121. Peri, Post & Everything in Between with Erika Shannon

From dreaded adversary to unexpected ally, menopause transforms from something women merely survive into a doorway to authentic living. This candid conversation between two menopause specialists—one navigating perimenopause in her 40's, the other firmly in menopause at 57—delivers the straight talk about hormones, fitness, nutrition, and identity that's missing from most menopause discussions.

Erika Shannon reveals how early perimenopause symptoms disrupted her life as a fitness instructor, eventually leading her to specialize in menopause-specific fitness approaches. And I share my struggle to get medical support in my 40s when perimenopause "didn't even have a name." Together, they dismantle popular myths and misconceptions about exercise, supplements, diets and social media (weighted vests, high-intensity workouts, creatine supplements, and protein obsessions and our the cottage cheese craze just to start), offering evidence-based alternatives that actually support women's changing bodies.

Whether you're approaching perimenopause, in the thick of symptoms, or emerging on the other side, this episode offers practical wisdom about hormone therapy, efficient workout methods, nutritional priorities, and the profound opportunity to reimagine your life. Because as both of us emphasize, well-nourishment extends beyond food to encompass sleep, movement, stress management, and creating space for what genuinely feeds your spirit. 

The greatest takeaway? This transition represents the unexpected gift of menopause: permission to prioritize what truly matters.

How To Find Erika

Erika's Website HERE 

Erika on Instagram HERE

Get one FREE month of Erikas Moving Through Menopause Bundle HERE

I would love to hear from you! What did you think of the episode? Share it with me :)

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody and welcome back to Real Food
Stories, where we talk about themessy, beautiful and
ever-changing relationship wehave with food, health and
ourselves, especially as womenin our 40s and beyond.
Today I want to talk aboutsomething that's been on my
heart lately, and that iscommunity.

(00:22):
Now, if you're anything like me, or like many of the women I
work with, you've probably hadmoments where you have felt
really alone about navigatingmidlife.
I mean, I certainly have hadmore than my share of this
feeling like no one else gets me, the body changes, the hormone

(00:44):
shifts, the mood swings, theweight struggles and the endless
advice quote unquote adviceonline that just doesn't seem
made for us.
So that's why I created theWell-Nourished Woman.
This is a free community.
It's off social media, which Ilove.

(01:06):
There's no more scrollingthrough Facebook, getting caught
up in somebody else's ads andgetting distracted and then
wondering why you're even onFacebook in the first place.
This is off social media and itis for women 40 plus plus.

(01:28):
It's where you can show up asyou are, no judgment.
You can ask questions, getanswers grounded in real science
and connect with other womenwho get it.
Now I'm just starting thiscommunity.
We're just getting ourselvesoff the ground and I already
have an amazing group of womenin there.
But let me tell you a littlebit about what else you'll find
if you join the community.
You will get fresh, seasonalrecipes that actually support

(01:52):
your hormones and your energy,and I'm about to launch a summer
recipe club because I know weall get out of ideas about
actually what to make.
I'm going to be having Q&Athreads where I answer your real
life nutrition and lifestylequestions.
I want to talk in there aboutthe latest well-researched

(02:12):
insights on what's happening inour bodies and what actually
really helps.
And, most of all, I want to bethere to offer support.
I mean real support from me,from other women who aren't here
to sell you a cleanse or justtrying to convince you to just
try harder or just suck it up ortough it out.

(02:35):
So please join theWell-Nourished Woman community.
It's free and the link is goingto be in my show notes.
I would love to see you inthere free, and the link is
going to be in my show notes.
I would love to see you inthere Now.
On today's episode, this is aperfect reflection of why that
kind of space matters.
I sat down with Erica Shannon,who is also a menopause coach,

(02:57):
and just talking openly with herreminded me how powerful it is
to be seen and heard.
That conversation I had withher.
It was medicine in itself andyou definitely don't want to
miss it.
So if you've ever felt likeyou're figuring out this all
alone, know that you don't haveto.

(03:18):
So let's dive in with myconversation with Erica.
Hi everybody, welcome back tothe Real Food Stories podcast.
Today I've got Erica Shannonwith me, and Erica is a fitness
and wellness industry expertwith two decades of experience
under her belt.
Erica, like me, is a certifiedmenopause coaching specialist

(03:41):
and helps women on theirmenopause journey optimize their
lives and reduce their symptomsthrough exercise, nutrition,
sleep regulation, stressmanagement and self-care.
She's also a Gen X mom of atween daughter and a woman
officially in perimenopause, andI am your host, heather Carey,

(04:03):
a woman who is officially inmenopause and about to be
postmenopausal.
So, hi, erica, I'm so gladyou're here today and, after
meeting and talking to you offair, I'm really looking forward
to this chat because I thinkit's such a cool opportunity.
You are in your early 40s andgoing through perimenopause, and

(04:24):
I am in my late fifties, fullyin menopause.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Yes, I'm actually in my late forties.
I just turned 49.
Oh, you just turned 49.

Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, okay, all right , great Well.
I started going throughperimenopause in my early
forties, so maybe that's, that'swhat I heard, but still, you're
in your 40s, yes, which isstill on by a thread.
Yes, still like a young buck inlike the menopause world and I
am like on the tail end of 57.

(04:56):
So I thought it would be greatto just have a real conversation
about what this transitionlooks like from both sides.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
We need real conversations about this, so
it's important.
Thanks for doing this and forhaving me.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Yeah, of course, Because there's so much
confusion out there abouthormones, about fitness, about
nutrition.
I mean, I don't know about you,but I am on the internet,
social media, just kind ofstalking people's pages because
I am just endlessly fascinatedwith some of the quackiness I

(05:30):
see and the confusion becausewomen are.
So I mean, we're in a veryvulnerable time right now and
marketing wellness gurus theyknow that, so they're going to
try to sell us the gamut ofproducts and supplements and
ways to do menopause and kind oftell us that it's wrong.

(05:51):
And so I know that you aregoing to have a lot of insight
to share, from your fitnessperspective especially.
So, thanks for joining me.
I'm excited to dive in.
So why don't we just start?
Can you share a bit about yourjourney?
Don't we just start?
Can you share a bit about yourjourney?
My listeners have certainlyheard a lot about my journey.
I've talked about my menopauseexperience kind of endlessly on
this podcast.

(06:11):
So what brought you into theworld of fitness and then into
menopause coaching?

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Well, I came to New York City after college to be a
Broadway star.
I was a musical theater personand after a few years I kind of
burned out on that.
I made a little career switchand I went from being a
performer to a manager, atheatrical general manager, and
then I started becoming like areal gym rat and I had this

(06:41):
amazing mentor and she asked meif I would be interested in
general managing her fitnesscompany, and so I made the
switch from theater to fitnesson the management and production
side and then through her Istarted teaching, and that was
in 2006.
So 19 years ago Um and I taughtfor Equinox and Reebok and all

(07:05):
those kind of big box gyms inNew York city, and then I
eventually um got bought by soulcycle and worked for them for a
while.
And it was actually at soulcycle when I started feeling the
effects of perimenopause.
I was in my early thirties.
I had or sorry, early fortiesof perimenopause.

