Menopause: Changes in Skin, Hair, & Nails

Transcript:

Leah: Hello and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition. My name is Leah Kleinschrodt. I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, and today my co-pilot for this episode is Brandy Buro, also a Registered and Licensed Dietitian.

Brandy: Hello.

Leah: And today we're diving into a topic that touches nearly every woman as she approaches midlife. This is how menopause affects our hair, our skin, and our nails. And of course, because we are dietitians, most importantly, what can we do to support these tissues and structures through nutrition as we make that menopausal transition in life?

If you've been frustrated with dull or drier skin, thinning hair that doesn't grow like it used to, or nails that just don't seem to be as strong as they used to be, you are absolutely not alone.

Brandy: Right. Yeah. It's so common and it can be kind of frustrating because it's impacting how we see ourselves, how others see us. But it really isn't just cosmetics here. You know, if you tissues are impacted on the outside, your tissues on the inside are also impacted.

So it could be a whole thing, but what you see on the outside is just a sign of what is happening internally. And hormonal changes, especially the drop in estrogen and progesterone that we go through as we reach menopause, is going to affect collagen production and the hydration of your tissues. But the good news is we do have some control over this with nutrition and the food choices that we make. So we like to think of food as the building blocks for beauty from the inside out.

In fact, you know, one of the very first things that some of my clients in this phase of their life might notice as they're making improvements with their diet is you know, shinier hair, stronger nails or nails aren't flaking off or breaking as easily, and that's kind of a pleasant surprise that they weren't really expecting, but a welcome one.

Leah: Yeah, same. I've heard the same thing from clients. Yeah. In today's world of information overload, I think about like all the advertisements that we see for products and procedures for our skin, our hair, our nails, it's, it's everywhere you look. You see it on the billboards, you see it ads on social media, on tv.

Everywhere you look, and so just in kind of just doing some number crunching before the show, I was looking at the global beauty and personal care market, like their annual value. So that is valued at approximately 646 billion.

Brandy: Billion.

Leah: Billion with a B dollars. And that was as of 2024. So, you know, kind of figure that you're probably a little bit more than that. And I actually compared that to the supplement industry because everybody kind of talks about like, oh my gosh, it's such a money making thing. The supplement industry is only 178 billion. I mean billions there. That's a lot more than probably you and I'll see in our lifetime.

But actually the, just that personal care and the beauty market out there is like four times greater than the supplement market. So I'm sure the people out there can relate, you know, whoever's on social media or you read that magazine or you're shopping in the store.

I mean, there's a solution for everything. Hair, skin, and nails out there. So these ads can be pretty convincing, but like you said, Brandy, it's like all of these tissues are an inside job. We have to look inside and see what's going on, kind of under the hood. And as dietitians, I mean, that's what food does for us.

It transforms us from the inside out. So we know hair, skin and nails have to start from the inside out. And hopefully that's actually a good thing, both just from the implementation aspect, but also from your pocketbook aspect.

Brandy: That's right. Yeah. Yeah, because if you start seeing things improve from the outside, there's, you're not going to be looking for any of those products. But also, I mean, your internal health is better, which means fewer medical bills. You know, so on all levels it's, you're going to be saving.

Leah: There's some wins along, there's wins in every angle.

Brandy: That's right. And I can totally relate to, you know, what you're seeing like in the news and the media, like I cannot go on the internet without being attacked to let me know that I have dark circles under my eyes and I've got wrinkles I need to take care of. You know, it's, I, I can see how that must be a big part of the, like skincare, big part of the market right now. Anything from like those topical products or even, you know, laser treatments for wrinkles, things like that. Because we're here to talk about food, maybe we should just kind of turn our attention to what we can do from a dietary perspective and what maybe we're already doing that is making our skin age.

Sugar can contribute to skin aging/wrinkles

So what if I told you that sugar causes those wrinkles. If, if you knew that, would you rethink your relationship with sugar? You know, I think a lot of people would do a double take if that meant that they could look more youthful longer.

Leah: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I, yeah, I definitely have some people in mind that I think would absolutely definitely look at that.

Brandy: Absolutely. Well, and that is the truth. When you eat a lot of sugar, or even like processed carbohydrates like chips and crackers, even pasta, things that break down into sugar very quickly, it is going to lead to a process called glycation. So glycation is something that happens when sugar molecules bind to proteins like collagen and elastin in your skin.

So over time, this is going to form a harmful compound called AGE or Advanced Glycation End Products. So that's a pretty easy acronym to remember: AGEs, because AGEs age your skin. Just remember that ages where AGEs damage and stiffen the collagen and elastin in your tissues. And these are the same proteins that help your skin look smooth and firm;

Give it kind of like that bounciness, that elasticity. So the result is that collagen breaks down faster and skin is going to lose its bounce, and that's when the wrinkles are going to show up and the sagging is going to show up a lot sooner.

