"Who is that woman holding my baby?"
This jarring moment of non-recognition became the catalyst for Maureen Brintnell's remarkable transformation journey. After years of putting everyone else first, this homeschooling mother of eight found herself staring at a Disney vacation photo, unable to recognize the exhausted stranger cradling her child.
In this powerful conversation, Maureen (now known as "The Alpha Momma") shares how this wake-up call led her to reclaim her health and deepen her faith during perimenopause. She walks us through the often-unspoken challenges of this 7-10 year transition that can begin as early as our mid-30s, causing symptoms far beyond hot flashes – from anxiety and fatigue to pelvic floor dysfunction and heart palpitations.
What makes Maureen's approach unique is her unwavering commitment to Catholic values. When conventional medicine offered only solutions incompatible with her faith, she forged her own path, developing strength training routines, nutrition frameworks, and stress management techniques that honor both body and soul. Her gym wall bears witness to this integration: "It would be a shame to work so hard to be fit for this world and be unfit for the kingdom."
Beyond physical transformations, Maureen guides women to reframe midlife as a preparation for continued purpose. She teaches practical strategies for engaging family support, measuring success beyond the scale, and discerning God's calling for the next chapter of life. Whether you're approaching perimenopause, navigating its challenges, or supporting someone who is, this episode offers concrete tools rooted in faith to help Catholic women thrive through every season.
Connect with Maureen at https://www.alphamomma.ca or on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/@alphamommafit to learn more about her programs, including Catholic Midlife, designed specifically for women navigating these changes with faith as their foundation.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Maureen Brintnell (00:00):
And I'm looking at these pictures and
I'm normally not in the pictures, right, like a lot of moms, I'm
staying out of the photos.
I'm taking the photos in that,but I'm not in the photos.
And I happen to be in this oneand I was looking at it and
there was this strange womanholding my baby and it took me a
second, but my first thought Ilooked at it and I said, "Who is
(00:22):
that woman holding my baby?
Because it had been so longsince I'd looked at myself and I
did not recognize this personwho was in this photo anymore.
Sheila Nonato (00:39):
Hello and welcome to the Veil and Armour podcast.
This is your host, SheilaNonato.
I'm a stay-at-home mom and afreelance Catholic journalist,
Seeking the guidance of the HolySpirit and the inspiration of
Our Lady.
I strive to tell stories thatinspire, illuminate and enrich
the lives of Catholic women, tohelp them in living out our
vocation of raising the nextgeneration of leaders and saints
(01:01):
.
Co-host (01:02):
Please join us every week on the Veil and Armour
podcast, where stories comealive through a journalist's
lens and mother's heart.
Sheila Nonato (01:10):
Do you know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit within you, whichyou have from God?
You are not your own.
You were bought with a price,so glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6, Verse 19.
Are you in your 30s or 40sfeeling more exhausted, running
(01:34):
after kids and running thehousehold, or do you want to
level up your fitness to servethe Lord and be fit for the
kingdom?
If you're a Catholic momseeking answers about decreased
energy, unexplained mood changesand other perimenopause
symptoms, look no further thanMaureen Brintnell.
(01:57):
Maureen, aka the Alpha Momma,is a homeschooling mom of eight
who has just welcomed her secondgranddaughter.
She embarked upon a radicaltransformation of body, heart
and soul.
Not only did she adopt ahealthier lifestyle, she also
(02:17):
developed a deeper relationshipwith Christ.
Let's hear her remarkable storyand how she is helping other
Catholic moms find restorationand transformation rooted in
their faith while navigating thechallenging season of midlife.
Thank you for joining us againthis week.
(02:37):
God bless you and your families.
Welcome to the Veil and Armourpodcast ,and I am honored to
have Maureen Brintnell.
Am I saying that correct,Maureen?
Maureen Brintnell (02:48):
Yes.
Sheila Nonato (02:49):
Ok.
She is the Alpha Momma and sheis a formidable advocate for
women's health in midlife, andshe is a Christian homeschooling
mom, Maureen, welcome, and canwe start off with a prayer
please?
Maureen Brintnell (03:00):
Absolutely In the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Hail Mary, Full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,and blessed is the fruit of thy
womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, prayfor us sinners, now and at the
hour of our death.
(03:20):
Amen.
Sheila Nonato (03:23):
In the name of the Holy Spirit, amen.
Well, thank you very much,Maureen, for joining us.
We are experiencing a heat waveright now where we are in
Ontario, but we are keeping cool.
You are in Northwest Toronto?
I'm very bad at geography.
Maureen Brintnell (03:43):
That's okay.
I'm actually in Woodstock,woodstock yes, yeah, about an
hour outside of um okay, okay.
Sheila Nonato (03:51):
And how are you keeping cool right now, are you?
Do you have the AC on?
And lots of lots of water.
Maureen Brintnell (03:59):
Yes, but we're actually keeping with um
our littles over the weekend andit was quite hot.
Wow, but home and back in theAC now.
Sheila Nonato (04:08):
Okay, awesome.
And congratulations on your newgranddaughter.
Is that correct?
That is awesome,
Maureen Brintnell (04:16):
Yes, it's my second grandchild.
I have a third one on the way,so just keeping this Nana era
that I'm moving into right now.
Sheila Nonato (04:24):
And I can't believe you're a grandmother
already, but I would love tohear, we would love to hear your
story of transformation.
Tell us what was going on withyou before you started your
business.
It's more like an apostolate.
Really right, Fit for thekingdom.
I would say.
Maureen Brintnell (04:41):
Absolutely.
I actually have a sign in my gymthat my son made for me and it
says (04:47):
"t would be a shame to work so hard to be fit for this
world and be unfit for the king.
Sheila Nonato (04:54):
Oh, wow, I love that
Maureen Brintnell (04:55):
And so that's in the wall in my gym so
everybody knows when they comein that this is what we're going
for here.
Um, so a little bit of my story.
I'll tell you that I am not oneof those gym girls who can tell
you that, oh, I was alwaysathletic, or I loved gym.
I used to make up stories toget out of gym class, like as a
(05:20):
career.
I was very successful at it.
I avoided physical activity.
I had a lot of physicalproblems.
I had arthritis, I havescoliosis, so there's a number
of issues that kind of held meback from being physically
active.
But then I, you know, I'mmarried and we have eight
children and they range in age,our youngest, who is 10, to our
(05:44):
oldest, who just turned 30.
And in that time of busynessand, of course, like we
homeschool as well, we justfinished up our 25th year of
homeschooling and just, it wasnever a decision, it was just
kind of, as you know, it kind ofhappens as as wives and mothers
(06:05):
, and we're pouring into otherpeople and we're taking care of
all of the people around us whoneed us.
And that really became myidentity.
That was who I was.
I was this mom of this largebrood and just taking care of
them and not really recognizingthat the fact that I wasn't
(06:27):
taking care of myself was veryslowly taking a toll on me, not
just physically but mentally andemotionally as well.
And what had happened, one yearwe had taken our children down
to Florida to go to Disney andwe were looking at pictures
afterwards.
And I'm looking at thesepictures and I'm normally not in
the pictures, right, like a lotof moms, I'm staying out of the
(06:50):
photos.
I'm taking the photos in that,but I'm not in the photos.
And I happened to be in thisone and I was looking at it and
there was this strange womanholding my baby and it took me a
second.
But my first thought I lookedat it and I said, "ho's that
woman holding my baby?
And it took me a second.
But my first thought I lookedat it and I said who is that
(07:11):
woman holding my baby?
Because it had been so longsince I'd looked at myself and I
did not recognize this personwho was in this photo anymore.
And, yeah, absolutelyPhysically I didn't recognize
her.
She was very heavy, she was outof shape, she was tired, but
she didn't really know muchabout who she was, outside of
(07:33):
this role of being a wife and amother, which I absolutely love.
But it did kind of wake me upbecause my kids were getting a
little bit older, bit older, andso I was kind of moving slowly
out of the constancy of, youknow, diapers, you know what
it's like when you've got littleones in the house, and as
they're getting a little bitolder, it kind of opens my eyes
(07:55):
to, okay, so what's next?
You know, like, as these kidscontinue to grow and fly the
nest and develop their own livesand their own families, you
know what's kind of next for me?
So that was going on At thesame time.
I'm in my 40s and what I didn'trecognize at the time was that
(08:15):
I had started into perimenopause.
So I was experiencing a lot ofsymptoms and of course, like a
lot of us, I'd gone into theseason without knowledge or
preparation.
Like you know, when we thinkabout our young girls, when
their cycles are starting,there's usually some routine or
(08:37):
some tradition or some ritualaround it, you know, like taking
the girls out for lunch orshopping and kind of explaining
the changes and what's happeningand what they may be feeling.
Nobody took me out for lunchfor perimenopause and I did not
know what was going on.
So that was all kind ofhappening at the same time and I
(08:58):
began just by getting up earlyin the morning and taking a walk
.
I didn't know what to do, but Iknew I needed to change and
start taking walks in themorning and it kind of just grew
from there as I was listeningto podcasts and I was doing more
(09:23):
research and trying to figureout what was going on with me
and all of these changes kind ofbecame very clear as to what
was happening and then starteddeveloping a plan as to you know
what, what to do about it?
Right, it's one thing tocorrect and not okay, here's the
problem.
And then say, okay, now what,what am I going to do about?
It is the problem.
(09:45):
And then say, okay, now what,what am I going to do about it?
And so that started this, thisfitness and this wellness
journey that I um, that I got onand, sorry, my phone keeps
going off, I can turn it on, andI think for a while I really
did still kind of struggle witha little bit of isolation, a
(10:05):
little bit of shame over some ofthe symptoms, and I certainly
wasn't sharing it with a lot ofother people.
And then one day a woman came upto me after a soccer game and
she pulled me kind of in theparking lot behind the cars and
she just she was so emotionaland she said how do you, how did
you do it?
And then she started explainingher life and started explaining
(10:27):
a lot of the struggles that shewas having, which were very
close to mine, and I thought, ohmy, like I'm not the only
person here.
And so that's what kind ofstarted the business end of it
in terms of reaching out toother women, other Christian
women, other Catholic women,specifically about you know
(10:48):
what's going on with us, kind ofin our late 30s, 40s, into our
50s?
What does this mean for us aswe move into this next season,
and how are we called to respondto it?
Sheila Nonato (11:02):
Yes, absolutely, and in terms of I guess you were
mentioning perimenopause, sothat is a period before
menopause, that's in your mid,in your 40s.
Is it mid 40s or it can startearly well, it can start earlier
.
Maureen Brintnell (11:16):
So I'll just explain the terms very quickly.
So we have perimenopause, andso perimenopause is usually
about seven to 10 years.
So for some women that canactually be starting in their
mid thirties.
So you could be experiencingsome of these signs and symptoms
of you know this changehappening long before you're
(11:40):
even thinking because, yeah, wedo kind of think of our forties
and 50s.
So you've got this seven to 10year period of a lot of hormone
fluctuation.
As you know, your estrogen, yourprogesterone and other things
are ultimately declining andleaving the body, but they don't
do it without a lot of like upand down and fluctuation first,
which can create havoc for a lotof women, and that time can
(12:06):
show up in ways that we wouldn'tnormally tie to our cycle
unless we know about it.
So what a lot of women talkabout in this time is increased
anxiety, low mood, lethargy,just like their get up and go is
gone.
But then there's other physicalsymptoms.
(12:27):
They can start experiencingheart palpitations, digestive
issues, pelvic floor dysfunction, so they can start experiencing
some urinary incontinence.
There's all of these thingsthat are going on where a woman
might think that, well, thisdoesn't have anything to do with
my cycle because it seems to beso removed, but it actually is
part of this process.
(12:47):
And then menopause is actuallyjust one day, and that is the
day that you it's been one yearsince your last cycle, so when
you have gone without a periodfor 12 months, that is your date
of menopause.
Every day after you are inmenopause or post-menopausal.
(13:13):
So we have like the 7 to 10years before where a lot of
women are going to experiencethose perimenopause symptoms and
then they move intopost-menopause and then they
move into post-menopause and inpost-menopause a lot of those
perimenopause symptoms do startto subside, they do start to go
away.
But what women are left with ifthey have not heeded the call
(13:42):
of perimenopause and it's verymuch a wake-up call if they've
not heeded that call what theyfind waiting for them in
menopause is an increased riskof osteoporosis, a higher risk
of cardiovascular disease, ahigher risk of depression,
pelvic floor dysfunction, muscleloss.
I have ladies who come to see mein their 60s and their 70s and
(14:05):
their goal is not aesthetic.
