Giving yourself grace during menopause can be a slippery slope of balancing the things you want to do and the things you are able to do at the moment. While menopausal women are learning more about how to move the dial during this transitional time in their life, they are often faced with physiological changes that inhibit their ability to do all the things. Daily exercise, including gentle movements, HIIT training, and weight resistance training are part of the equation to live independently for decades to come. Eating a whole-foods balanced diet is essential to gut, brain, and heart health. Prioritizing and working on deep, restorative sleep is connected to brain health, daily energy, and metabolic health. Staying grounded and not falling in to the abyss of overwhelm is the part that challenges most women. Learn how to calm the all-or-nothing mindset during menopause in this latest blog.

Navigating menopause brings about various changes, including shifts in sexual health. Embracing a healthy lifestyle can significantly enhance sexual well-being during this stage. Regular physical exercise is a cornerstone, as it boosts energy, improves blood circulation, and elevates mood, all contributing to a healthier libido. A balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats is equally important. Foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids, like fish and flaxseeds, are particularly beneficial for maintaining hormonal balance and reducing inflammation.

Stress reduction is another crucial factor. Techniques such as mindfulness meditation, deep breathing exercises, and yoga can lower cortisol levels, leading to increased relaxation and improved sexual response. Open communication with a partner about sexual needs and changes can enhance intimacy and satisfaction. This honest dialogue helps address concerns and fosters a supportive environment.

Lastly, ensuring adequate sleep is vital. Establishing a regular sleep routine and creating a conducive sleep environment can help maintain hormonal balance and reduce stress, positively affecting sexual health. By integrating these non-hormonal strategies into daily life, menopausal women can improve their sexual health and overall well-being.

Post-menopause is a significant time for women to reassess their lifestyle choices to promote longevity and maintain a high quality of life. Women will be post-menopausal for a third of their life. While many women may still have symptoms to deal with, such as hot flashes, weight gain, low libido, genitourinary symptoms, and poor sleep, other women feel a sense of newfound freedom, calm, and confidence. Every woman’s journey is different yet all women need to consider lifestyle changes to support brain and heart health, metabolic health, bone health, strength, power, mobility, and restorative sleep. Learn about the top five recommended lifestyle changes, supported by scientific evidence.

Menowashing refers to companies making misleading claims about their products being specifically beneficial for menopausal women without genuine or scientifically backed benefits. The Menopause business is booming right now, and with it comes a variety of new supplements, products, and services that are not science-backed with proven results. Meno-marketing is using midlife women’s fears to sell them a product or service that is not going to help them achieve their goals, but instead focusing on their various pain points, such as hair loss, weight gain, vaginal atrophy, painful sex, aging skin, and gut health. Learn how to look out for menowashing.

Health coaches often emphasize a holistic approach to wellness that encompasses various dimensions of health. There are five commonly recognized pillars of health that health coaches focus on to guide their clients toward a more balanced and healthy lifestyle during menopause - nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress management, and emotional and mental well-being. Learn how to master your menopause journey by partnering up with a certified health coach, building small actionable steps to creating a strong foundation from which to grow.

Prebiotic fiber is a type of non-digestible carbohydrate that fuels beneficial bacteria in the gut. When the good bacteria eat the prebiotic fuel, they produce short-chain fatty acids or postbiotics. These compounds aid in reducing your risk for chronic disease states, heal a leaky gut by closing the tight junctions of the epithelial layer, stabilize blood glucose levels, and strengthen your immune system. Including prebiotic-rich foods in your diet can help improve digestive health, and enhance the absorption of minerals.

Are you thinking about working with a health coach but not sure what to expect? Health coaches help you bridge the gap between a poor medical diagnosis and real-life strategies to heal, and support you to reach your greater health vision by collaborating with you to build small steps leading to lifelong lasting change. Learn about the myths surrounding working with a health coach.

Just being a woman who will enter the menopause transition opens up the door to declining bone health and bone mineral density loss. Postmenopausal osteoporosis affects 1 out of 3 women. Estrogen deficiency leads to rapid bone loss. The current conventional healthcare model is not set-up to support the prevention of bone density loss, and often overlooks midlife women who need to start a proactive treatment plan that includes healthy lifestyle strategies. Learn how a health coach can support your bone health journey in the JFW blog.

Health coaches are part of your health equation wherever you are on your midlife journey. We've been around since the 1950s and are experts in science-backed behavior change. Health coaches can be found in private practice focusing on various health issues, such as autoimmune diseases, fertility, brain health, weight loss, men's health, and midlife women's health. Health coaches can also be found in corporate America, college campuses, health insurance companies, and medical spas.

I don't need to tell you that transitioning through menopause is not an easy task. Fluctuating hormones, weight gain, sleepless nights, increased anxiety, hair loss, loss of libido, and feeling lost in the sea of internet nutrition noise only make it worse. Most women feel so overwhelmed making changes, or failed by the conventional healthcare model, that they just don't try at all. Learn 3 ways in which a health coach can help you connect the dots between your current health status and your greater health vision.

Our current healthcare model is flawed when it comes to preventive healthcare. Should you break a leg, come down with pneumonia, or be diagnosed with cancer, the current healthcare model is ready and waiting for you. Preventive healthcare is about being proactive to maintain optimal health, which in the long run, saves time and money. Examinations, vaccines, annual lab work, mammograms, and colonoscopies are all examples of a preventive approach to healthcare. The four horsemen of chronic disease states, Alzheimer's Disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, need a more proactive preventive approach than what’s already in place for most humankind. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to the education that’s needed in order to become a proactive health advocate for themselves. If you don’t know what’s missing, or what’s needed, in order to avoid chronic disease states, it’s almost impossible to be proactively preventive in your health journey. Learn how to create a preventive healthcare plan for yourself in four easy steps.

Are you in the market for a new physician? Are you becoming increasingly frustrated that you are not feeling your best under the care of your doctor? Your doctor's job is to help you avoid chronic disease and pain, and support your goal of good health for as long as possible using a preventive healthcare approach. Your job is to follow a healthy lifestyle, which includes eating a diet that works for you, managing your stress, exercising, and getting deep, restorative sleep. Finding a doctor that you feel comfortable with, who places high regard on a preventive approach to healthcare, and who listens patiently to you, is who you should be working with. Learn what questions you should be asking your potential doctor to see if there’s a match for you.