Nutrition, Mindset, & Lifestyle in Midlife with Alison Bladh

Today I have Allison Bladh she is a registered nutritional therapist and has dedicated her life to helping midlife women reclaim their inner power and refresh their minds and revive their bodies. So Allison, thank you so much for joining us today on the show. Oh, it's a pleasure. It's so lovely to be here talking to you.

Thank you for having me. Well, you're welcome. And I just would love the listeners to learn a little bit more about you and just really what motivated you to really help women in this midlife phase. Yeah, I mean my, my journey started really as a teenager. I developed very bad acne when I was a teenager.

Uh, and I mean, that's a, it's a difficult time enough as it is, isn't it? Being a teenager, all the hormone, chaos, et cetera. And I had very bad skin, and that really led me down. The, the root of hormones. Cuz even at that young age, I was, I was really interested to know what, what was going on? Why was I developing acne?

So I started getting, uh, an interest in [00:01:00] hormones, in, in nutrition. Was it lifestyle? Was it something I was doing? I. So when I actually started my career, I started as an aesthetician, uh, specifically working with women's hormonal skin health. And this, uh, led me to perimenopausal, menopausal, and postmenopausal women because this can be a time where you really have skin problems.

It's not just during puberty. Mm-hmm. And, you know, I very soon came to realize, um, that. You can do aesthetic treatments and they're, they're very beneficial, but you do need to work from the inside. You need that nutritional piece. So, so that's when I went back and studied nutritional science, uh, and became a nutritional therapist.

And as I was growing up, you know, all my female members in my family, my mother, my grandmother, their friends, You know, they were really suffering in this kind of midlife, uh, time and nobody spoke about it. It, I mean, even now it's still very, [00:02:00] um, it, it's not really a subject that, that women talk about menopause.

It's kind of brushed under the carpet and I was really interested. You know, why weren't these women getting the support and the help that they needed? Because I could see my mother was really suffering with, you know, the symptoms and fatigue and, and stress, et cetera. So I, I've made it my mission really to talk about menopause and, and help women understand what is going on and the support that is available.

Because there's so many things that you can do. You really don't. Have to suffer. You know, it's a natural process that every woman will go through, but it is a lack of education, and a lack of talking about it really, that made me want to go out and support and help. Women and my real interest in fascination of hormones obviously was a big driver as well.

 Uh, I love that because I think just even talking about it is so important because we don't talk about it. And these [00:03:00] symptoms that we feel can be kind of pushed aside for other things, you know, other medical things. Not even going back to menopause, it almost gets like poo-pooed a little bit, so.

Uh, learning from other women that have been through it, feeling supported by other women that have gone through it is, is really helpful. And just like you said, talking about it. Yeah, and I mean, I dunno what it's like in, in your pods world, but I'm, I'm living in Europe at the moment and there is thankfully, uh, a bit of a menopause revolution going on here, especially in the United Kingdom.

Women have just had enough and they're really kind of like, No, we want support, and we're gonna talk about this. A lot of celebrities have got behind it, they've done documentaries on television. There's a lot of books coming out. Mm-hmm. And you can see how the momentum is, is building up. So , it's happening, but there, obviously, there's a long way to go.

And I know in many parts of the world it still isn't even spoke about. There's, there's still [00:04:00] such a lot of women that don't truly understand what it is. Oh yeah. And I don't think we're as far along as you are. I think it's also starting to be talked about more, but not maybe as much as it is over there.

But like I was talking to you beforehand, I actually meant post menopause and had no idea that I even went through menopause. So it's that bad. For me it was that bad, but I didn't suffer. I. As much as some other people have really suffered. So I'm very grateful about that. But still not knowing and almost feeling like I missed a whole phase that is so big.

 And the symptoms that I did feel, you know, were normal, it would've been nice to have someone to talk to. Yeah, and I think, knowledge is power, isn't it? If you understand that maybe you're having, I mean, hot flashes obviously is one of the known symptoms, but you know the word perimenopause, which is the phase [00:05:00] before menopause, which on average starts around the age of 45.

