https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9nZW5uZXZlLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz/episode/YjBjZjllN2MtODNiOC00NThjLWJiZjQtNzRjYzQ0OTk1NWNl https://open.spotify.com/episode/5lhEmU9XGNt4emsmKU3WMf?si=57KV6YiMQtmmf6dpZfLB_Q https://open.spotify.com/episode/5lhEmU9XGNt4emsmKU3WMf?si=57KV6YiMQtmmf6dpZfLB_Q
Last week I received a call from Dr. Joanne Weidhaas, M.D. PhD, founder of MiraKind. Her mission is to study the KRAS-variant genetic marker found in breast, ovarian and lung cancer.
She told me I tested positive.
The KRAS genetic marker is a contributor to 20% of all breast cancer cases, 20% of ovarian cases and 25% of all lung cancer cases.
According to Dr Weidhaas, Since we have found that declining estrogen levels trigger cancer in KRAS-variant positive women, we know that estrogen is protective for them. We support HRT, particularly in women with the KRAS-variant, as it helps protect them against their cancer risk.
Thankfully, Gennev’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su, happened to be sitting next to me in our office when I received the news.
I immediately asked her if I should go on hormone therapy.
She responded with a question, Are you still getting your period?
Yes, I still have my period.
Well then your body is still making estrogen. You dont need estrogen when your body is still making it.
I was relieved, but my next question was, What if I want to go on the Mirena IUD to regulate my period? My period is still monthly, but sometimes its more frequent, heavy, painful and downright unpredictable in terms of flow.
Too much TMI? Welcome to us getting more comfortable with our health.
Dr. Dunsmoor-Su recommended that I forgo the Mirena IUD or any form of birth control that could mask whether I was still menstruating, so that I can more closely monitor when my estrogen levels will sharply declineaka menopause.
At that point, I will likely turn to supplemental hormone therapy to manage my cancer risk in accordance with my KRAS test results.
People have asked me, Do you really want to know if you have a gene for this or that? My answer is yes! Knowledge is power. With my test results, I am empowered to manage my long-term health in an informed way with the help of an evidence-based doctor.
This is what preventative healthcare is. This is me taking control of my health.
I share these personal results with you, because as women we need to be aware of whats happening in our bodies as we enter perimenopause and come out the other side.
If you’re interested in taking the KRAS-variant genetic test, its a simple cheek swab using a mail-order kit that Dr. Weidhaas team carefully ships to you and easily collects with a self-stamped return. Heres what the kit looks like.
Our health cannot be left to online questionnaires or annual visits to a general practitioner. Things are changing in our bodies in our 40s, 50s and 60s, so we need to learn and act. Take the test. Talk to a doctor. And feel empowered about your health in the second half of life.
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Just like every part of our bodies, we need to take care of our reproductive system. Wellness expert Jovanka Ciares shares her easy herbs for female health.
In the weight-loss world, carbs are the current “bad guy,” but is it necessary to give up carbs? Or is going carb-free actually causing weight loss to stall? We’ll break down the best time to eat carbs
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Throw out our carbs? Maybe when you pry that baguette from our cold, dead hands.
Fortunately, we may not have to. As Debra Atkinson writes for PRiME WOMEN, giving up carbs completely may be the wrong strategy for those hoping to lose weight.
What if you could tie in good sleep, weight loss and renewed energy? Here’s the key. Don’t ditch carbs completely. The team at <a href=”https://gennev.com/”>Gennev</a>breaks it down with Debra Atkinson.</p>
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Include complex low and slow carbohydrates at every meal. Increase the number of carb servings at each meal throughout the day. Start with eating carbs at a lower amount for breakfast and have the most carbs at dinner. Shocked? Here’s how to make sense of that
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Cortisol levels ideally peak in the morning and fall throughout the day. When cortisol drops you can become more edgy. If calming carbohydrates increase as cortisol decreases you’ll avoid that hangry feeling.
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Sleep yourself skinny? Recent studies support this dream of getting slim passively. There’s growing evidence that longer sleepers (compared to individuals who don’t sleep nearly as long) are slimmer, with lower body mass index (BMI) levels, and they perform better. In spite of exercise and diets that should result in weight loss, your body could actually conserve your fat, at the expense of your lean muscle, without the right amount of shuteye.
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If you have a hard time getting adequate quality or quantity of sleep, pay special attention when eating carbs. Eating the largest por­tion of carbohydrates at your evening meal will calm you with some serotinin and help you get a better night’s sleep. If you’re in the habit of decreasing your carbohydrates at night to help prevent weight gain, and you’re not sleeping well, this small change by itself may improve weight loss. More carbs for weight loss? Who knew?
