Ways to regulate your body naturally during Menopause with Dr Hallie Schoff

In this podcast meet my guest Hallie Schoff, Halie Schoff Cieslica is a functional practitioner, nutritionist, and the founder of Alpha Chiropractic Health and Wellness, a clinic that works with clients both in person and virtually around the world. Her approach focuses on identifying and addressing the root causes of chronic health concerns rather than simply managing symptoms.

Halie specializes in hormone health, gut health, metabolic dysfunction, and nervous system regulation, often working with clients struggling with issues such as fatigue, thyroid dysfunction, hormone imbalances, fertility challenges, and chronic inflammation. Through personalized nutrition, targeted supplementation, and lifestyle strategies, she helps clients restore balance and build sustainable long-term health.

She is also the host of the Alpha Health and Wellness Radio podcast, where she shares educational conversations with practitioners and experts across the wellness space, breaking down complex health topics into practical tools people can use in their everyday lives.

In addition to her clinical work, Halie is the co-founder of Sunna Wellness Elixirs, a functional beverage brand focused on creating thoughtfully formulated drinks that support metabolic health and overall wellness using real, functional ingredients.

Her mission is to help people reconnect with foundational health practices and understand how the body is designed to heal when properly supported.

Socials: instagram @ drhalieschoff and @alphahealthwellness

Tiktok @dr. halieschoff

website www.drhalieschoff.com

We discuss: 

menopause and nutrition including how vitamins, and supplements can be helpful throughout Menopause

what foods help to keep your energy up, maintain your gut health, naturally regulate your hormones, and keep you balanced

the importance of stress management and healthy diet, what to eat and how much and what the benefits are of taking care of yourself fully in this stage of life

the nervous system and how foods, good life practices, movement practices like yoga and vitamins can help to keep your metabolism and mood in check

Want to reach me? 

website: www.closedlotusyt.com

Facebook: Closed lotus yoga

Instagram: @Closedlotusyoga 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:52

If you like the podcast or want to know other things I'm doing, visit my website. Subscribe to my newsletter. Let's get into our episode. Hi, welcome to the Finding Balance podcast with Jill. Today my guest is Hale Schaaf, a chiropractor and integrative health practitioner. She served over 500 people, helping them to meet their wellness goals related to gut health, weight loss, emotional regulation, and much more. Today we'll learn ways to use nutrition to manage your hormone, to influence your hormones. We'll also get suggestions about how nutrition can help with menopausal symptoms. We'll also discuss how your nervous system and stress impact hormones and cortisol levels. If you enjoy my podcast today, follow me on Facebook at Close Lotus Yoga. Let's get started. My guest today is Dr. Haley Schaaf. She's a chiropractor and integrative health practitioner with a master's of science and applied clinical nutrition. She has a certificate in sports science and human performance and is trained with athletes and sports teams. She currently owns ELFA chiropractic health and wellness, where she helps people live better, improving things like hormone health, gut health, acne, menstrual issues, boosting fertility, weight loss, getting rid of joint pain, chronic joint pain, improving headaches, and much more. She's also an advocate for functional movement, nourishing, low-tox living, healthy mindset, and health optimization. This includes a root cause approach by addressing the whole person. She also has a podcast called Alpha Radio Health and Wellness with Dr. Haley Schaaf, where she tackles topics like gut health, hormone balance, good nutrition, and the changing good nutrition for the changing seasons, and much more. Lots of good information there. So today we're going to talk about different things, topics related to menopause. So we'll just start a little bit by just welcoming Haley. Welcome to my podcast, Haley.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Yeah, thanks so much for having me.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

