Ep 65 Lisa Pomare Unravels the Vital Role of Vitamin D in Midlife

[00:00:00] Meegan Care: Hey wonderful you! How are you? Who would have thought that one little vitamin could make such a difference to our health and well being? This vitamin, which is vitamin D, when it’s low, can really alter negatively the symptoms that we experience through perimenopause and menopause.

So, this week I talk with Lisa Pomare from Next Phase Health. Lisa is a naturopath and a nutritionist. She is a menopausal woman herself. She understands from a lived experience. The symptoms that we go through, the challenges that we go through in perimenopause and menopause. And she wants to tell you all about vitamin D.

Why it’s important, how we can know whether it’s at an optimal level or not, and why we shouldn’t just supplement with it, just in case. So why that is a very bad idea. So take a listen to this short podcast that heroes vitamin D through Lisa’s knowledge and research. She really is an amazing practitioner.

Just obviously be mindful that nothing that is mentioned in this podcast constitutes a medical diagnosis, nor is prescriptive in any way. Always speak to your health practitioner before you make any changes in your supplementation or your diet. All right, let’s go. Enjoy the podcast.

So welcome to the podcast, Lisa Pomare from Next Phase Health. So excited that you’re here. Tell us a little bit about yourself and the people that you help.

[00:01:49] Lisa Pomare: Sure. Thank you for having me. This is really exciting to share some of the information and learnings I’ve had both through my studies and through going through the menopause transition myself.

I am a 49, well, turning 49 soon mother of two, based in sunny Tauranga. And about five years ago, I gave up my business career. I’d had a lot of retail stores for many years and decided to retrain and become a naturopath, medical herbalist, and I work as a nutritionist as well. And one of the reasons I did this was I saw the hormonal changes, how they were affecting me, but also the woman in my circle.

We were all kind of blindly Sort of trying to get through some real challenges, and I wanted to go and learn more about how I could support myself and and support others. So I guess it was a really, like, four and a half years of study was a really intense way of, of going and figuring out my own health issues.

Probably could have just gone and seen a naturopath myself, but but it’s always been kind of something health is, Always been a big deal to me and it’s something I’m super passionate about. So it’s been an incredible, incredible journey. And I now work in a clinic in, in Tauranga and I see I see everyone, but I am really passionate about working with one on one and in group settings with women who are either early stage perimenopause.

So just starting to notice. Some strange symptoms coming up right through to postmenopause, taking care of things like cardiovascular health, bone health and just outlook on life, how they want this new stage of life to be for them. So we do a lot of work around that, which I absolutely love as well.

Beautiful.

[00:03:33] Meegan Care: So, Lisa, we’re going to talk about vitamin D. and our menopause transition. I don’t know a whole lot about this. I know vitamin D is important to us, but I didn’t understand, and I don’t understand yet, but I think by the end of our conversation I will, why it’s so important for us during perimenopause, menopause, this stage of life.

[00:03:56] Lisa Pomare: Okay so the reason I really wanted to talk to Vitamin D a bit today is we’re having such great conversations now, and there’s a lot more awareness sort of in, in the realm of menopause and perimenopause.

But there is some things that I think could be really beneficial to To woman that aren’t getting talked about that much. And one of those is vitamin D. And the reason that kind of came across my came interesting for me was when I was in my final year of college, I was seeing all my clients and of And most of those clients were perimenopause and menopausal women because I decided to really focus in that realm because I really want to work in that realm.

And about 90 percent of them were at the very, very low end of the blood serum range of vitamin D. And some were, you know very, very low and these women had a lot of symptoms and some of those were quite similar symptoms. So I kind of started looking into the impact of vitamin D, what it all means and, and the links behind that and, and and what we can kind of do about it.

So yeah, I became super, super interested in it. Now some of the Things I didn’t know at the time is that one in three children are actually deficient or have low vitamin D status. Wow. And as many as one in two, now that’s from a national survey that’s been carried out recently. So And it’s not just a New Zealand problem.

