See ya later, Ovulator: Mastering Menopause With Nutrition, Lifestyle And Hormones

The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin Dunston

Welcome to the latest episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast, titled "See Ya Later, Ovulator: Mastering Menopause With Nutrition, Lifestyle, And Hormones"! In this enthralling episode, we sit down with the amazing Esther Blum, an all-around authority on conquering menopause with an integrative approach from a dietitian's perspective.
Esther Blum is an Integrative Dietitian who has made it her mission to help women navigate the whirlwind of menopause. With Esther's extensive experience and undeniable expertise, she has guided countless women through the challenging waters of hormonal changes in this significant life stage. Her presence isn't just felt with her clients—she's made appearances on the Today Show, ABC-TV, and has even taken on the role of menopause mentor for none other than Gwyneth Paltrow!
Throughout the episode, we dive into the depths of menopause, discussing Esther's background and her journey in becoming such a sought-after expert.

In this episode, you'll learn:

- Esther's wealth of knowledge, shedding light on how vital lifestyle, nutrition, and hormonal therapy can play a role in achieving optimal hormonal balance for women going through this phase.

- Esther's groundbreaking approach ensures that women can master menopause without the extreme stress and confusion it often brings.

- The essentials of a hormone-balancing diet, how to promote self-advocacy, and the role of therapy in this crucial phase of women's lives.

You'll be left with not only a better understanding of menopause but also equipped with tools to manage and thrive during this time.
Don't miss this enlightening and engaging episode filled with life-changing insights and actionable solutions for mastering menopause. Tune in to The Hormone Precription Podcast with our special guest, the esteemed Integrative Dietitian and Menopause Expert, Esther Blum, and embrace the journey through menopause with newfound confidence and understanding.

Speaker 1 (00:00):
See you later, emulator and other Esther Blum is about menopause, nutrition, lifestyle and how to transform your life.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us, keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones in our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O B G Y N, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40, in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue. Now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kyrin. Thank you so much for joining me today. My guest today is passionate about menopause. She's passionate about nutrition, she's passionate about living a full life and she's got lots of wisdom to share. She's an integrated dietician by training for over three decades, but of necessity became a menopause expert and she's helped lots of women, thousands of women, in fact, through nutrition, hormones and self-advocacy. She's the author of several books. She's just really an advocate for women's health and to stop the gaslighting that's going on when it comes to women's hormones in healthcare. And she's wise beyond her years. I'll tell you a little bit about her and we'll get started. So, Esther Blum is an integrative dietician and menopause expert. In the last 27 years, she's helped thousands of women master menopause through nutrition, hormones and advocacy. She's the bestselling author of, see You Later, ovulators Need Women, don't Get Fat, eat, drink, and Be Gorgeous. Secrets of Gorgeous And The Eat, drink and Be Gorgeous. Project known as Gwyneth Paltrow's Menopause Mentor and by course for helping women thrive through menopause. Esther was also voted best nutritionist by Manhattan Magazine. She has appeared on the Today Show, a b C TV and Good Day New York, and is frequently quoted in Goop well and good Forbes and Time Magazine. Please help me welcome Esther Blum to the show. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
So excited to talk about menopause always and nutrition and lifestyle and what I call all the things. I love the title of your book. So I'm wondering if we can start there. See you later. Ovulators . Where, where did you get the title from? That book?

Speaker 3 (03:08):
Whatever. Yeah. You know what? It's funny. I literally saw online a woman who had had like a menopause or, or a hysterectomy party and she had these cookies with See You Later, ovulators on them. So I had used it as a subtitle for section or a chapter of the book and my publicist was like, no way man. That's gotta be the cover. Like, it's just so catchy and it was available. So I went with it. Okay. Yeah, it's really my homage to like get out like uterus and ovaries. You, you served me well. Thank you so much. Can we just wrap this party up now and can we be free of the monthly cycles and the cramps and the irritability and the bloating and the breast tenderness and the moodiness and the insomnia, , you know, just all those things. I'm like, let's just welcome in the next chapter for our bodies with power and grace and really joy.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
So you have been a dietician for a while, is that correct? Yeah,

