During the COVID 19 quarantine, many are looking for ways to maintain social and community connection.

Menopause can also be isolating, as women choose to stay home rather than face the possible embarrassment of a hot flash, flooding period, or other disruptive, hard-to-hide menopause symptom.

At Gennev, we don’t believe menopause symptoms should be considered embarrassing, ever. We also know that loneliness can be unhealthy.

So we invited psychiatrist Dr. Swapna Vaidya to talk with Gennev’s Director of Health Coaching, Stasi Kasianchuk, about ways we can stay connected “” through menopause, and through a pandemic.

Watch the video of this conversation on the Gennev YouTube channel, and don’t forget to subscribe!

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Even as we slowly emerge, many are choosing to continue isolating to protect themselves or vulnerable family members. How are you dealing with the isolation? Have you found ways to connect with others that are getting you through? Or are you concerned you may be too isolated? Find connection with the Gennev Community and learn ways to rejoin the world at the pace that feels right to you.

Stasi Kasianchuk, Gennev Health Coach

Dr. Swapna Vaidya, Psychiatrist

Stasi

All right, so welcome everyone to our wealth weekly wellness webinar. Great to have you all here. Excited today to welcome back. I think our most popular guest right now who has is now on her third return, Swapna Vaidya and she is a psychiatrist and she is going to introduce herself and give a little bit more on her background. But today we are going to be talking about this idea around community, what that means right now during this pandemic and what it can, what we can do to use community to support us and how that might look as things start to transition as things are opening up and we’re looking at what this new beginning is going to be. All right. Swapna hello!

Swapna

Hi. Wow Stacy, that was quite an introduction. I’m honored. You know that you guys keep inviting me because I feel like I learned so much from each of you and I have a confession. I have signed up for your webinars, all of your webinars. I have been listening and learning so much. So, I really appreciate this website and this initiative that you know, Jill has created. It’s such a great support system for women. So, you know, very good question Stacy. As we were talking about the community and the essence of it, you know, as we are approaching more or less the six week or the seventh week of this pandemic and I mean I’ve lost count to be honest with you, easy to do, right? I mean it’s becoming so diverse; it’s becoming such a challenging issue as to how do we now pivot and what is this new normal to think about. And then as I communicate with other physician colleagues or I communicate with friends, we’re not on the front lines for each of them. It’s a different new normal and it’s a different experience. So, when I talk about what we should do, I think I would like to tailor it to individual approaches or family-based approaches rather than one size fits all.

There have been a lot of physicians who have been traumatized by this. They see the worst of the worst and it is true and we don’t know how this wider still acting and ravaging the human body. And I feel like my frontline physician folks, they are suffering from some amount of acute stress disorder and PTSD volunteer for the line which is in support line. And I feel privileged and honored that I can at least lend my support in that direction.

But hearing the stories are pretty daunting. But on the other hand, then we have different States which have seen different levels of cases. And now the question of economy opening that up as well as going back to some modality of routine is coming. And you know, when you see these different Facebook sites or support systems, there are all these diversifying views and I often find that people tend to judge not necessarily consciously but in an unconscious way because we are trying to portray what is it exactly that we would want to do. What I tried to say before is that one size won’t fit all. True. It’s so important to understand and have a talk with your family, you know, your unit members and see, Hey, where are we with our comfort level? What do we like to do? Do we like to socially distant walk or do you think that I can have a play date? You know, and kind of like with some families that I can trust. Right? You know, one of the women on Facebook, she said something to the effect of, don’t judge me. You know, I’m just, I have to send my kids to daycare and whatnot. And I just had to tell her there are no judgments here. You know what they’re, are, they’re difficult choices, difficult choices.

And I think all we can do is to be compassionate towards each other. Not beat each other down. Because what might be the situation for one family might not be the same for others. You know, some families might have caregivers, they may maybe lucky to have nannies, some just don’t have that option. Or do we do and how do we keep us safe with whatever knowledge that we have and filing. Follow the CDC guidelines of masking and hand washing and keeping ourselves socially distant as much as possible. It’s so important.

Stasi

That’s a great point. And there’s a lot of you illustrate that there’s a lot of moving parts and there’s a lot of layers and each person is experiencing their own, their own experience, their own pandemic and everyone can be having a different, a different experience around that swap. Now when we think about community generally speaking, related to mental health, what role, well I guess first the question is what is community so we can get everyone kind of on the same page with that from your perspective and then what role, the follow-up is, what role does that play in mental health?

Swapna

You know, we’ll bait questions and such an important, timely questions. You know, for me community is basic humanity. It’s literally the fact that we are all human beings. We are going through this unique experience, unprecedented experience and we are all in sort of these unchartered waters is really knowing what to do. But we are chaotic. We are anxious, we are getting restless, we are getting anxious. What we could do is to reach out to each other, you know, the human chain. That’s the most important chain here. I mean, for the sake of the widest, we should socially distance, right? But then on the other hand, paradoxically for emotional connection, it’s so important and in a way we are blessed. Like we do have technology, we have platforms that virtually connect. It might not be the same and I do agree that it’s, you know, you may miss the human touch, you miss seeing that person in front of you.

But these, there are some alternatives that you can reach out to. And community is exactly that. You define your community and you’ll find those people and make, make them your tribe. Community is tribe and what does tribe do? Support you.

Stasi

Yeah. That support and that support is key, especially during uncertain times. People, we need that support and balance. And what role, I mean, you touched a little bit on this, but, from your perspective and your training and background, what, how does community connect to supporting mental health and provide support? But what is, what is happening there in that connection?

Swapna

So, you know, I”™ll tell you tell from our practice, I practice at a non-profit Hospital I am the medical director there. And what I see there is that we actually are very blessed that we work within public health.

The King County public health initiative has been extremely helpful, extremely forthcoming with the resources that they have provided for our patients. Whether it is shelters some of our less fortunate patients who don’t have a home to shelter in or a home to isolate and quarantine in. They have all been up to outreach, you know, so there are teams of outreach which are homeless outreach teams, which actually go to patients”™ places and see if they have enough medications and have enough food. And so I think that I have really found through this experience  just such caring communities out there when it comes to  outpatient mental health treatment, we actively corroborate and collaborate with them to make sure that  our patients who have suffered a, a crisis within our inpatient systems are now getting the proper continuity of care that is community.

We want to make sure they have enough medications, they have enough resources, they have enough you know, a place to kind of quarantine if they need to or to isolate. And it”™s, it’s so important to even ask this question, “œwhat is it that I can do?” you know, what is it that you need? Because you need that. You may have Stacy so much more different from the need of somebody who was in acute crisis. Yeah, yeah. As a community, having an empathic listening point of view and providing the supports as much as you can, partnering with all these great resources and initiatives. You know, a hospital, a health system has a lot of initiatives and a lot of resources. As I said, that they have partnered with the public health and have helped tremendously within this crisis system.

Stasi

Yeah, no, that’s a good point too.

The, again, going back to those layers and community, providing that support and looking at how it is a collective effort, there isn’t one single healthcare provider probably in your system that could go out and do all of this. It’s a collective effort to support greater, greater people and really for that greater good and bringing people together is really powerful and can also help you know, they, that giving effort as a community can help other individuals feel like they’re doing something. They’re acting and they’re, serving in a way that can support their own mental health. Perhaps, it’s a two-way street.

Swapna

You know, you actually touched upon some very crucial points. So, it’s about your defense mechanisms. What you talked about was altruism. That’s such a mature defense mechanism that how can you help your community during these very trying times? You know, if your channel, your anxiety or your channel, the way you’re coping towards such a way that can also help your fellow human beings, that’s such a beautiful thing that happened even in this crisis.

Stasi

Yeah. Some of the goods, the silver linings and focusing on what you can control versus when it’s so easy to look at things that are out of your control, channeling that energy to the one thing or two or three things that you can do within your control is, is really powerful. It is.

Swapna

And you know, it doesn’t have to be such a huge initiative where you don’t have to overburden yourself but also find something that you connect with. Would be the way you share. Even if you share your experience. That’s what we are sharing with your community.

Stasi

Like fun and we had I don’t know if you saw, but on our Tuesday webinar, we actually featured a group of, of women who had come together to be able to support community with food. And then in turn we’re supporting restaurants and it’s kinda, it’s snowballing.

People are catching on and they want to give, and they want to do something so doing little things like that, it doesn’t have to be that big project. It could certainly even be something small. But there is that act of kindness, that act of doing something for just the fact that it’s the right thing to do really has some, some power right now in what we’re seeing and what we’re experiencing.

