Speaker 2: 0:06

Welcome to the Uncomplicated Perimenopause Podcast. I'm Kate Grosvenor, your friendly perimenopause expert and life coach.

Speaker 1: 0:15

And I'm Gabriella Kate's daughter, representing all the women who are nowhere near perimenopause but want to understand it better.

Speaker 2: 0:23

Whether you're just starting your perimenopause journey deep into it. Better, whether you're just starting your perimenopause journey deep into it or you're a loved one trying to support someone who is we've got you covered.

Speaker 1: 0:32

We'll be answering all of your burning questions, exploring the ups and downs, and sharing expert advice and personal insights.

Speaker 2: 0:39

So grab a cup of tea, get comfy and let's dive into the wonderful, sometimes wild, world of perimenopause together.

Speaker 1: 0:47

And remember, no matter where you are on your journey, you are not alone.

Speaker 2: 0:51

Welcome to the Uncomplicated Perimenopause. Hello, my darlings, and welcome to episode two, two of the uncomplicated paramedic podcast, love of paramedic podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:07

I'm kate groverner, paramedic expert and life coach and I'm gabriela groverner, kate's daughter, here to learn with you all we've been in the battles, haven't we, for the last couple of days.

Speaker 2: 1:16

Um, my partner, bless him was in, was in hospital unexpectedly yesterday and you've been having an endometriosis kind of a, uh, 24 hours. So we're yeah, we're like the show must go on. Actually, have you ever seen freddie mercury's video? The show must go on have you ever?

Speaker 2: 1:34

maybe, but I don't think so no, it's really sad because if you actually watch the um brian may's um kind of documentary, behind that it's freddie's. It's when he's really, really, really on his last legs blessing, and it's while he's it sounds really familiar, but I don't think I have actually seen it so it's him just before.

Speaker 2: 1:56

He's like he's really ill at that point before he dies and he's really gaunt and really really thin. And neither of them expressly say that Brian May's written it for him or that they've written it together for him. Who's Brian? Brian's the guitarist with the big, fluffy hair.

Speaker 1: 2:16

Right right.

Speaker 2: 2:17

So neither of them say it's about Freddie, but it's like that's the implication that it's about him. It's really sad.

Speaker 1: 2:24

Did they carry?

Speaker 2: 2:24

on when he died. Um, well, they've. They've done some, some shows um with Adam Levine Adam, no, not Adam Levine Adam. Ooh, the guy that's he was on. Was he on America's Got Talent?

Speaker 1: 2:40

Yeah, Adam Levine on the Voice no, not him.

Speaker 2: 2:44

What's his name? He's very flamboyant. I can't remember what his name is. Boy George no, he's in the 80s. No, he was, can't remember his name. Anyway, he was a contestant, not a judge from like 15 years ago. Yeah, adam something so they've done some shows with him, but not the same. But yeah, the video's right really sad and freddie's like really pale and really kind of in it but yeah, the show has gone anywho.

Speaker 1: 3:12

That's exactly the same thing as us and freddie yes, not really bless his soul.

Speaker 2: 3:17

The show must go on today. So, speaking of shows, what is the question for today?

Speaker 1: 3:22

my lovely question is from laura. Hi laura, she's from italy oh she's laura in italian, laura, laura. She's 46, yes, um. So she says that she's read that diet can have a big impact on managing perimenopause symptoms, true, true, such as hot flashes and mood swings. Are there any specific foods or meal plans that you would recommend, or do you think supplements make a bigger difference than diet? Ooh controversial.

Speaker 2: 3:53

I like it yes and yes and no. Explain why yes and then yes and then no.

Speaker 2: 4:00

Okay. So, fantastic question, I like it a lot, mmm, juicy one. So, yes, fantastic question, I like it a lot, juicy one. So, yes, right, there are foods. Definitely, diet makes a huge difference, and I talk about this a lot. There's so many things that you can do to help your perimenopause journey. For sure, one of the simplest things you can do is balance your blood sugar, and this is one of the ones that I always have an issue with, because I you know hello, my name is kate and I have a chocolate addiction and a sugar addiction, and this is why I something's coming out very soon that I shall not be talking about until very soon and because I struggle with a sweet tooth, and so it's a really big issue for me but bear in mind she's from Italy, where food is good.

