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Joanna Lyall: Harnessing Bold Health Through Nutrition · The Bold Lounge

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bold Lounge Podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: My name is Lee Burgess and I will be your host.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: If you're anything like me, you love hearing inspiring stories of people who have gone on bold journeys and made a positive impact on the world.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: This podcast is all about those kinds of stories.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Every week, we'll hear from someone who has taken a leap or embarked on extraordinary journey.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: In addition to hearing their stories, we'll also learn about their bold growth mindset that they use to make things happen.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Whether they face challenges or douse along the way, they persisted and ultimately achieved their goals.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: These impactful stories will leave you feeling motivated and inspired to pursue your own bold journey.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I believe everyone has a bold story waiting to be free.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Tune in and get ready to be inspired.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bold Lounge.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Today I have Joanna Lyle.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: She is the founder and CEO of the Better Menopause and a nutritional therapist.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Welcome, joanna.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Hi.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having me.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: I thought we'd first start off just giving a little bit of background to your business and what is the Better Menopause and how did it come about?
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: So the Better Menopause is a nutrition and wellness company, and we've set up to empower women to have a better menopause and a better second half of their life.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: We're doing that by informing them on all of the amazing options there are out there actually to really look after your health, to enhance your health and to feel better.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: My view is that no one should have to struggle through menopause, and we're doing everything we can to try and spread as much kind of positive, helpful information as we possibly can, and we're also producing a range of supplements to really help tackle some of the menopause symptoms, naturally, supplements that work on their own and also alongside HRT, if that's a route that you choose to go down.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: Okay great.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: So I'm excited to jump into that because I think a lot of our listeners will be interested in hearing that you know from perspective where they're on their life or where they're coming into.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: You hear a lot of negative about it, so I'd love to jump into that and also, I think there's a lot of ageism also as well, with some of the things that I see just in publications and ads for it.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: But let's get down to some boldness.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Let's start with what is your definition of bold?
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Obviously, being a founder and a CEO you have definitely as part of your gene, so would love to understand what your definition is.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: I think being bold is being brave.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Feeling a bit uncomfortable, having that kind of excitement that makes your heart beat that little bit faster and that little voice in your head say Are you sure this is the right thing?
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: to do.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so, and then what you do from there is even though you've heard that voice, you still take action correct, exactly, exactly.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: And does that little voice, that tiny doubt that just makes you think, oh, am I just stepping into something that I haven't done before?
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Is there a little bit of fear there?
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: And if so, that makes me feel kind of braver and bolder.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Right, yeah, definitely.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I think one of the things that you're pointing out that I think people should understand is that when you're bold, it doesn't mean you're fearless.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: People may be fearless I don't know, I'm not one of those people.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Fear is a real, natural human emotion to have and it's actually to protect you.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Right, you know, but there's sometimes you have to actually be in control of your mind and what you're doing and how you're going to move through this world, so kind of stepping into that.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: So when was the first time, based on your definition, you remember hearing that little voice but taking the action anyway, I think my first memory of feeling really bold was when I decided to leave my girls grammar school at 16 and go to college and I then didn't follow that kind of typical path of A levels.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: I wanted to study at the time film production and media and it was just a calling for me that I really wanted to do.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: So I had to convince my parents and just step out and see and see what would happen on this fairly unchosen path.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: I think when I kind of really looked at what I'd been inspired by so far in school, I'd always enjoyed kind of maths and science and I went through kind of different iterations of wanting to be a doctor, maybe a physiotherapist, something in that space, and it's quite interesting that now I'm a nutritionist kind of many, many years later.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: But I had that kind of calling then to want to do something that was going to make an impact on how people felt.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: But I also had this quite creative part of me, I think and I'm not an artist in the I'm going to draw amazing pictures or be an incredible painter or do anything creative in that way.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: But what I loved about media and film production is that it had that creative element to it and I really love producing things that are tangible.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: I've always had a learning style that is about doing and learning through that doing rather than the theory and the study.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: I don't like pouring over books endlessly.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: I'm not the person that's going to sit up late into the night, you know, with the lamp on drinking coffee studying.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: That just wasn't me.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: And the idea of being able to take a slightly different path at that point in my life and go into an environment where the practical was a really big part of it.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: So the fact that you were producing a TV show every week, you're producing radio shows alongside the theory and the kind of the science I guess in the art behind production, just really inspired me and it just shown me a kind of totally different career path that was out there that I had no idea, that maybe I could, I could go into.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so now you're the CEO and founder of your company?
