Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe - Jessica Barac | WTF Is Perimenopause?! Why You’re Feeling Off—and What to Do About It!

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

#847. Think menopause happens in your 50s? Think again. Nutritionist and fitness expert Jessica Barac joins Kaitlyn to break down the real symptoms of perimenopause—and why so many women don’t see it coming in their mid to late 30s. From unexplained anxiety and weight gain to ragey mood swings and losing your sense of self, Jessica shares what’s actually happening in your body, what to eat, how to train, and how to finally start feeling like yourself again. This is the episode we all needed sooner!If you’re LOVING this podcast, please follow and leave a rating and review below! PLUS, FOLLOW OUR PODCAST INSTAGRAM HERE!Thank you to our Sponsors! Check out these deals!Booking.com For the bookings you’ve dreamed of, list your property on Booking.com!Apartments.com: The Place to find a place! Better Help: ​Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com/VINE. Progressive: Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance.Splendid: Right now, Splendid is offering our listeners 20% off when you go to Splendid.com and use promo code VINE at checkout or when you shop at Splendid in stores.EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: 4:28 – Surprising symptoms of perimenopause — it’s not just hot flashes: panic attacks, anxiety, and crying for days are real signs too!10:34 – Is it genetic? What your mom’s menopause timeline might say about your own.15:38 – How Jessica’s fitness routine completely changed in midlife!35:47 – Supplements 101 — what most women are deficient in and how to start supporting your body now!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Please, that one simple thing helps more than you even realize it allows me to keep growing on this podcast and making these episodes the best they can possibly be obviously for you. That's the only favorite I'm going to ever ask, okay? It truly means the world to me. Thank you. Now let's get into it. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Off the Vine.

I'm your host, Caitlin Bristow. And today we have Jessica Barrick on to talk about what the F is premenopause. What should we be doing about it? Can we prevent it? Is it genetic? We talk everything that you have ever questioned about premenopause. And what I would say is don't be scared. Just get aware.

Okay? Enjoy this episode. Okay. I have been wanting to talk to you for some time now because, you know, I'm getting, I'm getting to the age. Oh, yeah. Maybe I'm already at the age. I'm scared. I feel like, would it, perimenopause or premenopause. Same thing. Perimenopause. I feel like is not, not even a buzzword. Because a buzzword is something that people just say and like it goes trendy. This is a real thing, you know? Yeah. Yeah. There's no trend here. And it is not, it's inevitable. Yes. Which is also scary. I feel like women, you know, there's just so much our bodies go through on a daily basis, and it's just always something. Yes. It's always something. It's like, unless you're 12 and you're waiting for your period, it's always something for the rest of your life. Exactly.

So I just want to know how you got here. Like, you were in the wellness space. You have been in the wellness space for a while? Yeah, I'm a nutritionist. Okay. So I actually started with, like, having a food brand, actually. Okay. I'm like, you know, in whole foods and stuff.

And I had my second baby. Yeah. And I just found myself, like, completely changed. Like, I've always been ambitious and motivated and happy and joyful. And suddenly, I just completely lost myself. Like, who am I? Like, apathetic towards life, crying for days. I, like, it was like a nervous breakdown.

And I was speaking to my mom about it. And this went on for some time. And my mom was like, you know, have you checked like your hormones? And I was like, no. And she had actually gone through menopause early and like at like 41. Oh. And I was like, oh. And I started noticing that my cycle got shorter.

And then I'm like, oh, what? Perrymenopause? And I just discovered I found out about it. Because you think menopause. You think like maybe in your way. Like an old lady. Yeah. I was like, oh, like the golden girls.

It was like, 37, what the hell? Right. Yeah. And how did you know the difference between, like, postnatal depression? Yeah, the difference between the, I'm forgetting again. Yeah, postnatal depression. Oh, yes. Yeah, so that's what I thought initially.

But it went on for so long. And, you know, this went on for quite some time. And I went and got all the tests. And, like, everything was, everything was fine. And my husband was like, you have to do something about this. Like, we really have to find out what is going on here. Yeah, you can't live like this. And it was when my.

my cycle shortened that I noticed that it'd always been like 31 days or so and then it was like 25 that's what mine is right now but what it is is it's different for everybody and that's the thing about perimenopause is that it's it's individual to you so your cycle I don't know what your normal cycle is but for me it was always fairly regularly 31 days okay and suddenly it was 25 oh so it's like compared to my own it's shortened so I don't know what yours mine's like 26, 27. Yes. So you might find that it shortens to like 21 or something.

