August 1, 2024 • 40 mins
Have you ever wondered why you can't remember where you left your keys or why your thoughts seem foggy as you hit midlife? Join us as we explore the often-misunderstood phenomenon of brain fog during perimenopause and menopause. Drawing striking parallels to the memory struggles many women face during pregnancy and new motherhood, we unravel the significant impact of hormonal changes on cognitive functions. The conversation includes a revealing study from Healthline, which found that a staggering 60% of middle-aged women report concentration difficulties. Listen in as we discuss how mood swings, sleep issues, and hot flashes contribute to this cognitive decline.
Imagine suddenly losing a substantial sum of money—this is how we liken the hormonal changes women undergo during perimenopause and menopause. We shed light on the physical, mental, and emotional challenges that accompany these changes, particularly during the first year of the last menstrual period. Our discussion provides practical solutions, including hormone replacement therapy and lifestyle adjustments, to manage symptoms and ensure a smoother transition. Through personal anecdotes, we illustrate the severity of symptoms like breast tenderness and spotting, emphasizing the importance of addressing these changes early on.
Finally, we delve into the crucial role of optimal hormone balance and nutrition for better health outcomes. We share how working with specialized providers for bioidentical hormone replacement therapy can effectively address issues like brain fog, menstrual irregularities, and thyroid dysfunction. Highlighting the importance of good sleep, proper nutrition, and regular exercise, particularly strength training, we offer practical advice to enhance brain health and overall quality of life. Join us as we navigate this transformative journey with personal stories and expert insights, empowering you to take control of your health during this pivotal stage of life.
We are not Medical Doctors and are not here to diagnose and treat. We are simply sharing our life stories and tips to help us through mid-life madness!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
midlife madness podcast.
I hope I don't forget whatwe're going to talk about today.
Well, that's what we're talkingabout today what are we talking
about today?
Oh, wait a second.
It's coming back to me brainfog, what?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
the f.
Brain fog, what the F?
You know.
I remember when I was pregnantwith my kids.
I remember people talking aboutlike pregnancy brain and like
new mommy brain and I thoughtthat was bad.
You know, I thought that was.
I've always had a great likememory for memorizing things and
(00:45):
you know I've always been likepretty good at that.
And I remember pregnancy brainjust absolutely kicked my butt
and I thought, well, you know,my kids are grown, surely that
phase of my life is over andI'll be smart again someday.
And then, and uh, perimenopausehappens.
(01:07):
Yay, um, fun being a girl,always, always perimenopause.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
So let me tell you okay, I'm in perimenopause.
What about you?
You, dr Marty.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Oh, I am done, I'm done, I'm done and I'm okay with
being done and I'm verygrateful.
I'm very grateful for theprocess and for the things that
I've discovered during theprocess, which we're going to
talk a little bit about some ofthose today.
But let me tell you somethingeven with everything that I do
(01:49):
every single day to to keep mybrain basically because, as you
know, it's not like I'm tryingto get smarter or I'm trying to
get whatever I just I want to beable to keep my faculties for
as long as I possibly can.
Yeah right, I want to age, agegracefully.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, for sure.
I mean we still.
We still have a long, a lot oflife to live.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Things to accomplish, like we got goals, we have
things that we want to do, butthis midlife madness situation
is no joke, man.
Like let me tell you I am veryproud of being a person that is
very productive, like I.
I like every moment of my dayto produce something, whether
(02:34):
it's something for work, youknow, for the office, or inspire
, for our franchise, for, youknow, our kids, or, you know,
resting.
that's something productive,right, like no matter what it is
like every moment of the day.
I want to be um, I want to haveoutput, I want to produce, I
want to do stuff.
I'm highly energetic.
(02:56):
I got, I am very organized.
I I kill things.
I do a lot in a short period oftime I've always been 100.
I've always been like that.
I've always been a multitasker.
You know I I attack things.
You know, putting out fires ismy thing, like all all those
things, and one day, there's onetime one day, you know, I was
(03:23):
sitting here at my desk workingand I had like this out-of-body
experience that I was likestaring at the screen of my
computer.
I'm like what I literally waslike like it's like time to sit
(03:46):
still and I did not know if Iwas coming or going.
I'm like what am I supposed todo next?
Like this is freaking crazy.
What is going on here?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
think it sneaks up on you.
Yeah, you know, and you know wetalked about, like the
pregnancy brain, the mommy brain, right, and I think, whether
you have kids or not, most ofthe time as a woman you're being
pulled into like 50 differentdirections all the time anyway.
So to an extent it's normalthat you forget something or
that some drop the ball onsomething because we're busy,
(04:28):
we're doing a lot of stuff allday long, so was walking around
with literally two pairs ofglasses on my head and then
(04:54):
nobody told me.
Nobody told me I left my houselike this.
Nobody told me.
And it's things you know, it'sthings like that.
It's things like you walk intoa room and you forgot what you
got there yeah right, youout-of-body experience.
You're in the middle of working.
You had this out-of-bodyexperience.
(05:15):
All of a sudden you can'tremember.
Like, what am I doing here?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
or you're like in the middle of a conversation and
you're like I was getting.
I was getting at something.
What?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
was I getting at like there was a point to this.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
What was I?
It's like oh my gosh, like whatthe heck?
We're there.
I'm fluent now.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
we're there, like we're turning into our parents.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Holy crap.
So there's a study.
I read this article fromHealthline and there's a study
and the study showed that 60% ofmiddle aged women report
difficulty concentrating andother issues with cognition.
These issues like in womengoing through perimetopause and
(06:00):
you know what?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
I think the other 40% just weren't pulled, because I
don't know a single woman thatgoes through the process
completely unscathed, unlessthey have been very, very
diligent throughout their wholelife to try to avoid that.
(06:22):
It's crazy.
It's basically your body turnsinto a hormonal shit show that
like there's nothing.
It's like what?
What happened?
Speaker 1 (06:33):
but I'm eating clean, I'm exercising, I'm doing all
the things, um, and you know,there's definitely, there's
definitely strategies, butstrategies, and and it also like
in this in this um article itsays that researchers explain
that women going throughmenopause may generally feel a
(06:53):
more negative mood, and thatmood may be related to memory
issues.
So like that's another topicthat we could talk about.
But I'm I've been nasty to myhusband when I was in the
process of figuring out that Iwas going to carry menopause.
I wasn't nice a couple of times.
But it says here that it may berelated to memory issues.
(07:17):
Not only that, but brain fogmay also be connected with sleep
issues and vascular symptomsassociated with menopause, like
hot flashes, like it's a ball ofhitting the assness, you know
like sleep issues, hot flashes,memory issues, mood issues.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So for people that don't know, because I you know,
I know that most people haveheard the term menopause and
perimenopause and all thesethings Right.
But as women, we have hormonalcycles from the time we hit
puberty OK, and we have thosecycles right.
We have a rise in progesterone,we have a drop in estrogen, we
(08:05):
have, you know like things go upand down cyclically every month
, and then all the timefluctuations, all the time, and
then all of a sudden it stops.
But it doesn't stop in a waythat it's like a balanced stop.
It's just like you know you had$100,000 in your bank account
(08:29):
and then today you have none.
Good luck, have a great day.
Have a great day.
We hope you enjoy that.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Like from one day to the other.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
And so this is why the changes that women go
through in middle age are sodrastic and why there's such a
negative connotation withgetting older and with aging and
all the things that you gothrough, and it affects you
physically, it affects youmentally, it affects you
(09:00):
emotionally, um, and so there'sa you know, there's things you
could do to cope with it alittle bit better.
There's things you could do toprepare yourself for a healthy
old age, which I think isimportant, because we're getting
there Right, like we're.
You know we're definitely, youknow we're not over the hill,
but we're definitely standing onthe peak looking down at this
point point, you know, um, andso it's one of those.
