Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Ever wish you had a mentor to help you become who you were meant to be? Crystal Ware is redefining what it means to become your best self, in business, life, and love and sharing everything she she knows to get YOU there faster.
Are you stuck? Feel like you are meant for more but not sure how to breakthrough? Every week, we will explore all of your questions on building a path to true happiness, achieving success and creating our dream life. Brick by brick, we will work through the issues and mindsets that keep us stuck, dive into finding our passion and how to take ACTION. Clarity (vision) + Confidence (Owning your worth) + Courage (to live life on your own terms and become your own CEO) propels you to your destiny. And the good news it: its all within you!
Each week, host, Crystal Ware, will bring you all of the practical wisdom to grow every aspect of your career and life including mindset, vision, goal planning, social media management, financial acumen and so much more. You'll also meet top business leaders, entrepreneurs, mompreneurers and innovative thinkers who invested in themselves and found their way success and happiness by leading on their own terms.
You were made for more, so start living like it today. Join us as we take action, grow together, and get inspired to reach for your dreams.
Perimenopause + small steps to health so you feel great in your 50s, 60s, & beyond {health} with Andrew Olson
[00:00:00] If you need an analogy and you're thinking, Oh, I want to, be that way. I want to be vibrant at 50 and you're 40, the best way to look at that is to envision her and the things she'd be doing to lead up to that point because that stuff really just compounds over time.
Welcome to the Get Clear with Crystal Ware podcast, the place where we get clear on our goals, own our worth, and learn to be the CEOs of our own lives. I'm your host, Crystal Ware, lawyer and former Fortune 500 corporate leader. Who found the confidence to say goodbye to a lucrative career and start my own business.
Now I'm opening up the playbook and sharing everything I've learned to get you there faster. It may not be easy, but it will always be worth it because you are made for more. So put on your big girl pants, jump on board and let's reach for the stars. Are you ready to get clear?
Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Wherever you are, whatever time it is, welcome to the [00:01:00] show. I'm excited to introduce another amazing episode with my pal, Andrea Olson, who is an entrepreneur or former corporate girl, like myself, amazing coach, woman, Christian, just all around. So simpatico with me and I wanted to have her back on the show to talk about something really impactful to our health, which is perimenopause and what that can do.
And the reason I thought this was so important to talk about, rooted in health and wealth and all the things I like to talk about is because perimenopause will impact all of us at some point. even men because they have to deal with us ladies. So it will truly affect everybody. And whether you care about longevity or you care about aging gracefully, perimenopause and the change in hormones will impact those things.
During perimenopause, you have accelerating [00:02:00] acceleration of aging, you have more inflammation, you have loss of bone density. You have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, stroke, dementia, all kinds of things due to these fluctuating hormones. So it's important as women that we get on top of it, but the primary driver that makes people.
wake up and start taking note of this is the weight gain. Generally, it is our sense of pride when we look in the mirror and what we see, but it's more than that. Okay. We've got to accept that sometimes our bodies are not going to look the same that they did when we were 20. Yep. That's true. I said it.
That's a fact. And we've got to take that into consideration, but all of these things inside. And the things inside that are causing our wrinkles and causing bloating and other issues, they can be to some degree prevented or mitigated. And that's what I wanted to talk about today [00:03:00] because I want people to stop being afraid to consider hormone replacement therapy.
If that is something that's going to ease your symptoms, make you feel better, make you look better and make you live longer. So let's jump into it. I am not a doctor. These are just things that I am learning and I am passing along to you all. Follow Dr. Mary Claire, who we talk about in here, and she is an expert on that.
Listen in, follow along, check out the well defined woman where I'll be writing more about this as we launch and lean in and learn. So let's go.
There's always so many directions we can go with this. I think that's the thing we always come back with. We're like, well, we could go that direction. Let's just, let's just try. So one thing you should know, Crystal and I often will just press record and start talking and we have the topic, but we haven't, we've, we certainly haven't flushed out questions and all of the nitty gritty.
