Ep 50 Transcript: Natural Solutions for Hormonal Balance for the Busy Female Entrepreneur with Dr. Denise Handscomb

This transcript was auto-generated and may contain errors in spelling or inaccuracies in the spoken words.

Hello and welcome to the Real Women Real Business podcast. I am your host, Shauna Lynn Simon. And today we have an extra special guest. We're in for a real treat today, ladies, because if you are hitting a certain age and even if you're not hitting a certain age, there's a lot of things that are really hot topic right now. So joining us today is Dr. Denise Hanscombe and she is a dedicated naturopathic doctor and the co-founder of Abaton Integrative Medicine. And so she's got a lot of expertise in

prenatal and pediatric care, in menopause, perimenopause, environmental medicine, and so much more that I couldn't even list it all. And if anyone knows my story, I have spoken numerous times about my battle years ago with burnout and adrenal fatigue, and my life was saved by a naturopath.

I believe so much in this holistic approach. And that's exactly what Denise is here to talk about. And we've got such a great topic. We're gonna be talking about perimenopause and menopause. And I will admit as someone who is going to be celebrating my 47th trip around the sun in just a week, this is something that I feel like I'm constantly talking about with friends. And we've been doing this for years. Some of my friends have already hit that stage of perimenopause.

I've got some friends who are already full out into it. And then I've got other friends who, you they haven't seen it happening yet. And I'm finding that even my friends that are in their thirties, they're already talking about it. And so this is something I think we're constantly like, we're watching for, we're thinking about it. It's sort of this thing of like, when's this going to happen? And so Denise is going to be talking to us about some of the things that we can be doing for preventive, not preventative. We can't stop it. I'd to say we can stop it.

but preparing for the shifts that are going to happen. So welcome, Denise. Thank you very much, Shauna Lynn I'm very excited to be here today. I can't wait to dive into this. Yeah, for sure. I know it's a big topic and I think there's a lot of information that I can share to hopefully help women understand a little bit more about what's going on with their bodies and then kind of filter back into them feeling their best selves.

Seriously, like I said, this is such a hot topic. I think that so many women, we wanna take that control and we've heard so many different things over the years. Like this is different than when my mom went through menopause. There's a lot of different treatments available and such. Before we dive too deep into that, just tell us a little bit about how you got into natural medicine in the first place. And if I understand correctly, you were actually just celebrated your 10 years of being licensed and...

are about to celebrate your 10 years in business. So like you did those basically at the same time. So tell us a little bit about your story. I did. Yeah. So thank you. Yeah. So I, like you just mentioned, I've been practicing for 10 years now, which is a big milestone. And then so shortly after I graduated from naturopathic college, I opened, I actually right away knew I was going to be opening my own clinic. It was kind of a passion of mine and a goal I've been wanting to do from the moment I started school. So

Right away, we started all the things to kind of prepare to open a clinic. within three months of getting my license, I was up and running. So that is wild. Yeah. Yeah. was was crazy journey. Now it wasn't easy. And there wasn't always, you know, patients and things like that. We had to learn how to market ourselves and all that kind of stuff. So it was a learning journey along the way. And we're still learning for sure, even though we're 10 years in. But yeah, it was was definitely it was.

It was a good choice for us and I'm grateful, but yeah, it was definitely not the easiest journey. So naturopathic medicine, I've always been familiar with naturopathic medicine. I grew up, with my mom always had to see a naturopathic doctor and I always knew I wanted to be a doctor of some sort. So when it came time for me to kind of look into what I wanted to do, I actually worked at a clinic where there was a medical doctor working with a naturopathic doctor.

And I saw the two ways that the two different types of medicine came together and worked really, really well together. Like these two doctors worked amazing together. And it was such an inspiration for me to kind of combine the philosophy I have always grown up with, with understanding like the root cause of what's going on as well as that preventative side. So I delved a little deeper and took a look into naturopathic medicine. And I was like, no, this is the route I wanna go.

so, went to school for that. And then once I graduated, I also did additional training in order to be licensed as a, as a, in prescription rates. So that means I'm able actually to prescribe certain hormones. so, progesterone as well as estrogen, and thyroid medication and things like that, as well as certain vitamins and minerals above a certain dose. So I'm able to do IV therapy and injection therapy as well. That is super valuable. And, know, I want to actually circle back to something that you mentioned, because I think

you bring up a really good point about natural medicine versus what I would call traditional modern medicine. And I think there's a bit of a misconception that I'm sure you run up against all the time. All the time. That is like a one or the other kind of thing. Which I think from my perspective, working together is the best way. We each have our strengths and we together is how the patient gets the best care. So I'm actually always communicating with medical doctors.

