Exploring Perimenopause with Dr. Kristina Calder

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, my dear friend , welcome to the Reflective
Parenting Podcast.
My name is Cindy Huffington andI am your host.
If you are a parent that hasnever learned how to regulate
their emotions, maybe you grewup in an environment where there
was a lot of emotiondysregulation and now that you
are a parent, you are strugglingto know how to model healthy

(00:21):
emotional coping skills for yourchild, or teaching them how to
cope with stress and that's alsoaffecting your level of stress
and your level of happiness thenyou are at the right place.
My name is cindy and I am a momof three from montreal, canada,
and I have a phd inneuroscience.
My goal, through this podcastand everything that we do within
the curious neuron company,which I am the founder of, is to

(00:44):
support parents in learningabout their emotions, learning
how to regulate your emotionsand learning how to model this
for your kids so that you canteach them healthy emotional
coping skills.
All of these skills are knownto protect a future, our child's
future, well-being and mentalhealth, and so I know that we
don't have enough support asparents and I want to make sure

(01:05):
that Curious Neuron and thispodcast, the Reflective
Parenting podcast, is a spacefor you to feel seen, to feel
understood as a parent, to gainsome awareness in terms of why
some things might be affectingyou and, more importantly, to be
that space where you can learnhow to cope with emotions, know
what impacts your emotions andfeel good about what you are
teaching and modeling for yourchild.

(01:28):
Today's topic is going to bespecifically for women.
Sometimes I do topicsspecifically for moms,
specifically for dads, today'sfor moms.
And the reason why I wanted tocover perimenopause is because,
well, first, I'm 41 and many ofmy friends, people around me,
are going through the firstsymptoms and signs of
perimenopause, and so are thepeople that are part of this

(01:51):
community.
I'm talking to lots of parents.
I keep talking to parents sothat I know the struggles that
you're going through, and somemoms have asked me like why am I
feeling more depressed duringsome parts of the month?
Why am I feeling more anxiousall of a sudden?
Why am I feeling more anxiousall of a sudden?
Or why am I anxious all of asudden when I wasn't before?
And I know that all of thisimpacts how we are going to cope

(02:11):
with our emotions, and so it'sextremely relevant to us as moms
, if we can understand thatmaybe, perhaps something is
happening with us that we don'thave control over and maybe, as
we will see with them, as as wetalk with Dr Christina Calder,
maybe we need to speak to ourdoctor about this we will see a
positive impact on how we copewith our emotions, how we cope

(02:34):
with stress and how we can dothis around our child, because
we know that it matters, and soI want to give you this
information to help you Before Imove forward with my
conversation with Dr ChristinaCalder.
I do want to thank theTannenbaum Open Science
Institute, as well as theMcConnell Foundation, for
supporting the ReflectiveParenting Podcast.
I am so grateful that theybelieve in the importance of

(02:56):
science, as I do with everythingthat I do here, not only for
the Reflective Parenting Podcast, but Curious Neuron as a whole.
I want to make sure that youhave access to free material,
and you can do that.
You can get access to ourlatest articles on
CuriousNeuroncom which, by theway, you will see a big change
later this week, and so if youhaven't visited CuriousNeuroncom

(03:18):
, I encourage you to wait.
By the time you listen to thison Monday, if you wait by
Wednesday, then the websiteshould be up and running, and so
, kirstenroncom, you can nowcreate a login so that you can
save the articles that matter toyou.
There are different categories.
It's so much more accessiblethan it was before, and I'm
really excited for you to seethe new website.

(03:38):
It's taken almost two years ayear and a half.
We had a pre-launch.
Anyways, you'll see it'sgorgeous.
And for those parents who arelistening to this and saying,
well, I follow you on socialmedia Facebook, instagram,
curious Neuron and I listened tothis podcast, but now I need a
little bit more.
So if you're a parent who says,who feels like you've been

(04:01):
listening to this and now youknow that you struggle with
coping with emotions orregulating your emotions, you're
seeing the impact of thisbecause your child struggles
with coping with their ownemotions, and this is seen by a
lot of behavior that you can'tcontrol or support then maybe
it's time for you to take thatstep into joining the Reflective
Parent Club.
Take the three months to learnhow to regulate your emotions,

(04:23):
to understand how you usuallycope or regulate, understand
which thoughts you get stuck onor which emotions you get stuck
on, and to get the tools tomodel effective coping skills
for you, for your child.
That is what the ReflectiveParent Club is all about, and so
I want to make sure thatthere's a space for parents.
There's so many parents thatare coming into the Reflective

(04:43):
Parent Club that score low on ascale that they take.
That is, the parentalcompetence scale.
Many of us get stuck in thisover-education mode where we're
reading every single thing aboutparenting to try to know or
learn and feel confident thatwe're saying the best thing for
a child, when, in the end, it'spart of it.

(05:03):
However, a bigger part of thatis trusting your instincts,
trusting yourself, and that iswhat we do within the Reflective
Parent Club.
I'm not following a certainmodel.
I'm following research.
I want you to have access tothese studies, which we
summarize inside the ReflectiveParent Club.
I want you to have access tothese studies but, more
importantly, as you're workingyour way through this
three-month program and, by theway, it's about 10 to 15 minutes

(05:26):
a week, if you can.
If you have less time one week,it's fine.
If you have more time one week,it's okay, but that's the time
you take on your own, and then,if you really don't have time,

(05:47):
you join the weekly calls.
I'm here with you every singleTuesday at 12 pm Eastern time,
montreal time or 8 pm Easterntime, and you can come onto the
calls and say hey, cindy, I didthe activity on values, but I'm
stuck.
Or you could jump on the calland say this was a really shitty
week and I don't even knowwhere to begin.
My friends are busy, I don'thave family members to talk to,
and so you come on the call andI'm there for you to walk you
through it, gaining youperspective, ask you questions
to help you reflect, to seewhere you're getting stuck.

(06:07):
That is what the ReflectiveParent Club is all about.
We are slowly moving intoclinics, both in Canada and the
US, and so if you run a clinic,or if you or your child's at a
clinic and you want our servicesto be part of that clinic so
that all parents are taken careof, you, going to the clinic
should not just be about yourchild, it should also be about

(06:30):
you.
It's about time that we startchanging pediatric care so that
we look at the parent and sayhow are you?
Are you okay, do you need somesupport?
Because we know from researchthat when the parent is
struggling, so will the child,and so I am excited to see what
is coming up for Kirsten on thenext couple of months and this

(06:50):
year, and I hope that you joinme and share Kirsten on anywhere
that you can, including thispodcast.
All right, that's enough chitchat.
Dr Christina Calder is actuallysomebody that I met when I was
doing my master's degree atQueen's University many years
ago and I was in rehabilitationscience.
She was doing her PhD inrehabilitation science and we

(07:12):
clicked.
She's awesome, so fun, and whathappened is that we reconnected
on LinkedIn.
She's doing such amazing work,similarly to what happened to me
, where we got our degrees, wedid the work that we needed to
do and then realized that wealso had a passion for something
similar to our area of focus,but slightly, a little bit to

(07:34):
the side, and so she has beendoing a lot of really important
work.
I put her handle down in thenotes for the show notes of this
podcast episode so you canfollow her.
If you are a mom that is reallystruggling and understanding.
When do I exercise?
How much?
What do I eat?
Which vitamins do I take?
Am I going throughperimenopause?
What does this mean in terms ofmy diet or the way that I'm

(07:58):
working out?
Do I do less weights?
Should I take heavier weights?
Christina Calder is the personfor you, and so I hope you enjoy
my conversation and, even ifyou're not a mom, if you're a
dad listening to this podcast Iknow that there are many dads
that listen to this podcast.
You know, one thing that I heardfrom moms many times and I