So like let's name some of the symptoms. Because like you said, it can be different for everybody. You were having like more mental, like symptoms, emotional symptoms, shortening of your cycle. What are other symptoms that people can look for? Yeah. And I think that's the thing with perimenopause.

And the reason why so many women feel so lost in kind of their mid 30s, early 40s is that the symptoms aren't necessarily what we associate with menopause. So with menopause, we think like hot flashes, night sweats, like crazy rage, that kind of thing. But actually, it can start with sudden off the charts anxiety. Like never having experienced anxiety before. And all of a sudden, you're just like having panic attacks, you know, this kind of thing, low mood, just feeling really, really sad. and crying for days, the emotional roller coaster.

And is that consistent or is that like where your period normally would be like the pre-PMsing? Or is it just constant? Yeah. I mean, it can cycle for sure. But because the progesterone first of all starts declining, yeah, it can just be anytime. And let's go back because your mom said have you had your hormones checked? Yes. And now you've said that when you did everything came back normal.

which also can be extremely frustrating and confusing, especially as someone who knows their body. Yes. So there's so many of us that don't know our body as well as others. How frustrating was that? Yeah, it felt like a punch in the face, obviously. Because you're like, am I imagining this? And is this just my life from now on if everything is so called normal? Like your labs are normal.

And it's just like, but then what is it? Yeah. And, yeah, so that was super frustrating. But also, when I noticed that my cycle shortened and I found out it was perimenopause, it was like, ah. How did you find out? Oh, just from researching and from looking at the symptoms, connecting the dots. So it's not even like someone can go test you and go your perimenopause.

Yeah, so great question. So you can test when somebody's menopausal because, you know, they can test the FSAH. They can test the estrogen progesterone. But in perimenopause, it's much more difficult because there's so many fluctuations. So if you imagine the hormones how they cycle, and what we see is perimen, sorry, progesterone starts to decline first, whereas estrogen starts fluctuating as it declined. So it's like going really wild. And it's kind of this dominance of estrogen compared to progesterone that makes these

crazy symptoms that we experience. Right. And so, yeah, that can just be like suddenly, just being so irritated, like your husband's just breathing slightly loudly, and you're like, I'm literally going to murder you right now. What if it's already me right now with everyone? Then it may get worse. I honestly, I think I'm like, I get overstimulated very easily and sound really, really affects me.

Yes. And I used to think it was just chewing with, what do they call it, misophonia. I used to think it was just that, but I've realized it's actually just like noise in general. Yes. New York stresses me out when it's the constant. sirens and honking and I get like um anxious yes so I'm like oh god I can only imagine what I'm going to be like in parity manipause yeah yeah I remember my my kids one night were like just being louder than usual and suddenly it just became it was so irritating I felt like my skin was

literally crawling and I was just like yeah I get because exactly I said it earlier like you can't live like that yeah nobody can live like that this episode of off the vine is brought to you by booking dot com booking I always want to say that Grab a coffee and discover non-stop action with Bud MGM Casino Check out our hottest exclusive Friends of one with multi-drop

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If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you Please contact Connix Ontario at 1866 531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge but MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. The turning point, you realize, okay, it's perimenopause. Yes.

Next steps. What did you change in your day-to-day once you figured this out? Yeah. So I'd always considered myself, and I was, like, healthy. Yeah. But what I changed was I was not eating enough protein. Like so many of us, most of us, most women, really. Because you're supposed to eat as many grams in protein as your body weight.

Yeah, one gram of protein per gram of ideal body weight. Okay. Yeah. So let's say you weigh 110 pounds. Yes. You should be eating 110 grams of protein. Correct. Okay.

Got it. Yeah. Yeah. So definitely I wasn't eating enough protein. Would that hold off the perimenopause if you're doing all these right things? Or is it just a matter of like who you are, what your body is, your DNA? Mm-hmm. So perimenopause, oh, menopause really, it's, there's a.

