86. Menopause: The Second Puberty with Wanjira Njenga
Listen & Subscribe on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
The decline of estrogen during menopause can feel like your body has lost its armor, says Wanjira Njenga, a certified health, wellness and menopause coach. In this episode, Wanjira and Surabhi explore what really happens when estrogen declines during menopause and how to fill that gap—not with fear or fads, but with strength, science, and sustainable support.
Wanjira breaks down why menopause feels like puberty all over again, and how to work with your body, not against it. From understanding your hormones to building a lifestyle that supports your body, sleep, and sanity, we’re throwing out outdated advice and giving you tools rooted in real science and lived experience. From muscle-building, weight gain, hot flashes and heart health to busting extreme diet myths and managing stress, this episode unpacks the real tools people need to navigate menopause with confidence. It’s time to stop powering through and start powering up!
✨This episode is sponsored by Embodia https://www.embodiaapp.com/ - use code momstrength to save $20 off your first month’s Tier 3 membership.
✨Click here to learn more about How I use Embodia as a Pelvic Physiotherapist!
About Wanjira:
Wanjira Njenga is a menopause health coach and pelvic floor health coach. She helps women in menopause navigate the menopause transition with clarity, and without restrictive diets or extreme workouts. She wants women to thrive, and not just survive the menopause transition.
Connect with Wanjira:
—Instagram @studiowanjira
—Website https://wanjira.com/
—Menopause Made Manageable membership
Connect with Surabhi:
Website: https://www.thepassionatephysio.ca
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[00:00:00] A word from today's sponsor, Embodia is an all-in-one platform for rehab professionals and our patients. I love using Embodia because it includes a complete practice management for charting, scheduling, billing, and online booking. Plus, Embodia has digital exercise prescription program monitoring, secure two-way messaging, wait list management, in-depth reporting, and so much more.
As an added bonus, there's a library of continuing education courses and regular live webinars so that you can continue to learn. While you build your practice, visit embodiaapp.com and use the Code MOMSTRENGTH to get $20 off your first month's tier three membership.
Surabhi: Welcome to Mom Strength, a podcast and movement to empower, educate, and showcase mom strength inside and out. I'm your host, Surabhi Veitch, physiotherapist and fitness coach, also known as the Passionate Physio. Join me for discussions on movement, mindset, and motherhood where we raise the bar and challenge the [00:01:00] status quo.
Get ready for expert interviews and real honest conversations where we explore physical, mental, and emotional health. Let's celebrate the beautiful diversity and common experiences in all of our journeys. Let's do this.
Surabhi: [00:00:00] Hi everyone, and welcome back to another episode of Mom Strength. I'm your host, Surabhi Veitch, and I'm really excited to have on today one Wanjira Njenga today. So she is a menopause health coach and pelvic floor health coach. If you follow her on Instagram, if you don't yet follow her on Instagram. You need to at Studio Wanjira.
Am I right?
Wanjira: Yep. Yep. Um,
Surabhi: and because her mission is to bring clarity around the menopause transition. She helps women in menopause navigate the transition without restrictive dieting or stream workouts so that they can thrive and not just survive that me menopause transition. Hi one Wanjira. I'm so excited to have you on here today.
Hi Surabhi I'm so excited to be here. Really nice. Um, so first of all, I. Love seeing you, um, share the content that you do because it's so tangible and approachable. One of the things that I noticed recently is you sharing how unprepared women feel as they enter into menopause. Some of the symptoms that are very common in [00:01:00] perimenopause and menopause are things we never talk about.
I. You know, things like hot flashes, for example. Yes. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Wanjira: Well, I, uh, one of the things that I think is that we teach women from very early stages of life about, uh, puberty childbirth,
Surabhi: right?
Wanjira: And then we completely skip the menopause stage. Which is known as the second puberty.
Mm-hmm. So when women, because menopause does to the woman's body exactly what it does to a girl's, a teenage body entering puberty.
Surabhi: Oh wow. The
Wanjira: only thing is hot flashes. Okay. Changes. Otherwise, all the other hormones are changing. The body's changing in the same way. So it's known as the second puberty, but nobody talks about it.
And. Doctors are also not prepared, right? So no. When you speak to most doctors, they say, no, we didn't touch it in medical school. Right. Do you know anything about, [00:02:00] no, we don't know. And if you are not lucky enough to get a doctor who does their own research, then you're on your own. And so most of the time women go to their doctors and their doctors don't know what to say because they don't know anything.
But they're too, uh, I guess maybe proud to say, look, I don't know, but I will research. So they just dismiss doctors. They just miss dismiss women with their, it's your age,
Surabhi: right?
Wanjira: What do you expect?
Surabhi: Right,
Wanjira: because they're too shy or maybe too arrogant to go and look for that information.
Yeah. So
we get into menopause and things are changing and it, it might start slow.
It's really menopause and perimenopause is a sequence of events. It's not one big thing. You just don't drop into menopause tomorrow. Okay. So you. You start noticing small things and you are questioning and you try and adjust and [00:03:00] try and navigate and what did I eat yesterday? No. Is did I eat something?
Did I move the wrong way? Why is my shoulder hurting? What did I do? Right? And so, you know, you when a woman, for example, wakes up with a shoulder issue, they think it must be the exercise that I did yesterday. So let me stop all exercise. And yet. It's a hormonal thing.
Surabhi: Yeah. So, because things like frozen shoulder
Wanjira: Yes.
Surabhi: Are so common in that stage. Yeah. And even when I, I used to work in an orthopedic clinic before I started into pelvic health and I worked with a sports doctor and he never identified the hormonal issue. I anecdotally noticed, hi, it's all these middle aged women who tend to get these issues.
Yes.
And you know.
The prescription is often, oh, just rest it till it gets better. Yeah. And it might take two years. Yeah. You know, and they're just wondering like they're just left to their own, um, devices, so, yes. Yeah, I'd love to hear a little bit more about about that. [00:04:00]
Wanjira: Yeah. And so in fact, that, going back to that shoulder issue, frozen shoulder issue in Ja, in Japan, they call it the fifties shoulder.
Surabhi: Oh wow.
Wanjira: Because they clued in. Before we did that, it was hormonal. It has nothing to do with the way the woman was moving. Has nothing to do with the way she didn't exercise. So when women are told, rested, or they don't know what to do, they stop doing their exercises, they stop moving, and they think anytime I exercise, they'll come to you and say, anytime I exercise, I'm in pain.
So they stop everything. Then comes the weight gain, the depression, the confusion, and it all stems from that lack of understanding what's going on in my body, why is it letting me down? And if it's letting me down, what can I do? Right. You know, women come and say, my body has just let me down. Yes. And they will tell you, one client told me, you know, as soon as I got to 50, it was just [00:05:00] downhill from there.
Well, it really shouldn't be. We have another, we are living longer, so we have another 50, 40 years to go. Yeah. And if that's the end of it. What's, what's gonna happen to the next 50 years.