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but along the way, what were some of the steps it took to get there?
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: So you're a nutritionist.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Did you start out with that in mind when you got out of high school?
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Like what did that look like?
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: What's your path to where you are now?
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: So when I finished studying I carried on the path of media so I sort of tested out the field of TV production and I was a runner on a TV show for a little bit and I thought it's a long way up.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: It's a long way to get to that kind of ambition of being a director or a producer, because it has a long step right.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it really does.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's kind of the world of publishing all the way.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Exactly, you've got to earn your stripes and you do everywhere but it's a particular industry there, I think, where it's a really bad opportunity and chance in some ways, as well as talent.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: But I'd also been exposed to the world of media and advertising Again not something that you kind of get talked about as school, but once I started to look at it I thought this is really interesting.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: So I took a role in 98 as a digital analyst in a media agency and this was the time when the dot-com boom was really just starting and very little was known about internet advertising and the opportunity there, and that really attracted me.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: I like being part of things that are new and different and evolving and I was able to really get kind of a lot of specialism and experience quite quickly in a sector that not many people knew a lot about, which gave me career opportunity.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: And I ended up spending 20 years at that same company and I worked my way up to managing director there before, after 20 years, I decided actually, you know what, I need to do something else now, and I guess that was my next bold move.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: I decided to say goodbye to that amazing agency, great career, and go to a startup and I did that because I had that kind of yearning inside me to create something, I think, and I just thought I'm not going to play it safe anymore Like what's the worst that could happen, and I had an opportunity to go to a startup and be the first UK employee and build that business.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: So that was my kind of next big, big, bold move.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: And then, you know, I carried on in that business, worked through COVID which was a very particular time of life from a work perspective went to another agency, all kind of specializing in digital marketing and high growth and performance media, but at the same time I had this desire to check back in with the nutrition work that I'd started back in 2003.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: So whilst I was working at the media agency, I was looking up in the company and looking at who are the women that I would want to aspire to be and where are the women that I'd want to aspire to be, and they weren't there.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: There were very few of them, but they also weren't role models that appealed to me and showed me that this was a career that I wanted to stay in.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: And I had this real kind of passion and interest in complementary health, natural health and I'd always continued my studies since I'd left school.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: So I'd trained as a massage therapist, a Reiki practitioner, and none of them had quite kind of fitted the bill.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: They weren't maybe intellectual enough for me as well, and I enjoyed that kind of physical connection, but I wanted something that was more mentally stimulating.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: So I found nutrition and I studied nutrition alongside my full-time job.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: I did at the weekends, over a three-year diploma.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: And then, when I came out the other side of that, something interesting had happened with the way I thought about work, and because I suddenly had this balance in my life of it not being just about work, work, work every day, I had this other really big, important thing, which was this world of nutrition and this new qualification and a new identity for myself as well.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: It actually made me start to enjoy my day job more.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: So I ran both side by side for many years.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: I started a local nutrition practice at the time, because you didn't really see clients online back then, it was just seeing clients in person.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: So I worked at a local clinic and I really focused in female health, hormones, fertility they were the kind of the big topics that I was getting stuck into.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: And then, as the years went on and I had children myself as well.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: Obviously my time was much tighter running an agency at the time bringing up small children but still sort of nurturing this kind of passion and interest in nutrition more for myself, my friends, my family and doing my CPD every year.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: So keeping up keeping up my studies.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: And when I left my last business at the beginning of this year, I really wanted to do something with that nutrition.
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: I wanted it to be front and center of my day to day.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: I wanted it to be my career rather than something I kind of kept just for myself and in the background.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: So that's really where the beginnings of, for me, the better tenetopolis was born.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: So a lot in there that I just want to tell you a few things.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: You had a few bold moments in there just with what you shared.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: So one was you were doing your day job.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: At some point, you know, they merged.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: Maybe our day job and our passion that we do or our hobby that we do.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: I want to say in our life they merged and I think that's happened for me since I was 48.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: But until then, you know, I was doing things outside, never thinking I would be where I am now, but just knowing that I want to keep learning, I want to keep experimenting, and you were doing a full diploma on the side, so I understand that as well.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: On finishing my dissertation and it's like a second job, and then on top of that, after you got your diploma, like actually started doing work and working in the clinic.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: But there was an important point you said in there which was it actually made me enjoy my day job more, because I felt more bound or aligned right.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: It wasn't as if you were putting your passion or your curiosities to the sides someday, someday, someday which we do a lot.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: I'm going to try it now.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: Yes, it won.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: It took effort, right?
