Collagen, creatine and cortisol
Midlife, menopause and the madness of modern wellness
Since I was little there has always been quick fixes, latest fads, and ‘does and don’ts’ around our food and lifestyle.
Who remembers, eggs were public enemy number one in the 80’s? We also had the aerobic workouts in your leotard in the living room? I don't personally know of anyone actually ever changing into a leotard to do the workout in their living room. But if you do, be sure to let me know.
Today is no different. We’re currently in the menopause maze.
The menopause. It’s absolutely everywhere. It seems that the floodgates have opened when it comes to women's health as a result of the menopause.
The menopause is not new.
It's a physiological & biological change in a woman's body that is part of who we are. It can happen at any age, but generally late 40’s to mid 50’s. But in this day and age of ‘online’ - everyone has a fix.
You don’t have to scroll too far to read that we need to take extra vitamins, we need to eat more protein, we need to lift weights, we need to walk, we need to take collagen, we need to wash our hair with seaweed, we need to take creatine, we need to be outside, we need to be wearing SPF 50, we shouldn’t be wearing SPF. The list goes on.
I know collagen and creatine and protein are the big focus at the minute.
Collagen: Research on its effectiveness is still emerging. It’s not a magic fix, but it has shown to be effective when it comes to skin and joint health if taken consistently.
Creatine: It has mostly been studied in athletic contexts, but newer research supports benefits for women, including older adults. It may help with other future neurological diseases.
Protein: Increased needs during menopause are well-supported to combat muscle loss (sarcopenia).
Some of these are well-supported, others still under debate - and not every trend suits every body? While I understand the reasons for it, I can’t help asking the question ‘do I need to be doing all of this’? Isn’t there some sort of balance? Surely if it’s preventative or helpful, it’s got to be worth a consideration?
One thing is for absolute certainty, it is fecking brilliant that we are actually talking about the menopause openly and not as a swear word: ‘the change’, uttered in a hushed tone behind your hand. It seems history has a habit of making anything to do with women = bad.
History Repeats: I’m going to go off on a tangent for a minute, but there is a point, so bear with me.
For as far back as history goes, women have been classed as the inferior sex. Anyone would think it was because history is a male dominated authorship? Oh wait….
If you’re into your religious history, you will know that when God created the earth, he didn’t create Adam AND Eve - he created man and woman’. Even the bible tells us that Eve was made from a bone in Adam’s rib cage. The original OG - never talked about in the bible written by…. yes you guessed it - was Lilith. Lilith was a woman = bad. Adam asked Lilith to bow down to him. But they were equals. Lilith refused and basically said ‘feck this, I’m outta here, dude’ and left. There is evidence of her in some ancient Jewish texts.
Continuing in the bible there are many questions about Mary Magdalene. Why has the church made her out to be a hooker? It is entirely possible that Jesus was married as a 30 year old man living in Middle Eastern culture at that time? Almost as plausible as Jesus having red hair, blue eyes and fair skin - living in the middle east - but hey, who’s judging?
Witches got drowned and burned at the stake for undertaking spiritual practices they had carried out for centuries. Communities relied on those practices. Seasonal worshipping and living was a thing back then. Why is that bad? Or was it because someone was threatened? It couldn’t be proved? They couldn’t control it? (A bit like the logical male side of our brains - control).
And speaking of ancient practices…because I love a bit of ‘woo woo’. Astrology, herbalism, lunar cycles, goddess energy, are all having a moment right now. And it’s easy to laugh and knock them because they aren’t backed by a peer-reviewed study.
But these practices have been around for thousands of years. Entire civilisations have tracked the skies, the stars, and the seasons. Major historical figures - from Galileo to Jung - studied astrology as a tool for understanding the self and the cosmos. (That was a shout out for the guys who might be feeling a bit left out.) They didn’t have fitbits or wellness influencers; they had observation and intuition. And maybe there’s something in that?
Why is it that ‘ancient’ in the spiritual sense equals ‘invalid’, but if it’s from Ancient Greece or written in Latin it’s history?
I’m not saying these ancient practices are the answer, but I am saying that dismissing anything with a long lineage of cultural and spiritual relevance just because it isn’t measurable by science is a bit… narrow? What if, instead of calling it nonsense, we just asked: Does it help people feel more connected to themselves? More grounded? More whole? Because if it does, what’s wrong with that?
This is not about bashing men - I’m very fond of them. This is just opening up to alternatives and highlighting something very important - and that is balance. Or lack of it. Have we been asked to live in the logical brain for too long?
Why are we denying our DNA?
The entire world is made up of opposites: black/ white, salt/ pepper/ male/ female/ up/ down, rich/ poor, yin/ yang. Every human has a male and female part to them - their yin (F) and yang (M). Women are more intuitive, but need to balance with logic. Men are more logical, but need to embrace their intuitive and emotional side. Men and women work together to form harmony and balance. This is not a competition. This is not one side is better than the other. This is about how we embrace both parts of the individual and come together to work in a community in harmony.
