Eat Love Do – Gail Brady, Nutrition For Peri-Menopause And Beyond

Hi and welcome to the Eat Love Do show, exclusive to Women's Radio Station. I'm Janine Newbury, and do pop over to our social medias, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @WomensRadioStn, and follow us on YouTube and give us a little like and a subscribe because it really helps us. Thank you so much. And do head over to eatlovedo.com where we have lots of amazing articles and advice and informational tips and how you can eat, love, and do more in your life. So Eat Love Do is the show for you because what you eat, how you love yourself and others, and what you do to bring more health and happiness matters. Each episode we will be chatting with experts who devote their time to helping and inspiring people just like you to be healthier, happier, um, and take care of yourself and have more freedom to do more of the things you love. So without further ado, let's get started. So today I've got a fantastic guest. I think you're really going to love her. She is a nutritionist. She's actually a registered nutritionist and women's health expert. So I cannot wait to get chatting to her. Her name is Gail. Gail, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. It's really exciting to be here. Hello. Pleasure. We found each other on Facebook, didn't we? So we did. We did. Yeah. The great social media. Yeah, it works, doesn't it? It does work. It does work. So Do you want to give the listeners a little bit of a story into what you do so they know who's speaking? And yeah, just a little bit about you. Yeah. So a little bit of background on, on me and my story. So I became a nutritionist about— well, I qualified about 10 years ago, but my story started kind of quite a long way before that, about 25 years ago. So I was in my 20s and I had what I now know to be endometriosis. But at the time, I was just really, really struggling with this, you know, once a month having just so much pain and actually being housebound and vomiting and just being in so much pain and just being given stronger painkillers, kind of exhausted most of what conventional medicine had to offer. And so I was just desperate. It should have been like my best years, and it was just miserable. And So I just happened upon a nutritionist. I was living in Bristol at the time and I can still remember her name, Cilla Moncrieff. So thank you, Cilla, if she's still out there. That's a great name, isn't it? Cilla Moncrieff, sounds like a movie star. It was just a card in the Neal's Yard. I don't even know if it's still there in Clifton. And I just saw this card and I just thought something told me I've got to give it a go. And I went along to see her and she gave me this diet plan and I followed literally what she said to the letter. For about, well, in the end, about 2 years. But after about 3 months, the changes that I noticed in my symptoms were so profound that I was just like, oh my God, wow. You know, it changed my life basically. And so that's why I followed it religiously for 2 years because it worked. It was the first time in many years that I was able to manage my symptoms. And so years later, when I was, when I had lucky enough to have children with endometriosis, I was rethinking. I worked in travel and it became quite difficult. I was having my second daughter and I was no longer able to travel as much as I previously did. It just wasn't an option for me anymore. So I was looking, I was thinking about what, what can I do for a job? And, and I was like, nutrition. I had continued kind of my interest had continued all that time anyway. So, so yeah, so I signed up for a course and I graduated about 10 years ago and I've always specialized in women's health. Congratulations. Congratulations. Yeah. So always specialized in women's health. In fact, my first client had endometriosis and I was just so happy to be able to help like women who had been through what I had been through as well. And then about 5 years ago— What is endometriosis? Oh, sorry. So endometriosis is when It's— it was once thought it was actually the lining of the womb actually moved outside of the womb, but it's actually cells that are similar to the lining of the womb and they grow elsewhere in the body. So they're mainly— for most women, it's in the pelvic cavity, but they can grow anywhere. They've been even found in the brain. And so when you menstruate, they actually bleed as well at the same time. But because there's nowhere for the blood to go, it causes pain and inflammation. So it can be— I mean, I actually had reasonably severe, you know, kind of symptoms, but some women actually are in constant pain with it, and it takes so long to be diagnosed. The average length of time is between 7 to 9 years, and this was like— this is what happened to me as well. It wasn't diagnosed until I actually had a laparoscopy, which is where they put a camera into your pelvic cavity and they have a look around, and they can actually then see the lesions inside, and they laser they can laser it away, and there's other treatments now. But it just, just is one of those things that it requires an operation. That's the gold standard to actually be able to diagnose. I think there's now scans, I think they're quite new, but you can actually see them on more advanced ultrasounds now. You can actually— they can see the lesions, but it's still the gold standard. So, so it's quite It's something that I think there's— the numbers are something like 1 in 10 women actually suffer from endometriosis. Many do not know they have it. That's quite high. Yeah, really, really high. And so some of the other symptoms are things like really heavy, painful periods, um, fatigue— is like a lot of fatigue— um, vomiting with periods as well. Um, so there's lots and lots of symptoms that you would just kind of think that's about bad periods. It's not you know, you wouldn't think. And if you don't know about it, if you don't know it's such a, you know, there is, you know, what endometriosis is, then you may not, you may not even be on your radar. So, um, so yeah, so thankfully, um, you've got me thinking now. I'm like, the last couple years I've been having heavy periods. It's also a symptom, obviously, having periods is a symptom of, um, perimenopause as well. So it can often get confused. Well, I mean, it can often be confused, and that's why it's so hard to diagnose because it can symptoms of lots of things. So, um, and obviously perimenopause, as you're saying, you know, many women get heavy periods in perimenopause, um, and that is something. So I switched to working with perimenopausal women about 5 years ago because I was living in the Middle East at the time, and I was coming— lots of women were coming to me kind of saying, um, about all these perimenopausal symptoms they were having. And I was that age group as well, but I was lucky enough not to be having these symptoms at the time and thought I'd kind of, you know, got away with it, feeling quite smug probably at the time. You know, like people having these horrible symptoms, night sweats and hot flushes and really heavy periods and feeling really dreadful and low mood and anxiety. And, and so I actually decided to do a master's degree and decided to write my dissertation, which is about a year long, on menopause-related topic because I know I could see that there was this gap that wasn't