Surabhi: Exactly. Yeah. And that's a powerful, um, statement. My body has let me down. Yes. That feeling of frustration, disappointment and sadness and grief that your body has, um, let you down, but maybe it hasn't let you down.
Maybe you just don't understand how to support it Well, yes. Um, and maybe some of it is a normal part of aging, but I think sometimes we say everything is normal part of aging. Yeah. You know, urinary leakage. Yes, it's very common and there's biological reasons why it might happen, but we can't just say, yep, it's normal.
Not nothing you can do about it, right? No,
Wanjira: no. Think about the women or men who've reached nineties and don't have a urinary leakage. There are some men and. Women who are in their nineties, and they have never experienced that and never will. [00:06:00] That's my goal. Yeah, I know. So it's not part of aging. It is not it, some of it is part of aging, but then the rest of it is really, um, uh, I, I think confusion and lack of information and lack of, uh, women not being given the empowerment to feel like, you know what?
There's something you can do about it.
Surabhi: That, that too right. Is Yeah. Women who maybe grew up not ever exercising. Yeah. Or not being encouraged to exercise. Now they hit this phase of life and exercise becomes even more important at this phase of life. Yes. Can you talk a little bit about how exercise can support someone with, within this transition of menopause?
Wanjira: Yeah. So exercise not only helps to, you know, for the brain to feel good, which is part of the menopausal issue, is that depression that comes with menopause because estrogen is truly, truly, truly, i, I, I would like women everywhere to understand that estrogen is the armor that we have in our body. So the, the [00:07:00] analogy that I use is, think of estrogen as that shield.
That you're going to war with or body armor that you wear. Yeah. And maybe progesterone has the shield.
Surabhi: Yeah.
Wanjira: Now when you, you are out in war, you have a body armor. Yeah. You have a shield. You have all your equipment to fight. Suddenly you're deprived of that armor.
Surabhi: Mm-hmm.
Wanjira: Body armor, you're deprive of your shield, you're exposed.
Surabhi: Yes.
Wanjira: Anything you do in menopause, exercise, nutrition, mindset, meditation, reducing stress is bulletproofing.
Surabhi: Love that
Wanjira: you are wearing a bulletproof vest,
Surabhi: right?
Wanjira: Because you don't have an armor anymore. Don't have a sheet. You can't rely, you can't fall back
Surabhi: on
the hormones. 'cause they're gone.
Wanjira: They're, they're gone.
Yes.
They're gone. And even when we get hormone menopause, hormone therapy, yes. It's, uh, it's, it's a little bit of help. It doesn't replace, doesn't replace [00:08:00] normal estrogen. Okay. That's why, you know, they're saying nowadays, don't call it hormone replacement energy, uh, therapy because it doesn't replace men, it doesn't replace it.
It helps.
Surabhi: It's misleading when you say it's hormone replacement because people assume that it's gonna make them feel like they're 30 again.
Wanjira: No, it doesn't. You might notice a few things that improve, but it doesn't help. So when it comes to exercise, we, the way I like women to think about it is you are doing something to replace that estrogen.
Okay? Everything you do, you are helping that you are filling in that hole that estrogen has left. So you do your exercises, you strengthen your muscles. When you strengthen your muscles, you not only stop sarcopenia the muscle, uh, loss related to age, you not only help to build the muscle, but you're also affecting your metabolism.
You're also affecting the way your heart is moving. Stronger [00:09:00] muscles help the heart move better. Stronger muscles help the pelvic floor stay better. Stronger muscles help that brain thing. So it's everything you are doing at this stage of your life is filling in that hole that estrogen has left.
Surabhi: Wow. And that's a more empowering way to look at it is.
Sometimes we think with exercise or eating well, people want a quick fix. They want that immediate result and often it comes, their result isn't, I want less brain fog. Their result might be, I wanna lose weight.
Wanjira: Yes.
Surabhi: Right? Yes. And so it might be a visual aesthetic. Thing that maybe drives them to seek support.
Wanjira: Yes.
Surabhi: So can you talk about that part of it? Because if they're coming to you or they're coming to get help from their doctor because they've gained a lot of weight, maybe they're experiencing that depression or, um, age related, you know, brain changes.
Wanjira: Yeah.
Surabhi: And their doctor's saying, well, you should exercise.
And they don't understand like, how [00:10:00] is that gonna help me feel better? You've just described. Prevents bone, uh, or uh, muscle wasting. Yes. It helps with your brain health. It helps with your heart health. How does exercise also, how can exercise impact weight?
Wanjira: Well, I, I always say that let's start off by just getting you moving and feeling better, because when you feel better, you, nobody feels so good and says, I'm gonna make myself junk.
Surabhi: Right.
Wanjira: I'm gonna eat junk. No. Yes. When you feel better, you eat better. Yes. You want to, you've worked so hard, so you want to put good nutrition in that body. You've worked so hard. So you get the motivation to even do more. And so now the weight loss becomes a product, a byproduct of all that work that you're doing.
But if we go at it with the mentality of, I just want to lose weight, I just want to lose weight, then we are going to go into those extreme diets. Extreme workouts and as [00:11:00] maybe you've less, you've had me say over and over again in menopause hormones rule, it doesn't matter what you do.
Surabhi: Yeah.
Wanjira: If you're going to restrict your diet, you have to ask yourself, what are my hormones going to do when I restrict that diet?
Because hormones rule, so you restrict your diet, your cortisol goes up high. Your body doesn't care that you worked hard. It'll store that fat because it senses you're in danger. Yes. When we are in danger as human beings, we store fat, we don't move it. It doesn't move. So anything that we do, we come at it with the mindset of.
I'm doing this for my brain health, for my bone health, for my muscle mass, for everything else. And let weight loss be a byproduct. If that's meant to happen. Love it. Let it be a byproduct. Don't go at it. And I always tell them, don't go [00:12:00] at it without, uh, without mentality. The other thing that happens is we need to understand that menopause doesn't cause us to gain weight.
It's all the other things that happen. You have joint taking, menopause, so you don't feel, don't feel like exercising, right? You have brain fog, so you're not motivated to get up and exercise. You have so many other things going on, like the shoulder pain, that there's pain, so you don't feel like exercising.
That gets the weight to creep up. The only thing that changes is where we store it, right? Menopause changes where we store our fat, so we store it around the middle. I. Again, it is that old model of the human being. When we were in danger, we store fat around the middle 'cause it's the closest for the body to get it, to use it as energy.
Surabhi: When you break it down like that, it makes so much sense and it helps remove that shame of why do I have this [00:13:00] gut? Right? Yes. Going back to what a lot of women in their middle age, uh, middle ages, they undergo a lot of stress. Yes. Maybe they have, uh, work career aspirations that they're finally taking off.
That coincides with menopause. Yeah. Coincides with if they have children, maybe their children are growing up and leaving the home. Yes. Maybe they have aging parents to take care of. It's a very, very, um, emotional and heavy period of our lives. Or it can be. It can be. And so we know when we're looking at it from a frame of reference for weight loss, I love what you just described, is it's not about the weight loss, it's about how can you feel better?
