2023 - 5:3 Stephanie Shaw Interview Menopause:Nutrition Public Podcast
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[00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to the concierge weight loss podcast. My name is Cara Hackleman, and I'm a certified life and weight loss coach. I help people just like you lose weight for the last time. Are you a little people pleasing, a little procrastinating, and maybe a little perfectionistic? Do you eat when you are not even necessarily hungry?
I can help you overcome that so you can finish losing weight and get out of your own way. Join me each week to get a little motivation and a lot of inspiration. Good morning. I am sitting here with a very special guest today, and I am excited that she's got so much information that is going to help myself and all the people that might be listening today.
So I'm going to start with letting her introduce herself and then we'll get, we'll get going. Go right ahead. Cara, thank you so much for having me today. Um, again, my name is Stephanie Shaw, [00:01:00] and I am the host of a podcast. Hello, hot flash. And I also help women by helping them with a strategy around nutrition.
So I a little bit about my background. I spent 20 years in corporate America, 10 years running an education nonprofit. And during that time, I felt like it I needed to go on this entrepreneur's journey and I'll tell you a little bit more later about my actual story on what prompted me to go on that journey.
So again, thank you so much for having me this morning. Yeah. So tell me, um, and you, you mentioned this before that you, I would love to hear about your history. Cause I have an autoimmune condition and it went all over the place trying to get me a diagnosis. So I was super intrigued as you were talking to me about that.
Yeah. Yeah. So I love to share that story. Um, not because it's a, a good memory, but because I feel that it can be helpful. So again, what I, what I [00:02:00] do now for a living is I help women master menopause, um, without using drugs. That's my entire purpose. I feel like in life because that's what I was able to do.
So on March 23rd, 2017, I was on a business trip in New Orleans. I was walking down the street. I don't know why I was headed to Bourbon street. I don't party, but I'm like. Your New Orleans, you need to go to Bourbon Street. So, um, actually as I was physically stepping my foot on the Bourbon Street, my jaw went numb and my hands and feet start tingling.
And basically I thought I was having a stroke. And that very night I ended up in two emergency rooms trying to figure out what was going on with me. But what I didn't recognize at that time was this had been going on for quite a while. Walking up a flight of stairs and needing 45 minutes to recover hair falling out on back left side and like choppy and my hair was really brittle and just crazy at that time, I'm twitching in [00:03:00] my eyes, cold hands and feet, rapid heartbeat after certain foods.
I went through the gamut of having symptoms off and on, but between 17 and 19, it became consistent. So consistent that I ended up in at 18 different doctors. Um, so a cardiologist, um, acupuncturist. So I did Western and Eastern medicine, physical therapy in and out of emergency rooms. I went to two world renowned medical facilities, and I had the advantage of having Some of the best doctors because one of our friends actually works at one of the facilities.
She's like, no, you need this doctor. So I was going to all of these doctors and I'd spent over 20, 000 out of pocket and not at any point over that to your timeframe. Did anyone talk to me about nutrition? Or about lifestyle changes. And I, I, you know, I exercise, I walk quite a bit. And I also, um, I ate as a [00:04:00] vegetarian, so maybe the assumption was that I was already doing it right, but no one dove really deep into what was going on.
Um, toward the end, I found a naturopath. He was also a chiropractor and he did one test. And first of all, he asked me a list of questions. I'm like, no, one's ever asked me this. And I checked off every single thing on the list. And then he did one test and just had me simply changed the way that I ate. And the, the problem.
The, I guess I don't want to say problem, but, but what would, I may not have ever discovered is a lot of the things that I was eating was quote unquote good for you, but weren't good for my body specifically. So through this whole process of being so sick and, you know, not being able to enjoy my son, his senior year in high school, and it just.
There was a gamut of things. I learned the importance of nutrition, so that's why I say now that I work with women who are perimenopausal and want to do it drug free because I was able to do it and I believe [00:05:00] that most people can do that same thing. So with your list of symptoms and things, were they not what like, like standard medicine sees as a symptom for menopause?