Speaker 3 (04:12):
Almost three, almost three decades. I'm like a hundred now

Speaker 1 (04:16):
You're a hundred. And so what changed your focus to menopause? Hmm.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
It started because I worked in hospitals the first five years of my career. I actually started out working with wic, the WIC program at Boston City Hospital and then went to graduate school and got my master's in clinical nutrition and went back to hospital work, worked in cardiology units and, but started opening a private practice on the side and after about five years, I got certified in functional medicine. 'cause I was like, I'm really not making a difference, giving someone 10 minutes of diet instruction or working in the WIC office. Like, I was like, here's the benefits of high fiber beans and get your calcium from cheese. That there really, I wasn't making a difference. And so with functional mess and I wanted to get in at a more preventive level. And when I opened that, immediately menopausal women came into my practice and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm in my twenties.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
I don't even know how to treat. So I certainly didn't know much about hormone replacement at the time, but I did know about whole food diets and intermittent fasting and really optimizing insulin sensitivity and weight loss, like stubborn midsection, weight loss and the cortisol belly. So I got to work with diet therapy then. And over the years, really there's been such an evolution in the research. I mean, since I've started practicing, you know, the North American Menopause Society has had two different position papers that Women's Health Initiative study was out there in the early days of my practice. And then since then it's been, you know, the guidelines have been updated. So it, I've seen a lot of changes in my trajectory through menopause.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yes. Lots of changes. And so what are the biggest challenges? I mean, everybody listening, we talk about menopause a lot that you, you see with women and, and how has it evolved over time? So you, you went from nutrition, then you became functional medicine certified, and I know that you talked with women about hormones as well. And so how did that come into the picture? Yeah,

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Well, because I really wasn't doing, you know enough, like when I'm not solving, I, I don't think about the people who I'm helping as much as the people who I'm not helping. And there comes a point for some women, diet and lifestyle makes a huge difference, right? You ditch alcohol, you cut back on caffeine, you clean out sugar, you're gonna help a woman resolve her hot flashes and improve her sleep and her blood sugar and weight loss and cortisol management. But will it help a woman with brain fog? Will it help a woman with severe insomnia? Will it help a woman maintain her bones? Not necessarily. There comes a point when it's really time to bring in hormones for that last piece of the pie. And I always say it's not the whole pie. Don't think hormones are, you can't out hormone your, your lifestyle. You can't out supplement your lifestyle. It's got to be a multifaceted approach. It has to be stress management is number one in menopause. It's really critical. Sleep, digestion, optimizing protein, getting your strength training in, getting your, your steps in every day, your supplements if needed. Then the hormones, it's multifactorial.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
Yeah, I love that You can't out hormone your lifestyle, but you also can't out lifestyle your hormones. You know, I always say that menopause is a state of hormonal poverty. The consequences of that hormonal poverty may be symptomatically more severe or less severe for some women. But the changes are happening in hormonal poverty. And if you're not educated on them, that's what I talked about in my TED talk then, you know, you're at increased risk like my mom for Alzheimer's dementia. And the only risk factor she had was she was in untreated menopause for three decades. So I do think it's an essential part, the the puzzle. And so how do you counsel women? Because it's really hard when they traditional doctors won't give them the standard of care, basically is no hormones right? Or exactly for three symptoms and Right. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
Well that was another reason why I wrote see a later ovulators because I have 20 pages of studies in the back of the book that support the use and the importance of hormone replenishment or now it's called M R t, right? Menopause replenishment therapy. But I, well, no matter what you call it, you know, it's very intimidating to confront a white coat. I even gave my book to my doctor and of course she did not read it. But you know, my advice , I know, and I mean, just like, sidebar here for a minute, real talk ladies. You know, I had this like ovarian cyst that ruptured back in November and I was in extraordinary pain and I, I came home and laughed. I said to my husband, I could have written what they told me. They were like, well, I said, so where are my treatment options?

Speaker 3 (09:42):
And they said, well, you can either go on the pill or go on the I U D or have a hysterectomy. And I said, Nope, what else you got? And they said, take lots of ibuprofen. And I was like, wow, I'm kind of screwed here. So I'm right in the trenches with you ladies. This is why I wrote the book was to like tell all of our stories and understand that medical gaslighting is really not, it's not okay. And if a dietician is researching and accessing all these studies and your doctor is not, and your doctor's A G Y N, then that's lazy medicine. If your doctor isn't updating the standards of warnings on hormones, that's lazy medicine. So what you can say is this is, you know, hey, I know you're not very into hormones, but just let me try it for three months.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
, I've done the research, but I have plenty of research studies if you wanna look at them in my book, in this book here. And I've done my research and the research shows they're safe and effective and can really prevent, you know, bone loss, loss of gray matter, increased risk of coronary artery disease and I really wanna try them. So a lot of doctors will capitulate to that. However, your Dr. May not monitor a follow up with your hormone labs the way you really should be following up. So the other alternative is vote with your wallet, find a new doctor. Like if you didn't like your hairstylist, if you didn't like your dry cleaner, you would find a new one. Why are we so afraid to look for new doctors? Especially when so many do telemedicine now. So that's another thing we wanna remember and, and yes, often they're out of pocket and we do have to lay out the cash, but insurance often reimburses for a good portion of this. And you will save time and you will save money and you will save nights and years of insomnia and bloating and weight gain and migraines and real struggles that impact your quality of life.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
Yeah. You know, I, I was laughing when you said your Dr. May say, yeah, I'm not that into hormones, which is kind of insane when you think about it. But literally that's what doctors are saying a lot of times to their patients without saying it. If you read between the lines, I'm not that into hormones. So yeah, that's actually why I created her hormone club. I don't even know, I don't think I mentioned to you, we created an all-in-one telemedicine solution for women to get bioidentical hormone testing and treatment with bioidentical estradiol EST trial, progesterone and testosterone. Nationwide in the United States we have board certified doctors in every state. So because people were not able to access this after I did the stop the Menopause Madness summit, we've now done three of them. Women said, we get it. We, we need hormones, where do we go?

Speaker 1 (12:41):
And we didn't have anywhere to send them. So one day I said, oh yeah, we need a telemedicine solution. And so I created it. So everybody listening there is access to this in your neighborhood. It may not look like what you're used to where you drive and find parking and sit with your butt hanging out in a little paper gown for an hour waiting to the doctor only to leave with a fist full of prescriptions that don't fix your problem. Like you can actually be in your pajama bottoms at your dining room table on Zoom, getting a hormone prescription. So that's just, you

Speaker 3 (13:14):
Could tell me more about this . Yeah, I need your info please. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
Yeah. So we'll cover that. But in nutrition, what do you think is the most, what are the biggest issues you see for women in perimenopause and menopause with their nutrition and where do they have the biggest impact in those symptoms? If they're really gonna master their lifestyle to help master their hormones, where do they start?