Swapna

Yeah, I was actually inspired, you know, I did listen to that talk and I was very inspired by what these women are achieved and you know, how that sort of like brought these women together for this common initiative and common good and kind of like, you know, translated into then a cascading effect of, you know, becoming more and more of it because kindness pays off. Right. You can kind of like see that and, and, and embrace that very positive and caring side of humanity that I think this pandemic has definitely showed us.

Stasi

Yeah, absolutely. Good to look on the positive side of things. Well related to that, what, and you’ve touched on a little bit this as well, but I want to bring it cause we are as Gennev looks to support women, especially during menopause, but how does community during this time,  why is it important and why is it especially important for women?

Swapna

You know and again I think we are sort of gonna see the same thing. It’s the gender issue. It’s all of that. But honestly, I think they did some study which was a very small study that they found out. They surveyed a few women during this pandemic, and they found out how many hours they were putting in at work and work was everything. Right? Work doesn”™t have to be just that they were working from home, but also the other things which could include taking care of your kids to get homework done. And you know, there was a significant difference in the amount of time the husband’s put in.

And then the question became why is that, right?

I mean, so yes, there is this traditional sort of ingrained way of how women have been culturally brought up or taught that we are the naturals, we are the caregivers. But this is not the normal natural time. These are unprecedented times, right? Men continue to sort of say that, okay, I’m going to take as much as I can. They may risk becoming overstressed and overburden. Well, I feel very important for men and women both, and I’m not going to just sort of like really actually, make it about gender. I’m just going to make it about partnership. Whoever’s in your household right now just bought and divide the chores or say, okay, listen, if I do the dishes, can you do this or anything like that or try to do something for each other. I don’t feel you’re the one carrying the brunt of this family.

Stasi

Yeah no, it’s interesting. And as I’ve been talking with my clients this week, especially as you said at the beginning where week seven, six, we’re not really sure, but it’s been going on long enough that we can’t really remember when it started. And as women just do, they go, they get the job done. They are, if they’re working, they’re still working, they’re taking care of their kids, their family, whatever their responsibilities are. And it’s easy to just go, go, go until all of a sudden something’s, something’s not right or something’s not feeling good. And I would say that’s, I’ve seen that in a lot of clients over the past couple of weeks where they’re realizing, Hey, something’s up. And some of them have realized they’re tired, they’re more fatigued, there’s not as many boundaries. So there’s not even the time in your car from work to home to decompress you, you leave your office and walk into the kitchen and start making dinner.  , so these things that we take for granted of being able to take a breath, being able to take a step back  isn’t there as much or what example, I had a client this week realized she hadn’t taken a vacation. They couldn’t go on spring break. And that was usually a time that they would rejuvenate. And then she realized, I just kept working and now I haven’t had a vacation. I haven’t had any days off. It feels weird to take a day off and stay home. Right? What is the deal?

Swapna

One of my patients told me, it’s like the Groundhog Day, right? You wake up the same day, you live it now you don’t know which month you’re in. I mean, almost the end of May. So, it’s just a, we all are sort of experiencing this unchartered way of a time. the whole concept of it has changed. We don’t know where we are right now. where are we going? Where are we coming from? You know, women really need to know that the fact is that they will and should ask for help. , and I feel like the husbands has stepping up and the partners are stepping up or you know  their friends are stepping up because everybody has recognized that we really don’t know how long this is going to happen. Yeah. It can be coming the state’s opening too soon. You know, those other questions are still there. And again, those are the uncertainties that we have to now make it as if they are a part of our existence. Exactly.

Yeah. And that’s a  you talked about the partnership and certainly household it was a community, whether it’s two people, six people, whatever, whoever’s in the household.  , what about other aspects of community do you, for women, do you see that  what other areas do you see might be beneficial for women to bring community to support them right now?

You know, I mean one of them is this platform, Jenny. I honestly feel like I’m being a problem. I’m not biased. I’m really finding out and you know, listening to the webinars, I’m telling you that there was so much that I learned. I feel like connecting to something that really gives you the sense of identity but make it something positive. Right? Like for me, I’ve connected with a lot of my school friends that I’ve known since I was five years old. I’m not going to tell you my age, but, and we are really talking about some things that we done when we were 10 or 11 and ones that are coming out of it. I mean they’re mind blowing like layers and connecting to that depth of who we will. That is a community. It could be your colleagues at work. I think one of my friends was saying they have a happier sort of like a virtual happy hour, you know, it’s kind of like an interesting game they play, it’s a word game and they divide teams and the teams virtual and it all sounded very complicated she works in Amazon, maybe one day we will get there.

But so, this is how the tech companies are reaching out and doing things. And then, it could be you know, your family, your family group, right, that you have probably not been in touch with for many times. Your cousin reunion. So many simple ways of doing it. For me, I’m also very much involved on the Facebook physician group, physician moms, and you know, I honestly get so much information and support from these women who are going through the same thing that I’m going through and balancing their careers and balancing this new normal. So whichever way you find yourself connecting in a positive way, that’s the key thing. Don’t get involved in some negative cycles that don’t get in these kinds of like Twitter Wars or Facebook Wars. You know, that’s not the point of this. We have social media, let’s utilize it to nurture our souls not go down.

Stasi

That’s such a good point. And I like how you covered a lot of different avenues for community. So, there’s community, through social media, that’s definitely option. And if you can find a Facebook group that you have common interests, perhaps it’s a mix of people you know, and people you don’t know. So, there’s that balance. It could be a community like Gennev, I love that example. We are a community and we’re welcoming all women in.  and we want to be able to provide that support and that collective, especially with menopause as our focus, this menopause, adding menopause to a pandemic.  I’ve been telling clients that they, they’re going to get an award if you went through menopause, if you’re going through menopause during this pandemic, you deserve an award because there’s just like some, some type of T shirt that says, I, I’m in menopause in a pandemic or I went through menopause and a pandemic because it is, it adds another layer to things. But being able to know you’re not alone, what you’re going through is a normal process and that is part of, part of the process. But you can ask for help. And again, giving that permission and help might just be a listening ear help might be what are some resources that I can use right now so that’s a great point. I love that. Obvious. I, I am biased, but as with you as well, I’m 100% fan of Gennev and what they’re doing. I wouldn’t work for a company if I didn’t believe in it. So, definitely a shout out to Gennev right there.

Swapna

Definitely. And you know, like as, as, as a woman myself going through changes, I have to say that it has helped me tremendously to understand what resources there are. I could do what could fit me my sort of like, you know, lifestyle and I especially love the Michelle Obama. Yes. I just loved that there was this way of kind of connecting in this way of emailing me or anyone else who’s going through this pandemic and make that I am not able to go towards my regular resources. I’m not able to go and have my, you know, Oh, let’s have a girl’s night or anything like that. We used to take those things for granted. Remember, I mean, remember the time when I go, yeah, that’s not happening, but it can’t happen virtually. It can Happen in a way that through community such as these I’ve been through, you know, blogs, it can happen through exchange of ideas and thoughts. I think through this, I mean, again, I know that this, these are challenging times, but I mean, I don’t know, maybe I am an optimist, which is kind, I kind of, you know, I think I have one, but I want to be a realist a bit, but I really want to say that I think through this that are opportunities to discover yourself, you know, to reinvent yourself and to pivot and see what else is out there. What else about yourself that you haven’t discovered to kind of sit and think and pause and see, you know?

Stasi

Yeah, absolutely. No, that’s a great point too of just how can you use this time to your advantage, this a time that we’ve never had before and I don’t think many people are going to want it to repeat, whether it does in different renditions, time will tell but how can you use it to your advantage? And that’s another conversation I’ve been having and, and maybe not the new normal, you know, sometimes thinking about we don’t know what normal is anymore. So, I’ve been using the concept of a new beginning. This is your opportunity to start something new and to take with you from this time what you want to take with it and what do you want to leave behind and start thinking that through.

Swapna

And I hear what you’re saying, Stasi.

Stasi

Thank you. You know, the sudden there’s something about the normal thing that I might, I don’t know how to define normal anymore. So, let’s think of a new word.  but what I hear you’re saying too is just the part of what can support us in this new beginning is finding ways that we aren’t remaining isolated. Isolation is may not serve us long-term and while we have to do this physical isolation, how can we maintain socially connected and the community, whether it be family, friends, or  , online platform, of colleagues or people you don’t even know has benefits to helping to start that new beginning.

