Menopodcast Season 1 Episode 7

Feeling the disconnect between what menopause is “supposed to be like” and what it is really like for us. It's not a time of free time for us since we’re not retired or with an empty nest - we have children and we’re still working. We are not the oldest parents we know, which is interesting.

Bible study - chapter 12 - Building Healthy Bones from the Wisdom of Menopause by the Christianne Northrup - we liked this chapter - found it a good reminder of things to do and not too “scoldy”. Julia noted how everything is connected. Your bone health relates to your overall health. We were surprised to find that Osteoporosis begins in perimenopause. Great!! #sarcasm Sarah has had her bone density tested and it was fine at the time. Probably it’s time to recheck… And there’s a checklist in the chapter about things that put you at risk and we don’t have many of the things on the list - thankfully. We do spend a lot of time indoors and we do spend time sitting at our computers, which are both bad things. We are both working on changes to our diet, like reducing alcohol and caffeine, but it’s a challenge. We each decide to eliminate something - either caffeine or alcohol, but maybe not both at once… We were thrilled to read in the chapter about a study where women in their 70s did a strength training program and had very positive results not only on their strength but on their bone density as well. Julia’s MIL had a hip replacement at 93, but because she had been physically active her whole life, she recovered very quickly. She had been a bowler for many, many years. Dr. Northrup talks about working out in order to LIVE, as opposed to “living to work out”. Both Sarah and Julia were athletes as kids, and the studies support how important that is to your lifelong health. And then Julia was a member of her college’s crew team. We talk about how best to get our vitamin D levels up to where they should be. And we talk about how busy we are, and yet how critical it is to find the time to exercise. Or MAKE the time. We promise to be accountable to each other for our fitness. Plus we’ve both added flax to our diet. Baby steps, right?