July 17, 2024 • 36 mins
Boost your digestive health in our latest episode! Our special guest, Janell Hartman, shares her remarkable journey from client to colon hydrotherapist, highlighting the profound health benefits she experienced through colonics. Janelle's insights into colon care and the emotional aspects of digestive health are not to be missed.
Ever wondered how aligning your daily routines with natural rhythms can transform your health? We break it all down, from the importance of a substantial midday meal to specific techniques that calm the nervous system. Discover how simple practices like breath exercises and targeted massages can relax your nervous system and enhance your well-being. Plus, learn about the benefits of structured water from fruits and vegetables, and how the Ayurvedic concept of Dhinacharya can promote balance and soothe your body's energies.
Finally, we delve into the critical role of the vagus nerve in regulating stress and digestive health. Learn how to identify and address vagal tone imbalances with techniques like singing and humming. We also discuss the importance of seasonal, organic, and local foods for optimal digestive function, and why adequate protein intake is crucial, especially after menopause. Tune in to discover expert guidance on optimizing your gut health, understanding the impact of meal timing, and more. Don't miss out on these invaluable tips to support your overall wellness!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Medovia Menopause Podcast, your
trusted source forevidence-based, science-backed
information related to menopause.
Medovia is dedicated tochanging the narrative about
menopause by educating, raisingawareness and supporting women
in this stage of life, both athome and in the workplace.
(00:21):
Visit medoviacom to learn morehome and in the workplace.
Visit Medoviacom to learn more.
I'm one of your hosts, aprilHaberman, and I'm joined by Kim
Hart.
We're co-founders of Medovia,certified health coaches,
registered yoga teachers andmidlife mamas specializing in
menopause.
You're listening to anotherepisode of our podcast, where we
(00:43):
offer expert guidance for themost transformative stage of
life, bringing you realconversations, education and
resources to help you overcomechallenges and reach your full
potential through midlife.
Join us and our special guestseach episode as we bring vibrant
, fun and truthful conversationand let us help you have a
(01:07):
deeper understanding ofmenopause.
Hey friends, I'm excited toshare a significant milestone
that you may have heardmentioned.
Medovia has launched the firstever menopause friendly US
accreditation program.
This program sets acomprehensive standard overseen
by a third party panel ofexperts, ensuring air quotes.
(01:30):
Menopause friendly is more thanjust a term.
It reflects a real commitmentto meaningful, sustainable
workplace changes.
It's important to us thatmenopause friendly logo is a
meaning Rachel, I've got to doit again.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Hey friends, I'm excited toshare a significant milestone
(01:52):
that you may have heardmentioned.
Medovia has launched the firstever menopause friendly US
accreditation program.
This program sets acomprehensive standard overseen
by a third-party panel ofexperts, ensuring air quotes
here that menopause-friendly ismore than just a term.
It reflects a real commitmentto meaningful, sustainable
(02:16):
workplace changes.
It's important to us that themenopause-friendly logo is
meaningful and marks a highstandard within the menopause
space.
We hope you'll join us on thejourney to becoming menopause
friendly.
Logo is meaningful and marks ahigh standard within the
menopause space.
We hope you'll join us on thejourney to becoming menopause
friendly as a leading pioneer inthe States.
You can find more informationat menopausefriendlyuscom.
(02:38):
We have a fun episode today.
We talk all things poop.
Yes, you heard me right.
We're talking about colon carewith Janelle Hartman.
Janelle works with clientsinterested in stress management
and addressing source issues toresolve chronic and acute
digestive imbalances.
She has the gift of holdingspace for the process of
(02:59):
personal attunement to signalsand requests expressed by the
body and helps generateenthusiasm in those just
beginning returning to orwell-traveled in their healing
journey, struggles withdigestive issues and depression
early in life spurred hertowards her path of healing.
Yoga was a monumental aspect ofher mission for balance, as it
(03:22):
recognizes the body, mind andspirit as an inseparable system
which must be tended to as awhole.
This was a lifesaver during herdecade of social work with
homeless women, where she cameto embrace the value of
self-care and serving others.
These days, her love of art,music, meditation and world
(03:43):
travel Keep her busy creatingand exploring inside and out.
Side note friends we had somesound difficulties with this
episode, but we decided to postit anyway.
It's packed with greatinformation we didn't want you
to miss.
So disregard the bits of soundchallenges and enjoy Janelle
(04:06):
welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
We're so excited to have you.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I'm thrilled to be here.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
We met.
I've been taking yoga for youfor years and you were my yoga
teacher when I got my yogateacher training and last April,
and I saw you was at arestorative yoga class, so it's
been a while.
But it saw you was at arestorative yoga class, so it's
been a while, but it's reallygreat to have you on the show.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
How'd you get involved with poop?
Sorry, we're going right to it.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Yeah, well, you know, I, I was a client at the clinic
that I currently work at calledtummy temple for around five
years, um, getting colonicsbefore I became a colon
hydrotherapist.
And, um, in, when I went in, Ifelt like a colonic was a little
bit like skydiving.
It was more of a dare and I wasjust into trying stuff.
But what I found was such acontrast before and after having
(05:05):
the garbage taken out of me,and it really just it made a
huge impression on me.
I actually processed a lot ofemotions.
I mean that area of the body,solar plexus, second chakra,
root chakra so much going onthere.
And and then was learning somuch from the technician that
was helping me.
The woman who was giving me mycolonic educated me all about my
(05:27):
digestive system and theimportance of needing to move
the garbage out and to poop, andI feel like that was the
beginning of a revolution in myhealth journey, even though I
kind of considered myself reallyhealthy and didn't really think
I had anything wrong with mybowel movements.
But the improvement changed mylife in some pretty key ways,
(05:47):
you know.
So I, my second colonic, Idecided that I was going to be a
colon hydrotherapist and it waskind of funny because I I told
her you know, I'd love to becomea colon hydrotherapist, but I
feel like it's probably a verycompetitive industry, you know.
And she's like do you reallythink people are lined up around
(06:07):
the corner?
to be a colon hydrotherapistLevel of excitement is
definitely like this could beyour Dharma, you know, and
indeed it was.
I'm still excited about it isthat day to this very day.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
That was 12 years ago , so could you describe to our
audience what a colonhydrotherapist does?
And if they came to see you,what does that mean and look
like?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Sure, yeah.
So when you come into theclinic we do an intake.
We have some questions aboutyour lifestyle and some of your
patterns with food and you know,elimination patterns, things
like that, practical questions,and then a colonic involves
laying very the closed systemcolonic, at least laying very
comfortably onto a table like amassage table, and the
(06:56):
instrument that we have is meantto help irrigate the colon.
So there's some tubing that'sattached, gently inserted, and
you basically relax and lay backand we fill you with water that
has a gentle, mechanizedpressure.
We can control the temperatureand the pressure.
We're usually going very gently, but it's a little bit like an
enema.
(07:16):
If you've ever had an enema.
It fills you up and we are ableto actually eventually go all
the way around the colon and sousually we'll go in a little
while.
There's an urge to go, you knowthe client will then just kind
of go and it goes into the tubesor there's no smell, there's,
you don't have to deal with anypoop.
It goes in a little glass, kindof like a little window where I
(07:37):
can see things flowing and, asyou may know, there's a lot you
can tell about what's happeningin the body from looking at poop
.
So it's just a broad data forme to analyze as it's going out
and I'm rubbing the belly andmassaging and kind of detecting
where there's gas or some stuckspots.
You get a nice belly massageand the whole thing is actually
very relaxing.
(07:58):
And so many times we kind offill in, fill, fill the water in
, let it flow out afterwards andyou have a much better day than
started.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
So yeah, Well, it's so interesting to me, Janelle.
I've never had one done, but Iimagine that I imagine it does
feel good, not the process, butjust the emptying as well.