And we do that on purpose because. [00:04:00] We both, I mean, and talking to our friends, really enjoy the episodes where people are just having a conversation that you get to listen to and you can have the same opinions or you can differ. And we love that too. So anyways, that's what we're doing today. Yeah. You share what you said to me is like what you wanted to chat about.
And also what, like brought this out in you wanting to talk about it?
Yeah. Well, I wanted to talk about perimenopause menopause women's health issues. I mean, I, I feel like everything for me in my life. is rooted in these kind of two buckets of health or wealth. And so that's obviously what I like to talk about.
And I don't always talk about the health piece as much, even though in my daily life, I am like heavily focused on that. And so this morning I was listening to a podcast that I just thought was really, really fascinating. And I had listened to another podcast, just the other day on some of these issues.
And I thought the information thatI already had known some of [00:05:00] this. I've been experiencing myself, but I thought this is a great thing to talk about and share because even though it's more out there now than it ever has been, I feel like with my personal group of friends, they're still not as educated about what's going on as a group.
You know, maybe I am
well, it's interesting too because I remember hearing about menopause like the word I had heard Some of the possible symptoms and stuff described when I was younger. So like when my mom's aged navigating it, and some of her friends who are a little older than her talking about it and just being around it.
But I don't even think it was until I was probably in my early thirties before I heard the term perimenopause. So I feel like that term has gained a lot more attention. Traction in the last few years. And I, I truly believe it's because we're in an age of people actually sharing their own personal experiences so much more openly.
It's actually something I love about the age [00:06:00] that we're in today. Good or bad, right? Like there's things about it that bring a lot of heart, but in this case, I think this is one of the, Super valuable things that's come from it because there is just so much more access and information that could cause someone to over diagnose potentially what's going on.
But also to go, Oh my gosh, I'm not the only one dealing with this. there's a potential answer here. Right. And that's very confirming that's very confirming.
Well, and what brought it up for me, Andrea, is like a lot of people all of a sudden there's like five pounds of weight game that you don't know.
Where did this come from? Why can I not lose it? I eat, very healthy. I work out very regularly. and then like as a longtime runner and marathoner, I started just getting these little like a little knee pain, a little ankle pain, which I Literally, I mean, I ran three marathons in six months one time, never had an injury.
So this [00:07:00] is very unusual for me. And so I started diving into like blood work and trying to figure things out. I am by no means a doctor. I am, you know, somewhat trained in research because I went to law school and that's kind of like what they teach you how to take in the right information, make conclusions, but I am not a doctor.
but you spoke, you kind of mentioned the differential on menopause and perimenopause. and that is a very clear distinction. menopause is really one day in your life. It's like the medical definition is something like one year after the conclusion of your last menstrual cycle. So it's like literally one day perimenopause is all the time that leads up to that.
And they say that it can happen, you know, the average menopause is like 51 in America. So perimenopause can start anytime for five to 10 years before that. So 40 ish. Is about [00:08:00] average, sometime between 40 and 45. And so I am 41 and a half now. And so this started like about when I was 39 or 40.
So it's just something I've dove into and, Like I said, I feel like even though it's out there, like not everybody is talking about it that much. and what I really wanted to share, honestly, Andrea, and we can go in like to a bunch of health and wealth or not wealth, but health topics on this. and branch off into other interesting areas.
But what I really wanted to share, because I thought this was what was so, so, so enlightening. We saw a pop up. In the last seven years, these HRT, are, are not HRT. HRT is hormone replacement therapy, but these testosterone clinics for men, right? There's like no shame in the game about men who may be experiencing low testosterone and getting testosterone shot.
But women have not been getting the same treatment from their doctors. and if you [00:09:00] haven't had any issues to ask your doctor about yet, you may not have seen or felt this, but I kind of wanted to know why, why were women so resistant? And on my friend, text thread, I mentioned this and what my one friend who has a lot, a high, you know,breast cancer in her family was very concerned and was like, no, you can't get any kind of hormones because you know, it can exacerbate or increase your chances of breast cancer.