A part of it is like hereditary, like what your mom went through, what age she went through. Yeah, because your mom went through young. Yes, you're likely to go through it at a similar time, but then it can be affected by smoking, those kinds of things. There's some really interesting research about consuming orange, what are they called, satsuma, a type of citrus, orange citrus fruit that consuming that can actually delay the onset of menopause. So there is some really fascinating research around nutrition that you can use. on oranges. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And there's this one nutrient called beta cryptosanth that has been showing it to delay the onset of menopause. But, you know, the majority of us are not eating colorful enough, colorful fruits and vegetables anyway. So the takeaway from that

is really just like, eat more color. There's like an account for even how to speak to children about food. And it's, it's about like eating in color. And it's like, you know, not so much good and bad. It's color. So it's, I mean, what role did nutrition play? in your healing because you are a nutritionist. Yes. So I went through a stage of going very plant-based, which is great. We should all eat more vegetables.

We should all eat more plants. We should all eat more fruits. But at the same time, I really wasn't prioritizing the protein as much as I should have been. And in doing that, we're losing muscle mass as we age. And it gets worse from your 30s as women.

And we need to be consuming enough protein. As we get older, we should be eating more. and more protein. It's so hard. I know. It really is. But you're going to say because? Yeah, because protein and especially a whole protein triggers muscle protein synthesis,

which is the thing, along with resistance training, that builds the muscle. But coming back to the point on color, what I love to say to my clients and the way I like to think is, if you want to feel vibrant, you need to eat vibrant foods. If you want to feel beige, eat beige foods. Like, yeah, if you eat all beige foods, pasta, cakes, chips, like this kind of stuff, you will feel beige. Yeah. But if you want to feel vibrant and alive and vital, eat that kind of food because that is what food is information. That's what's going to get you there.

Isn't it? I've learned that over some severe body dysmorphia and disordered eating. I have learned to eat for what makes you feel good. Yes. And like fuel and that's really helpful. It is. Even just hearing you say that, I'm like, yeah, I want to do that. I want to be vibrant.

I feel dead today. You know, why? Because I didn't eat this morning and I'm only going on coffee. But that's the other thing, too, that I love to. It's this body awareness. So when we can come in to tune with our body, which it feels harder in perimenopause because you're just like, you're so off kilter that it's difficult to kind of find your ground. But if you can start linking how you're feeling,

with your behaviors, what you've eaten, how you've slept, how much alcohol you drank the night before, how many coffees you've had. They all impact your symptoms and make them, even stress. Yeah. Just it makes perimenopause symptoms so much worse. And when you can start to join the dots of, oh yeah, I ate really late last night. Yeah. Then I slept terribly. And now today I'm anxious. I feel like I'm going to cry all the time. And I'm just one to eat everything that I can see. Yeah. And it's all linked. My aura ring is so helpful for me with that because I used to think, well, this bitch is getting nine hours of sleep. I'm good. But it's like, no, it's not good quality sleep because you drank wine the night before and you ate close to bed. And now it's made me kind of keep myself in check where I go, I love a glass of wine, obviously. So I'm like, okay, well, let's pick and choose. Like, do you want to have a good sleep tonight or do you want to have a glass of wine or two? And you can, you know, you can do that once in a while. But it's so good to have information because, have the information from an aura ring, from however you get your information, even if it's just

you're so in tune with your body, is, you know, the information and the knowledge that you need to just feel better. And once, like you said, connecting the dots, you're like, oh. It's empowering. It is empowering. You're so right. So the past, what I would say, I don't know, maybe eight years, I've really started to lift weights. Yes. Which I love. I love it so much. And every time I do it more, I just love it more. And I've been trying to do so much more protein because we all hear about it. but how frustrating is it for you to be on social media and hearing people be like, you know what? Water is kind of a scam.

You don't need fruits and vegetables. You only, how do you, like, are people just trying to go viral? There's just so much bad information out there, honestly. And again, it just comes down to discernment. Yeah. We have to be so discerning of the information that we're consuming. And again, just being in touch with ourselves, because actually we all know deep down. We feel it.

We may not want to admit it, but we can feel it. It's very true. Yeah. Our gut says everything. Yes. You know, it really is. What did your workouts look like before versus after you adjusted to this midlife? A lot of hit.