And I'm curious, because ofwhat we do here at Medovian,
helping women in midlife andmenopause, if there is a link
(08:31):
between hormones, digestivehealth and overall well-being.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Absolutely yeah, and I mean specifically focusing on
menopause.
That's a time, you know, whenthe estrogen is going down, the
cortisol tends to rise, and whencortisol rises, that does start
to suppress the digestivesystem as well as other things.
You know, if we are, if thatcortisol is flowing, usually
that's an indication to the bodythat it's not time to digest,
(09:00):
Definitely not time to reproduce.
There's a lot more blood goingout away from the organs and
stuff like that, and so that candefinitely increase dryness and
constipation.
When digestion and theperistalsis slows down, the
vagal, the vagal functions, thevagus nerve functions turn down,
(09:22):
then that's going to affectmotility.
So for sure, that's a time when,in Ayurvedic terms, if that's I
don't want to introduce such ahuge concept, I imagine you
probably have introducedAyurvedic terminology in your
podcast but it's where vatatends to rise, and vata is that
air and space energy that bringsdryness.
(09:43):
Is that air and space energythat brings dryness?
It can bring bloating, it canjust kind of bring that, that
like less motility, lessdigestive fire and juices, all
of which contribute toconstipation.
So that's one of the mechanisms.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
And that it is interesting.
Stress is so interesting, isn'tit?
And cortisol and what that doesthe body, body, and I want to
come to that a little bit moreand unpack that in just a few
minutes.
But as we think about theconstipation and some of those
symptoms of the hormonal changesin the body, I want to go
(10:18):
deeper here.
What does that look like?
If I am someone that is inmidlife and I'm beginning to see
my hormone, the estrogenspecifically drop, I'm beginning
to experience some of thisconstipation when the poop exits
our body.
What are some of those changes?
What does it look like?
And how would I know that,beyond the constipation right,
(10:41):
the pain of constipation and thebloating, how would I know that
there are things going on in mygut that I need to pay
attention to?
Speaker 3 (10:50):
well, I think it's like stools just become a lot
drier.
Um, stools become drier, itdoesn't always feel as complete,
so you know that feeling whenyou pass a bowel movement and it
just all comes out and andusually there's nothing on the
toilet paper because you justthing off that wasn't done, um,
and so like like there's a ifit's doesn't feel complete.
(11:12):
If it's drier, um, also it couldbe like um, oftentimes, uh,
when there's reduced motility,there can be more bacteria
growing in the poop and so itcan cause that bloating.
Um, that's also a result oflike reduced peristalsis, which
is in the small intestine wherethe food actually digests the
(11:32):
oregas of the colon.
Peristalsis, which is in thesmall intestine where the food
actually digests the orogus ofthe colon and digestive juices
that are firing, which comesalong with that kind of that
reduced motility.
Then there can be less likegood volatile gallbladder bile,
which helps break down fast, andso we can get a sludgy effect.
It can feel like slow andsludgy.
(11:53):
So that's when you start seeingstreaks in the toilet.
So it could go from being slowand sludgy and kind of greasy to
super dry and pellety and justnot feeling complete.
And those are some of thethings that when that vata
imbalance is there, from thatrise in cortisol, that drop in
estrogen.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
What should your first line of defense be when
you notice that it's?
You know that it's doing notwhat it's supposed to be doing
and, by the way, when you taughtme this the first time, I
always look now when I when I'mfinished, and make sure that it
looks right.
I don't want to bring everyonealong in my house to let them
show how well I ate and drankwater yesterday or whatever
(12:39):
what's your first line ofdefense when you notice it has
that kind of characteristic.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Yeah, I mean, the first thing I would think about
is okay, how can I actuallystart to reduce the vata and
start to bring in the vagal tone?
That's the beautiful thing, isthat the vagus nerve is really
what is ruling this whole thingright, and so we want to do
things that are going to nourishthat.
So, um, some of the things that, um, I would do is definitely
like take a peek at everything.
(13:08):
Well, am I?
What is my sleeping routines?
What is my eating routines?
Is that erratic?
Am I moving with circadianrhythms?
Am I having my big meal in themiddle of the day, like
empowering digestion, you know?
Am I doing things that are?
Am I letting my mind turn off?
Usually, that air and spaceenergy, you know, the air
(13:29):
element is in the heart chakraand the space is in the throat,
and so a lot of that body energymoves up.
Now, what we want to forelimination is out right, and so
what is it that's going torelax the nervous system?
There is a host of amazingbiggest nerve exercises.
Now you can go on YouTube andgo down the rabbit hole of
(13:50):
breath, of eye movements of um,of certain types of massage, um,
and, and so I would say, like,start addressing the nervous
system.
But then you know, this is atime when also taking some good
digestive enzymes, having thatroutine minutes before your um,
before your your meal, to justget a little bit more
(14:13):
hydrochloric acid flowing, thinkdigestive juice is flowing
right.
So number one is the nervoussystem.
Taking some deep breaths, youcan even press in on the left
side of your, underneath yourrib cage, and press downward on
your stomach to help to tractionthe vagus nerve and get it
ready to digest, because usuallythe constipation is happening
way before we get on the toilet,right, it's happening in the
(14:35):
upper GI, with not processing.
And so, um, helping with thevagus nerve, um, hydration is a
big one and you know, you mayknow this I think this is
getting more and more well-knownis that drinking water, out of
just drinking water, is notreally the way that our bodies
want to be hydrated Like.
We need to be having structuredwater that's in fruits and
(14:56):
veggies and, you know, addingsome electrolytes and things
that the body wants to actuallyreally, really, you know, aloe
vera juice, these are the thingsthat are going to hydrate you
way more than just body.
If your body is in a certaintype of mitochondrial and
electrical state, it's just notgoing to absorb water being
(15:17):
drank down through yourdigestive tract, right?
So we want to absorb it from thefoods we eat, and so increasing
plants and fruits and veggies,that's also going to increase a
variation of gut flora that'sgoing to be able to process
things and help and not onlythat, help, like, balance your
hormones, right, eliminate whatneeds to be eliminated, excess
(15:39):
hormones, um, but then certainlyjust create the balance and and
in in the bile, the digestivebile profile, in in, like you
know the way that things are, um, the way things are processed,
so, um, but, and then with witheating and diet, you know it's
like we can say we need to eat,are processed, so, but and then
with with eating and diet, youknow it's like we can say we
need to eat more of those things.
But exploring the circadianrhythm, the wisdom from Ayurveda
(16:02):
of Dhinacharya, which means thewheel of the day, so following
practices that match where thesun is moving, how the energies
of the day are flowing, becauseVata is ultimately reduced by
routine, it's ultimately reducedand soothed by routine.
So that's kind of that would bemy way that I would proceed.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I like it, yeah, yeah , I mean all of those things we
think about.
But tying it all together, Ithink, is really important.
So the hydration piece and notjust drinking water, I haven't,
I didn't think about that.
I mean we always think, oh,eight glasses of water a day and
then I'm good to go.
But it's a good reminder toinclude the foods that help us
(16:43):
absorb, and even the aloe waterthat you mentioned is good for
you.
And then, of course, comingback to that vagus nerve it's so
important and we really haven'ttalked to our audience that
much about the vagus nerve.
It's so important and we reallyhaven't talked to our audience
that much about the vagus nerve.
I think we could do a wholepodcast just on the vagus nerve.
But can you, just for a sidenote here, janelle, talk to us a
(17:07):
little bit about what the vagusnerve is for those that don't
know what that is, just inlayman's terms, what is that
nerve is for?
Speaker 3 (17:14):
those that don't know what that is, just in in
layman's terms, what?
What is that?
Absolutely so.
We have um on each side.
We have these down from fromthe brain and innervate into the
body.
And the 10th one on each sideis called the vagus nerve and it
comes out of the of the brain,behind your, your ears, kind of
where the back of your jawboneis, and moves down your neck and
then from there it branches out.