Swapna

Absolutely. You know, I think that we can just  really cannot  I mean we have to sort of understand how community is the only thing that’s going to get us through this because this is a shared experience, you know, and the thing that can also help us out, you know, as we feel this anxiety or we feel like we’re getting depressed or you’re getting this instead of putting these labels, you know, I really feel cause that it’s important to understand what the context of these labels are, not alone. So, outreach and ask your friend, Hey, how you doing it? What’s happening with your kid? You know what I mean? Like it doesn’t seem to listen to me. Mommy fail mommy. So, I mean, and then I forgive myself and I say, hey look, he had no time yet. He’s having a stressful time. You know, I know screen time is a bit much more in my house and I used to allow, but there are ways that he’s coping too. I mean, what can I offer in that situation? And then we exchange ideas and then somebody will say, hey listen, have you thought about downloading this particular app? You know, my kids seems to like it. That’s the idea right there. So, we are learning from each other on so many levels. What happens that helps my kid. But most of the time it doesn’t. I try my hardest and best to kind of get him into interested and invested in different things. But that’s the community. This is what I’m talking about. A community that builds you up a that enhances you, that knows your soul, that makes you feel warm and fuzzy, you know, that is what you want to actually strive towards.

Stasi

Yes, exactly. That. I like how you use that term nurturing right now. I think we can all use a little nurturing,  because there’s, there’s a drain on us and whether we realize it or not,  what I notice and myself included, it’s like you’re just going along doing things and thankful for, to be healthy during this time. So, we think we see all this sickness and if we’re healthy, we think we should be okay. And when the reality is, like you mentioned, everybody’s situation is different and there may be times where I may be okay, I’m not in a hospital, but there are other areas where okay, I could use a little nurturing because it hasn’t happened.

Swapna

No, I mean, and speak of communities. So, I think I was telling you about, so I have a medical school friends on WhatsApp and one of my medical school friend’s daughter I mean, I think she’s wise beyond her years she actually writes a blog and I was, I just, I told her I’m going to use this, but she writes, and she talks about this concept, it’s a Danish concept. It’s from Denmark. It’s called hygge, H Y G G E but it’s pronounced Hooga. And I was like, what is that what does that mean, what is that? And she says it’s a mindset. It’s a mindset that makes you feel connected to what you’re going through. And it could be drinking a nice chocolate like that. I like a hot chocolate, she said, or just, you know, just being still in my mind or maybe painting, maybe not even doing anything, but that’s hygge.

So, try to find what is your inner hygge, you know, and it doesn’t have to be a comparative anything. It just has to resonate with you. She said it. No wonder she’s like, well look, people in Denmark and then they go through these very harsh winters and the happiness quotient of the index is not that bad there. So, I am telling you it’s, it’s funny that my friend is also a psychiatrist and I told her, your daughter’s completely following in your footsteps, you know, I think so. Our children teach us, you know, I mean having their insight into their world and how they will be going on that teaches us.

Stasi

And I think, you know, what you’re talking about too is being open to communities in different ways. Being open to that connection in different forms and we’ll have to, we’ll have to get that resource that you mentioned, and we’ll send it in the follow-up with this podcast. Cause that’s a great concept of really trying to be present and listen to what do you need in this moment to feel most comfortable. And it can look like a lot of different things. As a dietician, there’s been a lot of conversations I’ve been asked about food. And food is an area of comfort and lot of people find comfort in food. And there’s this, there’s a conflict. If someone’s trying to improve their nutrition choices and eat foods that we classify typically as healthier, but we know those comfort foods are typically refined carbohydrates are higher in fat. I ice cream comes to mind. Bread, there’s been a lot of bread baking, but I’ve had conversations on if that is what you need right now, it’s okay to give yourself permission to enjoy those foods rather than eat those foods and feel guilty about it. And then that perpetuates the cycle. Let’s talk about, you know, what that comfort looks like and then what are other things that can provide you comfort so, you’re balancing.

Swapna

and you know, absolutely. And I think, see this is the balance, you actually nailed it. So, one con you know, or extend and sort of take the other extreme of hygge and say, “Oh that is my who I’m going to overeat.” Because you have to understand the consequences. It was also balanced how you’re balancing your life right now. It could be about rewarding and it could be having cheat days here and there, but it’s also important about being centered. So, if you find other ways of coping and other ways of redefining your hygge, you know, which could be, as I said, perhaps immersing yourself in a book that you love to read week like me. So, somebody who is creative and can paint. Or for some people it might be having, you know, just kind of like a conversation with their friends that they have a scheduled date with their friends, they say, and you look forward to it. So, you have to be, find something in your life or in the time right now to look forward to. Something gives you fun. You know, it could be the connection with somebody that you will haven’t spoken to for a long time. It will be the great book that you always wanted to read, and they will have time things such as that or cooking a healthy meal. I mean we have you right here, Stasi. Healthy meals can also taste very nice.

Stasi

Absolutely.  and having options around that or trying, trying to cook for the first time if you’re home more and, and, and embracing that process and learning from it.  or perhaps you join a cooking community. There are resources. I know one of our guests formally, Monica Jacobson, she was way back at the beginning of our webinar series, she’s offering cooking classes on through, I think they’re through their online, the virtual cooking classes. And she does once a month, she does them with kids. And so, you can bring your kids and then there’s this large group and she’s leading those things so, that”™s another thing, looking for those resources where you can you can find that community, learn a new skill, learn something you enjoy and something to maybe pass the time.

Swapna

Maybe some kitchen disasters, you know, I mean, I’ve even tried to get my son because here’s who goes cookies. Let’s start a bit sorry. So, it gives them a little insight as to, you know, how much sugar goes, and things and you might want to be balanced when it’s hard to teach a five-year-old.

Stasi

Yeah, that’s a lot. But good for you for I’m starting give young, you know.

Swapna

I said, well you’re not work. Let’s kind of like do something cause I’m bored. I’m bored. I said, okay, well then you know, and then we made a little mini-series. It was chef Shawn.

That’s great. He said at the end, subscribe to my channel to watch YouTube.

Stasi

He pays attention!

Swapna

Too much I tell you these kids are raised in an environment I don”™t even know there will be studies done later.

Stasi

Yeah, it’ll be interesting studies done on this whole situation, the whole pandemic. We’re going to learn a lot right now

Nutrition plays a critical role in supporting our immune system. Now more than ever it’s time to prioritize your nutrition to keep you healthy and well. This doesn’t need to take excessive amounts of time or advanced culinary skills. Give a listen to our podcast to learn easy ways to prepare and eat meals that support your immune health.

In this podcast, you’ll hear Gennev’s Director of Coaching Stasi Kasianchuk, RND, talking with another Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Monika Jacobson, about the importance of good food during stressful times.

Healthy food is always important, but in this time of global pandemic, the more we can do to take care of ourselves, the more we slow the spread and ease the burden on overloaded health care facilities.

And if the way we take care of ourselves makes us and our families feel good, happens to be delicious as well as nutritious, and can even be a fun activity to do together, well, even better!

Click here for more information on Gennev’s Integrated Care that provides access to Registered Dietitians trained in menpoause. And learn more about Monika and her organization, Eat Move Thrive-Spokane.

View the webinar on YouTube.

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About our speakers:

Coach Stasi Kasianchuk RDN is a Sports Dietitian, Exercise Physiologist, and menopause specialist. Check out her movement videos on the Gennev channel of YouTube.

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Monika Jacobson is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) with over 10 years of experience coaching people through their health and wellness journeys.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Stasi Kasianchuk:

I am Stasi Kasianchuk. I am a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Exercise Physiologist, and the Director of Gennev Health Coaching. Today I’m here with Monika Jacobson, and we’re going to be talking about how to prepare nutritious meals during this COVID-19 crisis. So Monika, I’d love if you could just give our audience a little bit of background for you, on your business, Eat Move Thrive – Spokane, and what you do on a day-to-day basis there.

Monika Jacobson RND:

Thanks Stasi. I’m also a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and I own a business called Eat Move Thrive – Spokane. And I’m located in Spokane, Washington… Eastern Washington, for those of you who may not know and in my business I do one-on-one virtual coaching and most of that is centered around nutrition, but I’m always talking about exercise and stress management and sleep and the psychological pieces that play into all of that because it definitely works very much together. But nutrition is definitely my expertise. So, I work with clients one-on-one and video meetings like this, or over the phone. And when we’re not in the middle of a global pandemic, I’m out in the community a lot doing cooking classes, teaching various nutrition topics or wellness topics to groups of people in studios, gyms, and corporate settings. I do a lot of corporate wellness with local companies in town. A little bit of everything, but lots on the coaching side of things these days as most of us are at home.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

That’s such a great thing that we have the telehealth platform to work from right now. It’s certainly working to our advantage.