It can be earlier, it can be later. This many women don't, that don't. Understand, like, you know, you were just saying that you kind of just glided through it and, and then all of a sudden you're in menopause and you didn't really understand what went on. No, and I, I, I still dunno what happened, honestly. It was like a, I'm like, okay, I'm here now and I'm happy I'm here now.

Cuz honestly, I'm living the dream. I mean, honestly, I feel really healthy, so I'm happy. But yeah, I'm almost glad that I'm actually through that phase. So what I love about you is that you take this approach to this menopause midlife. Period with nutrition, positive mindset, life modifications, which I love.

Cuz a lot of times you go talk about your symptoms and it's a lot of medication, or hormones. And I love the philosophy of looking at it [00:06:00] more holistically actually. So can we like, break that down a little bit? Maybe I. We can start, since you have a nutritional therapist background, can we start a little bit with nutrition and kind of how that plays a role in this time period?

Yeah. A absolutely nutrition, it's a huge subject. And, and when I work , with clients, you know, I work very individually cuz everyone's needs are different. So I would tailor a nutritional program specifically to their needs and their goals. But when, when you look at menopause, oral nutrition more generally, You know, there are certain things that we have to think about when we come into this phase in our lives due to one of, one of the many factors is due to the decline in, in estrogen and progesterone.

And, and testosterone is, you know, in a woman declines naturally with age. And because of this decline in hormones, there's a lot of things that start happening in the body. And, you know, we really need to nourish our [00:07:00] bodies, uh, and really think about what you eat to, obtain maximum health. And you know, what I say is you can't, you can't get away with eating and behaving like you did when you were younger.

Because you just, you just feel it. You just can't, unfortunately, you have to take better care of yourself. And because of the decline in, in these hormones, uh, women are at higher risk of, um, osteoporosis, uh, cardiovascular disease. Uh, there's a lot of research now going on, maybe that there's nothing final, but there could be a link, uh, between deterioration or decline in estrogen and dementia.

 There's a lot that goes on with metabolism. Um, so estrogen is, is is a mother hormone. It, it is not just a sex hormone. It's so important for virtually every bodily system. So we have to think of nutrients. So when we're thinking about diet and and menopause, that. The one thing that [00:08:00] you really should focus on, and I know this isn't easy, I totally appreciate this in the, the food environment that, that we live in at the moment, but really try to avoid or reduce all the ultra processed foods that you're eating because.

Th there's many things that happen in the body. You could, you could do a whole podcast on it, but yeah, they cause inflammation. They're very high in sugar. They're high in damaged fats. And with the decline in estrogen in your body, you are, you are already a little bit more sensitive, and estrogen, it has an anti-inflammatory effect on the body.

So when that declines , your body becomes inflamed. And if you are eating all this, Rubbish food for, want of a better word. You're just gonna stimulate everything, uh, negatively. And it's been shown in, in research that it makes your menopausal symptoms worse. You know, if you've got a really high sugar, ultra processed foods diet.

Your experience of menopause [00:09:00] will most likely be worse than, than somebody that eats whole Foods. So it's you, you just have to give that little bit of extra time and, you know, make food from scratch. And it doesn't have to be complicated, you know, just buy whole foods. Don't buy packaged foods that, that have got a list of 2013 ingredients that, you know, half of them, you don't even know what they are.

Uh, The whole foods like broccoli, vegetables, fruit, you know, if you, if you're a meat eater, you know, a, a piece of chicken or a tofu or, or whatever, but something that you recognize what it is that, that would be so beneficial for your, for your menopausal health. Cuz we also have to think of, , blood sugar balance, uh, and blood sugar.

As we go through perimenopause and menopause, you can become what we call less, , sensitive to insulin. Now insulin is, is a hormone, and this [00:10:00] enables our body to utilize glucose, which which is the energy that we need to, to function and. When you're in perimenopause and menopause, it can happen if you have this high sugar diet that your body doesn't react to insulin like it should.

And then that can lead to something that we call insulin resistance. Mm-hmm. And if you don't really take control of that, you know the next stage from that is diabetes two. So eating high sugar diet full of refined carbohydrates that just shoot your blood sugar up. A very detrimental for health. So you really need to take that piece and think about just.