(17:36):
So vagus means, you know, vagusmeans like wandering, so this
nerve wanders all over the body.
It innervates down into theheart and into the lungs and
into your whole digestive tract.
It regulates your respiration,your heartbeat and all of your
digestive processes and it'salso modifies our response to
(17:56):
stress.
So stress and relaxation, it,it modifies your response.
So this nerve like if it ishappy, everything's pretty happy
If it gets dysregulated, anddysregulated means either it's
too tonic, which that's where westart to see people who feel
nauseated or have a lot ofdiarrhea.
You know those are some symptomsof upregulated.
(18:16):
You know more of kind of likethe, you know really kind of
flighty.
And then when it's kind of toolow, that tone is too low,
that's where we start to seethese sluggish things where
things are just not kind offiring at the right time.
Even brain function can beaffected by it, and so the vagus
nerve, you know, is somethingthat there's certain points
(18:40):
where it comes more to thesurface, it can be palpated.
They're finding all sorts ofways it can be reset with, like
you probably heard, emdr, likethe eye movements, different
breath practices.
A beautiful one is singing, um,different breath practices.
A beautiful one is singing,humming those things, those
types of things.
So the Vick is very important,um, for all of those regulations
(19:00):
and and thing that reallyaffects it, one of the biggest
thing is stress.
Stress and dysregulated rhythmsin lifestyle.
Yeah, stress management.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
It plays such a big role in your life overall, but
at midlife, with the cortisolgoing up and the estrogen going
down, and you practice a lot ofstress relieving activities, for
lack of a better word.
Activities, for lack of abetter word.
(19:32):
What's the best way?
You talked about breathing, butcan you talk more about how to
calm that nerve and what youshould recognize when it is
elevated and that you need tostop and just kind of reset.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Yeah, I think that you know I would say that breath
is one of the best, is one ofthe best reflections of what's
happening.
I'll have people just tune intotheir breath, like and notice,
are you taking a bunch ofinhales and not exhaling?
That's, that's a big indicatorof of when we're dysregulated.
(20:10):
The exhale is what calms thenervous system down.
It's that out moving breath andit's also when the diaphragm
lifts up to press the breath outof the lungs, which is also
pressing on this area that I wasmentioning before, underneath
the rib cage, this whole upper.
We say it's like the uppertransverse of the colon, but
it's also like where yourdiaphragm looks into the spine,
(20:33):
where your vagus nerveinnervates down into your whole
digestive tract, and so thatneeds to be mobile and moving.
And so, unfortunately, there'sa feedback loop of the stress
response where we kind of startinhaling and inhaling and
inhaling, which creates a lot offight or flight, and then the
exhale.
We can just consciously bringthat awareness in to do that.
(20:55):
You'll feel a kind of contrastshift right away.
A long, slow exhale is magical,um, uh.
Another thing is just maybefeeling a little bit like, um,
you know, uh, feeling a littlespacey, um, feeling withdrawn.
It had.
There's a.
There's a aspect of the Vegastone, of the vagal tone they
call the safe and social circuit.
(21:18):
There's this polyvagal theorywhere there's a ventral circuit
and a dorsal circuit, and theventral circuit is one that
allows us to kind of want toengage with people.
It doesn't mean that we're amassive extrovert or anything,
but we just feel safe aroundother humans.
You start to feel like reallywithdrawn and suspicious of
people when logically there maybe some trauma, right, but
(21:40):
logically it's like if you checkin, it's like I know that
logically I'm safe, but my bodyis reacting to other humans like
they're red.
That is an indication also andthat can come with a lot of
anxiety and a lot ofdysregulation, just a lot of
mental activity that tends tothen spin out rather than round
and so it's hard for us to holdspace in ourselves around other
(22:02):
humans.
That's another indication, kindof in a psychological sense.
Certainly, the dryness, theconstipation, feeling bloated,
having an appetite that's out ofcontrol or one that's kind of
non-existent, like a swing inthe appetite, that's another
issue as well.
Those are just kind of asprinkle of water.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah, I don't think people realize those things
right.
Indicators of stress.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
You know what I also love too and I'm going to come
back to the singing I just havethis memory of my grandpa and my
grandma both they used to justwalk around the house humming
all the time and I thought, oh,you know, it used as a kid, it
used to get on my nerves and nowI'm like, oh, how I would love
to hear them hum.
And that was so good, right, itwas so good for them and they
probably didn't even realize it.
(22:50):
Like we all need to walk aroundsinging and humming.
A little bit more simple thingslike that.
And breath you know, our breathis an amazing thing.
We have it from the moment wecome into the world to the
moment we leave and we forget.
We forget that it's there andhow powerful it is.
So I really appreciate thatreminder for sure.
Can we come back to diet forjust a minute, because I think
(23:14):
diet does play a big rolecorrect me if I'm wrong, but in
our digestive system and ourpooping in particular.
Aside from just generallyspeaking, eating more fruits,
for example, to help withhydration, what are some other
tips that you can give ourlisteners as it relates to
(23:34):
nutrition and poop, ourdigestive system?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Yeah, I think that a really big one is.
You know, I said SOL, seasonal,organic and local.
Now, it's interesting because,you know, seasonal, there's so
much more to it than just like,oh, it's really great because
it's coming out.
People have this idea thatthat's good.
It just sounds like that soundslike a good idea.
(24:00):
Well, one of the things is thatthat, as our environment changes
and our environment changesaround us through the seasons,
what's coming out of the groundis actually all the nutrition
that we need to adapt to thosesituations.
So the rhythm of the seasons inin relation to the food, for
example, what's coming out ofthe ground right now, like
(24:21):
asparagus is in season and it'sgot those kind of stringy nuts,
inulin, which is a type of fiberthat feeds a certain flora that
you need for your, for thefunctions of this season, you
know, just as one example soblueberries are starting to come
.
We need those for sunprotection.
You know, like, so there is,there is, there's this way that
(24:42):
the um, that and your bodyreally, it really wants to poop.
I mean it's kind of like getthe garbage out.
You know, like your body dothat.
Yeah, well, being invited by bynature, even these foods and
one of the best things you cando is actually make it a project
to find out what is local andorganic and and seasonal in your
(25:03):
area.
Go to the store and see if youcan actually get up to the
recommendation sounds crazy is30 different variations of plant
foods every week.
Could you actually like have avariety of, like a rotation of,
like 30 different things, whichincludes beans.
There's types of beans andthings like that.
(25:24):
But like what's on the what's,what's what's in the produce
area and I mean we live inSeattle here and PCC is really
great about like highlightingwhat's local and stuff.
You go to grocery stores or notlocal, but I mean local and
seasonal.
You go to other grocery storesand you just have everything all
the time.
So it's hard to tell.
So you have to do a little bitof work to understand what that
(25:44):
is.
If it's not obvious to you, youknow if you're not a gardener
or tuned into that already.
But you can get a reallydiverse amount of plants.
Now, I'm kind of an omnivoreand I know that maybe some
people out there start being ina vegetarian, and that's fine.
You want to make sure thatyou're getting enough protein
and, in fact vegan or vegetarian, and that's fine.
You want to make sure thatyou're getting enough protein
(26:08):
and in fact, after menopause wedo need more protein and that is
when, like you know, when, it'snot a bad idea to start kind of
tapping into.
You know, like if you're new toeating animal protein, like
fish and turkey and these thingsare a little easier to digest,
but bring in a little.
I call it animal magic.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
You know, like.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
I take New Zealand grass-fed beef liver capsules.
It's freeze-dried and it's likenature's multivitamin and
that's one thing that I havefound.
That's created a lot of reallygreat digestive and regulatory
health in my bowels, my belly,in my skin, in my brain.
So even if it's like I don'twant to eat it but I can take it
(26:43):
in a capsule, it's nice tobring that into.
You know, it's like lots ofplants, some protein, some
healthy fats, you know.
