As I concluded my  conversation with Nigel, he shared some valuable advise to anyone who thinks they may be experiencing peri or meno symptoms.

• Don’t ignore it & brush it under the carpet. It is natural & normal & happens to every woman so don’t deny it.
• Start getting organised & use a symptom tracker & get specific about what is happening to you
• Do your research & find out what options are open to you, including HRT
• Gather the information so that you can go to your doctor fully informed.

The menopause & peri-menopause can be a chaotic, frightening & life changing transition for many women. It certainly was for me.

But the beauty of it is if you can embrace self-care & take control of things like lifestyle, diet, exercise & the whole well-being package you can create a life where you feel better than ever. And this can feel incredibly liberating.

Suddenly the menopause takes on a whole different perspective: an  opportunity to re-evaluate your life, take control & start thriving.

And don’t forget even if you are not affected by the peri-menopause, menopause you will undoubtedly know someone: your mum, your sister, your daughter, your friend,  who is noticing symptoms, so it’s worth knowing what to look out for.

For 20% off membership for life type in FROST20

To find out more about Nigel & Harley St at Home check out these websites.

IG: menopause_dietician

nigel@nigeldenby.co.uk

Facebook group: Harley St at Home : Menopause

www.harleystathome.com

If you would like to practice yoga with Alex her YouTube channel offers free short classes for everyone & is available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQlKZJ7MeyYc6lqkv6seISw

Alternatively all of her classes are streamed on live on Zoom, for more information message her at alex@alexbannard.com

Free resources are also available on her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AlexBannardYogaMindfulness

And her website is www.alexbannard.com

Alex is based on the edge of the stunning Cotswolds & has been sharing her love for all things yoga & mindfulness for almost a decade, not just in the UK but also around the world. Her mission is to help everyone discover a more mindful way of living & to encourage them to embrace regular self-care practices for a happier & healthier way of being.

After a couple of days of back story, we finally get to the juicy bit…

What help can Harley St at Home offer?

HSAH is a private & free menopause community which was launched at the beginning of the the first lockdown on Facebook & has grown from 300 to 13,200 members.

Nigel gathered specialists like Dr Naomi Potter, a menopause doctor, as well as a variety of wellbeing specialists in a beautifully safe, supportive & caring community, full of advise & information to support women.

Eventually, the natural evolution was for HSAH to become a bespoke website with a huge amount of information & resources to support women during this life changing transition.

Nigel is acutely aware that a lot of women struggling with the menopause have never put themselves first. They have never thought they were deserving of prioritising self-care for themselves. Many women think that wellbeing & things like yoga & meditation are for rich women or celebrities, without thinking it can be for them too. HSAH is making all this & much more readily available to all women.

HSAH offers such a wide variety of self-care options to women to try so that they can work out what their own individual self-care toolkit looks like at an extremely affordable price (less than 70p per day). Essentially, it is a menopause wellness centre on line.

Why Harley St at Home?

I chose HSAH simply because the quality of all the classes, courses, advice & support is so high but it’s in your own home. Which makes it extraordinarily accessible. There is nothing exclusive about this community except the  quality of the content available to women.

Nigel is keen for women to understand that they have a choice here. Menopause (& peri-menopause) is more than just a hormonal change. It affects mind, body & soul &  there is an affordable approach to tackling all elements of the menopause in a safe & supportive space enabling women to put themselves first.

Nigel’s aim is to encourage women who are not used to prioritising themselves to have the choice to create their own self-care toolkits & a life in which they can thrive. Self-care is not selfish, it is essential. Self-care is important at every time of life but more than ever during the peri-menopause & menopause. And let’s face it, we  are  worth it.

How does it work?

There are 2 options available: the free option to help you decipher what actually is going on with access to a menopause symptom tracker & menopause survival pages including a blog.

Paid membership gives access to a schedule that is packed with over 40 different classes each week from strength, aerobic, yoga, meditation & mindfulness, face yoga, nutrition, medical classes from the Dr’s & it’s only £19/month.