Mindful of what you're eating. You know, I think I was liking it to what my grandmother ate. I mean, there weren't any of these packaged foods then she, she would just eat. What she would call food. Mm-hmm. Now we call it organic, don't we food because we haven't, now we spray everything with [00:11:00] chemicals, but when she was growing up, that didn't even exist.

 And I don't know how your supermarkets are set up, but uh, here in the US. It, it tends to be like the whole foods, like the healthier choices and less processed are like on the outskirts and the inner aisles are all the processed stuff. So one doctor once had said to me, um, he's like, just shop on the out outside.

Don't even go on the inside aisles. I mean, which is hard because all the good stuff is on the inside, but, but it, it does save time and you do tend to be more like fruits, vegetables, meats, you know, dairy and done, you know, that's, that's what's on the outside. Yeah, it's true here actually in Europe that they're set up the same way.

, you know, none of us are perfect, are we? Now I'm totally realistic, you know, life, we're not gonna be able to be perfect and completely cut out refined, ultra processed, refined foods. But if you don't buy them [00:12:00] and, and have them in your house mm-hmm. Then you're not gonna be so tempted to eat them.

So just like you say, go around the outskirts of the food store. Don't even go in that middle bit where you've got all your, sugary refine. Don't have them in the house, just don't buy them. Yeah. Or just go in, but go in with intention, like, versus just shopping. Cuz that's when you're like, oh, I'm gonna grab this and grab, oh, that looks so good.

Or the kids would love this. So yeah, go in with intention, like, I'm just gonna go down that aisle and grab this one thing. And don't go shopping when you're hungry. 

Yeah, it's terrible. Could you also, touch on there is this midlife weight gain, is that correct? I mean, like we can gain weight at any time, but there is something about this hormonal change that does affect, like that weight gain that we gain. And I mean, my body personally is starting to look like my mom's.

I mean, I love my mom dearly, but I can see it happening. And I'm just curious about how that, how that works. What's going on there? Yeah, [00:13:00] it's, it's a great question because that is something that, that many women that come to me a about as well, that they want to work with and what it, it's a complex area, uh, and we don't fully understand.

We've got, there's many. The thing is, it isn't just one thing. There's many different factors that come into play here. What we do know is that, we lose muscle mass as we get older. You know this, it's not, we can't blame it all on the menopause and, and muscle. We really need to keep our muscles, cuz muscles are, are like energy burners.

So if you, if you have a, you know your muscle, you will automatically. Use more energy so you know, what you eat will be burnt as energy more. So you really need to work on muscle mass. And because of the decrease in, in muscle mass as we age, you know, that's one of the factors that come into play that we gain weight.

Another, , big area is that we tend to change from, we [00:14:00] go from, uh, a, a pair shape. To more of an apple, you know, you, you gain the, the weight around the tummy area. It, there's a bit of a shift going on there. Um, one of the factors that, that comes into play with that is that when you're in perimenopause, menopause, you can become, testosterone can become more dominant.

And that can have an effect on where you store fat. , but that is very common in in women as we age, that we do get this like kind of tire, like a muffin top. Mm-hmm. Uh, around the middle area. It's also can be due to, hormones, that we collect the fat around that area. But one parti really big thing about weight gain is stress.

Uh, and when I work with clients, you know, most people when they come to me are very stressed and very overwhelmed. We have to work on [00:15:00] stress management because if you are constantly suffering from chronic stress, it's actually very difficult to lose weight. It's firstly impossible because the, the stress hormone, which one of them, which is called cortisol, is a fat storing hormone.

So it's that everyday chronic stress, which, which it seems like in, in society today that we're, we're all stressed all the time. So you've got this constant, level of cortisol in your blood, and when you have that stress hormone, it's sending a signal to your body, oh, you're gonna have to run away from danger.

Uh, store energy, store fat. So you, you don't burn fat. You, you will store it. Cuz we, we, we've progressed so much as human beings, but, but our bodies haven't really, you know, we're, we are still living hundreds of years back in time. We're, we're not, we haven't really caught up. With today's society. Uh, so that's another factor.