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All carbs are not the same, however. Choose low and slow. That is, low Glycemic Index (GI) and Glycemic Load (GL) foods that are released slowly. Quinoa, brown rice, legumes, and sweet potatoes are good examples.
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Nine out of ten women who begin a Flipping 50 program have two things in common.
They have severely reduced carbohydrate consumption at night.
Their rating of sleep quality is 5/10 or less.
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That’s not coincidence. If you are struggling to sleep and lose weight both, there’s a chance that the very thing you’re doing to reach your weight loss goal is sabotaging both that and short-sheeting you on sleep.
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Eating carbs boosts your natural production of serotonin. Serotonin is your feel-good hormone. Women have lower levels of it than men. Too little of it can make you feel depressed. The right amount helps keep you calm and will improve your readiness to sleep in the evening.
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Though simple math about carbohydrate storage in the body can make you lose weight quickly by removing carbohydrates, it could sabotage you later. For every one-part carbohydrate stored, three parts water is stored. Eliminate carbs and you’ll lose water weight. After a short time, driving your carb intake too low can disrupt your sleep and cause cravings you can’t out-willpower.
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Dinnertime is a good time to eat more carbohydrates. That is, eat more than you have at previous meals in the day.
I know it’s often the exact opposite of what you may be doing. But if you’re both sleepless and weight loss has stalled, what have you got to lose? Women usually come back within a week and tell me they can’t believe how much more energy they have, and how much happier they are! We do love eating carbs. The trick is to not go for the breadbasket or the chips to do it.
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Try one or two of these suggestions for a full week and see what happens.
Tonight, have a sweet potato with your dinner. If you prefer, have some brown rice or quinoa. Make a butternut squash soup or have chili made with beans. Finish with a small cup of berries.
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Since sleep affects every aspect of life, it’s important to be aware of the fact that sleep duration not only enhances your weight and your weight loss efforts, it also benefits the quality of your sleep. It’s a two-way street. It may not take a lot to improve your sleep. In fact, as little as 10 minutes of exercise a day can boost self-reports of sleep quality by nearly 30 percent. Couple that with eating carbs at night, and you are on your way to weight loss!
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Have you tried bumping up your healthy carbs to improve sleep and help with weight management? How did it work for you? Talk to us on our Midlife & Menopause Solutions.
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Content warning: disordered eating.
If you think you left behind your eating disorder in your teens or made it out of your 20s without worrying about your weight or body image, you might be in for a rude as and dangerous as surprise in midlife.
Do a quick search for “body image in menopause” and you’ll come across comments like the following:
“Half the time I’m feeling bloated and gross and really resenting the weight I’ve gained these past few months. The other half I’m making excuses to have another candy or treat. I knew getting older meant not being able to burn off calories like before, but this is really awful”¦ And yes, I did have an eating disorder as a teen, just typing all this out and I can see that old thinking coming back.”
“I have always been slim, not skinny, and as I’ve aged I’ve had to watch what I eat, etc. If the past had been facing a small challenge to be slim and healthy then the menopause is Mount Everest. No matter how ‘good’ I am I can’t lose a single pound and I put them on so easily I’d win Olympic gold at weight gaining.”
“I feel like in my 20’s I could just stop eating junk food and the pounds came off. now it seems no matter what I do I can’t lose weight and it’s all in my middle :(“
If these statements sound familiar, you’re not alone. And that doesn’t mean this sort of thinking is necessarily healthy.
(Take caution: pro-eating disorder forums or websites (e.g. Pro Ana, referring to Pro Anorexia Nervosa behaviors, and Pro Mia, referring to Pro Bulimia behaviors) are sometimes disguised as support.)
Leslie (not her real name) doesn’t consider herself as having an eating disorder, but she’s no stranger to extreme dieting.
Extreme dieting is considered a type of disordered eating, defined as “a “very strict diet’ or “hardly eating anything at all’ in order to influence their weight or shape.”
Although Leslie’s mom had diabetes, and three of her siblings have had heart attacks, Leslie’s concern has always been less about health and more about her physical appearance. Before midlife, Leslie was always thin. As a teenager, she led crowds in cheers with her baton and skimpy outfits as a majorette in her high school marching band.
However, after two children and then menopause, she grew more and more self-conscious of the stubborn fat around her midsection. She calls it her “roll.”
To lose the midlife bulge, Leslie followed a plan that restricted food intake to alternating days of consuming around 500 calories worth of dairy or vegetables. To combat hunger pangs, she would rub ball bearings taped behind her ears (“acupressure points”) every hour, on the hour.
While Leslie stopped once she hit her goal weight, she falls back on this method whenever she feels uncomfortable with her “roll.” She calls it “going back on the beads.”