And that is exactly why many OBGYNs or other women, practitioners, health practitioners do not want to alleviate symptoms in perimenopause for women. Because back in the early 2000s, there was a study and. In the study, there was some kind of misconclusion that giving hormones to women with menopausal symptoms created an increase in [00:10:00] breast cancer.
And apparently that study has been disproven and the conclusions have been wiped away. But that was in the psyche of doctors and physicians for years. And so still to this day, women are not being treated in the way that they should. And it's not just the feelings that we're getting or the symptoms that we're getting, but it's also now the studies are showing.
That when you keep your hormones more balanced until your fifties, it actually prevents a whole host of like dementia, Alzheimer, muscle mass loss, all these other things that are super, super important. And so really that was kind of a long way to say, but those are the things I wanted. I just wanted to share from the rooftops of like one, if you're feeling, some kind of symptoms or this is, causing disruption in your life.
Don't be afraid to get treatment for [00:11:00] fear of breast cancer one and two, don't be afraid to ask or push or find another opinion because even if your blood work isn't telling you something it's one day in time and the whole point of perimenopause is that your hormones are scatterbrained. So the one point in time when you're getting blood work is not going to show anything.
My blood work is perfect, but I know because I've been an athlete and I've been in touch with myself with health and all those kinds of things. I know that things have not been normal the last two years and the blood can tell me that they can tell me I have, one of the doctors I saw was like, Oh, your blood work.
It's like literally the top three of anybody we've seen at your age and category. But that it's not changing that I'm like, I don't want
a trophy. I just want to find out why I feel like this. That's exactly. Yeah.
And so that's what, so there's this doctor, for whoever [00:12:00] wants to check her out. She's actually here in Texas, Andrea.
She's not taking new patients though, but her name is, of course I know. I was like, of course she's not
so busy.
Her name is Dr. Mary Claire. I think she's in Austin, but she talks about this all the time and. She said, it's the symptoms. That's what people, the doctor, a doctor in the know that's really focused on it should just treat the symptoms and should not be worried about blood work.
And, so that's it. I mean, that's really the, in a succinct version, ask me any of your questions.
Well, okay. So, so this is like more of like a girlfriend, a girlfriend conversation because. I think that's what a lot of times we need first, obviously, like we have to go to clinicians to get more answers. We need to get knowledge of what's going on inside of our body for sure.
So I'm all about like, get those things, get access to those things, like, like find a doctor that aligns with you. Maybe it's a functional medicine doctor or maybe it's an integrative, you know, [00:13:00] whatever the right approach is for you and your philosophy on how you like to look at that kind of information.
But I'm all for that. I think what you and I like in this conversation, what feels most relevant is just to sort of name the things that kind of hold us back from doing that, because I do think that's actually A really big part of the discussion. Like it's one thing to go and you've obviously done this, like go and get the information and, and get insight.
But then when you're told your blood work is like in the top three of anyone they've seen, it's so easy to be like, Oh, well then maybe it was in my head all along and I can't even trust my own intuition anymore with what's going on in my body and I would, I would just argue that any time your intuition or you are experiencing real symptoms of anything different.
You go until you get an answer you, because you just, you truly have to, otherwise there's no other way to measure it. Right.
I [00:14:00] agree 100%. And the scary part, and I think, you know, this is a scary part for me. I'm sure this is what other women are thinking about is like taking a medicine, even though it's a replacement, I am.
Low on the pharma. I mean, I really am like holistic for the most part. So the thought of doing something and then when a doctor tells you, well, I'm not sure you really need that. It makes you even more shy away from it. Yeah. because. You know, it's still a foreign substance. It's not coming from your food, from your water.