Another area [00:16:00] that I would say to, to women is that if you are, you know, gaining weight and there's no real explanation for it, then have your thyroid gland, uh, do a thyroid test because that the thyroid is a, is a gland. It's like the engine of the body actually sits here at the, the base of your throat.

And that is really important for metabolism and metabolic health. The, the thyroid hormones. And it's been shown that when women go into menopause, that , the risk of having, hypothyroidism, it's called, increases. So thyroid is key for weight management. So you can just have a blood test done at your doctors that, that would be able to look at the levels of your thyroid hormones.

Sleep is a big area with weight management. You know, if you are not sleeping, which can happen during menopause, you can have real problems sleeping. That just sets off a whole, you know, row of different, problems regarding weight gain. One of them to do with if you, if [00:17:00] you're tired, you crave carbohydrates, you know, your body's not stupid, it is tired.

It needs his energy. So the day after. You will really crave carbohydrates and unfortunately, you'll, you'll crave what we were talking about, you know, the, the ultra process, quick carbohydrates that go straight into the, the bloodstream. Mm-hmm. Uh, and another interesting thing about, uh, sleep is that. You know, if you are tired, you're not sleeping, it, it can have an effect on your hunger hormones.

So we actually have hormones that regulate our hunger. Uh, one in particular called ghrelin. And, and ghrelin is the hormone that really, you know, tells your body to eat. It's like that growling in your stomach, you know, when you're hungry and lack of sleep and due to, uh, hormonal changes during menopause can kind of like upset the hormone balance.

And it can make you feel like hungry. A lot of women say, I just feel hungry all the time. It doesn't matter how much I eat. [00:18:00] And that is due to the hunger, hormones, menopause. And it can also be made even worse if you, if you're not sleeping properly. And then, you know, we have to think about, Portion size you, you, because of the, your metabolism, because of the menopause and also the aging process.

We can't eat the same amount that we ate when we're in our twenties and thirties. Unfortunately, you, you do, you have to think about how much am I eating? Uh, so it's, it's mindful eating, you know, eating nourishing foods that, that give you all the nutrients that you need, , in the right amounts and eating a balanced, , plate.

But I mean, weight management is very individual. What, what works? But it's, I think what we have to remember as women as well is that, You know, if you are on a weight management journey, it's a, it's a lifestyle change. There are no quick [00:19:00] fixes, unfortunately. And you know, we see in, in research that all these fad diets, I mean, there's hundreds of them, long term, they don't work because they're unrealistic and it's not, you can't starve yourself and then start eating normally again.

You, if you do do that, you normally will. Put the weight back on that you lost and even more. Mm-hmm. So it's about eating whole foods in balance as a lifestyle change, not just quick fatty diets, cuz they don't work long term. Yeah. And I'm, I'm hearing that there's definitely some hormone levels that we can check through blood tests.

 but is there some nutritional foods that specifically you would add? If you have some of these hormones that are off, whether it's the. Uh, imbalance of your estrogen testosterone level, , [00:20:00] are there specific foods or you're just saying like the whole foods are the ones that are just, if you stick with those, that'll also help balance your hormones as well.

Yeah, I mean, that, that is totally correct. What, what you just said, you know, eating Whole Foods works wonders for, for overall health and for hormonal balance. But Pacific things that we need to think of as, as women for hormonal balance is, you know, things like, uh, we need fiber. It's crucial and, and your crucifer vegetables are like cabbage qualifier.

Broccoli are really necessary for, well, when we're in perimenopause, we can be estrogen dominant and we need fiber to eliminate and detoxify estrogens from the body. Either your body, . If you haven't got a good digestive track and you're not eliminating regularly, your body will reabsorb these, uh, hormones and, and when they're reabsorbed, they're not like the nice estrogens.

They, they're not, we [00:21:00] don't want to reabsorb them. So fiber is crucial for, for menopausal women, and it's, it's in vegetables, crucifer vegetables in particular are great, for fiber, and, you know, whole grains. , another interesting area for, for menopause is, uh, something called phytoestrogens. And, and phytoestrogens are basically plant estrogens and, and they've been shown to, to help.

