My goal is pretty simple: once a month, I want to send you something that helps you better understand your body and gives you a few practical things you can actually use.
Nourished Notes | Issue 2
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NOURISHED NOTES | SEPTEMBER 2026 Evidence-based nutrition, strength & health, with a little common sense. We are officially on the second issue of Nourished Notes. If you stayed, Thank You!! I truly want this to be crammed packed full of actual helpful information. So if you have any questions, ideas, thoughts you want me to discuss-Do NOT be shy! A NOTE FROM MEI’ve taken so much time off of Instagram and I am very thankful for that. I do love social media for all of the connections I’ve made and people I’ve met but I am so grateful I have a business that runs without me having to post a million “how to/why you feel xzy” on the gram. I take my Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) exam in December so currently I’m studying like my life depends on it while also still seeing clients. I probably won’t be consistently back on social media until January. WHAT I'M READING The body is remarkably adaptive. We talk about calorie deficits (diets) like they’re simple math: Eat fewer calories → lose weight And yes an energy deficit is required for weight loss but there are so many things happening metabolically we should touch on…your body adapts. When energy availability stays too low, such as a prolonged deficit (ex: you naturally just don’t eat-if you’re in your 60s or above I’m looking right at you-dead stare 😣) the body makes adjustments to conserve energy and prioritize survival over processes that it doesn’t deem immediately necessary (like having a baby or a period). Research on low energy availability has shown reductions in T3, the active thyroid hormone that plays a role in regulating metabolic activity: Main Functions of T3
With prolonged or severe low energy availability, research has documented changes across multiple systems involved in:
In other words, when there isn't enough energy available to cover both exercise AND basic physiological needs, the body starts making trade-offs. I have so much more to say on this topic but in order to keep this readable we’re gonna wrap it up. Your body adapts→ and sometimes you think, ok well let me eat less, then less, and sometimes less again all while trying to lift weights 4 days a week and wondering why performance sucks and you’re exhausted….now you’re down to 900 calories and still fighting the good fight for weight loss. Not where we want to be my friend. In a controlled study of trained women, just 10 days of low energy availability reduced both myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic muscle protein synthesis. Researchers also observed reductions in lean mass, thyroid hormone concentrations and resting metabolic rate. And when researchers have looked across resistance-training studies, energy deficits consistently impair gains in lean mass compared with resistance training performed without an energy deficit. Sooooooooooo, it’s important to strategically plan out diet phases and not live in them. HINT: I can help! We need to look at the entire picture:
My takeaway: I know how frustrating it is to feel like you are LITERALLY doing everything right to lose weight and it’s not budging. Sometimes the answer isn’t to keep taking food away. Sometimes (as frustrating as it is) the answer is to add more nutrients, build muscle and be strategic about your diet phase. Want to nerd out? Read the full review here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37329147/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38995599/ Nutrition History Rabbit hole: If you’ve never heard of the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, conducted in 1944-1945, I highly recommend looking it up or finding a podcast that does a deep dive. Researchers wanted to better understand the physical and psychological effects of prolonged calorie restriction and how to safely rehabilitate people experiencing starvation in the aftermath of World War II. This is a WILD read/experiment! CURRENTLY IN MY SUPPLEMENT CABINET Taurine Let’s dive in… Taurine is one of my favorite supplements. Though taurine is classified as an amino acid, it kinda does its own thing. It is a sulfur containing compound found in the heart, skeletal muscle, brain, and retina. Taurine is involved in things like bile acid conjugation (liver), calcium signaling, cellular hydration and membrane stability but also it plays a role in cardiovascular and metabolic health. A new systematic review and meta-analysis of 34 randomized control trials found taurine supplementation was associated with improvements in several cardiometabolic markers, including fasting glucose, HbA1c, insulin resistance, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol and blood pressure. The dosage for Taurine was all over the place so I can’t give you that exactly (you can read the study-its in there) My takeaway: Would I recommend Taurine? Yes, for the right person. I would definitely take someone’s health history, diet, symptoms and labs into consideration before I recommended Taurine. That’s the difference between targeted supplementation and throwing a handful of supplements at someone because Instagram said they’re good for xyz. You can order supplements from my Fullscript account Supplement needs are individual. Talk with your healthcare provider before starting a new supplement, particularly if you have a medical condition, take medications or have concerns about whether