(07:25):
I was in my early 30s.
I had or sorry, early 40s.
I had a young daughter who was,you know, kind of approaching
the kindergarten era and I wasassigned 530 AM classes two
times a week, and so two times aweek I had to get up at 345 in
the morning so that I could getready and get myself to Short

(07:45):
Hills, New Jersey, to teach at5.45.
And it was brutal and itstarted affecting me in really
weird ways.
Like I was feeling reallydepressed.
I wasn't able to sleep, eventhough I knew I had to sleep.
My circadian rhythm was allthrown off, and I did it for
about seven months and then Iwent to see my doctor and I was

(08:07):
like what, what am I feeling?
I'm feeling like angry and I'mfeeling this.
And he's like well, you know,you might be in perimenopause
and and sleep has a lot to dowith that Um, it can really make
your symptoms worse if youdon't have a regular sleep
schedule.
And I was like, really and thatwas when I discovered that
perimenopause lasts as long asit does, Because back then I

(08:29):
think it was like 2017 orsomething like that I was like I
didn't know a lot aboutmenopause and perimenopause.
Definitely nobody was talkingabout it back then and nobody in
the fitness industry wastalking about it back then
either, and nobody in thefitness industry was talking
about it back then either.
And it's clear to me now, withhindsight being 2020, that there

(08:52):
really was nothing forperimenopausal, menopausal women
from a fitness perspective,because it was all about high
intensity training back then,and that's just not what our
bodies want to do when we'regoing through this phase.
So I promptly dropped that 5.45am class and started paying
attention to my cycle, myhormones, just like my sleep
schedule, and how it affectedhow I felt.

(09:13):
And so when I started, you know, in the fitness industry you
have to get continued educationcredits, and so I started
focusing more on women's health.
I started focusing my continuededucation on perimenopause,
active aging and anything Icould get my hands on
understanding hormones, heartrate performance, all kinds of

(09:33):
stuff and that's kind of how Istarted falling down the rabbit
hole of helping women this agelearn how to exercise safely and
be healthy, and it's really anall-encompassing thing.
Like fitness is just one spokeof the wheel, but there are
definitely things that we wantto change.
At this age we can't do what weused to.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Yeah, well, you're lucky that your doctor even said
you might be in perimenopause.
Because, just you know, back up, even when I was turning in my
early 40s and I had an inklingthat could this be perimenopause
, I was just having somemenopause-type symptoms, even

(10:13):
though I was still getting myperiod and everything, and my
doctors were like I don't knowwhat you're talking about.
It was like perimenopause, likedidn't even have, like there
was no name for it.
And I knew enough to think likecould I, should I go on
hormones.
And I just had.

(10:33):
You know, my PCP told me thatshe would rather go to jail than
be on estrogen.
You know, I think in my justeven those couple of years
difference from your age to myage, there was just more.
It was just a big secret, hugesecret.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
No, one talked about it.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
Afraid of hormone therapy, very afraid.
My gynecologist was very afraidmy PCP, and no one suggested,
yeah, hormones to me at all.
But I knew I feel like I justknew enough.
I wanted to definitely get onhormones because I was having
some symptoms that were becomingreally bothersome.

(11:18):
Now I want to talk about your,the fitness and you know that
connection.
But tell me, I mean beyond yourenergy at the five to 30 AM,
energy which I totally get,would not work for me either.
Horrible, were you having othersymptoms At that point.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
I wasn't um at that point.
Actually, that was around thetime when I had an endometrial
ablation because I had polyps inmy uterus and I was having
really painful periods andreally big bloating situations
where it was reallyincapacitating for me as a
fitness instructor and anon-camera instructor and I
couldn't work when that wouldhappen.
And so I finally did go get anultrasound and they found polyps

(12:00):
.
And so at that point my doctorsaid listen, if you're done
having kids and you don't wantto deal with your period anymore
and it is painful, he's likeI'm already going up there to
take these polyps out.
Like, do you want an ablation?
And I was like really on thefence because you know, having
the inside of your bodycauterized on purpose is kind of
a you know it's, it's a bigchoice.

(12:22):
Yeah.
And in the end I was like youknow what?
Yeah, let's do it.
And I haven't had a periodsince which makes perimenopause
that much more interesting.
Because, I have to.
I have to gauge my cycle basedon my symptoms, which I can do
because I'm a nerd like that.
But but it was.
It wasn't until a couple yearsago that I started being really

(12:46):
affected by it.
Like I didn't go on hormonetherapy till last year because
my symptoms were pretty mild andI was able to regulate.
But when the hot flashesstarted and then I got really
depressed, I had bad cyclicaldepression and that's how I knew
it was hormonal, because everymonth there was a couple days

(13:07):
that it was just horrible.
I would cry and I would wallowand I would be so.
I just I was inconsolable, and Ihave been in so many different
spiritual practices and so manydifferent ways of
self-regulating and knowing howto pull yourself out of it, and

(13:28):
practicing gratitude and all thetools that I had in my toolbox,
with almost 20 years oflearning, had no effect and I
knew that that was what it was,and so that was when I started
getting serious about takingbetter care of myself, and I
started first by trying toregulate myself without taking

(13:49):
hormones, just to see, and then,in the end, I just made the
decision.
I wanted the whole shebang, butI started with the topical
vaginal estrogen, which was forthe genitourinary syndrome of
menopause, because the vaginaldryness is something that really
was bothering me and so thathelped that tremendously.

(14:10):
And then I was like, okay,let's try the patch and the
little progesterone pill, and Ifeel so much better and I
haven't had a hot flash in along time.
But yeah, and it can presentdifferently in every single
woman.
There's no formula, which iswhat makes it maddening every
single woman there's no formulawhich is what makes it maddening
.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yeah, it's so individualized that your
symptoms might not be mysymptoms and, and I think, a lot
of women.
I think we're getting much moreeducated now.
But again back, you know, justback up to my forties, that no
one, no one talked about it.
I mean I had no friends talkingabout it.
to me it was like a big secretand I pushed for hormones back

(14:52):
then, and no, I was havingreally bad vaginal dryness and
definitely having hot flashesand and and everything and it,
but it was met with a lot ofresistance from doctors and
definitely if I, I could barelyeven talk to my friends about it
because they like just, it wasjust like a so, so taboo, but it

(15:16):
sounds like no, it's like, allof a sudden, our entire identity
as women is going down thetoilet and we have nobody to
talk to about it, because we'reafraid we're the only one yes
we're definitely not no, well,now fast forward.
I have friends who are juststarting hormones now because I
think it's becoming more, moreaccepted and yeah, there's no

(15:40):
that, there's a ton of newresearch out now yeah, so we
know that, that the studies fromback in the 2000s have been
debunked, thank God, for mostwomen and it can be super, super
helpful for some of thesesymptoms, because all the amount