And Nigel has kindly offered Frost readers 20% off membership for life. So it’s less than 50p per day. Just type in FROST20 when you go to the website to sign up & let technology do the rest.

On any given day there are 5-6 menopause specific exercises classes, information sessions, self-care workshops from real women who understand menopause because they are going through it themselves.

Join me tomorrow to hear Nigel’s advise for those who are suffering with peri & meno symptoms.

For 20% off membership for life type in FROST20

To find out more about Nigel & Harley St at Home check out these websites.

IG: menopause_dietician

nigel@nigeldenby.co.uk

Facebook group: Harley St at Home : Menopause

www.harleystathome.com

If you would like to practice yoga with Alex her YouTube channel offers free short classes for everyone & is available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQlKZJ7MeyYc6lqkv6seISw

Alternatively all of her classes are streamed on live on Zoom, for more information message her at alex@alexbannard.com

Free resources are also available on her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AlexBannardYogaMindfulness

And her website is www.alexbannard.com

Alex is based on the edge of the stunning Cotswolds & has been sharing her love for all things yoga & mindfulness for almost a decade, not just in the UK but also around the world. Her mission is to help everyone discover a more mindful way of living & to encourage them to embrace regular self-care practices for a happier & healthier way of being.

Yesterday we met Nigel Denby, founder of Harley St at Home & in my eyes a pro-aging revolutionary. HSAH helped me so much, I want to share all I learned with you over the next few days. So today I explore what is the life changing transition that is the peri-menopause & menopause.

So what is happening during the menopause?

During the menopause oestrogen levels in a woman’s body are plummeting.  During peri-menopause these hormones are roller coasting & symptoms can appear for a woman from the top of her head to the tip of her toes.

A woman’s entire identity is controlled by oestrogen as it affects every cell & every system in her body. It affects her hair, her skin, the shape of her body, how her brain is operating, her emotions, her muscles density & bone strength. Oestrogen protects her heart, digestive system, vagina & urinary tract. Oestrogen also impacts the brain.

This completely resonates with me. I felt like I was going mad when my menopause symptoms were at their worst. The menopause literally changes women’s lives & in some cases it is destroying women’s lives.

There are  about 13m women,  apparently, experiencing peri & meno symptoms in the UK & 10% of them may well end up leaving or loosing their jobs or cutting their hours – all that amazing experience & expertise being lost because women just cannot cope with what these symptoms are doing to their lives.

Many women find t their personal relationships crumbling as their body & vagina change & libido drops off a cliff.

On average 75% of women gain 10kgs when they start their peri-menopause..

In short, oestrogen enables women to multi-task & juggle family, relationships, jobs so when this hormone takes a nose-dive it impacts every spect of a woman’s life.

Some other symptoms include: disruption in sleep; migraines & headaches; muscles pains & aches & restless legs; increase in urinary tract infections; IBS & digestive problems; dry eyes or drying of nasal passages; changes in the skin & hair including hair loss & itchy scalp; hot flushes & night sweats; gaining weight; brain fog, forgetfulness, apathy & lack of concentration; mental health issues; low mood, irritability & mood swings; muscle aches & pains; lack of energy …  on and on until we reach over 50 symptoms.

Do try your doctor, of course, but if you then feel that you need more  help  or support you could do as I did and explore further avenues – HSAH is the perfect place to start to build that all essential self-care toolkit which is such an integral part of navigating peri-meno, menopause and beyond.

Join me tomorrow to find out what is Harley St at Home & how it can help you or someone you love.

For 20% off membership for life type in FROST20

To find out more about Nigel & Harley St at Home check out these websites.