It’s actually a worldwide problem. Anything from kind of 18 percent in some countries to 37 percent I think in the States. And that was older data as well, were people who were deficient in, in vitamin D. So it is a real concern because it actually does a heap in the body. Some of the roles for vitamin D obviously Everyone kind of knows or might know that vitamin D helps get the calcium from the blood into the bones.

Mm-Hmm. . So really needed for to avoid like osteopenia and osteoporosis. And to have nice, strong have nice strong bones, especially as we age and, and. It can become a real issue to avoid fractures but also from the point of view of taking blood, taking the calcium out of the blood and into the bones, we don’t really want excess calcium in our blood vessels to avoid issues with cardiovascular health and cardiovascular disease.

So again vitamin D has a, has an impact there. There’s also some research coming out that vitamin D may have an impact on insulin resistance, which is again another real fun time in menopause and perimenopause to do with weight gain blood sugar dysregulation. So yeah, as I said, there is a some Correlations between vitamin D status and and your ability to use insulin as well.

And finally, when I was researching for this podcast, I found some other really interesting information around vitamin D having a positive effect on the some of those vaginal and, and urinary, Symptoms that woman gets as part of this process and in relation to the cells with vaginal atrophy and also possibly having an effect on the pH which can affect, can impact UTIs urinary tract infections or thrush.

So those are just some of the things like there is so much information. Some of it was inconclusive. One research paper would say yes, another would say no. So I didn’t include those, but there is yeah, lots and lots of research out there saying that we need to really consider our vitamin D levels.

I mean, a huge. vitamin D and immunity just go hand in hand. It really can have a big impact on not only our immune function, but the ability to modulate our immune system. And that’s can affect things like autoimmune disease, because if our immune systems don’t work, Going crazy, we’re more likely to to suffer from auto immune dysfunction, which can look like psoriasis or rheumatoid arthritis or IBD, like lots of lots of other ailments.

So it’s definitely worth considering and I think people with the immune thing, people post COVID have become a little bit more aware because there was a lot of products that came out that had like vitamin C, zinc and D in it, but I don’t know if people necessarily aware of what it’s doing or why they need it or how to get it as another big one, because obviously there’s so much controversy around sun and sun safety.

So. Yeah, we can definitely talk a little bit more about that as well.

[00:08:22] Meegan Care: Yeah, that’s, that’s such an interesting piece. But if, say if I spend quite a bit of time outside, could I expect my vitamin D levels to be good, like within the range?

[00:08:35] Lisa Pomare: Depends if you’re a a menstruating woman or not, because unfortunately, yeah, unfortunately what, what possibly is happening you know, we have estrogen receptors everywhere in our body, including our skin.

And when those when, when low on estrogen potentially that is impacting the skin’s ability to to make vitamin D. So vitamin D. Is the bulk of it we get from sun exposure and that’s the sun hitting our skin and that reaction with cholesterol is the backbone. So cholesterol makes some great stuff.

Like I know cholesterol gets a really bad rap, but it’s actually the backbone of our progesterone, our estrogen, other hormones and our vitamin D. So the sun goes on the skin. Converts this cholesterol into one particular form of vitamin D and an active form. That form then goes through the liver and kidneys and a number of chemical reactions happen and we end up with this active form of vitamin D that does all the good stuff.

So helps with the bones and helps with the immune system, helps with our mood. But that seems to be slow right down in menopause. So from what I’m reading, it looks like it’s The effective estrogen the impact that’s having on our skin. So not necessarily if you get a lot. So please, even if you are, if you are a perimenopausal or a menopausal woman who is still getting lots of sun, I would still get your levels checked.

It is definitely definitely worthwhile checking. Unfortunately in New Zealand. It’s not a regular test that is run, which I think is really sad. So you can ask your doctor to put it on a on your blood work. Or you can just turn up to your lab and request it yourself. I know here in Tauranga, PATH lab do it.

It’s about 40 and in Auckland, I’m not sure what they call, but it’s about 60 or 70. I mean, it’s not something I’d say do every day. Five minutes, but it’s definitely worth knowing where you are, whether it is of concern to you. And then, then we can look at how to increase that if your levels are low.