A lot of hit. Yeah, I would just, I was into fasting. Wait, that's what you were doing. I was doing a lot of, yeah. So I was doing like a lot of hit, like a lot of fasting, which served me for, you know, for a while for a long time. But now it's literally lifting weights, you know, three to four times a week and adding some sprints. Yeah, I love sprints.

Yes, so good. And just daily walking, honestly. And just trying to live life in motion. Honestly, our bodies were designed to move. And the issue with the modern age is that everything is so convenient. We're so sedentary. And the changes that happen in the menopause transition of losing muscle mass and, you know, this is it's a constellation of things like with weight gain it's a constellation of things that are

contributing to the weight gain so it's not just the change in hormones it's the fact that we're not moving as much you know we are losing this muscle mass the way that we metabolize glucose and fat actually changes our body composition shifts more to our belly our gut microbiome changes our satiety and fullness hormones also change like there's all these things happening in our body that we can do so much about, honestly, but it's just so confusing because there's just, it's not simple. It's, which a lot of things are when you really think about it, like move your body, yes, eat your protein, blah, blah, blah, it is simple.

But when it comes to a woman's body, there's nothing simple about it. And there's no one size fits all for everybody, which is just like, I know you, you do a lot of breath work as well. Yes. What impacted sleep and breathwork have on? so much honestly because I'm the kind of person anxiety has been one of the worst symptoms for me and that would look like just lying in bed like heart racing and just being like every single stress in your life just like racing through your brain intrusive thoughts you're thinking the

worst case scenario and and so for me I started getting into a kundalina yoga practice of like kind of breathwork, chanting. And it's made such a difference to my life. The difference in the sleep quality that I get when I do some breath work before bed is you can't even, like, it's insane how good it is. It makes, it can be so simple. Like, I'm not talking that you have to sit there and do like a half an hour practice. It can literally be five to ten minutes of just intentional breathwork, calming down your nervous system and just preparing your body for that sleep. mode and not going back to your phone after exactly leave the phone out of the room if you can but definitely on aeroplane mode don't do not checking it at night time we all know these things but we all

i'm i'm guilty as charged i all the time i'm like i'm going to just like have a bath and i'm going to read and i'm going to do some breathing and then i am i fully admit i am so addicted to my phone right now it's getting worse and i really want to make a change because it's it's it's not even so much the scrolling of like, I'm, I've actually done really well at not doing so much comparison anymore, but it's still the information I'm taking in that's really like putting my body in fight or flight every night before bed. It's bad news, whatever news, this is happening. It's, I'm over-stimulation and then trying to calm your brain to go to sleep. And then we talk about how important sleep is, and then I'm doing that to myself. Like it's. But then you find

yourself dreaming about the last thing that you saw, you know, you started dreaming about the last thing you saw a post about. And you're like, what am I feeding my brain with? Why am I dreaming about this? I can't even talk about my dreams. There's so, like, I could tell you what I was wearing in my dreams last night. Like, it's crazy. What the fuck is perimenopause? Like, what, like, clear it up for people. What even is it? Why don't we talk about it more? Like, I know we've talked a lot about it already. I mean, maybe you've already said exactly what it is, but like if you were to explain it in simple terms of what it is, what would you say? So perimenopause is this period of time leading up to menopause.

So menopause is classed as 12 months following your last period. And perimenopause is this time when your hormones are fluctuating and declining. And we get all of those symptoms that are associated with menopause. So we get these symptoms like, Obviously, the hot flashes and nights where it's enrage, anxiety, mood swings, irritability, lack of sleep, just disrupted sleep. We get joint pain, inflammation, all of these kinds of, like, there's over a hundred symptoms that have been linked to perimenopause and menopause. And that's not even going into, you know, the genitone urinary symptoms.

It can be bladder weakness, UTIs, frequent infections, more, like getting more be bevy, things like that. women and also vaginal atrophy, you know, but there's just women suffer in silence and they don't realize that it's actually very common. But also there's so much science and research and safety data around topical vaginal estrogen, which can really help with everything. You know, it can help with the vaginal atrophy and dryness and itchiness and all of these symptoms. There's just great research around it that all women should be looking at and talking to their doctor about being a woman. Yes. Oh, gosh. What a gift. But like, and it's so hard to understand all of these things. Like, even just knowing there's over 100 symptoms. But then you've got like all, everything that you're saying, like I'm, I'm like, this is so, it's so overwhelming.