(16:02):
of exercising, all the amountof food and nutrition is not
going to take away your hotflashes right or your vaginal
dryness, it's just not.
We really do need someintervention.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
Yeah, the body is depleted of estrogen and
progesterone and that affectsevery major organ system in the
body.
And I think you know, as amenopause coach specialist,
that's the one thing that I waslike oh my my God like when I
did that certification Icouldn't even believe how it.
I mean, I knew it affected, itfelt like it was over, it

(16:39):
overtook everything.
But it was proven in thatcertification that, oh my God
like that.
Why?
That is why my palms are itchy,that is why I can't remember my
middle name, that is why I'mhaving trouble regulating my
body temperature, becauseestrogen receptors are
everywhere in our bodies.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
Yeah, I mean, they affect, right.
Estrogen affects us from headto toe, literally Our brains,
our bones, our heart, ourdigestion, our weight
distribution.
It literally affects everything.
So some subtle, these subtlesymptoms that you would never
think might be caused by anestrogen deficiency yeah, are,

(17:23):
yeah, are definitely can bemenopause, for sure I get
questions from people sometimesthat are like do I have
perimenopause?

Speaker 2 (17:31):
And I'm like, do I have it?
It's so funny, it's like adisease.
But it's like are you a womanin your forties?
Then you're in perimenopause.
There's no question, like it isjust happening, it's just the
way it goes, you're in it.

Speaker 1 (17:43):
Right.
Welcome to menopause, thetransition it's here, for you
the change.
Yeah, and some women can sortof slide through and have no
symptoms, really, or minimal.
They barely even notice it.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Right.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
And some women get wrecked with it.
How do you navigate for yourclients the fear that they might
still have around usinghormones?

Speaker 2 (18:14):
they might still have around using hormones.
Well, the first thing I do isjust tell them that I'm not a
doctor and tell them that I'mthere to help them advocate for
themselves.
But what I want them to knowand I think the saddest thing
that I'm discovering as a coachis how many of us gaslight
ourselves into thinking thatit's not what it is.
How many of us gaslightourselves into like, oh, I'm
probably just making it up Justto give them some reassurance

(18:38):
that what they're feeling isreal and valid is a major part
of my job, and then to helpguide them to someone who can
listen.
Often they're going to see a PCPwho doesn't have the right
education, or they're going tosee an OBGYN who graduated in
the 90s, when, or you know, inthat early 2000s pocket where we

(18:58):
learned that, you know, the WHIwas all over it saying it
caused breast cancer, and sothey're going off of old
research.
So then I send them tomenopauseorg and I say you got
to find another provider and ifthey are concerned about the
risks, you have to teach themwhat the benefits are and then

(19:19):
have them talk to their doctorabout determining if the
benefits outweigh the risks forthem as a person with their
health history at their age, attheir phase of menopause, and
nine times out of 10, thebenefits outweigh the risks,
especially as we grow older,especially if we start that
hormone therapy within that 10year pocket before or before and

(19:43):
after menopause.
That's when we see the greatestbenefits of hormone therapy as
far as bone strength, leanmuscle mass, balance and
coordination, brain function,cognitive function.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yeah, no, I'm happy that I knew enough back in my
40s to go, but it wasn't back inmy 40s.
I wasn't really thinking aboutthose other secondary benefits
like bone health.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
No, nobody is.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
Because it wasn't talked about back then.
But now I'm like oh, I'm sohappy I did end up going on it
when I did, because I mean, I'vesometimes tried to talk some of
my friends or like even clientsinto like, not, I'm not pushing
it Right.
Everyone's individual and it istheir individual choice to go
on it, but right, the sooner youstart it, the more long term

(20:35):
benefits you can have.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah, I think the other hurdle too is that people
think they need a blood test.
People think they need all thishormone like a hormone panel
workup, when the truth is, and Iwill always say if you want to
get a blood test, go get a bloodtest Like you can, because
always rule out otherpossibilities with thyroid or

(20:57):
anything else.
I think that's great.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
To do that.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
But your hormones fluctuate so often wildly
chaotically that it's only asnapshot and it's not an
accurate you know point of youknow source of truth.
Well, that's just a marketingscam too, right I mean.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
So I really steer people away from going to those
like menopause clinics or youknow where they're like you need
to do testing and even foodsensitivity tests, all sorts of
like totally unnecessary,expensive testing.
You know you're in menopause, Imean you know you're in
perimenopause, you're in yourlate forties you, you're in

(21:32):
menopause, I mean you knowyou're in perimenopause, you're
in your late forties, you aredefinitely perimenopausal, yeah,
and here are the symptoms yeah,you have them all.
Yeah, and you're, and you'regood, right.
And when you're stopped gettingyour period, then you
definitely are postmenopausal.
I mean, you don't need a testfor that.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
I also think another.
Another helpful thing to tellclients whenever they're
doubting it is say I also thinkanother helpful thing to tell
clients whenever they'redoubting it is say are you on
birth control, have you everbeen on birth control?
Because that is so much riskierand so much higher dose than
menopausal hormone therapy.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
And you've been on it with no question for 30 years,
40 years.
That's.
The amazing thing is that Ithink some women are perfectly
okay with being on birth controlpills and then when you suggest
hormone therapy, it's like, oh,that feels really dangerous.
Which is?
It's really like a 10th of thedose of a birth control pill.
Yeah, yeah, I know it'sinteresting the psychology

(22:25):
behind it that we've just beentrained, or we've been trained
also just to it's.
Menopause is just something yougot to suck up.
You got to just deal with thatand it's going to.
It's going to suck for a numberof years and then you get
through it, but you don't really.
I mean you never get overmenopause?

Speaker 2 (22:43):
No, and you don't enjoy your life.
I mean that depression that Iexperienced was debilitating and
and nobody wants to live likethat.
It sucks the life out of you.
You don't wanna live like thatand you don't have to, so why
would you make that choice?

Speaker 1 (22:59):
Just going off of that, I know that.
So, for women who are likethink that medication is bad,
all medication's bad and theywanna do things naturally right.
So let's talk about some ofthose myths that we hear in,
like the fitness world,especially in the nutrition
world, about how to helphormones, because back when I

(23:22):
was in my 40s, early 40s, I mean, there was all sorts of herbs
right Because hormones were bad,you know so we were going to
try to take ginseng and eat tofuand soy milk Ashwagandha yeah.
Yeah, and all things like that.

(23:42):
And you know these wellnessgurus are just mark, you know
they're just taking advantage ofwomen who are very vulnerable
In a big way.
And in the fitness world too.
I see a lot on social mediaabout I want to talk about, like
weighted vests and strengthtraining.
I mean a lot of these thingsare good, or maybe not so good,

(24:04):
or you know.
So let's talk about them first.
Let's let's go into the fitness.
Okay, Tell me about weightedvests, because this is a very
hot topic with women in mycircle right now.
Are weighted vests good, or arethey just a total marketing
scam?