(08:19):
which is why I think it's stillimportant for you is
understanding what we are goingthrough.
I think that it's so importantin the postpartum phase, after
giving birth, some fathers don'tunderstand, and it seems like
it's coming out of nowhere.
How can you be this sad, or whyare you so?
Why are you raging all the time?
It's our emotions and ourhormones and it takes over, and
so, as you're going tounderstand through this

(08:40):
conversation, the same thing isstarting to happen in
perimenopause now, as if we havenot gone through enough, and so
I think it's really importantfor all of us to understand what
happens, and so I hope youenjoy my conversation with Dr
Christina Calder aboutunderstanding women's health,
especially in our 40s.
See you on the other side.
Hello everyone, and welcomeback to the Curious Drone

(09:02):
Podcast and, as promised in theintro, I am here with Christina
Calder.
Welcome, dr Christina Calder.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
Thanks for having me, Cindy.
I'm excited to be here.
I'm so happy that you're here.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
So just to give everyone a bit of a backstory
about this we know each other.
We've known each other well.
We knew each other from a verylong time ago, but we did.
I was doing my master's and youwere doing your PhD right when
we were studying at Queen'sUniversity.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So we had Tatiana here on thepodcast and now I have you, and
it's just interesting how lifehappens where I'm reconnecting

(09:31):
to those people that I, you know.
We connected and I really lovedspending time with you and we
played soccer.
You played soccer too, right,right?
Yeah, yeah, no-transcript.

(10:06):
And I know you have anInstagram account and we'll
share that in the show notes.
How did you get into this area?

Speaker 2 (10:12):
Well, it's really lived experience and I feel like
a lot of people kind of getinto it once they've gone
through something and then theywant to share what they've
learned.
So for me personally, it wasentering my forties and all
these changes that werehappening and I was just what is
going on.
Um, you know, personally for meit was like I was at the time

(10:32):
doing triathlon, so I wasgetting like I found my muscle
was kind of wasting away.
I was really fatigued and tired.
I wasn't recovering as well.
Um, I was getting all theseinjuries.
So it kind of started in thatarea and I started doing
research because, again, mybackground is on neuromuscular
physiology and part of mydoctorate thesis was looking at,
you know, muscle relatedinjuries and what's going on at

(10:53):
the neuromuscular level.
So, of course, being like you ascientist and loving research,
I really started to dive into itand it was.
It was a book that I read.
I don't know if you've heard ofDr Stacey Sims and Celine
Yeager, but they're really bigin the women's space and
exercise science and women inperimenopause and so I read this

(11:14):
book that a friend recommendedto me and it was just eye
opening.
It was just talking about allthese symptoms that were related
to perimenopause and I was likewhat did I?
Like I didn't know what it wasat the time, like I hadn't heard
of it, right?
Like you know, we kind ofremember maybe that our moms
went through this phase in theirlife where, like I remember, my
sister and I explained it aswhen, like mom would go crazy is

(11:36):
kind of what we say right, likeshe would just lose her, you
know, and it was just that'skind of all I really knew about
it and I knew it happened whenyou turned around 50.
So when I started noticingthings in my 40s I was just kind
of like, again, I thought I had10 years till that phase.
So again, yeah, it was reallylike reading the book it was

(11:57):
called Next Level.
That just opened me up to likeall these different symptoms and
I was like checking all theseboxes and so I just kind of went
down this journey of learningeverything I possibly could
listen to, all the podcasts youknow, reading all the articles I
could and then it ended up megoing kind of back to getting a
coaching certification.
So it was a year long programto become a women's health coach

(12:18):
and functional nutrition, andthen I've specialized in
perimenopause, menopauseresearch.
So I've taken some additionalcertifications in that area and
then you know, getting mypersonal training certification,
kind of getting back into thespace of women's health and more
muscular, skeletal.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
And honestly like so I'm 40, I'm going to be 42.
And I remember when I turned 40, it was like maybe a couple
months after that I starteddeveloping insomnia and I spoke
to a friend of mine.
I was like, wow, something'sgoing on.
I didn't think I was stressed,but I was getting these really
one week long insomnia stretches, and they were happening every

(13:02):
month that I didn't realizestretches, and they were
happening every month that Ididn't realize.
And then, at one point, afterlike the eighth month of this
happening, my friend was likehold on a second, I just took a
course on perimenopause and it'spossible that this is linked to
it.
And so I started taking notesand I realized it was the week
right before I was at my periodthat I would get insomnia.
And I spoke to my mom, I spoketo my mother-in-law, I spoke to

(13:22):
some women in my life that forsure like they're in their 60s,
and I'm like well, you wentthrough this, so I'm going to go
see you and seek some advicefrom you.
And they were like oh yeah, wedidn't know anything about that.
We didn't like why didn't?
I was upset that they didn't.
Why didn't they warn me aboutthis?
But they didn't know, and sothey were looking for like signs
.
They were thinking like themenopause aspect was what you

(13:44):
know they were waiting for, butnobody had explained
perimenopause to them.
So can we understand a littlebit more about what
perimenopause is and, like this,the changes that you saw as
well in your body?
What age does this start?
And and and what is how?
Why are we seeing these changes?

Speaker 2 (13:59):
yeah, like honestly, I feel like if you're in your
40s you could, could beperimenopausal, right, and some
people start early as their late30s it's.
You know, our 40s are reallythis kind of pivotal time.
There's what's happeningbiologically.
So we have all these hormoneshifts and it's really
interesting If you look at likea chart of like your estrogen
and your progesterone whenyou're going through puberty,

(14:21):
they look pretty similar towhat's happening at
perimenopause, like they're kindof all over the place, so
they're pretty consistent.
When we kind of, you know,reach our kind of 20s through,
you know, kind of into our likemid 30s, and then they're kind
of erratic again.
So we've got these hormonalshifts that are happening, these
big all over the place estrogen, progesterone.
So these fluctuations kind ofcause a bit of havoc on our

(14:45):
system.
We also kind of we start to seebody composition changes too,
right, kind of happening in our40s.
You know, a lot of people saywhat used to work for me isn't
working anymore If they're maybetrying to lose some weight that
they've put on.
Another big thing is, you knowagain, and it's kind of related
to the body composition there's,these metabolic changes are
happening.
Some insulin sensitivity couldbe also happening and it's

(15:07):
related to, again, the declinesin estrogen and also our muscle
mass is declining, right, andand again that's a big part of
what I was studying was likemuscle and when people got
injured, how you'd have atrophyor you know, you talk about
sacropenia as you get older.
So, again, I never thoughtabout women in their 40s, how
much losing that muscle could beimpacting all these factors.

(15:27):
And the biggest thing too, ifyou think about our 40s, it's a
huge kind of lifestyle thingsare happening.
So, again, for a lot of women,this is kind of when they're at
the peak of their career, right,this is maybe when they're kind
of making that senior levelmanagement position, so it's
more stressful, so they'redealing with potentially more
stress at work.
However, their hormones allover the place, so they're not

(15:48):
able to kind of it's just, it'sjust, it's almost like this
perfect storm that's happening.
And then, and then add on topof that and this is personally
how that happened to me you haveteenagers in the house, so not
only are my hormones all overthe place, but my teenage
daughters are all over the place.
So it's just this, it's justyeah, and it's the sandwich

(16:11):
generation, right?
I don't know if you've heardthis term, but it's like we also
then have our aging parents.
So not only am I worried aboutmy parents, I'm stressed about
what's going on in my career.
Then I have my children, andagain, nobody ever told me this.
Like when your children arelittle, you kind of you know
you're worried about feedingthem and making sure they get
enough food and sleep properlyand they make friends and all

(16:33):
that.
But then when they become theseteenagers, it's this emotional,
it's like this psychologicalworld that I'd never, even I
didn't even realize was comingmy way right, but it's like,
it's constant.
So again it's.
It's perimenopause is typicallyin our 40s.
Again, it could happen as earlyas 30, it could last like five
to 10 years until you reachmenopause.