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: You had to say I'm going to do the work, I'm going to get a diploma and then I'm going to go into the clinic, maybe when I could have been going to the park or going to dinner or whatever it may be doing the work.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: So I think there is also the boldness and the action of like I'm going to actually do the work, because that's what it takes.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: I think sometimes people wish or think someday, but they're not able to like move the needle for themselves.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: What made you like, what was inside of you, that was like I'm going to put in the effort.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: I think I'm a naturally very motivated person.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: If I want to do something, I will put everything into it and I don't need somebody else to push me along.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: I can motivate myself on a daily basis, sometimes if that's what's needed to make things happen.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: And I'm also a curious and interested person in why things work.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: I've always enjoyed that kind of science side of life, and studying nutrition really, really tapped into that and it didn't feel like work.
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: And there's that saying, isn't there, that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: So I think there's that aspect to it as well.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: So you've had that merge right Of curiosity, the what if?
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: If I could, when someday you've had that merge right now, yeah, absolutely.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: And even back then I remember thinking I want to run my own business.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: But at the time where I was in my other career, in the marketing and advertising career, I was doing really well and it's a relatively lucrative industry to be in and it was a really hard kind of playoff to think, well, do I step aside from all of that and just go go for it with nutrition, which at the time was still a really quite an emerging sector?
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: It's even like 20 years later now.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: So many more people will talk about nutrition, having a, having a nutritionist working with natural and complimentary health.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: You know, back then you'd be lucky if you had one health food store in your town or village and it was pretty dusty and rusty and you know there wasn't that kind of variety of amazing foods and supplements that we can kind of buy today.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: So I just didn't see it as a legitimate career opportunity for me at the time.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: So I kept it as this passion.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: You know, I guess I did make compromises.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: I was in my 20s so when I was studying at the weekend I wasn't going out, which probably has like health benefits for me now, but you know, at the time it didn't feel like a huge sacrifice.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: You didn't feel like a compromise right, we use that word now, but I mean, it's just like hindsight of yeah, I didn't do this because I was doing that.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Exactly but look at it like that when you're doing the work that you love or that you're aligned with and I think something I want the listeners to hear is, when you're doing the work that you want to be doing, that is aligned with who you are in a passionate purpose, it just does not feel like a compromise 99% of the time.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, you'll get tired on Sundays and you'll be Sundays like why am I doing this?
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Oh man, it would be, easier.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: If but I never like I would go back right.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: No, I wouldn't change it.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: No.
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: So so let's pivot to menopause.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: Let's just start off with what's the connection between nutrition and menopause, Right?
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: So probably best to start with menopause and gut health.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: You can kind of build the nutritional on top of that.
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: So there's a really strong connection between your hormones and your gut health.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Your gut is responsible for metabolizing and processing all of your hormones and if your gut isn't working properly then you're not going to be able to do that well, which can lead to many of the symptoms that women will experience at this stage of life.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: So by correcting that microbiome and correcting that balance in inside your gut, you can completely alleviate actually almost all of those symptoms.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: And then, layering on top of that a really good diet that then feeds your microbiome and nourishes your gut every day and gives you the nutrients that you really need at this time of life to balance hormones, to improve sleep, to increase energy, to look after your skin and your hair and all the things that start to change at this point in life.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: It can be a really powerful tool and it's a tool that everybody can access every day because you have to feed yourself.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: You can make good choices every day through your diet to really improve your everyday well-being and health.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: So share with me some of the just where people that may not know, or are coming into it or haven't had it or experience it.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: What are some of the symptoms of MetaBos that one would expect or should expect are possible?
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: And again, I'm assuming I've not had it yet, so but I'm assuming everyone's experience with it is different, but the same in some way.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's the same in the.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: It's the same process of hormone change that's going on inside our bodies.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: So our estrogen is declining and our progesterone is declining and our testosterone are declining, and they all do different things in our bodies and have a different impact on how and how we feel every day.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: And there's this term, the perimenopause, that no one was really talking about that five years ago even, and it was almost a bit of a secret that actually, well, hey, we've all heard that there's the menopause and you know at that point that's when your periods start.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: But did you know that there's a period of maybe seven to 10 years before that where you're going to start to feel the effects of that fluctuating estrogen and the reduction in progesterone?