Why were they missing it, you think? No one even mentioned the word menopause and my GYN who I'm also friends with like, it just never came up that I never had a conversation with any of these doctors about menopause, not with any of them about nutrition, either. So, and missing the symptoms. I was never diagnosed with anything.
So I took tons and tons of blood tests, EKGs, CAT scans, MRIs. They were just about to test me for POTS, which, um, is basically the test for that is an inversion table. And I'm like, you know what? I just can't do it. I can't take another test. Um, but so I went through the gamut of tests, but no one ever mentioned those two words menopause or, um, [00:06:00] Nutrition and based on my recovery based on me not having lupus Addison's disease.
I can't remember every other disease before my blood pressure was always perfect. My EKGs came back. Perfect. Um, my B levels were always good. Like there was quote unquote, nothing going on. Um, at that point, it feels like it should have triggered someone's mind. Oh, you're in your late forties. And so if you are going through menopause, perhaps you are going through menopause or what are you eating?
So that again, that's why I'm such an advocate for if you're feeling like your body is off in any way, and you are thinking to yourself, Hey, all the tests are coming back normal. I must be fine. No, you need to keep pushing until you uncover exactly what's going on so that you can start to feel better.
And I'm 44. So I'm kind of on that age group, you know, what were some of your symptoms so that like, if we're listening and we're like, well, what were [00:07:00] some of the things that you had? You said that checklist that they gave you. And you're like, I have all this, like, I, you know, I know of hot flashes and your cycle stopping.
But like, other than that, what, I don't know what else to look for. So what were some of your symptoms? Yeah, Kara, I'm so happy you said that because those are the two that we have. And then maybe people will think, ah, my sleep is a little off, but there, there can be this whole gamut of other symptoms. And what I don't want to do is I'll give my list, but recognize that it's different for every single person.
So with me, I had, um, rapid heartbeat after I ate or random, like skips in my heartbeat. Like, I'm like, what in the world was that? You could. Um, so I'm going to talk a Um, and how to, like, fill the skips in the heartbeat. My hair falling out, so I had ball patches like in the back of my head. That's a sign. Um, what one I just discovered recently dry mouth.
A lot of people don't associate dry mouth with being Perry menopausal. I didn't. But luckily, [00:08:00] this person had a dentist who understood menopause, and he was able to help her. Um. Again, the rapid heartbeat, cold hands and feet. So I was having so many, I was thinking that my A1C levels were off, but again, I was fine, but the cold hands and feet and the tingling and the numbness in my hands and feet, which could be associated with diabetes, was for, in my case, was associated with my sugar intake and my nutrition level and the, and me being perimenopausal.
So there's like a gamut of things. And what, um, what's so cool about us is always as women is again, it becomes so unique for every woman. And I think, I think part of that may be the reason why some doctors miss it because again, with my symptoms, they were immediately going to cardiac issues and or diabetes.
And then when they couldn't figure it out, then they went to cancer and started to dig a little deeper. And then, um, I also, um, [00:09:00] discussed, um, got anxiety. So I was the person like, Why do you have anxiety? Like suck it up and keep on moving kind of thing. So I always apologize to everyone for saying that because, because, because they couldn't find out what was wrong.
Anxiety became part of my story as well. Not on a day to day basis, but more like I would, um, eat something. And then in my mind, I'd be like, Oh, that's going to make you more sick. I would get anxious and we'd end up in the ER room. So those are just, um, again, a list of things that can happen. That while they're going on internally often start to present externally.
So because all of that was going on inside, I got where I couldn't turn my head to the left and I got sciatic pain and I felt a higher level of stress. So it's funny that. Funny, not funny that I was reading a list. I was doing some research a couple of weeks ago. I'm like, wait a minute. How did I end up being the person who had almost every single [00:10:00] symptom where some people only get hot flashes or dry mouth or, you know, sleepless nights.
