Menopause

Lifestyle and mental health are foundational to physical health and wellness.  How we feel on a regular basis and what lifestyle skills we already have (or don’t), have the power to shape our journey through the menopause transition, after all, how we think and feel is often the primary driver of our behaviors.

And so, the mental habits and thought patterns that have the potential to help us get through just about any challenge and feel generally happier and more satisfied, also have the potential to sabotage us, sometimes even before we get started.  

Key to the coaching process is helping you implement specific practices that have the power to improve your sleep, reduce stress, and bolster your self-care practices, all of which can go a long way in boosting your physical and mental health.  

As we work together towards healthful behaviors, we will also work on skills that might make all the difference in your ability to not only survive the ups and downs of the menopause transition but truly thrive despite the inevitable changes.

The menopause transition is a time when nutritional needs and practices may shift for some of us, and you may experience unique challenges.  Foods and eating behaviors that had “worked” for you before, may present new challenges, and become a source frustration as you see unwanted change happening, even though you haven’t actually made any changes to your dietary habits.

But where there are challenges, there are also opportunities for improvement.  Many midlife and age-related health issues, such as: bone health, cancer risk, cardiovascular health, digestive health, metabolic health, and neurological and cognitive health, have a strong relationship to nutrition.  

The nutrition coaching portion of the menopause coaching program is designed to help you (re) learn basic nutrition skills and habits that can have a real impact in your long-term health. Eating ‘well’ isn’t just about eating nutritious foods. Making appropriate food choices most of the time is also a reflection of a good relationship with food. By becoming more aware of what, how and why you eat, you can start to address the habits that no longer serve you or your life goals.

As your coach, I will:

• To help you establish health-building skills related not only to WHAT you eat, but also HOW you eat.
• To help you build a foundation of core nutrition skills - behaviors that can be improved on with time and practice, that will benefit you now and for the rest of your life.
• To teach you how to support and care for your body with good nutrition, and information based on clear, credible, and evidence-based sources.
• To help you troubleshoot and identify opportunities for improvements without resorting to extremes.

There’s no better time to renew and refresh our relationship with physical activity than in midlife.  Whether you’re doing it to tackle an existing problem that’s become a long-term burden, or you’ve realized that there’s no better time than the present to tackle prevention, together we will define what an “active lifestyle” should look like for you.

As a certified Personal Trainer, I am a huge fan of movement programs that combine strength training, which help you maintain or gain strength, muscle and bone density, with cardiovascular training, which help you improve your cardiorespiratory fitness, and a key focus on functional mobility, which is crucial to helping us stay active and accomplish tasks and everyday activities we love – in or outside the gym.      

It is my objective to ensure you have the skills to make regular movement and recovery a part of your everyday life in a way that works for you in the long-term.  The program is designed to give you maximum flexibility in planning and performing your desired routine.

Changes during perimenopause and after can affect the health and function of the pelvic floor. Women may struggle with issues like incontinence, overactive bladder, and pelvic organ prolapse.

While the diagnosis of pelvic floor conditions falls out of my scope of practice, as a certified Pelvic Floor Specialist and Pelvic Floor Recovery Instructor, I am qualified and able to:

• Teach the Connection Breath, which is critical to building awareness of the pelvic floor.
• Prescribe pelvic floor muscle exercises for general strengthening.
• Help you find opportunities in your day-to-day to engage, relax, and protect the pelvic floor muscles from day-to-day strain.