Their goal is they want to beable to genuflect at mass
without pain.
They want to be able to do uptheir own seatbelt again, and
this is the sort of thing thatwaits for women who don't, like
I said, don't pay attention towhat their body is trying to
tell them in their 40s.
Sheila Nonato (14:31):
And so you were mentioning some of the symptoms,
so I consulted.
Doctor Google, although peopleshould go to a real doctor, but
according to the Mayo Clinic.
So some of the symptoms that canbe confirmed by a doctor
irregular periods, hot flashes,sleep problems, mood changes,
bladder problems, as youmentioned, decreasing fertility,
loss of bone, changingcholesterol and other other
symptoms that your doctor willdefinitely be able to identify
(14:53):
for you.
For you, yes, but in terms of Iguess you were mentioning that
woman in the parking lot andthen you know the feelings of
shame.
I guess that's sort of tied to,because when we get married and
then you know there of shame,um, I guess that's sort of tied
to because when we, you know weget married, and then you know,
and there's always like, whenare you gonna have children,
when are you gonna give us agrandchildren?
You know there's always this,this kind of expectation.
(15:16):
And now so, when we're goinginto this new phase, new stage
in life, when, um, we might arewe are we going through a
grieving process for ourfertility, is that where the
shame comes from?
Can you explain a little bit?
What are we feeling at thisstage?
Maureen Brintnell (15:32):
The shame comes from a lot of different
places.
There is definitely, for a lotof women, a sense of grief and
loss, especially if so much oftheir identity has become
wrapped up in being a mother andhaving babies.
So then the question is youknow, as my fertility is
wrapping up, where do I fit in?
(15:55):
Like, what is my purpose?
And what I say to women all thetime is you're still here, so
you are still part of the church.
Militant, you do have purpose,you do have mission.
There is a, so you are stillpart of the church, militant,
you do have purpose, you do havemission.
There is a reason that you arestill here.
There's a reason why humans areone of the few species where
the women live beyond menopause,and so there is still something
(16:17):
that we have to offer, and, ofcourse, we have to figure out
for ourselves what that is andwhat that looks like.
But there's a lot of otherthings ourselves what that is
and what that looks like, butthere's a lot of other things.
The one big one is, you know,just say it, but the urinary
incontinence that a lot of womenexperience.
It gets sold as well.
You know, you did have babiesand you are a woman and it's
(16:39):
sold as this suffering that youare just supposed to accept and
tolerate, and it's not.
And there's, there are.
There are things you can do,there are, there are people that
can help with that, but thereis, that there's.
There's shame.
I've spoken with women in herewho who fear going to the gym
(17:03):
because they know they're goingto wet themselves if they, you
know, exert themselves too hard.
They don't want to chase aftertheir kids in the yard because
they don't want to wetthemselves.
I mean, it's just heartbreakingto me that there is a mom who
wants to play tag with her kidsbut is afraid she's going to pee
(17:23):
Absolutely breaks my heart.
But so that the shame comesfrom that.
The shame comes from women wholook at their bodies and don't
recognize them anymore.
And it's not like you know.
We look at our postpartumbodies and we can be so grateful
(17:44):
for the life that it has given,the life that it has protected
and nurtured.
And so when we look at ourbodies and I've had women,
beautiful women refuse to dotheir exercises in front of the
mirror because they don't evenwant to look at themselves, and
then so there's a lot of shameabout that.
(18:05):
Am I vain.
Am I, you know?
Am I?
Am I obsessed with theaesthetic when I shouldn't be?
I'm supposed to be better thanthat.
So it can come from that place.
It can come from when we'regoing through all of these
changes, especially hormonally.
We can find that we, we can bea little sharper with our loved
(18:27):
ones and, you know, maybe we'resnapping at the kids or maybe
we're snapping at our husbands,and so we're feeling a lot of
guilt about that.
So it can come from a lot ofdifferent places.
It can come from, like, thatdecreased libido that a lot of
women experience and nobodywants to talk about, and so all
of this stuff, and you know, andwe're left, kind of women
experience and nobody wants totalk about, and so all of this
stuff, and yeah, and we're leftkind of sitting here and what
(18:49):
are we supposed to do with allof this?
And so part of why I startedthis is because when I was going
through a lot of this and Iwould go to my doctor and I
would hear, well, you need toget an IUD or you need to go on
the low-dose birth control pill,and I would say, well, I'm not
(19:13):
going to do that.
And the response to me was well, come back when you're ready
for the IUD.
So I was really kind of left onmy own when I was dealing with
issues of stress management,which is another big thing that
a lot of women experience inperimenopause and I was told
well, you need to do yoga.
(19:33):
And I'm like well, I'm notgoing to do yoga.
And so I felt very there was anincreasing isolation, because
not only was all of these thingsgoing on that I didn't
understand, but whenever Ireached out for help, I was told
well, there's help available toyou, but you have to compromise
your faith to access it.
And I'm not going to do that.
(19:53):
So I really had to sit back andspend a lot of time and just
like, okay, lord, I know thatyou have an answer, like I know
you do.
So you just you know you'rejust going to have to let me
know, because I'm not going todo all of these other things and
I don't believe that you'vecalled us to suffer like this
(20:14):
for, you know, the next 40 or 50years.
And so it was a lot of readingthrough the studies and learning
a lot of stuff and a lot oftrial and error, but finally
kind of putting togethersomething that I feel has
managed my perimenopause verywell and now, you know, helping
(20:36):
a lot of other women.
And I can say now, like I'll be53 this year and I'm I feel
like I'm in much, and all my mymarkers from the doctor will
confirm this but I'm in muchbetter health now at 53 than I
was, you know, at 43.
So we can, we can flip thetrajectory too, which is kind of
exciting.
Sheila Nonato (20:58):
That's an amazing story and, if you don't mind, I
saw I think it was on Facebookor Instagram you had a picture
before and after and it'sremarkable the change that you
went through.
If you wouldn't mind, yeah, Iwould put that on the video, if
you wouldn't mind, Absolutely.
Just to see how, yeah,transformation can happen,
(21:19):
because I guess at this stagelosing weight can be problematic
because of sort of the hormonechanges, fluctuations and again
this kind of I don't know.
I guess it's like a mindsetblock that you know I don't see
any progress, so I'm giving up.
(21:40):
You know it used to be yeah, inmy 20s I would be.
You know I would run every day.
It's not the best exercise foryou, but that was my thing is
like I would run every day andmetabolism's high, you know, and
so I could eat whatever Iwanted.
Not the greatest advice, butyeah.
So it's not like the weightwould stay, but now's, you know
(22:03):
it's staying and you'rewondering how do I get it, get
it off or how do just?
It's not even about like thenumber right on the scale, it's
really about how you feel andnot having so much fatigue.
So, in terms of like solutionsso let's talk about physical
solutions, like in your program,what, what do you?
I mean you don't have to giveaway all your secrets, but like
(22:24):
I don't know, I don't knowanything behind the program, I
will be the one to mute.
But what would you recommendfor women in terms of like
physical solutions, like, whatcan they do?
Maureen Brintnell (22:37):
There's, and the good news is that, for us,
less can be more.
Us, less can be more, and sowhat I mean by that is we're
kind of past the phase where weshould be doing, you know, boot
camps and things like that.
You know, six days a week,that's not going to work for us
anymore.
So I'm going to tell you likeeverything, but I don't want
(23:00):
people hearing this to getoverwhelmed.
I'm not saying we implementthis all at once.
Obviously, we want to do it andI'm always very careful.
We want to do it in a way thathonors our vocation.
So I don't want to do thingsand advise women to do things
that are going to feel unnaturalor uncomfortable to them
because it takes away too muchtime from their you know the
(23:22):
other things that they're calledto be doing.
That said, what I like to seewomen doing is strength training
is a non-negotiable foreverybody.
70-year-old clients in the gymhere deadlifting, it's a
non-negotiable.
Two to three times a week.
You need to be really workingthose muscles hard.
(23:46):
We want to take a look at ournutrition and it's again, it's
very simple the more whole foodswe we make, the more foods we
can eat in the form in whichthey were created, without all
of the addeds and things likethat is going to be better
because, like you said, like ourdigestion changes as we get
(24:09):
into this phase, so we want tomake sure that we're eating a
lot more whole foods, thatanti-inflammatory nutrition.
We don't want to be cutting outentire macronutrient categories
Women need carbs but we want tomake sure that we're getting
good whole grain, high fiber.
You know carbs in that sense.
(24:31):
So we want to be strengthtraining, we want to be eating,
we want to really be veryfocused on getting good sleep
and I know this is when mostpeople just laugh because
they're like I have not had agood night's sleep in 20 years
but we really want to develop arunway almost before your
(24:54):
bedtime to allow you know yourbody to start shutting down so
that you can get, for women,seven to nine hours of good
quality sleep a night is whatyou should be getting and on
average, women need about anhour more than men do.
So you just kind of need tofactor that in that if you're
(25:16):
going to bed with your husbandand you're getting up with your
husband and he's well rested,you could probably use another
hour if you're still just kindof need to factor that in, that
if you're going to bed with yourhusband and you're getting up
with your husband and he's wellrested, you could probably use
another hour if you're stillfeeling kind of tired.
So that's something to be awareof too.
And you want to be just gettingyour walks in.
You want it and walking is suchan underrated exercise so you
want to be getting out andgetting those walks in, and
(25:38):
there's always like lots ofother want to be getting out and
getting those walks in andthere's always like lots of
other things to be doing.
You want to make sure you'redrinking your water, and that's
for the kind of the physical endof it.
But then when we talk aboutstress management, this is when
we can really lean in into ourfaith and you know we don't have
to go outside to hot yogastudios or things like that.
(26:02):
That spending that time, youknow, in prayer and spending
that time, you know, with theLord.
They found that if you spend 15to 20 minutes a day doing
something to bring your stresslevel down is the most effective
kind of block of time, and Ialways find it very interesting
that that's about the samelength of time it takes to do
(26:25):
you know your daily rosary.
Now I wouldn't recommend thefamily rosary as your time to
de-stress, because I don't knowwhat family rosary time is like
at your house, but maybe not themost low stress situation for a
woman.
But if she can find another 15minutes somewhere, even on her
walk, to really connect with theLord, that's going to bring
(26:47):
that stress level down just towhere she can start to manage it
again.
So those are the things I wouldsay right off the top.
So those are the things I wouldsay right off the top.
But, that said, what I don'twant women doing is getting
online and downloading an hourworkout and downloading a
nutrition plan and trying toimplement that all of a sudden
(27:08):
into the craziness of her life.
We want to find that one area.
Okay, what's the one change thatyou think you can make today?
Like, maybe it's in thenutrition?
Maybe you can focus on gettingmore protein, because that's the
other thing I will say aboutnutrition.
(27:29):
Most women are not gettingenough protein.
So when you say how muchprotein should I be getting, you
should be getting a gram perpound of body weight a day.
So if you are sitting at 150pounds, 150 grams of protein a
day is what you should begetting, and when you start
(27:51):
getting that, just watch howmuch better you feel.
Sheila Nonato (27:57):
And so that's interesting.
Just to go back to what yousaid, you said we need carbs.
I guess we can eat.
Can we eat bread?
Not really, you can eat bread.
Maureen Brintnell (28:10):
You want again our digestion kind of
changes.
So I don't know if it's everyindividual, but I find I don't
digest bread very well.
It sits like a rock right, so Ieat more like brown rice.
I eat my sweet potatoes, so Ido get my carbs.
I get a lot of veggies.
(28:30):
I'm eating salads at every meal, so we're not like carbs are
not the enemy.
Women actually do much betterwith carbs.
Not like carbs are not theenemy.
Women actually do much betterwith carbs.
But yeah, we, you know eating alot of bread and cereal,
because then we're moving intothe processed.
Sheila Nonato (28:47):
Yeah, right, right, right, okay
Maureen Brintnell (28:48):
So it's not the carbs so as it's the the
processing of the foods we dowant to move away from as much
as we can.
Sheila Nonato (28:55):
Okay, um, and how do you feel about
I used to do sourdough.
I did this whole sourdoughthing trying to figure out what
is all the fuss about.
I only could do it for, like, Ithink, a month or two, because
it's really like a family pet.
You have to feed it every day.
It has its own life force.
But I mean, is that healthySourdough or bread that you make
(29:18):
yourself?
Maureen Brintnell (29:20):
It's certainly healthier.
Absolutely yeah, and again, it'sgoing to come down to very,
very individual, as how do youfeel after you've eaten it?
Okay, yeah, and you know, doyou feel bloated, do you feel
heavy, do you feel tired?