And what's more important thanwhat you're eating is like when
and how.
Right.
So the when could be theseasonal thing, but also when is
like really like getting up andhaving a nice digestive
(27:05):
breakfast and then not snacking.
That's a big one.
Not snacking.
Having a really good lunch.
The middle of the day is whenyour bile flow, your digestive
bile flows at its highest.
You can have that nice big mealin the middle of the day.
We know this right, we hearthis and then, and evening, if
you feel fed, maybe you skipdinner or maybe you have
something really light becausewe don't have as much bile flow
(27:28):
then.
So, but a big thing too is notsnacking between meals.
Eat enough Like.
I feel like people like to pickat things and they're afraid to
just sit down and have a nicebig meal you know, but,
like, well, no, like.
Your body likes to have thatstrength and when you actually
feel hungry because you haven'tbeen snacking, that's when your
digestive juices are really high.
(27:48):
Your body is the most, has themost adaptable way of
approaching the food Right, itcan really absorb it.
If you think about building afire, you don't want to keep
throwing wood on the fire allthe time.
You have to kind of let it burnand get some space in there so
that it can, it can move in ourdigestive systems, or the same
way.
Um, stopping snacking inbetween meals has been a big
(28:10):
thing for a lot of my clientsand also for myself and my
health, and that's an art that'sfrom Ayurvedic wisdom.
But there is this thing aboutlike, oh, having these tiny
meals throughout the day, and Ican tell you that's the way to
ruin your digestion over time.
It might feel good at first,but then over time you're not
going to be absorbing nutrients,you're not going to be making
neurotransmitters.
(28:30):
You know like it's.
It's going to get weird.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
There's so much, just so much conflicting information
and it's, it's so good to justreiterate, eating those full
meals instead of nibblingthroughout the day.
Right, we were taught thatnibble, nibble, nibble and keep
your metabolism up, and soaudience she's saying it's not
good for our gut.
There you go, yeah, us tounderstand how healthcare
(29:07):
providers can help women managetheir digestive concerns as they
go through midlife.
If people wanted to find you,how could they find you?
Can you talk to us a littleabout getting help?
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I work at a beautifulnaturopathic clinic in the
Roosevelt Lake City area calledTummy Temple and we have a
variety of beautifulnaturopathic doctors.
They're all like specialized indigestion, but then they have
there's hormone specialists.
We have somebody running the IVclinic.
We have, like all thesedifferent, you know, NDs with
(29:36):
different specialties, and so I,you know, offer colonics there.
I'm also a lymphatic therapist,so last seven years I've been,
I've been a lymphatic drainagespecialist there, and those are
that's a really great place tocome.
You can get an initial consultwith an ND.
We also have an amazingnutritionist who studied at
(29:56):
Bastyr.
She's been doing it for many,many years and one of her, her
magical qualities, she's just soable to connect to each person
and and it's not like cause,sometimes nutrition is like here
, this is what's healthy, Eatthis, and it's like, no, we have
to look at the body.
I will say your blood type,blood type, eating is really
amazing.
That's another little dietarytip, but she'll look at that.
(30:19):
She'll look at like, how muchtime do you have?
Do you like shopping?
Do you, you know, like kidsrunning around?
When do you have time to cook?
Let's see what you know, whatmeals would be helpful and then
we'll, and then she's reallygood.
She's also a colonhydrotherapist and lymphatic
therapist and just really smart,and so she can kind of figure
out how to make you like fooddelicious but also fit.
(30:42):
You know what you need.
She's a great person to ask,like you know what I'm
constipated all the time I'mpostmenopausal.
She would know exactly what totell you to eat.
She would figure it out.
Yeah, so that's, that's areally great place to find me
and my comrades, who are justbrilliant.
And then, of course, I have apodcast called Mindful Medicina
all one word lowercase podcast,and we have a lot of really
(31:05):
great episodes on there.
In fact, we do.
We've talked about menopauseand we've talked all about
things that I've mentioned todayAmazing.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I've been to the tummy temple and I've had a
lymphatic massage from you andit was incredible.
I can't say enough about it.
I actually scheduled anacupuncture session the next day
and I was floating on a cloudfor like days.
I just back to back, I was likeI don't know why I scheduled
this, but apparently I needed it, so taking care of taking care
(31:40):
of it.
Well, janelle, this is like wecould talk to you for hours and
I wanted I know sometimes you dothe poop talk at the tummy
temple and I've always wanted tobe a part of that.
So thanks for, you know,normalizing poop and talking
through all the things.
We really enjoyed having youtoday.
We're going to move on to rapidfire.
(32:01):
It's real easy but fun, do youprefer?
Speaker 3 (32:07):
rainy days or sunny days, you know, I um guys that's
.
It's interesting.
I love sunny days.
Rainy days are great forgetting stuff done inside it's
true.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
It's so true because we don't feel guilty when we're
inside and it's raining right.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Yeah, while it rains, I'm like, well, okay, inside.
Yeah, I hear you.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Okay, how about early bird or night owl?
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Early bird.
I get up at 4am just aboutevery day and that's a big part
of like the regulating nervoussystem.
System doesn't have to be 4am,but before 6am is what's
recommended in Ayurveda andthat's a really nice time to do
those centering practices thatset the tone for the whole day,
that set that in your body.
Yeah, so I'm an early bird bigtime.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
And April does that early.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Oh, I know, I know, I guess now you're speaking my
language.
Get up early, start thosepractices.
You're right, it just sets yourday right off the bat.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Hot showers or relaxing baths.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Relaxing baths.
I actually very rarely takeshowers.
I even I have a little tub thatI wash my hair with.
I am a bath junkie so I don'tturn.
I haven't turned on my showerin a very long time.
I bathe, what do you, do you?
Speaker 1 (33:30):
put anything in the water?
Oh my gosh, you just took thequestion right from me there.
I'm like wait, what do you do?
Yeah, are there certain thingsyou like to put in the bath?
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Yeah, you know, kind of all depends If I'm, if I'm
just kind of washing myself, getready for work and not, you
know, not really anything.
But if I'm taking a soak I dolove, I love the Epsom salts, I
will use a full big acidsometimes.
Just do a little detox, yeah,like some essential oils, yeah,
things like that.
Yeah, if I'm, if I'm kind of a,sometimes I'll get like detox
(34:02):
formulas you can dump in there.
If I'm doing different types ofmetal cleansing or parasite
cleansing.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
So great.
Yeah, my daughter is a bathperson and she takes one almost
every day.
My husband would come and saywhere's Rachel?
I'm like I bet you can't guess.
I bet you can't guess it's.
It's good for you in many ways,okay.
The last question that we askeveryone is what is the best
piece of?
Speaker 3 (34:31):
advice that you've ever received, best piece of
advice I've ever received, Ithink, like if I I've received
so much good advice, if I wereto distill it down into
something that means the most tome, it's um, obey, only love,
and I I just feel like there'sso much of a um program we have
(34:54):
of the tribe and of, you know,other people's ideas and
ancestral ideas of who we'resupposed to be and and um, you
know, I've always been a verykind of rebellious person but I
find that like I really have anobedience to my inner voice, to
my God inside, and um, and Ifeel like it harmonizes me, I
(35:14):
can feel the harmony of all theyogic teachings and all.
So that's kind of like I feelthat I'm a very rebellious and
yet I obey, I obey love, andthat's that brought a lot of
happiness and it steered mepretty right through my life.
So that's the vibe I love.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Your energy always makes me feel so centered and
grounded.
Thank you For sure.
Yeah, this is really great.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I do.
I love your energy too and justwho you are, and there's so
many more podcasts that we couldhave you on because you know so
much, not just about poop, butso many other things.
So I'm sure this won't be thelast time that we see you, but
it's been really fun, andlisteners until we meet again,
(35:58):
go find joy in the journey.
Thanks, janelle.
