Episode Transcript
Speaker 0
Today's guest is a good one, the one and only Melissa Grello.
Speaker 1
I know. I was so excited to talk with her because, come on, it's Melissa Grello, journalist, TV host, podcast host of Aging Powerfully. And you know me, I love me a celebrity, Mick.
Speaker 2
You sure do. I do.
Speaker 0
And she came on today to share something really personal and really vulnerable. And I think something that is gonna hit home for a lot of you listening today.
Speaker 1
Yeah. During this conversation, Melissa opens up about how she got completely sucked into the longevity and wellness world during the pandemic. And she started taking a whack load of supplements that were recommended to her, and she ended up with liver damage.
Speaker 0
Which is wild because this is a woman who is deeply health conscious, and she wasn't being reckless. She was trying to do everything right.
Speaker 1
I felt so seen when I was listening to her story because I went down this exact same rabbit hole.
Speaker 0
Oh, me me too. Well, maybe not to the same degree, but I definitely went down some longevity wellness rabbit holes. I mean, so many of us do.
Speaker 1
Right? And the money. Oh my god. It was an embarrassing amount of money that I was spending on supplements and tests, and I was trying to find out if I was in perimenopause.
Speaker 0
Which you now know. There is no test for that.
Speaker 1
There is no test for that. Damn it. If I'd only known earlier. Yeah. I found out the hard way, and I think that that's why this conversation matters so much. We're all trying to find answers, and we're all inundated with the wellness industry on social media. And everyone's trying to educate us, and they're ready to take our trust and our money.
Speaker 0
Well, and that's you know, it's it's easy to fall into because when your body's changing and you're not able to get answers from whether it's your doctor or other parts of the the team that's looking after you and supporting your health, you start turning to people on Instagram who are telling you they have the solution because they say they have a solution and they're willing to listen. And the fact is we need and deserve answers and support that are evidence based.
Speaker 1
Yes. And we're desperate for them. And unfortunately, for so many of us, this is the reality of perimenopause.
Speaker 0
Melissa learned that the hard way, and she's here to make sure that the rest of us don't have to. So let's get into it. Melissa Grillo, what a pleasure and an honor to have you on the show. Thank you for joining us today.
Speaker 2
Thank you for asking me to be here,
Speaker 1
of course.
Speaker 0
We reached out because you recently posted on social media about you and supplements and how a protocol, I guess, or a range of supplements that were recommended by a provider caused liver damage. Like, what? So let let's start. Take us back to the beginning. How did this supplement journey start, and how did it get to be that serious?
Speaker 2
I think it's an extraordinarily ordinary story that I think a lot of people watching and listening are gonna relate to. So I'll take it all the way back to the pandemic. And, as I had mentioned on the show, which is where this topic came up, I was stuck at home like all of us were. And it just so happened that whether it was because life would slow down in the sense that there weren't all these distractions, you were forced to be at home, forced to sit with yourself, forced to kind of stop for maybe the first time in your life. And I started to do all the things that everybody was doing, which was getting really hyper focused on health. And when I say everybody, because we were in the midst of a pandemic and the lockdown, and all I would do is turn on the news and just get, like, body counts. We were just getting such terrifying news of how many people were dying literally every day. And it was so terrifying. And I think I am also probably low key hypochondriac, and and I'm also like a lot of women. You know? Oh my gosh. What can I do? I'm a control freak, so what can I do to make sure I'm not a statistic and to protect myself and protect people around me? So I think I went into a hole that, you know, I think a lot of people did, which was understanding health better. And it ended up leading me in a direction that I probably, when I look back now, was not healthy, but it was what it was at the time. And that was almost funny, getting locked into a world of what we now know as longevity longevity medicine and longevity science.
Speaker 0
Mhmm.
Speaker 2
Now you put that kind of personality and the timing of that, and you put that up against what now we understand is perimenopause. Yeah. Now that was six years ago. Right? So I was forty two. Mhmm. And trying to understand this new and changing body, getting a little freaked out because, obviously, every new symptom means you have a terminal illness.
Speaker 0
Yep.
Speaker 2
So, you know, like, all the convergence of all of these things in a type a woman is really potentially dangerous. And so what do we want? We all want answers. Mhmm. I want a definitive answer, and I need solutions, and I need to see change. So it was coming from a place where I think a lot of us can relate to. I might have gone about it a little deep end because I don't do anything halfway. It's like I'm not in or I'm all in. Yeah. And I decided to do the all in, so I dove head first without checking where the bottom was, and that's where I found myself.
Speaker 0
That's a great way to put it. Diving head first without checking where the bottom was.
Speaker 1
Yeah. Forty two is a
Speaker 0
magical age. Was for me. Yeah. So I'm
Speaker 2
a little
Speaker 0
we're a little bit older than you are.