(16:54):
And like menopause is whenyou've had 12 consecutive months
with no period.
So once you've had no periodfor 12 months, then you're
that's menopause.
Like that day is you're inmenopause and then.
So everything after that iskind of post menopause.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Wow, okay.
So this perfect storm thatwe're in maybe somebody's
listening to this and says, well, okay, you know, maybe I was
already moody a little bit, oryou know, the rage happened to
me and that's part of what Ialways experienced.
What are some signs andsymptoms that we should be
looking out for in terms of like?
Maybe this is perimenopause.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
Yeah.
So there it's, it is insane.
Actually, if you look at thesymptom list, like you think the
typical, right, you're like youhear, okay, so perimenopause,
menopause symptoms, it's hotflashes, yeah, it's mood swings,
right, and those are kind oflike the biggest things you hear
, maybe increased anxiety like,but there's this, there's a,
there's numerous amount Likeit's kind of again, when I read

(17:49):
this, the book, and I was like,oh my goodness, I have like all
these things.
So really, when I work withclients, the first thing cause
they always say, how do I know,can I take a blood test?
I'm like, well, blood testsdon't really tell all over the
place.
That kind of looking at yourhormone levels isn't the
greatest way to do it and it'snot recommended by um, a lot of
doctors.
So step one is kind of like areyou, do you have irregular

(18:11):
periods like, are they shorter,are they heavier, are they like
lighter?
So kind of start tracking.
I always tell my clients tokind of track and I and I kind
of have a worksheet that I workwith them to help this.
And again, a lot of people nowhave like their Apple watches or
whatever they have to track alot of how they're feeling, and
so that's kind of the first signis if your, your periods are

(18:32):
changing, hot flashes, nightsweats, so that's another thing
I experienced was more nightsweats and my inability to
handle wine.
I used to be able to have aglass of wine and sleep, no
problem.
That's things I startednoticing in my early forties.
I couldn't if I have wine.
Now I know I'm not going tosleep.
Well, right, and and again it's.
I'm a data person.
So then I look at my I have myaura ring the next morning.

(18:55):
I look at what's the you know,your HRV, and I can see that my
parasympathetic, sympatheticsystem is not working that great
because of wine, right so yousee that you're not able to
handle that type of out ofstress.
Um, you kind of said the moodswing, so like this is the big
one is the increased anxiety andmood swing.
So and again, if you have thesesymptoms, kind of when you're

(19:16):
younger, the chances of themcoming back and coming back full
swing when you're inperimenopause is like the
research shows it's like twofoldright, like it's just like if
you had it when you're inperimenopause is like the
research shows it's like twofoldright, like it's just like if
you had it then you're going toget it now, type thing.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
Well, I'm happy that you said the anxiety part right,
because it's not just moodswings there.
I know many people my age thatexperienced severe anxiety that
came out of nowhere in the early40s.
Well, it felt like it came outof nowhere.
So, from what you're saying,that very possible.
It's not about mood swing atthat point.
It's about your mental healthbeing affected.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah, yeah, and and honestly, that's like that's one
thing that I experienced.
So I I never really had anxietyand I would notice we would be
up at a cottage and normally ifmy kids went out tubing I would
be like have fun, but I wascrippled with this fear and all
I could think about the wholetube ride was they were gonna
flip and another boat going tocome and kill right, like it was
just like right, and I couldnot enjoy myself and it was just

(20:07):
so there.
I had a lot of, I experienced alot of kind of anxiety, like
stuff that I never really hadbefore.
So that was another thing whereI'm like check, you know.
I mean, um, I did get the bitof the weight gain around the
midsection, which again kind ofhappens as well, and the other
thing was joint pain.
So it wasn't just like generaljoint pain injury, it was kind
of over the whole body and itwas.

(20:29):
This is brought dr bonda rightas someone who talks about this
a lot.
She's an orthopedic surgeon andshe coined the term um, I'm
gonna forget the name of itright now.
Again, another part of menopauseis you because you forget yeah,
we can add in the show notesfor everybody after yeah yeah,
but it's just this general, likemuscle pain, like I would get

(20:49):
up and I feel like an 80 yearold person, like not being able
to get out of bed.
So just having this joint pain,um, and another big thing that
women go through is just having,you know, general decrease in
their libido.
You know vaginal dryness isanother thing that kind of
happens.
Um, I also had like itchy ears,like really itchy ears, like it
was just like I would be in,and so again, I kind of had my

(21:10):
own journey and then once Ipersonally decided to go on HRT
and once I started estrogen myI'm lucky, because it doesn't
not everybody has the samereaction, a lot of people do go
but my joint pain went away.
I don't have the itchy earsanymore.
You know, my mood hasstabilized more.
My anxieties come down a bit,like I feel like I'm kind of
back to my old self, yeah, sothose are kind of, I think, a

(21:34):
lot of the main symptoms thatyou would hear about in
perimenopause.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
Again, it's just, yeah, that general anxiety, mood
swings, some night sweats, hotflashes, um, joint pain, yeah
it's, it's a lot, and and itdoesn't mean that we're going to
get all of it right, because Ithink for myself, it was really
just the insomnia that like cameup, and I did have um other

(21:58):
little things here and there,but it wasn't it's so hard, and
I'm glad that you said to trackit, because, as much as it's
going to feel like work for us,it's actually going to help you
understand what's happening toyou a little bit better.
Right, that's only when Istarted noticing when this
insomnia was happening, and so Ido think that it's important
that we kind of come back tothat and collect some data so

(22:18):
that we understand what does itlook like for us?
I I you know you spoke aboutthe anxiety and, like I said, so
many women have experiencedthis.
Um, I, I want us to get kind ofget like a little bit nerdy and
go into this gaba ergic system.
You spoke about this on socialmedia and I think that it's
really important for manyparents to understand that.
So what is gaba, what is thegaba ergic system, and and why

(22:39):
do you think, um, what should weknow about that?

Speaker 2 (22:43):
yeah, yeah.
So again, this is something thatI kind of came across when I
was doing a lot of the research,because there's a researcher I
don't know if you've heard ofher, dr Lisa Moscani, and she's
really big with women and brainhealth and what's happening
during perimenopause, menopause,and so what she's finding in
her research is that thisdecline in estrogen it's having
an effect in the brain.

(23:06):
Is that this decline in estrogenit's having an effect in the
brain, and so estrogen is knownto be, you know, it really kind
of helps with our I believe it'sthe, it's the inhibitory
neurotransmitter, so it's thatcalming in the neural activity.
So, well, that is what GABAdoes, right, like, gaba is
something that is in the brainand acts as a neurotransmitter,
so it is what is our calming.
So if we have a decrease inestrogen and estrogen is known

(23:29):
to have a, you know, a reallyprofound influence on the gaba
function, um, you know, it doeshelp regulate the production and
the activity of gaba and thereceptors.
So if we don't have as muchestrogen in there, we don't have
the same calming effects, right?
So that's, I think, one of thebiggest thing that's coming out
with her research is kind oflooking at that relationship

(23:51):
between the two.
So yeah, so duringperimenopause this fluctuation
it can really disrupt.
You know that GABA system.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
Well, it's so important to know this because
sometimes there are things that,just by knowing, you feel a bit
more normal, right, like?
I think this is one of thosethings where knowing this is not
going to change how youfunction tomorrow.
However, knowing that this ishappening in your brain, at
least those thoughts that wehave, those negative thoughts,
are like what's wrong with me,right, like?
I hope that helps somebodywho's listening, because there

(24:20):
are so many changes happeningand these changes are leading to
you not having the same controlover certain things like your
emotions and mental health, andit's really important, yeah.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
No, I totally agree.
I had this conversationactually with a client the other
day because you know we weretalking about you know kind of
what's going on with her, andshe was just saying, again, it
was just all these things werehappening in her life that were
really stressful and she wasfeeling, you know, fatigued and
these things were happening inher life that were really
stressful and she was feeling,you know, fatigued and you know
she was saying that she had somesymptoms of like thought or
period was coming, like breasttenderness, all this stuff and

