Best Supplements for Each Decade: 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s

Unlock the secrets to a lifetime of peak health with Amanda Lovett-Jones, a trailblazing Australian naturopath and lead formulator at Snap Supplements, guiding us through the shifting sands of nutrition and wellness. Imagine understanding the precise tweaks your body needs as you transition from the frenetic 20s to the robust 50s - would that change how you approach your daily health routine? Our conversation leads you through the decades with practical advice on tailoring your diet, exercise, and supplements to meet your evolving needs, ensuring you're as vibrant and healthy at 50 as you were at 20.

Supplements mentioned in this episode (use code LUNDEN25 for 25% OFF)
- Super Greens with Collagen
- Organic Nitric Oxide Beets
- Passion for Women
- Drive for Men
- Magnesium Complex
- Sleep Complex

Timestamps to help you navigate this episode:
0:00 Intro
2:47 FREE Self Love & Sweat MONTHLY Calendar
5:56 Supplements and Vitamins for 20-Year-Olds
16:34 Minerals for Men and Women In Their 30s
29:31 Sponsor: Snap Supplements 25% OFF using code LUNDEN25
33:24 Inflammation and Gut Health in 40s
44:02 Health Supplements Over 50

Connect with Amanda Lovett-Jones:
@functionalhealthandapothecary
www.functionalhealthandapothecary.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:22 FREE Self Love & Sweat MONTHLY Calendar
• 3:31 Supplements and Vitamins for 20-Year-Olds
• 14:09 Minerals for Men and Women In Their 30s
• 27:06 Sponsor: Snap Supplements 25% OFF using code LUNDEN25
• 30:59 Inflammation and Gut Health in 40s
• 41:37 Health Supplements Over 50

Transcript

Lunden Souza: 0:01

Welcome to Self Love and Sweat The Podcast, the place where you'll get inspired to live your life unapologetically, embrace your perfect imperfections, break down barriers and do what sets your soul on fire. I'm your host, Lunden Souza. Hey, have you grabbed your free Self Love and Sweat monthly calendar yet? This calendar is so amazing. It comes right in your inbox every single month to help you have a little nugget of wisdom, a sweaty workout, a mindset activity, just a little something, something to help keep you focused and motivated and keep that momentum towards your goals. So every day, when you get this calendar, you'll see a link that you can click that will lead to a podcast episode or a workout or something that will be very powerful and quick to read. And then you'll also see, on the top left corner of every single day, there's a little checkbox in the calendar and what that is is that's for your one thing. You can choose one thing every month, or it can be the same, something that you want to implement and make this something that you can easily implement, like daily meditation or getting a certain amount of steps or water, for example, and staying hydrated and even taking your supplements. This can be something if you want to get more regular doing a particular habit and routine. You can choose what that checkbox means. So if you want your Self Love and Sweat free monthly calendar delivered right to your inbox every month on the first of the month, go to lifelikelunden. com/ calendar. Fill out the form really quickly and you will have your calendar in your inbox within a few short minutes. That's lifelikelunden L-I-F-E-L-I-K-E-L-U-N-D-E-N dot com forward slash calendar. Go, get yours for free and enjoy this episode.

Lunden Souza: 2:14

Welcome back to Self Love and Sweat The Podcast. Today we have Amanda Lovett-Jones back on the show, which I'm so excited about. I always feel like I learn so much whenever we have a chance to connect, either on a video call or when I get to have her on the podcast. Amanda is an Australian naturopath and herbalist and she's currently studying to get her PhD in plant medicine. She's also the senior herbalist at Snap Supplements, which is how her and I met. She's been on the podcast before. I'll link that one in our show notes as well, but today specifically, we're talking about supplementing throughout the decades of our lives in our 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. Amanda, thank you so much for coming back. I appreciate you how are you, hi Lunden.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 2:54

I love our time together. We always have a great time and we have so much in common our lust for life and our devotion to becoming and maintaining our vibrancy throughout the next few decades. And I love this topic that we're going to talk about today because it's so pertinent. What we were taking or what is relevant to our bodies and our minds in our 20s is simply not the case in our 50s, 60s and 70s. So I love this topic, I'm excited about it and I'm really curious as to what the feedback and the questions will be from your listeners.

Lunden Souza: 3:31

Yeah, and I'm excited too, because I think a lot of women, when they get into the later decades of their lives, find themselves stuck because they think that they should be, or are supposed to be, doing supplementing and can do the same things that they did in their 20s or 30s, and they're finding that they're stuck and they're not getting the results. They're not feeling the way that they want to feel. And I'm also excited about this episode because at the time of recording, I'm 35. So I can think of my 20s, I can think of part of my 30s, but then I also feel like I'm excited to learn more about what to expect and what things I can have on my radar coming in the next decades of my life. So let's just jump right in.