Well, you know, you bring up the pandemic that we’re in and certainly it is a unique situation. I think I can speak for both of us and that we have never lived through anything like this and it’s certainly a unique time. One thing that excites me is that the importance of nutrition for immune health, which you and I both know from our studying, our training and our backgrounds, but now I have clients that are a lot more interested in this. So I’d love if we could just talk maybe through some basics, have a good conversation about why nutrition is important for the immune system, and different foods that can help with that.

And then we’ll get into the nitty gritty on how to help people to do that. Does that sound okay for you?

Monika Jacobson RND:

Sounds great.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

All right, awesome. Well, you know, I love food in general and the power of food to support the immune system. And I see the opportunities here for people to expand and try new things, but also to understand the importance of how food supports our health in a variety of different ways, especially immune support. Most recently, I’ve been talking to my clients about food being kind of the building blocks of the immune system. And if we’re going outside into our world right now, we want to have an armor on. And food can definitely do that. What types of conversations have you been having with your clients around this, and what has helped them to understand the importance that food plays with immune health?

Monika Jacobson RND:

That’s a great question. I have been talking more about immunity. In general, I would say even at the start of cold and flu season, but now more than ever, it’s front of mind. So, I do think of food as medicine, but also as preventative medicine. And I think of it as fuel in our gas tanks. And if you put high-quality fuel into your gas tank, you’re going to perform better. And I don’t mean from an athletic standpoint or performance (standpoint). What I mean is, that the natural metabolic processes in your body, including those around immunity, can function at their best. Food has really powerful properties and especially very specific foods to support that immunity.

I’m talking with my clients about how to make the most nutritious choices right now, so they’re keeping their immunity in tip-top shape for whatever bugs and viruses they may encounter right now. Because not only do we want to avoid COVID-19, but we also want to avoid having to go to the hospital for just anything at this point. So I’m keeping our immunity strong for all those reasons just feels extra important right now.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

That’s such a good point. Obviously COVID-19 is getting a lot of attention, but that doesn’t mean other colds, flus, bugs are disappeared. They still exist too. That’s the great thing about food that I like because it’s not like a drug that’s just targeting one thing, and you can get so many benefits from foods, especially  fruits and vegetables. I think sometimes my clients might get tired of me saying, “You need to eat more fruits and vegetables”. But really at the basics, these whole foods do provide such a benefit that we don’t have to worry about overdosing. I have not yet had anyone overdose on vegetables. I suppose there could be some digestive challenges, but you know, I think we have some benefits there that they’re powerhouses.

And like you said, food in general, contains these phytochemicals when we’re thinking about plants that go in and really support the immune system and doing the job of filling that tank. So the quality that you’re putting in can really support the quality of your health.

When it comes to other foods… Obviously fruits and vegetables are important. They are going to support our immune system. They have lots of vitamins, minerals to do that. Other foods that you see as important to help your clients… Do you have other things that you’re recommending to them when it comes to immune function?

Monika Jacobson RND:

Yeah, that’s a good question. So, you’re right. Certainly fruits and vegetables. Absolutely, ginger, garlic, turmeric. I’m thinking more about herbs and spices and not fruits and veggies that you would just eat whole.

I mean, you can eat a whole knob of  ginger or a head of garlic cloves, but incorporating those natural herbs and spices into cooking can be really powerful. I think we think about like, “Oh, maybe taking those in supplemental form”, which also has its place. But I encourage my clients to use those types of foods, ginger, garlic, turmeric, those are the ones that always come in front of mind to me because they’re so easy to incorporate in lots of different types of recipes. And even together, like those three together, working a lot of like Thai dishes and Indian dishes. So keeping those in the refrigerator”¦ those  are foods that I would always encourage. Tell me what you think Stasi, but I know there’s some research around Omega 3s… So, aside from fruits and vegetables, getting fatty, cold-water fish, like salmon, or sardines. Smaller fish that are white flesh, like a Black Cod, is a little harder fish to find.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

I think you’re right on the Omega 3s too. Again, going back to those building blocks”¦ you know, Vitamin C and Zinc get a lot of credit, but Vitamin C and Zinc alone are not going to support your immune system. It really is multifactorial and we got to have all the pieces. And certainly, if you do eat animal protein, fish is a great option. And if you can get a hold of high quality, say, a wild-caught salmon, that’s great. The anchovies and sardines like you mentioned are great ones, sometimes a tough sell for people. But those are obviously canned products too, so they’re really shelf stable right now, and you can stock up on those and have those as easy Omega 3 sources available to you.

Monika Jacobson RND:

Yeah, absolutely. One of my favorite recipes is a canned salmon, sweet potato cake that I bought from actually another fellow dietitian. And these are a tasty, easy recipe that you can even batch cook and have that ready to go, on hand for a week, or freeze some and cook them as needed. Canned salmon, which I think a lot of people would go, “Ooh, I don’t know about that,” but there’s a lot you can do with those shelf-stable, seafood products, actually.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

Right now, shelf stable is just really important. They can be convenient: you can stock up on them, keep you out of the grocery store a little bit longer, and be able to use those as nutrient-rich sources.

That reminds me of another nutrient that I don’t know always gets the attention it deserves for the important role it plays in our immune function, but protein. I think, for protein, we always think “muscle building”. You know, it’s going to repair our muscles after a workout, but really, (also) recognizing that adequate protein intake is needed when to support the immune system, to support antibodies, to support the enzymes and the processes that go into immune function. So, that’s another gray area where something like the canned salmon is also going to provide those Omega 3s and the protein.

Again, food for the win, because you’re getting more, more than one thing out of there.

Monika Jacobson RND:

I’m always a fan of trying to get nutrition through food first and then supplements. I will say one of the supplements, and I’m not really a big supplement person at all, but one supplement that I think is pretty warranted is Vitamin D

We’ve all heard that a lot of us are deficient, especially in parts of the country with less sunlight or not as warm weather. Where our skin isn’t as exposed to daily sunlight. I know, certainly at this latitude in Washington, and it’s cold and dark more often than we’d like, so many of us are deficient. But Vitamin D is also really supportive of immunity amongst a million other things. So if you have that supplement at home, it’s not a bad one…just make sure you’re being consistent with it right now. For lots of reasons, but certainly immunity during this time.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

Yeah. And that’s a great reminder, especially with vitamin like that, that you can’t really get from food. Well, it’s in some sources, but the amount that you would have to take… the amount of salmon you would have to eat or the amount of fortified milk you’d have to drink to get what you, (what most people) need, it’s going to be way over what’s maybe tolerable for you.

So, yeah. Good point. That is a relatively inexpensive supplement. You know, buying just the generic brand, 2000 IUs per day, to start with. And then keeping that in your consistency point is really important.

Monika Jacobson RND:

Yeah, exactly. Thanks for putting out the dosage. I agree with that.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

Yeah. Awesome. The other thing that I’ve been working with a lot of my clients on too is hydration and that can also support immune function. And what with being at home more often, I’ve noticed that some people, including myself, I would say my hydration has probably decreased because I’m in a different routine.

So typically if I would go out, I’d bring a water bottle… and if I’m at a meeting, I’m sipping on my sipping on water throughout the meeting. But now, with the shift in routine, things are getting juggled. And so, I’ve had to remind clients too, that hydration plays a role in your immune function. So that’s another area of, of support there.

Monika Jacobson RND:

That’s a great point. It’s making me thirsty and I’m reaching for my water.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

There you go. Everyone take a water break right now. Sip of water if it’s near you. So we got one question: Can I buy any vitamin C or D brand because there are vegan and common ones? To the best of my knowledge, when it comes to vitamin C or Vitamin D, even a generic brand is typically going to be okay.

The one caution I would put with the vitamin C is that I would limit it to a thousand milligrams or less. Right now I have heard of people thinking, “Oh, vitamin C is good for the common cold, so COVID is worse than the common cold, so I’m going to take more vitamin C.”

And more is not always better. It is an antioxidant and sometimes antioxidants in high amounts can become pro-oxidative. So you want to be careful with that on the vitamin C”¦ that would be my recommendation. I don’t know if you have any insight on that, Monika, or any additional things to add?

Monika Jacobson RND:

I think that’s a good answer. I think that it doesn’t really matter from what I know: vegan versus non-vegan ones. Sometimes that has to do with the capsule of the supplement, if that’s made from like gelatin from an animal versus not, that’s often what the vegan differentiation is. So that itself I don’t think would really matter unless, unless it’s personal preference. But for the actual C or D itself,  I don’t think that would matter. And I will also say, when you take a supplement, it’s often not as bio-available and as readily absorbed in the body. So, if you can take the supplement but eat an orange that day, or put some lemon juice into your salad… I’m sure Stasi and I have helped lots of clients with figuring out how to do practical things with food. So you’re getting those nutrients through food first. But that’s just another way to ensure instead of taking double the supplement, we’ll take your normal supplement and then just eat it through the food as well.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

Yeah, exactly. No, I like that point too. Especially with things with vitamin C, you’re going to get that fiber which is also important to fuel your gut health, which plays a role in the immune system. So again, you’re always going to get more bang for your buck when you’re getting food to provide those nutrients.

Well, we got another question that says, “I have family members in my home that are exhibiting symptoms. Are there menu tips I should be following to help them improve?”

We’ve got one more question on the supplements… So let’s finish up with supplements and then let’s dive into some practical strategies. I think that’s really where the rubber hits the road and we can talk about some of that menu planning. So, the other question on the supplements was, “Is it wise to take vitamin C and D together, or are there combinations that make them more effective?”

So based off of my understanding with these, is that their supplements are good to take with food to help increase their bio-availability. Vitamin D can be better absorbed if consumed with fat. So that might help with that absorption.

As far as vitamin C, I don’t know of anything specific to help with the absorption of vitamin C… although vitamin C can help with the absorption of iron. So there is that connection there. Monika, anything that you would recommend around how to take these supplements?

Monika Jacobson RND:

I don’t think it matters if Vitamin D and C are taken together. I don’t  think they compete for absorption, if that makes sense. But I agree with you, Stasi, that they should take those supplements with food. Pretty much, almost always, supplements should be taken with food… unless there’s a medication interaction that would differentiate or, take them separately for some reason. I don’t think it would matter if you did like vitamin C with breakfast and Vitamin D at bedtime or with dinner.

I don’t think it’s, it’s a huge issue either way.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

That’s my understanding as well. We have several supplement questions coming in right now. So maybe we’ll tackle some of these and then transition to the food, which may also help, from a supplement standpoint… letting you know different nutrients that could come from the food.

So are there good food sources of zinc?

Seafood is a good source of zinc. That’s definitely one area where you can get a really high amount of zinc. Things like oysters and shellfish especially. As far as other food sources with zinc”¦ A lot of things that may depend on the soil, but a lot of things that are grown in soil, there’s going to be zinc in there. So you’re thinking, again, plants are going to be high sources of zinc, or contain zinc, that can be available to support your immune system. And the other additional zinc sources come to mind for you. Monika?

Monika Jacobson RND:

Mm beans. I think beans are another source. We can beans, but no, I agree. Like anything that’s grown in the soil, because zinc is a mineral that food naturally occurs. It does pull the zinc out of the soil into the food. So yeah, I don’t think so. Aside from seafood, that’s, that’s the big one actually.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

In animal products, there is going to be zinc”¦ thinking of turkey, chicken, there’s going to be zinc in those, but certainly seafood is going to pack pack a bigger punch on that.

And then another question, how about… is it okay to eat canned sardines to get Omega 3s ?

Absolutely. That’s a great source. Sardines, anchovies… they’re bottom feeders. So, the bigger the fish, the more contaminants that can be in that fish because of the other things they eat.

So those bottom feeders are actually the better ones to consume.

And then, can you comment on B vitamins? B2 as a stress vitamin and a, B complex? Also, getting Bs through the diet, especially in non-meat eaters.

So, for B vitamins, they are involved in a lot of metabolic processes in the body.

So they’re definitely important to include. Again, going back to food first, you’re going to get a lot of benefits from foods that are high in B vitamins.

So even things like whole greens, beans, these are going to be B sources that are in non-animal products. B12, depending on if you eat any animal products, if you don’t… B12 maybe what you’re missing. So, if you are vegan for example, that’s where a B12 supplement may be appropriate because that is going to be much more of a challenge for you to get. Any additional recommendations from you or what you recommend working with vegan clients?

Monika Jacobson RND:

No, I think you’re right. B12 is the big concern for people that don’t eat meats, or eat very little of it. That’s often a supplement that I think can be pretty warranted for people with vegan or vegetarian diets, especially long term.

I would say otherwise, if you’re eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and beans and whole grains, you probably don’t need to supplement with extra B’s.

Aside from the B12.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

We see a lot of products too that are super, super high in B vitamins and while they are water soluble, again, going back to we may not know what this super supplementation longterm does, we don’t know that we actually need that supplementation.

And these high amounts may have unintended consequences down the line. So always be careful that when you see a label where the amount is hundreds of thousands times what you actually need.

One other question on drinking vitamin C versus taking it as a pill. So this person says that they love Emergen-C. And again, I would go back to perhaps by drinking in the liquid, maybe it is more bio-available because it’s broken down, it’s spread out versus in one capsule.

However I would still recommend sticking to one packet of Emergen-C per day. There tends to be high amounts of other, more synthetic, vitamins, and then getting your other sources of vitamin C from those whole foods.

All right, let’s jump into the fun stuff. Let’s talk about cooking meal planning… Rubber hits the road… eating. All of those things. I’m putting this stuff together, when it comes to meal planning right now, which for many people looks different than when they were meal planning a month ago… or maybe even last week. Things change very quickly, day to day.

I have to say, I have several clients that have been wanting to meal plan for awhile, and a silver lining to this coronavirus is, they have more time and they really almost have to right now.

There is some strategy to going to the grocery store. So it’s helping them to implement those habits on a more need-to basis.

Monika Jacobson RND:

Absolutely.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

Well, with the meal planning, what have you found for yourself, or for your clients, that has been the first step? Especially if you’re thinking about never having meal-planned before? Maybe you always wanted to, but where, where do you start with your clients or, or even what you do for yourself?

Monika Jacobson RND:

Sure. I think we have this idea that meal planning is maybe bigger than it needs to be. I know I’ve talked with lots of clients who feel like, “Oh, but then I don’t have a whole Sunday afternoon to just make all my meals for the week. “ Or, “Our lives are so busy. Like we have lots of stuff in the evenings just it doesn’t work for me.” Or, “I don’t want to eat the same thing like many days in a row.”

But it doesn’t need to be any of that.

I think the biggest thing about meal planning is what’s in that word itself, which is “plan”. I think we have to plan, and that doesn’t mean 7 days in advance. I think it can even be, “What’s for dinner tonight?”

Or, “What am I going to feed my family or myself tomorrow?” Because the simple act of taking chicken out of the freezer to thaw-out so you can cook it at night means you’ve planned ahead.

So, the more I’m thinking in advance, the better prepared we can be as meal planners. When I’m working with my clients, I’m, I’m talking about, “Okay, let’s figure out a system that’s gonna work well for you.”

There’s lots of ways to meal plan. There’s apps, and there’s ways you can write foods down on paper, or put a cute little chalkboard in your kitchen, or whatever you want to do.

I’ll show you what I give all my clients when I’m working with them, one-on-one… it’s this little meal planner and basically it’s all days of the week with a shopping list next to it.

So as you’re planning out, okay, Monday we’re doing spaghetti and salad. Tuesday we’re doing taco Tuesday, or maybe we’re doing meatless Monday on Monday. Wednesdays we’re doing I don’t know, bean burgers or something like that. So then as you’re mapping out, I’m just talking about dinners here, but I think dinners are the hardest for a lot of us, especially if you’re cooking for multiple people or a whole family.

So then you can make your grocery list side-by-side to the menu. And so when you’re shopping, you know you’re buying for exactly what you need. Versus impulse buys are just buying a bunch of random stuff that sounds good and then trying to figure out what you’re going to make with that. I think the biggest thing about meal planning is that itself; planning and writing it down in some way.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

Yeah, that’s such a good point to have that. And I like how it’s visually laid out. So that it’s all right there. You see what matches up to what you’re buying, and what day that’s going for can be really helpful. That strategy and taking that time to write it down. And what I find too is sometimes it’s that initial planning. If it’s new, if I haven’t done it before, it feels uncomfortable”¦

So even plan out one day… start with one day, if you’re new to meal planning or this routine of being home is new to you”¦ just start with one day. And maybe you play, you practice with choosing a recipe for the evening, for one meal, and then what would that writing it down be as well to just kind of go through those motions and start, start feeling that and understanding that.

Yeah, just get started. Just jump in and start playing.. And, and I like too, how you mentioned there’s no right or wrong way. And I think you’ve told me before too, you know, meal planning doesn’t have to look like Instagram-perfect. It can be messy. It should be messy, have fun with it, make the kitchen a mess. And it may be looking like that and it doesn’t have to all fit into, you know, glass containers that fit perfectly in your refrigerator. It can look in a lot of different ways on how you do that. So give yourself permission to make mistakes. Have fun, but just start that initial planning process.

One question that came through, any great options for feeding a family of five? I sit at my desk working from 10 to 3 every day, so I don’t have time. And then, any tips for creating meals that my kids and husband can grab and go, because we’re all doing our own thing throughout the day.