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: And it's definitely not taught at school.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: I think the awareness for women of this is the change that you're going to start to expect is really low and it's something that we really want to try and change actually at.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: The better menopause world is to get that education out there.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: So the list of symptoms I mean it's pretty long.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: I think there are sort of 48 plus symptoms that are recognized now.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Well, the top ones, obviously.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: I think you know I hear a lot about or I can't lose weight.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: That's the biggest one I hear about.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, yes, it's a huge, huge.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I can't sleep as well and I have hot flashes.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Those are the ones that are in news or I hear a lot about.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and all of those ones are connected and I'm not saying those are the top three, but that seems to be the top that come out.
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: I think hot flashes is the famous one, right, if you know.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: If you ask somebody of not menopause or age or what's the symptom associated with menopause, they're probably going to say hot flashes, because it's the one that everybody knows.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: But actually a symptom like anxiety is huge and for many women they don't realize that actually that is connected to what's going on with their hormones and it can often be one of the first signs of that permenopause change that you suddenly go from feeling like yourself every day to waking up feeling anxious.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: And that's what happened to me and I was in a really stressful job, high pressure and big expectations of myself and expectations around me as well, and I just suddenly had this feeling of anxiety that I've never experienced before and I wouldn't describe myself as being an anxious person, but yeah, it was then leaking into my sleep.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: So my sleep was being disrupted and again, I haven't had sleep problems before.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: And then I kind of coupled that with some other common symptoms like achy joints and energy just being lower and it's it's a hard thing to describe until you feel it, but many women will say I just don't feel like myself and then you lose that motivation to exercise or you lose the motivation to do things that you would usually love.
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: They are all signs that, I think, should make you just think.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: Actually, is there something else going on inside me?
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: Is it this hormone change that's driving all of these feelings?
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: Because what's happening with our hormones affects our brain, which affects our gut, and it's all connected.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's interesting when you're in your 40s, mid-40s to your mid-50s, that that sounds like the time of you could be in perimenopause.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but those are also the times that you're probably in the highest level of your role.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: You work, get to where you are and then, some start to happen that you may not think about.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: The one that resonated with me, as you were talking about, was I just don't feel like myself, like very upbeat, energetic, really gregarious person, like I really enjoy talking to people, but every now and then and I'll just say now I'll be like man I just don't feel the same energy that I should.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: It's just more so like how do I?
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: I don't know if I can fix it, or like I didn't know there's anything to address.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: So tell me how.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: With regard to you talked about supplements and obviously people with hormone therapy as well, but the idea of supplements seems like a gentler way to enter.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Can I, can I kind of figure this out?
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: And obviously working with a professional like a nutritionist is advised.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Someone wanted to like start figuring out.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Can I help my symptoms on having by basically improving my gut health or understanding my current gut health?
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Where do they start?
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: Good question.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: So certainly in the UK, many, many women won't have any kind of annual, annual checkups.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: Having that kind of opportunity, yeah, it just, it just isn't a thing, which is probably why many women then go undiagnosed, let's say, of being in perimenopause, and they put their symptoms down to other things.
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: So the stress of life, the pressure of job, like you said before, about being in that kind of peak of your career Like this, this really should be the time that we are like go, go, go.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: Let's really manifest all those kind of benefits of our experience and be great leaders and be great bosses and all of that.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: But if you're not feeling great inside, that's a really, really tough thing to do.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: So I think for anyone, the first step is education.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: So understand what is happening in your body and why.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: And when you start to understand what the hormones do and why you're feeling the way you feel, it's quite empowering because you then know, okay, this is not my fault, you know I haven't got.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: I haven't got a disease, I'm not unwell, I've actually.
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: Just I'm experiencing a change that's supposed to happen in my body.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: Right, we are supposed to go through menopause, but now there's so much science that shows the, the role of the gut in hormone balance and there's a particular group of bacteria in the gut called the astrobalome that are responsible for metabolizing and modulating estrogen levels.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: So they can they can both help reduce the estrogen through that excretion process, but they can also help create more from inactive estrogen.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: So we need more.
