Menopause the Wright Way

For those of you who know me, you will know that I am a keen, (if not very successful) endurance athlete. So to celebrate World Menopause Day Kate Offord of Coach Kate Offord Happy Athlete Community and I recorded a conversation about my experiences as a peri/menopausal athlete. We covered everything from changes in my diet, training styles, injuries and lots of other stuff.
You may find it interesting to have a listen to especially given that I do take HRT but have still had to make a number of life style changes to mitigate the physiological changes that I have gone through over the last few years!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZw48nVCHwg

So its' World Menopause Day and this years theme (as determined by the International Menopause Society) is Hormone Replacement Therapy.
I have written an article all about HRT which is available here:
https://www.menopausethewrightway.com/resources/hormone-replacement-therapy-2024-world-menopause-day-theme

I was lucky enough to attend a talk on menopause today by Dr Rebecca Lewis of .health. As always it was illuminating and informative Rebecca willing to answer a myriad of questions. It also reminder to me that you can never have enough evidence based menopause knowledge as you don’t know what you or others don’t know!

A small brown dog has her eye on my protein rich breakfast! 🐶👀😋
100g Fage 10% fat greek yoghurt = 9g protein
15g Pip n Nut nut butter = 2.7g protein
15g organic breakfast seed crunch = 3.9g
Cup blueberries = 1 g
2 x kiwi = 2g
Total 🟰 18.6g
As a 75kg woman training for at least an hour 5/6 days per week i need circa 150g protein per day - so 2.0 per kg body weight. If you’re not especially active then ypu should be aiming for 1.8g per kg body weight.

Protein is such an important micronutrient as everyone ages in terms of helping to build and sustain muscle. Its really hard to get sufficient protein in to your diet so you do need to think about tricks to add it in easily and aim to include in to all your meals and snacks.
The quick wins in my breakfast were the nut butter (just be careful that you pick one which hs no added extras) and the seeds!

Identifying misinformation about health on social media!!
This is something I feel very strongly about because now everyone seems to be a menopause expert, whether it be about diet and nutrition, activity and exercise or any other aspect women may be struggling with in their menopause.

So I was really pleased to read this article https://training-conditioning.com/article/three-ways-to-identify-nutritional-misinformation-on-social-media/?oly_enc_id=7454C8936723A6R Tamika Watts, a Professional Sports Dietitians Association Registered Dietitian who supports what I say about social media "experts' but in relation to nutrition (another big area of mis-information)!

1. Credibility - what qualifications and expertise does the person posting actually have in the field upon which they are posting?

2. Scientific backing - is there any evidence supporting the claims made and if so does the poster link to the original research.

3. Bias and red flags - if it's too good to be true it usually means it is!!!

There are many of us who have invested significant time, money and effort in formal training and knowledge but perhaps aren't as social media proficient as those who have limited knowledge but are great at social media! Who would you rather trust when it comes to your overall health?

Three ways to identify nutritional misinformation on social media - Training & Conditioning Use this checklist to identify misinformation on social media. You can help your athletes easily navigate what is fact versus fiction.

So I loved being interviewed by Morris for her LGBTQ+ radio show on FM. We talked about why menopause isn't just a middle age female issue and why everyone irrespective of age, gender and sexuality should be menopause aware!
You can hear the interview tonight and some tunes at 19:00 on Wythenshawe FM 97.2
🤩🏳️‍🌈

The last 18mths I have struggled with more injuries than pretty much the last 20yrs, which can be quite typical for active peri/menopausal women. As someone who loves training and taking part in runs, swims, triathlons etc it has been so so frustrating.
But at the Wilsmlow summer 10k today I had no expectations in terms of time and i just wanted to finish and feel good…
Thats exactly what happened, i finished with a time i was happy with, i felt strong and most importantly i enjoyed myself.
Activity & exercise are such a crucial part of menopause management but it has to be something enjoyable otherwise in all likelihood you won’t do it!
So no matter where you are in terms of activity levels or coming back from injury remember to always try to have fun and take enjoyment from what ever you can do!

I’m lucky enough to be in Brisbane atm. So its not hard to get out early and exercise.
But any activity, even 30 mins of walking a day is great if you are going through menopause. Any exercise benefits both your mental and physical health even more so at this time.
More to come on this subject…

There's a podcast released today in time for International Women's Day 2024 where I speak with Ngozi Weller, host of the Wellbeing Rebellion Podcast about menopause and its impact on senior female leaders. I think that the conversation has a lot of really useful information around menopause contained within in it irrespective of who you are and what you do.
If you are interested in listening then the podcast is available here

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-wellbeing-rebellion/id1675517581

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4BTiOONtpDP5QrlKOi5ukX?si=f0506f8693074f9c

I hope you enjoy our conversation..

‎The Wellbeing Rebellion on Apple Podcasts ‎Business · 2024

February is LGTB+ history month and the 2024 theme is medicine. So I was really pleased to be asked by my fellow Pro manchester LGTBQ+ committee members to be asked to present on menopause awareness for the LGTB+ community at an event last night.
Everyone has a “significant female” in their lives irrespective of who they are. Partners, wives, mum’s or other family members, friends, and or work colleagues.
It was a great event and from the feedback given it really opened the attendees minds to the experiences of another group of individuals who struggle and get perhaps even less support that other women.

Cardiovascular health is the theme for this year's World Menopause Day. This is a disease that is the leading killer of women globally yet when I speak with women, especially those who are menopausal, it rarely gets a mention as something they are concerned about.
After menopause a women's risk of developing CVD increases significantly and there are steps you can take to reduce your risk. Even if you just change one thing, there are overall health benefits with regards to all diseases such as CVD or cancer.
The International Menopause Society has also produced information on Cardiovascular disease and you can read it here:
https://www.imsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023-WMD-FLYER-Colour.pdf

This Wednesday we celebrate World Menopause Day and this year the International Menopause Society has focused on cardiovascular health as its theme (more on that later in the week!). However. in light of last Tuesday being World Mental Health Day I wanted to share the following picture. I very recently came across this image in a really interesting research paper on the perimenopause as a neurological state, which detailed structures in the brain that respond to the actions of oestrogen.
What I found so interesting about this image is that it clearly illustrates the parts of the brain and the associated functions upon which oestrogen has an impact.
Nearly all of which appear in most women's list of menopause psychological symptoms that trouble them!