Speaker 2 (24:21):
I think they're great .
To be honest, I have one, butyou've got to get one that's
right for your body and for yourweight.
You should get 10% of your bodyweight for your vest, for your
weight.
You should get 10% of your bodyweight for your vest.
But if you, if the thing abouta weighted vest is when you work
out with a weighted vest on, oreven when you walk with a
weighted vest on, you put moreload on your body and so that

(24:42):
you're gonna, you're gonna have,you're gonna work harder to do
what you usually do, so that'sgoing to increase your caloric
output, it's going to increaseyour heart rate and those things
are all good.
So why wouldn't you do thosethings?
Where I see people get a littlebit misguided around weighted
vests are if they're wearing one, that's too um situation that

(25:03):
you, that you shouldn't bewearing that weighted vest.
Or, for example, like if youhave osteoporosis, like talk to
your doctor before putting onextra weight.

(25:25):
That's going to give you extraimpact.
If you have, you know, reallyfragile bones, you have to think
about where you are, always,start where you are, and if you
haven't gotten out to walk amile in 10 years, go walk a mile
first without putting on aweighted vest for a little while
and then put on the weightedvest, and I would say that about
weights and strength trainingas well.
You got to start where you are.

(25:46):
You're going to do fine inperimenopause If you move your
body for 150 minutes a week.
You're going to do fine.
You know, it doesn't matter ifyou have a weighted vest.
You don't need a weighted vestto make it through perimenopause
If you are a regular workerouter and you want to give a
little extra bang for your buck,like when I got my weighted

(26:07):
vest, I actually tested the dataon it.
I am such a dork and I recordedme taking a walk on this one
path without it and me taking awalk on that same path the next
day with it, and I burned anaverage of one and a half
calories more a minute.
Okay, great, but you know it'snot a big deal.

(26:27):
That's my, that's my take onthe weighted vests.
Love it, don't need it.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
Right, I mean, I think that some women might
think that this would replacestrength training or lifting
weights.
And I think that's where theconfusion lies that this is not
a replacement for good oldstrength training.

Speaker 2 (26:49):
Absolutely not Right.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
We want to be lifting heavy right.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
Yes, you want to be lifting things, so you want
things to be functional.
At this phase of life,especially, if you don't move it
, you lose it.
So functional movement is theway to go and you got to load it
up with weights.
So the functional moves aresquat, carry, rotate are squat,

(27:18):
carry, rotate, push, pull andhinge.
If you can do those things andadd load to that progressively,
so in over time, increasing yourweight more and more, you are
going to not only build healthy,lean muscle mass that estrogen
depletion will take away fromyou and strengthen your bones
and the joints and the musclesaround those bones.
Right, you are going to feel somuch better and your health

(27:44):
span is going to be so muchlonger than it would have
otherwise.
Because when we have weak bones, when our joints are shot, when
we have osteoporosis, whenwe're older I heard a statistic
and I don't quote me on this,but I feel like it's one in four
women will have an.
When you're old, because that'sright you end up in the

(28:06):
hospital, you can get sepsis,you can get, you know, you can
have complications, and then younever get out of bed again and
then you can't move anymore andthen you're it's over you know.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
Yes, yeah, absolutely so.
Strength training is great formuscle mass.
It's great for your bones, yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
And to help prevent falling, yes, balance training
strength training, you know, dounilateral movements, so one
side at a time.
That's going to help you, asyou age, keep your balance.
But here's the other thingEverybody's like strength
training, strength training butyou still have to do cardio.

(28:51):
Well, okay, you still have abeating heart.

Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah.
So that's a good question,because in the social media
stratosphere I keep seeing thatwe don't have to really focus,
the over focus on strengthtraining.
I mean, strength training isgreat, but all of a sudden we
should be just strength trainingand not, you know, and backing

(29:12):
off of cardio, because it raisesour cortisol and there's
overtraining, and so, yeah,speak to me about that a little
bit.
I mean, I know, I mean walkingis amazing and great and walking
is amazing.

Speaker 2 (29:26):
Walking briskly is better Brisk is always better
it's going to take you into ahigher heart rate zone.
Walking on an incline isamazing.
You want to walk or getcardiovascular activity that is
going to raise your heart rateto that middle of the heart rate
zones.
So you want it to be moderateand moderately hard.

(29:48):
So if you are doing the talktest and you can say a couple,
you can still have aconversation, but you're out of
breath when you're having it oryou have to like pause after a
couple sentences.
That's high, high heart ratezone.
We it's still good to get thereBecause you know doing a little

(30:16):
hit here and there is alwaysgood for you, it's so good for
your cardiovascular health.
But you're right, too much ofit is going to tip the scales
and your cortisol is going to gointo overdrive.
We don't want that.
So moderate like heart,moderate hard cardio is the
sweet spot for us at this ageand it's and it's like endurance

(30:39):
training versus HIIT trainingall the time.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
So explain HIIT training.
I know what that means, butjust explain to my audience what
that, what that's so highintensity interval training.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
That's what HIT stands for.
H-i-i-t is a method of exercisewhere you go to your absolute
max capacity, all out,breathless, trying at a 10, as
hard as you possibly can forcertain intervals of time and
then taking an interval of rest.
So HIIT training is, like youknow, 30 or 45 seconds at your

(31:14):
ultimate, 10, 20 seconds off,take a breather.
You can do HIIT in a lot ofdifferent intervals.
You could do 30, 30, you coulddo 45, 15,.
You know you can do it any wayyou want to, but it's about.
It's about getting your heartrate up really fast and then
rest, and then up again and thenrest.

(31:34):
Low intensity interval trainingis kind of the same thing, but
you don't get as high.
It's not an all out situation.
So if you're on a bike and youwant to do a hit, you're going
to put as much resistance on andsprint as fast as you possibly
go and then absolutely rest,take all the resistance off and
just roll your legs and breathe,and then do it again, and then

(31:56):
do it again, and then do itagain.
I'll tell you what my favoritemethod of training is that it
just gives you every bang foryour buck.
And in my online workoutplatform I do a lot of this.
It's called peripheral heartaction and peripheral heart
action is a method of exercising.

(32:17):
It is strength training, whereyou shunt your blood from your
upper body to your lower bodyover and over again.
So you work in one minuteintervals with weights, you do
only upper body moves and thenyou switch right away, with no
breaks, to lower body and you dothis over and over again.
A it gets your heart rate intothat sweet spot.

(32:39):
B you're doing strengthtraining, everybody wins and you
get to move on with your day.
It's super efficient, it'sfeels good, it gives you energy
and it's perfect for women inperimenopause and menopause.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yeah, it sounds.
It sounds great and a veryeffective and kind of gets the
job done Right.
We're all busy and nobody hastime for anything.
Yeah exactly, but any right, wewant to start where we're at,
like you said before, and andjust so, anything is better than
nothing.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
Use it or lose it.
Yeah, If you love pickleball,pickleball is great cardio.
If you love swimming, swimmingis great cardio.
If you love yoga, certain typesof yoga are great.
Strength training body weightstrength training.