Lunden Souza: 4:14

Let's start with our 20s. What are the things we need to be focusing on? I can think of myself in my 20s. I was like going, you know, adulting for the first time, living on my own, and also like I didn't think I needed to create time for health and wellness. I was just doing all the things on the go. So I know these tips are probably going to be things that are like quick and effective. What do we need to be thinking about when we're in our twenties, and let's just reflect on something.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 4:43

I love the term that youth is wasted on the young. I just think it's such an apropos comment about this era, because not only do we hit the ground running, we are at when you're in your 20s. You are at go from the minute that you wake up in the morning. Do you remember going out and you could party on a Friday night and Saturday night? You could wake up on Monday morning, head to work, feeling fantastic. Everything in the mirror is where it's, in its prime position, with very minimal effort. And it is a time when what you need to consider if you are in your 20s is everything that you're putting in your mouth is usually on the go and 80% of that let's just be clear is predominantly garbage, because you don't have the money to buy all organic. You are probably like look, just before I do this, I'm going to go do that, I'm going to eat while I'm doing that, and then I'm eating such and such and such and such and we're having lunch together. Nobody can afford in your 20s. If you're in college or you just come out of college, if you are lucky enough to have your down payment on your first house, that's not happening for the majority of people in your 20s. You are working, you are trying to work up that ladder, you're trying to figure out who you are as people. So let's just talk about. What you're putting in your bodies is usually fast and furious and hard and not really great quality. So the thing that you really want to look at is your blood sugar 100%. What we want to do is maintain a certain amount of protein through the day, and we want to have a look at the two things specifically. First thing you put in your body in the morning and in the afternoon when you're like, okay, let's go again, I've got to go out after work, right? So you're looking at blood sugar balance and you're looking at metabolic balance.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 6:29

Generally, people in their 20s have sweet tooths that palate has not matured just yet, we haven't grown into. Okay, for the first thing in the morning, I'm going to have like a pH balanced green juice, said no person in their 20s ever, right? You're going to grab a donut on the way to your office or somebody brought the bagels and you're going to have at least three because you're hungry all the time you're working out, and so what I want to do is get everybody who's listening in their 20s to consider. Maybe a blood sugar gummy would be something to consider, something that helps you metabolize all that stuff that you're putting in your mouth, and foundational nutrition. So I really really like nitrate rich food. So beets is a really good one, that green, leafy rich vegetables, let's just say, anyone who is listening, are you roasting beets in your 20s? I'm thinking probably not. You're having beet juice, although I am looking at a new revolution of younger people really getting into fitness and health and identifying that what they put in their body really translates to what they get out of it.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 7:40

So I'm not going to put a blanket statement, but if you are in your 50s and 60s and listening to this, we are just going to reflect on what the twenties usually are for people who go to college and then come out and have to earn a living. Right? So that we're looking at foundational nutrition, things that you can do on the run, things that you can actually take pre-workout to increase that nitric oxide level which helps eliminate all of that lactic acid that you're burning at the gym, which increases natural energy and sort of it's balancing out all of that high sugar that you're having in the day and allowing your blood sugar to regulate on a day-to-day basis. By the way, if you're in your twenties, please call your mom. And number two, please increase your water intake much, much higher. Okay, there's another thing that you can do and you could start doing. I highly recommend. I'm 50.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 8:35

And so if I had have known this in my twenties, besides the fact wear sunscreen, please wear sunscreen all the time, every day, but for your skin, for your hair, for your nails, on an ongoing basis, I would always encourage you to start taking super greens, so things with a lot of collagen, things from the earth, like kelp, seafood. Super greens that comes from rich, leafy, green vegetables. That's what we want. Our, our kale, our spinach. Um, we want our beets and our beet powder. That's going to increase that nitric oxide conversion in the gut. That's going to improve your elimination. That's going to increase all of those beautiful minerals that you need for lustrous hair, really good skin and to help promote really good collagen conversion.

Lunden Souza: 9:26

I love that. Call your mom, drink water, wear sunscreen, take your greens with collagen and your beets in our 20s. I think that was such a great reminder. And, yeah, I think of when I was in my 20s too, chasing that energy, energy drinks, convenience foods, all the things. I can't tell you how many times in my twenties I was like eating in my car on my way to the next thing, chugging you know in between meals, whatever, and so I know that the mentality of go go go and also the energy to kind of match the go go go is definitely present in your twenties but should also be considered, and I love that you didn't put a blanket on that. All people in their 20s are maybe not paying attention. I know that you and I are rooting for the younger generations to start thinking about. It's not always what I look like, but how I feel and the nutrients for later on, in further generations of our lives. Cool, is there anything you would add to the 20s that we didn't cover yet?

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 10:27

Yeah, I want to actually highlight that right now, different delivery methods are coming out for supplements and I believe that it's a lot more economical in your 20s than it used to be to take even a multivitamin or something. So if you are someone on the go and let's be clear, if I am going to work in the morning and I'm working out in the afternoon, then probably going out late at night, the majority of my supplements will be in my car, if I'm lucky enough to have one at 23, right? So I want you to open your mind about they're getting better and better at having powders, at having singular delivery mechanisms for your supplements. That, if you're like I can't afford a capsule or a tablet, I cannot consider taking that every single day. I applaud the dietary supplement industry for enhancing or expanding their understanding of young people and what young people are going to need within that. So I think matching that with your lifestyle is definitely worth having a look at.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 11:32

If you're like, look, I'll probably be more likely to take two soft chews that are going to help with my blood sugar balance or are going to give me some vitamin C or help with my immune system on a daily basis than I am to go home and add something to a smoothie. So meet yourself where you're at and give yourself a break. If you are doing all the things and you are paying your rent and you are calling your mom and you do include three vegetables a day, or even one piece of fruit a day, please do that. Give yourself a break and meet yourself where you're at, because the industry is there and is listening to you and is trying to come up with different delivery methods for you. So, 20s, you're doing great, you're doing amazing and you're doing probably better than we were several generations ago. So go 20s, we believe in you.

Lunden Souza: 12:20

Yes, I love it. I love it. And then, for those of you listening, you'll find in the description of the podcast or the YouTube video, links to specific product recommendations for each decade that Amanda and I have brainstormed on before and I'm creating individual blog postings for. So, for those of you listening, whatever decade you find yourself in, you'll have an easy resource to then have a list of recommended smart supplements that meet you where you are cool.

