July 30, 2025 • 48 mins
This episode we’re joined by the incredible Maryon Stewart, a global pioneer in natural hormone rebalancing and women's health advocate. Maryon drops serious wisdom about how women can navigate perimenopause, menopause, and beyond—without relying on HRT. We talk all about phytoestrogens, nutritional deficiencies, and how small, science-backed changes in diet and lifestyle can lead to huge shifts in how we feel.
Whether you're just starting to notice changes or deep in the menopause journey, Maryon’s natural hormone rebalancing protocol (NHRP) offers a roadmap to feeling vibrant again. We go deep into what’s actually happening in our bodies, what the research shows, and why the medical community still isn’t fully caught up. This is the conversation we wish we’d had years ago—so don’t miss it!
Episode Highlights:
[0:00] - Intro to Maryon Stewart and her revolutionary work on menopause
[4:50] - What the FEMMAR community offers and why real-time research updates matter
[9:13] - How the NHRP was born and what makes it unique
[14:26] - Breaking down the Natural Hormone Rebalancing Protocol (NHRP)
[17:21] - Understanding phytoestrogens and how they mimic estrogen naturally
[21:07] - Can you really go through menopause without HRT?
[24:52] - What phytoestrogens actually are and how they work
[28:22] - A look at the diet: what to eat, how to eat, and making it easy
[32:27] - Belly fat at midlife: why it happens and what to do about it
[34:14] - Post-menopausal zest, community support, and long-term vitality
[41:30] - How the medical world is responding and FEMMAR’s growing impact
[45:32] - Where to find Maryon, her community, and free resources
Links and Resources:
Femmar - website and community sign-up https:femmar.com Free Phytoestrogens Food Guide - download from Femmar.com (https://www.femmar.com/newsletter-downloads)
Femmar.Hormonal.Health on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/femmar.hormonal.health/?hl=en
Maryon Stewart BEM on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryon-stewart-bem-b806634/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Colette Fehr (00:00):
Marc, welcome back to insights from the couch,
(00:05):
where real conversations meetreal life at midlife, as always,
we're your hosts, Colette andLaura, two therapists and best
friends who are going throughthe journey right alongside you.
So whether you're feeling stuck,restless or just wanting
something more, not sure what'snext. This is the space for
real, honest, messy, rawconversations. And if you find
(00:27):
yourself nodding along, comejoin us in the chat. This is our
community for women to talkabout all the things, ask
questions about the podcast,share resources, all the good
stuff. Go to insights from thecouch.org, and click join the
chat. We'll see you there. Andtoday, we have a very special
guest that we're so excited todive in with. And Laura is going
(00:50):
to introduce her.
Laura Bowman (00:51):
Yes, we have Marion Stewart, renowned author,
TV presenter and women's healthexpert. She's the CEO of FEM
Marc and creator of the naturalhormone rebalancing protocol,
often called the pioneer of thenatural menopause movement.
Marion has helped hundreds of1000s of women manage menopause
and PMS symptoms without drugsor hormones. She's written 28
(01:16):
books, hosted TV and radio showsin the UK, and now presents
Marion Stewart's menopausesolutions, the first US public
television series focused onmenopause. Marian has been
honored with the British EmpireMedal and named by Forbes as one
of 11 women changing theconversation around menopause.
(01:38):
We're so excited to have youthis is such a timely
conversation, because in ourchat group, we are women are so
hungry for information aboutthis, so we're so excited to
have
Maryon Stewart (01:51):
you Excellent.
Thank you so much for giving meair time, as it were, because
there's so much to share, andI'm so passionate about
imparting knowledge and wisdomthat comes from published
research. And I think that'swhat everyone's missing, the
fact that most doctors are noteducated by their own admission.
You know, the Mayo Clinic surveyin 2019 said that only 7% of
(02:12):
doctors and Gynecologists feeladequately educated how it
weren't going through menopause,and yet every woman's going to
go through it. So it doesn'tmake any sense to me, and I
have, I feel a deep sense ofinjustice that there's all this
amazing published research. Myteam has been helping women for
30 years to manage this journey,always based on published
(02:34):
research, which is alwaysevolving. Every week there's new
research, and so we have toupdate the chat. Do you know?
And women's needs change aswell. And you know now we're
talking about perimenopause, but10 years ago, if you'd done a
survey in the street, most womenwouldn't even know what
perimenopause was. Do you know?
(02:57):
So it's, it's now you've got awhole group of younger women who
are much more inquiring, muchmore demanding. Do you know they
don't want to be fobbed off?
They don't want a scam, theydon't want to be sold to. Do you
know they really just want to behelped? They want to be informed
so that they can make their ownchoices? And I think that's what
this is all about now. And so wepride ourselves at fer Marc in
(03:19):
connecting the dots with theresearch and attracting some of
the best experts on the planetin our community, so that we can
get the experts and the womentogether and women can really
get their questions answered. Doyou know you talked about it
being messy conversation? Itcould be as messy as you like,
(03:39):
you know, because we, we did asurvey a few years ago, now,
probably five or six years ago,on what goes on below the waist,
or, I should say, what doesn'tdo. You know, when you get into
menopause and everything startsdrying out, and sex becomes
painful and all that, it doesn'thave to be that way. You can
turn it all around. But womendon't understand that, and they
go into this very sad placewhere they feel hopeless. Do you
(04:03):
know no one tells them thatthere's quality life after
menopause, and that's that'sreally not It's not okay, just
isn't.
Colette Fehr (04:13):
I couldn't agree with you more. Everything you've
just said is exactly what we'vebeen talking about in our chat
group, how we're hungry forinformation. There hasn't been
enough research. The doctors whoare out there don't seem to
really know the research. Theyhaven't been trained in it, and
how hard it is that we have togo out there and find
information and really advocateand educate ourselves. So your
(04:37):
community, maybe we could startwith that as we get into what
you've learned that's going tohelp our audience so much, but
your community, femar, tell memore about that and why that's
so important, and your approachthere.
Maryon Stewart (04:50):
Okay, so the femur, for me, is a dream come
true, because, as you said, Iwrote 28 books, and pretty much
did a book. A year and all themedical references. So it's like
having a baby, as you know, whenyou write a book, you know, you
go through this painful processof making sure it's all right,
and then you submit it to thepublisher, and then it takes
(05:14):
about a year before it'spublished.
Colette Fehr (05:16):
I'm loving it right now. It's awful. You
finished it if you
Maryon Stewart (05:19):
if your book is based on medical research. So
much more research has beenpublished in the year. Do you
know, by two years down theline, it's old, and so the
beauty of the community is wecan update the research every
day, literally. Do you know wecan change our protocol when
there's new research? We cantweak things. We can explain to
(05:42):
women exactly you know, how muchprotein they need, how much
phytoestrogen they need, thesewonderful substances that are
plant based and mimic estrogen.
They're hormone Harmonizers. Doyou know we can answer
questions? We can give theresearch that's needed to help
women to navigate this journeyin a very kind of honest and
(06:07):
down to earth way. And so what Iwanted to do, because for all
the years, my team and I havefocused on one to one
consultations for women, andthat's really not sustainable.
You can't do that for everywoman on the planet, and so we
have now taken all the sciencebased information from our
protocol, and obviously we'readding to it all the time, and
(06:31):
we've turned it into a protocolon a page so that is accessible
through our community. Sothere's all the instructions
that you need. So your goals forthe day, how much, how many
phytoestrogens do you need? Whattime of day do you ideally need
them? What form do they come in?
So that you can make choices?
How much proteins you need? Howmuch fiber do you need?
(06:52):
Polyphenols, probiotics andprobiotics, again, we can talk
about this later, but they'vegot. The new research shows, in
recent years that they play sucha key role in even helping to
metabolize the phytoestrogens,so that you become what's called
ecorn producer, so you canreally use them. But no one's
(07:13):
talking about that. No. And thenit's the environmental estrogen,
the xenoestrogens, theseghastly, harmful, toxic estrogen
look alikes that are in theenvironment. They're probably in
our makeup, in our home careproducts, and they're in
plastics and pollution. We'rejust environmental sitting ducks
if we fill our receptor sites,when your ovaries start to
(07:34):
retire, the receptor sites inyour cells remain empty because
your ovaries are not producingestradiol anymore. These plant
based phytoestrogens have amolecule that looks just like
estradiol. So you can actuallyfool the brain into thinking
everything's normal again. Sothat can affect your skin, your
hair, your nails, your vagina,your brain. Do you know?
(07:55):
Everything and so and and also,if there was a race between
those phytoestrogens and theenvironmental estrogen. They the
natural plant based estrogengets in there first, seals off
the space. So we're actuallyprotecting ourselves, because
the xenoestrogens actuallyincrease the our risk of breast
cancer, for example, and othercancers. So it's not just a nice
(08:17):
idea and also the research showsthat the recommendations that we
provide for women going throughperimenopause and menopause, by
sheer luck, I suppose, help toprevent things like bone loss,
which we're much morepredisposed to As we go through
(08:39):
perimenopause and menopause andbeyond heart disease, which we
become so much more predisposedto much more than men after
menopause, and also defersthings like dementia and all
sorts of other memory issues,and keeps us nicely moist below
the waist, instead of feelinglike a dried out prune, and that
(09:01):
helps us to enjoy our lives. Anddo you know, feel like women and
feel
Colette Fehr (09:09):
feel better in every way, esteem entire
Laura Bowman (09:13):
So Marianne, I'm just really curious. Like, how
did you come to this protocol?
And like, was this driven byyour own personal experience and
figuring it out?