Leah: The image that pops into my mind with that is, like in a rubber band, you know, when it's elastic and working well and it's like new out of the bag, it's fresh, you know, it's very, you can pull on it, it's not going to break. But say like, let's take that sugar over time transforms that rubber band more quickly into that kind of, everyone's picked up that crusty old rubber band that's maybe been in storage for 25 years kind of thing. And you try to, you start to pull it apart and it's already cracking and then all of a sudden it just snaps.

Brandy: Exactly.

Leah: If you can kind of keep that image in your mind, the sugar, high sugar intake, not just from added sugars, but like you said, Brandy, it's those more processed types of carbohydrates that add up to a lot of sugar over time. That, it moves that rubber band from youthful and elastic to more of like that dry cracked aged type of product more quickly.

Brandy: Love that analogy. Thank you for that.

Leah: You are welcome. So there's that high sugar along with high sugar. These, these two just tend to go hand in hand. We spike insulin when we spike up blood sugar, and that's supposed to happen. Insulin's job is to move that sugar out of the bloodstream and put it somewhere, but that high sugar, high insulin combo over time increases inflammation. In general this accelerates the skin aging. So sugar and insulin contribute to free radical formation. They damage those skin cells.

The importance of blood sugar balance for menopausal related symptoms

And since we're talking about menopause today, it is especially important to focus on keeping blood sugar nice and steady, because not only does it help your skin, but it does help to reduce other uncomfortable symptoms like hot flashes. So our founder, Dar, had a famous saying where she would tell clients, one teaspoon of sugar equals one hot flash.

Brandy: Yes. I love that.

Leah: Yeah. It really puts it into perspective. So you know, most women are like, well, a hot flash or two, not that big of a deal. But I've worked with clients and you probably have too where they have 30, 35 hot flashes in a day. And I mean, if you could take that down from 30 to five to something like that, just by reducing the sugar intake, I think most women would say that's worth it.

Brandy: Absolutely.

Leah: And it just, even making that direct correlation, that is knowledge for you, that's empowerment for you. So it might make you rethink the sugary coffee drink, the breads, the pastas, the chips, the cookies. Like anything that will spike that blood sugar. Again, this doesn't happen overnight. Sugar doesn't cause wrinkles overnight, but a high sugar diet does just speed up that aging process those AGEs, loss of collagen, turning that rubber band from that, that elastic rubber band to the old, dry, wrinkled, rubber band. Yep.

Estrogen declines during menopause, impacting collagen production

Brandy: So. I mean, sugar is such a huge contributor to aging skin, but regardless of your diet during menopause, estrogen is going to decline and that's going to impact collagen production. That's just a natural process that we are, we're going to run into. And that does mean that skin can feel a little drier, less firm. Some of those fine lines can start to pop up. And at some point you may be, you know, trying to double up on your moisturizer or looking for more of those topical products.

Healthy fat & water are critical

And even that may not be doing much for you anymore. The truth is though, that your skin cells really do need some nourishment from your diet to help hydrate those cells to stay plump, nice and supple. What we really need is healthy fat. And plenty of water. We need to stay hydrated. So the best nutritional way to hydrate your skin is to focus on getting natural fats, especially those omega-3 fatty acids.

Omega-3 fats hydrate skin

These omega-3 fats are, they're kind of a challenge to get in your diet. There are only a few food sources that have them. But fatty fish is going to be a great source. So things like salmon, sardines, mackerel, all really great sources of omega-threes. There are a few plant sources that have some omega-3 content like flax or chia seeds, but just not, not often in high enough amounts to make a huge difference.

But you know, we'll take what we can get where we can get it. So normally, you know, when I'm working with a client and I kind of spell that out for them, unless you're eating salmon like three times a week, most people decide to supplement with an omega-3 supplement just to get enough of what they need. They may need to incorporate a daily supplement.

Leah: Mm-hmm.

Brandy: Yeah. So. If that sounds like you and you're not, you are not a fish lover. You might eat salmon, but maybe two or three times a month, a daily supplement is probably a good idea. So I'm typically recommending somewhere between like two and 4,000 milligrams a day. Maybe I start at the higher end if you're new to an omega-3 supplement. And kind of back down to a maintenance dose, somewhere around 2000 to 3000 milligrams a day.

Leah: Yeah I, and I can't tell you the number of times that I've had clients come in, they're already on an omega-3 supplement. And they're like, I take one a day.

Brandy: Yep. Yeah.

Leah: Alright. Probably not enough. Again, like you said, most people aren't pounding the salmon three, four times a week, so we say, all right, well we're going to boost that up. Like we're going to triple that probably at least, maybe even a little bit more. So that is a common one where I'll find some people think it's just like one is enough or really actually for most brands, we're kind of talking more along the lines of for sure two, probably more like three to four of those softgels in a day.

