April is Financial Literacy Month as because who doesn’t get a jolt of reality every year when Tax Day rolls by (or over) us? Learning to manage money is especially important for women who tend to outlive male partners and [“¦]
If hot flashes are disrupting your life, it may be time to talk with your doctor about hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for hot flashes. In this article, our doc takes us through HRT facts we need to know.
It’s generally easy to tell myth from reality.
Dragons? Mythical. Clash of the Titans? Pure Greek mythology. Sasquatch? Legend, unless Harry and the Hendersons is to be believed.
When it comes to your health, especially the health of your breasts, it can be harder to distinguish what you’ve heard from what may actually cause breast cancer.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and we’re here to set the record straight.
You’ve heard: “antiperspirants block toxin-releasing sweat, so the toxins build up in breast tissue.” Or, “the aluminum in antiperspirants changes your estrogen receptors.” Or, “when you shave your armpits, you create tiny nicks that let in cancer-causing chemicals.”
Despite the pervasive myths, there is no scientific evidence that aluminum-based antiperspirants cause breast cancer.
Even the strongest aluminum-based antiperspirant doesn’t block all sweat, and sweat isn’t even how your body filters out most toxins: that work is done by your liver and kidneys. Lastly, you’re exposed to more aluminum through food than you are through your antiperspirant.
One truth: don’t wear deodorant with aluminum on the day of your mammogram. The aluminum can show up as specks on your mammogram, creating confusion for your doctor.
Still, deodorants can contain parabens and other nasty things. There may be some truth to the link between shaving your armpits and being diagnosed with breast cancer at an earlier age, though more evidence is needed.
If you want to stay fresh, au natural, give one of these natural deodorants a try; you might need to try a few to find the best fit for your “pits, but they do work–contrary to another myth.
Another myth: “underwire bras cause breast cancer by preventing lymph in your breasts from being reabsorbed by your body.” So, do underwire bras cause cancer? Again, there is no evidence to support this claim or any other claims that underwire causes cancer.
This rumor may have started because women who are overweight are more likely to need the support of an underwire bra than slimmer women, who can comfortably wear a bralette. Because obesity after menopause is a risk factor for breast cancer, this population will overall have a higher incidence.
But their undergarments have nothing to do with it.
A 2018 study determined that moderate to frequent use of beauty products is linked to a 10-15% higher incidence of breast cancer, but was not able to determine whether the risk is tied to specific chemicals, combinations of chemicals, or related behavioral factors.
The three p’s. Parabens (methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, isobutylparaben), phthalates (especially monoethyl phthalate [MEP]), and synthetic phenols (including bisphenol A (BPA)) may be found in daily personal care products like soap, shampoo, nail polish, hair sprays, deodorant, sunscreen, toothpaste, lotion, foundation, lipstick, and mascara. They can all be absorbed through your skin, inhalation, or ingestion, and have mild estrogen-like properties, a breast cancer risk. More research is needed, however.
Carbon black. Would you rub coal tar on your face? Sorry to break it to you like this, but if your mascara, eyeshadow, eyeliner, lipstick, nail polish, or other make-up includes carbon black (also known as D&C Black #2, acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black, and thermal black) that’s exactly what you’re doing. Carbon black has been linked to all sorts of cancers and organ toxicity.
You can find cleaner beauty brands like Honest Beauty, RMS Beauty, Juice Beauty, Ilia, Gabriel, 100% Pure, Lawless, Plain Jane Beauty, and cocokind online, at beauty stores like Sephora or Ulta, or even Target. Note: these are all just options we’re listing for your convenience; Gennev is in no way affiliated with or profiting from any of these companies.
While most hair dyes are safer now than when your mother was going through menopause, there may be a link between hair products and breast cancer, especially in Black women, hairdressers, and people who dye or relax their hair frequently.
Hair dyes contained known carcinogens until the early 1980s. Today, hair dyes still have a lot of harsh chemicals (like ammonia, parabens, phthalates, and more), and researchers don’t know whether or not all of them are completely safe. Darker shades of dye have more potentially harmful chemicals.
Black women are thought to be more at risk because they are more likely to dye their hair darker colors and use relaxing agents due to prevailing stigma and discrimination against natural hair and wigs, while white women mainly dye their hair. More evidence is still needed, however.
Go natural! Embrace your hair’s natural state. Why should George Clooney have all the fun? Gray hair is incredibly sexy on both women and men. Curls are beautiful. Find a hairstyle that makes the most of what your mama gave you.
Switch from Oxidative (permanent) to Non-oxidative (semipermanent) dye. If you aren’t ready to embrace the gray, you can at least go with the lesser of two evils. Permanent dyes have more chemicals and oxidizing agents, like ammonia, to strip your hair of its natural pigment. This irritates your scalp and creates a point of entry for any potential carcinogens. Semipermanent dyes still have chemicals and potential to cause cancer but are gentler on your body.
Henna is the most natural permanent hair dye option. Aveda and Madison Reed are safer alternatives to most dyes, or try Manic Panic for a punk-rock pop of color. Note: these are all just options we’re listing for your convenience; Gennev is in no way affiliated with or profiting from any of these companies.
