Why "Eat Less, Move More" Stops Working After 40 (And What Actually Does) | Thrive on Plants #54

Welcome back to Thrive on Plants. I'm your host, Dr. Daphne Bascom. Today I'm bringing you back one of your favorite guests, and I have to say a lot has happened since we last spoke with her in August of 2025. Andrea Donsky is a nutritionist with 26 years of experience. She's a published researcher and one of the most trusted voices in the perimenopause and menopause space through her platform Morpheus. She has conducted her own published research, and with that research, she has identified more than 103 signs and symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. She also has found that 40% of women are not being listened to by their doctors when they bring up what they're experiencing during this time of life. As Andrea will share in the podcast, she was in perimenopause for 14 years.

11 of which she didn't know.

And it is that experience, along with the experience she has as a clinician and researcher that led her to write her brand new book, Nourishing Menopause: Powerful Nutrition and Lifestyle Strategies to Feel Your Best. This is her legacy. This is the piece of knowledge that Andrea wished she had before she started on her midlife journey.

Now we cover a lot of topics in today's conversation.

We do a deep dive on sleep because you know how much I love sleep. And I also think it's one of the most undervalued symptoms and signs that many of us need to address as a priority. In addition to sleep, we'll talk about all of the pillars of the Plant Power Blueprint. We'll talk about the importance of mindset. We'll do a deep dive on nutrition, which is Andrea's specialty. We'll talk about movement and exercise. We'll talk a lot about stress management because managing stress is important both for navigating perimenopause and menopause, but also for weight management. We'll touch lightly on toxin exposure, community, and the importance of knowing your numbers. With Andrea's experience as a nutritionist, there are so many different topics that we could have spent a lot of time covering, but we try and focus on the key topics that she wants to cover as a part of her new book, Nourishing Menopause. So without further ado, please allow me to bring you my conversation with Andrea Donsky-Ross. Andrea, welcome back to the Thrive on Plants podcast. I am so excited to have you join us again.

Well, thank you for having me, Daphne. It's so nice to see you.

So I think you've been a little busy since the last time we spoke.

Yep. Busy finishing my book. Yay. It's done. Yay. I'm so happy.

And that is exactly what I'd like to talk about today. Nourishing Menopause. Um, Andrea, you were talking about menopause before it got vogue, and I know that you have invested a lot of time and energy in bringing this book baby to life. What prompted you to write a book and why Nourishing Menopause?

Mm, I love those questions. So I love how you say book baby. It's so true. It literally is like another baby, right? What prompted me is my own experiences. So I wrote a book back in 2011 called Unjunk Your Junk Food. Mm-hmm. Um, Simon Schuster. And at that time when I wrote it, it was very much about what was going on in my life. And when I learn something, I love to share it with everyone else. It's like this passion I have because. I don't wanna keep it to myself. I want everyone else to be able to benefit from my experiences and what I learned. And having been in health and wellness for now 26 years and studying menopause for about 9 years, going on 10 years, I felt like it was time to have another book out there so that it could be a legacy book, like a book there that has an accumulation of all of my experiences over the last 26 years. And putting it down on paper and what I'm an expert at. So what am I an expert at? Nutrition, lifestyle, supplements. I research ingredients for supplements day in, day out, like we were talking about earlier, but also my own published research. So I don't profess to be an expert in anything that I am not. And that's why when it comes to hormones, I have actually a lot of hormone doctors in my book that I went to who were incredible advocates for my book. So we talk about hormones, but it's from a perspective from a doctor, from an expert who understands that area. So I wanted to put it all into one book so that women can feel empowered because so many of us are dismissed in when we go to our healthcare provider. We know 40% of us are, according to my research that was published in December of 2024. That's a large number. 40% of us are not being listened to by our doctor or healthcare provider. And anywhere from, you know, we are going to our doctor anywhere from 2 to 5+ times to try to understand what's happening to us. So I wanted to have something that women could take to their doctor, to their healthcare provider and say, here, look, here's the research. Here's the data. It's proven. It's not just me. It's actually published research, plus all the information on nutrition and lifestyle and mindset and why we gain weight and, you know, all the different things that we cover in the book.

Okay.

That's a lot to unpack. And I want to back up a little bit and talk about your published research because I hear the same thing. I meet with women on a weekly basis and share the research that you've published on your website with Morpheus.

And a lot of them look at all the symptoms and they're like, everyone keeps telling me that I'm crazy or that this isn't really happening.

So when you were thinking about nourishing menopause, did this conversation really start for you with perimenopause when, you know, the early onset, not waiting until everything's full-blown and you're in the, the storm. But who is this book targeted toward and how can they use it to empower themselves?

So this was the book I wish I had when I was going through perimenopause. And that also came from a lot of the women when I asked for testimonials from doctors and, um, from, from menopause experts about this phase of life. And after reading my book, they said the same thing. That it, it was the book that we all wish we had going through it. Because had I known, like, I would, and I, I know we talked about this last time, but like, I was in perimenopause for a total of 14 years, 11 of which I didn't know. And, and, and the reason I, I keep bringing that up or saying that is because imagine, I know I'm not the only one.

Yeah.

I know that millions of women like, are like me who have no idea what's happening to their body. But had I known. Had women know how, once we know we could do something about it starting earlier on. So I wish I knew I was going through perimenopause and, you know, in 2017 or 2016, or even earlier than that, you know, I had my, my third daughter at 41 in 2011. And I started perimenopause right after that, but I didn't know. So the amount of health anxiety, the amount of money, the amount of doctor visits, the times, the like arguments, the like Aggravation, the lack of information, all of that really takes a toll on us because when we know something, we can actually do something about it. But if we don't know what's happening, mm-hmm, there's nothing to do. We just think it's us who's going crazy or something has taken over our body. So I feel like this book now is for any woman over the age of 35 who wants to understand what's happening. And even earlier, by the way, I wrote this book for my daughters. I want them to have it. I want them to have the resource. So when they're going through it, they're still younger, but they'll understand now. They won't be taken by surprise like so many of us Gen Xers.

So this is the book that you wish you had before you went into perimenopause. Why is this so important to women in their, I would say in their mid-30s to start to, to pick up this book and understand what is coming for them related to their health?