So it, again, it can just run the gamut. Yeah, definitely. I, um, I said I had an autoimmune condition and I, I felt like I did the same thing. I went through and they were like, well, it's asthma. It, mine, mine affects my lungs. And then it eventually does my joints. But like, they looked at that, they looked at cancer and then they're like, well, what else is there?
And so I've got some experience with that. And you're so excited when it's not the thing they're testing for. And then also so disappointed because that means you still don't know. Thank you so much for saying that like I never wanted to be diagnosed with anything but in the back of your mind, you're like, okay, if I am not that it's not that and that I've found even with autoimmune with menopause with a lot of things.
We can at least begin to control our symptoms when we're taking on different lifestyles changes. You said that you got up at six o'clock this morning and went and [00:11:00] worked out, so like doing all those things just truly, truly help with any type of disease, whether it's autoimmune or menopause or cancer or diabetes or heart disease, all changing your lifestyle can really impact the way that you live through any diagnosis that you have.
So what, like, and I, I think I know, but I probably really don't. So I want you to explain it to me. Like all I think of as perimenopause is like the, the small symptoms leading up to the menopause, but I don't really know what perimenopause is. So, or are there other levels besides, um, I think you had a third one in there.
So can you explain the different hierarchy of, of this? Yeah, so perimenopause, you're right. It's symptoms leading up. You may start, um, spotting, missing a cycle, um, your estrogen levels, your progesterone levels, and your testosterone levels all [00:12:00] start to drop. And they, they, um, You need to work in symphony.
They need to work together because if one or two drop, then your sleep may decrease. Um, you may again start having anxiety and so forth. So you'll see drops in your hormone levels when you are perimenopausal menopause is the anniversary date of you not having a cycle for one year. So no cycle, no spotting, no nothing one year.
Um, so actually menopause is like one day, but we kind of encompass everything and call it menopause. And then after that one day anniversary, you're post menopausal. And at that point, your estrogen, progesterone, testosterone levels should start to equal out. They'll be low, but they should start to equal out and you should, should start to see less and less symptoms.
What I've found is, Again, that's totally different for every person. A lot of people stop. Um, they start to sleep perhaps a little bit [00:13:00] better or they'll have less hot flashes as their postmenopausal. But for some people, they still continue that, that gamut of perimenopausal. symptoms. And a lot of times I feel like do not have a medical degree, but I think that just like we said before, a lot of times staying postmenopausal for such a long time does relate back to lifestyles changes.
So if you're drinking alcohol, alcohol or you're eating a lot of processed foods, you're not taking care of your body, then your estrogen levels, your hormone levels continue to drop, drop, drop, and drop. And you're not, um, You're never allowing anything that to level out so that you can start sleeping and feeling better.
So those are the three, the perimenopause, menopause for one day, and then postmenopausal. So with, uh, women having so many options for birth control now, we a lot of times are not even having cycles. So I wonder how they decide if you're not even having cycles because of birth control, like induced, you know, [00:14:00] like, I wonder how they decide.
How, when it starts and how your, how your different groupings go, if you're not, not having it. Yes. So not being a physician, I can't speak to that and make sure that I'm saying it completely correctly. So I don't want to speak to that, that particular question. Um, but there are some testing that women can take.
They can ask their, their GYN for different testing. One is called FSH, um, um, Follicle. Mm hmm. I forgot the name, just said quick, but it's the FSH test and they can determine if they are perimenopausal. Stimulating, follicle, stimulating. Yes. Is it hormone? The last word? I think it's hormone. I don't know. I'm not a doctor either.
We're women. We've heard these words. Yes. Yes. Yes. So we, um. So that is a test that you can take and it can help you determine, and it is follicle stimulating hormone. [00:15:00] That is a test that you can take to determine if you are perimenopausal or not. Okay. So you're not a doctor and you had this whole experience and most people would just tell their girlfriends like, Hey, by the way, did you know, but you've created an entire business, a podcast, everything around this.
