Episodes
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For many of us, alcohol is woven into our lives, whether it’s a glass of wine at dinner or a night out with friends. It provides the backdrop to most big occasions, both happy and sad.
But how does it affect us during menopause, when our bodies are changing in so many ways? And how does it influence our hormones and our health?
The festive season is fast approaching, and with that can come a lot of pressure, because there’s always a lot to do, and our social schedule can fill up alarmingly. So, this episode is all about forward planning to help you get through this hectic time unscathed.
I take a closer look at our relationship with alcohol, how it may be affecting our menopause experience, and how small shifts in our approach to drinking could make a big difference to our health.
My guest is the brilliant Sarah Williamson, life coach and founder of Drink Less, Live Better, and author of an excellent book of the same name. But trust me! There’s no preaching here. In 2019 she decided to take a break from alcohol for one year... and hasn't gone back to it, there was no rock-bottom, no drama - just a feeling that perhaps alcohol wasn't providing all the benefits she thought it was. She’s found that the relationship with alcohol is often the final bit of the jigsaw for many midlife women in getting a handle on their wellbeing.
Sarah talks a lot of sense, and I love her practical, compassionate and non-judgemental approach. You’ll find some very helpful advice in this episode on how to manage your relationship with alcohol.
Join The Happy Menopause Club to access this month's bonus episode: Drink Smarter, Not More: 7 Quick Wins for Cutting Back This Festive Season.If you’re a fan of The Happy Menopause, please tell your friends and family about it, and make sure you click the follow or subscribe button on whichever platform you listen on to make sure you never miss an episode. It really does make a huge difference to the algorithms which influence the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. After all, every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
This is a special episode which shines a spotlight on nutrition to celebrate World Menopause Day, It’s actually a re-release of one of my most popular episodes, which I thought you might like to discover or rediscover, because it’s packed with useful information and foodie tips.
I thought it was important to focus on foods to balance out my other special, which is on this year’s WMD theme of HRT. In that episode, BMS menopause specialist Kathy Abernethy debunks some of the myths and mysteries around HRT.
But whether you take HRT or not, the right nutrition is incredibly important. The better you eat, the more effective your HRT will be. Because it’s basically just hormones. The body still needs to know what to do with those hormones, and this is where your diet comes in. Different nutrients are key catalysts in the chain reaction of our hormones that affect all the systems in our body. And if you’re not taking HRT, the right food is even more important to help you manage your symptoms.
In this episode, I’ve picked out my 10 favourite foods to support a healthy menopause. There’s something for everyone in there, and there might be a couple of surprises too! Get your notebooks ready so you can plan your menopause-friendly shopping list!
If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, please do leave a 5-star rating and a review on Apple podcasts or whichever platform you listen on and make sure you tell all your friends – it makes a huge difference to the visibility of the podcast and really helps to spread the word. Because every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Missing episodes?
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HRT (or MHT) isn’t natural territory for The Happy Menopause podcast, but as it’s the theme for this year’s World Menopause Day, I thought it would be remiss of me not to cover it.
HRT has become a pretty contentious issue in recent years, with a lot of people being very entrenched in the strongly for or strongly against position. And amongst all that there are quite a lot of self-styled experts, who are anything but expert in the matter!
I’ve been concerned to see the impact this has had on women in midlife, who’ve often become confused, fearful or distressed about the lack of clarity and some of the disturbing messages about the risks if you do take it or the risks if you don’t take it.
As with all things, there is nuance here, so for this episode I’ve reached out to the excellent Kathy Abernethy whose menopause credentials are beyond question. She’s a trained nurse and BMS menopause specialist who’s been working as a clinician in the menopause arena since the 90s.
Kathy is a hugely respected figure and has helped thousands of women over the years with her evidence-based advice and clinical support. She came on the show in Season 2 to talk about solutions for vaginal dryness, and I was delighted to welcome her back to shine a light on HRT, provide clarity and bust some of the many myths that are out there.
We explore 12 key questions and myths about HRT. We look whether you can be too old or too young; how your medical history affects things; whether you’re just putting off the inevitable; what happens if you don’t take it; and more.
Tune in for the inside track and a balanced, evidence-based view of this complex subject from someone who’s a genuine expert.