So a lot of, you know, if you’re now working from home,  it may not necessarily mean, “Oh, you’re working from home. You can also meal prep all day.”

If you’re working from home, you’re working all day. So having those convenient meals can be helpful. Do you have any recommendations for more of that batch cooking, or things that can feed larger families but still be relatively simple to make?

Monika Jacobson RND:

Yeah, definitely. So I think there’s some things that you can do at the start of the week. Maybe it is on a Sunday, where you do a little bit of work, but then it sets you up for success for the rest of the week. Right now, we’ve got a family of 4, so my husband and I are both working from home, and we’ve got 2 kids that are young… they’re 3 and 5, so they’re not quite making their own meals just yet, but soon enough.

But I like to have stuff ready to go, so when we’re busy, we can just get in there and grab things, which I think is what you’re looking for. So like maybe it’s boiling off a dozen hard boiled eggs at the start of the week or chopping up some vegetables that will keep well in the fridge for several days. Like some celery and carrots, cucumbers, snap peas, radishes, and just have those chopped up.

So you kind of have this veggie tray, maybe you have a dip or two that the whole family likes where people can just come grab their little plate or bowl of veggies with a scoop at the dip and then mosey on.

I also like to have some cooked, whole grain on hand. So maybe I do a pot of brown rice or quinoa.

And also have some cooked protein on hand, like some shredded-up chicken or open up a can of chickpeas or garbanzo beans. So you’ve got protein and grains and veggies kind of already to go, can even put that all together and make rainbows for lunches.

But I think having some of those whole foods prepped and ready to go will be just as easy for someone to come and grab any of that stuff. Then, open a bag of chips… or raid the pantry for the other more snacky foods, which aren’t necessarily bad at all, but it’s just having some of that stuff ready to go.

I like what you said, Stasi, about batch cooking too. Maybe at the start of the week you make a big pot of chili or soup, or a one-pot meal, that just everyone kind of takes their scoop of this, warm it up for themselves when they’re hungry and ready to go. And it’s already done in advance.

I think those kinds of meals work well on those busy weeknights when kids are in sports,  or everyone’s kinda here and there and everywhere, or in times like now where people kind of fend for themselves for that like midday meal.

Stasi Kasianchuk:

Having your food environment to set you up for success.

I think there’s a great opportunity to stock it with healthy options, first. Obviously, you can have flexibility around some of those treats, things that you enjoy, maybe some of those comfort foods right now, but really having the majority being from those whole foods.

And I love what you mentioned around vegetables that can be eaten raw or with, you know, your hummus dip, your bean dip… something that’s easy to grab. Right now buying things in prepared and plas

Our recent podcast on COVID 19 was so popular, we decided to do a deeper dive into the particular risks women face and how we can best protect ourselves and those we care about.

Webinar With Lauren Leedy, Stasi Kasianchuk & Dr. Swapna Vaidya and Jill Angelo

In this webinar/podcast, Gennev CEO Jill Angelo talks to Dr. Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su, Chief Medical Officer and director of the Gennev Telemedicine program, Lauren Leedy and Stasi Kasianchuk from the Gennev Dietitian team, and Dr. Swapna Vaidya, psychiatrist, on ways we can stay physically and emotionally healthy in this very unusual, very unpredictable time.

You can also view the webinar video on YouTube. A list of mentioned resources and the full transcript are below.

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Resources mentioned in the video:

1. Fitness:
2. Barre3
3. DownDog
4. Peloton
5. Class Pass
6. Meal Delivery:
7. Thistle
8. Splendid Spoon
9. Sun Basket
10. Grocery Delivery:
11. Amazon Fresh
12. Whole Foods
13. General information:
14. Centers for Disease Control
15. Harvard Health
16. Coronavirus tracker
17. Mental Health and Coping resource
18. Coronavirus Masterlist of resources for psychological health

Transcript:

Gennev CEO Jill Angelo:

All right. Well we’re three minutes past. I’m kind of prompt, we have a lot to cover today, so let’s go ahead and get started. First of all welcome to everybody. This is a special, a special edition of a webinar that we’ve really never done before around coronavirus and the relationship of it as women with menopause stress and the risks that we are experiencing during this kind of unprecedented time in history. I want to welcome you. We have a number of presenters today. We’re going to jump right into it here rather quickly. But just kind of to level set the, the basis and kind of the reason why we’re hosting this webinar today is very much around we as women are having to go through a lot of adjustment right now.

Our kids are home from school for those of you, those of you who have kids at home. Our businesses might be struggling. We’re working from home, we’re trying to balance childcare with, with work. And in some cases our immune systems could be compromised if we’re older or have other conditions that compromise that. And we just wanted to bring together our team of experts to really talk about how we might be compromised from a health perspective but also mental health and then finally what we can actually do to strengthen our immune systems and even some life hacks to try to manage through this part of history. So I’m Jill Angelo. I didn’t introduce myself, but I’m Jill Angelo. I’m the co founder and CEO of Gennev and with me today you can see the faces and we’re going to move live to everybody here in just a moment, but Swapna Vaidya is an MD and psychiatrist focused on behavioral health and women’s health in particular.

Swapna has been an incredible partner with us in working with women in midlife and so we’re really excited to have Swapna with us today. Dr. Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su is an MD. She’s an OB GYN. She’s certified by the North American Menopause Society. She’s also the chief medical officer at Gennev. And is my partner in crime. She’s runs the health practice of this company and it’s just really awesome, always, to have her taking the helm on, on this topic.

Stasi Kasianchuk is a registered dietitian nutritionist. She’s also a physiologist. She’s one of our health coaches at Gennev. In November last year we started a new offering called HealthFix. It’s a membership for women who want to manage more lifestyle approaches to menopause care and to even just strengthening their own immune system in the second half of life. And Stasi is one of our health coaches.

And then Lauren Leedy is our director of health coaching. She leads our health coaching team. She’s also a registered dietitian nutritionist and has just a rich background. Both of them have worked both on the data side of health, but also with women in midlife. So brought them on board. We’re going to talk nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, stress, sleep, all those things.

So without further ado, I will move us on. But before, if, if any of you are new to Gennev, just to give you a quick little overview of who we are, we’re an online clinic for women in menopause. Specifically we offer telemedicine services via doctors specifically OB GYNs. We also have a chat and video access to our health coaches and registered dietitians through our HealthFix membership. And then we also offer over the counter health and wellness products such as dietary supplements, lubricants and hygiene products, all formulated for women’s health and menopause. And finally, we are a platform for free education and community.

This is the place for women to come if you want to really manage your health in the second half of life. And so we’re thrilled that you joined us today. So with that I’m going to stop sharing slides. We’re going to get to actually the people. And so all of our presenters some of you are muted. I’ll remind you if you start talking to unmute. But what we’re going to do is we’re going to start by just, I’m going to plant some questions and we’re going to go over some content a little bit more from an overview perspective, and then I will open it up for live questions in the last 20 minutes or so of our hour together. And so if you do have questions along the way, you can always pop them into chat. Again, chat is on the bottom menu here in your zoom window. So with that, let’s go ahead and kick it off. And I’m going to direct the first question to Rebecca. Just to talk a little bit about COVID 19 and coronavirus and our susceptibility as women in midlife and menopause. Do we have to worry? Do we have any extra worries? Can you just kind of give us a little bit of an overview and what you’ve seen so far?

Dr. Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su:

I’m happy to go and hopefully I remembered to unmute myself to do so. Hi everyone. I’m glad you could all join us either on the Zoom or on Facebook live or any of our other platforms. I think it’s important to talk about this with a special focus on women’s health because the more we learn about this virus, the more we find that it affects different populations, differently. Currently, I’m at last, last I looked to the who and the CDC for their data, it looks like the biggest risk factors with this virus are age and preexisting conditions. So what we’re seeing is that as we get older, the risk of serious illness and even death does increase. The highest risk group obviously being in their eighties and nineties. Some of that is due to preexisting conditions, but some of that is simply just age and immune system as it, as it ages, it’s less effective.

The preexisting conditions that seem to be the most concerning are things that reduce immunity. So obviously cancer treatment medications that you might be taking to reduce your immune system such as steroids or biologics. But the other, the conditions that are, seem to be very concerning are underlying heart disease and lung disease. So people who perhaps feel who perhaps have heart failure at baseline or who have baseline COPD or asthma might be at slightly higher risk if they catch this virus. That being said, it does not necessarily spare anyone. You know, we’re seeing healthy 40 year olds go, go into the ICU. So I tell everybody, you can’t assume because you’re on the younger side and you’re relatively healthy, that it won’t impact you. We all need to be cautious. And in terms of women and women in menopause, women do not seem to be at, at baseline higher risk from this.