• 22:25
  Speaker 2: They can help modulate that, and what the science has shown is that when you start to go through perimenopause, the fluctuating estrogen levels play havoc with your microbiome.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: So they are directly in the hormones, directly in communication with your microbiome.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: When you've got estrogen going up and down, this can cause real fluctuations in the health of your overall microbiome, which then has a knock-on effect to how you then metabolize and process hormones, your digestion, your absorption, which might mean that you're not absorbing enough of the essential nutrients that you really need, like B vitamins and magnesium, which is so essential for everybody but really important at this time of life as well.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: And if everything's working a little bit below par, it's no wonder that you're then not going to feel your best.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: So this is why we created the, the BetterGut, as our flagship product.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: So it's a probiotic that's been specifically designed for this phase of life.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: It's got six different bacteria in there that have all got scientific efficacy for improving symptoms and there.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: So each bacteria is linked to it could be improving anxiety, or improving sleep, or improving weight management, or skin health, or vaginal health or UTIs, or you know the list.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: The list is very long, but it was important to us that we created a product that did have that science there, so that anyone can choose to take it themselves.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: They don't need to go and see a nutritionist to say, yes, you're allowed to take this.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: This product is safe for anyone to take, and in most cases, there are going to be a few exceptions, and if you're one of those exceptions, you're going to know, because you're probably very unwell or you're in an immunocompromised situation.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: But for everybody else, it's a safe product to take.
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: And it's also safe to take if you are on cancer drugs as well, which is another really important group of women that are pushed into menopause due to their treatment or due to medical intervention, like a hysterectomy, for example, and they might not be able to take HRT.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: It might not be available to them due to due to health risks.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: So having those natural options available that can then be supported with a great diet and other supplements as well is really is really powerful and empowering.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: I hope well for those women.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: For sure.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: So I think, from the perspective of learning about your microbiome and understanding it, I do advise that you talk to a nutritionist and not just grab stuff off the shelf.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: I think the microbiome in our bodies is something that it is its own science experiment and when it gets off, it needs some help in some places or, you know, you sometimes worry about upsetting the balance of it.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: You change things.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: But definitely I think one of the people that should be entering our lives somewhere in our 40s should be a nutritionist.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it isn't a bad thing to try that out, to have that consult, to see what you say, to do testing.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: You know, because our bodies change, we change.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: One of the things you know I've heard come up a bunch too was like in talent just to serve foods at this point, like and things like that that they didn't have an issue with but now they're having an issue with in their 40s and 50s.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Is that related potentially to?
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely so.
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: One of the symptoms connected with that is the astrobalone being out of balance is recurrent IBS.
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: So it might have been something that you'd experienced in your younger years and had gone away and you were feeling absolutely fine digestively and suddenly it comes back and women are left wondering why is that?
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: And it really is connected to that gut hormone access.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: So the communication between your hormones and your gut.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: And now you mentioned testing.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: I think the functional testing that we can offer as nutritionists is an amazing insight to what's going on inside our bodies and if you want to, you can look at everything.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: You can look at your genetic profile to look at.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: Ok, well, left to its own devices, how naturally would my body deal with hormones?
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: How would it deal with digestion and metabolism and methylation, which is that kind of breakdown and removal from the body?
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: And then, on top of that, you can then look at your microbiome through stool testing.
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: So you can find out so much about what is going on in your body today and again, like for the right person, that information is really empowering and useful and not everybody will want to go out and do those tests.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: I'm very intrigued, like I'm very intrigued because I've never used nutritionists.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: I've used integrative medicine throughout my life, probably in the 30s and 40s.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Acupuncture, meditation, cupping, those type of things are things I've explored.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: But I mean those are more physical, tactile things that you can do, but add great results with those things.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: But I think you know, I'm very, very intrigued, especially since I've been like, oh, I'm not even affected by it.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: You know little me like thinking about things happening to me when actually, like, some of these things may be connected, right, yeah, sometimes, oh, it's just a tough day, it's just that moment, it's just that's what I should expect, when actually maybe I'm not giving myself a break, and like realizing that it could be something deeper.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Right, because I think, as women, we're just a lot of us are just like keep going, ignore it, don't stop.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: You know you, you don't have time, just get it done, and I think you know for me that's probably what I've done.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: But, like I said, some of the things you talked about, I guess because I wasn't having this major thing, like there's so much sometimes I do think it is hype in the media and online, I mean, about that change.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: It is a natural thing that is happening, that there are many ways that we can learn more about it, and your company is helping us with understanding.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Here's one way.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: What I love about the unique perspective you and your company are bringing is just start, like, with our base, which is our gut, which is everything.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: So I think you know we sometimes in healthcare go to the fix versus the actual, you know route.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Would you agree with that?
