July 7, 2025 • 27 mins
If your beauty routine suddenly isn’t cutting it—no matter how many serums, supplements, or salon visits—you’re not imagining it. Hormones could be behind the changes you’re seeing in your hair, skin, and nails.
In this episode, I break down the biochemical changes happening in your 40s and beyond, and how they impact your outer glow. This is beauty meets biology—with real, practical strategies to nourish your body from within.
Tune in to learn:
✨ Why oestrogen and thyroid shifts affect hair thickness and skin hydration
✨ The top nutrient deficiencies that show up as beauty issues
✨ What hormonal hair loss really looks like (and how it differs from other types)
✨ Foods and lifestyle habits to bring your hormones—and your glow—back into balance
✨ How to listen to your beauty symptoms instead of masking them
🎧 Listen now and don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share!
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.
I'm your host, susie Garden,perimenopause naturopath and
(00:46):
weight loss nutritionist, andthis week's episode is one.
I've been getting a lot ofquestions about this lately from
people having peri-weight lossassessments, and that is all
about skin and hair and nailsand their health and how they're
impacted with the hormonalchanges of perimenopause.
(01:09):
If you're a woman over 40 andyou've been noticing more hair
in your hairbrush, for example,dry, flaky skin, no matter how
much water you drink, and nailsthat are splitting, peeling,
then this episode is especiallyfor you.
Today, we're diving into thesurprising connection between
(01:31):
your beauty concerns and yourhormones, and we'll explore why
your outer glow is often areflection of your inner
biochemistry and hormone balance, and I'll be sharing some
practical, nourishing strategiesto help support beautiful,
healthy hair, skin that glowsand strong nails, naturally.
(01:55):
So let's get started.
So firstly, I wanted to talkabout why your beauty signals,
if we want to call them that, orlet's say why the health of
your hair, nails and skin can behormone clues.
So let's have a look at it.
(02:16):
Our bodies are constantlygiving us signals, and changes
in your hair, skin and nails canbe an early whisper that your
hormones are shifting.
Many of you who are listeningwould have experienced pregnancy
and notice that the surge inhormones that you get in
pregnancy means your hair, yourskin, your nails can be luscious
(02:38):
while you're pregnant and thenafterwards, in postpartum period
, you can get the hair fall.
In particular is what a lot ofwomen experience, and it's kind
of a similar thing inperimenopause, because our
levels of estrogen, progesteroneand actually even thyroid
hormones can change and they canchange quite dramatically in
(03:01):
some women and these shifts canimpact our collagen production,
our skin hydration, our skinelasticity, our hair follicle
health and our nail growthcycles and the strength of our
nails.
You know, if we look atestrogen, for example, it plays
a huge role in skin thickness.
Who knew right?
(03:22):
It's so funny to me, as I workin this space now, that when I
did all of my training, both asa nurse and as a naturopath and
nutritionist, really the onlytime estrogen and progesterone
were talked about was in thecontext of menstrual cycles
(03:47):
talked about was in the contextof menstrual cycles briefly in
menopause, but really it wasjust all about the fertility
aspects and there was not anyinformation about how the
estrogen impacts multiple bodysystems and this includes our
skin.
So it plays a huge role in skinthickness and moisture
retention and as your estrogendeclines, your skin can become
drier, can become thinner, itcan become more prone to fine
(04:12):
lines, it can become itchy.
It also affects this estrogen.
That is, also affects how wellyour hair grows, how long it
stays in its growth phase.
And if you add in, as well asthe hormonal changes, things
like nutrient depletion fromchronic stress, for example,
(04:33):
poor sleep, restrictive dieting,gut issues that was the other
one I was going to mention somany women I speak to doing
their peri-weight lossassessments are experiencing
whether it's IBS, whether it'schronic constipation for some
women it's chronic diarrhea thathas just become part of their
normal or bloating that, again,people just put up with or they
(04:57):
just think, oh, this is normalfor me.
No, this kind of disruption tothe gut health really will
impact your nutrient absorption,so it's really important to get
that addressed.
So when you think about all ofthese things that happen to us
in our, let's say, our fortiesand fifties the stress, the poor
sleep, if you know, if you'reexperiencing the weight gain
(05:20):
that many women do, then youstart restrictive dieting and
it's no wonder that our outerappearance starts to reflect the
internal changes that arehappening beneath the surface
right.
So let's talk a little bit more.
I particularly want to talkabout the hair loss.
If you have seen images of me,you know that I have very long
(05:42):
hair.
I actually have very, veryhealthy hair.
It's quite long.
It goes down to pretty much I'mjust feeling it now yeah, my
waist, and I've had it like thatfor quite some time.
And if anyone has long hair,you know you do actually lose a
fair bit of hair when you washyour hair in the hairbrush, that
(06:03):
kind of thing.
That's because the hair that'slong is older.
But if you've been kind ofnoticing hair on your pillow,
that's kind of unusual hair fall.
If you find that the fallout inthe shower when you're washing
hair is quite a lot like ahandful.