Brandy: Exactly, and it really depends too on the actual omega-3 content of one capsule, because that can even vary quite a bit based on the brand.

Leah: Yep. Absolutely.

Brandy: Yeah. So yeah, highly recommend omega-threes to help hydrate skin.

Leah: Yep.

Brandy: It can really work wonders just to kind of smooth things out.

Leah: Yeah, and talking about smooth, the backs of the arms. That's another big one too. I find for clients, if they have that bumpy, sometimes dry, but sometimes just bumpy back of the arm. Like back of the upper arm kind of skin like those omega-threes, and we're going to talk about GLA in a moment. I think between those two usually actually really helps a lot of clients with that.

Brandy: A hundred percent, yes.

GLA benefits

Leah: Yeah. So let's chat about GLA. So we talked about omega-threes. That's one type of fat that we do require in the diet. So now let's talk GLA, which is gamma linoleic acid.

This is an omega-six fatty acid, so it is a little different than those omega-threes. But this omega-six fatty acid, this GLA, has been shown to be beneficial for skin health. It also has some nice interesting hormonal benefits, which makes it kind of a nice one-two punch for going through that perimenopause and menopause transition.

Our longtime listeners will probably think like, oh, I thought I should be avoiding omega-sixes, because we do talk about that a lot. And the truth is that's because most of the omega six fats that we find in our diet these days in our modern society, they're actually coming from sources, these oils that have been heavily processed.

Think like the vegetable oils, the soybean oils, the canola oils, the cottonseed oils. So they're ultra processed. They're usually used to fry foods and they're, they're found in these more processed foods. It's just kind of the swirling mess of things that will age our skin or not nourish our skin and our nails also.

But GLA is actually an anti-inflammatory omega-six fat that's found in, again, very, it's very certain plant oil, so evening primrose oil. Some people have heard of that one. Borage oil is another one. And then black currant seed oil, which is interesting because I haven't heard that term in a long time, but a client, I think just last week mentioned that she started taking black currant seed oil just as an anti-inflammatory.

And then it dawned on me, and I saw it here when we were researching today, I was like, oh, that's what it is. It's the omega-six fat. And so this client was using it for anti-inflammation also, and she actually thought it was making a difference for her.

Brandy: That's awesome.

Leah: Yeah. So, yeah, like I said, most people, or like, there's a lot of people that have heard of evening primrose oil, not just for skin, but I mentioned it has some interesting hormone benefits also, so it can reduce symptoms like hot flashes. I do remember I had, this wasn't a client of mine, but I used to work at our Maple Grove office and I remember one lady came in, she was buying her bottle of GLA and she says, I take one of these every single day and I have zero hot flashes.

It was just like the right connection that it made a huge difference for her with her hot flashes. So it can be helpful hydrating tissues, but also just some of those irritating symptoms of menopause or PMS is another scenario where we might use GLA.

Brandy: Yeah. That's excellent.

Leah: Yeah. So like I said, unlike the more inflammatory omega-six fats, I just want to drill home that GLA or evening primrose oil or that borage oil, you'll see those out there. These are actually anti-inflammatory fats, so we want these in our diet or as a supplement.

Brandy: Yeah, I think that's important to clarify because a lot of our listeners are very keen on…

Leah: They're smart. They've been listening to us long enough.

Brandy: Yep. So yes, this would be great fat to introduce for those anti-inflammatory properties. So I love using GLA anything related to skin and tissue. I've even used it for women experiencing, like incontinence issues, because it can help hydrate bladder tissue.

And I've seen some good results with that as well. But what GLA is helping in these cases is helping to strengthen the skin barrier. It can help reduce dryness, some of that roughness, even like scaling that you might see, which is pretty common as we enter menopause and you know, it is common when a woman is going through menopause to all of a sudden see some of these new skin conditions pop up, you know, more irritation, more redness.

I know for my mom, she got this diagnosis of rosacea when she went through menopause, and I see that a lot with the clients that I work with or even like eczema or psoriasis are now more of a concern. So yeah, supplementing with GLA can really help reduce some of that redness and that irritation.

It can help strengthen skin and contribute to some firmness and elasticity. And like you mentioned, a little more support with hormone balance during menopause. If this sounds like something that would benefit you, if, if you want to get started with something like a GLA supplement. I'm typically recommending somewhere between like 300 milligrams on the low end to up to 1000 milligrams, with the GLA that we have on our Nutrikey website, one capsule's about 160 milligrams. So I'd be doing somewhere between like two to six capsules.

Leah: Yeah.

Brandy: You know, a sweet spot might be three or four for most people as kind of a maintenance dose. Or your client did one and that made a difference for her.

