SPEAKER_01 0:13

Hello and welcome to another episode of Empower Your Menopause. Today we're going to talk about cutting through the hype around what has become known as the menopause industry. And for those of you who can't see the app as on YouTube, those of you listening, I just did the air quotes, the air-inverted commas around the word industry. I think we'll get into the reasons we don't actually like that term. So it's Coach James and Coach Julie here. And I suppose the question is: have you ever felt overwhelmed by all that information that's been thrown out there about the menopause? How do you separate fact from fiction? Do you know what to do when you're bombarded with all these ads for miracle cures? And if that's you, then you're probably not alone because even those of us who work in the again industry, I'm again doing the air quotes, get confused by this at times. So we're going to talk about some of the truths and the half-truths around the menopause industry. We'll touch a little bit on HRT, but to be really, really clear, neither Julie and I are endocrinologists or medical professionals. We are health coaches and nutritionists. So we'll talk a little bit about HRT and what the guidelines are just to clear up any confusion around that. Um, so I thought to actually discuss this, it probably best to there's a lot to talk about. Let's see if we can split it into three or four main areas, then. The reason that prompted this, and we'll go into this briefly, is there was a panorama documentary last week, uh presented by Kirsty Walker, who's a really famous journalist here in the UK, where she looked into uh the industry. So we'll talk about that documentary, what prompted this. Then we'll talk about this idea of there being a concept of there being an industry in general, then we'll talk about the HRT thing, and then I think it's probably worth talking about where we sit in this. How do health coaches sit in this vast space? So let me go to Julie then. Julie, via the miracles of flying back to the UK for a half hour, you manage to watch uh this panorama documentary, despite the fact that you live in uh in Italy. Just tell people who are listening who might not have seen it, what was the main thrust of this then? What do they talk about in this documentary?

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Yeah, the main, it was a really interesting documentary. The main thrust of it is that women get into the menopause and don't have a lot of resources available to them. So there are a lot of people, like in many different industries, who find this an easy way to make money by pushing products that promise the world. And women out of desperation reach for these things because let's be real, doctors aren't well educated in this phase of life either. And a lot of times we have confusion over what's menopause and what's some other kind of health issue. And so women don't really have the information they need. So we we look to the commercials we see on social media, we look to the supplements we find in the in the drugstores, we look to whatever we think might help us uh get through these, get through these symptoms, get through this phase of life a little bit easier. And you know, unfortunately, most of these things are not what they promise to be. And we'll get into a little more detail on that. And the the flip side of that is we go running to the doctor who doesn't have time to talk to us about the whole picture, or there's no specific test for menopause that they can do. So they'll they'll throw some kind of medication, oftentimes HRT, um, when it may or may not be the appropriate thing, because again, we we have limited tools here based on limited information and limited education.