And um, I guess my first question is um I noticed, so what is your experience with uh your story related to wellness? I know a lot of strong businesses come out of a personal experience, a personal story, um, and then you know, wanting to share that with the world. So tell us a little bit about your path.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Yeah, so I'd say my first kind of experience was with the chiropractic that kind of brought me into the field. I got injured playing sports in college, and be going to a chiropractor is kind of what allowed me to get back to doing what I love, being pain-free and having very kind of low barrier to entry modalities and really natural healing to get me out of pain. But being a college athlete and being really into human performance and fueling my body, um, that kind of led me down the not only going to chiropractic school but then pursuing nutrition. But it was really my own hormonal uh dumpster fire that was kind of going on at the time that really got me passionate about women's hormones and understanding what they are and um healing my body, especially post-birth control, and really learning how to rebalance things and learning that rebalancing doesn't come from a pill, it comes from a lot of the hard work of supporting our adrenals and balancing our nervous system and supporting these really key deficiencies. And now that I'm in practice, I see that throughout a spectrum of hormonal issues, whether that is someone coming off of birth control, struggling with fertility or struggling with PCOS, or even on the high, on the older end of or middle end of hormones, is when our hormones start to transition into menopause. Um, all of those things that we probably put off in our younger years, running off of constant cortisol, you know, never putting ourselves first, well, that becomes even more pivotal in the clients and patients that I work with who are in that menopausal stage. And what's really cool with hormones that I've been finding, not only through my own journey, but no matter what stage a woman is in for her hormones, the same key foundations apply. And I think that's a really big part of what I do and what I preach because it's not the sexy stuff that's sold to you. It's not an easy fix. It's the lifestyle medicine, it's the detoxification and the nutritious foods and the blood sugar balancing and the stress management and the nervous system support that no matter what stage of hormone balance you're looking to achieve, those have to be in play. And I think, you know, if I didn't have my own personal journey with it, I might not have, I might not have realized how pivotal it is. But working with, you know, the hundreds of women across various stages of hormonal imbalances, um, the same kind of continues to remain true. And so, but I feel like a lot of it really stemmed from my own journey, and my own journey continues to be a work and practice. I'm a huge fan of practicing what I preach. I would never go to somebody who doesn't live the lifestyle that they're preaching. And so for me, I don't see being, you know, now that everything's balanced and I'm symptom-free for the, you know, that the the practices and the way that I live still remains because that's really how we live a more preventative lifestyle and symptom-free, whatever the whether it's a menopause symptom or whether it's trying to prevent chronic diseases, you know, the same foundations still apply. And I think, you know, that's kind of what what we need to be continuing to preach in the functional space is just because you're done doesn't mean that we just go back to living a standard American lifestyle. Cause that's kind of what got us in this place to begin with. Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Yeah. And that going off birth control was actually what was part of my journey as well. Um, I went off it just because I knew that my body didn't really feel regulated, didn't feel like I was honoring my natural cycles. And I'm just at that age where I I knew I would start to have menopause at some point. And so it was just really the best fit for me at the time. So when I went off it, I was just expecting, like, oh, Lottie died will be fine. You know, it's not gonna be a big change. And then it just kind of came crashing into me and it just was like a bomb exploded, and my everything was unregulated, my mood was crazy. Um, I started having like severe joint pain, hot flashes, like everything just like flooded in all at one time. Um and I don't really tell you that when they are like, oh, go on the pill if you don't want to have kids, and it'll all be fine. Like it's just what women do. But you know, it's it's really, it really surprised me the effects of coming off of that and how it just like it really like is like a a plane crashing into your house, you know. You just you can't any longer ignore your body. So the things that I was ignoring then or before, I was like, I could no, I can no longer ignore those things. Like I have to exercise, I have to take rest when I need rest. Like those things that we're so used to just pushing off as women, can't we can no longer do that in menopause or apparently?