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I really would, and I would just say to anyone to be very, very wary of products that claim to fix one thing specifically.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: So this, this supplement, will make you lose weight like it won't in all likelihood.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: And even if it does, it probably won't be permanent.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: It won't last right and there, and when you understand the reason why we gain weight during this phase of life, it it makes you realize that actually it's.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: It's so much more than than just taking one pill.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: It's not going to fix it on its own.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about that for a little bit, because that is the number one thing that I've heard people talk about.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: I've experienced it, but I really just thought it was again my stress when I lost weight in my 40s.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: It was very not easy, but much, much easier.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: And now I have to get some of my habits and intention and discipline aligned because I would say I've got out of alignment in the middle of this year.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Really good beginning, really not so good in the middle and kind of getting back on track now as I finish out 23 so I launch into 24.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: But I think one of the things is what is what happens with menopause in our ability to to lose weight or to stay a healthy weight?
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's has a lot to do with estrogen and that and that declining estrogen or fluctuating estrogen initially, and then another hormone, insulin.
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: So very often in this phase of life our body can become more sensitive to sugar and more resistant to to insulin.
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: And when our body is resistant to insulin, it stops hearing the messages of take the sugar and put it in the cell to burn for energy and what instead happens is that sugar then gets stored as fat.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: Our body sends out a different signal that says store that energy as fat.
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: I will use it later.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: Is there a body like confused at that point?
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: It is it.
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: So estrogen plays a role in helping with that communication.
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: It works with insulin and the sugar to tell, to tell the body to move the sugar into the cell.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: So inside our brain, estrogen is playing a role in telling sugar effectively to get inside the brain cell and create the energy that we need in the cell in order to do all of our thinking and make, make good decisions every day and all the functions.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: And when that communication breaks down because of estrogen not being there to help with that kind of smooth, smooth path, that then starts to create these feelings of anxiety and also cravings, because the brain says I need fuel, which sends a signal to the gut that says I need sugar now and that's when we go okay.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: Well, what I'll do then is have a cake, because that's gonna be kind of how, or biscuit, or a chocolate bar.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: You know, whatever that that kind of advice might might be.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: So actually, those, those types of craving messages are really hard to resist because it is a kind of chemical reaction that is going on inside our body that is being made worse by the fact that our bodies are more resistant to to insulin.
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: And what we see in women from midlife on is higher, higher risk of metabolic disease, whether that's kind of diabetes or metabolic cancers.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: We see higher risk of heart disease.
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: We see higher risk of of brain degenerative diseases as well, and that is all connected to what has happened with hormones in our body, because estrogen plays this important role in communication and protection of our organs as well.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: So it is a it's a real challenge.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: The other side of it as well is that if we've got excess estrogen in our system which which we can have because we're not breaking it down properly and excreting it, that can also cause weight gain.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: So that kind of presence of estrogen is is really getting our body to to to store again more sugar as fat, so it's working against us in in kind of both ways.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so your body's giving you the message you're doing what you always did yeah in your 40s like, yeah, I'm gonna have a dove chocolate or I'm gonna kind of do the thing and that's gonna give me the energy, but it actually you're intaking it, it's not giving you energy.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Your brain's like give me more, give me more, I need.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: I need energy and you're like I'm giving it to you, but okay, I'll have a second piece or third piece, I'll drink the coke or whatever it may be.
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: Exactly all that's for not meaning yeah it's.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: It's what you used to do that worked and now, because of the change in estrogen, it's not working.
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: So exactly people are listening to hear, like because I've heard it, you know what I used to do doesn't work anymore and and again, everyone's journey is their own, so there's no judgment about what you do or how you do it.
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: I think what's important and what you're really stressing is like be educated as as to the mechanism for what is happening.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Right so, but it's not just a one drug going to fix it all type of moment, because it may fix it for a moment, but it's not to fix it sustainably and maybe even healthily, if that's in the word, or in a healthy way for your future.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah so so if someone's trying to figure out kind of where to start, where, where, do they start?
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: yeah, well, I mean, in an ideal world, you go and see a nutritionist and you know that.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: That, that health check that you were talking about, why not do that with a nutritional practitioner?
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: are there online things that people can do like and you know, even obviously the testing you can't do online, but like could you do like a virtual consultancy?