(24:51):
that, and she wasn't able tohandle a lot of what was going
on in life.
And I was like you need to giveyourself grace, like yeah, like
you're saying right now, youhave all these symptoms, so you
know you're going to be gettingyour period soon, so that that,
so you know your hormones areall over the place.
You're in perimenopause, youknow you, you have to like allow
people around you, to like yourhusband and you know to be like
I right now am feeling this way, right and to, and I think it's

(25:14):
really getting the support fromyour network and who's around
you and like I know I do thatwith my family.
You know what I mean.
If sometimes I'm like, you know,I'm just having a bit of a day,
you know what I mean, I justneed a bit of time, and they're
fine with that.
Well, they hear me talk aboutit all the time, so you know,
they're quite very much like oh,mom needs her moment, right.
But I do think it isacknowledging it and knowing

(25:36):
that what you're going throughis because of these hormone
changes.
It's not because, you know, Imean like you're losing it.
There's a reason for it, right,and it's okay if we all go
through it.
We all go through it if we'relucky to go through it, right,
if we're lucky to be around atthis time and it, and once you
get over that hump, like it isbetter on the other side, and
this is what I've heard, right.
So it's just kind of gettingthrough this storm and and yeah,

(25:59):
and I think, as you say, it'sgetting it out there.
So people know what to expectand how to support themselves
during this time as well, rightgoing through these changes.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
all of these changes leads to us having to be a
little bit more mindful of ourdiet.
I see so much online in termsof like eat just beef, like eat
a steak every day, three times aday, or vegetables are bad, or
eat these vegetables, or onlyeat vegetables and eat this much
.
It's just, it's reallyoverwhelming, and so I could
only imagine people out theresaying like I don't even know
what to, I don want to eatanything anymore because
everything's bad for me.
And is that changing for me asa woman now that I'm in my 40s,

(26:42):
are going through perimenopause?
So what are some things that weshould know?
Some overall, you know generalthings when it comes to diet
when we are going through thesechanges.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Yeah, like you know, absolutely Like, this is, I
think, this one area.
There's a lot of misinformationthat is out there and it makes
me really angry because I dofeel, like a lot on social media
, that people are reallytargeting and taking advantage
of women during thisperimenopausal stage.
You know they're trying to sellthem like this, we can fix your
menopause ballet or these arelike all this stuff.

(27:12):
I think with anything and Ialways say this like you're an N
of one right, like we're allindividual what works for one
person is not going to work forthe other.
So the biggest thing that I seewhen I work with my clients, it
is protein, and you do hear thisall the time like protein,
protein, protein.
It's like a full time job, Ithink, to try to eat enough
protein.
But if you think about it, aswe age, as everyone ages, man or

(27:33):
woman, we're losing our musclemass, and the way to maintain
our muscle mass is to eat enoughprotein and to work out right,
to strength train right.
So the one biggest thing I saywhenever I'm working with any of
my clients is, honestly, like,if we could do anything, let's
have breakfast right, like,let's like we need to support
our system Like we wake up andwith our cortisol levels like we

(27:55):
should eat breakfast, and inmaking sure that we get around
30 to 40 grams of protein inthat breakfast.

Speaker 1 (28:02):
What does that mean?
Or look like?

Speaker 2 (28:04):
so you know I've done a few posts like this.
A lot of people ask like, howdo you get that?
And and whether you do itwithout protein supplementation.
So I do use whey protein.
I do find it's just an easy wayto to do it.
So I, every morning I have thesame thing.
I'm pretty boring.
I have my oatmeal because it'sgot my healthy carbs and my
fiber.

(28:25):
I put a scoop of my proteinpowder in it.
I also add some Greek yogurtwhich is high in protein.
So, again, some people couldjust have a big bowl of Greek
yogurt with some fresh fruit andnuts and stuff like that.
That's another great way to doit.
And yeah, I always throw berrieson it, like blueberries,
raspberries and to get magnesiumand like the healthy fats.
I love pumpkin seeds, soroasted pumpkin seeds I always

(28:46):
throw in it.
So I have this bowl everymorning and it's got around 50
grams of protein in it, right.
So the one good thing about it,too, is it helps, keeps you
satiated.
So that's another big factorwith protein is it's like
there's a lot of benefits to it.
And and again with with womenand I find busy women is a lot
of people skip meals, right, andbecause they're busy, they're

(29:07):
running around, there's a lotthat's going on and so, again,
working with people, I alwaystry to say having a meal every
three to four hours, so reallytrying to have that breakfast,
lunch and dinner at least, andwith each of those trying to get
around, you know, 30 to 40grams of protein is really it's
something that I think is reallyimportant.

(29:27):
That and the fiber, so gettingenough fiber, which we don't
right.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
I've only recently become aware of fiber.
I've been trying to be moremindful of what I eat.
I was getting the protein.
I have my bowl of Greek yogurtbeside me.
I was having before we startedchatting.
That's an easy part for me, butthe fiber I've noticed I don't
have a lot.
How do we, how can we be moremindful about fiber?
Because I've noticed that whenI'm more conscious of bringing
more into my diet, that I feelbetter.

(29:54):
I don't know what changes, butI just feel better.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
I don't know what changes, but I just feel better.
Yeah, well, it's because again,our like our gut, our gut
microbiome, as we age, oursystem's aging, so things are
changing.
You know what I mean?
Like what you might have beenable to use to eat before your
stomach could handle.
You can't anymore.
So there is a lot that's going,so it's supporting all that
stuff.
So, like again, anything that'shigh in fiber, or like a lot of

(30:23):
lentils are higher in fiber Iknow some people that that
supplement so whether they take,like my parents did, this all
the time, they still do.
Metamucil, right, like doingstuff like that to kind of help
get the fiber up.
So I'm I like tracking and alot of times with people I'll
say, just do it for a few days,like, I know it's a lot.
But even if you do it for a fewdays, like, use something like
MyFitnessPal and just scan thebarcodes, measure stuff, know
what you're putting in, just tohave an idea of how much protein
are you actually getting andhow much fiber, right, because
it would tell you that.

(30:43):
Because a lot of people I talkto I'm like they're like oh no,
I have a healthy diet, I gettons of protein.
I'm like, okay, like, tell me,like what, what's your, what's
your breakfast?
Like they're like, oh, I havelike two eggs and you know this,
and that I might keep two eggs.
That's almost like 14 grams ofprotein.
It's not enough.
I'm like, again, they don't.
A lot of times I just saytrying to get what your ideal

(31:04):
weight is.
So for me, let's say, my idealweight's around 160 pounds.
I should be eating around 160grams of protein, which is a lot
right.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
In a day.
That's your total In a day yes.
Wow, okay, and I know somebodywho's listening to this might
even feel uncomfortable at somepoint hearing this, because I
think, like the go-to when wewere younger or growing up, it's
like I'm going to skipbreakfast.
I want to lose weight, I wantto, but you're saying eat
breakfast, I need the protein, Ineed a lot of protein, but in

(31:34):
the end we're trying to buildmuscles.
It's not about the weightanymore.
Right, we need to let that go,maybe, and focus on I don't know
, maybe change or shift ourthinking around that.

Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yeah, yeah, and that's the.
It is.
It's the change, the shift, andthat's kind of like kind of
where I come up with my companyname.
There's a lot of shifts thatare happening with our hormonal
shift right, and a lot of womenI find aren't eating enough.
So that's the first thing too.
Like they're not even gettingwhat their, their basic
metabolic rate is like, whatthey just need to function as a,
as a person, just sitting allday Right, like a lot of people

(32:05):
are just cutting the calories soaggressively that they're
putting on more weight, likeit's working against them.
It causes even more fatigue.
That can happen.
It can happen and and andhonestly, that that is kind of
what happened with me, because Iwas no-transcript and I and I

(32:50):
looked into fasting and I read afew books about it, but the
more I've heard people talkabout it, I really like Peter
Attia, I follow him a lot.
It's kind of like, in the end,what is your goal?
And my goal and a lot ofpeople's goal should be to
maintain their muscle massBecause, again, the more muscle
you have, the more, the higheryour metabolic rate is so you

(33:11):
know what I mean the more youcan keep a healthy body
composition.
So if I'm skipping breakfast,then that could be impacting my
muscle mass.
I might be losing it.
Because I'm skipping breakfast,then that could be impacting my
muscle mass.
I might be losing it becauseI'm not getting in enough
calories and I'm not gettingenough protein right.
So again it really comes down tokind of what your goals are and
again I work very kind ofindividually with each person I

(33:32):
work with to kind of be likewell, what are your goals like?
Are your goals to have bodycomposition changes?
Is it to put more muscle on?
Is it to like what?
Where do you see yourself inthe year for your health?
Like, where do you want to get?
And and a lot of times it isthat shift of kate.
You need to.
You need to eat more.
You know you've stopped doingall this cardio, cardio, cardio.
You need to give yourself rest,right, a lot of people have to

(33:54):
work out every day and no, yourbody rest, especially in
perimenopause, when you're notsleeping, you have this
heightened cortisol.
You know there's just a lot offactors that come into play and
they're all individual and youknow you got to look at people
individually and kind of what'sbest for them in their current
state and what's going on intheir lives.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
I'm so happy that you're bringing all these points
up, because I know there areparts of discussions that I've
had with people and there's alot of misunderstanding and
misinformation out there.
Right, if we can dig a littlebit deeper into the workouts, I
think it's really important tounderstand.
You mentioned muscle and ourresting metabolic rate, so for
those who might not understandwhat that means, this is like
the energy, right, that our bodyis spending by just sitting.

(34:36):
Yes, yeah, just functioning.
Yeah, exactly Just functioning.
So not even thinking aboutworking out, but just sitting
down.
The more muscle we have, themore energy our body is using,
right, in simple terms, yeah,and this is why you know it's.
It's really important to to kindof understand this, because
I've had discussions with older,like women in my life that are
in their sixties and there'sthis misunderstanding of, like I

(35:04):
don't want to have big muscles,right, and so they do the
cardio, they walk for threehours a day, which is fine,
there's nothing wrong with that,but I don't think they're
supplementing it with the intakefor calories, right, the food
and the protein, and so thisagain.
That's why I even said like, wehave to shift that sort of idea
of like less calories, moreworkout, more cardio and all
that because I think we arestuck.
Even for myself, it's almostlike we've been told that so

(35:24):
often that it's really hard todisconnect or disassociate from
that and say, no, I need to workout, I need to lift weights
heavy weights, not just fivepounders, yeah.
So what does that look?

Speaker 2 (35:35):
like You're right.
It's like it's's this, it's andI have this conversation all
the time with women and they'rejust like well, I don't want to
get bulky.
Like I don't want to lift heavyweights because I don't want to
get bulky.
And I'm like you're not.
Do you know how hard it is toput muscle on?
Like it is hard.
Like I train four or five timesa week to try to put muscle on,

(36:02):
been doing this for years, butI'm still not bulky.
Um, so a lot.
It is that education.
It's around letting women knowthat lifting heavy weights is
not going to make them bulky.
Like a lot of times, when youask them what they want, they're
like well, I want to bestronger, okay.
Well, what's a strong?
Look to you.
Well, I want to feel toned, Iwant to be able to lift and do
all these things.
I'm like, okay, then that'sweight.
Like you need to do resistancetraining.
You're not going to feel strongby being on a running, on a

(36:23):
treadmill five days a week.
You know what I mean.
Like that's great for yourcardio, which you need, but but
yeah, so again, it comes down toyou know the two biggest things
I think with health and likehealth span is you know your
strength, so your muscularstrength, and like grip span is
you know your strength, so yourmuscular strength, and like grip
strength is a great gripstrength and your vo2 max are
the two big kind of predictorsof health span.

(36:44):
And so, with those twovariables, is strength training
for grip strength and then vo2max, so your cardio ability to
you know, take in and utilizeoxygen is your cardio, so
they're both important.
So, right, a lot of times withmy clients it's kind of again,
it's personalized like how, howoften can you get in a workout

(37:04):
right, based on their life andtheir lifestyle?
So really, the minimum level Iwould say is two times a week of
trying to do weight training.
So, and and if it's two times aweek, then just do two full
body days, right, and and youknow kind of what does that look
like.
So for some people it would belike it's the main movement, so
it's the main compound movements, like the squat, the hinge, the

(37:25):
push, the pull, and then youkind of do these accessory
movements to help with that.
So you know you could.
Only you only need to spendlike 20-30 minutes sometimes
doing these workouts but liftingheavy.
So what that would mean is,let's say, I tell you to lift
something five times.
If you lift it five times and atthe end I'm like, okay, like do

(37:45):
you feel like you could havedone a couple more, or could
you've done another 510?
And if you say another 510?
Well, that's not heavy enough,right, like you almost want to
lift where you could maybe haveonly done two or three more, and
that called reps in reserve.
So lifting heavy is getting tothe point where you're, you're
almost topped out and you know,I see this a lot at the gym.
I'll be at the gym and I'll seewomen on equipment and once

(38:07):
they leave I'll go on theequipment and I'm like they
might have only been doing likefive pounds.
I'm like, again, it's greatthat they're there, it's great
that they're at the gym andthey're moving their body, but
they, they could be so much moreefficient with their time,
right, if they just kind of knewto just push themselves a
little bit more.
They're not gonna become this,you know this bulky person, yeah
it's.

(38:27):
It's like, and it's somethingcalled progressive overload.
So it's kind of like if you,for example, go to the gym today
and you, let's say, you're 20pounds, you're benching, and you
and you do that, you know,let's say, three sets of five
and at the end you, you knowyou're feeling pretty good,
you've got that two to threereps in reserve.

(38:48):
So progressive overload meansthe next time you go to the gym
you go either a little bithigher in your weight or a
little bit more in your reps.
So again, you're progressingright.
And so every week you see thisincrease and cause you need to
put the stress on your body toget a response.
And so a lot of people mightjust go and keep doing the same
thing over and over again.
But well, you're not going toget stronger.
Yes, you're building the neuralnetworks, you're maybe becoming

(39:10):
more efficient and proficientwith the movement, but are you
actually getting stronger, right?
So increasing that weight orincreasing that resistance?
So a lot of people just need abit of education around that and
that's why I I always recommend, whether you talk to a personal
trainer, you know, at the gymthere's a lot of great kind of
free kind of YouTube apps youcan even kind of use as well if

(39:32):
people want to do home basedworkouts.
But but yeah, two times a weekminimum doing resistance
training I think is key and thenand then doing other activities
that support you Right?
So my big thing is a lot ofkind of the mental health and
kind of what's going on withanxiety and mood.
So I'm a very much outdoorperson.
I you can probably see on myInstagram I'm always like get
outside is my hashtag.

(39:53):
It's just a big stress relief.