If you need help with eating disorders in midlife, a menopause-certified health coach can be helpful. Book 30 minutes for your personal consultation with a health coach.
Leslie’s story is all too common.
Eating disorders and body dissatisfaction affect up to 13 percent of women aged 50 and older, with risk factors that correlate to eating disorders in younger women as compounded with additional anxiety around the aging process.
While 13 percent represents the percentage of women in midlife with a diagnosable eating disorder, 60 percent report that their body image has a negative impact on their life, and 70 percent report trying to lose weight or belly fat.
With such a high percentage of women suffering, you may not need a reminder of the various types of eating disorders, but just to be clear, we’re talking about all of the following here:
In midlife, eating disorders generally look like binge eating, bulimia, or other specified feeding or eating disorders. Anorexia rates typically plateau around age 26, but binge eating levels out at age 47, and purging can last until a woman is in her 70s. Women who have never married or had children are more likely to experience anorexia or bulimia in midlife.
Support and care from a Menopause Health Coach: It’s time to subscribe to HealthFix.
Eating disorders are dangerous on their own, representing the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. They bring even more health challenges in midlife, as our bodies are more prone to injury and illness than in adolescence and we feel the effects more strongly. For example, bone density is already a concern as we enter menopause, and eating disorders compound our likelihood of a compound fracture.
Hospitalizations for eating disorders increased among all age groups between 1999 and 2009, but hospitalizations for the 45-65 demographic rose the most: 88 percent. People over 45 saw the highest increase in purging.
We’ve written before about why women in midlife are so prone to disordered eating. It comes down to hormonal shifts that lead us to binge eat or fall back into harmful dietary patterns, stressful big life changes (like kids going off to college or taking care of aging parents) that make it harder to eat healthily, and societal pressure to be thin when your body wants to gain and hold on to weight as and sadly, weight discrimination, perceived or otherwise, is prevalent in our society.
For some women, it’s a new thing. Others relapse into old patterns. And some women finally realize that they’ve had problems with food for decades when their children receive treatment for an eating disorder.
Consider this: you owe it to both yourself and the next generation to break the cycle of dieting and self body-shaming. Your children (or grandchildren, nieces, or nephews) are watching your actions and will model their own body image around yours.
If you recognize any of the symptoms of an eating disorder in yourself or feel you have an unhealthy relationship with food or exercise, talk to your doctor or schedule a phone conversation with one of ours.
Awareness of eating disorders in midlife is increasing, but some women still find that their practitioner of choice will brush off their concerns, believing that only teenagers can have an eating disorder. Consider seeing another provider if this happens to you, particularly one who specializes in eating disorders.
Experts suggest that treatment for perimenopausal and menopausal individuals with eating disorders focus on behavioral and cognitive symptoms. In addition, they advise addressing the specific challenges of midlife, whether they be the physical aspect of aging, reflection upon choices made during reproductive and career-building years, and, for women who have long struggled with their eating disorder, acceptance around relationships and accomplishments that may have turned out otherwise without it.
Consider focusing on being healthy instead of being thin. After all, none of us will ever get to (have to) be in our 20s again.
For most of us, this means that gone are the days of crying at 3 AM after too much tequila, sleeping on a futon because we’re saving up for a real bed, sharing an apartment we can barely afford (despite having a roommate or two), and having our hearts broken by one-night stands. And, hey, even if you can still party until dawn or your back can handle a futon, you’ve at least left behind that pesky late-adolescent angst.
We’ve left our 20-something mindset in the past; we can leave our 20-something bodies there as well. There’s more to come… let’s get after it!
Your insights and experiences are valuable… and shareable! Click over to the Gennev Community Forums to ask questions, clarify, and process your experience of midlife, menopause, perimenopause, and health. We’d love it if you’d join us.
If you have ever experienced electric shock sensations, it can be quite scary. Women have described it as feeling like a rubber band snapping on your skin, a zing of electricity shooting through you, or as serious as a jolt likened to a taser. Electric shock sensations, or ESS, aren’t typically attributed to perimenopause. And for most, ESS is generally harmless and short-lived, but for some it has been the signal of an imminent hot flash.
It’s not exactly clear what’s going on, but these zaps could be related to aging, or possibly fluctuating hormones. Estrogen works with your central nervous system to send messages along nerves to the brain. When your hormones start to go haywire, signals may get crossed, amplified, short-circuited, or otherwise distorted, causing the sensation of a shock or tingling all over your body or elsewhere.
Some medications, particularly those prescribed for hot flashes, may also contribute to the sensations. Anxiety may increase the likelihood and severity of ESS.
While ESS won’t harm you, it may disrupt sleep and increased anxiety, creating a vicious cycle. In some cases, it may be a symptom of a more serious condition.