If you’re interested in the diet and lifestyle side of menopause management, check out my other World Menopause Day special on 10 Foods to Focus on for the Menopause. And if you want ongoing support every month, you really should consider joining The Happy Menopause Club for bonus episodes, articles, Q&As and videos at thehappymenopause.com.
If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode and please give it a 5-star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on, I’d be so grateful. And do tell your friends and family about it too. It really does make a huge difference to the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. After all, every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Aromatherapy is much more complex than just lighting a scented candle. The essential oils of flowers, plants, wood, nuts or seeds can have a powerful effect on the body. In this episode, we explore how aromatherapy might support us in midlife, menopause and beyond.
My guest is Amy Anthony, a certified aromatherapist and aromatherapy educator who’s an expert in this intricate area. She practices as an aromatherapist in New York City and has taught at the former New York Institute for Aromatherapy and the Centre for Aromatic Studies.
We talk about the multitude of ways that aromatherapy can support our health and wellbeing. Amy explains the different essential oils and how they can help us. She also shares some practical advice on how we can use them safely.
We discuss the brilliance of bergamot, the restorative powers of rose, how rosemary can revitalise us and why we should love lavender. It’s an absolutely fascinating session – she even shares a couple of recipes that you can find in the show notes on my website.
If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode and please give it a 5-star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on, I’d be so grateful. And do tell your friends and family about it too. It really does make a huge difference to the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. After all, every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Tune into this short message for some VERY exciting news.
I’m going to introduce you to The Happy Menopause Club, which is where all the cool midlife women hang out!
There’s loads of great content on there for you that I’ve prepared especially for you and I tell you all about it in this short clip.
If you can’t wait to find out about it, visit thehappymenopause.com and sign up straight away. I can’t wait to see you there.
This month in the club:
- A members-only podcast episode on Best Breakfasts
- A live Q&A on nutrition for bone health
- A menopause masterclass on 5 Foods to Focus on to Manage Symptoms
- My article on 7 Things You Really Need to Know About the Perimenopause
- Member’s chat
- A special offer of 25% off my book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You FlourishSign up at thehappymenopause.com!
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Medicinal herbs have been used for centuries to support our health and wellbeing. In fact, some Chinese and Egyptian texts about the use of herbs date back to 3000BC. In this episode I explore the role of herbs in menopause, and how to introduce them into our self-care programme to manage those pesky symptoms.
My expert guest is medical herbalist, Hannah Charman. She brings 25 years of clinical experience to the podcast and supports her patients with a combination of herbal medicine, coaching and advanced hypnotherapy. Her specialist area of interest is menopause, and there really isn’t much that she doesn’t know about herbs and how they can help us through the hormonal upheaval during this phase of our life.
Hannah explains the therapeutic history of herbs and how it has developed over the centuries. She calls it the people’s medicine and she’s picked out her top 5 herbs for managing the menopause. She takes us through each one in detail, explaining what it is, how it impacts the body, how it can relieve symptoms, where it grows, how it can work with food, and how you could use to support yourself.
She also shares some very helpful advice on the use of herbs generally and how to ensure that you use them safely and effectively. It’s a fascinating episode with a hugely helpful range of tips. In fact, it gave me a real urge to create my own herb garden!
If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode and please give it a 5-star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on, I’d be so grateful. And do tell your friends and family about it too. It really does make a huge difference to the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. After all, every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Premenstrual disorders can make life incredibly miserable. Any woman who’s struggled with PMS will know that, and I covered that specific issue in the closing episode to Season 5. This episode is a follow-on from that, as I drill down into PMDD – premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
Although it occurs in the 2nd half of the cycle, this isn’t just a severe form of PMS. It’s a hormone-based mood disorder caused by a severe reaction to the natural fluctuations of oestrogen and progesterone which can lead to intense emotional reactions, depression, negativity, brain fog and fatigue, amongst other things. There are no prizes for guessing that PMDD can get a lot worse during the perimenopause which is why I’ve drafted in some expert advice on this.
My guest is Dr Lynsay Mathews. She’s a lecturer in Public Health at the University of the West of Scotland and a leading researcher into PMDD, a condition she’s struggled with herself. Lynsay launched the UK’s first PMDD research agenda and works with a team of researchers on several studies covering a range of PMDD issues. She’s just the woman we need for such a complex subject.
