HSN Episode #31: Healing Menopause Through The Power of Nutrition, Part 1
Michelle Fox: [00:00:00] I want to invite you to my new masterclass. It is called How to Create and Execute Your Weekly Meal Plan in Under 30 Minutes. An Organization Method that can be made. Or break your nutrition goals. Yes, your girl here. I want you to be successful with your nutrition. I want you to be successful with your meal planning.
Michelle Fox: I am telling you, we will be saving you so much time if you just learn a few simple tips and tricks and so head on over to michelle fox.com. Masterclass and you will get all the juicy details there. I have three different classes at three different times because I sincerely want you to get what you need.
Michelle Fox: So sign up for one of them. Sign up for all of them, you girls. Gotcha. And yes, all these masterclass are complimentary.[00:01:00]
Michelle Fox: Michelle fox.com/masterclass. I promise you, come to this class, you are going to learn tips and tools that can never be taken away, so you have nothing to lose, but so much to gain, meaning more free time to do the things that you love.
Michelle Fox: And also it's going to save you money in the long term. So I can't say it enough because I want you there. Michelle fox.com/masterclass. I'll see you soon.
Michelle Fox: Welcome to Healthy Sexy Nutrition with me, Michelle Fox, Culinary nutritionist, health coach, and your host For this podcast, I teach busy professionals how to get more nutrition in their bodies. And how to have more fun in their home kitchens. If you struggle with consistency or sometimes forget to make your needs a priority or you [00:02:00] avoid planning your meals.
Michelle Fox: You, my friend, are in the right place. Join me each week for inspiration to increase your energy, discover new recipes, manage your hormonal woes, and so much more. You are a busy professional, but that does not mean your nutrition should suffer. You deserve to live in a body and have a life that you love.
Michelle Fox: So let's dig in.
Michelle Fox: So if you have been in my orbit for one second or many, many years, , there's a good chance the subject of gluten has come up, And that is what we are talking about today, specifically, all the ways that consuming gluten can affect menopause. Yes. Woman over 40, man over 40
I am talking to you.
Michelle Fox: because there's this thing that I believe it's called menopause.
Michelle Fox: When we are over 40, our hormones start to shift. For better or for worse, we can go back to some of the feelings and.
Michelle Fox: The cascade of hormones very similar to our teenage years. And so the beautiful news is nutrition to the rescue. So yes, today we are talking menopause and how gluten affects Syd symptoms. So where do we begin? You know what? I wanna start with my story. About 25 years ago I was trying to get pregnant with my daughter, and at the time we tried everything. I did acupuncture, and we did abdominal uterine massage. I did. Ooh. I even remember doing hypnotherapy, which actually was really fascinating. but [00:04:00] nothing was working. And so my OB at the time, she was like, let's just take this little blood test. I have a hunch. And sure enough, this blood test came back saying that not only was I gluten intolerant, but dairy intolerant as well.
Michelle Fox: And I will tell you that. When I got that diagnosis, it truly did feel like a prison sentence because everybody around me was eating, you know, the fried chicken, the pizza, and I was like, that's not fair. Like, yes, I have this goal. Yes, I wanna get pregnant, but why can everybody else around me eat these foods?
Michelle Fox: Well, fast forward 25 years later, I will tell you, not only am I off of my pity party, but I am so excited about the benefits because even back then I noticed pretty quickly when I avoided gluten, I slept better. My moods were more balanced. I had way more [00:05:00] energy than I ever even knew was possible, and those are all the things today.
Michelle Fox: I can tell you as I manage my menopausal symptoms, yes, I keep out the gluten and stick with me because I'm gonna tell you a few other things that you can avoid to manage the night sweats, avoid the hot flashes, manage the, you know, the circle around the middle that might be happening. We're gonna talk about that momentarily.
Michelle Fox: But I can tell you gluten is a huge proponent in a lot of our menopausal symptoms.
Michelle Fox: So let's break it down even further. It actually kind of makes me giggle because in the Oxford dictionary, it is defined as menopause is the cessation of menstruation. Well, my friend, whether or not you are going through menopause, And or you know, somebody [00:06:00] going through menopause. You know, menopause is so much more than just us not bleeding any longer.
Michelle Fox: In fact, those of us who perhaps are in perimenopause may still be bleeding, may not, and men hang in there with me. I promise. I'll, I'll get through this part because I'm talking to you as well, especially if you're over 40, because yes, your hormones have also changed. So back to the definition. Yes, we can keep it as simple as.
Michelle Fox: I don't get my period anymore. Okay. But you know, there's a good chance your hair might be thinning. You might gain weight even though you're eating the same way you always have. you might be experiencing night sweats. You might be getting hot flashes coming out of the blue.
Michelle Fox: And you might just be getting like this low grade depression and or anxiety. That's one area I've actually been researching a little bit more lately [00:07:00] because I actually have been experiencing a little bit of that, and a lot of my friends have been reporting the same.
Michelle Fox: So if that is you as well, I promise you are not losing your mind. You are not going crazy. Our hormones are just shifting, and so that just means we need to be a little bit more conscientious of the choices we are making. I am about to host Healthy Sexy May, which I am so thrilled to say. We are going to focus on our friends going through menopause and menopause, and in this program it's going to be six weeks.
Michelle Fox: And in those six weeks, I am going to show you exactly how we can be more mindful of our choices so that we can feel. Sexy in our body because just because we're going through menopause does not mean we get to lack any of our sexiness,In fact, it means [00:08:00] we get to be sexier if we are eating right, if our mindset is correct, and if we are consistent with our fitness.