Speaker 1 (33:29):
Yeah, and the time is now to start.
I mean, it's not like we're,it's never too late.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
Also, exercise feeds into insulin resistance.
It helps your blood sugarregulate.
That's right, yeah, and that'swhere the crossover between
fitness and nutrition lie.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Right, there's a billion benefits for exercising
and then just switching ourmindset a little bit.
That goes from taking thosehigh-intensity boot camp classes
only to strength training andbuilding more muscle, and
there's just a massive benefitfor that.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
And there's no difference between if you do a
45-minute class or if you breakit up into three or four 7 to
10-minute increments throughoutthe day.
I always tell my clients it'snot an all or nothing, it's an
all or something.
So if you have an Apple watchand that Apple watch says to you
it's time to stand up, thenstand up, do 15 squats, take a

(34:26):
walk up and down the stairs acouple of times and then go sit
down.
It's better than nothing, it'lladd up it all does.

Speaker 1 (34:33):
So let's talk about some nutrition stuff and those
myths that I definitely hear andcontend with all the time
around menopause, perimenopauseand what we should be eating,
what we should be like, shouldwe be taking supplements what
are you hearing?
Going into perimenopause, wasthere any chatter for you like

(34:58):
out on the internet about likewhat you should be doing as far
as your food?

Speaker 2 (35:03):
The only thing that I , I don't, I can't, I don't
really know if it came from theinternet or just from my
certifications and research onmy own is that so many of our
symptoms are due to inflammation, and so turning toward an
anti-inflammatory diet issomething that I always suggest.

(35:23):
I also always suggest thatpeople stop drinking alcohol
because-.
I do as well, yeah there's nobenefit at all, and so those are
the things that it's really aninteresting.
It's a hard sell to a lot ofwomen in perimenopause,
especially because it's a copingmechanism for a lot of people

(35:47):
and it's very sociallyacceptable.
I mean, how many, how manyt-shirts and glasses have you
seen that say like mommy needsher wine and of course you know
wine time and all that.
I think that it's reallysocially difficult to break away
from the socially accepted havea drink to wind down, because

(36:12):
when you have that drink to winddown you're up at three o'clock
in the morning like boing.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
Yeah, and being in perimenopause or menopause, it
just gets worse.
I mean, our ability tometabolize alcohol just gets
worse.
I mean, I know for me, Istopped drinking seven years ago
, when I turned 50 and I and Ijust it.
It just wasn't serving meanymore, and I totally

(36:37):
understand that social umbrainwashing with it because I
was in it.
I mean it just.
Everything got was connected tohaving a glass of wine with my
friends.
The benefits, though, of notdrinking, especially in
menopause, are just huge.
I can't even like, state itenough.

(36:59):
I mean it's just.
But yeah, it's a hard sell.
It's a hard sell for you know,because I think you're, because
we're going through so much inperimenopause and menopause and
just there's a lot to contendwith.
You know, there's a lot ofstress, a lot of new added
stress.
You're not feeling greatphysically and if you're used to

(37:20):
having alcohol as your copingmechanism, it's hard to unlink
it.
I know you're like like give memy vice.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
Just let me have one you know the really die hard.
The really die hard.
You know.
I mean, when I was having a lotof, I had a lot of anxiety
toward the end of last year, Ilost one of my dearest friends
and it was just a lot.
Yeah, and I, I quit caffeinefor a little while and it
definitely helped, but now I'mback on I.
I'm like I have one vice.
Like please just let me have my.

(37:49):
I just want to have a cup ofcoffee.
Like, yes, in the world ofhealth and wellness, should we
be drinking caffeine every day?
No, but guess what.
Like I'd rather drink coffeethan alcohol at this point.

Speaker 1 (38:00):
Yeah, it's fine.
It's funny you say that becauseI just stopped drinking
caffeine.
I'm not a big caffeine drinkerat all.
I drink one cup of like prettystrong tea in the morning, but I
just wanted to experiment withstopping it because I know just
pelvic and bladder health andeverything I was like this is
irritating, I feel like it couldbe irritating me.

(38:22):
So let me just experiment andstop for a couple of weeks and
it definitely helped.
It's helped a lot, but oh yeah.
So now I'm drinking a littlegreen tea.
It's like not as strong as whatI was drinking.
The benefits, for me at least,of not having the caffeine.
It just like over activates mybladder.

(38:43):
So it's you know just something.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
What are your thoughts on mushroom coffees?

Speaker 1 (38:49):
I think they're fine to drink.
You know all of those mushrooms, I mean.
I think that there's.
I think I'm neutral about it.
I think that there's, you know,some health benefits, but you
don't necessarily like, need orneed to waste your money.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
I mean, it doesn't taste like coffee, so why no
it's not coffee and it's notcaffeine.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
And you know it's funny.
I just saw a study yesterdaywell, this is in the new york
times, so I'm not even gonna sayit was a study, was that?
It was just an observationalstudy that they did.
They were following women inthe women's health initiative.
I think you know tens ofthousands of women and they
found that coffee drinkers andthis is just another, we've kind

(39:30):
of known this already thatcoffee there are some benefits
to drinking coffee.
They don't know exactly what orwhy the benefits.
Like, why is there a benefit todrinking coffee?
But the conclusion is thatcoffee drinkers live longer.
But the conclusion is thatcoffee drinkers live longer.
So it's not a terrible thing tohave in your diet.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
Just don't drink it too late in the day.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Oh yeah, no I can't drink caffeine afternoon.
That's a non-starter.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
I can't do it.
Yeah, I'm so sensitive tocaffeine it's ridiculous how
sensitive I am.
I'm so sensitive to caffeineit's like ridiculous how
sensitive I am.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
I have become incredibly protective of my
sleeps in my perimenopausal era.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
Nothing is going to mess with my sleeps.
I am crazy.
I feel exactly the same.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
I mean my sleep is everything and especially I know
what you used to be able to getaway with.
You know, and you'll see, itjust gets like a little harder,
like it just everything, justsort of like shifts a little,
and my sleep is everything.
Everything, yeah, everything, Imean my day is just like just
wrong if I don't get a full likeseven to eight hours of sleep.

Speaker 2 (40:43):
Same.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
Yeah, no, it's and it and.
But that's hard when we gothrough menopause is getting a
good night's sleep, especiallyif you are having night sweats
and you're getting woken up likethat in the middle of the night
.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
I have a client who is fully post-menopausal and she
said to me last week my hotflashes are my night sweats are
coming back at night.
I don't know why.
She's like, all of a suddenthey're back.
And I said, well, whattemperature do you keep the room
at?
And she's like, well, we keepit at 76.
And I said, okay, well, howabout lowering that about 10

(41:25):
degrees?
Well, how about?

Speaker 1 (41:25):
lowering that about 10 degrees.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
You should see my room is like a refrigerator.
Oh 66 in this house.