Well then, maybe you're goingto want to look at.
You know something else.
I think always making it athome is going to be better.
(29:40):
That's just my personal bias.
Obviously, if you can do that,that's going to be better.
But when we look at like youwere talking about, you know,
weight loss, and I just want togo back to that very quickly,
because what we're going to talkabout is those other markers
for success.
So, yes, when you are on thisjourney to wellness, yeah, you
(30:04):
know, the scale might be a partof it but I also want you
tracking, like you've said, how,like, how's your food digesting
?
What's?
How do you feeling after youeat?
Your energy levels, how's yoursleep, how's your mood, mood
like, how are all of these otherthings which are going to maybe
show up for you before thescale does, and if we can kind
(30:28):
of recognize those and say youknow what?
The scale hasn't dropped yet.
But I can now make it up thisflight of stairs without having
to stop and catch my breath.
That's a huge win for ourquality of life and I really
love to move women away from thescale as that sole metric
(30:52):
Because, like I mentioned inthose symptoms, one of the
things that's happening as we'removing into menopause is we are
losing muscle mass, we arelosing bone density, so we're
strictly focused on weight loss.
You could also be losing muscle.
You can be losing bone.
You can be losing water.
What I want you focused on isfat loss.
(31:13):
I want to focus on improvingthe muscle to fat ratio on your
body.
And when we think about, like,a pound of fat and a pound of
muscle, they weigh the same.
They're both a pound, but apound of muscle is a lot more
condensed, it takes up a lotless space.
(31:34):
So a woman who is strengthtraining, who is managing her
nutrition, who is managing herstress and her sleep, might not
see a big drop on the scale, butis going to see a huge
difference in how she feels, howshe looks, how her clothes fit,
her energy, all of these otherthings, and when that happens,
(31:56):
the scale doesn't quite matterso much.
Right, because you're gettingall of these other things that
are, like I said, are improvingyour quality of life right?
Sheila Nonato (32:06):
Yeah, I guess I never thought of it that way,
about um muscle and fat weighingthe same.
So yeah, the scale doesn'treally tell the full story.
It does not tell the full storyit does not tell the full story
and I really wanted to go backto.
You know.
You're talking about sort ofthe de-stressing, getting more
sleep, so it's sort ofcontributing to again a solution
in terms of the emotional, youknow, and yeah, I guess,
(32:32):
emotional stress that could comefrom.
You know, this kind of change,season of change, sort of a new,
I guess we're developing into anew woman again, A different,
yeah, exactly, and I love howit's a new woman in Christ that
you're rooting it, you know, infaith, because you know that's
(32:53):
sort of the glue or the anchorthat's going to help us to keep
persevering right, To sort ofnot lose hope.
And, as you were saying, it'snot just about numbers or what
you think you should look like,because you're already the
daughter of the King of Kings,so you don't need to prove
yourself.
You're already beautifulbecause you're created in his
(33:15):
image and likeness, but you justhave to believe that.
And in terms of, I guess, inyour program how do you
incorporate sort of the faithaspect?
And how do the women do theyform sort of like a community
supporting each other in prayerand in encouragement, I guess
Can you tell us a little bitmore about your program?
You know what is it called andhow does it work?
Maureen Brintnell (33:39):
Well, I have a number of programs, but I'll
tell you some of thecommonalities in them is one of
the things that I like to dowith my women is we talk about
developing a vision.
So what I really want them todo is and we have a number of
questions that kind of lead themthrough this but ultimately I
want them to start looking aheadto you know, know their 50s,
(34:00):
60s, 70s and 80s and reallystart this process of discerning
what am I called to do?
Where are my interests Now thatmaybe the children are older
and I have some more time?
Is there a ministry that I'vealways wanted to get involved in
?
Is there a charity that I'vealways wanted to get involved in
?
Is there a charity that I'vealways wanted to do, or work
(34:21):
that I've always been interestedin but I haven't had the time?
Or is there something I reallyfeel like you know the Lord is
calling me to do right now?
And what happens is and I'vespoken to dozens of women and I
hear well, they shy away from itbecause they don't have the
confidence, because they don'twant people looking at them
(34:43):
because they don't want to bethe center of attention, and so
I want them to kind of developthis vision.
So this and of course you know,subject to change, because you
know the Lord's plans may bedifferent, and usually are
Lord's plans may be differentand usually are.
But we can kind of look aheadand say you know, I really feel
(35:09):
like I'm called to serve in thisway.
And then my question is are yougoing to be physically able to
respond to that call?
Are you going to mentally ableto respond to that call,
emotionally able to respond tothat call?
And if the answer is no, whatare we going to do between now
and then to make sure that whenthe time comes and the Lord says
, okay, okay, sheila, this isyour next job, and you're going
(35:31):
to be able to say here I am Lordand not I'm sorry, I can't get
out of bed, or things like that,right, so that's the first
piece of it, because having thatreally clear vision you know
they talk a lot in the fitnessworld about your why, and you
know we can have a lot ofdifferent ones.
You know, for me it really isabout being able to be an active
(35:54):
participant, especially now inmy grandchildren's lives.
Right, I want to be a part ofthat.
But then it's also like thismission, like being able to walk
with women as they go throughthis journey themselves, and
really I call it like areignition, like they reignite
into these wonderful, incredibledaughters, but now they have
(36:22):
all of the wisdom of theirlifetime behind them to bring
into whatever they're called todo next.
So that's a big piece of it.
In my in-person we do do a lotof gatherings, we get together,
we do some fun stuff, we do somesupport talks and then
(36:44):
occasionally I run an onlineprogram.
I call it a Catholic Midlife.
So this one's like my in-personand my other online stuff
Catholic perspective butobviously I'm open to, you know,
anybody who wants the help.
But the Catholic midlife, whichI just absolutely love because
(37:04):
it is just other Catholic womenand they get their workouts to
do on their own, we doone-on-one coaching calls a week
so I can make sure that it'sworking for them.
And then we do the groupcoaching calls and that's really
where some just incredibleconnections are made and women
(37:25):
start sharing and understandingthat they're not alone in this
struggle, they're not alone intheir emotions and you know, I
absolutely just love.
I just love being able to sitand witness that happening.
Sheila Nonato (37:44):
Yes, that's beautiful.
And do you still have thatsix-week program, or how long
does the program run?
Maureen Brintnell (37:53):
So the Catholic Midlife is actually I
think I changed it to 16 weeksin West Toronto.
My other online program, whichI call Ignite 50 50, that's
based on the be who you werecreated to be and you will set
the world on fire.
So that's, that's a 12-weekkind of online program.
And then I just have my youknow, my one-on-one.
(38:15):
My local ladies can come inhere and and do their workouts
in person, which you know somethem.
That just works better for them, so I really try to keep it.
So if a woman reaches out to meand she says this is what I'm
capable of doing right now, thenI want to be able to respond to
that and meet her where she'sat and then just kind of help as
(38:36):
she walks forward in her ownjourney.
Sheila Nonato (38:39):
Okay, yes, absolutely.
And so for women who, wherethey are right now, is, like
you're saying, like lack ofconfidence in exercising because
of a pelvic health issue, so Iguess that's best addressed by
seeing a doctor who couldrecommend physio, just so that
(39:01):
she can feel more confident andbe able to do perhaps what she
used to do before havingchildren and having the pelvic
health issues.
But are there other ways, asidefrom sort of the medical you
know, physiotherapy aspect, thatwe can help to improve, like
(39:22):
our pelvic health?
Maureen Brintnell (39:24):
Yeah, so part of the program, part of what
all of my ladies do, is what wecall this connection breath, and
so I teach them to breathe in away that reintegrates that
entire core, so that's yourdiaphragm, your abdominals, your
pelvic floor, your lower backand gets it all working together
again.
And then, once they've masteredthat, we do bring in like pelvic
(39:46):
contractions and lifts, andthen you know that release and
relax and then the contract andthe lift.
So we do work that muscle too.
I mean there's no muscle leftbehind.
We do work that one you knowall of my ladies have.
I will work with them with that.
But you're right, if they're ata stage where they're feeling
(40:09):
like a heaviness down there or abulging, like there's a
prolapse, then I would send themto a pelvic health physio to
get an assessment done and then,based on the pelvic health
physiotherapist'srecommendations, she would
either work separately with heror we would integrate the
(40:30):
recommendations into ourprogramming.
Here Again, that just dependson the level of prolapse and
what, like you say, what theexpert, the pelvic health physio
, recommends.
Sheila Nonato (40:42):
Okay, thank you for that.
Yeah, I guess it's one of thosethings that you know nobody
really talks about.
That aspect of mother is likecould you take care of your
pelvic health?
You know?
Because, yeah, I guess it'sgood, now that I'm hearing more
and more about it, that we cansort of have a community to
(41:04):
support us and to not feel soembarrassed about it, that it's
okay.
It's actually meant I wasseeing a physiotherapist and she
said that men, especiallyduring COVID, she had been
seeing male patients who've hadpelvic floor issues.
So it's not just about birthand it's not.
(41:25):
We shouldn't be ashamed aboutit, because you know there are
also men who have it and youknow they don't.
You know, maybe perhaps they dofeel embarrassed about it, but
they shouldn't because it'sreally just one aspect of health
that can be dealt with.
Maureen Brintnell (41:38):
There's something you can do about it.
Yeah, exactly, that's the greatthing.
And, of course, for women, whenwe get into that pelvic floor
dysfunction, you know we're alsotalking about an increased
incidence of urinary tractinfections and you know we're
talking about a lot of drynessdown there, which can make
things uncomfortable, and thenwe start with the urinary
(41:58):
incontinence.
But it's that that pelvic flooris this muscle, and if we don't
strengthen that muscle, thenfor a lot of women that weakness
and that incontinence willtravel back and it will become
fecal incontinence.
And so we want to make sure andthis is really what the message
that I really want to drivehome to women is that none of
(42:24):
this gets better on its own.
Yes, there is an answer.
Yes, there are things you cando, but you have to do them,
because what we see in nursinghomes and what we see in
hospitals is women suffering,and women do tend to live longer
(42:46):
than men, but they spend alonger time in poor health.
That trajectory, that downwardtrajectory, starts kind of in
their 40s.
When we're tired, our jointsstart aching.
Yeah, you said we've beendealing with urinary
incontinence and lowself-confidence, high anxiety,
(43:07):
and so we don't feel likethere's anything we can do,
especially if you're like me andyou've gone to the doctors and
all of the advice they've givenyou is something that you cannot
and don't want to partake in,then you kind of, aren't able to
do anything about it.
And then, all of a sudden,you're in your 50s and 60s and
70s.
It hasn't gotten better.
Now you're dealing withosteoporosis, you're dealing
(43:29):
with osteoarthritis, and this isnot okay.
It's normal to have thesefeelings, it's normal to have
these symptoms, but there issomething that we can do about
it so that we can continue toshow up and serve the people
that we love and do the thingsthat we're called to do.
(43:50):
I'm going to say, well, intoour 80s and then, god willing,
even into our 90s, let's go,let's just make a life of this.
Sheila Nonato (43:59):
Yes, and speaking of life, your truck.
I love your truck because lastweek, after the Eucharistic
Procession, uh, from Saint Annsparish, um, I was like I was,
yeah, we were driving, I mean myhusband was driving and I was
like, " truck.
It says less mid, more life,and it has your website,
afamamaca.
(44:21):
That's that's like amazing, Iguess, advertisement, but it's
really more also anencouragement for women.
And when I heard you speak forthe first time, I believe it was
last year or two years ago, ata family catechism, yeah, in
Stony Creek.
You were there talking andreally enlightening everybody,
(44:44):
including the husbands.
Yeah, that was great.
Maureen Brintnell (44:47):
Yeah, that was my favorite talk because
that was the one where thehusbands showed up and I thought
honestly, kudos to yourhusbands, because I've never had
a talk where the husbands haveshown up before.
And I remember it because thequestions that they asked were
so good questions that theyasked were so good.
(45:07):
And it brings home this otherpiece that we talk about in our
program, where about four weeksin, I lay out the framework for
a family meeting and we talked alittle bit about that.
But it's now that we understandwhat's going on and now that we
understand a little bit betterthe changes and what we need,
how can we now communicate thatto our families?
(45:28):
Because before maybe we didn'tunderstand why we were feeling
this way, we didn't understandwhat was going on, but now we
have the vocabulary and we cantalk about it.
So let's have this familymeeting.
These are some of the changesthat are going to be happening
and it benefits everybody.
Like you know, eating wholefoods and anti-inflammatory
nutrition the benefits aren'tjust reserved for perimenopausal
(45:49):
women.