it's appropriate for you. WHAT I'M EATING The “make your meal bigger without making your life harder” bowl Since we're talking about under-fueling this month, here's your reminder that adding nutrition doesn't require elaborate meal prep. Start with: 🥩 Protein: chicken, ground turkey, beef or whatever you have 🍚 Carbohydrate: rice, quinoa or roasted potatoes 🥦 Produce: frozen, canned or fresh vegetables 🥑 Fat + flavor: avocado, olive oil, pesto, feta, tahini or your favorite sauce Then add something crunchy or fresh if you're feeling ambitious. That's it. Frozen vegetables count. Microwave rice counts. Pre-cooked chicken counts. Convenience isn't nutritional failure (shocking, I know). Sometimes convenience is exactly what makes adequate nutrition possible. Let’s not make life more complicated ONE THING I NEED TO SAY Being perimenopausal doesn’t mean you need a beef organ supplement. Nor are beef organs a weight loss treatment! I’ve seen increasingly aggressive marketing aimed specifically at perimenopausal women suggesting that if you take beef organs or supplements containing liver and other organ meats somehow this is the missing piece to your hormones, metabolism and your inability to lose weight. Predatory marketing honestly makes me rage. Remember when beef liver and the liver king were all the rage? I mean when I first started my practice in 2021 (?) I recommend beef liver as a multivitamin-we have since come a long way and learned a little more about why we don’t do that. If you need more copper-get it from food or if you are supplementing because some people do need it, then I wouldn’t take it daily. Perimenopause is a complex physiological transition. Changes in estrogen, body composition, sleep, insulin sensitivity, activity, nutrition, stress and lifestyle can all influence how we feel and how our body composition changes. It's not as easy as calories in, calories out or eat less, move more. Beef liver is exceptionally high in copper. Copper is an essential mineral, we need it for energy production, iron metabolism, connective tissue, nervous-system function and more. But the body needs it within an appropriate range. Too much copper can be harmful. Chronic excessive exposure can impaired copper clearance can lead to accumulation in tissues including the liver and brain. I'm not anti-organ meat. I just think women in perimenopause deserve better than predatory marketing. https://www.coppertoxic.com/ Did you know? Beef liver is REALLY high in copper. A 3-ounce serving provides about 12.4 mg-roughly 14× the adult RDA of 0.9 mg. That doesn't mean liver is “bad”; it means dose and frequency matter. The RDA was written for healthy adults to bare minimum function and not die of nutritional diseases. So oftentimes we do need more than the RDA BUT this is not the way… https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Copper-HealthProfessional/ WHAT'S HAPPENING AT R&R INTEGRATIVE NUTRITION I'm currently still accepting clients while I complete my supervised practice hours toward the Certified Nutrition Specialist credential. I need 1000 hours and we’re about halfway through so if you need nutrition support or have a family member that needs help send them my way. Last weekend I had a booth at a local vendor event and met so many wonderful women. I sometimes forget how big that nutrition gap is outside of social media. → Learn More CURRENTLY LOVING 🏋️ Doing: I did some benchmark testing at my gym for this next cycle of training. One of the tests was a cardiovascular/endurance METCON. I never do these because WHY? But got a wild hare and decided I wanted to see where I was at. I did make the time and didn’t die but still have improvements-so every Wednesday is my METCON training day! 12 Minute Partner METCON (if you want to test yourself + partner)
📚 Learning: Fighting for my life right now and study for my “boards.” My brain is mush so I can’t say I have anything amazing to share here. 💍 Life: I don’t know if you saw this but I got ENGAGED!!! WHAT????? I didn’t know it was coming, had no idea that this man had been planning this for months and waiting for the “right” time which kept getting put off because I was being a complete unhinged psychopath (whoopsie). No wedding plans yet because that seems like a lot of work while I’m also trying to get hours and study. That's it for October. Eat enough food. Build some muscle. Go outside. Get some sleep. And please don't let the internet convince you that taking care of yourself needs to be a full-time job (unless you’re in perimenopause or menopause then it's a full time plus part time job and you’re Ubering on the side ha ha). Until next month, Desiree Reed, MSCN hello@rrintegrativenutrition.com www.rrintegrativenutrition.com If there is a specific supplement you’re interested in or specific research you want me to dive into please hit reply and let me know and I can make sure and get it in next month's newsletter. |
Desiree
My goal is pretty simple: once a month, I want to send you something that helps you better understand your body and gives you a few practical things you can actually use.
NOURISHED NOTES | SEPTEMBER 2026 Evidence-based nutrition, strength & health, with a little common sense. Welcome to the first official Nourished Notes. I wanted a place where I could share more than what fits into an Instagram post, (because if you haven’t noticed I essentially ghosted everyone) what I’m learning, what new research is actually worth paying attention to, things I’m using in my own life and practice, and probably a few opinions about the nutrition and wellness world along the...