But what, like, it's so important, I think, for women to understand the mental and emotional side of that transition. Because like you said, you feel so alone. and you suffer in silence and so many women do, what do we do about that? Do we just, you know, encourage people to talk about it on podcast more? Are there books about it? Is there a community on Facebook that we can join? Like, what do we do to get, you know, feel more of a community with this? Yeah, we need to talk about it. And thankfully, over the last few years, it's just becoming more and more talked about, thankfully.

When I first started my social media page, it was really a way for me to navigate perimenopause, the things that I was dealing with, the system. symptoms. And just creating a place on the internet for women to feel seen and validated and celebrated. And so many women reach out to me and say, thank you. Just your content has helped me so much. Helped me understand myself. Help me not feel so alone. Help me understand that I'm not crazy or having a mental breakdown and that I can go to a doctor and get the support that I I need that I can make changes through nutrition. But really, it's also checking in with your friends. Yeah. Oh, good point. Especially when your friends go really quiet. That's a good point.

Like, hey, how are you doing? Yeah. Because they might not even realize, you know, people might not even realize that they're going through this. Exactly. And there's, there's so much research about from the ages 45 to 54, which is bang on perimenopause. Yeah. This is the highest rate of suicide amongst women. So this is not, like, this is very serious. Yeah. Yeah. The mental health effect of the lack of hormone. But not only that, it's just midlife in general. The pressures, the financial presses, a lot of people are going through divorce, aging parents, caring. Well, you said it's, you described midlife as almost second puberty. Yes. So let's unpack that. Yeah. Because that sounds like that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it can be seen as kind of puberty in reverse. Whereas in puberty,

you know, we're gaining the hormones and we're, you know, becoming a woman, we're able to reproduce. And on the flip side of that, in perimenopause, our hormones start to decline. And actually we get very similar symptoms. Yeah, yeah. But with teenagers, we approach it with some grace. You know, we kind of understand that, okay, they're going through puberty. This is a hard time. And I hope that we can grant that grace to ourselves. Yeah, because I think people assume you're an adult now. We don't act like that. Exactly. You can. figure this out. Exactly. Just toughen up. Yeah. And that's the issue is that for so many years, it's just been swept under the rug, honestly, just perimenopause, menopause. Back in the day,

they would say that women were hysterical, you know, had hysteria when they were going through paramedopause. They would be, like, admitted to a mental institution. And you're like, this is why it's so important that we talk about it. Yeah, because now we know there are things you can do. You aren't alone. And how can we reframe? this phase, I guess, as a transition and not a decline. Yes. And that is my mission, honestly, is for women to see and know that midlife can be your most beautiful, empowered and powerful chapter yet.

Yeah. Like, life is not over because we're losing our hormones. We might feel like it, but. Exactly. But there's, you know, it's such a beautiful opportunity for us to re-prioritize ourselves. Because as women, we put everybody else. first. There's always like we're at the bottom of the pecking order. And now it's like, no, my body needs me. I need to look after myself so that then I can, you know, give back to those people

that I love. But not just that. But those things that I love and that I want to do, because a lot of us haven't actually thought about a vision for our life for, you know, maybe since university or high school. And what a beautiful opportunity to start thinking about what do I want to make of my life from now? What if I could do something brand new? What if I could have a whole new lease of life and be powered by my nutrition and my strength training and just like, you know, come into this chapter of like, okay, what can I birth into the world now? Not children. What else could I birth into the world? Even just hearing you say that, I'm like, okay, yeah, we can get excited. Yeah. Our mental health might be in the toilet, but we can get excited. But at the same time,

there's so much we can do about our mental health. Like, the first thing is awareness. Yeah. So if you are in midlife and you're struggling with mental health, speak about it. Go and get help. Go and speak to your health care provider about hormone replacement therapy. Go and focus on your nutrition. Start moving your body. Start bringing back some life into your body. Yeah.

You know, motion is lotion. Yes. That's my trainer always said that. And I mean, you work with women every day. So what would you say are some of the biggest issues? Like maybe the big three that they come to you with? Yeah. Weight gain.

Yeah. Brain fog. Yeah. Brain fog, yes. And probably anxiety. Mm-hmm. Gosh. Yes.