SPEAKER_00 8:30

No, absolutely not. And I mean, especially just the birth, they're the nutrient depletions that we get from birth control, the magnesium, the B vitamins, the zinc, all we need to make our bodies natural hormones and to run our proper detoxification process. And so some women are much more sensitive to that than others. Like I I am, I don't methylate well. I am not a good detoxifier. And so birth control just continued to add fuel to that fire for me. And I think that's just something that, yeah, like you mentioned, we're just not unfortunately told about hey, if you're on this, this is the depletions that it's causing. This is how you need to replenish it. I I don't love when women are just on birth control until they go into menopause and they come off. Because, like you said, it's not birth control, it's kind of completely taking us away from our body's natural cycles because it's it's not cycling. The period that we get on birth control is not a period, it's a withdrawal bleed. So we, if there is something underlying, guess what? That doesn't just magically get fixed or cured. It's still going to be there, and it's still gonna be there even in menopause if you go off and you don't have a period anymore. Like those issues still remain.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Yeah, so you touched on a few good points there that I wanted to mention, like the iron, the depletion of nutrients in your body. So, how would women going through this cycle, maybe coming off of birth control and now in perimenopause? What suggestions do you have for people who want to start to build those nutrients back up in their system?

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Yeah, I mean, I think it's it's crucial to go on uh uh at least a methylated B vitamin. Um, but I really like um, I really like the brand Needed. I use it a lot for women for really good, they make great quality prenatals, um, not just like the prenatals that you'd get with the one a day. I mean, those are not, I would not be getting anyone's supplements at Amazon or at the drugstore. Needed is um incredibly, incredibly efficaciously dosed. And they actually just came out with a perimenopausal formula that I'm liking a lot that I've been recommending to a lot of my perimenopausal and menopausal um cases that um it, you know, it's got everything that we need, and it's got everything, especially that your body's gonna need more of in that specific kind of time of transition. So I think getting on a good kind of overviewing like good quality methyl, good forms of vitamins. When I'm saying methylated, I mean like good forms because not everyone can absorb the synthetic forms that be vitamins. So you want it to say methylated. And I think magnesium, if you're gonna prioritize two, those would be the two that especially women and especially women going through perimenopause and menopause need to be prioritizing.

unknown 11:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

And are there any particular things that those help with?

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Um, well, magnesium is great for our nervous system. Um, we deplete magnesium and B vitamins very readily just through daily stress, through even good stress like exercise and sweating. And so I find that they are very, very, very, very commonly depleted uh or at least subsufficient in people. Um, and so for that reason, it's not only helping with our stress, but it's also kind of keeping us more balanced. So I find that when women are very depleted of magnesium, we're really irritable, we might have insomnia, we might not have really restful sleep cycles. Melatonin is what gets us to sleep, but magnesium is the nutrient that keeps us to sleep. So if you're waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, not normal, doesn't need to happen. And a lot of the times it can be a nutrition deficiency. Um, B vitamins are great for so many things. Um, they run our detoxification, they run our metabolic pathways. I mean, almost every cycle of in your Krebs cycle, which is your basically one of your metabolic pathways, requires B vitamins. Um, so it's it's crucial for energy. And we think of how many women, you know, in perimenopause and menopause are really struggling with energy and they're really deficient and they're feeling depleted. They might have brain fog. Um, those are really simple nutrients that that a lot of times, I mean, obviously, we should be striving through whole food. Whole food always comes first, but at the same time, in my opinion, whole food is not going to cut years and years and years of depletions, of chronic stress. Like, we should be still getting the whole food, but we need that insurance policy of that extra base because you know, I can't tell you how many women come to me and they're like, I'm fully optimal, I'm eating everything that I'm supposed to be like. Most of the time, people's diets and nutrition have gaps. So um just knowing that they're getting a little bit of that insurance policy with a good quality support um definitely, you know, makes it much better.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Yeah, and food does play a big part in overall health, as you've noted. Um, and most people aren't getting the food that they aren't eating the food that they should that's really gonna satisfy them or fulfill them. Um so what do you suggest in terms of diet, dietary changes? I know that you um really focus on like protein and then certain cruciferous vegetables and other kinds of vegetables that are really um good metabolically.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, a protein is it's all the hype right now, but it for a good reason, and especially with perimenopause and menopause, we as estrogen declines, so does our muscle tissue, so does our bone tissue. And so protein becomes even more pivotal. Um, we also, as we lose that hormone production of progesterone and estrogen from our ovaries, we become more insulin resistant just in the fact that we're losing the hormones. And so knowing that we're more insulin resistant, knowing that, you know, that create can create some blood sugar imbalances, protein has to be the key. We if you got away with just skipping breakfast and living off of coffee and then maybe eating a snack or two here or there, that might have worked in your 20s and 30s. It most certainly is not gonna fly in perimetopause. Um, so you have we have to not only be eating consistent meals, you know, we're adults. We can eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, we're not two year olds, we don't need to snack every two seconds. You know, we we we need to eat nutrient-dense whole meals focused on protein, but like having a good source of fiber as well. Like you said, I love the cruciferous vegetables. Um, I mean, fiber is also now having a moment. Fiber is equally as important and helps us to metabolize excessive, you know, toxins in our, you know, digestive system. It helps to help just metabolize our hormones and our cortisol, um, and it helps to feed the good bacteria that's in our gut as well. A lot of bacteria in our gut help to influence our mood and help to influence uh even our our healthy weight and metabolism. So especially as we kind of get into perimenopause, where I would say that's probably one of the top symptoms that I see women notice is that that 10 pounds, it just they don't know where it came from. It just came on. Well, we look at, I like, I like to look at the gut and how we can utilize, you know, good prebiotic fiber, blood sugar balancing, but also like implementing fermented foods and stuff as well. So um, to the diet piece, I think women should be doing aiming for at least 30 grams of protein minimum per meal. I mean, that puts you at about 90 to 100 grams per day, which is the bare minimum I think that women should have. Women, especially in perimenopause, you we should be strength training if you aren't already to protect bone mass and muscle mass. But with strength training, I think that women of all ages, whether you're in your 20s and 30s or in your 40s, 50s, 60s, you should be eating your ideal body weight in grams of protein. So if you're 150 pounds, but you want to be 140, you want to be aiming for around 140 grams of protein. It might seem like a lot, but just start there. And if you get 100, great, that's still so much better than probably the 60 that you were getting before that.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

Yeah. And I think there is that urge, like I know I've seen it in myself too, where oh, I guess I need to eat a little less so that I'm not gaining that weight there. But then there I've seen a number of places where women talk about how to handle menopause, and it's always make sure you're not skipping those meals. Make sure that, you know, like you said, cut down on those snacks. Yeah. But make sure that you're eating the meals because otherwise you're you're not really gonna lose that waste mind just from not eating that might have worked when you were younger.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

And you're further stressing your body. I mean, skipping meals, running off of caffeine, and then having like a bag of pretzels, that's a disaster for your blood sugar. I'd rather have you have like more protein-centered meals, but more regularly, it seems like you're eating more food. But when you're focusing on protein and fiber, it's really challenging to overeat because they're incredibly satiating. It helps with your natural GLP1 production. So that natural signal that comes from your gut microbiome that tells you I'm full, I'm satiated, I don't need to eat anymore. If I put a big thing of like steak and broccoli and salad in front of you, you can probably only eat so much of it before you're like, okay, I'm I'm satiated. So I could put a whole plate of french fries in front of you that are probably three times the caloric amount of that steak, and we could eat the whole thing. Um, so it's not of I don't want food is not only fuel, it's information, it's nutrients. Um, but we but we need to fuel. And what happens is so many women who they chronically diet throughout, you know, their midlife, that chronically suppresses your thyroid hormone, and that chronically also just lowers your metabolic rate because it's a survival mechanism. When you eat less, your body wants to preserve what it has. So a great way to tell your body that you're stressed is to not give it a lot of input and to tell it it's basically famished on a regular basis versus like giving it more regular stuff. You don't have to overdo it. Obviously, overeating calories is most certainly gonna result in weight gain. But I think when you do it in a healthy way of giving of really prioritizing the protein and fiber, you can eat, you're gonna have more energy, you're gonna feel better, but you're also gonna see more metabolic benefits uh as well.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

So, what do you suggest for people who don't eat a lot of meats?

