Anxiety and Perimenopause with Claudia Petrilli
- Shannon Jackson
- Jul 28, 2024
- 3 min read
Anxiety and Perimenopause with Claudia Petrilli
Perimenopause can be a tough transition for many women, especially as it often comes with heightened anxiety, but it doesn't have to be! On this episode of A Healthy Push podcast, I sit down with Claudia Petrilli, a Functional Health & Integrative Nutrition Coach to delve into this much-needed conversation.
Claudia takes a functional approach to women's hormone health, guiding her clients on how to improve their diet, sleep, nervous system, digestion, movement, all the things! She provides practical tips to make sustainable changes, which I absolutely love!
What is Perimenopause?
Perimenopause is the transitional period before menopause, which can start as early as the mid-thirties. During this time, women experience a decline in ovarian hormones—progesterone, estrogen, and testosterone. This decline leads to a variety of symptoms, including anxiety, disrupted sleep, and mood swings.
Why Anxiety Peaks During Perimenopause
Anxiety is a super common symptom during perimenopause, primarily due to the decline in progesterone, a hormone known for its calming effects. As progesterone levels drop, women may also experience fluctuating estrogen levels, which can further exacerbate anxiety. These hormonal changes, coupled with the body's attempt to adjust, can make women feel like they are on an emotional roller coaster.
Claudia emphasizes the importance of understanding these hormonal fluctuations. Estrogen, often misunderstood, is important for various bodily functions, including brain health, bone density, and libido. During perimenopause, estrogen levels can fluctuate dramatically, causing symptoms of both high and low estrogen in a short period.
Practical Steps for Managing Perimenopause and Anxiety
Claudia advocates for a holistic approach to managing perimenopause and anxiety, focusing on lifestyle and dietary changes. Here are some practical steps she recommends:
Diet and Nutrition: Prioritize a balanced diet rich in whole foods. Incorporate plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats. Avoid processed foods and excessive sugar, which can worsen hormonal imbalances.
Stress Management: Practice stress-reducing activities such as yoga, meditation, and deep breathing exercises. Managing stress is crucial as it can significantly impact hormone levels.
Sleep Hygiene: Ensure a consistent sleep schedule and create a calming bedtime routine. Adequate sleep is essential for hormonal balance and overall well-being.
Physical Activity: Engage in regular exercise, including both cardio and strength training. Physical activity can help regulate hormones and reduce anxiety.
Functional Health Approaches: Consider working with a functional health practitioner who can help identify and address specific hormonal imbalances and nutritional deficiencies.
Claudia's insights are so helpful for women dealing with the ups and downs of perimenopause and the anxiety that can come with it. By tackling the root causes and making long-lasting lifestyle changes, women can better manage their symptoms and feel better overall. For more tips and advice, check out the full episode wherever you get your podcasts!
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TRANSCRIPT
00:01.74
ahealthypush
All right, today I have a guest with me and I'm so excited to talk about perimenopause and anxiety. And I know this is like a much desired conversation. So I'm very happy that I have Claudia with me and she's going to answer all the questions and get into all the things. um So Claudia Petrilli practices a functional approach to women's hormone health. And she guides clients on how to improve their dietary habits and sleep and nervous system, digestion, movement, like all the things. And she gives them practical steps and sustainable changes, which is what I love. It's like the root. Let's get to the root and then let's give practical ways to actually make things better. So Claudia, welcome to a Healthy Push podcast.
00:53.95
Claudia
Thank you for having me.
00:55.19
ahealthypush
Yeah, I am so excited. So I knew this was like a much needed conversation because so many women in my community are like, I think I'm going through many perimenopause, or I'm definitely in it. And it is making things so dang hard, like it's exacerbating my anxiety, or it's really like a huge cause of a lot of the anxiety. And I know, of course, it doesn't have to be that way, that it's just like, oh, that's just what perimenopause looks like. So I'm really excited to jump in. But first, can we just start with, can you tell us a little bit about you and like how you got into the work that you're doing now?
01:32.67
Claudia
Yes, I'll try to keep this succinct. It's a bit of a long story as you know most people's health journey I would say is.
01:41.63
ahealthypush
Yep.
01:42.40
Claudia
When it comes to like a hormonal perspective and why I got into this particular line of work, I started menstruating at a very young age. I was about 10 and everything kind of went downhill from there. I had horrible periods every month. I missed so much school. They were heavy, painful. um And you know, doctors did what they knew to do back then. And you know, it was like a lot of pain meds.
02:03.49
ahealthypush
Yeah.
02:05.73
Claudia
And then because of the loss of blood, it was iron pills and just kind of like passing me around to different doctors and not really knowing what to do. um I had a lot of digestive issues alongside of it. And then probably when I was about 17, 18, I went to a gynecologist and she was like, oh, let's just put you on hormonal birth control because the magic pill, that you know that's what they recommend to everyone, right?
02:25.76
ahealthypush
No way.
02:31.24
ahealthypush
Yeah.
02:31.56
Claudia
um And you know I was 17, 18, I'm like, all right, well, if you're telling me this is gonna regulate my hormones and not make me miserable every month, then yeah, sign me up. And I was going away to college.
02:41.33
ahealthypush
right
02:42.28
Claudia
I was like, yes, or those this will be great. um And, you know, I went on the pill like many many women do and I started to notice an improvement in my period somewhat and things started to, you know, regulate, so to speak. But as time went on, I felt off and I started to notice a dip in my mood every month. I was getting depressed. I was gaining weight.
03:05.38
ahealthypush
Right.
03:05.45
Claudia
um Even my libido wasn't great. And I'm like, well, it kind of defeats the purpose of that.
03:08.00
ahealthypush
Mm-hmm.