That's going to benefit yourchildren, it's going to benefit
your husband's health.
So how do we make this a familyendeavor, so that mom can be
strong and healthy.
But your daughters are gettinggood messaging about their
health, contrary to maybe someof the messaging that they're
going to get from outside of thehome.
And you know your husband, likeyour husbands were, that day
(46:13):
can become like more than justkind of cheerleaders, but they
can become a really big,important piece of this whole
journey.
But they can become a reallybig, important piece of this
whole journey, and so that's theother thing that we like to do
is, I guess this is familymeeting, which has been
incredibly fruitful for a lot ofwomen.
Sheila Nonato (46:32):
And yeah, I remember that day because the
men were writing notes, okay,and my husband and I were
exchanging notes.
Maureen Brintnell (46:42):
That's how impactful it was.
We were passing once in class.
Sheila Nonato (46:46):
And I loved how your husband was so supportive
of you.
He was just so enthusiastic.
He's more than a cheerleader,obviously, but he's like your
greatest support, aside from God, obviously, and your family.
But I was just wondering, alsojust going back to, as you were
saying, the family meeting,consulting or speaking with the
(47:06):
family, what is now the role of,you know, the husband, how do,
how do?
And the children, how do theyall help to make sort of, you
know, to make sure that yousucceed, you know, in whatever
terms of success, you, you seesuccess as um like, what kind of
(47:27):
uh environment can they createin the home so that you all will
, you know, be really fit forthe kingdom?
That you know, it's not aboutthe numbers, right, but it's
about, like, your health, youroverall health and how you feel
more energetic to fulfill yourvocation in the family and to
(47:48):
fulfill your vocation in thecommunity and, yeah, and your
role in the church.
So how do they do that?
How do they support the womenso that we can do our job and we
can also feel like ourselvesagain?
Maureen Brintnell (48:03):
And take care of yourself so you can take
care of all the other people.
Yeah, and so it really dependson like it's very individual for
each woman and kind of whereshe needs maybe the support.
For some women the support isreally needed around her time in
the evenings.
By the time she gets into thekitchen at the end of the day,
(48:26):
her mental load is likecompletely overwhelmed her and
she's doing all of the thingsand then trying to manage the
afterschool chaos and you knowextracurriculars and all of
these other things and dinnerkind of ends up.
Okay, let's just we're justgoing to hit the drive-thru,
we're just going to grab a pizza.
And so what I like to remindwomen of is that their children
(48:49):
are capable, usually, of a lotmore than they're being asked to
do.
So get these children a littlemore involved in the food prep.
If you are a meal prepper, theycan be there with you.
They can be chopping thevegetables and putting things in
the containers.
And if they're teenagers, Ihave one lady she said it was an
(49:09):
absolute life changer, but sheassigned her teenagers each day
of the week where they'reresponsible for making dinner.
So they have to and they knowthe parameters, but they have to
plan a meal.
They have to make sure there'sthose ingredients and they have
to, and they know the parameters.
But they have to plan a meal,they have to make sure there's
those ingredients and they haveto have their recipe, and so
it's bringing them into it, it'sincreasing their responsibility
(49:32):
and they're learning reallygreat skills, but it's also
freeing mom up so that she canbe doing all of the other things
that she needs to be doing.
Maybe this is when she's gettingher walk in, and so it's really
and this is like in that familymeeting like there's a prep
time where, before she kind ofconvenes this meeting, mom is
(49:54):
really thinking about, like whatdo I need?
Like maybe my struggle isgetting out from my morning
walks because you know, there'salways something, there's always
a child that needs me.
So maybe it gets scheduled atthis particular time and the
older children know that forthis half an hour or whatever
(50:14):
length of time mom is allotted,that they're going to be
watching the baby so that momcan get outside without guilt.
We want mom to, because youknow, as soon as you start
guilting mom, she's going to puther shoes back down and she's
going to come back in the house,and so part of the preliminary
(50:34):
process before this meeting ismom's got to spend some time in,
you know, in prayer and just inthinking about what, what do I
need and what does my familyneed, and then we can sit down
and we can say, okay, who cantake responsibility for this?
And you know who can, who couldstart managing that.
(50:54):
And it takes a while, but if youcan get everybody on the same
team and you can get everybodyto understand that this is not
for mom, that this is going tobenefit the entire family, and
sometimes what happens,especially with some of the
older kids, is what comes up inthese meetings is that maybe
(51:15):
they have their own health andwellness goals that they would
like to work towards, and it'slike, okay, let's see, let's see
if we can incorporate that tooto make sure that you are
getting the time.
You know, me and my daughter,we just did a mud run over the
summer just a few weeks ago andlike this is something that she
(51:36):
really wanted to do.
She's like I really want to dothis mud run with you, and so
she kind of was preparing for itand prepping for it and we had
to make sure that we were kindof supporting her in that.
So that's all that.
All kind of comes up in themeeting, but very individual, to
like the family and thecircumstances, hello sweetie yes
(51:56):
, absolutely well.
Sheila Nonato (51:57):
As you're saying, um moms, uh, there's always
something that we have to do andwe have to be able to adjust,
be flexible.
So if you know one week you'redoing great in the exercise, the
next week you might you know,things happen, kids are sick or
whatever.
You didn't have enough sleep soyou might cut back on the
(52:19):
exercise.
But you know, just keep goingright.
Maureen Brintnell (52:24):
We just you can still get your water in and
you can still get your proteinin.
That's what I say to people.
We don't you hear it all thetime.
You don't have a flat tire andthen slash the other three right
Like.
It's not always going to beperfect all the time.
Like I said, if you don't get agood night's sleep, you might
(52:49):
not get that morning workout inand you might not push yourself
as hard.
But what can you control?
Maybe you can control.
You can still get out and getyour walk in.
You can still get your prayertime in.
Maybe you can still make surethat you're eating, that you
know that salad with that goodlean protein for lunch, like one
thing, does not have tocompletely derail you and a lot
of women.
We get stuck in this all ornothing, thinking that if I'm
not doing it all perfectly, thenI'm blowing it.
(53:12):
And I've blown it again and Iknew I was going to do this and
it's like, no like.
Let's show ourselves a littlebit of grace and just focus on
what we can control in themoment and just make another
step forward.
Sheila Nonato (53:27):
And finally, Maureen, how did your faith help
you to undergo this incredibletransformation?
I guess from your lack ofconfidence, but also the
physical transformation and thespiritual transformation.
What can you tell us about it?
What did faith do for you?
Maureen Brintnell (53:48):
It was really and it was.
It was interesting because whenI started, I was really focused
on.
I just wanted to lose weight.
I just it was the weight.
It was the number.
Weight, I just it was theweight, it was the number.
I never imagined the numberwould get that high.
And there it was, and I wasreally focused on that and so,
(54:10):
as a result, I fell prey to alot of scams, quick promises,
you know, quick transformationsthis pill, the supplement, this
herbal remedy and all of thatwas because I was looking for
the quick fix.
This pill, the supplement, thisherbal remedy, and all of that
was because I was looking forthe quick fix, right, I just
(54:31):
wanted to feel good again, andwhen none of that worked, and
you know, the weight would notonly come back, but it would
come back and bring friendsright Like it was.
It was always worse when it wasover, and so I was really left
in this moment of okay like isthis.
It Like, is this how I'm calledto feel for the rest of my life?
And it was really in, you know,my walks and just having that
(54:54):
time outside.
Like you know, treadmills aregreat in a pinch, but if you can
get outside and if you'reblessed, like me, to be close to
nature where you can kind ofjust walk and really, like I,
would have my praise and worshipmusic going in my headphones my
neighbors think I'm crazybecause I'm the woman walking
down the street sometimes doingthis, right, but really just
(55:16):
talking to the Lord, and justwhat is it that you want from me
?
Like, why would you havecreated this, this
dissatisfaction in me, if therewasn't, if you didn't also have
an answer?
And and really starting to kindof seek it out and, like you
said, going back to recognizing,showing myself the grace that I
(55:42):
would show another woman when Iwould say to another woman you
are so beautiful and you areuniquely created and God is so
in love with you, and to saythat to another woman and then
stand in front of the mirror andreally work on saying it to
(56:02):
myself.
And then, as I kind of spentmore time in prayer, I realized
that wait a minute, my stress iscoming down and I didn't need
to do yoga to do it, I justneeded to spend more time with
the Lord and talking to him andhe brought me the peace that I
was looking for.
And he brought me the piecethat I was looking for.
(56:23):
And then just recognizing thatthere was going to be hard work
involved, that there was noquick fix Like everything else
that's worth having, we're justgoing to have to work at it.
And so getting into the gym andfinally getting into the
strength training and using thattime in here and, you know,
(56:44):
offering up I have one lady andwhen she's doing her planks she
always offers it up for somebody.
So when she's doing her planksand she'll say I'm offering this
plank up for and then she'llname this person, and it was
just a great perspective andbrings kind of an added meaning
to the workouts.
Sheila Nonato (57:04):
Beautiful and just to go back to the strength
training.
So I'm just wondering do weneed a special like set of
weights, like what if we can'treally, I guess, carry too much
weight?
Since we're just starting out,what do you recommend for
(57:25):
starting out?
Maureen Brintnell (57:28):
Well, I mean, you can give yourself a killer
strength training workout usingbody weight, absolutely Really.
But what I say to women all thetime is I'm sorry I've seen you
with two toddlers on your hips,carrying six grocery bags.
Don't tell me you can't liftheavy, because I watch you do it
all the time, right?
So a lot of times what somewomen do is they just they pick
(57:52):
up their little one and they'llstart squatting and as their
little one gets bigger andheavier, the weight that they're
squatting is also gettingheavier, right.
So, and then there's lots ofthings we can do around the
house.
We don't need to run out andbuy a whole bunch of equipment.
You know there's.
There's things even just likeyou know, if you're a
(58:13):
homeschooler, loading up a baggrocery bag with some school
books is going to give you someweights, right, and you're going
to be able to use that, and so.
So there's a lot of things thatwe can do kind of around the
house.
Like I said, even just getting afew squats in while you're
brushing your teeth, like ifyou're, you're brushing your
(58:35):
teeth anyways, and yeah, thekids are going to think you're
crazy, but you know you canstart by doing some push-ups off
the wall, you can start doingsome squats, you can do things
like that.
But we want it to be focusedand progressive.
So what I mean by that is wedon't want to just be randomly
(58:56):
grabbing exercises.
You want to be able to have aprogram so you know you're
working, you know all of yourmajor muscle groups a couple of
times a week.
So you want to make sure you'vegot a plan that does that and
you want to make sure that planallows for you to increase the
intensity as you are able to doit, because we want to be
(59:16):
constantly challenging thosemuscles.
So if you're doing three sets of10 body weight squats and
you're getting up at the end andyou're like, yeah, I could do
10 more, then I'm going to tellyou to add some weight to that,
because what I want you at theend of that three sets of 10 is
I want you to be out of breath,I want that heart going and I
(59:38):
want you.
Okay, that's it.
I need to rest, I can't doanymore.
So you want to make sure thatthat's a part of it.
I need to rest, I can't doanymore, so you want to make
sure that's a part of it.
But for a lot of my ladies whenthey're starting out, I say two
times a week, two times a weekof that strength training, give
yourself a day or two at leastin between workouts so that we
can gauge how you're feeling andhow you are recovering and how
(59:59):
much time your body needs, andthen, very quickly, women will
find that they're ready for thatthird workout.
Sheila Nonato (01:00:07):
Yes, absolutely.
And yeah, when I, well beforewe got married, I hired a
personal trainer to get in shapebut and I was doing weights and
stuff like that but Idefinitely appreciate the
knowledge and the guidance,because you can lift weights the
wrong way and that will not begood for you.
So having a guided,professional sort of steer you
(01:00:31):
in the right direction and showyou the proper way to do it is
really going to be very helpful.
So I would recommend that.
And how can women reach out toyou, find out about your
programs?
Can you tell us where to findyou?
Maureen Brintnell (01:00:44):
Absolutely.
So yeah, my website, like youmentioned, it's on the back of
my truck, so it's Alpha Momma,so Mama is M-O-M-M-A dot C-A.
And then I'm also on Instagramquite a bit @alpha mommaf it so
Alpha Momma F-I-T.
So those are kind of the twoeasiest ways.
(01:01:06):
The website will have abreakdown of the different
programs, including the CatholicMidlife, if anybody wants to
learn more about that.
And then always just send me amessage on Instagram and I'm
always happy to give kind ofadvice or direction for a woman
who's looking for it.
Sheila Nonato (01:01:22):
Okay, that's amazing.