(40:14):
And, and and even if I likesomeone's like, well, I don't
really like to walk.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
I'm like, just go to your end of your driveway one
day, if you're feeling, just gooutside into your driveway and
back.
Maybe the next day you'll maybewalk to the end of your road,
right, like it's just a startingpoint for some people, but
trying to get that 10 parents,it can be hard but we have to
find ways to prioritize it.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
But it is challenging for a lot of parents.
Pushing a stroller and you know, it brings me back to the days
and that was me with, like, whenI had was out with the kids and
I'm like this is, this is whathappens with women in midlife
when their children are older,like I used to be hoisting, you
know, a 20 pound baby andpushing the stroller, so I was

(40:49):
essentially weight training,right, if you think about it
like carrying this load orcarrying these bucket seats.
I'm not doing that anymore,right?
So, again, this is when you seea lot of changes happening at
perimenopause because you'reyou're not as active as you used
to be, right, unless you arebeing intentional about it.
So you know, that's another bigthing I think to think about
too, is, you know, we really dohave to kind of be intentional

(41:11):
with our, with our, with ourworking out and training and
taking care of our bodyphysically and mentally at this
time.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
And you know what sort of advice would you give
somebody who says, well, Ihaven't done this in a long time
.
I have kids now that are, likeyou know, maybe preteens or a
little bit older.
So I do think I have time, butwhere do I begin?
I know you said the two timesper week.
I want to also bring up, like,the idea of like it's not an all
or none thing, right, like youdon't have to do seven days a
week, two hours a day, because Iknow that some of us might go

(41:41):
towards the extreme.
Well, if two days is good, thenI'm assuming seven days is even
better.
Right, but there's a what's theword?
Like not a plateau, but at somepoint there's no more returning
I don't know why, I can'tremember the word right now Like
there's no return to investment, right, if you're working out
and muscle training seven days aweek, yeah, and again it comes
down to rest, like again there'sa like during this, this time

(42:03):
your body needs to rest, right.

Speaker 2 (42:04):
Like if you're putting strain or stress on your
muscle, it needs recovery time.
That's how, when it getsstronger, right.
So you know again.
When talking with, again it'sindividually, so it's like if
you're saying a person's cominglike I haven't done this in a
while, what, what do I do?
It's kind of like, well, whatdo you enjoy doing?
Like it's kind of trying tofigure out, because you don't
want to make it hard for them ifthey're already busy and life's
busy and like they have a lotgoing on.

(42:25):
It's kind of like, well, whathave you done or what have you
done in the past that you usedto enjoy?
Like you know, I mean like findsomething that's easy.
So if they're like you know Ihave weights in the basement or
yeah, like just something likejust like just start with one
habit, maybe just one thing theycould do, that's making them be
a bit more active and gettinginto this kind of routine,

(42:48):
because they'll realize how itmakes them feel good, right, and
it's so.
Again, it depends on theperson's time and what's
available and you know what youthink they're actually going to
do, because it is a tricky time.
There's a lot going on.
We're really busy at this time,so it's kind of finding what
will fit in your life, um, andnot add an extra stress right,

(43:09):
like you don't want to add thatextra thing to do so again, if
it's only two times a week,that's great.
If you could do four times,that's great.
Like that's, that's good.
Like four times, I would say,is like that's it, mac, that
like you know, I mean.
And then you could get reallyfun with your workouts, doing
kind of more like split typeworkouts one day you focus just
on upper body, the next daylower body, right versus like a
full body, or you know.

(43:29):
And then there's a there's thiswhole research out there around
um, hit or sit training, whichis a way to again help our
cardiovascular system.
So it'd be something like ifyou're walking on a treadmill,
um, you're just walking at aneasy pace, you know you can have
a conversation, you're kind ofzone two, uh, and then all of a
sudden you just increase itwhere you're kind of out of
breath for 30 seconds like asprint, like a sprint, and then

(43:51):
you go back down for anotherfour minutes, like if you can
add stuff like that into some ofyour.
Or even walking on the street,like you see a light post all of
a sudden, walk really fast tothe next light post, like it's
kind of like an intervaltraining, right, it's another
way to kind of so that you canplay around with it just by
doing your simple walking aroundthe neighborhood.
Add some variation to whatyou're doing to increase, you

(44:12):
know, your vo2 max and and I'm abig proponent of wearing
weighted vests, so I've.
I have a lot of my friends now,like a lot of people in the
neighborhood are all wearingweighted vests.
So I have a lot of my friendsnow, like a lot of people in the
neighborhood are all wearingweighted vests.
Again, it's just something youcan do that can help with your
muscle and bone health and youroverall health and I love what
you're kind of saying is likejust see what works for you.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
There's no like set formula.
It's just about moving yourbody and finding a routine that
works best for you.
And before you alluded to thefact that it doesn't even have
to be an hour, you said 20minutes, 20, 30 minutes, right,
and so it's possible for us tofit that in and everything that
you're talking about for me frommy background.
Now I think about mental health, Like when we feel like we're
stressed and we're just kind oflike keeping the stress inside

(44:51):
our bodies.
But when we work out and weexercise and move our body, we
mobilize that stress.
We feel better after.
I just think of the mornings.
I prefer working out in themorning, before the kids wake up
, and I do it from home andthere's so much on YouTube that
you can follow and it's simpleto do.
But the days that I don't dothat, I'm not my best self In

(45:12):
terms of emotions.
It's harder to cope.
So I do think it's importantfor us to get in some sort of
routine of whatever works bestfor you, but finding that
routine, because it's not onlythat you're going to notice your
physical health feel better,but your mental health is going
to feel better too, yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
Yeah, and it's like exactly what you just said, like
you've identified what worksfor you, right and and it's and
then it's around havingboundaries, like that is your
time, right, and it's kind oflike and you let your husband
know that, and you know what Imean Like it's just like my
husband knows if I don't getexercise and I'm going to be
miserable, right.
So it's very much like.
It's very much like mom needsto go for her bike ride, or you
know.
I mean like it's just, it'ssomething it's a non-negotiable

(45:50):
with with me and because I knowhow how much it impacts me
positively when I do get out forwhatever I need to do.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
Yeah, yeah, I love that.
You know another thing that Isee a lot on online and that
it's really difficult to knowwhat's best is these supplements
or shakes, or you know, and youmentioned whey protein and so I
have whey protein.
And it's funny because maybetwo months ago, somebody who's a
weight who does weight trainingin my family reached out to me
and said stop it, just stop thewhey protein.
I was like, okay, now what do Ido?
And they're like eat like fiveeggs instead of like two eggs

(46:26):
and your protein shake orwhatever it is.
And I was like I'm just soconfused and so what, what does
the research say?
Or what do you know in terms of, or what can you share with us
really in terms of like, whatcan we do to supplement Because
we're working out?
Do we take what's the other oneI hear a lot about With a C?
Oh, creatine, creatine, likewhat are all these things and do

(46:46):
we need them?

Speaker 2 (46:47):
Yeah.
So I think the big thing withsupplements is to really
understand.
That's the name.
It's a supplement, right Likeit's like.
So you should really try tohave a solid foundation with
your nutrition and your exerciseand your sleep and then
supplements are then used tohelp if that needs to be helped
in those areas.
So with respect to protein, yes,it's better to get it from the

(47:09):
real source, but if you can'tlike for whatever reason, then
supplementing with whey proteinyou know what I mean.
Like it's just like I will havemy one scoop a day and that's
what I do.
Some days I might not because Ican get it through other ways,
but it's I'm not having likethat in protein, but like I'm
not having a bunch of that kindof bad stuff.
But you know what I mean.

(47:29):
I I've I've heard a lot of kindof exercise physiologists,
nutritious, talk about.
You know it is okay tosupplement with whey protein.
It's been researched, it's.
I think it's a.
It's a.
It's, I think it's a.
It's a.
It's a safe way to kind of getin that extra protein if you
need to.
There's so much research aroundcreatine, so I do take a five
milligram scoop every morning.
I put it in my water, like Ihave it in you know, I always

(47:49):
have it in like my water andwith a little bit of
electrolytes, and there's a lotof research out there about how
it does really help with withmuscle performance if you are
strength training and also brain, and that's one thing I've
actually noticed is, you know, Idid have a bit of kind of brain
fog and stuff like that, and Ihave noticed that the creatine

(48:09):
has helped and again, I don'tlike taking supplements, so I
really researched it and there'sa lot of support and it keeps
coming out about it beingbeneficial.
So I do think creatine is agreat thing to have as a daily,
a daily dose in your water.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
Um the other one is it what is creatine?
Yeah, what is it helping with?