We discuss what PMMD is; why it might happen; how it can affect you and your loved ones; how you know you’ve got it and the challenges of diagnosis. Lynsay talks through her own personal story of PMDD and how it inspired her to initiate numerous research projects into the condition. We look at the stats around PMDD and the number of unsuspecting women who may be struggling with symptoms. She also explains the various treatment options that are available.
It's an incredibly thought-provoking discussion and made me wonder just how many women out there might have PMDD and don’t realise it. If you suspect that it might be an issue for you and you’d like to find out more and perhaps sign up for one Lynsay’s studies, I’ve put all the relevant links in the show notes.
This month, the Happy Menopause Club is covering best breakfasts, there’s a live Q&A on nutrition for bone health and you can discover 7 key things you need to know about the perimenopause. Sign up at thehappymenopause.com for just £6 a month for bonus episodes, nutrition Q&As, menopause masterclasses, special offers and more!
If you’re a fan of The Happy Menopause, please tell your friends and family about it, and do give it a 5-star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on. It makes a huge difference to the algorithms which influence the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. Because every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
September is a good time for new beginnings, so if you’re thinking about how to build up your strength and fitness if you’ve let things slide a bit this summer, this is the episode for you.
In this episode I chat to the brilliant Cara Metz. She’s an absolute testament to the transformative power of healthy living. A dancer from a very early age, she went on to become the Latin American British Open champion and developed a career as an international dancer, coach and teacher.
Following her retirement from professional dancing, she decided to channel her experience and energy into becoming a fitness expert, and has created her trademark approach of short blasts of exercise specifically designed to fit the schedule of the busy midlife woman. Think you don’t have time to exercise? Think again!
Cara is such an inspiration. Her story is fascinating and I’m a big fan of her exercise snacking approach. She takes us through the thinking behind her fitness programmes and why it works so well for midlife women. We discuss the different types of exercise which are important and relevant to women in this stage of life and she shares a few moves for us to try. It’s a really energising episode!
If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode and please give it a 5 star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on, I’d be so grateful. And do tell your friends and family about it too. It really does make a huge difference to the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. After all, every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
You know when it’s coming don’t you? That time of the month, when people start to tiptoe around you and discretion is definitely the better part of valour amongst your loved ones. Woe betide the fool that dares to suggest you’re a little hormonal – especially if it’s a man! Yep, I’m talking about PMS, premenstrual syndrome, which is the focus of this month’s episode
PMS can make life miserable, and it can affect different women in different ways, because the symptoms can include irritability, low mood, sheer rage, headaches, bloating, back pain, sore breasts, skin breakouts, anxiety, IBS and poor sleep. We women really lucked out, didn’t we?
This episode explores:
- What PMS is and why it happens
- What’s going on with your cycle
- The role of progesterone in PMS
- PMS or PMDD?
- Factors that influence hormone balance
- The role of nutrition in managing PMS
- Specific foods to focus on, and what to avoid
It’s time to stop putting up and shutting up! This is your opportunity to make a material difference to something that might have been affecting you for years.
If you enjoyed the podcast, don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode and please give it 5 star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on, I’d be so grateful. And do tell your friends and family about it too. It really does make a huge difference to the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. After all, every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Do you ever wonder what you came upstairs for, forget where you’ve parked the car or find yourself grappling for the right word that just won’t come? These are all common concerns for women in midlife because brain fog is one of the classic symptoms of perimenopause and menopause.
In my latest Best Bit to celebrate half a million downloads for The Happy Menopause podcast, I’m focusing on brain fog because all that hormonal turmoil plays havoc with the oestrogen receptors in your brain.
The resulting forgetfulness, poor concentration and focus, plus a general sense of your brain not firing on all cylinders can be incredibly disconcerting. I’ve come across many women in my nutrition clinic who were genuinely worried about early onset Alzheimer’s when it was actually all about the hormones.
So I’m diving back to Season 2, where we get to the bottom of brain fog with the delightful Dr Sabina Brennan. She’s a chartered health psychologist, neuroscientist and host of the Super Brain podcast, so brains are very much her business! Her book Beating Brain Fog is a wonderful read, with lots of practical strategies to support and tune up your brain.
Tune in to hear just some of what she’s got to say about this tricky subject and for the full episode scoot back to Season 2, Episode 16, where there’s a whole load more advice for you that I couldn’t squeeze into this taster. Enjoy!
