I have a question. Can you actually drink in your 40s? What's it like to drink in your 40s?
Like drink alcohol?
Yeah, alcohol.
Turtle!
Yeah!
Get loose!
Hello and welcome to the 40s Formula, your go-to place for insightful discussions on
navigating your 40s and thriving in this transformative decade.
We're your hosts, Amanda and Jasmine, two women that are passionate about exploring the
challenges and adventures that come with turning 40 and what lies ahead.
Jasmine Dillon is a certified nutritional health coach and mother of three who has been
coaching women to lose weight following on from her lifelong struggles with her own body
and health. Having dealt with Hashimoto's, estrogen dominance and hitting menopause at
36, Jasmine went on the journey to heal her body and help other women like her along the
way. Despite having a background in finance and law, Jasmine's real passion lies in health
and nutrition.
Amanda L Lim is a certified health coach, director of Singapore-based metabolic health
centre at the Lyft Clinic and mother of three. With 18 years of experience in the wellness
industry, she currently works with over 100 clients per week on fitness, nutrition and
behaviour change. Amanda has consulted for major companies such as Disney, Google, Channel
News Asia and Tumasic Holdings and contributed to global publications such as Shape Magazine
and The Straits Times. Her years of publishing and practising weight loss, prenatal and postpartum
fitness and nutrition planning have made her an in-demand wellness expert in South East
Asia and beyond.
So Amanda, somebody asked us, how do we get into this? How do we decide to come up with
a podcast called the 40s Formula?
I mean, that's a really good question because I feel like the real impetus was one day at
coffee, two nutritionists sitting down, shooting the shit, realising we had a lot more in common
than we realised.
And we just thought, shall we do it? Shall we really do this? And we did.
And we did. And guys, you've been listening to the fruits of our labour the entire season
long on the 40s Formula. But what I think is really cool about our journeys is that
they are very dissimilar, even though we ended up in what you might think of as a similar
place.
Absolutely. Amanda was the athletic kid and I was the fat kid.
Best friends. But I think what's cool about being the fat kid that I never experienced,
let's say, is the fact that you really got to overhaul and transform. I always say with
my brand that I'm working on transforming people, right? I'm giving them the tools to
transform and change and overhaul. But to be fair, I can't say that I've really ever
had that journey myself, other than postpartum transformation, right? And that's a natural
thing that we all go through, right? I think it's really cool that you took that upon yourself.
You initiated that journey for yourself and you took it to where you are today professionally.
Thank you. It wasn't an easy journey because it always starts off as a fat loss journey.
I went through this phase where I just wanted to be skinny. And sometimes when I look back
at posts and things which say, oh, let's get skinny. I want to be skinny. I think, shit,
what was I thinking? Because it's not about being skinny.
It makes my skin crawl grow. Like I'm getting a goose bump.
It's always about being strong. And it was only when I decided that I wanted to change
my health and I wanted to change my mindset, did changes actually happen.
How did you realize that nutrition was the key? Because I feel like that's actually something
that I arrived at very late in the game.
Oh, that's such a difficult question. I really don't know. I feel like I was always dieting.
And I guess after the twins were born, those late night feedings led me to do a lot of
research. And then the more I researched, I fell into this rabbit hole. And then I realized,
shit, proteins not going to kill me. It's going to make me stronger.
Oh girl. And it's funny that you say about the late night feedings, like being your rabbit
hole toward information. Take that lesson, mamas. Okay. Don't be like me and do all your
online shopping while you're diet feeding. Be like Jasmine and go learn something. Okay.
So what about you, Amanda?