Speaker 2 (48:31):
creatine is something that is naturally in our
muscles, and so my understandingof what creatine actually is is
it kind of just helps with, youknow, kind of muscle
contraction?

Speaker 1 (48:41):
um yeah, okay, I think, yeah, I was just curious,
yeah because we have it storednaturally in our muscle.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
So it I think it is more around kind of the muscle
contraction part of it, I, butthe whole brain thing.
That's a new area, like Ididn't know that it could help
with that.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
But there is all this research supporting.
I'm gonna dig into it.
Yeah, yeah.
And what about like vitamins orminerals?
You mentioned the electrolytesin your water.
I started doing that as well.
Maybe somebody is hearing thisfor the first time.
Why are we hearing aboutelectrolytes all of a sudden now
?

Speaker 2 (49:11):
Well, it's and this is another thing that I learned
with kind of just learning asI've been doing is like if you
just have plain water, it's notactually being really absorbed,
absorbed right.
Like you need to have thatosmosis, like you have to have
either whether it be a littlebit of salt or like something in
your plain water for it toactually get into your cells.
So, for me, just putting like Ihave put a little scoop of like

(49:33):
electrolyte in my water, justagain to help with that process,
right, to help with hydration,because if you're just having
plain water with nothing else,you're not really hydrating
yourself, that great, um, but ifyou have water with like, when
you're just having plain waterwith nothing else, you're not
really hydrating yourself, thatgreat.
But if you have water with likewhen you're eating food,
obviously in your food you'vegot salts and all these other
things that will help it pass.
So, yeah, so that's a bigreason why I have electrolytes

(49:54):
and it's because I do typicallywork out every day, right, so I
am kind of replenishing that,and it's another thing that
happens actually inperimenopause and menopause
we're not as thirsty Like wekind of that thirst.
I didn't know that, yeah, soit's a big thing with my again
clients I'm like make sureyou're drinking enough water,
because you might not feelthirsty but you still need to
make sure you're drinking enough.
Another big thing you mighthear is magnesium.

(50:16):
So people who again have issueswith sleep.
They would say, try havingmagnesium and see if that helps,
and it could go.
Either way, I've had someclients that felt like it
actually made it worse for them.
So then I would recommend notmaybe taking it right before bed
, but maybe a little bit earlier, like kind of play around with
it, because again, everyone's alittle bit different.
But it's the magnesiumglycinate is kind of good for

(50:38):
that and I don't know if youtried that too when you were
kind of having a bit of theinsomnia I did it stopped my
insomnia.

Speaker 1 (50:43):
That's great, yeah, yeah, it literally stopped when
I started taking it.
I it stopped the insomnia thatI had.
I'll have like about make onelike night every once in a while
, but it's it stopped because Iwould have three nights straight
that week and that was hard.
But yeah, I take my anisim.
What else is there that maybewe should know about?
So?

Speaker 2 (51:02):
omega-3s are big.
So you know I mean, so that'sthat's one thing that you know,
my, you know my doctor kind ofalways says to me is like the
biggest thing is again omega-3sand again, why are they
important?
So it's really good for brainhealth and it's also for the
inflammation, right, and becauseagain, I was having a lot of
kind of joint pain and I'm veryactive and I kind of have this

(51:23):
knee injury that does getinflamed.
So I take the omega-3specifically for that.
And then vitamin D.
Again, living in Canada, youhear that all the time and you
can get your vitamin D leveltested and you know mine's

(51:48):
pretty decent, considering Iwasn't supplementing with it,
because because I'm outside somuch I think but and I love the
sun, I'm a bit of a sun baby butI, yeah, vitamin d, so like the
only supplements I really take,well, I kind of take those now.
I take creatine, I takeomega-3s, I take my vitamin d.
Um, my sleep's pretty good andI get I eat so many pumpkin
seeds I get a lot of magnesiumbetween that and like my spinach
and stuff like that, that thatI don't take magnesium, but my
sleep's really good now.
So, yeah, it really.
And then there's there are somewomen that take different types

(52:10):
of adaptogens duringperimenopause too to deal with
their symptoms, that they don'twant to try hormone therapy.
The big ones that are kind oftalked about is ashwagandha is
one.
I don't know if you've heardabout that one I've never tried
it.
I have, but maybe somebodyhasn't heard about that yeah,
like ashwagandha, there'srhodiola, those are kind of the
two big ones and they'resupposed to help kind of with
your, your stress resilience orenergy levels and kind of some

(52:33):
cortisol regulation.
So you know there is researcharound that that it can help
with that it's you know.
So I think a lot of people whomight have some type of like
chronic stress or fatigue typething could benefit from it.
Um, and a lot of people willtry these things like adoptogens
before they maybe go on tohormone therapy.
Right, it's kind of trying whatcan you supplement or do

(52:53):
naturally?
Like, again, if you, if you'vetried to get a really good like
sleep routine and you've doneeverything you can but you still
can't sleep, then then maybeyou know, then you try magnesium
or you eat magnesium, richfoods, right, and then if that's
not working, then maybe you cantry, you know, taking something
like an adaptogen to see ifthat can help with sleep and if
that doesn't help, then maybethen you go to formal right,

(53:14):
like it's kind of like there'sso many tools, I think, in a
toolbox that a person can useand it's just trying out and
seeing what works for you,because, again, what might work
for someone might not work forsomeone else, right?

Speaker 1 (53:23):
Right, and I know that somebody listening to this
might say like, wow, that's alot of testing on myself, right,
like that end of one.
There's a lot of work there,right, in terms of, like the
right diet, the right amount ofexercise, but it really makes a
difference in terms of gettingto know what you need.
Like you said, maybe increasingjust the foods that are rich in
magnesium will help you, youknow, in terms of your insomnia,
but maybe that's not enough,and so you move on to the next.

(53:45):
It just really is important.
I want to, kind of I want to bemindful of our time.
You know, what do we need to bemindful of?
When it comes to our heart, too, because you talked about
changes that are happening toour body that might impact our

(54:08):
heart health.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
Yeah, yeah, and this is something that again, I
learned kind of with theresearch, like like, like heart
disease is the number one killerin women, right, and then again
I didn't like a lot of timesit's other things that are kind
of, I guess, more out of themedia, but I didn't really know
that heart disease was thenumber one killer.
I didn't know.
So that was, yeah, I meaneither, right, so that was kind
of the biggest one.
And then the other thing that Ilearned about is that how

(54:33):
estrogen plays a reallyprotective role of your
cardiovascular health.
So when we have thesedecreasing levels of estrogen
that are happening inperimenopause, this is now where
we see changes.
So a lot of people will talkabout their blood pressures
getting higher duringperimenopause.
They have the higher that LDL,so the bad cholesterol.
They might have lower in theHDL, so the good cholesterol.

(54:54):
It's also a time where you canhave an increased buildup of
plaque.
That's happening.
So again, like during peri andmenopause, it's a higher
likelihood for women to haveheart attacks and strokes, and
that involves, like it's kind oflike this is a time that
changes are happening becausewe've lost the protective
mechanism of the estrogen.
And the one thing that I foundreally interesting was that so

(55:17):
and I had friends I don't knowif you did, or know some women
that when they were pregnantthey might have had gestational
hypertension or they could havehad preeclampsia or gestational
diabetes, like.
Those are almost pre-markers,like if you had those when
you're pregnant, the chances ofyou having the kind of issues
with your heart going throughperimenopause, menopause you're

(55:38):
at higher risk, right.
So again, I didn't know this.
So, and a lot of women I don'tthink know this because they
kind of treat you at the timewhen you're pregnant but then
that they don't follow up after,like it gets.
I was listening to cardiologiststalk about how it should be.
Those women should be followedand it should be monitored,
right, because if, if thatstress on their body of being
pregnant cause these issues intheir system with their heart or

(56:01):
blood pressure etc.
Then you know we should trackthem and see what's going to
happen at perimenopause.
So, honestly, with the hearthealth and it was February too,
right, so that's why I'm talkinga lot about heart health but
it's just like having regularannual checkups looking at what
your blood is, looking at yourblood pressure, right.