03:10.37
Claudia
I was so young, I was like, well, um and then as time passed, I started to just have other symptoms and I would go to like different doctors and
03:12.91
ahealthypush
ah
03:20.74
Claudia
They started doing imaging on me and I had thyroid nodules that were developed, um very cystic breasts. I was poked and prodded for years in my 20s, like going and getting biopsies of my breasts. It was awful.
03:33.57
ahealthypush
Wow.
03:33.75
Claudia
And then eventually I just had one of the cysts actually had to be surgically removed. um And in hindsight, probably there are things I could have addressed and maybe avoided that, but again, didn't know what I didn't know.
03:44.28
ahealthypush
Mm-hmm. Yep.
03:46.94
Claudia
Um, and then eventually around like my late twenties, I just stopped getting a period altogether. I was like, okay.
03:54.47
ahealthypush
That's regulation.
03:55.60
Claudia
Yeah. Yeah. Like this isn't normal, all these symptoms and now I don't have a period.
03:59.41
ahealthypush
ah
04:00.25
Claudia
Um, and you know, during that whole process, I would go to back to my doctor with symptoms and she would just keep changing my pill.
04:08.31
ahealthypush
yeah.
04:08.83
Claudia
I was like, let's try this. Let's try that. Let's do that. This was a new one that's coming in. I'm like, okay. After I think like 10 or so different ones, I went to her and I said, I'm miserable.
04:14.91
ahealthypush
yeah.
04:20.51
Claudia
I'm not feeling well. This is not working. And she essentially said to me, she kind of laughed and she was like, Claudia, a lot of women don't get their periods.
04:25.00
ahealthypush
ah.
04:29.39
Claudia
You should just enjoy it. Yeah. And I was like, okay.
04:35.05
ahealthypush
Like just enjoy at a whole function of your body not happening that's designed to happen.
04:40.76
Claudia
Yeah, exactly.
04:40.72
ahealthypush
Yikes.
04:42.45
Claudia
um And I remember her feeling like so infuriated. And I mean, again, I was in my late 20s, but I was smart enough to know that I was not going to take that as an answer. And I said, okay, thanks for your help.
04:51.75
ahealthypush
Yeah.
04:53.95
Claudia
Not coming back.
04:55.61
ahealthypush
Right.
04:56.12
Claudia
um And then I ended up finding another doctor and demanded more testing. And eventually they found that my prolactin hormone was very elevated so that led us to further testing and we found that I had a prolactinoma which is a benign pituitary tumor.
05:13.24
ahealthypush
Yeah, yep, pretty common.
05:15.00
Claudia
So it is very common. And back then, I was like, what?
05:17.55
ahealthypush
Yeah.
05:18.08
Claudia
I had never heard of it. And you know for years, I was just like this like, I've never heard of this. And you know I ended up going on medication for about a year, and because that was the solution at that point, to go on medication, come off the pill.
05:28.25
ahealthypush
Mm hmm.
05:31.90
Claudia
um And it did help a bit. like It shrunk the tumor. The prolactin came down. But you know there was always like some other symptoms that were still present. And I just felt like, this can't be it, like medication, that's the answer for the rest of my life. And um that's when I started to like dig a lot deeper and I discovered functional health.
05:44.97
ahealthypush
who
05:50.41
Claudia
And I was like, oh, it was like a light bulb. It was just like, oh, addressing root causes of things, looking for underlying imbalances, like asking the why.
05:58.49
ahealthypush
Yeah. yeah
06:00.30
Claudia
um And then I ended up working with like a functional practitioner and my life changed like that. It was just like so eye-opening. I started like, eating differently, looking at stress, looking at trauma, looking at my gut imbalances, all the things, nutritional deficiencies.
06:14.10
ahealthypush
Yeah.
06:15.76
Claudia
And I felt better than I had in years. And that kind of shifted me into becoming a a health coach and then specializing in women's hormones.
06:25.08
ahealthypush
It's so cool.
06:26.40
Claudia
Yeah. So that was like 10 plus years ago. And then, you know, I've been doing this work for a long time, helping women and feeling great, thriving, even with ah a tumor. um And then in my late thirties, things changed.
06:35.75
ahealthypush
Yeah.
06:39.69
Claudia
I was like, Oh no. um I started to experience symptoms like anxiety, which I had never had in my life. um Mood was very low joint pain.
06:47.78
ahealthypush
Hmm.
06:50.56
Claudia
I wasn't sleeping well. My periods were changing. I was like, Oh man, Everything I had learned about, I was like, oh, you got to be kidding me. I'm too young for this. And I realized I was starting perimenopause.
07:02.55
ahealthypush
And how old were you when you had that realization?
07:02.74
Claudia
So it was, my I probably 36, 37 when things started to happen. So I would say like 38 is probably when I was like, okay, this is, this isn't going to change, but I have to change how I'm doing things and take some other start doing some other strategies.
07:10.95
ahealthypush
Okay.
07:18.07
ahealthypush
Yeah.
07:22.96
ahealthypush
Yeah, and I think that's so surprising to people though to hear that age, because I think many of us, whenever we hurt hear the word menopause, whether it's Perry menopause, like we think, Oh, that's something that happens when you're like 50 or something.
07:23.67
Claudia
So.
07:36.81
Claudia
Yeah, I have day 55.
07:37.84
ahealthypush
Like, I don't know. That's what I always thought. And then when you're seeing, you know, in hearing more things, you're like, Oh my gosh, no, it can happen. much earlier in life. What is that typically like, I shouldn't say is that the typical age, but when can it start?
07:52.59
Claudia
Yeah.
07:53.29
ahealthypush
Pari-manipause.
07:55.10
Claudia
Yeah, so we go through different hormonal shifts in our life, right? When we first hit hube puberty, and then if a woman has goes through pregnancy, of course there's hormonal shifts, but we really start to lose our, um we get a decline in ovarian hormones in our thirties. So in your mid thirties, typically the first hormone to decline is progesterone.
08:17.36
ahealthypush
Mhmm.