That's probably unusual.
Or if you're noticing you'rehaving to clean out your brush
more often, then know thatyou're not alone, because this
(06:27):
does happen to a lot of women inperimenopause and postmenopause
.
And other ways that thishormonal hair loss can show up
is that you can get diffusethinning across the scalp rather
than patches.
I mean patches can happen, butgenerally it's going to be more
like the thinning across thescalp.
(06:49):
You might find that your partis getting wider, you might find
that your hair is receding alittle at the temples and you
may get a loss of volume,especially at the crown of the
head.
Now, these sort of signs aretypically due to a drop in
(07:13):
estrogen and progesterone, whichhelp keep hair in the growing
phase.
At the same time, you haveandrogens like DHEA and
testosterone, which may becomerelatively more dominant, which
can shrink hair follicles andlead to finer and thinner
strands of hair.
And you may also in particularyou may have a diagnosed thyroid
(07:34):
condition.
If you do, you probably knowthat there's hair loss
associated with hypothyroidismor a low functioning thyroid.
But hypothyroidism, which ismore common in women over 40 and
in many women is undiagnosed.
That can also contribute tohair thinning and dryness as
well.
So if you're experiencing this,it is really important just to
(07:57):
make sure you're having adiscussion with your healthcare
professional.
Don't just ignore it, becauseif you haven't had your thyroid
gland thoroughly checked out andif you're experiencing fatigue,
if you're experiencing weightgain maybe you feel cold when
you shouldn't those sort ofsigns can be signs that the
thyroid is a bit out and that issomething we can test for in
(08:19):
the blood.
So don't ignore those kinds ofsymptoms.
Even though it's hair and a lotof people would see that as
being beauty, I guess, or thehair health is about beauty it
really can be signs that there'ssomething not quite right in
the body.
So please don't ignore that.
Now, in terms of our nails,nails are another great
(08:42):
barometer of your internalhealth.
So the kind of signs we can seein the nail sometimes are
splitting in the nail, that theygrow really slowly or they get
to a certain length and thenthey just break, peeling,
developing ridges.
Nails that are kind ofexhibiting these sorts of signs.
(09:04):
You know it can be a sign thatyou're low in certain nutrients
like biotin is a big one zinc,iron or protein Estrogen also
supports circulation andnutrient delivery to extremities
like your fingertips.
So when those levels dip, thenails can weaken.
Or if you are again, if yourdiet is just not quite right for
(09:29):
you, then, yeah, you'll getweaker nails, soft nails, tissue
paper Obviously, if you'reusing products on your nails
like acrylic, that willabsolutely cause soft nails,
whatever your age.
So we're not looking for signsthat are caused by like a
chemical damage.
We're looking for signs whenperhaps previously you had no
(09:49):
issues with your nails and thenall of a sudden nails are quite
weak.
I have relatively long nails andthey are my nails.
If you've ever seen my videosand things, you might think, oh,
she got acrylic nails.
No, I don't.
These are my nails and they'vealways been strong.
But I also nourish them withsome other nutrients, which I'll
(10:10):
get to shortly.
And dry skin that's the otherone that I mentioned before.
So dry skin is one of the mostcommon perimenopause symptoms
and here's why.
So estrogen promotes sebumproduction.
You may have heard of sebum.
Sebum is the skin's naturalmoisturizer.
(10:31):
So when you have less estrogen,you have less oil.
You have drier skin.
It also regulates collagenproduction and elastin, and
these keep your skin firm andplump.
So if you feel like, oh, myskincare is just not cutting it
anymore, it might be time tolook at your hormone health
(10:52):
rather than just trying otherproducts.
If you're not addressing what'sgoing on in the body, it
doesn't really matter whatyou're putting on the body.
Okay, you really, andparticularly skin.
You really want to be able toaddress underlying causes of
this dryness of skin, and weknow that it's really common in
(11:13):
women and peri andpost-menopause.
So we can address that.
And that's actually one of thereasons that I called my
signature program.
It's called the Glow Protocol,and one of the reasons I called
it that is because when Istarted doing it with women
clients, they almost all werecoming in after a couple of
(11:35):
weeks on the program and saying,oh my gosh, my work colleagues
are telling me that my skin isglowing.
And I'm like, oh, that's thefirst time I heard it.
I thought, oh, yeah, whatever.
And then I heard it again andagain, and again.
And so I know for sure thatwhat you do in terms of managing
hormones and managing yournutrition makes a massive
difference in the way your skinlooks.
(11:55):
And I haven't really eventouched on hormonal breakouts,
but that kind of comes under thesame banner as what I've been
speaking about, because if it'shormonally driven, then we can
really help to support managingthat with food.
Now, occasionally I may ask foryou to take a supplement, for
(12:16):
example, because once you hit 50, collagen production really
drops and it can be a littledifficult to manage that without
supplementation.
So that is something that Iwill often say to my female
clients over 50, if we're notreally getting the response that
we want in the skin, thencollagen, particularly marine
collagen, can be a fantasticsupplemental support.
