July 8, 2024 • 25 mins
Ever wondered why breast pain seems to ramp up during perimenopause? This week on The Ageless and Awesome Podcat, I uncover the intricate dance of hormones behind this common yet rarely discussed issue. Learn how oestrogen's roller-coaster ride and progesterone's decline contribute to this painful problem and why it's crucial to keep a close eye on your breast health through monthly self-exams. We break down the nuances between cyclical breast pain and the persistent pain that perimenopause can bring, and offer practical steps to get relief.
From cutting back on alcohol to boosting your intake of cruciferous veggies, you'll gain actionable tips to support hormone balance and reduce inflammation. Hear about the benefits of phytoestrogens and supplements like Vitex, and how the right bra can make a world of difference. Plus, consider personalised herbal remedies with guidance from a naturopath or herbalist. As we wrap up, don't miss out on your free Radiant Reset Hormone Detox Guide for Perimenopausal Women, designed to support your journey toward better health. Tune in and transform your approach to breast pain and overall well-being!
Are you a woman feeling stressed, flat and experiencing the challenges of perimenopause?
It’s time to reclaim your youthful energy, radiance and self-assurance (and your ideal weight).
I’m here to help with my proven method.
Here's how I can support you -
1. Hit your health and wellbeing goals this year, balance your hormones and lose weight with your own personalised protocol, based on your body's biochemistry. Sounds awesome right!! Book a free 30 minute Peri Weight Loss Assessment with me so we can discuss your health and wellbeing goals and also see how I might be able to support you. Book your call here.
2. Follow me on Instagram and Facebook - @the.perimenopause.path
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Susie Garden and this is the Ageless and
Awesome podcast.
I'm an age-defying naturopathand clinical nutritionist and
I'm here to bust myths aroundwomen's health and aging so that
you can be ageless and awesomein your 40s, 50s and beyond.
The Ageless and Awesome podcastis dedicated to helping women
(00:24):
through perimenopause andmenopause with great health, a
positive mindset and outrageousconfidence.
Hit, subscribe or follow nowand let's get started.
Hello, gorgeous one, andwelcome to this week's episode
of the Ageless and Awesomepodcast, and I'm excited about
today's topic.
I haven't actually ever done apodcast episode on today's topic
(00:50):
, and I don't know why, becauseit affects so many women,
particularly in perimenopause,but often it can be at any time
during their life.
So I am going to talk aboutbreast pain specifically in the
context of perimenopause, butthe cause of it is often the
(01:12):
same cause as you have in otherparts of your life or your cycle
generally, actually, so it'skind of relevant whether or not
you're in perimenopause, solet's get into it.
It's not going to be a superlong episode today because it
really is actually a very, verysimple situation.
(01:35):
I guess for the most partbecause breast pain and the kind
of breast pain that you canexperience in perimenopause can
be really quite significant.
It can be quite painful.
It can be literally just ifyou're walking around without
kind of support of the breasts,it can be very, very painful and
(01:58):
quite surprisingly so,particularly if you only ever
had breast pain, saypremenstrually, or just randomly
or never.
When you're suddenly gettingbreast pain every single day as
soon as you get out of bed, itcan be really quite disturbing.
So I thought it was importantto talk about it.
(02:20):
Now the thing is, our breasttissue has quite a lot of
estrogen receptors in it.
Now the thing is our breasttissue has quite a lot of
estrogen receptors in it, soit's quite responsive to the
fluctuations of estrogen thathappen, whether it's during our
menstrual cycle or whether it'sthe fluctuations of estrogen
that happen in a more, I guess,extreme way when we're in the
perimenopause kind of years.
(02:42):
And I guess, first things first, if you are having pain or
lumps in your breasts, youdefinitely need to get it
checked out.
I'm certainly not saying tokind of bring in the tips I'm
going to share with you todaywithout actually getting things
checked, because you know, weall know it's really important
(03:06):
to make sure we're very familiarwith what is normal in our
breast tissue and what is not.
If you're not doing monthlybreast checks, you probably
should start doing them.
Try and do them on the samedate every month, so you're
getting the same part of yourcycle.
If you're still cycling andotherwise, it's just good to you
(03:29):
know, pick a day, maybe it'syour favorite number and you
just know that that's the dayyou're going to do it, and that
way it'll actually get done.
But also, yeah, if you're stillcycling, obviously there can be
changes in the breasts atdifferent times of your cycle.
So if you're doing it on thesame day each month, then you
should get a relatively similarsort of picture going on with
(03:51):
your breast tissue.
So, yeah, that's the firstthing is actually doing your
monthly self-examination of yourbreasts, and if you're not sure
how to do it, please Google it.
There are so many fantasticresources available on the
internet.
That is one where you couldsafely get a good video online.