So how did you move into that? And. Where did you get your information? You know, all that kind of information. Tell me all about it. Yes, yes, yes. So, um, life can be a good, um, uh, um, professor, I guess. So that's part of it. But honestly, about 10 years before I even started, I've always, even longer, I've always wanted to do something in The food nutrition industry.
So at one point, a girlfriend and I were thinking about starting a vegan restaurant. I've done some television where I'll go to different restaurants and interview chefs and do tastings and stuff like that. So I've always been in that, that space. [00:16:00] And when I started to, when I got really sick, I said to myself, I am not going to take any medicine period.
And I did not, that's not for everyone, but that was my personal decision. So I started researching nutrition, what this looks like, what the symptoms are like. And then I went back and got two certifications in, um, in nutrition so that I could better inform women. I closed my nonprofit and like, I'm thinking, you know, I'm 50 plus.
This is my time in life. So between, um, life between getting the certifications and Not wanting it to just stay within my girlfriend group, understanding how much impact it would have had on my life. Maybe I didn't have to struggle for two years if there would have been this type of conversation. So that's why I decided to launch the podcast.
Hello, hot flash. And we bring in gynecologists, functional medicine, doctors, naturopaths, chiropractors. Sleep specialists to have these conversations. So [00:17:00] even if you can't afford to go see someone or your doctor doesn't align with what you want to do, you'll get enough nuggets. So you're able to begin to start to help your hormones feel better.
And then for those who want to dive deeper, I created a course called mastering menopause and it talks about, um, the three levels of menopause talks about the hormones and so forth and gives you some nutritional guidance. And it also talks about what a beautiful time of life this is and how we need to embrace it.
So I took what was going on in my life and decided that I needed to share it with more people. And I wanted to be able to support more women. So again, they did not have to go through two years of sitting on the couch every day after work, just staring out the window, wondering when's my next doctor appointment kind of thing.
So I, I work with women that want to lose weight. And their hormones get imbalanced, you know, from overeating and, you know, insulin and leptin, ghrelin, like all the different things, [00:18:00] cortisol levels. And so tell me a little bit about how that either is similar or different from the hormones with menopause.
So it's very similar because in menopause your cortisol levels are impacted so, um, your fight, flight or fight, um, hormones, the anxiety that you feel, the nervousness that's impacted during your, the perimenopausal phase, um, your, um, leptin and ghrelin is also impacted during that phase as well. So, um, your sugar levels increase, decrease like with your insulin levels.
During that phase. So all of those, even though the, the, I talked about the estrogen, um, progesterone and the, um, testosterone, more of our sex hormones, because that's what we're talking about. The other hormones are also impacted during menopause. So it's really important that. It's kind of like if you're doing, if you're implementing the [00:19:00] lifestyle changes, if you're exercising to the level that you can providing some type of movement, if you're eating whole foods, eliminating sugar, dairy, um, maybe cutting back on your meat protein, eliminating or cutting weight back on the alcohol levels, all of those hormones, leptin, gremlin, cortisol, and the sex hormones, all of those will be impacted, so you will begin to um, either lose the weight if you need to lose it, and or maintain a healthy weight for your body.
Yeah. So that's, that's why I was like, this is a perfect merriment to have you on to, to speak to the people that I'm talking to, because especially women, like we start realizing it's harder to maintain a weight and it could be like all of these hormones, whether it's the menopause or just how we've been overeating and changing our hormones, which I would imagine an overeating could lead into some of that.[00:20:00]
Even perimenopausal type hormone imbalances, you know, you're 100 percent right and that's why it's important for people to work with people like you So if they're getting it, right quote unquote right on the front end With each group that you're working with then they're going to have less and less of a struggle as they navigate through menopause So if they're working with you and they're Getting their cortisol levels intact and getting their um, sheer blood sugar intact.
