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Welcome back to Chasing Eden.
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I'm Carolyn Thompson.
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And today we're talking about something that eventually touches the
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life of virtually every woman who lives long enough to
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experience it.
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Menopause.
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But I don't want to approach menopause today simply as
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a collection of symptoms that need to be suppressed. I
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want to go farther back than that. I want to
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understand what menopause actually is, how women experienced this transition
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before modern medicine had a name for it, what women
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in different cultures experience today, and whether the modern lifestyle
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itself might influence how difficult this transition becomes. We're going
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to talk about food, sleep, sunlight, stress, movement, fiber in
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the gut, traditional herbs, soy, phytoestrogens, strength training, and some
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fascinating research from around the world. We're also going to
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talk about something I think is often missing from the
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menopause conversation.
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The body has rhythms.
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Human beings evolved around light and darkness, activity and rest, seasons,
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real food, physical movement, and social connection. Our bodies did
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not develop in a world of artificial light at midnight,
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constant notifications, highly processed food, sedentary days, and chronic psychological stress,
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as well as only five hours of sleep. So I
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want to ask a different question today. Instead of beginning with,
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what can we take to make menopause go away? What
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happens if we begin with What is the body trying
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to do during this transition, and how can we create
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an environment that supports it? This is not about romanticizing
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the past. Women centuries ago faced hardships we would never
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want to return to. And natural doesn't automatically mean perfect.
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Safe, or effective.
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But neither should we assume that every answer to a
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natural biological transition must come from a bottle. So, let's
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start at the beginning, and I mean the very beginning. Menopause,
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before it was called menopause, One of the claims circulating
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in natural health communities is that women didn't have menopause
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until modern times. You'll sometimes hear that menopause appeared with industrialization,
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processed food, or modern medicine. It's an intriguing idea, but
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when we look at history, it isn't quite true. What
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is true is that the word menopause is relatively modern.
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The French physician Charles-Pierre-Louis de Garnet used the term la
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menopause in 1812 and later la menopause in 1821. Before that,
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Western physicians used other terms for the stage of life
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when menstruation ended. But women had obviously been reaching the
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end of menstruation long before anyone invented the word menopause.
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Ancient medical writers discussed women's reproductive aging. So the biological
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transition isn't a 19th century invention. What changed was the
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way society began defining and medicalizing it. And I think
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that's a much more interesting story. Because once medicine gives
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something a name, it can begin to be viewed as
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a condition. A woman's natural transition from reproductive life into
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another stage of life, gradually became something medicine could classify, diagnose,
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and eventually treat. That doesn't automatically make medical treatment wrong,
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but it does change the lens. Instead of asking, how
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did women traditionally move through this stage? We increasingly began asking,
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What's wrong and how do we fix it? And those
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are very different questions. For much of human history, menopause
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wasn't separated from everyday life into its own medical specialty.
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Women aged within families and communities. Knowledge was passed from
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mothers to daughters. grandmothers to younger women, healers to families.
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Herbs were used. Foods were used. Rest was used. Bathing
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traditions were used. Movement was part of daily life. And
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many cultures developed their own understanding of this transition. Traditional
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Chinese medicine for example, has historically viewed aging and reproductive
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transition through a completely different framework than modern Western endocrinology.
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Traditional Chinese medicine does not describe menopause simply as an
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estrogen deficiency disease. Its classical framework talks about changes in
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kidney essence, yin and yang, blood and qi. Now, those
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aren't concepts that translate directly into modern physiology. We shouldn't
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pretend that they do. But that's interesting because the philosophy
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behind them is somewhat fascinating. the woman's entire condition is considered.
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Her sleep, her digestion, her temperature, her emotional state, her energy,
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her diet, her environment, her stage of life. In Ayurveda,
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another ancient medical tradition, menopause is also viewed as a
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life transition rather than simply a disease state. Again, the
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terminology isn't modern endocrinology, and we shouldn't pretend that ancient
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practitioners understood ovarian follicles or estrogen receptors. But the broader
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philosophy is interesting. Support the whole person during the transition.
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That idea is worth recovering.
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Now, did women in.
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The past even live long enough to experience menopause? This
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is another misconception. People often say women didn't have menopause
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because nobody lived past 40. That's a misunderstanding of historical
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life expectancy. Average life expectancy was dragged downward dramatically by
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infant and childhood mortality, infectious disease, childbirth, and injury.
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If half of the.
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Population dies young, the average lifespan can look very short.
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even though many people who survive childhood live much longer.
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Women absolutely lived into their 50s, 60s, and beyond in
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ancient societies. Not everyone did, but enough did that ancient
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writers recognized reproductive aging. So menopause is old. But here's
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where the story becomes fascinating. The symptoms don't appear to
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be experienced identically everywhere. And that opens a much bigger door.
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One of the most fascinating pieces of menopause research came
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from women living in rural Maya communities in Mexico. Researchers
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studied post-menopausal Maya women and confirmed biologically that that they
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had undergone menopause. Their hormone profiles looked menopausal. Estrogen was lower,
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follicle-stimulating hormone was higher. Their reproductive physiology had changed. But
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something unusual happened when researchers asked about symptoms. These women
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reported essentially No hot flashes. That finding attracted enormous attention.
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Because if menopause itself automatically causes severe hot flashes in
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every woman, why weren't these women reporting them? Now, later
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studies in other Mexican and Maya populations found menopausal symptoms.
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including hot flashes. So we cannot say Maya women simply
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don't experience menopause symptoms. Now, I suspect that perhaps later on,
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as their diets changed, maybe something about that, their diet
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and their lifestyle, maybe becoming more westernized, perhaps that contributed
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to it. But we don't really know. So those early
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observations raised a question that researchers are still trying to answer.
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Why can the same biological transition feel so different from
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one woman to another and from one culture to another?
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Genetics may contribute. Diet may contribute. Body composition may contribute.
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physical activity may contribute, pregnancy and reproductive history may contribute,
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smoking and alcohol may contribute, the gut microbiome may contribute,
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stress may contribute, and even cultural expectations may influence how
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symptoms are perceived and reported. Think about how important that is.
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The ovaries are only one part of the story. The
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women experiencing the transition is living inside an entire environment.
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So what is actually happening inside the body?
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Before we talk.
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About remedies, we need to understand the transition process. A
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woman is born with a finite number of ovarian follicles.
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Throughout life, that reserve gradually declines. Eventually, the ovaries respond
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differently to the signals coming from the brain. Ovulation becomes
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less predictable. Progesterone patterns change. estrogen becomes erratic. And this
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is where perimenopause can become confusing. A lot of women
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think estrogen simply starts dropping smoothly downward. But perimenopause can
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be much messier. Hormone levels can fluctuate considerably. So a
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woman can who can feel good one month and completely
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unlike herself the next. Her periods may become shorter, longer, heavier, lighter,
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closer together, farther apart. She may even begin waking at
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3 in the morning. She may suddenly feel hot when
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everyone else in the room is comfortable. She may notice
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anxiety that wasn't there before. She may have trouble remembering
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a word she has known for 20 years. Her joints
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may hurt. Her skin may feel different. Her libido can change.
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Her vaginal tissues can become drier. Body composition may begin shifting.
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And then comes the question many women ask. What is
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happening to me? The important thing to understand is that
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estrogen isn't just a reproductive hormone. Estrogen receptors exist throughout
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the body. The brain responds to estrogen. Bone responds to estrogen.
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Blood vessels respond to estrogen. The urinary tract and reproductive
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tissues respond to estrogen. Metabolism interacts with estrogen, and the
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gut appears to interact with estrogen too. So, when ovarian
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hormone production changes, women can feel the transition throughout the body.