(04:12):
Make sure it's by a qualifiedperson a doctor, ideally and
that will show you how to do it.
And yeah, if you are noticingand yeah, if you are noticing
excessive breast pain, uh, andyou're in your 40s or late 30s,
(04:32):
it's possibly part of theperimenopause experience and it,
as I said, it can be reallyquite just.
I'll use the word disturbing.
I don't know if that's theright, quite the right word, but
it can be very painful, I'veexperienced it and it's not nice
.
So it's caused by what many,many other symptoms are caused
by in peri and that is thisdropping away of the
(04:55):
progesterone, becauseprogesterone is quite calming in
many areas of the body and alsoin the breast tissue.
And when we get this highestrogen, which we get, these
surges of estrogen inperimenopause, that combination
of the high estrogen and thelower progesterone.
So with this relative estrogenexcess which you may have heard
(05:19):
called estrogen dominance wedon't tend to use that language
anymore we use the terminologyof relative estrogen excess
because when you think ofestrogen dominance you're
thinking of high estrogen, right, whereas you can have quite
normal estrogen.
But if you have lowprogesterone, which is one of
the first sort of hormonalchanges in perimenopause, is
(05:41):
this rapid dropping ofprogesterone and then you will
have a relative estrogen excess,even though your estrogen is
actually within normal range, ininverted commas.
So that's why we've changed thelanguage around that and that's
in the medical kind of field,and the natural health field has
also gone that way as well.
(06:03):
And so, yeah, when you get thishigh estrogen and low
progesterone picture, which isthe really common cause of many
of our symptoms in perimenopause, then breast pain can be the
result of that, and I guess thedifferences I think you would
find is that it would be presentpretty much every day, rather
(06:26):
than a cyclical kind ofexperience of breast pain.
And it's often, you know, whenyou get up in the morning
there's just like this heavinessand then pain in the breast,
and it really can be quite nasty.
So what do we do about it?
Well, as I said, obviously makesure there's no, no underlying
(06:48):
other issue going on there.
So get them checked out, um,and if there is no other
underlying option and you knowyou're in that kind of age group
, then it is highly, highlylikely that, um, you are
experiencing this because ofperimenopause, you are
experiencing this because ofperimenopause.
So what we want to aim to do, Iguess, is to help balance out
(07:09):
that estrogen and progesteroneby.
There's a number of things wecan do.
We want to make sure that theestrogen is getting released and
detoxified in a way that is I'mgoing to use the word normal.
So again my inverted commas arecoming out.
But, yeah, that your liver isworking really well and that is
(07:33):
through having a good diet fullof lots of leafy greens and
cruciferous veggies likecauliflower, broccoli, brussels
sprouts, kale, all of yourcabbage family, all of that sort
of stuff.
All of these beautifulcruciferous veggies are
(07:54):
fantastic for your liver health.
If you do have any thyroidissues, then you just want to
cook these cruciferous veggiesreally well, because they
contain a little phytochemicalcalled goitrogens and if you
have a thyroid condition, theycan be not so great for your
(08:14):
thyroid function.
If you have a perfectly healthythyroid, then you don't need to
worry.
You can have these veggies rawor you can have them cooked,
whatever.
Yeah, but if you want an entirelist of these cruciferous
veggies, so that's spelled C-R-U, cruciferous, c-i-f-e-r-o-u-s,
(08:34):
so cruciferous veggies, andthey're really high in the
nutrients that your liver needsto do its detoxifying job.
So that is one thing.
Increase those cruciferous veg.
That really helps to supportthe liver and help with your
estrogen detox.
You also want to make sure thatyou are.
I know I always hate sayingthis, but really your alcohol
(08:58):
intake does need to bepotentially modified depending
on how much you're having.
But if you're having more thanone or two drinks one or two
times a week and you're havingthese symptoms, you probably
need to really modify that,because we know for sure that
alcohol is not great really foranything.
(09:19):
It's enjoyable, hey, it's a lotof fun, but in terms of from a
health point of view, there'snot really any benefits.
So if you're having symptomsand you're wanting to get rid of
them, sometimes alcoholmodification is necessary, and
particularly at this time of awoman's life.
So increasing cruciferous veg,really looking at your alcohol
(09:44):
super important things for liversupport.
Also, making sure your gut isworking well.
I've done a recent couple ofepisodes on gut health and how
that impacts hormones.
And if you're not eliminatingregularly, like having a good
bowel clean out regularly, thenpotentially you can get hormone
(10:06):
imbalance and excess estrogenfrom that.
So if you have chronicconstipation, you're probably
going to have a tendency to getthe breast pain because of this
relative estrogen excess ifyou're in perimenopause.
So making sure you're lookingafter your gut health, whether
that's making sure you'rehydrated well, so 35 mils per
(10:27):
kilo of body weight per day.