IG: menopause_dietician

nigel@nigeldenby.co.uk

Facebook group: Harley St at Home : Menopause

www.harleystathome.com

If you would like to practice yoga with Alex her YouTube channel offers free short classes for everyone & is available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQlKZJ7MeyYc6lqkv6seISw

Alternatively all of her classes are streamed on live on Zoom, for more information message her at alex@alexbannard.com

Free resources are also available on her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AlexBannardYogaMindfulness

And her website is www.alexbannard.com

Alex is based on the edge of the stunning Cotswolds & has been sharing her love for all things yoga & mindfulness for almost a decade, not just in the UK but also around the world. Her mission is to help everyone discover a more mindful way of living & to encourage them to embrace regular self-care practices for a happier & healthier way of being.

What a treat: Joffe Books is proud and delighted to bring us their Book of the Week:THE NIGHT THIEF — the stunning new crime thriller by #1 bestselling author Joy Ellis.  Such good news for all crime readers.

This addictive new mystery is sure to have  all of you turning the pages late into the night until you reach the shocking conclusion… Nope, not telling you … but read on:  when everyone is sleeping, he comes into their houses. He takes one thing. A photo of their child.  A thief on a power trip or something even darker and more sinister?  Arghh.   No wonder Joy Ellis has sold over two million books globally. A snip at   99p / 99C

Now, on to see what else is on offer this week. A cornucopia, and here are two of them:

The Dead Hand of History by Sally Spencer. Two severed hands. One newly promoted detective with her hands full.   Monika Paniatowski can’t wait to land her first case as detective chief inspector. And, as it turns out, she won’t have to. On her first day, a woman’s severed hand is found in a leafy park.

Sally Spencer’s The Dead Hand of History: “Belongs in the same league with Rebus, Resnick, Harpur and Iles, Morse et al.” Booklist ONLY 99P / 99C

Now for a huge VALUE FOR MONEY box set: Paul Bennett’s Nick Shannon Thriller Box Set 1-5

Nick Shannon is a convicted killer   But don’t let that put you off. He had his reasons. And nope again – not going to tell you…

Joffe Books feels that this is just perfect for fans  of Mark Dawson, Frederick Forsyth, David Baldacci, J.B. Turner, Rob Sinclair, Lee Child, Vince Flynn and Robert Ludlum –  FIVE page-turners for only 99p/99c

TIME TO MEET ANOTHER OF THE jOFFE BOOKS TEAM: SASHA ALSBERG
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

WHAT I DO
My job revolves around book promotion/awareness on social media. I create content featuring our books through video and photo formats for TikTok and Instagram. Alongside this, I work with the marketing team to brainstorm and execute new ideas that can help drive Joffe Books’ online profile to new audiences and digital mediums.

WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2022
I am so excited for all the incredible books we have coming up and the fun ideas I have to help make them bestsellers.

FAVOURITE BOOKS
My favorite book of all time is Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It is a historical romance novel where a nurse named Claire (who is from the 1940s) accidentally touches standing stones that teleport her back in time to Scotland in the 1700s.

Also if you want a great thriller — Verity by Colleen Hoover is addictive! It’s about a ghostwriter who is hired to finish a series by an author who had a life-altering accident. But things take an unexpected turn when she discovers a grizzly confession within the pages of the writer’s notebook… I highly recommend.

To find out all that Joffe Books has to offer: Joffe Books

Nigel Denby (EJacobs Photography)

I am passionate about highlighting the peri-menopause & menopause cause, featuring movers & shakers in this field , ones who are impacting the 13 million women out there experiencing this huge life changing transition. This week I am delighted to introduce Nigel Denby, founder of Harley St at Home.

Nigel set up the Harley St at Home Facebook page at the beginning of the pandemic. This was a resource which I turned to a lot during my own menopause journey as it is jam-packed with useful advice .

Nigel is a Nutritionist & Dietician & has worked with women in their menopause & peri-menopause for the past 20 years.  HSAH works in conjunction with the  medical profession & not only advocates HRT for those who feel it’s right for them, but facilitates wellbeing experts who work alongside medical professionals to provide a fully rounded, grounded & sensible approach to menopause. So there we have it in a nutshell, but let’s chat to Nigel, the mover and shaker who is the instigator of all of this.