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Yeah, I think it's interesting, isn't it, that this term industry is being used now. And I looked up just before we started talking. I think in 2023 it was worth almost $17 billion, and just to be clear, that is not people making $17 billion from quick fixed potions or things like that. That is the menopause solutions marketplace, so that includes everything from HRT production to people who do you know relatively low-cost, um, easily accessible coaching like ourselves. So that would take in the the whole industry. So this is not $17 billion worth of you know dodgy products or something. Let's make that absolutely clear. But there is an element some people making money out of this who might not be giving women the full picture. And the thing that interests me about it more than anything else, and I don't know whether you agree or not, Julie, is that it feels as though this is now starting to mirror somewhat another health again in inverted commerce industry, which is that of weight loss. In the fact that many people, and I can see why they do that, always look for a quick fix. People want the magic pill or the magic, the silver bullet, or the magic potion that is going to help them slay their weight gain. Um, and therefore there are a lot of solutions that that are aimed at that, not all of which actually work. And I think the same thing is what we're seeing here in when it comes to menopause as well, in that a lot of people want they're so discombobulated by the symptoms that they're they're going through and and don't have a solution, but really would like something that is a silver bullet, something that can come and put everything to bed quickly, easily, and relatively cheaply. And we know that as in the weight loss industry, that really doesn't work. And I think we're seeing the same thing here when it comes to menopause as well. That a lot of these products you walk into a chemist or a supermarket and you're bombarded on the shelves now by a range of supplements that have got the the term meno in there somewhere when it comes to offering some some kind of health solution.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Sure, I totally agree. And it's it's frustrating for me because I have been through this myself before there were the resources that are actually even available today. And I remember that feeling of desperation with the symptoms that I had. I what bothers me is that a lot of these products are making claims that have no basis in science. There's no research to prove. They may put someone in their advertisement who's wearing a white coat, so they look like a doctor, and you put some stock in that. You think, oh, this must be a credible source. They talk about research and the number one proven ingredient and sort of this sort of thing. And it you have to be really caveat emptor, right? Buyer beware. You need to understand whose research, where was the research done? Is it peer-reviewed, you know, repeatable, validated research by reputable places? Um, and in this documentary, they looked at some of the top supplements that are being used today for menopause, and there weren't any reliable studies. Now, their customers have great reviews. And again, we know that sometimes those things can also be uh manipulated or even purchased. Uh, so I appreciate good reviews. It helps me when I'm buying certain products. But when it comes to your health, these things are important to sort of peel aside and look at what's really underlying them. Um, because there isn't one thing that's going to work for most women because everyone experiences menopause differently, and therefore their needs are going to be different. Their lifestyle, their health factors, their stress levels, their quality of sleep, their relationships, their environments, all of these things are different. And so are their symptoms. So, so throwing, we we can read a lot about certain herbs and and uh superfoods, if you will, that have been shown to have good um help people feel better to have maybe some good results. But when you see those things as an herbalist, I can say these are the kinds of things that work slowly over time when they're properly used, and they have to be used very carefully and very attentively. So throwing everything into a capsule and saying, this is gonna solve all your problems. As a matter of fact, I even saw, I wish I would have uh linked to the ad, but I saw an ad for a ring that had some pretty little wave pattern on it in blue, and it was a ring that promised to eliminate all menopause symptoms. Just, oh please, please, please talk to us first.

