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Menopause = No Periods, Not No Hormones

Education day!! I have been getting a lot of great feedback on my #KnowYourCycle education this past month. Women are truly grateful for the information.  Stuff they’ve never been taught.  Light bulb moments everyday! AND! Then I received a message from a woman who loved the info and she wished she’d had it before she hit full menopause and “no more cycle.” Alert!  Alert!  ALERT!!!! I know she meant “no more period.”  But a lot of women think no more period means no more hormones and this just is not the case. You read that right! No more period DOES NOT MEAN no more hormones. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have as much estrogen or progesterone but you do have them.  In fact many women continue to suffer from hormone symptoms for years after their last period. And I am here to tell you, that just like women with a period, if you lean into the cycle and support...
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Surprise! 25 Fun things no one warned you about (Peri)Menopause

A list for you today…things that maybe you knew, because you have a grandma and you’ve seen how hot she was on her wedding day and that she looks different now, but also those little things that sneak up on you until one day you’re standing in the hardware store with your dad and he hands you his cheaters… Chin hairs, keep a tweezers in your car, it’s the only place you have enough light to see them. Your hair gets thinner…and your hairline changes. Turkey neck…you’ll want to be way more careful with those camera angles. Your jaw line changes…is it jowls or do your bones just shift? Your gray hair is different than it used to be…could be curly, straight… Bat wings  and chicken legs…it’s because of loss of Progesterone, and you can’t fill that skin back up. Beer belly…male pattern fatness…seriously, #SupportYourCycle to keep this BS at bay. You suddenly can’t read menu’s in dimly lit restaurants…or...
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Whats for Supper?

Dear Denise, I am trying to be the best guy ever to my lady but she’s driving me crazy!  Every night she can’t answer what she wants for dinner or what to do on the weekend and then I make plans and she “doesn’t feel like it!!” How can I read her? –Confused in Kentucky Dear Confused, I get it!  The issue is likely she doesn’t know either.  In these modern times something got lost for women…the lessons have become more and more hushed, the generational support and knowledge replaced with science and medicine.  Now many of us don’t know what to expect of our bodies.  In this world of  “work like a man” and “anything HE can do I can do better” etc, women have lost the magic of their hormone cycles. Today I am going to clue them in on some of the magic and give you  guys the Ultimate Cheat Sheet for how to figure out what’s...
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Eating & Exercising With Your Hormones

Dear Denise– Week 1, week 2, week 3…WTH? Why can’t I just eat and exercise however I want to, whenever I want to?  This breaking it up weekly is so hard. –Over it in Oslo Dear Over it— You’re right!  It is challenging.  It’s new.  And you can totally eat and exercise however you want to.  However some weeks will be hard, draining and well, just hard– like rolling a boulder up hill, and others will be easy like skateboarding downhill–a thrill, super easy and full of energy! But hey! You do YOU.  Maybe you enjoy the struggle or have a belief that life has to be hard. As for me, when someone shows me a shortcut to a month of weight loss wonderland, full of sleep, sex, productivity, strength gains and fat loss…I’m going to check it out. When I first learned about my hormones I was 11.  I just didn’t want stained pants or a baby.  And I...
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8 Add Ins for an Easier Menopause

Dear Denise, Menopause and it’s hormonal upsets have taken so much away (joy, happiness…)  I am starting to feel deprived.  What can I add to feel better as my hormones shift? -Add it up in Anchorage Dear Anchorage, I hear you!  I’ve spent years trying to crowd out the “bad stuff” by adding in a ton of fun, great healthy stuff.  Of course it makes sense to add in hormone supports…Here are 8 of my faves! Seed cycling is as easy as adding 1 Tbsp of seeds to your morning (raw & unsalted Pumpkin and Flax  for your estrogen phase and Sesame and Sunflower for your progesterone phase) Add in 15 minutes of sleep every other night until you can get up without an alarm and are getting 7-9 hours of sleep every night. Square breathing (inhale for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, & hold for 4) in as little as 5 breaths your stress will plummet. 30-60...
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Full Moon Ritual