If you’re a fan of The Happy Menopause, please tell your friends and family, and do give it a 5-star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on. It makes a huge difference to the algorithms which influence the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. Because every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Chronic insomnia can be very stressful – not only are you feeling tired and worried about how you’ll cope the next day, but you’re probably also worrying about all those stories you’ve heard about the potential long-term health impact of not sleeping. And that means that you’re even less likely to get to sleep!
Women are generally much more prone to sleep disorders than men, and when we reach the perfect storm of midlife, things can get very tricky. In this episode we focus on the potential benefits of sleep loss.
I chat to author and researcher Annabel Abbs about the findings from her latest book Sleepless: Discovering the Power of the Night Self. Following a series of bereavements, Annabel charts her experience of sleep loss and her research into the way women have dealt with it over the centuries.
It’s a fascinating insight into wakefulness that turns the issue of insomnia on its head and looks at the benefits of sleep loss instead. Annabel explains how the female night self is a quite unique and extraordinary being, with increased creativity, freedom and boldness.
If you’re feeling stressed about the quality of your sleep, this episode is for you, because you’ll start to see the issue in a whole new way and Annabel has some great tips about dealing with insomnia.
If you’re a fan of The Happy Menopause, please tell your friends and family about it, and do give it a 5-star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on. It makes a huge difference to the algorithms which influence the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. Because every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Welcome to my latest Best Bit, part of my series to celebrate half a million downloads for The Happy Menopause podcast, and the chance for you to catch up on some of the brilliant episodes you may have missed. This edition focuses on vaginal dryness, which is rather the Cinderella of the menopause.
In recent years, we’ve become more confident about discussing our menopause – some women will mention their hot flushes without turning a hair, and the common mental health symptoms such as anxiety and mood swings have also started to come out of the closet, which is a great thing, but we’re still not quite ready to be open about the vaginal symptoms.
So for this extract, I zoom back to Season 2 Episode 15 where we shine a light on this tricky issue, because it can be a huge problem for many women through the menopause and beyond. To help us, I’ve turned to one of the most clinically experienced menopause specialists in the UK. Kathy Abernethy, who’s been a leading light in the field of women’s health and the menopause for over 30 years.
From her early years as a sister on a gynae ward, through her time as Chair of the British Menopause Society and now as the leader of a multidisciplinary NHS menopause clinic and director of menopause services at Peppy health, a digital health company, Kathy has consistently championed women’s health and transformed the lives of hundreds of women with her clinical advice and support. There really is no better person to give us the lowdown on how to manage vaginal dryness, so tune in to hear her expert advice on moisturisers, lubricants, vaginal oestrogen and how to manage UTIs.
To hear the full episode, check out Season 2 Episode 15, where there’s even more practical advice for you.
If you’re a fan of The Happy Menopause, please tell your friends and family, and do give it a 5-star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on. It makes a huge difference to the algorithms which influence the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. Because every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Are you ready for an adventure? Midlife is a time when we can get itchy feet and want to explore new horizons, but sometimes niggling doubts and a lack of confidence can get in the way of that. So in this episode, I’m chatting to adventurer Alice Morrison, who’s just the woman we need to give us the encouragement to take that first big step.
Alice is an adventurer, TV presenter and author, who’s currently living in a little village in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. I met her at The Travel Show earlier this year, where she was talking about her latest book Walking With Nomads and I knew straight away that I wanted to chat to her in more detail.
After a successful career in journalism, Alice decided it was time for a change and she embarked on a series of adventures in midlife which have transformed her life – she’s cycled across Africa; run across deserts, and trekked across Morocco, for starters. Alice knows exactly what it’s like to travel solo as a woman, so she’s just the person to help us get started on our own midlife adventures!
My conversation with Alice has definitely reawakened my travel bug, and I love how encouraging and matter of fact she is about it. She’s quite right – we just need to do it, and I hope you will!
If you’re a fan of The Happy Menopause, please tell your friends and family about it, and do give it a 5-star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on. It makes a huge difference to the algorithms which influence the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. Because, every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Welcome to my latest Best Bit, part of my series to celebrate half a million downloads for The Happy Menopause podcast and the chance for you to catch up on some of the brilliant episodes you may have missed.
This edition focuses on anxiety, which is one of the most underestimated and unexpected symptoms of the menopause, and yet it’s so common. So many of the women in my nutrition clinic struggle with anxiety during the menopause and it often takes them by surprise. This is why I called upon Rachel Weiss, accredited counsellor and founder of the Rowan Consultancy to help us out.
