So is there research to show that either dietary nitrates, which we'll talk about where we can get those in the diet in a moment, or supplementing with a nitric oxide supplement as, as, as we're gonna discuss today, c- is there research to support an improvement in hypertension for either women, men, or both?

100%, there is a lot in the research.

And what we know about dietary nitrates, and let's just classify them as I like to start with the leafy green vegetables because we know that 9 out of 10 Americans are not eating the minimum amount of vegetables per day.

And in those leafy, dark leafy green vegetables, your arugula, spinach, kale, and one of my favorite seasonal ones right now is rhubarb.

Nobody thinks about rhubarb, but it's kind of a family heirloom plant in my household, [chuckles] and we use it a lot to make really savory dishes with it, not just sweet things.

All those foods, and then including beets and beetroot, and especially when we can get these nitrates in a fermented form.

So as a nutritionist, I'm really big on using fermented foods in the diet, so getting beet kvass into the diet, making some beet kraut, all those ways are g- ways to get those nitrates into the body.

So maybe talk to us a little bit about how it can facilitate better muscle contraction, an increase in the muscle pump, um, oxygen delivery, uh, to the musculoskeletal system as well.

So welcome back, Kathy.

Thank you, Karen.

That was a great intro to everything we talked about last time.

I did go back and listen to our conversation.

It was pretty in-depth, and, um, it can be kind of scary because you hear nitric oxide, you think biochemistry, and I'm never gonna get this.

But I think you've touched on all the key points for midlife women.

This is a tiny little molecule.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

We are bombarded by chemical toxins.

We are bombarded by physical stress, by emotional stress, you know, by a diet of processed foods that maybe was part of our past and hopefully not part of our present now.

Hopefully we've all graduated to a whole food diet at this point.

And over time, all of that oxidative stress builds up and starts to cause inflammatory responses in the endothelial tissue.

When that endothelial tissue starts to degrade, we lose the function of the very enzyme that is there to build nitric oxide to boost our blood flow.

We call that enzyme uncoupling, meaning the enzyme simply doesn't initiate its full process.

And then, yeah, I mean, the case for eating nitrates, and this is definitely where I want to have a lot of our discussion is to help people understand from the food perspective, where are nitrates found and what happens when someone puts them in their mouth? And maybe you can walk us through the journey of a high nitrate food that someone might eat on their plate and what kind of happens in their body.

Mm-hmm.

We are bombarded by chemical toxins.

We are bombarded by physical stress, by emotional stress, you know, by a diet of processed foods that maybe was part of our past and hopefully not part of our present now.

Hopefully we've all graduated to a whole food diet at this point.

And over time, all of that oxidative stress builds up and starts to cause inflammatory responses in the endothelial tissue.

When that endothelial tissue starts to degrade, we lose the function of the very enzyme that is there to build nitric oxide to boost our blood flow.

We call that enzyme uncoupling, meaning the enzyme simply doesn't initiate its full process.

And then, yeah, I mean, the case for eating nitrates, and this is definitely where I want to have a lot of our discussion is to help people understand from the food perspective, where are nitrates found and what happens when someone puts them in their mouth? And maybe you can walk us through the journey of a high nitrate food that someone might eat on their plate and what kind of happens in their body.

Yeah.

And so we're, um, we're experiencing that endocrine issue, that change, and first a fluctuation and then a deep decline in our estrogen hormones.

We're, um, sort of not talking enough about that nervous system link, that it really does play a role in how long things like serotonin hang out in your brain.

And serotonin we think of for mood and keeping us balanced and light and not in a depressin- a depression, uh, state.

But serotonin also has everything to do with how well your temperature regulation, um, regulates itself.

So it plays a role in hot flashes, and it plays a role in your sleep and your wake cycles and those patterns, and it plays a role in, um, those neurotransmitters play a role in how well your body sends and recig- signals that communicate with other endocrine glands in the body, and that includes, like, your blood sugar regulation.

Yeah

... and vitality.