It's something that's, you know, new and different that your body isn't making. And so I think that's kind of scary. That was scary for me to think about. but the more you look into it, I just think that the science is there that, shares what the positives are for women going forward. and maintaining your muscle mass and how important that is.
just your overall [00:15:00] health, estrogen starts running out like in your thirties onward, like it gets lower and lower and lower. And estrogen has so many, protective qualities. So I don't, I don't have the answers. I just want to talk about that because that's something I am experiencing currently. And I think on the health spectrum, we're still just not talking about that enough.
and then of course, you know, everything else that goes along with that. Yeah. Making sure you're eating enough protein and fiber. Those were like, these are the things that, uh, Dr. Mary Claire talks about, I would say the most is like, if you need to balance yourself out in some way, there's no special, you know, chart.
Like if you weigh this much, we'll give you this much. It's kind of like trial and error. but then making sure you have adequate protein. That you have enough fiber and that you're lifting weights. Those are the things that for women, you know, getting to be our age, forties and then onward are really, really important.
And when I see women [00:16:00] that look really healthy, that look really youthful, that still have a glow about them, in their fifties and sixties, those are the things that they're doing
or they've been doing for quite a while. Like it's almost like a bank account analogy. I've heard that a lot where it's like the deposits you make in your 20s and 30s and 40s, like it just compounds and it becomes more obvious those who have been doing those things leading up to that point than just what you're doing now.
But if you haven't been doing them and you're like, okay, I need to get my act together and start doing them. Don't let that stop you just because you haven't. Right. Right. But ultimately that's kind of the. If you need an analogy and you're thinking, Oh, I want to, be that way. I want to be vibrant at 50 and you're 40, the best way to look at that is to envision her and the things she'd be doing to lead up to that point because that stuff really just compounds over time.
It's not, it isn't a quick thing. And what I'm experiencing while I haven't experienced all the [00:17:00] symptoms we had previously been talking about with just like some of the classic symptoms of perimenopause. What I will tell you is that the first thing I have seen is just My body responds differently to different things than it ever has before.
Whether it's certain exercise that my body's just always responded really well to. And now it's like, yeah, you know, and now I'm like, Oh, okay. I got to do something different. So increasing the strength training, increasing the walking, instead of, you know, some more of the high intensity stuff. And then another thing for me has just been how alcohol leaves me feeling.
I'm just, it's just kind of like, Like, and not even just from a true, I don't really have hangovers. I don't drink that much, but if I'm going to have a drink, I have to consciously be like, how am I willing to feel tomorrow and just knowing I'm not going to be operating at a hundred percent energy and the way that I like to feel, I just know it's a little bit of a trade off and.[00:18:00]
I just don't really like making that trade off. So it's interesting, the process of just figuring out where some of these things fit now that your body is truly telling you something. And part of it is when you are in tune with your body. So maybe, maybe someone has to start there, like really start trying to listen to the response your body gives you when you do certain things, right?
Like when you're really sedentary for a long period of time, like. How do you sleep that night? You know, how does your food digest? How does your skin look? I mean all these things right like there's actually a true feedback loop that you can tune into that I would say that's what I've been trying to pay attention to at this stage Knowing that it'll probably only increase as I get a little bit older.
Yeah, and I don't know If anybody else, I feel like I've said this to people and I get this look like, what is that? So I'll be interested if anybody has heard of this, you guys got to send us an [00:19:00] email or a message or something. And tell me,
DMS on Instagram.
Yes. I watched sit and be fit on summer vacations on PBS.
When I was home, do you, do you remember this at all?
Sit and be fit. I I've heard that, but I don't think I ever watched this. What is it? And so
it was like, honestly, now by now's barometer and standards, what we think of as like a late fifties lady, which I think, I see ladies that are like absolutely stunning in their fifties, but you know, the eighties and nineties, 50 year old lady was like an old lady.
Yes, yes, yes, exactly. So there was this woman who would be in the one piece leotard with the pantyhose thing. And she was teaching sit and be fit with my little one pound weight for elderly people at home. And it was like, got it. 9 a. m. 10 a. m. thing. And at the same time, they would air these little [00:20:00] segments.