Thank you for listening to theMedovia Menopause Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's show,please give it a thumbs up,
subscribe for future episodes,leave a review and share this
episode with a friend.
There are more than 50 millionwomen in the US who are
navigating the menopausetransition.
(36:20):
The situation is compounded bythe presence of stigma, shame
and secrecy surroundingmenopause, posing significant
challenges and disruptions inwomen's personal and
professional spheres.
Medovia is out to change thenarrative.
Learn more at medoviacom.
That's M-I-D-O-V-I-A dot com.
Welcome to the Medovia Menopause Podcast, your
trusted source forevidence-based, science-backed
information related to menopause.
Medovia is dedicated tochanging the narrative about
menopause by educating, raisingawareness and supporting women
in this stage of life, both athome and in the workplace.
(00:21):
Visit medoviacom to learn morehome and in the workplace.
Visit Medoviacom to learn more.
I'm one of your hosts, aprilHaberman, and I'm joined by Kim
Hart.
We're co-founders of Medovia,certified health coaches,
registered yoga teachers andmidlife mamas specializing in
menopause.
You're listening to anotherepisode of our podcast, where we
(00:43):
offer expert guidance for themost transformative stage of
life, bringing you realconversations, education and
resources to help you overcomechallenges and reach your full
potential through midlife.
Join us and our special guestseach episode as we bring vibrant
, fun and truthful conversationand let us help you have a
(01:07):
deeper understanding ofmenopause.
Hey friends, I'm excited toshare a significant milestone
that you may have heardmentioned.
Medovia has launched the firstever menopause friendly US
accreditation program.
This program sets acomprehensive standard overseen
by a third party panel ofexperts, ensuring air quotes.
(01:30):
Menopause friendly is more thanjust a term.
It reflects a real commitmentto meaningful, sustainable
workplace changes.
It's important to us thatmenopause friendly logo is a
meaning Rachel, I've got to doit again.
Five, four, three, two, one.
Hey friends, I'm excited toshare a significant milestone
(01:52):
that you may have heardmentioned.
Medovia has launched the firstever menopause friendly US
accreditation program.
This program sets acomprehensive standard overseen
by a third-party panel ofexperts, ensuring air quotes
here that menopause-friendly ismore than just a term.
It reflects a real commitmentto meaningful, sustainable
(02:16):
workplace changes.
It's important to us that themenopause-friendly logo is
meaningful and marks a highstandard within the menopause
space.
We hope you'll join us on thejourney to becoming menopause
friendly.
Logo is meaningful and marks ahigh standard within the
menopause space.
We hope you'll join us on thejourney to becoming menopause
friendly as a leading pioneer inthe States.
You can find more informationat menopausefriendlyuscom.
(02:38):
We have a fun episode today.
We talk all things poop.
Yes, you heard me right.
We're talking about colon carewith Janelle Hartman.
Janelle works with clientsinterested in stress management
and addressing source issues toresolve chronic and acute
digestive imbalances.
She has the gift of holdingspace for the process of
(02:59):
personal attunement to signalsand requests expressed by the
body and helps generateenthusiasm in those just
beginning returning to orwell-traveled in their healing
journey, struggles withdigestive issues and depression
early in life spurred hertowards her path of healing.
Yoga was a monumental aspect ofher mission for balance, as it
(03:22):
recognizes the body, mind andspirit as an inseparable system
which must be tended to as awhole.
This was a lifesaver during herdecade of social work with
homeless women, where she cameto embrace the value of
self-care and serving others.
These days, her love of art,music, meditation and world
(03:43):
travel Keep her busy creatingand exploring inside and out.
Side note friends we had somesound difficulties with this
episode, but we decided to postit anyway.
It's packed with greatinformation we didn't want you
to miss.
So disregard the bits of soundchallenges and enjoy Janelle
(04:06):
welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
We're so excited to have you.
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I'm thrilled to be here.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
We met.
I've been taking yoga for youfor years and you were my yoga
teacher when I got my yogateacher training and last April,
and I saw you was at arestorative yoga class, so it's
been a while.
But it saw you was at arestorative yoga class, so it's
been a while, but it's reallygreat to have you on the show.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Well, thank you.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
How'd you get involved with poop?
Sorry, we're going right to it.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Yeah, well, you know, I, I was a client at the clinic
that I currently work at calledtummy temple for around five
years, um, getting colonicsbefore I became a colon
hydrotherapist.
And, um, in, when I went in, Ifelt like a colonic was a little
bit like skydiving.
It was more of a dare and I wasjust into trying stuff.
But what I found was such acontrast before and after having
(05:05):
the garbage taken out of me,and it really just it made a
huge impression on me.
I actually processed a lot ofemotions.
I mean that area of the body,solar plexus, second chakra,
root chakra so much going onthere.
And and then was learning somuch from the technician that
was helping me.
The woman who was giving me mycolonic educated me all about my
(05:27):
digestive system and theimportance of needing to move
the garbage out and to poop, andI feel like that was the
beginning of a revolution in myhealth journey, even though I
kind of considered myself reallyhealthy and didn't really think
I had anything wrong with mybowel movements.
But the improvement changed mylife in some pretty key ways,
(05:47):
you know.
So I, my second colonic, Idecided that I was going to be a
colon hydrotherapist and it waskind of funny because I I told
her you know, I'd love to becomea colon hydrotherapist, but I
feel like it's probably a verycompetitive industry, you know.
And she's like do you reallythink people are lined up around
(06:07):
the corner?
to be a colon hydrotherapistLevel of excitement is
definitely like this could beyour Dharma, you know, and
indeed it was.
I'm still excited about it isthat day to this very day.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
That was 12 years ago , so could you describe to our
audience what a colonhydrotherapist does?
And if they came to see you,what does that mean and look
like?
Speaker 3 (06:34):
Sure, yeah.
So when you come into theclinic we do an intake.
We have some questions aboutyour lifestyle and some of your
patterns with food and you know,elimination patterns, things
like that, practical questions,and then a colonic involves
laying very the closed systemcolonic, at least laying very
comfortably onto a table like amassage table, and the
(06:56):
instrument that we have is meantto help irrigate the colon.
So there's some tubing that'sattached, gently inserted, and
you basically relax and lay backand we fill you with water that
has a gentle, mechanizedpressure.
We can control the temperatureand the pressure.
We're usually going very gently, but it's a little bit like an
enema.
(07:16):
If you've ever had an enema.
It fills you up and we are ableto actually eventually go all
the way around the colon and sousually we'll go in a little
while.
There's an urge to go, you knowthe client will then just kind
of go and it goes into the tubesor there's no smell, there's,
you don't have to deal with anypoop.
It goes in a little glass, kindof like a little window where I
(07:37):
can see things flowing and, asyou may know, there's a lot you
can tell about what's happeningin the body from looking at poop
.
So it's just a broad data forme to analyze as it's going out
and I'm rubbing the belly andmassaging and kind of detecting
where there's gas or some stuckspots.
You get a nice belly massageand the whole thing is actually
very relaxing.
(07:58):
And so many times we kind offill in, fill, fill the water in
, let it flow out afterwards andyou have a much better day than
started.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
So yeah, Well, it's so interesting to me, Janelle.
I've never had one done, but Iimagine that I imagine it does
feel good, not the process, butjust the emptying as well.
And I'm curious, because ofwhat we do here at Medovian,
helping women in midlife andmenopause, if there is a link
(08:31):
between hormones, digestivehealth and overall well-being.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Absolutely yeah, and I mean specifically focusing on
menopause.
That's a time, you know, whenthe estrogen is going down, the
cortisol tends to rise, and whencortisol rises, that does start
to suppress the digestivesystem as well as other things.
You know, if we are, if thatcortisol is flowing, usually
that's an indication to the bodythat it's not time to digest,
(09:00):
Definitely not time to reproduce.
There's a lot more blood goingout away from the organs and
stuff like that, and so that candefinitely increase dryness and
constipation.
