Jeannie Ralston has, literally, done pretty much everything and been pretty much everywhere.
From hiking the Great Wall to introducing her kids to the Arab Spring to hanging out in Morocco with famous people (and not really enjoying it much), she's been there, written about that.
At 60, not only does she show no signs of slowing down, she's not really sure why anyone would expect her to. She's as vibrant, energetic, and curious as ever, and she's sharing that energy and optimism with women globally.
"We can be very proud of being women and of being women this age," she says, and we are very proud to know her.
Have a listen to this fantastic conversation between Gennev CEO Jill Angelo and Next Tribe founder Jeannie Ralston, then come find your Next Tribe for your awesome next chapter of life.
Also, if you're interested in participating in the writing workshop she spoke of in the podcast, learn more: https://nexttribe.com/book-publishing-workshop/
About Jeannie
Jeannie Ralston is the co-founder and CEO of NextTribe, the digital magazine and community for smart, engaged women over 45.
NextTribe’s mission is to inform, promote, and connect women who are determined to “Age Boldly” (NextTribe’s tagline).
Ralston’s work as a journalist has been published in National Geographic, Life, The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Allure, and many other magazines. Her years growing lavender in rural Texas was the subject of her memoir, The Unlikely Lavender Queen, published by Broadway Books; her e-book, The Mother of All Field Trips, was about the three years she and her husband homeschooled and traveled with their sons.
She lives in Austin, Texas.
What's the link between your gut health and your emotions?
It's a tighter combination than most of us realize, meaning perhaps more of our mental and emotional health is in our control than we previously thought.
We know that our emotions can have a direct physical result: stress, depression, anxiety — all of these can show up in our bodies and in our guts. Upset stomach, loss of (or increase in) appetite, body aches and pains can all result from emotional distress.
But the impact travels both directions: the health of our microbiome can also dictate a great deal of how we feel, physically and emotionally.
In this podcast, Gennev Director of Health Coaching Stasi Kasianchuk talks with metabolic surgeon, gut-health expert, and owner of LaVellaYourGuts.com, Dr. Erika La Vella, about the intersection of nutrition, emotion, gut, brain, and menopause.
There's long been a gap in the quality of care men and women receive. Women's bodies are less understood, their health issues less researched, their solutions have frequently been "treat women as small men," their pain poorly treated or ignored, and on and on and on.
That discrepancy in care is exponentially worse if the woman is Black or a woman of color; worse if she's poor, worse if she's a transgender woman; worse if she's past reproductive age.
There are women, men, and organizations out there that feel like part of our family — the family that's working to improve health care for women. Denise Pines is one of that family.
She is is the co-visionary and head task master for Tea Botanics, a company that makes tea for hot flashes, among others. An award-winning marketer and serial entrepreneur, Denise has participated in 10 startups. She is founder of WisePause, a pro-aging health and education platform and FemAging 2020, a report that introduces a new industry sector, FemAging Tech.
Denise cofounded Women in the Room Productions who produced the award-winning film PUSHOUT: The Criminalization of Black Girls in School. Denise is the current President of the Medical Board of California.
In this conversation with Gennev CEO Jill Angelo, Denise and Jill talk about the discrepancies in care and how many in the medical community are starting to recognize and close the gap.
The largest organ in the human body isn’t actually in the human body – it’s on the outside. To be even more accurate, it is the outside.
It’s our skin. And it does more than keep the rain out and our insides in.
Our skin is a pretty good barrier against much of the outside world, but it isn’t perfect. Sun damage happens. And the products we use on our skin may be doing us more harm than good.
Kari Gran and Lisa Strain started the Kari Gran company based, as it often is for women, on a need that no one was meeting.
Kari herself was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder in her late twenties. That diagnosis, after years of not feeling well, led her to consider the impact on her insides of the products she used on her outside: creams, lotions, soaps, makeup, etc.
We know what we put on our skin can affect us systemically — it's the way nicotine patches work, after all. So we need to be thoughtful about the products we use on our skin, especially as we get older.
Kari, who describes herself as a "diehard beauty junkie," made healthy alternatives in her kitchen to give to friends as gifts. Lisa pushed her to turn her amazing formulations into a business, and there's been no looking back.
Guaranteed free from endocrine-disrupting parabens and other harmful ingredients, the rich, lush, cleansing, hydrating, restorative serums, soaps, oils and more are protective and nourishing.