Did you know that nail salons have higher quantities of certain toxic chemicals than auto garages or oil refineries?
Nail polishes can contain some pretty nasty stuff; the “toxic trio“ of formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate, and toluene; diethylhexyl phthalate (one of the phthalates mentioned earlier); and triphenyl phosphate are all known carcinogens or estrogen disrupters.
“Tough as nails” doesn’t exactly apply to your fingers; you can absorb the toxins in nail polish through your skin or the nail bed itself.
While manufacturers have phased out many (but not all) of these chemicals, you may want to toss that bottle of Sally Hensen you’ve had since your 35th birthday–and check the label on its replacement.
Women who are undergoing treatment for breast cancer or have had lymph nodes removed need to take extra caution with nail care to avoid infections that can lead to lymphodema, particularly on the impacted side of the body. Bring your own nail tools to the salon, keep your cuticles intact, or skip the manicure altogether.
Alternatives
Look for nail products that are at least “eight-free:” these do not contain dibutyl phthalate (dbp), toluene, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, camphor, ethyl tosylamide, xylene, or triphenyl phosphate (tphp).
Zoya, Honeybee Gardens, LVX, Flora 1761, Tenoverten, Londontown, Butter London, Base Coat, Jinsoon, Côte, and Orly Breathable have options to cover almost any taste or style, and may even be available at your local pharmacy, department store, or Target. Note: these are all just options we’re listing for your convenience; Gennev is in no way affiliated with or profiting from any of these companies.
The FDA requires food, cosmetics, and drugs to provide a full list of ingredients on their labels; everything else is a Wild West of chemicals, including dish soaps, detergents, disinfectants, glass cleaners, carpet cleaners, stain removers, air fresheners, and other household cleaners.
You could be exposing yourself to estrogen disrupters like triclosan, BPA, phthalates, parabens, alkylphenols, and benzophenones while doing chores and you would never know it.
Even children’s toys may not be safe.
Make your own cleaning products. Lemon juice, vinegar, and baking soda are all-natural cleaners that you probably already have in your pantry. Try scrubbing hard-to-remove food on stainless steel pots and pans with salt. Here are some other ideas and recipes for non-toxic DIY cleaners.
Buy products with natural ingredients. Organic cleaners like Method, Seventh Generation, Ecover, Dr. Bronners, Bon Ami, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day, and Branch Basics are getting easier to find at mainstream grocery stores. Note: these are all just options we’re listing for your convenience; Gennev is in no way affiliated with or profiting from any of these companies.
You’ve seen hormone disrupting BPA, commonly found in plastics, pop up on this list a few times now. All plastics can leach chemicals like BPA if they’re heated or scratched.
Even BPA-free plastics may not be safe.
While it’s impossible to avoid plastic altogether, reduce your exposure to BPA and other chemicals by limiting canned food lined with plastic, avoid handling carbonless cash register receipts, don’t cook or heat food in plastic containers or bags, use waxed paper instead of plastic wrap, and eat out of ceramic, glass, or stainless steel dishware, never Styrofoam.
Talk to your doctor. If you’re concerned about your breast cancer risk, talk with your doctor or one of ours.
Always check labels. If you tend to keep and use make-up for years (which is bad for many other reasons), throw out anything that contains the potentially carcinogenic stuff listed here.
Deal with known carcinogens first. Why waste energy worrying about something that might cause breast cancer when alcohol and smoking are scientifically proven to increase your risk? Limit your alcohol intake and quit smoking. Seriously.
Avoid plastic whenever possible. We know it’s hard! You don’t need to obsess, just be more aware.
Get your annual mammogram. There are many myths around mammograms as well. The tiny risk from radiation does not outweigh the benefit of being able to pick up breast cancer in its early stages, when it is actually curable. Women 40 and over should get a mammogram every year or on the schedule recommended by their doctors.
How do you care of your breasts? Have you heard other tips for care and you’re not sure which are legit and which are myths? Join our online forums and get tips from our health care practitioners.
Sore gums. Burning sensations. Dry mouth. All of these can result from the hormonal changes of perimenopause and menopause. Annoying enough on their own, they can also contribute to periodontal disease, so let’s talk menopause and dry mouth.
During perimenopause, things just start to get drier: eyes, mouths, skin, hair, vaginas, sense of humor”¦.
Estrogen as and this one surprised even us as plays a very important role in the creation of saliva, and the lack of it in perimenopause and menopause can trigger a feeling of scalding, burning, numbness, itch or stickiness in the mouth or a metallic taste and increased thirst.
We already know that fluctuations in estrogen levels can impact our sense of taste partly due to lack of moisture; in more severe cases, xerostomia (dry mouth) can even make it difficult to swallow or speak.
If your mouth chronically feels dry, or if it gets progressively worse during the day, you should probably take steps to combat the problem.
Why?