When digestion and theperistalsis slows down, the
vagal, the vagal functions, thevagus nerve functions turn down,
(09:22):
then that's going to affectmotility.
So for sure, that's a time when,in Ayurvedic terms, if that's I
don't want to introduce such ahuge concept, I imagine you
probably have introducedAyurvedic terminology in your
podcast but it's where vatatends to rise, and vata is that
air and space energy that bringsdryness.
(09:43):
Is that air and space energythat brings dryness?
It can bring bloating, it canjust kind of bring that, that
like less motility, lessdigestive fire and juices, all
of which contribute toconstipation.
So that's one of the mechanisms.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
And that it is interesting.
Stress is so interesting, isn'tit?
And cortisol and what that doesthe body, body, and I want to
come to that a little bit moreand unpack that in just a few
minutes.
But as we think about theconstipation and some of those
symptoms of the hormonal changesin the body, I want to go
(10:18):
deeper here.
What does that look like?
If I am someone that is inmidlife and I'm beginning to see
my hormone, the estrogenspecifically drop, I'm beginning
to experience some of thisconstipation when the poop exits
our body.
What are some of those changes?
What does it look like?
And how would I know that,beyond the constipation right,
(10:41):
the pain of constipation and thebloating, how would I know that
there are things going on in mygut that I need to pay
attention to?
Speaker 3 (10:50):
well, I think it's like stools just become a lot
drier.
Um, stools become drier, itdoesn't always feel as complete,
so you know that feeling whenyou pass a bowel movement and it
just all comes out and andusually there's nothing on the
toilet paper because you justthing off that wasn't done, um,
and so like like there's a ifit's doesn't feel complete.
(11:12):
If it's drier, um, also it couldbe like um, oftentimes, uh,
when there's reduced motility,there can be more bacteria
growing in the poop and so itcan cause that bloating.
Um, that's also a result oflike reduced peristalsis, which
is in the small intestine wherethe food actually digests the
(11:32):
oregas of the colon.
Peristalsis, which is in thesmall intestine where the food
actually digests the orogus ofthe colon and digestive juices
that are firing, which comesalong with that kind of that
reduced motility.
Then there can be less likegood volatile gallbladder bile,
which helps break down fast, andso we can get a sludgy effect.
It can feel like slow andsludgy.
(11:53):
So that's when you start seeingstreaks in the toilet.
So it could go from being slowand sludgy and kind of greasy to
super dry and pellety and justnot feeling complete.
And those are some of thethings that when that vata
imbalance is there, from thatrise in cortisol, that drop in
estrogen.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
What should your first line of defense be when
you notice that it's?
You know that it's doing notwhat it's supposed to be doing
and, by the way, when you taughtme this the first time, I
always look now when I when I'mfinished, and make sure that it
looks right.
I don't want to bring everyonealong in my house to let them
show how well I ate and drankwater yesterday or whatever
(12:39):
what's your first line ofdefense when you notice it has
that kind of characteristic.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Yeah, I mean, the first thing I would think about
is okay, how can I actuallystart to reduce the vata and
start to bring in the vagal tone?
That's the beautiful thing, isthat the vagus nerve is really
what is ruling this whole thingright, and so we want to do
things that are going to nourishthat.
So, um, some of the things that, um, I would do is definitely
like take a peek at everything.
(13:08):
Well, am I?
What is my sleeping routines?
What is my eating routines?
Is that erratic?
Am I moving with circadianrhythms?
Am I having my big meal in themiddle of the day, like
empowering digestion, you know?
Am I doing things that are?
Am I letting my mind turn off?
Usually, that air and spaceenergy, you know, the air
(13:29):
element is in the heart chakraand the space is in the throat,
and so a lot of that body energymoves up.
Now, what we want to forelimination is out right, and so
what is it that's going torelax the nervous system?
There is a host of amazingbiggest nerve exercises.
Now you can go on YouTube andgo down the rabbit hole of
(13:50):
breath, of eye movements of um,of certain types of massage, um,
and, and so I would say, like,start addressing the nervous
system.
But then you know, this is atime when also taking some good
digestive enzymes, having thatroutine minutes before your um,
before your your meal, to justget a little bit more
(14:13):
hydrochloric acid flowing, thinkdigestive juice is flowing
right.
So number one is the nervoussystem.
Taking some deep breaths, youcan even press in on the left
side of your, underneath yourrib cage, and press downward on
your stomach to help to tractionthe vagus nerve and get it
ready to digest, because usuallythe constipation is happening
way before we get on the toilet,right, it's happening in the
(14:35):
upper GI, with not processing.
And so, um, helping with thevagus nerve, um, hydration is a
big one and you know, you mayknow this I think this is
getting more and more well-knownis that drinking water, out of
just drinking water, is notreally the way that our bodies
want to be hydrated Like.
We need to be having structuredwater that's in fruits and
(14:56):
veggies and, you know, addingsome electrolytes and things
that the body wants to actuallyreally, really, you know, aloe
vera juice, these are the thingsthat are going to hydrate you
way more than just body.
If your body is in a certaintype of mitochondrial and
electrical state, it's just notgoing to absorb water being
(15:17):
drank down through yourdigestive tract, right?
So we want to absorb it from thefoods we eat, and so increasing
plants and fruits and veggies,that's also going to increase a
variation of gut flora that'sgoing to be able to process
things and help and not onlythat, help, like, balance your
hormones, right, eliminate whatneeds to be eliminated, excess
(15:39):
hormones, um, but then certainlyjust create the balance and and
in in the bile, the digestivebile profile, in in, like you
know the way that things are, um, the way things are processed,
so, um, but, and then with witheating and diet, you know it's
like we can say we need to eat,are processed, so, but and then
with with eating and diet, youknow it's like we can say we
need to eat more of those things.
But exploring the circadianrhythm, the wisdom from Ayurveda
(16:02):
of Dhinacharya, which means thewheel of the day, so following
practices that match where thesun is moving, how the energies
of the day are flowing, becauseVata is ultimately reduced by
routine, it's ultimately reducedand soothed by routine.
So that's kind of that would bemy way that I would proceed.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
I like it, yeah, yeah , I mean all of those things we
think about.
But tying it all together, Ithink, is really important.
So the hydration piece and notjust drinking water, I haven't,
I didn't think about that.
I mean we always think, oh,eight glasses of water a day and
then I'm good to go.
But it's a good reminder toinclude the foods that help us
(16:43):
absorb, and even the aloe waterthat you mentioned is good for
you.
And then, of course, comingback to that vagus nerve it's so
important and we really haven'ttalked to our audience that
much about the vagus nerve.
It's so important and we reallyhaven't talked to our audience
that much about the vagus nerve.
I think we could do a wholepodcast just on the vagus nerve.
But can you, just for a sidenote here, janelle, talk to us a
(17:07):
little bit about what the vagusnerve is for those that don't
know what that is, just inlayman's terms, what is that
nerve is for?
Speaker 3 (17:14):
those that don't know what that is, just in in
layman's terms, what?
What is that?
Absolutely so.
We have um on each side.
We have these down from fromthe brain and innervate into the
body.
And the 10th one on each sideis called the vagus nerve and it
comes out of the of the brain,behind your, your ears, kind of
where the back of your jawboneis, and moves down your neck and
then from there it branches out.
(17:36):
So vagus means, you know, vagusmeans like wandering, so this
nerve wanders all over the body.
It innervates down into theheart and into the lungs and
into your whole digestive tract.
It regulates your respiration,your heartbeat and all of your
digestive processes and it'salso modifies our response to
(17:56):
stress.
So stress and relaxation, it,it modifies your response.
So this nerve like if it ishappy, everything's pretty happy
If it gets dysregulated, anddysregulated means either it's
too tonic, which that's where westart to see people who feel
nauseated or have a lot ofdiarrhea.
You know those are some symptomsof upregulated.