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: absolutely like many nutritionists offer those virtual clinics and so it's really accessible for for anyone.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: Obviously that there's a cost, so I appreciate that you know that might be a barrier, but you know you don't have to live in a certain place in order to to see a nutritionist, so you, you could do that.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: I think you know, for anyone else, for anyone that wants to kind of get started today, on on on, a change is recognizing that what worked for you in your 20s and 30s probably won't work for you in your 40s and 50s because of the way our body and our metabolism is working differently and there are different things that you can try.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: So for some people, intermittent fasting makes a huge difference and what that does is it really gives our body a chance to not be fueling on sugar.
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: It has to go into that fat-fuelling mode in order for us to create energy in a different way.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: And I'm not talking about 24-hour, 36-hour fast.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: It's like 12, 16, 18.
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: Exactly, it could be 12, right.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you probably do it naturally already.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: That's one of the things that's actually was working really well for me before I kind of got off.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: My habit trail Was interesting to fast and I started with 12, which was really just meaning I stopped eating by 7 and I don't eat at 7 pm, I don't eat until 7 am.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: That's 12 hours, folks.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're already doing it, but I think when people hear intermittent fasting, they think, oh my gosh, I can't eat for days, or something like that.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: So I just wanted to insert the 12 hours probably what was already due.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: It's a 12-hour minimum, because that is the amount of time really that your body needs and your digestive system needs in order to shut down from digestion and go into repair.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: And when your body goes into repair, you heal faster, your immunity is better, your energy is better, you're not in that high sugar state, so generally you're creating a healthier internal environment.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: And if you want to try 13, 14, 16 hours, try that and see what works for you and it has a lot to do with our genes, actually, on how many hours will work best for you Vs how many hours will work best for me.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: So playing around with that and trying to test it for yourself is quite important.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: The other thing is fasting for women is different than fasting for men because of our estrogen.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: Correct.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: It is, yeah, and it's different for menstruating women Vs Non-menstruating women as well.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: So there are some great resources out there.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: There are some great books.
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: Fast Like a Girl is one of them that just really helped you.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: But again, if you want to understand the science of it, before you launch into anything that is fundamentally changing the way you live, I would always recommend you just do a bit of reading or a bit of listening, like educate yourself so you know why you're doing it, and just do it because it feels like a trend or everyone else is doing it.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: Why am I doing this and how is this going to help me?
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: Because then you get the motivation and the commitment.
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: The biggest issue with that I guess a nutritionist would have is that long term commitment from the client, because you can't do it to them.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: You're not going to give them a pill that's going to magically heal them.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: You're not doing body work that they're going to walk away feeling renewed and refreshed.
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: You're giving them education, information and a plan, and that plan has to then be fulfilled by themselves.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: You need to be sort of motivated to make that happen, committed right, committed to yourself, to your health?
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, because I think, if I take my experience with my clients over the last year, many of them had health goals that they were committed to Right.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: And when we get to this part of the year, kind of doing a check in of like, how is it, how's it going?
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: How are all the goals that you had?
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: They had a health goal, basically a wellness goal.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: They had a strategic goal and they had a mindset goal.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: So each of them had one of the one that went back burner and quickest and that has stayed there.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: Is their wellness goal Right?
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: And I don't know if that's just, I don't know outcome of how women, you know, and it happens to men too.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: So I'm not trying to say it doesn't happen to both, but we back burner our wellness and our health for some reason.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: But we perform, we achieve, we excel, but at the cost of, sometimes, our wellness?
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: And that stumbles across another really important point that one of the reasons women run into lower resilience to stress and anxiety during this phase of life is because our bodies become really tired of that constant cortisol drive.
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: And it's that cortisol drive that's allowing you to kind of push, push, push, without looking after your health and well being in the background.
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: And that also is then connected to what's happening with our insulin and sugar metabolism and that increase of weight.
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: So you will see a pattern with many women where they have been in high stress, high pressure roles and careers and then, they don't know, sleeping as well.
• 38:27
  Speaker 2: The anxiety starts to creep up, the weight starts to creep on and they don't know why.
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: And they've been able to push like that throughout their 30s, throughout their early 40s maybe, but then something changes and the body says, nope, that's not happening anymore.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: You need to listen to me.
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: So everyone can listen to themselves, everyone can take a moment to, even without seeing a professional, they can ask themselves how am I feeling?
• 38:53
  Speaker 2: Am I at my best?
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: Am I at my optimal?
• 38:56
  Speaker 2: Am I fueling my body in the way that I need to in order to feel really good?