Well, for me, it was more like, again, this is my lifelong calling. I always knew that
I wanted to do something in health and fitness. And I was in graduate school in a medical
sociology program researching obesity. That was my main focal point. And as I'm writing
my master's thesis, I'm thinking to myself, this is so cool. I'm going to change the world
with this information. It was about correlates of obesity, of morbid obesity for women and
how they're kind of distinct from those for men. And as I'm writing this on the side,
I'm juggling a personal training gig, right? So I'm training at the university gym. I'm
taking on clients and my business is blowing up. I'm in the gym at 5 a.m. every day with
clients till eight. Then I'm in class. Then I'm a teaching assistant for a relevant class,
alternative medicine, exercise science, stuff like that is what I TA'd for. And then I realized
the actual people I'm helping are the people I see at five in the morning. They're not
the people who might potentially read my master's thesis, which like if you guys have done
a thesis, you know, is basically your advisor and you and maybe your buddy, maybe your mom
at the time. I did not have my husband. So just, you know, my mom and me. But yeah, realizing
the people I was actually helping were the people in that gym with me at five in the
morning. My first ever client as a personal trainer was a woman who unfortunately has
since deceased, but she was 68 years old and she had just come back from double hip replacement
surgery. And to be honest, I now realize that my boss at the gym gave me that client because
no one else wanted to take her. And they were like, hey, this new trainer, she's hungry.
Let's give it to her. And I took her on. Bonnie was her name. And we worked together for two
years and Bonnie and I went from literally rehab style workouts for a double hip replacement
all the way to being able to, I'll call it shuffle run, but generously run a lap around
the university gym 400 meters nonstop. And it was incredible. And I also ended up working
with her husband over that time. And we reversed his type two diabetes through increasing his
cardiovascular exercise, changing some things about his diet. And unfortunately, again,
two years after that time, after the two years we worked together, I got the news from her
husband that she passed away from a really aggressive form of cancer, which took her
life. But the point is I'll never forget the feeling of actually helping someone improve
their quality of life from zero to hero, from someone who could barely walk to someone and
their husband who could thrive. And again, cancer aside, it was so clear that I had to
change my path. So I ended up leaving what was then a PhD program. I took my master's
degree. I said, that's good enough. And I went on to start my first business in LA.
And that's really where the whole impetus for what I do now at Lyft Clinic came from.
That's amazing. And again, it's so different to my background. You know, I've studied law,
I did a master's in law, but I'm not doing anything like that now.
Except dropping the hammer.
And all it is now is I just want to help people, people who are going on this path of I've
always been fat and you know, I'm on this diet or that diet. Sometimes it's to stop
dieting and actually look at what you're eating. Stop counting those calories. Like I can have
100 grams of this cereal bar, that's, you know, 100 calories of this cereal bar. But,
you know, what nutrients is it giving you? Is it actually nourishing your body? You know,
stop looking at what's the lowest amount of calories you can take, but look at what is
the most amount of nourishment you're going to be getting. And it's trying to get through
that mindset and how you can eat to nourish your body and then achieve your results.
What would you say is your overarching nutritional philosophy? Like if you could boil down the
way that you practice with your clients into one or two themes, what would they be?
Protein first. That's the number one thing, you know, I'm always telling people. I think
when I first started on this journey, I used to focus more on the fat. And I've just realized
now that, you know, protein is number one and getting that protein in and making sure
that your body is getting what it needs. Then you will start to see results, whether that's,
you know, you're feeling full, so you're not snacking. You're helping protein muscle synthesis.
You're actually nourishing your body and, you know, using those amino acids in the way
you need to. And you're not losing out on potential muscle mass that you need. And that's
what's going to help you. That's most important.
And I would definitely say, you know, if you see Jasmine and I as like a Venn diagram of
nutrition approaches, if Jasmine's theme is protein first, I think mine is muscle first,
right? Meaning you need to build the muscle on your body to have the best shot at a healthy
life.
Definitely.
And I think that's absolutely the dietary component of doing that. No question. Strength training,
P.S., spoiler alert, is the way that you do that for your body through exercise. But again,
you need both kind of both guns firing on that problem.
100%.
To make it count.
If I was to sort of put everything down into a few steps, it would be protein first, strength
train, sleep.
Yes. Sleep.
Sleep is so important.
I was just on another podcast talking about sleep is the foundation of my wellness house.