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Um, you got to get creative. And to be honest, if someone doesn't eat a lot of meat, they probably are gonna have to lean into like a supplemental, like a clean supplemental protein, more so to hit their goal. Because unfortunately, like in I'm a big fan of like combining, so like combining rice and beans or something like that to you to make sure that you're giving it a complete protein. Um But but for those women that I work with where like they don't eat a ton of meat, I'm like, okay, well, can you eat eggs? Do you will you eat if you don't if will you eat some like Greek yogurt? And if they don't eat any of those things, we definitely have to get creative. Um because to hit 140 grams of protein only coming from plants, that's gonna be a lot of carbohydrates. Um, so we have to sometimes supplementally add stuff in there to to make to make it fit.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

Yeah. Yeah, I think that's so helpful to know kind of what foods to get, how much of things to get, and so that you know that what what you're eating is really making a difference. Um yeah, and I've noticed that too, just in um trying to eat more full, well round, well-rounded meals. Um, because I being a yoga instructor and a yoga therapist, obviously I always think of Ayurvedic medicine as well. And in that, in that medicine, it's uh food as medicine, it's really about um eating like regular full meals and eating a large meal, like having breakfast and then a larger meal at lunch and a smaller dinner. Yeah. Um, which I think is also just a wise way to eat eat food. Definitely. You aren't gonna process and metabolize your food as well at nighttime when your body's starting to slow down. Um, so I have started to kind of take on some of those adjustments in my eating as well, um, which is a little challenging when you have, you know, two kids and a really hungry husband at home and you want to have a big meal at in the evening. Um but yeah, I think you know, so that like the world that you're in and the Ayurvedic world do have some similarities in terms of definitely what they're requiring. There is, of course, no, not really a heavy meat presence in Ayurveda. It's a lot more um grains and knots and uh legumes and stuff like that. So I think another part that I wanted to touch on with you is the nervous system. And so I can say for myself, when I started experiencing all this happening in my body, a big part of what was happening was my nervous system. Um and you kind of alluded to this when you talked about um going off the pill and how it kind of affects your nervous system, just not having those hormones coming in synthetically anymore. Um but for me, so I've been doing yoga therapy probably about eight years now or something like that. So during that time, I've really built an interoception of awareness of what's going on inside my body that I think the average person just does not have. Because I've worked with a lot of women in um individual sessions in my practice that just it's very hard for them to tune into what's happening in their body. Um, you know, they might feel their feet on the floor and their hands, but they can't really um they can't really connect with what's happening inside. So when I started this process, it was just a lot of emotions, a lot of frustration, anger. And I think, you know, for people who aren't that emotionally aware, like I felt it in my body before it came out and then went on to my family or went into my relationship so I could say like wow I just felt really mad so I'm just gonna like step away for a minute or I'm just I'm I'm gonna apologize right now if I lash out at you because I just am having these like feelings that I can't really I can't really control that are just there. Um and so like acupuncture, energy work and yoga has an exercise to really help me to manage some of those things. And I don't know if you could just speak a little bit to like you talked about um the benefits of I think it was vitamin B or vitamin was it the magnesium or the vitamin B that was for I mean both are crucial for your nervous system.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

We know we need both because we deplete both through a lot of stress but magnesium is is really great for nervous system support. I mean I'm a chiropractor so obviously I'm a huge fan of chiropractic work for uh nervous system balance and really kind of helping everything feel more aligned um I'm a I really I I think I really hound the importance of finding what works because each individual is a little bit different. Like I I love meditation I love breath work some women are like I like journaling I like to I you know we all I but I urge you to kind of find your own thing because like I mentioned earlier if we aren't putting some emphasis on supporting adrenal health and our nervous system menopause is not going to feel excellent because our adrenals really take the entire brunt of now producing what little hormones we will make in menopause because of the fact you know that's just I mean a little bit from the tissues but like because once we lose that ovarian reserve it is coming from the adrenals and so I think that really hounds the priority of okay I need to be supporting my stress. I know that stress is just a part of life and it's inevitable, but how are ways that I can be more resilient to it there's I mean there's so much research on sauna use um in menopausal women and especially to actually be able to help with hot flashes and to help with the kind of that resiliency that a lot of women are having issues achieving in in menopause. And so I'm a huge fan of sauna obviously I love chiropractic work. I love breath work I love meditation there's so many somatic techniques that we can do vagal tapping, humming um I mean there's so many even just in the category of breath work there's so many just things that we can do and I think that's one that I like a lot because it goes with you no matter where you are. You don't need your phone you don't need someone to do a therapy on you like I love getting body I love getting adjusted I love getting massage but like I can't get that every single day when I'm stressed. So what are the tools that I can lean into that then I can utilize those external therapies you know is more of a maintenance versus my daily cadence.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Yeah and I think taking breaks too has been big for me. Being able to say no or saying that you know I need this so I'm gonna go do this. And you know sometimes that is nice because it happens at times where you know maybe our kids are are older and can be left alone or can do things on their own. Not always the case. But it is important to be able to incorporate that. Definitely so tell me a little bit I did see that you also do um a line of drinks can you tell me a little bit about that yeah yeah so uh my business partner Erica and I we stopped drinking a few years ago just out of preference.