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That's real physiology, but it doesn't mean The body is defective.
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It means the body is changing. So, let's talk about
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hot flashes and the internal thermostat. Why does a woman
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suddenly feel like somebody turned on a furnace inside her chest?
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Part of the answer appears to involve the brain's temperature
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control system. Our bodies normally tolerate a small range of
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internal temperature changes without reacting dramatically. During the menopausal transition,
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that comfortable range can narrow. A small increase in and
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body temperature may suddenly trigger cooling mechanisms. Blood vessels near
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the skin widen.
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You feel flushed. You sweat.
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Your heart may feel like it's beating faster. Then the
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body can cool quickly afterward, and suddenly you're cold. That's
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why a woman can throw the blanket off and 10
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minutes later, pull it back on. And this is where
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lifestyle begins becoming relevant. Because anything that affects body temperature,
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blood vessels, nervous system activity, or sleep may affect the experience. Alcohol,
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a hot bedroom, stress, Spicy food for some women. Caffeine for.
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Some women. Poor sleep. Smoking.
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Even the timing of meals or exercise may affect individual
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women differently. And this is why I like the idea
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of keeping a symptom journal. Not because every woman needs
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another chalk. but because your own body can teach you
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things that a generalized list on the internet cannot. So,
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for a few weeks, write down when your hot flashes occur.
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What did you eat? Did you drink alcohol?
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How much caffeine? How did you sleep? Was the day stressful?
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Did you exercise? What time did you eat? Patterns sometimes
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begin to appear and those patterns are personal. And I've
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noticed this myself. I made a few changes that made
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enormous differences in how I feel. One of those was
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the time that I sleep. Another was cutting out most
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of my caffeine, zeroing out all alcohol except the alcohol
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that I cook with, starting to exercise, definitely watching what
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I eat, So really, honestly, just to feel better, it's
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worth it. It's worth it to give up the caffeine.
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It's worth it to make myself go to bed earlier.
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It's worth it to take that 15-minute walk, maybe lift
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some arm weights, jump up on the trampoline. It's all
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worth it. There's a payoff. There's a payoff. And definitely
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changing your diet, for me, increasing my fiber intake has
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moved mountains. So let's talk about the modern environment. And
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this is where I think natural health practitioners raise an
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important question, even when some of their specific claims go
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beyond the available evidence. People like Barbara O'Neill and other
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nature-centered health educators repeatedly emphasize returning to basic biological needs.
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Clean food, water, movement, sunlight, sleep, and reducing unnecessary chemical exposures.
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Jordan Rubin's broader natural health philosophy has likewise emphasized traditional foods,
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digestive health, and the relationship between the gut and overall health.
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Those philosophies shouldn't be confused with controlled clinical evidence. But
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the basic question they raise is legitimate. Are we living
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in a way that supports normal human physiology? Consider a
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typical modern day We wake to an alarm while it's
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still dark. We immediately look at a bright screen.
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We sit in a car.
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And you don't want to get me started on that
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because on hot days, you're actually inhaling the fumes from
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the plastic dash in your car.
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We sit at work.
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We eat food manufactured in a factory. We experience constant
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alerts and psychological stimulation. We may barely see outdoor light.
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We eat late.
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We watch television or stare at a phone until bedtime.
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Then we sleep six hours if we're lucky. And we
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wonder why our nervous system feels overwhelmed. Menopause didn't create
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that environment. But menopause occurs inside that environment. And that
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is an important distinction. The goal isn't to claim modern
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living causes menopause.
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It doesn't.
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The question is whether modern living can make an already
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challenging biological transition harder. And that's much more plausible. And
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in several areas, we have good evidence that these basic
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lifestyle factors affect health profoundly. Now let's talk about food
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because this is.
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A big one for me.
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About a month ago, I transitioned to a higher fiber diet.
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And one of the reasons I wanted to include research
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from the doctor's kitchen is that Dr. Rupi Ajala approaches
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food as something that interacts with physiology rather than merely
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as calories. In his menopause work, he focuses on dietary
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patterns that can support inflammation, glucose regulation, gut health, muscle, cardiovascular.
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Health, and bone.
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And that matters because menopause is bigger than hot flashes.
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Women are moving increasingly into a stage of life where
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maintaining metabolic health, muscle, bone, and cardiovascular health becomes increasingly important. Sorry,
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I just had to take a sip of my tea. Dr.
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Rupi's menopause recommendations emphasize protein, abundant fruits and vegetables, soy foods,
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calcium-rich foods, and omega-3 rich foods. And none of those
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requires an exotic supplement. That's what I like about it.
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This is food, real food. He recommends making plant foods
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a major part of the diet and emphasizes the value
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of variety. Think about what that means practically. Instead of
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breakfast being a sugary cereal or pastry, maybe it's eggs
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with vegetables or berries and yogurt. Instead of lunch being
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something out of a package, maybe it's lentils, greens, olive oil, herbs,
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and a piece of fish. Instead of dinner being mostly
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refined carbohydrates, maybe half the plate becomes colorful vegetables with beans, fish, chicken,
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or another good protein source. These changes aren't glamorous, but
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biology doesn't care what's glamorous. If you're curious about how
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to incorporate these types of foods into your life in
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a really honestly simple, easy way, I suggest going to
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the doctor's kitchen website He has some recipes on there
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that you can try for free. He also has a membership,
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but he's written a lot of books.
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And they're really great books.
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They're really high in demand.
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The food is so delicious.
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And honestly, I'm one of those people that I used
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to eat really rich foods like butter and steak and
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potatoes and homemade bread and I really loved my starchy vegetables.
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I really wasn't crazy about cruciferous vegetables. I didn't really
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grow up eating a lot of those things. And when
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I did eat that kind of stuff, it was typically
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like when we went out to eat. So what I
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like about his website is he really makes it easy
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to incorporate these types of foods into your diet in
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a really delicious way. Last night, I made his spicy
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spatchcock chicken. And this was the first time in a
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month I've had, honestly, I've had starchy vegetables, but it
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had root vegetables with.
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A little bit of new potatoes.
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And it was absolutely amazingly delicious, like really yummy. And
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it had a side sauce that was like yogurt with
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preserved lemons and mint and some salt and pepper. And
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that was what you would kind of, you'd put on
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the chicken when you're ready to eat it. But I
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actually ate it with my veggies and it was just delicious. Now,
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as far as the other food we've been eating, I
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try to stay away from the, I was trying to
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stay away from the starchy stuff initially because I have
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metabolic resistance. So I didn't want anything that was going
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to spike my blood sugar. So I was eating a
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lot of his veggie stuff. So we had his shawarma.
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He's got some really awesome like chicken meatballs with, they
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call it something else, with mint and stuff.
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But a lot of these have you like cut up.
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Real thin red cabbage and sugar snap peas and red pepper.
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And then you saute it with some olive oil and
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salt and pepper and you just throw it into like
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a big salad or do what me and my husband did.
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We made a homemade pita bread from our fresh ground
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wheat berries, which is healthier. So anyway, I didn't mean
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to go on a rabbit trail about how fantastic the
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food is on the doctor's kitchen, but it's a really
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just delicious food makes it so much easier. to eat healthy,
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doesn't it? And he also has food prep ideas. So
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you can prep your breakfast in advance a few days
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in advance and put it in the fridge. And you know,
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there's other ways to just food prep. And it's pretty simple.
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You make it all at once and you put all
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together and just makes it easier. Just take a little
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bit of time and just a little bit.
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And you know what?
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It really pays off in the end with how you feel.