Speaker 1
And I
Speaker 0
don't know about you, but certainly for me become after my first child, all of the things you just described went into overdrive. Mhmm. And then I had my kids later, so there was some overlap with the onset of perimenopause. And, man, that can really send you to some crazy places.
Speaker 1
But I will also agree. Like, for me, the pandemic is when I started working with a practitioner and
Speaker 2
going down
Speaker 1
the supplement road and doing the Dutch test, and it was it was the same kind of vibe as you. I just I I felt like I needed to control something, and this was something that I could take control of for myself. I got to a point couple years in where I was taking twenty different pills in the course of a day, and I don't even know how much we were spending. Luckily, we weren't going anywhere. So all of my travel budget wasn't supplements, I guess. But, like, it's it's crazy. It's it's it's wild.
Speaker 2
I think the I think that's where people can relate. I think it's I I I can speak for myself. I I was also older when I had my daughter. I was thirty seven. Where the convergence of the pandemic for me was the control issue, one thousand percent. Mhmm. But we took the same fervor that we approach probably careers or anything in life. We took the same energy Mhmm. Of I can control anything. I can create anything. That I will control outcomes. We took that and we shifted it, and it just kind of was the same coming from the same place. And certainly for me, the you know, you mix a little bit of fear with, you know, the the the desire. It's a compulsion to find solutions. For me, it manifested in hypertracking. So I'd my first foray in was a lot of American companies that were selling a lot of the online blood tests that you can track biomarkers. And, again, it sort of is in parallel with longevity medicine and science because I fell in. I I read David Sinclair's book, Lifespan. Like, who didn't? And I saw started to do a deep dive. And, again, it is coming from a place of control. It's and I'm not saying it all, like, it's all pathological. I think there to a certain degree, wanting to live longer and healthier, that's a very positive thing. But like anything in life, you can go too far. And I think that's where when I took the longevity thing and then I started looking into biohacking and biomarkers and tracking and testing, I'm a numbers girl. I'm a data girl. So it really fed what I was looking for. It was, like, I need to I'm feeling away. I need to track it. I need to test it. Give me empirical evidence, and now let me do something about it. The way that the supplement thing came along is even though I have been a healthy person who's put great food, whole food first, fitness first, lifestyle first, and quite quite frankly been able and lucky to be able to live that way Yep. The supplement thing was a very it was almost intox gonna
Speaker 0
be that word.
Speaker 2
Right? Yeah. Right? Yeah. We were just like, these are the answers that I need. And we weren't going to the doctor because we couldn't. There was this weird chasm that all kinda came together.
Speaker 0
I think there's another element there, and I don't know. This may have not may not have been true for you, but it certainly was for Michelle and I, which was we when we started having perimenopausal symptoms, we were able to go to the doctor, and we get kept getting told you're fine. This is just how it is. You're too young. Don't worry about it. So when you have some alternative providers, products saying, well, you're not you're not making this up. For sure, you're having these symptoms, and here's the solution. That is also very enticing. Right? Yeah. Being heard. Feeling like you're being heard.
Speaker 2
Yeah. Even if you're paying for it.
Speaker 1
Yeah. Yeah. And we weren't paying for it. Well, I'm
Speaker 2
gonna pay you, and you're gonna listen to me, damn it.
Speaker 1
When you were on your supplements, was it, like Insane.
Speaker 2
Insane. Used to do humble bright posts. Look at all the supplements.
Speaker 1
Stop it.
Speaker 2
I probably can find it in my, you know, history on Instagram.
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Speaker 2
Yeah. Because it was it was like a weird flex at the time. It was a way to say, you know what? I'm putting my health first. Look at me. I'm so healthy. Look at all the things, and there's all these little tricks and secrets. Did you know? Shortcuts.
Speaker 0
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2
Exactly. And so it definitely filled in the gap. I wasn't one of the people who was science denying at the time of COVID or after, but certainly a lot of people were. Mhmm. And I think that's where supplements also could swoop in and sort of fill gaps because there were still so many unknowns. And in fact, any scientist will tell you, they are the biggest skeptics in the world. They have to be. They have to question everything, and yet we came up with this narrative that scientists think they have all the answers, but they really don't. So, you know, we're gonna say poo poo to big pharma, and we're gonna say big wellness, big supplement. You're the answer, which couldn't be more backwards. And I say this not to put blame. I've been much kinder to myself since all of this and not even to put you know, there is a good amount of blame to go around. I'm not gonna say that it's not. But people who are not medical professionals but who are in the health care space providing help to women, I get why a lot of them who do come from a good place, who want to help women, who think they've got some kind of answers. I don't wanna vilify people here. Mhmm. What I have done and learned from this process was I needed to do a better job to educate myself first and foremost, then you're able to sniff out the the the snake oil act and the charlatans because they do exist. Not everybody else there is out to dupe women, but, unfortunately, a lot of people are, and it's really financially to do so. So finding where my place was in all of that and also trying to understand my own journey, fortunately, I can speak from a place, sadly, of, education because I was duped so hard. And my real thing now is to educate women because I just want to prevent you from getting duped. And the way you do that is you inoculate women with good science and information.