Speaker 1 (41:33):
Yeah, 66.
Yeah, no, it has to.
I know my daughter's like I'mcold, I was like put a
sweatshirt on.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
That's what I say to my husband now.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
Yeah.
So my kids are now older andnot even living with me anymore,
so it's just my husband andmyself.
But yeah, he even.
He's like, can we turn the heatup?
I'm like, no, absolutely not.
Yeah, you just get like, learnto live with it.
Learn to live learn to live.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
Yeah, and isn't it a?
Isn't that just a delight to begoing through this hormonal
change at the same time that ourkids are going through puberty?
That's where I'm at right now.
Yes it is.

Speaker 1 (42:08):
Yeah, I know, I know, it's really, it's just a.
The whole menopause experienceis just so strange that we're
like why right now?
Well, your daughter's probablygoing through puberty right now,
or you know, yeah, even youknow right now, with, like I on
my end and maybe you have this.

(42:31):
Like you know, I have I'mdealing with aging parents.
You know and yeah, and that's awhole other super stressful
thing that no one tells youabout.
It's kind of like menopause noone really tells you what's
coming down the line and andthat you have to.
So you're contending with likeall of these, like things, like

(42:52):
all at the same time and it's ait's a.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
It's a lot to handle at once my mother-in-law has
dementia and she and my husbandis an only child, and it has
been the last few years sinceher diagnosis have been really
tough, really tough.
I've I've completely we'vechanged our lives to accommodate
for moving her here.

(43:16):
I mean, she doesn't live withus in this house, but we moved
her.
She was in Iowa all by herselfand we had to get her here so we
could get her into a placewhere she would be safe.
But there is, there is a momentwhere you feel like you have so
many balls in the air, beingpart of this sandwich generation
, of having kids who are youknow, my daughter is going into
seventh grade, my mother in lawis losing her mind, and here we

(43:41):
are losing our minds.
And so I once heard somethingthat I really love, that I'd
love to share with you.
Somebody said once at any pointin life, especially in midlife,
we have a lot of balls in theair, and every day we get to
wake up and decide which ballsare made of plastic and which
balls are made of glass, and weare inevitably going to drop a

(44:03):
ball or two, and that's okay,we'll just choose that those are
the plastic ones that are goingto drop a ball or two, and
that's okay.
We'll just choose that thoseare the plastic ones that are
going to fall from our rotationthat day, and then we can pick
them up and turn them to glassthe next day.
But I think about that a lotright now.

Speaker 1 (44:18):
I love that Exactly.
We have to give ourselves abreak.
Some things are just going tofall by the wayside.
We cannot manage everything andas women, I think we shoulder.
We were used to shouldering somuch.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
Oh my gosh, yes, the silent labor.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
Yeah.
And then you know, I thinkmenopause is this opportunity,
if you want to see it as anopportunity to just start
focusing on you, your prioritiesfor yourself and your health
and fitness and, you know, makemaking yourself fit somewhere in
that slot of who's going to getcare.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
Yeah Right, there's a trend on the Internet right now
.
This amazing creator startedthe we Do Not Care Club.
Have you seen this?
Oh no, I have not.
So she's, she gets on and shesaid here's my perimenopausal
woman, we do not care.
Here's what we do not careabout today.
And I find the entire trend tobe just delightful and it's so

(45:19):
wonderful.
And now all these women arepicking and be like we don't
care about this, we don't careabout that.
But it's actually such a gift.
It's such a gift to be able tolet things go in this phase of
life.
It's very freeing.
Yes, it's very freeing.

Speaker 1 (45:34):
Yeah, it is, and it takes practice right when we're
used to just being, you know,the caregiver for everybody, you
know like just giving out andnot focusing on ourselves.
It takes practice, but you gotto do it.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
You got to do it, and also you have to do the work to
really think about what youcare about and what you don't,
because we get so used to caringabout things that we don't even
know if we care about themanymore.
We're just used to dealing withthem or doing them or having
these obligations, but then allof a sudden something happens
and you're like you know, Idon't really care about that

(46:10):
anymore.
Right, and what would my lifelook like if I let that go?
And chances are it's.
My life would be a little freer.
I would have a little space tofind something new to do to care
about.
Or to put more of my careequity into something Right.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
No, I love that.
What would my life look like ifI let that go?
And that's something I yeah Ihave definitely been contending
with a lot lately.
So it's yeah, you're in goodcompany.
Yeah, it's an amazingopportunity.
Yep, it's an amazingopportunity and once we get

(46:57):
through this, it's what so manywomen say the best era of their
lives.
But my beginning 50s into, Ifelt a little resentful about
having to take this on now.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Menopause I get it and all the physical changes I
was feeling and the emotionalchanges and it felt like a big

(47:50):
transition for me, but I can seethe you know where some women
have talked about, like justfeeling like you know, the
wisdom that they've cultivated.
I'm starting to see that nowthat I'm on, like this other
tail end of my perimenopause,you know, going into
postmenopause experience, Ithink our decision to move this
year has kind of forced thosethoughts to happen now for me,
because we've been in the NewYork City area for 26 years and

(48:10):
I am going home to my hometownof Pittsburgh, pa, which I said
I would never do, and afterlosing my friend last year and
just having a real come to Jesusof like, why am I here?
What do?
Who do I want to be with whenthings go down?
Like, who do I want to be nearto help them out of this life?
It's my family.

(48:36):
And so in getting rid of things,decluttering, I have been such
a hustler since I moved to NewYork in 1999.
I have hustled my ass so hardin the industry, in theater, in
fitness, now in this menopause,which I did not expect to be a
saturated market two years agowhen I did all this work, and
now it's it's.
You know it's hard, it's hardto be heard.
It's hard for people to trustyou because there's so much

(48:56):
noise.
Yes, you know I'm just going togo.
I just want a simple life.
I don't need to be the centerof attention anymore.
That's part of my I do not careclub.
I do not care if I'm on cameraanymore, I do not care if people
don't know my name, I don'tcare anymore.
I don't care, I want to be.
You know, it's forced me tohave a midlife reckoning and I'm

(49:19):
grateful for it, because I feel, once you start letting stuff
go, you feel the pull toward thenext thing, and so it's very
exciting.
I'm in a very optimistic phaseright now about this transition.
But you know, talk to me inOctober when it settles in and
I'm like, oh my God, what did Ijust do in Pittsburgh?

Speaker 1 (49:37):
What am I going to do with the rest of my life?

Speaker 2 (49:38):
Yeah, you know, go to mom's for dinner every Sunday,
which is amazing, but at thesame time'm like, oh my god,
where are my friends?
You know?

