifestyle, how we move, how we eat, how we rest. This has a massive.

Maggie (02:01.294)
And all of that is making us feel older than we are.

Meara (02:07.349)
Mm-hmm. And it's a massive non-negotiable impact on how we feel from day to day because energy is not just about sleep. It's how our body responds to being out all day long and how much we're putting out and taking in and how fast we're moving and how we're just constantly stuck on that on mode. We're moms, we're always on the on mode. And that's what led me to cortisol.

it has the worst reputation, but it's actually a really essential stress hormone. It helps us wake up in the morning. It helps us respond to our day. And it's higher in the morning and it's lower at night because at night it helps us relax. But when we're constantly pushing and on the go and extremely stimulated, that's when our rhythm that Meggie and I always discuss about.

Maggie (02:42.22)
Yeah, it's vital.

Meara (03:02.459)
gets disrupted and that's when things really start to change. So looking back, for me, 35 is when I saw that my progesterone levels were low when I was pregnant, but it didn't really, you know, the doctor really didn't say anything to me about it. She's just like, oh, well, your progesterone levels are low. But by the time I was 37, they got even lower. And during my third pregnancy, which was our first...

child with my husband, my now husband Omar, we were bleeding in the beginning and she did some tests and said, your progesterone is dangerously low. So she put me on a progesterone supplement to try and help support things. She said, now taking progesterone is not going to keep the baby stable. If your body is going to abort the fetus, then it's just going to happen. The progesterone isn't going to fix that. But she wanted to have this progesterone help support my body.

with working alongside everything else. So anyways, now I understand that low progesterone is one of the hallmark signs of transitioning into perimenopause, but we never get it checked. We just feel off and assume it's normal, right?

Maggie (04:09.718)
And I want to say too, wild yam is a great thing to use to increase your progesterone and level out all of your hormones.

Meara (04:21.433)
Wild yam is absolutely amazing and it is like a well known thing that's going around right now. But I do also want to say that I have done my research on wild yam cream. And for those women who are still having very regular cycles, like I was having very regular cycles and I actually started using wild yam cream, it started messing with me emotionally. And when I did and looked more into it, what I was told was if you're still having regular cycles,

Don't use wild yam cream until your cycles become irregular because it's gonna throw everything off.

Yeah, with the hormones and stuff. So I would look more into that.

Maggie (05:00.694)
Now is that, do you know if that is just a transitional thing or is that gonna be, it's just gonna continue throwing everything out of whack? Does that make sense when I'm asking?

Meara (05:14.691)
I haven't done enough research to understand the exact ways for how to use wild yam cream. I would definitely talk to your practitioner or a holistic practitioner who knows more about that. But from the research that I have gathered, yeah, is that if you are still having regular cycles because your hormones are still pretty balanced,

Maggie (05:20.579)
Okay.

Maggie (05:32.312)
Mm-hmm.

or an herbalist, I guess, yeah.

Meara (05:44.047)
to not use the wild yam cream because a wild yam cream, it doesn't replace the hormones, but it helps level out the hormones. So if you're trying to level out hormones that are already level, it can kind of throw your body in whack, this is from what I understand. I would look more into that if that's something that you're wanting to use and you're still having normal cycles, but I do know that it is amazing cream and my mom actually uses it as well and she's post Menopause So yeah, fun fact, cortisone, pogestrone.

share the same building blocks in the body. It's like a factory. So when your body's constantly in stress mode, it prioritizes that survival mode that you're in and it produces a lot more cortisol. So it pulls all the resources away from your progesterone to do it. And progesterone is our calming hormone. Yes, I just learned that a little bit ago. It kind of like pumps the brakes on our nervous system. So when our progesterone levels drop,

Maggie (06:22.688)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (06:42.137)
It's not just a hormone issue. We're just actually losing our ability to slow down and feel calm and handle stress the way we need to. And that's why we feel a lot more anxious, a lot more overwhelmed and so easily drained. So many women are like, I just don't understand why I'm so tired. I don't have the energy. And are easily drained. it's just like, no one knows where to go or what to do or where to start.

Maggie (06:51.317)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (07:09.888)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (07:10.127)
That's why we're here with this episode. And that brings me to coffee. yum.

Maggie (07:14.924)
Coffee is just replacing, it's taking energy that your body already has and then it's just shifting it. So just stealing energy from your body and making you believe that the coffee is producing it, but it's not.

Meara (07:28.719)
And I'm not giving it up because man, I love my coffee.