Well, thank you so much,Maureen.
I really appreciate your timeand your patience.
As with in the middle ofhomeschooling, I was trying to
sort of finish everything andthen do the interviews so that
my kids could have a fun summerinstead of doing homeschooling
during the summer.
So I appreciate your patienceand your time and your wisdom.
(01:01:42):
Thank you so much, thank you.
Thank you and have a blessedsummer.
Yes, yes, you too.
God bless, thank you, bye-bye,bye, marie.
(01:02:07):
Thank you for listening to theVeil and Armour podcast.
Co-host (01:02:10):
I invite you to share this with another Catholic Mom
today.
Please subscribe to our podcastand YouTube channel and please
spread the word.
Let's Be Brave, Let's Be Boldand Be Blessed Together.
And I'm looking at these pictures and
I'm normally not in the pictures, right, like a lot of moms, I'm
staying out of the photos.
I'm taking the photos in that,but I'm not in the photos.
And I happen to be in this oneand I was looking at it and
there was this strange womanholding my baby and it took me a
second, but my first thought Ilooked at it and I said, "Who is
(00:22):
that woman holding my baby?
Because it had been so longsince I'd looked at myself and I
did not recognize this personwho was in this photo anymore.
Sheila Nonato (00:39):
Hello and welcome to the Veil and Armour podcast.
This is your host, SheilaNonato.
I'm a stay-at-home mom and afreelance Catholic journalist,
Seeking the guidance of the HolySpirit and the inspiration of
Our Lady.
I strive to tell stories thatinspire, illuminate and enrich
the lives of Catholic women, tohelp them in living out our
vocation of raising the nextgeneration of leaders and saints
(01:01):
.
Co-host (01:02):
Please join us every week on the Veil and Armour
podcast, where stories comealive through a journalist's
lens and mother's heart.
Sheila Nonato (01:10):
Do you know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit within you, whichyou have from God?
You are not your own.
You were bought with a price,so glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6, Verse 19.
Are you in your 30s or 40sfeeling more exhausted, running
(01:34):
after kids and running thehousehold, or do you want to
level up your fitness to servethe Lord and be fit for the
kingdom?
If you're a Catholic momseeking answers about decreased
energy, unexplained mood changesand other perimenopause
symptoms, look no further thanMaureen Brintnell.
(01:57):
Maureen, aka the Alpha Momma,is a homeschooling mom of eight
who has just welcomed her secondgranddaughter.
She embarked upon a radicaltransformation of body, heart
and soul.
Not only did she adopt ahealthier lifestyle, she also
(02:17):
developed a deeper relationshipwith Christ.
Let's hear her remarkable storyand how she is helping other
Catholic moms find restorationand transformation rooted in
their faith while navigating thechallenging season of midlife.
Thank you for joining us againthis week.
(02:37):
God bless you and your families.
Welcome to the Veil and Armourpodcast ,and I am honored to
have Maureen Brintnell.
Am I saying that correct,Maureen?
Maureen Brintnell (02:48):
Yes.
Sheila Nonato (02:49):
Ok.
She is the Alpha Momma and sheis a formidable advocate for
women's health in midlife, andshe is a Christian homeschooling
mom, Maureen, welcome, and canwe start off with a prayer
please?
Maureen Brintnell (03:00):
Absolutely In the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Hail Mary, Full of grace.
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women,and blessed is the fruit of thy
womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, prayfor us sinners, now and at the
hour of our death.
(03:20):
Amen.
Sheila Nonato (03:23):
In the name of the Holy Spirit, amen.
Well, thank you very much,Maureen, for joining us.
We are experiencing a heat waveright now where we are in
Ontario, but we are keeping cool.
You are in Northwest Toronto?
I'm very bad at geography.
Maureen Brintnell (03:43):
That's okay.
I'm actually in Woodstock,woodstock yes, yeah, about an
hour outside of um okay, okay.
Sheila Nonato (03:51):
And how are you keeping cool right now, are you?
Do you have the AC on?
And lots of lots of water.
Maureen Brintnell (03:59):
Yes, but we're actually keeping with um
our littles over the weekend andit was quite hot.
Wow, but home and back in theAC now.
Sheila Nonato (04:08):
Okay, awesome.
And congratulations on your newgranddaughter.
Is that correct?
That is awesome,
Maureen Brintnell (04:16):
Yes, it's my second grandchild.
I have a third one on the way,so just keeping this Nana era
that I'm moving into right now.
Sheila Nonato (04:24):
And I can't believe you're a grandmother
already, but I would love tohear, we would love to hear your
story of transformation.
Tell us what was going on withyou before you started your
business.
It's more like an apostolate.
Really right, Fit for thekingdom.
I would say.
Maureen Brintnell (04:41):
Absolutely.
I actually have a sign in my gymthat my son made for me and it
says (04:47):
"t would be a shame to work so hard to be fit for this
world and be unfit for the king.
Sheila Nonato (04:54):
Oh, wow, I love that
Maureen Brintnell (04:55):
And so that's in the wall in my gym so
everybody knows when they comein that this is what we're going
for here.
Um, so a little bit of my story.
I'll tell you that I am not oneof those gym girls who can tell
you that, oh, I was alwaysathletic, or I loved gym.
I used to make up stories toget out of gym class, like as a
(05:20):
career.
I was very successful at it.
I avoided physical activity.
I had a lot of physicalproblems.
I had arthritis, I havescoliosis, so there's a number
of issues that kind of held meback from being physically
active.
But then I, you know, I'mmarried and we have eight
children and they range in age,our youngest, who is 10, to our
(05:44):
oldest, who just turned 30.
And in that time of busynessand, of course, like we
homeschool as well, we justfinished up our 25th year of
homeschooling and just, it wasnever a decision, it was just
kind of, as you know, it kind ofhappens as as wives and mothers
(06:05):
, and we're pouring into otherpeople and we're taking care of
all of the people around us whoneed us.
And that really became myidentity.
That was who I was.
I was this mom of this largebrood and just taking care of
them and not really recognizingthat the fact that I wasn't
(06:27):
taking care of myself was veryslowly taking a toll on me, not
just physically but mentally andemotionally as well.
And what had happened, one yearwe had taken our children down
to Florida to go to Disney andwe were looking at pictures
afterwards.
And I'm looking at thesepictures and I'm normally not in
the pictures, right, like a lotof moms, I'm staying out of the
(06:50):
photos.
I'm taking the photos in that,but I'm not in the photos.
And I happened to be in thisone and I was looking at it and
there was this strange womanholding my baby and it took me a
second.
But my first thought I lookedat it and I said, "ho's that
woman holding my baby?
And it took me a second.
But my first thought I lookedat it and I said who is that
(07:11):
woman holding my baby?
Because it had been so longsince I'd looked at myself and I
did not recognize this personwho was in this photo anymore.
And, yeah, absolutelyPhysically I didn't recognize
her.
She was very heavy, she was outof shape, she was tired, but
she didn't really know muchabout who she was, outside of
(07:33):
this role of being a wife and amother, which I absolutely love.
But it did kind of wake me upbecause my kids were getting a
little bit older, bit older, andso I was kind of moving slowly
out of the constancy of, youknow, diapers, you know what
it's like when you've got littleones in the house, and as
they're getting a little bitolder, it kind of opens my eyes
(07:55):
to, okay, so what's next?
You know, like, as these kidscontinue to grow and fly the
nest and develop their own livesand their own families, you
know what's kind of next for me?
So that was going on At thesame time.
I'm in my 40s and what I didn'trecognize at the time was that
(08:15):
I had started into perimenopause.
So I was experiencing a lot ofsymptoms and of course, like a
lot of us, I'd gone into theseason without knowledge or
preparation.
Like you know, when we thinkabout our young girls, when
their cycles are starting,there's usually some routine or
(08:37):
some tradition or some ritualaround it, you know, like taking
the girls out for lunch orshopping and kind of explaining
the changes and what's happeningand what they may be feeling.
Nobody took me out for lunchfor perimenopause and I did not
know what was going on.
So that was all kind ofhappening at the same time and I
(08:58):
began just by getting up earlyin the morning and taking a walk
.
I didn't know what to do, but Iknew I needed to change and
start taking walks in themorning and it kind of just grew
from there as I was listeningto podcasts and I was doing more
(09:23):
research and trying to figureout what was going on with me
and all of these changes kind ofbecame very clear as to what
was happening and then starteddeveloping a plan as to you know
what, what to do about it?
Right, it's one thing tocorrect and not okay, here's the
problem.
And then say, okay, now what,what am I going to do about?
It is the problem.
(09:45):
And then say, okay, now what,what am I going to do about it?
And so that started this, thisfitness and this wellness
journey that I um, that I got onand, sorry, my phone keeps
going off, I can turn it on, andI think for a while I really
did still kind of struggle witha little bit of isolation, a
(10:05):
little bit of shame over some ofthe symptoms, and I certainly
wasn't sharing it with a lot ofother people.
And then one day a woman came upto me after a soccer game and
she pulled me kind of in theparking lot behind the cars and
she just she was so emotionaland she said how do you, how did
you do it?
And then she started explainingher life and started explaining
(10:27):
a lot of the struggles that shewas having, which were very
close to mine, and I thought, ohmy, like I'm not the only
person here.
And so that's what kind ofstarted the business end of it
in terms of reaching out toother women, other Christian
women, other Catholic women,specifically about you know
(10:48):
what's going on with us, kind ofin our late 30s, 40s, into our
50s?
What does this mean for us aswe move into this next season,
and how are we called to respondto it?
Sheila Nonato (11:02):
Yes, absolutely, and in terms of I guess you were
mentioning perimenopause, sothat is a period before
menopause, that's in your mid,in your 40s.
Is it mid 40s or it can startearly well, it can start earlier
.
Maureen Brintnell (11:16):
So I'll just explain the terms very quickly.
So we have perimenopause, andso perimenopause is usually
about seven to 10 years.
So for some women that canactually be starting in their
mid thirties.
So you could be experiencingsome of these signs and symptoms
of you know this changehappening long before you're
(11:40):
even thinking because, yeah, wedo kind of think of our forties
and 50s.
So you've got this seven to 10year period of a lot of hormone
fluctuation.
As you know, your estrogen, yourprogesterone and other things
are ultimately declining andleaving the body, but they don't
do it without a lot of like upand down and fluctuation first,
which can create havoc for a lotof women, and that time can
(12:06):
show up in ways that we wouldn'tnormally tie to our cycle
unless we know about it.
So what a lot of women talkabout in this time is increased
anxiety, low mood, lethargy,just like their get up and go is
gone.
But then there's other physicalsymptoms.
(12:27):
They can start experiencingheart palpitations, digestive
issues, pelvic floor dysfunction, so they can start experiencing
some urinary incontinence.
There's all of these thingsthat are going on where a woman
might think that, well, thisdoesn't have anything to do with
my cycle because it seems to beso removed, but it actually is
part of this process.
(12:47):
And then menopause is actuallyjust one day, and that is the
day that you it's been one yearsince your last cycle, so when
you have gone without a periodfor 12 months, that is your date
of menopause.
Every day after you are inmenopause or post-menopausal.
(13:13):
So we have like the 7 to 10years before where a lot of
women are going to experiencethose perimenopause symptoms and
then they move intopost-menopause and then they
move into post-menopause and inpost-menopause a lot of those
perimenopause symptoms do startto subside, they do start to go
away.
But what women are left with ifthey have not heeded the call
(13:42):
of perimenopause and it's verymuch a wake-up call if they've
not heeded that call what theyfind waiting for them in
menopause is an increased riskof osteoporosis, a higher risk
of cardiovascular disease, ahigher risk of depression,
pelvic floor dysfunction, muscleloss.
I have ladies who come to see mein their 60s and their 70s and
(14:05):
their goal is not aesthetic.
Their goal is they want to beable to genuflect at mass
without pain.
They want to be able to do uptheir own seatbelt again, and
this is the sort of thing thatwaits for women who don't, like
I said, don't pay attention towhat their body is trying to
tell them in their 40s.
Sheila Nonato (14:31):
And so you were mentioning some of the symptoms,
so I consulted.
Doctor Google, although peopleshould go to a real doctor, but
according to the Mayo Clinic.
So some of the symptoms that canbe confirmed by a doctor
irregular periods, hot flashes,sleep problems, mood changes,
bladder problems, as youmentioned, decreasing fertility,
loss of bone, changingcholesterol and other other
symptoms that your doctor willdefinitely be able to identify
(14:53):
for you.
For you, yes, but in terms of Iguess you were mentioning that
woman in the parking lot andthen you know the feelings of
shame.
