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Authored by Sports Dietitian, Exercise Physiologist and Gennev Health Coach, Stasi Kasianchuk

Holiday Season is here once again! A time of social gatherings, celebrations, travel, and busy schedules.

Let’s face it, routines can be difficult to stick to during the festive season, especially when it comes to exercise. This is a time of year when many throw their exercise routine out the window and say, “I’ll start again come January!” But if you’re a woman in menopause, movement is especially important for your continued good health.

Why moving is important in menopause

During menopause it can be particularly important to maintain an exercise routine. With the normal decrease in estrogen that occurs during this time of life women are at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Maintaining any type of movement supports your cardiovascular system.

Additionally, regular movement can help you sleep better, as well as better manage holiday stress and anxiety which can be further exacerbated during menopause. Finally, with weight management being more of a challenge during this time of life, keeping activity going throughout the holidays can play an integral role in supporting a healthy weight for you.

While exercise may be more of a challenge to fit in (or less of a priority), it does not mean it can’t exist. It may just look a little different than it does most of the year, which the month of December does for most people any way!

Keep moving through the holidays

Here are some simple strategies to stay moving or even start a movement routine during this time of year.

  1. Plan ahead week-by-week or day-by-day. Set aside time to take a look at your schedule and intentionally block off time to exercise. Doing this for the week can help you be strategic about getting your exercise in. If your week has a lot of tentative plans, it may be best to assess each day at a time. Take a moment in the morning (or the night before) to schedule your exercise time for the day ahead.
  2. Treat yourself! Give yourself an early holiday gift of a pack of classes you can use at an exercise studio you love or have been wanting to try, so you look forward to it. Buying 5-10 classes that have flexibility in when they are used allows you to book the classes based on your schedule. And packs often end up being cheaper than if you paid per class. Buying several also provides accountability around exercising more frequently in December.
  3. Break it up and be creative! Traveling, hosting guests, and committing to obligations can all make it challenging to have a large amount of time to dedicate to physical activity. However, even bouts of ten minutes provide cardiovascular benefits. If you have a layover in the airport, take a ten minute (or longer) walk around. Try picking up the pace to increase your breathing and heart rate. If you have a carry-on, getting your heart rate up may be easier than you think. Another option is to park farther away from the store when shopping or take a ten-minute walk before and/or after you shop. It all adds up, and something is always better than nothing!
  4. Make it a family affair. Include family members in your activity by going for walk to check out holiday lights in the neighborhood after a meal or planning a hike or snow activity with everyone. For some friendly competition, see who can accumulate the most steps each day you are together and award a prize.
  5. Be kind to yourself. It’s the holidays after all. No reason to beat yourself up if your activity or workout plan did not happen as intended. First assess if there is an abbreviated option you can still do to get some movement in your day (see #3). If the reality is that it just did not happen, rest assured that there is always tomorrow and another opportunity to move. Use it as motivation to start fresh the next day.

Maintaining an activity routine, even if it is different from what you are used to, will make it more likely you will resume your routine in the New Year AND you can continue to get the health and wellness benefits of exercise all month long.

If you haven’t been moving as much as you like and were thinking of starting in 2020, here’s your opportunity to finish strong in 2019 and get a head start on 2020.

Want more strategies on starting or maintaining an exercise routine that is personalized to you? Join the HealthFix program and work with a Gennev Health Coach to get expert support to create a plan that’s best for you.

Tell us what has worked for you to keep moving, or share the challenges you face in the holidays (or any time!) in our community forums.

About Coach Stasi: As a Sports Dietitian, Exercise Physiologist, and endurance athlete, Stasi Kasianchuk has expertise both personally and professionally in using exercise and nutrition to optimize health and performance, and she’s putting that expertise to work, helping women in menopause live their best lives. During her free time she enjoys trail running, cycling, swimming, backpacking, or group fitness classes. Exploring farmers markets, local farms and restaurants and cooking and baking at home also bring her joy.

 

Sara, 51, shares about how her skin has changed and become drier, thinner, and more sensitive as she started getting perimenopause symptoms:

I had no idea this skin change started in my 20’s. 

But it was true. Estrogen, the regulator of many elements including collagen and other body oils, began decreasing the collagen production in my body in my mid-20s, as it does for most women.

Did I notice it then? Nope.

It definitely became noticeable in my 40s when my skin felt”¦ thinner. There was more sensitivity both on my face and all over my body. There were even a few breakouts. At 50, I began to notice and experience dry skin for the first time in my life. My skin had, for most of my life been, been normal-to-oily and was now regularly dry. This was the new normal, and it was baffling and a little surreal, actually. 

How can we as adults best care for the 8 lbs and 22 square feet of birthday suit we wear daily? More specifically, how can we better retain or support the moisture content in our skin at every stage of our amazing lives, including menopause?

First things first: hydration and moisture

“Hydration and moisture are not the same things,” shares skin expert and CEO of Teadora Beauty, Valeria Cole.

Drinking good clean water throughout the day is fantastic and will flush and support your system, but it won’t also do the job that a good topical moisturizer can accomplish. Both hydration and moisturization are needed, daily. 

In giving yourself the menopause gift of both, your present and future self will thank you. Who knows, you might even enjoy both hydration and moisturization as some of the highest forms of simple self-care tasks you can practice. 

Dehydration in menopause can make menopause symptoms worse such as hot flashes, and headaches. If you stay hydrated, you can reduce urinary urgency and bladder irritation (yes, really!), plus a few other benefits. If you’re experiencing night sweats or hot flashes, chances are good you’re losing more hydration with these symptoms, so drink up.

Steady topical moisture and sunscreen to clean skin provide protection and comfort for dry, sensitive, thinning, or itchy menopause skin. Consider testing and investing in a few options:

Remember, this is about protection, comfort, and support for a hardworking, ever-renewing, ever-changing, many-layered organ: your gorgeous skin.

Cleansers and washes

A gentler approach may be preferred for more sensitive skin at this time in your life. Facial washes and cleansers without harsh ingredients at this time, please. And this goes also for body washes and exfoliants as well. 

