Heather: Welcome to the Vibrant MD podcast, where we discuss weight loss, women's health, and food. I'm your host, Dr. Heather, a family doctor and certified weight loss coach. This podcast is informational, but it's not meant as medical advice. Anything you want to change after listening should be discussed with your own doctor and personal medical team. I'm so glad that you're here with me today.
Dr. Awad: Hello, my vibrant friend. I have a colleague today who is a family medicine colleague with other certifications as well, Dr. Lola Ashaye from the Houston area of Texas. She has a primary care plus other specialty practices, and today we're going to talk about how you actually develop a healthy habit.
So I'm going to let Dr. Ashaye tell you a little bit more about herself and her practice first, and then we'll get into it. So thanks so much for being here.
Dr. Ashaye: Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Awad. So as you said, I'm Dr. Lola Ashaye. I'm a family medicine and lifestyle medicine physician, and I have a clinic called InTouch Primary Care.
We're here in Sugar Land, Texas, which is in the Houston area. And um, what we aim to do is to help people build a healthy lifestyle so they rely less on medications and so that they can enjoy doing what they love.
Dr. Awad: That's beautiful. And that fits in very well with our audience because our audience is mostly professional women over 50 who are looking to make some changes, you know, get kind of a new body with perimenopause and menopause, and looking to make some good changes with food and exercise and lifestyle to live a, you know, feel really good and you know, live a vibrant life.
So what are, what are your tips and tricks for changing your lifestyle?
Dr. Ashaye: Yeah, so I think first it's important to know that there are a lot of changes that happen and you already mentioned menopause. So midlife, usually between 40 and 65. Somewhere in between there, usually before 55, most women will have undergone the change.
While a lot of us complain about that menstrual period that happens every month, it actually is good for us because of the estrogen. The estrogen protects us against a lot of things that when we go through menopause, we lose that protection. So we no longer have, you know, the protection from heart disease, which estrogen helps with because it reduces the inflammation in our vessels.
And that we no longer have the protection from bone loss, which estrogen helps with that because it affects the bone reabsorption cycle. So there are a lot of things that, you know, having those monthly periods help us with that we no longer benefit from when we undergo the change. And so we need to be more mindful that our bodies have changed.
And so that we can get on top of that and ahead of that by making decisions to do, you know, be healthier in some ways. So you asked about tips. I think the first thing is, you know, understanding where you are in that process. So are you premenopausal? Are you perimenopausal? Are you in menopause? So if you're premenopausal, that means you still have irregular periods.
Perimenopausal. You may skip one or two here and there, but they come still and the menopause has been at least a year since your last period. So if, when you know where you are, it helps you make decisions about exactly what you wanna do. So that's the first step. So know where you are in that. cycle in that, in that range.
And then the second tip I'll say is you know, once you know that, know how things may change. So we talked about heart disease, for example, which is the number one cause of mortality of death in terms of diseases in the world, actually. So heart disease, a big part of that is cholesterol.
And so early on, maybe your cholesterol was high and your doctor was like, yeah, it's fine.
You know, you're in perimenopause or menopause. But when after menopause, that's not, that's something that is really important to pay attention to because it can affect your heart. And so. Before menopause, when you're hitting 40, you know, you probably want to look at your cholesterol a lot more closely, and you probably want to do the lifestyle changes to reverse, you know elevated cholesterol levels.
So that would be, you know, the first tip. Look at your cholesterol. Don't take it for granted. If it's high, start doing things to try to reverse it.
Dr. Awad: So let's say it's a, it's a little bit up, maybe just a little more than before, but not, your doctor's like, well, I'm not really worried about it, but you're a little up, then what kind of things?
Would you recommend people do?
Dr. Ashaye: Yeah, so if it's not too high, I would say start before, start now before you lose that estrogen protection. You can start by increasing physical activity, so that will always help. It will help to lower your cholesterol once you increase physical activity. You get the biggest bang for your buck though by your changing your diet, right?
So, that that will be the biggest change that will affect your cholesterol. So that will mean lowering the saturated fats. So saturated fats can be found mainly in processed foods and also in animal fat. So that's where you get the highest amount of saturated fat. So making sure that you're more aware of that and lowering the amounts that you take in.
