#172 Q&A Episode: Soy, Metabolism, And Food Noise

I'm answering three questions this week: how to get soy’s benefits if it bothers your gut, what really shifts in metabolism during menopause, and how to quiet food noise. We'll cover:

• Non-soy protein swaps from beans, lentils and pulses
• Flax lignans as a phytoestrogen alternative
• Metabolism as a system of gears, not a dial
• Hormones’ indirect impact through symptoms and routines
• Defining food noise and why it returns after GLP-1s
• Permission-based eating to rebuild trust and satisfaction

Episodes mentioned:

#151 - Is it Hunger, Hormones or Food Noise?

#155 - Q&A: Food Tracking, Plant Proteins & Collagen Supplements

#127 - The Truth About Soy in Midlife

#84 - On The Menu - Part 1 Your Menopause Nutrition Questions 

#87- On The Menu - Part 2 Your Menopause Nutrition Questions 

#90 - On The Menu - Part 3 Your Menopause Nutrition Questions

Join the live book club Q&A: https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/bookclub

📚 I wrote a book! Eat To Thrive During Menopause is out now! Order your copy today and start thriving in midlife.

Looking for more about midlife, menopause nutrition, and intuitive eating? Click here to grab one of my free guides and learn what I've got "on the menu" including my 1:1 and group programs. https://www.menopausenutritionist.ca/links

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Live Q&A Invite
• 1:39 Why Soy Helps And Who Should Skip It
• 4:50 Non‑Soy Swaps And Phytoestrogens
• 6:41 Metabolism Myths In Midlife
• 10:55 Genes, Muscle, Sleep, And Stress
• 15:18 Hormones’ Indirect Role Explained
• 19:08 Behaviors That Protect Metabolism