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So proteins become more important as we go through menopause
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and not less.
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And one of Dr.
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Ruppi's major recommendations is adequate protein. But what I noticed
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on his website is there's not a lot of red meat.
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And If you're going through menopause and you're a little
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bit more sensitive and you're noticing some changes in your
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energy levels and just you think something's different and I
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don't like it, perhaps you need to lower your red
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meat intake. For me, that's what I had to do.
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And I didn't even realize that was a problem until
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I started eating his food. And it's like poultry and lamb,
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things like that. with very little red meat. And I
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used to be a real advocate of red meat and
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butter and all of that, but honestly, I wasn't feeling
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that good.
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And it was becoming.
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Really hard to lose weight. So I feel like with
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these extra vegetables and this guide to help me, I'm
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suddenly dropping weight and it's effortless, honestly. I feel incredible.
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And my clothing is looser and my food is delicious.
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So one of his recommendations is adequate protein. And this
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is especially important for women entering midlife. We naturally become
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more vulnerable to losing muscle as we age. And I
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don't like that at all because I don't like lifting weights.
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But I have been starting to lift some weights.
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And it's not that bad. It's not that torturous.
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Menopause can accelerate changes in body composition. And muscle is
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not cosmetic. Muscle helps dispose of glucose. Muscle supports metabolic health.
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Muscle protects joints. Muscle helps maintain balance. Muscle helps protect
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independence as we age. So one of the most natural
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things a woman can do during menopause is build and
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preserve muscle. That means using it and feeding it.
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Dr.
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Rupi suggests roughly 20 grams or more of protein at
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meals as a practical starting point, while individual needs vary.
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That protein can come from eggs, fish, yogurt, kefir, beans, lentils, tofu, tempeh, nuts, seeds, poultry,
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or other quality foods. And I especially like combining protein
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with plants because then you're getting something else many women
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need more of, and that's fiber. If you've listened to
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our episode about fiber, you already know how strongly I
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feel about this. But menopause gives us another question or
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another reason to pay attention to the gut. Researchers have
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begun studying something called the estrobolem. That's a term describing
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gut microbes and their genes that participate in estrogen metabolism.
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This is fascinating. Estrogen doesn't simply circulate and disappear. Estrogen
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metabolites can enter the liver, be conjugated, and travel into
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the intestine. Certain bacterial enzymes can modify those compounds, potentially
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influencing whether some estrogen is reabsorbed or eliminated. Researchers are
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now studying whether differences in gut microbial communities influence estrogen physiology.
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and whether estrogen itself changes the microbiome. The relationship appears
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to go in both directions. A 2026 review from researchers
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at Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research examined this
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relationship and concluded that the gut microbiome may play an
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important role and hormonal balance during menopause. But the researchers
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also made an important point. We do not yet know
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what a perfect menopause microbiome looks like. Women in different
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parts of the world have different microbiomes.
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Diet matters.
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Environment matters. Culture matters. Geography matters. That's why I don't
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want to turn this into another miracle claim. But here's
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what we already know about supporting a diverse gut ecosystem.
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Plants matter. Fiber matters. Fermented foods may matter. And variety matters. Beans, lentils, oats, barley, vegetables,
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berries matter. apples, pears, seeds, nuts, herbs, and yes, whole grains.
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These foods provide substrates that our gut microbes can ferment.
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And those microbes produce compounds such as short-chain fatty acids
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that interact with the intestinal lining, immune system, and metabolism.
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suddenly that boring advice to eat your vegetables starts sounding
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a lot more sophisticated. So let's talk about soy because
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it tends to be a somewhat controversial thing when it
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comes to estrogen and menopause. Soy is one of the
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most interesting foods in menopause research. Traditional Asian diets suggest
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have included soy foods for generations. Not necessarily ultra-processed soy
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protein isolates in everything. I'm talking about foods such as tofu, tempeh, miso, natto,
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and edamame. Soy contains compounds called isoflavones. These are phytoestrogens.
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That word frightens some people because they hear estrogen. But
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phytoestrogens aren't identical to human estrogen. They interact with estrogen
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receptors much more weakly and can behave differently depending on
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tissue and hormonal environment.
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Dr.
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Ruppe describes soyfoods as something he would recommend regularly during
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menopause because of the isoflavones, protein, and broader cardiovascular benefits.
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He says the evidence on symptoms is mixed, and he's right.
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Some controlled trials and meta-analyses show reductions in hot flash
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frequency or severity. Others show little changes. or no meaningful effect.
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A Japanese-led meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials found that soy
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isoflavones reduced hot flash frequency and severity compared with placebo.
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More recent reviews have produced more cautious results.
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That's important.
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Science doesn't always give us one clean answer. But here's
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the practical question. Do we need soy to be a
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miracle cure before tofu, tempeh, endomamy, or miso can be
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useful foods? No. They provide protein. They provide phytochemicals. And traditional,
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minimally processed soy foods can easily fit into a whole
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food diet. That's very different from promising that one capsule
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will stop menopause. So here's a fascinating plant-based hot flash study.
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One trial I found particularly interesting involved post-menopausal women experiencing
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at least two hot flashes a day. Researchers randomly assigned
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women either to continue their normal diet or to eat
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a low-fat, plant-based diet that included about half a cup
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00:39:43.320 --> 00:39:52.349
of cooked soybeans each day. After 12 weeks, total hot
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flashes fell substantially in the intervention group. Moderate to severe
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hot flashes dropped dramatically as well. Now, this was a
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small study. Only 38 women were involved. And the intervention
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changed several things simultaneously. They weren't merely adding soy. They
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were changing the overall diet. So we cannot say half
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a cup of soybeans cures hot flashes. That's not what
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the trial proved. But the magnitude of the change makes
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this exactly the kind of non-drug intervention that deserves further study.
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And I love that practicality because we're talking about food.
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So another dietary pattern worth discussing is the Mediterranean diet. Again,
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don't think of this as a branded diet. Think of
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traditional eating patterns built around things like vegetables, beans, fruits, nuts, seeds,
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olive oil, herbs, fish, and once again, whole grains, and
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meals that aren't dominated by ultra-processed food. Research on Mediterranean-style
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diets is and menopause symptoms is still developing. An Australian
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study published in 2024 found that overall Mediterranean diet adherence
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wasn't clearly associated with lower menopause symptom severity, although aspects
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of the diet were associated with better measures of quality
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of life. That's worth saying because menopause I don't want
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to cherry-pick only studies that tell us what we want
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to hear. But Mediterranean-style eating has much broader evidence supporting
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cardiovascular and metabolic health. And those issues become extremely important
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after menopause. The doctor's kitchen emphasizes this same overall pattern,
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not because olive oil is magically replaces estrogen, but because
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menopause should make us think beyond this week's hot flashes.
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We should be thinking about the next 30 years. So
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what should we eat more of? Instead of turning this
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into a giant list, picture the plate. Make it colorful.
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I'm sure you've heard that before, and there's a reason why.
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Put plants at the center. add enough protein, include healthy fats.
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I suggest to get you started by a food scale.
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I like to measure my chicken just to see what
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it looks like when my one serving is asking me to,
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you know, use 60 grams. I want to see what
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it looks like just to get an idea. Include healthy fats,
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use herbs generously, include fiber every day. Rotate your foods,
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feed your gut microbiome, that's really important. Eat foods that
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still resemble what they were when they came from nature.
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That might mean things like salmon with greens, beans, and
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olive oil, a lentil soup with herbs, which to some
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people might be foreign, but believe it or not, it's
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pretty darn good. Greek yogurt with berries, walnuts, and chia.