HABIT: A settled or regular tendency or practice especially one that is hard to give up. RITUAL: A religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order. Life is a series of habits, some firmly ingrained through frequent practice, some that come and go with life or the seasonal phases. Reflection is one way to “wake up” from habit and review if it’s still working for you and for the reasons you started it.  IE: I started taking a baby aspirin a few years ago because I read it was good for something.  I can choose to blindly take it for the rest of my life or regularly check in to see if it’s still necessary or if the science has changed.  On this one I noticed I was starting to bleed profusely with the smallest of scratches so I discontinued. Reflection is also a way to recognize early that something needs to...
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5 Simple Things

Dear Denise- I was doing ok with this quarantine business when it was just a couple weeks,  but as I stare down an entire month, I am losing it. One minute I see it as an opportunity to get so much accomplished, the next, I realize I’ve been on social media for 3 hours and I don’t think I’ve brushed my teeth in 2 days. Any thoughts on some in between ground? –Hoping for Better in Boise Dear Hoping– You are not alone! In fact, I’m right there with you (Hello TikTok) A few thoughts and actions that have been helping me … Don’t worry about making huge muscle gains or losing “all” the progress.  Right now it’s about minimums.  I don’t have to do it all but what can I do to lighten the stress load?  When I remember I don’t have to be an A+ student and (as my girls chanted through their senior years in college, “Cs...
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Self Care for the WIN

Dear Denise, I’ve done all the projects, deep cleaned my house and closets.  I’ve binged on netflix for 3 days straight.  I’m over this stress reduction. Now what? –Done in Duluth Dear Done, Actually what I see is you’ve been keeping yourself very busy with all the tasks and to-dos and shoulds.  Then instead of taking care of yourself you swung the other way to numbing with tv. What about YOU? Just like not enough exercise or food isn’t healthy, so is too much exercise or food. Numbing, also no good, even though it feels like relaxing, it’s really pushing aside feelings that need to be expressed or conversations that need to be had.  And those suppressed things can also cause stress. As you’ve heard me say, stress raises cortisol and that increases weight, disrupts sleep and energy, increases brain fog and midsections. My first recommendation is to feel the feels.  Cry when you feel the urge, laugh or even...
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Spring Equinox Ritual

Today we’re going to take this in a little different direction.  The Spring Equinox is tomorrow and it’s important, especially now, to take notice of what is happening around us and in us and to Mother Earth.  While we should be doing this daily, there are a few times a year to really take note (the Spring and Fall Equinoxes as well as the Summer and Winter Solstices). Ritual is one way of honoring.  Honoring yourself, honoring the earth, honoring the divinity within each of us as part of the collective human race.  Today I’d like to share one of my Equinox rituals with you.  Feel free to use it as is or modify to make it resonate for you. Give yourself plenty of time and space as you begin. Start by cleansing yourself either by washing your hands or smudging yourself and the room with sage. Light a candle if you have one. Sit comfortably, lightly close your eyes. ...
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I’m too young for Menopause, right?

Dear Denise, First, I am only 36, I just got married a few years ago and my kiddos are small!  I am too young for menopause. AND, would these short workouts and seed cycling, carb cycling and fasting etc work for me?  They seem very doable in my crazy life. –Pondering in Peoria Dear Pondering, I am so glad you asked!! YES! Many of the protocols I talk about work for all women…it’s about the hormone cycle.  In fact the earlier you start supporting your hormones, the less impact you’ll notice as your periods stop (menopause).  One of my first teachers says, “if you will not deal with your hormones when you are young, you will be forced to deal with them as you get older.” (Dr Sara Gottfried) Recently I surveyed my followers, asking what they wish they’d known in their 30s to better prepare them for the menopause roller coaster… Things I wish I’d known in my 30s...
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