When they get to that perimenopausal phase, they're going to be the woman that's like, Oh yeah, I was perimenopause. I had a hot flash or two and it was a breeze kind of thing. Yeah. So working with someone like you on the front is, is super, super important to get through menopause in a, in a healthy whole manner.
Okay. So supporting our sleep. You said movement, trying to eat more of a whole food type thing, but you also mentioned that you were personally eating what people would [00:21:00] consider healthy, but it wasn't healthy for your body. So what did that look like? Because like, how would I know what I'm supposed to eat or what my body needs?
Right. So for me, when I'm coaching people one on one. I still coach one on one occasionally. I do a hair tissue mineral analysis with them and that hair tissue mineral analysis will allow You to better understand what is actually going on in your gut with your health It will tell you what foods may be Not good for you and your particular your body your situation.
So in my situation for me things like Tropical fruit gives me, uh, hot flashes. Um, I can't eat cabbage and bok choy and so forth because they, they They impact my gut health. So I had to learn Even though I love bok choy because I eat a lot of asian food because I don't eat meat So I loved um tropical fruit and so forth.
I had [00:22:00] to learn that those things are actually impacting my gut health And I learned that through that type of testing. And then I was able to make some, some changes. So even if I were, or an identical twin, our guts are so different, um, that we need to understand what is going on in the gut and make sure that we get our gut healthy, and that's going to help with.
Every single thing else, gut health is going to help you with your stress and with your sleep and help you to curb your appetite, um, as it relates to sugar as well. So getting that healthy gut, I think, um, is the one thing that I was able to do different to actually, I'm sorry, the, the, the, the test was one thing that helped me understand what was going on in my gut so I could get my body healthier.
Is that test something like people's general physicians do, or do you have to go to somebody specialist for that? Yeah, so a primary care physician may consider that like a woo woo test. They may be totally against it, so I, so [00:23:00] that, and then personally, the first test I took was a ZYTO test, and that's Z Y T O.
It was just a urine analysis, and then about once a year I'll take the hair tissue mineral analysis. So your primary care. More than likely will not know about it. And if they do, they will not, um, considered it a test that they will offer in their office, I'll put it that way. What you'll want to do is work with a naturopath or a functional medicine doctor, and they will offer you something like a hair tissue mineral analysis.
It helps you get more to the root cause of what is going on. So, as I said, I spent 20, 000 on blood work and blood tests. I took a 200 urine test. And then like six months later, it took six months because my body was so jacked up, but like, you know, I immediately had my answer to what I needed just by taking that quick test versus the 20, 000 that I had spent.
I am not saying do not go to your primary care physician, please still [00:24:00] go. I still go. I still want to get my testing. But what I'm saying is oftentimes there, when you can't. Find an answer. You've tried everything you've gone to 18 different doctors to work or now medical facilities. Um, You if there's an option out there that can support you.
I always suggest doing it It's out of pocket for a lot of people. So some people step away from it but I think it's a good alternative and again a functional medicine or a naturopathic doctor can Um get the hair tissue mineral analysis for you. So I personally work with a naturopath That can get the testing for me.
And I also have a functional medicine doctor that I work with. And sometimes she'll, she'll get the testing for me. So it just depends. I have partners in this so they can help me get the testing. Um, and now I can read the testing, but in the beginning, they helped me read the testing and so forth. And then what I do is set up the plan for my clients based on that testing.
So if. Pineapples and cabbage are bothering [00:25:00] you. When I'm helping you work on your nutrition, those are things that we stay away from. But if they're your favorite, I help you decide what else you can do to replace those things. So my question, if I am getting started, right. And I'm hearing this and I'm like, I could probably try some of this on my own for a while.
Is that better or not? Because I'm, my, my question I'm curious is do you want them to have the test when they're in their normal eating patterns, or if I wanted to, you know, do some like clean up my eating kind of thing, you know, water, sleep, all the things, work on my stress and see where I can get maybe.