Speaker 1 (49:46):
yeah, yeah, I, I understand, but it sounds like
you're.
Maybe the death of your friendreally prompted something yeah
in you to just reevaluate what'simportant and who who you're
with yeah important andcultivate lifelong relationships
or search for the things thatare lifelong joys, because

(50:10):
that's what it's all about.
There's nothing else besidesthat yeah Well, so you at 49 are
learning that.
I think it's taken me a littlebit more, I've had to be dragged
a little bit along on that andI've, and like I've, resisted,
but I'm, I'm, I'm learning, I'mgetting more comfortable in the
place that you're at right now,but this timeline is your

(50:34):
timeline.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
It's the way that you are supposed to experience it
and in that way it's beautifuland uniquely yours.
You know, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
Yeah, so lots of transitions happen during this
menopause transition.
But let's, I'm just let me talkabout nutrition for a little
bit.
Let's backtrack a little bit,and just because I there's so
many nutrition, those myths youknow that are out there, what
are your clients or what youknow, your people, or even
yourself, like when you startedgoing into perimenopause, were

(51:06):
you feeling like I have to geton a certain diet, Like I have
to start eating differently orchange things around?
What's the noise that you'rehearing?
Also just from, like clients,Because I can share mine as well
.

Speaker 2 (51:21):
Well, there is the panic about the menopausal
weight gain.
That's what I deal with a lotand why a lot of clients that's
usually the straw that breaksthe camel's back for them to
seek help is that they'regaining weight, and which I have
a lot to say about.
But you know, however, theyfind me, sell them what they
want, give them what they need,right, right.

(51:41):
What people don't understand isthat menopausal weight gain is
hormonal and it's not just aboutwhat you put in your mouth and
it's not just about exercise,but it's about regulating your
hormones as a whole.
So the menopausal weight gainis the is a real bone of
contention for a lot of myclients, and so I do a lot of

(52:04):
talking about visceral fatversus subcutaneous fat.
I do a lot of talking aboutinflammation and fiber fiber as
the best thing I honestly think.
You know.
People talk so much aboutprotein, and I would love to
hear what you have to say aboutthis, but there's a lot of talk

(52:24):
about protein and there's not asmuch talk about fiber.
But I feel like fiber might besomething that we need to focus
on even more because of all thebenefits that eating fiber has
for us, for our gut, for ourdigestion, for our motility,
just keeping us full andsatisfied.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
Yeah, I mean fiber, yeah.
So I totally agree with you onall of that.
I think weight gain is thenumber one reason why women come
to see me too is that they'vesuddenly gained weight.
They can't figure it out andwhen they've been on and off
diets for decades.
Sometimes I have some women.

(53:03):
They don't know any other wayto eat except for being on a
diet and off a diet and suddenlythat's not working and they
feel very out of control withthat and they get desperate.
I think to try to go on otherdifferent diets, like
intermittent fasting and.
But I think just back to likethe protein versus.

(53:25):
You know, like protein issomething that's so hot right
now.

Speaker 2 (53:29):
I mean it's like like , if I see one more recipe with
cottage cheese in it, I'm gonnalike throw myself against the
wall.
I know.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
I'm like.
So, all of a sudden, cottagecheese is like the hottest thing
.
Like no one's ever heard ofcottage cheese before, Like it's
a new food.
I'm like cottage cheese hasbeen around for a long time.
You didn't like it back thenand fine, like it now.
That's okay, but it's not.
You don't have to eat.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
Cottage cheese was actually my go-to pregnancy
craving.
I craved cottage cheese withsliced tomatoes and pepper, like
a lot of pepper.
That was my pregnancy craving.
Oh, interesting, I still likeit.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Yeah, I know it's so funny what we crave when we're
pregnant.
I know I had such oddballthings when I was pregnant.
Cottage cheese is great, it'sgreat, but the over-focus on I
mean listen, there's always atrend of the moment focus on
protein.
I mean, listen, there's alwaysa trend of the moment.
Every time you think that likewhat other, like diets, what

(54:25):
other trendy things can come upright now it's protein.
And yeah, just like in fitness.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
It's strength training, right, exactly.
Everybody wants the answer.
That's what it is.
They just want to tell me whatto do Right, yes, tell me what
to do to fix this and just tellme what to eat and tell me what,
how to exercise and just tellme what to do, right, yes, tell
me what to do to fix this.

Speaker 1 (54:41):
And just tell me what to eat and tell me what.
How to exercise and just tellme what to do, tell me what
supplements to take.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
Right that, I did that.
I did that in I think it was2020, before I got certified.
I hired a like a wellness coachand I was like, tell me what I
need to take, and she gave meall these supplements and I took
them and they didn't reallymake that much of a difference.
Yeah, you probably paid a tonof money.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
Oh my God Right, You're paying a ton of money.
Suddenly you're like why am Itaking this stuff?
Like what exactly is?

Speaker 2 (55:12):
supposed to be doing for me.
She was like you shouldprobably stop drinking.
I was like hell, no.

Speaker 1 (55:17):
Right, right, but give me all the supplements.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
Yeah, so stupid that was me.
I mean I'm calling myselfstupid, I'm not calling her
stupid because she was right,but also she gave me what I
asked for, which was just tellme what to do, just give me
supplements, exactly you knowyeah.

Speaker 1 (55:31):
Not blaming her.
She's amazing, but yeah, yeah,Well, so anyway, yeah.
So people are getting crazy forprotein right now and I think
that as long as you're justfocusing on a good protein
source at breakfast, lunch anddinner and your snacks, you're
fine, right For most women.
Would you agree with that?

Speaker 2 (55:47):
Yeah, I would definitely agree with that, and
I also think it's very true thatwe don't have, because of diet
culture and how we grew up, wedon't really have a good grip on
what a balanced diet looks like, and so, yeah, we're probably
not getting enough protein orfiber in our regular diet
because we eat a highlyprocessed diet and we live lives

(56:10):
of convenience, and so we haveto make adjustments for that,
yes, yes, and that takeseducation right.

Speaker 1 (56:18):
Just even me saying, like just get a good protein
source at every breakfast, lunchand dinner, I understand that
people might not even know whatthat means.
What does that mean, a goodprotein source?
So education is definitely iskey in this case, but I think
with this over-focus on protein,we're then sacrificing some
other nutrients, like fiber,which I think is much more

(56:40):
important than the over-focus ongetting so much protein, and
that's one nutrient that is very, very neglected in almost
everyone's diet, and now we haveto really focus on that.
And that comes from plants,right, fruits and vegetables and
whole grains and the emphasisyeah needs to really be more on

(57:04):
that.
We could, yeah, so that's Iwould love to see that
Definitely.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:08):
What other trends do you feel like you're seeing in,
you know, just in the menopausal?
I know there's been a lot oftalk about creatine yeah,
there's been a lot of talk aboutcreatine.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
Yeah, there's been a lot of talk about creatine.
Yeah, I don't really knowenough about it to say yes or no
.
I feel like, unless you're likea bodybuilder, I don't think
that you need creatine.
I don't think that you need towaste your money on creatine
Again.
It's not going to be that thingthat's going to make you all of
a sudden be free of yourperimenopause symptoms or your
menopause symptoms.
Creatine is not it.
Estrogen, estradiol is it.

(57:42):
If you want your symptoms to goaway, estradiol.
And if you have a uterusprogesterone.
That's what's going to do it.
Stop messing around withcreatine and all this BS.
Let's go get hormone therapy.