SPEAKER_00 25:32

Um I was more of a social drinker but like one glass of wine I would be waking up having insomnia having anxiety having night sweats and I was like okay this just isn't serving me anymore and so um when you look at kind of like the alternatives a lot of them are either loaded with sugar or have like a lot of hidden ingredients such as natural flavors which is basically a trade secret similar to fragrance how it could be a slew of different things that disrupt your hormones natural fractional flavors can basically be hundreds of different flavor enhancers that don't even have to be necessarily natural. And so that was the biggest struggle that we found is like it's really hard to find something that was clean that kind of fit our standards and selfishly just something that we enjoyed. So we created Suna Wellness Elixir which is a uh line of functional wellness beverages so not only is it sparkling not only is it you know taste great but there's nothing hidden in it we use uh functional mushrooms so chaga is in the lemon flavor so chaga is great for inflammation it's very heavily studied in uh Japan and Japanese cultures for even like anti-cancer benefits because of its ability to be an immune modulator um we use methylated B vitamins for energy we use trace minerals for hydrating so that's like a good kind of natural just daily kind of hydration pick me up kind of drink no net no actual caffeine or energy but um a way to kind of support your body's own natural production of that and then we also have a more window flavor that has tart cherry one of my favorites for decreasing stress uh boosting melatonin naturally to help kind of unwind at the end of the day that's been really nice since daylight savings now that our clocks are kind of internal clocks are a little off it's got Rishi which is also great for stress and same thing with GABA that just kind of helps to calm the mind. So um and with each can we had a we have a corresponding breath work pairing that pairs with each so it's either really uplifting and energizing or it's uh down regulating and really unwinding.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Nice what a great thing to be able to add into um a nice alternative to drinking yeah it's been fun if they don't want an energy drink but want a little flavor don't want you know caffeine and that kind of stuff it's a good option for them.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

Yeah it's been fun it's been a a passion project that's you know now kind of turned into a little bit more than just a passion project but but it's it's definitely been a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

Yeah. Great. Well any other suggestions or tips that you give women that you work with who are in this transition?

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Um I think it's really a good time if women are not getting their hormones measured to kind of see what their new baseline looks like um to see okay is am I you know where am I in perimenopause? Am I in menopause? Um I personally use the Dutch test which is a dried urine test for comprehensive hormones so it's four different urine samples. I personally like that a little bit better than just a standard blood draw but even if you are just going and getting a blood draw at the lab, um I think I think getting kind of okay I'm in this new kind of transition in this new phase of life. Let me get some updated lab work to kind of reflect where I am now to see where I need to put that do I need to put that into balancing my blood sugar with hemoglobin A1C, fasting insulin do I need to put that into better supporting my B vitamin status? Do I need to put that into looking at vitamin D? Do I need like whatever that looks like um I I think it's really important to kind of see what that new baseline kind of can look like. Yeah and is that I know that's a test that you're able to do is that a test that that physicians do routinely no the uh usually if you went to your primary care or OB they would probably just do like a standard blood test.