Speaker 2: 4:46

What's opposed to England, where food is shit.

Speaker 1: 4:48

No, but pasta and pizza and yeah but, Couldn't cut that out it's in their blood.

Speaker 2: 4:54

Well, it is actually in their blood because blood sugar is a problem and one of the most simplest things that you can do is to keep your blood sugar stable and whenever you eat anything to keep your blood sugar stable and whenever you eat anything, it impacts your blood sugar. So, focusing on combining protein with healthy fats and complex carbs and unfortunately, pasta and pizza are not complex carbs.

Speaker 1: 5:16

This is the shame of it but the good news her nonna would disagree her nonna.

Speaker 2: 5:20

Yeah, me dispiace, um, but the the the point is that the Mediterranean diet is really healthy. So if you think of a meal like grilled salmon or grilled chicken with quinoa salad and some leafy greens and olive oil, now that would be fabulous. Some calamari and that's not Italian, it's Greek but some lovely calamari olives and, you know, a massive salad and some.

Speaker 1: 5:48

The Mediterranean diet, yeah, the.

Speaker 2: 5:49

Mediterranean diet would be fabulous, but avoiding refined sugars, avoiding processed carbs, all these things can help those sudden kind of peaks and crashes of blood sugar, because those are the things that will really really worsen your mood swings of blood sugar, because those are the things that will really really worsen your mood swings.

Speaker 2: 6:08

Yeah, so if you have a stable, healthy fats, fats are really really good for you, but healthy fats, olive oils so stay away from kind of seed you you really want to stay away from, from processed fats and um kind of things like rapeseed oils and stuff like that?

Speaker 1: 6:23

Yeah, I've heard you guys talk about that, yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:25

Yeah, nasty fats, highly, highly processed fats, and you want to stay away from white bread and white pasta. I know I'm looking at you when you're saying this because it's your favourite, but anything overly processed foods in general are a bit so like crisps, especially salt and vinegar crisps. They're the worst that's in crisps, especially salt and vinegar crisps.

Speaker 1: 6:46

They're the worst that's in my blood salt and vinegar crisps.

Speaker 2: 6:50

I'm just teasing her because it's like if you cut you open you'd find a packet of crisps, but just complex, you know thing highly processed foods, foods with lots and lots of additives things that don't go off, things that take years to go off as well.

Speaker 2: 7:06

Yeah, basically, food should go off. Yeah, quite frankly. So other things Photoestrogens. What are photoestrogens? Photoestrogens are plant-based foods that mimic estrogen in the body because they can help with hormone fluctuations. So foods like tofu because they can help um with hormone fluctuations. So foods like tofu because they're your favorites. One of them is your favorite not tofu no, it's not tofu. Um, oh my god, edamame beans you love yeah you know when you go to. I do, but I know you wouldn't eat a whole thing, but I like pasta more yeah, but flax, seeds, lentils, chickpeas, you do like a chickpea.

Speaker 2: 7:43

You're partial to a chickpea. You do like an odd chickpea. Chickpeas are great um flax seeds. You're not fond of lentils, beans, beans, just those kind of incorporating those things into your diet. They can potentially ease symptoms like hot flushes yeah, that's what she.

Speaker 1: 7:59

Yeah hot flushes photoestrogens.

Speaker 2: 8:01

Google photoestrogen and you will find different options on that. That's very good. Magnesium-rich foods are nature's kind of natural relaxant, so that's very good for you. What food is magnesium? Food is magnesium food, food like spinach.

Speaker 1: 8:27

Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2: 8:28

Nuts seeds, dark chocolate, dark chocolate why Not Cadbury's caramel? Why does that make a difference? It's just that's the way it is, because when you add, when it's milk chocolate, basically they're removing the loss of the cacao and cocoa and they're adding more and more sugar. Right, unfortunately, so not cabbages caramel, sorry. I'm looking forward to this. Um, but magnesium is great for managing anxiety. Um, managing sleep and reducing muscle cramps, which we will talk about in this, because I want to talk about supplements in a minute. Yeah, because you know I love a good magnesium glycinate. Um, but yes, so magnesium is really good. Um, omega-3 fatty acids are very good for mood stability, so you can find them in foods like salmon yeah um everybody whenever you say the three fatty actors everyone goes.