Maggie (07:32.222)
drinking crappy coffee right now with crappy coffee cream.

Meara (07:37.091)
Mold, yum. No, I have yucky moldy coffee too. I've completely changed how I think about coffee now though. I see it as like you said, a borrowed energy and on an empty stomach now that I'm in my 40s is like, no way. Your cortisol is already naturally higher in the morning. So when we add that caffeine, it's like we're hitting that gas pedal so hard.

Maggie (07:40.181)
Again.

Maggie (07:46.636)
to.

Maggie (07:57.91)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (08:00.569)
Like we just start going out of control, right? So our body's releasing stored energy extremely quickly, which feels really good for a moment that high. And then like, you know, and then you crash or you don't feel anything at all and you just have to poop. And then you feel like crap for the rest of the day. You have that weird, tired feeling. Yeah. Poop. Take a BM, you know, and that's the cycle. We're, borrowing energy from later in the day and we're paying it, paying it forward with fatigue. So.

Maggie (08:16.049)
Did you just say boo boo?

You

Maggie (08:25.836)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Meara (08:29.337)
You know, I have to be mindful of that, but I only drink one. I'm a one cup gal. I don't, I don't do more than one cup of coffee.

Maggie (08:34.854)
I'm, you know, I go through stages. Sometimes I don't drink coffee at all. And another times I do. I don't drink coffee for energy. There's just something very warm and it's like, it's kind of like a comfort food, but drink. and I try and get the, you know, the natural creamers that are still high in sugar, but all natural ingredients. I have.

Meara (08:51.759)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Meara (09:00.293)
Do you those Chobani ones? Have you ever tried Chobani? It tastes so weird. I don't like.

Maggie (09:04.106)
Yes. Some of them do. Some of them do. What do I... I can't even remember the brand that I... that I get. Bliss? Naturally Bliss something?

Meara (09:16.879)
yeah, I've heard of that. I just do half and half because it doesn't have any weird additives. Yeah, me too.

Maggie (09:21.014)
But I get that from the grocery store and I don't live close to the grocery store. So sometimes I just run to a family dollar and get the crappy stuff they have. When you live in the states, you do, you know, but what I really need to do is I really need to learn.

Meara (09:29.953)
Woo! Good old Family Dollar. Hey, I love Family Dollar. Heck yeah. I could stay in Family Dollar for a while.

Maggie (09:45.194)
I just need to make milk tea because that's fantastic and that is the same kind of warm and cozy feeling and it's all good for you. Same with the caffeine and the black tea, but...

Meara (09:52.059)
yes it is. It is. Right. So when we drink coffee, now I'm learning that we need to look for third party tested beans and they're a bit more expensive. But I also buy the whole beans instead of the pre-ground ones because the exposure coffee has apparently to air the higher chance of mold and toxins, which actually makes you feel more jittery and sluggish.

Maggie (10:02.39)
Yes. Organic.

Maggie (10:17.196)
And not only that Mira, but as with all processed foods, there are a certain amount of insects including roaches that will get into that and the FDA has a limit like you're allowed so many bugs and roaches in your food. Come on. Come on.

Meara (10:23.137)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Yep, they do. I do know that. Mm-hmm. Right. So while we want the benefit, we want the benefits. We don't want the side effects, because coffee does have really good benefits as well. So how do we know if we're in this early stage of perimenopause or, you know?

Maggie (10:44.725)
It does.

Meara (10:52.121)
going into menopause. Honestly, we shouldn't wait for lab testing because our hormones fluctuate so much that they miss the full picture, which brings us back to the episode we had on advocating for yourself when going to the doctor and the doctor's seeing all of your lab tests and them coming back normal. And you're like, yeah, but I'm feeling this way, right? So like we said then.

Maggie (10:59.372)
Hmm.

Maggie (11:17.804)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (11:19.387)
Pay attention to patterns, pay attention to your sleep, pay attention to your mood, especially the week before your cycle. And we're gonna do a whole episode on cycles. Pay attention to your energy throughout the day. You feel wired but tired, more reactive to stress, like you're snapping more than usual and it just feels like a whole level of different, or your energy, you know, it's just not, it's not steady anymore. So we need to get into how we support our energy and it just goes back to the basics.

Maggie (11:28.748)
Yes.

Meara (11:49.231)
Blood sugar, don't skip protein in the morning. If you eat breakfast in the morning, please do not eat carbs. Protein, because it'll stabilize your energy and your cortisol throughout the whole day. And Maggie is laughing at me because the next thing I'm gonna say is, hydration is key. It's not just about drinking more water though, because our body need minerals to absorb that water and use it. So we use Baja Gold Salt.