Saliva, even more than your toothbrush, is your first and best line of defense against tooth decay. The film of saliva that coats your mouth protects your teeth against bacteria. It helps pass food along so it doesn’t sit in your mouth, attacking your teeth. It neutralizes acids that can break down tooth enamel and even brings in minerals to rebuild enamel.
Not only can insufficient saliva promote tooth decay, it can make it hard to break down food and increase the chance of infections like thrush. The less saliva you have, the less healthy your mouth is likely to be (and possibly, the worse your breath). And if it’s affecting your ability to access the nutrients in your food, the downstream affects can be even more severe.
First, you need to be sure you’re dealing with a perimenopause or menopause issue. Dry mouth can also be caused by Sjögren’s syndrome, diabetes, and several medications, including sedatives, heart medications, asthma and allergy meds, and antidepressants. Check with a doc to determine you’re not facing any of these other issues.
Burning mouth can also be caused by vitamin deficiencies as well as gastric acid reflux and anemia, so it’s good to check for those as well (here’s some tips to find safe vitamins). Plus, as we age, we can become more sensitive to substances or chemicals, so a change of toothpaste or mouthwash may be in order.
If hormonal changes are the culprit, lifestyle changes can make a big difference:
If you need help getting rid of dry mouth, a menopause-certified health coach can be helpful. Book 30 minutes for your personal consultation with a Gennev Provider.
According to a Penn State University study, smiling makes you seem more likeable, even more competent. Smiles are contagious, lifting everyone’s spirits (seriously, there’s science). Smiling a lot can actually rewire your brain to be more positive more often, turning positivity into your default response. And that can make you less stressed and more successful.
Perimenopause and menopause can be plenty challenging, so preserve your smile and your sanity! If you’re experiencing dry mouth, check with a doc or dentist, then make some changes, if necessary.
If you’ve dealt with oral issues as a result of perimenopause or menopause, what did you do about it? You know the drill as share the details with the community by leaving us a comment below, or talking to us on our Facebook page or in Midlife & Menopause Solutions, our closed Facebook group.
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If adopting one lifestyle change could ease many of your menopause symptoms, would you do it? Learn how the simple act of drinking more water could help you be healthier and have fewer menopause symptoms.
Your body is powerful.
We don’t just mean for lifting weights or doing hard physical work, though women’s bodies can certainly do that too.
We mean your body is a powerful healer. Given the right conditions as good food, enough rest, movement, etc. as your body has “an innate capacity to restore itself to health.”
Naturopathic medicine is the practice of providing ideal conditions and removing barriers for the body to get on with what it does so well.
If you’ve ever wondered about naturopathic medicine or considered seeing a naturopathic doctor (ND) but just weren’t sure what to expect, Dr. Jane Guiltinan, recently retired Dean of the School of Naturopathic Medicine at Bastyr University, explains it all.
In this Part I of our two-part series on naturopathic medicine, we talked with Dr. Guiltinan about what naturopathic medicine is, how and why it works, the state of naturopathic medicine in the US, and how to find a qualified ND.
Most of us on team Gennev are new to the idea and practice of naturopathic medicine, so we asked Dr. Guiltinan to explain the difference between naturopathic medicine and what most of us consider “traditional” western medicine.
Dr. Guiltinan described how we often get in the way of our body’s natural ability to heal itself (poor diet, too much stress, not enough exercise, etc.). Naturopathic physicians both treat and educate patients to get them to health and maintain optimal health going forward.
Naturopathic doctors teach their patients to become an integral part of their own healing and health. Docere, the Latin word for “teacher,” is a founding principle of naturopathic medicine. Dr. Guiltinan explained why it’s so powerfully healing to put patients in charge of their well-being.
In the western-medicine tradition, many of us are taught to hand over control to medical professionals as leaving us ignorant about our own bodies. How do NDs work with patients to bring them back to an awareness of their bodies? Dr. Guiltinan said all NDs practice very active listening, which can educate both the doctor and the patient. Hear how. (Bonus: margaritas are NOT off limits as woot!)
Most western medicine focuses on the treatment of illness or injury. Naturopathic medicine is also about maintaining wellness, and in an ideal world, says Dr. Guiltinan, people would visit their doctors before problems appear. NDs are working to shift our mindset from “cure” to “prevention,” and it’s a powerful sea change.
Naturopathic doctors are unevenly credentialed and recognized across the US, and many of us aren’t sure if NDs are “real” doctors. Dr. Guiltinan takes us through how a true naturopathic physician is educated, licensed, and credentialed.
Dr. Guiltinan has been practicing naturopathic medicine for more than 30 years, and during that time, her practice gradually evolved to focus on women’s health. Most of her patients now are women in the menopausal transition and beyond, looking for ways to maintain health as they age.
Because she has such a depth and breadth of knowledge on women in midlife, we asked Dr. Guiltinan what symptoms women in that category come to her to “fix” most often? Classically, it’s hot flashes, she told us, but naturopathic medicine can help treat a wide range of symptoms, including headaches, dry skin, vaginal dryness, weight gain, joint and muscle pain, and depression, among others.