Speaker 2: 9:23

Oh, fatty fish, so salmon everybody thinks of, but also non, non, if non-fish options. Walnuts, chia seeds, um little black seedy things I have. Do you know all those jars I've got in the cabinets? I've got black labels on like chalkboard labels. I don't pay attention okay, you know the cupboard that has the?

Speaker 2: 9:46

um pot noodles in that cupboard and all the yeah down at the bottom where all the glass jars are. Never look down that shelf. Yeah, chia seeds it's got all those kind of little things on. They're brilliant and they're brilliant for brain health as well and just inflammation in general, um, but they can contribute to mood stability as well and I guess that's good.

Speaker 2: 10:11

Um, other things that you can do is just stay hydrated yeah the more hydrated you are, the the less and the less the hot flashes are gonna scupper you. So basically, um cooling foods. Now people laugh when I tell them this, but watermelon is called watermelon for a reason. Okay, it's got a lot of water in it, so it actually keeps you hydrated. Um, cucumber and mint infused water is lovely because cucumber is like no nutritional value, does it?

Speaker 2: 10:44

basically crap but, it does help keep you hydrated because it's yeah, it's got a lot of water in it, and mint infused water is lovely. It is lovely because it mint is very, very good for your tummy as well as hydration, so all of those things really go. So the more hydrated you are, the the better or the less bad I know that's really horrible english, but the less bad your um symptoms gonna be okay, what about helping her?

Speaker 1: 11:10

she asked about meal planning and stuff. Would you?

Speaker 2: 11:14

recommend meal planning, always meal plan, because the the the less you meal plan, the more you're going to wing it.

Speaker 1: 11:21

Yeah and then you, and then you're going to eat crap.

Speaker 2: 11:23

So if you don't meal plan, you're going to go and wing it. And then you're going to go and, um, lead yourself into temptation and order in and well, not, I don't order in at my age, but you just leaving yourself up to temptation in the supermarket because you're going to go. What do I feel like? Yeah and then you're going to buy the easy options yeah, the quickest options or the option that you feel like when you get there, which could be, absolutely anything by that point, true?

Speaker 2: 11:54

and you, you just, yeah, if I leave myself to wing it, it ain't going to go well what would you eat if you? It's going to be spritable. Yeah, I'm so feeling that today though, I really want it today chances are it ain't gonna happen because you know who's ordering today, so I'm cooking though. Well, you snooze, you lose.

Speaker 1: 12:12

You should have told them earlier I think the person who cooks dinner gets to decide what they cook but the person who cooks dinner, then should have told the person that's ordering from the supermarket.

Speaker 2: 12:20

They didn't ask me. Well, then you should have said I didn't know he was ordering. Well, yeah, but it's snooze, you lose. It's obviously tell your partner. But so, supplements versus, versus nutrition, which one out? Um oh, it's really hard, this one for me, because I'm a big supplement supporter. We have created our own range of supplements and we've created our own range of supplements because I'm a big believer in supplements, however hard I would say diet.

Speaker 1: 12:49

But isn't like supplements, an addition to your life?

Speaker 2: 12:52

So I have to say diet first, because there is no substitution for a healthy diet.

Speaker 2: 12:58

Okay, your diet is the most important thing because it's the foundation of everything, and you can't, if you eat if you ate absolute crap, but then had your supplements, would you get away with it? No, because you're still going to have those sugar crashes, you're still going to you eat crap. You can't just take supplements and make up for it. However, without supplements, you're just going to struggle to get all the nutrients that you need. So I would say diet first. A healthy diet is the foundation, but supplements are really really good addition to it and especially if you're in the midst of your perimenopause and you are struggling, supplements are going to make you just have all the help you can get. If I had a woman that comes to me and said I'm struggling in perimenopause, the first thing I would do would be to figure out what her diet is and then I would be adding some. You know we have something in the perimenopause, um, in the lifestyle bank, called the essentials bundle. Why is it called the essentials?

Speaker 2: 14:01

but not because it's essential yeah it's like there are certain supplements that every woman in perimenopause needs, because we don't. We just don't get enough of them in our diet. I mean I could give you a whole kind of lecture on the arable farming. I couldn't the what Arable farming I'm making it up, but back in the day when my grandparents were alive, the nutrients that we got out of the soil, I sound like a Scottish.