Learn more about skin care and Kari Gran — the company and the woman it's named for — in this podcast with Gennev CEO Jill Angelo.
"Fatigue" does not equal "tired." Fatigue is something else, and it can be exponentially worse. It isn't solved with "just get more sleep," and day after day of it can really wear you down.
Fatigue — real fatigue — is a common symptom of menopause. It makes work hard, exercise impossible, even thinking straight can feel like it takes all your resources.
The kind of fatigue we're talking about can be a result of less estrogen to "feed" your brain. If you have some brain fog, forgetfulness, are easily distracted and occasionally confused, it's all part of the same process: your brain is trying to adapt to less estrogen.
While this part of perimenopause and menopause is temporary, it can last a year or two or longer. And if you don't know what's happening, it can be frightening. We hear from women all the time that they were terrified they were developing early onset dementia or that they'd been to a round of doctors to deal with "chronic fatigue." Finding out it's likely a (temporary) result of menopause is a huge relief.
Even worse than the symptom itself is that often, no one even mentions the culprit could be diminishing hormones, leading women to get expensive tests, waste time on incorrect diagnoses, and live in fear over a totally normal process.
There are things you can do to fight the fatigue: the right nutrition and exercise are powerful tools, and there are medications that can help while your brain and body adjust to the new normal.
In this podcast, we hear from Gennev Director of Health Coaching, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Exercise Physiologist Stasi Kasianchuk and Naturopathic Physician Dr. Wendy Ellis on how to handle menopause fatigue.
When Team Gennev went looking for the right face to put on our website, we had a good idea what we were looking for: a face that showed the strength, resilience, beauty, and energy of a woman in midlife and menopause.
It can be hard to find images of mature women doing anything besides fanning themselves and looking annoyed.
Happily, we finally found lots of incredible choices on the Ageist website: active women over 50 living their best lives, overcoming challenges, and full of the "zest" Margaret Mead was talking about.
We went a little crazy with the credit card, purchasing the rights to use these wonderful images of real women.
As Ageist founder David Stewart said in his podcast with Gennev's Jill Angelo, we just don't see ourselves in the typical, commercial images of people our age. So when you come across a treasure trove of representative images, you take advantage.
One of the images we loved was that of Aliza Sherman — we loved it so much, she graces Gennev's home page with her wide-open smile. You can just feel the hum of energy and life flowing through her.
Not long ago, @AlizaSherman tweeted, "Yes, that’s me. Apparently I’m the happy face of menopause." Team Gennev had been wanting to reach out and ask her to do a podcast; this was the nudge we needed. What follows is that conversation.
Learn more about Gennev and how we help women thrive through menopause and beyond at Gennev.com.
I think we can safely say that 2020 has been an above-average year for just about everyone — in terms of stress, anyway.
For women dealing with perimenopause and menopause symptoms on top of everything else, the stress can seem unmanageable. And because 2020 has been harder on women, it's no surprise many women are looking for relief from stress.
One relatively new avenue for many is CBD, the non-hallucinogenic compound found in hemp. While research is still underway, many women have found CBD helps relieve stress and joint pain and promote sleep.
In this conversation, Gennev Director of Health Coaching Stasi Kasianchuk talks with naturopathic doctor Aimée Shunney about the potential of CBD and how to choose a CBD supplement that's high-quality, safe, and contains what it claims on the label.
Take a listen, then check out Gennev's high-quality CBD supplements, tincture, and Sleep System.
With Halloween just behind us and Thanksgiving straight ahead, it's official: we've entered the Season of Sugar.
And it's not just sugar, of course: it's salt and saturated fat and stress and alcohol and stress and parties and not enough sleep and stress.
If you think your head aches after a night of too much indulgence, just imagine what your poor gut biome is going through.
And as we get older, our gut biome changes, loses diversity, isn't as able to handle the demands we put on those poor friendly bacteria, especially over the holidays.
Fortunately, there are experts like metabolic surgeon and founder of LaVellaYourGuts.com, Dr. Erika La Vella.
In this conversation with Gennev's Director of Health Coaching, Stasi Kasianchuk, Dr. La Vella talks about how to preserve your gut through the holiday season and stay healthier all year 'round.
Culturally, we have this idea that life slows at 50. Children are grown and gone, we're looking into retirement, our days of doing new things and surprising ourselves are over. Life past 50, if you look at the marketing for this age group, is mostly about fear: fear over health, fear over finances, fear of the future.