Whether you need to increaseyour fiber.
And if you're going to increasefiber, I always recommend that
it's prebiotic fiber.
Just again, get online, googleit Prebiotic fiber really easy
to find lists of those sorts offoods.
Because you get the addedbenefit of them supporting your
(10:51):
gut microbiome, because your gutbacteria love to feed on these
prebiotic fibers.
So you want to make sure youhave a really good, regular
elimination path.
So there's two thingssupporting liver and supporting
elimination through the gut aregoing to be amazing for
improving your breast pain,improving your balance of your
(11:13):
estrogen and your progesterone.
Also, what I really recommendis wearing a good supportive bra
, preferably without wires.
That can be a lot morecomfortable.
Also, some things that manypeople find useful is to
(11:34):
eliminate dairy.
Now, that doesn't mean havinglactose-free dairy.
That means eliminating dairyAll right, and often when I'm
working with clientsspecifically on this, we might
eliminate it for at least twoweeks.
And I'm talking all dairy, evenfermented dairy like yogurt,
(11:54):
because if we're wanting tocheck to see if there is
actually if that's causing aproblem, we need to remove all
of it.
All of it.
So cheese, remove all of it,all of it.
So cheese, yogurt, ice cream,milk, all of it.
(12:15):
If I emphasize that enough,because, yeah, I get a little
bit saying, oh yes, I'm havinglactose free milk in my coffee.
Well, you may be actuallyhaving a reaction to the casein
part of the milk, so removingthe lactose isn't going to make
a difference.
So when we are actually workingspecifically with symptoms and
symptom management with food, wehave to bite the bullet and
(12:36):
really go for a properelimination.
So eliminating dairy can bevery helpful in managing breast
pain.
Also, going to a low histaminediet Now that's a pretty
complicated thing.
There's a lot of foods thatneed to be eliminated when you
(12:57):
go to a low histamine diet.
However, generally speaking,when we're doing this sort of
stuff, it's not necessarilygoing to be forever.
Okay, as nutritionists we donot like restricting food for
long, long periods of time.
Sometimes it's absolutelynecessary because it's going to
affect a positive change in thebody and correct things like
(13:23):
inflammation, for example.
That's what I work a lot withmy clients in the GLOBE protocol
is that we are eliminatingfoods that cause inflammation in
the body and that helps toreally improve symptoms across a
multitude of different bodyareas and getting symptom
improvements and things likethat.
(13:44):
So having a low histamine dietand again just go online and
have a look at what that wouldentail sometimes can be very,
very helpful because histaminein many people can worsen breast
pain.
Also, you can eat somephytoestrogens, so plant-based
estrogens, so that's things likeso, plant-based estrogen, so
(14:05):
that's things like lentils, flaxseeds, flax seed oil, things
like that.
They can have a beneficialanti-estrogen effect and promote
healthy estrogen metabolism.
So, again, that's somethingthat you can Google.
I do for my clients.
I provide lists ofphytoestrogen foods to help with
hormone balancing.
(14:25):
But, yeah, generally the kindof foods are going to be seeds
and legumes, so very easy toaccess, for no matter really
what kind of diet you are on,generally speaking, people are
going to be able to access somesort of phytoestrogen food, so
that may be helpful.
Phytoestrogen food, so that maybe helpful.
(14:50):
In terms of other kind ofsupplements, sometimes I don't
normally like recommending herbs, but Vitex can be.
That's also known as chase tree.
That can also be really helpfulbecause it really helps support
your progesterone.
Now, it's not a miracle worker,but it can help a lot.
I've taken Vitex on and off, ohgosh throughout my menstruating
life and I found it's been very, very helpful, particularly for
(15:12):
PMS, because it helps to, youknow, modulate that progesterone
and get that estrogen andprogesterone back into balance.
So that might be somethingworth trialing.
I always do recommend thatafter you are going to look at
herbal medicine, that youactually talk to a naturopath or
(15:34):
a herbalist that can reallygive you some very specific
advice with regard to your ownsituation.
Own situation, it's reallyimportant.
You're not going to get enoughof a dose of a herb in a tea.
So if you're just having likesome chase tree tea, look it's
(15:56):
very nice but it's not reallygoing to give you a therapeutic
dose on a regular basis.
And with Vitex particularly,you really need to be taking it
for a bit of time, reallyconsistently, to see the
benefits from that particularherb.
In fact, most herbs, when I'mtalking medicinal herbs you do
need to take them for a good sixto eight weeks regularly to
(16:18):
really see the full benefit ofthem, and it's usually worth the
wait, usually worth the wait.
It's usually worth the wait,usually worth the wait.
There is I will just verybriefly touch on iodine for
breast pain.
Now, I am not a massive fan ofprescribing iodine unless I've
(16:38):
tested my patient for theiriodine levels, for their iodine
levels.