being filled, you know, that there wasn't this support for women out there. And of course, that's all changed recently. There's, you know, this conversation started. Davina McCall has obviously been very, you know, kind of— well, she's done a great job of, you know, raising awareness in the media. And we're all a bit more aware of what happens now. So when I wrote my dissertation, and actually then I had a bit of, a bit of an awakening when I actually then started experiencing my own symptoms. So, um, um, yeah, I, um, it just came out nowhere, and then I completely got what women felt like, you know, how it feels to be in that situation where you don't think anyone else is actually experiencing the same things. Yeah, yeah, because nobody talks, because it's kind of, when kind of want to— I mean, yeah, I've been going through about 2 years, and, and so a lot of my— some of my girlfriends are younger, so they're not there. Yeah. And some of the older ones, and I've spoken to them, and no one shares, and nobody shares what you share. So that's why I think it's really important to have conversations like this, because they're like— I think in sharing, it gives other people permission to speak about it as well. That is so true, because there's something wrong with it. There's still that slight bit of stigma And I think it'll be the next generation maybe that do freely talk about it, because I think we still have that feeling like our parents, our mothers didn't probably talk about it very much because it wasn't— definitely wasn't— it was kind of shoved under the carpet then and not talked about. And now it's all come— the conversation's starting, but I think for lots of women they still feel like they can't admit to having these symptoms or using HRT or whatever it is, they— it's still kind of not— we're not quite there yet. I think it's because we're in a society where youth is revered in women. Like men, they sort of come into their own as they get older, whereas women, it's almost seen that women are valuable when they're young, but not when they're older. And that's obviously completely wrong. But I think we're starting to slowly see a shift in that now. But there's still that thing, it's like, oh, well, that means I'm getting older, so then I won't be valuable in society. So there's that kind of going on in the background as well, I think. So I know, and, and I do think women do, you know, at the same time, we then start to think of ourselves differently, don't we? That we're, you know, like, how aging is going to affect us, and, and, um, you know, how our looks change, how our, you know, we, you know, our skin, the wrinkles. And like you said, with men, it seems like they seem to— not all men, but some, you know, there's kind of distinguished But I do, but there's so many amazing women out there. I mean, so many women that just look so amazing. And I, I think for me, so, um, I think British Menopause Society, the— it's Menopause Awareness Month in October, um, and, um, the British Menopause Society, their kind of message is, um, about carrying on the conversation. So we've started the conversation, now we need to carry on the conversation. And I've done— I've put a lot of thought into, into this about how and what we need to do. And where does it go from here? Yes, we started talking about it, but what does, what does that mean? You know, what does that mean? We are talking about it, which is great, but actually what changes? And I think what needs to— I believe, this is my beliefs, that, um, what needs to change is we need to understand that we need to change some of the things about our lifestyle, about our diet, to be able to continue to thrive in the next stage of our lives. And yes, HRT may be part of that for some women, and it's not for everybody, um, for various reasons, um, and it— but it can be part of that. But that's not to say that we should not be concentrating on diet and exercise and all those other things that go with that as well. It's not— you can't just take HRT and make everything right. It's only going to do so much for you. You still need to look at your diet, you still need to look at your lifestyle, your stress management, your sleep, all of these things. 100%. I'm totally on the page with you because I think if you get your diet, your exercise, and you treat, you know, nutrition, your mindset, your stress and your sleep all balanced, then I think that will slow down the process and it keeps you young, more vital, energized, able to like deal with emotions and stresses of life. And so I'm 100% on that page with you. Try and like maintain what you have and stay as vital and youthful as long as possible. So, so for our listeners that might be going into perimenopause or menopause, what advice would you give them? Is there any tips you can give them on nutrition, what they could be doing, adding to their diet, taking out of their diet? Well, I think, um, it's starting as early as possible and realizing that your hormones will start to change whether you feel it or not, you notice it. But as early as your kind of late 30s, then your hormones will be starting to change. Um, so many women I see are actually in their early 40s and starting to notice some changes. So typically that would be— that's young, isn't it? You don't expect it. It's the whole— we now know the science shows us that hormones are starting to change at that stage. And so what women might start to see is their periods, maybe they may have been very regular and then their periods are just like changing by a couple of days a month, so shorter or longer. And that's kind of one of the first symptoms, or they're experiencing more anxiety. And so the earlier you can start putting things in place to support your health, because we can get through our 20s and 30s pretty pretty much with, you know, you know, late nights and, you know, not eating so well a lot of the time. But once we get to late 30s and early 40s, what we used to do no longer works, or it starts to no longer work. And we think, well, I used to be able to just cut back for a couple of days, and, um, if I, you know, thought I felt I wasn't very comfortable with my weight, and then— but that no longer works for us. So we have to kind of recognize that we need to start making changes and supporting our health a bit more. And this is also important because what's been shown science is that perimenopause actually really, um, it's a window for our future health, for protecting our future health. So what we do now to support our health is actually supporting our future health as well. And, um, so if we've got some genetic predisposition, um, to, um, or we've seen our parents suffer with certain chronic diseases, um, then this is kind of like a window of how to support our own to prevent that happening for ourselves. Because genetics aren't— they're only part of the story as well. So we inherit obviously our genetics from our parents, but it doesn't mean to say that we're going to get exactly what they got. If we can actually limit our— well, we can actually protect our health by what we eat and how we live our lives. So genetics only account for a small part of what ends up happening to us. Diet and lifestyle have a much bigger role to play. So, so what can women do? So protecting the house, so starting to think about the foods we eat. So I usually start with gut, the two foundations