Maryon Stewart (09:25):
No, we figured this out a long time ago, in the
early 90s, and so it was becauseof published research. And when
I heard and read aboutphytoestrogens, I started coming
to the US, to the annualconferences. Do you know, to
learn about it. And so I supposeI've always been hungry for
information and then tointerpret the information for
(09:47):
women. And that's that's kind ofwhere my whole career has been
centered. And so now for me, thecommunity is this amazing place
where we can invite women tocome and join us and soak up
the. Information and also tellus what they need and what they
want. Do you know, if we haven'talready got it, we'll go and
find it. Do you know if we don'tknow the answers, we'll be
honest and say, well, actually,I'll go and research it and come
(10:11):
back to you or find the bestexpert. Do you know we've got an
on our advisory board. We've gotexperts in every kind of
discipline, whether it's guthealth or brain health or
hormone health, nutrition,sleep. Do you know there's just
so many issues that affect us aswe go through this phase? And a
lot of women, they don't evenassociate the fact that they
(10:35):
can't sleep, or they've gotbrain fog, or they're feeling
extra anxious, apart from thehot flushes and night sweats,
which most people know arerelated to menopause, most of
those other symptoms, like achesand pains and fatigue, they have
no clue. They just think it'spart of the aging process. I can
remember, you know, so manytimes I've been in my clinic,
but I can, I so remember the dayit was in my clinic in London,
(10:57):
in Harley Street, and I think Iwas 48 at the time, and a woman
was sitting on the other side ofmy desk telling me how terrible
she felt, how tired anddepressed and anxious and
forgetful. And then she said,Well, what can I expect? I'm 47
I just I'm not often lost forwords. But I looked at her and I
(11:20):
thought, well, and I did say toher, you know, you can expect a
great deal more than that, youknow. And so I think the the
women, we're busy, we're, we'recarers, we look after everybody.
We work, you know, we're, we'rehousekeepers, we're everything.
And so we leave ourselves tilllast, naturally, and we don't,
until we fall over, we don'treally ask for help. And so from
(11:43):
my perspective, the earlier youcome to this party, the better.
You know, with no stigma, noshame, you're just you know,
this is midlife, and you need tolearn about your changing needs,
and what you can do to getyourself into feeling like your
old self again or better, andthen what you can do to stay in
the driving seat going forward,so that you match your health
(12:05):
span with your lifespan. Becausethere's no point living to a
ripe old age of, you know, 90something or 100 if you've
fallen apart, you know, ifyou're completely crippled by
osteoporosis, exactly, you'vegot heart issues, if you can't
even remember your family, doyou know all that kind what's
the point? What's the point? Butthere's so much wonderful
(12:28):
research, and we see the mostincredible transformations. I
mean, I could spend the nexthour or more telling you about
people who were leaving theworkplace crippled by their
symptoms, and we know that 20%of women leave the workplace
around menopause because theycan't cope. They can't obtain
thoughts, they get hot andembarrassed, they feel anxious,
(12:52):
they can't sleep, and so theycan't show up in the way that
they normally did, and socareers just go sideways. Well,
I mean, we have so many womenwho've been through the natural
hormone rebalancing protocol,who go from feeling like that,
like bombing out and giving up,to feeling like the best version
of themselves, where they'remade Head of Department of a
(13:15):
university instead of leavingthe workplace leading A team of
midwives, you know, leadinginternational, global companies
being, you know, the CEO andhaving that So, for example, the
doctor who was CEO of Virgincare, she she was a general
practitioner for 20 years. Shebecame the CEO of urgent care,
and then during the pandemic,she had 5000 nurses on the front
(13:37):
line, and she came through ourprogram. After trying hormones
for I think three goes, itdidn't work for her within four
weeks, she said her symptomswere under control, and She then
invited us to come and supportthe nurses in the workplace
during the pandemic, which wasamazing. That's incredible, you
know, just help them be strict.
Help them be stronger. And gavethem hope that they could get
(14:01):
through whatever they needed toget through in a much more
resilient way, right?
Colette Fehr (14:08):
And it sounds like from what you're saying, there
are solutions that many of usdon't even realize are out there
that are research backed. So I'mglad you mentioned your natural
hormone rebalancing protocol.
Can you tell us what that is,and what you've found that is
speaking to thesetransformations you're
describing.
Maryon Stewart (14:26):
Yeah, so we decided to bring all the science
together into this protocol on apage, as I said, and call it an
HRP, so natural hormonerebalancing protocol. And the
idea is that when you go throughmenopause, it's not just about
estrogen, it's about all yourhormones. You know, you've got
(14:46):
progesterone, you've gotcortisol, you've got all the
different hormones that cancripple you as you go through
the transition. So we need tolearn how to not. Normalize the
hormone function, how toharmonize it all again. And so
what we did with an HRP is webrought all the research
(15:07):
together, and we made it veryeasy for women to navigate so
that they know exactly what todo. There's no guesswork. Do you
know? There's no overwhelm? Andit's very, very simple, and so
that, because, as you said,before, you know, we're all out
looking for a solution, buttrying to find the solution in
(15:31):
this crowded marketplace whenyou've got the wonderful
internet, which sometimes cangive you pearls of wisdom and
other times takes you down adark alley and just sells you
something that you didn't everreally need, or it's even not
what this says on the label. Andthat's what a lot of
supplements, for example, justdon't contain what they say on
the label. And so I feel bad forwomen that they're being misled
(15:56):
in many cases, and I just feelthat somehow you need the pure
information, and so that's whatnhlp really is, and it's there
for women to come and makechoices. So for example, when we
say consume 50 milligrams ofphytoestrogens a day, we've got
a phytoestrogen Food Guide,which is pages long, which gives
(16:19):
you all the options and servingsizes, so you can make choices
and you understand exactly whatyou're doing. That's been
endorsed by at least a dozendoctors, and we've got more
endorsing it, and it's alsobacked by 70 pages of research.
So we've done the work. Do youknow that's the point? We did
the work, and now people cancome and feast on it,
Colette Fehr (16:41):
and it's simple and easy to follow, but so
backing up just even a littlebit, because this is so much,
it's so exciting, and this isgoing to be a real mind blowing
piece of information for a lotof women to hear. I know this is
totally new to me. When you talkabout phytoestrogens and this
natural hormone rebalancingprotocol give our listeners a
(17:04):
little just basic idea of whatthis is. Is this a food based I
mean, that's what I think like anatural food based solution,
that you can eat a certain wayand have a very different
experience through Pennyperimenopause, menopause and
post menopause? Yes.
Maryon Stewart (17:21):
So what what we're aiming to do? Because what
the early research showed wasthat very often women have got
low levels of importantnutrients. So we did five
studies looking at nutrientlevels of women with PMS in the
very early days. And since then,there's been world research
done, global research done toshow that a billion women have
nutritional deficiencies. So asyou get to midlife, you've had
(17:45):
your babies, you've breastfed,you've lived life in the fast
lane, you maybe drank too much,didn't eat enough. Do you know
and your your nutrient levelsare even lower, coupled with the
fact that your ovaries areretiring, that's an untenable
experience for most women. Sowhat we're aiming to do with the
NHL P is we help women toidentify nutritional
(18:07):
deficiencies and fix them sothat they get back into optimum
nutritional state. That's sothat's first. Second thing is
fill the receptor sites withnaturally occurring estrogen,
with those phytoestrogens. Andwe can talk more about that, and
I can explain how you do that.
Great. The receptor sites don'tstay full for very long, so we
try and thread them throughoutthe day, in the evening, so that
(18:29):
you're always fooling your brainthat you've got normal
circulating levels of estradiol.
Obviously, it's, it's plantbased, but it's and it's a
weaker version, but it does thejob in terms of seeing our
symptoms off in our experience,and also helping women to look
better, because it affects ourskin and our hair and our nails
(18:51):
as well, and and our energylevels, you know. And so instead
of showing up like a sad, paleversion of ourselves, we can be
more vibrant again, and we canfeel better now. There's so much
you can do to keep feeling well.
So that's the that's the secondpart. The third part is taking
some science based supplements.
And we try and with supplements,we go for supplements that have
(19:14):
been through properly conductedclinical trials, so they've been
shown to be safe and effective.
And we're looking at theirreducible minimum that you can
take to get the maximum effect.
So that's the supplements. Thenwe we're looking at lifestyle,
things like movement,mindfulness, meditation, you
know, all those good things thatkeep the feel good hormones
(19:36):
present so that we can and werest our brains. You know, we're
not super women. We need to takea break during the day, or, you
know, early evening, or whateverit is, to do something good for
ourselves so that we get ourbring our cortisol down in this
stressed world. Do you know, sothat we are calmer, we can go
into our evening enjoy ourrelationships and family life.
(20:00):
Without falling asleep on thesofa after dinner. Do you know
so with so this is, this islife. You know, it's not the
dress rehearsal, and we justneed to. We need the blueprint.
We need the road map about howto live it from perimenopause
for the rest of our lives.
Laura Bowman (20:18):
Yeah, as you're talking, this is all like,
really pinging for me, like, Idon't know if you're familiar
with, like, Brooke gold nursework on hyper nourishing and
like Neil Barnard's work in thespace of phytoestrogens with
soy. And it's just all itreally, like, rings true to me,
and like, what I've been toldfor, like, overall healing and
(20:39):
health, but, but I'm alsowondering, is there a role for
HRT, and what's like your takeon the way, like, because HRT is
one of these things that'sreally making a resurgence, and
is there's a lot of women outthere saying, you know, you
really need this to protect yourbones and your heart and for
longevity. And I'm just, I thinka lot of women are confused that
(21:02):
can we really do this naturally,or do we need something more?
Maryon Stewart (21:07):
Well, the answer is, you can do it naturally,
because the research backs itup. Do you know on this 70 page
document, we've got a section onbone health, we've got a section
on brain health, a section onheart health, do you know
there's a section on all the keythings that we need to cover all
those bases now with HRT, it's,as you say, it's had a kind of
(21:28):
up and down history, and it'shaving a resurgence at the
moment, having said that onlyunder 2% of women in the US are
using it at the moment.
Unknown (21:37):
How much? How much under 2% really,
Maryon Stewart (21:41):
and over 50% in surveys, multiple surveys show
that over 50% of women want anatural approach. So my view is,
obviously it's important thatwomen have all the information
so they can make informedchoices, right? I don't believe
you necessarily need HRT, butthat's up to each individual
person, because even if you tookHRT, it wouldn't correct
(22:01):
nutritional deficiencies. Forexample, do you know it wouldn't
necessarily get you off yourchair and moving and doing all
the things that we do in thisnatural with this natural
approach? So I think that's onething to say, and then also, if
we're living so much longer,then maybe if people do take
HRT. Sometimes we have people onour program, on our protocol,
(22:24):
who are actually using HRT, andthey do the two things in
parallel. Sometimes they come onto wean off their HRT, which
they do in conjunction withtheir their doctor. It's very
individual thing, but Iwouldn't, I certainly wouldn't
say that you have to take HRT inorder to thrive at midlife and
(22:45):
beyond. I don't believe that.