Nothing could be further from the truth, says David Stewart of the AGEIST. People in the 50-plus age group are doing all sorts of amazing things. Women especially are "figuring out life 2.0," says David.
AGEIST's message is that culture and brands really misunderstand this age group — it's not a time of fear, and messaging to the 50+ that way won't resonate with a lot of the over-50s. Many in this cohort feel "at the peak of their powers," David says, and if you want to reach them, you need to understand that.
David Harry Stewart is the founder and face of the AGEIST and the host of the SuperAge podcast. He is a passionate champion and leading authority on the modern 50+ lifestyle, and the mindset and aspirations that drive this influential demographic. Prior to launching AGEIST, Stewart enjoyed an award-winning career as a photographer whose advertising work included Nike, Google, American Express and others, and his magazine work includes Esquire, GQ, Interview, RedBull, Time, and many others.
Hear his conversation with Gennev CEO Jill Angelo, and check out both Gennev and AGEIST for much much more.
With so many symptoms, and some of them pretty unpleasant, menopause can seem like the end of your world. Or at least your world as you knew it.
Amanda Thebe was a lifelong athlete and fitness enthusiast, but when she hit perimenopause at 43, things went ... awry. Fatigue set in, and she found her previously boundless reserves of energy were drying up. And, like so many of us, she didn't realize right away that the issues she was having were hormonal.
And like many women, she ran a gamut of doctors who never even suggested perimenopause. Nausea, vomiting, and extreme fatigue led to dozens of tests (even the emergency room!) over nearly two years.
Fortunately, at a standard well-woman check up with an OB/GYN, the doc was able to diagnose perimenopause after about five minutes of conversation. A few minutes more, and she had some next steps to start feeling like herself again.
Her book Menopocalypse is Amanda's way of bringing attention to the fact that women need information and, once they have it, can actually thrive through this change.
Listen to the conversation. Buy and read the book. Join us at Gennev to learn more from experts in menopause and menopause care.
Is there a connection between estrogen and breast cancer? Maybe, but it may not be what you think. Gennev CEO Jill Angelo talks with Dr. Avrum Bluming, Dr. Joanne Weidhaas, and Dr. Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su on hormones, cancer risk, and the WHI study that changed everything.
Listen to the podcast, then visit Gennev.com for more information.
Science is starting to uncover the many ways our gut flora affect our health. While many of us still believe the beneficial bacteria is good for digestion (and it is), it does a whole lot more.
In this podcast, metabolic surgeon and gut expert Dr. Erika La Vella talks with Gennev's Director of Health Coaching Stasi Kasianchuk about the bi-directional relationship between your gut and your brain.
The "Gut-Brain Axis" affects your perception, cognition, your nervous system, your mood, pretty much everything. Given that, and how cattywampus everything is during menopause anyway, doesn't it make sense to be sure your gut is getting exactly what it needs?
Have a listen, then find Dr. La Vella at LavellaYourGuts.com and make an appointment to work with Coach Stasi or one of our other amazing coaches at Gennev.com.
When you look your best, it's easier to feel confident. Unfortunately, midlife seems to conspire against us, at least by today's cultural standards of "best," with thicker waistlines, more wrinkled skin, and flyaway hair.
One of the first things we notice when we see someone for the first time is their hair — and this is especially true of women. If our previously shiny, glossy, thick hair is now dry, thinner, and frizzy, we feel we're not making our best first impression. That can undermine confidence before we even open our mouths.
To help women feel better about their hair, whether it's to make a better first impression or just happier moments in front of the mirror, Sonsoles Gonzalez founded Better Not Younger, a haircare brand focused on the changes many women experience as they age.
Better Not Younger isn't just dedicated to healthier hair, though; it's also changing the conversation around women and aging.
As an executive in the haircare industry, Sonsoles noticed that products were always geared toward the "18-44 year old women" market. What happens when a woman turns 45, she asked?
Apparently, as far as the large brands go, 45-year-old women and older pretty much cease to exist. But at 52 or 53, Sonsoles, says, she still felt youthful and attractive — not ready for invisibility!
So she started her own company that researched the needs of women in this demographic and began providing products that work.