Again, I mean it. You could have the most the strongest pillar of nutrition, the strongest
pillar of exercise. But if your sleep quality is trash and your sleep quantity is minimal,
it will catch up with you.
Definitely.
None of that other stuff can save you.
Yeah. And that's when, you know, you're going to be hungrier. Your hormones are going to
be off whack and things are just not going to work. Right. So you need to focus on all
three elements. It's not just, you know, oh, I can eat right and exercise. If you're not
sleeping well, you'll get fucked.
It's so, so true. And I always say, I always bring it back. You know, I've mentioned this
several times before, but you know, something I believe in in my house is helping my kids
sleep and giving my kids a proper sleep hygiene routine. That is a life skill. And you see
adults every day. I see them every day in my practice that just never learn to sleep
because just like eating right, just like exercising, it is a learned skill how to wind
down, clear your mind, shut your eyes and fall asleep. Sounds simple, but it's not.
Seriously, with kids, it's not. I just have to.
Any listener out there with kids, you know, this is not an easy journey.
I just shut the door. Good night. Shut the door. I'm out.
Off to slumberland. No, I will say these days my kids are three and two. And again, we're
about to throw newborn in the mix. And really the importance of the sleep pattern is really
the importance of the consistency in the routine. So whether or not they fall asleep at exactly
X time every night is less concerning to me as the fact that they know what's coming.
I don't have kids that argue with bedtime. Bedtime is a fact of life. It just it comes
upon them and they must, you know, it was so nice when my kids were your kids age. You
know, I would obviously they'd brush their they'd have the shower, they'd brush their
teeth. They would have a bedtime story followed by four songs. Four songs. It was, you know,
that good night, sweetheart. Well, it's time to go. That one. There was a few others in
there, which I'm not going to sing because I'm not going to do it. But the last song
was always the Scottish national anthem. We're not Scots. I learned something new about Jasmine
on this podcast. No, not Scottish. But we don't know how it happened. But the Scottish
national anthem was part of our bedtime routine. That is remarkable. I got to work the US national
anthem into our bedtime routine. My daughter always asks now, like I'm a jukebox for the
catalog of songs. You know, what can you sing, mom? You know, I got four things and one of
them is a tooth brushing song, which they heard, you know, already that night. But I
like the Scottish national anthem. Could be worth a working. And now we're at the point
where the boys are going to argue about going to sleep five more minutes or if I have them
because they will share a room. It will be one of them will keep the other one awake.
And I have to come up the stairs at least three times. And I say to them, if I have
to come up one more time, I'm splitting you all up. And that usually does the trick. But
you know, never works the best. They know mommy's going to come up at least three times
before she splits up. But on that third time, she's serious. So don't mess around. Oh, man.
Back to I want to you know, like I said, I learned now I've learned about the Scottish
national anthem in your background. But something that I always wondered about you, Jasmine,
is how did you kind of discover the exercise piece of the wellness equation? Because I
now know how you kind of figured out nutrition for yourself. But how did you learn about
strength training? Because I feel like unless I was an athlete, I don't know that I would
have stumbled upon that, you know, that lifestyle. I think I have been exercising for years.