And I've been doing this forsuch a long time. The only
person who ever went back ontoHRT in all the or, or I say
because we've, we've helped alot of women with breast cancer
who can't take HRT, right themedical reasons. So the only
person who ever got breastcancer again was a woman who
went back onto her HRT underwith her doctor's
(23:06):
recommendations. So I, you know,I hear what's being said, and
it's up to each individualperson to make a choice, but I
don't believe that theyabsolutely have to take it in
order to be well. So
Colette Fehr (23:19):
this is a very exciting solution to something
that maybe HRT isn't necessaryfor anybody, but certainly, if
you can't take HRT or don't wantto, it doesn't mean that there's
no way to thrive through themenopause journey and beyond. I
mean, it's funny, Marian, I asyou're talking I was thinking
(23:40):
you described, you know, thedryness factor, because I've
just gone through menopausemyself, having learned that
menopause is one day from theyear from the day, one day a
year after the day of your lastperiod. And I don't, I haven't
been getting periods because Ihad a uterine ablation, so I had
(24:01):
no idea when menopause wouldhappen. And I was just in
Scottsdale, Arizona, and lookingaround at the Desert beauty, I
also had this thought of, oh mygod, this is a metaphor for my
current vagina, yeah. And I needto not let that be the thing. So
I think this is so exciting. Youare doing exactly what this
(24:23):
world needs, educating women,giving them solutions, taking
the research and making itaccessible and easy to follow.
Now, for someone like me who hasnot been on the journey the same
way as Laura, you know, I don'tknow any of the people she just
mentioned, the first I've everheard the term phytoestrogen. Is
you saying it right now? I mean,going back to high school
(24:44):
biology, I can take a guess atwhat that means. But can you
give us a little bit ofeducation about phytoestrogens
and how that works? Well,
Maryon Stewart (24:52):
phyto just means plant, right? And if you look at
the molecule under themicroscope of estradiol, which
is the s. You have beforemenopause and the phytoestrogen,
they're almost the they're notthe same, but they're almost the
same. Wow. So those spot thedifference, things that you
stare up for age is looking atto see what the difference is.
There is a difference, but it'snot massive. And so you can fall
(25:16):
the brain into thinking thatyou've, if you're, if you're
consuming them regularlythroughout the day, in the
evening, then you fool the braininto thinking that everything's
normal. Again, what happens whenyour ovaries wind down is that
you the cells that protect youfrom heart disease, for example,
the cells that keep your brainfunctioning, the cells that keep
(25:38):
your vagina moist and keep yourbones growing. The factories
closed down, right? So when youget these, you fill the receptor
sites with these estrogen lookalikes, these hormone
Harmonizers, the factory lightsgo back on again, and that's how
harm you get through the brainfog. You get moist again in, you
(26:02):
know, important little placesyour skin changes. Obviously you
can't see bone loss and what'sgoing on inside your heart. But
the things that you can measure,you can you can see directly.
Now, some things take longer,things like hot flashes, night
sweats, feeling anxious, notsleeping at night, all of that
kind of stuff. The brain fog, itthose things tend to even in six
(26:26):
weeks, we notice a massivedifference. The women notice a
massive difference, you know,and that encourages them to go
on things like what goes onbelow the waist. That takes a
bit longer, but it's months, youknow? It's not, it's not years,
and you there are so many thingsthat you can do for vaginal
dryness that you know, fromplant based food in our diet to
(26:51):
supplements that have beenthrough clinical trials to show
that they help to increase thenumber of mucous cells that are
made and help With theelasticity and the lining so
they improve what's called theintegrity of the lining of the
vagina. And then there aregadgets like V fit, for example,
which is red light therapy thatyou can use, bit like a
(27:15):
vibrator, but it's and it comeswith hyaluronic acid gel, and
that helps. That's kind of amagic wand.
Laura Bowman (27:24):
Never heard of that. Have you ever heard of
that?
Colette Fehr (27:27):
I have heard about it, but I don't know, with great
specificity what it was. So thisis something that just kind of
stimulates the vagina in ahealthy way, like brings it back
to life, if you will. It
Maryon Stewart (27:40):
helps. What help? The red light therapy
helps to repair the tissues. Sothere's a load of research on
that. But, I mean, I'm notsuggesting everyone runs out to
bind that, because I thinkthey're, you know, for probably
eight out of 10 women, from myexperience, managed with the
diet and the supplements, youknow, but then, you know, that's
there. And then when you're pastmenopause and you're in your 60s
(28:00):
and 70s or whatever. You stillmay want to be active and have
good sex, and so thereforeyou've got that as an insurance
policy, and you don't have toworry about that side of your
life dying.
Laura Bowman (28:13):
You can keep it.
Can you tell us what like thediet looks like? Like? What?
What are you eating in a in aday? I mean, how heavy on the
plant food is it?
Maryon Stewart (28:22):
Yeah, it's very easy. So you and again choices.
So whether you eat fish and meator whether you're vegetarian or
vegan or whatever you are, youcan make the choices, because
we're not deciding for you. Soyou've got lists of things that
you can choose from. So I lovefruit and salad and vegetables.
So I'm kind of big on those thatlovely rainbow diet. I love flax
(28:46):
seeds, which are full of plantbased estrogen. You can get soy
milk and yogurt and tempeh andtofu if you want, but you don't
have to. I love sesame seeds.
They're another source, a richsource, and I just make sure
that I have plenty of protein.
So the protocol is recommendingthat you have a certain amount
(29:07):
of protein with each meal,certain amount of fiber with
each meal. And you can chooseyour sources, because there's
just lists and lists of thingsto choose from. So it's up to
each individual person. What youlike do? You know? I happen to
like salmon. Some people hatesalmon, you know. So it's just,
I, you know, I make the choicesthat make me feel that's yummy.
And you can throw some edamamebeans on to add some more plant
(29:31):
based estrogen. It's just easy.
And it becomes, it becomessecond nature, like cleaning
your teeth, you know, you don'thave to think about it. We even
get into shopping lists. And,you know, the easiest places and
the cheapest places to buy thethings so that you can get them
delivered to your door, and youdon't have to go and, you know,
bring back heavy bags full offlax seeds or whatever you're
(29:51):
going to shop for. With all mybooks, I've done recipes as
well, so I've got these lovelydo. Delicious recipes that I've
had Michelin star chefs cook ofvarious events, which is really
thrilling to fast option menuswhere you just literally throw
things together in a quick way.
(30:13):
And then when I was doing thoserecently for the community and
we were analyzing them, Isuddenly thought, Well, hey,
they're too complicated. So thenI did a whole load of no cook
options, where you literally goand buy the food and put it
together assembly, and don'thave to spend any time in the
kitchen whatsoever, but youstill got really nutrition. You
know, nutritionally dense dietthat's going to provide you with
(30:35):
everything you need. And so it'sit. So whether you like spending
time in the kitchen or whetheryou're allergic to the kitchen
is irrelevant. You can stillhave this wonderful phyto feast
and feel good again. And that'sthe key thing. So we want to
tell the world, so we've createdthe phytoestrogen Food Guide,
which is free to every woman, soyou don't have to be a member of
(30:58):
our community to get that. And Iknow you've got the link, so you
can share that, so
Colette Fehr (31:03):
everyone can share everything in the chat.
Maryon Stewart (31:05):
Everyone can have a copy of that. And then if
they want to come to the clinicas well, it's, it's for $4.99 a
month. So that's we tried tomake it really affordable for
everybody, so that they don'thave to spend hundreds of
dollars to find solutions, youknow. And we have live sessions
every month, maybe sometimesmore than once a month, where
(31:28):
the experts come together. We'redoing we've got the next one, I
think, is on xenoestrogens, thenwe've got another one on belly
fat, by popular demand, becausethat's something that's so
common. And so we try and listento the community and hear what
they want to hear about, yeah,so that we can get the right
experts together. So we've gotfor the belly fat one. We've got
(31:48):
the celebrity diet coach who'shelped numerous celebrities to
help we've got amazing gutspecialists. And, you know,
people that come and I love it,because they give their time so
generously, to genuinely come tohelp women to understand and
navigate this. And that's what'syou know, we just need to pull
(32:09):
together so that we can getthrough this in a really loving
way.
Colette Fehr (32:14):
Yes, well said. So while you mentioned these two
topics, belly fat and thexenoestrogens, can you give our
listeners a little bit of yourtake on the belly fat situation?
Because that's that's a toughone.
Maryon Stewart (32:27):
Yeah, belly fat is when your estrogen is winding
down. You're you no longerrequire the same to stay the
same shape. Do you know, as youdid in your child bearing years.
So the fat disappears fromcertain places and
redistributes, especially onyour belly.
Colette Fehr (32:46):
Well, that makes it make a lot of sense already,
because my figure has completelytransformed already from what it
was. So yes, please go on. Thisis fascinating. And also
Maryon Stewart (32:57):
your metabolism slows down, yeah, so your that's
the rate at which your bodyticks over. So there are eating
the plant based estrogens thefirst thing, because, don't
forget, you're falling yourbrain to thinking everything's
normal again. And so that wayyou can start to get your shape
back, but also with movement anddoing the right kind of movement
(33:18):
for yourself. I love my hulahoop, for example. I just love
my weighted hula hoop. And theresearch on that shows that you
can decrease your waist and yourbelly even within the space of a
month by doing that for half anhour a day. So really, finding
things that you love that lightyou up. So for me, I just put
music on Beatty music, and I'moff with the fairies. Do you
(33:41):
know? So you just find, findwhat works. Yeah, it doesn't
really matter what it is. So andthen you can maintain your
shape. I think, you know, I'vehad four kids, and I don't I'm
probably a little bit heavierthan I was when I was in my 20s,
but not that much, only a fewpounds. And I think that it's
because I stay active, and I'velearned to do things that light
me up, do you know? So I want todo them because they make me
(34:04):
feel good, right? And I think ifyou want to be here to help
other people, you've got to keepyourself in good shape in order
to be able to do that.
Laura Bowman (34:14):
Yeah, I was talking to somebody yesterday
about the phenomenon of postmenopausal zest. I mean, I had
never really heard Have youheard of that? That sounds like
a new concept to me, but like,once people get through
menopause, that there's like,this uptick in, like, just
feeling clear and alive. Andyou've never heard of this?
Maryon Stewart (34:36):
Oh, I haven't.
