Menopause & Midlife Health: Science + Intuition = Real Results

Your midlife health doesn’t have to be a choice between science and intuition. In this episode of The Menopause Method, I’m sharing how the two work together to help women over 45 feel strong, steady, and in control again.

We’ll cover the 3 physical “dial movers” for menopause health: whole food nutrition, strength training, and daily movement: and how to support your mental, emotional, and spiritual health so your results actually last.

Whether you’re navigating perimenopause, menopause, or post-menopause, this conversation will change how you think about your body and your health.

Free Home Gym Guide: https://www.camoyler.com/gym-equipment-guide
Free Menopause Sleep Guide: https://www.camoyler.com/pl/2148586038
Get the Menopause Mini Workouts: https://www.camoyler.com/meno-minis.

Chapters:
00:00 Health as Your Favorite Song
04:10 Walking's Impact: Mindset Shift
08:41 Balancing Science and Intuition
09:34 Finding the Missing Piece

Keywords: menopause, perimenopause, postmenopause, midlife health, science and intuition, strength training, whole food nutrition, women over 45, daily movement, holistic menopause health, menopause tips, midlife fitness.

Transcript

0:00

You know, I've heard this debate for years. Should you follow the science or should you just listen to your body? And here's what I think. It's actually really not a choice. It's not science or your intuition, your inner knowing. It's actually both. Hey there. I'm Cam Allen. Welcome back to the Menopause Method Podcast. And let me explain what I mean. I want you to picture your health like your favorite song that you hear on the radio. You know the lyrics, you know the tune, you know what's coming next, next, you know what to expect. Science is kind of like the sheet music to your favorite song. It gives you proven notes, it gives you structure, it gives you a plan. You know what's happening now. Imagine going to your favorite venue and listening to your favorite song live. Now, the intuition is the musicians on stage bringing life and extra joy to that song. It's still the same song. One is structured for the radio. You know what's happening next. The other one is live, where the song might go on for longer and the guitar player may get a solo. You see one without the other. It's not the full experience. Live music is way different than the song on the radio. Are you with me? And in midlife, this analogy becomes even more important because the way your body responds now is not the way it did when you were 25. You cannot copy and paste your old plan and expect the same results today. Just doesn't happen that way. If you're nodding along right now, go ahead and hit that follow button so we can keep having these midlife health chats together. Okay, so physical body, let's start there because that's what we see in the mirror. That's what we put clothes on every day. So. So let's start there. It is the easiest place to see changes and measure change. Am I right? For me, the wake up call was after my hysterectomy. I went into surgical menopause overnight. And I thought I could keep training like I'd always trained throughout my 40s. Until one day I did a workout that I used to love, and I crushed it in the moment. Yet I was couchbound for days afterwards. And I want you to hear that I wasn't weak. It's that my body needed a different kind of care. Now. My brain was stuck in my old ways. My body was like lady. So I came back to what I call the dial movers. In fact, I have a group called Move the Dial. And the first part of that is whole food nutrition. I'm sure that's not a surprise to you. Real food fuels you instead of leaving you tired and inflamed. For me, about six months into menopause, after years of being a vegetarian and then a pescatarian, my body knew I needed red meat. Like I knew it. So I eased into it. My first experiment with animal protein, after years of not eating it was collagen. And then shortly thereafter, I started adding filet mignon. Now I eat red meat three or four times a week. I crave it when I don't get it. I just want it. I just want to go get a hamburger today. I just crave it. I know when my body needs red meat. Now, if I'd stuck to my old mindset, I would have missed my inner knowing that my body needed different nutrition on this side of menopause. So I followed it, and now I eat it all the time. Next up is strength training. Because we know that midlife muscle is our best retirement plan. I asked myself, is there a way to be strong without being exhausted? As a former crossfitter, I thought I had to be on the ground in a sweaty puddle in order for it to count. Boy, was I wrong. I'm really grateful for those days because I learned how to move my body through time, space and gravity. And also I realized that it wasn't serving me now that I was in menopause. Next up, I would add daily movement. Like just walking. This keeps your metabolism humming and your joints really happy. Now, this was another huge mindset shift for me on this side of menopause. I thought that walking didn't count. I thought walking wasn't enough. But once I changed my mindset and realized that walking is amazing for my mental health and my physical body, it all changed. Of course it