with regards to what I'm doing and anything that I see from my perspective that I think should be brought to their attention. I actually write letters to medical doctors on a daily basis. wait, like, it's part of my philosophy of practice, because I think it's really important that all members of the healthcare team are on the same page and they know what the patient's doing, because I don't like it when it's like, I'm going to not tell my doctor, or I don't want to do this, I don't want them to know. I was like, yes, but that's not the comprehensive care that you need.

Yeah, and I think sometimes there's a bit of a fear that the medical doctor will dismiss some of the concerns or the treatment routes or whatever. And I know for myself, I was very fortunate that my naturopath that I was working with when I was dealing with this adrenal fatigue, she was very good friends with my doctor's wife.

So amazing. That is the best. So not only did he respect natural medicine, but he had a deep understanding of what she did and a deep respect for her as well. And of course, if he didn't, he was going to get in a lot of trouble anyway. Absolutely. Right. Yeah. Not that that was a factor. He was very open to it, fortunately. And I've had really great experiences overall with medical doctors. Every once in a while, I'm sure you probably run into the odd one that's a little more traditional. Correct. Yeah.

And I like what you said too about understanding naturopathic medicine. I think that's actually a big piece of it where it's an unknown. And I think that education side of what we actually do and how we're trained and how we can help is important. Cause I do think there's a barrier there and they're not always aware of what our role is in the care of the patient. I think allowing kind of keeping that communication open between the two sides of the coin can really be helpful in allowing them to also take part in the patient care.

Yeah, and that's a really good point for sure to, like you said, kind of emphasize a little bit that if your doctor is a bit resistant, chances are it's more of a lack of understanding and it's a conversation. Okay. So let's get into some of the menopause, perimenopause. you said, so far, so I'll get a little personal here. So, so far for myself, as I said, I'm about to celebrate my 47th birthday and

There's been a few times where I'm like, that might be a sign of perimenopause, but overall, I don't believe that I'm actually there yet because I've still got, you know, consistent cycle, for example. But like I've had little things like I haven't had full out hot flashes, but I've had night sweats, which can of course be related to other things as I know. You know, so there's I've had the, the brain, that's a big thing. The big one, the brain not quite working where there's times where I'm questioned like.

Like I literally can't think of a word that's just a standard term in my industry. like, how, you know, the thing that does the thing, like it's just, you know, so what does that word? So I think that's probably one of the first questions that a lot of people are going to have. Like, how do I even know if I'm hitting perimenopause? Like what are some of the things that they should be watching for? Yeah. So that's a good question. So technically textbook wise. So I like to define perimenopause versus menopause because I find that there is a lack of understanding of what that actually means. So perimenopause is a typical

typically the 10 years before you would actually go through menopause. And menopause is actually one full year of not having a cycle. It's the day of that occurring. And then after that day, you're post-menopausal. So that whole, it depends on when you're gonna have that menopause, You could be 50, 52, 53, older. So typically about 10 years before that is when you're gonna start to notice changes.

from a hormonal perspective. And for everyone, it's very different. depends on their lifestyle. There's genetics plays a role as well. Stress levels and nutritional levels, blood sugar regulation. So what I do is I work with even young women who just making sure that those vital things are addressed. So looking at your nutrient level, making sure blood sugar is regulated, make sure we're managing stress in a healthy way.

allowing the body to feel more resilient to the stressors, even ones that we can't control. All of those things will set you up for a better transition. And then you'll hopefully notice less symptoms around that transition time. okay. that's interesting. Thank you for clarifying that definition as well. Yeah. So, and I know, you know, I've talked about

stress management on this podcast numerous times. I always talk about stress management is a daily practice. It's not something that you just practice when you're actually stressed. It's a daily practice because it should be preventative. And especially women, when we hit a certain age, our cortisol levels impact so much in our body. It's the stress hormone, of course, and women who are finding it difficult to lose weight, that's your cortisol kicking in there.

entirely like there I know there's other but yeah there's definitely that's definitely a big piece of the puzzle and cortisol can also become elevated not just from an emotional stressor or like you know work or family life but can also become elevated if there's physical imbalances as well so that's why I talking about nutritional status nutrient levels vitamin D being low B12 iron all those things also again blood sugar blood sugar is a big one for hormonal shifts and changes I think it's something that all women should be tested for

at any age actually, even if you're not experiencing symptoms, just to see how the body's managing that blood sugar when you're eating. So usually I'll look at blood work from an insulin and glucose perspective, and I do a test called the two hour insulin glucose challenge test. So it's a little bit of a pain because you have to to the lab, be there for two hours. You go in fasting, you get your blood work drawn fasting. So they take a look at your insulin and glucose at that point. Then you take a drink of sugar. So it's a little sugar. So if those women who've had children before will remember that drink.