And I tell you, I remember beingat a book signing at menopause,
the musical in Australia, andlistening to the women filing
past saying that they've beenthere, done that, and got the t
shirt. But why would you feelbetter when you've got low
levels of nutrients that haven'tbeen fixed, you've got empty
estrogen receptor sites? Do youknow you're tired? You're not
sleeping well, you're feelinganxious. You've got. Dry vagina
(34:58):
and brain frog. I don't know.
Laura Bowman (35:02):
I'll do more research on it, but it's,
apparently it's a thing. I'lltell you it is. Maybe it's a
mindset.
Maryon Stewart (35:08):
Well, I don't think, from my perspective,
because we've had a lot of womenon our protocol who are older,
is that, and it's never too lateto start, because you need to
actually get your nutrients backinto an autumn range, plug into
the plant estrogens and makesure that everything's in in a
good range in terms of yournutrients and your receptor
(35:29):
sites, and then do your movementand everything else. Then I'd
say, yes, you can get your thisback, but I don't think you can
automatically think, and that'swhy a lot of women don't do
anything because they think oncethey're through menopause, that
magic day a year after theirperiod, they're going to be okay
again. But I'm here to tell you,do you know over 30 years that
(35:51):
we've had so many women come tous in their 60s, 70s and even
80s who are still having hotflushes? Wow, let's alone. The
other symptoms, oh
Colette Fehr (35:59):
my gosh. Marian, what you're saying, This is so
crazy. You just said thatbecause I just went to see a
play here in the Orlando area,and I was chatting with a woman
during intermission who was inher late 70s, and she she kind
of said to me, Oh, it's so coldin here. And I said, Oh, I'm
sorry. I'm at the phase of lifewhere I don't get cold. And she
laughed. And I said, you know,I'm 51 going, I'm 52 so we
(36:23):
started chatting aboutmenopause, and she said, I hate
to tell you this, but I stillhave hot flashes, and I'm 77 and
I was like, what? It kind offreaked me out, so exact. And I
had never heard that before,never heard that before. And
what I'm getting from whatyou're saying, because I do feel
like I have post menopausalzest, even though I've never
(36:45):
heard that term before, but Ithink that's more my personality
and my mindset and the way Ishow up in the world. And I
think what I'm getting from whatyou're saying is that obviously
women are going to havedifferent degree of symptoms,
but that this is a long journeymost women, if we just look at
scientifically what's going onin the body, there are going to
be things that make it verydifficult to feel super zesty,
(37:07):
unless you're taking control,and that nutrition is really a
missing link for a lot of us,even though menopause and the
surrounding perimenopause, postmenopause is Becoming a topic of
conversation I'm not hearingpersonally, unless you're
already plugged into thenutrition world, super dialed
(37:28):
in. I'm not hearing a lot ofconversation about that, and it
seems like a huge missing piecethat is absolutely critical to
address the way you
Maryon Stewart (37:36):
eat. Yeah, it's so it's just fundamental. It's
almost like a builder building ahouse on marshland, you know
it's going to fall apart. So youcan't go into easily. Well, for
most people, can't easily gointo through menopause and out
the other end of it feelinggreat, unless they learn to meet
their needs, and unless theyreally understand, as I said,
(37:59):
the research is always changing.
There's always new things andeasy things coming that make it
exciting for us to be women atthis time. You know, it's this,
there's there's so much we cando, and I think also coming
together in the way that we cometogether. Because I remember the
first film I ever made onmenopause, which was years ago
in the everything 2006 and wegot together, six of my patients
(38:23):
came together for a weekendbecause we wanted to film them
doing movement, meditation andeverything, all together and
eating together and beingtogether. And that was the first
time any of my patients evermet. And I promise you, it was a
life changing weekend for them.
They never forgot and theystayed in touch with each other.
(38:45):
They bonded. You know, it wassuch a wonderful and so I think
coming together in a communityhas that added value. It's not
just about you and your symptomsand how you feel or how bad you
feel. It's coming together withother women and the excitement
of seeing them go through thetransition, you know, seeing
them come out. So you may behaving a bad day, but then you
(39:06):
hear someone who's just had sucha big win. Do you know they're
just feeling so good now? And itjust gives you that bit of
encouragement. You don't feellike someone's trying to sell
you and tell you you're going tofeel you know you'll feel
better. You've got you've gotother people in the community
who are affirming that ideathrough their own experience.
(39:26):
And I think that women, womenneed that. You know when we need
Laura Bowman (39:31):
we see that too, and in our work that we've done,
where we've brought womentogether in groups to support
each other, and we do a midlifemaster class type thing, and
when we bring people together,it's just magical and
transformative. And women needeach other. They need the
information, they need thesupport, they need the
imagination for like, what elseis out there? Because you can
(39:53):
very easily get trapped in yourown little bell jar of this is
my life. This is all there is.
Maryon Stewart (40:00):
Is yes, and that's that's far from true. We
Colette Fehr (40:04):
need the uplift. I mean, I think what we see, and
it sounds like you're describingthe power of community. The
agent of transformation iscommunity, yeah, the connection
with other people, where womenare supporting women, we are
nurturers. And now I see amovement in society where
instead of nurturing everyone,we've been told we're supposed
(40:27):
to and leaving nothing forourselves, women are really
supporting women in a differentway, and it's very fulfilling.
Yeah,
Maryon Stewart (40:35):
it is. And I think adding to that is that
we're in our community becausewe're putting in the science on
hormone health, on lifestyle,medicine, on, you know,
nutrition and biochemistry andall of those things. We're we're
creating a really trusted placewhere people can come and know
(40:57):
that they're only going to getquality information and they're
never, they're always going tobe listened to, and they're
never going to be sold at do youknow? And it's not about us,
it's about us serving them toget them through this journey
and feeling well again. Andthat's the whole purpose for
going up
Colette Fehr (41:15):
there. That's beautiful, and that's what makes
it unique, because I don't thinkeverything out there is geared
that way. Unfortunately, how areyou finding the medical
community overall is respondingto you and your work in today's
time?
Maryon Stewart (41:30):
Well, I think it depends who you say in the
medical community. So forexample, we asked 12 well known
doctors to endorse and give us acomment on the fighter, estrogen
Food Guide, and all of them didso generously, and I've got some
more waiting to, you know, giveus the comments so we can add
them on. You're going to alwaysget skeptical doctors. And I
(41:53):
remember in the beginning it wasmuch harder than it is now. But
I think now most doctors comeinto the profession because they
care about helping people, andthey recognize that diet plays a
really important part. Diet andlifestyle are probably the first
line approach when you get tomidlife and menopause, that's
(42:13):
the first thing you should bedoing. But they're lacking
information, and so they maytell you to eat a better diet or
move more, but they don't tellyou what it looks like, yeah,
you know, and they don't telleach individual what it looks
like in order to achieve theirgoals and their personal
preferences. And so I thinkthat's where we come into this,
(42:33):
because we're so geared toindividual help, and also the
most women can manage just withthe protocol. But other women
that have got a more you know,they've got a medical history,
they've got different medicationand different things, like they
may have had cancer or whateverelse it is, they probably need
(42:54):
the one to one consultations. Sowe have a team of nutritionists
and who are trained in nhlp, andthey give them proper guidance
according to their needs andlikes and tastes and everything.
So that's possible too, but formost people, they can get on by
themselves in the community andjust enjoy soaking up the
(43:17):
information and asking questionsthat they genuine. Get Genuine
answers to from amazing experts.
So, you know, I just, I lovebeing the catalyst, and we have
the most amazing, dedicatedteam. We're a small team, but
we're incredibly dedicated, andjust have a mission to help
women all over the worldunderstand that with the right
(43:41):
information they can get throughthis and, you know, doing the
irreducible minimum amount ofchange, they can feel turbo
charged. Do you know, feelbetter than they can remember?
Because we go downhill so slowlywe don't remember how far down
we've gone until we bounce backup
Laura Bowman (44:00):
again. This is so helpful because there are
certain things in my medicalhistory that make HRT really
challenging, reallycontraindicated, honestly. So
this is just such like afundamental reminder that
wherever you are on thatcontinuum, whether you choose to
do HRT in some form or fashion,that this piece is so important
(44:24):
that this is just a fundamentalcornerstone that you need to
incorporate it as well, and
Colette Fehr (44:29):
maybe it's the only piece you need. Yeah,
Maryon Stewart (44:31):
we do. We help women in the workplace as well.
We're working with Jacksonhealth system in Miami, for
example, where we help thosewomen who are on the front line
in the health system, we alsodo. We're just starting a pilot
study with Ultra human with thewearable ring, and so we're
(44:51):
getting biomarkers as well.
While we're delivering the nhrp,we're also helping women they
self. Process so that we can seethat their severe symptoms
become more mild and thenhopefully disappear. But they
also have the biomarkers thatthey can measure their sleep and
their heart rate and theirtemperature and all the things
that you can measure with thosekinds of things. So we're really
(45:13):
excited about that as well.
Colette Fehr (45:16):
Oh, that is exciting. Oh my gosh, there's so
much to learn, and I thinkeverybody is going to want to
get your protocols, your bookand find out more. So tell our
listeners where they can findyou your community and a little
bit about your new book too.
Yeah. So
Maryon Stewart (45:32):
the the the community, well, the website is
femal.com it's F, E, double, M,a, r.com and then I think the
community is femoral.com forwardslash community.
Colette Fehr (45:42):
You've got the link, yes, and it'll all be in
the show notes too. The book,it's called
Maryon Stewart (45:46):
Manage your menopause. Naturally, it's not
new. It's actually three yearsold. But, and as I said, it's
it's fine. And if you lovereading books, then please read
it, because it has got all theguts of an HRP. But you have to
remember that it was writtenthat time ago, and since then,
there's even more new research,which is what we're dealing
with. I get things popping intomy inbox every day about new
(46:10):
research, and so we're alwaysupdating and excited about how
how that comes and how it it alot of it doesn't change what
we're doing. It just validateswhat we've been doing for all
Colette Fehr (46:23):
these years. And I love that you're focused on the
community, because, like yousaid, there's new information
all the time, and you're reallyabout serving your community
with information that will help.
I will definitely be joining,and I bet tons of our listeners
will too. So again, all of thisinformation on how you can find
Marion and her valuable researchand information is going to be
(46:44):
in the show notes we like. Couldthis could not have been more
exciting. I really wasn't privyto any of this, so I'm sure
there are many people listeningwho are fired up about this too,
and we're just so grateful toyou for being here today.