It, if anything is equal risk to men and women if not slightly higher risk in men from what we’re seeing. That may also just be who it’s affected so far and who’s been tested. It’s really hard to know. We haven’t tested extensively enough to really know that. But really menopause itself is not necessarily a risk.

Where I see risk coming in is that menopause can have huge impacts on our immune system because of stress and sleep disturbances. And so really addressing those issues of menopause are key in making sure that we keep ourselves healthy and able to combat this virus.

Jill Angelo:

That’s great. Thank you. Rebecca. One thing I just want to come back to you on for one second. You had talked about medications that people might be on that might make you more, is it susceptible or weakened, our systems. What are those, can you just call those out again?

Dr. Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su:

So the ones that we all think of are steroids. So a lot of people need to be on chronic steroids for a variety of reasons. The medications that we tend to call biologics, they typically end with AB or MAB MABs. And those are usually used for things like rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis. Any chronic rheumatologic conditions, we tend to suppress the immune system somewhat because the immune system is the thing on the attack in those conditions. And then the other medications we worry about are things like chemotherapy medications that attack the immune system, attack cancer cells. But also the immune system. So those are sort of the big categories. I would think about.

Jill Angelo:

I saw Swapna was nodding her head, Dr. Vaidya. And I want to direct the next question to you. So you’re working right now with, with patients with mental health challenges and, and maybe stress in dealing with, with coronavirus. Can you talk a little bit about what you’re seeing so far?

Dr. Swapna Vaidya:

Yes. thank you, Jill. And thank you for the opportunity to, you know, talk to all of you and to sort of share some of the situations that we’re seeing right now. And one of the things that I’m seeing is a lot of uncertainty and anxiety regarding the situation as it’s evolving. I’m certain that we are all also feeling it because this is a very new novel situation for all of us. At this point in time, what we are trying to focus on is to stay calm the most that we can and to actually make sure that our patients are being informed that there are dynamic things that are happening and changing, but at the same time, it’s so important to take care of yourselves. One of my very good psychiatrist friends actually sort of jotted down a few very simple things.

One of this is that we’re all in this together. There are simple things we can do. Wash hands, you know, maintain social distancing, listen, be patient. This too shall pass. But at this point in time, the wealth of information that’s coming and it’s very overwhelming. I think it’s very important to channelize what you’re trying to learn from the media and elsewhere. I think it’s so important to take care of each other. I think one of the things that we as women have to remember is that we are the pillar of a family, I mean as it is a woman is struggling all the time, she has to multitask. And this situation has even now driven it 10 to 20 times more intense. Now if you’re talking about families being cooped up together, now you’re talking about dynamics. How are we coping with our relationships?

How are the anxieties coming around? Are we taking care of each other? What about the older population that is living with us? So these are the questions that are coming up a lot and a lot of answers that I have to say to them is that, which is as I’m telling myself, is to take care of each other. Facetime is good, really social distancing. A lot of people are coming and asking me, but why can’t I just go and play and have a play date? And I really feel it’s very important at this point in time to understand the situation of flattening the curve. So as much as you know, engage in self care, you know, follow a good diet, exercise, follow daily routine. It’s okay to go for walks. Meditate, take deep breaths and just simple things as I would say.

You know one of my patients was sort of saying, can you just come up with a simple routine? What should I do? How can I make sure this doesn’t happen? It’s, it just jot it down, right? Like, I mean, okay, what, what do you need? Right? So just kind of make a list. How are you coping? You have one coat, use that coat to go out. Use one bag, you know, simplified your life. And collectively, if we all look into this together, I think we can get through this. You know there have been pandemics and there have been natural disasters and you know, the one thing that I’ve learned, I was actually in New York when 911 did happen and what I really saw was the community come together and collectively address this and you know, things were evolving and even then we didn’t know what was going to happen, but it did pass. And I think this shall pass too, this is my advice to myself and to everybody else, you know, meditate daily breaths. We’re all going to be in this together. We’re going to pass this.

Jill Angelo:

Thank you. I think that’s so reassuring, Swapna. Like it’s, it’s a positive message and we need to hear positivity during this time. Just to kind of go in a little bit deeper around I saw one interesting tweet this weekend around, you know, think about others versus yourself. Even if you are out having dinner or something like that, it’s about the others in your home, whether you’re living with elderly parents or people who are more susceptible to this than you are. That kind of notion of being unselfish and, or caring for the others. I think oftentimes women go to the far right or left on that spectrum. I see women locking down their households right and left. We’re in that kind of the hub of it all here in Seattle. Can you share a little bit more about how, you know, in terms of that thinking of others how we as women can encourage, you know, grown kids or others in our family, in our household that do just want to get out and be with their friends or go out to dinner, that they’ve got to think about others beyond just themselves, who they feel even if they feel very healthy.

Dr. Swapna Vaidya:

You know, I’m Jill, I’m glad that you brought this up and this is such an important time and this is what I was talking about, having a collective consciousness because this is not so much about each one of us individually, but it’s about that vulnerable population. It’s about your grandparents. It’s about that you know, those sector of people who are older with comorbid medical conditions that you as a healthy adult, you may go out and you probably might have a milder version, but here you are at the risk of probably perpetuating it and giving it to somebody in your family who might have a very, very drastic reaction. So I think it’s important to sort of like reinforce this behavior and how would you do it? By promoting this yourself, you know, by pulling up facts, by teaching your kids, but involving your kids.

And I think having age-appropriate discussions with the kids. You know, I have a five-year-old, so I think I kind of like having made some rhymes with him about hand washing with Humpty Dumpty or Happy Birthday, he selects one or the other. Involving them and actually educating them because even if he’s five or 10 or 15 or what have you, education and having a clarity about it really helps.

And I know I keep going back to, we are all in this together, but that’s really the mantra that I keep coming back to. We also as a society have to be collectively conscious. I do have patients asking people, why do I need to be quarantined? I”™m healthy. I mean I need to go out. I’m anxious, I’m cooped up. And I know it’s a difficult time, but it’s so important for us as a society to understand that we really are in this together so that we can help flatten the curve and we can actually protect the vulnerable people around us.

And at the same time, self care is very important. So one thing I would like to add, Jill, is that as women, we tend to not care about ourselves. It’s always about the other person first, whether it’s your husband or your kids or your mother-in-law. But it’s important to look at what your needs are and it’s okay to be anxious and it’s okay to not know and it’s okay to say, Hey, you know, I don’t have the answers. Can we, you know, sort of like I need help sometimes. So self-care, understanding, you know, when to kind of put your own oxygen mask, as I say, I know that analogy, it’s so important. So as much as we can do to promote healthy active behaviors involving our kids in healthy active initiatives. And you know I’m sure everyone is involved in Facebook and WhatsApp and what have you. But to kind of promote it to create a healthy platform to share healthy coping mechanisms. I mean we have great people on our panel right now, you know, for the nutrition as well as the other health coaches. And I’m also excited to hear more about for myself as to what I can do during this time. But I think that those kinds of things and those kinds of tips would help so much as we all go through this together.

Dr. Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su:

I just, before you jump in, Jill, wanted to add Swapna brings up a really, really important point, which is that most of us will do just fine with this virus and we’re going to be fine. We probably won’t even require hospitalization, but some proportion of us will. And really the goal of the social distancing is so that as people get this and do require hospitalization, ICU care, and even ventilators, we do it one at a time rather than all at once. Because we will run out of space, we will run out of supplies, and we will run out of healthcare providers, if all of us get it all at once. So really what you’re doing is protecting others, even though you might come through it OK. We need to make sure that this happens slowly and gently across sort of this whole nation. We’re all going to get this. None of us is immune, but if we can do it slowly and carefully, we might just make it through this.

Jill Angelo:

I think that’s a really important point. Thanks Rebecca. And thank you, Swapna you know, I can hear you’re, you’re you’re, you’re a mom and action right now doing your job as well as managing family at home. So you’re, you’re an example for sure. So thank you.

Let’s let’s then pop to nutrition. I’m Lauren, I’m going to go to you next. Lauren is our director of health coaching at Gennev: registered dietitian, nutritionist, and I know your husband as well is one of those on the front lines in the healthcare system right now. So to Rebecca’s point around everyone’s gotta be thinking about others and their health and able to care for others. You’re, you’re, you’re doing that in your household. Can you talk a little bit about immune response? Because we all want to keep our immune systems really strong and a lot of that comes, it starts with what we put in our bodies. So talk a little bit about how you’re, you’re coaching your clients right now and thinking through that.

