Success Stories

“I was struggling with the physical work on the farm and my joints were slowing me down.” [Barbara, NZ]

I, along with my husband are sheep farmers in the South Island of New Zealand. 

Over the last few years, I had been starting to struggle with the physical work that is required at times.  I just put this down to getting older and perhaps the start of arthritis in my joints.

Little did I know that the changes in your hormones that come with menopause, one being the buildup of inflammation over the years,was the cause of the constant pain in my joints.

Since starting on Wendy’s program, the greatest change I notice is my sleep. Once I started sleeping better, and changing my diet, I have lost all of the joint pain in my knees. 

The hot flushes and irritable bowel have also gone and as an added bonus I have lost the excess weight around my middle with over 6kg of weight slowly disappearing!

I am so grateful for Wendy’s wonderful knowledge and sound advice over the last year.  She is a true inspiration to all of us women on her programs.

It was very easy to implement the changes in my eating habits and diet especially when you begin to sleep better and gain lots more energy and I’m sure this will be the way forward for me from now on.  

I am feeling the healthiest that I’ve felt in many many years, all thanks to Wendy’s extensive knowledge and kind help.”

Barbara, Southland, NZ 

It is always such a privilege to help women understand what is really going on with their symptoms in menopause, but particularly with their joints. My own joints ached so much that I feared for my function and mobility as I aged.

Barbara was the same. And when you are a busy farmer with so much going on in your life, then the thought of what you ‘can’t do’ fills your thoughts. But understanding that there is a powerful connection between the hormonal changes in menopause and changes that are occuring all around our body, including in our joints, is important. 

Oestrogen is essential for our joints and muscles, because its role is to protect and stabilise membranes.  

As a fat-soluble hormone, oestrogen helps to strengthen the cell membrane and in so doing, it assists as an antioxidant.  

Oestrogen has a role to play in cell turn-over and healing of our joints, so we need to think about what happens when we don’t produce as much oestrogen once we reach menopause.

This is why getting the right nutrients during menopause is so important as is sleeping, which is when our body heals and repairs. In both of my 12 week coaching programmes (Circuit Breaker for thinner women or Transform Me for overweight women), I have a joint health module for you. If your symptoms and your joints are troubling you, then I hope you can join me sometime. 

Dr Wendy Sweet (PhD)/ Women’s Healthy Ageing Practitioner/ Member: Australian Society of Lifestyle Medicine

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