Re-framing exfoliation

Cole mentions a helpful term replacement: think “buff,” instead of “scrub”. This is another prompt for gentleness. And frankly, another opportunity for massage. Slow, steady, rhythmic, massage-like buffing paints a much different picture than a quick shower and scrub. 

Have you ever been short on time and rubbed really hard in an effort to get clean, fast? Perhaps the water was just a touch too hot in an effort to further speed the process? We’ve all been there, but the results of this may feel harsher, and more painful later on in the day if we’ve scrubbed too hard, or if the water’s been too hot.

Perhaps this is an opportunity to reframe exfoliation in a way that will support ourselves in the body, but also in mind? What if this gentle cleansing and exfoliation time was practiced with more of a massage-like approach? This could be a meditative time for deeper breathing, slow and steady movements, appreciation and gratitude. A ritual to cleanse, wash away, and then replenish. 

Elapsed time? 5-8 minutes, includes:

Got another 5 minutes for yourself? Take it, indulge, enjoy.

Your skin is an amazing organ in your body, and it works, regenerates, holds us through all of life’s experiences. Not all of it is fun, but we’re all pretty fortunate to be here. Take good care and enjoy good comfort in your beautiful skin. 

There’s a whole community of women who are experiencing perimenopause and menopause symptoms like Sara’s in the Gennev Community Forum. Join us, share and comment as a welcome member today.

 

With so many menopause symptoms, and some of them pretty unpleasant, it can seem like the end of your world. Or at least your world as you knew it.

Amanda Thebe was a lifelong athlete and fitness enthusiast, but when she hit perimenopause at 43, things went … awry. Fatigue set in, and she found her previously boundless reserves of energy were drying up. And, like so many of us, she didn’t realize right away that the issues she was having were hormonal.

And like many women, she ran a gamut of doctors who never even suggested perimenopause. Nausea, vomiting, and extreme fatigue led to dozens of tests (even the emergency room!) over nearly two years.

Menopocalypse Author Interview With Amanda Thebe

Fortunately, at a standard well-woman check up with an OB/GYN, the doc was able to diagnose perimenopause after about five minutes of conversation.  A few minutes more, and she had some next steps to start feeling like herself again. 

Her book Menopocalypse is Amanda’s way of bringing attention to the fact that women need information and, once they have it, they can actually thrive through this change.  

Listen to the podcast, read her book, then check out her website, fitnchips.

 

TRANSCRIPT TO FOLLOW

Are you feeling like perimenopause or menopause are the end of the world? Talk with other women and women’s health professionals about how they’re surviving their own personal “menopocalypse” in the Gennev Community forums!

I’m a day late with this week’s blog, because I was holding out for Gennev’s latest review of our Menopause Assessment data.

If you’re not familiar with Gennev’s Menopause Assessment, it’s a free questionnaire that, when completed, explains where you’re at in your peri/post menopause journey. You’ll receive a snapshot of how your symptoms compare to our global community of women, plus recommended educational resources, products and a direct connection to a telemedicine doctor for quality care.

We recently reached 5000 completions! This is a fabulous milestone for women’s menopausal health.

With every assessment completed, we’re able to deliver more effective menopause solutions for women like you. The symptom data you share helps us correlate when and how severely symptoms are impacting women of various ages, regions, ethnicities as all with a mission to return more effective solutions to you.

We don’t share this data with anyone. It’s safely collected and secured within our HIPAA compliant system.

 

 

Here’s what we’ve learned

68% of you are in perimenopause and 32% in post-menopause

The top 3 highest-reported symptoms are:

Hot flashes are synonymous with menopause, yet only 65% of you reported having them (ranking 9th out of 16 in our symptom categories).

Trusted facts about HRT and effective nutrition are two of your top requests.

Many of you are resourceful when it comes to symptom management. You’ve shared the products, services and behavior changes that have worked for you, which help us recommend solutions to others with similar symptoms. For example, magnesium is one of the most effective dietary supplements you report for trouble sleeping, anxiety and pain management.

Here’s what we’re doing with that important information.

As the largest, most comprehensive database of women’s menopausal data, Gennev is bringing personalized solutions to you.

How many of you read the book, What to expect when you’re expecting? I have never birthed a child, but I’ve given the book to a handful of friends as they embark on the path of motherhood.

Having a baby has a roadmap that’s standard for most women as you know that you will go through the first trimester, the second and third trimesters as and your baby (and body) will transition through phases of growth.

With menopause, the path for every woman is frustratingly unique. You find yourself asking your mother or close friends what the hell is happening in your body. Sadly, we have little to go on when it comes to preparation or even prevention of the symptoms that come with it. And it can be painfully lonely.

Gennev is using the Menopause Assessment data to help us create a menopause roadmap for you. We believe that if we study hundreds of thousands (even millions) of women in peri and post menopause, we can collectively predict where your hormonal health is headed and how it may impact long-term conditions like osteoporosis, heart-health and Alzheimer’s.

The key word here is “collective.”

The more women who take the assessment, the more effective our personalized menopause roadmap will be for every woman who takes it. The more effective the roadmap, the more impactful our services, products and programs.

If you’re one of those women who think you’re “too far gone” beyond menopause, think again. Your post-menopausal symptom reporting informs our ability to bring prevention and behavioral recommendations to you based on what you reported.

Haven’t taken the Menopause Assessment yet? Here’s the link to do so. It takes 7 minutes of your time, but you will come away more informed and resourced than when you started.

If you’ve taken the assessment, thank you. Now, please forward this email to others for our collective power to be realized.

This is a crowdsourcing effort to better healthcare for women in the second half of life. We’re creating a better menopause experience not just for ourselves, but for our daughters and granddaughters and the women who are maturing into some of the best years of their lives.

Let’s do this!

 

 

 

P.S. Happy Labor Day weekend! I’m jetting off to a week of creativity and relaxation with my husband and friends. I’m taking the week to re-energize my brain, my soul and my body and will be back online the week after!