I guess that's sort of tied to,because when we get married and
then you know there of shame,um, I guess that's sort of tied
to because when we, you know weget married, and then you know,
and there's always like, whenare you gonna have children,
when are you gonna give us agrandchildren?
You know there's always this,this kind of expectation.
(15:16):
And now so, when we're goinginto this new phase, new stage
in life, when, um, we might arewe are we going through a
grieving process for ourfertility, is that where the
shame comes from?
Can you explain a little bit?
What are we feeling at thisstage?
Maureen Brintnell (15:32):
The shame comes from a lot of different
places.
There is definitely, for a lotof women, a sense of grief and
loss, especially if so much oftheir identity has become
wrapped up in being a mother andhaving babies.
So then the question is youknow, as my fertility is
wrapping up, where do I fit in?
(15:55):
Like, what is my purpose?
And what I say to women all thetime is you're still here, so
you are still part of the church.
Militant, you do have purpose,you do have mission.
There is a, so you are stillpart of the church, militant,
you do have purpose, you do havemission.
There is a reason that you arestill here.
There's a reason why humans areone of the few species where
the women live beyond menopause,and so there is still something
(16:17):
that we have to offer, and, ofcourse, we have to figure out
for ourselves what that is andwhat that looks like.
But there's a lot of otherthings ourselves what that is
and what that looks like, butthere's a lot of other things.
The one big one is, you know,just say it, but the urinary
incontinence that a lot of womenexperience.
It gets sold as well.
You know, you did have babiesand you are a woman and it's
(16:39):
sold as this suffering that youare just supposed to accept and
tolerate, and it's not.
And there's, there are.
There are things you can do,there are, there are people that
can help with that, but thereis, that there's.
There's shame.
I've spoken with women in herewho who fear going to the gym
(17:03):
because they know they're goingto wet themselves if they, you
know, exert themselves too hard.
They don't want to chase aftertheir kids in the yard because
they don't want to wetthemselves.
I mean, it's just heartbreakingto me that there is a mom who
wants to play tag with her kidsbut is afraid she's going to pee
(17:23):
Absolutely breaks my heart.
But so that the shame comesfrom that.
The shame comes from women wholook at their bodies and don't
recognize them anymore.
And it's not like you know.
We look at our postpartumbodies and we can be so grateful
(17:44):
for the life that it has given,the life that it has protected
and nurtured.
And so when we look at ourbodies and I've had women,
beautiful women refuse to dotheir exercises in front of the
mirror because they don't evenwant to look at themselves, and
then so there's a lot of shameabout that.
(18:05):
Am I vain.
Am I, you know?
Am I?
Am I obsessed with theaesthetic when I shouldn't be?
I'm supposed to be better thanthat.
So it can come from that place.
It can come from when we'regoing through all of these
changes, especially hormonally.
We can find that we, we can bea little sharper with our loved
(18:27):
ones and, you know, maybe we'resnapping at the kids or maybe
we're snapping at our husbands,and so we're feeling a lot of
guilt about that.
So it can come from a lot ofdifferent places.
It can come from, like, thatdecreased libido that a lot of
women experience and nobodywants to talk about, and so all
of this stuff, and you know, andwe're left, kind of women
experience and nobody wants totalk about, and so all of this
stuff, and yeah, and we're leftkind of sitting here and what
(18:49):
are we supposed to do with allof this?
And so part of why I startedthis is because when I was going
through a lot of this and Iwould go to my doctor and I
would hear, well, you need toget an IUD or you need to go on
the low-dose birth control pill,and I would say, well, I'm not
(19:13):
going to do that.
And the response to me was well, come back when you're ready
for the IUD.
So I was really kind of left onmy own when I was dealing with
issues of stress management,which is another big thing that
a lot of women experience inperimenopause and I was told
well, you need to do yoga.
(19:33):
And I'm like well, I'm notgoing to do yoga.
And so I felt very there was anincreasing isolation, because
not only was all of these thingsgoing on that I didn't
understand, but whenever Ireached out for help, I was told
well, there's help available toyou, but you have to compromise
your faith to access it.
And I'm not going to do that.
(19:53):
So I really had to sit back andspend a lot of time and just
like, okay, lord, I know thatyou have an answer, like I know
you do.
So you just you know you'rejust going to have to let me
know, because I'm not going todo all of these other things and
I don't believe that you'vecalled us to suffer like this
(20:14):
for, you know, the next 40 or 50years.
And so it was a lot of readingthrough the studies and learning
a lot of stuff and a lot oftrial and error, but finally
kind of putting togethersomething that I feel has
managed my perimenopause verywell and now, you know, helping
(20:36):
a lot of other women.
And I can say now, like I'll be53 this year and I'm I feel
like I'm in much, and all my mymarkers from the doctor will
confirm this but I'm in muchbetter health now at 53 than I
was, you know, at 43.
So we can, we can flip thetrajectory too, which is kind of
exciting.
Sheila Nonato (20:58):
That's an amazing story and, if you don't mind, I
saw I think it was on Facebookor Instagram you had a picture
before and after and it'sremarkable the change that you
went through.
If you wouldn't mind, yeah, Iwould put that on the video, if
you wouldn't mind, Absolutely.
Just to see how, yeah,transformation can happen,
(21:19):
because I guess at this stagelosing weight can be problematic
because of sort of the hormonechanges, fluctuations and again
this kind of I don't know.
I guess it's like a mindsetblock that you know I don't see
any progress, so I'm giving up.
(21:40):
You know it used to be yeah, inmy 20s I would be.
You know I would run every day.
It's not the best exercise foryou, but that was my thing is
like I would run every day andmetabolism's high, you know, and
so I could eat whatever Iwanted.
Not the greatest advice, butyeah.
So it's not like the weightwould stay, but now's, you know
(22:03):
it's staying and you'rewondering how do I get it, get
it off or how do just?
It's not even about like thenumber right on the scale, it's
really about how you feel andnot having so much fatigue.
So, in terms of like solutionsso let's talk about physical
solutions, like in your program,what, what do you?
I mean you don't have to giveaway all your secrets, but like
(22:24):
I don't know, I don't knowanything behind the program, I
will be the one to mute.
But what would you recommendfor women in terms of like
physical solutions, like, whatcan they do?
Maureen Brintnell (22:37):
There's, and the good news is that, for us,
less can be more.
Us, less can be more, and sowhat I mean by that is we're
kind of past the phase where weshould be doing, you know, boot
camps and things like that.
You know, six days a week,that's not going to work for us
anymore.
So I'm going to tell you likeeverything, but I don't want
(23:00):
people hearing this to getoverwhelmed.
I'm not saying we implementthis all at once.
Obviously, we want to do it andI'm always very careful.
We want to do it in a way thathonors our vocation.
So I don't want to do thingsand advise women to do things
that are going to feel unnaturalor uncomfortable to them
because it takes away too muchtime from their you know the
(23:22):
other things that they're calledto be doing.
That said, what I like to seewomen doing is strength training
is a non-negotiable foreverybody.
70-year-old clients in the gymhere deadlifting, it's a
non-negotiable.
Two to three times a week.
You need to be really workingthose muscles hard.
(23:46):
We want to take a look at ournutrition and it's again, it's
very simple the more whole foodswe we make, the more foods we
can eat in the form in whichthey were created, without all
of the addeds and things likethat is going to be better
because, like you said, like ourdigestion changes as we get
(24:09):
into this phase, so we want tomake sure that we're eating a
lot more whole foods, thatanti-inflammatory nutrition.
We don't want to be cutting outentire macronutrient categories
Women need carbs but we want tomake sure that we're getting
good whole grain, high fiber.
You know carbs in that sense.
(24:31):
So we want to be strengthtraining, we want to be eating,
we want to really be veryfocused on getting good sleep
and I know this is when mostpeople just laugh because
they're like I have not had agood night's sleep in 20 years
but we really want to develop arunway almost before your
(24:54):
bedtime to allow you know yourbody to start shutting down so
that you can get, for women,seven to nine hours of good
quality sleep a night is whatyou should be getting and on
average, women need about anhour more than men do.
So you just kind of need tofactor that in that if you're
(25:16):
going to bed with your husbandand you're getting up with your
husband and he's well rested,you could probably use another
hour if you're still just kindof need to factor that in, that
if you're going to bed with yourhusband and you're getting up
with your husband and he's wellrested, you could probably use
another hour if you're stillfeeling kind of tired.
So that's something to be awareof too.
And you want to be just gettingyour walks in.
You want it and walking is suchan underrated exercise so you
want to be getting out andgetting those walks in, and
(25:38):
there's always like lots ofother want to be getting out and
getting those walks in andthere's always like lots of
other things to be doing.
You want to make sure you'redrinking your water, and that's
for the kind of the physical endof it.
But then when we talk aboutstress management, this is when
we can really lean in into ourfaith and you know we don't have
to go outside to hot yogastudios or things like that.
(26:02):
That spending that time, youknow, in prayer and spending
that time, you know, with theLord.
They found that if you spend 15to 20 minutes a day doing
something to bring your stresslevel down is the most effective
kind of block of time, and Ialways find it very interesting
that that's about the samelength of time it takes to do
(26:25):
you know your daily rosary.
Now I wouldn't recommend thefamily rosary as your time to
de-stress, because I don't knowwhat family rosary time is like
at your house, but maybe not themost low stress situation for a
woman.
But if she can find another 15minutes somewhere, even on her
walk, to really connect with theLord, that's going to bring
(26:47):
that stress level down just towhere she can start to manage it
again.
So those are the things I wouldsay right off the top.
So those are the things I wouldsay right off the top.
But, that said, what I don'twant women doing is getting
online and downloading an hourworkout and downloading a
nutrition plan and trying toimplement that all of a sudden
(27:08):
into the craziness of her life.
We want to find that one area.
Okay, what's the one change thatyou think you can make today?
Like, maybe it's in thenutrition?
Maybe you can focus on gettingmore protein, because that's the
other thing I will say aboutnutrition.
(27:29):
Most women are not gettingenough protein.
So when you say how muchprotein should I be getting, you
should be getting a gram perpound of body weight a day.
So if you are sitting at 150pounds, 150 grams of protein a
day is what you should begetting, and when you start
(27:51):
getting that, just watch howmuch better you feel.
Sheila Nonato (27:57):
And so that's interesting.
Just to go back to what yousaid, you said we need carbs.
I guess we can eat.
Can we eat bread?
Not really, you can eat bread.
Maureen Brintnell (28:10):
You want again our digestion kind of
changes.
So I don't know if it's everyindividual, but I find I don't
digest bread very well.
It sits like a rock right, so Ieat more like brown rice.
I eat my sweet potatoes, so Ido get my carbs.
I get a lot of veggies.
(28:30):
I'm eating salads at every meal, so we're not like carbs are
not the enemy.
Women actually do much betterwith carbs.
Not like carbs are not theenemy.
Women actually do much betterwith carbs.
But yeah, we, you know eating alot of bread and cereal,
because then we're moving intothe processed.
Sheila Nonato (28:47):
Yeah, right, right, right, okay
Maureen Brintnell (28:48):
So it's not the carbs so as it's the the
processing of the foods we dowant to move away from as much
as we can.
Sheila Nonato (28:55):
Okay, um, and how do you feel about
I used to do sourdough.
I did this whole sourdoughthing trying to figure out what
is all the fuss about.
I only could do it for, like, Ithink, a month or two, because
it's really like a family pet.
You have to feed it every day.
It has its own life force.
But I mean, is that healthySourdough or bread that you make
(29:18):
yourself?
Maureen Brintnell (29:20):
It's certainly healthier.
Absolutely yeah, and again, it'sgoing to come down to very,
very individual, as how do youfeel after you've eaten it?
Okay, yeah, and you know, doyou feel bloated, do you feel
heavy, do you feel tired?
Well then, maybe you're goingto want to look at.
You know something else.
I think always making it athome is going to be better.
(29:40):
That's just my personal bias.
Obviously, if you can do that,that's going to be better.
But when we look at like youwere talking about, you know,
weight loss, and I just want togo back to that very quickly,
because what we're going to talkabout is those other markers
for success.
So, yes, when you are on thisjourney to wellness, yeah, you
(30:04):
know, the scale might be a partof it but I also want you
tracking, like you've said, how,like, how's your food digesting
?
What's?
How do you feeling after youeat?
Your energy levels, how's yoursleep, how's your mood, mood
like, how are all of these otherthings which are going to maybe
show up for you before thescale does, and if we can kind
(30:28):
of recognize those and say youknow what?
The scale hasn't dropped yet.