I always start with, pretty much every woman I work with, is gut health and blood sugar balance. Yeah. So yeah, gut health, because that's called the second brain, isn't it? The stomach, all the health. Starts and originates there. So what would you— that probiotics, prebiotics? Well, prebiotic— well, say probiotic foods, always starting with food first. And we don't necessarily need to, you know, start taking lots of supplements. And there's certain foods that can support beneficial bacteria in our guts. Um, but sometimes we need to know, um, what is happening in our guts to start with. So very often I would do like a stool test where we can actually— the technology now can actually help us to see where there's imbalances in our gut health and where we may need to place our focus. But if we were just kind of generally speaking, then I would make sure— making sure we have a very diverse diet can help to feed the beneficial bacteria in your gut. So I think there's a recommendation for around 30 different plant foods to have about 30 different plant foods in your diet every week, which— that sounds like a lot, doesn't it? It's a lot. You can include herbs and spices in there as well, so fresh herbs. And I'm a— I'm very, you know, I tell many of my clients to, you know, chuck those extra— an extra handful of herbs in on top of anything that you eat, you know, that's an extra portion of fresh, um, you know, um, foods that are going to, um, give you the nutrients. So it's about nourishing and making sure we've got all the essential nutrients we need. So when you, if you think about if you ate 3 meals a day, for instance, and you break it down, it's actually not as many. It sounds a lot when you say 30, but I think it's the, it's the diversity that we need to have. And many people stick to the same things, and we all do that. We stick to the same meals, we get stuck in a rut, we have the same breakfast, we probably have about 3 or 4 lunches go-to lunches and maybe 5 or 6 kind of like dinners we may, we may cook. And everyone does the same. And it's thinking about, okay, maybe seasonally, what can I add in? What's seeing something new in the supermarket and just trying it or, you know, kind of just varying what we have and getting those, that diversity in our diet to feed the beneficial bacteria in our guts. So what would you eat in an average day? Like, what's an example of your breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Okay, so currently at the moment, so currently I am eating, because I do again like everyone else, I go through phases, and I, and currently I'm eating, um, Greek yogurt but goat's milk, not cow's milk. So I eat goat's milk Greek yogurt, and Greek yogurt is higher in protein, um, than traditional yogurt. So it's a proper, it's not Greek style that you see a lot of in the supermarkets, it's, it's actual proper Greek yogurt. So goat's milk is easier to digest. I don't do very well with cow's milk dairy. Um, I can tolerate some goat's milk and sheep's milk. So, um, so I'm having that, and I actually mix a bit of goat's milk kefir in. So this is one of the prebiotic feeds as well, probiotic feeds. Um, so probiotic feed, so it's got more bacteria in the kefir. So we've got bacteria in the yogurt and we've got more in the kefir, so I mix some of that in as well. And then I put spices in, so I'll have ginger. Yeah. Um, so ginger in, or do you put like ginger powder? At the moment I'm using dried ginger, but I do— I absolutely love ginger, um, and it's great anti-inflammatory. So, um, I, you know, would grate fresh ginger if I had it, but I'm using an organic just ground ginger. So I put about a quarter teaspoon of that, and I used to also use turmeric in there and cinnamon. And cinnamon is great for blood sugar balance as well. So what we're aiming to do is we're aiming to— whatever our first meal of the day is, whether you eat breakfast or not, or your first meal of the day is, um, later, 11, 12, if you're intermittent fasting, whatever that first meal of the day is, that kind of is the meal that we think that sets our blood sugar up for the day. So this is one of the most important meals to make sure you have a balance of protein, healthy fats, and fiber. So do you have just the yogurt with the herbs and spices? You don't add anything else? And then I mix, and I grate an apple or a pear sometimes, mainly an apple, um, grate an apple. So that's my fiber in there, um, and then I've got the herbs and spices, and then I'll have flax seeds or hemp seeds as well, because hemp seeds are reasonably high in protein. So I'll have those on top, and that's my kind of go-to breakfast at the moment. I mean, weekends I quite often have eggs. I love eggs. Eggs is a great food for, you know, and they are actually really quick. You could do them in the week as well. But so, but the weekends I generally have eggs and then we could— it's usually at the moment it's yogurt. And then I always have a salad for lunch and I just use whatever I've got. But just piling in lots of green, lots of green leafy veg, and then I'll use whatever. So I get a delivery, an organic delivery box. But you could equally just go to the supermarket, just see what's in season, and I just use whatever is around. So, you know, like radishes, and they're quite good for healthy gut bacteria as well, and putting asparagus in there, just anything that I've got in the fridge. And then I always have a protein source, so that might be fish or meat or it may be pulses, lentils, that kind of thing. So I've always got a protein source and then I may have some olive oil on it, extra virgin olive oil, and that's my healthy fat. And then evening meal will be something similar, but it's more likely steamed veg with a side of protein. Perfect. I think my go-to salad dressing is some just olive oil with some apple cider vinegar or lemon. Yeah, brilliant. Perfect. That's just— oh, I love apple cider vinegar, and that's great for digestion as well. It's great for digestion because we, we do lose some of our ability to digest food, same as we lose some of our ability to control our blood sugar as well as we get into perimenopause. So all of these things are just, you know, kind of helping us, supporting our health, making it easier for ourselves. Is that why you get more bloating as a woman? As you get— one of the reasons, yes, you can experience more bloating. And that's the thing, I As if you're not, if you're not eating much fiber at the moment, say, so if you're just starting out in your diet, you're starting to think about changing your diet and you don't have lots of vegetables in, you need to take it slowly because if you suddenly, you know, go for the 30 foods that I'm talking about or you're suddenly trying to just do it all at once, then you may experience bloating because that extra fiber is going to cause maybe a bit of bloating. Um, but we do we don't digest quite as well. It slows down, um, our hormones actually affect that as well. So we do know that estrogen in particular affects every area of our body, not just our reproductive hormones. It affects our brain, it affects our digestive systems, it affects everything. So those fluctuations in hormones with estrogen particularly can cause lots of symptoms too. What, what's your thoughts on soy? Because soy milk, obviously men shouldn't have it because it boosts estrogen levels, um, and people