Lunden Souza: 12:50

So then into your 30s, that moment where I know for me personally I think I'm 35 now, I was probably like 32-ish when I realized, specifically within my physical body, like, oh, if I'm a little stiff, like if I sit a little too long and I'm not doing yoga as regularly, I feel the little crackle pops a little bit. I feel I can't and I don't even want to. I don't want to go back to those nights where I would just stay up hanging out with friends all night, barely any sleep, and then wake up in the morning and just go as if you've slept eight hours, like. I know I need my seven to nine hours, no question, I am not afraid to say no to the later evening things if I know I need to wake up earlier, there was just this shift in terms of energy and also mobility in my body and I've worked out. You know, I'm a fit person, I eat well.

Lunden Souza: 13:50

I think it's just kind of the nature of that next decade reminding us of like, hey, this is what's important. Who am I? What do I need to kind of fuel my purpose rather than just fuel my energy? That's kind of where I'm at right now. So what are some changes we might experience in our 30s and what might we need to start incorporating into our 30s?

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 14:12

And I love that lifestyle factor that you're starting to bring in your responsibility dial is starting to turn way up. In your 30s you may or may not have a partner that you've been with for a while and you might start thinking about more foundational lifestyle stuff, investment stuff. Perhaps you are considering a family. This is all starting to happen in your 30s. One thing that I loved you saying is your body's like excuse me, we're not doing that anymore. I can't be leaping out of bed. What's going on? Also, women and men both are starting to. You know. Their genes are feeling tighter. They're like hang on a sec, I can't do whatever I want, I can't eat whatever I want and my body does not have this immediate rebound factor. If you don't listen to that in your thirties, your forties and fifties and sixties and beyond, it won't. Your 40s and 50s and 60s and beyond, it won't.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 15:09

30s are a time to stop just a little bit and start listening to these changes. One thing I really would like to bring home on this you have a decision in your 30s. You can either say no, I'm going to ignore you. I'm going to overpower you with more caffeine. I'm going to overpower you with like, more workout stuff and like go harder, go stronger, and then your 40s you will feel it. Trust me, your 30s is about taking a breath and realizing things are changing. And how am I going to modify A the way I eat, b the way I treat myself and C what is my vision for the next few years? Do I want to start going into that graceful period of your 40s, which I like to call swag 40s, or in my 30s, am I just going to keep my head down and like power roll? This is really, really, really important. I like to consider this era too. It's about focus and replenishment. Focus on okay, I got more responsibility, and so what am I going to put in my body? This is when you need to start really recognizing that there's something to that plant forward lifestyle. There's something to actually balancing my protein with my fats and my sugars and really lean away from my sugars a little bit more, because that sugar stuff that was really in your 20s will take root in your 30s. It is time to really recognize that and if you're struggling with that, taking a supplement that really supports that blood sugar balance is critical in your early 30s, because that will really take root and it'll be really tricky to get rid of.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 16:43

Later and later, a daily multivitamin is something you want to start putting in your body foundational nutrition and if a daily multi isn't your thing, then start looking at either taking a beet supplement which is so dense in nitrates and you'll see I've started talking about nitrates quite a lot because it's in your green leafy vegetables. It helps with your microbiome, increases elimination through your liver, which in your 20s you basically flogged for a good decade, like your liver was pretty much the trough of everything you wanted to explore in your 20s, and in your 30s your liver starts having a voice. No, thank you, exactly, or hi, I'm here, yes, yes. So a liver health or a supplement that really encourages that liver detoxification you should start considering taking that on a daily basis. So when you're 30s, you're making a little bit more money you might have invested in here or there. You might actually start considering like a prenatal vitamin. This is where your foundational stuff is really changing. I would highly recommend this is when you start to invest in your body, not just a really more expensive gym membership. I'm talking about investing what goes on inside your body and that will change how your genes are fitting. Increase liver health. Increase liver health. That will change your energy throughout the day, blood sugar balance right and that will also change how you're sleeping and your quality of sleep.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 18:12

Lunden, you said it. You said it beautifully. If you're not sleeping well, address the three things I just said before and really preempt. Your body needs minimum seven hours. Seven to ten is that sweet spot. Some people really don't need a heck of a lot of sleep. That's just foundationally where they're at or constitutionally where they're at, the more your body sleeps. Highly recommend a book "hy we Sleep. It's fantastic. It talks about I've heard of that before.

Lunden Souza: 18:40

It's amazing. I haven't read it yet, but thanks for reminding me.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 18:43

It talks about what happens if we don't sleep or and what happens if we deploy all of the things that we need for really good sleep, quality sleep, and what happens the next day. So if you're not sleeping well or if you're getting a lot of, a lot more cramps or that stiffness joints you're talking about, this is a really good time to start introducing magnesium into your life. That's for cramping, that's for stress, for anxiety, for anxiousness, so it really helps with that cognitive stuff going on, and also it can help with sleep. If you're laying down, you've got restless legs. If you are somebody who has a profuse amount of energy that is me I can go and go and go and go and go until my body goes, not anymore. You're going to sleep now and so sometimes I get a lot of restless like my body will tingle all over.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 19:35

That is magnesium, and you want a good quality glycinate, which is a form of magnesium that allows the body to break it down and makes it more bioavailable magnesium. If you're taking it in high doses and it is not a form that your body can break down, you can actually have diarrhea or loose stools, so that's not ideal, and then you know that you're not actually absorbing it correctly. So I would highly recommend bringing in a magnesium if sleep or body aches and pains or cramping is a factor, especially if you're continuing to work out, because, like you said, Lunden. Say you get to 38, 39, your body's not going to be able to just go straight away. It's going to start being sore and you're going to start feeling that, Rather than just ignore it, how about we lean into it and start replenishing and focusing on what we want to feel moving into our 40s?