In this podcast, Better Not Younger CEO Sonsoles Gonzalez and Gennev CEO Jill Angelo talk about providing products for women in midlife and how our culture is slowly shifting to recognize the unique value and beauty of women 40 and over.
Take a moment to listen, then learn more about Gennev and Better Not Younger at Gennev.com.
How do you discuss a “taboo” topic like menopause on a public forum like a podcast? With humor, insight, wisdom, and patience!
Meet Colleen Ricci Rosenblum and Bridgett Biagi Garratt, the forces behind the hit podcast for midlife women: Hot Flashes & Cool Topics.
A year and 60-or-so episodes out from their launch, and Colleen and Bridgett have a genuine hit on their hands.
They've talked about the things you might imagine, given their title: peri/menopause, being empty nesters and relationships with adult children, etc.
But they've taken on some tougher topics as well, including Colleen's daughter's history with an eating disorder, difficult pregnancies, divorce, and suicide.
Initially, they reached out to Gennev to feature Gennev CEO Jill Angelo on a podcast; they were so delightful and informed and fun, we asked them to return the favor.
What follows is a great conversation about midlife, menopause, the (glacially slow) changing attitudes towards women's health, and what it's like to go in the public eye and share intimate information.
Do you feel comfortable in your own skin?
Many women don't, and that's more to do with the expectations we've been taught than any real problem with our health or wellness.
Emphasis on women's outsides has far surpassed focus on a woman's insides, resulting in a system that has many more solutions for "weight loss" than it does for managing menopause symptoms.
At Gennev, we know the bodily changes that come with aging and hormone declines are natural, normal, and beautiful—they just may not all be comfortable.
So we want to help women embrace a body that may be a little heavier, a little softer, a body that has silver hair and laugh lines to show she's had a life. We want to help her be comfortable in that body, both by embracing change but also by managing hot flashes and interrupted sleep.
In this podcast, Gennev Director of Health Coaching Stasi Kasianchuk talked with Erica Mouch, a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who also has a BA in psychology.
Erica advocates and practices from a Health At Every Size® lens in order to support people from all shapes and sizes in healing their relationship with food and their bodies. Erica is also a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor.
Listen to their conversation, then join us at Gennev.com for more information on having a happier, healthier menopause transition.
The physical and emotional changes that come with menopause can complicate intimacy.
Sexual intercourse can become painful due to the thinning and drying of intimate tissue; libido may wane as hormones decrease and menopause symptoms increase.
But because sexuality, and in particular women's sexuality, is such a taboo subject in American culture, we don't talk about it. And what doesn't get discussed, generally doesn't get solved.
But times and attitudes are changing: there are more platforms now for women to get information and solutions and engage in conversation about the very real, very natural changes happening in their bodies.
Two companies helping women regain sexual health in menopause are Gennev and MiddlesexMD.
In this conversation, the CEOs of each company, and a menopause-specialist OB/GYN, talk about the importance of open conversation around women's sexuality and health, the challenges of starting a business in a stigmatized niche, and the ways their companies are helping women enjoy the second half of their lives.
Continuing our conversation with Dr. Erika La Vella, in this month's Microbiome Series, we're asking the doc about how food affects our microbiome for good or ill, how we can eat to protect beneficial gut flora, and substances that may impact our gut.
The gut microbiome is sometimes referred to as "the second brain." Why? Because what happens in the gut does NOT stay in the gut. As science explores gut flora, we're discovering more and more how microbiome health impacts so many other systems and organs of the body.
That means taking care of the gut is pretty critical to feeling good and being healthy. And like every other organism, beneficial bacteria rely on the right food sources for optimal health.
So what do they eat? They eat what we eat, for better or worse. Fortunately, people like Dr. Erika La Vella have a good handle on what food our good gut bacteria thrive on, and she shared that information with us.
Take a listen to the podcast, then visit Gennev.com for more information to be happier and healthier through and beyond the menopause transition.
Our environment can be pretty heavy with things that are bad for our health, including endocrine-disrupting substances.
Cleansers, detergents, scrubs, things we use to clean our environments and ourselves may be doing more damage to our health than than they prevent. What about products that go on and in our bodies — soaps, creams, powders, makeup, deodorants and anti-perspirants, hair sprays, plastic containers to hold our food in the fridge or microwave. How many products do you come in contact with every day, all days of your life?
And it's not just the products we use. Disruptive chemicals can be in our clothes or furniture or daily use objects as fire-retardants or easy-clean surfaces.