Speaker 3 (13:44):
So I have three menno laws for fat loss and they're very simple and very straightforward and completely doable for everybody. So number one is to optimize your protein intake. And most people think they're eating and enough protein without understanding the research. And this always upsets the vegetarians and vegans. But I'm telling you what worked for you in your twenties and thirties does not work in your forties, fifties and beyond. So, and it's challenging for women because a lot of times during perimenopause and menopause, the gut changes, right? The digestive fire really decreases our, we don't produce as much stomach acid. The lining of the small intestine changes as progesterone and estrogen declines. So what happens is we feel like a lot of people say, I can't eat so much meat. It feels so heavy and they really struggle. It's another layer to struggle to optimize protein.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
But the research points that points to getting at least four ounces of protein at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Or if you're intermittent fasting, it's more challenging. You know, I say get at least seven to eight ounces of protein if you can at a meal and then have a little snack in between. But basically you need a minimum of a hundred grams of protein per day to not only maintain muscle mass, but really to build it. And a lot of people will have, you know, an egg for breakfast and maybe like a couple shrimp on a salad for lunch crumb or crumbled up chicken or an an egg. And then dinner is like the big meal, the steak, chicken, fish. So we really need to distribute evenly. Your body needs a minimum threshold of four ounces of protein at breakfast, lunch, dinner in order for you to optimize your anabolic capabilities or your ability to build muscle and plain in English.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
So that's something, just optimizing protein at breakfast is huge. So that can be done with a cup of cottage cheese, two eggs and two whites or two eggs plus some Turkey or ham or smoked salmon. A protein shake with two scoops of protein power. So if you're vegetarian you could do pea protein or you can do whey protein as well. So those are just some really simple easy strategies. Like just saying to someone, just add one more scoop of protein powder. They're like, oh, I can do that, no problem. Or just add a little more protein. What it does is protein raises serotonin and dopamine in the brain. So you're gonna offset your sugar cravings, you're gonna triple your energy and your mental focus and you're not gonna get the 4:00 PM crashes. So you will sleep better at night, again, crave less, better energy.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
And building muscle won't be as hard as it is already in menopause. It can be harder. So that's mental law number one, mental law number two is to make sure that you flip your ratios. And what do I mean by this? Make sure that if you're getting a hundred grams of carbs a hundred grams of protein a day or 120, then your carbs fall 70 to a hundred grams. You, most of us, most of the women I see have much greater carb to protein ratios and we need to flip those and have protein outweigh carbs. Now the carbs I'm talking about are the starchy carbs, unlimited, ve you know, vegetables don't, I don't count those towards your carbs. They have fiber and water. They're not gonna, nobody's getting fat on spinach and artichokes here, right? Watch your portions of rice or potatoes or sweet potatoes or, but they're still very beneficial, which is my mental law number three, which is to eat carbs at night.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
You know, protein by day, carbs at night. Why would I have you eat carbs at dinner? People think, oh my god, I'm gonna get so fat. That's ridiculous. You're far more insulin sensitive later on in the day than you are earlier in the day. And carbs again, you're gonna get a slight insulin bump even if you pair your carbs with a protein. And with vegetables, if you have, you know, a cup of sweet potatoes or quinoa or rice or lentils, yes your blood sugar will go up some and that tamps down your cortisol. So it really helps you sleep at night. And most people are like, wait, you're telling me to eat carbs? I get to eat more protein and feel less hungry. Like it's an abundance of riches at that point. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
I was so surprised when you said that. Eat carbs at dinner. I know everyone's going Yes, , she said he carbs at dinner. Yes, exactly right. Yeah, I love that. Three fat loss. So protein for sure, you definitely, most of us women as we age, why do we do that? We lower and lower our protein, we don't get enough. And flipping the ratio of carbs to proteins and eating carbs at dinner mm-hmm. . So yeah, I see how that could really help. Insulin resistance is such a problem for perimenopausal and menopausal women. Do you have any other tips that you could offer them to help with their insulin? Mm-Hmm. ?

Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yes. So the next level, okay, so those are like kind of the foundations for fat loss. But let's say you're like Esther, I'm not, I'm not hungry in the morning. Like a lot of my menopausal mamas just aren't even hungry in the morning. And so for those women, I really love intermittent fasting and there's three ways you can do intermittent fasting and why intermittent fasting just means really simply shortening your eating window. And it's really beneficial in resetting those insulin receptors because your body has to dig deep into your fat stores and it really resets your insulin receptors beautifully. So number one is you can start with a 12 hour fast. You finish your dinner by 7:00 PM you do not eat breakfast until 7:00 AM or later. That's like a really gentle fast. See how you do with that? Just cutting out nighttime eating can be very beneficial.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
Then number two is you can really shorten your window to, you know, between 10 and six or 12 and six, getting, you know, a good six to eight hour eating window that also shreds body fat and can really offset. And you know, if you want like black coffee or tea in the morning, that's fine, just dough, add anything to it or so you don't break your fast. And then option three, which I love is the five two method. And that's where you eat normally five days outta the week and then two days out of the week, ideally not next to each other. You have 500 calorie days and a 500 calorie day is usually not eating during the day. And then you have a supper meal where you have like a chicken breast, a half cup of starch and two cups of steamed vegetables. And that also that really restricted eating just not only burns body fat but really helps reset insulin sensitivity.

Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah. The, the 500 calorie diet, if you can do it, I can't, I'd almost, I do better not eating at all than eating 500 calories.