 

In her own words, guest blogger Anne Miano tells us about learning to be her own best health care advocate. 

 

I got a call one evening last August from my physician’s assistant, who announced, “You need to get to the emergency room for an ultrasound. It looks as though you have ovarian cancer.”

 

 

“You need to get to the emergency room for an ultrasound.
It looks as though you have ovarian cancer.”

I’d been suffering from a bloated stomach for several weeks and assumed it was a digestive problem. But an x-ray revealed that I had a large sack of fluid in my abdomen, coming off my right ovary. The radiologist who’d examined my x-ray had made a note in my file that it looked like cancer.

Science has made enormous strides in the past 20 years, and the survival rate for women who’ve been diagnosed early with ovarian cancer is 90%. But for those of us who remember Gilda Radner, who died three years after her diagnosis, and Madeline Kahn, who died a year after hers, “ovarian cancer” sounds like a death sentence.

Stunned, I drove myself to the hospital, sat in the waiting room, and thought about all the things I needed to do to prepare myself and my family for the journey ahead. After I was called into an examination room, I was met by an ER doctor who told me that x-rays aren’t conclusive. But after I got the ultrasound as which did give me the opportunity to experience the notorious vaginal probe as she told me, “I have bad news.” She said I would have surgery within the week, so I called my parents in New Jersey to tell them I probably had cancer, and they made plans to come to Seattle for the surgery.

All the people diagnosing me as except for the oncologist as
didn’t know what they were talking about.

At this point, I’m going to go ahead and reveal: I did not have ovarian cancer. For almost two weeks, I thought I did, but when I met with a gynecology oncologist to go over all my tests, she said, “There’s a 90% chance the mass is benign.”

So how did we go from one person saying she was nearly certain I had cancer to someone else saying she was nearly certain I didn’t?

Here’s the terrible answer: All the people diagnosing me as except for the oncologist as didn’t know what they were talking about.

I grew a suspicious bag of goo

I had developed a 6.5-pound Mucinous Cystadenoma. (My translation: “a big bag of goo.”) It’s not a rare type of ovarian cyst, but it’s not common, not like fibroids, and it comprises only about 15% of ovarian cysts. My guess is that when the radiologist and ER doctor saw a large liquid mass in my abdomen, they assumed it was ovarian cancer because they knew fluid in the abdomen was one of the symptoms. But with ovarian cancer, I’ve since learned, the fluid is usually loose, not contained in a sack.

The doctors who jumped to “ovarian cancer” probably had never encountered a Mucinous Cystadenoma, so they based their assessments of my condition on what they had seen, what they knew from their experience, that fluid in the abdomen equals cancer. But the gynecology oncologist, who was also my surgeon, had seen and removed hundreds of goo bags just like mine. She knew immediately what kind of cyst I had and that there was a relatively low probability as around 10% as the mass was malignant.

Doctors aren’t all-knowing or superhuman

I haven’t known many doctors in my life, not personally, so for me, they’ve always carried a kind of mystique. I grew up believing, because of their education and intelligence, that doctors have nearly magical powers. They solve mysteries and save lives. They’re experts who know my body better than anyone. And so when a doctor tells me something, I believe it.

Or, rather, I used to.

What I’ve learned through my experience is that doctors are people, just like me. The knowledge they carry has been gathered through education and experience. They diagnose based upon what they know, but they don’t know everything.

Every person who told me I had ovarian cancer did so with compassion and a genuine concern for my welfare. They didn’t speak to me with arrogance or dismissiveness. They showed a sense of urgency and believed they were doing what was best. Even so, they failed to provide me with great medical care because, first, my health care cooperative didn’t have a protocol for dealing with cases like mine as or if they did, they didn’t follow it; and, second, because I completely handed over control of my medical care to people I didn’t know and allowed myself to be bounced from doctor to doctor without ever demanding that I be given a clear plan for my diagnosis and treatment.

In hindsight, I messed up

I try not to regret all the times throughout this misadventure when I abdicated responsibility for myself and allowed strangers to have dominion over my body. But I have them, regrets, and they’ve reshaped how I think about my health care.

A year ago, I was having cramping in my right ovary, and I made an appointment for a pelvic exam. My doctor, a woman for whom I have enormous respect and appreciation, had recently left the health care cooperative, and I’d been assigned to a new doctor, a man. I hadn’t had a male doctor in twenty years, and I didn’t want one. Rather than make appointments with him, I’d gotten into the habit of seeing his physician’s assistant, whom I’d gotten to know when she worked for my previous doctor.

First regret: I should have gotten myself reassigned to a woman doctor, someone with whom I was comfortable. But I didn’t. And when the cramping started, I made an appointment, as usual, with the PA, who examined my ovaries and said everything seemed fine. I left the appointment, had a couple more cramping incidents, and then forgot about the problem, because the pain went away.

Second regret: When the PA said she didn’t see anything wrong, I should have asked for a referral to a gynecologist. I had never had an issue with my reproductive system. Not a yeast infection, an abnormal pap smear, or even a late period. And so I assumed, because the PA didn’t see anything, that I was fine. In fact, having cramping like that between periods, when I’d never had it before, was a sign that, for the first time, I wasn’t fine, and I needed to see specialist.

Third regret: I should have trusted the messages my body was sending me, rejected the assessment “nothing’s wrong,” and pushed to have an ultrasound. But I didn’t. By the time my next symptom appeared as the bloating as my cyst was huge, and removal required a nine-inch vertical incision up my abdomen.

Fourth regret: I didn’t choose a quarterback.

Fourth regret: I didn’t choose a quarterback. As soon as I got the cancer call from the PA, I should have contacted my doctor. Even though I didn’t know him, I should have met with him in person, insisted that he take charge of my case, and ask him to walk me through the diagnostic process. Instead, I allowed myself to be passed around from PA to radiologist to ER doctor to lab technician, without ever having a clear understanding of what information needed to be gathered, how it would be gathered, who would analyze it, and who was responsible for explaining the results to me. The radiologist looked at the x-ray. The ER doctor looked at the ultrasound. But it wasn’t until my oncologist got involved, after nearly two weeks of chaos and terror, that someone reviewed all the test results and explained to me what they meant:

Here is what we know. You have a large mass of fluid, but it’s contained, not loose, and all your blood work shows that everything is normal. You haven’t been losing weight, you don’t show markers for ovarian cancer, and there’s a high probability the mass is benign.