generally. But I was thinking, I read something the other day, it was saying that women that are in perimenopause or menopause, soy is actually quite good because it boosts estrogen levels. So what's your thoughts on that? So, um, it's quite controversial, um, and, um, there's lots of, um, schools of thought on it, but I actually do recommend soy products because for the reasons that you have just mentioned, that they contain plant estrogen, so can be helpful for maintaining estrogen levels. Some women don't absorb it very well, so So it is very individual, um, but what I would always, always recommend is making sure you use organic soy. Yeah, so soy products, because soy is very, very processed, and, um, so having an organic product that isn't, you know, GMO'd and all of those things is, I think, very important. So organic tofu, tempeh, um, and I like tempeh, those kind of things can be quite useful. You can actually, um, one of the new products that I've just discovered which I really like. And you can get noodles made out of edamame beans. Oh, so obviously if you're trying to— most women are trying to, um, you know, manage their weight maybe and reducing the number of carbohydrates they're having. And so these can be quite, um, useful because they've got some protein and some carbohydrates, obviously, because they're a bean, but you've got an extra protein as well in that. So that's, that's quite a nice product that I've recently discovered. So I do use it and I do recommend it, but I think it's quite, um, it depends how you, um, how you get on with it. And the other thing with soy, it can be for some people, it's quite a, um, it's an allergen, it's a common allergen. So, and some people might find that they get more, um, like phlegm, you know, kind of like mucus with eating soy products. So if you suddenly notice you're starting to you know, kind of notice that kind of feeling like you've got a, you know, something stuck in your throat, that actually can be from soy products as well. I think people get that from milk as well, don't they? From too much dairy. Yeah, dairy and soy. If you've got a cold or you're recovering from a virus, then we'd usually say to avoid soy and dairy for those reasons. Good to know. Top tip. Top tip there. Just come out of a virus season. Yeah, so I've just had— I actually had COVID for the first time um, another thing I thought I'd escaped, and I was a bit of a shock to my system. I haven't been ill for so many years. Um, but it was more like— I was lucky, it was after having had vaccines, it was more like the cold and the cough. But I stopped eating the yogurt then because I did notice it was actually making my symptoms worse. Ah, interesting. That's good to know. So you mentioned— so you said when you work with someone, you work first with the gut health and then you go on to the balancing blood blood sugar. So how would you encourage— what would you promote to get women to balance their blood sugar? So, um, first meal of the day, as I mentioned, making sure that's like the most important one to kind of set your energy levels, set your blood sugar balance for the— for that day, is making sure— and this goes for all meals— is making sure that you've got a balance of a protein, a healthy fat, and fiber. So this is going to help slow, slow down the, the release of sugar into your bloodstream, and that's what we don't want. So if you're thinking you're eating, um, I don't know, a couple of biscuits or something, get a chocolate spike. Yeah, if you're gonna get sugar spikes, so your blood sugar is going to go up high from eating the biscuits, and then your insulin will come along to take that sugar out of your bloodstream because it's too much, and then you get this big drop. So that's why you get get the energy, and then you suddenly drop again and you want more biscuits because, you know, you're kind of thin. So we want to keep that much more balanced, and by eating that combination, that, um, it slows down the digestive process. And so, um, you're able to, um, yeah, manage your blood sugar a lot better. And it is one of the things that we lose the ability to do as well, again, with perimenopause. So it becomes more important, and we may notice those peaks and troughs a lot more. Yeah, um, and alcohol can be quite a big thing for that. Even if you're someone that suffers from hot flushes and night sweats, you— that would be something that if you start managing your blood sugar, you will notice probably that you'll have less hot flushes and night sweats. Um, and typically when people drink alcohol in the evening, I find a lot of women wake in the night with night sweats. So that's to do with blood sugar balance as well, because the body's also trying to kick out the toxins from the alcohol, the poison. The body doesn't like it. It's not poison, we all love to drink. You get this low in the night where you've, if you've had your blood sugar's gone up high from the alcohol and then you wake in the night because your blood sugar has actually dipped quite low from the insulin coming along taking the sugar out of your blood. So it actually, even though many women think that they'll have a glass of wine to, you know, have relax in the evening to help them sleep, it actually can have a detrimental effect. And I think, you know, I'm never popular when I talk about alcohol in that way, and, you know, people think they have to give it up, but it's just being able to make informed choices. I think that's what, you know, I'd like to be able to share this information so someone could— they understand what might be happening and can make a choice. If— and if they continue to, you know, if they choose to drink alcohol, that's fine too, but, you know, they know why things may be happening. Yeah, I think it's good. It's a good topic, and it is a, it is a, a triggering topic, alcohol, I think, because it's how we, uh, it's our social lubricant. It's how people interact and spend time together. You go out for a meal, there's wine, or maybe they go out for a weekend and drinks. It is, it's a— so I think when you sort of start bringing that into the equation, it panics people a little bit because it's how they bond with people generally, how they bond with people. It's how they feel that they relax. Yeah, um, and many women, um, you know, I, you know, going back to when my children were younger, I, you know, many of my friends would be, you know, as soon as the kids gone to bed, you know, open that bottle of wine to kind of, you know, like, I'm done. Um, so yes, it is, it's, and, you know, people feel that they, you know, that it's their kind of almost like a treat at the end of the day and it helps them relax, but it can have knock-on effects on sleep. And as we know, sleep is so restorative to our health. So it's making those— making informed decisions about maybe reducing, or not, or maybe having alcohol-free nights in the week so you can actually have that restorative sleep. I can't function the day after alcohol anyway. I just have my hangovers. I'm just like, I can't do it. Actually, for me, it's like it takes me 2 days to recover, so it's just not worth it. I think what I've learned now is that I won't drink during the week, um, but I maybe drink on a Friday or Saturday, but not every week. And then I'll have 1 or 2 glasses of whatever I'm drinking, and that's it. That's my limit. And drink water