3 Reasons It’s Time to Lean Into Menopause

Introduction to the Midlife Feast Podcast: 0:00

Hi and welcome to the Midlife Feast, the podcast for women who are hungry for more in this season of life. I'm your host, Dr. Jenn Salib-Huber. I'm an intuitive eating dietitian and naturopathic doctor, and I help women manage menopause without dieting and food rules. Come to my table, listen and learn from trusted guest experts in women's health and interviews with women just like you. Each episode brings to the table juicy conversations designed to help you feast on midlife. And if you're looking for more information about menopause, nutrition, and intuitive eating, check out the Midlife Feast Community, my monthly membership that combines my no-nonsense approach to nutrition with community, so that you can learn from me and others who can relate to the cheers and challenges of midlife.

Season Opening and Theme Introduction: 1:00

Hi everyone, welcome back to the new season of the Midlife Feast. I hope that you all had a great summer or winter if you are down under or in New Zealand, as I've heard from lots of listeners who are in Australia and New Zealand. I hope that you've had a great, whatever break it feels like. I have so much to tell you and so much to update you on, but I'm going to try and keep myself on track, which, if you know me, sometimes I like to go on tangents and ramble, but I'm going to do my best not to do that on this first episode of the season. So first, I want to tell you a little bit about the theme for this year.

So every year I try and pick a theme, not as a rule to follow for every episode and every guest, but just to give me a bit of structure. I also find that it helps me to get creative about what I want to talk about and who I want to talk to. But let's talk about the theme. So last year's theme was "Menopause Nutrition Made Easy" and how to press the easy button. And I did that because it felt like in the year leading up to last year, so many of the conversations that were happening were how to do the right thing and the things you have to do and lists of, you know, eat this, not that, and it just felt like I wanted to help cut through some of that noise. So that was our theme for last year.

This Year's Theme: Embracing Menopause: 2:09

This year's theme is a little bit different because it's kind of one that's been building in my mind over time. So five years ago, when I first started really focusing on midlife and menopause in my intuitive eating and nutrition practice, so many of the conversations were around information. So a large percentage of people had never heard of perimenopause, did not know what the symptoms were, didn't even know much about menopause beyond hot flashes and mood swings.

So there was a real push to add information and understanding to those conversations, which is amazing and absolutely needed to happen, because we need everyone, and especially everyone with a uterus, to be educated on what to expect when this inevitably happens to all of us.

But in the last year, I’ve kind of noticed a shift, and that shift has been a little bit away from—I’m going to say a shift away from empowerment, and I’m going to explain that a little bit. But it feels like it has become a fight menopause conversation. It has been lumping menopause as always something bad, always something to dread, always something awful, and you should do everything that you can to fight it, and it just has not been sitting well with me. It feels a lot like the anti-aging conversations from 20 years ago that have softened. They're still out there, obviously, but it really feels like now the fight is against menopause.

And this isn't even really about the hormone conversation, because I never bring hormone therapy into these conversations because that's a choice. That's a personal choice, a medical choice. There are lots of reasons why someone would want to and lots of reasons why others may not want to or can't. So this isn't about whether or not you treat with hormones, but it is really about how can we start to have more of an acceptance, and I'm going to explain that acceptance-based conversation. So my theme for this year is how can I help you to lean into menopause? So let's talk about what I mean because it is not giving up, which is sometimes what comes across when we're talking about acceptance is that like, oh, it just means I'm giving up. But if you listen to last year's episode on body image, there'll be a link in the show notes.

Understanding Acceptance vs. Resignation: 3:04

I talked about the difference between resignation and acceptance and we can apply that to this menopause conversation as well. Resignation is when we feel like the situation is what it is and there's nothing I can do about it, versus acceptance, which is the situation is what it is, what can I do about it? What's next? No-transcript it really makes a big difference in how we feel about the situation. One is disempowering, and one really helps us to stop fighting reality because the reality is that even if you treat your symptoms, you're still going to go through menopause, and it's not all doom and gloom. There are some positives, and we're going to talk about those, don't worry. But I really want to help you step back from the fear-mongering and the comparison, especially what we see online and in social media, and help you step confidently into a menopause where you enjoy life and how you feel.