So you can get that tested,because you can really do some
damage with iodine to yourthyroid gland if you you
overdose on iodine.
Now the thing is, most peopleare not getting enough iodine in
(17:03):
their diet.
I don't know if you recalliodized table salt used to be on
everyone's kitchen tableGrowing up.
We always had it.
My grandparents had it, likeevery household.
I think in Australia hadiodized table salt, but of
course, as we know, probablyover the last couple of decades
it's all about the Himalayansalt, the rock salt, the sea
(17:24):
salt, which is also fantasticand very nutritious and not
nearly as refined.
So that's really great.
But there are a lot of us thatare not having enough iodine on
a regular basis, and one of theI mean, if you eat a lot of
sushi, you probably are, becauseseaweed is a fantastic source
of iodine in food, but there arenot a lot of foods really that
(17:48):
have iodine in it naturally.
That's why you know we used tohave the iodized table salt,
because it was fortified and Ithink there are possibly some
breads that are fortified.
Yeah, so there are some foods,but many of us are a little
deficient and so iodinesupplementation might be
(18:10):
valuable, but I would neverpersonally be taking it unless I
tested myself and I wouldn'tprescribe it for a patient
unless they I had actuallytested them, because it is
really that important.
You do not want to screw aroundwith your thyroid gland.
So, yeah, and the thing is, youcan get tested for iodine.
(18:33):
You can also get tested forthyroid antibodies so that you
can tell actually, is thereanything going on with the
thyroid?
Now, again, if you're inAustralia, that test cannot be
done under Medicare unless youactually have a problem with
your thyroid.
It can be done through privatepathology.
So if you are working with anatural health practitioner like
(18:54):
myself, we can order whatevertests, because you will be
paying for them, not thegovernment, not the taxpayer.
So, and to be honest, it'sactually not that expensive to
get your own blood testing done.
But what you know, you do needto know how to interpret it, and
that's I would always beworking with a practitioner so
that you're getting the supportthat you need, particularly if a
(19:16):
test comes back that doesn'tlook fantastic.
So you're not panicking and youknow you've got some
professional guidance and youknow what to do with a test that
perhaps is not looking where wewant it to be.
So I think that's all I want totalk about when it comes to
breast pain.
(19:36):
Talk about when it comes tobreast pain.
So yeah, just I guess to recap,ensuring you've got good detox
going on with your liver andyour bowel in particular really
important.
And you can do that throughdietary, you can do that through
hydration, you can do thatthrough some phytoestrogens in
(19:58):
the diet, you can try dairy free, you can try low histamine
using alcohol.
Whole bunch of things you cando that are really easy,
accessible, they're not going tocost you anything.
All of these things you can doand trial.
(20:19):
And also choosing a bra that'ssupportive, well-fitted and
wire-free and there are somefantastic options these days.
Covid it really promoted a lotof innovation in comfortable
bras because we all got we'reall about comfort during COVID
and I know for myself I'msomeone that's somewhat blessed
(20:43):
in the breast department, soI've always really struggled to
get bras that fit me properlybecause I'm pretty narrow around
the back and I've got, you know, f cups at the front.
So it's I've always struggledto get well-fitting bras, but
COVID was fantastic for gettinggood bra innovation.
(21:03):
So if you don't have a goodwire-free bra, definitely go and
have a look at some of the lessconventional labels.
You won't really find too muchreally if you're large busted in
the department store, but a lotof the online providers have
got awesome options andfantastic returns policies, so
(21:25):
you can just buy with no riskand really find something super
comfy.
That's going to help,particularly if your breasts are
sore, because it's awful,having experienced it myself.
It is just it's awful, havingexperienced it myself horrible.
So, yeah, I think I've prettymuch covered everything.
Oh, yeah, so Vitex I talkedabout and also thinking about
(21:47):
iodine, but doing that withadvice and with proper testing,
so that you are not putting anykind of issue in your thyroid by
using iodine when you have athyroid issue.
All right, I think that's aboutit.
If anyone has any questions,please let me know, particularly
(22:10):
whether it's about breast pain,whether it's about anything
else going on in your body thatyou're thinking oh, is this
related to perimenopause or isthis something else?
I'd love to help you with yourquestion.
I'm always looking forquestions for my Thursday Q&A
episode, so I'm going to be backon Thursday with a fresh
question.
I haven't recorded that ep yet,so if you have one, I'm still
(22:32):
looking at options.
So, yeah, I hope you liked thisepisode.
If you did, I'd love to hearfrom you.
I'd love you to leave me areview or to subscribe to the
podcast.
That really helps me to getother people knowing about it.
Uh gosh, feel free to sharewith your friends.
You could screenshot my uh mypodcast and pop it in your
(22:55):
stories.