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And if you're going to make it an overnight breakfast yogurt,
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make sure you wait to put the crunchy stuff on
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until the next morning so it doesn't get soggy. Eggs
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with vegetables or tofu with broccoli and mushrooms, sardines over greens,
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oatmeal with flax, berries, and nuts, an apple instead of
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an ultra-processed snack, simple food. And perhaps that simplicity is
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part of what we lost. So now, what about foods
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to avoid? And I don't love turning food into fear
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at all, but there are things worth experimenting with. Alcohol
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is a big one. Some women notice that alcohol makes
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hot flashes worse, like me. It can also make sleep deceptive.
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A glass of wine may make you sleepy initially, but
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alcohol can fragment sleep later in the I like to
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just take some magnesium bisglycinate before bed along with a
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reishi capsule, reishi mushroom capsule.
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That helps me.
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00:44:49.900 --> 00:44:54.250
And if menopause is already disturbing your sleep, adding another
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sleep disruptor doesn't make much sense. Try removing alcohol for
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a few weeks and see what happens. Caffeine is another
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personal experiment. Some women tolerate it beautifully. Others notice more anxiety, palpitations,
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or hot flashes.
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Timing matters too.
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A cup of coffee at 7 in the morning is
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very different from caffeine late in the afternoon. Then there's
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sugar and highly refined food. We don't need to claim
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sugar causes menopause because it doesn't, but repeated glucose spikes,
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poor diet, quality, and excess ultra-processed food Don't create the
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metabolic environment we're trying to build. The goal isn't perfection.
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The goal is moving the diet back toward real food.
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So sleep may be one of the most underrated menopause tools.
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Sleep problems during menopause can become vicious cycles. A woman
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has a hot flash.
476
00:46:04.769 --> 00:46:05.389
She wakes.
477
00:46:06.090 --> 00:46:09.789
Now she's anxious about not sleeping. She checks the clock,
478
00:46:10.309 --> 00:46:14.570
then the phone. Now bright light enters her eyes. Her
479
00:46:14.630 --> 00:46:17.630
brain becomes more alert. She can't fall back to sleep.
480
00:46:18.809 --> 00:46:22.139
The next day she's exhausted. So she drinks more caffeine.
481
00:46:22.679 --> 00:46:27.039
She's too tired to exercise. She craves quick energy foods.
482
00:46:27.860 --> 00:46:32.599
She's more emotionally reactive. Then bedtime comes again and the
483
00:46:32.659 --> 00:46:36.670
cycle starts all over. This is where working with circadian
484
00:46:36.719 --> 00:46:42.280
biology makes enormous sense. The human brain uses light as
485
00:46:42.440 --> 00:46:48.199
one of its primary timing signals. Morning outdoor light tells
486
00:46:48.260 --> 00:46:52.730
the brain it's daytime, and that helps anchor the body's
487
00:46:52.889 --> 00:46:57.730
internal clock. Then evening darkness helps to prepare the system
488
00:46:57.809 --> 00:47:03.090
for sleep. But modern humans often do the reverse. We
489
00:47:03.110 --> 00:47:07.989
spend mornings indoors under dim, artificial light. Then we flood
490
00:47:08.030 --> 00:47:12.110
our eyes with artificial light at night. So one of
491
00:47:12.150 --> 00:47:14.949
the simplest things I would encourage you to do is this.
492
00:47:15.769 --> 00:47:20.530
Go outside in the morning. You don't need a complicated ritual.
493
00:47:20.989 --> 00:47:22.869
Step outdoors. Walk.
494
00:47:23.610 --> 00:47:29.409
Drink your morning tea outside. Let your eyes experience natural daylight.
495
00:47:30.880 --> 00:47:34.570
And at night... Begin reducing stimulation.
496
00:47:35.429 --> 00:47:36.269
Dim the house.
497
00:47:36.730 --> 00:47:40.670
Put the phone away. Make the bedroom cool. Make it dark.
498
00:47:41.469 --> 00:47:46.610
Create a predictable rhythm. Your body loves rhythm. Try a
499
00:47:46.679 --> 00:47:48.719
few of these. Try it for a few days.
500
00:47:48.840 --> 00:47:51.099
It might look like too much, too overwhelming. You might
501
00:47:51.139 --> 00:47:52.710
not want to bother. Just try it.
502
00:47:53.219 --> 00:47:55.679
I think you're going to be very surprised at your results.
503
00:47:56.760 --> 00:48:01.099
Sunlight is more than vitamin D. People often reduce sunlight
504
00:48:01.480 --> 00:48:04.000
to just vitamin D, but sunlight is more than that.
505
00:48:04.719 --> 00:48:10.320
Light is environmental information. Your eyes communicate light exposure to
506
00:48:10.340 --> 00:48:16.710
the brain's central circadian clock. That clock helps coordinate sleep-wake
507
00:48:16.889 --> 00:48:23.429
timing and many downstream physiological rhythms. We need to be
508
00:48:23.539 --> 00:48:27.960
careful not to promise that morning sunlight will cure menopause.
509
00:48:28.699 --> 00:48:29.039
It won't.
510
00:48:29.710 --> 00:48:35.449
Honestly, it's a combination of things. But aligning light exposure
511
00:48:35.610 --> 00:48:41.929
with human circadian biology is a remarkably low-cost way to
512
00:48:41.969 --> 00:48:50.820
support sleep timing and overall rhythm. And better sleep changes everything. Appetite, mood,
513
00:48:51.239 --> 00:48:59.920
stress resilience, energy, exercise, decision-making, pain perception, A woman who
514
00:48:59.960 --> 00:49:04.780
sleeps well has a completely different foundation than a woman
515
00:49:05.119 --> 00:49:13.210
surviving on four broken hours. So let's talk about stress.
516
00:49:14.650 --> 00:49:19.969
Because sometimes reduce stress is the most annoying health advice
517
00:49:20.429 --> 00:49:24.829
in the world. A woman thinks, wonderful, I'll just stop
518
00:49:24.869 --> 00:49:30.710
having bills, aging parents, adult children, work deadlines, and responsibilities.
519
00:49:31.630 --> 00:49:36.010
And that's not what I mean. Stress management doesn't necessarily
520
00:49:36.050 --> 00:49:41.670
mean removing every stressful circumstance. It means helping the nervous
521
00:49:41.730 --> 00:49:50.650
system return to baseline. Walk outside, pray, garden, sit quietly, read.
522
00:49:51.710 --> 00:49:56.340
Spend time with somebody who makes you feel safe. Breathe slowly.
523
00:49:57.070 --> 00:50:00.000
Take a warm bath. Throw some Epsom salt in it.
524
00:50:00.739 --> 00:50:05.340
Turn the news off. Put the phone away. Spend time
525
00:50:05.400 --> 00:50:10.900
in nature. These things can sound almost embarrassingly simple, but
526
00:50:10.940 --> 00:50:18.280
the nervous system is biological, and chronic psychological arousal affects sleep,
527
00:50:19.019 --> 00:50:26.559
blood pressure, eating behavior, mood, and our perception of physical symptoms.
528
00:50:27.519 --> 00:50:32.389
We cannot separate a woman's hormones from the life she
529
00:50:32.659 --> 00:50:37.489
is living. So I want women to stop thinking about
530
00:50:37.690 --> 00:50:42.789
exercise only as a way to burn calories. Movement is
531
00:50:42.849 --> 00:50:49.260
communication with the body. Walking tells the body to maintain capacity.
532
00:50:50.139 --> 00:50:55.860
Resistance tells muscle, we still need you. Lifting tells bone,
533
00:50:56.239 --> 00:51:04.730
stay strong. Exercise improves insulin sensitivity. It supports cardiovascular health.