Why do women come to NDs? For a variety of reasons, Dr. Guiltinan told us: they’ve exhausted “conventional” options or they want a more natural alternative to hormone replacement therapy (HRT), or, in many cases, they just don’t feel well but aren’t sure what the problem is.
So, we asked Dr. Guiltinan, if I think a naturopathic doctor might be able to help me, how do I go about finding the right one? Do NDs specialize? NDs don’t have recognized specialties the way conventional Western medicine does (neurologists, dermatologists, etc.). NDs’ practices often naturally evolve around an interest or passion such as women’s health, she told us, so it’s worthwhile asking the questions to determine if an ND has a focus in the area you need.
I’ve decided I want to talk with an ND, we told Dr. Guiltinan. Now what do I do? Proceed with caution, Dr. Guiltinan told us: Depending on your state’s regulations, some people may be able to call themselves “naturopaths” with little formal training or licensure.
To be sure you’re getting someone qualified as an ND (whether they’re able to call themselves “doctor” or not in your state), be sure they graduated from one of the seven accredited doctoral programs in North America. States that have licensing have a state record of licensed NDs, as well as professional associations. Washington state, for example, has the Washington Association of Naturopathic Physicians. If your state doesn’t have licensing standards for NDs, you can find a credentialed naturopathic practitioner in your area on The American Association of Naturopathic Physicians site.
In our second segment, Naturopathic medicine for women in midlife & menopause: part 2, we explore with Dr. Guiltinan some specific ways naturopathic medicine can help women in menopause. Check it out and subscribe to Gennev on iTunes, SoundCloud or Stitcher, so you never miss an episode.
Dr. Jane Guiltinan recently retired as Dean of the School of Naturopathic Medicine at Bastyr University in Seattle, Washington. A practicing naturopathic physician for thirty years, Dr. Guiltinan graduated from Bastyr in 1986, and has served as a clinical professor, medical director and dean of clinical affairs during her tenure there. She was the co-medical director for the first publicly funded integrated health clinic in the United States, the King County Natural Medicine Clinic. She served on the board of trustees for Harborview Medical Center, a level 1 trauma center and part of the University of Washington Medicine system for twelve years and was the first naturopathic physician on the board of a large public hospital. In 2012, she was appointed by Kathleen Sebelius, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, to the Advisory Council of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), a center within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Guiltinan’s practice is focused on women’s health, primary care, disease prevention, and wellness promotion.
genneve is partnering with organizations dedicated to breast cancer prevention and survivor quality of life. Read more on how we’re connecting women to the best resources to make decisions about their health.
Are you ramping up your exercise and activity?
Whether you are hitting the walking, running or hiking trails, jumping on a bike for a ride or into the lake for a swim, or signing up for that pilates class – go for it! Walk. Run. Jump. Swim. Pilat. But, say our fabulous physical therapists, Brianna and Meagan, do your chosen activities correctly so you don’t do your body more damage than good. So here’s what not to do (and what to do instead.)
Classes that work your core can be especially problematic for those with weak pelvic floor muscles, like new moms or women in perimenopause and menopause.
“I’ve been to a few core classes,” Meagan says, “and honestly, I know one Army Ranger who could do the whole workout with perfect form. If you can’t maintain perfect technique, or if you’re getting red flags from your body, you need to modify the exercises or stop so you don’t injure yourself.”
So what are the warning signs?
As Meagan says, “The smart athlete will always outlast the tough athlete,” so if your body is telling you to modify, stop, or slow down, modify, stop, or slow down.
Do instead: listen to your body, modify exercises when needed, learn how to strengthen your core correctly. To test if your body is ready for challenging core work, lie on your back and find and engage (but don’t over-engage) your pelvic floor and transversus abdominis muscle (TA). Continue breathing with gentle, controlled exhalations.
If you’re able to do this and maintain it, then you can add in leg and arm movements to make the exercise more challenging. If you can’t or aren’t even sure what the heck any of this means, consider visiting a pelvic PT to learn how to exercise right. While learning to breathe and recruit your TA may not be as satisfying as an hour of sweaty Crossfit, you may save yourself from incontinence during exercise or worse, prolapse, further down the line.
Holding your breath is really not good for your pelvic floor, as it increases pressure on the pelvic muscles and can contribute to incontinence and prolapse.
Do instead: Breathe like you’re cooling soup any time you increase effort, our PTs say. Even if you’re just opening a heavy door, lifting, bending, twisting, or moving from sit to stand, make sure you’re breathing with a light, controlled exhale. Just don’t hold your breath.
No one wants to leak while lifting at the gym or have to desperately seek a porta potty while out for a run, but doing without water can do real damage to your body. As the weather gets warmer, we need to add more fluids so our bodies can recover properly and completely from our activity.
Do instead: Hydrate. If you’re leaking, there’s a problem; stop the exercise routine until you can get the issue diagnosed and treatment underway. If you’re concerned about needing a bathroom while out for a run or bike ride, map out a route that takes you past the city park, friendly gas station, or coffee shop about the time you usually need to go. Track your hydration and urination until you start to see patterns as the better you know your body, the better you’ll be able to map your route according to your body’s needs.