Maggie (11:49.536)
the base coats.

Meara (12:18.751)
And if you don't have Baja Gold salt, can use, Meggie uses, yes, any type of sea salt. you know, it, it helps regulate your nervous system and it brings your body out of that constant stress state. if you drink that in the morning and replace it with your coffee, water with mineral salt and lemon, that actually is energy.

Maggie (12:22.038)
Himalayan salt or Celtic salt

Meara (12:47.747)
and it will carry you throughout the day. And I am not kidding. Just last week I had some made pancakes for my kids and they were homemade pancakes, but I was like, yeah, one's not gonna hurt. And let's have coffee before noon. And I was on the floor before noon, just struggling trying to make it for the rest of the day. And I'm like, how can this be? Well, my body is changing. So I have to address how I eat and drink differently. So I fast until noon, but before that I do my...

Maggie (12:48.012)
Yes.

Maggie (13:02.924)
you

Meara (13:17.029)
first one is water with, what is it, vinegar with the mother. And then I do my tea and my Baja gold salt and lemon with water. And then after 12, if I want to eat, it's just protein or I do my coffee. And I noticed that I am like balanced throughout the day. I don't get weird, pretty smooth. So, you know.

Maggie (13:43.168)
Now I am somebody that just has to eat in the morning otherwise I just do not feel well. eggs are great, I eat eggs all the time, but I like toast with my eggs and that's just something that I'm gonna have to save until lunchtime or later in the day.

Meara (13:53.883)
Hmm?

Meara (14:00.453)
balance.

Meara (14:04.089)
Well, I mean, but don't beat yourself up over it, you know? Like if you're one that's like, man, this feels like a diet to me. This is a lifestyle change we discuss all the time. even if it's just you want...

Maggie (14:12.716)
If it's a day where I feel like I need a piece of toast, I'm gonna have a piece of toast, you know? But I'm gonna aim not to. And that's the key for anything, aim not to. But if it's just one of those days, then by all means.

Meara (14:21.657)
Well, or you don't have to give it up.

Right, but you don't have to give it up.

Meara (14:34.082)
Or you can just do smaller portions. like, instead of a whole piece of toast, maybe a half a piece of toast and an extra egg to cover over that carb situation you're gonna have going later on in the day, know? So, you know, moderation. And it's not about having to give up things you like. Like, I'll still eat ice cream, you know what I'm saying? But I'm not gonna eat it an hour before bed. So sometimes I'll eat it before dinner, because dinner's protein, and I'll get that out of the way.

Maggie (14:46.196)
Yeah, that sounds fun.

Maggie (15:00.02)
Yeah.

Meara (15:03.013)
You know, you just gotta change things around.

Maggie (15:05.618)
And make it, you know, we are, in my family, we are ice cream people. We love ice cream. So I really, you know, I really want to get to where I am making our own ice cream and I'm using raw milk and I'm using eggs from our chickens that we do not have yet, but should have shortly. And using, you know, real ingredients, fruit, especially fruit that we grow. You know, we've got raspberries and such and strawberries.

Meara (15:10.875)
yes you are.

Meara (15:26.267)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (15:34.043)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (15:34.378)
I mean that's so dreamy. If you can do it yourself, do it yourself, especially if it's something that you really shouldn't be eating. But if you're using wholesome ingredients, do it. Just don't put added sugar into it.

Meara (15:42.181)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (15:48.997)
Good.

Meara (15:52.547)
I agree.

Meara (15:56.271)
I lost my train of thought. Another thing is...

Maggie (15:56.3)
All right. Well, let's discuss. OK, go ahead.

Meara (16:01.401)
No, go ahead. Walking, think is what you're going to say next, right? Movement. Movement.

Maggie (16:03.24)
Yeah, let's discuss. Yeah, the more easy steps on how we can because I do want to say to there are a lot of overlapping symptoms with paramenopause and high cortisol. So you really want to learn both of them and learn because there are many differences between the two as well. But if you're not familiar with all of the issues that can arise from each of them.

then you could be kind of stuck in a place where you're not sure what you're suffering from. So in doing these easy steps will help you figure that out too, because all these easy steps are gonna, they're gonna liver out your cortisol and give you the energy and make you feel more youthful and more healthy like we should. And then if you're still having issues after that, then maybe you're in perimenopause or maybe it's something different.

and you need to maybe check out your thyroid or something else.