And then you drink that drink and then I have the blood tested again, half an hour, one hour and two hours after that drink has been taken. And then I'm able to see how the body is managing that sugar intake. That is a big, big piece of the puzzle with regards to people noticing changes in their sleep, weight resistance, weight loss that's resistant, that's not coming off, even though they, you know, eating well, they're working out.

those types of things that affects sleep. can affect hair, can affect your mood. Anxiety is a big one too. So it's something that I think all women should be tested for, but specifically around those transitional timeframe, you wanna make sure that your body's managing blood sugar in an optimal way. that's so interesting. So it's not really something that we can just do at home. We can't just monitor our blood sugar specifically. I can certainly measure our sugar intake, but we can't necessarily.

measure the blood sugar. So that's something that you would do. Correct. So you can do a CGM. um, CGM is a glucose monitor that people, I know it's kind of a hot topic again now where people will wear the monitor for about two week time and they'll take, and they'll see how their glucose is going throughout the day. Um, so that is part of kind of what I'm doing a snapshot of, but I'm also including the insulin, which is another big piece of the whole blood sugar puzzle that in my opinion, you need that test by blood work to kind of get a good understanding of how

both insulin and glucose are working together. So let's say, you know, that comes back to you and you're seeing some signs that some shifts are happening. What's sort of the treatment? Because I can also, I can imagine a lot of women listening to this are like, you're going to take all my sugar away? Like we all know sugar is terrible. Like we get this. Like we know that sugar, there's a lot of issues with sugar, but at the same time, like.

we still like a little bit of sugar, you know, so. 100%. So I thought it's not all about intake. In fact, I even say, yes, obviously, if you're having loads of sugar in a day, that will have an impact. But it's actually not just all about that. It's about your movement level. It's about just generally how your body's managing blood sugar. That can be genetic pieces. Like, it can be a genetic factor as well that's influencing that. And stress is actually one of the bigger ones too.

So there's all these different little areas that are affecting the blood sugar. So it's not just about sugar intake or food intake. Again, it's a piece of the puzzle, but not by no means the whole thing. And I don't say don't, I never say that they take out sugar completely. I always give like examples of ways you can improve your blood sugar regulation and have those treats. So I always say if you want to have a cookie before your cookie, have some protein and healthy fat and then have your cookie.

So never eat the cookie on when you're hungry alone, because that's going to cause a massive spike in your blood sugar and then a crash and you're feel tired. But I say, here, add in handful of nuts, a hard-boiled egg, or something like that. Then have your sweet treat, and you'll notice a big shift in how you feel. OK, that is a really valuable tip there, too, because I think that, not that I'm saying that everyone's going to be like, OK, now I ate some protein, which means I get sugar. yeah, yeah. But it comes up. You're at event, or you just want something sweet.

Right. Go for it. You just kind of manage it with some protein and fat before and you will notice that you won't feel as kind of groggy when you eat that sugar and you're not going to have that big sugar crash or as much of a sugar crash. Sure. Yeah. And then you also mentioned, you know, movement is a part of this as well. What does movement look like? I I imagine it's different for everyone. Yeah. So it depends. it depends. actually

This is another reason why I like to see the blood work first because it depends on the person and what their blood sugar looks like. So for some people who are always working out and that can also increase cortisol where they're working out too intensely too often, right? So that's a big one. I run six times a week. I might have a bit of an issue with some cortisol levels occasionally. So that alone will increase cortisol. For some people who are looking to lose weight and there's a cortisol piece to there, I'll take a look at it as a whole, but sometimes I actually say, let's take it down on the intensity of workouts.