Leah: That was the magic for her, and that was enough. So she got to stretch that bottle a lot further. But I agree, I usually do the same thing. If we're really trying to address those dry tissues, I tell clients like, usually three to four of those softgels and try to give it at least three to four months.

Just because that hydration with fats, I feel like just, it's, it's a longer process. It's probably not going to be see the results in two weeks kind of thing. It's going to be a…

Brandy: Slow burn.

Leah: Yeah. Yeah. A little bit more of a slow burn.

Brandy: That's great.

Leah: Yeah, so we do have to take our break, but on the other side we will come back and continue talking about things that help strengthen and give new life to that hair, skin, and nails in menopause, and we'll be right back.

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All right, and we are back. So we are talking today about some of the changes that happen with hair, skin, and nails as we as women go through that menopause transition. And we're talking about just what can we control, what can we do from a diet and lifestyle perspective that can help us take back some of that control and try to revitalize some of that life into these tissues.

Collagen sources to incorporate to maintain collagen during menopause

So we talked a little about hydrating tissues with both water, but also healthy fats. We do want to also talk about collagen. I feel like that's a big topic in this space. We mentioned earlier that women naturally lose the collagen in their skin during menopause. And really everyone does as they age.

This is just a natural phenomenon and that explains how skin loses that elasticity. It can become dry and wrinkled. But we can mitigate some of that to an extent with our diet. So one way to get some of that collagen in is bone broth. It's soup season or feeling more like soup season here in Minnesota.

So I actually just got a jar of frozen bone broth out of the freezer, I think just last week. And I made a good soup with that and I was like, ugh. That's right. I forget about this during the summer sometimes. So bone broth is a great way, like that was mother nature's way of getting that collagen in before we had modern technology to make powders.

Brandy: Right.

Leah: But then supplementing with collagen, I know is a very popular topic that I talked to clients about a lot. We do have a collagen product. It's called Key Collagen. It's a powder and it, this one has a patented peptide in it, so that's just kind of a little piece of protein in it that's called Verisol.

And this particular peptide is specifically designed to target healthy skin, hair and nails. And I would say for my clients who are interested in collagen, the number one and number two, I would say is joints, but then hair, skin and nails is kind of coming in, in a close second there.

Brandy: Yes.

Leah: So collagen is one of those more popular products. The Key Collagen especially is very popular because I, I can't tell you how many clients I've had or heard from people coming in just to buy their products. They're so excited because this collagen works so well. I had one client tell me, you know, she took it for about two months.

So again, it wasn't like two weeks. It took a little while, but after about two months of putting collagen in her coffee in the morning she was saying my nails were so much stronger and then I didn't have to rely on that nail polish. So here we don't have like the, the products that we need as much to cover up, like the cracks or the spots or some of that breakage. I was actually working again last week and a client came in to purchase a few products, including the collagen, and she was telling us at the front desk how she went to the hairdresser recently and her hairdresser had made a comment of like how much thicker her hair was looking.

It's nice when other people, it's not just yourself, but other people notice and she was like, I mean the two, the two of the biggest things I've changed is she works with one of our other dietitians. She really increased her protein. She's been really trying to be consistent with that. And she's got the collagen on board. So between those two things, she felt like both of those were really helping.

Brandy: That's amazing. Yeah. I actually, was visiting my family a couple weeks ago and I don't know how the topic of collagen came up, but my mom's like…

Leah: It's sneaks its way in there.

Brandy: She started taking it for her joints just to ease some joint pain, which was really making a difference. But she's noticing now too, like my hair is growing back. Now my whole family, I've got them all on collagen now. They all want some beautiful hair too.

Oh, your mom's a good salesperson. Yeah, and like collagen is one piece of the puzzle, but I always like to add that like vitamin C is a really important aspect of collagen production. We really do need vitamin C to build the structure of collagen. So that, that we can get through diet pretty easily.

You know, every time you're eating a colorful fruit or vegetable, you can tell yourself, I am getting the vitamin C that I need for my collagen production. So, something that I like to give my clients, we've got a lot of different nutrients that we need for our hair, skin, and nails. We can condense it all into a nice little smoothie.

Leah: Yeah.

Brandy: So here's my like anti-aging skin support smoothie supplement. I like to start with a good quality protein powder. So maybe a whey or a beef protein powder. Throw in some frozen berries, which are really high in vitamin C, a little bit of avocado for some vitamin E. And then perhaps a little almond butter or coconut milk for healthy fat. And then that collagen powder can, you can add that right into that smoothie for a little bit of a boost. And then I toss in some spinach, not just for veggies, but really rich in vitamin A, and that helps with skin cell turnover. So altogether, we're cramming in a lot of skin supporting nutrients. If you do that once a day, you're covering a lot of bases with that.