and then go to bed. Yeah, if I— I can't— that's— I guess you sort of learn, you learn your own body as you get older, don't you think? I know that's my limit. I can enjoy and then stop. It's funny, isn't it? And it's having that same kind of relationship with food and diet as well, like knowing that doesn't suit me anymore, you know, what I used to eat, that doesn't work for me anymore. And obviously I get a lot of people who experiencing weight gain as well in perimenopause. It's a— it's, it's very real. Um, and, um, so we may need to make these changes and actually understanding that we may need to make changes because our bodies are changing. Um, I think exercise as well, like, um, you don't recover in the same way that you do in your 20s and 30s and your 40s. You definitely, definitely don't. I'm, I'm 46, and I've noticed just from 42 to 46 is like a massive difference. I have to train and exercise, eat very differently than I did just a couple of years ago. Yes, it's almost like as you get older, you have to sort of make more tweaks, more— pay more attention to it, just, and tune into your body more because it just impacts you more greatly. And it's like, like we don't have enough to deal with. I know, I know. And it does require effort. It does require effort. And I think that's what puts people off. And I have to say that the women that work— that I work with, the ones who get the best results are the ones that actually go all in and they just do everything that they need to do to make the changes, you know, that are going to make a difference to them. But it is hard. It's not easy, you know, it's changing these things. And also we may not have— feel like we have the energy to exercise because fatigue is real, isn't it? In our 40s, we'd be— I don't know how you feel at 46, but I can remember roughly I was probably a little bit older, maybe about 48. I started to notice I was really tired. I would get really tired and the thought of exercising was just like, I just didn't feel I had the energy. But what I made myself do, I made myself start and then thought, well, I can stop if it's that bad, I can stop. But of course you never do once you get started and you actually end up feeling better. And it's, it gives you more energy, doesn't it? Like you might be a bit tired and sore the first week or two, but after that you actually get more, the more you do, the more energy you get. So it's, it's like, yeah. And I think it's another thing that I encourage people to do. It's, it's part of, um, working. So I trained as a nutritional therapist. So we're not just looking at diet, we're looking at lifestyle, we're looking at things like exercise and sleep and stress management and all of those other things. And exercise is what is definitely one of those things that people find very hard to stay motivated with. Yeah. But it's almost like you need to make it like brushing your teeth. Like you literally get up and you do it even if it's like 10 minutes. Because those days that you do that, I almost guarantee that most people, you will have a better day. Your energy levels will be better that day than if you hadn't exercised at all. But it's just like getting through that, like, feeling of not wanting to and the feeling of fatigue. So we need to make it like a habit that we just don't even think about and that we do. Um, I agree. I think sometimes people think, oh, exercise, they have like a negative connotation. But so I think just change the word to movement. Yes, yes, stretch. Yeah, yeah, body every day, do some stretches, move, walk, do, I don't, you know, whatever you want to do. Yeah, things, dancing, yoga, not running, or it doesn't— no, it's not, it's not running, you know, marathon or whatever. That's what a lot of women think they have to do. They think they have to go out running. Yeah, you have to go out running to lose weight, and actually that doesn't work very well for women in their 40s and 50s. It's not the most effective form of exercise. We need to, like, be building, keeping our muscle strength and, um, you know, doing things like that. So yeah, yeah, we start to lose our muscle atrophy as we get older and we waste away. So I've added— started adding a lot more protein to my diet recently because obviously I— and I'm sure you know this— that when you're eating as you get older, the protein you eat, you don't digest it as well, so you don't take it into your body as well. So you need to eat more protein to get the amount of protein that you need. So I'm really conscious now about making sure I've got a lot of protein in every meal that I eat. So the fats and vegetables and carbs, but protein is like my main focus of each meal now. And I find that really helps, and it helps my body and like just feeling strong and vital. So that's, that's been— and maintain our muscle, it actually, you know, repairs our tissues. It's— we need protein in life I find that many women don't eat enough protein. Yeah, they don't eat enough protein. So I'm quite, you know, yeah, I'm glad you said that because I'm quite keen on making sure that people do have protein, a protein source at every meal. Yeah, 100%. But, um, because I eat like 4 eggs, 4 or 5 eggs for breakfast if I have a breakfast, for breakfast. And my friends are like, 4 eggs, that's excessive. I'm like, well, not really. It's only like 6 or 7 grams of protein per egg. Yeah, smoked salmon with it. And, you know, and maybe I might throw some hemp seeds just to sort of boost all the protein in it. And I found that when I do that, I'm full for longer. And I put like avocado with it and some veggies, and that fills me up right up for like 3 or 4 hours. And then, then I'll have like maybe— then you're not snacking. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, because that's the other thing that's changed, whereas going back when I was doing my training, um, I started my training in 2007, I think it was. It was— the recommendations were, you know, keep— to keep your blood sugar balanced, you need to keep it even throughout the day. So you need to eat like breakfast, snack, lunch, snack. Yeah, you know, it was like, um, and now that's completely changed. Eating machine. Yeah, it's literally— I remember we were all sitting there, it's like, change with nutritionists, with our little pots of, you know, nuts and like berries or whatever it was, and literally constantly grazing all day. And now we know that is not what we need to do. We need to give our digestive systems time to rest in between our meals. So we have, like you saying, that good meal with the protein, the healthy fats, and the fiber, and we— it keeps us full up for 4 to 5 hours, and then it gives our digestive system time to process and then rest before we have our next meal. So I try to encourage people to not snack and only snack if they're really, really hungry and they need it because it can be a stress if you get too hungry as well. That could be a stress on the body. I think it helps with the, with the bloating as well. If you eat a meal that fills you up and you have that 4 or 5 hours or you're doing intermittent fasting, I think that really helps with all that as well. Because like you said, the digestion, I find that definitely helps me if I'm eating consistently and snacking. I find I'm thinking more about food because I'm eating more often, which is also not a good thing to be doing. No, no. And