(12:40):
But again, relying onsupplements is not the ideal.
You still need to look afteryour nutrition.
So let's talk about this.
So what foods are great forhormone balance and therefore
going to support healthy hair,skin and nails from the inside
(13:00):
out?
So here are some of my top, mygo-to nutrients and foods.
So protein would be one of thehigher level ones that I would
be looking at, and as a woman inperimenopause and postmenopause
, you're really looking at 1.2grams per kilo of body weight of
(13:23):
protein per day, and I'll justdo a quick calculation.
So if you weigh, say, 65 kilos,that means you need around 78
grams of protein per day, whichis quite a lot If you consider
that if you use a protein powder, so that's a pretty high
concentration of protein.
Generally, a serve of protein,depending on the brand, will
(13:44):
give you between 24 and 26 gramsof protein.
So that's only covering barelya third sorry, barely a yeah,
barely a third of that 78 grams.
So you need to be having a realfocus on protein at this time
of life, and that can beplant-based or animal-based
(14:07):
proteins.
And you know, even things likeyour hair and nails are actually
made of keratin, which is aprotein.
So you definitely need to beincluding a wide range of
proteins in your diet.
My other top of something Ioften ask women over 50 to
supplement contain omega-3s, butyou do need to be mindful about
(14:47):
including them.
Also, you're looking at thingslike hemp oil, flaxseed oil,
flaxseeds ground flaxseeds, thatis.
They're also really goodsources of omega-3 fatty acids.
And the beauty of the omega-3sthey're anti-inflammatory and
they keep the skin supple andsmooth and they do help with
even things like dry eyes.
(15:08):
If you have dry eyes, thenomega-3s can be really good at
addressing the underlying causeof dry eyes.
One of my top nutrients for skin, hair and nail health is zinc.
So zinc is found in things likepumpkin seeds or pepitas.
Same thing can be found in someof your animal meats lentils
(15:38):
some of your animal meatslentils um gosh.
So many foods contain zinc,which is great, because we need
zinc.
We use in about 300 differentchemical reactions in our bodies
and these are really easy tofind like just go into google
and, just you know, pop in zinccontaining foods or whatever and
you will get a whole list ofthem.
But yeah, these are crucial forskin healing and for hair
follicle health.
(15:58):
Biotin so biotin is a B vitaminand it's found in things like
eggs, sweet potatoes, almonds,and it supports strong nails and
hair growth.
And I'll often say to women, ifthey're asking me for
supplements for nails inparticular, I'll definitely.
Biotin is a big one up there.
Silica is also another big onethat I love.
(16:21):
If my nails are getting alittle bit kind of splitty, then
I'll get onto a silicasupplement and that will
generally just sort it all out.
But collagen now that I takecollagen more regularly, I find
that that's really good at atkeeping nails, hair and skin
very strong, which is great.
Vitamin C vitamin C isimportant because you need it
(16:42):
for collagen synthesis.
So even if you're taking acollagen supplement.
If your vitamin C is a littledeficient, then it's it's not
going to help you with so much.
So vitamin C is found in thingslike your berries, citrus
fruits, capsicum, tomatoes,things like that Always
important to have that in yourdiet.
(17:02):
Iron you know women and ironreally it's so important.
And it's especially importantif you still have a menstrual
cycle and you know many women inperimenopause are experiencing
heavier periods a menstrualcycle and many women in
perimenopause are experiencingheavier periods.
So you really need to keep aneye on that.
If you find that you areexperiencing fatigue and you
haven't had your iron checkedfor a while and your periods are
(17:24):
a bit heavier, probably worthgetting your iron checked,
because low iron equals hairloss.
So you really want to keep aneye on that.
Hydration also hugely important.
Your skin needs water, but italso needs electrolytes like
potassium and magnesium toretain that water in the cell.
So again, you're going to getpotassium and magnesium from
(17:45):
foods, but you need the water aswell.
And again, you've probablyheard my calculation for water
before, which is 35 mils perkilo of body weight, so you can
just do that little calculationfor yourself.
So there are some of thenutrients that we need to build
skin, hair and nails and keepthem healthy, but they're not
(18:08):
really addressing the hormonalunderlying cause, right, are
they?
And that's what we really needto do is support the underlying
cause.
So, in terms of managing hormonebalance, there's quite a few
things so.
So cruciferous veg wouldprobably be one of the number
one recommendations.
They provide nutrientsspecifically for the liver, to
(18:32):
help your liver perform thedetoxification processes that it
does every day.
And so your cruciferous vegagain, this is something you can
get online, but it's thingslike your cabbage, your kale,
broccoli, cauliflower, brusselssprouts Anything that kind of
smells a bit sulfury is probablygoing to be a cruciferous veg.
(18:55):
Garlic and onions also fallinto that category.
Now, if you do have anundirected thyroid in particular
, then cruciferous veg does needto be cooked very well, because
they contain a little plantchemical called goitrogens and
they are not great for yourthyroid if you have a thyroid
(19:18):
problem.
They will not cause a thyroidproblem if your thyroid is
healthy, but if you do have ahypothyroid in particular, then
make sure you're cooking wellyour cruciferous veg.
Other things that are importantto support hormone balance is
balancing blood sugar.
Balancing blood sugar helpsprevent cortisol spikes.
(19:40):
Cortisol interacts withestrogen and therefore
progesterone.
So we want to keep our bloodsugar nicely balanced on the
side it does.
If you do that, then it helpsmanage things like carb cravings
, it helps keep your energy upall day and it helps you burn
fat more efficiently.
So balancing blood sugar is oneof my number one focuses when
(20:00):
I'm working with women andweight loss and also hormone
balancing.
So we definitely want to watchthe sugar.
Also want to manage stress again, because we want to keep the
cortisol nice and even so,things like a bit of breath work
, walking, spending time innature, getting adequate sleep
which I know sometimes is notnecessarily the easiest thing to
(20:22):
do but if you can reduce stressas much as you can by avoiding
stressors and when you can't dothat, by learning to regulate
your nervous system.
That is critical if you wanthealthy hair, skin and nails,
because it will also impact yourgut health.
If you have high sorry highlevels of stress because of our
(20:43):
gut brain connection, that willimpact your gut health Also.
Another cortisol-busting tip isto avoid over-exercising.
That can raise cortisol andworsen your symptoms.
You can consider adaptogens likeashwagandha, rhodiola always,
as I say, with professionalguidance, because herbal
(21:03):
medicines are powerful, they'reamazing, and you want to get
exactly the right combination ofherbs for you and what you're
experiencing.
So it's kind of a wastedopportunity.
If you're buying herbalmedicines over the counter and
not getting advice.
You may be taking ones thataren't ideal.
(21:24):
Therefore, you're wasting yourmoney, and there may be some
other ones that you've neverheard of because, frankly, some
of the best ones are the onesthat you haven't heard of and
it's so easy to get some goodprofessional advice so that you
are on the right herbalmedicines for you and you also
have a well-rounded sort ofmanagement plan, including some
(21:45):
nutritional medicine ornutritional advice rather, uh,
to help support you through this, this hormonal kind of time.
Um, also sometimes sometimes notall the time, but sometimes
it's helpful to actually testthe hormones to see what's
happening, to see where you'reat in your perimenopause
(22:06):
transition.
Happening to see where you'reat in your perimenopause
transition.
Yeah, it's not necessarilyessential, but sometimes it can
be helpful.
Particularly if you startmaking some changes and you're
not getting anywhere, then itmight be really helpful to get
some testing done that willactually identify what's going
on and, therefore, what hormonesspecifically need to be
(22:27):
supported.
And this is where personalizedprotocols come in, what's going
on and therefore what hormonesspecifically need to be
supported.
And you know, this is wherepersonalized protocols come in.
What works for one woman may notwork for another, and it's not
about quick fixes.
This is a long game.
It's about tuning into yourbody's changing needs, because
they will change.
Remember, this is a hormonalrollercoaster.
You get these surges and thesedrops, and these surges and
(22:47):
these drops.
So having support by someonewho understands what's going on
can be an absolute game changerfor your experience of
perimenopause.
So I hope this has been helpful.
I think I've covered everythingI wanted to.
Yeah, so notice what's going onwith your hair, skin and nails.
(23:10):
They are speaking to you.
Let's stop silencing them withband-aid treatments and really
start listening and noticingwhat's going on in your body.
So I mentioned a few times inthis episode about the
peri-weight loss assessments Ido.
They're free of charge.
They're for people that areinterested in perhaps taking the
next step, in working with meand want to get to know me a
(23:33):
little bit, want to understandwhat I might be able to do for
them.
I don't take just anyone into myprograms, as if you've been on
my website, you'll see I don'ttake enrollments on the website,
because I want to speak toevery single individual that
wants to work with me to makesure it is the right fit and
(23:53):
that you're going to get yourneeds met and your goals
achieved, and that I feel thatthis program is the right one
for you, because you know, I ama professional.
I'm not just someone that'sgoing to just sell you a program
just so that I can make money.
This is about me making surethat I can help you, so please
(24:15):
feel free to book in if youwould like to.
There is a link in the shownotes for the peri weight loss
assessment, or you can reach outto me on Instagram at the
perimenopause path, if you justlike to have a little chat over
the DMS before you commit to acall, but there is no obligation
there.
If you'd just like to have alittle chat over the DMS, uh,
before you commit to a call butthere is no obligation there I
don't ask you to sign up to theprogram.
On the call.
We do the the peri weight lossassessment and then I send you
(24:38):
information and then you canmake your decision in your own
time.
Okay, so I just wanted to makethat clear.
So, uh, I hope you enjoyed theepisode.
If you would like to give mesome feedback, if you'd like to
write a five-star review, Iwould love it.
Or follow the podcast so thatyou receive an episode every
single week Until next week.
(24:59):
Have a good one and I will seeyou again.
Thanks so much for joining meon the Ageless and Awesome
podcast.
If you liked this 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 singleweek.
(25:19):
If you feel like writing me afive-star review, you would
absolutely make my day.
If you found this episoderesonated with you, head over to
my Instagram and DM me attheperimenopausepar.
I would love to connect withyou.
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.
I'm your host, susie Garden,perimenopause naturopath and
(00:46):
weight loss nutritionist, andthis week's episode is one.
I've been getting a lot ofquestions about this lately from
people having peri-weight lossassessments, and that is all
about skin and hair and nailsand their health and how they're
impacted with the hormonalchanges of perimenopause.
(01:09):
If you're a woman over 40 andyou've been noticing more hair
in your hairbrush, for example,dry, flaky skin, no matter how
much water you drink, and nailsthat are splitting, peeling,
then this episode is especiallyfor you.
Today, we're diving into thesurprising connection between
(01:31):
your beauty concerns and yourhormones, and we'll explore why
your outer glow is often areflection of your inner
biochemistry and hormone balance, and I'll be sharing some
practical, nourishing strategiesto help support beautiful,
healthy hair, skin that glowsand strong nails, naturally.
(01:55):
So let's get started.
So firstly, I wanted to talkabout why your beauty signals,
if we want to call them that, orlet's say why the health of
your hair, nails and skin can behormone clues.
So let's have a look at it.
(02:16):
Our bodies are constantlygiving us signals, and changes
in your hair, skin and nails canbe an early whisper that your
hormones are shifting.
Many of you who are listeningwould have experienced pregnancy
and notice that the surge inhormones that you get in
pregnancy means your hair, yourskin, your nails can be luscious
(02:38):
while you're pregnant and thenafterwards, in postpartum period
, you can get the hair fall.
In particular is what a lot ofwomen experience, and it's kind
of a similar thing inperimenopause, because our
levels of estrogen, progesteroneand actually even thyroid
hormones can change and they canchange quite dramatically in
(03:01):
some women and these shifts canimpact our collagen production,
our skin hydration, our skinelasticity, our hair follicle
health and our nail growthcycles and the strength of our
nails.
You know, if we look atestrogen, for example, it plays
a huge role in skin thickness.
Who knew right?
(03:22):
It's so funny to me, as I workin this space now, that when I
did all of my training, both asa nurse and as a naturopath and
nutritionist, really the onlytime estrogen and progesterone
were talked about was in thecontext of menstrual cycles
(03:47):
talked about was in the contextof menstrual cycles briefly in
menopause, but really it wasjust all about the fertility
aspects and there was not anyinformation about how the
estrogen impacts multiple bodysystems and this includes our
skin.
So it plays a huge role in skinthickness and moisture
retention and as your estrogendeclines, your skin can become
drier, can become thinner, itcan become more prone to fine
(04:12):
lines, it can become itchy.
It also affects this estrogen.
That is, also affects how wellyour hair grows, how long it
stays in its growth phase.
And if you add in, as well asthe hormonal changes, things
like nutrient depletion fromchronic stress, for example,
(04:33):
poor sleep, restrictive dieting,gut issues that was the other
one I was going to mention somany women I speak to doing
their peri-weight lossassessments are experiencing
whether it's IBS, whether it'schronic constipation for some
women it's chronic diarrhea thathas just become part of their
normal or bloating that, again,people just put up with or they
(04:57):
just think, oh, this is normalfor me.
No, this kind of disruption tothe gut health really will
impact your nutrient absorption,so it's really important to get
that addressed.
So when you think about all ofthese things that happen to us
in our, let's say, our fortiesand fifties the stress, the poor
sleep, if you know, if you'reexperiencing the weight gain
(05:20):
that many women do, then youstart restrictive dieting and
it's no wonder that our outerappearance starts to reflect the
internal changes that arehappening beneath the surface
right.
So let's talk a little bit more.
I particularly want to talkabout the hair loss.
If you have seen images of me,you know that I have very long
(05:42):
hair.
I actually have very, veryhealthy hair.
It's quite long.
It goes down to pretty much I'mjust feeling it now yeah, my
waist, and I've had it like thatfor quite some time.
And if anyone has long hair,you know you do actually lose a
fair bit of hair when you washyour hair in the hairbrush, that
(06:03):
kind of thing.
That's because the hair that'slong is older.
But if you've been kind ofnoticing hair on your pillow,
that's kind of unusual hair fall.
If you find that the fallout inthe shower when you're washing
hair is quite a lot like ahandful.
That's probably unusual.
Or if you're noticing you'rehaving to clean out your brush
more often, then know thatyou're not alone, because this
(06:27):
does happen to a lot of women inperimenopause and postmenopause
.
And other ways that thishormonal hair loss can show up
is that you can get diffusethinning across the scalp rather
than patches.
I mean patches can happen, butgenerally it's going to be more
like the thinning across thescalp.