So,

[00:10:41] Meegan Care: so interesting before our conversation, I was like, Oh, I wonder what my vitamin D levels were. So I looked up on, cause I knew that they’d been checked on some labs, but then I looked at the labs and that was like three years ago. And I’m due for some more. I just thought, because I’ve just had COVID, I’m going to wait a little while for things to settle down.

But it’ll be interesting to see what they were then. So they were like 94. That was the number. Yeah. As to what it is now, that’s

[00:11:11] Lisa Pomare: going to be. Yeah, 94 is great but yeah, it’d be very interesting to see where you’re sitting now. Yeah, as far as as far as the levels go and I actually just there, there’s a bit of disagreement among The influence, what influences what we consider to be optimal or suboptimal, but just, I went to best practice, New Zealand to get a rounded idea and basically Below 25 nanomoles per liter is moderate to severe deficiency.

25 to 50 is a mild deficiency or an insufficiency. And I’ve had so many of my clients were in that range. 50 to 100 is called optimal range. And then 100 to 150 is called moderate. I put their associations with adverse effects and then above 250 is vitamin detox, considered vitamin D toxicity. So you can actually have too much.

So that’s why it’s really important that anyone that is considering supplementing their vitamin D to consider that as well. As, as I would, if you’re doing regular supplementation, I would definitely check that level to make sure you’re not getting into a toxic range because there are a bunch of healthy implications and symptoms with that.

For me, naturopathically, I like to see my clients at least around that 80 to 100 range. That makes me feel pretty comfortable. And it’s amazing how many of those clients I saw that had low vitamin D, how many of these symptoms lessened as their vitamin D levels dropped. Levels, right? And so random symptoms like tinnitus and dizziness and sort of muscle and joint aches all seem to, I mean, we obviously were doing other things, but that was one of the biggest things that we worked on and, and they definitely seem to be in some improvement in those areas.

So, yeah, I think it’s, it’s, it’s just a simple thing. to work on. So it’s worth ruling out and working on it if you can. Especially with how it impacts those other areas of life as well. And especially the bones because that’s so important in later life as, as having strong bones.

[00:13:14] Meegan Care: Exactly. Yeah. And would you, so we’re having this conversation about vitamin D, but you know, I’m guessing you wouldn’t recommend people rush out and buy a supplement without understanding what’s actually going on for them.

Yeah,

[00:13:27] Lisa Pomare: absolutely. So the things you’ll get, I actually worked in pharmacy for years, so I kind of have a pretty good idea of like some of the over counter supplements and things like that. You can only get a thousand IUs is the max you can buy on the shop floor in New Zealand. And that’s kind of a nice safe daily dose if you are wanting to supplement and make sure you’re getting enough.

Ashley in winter, and I’ll talk about how much and how we get it in winter. But yeah, in winter, it’s definitely a consideration. But yeah, I would check every year or two and just make sure if you’re doing anything above that level, which I wouldn’t recommend without. talking to a health practitioner, then make sure you are make sure you are checking your levels because we don’t want to go into a toxic range.

And just like anything, check the quality of your supplements as well if you are going to go and self choose because not all things are created equal. So yeah, get some good advice around that as well. As far as getting vitamin D levels up. So if you do a blood test and you see your vitamin D levels are low, my first thing is to try and obviously get it through the sun because that’s a easier way to get it.

You’re getting it in a more absorbable form. So looking at how you can safely get it from the sun because obviously we don’t want to go running around with no sunblock on all getting sunburn and increasing the risk of skin cancer. So in The, the research that I had a look at just to make sure I was giving the right information kind of indicated that in summer we want around about five to 10 minutes of sun on our skin, ideally upper body.

So, you know, on a singlet or whatever, five to 10 minutes should be enough to To help get your vitamin D levels that you need for the day. You may need a little bit more if if you, yeah, if you’re in menopause and you’re struggling to get your levels up. But what we don’t want people doing is staying out there long enough to burn.