Which are like three of the scariest things as a woman, I feel like when everything's changing. And it's just like, I don't know, I guess. How do you start creating a personalized plan for someone who feels completely lost? Like, is it because it is different for each woman. Like, how do you create a personalized thing for somebody? Is it in the blood work? Is it in the...

So my approach is that the foundations. are really the same for everybody. So we might have a different experience, but foundationally, we do need more protein. We do need more fiber. We do need to eat more color, more colorful plants, more blueberries for our brain health and raspberries and spinach and, you know, just lots of color on your plate.

Omega-3 fatty acids. You can eat more fish. It's going to make us feel so good. Daily movements, living life in motion, building your muscles, which also rebuilds your metabolism. You know, these are all foundational pieces. Yeah. And then if you need more personalized approach, then obviously, you know, it may be different

kind of supplementation and maybe hormone replacement therapy. You know, for some people, it can even be cognitive behavioral therapy can be very, very helpful. If people are having mental health issues, go and speak to somebody about it because it's, the literature shows that it is very, very beneficial. And you could get, like for my sake, I'm learning all of this now because I'm turning 40 next month. I want to feel empowered to talk about it, to know about it, to recognize what's going

on in my body, and almost get ahead of certain things. Like I started doing somatic therapy. I'm having you on my podcast. I've been following certain accounts and like trying to get my algorithm is all like paramedopause. I'm like, am I like manifesting this to myself even quicker than I should be? But I also think like there's so many women that don't have time for, you know, to get the proper amount of rest, to go lift the weights.

to cook all these healthy meals, to do that for a woman on the go, what do you recommend? So permission to not be perfect. So if you can't do everything, do something. You know, if you can't do the best, do better. Yeah. If you can't do better, do good. Yep. So, you know, if you can only walk for five minutes, walk for five minutes.

If your exercise for the day is standing up from your desk and doing 10 squats, do that. Because there's actually even research around that being great for your insulin sensitivity and, you know, great for your muscles, everything. So you don't have to be perfect. I love that advice because I think people think you go big or go home, but it really can be in the small changes and the baby steps in life that are going to make you feel even just 5% better is better than nothing. Exactly.

Well, the way that, and this is what my mom said to me, you know, if you're just improving 1% every day, like the long-term impact of that is huge. I always say it's in the micro-shifts of everything that you do in life, no matter what it is, if it's for your mental health, if it's for this, if it's for even podcasting and doing better research, like everything you do in your life, if you just do these micro shifts of doing it a little better, think of where you'll be in five, ten years from now.

And cast a vision for your life. Because if we have a deep why, like why do I want to feel better? When we're connected to our deepest why, our vision for our future, how do I want to age? Like, what do I picture my life in my 70s and 80s? I want to be, like, skiing with my grandkids. Oh, my God, same. You know? Yeah.

And so if I cast that vision for myself, then, okay, how do I get there? What are my daily steps that could get me there to live this amazing life where I'm, like, going to Paris with my girlfriends and my 80s and, you know, just having a great time. That, I swear, that is what I manifest for myself. I want to be such a chic, 80-year-old, just like going to Europe and drinking wine and eating bread, but still lifting weights and being like, I can do anything. Balance.

That'll be me. I think about myself for like, you know, when I'm home in my routine, I am so good, but I travel all the time. What are some go-to, like, snacks, meals, like, at, you know, I'm at a hotel. I'm having to order postmates. I'm, like, what are snack and ideas for a girl on the go? Yeah. So I'm also staying at a hotel, and I was laughing so much because I have my protein powder

that I travel with, some greens powder, and I'm using the cocktail shaker in the room to make my protein shake. Oh, good for you. And I was just laughing so much. Like, I'm so uncool. But like, I'm doing. No, that's, I actually love that. When I was in Costa Rica for five weeks at a resort that, like, if I looked at a

fish taco one more time, I was going to lose my mind. And I was, that's what I started doing, like, protein shakes, ordering just the steamed fish and some veggies. Yeah. Like, it's, it's, you can do it if you make the right choices. It's just, it's just a matter of doing it, right? Yeah. So it's just centering your meal around protein, which really, you can.

can at most places. I have a question. Yeah. Because it's like, get your protein in, get your protein in, but is there like, is it, is it not as beneficial with a protein shake than like a grilled chicken breast? Well, whole foods are always going to be better. But I can't carry around a grilled chicken in my purse. Yeah. I mean, you could have. That would make you uncool. That would be bad ass. That would be crazy. That's like, I'm like that idiot at the plane, at the airport who's like buying the hard-boiled eggs before my flight. Just try to get my protein out. You've got like your chump sticks.