Speaker 1 (57:56):
Yeah, creatine is fine.
I'm no fan of really anysupplements unless you need to
fill in the gaps somewhere.
But creatine to me feels, fromwhat I know and from what I've
read about it, and it just feelslike another moneymaker.
You know it's that.
I don't know if it's going to,unless you are a bodybuilder
like you're really this is yourfocus that it's going to really

(58:18):
move the needle.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
Yeah.
Like are you really this isyour focus, that it's going to
really move the needle, yeah,and it'll help with recovery.
If you're you know, if you'rerunning marathons or if you're
doing heavy, heavy lifting ortraining people all the time, or
if you are like a professionalfitness instructor and you're
constantly moving and liftingand hustling, then, yeah,
creatine would probably be greatfor you.
But again, you know, like Isaid at the beginning,

(58:42):
everybody's experience and needsare different.

Speaker 1 (58:46):
Exactly.
Yeah, so we don't just all of asudden have to start adding in
creatine.
Same goes with, I think,probiotics, turmeric, I would
say collagen powder.
I think those three have gotten, in my world and in the world
of nutrition, a lot of buzz,huge amount of buzz, and there's
just not a lot of evidence forany of these supplements.

(59:09):
And then don't get me startedon, just like the supplements
for, like you know, whateverthey're called, like menopause
supplements to help ease yourhot flashes and you know, with
herbs and vitamins in them,those are a no.
I mean, those are, those are aflat out no.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
Yeah, save your money .

Speaker 1 (59:26):
You save your money.

Speaker 2 (59:27):
Yes, the one thing that I would love to ask you
about I've been hearing a lotabout women taking GLP ones for
hot flashes.
What are your opinions onGLP-1s for, specifically
menopause symptoms?

Speaker 1 (59:44):
I have seen no evidence of using GLP-1s for
menopause symptoms.
That's not what they'represcribed for.
They're prescribed for weightloss and to decrease your hunger
cues, and taking them formenopause symptoms is absolutely
crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:00:03):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's really unpleasant side
effects.

Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
They can.
They can have a lot ofunpleasant side effects.
Listen, there's a time andplace, I think, for GLP ones, if
people are really strugglingwith with their weight and they
have, they have tried otherthings and but there's a and for
diabetes, you know that'sdefinitely definitely proven
that it's a lifesaver and it'salso a hormone replacement tool.

(01:00:29):
That's right, it is a hormonereplacement.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:00:33):
But as far as specifically for menopause
symptoms, nothing can replacetaking estrogen, right, right.
Yeah, what have you heard aboutit?

Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
Not much, just that people are starting to prescribe
it for menopausal weight gain.
And the hot flashes.
It's just convenient.
Again, it's like give me theanswer, with me not having to do
any work.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
Yes, I mean.
I know more and more women whoare taking GLP-1s when they do
not have a significant amount ofweight to lose.
So, and I that that doesn't makesense to me, because the
likelihood of you being on aGLP-1 forever is pretty slim and
once you go off the GLP-1, yourall your hunger, all hunger,

(01:01:21):
all the benefits, all the weightloss is very likely to come
back.
So you've really learnednothing, I mean, I think it
would be a better use of women'stime to learn the habits and
the mindfulness and mindsetaround eating better and eating
well, than just injectingthemselves with a drug to lose

(01:01:44):
weight to then gain a bit.
Or or, if you are on a glp-1,take the time, take it as an
opportunity to learn some newhabits while you're on it
because do a little resetbecause you it's a good idea we
will be going off of, I mean,you know, unless you're on it,
for you know, the rest of yourlife, but that would be a long

(01:02:04):
time to be on that medication.
I think, although we don't knowa lot of, we don't know a lot
about the like really long-termeffects of it, true, true, yeah,
I think again, it's differentfor everyone.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
There's no right or wrong answer for the combination
that you need, but with any ofthese.
So if you choose hormonetherapy, if you choose GLP-1s,
it's a yes and it's that, andit's managing your fitness, your
nutrition, your sleep, yourstress management.
Absolutely, you've got to thinkabout cortisol, because

(01:02:40):
cortisol is going to mess withyou if you don't regulate it,
and you have to regulate itthrough awareness, nervous
system down regulation, a good,consistent sleep schedule and a
diet that is not going toinflame your entire body.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
Yes, yeah, I know we, I mean mean, I'm going to have
you back on because I feel likewe have got so much more to talk
about.
We didn't even like cover halfof it, and I'm looking at the
time and so I want to have youback on to just finish our
conversation about justanti-inflammatory diets, right,
I mean we've a lot that wedidn't totally cover, so, but I

(01:03:20):
want to just ask you one justlast question.
I think you sort of justanswered it.
But what is well nourishedoverall, just mean to you?
I think you just answered it.
I mean, we're talking aboutsleep.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
Yeah, I think nourishment is such a wonderful
word, and to be well nourished,you think about what feeds you
right, you think about whatmakes you feel satisfied, and so
when I think about being a wellnourished person, I think about

(01:03:55):
being taken care of, I thinkabout caring for myself, I think
about the quality of my life asa whole.
It's a pretty holistic answer.
For me is to be well nourishedis to be well fed, well slept,

(01:04:16):
well exercised and inspired andcreative and have a full life.

Speaker 1 (01:04:25):
Yeah, that's what I think it means.
Yeah, I agree with you.
I think it feels well,nourished, feels very safe.
To me, you know like you'regetting taken care of, and I
think that's that's what we needright now A lot of self-care
and asking for help, like If youneed somebody to nourish, you
ask for it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
Ask your doctor for that hormone therapy, ask your
partner to give you a massagewhen your back hurts Just ask.
Ask for space.
Lord knows, we need it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
Yes, and learning to speak up right and ask for what
you want and what you need.
Yeah, well, erica, this hasbeen a fantastic conversation,
so much fun.
And how do women get in touchwith you?
I know you're in the middle ofa big move right now, but yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
So they can find me at erikashannoncom it's Erica
with a K.
You can also find me on allsocial media at Erica Shannon
movement and on my website.
I have everything fromdownloads on menopause and
weight gain and brain fog.
I also have a workout platformwith over 100 workouts on it

(01:05:36):
that you can log into and I doeverything from recovery, cardio
, sculpt, kickboxing andstrength training, including
some of that peripheral heartaction that I talked about and I
also have a community, amenopause community, where it's
a members only situation, wherepeople log on and we do
challenges for our differentphases of self-care.

(01:06:00):
We do challenges, we sharerecipes and we have a book club,
and so I have a special goingon right now where you can get
one month for free and I'llactually I'll drop you a coupon
code so that your people can geta little extra.

Speaker 1 (01:06:15):
Okay, great.
Well, I will put all thoselinks in the show notes so
people can check that out.
And thank you so much.
You're so welcome.
Let's do this again.

Speaker 2 (01:06:25):
Definitely Thanks, Heather.