08:17.77
Claudia
So that's why a lot of women start with the anxiety, the disrupted sleep, the weird periods, typically in their late thirties. That's pretty typical. um Not every woman, some women, they're like, oh, nothing, you know, I'm totally fine. But we're seeing it happening earlier and earlier for women and I think you know, there's a lot that goes into that as well in terms of stress, in terms of our environment, the food, the toxins and all that.
08:44.66
ahealthypush
Yeah.
08:45.28
Claudia
um But typically, women in their 40s, even like early mid 40s is when they start to notice those changes.
08:52.45
ahealthypush
Yeah. And those are all the the signs and symptoms sort of that you mentioned. They're all very much the things that I'm hearing, especially, of course, the anxiety one, because so many people, they're either already struggling with it or it's sort of been brought on by a lot of hormonal changes.
09:01.81
Claudia
yeah
09:09.02
ahealthypush
um Let's back up a second because I feel like people might be like, what is perimenopause? I think we all have this idea, but even even I was like, oh, no, not what I thought it was.
09:19.55
Claudia
Yeah.
09:19.53
ahealthypush
So can you just give us what the heck is perimenopause?
09:23.24
Claudia
It's the period of time before menopause, and it can range from one year up to over a decade, depending on the woman. there's Everyone's unique, and we really don't know what, well, there's different things that could contribute to when you start, like when your mother went through menopause, your stress level, if you were on hormonal birth control for years, which as I'm sure you know, halts the production of our and our regular natural hormones.
09:50.17
ahealthypush
Thank you. Mm hmm.
09:52.57
Claudia
um think If you didn't have children. So those are just some factors, um but they're not guaranteed, you know, and there's no way to really know when you're gonna actually go start start that process.
09:56.96
ahealthypush
So many factors.
10:05.83
Claudia
um But it essentially is the decline of your ovarian hormone. So progesterone, estrogen, testosterone. Excuse me. And those are going to just start to decline. Now, it doesn't mean that you don't have them at all.
10:18.44
ahealthypush
Yeah.
10:20.18
Claudia
But essentially, women who are in their perimenopausal years can have an ovulatory cycles, meaning they may not be ovulating. So because if they don't ovulate, then they don't make progesterone. And that is a very lovely hormone that we all want, especially when it comes to anxiety because it's very calming.
10:42.55
ahealthypush
Yes. i know i a that this is like you know One of the selfish conversations that I'm having is for myself because I've started to notice like I don't have nearly as much and I'm very high in estrogen and I'm like, what the heck is going on? and You can sometimes feel like you're doing all the things. like Your diet's good and you you take care of your stress, you know all the things and it's just like what is happening? um so When you say all of these symptoms right are common, why is anxiety such a common symptom with perimenopause?
11:13.63
Claudia
Yeah. Yeah, because of the dip in progesterone, for sure, but there's some other things that are happening too. So, hormonally so hormonally speaking, low progesterone is the first thing, right? Because it's very calming. um The other thing could be, you mentioned you have high estrogen. So, there's a lot of, um I'm going to say confusion around estrogen because a lot of times, even in the wellness space, there's a lot of like,
11:18.21
ahealthypush
Like, do we know this?
11:45.21
Claudia
poo-pooing of estrogen and like, you got to detox estrogen and estrogen is bad.
11:46.74
ahealthypush
Yeah.
11:49.03
Claudia
And I'm over here like, no, we love estrogen. We want it. We don't want it to be really low.
11:53.84
ahealthypush
Yeah.
11:54.01
Claudia
um Because we're going to lose that as well. It's so protective for so many things when it comes to our brain health, of course, fertility or periods.
12:02.85
ahealthypush
Mhm.
12:04.27
Claudia
um ah like your skin, dryness, like your libido. I mean, your bones, it just has it's just so protective. But once we're in our 40s, it starts to fluctuate a lot. like a roller coaster. So women feel like they're they losing their minds at times because you can have symptoms of high estrogen as well as low estrogen in like any given week, like day to day.
12:27.05
ahealthypush
yeah
12:28.48
Claudia
So a lot of women will think that they have really high estrogen, but it just may be that they're getting that that peak because it could be the highest it's ever been in this stage of life because your ovaries are like, trying so hard to like spit it out they're like no no no no we want to keep making it but they're like just like slowing down production um and then because of that low progesterone by default you do have unopposed estrogen that's what i i like to refer to it as yes
12:48.06
ahealthypush
Yeah. Yeah.
12:58.92
ahealthypush
Gotcha. It's so it's so tricky because you like you're saying right you're having these like ups downs with the cortisol and I think you can feel that like if you're especially people who struggle with anxiety you tend to already be very in tune with your body and so you notice any fluctuations and changes and not like those rises and dips my gosh can feel like I'm going crazy like you just said like I'm gonna lose my mind.
13:15.83
Claudia
Mm-hmm.
13:28.47
ahealthypush
Um, so I want to try to shift a little bit into like, how can we better understand this?
13:34.92
Claudia
yeah
13:36.62
ahealthypush
And what's it like, what the heck can we do? Um, where does cortisol come into play in this whole conversation? Because I feel like this is a big part of it.
13:47.33
Claudia
Oh, yeah. um So whether you have high cortisol or low cortisol, that could affect anxiety. um But what happens in this stage of life, because we're losing ovarian hormones, and because of that fluctuation in estrogen, um we are more stress reactive.
14:05.91
ahealthypush
Hmm, right.
14:06.36
Claudia
Shockingly, right? um But also, because our ovaries are starting to slow down their their work, you could say, they're trying to pass the buck to our adrenal glands.
14:15.59
ahealthypush
Yeah.