Yeah, because you know, for so many of us, when we went into menopause, or I can speak for myself, I had no idea really. I had no idea. And you know, it's funny because being a nutritionist and having been in the health industry for 17 years at that point, I thought I knew a lot, but I actually knew very, I knew nothing about perimenopause and menopause. I didn't know the word perimenopause existed. I didn't know. I thought like having a hot flash meant I was in menopause. Like I just, I knew absolutely nothing. I never learned about it in school. I never spoke to my doctor about it. My mom never really spoke to me about it. I mean, she had a hysterectomy at 50, but she never really spoke to me, like never really had the talk, you know, like never really had the talk with me. So I didn't really know much. And I feel like had I had this book when I was going through perimenopause, it could've looked very different for me. Maybe I would've taken action sooner. Maybe I would've changed the way I ate. I was already You know, looking at nutrition and whole foods, but I would've looked at balancing my blood sugar more. I would've really looked at focusing on insulin more. So these are things that I wish I knew back then, and that's why this book is so important to me because it's that book that I thought, ah, okay, so now if every woman has this book in their mid-30s, even early 30s and up, then they can understand what's going to happen to their body. And then they could take control of their health and symptoms by doing things and, and it's different for all of us, right? Like maybe one woman wants to focus more on her sleep, maybe someone else on digestion, someone else maybe on hormones. Like, so there's so many different options that we cover in the book. And I also explain why things are happening and I provide actionable steps. So it's not just an education book, it's a, okay, I'm reading the book and tonight I can actually make a difference right away without having to spend money, without having to do more research. Like, there's what I can do right away. How can I help manage my stress? Okay. Take a deep breath before eating. That will help with digestion. It'll help with stress. Like just little things that I've learned along the way and have accumulated over 26 years of information in my brain that now is all on paper. So it's like my legacy that I'm leaving for women. That's kind of how I look at it.

Well, it's going to be an important legacy and I'd like to touch on a couple of them. Since we're recording this in March and it's National Sleep Month, let's start with sleep because I think it's something, you know, you said you, you had your last, your last little girl at 41. Yeah. Um, you were probably used to being sleep deprived for, I don't know how many years.

Oh gosh. Yes.

But what did you, what do you share about sleep in the book that's important for women to understand both from a life perspective, from a hormone perspective? And then if women are struggling with sleep, what can they do today?

Yeah, that's a great question. So sleep, you're right. I was so used to being sleep deprived, like my daughter at 41 and I still had, you know, I have a newborn baby and my kids weren't, you know, they were 6 and 8, they weren't that old. And so I, you know, sleep was kind of one of those things that you like wish you had a lot of, but you know, you took it, you took what you could get. And I never really made it a priority because even if I did, it didn't matter. It was disrupted all the time. And what I learned is as we go into perimenopause and menopause, doing what we can to make it a priority is really important because even one night of lack of sleep affects our insulin levels. Mm-hmm. It makes us have more cravings. It can lead to weight gain. Like there's so many things, brain fog, memory issues, right? Like there's so many things that can go on when we don't get that night's sleep. And, and for, like I said, for many of us it's, it's hard to get that night's sleep and Now that we're able to, we're finding that our sleep is disrupted. Maybe we have a hard time falling asleep, or we fall asleep and then we wake up, right? So there's other things that are coming into play because our hormones are changing. So when I say make sleep a priority, there are things that we can do in our immediate environment, like I, it's something called the REST protocol that we have in the book. Mm-hmm. So focusing on our routine, our environment, our support, and our aids, things that can help us as well as technology. But then there's also options like hormones. So if you're in perimenopause and you're finding your sleep is changing, maybe you wanna look into something like progesterone.

Mm-hmm.

Maybe there are— so finding a healthcare provider that can help you understand what you're going through, that can look at your genetics, that can look at your blood work, that can look at different things and help you come up with a plan that works in addition to nutrition, lifestyle, exercise, mindset, all of that. Because we can't out-supplement or out-hormone poor nutrition. You just can't. It always has to start with nutrition. Being a nutritionist, and I know you feel the same way, I mean, this is a foundation that we have to look at, but how we're looking at nutrition can change. But going back to sleep is, you know, making it a priority, doing what we can to get as much sleep as we can. We know according to the research, women, we wanna get somewhere around 7 hours of sleep a night. If we can get that, that is ideal for us. So it's hard to get for a lot of us. So what are some things that we could do? So when it comes to routine, being consistent, really important, trying to go to bed at the same time every night, develop some type of pre-sleep rituals. Like maybe you're saying Mon— maybe you're journaling, or maybe you're taking a bath, or maybe you're doing some deep breathing or meditation before bed. So something that helps you, maybe trying to go to bed earlier. What we find is that the earlier we go to bed, the more deep sleep we get generally. Mm-hmm. So we wanna get that deep sleep. Why? Because deep sleep helps our brain to clear out any waste that it accumulates during the day. It's called our glymphatic system, is like our lymph nodes, right? Our lymph system, but it's in our brain and it's most active when we're sleeping. So if we can get that deep sleep, that deep sleep, restorative sleep helps our glymphatic system clear that waste better. And then having some type of morning routine, maybe like going outside in the sun, easing into your routine gently. One of the things I talk about in the book is, you know, trying not to pick an alarm. Like if you get woken up by your alarm, try not to do, to pick one that's like a sound that's completely jarring. Like that's gonna like wake you up really, really quickly outta bed. Right? So like try to like ease into it gently. Like there's devices that you can do that can wake you up slowly or maybe picking some soft music. And then looking at your environment, making sure that you're sleeping in a dark room. You can use blackout blinds, you can use a sleep mask. Try not to fall asleep in front of the television. I know that can be hard, but if you find, find yourself nodding off, just getting up, going to sleep, or if it's in your room, just making sure maybe it's on a timer that it, you can turn it off. Sleeping in a quiet room and limiting your tech before bed. You know, also looking at your pillows and your mattresses. Yeah. Are they comfortable? When was the last time you changed them? Right? So all of this can contribute to how well we're sleeping. And then maybe you wanna look at like your whole, your certain foods and your supplements. Like obviously I'm a big believer in supplements because I have a supplement line that I research the ingredients for. And the ones that help with sleep is magnesium glycinate. Amazing for sleep. Like it's a non-negotiable, truly not even for sleep, but just for women in perimenopause and menopause, non-negotiable. And then as well as a product called Sleep Us that I formulated that it has 4 ingredients. That's it. We don't put like kitchen sink ingredients in our products. 4 ingredients that are targeted for women to, for women and actually men can take it too, but targeted and safe for women in perimenopause and menopause. And then you can look at technology, like maybe you need something that cools your bed. Like I love a, like a BedJet I have. Maybe you wanna look at something like, uh, a CGM if you're waking up to go to the bathroom a lot. Could it be your blood sugar that is, needs some regulation? So there's different things that you could do, but that's kind of like the gist. Like, I mean, obviously we, I go into a lot more detail in the book, but looking at that rest protocol can be very helpful.