And I remember seeing one that was like this cute aerobics class at some gym or church gym or something. And it was a 90 or nine year old lady leading the workout. And I thought that is going to be me, girl. And that filed that away. I was probably 10, but I filed that away. And so yes, of course I want to look good.
I want to still wear a two piece bathing suit. I don't want to have wrinkles on my face, but at the end of the day, my barometer and my goal is really to be that not to sit and be fit, to be up and Adam and going at it and being with my grandchildren. And so everything that I do, that's kind of the lens I look through.
And so it's building blocks. As you said, the things don't happen overnight, but if somebody is listening in there in their fifties and really out of shape or they're having sarcopenia, which is like, bone loss, or they're having muscle issues, you can still rectify these issues with the basic foundations that the [00:21:00] hormones just help balance it out as we move into menopause.
But really the foundations are having lifting weights if it's just two or three days a week eating a balanced diet Which now the priority should be on protein and also fiber fiber fiber fiber with all the processed foods We're taking out of fiber of stuff If you like beans, I was literally googling it while I was reading my breakfast eating my breakfast Like what are am I getting enough fiber?
How do I get fiber? And I was like, okay Well beans are beans apples, but really like one serving of beans, you guys is almost enough fiber that you need. And I was like, I don't eat as much beans as I used to eat,
but it's simple thing, adding chickpeas to my salads at home. And that's so good. Like quinoa, like that combo with whatever else, red onions, honey, crisp apples, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, very basic dressing like that.
Oh my gosh. It fills you up and you can add additional protein to that. Like if you have [00:22:00] grilled chicken or. But sometimes I don't even have that and I'm like, well, I, this is starting point, but it's so nice. Cause it's just like you said, like adding those chickpeas, it's so much more filling. And also I know I'm not getting that in just my ordinary, daily eating unless I'm conscious of it because you have to be somewhat conscious of it.
Yes. And that's it. I mean, some for some people, like it's a natural practice for my life, but there are some people that you just know you have to remind it. Do you have a sticky note? Do you have somebody talking about it? Do you need to listen to a podcast once a week about it? Whatever it is. Right.
But those
are building blocks.
And it's pretty simple. I mean, honestly,
don't you think a lot of it, has to do with, are you prepared to live that way? Like, like there's a big part of it that. Consuming the info and knowing what your body might need or knowing some of these things are one thing and it's a valuable step. You have to start somewhere, but also being prepared to live that way.
Meaning [00:23:00] getting that grocery order in to start your week so that you have the food to prepare the meals, setting aside time on your calendar to make sure you have the time to work out, making sure you have some of these things already in motion, because. Otherwise, it's like what is valuable to you isn't reflected in and then your choices and I that's where I've really stepped up in the last year or two because I could tell that as I was entering my late thirties, they just certain things were different and it wasn't tied to one particular standout thing.
It was more. I'm just noticing I don't recover as quickly, in a lot of ways. And so just taking a more proactive, Hey, I'm in charge of this. I actually can make these choices. I don't need to wait for somebody else to make them for me or for something to get so far off track that I'm required to. And that would be my encouragement is don't wait until something's so off track.
If you can, start taking some of these more minimal, just, It's weekly steps so that you feel equipped and empowered to [00:24:00] make the next set of choices, which my guess is, because this has been true for me, as you start making some choices, it becomes easier to make other good choices. It's like one begets the other, and then it doesn't seem so overwhelming.
Absolutely. And you mentioned earlier the alcohol perspective. Would say I was never like a big drinker, but even more or less so now. And it's for the same reasons you said, like I could have two glasses of wine. Actually, I will have a hangover for that. A lot of times, so that puts me off right away, but then it's also what food choices are you making?
How are you sleeping? Even, one glass of wine can make me have, less than optimal sleep. So it's all of those little things and just making choices. And you also said, maybe in our last podcast about, what you say yes to. And what you say no to, these choices are the same and these have the cumulative effect on where you're [00:25:00] going to be.