14:20.34
Claudia
And as you know, our adrenal glands are responsible for our stress response, cortisol production, cortisol regulation, um as well as other things, of course. but So they they now have like double duty. They're like, all right, we're trying to manage your cortisol. And now you want us to make some of these hormones as well, like the estrogen and progesterone. yeah So a lot of women, they're more stress-reactive, and just their cortisol is elevated because of the fluctuations. So a lot of women have like this chronic
14:53.66
Claudia
elevated cortisol. um And then, you know, just the stress of life and dealing with perimenopause and not getting the support you need. And a lot of people are, of course, women raising kids, they've got teens or an aging parents. um I know I'm in that boat, like I don't have children, but I'm dealing with my mom right now. And I'm going through my own perimenopausal changes.
15:13.62
ahealthypush
e
15:14.36
Claudia
And I'm just like, some days I'm like, it's just too much.
15:14.48
ahealthypush
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
15:18.37
Claudia
um So it's it's it's a lot. But
15:21.98
ahealthypush
Yeah.
15:22.97
Claudia
So obviously cortisol is going to affect even the production of progesterone even further. So we're already losing that. But then when cortisol is elevated, your body's like, yeah, we need to like just make sure you're alive. And we're not going to even bother with your sex hormones right now. So it's just like, women are just getting hit from all all sides in this stage of life.
15:41.09
ahealthypush
Right.
15:44.45
ahealthypush
Yeah, yeah, it's so hard. I think, like you said, right, there are so many different factors. And of course, I'm thinking of myself right now. But I know there are so many women out there too, right?
15:52.08
Claudia
yeah
15:53.90
ahealthypush
You have a child or you have multiple children, and you literally feel it. Like I i think it was like the year after, not even a year. I could feel my body having so many changes. And I never really noticed, like my period, honestly, I'm like so grateful. I never really had problems. Like I, yeah, it was a thing. It could be annoying. I could maybe have some cramps or, but I didn't really have much of anything.
16:19.04
Claudia
Yeah.
16:23.34
Claudia
Yeah.
16:24.01
ahealthypush
And then once I had my daughter, I was like, oh my gosh, I've never felt this before.
16:28.34
Claudia
Yeah.
16:30.78
ahealthypush
And then I've slowly felt my body, right? going through all these changes. And this is why I just you know know it's so important to be educated and be aware of what's happening in your body. Because I think so many people are like, I just tell me what's going to help, right? Tell me what's going to give me the relief.
16:44.73
Claudia
no
16:45.80
ahealthypush
But I think in in that is being educated and understanding what's physiologically happening in your body. Because when I i actually took a program and when I understood more of what was happening hormonally and that a lot of these changes were absolutely normal,
17:02.53
Claudia
Mm hmm.
17:02.50
ahealthypush
but there were things that I could do that would help it. I was like, okay. Like it made me feel like I'm not going crazy. Like I'm not losing my mind. My body's actually functioning very much how it should be, but I need to actually help it and support it too.
17:15.95
Claudia
Yep.
17:16.90
ahealthypush
So, you know, I like how you said your body is going to go through these changes, these physiological things are going to happen.
17:23.05
Claudia
Yep.
17:24.23
ahealthypush
And you're also going to have life stressors, right? Like these things don't turn off. And so it's really figuring out like, how do I, How do I react? like How do I deal with this? So I guess what, where do we start? Like, what can be helpful if somebody's like, I am, I feel like all the things that you've said, I feel like I'm losing my mind.
17:38.91
Claudia
Yeah.
17:45.75
ahealthypush
I'm so anxious. I don't know what the heck to do. Like I truly, this is so hard. Like, what could you say would be like even one helpful thing to know or to implement?
17:59.12
Claudia
I mean, there's a lot, obviously we can get into different things, but I think the first thing, and i we say this to our clients, a lot of women are like, oh, what supplement can I take?
18:00.58
ahealthypush
Right.
18:05.51
ahealthypush
Yep.
18:07.42
Claudia
What test can I do? what but but And I'm like, first we need to like calm your nervous system.
18:13.71
ahealthypush
Yeah.
18:14.45
Claudia
I think everybody nowadays could use some nervous system support. I mean, we've had quite a bit in the last few years collectively, um but especially in these perimenopausal years. I mean, and when I say nervous system support, I'm not saying you have to do anything crazy. I mean, go for a walk every day.
18:31.63
ahealthypush
Mm hmm.
18:32.58
Claudia
get outside in the sunshine, maybe do some breathing deep breathing exercises. You don't need to meditate for an hour, although meditation is wonderful. Even if it's like a five, 10 minute meditation, it could really calm you down.
18:44.91
ahealthypush
Yeah.
18:45.97
Claudia
you know Even just laying down with your legs up the wall, I find that to be so calming. And we we recommend that to a lot of our clients. They're like, what? I'm like, just do it. You'll you'll see.
18:55.00
ahealthypush
Yeah.
18:55.86
Claudia
Um, but I would start there because like I said, the, those fluctuations can really make you feel out a body. You can feel like you're going crazy. And that cortisol, like you almost don't have much, not that you don't have control over it, but it's, it's changing, it's shifting. So start with your nervous system. Um, and then, yeah.
19:15.74
ahealthypush
i I love that. like I don't even want to go into the next thing.
19:17.77
Claudia
i'll sorry you
19:19.65
ahealthypush
like I obviously want to, but I think in the culture that we live in,
19:20.16
Claudia
yeah
19:26.35
ahealthypush
um And as women, were we're typically very much like, just tell me what to do. I'll do it.
19:31.33
Claudia
Oh,
19:32.00
ahealthypush
Like, just give me the thing. I'll take it. Just the quick fixes, the the magical things. And we overlook these very basic things.
19:37.98
Claudia
oh yeah.
19:41.28
ahealthypush
And what you're saying is so similar when I start working with clients. I'm like, no, no, no, no. Like, we are not going into the do this, do this, do this. Like, we have to first calm your nervous system, like get you a bit more regulated. And you know usually people will say, oh, i'm i you know I do that. i But when we really dig in, it's like, nope. You are doing a lot of the things that you know we all do as women. We take it all on. We don't ask for help.