many people have that emotional kind of, you know, connection to food as well. Yeah. So it, yeah, it can be, you know, it can be a difficult one. But yes, but constantly grazing, no, that's changed. Yeah. So, um, have you got a book out? Did I remember? No, no, I'd like to do one at some stage. Um, I'd like to. I think we need to, you need to get on that. No, no, I've That would be— yeah, in fact, a couple of people, couple of my clients have actually asked me to write, um, a recipe book, but it's time, it's time. I mean, I know we all get the same number of hours in the day and then people do it, and, um, you know, there's lots of different ways you can do it now as well. Have you got a book? I'm writing one right now, actually. Are you? Yes. What, what are you writing one on? Um, so it's going to be on Eat, Love, Do, so food, nutrition, and love is what you How You Love Yourself and Others, and then Do Is What You Do. So, you know, so it's come— it's like a lifestyle, a life coaching book, like a full 360. Yeah, take care. That's just— that's exactly, you know, how I work. You know, it's like all these different things into, you know, kind of feeding into like what makes a joyful, happy life, I guess. Because that's my goal, is helping women to thrive and helping them to understand that We don't have to think of this as like, well, I've done, you know, I've had the best years of my life. Life is, we have like 30, 40, you know, maybe even 50 years ahead of us. And that's a long time. And we can do so many, we can change our careers now. We can, you know, we can, like I did, I did a master's at, well, I finished my master's at 51. So, you know, there's so many things you can do now and life can still be exciting and we can do these things. It doesn't have to just suddenly stop because we've hit midlife and society says we have to be a certain way. I think that's, that's the, one of the great things about what's changed, that we can use this time to actually try something different, um, do something different with our lives. Um, you know, be someone else and, you know, kind of Yeah, do you still have, you know, bringing joy, bringing more joy into people's, you know, into our lives and thinking about what we like to do and how we want to live? 100%. I think, I think that's great. And I think it's really inspiring when you, when you hear a woman said, I only just did this at 51, I did my master's and now I'm doing this. Because you sometimes think, well, what can I do? My life's coming to an end, middle age, but it's not. Or maybe women have gone through motherhood and then suddenly the kids have grown up and they've left. And they're like, what now? Yeah, who am I now? What am I left with? And then you've got perimenopause and menopause laying on top of— I just sent one off to university. So I sent my eldest daughter just off to university, she's, um, a couple of weeks ago. And my youngest daughter is in upper sixth and talking about a gap year next year. So from next year, literally I'll have no children at home. But thank God for my work. Yeah, get that spontaneity back in my life. In fact, my husband and I were talking at the weekend— well, actually, funny enough, it was a friend's 50th at the weekend, and, um, somebody brought up about— not habits, hobbies. Um, like, what are your hobbies? And what is a hobby? You know, is a hobby exercise, or is that like have an end goal, so it's not really, um, you know, it's not really a hobby? Anyway, we're talking about hobbies, and, um, not many people— not many people had actual hobbies because they have families and they had, you know, things going on in that took up so much of their time. And I came home, I spoke to my husband, I was like, you know, what hobbies do we have? And I walk a bit, and I've done the South West Coastal Path a bit with my sister, and, you know, I've got the usual reading, whatever, and I have my work, which I love. But we've decided to sign up for ballroom dancing classes. That's brilliant! I love that! Maybe start next week. That's amazing. And it's nice that you're doing it with your husband as well. Yeah, well, it's great that he wants to do it. I'm not sure how many husbands would want to do that. Yeah, but I was like, yes, we need to do these things because otherwise, you know, the house is empty with, you know, I don't know how many rooms we've got in the house, but we're literally sitting— the cat, the dog, myself, my husband— in one room and just like, you know, you could just sit there staring at the walls, you know, kind of watching Netflix. Um, I just think that's great. I just, I think I'm sitting here now going, what hobbies do I have? But you just kind of interesting conversation about what hobbies. I mean, we would think lots of— I'm not in the least bit creative, so anything arty is just not me. But obviously if you paint or you even knit or crochet or, or things like that, I don't have anything like that in my life. It's it's not— I just— it's just not for me. But there are other ways that, you know, like dancing. I love dancing. So like, okay, let's, let's, let's do more of that. Um, I think that's a great thing to make because I think we often— we live our lives and we're working and we're busy and we're trying to get everything done, but sometimes we forget to have fun and connect back to that part of ourselves, that fun creative part of ourselves. Where— what do we like to do? Yeah, to play basically. It's like being a kid again, isn't it? What can we do to play and have fun and enjoy? And life can be so serious and get in the way of that. So I think that's great. So yeah, I'm thinking, oh, I want— I'm going to start a hobby. I'm going to start a new hobby. It's just like, you know, we do— everyone has the same hours in the day and it's very easy. And again, I know it's very easy after a long day if you're working as well and you, you know, sit down in front of the TV. But I found as well that with perimenopause for me, that I can't watch anything on TV that's too overstimulating, or like a thriller, or anything that gets your adrenaline going. I, I— it disrupts my sleep and I have really bad dreams. Right. So I've, I've said I can't, I can't watch that, I can't watch that. We can only watch comedies. If we watch anything, can you watch comedies? But actually it's been quite nice. I don't watch the news anymore. I kind of know what's going on in the world, but I can't do it. It's— I don't know. I mean, people have different opinions about that, but I— it's too— I don't know. It doesn't do anything for my health and wellness. It's— they should rename it the bad news. There's not often good news on there. It's just like, do you agree? This is what's going wrong. Catastrophize. And it starts to make you, you know, especially in perimenopause, I think many women experience low mood and anxiety anyway. And I think it can start to kind of just add to that and just keep like compounding and adding to that. And that's what I was, I found was happening for me. So that's one of the things I stopped doing. And I, I, I recognized that I did recognize that maybe because of the line of work that I'm in, I'm, you know, I'm thinking about these things a lot more than maybe some people, but I recognize that actually that's why I'm not sleeping. I watched that last night and that really affected my sleep. Kind of— well, everything we take