Protein is the foundation for our tissues

Leah: Yeah, absolutely. It puts you several steps ahead of the game if you just kind of can put that concoction together. And speaking of protein, so we've been talking about collagen, which is a kind of protein, it's one of the most abundant proteins in the body, but protein really does make up that foundation of our tissues. Protein builds the foundation of all of our structures, all of our tissues, like that skin, hair, nails, bones, gut, everything. And we talked about a few key supplements so far, but really food is always going to be the foundation.

You can take all the right supplements, but if you're missing that nutrition piece, it's never going to get you all the way there. So, protein is one thing that we do want to prioritize, especially with our female clients. I find like sometimes we just get a little low or a little lax on the protein recommendations or just being able to eat enough.

Sometimes the appetite is down. Sometimes there's just some other things going on that, you know, women try to keep their protein a little bit lower. Sometimes it's the cholesterol issue. So we have to kind of talk through some of that. But then we lay it out and we say, all right, here's how much protein we're aiming for at each meal.

I usually, I'm usually recommending at least four ounces at every meal. Sometimes we go up to five or six ounces at a meal. Especially if we're dealing, I would say, with a lot of cravings. Or if we're dealing with energy or, or people are interested in weight loss. That's a big part of our, our clientele.

So like higher the protein, usually it's going to aid with that weight loss process a little bit more. In general, that four to five to six ounces of protein, it's going to be somewhere between 28 to 42 grams of protein. That's at those, each of those main meals. So you're doing that probably two, at least two, if not three times a day.

And then if you're doing a snack, probably about two ounces at a snack, which is 14 to 15 grams of protein or so. So that, we got to make that add up over, over the course of the day. And so you and I, Brandy, were just talking about, okay, what have we done recently that we put together that would kind of fit that bill?

Brandy: Yeah. How do we get it done?

Leah: How do we get it done? So in the essence of soups, I mentioned that earlier. So I made a chicken wild rice soup off of our website last week. My husband requested it to be made for his hunting trip in a couple of weeks, so I was like, okay, I'm glad that got a good thumbs up.

But I used that bone broth in the soup. You get a good amount of chicken in there. I don't remember exactly how much chicken. I know I for sure used at least two pounds of chicken. Probably actually even a little bit more. And then I love that one because you do actually really get a nice blend of veggies. There's the carrots, the celery, the zucchini, the peas. Like there's actually a good amount of veggies in there.

Brandy: Yeah, so good.

Leah: Yeah. So I know that would be one idea that people could throw together for a high protein meal. I've got our weeknight goulash recipe on the docket for tonight. So again, like I, I must have soup on the brain or kind of like that “comforty” fall food.

Brandy: Yeah. Yeah, me too. I've, I've gotten my crockpot out. That seems like a fall seasonal thing. So I've, I've done a couple roasts in the last week. And then kind of a seasonal thing would be, I just got some fresh cut salmon. I got a salmon guy, so we're doing nice salmon filets. Just a roast in a little butter with some roasted sweet potatoes and a little kale.

Leah: Yeah. Yeah, salmon, chicken, beef. I've been talking to my clients a lot about shrimp. Dairy, if you can do dairy, that can be a great protein source for people. So kind of again, like we're trying to anchor ourselves with that protein throughout the day, any time we're eating. So that's, that can be really helpful. Again, just giving our, our skin, our hair, our nails, those building blocks or those amino acids that we need to build those tissues.

Brandy: Exactly.

Leah: And some people you mentioned earlier, the, the protein shake; whey protein powder can help kind of fill those gaps a little bit you know, sometimes some, I do have clients who are just like, I can't eat more meat. What else you got? Though, like sometimes the protein powder's like that, a good quality protein powder can give you a protein option, but without having to chew on another piece of meat. 

Hair thinning/hair loss during menopause: what to do about it?

Brandy: Exactly. Yeah, really efficient way to get a good whack of protein for sure. So yeah, we have been talking so much about skin, but another topic that comes up a lot with the clients that I work with is hair thinning and hair shedding as they're entering this phase of life.

Yeah, it's definitely one of the biggest complaints that I hear. Some of my clients are even just scared to wash their hair because they are noticing so much fallout in the shower and really hair, I mean, hair's a tough one because it's, you know, so much of our identity and how we see ourselves and how others see ourselves.

So your self-esteem can really take a hit if you start to notice that hair thinning. It's, you know, hormonal changes during menopause can really contribute to this. You know, our hair follicles start to shrink and our hair becomes thinner and it just sheds a lot easier. So that type of hormonal shift can also lead to more male pattern hair growth.

So insult to injury, we're losing hair where we want it. We're growing hair where we don't want it. Think like, kind of like the upper lip or even maybe some whiskers popping up on the chin. So it can be, yeah, a big challenge, navigating these changes in your appearance.