Laura Bowman (47:02):
Yes, definitely, so helpful.
Maryon Stewart (47:05):
Yeah. And we, as I say, anybody who wants to come
to our live sessions as well,they can. They'll find those we
in the community, definitely.
And we have links so anybody canjust come to the website and
come, and you don't have to be amember of the community to come
to some of the live sessions, sothey can come and soak that up
(47:25):
and then get a taste of what weoffer, and come and join us
after that if they feel like it
Colette Fehr (47:30):
wonderful. Oh my gosh. Well, thank you so much,
and thanks to all of you forlistening to insights from the
couch. As always, we hope yougot some valuable insights from
our couch today, and if thissparked something in you, please
join our community. It's atinsights from the couch.org.
It's free. It's called the chat,where we can answer each other's
(47:52):
questions, share valuableresources, empower and excite
and encourage each other andkeep the conversation going. We
will see you next time you.
Marc, welcome back to insights from the couch,
(00:05):
where real conversations meetreal life at midlife, as always,
we're your hosts, Colette andLaura, two therapists and best
friends who are going throughthe journey right alongside you.
So whether you're feeling stuck,restless or just wanting
something more, not sure what'snext. This is the space for
real, honest, messy, rawconversations. And if you find
(00:27):
yourself nodding along, comejoin us in the chat. This is our
community for women to talkabout all the things, ask
questions about the podcast,share resources, all the good
stuff. Go to insights from thecouch.org, and click join the
chat. We'll see you there. Andtoday, we have a very special
guest that we're so excited todive in with. And Laura is going
(00:50):
to introduce her.
Laura Bowman (00:51):
Yes, we have Marion Stewart, renowned author,
TV presenter and women's healthexpert. She's the CEO of FEM
Marc and creator of the naturalhormone rebalancing protocol,
often called the pioneer of thenatural menopause movement.
Marion has helped hundreds of1000s of women manage menopause
and PMS symptoms without drugsor hormones. She's written 28
(01:16):
books, hosted TV and radio showsin the UK, and now presents
Marion Stewart's menopausesolutions, the first US public
television series focused onmenopause. Marian has been
honored with the British EmpireMedal and named by Forbes as one
of 11 women changing theconversation around menopause.
(01:38):
We're so excited to have youthis is such a timely
conversation, because in ourchat group, we are women are so
hungry for information aboutthis, so we're so excited to
have
Maryon Stewart (01:51):
you Excellent.
Thank you so much for giving meair time, as it were, because
there's so much to share, andI'm so passionate about
imparting knowledge and wisdomthat comes from published
research. And I think that'swhat everyone's missing, the
fact that most doctors are noteducated by their own admission.
You know, the Mayo Clinic surveyin 2019 said that only 7% of
(02:12):
doctors and Gynecologists feeladequately educated how it
weren't going through menopause,and yet every woman's going to
go through it. So it doesn'tmake any sense to me, and I
have, I feel a deep sense ofinjustice that there's all this
amazing published research. Myteam has been helping women for
30 years to manage this journey,always based on published
(02:34):
research, which is alwaysevolving. Every week there's new
research, and so we have toupdate the chat. Do you know?
And women's needs change aswell. And you know now we're
talking about perimenopause, but10 years ago, if you'd done a
survey in the street, most womenwouldn't even know what
perimenopause was. Do you know?
(02:57):
So it's, it's now you've got awhole group of younger women who
are much more inquiring, muchmore demanding. Do you know they
don't want to be fobbed off?
They don't want a scam, theydon't want to be sold to. Do you
know they really just want to behelped? They want to be informed
so that they can make their ownchoices? And I think that's what
this is all about now. And so wepride ourselves at fer Marc in
(03:19):
connecting the dots with theresearch and attracting some of
the best experts on the planetin our community, so that we can
get the experts and the womentogether and women can really
get their questions answered. Doyou know you talked about it
being messy conversation? Itcould be as messy as you like,
(03:39):
you know, because we, we did asurvey a few years ago, now,
probably five or six years ago,on what goes on below the waist,
or, I should say, what doesn'tdo. You know, when you get into
menopause and everything startsdrying out, and sex becomes
painful and all that, it doesn'thave to be that way. You can
turn it all around. But womendon't understand that, and they
go into this very sad placewhere they feel hopeless. Do you
(04:03):
know no one tells them thatthere's quality life after
menopause, and that's that'sreally not It's not okay, just
isn't.
Colette Fehr (04:13):
I couldn't agree with you more. Everything you've
just said is exactly what we'vebeen talking about in our chat
group, how we're hungry forinformation. There hasn't been
enough research. The doctors whoare out there don't seem to
really know the research. Theyhaven't been trained in it, and
how hard it is that we have togo out there and find
information and really advocateand educate ourselves. So your
(04:37):
community, maybe we could startwith that as we get into what
you've learned that's going tohelp our audience so much, but
your community, femar, tell memore about that and why that's
so important, and your approachthere.
Maryon Stewart (04:50):
Okay, so the femur, for me, is a dream come
true, because, as you said, Iwrote 28 books, and pretty much
did a book. A year and all themedical references. So it's like
having a baby, as you know, whenyou write a book, you know, you
go through this painful processof making sure it's all right,
and then you submit it to thepublisher, and then it takes
(05:14):
about a year before it'spublished.
Colette Fehr (05:16):
I'm loving it right now. It's awful. You
finished it if you
Maryon Stewart (05:19):
if your book is based on medical research. So
much more research has beenpublished in the year. Do you
know, by two years down theline, it's old, and so the
beauty of the community is wecan update the research every
day, literally. Do you know wecan change our protocol when
there's new research? We cantweak things. We can explain to
(05:42):
women exactly you know, how muchprotein they need, how much
phytoestrogen they need, thesewonderful substances that are
plant based and mimic estrogen.
They're hormone Harmonizers. Doyou know we can answer
questions? We can give theresearch that's needed to help
women to navigate this journeyin a very kind of honest and
(06:07):
down to earth way. And so what Iwanted to do, because for all
the years, my team and I havefocused on one to one
consultations for women, andthat's really not sustainable.
You can't do that for everywoman on the planet, and so we
have now taken all the sciencebased information from our
protocol, and obviously we'readding to it all the time, and
(06:31):
we've turned it into a protocolon a page so that is accessible
through our community. Sothere's all the instructions
that you need. So your goals forthe day, how much, how many
phytoestrogens do you need? Whattime of day do you ideally need
them? What form do they come in?
So that you can make choices?
How much proteins you need? Howmuch fiber do you need?
(06:52):
Polyphenols, probiotics andprobiotics, again, we can talk
about this later, but they'vegot. The new research shows, in
recent years that they play sucha key role in even helping to
metabolize the phytoestrogens,so that you become what's called
ecorn producer, so you canreally use them. But no one's
(07:13):
talking about that. No. And thenit's the environmental estrogen,
the xenoestrogens, theseghastly, harmful, toxic estrogen
look alikes that are in theenvironment. They're probably in
our makeup, in our home careproducts, and they're in
plastics and pollution. We'rejust environmental sitting ducks
if we fill our receptor sites,when your ovaries start to
(07:34):
retire, the receptor sites inyour cells remain empty because
your ovaries are not producingestradiol anymore. These plant
based phytoestrogens have amolecule that looks just like
estradiol. So you can actuallyfool the brain into thinking
everything's normal again. Sothat can affect your skin, your
hair, your nails, your vagina,your brain. Do you know?
(07:55):
Everything and so and and also,if there was a race between
those phytoestrogens and theenvironmental estrogen. They the
natural plant based estrogengets in there first, seals off
the space. So we're actuallyprotecting ourselves, because
the xenoestrogens actuallyincrease the our risk of breast
cancer, for example, and othercancers. So it's not just a nice
(08:17):
idea and also the research showsthat the recommendations that we
provide for women going throughperimenopause and menopause, by
sheer luck, I suppose, help toprevent things like bone loss,
which we're much morepredisposed to As we go through
(08:39):
perimenopause and menopause andbeyond heart disease, which we
become so much more predisposedto much more than men after
menopause, and also defersthings like dementia and all
sorts of other memory issues,and keeps us nicely moist below
the waist, instead of feelinglike a dried out prune, and that
(09:01):
helps us to enjoy our lives. Anddo you know, feel like women and
feel
Colette Fehr (09:09):
feel better in every way, esteem entire
Laura Bowman (09:13):
So Marianne, I'm just really curious. Like, how
did you come to this protocol?
And like, was this driven byyour own personal experience and
figuring it out?
Maryon Stewart (09:25):
No, we figured this out a long time ago, in the
early 90s, and so it was becauseof published research. And when
I heard and read aboutphytoestrogens, I started coming
to the US, to the annualconferences. Do you know, to
learn about it. And so I supposeI've always been hungry for
information and then tointerpret the information for
(09:47):
women. And that's that's kind ofwhere my whole career has been
centered. And so now for me, thecommunity is this amazing place
where we can invite women tocome and join us and soak up
the. Information and also tellus what they need and what they
want. Do you know, if we haven'talready got it, we'll go and
find it. Do you know if we don'tknow the answers, we'll be
honest and say, well, actually,I'll go and research it and come
(10:11):
back to you or find the bestexpert. Do you know we've got an
on our advisory board. We've gotexperts in every kind of
discipline, whether it's guthealth or brain health or
hormone health, nutrition,sleep. Do you know there's just
so many issues that affect us aswe go through this phase? And a
lot of women, they don't evenassociate the fact that they
(10:35):
can't sleep, or they've gotbrain fog, or they're feeling
extra anxious, apart from thehot flushes and night sweats,
which most people know arerelated to menopause, most of
those other symptoms, like achesand pains and fatigue, they have
no clue. They just think it'spart of the aging process. I can
remember, you know, so manytimes I've been in my clinic,
but I can, I so remember the dayit was in my clinic in London,
(10:57):
in Harley Street, and I think Iwas 48 at the time, and a woman
was sitting on the other side ofmy desk telling me how terrible
she felt, how tired anddepressed and anxious and
forgetful. And then she said,Well, what can I expect? I'm 47
I just I'm not often lost forwords. But I looked at her and I
(11:20):
thought, well, and I did say toher, you know, you can expect a
great deal more than that, youknow. And so I think the the
women, we're busy, we're, we'recarers, we look after everybody.