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hey there. Welcome to this week's solo episode where I'm answering some of your questions. Now, people send me a lot of questions, usually on Instagram, sometimes by email, sometimes just when we're having coffee, and I love them. I really do love getting your questions and I love answering your questions, but sometimes I notice a theme. And so when I keep getting the same questions over and over again, I put them into a little note on my phone and save them for episodes like this. I'm going to link to the other QA episodes that I've done, but usually tackle three questions. And this week's questions are about soy and what you can do if you can't tolerate them or if you can't tolerate soy, metabolism, which is a question that I get all the time, and food noise. Before I dig into the answers though, I want you to know that if you're listening to this before November 29th, so basically the week that the episode comes out, I'd love for you to join a live book club style QA about Eat to Thrive During Menopause, my book, which is my book. Now, you don't have to have the book. You can just be thinking about the book. You could have questions about the book, or maybe you just want to ask me a question. This is a great time to hang out virtually, have coffee with me on Saturday at 11 a.m. Eastern. You can sign up at menopause nutritionist.ca slash book club, and I'll also have that the link in the show notes. So let's get on to the questions. So, like I said, I put these on my phone. So let me grab these and let's start with the first one. I have a question about soy. I get that it's good for me, but every time I try and eat it, I end up with a lot of uncomfortable GI symptoms. This is super common, by the way. Is there anything else that I can eat instead that will give me the same benefits? So, first let's talk about why I'm such a fan of soy, and I'll try and condense this. So, soy foods come from the soybean, the soy plant. The protein is a plant-based protein and it contains all of the amino acids that we need, so it's considered a complete protein. And like a lot of other plant-forward plant-based protein, there does seem to be some benefits, probably because they tend to also be high in fiber, but also because they're low in saturated fats. And so when we're looking at outcomes like heart health, it seems like soy and other plant-based proteins may offer some of those benefits. So on the plant-based benefits side of things, for sure, including any beans and lentils. So this could be black beans, this could be chickpeas, this could be kidney beans or red lentils, whatever it is. That whole family of beans, lentils, pulses all tend to be good sources of fiber, good sources of protein, and often have a lot of other minerals and trace nutrients in them as well. So that's kind of one side of the soy benefit. The other is that it's a great source of phytoestrogens, in particular one type that are called isoflavones. Now, I don't want to get into too much detail in this QA episode. You can find lots of information on the episode on soy, which I'm going to link to in my book, obviously. And I talk about this a lot online. But essentially, all plants have phytoestrogens, which are plant-based like estrogen compounds. They're not estrogen, but they look like estrogen a little bit. And the type that are found in soy have some benefits around helping to reduce symptoms like cob flashes, night sweats, or even are associated with better sleep, bone health, heart health, etc. Now, it's difficult to get soy's isoflavones from a food that isn't made from soy. I will say that there are other phytoestrogens like the kind that we get in flax that also have similar benefits. And there is some research to suggest that chickpeas also have isoflavones, but we haven't, we don't have enough data yet to tell us if chickpeas isoflavones are on par with soy's isoflavones. So if you're one of the many people who just, no matter what, anytime that you eat soy, you get bloated, gassy, uncomfortable, doesn't matter how slow you go, then I would try looking at other plant-based proteins, beans, lentils, whatever that, you know, whatever floats your boat, I think you're gonna get a lot of the same benefits from that. Adding in some flax, ground flax seeds in particular, contain a phytoestrogen that is called, it's a type of lignin. It's a lignin that has not exactly the same benefits, but falls under that umbrella of phytoestrogens as well. So I hope that helps answer the question about soy. And I love getting questions about soy because I do love when people try to include this more often. It's why it's the reason why it's one of the key ingredients in my book, but um I also know that you have lots of questions. So keep sending those in. Let's get to the second question, which is about metabolism. And I know that so many of you are gonna relate to this question. Hey Jen, have you done a podcast on metabolism? I'm sure you get a lot of questions about this. I do, but I'm wondering if you can help me understand it. I see a lot of people saying that menopause is what killed my metabolism, but then I just saw another person that I trust say that menopause doesn't have as much of an impact as we used to think. Great question. So if we can take a moment to break down what metabolism means. Most people think of metabolism like a dial. It's like a temperature gauge that you're turning up or you're turning down. But a better visual for it is if you open up the back of a watch or a clock and you see all of those moving parts inside that are all working towards one thing, which is keeping the clock moving at a certain rate or pace or keeping time as it is. That's a little bit like our metabolism. So a lot of things have a metabolism, but what most people are referring to is this energy metabolism. How does your body take the energy from food, metabolize it, or the fuel that it gets from food, and metabolize it so that it is burned or used to make energy in your body? And it's an it's a concept that I think we use conversationally when we're saying somebody has a fast metabolism, which usually means that they can eat whatever they want and it doesn't lead to weight changes, or somebody has a slow metabolism. And there's a lot of talk about it in the midlife world, especially because midlife is a time when a significant percentage of us, upwards of 80%, notice changes in our body. We gain weight, we get softer, we get rounder, our clothes fit differently. What we see in the mirror is changing. So it makes sense that we would try and associate those two events. Oh, it's because I'm going through menopause, menopause is doing something to my body. And the answer is it is, but not in that direct cause and effect way that the internet would lead you to believe. So metabolism is largely influenced by genetics. So if you or someone you know has a quote, fast metabolism, chances are it's not because of what you're eating. It's because of the mix of genetics that you have that control the rate at which your body takes fuel, changes it into energy. This also influences how much muscle you have, how easy it is for you to build and maintain muscle, where your body stores fat, the percentage of body fat that your body operates ideally at. All of these things, which are metabolism, are influenced heavily by genetics. But we also have things like illness, right? So if you're sick, chronically sick, your body may have some adaptations involving metabolism. Medications, stress, sleep. We know that not getting enough sleep or being in a chronic sleep deficit can have some impact on not only metabolism, but also appetite. So, what role does hormones play? Does hor do hormones influence metabolism? The answer is not as much as we used to think, at least not in that direct way. So estrogen levels decline during menopause, and that is associated with changes in weight, including distribution, meaning we lose a bit of muscle and we gain a bit of fat. That is definitely a hormone-related change. But are your hormones turning down the dial on your metabolism and slowing it down? Not directly. But consider this situation: you are having a lot of hot flashes and night sweats, and you're not sleeping, and you've got a lot going on. Life is being lifey, and you aren't able to get to your gym classes the way that you used to. You're not able to prepare or make or plan for meals the way that you used to. Maybe brain fog is kicking your ass. All of those things will impact on one or two pieces of that complicated metabolic wheel, food and movement in particular, but they're not directly being caused by the loss of estrogen. They're almost like side effects of the loss of estrogen or the change in hormones that are happening. The biggest one that we can have some influence over is around the behaviors that help to build and maintain muscle. And because muscle is a metabolic organ, it is our kind of primary consumer of energy. Having more of it means that