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sometimes I think and I'm guilty of it is like I just want the instant fit.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: Let me lose 60 pounds in three months.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it just doesn't work that way now.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: No, it doesn't it doesn't, it doesn't stay off.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: Even if you could do something that drastic, it would be sustainable.
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, you're going to pour impact.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Going back to kind of once the nutritionist says try intermittent fasting, for example, or maybe try intermittent fasting with these supplements.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: It's a commitment from you to yourself.
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think people listening need to understand, like and ask the question are you ready to commit to yourself and to your health?
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: Because what's going to help you for the next four weeks, which the things that you outlined, could happen if you keep back burning?
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: There is a point where your body says I can't come back, I can't keep going.
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: Right, and what might be sustainable for me, be sustainable for you is going to be really different as well, so there's no point in embarking on something that you know you're not going to commit to because, for whatever reason, it doesn't suit you.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: And we are like a generation of women that have been through all sorts of diets and yoga and dieting and we've tried all sorts of things right, extremes and fads and deficits and all of that.
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: I think my mom has done them all.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think my mom could list them all.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: Actually, they don't work right and I've probably done half of the ones she's done, you know, because obviously we're related and I have some of the genes that she has, that my mom had, et cetera.
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, and it's hard to fight against her right.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: So I think people need to understand that they don't have to fight it.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: They can figure out how to work with it, can commit to themselves and they could, you know, do some of the things that your company does the supplements and see if that's an option or they can really just there's a whole host of things.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: But if you're thinking that something's an instant fix, it most likely can help you, maybe minimally, but it won't be long standing.
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: No, exactly Things you said that I want to end with is what I see women do is give each other advice Like this is what I did, this is what I'm taking, this is how I did it.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: You know, maybe we have the same goal to be to get to a healthy one, but you know what works for you isn't going to work for me, isn't going to work for them.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: So I think I always just want people to realize, like I know they're trying to help, but like I think what we should help people do is understand.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: Do you understand the why of what's happening for you, like, and that's where I think education, understanding what the options are, talking with nutritious, even if it's just a, you know, a virtual online connect, just ask questions and to educate yourself or to kind of read.
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: And I think going to your website is a great place to start, and so all the information about that is below in the episode notes.
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: But I think when, when you think someone's kind of coming into the first part of this, what would be your advice for someone who is just starting to feel a little off or something's happened that never happened before?
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: What's the first advice you would give them as they come into menopause?
• 42:07
  Speaker 2: Well, I would say you should speak to your GP.
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: So you you should check in with them the the challenges.
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: Not every GP will be well enough educated on on on menopause, so it is a little bit of luck for draw.
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: You also have the option to go and see a private GP with a menopause specialist and there are many of them around that all over the country that have done that extra training with kind of menopause treatments and they will have a much more informed conversation with you around what's going on with your hormones.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: They'll test, they'll look at the hormone levels, they'll take the full picture of what's happened with all your symptoms and help you put all of that together.
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: But then for somebody that isn't at that stage of feeling like they want to speak to the doctor just yet or go down that kind of medicalized route, just making the changes to your diet as early as possible that allow you to have better metabolic health will will see you in in much better stead throughout the menopause.
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: So that is going to be about really looking at the sugars that you're consuming, ideally cutting out snacks, including protein, fiber, essential fats in in every meal, really paying a lot of attention to that If you feel yourself well at each meal, you won't have those sugar cravings, and then you won't be reaching for the things that are going to make you feel worse in the end.
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: So really getting on top of how you're eating and what you're putting in your body is is the kind of first port of call I think, for for anyone, and you can choose to do that through having meals delivered to your home, to seeing a nutritionist, to reading a book, to taking recipes online.
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: We share some recipes and ideas as well on our, on our Instagram, and so do many other kind of brilliant practitioners, so there's a lot of free information out there that anyone, anyone, can access.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: Well, excellent advice and thank you so much for being on the Bold Lounge.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: Please check out all the information about Joanna, her company, the better menopause and all that you can learn.
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Joanna.
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Bold Lounge podcast.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: Through the continuum of bold stories vulnerability to taking a leap you will meet more extraordinary people making a positive impact for others through their unique and important stories.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: By highlighting these stories, we hope to inspire others to share the journey of those with a bold concept.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: We hope you've enjoyed this podcast and look forward to sharing the next bold journey with Rita.
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: Thank you very much for listening.