(06:49):
You might find that your partis getting wider, you might find
that your hair is receding alittle at the temples and you
may get a loss of volume,especially at the crown of the
head.
Now, these sort of signs aretypically due to a drop in
(07:13):
estrogen and progesterone, whichhelp keep hair in the growing
phase.
At the same time, you haveandrogens like DHEA and
testosterone, which may becomerelatively more dominant, which
can shrink hair follicles andlead to finer and thinner
strands of hair.
And you may also in particularyou may have a diagnosed thyroid
(07:34):
condition.
If you do, you probably knowthat there's hair loss
associated with hypothyroidismor a low functioning thyroid.
But hypothyroidism, which ismore common in women over 40 and
in many women is undiagnosed.
That can also contribute tohair thinning and dryness as
well.
So if you're experiencing this,it is really important just to
(07:57):
make sure you're having adiscussion with your healthcare
professional.
Don't just ignore it, becauseif you haven't had your thyroid
gland thoroughly checked out andif you're experiencing fatigue,
if you're experiencing weightgain maybe you feel cold when
you shouldn't those sort ofsigns can be signs that the
thyroid is a bit out and that issomething we can test for in
(08:19):
the blood.
So don't ignore those kinds ofsymptoms.
Even though it's hair and a lotof people would see that as
being beauty, I guess, or thehair health is about beauty it
really can be signs that there'ssomething not quite right in
the body.
So please don't ignore that.
Now, in terms of our nails,nails are another great
(08:42):
barometer of your internalhealth.
So the kind of signs we can seein the nail sometimes are
splitting in the nail, that theygrow really slowly or they get
to a certain length and thenthey just break, peeling,
developing ridges.
Nails that are kind ofexhibiting these sorts of signs.
(09:04):
You know it can be a sign thatyou're low in certain nutrients
like biotin is a big one zinc,iron or protein Estrogen also
supports circulation andnutrient delivery to extremities
like your fingertips.
So when those levels dip, thenails can weaken.
Or if you are again, if yourdiet is just not quite right for
(09:29):
you, then, yeah, you'll getweaker nails, soft nails, tissue
paper Obviously, if you'reusing products on your nails
like acrylic, that willabsolutely cause soft nails,
whatever your age.
So we're not looking for signsthat are caused by like a
chemical damage.
We're looking for signs whenperhaps previously you had no
(09:49):
issues with your nails and thenall of a sudden nails are quite
weak.
I have relatively long nails andthey are my nails.
If you've ever seen my videosand things, you might think, oh,
she got acrylic nails.
No, I don't.
These are my nails and they'vealways been strong.
But I also nourish them withsome other nutrients, which I'll
(10:10):
get to shortly.
And dry skin that's the otherone that I mentioned before.
So dry skin is one of the mostcommon perimenopause symptoms
and here's why.
So estrogen promotes sebumproduction.
You may have heard of sebum.
Sebum is the skin's naturalmoisturizer.
(10:31):
So when you have less estrogen,you have less oil.
You have drier skin.
It also regulates collagenproduction and elastin, and
these keep your skin firm andplump.
So if you feel like, oh, myskincare is just not cutting it
anymore, it might be time tolook at your hormone health
(10:52):
rather than just trying otherproducts.
If you're not addressing what'sgoing on in the body, it
doesn't really matter whatyou're putting on the body.
Okay, you really, andparticularly skin.
You really want to be able toaddress underlying causes of
this dryness of skin, and weknow that it's really common in
(11:13):
women and peri andpost-menopause.
So we can address that.
And that's actually one of thereasons that I called my
signature program.
It's called the Glow Protocol,and one of the reasons I called
it that is because when Istarted doing it with women
clients, they almost all werecoming in after a couple of
(11:35):
weeks on the program and saying,oh my gosh, my work colleagues
are telling me that my skin isglowing.
And I'm like, oh, that's thefirst time I heard it.
I thought, oh, yeah, whatever.
And then I heard it again andagain, and again.
And so I know for sure thatwhat you do in terms of managing
hormones and managing yournutrition makes a massive
difference in the way your skinlooks.
(11:55):
And I haven't really eventouched on hormonal breakouts,
but that kind of comes under thesame banner as what I've been
speaking about, because if it'shormonally driven, then we can
really help to support managingthat with food.
Now, occasionally I may ask foryou to take a supplement, for
(12:16):
example, because once you hit 50, collagen production really
drops and it can be a littledifficult to manage that without
supplementation.
So that is something that Iwill often say to my female
clients over 50, if we're notreally getting the response that
we want in the skin, thencollagen, particularly marine
collagen, can be a fantasticsupplemental support.
(12:40):
But again, relying onsupplements is not the ideal.
You still need to look afteryour nutrition.
So let's talk about this.
So what foods are great forhormone balance and therefore
going to support healthy hair,skin and nails from the inside
(13:00):
out?
So here are some of my top, mygo-to nutrients and foods.
So protein would be one of thehigher level ones that I would
be looking at, and as a woman inperimenopause and postmenopause
, you're really looking at 1.2grams per kilo of body weight of
(13:23):
protein per day, and I'll justdo a quick calculation.
So if you weigh, say, 65 kilos,that means you need around 78
grams of protein per day, whichis quite a lot If you consider
that if you use a protein powder, so that's a pretty high
concentration of protein.
Generally, a serve of protein,depending on the brand, will
(13:44):
give you between 24 and 26 gramsof protein.
So that's only covering barelya third sorry, barely a yeah,
barely a third of that 78 grams.
So you need to be having a realfocus on protein at this time
of life, and that can beplant-based or animal-based
(14:07):
proteins.
And you know, even things likeyour hair and nails are actually
made of keratin, which is aprotein.
So you definitely need to beincluding a wide range of
proteins in your diet.
My other top of something Ioften ask women over 50 to
supplement contain omega-3s, butyou do need to be mindful about
(14:47):
including them.
Also, you're looking at thingslike hemp oil, flaxseed oil,
flaxseeds ground flaxseeds, thatis.
They're also really goodsources of omega-3 fatty acids.
And the beauty of the omega-3sthey're anti-inflammatory and
they keep the skin supple andsmooth and they do help with
even things like dry eyes.
(15:08):
If you have dry eyes, thenomega-3s can be really good at
addressing the underlying causeof dry eyes.
One of my top nutrients for skin, hair and nail health is zinc.
So zinc is found in things likepumpkin seeds or pepitas.
Same thing can be found in someof your animal meats lentils
(15:38):
some of your animal meatslentils um gosh.
So many foods contain zinc,which is great, because we need
zinc.
We use in about 300 differentchemical reactions in our bodies
and these are really easy tofind like just go into google
and, just you know, pop in zinccontaining foods or whatever and
you will get a whole list ofthem.
But yeah, these are crucial forskin healing and for hair
follicle health.
(15:58):
Biotin so biotin is a B vitaminand it's found in things like
eggs, sweet potatoes, almonds,and it supports strong nails and
hair growth.
And I'll often say to women, ifthey're asking me for
supplements for nails inparticular, I'll definitely.
Biotin is a big one up there.
Silica is also another big onethat I love.
(16:21):
If my nails are getting alittle bit kind of splitty, then
I'll get onto a silicasupplement and that will
generally just sort it all out.
But collagen now that I takecollagen more regularly, I find
that that's really good at atkeeping nails, hair and skin
very strong, which is great.
Vitamin C vitamin C isimportant because you need it
(16:42):
for collagen synthesis.
So even if you're taking acollagen supplement.
If your vitamin C is a littledeficient, then it's it's not
going to help you with so much.
So vitamin C is found in thingslike your berries, citrus
fruits, capsicum, tomatoes,things like that Always
important to have that in yourdiet.
(17:02):
Iron you know women and ironreally it's so important.
And it's especially importantif you still have a menstrual
cycle and you know many women inperimenopause are experiencing
heavier periods a menstrualcycle and many women in
perimenopause are experiencingheavier periods.
So you really need to keep aneye on that.
If you find that you areexperiencing fatigue and you
haven't had your iron checkedfor a while and your periods are
(17:24):
a bit heavier, probably worthgetting your iron checked,
because low iron equals hairloss.
So you really want to keep aneye on that.
Hydration also hugely important.
Your skin needs water, but italso needs electrolytes like
potassium and magnesium toretain that water in the cell.
So again, you're going to getpotassium and magnesium from
(17:45):
foods, but you need the water aswell.
And again, you've probablyheard my calculation for water
before, which is 35 mils perkilo of body weight, so you can
just do that little calculationfor yourself.
So there are some of thenutrients that we need to build
skin, hair and nails and keepthem healthy, but they're not
(18:08):
really addressing the hormonalunderlying cause, right, are
they?
And that's what we really needto do is support the underlying
cause.
So, in terms of managing hormonebalance, there's quite a few
things so.
So cruciferous veg wouldprobably be one of the number
one recommendations.
They provide nutrientsspecifically for the liver, to
(18:32):
help your liver perform thedetoxification processes that it
does every day.
And so your cruciferous vegagain, this is something you can
get online, but it's thingslike your cabbage, your kale,
broccoli, cauliflower, brusselssprouts Anything that kind of
smells a bit sulfury is probablygoing to be a cruciferous veg.
(18:55):
Garlic and onions also fallinto that category.
Now, if you do have anundirected thyroid in particular
, then cruciferous veg does needto be cooked very well, because
they contain a little plantchemical called goitrogens and
they are not great for yourthyroid if you have a thyroid
(19:18):
problem.
They will not cause a thyroidproblem if your thyroid is
healthy, but if you do have ahypothyroid in particular, then
make sure you're cooking wellyour cruciferous veg.
Other things that are importantto support hormone balance is
balancing blood sugar.
Balancing blood sugar helpsprevent cortisol spikes.