20:09.46
Claudia
Yep.
20:09.95
ahealthypush
We don't actually receive it. We take on, especially if you have children, you take on all of the mental load. It's like, these are all pieces. It's not just, you know, I take the daily walks and I like that stuff is so helpful.
20:22.18
Claudia
Okay.
20:24.47
ahealthypush
But it's like, what are the other areas to that are is not they're not at the forefront of your mind, but they have such huge impacts and That was such a big one for me was just asking for help and actually receiving it. like Dang, life-changing.
20:40.21
Claudia
Yeah.
20:41.01
ahealthypush
but it is it's these We all minimize like these things, but these things can actually help your system right to become more regulated so you actually have the capacity to delve into other things that are also going to be helpful.
20:49.36
Claudia
Exactly.
20:53.66
ahealthypush
so I'm so on board and glad that you started there.
20:57.52
Claudia
Yeah. And I mean, and like you said, sometimes we see this with women too, like, Oh, yeah, I go for a walk. So I do this. And I'm like, well, are you on your phone when you're walking?
21:05.82
ahealthypush
Yeah.
21:06.20
Claudia
Sometimes? Oh, how like, are you scrolling Instagram at night? Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, those are not supporting your nervous system. So and listen, I don't judge anybody. We all have these like, not so great habits. um Sometimes we just need to like, be reminded like, Hey, that's actually not supporting you. That's making things worse. You may think it's relaxing or having that glass of wine at the end of the night, you may think that's helping you. It's not, especially wine.
21:29.06
ahealthypush
Yeah.
21:29.48
Claudia
I mean, we could talk about alcohol, you know, probably for an hour, but, and you know, it was just the way that women or even our society has like, kind of ingrained in us, like how to, you know, do stress relief.
21:32.64
ahealthypush
Right.
21:42.37
Claudia
It's like, it's not what I would, have and probably you would recommend to most people because I'm like, right.
21:46.08
ahealthypush
Right, like just go take a bubble bath, have a glass of wine. It's like, oh shit, can we not do these things that are actually harmful?
21:50.97
Claudia
Yeah. Yeah.
21:54.02
Claudia
Yeah, yeah
21:54.90
ahealthypush
Not the bubble bath, more than the wine.
21:55.76
Claudia
not the well yeah exactly. And I mean, that affects your sleep that could exacerbate anxiety, and especially in the stage of life, it does have a very big impact on your hormones.
22:06.58
ahealthypush
Yep.
22:07.75
Claudia
And yeah, so we do and recommend wine at the end of the night, we typically will recommend some tea or like, um you know, alternatives like non alcoholic drinks that are lower in sugar. um Most of our clients are pretty on board with that though, because they're at the place where they're just like, I feel so lousy and I'm not going to continue to, you know, throw fuel on the fire. ah so
22:29.46
ahealthypush
Yeah, it's in its you we don't get it.
22:30.44
Claudia
yeah
22:32.22
ahealthypush
I think we again with our culture, right? It's like, have the glass of wine at the end of the night or we're just so used to alcohol. Like there's so much alcohol. It's anywhere and everywhere. And for years, that's what I did. And then coming into my mid 30s, I really looked at that relationship again. And I was like, No, like this is not helpful. And I know that and you know, even now I just noticed I've been going through like so many changes throughout the past few years. And that's the one thing that I keep coming back to you that I'm like, it's not worth it.
23:03.88
ahealthypush
It doesn't make me feel good. I know it impacts my hormones. So yeah, it's just a big, I know we're all probably, especially now with Instagram and everything that gets pushed out into the algorithm, but it's like, I know we're all probably sick of hearing how alcohol is so harmful, but it's like, this is more of the messaging that we need. And it's so important that like, that's not and what we've always like made it out to be.
23:24.00
Claudia
And.
23:29.29
ahealthypush
It's actually pretty harmful. so
23:31.73
Claudia
Yeah. And i don't I don't like to fear monger at all.
23:35.26
ahealthypush
Yeah.
23:35.81
Claudia
What I always come from is a place of education. It's like, this is the information.
23:39.63
ahealthypush
Yeah,
23:39.81
Claudia
This is the science. This is what's coming out in the research. It's up to you to make that decision. um But yeah, i I was the same. I mean, gosh, in my 30s, that would be my thing. At the end of the week, especially, it's like, oh, I've got to have my glass of wine. It's organic, so it must be good.
23:55.08
ahealthypush
yeah. yeah
23:55.69
Claudia
And then in my 30s, I was like, and my late 30s, I'm like, okay, why I'm like waking up in the middle of the night sweating. I'm not sleeping already. So and then my mood was low. I'm like, what am I doing? Like, and I'm teaching people about health.
24:06.54
ahealthypush
Right.
24:07.48
Claudia
And meanwhile, I'm acting as if you know, my organic wine is is helping me know. like so i have it I mean, I couldn't tell you the last time I had a drink and I'm fine with it.
24:16.51
ahealthypush
Yeah, yeah.
24:17.31
Claudia
There's so many like really great drinks. Even when you go out, I feel like a lot of restaurants now, they have a lot of non-alcoholic things and different teas and whatnot. I'd rather just try those things.
24:25.53
ahealthypush
Yeah.
24:26.96
Claudia
but
24:27.67
ahealthypush
I know it's kind of dangerous. I just went out with my mom the other night and she was like, how much was your drink?
24:29.36
Claudia
yeah
24:32.07
ahealthypush
I was like 11 bucks and it was a mocktail. And she's like, what?
24:34.79
Claudia
but
24:35.69
ahealthypush
I was like, yeah, I know. And her glass of wine was like $12. It's like, do not judge me and I will not judge you.
24:41.80
Claudia
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
24:42.93
ahealthypush
But yeah. So what was the next thing that you were going to go into? Like aside from the nervous system support, which is huge.
24:51.27
Claudia
Um, food.