And that's a great frame. So the rest protocol and, and I wanted to start with sleep because I think it's one of those things that we always think we'll fix later. Yeah. But to your point, if sleep is something that I'm struggling with. Maybe sleep is contributing to my insulin resistance or my appetite. So what I'm sure one of the things that you address in the book, because I know it's a big topic on your Symptom website, is my weight management and how, you know, if I'm nourishing menopause, how do I change my nourishment to giving my body what it needs rather than restricting? Because I, I think, and please correct me if, if you hear it differently, what I hear a lot of women who are entering perimenopause and menopause, they restrict because they're, they're seeing the abdominal girth changes. You know, their body doesn't respond to what used to work like it, it did in the past. And now they're like, okay, I'm gonna run more, I'm gonna eat less, and this is gonna fix it. But it doesn't.

Hmm. It doesn't. And you're so right. Well, A lot of women will say, I don't understand why I'm gaining weight. I don't even eat a lot. And for the longest time, by the way, I thought the same thing. And I have a whole chapter in the book, chapter 5, that is all about the— we— why are we gaining weight now that we're perimenopause and menopause? And it's a big thing. And, and I come at it from a very gentle perspective because it's not so much about, um, you know, we're looking at diet culture. We're looking at it from a standpoint of, I know 50% of women, according to my research, care about weight gain and it's redistributing. Like you said, it's going from maybe your bum and your, you know, your hips to your belly. And as we go into perimenopause and menopause and things are shifting and changing, it does accumulate more in the belly for several different reasons. So in the book, I actually talk about 17 reasons that we gain weight. 17. And I probably could have kept going, but I had to shorten it because, you know, we only had a certain amount of space, but 17 reasons. And by the way, most of them out of our control. Some of them are within our control, and I provide the tips for that, but a lot of them are out of our control. So we're gaining weight, it's a fact, 50% of us. And I know that women— it bothers women because we have another survey where we ask women what's the most bothersome, um, symptom, and weight gain is at the top. So it's important to understand that nutrition, exercise, like, what are we putting in and on our bodies at this time? How can it affect us and how can it help us? So To your point, nutrition, nutrition, nutrition. We wanna look at eating whole foods. We wanna look at eating enough foods because when we're not eating enough, so that whole exercise more, eat less, it just doesn't work for us anymore. We need to make sure that we're eating enough food and that we're eating the right types of food. So of course I, you know, one thing I try to be is very balanced in my approach. And I try to, you know, because we all live in the real world, like we're not living in a bubble. We want a piece of cake. You want some ice cream? Like, of course we're gonna have it. And maybe we're looking at it like 80, the 80/20 rule. Like 80% of the time you're doing your best and 20%, you know, enjoy life. Because I'm all for having something that, you know, may not be the best for you, but you know what, it's making you happy. So that's good too, right? So like being mindful of it, but being— it, it's all, it all comes down to how often and what's your goal. Like what are your goals and what do you wanna achieve? So I feel like if we can focus on nutrition, so Getting enough protein, getting enough fiber, 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day, making sure you're hydrated, making sure that you are, you know, drinking half your weight in ounces is really important. We've gotta make sure that we, not only that we eat enough, but we need to make sure that we are drinking enough. Very important. How are we balancing our blood sugar? Right? So we're like looking at different things that can help us. How are we managing our stress? Because if we're eating when we're stressed, And our cortisol, we're always in our sympathetic nervous system mode and our cortisol is continuously or chronically high. It's going to affect your digestion. Well, an interruption in digestion could lead to waking, right? So everything is tied in together. And that's why I say like, we look at this, our body as a whole, right? It's not just like, we can't just look at the parts. We look at it as a whole. And how are we eating? How are we exercising or moving? How are we managing our stress? How are we sleeping? How, you know, all of it. What's our mindset like? Because mindset plays a big role as well as to how we experience symptoms or how we're dealing with symptoms. So all of that together works synergistically to help us as we go into this phase of life to thrive, to be able to feel our best, which is why our tagline is powerful nutrition and lifestyle strategies to feel your best. Because truly that is the goal. I want you to feel your best because so many people are, so many of us are suffering. I get it. I, I was there for a very long time. And understanding how everything works together can be very helpful.

And Andrea, I mean, you did so many things you said are key because they're not only important for perimenopause and menopause, but they're important for healthspan in general. Yeah. In the book, do you provide examples for women of meals or recipes or things that they can actually take? And because a lot of it, I I'm sure you hear it a lot as a nutritionist. Just tell me what I need to eat.

Exactly. Yes. Chapter 11 has all of that. It has meal plans, whether you're animal-based or whether you're vegan or, or plant-based. We have meal plans. We tell you, we recommend things of what to eat, what a menu could look like. And then we also provide you with a formula. And, and this was really important because myself and my co-author, her name is Lisa Tzako. She's a nutritionist also for more than 25 years. And we together, we looked at all the research. So one of the things when it came to protein was how much protein we all hear. Oh, we need to have—

I was going to go there.

I'm like, you know, cause it's so interesting, right? It's like, we all need to have a lot of protein, but truly what does that look like? And it was all over. I mean, Daphne, you've probably gone in the research and look, it's all over the map. Really? It's all over the place. So what we did was we looked at it all. We looked at all the research and we came up with a formula that we felt was the best representation of how much protein women in perimenopause and menopause should have as a starting point. Mm-hmm. So we looked at and said, okay, so if you're 140 pounds or less, look to get 20 to 25 grams of protein per meal, assuming you're eating 3 meals a day. Now then again, that's just starting. Then we're adding on more according to how tall you are, what are your goals, how much are you exercising? All of that plays a role as well. Mm-hmm. If you're over 140 pounds, you wanna get 25 to 30 grams of protein per meal, assuming 3 meals a day. And that keeps it simple. And then you're adding on whatever you need to do according to what works best for you. And that's how we came up with the calculation, and we felt it was the most fair way to do it. And it kind of takes all the research into account.

Uh, we are 100% aligned. I mean, protein, fiber, fat are the 3 things that we always talk about in terms of prioritizing. And I love the fact that you, rather than being dogmatic and saying you must eat 1.23, you've given people a range. And I think, you know, 20 to 25, 30 to 35 per meal is reasonable, whether you're an omnivore whether you're primarily plant-based. And thank you for giving the recipes because I think that really helps. Hmm.

Yeah, we do have plant-based recipes in the back of the book as well.

And how do you, do you find, and I don't know if it's the same in Canada, it's in the United States, but thinking about fiber and then also thinking about from a women's health perspective, our estrogelone and our microbiome. In the book, did you talk a lot about the, not just nourishing our body, but nourishing our microbiome as part of that?

Yeah. So chapter 4 is all about the gut microbiome. Like literally, I haven't read the book, but so the entire chapter, chapter 4 is all about gut health.

Awesome.