Over the last 50 years, we have felt a shift. We are definitely living in more of a patriarchal capitalist world. Women are leaning into more of the yang/ masculine energies of their DNA. For the love of god, this isn’t about blaming men, it’s just about recognising systems that don't serve anyone equally. It’s not balanced.
I personally believe this is why we are seeing women of all ages currently feeling exhausted. I am especially seeing this in many of my friends, family and colleagues of a menopause age. It’s not like they can’t hack the race, they’ve proven they can and still load the dishwasher (joke). This is more about the fact that they are neglecting the softer and more intuitive feminine side of their DNA, and it’s depleting them.
The feminine - intuition, softness, rest - has been pushed out. No wonder we’re burnt out.
It’s starting to show.
Bear with me on this one. Many women carry weight around their middle. This happens some at menopause, but it also happens some much earlier in their lives. I’ve had mine for over 25 years, and it never seems to move. Ha ha.
It was only recently that I learned the fight or flight response in our bodies is based in the adrenal glands, which are beside our kidneys - guess where that’s located?
It is interesting also, that many of us eat as a coping mechanism to handle stress and it’s sitting around our middle - the same place as our fight or flight response centre.
So while I am not saying the fat around our middle is there as a result of long-term living in fight or flight (I might be suggesting that, though?), it is proven that stress can lead to fat gain via cortisol.
So perhaps our weight loss isn’t just directly linked to counting calories? Food for thought? It’s certainly an approach I’m investigating as part of my lifestyle.
And if balance is what we’re after, isn’t this where we start?
Back to basics: How do we get rid of it?
I asked my nutritionist this recently, and she said ‘that's been there for 25 years, you ain’t getting rid of that in a month.’ That wasn't the response I was looking for, but hey.
But there are steps you can take.
Food: Are you eating a predominantly healthy balanced diet made up of whole foods? Don’t exclude any groups, regardless of what anyone says you need all of them. Sugar is not a food group. Don’t black mark ‘carbs’ because of sugar.
Cravings: Food is a fecker - well sugar is. It’s so addictive. One of the tricks I do when I’m hungry - apart from having no food in the house - is to ask myself “OK. There is no food in the house, so how else are we going to solve this feeling? what else can we do?”
Water: Are you drinking enough water? Water is about the only thing you can drink that will flush your system out. Aim for 2 litres a day - I often drink more. Cappuccinos are not fluid. Neither is diet coke. Sorry.
Fresh air: Going outside has all sorts of benefits for you, not least some potential vitamin D (although if you live in the UK that can be hit and miss. I am loving the weather we are experiencing at present!). Daylight has been known to provide all good sorts of shit to your receptors in your brain etc.
Breathe: We really do not breathe. You might laugh at that statement, but the shallow inhalation that you are doing while reading this is not actually ‘breathing’ for your health. You should start with 5 minutes a day and build on that. Do it slow and consciously - it’s not a race - and take full breaths into your stomach. It might make you feel a little light headed at first - persevere. The obvious one to do is the box breathing - in for 4, hold for 4, out for 4 and pause for 4 - but count 1(100) 2(100) 3(100) 4(100).
Sit quietly: We rush so much through the day. This the biggest counter hitting our feminine side. We need to slow down and move intuitively, not logically. You can’t be intuitive while you're running at 100 miles an hour. Have you ever made a cup of tea, sat in an armchair with no phone, no tv, or book and just drank the cup of tea doing nothing? Try it. It will feel so wrong initially - but if you think about it, are you really that busy that you can’t sit for 10 mins in a 24 hour period? (*If you think you are, I want you to look at your screen time on your phone and come back to me if its at zero and you're busy.)
This is NOT just for women - EVERYONE has a feminine side to their DNA. Everyone needs to consider the balance.
I think society as a whole needs to reduce the fast paced, logical, hustle and slow down into a more intuitive paced approach. Think about your job. How many of you say, ‘I’d love a day to just not have meetings or deal with stuff so I can just think’? That right there is your intuition shouting ‘HELLO!!!!!”
Your body knows what it needs. It knows what’s right and wrong - and I don’t mean the logical side, I mean the initiative side - we’ve just lost our ability to listen to it. So start with taking 10 minutes to slow down and hear what it has to say; heads up, it won't have anything to say initially. It normally pipes up after about 20/25 minutes - but learning to hear your intuition again is like exercising a muscle. It needs to be worked. Learn to listen to yourself again.
Now….
Take a deep breath in now, and breathe out very slowly and feel the tension relax from your shoulders.
Go back to the basics. Don’t be looking online for answers. You have all the answers. You know what to eat. You know how to live. Learn to trust our own instincts and live in alignment with our DNA - as humans.