(09:29):
It's one of those processesthat could either be, you know,
very friendly or extremely,extremely drastic all around to
yourself and to the people thathave to cope with you yes,
that's why there's some husbandthat says, that's why it's
called men, no pause, because aman in your life is paused men
(09:51):
oh pause, oh my gosh I don'twant to be around you either
really great marriage.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
But listen here it says so it's like you're in
perimenopause, right, but inthis article, with the study, it
says specifically women in thefirst year of their last
menstrual period for the loweston testing evaluating verbal
learning, memory, motor function, attention, attention and
(10:23):
working memory tasks so you'renot losing your mind.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
You are truly experiencing these things.
It's not in the head but you'relike perimenopause, but then it
shows like the first year oftheir last menstrual period so
that last year, when you'reskipping periods all the time,
that last year when you're likewhen is it ever gonna go away,
(10:49):
so that last year is the peakfor all of the horrible symptoms
, basically, and it makes sensebecause you, basically, your
hormones are completely leavingyou.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, so and then it says but then after that the
memory for women improved overtime, so like there's a
crescendo, there's like acrescendo, and then it comes
back.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
I think it's more like you get used to your new
way of existing right, kind oflike when you bring a newborn
home, your life is going tochange.
It is 100 percent going tochange.
It's a different stage of life.
It's a different.
You know there's things youcould do before that now you
can't Right.
And I think it's the same thingas you're in this new phase.
(11:39):
I think it's super importantfor everybody that's listening
to realize that there are somesolutions and there are some
things to make it better.
There's things you could do athome.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
There's definitely things you could do with a
provider ups, but there's, youknow it's not the end of it's
not the end of the world andthere's ways to go through the
process as healthfully and aspeacefully yeah as I can share
one thing that I did, like whenI had that moment that I was
(12:14):
like an out-of-body experienceand it was so out of my
character, like and how Ifunctioned, um, and besides that
, my boobs were hurting me, likemy breasts were tender three
weeks out of four weeks a month.
That's awful.
It was awful the last time mybreasts were tender like that
(12:36):
was when, like after I gavebirth.
You know how your your boobsget like you don't want anybody
to like touch them, don't look,do you remember that?
That was that's crazy right.
My breast was tender like thatthree weeks out of four weeks,
like three weeks out of a month.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
That's literally the PMS from hell.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Yes, and not only that, I was spotting, I was
spotting three weeks out of themonth, so I was not only breast
tenderness, not only I wasspotting.
And then I find myself likehaving this automotive
experience and I'm like what theheck is going on?
But you know, I since I, youknow, I know about this stuff.
(13:16):
So I'm like, oh yeah, I'mperimenopausic, like I'm there
so I what I did, and I I'm.
I'm normally a good sleeper.
I've always been a good sleeper, maybe too good of a sleeper,
but um, and I was kind ofexperiencing some of the stuff
like that too.
So I I went to get hormonereplacement therapy.
(13:39):
Like I am very, very, very,very far away from menopause.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
That's what the doctor said however however, I'm
in perimenopause, having theselittle symptoms, and so and
typically, perimenopause can belike four or five years long,
like some people.
Some people go intoperimenopause in their 30s yes
and some people are pushed intomenopause clinically.
(14:05):
And I remember different.
Yeah, there's different.
It's not like a, it's not likeyou know, you hit 50 and all of
a sudden you're, you're out ofluck.
This it trends and it's kind ofinteresting and there's
different things that shift yourhormones throughout your life.
I remember I always I'm alwayshot, like I'm always just warm,
yeah, and people ask me like,are you having hot flashes now,
(14:30):
as I got closer to actualmenopause, and I said I've had
hot flashes since I got pregnantwith my first child, so that
hormonal shift never went awayto an extent.
Right, I didn't know any better.
You know, when you ask ourmothers, right, the generation
before us, you ask them abouthormone replacement therapy and
(14:52):
bioidentical hormones and allthese things and it was very
demonized.
Yeah, it was very, you know,just recently.
Their studies show that arethat they're publishing showing
the benefit long term in term ofbone health, cardiovascular
health, obviously mental health,because if you think you're
going crazy, you know, or youthink you're losing your mind,
(15:15):
that's not good.
Um, you know.
So there's.
So there's right now there's alot of acknowledgement of for
the benefit which prior to ourgeneration, that was not the
case well, let me tell you, likeI never thought I was gonna do
that, like it never was in mybrain when I started, you were
like I don't need any, I'm, I'mold, I'm the old friend didn't
(15:38):
need any, and then yeah, andthen, and I told you need it,
you're gonna be like, uh, wheredo I go?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
I didn't want to go like as natural as possible.
I did the bioidentical and andmy my estrogen levels.
I'm estrogen dominant and Ijust need a teeny, tiny little
bit of progesterone for rightnow.
And when I tell you the firstmonth that I did that, I mean
you know this is a midlifemadness podcast, so we're gonna
(16:08):
get really real in this podcast.
I don't give a crap.
So I have not had such a greatmenstrual cycle since I don't
remember the last time like itwas the most non-eventful, most
beautiful menstrual cycle.
I had no, you know, I had nopain, I had.
(16:29):
It was just like it was awesome.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
I think that it was how it was, how it's supposed to
be when you're you know, myboobs are fine.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I I it just kind of like took care of business.
Um, my brain fog is.
I think it's better.
Um, I don't, I haven't had likeone of those weird episodes yet
.
I do forget things here andthere, but I it could be just
because I'm nine years old.
I don't know, you're busy andI'm busy and I have multiple
things going on, so who knows.
(16:59):
But but that's helped me a lot.
You know, that's one of thethings.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
One of the things that helps with brain fog a lot
for a lot of women.
And again, you know everybody'sat different stages, right?
So it's important to find theprovider that you trust.
First of all, it's superimportant to understand that
most providers don't dobioidentical hormone replacement
.
They just don't.
They're not educated.
It's like us.
We do a lot of nutrition.
(17:25):
This is what we do at Inspire.
We have a weight loss center.
Most providers have no clue ofhow to put somebody on a
well-managed eating program thatis sustainable.
So it's you know.
It's not uh, it's not sayingyou know your doctors don't know
what they're doing.
I can't do open heart surgeryright.
(17:46):
Everybody's trained.
Every, every everybody hasdon't know what they're doing.
I can't do open heart surgeryright.
Everybody's trained, everybodyhas their will.
We all have our things right.
We all have our thing.
So please find somebody thatthis is what they do, not
somebody who dabbles.
Not somebody you know, not yourregular OBGYN, who's never done
it before but is going to trywith you because you asked your
(18:07):
regular ob-gyn, who's never doneit before but is going to try
with you.
Because you asked please, yeah,please find an expert.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
You know a local expert in this, because it's
amazing well, the thing is drmarty is like this is a way I
explain it and and I got in this, I got some of this from you
was that when, sometimes, whenyou go to your regular doctor
and you're like, hey, can youcheck my hormones?
You know they only do a certainpanel, that you know they just
(18:34):
check your hormones and theyjust make sure that you're
within range, right, and I wentto a functional med doc because
I don't want to be within range.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Or be optimal.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
This is your word.
I want to be optimal, like Idon't want to just be in range.
When I went to a doctor and thedoctor told me you're within
range, okay, but my boobs stillhurt.
My brain is shot, I'm bleedingthree weeks out of four weeks.
So I'm glad I'm within range,but something's definitely not
(19:11):
right and I don't want to bewithin range.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
I want to be optimal and it's super important on med
docs who told me, this is whereyou should be even though you're
within range based on yoursymptoms, you still have a lack
of x, y p because that was basedon a scale is based on because
and the reason the reason Ifound out how important this was
(19:34):
is um right right.
Post covid, I think my thyroidwent bye bye.
Okay, I my lab work was normal,it was within range and I was
gaining one to two pounds a week, no matter what I did.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I had.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I had.
I was super puffy, I was allswollen, so much inflammation.