Speaker 1: 14:28

No, it's so weird just hearing you say my grandparents, the fact that you have grandparents, it's just weird. Okay, I don't know your grandparents, no, it's because they died.

Speaker 2: 14:36

Yeah, but you did meet my grandfather.

Speaker 1: 14:38

Yeah, but that was it. So it was just a weird image for a second.

Speaker 2: 14:40

Okay, but the fact is that the nutrients we get from our food isn't the same as it used to be.

Speaker 1: 14:55

Why it used to be. So why?

Speaker 2: 14:56

because the soil's been over farmed and we we eat a lot of imported food, yeah, and so it's been around the world and it's just um, it literally doesn't have enough nutrients left in it because it's been frozen for months and shipped all over the place and it's been sprayed with loads of pesticides. And unless, unless you're growing all your own organic fruit and veg and then taking it straight from the greenhouse to your table yeah it could have all kinds of crap on it I hope you're doing that, living in italy that would be the dream yeah, to live in italy and just grow your own vegetables like beautiful gorgeous.

Speaker 2: 15:27

So, yes, I would supplement as well. So so there's some supplements I would always recommend for perimenopause women, because this will be the next question Magnesium complex. Yep Right, that's got magnesium. I'm talking about our supplements here, not because you have to buy our supplements. I'm recommending the ones that I know I recommend to our customers, if you see what I mean, or to the people that are in. It sounds like I'm plugging our brand. I'm not. I'm just saying the ones that I would recommend. Does that make sense? So I would recommend magnesium complex.

Speaker 2: 15:59

Somebody's just fallen somewhere wait, there's two, two and there's no one around and there was just a really bad bang and we're like it sounds like someone fell over, like on top of the bin yeah, or crashed into the car or something.

Speaker 2: 16:12

It's really weird. Okay, magnesium complex, which is magnesium glycinate, taurate and malate. Those are my three favorites um. I've put them together into one supplement because that helps with relaxation, sleep and muscle tension. So I think those three are the most essential um. Vitamin d3 and k2 because that helps with bone health and hormone regulation and make sure that it gets into the right place.

Speaker 1: 16:39

Yeah, omega-3 yeah, don't do three, I tell you don't do three, six and nine.

Speaker 2: 16:45

Make sure you're just omega-3 um, because that's brilliant for reducing inflammation and supporting mood and brain health and eye health, um collagen obviously the obvious one yeah, obviously, because it supports skin joint health, um hormones, um gut health, the whole shebang, and those are the essential ones.

Speaker 1: 17:07

And then obviously you've got and they're in the essential bundle. They're in the essential bundle, is it those four?

Speaker 2: 17:11

there are four. Yes, yes, uh, no, um. Vitamin b, that's complex. Yeah, um, which is just hormone regulation and general well-being. Then there's other ones as well, but those are the. Those are the ones I would always recommend, and it's. But it's important to realize that supplements aren't magic pills. They're not, they're not going to supplement a brilliant, you know, a really crappy diet. They're a good complement when you, when you're eating the asset you know, basically quite well yeah they will help and but you have to help yourself.

Speaker 2: 17:44

Yeah, it doesn't make up for sugar binging, unfortunately. It doesn't make up. If you're drinking too much alcohol, it won't make it up. If you're having too much caffeine, it won't make.

Speaker 1: 17:54

What effect does alcohol have? Like what does it make it worse as you get older?

Speaker 2: 17:57

yeah, I was curious about that it does, and the thing is that in in perimenopause, alcohol consumption can not all women, but a lot of women really don't do well on alcohol. It can make you. A lot of women will tell you it makes them feel hungover as they're drinking it. Oh, that's crap, that's a horrid feeling it's, it's grim, it's really really grim, and then the hangover is really really bad as well.

Speaker 2: 18:24

So so your alcohol, just the way that your body tolerates alcohol, will just decline rapidly so you might either just not get drunk or get drunk too quickly or just feel almost like you're having an allergic reaction to alcohol.

Speaker 1: 18:40

I've seen that actually a couple women saying can you become allergic to alcohol as you get older? You just so for me I don't.