24:52.85
ahealthypush
o
24:53.61
Claudia
Food and blood sugar balance, because a lot of women that we get in terms of clients, like they'll say, oh, I have anxiety, I feel overwhelmed every day, I can't breathe.
24:54.13
ahealthypush
Yes. yeah
25:04.59
Claudia
And then when we look at their diet, we're like, okay, one, you're not eating enough, or you're going too long without food, you know, in the name of fasting, which I'm not opposed to necessarily, but I feel like women really don't know how to do it properly.
25:18.61
ahealthypush
Yeah.
25:18.96
Claudia
um and making sure that they're getting enough protein, fat in their meals, and obviously some carbs, but it also depends on their physical activity, like how much they're working out and all that, but protein is big. I mean, in this stage of life, I can't emphasize that enough because we really do have to work harder to balance our blood sugar because of the change in our hormones. they That makes us more susceptible to insulin resistance, which is not great for anybody.
25:50.16
ahealthypush
Mm.
25:51.64
Claudia
That's going to cause inflammation, weight gain, and other things down the line. So um yeah, but balancing your blood sugar with really good quality food, ample protein, healthy fats, like that's that's really important.
26:05.11
ahealthypush
Yeah, so helpful. When I learned about the blood sugar balancing, I swear this is stuff we heard when we were kids, but like we get so far away from all of it.
26:12.19
Claudia
All
26:13.99
ahealthypush
And I was like, Oh, yeah, like that makes so much sense. And just the small basic like eating breakfast, eating, you know, every three to four hours, like
26:24.23
Claudia
right.
26:25.16
ahealthypush
balanced meals all the things that you said it's so I mean it's it's life-changing but it's like obviously like obviously you need to take care of your like nourish your body and give it what it means um so I these are great I I'm curious because I think this is something that I've heard a lot un scene and seen in the functional approach which is a functional medicine detox which I'm like I am curious what is that can you have you
26:54.32
Claudia
I don't, I don't know.
26:56.24
ahealthypush
Oh, okay, okay.
26:57.17
Claudia
i don't know
26:58.09
ahealthypush
We can edit that part out, but I'm like, I don't know why this is something that I've seen so much about.
26:58.17
Claudia
like
27:02.97
ahealthypush
I'm like, what the hell is that?
27:05.02
Claudia
I don't know, but I try not to use the term.
27:05.85
ahealthypush
Okay.
27:07.34
Claudia
I mean, you can leave this in, it's up to you. I try not to focus so much on detox because I feel that people, they think they have to do something just like once in a while. And now like we focus on detoxification on a daily basis.
27:18.30
ahealthypush
Okay.
27:20.33
Claudia
We could talk about that too.
27:20.89
ahealthypush
Okay. Yeah, no, no, no, let's see, okay. So I love both of these, is right? Nervous system support, food, like actually nourishing your body. There are so many other ways in which you help clients and support clients. I know, like, digestion's a thing, um mindset. I'm actually curious about that. Can we, and like, I feel like giving people three things will be helpful. Can you talk about how mindset plays into all of this?
27:50.92
Claudia
Yeah, sure. because And that's something that we focus on as well with clients. It's the idea that in this stage of life, you really do have to put yourself at the top of the list, even though it feels so difficult. Because like we mentioned earlier, it's a very busy time for women. If they're raising kids, taking care of aging parents, a lot of women, they're at the top of their career if they own a business or they work you know for somebody else. And it just feels impossible to take care of themselves, but if you're feeling lousy, in my opinion, it's like, well, what's the alternative here? If you don't take care of yourself, you're not going to be as good at all that stuff. You're not going to be the mom, the wife, the partner, the worker, whatever that you want to be because you're drowning.
28:36.72
ahealthypush
Yeah.
28:36.79
Claudia
And we've had women where they feel like they're on the verge of like a breakdown because they're just not feeling well physically, emotionally, and they just keep adding to their plate. And I'm like, we need to start taking off for your plate. So there is that mindset shift of less is more.
28:54.42
ahealthypush
Yeah.
28:55.44
Claudia
and asking for help and delegating and looking at your lengthy to-do list and reprioritizing what is most important. And you know I'm not naive in thinking that you can like delegate everything or let go of everything. But where I would venture to say that most of us are guilty of taking things on that really aren aren't ours to take on, like fixing other people, controlling other things.
29:18.23
ahealthypush
Mm hmm.
29:21.32
Claudia
yeah Um, and it's just as hard as women because we can do so much We're so we're so good at pretty much everything Um, sometimes some of us are type a we have a hard time Giving things to others to do like a lot of women like they they don't want their husbands to do their laundry and i'm like why?
29:27.06
ahealthypush
Yeah. Mm hmm.
29:40.96
Claudia
And they're like it's not going to be done, right? And i'm like, well, why don't you take some time and show them how to do it the right way or the way you want it done And then let it go like So yeah
29:49.39
ahealthypush
Yeah. I know it sounds like such silly stuff, but you know, I think just giving a personal example, my husband he has always cooked throughout our relationship. And I always felt guilty for that because of so much of the messaging that we get as women, like we should do it all.
30:05.35
Claudia
Right.
30:06.18
ahealthypush
right We should take care of the household. We should take care of the kids. We should also have a career. We we can do it all. And it's just like, gosh, dang it. I don't want to do it all. I don't want to do like half of it. So it was really looking at, like does this guilt even hold a place? No. like these I just feel this, right, because of all the messaging we've been given. And no, he can do that. And he can do other things as well. Like we both have careers, right? So it's not it This is not, you know he brings in the money and therefore I need to do all the rest.
30:39.99
Claudia
Right.
30:40.99
ahealthypush
like I don't think so. And even if he was working and I wasn't working, like no, it's not going to be, I do everything in the household and then you just you know work outside the home.
30:47.33
Claudia
Mm
30:50.80
ahealthypush
So i think yeah I think this is such a big part of it.