And you can still have movement, but not as intense. And I actually see, we notice changes in weight when we do that. But my goal, kind of my little like saying that I say is 150 minutes of movement a week where your heart rate is increased. So this could include walking where your heart rate's slightly increased. Weight training is a really good one for insulin and glucose regulation. And it doesn't have to be, again, some intense weight training, just movement, getting those muscles moving.

for 150 minutes or so a week. And I like what you're saying here too, because I think that so many people, as soon as they heard movement, were probably thinking, you need me to move more. And the reality is that sometimes it is less. Like again, going back to like I've said, I know that I'm a runner around six times a week. I ensure that I am doing a solid amount of strength training to help to balance that because otherwise I would just put on weight. My body would just hold on to the fat. And I know I was speaking with kind of a friend and colleague not that long ago.

And she was saying, she's like, I've just gotten back into working out. I'm not seeing any results and I know it takes time, but 30 days in and I haven't lost a pound and I'm bit concerned. So I'm like, okay, great. Well, tell me about what you're doing. Like, what are you doing for cardio for example? She's like, oh, I'm doing a ton of cardio and starts listening to what she's doing. Okay. And what are you doing for strength? She's like, oh yeah. So I'm doing like, you know, around 30 minutes of strength training and such. I'm like, okay, 30 minutes of strength training is great. But I said, you need to reduce your cardio. And I encouraged her to start going for walks in place of some of the higher impact cardio that she was doing.

immediately she noticed a difference. You still need that movement, like you said, but- Yes. One of them can be too much. Exactly. I will say my natural path, if she is listening to this, she's going to be laughing at this because when we first started working together, she was like, do you walk? I'm I love going for walks. She's like, what pace do you walk? I'm like, I walk a fast pace. She's like, I'm going to need to slow that down. I'm I can't. I only know how to walk fast. I fought her on this for so long. Eventually, I finally was able to get myself comfortable with

when I say a slow pace, like it is a slow, leisurely, very painfully casual piece that I actually enjoy now. And that was when I saw the difference in, it wasn't just in my weight loss. It was in my all over health. I just felt myself with having more energy. And I think that's a hard thing for women to take in sometimes. We're constantly being told when we're in our twenties to move more and go for runs and do all this cardio stuff and hit is all.

all the high intensity interval training. This is what it is all about. And then you hit your 40s and was like, actually, can you slow down just a little bit? Right. Yeah. No, I know. it's another thing too is like movements and timing movement too. So I always mention to patients, it's a good idea after a meal to just move around a little bit. Doesn't have to be long, five to 10 minutes even. Even if it's by your desk, you do a couple of jumping jacks. Just you're not sitting right after your food.

That's another really good one too. So it's not this big thing you have to prepare for even just making sure that movement is somewhere in the day. Yeah. And I think, you know, they've said sitting is the new cancer. It's the new smoking basically. Like it's the new thing that's really causing a lot of health issues. And so many people are sitting for so long. And I think that's a solid tip. Like, you know, I know back when I used to work in the corporate world, a lot of women would go for a walk and lunchtime, for example. And that's great. But

Meanwhile, I'm like, I don't have time to go for a walk at lunchtime. But to your point, I can probably move around for five or 10 minutes, especially working at home. I'm gonna go vacuum for five or 10 minutes before I back down at my desk. My house gets cleaned. I've been up for a few minutes. Beautiful. that's, you know what? think those are some of the simple things that it's easy for us to forget need to be incorporated into our day, but are so easy to do at the same time. Easy to do. And I always tell patients small changes, sorry, small changes lead to big.

changes because you don't need to do all like, you know, you can grow into more larger changes if that's something that you're goal you want to do, but there's little tweaks here and there can make such a big of a difference. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Okay. So let's see, we've got, we're going to start moving a little bit. We're going to make sure that we're watching our blood sugar intake and understanding how we're taking in that, sweets and that sugar. And of course getting tested as well. What else can we be doing here? and, I mean, the other thing is to like, you know, you, kind of mentioned

or hinted at this earlier, but basically like this can be started at any time. You don't have to wait until like the clock turns 40 basically, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Like they always say there's these things actually now on I see on Instagram or like, you know, osteoporosis or whatever happen starts when you're 20. So those types of things like the earlier, the earlier you find time to start those things, the better. Um, doesn't mean you can't start it later. Absolutely. But just it, there's no time.

is what I'm trying to say. Like any time you want to start to focus on your health more is a good time. But yes, you're right. Even before you're noticing any type of changes from a hormonal perspective, you can be supporting your health. So usually with that type of thing, again, I will start. Usually I start with blood work. I love blood work. I think it's a good indication of what's going on because it gives me an idea of the person absorbing what they're having or what they're taking. Do they have enough vitamin D, B12, iron, all those things that allow us to function well on a daily basis and affect

all of our body systems. So blood work is a big one. Movement, blood sugar regulation, stress management, sleep. Sleep is another really good one. Make sure you have enough sleep. That plays a big role. And I know it's hard because we're always busy and you you want time. I'm even guilty of this. I always want that time after when everything's calm in the night just to kind of do my own thing. But it's really important to be getting enough sleep.