Speaker 2: 18:46

I just feel quite ill when I drink. I haven't drunk for years now. I think once last year maybe I had a, a glass of champagne or something yeah, it was like your birthday or something.

Speaker 1: 18:57

There was, there was a reason and that and it was just one, and that was it yeah, and I got thrown and I drank more on your birthday than you did and I don't enjoy it.

Speaker 2: 19:05

I think I had some pimps or something. Don't enjoy it. Don't find it fascinating at all, not really that bothered. Um, no, thank you. Yeah and yeah, and then hang over, feel, feel like hang over straight away and just feel uncomfortable and feel like ick, not bothered, yeah, um. So yeah, alcohol, too much, caffeine as well. You just feel overstimulated really, really quickly because your body's just your body's basically struggling to regulate your hormones yeah it might be insulin resistant at this point as well, so it's struggling to process sugar.

Speaker 2: 19:40

It's struggling with all kinds of things. If you're giving anything that you're giving it. So xenoestrogens we've talked about before um, it just can't cope with anything extra. Yeah, so yeah, but supplements can really really help you in just dealing with everyday stresses, dealing with helping you to regulate your hormones, so I really recommend them. But if you're asking me hand on my heart, I'm gonna go diet, yeah, first.

Speaker 1: 20:07

Yeah, you take all the supplements as well that we gosh.

Speaker 2: 20:09

I take absolutely yeah, and it's helped me a hand on my heart.

Speaker 1: 20:10

I'm going to go diet, yeah, first. Yeah, you take all the supplements as well that we.

Speaker 2: 20:14

Gosh, I take absolutely all of them. Yeah, and it's helped me no end. It's helped me no end. I wish I'd known, because you said to me you and I were having a conversation yesterday. I think we were watching the Great British Bake Off, were we not? I think, yes, we are those women.

Speaker 1: 20:30

We were watching it and you said I didn't know I was going to be that woman. It's just actually really good.

Speaker 2: 20:35

It was so funny because I said to you, can we watch an episode? And you were like, oh, my God.

Speaker 1: 20:49

Like, but it's so because it's like what you want to do on a friday night?

Speaker 2: 20:51

let's me and my mother watch the great british bake-off, and I was like fine one episode, wow.

Speaker 1: 20:53

We watched like four. It was so good, it's so and they're so sweet. Yeah, and I said to her they're all really nice to each other. No one's really competing, it's not like a big competition. What did you say? They're not the mafia.

Speaker 2: 21:02

Yeah, you know, they're bakers they're not gonna be not sabotaging each other, no, but it's like even on big but the big game shows everyone's a bit more competitive.

Speaker 1: 21:11

And there's me versus you and you're like yeah, but they're bakers. Yeah, I should have known they're bakers. Yeah, how mean are they gonna be?

Speaker 2: 21:17

yeah, they're lovely they're lovely, they're very cutesy, but you said to me yesterday I I didn't really know about many of the supplements you said before I started talking to you about perimenopause you didn't really know, I only knew omega and vitamin B, which are the basics.

Speaker 2: 21:36

But to be fair, before I started researching about the perimenopause, I don't think I knew many of the supplements. I knew vitamin C supplements. I knew vitamin c. I knew vitamin b. Ish, did you know collagen? Because I didn't know. So, on hand on my heart, someone once gave me, somebody once sold me let's be fair some marine collagen, a packet of marine collagen before lockdown. So it would have been 2000 and I'm gonna say 2020, and they told me it was gonna be great for my skin lockdown was five years ago now 2019, okay, 2019, right.

Speaker 2: 22:17

And they, they told me it's gonna be great for my skin. You know, I look after my skin. I'm I love a good skincare thing. So marine collagen and it was like berry flavored I think I remember actually yeah and it.

Speaker 2: 22:34

She said it's, it's such a lovely flavor and you'll really like it. Blah, blah, blah. Anyway, it smelled fish. I'm sorry it smelled. It tasted slightly fishy and she said oh gosh, can you, can you taste that? I can't taste that. And I'm like what, are you dead from the? Yeah, I could taste slightly fishy and she was like so surprised, she was shocked. She was like I can't taste this at all.

Speaker 1: 22:56

I'm like was it for women in perimenopause like that collagen?

Speaker 2: 22:59

no, it was just collagen, like just for skin hair and nails, and she that and she didn't tell me it wasn't.