We work, you know, we're, we'rehousekeepers, we're everything.
And so we leave ourselves tilllast, naturally, and we don't,
until we fall over, we don'treally ask for help. And so from
(11:43):
my perspective, the earlier youcome to this party, the better.
You know, with no stigma, noshame, you're just you know,
this is midlife, and you need tolearn about your changing needs,
and what you can do to getyourself into feeling like your
old self again or better, andthen what you can do to stay in
the driving seat going forward,so that you match your health
(12:05):
span with your lifespan. Becausethere's no point living to a
ripe old age of, you know, 90something or 100 if you've
fallen apart, you know, ifyou're completely crippled by
osteoporosis, exactly, you'vegot heart issues, if you can't
even remember your family, doyou know all that kind what's
the point? What's the point? Butthere's so much wonderful
(12:28):
research, and we see the mostincredible transformations. I
mean, I could spend the nexthour or more telling you about
people who were leaving theworkplace crippled by their
symptoms, and we know that 20%of women leave the workplace
around menopause because theycan't cope. They can't obtain
thoughts, they get hot andembarrassed, they feel anxious,
(12:52):
they can't sleep, and so theycan't show up in the way that
they normally did, and socareers just go sideways. Well,
I mean, we have so many womenwho've been through the natural
hormone rebalancing protocol,who go from feeling like that,
like bombing out and giving up,to feeling like the best version
of themselves, where they'remade Head of Department of a
(13:15):
university instead of leavingthe workplace leading A team of
midwives, you know, leadinginternational, global companies
being, you know, the CEO andhaving that So, for example, the
doctor who was CEO of Virgincare, she she was a general
practitioner for 20 years. Shebecame the CEO of urgent care,
and then during the pandemic,she had 5000 nurses on the front
(13:37):
line, and she came through ourprogram. After trying hormones
for I think three goes, itdidn't work for her within four
weeks, she said her symptomswere under control, and She then
invited us to come and supportthe nurses in the workplace
during the pandemic, which wasamazing. That's incredible, you
know, just help them be strict.
Help them be stronger. And gavethem hope that they could get
(14:01):
through whatever they needed toget through in a much more
resilient way, right?
Colette Fehr (14:08):
And it sounds like from what you're saying, there
are solutions that many of usdon't even realize are out there
that are research backed. So I'mglad you mentioned your natural
hormone rebalancing protocol.
Can you tell us what that is,and what you've found that is
speaking to thesetransformations you're
describing.
Maryon Stewart (14:26):
Yeah, so we decided to bring all the science
together into this protocol on apage, as I said, and call it an
HRP, so natural hormonerebalancing protocol. And the
idea is that when you go throughmenopause, it's not just about
estrogen, it's about all yourhormones. You know, you've got
(14:46):
progesterone, you've gotcortisol, you've got all the
different hormones that cancripple you as you go through
the transition. So we need tolearn how to not. Normalize the
hormone function, how toharmonize it all again. And so
what we did with an HRP is webrought all the research
(15:07):
together, and we made it veryeasy for women to navigate so
that they know exactly what todo. There's no guesswork. Do you
know? There's no overwhelm? Andit's very, very simple, and so
that, because, as you said,before, you know, we're all out
looking for a solution, buttrying to find the solution in
(15:31):
this crowded marketplace whenyou've got the wonderful
internet, which sometimes cangive you pearls of wisdom and
other times takes you down adark alley and just sells you
something that you didn't everreally need, or it's even not
what this says on the label. Andthat's what a lot of
supplements, for example, justdon't contain what they say on
the label. And so I feel bad forwomen that they're being misled
(15:56):
in many cases, and I just feelthat somehow you need the pure
information, and so that's whatnhlp really is, and it's there
for women to come and makechoices. So for example, when we
say consume 50 milligrams ofphytoestrogens a day, we've got
a phytoestrogen Food Guide,which is pages long, which gives
(16:19):
you all the options and servingsizes, so you can make choices
and you understand exactly whatyou're doing. That's been
endorsed by at least a dozendoctors, and we've got more
endorsing it, and it's alsobacked by 70 pages of research.
So we've done the work. Do youknow that's the point? We did
the work, and now people cancome and feast on it,
Colette Fehr (16:41):
and it's simple and easy to follow, but so
backing up just even a littlebit, because this is so much,
it's so exciting, and this isgoing to be a real mind blowing
piece of information for a lotof women to hear. I know this is
totally new to me. When you talkabout phytoestrogens and this
natural hormone rebalancingprotocol give our listeners a
(17:04):
little just basic idea of whatthis is. Is this a food based I
mean, that's what I think like anatural food based solution,
that you can eat a certain wayand have a very different
experience through Pennyperimenopause, menopause and
post menopause? Yes.
Maryon Stewart (17:21):
So what what we're aiming to do? Because what
the early research showed wasthat very often women have got
low levels of importantnutrients. So we did five
studies looking at nutrientlevels of women with PMS in the
very early days. And since then,there's been world research
done, global research done toshow that a billion women have
nutritional deficiencies. So asyou get to midlife, you've had
(17:45):
your babies, you've breastfed,you've lived life in the fast
lane, you maybe drank too much,didn't eat enough. Do you know
and your your nutrient levelsare even lower, coupled with the
fact that your ovaries areretiring, that's an untenable
experience for most women. Sowhat we're aiming to do with the
NHL P is we help women toidentify nutritional
(18:07):
deficiencies and fix them sothat they get back into optimum
nutritional state. That's sothat's first. Second thing is
fill the receptor sites withnaturally occurring estrogen,
with those phytoestrogens. Andwe can talk more about that, and
I can explain how you do that.
Great. The receptor sites don'tstay full for very long, so we
try and thread them throughoutthe day, in the evening, so that
(18:29):
you're always fooling your brainthat you've got normal
circulating levels of estradiol.
Obviously, it's, it's plantbased, but it's and it's a
weaker version, but it does thejob in terms of seeing our
symptoms off in our experience,and also helping women to look
better, because it affects ourskin and our hair and our nails
(18:51):
as well, and and our energylevels, you know. And so instead
of showing up like a sad, paleversion of ourselves, we can be
more vibrant again, and we canfeel better now. There's so much
you can do to keep feeling well.
So that's the that's the secondpart. The third part is taking
some science based supplements.
And we try and with supplements,we go for supplements that have
(19:14):
been through properly conductedclinical trials, so they've been
shown to be safe and effective.
And we're looking at theirreducible minimum that you can
take to get the maximum effect.
So that's the supplements. Thenwe we're looking at lifestyle,
things like movement,mindfulness, meditation, you
know, all those good things thatkeep the feel good hormones
(19:36):
present so that we can and werest our brains. You know, we're
not super women. We need to takea break during the day, or, you
know, early evening, or whateverit is, to do something good for
ourselves so that we get ourbring our cortisol down in this
stressed world. Do you know, sothat we are calmer, we can go
into our evening enjoy ourrelationships and family life.
(20:00):
Without falling asleep on thesofa after dinner. Do you know
so with so this is, this islife. You know, it's not the
dress rehearsal, and we justneed to. We need the blueprint.
We need the road map about howto live it from perimenopause
for the rest of our lives.
Laura Bowman (20:18):
Yeah, as you're talking, this is all like,
really pinging for me, like, Idon't know if you're familiar
with, like, Brooke gold nursework on hyper nourishing and
like Neil Barnard's work in thespace of phytoestrogens with
soy. And it's just all itreally, like, rings true to me,
and like, what I've been toldfor, like, overall healing and
(20:39):
health, but, but I'm alsowondering, is there a role for
HRT, and what's like your takeon the way, like, because HRT is
one of these things that'sreally making a resurgence, and
is there's a lot of women outthere saying, you know, you
really need this to protect yourbones and your heart and for
longevity. And I'm just, I thinka lot of women are confused that
(21:02):
can we really do this naturally,or do we need something more?
Maryon Stewart (21:07):
Well, the answer is, you can do it naturally,
because the research backs itup. Do you know on this 70 page
document, we've got a section onbone health, we've got a section
on brain health, a section onheart health, do you know
there's a section on all the keythings that we need to cover all
those bases now with HRT, it's,as you say, it's had a kind of
(21:28):
up and down history, and it'shaving a resurgence at the
moment, having said that onlyunder 2% of women in the US are
using it at the moment.
Unknown (21:37):
How much? How much under 2% really,
Maryon Stewart (21:41):
and over 50% in surveys, multiple surveys show
that over 50% of women want anatural approach. So my view is,
obviously it's important thatwomen have all the information
so they can make informedchoices, right? I don't believe
you necessarily need HRT, butthat's up to each individual
person, because even if you tookHRT, it wouldn't correct
(22:01):
nutritional deficiencies. Forexample, do you know it wouldn't
necessarily get you off yourchair and moving and doing all
the things that we do in thisnatural with this natural
approach? So I think that's onething to say, and then also, if
we're living so much longer,then maybe if people do take
HRT. Sometimes we have people onour program, on our protocol,
(22:24):
who are actually using HRT, andthey do the two things in
parallel. Sometimes they come onto wean off their HRT, which
they do in conjunction withtheir their doctor. It's very
individual thing, but Iwouldn't, I certainly wouldn't
say that you have to take HRT inorder to thrive at midlife and
(22:45):
beyond. I don't believe that.
And I've been doing this forsuch a long time. The only
person who ever went back ontoHRT in all the or, or I say
because we've, we've helped alot of women with breast cancer
who can't take HRT, right themedical reasons. So the only
person who ever got breastcancer again was a woman who
went back onto her HRT underwith her doctor's
(23:06):
recommendations. So I, you know,I hear what's being said, and
it's up to each individualperson to make a choice, but I
don't believe that theyabsolutely have to take it in
order to be well. So
Colette Fehr (23:19):
this is a very exciting solution to something
that maybe HRT isn't necessaryfor anybody, but certainly, if
you can't take HRT or don't wantto, it doesn't mean that there's
no way to thrive through themenopause journey and beyond. I
mean, it's funny, Marian, I asyou're talking I was thinking
(23:40):
you described, you know, thedryness factor, because I've
just gone through menopausemyself, having learned that
menopause is one day from theyear from the day, one day a
year after the day of your lastperiod. And I don't, I haven't
been getting periods because Ihad a uterine ablation, so I had
(24:01):
no idea when menopause wouldhappen. And I was just in
Scottsdale, Arizona, and lookingaround at the Desert beauty, I
also had this thought of, oh mygod, this is a metaphor for my
current vagina, yeah. And I needto not let that be the thing. So
I think this is so exciting. Youare doing exactly what this
(24:23):
world needs, educating women,giving them solutions, taking
the research and making itaccessible and easy to follow.