SPEAKER_01 9:20

I think there's a thing here as well to think about when it comes to this, in that you know what you see in adverse, what you see, the claims that are being made, sometimes, and it might be an element of semantics, and I'm sure that everybody's worked in in this space has fallen to this in some way, shape, or form, especially five, six, seven years ago when I first started working in this space. There was a everybody talked about trying to balance people's hormones. The truth is nobody can balance your hormones, it's a complete and utter a false claim. I'm not always saying that that is done maliciously, I think sometimes it's done by people not wanting to get the uh the idea of hormonal balance into uh into people's mindset. But anybody who promises they can balance your hormones is is actually not being uh absolutely absolutely truthful. It's true that there are things that you we can employ that can support hormonal balance. So we talked about this before in our vitamins and minerals uh episode a couple of weeks ago, but you know, things like magnesium, vitamin D, B vitamins, fish oils, protein, flaxseed, all those kind of things can all help support better hormonal balance, as can working on your detoxification systems, which again is something that we talked about last week. But the truth is that there's no magic pill that that can balance your hormones. And I think looking for as a first step towards trying to discern whether a product has some efficacy or not, or a coach is is offering some claims that are verifiable. I would urge anybody who's listening to look for that term, support your hormonal balance, support your menopause journey because nobody's fixing it for you at all. And I think that's really clear to make that.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Yeah, and that's a great point. And I I think part of that uh comes along with the fact that the endocrine system is extremely complex. We have a number of hormone-producing uh glands in our body, and depending on what's going on in our in our lives, those things may be in flux. Um you know, whether it's your adrenals or your um your thyroid or uh you know any any other any other part, yeah. So so it isn't just about estrogen and progesterone. And I think that's the other thing that it's easy to lose sight of. You know, we also have testosterone as women, and we don't talk about that, we don't hear about that very often when we're looking at the endocrine system. So when when we're thinking about supporting hormone balance or supporting hormonal harmony, you know, whatever, whatever we want to say, because we can't balance our hormones. There's no magic snapshot of what that should look like. Um but when we when we talk about those things, there are a lot of other elements at play and a lot of other factors that we can't that play into that because how do we produce hormones? Well, our body produces hormones in great part by how what we take into it and how we manage our stress and our sleep and the other things that we do to our body. And a lot of times, again, these these magic bullets don't don't show you how to create a lifestyle that supports an ongoing um hormonal health situation for you for you, because this isn't just a one and done sort of thing. It isn't I'm gonna take this for two months and then everything's gonna be fine. We have to look at this as a long-term health project.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Yeah, I think the other thing that people are gonna ask us then at this point while we're talking about these various miracle cues and things like that, don't you guys recommend supplements? And the truth is, yes, yes, yes, yes, we do occasionally. The first few things I'd say about that, and this is maybe stepping into that bit that I said about actually outlining our roles within this within this marketplace, is that first of all, we'd always recommend a food-first approach to any kind of nutrients that that might be there. The other is that we always look for really high-level companies that are not off-the-shelf solutions that you can just walk into a pharmacy and just just buy and and and and walk out with. We always look for companies that produce these that produce their supplements to medical grade quality because a lot of the supplement industry isn't regulated when it comes to some of the ingredients they put in there. So we always do that. And then the other thing is that um you know there are lots of people within this space who make a lot of money from commission out of supplements. Those commissions, just for absolute transparency, tend to be around 30%. So, you know, and then it's up to people as practitioners like ourselves or other nutritionists or other health coaches who work in this, can choose what to do with that. So many people actually just take that 30% extra and take it as an extra income source. We don't actually do that at all within our Fibros Beyond 40 company. We take the smallest commission that we we can take from from any supplements that people buy through our links, which would be around 10%. That covers our administration cost to actually put the order in for our clients because we always make sure that any supplements that we do recommend, there are no um medical interactions and things like that. And we're also very transparent about that with with our clients as well. And then we pass that extra saving, that extra 20% that other people might put into their pockets on to our clients. So any supplements that are ordered through us are actually ordered at a discount. So just to clear that up when it comes to recommendations that we make.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Shall we move on to the I was just gonna say that's important because our main focus is coaching and coaching you and helping you find the path for your healthiest life and not peddling products. And and and as James said, we will only make those recommendations when we feel they're actually necessary. There are no blanket recommendations, everyone should take this and everyone should take that. There are there are a couple of supplements we think most people are deficient in, but again, this isn't focusing on supplementation, this is focused on creating a the lifestyle and the dietary habits that will give you long-term sustainable health. So yeah, just cool.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Let's move on to that other challenging subject then with it with all this. The second part of the documentary uh that was on Panorama talked about the rise here in the UK at least of private GPs who are prescribing HRT. And one of the accusations that was leveled against these GPs was that they're actually over-prescribing hormone replacement therapy for clients who go to see them, and obviously at some expense. So, Julie, do you just want to talk a little bit about this? Speak into your thoughts on it.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