So again, this is another reason why hair needs extra dietary protein and those healthy, nourishing fats. Just so we have the nutrients, the building blocks that we need to grow hair. So I really make sure that my clients that have these hair concerns are focusing on getting enough animal-based protein throughout the day.

Leah just gave us some really great examples and those healthy fats with every meal and the healthy fats maybe we should talk a little bit more about, so I'm not, you know, suggesting just a little bit of fat in one meal, like really every meal throughout the day. So that would be like a tablespoon of grass fed butter, or even extra virgin olive oil would be great.

Or it could be half of an avocado in a smoothie, maybe a handful of nuts with a snack. So again, every meal should have a little bit of healthy fat added, not just a little bit sprayed in the pan with your eggs. Your tissues really need that extra dietary fat to hydrate your cells, especially as we age because our nutrition needs are changing.

Steps to take for nail support

Leah: Yep. So let's, let's take hair and let's talk about nails actually for a second. We talked a lot about first skin, a bit about hair. I'd love to touch on nails really quick. Because when I hear a client express frustration about, again, dry nails, brittle nails, they break easily. Yes. We definitely want to do everything that we just mentioned.

Protein, healthy fats, but then my mind wanders a little bit in a similar yet different direction, and I go to mineral intake. So I think about minerals like calcium. I think about magnesium, I think about zinc. I think about iron. So at this stage in life, in menopause, you know, I'd say most women are kind of either looking at or they're already on a calcium supplement.

We recommend magnesium a lot. Long time listeners know that. But zinc can be one that I will circle back on with clients if they're not already on that. So if you looked at your nails right now and you notice are there little white spots on your nails that can be a sign of a zinc deficiency.

Brandy: Right.

Leah: Maybe you notice during cold and flu season, maybe they start to form even a little bit more, especially the more times you get sick throughout the year. Thinking about our immune system. Also, most people kind of think the zinc and immune system piece. If you feel like you are the person that comes down with every cold or every virus or everything that comes around, maybe we're a little low in zinc and your system is working hard to try to keep up with everything. So we can try supplementing with zinc for at least a few weeks. See if you notice an improvement both with the nails, but also your immune system.

Brandy: Yes.

Leah: I mean, in general, I think, if I remember correctly, the RDA for zinc is like eight milligrams. It's something really low. But when we're trying to dig people out of the hole of a zinc deficiency, I don't hesitate to go more like 15 to 30 milligrams of zinc. And even for some clients, we have a supplement that gives you 54 milligrams of zinc in one capsule. So we may go high dose at least for a couple of months. See what we see and then kind of decide where to proceed from there.

Brandy: Right?

Leah: Yep. And then in terms of food, this is where most of our meats have actually a good source of zinc, grass fed meats, shellfish and seafood, naturally highest sources of zinc, plus some other great minerals. Pumpkin seeds are an especially high source of zinc. So that's another nice one that, again, like you could, you could blend something like that into your anti-aging skin smoothie or throw, you know, sprinkle some on your salad or throw some over a little bit of yogurt. Something like that.

Brandy: Yeah. Perfect. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Really good. Easy to get some zinc if you're eating a variety of real foods.

Leah: Definitely.

Brandy: But got to be consistent with it. The zinc comes back to hair shedding too, because zinc deficiency and iron, iron deficiency, like you mentioned, that can also contribute to shedding hair faster, which can lead to some of that thinning.

You know, I've had several clients that have, you know, looked into really expensive hair treatments, like steroids or like more painful things like microneedling. I even had a client have a hair transplant just to, you know, get some of that hair back. You know, I'm working with a client now who's, you know, contemplating some of these treatments and I, you know, before we go down that path, let's just test your iron and see what's going on there.

Leah: Yeah, good idea.

Brandy: Like, I was not surprised that it was low. So, now we're making an effort to eat more of those iron-rich foods, you know, animal-based protein, grass fed beef, and getting some zinc in there. You know, these pumpkin seeds, what easy way to get some zinc. You know, and it's been a few months and we are starting to see some improvement.

You know, some baby hairs are popping up. So I always recommend, you know. Dig a little deeper, see if there's something that we can control through our diet before we go down that path of more invasive treatments.

Leah: Yep. Do a little lab digging if you're able to, like you said, test for iron, so that means testing your hemoglobin for sure, but also testing ferritin. We recommend that a lot, because both of those together can kind of give us a picture of what's going on.

Brandy: Right.

The importance of having good gut health

Leah: But then let's think about gut health as well, because we can be eating all these wonderful nutrients, but if we're not absorbing them as optimally as we should, like, that's not going to be the ideal scenario. So what would be some reasons that we're not absorbing food really well? And actually specifically thinking about some of these minerals like iron and zinc and calcium and magnesium.