in goes into our subconscious mind, and that's— and where— that's what's running the show for us. So if they're putting in kind of quite negative, fear-based information, which is, you know, that's often what's often in the news, that's— yeah, if you're watching shows, uh, I shan't name them on here, but like certain shows or soaps or, you know, ones are full of negativity or hostility or arguments and drama, like way too much constant drama, that's necessarily healthy for us. It's not positive. It's not changing our emotional state into being a happy one. So I'm with you on the comedies. Comedies are great because, like, why wouldn't you want to watch something that makes you laugh? Yeah, no, and I just thought that's one of the things I think we— a lot of us need more of, more of in our life. We need to laugh a bit more. Like you said, we need to be more playful. We need to bring that back into our lives. And I'm not saying I'm not— I haven't always been great at that, you know, hands up. I'm you know, I'm probably far too serious a lot of the time. Not when you're ballroom dancing! That's gonna be funny for sure. Yeah, so, um, so yeah, we'll see how that goes. I'll let you know. Right, where can people find you on social media? Do you share things on Facebook, Instagram? I'm mainly on Instagram, um, so @gailbradynutrition. Um, you can also find me on Facebook under the same, in the same um, with Gail Brady Nutrition. And I also have a website which is gailbradynutrition.com, so it's quite easy, quite easy to find. Um, and then I do share, have, um, like a weekly email that goes out, so if people want to sign up for that, they can find that on in those places as well, where they can get the tips and advice, extra advice, and that I share on a weekly basis. So brilliant. But, um, just all the, all the usual social media places, Gail Brady Nutrition. Fantastic, fantastic. We'll be checking. I'll be cyber stalking you from now on. It's me again. I put some pictures of the dancing in my stories now. I tend to share like personal stuff in my stories and then the rest of it is a bit more kind of menopause or perimenopause related on the main page. So I think you need that balance, don't you? Because it can be, it can be quite a heady, um, and heavy subject talking about menopause and perimenopause. You've been through it. Huge subject when you think about the number of symptoms that are involved. It's a huge subject. It is a huge subject. It's like you said, people, it's starting to get out there now, but there's really still not a lot of information out there. I think it can be quite confusing for people, and confusing is to know where to start. And I think, you know, you can always start with your diet, but whatever you're thinking about, any, any, um, health issue, really a good place to start is with your diet and with your lifestyle. Like, for example, like, I'm thinking now about going to get tests done to check my hormone levels. I have no idea where to go and do that. Do I do it at a doctor's? Do I have to go somewhere specialized? Just things like that. So do you advise women on that? Like, well, so I, I use the Dutch test, which is a dried hormone test, which, um, the thing with hormone testing is that it's only going to tell you at that particular point in time what your hormones are doing. And the problem with perimenopause our hormones are very erratic and they're up and down. So the Dutch test actually tests you on a specific point of your cycle, so it's trying to actually pinpoint what your estrogen and your progesterone, which the key female hormones, are doing at that certain point. But it does also test for lots more than just those hormones, so it's looking at stress levels and your cortisol, because your adrenal glands also— once your reproductive hormones stop producing the progesterone, estrogen, your adrenal glands take over from that. They produce small amounts after our ovaries stop. So we need those, we need those to be in good condition to be able to take over. And sometimes stress can be one of the things that a lot of women suffer with, you know, high levels of stress at this life stage for lots of reasons. Teenagers, you know, elderly parents, work, careers, you know, all of these things as well. Um, so it tests for stress hormones, it looks at, um, some nutrient deficiencies as well. So it's quite a good test for lots of reasons. So I use— that's the test that I use. A doctor will often not test for hormones. Um, so if you're over 45, uh, they will assume that you are in perimenopause if you have at least 2 symptoms. Okay. And that, that's, that's bad actually. Yeah, so I don't know, that may have changed now, but that's my understanding at the moment. But obviously there are now more specialist menopause clinics that you should go to and probably will offer different services. However, there's quite— there aren't that many in the country at the moment, and hopefully GPs are getting a bit more keyed up on menopause because there was a lack of information out there. They don't do— they don't have very much training on menopause and perimenopause in their, in their doctor's training. So I think that's, you know, that's recognized now that they need to kind of have additional training. And there's lots of people who are working with GPs to kind of increase that knowledge. So I think it's a bit of a luck of the draw with your, you know, your GP. I mean, they do a great job. I'm not saying they don't. They do a great job. They have to know a lot about a lot of things. But they're not always, don't always have the knowledge of menopause at the moment, and that is changing. But yeah, because the general practitioner, they just, yeah, generalise, don't they? They don't specialise, I think. That's your dog in the background. She's getting in on the conversation. I've got something to say about perimenopause. Yeah, it's something that dogs never go through, is it? The door, I think there's someone at the door. Oh, okay, cool, cool. Um, so I started taking ashwagandha actually, and I found that that's really helped my symptoms. Have you got any like tips on any nutrients or herbs or something that women can take that you found has helped any of your clients? Um, well, I don't like— I'm always a food-first person, so I don't like to send people away with like a, you know, a whole armful of supplements supplements. If any people were going to take any supplements, then the best place to start is with a good quality multivitamin and mineral, just to make sure they're covering, you know, all of the key nutrients that they need. Um, so that, that's kind of where I start. I don't generally— there are— I, I recommend— I, I work much more on a personalized basis, an individual basis. So we're looking at what people's individual symptoms and issues are. And I use adaptogenic herbs quite a lot, so things like ashwagandha, maca, Rhodiola, but some people can't take those. So again, it's like being safe and making sure that they're not contraindicating with anything they're already taking or with health conditions they have. So, um, probiotics are usually helpful for most people, and most people wouldn't have any reaction to those. So if you want to take a probiotic to support gut health, that's probably something you could do alongside multivitamin and mineral. Yeah, I take zinc and fish oils as well. I find