Nothing that I changednutritionally was making any
kind of long-term progressdifference.
Right, and I was like, okay,this is kind of whack.
I own a weight loss center, Iknow how to lose weight and I'm
doing it, and then I'm losing 15and I'm gaining back 20, like
literally like this like youknow, you know how much I have
(20:12):
to eat to gain 20 pounds in amonth, like baffling, right.
I was like something's wrong.
So that's at the point where Ifound my bioidentical hormone
guy, right, my, my specialist.
And so he's like, oh, yourthyroid is is not working.
And I was like, what do youmean?
My thyroid's not working, mynumbers are within range.
And so he was like, well, butall of these symptoms that you
(20:36):
have are of a deficient thyroid.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
See, that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Brain fog, sometimes thyroid, sometimes testosterone.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
And then, when you have all of the above, right.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
So you know, unfortunately, you know, covid
hit me as I was hitting themiddle, you know of my
perimenopause, so all of thesymptoms all at once.
I was a hot mess and I was like, okay, I don't know how to do
any better than what I'mcurrently doing.
(21:10):
I don't have the energy to goexercise.
You know, 27 times a week I'meating clean.
You know, I, I, I don't.
I'm not a drinker, I'm not aheavy drinker, I'm not.
I was like what the heck?
Like I?
I looked like I was, I was sopuffy, it looked like I was like
binging and and it's amazing sothat was huge for me was, um,
(21:37):
the hormone replacement has beena life changer.
I don't know anybody, honestly,I don't know anybody that has
gone through it, um, with aqualified provider.
That doesn't.
That isn't just like yep,amazing.
That's the key.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Like you know, we're not.
We're not doctors, we're notmedical doctors, we're not.
We're just like, we're justsharing our personal experiences
.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
For consumers in this case.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
For consumers in this case, for consumers in this
case, for consumers at this case.
So we're we're sharing, likewhat there's things that you can
do to help you guys, like thoseof you that are listening,
watching, you know you don'tjust have to like go through
life, you know, miserable andand going through these things,
like there's things that you cando.
That's one of them.
Right, um, just make sure, likedr marie said, go to a provider
(22:28):
that knows what they're doing.
They, they specialize in this,um, because it can, it can be
life-changing if you're going tothe right place, you know, and
getting the right treatment.
Right, yep.
Second to that, like in underevery single umbrella when you
check, what can you do to feelbetter?
it was always the number onething is always eat well eat
(22:52):
well, diet and exercise, babydoes that matter what you google
or what you research, thenumber one is always eat a
well-balanced diet, right?
Speaker 2 (23:03):
and super important for brain health and for hormone
health is healthy fats, right,healthy fats, lots of lean
protein.
Eat your veggies, eat thecolors of the rainbow, I mean,
you know people you know, ifyou're one of the, if you're 47
years old and you're like,nobody taught me to eat
(23:25):
vegetables, uh, you can teachyourself to eat vegetables.
You're a big kid you're a bigkid, I'm cuban.
You know what cubans consumeYucca, yeah, yucca, yucca, okay.
In my household, growing up,vegetables were iceberg, lettuce
(23:45):
, tomato, cucumber, onion andavocado.
That's it.
What other vegetable Every oncein a while?
Every once in a while, mymother ventured out like the
canned green beans and the peeppeep yeah, and the peas, the
(24:06):
canned peas, which typically goin rice.
Like we don't eat those as adish right so then you have the
in.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
What is it?
The your, your um, yourbaseline, which is the onions,
the pepper and the garlic, notthe adobo, there's a word for it
.
Yeah, the sofrito, the sofrito.
There you go, that's vegetables.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
But that's the extent of what I was taught, and then
you had the starchy ones.
You have all the plantains, thepasta maduros, the yuca, la
malanga papa, none of which ishealthy for you, and typically
in a Cuban household, it's givento you fried Like.
Just to make it even better,it's starchy and we're going to
(24:54):
deep fry it.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yes, we're going to deep fry it for you.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
We're going to deep fry it Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
And then it yes, we're gonna deep fry it for you,
we're gonna deep fry it, okay,and then we're gonna put salt on
it because?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
and then we're gonna stuff it down your throat,
because if you, if they'reasking you for seconds, if
they're asking, do you want more?
Speaker 1 (25:09):
and then you say no, they're serving you, so it's
like you have no choice so youknow.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
So when people come into my office and they're like,
oh I nobody ever taught me toeat vegetables, it's just not
what we did at home.
It's like you're 47.
You could change the narrative.
Yeah, like you have a choice.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Take control of your body.
Take control of your body.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Teach your body to do what you need to do to reach
the goal that you want and youknow, and to be 100% transparent
, I prefer fried plantains tobroccoli.
Let's just, let's just get itout there.
I'm I'm gonna put it out there.
Um, if given a choice like,what would you rather have?
I'm gonna have some, I'm gonnahave some tostones.
Thank you very much.
(25:54):
We're golden, right, but Ican't do that every single day.
No, I cannot do that everysingle day.
I cannot do that every singleday.
I cannot have my family doingthat everything.
I'm doing something differentin my household than what my
parents did with me.
Right, they did their best.
I know better nutritionallythan their best, so it's my job
(26:14):
to teach my kids better so thattheir baseline is starting at a
better point than mine was Forsure, and so that's kind of what
we're asking everybody out here.
It's easier to revert to thingsthat we know how to do.
It's definitely a heck of a lotmore comfortable, but you don't
grow in comfort.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, or like willing to try because I've had where
it's like well, I don't like anyof these vegetables.
Well, have you?
Have you had them before?
Speaker 2 (26:42):
no, well, or they, or you steam them.
Steam them in the microwavelike how do you know?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
you don't like you've never, you've never tried it
before in your life, maybe.
Maybe you do, like it's apsychological thing too.
You know what I mean?
Okay, so number one hormonetherapy.
Number two eat a well-balanceddiet healthy control of your
nutrition they control yournutrition and so like it's.
It's funny how many peopledon't know what healthy fats are
(27:10):
, like you know, so I can tellyou that it's not canola oil.
It's not corn oil or vegetableoil frisco it's none of that
which our family used to buy ingallons by the way like lard.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Yeah, yeah, really good on the rice when you you
know yes, oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Anyways, it's incredible how we survived our
job.
It's amazing, um.
So, yeah, you know, use thecoconut oils, avocado oils, the
olive oils, right, all of thosebutter, butter, grass-fed butter
grass-fed butter is so good foryour brain.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yeah, um, you know we could go into.
We could go into that rabbithole in a different session
because you know we we couldtalk about.
I could go into the brain andcholesterol and we'll do that so
that's a whole festival.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Whole grains fish is a great one.
Good beans, because not allbeans are created equal.
So some good vegetables and andum, garbanzo beans, right.
Good nuts and of course, theoils.
Okay, number three, get enough.
Rest, again your typical tip.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
We keep saying that, right, sleep, sleep.
There's a whole book writtenfor children called Go to Sleep,
and sometimes I tell my adultclients that I'm like why are
you TikToking at 11 o'clock atnight when you know you have to
be up at 6am to work?
Plug the phone in elsewhere,shut it off.
Give yourself that break foryour brain to shut down so that
(28:49):
you could rest and heal.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah, and, and, and sleep.
You know?
It says here that 61% ofpostmenopausal women report
insomnia issues.
It says here that 61% ofpostmenopausal women report
insomnia issues.
Well, you know why I talkedabout that in another podcast
too.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
You know why?
One huge reason for that is thelack of progesterone, which
your body doesn't really makenaturally Going back to the
hormones, Yep.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
So getting enough rest and I don't have enough
time?
Yes, we do.
I told a client yesterday Isaid we all have 24 us all the
time.
We also waste a lot of time onthings that in no way matter,
and I think that it's superimportant to be honest with
ourselves, right.