Lunden Souza: 20:33

Yeah, and I love that you mentioned the magnesium glycinate, because I think a lot of people just think magnesium as magnesium and I think of when you go to CVS or some of those other stores and as you're waiting in line, you'll see the little containers of magnesium that you drop in your water and you can drink, and oftentimes those are the correct me if I'm wrong but the magnesium citrate, which then sometimes can be what we experience diarrhea or loose stools from, because we're not aware that there are different types of magnesium that might be available to do different roles. Is that correct?

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 21:03

Yeah, what you want to do is take a whole complex. So if you're taking magnesium citrate, it's fine. You want to take it with a glycinated form, so it's bound to something already, and you want to take multiple forms of magnesium already in a complex? That's the best way to absolutely take it, 100% Cool.

Lunden Souza: 21:20

Yeah, and we have a good recommendation for that through Snap Supplements and I love it. And yeah, I didn't know that before. I always thought magnesium was magnesium and then, as I realized, oh actually there's like branches into different forms that can be really important. So good, anything else in our thirties that we should be mindful of incorporating.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 21:39

Well, I want to just say something about glycinated forms or complexes. It's the same with vitamin C. You take ascorbic acid at higher doses, say 2000 milligrams, you will have gastric acid upset. You will have gastric upset and so your body will likely have we call we actually call it bowel tolerance, and so you will have looser stools. But if you want to just get an ascorbic acid or a calcium ascorbate, it's bound to calcium and your body can handle it a lot better. So always look at your labels, always read the labels and know what you're taking.

Lunden Souza: 22:15

Okay, so good, so good, okay. So then, coming into our 40s, what should we be thinking about? What's happening within our bodies hormonally and what's going to be critical for us to include in our routine in our 40s?

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 22:32

So, in your 30s you're, you're pretty much developing your community because you're finally going okay, I'm staying here more, I'm planting roots, and so when you're coming into your 40s you have the opportunity to make it a swag 40s. You really really do. People who had no listening capabilities to themselves or still were figuring it out in their 30s might take a few years in your 40s to really be like ah, I understand what community means. I understand what keeping in touch means. I understand what it means to my siblings and to be a part of my core family. I understand relationships a little bit better and why that's really critically important to me and to my family if I'm developing one, if I'm choosing to be a part of a nucleus myself.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 23:19

In your 40s you tend to be through that tunnel of like okay, I'm not going fast-paced anymore, I've kind of maybe been in my job a little bit longer. I know what going fast paced anymore. I've kind of maybe been my job a little bit longer. I know what I want in my career. I may be going back to school. You can start getting a little bit more grounded in who you are. But it can also be a very confusing time, because this is when hormones are changing. This might be what you've been married, or with your partner or not, you've been single for quite a while is when you really start to develop what it means to be in relationships and you're working on yourself.

Lunden Souza: 23:56

This is when you're starting to have a relationship with yourself and with others, exactly.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 24:01

This can also be. Your physical injuries start to play up, like you were talking about. Why am I stiff? If you were a dancer your whole life, if you played tennis your whole life, all of a sudden you're like my shoulder is really bothering me, all those injuries that I had before. But I didn't really give myself the six months that the PT told me because I was busy living my life. I had to get back on the wheel. That's me 100%. Then your body's going to go. Living my life. I have to get back on the wheel. That's me 100%. Then your body's going to go. We just still have that thing that I would really like to heal from. That's also the same with emotional trauma and cognitive trauma, stuff that we just whoop. Let's just skim right over that. That bad breakup, whoop, never happened. Let's just keep going.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 24:42

This is your 40s is when it comes up. You can either swag or you can struggle. Now to swag, to really go. Okay, hormones are shifting. What does that mean? That means your metabolic rate is going to slow. This is really critically important for you to listen to.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 25:02

If you're in your 40s, we do not, or should not consider going. Huh, I gave five pounds, I'm going to starve, I'm going to stop, I'm going to not give myself. That's the worst thing we can do in our 40s. What we should do is go. Huh, I'm gaining five pounds. Is this something that I'm comfortable with? Should I work harder? Or let's have a look at what my diet's doing. Is it my liver going? Huh, it's just that you didn't listen in your thirties and I'm really would love some liver help right now. Or is your body going? I didn't quite get the nutrients I really really needed in my twenties and thirties. I would like a foundational green supplement, please. Now, when I say greens, that's what your body is thriving. It wants all of the greens, it wants all of those B vitamins, it wants all of your magnesium, it wants all of those minerals, it wants it in a big way. So, by taking that, especially in a powder form, because it can get into you really, really quickly, and the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning should not be caffeine, it should not be coffee.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 26:10

Like a racehorse, your 40s. When I say you're swag, you are a beautiful racehorse. All of my female clients or patients that come to me in their 40s, it's one of the first thing I say you are a gorgeous racehorse. If you had a racehorse in your stable, would you wake it up with a whip like caffeine? Or would you wake it up with some organic hay for a horse? How would you wake up a racehorse? 100% of the time it's, I would never do that. I would come in, I would love and I went. Then why are you doing it to your body? If you want to swag, then give yourself that beautiful capability of waking up like a gorgeous racehorse, coming out of its stable, having this beautiful food yawning, allowing itself to meet the day, and then it can give you the best lap of its life. Does that make sense?