August, July, August, when we’re obviously in winter, and this is Auckland I’m talking about, I’ll talk about South Island in a minute, but, 30 to 45 minutes at least to get in winter. And then Yeah, coming and that’s sort of around the sort of 10 a. m. 2 p. m. Those kind of either end of the day. But if you are going out in the middle of the day and some of the information I’ve been listening to lately actually suggests doing a much shorter stint in the middle of the day, then doing longer stints at the other end of the day because of the types of the rays, where that’s hitting your body.

So that’s a consideration as well. Maybe just doing that. After lunch, five minutes outside and then that’s it for your, and then some protection on from there on through. Now, as far as the South Island goes, definitely parts of South Island are prone to higher levels of low vitamin D. So this, This website gave us an example of like in Christchurch you might have in December, January an extra two or three minutes of sun exposure and summer like a good 10 minutes to, well, that’s like 49 to 97 minutes if you’re at 10 or two in winter.

Or 40 minutes as opposed to the 25 minutes if you were going out in the middle of the day. So that’s just some loose indications of of how to get that from the sun. And then I would retest over some time and see if that is working for you or whether you do need to consider adding in supplementation as well.

Yeah. So

[00:16:56] Meegan Care: question. Yeah. The this sun exposure that we are getting is that Does it matter if we’ve got sunscreen on or not for those shortterm? Yeah,

[00:17:04] Lisa Pomare: it does. Yeah. Oh yeah. You, you want it without sunscreen. So, ’cause, so basically the, it’s the UVB rays that are, that are hitting the skin and causing that change from the cholesterol into vitamin D.

Yeah. And our sunblock blocks out UVA and UBVB rain. So even sitting in the house, sitting in the sun, coming into the window. Into the house is actually blocking your UVB rays. You actually need to be outside getting those UVB rays onto your skin to see the benefits of that. Yeah.

[00:17:36] Meegan Care: But it’s important to note it’s a very short amount of time in the height of summer.

And then you’re covering up or you’re putting sunscreen on.

[00:17:45] Lisa Pomare: Yeah. And absolutely like and with sunscreen, it’s definitely, Okay. Bye. Bye. Thank you. Gives us some protection, but it also can give us a bit of a false sense of security as well. So definitely using those layers of clothing and things like that.

It’s really important for long term skin health. The other ways you can get some vitamin D, of course, it’s through food. I mean, not huge amounts, but definitely enough to, if you had a good level to help you maintain those levels. So as we’re going through menopause, if we, if our, little activations not working so well through our skin, then we can back it up with some food sources.

So things like oily fish, of course, which is good for so many things in the body. So your salmon, your sardines, your mackerel are great. Cooked egg yolks has some vitamin D in it. Tuna has a bit and of course the delicious cod liver oil is great for your omegas, also your vitamin D and vitamin, bit of vitamin A as well.

So Doesn’t taste as bad as it used to. I remember we were given it as kids and it was horrific. Now you can get some good quality ones that just taste like lemon or you can put it in a smoothie and not even like deal with it. Just a side note on your oils, please, if you were taking any oils, flaxseed, hempseed amigas, make sure they’re in a dark bottle.

Never put them near the sun. I mean, I tend to keep mine in the fridge to be honest, because I would rather that people didn’t take oils at all, rather than take an oxidized oil, which can actually damage our cells. So little, little hint there.

[00:19:12] Meegan Care: Can you taste oxidized oil? Yeah,

[00:19:16] Lisa Pomare: you can, it does taste different.

Even with like nuts and seeds, I can usually taste it. And it can have a smell, but I still wouldn’t risk it. Like there’s a lot of things that I’m like, oh, you’re expired, let’s just Throw you down, but oils are like, and same thing with olive oils, cooking oils, keep them in a dark cupboard, keep them cool.

Really, really important for those guys. Yes. And then of course you can get, if none of these things are working, you can supplement, but if you are very low, please get some advice around that just to make it yeah, make it a safe situation. Okay, so there’s a few symptoms that we can consider too.

So as well as obviously checking your blood, some of the symptoms you might see with low vitamin D might be bone pain or muscle weakness, aches and cramping. Now, Take these with a grain of salt because obviously everyone’s individual. These things can be caused by so many other things, but as I said, it’s worth ruling out.