Rachel explains what’s going on in our brain when we experience anxiety and has some incredibly helpful tips on how to support our mental health and wellbeing. She talks us through some physical and mental strategies to calm the nervous system and to dial down the anxiety.
This is a brilliant episode, with some fantastic expert advice to help you feel more on top of things. If you’d like to listen to the full episode, you can find it in Season 2, Episode 7, where you’ll get the full benefit of Rachel’s expertise.
If you’re a fan of The Happy Menopause, please tell your friends and family, and do give it a 5-star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on. It makes a huge difference to the algorithms which influence the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. Because every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Our relationship with food can be complex and it’s very often determined by a whole host of different experiences. Some of us might describe ourselves as emotional eaters and find that this can get in the way of a healthy lifestyle, affecting our weight and our body image. The whole arena can be a bit of a minefield. In fact, it’s a specialist field in clinical work, so I’ve reached out to an expert in this area, Dr Romi Ran.
Romi is a Clinical Psychologist; Coach and Author who specialises in food, eating, and body image and who works with people to transform their lives. She’s been involved in a range of research at Harvard University and received her doctorate from the University of Oxford. Her new book, Bite Sized Peace, draws on her clinical experience and is a transformative guide to changing eating habits and fostering body acceptance. This is fascinating and important stuff at any age of life, but never more so than during the hormonal upheavals of the perimenopause.There’s a lot of food for thought in this interview with Romi, as we discuss the challenges women can experience with their relationship with food. We talk about midlife weight loss; the impact of emotional eating; body image, and how to manage all these challenges. Romi shares her 5 principles to navigate these tricky areas and to achieve a more positive and accepting approach to manage our health and wellbeing through midlife and beyond.
I really enjoyed chatting to Romi – there was a lot of food for thought there and I was very interested in what she had to say about the importance of self- acceptance. If you’re thinking of making some changes, tuning into this fascinating episode could be a great way to get started.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Welcome to my latest Best Bit, part of my series to celebrate half a million downloads for The Happy Menopause podcast and to give you the chance to catch up on some of the brilliant episodes you may have missed.
We’re looking back at the launch episode for Season 2 for this edition and we’re talking hair! My guest is consultant dermatologist and hair specialist Dr Sharon Wong, who is incredibly generous with her advice.
Dr Sharon Wong specialises in treating hair and scalp disorders and she’s an absolute mine of information, as we find out what influences the growth and condition of our hair and how the menopause affects our hair.
We discuss the different diet, lifestyle and biochemical factors that can affect our hair and Sharon. She explains the best approach to haircare; how often to wash our hair; what to look for in hair products; and how we can optimise the health and strength of our hair.
There really is nothing like listening to an expert talk about their subject. I learned a lot from Sharon in our chat and I’m sure you will too. If you’d like to listen to the full episode, you can find it in Season 2, Episode 1, where there’s even more practical advice to help you take the right approach to your hair care!
If you’re a fan of The Happy Menopause, please tell your friends and family, and do give it a 5-star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on. It makes a huge difference to the algorithms which influence the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. Because every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Are you a sloucher? Do you spend too much time pinned to your desk? Have you started to get a few niggles in your lower back, neck or shoulders? If it’s yes to all of the above, this episode is the one for you, because it’s all about posture, movement and alignment and it’s packed with practical advice to help with all those lurking issues you may have been ignoring or simply putting up with.
My guest is Kerrie-Anne Bradley, former economist turned expert pilates teacher. It was her own experience of too much time at a desk and the subsequent problems with sciatica and other aches and pains that led her to take up pilates.
She was so inspired by the results that she retrained with the renowned Fletcher Pilates School and became a teacher herself. She’s the founder of the brilliant Pilates at Your Desk and Move More at Your Desk programmes, including an excellent book of the same name. There’s not much Kerrie-Anne doesn’t know about movement and alignment – in fact she’s puts me through my paces in this interview, so please join in the fun!
Kerrie-Anne takes us through her journey to resolve her own aches and pains and explains how pilates made a material difference to her. She also shares a range of simple exercises that you can do at your desk to help deal with neck or shoulder pain; lower back issues, and tight hamstrings and hip flexors. Most of them are subtle movements that you can do in the office without anyone really noticing, which is an added bonus, if you want to be discreet.It really was a pleasure to chat to Kerrie-Anne and I just know that I’m taller and straighter as a result!