Lunden Souza: 27:04

Lunden. Hey, really quick, I want to interrupt the podcast for just a minute to tell you about one of my favorite supplements for hair, skin, nails, digestive and gut health, and that is Snap Supplements Super Greens with Collagen. Now, if you're following me on social media, you've probably seen me post about this a bunch because, honestly, this product tastes amazing and it's jam-packed with nutrients, like I said, to support healthy hair, skin and nails. It helps support detoxification, a healthy immune system, and there's even probiotics in there for a healthy gut. It's non-GMO, no sugar added, soy-free, grass-fed collagen and every scoop is going to give you seven grams of protein, and this is why I love it, because it's not like a protein shake, it's just a scoop of powder. It tastes amazing. I put it in water or, if I want more hydration, I'll put it in coconut water and mix it up, and it's like having a nice refreshing beverage that's packed with a bunch of super greens and protein. So what I'm super excited about is that for listening to the podcast, you'll get this discount here. Nowhere else but for listening to the podcast, you can save 25% off on all your snap supplement purchases, including the super greens with collagen, and you do that by using that's L-U-N-D-E-N 25. L-U-N-D-E-N 25 to get 25% off at checkout. You can shop on snapsupplements. com or you can shop on my website, lifelikelunden. com/ supplements and you'll see there there's already an additional 10% taken off. But you, because you're a podcast listener, you're gonna get 25% off when you use the code LUNDEN25 at checkout. L-U-N-D-E-N 25 at checkout to get your Snap supplements super greens and collagen and all your Snap supplements for 25% off.

Lunden Souza: 29:01

Now let's get back to the show. Yeah, that totally makes sense, and I think of the racehorse going full force in our 20s, sometimes even our 30s. I love how you brought up not only the physical go, go, go, but the heartbreak, the hard stuff, the big T and little t, traumas that we could just catapult fast until our body's like wait, hold on, we can't anymore. And specifically what you mentioned about we gain that extra five pounds. I've heard this a ton from people that I've worked with friends, clients, whatever and our immediate reflex is kind of like okay, eat less, exercise more, make the gap even bigger, make the deficit even more. And what I know, what I've learned from you and from my research and just knowing you know, as I'm preparing to get into that space is like, sometimes that gap can be even more stress on our system can be even a bigger whop whip.

Lunden Souza: 30:04

On the racehorse, we think, okay, it's calculator time, I need to eat less and create, you know, and I think that's where that that eat less, exercise more part really does us a disservice. Because we think, okay, I did that in my twenties, I just skipped a couple of meals and, you know, took a nice bowel movement and I was back to normal. And now, you know, I'm trying to use those same methods and modalities that, like, quite frankly, will yank me in the other direction and potentially cause, you know, more issues later on. And so I love the racehorse analogy and I love that you pointed out like our default might be to skip meals to try to create this deficit, instead of being like wait, how can I add more nourishment, how can I add more love and compassion to my daily living and routine? That's not what we've been taught.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 30:59

That's right. And your 40s is where inflammation really comes into play. I started studying this PhD because I was recognizing wow, Americans are so inflamed. Every person that was coming to me in clinic because I was recognizing wow, Americans are so inflamed, every person that was coming to me in clinic I was like inflammation was the leading symptom that I was seeing different causative factors.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 31:17

However, if you are inflamed and you create what you call an increase in deficit, increased deficit of like no, I'm going to withhold and I'm going to flog more it creates more inflammation and inflammation can cause cognitive impairment. That is like brain fog. I can't quite. You know, fire, nothing's firing unless I have two espressos Lagging. It takes me an hour and a half to fall asleep and then my sleep is really disrupted and I wake up and I'm just struggling in the morning. That's adrenal fatigue and a heck of a lot of inflammation. If you continue to flog that system, it's just going to keep producing inflammation because you just your body's. That's all it can do to get its message across. It's producing this stuff to protect the body and sometimes, if you're gaining five pounds, it could just be your body's way of rebalancing. So, rather than like withhold, give I'm not talking about give high caloric foods, have a pizza and then like, watch a movie and feel great about things. I'm talking about that real foundational nutrition to help lower that inflammation.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 32:25

Anybody in their 40s should be on curcumin. Everybody in their 40s to really good quality curcumin, which is a turmeric, a standardized extract of turmeric, to really help bring down that inflammation. We want more pH balance. So reducing your acidic foods. That's a lot of meat consumption, that is alcohol, that is nicotine, that is caffeine, that is sugar, that's processed, processed foods. It all increases your inflammation and makes a really acidic pH in the gut.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 32:56

Your 40s is also where gut really starts playing its role. If you didn't hear those cute little and I call them cute those cute little nudges from your liver which is oh, this is a hangover, oh, I feel a little bloated, oh, I'm a little tired, I feel just slightly nauseous after eating all that, if you didn't hear those nudges and gave yourself like a good liver cleanse in your 30s, your 40s is where your gut goes, I'm sorry, we're just not doing that anymore. So if you haven't taken a probiotic before, if you're getting bloated all the time, you should consider some good enzymes for your gut. You should consider taking bitters. Bitters is beautiful.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 33:37

It's these amazing herbal medicines that just stimulate the gastric acid secretion and when you take bitter foods you can actually feel the saliva in your mouth start happening. That tells your stomach, your small intestine, your large intestine, tells your pancreas, your gallbladder hey, food's coming. Can you start producing enzymes so that I can metabolize it better? That's what I mean by don't go do this big deficit I'm going to withhold and then start flogging yourself. Meet it where it's at. Give your body what it needs.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 34:08

That is the foundational stuff we need in our 40s. Otherwise, that physical trauma, those aches, those pains, the emotional trauma, that cognitive stuff, that inflammation train that starts at about 38, 39, the 40s it just charges. We want to slow that train down. I want you to look at yourself in the mirror in your 40s please because I've just come through my 40s and look at the beautiful racehorse you're developing, you're becoming rather than why can't I, why don't I? Where's that six packs gone for me, doing absolutely no work? You know, women are so cruel to themselves. It's not helped by what we see in social media. But seeing like that beautiful young Philly become that gorgeous racehorse, that's what your 40s can be if you want to swag in your 40s and not struggle.