that really helps. Yeah, so it can be quite helpful for anxiety actually, for fish oils, and anti-inflammatory as well. Um, so yes, some people do find those really helpful. Uh, joint pain, um, is another one, you know, that, um, you know, some people do find, especially if you don't eat a lot of fish. Um, you know, fish is— and lots of people don't like fish, so I think it'd be something that you don't eat a lot of, then that can be helpful having that in your diet. What could you take if you were vegan? Because there's obviously a lot of people becoming vegan now. Yeah. So that's— oh yeah, there is quite a trend to become vegan. And I think vegans have to work so much harder getting their nutrients because things like— it's not just things like fish oils, it's things like vitamin B12, which is essential to energy levels. And vegans will find it very hard to get vitamin B12 from their food because it mainly comes from animal sources. So generally they would end up having to take a supplement to make sure that they've got good levels of B12. So I see that quite a lot. And even iron, for instance. So there are lots of things that need— if you're vegan, you need to make sure that you have, you have a very varied diet. It. Yeah, it can't just be, you know, just kind of eating just whatever, you know, ready meals and things that are vegetarian or vegan. Just chips, chips for every meal. Plus you have to really have to work hard getting all your nutrients because there are lots that you cannot get very well from, you know, just a plant-based diet. So, um, Yeah, I did the whole vegan thing about 20 years ago, but I did it for health reasons. I did— went down that whole raw food alkalizing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Liter and a half of green vegetable juice every day, just like cleansing my body. I was quite ill, and it did work for a while, but then after about a year— at first I felt really good because initially I think you start detoxing, you get full of energy. Yeah, a year, year and a half, and I was just constantly tired all the time. Yeah. I remember I was out in Hong Kong and we were at a friend's for a barbecue and literally all there was to eat was a couple of pieces of salad, like token salad leaves on the side and just all meat and bread. And I was like, well, I'm starving, I need to eat something. So I ate like a lamb chop or something and I felt immediately better. Yeah. So my body was like, I need to eat. I've had that so many times. Yeah, yeah. I've heard that especially. Well, I've heard it from a lot of people who've been vegan, how they start off feeling great and feeling fantastic and, you know, kind of singing, you know, telling everyone about their new vegan diet and how great they feel. And then, you know, a few months later, actually really suffering with low energy. Yeah. And that's probably why you're not getting, you know, the B12 and the things that help with energy production. So it's a difficult one because some people do it for obviously ethical reasons and you just have to be— make sure that you are including you've got a very varied diet and then you're taking some supplements to get what you can't get from your diet. Yeah, 100%. Yeah, just, it's like, it's like a whole minefield out there, isn't it? And of course, and of course there's so much conflicting information as well. Um, there's so much conflicting, and there is so much information now. We've got social media. I mean, we're not back when I was talking about 25 years ago when I came across nutritionists The internet was just getting started. We didn't have social media, so it was almost easier because actually I couldn't get lost down that rabbit hole of, well, which way do I go? You know, what do I do? What do I do? And literally there was— I found this, you know, lady, and that was like, well, I've tried because that was my only option, and I wasn't Googling and getting lots of different results. So there is a lot of information out there. In fact, my youngest daughter actually often tells me what she's learned on TikTok about nutrition. Is that mid-dance or— I don't know, but that's what I thought it was. I'm like, I thought TikTok was dance. It's like, oh no, I learned that you can eat this, um, herb or something and it helps with your hair. And I'm like, okay, no, who knew, who knew. But yeah, so there is so much information out there, but she— I think she believes, um, TikTok, uh, social media kind of influences more than me sometimes, but I think that's just the age. And also you're a mum as well, like kids tend to not listen to their parents. Yeah, I'm still like, it was the worst job I could have growing up. They weren't allowed anything. Oh my God, I have to eat healthy food. But yeah. Oh right, so, uh, that's it really, we're done. Thank you so much. We come right to a close. I, I was going to continue chatting then, but I've got to say goodbye sadly. Oh, thank you, it's been great. Thank you. I hope that people have got something out of that, been able to take something away from that, um, and, um, help them to get started on their health journey or to, um, you know, improve the diet that they've already got. Yeah, 100%. And do follow Gail on her social media and go to her website if you want to work with her and get some more information in that free newsletter. Do remember to head over to eatloveyou.com Gail has actually very generously said that she will contribute some articles on there and give some really great nutrition advice and information. So if you'd like to hear more, read more from Gail, you'll find more there as well. Not to mention other great articles from some of our other guests have been on and many, many more amazing men and women that are out there in the world trying to help everyone, you know, eat better, live better, be better, be happier, and just, you know, bring a bit more joy into our lives. So there's a lot of great information on there. It's completely free. Go and read the articles you'd like to, um, and do hit up the social medias for Eat Love Do as well, @eatlovedo and eatlovedoers on Instagram. Thank you. Okay guys, I'm going to say goodbye. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Ginny Newbery, and this was the Eat Love Do show, exclusive to Women's Radio Station. Do remember you can follow us on all our social medias. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter is @WomensRadioSTN, and our YouTube channel, hit that like and subscribe. And you can listen to all the shows 9 AM and 9 PM every day at womensradiostation.com. And also do remember to head over to our YouTube channel and hit that like and subscribe button. It really does help the channel, and thank you so much. And that is it for this week. Uh, sad to say goodbye, but it has to happen. Don't worry, we'll hear every day, 9 AM and 9 PM. You can listen to the show. I've absolutely loved chatting with Gail, um, and I can't wait to chat to next week's guest as well. Um, hope you are loving the show, and until then, I'm going to say goodbye. Eat, love, and do whatever brings more happiness into your life, because that's all that really matters. Do share the show with your friends and family if you're enjoying it, or to anyone that you think might enjoy the content and the conversations that are just going on, because when women speak, it matters. Until then, thank you and goodbye.