The chomps-sticks and hard-boiled eggs. That's what I do at the airport all the time. Do you feel a difference also when you come to America, the food, how it makes you feel? Yeah, so such a great question. Yeah, I do actually. But what I notice is it's just people seem to like eat a lot more. Like the serving sizes are so big. And, you know, you can get amazing food here, honestly.

But generally, yeah, it's like there is a big difference. Even with the types of ingredients that you put in food here, it's different to in Europe. Yeah. You also mentioned something earlier that I wanted to talk about supplements. Yes. Because I feel like there's, again, so many out there. Probably different ones work for different people. But for women listening who feel like they don't know where to start, I feel like supplements

might be also a good place to start or maybe step one. So what questions should they be asking their doctor? I wouldn't go to the doctor for supplements. Yes, the doctor. So for most women, most women need more magnesium. Okay. That's definitely one. It's known as like Nature's Tranquilizer for menopause, perimenopause.

And now is there a certain dosage? Is there a certain brand? Is there a certain like, don't do this? So the therapeutic dosage is 300 milligram. of elemental magnesium. The best ones are magnesium glycinate, magnesium 3 and 8. They're kind of the best. Magnesium 3.8 is great for brain health.

Magnesium glycinate helps you sleep. Like, it's very, very good. Most women need to take an omega-3 fatty acid because the majority of us don't eat enough fish in daily life. I think I eat so much fish. It's good. That's good. But then I question where the fish is coming from

because I'm like in Nashville and there's no freshwater around there. Yeah. So I'm like, am I getting the proper? Yes. Like, let's say you go to the grocery store and you get the salmon from the, you know, whatever that's called section. Yes. Why get my windwork? Yeah.

The seafood section. And I'm getting the salmon, but it's the farm salmon. Yes. Is that still getting me the right amount? So, I mean, it's always better to go wild if you can. But again, it can be such a luxury for people. Not everybody can afford to. It's so expensive.

It's expensive. So again, permission to not be perfect. Just do what you can. You know, and yeah, take some omega-3 supplementation. That can be very helpful, very anti-inflammatory. If you're somebody that struggles with joint pain, you know, dryness, there's so much dryness and itchiness in perimenopause and menopause. Like some women are like, I just want to scratch my eyeballs out.

Really? Yes. Interesting. Yes. What I notice, I don't think I'm going through it. Yeah, but my joint pain has definitely started. Like, I cannot sit on a plane for long. longer than two hours without my knees.

Mm-hmm. Becoming stiff. Oh, and like achy and crampy and my back, my lower back is like all out of sorts. And I'm like, so would, uh... Omega-3 fatty acids, yeah. Omega-3 fatty acids. The other things would also be vitamin D. Cretine is amazing.

I've heard, yeah, actually, I'm going to start creatine because because of how much I lift weights, too, I've heard there, it's so much, it's the most researched supplement out there. And like, you know, it's people think, oh, it's going to make me bloated or it's kind of last. Well, it's always been the gym bro thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But actually, there's so much great research, not only for muscular health and for muscles, but also for brain health. And it's like, so if you take three to five grams of creatine per day, that's really good. One of my other friends who's a trainer, she actually can't take it.

It didn't, like, you know, there's always going to be that however percentage amount of women that can't take it. and she couldn't, but at least try, right? Yes, yeah, absolutely. What do you wish that you had known at the start? I wish that I could have connected the dots earlier. Yeah. Like I wish... Made more attention to what's happening in the body.