Now, for someone like me who hasnot been on the journey the same
way as Laura, you know, I don'tknow any of the people she just
mentioned, the first I've everheard the term phytoestrogen. Is
you saying it right now? I mean,going back to high school
(24:44):
biology, I can take a guess atwhat that means. But can you
give us a little bit ofeducation about phytoestrogens
and how that works? Well,
Maryon Stewart (24:52):
phyto just means plant, right? And if you look at
the molecule under themicroscope of estradiol, which
is the s. You have beforemenopause and the phytoestrogen,
they're almost the they're notthe same, but they're almost the
same. Wow. So those spot thedifference, things that you
stare up for age is looking atto see what the difference is.
There is a difference, but it'snot massive. And so you can fall
(25:16):
the brain into thinking thatyou've, if you're, if you're
consuming them regularlythroughout the day, in the
evening, then you fool the braininto thinking that everything's
normal. Again, what happens whenyour ovaries wind down is that
you the cells that protect youfrom heart disease, for example,
the cells that keep your brainfunctioning, the cells that keep
(25:38):
your vagina moist and keep yourbones growing. The factories
closed down, right? So when youget these, you fill the receptor
sites with these estrogen lookalikes, these hormone
Harmonizers, the factory lightsgo back on again, and that's how
harm you get through the brainfog. You get moist again in, you
(26:02):
know, important little placesyour skin changes. Obviously you
can't see bone loss and what'sgoing on inside your heart. But
the things that you can measure,you can you can see directly.
Now, some things take longer,things like hot flashes, night
sweats, feeling anxious, notsleeping at night, all of that
kind of stuff. The brain fog, itthose things tend to even in six
(26:26):
weeks, we notice a massivedifference. The women notice a
massive difference, you know,and that encourages them to go
on things like what goes onbelow the waist. That takes a
bit longer, but it's months, youknow? It's not, it's not years,
and you there are so many thingsthat you can do for vaginal
dryness that you know, fromplant based food in our diet to
(26:51):
supplements that have beenthrough clinical trials to show
that they help to increase thenumber of mucous cells that are
made and help With theelasticity and the lining so
they improve what's called theintegrity of the lining of the
vagina. And then there aregadgets like V fit, for example,
which is red light therapy thatyou can use, bit like a
(27:15):
vibrator, but it's and it comeswith hyaluronic acid gel, and
that helps. That's kind of amagic wand.
Laura Bowman (27:24):
Never heard of that. Have you ever heard of
that?
Colette Fehr (27:27):
I have heard about it, but I don't know, with great
specificity what it was. So thisis something that just kind of
stimulates the vagina in ahealthy way, like brings it back
to life, if you will. It
Maryon Stewart (27:40):
helps. What help? The red light therapy
helps to repair the tissues. Sothere's a load of research on
that. But, I mean, I'm notsuggesting everyone runs out to
bind that, because I thinkthey're, you know, for probably
eight out of 10 women, from myexperience, managed with the
diet and the supplements, youknow, but then, you know, that's
there. And then when you're pastmenopause and you're in your 60s
(28:00):
and 70s or whatever. You stillmay want to be active and have
good sex, and so thereforeyou've got that as an insurance
policy, and you don't have toworry about that side of your
life dying.
Laura Bowman (28:13):
You can keep it.
Can you tell us what like thediet looks like? Like? What?
What are you eating in a in aday? I mean, how heavy on the
plant food is it?
Maryon Stewart (28:22):
Yeah, it's very easy. So you and again choices.
So whether you eat fish and meator whether you're vegetarian or
vegan or whatever you are, youcan make the choices, because
we're not deciding for you. Soyou've got lists of things that
you can choose from. So I lovefruit and salad and vegetables.
So I'm kind of big on those thatlovely rainbow diet. I love flax
(28:46):
seeds, which are full of plantbased estrogen. You can get soy
milk and yogurt and tempeh andtofu if you want, but you don't
have to. I love sesame seeds.
They're another source, a richsource, and I just make sure
that I have plenty of protein.
So the protocol is recommendingthat you have a certain amount
(29:07):
of protein with each meal,certain amount of fiber with
each meal. And you can chooseyour sources, because there's
just lists and lists of thingsto choose from. So it's up to
each individual person. What youlike do? You know? I happen to
like salmon. Some people hatesalmon, you know. So it's just,
I, you know, I make the choicesthat make me feel that's yummy.
And you can throw some edamamebeans on to add some more plant
(29:31):
based estrogen. It's just easy.
And it becomes, it becomessecond nature, like cleaning
your teeth, you know, you don'thave to think about it. We even
get into shopping lists. And,you know, the easiest places and
the cheapest places to buy thethings so that you can get them
delivered to your door, and youdon't have to go and, you know,
bring back heavy bags full offlax seeds or whatever you're
(29:51):
going to shop for. With all mybooks, I've done recipes as
well, so I've got these lovelydo. Delicious recipes that I've
had Michelin star chefs cook ofvarious events, which is really
thrilling to fast option menuswhere you just literally throw
things together in a quick way.
(30:13):
And then when I was doing thoserecently for the community and
we were analyzing them, Isuddenly thought, Well, hey,
they're too complicated. So thenI did a whole load of no cook
options, where you literally goand buy the food and put it
together assembly, and don'thave to spend any time in the
kitchen whatsoever, but youstill got really nutrition. You
know, nutritionally dense dietthat's going to provide you with
(30:35):
everything you need. And so it'sit. So whether you like spending
time in the kitchen or whetheryou're allergic to the kitchen
is irrelevant. You can stillhave this wonderful phyto feast
and feel good again. And that'sthe key thing. So we want to
tell the world, so we've createdthe phytoestrogen Food Guide,
which is free to every woman, soyou don't have to be a member of
(30:58):
our community to get that. And Iknow you've got the link, so you
can share that, so
Colette Fehr (31:03):
everyone can share everything in the chat.
Maryon Stewart (31:05):
Everyone can have a copy of that. And then if
they want to come to the clinicas well, it's, it's for $4.99 a
month. So that's we tried tomake it really affordable for
everybody, so that they don'thave to spend hundreds of
dollars to find solutions, youknow. And we have live sessions
every month, maybe sometimesmore than once a month, where
(31:28):
the experts come together. We'redoing we've got the next one, I
think, is on xenoestrogens, thenwe've got another one on belly
fat, by popular demand, becausethat's something that's so
common. And so we try and listento the community and hear what
they want to hear about, yeah,so that we can get the right
experts together. So we've gotfor the belly fat one. We've got
(31:48):
the celebrity diet coach who'shelped numerous celebrities to
help we've got amazing gutspecialists. And, you know,
people that come and I love it,because they give their time so
generously, to genuinely come tohelp women to understand and
navigate this. And that's what'syou know, we just need to pull
(32:09):
together so that we can getthrough this in a really loving
way.
Colette Fehr (32:14):
Yes, well said. So while you mentioned these two
topics, belly fat and thexenoestrogens, can you give our
listeners a little bit of yourtake on the belly fat situation?
Because that's that's a toughone.
Maryon Stewart (32:27):
Yeah, belly fat is when your estrogen is winding
down. You're you no longerrequire the same to stay the
same shape. Do you know, as youdid in your child bearing years.
So the fat disappears fromcertain places and
redistributes, especially onyour belly.
Colette Fehr (32:46):
Well, that makes it make a lot of sense already,
because my figure has completelytransformed already from what it
was. So yes, please go on. Thisis fascinating. And also
Maryon Stewart (32:57):
your metabolism slows down, yeah, so your that's
the rate at which your bodyticks over. So there are eating
the plant based estrogens thefirst thing, because, don't
forget, you're falling yourbrain to thinking everything's
normal again. And so that wayyou can start to get your shape
back, but also with movement anddoing the right kind of movement
(33:18):
for yourself. I love my hulahoop, for example. I just love
my weighted hula hoop. And theresearch on that shows that you
can decrease your waist and yourbelly even within the space of a
month by doing that for half anhour a day. So really, finding
things that you love that lightyou up. So for me, I just put
music on Beatty music, and I'moff with the fairies. Do you
(33:41):
know? So you just find, findwhat works. Yeah, it doesn't
really matter what it is. So andthen you can maintain your
shape. I think, you know, I'vehad four kids, and I don't I'm
probably a little bit heavierthan I was when I was in my 20s,
but not that much, only a fewpounds. And I think that it's
because I stay active, and I'velearned to do things that light
me up, do you know? So I want todo them because they make me
(34:04):
feel good, right? And I think ifyou want to be here to help
other people, you've got to keepyourself in good shape in order
to be able to do that.
Laura Bowman (34:14):
Yeah, I was talking to somebody yesterday
about the phenomenon of postmenopausal zest. I mean, I had
never really heard Have youheard of that? That sounds like
a new concept to me, but like,once people get through
menopause, that there's like,this uptick in, like, just
feeling clear and alive. Andyou've never heard of this?
Maryon Stewart (34:36):
Oh, I haven't.
And I tell you, I remember beingat a book signing at menopause,
the musical in Australia, andlistening to the women filing
past saying that they've beenthere, done that, and got the t
shirt. But why would you feelbetter when you've got low
levels of nutrients that haven'tbeen fixed, you've got empty
estrogen receptor sites? Do youknow you're tired? You're not
sleeping well, you're feelinganxious. You've got. Dry vagina
(34:58):
and brain frog. I don't know.
Laura Bowman (35:02):
I'll do more research on it, but it's,
apparently it's a thing. I'lltell you it is. Maybe it's a
mindset.