If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode and please give it 5 star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on, I’d be so grateful. And do tell your friends and family about it too. It really does make a huge difference to the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. After all, every woman deserves to have a happy menopause. Thanks so much for listening. Bye for now.Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
Welcome to another of my Best Bits to celebrate the amazing milestone of 500,000 downloads for The Happy Menopause podcast.
This time, I’m diving right back into the archive to Season 1 for this one, because my chat about sleep with Professor Russell Foster was absolutely fascinating, and even in this pared-down version, there is a wealth of excellent advice.
Russell is the Founder and Director of The Sleep and Circadian Research Institute and Head of Oxford University’s Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology. He’s carried out decades of research into the science of circadian rhythms and sleep cycles and won multiple awards for his work. There’s no doubt that he’s the man to speak to about anything to do with sleep!
In this series of extracts, we discuss Russell’s 4-pillar approach to getting a good night’s sleep; learn why sleep apps are mostly a waste of time; understand the science behind our circadian rhythms and how exposure to morning light is the key to a good night’s sleep. Russell is full of fascinating insights and practical tips to make a material difference to the quality of your sleep!
If you’re inspired by these Best Bits, you can find the full episode in Season 1, Episode 16 where you can hear everything that Russell has to say about this vital subject.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
This is the first of a series of Best Bits to celebrate the amazing milestone of 500,000 downloads. Huge thanks to all of you for making this possible by listening!
Looking back over the past 5 seasons, there are so many great moments of advice, insight and inspiration from my brilliant guests that it’s hard to choose, but I’ve decided to start with some fascinating extracts from my interview with Dr Catherine Walter.
Catherine is an Emeritus Fellow in Applied Linguistics at Oxford University, but she’s also a world-record-holding powerlifter, who took up the sport at the age of 65 and hasn’t looked back since. As you’ll see from these extracts, her story is incredibly inspiring and it’s a real example to any woman who wants to take control of her own health and wellbeing.
Tune in to find out about the ins and outs of powerlifting:- what it actually is; how to get started; how it can help your bones; and why it can make such a difference to your health in ways that reach far beyond strength and stamina, helping you become a whole new woman.
If you’re inspired by these Best Bits, you can find the full episode in Season 3, Episode 6 where you can hear Catherine’s fascinating story and her excellent advice on strength training.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. -
In this episode, we talk about vaginas, vulvas, sex and sex toys, because we can! As young people we all tend to assume that older people don’t have sex, but we midlife women know better, don’t we? It may be more complicated for us, for a variety of reasons, but women in mid and later life are still sexual beings and we have every right to enjoy our intimate life just as much as we did when we were younger.
But we all know that there can be obstacles to this, such as dryness, pain, recurrent infections and loss of libido, so my guest today is here to help with all that, because there’s nothing she doesn’t know about how to manage all these pesky issues that get in the way of a happy and fulfilling sex life.
My guest in this episode is the brilliant Samantha Evans. She has a background in nursing, so she knows all the nitty gritty about our intimate areas and she’s the founder of Jo Divine, an online sex toy company designed to support people to enjoy sexual intimacy and pleasure by using skin-safe products and irritant-free lubricants and moisturisers. We discuss everything from how to manage UTIs and thrush to why and how to use a sex toy to maximise your pleasure.
What I love about Sam is that she completely normalises what is a sensitive subject for many of us, and she’s so practical and supportive with her advice. Nothing is off the table with her and it’s a wild ride of a conversation, so get your notebooks ready, buckle in and tune in to hear what she’s got to say!
If you’ve enjoyed the podcast, remember to subscribe so you don’t miss the next episode and please give it 5 star rating and a short review on Apple podcasts, or whichever platform you listen on, I’d be so grateful. And do tell your friends and family about it too. It really does make a huge difference to the visibility of the podcast, so that more women can find the show. After all, every woman deserves to have a happy menopause.
Check out the full Show Notes for this episode on my website www.well-well-well.co.uk/podcast, where you'll find all the relevant links and references for each guest.
For ad-free listening, bonus episodes, plus a whole load of exclusive advice around menopause, join The Happy Menopause Club for just £6 per month.
Learn how to build your own menopause diet to manage your symptoms with my latest book The Happy Menopause: Smart Nutrition to Help You Flourish. - Show more