Mary Purdy is an expert on helping us minimize our exposure to toxins in our environment and maximize our efficiency in ridding them from our bodies, homes, and workplaces.
Have a listen to the podcast, then visit Gennev.com for more information on menopause, toxins, and how to have a healthier second chapter of life.
Many experience menopause as a time of grief and loss: loss of youth, of reproduction, of a body that looked different, behaved in predictable ways, and seemed easier to control.
To feel some sense of grief at change is totally normal and understandable. But at Gennev, we feel the menopause transition can also be a very positive time to embrace a new you, changed body, changed attitude, new freedoms and all.
To help us understand and navigate this transition, Gennev Health Coach Katie Linville talked with Kathleen Putnam, an expert in grief, loss, and transition.
She gave us new ways of thinking about change and aging, and new strategies to celebrate the new us on the other side of the symptoms.
Listen to the podcast, then come over to Gennev.com to learn more about how to manage menopause to have an easier, better, healthier transition.
Physical health and financial health have a lot of overlap. When one is not optimal, the other can suffer.
How much should you have before you can "safely" retire? Should I be aggressive or conservative in my investments now? How can I invest in companies that represent my interests and principles?
Because women live, on average, a couple of years longer than men, and because women generally come to retirement with less in the bank, retirement planning is really important.
Yet many women avoid taking the time to truly plan so they can enjoy a comfortable, stable retirement income.
We asked Jenifer Sapel, CEO of Utor Wealth, to join us for a conversation on how women can protect their financial health — and independence — as they age.
Listen to the podcast, then come to Gennev for more information about Jenifer Sapel, Utor Wealth, and how to have a truly great second half of life.
If menopause symptoms are really impacting your life, there are so many things you can do to manage them. Our Health Coaches can help you with strategies for controlling your health in menopause: nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress management, symptom control, and so much more.
All our HealthFix coaches are also Registered Dietitian Nutritionists with special training in menopause care. Learn more by listening in on this discussion with our coaching team: Director Stasi Kasianchuk and Coaches Jessica Gingrich and Katie Linville.
Then, come to Gennev. Check out our HealthFix program, and start feeling better today.
As vaginal tissue and pH change, more frequent UTIs can become a real problem for many women in perimenopause and menopause. Learn more about why it happens and an innovative new product from Uqora to help women of any age ward off the dreaded UTI.
To learn more, listen to the podcast, then come to Gennev.com for more information on menopause, UTIs, and how to manage all the many symptoms that can come with this time of life.
How does menopause change, even disrupt, your gut microbiome, and what effects does that have on your health? Is there a way to build, protect, and maintain your gut flora to make the menopause transition easier?
We were so excited to invite back surgeon and gut expert Dr. Erika La Vella to talk with us on the microbiome in menopause.
Be sure to join us on Gennev for more information on Dr. La Vella and everything you ever wanted to know about menopause. Take back control of your health!
Stress is — no joke — a killer.
The toll it takes on our bodies and psyches is enormous. When stressed we don't sleep well, eat well, exercise well, or play well with others. Stress causes or contributes to headaches, stomach upset, fatigue, muscle pain, anxiety and depression, and a host of issues that can really erode your quality of life.
Adaptogens are herbs and mushrooms that help your body deal with stress. As the name implies, these plants many actually adapt to give your body exactly what it needs where it needs it.
But do they really help your body deal with stress? And if so, what are they, where do we get them, and how do we take them?
Given that (peri)menopause can be such a stressful time, we thought we'd invite in some expertise on the subject.
In this webinar, Gennev's Director of Health Coaching Stasi Kasianchuk speaks with naturopathic physician Dr. Wendy Ellis on adaptogens and the particular advantages they may have for women in menopause.
Acupuncture and hot flashes; magnesium and mood; is HRT dangerous; will testosterone pellets revive my libido?
Like so many things we don't talk about, the truths about menopause can be a bit hazy. That's not OK when women's health, quality of life, and futures are at stake.
From the beginning, the team at Gennev have made it part of our mission to supply the best, evidence-based information and solutions that are out there, vetted by our team of menopause experts.
Because women's health is and always will be our first priority.
So have a listen to this conversation from two of Gennev's menopause experts: OB/GYN Dr. Lisa Savage and Director of Health Coaching, Stasi Kasianchuk, and get real answers to your menopause questions.