How can you help those hormones? Because if that cortisol keeps leading, it doesn't matter what else you're doing, how well you're eating, how much you're exercising, your body will still store. Yeah. That fat.
Wanjira: Yeah. Yeah. Hormones, hormones in menopause rule, it doesn't matter how many calories you reduce, how much exercise you do, hormones will [00:14:00] always lead the way.
They will always govern what's happening in your body in menopause. Yeah.
Surabhi: And do you find that women in menopause after menopause eat enough? 'cause one thing that I feel is. I work with a lot of, you know, pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, and people are skipping meals. Yeah. You know, they're, they're busy.
I skip breakfast. Oh. I don't eat till noon. Oh. I sometimes, you know, just have a fruit and so, you know, it leads to this pattern of them snacking a lot in the evenings to try to make up for the foods they haven't had during the day and maybe making poorer choices because they're tired. Is this the same in menopause?
Wanjira: It is the same. And there's, there's, there's many things happening because one of it is that they're busy, they're running around. Uh, so they don't eat during the day. Yeah. And then at night they're trying to catch up because they're too hungry. They're too stressed. Whenever they're stressed, they eat more, and, and, and so they end up [00:15:00] eating, making poor food choices.
The other thing that I find happens is that. They're trying so hard. How can I lose this belly fat? And, oh, a friend went on intermittent fasting. Oh, this friend went on to keto. And so they're grasping at the different diets. And one thing to realize is that all these diets have been researched using 20-year-old men.
Not even women
Surabhi: and definitely not women of color, let's be honest.
Wanjira: Yes. So no, no woman was used there. No women of color. No woman, uh, no middle aged woman was used for the research. Yeah. All this research was done with men. And so I, I say, okay, some of them are so. Hell bent on intermittent fasting. I say, okay, you can do intermittent fasting, but it has to be a very different type of intermittent fasting.
Maybe not every day because right, you can't afford it in menopause. [00:16:00] And so it's all the, they're not eating enough. They're not eating enough protein because somebody told them, whole protein bulks you up. Uh, and people think they just
Surabhi: drink a protein shake and suddenly they'll get a muscle. Like, I wish.
I've been trying to build muscle for years and my body type, it builds so slowly, you know, like, I don't think people understand. I'm like, it takes so much effort to actually build muscle. Yes, you eating more meat or protein sources, vegan protein. So whatever the protein source. It's not gonna bulk you up.
Wanjira: No, it doesn't bulk you up. And, and trying to make them understand that protein not only helps you to stay satiated so that in the evening you're not reaching for that junk food. But it also helps to build that muscle and it also helps with metabolism and just letting them know that it is okay. And they say, aren't I eating too much?
I say, by the time you eat too much protein, you'll be so sick. You can't eat, you can't gotta take too much protein. I mean, you can't sit down and eat three steaks. No. You'll be so [00:17:00] sick. Yeah, you can't, so you never eat. That's,
Surabhi: and you know, I'm a, I've been a lifelong vegetarian and I started noticing I, you know, that I'm not eating enough protein, so I'm like, let me try to eat more.
You know how hard it is to eat more protein? It's hard. I have to, I, I'm already eating all the beans, chickpeas, dolls, I gotta eat so much more of that. And so people don't realize that they're actually not getting enough. And especially as women, it's not encouraged. Right? A lot of the men, it's not encouraged the gym bro, it's encouraged, but for women, it's not really marketed to us.
So I think that, that, that's a very, very important point. Um, and so, you know, nutrition, some of the key points that people are missing are protein. Anything else that people are missing in their nutrition that you've noticed?
Wanjira: Uh, hydration. If I can count, I count. I count nutrition as hydrate.
I count water
as nutrition, as I'm drinking my water right now.
Yeah, I count, uh, water as nutrition because so many women are not hydrating. They're not hydrating and [00:18:00] that they don't realize that that causes also sorts of issues. It causes joint problems, uh, joint inflexibility and joint pain, but it was also the pelvic floor. So they, they're getting the constipation, they're getting the, uh, the blood irritation because they're not drinking enough and everybody, and it's not even that they fear water, they just don't remember I.
They don't remember.
Surabhi: I always think like, imagine a life where we're so busy that we're too busy to even drink water.
Yeah.
Surabhi: Like can you imagine a plant saying, I'm too busy to look at the sun, right, right now. Yes. It's just, I'm just No plants, trees. They would never do that. Animals would never do that.
Yeah. You know, kids would never do that. But as we get older, we are socialized to not listen to our bodies.
Wanjira: Yes.
Surabhi: To not pay attention to, you know, focus on work, work, work and productivity and taking care of any, everyone else. And if. If water is the one thing that people miss, you're right. Pelvic floor health.
I'm a pelvic floor physiotherapist and yeah, you know your vagina is up to 79% water. How [00:19:00] are those pelvic floor muscles gonna feel supple and luscious when they're literally starved and you know, dehydrated like little raisins, right? Yes. So, you know, it's such an easy fix for most people is to just drink more water.
It's accessible. So I love that you mentioned that when it comes to nutrition, in terms of exercise, I think you mentioned it, lifting weights. Yes. Or lifting. Building muscle. Building muscle. Um, do you notice that? What do you think about cardiovascular exercise for menopause? Is there something that works better?
Is it recommended to avoid high intensity exercise? You know, what are the, well, the suggestions, the, the way,
Wanjira: the recommendation at the moment is that women should be doing at least high intensity workouts twice a week. Okay. Twice a week. But they should never be more than 45 minutes. And 45 minutes includes the warmup and the cool down.
Surabhi: Yeah.
Wanjira: Never more than 45 minutes because other at the what, what the latest research shows is that more than that raises the cortisol too high. Ah,
Surabhi: okay. So you want the [00:20:00] balance.
Wanjira: Yes. It's the cortisol issue. It's not even joint aches or anything, it's cortisol. But what I like to tell women is to try and do low impact, high intensity.
So even if you don't feel like doing all the jumping, at least getting your heart rate up there. 'cause we really do need that. Yeah. And then the rest of the time is walks lots of long, long walks that has been shown to really help with menopausal symptoms
Surabhi: and that's. Simpler for most people to access, right?
Yeah. It's, they don't need specialized equipment.
Wanjira: No.
Surabhi: It's something that's simpler to incorporate, taking a walk on your lunch break, walking home from work if you're able to. Um, and let's talk about, you know, you mentioned that there's four pillars for, uh, thriving menopause transition. We've just talked about exercise, nutrition.
What are the other two components?
Wanjira: The other two components are stress. Stress, stress, stress. Women,
Surabhi: I'm smiling because [00:21:00]
Wanjira: we, we are way too familiar with
Surabhi: stress.
Wanjira: We're too familiar with stress, and it is that, you know, women, as you mentioned earlier, they're, they're a caught into this generation where they have been squished from all sides.
They have aging parents, maybe children who need them because now their children are beginning to get children, so they're being called upon as grandmothers. Yes. To take care of their children. And things have changed. Now it's daycare, so when the daycare can't take the kid, it's grandma. Right now, grandma has an aging mother who, or parent.
Or parent who she has to take care of. So she has those two on that side. On this other side, she has the home, the hobby, and the career. If she's still working,
Surabhi: yes.
Wanjira: And the career is at that point where. Nobody cares that you're in menopause. They care that you're pregnant. When you're pregnant. They will look after you in the [00:22:00] office.
They will make sure that you're looked after your marked leave is designed, you have everything set because you're a, you're a woman who is pregnant.
Surabhi: Yeah. And it's visible.
Wanjira: It's a visible change. And it's visible. It's visible. But as a menopausal woman, women, no. We expect you to just put in as much as you were putting in, if not more.
Because, Hey, what's keeping you now from putting in more? You don't have young children. Yeah. You can't use that excuse. Right. That's how they say you can't use that excuse. Yeah. So now we want you to really get into that managerial post and we want you to fly. So they're in this generation that is just squashed.
So stress, and because the woman feels guilty, she does not want to be seen in her career as failing.
Surabhi: As
Wanjira: weak. Yes. As weak. So she puts on more because she wants to be at par with the, with the guys. And then on the other side, she doesn't want to let down her children. So it's just stress. Wow. And stress and stress.[00:23:00]
Surabhi: And I think this is where we need to dismantle some of these, um, social rules of how we operate. Yeah. We are not designed to be men, we are women. Yes. You know, I always think it's funny how we're expected to. Produce, be productive, show up at the same rate as men, while still doing all the other things that men are not doing.
Mm-hmm. Um, giving birth, going through pregnancies, going through menopause, um, household. Yep. You know, who's, who usually takes care of, of aging parents. It's usually the woman. Yes. And so we're expected to do all the things men are doing plus a hundred other things.
Wanjira: Yeah.
Surabhi: And I think if we didn't have to do those a hundred other things.
Of course we can show up at work with the same level of energy. Yes. But the reality is that's not the, that's not the reality for us. And even just looking at the transition through menopause and the declining estrogen, the brain fog, the mental, uh, ability to, you know, concentrate. It's, we need, we need more TLC.
Yes.
Wanjira: Um,
Surabhi: and this phase of our life, if [00:24:00] no other phase of our life, we've done that. You know? Yes. Yeah.
Wanjira: Yeah.
Surabhi: What are some tools for stress management
Wanjira: that people can use? Well, I always say, you know, kind of. The, the first thing I I like to do is before we add anything, even like, you know, people will say, stress management, try meditation.
Well, before we add meditation, what, what can we take away from your plate? Right? What can we move out of your plate? Let's start there by seeing what is it that you do not need to do? All those committees that you belong to, volunteer staff, that you belong to, we need to volunteer. But at this stage of our lives, if that volunteership is just bringing in something else onto your plate, let's take that out for the moment.
Uh, all those, um, your grandkids committees that you belong to. Can you move out? Maybe just let somebody else do that. Let's take out things and then we'll start to add things like meditation. We'll start to add things like those long walks, because those long [00:25:00] walks are part of the meditation. Yeah, they're part the self-care.
Surabhi: Yeah.
Wanjira: Even just going out for a walk for 15 minutes, it makes such a huge difference. Huge, huge difference. And then the other thing is I always ask women, could you talk to your hr? Can they put something together for maybe menopause? A menopause talk? Yeah. Uh, maybe letting men know that the reason why this woman is not showing up at a hundred percent is because maybe she didn't sleep very well, which is another thing that comes with menopause.
So instead of pushing and pushing and pushing, could you just cut a, a little bit of slack?
Surabhi: Yes.
Wanjira: Could, could the, the management may be made to understand that this is another stage of life. It's another stage of life.
Surabhi: And I think often men don't have the capacity to understand that because they're never told, they're never let, they're [00:26:00] never let into these conversations about what's happening.
So to them, you look the same. Are the same
Wanjira: except that you're angry, except that you are now you A,
Surabhi: B-I-T-C-h, or that you're, you know, E Exactly. And so it's. And you know, in general our society devalues aging women. Yes. We are always seeing young and not even just young, like 15 year olds as models. Yes. Right.
Like really young like kids. Yeah. And so our, um, baseline for what is considered acceptable behavior, acceptable appearances is not realistic. No. And so. I think that I, I, that's what I love. You know what you do on your page, you're vocalizing these things and even though it's mostly women who probably follow your content, I think it allows that content to also reach, I.
People who live with women. Yes. You know? Yes. Spouses, dads, mo you know, kids. Right? Like I, I'm thinking about imagine, I, I don't, I did not [00:27:00] know when my mom went through menopause. Yeah. Because she didn't talk about it. She didn't talk about it. She didn't talk about, and now in hindsight, I'm like, oh, that makes sense.
You know, like, that makes sense. You know, and I. I, I do think that as kids, as people are having kids later and later now, they're not necessarily grandparents and parent when they hit menopause. They still got young kids that they're supporting. They still got young kids. Yeah. You know, they've got teenagers in the household.
Yeah. So you've got the raging hormones from the teenager. Yeah. And the raging changes, hormones from the mom, hormones from the mother. And it is a lot. And so I, I do think these open conversations are necessary.
Wanjira: Yes.
Surabhi: Um, because they're not. You can't handle it yourself anymore. Yeah. Like you've tried to handle everything yourself.
Up this point. Up to this point.
Wanjira: You need help. Right. You need help and, and you know, when we talk about raging hormones, you know, can the, the other parent handle maybe their raging hormones of the teenagers can, can they handle other things while mom tries to [00:28:00] Yes. Pick a backseat? Yes. Because then it brings so much tension into the family.
Right, and it's just due to misunderstanding what's going on.
Surabhi: Yeah. I'm gonna let my husband know. Now, preemptively, by the way, when I hit menopause, you know you're handling all this, but it's true.
Wanjira: It actually starts in perimenopause.
Surabhi: I'm already in it. And so I'm already feeling the changes and that's why.
So let's talk about sleep. Yeah, because that was the big thing for me. I used to be, I used to sleep like a baby and like not one of those babies who was up all the time. Yeah. I used to go to bed, hit the pillow, couldn't even remember when I went to sleep. Probably within seconds. And I could sleep like a log, like car.
Car alarms wouldn't wake me up. Fire, uh, alarms wouldn't wake me up. Now. Yeah. It's a whole different story. Yes. So what, what, what is this about? What's happening
Wanjira: again? It's that, um, it's that, uh, estrogen going down because estrogen is also involved in brain, it's also involved in the gut. And so when estrogen [00:29:00] starts to go down, then melatonin is affected.
Surabhi: Oh, okay. Uh,
Wanjira: and melatonin and, and remember that, um, melatonin and cortisol play this dance, you know, when one goes up, the other one comes down. They're playing distance. So we'd say that cortisol is rising for most menopausal women because they're under too much stress. When cortisol is high, melatonin has to stay low.
Surabhi: Gotcha.
Wanjira: Cortisol always pushes melatonin down.
Surabhi: Ah. So if you handle your stress better, or if you have less stress and your cortisol is lower, your melatonin. We'll start to come back up. We'll start
Wanjira: to rise up because what happens is cortisol is very high in the morning because that's the time you're supposed to get up and do your daily duties, which is really good.
It's not an enemy at that point. It's really helping you run your day. That's the engine that you're running your day with. So melatonin is quiet, but by about. Four o'clock melatonin starts [00:30:00] to rise up slowly down. That's why everyone feels sleepy around
Surabhi: three 4:00 PM
Wanjira: Yes. Cortisol starts to go down. So by eight o'clock, cortisol should be almost saying, I don't exist.
Melatonin should be saying, Hey, I'm running the show. Wow. But for most women, that's not happening.
Surabhi: Or if it is, they're ignoring it and they're, yes. Caffeinating and caff drinking their sugary beverages.
Wanjira: Yeah, sugary beverages. Wine to, to, to, to right. To unwind. And when we have that wine to unwind, wine puts us to sleep.
But it doesn't keep us asleep.
Surabhi: Yeah. '
Wanjira: cause it's not natural melatonin. It doesn't keep us asleep. So. I tell women, let's get cortisol all down when it's supposed to be down. Let's get those. Morning. I, I, maybe you have heard me. I'm big on this early morning. Seeing the light in your eyes.
Surabhi: Yeah.
Wanjira: 'cause that's what helps with the circadian rhythm and it [00:31:00] helps to bring that dance, uh, synchronized again.
Surabhi: And so if you are able to get out for a morning walk, is that what you recommend? Yes. Okay. Yes.
Wanjira: Early morning light fasting in the morning without sunglasses. Without sunblock. See the light. And it doesn't have to be sun. It's just natural light. Just natural light coming in. Yeah. From outside. Natural light.
Coming in from outside. And best thing is to go for a walk. 'cause you want to also feel that. Feel that in your body. Yes. In your body. No sunglasses, no sunblock.
Surabhi: Okay.
Wanjira: And that begins to adjust that melatonin circadian rhythm clock and then making sure that in the evening there is wind down. So we, women are so busy during the day, so at when everybody else goes to sleep, that the time they're saying, oh, now I need to catch up on email.
I need to catch up on my social media.
Surabhi: Mm-hmm.
Wanjira: And that's the worst time to be doing it. So again, just re. [00:32:00] Reinjuring that circuit again. So it's all about, as I said before, hormones rule, hormones rule. So whenever you do anything, what hormones is, is going out of balance. What hormone are you pushing out of regulation And that, and you know
Surabhi: what I, what, what, from what you're describing.
You know what it is too is it's not mind over matter anymore. No. You can't just will yourself to, you know, stay up late No. Answer those emails and then be fine. Because it's your hormones, like you're saying, your hormones rule.
Wanjira: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Surabhi: So it's not just, I'll just suck it up and I'll push through and I'll grind.
It's literally does not matter what you do. Your hormones are gonna screw with you if that's what you're doing. Yeah.
Wanjira: Gonna, when we were 20, we could afford to study the whole night. Yeah. Go to class and we would sit for that exam and we would do it. Yeah. And yet we didn't sleep.
Surabhi: Yes. Now
Wanjira: if you don't sleep, now you are, first of all, you, you are already suffering brain fog from the estrogen going down even without [00:33:00] doing anything, and then you don't sleep.
You don't give yourself that sleep, and everything just starts to go all over the place. Then also, let's not forget that going back to that weight gain thing when you don't sleep, ghrelin. Which is our hunger hormone because the brain is looking for some sugar, is looking for some food. Ghrelin goes up very high and ghrelin is the hormone that tells the body you need food, and it is never looking for anything good.
It's always looking for a quick fix. The quickest fix you can get sugar into your brain is something awful, sugary. It's never, the brain is never saying I need protein.
Surabhi: I really could use a cup of dull, you know, like this is not, that's not what it is. No,
Wanjira: no, no. It's, I could use a muffin.
Surabhi: Yeah, a muffin donut cookie.
And you know, you're so right. And with ghrelin being elevated, and this is, again, I think it's an important understanding [00:34:00] for people, even without a science background, is understanding your hormones is. The hormones rule. So there weight loss is not mind over matter. You know, it's not more discipline that takes you, uh, to, you know, be able to exercise.
It's all of these habits that we're creating Yes. That are working against us when we're trying so hard to perform the same as men, but it's, we're we have to a, accept that we're not men.
Yeah.
We have to accept that we have these bodies that are aging. You know, before this started, I talked about me wearing glasses as I used to only wear glasses for nighttime.
For computer work and now I'm relying on them more for computer work, even during the daytime. And it's just my eyes are changing as I get older. Yeah. Um, and so tell, tell me about hot flashes. 'cause this ties into the sleep issues. Yes. Because some people deal with awful night sweats and hot flashes and that interrupts their sleep.
Yes. Why does this happen and how is there anything we can do about it?
Wanjira: Yes. Well one, one of the theories out there, there are so many theories out there about hot [00:35:00] flashes, but one of the hot, one of the theories is that it's the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland is doing something, it's not getting enough messages from the body, so it causes the temperature to raise up very high.
Right? And then, so the body is now trying to cool down by sweating. The other theory out there is that. Estrogen is also a heart protector. It protects the heart, and so when estrogen declines, your heart is trying so hard to pump blood, but it's not pumping blood properly because it doesn't have enough estrogen.
But the other thing that estrogen does, it helps to keep the blood vessels dilated. So the blood vessels are more elastic, are smoother before menopause. When we get into menopause, the blood vessels stiffen due to lack of estrogen. Stiff blood vessels will always cause the heart to work so much harder.[00:36:00]
And when your body senses, your heart is pounding so much harder trying to push in through that blood, the temperature raises. And that also is involved with pituitary. And so when the pituitary senses that now it's like, oh, we have to pull back down that body. Please get the sweat going. That body has to pull down, get the sweat going.
Wow. Which is what is happening in a hot flash. But now that it becomes very tricky because. If your body is fighting so hard because those blood vessels are affected, then this is not something we can dismiss and just say, oh, it's just a hot flash, because that means there's something physically not right.
Mm. The blood vessels are having a very hard time. Your heart is having a very hard time, and this is the time in menopause that women are diagnosed with high blood pressure. Again, it's those blood vessels can't pump blood. So high blood pressure and also [00:37:00] heart disease. And heart disease is the number one killer of menopausal women.
Mm-hmm. More than all the cancers come
Surabhi: cancer, so. So it's not breast cancer and you know what you think it is. Yeah.
Wanjira: It's heart disease more than all the other cancers combined. Wow. So it's just more than just a heart flash. It is your heart is having a hard time. How can we help it? How can we help it?
This is the time when women are getting high blood pressure medications. Then that just takes them into this cascade of medication after medication, after medication. Right.
Surabhi: It's almost like trying to address just the symptom instead of the underlying cause.
Wanjira: Yes. Yeah, and, and most doctors they just say, oh, your blood pressure is high, and they don't try to find out from the woman or, or try to investigate and say, why is her blood pressure high?
I mean, this was my client two years ago. She was [00:38:00] fine, right? How? Why is her blood pressure high? So they just give you a pill. This is the time also that women have been diagnosed with high cholesterol. It's that whole cascading. This is the time when they've been diagnosed with insulin resistance. Their body's also becoming very, uh, very poor at managing insulin and blood sugar, which is still that estrogen.
So they, they have been diagnosed with one disease after the other and they're all intersect with menopause. Yeah. All into this, into this one bowl.
Surabhi: Is it possible for people to. Not necessarily reverse these issues, but to improve these issues through the exercise, nutrition, the stress management piece,
Wanjira: almost all of them Surbahi are reversible.
Surabhi: That is incredible.
Wanjira: Almost all of them. There's absolutely, I don't think there's anything there that's not reversible.
Surabhi: I think that's the message of hope [00:39:00] because so often people lose hope. They think this is it. This is how my body's gonna be. My mom struggled, so I will struggle. Yes. My mom had a bad back, so I'll have a bad back.
Yeah. My, you know, all my siblings are like this, so I'm like this. And I think that's the message of hope, that yes, your estrogen is declining. Yes, your progesterone is impacted. Yes, your cortisol might be more sensitive. But here, are there things you can actually address to kind of get yourself going?
Wanjira: Yes.
Surabhi: And not suffer. Not struggle.
Wanjira: Yeah. And not struggle and that, but that thing again, that I said earlier on, when you think of everything you're doing okay. We tell women estrogen has declined. It has left a gap.
Surabhi: Yes.
Wanjira: What can I do to fill that gap? Okay. I can exercise. I can take care of my nutrition, I can cut out the sugar, I can try and work on my sleep.
I can try and work on my stress.
Surabhi: Right.
Wanjira: So replacing what estrogen has learned,
Surabhi: and you're not necessarily trying to use that to replace the estrogen in your body. [00:40:00] No. But you're trying to like, I like that example that you use of the armor. You're trying to build that armor back.
Wanjira: Yes.
Surabhi: Um. I love that. Is there, are there foods that help with estrogen, postmenopausal, or, you know Yes.
Is that, is that a thing?
Wanjira: Yeah. Yeah. There is a thing and they call them, uh, feto estrogens. Feto estrogens. Are all these, your leafy greens, your berries, all those things that are good for you?
Yeah. Uh,
Wanjira: and the soy products if women can stand them. Uh, some women cannot handle soy, and some women who have a history of breast cancer or have a family history of breast cancer, then soy is not indicated.
It's not encouraged, but if they can, if they don't have all that history, they can try and add those foods. Things like flax seeds help a lot because their feto estrogens, berries, your leafy green vegetables, and then trying to cut out the sugar because I, I always, uh, I don't get angry, but I kind of.
Wonder, when I hear people say, oh, no, no, no. It's okay. You [00:41:00] can eat some sugar. It's okay. Yeah, you can eat some sugar. If you're 20, it's all right. Doesn't affect you. But for somebody who is trying to reverse insulin resistance, reverse high cholesterol, reverse high blood pressure, telling them it's okay to have that sugar doesn't help.
It doesn't help at all because. Yeah.
Surabhi: Sorry. I just, I have heard that a lot and I think it's coming from people who aren't menopausal.
Wanjira: Yeah.
Surabhi: You know, it's coming from people who are in their twenties Yep. Thirties who are not in that phase of life, and Sure. You want to not restrict yourself from all the enjoyable things in life.
Absolutely. Yeah. But from what you're saying is menopausal, you're more sensitive to all these things. Your estrogen, your protection from estrogen, your armor is gone. So Yeah. Are you gonna fill that armor with a bunch of. You know, sugar and foods that are not as nutrient rich, or are you gonna fill it with the things that are actually gonna make you feel better?
Yeah, yeah. Because then when you have that strong armor, yeah, you probably can tolerate a bit of sugar. Oh yeah. But when you don't have that armor, you can, [00:42:00] and you're just like, oh, I saw on Instagram someone said, I don't have to restrict myself. I know, I know. And you're like,
Wanjira: and the person telling you not to restrict yourself is as thin, as thick, this thin.
Yeah. It's always a thin person. It's always the thin person always telling you not to restrict yourself. And as I always tell women, I didn't say we are cutting out sweetness. I.
Surabhi: Yeah, there's so many. Think cutting out sugar, there's so many things that are sweet fruit.
Wanjira: You know, like foods, so many things that are sweet that you can add into your life.
You don't have, it's the added sugar. It's the super, super processed food. Yes, food is processed, but it's the super, super, super processed food that it's no longer nutrition.
Surabhi: Yeah. Uh,
Wanjira: that we need to cut out. And then taking care of also making sure women get their numbers. They know their numbers. What's your, your blood pressure, what's your cholesterol?
What are your cholesterol numbers? What's your fasting glucose and fasting insulin levels. So because the, the old. Um, , phrase that used to say [00:43:00] when something is, is measured, it can be controlled.
Surabhi: Yeah. When you
Wanjira: know your numbers, you can be able to control. And I always encourage women when they go to the doctors if it is not dangerous.
If you are, the doctor says you've got high blood pressure, you've got high cholesterol. If it's not dangerous, ask them, can you give me three months before you put me on medication? Gimme three months.
Surabhi: Mm.
Wanjira: And then let's go into those three months, do your exercise, work on sleep, clean out the nutrition, work on the stress, and then go back and get the measurements.
And if you have done everything and you still, your doctor is still saying, no, I don't like where these numbers are, then maybe go on medication.
Surabhi: But Dont, look at jumping into that as your only first, or your first resort. Or your only resort.
Wanjira: Yeah. And, and not to think that you don't have any power. You know our Right.
I know our grandparents. For our grandparents, the doctor was God.
Surabhi: Yeah. Yep. [00:44:00]
Wanjira: The doctor was, God.
Surabhi: You couldn't argue, you couldn't ask questions. You just said, yep. Okay. Yep. I will listen. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Wanjira: But now we can work, we can work with our doctors.
Surabhi: Yeah.
Wanjira: And, and most doctors are open when they hear that logic.
Can you give me three months?
Surabhi: Yeah.
Wanjira: I'm just going to exercise, clean up my nutrition, clean up my sleep. I'll come back and we'll discuss this. Most doctors will say yes,
Surabhi: and especially like you said, most doctors don't study menopause. So if you're coming, you're, you're asking a doctor who's unfamiliar for the large part with how best to support you in this life stage.
For them, what they're familiar with is medication. Yeah. And so when you are coming with that, you know what, I really wanna try doing this. You know, we call it conservative management, right? Yes. So where you're putting in the effort yourself, I think most doctors would be on board with that. Again, unless you're in a highly dangerous zone or high risk for heart, you know, heart attack or heart stroke, or you know, some kind of heart disease.
Yeah. Um, so I love that. And one of the [00:45:00] things that you mentioned is you, uh, the mindset component around menopause. Yes.
Wanjira: Yeah.
Surabhi: And can you talk a little bit about what mindset.
Wanjira: The mindset, embrace the mindset is the mindset that I like to use, is to tell women, this is a sacred stage of your life. View it as a sacred stage instead of thinking, oh, I'm dumb.
Surabhi: Yeah,
Wanjira: this is a sacred a stage. You are, you are wiser. Yeah. Uh, you know, you, you have more resources. You can, you, you can be able to reach out to more people. So instead of thinking, oh my goodness, this menopause is hard, let's think of it as, oh, this is just the most beautiful part of my life. It's a sacred sta space.
It's a time, it's nature, mother nature, giving you a second chance. Yeah. Saying, Hey, kids are gone now.
Surabhi: Yeah.
Wanjira: Why don't you take care of yourself?
Surabhi: Yeah.
Wanjira: Why don't you do all the things that you've always wanted to do and approach it that way. Can I do more for myself? Yeah. [00:46:00] That's the mindset. What can I do for myself?
I, I, before I give to the other people, I have to fill in my, well, and one of the phrases that I like to use is that if you are giving from an empty, well, if you're at the bottom of the well sucking mud, that's not love.
Surabhi: Hmm.
Wanjira: Don't tell your family you love them so much. You're giving everything to them. If you're at the bottom of the well.
Sucking mud while you've given your water to everybody else. Yeah. That's not bad.
Surabhi: That isn't,
Wanjira: no, it isn't. So how can I feel my well so that I can be able to give some people water, but I, I can't give from an empty Well,
Surabhi: yeah, you can't give it, you can't give it all up. And I think, yeah. I think so often we forget that The big picture.
Yes. Right. But what you're describing is the big picture is you can live well, you can live your life, you can travel, you can have energy, you can exercise, you can do all those things that maybe you didn't have time for. Yes. When your kids were young or when you were younger, you didn't have that [00:47:00] wisdom.
Yes. Now you do. And so the point of exercise isn't necessarily just for the sake of exercise. No. Which is also good enough on its own. But yeah, it's to allow you to live that life. Yes. The point of nutrition isn't to lose the abdominal fat, it's to allow you to live that life. Yes. To be healthy and not suffer from heart disease.
Yes. And um, you know, stress management that I think stress is a huge piece that is impacting us around the world. Yeah. That we do very poorly. Yeah. Yeah. Doctors will say, go manage your stress, but they're not exactly telling you how, how. Or they'll say, go meditate. But like, how, how, and I love that you described the first step is actually removing some of those tasks on your to-do list.
Yes. Um, I heard somebody say they have a task list of things that need to get done. Yes. A list of things that. Would be nice to get done.
Wanjira: Yeah.
Surabhi: And a list of things that other people want you to get done.
Wanjira: Yes, yes,
Surabhi: yes. And just start crossing things off that list. Yeah. Outsource where you can, yeah, ask your partner [00:48:00] or just don't do some of those things.
Wanjira: Some of those things don't need to be done. Do you really need to do them? If it's not a matter of life and death, do you really need to do those things or can you just let them slip by? And then of course, asking yourself, where am I on that list? Yes. Where are, yes,
Surabhi: where are you on that list? That's so true.
Yeah, because certain tasks like cleaning out underneath the, cleaning out the closet, like is that really priority over no getting sleep, getting your walk-in. Like all those things matter more.
Wanjira: They matter more. Nobody's gonna die because the closet was not done.
I won't kill anybody. So, you know, unless it will really kill somebody. It go, let it go. Do you need, uh, do you need all the clothes folded a certain way? No. No, no, no, no, no. Wow. I love it.
Surabhi: Tell me about your menopause made manageable. Membership?
Wanjira: Yes. So my menopause made manageable. Membership is a membership that [00:49:00] includes exercise.
So we get, um, uh, to exercise. They exercise on one, one exercise one day with me. Nice. And that is, uh, on Wednesdays, Monday or evening. Then they also get to do two kettlebell classes with me. Nice. And we have yoga, uh, six yoga classes a week. Wow. And we also have two meditation classes a week.
Surabhi: That's incredible.
Wanjira: Yeah. And then there's also the nutrition aspect. So I give them meal plans if they want to follow the meal plans that I have given them, or they just. Digging, dipping their toes into the meal plans, take what they want and use whatever they want. So I designed the nutritional component. In line with how menopause should be nice.
So what, what do we need to be putting? Are we looking at, uh, you're not eating enough vitamin, you're not getting enough foods with vitamin D. So do you need to go to your doctor? Right? You're not getting enough magnesium. Do you need to go to your doctor to get this? What about your bees? Where can we get them if you're not getting them?[00:50:00]
And my, the menu plan kind of a lot. Alerts a alerts you, because I have put it in such a way that it says, Hey, you didn't get enough protein this week.
Surabhi: Oh, nice. Yeah. So, so you don't have to overthink yourself. No. It's, it's guiding you. Yes. Um, and it's all, are people able to access it online? '
Wanjira: cause where do you live?
Yes. Yeah, so I'm in Montreal, so it's all online. Everything is online. And uh, so we meet over Zoom and then. When people can't make it, everything is recorded and nice. You have all the recordings. Actually I have almost four years worth of recordings there, so that's incredible. So no one can say, I didn't find whatever I needed.
Uh, yeah. So I teach or I teach live, and then they have all the recordings to access to, and the menu plans are there. They can access the nutritional component. That's awesome. Anything that they need, they're supported through that program.
Surabhi: Yeah, I will share the link to that when I share this podcast episode.
Thank, thank you so much because literally everybody who is in menopause or in perimenopause, so ages 35 and up, you need to be following [00:51:00] Wanjira because you are gonna learn so much. I've learned so much through following you. Thank you. Um, I love to ask some questions about, just for you, what do, what are some things that you do, three things that you do for yourself every day for your self-care to fill up your well?
Wanjira: Okay. I walk with my dogs. I have two, two dogs, two huskies. Nice. So every morning they need their walk, but I need that walk too. I was gonna say winter too, I guess. 'cause Montreal is cold, for those of you who dunno. Winter too. And, uh, they don't care. They're, and especially their huskies. So that's the time when they're happy.
They need their time outside. They're so happy in the winter. So I do my walks with my dogs every morning. And then I do my yoga every morning. I love that. And uh, then the other thing that I like to do is reading. I read a lot. So, and, and a lot of fiction and a lot of autobiographies. Those really keep me going.
They fill my, well, yeah. Nice. Three things. I used
Surabhi: to go through a phase of, I don't know if you can see the books, A lot of self-help books, leadership type books, yes. But sometimes it can be really heavy. So I like that you said fiction and some [00:52:00] things that are just entertaining for you too, right? Yes.
Wanjira: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Surabhi: What is one thing that you're really passionate about right now?
Wanjira: Right now I'm so passionate about helping women build strength. I, it's, I, it just makes me so happy to hear a woman say, I'm feeling so strong.
Surabhi: I love it.
Wanjira: I'm passionate about that. Anything I can do to make them feel strong.
Surabhi: Yes. Yeah. Yes, and I fully agree. I love helping people feel. Just confident and strong in their bodies. Um, women are leaders of the world. Yeah. So the more more of us that feel good, yes. The better the world is gonna be. Yeah. The better, better our homes are gonna be. So, um, I, I completely agree.
Wanjira: And the children, our children see the examples and, you know, even if you know, it's, um.
It's your grandchildren. They see, Hey, grandma is exercising. Whoa. That's good. Grandma is getting strong. She feels strong. She speaks with a strong voice. Yes. She has a strong mind. She's got resilience.
Surabhi: Yep. Yeah, I, [00:53:00] um, I love that. And for people who don't, I mean, I'm looking at you. This is a video call. You are radiant, right?
And so, so often we have this picture of what menopause should look like. Yes. And we see someone. Looking super stressed, angry, and whatnot. Like, you look, you are full of joy and you are just so bright. And I want people to say, you know what? I can look and feel like that too. Yes. 'cause you are doing the work.
It's not it, it's not that it just happens for you. No. You are doing that work. You're, you're prioritizing your self care and your needs. Yeah.
Wanjira: Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for that. Yeah.
Surabhi: Yeah. Uh, you're welcome. If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
Wanjira: I wish I would get more young people, more women into research,
Surabhi: ah,
Wanjira: and researching women's health.
Which is an area that is so underfunded. So under, under, so not not taken care of.
Surabhi: Yeah.
Wanjira: But I wish that it would be more women doing the research [00:54:00] because they would understand and they have, they have a stake in it, you know?
Surabhi: Yes.
Wanjira: It's not a guy saying, oh, it failed. You know, this is a woman saying, I have to get it because I'm a woman.
Surabhi: Yeah. This is directly impacting us.
Wanjira: Yes. More research done by more women. I love that. Yeah.
Surabhi: Because a lot of studies that still come out about women's health are men. Yeah. And while I appreciate that there is research done at all. Yeah. You. Completely lack a lot of understanding of why this research even matters when Yes.
You know, you don't really understand how it is feeling in your body. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And if people wanna connect with you, where can they find out your information?
Wanjira: Yeah, so I have my website, which is wanjira.comwww.wanjira.com I'm on uh, social media. Instagram is at Studio Wanjira uh, Facebook is at Studio Wanjira
and also, you know, they can get to me by email, uh, following my e from my website. They [00:55:00] can always contact me there. Amazing. A contact form there that they can use. Yeah. Yeah. I'll
Surabhi: share all of those links. Thank you. And, um, when we share this episode, and what would you say is your biggest strength?
Wanjira: I think my biggest strength at the moment, I think is resilience.
Surabhi: Yeah.
Wanjira: Resilience. I, I, uh. I'm pretty resilient. I can give myself that.
Surabhi: And I think resilience is often also earned, right? Yes. So you put in that work, you've, you know, you've built your armor up so that you can be resilient.
Wanjira: Yes.
Surabhi: Um, thank you so much for sharing your time and your expertise and your wisdom with um, US today.
I'm so excited for this episode to come out and for. Our audience is to listen to it and learn from it.
Wanjira: Yeah.
Surabhi: Um, and to work with you because I think this is. You know, so often we think I can do it myself.
Wanjira: Yeah.
Surabhi: And if you could have done it yourself, you would've done it by now. That's how I always look at it.
And if you are struggling, there is no shame [00:56:00] in getting help. Yeah. Yeah. It's actually, um, the thing that makes the most sense in this phase of life, when you're busy and you don't have as much capacity to. Figure it all out on your own. Yes.
Wanjira: Yeah. Yeah. Getting somebody to help you figure it out. Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, I'm so glad that we did this. So thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to kind of talk. I love, I love to talk about menopause.
Surabhi: I know. I can tell you're so passionate about it and you're just, you know so much about it from a holistic perspective. Thank you. You're not just strength, just fitness, just this.
You're combining it all and you're really encompassing what women in this phase of life. Really need. Yes. Um, and you're doing it without judgment. I think that's the other piece is it's very easy to see that thin 20-year-old harping on you for nutrition and this and that, but I actually think women need to see somebody who is in the similar phase of life that they're in.
Wanjira: Yes.
Surabhi: You know, and see that it is attainable.
Wanjira: Yeah. Yeah. It is. It is attainable and it, it can be [00:57:00] done and it can be done. I'm excited now. I'm looking forward to menopause.
Surabhi: But you know what it is. I've seen so many women now through the perimenopausal to menopausal postmenopausal transition, thriving, and I.
I think we need to see that too. Yes. We see all the women struggling and we know that yes, but we also need to see women thriving so we can be like, Hey, how can I get there?
Wanjira: Yes. Yeah.
Surabhi: What can I do to get myself there?
Wanjira: Yeah. Yeah. Because it
Surabhi: inspires me, right? It doesn't, um, it should inspire all of us to see other women thriving.
Wanjira: I think it should inspire us, you know? And then, you know, we can thrive. We can thrive because we just don't want to just to be surviving. We need to thrive. We need, and, and it also helps our kids, our grandkids, to see, hey. It's not a, a stage of life to be dreaded.
Surabhi: Yes, that's it.
Wanjira: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Surabhi: I don't wanna be.
I don't want my kids to think that getting old is a bad thing. Getting old is a blessing and I want them to understand and respect [00:58:00] their stage of life and mine and yeah, my, my parents and, you know, all, all of the stages. Yes. Especially as women. 'cause I think men, they often are, uh, assumed to be, you know, wiser, smarter as they age.
Sometimes even more attractive as they age, they age. Whereas women aren't. And so we need to, we need to pour into ourselves so that we have that confidence to show up from within. 'cause sometimes society is like 50 years behind. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Um. Alright, Wanjira, thank you again for your time. Thank you so much J Thank you to everyone who's listening to this episode.
If this helped you, please share this widely with your communities. Share that with your moms, your grandmothers. Um, share this with people who need to hear that. You know, going to the doctor and just pumping themselves full of medications is not the only solution for the symptoms that they're dealing with.
That these changes don't take years and years. Like you said, give it three months, put in that work and you're gonna start to see results.
Wanjira: Yeah. [00:59:00]
Surabhi: Yeah, definitely,
Wanjira: definitely.
Surabhi: Thanks everyone. Thank you.
Thank you for tuning into this episode of Mom Strength and being part of this important conversation. Check out the show notes for more info and links and we'll chat again real soon.