Yeah. And being a nutritionist, that was a really important part. And especially the estrobolone, like how do we reabsorb? Can, do we reabsorb the estrogen? Do we get it out properly? Like, Clearance of estrogen, all of that is so important because, and we talk a lot about gut health too, from a perspective of making sure we're going to the bathroom every single day. Because if you're not going to the bathroom every single day, and I'm talking about pooping every single day, defecating, you want to make sure you are because otherwise things can get reabsorbed. Other, you know, they're not leaving your body. So I provide, actually I have a whole section on ways to go to the bathroom. So if you're constipated or you're just not going to the bathroom the way you wanna be, or at least once a day, like I provide a lot of tips. In terms of, and being a nutritionist, and Lisa Tzakos is a nutritionist too, we kind of went all in on gut health on chapter 4. So we talk a lot about it and we try to simplify it. And that's the other really good thing about the book is whether you are a woman going through perimenopause or menopause, or you're a doctor or healthcare provider who is going through it yourself or working with women who are going through perimenopause and menopause, or you're a partner of a woman going through perimenopause and menopause, this book is for you because We really explain it in a very easy way to understand it. It's not fancy jargon. It's everyday language that helps you understand it. And, and I'm very clear about it too. And even in chapter 4, cuz it can get really complicated. I, I, I even say, I'm like, you're not gonna learn the whole digestive system from one chapter in a book. Like literally it's like there's a little overview and we explain it, but we, the, the goal was to provide the tips. And that was the biggest thing for me is to have actionable steps so that the women reading this book can walk away with, okay, I know what to do now. I, I, I understand and I don't have to do, you know, go and spend a crazy amount of money doing it. I could today, I could do this and implement this into my daily routine. And that was the goal to be able to make it accessible for everybody.

And did you, and Andrea, I appreciate that because I have a whole shelf. I have a bookcase full of books and it's easy to read a book and, but not understand. So what do I, how does this apply to me? What's in it for me? And what do I change today based on what I'm reading? Because otherwise we just keep reading and we don't apply the knowledge and then we don't make the changes we need.

Yeah. And I want you to keep this book, you and your listeners, to everybody who reads it, keep this next to your bed, like your night, on your night table. Because you can read it in parts or you can be like, oh, what did Andrea say again? Say, okay, I'm going, I'm getting into bed. What are some tips that I can do before I go to sleep? You know, and it's, it's, they're easy to implement. Like things from like journaling, meditation, listening, going on YouTube and finding some sound bath music that you can relax to. Apps, like, like so many different things. Taking a bath with some essential oils. Like, so I provide so many tips. Of what you could do that you could literally just keep it next to your bed and, or keep it in the kitchen or in your office or wherever it is. And if you're feeling something, be like, oh yeah, what did I like? What did, what does it say in the book? And then you can go and implement it right away. And that was, again, like, that was just super important to me.

Well, it, it sounds like that you actually touch on all of the, at the Vegan Gym, we have a framework, we call it the Plant-Powered Blueprint, which is mindset, nutrition, movement. Sleep, stress, social connection, toxin awareness, and then data. And you've touched, I mean, the book sounds like it touches on all of those. When it comes to, and you alluded to this and I want to go back to it because it really should be the start, mindset.

Mm. Yes.

What advice do you have for women in terms of embracing change, embracing It, you know, we are lucky to get to become middle-aged. So how do we, how do you change the mindset? So not from, I'm going to endure this to, I am going to thrive through this.

So it's a great question and it's something that we have to really focus on. And so we know that research, let's start with the research. We know that research shows that if you feel or believe you are going to have a difficult menopause and you're gonna have difficult symptoms, you will. So that's number one. We know that the research says that, that, that can happen. So I feel a lot of that comes from the fact that we probably don't know, right? It's an unknown. It's a, we hear so many bad things about perimenopause and menopause, and because we don't know, and, and I'm talking myself, because I didn't know, I was like, oh my God, this is awful. And I didn't really have any, you know, have any perspective on it or education, that, that plays a big role. So once we educate, once we, we acquire the knowledge and we understand what's going on, we understand the vocabulary that we can use to express how we're feeling to our healthcare providers, to our partners, to our colleagues, to other people around us. That is helpful. Mm-hmm. And then help and knowing that we know that out of the top 10 most common symptoms, 50 to 90% are brain health and mental health related, cognitive related. And now that's according to my research. I didn't know that before. That we now know according to 5,200 women from our Signs and Symptoms Survey that 50, and you can argue up to 90% of the top 10 most common symptoms are mental health, brain health related. I mean, that's massive. That's huge. That's huge. So if we just know that, we know how to help our symptoms, we know we, we have in earlier intervention, whatever that looks like for you in perimenopause. That can help us as we go into menopause, that can help mitigate a lot of the symptoms that can help. Like, how do I know? Like, I, I'll use me as an example. Had I known, and I have PCOS. Mm-hmm. If I knew before when I was in perimenopause that insulin resistance was a major factor in menopause, me, for many different reasons. Yeah. And I, if I knew that per— the PCOS meant a metabolic dysfunction issue, which I didn't know back then, I know now, I would've completely changed the way I exercised. I didn't do any strength training when I was back, back then it was all about cardio, heavy cardio, like lots and lots of cardio. I would've changed how I ate. I would've ate specifically for blood sugar regulation and insulin regulation. So I just, I kind of, you can't go backwards cuz hindsight, you know, it's obviously 2020, but I, these are the things that I wanna impress on my readers is that when you know earlier You could do things to change it, and that affects your mindset because just being taken by surprise, that's hard on us. Yeah. Because then you're backpedaling, you're trying to figure out things the other way as opposed to be like, okay, I'm 35, I know what can happen. This is the way I am. All right, now I'm gonna start changing the way I do things. And you know what? By the time I get into menopause, I may not have as many symptoms as somebody who didn't do that. Right? So it's a different mindset just there. And I also have an entire chapter, chapter 12, is on mindset. It's on self-love, self-care, relationships with ourselves and our partners, understanding how much that mindset plays a role in our, you know, in, and it's doing the work. So your question of how do we change it, it's a process, right? For some of us, we could change it easily. For others, we're talking about years of experience under our belt or learning a certain way that we have to unlearn now. So doing the work is really a big part of going into perimenopause and menopause because there's also so many amazing things about being in menopause. Like truly, like I love the fact that now we're like, you know, when estrogen goes down, that Pollyanna effect goes away, that filter disappears. And if we become much more like, you know, into our own and like we're becoming, like we're finding ourselves or refining ourselves or, or discovering or creating whatever it is of yourself. There's a lot of amazing things that happen to us. We're much more in our power. We're in our knowing. We have how many years of experience behind us? I mean, we're rock stars, truly. If you think about it, we're like incredible rock stars as all this life experience behind us that is bringing us to where we are today. And I feel like there's so much good, but sometimes it gets overshadowed by all the, you know, the negative that you hear about it. But having a different, like working on your mindset can make a really big difference in how you kind of go through this phase of life or come out of it.