counts. It is a wonderful way to manage your stress, get out in nature, hang out with your friends, go walking with your favorite person in the world. Or maybe it's by yourself, which also should be your the favorite, your favorite person in the world. So I like to think of these dial movers as like sturdy legs on a table. Without these strength training, whole food, nutrition, and just general movement. You can't set anything on top of the table because it will not stay balanced. But here's the thing. You can eat perfectly and lift the weights perfectly, still feel exhausted, anxious, and just flat out flat. Because the missing link that most of us overlook, it's the other legs of the table. That would include your mental, emotional and spiritual health. Those also don't need strengthening. You don't want those to be wobbly as you're taking care of your physical body. So if your mind is stuck in survival mode, your nervous system is going to sabotage your best laid plans every single time. We don't need to be on go all the time. That goes Back to my CrossFit story. When I was doing workouts in CrossFit, my body was on go. You're in breakdown mode. You're not in buildup mode. Your nervous system needs a break. Your body needs to know that it's safe. So if you're running on emotional guilt every time you rest, your body really never gets to recover. I know I was like that. I didn't know what it felt like to be resting. I thought rest was lazy. And actually the four keys to midlife fitness rest is one of the four keys. I actually had to add it in there as like, you have to do this in order for me to like buy into it, if you will. Because my mindset was like, no, rest is lazy. Never skip a Monday. All those toxic thoughts I carried into menopause and it wasn't helping me. Also, if your spirit feels disconnected, every single health habit starts to feel like a chore versus a choice. I spend a lot of time with the people I work with, understanding their why. What is their why in life? When you tie your new identity to the actions, like, I want this. I want to play with my grandkids. I want to bring in my groceries in one trip. I want to be able to hike with a backpack and not like pay for it later. When you have your why, like why do you want to do this? Then your spirit feels more connected to your actions. This is definitely part of health. And if you're already thinking of a friend who needs to hear this part, just share this episode with her right now. She will thank you later. So here's where the magic happens. Where our science and our intuition actually dance together. Science sets the gps. Like when you get in your car and you turn on Google Maps, it tells us that strength training builds muscle. We know that and keeps our bones strong. We know that. It's part of our metabolism. We know that. We also know that walking improves our bone density. Your intuition is actually steering the car through the traffic and pulling over for gas when it gets low. So what if you need to rest longer between sets? Believe me, that took me a long time to accept on this side of menopause. One of my clients started a two day a week lifting plan and research tells us in menopause that is the sweet spot. But when her work stress spiked, she cut that down to one day a week. And then she added more walks during that season of life. She followed her intuition and guess what? She actually made more progress during that time and she actually let her body build and recover rather than running on fumes. If you find yourself like, I have to do this every single day. If you're finding yourself in that mode, first of all, you're not enjoying the process and in the journey, which is part of this. But also you're not allowing magic and miracles to happen when you're so rigid with your schedule. And that's what I mean by science and intuition. This is not about chasing the perfect diet or the ideal workout plan. Believe me, I can give those to you. But if you're not changing how you think about your body, your emotional, mental and spiritual relationship with your body and the process, nothing's really going to change. Maybe it'll change for a minute, but you'll go right back to where you started. This is really about building a relationship with your body. Where science gives you the tools, but your inner knowing intuition tells you how to use them. So I want you to ask yourself, what would it be like to have a plan that felt like was working with you instead of against you? If you want to explore what it looks like for you, I've got some free resources in the show notes. Take your next steps there. Whether it's a strength training guide, a workout motivation quiz, or My Bone Health download, you're going to find something that meets you where you are right now. You really don't have to figure out this alone. I've put together these tools for you and they're all linked in the show notes below. If this conversation got you thinking differently about midlife help, please hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one. And if you have a friend who's stuck in the science versus intuition debate, send her this episode. You might just give her the missing piece that she's been looking for. Thanks for being here and I'll see you next week.