That's when our body is healing and making sure that we, and I always say always turning off any electronic devices in your bedroom. And I even say if you can, turning off your wifi in your home at night, just allowing your body to completely regenerate and heal. I guess, and is that because of like the electronic waves that like, is that? Yeah, like the frequencies and things like that, that are present. I kind of just want to give the body a clean slate to just

rest and sleep and not have those interferences. Yeah. That's interesting. Yeah. That's a really good thought. And I think, you know, we've gotten so accustomed to just living in a world where there's just things everywhere. There's things where, yeah, cause even when you're sleeping, like your speaker sometimes could connect to the wifi or whatever. Right. So just to turn it all off and let your body be. Yeah. Okay. That's a really good tip. Okay. So, we've got sleep, we've got sugar, monitoring sugar intake, movement, stress management.

recovery most of the things here. I'm going to guess that you probably also talk a little bit about diet and of course when I say diet I just mean you're eating habits as opposed to like I'm not talking about a crash diet here or anything. yeah, yeah, I know definitely. Yeah, definitely diets a piece of the puzzle because it's you know what you're consuming is a big part of how you're feeling. exactly. So I actually use some of the tests I was mentioning of the insulin glucose.

to look at how somebody should be eating based on their blood sugar, which will really help them feel more productive in the daytime, less brain fog as we were talking about too. When that insulin is not balanced as well, you'll notice brain fog alongside with like vitamin D deficiency, iron deficiency, those will also lead to brain fog. But yeah, I look at those tests to be able to guide the patient on things they should be doing. Because I've also found...

Some people will have a dip in blood sugar, which will also lead to some of the same symptoms, but the treatment for those a little bit different. So I like to know exactly what that person is experiencing so that I can kind of, I can implement support that's tailored to them. So diets, big one. Yes. So proteins huge. If I can, I could talk about protein for days. You want to make sure you're getting enough protein, regardless of your vegetarian, vegan, or you do eat meat.

Protein is very important. It's the building blocks of us. It helps build our hormones and it's just it's a really important piece and most people don't get enough protein. I usually say my recommendation again depending on their activity level is about 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram body weight. So essentially you'll just calculate your weight in kilograms multiplied by 1.5 and you'll probably be surprised with the number. People are like my gosh that much protein?

So yeah, I'm kind of understanding there should be protein at each meal for sure. Yeah. And that's actually the formula that I've always used as well. I am actually a vegetarian. I've been a vegetarian since I was 10 years old. So getting protein is sort of second nature for me now. Right. Yeah. I do it almost automatically. And I was speaking with someone not that long ago about how much protein I can get in a day. And she was astounded that I'm a vegetarian. She's like, how are you doing that? And so I actually created a video.

of a salad that I had created. I said, I've got 35 grams of protein in my salad as a vegetarian. And people are like, there's no way. I'm like, yep, I've got tofu. I've got egg. I'm not vegan. So I've got tofu, egg, pumpkin seeds, flax, sorry, not flax, quinoa, hemp seeds. Let's see, what else did I have in there? But again, it's just so natural to just throw all these things in there. And next thing you know, I've got like 30 to 35 grams of protein.

And it's really that simple. Cause I do love my salads. I absolutely love my salads, but there's no reason why I can't get protein in it. Even on vegetarian. know non-vegetarians like I'll just throw a chicken breast on there. And then the other challenge I also find is in my conversations with meat eaters, meat eaters are actually worse than vegetarians often with monitoring their protein intake because they're like, no, I can't eat. But they're not paying attention to how much of that, how much actual protein they're getting out of it.

And to your point, think most people are astounded by the amount of protein we should be consuming. My best advice personally, whenever someone asks me, especially as a vegetarian, like how do we get more protein, protein shakes are- Yes, and that's what I will always add into, especially if they're saying, I don't feel I can eat that much right now or I can't find the time or I don't even know. So I always provide lists of examples of protein sources for patients depending on their dietary choices.