(18:16):
You know more of kind of likethe, you know really kind of
flighty.
And then when it's kind of toolow, that tone is too low,
that's where we start to seethese sluggish things where
things are just not kind offiring at the right time.
Even brain function can beaffected by it, and so the vagus
nerve, you know, is somethingthat there's certain points
(18:40):
where it comes more to thesurface, it can be palpated.
They're finding all sorts ofways it can be reset with, like
you probably heard, emdr, likethe eye movements, different
breath practices.
A beautiful one is singing, um,different breath practices.
A beautiful one is singing,humming those things, those
types of things.
So the Vick is very important,um, for all of those regulations
(19:00):
and and thing that reallyaffects it, one of the biggest
thing is stress.
Stress and dysregulated rhythmsin lifestyle.
Yeah, stress management.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
It plays such a big role in your life overall, but
at midlife, with the cortisolgoing up and the estrogen going
down, and you practice a lot ofstress relieving activities, for
lack of a better word.
Activities, for lack of abetter word.
(19:32):
What's the best way?
You talked about breathing, butcan you talk more about how to
calm that nerve and what youshould recognize when it is
elevated and that you need tostop and just kind of reset.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Yeah, I think that you know I would say that breath
is one of the best, is one ofthe best reflections of what's
happening.
I'll have people just tune intotheir breath, like and notice,
are you taking a bunch ofinhales and not exhaling?
That's, that's a big indicatorof of when we're dysregulated.
(20:10):
The exhale is what calms thenervous system down.
It's that out moving breath andit's also when the diaphragm
lifts up to press the breath outof the lungs, which is also
pressing on this area that I wasmentioning before, underneath
the rib cage, this whole upper.
We say it's like the uppertransverse of the colon, but
it's also like where yourdiaphragm looks into the spine,
(20:33):
where your vagus nerveinnervates down into your whole
digestive tract, and so thatneeds to be mobile and moving.
And so, unfortunately, there'sa feedback loop of the stress
response where we kind of startinhaling and inhaling and
inhaling, which creates a lot offight or flight, and then the
exhale.
We can just consciously bringthat awareness in to do that.
(20:55):
You'll feel a kind of contrastshift right away.
A long, slow exhale is magical,um, uh.
Another thing is just maybefeeling a little bit like, um,
you know, uh, feeling a littlespacey, um, feeling withdrawn.
It had.
There's a.
There's a aspect of the Vegastone, of the vagal tone they
call the safe and social circuit.
(21:18):
There's this polyvagal theorywhere there's a ventral circuit
and a dorsal circuit, and theventral circuit is one that
allows us to kind of want toengage with people.
It doesn't mean that we're amassive extrovert or anything,
but we just feel safe aroundother humans.
You start to feel like reallywithdrawn and suspicious of
people when logically there maybe some trauma, right, but
(21:40):
logically it's like if you checkin, it's like I know that
logically I'm safe, but my bodyis reacting to other humans like
they're red.
That is an indication also andthat can come with a lot of
anxiety and a lot ofdysregulation, just a lot of
mental activity that tends tothen spin out rather than round
and so it's hard for us to holdspace in ourselves around other
(22:02):
humans.
That's another indication, kindof in a psychological sense.
Certainly, the dryness, theconstipation, feeling bloated,
having an appetite that's out ofcontrol or one that's kind of
non-existent, like a swing inthe appetite, that's another
issue as well.
Those are just kind of asprinkle of water.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah, I don't think people realize those things
right.
Indicators of stress.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
You know what I also love too and I'm going to come
back to the singing I just havethis memory of my grandpa and my
grandma both they used to justwalk around the house humming
all the time and I thought, oh,you know, it used as a kid, it
used to get on my nerves and nowI'm like, oh, how I would love
to hear them hum.
And that was so good, right, itwas so good for them and they
probably didn't even realize it.
(22:50):
Like we all need to walk aroundsinging and humming.
A little bit more simple thingslike that.
And breath you know, our breathis an amazing thing.
We have it from the moment wecome into the world to the
moment we leave and we forget.
We forget that it's there andhow powerful it is.
So I really appreciate thatreminder for sure.
Can we come back to diet forjust a minute, because I think
(23:14):
diet does play a big rolecorrect me if I'm wrong, but in
our digestive system and ourpooping in particular.
Aside from just generallyspeaking, eating more fruits,
for example, to help withhydration, what are some other
tips that you can give ourlisteners as it relates to
(23:34):
nutrition and poop, ourdigestive system?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Yeah, I think that a really big one is.
You know, I said SOL, seasonal,organic and local.
Now, it's interesting because,you know, seasonal, there's so
much more to it than just like,oh, it's really great because
it's coming out.
People have this idea thatthat's good.
It just sounds like that soundslike a good idea.
(24:00):
Well, one of the things is thatthat, as our environment changes
and our environment changesaround us through the seasons,
what's coming out of the groundis actually all the nutrition
that we need to adapt to thosesituations.
So the rhythm of the seasons inin relation to the food, for
example, what's coming out ofthe ground right now, like
(24:21):
asparagus is in season and it'sgot those kind of stringy nuts,
inulin, which is a type of fiberthat feeds a certain flora that
you need for your, for thefunctions of this season, you
know, just as one example soblueberries are starting to come
.
We need those for sunprotection.
You know, like, so there is,there is, there's this way that
(24:42):
the um, that and your bodyreally, it really wants to poop.
I mean it's kind of like getthe garbage out.
You know, like your body dothat.
Yeah, well, being invited by bynature, even these foods and
one of the best things you cando is actually make it a project
to find out what is local andorganic and and seasonal in your
(25:03):
area.
Go to the store and see if youcan actually get up to the
recommendation sounds crazy is30 different variations of plant
foods every week.
Could you actually like have avariety of, like a rotation of,
like 30 different things, whichincludes beans.
There's types of beans andthings like that.
(25:24):
But like what's on the what's,what's what's in the produce
area and I mean we live inSeattle here and PCC is really
great about like highlightingwhat's local and stuff.
You go to grocery stores or notlocal, but I mean local and
seasonal.
You go to other grocery storesand you just have everything all
the time.
So it's hard to tell.
So you have to do a little bitof work to understand what that
(25:44):
is.
If it's not obvious to you, youknow if you're not a gardener
or tuned into that already.
But you can get a reallydiverse amount of plants.
Now, I'm kind of an omnivoreand I know that maybe some
people out there start being ina vegetarian, and that's fine.
You want to make sure thatyou're getting enough protein
and, in fact vegan or vegetarian, and that's fine.
You want to make sure thatyou're getting enough protein
(26:08):
and in fact, after menopause wedo need more protein and that is
when, like you know, when, it'snot a bad idea to start kind of
tapping into.
You know, like if you're new toeating animal protein, like
fish and turkey and these thingsare a little easier to digest,
but bring in a little.
I call it animal magic.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
You know, like.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
I take New Zealand grass-fed beef liver capsules.
It's freeze-dried and it's likenature's multivitamin and
that's one thing that I havefound.
That's created a lot of reallygreat digestive and regulatory
health in my bowels, my belly,in my skin, in my brain.
So even if it's like I don'twant to eat it but I can take it
(26:43):
in a capsule, it's nice tobring that into.
You know, it's like lots ofplants, some protein, some
healthy fats, you know.
And what's more important thanwhat you're eating is like when
and how.
Right.
So the when could be theseasonal thing, but also when is
like really like getting up andhaving a nice digestive
(27:05):
breakfast and then not snacking.
That's a big one.
Not snacking.
Having a really good lunch.
The middle of the day is whenyour bile flow, your digestive
bile flows at its highest.
You can have that nice big mealin the middle of the day.
We know this right, we hearthis and then, and evening, if
you feel fed, maybe you skipdinner or maybe you have
something really light becausewe don't have as much bile flow
(27:28):
then.
So, but a big thing too is notsnacking between meals.