(56:22):
You can easily go into anyshopper's drug mart and sit in
one of those machines and justhave an idea of what's going on
with your blood pressure, right,yeah, so I think those are the
biggest things, so kind ofknowing what your lipid panels
are looking at, like yourglucose A1C.

Speaker 1 (56:38):
As you were talking, I was saying to to myself I need
to book an appointment with mydoctor.
I can't remember the last timeI had a blood test, but it's
important and you just remindedme why we need to look into that
.
Yeah, I do every birthday.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
It's like my birthday is in january so every january
like I love it that it is thebeginning of the year.
So I'm like, okay, yeah, newyear here we go, like let's do
all the testing and yeah andyeah, and this is now like this
is I just turned 49.
Right, so this is my last yearin my 40s.
So like my goal is to be in thebest shape of my life when I'm
50.
So like I got all my bloodmarkers.
You know I've got everything.
I know.
I know I did a VO2 max test.

(57:11):
I have all these goals.
So then when I redo it in ayear, like I just want to do
that much better.

Speaker 1 (57:22):
Right, like, yeah, that's so good.
It's so good it really is.
I think to close off ourconversation, maybe this is a
good segue, talking about, likethe doctors right, at what point
do we say I need to exploreother options?
You know, magnesium andsupplements aren't working.
I've tried everything here andmy not just mood, my anxiety is
high, my body's in pain, I'm notdoing well, I'm not functioning
properly.
And I want to kind of add tothis you know that not all

(57:44):
doctors might be as educated aswe think and to kind of be your
own advocate.
The reason why I'm saying thatis because when I was going
through the really severeinsomnia again, three nights
straight was a common thing forme every single month.
And I went to the doctors andhe said here's a sleeping pill.
You know, take a little bitevery month and whenever it
happens and you'll be fine.

(58:05):
And I said well, don't you wantto ask why or what's going on?
Or aren't there any otherfollow-up questions to me
telling you I have insomniabesides that?
And so I really felt frustratedby our system.
It's not everybody.
I work with doctors and we havelike collaborations with
clinics to cure sterone, and Iknow that they're not all like
that, but when it comes toparamenopause and menopause, I

(58:27):
feel like we have to be evenmore of our own advocate and
stand up for ourselves, rightyeah?

Speaker 2 (58:32):
Yeah, a hundred percent.
And like this is, honestly, Ithink it's a big issue right now
.
And and you know I'm lucky thatmy doctor is someone who is my
age and well educated and up ontop of all this and you know,
when I went in with my concerns,you know I brought in like my
book and I had it all like paidflag to like all the like these
are the symptoms I have.
And then this is, and I triedthis and I and I laid it all out

(58:54):
and I'm like, and I was, I waswaiting for her to say no,
because this is all I've heardabout, like whether you're
gaslight where they're, like oh,it's just part of aging to deal
with it, right, like I and I'vehad friends who have gone
through that.
I was lucky that my doctor didnot.
She was very much like 100%,let's put you on whatever.
You know what I mean Like shewas fine with it.
So my advice a lot of times,like if you, if you've done

(59:27):
everything you can, you havethis checklist, like go in with
the questions that you want toask, like you know.
And and if they're, there'splaces, like I know in
burlington, where I live, if adoctor is not listening to them,
then I could send them to other, like there's, there's a place
where they're nam certified, sonorth american menopause society
, so they're pharmacists, so youcan book a consult with them
and and they could prescribe youcertain things too right, or
they at least can write outsomething for your doctor.
Like if your doctors, a lot ofdoctors, are scared and they,
because of what happened in theWHI study, you know, there was a

(59:50):
scare about, you know, estrogenand it's linked to breast
cancer, and so it kind of causedthis big scare factor about
women taking hormone therapy, um, scare factor about women
taking hormone therapy.
Um, and again, it's like I dofeel like it's out there more, a
lot more people are becomingeducated.
A lot of doctors are not a lot.
Some doctors are taking thetime to kind of re-educate

(01:00:11):
themselves, um, but there areand I've noticed this on social
media there's a lot of privateclinics that are being opened up
.
There's a lot of doctors kindof going more into that you have
to pay for.
For it it's not going to becovered, but there are women's
health centers now that you cango to and, I think, be heard
right and you will be talking topeople who specialize in this
area and will support you forwhat you need if your doctor's

(01:00:33):
not.
But again, that's a hugebarrier because some people
might not be able to afford thatright.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
So it's yeah, at least the education piece and
keep bringing it up.
And you know, hopefully withthe conversation that we had
today it offers everybody somesort of foundation of where to
begin.
Try with the exercise.
You know, monitoring, datacollecting, you know for
yourself, I think we've coveredso much that I'm hoping somebody
can say like I can start withthis.
And then you know, if I see,for mental health we always say

(01:01:01):
like when you're not functioning.
So I'm assuming it's similar tothis point, right, where you're
losing a lot of time, you'renot going to work as much,
you're taking a lot of sick days, you're not well, you're not
yourself with your family.
I would assume that's like thekind of flag that you want to
look for in terms of like youreally need to ask for help.
But everybody will experiencethe symptoms very differently,
right, there's a range of howsevere or how many of them.

(01:01:23):
So just being aware of that,I'm assuming, will at least help
you with the next steps.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
Yeah, yeah, and burnouts like burnout is a huge
thing that happens with women atthis age because of, again,
everything that's happened.
I know that you've had peopleon talking about burnout before,
so that would obviously be goodfor people to go back and kind
of listen to that as well.
But, but, yeah it's, there's alot going on, but there is also
a lot of help, support, and Ithink the more that we talk
about it and the more we educateourself about it and and you

(01:01:51):
know everyone just taking asmall step that might help them
move in the right direction.
So, again, whether that's justwalking out the front door
getting some air, doing somedeep breaths, that might be
enough to help you.
It doesn't have to be a 5kweighted vest.
Walk right like it just couldbe some simple steps to just
kind of right, yeah, supportingyourself with nutrition, eating
enough, getting enough proteinand rest and sleep.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
It's so much important getting good sleep.
Yeah, yeah, thank you forsharing your knowledge with us.
Where can we learn from you?
I'm going to put everything youtalk about in the show notes.
You mentioned some books.
You have an Instagram account.
What is it, and is there anyother way that we can continue
learning from you?

Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
Yeah, so the best would probably be looking at my
Instagram account.
I'm pretty active on that.
So that's at Dr ChristinaCalder, which, again, you'll put
in the show notes.
I also do have a website that Ipost the odd blog on there, but
my Instagram is probably theplace that you can find me the
most, for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Yeah, and the people you mentioned that you work with
, is that only locally or isthat also online?

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
So that's online, so I do both kind of.
It's mostly via Zoom, but ifyou are in my area, then
obviously there could be morekind of one-on-one touch
sessions and training sessionsin person.
Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Thanks again.
I really appreciate it Me too,cindy.
It was great to see you andtalk to you.
See ya, thank you, bye.
If you haven't done so yet,make sure you are subscribed to
the Reflective Parenting Podcast.
Save it, share it with yourfriends and make sure that you
help us grow the audience and,by sharing it or leaving a
review or a rating, you arehelping us grow and get the word

(01:03:25):
out.
This is not your typicalparenting podcast.
I want to make sure that youhave a space that supports you
and makes you feel seen andvalidated and supported, and so
I hope you have a wonderful andbeautiful week.
Happy reflections, my dearparents and I will see you next
Monday.
Bye.

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