But I can now make it up thisflight of stairs without having
to stop and catch my breath.
That's a huge win for ourquality of life and I really
love to move women away from thescale as that sole metric
(30:52):
Because, like I mentioned inthose symptoms, one of the
things that's happening as we'removing into menopause is we are
losing muscle mass, we arelosing bone density, so we're
strictly focused on weight loss.
You could also be losing muscle.
You can be losing bone.
You can be losing water.
What I want you focused on isfat loss.
(31:13):
I want to focus on improvingthe muscle to fat ratio on your
body.
And when we think about, like,a pound of fat and a pound of
muscle, they weigh the same.
They're both a pound, but apound of muscle is a lot more
condensed, it takes up a lotless space.
(31:34):
So a woman who is strengthtraining, who is managing her
nutrition, who is managing herstress and her sleep, might not
see a big drop on the scale, butis going to see a huge
difference in how she feels, howshe looks, how her clothes fit,
her energy, all of these otherthings, and when that happens,
(31:56):
the scale doesn't quite matterso much.
Right, because you're gettingall of these other things that
are, like I said, are improvingyour quality of life right?
Sheila Nonato (32:06):
Yeah, I guess I never thought of it that way,
about um muscle and fat weighingthe same.
So yeah, the scale doesn'treally tell the full story.
It does not tell the full storyit does not tell the full story
and I really wanted to go backto.
You know.
You're talking about sort ofthe de-stressing, getting more
sleep, so it's sort ofcontributing to again a solution
in terms of the emotional, youknow, and yeah, I guess,
(32:32):
emotional stress that could comefrom.
You know, this kind of change,season of change, sort of a new,
I guess we're developing into anew woman again, A different,
yeah, exactly, and I love howit's a new woman in Christ that
you're rooting it, you know, infaith, because you know that's
(32:53):
sort of the glue or the anchorthat's going to help us to keep
persevering right, To sort ofnot lose hope.
And, as you were saying, it'snot just about numbers or what
you think you should look like,because you're already the
daughter of the King of Kings,so you don't need to prove
yourself.
You're already beautifulbecause you're created in his
(33:15):
image and likeness, but you justhave to believe that.
And in terms of, I guess, inyour program how do you
incorporate sort of the faithaspect?
And how do the women do theyform sort of like a community
supporting each other in prayerand in encouragement, I guess
Can you tell us a little bitmore about your program?
You know what is it called andhow does it work?
Maureen Brintnell (33:39):
Well, I have a number of programs, but I'll
tell you some of thecommonalities in them is one of
the things that I like to dowith my women is we talk about
developing a vision.
So what I really want them todo is and we have a number of
questions that kind of lead themthrough this but ultimately I
want them to start looking aheadto you know, know their 50s,
(34:00):
60s, 70s and 80s and reallystart this process of discerning
what am I called to do?
Where are my interests Now thatmaybe the children are older
and I have some more time?
Is there a ministry that I'vealways wanted to get involved in
?
Is there a charity that I'vealways wanted to get involved in
?
Is there a charity that I'vealways wanted to do, or work
(34:21):
that I've always been interestedin but I haven't had the time?
Or is there something I reallyfeel like you know the Lord is
calling me to do right now?
And what happens is and I'vespoken to dozens of women and I
hear well, they shy away from itbecause they don't have the
confidence, because they don'twant people looking at them
(34:43):
because they don't want to bethe center of attention, and so
I want them to kind of developthis vision.
So this and of course you know,subject to change, because you
know the Lord's plans may bedifferent, and usually are
Lord's plans may be differentand usually are.
But we can kind of look aheadand say you know, I really feel
(35:09):
like I'm called to serve in thisway.
And then my question is are yougoing to be physically able to
respond to that call?
Are you going to mentally ableto respond to that call,
emotionally able to respond tothat call?
And if the answer is no, whatare we going to do between now
and then to make sure that whenthe time comes and the Lord says
, okay, okay, sheila, this isyour next job, and you're going
(35:31):
to be able to say here I am Lordand not I'm sorry, I can't get
out of bed, or things like that,right, so that's the first
piece of it, because having thatreally clear vision you know
they talk a lot in the fitnessworld about your why, and you
know we can have a lot ofdifferent ones.
You know, for me it really isabout being able to be an active
(35:54):
participant, especially now inmy grandchildren's lives.
Right, I want to be a part ofthat.
But then it's also like thismission, like being able to walk
with women as they go throughthis journey themselves, and
really I call it like areignition, like they reignite
into these wonderful, incredibledaughters, but now they have
(36:22):
all of the wisdom of theirlifetime behind them to bring
into whatever they're called todo next.
So that's a big piece of it.
In my in-person we do do a lotof gatherings, we get together,
we do some fun stuff, we do somesupport talks and then
(36:44):
occasionally I run an onlineprogram.
I call it a Catholic Midlife.
So this one's like my in-personand my other online stuff
Catholic perspective butobviously I'm open to, you know,
anybody who wants the help.
But the Catholic midlife, whichI just absolutely love because
(37:04):
it is just other Catholic womenand they get their workouts to
do on their own, we doone-on-one coaching calls a week
so I can make sure that it'sworking for them.
And then we do the groupcoaching calls and that's really
where some just incredibleconnections are made and women
(37:25):
start sharing and understandingthat they're not alone in this
struggle, they're not alone intheir emotions and you know, I
absolutely just love.
I just love being able to sitand witness that happening.
Sheila Nonato (37:44):
Yes, that's beautiful.
And do you still have thatsix-week program, or how long
does the program run?
Maureen Brintnell (37:53):
So the Catholic Midlife is actually I
think I changed it to 16 weeksin West Toronto.
My other online program, whichI call Ignite 50 50, that's
based on the be who you werecreated to be and you will set
the world on fire.
So that's, that's a 12-weekkind of online program.
And then I just have my youknow, my one-on-one.
(38:15):
My local ladies can come inhere and and do their workouts
in person, which you know somethem.
That just works better for them, so I really try to keep it.
So if a woman reaches out to meand she says this is what I'm
capable of doing right now, thenI want to be able to respond to
that and meet her where she'sat and then just kind of help as
(38:36):
she walks forward in her ownjourney.
Sheila Nonato (38:39):
Okay, yes, absolutely.
And so for women who, wherethey are right now, is, like
you're saying, like lack ofconfidence in exercising because
of a pelvic health issue, so Iguess that's best addressed by
seeing a doctor who couldrecommend physio, just so that
(39:01):
she can feel more confident andbe able to do perhaps what she
used to do before havingchildren and having the pelvic
health issues.
But are there other ways, asidefrom sort of the medical you
know, physiotherapy aspect, thatwe can help to improve, like
(39:22):
our pelvic health?
Maureen Brintnell (39:24):
Yeah, so part of the program, part of what
all of my ladies do, is what wecall this connection breath, and
so I teach them to breathe in away that reintegrates that
entire core, so that's yourdiaphragm, your abdominals, your
pelvic floor, your lower backand gets it all working together
again.
And then, once they've masteredthat, we do bring in like pelvic
(39:46):
contractions and lifts, andthen you know that release and
relax and then the contract andthe lift.
So we do work that muscle too.
I mean there's no muscle leftbehind.
We do work that one you knowall of my ladies have.
I will work with them with that.
But you're right, if they're ata stage where they're feeling
(40:09):
like a heaviness down there or abulging, like there's a
prolapse, then I would send themto a pelvic health physio to
get an assessment done and then,based on the pelvic health
physiotherapist'srecommendations, she would
either work separately with heror we would integrate the
(40:30):
recommendations into ourprogramming.
Here Again, that just dependson the level of prolapse and
what, like you say, what theexpert, the pelvic health physio
, recommends.
Sheila Nonato (40:42):
Okay, thank you for that.
Yeah, I guess it's one of thosethings that you know nobody
really talks about.
That aspect of mother is likecould you take care of your
pelvic health?
You know?
Because, yeah, I guess it'sgood, now that I'm hearing more
and more about it, that we cansort of have a community to
(41:04):
support us and to not feel soembarrassed about it, that it's
okay.
It's actually meant I wasseeing a physiotherapist and she
said that men, especiallyduring COVID, she had been
seeing male patients who've hadpelvic floor issues.
So it's not just about birthand it's not.
(41:25):
We shouldn't be ashamed aboutit, because you know there are
also men who have it and youknow they don't.
You know, maybe perhaps they dofeel embarrassed about it, but
they shouldn't because it'sreally just one aspect of health
that can be dealt with.
Maureen Brintnell (41:38):
There's something you can do about it.
Yeah, exactly, that's the greatthing.
And, of course, for women, whenwe get into that pelvic floor
dysfunction, you know we're alsotalking about an increased
incidence of urinary tractinfections and you know we're
talking about a lot of drynessdown there, which can make
things uncomfortable, and thenwe start with the urinary
(41:58):
incontinence.
But it's that that pelvic flooris this muscle, and if we don't
strengthen that muscle, thenfor a lot of women that weakness
and that incontinence willtravel back and it will become
fecal incontinence.
And so we want to make sure andthis is really what the message
that I really want to drivehome to women is that none of
(42:24):
this gets better on its own.
Yes, there is an answer.
Yes, there are things you cando, but you have to do them,
because what we see in nursinghomes and what we see in
hospitals is women suffering,and women do tend to live longer
(42:46):
than men, but they spend alonger time in poor health.
That trajectory, that downwardtrajectory, starts kind of in
their 40s.
When we're tired, our jointsstart aching.
Yeah, you said we've beendealing with urinary
incontinence and lowself-confidence, high anxiety,
(43:07):
and so we don't feel likethere's anything we can do,
especially if you're like me andyou've gone to the doctors and
all of the advice they've givenyou is something that you cannot
and don't want to partake in,then you kind of, aren't able to
do anything about it.
And then, all of a sudden,you're in your 50s and 60s and
70s.
It hasn't gotten better.
Now you're dealing withosteoporosis, you're dealing
(43:29):
with osteoarthritis, and this isnot okay.
It's normal to have thesefeelings, it's normal to have
these symptoms, but there issomething that we can do about
it so that we can continue toshow up and serve the people
that we love and do the thingsthat we're called to do.
(43:50):
I'm going to say, well, intoour 80s and then, god willing,
even into our 90s, let's go,let's just make a life of this.
Sheila Nonato (43:59):
Yes, and speaking of life, your truck.
I love your truck because lastweek, after the Eucharistic
Procession, uh, from Saint Annsparish, um, I was like I was,
yeah, we were driving, I mean myhusband was driving and I was
like, " truck.
It says less mid, more life,and it has your website,
afamamaca.
(44:21):
That's that's like amazing, Iguess, advertisement, but it's
really more also anencouragement for women.
And when I heard you speak forthe first time, I believe it was
last year or two years ago, ata family catechism, yeah, in
Stony Creek.
You were there talking andreally enlightening everybody,
(44:44):
including the husbands.
Yeah, that was great.
Maureen Brintnell (44:47):
Yeah, that was my favorite talk because
that was the one where thehusbands showed up and I thought
honestly, kudos to yourhusbands, because I've never had
a talk where the husbands haveshown up before.
And I remember it because thequestions that they asked were
so good questions that theyasked were so good.
(45:07):
And it brings home this otherpiece that we talk about in our
program, where about four weeksin, I lay out the framework for
a family meeting and we talked alittle bit about that.
But it's now that we understandwhat's going on and now that we
understand a little bit betterthe changes and what we need,
how can we now communicate thatto our families?
(45:28):
Because before maybe we didn'tunderstand why we were feeling
this way, we didn't understandwhat was going on, but now we
have the vocabulary and we cantalk about it.
So let's have this familymeeting.
These are some of the changesthat are going to be happening
and it benefits everybody.
Like you know, eating wholefoods and anti-inflammatory
nutrition the benefits aren'tjust reserved for perimenopausal
(45:49):
women.
That's going to benefit yourchildren, it's going to benefit
your husband's health.
So how do we make this a familyendeavor, so that mom can be
strong and healthy.
But your daughters are gettinggood messaging about their
health, contrary to maybe someof the messaging that they're
going to get from outside of thehome.
And you know your husband, likeyour husbands were, that day
(46:13):
can become like more than justkind of cheerleaders, but they
can become a really big,important piece of this whole
journey.
But they can become a reallybig, important piece of this
whole journey, and so that's theother thing that we like to do
is, I guess this is familymeeting, which has been
incredibly fruitful for a lot ofwomen.
Sheila Nonato (46:32):
And yeah, I remember that day because the
men were writing notes, okay,and my husband and I were
exchanging notes.
Maureen Brintnell (46:42):
That's how impactful it was.