Meara (17:07.054)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Maggie (17:09.436)
so yeah, walking, walking is one of the best things that you can do for your body. Anybody. Man, woman, child walking is one of the greatest things that you can do. And if you can walk outside, even better. And if you can walk barefoot, even, even better. Get that grounding in too. But it's also good for your feet. Shoes are really horrible for your feet because they bind your feet.

Meara (17:13.861)
you

Meara (17:22.299)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (17:36.059)
You

Maggie (17:39.072)
Your should be spreading out. And if you have those shoes that allow your feet to do that, fine. But you know, barefoot is best.

Meara (17:41.379)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (17:49.913)
Yeah, walking is one of the most powerful things we can do for our body. tells us we're safe and helps regulate our nervous system.

Maggie (17:54.187)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (17:59.276)
and just 20 to 40 minutes a day.

Meara (18:02.745)
Yes, 20 minutes, starting out 20 minutes is perfect. But I mean, even if it's less and you're just starting out, just start small. I could care less if it's to the mailbox and back. Get up and get moving. That's the issue that we run into later in life. Post menopause, as we're aging, our range of motion stops. Just start moving your shoulders, move our neck. We completely forget about these things. And I have an uncle who was a very

Maggie (18:10.282)
Yep. Yeah, just get started.

Maggie (18:26.432)
Yes, we do.

Meara (18:31.671)
He was very into weightlifting, like heavy, heavy. And my aunt, she, she was, she would go to the gym with him all the time as well. And my husband, was getting back into fitness and he said to my uncle before he passed away, he said, what's one thing you would go back or what's one thing you can teach me about, you know, getting into shape and lifting weights and doing training for my body. And my uncle said to him, it's not about the weight.

So like you said, Maggie, with even if you just use your you know, your own body weight, that's key. It really doesn't matter how many pounds you lift because you're gonna hurt yourself. And he had really bad, he was so in such amazing shape, but his range of motion was like five percent. It was bad. His shoulders were in really bad shape. He had to lift up his whole arm to get his.

you know, his shoulder to get his arm to move sometimes. you know, start very small. I just started walking a mile a day the last two weeks. And while the scale hasn't budged and my husband told me, don't even look at that scale. It's about how my clothes are fitting. My collars are huge. My pants feel more loose. Walking in the morning, get you energized, get you thinking clearly. Walking in the evening after dinner actually helps for you to lose weight.

Maggie (19:34.742)
Yes.

Maggie (19:56.566)
Yeah, that I find very interesting. And I like the idea of that, but I'm... And maybe I'll start implementing both because I love walking in the daytime and just walking the property and looking through the creek and the woods and having the sun on me. it's just so dreamy. Walking in the evening does not appeal to me very much in the same way, but...

Meara (20:12.048)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (20:22.7)
If it's gonna help me lose weight and if I have the time to do it then you know, do it Because it's not something that's it's not a full-on workout. It's not something that's stressing me out. In fact walking actually reduces your stress Yeah, and and as far as you know doing movement where you're using your body weight, you know, those are things like

Meara (20:28.739)
Right. Well, we,

Meara (20:33.211)
It's not.

Meara (20:36.761)
It does. It tells your body that you're not in danger.

Maggie (20:47.506)
squats or push-ups. Even like when I'm in the kitchen cooking sometimes I'll just start lifting my leg as high as I can and I'll do it until you know I just it starts to get heavy and I start to tire and then I switch to the other one and I'll just do weird things like that throughout the day just to make sure that I'm moving. My husband makes such fun of me he's like what are you doing?

Meara (21:09.563)
I was gonna say, does he ever come in there looking at you funny like what on earth?

Maggie (21:15.818)
And sometimes I'll just kind of, you know, swing my hips back and forth and just to, you know, just to be moving, just to be working my muscles and, you know.

Meara (21:19.589)
Yep. Yes, it's all about.

Meara (21:27.407)
And as funny as all this sounds, it's so true. Because working as a CNA and an LPN in assisted living even, just seeing people decline so fast and them saying, I just don't drink enough water and I have to pee because they're not using it with the minerals and their range of motion isn't good and their reaction time.

Even with myself being 42, I noticed that my reaction time isn't as fast as it used to be. So that alone scares me. And so I've gotten on the ball about being a bit more, you know, active. And you would think this woman is constantly active with these five kids. Let me tell you, they run themselves into the ground, but I guess I'm going to have to let them start running me into the ground in a different sense because I need to get it together. I still have little kids that I'm trying to raise. So, you know,

Maggie (21:52.502)
Yeah.