Yeah, I um I appreciate that HRT is a is a helpful tool for a lot of women. I use it myself, but minimal dosage, but it's not a panacea. And I think that a lot of doctors who aren't well educated in this area don't understand how to use it or what kind to use. There are a lot of different forms of HRT. There are a lot of um situations where it may or may not be appropriate, and there are safe levels of HRT. We're not going to go back to our estrogen levels of from when we were in our 20s and 30s. That's not realistic and it's not safe for our bodies. And so finding a doctor who um who understands HRT, and again, we are not experts or endocrinologists, but we do understand there are limitations around this. And some people who are more prone to risk of heart disease or specific cancers or who may be recovering from those things have to be very careful about HRT. So when those upper limits are set, these are these are not like when we talk about vitamin RDAs, uh, are strictly to avoid uh major disease, that's not the picture when we come to HRT. We're actually looking at uh women's health and safety of what these limits are set at. Sometimes you may need to exceed that, but only in rare cases, in certain cases. So some doctors who don't know as much about this, and again, it's not through any kind of malicious behavior, it's just a lack of experience and knowledge, they may just continue to increase the dose, thinking, well, more must be better, but that can actually create a whole host of problems of its own. And some quite can be quite serious. So understanding who your practitioner is, what is their experience and education around this area of their practice, because there are specialists who who understand it. Um yeah, so I I I worry about going to a GP and asking them for their advice in this area. I would think a gynecologist or someone who special specializes in endocrinology or hormone replacement therapy would be a better better person to ask.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Yeah. I think it's worth talking about the nice guidelines. They're the guidelines for clinical excellence here in the UK here, and just actually highlighting a little bit. And I know that Julie, you're in the process of putting together a briefing sheet for anybody who wants it, which is questions to ask your doctor when it comes to um to being prescribed HRT. So the NICE guidelines say HRT can be safe and effective for many women, but it should be based on individual risk assessment. Risks are typically related to factors like age, family history, and other conditions like cardiovascular disease. The other thing is that the NICE guidelines also say that you should always be prescribed the minimal dose needed to help reduce your your system uh your symptoms, and that people should be on HRT for the minimum amount of time required. So it is not again, although I absolutely agree, it can help, it can provide absolutely miraculous relief for some people, especially when the if the if the dose is right and and it's it's odd. But I think that that's really important as well to realise that it shouldn't be a long-term forever solution. I think the one thing to say in all this is you know do not go down at the root of if you're on HRT, listening to a podcast like this, and thinking to yourself, I need to reduce my amount. You know, speak to your doctor, speak to your physicians, speak to an expert like a gynecologist or something like that, and get advice that is really around hormone replacement therapy from the people who know it, know it best. Um benefits and risks of it, well, it can help relieve symptoms of menopause for for some women it can improve bone density, reduce the risk of osteoporosis. Something we talk about a heck of a heck of a lot. Risks there is a small increase of the risk of breast cancer, blood cause, and stroke. That that they tend to be in older women who've used it for a long time. And I think the other thing as well is that you know around this whole uh subject area of both miracle solutions and HRT, there are a lot of conflicting studies out there when it comes to what the results are. So we would always say err on the side of caution more than more than anything else, I think, would be our key advice to people.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Yeah, definitely. And and again, taking taking lifestyle factors into account first and then using HRT. As a support tool, if it's appropriate for you and when it's appropriate for you. Again, it's not going to make everything go away and reverse the clock. That's not how aging works. That's not how menopause works. And I think that is a misconception from a lot of people. So we we are using it to reduce the severity of symptoms, again, where it's appropriate. And there are many different forms of HRT. And you've got bioidentical, you've got synthetic forms, you have creams and vaginal rings and transdermal patches, and you know, a lot of a lot of different options. So understanding the risk, making an informed decision. I think informed consent is one of the most underutilized tools in the medical industry today, because we we want to rely on our doctors to tell us what's right, but we also need to be informed ourselves. So finding out what you can about the different forms and what's available, some of the risks, some of the benefits, and make that decision based on real information and not the hype.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Okay, great. That's a good point then to talk about just for five minutes, just to explain a little bit about what our role is as health coaches, rote nutritionists within this space. So I suppose the first point is we are not doctors. We don't offer medical advice, we offer lifestyle advice. You might want to call it lifestyle medicine if you like, but we're coaches, so we respect the medical field. It's our role to work alongside women, but as you said, helping them make informed decisions about their health and helping them come up with a path that is individual that suits that individual's uh actual needs, and we don't prescribe or push any single approach to borrow a phrase from my my other company, Elevated Food for Life. We're educational and empowering rather than evangelical when it comes to the advice that we offer. Um do you want to talk a little bit about lifestyle changes and the four pillars that we we work towards then to help people in this space, Julie?