SPEAKER_01 29:19

Okay. So you can really help to pinpoint more where people are in their in their um menopause journey in terms of their hormones and can also pinpoint exactly what vitamins they need to really be that um targeted that targeted um treatment more or less.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

And it's cool because the Dutch test actually does not only show us what your hormones are doing but also how your body metabolizes them which I speci I really really encourage women to do especially if they are doing HRT. One, I think my biggest issue with HRT is they're not getting monitored as frequently as they should. And two, you have no idea how your body's actually breaking down these hormones and so not even just for that but for even women who aren't on hormones I work with a lot of women who are not I don't prescribe HRT. If women come to me and are on it obviously it's a helpful tool that we'll use. But I think regardless it's crucial it does show us kind of a menopausal like are you in the menopausal range? Are you in the cycling range? Are we somewhere in between? And it does also show B vitamin status like folate or sorry B6, B12, biotin it has a gut marker it shows an oxidative stress marker. So it has some organic acids in there too that can show some um vitamin status and on top of that it's showing what your cortisol is doing, which is honestly probably one of the things that I care I care most about this time, you know, than this stage because of the fact that the adrenals are really playing such a huge role so it's nice because it's really encompassing pretty much everything that I want to look at all in one test.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

I mean HRT in a lot of ways is like going back on the pill, right? Uh no not necessarily no doesn't have the same levels of depletion then that you would experience in going No No and I mean I'm not against HRT by any means.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

I just I'm not a prescribing physician so I don't write it. Right. I think there's a lot that women can do before they go on something like that with herbals and stuff like that that I find to be in my practice just as helpful. But no it's not the same as going on it's more of a supplemental form of hormones versus like birth control is literally shutting down your ovarian production and not allowing your body to cycle naturally versus this is kind of like using your hormone it's kind of it's more supplemental if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

Okay. Yeah that makes sense. Yeah that's a good clarification because I think that hasn't been clear in some of the things I looked at. Yeah it's confusing something else that you mentioned that I wanted to explore that's the eight and I can have so yeah I mean I think so when people come and work with you do you is this one of the first things that you do is take this do this Dutch test?

SPEAKER_00 32:13

Um not necessarily I don't test every single person. I mean because I mean truthfully the test is you know it's it's an out of pocket expense and so I sometimes see where we need to fill gaps in the foundation and supporting you know all those kind of root cause areas first. Some women will get the testing first sometimes we're like let's see what what we can do in terms of relief with maybe I mean to be honest I think it's a waste of testing if someone's diet is off if their exercise routine is off if their sleep's good I don't even want to know what your hormones look like until your foundations are strong because I know that those are going to fix whatever might be off and then and then if those things are there it's a really helpful tool to see where things can kind of be fine tuned and where we might be able to use supplements or homeopathics or herbals to you know rebalance things a little bit more with a fine toothed comb because everything else that we want to see is in play. Yeah yeah that makes sense yeah well such good information I really appreciate all of that um so how what would be the best way for people to contact you I know that you have socials and a website is there a certain way that is best for people to reach you if they want to engage with you uh yes I mean I'm most active I would say on Instagram you can um submit a form right through my website if you have kind of any questions about working with me or and my booking uh and you know details about what that looks like is all right on my website. So um yeah that's kind of the problem that's like all in one place and my podcast is there. So everything is there in terms of kind of you know things I'd recommend or ways that we can kind of work together further.

SPEAKER_01 33:51

Yeah great. Well thank you so much for your time and for sharing all this information with us. I really appreciate it. Yeah absolutely thanks for having me listening to the Finding Balance in menopause podcast I hope you found some of the information that Dr. Schaff shared to be helpful in your journey through menopause. I hope you can use some of the nutritional suggestions and some of the supplement suggestions and reach out to someone in your area who is informed and can help you to navigate through some of those things for your own body and your own your own journey. You can also reach out to Kelly Scott I'll include her information in the notes for the podcast. So feel free to reach out to her she also does online and addition to you in person topics she'd be happy to work with you. You can reach me at postmoduswitz dot com you can also go on my Facebook at Postmodus Yoga and I'm on Instagram under Postmodus Yoga and hope you'll join me next time