534
00:51:05.619 --> 00:51:11.280
It can improve mood and sleep. And resistance training deserves
535
00:51:11.440 --> 00:51:18.780
special attention during menopause. A Swedish randomized trial studied women
536
00:51:18.889 --> 00:51:25.769
with moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms who participated in a
537
00:51:25.789 --> 00:51:34.429
15-week resistance training program. The intervention reduced vasomotor symptom frequency.
538
00:51:35.150 --> 00:51:39.489
and the effect remained evident at six months, although the
539
00:51:39.650 --> 00:51:45.110
difference wasn't maintained at the two-year follow-up. That's interesting, but
540
00:51:45.670 --> 00:51:49.860
even if strength training did nothing for hot flashes, I
541
00:51:49.900 --> 00:51:54.219
would still recommend women discuss an appropriate strength program with
542
00:51:54.260 --> 00:52:00.239
a qualified professional, because muscle and bone become increasingly precious
543
00:52:00.460 --> 00:52:05.750
with age. You don't need a fancy gym, squats, carrying groceries,
544
00:52:06.190 --> 00:52:12.610
resistance bands, dumbbells, body weight movements, gardening, stairs, whatever meets
545
00:52:12.650 --> 00:52:16.130
your ability level. The goal isn't punishment.
546
00:52:16.309 --> 00:52:18.130
The goal is capability.
547
00:52:19.230 --> 00:52:21.750
So for instance, I have a dumbbell just sitting on
548
00:52:22.150 --> 00:52:25.710
the bar, the island in my house. And so that
549
00:52:25.769 --> 00:52:29.849
reminds me to lift that throughout the day. I walk
550
00:52:29.869 --> 00:52:31.409
by it and I'll stop and I'll just do a
551
00:52:31.449 --> 00:52:35.699
few reps, with both of my arms and then I'll
552
00:52:35.840 --> 00:52:38.460
go on with my day. But it just helps because
553
00:52:39.000 --> 00:52:41.110
I'm not good at remembering to do this. I have
554
00:52:41.119 --> 00:52:43.710
so many other things going on. So maybe you need
555
00:52:43.730 --> 00:52:46.489
to put a dumbbell on your dresser or something to
556
00:52:46.530 --> 00:52:52.210
remind you. Sometimes an herb works beautifully in tradition and
557
00:52:52.289 --> 00:52:55.429
still hasn't performed well in a controlled trial. So let's
558
00:52:55.510 --> 00:53:00.429
talk about herbs because I think there's a few misconceptions
559
00:53:00.469 --> 00:53:03.030
about them to be honest. I've tried some of these
560
00:53:03.090 --> 00:53:07.039
herbs and well, let me just read on and I'll explain.
561
00:53:08.739 --> 00:53:11.739
A natural approach that you may have heard of is
562
00:53:11.780 --> 00:53:15.780
the wild yam derived progesterone cream. And there's an important
563
00:53:15.800 --> 00:53:20.400
distinction here that often gets lost. Wild yam contains a
564
00:53:20.530 --> 00:53:27.869
plant compound called diosgenin, which is chemically useful because laboratories
565
00:53:28.449 --> 00:53:33.329
can use it as a starting material to manufacture progesterone.
566
00:53:34.929 --> 00:53:39.900
But our bodies apparently cannot perform that conversion themselves. In
567
00:53:39.980 --> 00:53:43.460
other words, rubbing plain wild yam extract on your skin
568
00:53:43.599 --> 00:53:48.119
is not the same thing as applying actual progesterone. A
569
00:53:48.159 --> 00:53:53.289
placebo-controlled study of 23 menopausal women found that wild yam
570
00:53:53.329 --> 00:53:58.250
cream did not significantly raise progesterone or estrogen levels or
571
00:53:58.329 --> 00:54:02.659
improve menopausal symptoms compared with placebo. So when you see
572
00:54:02.699 --> 00:54:07.559
a cream labeled wild yam, read the ingredients carefully. A
573
00:54:07.639 --> 00:54:17.510
product containing actual micronized progesterone. It's fundamentally different from a
574
00:54:17.570 --> 00:54:23.969
cream containing only wild yam extract. Progesterone itself is chemically
575
00:54:24.090 --> 00:54:28.170
identical to the progesterone produced by the human body, even
576
00:54:28.190 --> 00:54:33.150
when the manufacturing process begins with a plant-derived precursor.
577
00:54:32.949 --> 00:54:36.650
Such as diasgenin. Okay, so.
578
00:54:38.250 --> 00:54:42.210
I have to stop here and comment my opinion on this.
579
00:54:42.250 --> 00:54:48.289
This is just my opinion. I actually am not surprised
580
00:54:48.429 --> 00:54:52.829
that the study on the wild yam cream didn't show
581
00:54:52.869 --> 00:54:57.409
a difference in hot flashes and menopausal symptoms because.
582
00:54:57.670 --> 00:54:58.110
I tried it.
583
00:54:59.130 --> 00:55:00.659
And I tried it for weeks and weeks and weeks
584
00:55:00.860 --> 00:55:03.460
and I had a ton. I had more hot flashes
585
00:55:04.119 --> 00:55:06.010
than I've, I don't remember. I've never had that many
586
00:55:06.030 --> 00:55:10.829
hot flashes ever, but I was a avid progesterone cream
587
00:55:11.010 --> 00:55:15.050
over the counter, bioidentical progesterone cream user for many, many years.
588
00:55:15.809 --> 00:55:20.760
I did not suffer menopausal symptoms like some of the
589
00:55:20.880 --> 00:55:24.739
other women in my life. And I rarely had a
590
00:55:24.760 --> 00:55:26.519
hot flash. Like it was like, oh, that must be
591
00:55:26.539 --> 00:55:30.239
a hot flash. So when I decided, and this is,
592
00:55:30.380 --> 00:55:33.510
I love Barbara O'Neill. And I've watched a lot of
593
00:55:33.530 --> 00:55:35.969
her stuff, and she's incredible. But I heard her talk
594
00:55:35.989 --> 00:55:37.969
a lot about the wild yam cream, and I thought,
595
00:55:37.989 --> 00:55:40.030
you know what? I think I'm going to give that
596
00:55:40.090 --> 00:55:43.550
wild yam cream a shot. And to be honest with you,
597
00:55:43.809 --> 00:55:45.989
it did not work for me. I'm not saying it
598
00:55:46.010 --> 00:55:49.010
doesn't work for other people. I'm just saying my experience
599
00:55:49.050 --> 00:55:53.139
was not good. I went back to the bioidentical progesterone cream,
600
00:55:53.780 --> 00:55:57.300
and I'm feeling pretty darn good right now. So I
601
00:55:57.320 --> 00:56:00.030
just thought I'd throw that in there. Some women are
602
00:56:00.070 --> 00:56:03.849
drawn to topical progesterone because they are looking for the
603
00:56:03.909 --> 00:56:08.289
bioidentical approach like me. Okay, so now let's talk about
604
00:56:08.590 --> 00:56:11.960
actual herbs because that's not really an herb. That was yam.
