This past week I completed a Lymphatic Certification Training and I am so excited to teach you a basic lymph drainage routine for the face. It is the perfect time to focus on deeper detoxification as spring and the Wood Element support the removal of the winter stagnation.

Jing markers can guide our choices and help us to live a long and healthy life.

Chinese Herbs can seem exotic, but they may be just the right thing to help with your hot flashes, fatigue, and irregular periods.

Frozen shoulder is the worst! It can happen slowly, but the pain is unmistakable.

Are you dealing with all the crazy symptoms of perimenopause and the global pandemic blues?

I know these are anxious times for all of us and we are being asked to make a lot of changes. And, while I have had to make some changes too (including closing my brick and mortar clinic) I have taken my practice online and I am still here for you!

If you are in your your forties or early fifties, you have probably noticed some changes in your menstrual cycle. Some of us may have a lighter flow or shorter flow, but others may have the exact opposite: heavy bleeding, sudden flooding, and bedsheets that resemble a crime scene. What is causing this heavy bleeding?

Why do we gain weight during perimenopause?

Are you putting on weight but feel like you eat almost nothing? Or have you noticed a new layer of padding around your midsection?

Weight gain can be one of the challenges we face during peri/menopause. It can also be super frustrating to eat right, exercise, and do all the things that used to work, and still see the pounds add up.

For women who are going through perimenopause one of the bigger challenges with sex is often the loss of desire. But, for women who are in the second stage—heading into menopause—there can be significant physical barriers to sex like dryness and pain.

The fatigue that accompanies menopause is no joke. It resembles no other type of tired— it is nothing like being sleepy after a late night or a long flight.

The crazy thing is that it can happen any time of day. Suddenly your body is made of lead, your head is made of cotton, and you feel so sluggish you want to weep.

This intense “fatigue attack” can make managing your day, work, time with friends, or exercise, seem nearly impossible.

And, you may feel guilty that all you want to do is crawl back into bed with your laptop and a Netflix series.

If you can relate to this, you are not alone!

Broccoli for Breakfast????

Let me explain.

Breakfast can be one of your biggest allies during perimenopause. In particular, a PFF breakfast. A PFF breakfast includes Protein, Fat and Fiber, and this trifecta helps improve energy levels and reduce sugar cravings.

Because the transition into menopause happens gradually for most women (over a ten year period) some women don't realize the symptoms they are having are signs of perimenopause . Symptoms like sleep disturbance, irregular periods, depression, irritability, and forgetfulness, are early signs that can develop slowly and over time. It can be confusing to distinguish what is hormonal from everyday life stressors. For many women, however, the first concrete sign that they are in in perimenopause is, you guessed, hot flashes!

It may be hard to believe that despite the fatigue, weight gain, moods, and crazy periods, that there is no better time to improve your health than during perimenopause.

If you are reading this and you are a woman who has made major changes in your lifestyle, if you are someone who has successfully changed unhealthy habits and transformed your life to support your vibrant self—that is awesome!!! Good for you!!!!

Have you ever worked really hard to eat well and exercise, but the weight won't budge? Or have you had an injury that you fear will never heal? Or a chronic disease that is invisible to others but rules your life?

When we don't feel good (particularly when we have felt this way for a long time and we have tried many things) we may feel hopeless and resigned, and fear that nothing will help.

You are in your forties. Maybe it makes sense that you feel a little more tired, a little less optimistic, and maybe a little bit more pissed off? But, with every new symptom you wonder: is this aging or is this hormones?

Many of us wonder this.

At a recent coffee date, some of my friends and I started talking about our health, aging, and hormones.

We are all women in our forties and fifties, and almost all of us were noticing some physical signs of a hormone shift: hot flashes, changing menses, and weight gain around the middle.