(19:40):
Cortisol interacts withestrogen and therefore
progesterone.
So we want to keep our bloodsugar nicely balanced on the
side it does.
If you do that, then it helpsmanage things like carb cravings
, it helps keep your energy upall day and it helps you burn
fat more efficiently.
So balancing blood sugar is oneof my number one focuses when
(20:00):
I'm working with women andweight loss and also hormone
balancing.
So we definitely want to watchthe sugar.
Also want to manage stress again, because we want to keep the
cortisol nice and even so,things like a bit of breath work
, walking, spending time innature, getting adequate sleep
which I know sometimes is notnecessarily the easiest thing to
(20:22):
do but if you can reduce stressas much as you can by avoiding
stressors and when you can't dothat, by learning to regulate
your nervous system.
That is critical if you wanthealthy hair, skin and nails,
because it will also impact yourgut health.
If you have high sorry highlevels of stress because of our
(20:43):
gut brain connection, that willimpact your gut health Also.
Another cortisol-busting tip isto avoid over-exercising.
That can raise cortisol andworsen your symptoms.
You can consider adaptogens likeashwagandha, rhodiola always,
as I say, with professionalguidance, because herbal
(21:03):
medicines are powerful, they'reamazing, and you want to get
exactly the right combination ofherbs for you and what you're
experiencing.
So it's kind of a wastedopportunity.
If you're buying herbalmedicines over the counter and
not getting advice.
You may be taking ones thataren't ideal.
(21:24):
Therefore, you're wasting yourmoney, and there may be some
other ones that you've neverheard of because, frankly, some
of the best ones are the onesthat you haven't heard of and
it's so easy to get some goodprofessional advice so that you
are on the right herbalmedicines for you and you also
have a well-rounded sort ofmanagement plan, including some
(21:45):
nutritional medicine ornutritional advice rather, uh,
to help support you through this, this hormonal kind of time.
Um, also sometimes sometimes notall the time, but sometimes
it's helpful to actually testthe hormones to see what's
happening, to see where you'reat in your perimenopause
(22:06):
transition.
Happening to see where you'reat in your perimenopause
transition.
Yeah, it's not necessarilyessential, but sometimes it can
be helpful.
Particularly if you startmaking some changes and you're
not getting anywhere, then itmight be really helpful to get
some testing done that willactually identify what's going
on and, therefore, what hormonesspecifically need to be
(22:27):
supported.
And this is where personalizedprotocols come in, what's going
on and therefore what hormonesspecifically need to be
supported.
And you know, this is wherepersonalized protocols come in.
What works for one woman may notwork for another, and it's not
about quick fixes.
This is a long game.
It's about tuning into yourbody's changing needs, because
they will change.
Remember, this is a hormonalrollercoaster.
You get these surges and thesedrops, and these surges and
(22:47):
these drops.
So having support by someonewho understands what's going on
can be an absolute game changerfor your experience of
perimenopause.
So I hope this has been helpful.
I think I've covered everythingI wanted to.
Yeah, so notice what's going onwith your hair, skin and nails.
(23:10):
They are speaking to you.
Let's stop silencing them withband-aid treatments and really
start listening and noticingwhat's going on in your body.
So I mentioned a few times inthis episode about the
peri-weight loss assessments Ido.
They're free of charge.
They're for people that areinterested in perhaps taking the
next step, in working with meand want to get to know me a
(23:33):
little bit, want to understandwhat I might be able to do for
them.
I don't take just anyone into myprograms, as if you've been on
my website, you'll see I don'ttake enrollments on the website,
because I want to speak toevery single individual that
wants to work with me to makesure it is the right fit and
(23:53):
that you're going to get yourneeds met and your goals
achieved, and that I feel thatthis program is the right one
for you, because you know, I ama professional.
I'm not just someone that'sgoing to just sell you a program
just so that I can make money.
This is about me making surethat I can help you, so please
(24:15):
feel free to book in if youwould like to.
There is a link in the shownotes for the peri weight loss
assessment, or you can reach outto me on Instagram at the
perimenopause path, if you justlike to have a little chat over
the DMS before you commit to acall, but there is no obligation
there.
If you'd just like to have alittle chat over the DMS, uh,
before you commit to a call butthere is no obligation there I
don't ask you to sign up to theprogram.
On the call.
We do the the peri weight lossassessment and then I send you
(24:38):
information and then you canmake your decision in your own
time.
Okay, so I just wanted to makethat clear.
So, uh, I hope you enjoyed theepisode.
If you would like to give mesome feedback, if you'd like to
write a five-star review, Iwould love it.
Or follow the podcast so thatyou receive an episode every
single week Until next week.
(24:59):
Have a good one and I will seeyou again.
Thanks so much for joining meon the Ageless and Awesome
podcast.
If you liked this 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 singleweek.
(25:19):
If you feel like writing me afive-star review, you would
absolutely make my day.
If you found this episoderesonated with you, head over to
my Instagram and DM me attheperimenopausepar.
I would love to connect withyou.
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