605
00:56:13.260 --> 00:56:15.159
This is probably the part many of you have been
606
00:56:15.179 --> 00:56:18.380
waiting for, the herbs. Women have used plants for reproductive
607
00:56:18.460 --> 00:56:23.510
and menopausal complaints for generations. Different cultures developed completely different
608
00:56:23.550 --> 00:56:27.250
traditions because they had access to different plants. And there's
609
00:56:27.269 --> 00:56:31.449
something deeply human about that. they observed and they experimented
610
00:56:31.530 --> 00:56:35.889
and they passed that knowledge down. Modern science now has
611
00:56:35.949 --> 00:56:40.670
another tool because they have now studied some of these things. Now,
612
00:56:40.769 --> 00:56:45.000
I don't know if these herbs, how they process them
613
00:56:45.400 --> 00:56:50.639
in ancient times, maybe it was different. But for instance, okay,
614
00:56:50.659 --> 00:56:52.840
let's talk about black cohosh because I'm sure a lot
615
00:56:52.880 --> 00:56:54.340
of you have heard of this. And it's in a
616
00:56:54.440 --> 00:56:59.340
lot of these self-help capsules and creams now. for menopausal women.
617
00:57:00.260 --> 00:57:03.219
Black cohosh is probably one of the best known in
618
00:57:03.260 --> 00:57:07.289
North America. It has a long history of use, particularly
619
00:57:07.349 --> 00:57:13.210
stemming from Native American botanical traditions, and it later became
620
00:57:13.309 --> 00:57:19.889
widely promoted for hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms. But
621
00:57:20.389 --> 00:57:26.739
when researchers tested it rigorously, results haven't been consistently impressive.
622
00:57:28.050 --> 00:57:34.510
A systematic review examining double-blind randomized trials concluded that the
623
00:57:34.670 --> 00:57:40.690
evidence didn't consistently demonstrate effectiveness for menopausal symptoms. And a
624
00:57:40.750 --> 00:57:46.230
year-long randomized trial comparing black cohosh, red clover, and placebo
625
00:57:47.349 --> 00:57:53.130
found that neither black cohosh nor red clover significantly outperformed
626
00:57:53.170 --> 00:57:55.610
placebo or vasomotor symptoms.
627
00:57:56.610 --> 00:57:57.489
And this is important.
628
00:57:58.909 --> 00:58:03.030
An herb can have a beautiful traditional history without being
629
00:58:03.110 --> 00:58:07.849
proven to treat a particular symptom. If black cohosh helps
630
00:58:07.909 --> 00:58:12.090
an individual woman and her healthcare professional believes it's appropriate,
631
00:58:12.750 --> 00:58:15.489
that's her decision, but I'm not going to tell you
632
00:58:15.510 --> 00:58:20.590
science has established something that it hasn't. So red clover,
633
00:58:21.269 --> 00:58:26.429
which is interesting because it contains isoflavones, which gives.
634
00:58:26.309 --> 00:58:27.969
It biological plausibility.
635
00:58:29.440 --> 00:58:35.679
But again, controlled research has been inconsistent. This illustrates something
636
00:58:35.780 --> 00:58:39.440
important about herbal medicine. We tend to talk about an
637
00:58:39.500 --> 00:58:44.460
herb as though every preparation is identical, but plants vary.
638
00:58:45.079 --> 00:58:48.090
Like for instance, where was it grown? And when was
639
00:58:48.119 --> 00:58:51.309
it harvested? Which part of the plant was used?
640
00:58:51.769 --> 00:58:55.869
How was it dried? How was it extracted? What dose?
641
00:58:56.769 --> 00:59:02.230
And what other compounds were present? Traditional herbalism and pharmaceutical
642
00:59:02.309 --> 00:59:07.639
standardization are very different worlds. That makes herbs fascinating, and
643
00:59:07.699 --> 00:59:11.440
it also makes them really difficult to study. Now, sage
644
00:59:11.500 --> 00:59:13.659
is an interesting one. It has traditionally been used for
645
00:59:13.699 --> 00:59:18.280
excessive sweating and has become a popular natural approach for
646
00:59:18.320 --> 00:59:23.440
menopausal hot flashes. And there are small clinical studies suggesting benefit,
647
00:59:24.139 --> 00:59:27.340
but the evidence base isn't nearly as large or conclusive.
648
00:59:28.079 --> 00:59:32.679
as social media sometimes makes it sound. Still, this is
649
00:59:32.800 --> 00:59:37.360
an example of a traditional plant that deserves more rigorous study.
650
00:59:38.179 --> 00:59:40.500
And it can also be enjoyed as a culinary herb
651
00:59:40.579 --> 00:59:48.800
or tea rather than automatically jumping to concentrated extracts. Fennel. Well,
652
00:59:48.969 --> 00:59:52.170
there's some interesting research out of Iran. So here's an
653
00:59:52.230 --> 00:59:57.309
example I particularly wanted to include because I wanted... to
654
00:59:57.349 --> 01:00:01.610
go outside of the American pharmaceutical system for this podcast.
655
01:00:02.809 --> 01:00:09.880
Researchers in Tehran conducted a randomized triple-blind placebo-controlled trial involving
656
01:00:09.880 --> 01:00:17.840
90 post-menopausal women. The women received phenyl or placebo for
657
01:00:17.940 --> 01:00:24.000
eight weeks. The phenyl group showed significant improvement in overall
658
01:00:24.199 --> 01:00:25.800
menopause rating scores.
659
01:00:26.519 --> 01:00:27.440
That's interesting.
660
01:00:28.599 --> 01:00:34.570
But another Iranian randomized trial involving 50 women found something different.
661
01:00:36.710 --> 01:00:41.429
Both fennel and placebo groups improved, and there wasn't a
662
01:00:41.489 --> 01:00:47.610
significant difference between them for most menopausal symptoms. That is science,
663
01:00:47.929 --> 01:00:51.880
and that was two trials with different findings. Instead of
664
01:00:51.920 --> 01:00:55.880
pretending the second study doesn't exist, we say fennel is promising.
665
01:00:56.969 --> 01:01:01.489
is traditionally used. There is some clinical evidence, but we
666
01:01:01.510 --> 01:01:06.070
need larger and better trials before claiming it reliably treats menopause.
667
01:01:07.389 --> 01:01:13.059
And that's a much stronger statement than the hype. So
668
01:01:13.139 --> 01:01:18.079
there was another Iranian trial which examined a mixture of fennel, chamomile,
669
01:01:18.199 --> 01:01:25.210
and saffron. Researchers studied 120 perimenopausal women in a randomized
670
01:01:25.449 --> 01:01:37.309
triple-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial lasting 12 weeks. Women receiving one
671
01:01:37.329 --> 01:01:43.070
of the herbal combinations experienced substantial reductions in physical, psychological,
672
01:01:43.690 --> 01:01:49.050
and urogenital symptom scores. Again, that's not proof that everyone
673
01:01:49.110 --> 01:01:52.920
should take that combination, but it's precisely the type of
674
01:01:53.019 --> 01:01:57.500
traditional herbal research that that I wish received more attention.
675
01:01:59.489 --> 01:02:02.650
Okay, flax. Okay, flaxseed is interesting.
676
01:02:03.530 --> 01:02:06.389
It's another food I like discussing because it isn't merely
677
01:02:06.409 --> 01:02:11.710
a menopause supplement. It's actual food and flax contains fiber.