That is information, real information, delivered in a professional, respectful, balanced manner. Everything that had come before my meeting with the oncologist had been nothing more than speculation.

Shame on my health care cooperative for allowing so much speculation to be shared with me. And shame on me for not putting a stop to it.

I wrote some New Rules

All my life, because I’d never had a health issue, I’ve been passive about my medical care. I’ve trusted and listened too much, questioned and demanded too little. But I’m done with that approach.

I’ve set New Rules for safeguarding my health:

  1. I am queen of my health care, the only queen of my health care, because no one knows my body like I do. I am in charge.
  2. If I have pain, something is wrong, and I won’t allow it to be dismissed as “nothing.” I will ask for additional tests and make an appointment with a specialist.
  3. I will maintain a relationship with my primary care physician, require him/her to be my quarterback, and explicitly task him/her with guiding me through the testing and diagnosis process.
  4. I will reject speculation and only accept diagnoses from doctors who have been assigned that duty, rather than from medical professionals I happen to encounter along the diagnostic path.
  5. I will put aside the lessons I’ve been taught since I was a little girl as to accept without question the opinions of experts, not to be pushy, and not to demand more than I’ve been given as and I will act, instead, as a woman who knows and is confident in her worth, her intelligence and her body.

The first step in implementing these New Rules was to get a new health care team.

After my surgery, I called the health care cooperative to make a follow-up appointment and said I didn’t want to see my primary care physician. I wanted a different doctor, a woman, and I told the scheduler which woman doctor I wanted to see.

When I met the doctor, I sat in a chair across from her and said I needed to go over a few things before I was willing to get on the examination table. I told her my story as of the cancer speculation, the lack of follow-up from my doctor, and how scared and alone I’d felt.

“I want to be clear about what I expect of you as my doctor,” I said. “Because I won’t allow this to ever happen again.” I laid out my New Rules and finished with, “I need you to be my quarterback. If you can do that, I’d like you to be my doctor. If not, I’ll find somebody else.”

“If you can do that, I’d like you to be my doctor. If not, I’ll find somebody else.”

“I can do that,” she said.

I climbed onto the examination table and showed her my scar.

 

“Which one is the “˜sandwich generation’?” you may well be asking. 

Simply put, it’s those folks who are parents or guardians to kids and caregivers for parents or elder family members, whether they are living in the same house or not. 

What else is happening? For those with female reproductive parts, the stages of perimenopause/menopause may be entering the picture as well. 

If you waited a while to have or adopt kids, and you’ve got elders in your life or family who are living longer, this kind of life and living could be part of your future as well.

Coordinating childcare and eldercare while navigating menopause is no joke. And many people are entering this very life, while also buying groceries, working full-time (or more than full-time), running businesses, and whatever else they can fit in.

Think about it, even if this isn’t you right now”¦ This would be 3 three different developmental stages of life, each with their own needs, appointments, nutrition needs, and preferences, not to mention mental and emotional needs and support.

“Sandwich generation”… the term isn’t exactly new

Dorothy Miller coined the term in the early 80’s to describe women in their 30s and 40s who were taking care of their aging parents as well as their young children. 

According to Pew Research Center (2012), roughly 47 percent of adults in their 40s and 50s have a parent who is 65+ and are raising at least one young child or financially supporting a grown child (18+). Primetime for perimenopause and menopause, right?

 

Where are you on your menopause journey? Take the Gennev Menopause Assessment.

 

Taking your time, and taking you-time

Being between two generations in need of care and support can take a real toll on body, mind, mindset, and wellness. Taking the needed time and energy for your own care, feeding, hydrating, wellness, sleep hygiene, and just plain being is critical. 

Perhaps this can be simpler than you think. Could 2-3 minutes of doodling while you listen to a favorite song you haven’t heard in ages help you unwind without making you unravel? Could mixing your own decade-of-choice playlist for a little while give you a sense of fun and creativity? 

What about staring out the window for a few minutes? Give yourself the luxury, and needed few minutes, to do nothing.

Self-care, whether it takes a lot of time or a very little, may be a hard habit to cultivate. You may not even feel good about taking the time, energy, or steps out the door if you’ve been a caregiver for someone who has gone through a severe illness or who is recovering in your home from a surgery or procedure. 

Guilt may show up in the face of you doing something like taking a walk by yourself. You may need to exert yourself to take this kind of care of yourself. This is common and shows up for many people, and it’s going to give you more energy and focus when you do it.

Menopause provides all kinds of symptoms to experience life in; we share about many of them several times each week: anxiety, depression, hot flashes“¦ anger and rage. They aren’t fun, but they are real. This may be similar to many of the caregiving tasks you may be faced with.

Include yourself, even in a small way, and especially if you don’t feel you have the time or energy, in your caregiving.

This is not a time to “just do it”

Doing it, whatever “it” is, yourself may seem like the easiest thing to do in the moment. 

This can also be habit-forming, give an illusion of having control, and ultimately be quite isolating, as well as serving as a fast-track to burnout. Remember, you’re going through your own changes as you’re experiencing perimenopause symptoms. 

Engaging in help, support, and resources from other family or community members may take time and feel challenging, but doing it alone for years (or even decades), won’t serve. It can be difficult, even painful, to ask for help and support, but truly, it’s needed and worth it for the long game. After all, we all need help sometimes. 

A few ideas to get you started

Map out your plan to manage menopause with a Gennev Health Coach

Body transformation, loss, and more change

This is a rich time in life: transformation, change… and more change. There’s plenty to navigate in caring for others, plus the myriad changes in your body as you journey through menopause. Care and attention must be spent on your body’s and mind’s wellness and health. 