Oh gosh, and I'd be so excitedif you did that.
Please tag me at Susie GardenWellness.
If you do that, I'd be superexcited.
Anyway, I think that's it today,so enjoy the rest of your week.
I will be back on Thursday andI'll talk to you then.
Thanks so much for joining metoday on the Ageless and Awesome
(23:15):
podcast.
If you liked today's episode,please make sure you click the
little plus button if you're onApple Podcasts, or the follow
button if you're on Spotify, sothat you get each new episode
delivered to you every week.
If you like free stuff, thenhead to the show notes and click
the link to receive my freeRadiant Reset Hormone Detox
Guide for Perimenopausal Women.
(23:36):
Or, if you'd like to continuethe discussion, head over to
Instagram and DM me atSusieGardenWellness.
I'd love to connect with you.
Hi, I'm Susie Garden and this is the Ageless and
Awesome podcast.
I'm an age-defying naturopathand clinical nutritionist and
I'm here to bust myths aroundwomen's health and aging so that
you can be ageless and awesomein your 40s, 50s and beyond.
The Ageless and Awesome podcastis dedicated to helping women
(00:24):
through perimenopause andmenopause with great health, a
positive mindset and outrageousconfidence.
Hit, subscribe or follow nowand let's get started.
Hello, gorgeous one, andwelcome to this week's episode
of the Ageless and Awesomepodcast, and I'm excited about
today's topic.
I haven't actually ever done apodcast episode on today's topic
(00:50):
, and I don't know why, becauseit affects so many women,
particularly in perimenopause,but often it can be at any time
during their life.
So I am going to talk aboutbreast pain specifically in the
context of perimenopause, butthe cause of it is often the
(01:12):
same cause as you have in otherparts of your life or your cycle
generally, actually, so it'skind of relevant whether or not
you're in perimenopause, solet's get into it.
It's not going to be a superlong episode today because it
really is actually a very, verysimple situation.
(01:35):
I guess for the most partbecause breast pain and the kind
of breast pain that you canexperience in perimenopause can
be really quite significant.
It can be quite painful.
It can be literally just ifyou're walking around without
kind of support of the breasts,it can be very, very painful and
(01:58):
quite surprisingly so,particularly if you only ever
had breast pain, saypremenstrually, or just randomly
or never.
When you're suddenly gettingbreast pain every single day as
soon as you get out of bed, itcan be really quite disturbing.
So I thought it was importantto talk about it.
(02:20):
Now the thing is, our breasttissue has quite a lot of
estrogen receptors in it.
Now the thing is our breasttissue has quite a lot of
estrogen receptors in it, soit's quite responsive to the
fluctuations of estrogen thathappen, whether it's during our
menstrual cycle or whether it'sthe fluctuations of estrogen
that happen in a more, I guess,extreme way when we're in the
perimenopause kind of years.
(02:42):
And I guess, first things first, if you are having pain or
lumps in your breasts, youdefinitely need to get it
checked out.
I'm certainly not saying tokind of bring in the tips I'm
going to share with you todaywithout actually getting things
checked, because you know, weall know it's really important
(03:06):
to make sure we're very familiarwith what is normal in our
breast tissue and what is not.
If you're not doing monthlybreast checks, you probably
should start doing them.
Try and do them on the samedate every month, so you're
getting the same part of yourcycle.
If you're still cycling andotherwise, it's just good to you
(03:29):
know, pick a day, maybe it'syour favorite number and you
just know that that's the dayyou're going to do it, and that
way it'll actually get done.
But also, yeah, if you're stillcycling, obviously there can be
changes in the breasts atdifferent times of your cycle.
So if you're doing it on thesame day each month, then you
should get a relatively similarsort of picture going on with
(03:51):
your breast tissue.
So, yeah, that's the firstthing is actually doing your
monthly self-examination of yourbreasts, and if you're not sure
how to do it, please Google it.
There are so many fantasticresources available on the
internet.
That is one where you couldsafely get a good video online.
(04:12):
Make sure it's by a qualifiedperson a doctor, ideally and
that will show you how to do it.
And yeah, if you are noticingand yeah, if you are noticing
excessive breast pain, uh, andyou're in your 40s or late 30s,
(04:32):
it's possibly part of theperimenopause experience and it,
as I said, it can be reallyquite just.
I'll use the word disturbing.
I don't know if that's theright, quite the right word, but
it can be very painful, I'veexperienced it and it's not nice
.
So it's caused by what many,many other symptoms are caused
by in peri and that is thisdropping away of the
(04:55):
progesterone, becauseprogesterone is quite calming in
many areas of the body and alsoin the breast tissue.
And when we get this highestrogen, which we get, these
surges of estrogen inperimenopause, that combination
of the high estrogen and thelower progesterone.