When I was 16, I think that was when I sort of discovered the gym and I started going
to the gym. But then it was like, Oh, I just burned 100 calories on the treadmill or I
would just did, you know, 30 minutes on the cross trainer or whatever it was. But then
I started seeing the weight machines and I was curious by it. And I was like, Oh, this
looks like fun. And the more I did it, the more I enjoyed it. And I very quickly realized
I fucking hate cardio, but I love strength training. So it was actually it was just a
way for me to get to the gym. And I think I started training with a male friend who
would then be like, Okay, this is what we're going to do. And I would just follow him around
and do what I needed to do. But again, then with the research, you know, it was one thing
I enjoyed it. The second thing was I just started realizing that actually I wanted more
muscle because the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn, the more carbs you
can eat. There's no motivation for exercise that isn't met with strength training. And
I think that's like definitely something that men and women need to understand is like,
all of your targets will be improved with strength training, whatever it may be. And
now I just want to be strong. I want to be able to deadlift a certain way. I know. And
my goal is just to improve. Like there's no goal of I'm doing it because I want to look
a certain way. It's just I just want to be better than I am now. Yeah, I hear that. I
hear that. And it's hard. You know, again, now that we are in our 40s, and everything
is telling you that you're on the decline. Oh, yeah, it's hard to conceptualize yourself
still as an athlete who can improve. Yeah, but I will say, you know, there are definitely
new things to be learned. I consider learning something new and improvement, even if let's
say my mile pace isn't as fast as it used to be, or even I can't lift as much as I used
to. But if I can learn how to handstand walk this year, that's pretty kick ass. And that's
an improvement in, you know, in a way that maybe like I said, it's not going to be a
strength victory this year, but maybe it's a new skill or a new level of mobility. You
know, I mean, for people that can't touch their toes once you actually hit the floor
for the first time, the thing about my lovely husband, he's like, dang, this works. Do you
know what I want to do, which I'm trying to do now is I want to sit down and get up without
using my hands from the floor from the floor. This is a real thing. It's like a real test.
Yeah. Things like this. It's little goals like this is what I set myself. Yeah. And,
you know, and I think, right, that's that's my next goal. That's what I'm trying to do.
And these are things that will help sort of with longevity and, you know, movement as
you get older. And if you are able to do that, then that's amazing. Can you do it? Probably
not right now. I mean, this is this is about the least mobile sitting here, almost nine
full months pregnant that I could ever be in my life. But I can definitely get down
from a kneel to a stand. And I feel like that's not too bad with an extra 17 kg of straight
up baby. It's good times. How big is the baby right now? It should be. We're going to go
in tomorrow and get the scan, but should be around two point eight kgs by now. Yeah, there's
only three weeks to go. And, you know, they say about 200 grams per week. So we're looking
at almost full baked. Amanda, most people say get your sleep in when the baby sleeps.
Now, obviously, sleep is important, but you've got two young kids as well. How are you going
to sleep? Oh, I'll tell you what. I mean, I just give up on sleep regularity and consistency
in the first month of postpartum because it's not a useful metric. The necessity to feed
your baby at that time around the clock is takes precedence over everything. So your
sleep goes out the window. What I will say is I do start sleep training quote unquote
around the two week mark. I know that sounds ridiculous because you can't sleep train a
two week old baby. What I mean is I start making intentional moves toward a schedule
at two weeks. So the baby leaves our room. So the first two weeks he's in a bassinet
next to me. Then at two weeks onward, he goes into his own room. From then onward, we start
to stretch the feeding windows a bit from then onward. So the point is I do have a pathway
out of my sleeplessness, but it's not quick. Not for a while. Usually about three months
is when things start feeling normal again. And again, normal is a relative term. How
quickly after having the baby do you get back into sort of your exercise routine? Okay.
Take this with a grain of salt listeners because this is, you're speaking to someone who's
been an athlete for 25 years, right? So this is a little bit of a different pathway. But
I will say with my C-section, I was able to get into the gym in the sense of putting dumbbells
in my hands at four weeks. Still wearing my corset, my binder, and still obviously taking
care of my scar and not doing any core, but at that time. And then with my vaginal birth,
my second baby, I was able to get back at two weeks.
Amazing.
And that was remarkable. It definitely highlighted to me the difference between those two birth
of having major surgery and going through a natural birth and how those could be very
different outcomes. But do not take that ladies as any sort of admonition to get back in the
gym at that time. Remember that the gym is my life. It's my lifestyle. It's something
I have done regularly as regularly as brushing my teeth for again, over two decades. So for
me to get back in the gym is just a euphemism for brushing my teeth or getting in the shower
for some people. What I will say is to get back to performance level. So to get back
to where I would have been earlier last year before I got pregnant, that's more of a six
month thing. To get where I could be competitive again.