Michelle Fox: And I've got a lot of tools that I wanna share with you that I'm actually really excited to share with you. So if you wanna get on the wait list for that, head to michelle fox.com/group coaching. You'll see a bit about that. But as far as right now, as I'm in your ear, you're listening to my voice, one of the most important things I wanna share with you is that you are not alone.
Michelle Fox: And that's a close follow up too. There is help. I promise you. You can see if you're watching me on YouTube, there's no. Girl's not sweating. , I can tell you when I first hit menopause, there were night sweats and hot flashes, and that was because your girl was drinking coffee and occasionally drinking the red [00:09:00] wine.
Michelle Fox: Both of those things, still to this day, do cause hot flashes. So I will just give you a warning there that
Michelle Fox: There are simple things that maybe we just do. Have in moderation, but also have the awareness that, yeah, if I'm going to eat this thing or if I'm going to drink this thing, then I will suffer the consequences more. Good news, menopause tends to go away in our sixties. I'm sorry, to those of us, it's gonna still be with you in your seventies.
Michelle Fox: Everybody's body is different, however, It is relatively temporary and there are things we can do to make it more enjoyable and dare I say, feel that much sexier. So a few things we can do. We can eliminate gluten. Let me say that again, just in case you haven't heard me say that like a thousand times [00:10:00] before, we can eliminate the gluten
Michelle Fox: And why I'm so hard on gluten is because whether you see yourself as gluten intolerant, celiac or not, the way wheat is grown these days is very different from the way wheat was grown when our grandparents were eating it. So it is my sincere belief that we are all. On the spectrum somewhere of gluten intolerance, gluten can, and typically does attack our lower bowel system.
Michelle Fox: This is the place where our body absorbs nutrients. And so if you can just think of the visual of a bowel system with little holes being poked in it, those nutrients are loading away. That would be called Leaky gut. And so we're not getting the nutrients we need to feed our brains to help balance our hormones.
Michelle Fox: You know, those hormones are helping us to [00:11:00] manage our weight and to sleep well at night. All of that gets out of whack when we're treating our bodies like crap. And so I just implore you to try it. Just take three days. I'm not saying you have to go cold Turkey. I am saying it is worth trying so you can prove it to yourself three days, no gluten, and just see how you feel.
Michelle Fox: I actually would love to know how you feel after the full three days. So send me a DM on Instagram. I'm Michelle Fox Love, or you can find me on Facebook. Same thing, Michelle Fox Love, and I really wanna know, how are you feeling? Are you sleeping better at night?
Michelle Fox: Do you notice maybe less dryness with your skin? Do you notice? Maybe a flatter tummy? I know in our three day challenge last summer, one of our participants was so excited about his poop and I was so [00:12:00] excited for him because yes, ladies and gentlemen, poop even gets better, especially gets better when we're eliminating the junk from our diet.
Michelle Fox: A few more things you might want to consider besides nutrition, Which of course we will delve into a lot deeper in group coaching, but just a few things to think about are mindset and fitness. So I just spent a bit of time talking about gluten and I promise you there's so much more around nutrition.
Michelle Fox: I'm, I'm not the gluten warden. I will not be policing your gluten and I promise there are definitely. Things that we're gonna be putting into your body, and a few things we'll be taking out to help eliminate some of those menopausal symptoms. but the other two pillars are mindset and fitness.
Michelle Fox: So in all of my programs, I work from the [00:13:00] foundation of Nutri. Mindset and fitness. And so as far as mindset, I will tell you, just in case you were not aware, because I actually was not even aware until my OB pointed out my stress level compared to the number of hot flashes I got during the day, which is stress is also a huge source of hot flashes and or night sweats.
Michelle Fox: A lot of us are taking certain issues to bed with us and. The night sweats, so we can get into why that is as far as the cascade of the hormones. However, for this quickie podcast episode, I will just say, let's look at your lifestyle. Are there areas that perhaps you can drop the ball? L let things slide off your shoulder.
Michelle Fox: Take a deep breath. We're gonna get into that a lot more. Fitness. Yes, [00:14:00] we need to be consistent. that was even premenopause of course. However, in menopause, I just encourage you to use fitness, whether that's a group fitness class, running, walking, yoga. The fitness that works for your body to alleviate some of that stress and also to help move the hormones in a healthy way through your body.
Michelle Fox: So I hope this was a helpful session. This was part one. I want you to come back next Tuesday for part two where I'm going to delve deeper into some of the alternatives that we can eat and enjoy so that we don't even think about gluten. We don't even miss gluten because I can tell you I sincerely do not miss gluten.
Michelle Fox: It's been over 25 years and I have never looked. All right. Once again, come to my masterclass that's gonna [00:15:00] help you to get clearer and cleaner with your meal planning. I'm gonna show you how to make a meal plan in under 30 minutes. I've got three different times, three different dates because I sincerely want to reach you where you are.
Michelle Fox: That I can give you back more of your precious time so that you can do the things that you truly do enjoy. So that's michelle fox.com/masterclass, and I will see you there.
Michelle Fox: Thanks so much for listening to Healthy Sexy Nutrition. Have you been driving, doing laundry or walking around the neighborhood? Sweet. I've got show notes for [email protected] slash podcast. Click over there when you are ready. I will let you know that on the page you will find resources to support what you just learned on today's show.
And of course, , [00:16:00] you can grab some health supportive freebies as well. If you enjoyed this episode, I would be so honored if you would leave a review on whichever podcast platform you are listening on. It will help me with my mission to build healthier communities one person at a time. Big love from your favorite culinary nutritionist and health coach, and until next week, keep showing up for yourself and know that you and your health matter. [00:17:00]
