0:01

Welcome to the Medovia Menopause

0:03

Podcast , your trusted source

0:05

for evidence-based , science-backed

0:08

information related to menopause

0:10

. Medovia is dedicated

0:12

to changing the narrative about menopause

0:14

by educating , raising

0:16

awareness and supporting women in

0:18

this stage of life , both at home

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and in the workplace . Visit

0:23

Medoviacom to learn

0:25

more . Today , we have

0:27

Dr Naomi Bush on the

0:30

show . Dr Bush is passionate

0:32

about educating and empowering women

0:35

to make the best decisions for themselves

0:37

when it comes to their health and wellness . She

0:39

believes in the power of listening to her

0:41

patients , remaining open and curious

0:44

about their experiences . Since

0:46

becoming a physician in 2001

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, dr Bush has been dedicated

0:51

to the treatment of people who've been marginalized

0:54

or otherwise forgotten by the medical

0:56

community . She started her career

0:58

in community health , later focused

1:00

on transgender care and most

1:02

recently worked in the medical management of

1:04

eating disorders . Dr Bush

1:07

strongly believes in providing

1:09

weight-neutral , evidence-based

1:11

, compassionate care for

1:14

every patient . Today

1:16

, we discuss why weight gain happens

1:18

in menopause and how to embrace

1:21

a healthy at any weight perspective

1:23

as we navigate this stage of life

1:25

, focusing on how we feel

1:27

versus what the scale might say

1:29

and perhaps ditching

1:32

the scale altogether . Take

1:34

a listen , Hi everyone

1:36

. We're so excited today to have Dr

1:39

Bush on the show . Thanks

1:41

so much for being here . Dr Bush

1:43

. This is going to be a great conversation today . Thanks

1:46

, thanks for having me . I'm excited to

1:48

talk . Yeah , me too . Me too

1:50

. We've had quite

1:52

the conversations

1:54

prior to hopping on this podcast , so

1:57

we're excited for you to share with our audience

1:59

because , really , one of the biggest

2:02

complaints that we hear from

2:05

women is that they're gaining weight during

2:07

menopause and they can't figure out

2:09

how to take it off . And I know that

2:11

you have a strong background

2:14

running your previous clinic with

2:16

weight loss . I'll call

2:19

it I don't like to use the word weight loss , but

2:21

let's just use that for sake of conversation

2:23

today and then recently launched

2:25

Seattle menopause medicine

2:28

. So let's start by

2:30

just backing up , as

2:32

we kind of always do on this show

2:34

, and can you do

2:36

us a favor and explain to our audience

2:39

why ? Why

2:41

are women gaining weight during

2:44

menopause ? How does that happen ?

2:46

Sure , I think first I should clarify

2:49

that I've never had a weight loss clinic . I

2:52

am an eating disorder

2:54

specialist as well as a menopause specialist

2:56

, and so I have worked

2:59

with eating disorder populations and

3:01

so I have a very strong

3:04

weight inclusive health

3:06

at every size approach to medicine

3:09

, which is somewhat unique

3:11

in our field and

3:14

when it comes to menopause . So women

3:16

start to gain weight during the perimenopausal

3:19

years because of the reduction

3:21

of estrogen . They

3:23

have sort of this estrogen androgen

3:25

challenge , and

3:28

weight starts to get redistributed from

3:31

the thighs and hips to the abdomen

3:33

, and so they start to look rounder

3:35

and it becomes very upsetting

3:37

. They also have

3:40

a reduction in their

3:42

basal metabolic rate , which means that they

3:44

don't burn calories as much as they used to

3:46

, and so whatever they're doing

3:49

for their health isn't working quote

3:51

unquote and they

3:53

start to see an increase of weight , and

3:55

the average weight gain is about a pound

3:57

, 1.7 pounds a

3:59

year , something like that . And

4:02

it is normal and natural to gain weight

4:04

as we age hard stop . And

4:06

that weight gain is a lot less though . It's

4:09

less than like half a pound a year or something like

4:11

that , and it's sort of unnoticeable for the

4:13

most part . Um and

4:15

so when they start having this increased weight

4:17

gain that is more central in

4:20

distribution than their closed

4:22

up fitting , or they just become

4:24

very hyper aware and

4:27

they get upset and they feel like something's

4:29

wrong with them , that's something they're doing wrong

4:31

and that , yeah

4:34

, and they usually go

4:36

to their doctor . Their doctor tells them yeah , you're gaining

4:38

weight , you should lose weight . So I

4:40

think that's sort of where the so I think

4:42

that's sort of where the perimenopause story is . People

4:51

tend to notice that they gain about 15 to 20 pounds during perimenopause

4:54

because the perimenopausal period lasts so long about , you know , five to 10

4:56

years , depending on when you start and when you finish

4:58

. And if you're gaining a pound and a half

5:00

per year , you can kind of just do the math For some

5:02

people it's more and for some people it's less and a half per year

5:04

.

5:04

You can kind of just do the math For some people it's more and for

5:06

some people it's less . And when you see women come into your clinic that

5:08

are concerned about their

5:10

weight and I love the sort

5:13

of healthy , at any size

5:15

approach that you , that you

5:17

espouse , because I think it's

5:19

people are not comfortable

5:22

when they're heavy and they

5:25

know it Right . And so what

5:27

, what . What do you say to that ? What do you say

5:29

to them to , to help

5:31

them during this time ?

5:33

I think that I try to explain that it's

5:35

a natural process that your body's going through

5:38

and that it will stop too . So

5:40

, like after perimenopause , the rate

5:42

of weight gain goes back to normal

5:44

and so you don't just keep gaining

5:46

like weight over you know , like over

5:49

the rest of your life . And so I think that's a fear

5:51

that people have . I talk

5:53

to them about lifestyle , about

5:56

what they're doing right now , because also during

5:58

perimenopause , that time period of our life

6:00

, like let's pretend it's I don't

6:02

know 40 to 50 . We're

6:07

also at the most stressful points of our life . Usually we're in the top of

6:09

our career , like we've reached , um

6:11

, a pinnacle somewhere , like whatever

6:13

we do for work , um , we

6:16

have families that are usually like super busy

6:18

, like whether it's you know no children

6:20

and in your partner that keeps

6:22

you really busy . Or it could be that you have children

6:25

who are probably teenagers now and you're driving

6:27

all around for them Because

6:30

you're in I have to shut my door because

6:32

you're in this

6:36

state I think that things like sleep

6:38

go down and stress goes

6:40

up and taking care of yourself goes down

6:43

, and you know you might

6:45

not be getting out even to

6:47

walk as often as as you

6:49

would like , and maybe you're eating foods

6:51

for comfort versus , like , what

6:53

other choices you would have made younger . So

6:56

that's what I talk about . Yeah

6:59

, it's like self-care , I think , one-on-one . You

7:01

know , women don't take really good care of themselves

7:03

. We're like caretakers of everybody else . And

7:05

so I guess I start with sleep , um

7:08

, and I asked him about how they're sleeping , and we

7:10

talk about that . Um , we talk

7:12

about , I talk about , uh , nutrition

7:15

, not dieting . I talk

7:17

about the harm of dieting and weight cycling

7:19

and that the impulse is to restrict

7:22

your calories . However , like when

7:24

you do that , your body starts to defend its

7:26

weight and so then you're just sort of getting onto

7:28

this treadmill , which isn't

7:30

a healthy one , and so I talk about just

7:32

making better choices around

7:34

adding good foods rather than trying

7:37

to restrict the bad foods . Yeah

7:39

, yeah , I talk about

7:42

movement , because I think that everybody I mean

7:44

nobody some

7:50

people like exercising , but nobody really likes exercising

7:52

, right . So we talk about finding something that is tolerable , and there've been studies that have

7:54

shown that any increase in movement helps

7:56

. So , like that might be just I

8:00

don't know like it could

8:02

be anything . It could be taking a walk

8:04

, a lot , or it could just be , you

8:06

know , getting up in your house and maybe you have

8:08

a sedentary job where you're online all day and

8:10

like getting a standing desk and just standing

8:12

for an hour Anything

8:15

. Preferably I try to get people outside .

8:17

I love that . You know , when we were preparing

8:20

for this podcast , I was thinking about

8:22

body image and

8:25

women's challenge with

8:27

their body image , me included

8:30

. Why am I still worried about this after

8:32

55 years , right ? How

8:36

do you approach that when

8:38

we're at this phase in our life and

8:40

we shouldn't be worried about anything

8:43

like that anymore , and it still hangs

8:45

in there and it still holds people

8:47

back ? I'm not going to go to that

8:49

thing because I'm not going to put a dress on

8:51

for that , or I don't want to be in a picture

8:54

, or I'm going to stand in the back or whatever

8:56

. It is women

9:00

from very early age , obviously

9:02

into

9:05

the menopause phase , where you have , as

9:07

you say , you're going to gain a few

9:09

pounds here and there because of what your body's

9:11

doing . But

9:14

how do you get past that ? What's

9:16

going on in your head on this ?

9:18

I mean , it's definitely not a one visit

9:21

solution . I think that's something

9:23

that people need there . I mean , if they're really seriously

9:25

down on themselves , I think

9:28

that you know , I

9:30

would recommend they get a therapist who can help

9:32

them with that . Honestly , because it's deeper , right

9:34

, like there's deeper issues and I think I

9:37

think I just start the conversation about it . I acknowledge

9:39

it , you know like we are

9:41

told what we're supposed to look like . Sometimes

9:43

I joke with people . We

9:45

were talking earlier about my sense of

9:47

humor . I have a really strong sense

9:50

of humor and so sometimes I talk

9:52

about how much more time we would have

9:54

if we didn't have to put on makeup every day . Right

9:56

, and I'm not down on people putting makeup on

9:58

at all , but I just want to acknowledge like we

10:00

spend how much time getting ready in the morning

10:03

when my husband , like gets up , showers

10:05

, does his hair and walks out , Right , like

10:07

, and I think , and so we , I sometimes

10:10

I kind of joke with them about a little bit , about

10:12

I don't want to say patriarchy , cause that's

10:14

kind of overused , but it's true , right , like

10:16

how we are kept in our place and

10:18

how , like , as we age , we're sort of in this unique

10:20

position to not care anymore

10:23

and you know we're

10:25

not 20 anymore and

10:28

I'm not really worried Personally . I mean , I'm not

10:30

really worried about somebody noticing me , I'm

10:32

not worried about someone thinking I'm good , looking right

10:35

, like I'm not worried about that anymore in a way

10:37

that I was , maybe when I was 20 . And

10:39

so I'm like I feel in some ways , ways

10:41

we can have like a liberation

10:43

from that . We can still want to look

10:45

good and you can still want to feel

10:47

good . And if that has to do with makeup

10:50

or your hair or whatever and I talk

10:52

about vanity , I mean in a good way , like I

10:54

say , like we have our vanities and that's great , but

10:57

we shouldn't harm our body over it yeah

10:59

right and and we should have like

11:01

an acceptance . So I talk about height . So

11:05

I'm very tall and

11:07

I say , well , I

11:09

could be down on myself and I could be really embarrassed

11:11

about that and I could think I should be shorter , but

11:14

I wouldn't cut my legs Mm

11:16

, hmm , right , and so

11:19

I could be , you know , annoyed with

11:21

my abdomen and like annoyed

11:23

that , like this , these pants don't fit anymore

11:25

. So maybe I should buy pants that look that

11:27

do fit me , you know , and rather

11:31

than try to squeeze my body , you know , into

11:33

Spanx or something and then into these clothing

11:35

, you know , and anyway

11:37

, that's kind of where I go . I mean , I talk

11:39

about the

11:42

clothes fitting our body versus our body

11:44

fitting the clothing . And there's actually

11:46

like people out there who can do this for you . Like

11:48

there's women there's . There's it's kind of

11:50

cool there's women who have made

11:52

a job or a career out of

11:54

like finding clothing for your body and

11:57

then designing a body program for you . Like I

11:59

mean a clothing program for you where you can go online and

12:01

shop and know that that those are going to

12:03

fit your body . So I think

12:06

that's that's what I talk about .

12:07

And it is it's not

12:11

.

12:11

I think it's really about validation Like yes and

12:13

yeah , I

12:15

love that and I I

12:18

love the piece of feeling

12:20

healthy , right . So it's not

12:23

so much about you

12:25

know , looking at my body and being disappointed

12:27

in myself because I'm aging

12:29

and part of this process is just going

12:31

to happen , and it's going to happen right

12:34

, and it is liberating , but it's also feeling

12:37

healthy . What is going to make you feel

12:39

good , right ?

12:41

And I think it's proving

12:44

to people like I spend a lot of time

12:46

and a lot of energy

12:48

, um , talking about , um

12:50

, health markers like real health

12:52

markers . It's not . It's not

12:54

. I don't even weigh people . I don't own a scale in

12:57

my house , right , and I don't

12:59

own a scale in my practice , my medical , medical practice because

13:01

menopause is never a reason

13:04

to weigh somebody , right , like

13:07

maybe , if someone had congestive heart failure

13:09

and I was worried about fluid overload , like

13:11

I would weigh someone to see how much fluid

13:14

they gained , but there's like never

13:16

really a reason to get on the scale

13:18

of the doctor , and so I don't

13:20

even think about it . But

13:22

my point is that , like so , but I do think about cholesterol

13:25

, I mean , I do think about their blood pressure , like

13:27

I do think about preventative

13:29

measures like mammograms and colonoscopy

13:32

and vaccines

13:34

, like I think about the things that you can really

13:36

do for your health . I think about

13:38

having , you know , lean protein in your

13:40

diet and fruits and vegetables and

13:43

a well-rounded existence

13:45

, right , but I I don't

13:47

think about trying to shed um

13:50

20 pounds and

13:52

and , and that's

13:54

just because

13:56

there's just so many other things . I

13:59

like sleep , like I said , like there's just so

14:01

many other things , and , and sometimes

14:03

, when you do , when you have , um , when

14:06

you're working on all of these other things , then

14:08

sometimes you have weight changes

14:10

that might affect your body

14:13

, um , in both positive and negative

14:15

ways . But I think the

14:17

most important thing is that your health is

14:19

there and that you live a long

14:23

time , and

14:25

they've shown that weight is not it's

14:28

, even though the popular press wants

14:30

to tell you that you know your weight is what's correlated

14:33

to , like you know , if you're a higher weight , you live less

14:35

. You know shorter . It's not

14:37

true , it's like . What's true is that

14:39

if you , the one thing they know

14:41

that is true is that if you move

14:43

your body , um , if

14:47

you do any kind of exercise at all , you

14:49

will increase your longevity , like

14:52

, and so that if there's anything somebody wanted

14:54

to do , rather than diet

14:57

, um , I would say move

15:00

, do yoga , do do

15:02

something with a group , do whatever

15:04

you want , like . It's hard for me to think of what other people you

15:06

know . Now , it's what's the rage ? The , not tennis

15:09

, but the other one

15:12

, yeah , like you know , do something right

15:14

, and I , and , and they just show

15:17

time and time again , that is the one

15:19

consistent marker . And so I think

15:21

why are we focusing on changing our body

15:23

size when we should be focusing

15:25

on getting out of the house and doing something

15:28

right Like moving our bodies ?

15:30

Well , and that's good for other things too , right

15:32

? I mean , it's not just our weight

15:35

to get out , move , be

15:37

with people , do things that you love , and there

15:39

are other benefits to that as

15:42

well . And community we talk about that

15:44

a lot on this podcast . Community is

15:46

really important for those

15:48

of us that are moving through menopause as well , because

15:50

it can be isolating , it can be lonely

15:52

, and I expect that all

15:55

of that is intertwined with

15:57

our emotional health , our physical health , right

15:59

, psychological everything .

16:01

So it , um , it'd be a fun study to do

16:04

exercise on

16:06

your own or exercise in a group and see how people's

16:08

mood changes , like to see , like , if you could prove

16:10

, like , is it ? What ? Is there a nuance to that ? Like

16:12

, does it matter if you move on

16:15

? You know , cause there was a study

16:17

just the other , I think last year . There was a study

16:19

on depression and it showed that any

16:21

amount of increased movement helps . So it's

16:23

not like vigorous exercise that people think

16:26

, oh , I can't do this , I

16:28

can't , I cannot run for

16:30

30 minutes five days a week . That's what

16:32

my doctor told me to do Vigorous exercise , 30

16:34

minutes , five days a week . And I'm

16:36

like , no , no , any , any amount of exercise

16:38

. Oh

16:44

, and then I guess , in menopause specifically , like we , you know , you don't want to discount the fact that

16:46

the other change that we experience is a

16:48

loss of muscle . So , when estrogen

16:50

goes down and

16:52

also I think it's like timing wise in terms

16:54

of aging , we experienced

16:57

lean

17:01

body mass , I mean , and so it's

17:03

good to do things that build muscle and

17:06

to try to do either

17:08

. You could do weightlifting

17:10

, but you could also do things like Pilates or yoga

17:12

, where you're like lifting your own body weight , right , just

17:15

trying to encourage your muscle

17:18

, right , right . So I do think that that's also important

17:20

to think of . So I do think that that's also important

17:22

to think about .

17:30

You mentioned that you don't have a scale in your practice , which is amazing , because that and blood pressure

17:32

are the two things that I worry the most about when I

17:34

walk into the doctors . What are they going to say

17:36

about it ? But you

17:39

also discussed , before we came

17:41

on air , about how people

17:43

have seen lots of doctors and then they finally

17:45

find you . You know

17:47

you because you have more time . But

17:50

how does someone advocate

17:52

for themselves ? Like , say , you walk

17:54

into a doctor's office and there's a scale

17:56

there and you're like I don't need that information

17:59

and this is what I want . What

18:01

, where ? How would you advise women who are

18:04

, you know , really haven't been heard by

18:06

any doctor and they need some

18:08

help ? What would you tell them ? How

18:10

would , how should they approach it ?

18:12

I think so there actually are some

18:15

companies out there that produce these little

18:17

cards that you can actually hand to people if you don't want to

18:19

talk about it , that say you know , please don't

18:21

weigh me . If you need to wait , if

18:23

my doctor needs to weigh me , please explain why

18:25

so that I can get my informed consent

18:28

to be weighed . Um , that's

18:30

one way . The other way is I just tell

18:32

people to say if

18:35

they say please get on the scale , you can say no

18:37

.

18:41

I'm good , no saying that , I mean I did

18:43

and it made me really hot .

18:45

It gave me a hot flash .

18:46

I mean I wanted to come back to that though

18:48

, because I think that that we can say

18:51

that , but that can be really hard

18:53

for no one because

18:56

we don't , we don't , we don't

18:58

give ourselves permission to

19:00

say no , especially to

19:02

any anyone that is a medical

19:04

professional right , authority

19:06

Right .

19:07

Okay , it's

19:09

so true , and I think I mean like

19:11

I'm a doctor and I , when I went for

19:13

my um last

19:15

physical , I was like I'm going to practice what I preach

19:18

right Cause I don't care one way

19:20

or the other about a scale . But I was like I'm

19:22

just going to say no . And so I , I

19:24

and I , and I was like sweating

19:26

before I even got in the room , right Cause

19:28

I was like , oh God , I'm going to have to have this confrontation

19:30

with my medical assistant , who

19:33

is , you know , not my doctor actually

19:35

. But and I'm like she's like , okay , go ahead

19:37

and get on the scale . And I was like , no , thank

19:39

you . And

19:52

she's like , okay , and then we just moved on , and so we have it built up in our mind that it's

19:54

going to be this conflict . But I think there's actually enough awareness now in , um , like there's

19:56

sort of become this awareness of this , of this movement , of why are you weighing me ? Um , what

19:58

does my weight have to do with my sinus infection

20:00

? Like , what's

20:02

why , if I just want hormone therapy

20:04

, why are you trying to weigh me ? Right , like it doesn't

20:06

matter what my weight is today , you're

20:09

going to treat me the same , right , hopefully

20:11

. And so

20:13

I think there's a slight , a

20:15

little bit of awareness so that , if you do say that , and

20:17

then I personally think that

20:19

it's really

20:22

on the doctor , it's really

20:24

on these offices to change , but of course that's going to

20:26

take a long time to

20:29

ask permission . You know , when you find

20:31

getting on the scale , and then you can say , well , actually

20:33

I don't really feel like being weight today . And

20:36

I gotta say I've done a lot of work on myself on

20:38

this , like it's not , like I was born weight neutral

20:40

. You know , I'm a doctor , I was born into medicine

20:42

, which is not weight neutral

20:45

, and you know I

20:47

had to do a lot of work on that , because I remember when

20:49

people didn't get on the scale and I was annoyed and then

20:51

I realized like well , I'm not going to

20:53

use that number for anything today . So

20:55

like , why , why are we fighting with this patient

20:58

? And so that it was just . You

21:00

know , that was probably the beginning , maybe like 18 years

21:02

ago , ahead

21:06

of your time , yeah , yeah . So I don't have

21:08

a good answer for you because it is really confrontational

21:11

in the weirdest way . But

21:13

but there are , like , like I said , if you

21:16

look online , there are these , you know , little cards

21:18

that people can have that say please don't weigh

21:20

me . Or you know , please tell me why you

21:22

need my weight or um , and

21:24

we give those , we give that resource out

21:26

to people , um , in my other practice with

21:29

eating disorders , you know to , so

21:32

that they can sort of try to advocate for themselves

21:34

and yeah .

21:36

I love it and I really appreciate

21:38

the perspective on that , because I think

21:41

we just say yes and we don't even think

21:43

. And if it were me , I know

21:45

that I would need to practice what I was going to say

21:47

before I got there , Like okay , they're

21:49

going to ask me this , you know ? No , thank you , I

21:52

like your , no , I'm good .

21:54

I mean , I think it's like , I feel like if people

21:59

who are what I really want , what

22:02

I , what I really think there should be a movement for , is like

22:04

for for thin women to do that . Um

22:06

, because if thin women started refusing

22:08

to get on the scale , then it would make it easier

22:11

for our larger friends to not get on the

22:13

scale , Right ? And as long as we're

22:15

we're like , as long as thin women continue

22:17

to get on the scale , then , like , it's always

22:19

going to be , like , oh well , that person's larger and so that's

22:21

why they don't want to get on the scale . And actually the answer

22:23

is it doesn't have to do with that . It

22:26

has to do with what your weight

22:28

is . Does not affect your ear infection

22:30

, your weight is . It

22:33

actually doesn't affect how I'm going to manage your

22:35

blood pressure . Right , because

22:38

if your blood pressure is high , I'm

22:40

not going to tell you to lose weight . Um

22:43

, because you've already . If , if you

22:45

, it's just a dumb thing to do . Right

22:47

, because people

22:49

have already tried that . Probably , right

22:52

.

22:52

Um , and instead , when I'm on the scale

22:54

, by the way , I

22:56

just closed my eyes Like I don't look

22:59

, just don't even want to know . What am I going

23:01

to do with that information ? It's probably going to make

23:03

me feel bad .

23:04

So my practice

23:06

I don't , I don't need that , because I think , um

23:08

, and I have , I did have somebody recently

23:11

who came in who hadn't been to a doctor for a long time

23:13

and , um , and she

23:15

was concerned about her weight , and

23:17

it was so interesting because

23:19

I was like , but you're so healthy

23:21

. Yeah , we just focused on

23:23

that , like all the reasons why that you're healthy

23:26

, and then I hope

23:28

that when they left , they

23:31

felt like better , like , oh , I

23:33

am healthy and I live in a larger

23:35

body .

23:36

Yeah .

23:37

And Right , you know

23:39

, and it's hard to be . You

23:41

know it's

23:43

hard because of society it's hard to be , and you know it's

23:45

it's hard because of society and there's a lot

23:47

of people out there who are

23:50

super focused on it yeah

23:52

, unfortunately .

23:58

And I love what you said to in the beginning of our conversation

24:00

, when we were talking about nutrition and

24:02

the the really spinning it

24:04

in that we're not going to restrict

24:07

certain foods , we're going to add

24:09

in healthy foods , and

24:11

I know Kim and I both are health coaches

24:14

, and that's something that we focus

24:16

on as well , instead

24:18

of choosing something that you can work on this

24:20

week and restricting yourself and taking

24:23

something away if it's weight loss that you're

24:25

interested in , interested in , um

24:27

, let's , let's talk about what you can

24:29

add in , right ?

24:31

yeah , what can we find a little

24:33

?

24:33

bit right yeah like I think

24:35

that people could they don't know how to cook they should

24:37

learn how to cook because , like , maybe eating

24:39

home , like learning how to cook and cooking

24:42

for yourself , like those , those kind

24:44

of things they could be more pleasurable

24:46

. But definitely , like , I think that's

24:48

a big um , big

24:51

part of um . You

24:53

know , health at every size is a movement and it has a book

24:56

and it's trademarked and the whole thing . Lindo

24:58

Bacon um , we'll give her credit , we'll give them credit

25:00

. Um , that's

25:03

part of that . Reasoning is that we

25:05

should add in

25:07

the things that we know are good

25:09

for us . Yeah , right , and

25:12

then then , whether or

25:14

not we eat the other things , that's okay

25:16

, we've got in the things that we

25:18

need . And I think , truthfully , what happens

25:21

is , you know , you just you've , you

25:24

feel pretty satiated and you're like I'm going

25:26

to have dessert , but I also just had this

25:28

great meal .

25:29

Right yeah .

25:31

In my health coaching , um , I usually

25:33

call it crowd out . Crowd out

25:36

the other things that you probably shouldn't

25:38

be eating with the things that are really good for you

25:40

, so that you do feel , um

25:43

, feel satiated , you

25:49

feel good and your body's well taken care of . And that doesn't mean that you

25:51

don't get to have dessert , but it does mean that you're taking

25:54

care of yourself .

25:55

Yeah , and I think it's a positive spin .

25:58

Absolutely . Yeah , well , love

26:00

having you on the podcast today . Loved

26:06

having you on the podcast today . We've been looking forward to this conversation because of

26:08

all the stuff that comes with weight for women and then women

26:10

in menopause , so really appreciate your

26:13

perspective . Is there anything else

26:15

that you'd want to leave our audience with that we didn't

26:17

talk about today ?

26:19

Not that we didn't talk about , but I think I would just put a

26:21

big plug on out there

26:23

for trying to end . You

26:26

know weight cycling and dieting that

26:29

there's more harm than good that

26:31

comes from trying to

26:33

, you know , diet , restrict your weight

26:36

. Then you know

26:38

you bounce back after that , that

26:40

the markers of health go down

26:42

each time you do that , that your cortisol

26:44

goes up and that your metabolic rates

26:47

go down , and so I think

26:49

that overall , um , we

26:51

would be better off if we could

26:54

live with ourselves , um

26:57

, and treat ourselves right and

26:59

take care of our bodies and not be

27:01

so disparaging that I think that just

27:03

be like so many positive effects that would come with that

27:06

. So I guess that's my life . My final word

27:08

is that I don't believe in diets . Um

27:10

, I do believe in changing

27:13

your lifestyle and

27:15

that whether or not you lose weight it doesn't

27:17

matter . It has to do with feeling better

27:19

.

27:19

Right and being able to do all the

27:21

things that you want to do .

27:23

Right and being able to do all the things that you

27:25

want to do Right .

27:26

Yeah .

27:26

Healthspan , healthspan , healthspan versus lifespan

27:28

. Yeah , exactly . Well

27:35

, dr Bush , we end all of our episodes with a rapid fire . So we're going to have a little bit of fun and

27:37

get to know you a little bit better here before we end

27:39

. So I'll just jump

27:41

right in with the first rapid

27:43

fire . Would you prefer

27:45

quiet evening to yourself or a big party

27:48

with all of your friends ?

27:51

Quiet evening .

27:52

She's so quick on that , she like knew right away right

27:55

.

27:55

How about the mountains or the ocean ?

27:59

Ocean , three ocean , ladies right here . Right

28:02

here yeah , fiction or nonfiction

28:04

, fiction , ocean ladies right

28:06

here right here .

28:07

Yeah uh , fiction or non-fiction ? Oh , fiction and the the best

28:10

. We ask this to all of our um

28:12

guests what's the best piece of advice

28:14

you've ever received ?

28:16

so .

28:23

I'm like that one kind of stumps me . I've had so

28:25

many good um . I

28:27

guess what I would say badly

28:30

and maybe not to my benefit is my

28:32

dad saying you

28:34

know , fake it till you make it yes

28:37

, yes , that's great advice come

28:39

up a little bit in a little different twist , but

28:41

yeah , yeah yeah , right , like I've had

28:44

so many . I've had so many , I've had so many

28:46

mentors over the years

28:48

. It's pretty amazing .

28:50

It's good . It's good , it's good . You had mentors

28:52

, and we can all be mentors to

28:54

other people , and I feel like , even being in midlife

28:56

here , where we are for the younger generation

28:59

, let's just , let's change things Right

29:01

. Uh , we are actually recording

29:03

this on International Women's Day

29:06

, and so let's

29:08

change history , right .

29:10

Actually , if you guys might answer

29:12

, it would be by . The best advice I ever

29:14

got was from a yoga instructor and

29:17

it was moment to moment . Moment

29:20

to moment , yeah , Moment to moment

29:22

. So like I feel like that's what it is on women's day

29:25

and being a woman , and

29:27

it's like this moment to the next . We

29:29

just got to keep working at it .

29:31

Absolutely .

29:32

Yeah , Love it In

29:35

every single moment right Like

29:37

a short ladies , and I'm

29:39

so glad that both of you are in my life . So

29:42

thank you so much , dr Bush , for

29:44

being here . That

29:46

is a wrap . So until

29:49

we meet again , enjoy

29:51

in the journey . Thanks everybody , take

29:54

it easy , bye-bye . Thank

29:57

you for listening to the Medovia Menopause

29:59

Podcast . If you enjoyed

30:01

today's show , please give it a thumbs up

30:04

, subscribe for future episodes

30:06

, leave a review and share

30:08

this episode with a friend . There

30:10

are more than 50 million women

30:12

in the US who are navigating

30:14

the menopause transition . The

30:17

situation is compounded by the presence

30:19

of stigma , shame and

30:21

secrecy surrounding menopause , posing

30:24

significant challenges and disruptions

30:27

in women's personal and professional

30:29

spheres . Medovia is

30:31

out to change the narrative . Learn

30:34

more at Medoviacom . That's

30:36

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30:39

dot com . Huh

31:18

you .