With just those good habits, which would be better to take the test like in like your normal Previous eating or even work on it a little bit and then take the test I I always leave those options up to the person that i'm working with some people before we after onboarding They'll take the test and then we don't meet again until they get their test results back.
[00:26:00] So I can go over a clear plan with them. Some people will say, you know what, I think I got this. Let me get through a little bit. Then we take the test and then we move forward. So it just depends on the person where they are. I think if, if people come and they're, um, I don't want to say sick, but they feel They're filling their symptoms.
Yeah. Yes, filling their symptoms. That's very good. I like that. They're filling their symptoms. Then normally they want to take the test right away so we can get started. But a lot of people will say, I think I got this. Let's just begin the work and then we'll take the test later. So there's no quote unquote described way.
Yeah, I took a lot of allergy tests when I was on my journey and they wanted it. It to be when I was feeling my symptoms, the, you know, at the height of them so that they could get higher readings. Otherwise, when I had cleaned up my eating, the readings went down because I didn't have the reactions to those foods.
And [00:27:00] so they didn't read as. As high, they didn't read like they were a problem until I'd introduce that food again. Yeah, yeah, I completely get that for allergies because I had very serious allergies at a younger stage of my life as well. So yeah, I remember those testing and Yeah. I'm like, you're trying to kill me.
So tell me, so I'm sorry to interrupt and I'll send this to you on the side, if I can find the book, but I read this book about allergies and asthma and, um, gut health and the relation between gut health and allergens out. So my. Last son had asthma. We did a complete detox and he, we ended up in, we were in an emergency room every fall for about seven or eight years.
After we did the gut change, we have not been back in the emergency room. And he's. So, um, if I find a [00:28:00] book, I will send you the name of that book to read. So with, like, like I said, with my experience, you know, I, we've always, uh, joked that like, it's a cup and like, every time I'm having food and I use the word reactive because it's not exactly allergic.
It's not exactly like bad or good for me. It's reactive. And my body is reactive to certain foods. And so I get to choose how much reaction I want to allow. And so I say it's a cup. And if I, you know, I am very sensitive to dairy. So if I've had a lot of dairy, if I've had a lot of sugar, if I've had a lot of red meat, and I keep filling this cup with things I'm very reactive to, there's no place for the cup.
to go. So it has to spill out. And that's when all of my joints and my body pain and my hormones, my sleep, all the stuff gets kind of out of whack. I'm very reactive to, you know, feeling my symptoms, but, and I, this was really where my question is going. Like if [00:29:00] I have a little bit of sugar from time to time, if I have a little bit of dairy from time to time, I'm not packing my cup full with all of the different things I'm reactive to.
I just have a little bit from time to time. Is that kind of how it is with. the hormones and our, um, the menopausal type eating. Like you could have a little from time to time, but you really have to watch how your body reacts to it. That is 100 percent the right way to say, and I love that, that analogy.
And I will be using that because I'm the same way. So when I say tropical fruit, if I really want some I will eat some but I can't eat the tropical fruit every day for a week on in or I'll start to have hot flashes. I think we have to be able to enjoy the things that we enjoy and recognize that if you do anything in excess.
It will, or it may impact your body. So yes, you're, you're exactly right. Um, while I try very hard to get my [00:30:00] clients to like eliminate sugar, dairy and processed food completely for a while, it's only so you can get clean. So that you can periodically have these types of things. So last week I had a piece of fried food.
Now, mind you, I hadn't had one in such a long time and it was so good, but I know for a fact if I would have that fried food again. Like this week or the following week, I would, I would be sick, but I wanted it. I had it. I just know a couple more months, six months, maybe then I'll have it again. So you're exactly right.
It's not about deprivation. It's about balance and understanding what does not work for your body and trying your best to. Um, cut those foods out, but you're at a birthday party. Eat a piece of cake. Well, and, and with weight loss, like I'm always talking about understanding your hunger and your hunger signals, how much, how much, uh, like what are your [00:31:00] signals To tell you you're hungry, that mindfulness.