Low mood, there’s a lot of information to support the links of low vitamin D with anxiety and depression. So that’s definitely worth considering an onset or an aggravation of autoimmune conditions and sleep as well. So there’s a 22 systematic review, which has come out and that’s discussing the growing evidence showing that vitamin D has some Impact on sleep and sleep disorders.

The, it’s not super clear around the method of action, like why it’s impacting it, but definitely it’s been seen that there were more sleep issues in the low vitamin D group and that increasing vitamin D did improve the sleep outcome. So that’s another Another symptom which you could possibly be seeing as well.

And some of the other things that can impact our vitamin D. So obviously we’re not getting outside as much as we used to. I mean, sorry, I’m not speaking for everyone, but I know that a lot of us are working inside. We’re working at computers. A lot of our lifestyle is now inside. So that’s going to have a massive impact.

And also of course, Slip, Slop, Slap is fabulous. It’s protecting us our skin health and well being, but that is also slowing down our ability to to get vitamin D. Things like if people with more skin pigmentation, so darker skin tones tend to have less vitamin D as well. Some medications can impact the conversion or creation of vitamin D in the body and Obviously, with the involvement of liver and kidney either medications that affect the function of those or diseases of the those two organs can also impact our conversion.

So we might have enough of the non active form, but, but not the active form. Weight loss surgeries that. They massively impact so many nutrients absorption of so many nutrients. So that’s worth considering. And then states that affect absorption like celiac disease, Crohn’s, pancreatic disorders, all those can impact the uptake of vitamin D.

It’s really important to consider the elderly as well, like They often can be more housebound and less likely to spend time outside. And that’s a time of life when we really want optimum calcium, vitamin D, even vitamin K and boron, which are all kind of bone nutrients to make sure they are getting enough.

And likewise, as I said before, people living in colder climates, I would definitely be keeping on an eye on that. New Zealand’s just not as close to the equator as other countries, so I think that’s probably got something to do with how much sun we’ve got access to as well.

[00:22:56] Meegan Care: Yeah, makes sense. So it’s something that, you know, whilst it might have been okay prior to perimenopause, it could be something that changes Yeah.

Through that midlife cycle

[00:23:09] Lisa Pomare: time. Absolutely. And, and it’s just worth checking once every couple of years. Like if you check it and it’s fine, you may not check it again for another couple of years. But it’s, it’s just due to what I’ve seen. Like, I mean, there’s a lot of evidence. There’s a lot of research, but also what I’m experiencing in clinic is one seeing all these women in midlife, like such a high number.

With low, low, in fact, the only person that wasn’t low or wasn’t at a lower end of normal was taking very, very high doses and was probably getting towards a toxic dose because she had a pre existing condition, autoimmune condition, that the doctor really wanted to support. But everyone else was, you know, Low, medium, or really, really low.

And I was like this, there’s something going on here. Admittedly it was winter, but still we can support that. And as I said, I did see a number of symptoms improving when we put some measures into place to help support their vitamin D. And I think anything you can do at the moment to manage and support symptoms to help.

Navigate this time is definitely worthwhile and this is one of the probably cheaper and easier ones to take care of. Exactly

[00:24:21] Meegan Care: what I was thinking. It’s sort of like the remedy for it sounds pretty simple, right? With some guidance. So it’s something that we can really support ourselves with easily and we’ve got easy access to

[00:24:35] Lisa Pomare: it.

Exactly. And that’s, yeah, that’s why I think it’s a, it’s a good one to really to take note of and, and if you need to do something do something about it. And if anyone’s concerned about this or wants more information, if you just either jump on my website and you can flick me a message through there or go and follow me on Instagram at next phase health.

I’m posting a lot of the stuff up there or you can message me and ask some questions. As well, I’m all about sharing these messages and sharing what I’ve learned both through my own journey. I’ve, I’m coming out 49 and I am literally two weeks away from being post menopausal. So I’m super excited for all my symptoms to disappear and for my party and my parade to happen.