Emotions around loss, challenge, and change can pile up. Kids are growing up and moving away, parents or elders may be experiencing various forms of decline or aging, your own body’s estrogen levels are diminishing, and the reproductive organs are closing up shop. This is a high volume of change. Personal change. 

Support is key. So, look around, ask around. Who else is going through this? Who “gets it” in your world? 

More about living than anything else

When you step back and look at what’s going on in your body and in your life, how do you want to “be” with those you love most in the world? How do you want to feel? How do you want to live? What do you want your health and mindset to be? And what are you willing to do to achieve what you want and need for yourself and your family? This is now the game of life. You can build one you’ll enjoy living with those you love.

 

What are you experiencing as a person caring for kids and elders? Where are your biggest challenges? And where are you finding your most surprising wins? Please share your insights, and scoop up a few of ours, in the Gennev Community Forums.

 

Hey, Everyone! Summer is coming, and for a lot of us, a gut check at this point in the spring season typically means, how are my abs going to look in a bathing suit this summer?

Of course, focusing on your core is always a good decision! However, the gut check that’s even more important is the one that is internally focused.

Let’s talk gut health and menopause

What To Eat For Gut Health

When I meet with clients for the first time, one of the first questions that I ask them about is their menopause and digestion gut health. Sure, it’s a super-personal question and frankly I don’t love asking it, but it’s crucial to the conversation. In order to understand what’s going on with your machine, we need to take a look under the hood!

If you’re someone who eats a diet rich in gut health foods like vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, healthy carbohydrates, and takes vitamin supplements, chances are your digestion is good.

If you have a diet filled with processed foods, foods and drinks high in sugar, foods high in nitrates, etc., take note: this can have a very negative impact on your gut health.

Gut health matters

Beyond weight gain, a poor diet and poor gut health can interfere with organ function and impact two of our most important organs: the skin (the largest organ) and the brain. Symptoms can manifest in a wide range of ways, from hormonal imbalances to skin issues like eczema and rosacea, even autoimmune diseases and anxiety.

“New data shows that the gut is critical to our well-being,” says Dr. Mark Liponis, medical director of the Canyon Ranch health resorts.

“Essentially, the gut is your body’s gatekeeper, letting in helpful compounds and evicting harmful ones. It’s home to 70 to 80% of our immune cells. When the gut is in good shape, our systems run efficiently, but when it’s not, we may experience upset stomach, be at risk for weight gain or digestive problems like heartburn and constipation, or just feel vaguely out of sorts.”

are you feeding your body right? check out the 5 supplements women in menopause should consider

One of my nutrition heroes and wellness advocates, Dr. Mark Hyman, inspired me recently with a post on Instagram. He says, “think of your gut as an inner garden; when you let the weeds take over, you get into trouble.”

He’s absolutely right! If you treat your gut like a garden, and enrich it daily with wholesome nutrients, it will thrive. If you neglect your garden and give it garbage to grow, it will shrivel.

GUT HEALTH FOODS CHECKLIST as 3 things you can do today

Spring is a time for rebirth and new growth, so let’s start fresh and make sure we’re poised to thrive with my simple GUT HEALTH FOODS Check List.

ONE: Weed out the bad guys and swap in some good ones.

My definition of food “bad guys” is basically anything that’s made in a factory and comes in a wrapper. Processed foods, factory farmed meats, baked goods, sugary drinks such as sports drinks and fancy Starbucks coffees can destroy healthy microbes in our body.

If weaning foods like this from your diet is a challenge, start by simply eliminating one or two of the “bad guys” from your diet each week and swapping in good ones. The “good guys” are wholesome whole foods, greens and vegetables, fruit, fish, organic chicken and grass-fed beef.

TWO: GO PRO”¦Biotic that is!

Probiotics are a type of good bacteria, similar to the ones that already reside in your gut. Ingesting these organisms aids digestion and helps to balance what doctors refer to as “gut flora.”

Probiotics can be found in fermented foods, like sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha and tempeh. Greek yogurt also delivers a healthy dose! If you can’t stomach any of these flavors, add a probiotic supplement to your diet that delivers probiotics directly to the gut. I recommend a probiotic with at least 20 as 50 million live organisms per dose.

it’s spring & a great time to explore your local farmers’ market. Michelle shows us how. 

My personal favorite is a liquid probiotic: “Inner Eco” Coconut Water has 100 billion live organisms per 1 T. dose. It can be found in the refrigerated section of the vitamin department at Whole Foods and similar grocery stores.

Another favorite probiotic product line is “Good Belly,” a line of probiotic products found in the refrigerator section of most grocery stores. These products are scientifically designed to keep your belly in line”¦and they are quite tasty too!

THREE: Make Friends with Fiber

Research shows that foods that are high in fiber help promote the growth of friendly bacteria. In addition, fiber helps to regulate the speed in which food moves through your gut, which promotes regularity.

The average daily recommendation for fiber for women is approximately 25 grams of fiber a day, but sadly, the average American only eats about 15.

Fiber can be found in so many wholesome foods like beans, blueberries, leafy greens, artichokes, flax seeds and even popcorn. Understandably, an easy go-to might be a bran-filled cereal like Raisin Bran or All Bran or a so-called healthy “bran muffin,” but a lot of these products have hidden sugars, which contribute to the minus column on your gut health check list.

Friends, this is a short check list with endless benefits. Some of the most beautiful byproducts include mental clarity, great digestion, glowing skin and oh yeah, a flatter tummy, right in time for swimsuit season if you start now.

Cheers to your health,

Michelle

 

It’s a perfectly reasonable question that is unfortunately really hard to answer. However, there are signs that can help a woman get an idea of where her body is in the journey and behaviors that can influence the onset of menopause, so read on “¦.

The average age for onset of menopause (12 months without a period) is 51 in the United States. But every woman’s experience of menopause is as unique as she is, so she may be fully menopausal in her late-40s or mid-50s, or still regular in her late-50s!

There are a lot of factors that impact when a woman begins the transition to her menopausal body, and we’ll look into what they are and how you can get a sense of what your body is doing.