Speaker 1: 23:06

It was swimming in perimenopause, don't get me wrong, but she said it was for skin hair and nails, and but I could, all I could taste was like this fishy, slightly fishy salty taste, but with this kind of artificial berry flavor on top that's vile, the combination, the thought of it, because I was just thinking, like the episode that we did before was about weird smells and weird tastes all of a sudden yeah, that would be terrible for women in perimenopause if they could taste like the little bit.

Speaker 2: 23:30

Oh, I just very in fit and I tried and I couldn't finish this bag of of, yeah, collagen. So I was just like, oh my god, that's gross. So I knew about collagen but as far as I was concerned, collagen was this icky kind of and I couldn't finish the bag as much as I wanted to enjoy collagen for the kind of beauty benefits. I just thought it was this disgusting fish-flavoured thing. But yeah, I would strongly suggest meal planning. Going back to the meal planning idea, strongly suggest meal planning because it will really help you. But if you struggle, I think anybody that struggles with meal planning because it's it will really help you. But if you struggle, I think anybody that struggles with meal planning.

Speaker 2: 24:07

Batch cooking is a really, really good idea if you, if you're struggling with meal planning, because it can be really really overwhelming I think batch cooking is.

Speaker 2: 24:17

There's a big, there's a book that, um, there's a batch cooking book and I can't remember the name of it it's. If I remember it, I'll put it into the show notes. There's a batch cooking book and I can't remember the name of it. If I remember it, I'll put it into the show notes. There's a batch cooking book that I love. But if you're struggling with things like trying to remember to put collagen or some of these healthy fats in, try putting them in smoothies, do you know? Like, if you're struggling with things like avocados or berries or stuff like that and you you know that you want to add some of these things in and you're not managing to get them in and other things, because, like chia seeds and berries and flax seeds and avocados and all those things and collagen but the main car collagen is tasteless anyway, you can just bung it in the morning, yeah but if you, if you want to add some of those things in and you're struggling to find a way to do it, just a smoothie even a protein shake.

Speaker 2: 25:15

You can whack them all in. You won't even notice that yeah, it's easier that's a really good way to um do it, I think. I think the most important thing is just to remember to listen to your body.

Speaker 2: 25:27

What works for one woman doesn't work for another and I think the most and I think it's be open to experiment on your body. That sounds really weird, not like medical science type of way. Just kind of like figure out what works for you. Just Just be open to change, be ready to figure out what you know, what your body wants. So you know, your best friend might like protein shakes for breakfast and you might be kind of like protein shakes are the worst thing on the planet. You might be a staunch scrambled egg kind of a girl, you might be a storch scrambled egg kind of a kind of a girl. But when it comes to supplements, be be aware that quality does matter. Yeah, and try and get good advice so that because some supplements are morning supplements, some supplements you need to eat with food, um, some supplements are just full of kind of nasties as well. So try and get some good advice on there some. Sometimes it's good to hire a nutritionist. Sometimes you just need some good quality advice yeah, but this was educational though.

Speaker 1: 26:37

Yeah, this was a good educational session.

Speaker 2: 26:39

Just try and try and keep an open mind and and try and look after yourselves, because it's really important.

Speaker 2: 26:46

I hope that helps Laura, and we're jealous that you must live in such a beautiful country alright, my darlings, I hope that helps and, as always, we're going to try and look after the house this week because, gosh, we've been in the wars. I hope you have a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful week, as always. Don't hesitate to reach out to us and send us your fabulous questions. We will see you next week for another episode. Take care, my darlings, and we'll speak to you soon. Bye. Thanks for joining us today on the uncomplicated perimenopause podcast.

Speaker 1: 27:29

We hope you found this episode helpful and inspiring, don't forget if you have any questions or topics you'd like us to cover, you can reach out through our perimenopause group or on whatsapp for more information on my coaching per perimenopause, supplements, books or upcoming events.

Speaker 2: 27:45

Please visit wwwkategrovernercom.

Speaker 1: 27:49

And if you've enjoyed today's episode. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast. It really helps us reach more listeners, just like you, until next time.

Speaker 2: 27:58

Remember, perimenopause doesn't have to be complicated. We're here to help you every step of the way. Stay uncomplicated.