I asked Nigel what inspired him to set up Harley St at Home  and he explained: ‘M&P is a landscape in which women are let down on every level. We talk openly to teenage girls about preparing for puberty. But we don’t talk to women about menopause.’

Nigel feels that: ‘Most women find themselves contemplating menopause if they are hit with the typical symptoms such as hot flushes but there are more than 50 symptoms many women miss completely as they just don’t associate them with M&P. Sometimes when a woman does go to her GP to discuss the menopause we have become aware, from some who have contacted us ,that  the information given can be insufficient.’

I found this illuminating as I had already come to suspect my own mental health struggles might have  been  symptoms of peri-menopause.  But I was ignorant of the myriad symptoms at the time, so knew no better and  could not present my case; though I could now.

HSAH aims to  inform & support women in order to help their  understanding of  what is going on, keeping a track of symptoms as well as providing them with expert medical advice from menopause doctors.

But HSAH goes one step further – it offers women additional support from a team of experts in their field to help them create their own self-care toolkit to navigate this often life-changing transition. This is so important because it gives a woman the confidence to shape her next decades so that they can be wonderful. Without support & without creating their own self-care practices it can be wretched…but it doesn’t have to be.

Join me tomorrow to find out what is happening in the menopause.

For 20% off membership for life type in FROST20

To find out more about Nigel & Harley St at Home check out these websites.

IG: menopause_dietician

nigel@nigeldenby.co.uk

Facebook group: Harley St at Home : Menopause

www.harleystathome.com

If you would like to practice yoga with Alex her YouTube channel offers free short classes for everyone & is available here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQlKZJ7MeyYc6lqkv6seISw

Alternatively all of her classes are streamed on live on Zoom, for more information message her at alex@alexbannard.com

Free resources are also available on her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AlexBannardYogaMindfulness

And her website is www.alexbannard.com

Alex is based on the edge of the stunning Cotswolds & has been sharing her love for all things yoga & mindfulness for almost a decade, not just in the UK but also around the world. Her mission is to help everyone discover a more mindful way of living & to encourage them to embrace regular self-care practices for a happier & healthier way of being.

I was very excited to review this book, both as a doctor, as someone who’s had breast cancer myself and as the author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows.

When I discovered that I was suffering from Breast Cancer, even as a doctor I felt bewildered and helpless. I learned the hard way – realizing always a little too late that I couldn’t necessarily rely on professionals, that I had to take control, that I needed to assert myself and that reluctantly I must become my own cancer expert. If only I’d known at the beginning what I know now.

Afterwards I was passionate to help others get ahead of the game at this crucial time and I receive regular messages from readers confirming that my book does just that.

So I’m thrilled that The Breast Cancer Book is another valuable and much-needed new resource.

Written by an oncologist, a breast surgeon and a lady who’s had breast cancer, the book has credentials. It covers all key topics for the reluctant entrant to Cancer Academy. The information is clear and succinct and you don’t need to read everything at once – you can dip in and out, focusing on what’s immediately important.

This book explains what cancer is, why we get it and your particular breast cancer type. It explains the medical investigations and their results and how your medical professionals will work with you. It discusses the various treatment options, their pros and cons – should you choose mastectomy for example (total breast removal with or without an implant or breast reconstruction) or simple removal of the lump (usually with radiotherapy)?

Importantly for US citizens, it explains the insurance system and what to do if you don’t have medical insurance. UK citizens reading this will appreciate the benefits of our NHS. It talks about if the cancer comes back or has already spread from the outset (Metastatic Breast Cancer). It advises on treatment side-effects and on alternative (complementary) therapy. It covers the emotional side of this life-changing diagnosis – support groups, impact on your family and relationships, how to help your children understand. It also summarises what we know about preventing cancer and reducing the risk of it returning.