So with this relative estrogenexcess which you may have heard
(05:19):
called estrogen dominance wedon't tend to use that language
anymore we use the terminologyof relative estrogen excess
because when you think ofestrogen dominance you're
thinking of high estrogen, right, whereas you can have quite
normal estrogen.
But if you have lowprogesterone, which is one of
the first sort of hormonalchanges in perimenopause, is
(05:41):
this rapid dropping ofprogesterone and then you will
have a relative estrogen excess,even though your estrogen is
actually within normal range, ininverted commas.
So that's why we've changed thelanguage around that and that's
in the medical kind of field,and the natural health field has
also gone that way as well.
(06:03):
And so, yeah, when you get thishigh estrogen and low
progesterone picture, which isthe really common cause of many
of our symptoms in perimenopause, then breast pain can be the
result of that, and I guess thedifferences I think you would
find is that it would be presentpretty much every day, rather
(06:26):
than a cyclical kind ofexperience of breast pain.
And it's often, you know, whenyou get up in the morning
there's just like this heavinessand then pain in the breast,
and it really can be quite nasty.
So what do we do about it?
Well, as I said, obviously makesure there's no, no underlying
(06:48):
other issue going on there.
So get them checked out, um,and if there is no other
underlying option and you knowyou're in that kind of age group
, then it is highly, highlylikely that, um, you are
experiencing this because ofperimenopause, you are
experiencing this because ofperimenopause.
So what we want to aim to do, Iguess, is to help balance out
(07:09):
that estrogen and progesteroneby.
There's a number of things wecan do.
We want to make sure that theestrogen is getting released and
detoxified in a way that is I'mgoing to use the word normal.
So again my inverted commas arecoming out.
But, yeah, that your liver isworking really well and that is
(07:33):
through having a good diet fullof lots of leafy greens and
cruciferous veggies likecauliflower, broccoli, brussels
sprouts, kale, all of yourcabbage family, all of that sort
of stuff.
All of these beautifulcruciferous veggies are
(07:54):
fantastic for your liver health.
If you do have any thyroidissues, then you just want to
cook these cruciferous veggiesreally well, because they
contain a little phytochemicalcalled goitrogens and if you
have a thyroid condition, theycan be not so great for your
(08:14):
thyroid function.
If you have a perfectly healthythyroid, then you don't need to
worry.
You can have these veggies rawor you can have them cooked,
whatever.
Yeah, but if you want an entirelist of these cruciferous
veggies, so that's spelled C-R-U, cruciferous, c-i-f-e-r-o-u-s,
(08:34):
so cruciferous veggies, andthey're really high in the
nutrients that your liver needsto do its detoxifying job.
So that is one thing.
Increase those cruciferous veg.
That really helps to supportthe liver and help with your
estrogen detox.
You also want to make sure thatyou are.
I know I always hate sayingthis, but really your alcohol
(08:58):
intake does need to bepotentially modified depending
on how much you're having.
But if you're having more thanone or two drinks one or two
times a week and you're havingthese symptoms, you probably
need to really modify that,because we know for sure that
alcohol is not great really foranything.
(09:19):
It's enjoyable, hey, it's a lotof fun, but in terms of from a
health point of view, there'snot really any benefits.
So if you're having symptomsand you're wanting to get rid of
them, sometimes alcoholmodification is necessary, and
particularly at this time of awoman's life.
So increasing cruciferous veg,really looking at your alcohol
(09:44):
super important things for liversupport.
Also, making sure your gut isworking well.
I've done a recent couple ofepisodes on gut health and how
that impacts hormones.
And if you're not eliminatingregularly, like having a good
bowel clean out regularly, thenpotentially you can get hormone
(10:06):
imbalance and excess estrogenfrom that.
So if you have chronicconstipation, you're probably
going to have a tendency to getthe breast pain because of this
relative estrogen excess ifyou're in perimenopause.
So making sure you're lookingafter your gut health, whether
that's making sure you'rehydrated well, so 35 mils per
(10:27):
kilo of body weight per day.
Whether you need to increaseyour fiber.
And if you're going to increasefiber, I always recommend that
it's prebiotic fiber.
Just again, get online, googleit Prebiotic fiber really easy
to find lists of those sorts offoods.
Because you get the addedbenefit of them supporting your
(10:51):
gut microbiome, because your gutbacteria love to feed on these
prebiotic fibers.
So you want to make sure youhave a really good, regular
elimination path.
So there's two thingssupporting liver and supporting
elimination through the gut aregoing to be amazing for
improving your breast pain,improving your balance of your
(11:13):
estrogen and your progesterone.
Also, what I really recommendis wearing a good supportive bra
, preferably without wires.
That can be a lot morecomfortable.
Also, some things that manypeople find useful is to
(11:34):
eliminate dairy.