So we always talk about, more of what matters more, most getting clear on your goals, seeing the vision for your life. What do you want your life to look like when you're 75 or 80 that is determined and how you're treating your body, your mind now in your thirties, forties and fifties.
For sure.
Well, and I just I love leaving it on that encouragement because no one's doing it perfectly. So if you're measuring, maybe you have that friend that just the perception is they've got it all figured out. Their life is perfect. Their health is perfect. They just got this an ease of which they go about living that way.
I will tell you, they probably had. A point in time where something's shifted for them and they started exercising a different set of muscles around this thought, right? Like you have to start changing some of your patterns and that takes time. It's not, you can't necessarily wipe the slate clean and just do everything all at once.
But I will say, [00:26:00] even if it's just about changing what you buy at the grocery store this week. Or how you plan to get out and take some more walks or just do the next thing that you can to start some of this in motion and the rest becomes a little bit easier. It's like, Oh, now I have the energy to start making these other choices.
Whereas you might be starting from a place of having no energy to make these choices because you're just depleted and that's a normal thing. So I just want to acknowledge that because. It can get a little overwhelming to start comparing yourself to someone who maybe has been doing this work for 10 years and has it all figured out and just makes great food choices and has this great energy.
That vibrancy didn't just happen, right? Like it's, it's a combined effect of a lot of previous choices and having lived this way. You can start today. Just don't expect yourself to have it all figured out overnight.
And I love that. And I would just like to add before we wrap up, Andrea, that one, because people have not [00:27:00] accused me, that's not the right word, but like, I think people think I have this perfect life and believe me guys, I'm the first to say I am high strong and it is a negative in many ways of my life that I have worked through in the last 10 years to try to peel that away.
but also I love pizza and I love chips and I have to. monitor what I buy because I will eat a whole bag of chips if I'm having a bad day and they're there. So I do have to make conscious decisions. It's not like my life is, I have a great life. I built a great life. It did not come for free. It was conscious choices, but there are definitely still things I struggle with.
being calm and yes, not eating chips are two of them.
Well, it's good to know everyone has their different things. Those are not my weaknesses, but I know, I know that because I think, I think some of it is like, you notice if for me, it's like if I'm not getting good sleep or if I'm [00:28:00] not exercising, my food choices are just so drastically different that I basically know if I want to.
Be feeling really good with what I'm eating. I basically have to prioritize the other two. And if the other two are on, then I don't even have to honestly worry about overeating or eating bad stuff because I don't even crave it. And so it's knowing that about yourself, which comes first. Is it, is it the sleep and exercise maybe potentially that's controlling a lot of the food choices you're making?
If, if, if so, try that, you know, try that. And then, you know what it does, it takes a lot of pressure and focus off of food for me, which I think is, I mean, I was fortunate to grow up in a home where food, there wasn't a, I didn't have any issues around food and eating. And I had a great example of that. So for me, that's just a blessing.
I didn't carry into adulthood that, that part of it with me, but so much of it comes down to if you're doing things proactively to [00:29:00] counteract that possibility. You can you can create a different environment around not even having to focus on some stuff as much and that's really where my priority is, is to not put all of this energy and focus on every single teeny tiny choice when it comes to food.
So that other things can be my most important piece. But of course, looking at the foods that I'm eating and making sure that I'm prioritizing whole foods as much as possible and all these things that we know, but I love not having all my energy wrapped up in that. So that for me is like a priority.
And so I try to live in a proactive way so that that doesn't get. More than I wanted to
and the last thing I would like to say to anybody listening who isn't in a place They want to be this we've talked about a whole gamut of things We've run through the course of stuff if you need or feeling like you need to make a shift and change prioritize one or two things the way people are Try to shift and transition [00:30:00] and are not successful is because they try to make their whole life different They're going to change everything in one day.
Don't do that. If it's just adding a little walking, working out one or two times a week, changing a few food habits, getting to the doctor to decide if you need to try something for perimenopause, one thing at a time.
One thing at a time. That's it.