Yeah, I wish that I had have known that anxiety, just feeling like I'd lost myself completely, not being able to recognize myself or who I was or what I was doing in the world. I wish that I'd understood and knew that that was, just my hormones. Yeah. It wasn't my, it wasn't me. And if women can understand that and grasp it, it just gives them so much more power. You know who else needs to understand it? Men. I feel like men, I'm like, oh, it must be nice. Just wake up and feel the same every day

and then go to bed and restart. Not that they don't suffer from, you know, mental health or anything. Of course they do too. But the, you know, like I just wish men could do more research on what women and their bodies go through. Yes. And this comes down to. men o' literacy. Yeah. And just that we all need to, as a society, men, women, kids understand that this phase of life, it's a universal, feminine experience. Every single woman is going to dodge it. Exactly. And so just having that understanding and holding that grace for your partner, for your wife, for your whoever, for your mom, for your teachers, for your colleagues, you know, it just, it helps so much. Yeah, I guess even for younger kids to know,

because I think there's probably a lot of kids out there that just thought their mom was crazy at times when she's really, she's not even understanding what she's going through, you know? Yeah. And coming back to that kind of reverse puberty thing is that so many women are going through perimenopause and menopause at the same time as their kids are going through puberty. Yeah. Oh my God. That was probably what was happening with me and my mom and my sister. are all under one roof. Yeah. Oh, Lord, it was crazy up in there.

Okay, I'm going to do some final takeaways. So what do you want women to know about midlife that no one is saying out loud? You can feel phenomenal in midlife. I love that. If someone is listening in their 30s and feels fine, should they be preparing for this? Yes. Yes. Start lifting weights.

Yeah. Just move your body. Get into the habit. You said you slowly felt joy return. Yes. Which is powerful. How do you feel? feel about your body and your life now?

I, now, I feel, I feel so happy, honestly. I mean, every day's not perfect. There are some days where I'm like, ugh. But I feel, I feel so hopeful for the future. When I'm in the middle of my workout and I'm like deadlifting or like hip thrust and I'm like, yes, I'm a powerful woman. I can do anything in this world. Yeah, I do the same thing.

My trainer always says I walk out flexing. Like, I'm always like, see later. I love it. But as we put more strength and power into our body, we just become more resilient in the rest of our lives. I agree. Where can people follow you? Because obviously, you've gained quite the community of women that really, like, look to you for support and validation and information. So where can they follow you?

So I'm what the menopause. I love that. Yeah. On Instagram. Are you on TikTok or anything? I'm not. No, I mean, I haven't really. I just got too much on my plate, too.

multi-platform. Yeah, don't. If you don't have to, don't. That's amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Did I miss anything that you're like, people need to be talking about this? No.

I'm just so grateful that you're having this conversation, that women are hearing about it. Please check in on your friends. Yeah. That's a good point. Because I am getting to that age where I should be checking on my friends, even though I also realize I'm friends with so many people that are younger than me. I think it's because I want to stay younger. But you're going to be the wise woman giving everybody advice.

I love that. I love that. That's one of my best friends. One of my best friends is older than me. And she literally is, I take so much away from her of what she's, like, experienced in life. And she's so open about everything, too, which is so helpful. And, you know, I will say it's, I love that I am having this conversation. But it's, it was like my number one requested, like, like, what should I talk about on the podcast? And this was it. So people are getting curious. People are wanting to feel validated. And I hope they go follow you and feel that way. So thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Yeah, anytime. You know what? Come back and talk about. The hard it is to be. Oh, yeah.

Why is it, is it, and I know that people say this all the time, but it's like, why does everything start with men, like menopause, menstruation, mental breakdowns? Like, why? That's no quinky dink. I think it's actually, it's related to the moon. So it cycles. Wait. It's the moon cycles.

So menstruation is like, it cycles with the moon. And menopause is the end of that cycle. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. The moon is the coolest thing of the world. Yes, I agree. Wait, I love that. Tell me more about the moon.

Yeah, well, the moon is like such a feminine energy. You know, we've got the sun that's masculine. I mean, this is completely different conversation. I know, but I like this. I love this to wrap it up. Yeah, I do. I love it. But, you know, the fact that the moon just circles around the earth makes all of the tides and the water,

you know, it's so beautiful and powerful and just it puts life into perspective. Yes. So even if you're really struggling, you can even look to the moon and just think, you know what, this world is big. there's so much more for me everything is working out for me i agree i literally when i'm feeling anxious i will i have this app on my phone where i can find where the moon is and even if i can't see it i'll like direct my energy towards it because i like am such a believer in the power of the moon i know i sound crazy sometimes but i really do believe that so what is that it's like

called sky view or something if anyone wants to to download that it's pretty cool um okay thank you again for coming on you so much fun Thank you. Thank you.