Speaker 1
Absolutely. And I I'm gonna put a pin in your story for a second because let's talk about what you're doing to educate women. You're because it's amazing. You've got a fabulous podcast called Aging Powerfully, and it's about strength and intention and just owning this new chapter of our life. You're doing a whole bunch of retreats and conferences. Tell us more.
Speaker 2
Yeah. The the podcast was born from the struggle, to be very, very honest. I think you have a podcast and you know that there's a lot of you in this. It's a lot of figuring stuff out for yourself. It's about connection. It's about information. It's about all the things that make women so amazing is, you know, we want to get answers and then we wanna help other people with with answers. So I'm in season three of my podcast. And, again, if you do the math, that was sort of coming out of the fog of the pandemic, the fog of coming out of what is this thing that I'm going through. I just heard this word perimenopause. You're going through your journey. And my struggle, which is a lot of women's stories, is that there weren't a lot of resources that I could reliably look to for really solid answers and certainly a dearth of Canadian resources at least at the time. And so menopause was not having its moment yet. We were just starting to get to it all of a sudden, just coming out of the pandemic as well. And the convergence of a lot of events led me to realize if I, as a pretty well connected, educated woman in Canada, cannot feel like I'm getting really good solid information, where am I to get it? I don't wanna look to the states. They have a completely different medical system. Yeah. This is not a a system that is applicable to me here because they can just go private. They can pay for whatever they want. We just don't have quite the same system here. Yeah. So I said, well, I'm gonna create the thing that I'm looking for. And Aging Powerfully really was born from this place of get and and showcase the Canadian experts who have been doing the work. And just because dum dums like me have just discovered this thing or were
Speaker 1
just happening for ages. Been happening. No. I know.
Speaker 2
Right? There's so many been doing great work. And I wanted to showcase that work, and I really wanted to put my journalist hat on and do half the work, which is how do you tell who's credible, who's not. And I thought, let me take at least that hard part out of here and make sure that no one's trying to sell you something or that someone actually has the credentials to speak on what they're speaking on, and let's get the information to women. And that's where that came from. And the and the live events, again, still from the pandemic, it gave us a lot of crappy stuff, but really good stuff came out of that. And I think we remembered how much connection in person is really valuable for us and how much the social connection as part of aging powerfully is so integral. Mhmm. And we do great things together. And I think we're still I am still craving in connection in person connection, and that is part of what I think is a healthy life as a whole. That's where it just came from me trying to figure stuff out for myself and trying to pass it along.
Speaker 0
And you're coming to Calgary in May, on May sixteenth?
Speaker 1
Is this
Speaker 2
both of yours at hometowns?
Speaker 0
I just me. Just me. Just me. So, unfortunately, I'm excited I'm gonna be there. Tell us a little bit about what's happening.
Speaker 2
So, again, I if I could do it in every province and every territory, I could. But you know what? It's still just my side hustle. I have a day job. Yeah. Yes. You do. So, you know, give me time. Everyone's like, are you coming to BC? Are you coming to Manitoba? I am one woman, ladies. I am one woman. If I can clone myself one day, maybe that will happen. So I love out west. The last time I was, out in Alberta for any extended time was when I was covering the twenty ten, Olympics that were taking place in Vancouver. And I was lucky enough to be sent out to Canmore, Alberta to do some training with some of, the time team Canada's, Winter Olympi Olympians. And I was able to go out there and it had been the first time that I had really, like, legit done Alberta and I just fell in love with it. And I know not just in Alberta, pretty much across this entire country, top to bottom, left to right. There is still a very, very huge need Oh, yeah. For experts, not just primary cal primary care, not just menopause. I mean, we're just care. We know six, seven million Canadians don't have a family doctor. And so if you're gonna go into the space of menopause or perimenopause, we're really down to a very small group of people who are specializing this still across the country. So I thought, how do I get some of the the the magic of the experts I've been able to connect with here in Ontario, and how do I start to slowly get it out to areas where, again, the whole country needs to hear from more experts and to showcase and celebrate our own people
Speaker 1
Yes.
