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Kathy is a Board-Certified Master Health Coach through the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaches (gold standard) and Primal Health Coach Institute. She is not only certified, but has also taken additional courses and practiced extensively as a perimenopause hormone coach to meet the needs of her client base every step of the way. She helps perimenopausal and menopausal women get relief from their hormonal symptoms like insomnia, weight gain, and hot flashes. As a professional, she has extensively studied and sifted through evidence-based material to create individualized hormone-balancing plans tailored to every woman’s unique hormonal landscape.
You can find additional details of her background here:
Interview – Hormone University
At Hormone University (HU), we pride ourselves in providing tested products and educational content to women incurring hormonal imbalances – be it PCOS, PMS, perimenopause, menopause, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, etc.
We warmly welcome Kathy to educate our audience in her professional area of expertise in perimenopause and menopause.
1. One of the goals at HU is to help women struggling with hormonal imbalances avoid suffering in silence. Based on your own personal health journey, do you think it is important for women to break the silence and seek help when they experience hormonal issues?
Not only is it important for women to speak up about their hormonal issues, it’s also essential that they seek solutions that they find attainable and satisfactory. When I started my hormone-balancing journey, my classically trained gynecologist told me she could write me an error process for the pill. When I asked her what my other options were, she didn’t have any. After doing my own research and going through a trial and error-process, I was able to balance my hormones naturally, which was the right solution for me.
2. What are some lifestyle and bodily changes women should expect to experience as they enter perimenopause and menopause?
Your perimenopause and menopause experience will be unique to you, but common experiences include:
- Fat redistribution : Women notice a shift from an hourglass to apple shape.
- Sleep struggles: Either not being able to fall asleep, not being able to stay asleep, or waking up before 5 am.
- Body temperature fluctuations : Hot flashes, night sweats, shivering.
- Libido changes : Usually a decrease, but sometimes an increase.
- Mood shifts : Especially if you’ve experienced anxiety, depression, or intense PMS.
- Hair changes : Losing from your head, growing it on your face
- Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms : Bloating, diarrhea, constipation and gas.
- Cognitive changes : Brain fog and difficulty concentrating.
- Dryness : In the vagina, eyes and skin.
There are also less talked about symptoms like hot mouth, the sensation of an electric shock, dizziness, and frequent urinary tract infections (UTIs).
3. What dietary recommendations would you advise to ease women’s transition to midlife?
The Standard American Diet makes us very effective glucose burners. As we head into midlife, we want to get better at burning fat, so we need to eat less “easy-to-burn” foods like breads, pastas, and rice and more “slow burn” foods like vegetables, meat, and nuts. If you’re relying on packaged food or take out every day, slowly but surely replace one packaged/takeout meal with real food that you provide. Food sensitivities are another area I work on with clients, as some foods put women in a state of chronic inflammation, which makes all symptoms worse.
Because the calories in/calories out approach doesn’t work for midlife women, I’m not a big calorie counter. But it’s important for midlife women to know that our metabolism is slowing down and we burn fewer calories while we’re at rest, so our daily caloric intake needs to reflect our movement level for that day.
4. Many perimenopausal and menopausal women experience weight gain. How does intermittent fasting (IF) help in weight management?
IF is a tool, and like any tool, there are many approaches, and it’s not for everyone. Some women find it helps them lose and maintain a weight they are happy with. Most IF approaches separate the day into an eating window and a fasting window. The body is able to go into ketosis during the fasting window, which can help us burn fat, raise insulin sensitivity, decrease insulin production, and manage weight.
5. One of our key products is the Menopause SOS which provides relief from hot flashes. What are some services you provide to women for the management of hot flashes?
I help women reverse insulin resistance and manage their stress, two factors that impact hot flashes. My clients and I address insulin resistance through food and movement choices and stress management through lifestyle habit changes.
6. Hot flashes, muscle cramps, and pain can also disrupt sleep cycles. At HU, we also offer the Super Rich Magnesium Lotion to help women sleep better. What are some sleep-supporting techniques you recommend to your client base who are having trouble sleeping?
Sleep is the most important piece of the puzzle. All of my coaching centers on increasing a woman’s awareness of her body’s signals and responding to those signals. Together, my clients and I figure out their unique sleep needs, tapping into their personal circadian rhythm and leveraging their natural melatonin spike. We work to establish a nighttime routine, which may include a variety of soothing habits, supplements, and bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT).
7. Because of hormonal imbalances, many women experience so-called ‘adrenal fatigue.’ Could you describe to our audience in simple terms, what this means?
Adrenal fatigue means your stress response is not working the way it should. Most women who are diagnosed with adrenal fatigue have experienced perceived and/or actual stress for so long that their bodies have slowed down their stress response in an attempt to slow them down.
8. A major culprit behind adrenal fatigue in women are endocrine disruptors. These are chemicals found everywhere - be it in our food, water, products we apply and clean our bodies with, etc. At Hormone University, we have developed the seal of approval which certifies products that are free of these disruptors. In addition to being careful of our product choices, what are some lifestyle changes you recommend for women to recover from this fatigue?
Endocrine disruptors like Bisphenol A (BPA), Phthalates, PFAS chemicals, etc are definitely important chemicals to avoid. This is because they can interfere with the normal functioning of the endocrine system. By triggering hormonal changes, they, as you mentioned rightly, mediate adrenal fatigue. Hence, avoiding these chemicals from your lifestyle is imperative to attenuate fatigue and related complications.
Apart from avoiding chemicals, quality sleep, and stress management are additional steps that can be taken to recover from adrenal fatigue. My clients identify actual and perceived stressors in their lives, and then we rate them from most to least stressful. Together, we create a stress management plan that works for them. Although each plan is different, some popular components are:
- Movement: Walking, yoga, resistance training, and dancing to your jams.
- Carving out time: For quiet, for friends, for sex, and for what is most important to her.
- Tools: Essential oils, supplements, emotional freedom technique (EFT), meditation…the list goes on!
9. Can exercise help relieve these symptoms for perimenopause and menopausal women?
Movement is essential for overall health, but the wrong type of exercise can actually worsen symptoms! I encourage women:
- To start with low-impact, daily movement. That’s walking for most people!
- To add in strength or resistance training as soon as your baseline is established.
- To know that intense cardio or HIIT is helpful ONLY when you have managed your stress. This type of workout should be practiced every 7-10 days. Many women do this exercise type much too frequently.
- Yoga, tai chi, and qigong are also helpful for managing symptoms.
10. What are some exercise strategies for pain management you would recommend for perimenopause and menopausal women?
Gentle movement is essential when a woman is experiencing joint pain. Yoga, swimming, or cycling are great ways to incorporate exercise without further straining the body.
Thank you Kathy!
Kathy is a Board-Certified Master Health Coach through the National Board for Health and Wellness Coaches (gold standard) and Primal Health Coach Institute. She is not only certified, but has also taken additional courses and practiced extensively as a perimenopause hormone coach to meet the needs of her client base every step of the way. She helps perimenopausal and menopausal women get relief from their hormonal symptoms like insomnia, weight gain, and hot flashes. As a professional, she has extensively studied and sifted through evidence-based material to create individualized hormone-balancing plans tailored to every woman’s unique hormonal landscape.
You can find additional details of her background here:
