Menopause, Alcohol, and Nutrition: Emma Bardwell's Insights on Navigating This Complex Phase

What if you could navigate the complexities of menopause with a little help from nutrition and lifestyle changes? Join us for a meaningful conversation with registered nutritionist and author Emma Bardwell, as we delve into the lesser-known facets of menopause and its impacts. Emma provides startling insights into Peri-Menopause, a phase that can span up to 12 years. We uncover how many women, unsure of what to expect during this period, use alcohol as a coping mechanism, leading to further health complications. Emma stresses the importance of vitamins and minerals, emphasizing the need for increased awareness during this transformative time.

Have you ever thought about the interplay between alcohol and estrogen during menopause? Our discussion further explores how alcohol consumption during menopause can mess with estrogen levels, potentially affecting mental and physical health. We critique how society often downplays menopause compared to puberty, and call for more attention and support for women in this phase of life. Emma provides her expert take on hormone replacement therapy, its potential risks, and how it can be a game-changer for some women.

Emma underscores the importance of nutrition, lifestyle adjustments, exercise, sleep, and stress reduction in managing menopause. She sheds light on the role of a nutritionist in providing advice on intermittent fasting and nutrition for weight management. She also highlights the power of community, both online and offline, and the support that can be found within these spaces. We also delve back into the risks surrounding alcohol consumption during menopause. Tune in to gain insights into the foundations of navigating menopause and the impact of hormone therapy on menopausal women.

website: https://www.emmabardwell.com/
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/emma.bardwell/

MEG & BELLA

Megan Webb: https://glassfulfilled.com.au
Instagram: @glassfulfilled
Bookclub: https://www.alcoholfreedom.com.au/unwinedbookclub

Isabella Ferguson: https://isabellaferguson.com.au
Instagram: @alcoholandstresswithisabella
Instagram: @kidsandalcohol

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:03

Hello and welcome to another episode of Not Drinking Today podcast, and with me today I have Emma Bardwell. Emma is a registered nutritionist, a health writer and an author of the Peri-Menopause Solution. Now, obviously, this is my second Menopause guest. I'm having a. You know I am interested in menopause, and with good reason, I think, because most you know half the world's female, and I've reached out to Emma, who is full of information, and I'm really excited to have her on today. So welcome, emma.

Speaker 2: 1:39

Thank you so much for having me, and I think you know this is the menopause conversation can run and run and run. I think there has been a lot of times now where we haven't been so open about it. So the more conversation and the more discussion that we are having, the better.

Speaker 1: 1:57

Yeah, totally, we agree. Well, can we start with a bit about your story, emma?

Speaker 2: 2:04

Yeah. So I went into Peri-Menopause, which is that kind of the lead up to menopause around the age of 42. So at that time what I didn't really know was that that's actually quite normal. You know, the Peri-Menopause period can be up to 10 years before you know your final period ever. So a decade, even 12 years, is not unheard of.

Speaker 2: 2:36

But when I tried to kind of seek help about it with my GP, they were very dismissive when I talked about Peri-Menopause, saying I was far too young, it definitely wasn't happening, you know, and trying to put it down to lots of other things. And I think perhaps that isn't something that women are prepared for. And that's kind of one of the main reasons why I wrote my book, the Peri-Menopause Solution, because I want younger women to be aware of what is going to happen, because it happens to all of us, as you alluded to in your intro. And I also wanted women to feel prepared for this stage, because I think that with the right kind of strategies and tools in your toolkit, actually it doesn't have to be that you feel like you're falling off a cliff, which is what a lot of women you know, that's how a lot of women do feel when it finally does happen, I think mainly because they don't know what's going to happen and they haven't got those kind of tools, you know, in order to kind of deal with it.

Speaker 1: 3:40

Yeah, definitely, I think it's. You know, you said you were 42 and it is so brushed off, you know I think we almost joke about it. Oh, you're too young, you know, even together with friends. But yeah, it was interesting. So I had Dr Rebecca Lewis on recently and she said it was a 10, it could be up to 10 years sort of process which was quite mind blowing for me. I didn't realise it was that long and I've told my listeners probably know that I sort of hit menopause at 46, so I just turned 50. And it was. It just was very sudden. So I don't know.

Speaker 1: 4:20

I kind of think maybe it was alcohol related, but it could also have been. I had depression at the time. I lost a lot of weight, I'm not really sure, but I certainly wasn't aware before that of being in perimenopause. But when I look back, there are so many things that could be explained by that. Or you know, when I've read that, just having that lull, feeling low, you know, I definitely. Well, I got depression, you know, and I've never had that before and I don't know if that's a common thing. But looking back, I definitely was drinking because I felt so low, and then the cycle continues.

Speaker 2: 5:03

Yeah, I mean 45 is the average age of perimenopause, so it's totally within. You know, it's not an outlandish kind of idea for that to happen. And I think, like your experience, I see that a lot in clinic with lots of women. The kind of the psychological side of the symptoms isn't really talked about enough and I think a lot of women can feel very isolated, they start to withdraw from their friends. They put it down to lots of different things, but they don't always connect it with hormones. They think that it's just life, that it's, you know, stress, it's work, it's juggling lots of different things which we invariably are in middle age. And so, yeah, I do see a very common pattern with women kind of using alcohol as a crutch and I think it kind of it takes the edge off all of those symptoms and sometimes it can actually mask them. So I think for a lot of women they don't even notice what is happening because they're spending half of their life either kind of inebriated or, you know, hung over and trying to kind of recover from that.

Speaker 1: 6:19

Yeah, yeah, and some of the hangover symptoms are. You know this well. You put it down to that, and for me, I certainly drank far too much during that time and so I was masking symptoms. Once I stopped, I had actually a really terrible leg pain and it was like I did swap legs. I think it's like restless leg is what I kind of researched, and the doctors were just like, oh, it's unexplained pain, fibromyalgia, so nothing was done and it was only with my looking into things that I came across some menopause symptoms that weren't so common and I thought, oh, I think I've been masking that, you know. And the agony I was in once I stopped drinking because of that I was worried I wasn't going to be able to walk properly again.

Speaker 2: 7:14

It's really interesting, because what alcohol actually depletes a lot of vitamins. So, particularly the B vitamins and also things like vitamin D and magnesium, and when you are depleted in magnesium especially, you can get things like cramps and restless legs. So you know, it's highly likely that there would have been that kind of link yeah yeah, I definitely got into the magnesium.

Speaker 1: 7:48

And the thing is, though, when I was still drinking, I was really I was kind of health conscious, which is ironic because, you know, the amount I was drinking was not healthy in any way, shape or form. But I was always conscious of my health. I think I always have been, but I just don't think I would have you know. So I'd have magnesium occasionally or whenever I remembered, which wasn't so often, but whatever I was doing was not going to be helping because, like you said, I was depleting it anyway by the alcohol intake. And so you know, this is the thing all the symptoms in middle age and which might be from drinking too much and then depleting, or it might be menopause or it might be something else, it's all similar-ish. I think you know you can. A lot of the symptoms are similar.

Speaker 2: 8:35

Yeah, it's really hard, I think, for women, particularly if they're in the throes of perimenopause and they're feeling exhausted and fatigued and kind of rung out and really stressed and they're not sleeping. It's really hard to untangle what is hormones and what is just life. So when I start working with women, I often get them, before we do anything, to do some kind of baseline blood testing, which is really helpful. So first of all I get them to check their thyroid, because a lot of thyroid dysfunction symptoms can mimic those of perimenopause. So weight gain, you know, brain fog, anxiety, palpitations, thinning hair. And I will also get them to check their iron levels.

Speaker 2: 9:23

So lots of women start to have very heavy periods in perimenopause and their iron levels can be very depleted. And actually if they've had children a lot of times, they haven't actually got their iron levels kind of replete after pregnancy. So they've been, you know, living life with these really low iron levels for some time and again that can make you incredibly fatigued, it can make your hair fall out, it can affect your skin, it can make your skin itchy, it can affect your sleep. So you know, these are kind of really simple things that once you know what your levels are. It can then be really helpful to turn them around, and the other ones are Vitamin D, folate, b12, all of these things you can get checked out with your GP.

Speaker 1: 10:17

Yeah, yeah, so really important that you go to the GP as well and you know, get the testing not to. You know, we don't assume it's menopause, we don't assume it's just to hang over, that kind of thing. Get everything checked out. I definitely know I was lacking in certain nutrients and vitamins and, gosh, I could feel that once I stopped drinking. But I think it's just quite incredible for the amount of people going through this. There's just not a lot of information out there and you were just saying before we went on air that over in the UK there's quite a lot of talk about it happening now. Is that what you were saying?

Speaker 2: 10:59

Yeah, I think in the UK we're kind of at the forefront of this big reframing, I think, of menopause. So, yeah, there are lots of celebrities coming out and talking about their own experiences. There is talk in government about changing policies, particularly in the workplace. There's still a lot of work to be done, but yeah, there's definitely the tide is definitely turning, Thankfully, because for too long, you know, the whole subject of menopause has kind of been shrouded in Christy and shame and quite a lot of stigma and we really do need to chip away at that and I think we are doing that. But there is still quite a lot of work to be done.

Speaker 1: 11:44

Yeah, yeah. No, that's really great though that you know it's happening, starting to happen. I just feel really passionate about it too, because at this sort of middle age of life, you know, women in the well these days have the job, have the kids. You know we do it all and, like you said, even after having children, we might not have ever got back to a balance or a healthy balance, but you know, it's to me it just.

Speaker 1: 12:13

There's so many things we're going through that, to me, I'd reach for a drink because of, and so I just think it's so important to have the understanding of what can be going on rather than people reaching for a drink, because this is the time in life where drinking can increase, it does in, you know, with women because of these things, you know, and it's easy to just numb out, but I feel like if we can get the word out more, you know, go to the GP, ask, talk about menopause, ask for these tests, it might avoid, you know, people might avoid then drinking to cover this up, and anything we can do to stop people drinking too much, I feel is going to be really helpful. So, and there's just not enough about menopause out there, when it's something we're all going through or going to go through Exactly, exactly.

Speaker 2: 13:08

You know there's a lot of talk about pregnancy but not everybody has a baby. But every single woman will go through this at some stage. And yeah, we need to kind of take away that secrecy and also shame. And I think it's very similar actually with drinking. I think a lot of women feel very shameful, you know, very ashamed of the fact that they can't cope and that they are kind of overly using alcohol as a crutch and maybe they're not kind of addressing the fact that it is starting to take over their lives to a degree. And I think a lot of women actually can, you know they've, they build up this kind of tolerance with alcohol and they start to function actually quite well, but behind the scenes it's really kind of impacting their mood, their sleep, their relationships, their identity, their self-esteem. So, yeah, we definitely don't talk about alcohol enough and the fact that it can be so detrimental. I think there's this real kind of oh, you know, almost comical, oh it's, it's mummy's wine time, you know, that kind of side of things.

Speaker 2: 14:22

But, yeah, it's potentially a real issue.

Speaker 2: 14:26

So do you see clients that you think maybe have masked their symptoms with alcohol or yeah, I mean, I do see a lot of women who are very reluctant because I get them to do a food diary and you know they tell me everything that they're eating and drinking. They are really happy to increase protein, to eat more fruit, veg, but they are very reluctant to give up that alcohol. You know, that's the kind of thing that we have a real tussle over, and I'm not a killjoy and I realize I recognize that we need to. You know it could be a part of a social interaction and social interaction is really really important at this time. But equally, there is giving up or, you know, minimizing.

Speaker 2: 15:14

Reducing alcohol has so many benefits and those benefits are very often felt very quickly. So it's a real kind of quick win. And particularly if women are in the throes of perimenopause and they are really kind of flawed by their symptoms, then reducing alcohol is is something that is pretty high up on the list of things that I asked them to do. You know it can impact your. It impacts your, your estrogen levels from from the get go. So it's of course it makes sense to you know, to minimize it. It can cause hot flushes and night sweats, it gives you palpitations, it's very it's kind of part and parcel of those mood swings that we can often feel depression, anxiety. It stresses our central nervous system. It is a depressant. It's also a carcinogen and you know lots of women are kind of very reluctant to think about hormone therapy, to take HRT, but they but they're not kind of considering the fact that the regular intake of wine each night is severely increasing their risk of breast cancer.

Speaker 2: 16:32

You know, that's a given, not a given as, but it certainly increases that, that likelihood. So it's definitely something to be thinking about.

Speaker 1: 16:44

Yeah, yeah, and it's funny. When I heard about HRT, I'm like, oh, I must avoid that. But you know, bring on the wine. It's, it's ironic what I would put in my body and then say no to. You know, and I was just thinking back when you were talking about just before, about how we all you know girls and women go through this.

Speaker 1: 17:07

But when you're a girl, oh, you're talking about pregnancy and how everyone you know talks about it, knows about it, and when we were young, your first period, I mean, some people had parties for that. Personally, I'd rather didn't, but you know, I'm like, oh, this is awful, but it it's almost like as soon as that happened, it's like, oh well, that's why you feel like this it's okay, you need a day in bed. You're moody, you feel a lot of pain, and that's very accepted because we know it's a. Really your hormones are going crazy. But we don't have that. At the other end, which you mentioned, workplaces are looking into that because of course, it's going to have similar, you know, hormonal issues for women, but it's just not treated the same. It's crazy.

Speaker 2: 17:54

Yeah, I often liken menopause to kind of puberty, but in reverse. And yeah, you're right, we give teenagers, you know, lots of dispensation. You know it's like, yeah, stay in bed, look after yourself. We kind of look after them, don't we? But the same, that same kind of attention and care isn't given to very menopausal and menopausal women and it really, really does need to be.

Speaker 1: 18:20

Yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned shame and everything, and I think that that's true. You know, I don't, and I don't know if it's shame, but I would never say to someone I'm having a few extra hours in bed, I feel really hormonal. I think it's menopause. You know, it's not, it's just different. But thankfully the conversation is getting getting louder.

Speaker 2: 18:45

Well, yeah and talk about you know it sounds a little bit right, but putting them, putting the me in menopause as in we're very good at looking after everybody else and quite often we get shunted down the list, but actually really do you know? This is the critical time to be looking at our mental health, our physical health and really starting to think about self care, because this really is the time when we need to be looking at how we want the next three, four decades potentially to look.

Speaker 1: 19:24

Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned alcohol affecting estrogen, so can you just explain a bit more about that?

Speaker 2: 19:33

Yeah, so because alcohol is metabolised in the liver and so is estrogen to. You know, to a degree. Actually, when you are, when your liver is taken up with the breaking down of alcohol, it means that it impacts the levels of hormones, not just estrogen, but also progesterone and testosterone in your body. So that's why you know there is a link between, let's say well, things that we often call Eastern dominant types of conditions, so things like fibroids. There seems to be a link between fibroids and estrogen. There seems to be a link between breast cancer and estrogen. So you know, anything that we can do in order to help that the liver to kind of metabolise those hormones is really, really important.

Speaker 1: 20:31

Yeah, yeah, right. And so, just speaking of estrogen, I learnt a lot about HRT in the last podcast I did about this and it was really interesting because I think I did have a preconceived idea that it was bad, and Dr Lewis explained that there was something that came out years ago that scared people, but it wasn't actually the right facts. What do you think of HRT?

Speaker 2: 20:59

Yeah, so I am very pro HRT for the right person, for the right, you know. I think it can be incredibly helpful, and for lots of women it can actually be life changing, particularly if you are, if they are suffering from things like hot flushes, you know, it really can improve lives dramatically. So, yeah, we need to be talking about hormone therapy a lot more, and we need to kind of stop scaring women too. You know this, the Women's Health Initiative, which is the study that you're referring to. It came 20 years ago, and it's been largely you know it's been completely debunked. It was using a kind of hormone therapy that we simply don't use anymore. It was based on much older women, and so, yeah, the whole kind of the preparations that we use now are completely different. So, yes, absolutely, hormone therapy can be a really invaluable tool for women to kind of have in their toolkit.

Speaker 2: 22:06

There's lots of talk about it here, and I think that's probably filtering down through now into, you know, australia and the States, and almost what's happening, though, is the kind of pendulum is swinging so much in towards the talk of HRT and hormone therapy here that what's happening is we're kind of forgetting to talk about the fundamentals that everyone can do, because not every woman can take or wants to take hormone therapy. But I do think that every woman should know about lifestyle, exercise, sleep, stress reduction, nutrition, you know, those can. Those really are the foundations that I think we should be telling women that you know and kind of reinforcing that they are extremely powerful. They're not just a little kind of fluffy add on, they really are the fundamentals. I think.

Speaker 1: 23:01

Yeah, right, and so, as a nutritionist, what do you recommend to your clients? If, apart from HRT or yeah, what are the things you recommend?

Speaker 2: 23:13

Yeah, so it's not my job to talk about HRT or recommend it's because nutrition is not a doctor, so but I can obviously give my opinion to them.

Speaker 2: 23:22

Yeah but it's much an individualized conversation that a woman would have to have with her doctor. But in terms of nutrition it's it's really working on things like increasing the number of plant foods that women are eating. So, you know, making sure that they're getting enough fiber fibers really good for your digestive health, but it also feeds your good gut bacteria and there's more and more emerging evidence about the fact that microbiota, which is this collection of bacteria that lives in your gut, has a really kind of positive knock on influence with lots of different things, including brain health, gut health, obviously, your immune function and even your hormone production. So eat more plants, eat more protein. Lots of women I talked to aren't getting enough, particularly at breakfast time or whenever they they're kind of first meal is. So lots of women are starting with croissants or toast, orange juice, you know, and they're not getting that kind of sustenance.

Speaker 2: 24:26

If you eat lots of protein, particularly in your first meal, is sets you up for the day, so it gives you lots of energy, it makes it helps to kind of regulate your blood glucose levels. It helps to build muscle you know, as we get older we can lose muscle mass and it can really help with weight maintenance, which is another issue that I see a lot of women complaining about and cravings, you know, particularly things like sweet foods. Calcium is also really important. We have to really think about our bone health at this time. So a lot of women won't be getting enough calcium, particularly if they're not eating dairy, and there's this real kind of movement away from eating dairy, which is fine. You know a lot, of, a lot of people are worried about the kind of ethical implications, but it just means that if you're taking out dairy, we really need to replace it with, you know, fortified plant milks, for example, and really kind of recognizing that you can get calcium from lots of different foods. It doesn't always have to be dairy.

Speaker 1: 25:34

So those are the kind of big ones.

Speaker 1: 25:37

Yeah, yeah, so interesting. I actually did study nutrition a while ago, just as a nutrition coach, and I'm also very passionate about that, so I love hearing about that. I sort of just got lulled into listening to what you were saying. You know what I have found interesting and this is a bit off topic, but there's a lot of people doing fasting now and that, and I feel like I've always believed it's important to eat regularly, and what you've just said about protein in the morning is reminding me that I've got to, you know, eat better in the morning. Basically, so to you, what do you think of fasting?

Speaker 2: 26:15

So I think for I don't think there's any research to say that extend you know I'm talking to lots of people who are kind of doing these long, really extended fasts I don't there's no research to say that that's of any benefit. Where, where intermittent fasting can be helpful is is that kind of connection with weight loss and that's weight loss is. Weight management is probably the number one reason that women come to see me, and it's simply a tool in which you can get into a calorie deficit, so in which you can, you know, reduce the number of calories that you are consuming. So it can be really helpful, but you don't need to do it for these long periods of time. I usually say something like 16, eight.

Speaker 2: 27:03

So you're fasting for 16 hours and that's overnight. So much of that. You are asleep and you're eating within this kind of eight hour window, but it could be a 10 hour window, it could even be a 12 hour window. The kind of the use that I think it has is that for lots of women, their issue is snacking, and it's snacking at night, and if you're kind of eating within this window, it can help you mentally to kind of have these kind of bookends to the day I open my eating window, let's say, at 11, and I close it at eight, and that means that when you are invariably I don't know watching telly and relaxing in the evening, you're less inclined to snack. Does that make sense?

Speaker 1: 27:47

Yeah, yeah, totally. I mean I am definitely a nighttime snacker. When you mentioned as people coming to see you or menopause, you know, putting on weight and everything, I know mine's actually related to the sugar I eat, it's not just. But then you know you said you can crave that and I think I'm. I do get in a cycle of craving the sweet at night and I know I don't need that. You know I'm much better off stopping eating, having a big drink of water or cup of tea or whatever, and stopping. I know I feel better for that.

Speaker 2: 28:22

Well, that's where I think protein is really helpful and kind of reducing the need for snacking. So if you're eating three big robust, really filling, satiating meals throughout the day, actually you don't need to snack so much. And I think also, you know, when it flipping around back to alcohol, I think for lots of women it becomes a crutch almost, because it's they kind of get that sugar fix from it, particularly things like wine, you know, high in sugar. It's really high in histamine too, which, incidentally, you know lots of.

Speaker 2: 28:59

As we get older we could become slightly less histamine tolerant and that means that when you start, you know lots of women will say God, I've actually become kind of almost allergic to alcohol. You know, when I have a drink my eyes start to run, I get really kind of stuffed, blocked up nose, I get really itchy, I, you know I'm flushing, I've got this kind of facial flushing happening and a lot of that is actually connected to the histamine that's in particularly wine. But you know, lots of, lots of alcohol. So, again, you know, I think that's something to be aware of with our relationship with alcohol. And alcohol also, you know it increases your appetite. It means that you are less inclined to make good food choices, not just when you're drinking but also the next day, because invariably you haven't slept very well and that can mean that you are kind of looking for that quick energy fix, which often comes in the form of sugar.

Speaker 1: 30:04

Yeah, yeah, it's that when I was drinking a vicious cycle and I was just eating crap and then I'd go on a health kick, or so I call it, but really it was a health kick with wine, I mean that's not, but yeah, it just to think of. Yeah, it just wasn't treating my body very well at all. And, interestingly, just more recently I started having a lot of allergic reactions to things that I wasn't allergic to, like I was getting an itchy throat and it started a couple. Well, when I was drinking a couple of years ago I started to get itchy and I think that is the histamine thing you're talking about, and it even though I gave up alcohol. I think I'd become sensitive to things. So I ended up going to the doctor saying this is ridiculous, I'm taking so many anti-histamines, and she said it could be histamine. So I gave up some of the food for a few weeks and you know I'm okay now.

Speaker 2: 31:03

So really interesting.

Speaker 1: 31:05

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 31:06

I often describe histamine in turn. It's almost like you have a bucket and we all have a threshold that straight at that histamine bucket kind of fills up. It can fill up because of certain foods that contain histamine, and they are quite often healthy foods, things like spinach, bananas, you know, fermented foods. We're always telling people to eat more fermented food, dairy, but also things like alcohol. And as that bucket kind of fills up, it then starts to tip over and that's when we get those symptoms that you were describing. So it's really important to keep emptying your histamine bucket, and stress also can add to it.

Speaker 2: 31:47

There are certain types of foods, definitely. I often tell women to keep a food diary so that they can work out what their triggers are, because it's very individual. But there are also certain supplements that you can take. So vitamin C is a natural anti-histamine, as is quercetin. I write about it in the book actually, because I think it's a site of menopause perimenopause that often doesn't get investigated enough. I think a lot of women are having these kind of symptoms and they're not putting it down to that because it's just not really very well researched or kind of widely discussed.

Speaker 1: 32:28

Oh, it's so interesting. Yeah, funnily enough, I had to give up avocado and tomatoes and things for three weeks. I'm thinking this is ridiculous. It's the healthy foods, whereas it probably will start off me with wine.

Speaker 2: 32:42

But can you have you reintroduce them.

Speaker 1: 32:45

Yes, yes, and I'm not getting there.

Speaker 2: 32:48

The itchy throat, that's brilliant Sometimes yeah, you want a low histamine diet just to kind of reset and re-calibrate, and then actually you can go back to introducing particularly those healthy foods.

Speaker 1: 33:00

Yeah, yeah, so I was really into sauerkraut and kimchi and that, so I had to stop that for a bit. I haven't actually had that for a while. So, but, look, avocados were causing major itching throat, so it's. But that's gone now. So, but yeah, I just.

Speaker 1: 33:18

It's just so interesting and I think, you know, coming up to this age as a lot of listeners are similar age to me, like you know, 40s, 50s there's just so many things that are changing in our body and it's so important to look at health. And you know some people, the people that listen, and well, me particularly I drank too much. Some of my listeners will be on that journey too, but there's some people that don't, and that's totally fine, they can moderate. You know, not, I couldn't. But when you're just having too much alcohol, you know it is masking all these things and I just think it's so important that we look at the other reasons first. You know, and, like I say, all the time, go to the GP and get the tests.

Speaker 1: 34:09

And yeah, it's just, it's really nice to talk to you and I think on your website I saw some beautiful food and recipes, if you got up, and ideas for breakfast and that, and I'm like I'm going to try them. You know the overnight oats, and I think there was one that was it had walnuts and everything. I thought, oh, that looks so good, but there's lots of resources on there out there, so I'll put your website in there, yeah.

Speaker 2: 34:37

There's actually more resources on my Instagram account which is at mbadwell. Loads of recipes on there, loads of advice and tips, because, yeah, you know, we're all really busy and time poor and we just want to make life easy with things like batch cooking and just simple recipes that you can chart together really quickly.

Speaker 1: 35:01

Oh, definitely. I think my biggest trip up is when I have to make things on the spot. I love being able to batch, make things or have things ready for the next morning to go, so that is just also helpful, and I'll put all of your where we can contact you in the show notes. But I think that I would love to keep talking. I'm so interested in everything. It's just been a real pleasure to hear from you, and I'm sure all the listeners have enjoyed it too. So thank you for giving us your time, emma.

Speaker 2: 35:33

Thank you, megan, and thanks for having me, you know, for kind of getting this conversation out there. It's really, really needed.

Speaker 1: 35:41

Yeah, no, I agree, I agree, and you know, half the world are women. So let's talk about it, let's talk about menopause.

Speaker 2: 35:52

Stick together, you know because I think there is support to be had from each other Super important.

Speaker 1: 35:58

Absolutely yeah. Thanks so much, Emma.

Speaker 3: 36:01

Thank you. If you don't already know, in addition to our podcasting work, we are each sobriety coaches with our own separate businesses helping people to drink less.

Speaker 1: 36:12

If you are a loved one, want to take a break from alcohol, we invite you to have a look at our individual websites. Megs is Glassfulfilledcomau.

Speaker 3: 36:23

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