100% agree. And I think the other thing that I'm sure you mentioned in the book is that women have to realize that they are worth focusing on themselves.

Mm-hmm.

Because I mean, you're a mom, you're a businesswoman, you are a partner, you have a lot of other things in your life that you prioritize. At some point you have to find time to prioritize you. Otherwise, how do you work on your mindset if you don't do that?

100%. Self-care, self-love.

Yes. And you mentioned movement, and I'm, I'm saying movement intentionally because I, I never wanna scare people, especially given a lot of the conversations currently about lift heavy and, you know, you have to go into the gym and do all this. I think I firmly believe that if you have a body, you have a gym. And it doesn't matter where you are, we can find a way to help you move with intention and with consistency because you can't just exercise for one day a week and think that's going to be it to carry you through menopause. How are you— how do you link the importance of cardiometabolic health in terms of nutrition, movement, sleep? Uh, because heart disease is still what kills women downstream. And if you're looking at empowering women to stay healthy for the long term, that awareness of, you know, we're not just navigating now, but we're preparing ourselves for the next. And whether that's 80 years old, 90 years old, we wanna continue to be strong and healthy until our very last day.

Oh, I love that. And yes, so the cardiometabolic health, we're more prone to cardiometabolic issues. Including insulin resistance, including weight gain, right? So, and higher cholesterol. We know our numbers go up as we go into this phase of life. Maybe your blood pressure is going up as well. These are all cardio metabolic markers that we want to pay attention to. And I think it's, again, you know, making sure or looking to what you're eating plays a big role. Strength training does play a big role, which is your, you know, that's your area of expertise, of course. Managing stress plays a big role, right? That's a mass— our stress, our nervous system is massive when it comes to cardio metabolic markers. Like, how are we— like, we know that stress and blood sugar are intricately related on both ways, right? Stress increases blood sugar, blood sugar increases stress. Like, so it's kind of like this vicious cycle between the two of them. So it kind of goes back to the whole basis of the book is how do we look at each of those parts individually, but together and synergistically, right? So I feel like finding a good doctor— so yes, you have something like the book, it explains that. But then finding a good doctor, making sure you're getting tested, to me that's a massive part of taking care of our health, our healthspan, our lifespan. Are you with the right healthcare practitioner? Are they testing you on a regular basis? Like, you want to go at least once a year, you want to have your blood pressure checked, you want to have your cholesterol, your lipids checked, you want to check your fasting glucose. Your fasting insulin. These are things— your— even your thyroid. We want to know that— what our thyroid— what are your vitamin D levels like? What's your B12? What's your ferritin? Like, we need to know. We need to see that big picture that's going on. So yes, we've got nutrition, lifestyle, sleep, exercise, mindset, all of that. And finding the right healthcare provider is really crucial to that because we want to know where our markers are at. Just guessing. To me, I'm a big believer in testing. I'm a big believer in understanding, because you could go and take as much vitamin D as you want, but if you don't know what your vitamin D levels are, even as a starting point, or even testing it again 6 months later after you've been taking it for a certain amount of time, it does you a disservice. Because maybe, maybe you started— your doctor told you, you had, you had a vitamin D test done. Let's hope somebody had a vitamin D a vitamin D level test done and it was a certain number, it was low. So your doctor, and this just happened actually, which is why I'm giving the example. So I have a friend, so this colleague, she told me it happened and then she started taking 1,000 IUs of vitamin D after her doctor told her she was severely deficient. Mm-hmm. That's not gonna help her much. Mm-hmm. 1,000 IUs of vitamin D. It's not, let's be honest. She was severely deficient. It's gonna take her a very long time to get to the optimal level of vitamin D range of that vitamin D range. I actually go all into this in in my book too, I have a whole chapter on vitamins, nutrients, minerals, and where they should be levels, optimal levels. So like, to me, if you are severely deficient in vitamin D, starting with 1,000 IUs is not the right amount. So understanding, working with somebody that can help you take the right amount so that you can get to that level faster. Why do we care about vitamin D? For so many reasons. Mood, sleep, immunity, bones. Like, it's so important for so many things. I'm kind of obsessed with vitamin D because it's one of those things that it's like this low-hanging fruit. We can go to our doctor. It's a test that you can get done. If you're exhausted, which is the number one symptom of perimenopause and menopause, just getting your vitamin D in the optimal levels can make a massive difference. Just one thing. Maybe it's that, maybe it's your thyroid, maybe it's your B12, maybe it's your ferritin. We don't know, but get the test done so we know what we're working with so that you can be helped. Because in some cases it can be an easy fix, and in some cases it might be a little bit more comprehensive, but at least you know what your, you know where your starting point is. Yes.

In, in the book, do you provide a list of recommended tests that women should actually, cuz I mean vitamin D isn't always in the standard lab panel that may be part of a well-woman exam.

Mm-hmm.

Is that something that people will get when they purchase the book?

So we have a PDF, we actually have a, a PDF where, and I could give it to you, I can give you the link so you can put it below where you can actually get a list of the top 10 blood tests that we recommend.

Okay.

And it was reviewed by Dr. Lakeisha McMillan, who is a specialist, a She's an OB-GYN specialist in menopause. So we did it together. I had her review it, so it got her thumbs up because I'm not a doctor. So I wanna make sure we had a, a medical doctor review it. So yes, I can absolutely provide you with the link that you could share with your community, but it's also in the book that gets part of our resources in the book.

Now, no, you're not a doctor, but you are— that was gonna be my next question because a lot of physicians don't have either the training or the time. To once you get the results back, okay, my vitamin D is 20.

Yeah.

What do I do next? And it's easy to go say, go take 1,000 IUs of vitamin D plus, you know, do I need to do K3? Do I not need K2? Vitamin D2 plus K3, do I need that? You know, what do I do? And if my physician doesn't have time, how do I find someone like you who can sit down and help me understand how to interpret these data?

I talk about it in the book. You know, it's funny, as you're saying it, I'm like, oh, if you only knew, Daphne, the rabbit hole that I went down versus vitamin D, vitamin K2, MK-7. Oh my gosh. That was like, so that section was probably rewritten 5 times, but really? Oh yeah. Because the research is incredible. I actually found somebody who was published 165 times on vitamin D research. That's, so it's chapter 8. No, chapter 9. Chapter 9. So good. So good. And it talks about the vitamins, the ranges. It talks about all the different minerals and the different vitamins and what the ranges are. Yes. What the ranges are, what you should look at, how you should take them. And yeah, the book is awesome in that respect because, well, cuz it's everything I wanted to know. Yeah. Like, should we be taking vitamin K2 MK7 with vitamin D? Like, is that something we should be taking? What is the research saying? And by the way, even if the research is saying things, what is it saying for women in menopause? And this is where I spent so much time. And when I tell you it took me 2 years to write this book, it took me 2 years to write this book because the amount of research that I did to go and understand what we need specifically for us in perimenopause and menopause was so crucial and so important to me that I took my— it, it took me a long time to be able to find out. And I also wanted to go to sources and to people and There's so many experts in my book that I have quotes from because I don't know everything. No, nobody does. But I know how to put it together and I have a lot of my own experience and my own knowledge. And that's why this book is so good because it has the experience and knowledge from so many people that I trust. That's the other thing. There's so much information out there. I wanted to have, in my book, I wanted to have the people who I love, respect, and trust that I know the information is something I would wanna read for myself, right? So that's why it's. It's really good. I keep saying it's really good, but it really is good.

I can't— well, I pre-ordered it as soon as I heard it was coming out and I can't wait to read it. In the book, do you actually talk also about toxin awareness in terms of— and I always like to couch this carefully because I don't like to make people crazy. Are— we have a lot of things we're exposed to in our environment. Whether we breathe it, whether it's on our skin. Um, I mean, I, whether it's in the tights I wear, is that part of how we nourish our body through perimenopause and menopause? So such a good question.

I love that you asked me this. So my life before Morpheus was, and I had a company called Naturally Savvy, and for all those years before I started Morpheus in 2021 was all about natural and organic living and understanding toxicants in our environment and all of that. That's literally where I spent most of my time. I wrote a book called Unjunk Your Junk Food, which was what are we putting in our body from the standpoint of additives and unnecessary ingredients. So like, that's where my specialty was for so many years. And when we wrote the book, so it's not a massive focus of the book because we really focus a lot on nutrition and, and exercise and sleep and, and nervous system regulation. However, I did have a whole chapter on food additives and then how does it affect us? And we ended up taking it out and we're actually gonna be doing a course for practitioners. We're gonna be doing a certified menopause course, perimenopause menopause course for practitioners. So we're gonna have it in that and we should have that by the fall.

Okay.

So in the book I talk a little bit about it because I've interviewed a couple of people. This one woman, her name is Amy Ziff from Made Safe, and she talks a lot about toxicants in our environment. Leah Segedy from Momivation who does a ton of testing. Okay. On products. These are friends of mine that I've known from like my old Naturally Savvy days. So, and Leah's coming back on my podcast actually really soon. She's been on before. So I do cover it as far as certain things go to be mindful of pesticides and, you know, if you can, certain things to buy organic. And if you know what is, what's in your mattresses, what's in your pillows, what are things that we are exposed to on a regular basis for long periods? It's a, it's a little section in the book. It's just not a massive focus on it. But of course we have to mention it because we're more susceptible to things now. So we want to be mindful of what we're putting in and on our body and what are we exposing ourselves to within reason, like you said, like, and I even say that in the book, like it can drive us crazy. Like we don't live in a bubble and then we can kind of go like, so I've learned one of the things because I've come from that world and I was very extreme. I've now come to the point where I'm like, I'm really trying to be more balanced. And because it wasn't healthy for me, my mindset would be like, because if I was like that now, I'd be like stressed over everything every minute of the day. No, I'm like, I do what I can. Of course, like there are certain things that I'm like, I want to buy organic for that because that's important to me that it's organic. And there's other things I'm like, okay, well, once in a while it's okay if I do that. Other things will be like, oh, I know this has this in it, but you know what? I'm enjoying it. Like, so it comes down to making our own decisions and, um, understanding it, but to answer your question, yes, we do cover it a little bit in the book.

And I, I feel like I could keep asking you questions about the book forever. One other topic that has been of interest to our community in particular, we encourage a lot of our women in our programs to get DEXA scans, both to understand their body composition from a body composition DEXA scan, and then to have a conversation with their healthcare team about maybe getting a diagnostic DEXA sooner than 65.

Do—

did you touch on musculoskeletal health or particularly bone health in the book? Because we have so many women who are manifesting signs of low bone mass or osteoporosis, and they're, you know, they're saying, what do I do now?

So I did touch upon it. I didn't really get into testing. Methods, but I did talk about musculoskeletal symptoms and I also talk about, so I talk about it in chapter 2 or 3, which is all about symptoms. And then I also talk about it in chapter 13, which is all about movement and exercise. So yeah, we do cover it. I actually just recently, interestingly enough, I just went to Osteostrong. It's like this. Oh yeah. Yeah. I really liked it and I was kind of like showing what my strength was and kind of getting a sense of like where I was at with my, and I know they also have these like certain tests that you can get, RENS, RENS, I think it's RENS. RENS. Okay. So I, I definitely believe that we should get tested. Absolutely. We should be getting tested. I just didn't go into it in the book more so cuz it, it's not really my area of expertise. But, um, I do believe that we should not understand what our bone density is and understand because it's one of the big three, right? Osteoporosis, cognitive health, as well as heart health. So we need to make sure that that's why exercising, strength training, all of that is so important. Eating enough protein, you know, that all of that is so important for our muscle and, and our bone health.

So if, if I had, you know, the, just listening to you talk about the book, it sounds like when you, and I don't know if this is what you were thinking, Nourishing Menopause, you're talking about nourishing your body, mind, and spirit.

Oh, that's exactly what it is. Yeah.

Andrew, what other— could you just run through the chapters of the book so the odd, you know, our community can hear? And then are there things that you think are really important that you want to make sure that you share today? Because I think this book is important. I really, I love your work in particular because you are going out. It's, it's almost like community participatory research. You're sourcing your knowledge from the people in the community who are going through this life stage, and now you're redistilling it and providing it for, you know, those of us who are in the throes of it. But also to your point about a legacy, how do we change the next generation so their experience will be different?

Well, I think it's for them, like I have two daughters, I have a son, and they're very much, they know about menopause and it's, we're very open and very communicative about it. They, they will not go into menopause surprised, put it that way. Like, my daughters, my son, even for like his wife when he gets married, like, they will understand it. And they kind of like— because I'm in it all day long, right? So that, for me, like, that was, that was really important. Um, so as long as they have the understanding and the knowledge, that to me, then I've done my job to help educate the next generation. And even in the book, I had someone who was in her 20s me with editing and I love the fact that she helped me and I talk about her at the end and I'm like, you will understand now what this, what it means to go into perimenopause and menopause because it's very hard. Like I remember before I was in my forties, I did work for one of a very well-known menopause educator. Mm-hmm. And I, I did lectures for her all over, but I'll tell you, it didn't really, I didn't really understand it. Like I, I really didn't. And I look back and I'm like talking about menopause. Here I am in my early forties. I didn't even know I was in perimenopause, but yet I'm talking about it. It never really resonated until I actually was in it. So I understand that we can tell, we can tell our younger generation, but until they go through it, it's hard for them to maybe grasp or fathom, but at least now they won't take, be taken by surprise. And I think that's the biggest thing for me because when you're taken by surprise and you don't know what's happening, that it's difficult, like as I mentioned earlier, right? So like. I don't want them to be taken by surprise. I want them to understand what's coming, even if they don't really fully understand it. At least they might have an idea and to write, to ask the right questions, to seek the right, right help, to read the right books like Nourishing Menopause, right? So the, this is what's important to me. And to answer your questions about the different, different chapters, the chapter 1 is like an introduction chapter. Chapter 2 is all about my research and it's my published research. I have a lot more research that I didn't put in the book. That we have on our website. We have 15 surveys right now on our website. We're gonna be publishing another, hopefully 2 or 3 this year. So I'm hoping to have 10 by the end of 2026. I just, I love my research. And when you say that, Daphne, I, I wanna cry because it's my, it's my passion and I love understanding what women are feeling and I read the comments and I look at the data and it just helps to provide so much information that we can now help and provide solutions for women, right? And, and share it with everyone so they can understand and they don't have to be taken by surprise. Chapter 3, so is all about our symptoms. What are the different symptoms? Because we published the list on the 103, but I go through, obviously I can't go through all through 103, but we go through groups of different symptoms and explain them. And what are some things that you can do? Chapter 4 is all about gut health. Chapter 5 is all about why we're gaining weight in perimenopause and menopause. Chapter 6 is all about our nervous system. So how can we help to regulate and balance our nervous system, our stress response? Like how do we help to relax? Number 7 is sleep. Chapter 8, 9, and 10 are all about nutrients, as I mentioned before, and nutrition and a whole plan, a, like an eating plan. And, uh, chapter 12 is mindset. Chapter 13 is exercise. And then there is an entire chapter on, uh, try at the end, there's, um, about 20 recipes. That we provide as well. So it's pretty well-rounded. And in chapter 1 and throughout the book is hormones. Like we talk about hormones all throughout the book.

I'd be remiss if I didn't ask whether you also have conversations around GLP-1s and women going through this life stage who are navigating that in addition to, uh, because I was You know, I was talking to a client before we got on the call who is using those to support her weight loss journey and protein, fiber, fat, sleep. It, it all seems to have a little bit of a nuance on top of everything else that she's navigating.

I love that question. So I do mention in the book, I don't go into it. Because again, I'm not a doctor, so I didn't wanna like go into something a little bit more than I would feel comfortable with. But I do mention, because I understand you could be doing everything and saying, I'm doing everything and still doesn't move the needle, that absolutely I put in there that you may wanna consider GLP-1 and speaking to your doctor about what's right for you. Because I do believe that we need intervention and the most important thing is that we actually help regulate our blood sugar and our insulin. And it's really key. It's part of our balance pro— our blueprint. In chapter 11, I talk about a balanced blueprint. And what does that mean? It's what are we looking at in terms of nutrition, in terms of overall health in perimenopause and menopause. And balance stands for balancing your blood sugar levels, adding more fiber, loading up on protein, adding good quality fats like you mentioned before, nurturing our digestion, choosing more plants and ensuring you're hydrated. So that's the balanced blueprint of the— and it really is the heart of the book because the whole book kind of weaves into that of how to do that. So it's really important that we look at balancing insulin and blood sugar. And then obviously we talked about weight before, and if you need to use a GLP-1 to do that, I say do what you want to do, what you need to do to get the results that you need. Never any judgment for me. Like, that's more like you do what you have to do. And maybe supplements will be something you wanna look at as well, right? Like there are some great supplements that might help to move the needle, but do what works for you and your health.

And I keep saying I'll, I'm gonna wrap up last, second to last question.

Any questions you want, whatever you want.

You mentioned hydration and I, I agree hydration is so important, but asking for a friend, um, do I need all of these electrolyte supplements that are out there now in terms of making sure I'm hydrated, or can I just drink water or do I need to have my sodium, my potassium added to every single 30-ounce bottle that I drink?

It's a great question. And you know, I do talk about electrolytes in the book, but I actually provide homemade electrolytes that you can make, that you can drink. So like if you needed, and somebody told you, you did a mineral test and you were very low on all of your minerals or your electrolytes minerals, then you were told that you need to do something, then absolutely, you know, do what you were told to do. The thing I have about electrolytes is I truly believe we need electrolytes for women in this phase of life. 'Cause a lot of them are made, are made for males and for athletes, people who are extremely high exertion, high sweat ratio. Like, so for me, and, and if I take those, by the way, if I take those electrolytes, I get heart palpitations. And so it's really important that you take electrolytes that are right for our bodies now that we're in perimenopause and menopause. And you may have to experiment. Like, you may have to look for an electrolyte without the high sodium because maybe there's just way too much sodium or way too much potassium or way too— like, whatever it is, right? Like, we need a lot of magnesium, so I don't have an issue with so much with magnesium. But like, be careful because I was taking high amounts of, of potassium and I was getting heart palpitations. So like, you want to be mindful. Now I've kind of scaled back. I still like electrolytes. I love certain teas that have electrolytes. So we do have homemade recipes in the book for electrolytes that you can make at home. Coconut water's another really good one.

Yeah.

If you want, you know, if you want electrolytes, you can look at, uh, coconut water. But I feel like, I feel like a lot of the information out there is for general people and we need to know what's good for us in perimenopause and menopause. So listen to your body, you know, and there are a lot of different reasons you can get heart pops. Like I can get it also when my thyroid is low and my, you know, my antibodies are high, like, cuz I have Hashimoto's, so there's different things that can contribute to it. But I was also taking higher amounts of potassium. I had to scale back and that's made a huge difference. So again, it doesn't have to necessarily be one thing. It could be a co— the different things that are compounding each other. So just because, you know, people are saying you should do this, listen to your body or maybe take half the amount. Like if they're saying take a full scoop of this, maybe do a quarter, maybe do a half. It doesn't mean you necessarily need all of it. And just be mindful of what the ingredients are in there because that's where I'm just, I, I don't believe we should be taking high amounts of sodium now. Like, I just don't believe that women in perimenopause, and again, that's my opinion. I, you might have other people that are like, no, no, no, we absolutely should be taking extremely high amounts of sodium that are in all these electrolytes. Like, but my opinion is I'd like to see formulas specifically for women in perimenopause and menopause.

Yeah.

Unless you're like super active, right? And you're like an athlete. Made. And you're like, like, of course there's always a right, you know, consumer for that or target market. But I'm talking an average woman who is going to the gym like a few times a week. You know, you're not sweating profusely, you know, like, so I'm just talking on average.

And I love that. And we do the same thing. We have homemade electrolyte recipes that we share with our community. One, you know what's in it. Two, you don't have to pay excessively to get there. Yeah. But Three, and maybe this is really the last question, where do I start? I mean, your book is so in-depth and it covers so many things. And I think oftentimes people get what I call perfection paralysis, which is they want to do everything right. So I don't do anything because if I can't do it all right, I'm not going to do it. If I pick up your book tomorrow, or for anyone who picks up your book, where do I start?

Start at chapter 1. Just understand what's happening to your body. I go through the different phases. We know that 20% of women, according to my research, don't even know what stage they're in. Start at chapter 1. That's true. Read, you know, start there. I explain what the different phases are. I explain what it means. What is perimenopause? What is premenopause? What is menopause? What is postmenopause? Like, so I, I talk a little bit about the history. I talk about women empowerment. I talk about like, so I would say start there and ease your way into it. And even from reading the book, choose one thing, just one thing. I always say baby steps. One thing. If you're like, okay, I really wanna focus on sleep, then maybe tonight I won't eat 3 hours before bed. There you go. Done. You don't have to be, you don't have to do and implement everything. I'm very much about baby steps and doing what feels right for you because Like you said, when you're getting, when you were like, oh my God, I gotta change everything, then you're gonna stress just about that. And no, the purpose of the book is to just, even if you walk away, you read it once and you walk away with one tip, one thing, then I've done my job. And then read it again and maybe you'll implement something else, right? So that's why this book is meant to be an encyclopedia almost that you keep next to your bed. It's not a read it once and then put it away. It's a keep it on your nightstand. Keep it, like I said before, keep it in your office. Keep it somewhere where you can constantly go back to it, make notes, highlight it, put little sticky notes on it and things where you want to start. And then that's what you like. Don't, please don't obsess about anything because I truly, there's something in there for everybody and starting slowly will be the biggest game changer for you because then you'll actually do one thing, right? As opposed to not do anything.

Like you said, I love that. Uh, because it, we'd rather you do one thing consistently and see that it actually is changing how you feel and what your life experience is than not do anything at all.

Yeah. Yep. 100%.

Andrea, is there anything we didn't cover that you wanna make sure you touch on about nourishing menopause?

I think we covered, we covered a lot. I just want you to know, ladies, you're not alone. I see you. I validate you. Daphne sees you like we, you are not alone. There are so many of us in the same boat. We are here to help. We, you know, I'm happy to answer questions and I just want you to know that there is hope. That's the beautiful part about it now. Like there's hope. You don't have to suffer if you're suffering there. You can, there are treatments or solutions available to you and find the right, find the right people in your support group that understand you and that can help you through it. If you're in the thick of the symptoms, find people that get it, find a doctor who gets it, read my book, understand, speak to friends, colleagues. You know, maybe, maybe a boss, like speak to somebody if you're, if you're missing work or whatever it is, speak to someone, find the vocabulary so that you could speak from a place of empowerment and knowledge. And then I would say also share it because don't keep it to yourself. There's so many people going through it that I know would benefit from you opening up to them, right? And showing that you have similar similar circumstances, experiences, whatever it is. And if you've gone through and you're through, you're on the other side and you're not having a lot of symptoms anymore, mentor someone else who might be going through it. So I just feel like there's so much we could be doing as women to support each other. And we're such a pa— like, I just, we're so amazing and we're so like the fact that we, we, we go from taking care of families and kids and partners and parents or whoever it is that we're nurturing. To now being able to nurture, nurture ourselves, but also picking and choosing who else we wanna nurture and mentor. Right? So like, it's a cool place to be.

Love that. Oh, we call that the ripple effect. We want people rippling, um, because there's so many women who need to hear this message.

Yeah.

So where can we find the book? Where do we purchase this?

You can buy it anywhere you buy books. So you can buy it on Amazon, you can buy it on, um, at walmart.com. You can buy it at, in bookstores. It's in bookstores across the US and Canada. I've had people in the UK who told me they bought it from amazon.com. They pre-ordered it. So, um, anywhere that Amazon ships to, but also in bookstores. So if you, we wanna support our bookstores. So going into the bookstores would be an awesome place to, to buy an actual like hard copy of it would be amazing too.

And Andrea, where can people find you, learn more about you and Morpheus?

Yeah, for sure. So if you wanna learn more about me in particular, um, I'm at my website is wearemorphous.com, M-O-R-P-H-O-U-S.com. And then if you wanna more about the book, it's nourishingmenopausebook.com. So you can go to our website, which is specific about the book and has resources and all different things that, you know, where you can purchase it. There's links there as well. And then, um, you can also follow me on social media. So on TikTok, I'm @andreaadonski. We're also at We Are Morpheus on Instagram, TikTok, everywhere else. You listen to, are you, you, you're on social media.

Andrea, I will let you go, but before I do, I'd love for you to answer one question.

Yeah.

What does it mean to you to thrive?

Sorry, say to thrive?

To thrive.

Yeah. Okay. Um, what does it mean to me to thrive? I would say for me, it means to feel good, to feel empowered, to feel strong, to feel that I'm now, I'm, I've come into my own. I'm not a people pleaser anymore. That to me is a big part of thriving, cuz for the longest time I would be, I was such a people pleaser. Um, getting better at it. I would say that it also means to feel good in my body, to feel confident in my body, and also to thrive physically healthy, right? Like physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, all of that. And that to me is what I hope for every woman in perimenopause and menopause. And I want you all to thrive. I want you to feel amazing. I want you to be choosing foods that help you feel good, that empower you, that, that power you, that give you the energy so that you don't— you're not exhausted, right? That you can actually move and you can get to the gym, or you not. Like you said, we have a body, we've got a gym within us. So just to be able to do whatever we can to feel good, to increase healthspan and obviously at the ultimately lifespan.

Andra Donsky, thank you. Uh, on that, I appreciate you coming, joining the Thrive on Plants community. And I, I would say I can't wait until we talk about your next book, but, um, I don't know about that one.

We'll see that one. I know like this, this, this book is, yeah, this book is amazing. So.

But we so appreciate you and all that you do for women globally. And, um, I can't wait to see what you bring out in the world next. Thanks so much.

Thank you, Daphne, for having me. You're the best. And right back at you.

Take care.

The information shared on the Thrive on Plants podcast is intended solely for educational and informational purposes. It is not medical advice, and it should never be used as a substitute for personalized guidance from a qualified healthcare professional. Always consult with your physician or healthcare provider before making any changes to your nutrition, exercise routine, supplement use, or your overall wellness plan. The opinions and advice shared by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Vegan Gym or its team. While we aim to bring you high-quality, thoughtful conversations, These perspectives are not intended to replace professional medical care. Thanks for tuning in, and remember, you have the power to thrive on plants and live with purpose.