And then also increasing the good fat. So the good fats can really help because they increase your good cholesterol, which helps clear out your bad cholesterol. So by increasing the omega 3 fatty acids, the omega 6 fatty acids, things like olive oil, avocado oil, avocados themselves, nuts and seeds, things like that, by being more aware of taking, eating more of those things or and or exposing yourself to more of those things and cooking and salads and things like that, then you can increase your good fat as well.
Dr. Awad: I love that you said that because a lot of the people who are around the 50-year mark grew up in the 80s when fat was the devil. Um,
And so, you know, it was avoided at all costs and I still talk to people you know, who are just putting the lemon juice on their salad or you know, eating dry leftovers when they could add a tablespoon of olive oil to it and not, it just is hard for people to accept the fact that some of these fats actually really are good for us and then help us, they help us stay full.
Dr. Ashaye: Yes. Exactly. Yeah. So yeah, good fat is good. Not all fat is bad. And even with carbs, like most vegetables are carbs, right? Have carbs in them. Sometimes when we group things, we give the wrong impression about, about what they can do and how helpful they can be. Right.
Dr. Awad: Yeah. All the fruits and vegetables are, are healthy for people and for carbs and so on.
Dr. Ashaye: So, yeah, so that
will be what I'll say about cholesterol, physical activity, and you know, healthy nutrition go a long way in lowering cholesterol. And you know, people can really benefit from starting early so that they don't have such a high level to lower once the estrogen deficiency kicks in.
Dr. Awad: And then do you encourage people to eat more vegetarian meals or plant-based meals?
Dr. Ashaye: So, yes, I encourage people to add more vegetables or, and fruits to their diet. You know, not everybody can be plant-based, and that's something you'll quickly realize in practice because food is just more than, you know, it's cultural, it's, it's so much for a lot of people.
So, but where I always start is. It doesn't hurt to just increase the amount of vegetables in your diet. It really does help. So even if you don't want to be entirely vegetarian, you, you want to definitely increase. We don't, we don't eat nearly as much fruits and vegetables as we should as a society. And so just being aware of that and increasing it in your diet can make a significant difference.
Dr. Awad: You know, I went, when I go to other people's houses, I noticed that they put a large piece of meat on their plate. And that's the centerpiece. And then a little bit of vegetable on the edge. So what would you, what's a better plate look like?
Dr. Ashaye: Yeah, so I encourage half your plate should be filled with vegetables.
So it could be a salad, it could be cooked, and it doesn't have to be complicated, but just try to get to half your plate being, you know, filled with vegetables. And then you can have a protein. You know, Meat or no meat, that would be a personal decision, but if you can, limit, especially red meat, because that does have a lot of saturated fat, but even chicken does have, you know, saturated fat and all kinds of animal meat, so you can try to substitute more with plant-based protein, like beans, legumes, peas, that sort of thing, so that could be helpful too, and then having a little bit of fat, like we talked about, good fat, It's actually helpful, you know, to help you get what you need and you may want to have a little carbs, a little bit of carbs.
With carbs, you doing a whole grain, whole food option is really helpful instead of something processed. So when I talk to my patients, I say, think about it as something you can just go right outside and pick out of the ground or pick from a tree. That's, that's more healthy than anything that you. Can't really recognize how it was made.
You know, can't, you can't think, it's difficult to understand the process of how this came about, then that's processed. So, think about it.
Dr. Awad: Nice. Yeah. One thing I find too that people have a mindset thing about is like if you're vegetarian, you don't eat meat, but if you're not vegetarian, it doesn't mean you can't eat vegetarian meals.
You know?
Dr. Ashaye: Exactly. Exactly, yeah. And it's just incorporated more vegetables. And you know, the thing about it is I've met vegetarian people that are not eating healthy either. So meat is just one piece of it. It's not the whole picture. So there are a lot of vegetarian people that eat a lot of processed foods, and that doesn't help either, right?
Like it doesn't have to be meat to be unhealthy. So being vegetarian alone doesn't guarantee that you're eating healthy. So that's the other thing.
Dr. Awad: So if you're, if someone's thinking, I want to change how I'm eating, I notice that I have a lot of meat on there, and there's a lot of stuff that comes out of packages how would you, is there like a way to start, or do you, you know, really change all at once, or what would you say?