And then what are your signals to tell you you've had enough and those change. So the same thing with this, like staying in tune with what your body's reacting to and what your body signals are, what, what your symptoms are, because just because like I could always have. A cup of ice cream before once a week, maybe you can't now.
And like, I'm hearing that, like, I'm sure it's the same, but it would change from time to time. And so that's why I'm guessing you check in once a year with your testing, just to kind of see where things at now, what's changed, what's different and where does your awareness need to be at as your body changes so that you're always doing exactly what.
This is the beauty of what you're teaching. It's exactly what your body needs. It's not a prescribed, like we have a prescribed, like what we try to figure out what your body needs, but like it's going to keep changing. So keep checking in with it. It's not a [00:32:00] one and done. It's like, Oh, this happened. I'm curious.
Is it mean something? Is it a one time deal? Like I have my ladies write it down in a food log. Because if I have a reaction today and I don't have that food again for two months, I'm going to forget about my reaction today. So like I have my ladies write down the reactions because it's just a place of curiosity.
Like next time I have it and I'm like, Oh, I had that before it's on my list. Well, or next time I have it, I'm like, I've had this four more times and it never happened. Well, maybe it was something else that I had. Cause sometimes I think it's the combinations of things, not just specific things. Yeah. I love that.
That is so, so true. And you're right. I'm just going to back up and say, please continue to go. I do one because you know, my mom still thinks I'm 12. She's like, have you been to the doctor this year? So I go for all of my regular blood testing. I go to my [00:33:00] GYN every year, but I also do my hair tissue mineral analysis so I can dive a little deeper.
The combination of the two, I think helps me stay on track. So like my copper levels were a little low a couple of months ago. So, all right, I need to eat certain food. I need to start to supplement, but. I supplement for a period of time. Don't just keep taking that supplement because your body may not need it.
That's another reason. It's important to get the testing because your B levels may be off this year and they may be great next year. Like, what is going on? We change so much. We've been on a day to day. Um, it's, it's super important to continue to get the testing. One of the things that came up for me, as you were saying that was like, we're, so, we're about the same age, and our moms, our grandmother, mom's not older than you.
You're, you're, oh, well I'm, I'm putting you in my boat and so, um, I'm gonna hop in your boat. Go ahead. [00:34:00] Hop in my boat. So our moms and our grandmothers, they were taught mm-hmm . To be respectful to the doctor and I'm not saying disrespect the doctor, but you have to advocate for yourself. And so your doctor is giving you from their lens what they think might be the issue.
And this is not you getting talked to it's not a school situation like the doctor teaches you something and you just take it and believe it, not saying don't believe your doctor but you have to be an active participant in your health. And so if you're like my favorite question is, how long are we going to do this.
So like the doctor says, take this prescription. How long am I going to do this? Like what am, what am I looking for that I need to come back and call you to tell you like this isn't normal? Because if I've heard my, my mother, my grandmother, like all these people above, like older than me tell me, Well, the doctor told me to take this, or the doctor said I was fine.
And I'm like, well, did you tell the doctor this [00:35:00] other symptom? Or did you tell them you're taking the pills and that symptom never went away? They wrote the script for. And so being such an active participant and like finding what works for you. I went through all of the medicines, all the autoimmune medicines, my hair fell half out, thinned out all the things I figured out all these reactions.
And I had to kind of come on board with like, what am I going to be able to try? And I wanted to try the, before I just went to taking just any medication. And like, I agree with you that some people just need medication, but in my head, it soothed my brain to know that I had done everything in my abilities.
And that was water, sleep, exercise, you know, food and different things like that. And then when I know I'm taking the best care of myself, then I can go to my doctor and not saying I can't do it until then, but I can work together with the doctor. Like these are what I'm doing. And I'm finding that this helps this, [00:36:00] but I still have this part.