(30:02):
It's something like we have totake a good hard look and see
where we can trim the fat rightin terms of activities that
don't bring life to us for sure,100, and and sometimes we just
have to, like, switch out things, like maybe there's an activity
that you do, that you enjoy,but and in this stage of the
game, in this stage of your life, you need to switch it out to
something else, because you know, we want to be able to remember
(30:25):
things.
We want to have quality of life.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
We want to have quality of life.
It's life to your years, notjust years to your life, and
it's something that we have to.
You know, maybe you haven't hadto eat vegetables up to now.
Well, guess what?
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Guess what you know?
Maybe you haven't had to eatvegetables up to now.
Well, guess what?
Guess what?
I know somebody in my family,which I'm not going to mention,
that she does not eat anyvegetable like zero, and she's
in her 20s and I look at her andI'm like man, it's gonna, it'll
come it'll come.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Your body it'll come to you, but not body doesn't
give you, doesn't forgive you inyour 50s like it did in your
20s yes, don't worry, you'll beeating vegetables later.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Um so not having enough sleep actually makes your
brain fog worse and that's atany stage of the game.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
That's why even little kids require 10 to 12
hours of sleep before school.
That's why you're not, you'renot supposed to let little
children or even high schoolersstay up till 11 12 o'clock at
night when they got to get upearly in the morning, yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
And one thing that it's.
It's incredible how, likethere's so many things you have
to.
You have to get an awareness ofyour body, to listen to your
body.
I figured out that if I eat anysugar or I drink wine which I'm
not a big drinker but if I goout to dinner and I have a glass
of wine, I am hot at night.
(31:47):
If I, if I do those twospecific things, I'm hot at
night.
So then I don't sleep well, sothe next day I'm all
discombobulated.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
And that is factual, especially for me more than
anything.
I mean, if I eat somethingsuper carby at night, yes, but I
don't do a lot of that but thealcohol of any kind, not just
wine, alcohol of any kind.
I've had to become a daydrinker in my old age because I
cannot do it with dinner wecan't handle that anymore I
(32:16):
can't.
My body just doesn't.
My body just doesn't like it.
In spite of the hormones, inspite of everything else, I have
to do my part right.
I have to not exacerbate thingsyep, okay.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Typical tip now.
Now that's a new, a new thing,a typical tip, typical typical
tip.
Number three exercise your body, hello, of course, and
specifically strength trainingfor all menopausal women.
That's the best If you can doit physically right.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
You get to exercise and, martha, you know that I am
not the exercise lover that youare, but I've had to wrap my
brain around the fact that it'sa privilege.
It's a privilege to havemobility, it's a privilege to be
aging strong, it's a privilegeto, you know, be able to, you
(33:12):
know, pick up my friend's kidand carry her around and get on
the floor and get off the floorand did it at it and play, and
it's a privilege.
It's I get to do that.
And in order for me to get todo that long term, I know, I
tell it, listen, I tell it tomyself every day, every freaking
day, I tell it to myself it's aprivilege, as I'm putting, I'm
(33:36):
putting on my gym clothes going.
it's a freaking privilege.
Come on, I'm working on it.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
And then you text and you're like, oh my God, I'm
hurting.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
I hate my life.
And I'm like, yeah, I love thatfeeling, that's an awesome
feeling, and you're like, you'reprobably getting a finger, but
I do it Because at this point inmy life I have no choice, right
?
So that to me is like somepeople's broccoli.
Yes, and I understand that, butyou have no choice.
(34:07):
Like it's come to a point whereyou have no choice Um a couple
of other things you know we.
So now we have hormonereplacement.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Smith.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Eat well, eat well, get enough sleep.
Move your body.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
And here here's a not so typical tip.
This is a different one, andit's actually the last one on
here, but we may have some more.
Exercise your mind.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
So, lately, fun thing , fun fact, something, ok.
So as we get older, so you'regrowing up.
Right, as you're going throughyour life, you're growing up and
every day you're actuallylearning something.
If you think about it, as aninfant, you know nothing, so
obviously you learn everything.
As a toddler, you're learningsomething every day.
You go into school and, whetheryou want to or not, whether you
(34:56):
enjoy school or not, you'rebeing put in a learning
environment every single day,and this happens for a very long
time in life.
Right, whether you go tocollege or not.
You start a new job.
You're learning something atyour job.
You have kids.
You're learning how to parentyour teacher, learning along
with them.
You are doing helping them withtheir homework.
(35:17):
You're actively utilizing yourbrain every single day for
something.
And then all of a sudden, allof that goes away.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
And now you're sitting here like a lump on
social media like this yeah, wedon't really use our brain so
much anymore, right, everythingis handed to us on our phones,
everything, right, we don't haveto think anymore.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
We don't have to think anymore, we don't have to
say anymore, and it's gettingworse and worse.
I'm doing a language course onan app online every day.
Takes me five minutes, but it'sfive minutes that I'm doing
something that I normallywouldn't do learning italian
okay might as well be able tolisten in on Donna's
conversations with her family.
(36:04):
So also being recorded.
Now I know what you guys aresaying, so, but so I do that.
It's you know.
It's three minutes a day.
It's a free app, zero excuses.
Yeah, yeah, everybody has threeminutes a day.
Do it while you're on thetoilet, right.
So three minutes a day I do, umreading.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
You do a lot of reading I read all the time.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
I read all day, every day.
Sometimes, yeah, it's actualbooks I read.
You know, sometimes it'snon-fiction, usually it's
fiction, because that's what my,that's what relaxes me.
But regardless, every singleday I read.
It's very rare that I don'tread.
I have been doing fun thingslike Wordle, which is I mean
(36:51):
again, it's free I try to do acrossword puzzle every day.
I try to do Sudoku every day.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
I do word set searches some type of way I need
every day I need to dosomething because I I don't do
any.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Give it a couple more years, and then you'll feel the
urgency I need to.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
I need to implement some of this in my my life, kind
of like kind of like thehormone replacement.
You didn't feel the urgencyuntil the day you did you always
, you're always the first one,and then, a couple of years
later, it's my turn, yep and so,and so that's what, that's what
I do, and again, it's.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
You know, it's my little routine.
It takes me total, total.
All of this takes me maybe 15minutes a day, and I don't
necessarily sit down and do itall in one go a day, and I don't
necessarily sit down and do itall in one go.
I, you know, I do it, I pop itinto my day, depending on when I
(37:47):
have the time to, but I don'tknow how much.
I don't know how much it'sdoing, but at least I am
actively making an effort to usemy brain.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Yeah, you know that reminds me of like when people
retire and they just startdeclining physically because
they're not as active, but thenthey also start declining
mentally.
It makes sense.
Yeah, so, like whoever'slistening, you don't have to
wait until having brain power,having all these symptoms to to
(38:19):
start working on it like work onit now.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Yep, if you're, if you're just going into your
forties, now is a good time,right, to make sure that you are
setting yourself up for ahealthier middle age, right?
The other thing that I that'snot on the list that I a 100%
recommend is Bacopa and Ginkgobiloba.
Okay, bacopa is for long-termmemory and Ginkgo is for
(38:49):
short-term, and they make agreat combination.
Get them, you know, just don'tbuy the cheapest one.
You don't have to buy the mostexpensive one, just also not the
cheapest.
That's, you know, somewhere inthe middle, is usually a decent
quality supplement.
And you have to take these forabout I don't know.
I would have to say probablyyou'd have to take them
(39:10):
consistently daily for about twoto three weeks before you start
feeling a difference.
But I used to do this when Ihad finals for school, like the
month before, because, you know,I was a broke student, so I
couldn't afford to take this allthe time and I also had nothing
to do but study.
So it's not like I was, youknow, brain fog, that 22.
But I used to take it like themonth before finals would start
(39:36):
and, holy crap, did it make adifference in terms of learning.
You know, know, now I just takeit so that I could remember
where I put my phone.
But you know, different stageof life we're good, but those,
but they do, they do make adifference.
Just keep in mind that, likewith most supplements, you're
going to have to give it time towork right, yeah, well, listen.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
I think this is an awesome podcast.
Like what was it about?
What was it about?
You forget what it was about?
Rain fog, oh my gosh, it's athing all right.
So we have so much to talkabout, like we're gonna cut it
up midlife madness.
(40:17):
In this midlife madness, wehave so much to talk about, um,
and there was a lot of good tipshere.
So, like you know, those of youthat are listening like you're
not alone and you don't have tobe and also there's things that
you can do so.
Reach out, reach out if you, ifyou need some help.
All right, dr marty, that wasfun, right, it was.
(40:39):
Anyways, talk to you next time.
midlife madness podcast.
I hope I don't forget whatwe're going to talk about today.
Well, that's what we're talkingabout today what are we talking
about today?
Oh, wait a second.
It's coming back to me brainfog, what?
Speaker 2 (00:21):
the f.
Brain fog, what the F?
You know.
I remember when I was pregnantwith my kids.
I remember people talking aboutlike pregnancy brain and like
new mommy brain and I thoughtthat was bad.
You know, I thought that was.
I've always had a great likememory for memorizing things and
(00:45):
you know I've always been likepretty good at that.
And I remember pregnancy brainjust absolutely kicked my butt
and I thought, well, you know,my kids are grown, surely that
phase of my life is over andI'll be smart again someday.
And then, and uh, perimenopausehappens.
(01:07):
Yay, um, fun being a girl,always, always perimenopause.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
So let me tell you okay, I'm in perimenopause.
What about you?
You, dr Marty.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Oh, I am done, I'm done, I'm done and I'm okay with
being done and I'm verygrateful.
I'm very grateful for theprocess and for the things that
I've discovered during theprocess, which we're going to
talk a little bit about some ofthose today.
But let me tell you somethingeven with everything that I do
(01:49):
every single day to to keep mybrain basically because, as you
know, it's not like I'm tryingto get smarter or I'm trying to
get whatever I just I want to beable to keep my faculties for
as long as I possibly can.
Yeah right, I want to age, agegracefully.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yeah, for sure.
I mean we still.
We still have a long, a lot oflife to live.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Things to accomplish, like we got goals, we have
things that we want to do, butthis midlife madness situation
is no joke, man.
Like let me tell you I am veryproud of being a person that is
very productive, like I.
I like every moment of my dayto produce something, whether
(02:34):
it's something for work, youknow, for the office, or inspire
, for our franchise, for, youknow, our kids, or, you know,
resting.
that's something productive,right, like no matter what it is
like every moment of the day.
I want to be um, I want to haveoutput, I want to produce, I
want to do stuff.
I'm highly energetic.
(02:56):
I got, I am very organized.
I I kill things.
I do a lot in a short period oftime I've always been 100.
I've always been like that.
I've always been a multitasker.
You know I I attack things.
You know, putting out fires ismy thing, like all all those
things, and one day, there's onetime one day, you know, I was
(03:23):
sitting here at my desk workingand I had like this out-of-body
experience that I was likestaring at the screen of my
computer.
I'm like what I literally waslike like it's like time to sit
(03:46):
still and I did not know if Iwas coming or going.
I'm like what am I supposed todo next?
Like this is freaking crazy.
What is going on here?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
think it sneaks up on you.
Yeah, you know, and you know wetalked about, like the
pregnancy brain, the mommy brain, right, and I think, whether
you have kids or not, most ofthe time as a woman you're being
pulled into like 50 differentdirections all the time anyway.
So to an extent it's normalthat you forget something or
that some drop the ball onsomething because we're busy,
(04:28):
we're doing a lot of stuff allday long, so was walking around
with literally two pairs ofglasses on my head and then
(04:54):
nobody told me.
Nobody told me I left my houselike this.
Nobody told me.
And it's things you know, it'sthings like that.
It's things like you walk intoa room and you forgot what you
got there yeah right, youout-of-body experience.
You're in the middle of working.
You had this out-of-bodyexperience.
(05:15):
All of a sudden you can'tremember.
Like, what am I doing here?
Speaker 1 (05:18):
or you're like in the middle of a conversation and
you're like I was getting.
I was getting at something.
What?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
was I getting at like there was a point to this.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
What was I?
It's like oh my gosh, like whatthe heck?
We're there.
I'm fluent now.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
we're there, like we're turning into our parents.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Holy crap.
So there's a study.
I read this article fromHealthline and there's a study
and the study showed that 60% ofmiddle aged women report
difficulty concentrating andother issues with cognition.
These issues like in womengoing through perimetopause and
(06:00):
you know what?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
I think the other 40% just weren't pulled, because I
don't know a single woman thatgoes through the process
completely unscathed, unlessthey have been very, very
diligent throughout their wholelife to try to avoid that.
(06:22):
It's crazy.
It's basically your body turnsinto a hormonal shit show that
like there's nothing.
It's like what?
What happened?
Speaker 1 (06:33):
but I'm eating clean, I'm exercising, I'm doing all
the things, um, and you know,there's definitely, there's
definitely strategies, butstrategies, and and it also like
in this in this um article itsays that researchers explain
that women going throughmenopause may generally feel a
(06:53):
more negative mood, and thatmood may be related to memory
issues.
So like that's another topicthat we could talk about.
But I'm I've been nasty to myhusband when I was in the
process of figuring out that Iwas going to carry menopause.
I wasn't nice a couple of times.
But it says here that it may berelated to memory issues.
(07:17):
Not only that, but brain fogmay also be connected with sleep
issues and vascular symptomsassociated with menopause, like
hot flashes, like it's a ball ofhitting the assness, you know
like sleep issues, hot flashes,memory issues, mood issues.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So for people that don't know, because I you know,
I know that most people haveheard the term menopause and
perimenopause and all thesethings Right.
But as women, we have hormonalcycles from the time we hit
puberty OK, and we have thosecycles right.
We have a rise in progesterone,we have a drop in estrogen, we
(08:05):
have, you know like things go upand down cyclically every month
, and then all the timefluctuations, all the time, and
then all of a sudden it stops.
But it doesn't stop in a waythat it's like a balanced stop.
It's just like you know you had$100,000 in your bank account
(08:29):
and then today you have none.
Good luck, have a great day.
Have a great day.
We hope you enjoy that.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
Like from one day to the other.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
And so this is why the changes that women go
through in middle age are sodrastic and why there's such a
negative connotation withgetting older and with aging and
all the things that you gothrough, and it affects you
physically, it affects youmentally, it affects you
(09:00):
emotionally, um, and so there'sa you know, there's things you
could do to cope with it alittle bit better.
There's things you could do toprepare yourself for a healthy
old age, which I think isimportant, because we're getting
there Right, like we're.
You know we're definitely, youknow we're not over the hill,
but we're definitely standing onthe peak looking down at this
point point, you know, um, andso it's one of those.
(09:29):
It's one of those processesthat could either be, you know,
very friendly or extremely,extremely drastic all around to
yourself and to the people thathave to cope with you yes,
that's why there's some husbandthat says, that's why it's
called men, no pause, because aman in your life is paused men
(09:51):
oh pause, oh my gosh I don'twant to be around you either
really great marriage.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
But listen here it says so it's like you're in
perimenopause, right, but inthis article, with the study, it
says specifically women in thefirst year of their last
menstrual period for the loweston testing evaluating verbal
learning, memory, motor function, attention, attention and
(10:23):
working memory tasks so you'renot losing your mind.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
You are truly experiencing these things.
It's not in the head but you'relike perimenopause, but then it
shows like the first year oftheir last menstrual period so
that last year, when you'reskipping periods all the time,
that last year when you're likewhen is it ever gonna go away,
(10:49):
so that last year is the peakfor all of the horrible symptoms
, basically, and it makes sensebecause you, basically, your
hormones are completely leavingyou.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Yeah, so and then it says but then after that the
memory for women improved overtime, so like there's a
crescendo, there's like acrescendo, and then it comes
back.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
I think it's more like you get used to your new
way of existing right, kind oflike when you bring a newborn
home, your life is going tochange.
It is 100 percent going tochange.
It's a different stage of life.
It's a different.
You know there's things youcould do before that now you
can't Right.
And I think it's the same thingas you're in this new phase.
(11:39):
I think it's super importantfor everybody that's listening
to realize that there are somesolutions and there are some
things to make it better.
There's things you could do athome.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
There's definitely things you could do with a
provider ups, but there's, youknow it's not the end of it's
not the end of the world andthere's ways to go through the
process as healthfully and aspeacefully yeah as I can share
one thing that I did, like whenI had that moment that I was
(12:14):
like an out-of-body experienceand it was so out of my
character, like and how Ifunctioned, um, and besides that
, my boobs were hurting me, likemy breasts were tender three
weeks out of four weeks a month.
That's awful.
It was awful the last time mybreasts were tender like that
(12:36):
was when, like after I gavebirth.
You know how your your boobsget like you don't want anybody
to like touch them, don't look,do you remember that?
That was that's crazy right.
My breast was tender like thatthree weeks out of four weeks,
like three weeks out of a month.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
That's literally the PMS from hell.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Yes, and not only that, I was spotting, I was
spotting three weeks out of themonth, so I was not only breast
tenderness, not only I wasspotting.
And then I find myself likehaving this automotive
experience and I'm like what theheck is going on?
But you know, I since I, youknow, I know about this stuff.
(13:16):
So I'm like, oh yeah, I'mperimenopausic, like I'm there
so I what I did, and I I'm.
I'm normally a good sleeper.
I've always been a good sleeper, maybe too good of a sleeper,
but um, and I was kind ofexperiencing some of the stuff
like that too.
So I I went to get hormonereplacement therapy.
(13:39):
Like I am very, very, very,very far away from menopause.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
That's what the doctor said however however, I'm
in perimenopause, having theselittle symptoms, and so and
typically, perimenopause can belike four or five years long,
like some people.
Some people go intoperimenopause in their 30s yes
and some people are pushed intomenopause clinically.
(14:05):
And I remember different.
Yeah, there's different.
It's not like a, it's not likeyou know, you hit 50 and all of
a sudden you're, you're out ofluck.
This it trends and it's kind ofinteresting and there's
different things that shift yourhormones throughout your life.
I remember I always I'm alwayshot, like I'm always just warm,
yeah, and people ask me like,are you having hot flashes now,
(14:30):
as I got closer to actualmenopause, and I said I've had
hot flashes since I got pregnantwith my first child, so that
hormonal shift never went awayto an extent.
Right, I didn't know any better.
You know, when you ask ourmothers, right, the generation
before us, you ask them abouthormone replacement therapy and
(14:52):
bioidentical hormones and allthese things and it was very
demonized.
Yeah, it was very, you know,just recently.
Their studies show that arethat they're publishing showing
the benefit long term in term ofbone health, cardiovascular
health, obviously mental health,because if you think you're
going crazy, you know, or youthink you're losing your mind,
(15:15):
that's not good.
Um, you know.
So there's.
So there's right now there's alot of acknowledgement of for
the benefit which prior to ourgeneration, that was not the
case well, let me tell you, likeI never thought I was gonna do
that, like it never was in mybrain when I started, you were
like I don't need any, I'm, I'mold, I'm the old friend didn't
(15:38):
need any, and then yeah, andthen, and I told you need it,
you're gonna be like, uh, wheredo I go?
Speaker 1 (15:46):
I didn't want to go like as natural as possible.
I did the bioidentical and andmy my estrogen levels.
I'm estrogen dominant and Ijust need a teeny, tiny little
bit of progesterone for rightnow.
And when I tell you the firstmonth that I did that, I mean
you know this is a midlifemadness podcast, so we're gonna
(16:08):
get really real in this podcast.
I don't give a crap.
So I have not had such a greatmenstrual cycle since I don't
remember the last time like itwas the most non-eventful, most
beautiful menstrual cycle.
I had no, you know, I had nopain, I had.
(16:29):
It was just like it was awesome.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
I think that it was how it was, how it's supposed to
be when you're you know, myboobs are fine.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I I it just kind of like took care of business.
Um, my brain fog is.
I think it's better.
Um, I don't, I haven't had likeone of those weird episodes yet
.
I do forget things here andthere, but I it could be just
because I'm nine years old.
I don't know, you're busy andI'm busy and I have multiple
things going on, so who knows.
(16:59):
But but that's helped me a lot.
You know, that's one of thethings.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
One of the things that helps with brain fog a lot
for a lot of women.
And again, you know everybody'sat different stages, right?
So it's important to find theprovider that you trust.
First of all, it's superimportant to understand that
most providers don't dobioidentical hormone replacement
.
They just don't.
They're not educated.
It's like us.
We do a lot of nutrition.
(17:25):
This is what we do at Inspire.
We have a weight loss center.
Most providers have no clue ofhow to put somebody on a
well-managed eating program thatis sustainable.
So it's you know.
It's not uh, it's not sayingyou know your doctors don't know
what they're doing.
I can't do open heart surgeryright.
(17:46):
Everybody's trained.
Every, every everybody hasdon't know what they're doing.
I can't do open heart surgeryright.
Everybody's trained, everybodyhas their will.
We all have our things right.
We all have our thing.
So please find somebody thatthis is what they do, not
somebody who dabbles.
Not somebody you know, not yourregular OBGYN, who's never done
it before but is going to trywith you because you asked your
(18:07):
regular ob-gyn, who's never doneit before but is going to try
with you.
Because you asked please, yeah,please find an expert.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
You know a local expert in this, because it's
amazing well, the thing is drmarty is like this is a way I
explain it and and I got in this, I got some of this from you
was that when, sometimes, whenyou go to your regular doctor
and you're like, hey, can youcheck my hormones?
You know they only do a certainpanel, that you know they just
(18:34):
check your hormones and theyjust make sure that you're
within range, right, and I wentto a functional med doc because
I don't want to be within range.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Or be optimal.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
This is your word.
I want to be optimal, like Idon't want to just be in range.
When I went to a doctor and thedoctor told me you're within
range, okay, but my boobs stillhurt.
My brain is shot, I'm bleedingthree weeks out of four weeks.
So I'm glad I'm within range,but something's definitely not
(19:11):
right and I don't want to bewithin range.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
I want to be optimal and it's super important on med
docs who told me, this is whereyou should be even though you're
within range based on yoursymptoms, you still have a lack
of x, y p because that was basedon a scale is based on because
and the reason the reason Ifound out how important this was
(19:34):
is um right right.
Post covid, I think my thyroidwent bye bye.
Okay, I my lab work was normal,it was within range and I was
gaining one to two pounds a week, no matter what I did.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
I had.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I had.
I was super puffy, I was allswollen, so much inflammation.
Nothing that I changednutritionally was making any
kind of long-term progressdifference.
Right, and I was like, okay,this is kind of whack.
I own a weight loss center, Iknow how to lose weight and I'm
doing it, and then I'm losing 15and I'm gaining back 20, like
literally like this like youknow, you know how much I have
(20:12):
to eat to gain 20 pounds in amonth, like baffling, right.
I was like something's wrong.
So that's at the point where Ifound my bioidentical hormone
guy, right, my, my specialist.
And so he's like, oh, yourthyroid is is not working.
And I was like, what do youmean?
My thyroid's not working, mynumbers are within range.
And so he was like, well, butall of these symptoms that you
(20:36):
have are of a deficient thyroid.
Speaker 1 (20:40):
See, that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Brain fog, sometimes thyroid, sometimes testosterone.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
And then, when you have all of the above, right.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
So you know, unfortunately, you know, covid
hit me as I was hitting themiddle, you know of my
perimenopause, so all of thesymptoms all at once.
I was a hot mess and I was like, okay, I don't know how to do
any better than what I'mcurrently doing.
(21:10):
I don't have the energy to goexercise.
You know, 27 times a week I'meating clean.
You know, I, I, I don't.
I'm not a drinker, I'm not aheavy drinker, I'm not.
I was like what the heck?
Like I?
I looked like I was, I was sopuffy, it looked like I was like
binging and and it's amazing sothat was huge for me was, um,
(21:37):
the hormone replacement has beena life changer.
I don't know anybody, honestly,I don't know anybody that has
gone through it, um, with aqualified provider.
That doesn't.
That isn't just like yep,amazing.
That's the key.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Like you know, we're not.
We're not doctors, we're notmedical doctors, we're not.
We're just like, we're justsharing our personal experiences
.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
For consumers in this case.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
For consumers in this case, for consumers in this
case, for consumers at this case.
So we're we're sharing, likewhat there's things that you can
do to help you guys, like thoseof you that are listening,
watching, you know you don'tjust have to like go through
life, you know, miserable andand going through these things,
like there's things that you cando.
That's one of them.
Right, um, just make sure, likedr marie said, go to a provider
(22:28):
that knows what they're doing.
They, they specialize in this,um, because it can, it can be
life-changing if you're going tothe right place, you know, and
getting the right treatment.
Right, yep.
Second to that, like in underevery single umbrella when you
check, what can you do to feelbetter?
it was always the number onething is always eat well eat
(22:52):
well, diet and exercise, babydoes that matter what you google
or what you research, thenumber one is always eat a
well-balanced diet, right?
Speaker 2 (23:03):
and super important for brain health and for hormone
health is healthy fats, right,healthy fats, lots of lean
protein.
Eat your veggies, eat thecolors of the rainbow, I mean,
you know people you know, ifyou're one of the, if you're 47
years old and you're like,nobody taught me to eat
(23:25):
vegetables, uh, you can teachyourself to eat vegetables.
You're a big kid you're a bigkid, I'm cuban.
You know what cubans consumeYucca, yeah, yucca, yucca, okay.
In my household, growing up,vegetables were iceberg, lettuce
(23:45):
, tomato, cucumber, onion andavocado.
That's it.
What other vegetable Every oncein a while?
Every once in a while, mymother ventured out like the
canned green beans and the peeppeep yeah, and the peas, the
(24:06):
canned peas, which typically goin rice.
Like we don't eat those as adish right so then you have the
in.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
What is it?
The your, your um, yourbaseline, which is the onions,
the pepper and the garlic, notthe adobo, there's a word for it
.
Yeah, the sofrito, the sofrito.
There you go, that's vegetables.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
But that's the extent of what I was taught, and then
you had the starchy ones.
You have all the plantains, thepasta maduros, the yuca, la
malanga papa, none of which ishealthy for you, and typically
in a Cuban household, it's givento you fried Like.
Just to make it even better,it's starchy and we're going to
(24:54):
deep fry it.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Yes, we're going to deep fry it for you.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
We're going to deep fry it Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
And then it yes, we're gonna deep fry it for you,
we're gonna deep fry it, okay,and then we're gonna put salt on
it because?
Speaker 2 (25:06):
and then we're gonna stuff it down your throat,
because if you, if they'reasking you for seconds, if
they're asking, do you want more?
Speaker 1 (25:09):
and then you say no, they're serving you, so it's
like you have no choice so youknow.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
So when people come into my office and they're like,
oh I nobody ever taught me toeat vegetables, it's just not
what we did at home.
It's like you're 47.
You could change the narrative.
Yeah, like you have a choice.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Take control of your body.
Take control of your body.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Teach your body to do what you need to do to reach
the goal that you want and youknow, and to be 100% transparent
, I prefer fried plantains tobroccoli.
Let's just, let's just get itout there.
I'm I'm gonna put it out there.
Um, if given a choice like,what would you rather have?
I'm gonna have some, I'm gonnahave some tostones.
Thank you very much.
(25:54):
We're golden, right, but Ican't do that every single day.
No, I cannot do that everysingle day.
I cannot do that every singleday.
I cannot have my family doingthat everything.
I'm doing something differentin my household than what my
parents did with me.
Right, they did their best.
I know better nutritionallythan their best, so it's my job
(26:14):
to teach my kids better so thattheir baseline is starting at a
better point than mine was Forsure, and so that's kind of what
we're asking everybody out here.
It's easier to revert to thingsthat we know how to do.
It's definitely a heck of a lotmore comfortable, but you don't
grow in comfort.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, or like willing to try because I've had where
it's like well, I don't like anyof these vegetables.
Well, have you?
Have you had them before?
Speaker 2 (26:42):
no, well, or they, or you steam them.
Steam them in the microwavelike how do you know?
Speaker 1 (26:48):
you don't like you've never, you've never tried it
before in your life, maybe.
Maybe you do, like it's apsychological thing too.
You know what I mean?
Okay, so number one hormonetherapy.
Number two eat a well-balanceddiet healthy control of your
nutrition they control yournutrition and so like it's.
It's funny how many peopledon't know what healthy fats are
(27:10):
, like you know, so I can tellyou that it's not canola oil.
It's not corn oil or vegetableoil frisco it's none of that
which our family used to buy ingallons by the way like lard.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Yeah, yeah, really good on the rice when you you
know yes, oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
Anyways, it's incredible how we survived our
job.
It's amazing, um.
So, yeah, you know, use thecoconut oils, avocado oils, the
olive oils, right, all of thosebutter, butter, grass-fed butter
grass-fed butter is so good foryour brain.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Yeah, um, you know we could go into.
We could go into that rabbithole in a different session
because you know we we couldtalk about.
I could go into the brain andcholesterol and we'll do that so
that's a whole festival.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
Whole grains fish is a great one.
Good beans, because not allbeans are created equal.
So some good vegetables and andum, garbanzo beans, right.
Good nuts and of course, theoils.
Okay, number three, get enough.
Rest, again your typical tip.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
We keep saying that, right, sleep, sleep.
There's a whole book writtenfor children called Go to Sleep,
and sometimes I tell my adultclients that I'm like why are
you TikToking at 11 o'clock atnight when you know you have to
be up at 6am to work?
Plug the phone in elsewhere,shut it off.
Give yourself that break foryour brain to shut down so that
(28:49):
you could rest and heal.
Speaker 1 (28:51):
Yeah, and, and, and sleep.
You know?
It says here that 61% ofpostmenopausal women report
insomnia issues.
It says here that 61% ofpostmenopausal women report
insomnia issues.
Well, you know why I talkedabout that in another podcast
too.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
You know why?
One huge reason for that is thelack of progesterone, which
your body doesn't really makenaturally Going back to the
hormones, Yep.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
So getting enough rest and I don't have enough
time?
Yes, we do.
I told a client yesterday Isaid we all have 24 us all the
time.
We also waste a lot of time onthings that in no way matter,
and I think that it's superimportant to be honest with
ourselves, right.
(30:02):
It's something like we have totake a good hard look and see
where we can trim the fat rightin terms of activities that
don't bring life to us for sure,100, and and sometimes we just
have to, like, switch out things, like maybe there's an activity
that you do, that you enjoy,but and in this stage of the
game, in this stage of your life, you need to switch it out to
something else, because you know, we want to be able to remember
(30:25):
things.
We want to have quality of life.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
We want to have quality of life.
It's life to your years, notjust years to your life, and
it's something that we have to.
You know, maybe you haven't hadto eat vegetables up to now.
Well, guess what?
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Guess what you know?
Maybe you haven't had to eatvegetables up to now.
Well, guess what?
Guess what?
I know somebody in my family,which I'm not going to mention,
that she does not eat anyvegetable like zero, and she's
in her 20s and I look at her andI'm like man, it's gonna, it'll
come it'll come.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
Your body it'll come to you, but not body doesn't
give you, doesn't forgive you inyour 50s like it did in your
20s yes, don't worry, you'll beeating vegetables later.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Um so not having enough sleep actually makes your
brain fog worse and that's atany stage of the game.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
That's why even little kids require 10 to 12
hours of sleep before school.
That's why you're not, you'renot supposed to let little
children or even high schoolersstay up till 11 12 o'clock at
night when they got to get upearly in the morning, yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:21):
And one thing that it's.
It's incredible how, likethere's so many things you have
to.
You have to get an awareness ofyour body, to listen to your
body.
I figured out that if I eat anysugar or I drink wine which I'm
not a big drinker but if I goout to dinner and I have a glass
of wine, I am hot at night.
(31:47):
If I, if I do those twospecific things, I'm hot at
night.
So then I don't sleep well, sothe next day I'm all
discombobulated.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
And that is factual, especially for me more than
anything.
I mean, if I eat somethingsuper carby at night, yes, but I
don't do a lot of that but thealcohol of any kind, not just
wine, alcohol of any kind.
I've had to become a daydrinker in my old age because I
cannot do it with dinner wecan't handle that anymore I
(32:16):
can't.
My body just doesn't.
My body just doesn't like it.
In spite of the hormones, inspite of everything else, I have
to do my part right.
I have to not exacerbate thingsyep, okay.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Typical tip now.
Now that's a new, a new thing,a typical tip, typical typical
tip.
Number three exercise your body, hello, of course, and
specifically strength trainingfor all menopausal women.
That's the best If you can doit physically right.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
You get to exercise and, martha, you know that I am
not the exercise lover that youare, but I've had to wrap my
brain around the fact that it'sa privilege.
It's a privilege to havemobility, it's a privilege to be
aging strong, it's a privilegeto, you know, be able to, you
(33:12):
know, pick up my friend's kidand carry her around and get on
the floor and get off the floorand did it at it and play, and
it's a privilege.
It's I get to do that.
And in order for me to get todo that long term, I know, I
tell it, listen, I tell it tomyself every day, every freaking
day, I tell it to myself it's aprivilege, as I'm putting, I'm
(33:36):
putting on my gym clothes going.
it's a freaking privilege.
Come on, I'm working on it.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
And then you text and you're like, oh my God, I'm
hurting.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
I hate my life.
And I'm like, yeah, I love thatfeeling, that's an awesome
feeling, and you're like, you'reprobably getting a finger, but
I do it Because at this point inmy life I have no choice, right
?
So that to me is like somepeople's broccoli.
Yes, and I understand that, butyou have no choice.
(34:07):
Like it's come to a point whereyou have no choice Um a couple
of other things you know we.
So now we have hormonereplacement.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Smith.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Eat well, eat well, get enough sleep.
Move your body.
Speaker 1 (34:22):
And here here's a not so typical tip.
This is a different one, andit's actually the last one on
here, but we may have some more.
Exercise your mind.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
So, lately, fun thing , fun fact, something, ok.
So as we get older, so you'regrowing up.
Right, as you're going throughyour life, you're growing up and
every day you're actuallylearning something.
If you think about it, as aninfant, you know nothing, so
obviously you learn everything.
As a toddler, you're learningsomething every day.
You go into school and, whetheryou want to or not, whether you
(34:56):
enjoy school or not, you'rebeing put in a learning
environment every single day,and this happens for a very long
time in life.
Right, whether you go tocollege or not.
You start a new job.
You're learning something atyour job.
You have kids.
You're learning how to parentyour teacher, learning along
with them.
You are doing helping them withtheir homework.
(35:17):
You're actively utilizing yourbrain every single day for
something.
And then all of a sudden, allof that goes away.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
And now you're sitting here like a lump on
social media like this yeah, wedon't really use our brain so
much anymore, right, everythingis handed to us on our phones,
everything, right, we don't haveto think anymore.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
We don't have to think anymore, we don't have to
say anymore, and it's gettingworse and worse.
I'm doing a language course onan app online every day.
Takes me five minutes, but it'sfive minutes that I'm doing
something that I normallywouldn't do learning italian
okay might as well be able tolisten in on Donna's
conversations with her family.
(36:04):
So also being recorded.
Now I know what you guys aresaying, so, but so I do that.
It's you know.
It's three minutes a day.
It's a free app, zero excuses.
Yeah, yeah, everybody has threeminutes a day.
Do it while you're on thetoilet, right.
So three minutes a day I do, umreading.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
You do a lot of reading I read all the time.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
I read all day, every day.
Sometimes, yeah, it's actualbooks I read.
You know, sometimes it'snon-fiction, usually it's
fiction, because that's what my,that's what relaxes me.
But regardless, every singleday I read.
It's very rare that I don'tread.
I have been doing fun thingslike Wordle, which is I mean
(36:51):
again, it's free I try to do acrossword puzzle every day.
I try to do Sudoku every day.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
I do word set searches some type of way I need
every day I need to dosomething because I I don't do
any.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Give it a couple more years, and then you'll feel the
urgency I need to.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
I need to implement some of this in my my life, kind
of like kind of like thehormone replacement.
You didn't feel the urgencyuntil the day you did you always
, you're always the first one,and then, a couple of years
later, it's my turn, yep and so,and so that's what, that's what
I do, and again, it's.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
You know, it's my little routine.
It takes me total, total.
All of this takes me maybe 15minutes a day, and I don't
necessarily sit down and do itall in one go a day, and I don't
necessarily sit down and do itall in one go.
I, you know, I do it, I pop itinto my day, depending on when I
(37:47):
have the time to, but I don'tknow how much.
I don't know how much it'sdoing, but at least I am
actively making an effort to usemy brain.
Speaker 1 (37:56):
Yeah, you know that reminds me of like when people
retire and they just startdeclining physically because
they're not as active, but thenthey also start declining
mentally.
It makes sense.
Yeah, so, like whoever'slistening, you don't have to
wait until having brain power,having all these symptoms to to
(38:19):
start working on it like work onit now.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Yep, if you're, if you're just going into your
forties, now is a good time,right, to make sure that you are
setting yourself up for ahealthier middle age, right?
The other thing that I that'snot on the list that I a 100%
recommend is Bacopa and Ginkgobiloba.
Okay, bacopa is for long-termmemory and Ginkgo is for
(38:49):
short-term, and they make agreat combination.
Get them, you know, just don'tbuy the cheapest one.
You don't have to buy the mostexpensive one, just also not the
cheapest.
That's, you know, somewhere inthe middle, is usually a decent
quality supplement.
And you have to take these forabout I don't know.
I would have to say probablyyou'd have to take them
(39:10):
consistently daily for about twoto three weeks before you start
feeling a difference.
But I used to do this when Ihad finals for school, like the
month before, because, you know,I was a broke student, so I
couldn't afford to take this allthe time and I also had nothing
to do but study.
So it's not like I was, youknow, brain fog, that 22.
But I used to take it like themonth before finals would start
(39:36):
and, holy crap, did it make adifference in terms of learning.
You know, know, now I just takeit so that I could remember
where I put my phone.
But you know, different stageof life we're good, but those,
but they do, they do make adifference.
Just keep in mind that, likewith most supplements, you're
going to have to give it time towork right, yeah, well, listen.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
I think this is an awesome podcast.
Like what was it about?
What was it about?
You forget what it was about?
Rain fog, oh my gosh, it's athing all right.
So we have so much to talkabout, like we're gonna cut it
up midlife madness.
(40:17):
In this midlife madness, wehave so much to talk about, um,
and there was a lot of good tipshere.
So, like you know, those of youthat are listening like you're
not alone and you don't have tobe and also there's things that
you can do so.
Reach out, reach out if you, ifyou need some help.
All right, dr marty, that wasfun, right, it was.
(40:39):
Anyways, talk to you next time.
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