SPEAKER_00 24:23

Yeah, sure. Um the four pillars that we work on are very simple. Eat. Sorry, think, eat, move, live. You have to get them in order. Um, because of course the way we we perceive things is really the key. It underlies all of the other things that we do. So our mindset, our perspective, you know, however you want to call that, our attitude will make a huge difference in how we experience our health, our life, the menopause journey. Um, what we eat is what we use to replace our cells and produce hormones and heal our bodies. And um, the way we move is also an essential part of staying healthy and strong. And then, of course, lifestyle factors, our environment, how are we sleeping and recovering from stress, um, all of how are our relationships? You know, we have a lot of other factors involved in how we live. So when you pull all of those together, you can do a whole lot for your health before you have to even think about medications and and other things that that your doctor might recommend. And I'm not saying don't listen to your doctor, but I'm saying take these things into account first because medicine should always be, in my mind, my opinion, um, medicine should be not be the first stopping point. It should be the last. And it should support all of the other things that you're doing that will give you the foundation to be able to have that medication work the way it's meant to, instead of just popping pills. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:00

Yeah, and then I think the other thing is that we try and offer low-cost solutions. We offer a lot of free things out there for people to uh get a start on their journeys, and then if they want some more help, we are here to do that. We try and be as accessible as possible. We don't charge exorbitant prices. Um whether you use somebody like us to coach you through this journey or another health coach, I think it's another thing worth mentioning given that we're talking about the menopause industry, is I would really caution anybody who's looking to work with a health coach or a nutritionist to actually just look a little bit at that person's qualifications. I have probably spent if I take into account my nutrition therapy degree, my MSc in nutrition science, my coaching qualifications, I probably spent the best part of around £30,000 educating myself in this space. Those people are making $18 billion, but that's not coming back back to people like that. It will take us a long time to pay off the cost of those studies. There are a number, again, turning this lifestyle phase into an industry. There are a number of coaching qualifications out there now where people are paying £39, the equivalent of around $50, and getting a quote coaching qualification in menopause. Quite often they will display that, they will they will show it, they will sing very, very loudly about it. But I would argue that the level of detail they're going into to get a coaching qualification at that amount of money, that amount of investment into their own personal development isn't a lot. Now, that's not saying that some of those people might actually go on and do lots of reading on their own and be incredibly, incredibly good coaches, but I think it's worth looking at and and just finding out a little bit more about people's qualifications before you actually work with somebody.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Yeah, and the other thing I would say about that is um because I've spent about the same amount of money and hours, thousands of hours, and we still research and we still learn and we still pursue other um certifications and qualifications. Yeah, we don't know everything, but we appreciate the the importance of of educating and staying up to date with the current research. And I think a lot of these um I don't want to say fly by night because some of some of the people do good work, but a lot of these you can be a uh a nutritionist in 30 days kind of programs or a menopause specialist in 30 days, it they're not they're not um encouraging continuing education, they're not encouraging this kind of research. Just learning how to research and read scientific articles is about 30 days worth of intensive study just to understand how they're put together. Um, but but the other thing I would say is when you're looking at a a professional, a coach, someone like us, are they willing to work with your doctor? Are they willing to have those conversations? Because we certainly are, and some of my most successful clients in the past have been people I've been part of their care team with, and I've been able to have interaction with their doctor to say, here's what the approach we're taking, and you know, they'll be able to say, you know, give give advice back. And just so they understand, because it's important for your doctor to have the whole picture of what's going on with you. And I'm not saying every health coach needs to talk to your doctor, but it's nice to have that option if that's important to you, because when care is coordinated and everybody knows what's going on, your results and outcome are going to be much, much better. And I think some of these other certifications or mini qualifications, these people aren't going to have the confidence to say, yes, I'll do that. Whereas we are comfortable with our knowledge and and we know where the limits are, and therefore we can say, you need to talk to your doctor about this. If you want to have a conversation together, let's let's do that. And with your permission, you know, I can I can ask some questions of your doctor, or they can ask some questions of us. Um, you know, I think I think that's important.

SPEAKER_01 30:24

Yeah, even things like um you know these online courses, they don't actually include any supervised clinic time. But over the course of two years, we had regularly Monday clinic days where we were seeing people, real life cases that were mentored by by qualified nutritionists and and health coaches to build up our understanding of how session sessions work. So look out for that as well if you do want to sign up to anybody, people who've actually got real-world experience and preferably supervised real-world experience and supervised by a mentor who knew what they were talking about as well. So, once again, coming up to the top of the half hour. So, I think let's start wrapping up on things when it comes to um trying to pull it all together. So, I think it's really important first of all to be able to advocate for yourself, to be able to ask the right questions. That's why Julie's putting together this document of questions that you can ask your GP or your medical professional. Um seek second opinions, don't feel pressurized into taking anything and get a full understanding of risks and benefits. When it comes to sort of like the an inverted commas miracle supplements, look at some of the some of the language that's been used, some of the claims that are being made. Generally, that old adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true, really holds it, holds in this as as much as much as any other. I think you're building a support system, having a supportive team, like Julie said, GP, coach, menopause communities, and things like that, really, really important to give you the confidence to navigate the transition with clarity and confidence, which is all we want women to do without the thought of them being another another number on somebody's 17-18 billion dollar balance sheet.

SPEAKER_00 32:27

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

Excellent. So a couple of things that you can do then. If you want to find out more about your own menopause journey, we are offering at the moment a free call with us. So that's a free coaching call where we will give you a roadmap of where to go and how you can progress on your journey. It is not a sales call, it is done uh with love and an offering for you to actually discover more about um about what options are open to you. If at the end of the call, obviously, you want to talk to us about what it might be like to work with us, we're happy to share that. But that is not the purpose of the call at all. So do book into one of those if you like. It's freecall.fabulousbeyond40.com. And we'll put that in the show notes below, as well as loads of other free resources we've got at the moment that will hopefully help you empower your metaphors. So it's been James and Julie from Fabulous Beyond 40. We will see you next time. Take care.

SPEAKER_00 33:30

Bye.