Speaker 3 (21:06):
Yes. Yes. And some women feel that way too and just wanna drink some bone broth or water. That's what, that's the thing, right? Is bioindividuality, like other women in my practice, cannot fast at all. It either triggers, you know, overeating later in the day, binge eating or disordered eating. So we don't wanna do that. Or if you're feeling just so shaky and irritable and you cannot even concentrate, it's probably not for you. Now if you fall in that camp, you're gonna need to eat more and move more. So most women I see have very stalled fat loss and kind of a sluggish thyroid. 'cause They've been chronically dieting like to the tune of nine to 1200 calories a day for years and years and years and they, the weight just isn't coming off. So mm-hmm. for those women, right? A you can try, you know, super low carb, I don't wanna use the word keto, but keeping your carbs like 50 to 70 grams a day for a couple of weeks and coming off then or only having carbs on your weightlifting days or, you know, my other option is to really, you know, walk at least 15,000 steps a day and go to the gym, lift heavy two to three times a week, learn.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
And you may say, well what's a heavy weight? Heavy weight is when it brings you to failure. After, you know, by the third set you can only do six to eight where you really just, your muscles just will not lift. And most of us are lifting far lighter than we need to be. We're a lot stronger than we think we are. So there's many ways to skin a cat. Some of my ladies, again, we diet them up, then we cut calories for a couple weeks, then we diet them up where we, we get them eating 15 to 1800 calories a day and they're losing weight. Other women do well with the fasting protocol. Other women do well just by bumping up their movement every day. So it's really, and and, and allowing yourself to be hungry, not snacking, you know, allowing four to five hours between meals and if you're hungry between meals, gotta bump up your protein. That's how you know you're not eating enough protein if you can't make it five hours between the meal.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
Yes. And the weights, talk a little bit about that. It's super important and most of us aren't doing any weights. Like we think it's all about the aerobics or we're not looking heavy enough. Weights, . And I like how you described it in your third set. You really shouldn't be able to do that many reps. That's how you're exhausting that muscle. A lot of women worry about getting bulky muscles. They don't want to, but gosh, who is it? I, I saw he said something like, it's survival of those with the best muscle mass or something like this. .

Speaker 3 (23:54):
Yes. Muscle is,

Speaker 1 (23:55):
It's all about muscle mass. Yeah. Talk

Speaker 3 (23:57):
About that. Muscle is the organ of longevity and ladies, you do not have the testosterone to bulk up. Okay? You're not Michael Phelps eating 5,000 calories a day and has the testosterone of a younger man. Even if you're using bioidentical testosterone, you're still getting a micro dose. You're not, you're not gonna look like a dude and what's gonna happen. And women will say, well I tend to bulk up. No, you're not cutting calories enough. If you're bulking up, you're probably eating too much. Even Arnold Schwartzenegger, at the height of his bodybuilding when he wanted to get lean, he cut down to 1500 calories a day. So you really have to think about your caloric intake and log your food if you think you're bulking up. So back to, so diet is 80% the weights yes, heavy weights. Some women will say four pounds is a lot.

Speaker 3 (24:55):
And, and listen, you can do Pilates. I've done Pilates classes with four pound weights where my arms just instantly burned because the muscles are really isolated. But it will work the muscle. But if you really truly wanna build the muscle, then yes, you do need to build up to 10 pounds, 15 pounds, 20 pounds, 30 pounds, you know it, you don't have to injure yourself or your joints. And you do it very slowly. Maybe you start off a month using, you know, five to eight pound weights and by the end of four weeks you're ramping up to eight to 12 pound weights. You're adding in one set worth of 10 pound weights, the first two sets where at eight pounds. So you can incrementally increase your weight or do one set as a warmup, a lighter weight, and get heavier weights with each progressive set.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
Yeah. I love lifting weights, . I can't say enough about it. I think it's the best way to like take out your frustrations and work out that stress and just go lift heavy things. Ladies, go lift heavy. There's a reason that guys have been doing it is because it makes them feel good mentally. I think it's almost more a mental than a physical exercise.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
Yes it is. And believe me, if it's any consolation, like I don't enjoy lifting weights. I enjoy how I feel after, and I enjoy having my booty look good in a pair of jeans or my arms look good in a tank top. It's all, it's vanity. Whatever works for you, do it. Or just knowing like, hey, I wanna get up off the floor, you know, in my 60 seventies and eighties the way I did in my twenties and thirties. Or hey, I don't wanna break a bone. I've got family history of, you know, osteoporosis and I, I don't wanna go down that road. I wanna offset my hospital bills and you know, my sick time because falls and fractures are the leading cause of death in people over the age of 65.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
Amen. And there's so much you can do to prevent that and we just think it's not gonna happen to us. Right, right. And the truth is it does happen to us. Yes. I'm wondering if you could talk about some of the most inspiring stories of women who are in perimenopause or menopause women you've worked with, you know, over the years who really stick in your mind. Because right now there are women listening to us talk who are sitting there going, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard all this diet, nutrition, weights. I feel like crap. My doctor can't help me. There's no hope for me. I am the exception. There's no answer and there's no

Speaker 3 (27:29):
Hope. Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:31):
And what I want them to know is yes, there is, because I was that woman 20 years ago. Right now we are the light for those women. So can you talk about some of those most inspiring stories?