But yes, you're right, protein shake. So finding a good protein shake that you're taught that you can tolerate, that's a good addition to throw in, you know, in the morning or as a snack during the daytime. So that that will also curb cravings too. So if you're getting enough protein, you're going to find you're going to crave sweets less and crave those carbs less as well too. Yeah.

I really like those tips. Okay. Yeah. You know what? It's funny that you say that I've never made that correlation before, but you're absolutely right on the days where I'm not getting as much protein. I find myself craving sweets and I'll be like, what is going on here? And I'm not sure. And I often, I'll admit, I often chalk it up to all that much as being my hormones acting up or something. But that's a really good point that maybe instead of going to the sweets, let's go to the savory, let's go grab me some protein or protein shake or something. That's really good.

And I really love that you're just, you you're talking about how diet is so individual. It's not a one size fits all kind of thing. And I am someone, so I actually have a bachelor of mathematics degree. So I am someone who is data driven. And so the fact that you're saying, look at the blood work, blood work doesn't lie. it's, and I know that there's a lot of variables that affect the blood work. So it's not a quick fix of like, oh, this is happening in the blood work. Clearly this is the solution.

It's not quite that black and white, it tells you so much instead of going in blind. 100%. And that's why I usually even regardless of the concern someone's coming in to see me for, I will usually start with some sort of blood work if they haven't had it done in the last six months or so. Because I think, again, there's all these different pieces of the puzzle because the body is a whole. if I don't, you know, I'm missing one piece because I don't know the value for this, I'm maybe not going to address their concern to the best of my abilities. Right. So.

Absolutely. I 100 % agree with you. I love the testing piece. One again, going back to the misconceptions that we spoke about earlier, though, think so many people think that naturopathic is just all this trial and error, which I know there's a lot of that in naturopathic medicine, of course, but it's not on a whim. It's not on a guess. It's not on like there is data to back it up. And I know

Yeah, my naturopath was constantly like, let's go get you some more blood work. Let's get another requisition here. Absolutely. And get yourself tested. yeah. Yeah. And even if blood work is just one of the things we can use too, I do have quite a few third party testings I will use for certain, again, depends on the case and what the patient's coming to me for, but I have stool testing. do all the time. I love stool testing. There's hormone testing we can do as well, looking at my hormone metabolites and things like that too. So.

There's lots of tools we have in our toolbox to investigate a little bit deeper based on the patient's concern. For sure. And yes, I know it sounds gross about doing stool testing, but there is so much you can learn from stool. so much. So much. digestion. Yeah. And that digestion piece too is actually also another, if that's something someone's struggling with, that's a really good, basically foundation to start with, especially for hormonal work. So if

It depends again, what the patient is coming to me for, but if digestion's not balanced either, that is a big place we start in order to support hormone and transitioning well, because the digestion's also a really big foundation of how we metabolize hormones, how we eliminate hormones. So it's definitely a big piece of the puzzle too. I was actually speaking with a friend recently, she's older, so she's post-menopause at this point, but she's never had issues with.

bowels, digestion, et cetera. And now she's finding that she is. And so she's like, I think I'm go to the doctor and I'm gonna get these meds and yada yada. And I'm like, can you please just go to a natural path first? Because I really believe in natural path. Before we start putting medicine into our body that like, these are chemicals, these are drugs, these are things that are not natural. And sometimes, yes, that is the way to go. But there's a lot that can be done through some dietary changes, through some supplements that-

And also finding why that's happening. Because even if you're taking a medication, it doesn't always fix the reason why that symptoms occurring either, right? Yes, we can help manage the symptom. But I always want to know, like, why did this happen? Like, why do you have a loose stool? Why are you feeling sick after you eat? Why do you feel bloated? Like, there's a reason, right? And I, that's my job to find out why that's happening. So that's why sometimes it's, again, it's not always right off the bat. I'm like, yeah, it must be this.

That's where we come with the testing and sometimes we have to try a few different treatment courses to see exactly what's going on. usually we try and figure out why it's happening in the first place to stop the symptom. Well, yeah, I mean, I've heard so many stories from people who say, I had this symptom, they treated me for that symptom, then this other thing popped up because, like it's their whole related. It's happening. It's still there, right? Yeah, exactly. 100%. Yeah. Yeah. OK, great.