How does a woman know she’s starting menopause?

For many women, the transitional period before menopause (called “perimenopause”) can start as early as her mid-30s. Many women start noticing symptoms in their early 40s.

Often the first sign a woman notices is an irregularity in her periods. Where once it was every 28 days, lasted for five, had a pretty consistent flow pattern, etc., now it’s a little more frequent, longer, and heavier periods, or a little less frequent, shorter, and lighter, or some combination of any of these.

Skipped months happen as well, but note: it is possible to get pregnant during perimenopause, so if you want to avoid pregnancy, use contraception until you’ve gone a full 12 months without a period.

Other early symptoms may include night sweats,  hot flashes, vaginal feminine dryness, interrupted sleep, and perimenopause PMS mood swings, according to the North American Menopause Society.

 

 

How long does perimenopause last?

If you type this question into an Internet search engine, you’ll probably find several sources claiming the “average” for perimenopause is four years.

We haven’t really found that to be the case. It may be that women coming to Gennev for help are suffering more and have been suffering longer, but we find perimenopause of eight to ten years is not unusual.

And unfortunately, the symptoms don’t necessarily end with the last period. Hot flashes, vaginal issues such as dryness and frequent urinary tract infections, incontinence, poor sleep and other symptoms can carry on for years after.

What causes menopause?

Menopause is a completely natural process that every woman eventually experiences. It happens when the body is running low on viable eggs.

Women are born with all their eggs already in place as somewhere between 1-3 million of them. As she matures and ages, eggs are lost to ovulation or die off normally. As her egg reserve gets low (perhaps as low as 10,000 or fewer at menopause), her body produces less estrogen, triggering the process known as perimenopause.

What age will I start menopause?

What most women are probably asking when they ask this question is, “At what age will I start perimenopause?” since that’s actually when noticeable symptoms arise for most of us.

It’s pretty much impossible to tell a woman when her menopause will occur as unless menopause is the result of a medical intervention such as breast cancer treatment or hysterectomy.

However, there are factors that may help her understand her body better. According to an article in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), the following may have some impact on when a woman begins her menopause transition.

  1. Genetics. This is probably one of the biggest determining factors for menopause that occurs naturally (rather than as the result of surgery or other external factors). For many women, the age your mother or other female blood relatives (aunts, sisters) was at menopause is a reasonable indicator of the age you’ll be (ish). However, other factors may serve to alter a woman’s genetic start and end date.
  2. Age at first period. If you started menstruating early, you may also enter menopause earlier.
  3. Pregnancies. Women who have never been pregnant or never completed a pregnancy past 20 weeks may enter menopause sooner. Alternatively, women who have had multiple pregnancies past 20 weeks may delay menopause.
  4. Birth control, age at first pregnancy. Taking the Pill or other oral birth control may delay menopause, as can having a “later” first pregnancy.
  5. One ovary. A unilateral oophorectomy (one ovary removed, one remaining) may prompt earlier menopause.
  6. Lifestyle factors. Smoking, lower socioeconomic status, and less formal education may all play a role in causing a woman to enter menopause sooner.

While getting to the “not having periods” part of life may sound attractive, there are health risks associated with menopause, mainly because we lose the protective benefits of estrogen on our brains, bones, hearts, and more.

If you’re still unsure where you are in the menopause transition, the best way to learn more about your body is to talk with an experienced, menopause specialist ob/gyn. Describe your symptoms, share your period tracker, talk about lifestyle and behavior.

You probably don’t need to bother having hormone levels tested as they shift so much during perimenopause that a quick snapshot will only tell you where levels are now, which may not be where they are tomorrow or even an hour from now. If you’re on hormonal birth control, you will likely need to come off it as possibly for a few months as to see where your body truly is.

Yes, it can be hard to pinpoint where your body is in the menopause transition, but that doesn’t mean you’re being unreasonable to want to know! Your future health depends to a very real extent on decisions you make now, and the more information you have, the more informed your decisions can be.

So make an appointment with a menopause specialist. Find out beforehand what kinds of questions you should be ready to answer. If you need to find a menopause specialist, you can book an appointment with Gennevs telemedicine service or refer to our artilce Find a Menopause Specialist Near You.

The more women we speak with, the more we discover that so many of us were really not prepared for perimenopause: so many symptoms, often quite severe, and they started earlier than we expected! There’s a reason few of us have heard the word “perimenopause” as because we don’t discuss it. We’d like to challenge everyone reading this article to share it. Let’s open up the conversation so no woman is left frightened and confused by the natural course her body is taking. Come talk with us (and invite other women!) in our community forums, on our Facebook page, or in Midlife & Menopause Solutions, our closed Facebook group (open to anyone who is experiencing or will experience menopause.)

 

“I kept telling my husband the asparagus had gone off, and he kept eating it and saying, “˜No, it’s fine.’ It tasted awful to me. That was the first time I noticed my sense of taste had changed. The next morning was the last time I drank coffee. It’s just too bitter for me now.”

Many women have approached us with a similar complaint: food just doesn’t taste like it used to. It might seem like one of the more unusual menopause symptoms, but it’s actually relatively common.

Does your morning coffee taste bland, your dessert a bit less sweet, or maybe you have a constant bitter or metallic taste in your mouth? Some change in taste happens to us all as we get older, but women in menopause may notice a more marked change in how they perceive flavors.

Why do my taste buds change during my period?* Can menopause change your taste buds?

Vitality

Why does just about anything happen at this time of life? Blame it as at least in part as on declines in estrogen. Just as other parts of the body lose moisture (skin, eyes, sinuses, vagina) when estrogen is reduced, so does your mouth. And that decline in moisture is partly to blame.

Here’s the kicker: you need saliva to taste food. The moisture (plus chewing) breaks down the food to component chemicals which the receptors on your taste buds can detect and translate to sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and savory (umami) flavors. Therefore, having less saliva and dry mucus membranes in the mouth can reduce or change our sensation of taste.

(Also, because saliva protects your mouth against bacteria, as your mouth dries, you may find you have more dental problems such as cavities or receding gums. Read more about the effects of menopausal dry mouth.)