Maryon Stewart (35:08):
Well, I don't think, from my perspective,
because we've had a lot of womenon our protocol who are older,
is that, and it's never too lateto start, because you need to
actually get your nutrients backinto an autumn range, plug into
the plant estrogens and makesure that everything's in in a
good range in terms of yournutrients and your receptor
(35:29):
sites, and then do your movementand everything else. Then I'd
say, yes, you can get your thisback, but I don't think you can
automatically think, and that'swhy a lot of women don't do
anything because they think oncethey're through menopause, that
magic day a year after theirperiod, they're going to be okay
again. But I'm here to tell you,do you know over 30 years that
(35:51):
we've had so many women come tous in their 60s, 70s and even
80s who are still having hotflushes? Wow, let's alone. The
other symptoms, oh
Colette Fehr (35:59):
my gosh. Marian, what you're saying, This is so
crazy. You just said thatbecause I just went to see a
play here in the Orlando area,and I was chatting with a woman
during intermission who was inher late 70s, and she she kind
of said to me, Oh, it's so coldin here. And I said, Oh, I'm
sorry. I'm at the phase of lifewhere I don't get cold. And she
laughed. And I said, you know,I'm 51 going, I'm 52 so we
(36:23):
started chatting aboutmenopause, and she said, I hate
to tell you this, but I stillhave hot flashes, and I'm 77 and
I was like, what? It kind offreaked me out, so exact. And I
had never heard that before,never heard that before. And
what I'm getting from whatyou're saying, because I do feel
like I have post menopausalzest, even though I've never
(36:45):
heard that term before, but Ithink that's more my personality
and my mindset and the way Ishow up in the world. And I
think what I'm getting from whatyou're saying is that obviously
women are going to havedifferent degree of symptoms,
but that this is a long journeymost women, if we just look at
scientifically what's going onin the body, there are going to
be things that make it verydifficult to feel super zesty,
(37:07):
unless you're taking control,and that nutrition is really a
missing link for a lot of us,even though menopause and the
surrounding perimenopause, postmenopause is Becoming a topic of
conversation I'm not hearingpersonally, unless you're
already plugged into thenutrition world, super dialed
(37:28):
in. I'm not hearing a lot ofconversation about that, and it
seems like a huge missing piecethat is absolutely critical to
address the way you
Maryon Stewart (37:36):
eat. Yeah, it's so it's just fundamental. It's
almost like a builder building ahouse on marshland, you know
it's going to fall apart. So youcan't go into easily. Well, for
most people, can't easily gointo through menopause and out
the other end of it feelinggreat, unless they learn to meet
their needs, and unless theyreally understand, as I said,
(37:59):
the research is always changing.
There's always new things andeasy things coming that make it
exciting for us to be women atthis time. You know, it's this,
there's there's so much we cando, and I think also coming
together in the way that we cometogether. Because I remember the
first film I ever made onmenopause, which was years ago
in the everything 2006 and wegot together, six of my patients
(38:23):
came together for a weekendbecause we wanted to film them
doing movement, meditation andeverything, all together and
eating together and beingtogether. And that was the first
time any of my patients evermet. And I promise you, it was a
life changing weekend for them.
They never forgot and theystayed in touch with each other.
(38:45):
They bonded. You know, it wassuch a wonderful and so I think
coming together in a communityhas that added value. It's not
just about you and your symptomsand how you feel or how bad you
feel. It's coming together withother women and the excitement
of seeing them go through thetransition, you know, seeing
them come out. So you may behaving a bad day, but then you
(39:06):
hear someone who's just had sucha big win. Do you know they're
just feeling so good now? And itjust gives you that bit of
encouragement. You don't feellike someone's trying to sell
you and tell you you're going tofeel you know you'll feel
better. You've got you've gotother people in the community
who are affirming that ideathrough their own experience.
(39:26):
And I think that women, womenneed that. You know when we need
Laura Bowman (39:31):
we see that too, and in our work that we've done,
where we've brought womentogether in groups to support
each other, and we do a midlifemaster class type thing, and
when we bring people together,it's just magical and
transformative. And women needeach other. They need the
information, they need thesupport, they need the
imagination for like, what elseis out there? Because you can
(39:53):
very easily get trapped in yourown little bell jar of this is
my life. This is all there is.
Maryon Stewart (40:00):
Is yes, and that's that's far from true. We
Colette Fehr (40:04):
need the uplift. I mean, I think what we see, and
it sounds like you're describingthe power of community. The
agent of transformation iscommunity, yeah, the connection
with other people, where womenare supporting women, we are
nurturers. And now I see amovement in society where
instead of nurturing everyone,we've been told we're supposed
(40:27):
to and leaving nothing forourselves, women are really
supporting women in a differentway, and it's very fulfilling.
Yeah,
Maryon Stewart (40:35):
it is. And I think adding to that is that
we're in our community becausewe're putting in the science on
hormone health, on lifestyle,medicine, on, you know,
nutrition and biochemistry andall of those things. We're we're
creating a really trusted placewhere people can come and know
(40:57):
that they're only going to getquality information and they're
never, they're always going tobe listened to, and they're
never going to be sold at do youknow? And it's not about us,
it's about us serving them toget them through this journey
and feeling well again. Andthat's the whole purpose for
going up
Colette Fehr (41:15):
there. That's beautiful, and that's what makes
it unique, because I don't thinkeverything out there is geared
that way. Unfortunately, how areyou finding the medical
community overall is respondingto you and your work in today's
time?
Maryon Stewart (41:30):
Well, I think it depends who you say in the
medical community. So forexample, we asked 12 well known
doctors to endorse and give us acomment on the fighter, estrogen
Food Guide, and all of them didso generously, and I've got some
more waiting to, you know, giveus the comments so we can add
them on. You're going to alwaysget skeptical doctors. And I
(41:53):
remember in the beginning it wasmuch harder than it is now. But
I think now most doctors comeinto the profession because they
care about helping people, andthey recognize that diet plays a
really important part. Diet andlifestyle are probably the first
line approach when you get tomidlife and menopause, that's
(42:13):
the first thing you should bedoing. But they're lacking
information, and so they maytell you to eat a better diet or
move more, but they don't tellyou what it looks like, yeah,
you know, and they don't telleach individual what it looks
like in order to achieve theirgoals and their personal
preferences. And so I thinkthat's where we come into this,
(42:33):
because we're so geared toindividual help, and also the
most women can manage just withthe protocol. But other women
that have got a more you know,they've got a medical history,
they've got different medicationand different things, like they
may have had cancer or whateverelse it is, they probably need
(42:54):
the one to one consultations. Sowe have a team of nutritionists
and who are trained in nhlp, andthey give them proper guidance
according to their needs andlikes and tastes and everything.
So that's possible too, but formost people, they can get on by
themselves in the community andjust enjoy soaking up the
(43:17):
information and asking questionsthat they genuine. Get Genuine
answers to from amazing experts.
So, you know, I just, I lovebeing the catalyst, and we have
the most amazing, dedicatedteam. We're a small team, but
we're incredibly dedicated, andjust have a mission to help
women all over the worldunderstand that with the right
(43:41):
information they can get throughthis and, you know, doing the
irreducible minimum amount ofchange, they can feel turbo
charged. Do you know, feelbetter than they can remember?
Because we go downhill so slowlywe don't remember how far down
we've gone until we bounce backup
Laura Bowman (44:00):
again. This is so helpful because there are
certain things in my medicalhistory that make HRT really
challenging, reallycontraindicated, honestly. So
this is just such like afundamental reminder that
wherever you are on thatcontinuum, whether you choose to
do HRT in some form or fashion,that this piece is so important
(44:24):
that this is just a fundamentalcornerstone that you need to
incorporate it as well, and
Colette Fehr (44:29):
maybe it's the only piece you need. Yeah,
Maryon Stewart (44:31):
we do. We help women in the workplace as well.
We're working with Jacksonhealth system in Miami, for
example, where we help thosewomen who are on the front line
in the health system, we alsodo. We're just starting a pilot
study with Ultra human with thewearable ring, and so we're
(44:51):
getting biomarkers as well.
While we're delivering the nhrp,we're also helping women they
self. Process so that we can seethat their severe symptoms
become more mild and thenhopefully disappear. But they
also have the biomarkers thatthey can measure their sleep and
their heart rate and theirtemperature and all the things
that you can measure with thosekinds of things. So we're really
(45:13):
excited about that as well.
Colette Fehr (45:16):
Oh, that is exciting. Oh my gosh, there's so
much to learn, and I thinkeverybody is going to want to
get your protocols, your bookand find out more. So tell our
listeners where they can findyou your community and a little
bit about your new book too.
Yeah. So
Maryon Stewart (45:32):
the the the community, well, the website is
femal.com it's F, E, double, M,a, r.com and then I think the
community is femoral.com forwardslash community.
Colette Fehr (45:42):
You've got the link, yes, and it'll all be in
the show notes too. The book,it's called
Maryon Stewart (45:46):
Manage your menopause. Naturally, it's not
new. It's actually three yearsold. But, and as I said, it's
it's fine. And if you lovereading books, then please read
it, because it has got all theguts of an HRP. But you have to
remember that it was writtenthat time ago, and since then,
there's even more new research,which is what we're dealing
with. I get things popping intomy inbox every day about new
(46:10):
research, and so we're alwaysupdating and excited about how
how that comes and how it it alot of it doesn't change what
we're doing. It just validateswhat we've been doing for all
Colette Fehr (46:23):
these years. And I love that you're focused on the
community, because, like yousaid, there's new information
all the time, and you're reallyabout serving your community
with information that will help.
I will definitely be joining,and I bet tons of our listeners
will too. So again, all of thisinformation on how you can find
Marion and her valuable researchand information is going to be
(46:44):
in the show notes we like. Couldthis could not have been more
exciting. I really wasn't privyto any of this, so I'm sure
there are many people listeningwho are fired up about this too,
and we're just so grateful toyou for being here today.
Laura Bowman (47:02):
Yes, definitely, so helpful.
Maryon Stewart (47:05):
Yeah. And we, as I say, anybody who wants to come
to our live sessions as well,they can. They'll find those we
in the community, definitely.
And we have links so anybody canjust come to the website and
come, and you don't have to be amember of the community to come
to some of the live sessions, sothey can come and soak that up
(47:25):
and then get a taste of what weoffer, and come and join us
after that if they feel like it
Colette Fehr (47:30):
wonderful. Oh my gosh. Well, thank you so much,
and thanks to all of you forlistening to insights from the
couch. As always, we hope yougot some valuable insights from
our couch today, and if thissparked something in you, please
join our community. It's atinsights from the couch.org.
It's free. It's called the chat,where we can answer each other's
(47:52):
questions, share valuableresources, empower and excite
and encourage each other andkeep the conversation going. We
will see you next time you.
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