They also contain lots of fiber, so, so they're really great for that. But they've been shown. To help, , in the reduction of, of menopausal symptoms. And it's a similar chemical structure to our own body's estrogen, but it isn't. Uh, but they can have estrogen-like effects on the body so they can really help with menopausal symptoms and, and they've really healthy, I mean, it's a plant, uh, nutrient, things like, flax seeds.

For example, a great form of, phytoestrogen. If you're gonna eat fluxes, make sure you crush them or, or [00:22:00] soak them. Because if you just eat them as they are, they just go straight through you. So you, you do need to. Either crush them or, or soak them. Things like soyer, soyer products contain, , phyto estrogens and then fruits, you know, berries, uh, dried fruits.

It is in virtually all plant products. There's just in soy and flax, there's, there's quite high percentage of phyto estrogens. And then another key area for, for menopausal health is to look after your. Gut bacteria, but interestingly there's a, a gut bacteria called the estro Ballam, it's called, uh, and the Estro Ballam is, uh, they've, this has been coming out through research.

It's a specific group of what we call our gut bacteria that helps in the elimination and, and the balance of estrogen in the body. Uh, the microbiome is, is the, our gut bugs basically. And, and they're so, Needed for overall health, not just for [00:23:00] menopausal health, but for health in general. And these can really help with, uh, hormonal balance and it's eating Fermented foods is, has contains these, these good gut bacteria, sauerkraut, kimchi, you know, all, all your fermented vegetables, kombucha, keer, they contain all these wonderful, uh, bacteria and eating a.

High fiber diet.

Eating a high fiber diet can, can really help to, uh, feed these, uh, gut bacterias bacteria, which, which they really, uh, really light. You know, it's like I, I liken it to looking after a garden. You know, you have to feed your gut bugs and look after them so they thrive. I love this cuz it's, it just makes so much sense and it's all so natural and easy.

You just go to the supermarket or grow a [00:24:00] garden and you're, and you've got what you need. Right? . It doesn't have to be complicated. Doesn't have to be complicated. No. So, I hear a lot of lifestyle things that, are also important. Sounds like sleep is important for sure.

Decreasing stress. What are some lifestyle changes or modifications that you recommend for your clients? Um, Yeah, I mean, as we spoke about, stress is a huge thing and, and that, you know, you really have to prioritize your own wellbeing, you know, and it's all very easy for us to say, I haven't got time, but you, you have, you just have to make time because, you know, if you are not healthy and, and you, you're stressed all the time, you, you will eventually become ill or you'll burn out.

So you, you just need, even if it's just what I say to clients is just 10 minutes a day. Give yourself 10 minutes a day, put it in your schedule, and then do something that you [00:25:00] like. Whether it's just going outside and doing some breathing exercises, you know, having a drink, a cup of tea or, or whatever, you know, phoning a friend, but just that time for yourself is so important that the self care, um, Just take, take it small steps, you know, meditation, obviously yoga, fantastic, but there's not many people that can all of a sudden just spend an hour on meditation.

I think you have to introduce these things very slowly. And I mean, if you enjoy meditation, fantastic. Cuz that is very beneficial as a, as a lifestyle and an anti-stress. Um, Modification. It is fantastic. Sleep, as we said, really focus on getting good sleep. Um, try to unwind a couple of hours before you go to bed rather than, you know, watching the television or going on social media.

You really want your body to start [00:26:00] relaxing and producing, uh, melatonin, which is the sleep hormone. And then things like, you know, something just as simple as drinking more water. It might sound very basic, but you know, do we drink the amount of water that we really need? Do we hydrate, which can make us feel so much better?

And then obviously exercise is really important movement. It doesn't have to be going to the gym for an hour every day. It's just. Moving your body, you know, going for a walk, do, doing something that you enjoy doing. And as we were saying earlier, because of, you know, we lose muscle mass, it's really important that you lift things.