Yeah, after 10 years, and it has been 10 years because my symptoms started kicking off around 38, 39 and I think I’ve just about like, if you print out the list of symptoms, I think I’ve just about ticked all of them off at some stage. So yeah, I’ll be posting a lot of stuff there just to, Obviously from my learnings, but also from my experience as well of what I’ve gone through and what’s worked for me, and hope that if you give it a go it may help for you.

And a lot of these things are not expensive things because post studying for five years I need to be really thoughtful about that, so hopefully it will be accessible to a lot of people as well. Yeah,

[00:26:00] Meegan Care: beautiful. I, I actually think I I sort of understood because obviously my focus is mental health and psychology around midlife and menopause.

I understood it at one level, but nothing like until I went through that experience myself and, and lived it from the inside out. And now when women come to me and they’re like, I’m completely flat. My zest for life is gone. I don’t know what my next chapter is. I don’t know. I’m, I really get it. Like I get it on that whole body level.

And that’s what I hear you saying.

[00:26:33] Lisa Pomare: Absolutely. And I guess if one big message I really, really want to get out to women is that this is not forever. Like what I’m seeing in the last probably six months, my symptoms are definitely starting to, as, as my, I’m getting used to Being in a lower hormone state, I guess, and I’m getting better at managing things.

I’m really noticing my sleep is back. I’m even starting to get on top of the really evil white situation, but I’m really starting to see things settled down. My, definitely my moods and my anxious feelings and my overwhelm has become a lot less noticeable. So I guess. Hang in there. It’s not forever.

It is going to get better. And just manage those little symptoms as they come up with whatever you got in your toolbox and reach out if you need help with creating a better toolbox. I mean, there’s, the great thing is there’s people like Lara Brydon out there who are just writing the most amazing books.

There’s a natural, no, she’s a nutritionist I follow called, you know, Karen Newby, who’s created a beautiful, beautiful book giving us hints and tips about how we can use nutrition and movement and connection and all these amazing things to navigate those symptoms and to, to make them a little bit less.

Like, I’m not going to say they’re going to go away instantaneously or anything like that, but to make them less impactful in our life and, and also working on mindsets. We were talking about this earlier, how important it is not to panic when you see a new symptom because. Sometimes due to stress or sleep or some caffeine or something you’ve done, you may have a couple of nights of sleeplessness or your hot flushes may amp up for a couple of days, but not to panic and, and create the story that this is my new now, this is me, this is how it’s going to be for a while or forever, because that’s not always the case.

In the background, our hormones are fluctuating all the time through this period, even with HRT giving support, the hormones are still doing its natural thing, which is up and down, up and down as they kind of wind out. So what may feel like A massive increase of anxiety or a massive increase in insomnia can just be a big drive of estrogen or a big drop and that will pass, whether it’s a day, a couple of days, whatever.

So knowing that and having a bit of a chat with yourself and say, let’s just wait and see. Is this the new thing that’s going to stick around or is this just another peak or a trough and how can I support myself? Can I take it a bit easier? Can I be a bit kinder to myself? Can I take a big old dose of magnesium?

You know, what do I need in this moment to get me through this while I wait and see if it’s, A new long term thing or yeah, just something that’s gonna pass easily. And just as I said, I guess my biggest message to women is to be kind to yourself. Like, this is the time of our lives. When we need to put ourselves first, we need to rest when we are fatigued.

We need to hydrate, we need to connect with people that lift us up. And. You know, do things that bring us joy. It can’t always be giving to everyone else. Our workplaces, our children, our partners, our families, we give and we give and we give and we end up completely empty and you can’t. Or from an empty cup.

So, you know, how can you fill that back up and how can you take care of yourself so you can be that amazing partner and, and mother that you want to be, or workmate or friend going through this process. And the only way to do it is to take care of yourself because otherwise it, it’s yeah. You’re fighting a, a losing battle, unfortunately.

So I’m giving you permission. In fact, I’m demanding that you, yeah. Really take care of yourself and look after yourself and that goes for you too, Megan. Thank you and

[00:30:22] Meegan Care: I am right there with you on that and that has been probably the biggest lesson that I’ve I’ve gotten one of anyway from this midlife stage for me is that I need to look after myself first.