Speaker 3 (27:46):
Yes. Okay. And you can see her testimonials. She gives a video on my website, esther blum.com. You can see both recorded and written. So first I'm gonna speak about my client, Julie, who when she came to me, had so much pain, so much inflammation, everything from reflux to horrible back pain. She was very overweight. She couldn't do any physical exercise or so she thought, and she drank like a sailor, I mean really heavily relied on alcohol to take care of her stress and depression, which please, it's not an antidepressant, that's for sure. It worsens the situation. So I was like, Julie, get in your pool. Get in your pool. Just start moving. Just start moving your body. Thank God she had a pool. Then we got her to add in protein, we got her to cut back on booze. We got her, you know, we added in some supplements.

Speaker 3 (28:45):
We were very slowly and incrementally. She lost 40 pounds in a month just doing the most simple foundational. Now most people don't lose 40 pounds in a month. That's extreme. That's a lot, right? But so much of what she had was fluid retention and inflammation. So for her, it worked really well. She got her energy back, she decreased her back pain tremendously to the point where she converted her daughter's bedroom into a home gym and was able to lift and her husband came and lifted with her. So that was like a ginormous success story. Then I think of my client, Laura, who came to me, totally different, right? Laura didn't have a lot of weight to lose. She had about five pounds of vanity. She called 'em vanity pounds. She wanted to lose. And she had, she was a single mom and her son would always tell her she had halat ptosis.

Speaker 3 (29:40):
And she was like, oh my god, I can't possibly date this way. And she was drinking wine and she was also not sleeping. And she, although she was a candidate, you know, we did her tests. And although she was a candidate for hormones, she really did not wanna use biodentical hormones. She wanted to conquer this through lifestyle. So I said, okay. So again, we ran her labs, I did some stool testing. She had a significant amount of h pylori, which is a bacteria that loves to shut off hydrochloric acid production in the gut. So it survives in a very alkaline environment. So she was having all this reflux because she didn't have the hydrochloric acid, she needed to kind of keep her pyloric sphincter shut. So we killed off the h pylori repopulated, her gut with stomach acid. Her bad breath went away. She, we also cleaned up her diet.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
She, you know, again, we did have to clean out alcohol ladies, I'm not gonna lie, there's really no way around it. Alcohol doesn't do your body any favors. Even one drink a week is really disruptive to fat loss, blood sugar, and can keep you in an estrogen dominant state while your liver is trying to detox alcohol. It will detox alcohol long before estrogen. It's just the way it is. So anyway, we cleaned up Laura's diet. We gave her a lot of magnesium at bedtime and other calming nutrients. And her sleep greatly improved. She is in a long-term relationship and actually got engaged. She got rid of her halat ptosis and she, she lost five pounds. She got really lean and started lifting weights and really got very sinan and lean. So those are just two of my women. Again, their testimonials are on my website. So it is possible, it really, whether you wanna lose five pounds, whether you need to lose 75 pounds, pounds, it is possible. The greatest limiter is not your hormones. It's not your diet as much as your limiting beliefs around what you deserve to have and your commitment to yourself. That's really the rate limiting factor. It really is. Like talk,

Speaker 1 (31:51):
Just talk a little bit more about that and how it's, how would someone know that you're talking to her that she has limiting beliefs?