30:51.71
Claudia
hmm.
30:54.49
ahealthypush
And I love that you mentioned this because so much of what we're told is just, it's so hard to unlearn all these things. but it's so helpful when you start to do that work because it really does help with that cortisol production and the anxiety and just feeling so depleted all the time.
31:01.71
Claudia
huh
31:12.97
ahealthypush
So that's such a good one.
31:13.05
Claudia
Yeah.
31:15.19
ahealthypush
Okay, I have one more thing that I really wanna talk about because I think this is such a big big juicy topic when it comes to perimenopause and menopause. HRT, can we talk about, how What weird is that? Should it be part of the process? Should it not be? What does it look like? like What is your take?
31:38.83
Claudia
I'm a big advocate for hormone replacement therapy.
31:41.38
ahealthypush
Okay.
31:41.72
Claudia
um I take it myself. I educate on it. I educate my clients on it. There's a lot of myths around it, misconceptions. um you know We can certainly dive into some of that if you want. but for the most part, it can be incredibly supportive for women and not just for symptom relief, but also for reduction of or reduced risk of chronic diseases later on.
32:07.27
ahealthypush
Ah.
32:07.67
Claudia
um When we lose hormones, it is a big deal. It is a big deal to our body because hormones run pretty much every system in the body. And when they start to decline, we're not getting them back.
32:20.90
ahealthypush
Yeah.
32:21.57
Claudia
You know, there's a lot of people that'll say herbs and food and lifestyle will, you know, will produce hormones. And when you're younger in your 20s, 30s, yes, those things can help. um But once you get to your 40s and beyond, when you have that ovarian decline, it's important to at least consider that conversation with your trusted provider um or find somebody who is knowledgeable and will have that conversation with you. Because unfortunately, not all providers are knowledgeable.
32:54.81
Claudia
A lot of them just aren't up to date on the research.
32:55.06
ahealthypush
and
32:57.33
Claudia
So a lot of women are getting dismissed, which is you know pretty common.
33:00.44
ahealthypush
Yeah.
33:03.05
ahealthypush
Yeah, for sure.
33:04.03
Claudia
Yeah.
33:04.44
ahealthypush
I think I'm just surprised. I haven't really done any looking into HRT, but I feel like I'm a little surprised with a functional approach that this is like something that is used and maybe even recommended and makes sense for a lot of women. But what you say makes so much sense. You lose so many of the hormones and it's like,
33:21.17
Claudia
Cool.
33:24.11
ahealthypush
can obviously this treatment can be helpful and is for many people. Yeah, could you maybe talk about what are some of the misconceptions? Because maybe that's what's causing me to think HRT is not actually good.
33:36.78
Claudia
Yeah, well, just to give a little history, there's been a lot of people saying things like hormone replacement therapy causes cancer, causes health issues. And that was really due to a very faulty misinterpreted study that was done, forgot what year, 20 something years ago, where, not more than that, It was called the Women's Health Initiative, WHI, and this study basically spanned I think it was 160,000 women were in it and it was supposed to be like 40 different
34:12.02
Claudia
um I want to say countries, I don't remember exactly what the breakdown is. ah But it was it was done over a certain amount of time where they were essentially looking at what were the most chronic diseases that women experienced like bone loss, cancer, heart disease, heart disease being you know the number one.
34:30.54
ahealthypush
Yeah.
34:30.66
Claudia
um Killer of women, even though it's not talked about that much.
34:34.63
ahealthypush
Yeah.
34:35.31
Claudia
um and And women of all ages, it's actually not just women in perimenopause and beyond. it's It's kind of wild. Even younger women can die of heart disease or develop some sort of heart disease.
34:42.60
ahealthypush
Mm.
34:47.07
Claudia
um But essentially, they had these women who were older, so fifties and beyond, so they were already were at risk for chronic diseases because of the loss of hormones in that stage of life.
34:58.63
ahealthypush
a
34:59.38
Claudia
Many of them already had underlying ah health issues and were already um showing symptoms of many of these chronic diseases that they were essentially studying.
35:09.31
ahealthypush
Gotcha.
35:09.37
Claudia
um And the hormones that were used in the study were not bioidentical hormones, which is what um really mimics the natural hormones that our body makes versus synthetic. So they were using synthetic hormones. um So basically it was just like such a faulty study. And then it came out like, oh my gosh, they stopped it midway. They were like, people are getting cancer and they blamed it on the hormones.
35:31.46
ahealthypush
Oh my god.
35:32.99
Claudia
I mean, it's really one of the worst things that like has ever occurred, um but you know, This happens when it comes to, you know, the news, the media, they get into something and then they they just like, you know, it's just thrown out there like this negative press.
35:39.84
ahealthypush
yeah
35:48.23
Claudia
um And prior to all that, women were taking hormones for years. It was very commonplace for doctors to prescribe hormone therapy to women.
35:54.19
ahealthypush
Yeah.
35:57.65
Claudia
um But luckily there were many doctors who were like, this doesn't sound right.
36:01.57
ahealthypush
Mm.
36:01.80
Claudia
And they questioned the study and they continued to practice, but many doctors unfortunately didn't. So they stopped giving women hormones and for, I don't know, 30 something years, women went without hormones. And then we started to see the rise in these chronic diseases. And of course, food and lifestyle plays a role as well. um But luckily what happened, and I believe it was 2000 something, early 2000s, they reanalyzed the study. They found that it was faulty, all the things I just shared, and they redacted their statements.
36:35.01
ahealthypush
yeah Of course not, yeah.
36:36.27
Claudia
But unfortunately, that was not in the news. It was like, o oops, we made a mistake. And yeah, so now the last however many years, so many, I think this was 2019 when they finally reanalyzed it. Um, people like myself and other practitioners and, you know, doctors and people who are hormone experts have been just like, you know, on their soapbox, like this is not harmful. Like this is helping women.