Keeping those pelvic muscles tight all day every day is so hard on the pelvic floor, Meagan and Bri tell us, and it’s a recipe for incontinence or prolapse at some point in the future.
Do instead: let your abdominal muscles relax naturally. Don’t “suck it in” or consciously engage your core; build your core intentionally, using the exercises your PT teaches you, then it’ll be there when you need it. If you’ve done the work to build a strong core, it’ll be there and doing its thing as you exercise; you shouldn’t need to consciously engage it.
Now that the weather’s getting warmer for many of us, there’s a tendency for folks who haven’t done much all winter to suddenly go all Ninja Warrior and overdo it. As Brianna says, “If you haven’t run for four months, maybe don’t start with a four-mile run. It’s too easy to hurt yourself and then lose interest in continuing.”
Do instead: ease back in, keep the duration short and intensity of your activity low and gradually build. Walk a mile a day for a few days, then run/walk a mile or walk two miles. Need more challenge? Walk up a hill, Bri says, or a flight of stairs. You’ll get that good cardio workout you wanted without danger of injury.
So many of us have said some version of, “When I’m a “real’ runner, I’ll buy myself some real runner shoes.” We feel like we have to “earn” the good gear, or prove we’ll stick with it long enough to “deserve” spending the money.
Yes, gear can be expensive, and not all of it is necessary. But you are more likely to stick with an activity if you have the basic equipment you need to enjoy it and not get hurt. For runners, that means good shoes and probably good socks. Go to a running store; have them evaluate your gait and get you in the right pair of shoes.
If you dragged your bike out of the basement for Bike to Work Month, great! Now go get it fitted at a bike shop or sports medicine clinic (bonus, the latter will sometimes be able to charge your insurance for the fitting). They’ll move the seat up and down, adjust the pedals, move the handlebars until the bike is the right length and height to save strain on your spine, neck, shoulders, knees, and hips. You don’t need a $5000 triathlon bike (yet!), but you do need to make sure the bike you’re using is sized for your body.
We’ve all seen them on Facebook, our buddies doing 30 days of planks or burpees or a run streak. These challenges can be really hard on your body, Meagan says, because our bodies need rest days, especially from repetitive motion.
Do instead: launch your own challenge. Challenge yourself to breathe correctly or drink enough water for 30 days. If you don’t like doing nothing, even for a day, do a challenge that has “active rest days” built in. If you’re running four days a week, swim, bike, or rock climb the others. Allow your body to recover.
It’s always great to be out doing fun, active things. Don’t miss out on the chance to enjoy seasonal activities by sidelining yourself with an injury.
You’ve heard the expression “It takes a village to raise a child”? Well, it can also take a village to help us stay healthy and on top of changes in our bodies.
At the Gennev menopause clinic, we believe that everyone is ultimately the expert on their own body. However, information can come from a lot of “villagers,” and knowing when to heed the advice you’re given can save your life.
January is Cervical Health Awareness Month. Because cervical cancer often doesn’t have obvious symptoms in the early stages, and because some of us aren’t as regular as we should be about pap screenings, the first person to identify warning signs might just be your physical therapist.
Fatality rates from cervical cancer have declined significantly in the last 40 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but as recently as 2014, more than 4000 women died from this disease. So we couldn’t be happier that Direct Access allows non-primary health care professionals such as our ever-fabulous DPTs, Meagan and Brianna, to identify warning signs and direct patients to further testing and care.
Here’s how it works “¦.
It used to be if you twisted your ankle, you needed to see your primary care doctor and get a referral to a physical therapist. That way, in case your twisted ankle was actually an indication of a more serious health issue (say, osteoporosis), your doctor could spot the real problem and start appropriate treatment immediately.
The problem with this method is it can sometimes be costly, both for the patient and her insurance company; time-consuming, because patients had to make two separate appointments; and unnecessary, because most of the time, a sprained ankle is just a sprained ankle.
To lower costs and provide better care, Direct Access (DA) was instituted across the US in January of 2015. With DA, non-primary care health providers as in this case, physical therapists as are provided additional training so they are able to spot signs of trouble that aren’t musculoskeletal in origin.
Of course, says Meagan, PTs aren’t looking for signs of cancer when someone comes in with pelvic pain, for example. Usually pelvic pain has other causes PTs can and do treat, such as pelvic floor dysfunction. But sometimes, she says, they see what they refer to as a “cluster” of several signs, which can indicate a more serious condition:*
Pain that can’t be “provoked.” Pain in bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments (musculoskeletal pain) can usually be replicated or made worse by poking different areas, stretching the affected area in different ways, or putting a painful joint through its full range of motion. If the pain is constant and unaffected by anything the PT is doing, that could indicate the pain isn’t from a musculoskeletal source.
Pain in the lower back that is constant and intensifies over time can be a sign of cervical cancer, says Meagan, so they’re especially alert for back pain that fits the description.
Fever, sweating, fatigue. Especially if these last a long time and don’t have an obvious cause like a cold or flu.