678
01:02:12.610 --> 01:02:19.519
It contains alpha-linolenic acid and it contains lignans, plant compounds
679
01:02:19.579 --> 01:02:24.900
that can be metabolized by gut bacteria into compounds with
680
01:02:25.139 --> 01:02:32.829
weak estrogenic activity. That connection between plants and gut microbes
681
01:02:33.050 --> 01:02:37.489
is really fascinating. If you're going to use flax as food,
682
01:02:37.809 --> 01:02:43.360
grinding it generally makes its nutrients more accessible than swallowing
683
01:02:43.440 --> 01:02:47.619
whole seeds that may pass through intact. You can add
684
01:02:47.739 --> 01:02:53.780
ground flax to oatmeal, yogurt, smoothies, your overnight oats. And again,
685
01:02:53.800 --> 01:02:56.320
I don't want to sell it as a hot flask cure,
686
01:02:56.360 --> 01:03:01.389
but think bigger in terms of fiber, gut health, plant compounds,
687
01:03:01.730 --> 01:03:05.170
healthy fats. And it's a food that earns its place
688
01:03:05.210 --> 01:03:10.750
for multiple reasons. So let's return to the gut. Traditional
689
01:03:10.809 --> 01:03:19.940
cultures didn't have probiotic capsules. They had fermented food like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso,
690
01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:26.489
and tempeh. Some people would argue that probiotic capsules aren't
691
01:03:26.570 --> 01:03:29.570
going to be viable in the gut. They're not going
692
01:03:29.590 --> 01:03:32.949
to survive and make it to the intestinal tract, the
693
01:03:32.969 --> 01:03:37.050
digestive tract. So they will say, hey, it's better to
694
01:03:37.090 --> 01:03:41.159
go with fermented foods to get your probiotics. And I
695
01:03:41.199 --> 01:03:44.579
actually think that there's probably some truth to that. Different
696
01:03:44.639 --> 01:03:50.340
cultures created different fermented foods. Research into probiotics and menopause
697
01:03:50.420 --> 01:03:56.730
is still young. Some trials suggest particular Probiotics may affect bone, metabolic,
698
01:03:56.809 --> 01:04:00.710
or inflammatory measures, but we're nowhere near able to say,
699
01:04:01.090 --> 01:04:06.550
take this bacterial strain and menopause goes away. Still, supporting
700
01:04:06.590 --> 01:04:13.659
microbial diversity through a varied plant-rich diet and fermented foods
701
01:04:14.239 --> 01:04:17.539
is a very different strategy from waiting until something goes
702
01:04:17.579 --> 01:04:18.659
wrong and trying.
703
01:04:18.440 --> 01:04:20.260
To repair it afterwards.
704
01:04:21.329 --> 01:04:26.019
The emerging menopause microbiome literature is one of the areas
705
01:04:26.159 --> 01:04:29.039
I'm going to be watching closely because I suspect.
706
01:04:29.219 --> 01:04:30.579
We're only beginning to understand it.
707
01:04:32.159 --> 01:04:36.440
Now, some people like traditional Chinese medicine and they'll look
708
01:04:36.460 --> 01:04:43.449
at acupuncture. This is really complicated research because, okay, so
709
01:04:43.730 --> 01:04:47.949
meta-analysis report improvements in hot flash frequency, severity, and quality
710
01:04:47.989 --> 01:04:53.260
of life. A meta-analysis involving 12 studies and 869 women
711
01:04:53.440 --> 01:04:59.650
found improvements in hot flashes and several menopause-related symptom measures.
712
01:05:00.690 --> 01:05:07.130
But when acupuncture is compared specifically against convincing sham acupuncture,
713
01:05:08.250 --> 01:05:12.510
the difference often becomes much smaller. A Cochrane review of
714
01:05:12.510 --> 01:05:16.929
16 studies involving more than 1,100 women found no significant
715
01:05:16.989 --> 01:05:22.289
difference between acupuncture and sham acupuncture for hot flash frequency,
716
01:05:22.889 --> 01:05:25.150
although severity may have improved slightly.
717
01:05:27.070 --> 01:05:28.289
So what do we do with that?
718
01:05:29.150 --> 01:05:32.690
We don't have to declare acupuncture either magic or nonsense.
719
01:05:33.150 --> 01:05:38.079
Some women report meaningful benefit. It generally has a relatively
720
01:05:38.159 --> 01:05:41.940
low rate of serious adverse effects when performed properly by
721
01:05:42.039 --> 01:05:47.510
trained practitioners. But the specific effect beyond placebo or nonspecific
722
01:05:47.570 --> 01:05:51.969
treatment effects remains debated. And that's the honest answer.
723
01:05:53.269 --> 01:05:53.590
Okay.
724
01:05:55.929 --> 01:06:00.960
Maybe we underestimate routine and ritual. And this is where
725
01:06:01.019 --> 01:06:06.280
I feel like I had a really nice shift in
726
01:06:06.380 --> 01:06:10.849
my overall physical well-being as far as my menopause health
727
01:06:10.909 --> 01:06:16.480
is concerned. So something like, Making tea, sitting down, breathing,
728
01:06:16.820 --> 01:06:22.579
going outside, preparing real food, taking a bath, praying, walking
729
01:06:22.639 --> 01:06:27.079
after dinner, turning the lights down at night. They're not
730
01:06:27.139 --> 01:06:32.260
dramatic interventions, but they create a rhythm. And this type
731
01:06:32.280 --> 01:06:34.480
of rhythm is something that modern life has stripped away.
732
01:06:36.239 --> 01:06:40.010
Our ancestors lived by sunrise and sunset. Meals happened at
733
01:06:40.030 --> 01:06:46.960
predictable times. Work involved movement. Darkness meant darkness. And the
734
01:06:47.019 --> 01:06:49.880
seasons mattered. They ate with the seasons and they had
735
01:06:49.900 --> 01:06:52.719
to go to sleep and wake up with the seasons. Okay,
736
01:06:52.800 --> 01:06:57.550
so just thinking about that, things like grounding yourself, touching soil,
737
01:06:58.409 --> 01:07:03.590
watching the sunrise, keeping the room nice and dark. One
738
01:07:03.630 --> 01:07:05.849
mistake some women try to do is they try to
739
01:07:05.869 --> 01:07:10.349
detox menopause away. So the idea that every menopausal symptom
740
01:07:10.690 --> 01:07:14.750
means you're toxic. Well, menopause is not evidence that Your
741
01:07:14.769 --> 01:07:19.289
body failed to detox. Your ovaries are aging, and that's
742
01:07:19.530 --> 01:07:24.860
normal human biology. So supporting your liver, gut, kidneys, sleep,
743
01:07:24.880 --> 01:07:29.840
and nutrition, it's sensible. Now, I know a lot of
744
01:07:29.860 --> 01:07:32.400
women will say, I didn't change anything, but suddenly my
745
01:07:32.440 --> 01:07:37.500
body changed. And there is truth behind that experience. Aging
746
01:07:37.559 --> 01:07:43.250
affects energy expenditure and muscle. Hormonal changes can influence fat distribution.
747
01:07:44.280 --> 01:07:47.559
And women do tend to notice more abdominal fat during
748
01:07:47.639 --> 01:07:53.110
menopause or during perimenopause. Sleep disruption can affect your appetite
749
01:07:53.710 --> 01:07:54.969
and stress can influence eating.
750
01:07:55.090 --> 01:07:55.690
We know that.
751
01:07:56.190 --> 01:08:02.989
Insulin sensitivity can change also. Muscle mass declines and metabolism
752
01:08:03.050 --> 01:08:06.929
changes along with that decline in muscle mass. And this
753
01:08:06.989 --> 01:08:10.840
is another reason why I don't love starvation diets during menopause.
754
01:08:11.780 --> 01:08:14.690
the answer to losing muscle shouldn't be eating almost nothing.
755
01:08:15.730 --> 01:08:21.850
So protect your muscle, prioritize protein, strength train, walk, sleep,
756
01:08:22.550 --> 01:08:27.279
build your metabolic health. The number on the scale isn't
757
01:08:27.300 --> 01:08:33.319
the whole story. Hot flashes, well, they get attention, right?