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Because we all have limiting beliefs. We've internalized messages that we heard when we were younger that made us feel not enough in one way or another. And so we have to really think about why we want something. Right? When someone wants to lose weight, I say, well, why do you wanna lose weight vanity? It really, I mean, vanity always comes up first, right? I wanna good my clothes, I wanna feel sexy and bad. I wanna feel confident. But then the why's go deeper. Like, I wanna be able to keep up with my grandchildren one day. I want a better quality of life. I watch my mother get sick and die from diabetes and have horrible neuropathy and not have a, not be able to travel and have fun in her life. It's really getting in touch with your why. Getting in touch with your beliefs about why you can't have those things.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
'Cause We can all, like the universe, pores a vacuum. The universe wants us to be abundant, understanding that we're not supposed to be fat, sick and broke. We're supposed to be rich in love and relationships and financially abundant, but also abundant in how we love on ourselves. And asking ourselves really like, yeah, I want a bar of chocolate. I want a bottle of wine, but is that gonna love me back? We know it's not right. So maybe I cut down to one square of chocolate a couple times a week. Maybe I put myself on a 90 day alcohol free challenge and maybe I experiment and see what's the harm in trying this? What will happen? Let me just observe objectively what's gonna happen to my body, my state of mind, and let me try taking, you know, two or three classes on an app or on YouTube or hiring a trainer and you know, just figuring out instead of saying like, I can't have this, flipping that on its head and saying, how can I make this happen?

Speaker 1 (33:56):
Mm-Hmm. ,

Speaker 3 (33:57):
How can I make this happen?

Speaker 1 (34:00):
Right? I think it's so true and, and more it has to do with what we believe we can have and can we do it. And I think so many of us just cut off. We don't believe that it's possible for us. We believe we're, we're terminally unique and that we we'll never be successful. And that's why I wanted you to share those stories. Thank you for sharing them. Yeah. there so that people can hear what's possible for women who think that there's no hope. 'cause There is so much to be hopeful for, right?

Speaker 3 (34:30):
Yes. And the other piece is really being so careful, and this is the greatest gift of midlife I have found, is being so careful who you surround yourself with. Because when you start to take on healthy diet changes and when you start to cut out alcohol, some people around you are probably not gonna like that. And the ones who don't like that are probably not gonna be your biggest supporters. They're like the bucket of crabs, right? You know the story about the bucket of crabs where, right. There's always a couple crabs at the top of the pile trying to crawl out of the bucket. They're like, I see it, I'm going for it. And then crabs at the bomb keep trying to pull those crabs right back down. So like, think about who you're surrounding yourself with. If you say to someone, oh yeah, I'm, I'm not drinking right now, not, I can't drink, I'm not drinking right now.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
And somebody's like, come on, just one, it's not gonna hurt. That's not someone you wanna socialize with, right? You wanna socialize with the people who say, good for you. Great. I'll join you. Let's get a mocktail, let's get some club soda, whatever. Because it's, you have to one of my greatest tenets of success is surrounding myself with people who are far wealthier and successful and have a growth mindset, a way bigger growth mindset than me. That dream bigger than I ever even knew was possible. I'm like, oh, I never thought about that. Those are the people you're gonna need to clean house with these changes. And that's why I think also people are deeply terrified to change because they don't

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Wanna, 'cause they're gonna let go.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
They wanna let go of what feels very unsafe and very uncomfortable for them. Change is uncom,

Speaker 1 (36:09):
Right? And these are, it is, but it is the only sure thing in life is change. And why not make it positive change if you have a choice. Esther, I thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your wisdom and experience with mastering menopause, with nutrition, lifestyle, and hormones. Your book, SIA Ovulate and all the other resources you've created for everyone.

Speaker 3 (36:34):
I have a special offer for everyone here listening today, and that is to download my Happy Hormone cocktail. And you're gonna go to esther blum.com/cocktail and receive incredible ways to improve your sleep, fix your gut, and eliminate hot flashes during perimenopause and menopause.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
Awesome. Thank you so much for that. We will have the link in the show notes, so don't worry about trying to write it down. If you're driving, we'll have it there for you. Where can people find out more about you and connect with you online?

Speaker 3 (37:07):
Yes. So come hang with me on Instagram at Gorgeous Esther and get on my list. You will get Premier offers from me before the general public does, but also you're gonna get weekly cutting edge education on hormones, lifestyle, all the things we talked about today. So just join [e-mail].

Speaker 1 (37:29):
Awesome. We will look for you there. And thanks so much for the work you're doing and for the wisdom that you've shared.

Speaker 3 (37:35):
Thank you so much,

Speaker 1 (37:37):
And thank you for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kieran. Hopefully you've learned something today that you can put into effect to start making changes towards the brilliant health that you deserve. It is your birthright. I look forward to hearing about those on Instagram and Facebook, and I'll see you next week for another episode. Until then, peace, love, and hormones, y'all.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.

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