You know, I’m in the helping professions. It’s very easy for me to give and I needed to really learn how to fill myself up a lot and not just because I, was unwell or not coping. It was like all of the time. That’s, that I think was the big change for me. Like it has to come little and often, really regularly.

It needs to be a priority. Yeah.

[00:30:59] Lisa Pomare: Absolutely. And, and You know, as I’ve said before, we become way less resilient to stress in this period. You know, things that didn’t really bother us before can be quite overwhelming. So we tend to go from zero to the world’s ending quite quickly. So yeah, anything you can do to mediate that will really help help with, with how we navigate this, this fun time.

And, and I’ll just,

[00:31:25] Meegan Care: it’s, we’re coming to completion, but to understand that that’s a really normal thing that happens because of what’s going on with our hormones and our physiology, that we can go from zero to overwhelmed really quickly. And it’s not that you’re necessarily doing anything wrong, but if we can contextualize it correctly, Or well, then that gives us so much more space with it.

And then we can take that time out and go, you know what? I’m just, it’s going to be okay. I’m just going to chill. I know I’m freaking out about this, but I’m just going to take some space. I think that’s so important.

[00:31:56] Lisa Pomare: Yeah, I think it’s one of the, one of the things I say to a lot of my clients, especially those that are really fatigued and really struggling or really reactive and, and it’s impacting relationships and all sorts of things like that is it’s not you, it’s your hormones.

So, you know, your world isn’t ending. There isn’t all these terrible things happening in your world. I mean, it can be, I’m not going to take it and validate people’s obviously people’s situations, but our hormones, our chemical makeup is affecting how we see things and how we respond and which is so unfair.

So trying to remember that and just take a second and be like. Is this a problem or is this my hormones, you know, and in my early years, I always hated that. I always hated that things got blamed on, you know, are you, are you just got your period or anything like that, that I found that was very triggering or used to really enrage me because it’s like, no, you’re just really annoying or not doing, you know, what I need to do.

But, you know, in this stage of life It’s, it’s even more apparent that, you know, the rational, beautiful person that we were is getting way more affected by the body trying to figure out how to live with lower levels of hormones and, and that affects so much.

[00:33:16] Meegan Care: Yeah, we’re going through a transition and there is some really incredible stuff on the other side for you in this next chapter of life. And for all of us, right? You and me included. So vitamin D is an important piece of the puzzle. It’s a simple fix. Potentially but it’s important that we get it checked out before we jump on any kind of supplement.

[00:33:41] Lisa Pomare: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, definitely. I mean, there’s plenty of help and information out there that’s really, really accessible around vitamin D. So yeah, just, just check in first before you start and definitely no self diagnosing as far as taking heavy doses and things like that. Yeah. Quite destructive.

Yeah. And, and thank you so much for today. I think it’s just so great to be having these conversations and normalizing, talking about what’s happening in menopause, because it’s incredible how many women I meet who just have no idea. They think it’s just the periods are going to stop. I’m going to be hot and sweaty for a while.

And no idea what even happens beyond that, what it even means. So it’s just so. important to be spreading the word and, and, and having these really open and, and validating conversations for what people are going through. So Lisa,

[00:34:36] Meegan Care: really so much thanks to you for showing up with all your wisdom and knowledge for sharing your time.

How can people get in touch with you if they want to ask you some questions, connect in with

[00:34:46] Lisa Pomare: you? Sure. Yeah, so as I said, I’m based in Tauranga, so I have a clinic here, but I also work online with people all over New Zealand. So you can go to my website Next phase health. co. nz. There’s a contact me button up there if you want to ask some questions or you can book a free discovery call if you want, think you might need some help.

Otherwise just for like hints and tips my Instagram and Facebook is just next phase health. I’m uploading some. pretty rough videos there just to really share some information. So there’s lots there around nutrition, movement things you can do to support your nervous system and just information about what can be happening during this process.

So if you don’t have access to you know, some good books, then that’s a good place to start.

[00:35:36] Meegan Care: Beautiful. Thank you so much, Lisa.