We, we have to keep our muscles and bones strong. So just make sure you're lifting something. It's so important for women as we get older to, to do strength training. I really can't emphasize it enough on that because, you know, Osteoporosis and, and weak bones. It's, [00:27:00] it's kind of like this silent disease because you don't really know you've got, um, porous bone until you fall over and, you know, you maybe get fracture or something.

. I have a question for you about the sleep. It seems like as you get older, it's like your body doesn't, I'm gonna air quotes, need. As much sleep. Is that true? It's like, it's almost like it starts changing, or do we still need that same amount, whatever it is, seven, eight hours a night for that whole repairing of our systems?

Or does it change with midlife? Uh, no, you still need, sleep is the most beneficial thing for our overall health, and you still need sleep. But you the, you know, the, what research is saying now that you need. Seven to eight hours of sleep a night. And that is whether, no matter what age you are, I mean, obviously when you're a teenager, all you do is sleep, don't you?

But as you get older, you know, seven [00:28:00] to eight hours of sleep is, it's needed. Full stop. You know, sh you don't. Necessarily need less sleep as you get older. Cause your body still needs to repair and, and detoxify and you know, everything else that happens when you're, when you're sleeping. Personally for me, as I've gotten older, I'm still trying to get that more like probably six, seven hours, but it, it's almost like, you know, I wake up like at 4:00 AM like, here I am.

I don't know why I'm awake, you know, even. Yeah, so I, I didn't know if it was something that was still needed that amount or, you know, is my body just, I don't know, waking up for other reasons. Yeah, I mean, that is a very typical sign of, um, hormones as well as, as women go. I know you said you're in post menopause, 

 because of the decline in, in your estrogen and progesterone levels that affects sleep. So it's really common. I mean, I'm in perimenopause myself and I wake up probably every morning around 2 [00:29:00] 30, 3 o'clock for a bit. You lie there and you try not to start thinking, cuz then your mind just goes into overdrive, doesn't it?

And it's difficult to get back to sleep. I do breathing exercises and that, it works wonders, but it's very, very common for women to, to wake up at those times in, in the early morning and not being able to sleep. So it's. It's, it's one of the things that happens during menopause cuz men, if you think about it in inject that obviously there are men that wake up, but it's mu much more common in women.

Mm-hmm. Okay. Well that's good to know. So maybe looking at my diet again, seeing what my hormones need to balance so I'm not waking up in the middle of the night or early morning. So let's talk about the positive mindset. I love positive mindset talk. Um, how does that play a role in all this and during these changes?

Yeah, it's, it's fascinating really how. It was, we were saying earlier, menopause is, is shrouded with [00:30:00] this like negativity, isn't it? It's not, we don't talk about it. It's very much brushed under the carpet and, oh no menopause. We don't wanna talk about that. So it, it becomes a very negative. And a really interesting, uh, piece of research has shown that women that come from, different cultures in the, in the world where menopause is actually, you know, as, as you become an older woman, and you go through menopause, you're looked up to you, you know, you're, you are like the head of the village.

You're, you are the, this wise leader of the village and it you are looked upon as being fantastic. It's very positive aura around that stage in a woman's life. And these women for tho from these cultures don't really suffer from menopausal symptoms or very not, absolutely not on the same level that we do in the western world.

And I mean, that's fascinating in itself, isn't it? Because of, because of, just because of the positivity around this. Obviously [00:31:00] there's other factors that I'm sure come into play, but they really, um, looked into this, that the, positivity of around it really helped these women, and they didn't suffer from hardly any menopausal symptoms.

So trying to have. And I appreciate. It's not easy when you're feeling terrible. You know, if someone says to you, oh, have a positive attitude, you just, you know, it's difficult, isn't it? But I think you just have to take small steps and, and think about, you know, how, how you are talking to yourself. You know?

It's very easy to become negative, isn't it? But yeah. Being mindful of what you say to yourself, being mindful of how you talk about menopause and being nice to yourself. I think, you know, just, it can be a difficult time, but it, I think knowledge, accepting that and being kind to yourself really helps.