Anything else that we should be focusing on in terms of helping to manage these transitions and prepare for them, regardless of what age that we're at? Is there anything that we haven't touched on here? no, I think we've touched on the main things. Again, it comes down to the individual patients. So in appointments, I'll take a look a little deeper. And if that person has something else that I'm like, that also might be something to take a look at, I will. But the main heavy hitters, I think we've touched on.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I just want to also just back this up by saying too, that even if you feel like you are in the best health of your life and you're not experiencing any of the hormonal changes or shifts or anything else, I cannot express enough how valuable it would be to see a natural path and get that initial appointment going, get some, start figuring some things out and just see how can you live your best life and ensure that you are on top of these things.

I actually had a patient a couple of weeks ago and she was saying, I'm just going to come for general wellness, which I love. I'm like, that's great. I love that because I want to, you you're proactive. You want to kind of see what's going on with your body. And then through the intake, I find out that she actually suffers from migraines, but she was like, I'm fine because she's just used to that because that's her norm now. Right. So she didn't even think of that as a concern to bring up to me. So that's a good example of,

Yeah, he's like, I can help you with those. can kind of understand why they're occurring, what's going on. So yeah, definitely I think it's valuable for most people, even if they're feeling like they're fine, just to get a deeper look and to understand their blood work better, because that's another piece of it too. I can teach you what the values mean and things like that. Yeah. I think that's huge too. I can't tell you how often I've gotten my report back. like, I can't read this. And sometimes the report will say like what I had.

The rain and healthy range is yes. Yeah. Doesn't mean that I can understand it necessarily. So yeah, that absolutely. Yeah, no. And there's also an optimal range within that range. Right. So those some of those ranges are very, very big. There's optimal ranges that I like to see within those ranges. So I always such a patience on that too. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. OK, great. And so if someone's looking to get started in with working with a natural path, you've actually got a special right now for our listener.

Tell us about that. so for our listeners for the month of March, if you book an initial appointment in that time frame, I will be offering 50 % off the initial intake price. That is super generous. Thank you so much. And we'll definitely make sure that there's a link to get in touch with Denise in her office and be able to set that appointment up. Absolutely. We'll make sure that that is in the show notes. And I know this is such an important topic. think that like I...

Health and wellness is something that I focus on so much. There's actually something I teach all of my coaching clients. It is one of the, what I call the foundational success pillars that we focus on in the group coaching program that I do. Pillar two is health and wellness. There aren't enough things that I think we can cover about maintain our health. Like you can be the most successful entrepreneur, but if you don't take a moment to stop and focus on your health first, your body will eventually do it for you.

Absolutely, for sure. You're right. You can push through sometimes at the beginning stages of certain things, but eventually at some point there's going to be a breaking point and your body's going to say no more. Exactly. So, and I think we are starting to live in a society that is understanding a little bit more the preventative aspect of things, a little less reactive. So, yes, I think this has been a great conversation for sure. If there is one thing that people take away from

listening to today's episode, what is the one thing that you would like them to take away or an action maybe that you would like them to take? An action, I actually would say, I do see a lot of people, a blood work. Like I think you should get your blood work checked, regardless of like perimenopause, menopause, anything like that, just going, getting like vitamin D, B12, iron, all those checked to make sure they're in optimal ranges because vitamin D, big one too, in Ontario where we live, it's not as sunny.

And vitamin D is really important vitamin for mental health, for energy levels, for disease prevention. So I would say if you have 100 blood levels checked in six months to a year, it's time to do it. Yeah, most of my active listeners will know that my dad lived with MS for about 30 years and vitamin D has been linked to MS and numerous other diseases. A deficiency in vitamin D can cause...

so many things that we're not even aware of. I think that it's, we don't even realize how many days we go without seeing sunshine some days. So we need to take that supplement. Yeah. Absolutely. Wonderful. Well, listen, Denise, this has been such a pleasure having you on the show. Thank you so much for sharing all of your knowledge and expertise. Well, not all of it. There's only so much we can cover in our timeframe, thank you so much for everything that you've shared with our audience. I appreciate it. Thank you, Sean, for having me. It was really awesome.

Amazing. listen, if you're listening to this episode and what we're saying here today is resonating with you, I hope you will continue to allow us to be a part of your journey and join you each week. So keep listening in. Don't forget to subscribe to us on your favorite podcast platform. Leave us a review. And if you enjoy this episode, the best way to support your fellow female entrepreneurs is to share this episode with someone that you know can benefit from it. Until next time, everyone keep thriving.