We can’t blame it all on being abandoned by estrogen, however; as we age, we also lose some sense of smell. Because smell and taste are so intimately linked, a less vivid sense of smell can result in a less intense sensation of flavor. Menopause and sense of smell have a complicated relationship, and both can seem to change throughout that period.

Aging also affects your taste buds, slowing the rapid regeneration and shrinking the number of cells, so we just have fewer good taste buds to do the tasting with. This happens to men and women and is a function of age rather than menopause. But when added to dry mouth, it can result in women losing more of their sensation of flavor. Menopause and dry mouth are a heck of a combination.

Burning mouth syndrome

For some women, the problem isn’t just strange tastes or reduced intensity of flavor, it’s a burning of tongue, lips, or gums. While burning mouth syndrome is relatively rare, it is most common in women in midlife.

Hear how Menopause Goddess Lynette Sheppard helped a woman overcome burning mouth syndrome

What to do about taste bud changes?

Let’s face it as food plays a huge role in our lives beyond just providing sustenance. Think of an occasion, celebratory or solemn, that doesn’t involve food. See? From 4th of July picnics to wedding cakes, food is central to just about major and minor event in life, and we want to be able to enjoy it.

So what to do if we’re losing our ability to taste?

What to do when food doesn’t taste good anymore

First, see an ear, nose, and throat specialist. There are other causes of changes to or loss of taste, including Sjögren’s Syndrome, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, hypothyroidism, head injury, nasal polyps, certain medications, and smoking. Be sure to rule out more serious possibilities. COVID-19 can also disrupt taste and smell, though that change tends to be very dramatic and sudden.

Once you’re sure it’s none of those, there are a few things you can do to enjoy your meals more:

1. Keeping the mouth hydrated is one way to combat a loss of taste: chewing sugar-free gum and drinking plenty of water during menopause may help.

2. Using new and different spices and flavors can trigger stronger sensations.

3. Eat mindfully: get rid of distractions so you can focus on your food, concentrating on one flavor at a time.

4. Add fat. Healthy fats, while they may not increase the flavor, can improve mouth feel as that lovely sensation of richness. That can often fill in the gap flavor leaves behind.  

5.Quit smoking. Smoking has a negative effect on your estrogen. It can decrease flavor and smell sensitivity even quicker. 

6.Simple foods may be easier to enjoy because the flavors aren’t diluted in combination. Go with one- or two-ingredient dishes. Don’t, however, increase the sugar and salt just to get the same level of flavor you’re used to as too much of those can be really bad for your body, and chances are you’ll adjust in time to subtler flavors.

Here’s to stopping the metallic taste and fluctuation in estrogen levels

If you’re not eating the way you usually do because of changes in taste, be sure you’re still getting enough nutrients. You may find changes in energy and digestion resulting from these changes. While it’s understandable that you might change your diet to compensate for changes in taste, don’t miss out on the vitamins, minerals, and fiber that will keep your body working well. Gennev’s Vitality supplements can supply what you may be missing.

If your sense of taste is really wonky, consider having someone else smell or taste your food if there’s any concern it might be off or contaminated. Our senses don’t exist just to help us enjoy our nourishment, they also protect us from ingesting things that can make us sick, so if your detectors aren’t working, find someone whose taster is fully functional or throw out anything questionable.

*As always, this blog is for informational purposes only; if you think you have a serious problem going on, stop reading right now and call your doc.

If you’ve experienced changes in how food tastes, a Gennev menopause-certified gynecologist can give you a trusted opinion, determine if medication is right for you, and they can provide prescription support. Book an appointment with a doctor here.

We’d love to know how you’re dealing with it. Do you have some fabulous recipes to wake up sleepy taste buds or make our mouths water so much, we have all the saliva we need? Share. Please. We beg you. Give ’em up in the comments below, on Gennev’s Facebook page, or in Midlife & Menopause Solutions, our closed Facebook group.

 

I wish someone had told me in my 20s how strong, confident, sassy and sexy I would feel in my 40s!

When I was in my 20s, I moved to New York City right after graduating from college. This small town Pennsylvania girl was positively gaga over the bright lights, the fabulous restaurants, theater, and a new career in magazine publishing. Suddenly I had the cosmopolitan lifestyle I’d dreamed about and aspired to since I was a young girl. I was making a measly salary, but that didn’t stop me from living life to the fullest during the “Sex and the City” heyday in the Big Apple.

However, despite the fun new life I had just embarked upon, I was miserable because I was not confident in my own skin. At every turn, there was always another woman who seemingly had it all figured out and was doing it all better than I was. Better dressed, uber-thin, cooler friends, more accomplished at work, the list goes on and on. I spent endless hours agonizing over these things, and that got me exactly nowhere!

I’m feeling far more confident and fabulous in my 40s than I ever dreamed.

Fast forward 20 years, and a lot has happened in my life. I’m happily married with two beautiful sons, living in Seattle splendor and loving my career as a health/nutrition coach; life is good.

The best part? I’m feeling far more confident and fabulous in my 40s than I ever dreamed. My 41-year old self is kicking that 20-something girl who wasted so much time and energy being tough on herself when she had nothing to complain about.

That said, I’ve compiled a list of 20 Reasons to Love Your 40s. Some of the list comes from my heart, and some of the list are direct quotes from fabulous friends who hit their stride when they hit the Big 4-0. I hope that these will inspire you to live your most vibrant life, whatever your age.

I can finally tell myself “you are freaking awesome” and believe it.

  1. You learn to stop caring so much about what other people think.
  2. You finally feel it’s ok to be yourself! Heck, sometimes it’s fantastic just being you.
  3. You know how to prioritize who you’re spending time with.
  4. By now you know who your ride-or-die girlfriends are, who will be there for you, no questions asked. And that’s good, because you’ll need them.
  5. You look in the mirror and learn to love the skin you’re in, imperfections and all.
  6. You look at working out as a reward rather than a chore.
  7. You learn to embrace your sexuality and know that it’s OK to be a little bolder in the bedroom.
  8. You’re so much better at knowing what’s NOT worth your time to stress over. After observing so many of life’s patterns, now I know that for better or worse, everything changes, so no need to over-react to things I don’t like in the moment!
  9. You learn to try new things and not be afraid to fail at them.
  10. Experience has made you wiser. I finally know the  foods and drinks that make me feel great (nutrition for my hormones) and those that make me feel like s*&^!
  11. You can confidently say “I’m good at X” as opposed to “I guess I’m all right at X.”
  12. You know your worth and value: I can finally tell myself “you are freaking awesome” and believe it.
  13. You can gracefully accept a compliment because you know it’s true.
  14. You know that “healthy” is way more satisfying than “skinny.”
  15. You know your body: My favorite thing about being 40+ is knowing where my g-spot is (and I don’t just mean the blog)!
  16. Your priorities are straight. No more “I shoulds.” I don’t do something just because I feel I “should.” My time is precious, so reasons for spending it have to be better than “because I should.”
  17. You’re finally putting yourself first sometimes. I have no guilt sleeping 9-10 hours a day and not feeling “productive.”
  18. You’ve realized being a woman isn’t a disability! Don’t you love not feeling like you need a man to tell you how and when to make use of your knowledge?
  19. You are fearless and courageous. If I’d had the confidence in my 20s and 30s that I do now, things would be a little different.
  20. You understand the true “cost” of things given to you, like time, help, trust, and friendship. I have a much greater awareness of the concept of gratitude.

The most important thing I think that I would have told my 20-something self is that life really does fly by, so savor the moments and embrace your vibrant life, whatever your age.

Cheers to the good life!

 

Meet Crystal. She has two grown children who are out of the house. She has two jobs: one as a waitress and bookkeeper for a prominent restaurant, the other as the main caregiver for her husband Randy who had a stroke 2 years ago. 

One job is paid. The other is not.

Crystal can’t tell what is really keeping her up at night. Is it the hormones? Is it stress and hyper-vigilance listening for her husband to call for help? Only when the hot flashes come can she attribute it specifically to menopause. She has help when her kids are home for a weekend visit and she can get a shower, sleep a little more, and ask them to go to the store for her. But there isn’t much more.

She’s worried. She’s depressed. She feels alone.

Family and friends seem to have scattered. They were very kind to offer help, and some did help when Randy first got out of the hospital. But they all got busy with their lives and there seemed to be an awkward kind of tension in talking.

Randy is 15 years older than Crystal and the love of her life. It’s hard. Every day it’s hard.

Crystal isn’t alone

Right now, according to the American Society on Aging (ASA), there are 65 million people who are providing unpaid care to chronically ill, disabled, or aged family members during the course of any given year.

The value of this unpaid care? 375 billion. Dollars.

Would you be terribly surprised to know that these caregivers are primarily women between the ages of 40-60? And of course, they’re right in the heart of a major hormone change that affects moods, their physical bodies, and more: menopause.

In the US, November marks National Family Caregivers Month, and though it’s challenging to read about and think about women like Crystal, it’s even more challenging to live it for those in that role.

Let’s check-in about a few simple things you can do right now to increase and improve incoming support.

You’re in menopause and a caregiver

Here come the holidays

If anyone’s asking what you want in terms of gifts, you’ll be doing them a favor by sharing specifically what you would love and could use. 

A few ideas might include support around taking breaks or getting respite care: 

What else sounds good to you? What have you been missing or longing for, that another person might be able to assist with?

More support, not less

With the added stress of the holiday season, joyful or not, you may experience some major flare ups of menopause symptoms: hot flashes, depression, anxiety. You may skip “irritability” altogether and proceed right to rage. 

Extra support by way of a counselor, therapist, or trusted friend, plus more self-care, will help you navigate and process feelings, fears, and the ups and downs of this tricky business as well. The holiday season may spark additional, or old, feels that you just didn’t see coming.

These ideas may spur new inspirations for you and your family and friends. Talk about what’s going on. Women who are workers and caregivers who are going through menopause, you have an awful lot on your plates (plural!) right now. It’s a time for more support and care, not less.

Are you a caregiver and struggling to balance helping others and getting yourself through menopause in one piece? Join the conversation and share ideas with other women who are walking the same path: join our community forums. 

 

If you’ve read anything about menopause symptoms such as hot flashes or headaches, you’ve probably read something about sugar. With Halloween (and all the sugar-laden holidays) fast approaching, let’s talk sugar and strategy.

Does sugar really affect my hormones & hot flashes?

Sadly, (and annoyingly) it can. 

A study in support

Before we ghost head-first into strategy, I wanted to share a study conducted by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which followed 6,000 women over a 9-year period. During the course of the study, menopause symptoms (specifically hot flashes and night sweats) and food habits were tracked, and researchers noted a connection between what women eat and the symptoms they experience. 

The short story here is, many of those in the study who ate high-fat and high-sugar diets experienced higher rates of reported hot flashes. Those women who ate more of a Mediterranean diet (including veggies, lean meats, olive oil, even red wine!) had lower incidence of reported hot flashes. 

That’s great and everything, but Halloween is next week!

If you’ve adopted All Hallow’s Eve as one of your top 3 favorite holidays, and you’re suffering regularly with these darn symptoms, there are creative things you can do to help yourself steer clear of sugar leading up to, going through, and then after Halloween.

A few ideas:

What else could you be eating during the week?

A short checklist of possible options to consume, along with your favorite sweet.

Real, whole food is an excellent way to help your body regulate your blood sugar. This is not about perfection, this is about taking good care, enjoying the week, and suffering less.

What else is going on?

Here are a few other activities that can help you focus on something other than the candy bowl near the front door.

Some other activity, any other activity, can draw you in, help you concentrate on something other than sugar, which may lessen the frequency or intensity of menopause symptoms. Hang on to this post”¦ the rest of the holiday season is fast approaching.

What else might be of help for Halloween and the sweet season to follow? Treat us all with your ideas or suggestions in our community forums!