Helps you feel better. So I think coming away from that negative mindset and really trying to think about, this is a, a new phase in [00:32:00] my life. It's, you know, the next phase in my life, we, we go through different phases through life and this is something that every single woman will go through. So it's not a disease or an illness.

It's approaching it with, with a positive attitude and you know, laughing with your girlfriends about it. I think it's important to. Also joke about it, isn't it? And laugh. And I think a girl's evening is the most wonderful thing to sit there and, you know, chat about your hot flashes or you can't sleep or you've gained weight.

You know, having a real girly evening is so beneficial and, and, and laughing a bit and, you know, talking about it is really helps with that positive mindset. Yeah, I totally agree cuz like I'm just like flashing through things that I went through and I tend to have a positive outlook in most areas of my life.

And it's funny cuz when I started having the hot flashes, , and really just sweating, [00:33:00] like, I just thought, like I kind of laughed at it. I thought it was kind of funny to the point where, I'd gone into the doctor and they asked me, you know, like, what symptoms are you having? I'm like, I'm having fall half flashes, but nothing's bothering me.

It doesn't bother me. I'm just hot, like I'm sweating. It doesn't look good. You know, might have to change a shirt here or there, but it wasn't a bother. Or, you know, any of the other symptoms. Heavy, heavy periods, really heavy periods, a lot of bleeding. Um, but once again, like the. I, it was more of a curiosity that I was going towards than this like, awfulness, you know?

And, and it's true, like when I look back, I'm like, I feel like I missed menopause cuz I didn't feel stuck in it at all. Yeah, and you, you have, I mean, I can tell that, that you have a very positive attitude and that, you know, that's obviously really helped you get through this phase in, in your life and, you know, not get, not get to really focused on it.

I think some people focus totally on it and it, it just becomes overwhelming and it, you know, it makes your [00:34:00] symptoms worse. You just really have to kind of breathe and, and try and just come through it with a positive attitude and I mean, breathing. Just breathing exercises, changes your mindset. It's a fantastic tool to have.

Just to be able to breathe deeply, really makes, make changes our, our nervous system and helps us relax. Mm-hmm. So that just brings me like, what would you tell, um, person going through this right now, what is the biggest thing that they should be implementing into their days at this point? 

. Can I say two things? Two things that will give you two things. Yeah. The biggest results, and I know they, they're quite big things that we've already spoke about, is to really like do a stress audit. Manage your stress, uh, because your body through menopause, you, you just can't go into that stress cycle.

You'll, you will feel terrible and to manage your blood sugar. So to [00:35:00] really remove, uh, the ultra processed foods from your diet and start eating whole foods, if you do those two things, you know, it is so beneficial for your, for your overall health and for your menopausal health. Uh, perfect. And, and yes, I'm also a big meditator, so I'm a big fan of taking that quiet time doing breathing exercises.

And so I, I do think that I've seen physical changes in myself and mentally and physically just through breathing and meditation. So I second the motion. So tell us where people can find you. Where can the listeners find you? Yeah, I think that the easiest place to find me really is on my website, which is alisonbladh.com

that's b l adh. Uh, on my website I have resources page with, with lots of free downloads. Um, Like eBooks with, uh, meal plans and recipe ideas for, for everything. You know, skin health, hair health, weight management. [00:36:00] You know, there's many things on there. So if any listeners would like to download that, please feel free.

And then I'm on all social media platforms that you can find on my social media, links on, on my website, under the contact, uh, details there. And if anyone has any questions, please feel free to drop me an email. Is there anything else that you want the listeners to know? I think one key thing that I always like to say is, 

don't worry about aging. You know, aging is a privilege that's denied to many. You know, if, if you are privileged enough to age and go through menopause, then rejoice and, and enjoy the next 30 plus years of your life. Don't, don't live in regret and, and worry about aging. Oh yes. Cuz every phase has its own beauty to it, so I love that.

 Thank you so much for joining us and your information is [00:37:00] so incredible and I just love how holistic it is, and that just by eating certain foods, changing our lifestyle and that positive mindset, like it can really change. This phase of our life, so thank you. Oh, it's a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.