Coach Lauren Leedy:

Thanks, Jill. And yes, it’s a really challenging time. And I too am a mom and this is, this is hard, you know, to, to balance everything. And at the same time to Swapna”™s point to take care of yourself. Like it’s so hard as women to put yourself first. So I’m hoping that women still at this time continue to nourish their bodies well. To support an immune response, the big thing is to load your body full of nutrients from whole foods. I’m not talking about going and taking certain supplements. There’s going to be a lot of, lot out there, a lot of people capitalizing on the fact that people are trying to boost their immune system right now and promote supplements. The best thing you can do is load your body full of nutritious whole foods and make sure you’re getting adequate fluids.

Coach Lauren Leedy:

So that’s going to do the, the best to prepare your body for actually attacking or getting rid of this virus. And I know what complicates things right now is the fact that our supply is limited and a lot of us are trying to avoid places like the grocery store and getting food or maybe we have kids at home and we just can’t take the time to go out and get that food. So I’m really recommending to my clients that they use this time at home to try out some new techniques they might have always wanted to try. For example, there’s a lot of amazing meal delivery services out there that you can sign up and have cooking kits or fully prepared meals sent to your home. It’s a really great way to involve your kids too if you do have kids at home to prepare some of these different cooking kits.

Another idea too with fluids, a lot of us struggle with getting enough fluids. One simple technique I wanted to share that, you know, women could try to do while they’re at home is the rubber band method. So a lot of people love this technique. Figuring out how many bottles of water you need to drink in a day, and putting that number of rubber bands around the water bottle. Every time you finish it, you take off a rubber band. So the goal is to get them all off by the end of the day. And, and it’s amazing what just nourishing your body and giving yourself enough fluid can do. The other thing I might add just because as women you’re probably got your hands full right now, that this doesn’t have to be elaborate. You don’t have to feel like you”™re cooking all the time. Some time saving tips, you know, use the package foods that are out there and dress them up.

This doesn’t have to be perfect eating, you know, add veggies to a frozen pizza that you have. Throw some extra veggies in a soup or a smoothie, make simple modifications or batch cook once and freeze. So you have multiple meals to work off of. So that’s, you know, it really doesn’t have to be more complicated than what we generally promote.

Jill Angelo:

And how about how about in terms of foods that really boost the immune system? Just call those out. I know we kind of read about it all the time, but, but why don’t you just call those out? What are some specific ones.

Coach Lauren Leedy:

So really fresh fruits and vegetables that are going to be rich in antioxidants. Those are going to the best thing. So the brighter in color they are the better, but you really can’t go wrong with fresh fruits and vegetables. Just a whole foods based diet, not singling out one nutrient or one food in particular. Those are going to be your best bets.

Jill Angelo:

I know in Instagram posts, I think last week you posted a number of these food delivery options. So we should go ahead and include those in our followup on notes for this webinar. But also are, is there any overall guide that you’re watching? Because I know every business is vulnerable during this time. Are any of these delivery services like curbing delivery because they also don’t want to put their staff at risk? Or any, have you heard anything there yet? Are they all functioning?

Coach Lauren Leedy:

Yeah. So I did try to do a grocery delivery service this weekend myself and it was definitely delayed. So another tip I have too, if you need something right away, our local businesses right now, like you said, small businesses, they’re really vulnerable and they’re hurting and we we don’t, you know, want them to, to crash and we want to support them, but at the same time, there’s recommendations to not go to restaurants. Many of them are still open for delivery, takeout. So please use those businesses and maybe try out a new restaurant but get a delivery or get a go pick up your order as another quick strategy. The other thing I wanted to highlight that at Gennev I think is health coaches. You know, put us to the test, use your health coach. Let us know what’s in your pantry right now. And we are more than happy to help you put together a healthy, nutritious meal. So this doesn’t have to be starting from scratch. Like you tell one of us exactly what you have. And we love doing this. We’d love to help you come up with a creative easy throw together meal.

Jill Angelo:

That’s awesome. That’s great. It’s kind of like having someone come over and take a look at your closet and put together like outfits for you.

Coach Lauren Leedy:

It”™s our own chopped challenge.

Jill Angelo:

Yeah. Yeah. That’s great. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. Well then on that note I’m going to move to Stasi. Stasi, your colleague on the coaching side of Gennev. And Stasi you focus a lot on just managing kind of exercise and activity and how even that can help manage the stress and/or sleep challenges that we might be feeling during this time. Can you talk a little bit about more about you know, immune response measures that women can take and that you’ve been talking to women about? As we’re all cooped up, can’t go to the gym, you know.

Coach Stasi Kasianchuk:

Yeah, absolutely. And exercise definitely is a passion of mine. Something I’m right now, especially I’m navigating how do I continue to move my body to be able to be my best self as well as we look to manage this. And exercise I love to similar to nutrition is that there’s a lot of varieties. There’s not a one size fits all approach. And so that gives you a lot of opportunity to try something that’s going to find to find something that’s gonna work best for you. And during this time I think it’s important to come back to, again, all of the messages we’ve heard here. Swapna had some great points on, you know, routine. How can you keep a routine or maintain a routine?

A lot of the women that I work with around menopause, it’s a different, it’s a new time of their life, so they are trying to establish a new routine and I encourage now you might have an extra challenge in finding that routine, but incorporating your family. If you have kids at home, kids need to move too, it can help them get some energy out. So maintaining or establishing a movement routine throughout your day. Now if you’re someone who has more been used to having your exercise time in the morning, maybe that’s changed up a little bit, especially if you can’t go to your gym. But still designate that time. So if you can keep the morning time, great. Maybe it has to move to the afternoon or you can still get benefits from spreading it out. So if you don’t have that hour but you can spread out 15, 20 minute blocks throughout the day, bring the kids along. You know, maybe you’re, if it’s safe, if you are not a high risk population and it’s safe for you to go outside and remain social distance that is definitely an option.

I think the fresh air and sunshine if it’s available to you is really good for us right now. Just remembering to maintain those public health recommendations around where you are outside. So I think that’s establishing that routine and incorporating the family is a great way to keep moving and really help to manage that stress when we are in that one place for too long and not moving our body. We know that sedentary behavior is not supportive of our health, so how we can fit that in right now is going to be important.

Jill Angelo:

That’s great. I know I noticed this morning on my, my morning run, every time I’d meet someone on the sidewalk, like the other person would either go to the street, like we totally like avoided each other even on the sidewalk, which was interesting. So yeah, it’s very real.

Coach Stasi Kasianchuk

I have that experience too. Yesterday and it was interesting feeling that it was all of a sudden it was a sign of respect to do that. So interesting times right now, but accepting that, OK, that”™s your side of the sidewalk. I have no problem going to the other side. No offense. We’re doing it for each other.

Jill Angelo:

Yeah. You know, one thing I hear you talk about, Stasi, a lot is journaling and and again, this notion of routine and maybe it changing or whatever. Is there comfort in journaling too? You know, I might feel like, Oh God, it’s going to like push it in my face, all the things I’m doing wrong, you know, and be another stress. Or is it comforting and healthy? Like talk a little bit about just even documenting what we’re doing on a daily basis.

Coach Stasi Kasianchuk:

Absolutely. Yeah. Journaling is really helpful for women during menopause because so many things are changing and rapidly it can be difficult to remember what happened yesterday, let alone last week or last month. And because we’re trying to see what patterns are happening to then best put together a toolbox to support women during this time. So every, what I, when I’m working with clients, I want them to establish a toolbox so they have the tools to pull out when certain symptoms come up and they feel prepared for that. Doing the journaling can allow you to see what’s happening over time. And so a lot of women will notice patterns. Oh wow, this happened, this did happen last month. I have it documented. Okay, this might start happening every four or five weeks. So what can I do ahead of that curve to best prepare myself for these situations?

And I think this is relative right now too because this is an added stress. How can you reflect on what’s going on, what you really need right now.Aand Swapna you know talked about jotting things down of what do you need in this present moment. I think journaling can be helpful for that as well. I think as women we not to get into the genetics of it, cause I don’t know, I’m not an expert in that area, but I honestly think women tend to hold things in their head more and we let things and Swapna, feel free to jump in, but it feels like it’s a, a, a storm in our head. And so that first step of journaling I find, I talked to a client on Friday where she was actually working more on journaling related to perfectionistic thoughts. And how those perfectionistic thoughts were taking over.

And by journaling those, she was able to identify it. And in reviewing her journaling, she was able to identify areas where she wanted to focus on this week moving forward. So then it, it pulled out a focus point rather than having to focus on everything. So I think journaling can be really helpful as that step. Could also be a step of where do I need to have a conversation about this versus, okay, this is the