Now, that doesn't mean havinglactose-free dairy.
That means eliminating dairyAll right, and often when I'm
working with clientsspecifically on this, we might
eliminate it for at least twoweeks.
And I'm talking all dairy, evenfermented dairy like yogurt,
(11:54):
because if we're wanting tocheck to see if there is
actually if that's causing aproblem, we need to remove all
of it.
All of it.
So cheese, remove all of it,all of it.
So cheese, yogurt, ice cream,milk, all of it.
(12:15):
If I emphasize that enough,because, yeah, I get a little
bit saying, oh yes, I'm havinglactose free milk in my coffee.
Well, you may be actuallyhaving a reaction to the casein
part of the milk, so removingthe lactose isn't going to make
a difference.
So when we are actually workingspecifically with symptoms and
symptom management with food, wehave to bite the bullet and
(12:36):
really go for a properelimination.
So eliminating dairy can bevery helpful in managing breast
pain.
Also, going to a low histaminediet Now that's a pretty
complicated thing.
There's a lot of foods thatneed to be eliminated when you
(12:57):
go to a low histamine diet.
However, generally speaking,when we're doing this sort of
stuff, it's not necessarilygoing to be forever.
Okay, as nutritionists we donot like restricting food for
long, long periods of time.
Sometimes it's absolutelynecessary because it's going to
affect a positive change in thebody and correct things like
(13:23):
inflammation, for example.
That's what I work a lot withmy clients in the GLOBE protocol
is that we are eliminatingfoods that cause inflammation in
the body and that helps toreally improve symptoms across a
multitude of different bodyareas and getting symptom
improvements and things likethat.
(13:44):
So having a low histamine dietand again just go online and
have a look at what that wouldentail sometimes can be very,
very helpful because histaminein many people can worsen breast
pain.
Also, you can eat somephytoestrogens, so plant-based
estrogens, so that's things likeso, plant-based estrogen, so
(14:05):
that's things like lentils, flaxseeds, flax seed oil, things
like that.
They can have a beneficialanti-estrogen effect and promote
healthy estrogen metabolism.
So, again, that's somethingthat you can Google.
I do for my clients.
I provide lists ofphytoestrogen foods to help with
hormone balancing.
(14:25):
But, yeah, generally the kindof foods are going to be seeds
and legumes, so very easy toaccess, for no matter really
what kind of diet you are on,generally speaking, people are
going to be able to access somesort of phytoestrogen food, so
that may be helpful.
Phytoestrogen food, so that maybe helpful.
(14:50):
In terms of other kind ofsupplements, sometimes I don't
normally like recommending herbs, but Vitex can be.
That's also known as chase tree.
That can also be really helpfulbecause it really helps support
your progesterone.
Now, it's not a miracle worker,but it can help a lot.
I've taken Vitex on and off, ohgosh throughout my menstruating
life and I found it's been very, very helpful, particularly for
(15:12):
PMS, because it helps to, youknow, modulate that progesterone
and get that estrogen andprogesterone back into balance.
So that might be somethingworth trialing.
I always do recommend thatafter you are going to look at
herbal medicine, that youactually talk to a naturopath or
(15:34):
a herbalist that can reallygive you some very specific
advice with regard to your ownsituation.
Own situation, it's reallyimportant.
You're not going to get enoughof a dose of a herb in a tea.
So if you're just having likesome chase tree tea, look it's
(15:56):
very nice but it's not reallygoing to give you a therapeutic
dose on a regular basis.
And with Vitex particularly,you really need to be taking it
for a bit of time, reallyconsistently, to see the
benefits from that particularherb.
In fact, most herbs, when I'mtalking medicinal herbs you do
need to take them for a good sixto eight weeks regularly to
(16:18):
really see the full benefit ofthem, and it's usually worth the
wait, usually worth the wait.
It's usually worth the wait,usually worth the wait.
There is I will just verybriefly touch on iodine for
breast pain.
Now, I am not a massive fan ofprescribing iodine unless I've
(16:38):
tested my patient for theiriodine levels, for their iodine
levels.
So you can get that tested,because you can really do some
damage with iodine to yourthyroid gland if you you
overdose on iodine.
Now the thing is, most peopleare not getting enough iodine in
(17:03):
their diet.
I don't know if you recalliodized table salt used to be on
everyone's kitchen tableGrowing up.
We always had it.
My grandparents had it, likeevery household.
I think in Australia hadiodized table salt, but of
course, as we know, probablyover the last couple of decades
it's all about the Himalayansalt, the rock salt, the sea
(17:24):
salt, which is also fantasticand very nutritious and not
nearly as refined.
So that's really great.
But there are a lot of us thatare not having enough iodine on
a regular basis, and one of theI mean, if you eat a lot of
sushi, you probably are, becauseseaweed is a fantastic source
of iodine in food, but there arenot a lot of foods really that
(17:48):
have iodine in it naturally.