So we're not treating. Every symptom I have with another drug, I think at one point I was on 12 different drugs, and I still felt terrible. And so like, but the food was like life changing for me when I started doing that and I had, you know, I'm a life coach so that's how I got into this because my brain went back and forth like this is not fair I shouldn't have to do that.
And, you know, this is so depriving. It's so restrictive. I don't, I don't, I shouldn't have to live like this. I should be normal. And which is a whole fun conversation about what is normal. You know, the people who are in, you know, all of the perimonopause without doing anything about it, you know, they're eating their faces off every night because they can't deal with their emotions.
All the fun stuff. That's what normal is. And we think we just want to be normal. So yeah, my rant. No, no, no, no. I love it. The advocacy is huge. So I spent the entire day with my [00:37:00] parents, uh, at a healthcare, uh, you know, I said the name yesterday, seven appointments. And that was my question. Every time we went in the room, they told them something.
I'm like, okay, so what's the lifestyle change that you're now going to tell them? Cause they don't listen to me. What's the lifestyle change? You know, like, okay. All right. Here's a man. How are they going to get off? What do they need to change? And we do have one cardiologist. He is amazing. So he took, he took the time to break it down.
But I, but I know that The reason he did that is because I was advocating for my parents. I was having that conversation. And I think that if I hadn't had the conversation, he would gave them their scripts, told them what they need to know and sent them on, not in a bad, negative kind of ways, just because they have numbers to meet, unfortunately, in the United States.
Um, so I, I, I totally agree with you and I can, I can talk about advocacy, advocacy for. 10 hours straight. So I'll just stop now and say, you are right. [00:38:00] Go in with your questions. Know that you are in control. This is your room to own while you need to respect the doctor, because you need to respect everyone.
You also need to respect yourself and whatever is going on with you, make sure that you get that point across. Oh, gosh, that is wonderful. Okay. If someone wants to get more information to link up with you or anything, tell them how to get ahold of you. Sure, they can go to my website, hellohotflash, and on the website you can get links to my blog post, my Instagram information, which is also at hellohotflashpodcast, and you can also get information on the course.
And if you'd like, you can connect with me via the website as well. So again, it's hello, hot flash. com. And Stephanie, you have given us a super great little freebie for anyone listening. You want to tell them about that and how they can get your freebie? Yes. Yes. So, um, I assume you'll link it in the show.
[00:39:00] Yeah. On the website. Also, if you pull up the website right on the top banner, you can link to a quiz and the quiz will walk you through what hormones may be a little off for you right now. Is it your cortisol, estrogen, progesterone, and then I give you some very, very valuable informations on things that you can do right away to start getting them back in line.
Oh, nice. Nice, nice, nice. It has been so fun to talk to you. I don't tell the ladies that I work with what to eat, so this kind of introduces, you know, in the beginning they're working with me and it's just trying to get them to stop overeating so they can learn how to manage their emotions and, you know, just all those other things.
And then like after they stop the overeating, they usually on their own start kind of tweaking. I don't want to say cleaning up because I don't love that because that makes it sound like you cannot have the birthday cake, but they, they start tweaking so that they, they do, they take ownership of their health and their body [00:40:00] and what they're putting into it.
And they'll start up leveling. They'll start making a little bit better changes each time in their eating. And so I love that. And it doesn't have to be all one way or all the other, but this right here gives them a glimpse as to what some of those foods that they're having. I mean, yeah, we're working definitely to get them to stop overeating, but changing out some of the foods.
It's just so much it's self care. It's taking care of your body. Yes. I love that. I love that. All right. Thanks, Stephanie. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the concierge weight loss podcast. Like what you heard today, leave a review or share with a friend and check out the next step quiz where you'll find what has held you back from lasting weight loss and what to do next.
You will find the link to this and many other helpful podcasts and videos in the show notes. I can't wait to see you there.