Unexplained weight loss. If the patient isn’t trying to lose weight and hasn’t changed her diet or exercise regimens, that can be a warning sign that something’s not right.
Unusual vaginal bleeding. This one is more specific to cervical cancer as bleeding outside a normal period, or bleeding after menopause can be indicators of cervical cancer.
What constitutes “normal” bleeding and when do you need to demand more tests?
Changes in bowel or bladder habits. If there’s a dramatic, rapid change in how a patient goes to the bathroom (long-term diarrhea or constipation, for example), especially if it isn’t caused by or relieved by changes to diet, can be a red flag.
Pain that intensifies at night. According to Meagan, when you lie down at night to sleep, your body calms and slows, metabolically. If patients describe pain that intensifies and is highly localized at night, that may be cause for concern.
Ulcers and sores that don’t heal. If a patient has the same sore for a longer time than they should, it’s a red flag for sure, says Brianna.
Lumps and changes in moles. PTs touch their patients in places others don’t; they see skin even the person inside that skin doesn’t see, so PTs may be first to notice things like lumps or changes to moles that can indicate a more serious problem.
Just one of these signs, Brianna says, isn’t generally enough to send them to the phone to call their patient’s primary care doc. “If I see one or two of the less serious signs, I’ll probably just monitor them for a couple of weeks to make sure their condition is improving as we’d expect.” Usually, the PTs agree, a cluster of several signs, especially if the patient has a history of personal or familial cancer, is necessary to start a bigger conversation.
Yes. You really have to. Physical therapists are a great resource to help us stay healthy, but don’t expect a diagnosis of cervical cancer or other causes outside their area of expertise. What they will do is talk to you and let you know they found something they didn’t expect and would like you to follow up on.
The important takeaway here is follow up. If your PT asks you to see your primary care physician or a specialist, they have a good reason for asking.
This is not to say you should panic if your PT sends you back to your doc. There are lots of reasons they make ask you to pursue further care from a physician. And your village loves you and will err on the side of caution to keep you healthy and well.
*This blog is for informational purposes only and should never replace the expert advice of a doctor. If you have a cluster of the signs above or other health concerns, please contact your primary physician right away.
Do you see a PT? Tell us about it! We’d love to know what’s going on and how you’re handling it. Share with us in the comments or on Gennev’s Facebook page or in Midlife & Menopause Solutions, our closed Facebook group.
This time, you are going to GET FIT. This is it, this is the Monday where it all really begins. You open up Facebook, and voilà ! One of your friends is inviting you to take part in a 30-day “crunch challenge” to get the Abs of Envy, Buns to Die For, and Toned Shoulders to Make a Strong Man Weep.
Or, you could just do damage to your pelvic floor, strain something in your back, dread Every. Single. Day of it, get few results, quit halfway through and still post victorious selfies on Facebook.
It’s “challenge” season as everyone tries to get their “bikini bod.” Here’s a hint: you get a bikini bod when you put a bikini on your bod. Voilà !
We talked to our awesome Docs of Physical Therapy, Dr. Meagan Peeters-Gebler and Dr. Brianna Droessler-Aschliman, about the perils of the 30-day (or 60 or 3-month or 1-year) challenge. Turns out, such challenges can be pretty hard on your body.
Not only are challenges hard on you physically, they can also take an emotional toll.
Part of the concern our DPTs have with challenges is they really aren’t a healthy approach to exercise.
Problem: Challenges can become compulsive
According to Meagan, “The psychology of the challenge is it gives you permission to be compulsive, which is not a healthy operating platform. “Healthy’ is listening to your body; when you default to a compulsive program, you’ve detached your head from your body as which is what you’re encouraged to do.”
Following a program means someone else is doing the thinking for you. Which, if you’re working with a qualified trainer or coach or PT, isn’t a bad thing. But if you’re not fluent in the language of your body yet, and you don’t have oversight from an expert, compulsively following a schedule can be dangerous.
Solution: Don’t turn off your brain when you turn on your body
We need to distinguished “disciplined” from “obsessive,” says Meagan, and that includes being disciplined about listening to your body. “Being truly tuned in as an athlete is the opposite of mindlessly following a challenge schedule. You should be so tuned in that ideally, you could guess your resting heart rate, guess your pace; tuning out isn’t helpful or healthy. Understand and respect what your body is telling you.”
Problem: Challenges fuel unrealistic expectations
Truthfully, most of us won’t have rock-hard abs in 30 days even if we follow these challenges to the letter. And instead of getting us the results we want, says Bri, these challenges “set you up for failure and burnout, because you’re so hurt and tired, you can’t do it again tomorrow.”
Solution: Focus on getting fit. You’re already fabulous.
“Before you think about starting a challenge, take stock as and be honest as of where you are now,” Bri says. “What level are you truly able to perform at? Don’t compare yourself with a friend who’s further along. Start at step 1 if that’s where you are, not at step 11 where your buddy is. Do a body inventory first, then pick a program that’s healthy for you.”