Each chapter is just long enough, with summaries where helpful; there’s a useful medical glossary at the back and an index, so you to shoot straight to the answers you need. Occasional patients’ own stories provide added interest.

This book is written thoughtfully and empathetically and I would urge you to read it if you’ve received this frightening diagnosis. My book will help too, in a different way – choose which works best for you – there’s no right or wrong. Wishing you lots and lots of luck if you are going through breast cancer.

The Breast Cancer book is available from John Hopkins University Press and Amazon or Kindle.

By Dr K Thompson, award-winning author of From Both Ends of the Stethoscope: Getting through breast cancer – by a doctor who knows http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A7DM42Q http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A7DM42Q
http://faitobooks.co.uk

Note: These articles express personal views. No warranty is made as to the accuracy or completeness of information given and you should always consult a doctor if you need medical advice.

I like mustard and it seems for once I am a GOOD GIRL as a new study suggests that wholegrain mustard is good for you and that 10g – or a heaped teaspoon – eaten every day, can help to achieve a healthy blood glucose and/or cholesterol level.  The research, presented at the European Federation of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST), was carried out by Tracklements in association with Cardiff Metropolitan University.  The results show that 86% of participants in the study saw a significant drop in their blood glucose and/or cholesterol over a 12-week period

But hey. listen…  wholegrain mustard isn’t just good for you, it’s really nice and has been used throughout history with mentions in ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman texts.  The Romans, in fact,  introduced mustard into Britain. They felt it had medicinal qualities as well as making unappetising meat palatable and most travelled  with a pouch of mustard seed to plant, Once settled, they would grind the mustard seed, crushing and mixing it calling it Mustum Ardens, (Fiery Must) and that my friends is how we reach the word Mustard.

Sadly in the 18th century wholegrain mustard lost favour, and flavour no doubt,  as mustard flour took its place. That is, until Tracklements launched their first wholegrain mustard in 1970 and I for one, am glad they did. Tracklements wholegrain is similar to the Roman forerunners, 100% natural and if one keeps an eye on research likely to do you good too.

I have tried and tested it, ooh yes I have, and all I can says is the Oliver refrain, Please Sir, may I have some  more. It is robust, delicious, and if it does me good too, it makes me feel virtuous. This feeling is not  necessarily something one would equate with  Margaret Graham, so I bask in it.

Try it with practically anything, scrambled eggs, avodado, ham, in yoghurt, mayonnaise… You get it, give it a try.

For more information: Tracklements

@tracklements #tastytracklements #LifeandSoulofthePantry

As an ardent coffee drinker – best not disturb me before I’ve had my morning shot of caffeine, I was interested to hear about the concept of burning of  Coffee Logs in domestic wood burners and multi-fuel stoves. It seems to be an  a step towards the phase-out of coal and is also more sustainable than burning wood.  Not only do Coffee Logs burn 20% hotter than kiln dried wood, but they also avoid the hefty carbon footprint created by imported wood logs.

I have to admit that having ground my beans, slurped my  coffee, then put the used grounds in the bin, (as they are not suitable for compost I was told) it seems such a sensible idea to recycle them,  though there is not, as yet a collection point for domestic drinkers. Will there ever be, without creating a carbon footprint? That is for more knowledgeable minds to discover, not mine.

Coffee Logs are produced by recycling used coffee grounds collected from nationwide coffee chains, independent coffee shops, cafes and restaurants around the UK, reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.  The UK alone drinks 95 million cups of coffee a day, resulting in a quarter of a million tonnes of waste which would otherwise go to landfill or other inefficient disposal methods.  By recouping and recycling the coffee grounds into Coffee Logs, bio-bean generates 80% less greenhouse gas emissions compared to landfill.

The coffee logs are available to buy in a number of major outlets including Tesco, B&Q and Waitrose priced at £8.50 a bag.

You can read more about this thought provoking idea here: https://www.diy.com/departments/bio-bean-coffee-logs-8kg/5060599680002_BQ.prd