We were passing once in class.
Sheila Nonato (46:46):
And I loved how your husband was so supportive
of you.
He was just so enthusiastic.
He's more than a cheerleader,obviously, but he's like your
greatest support, aside from God, obviously, and your family.
But I was just wondering, alsojust going back to, as you were
saying, the family meeting,consulting or speaking with the
(47:06):
family, what is now the role of,you know, the husband, how do,
how do?
And the children, how do theyall help to make sort of, you
know, to make sure that yousucceed, you know, in whatever
terms of success, you, you seesuccess as um like, what kind of
(47:27):
uh environment can they createin the home so that you all will
, you know, be really fit forthe kingdom?
That you know, it's not aboutthe numbers, right, but it's
about, like, your health, youroverall health and how you feel
more energetic to fulfill yourvocation in the family and to
(47:48):
fulfill your vocation in thecommunity and, yeah, and your
role in the church.
So how do they do that?
How do they support the womenso that we can do our job and we
can also feel like ourselvesagain?
Maureen Brintnell (48:03):
And take care of yourself so you can take
care of all the other people.
Yeah, and so it really dependson like it's very individual for
each woman and kind of whereshe needs maybe the support.
For some women the support isreally needed around her time in
the evenings.
By the time she gets into thekitchen at the end of the day,
(48:26):
her mental load is likecompletely overwhelmed her and
she's doing all of the thingsand then trying to manage the
afterschool chaos and you knowextracurriculars and all of
these other things and dinnerkind of ends up.
Okay, let's just we're justgoing to hit the drive-thru,
we're just going to grab a pizza.
And so what I like to remindwomen of is that their children
(48:49):
are capable, usually, of a lotmore than they're being asked to
do.
So get these children a littlemore involved in the food prep.
If you are a meal prepper, theycan be there with you.
They can be chopping thevegetables and putting things in
the containers.
And if they're teenagers, Ihave one lady she said it was an
(49:09):
absolute life changer, but sheassigned her teenagers each day
of the week where they'reresponsible for making dinner.
So they have to and they knowthe parameters, but they have to
plan a meal.
They have to make sure there'sthose ingredients and they have
to, and they know the parameters.
But they have to plan a meal,they have to make sure there's
those ingredients and they haveto have their recipe, and so
it's bringing them into it, it'sincreasing their responsibility
(49:32):
and they're learning reallygreat skills, but it's also
freeing mom up so that she canbe doing all of the other things
that she needs to be doing.
Maybe this is when she's gettingher walk in, and so it's really
and this is like in that familymeeting like there's a prep
time where, before she kind ofconvenes this meeting, mom is
(49:54):
really thinking about, like whatdo I need?
Like maybe my struggle isgetting out from my morning
walks because you know, there'salways something, there's always
a child that needs me.
So maybe it gets scheduled atthis particular time and the
older children know that forthis half an hour or whatever
(50:14):
length of time mom is allotted,that they're going to be
watching the baby so that momcan get outside without guilt.
We want mom to, because youknow, as soon as you start
guilting mom, she's going to puther shoes back down and she's
going to come back in the house,and so part of the preliminary
(50:34):
process before this meeting ismom's got to spend some time in,
you know, in prayer and just inthinking about what, what do I
need and what does my familyneed, and then we can sit down
and we can say, okay, who cantake responsibility for this?
And you know who can, who couldstart managing that.
(50:54):
And it takes a while, but if youcan get everybody on the same
team and you can get everybodyto understand that this is not
for mom, that this is going tobenefit the entire family, and
sometimes what happens,especially with some of the
older kids, is what comes up inthese meetings is that maybe
(51:15):
they have their own health andwellness goals that they would
like to work towards, and it'slike, okay, let's see, let's see
if we can incorporate that tooto make sure that you are
getting the time.
You know, me and my daughter,we just did a mud run over the
summer just a few weeks ago andlike this is something that she
(51:36):
really wanted to do.
She's like I really want to dothis mud run with you, and so
she kind of was preparing for itand prepping for it and we had
to make sure that we were kindof supporting her in that.
So that's all that.
All kind of comes up in themeeting, but very individual, to
like the family and thecircumstances, hello sweetie yes
(51:56):
, absolutely well.
Sheila Nonato (51:57):
As you're saying, um moms, uh, there's always
something that we have to do andwe have to be able to adjust,
be flexible.
So if you know one week you'redoing great in the exercise, the
next week you might you know,things happen, kids are sick or
whatever.
You didn't have enough sleep soyou might cut back on the
(52:19):
exercise.
But you know, just keep goingright.
Maureen Brintnell (52:24):
We just you can still get your water in and
you can still get your proteinin.
That's what I say to people.
We don't you hear it all thetime.
You don't have a flat tire andthen slash the other three right
Like.
It's not always going to beperfect all the time.
Like I said, if you don't get agood night's sleep, you might
(52:49):
not get that morning workout inand you might not push yourself
as hard.
But what can you control?
Maybe you can control.
You can still get out and getyour walk in.
You can still get your prayertime in.
Maybe you can still make surethat you're eating, that you
know that salad with that goodlean protein for lunch, like one
thing, does not have tocompletely derail you and a lot
of women.
We get stuck in this all ornothing, thinking that if I'm
not doing it all perfectly, thenI'm blowing it.
(53:12):
And I've blown it again and Iknew I was going to do this and
it's like, no like.
Let's show ourselves a littlebit of grace and just focus on
what we can control in themoment and just make another
step forward.
Sheila Nonato (53:27):
And finally, Maureen, how did your faith help
you to undergo this incredibletransformation?
I guess from your lack ofconfidence, but also the
physical transformation and thespiritual transformation.
What can you tell us about it?
What did faith do for you?
Maureen Brintnell (53:48):
It was really and it was.
It was interesting because whenI started, I was really focused
on.
I just wanted to lose weight.
I just it was the weight.
It was the number.
Weight, I just it was theweight, it was the number.
I never imagined the numberwould get that high.
And there it was, and I wasreally focused on that and so,
(54:10):
as a result, I fell prey to alot of scams, quick promises,
you know, quick transformationsthis pill, the supplement, this
herbal remedy and all of thatwas because I was looking for
the quick fix.
This pill, the supplement, thisherbal remedy, and all of that
was because I was looking forthe quick fix, right, I just
(54:31):
wanted to feel good again, andwhen none of that worked, and
you know, the weight would notonly come back, but it would
come back and bring friendsright Like it was.
It was always worse when it wasover, and so I was really left
in this moment of okay like isthis.
It Like, is this how I'm calledto feel for the rest of my life?
And it was really in, you know,my walks and just having that
(54:54):
time outside.
Like you know, treadmills aregreat in a pinch, but if you can
get outside and if you'reblessed, like me, to be close to
nature where you can kind ofjust walk and really, like I,
would have my praise and worshipmusic going in my headphones my
neighbors think I'm crazybecause I'm the woman walking
down the street sometimes doingthis, right, but really just
(55:16):
talking to the Lord, and justwhat is it that you want from me
?
Like, why would you havecreated this, this
dissatisfaction in me, if therewasn't, if you didn't also have
an answer?
And and really starting to kindof seek it out and, like you
said, going back to recognizing,showing myself the grace that I
(55:42):
would show another woman when Iwould say to another woman you
are so beautiful and you areuniquely created and God is so
in love with you, and to saythat to another woman and then
stand in front of the mirror andreally work on saying it to
(56:02):
myself.
And then, as I kind of spentmore time in prayer, I realized
that wait a minute, my stress iscoming down and I didn't need
to do yoga to do it, I justneeded to spend more time with
the Lord and talking to him andhe brought me the peace that I
was looking for.
And he brought me the piecethat I was looking for.
(56:23):
And then just recognizing thatthere was going to be hard work
involved, that there was noquick fix Like everything else
that's worth having, we're justgoing to have to work at it.
And so getting into the gym andfinally getting into the
strength training and using thattime in here and, you know,
(56:44):
offering up I have one lady andwhen she's doing her planks she
always offers it up for somebody.
So when she's doing her planksand she'll say I'm offering this
plank up for and then she'llname this person, and it was
just a great perspective andbrings kind of an added meaning
to the workouts.
Sheila Nonato (57:04):
Beautiful and just to go back to the strength
training.
So I'm just wondering do weneed a special like set of
weights, like what if we can'treally, I guess, carry too much
weight?
Since we're just starting out,what do you recommend for
(57:25):
starting out?
Maureen Brintnell (57:28):
Well, I mean, you can give yourself a killer
strength training workout usingbody weight, absolutely Really.
But what I say to women all thetime is I'm sorry I've seen you
with two toddlers on your hips,carrying six grocery bags.
Don't tell me you can't liftheavy, because I watch you do it
all the time, right?
So a lot of times what somewomen do is they just they pick
(57:52):
up their little one and they'llstart squatting and as their
little one gets bigger andheavier, the weight that they're
squatting is also gettingheavier, right.
So, and then there's lots ofthings we can do around the
house.
We don't need to run out andbuy a whole bunch of equipment.
You know there's.
There's things even just likeyou know, if you're a
(58:13):
homeschooler, loading up a baggrocery bag with some school
books is going to give you someweights, right, and you're going
to be able to use that, and so.
So there's a lot of things thatwe can do kind of around the
house.
Like I said, even just getting afew squats in while you're
brushing your teeth, like ifyou're, you're brushing your
(58:35):
teeth anyways, and yeah, thekids are going to think you're
crazy, but you know you canstart by doing some push-ups off
the wall, you can start doingsome squats, you can do things
like that.
But we want it to be focusedand progressive.
So what I mean by that is wedon't want to just be randomly
(58:56):
grabbing exercises.
You want to be able to have aprogram so you know you're
working, you know all of yourmajor muscle groups a couple of
times a week.
So you want to make sure you'vegot a plan that does that and
you want to make sure that planallows for you to increase the
intensity as you are able to doit, because we want to be
(59:16):
constantly challenging thosemuscles.
So if you're doing three sets of10 body weight squats and
you're getting up at the end andyou're like, yeah, I could do
10 more, then I'm going to tellyou to add some weight to that,
because what I want you at theend of that three sets of 10 is
I want you to be out of breath,I want that heart going and I
(59:38):
want you.
Okay, that's it.
I need to rest, I can't doanymore.
So you want to make sure thatthat's a part of it.
I need to rest, I can't doanymore, so you want to make
sure that's a part of it.
But for a lot of my ladies whenthey're starting out, I say two
times a week, two times a weekof that strength training, give
yourself a day or two at leastin between workouts so that we
can gauge how you're feeling andhow you are recovering and how
(59:59):
much time your body needs, andthen, very quickly, women will
find that they're ready for thatthird workout.
Sheila Nonato (01:00:07):
Yes, absolutely.
And yeah, when I, well beforewe got married, I hired a
personal trainer to get in shapebut and I was doing weights and
stuff like that but Idefinitely appreciate the
knowledge and the guidance,because you can lift weights the
wrong way and that will not begood for you.
So having a guided,professional sort of steer you
(01:00:31):
in the right direction and showyou the proper way to do it is
really going to be very helpful.
So I would recommend that.
And how can women reach out toyou, find out about your
programs?
Can you tell us where to findyou?
Maureen Brintnell (01:00:44):
Absolutely.
So yeah, my website, like youmentioned, it's on the back of
my truck, so it's Alpha Momma,so Mama is M-O-M-M-A dot C-A.
And then I'm also on Instagramquite a bit @alpha mommaf it so
Alpha Momma F-I-T.
So those are kind of the twoeasiest ways.
(01:01:06):
The website will have abreakdown of the different
programs, including the CatholicMidlife, if anybody wants to
learn more about that.
And then always just send me amessage on Instagram and I'm
always happy to give kind ofadvice or direction for a woman
who's looking for it.
Sheila Nonato (01:01:22):
Okay, that's amazing.
Well, thank you so much,Maureen.
I really appreciate your timeand your patience.
As with in the middle ofhomeschooling, I was trying to
sort of finish everything andthen do the interviews so that
my kids could have a fun summerinstead of doing homeschooling
during the summer.
So I appreciate your patienceand your time and your wisdom.
(01:01:42):
Thank you so much, thank you.
Thank you and have a blessedsummer.
Yes, yes, you too.
God bless, thank you, bye-bye,bye, marie.
(01:02:07):
Thank you for listening to theVeil and Armour podcast.
Co-host (01:02:10):
I invite you to share this with another Catholic Mom
today.
Please subscribe to our podcastand YouTube channel and please
spread the word.
Let's Be Brave, Let's Be Boldand Be Blessed Together.
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