I think I went back to the gym at six weeks after the twins were born.
That's already an accelerated timeline by the way. Most people is 12 weeks for really
putting on lifting weights.
I wasn't lifting. I was carrying shit loads away. It was all body weight.
There's no one timeline for sure, but it is a good feeling. There's nothing like not,
Paul, listen closely here, for your future partner, there's nothing like the feeling
of giving birth, I mean obviously, but meaning walking out of the hospital that first time
with without the baby there, meaning just back in your body that is only yours, that
is only you own, there is nothing like that in the world. That is a feeling I can't even
put into words. And again, then when you get back in the gym with that body, nothing can
stop you.
Do you know what I loved actually, when I first went back to the gym, there was this
really nice cafe called Pickleville, which no longer exists and I'm really gutted.
This is in Singapore?
Pickleville.
All right, RIP Pickleville.
Everything was pickled and I used to get this really nice bowl. It was like salmon and then
you can choose your pickles. It was like cabbage and the carrots and all this stuff. And I
was like, oh, that used to be my incentive to go work out because I can get my pickle
bowl.
Oh, I love it. I mean, that actually sounds like a great model. So guys, bring back Pickleville.
It's one of the enduring messages of this podcast.
I loved it.
That sounds amazing. But I guess maybe one last thing to leave our listeners with on
this Getting to Know You episode is what's something that no one would expect from you
as a wellness professional? So with the condition of like, I'm a healthy person, but just so
you know, XYZ, what's your secret?
Oh, geez, that's really, really fucking hard. So my brother will always take a photo of
me if he's around and I've had some chips and he'll be like, ah, you know, keto.
Transfers.
I'm like, keto with jasmine seed and chips. I'm like, yeah, but I'm no longer keto and
I can eat this if I want to. I don't know. I don't know what I don't know if I've got
a really dirty little secret, but even like I had I had cake for breakfast this morning.
Oh, that's right.
But it was after my protein. So I did have. Okay. So just so you guys know, I didn't share
that, but I did have protein first. So, you know, it wasn't too bad. And also it was a
sugar free chocolate cake. So, you know, I don't know. I don't I think I feel like all
the dirty little bits are out of me now. It's just like it doesn't exist anymore. I'm really
sorry, guys. I don't think there is anything.
Yeah. It's I think for me, people are always surprised to know that I love and treasure
and savor craft beer. Craft beer is my favorite thing in the world. And while I definitely
am up to date on the research about alcohol and I really do try to limit consumption and
obviously while pregnant, I haven't smelled a beer probably in like 10 months. But it's
something that I truly enjoy and love. So I will say that when this baby is out and
when I want to have a little bit of a celebration time, I'm going to find myself a beautifully
made beer here in Singapore and enjoy every job.
I've had it. My husband always tells me about beer. I'm just like, I don't get it. Doesn't
doesn't do anything for me. And I mean, I recently had a cocktail, which I really enjoy.
Get loose. But otherwise, I think my biggest vice is probably coffee. Yeah. But even then,
I don't drink it after 12. That's such a healthy person. That's such a healthy person thing
to say. And the worst thing is I don't drink it after 12 because then I can't sleep. So,
you know, give me all the coffee before 12 o'clock and then then my one cocktail. I mean,
I like champagne. But even then, I feel like if I drink too much, I won't sleep. Sorry,
guys. I sound really boring. Oh my God. No one's going to like me after this.
You can still be cool in your 40s, guys. I do like chocolate.
Fair enough. That's yeah. I do feel like there's definitely this understanding that that healthy
people never indulge or or never, you know, put toxins in their body like alcohol, like
sugar. And of course, that's not the case. I do. I definitely do. But I just don't I
don't get shit faced. Yeah. You know, I have coffee very occasionally after three. I have
a question. Can you actually drink in your 40s? Like what was it like to drink in your
40s? Like drink alcohol? Yeah, alcohol. Brutal. The answer is it is a brutal wake up call.