So I feel very, very strongly that this is an opportunity for all of us to turn what's portrayed as a weakness into a strength, and I'm going to talk about why and how in a minute. But just remember, lean in because menopause is going somewhere good, I am sure of that.

Expanding Your Midlife Journey: YouTube and More: 6:36

But before we dive into a little bit more, I want to tell you about one of the other things that I'm leaning into this year, which is YouTube. So my YouTube channel is at menopausenutritionist, same as Instagram, and every Monday, starting today, you will find new episodes with the full video, and so this is something that people have been asking for for a while, because some people prefer to watch it like a TV show, which I think is awesome. So, starting today, you'll find new episodes every Monday, as well as all the usual places that you listen to podcasts.

And on Thursdays, we'll be adding in episodes from last season. So, starting in season four, we were recording video and audio, so we're going to be starting to add those as well. So that means that twice a week you can watch or listen to these episodes. So like and subscribe so that you can get notified when new episodes come up and also drop your questions in the comment section. So questions, comments, feedback, or use the fan mail button which is on all the usual podcast sites wherever you listen to podcasts.

Because, as you'll see next week in the intro to my guest next week, I answer one of the questions that came in through fan mail last year, so I'm going to be answering questions in the comment section. But anytime I feel like the answer could serve the bigger community, I'm also going to be putting it into the intro to a podcast episode. So that is one of the fun things that I'm doing.

Why Embrace Menopause? Benefits and Opportunities: 8:06

So let's get back to this leaning into menopause and how do we do that and why would we want to do that. So the first reason is that it doesn't suck, and that is not just my opinion, although I'm very vocal about saying that I love life post-menopause and I would not go back to my pre-menopausal self for anything. It's not just me.

We have some research, some great research out of Australia and Denmark that tells us that postmenopausal women rate being happier compared to premenopausal women, but also compared to their premenopausal selves. So that really speaks volumes that as these women in this study—and it was for 20 years—went through menopause, they came out the other side happier. And whenever I post this question in my stories, that is overwhelming. That is the overwhelming response.

People say I love life post-menopause. Doesn't mean that I wouldn't trade some of the things that come with post-menopause or that I wouldn't change them if I could. You know I don't love that. I'm a little creakier sometimes, a lot creakier when I get out of bed in the morning. You know those kinds of things, but they don't impact my quality of life and happiness post-menopause, partially because I have not been fighting the process of going through menopause. I have been supporting it. Don't get me wrong. I am doing things to try and age as well as I can, but I'm not fighting it.

And I do think that that's a key difference because when we're trying to stop it or when we're trying to fight it, it's a very different approach compared to when I say this is happening. I can't change the fact that it's happening or, in my case, that it's happened. What can I do to improve how I feel in my body and what do I want to continue to do? Not just what's a quick fix that's going to help me to feel better today or tomorrow, so it doesn't suck. That is the first reason.

Embracing the Advantages of Menopause: 10:18

Second reason is that there are advantages, not just the obvious ones of not having a period—so not having to deal with, you know, regular bleeding and all the fun things that come with that—but also just, you know, being able to be in a life stage where, for most of us, if you have kids, for example, you might be in a life stage where your kids are older, you're finding that you have more independence or more time to yourself.

And if you don't have kids or have kids that have long since left the house, there's a good chance that you're just getting to a stage in life where you might have more opportunities to do what you want instead of what you feel like you need to do. One of the great gifts of midlife is this ability to do the things you want to do and say no more often. So, being able to say no more often and confidently, and being able to say yes to what you want and not just what you think you should do.

I really think that the advantages of being in this stage of life, paired with the advantages of not having a cycle—which can include better mood as well—that's another evidence-based finding. Mood improves for many people post-menopause. Without the ups and downs of the roller coaster of hormones, you may feel like your mood and your mental health are in a better place than they were before. That's true for me, and it's definitely true for other women as well.