Since hormones and anxiety seem to be triggers for ESS, reining both in may be your best defense. Here are some options.
Eat more phytoestrogens. These compounds occur naturally in foods like soybeans, tofu, chickpeas, flax seeds, broccoli, berries, wheat bran, and green and black tea, and act like estrogen in the body. The addition of dietary estrogen may level out the hormone dips that are implicated in many perimenopausal symptoms. An analysis of multiple studies found that they can provide some relief from hot flashes and vaginal dryness.
Get stuck. While acupuncture can sometimes cause electric shock sensations, this ancient Chinese practice has been found to help ease anxiety and hot flashes and improve sleep and quality of life for perimenopausal and menopausal women.
Consider hormone replacement therapy (HRT). If symptoms are disrupting your life, it’s worth talking to your doctor about HRT. The goal is to provide some additional hormones to attenuate the drop in your levels and minimize the accompanying unwanted symptoms.
Get your B vitamin levels checked. Low levels of B12 may actually cause those annoying electric jolts.
Learn to relax. Pick what works for you”yoga, soaking in the bathtub, deep breathing, meditation, a walk in nature. The effect will be less anxiety, which may turn down the voltage on electric shocks.
And, like so many other menopause symptoms, ESS may respond to overall healthy habits, such as:
As with all new and unexplained symptoms, it’s a good idea to consult with a doctor to rule out other possible causes.
If you have shock sensations down your leg, it could be related to a herniated disc or spinal stenosis. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy can cause shooting pain sensations in the legs and feet. Osteoporosis of the spine increases your risk of experiencing ESS, so you may want to talk with your doctor about a bone density test. Dysesthesia, or abnormal sensations, related to multiple sclerosis can be confused with ESS, but it is usually more painful.
So, before you chalk it up to menopause, consult with your physician or a Gennev doctor. Our menopause specialists can help you understand electric shock sensations as they may relate to menopause, plus discuss your symptoms and their impact on your overall health and wellness.
The information on the Gennev site is never meant to replace the care of a qualified medical professional. Hormonal shifts throughout menopause can prompt a lot of changes in your body, and simply assuming something is “just menopause” can leave you vulnerable to other possible causes. Always consult with your physician or schedule an appointment with one of Gennev’s telemedicine doctors before beginning any new treatment or therapy.
If you are one of the many women who has searched online for natural alternatives for managing menopause symptoms, chances are you found suggestions to include soy in your diet. Studies on soy’s effectiveness in offsetting symptoms (like hot flashes) are mixed, and many individuals may still have concern associated with how much soy is safe to consume. Here, we take a deeper dive on soy, and share five tips about adding soy to your diet in midlife and menopause.
Soy is a nutrient-dense source of plant-based protein that contains isoflavones (plant estrogens) also known as phytoestrogens. Isoflavones differ from the hormone estrogen, but they may provide some benefits of estrogen without the hormone’s sometimes potentially harmful side effects. Soybeans and soy products such as tofu, soymilk, miso and tempeh are the richest sources of isoflavones in the diet.
Although isoflavones have no effect on estrogen levels, eating soy foods on a regular basis may help with menopause symptoms. Results of more than 15 studies conducted mostly in Western countries show that isoflavone supplements can reduce both the number and severity of hot flashes by 50%. We recommend taking a food-first approach here: aim for 2 to 3 servings of soy foods a day.
In Asia, women who eat the most soy foods have a lower risk of breast cancer compared to women who eat little soy. Women with breast cancer who eat soy foods may be less likely to see their cancer return and are less likely to die from their disease. It is the position of the American Cancer Society, Canadian Cancer Society and World Cancer Research Fund International that women with breast cancer can safely consume soy foods.
Aim for soy foods that are not heavily processed, as the phytoestrogen content is typically much lower in processed foods. Limit soy-based meat analogs when possible, and aim to have your food sources from foods such as a good quality tofu, edamame, or soy milk. Brands we like include WESTSOY for soy milk and Wildwood Organic for tofu.
Many studies suggest that aiming for 2 to 3 servings of whole soy foods per day are beneficial. Suggested serving sizes include:
If you need more information about nutritional strategies and natural solutions to help manage your menopause symptoms, schedule a visit with a Gennev menopause specialist. They can support you with a personalized treatment plan designed to meet your specific needs.
The information on the Gennev site is never meant to replace the care of a qualified medical professional. Hormonal shifts throughout menopause can prompt a lot of changes in your body, and simply assuming something is “just menopause” can leave you vulnerable to other possible causes. Always consult with your physician or schedule an appointment with one of Gennev’s telemedicine doctors before beginning any new treatment or therapy.
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 [“¦]
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.