These minerals require acid in order to be digested and then absorbed really well. If we're low in stomach acid, this can be one reason why we're not breaking down our proteins really well, which is where we find a lot of these minerals, and then we're not able to leach those minerals out of that food.

And then absorb them further down in the intestinal tract. So we come in, we have clients, a lot of clients who come in on Omeprazole, other antacids for reflux; that's going to lower that nutrient absorption. So ideally we want to reduce, usually wean off and not too many people successfully cold turkey off these things, but wean off over time.

So we're not reliant on those medications. Ideally, we're getting to some more of that root cause of what's causing that reflux. Then we really can start to make headway with that nutrient absorption piece and I, yeah, I get it. Like reflux is not a fun thing to experience day in and day out, so I totally understand why people kind of get into this loop of I need it, you know, I need it for comfort, I need it to sleep, I need it to be able to function during the day.

But it does come at a cost kind of down the road, so, so we do want to figure out what is going on in the gut where we have this irritation, this inflammation, so that we know what's there and then we can hopefully wean off these medications and ideally get back to that better absorption.

Brandy: Yeah. It can be a tedious process, but totally worth it long term when you think about, you know, the side effects of those medications. So it's a trickle down effect. If you're not absorbing nutrients, we're going to run into some problems, not just with hair. Like bone health too. It's a big risk factor for osteoporosis.

Now that's a whole other show, but that is something that we work with clients one-on-one to do successfully all the time. When I'm working with somebody to try to figure out like the root cause of  their reflux, sometimes we are also talking about a potential food sensitivity.

Rule out food sensitivities

You know, something that's kind of flown under the radar for years. Something that I may experiment with right away is gluten. Is there a gluten sensitivity here? Because gluten is particularly irritating to the gut and the trouble is a lot of people, they may not have like an obvious sign that gluten is, you know, impacting them, right?

Leah: Right like you eat bread and then immediately in the bathroom, like I would say that's more of a rare experience. Some people have that, but like not that many.

Brandy: Right, exactly. Yeah, it may not be a very dramatic reaction or an immediate reaction. But when there's a gluten sensitivity, it could be more of like a long term, kind of slowly chipping away at your gut health until perhaps you kind of reach this threshold where it's like, well now…

Leah: Damage has been done now at this point.

Brandy: Damage has been done and I have these symptoms I can't explain because I haven't really changed anything with the way that, you know, I eat. So yeah, it could be causing some of that damage behind the scenes and compromising nutrient absorption this whole time. So until you remove it, we don't really know its impact on you.

Leah: Yeah, absolutely. So it's definitely the gold standard with testing food sensitivities is still elimination and then challenge it again at a later time. I have had clients who would say that, you know, who have said to me, well, I've eaten bread and pasta and crackers and all the things like my whole life, and I've never noticed that problem.

Again, I've never had that immediate, 10 minutes later I'm in the bathroom. Or I'm throwing up. Or something super dramatic like that. But like you said, it can be more of that slow burn. Gluten sensitivity can develop over time, especially as we age. We just get more insults on our immune system. On our gut.

And so those, sometimes those things add up. And now we've got our, our inflammation bucket that is just overflowed a bit. So we need to find ways to lower that inflammation so that the symptoms are more controlled. And then, then we can decide where, where can we reintroduce things? Can we reintroduce things?

Where's my threshold? And again, like that's what we do with clients one-on-one all the time. So when I'm working with a client focusing on skin, hair, and nail growth, we're, we're definitely talking about gut health. We're definitely talking about nutrient absorption. Maybe we are talking about gluten. That could be, again, an underlying problem where we're just not absorbing things or digesting things as well as we could be. So it could be one of those more subtle issues.

Brandy: Mm-hmm. Exactly. Yeah. It takes a little detective work and some commitment. So we have gone over so much information already today. And really the truth is, and I hope listeners are picking up on this, is that improving your skin and hair and nails during menopause is really complex. You know, it's not as simple as just taking a new supplement or trying a new product. Those things could definitely help.

But if you really want to see significant improvements. We need to support the body from the inside out so that we know we are getting the nutrients that we need. We make sure that our gut is working properly so that we can digest and absorb those nutrients so that they can go on and do wonderful things for our body.

Leah: They do great things for us.

Sample menu day to support skin, hair & nails

Brandy: Yep, exactly. We want to make this practical. If you were to build a day of eating that is going to support your skin, your hair, and your nails, we came up with a little menu.

Leah: Mm-hmm.

Brandy: So breakfast could be an egg and veggie scramble, so maybe two or three eggs with an ounce or two of chicken sausage or ham. Throw in some spinach, chopped peppers, and then maybe a half a cup of berries or some other fruit on the side. Get some extra antioxidants in that.

Leah: Yeah. Yum.