758
01:08:33.359 --> 01:08:36.319
Because we feel them. And that's kind of the big,
759
01:08:36.739 --> 01:08:39.029
that's the standout. When you think about menopause, you think
760
01:08:39.069 --> 01:08:43.750
hot flashes, but, um, Estrogen plays an important role in
761
01:08:43.770 --> 01:08:46.039
the bone remodeling, so keep that in mind because we
762
01:08:46.100 --> 01:08:50.479
also have bone loss during menopause. As estrogen falls, bone
763
01:08:50.520 --> 01:08:54.479
loss can accelerate, and that's why menopause is the time
764
01:08:54.590 --> 01:08:58.170
to become serious about your bone health and the calcium
765
01:08:58.189 --> 01:09:05.409
rich foods matter. The doctor's kitchen highlights foods such as yogurt, kefir, cheese, sardines,
766
01:09:05.510 --> 01:09:12.149
and salmon with edible bones, tofu, soybeans, and calcium containing vegetables.
767
01:09:13.439 --> 01:09:18.899
Vitamin D status matters, protein matters, and resistance exercise matters.
768
01:09:21.229 --> 01:09:24.710
Two of the foods highlighted by the doctor's kitchen deserve
769
01:09:24.729 --> 01:09:29.430
a quick mention. Pomegranate has been studied for menopausal symptoms
770
01:09:29.789 --> 01:09:33.289
with some small studies suggesting improvements, but the evidence is
771
01:09:33.310 --> 01:09:38.770
still limited. That's exactly how Dr. Ruppe presents it. Promising,
772
01:09:39.130 --> 01:09:42.949
not proven. However, keep in mind, pomegranates have a lot
773
01:09:43.029 --> 01:09:45.090
of other nutritional benefits.
774
01:09:46.130 --> 01:09:47.210
And then there are prunes.
775
01:09:48.050 --> 01:09:52.979
A 12-month randomized controlled trial study found that 50 grams
776
01:09:53.119 --> 01:09:57.930
of prunes per day helped preserve bone mineral density in
777
01:09:58.020 --> 01:10:03.270
post-menopausal women compared with controls. I love examples like this
778
01:10:03.350 --> 01:10:08.789
because they're so ordinary. Prunes are not glamorous, right? Nobody's
779
01:10:08.829 --> 01:10:11.569
going to build a billion-dollar wellness empire around a bag
780
01:10:11.609 --> 01:10:16.489
of prunes, but sometimes ordinary foods have interesting effects, and
781
01:10:16.550 --> 01:10:20.029
that is exactly why food research matters.
782
01:10:21.789 --> 01:10:22.850
Now, magnesium.
783
01:10:23.270 --> 01:10:27.789
Magnesium-rich food is really important because magnesium helps us sleep
784
01:10:27.850 --> 01:10:32.170
better and keeps us calm. Magnesium participates in hundreds of
785
01:10:32.250 --> 01:10:36.369
biochemical reactions. So rather than immediately reaching for a supplement,
786
01:10:36.470 --> 01:10:37.270
look at the food.
787
01:10:38.220 --> 01:10:40.579
Pumpkin seeds, chia, almonds.
788
01:10:40.920 --> 01:10:48.100
Leafy greens, black beans, whole grains, fiber, minerals, plant compounds, protein.
789
01:10:49.819 --> 01:10:53.619
I want to finish by returning to history. Imagine women
790
01:10:53.939 --> 01:10:57.470
hundreds of years ago. They didn't know what an estrogen
791
01:10:57.569 --> 01:11:03.750
receptor was. They couldn't measure FSH. They couldn't Google a
792
01:11:03.869 --> 01:11:07.529
symptom at 2 in the morning. But they knew women
793
01:11:07.880 --> 01:11:15.140
changed with age. Cultures developed traditions around that transition. Some
794
01:11:15.199 --> 01:11:19.949
were helpful, some weren't. And modern science has given us
795
01:11:20.390 --> 01:11:26.130
an incredible ability to investigate those traditions rather than simply
796
01:11:26.229 --> 01:11:32.220
accepting or rejecting them. Don't reject something merely because it's
797
01:11:32.479 --> 01:11:37.159
old and don't accept something merely because it's natural. Don't
798
01:11:37.199 --> 01:11:39.899
accept something merely because somebody's wearing a white coat.
799
01:11:41.140 --> 01:11:44.850
Ask questions. Look at the evidence. Look at history.
800
01:11:45.789 --> 01:11:50.279
Look at culture's outside of your own. And most importantly,
801
01:11:50.720 --> 01:11:56.350
pay attention to your body because menopause isn't identical for
802
01:11:56.560 --> 01:12:00.609
every woman. For one woman, the biggest issue may be sleep.
803
01:12:01.149 --> 01:12:07.289
For another, hot flashes. For another, anxiety. For another, weight distribution.
804
01:12:07.609 --> 01:12:09.470
And for another, vaginal dryness.
805
01:12:09.970 --> 01:12:13.609
Another, bone health. And some women move.
806
01:12:13.409 --> 01:12:18.239
Through menopause with surprisingly few symptoms. That alone tells us
807
01:12:18.300 --> 01:12:25.899
something important. There's no single menopause experience. Maybe we've been
808
01:12:26.039 --> 01:12:30.470
asking the wrong question. Maybe menopause isn't something we need
809
01:12:30.510 --> 01:12:35.449
to defeat. Maybe it's something we need to understand. Your
810
01:12:35.510 --> 01:12:45.909
body has spent decades adapting to pregnancy, stress, illness, seasons, sleep, food, work, motherhood, relationships,
811
01:12:46.189 --> 01:12:52.510
and life. Now it's entering another season. That season deserves support,
812
01:12:53.010 --> 01:13:03.390
real food, protein, fiber, plants, water, movement, sunlight, darkness at night, sleep, rest, community, prayer,
813
01:13:04.010 --> 01:13:09.170
time outside. And perhaps some of the plants and traditions
814
01:13:09.369 --> 01:13:13.689
women have turned to for generations are used thoughtfully, not blindly.
815
01:13:14.689 --> 01:13:18.149
None of this requires us to pretend science doesn't matter.
816
01:13:18.750 --> 01:13:19.529
Quite the opposite.
817
01:13:20.210 --> 01:13:24.380
The most exciting science may eventually explain why some of
818
01:13:24.439 --> 01:13:28.960
these very old practices mattered in the first place. We're
819
01:13:29.039 --> 01:13:33.279
already seeing that with circadian biology, and we're seeing it
820
01:13:33.319 --> 01:13:36.939
with a microbiome, and we're also seeing it with resistance exercise.
821
01:13:38.180 --> 01:13:41.510
So we're only beginning to understand the conversation happening between
822
01:13:41.550 --> 01:13:44.069
our food and our microbes, our hormones and our brains.
823
01:13:47.130 --> 01:13:51.090
I'm Carolyn Thompson, and this is Chasing Eden, rediscovering your
824
01:13:51.130 --> 01:13:55.430
body's divine design. If this episode helped you, send it
825
01:13:55.470 --> 01:13:58.479
to a woman who's entering this season of life or
826
01:13:58.560 --> 01:14:01.819
to a younger woman who deserves to understand what's coming
827
01:14:01.920 --> 01:14:05.779
before she gets there. And wherever you listen, follow Chasing
828
01:14:05.939 --> 01:14:11.479
Eden or go to chasingeden.net. Until next time, Stay curious,
829
01:14:11.920 --> 01:14:15.069
take care of the body you've been given, and keep
830
01:14:15.449 --> 01:14:16.390
chasing Eden.
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