Eat enough Like.
I feel like people like to pickat things and they're afraid to
just sit down and have a nicebig meal you know, but,
like, well, no, like.
Your body likes to have thatstrength and when you actually
feel hungry because you haven'tbeen snacking, that's when your
digestive juices are really high.
(27:48):
Your body is the most, has themost adaptable way of
approaching the food Right, itcan really absorb it.
If you think about building afire, you don't want to keep
throwing wood on the fire allthe time.
You have to kind of let it burnand get some space in there so
that it can, it can move in ourdigestive systems, or the same
way.
Um, stopping snacking inbetween meals has been a big
(28:10):
thing for a lot of my clientsand also for myself and my
health, and that's an art that'sfrom Ayurvedic wisdom.
But there is this thing aboutlike, oh, having these tiny
meals throughout the day, and Ican tell you that's the way to
ruin your digestion over time.
It might feel good at first,but then over time you're not
going to be absorbing nutrients,you're not going to be making
neurotransmitters.
(28:30):
You know like it's.
It's going to get weird.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
There's so much, just so much conflicting information
and it's, it's so good to justreiterate, eating those full
meals instead of nibblingthroughout the day.
Right, we were taught thatnibble, nibble, nibble and keep
your metabolism up, and soaudience she's saying it's not
good for our gut.
There you go, yeah, us tounderstand how healthcare
(29:07):
providers can help women managetheir digestive concerns as they
go through midlife.
If people wanted to find you,how could they find you?
Can you talk to us a littleabout getting help?
Speaker 3 (29:15):
Yeah, absolutely so.
I work at a beautifulnaturopathic clinic in the
Roosevelt Lake City area calledTummy Temple and we have a
variety of beautifulnaturopathic doctors.
They're all like specialized indigestion, but then they have
there's hormone specialists.
We have somebody running the IVclinic.
We have, like all thesedifferent, you know, NDs with
(29:36):
different specialties, and so I,you know, offer colonics there.
I'm also a lymphatic therapist,so last seven years I've been,
I've been a lymphatic drainagespecialist there, and those are
that's a really great place tocome.
You can get an initial consultwith an ND.
We also have an amazingnutritionist who studied at
(29:56):
Bastyr.
She's been doing it for many,many years and one of her, her
magical qualities, she's just soable to connect to each person
and and it's not like cause,sometimes nutrition is like here
, this is what's healthy, Eatthis, and it's like, no, we have
to look at the body.
I will say your blood type,blood type, eating is really
amazing.
That's another little dietarytip, but she'll look at that.
(30:19):
She'll look at like, how muchtime do you have?
Do you like shopping?
Do you, you know, like kidsrunning around?
When do you have time to cook?
Let's see what you know, whatmeals would be helpful and then
we'll, and then she's reallygood.
She's also a colonhydrotherapist and lymphatic
therapist and just really smart,and so she can kind of figure
out how to make you like fooddelicious but also fit.
(30:42):
You know what you need.
She's a great person to ask,like you know what I'm
constipated all the time I'mpostmenopausal.
She would know exactly what totell you to eat.
She would figure it out.
Yeah, so that's, that's areally great place to find me
and my comrades, who are justbrilliant.
And then, of course, I have apodcast called Mindful Medicina
all one word lowercase podcast,and we have a lot of really
(31:05):
great episodes on there.
In fact, we do.
We've talked about menopauseand we've talked all about
things that I've mentioned todayAmazing.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
I've been to the tummy temple and I've had a
lymphatic massage from you andit was incredible.
I can't say enough about it.
I actually scheduled anacupuncture session the next day
and I was floating on a cloudfor like days.
I just back to back, I was likeI don't know why I scheduled
this, but apparently I needed it, so taking care of taking care
(31:40):
of it.
Well, janelle, this is like wecould talk to you for hours and
I wanted I know sometimes you dothe poop talk at the tummy
temple and I've always wanted tobe a part of that.
So thanks for, you know,normalizing poop and talking
through all the things.
We really enjoyed having youtoday.
We're going to move on to rapidfire.
(32:01):
It's real easy but fun, do youprefer?
Speaker 3 (32:07):
rainy days or sunny days, you know, I um guys that's
.
It's interesting.
I love sunny days.
Rainy days are great forgetting stuff done inside it's
true.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
It's so true because we don't feel guilty when we're
inside and it's raining right.
Speaker 3 (32:22):
Yeah, while it rains, I'm like, well, okay, inside.
Yeah, I hear you.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Okay, how about early bird or night owl?
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Early bird.
I get up at 4am just aboutevery day and that's a big part
of like the regulating nervoussystem.
System doesn't have to be 4am,but before 6am is what's
recommended in Ayurveda andthat's a really nice time to do
those centering practices thatset the tone for the whole day,
that set that in your body.
Yeah, so I'm an early bird bigtime.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
And April does that early.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Oh, I know, I know, I guess now you're speaking my
language.
Get up early, start thosepractices.
You're right, it just sets yourday right off the bat.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Hot showers or relaxing baths.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Relaxing baths.
I actually very rarely takeshowers.
I even I have a little tub thatI wash my hair with.
I am a bath junkie so I don'tturn.
I haven't turned on my showerin a very long time.
I bathe, what do you, do you?
Speaker 1 (33:30):
put anything in the water?
Oh my gosh, you just took thequestion right from me there.
I'm like wait, what do you do?
Yeah, are there certain thingsyou like to put in the bath?
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Yeah, you know, kind of all depends If I'm, if I'm
just kind of washing myself, getready for work and not, you
know, not really anything.
But if I'm taking a soak I dolove, I love the Epsom salts, I
will use a full big acidsometimes.
Just do a little detox, yeah,like some essential oils, yeah,
things like that.
Yeah, if I'm, if I'm kind of a,sometimes I'll get like detox
(34:02):
formulas you can dump in there.
If I'm doing different types ofmetal cleansing or parasite
cleansing.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
So great.
Yeah, my daughter is a bathperson and she takes one almost
every day.
My husband would come and saywhere's Rachel?
I'm like I bet you can't guess.
I bet you can't guess it's.
It's good for you in many ways,okay.
The last question that we askeveryone is what is the best
piece of?
Speaker 3 (34:31):
advice that you've ever received, best piece of
advice I've ever received, Ithink, like if I I've received
so much good advice, if I wereto distill it down into
something that means the most tome, it's um, obey, only love,
and I I just feel like there'sso much of a um program we have
(34:54):
of the tribe and of, you know,other people's ideas and
ancestral ideas of who we'resupposed to be and and um, you
know, I've always been a verykind of rebellious person but I
find that like I really have anobedience to my inner voice, to
my God inside, and um, and Ifeel like it harmonizes me, I
(35:14):
can feel the harmony of all theyogic teachings and all.
So that's kind of like I feelthat I'm a very rebellious and
yet I obey, I obey love, andthat's that brought a lot of
happiness and it steered mepretty right through my life.
So that's the vibe I love.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Your energy always makes me feel so centered and
grounded.
Thank you For sure.
Yeah, this is really great.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I do.
I love your energy too and justwho you are, and there's so
many more podcasts that we couldhave you on because you know so
much, not just about poop, butso many other things.
So I'm sure this won't be thelast time that we see you, but
it's been really fun, andlisteners until we meet again,
(35:58):
go find joy in the journey.
Thanks, janelle.
Thank you for listening to theMedovia Menopause Podcast.
If you enjoyed today's show,please give it a thumbs up,
subscribe for future episodes,leave a review and share this
episode with a friend.
There are more than 50 millionwomen in the US who are
navigating the menopausetransition.
(36:20):
The situation is compounded bythe presence of stigma, shame
and secrecy surroundingmenopause, posing significant
challenges and disruptions inwomen's personal and
professional spheres.
Medovia is out to change thenarrative.
Learn more at medoviacom.
That's M-I-D-O-V-I-A dot com.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.