Dr. Ashaye: Yeah, so I'll say start with having a smaller plate. So that, that will be a helpful thing when you know that, you know, we tend to just fill our plate and we want to finish it. So if our plate is smaller, that helps us. That, that'll be the first step. The second thing will be, like we said, add the salad.
Eat the salad first. You know, go ahead and add the salad, have the plate and eat that first. And then after that, you know, you tend to eat less once you, you're on a smaller plate with half your plate filled with salad, you eat, you're already somewhat full. You could drink two cups of water to help with that as well.
And then go ahead and have your meal. And typically when you do that. You would eat less, but you would have eaten and had enough water. You've gotten your vegetables in, and then whatever else you eat after that, you know, you can handle better. And I want to also add that it's not all or nothing because I think sometimes people get discouraged because they start off feeling like I wanna um, eat better.
And then, you know, maybe they have one really bad day where , where they don't eat well and then they just give up. But it's, it's a process like, I would say just give yourself a lot of grace. You can start off with half your plate filled with salad for one. or for one meal every other day, just start where you can.
And then over time you increase, you know, the half a plate with salad or a half a plate with vegetables. So just start somewhere and then over time it gets easier and it gets better. And the other thing I've found too is if you start off your day eating something healthy, you're more likely to continue on that way.
So if You know, wake up in the morning and you start off with a lot of sugar and things like that, you're more likely to continue on eating processed foods and sugar throughout the day. But if you start off your day with a healthy meal, maybe a green smoothie, you know, something healthy and nutritious, not a lot of sugar, maybe protein, then you tend to continue your day eating healthier.
So that would be a way to start as well.
Dr. Awad: I
love that. And I think people do underestimate how doing, changing one thing, like trying to put the half plate of vegetables sometimes, how powerful that is and how it really is like a, like you've stepped over a big boulder, you know, to, to just get that going sometimes.
Dr. Ashaye: Yeah. Yeah, I think just the little things make a difference, and like I said, it may not happen all at once, but you just keep doing it, and soon, over time, it gets easier and easier, and you do it more often.
Dr. Awad: And also, you know, I, I love that you said, what you said about giving yourself a lot of grace and not beating yourself up too, because beating ourselves up is optional.
At least we know we're going to have bad days, right? Heather: Welcome to the Vibrant MD podcast, where we discuss weight loss, women's health, and food. I'm your host, Dr. Heather, a family doctor and certified weight loss coach. This podcast is informational, but it's not meant as medical advice. Anything you want to change after listening should be discussed with your own doctor and personal medical team. I'm so glad that you're here with me today.
Dr. Awad: Hello, my vibrant friend. I have a colleague today who is a family medicine colleague with other certifications as well, Dr. Lola Ashaye from the Houston area of Texas. She has a primary care plus other specialty practices, and today we're going to talk about how you actually develop a healthy habit.
So I'm going to let Dr. Ashaye tell you a little bit more about herself and her practice first, and then we'll get into it. So thanks so much for being here.
Dr. Ashaye: Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Awad. So as you said, I'm Dr. Lola Ashaye. I'm a family medicine and lifestyle medicine physician, and I have a clinic called InTouch Primary Care.
We're here in Sugar Land, Texas, which is in the Houston area. And um, what we aim to do is to help people build a healthy lifestyle so they rely less on medications and so that they can enjoy doing what they love.
Dr. Awad: That's beautiful. And that fits in very well with our audience because our audience is mostly professional women over 50 who are looking to make some changes, you know, get kind of a new body with perimenopause and menopause and looking to make some good changes with food and exercise and lifestyle to live a, you know, feel really good and you know, live a vibrant life.
So what are your tips and tricks for changing your lifestyle?
Dr. Ashaye: Yeah, so I think first it's important to know that there are a lot of changes that happen and you already mentioned menopause. So midlife, usually between 40 and 65. Somewhere in between there, usually before 55, most women will have undergone the change.
While a lot of us complain about that menstrual period that happens every month, it actually is good for us because of the estrogen. The estrogen protects us against a lot of things that when we go through menopause, we lose that protection. So we no longer have, you know, the protection from heart disease, which estrogen helps with because it reduces the inflammation in our vessels.
And that we no longer have the protection from bone loss, which estrogen helps with that because it affects the bone reabsorption cycle. So there are a lot of things that, you know, having those monthly periods help us with that we