I mean, the reality is that your body is less and less efficient at processing alcohol the
older that you get. Age does you no favors in this regard. And just like anything else,
right? You know, if your body is less efficient at burning fat, for example, particularly
after menopause, if your body has, you know, a little bit less muscle on it, you are not
as metabolically active as you used to be. And alcohol is going to hit you harder and
you will feel the impact. Also, daytime drinking is probably the only way you can get around
it. Do not drink at night, people. Just go for a brunch. Yeah, very, very true. There's
there's there's it will ruin your sleep quality. And then it will. And I think it just really
depends on the individual person. I mean, you know, my husband is is quite happy drinking
in the evening. I don't like it because I don't like the way it affects my sleep. Again,
that sounds super boring. Sorry, guys. Yeah. But again, I will say just like anything else,
I am a big believer of everything in moderation. My husband is a physician and he is very much
of the kind of zero tolerance on alcohol. He's like if you are trying to truly optimize
your health, the first thing to eliminate it besides cigarettes, right, which cigarettes
are, I guess, the absolute killer because they're they're not they don't even provide
nutritive content. Right. Right below that is your alcohol. And he's like, if you're
serious about your health, you got to let it go. And I and I I'm there. You know, I'm
research. I'm in the research with him. But what I will say is that I do think this is
one area where I personally choose to have a bit more freedom and take the risks and
choices that are associated with that. I know how bad it is. But if I'm having a steak,
I do want to have some wine with it. Oh, girl. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. This post is sponsored by
the meat club. Oh, but yeah, no, it's it's really true. That's that's my that's the example
I always use, actually, with my husband is like, we bought this beautiful bottle of wine
in Napa years ago, and then we keep pushing off when we're going to drink it. Right. Oh,
it's going to be for when the baby is born or when covid's over. You know, you keep pushing,
pushing, pushing. And now it's to the point where he almost he really doesn't drink anymore.
So I'm like, this is so sad. I'm going to be alone with our beautiful wine and this
beautiful steak. And Tyler's going to be having kombucha. Yeah. You know, again, he doesn't
mind. But yeah, I that's one of my my all time pleasures. And so like I always get,
oh, I'm going to do dry January. And I'm like, well, you don't need to do dry January, because
what you're going to end up doing is go fucking crazy in February. February 1st. Yes. So just,
you know, just have it when you need it or want it. But don't go fucking overboard. And
I think that kind of brings it full circle to a perspective that you and I both share.
Right. So we both share the emphasis on protein for our clients, you know, the emphasis on
strength training. And I think and again, you know, an approach that has moderation.
And I think what we also look at is what is the lifestyle long term longevity based fix?
What is the quick fix? The short term, the detox, the cleanse? What is the actual thing
that you want to do with your life that will make a difference in the long term? And again,
dry January never saved anybody from alcoholism. You know, actually, I don't know that that
we look into that. But let's say that's probably not the traditional pathway that leads people
into better habits. Right. These these short term fixes often have these bounce backs and
rebound periods. So, you know, I think the what we agree upon in both of our approach
is that it has to be sustainable for it to even have an impact in your life.
Definitely. And whatever is sustainable for you. Yeah, absolutely. What's sustainable
for me may not be sustainable for you. You just have to find what works. Thanks, guys.
And so, guys, that's about it for us today. We were just hoping that you could learn a
little bit more about our backgrounds, how we came into the nutrition field, why we do
the work that we do and how we became close friends.
Yep. And, you know, if you guys want to find out any more about us, you can always log
on to our Instagram, which is Coach Amanda Lim and at eat with Jasmine. Oh, no, hold
on. It's at eat dot with dot Jasmine. Yes. And I'm at at Coach Amanda Lim. So, guys,
we'll see you later in the year for season two. Can't wait. See you then. Bye.
And contributed to global publications such as Shape magazine and the Straits Times.
Hey, guys, thanks so much for joining us. We'll see you next time.