Maggie (22:06.208)
Yeah.

Maggie (22:10.508)
Yeah. And you also need to live until you're 100 with your friend Maggie, because that's my plan.

Meara (22:16.504)
Stop. I don't want to live that long.

Maggie (22:21.068)
I do but if you feel good and if you're in good shape then by all means you should. I am, Amirah drives me nuts because she's always saying oh I'm so old and I'm in perimenopause and I refuse to say, I refuse to say I'm in perimenopause. Well I just don't feel it and I just, you know, maybe I am in denial and that's fine. That's fine, right? I'm keeping a youthful mind because I want to be.

Meara (22:34.019)
I am in perimenopause.

Maggie (22:51.052)
I want to be youthful, because I don't even feel like I'm at my halfway point yet. know, like 50 is middle age.

Meara (22:56.165)
Sure, well when I say that I feel old, I feel old, I'm not saying that, sure, but I'm not saying that I am old, with what you're saying is, being in denial, every woman's gonna be different, and like I said, it can be, take 10 years for you, you can be in perimenopause for 10 years and not know it, so it's all about understanding your body, what your body's going through.

Maggie (23:03.359)
It's from Lifestyle.

Maggie (23:18.986)
Yeah.

Meara (23:24.411)
Understand the cues your body's trying to give you because everyone's gonna be like you're totally different than me You don't feel like you're in perimenopause. You don't think you're in perimenopause and and That's just how your your body your body's telling you that my body is Screaming at me and we're the same exact age by what not even a one and a half weeks maybe and so Therefore I have to approach things differently, but that's why we're doing this episode is to tell people that you have to prepare

Maggie (23:26.486)
Hmm.

Maggie (23:31.339)
Right.

Maggie (23:49.216)
You know, but that's not true. We don't need to approach things differently because we both should be giving our bodies what they need. We both and we both should have started a long time ago on doing these things. Regardless of how we feel, it's what our bodies need.

Meara (24:02.799)
break.

Meara (24:07.331)
Well, yeah, well, that's just what I was getting at is that's what I'm saying is we have to prepare early, like in our thirties, going to start going into perimenopause because when I say we have to we have to approach things differently is because we're just now figuring out all of these things that we've needed to start doing. So we're approaching it differently because you're still learning your part and I'm still learning about my body. So.

Maggie (24:25.44)
Yeah, yes. And my gosh, people and.

Yeah, we, know, obviously we're included in this because we're talking about how, you know, we're late in the game, but this is just all common sense stuff. You know, walking, hydrating, eating real food, protein, you know, moving your body and getting sunlight and fresh air. That's just all common sense, but it's been like, it's just been like ripped from our minds because of society.

Meara (24:41.796)
Yeah.

Meara (24:46.224)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (24:54.202)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (24:57.605)
People don't connect it.

Meara (25:01.883)
And people won't connect that. And after menopause, the foundation stays the same. So that's why we have to build on it. That's why we have to start young. Protein becomes even more important. Resistance training is literally essential for our bodies because protecting our muscle mass and our bone density is key to long-term energy and longevity because you know people go for these bone scans or they don't have enough.

Maggie (25:12.556)
Mm-hmm.

Meara (25:28.793)
bone density, and then they end up having all these osteoporosis, osteopenia, all these issues. And, you know, if there's one thing to take away from this, it's that our energy at our age is not going away from us. It's not disappearing. It's just shifting. It's changing. It's about change. So it's, that's where the lifestyle change comes in, because while our body's changing, our lifestyles have to change. And if not, then you're going to just be so late to the game that

you're gonna end up on medications because you weren't able to keep up. Now you might have to end up on medications because some people's family history just is not nice to them. But there's also other ways that you can balance that, you can balance that while taking medications with natural things, but you have got to make sure obviously that you're talking to your doctor about that while you're doing so.

Maggie (26:09.642)
And you know, it's not.

Maggie (26:21.292)
Yes. And family history doesn't always mean that you're going to end up with the same things. A lot of times these things that are considered old in your family history, so if they have it, you'll have it. If you live the same lifestyle, sure. But if you don't, then there's a very good chance that you'll never have an issue with any of these things. know, a lot of these things never even existed until until this new.

Meara (26:26.203)
It doesn't. It doesn't.

Meara (26:41.423)
Right, but it is something.

Meara (26:46.936)
eating.