That's why you know we used tohave the iodized table salt,
because it was fortified and Ithink there are possibly some
breads that are fortified.
Yeah, so there are some foods,but many of us are a little
deficient and so iodinesupplementation might be
(18:10):
valuable, but I would neverpersonally be taking it unless I
tested myself and I wouldn'tprescribe it for a patient
unless they I had actuallytested them, because it is
really that important.
You do not want to screw aroundwith your thyroid gland.
So, yeah, and the thing is, youcan get tested for iodine.
(18:33):
You can also get tested forthyroid antibodies so that you
can tell actually, is thereanything going on with the
thyroid?
Now, again, if you're inAustralia, that test cannot be
done under Medicare unless youactually have a problem with
your thyroid.
It can be done through privatepathology.
So if you are working with anatural health practitioner like
(18:54):
myself, we can order whatevertests, because you will be
paying for them, not thegovernment, not the taxpayer.
So, and to be honest, it'sactually not that expensive to
get your own blood testing done.
But what you know, you do needto know how to interpret it, and
that's I would always beworking with a practitioner so
that you're getting the supportthat you need, particularly if a
(19:16):
test comes back that doesn'tlook fantastic.
So you're not panicking and youknow you've got some
professional guidance and youknow what to do with a test that
perhaps is not looking where wewant it to be.
So I think that's all I want totalk about when it comes to
breast pain.
(19:36):
Talk about when it comes tobreast pain.
So yeah, just I guess to recap,ensuring you've got good detox
going on with your liver andyour bowel in particular really
important.
And you can do that throughdietary, you can do that through
hydration, you can do thatthrough some phytoestrogens in
(19:58):
the diet, you can try dairy free, you can try low histamine
using alcohol.
Whole bunch of things you cando that are really easy,
accessible, they're not going tocost you anything.
All of these things you can doand trial.
(20:19):
And also choosing a bra that'ssupportive, well-fitted and
wire-free and there are somefantastic options these days.
Covid it really promoted a lotof innovation in comfortable
bras because we all got we'reall about comfort during COVID
and I know for myself I'msomeone that's somewhat blessed
(20:43):
in the breast department, soI've always really struggled to
get bras that fit me properlybecause I'm pretty narrow around
the back and I've got, you know, f cups at the front.
So it's I've always struggledto get well-fitting bras, but
COVID was fantastic for gettinggood bra innovation.
(21:03):
So if you don't have a goodwire-free bra, definitely go and
have a look at some of the lessconventional labels.
You won't really find too muchreally if you're large busted in
the department store, but a lotof the online providers have
got awesome options andfantastic returns policies, so
(21:25):
you can just buy with no riskand really find something super
comfy.
That's going to help,particularly if your breasts are
sore, because it's awful,having experienced it myself.
It is just it's awful, havingexperienced it myself horrible.
So, yeah, I think I've prettymuch covered everything.
Oh, yeah, so Vitex I talkedabout and also thinking about
(21:47):
iodine, but doing that withadvice and with proper testing,
so that you are not putting anykind of issue in your thyroid by
using iodine when you have athyroid issue.
All right, I think that's aboutit.
If anyone has any questions,please let me know, particularly
(22:10):
whether it's about breast pain,whether it's about anything
else going on in your body thatyou're thinking oh, is this
related to perimenopause or isthis something else?
I'd love to help you with yourquestion.
I'm always looking forquestions for my Thursday Q&A
episode, so I'm going to be backon Thursday with a fresh
question.
I haven't recorded that ep yet,so if you have one, I'm still
(22:32):
looking at options.
So, yeah, I hope you liked thisepisode.
If you did, I'd love to hearfrom you.
I'd love you to leave me areview or to subscribe to the
podcast.
That really helps me to getother people knowing about it.
Uh gosh, feel free to sharewith your friends.
You could screenshot my uh mypodcast and pop it in your
(22:55):
stories.
Oh gosh, and I'd be so excitedif you did that.
Please tag me at Susie GardenWellness.
If you do that, I'd be superexcited.
Anyway, I think that's it today,so enjoy the rest of your week.
I will be back on Thursday andI'll talk to you then.
Thanks so much for joining metoday on the Ageless and Awesome
(23:15):
podcast.
If you liked today's episode,please make sure you click the
little plus button if you're onApple Podcasts, or the follow
button if you're on Spotify, sothat you get each new episode
delivered to you every week.
If you like free stuff, thenhead to the show notes and click
the link to receive my freeRadiant Reset Hormone Detox
Guide for Perimenopausal Women.
(23:36):
Or, if you'd like to continuethe discussion, head over to
Instagram and DM me atSusieGardenWellness.
I'd love to connect with you.
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