Brandy: Then lunch, maybe you make like a salmon salad with canned salmon, with some avocado oil based mayonnaise. And then just top that on leafy greens, maybe with a sprinkle of those pumpkin seeds. Get a little crunch, get some zinc. There's actually a really great recipe for a salmon salad on our website, weightandwellness.com. People love that one. A great recipe to batch cook and just have for meals and snacks throughout the week.

Leah: Mm-hmm. Love it. You know, a mid-afternoon snack could be the protein shake that you were just mentioning: some whey protein powder, frozen berries, a tablespoon or two of some nut butter, throw in the collagen if you're going to do that, for that extra protein, but some of those collagen building blocks. And then, ground flax or maybe a couple teaspoons of some chia seeds. Again, you get a little bit of omega-threes plus some great fiber, some great fats with those.

And then dinner could be a grass fed beef stir fry. So you could use a frozen stir fry veggie mix. That's usually what I do when I'm making a stir fry, so I just grab, you know, a couple different kinds of blends. Throw some of those colorful veggies together, that vitamin C, put it over some brown rice. And maybe cut that with some cauliflower rice or something like that. Again, you get your protein, a nice, colorful blend of vegetables. You get a little bit of starch in there, easy dinner.

Brandy: Love that.

Leah: Yeah. And you don't have to overhaul completely your whole diet all at once and never look back. Even swapping in salmon once a week or pumpkin seeds. I mean, we're just going to talk up pumpkin seeds today, I guess. Like, like buying a bag of pumpkin seeds. You know, you're going to have to spread that out over time.

So like just find little ways to splash that in there too. Like these small little changes do add up over time. We make deposits in the bank so that we can count on it later on.

Brandy: Mm-hmm. No, I like thinking of it like that. Just one small change is progress and you just keep chipping away at it.

Supplements that can be helpful (& recap)

So let's just talk again about some of the supplements that we've already discussed that can be helpful just to give a quick recap. And as you know, as much as we're going to promote getting most of our nutrients from food, there are some supplements that can give you just a bit of an edge or more of a therapeutic boost to fill in the gaps.

So, of course, like a good quality multivitamin with some B vitamins, a good amount of B vitamins and some minerals is a really great foundation. Beyond that, of course, we want to think about omega-threes. If you're not getting it from your food, that fatty fish highly recommend a good quality fish oil supplement.

For some people GLA might make a lot of sense. We haven't talked much about vitamin D, but I think vitamin D would be a no-brainer for most people. And then collagen powder. Altogether, I would say that is kind of my foundation supplement plan for boosting hair, skin, and nails.

Leah: Yeah. Great solid start. And then we mentioned like maybe check out your iron levels. See what they're doing. I think especially as women go through perimenopause and menopause, for some women they get super heavy menstrual cycle; super heavy periods. So like when we're losing all that blood, we can end up iron deficient pretty easily.

Brandy: Yeah, good points.

Leah: Test those iron levels. Let's see where we're at. Do we need to supplement with that or do we need to really focus on making sure we're eating like some great red meat, getting those protein sources in? Maybe we think about zinc, if the hair shedding or like breaking hairs is a big issue, or you're seeing those white spots on your fingernails.

Remember it's food first, but these are just some other, I think your ideas of like those foundational supplements, but maybe thinking about some zinc or some iron in there as well. Like absolutely makes sense.

Brandy: Yeah, totally. Use your next physical as an opportunity to investigate some of that. Request some of these labs if it sounds like you. And yeah, supplements are just tools. Of course, we want to focus on a good balanced diet as well. It, because it is our habits. It's those everyday choices that's going to help strengthen your hair and your skin and your nails.

So if you are going through menopause and you're noticing some of those changes, remember that it's not just aging and you're not powerless. You do have some control over this.

Leah: Yes. That’s right. With the right nutrition, a few targeted supplements, you can support your body and see real improvements. If you, as a listener resonated with today's topic, I encourage you to make an appointment, come meet with myself, or meet with Brandy or one of the other wonderful dietitians we have here at Nutritional Weight & Wellness.

Schedule Nutrition Counseling

We have options for in-person if you're local here in the Twin Cities, or we talk to people on Zoom or virtually all the time, on the phone sometimes. So there's a lot of ways to connect. And ongoing, individualized support is the best way you will get to the results that you're looking for. And as you can tell from today's discussion, there's a lot to consider.

There's a lot of different angles that we could come at this with. And so just let us help, let us step in, help you, give you that compass to point you in the right direction and to think through what are the next logical steps. So you can give us a call at (651) 699-3438. You can visit our website, which is weightandwellness.com to learn more.

And if you found today's podcast helpful, please share it with a loved one and leave a review. It's the best way that we can continue spreading our message of real food for real health. Have a wonderful day.

Brandy: Thank you.