Maggie (26:48.478)
Yeah, all this crappy food and not being outside and not being active and, you know, this constant state of chronic stress where we're always on the edge with everything. You know, just slow down, meditate, pray. And you can do this while you're walking, too. It doesn't have to be, you know, there's a hundred things that I have to do. A lot of them, can do them together. Walk. Look at nature.

Meara (27:14.779)
Mm-hmm.

Maggie (27:17.236)
Be one with nature. Don't have your phone. Don't have your screens. You know, that's your break from the screen time and you know, work on your breathing and and talk to God and you know, don't worry about anything because it's it's your walking time. That's your peaceful time. So you're able to do all these things at once. And it's not necessarily multitasking where you're working your brain a whole bunch. It's one cohesive, you know.

thing.

Meara (27:49.018)
Right. I did want to touch base real quick on the familial thing. While you're right, not all things that they say are familial, you're going to end up getting like high blood pressure, this, that, and the third. My biological father, I was adopted. So my biological father, I did get information that there was like high blood pressure on his side of the family and diabetes and the other. have...

I have perfect, praise be to God, I have very good blood pressure and I do not have any kind of diabetes. And while like you said, it could be based on how you eat and the environment you're in, for some things that are familial and are passed down, such as thalassemia, my husband has thalassemia trait.

and I am not a carrier. So our daughter does she does have the trait and we do notice she does get tired more easily. She gets hungry more easily. When she just had her surgery, she needed vitamin A and iron, not iron. She did not need iron. She has Thalassemia when you have Thalassemia. She needed A and I can't remember the other one sweet potatoes. So I was trying to figure out how to get that to her while in the hospital because the hospital obviously doesn't have

all those good foods that we need to start healing. They have sweet potato fries and oil, but they don't have sweet potatoes. So I was struggling to get the sweet potato for her. Anyways, with that being said, there are certain things that we cannot help having get passed down to us that we do, even though we might not get, need to pay attention to. Because, for example, she takes longer to get back to normal than most people because her blood cells are really tiny. So her bone marrow has to make more.

Maggie (29:05.27)
Funny, huh?

Meara (29:31.599)
And it makes her more tired. So diet wise, we need to pay close attention to how she, can't just do the same thing as everyone else in our house, because she's always so hungry and she's thirsty and she gets tired faster. So, so that, that's, that's what I mean as far as familial, we still need to keep in mind, this could be happening. So let's better prepare. And like you said, overall, we just need to prepare anyways, because we need to take care of our bodies for when we're older, we're not going to have the energy we have now.

Maggie (29:52.684)
us.

Yes, we do.

Meara (30:01.53)
you know, to try and get ourselves back on track. So we need to start. We need to start now. And you won't.

Maggie (30:06.612)
Yeah, and and with your protein too, I do want to say get your healthy fats Your body needs fat. All right, and don't I'm I'm not a doctor and I can't tell you this but do do more research on cholesterol as well because We need cholesterol I I like to have high amounts of and you know, there's different types of cholesterol But I like to have mine higher than what the medical industry says that it should be Because as we've stopped

Meara (30:12.315)
Mm-hmm.

yeah.

Meara (30:22.363)
It's good. cholesterol's good.

Maggie (30:36.288)
doing those things, Alzheimer's has become a bigger issue. Dementia, these brain illnesses that are becoming larger and larger and larger, a lot of that has to do with low cholesterol and low fat and no salt. So butter, olive oil, Taro, avocados, nuts, seeds.

Meara (30:54.437)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And get it.

Meara (31:00.761)
avocado oil.

Maggie (31:06.828)
get a lot of that fat and lot of the good cholesterol that comes from those as well.

Meara (31:07.579)
get those in there.

Meara (31:12.847)
Right. And when we start working with our body instead of against it, things will start to become and feel more steady, more supported and more sustainable. We don't have to do everything perfectly, but we just have to start noticing what helps us feel better and build from there. So like get baselines for blood pressure. Even if you don't have high blood pressure, just take it so that if something happens, you'll say, well, this is my baseline. This is where I normally am at. Mine's always lower than usual. My husband's higher than usual. He's healthy. So

Maggie (31:33.484)
Thank

Meara (31:42.959)
Yeah, just start noticing what helps you feel better. So if this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend who has been feeling the same way and make sure you follow along next week for our episode on this time, powerhouse plants. So until thenstayrootedandstaywild

Maggie (31:58.612)
Yes, finally.

Stay rooted and stay wild.

Meara (32:04.94)
Stay wild.