your watch, your metabolism, is going to run faster. When we lose muscle, our clock slows down, meaning our metabolism slows down because it requires, it has less maintenance energy that is required of it. So when we look at the data around midlife menopause, aging in both men and women and metabolism, we see changes in the amount of lean muscle that we have, which influences the average metabolic rate or metabolism of adults, but it's not caused by menopause. At least that's where we're at in November of 2025. So to answer your question, is menopause causing the slowdown in your metabolism? It is possibly influencing the factors, all of those pieces of the clock that influence your own individual metabolism and or your ability to build, maintain, feed muscle. But to say that menopause has no influence, I also think feels a little bit like gaslighting, because it really does feel like menopause is to blame. But we usually have to take a step back and say, okay, is it actually hormones? And when we look at the results of hormone therapy being given to people, it might slow the rate, especially when it started in perimenopause, but there really isn't any data to say that it has a significant impact on the end outcome. Meaning, will it change this weight distribution change or weight gain that most people in midlife experience on some level? Probably not meaningfully, which tells us that estrogen probably isn't the cause because it's not the cure. So, what can you do? Because I know that my inbox will be flooded with lots of questions of like, yeah, okay, that's great, Jen, but I'm still not loving this, and I want something that I can do about it. It all comes down to a couple of things, and these aren't quick fixes, and they're not actually even focused on the solutions. What are the behaviors that you can do more of, add in that will help you to eat regularly, eat adequately, eat enough protein, not make it a full-time job, move your body regularly in ways that you enjoy so that you can not only build and maintain muscle, but that you can manage sleep and stress and support your mood. So a lot of what we're talking about is, you know, behavior lifestyle medicine, I guess. What are the things that you want to do more of and can do more of, but not just with a goal of fixing your metabolism? It's about a goal of how can I support my body going through this transition and not hanging the scale up as the measure of success or failure or not, because there are so many other benefits to focusing on those behavior changes. It's not just your metabolism. So I know that was a bit of a long-winded roundabout answer. Um, and I thought a long time about how to answer this because maybe this actually does need to be a whole episode, but I hope that has given the person who asked this and anybody else listening just maybe a little bit of reassurance. You're not doing anything wrong. Your body is changing because it's a human body, and that human body is a changing body. Most people experience changes. It's not a hundred percent accurate to say that menopause is the cause, but it's also not a hundred percent accurate to say it plays no role. It influences a lot of the symptoms, it causes a lot of the symptoms that have an influence on our ability to do the things to maintain our metabolism. So I hope that helps. And please do let me know if you have any other questions related to that, or maybe drop a comment wherever you're listening and let me know if you would like an entire episode dedicated to this. Okay, let's move on to the third question. I have a question about food noise. I came off of Ozempic recently because it didn't seem to be doing much and it was expensive. But I'm realizing now that it had quieted the food noise a lot. What else can I do to help with my food noise other than go back on Ozempic? Food noise is new to our world. Well, the word is new, the concept isn't. Episode 151, I did on is it menopause, food noise, or hunger? And I think you'll find that really helpful. But just to kind of back up a little bit and say, like, what the heck is food noise anyway? I never heard this term before. So food noise really came into our language with these medications. And so people who start or on these medications notice that they're thinking about food a lot less. Now, for 25 years, as long as I've been in practice, one of the things that I have heard almost every day is my biggest problem is that I can't stop thinking about food all the time. I think about supper before I've even finished having my breakfast. So the what's happening, this thinking about food all the time, has been around. That is not new. We now just have a word that I think a lot of people can relate to. And that a lot of people think, oh yeah, that's exactly me. That's what I have. And I've worked with a lot of people who've had this very similar experience. They come off of Ozempic or whatever other medication from that class that they're on, and all of a sudden they're thinking about food all the time and want to know what they can do. So I'm gonna give you the answer that I would give somebody who maybe hadn't had this experience because I think that the information is the same. If you're thinking about food all the time, if you feel like you can't stop thinking about food, breakfast, lunch, dinner, the sight of food makes you want it, you're also questioning: is this right? Is this wrong? Have I eaten too much or too little? That is a result of often not having a relationship with yourself and food that is based on trust. And I want to bring it back to what we know about intuitive eating and appetite regulation in kids, for example. Anyone who's been around a baby knows you cannot convince them to eat if they're not hungry, and you cannot convince them to stop if they're not full. We are born with the ability to have, we have those signals within us. But somewhere along the way, a lot of us are taught how much we should have, when we should eat, when we should stop, what we shouldn't have. And we've started to, and we we learn to equate our worth and our well-being with whether or not what we're eating is good, whether we're being good. And so a lot of the food noise is because we don't trust ourselves to decide if I want this, how much will I have? When have I had enough? We're looking to external factors, whether those are people or apps or spreadsheets or whatever it is to tell us, yes, you have had enough, you can stop eating now. But that's a really difficult thing to outsource because hunger is a little complicated. We have physical hunger, but we also have emotional hunger, we have taste hunger. And if we don't honor all of those hungers, it's very difficult to notice when we're comfortably full and satisfied. And so for anybody who relates to this concept of food noise, I want you to think about these questions. Is the food noise all the time? Is it even while you're eating? You know, are you thinking, is this good? Is this bad? Should I have this? Have I had too much? Is it between meals? Are you thinking, when can I eat next? When am I allowed to eat? When is the best time to eat? And start to notice if there's any patterns there. Is there any time when it is quieted? Because I'll tell you what I notice in the hundreds and hundreds of people that I've worked with. We see this come up in the feaster community as a cheer all the time. That when we start introducing permission, which isn't just permission to say yes, it's permission to say yes or and permission to say no based on whether you want it. But it has to be based on this unconditional, unwavering belief that you're allowed to have it. So when we practice permission, the noise gets a lot quieter because you're not having the internal debate about whether you should, whether you can, whether you're being bad if you do, whether you're gonna have to make up for it tomorrow. You just eat and it's done. And so if you can relate to any of that, and especially if you have a history of dieting, and I think that this is really important because a lot of people who have restricted in the past, a lot of people who have restricted in the past, will have a lot of food noise as a result of that restriction. So if that's part of your food noise story, then work with somebody to help understand how you can quiet it. There's no quick fix, but listen to episode 151 because that will give you a little bit more information about kind of all of this. So thanks to everybody who sent in those questions. Um, like I said, I get questions all the time. And as lots of you probably know, I do my best to answer them as quickly as I can. Sometimes it does take me a couple of days, but I almost always get to them. But when I get a question more than once, and especially if I feel like, oh yeah, this is something that I hear a lot, I will put it into my little note file and um, you know, record these little QA episodes. So I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know if you have any questions and have a great day.