Lunden Souza: 35:02

Yeah, yeah. When I was working through PCOS cystic acne, a lot of brain fog, extreme exhaustion, all the things and I wasn't finding resources that were helpful in normal modalities of medicine I started working with a coach and started working with a functional diagnostic nutritionist and one of the things she said to me that I literally repeat in my mind a lot is Lunden, if you're not a liver, you're a dyer. And that was her way of saying love on your liver, nourish your liver. Enzymes, be on top of nourishing your liver and loving on your liver.

Lunden Souza: 35:41

And so I'm really grateful that, even though I went through a lot of health struggles and hormonal issues in my 20s, I'm glad that I learned that in my yeah, I was about 26-ish when I started really loving on my liver, learning the importance of supporting that detoxification organ, learning the role that it plays in a lot of the detoxification and metabolic processes.

Lunden Souza: 36:05

It's like that filter that everything goes through. I'm really glad that I learned that, even though it was really challenging. But I think about that a lot and I think people don't learn that as soon as they potentially could and they get to this point where it's like, oh man, it's like a traffic jam and our we need to like. I think of it as like cleaning the dryer lint out of the dryer, like cleaning that filter so that it can do its job. And I didn't know that about bitters, about. I knew that taking bitters is great for our detoxification organs and for our gut and the enzymes, but I didn't know specifically why. So when you shared that that it turns on that enzyme secretion, that's very interesting.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 36:50

And it's easy to do. You just take them before meals, so I highly encourage that when you're coming towards the end of your 40s as well. When I talk about greens, I'm talking about all super greens. If anyone wants clarification on that, please let me know. But spirulina and chlorella are what I would highly recommend you start taking when you're moving into the end of your 40s and on.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 37:16

I get a lot of questions that come to me through the clinic about shouldn't I be taking collagen? Shouldn't I be taking collagen? Collagen is great. Not everybody metabolizes collagen well, so you really want to take a good source of collagen. Also, you want to take the precursors of collagen. Collagen is great. Not everybody metabolizes collagen well, so you really want to take a good source of collagen. Also, you want to take the precursors of collagen. What does that mean? You want good essential fatty acids, and spirulina and chlorella actually work by getting right into the cells and flushing.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 37:41

Now, when you consider that remember I was talking to you all about your 40s inflammation is starting to come up and I'm like please take curcumin, but that works in a different pathway that actually goes into the body, into the different pathways and mechanisms. I'm going to geek out. So I'm going to pull back and just tell the body hey, we're going to just die down of this a little bit. We don't need quite as much inflammation as happening, but those causative factors of the inflammation are still happening, are still occurring. So I want to make sure that all the listeners understand. I know the body is a very complex thing, but we can work in multiple ways. Everything we eat and take can be working on different pathways that produce inflammation the elimination organs that help get rid of all that toxic stuff. And also can help get into the cells and go let's flush you out from here and give you all the minerals that you possibly need. Which goes into all those beautiful receptor cells. Which allows that inflammation to come in and be like all these free radicals oxidative stress. We call it to come and be like yeah, I got nowhere to attach, I'm just going to be all crazy and just like run around causing havoc. Okay, we're going to flush you out. So it works on multiple different levels.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 38:59

I have been taking spirulina and chlorella at least eight years on a daily basis and I love the way that it makes my skin feel. I love the rebound effect it has within my muscles so I can work out. I play a lot of pickleball, I do a lot of yoga, I'm a dancer, and then the next day I'm a little sore, but it's the following day that I'm like and I'm back into it and that's that naturally occurring salts that happen in these beautiful kelp plants that come straight from the ocean. They're there to really help, attached to certain toxins and allow the body to get rid of them in a beautiful way. So don't underestimate the beauty and the power that can come from green vegetables and green plants. Highly recommend.

Lunden Souza: 39:49

I love that. I was with my best friend, Allie, at her dad's house when I was visiting we were both visiting our parents the last time and one of our parents longtime friends, Linda she's like in her seventies. I had no idea and I was like Linda, like you're, she's like. I think she said she was going to be like 74. I'm like, what Like? If I had to guess I would have been like 52 max and I am not exaggerating. And I asked her I'm like, and I joked because my Instagram handle is lifelikelunden and I'm like, I want to be Life Like Linda. Like what do you do, you know? And that was the thing she said she goes.

Lunden Souza: 40:25

Honestly, I've been taking spirulina and chlorella for a long time and I really she's like. And she even said I don't know specifically what it does, but someone suggested that I take it and I've been taking it and, honestly, I think that's the key. She told me that and I'm like oh my gosh. And I loved that because, yeah, just seeing the person she is, her vibrant energy, is not what we might think 70 looks like or acts like. And when she said that, I was like I'll never forget that Life Like Linda, Spirulina, Clarellalla, that was like and honestly, you will notice so so much vibrancy in your hair and your skin, your nails.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 41:06

It's almost like your kidney chi oh, we're talking about traditional Chinese medicine here that that filtering system throughout your body and your blood cleansing capacity is just improved. So I highly recommend you get on that. Get on the greens. Get on the greens, especially as we're moving into our fifties. Are we moving into our fifties now? Yes, moving into it.