Challenges are one-size-fits-all when physiology is different from body to body. Some of us will never develop those amazing ab muscles no matter what; our bodies just aren’t built that way. But those challenges lead us to believe if we don’t have those abs, it’s some sort of failing on our part as if only we were more disciplined, we could be there too. But now we know better and can concentrate on getting healthier instead of more “ripped.”
Problem: Challenges encourage unhealthy comparisons
Social media can be a wonderful tool for sharing our joys and sorrows and what we had for breakfast. It can also be utterly crap when it makes us feel bad about ourselves.
Don’t let social media dictate your exercise, says Bri. Facebook is very good at creating positive experiences (everyone on this challenge is doing so well, you should too) or negative ones (you’re not keeping up because you took a rest day). Apps can make us so competitive against one another, and that isn’t necessarily healthy or helpful.
Feeling badly about yourself isn’t a great mindset or motivation for getting fit, our DPTs tell us, because you’re going to want results really quickly in order to feel better. But seeing the results of your work on the outside takes time.
Solution: Celebrate the milestones
In the end, the only true comparison is “you now” versus “you before.” And that doesn’t mean the numbers on your scale. It may mean your lower resting heart rate, your faster recovery after exercise, your ability to run a quarter-mile further or lift a few more pounds today than last week.
And don’t forget all the things going on inside you, invisible to the human eye, our DPTs remind us: the advantage to your bones, your better balance, your ability to open a pickle jar without asking for help, your healthier heart and lungs, your better mood, your healthier brain, and probably your reduced menopause symptoms.
OK, challenges may not be the answer, but what if you really need some sort of external motivation, especially at a time in your life when time and energy and low?
Modify the challenge
If there’s a challenge that beckons, says Meagan, do it, but modify it to fit your body, your goals, and your starting point. Do the 30 days, just not in a row as do Monday/Wednesday/Friday instead.
Find kindred spirits
Brianna agrees and adds, “Take on a fitness challenge with people you really enjoy, who’ll push you, but not too far. Who are like-minded and encouraging and maybe starting from where you are. Have fun with it, and you’ll stick with it a whole lot longer.”
Go DIY (with help from our DPTs)
Or create your own challenge, perhaps with the help of a PT or trainer.
“An ideal challenge for me is a 3-day rotation,” Meagan says, “of cardio/strength/flexibility. That way you have two days to recover from each. Flexibility helps you recover from strength training by lengthening out the muscles, for example.
“Muscles operate best from optimal length and tension. If muscles are knotted and short from strength training, they don’t have the flexibility. If they’re overstretched from too much flexibility work, they also don’t work as well. By doing all the exercises, your muscles can be strong through their full range of motion.”
“A truly balanced challenge incorporates all the healthy habits,” says Bri. “It should emphasize activity, but also good sleep hygiene, optimal nutrition, hydration, and rest as well. Listen to your body; if you’re not sleeping well, that’s an indication that you’re over-training.”
Ideally, say our DPTs, the challenge would be tailored for you specifically: your age, fitness level, any injuries or risk of injury, even where you carry excess weight. And it would include using all the planes of motion, not a single, repetitive pattern like a crunch or pull up.
Plus, for women in midlife, balance exercises are especially important as as osteoporosis risk increases, better balance can help you avoid falling and breaking a hip.
About those bones”¦. “Bones respond according to the lines of stress we put through them, so varying those forces and lines of stress helps with bone density as well,” says Meagan. “So varying your activity maximizes bone density as compared to the repetitive nature of single-point-targeting challenges.”
And women’s bodies are different from men’s, especially during midlife and menopause, so “unisex” challenges really “¦ ain’t.
As Bri says, “Pay attention during menstrual cycles; hormones affect energy levels, cause you to retain extra fluid. Estrogen helps with blood flow, so if you’re in an estrogen-deficit state, you may need extra recovery time.”
Be all-over healthy
In the end, true fitness is about a whole lot of choices you make in your day, not just the 30 minutes you spend doing crunches.
As Meagan says, “There are so many decisions you make in a day that have much more impact on your health and well-being. Choose fruit over a cookie. Stand up and move every 30 minutes. Watch your posture. Breathe better.”
“If you really want a challenge, challenge yourself to develop healthy habits!” Bri says. “How about 30 days of not drinking sugary soda? You’ll probably have a better outcome than 30 days of crunches. Plus you’ll have that virtuous cycle of feeling better, so you want to do even more healthy stuff, so you feel even better.”
Are you working on getting fit or fitter? What plan or program are you following, if any? Is it working? If you’ve discovered the magic bullet for fitness, you really need to share… We’d love to hear how it went, so let us know in our community forums, on our Facebook page, or in Midlife & Menopause Solutions, our closed Facebook group.
Another great blog as this one on on healthy fats as from our nutrition coach, Michelle Cartmel.
Attention! For those of you who grew up in the Snackwell era, this post may be difficult to swallow.
Picture it: it’s 1994, you’re in your dorm room, and you and your friends have just consumed a box of vanilla creme Snackwells because, well, they were low-fat after all, so how bad could they be? You felt great about choosing that over a small cup of full-fat ice cream!