37:02.35
ahealthypush
Yeah.
37:03.67
Claudia
And yeah, so that's just to give you some history and why there's such a misconception around the safety, at least of HRT. Um, the other thing I hear a lot is women will say, well, I want to do things naturally.
37:17.04
ahealthypush
Yes. Yes.
37:19.06
Claudia
And yeah.
37:19.21
ahealthypush
And that's very much me, right? Cause I think we, with many things, you do see that there are a lot of changes that you can make that have big effects, but you can totally get caught up in the spiral of like, but I'm doing all the things. Maybe there's something different. Maybe I should look at trying this or that or the, and before you know it, you're like just blaming yourself and your body and you're like, nothing is working.
37:42.31
Claudia
Yeah.
37:45.15
ahealthypush
What the heck is wrong with me?
37:46.85
Claudia
Yeah. And that's what ah a lot of our clients come to us.
37:47.52
ahealthypush
Yeah.
37:49.43
Claudia
They're like, i'm I'm eating right. I'm exercising.
37:50.98
ahealthypush
Mm hmm.
37:51.27
Claudia
I'm doing this. And and um I still feel awful. I'm like, well, because you don't have hormones, like your hormones are declining and nothing is going to replace hormones, but hormones. And, you know, a lot of people will say, oh, but won't adaptogens work or herbs. And yes, those can minimize symptoms, but that's not really natural. We don't, our body doesn't make, you know, ashwagandha.
38:11.72
ahealthypush
Yeah, yeah.
38:12.92
Claudia
Right. Our body makes hormones since we were born since we were in, you know, utero, if you will.
38:15.52
ahealthypush
Yeah.
38:19.53
ahealthypush
Yeah.
38:19.86
Claudia
um So to me, it's just like I have to have that conversation with women. It's like, what do you think is more natural to your body? Hormones or plants or herbs that, you know, like things like that. And um it's It's just like it's a different shift for women. And I also say to them, it's not one or the other.
38:34.36
ahealthypush
Mm hmm.
38:36.15
Claudia
You can absolutely change your food. You should change your food, your lifestyle. um If you want to use adaptogens and things, that's absolutely fine.
38:43.52
ahealthypush
Yeah.
38:44.64
Claudia
But they're unfortunately, they're not going to have the long term health benefits the way hormones would. um Yeah.
38:51.73
ahealthypush
yeah
38:52.85
Claudia
And it's just like it's another mindset shift for for women to to make and understand.
38:53.48
ahealthypush
yeah
38:58.06
ahealthypush
Yeah, I was gonna say, I was actually just gonna say a lot of this is mindset shifts. and And it's hard when you've been told and sold certain things for a very long time. um But it is good to hear that HRT canon is a helpful treatment for a lot of women, it doesn't have to be
39:15.15
Claudia
Yeah.
39:16.64
ahealthypush
you know, quote, just nutritional or lifestyle changes. So that's I loved everything that you shared. So I feel like we could go on for days. Like I could talk about this subject for days.
39:25.99
Claudia
Yeah, okay.
39:30.32
ahealthypush
And maybe this is we need to have another conversation um later on. But I appreciate you Claudia coming on so much and sharing all of this information and the tips. Um, so people are like, okay, I want to know more. I maybe want to work with her. Like, where can people find and connect with you?
39:50.37
Claudia
Yeah, thank you. um I'm on Instagram at health coach Claudia. So that's where I'm pretty present on there. I like to share, you know, education information, help women advocate better for themselves. um And I do have a a program called the hormone rescue. And that's where women we do some testing and whatnot. But we do a lot of what we shared here in terms of foundations and
40:11.60
ahealthypush
Yeah.
40:13.29
Claudia
ah We do a lot of educating so that women are empowered and they can make the right decision for them even in regards to hormone replacement therapy. We do have quite an emphasis on that um to educate because there is such a lack of it and a lot of misunderstanding around it.
40:25.57
ahealthypush
Mm hmm.
40:30.74
Claudia
um But like you said, I want women to understand that. It's not them, like all the effort they're putting in, like, that's why I say to women, you're not crazy. It's perimenopause. um And it's wonderful that you're doing, you know, you're eating right, you're working out, you're doing all the things, you're taking supplements. But if you're still not feeling well, you're not a failure.
40:47.27
ahealthypush
Hmm.
40:50.18
Claudia
It's that your body is changing. And that's when the hormone replacement can be supportive.
40:52.47
ahealthypush
Hmm.
40:55.41
Claudia
And it could be really life changing for a lot of women.
40:58.32
ahealthypush
Yeah. Oh, I love that. I love, you know, I think part of what, you know, you get in a program too is being heard and being validated, which is such a huge piece. I swear just hearing like, no, you're not crazy, right? And you're not alone. And there are so many other people and like, that makes sense that you're going through all of this. So that piece is helpful. And I also think too, you have a podcast, right?
41:21.22
Claudia
Yes, I do. Sorry, I forgot about that.
41:23.08
ahealthypush
No, that's okay.
41:23.78
Claudia
um We launched it this year and it's actually, it's been doing pretty good. Perimenopause simplified because that's all I talk about is perimenopause.
41:27.36
ahealthypush
I mean,
41:31.54
Claudia
um And yeah, women love that.
41:31.70
ahealthypush
I love that.
41:33.70
Claudia
It's their short 15, 20 minute episodes where I just go into different symptoms, how to advocate for yourself. I go into hormone replacement therapy, education, and we just started having some guests on as well, some specialists in this space. So yeah, it's been cool.
41:49.07
ahealthypush
Amazing. Yeah, so it's awesome. So find Claudia, you know, she has the program, the podcast all super helpful.
41:52.12
Claudia
Thank you.
41:56.48
ahealthypush
And I just appreciate you so much. Thank you for coming on.
42:00.10
Claudia
Thank you for having me.
42:01.14
ahealthypush
Yeah.