Lunden Souza: 41:28

I remember when we talked about this, you called this the Blank Canvas era, and I remember that in my brain for the 50s . Yeah, yes, let's dive into the fifties.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 41:38

Can I swear a little bit on here because I feel, oh my gosh, fuck. Yeah, you can, me and my friends call it zero shits, 50 or zero Fs 50, right? Because you've come into your own. If you've worked through your stuff, if you've swagged through your 40s, you're making more money. You may or may not have some investment properties. You may or may not have a permanent partner, and if you don't have a permanent partner, you know exactly what you want from a permanent partner. You are good in yourself. You wear in great shoes, you understand what you like. You couldn't care less what other people think of you other than am I a kind giving person? You have your community. You know because you probably had, and we went through COVID. We went through COVID. So when you're 50s, you know who's in your bunker, you know who you can trust, you know who you can call, say, if your parents are starting to be sick. You know who you can call, who's going to be right by your side. That is a beautiful part of being 50s. I have some nieces in their 20s who I adore and they're ballers and badasses and doing double degrees and just going to take over the world. So proud of them. But they talk and ask about 50s. They see it as oh my gosh, I'm terrified of turning 50. And I want to change that narrative because when I was looking at women and when I was in my forties and looking at women and men in their fifties, I'm like they seem to have it all figured out. They seem to like be strong and powerful and they don't seem to care. And I went, I kind of want more of that. Less anger when you know when someone cuts you off in traffic, let it go, you know less. Yep, I'm now buying a bigger size in my jeans, but I can I can afford more expensive jeans. You know like that is really where it's at when you want to be when you're 50s, and that's talking about your lifestyle factor. Now, when you're in your 50s, I want to answer something clearly to women.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 43:42

There's a lot of people out there saying in your 50s you have to have significantly more protein. I want to clarify it's not that you need 50, 60 grams of protein a day. That is ridiculous. Everybody should be having good sources of protein and a ratio that makes sense to them and their body. Women should definitely address their carbohydrate intake, specifically the processed carbohydrate intake, because that's going to really impact your pancreas, your blood sugar and also your hormones. Let's be clear that is with men too.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 44:18

Men go through andropause. That is the same as menopause, but in a male version. We don't talk about that, nobody talks about that, but they actually go. Okay. There's all this fat distributing to my waist. I have less testosterone. My sex drive is down. I'm no longer like feel as competitive with certain things. I'm like chilled out. What's going on here and it's concerning to them. It is andropause, which means that your male sex hormones are decreasing in their production, and it's 100% normal.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 44:48

But there's so much you can do. In your fifties is when you start. You really need to start taking care of your prostate. Make sure you're getting that prostate checked, men, please do. It is critically important. There's so much you can do. There's salt palmetto, there is nettle root, there's beautiful things that you can start taking on a daily basis to make sure that prostate is protected.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 45:10

So I want to preface that, because when we start talking about 50s and menopause, I feel like men are ignored and they're not. This is definitely your era too, guys, and I love men in their fifties that salt and pepper thing, their strength and they're like heck, yeah, I'm driving an Audi because I worked for it. That's a real like not to say that that is the important thing in life. Please be clear. But I want to talk about that confidence that comes with and I don't care. I'm driving my Corolla and it's been going for 20 years and I love my car. You don't care what other people think, but you should 100% care about what's going on in your body.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 45:47

You want to make it to 60, thriving, vital, getting out there on the pickleball court and kicking ass. You want to start taking products, supplements and foods that are going to lean into that Blank canvas. 50s means okay, how do I want to age? What do I want 60s, 70s and 80s to look like? I was telling you I went to Australia.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 46:11

I spent two weeks with my family to celebrate my mom's 80th birthday and I was watching her and going is this someone I want to be when I'm 80? When she was dancing until 1.30 AM and going what's wrong with you all, let's go? I was like, okay, yep, yep, that's exactly what I want to be when I'm 80. Big smile, glorious laugh lines on your face. But she started foundational stuff way back in her forties and I'm talking about joint health. You got no joints. You're going to be that cripple that's going like this, walking around in their sixties, seventies and eighties In clinic. When somebody walks in with that slunched up, that's really slunched way.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 46:56

I asked them have you ever done yoga? Have you ever stretched? Have you ever done Pilates? Any of that core stuff that we need to do, really need to do. If your core was never taken care of in your thirties and forties, it's going to need some real heavy hitting work in your fifties. But your core takes care of your skeleton. Your core takes care of everything. We take care of our core and our muscles and our skeletal system. That is how we're going to glide through our 60s, 70s and 80s. When I'm in yoga and look around and see somebody in their 70s absolutely crushing it, doing crow effortlessly, I'm like that's who I want to be. I don't give two shits about being a size zero, but I certainly care about being 70 and looking like that right there. So you want that's that curcumin, that turmeric, that real skeletal health, that inflammation bring down. We want to make sure that's definitely addressed.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 47:50

Moving forward, I recommended Prostate Health for Men. For women, we can do an entire podcast Lunden on menopause. I think we should do that because it is so layered and we're looking at your sex drive, which can be all over the place, women in your 50s. Either it's really really heightened or it's just non-existent and there's so much at play with that and I think it's too dense for us to talk about in our 50s in this podcast. But that's going to change.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 48:23