Breakfast the next morning might have been a bagel with non-fat cream cheese. Dessert that night was as what else as no-fat or low-fat froyo! To borrow from today’s popular slang, you were #winningatlife!
Fast forward to 2017, and that indelible mindset around eating non-fat and low-fat foods is still imprinted in our brains, no thanks to big food marketers. Even though many of us are now a tad more enlightened about food choices, it’s still tough to wrap our brains around eating foods with fat.
One of my favorite food heroes, award-winning author, journalist and activist Michael Pollan advises us in his book Food Rules to avoid eating any foods labeled “lite,” “low-fat” or “non-fat” because manufacturers often bump up the sugar content in our food to compensate for the flavor that was lost by eliminating the fat.
Pollan’s research on the topic indicates that since Americans began eating low-fat food products, we’ve actually been increasing up to 500 extra calories per day!
As a health and wellness coach, my job is to steer my clients into making smarter food choices, and at the top of my recommendations is always incorporating healthy fats into your diet.
What is a good/healthy fat? The whole good-fat-versus-bad-fat thing can be quite confusing, so I think it’s important to keep it simple and focus on the good: unsaturated fats.
Under the “good,” unsaturated fat umbrella fall polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats. Polyunsaturated fats can be found in vegetable oils, in fatty fish (salmon, trout mackerel), flax seeds and walnuts. Monounsaturated fats can be found in olives, avocados, nuts such as cashews and almonds, and oils (olive, canola, peanut).
The bad fats to try and avoid are saturated fats found in meat, poultry skin and high-fat dairy, coconut and palm oils. Also avoid artificial trans fats which are used in many of the processed baked goods and snack foods that call our names from the grocery aisle and which are used to make French fries at our favorite local diner. These should generally be avoided, as they are likely to wind up as the seemingly inescapable menopausal belly bump.
There are so many good reasons to make friends with healthy fats. Like a good friend, healthy fats can enhance the quality of your life. Do we choose friends who make us feel badly about ourselves? Certainly not intentionally! So why would we choose foods that make us feel bad when there are so many good ones out there? Here are three of my favorite reasons to make friends with healthy fats.
In addition to some of the foods listed above, my go-to’s include eggs, flaxseed (ground or whole), and veggies like kale, Brussels sprouts, and spinach which are high in Omega 3s. Foods that boast healthy fats are only one part of the equation; like anything else, it’s important to eat these things in moderation and as part of a well-rounded, nutrient-dense diet of vegetables, greens, fruit, healthy whole grains, lean protein and vitamins in midlife.
Bottom line, choose your foods the way you would your friends; high quality maximizes your overall output, happiness and satisfaction in life.
Cheers to your health,
Michelle
Get more great information from Michelle: get a nutritional mood boost from seasonal foods, avoid stress-eating at the holidays, and add some protein to your diet.
How are you feeding yourself for optimal health? We’d love to know. Share with the community in the comments below, or hit us up on Gennev’s Facebook page or Midlife & Menopause Solutions, genneve’s closed Facebook group.
On a recent Sunday, team Gennev gave me $25 and a challenge: Shop Seattle’s beautiful Ballard Farmers Market and find the foods that optimize the health of a woman in midlife. Watch the video to get inspired by all the gorgeous produce, then learn more below”¦
What’s not to love about this challenge? Farm fresh food, live music, gorgeous flower stalls at every turn, and a sunny day in Seattle! There are so many seasonal goodies available now which made this challenge so palatable.
However, like many farmers markets (there are over 8,000 in the U.S.!), the size of this one is quite substantial, and the choices can be overwhelming. This inspired me to put a plan and some tips in place to help you shop smart and healthy during your next trip to your local farmers market.
The key to successfully shopping the market is”¦a plan! If you don’t have a plan, you end up running around the market buying everything that looks beautiful and spending a lot of money on food you may or may not end up eating because you don’t know how to prepare it. Hello, rhubarb and kohlrabi! You’re gorgeous, but I haven’t the faintest idea what to do with you.
Three easy tips for staying on plan:
My plan for my visit to Ballard was to stock my refrigerator with mainly nutrient-dense foods that I can easily prep and eat all week long. I created my list prior to my visit and settled on produce/foods that are uber healthy, taste divine, and have a decent shelf life.
At the end of my shop, I had a few dollars to spare so I treated myself to some Kombucha, a fermented tea drink that’s made by adding bacteria and yeast to sugar and black or green tea and allowing the brew to ferment. Kombucha does a ton of good things for us: it may help to aid digestion, stimulate the immune system, prevent cancer, stop hair loss, and even improve liver function. Kombucha can now be found at most super markets, but the one that I tried was from a local Kombucha maker, CommuniTea Kombucha.
I hope that these tips were helpful, and now I challenge you to get your list together and head to your local farmers market.
Cheers to your health!
Check out more great content from Michelle on savvy shopping on a budget, conquering the bulk aisle, avoiding holiday stress eating, and more.