Sleep is our primary superpower, 100% our superpower. I once read an article with Penelope Cruz who once stated I don't care what's going on with me physically, but if I'm not sleeping, then I'm not actually performing in any capacity. And while Penelope Cruz is not, you know she's not someone that I want to be. I loved that comment because I went you're 100% right and she said it to an audience of billions who was listening to her. Just sleep, people. Just sleep. You need a nap. It doesn't make you old, it makes you absolutely in tune with your body and you will feel profoundly rested, just like coming out of that Again why we sleep. I highly recommend you read that.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 49:11

If you have someone with a monkey mind, you're in a high position role. You're taking care of four kids. You're taking care of everybody, all the things. You have. A mom that you might be a primary carer of you need to sleep. You're taking care of four kids. You're taking care of everybody, all the things you have. A mom that you might be a primary carer of you need to sleep. You need to take care of that. So if you're laying down with that monkey mind, that is your GABA, that is your melatonin. Melatonin is a natural hormone that is released from the body but it can depreciate with age, so we might need to increase that.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 49:38

We want to take care of our heart health in our 50s as well. It's really, really, really critical. So beets is a really great one there. Hawthorn berry is a beautiful one there. We want to make sure our nitric oxide production is happening so we can get rid of all of that toxic stress. We want to get rid of all of that oxidative stuff happening in the body. The organs that we want to take care of again is that liver.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 50:01

Hello, in our 50s, though, we're usually better at that. We understand no one's staying up until 11.30, 12 o'clock, unless it's my mom, who's 80. But in our 50s we're kind of like taking store, we're taking stock and we've been like we're ready to launch into our 60s, 70s and 80s. We're ready to like okay, we're wrapping up some really good work stuff.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 50:24

Also, from a lifestyle perspective, what do I want to achieve before I retire? That's that blank canvas as well. You can't do that if you're not sleeping. So high magnesium. If you're, if and when I say high, you want to get up there like 750 milligrams a day. If you're getting that spasmin, if you're getting that lactic acid buildup, if you're getting that jitters, if you're laying down and your body can't relax, if it's the monkey mind, that's a completely different thing. We want to lean into valerian hops, even kava, beautiful, beautiful herb from Polynesia, to really calm everything down.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 51:00

If you're anxious. I have so many patients in their 50s that are like I was never anxious before but all of a sudden I'm anxious, whether it's a rollover effect from COVID, because we just came out of three intense, profoundly impactful years, or it's a response from hormones imbalance, which is a very common side effect of going through menopause. Then taking stock of that and not leaning into high sugar, caffeinated things, but actually going back into that real passion flower to de-stress using adrenal tonics like your ashwagandha, beautiful herb rhodiola for energy and actually watching that sugar. If blood sugar has really played up with you in your 50s, you're going to recognize there's a pattern. Huh, came up in my end of my 20s, came up in my 30s. Damn, it came up in my forties. You haven't addressed it. Now is the time to create that blank canvas to launch into sixties, seventies and eighties.

Lunden Souza: 52:06

I love that and it just reminded me of that. I'll say dumb, dumb hashtag of like team no sleep or I'll sleep when I die. I just feel like I've always disagreed with that and I love that you reminded us of how important that sleep and restoration is. And also it reminded me of one time I was at, when I was in the fitness as a fitness coach. I went to Idea World and Elaine Lelaine Jack Lelaine's late wife she was like 88, I think, and she was on stage doing pushups and to me that was so motivating to see her just it's different. I mean, it's great to see a 20-year-old, okay, cool, right, but when I saw that I was like that's what I aspire to be. It's not what your body looks like, but it's what you're capable of in those later years and what you're going to make it mean, and so I love all that we covered today.

Lunden Souza: 53:05

I think I'm excited to dive deeper into menopause and some of those layers on a future podcast and, for those listening, I've broke everything down 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s on a blog post that I'll put in the description so that you can hone in specifically on where you are. Or maybe there's a woman in her 50s who has a daughter in her 20s or a son in their 20s who's listening, where this can be something to pass on to people in your life so that we can get to those older, vibrant ages, not being hunched over, not buying into that we need to be. You know, by this age we're old and washed up or whatever. I'm excited for a vibrant life into my 80s and I'm so grateful for all the wisdom and everything that you shared. Before we sign off, tell everybody how they can find you on social media and connect with you to learn more, and I'll also link our previous podcast in the description too, if you want more from Amanda. Thanks, Lunden, if you are looking to work with me.

Amanda Lovett-Jones: 54:10

I have a clinic it is Functional Health and Apothecary. I see virtual patients, I prescribe botanicals, nutrients and I work a ton with food, because I really think that food is medicine and you can be your most vibrant self. So you can email me or contact me through the website and Lunden will provide those tags. I'm also on Instagram where I do a lot of recipes related to functional wellness and anti-inflammatory cooking.

Lunden Souza: 54:41

I love it. Thank you so much. I'll link everything that you mentioned your website, social media, all the things in the description. Thank you guys for listening. Thank you, Amanda, for your beautiful brain and heart. We appreciate you and we'll see you at the next episode, thank you. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Self Love and Sweat, the podcast. Hey, do me a favor Wherever you're listening to this podcast, give us a review. This really helps a lot and share this with a friend. I'm only one person and with your help, we can really spread the message of self love and sweat and change more lives all around the world. I'm Lunden Souza, reminding you that you deserve a life full of passion, presence and purpose, fueled by self-love and sweat. This podcast is a Hitspot. Austria production.