Speaker 2
That are doing amazing things here in this country. So I will be there on May the sixteenth. It is going to be great experts, two of which are Alberta's own. I'm talking about doctor Sheila Wajayasingha Mhmm. And doctor Shafina Premji, who are both menopause experts and so much more. And we're gonna do all the learnings. You're gonna be able to ask all the questions straight to the experts. No BS. All science. Guess what? We ain't selling you supplements. I'm gonna tell you that right now. We ain't doing that.
Speaker 0
You know Melissa Grello branded, you know, menopause? Just kidding. Just kidding.
Speaker 2
Blow up my credibility. Why don't you?
Speaker 0
I would never But but we're laughing, but there are a lot of people who are purchasing still a lot of things because they have a brand name on them or someone. Correct. You know? And that's that's an issue. Yeah.
Speaker 2
And I call those I I call people out on that. That that will never be me. And, again, not all supplements are bad. It is very narrow group of people who need them and very narrow supplements that are you know, you have a calcium calcium deficiency, you need calcium supplements. If you have a b twelve I am currently on a b twelve supplement. My b twelve levels are low. I am taking a b twelve supplement. Right? But if you think that your proprietary blend of, like, meno power
Speaker 1
That's, like, that's a stop. Right?
Speaker 2
No. Right? Somebody said you're saying it's for Melissa.
Speaker 0
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2
You know? What do you think of this supplement? Or it was meno something. And it was, on the bottle, it said an alternative to menopause hormone therapy.
Speaker 1
Oh my god.
Speaker 2
And I said Oh my god.
Speaker 0
You not as a region.
Speaker 2
To this podcast? Have you not been listening to this podcast? And she's clearly suffering. You can't freak out because we're suffering, and we're looking for answers. And she's clearly not getting good care at least from whoever she's able to reach out to. I didn't come down on her that hard. Don't worry. Just a little bit. And I had said these ideas of proprietary blends, these ideas of made up ingredients. I said, do you know that technically you could probably put garden dirt in a pill and probably sell it somewhere on this planet and no one's gonna tell you that's illegal?
Speaker 0
Mhmm. Mhmm.
Speaker 2
I said, you know, the information is how you're going to set yourself free. I set her straight. I found out where she lived, tried to set her up with some experts. Hopefully, that can help her in her hometown. Yeah. This is how we help women.
Speaker 0
Yeah. And we we do a lot of that as well. We get people who reach out and say, help. I can't get someone
Speaker 2
to listen. Yeah.
Speaker 0
And I think also go to you know, Melissa, you mentioned you're taking b twelve. And Yeah. That's also part
Speaker 2
of this.
Speaker 0
It's not just what's the snaker and what's legit and not. Oops. But also, just because you need b twelve doesn't mean that I need b twelve. And it's really about each of us understanding that we have unique transitions. We need unique tools in our toolbox to get us to where we need to be. And that's also tempting too. Right? As, you know, it's not it comes from a good place perhaps to say, oh, I've been taking x, and it's done wonders for me. That doesn't mean everybody else should be taking x. Right? It's a slippery slope. It's easy to fall into that.
Speaker 2
Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And, again, I get it. We have really busy lives. We're juggling six balls at the same time. It's the same kind of fallacy that's behind those posts of what I eat in a day. And we all get sucked into them because, well, then if that's what she's eating, then that's what I should be eating. And it's like, girl, no. That's not the way that this works. We all need we all have different DNA. We all have different medical histories, family histories. All of those things come to bear, but I get it. When you start to say it like that, people's eyes can glaze over. But then where do I really get help? I'm just looking for the simple answers, and the answers sometimes aren't that simple. Sometimes they are.
Speaker 1
But Simple but maybe not easy also is Correct. Is what a lot of our experts say. Like, you need to eat healthy whole foods. You need to work out. You need to get better sleep. Those are all seemingly easy to do, but it's actually there's a lot of work behind it. It's pretty hard. Yeah.
Speaker 2
Sure is.
Speaker 0
Like what you're hearing so far? Join me on May sixteenth for Aging Powerfully with Melissa Grello live in Calgary, a one day high energy experience designed for women who want real answers, real connection, and real fun. You'll hear directly from Canada's leading experts in menopause, sleep, nutrition, strength training, and sexual health, delivering evidence based no BS guidance that you can start using right away. But this isn't just about learning. It's about feeling seen, supported, and energized in a room full of women who get it. Seats are limited, and this experience will sell out. If you're ready to stop guessing and start aging powerfully, this is where you need to be.
Speaker 1
Melissa, tell well, how did you know that something was going sideways? How did you figure that out? How did you figure out that was the supplements? I was having
Speaker 2
really bad gut issues. Really. I started to have very bad gut issues, but Did they make you do
Speaker 1
the stool sample, like, the GI Sure did. Yeah. You paid for that too. You paid for that. Me too.
Speaker 2
Oh my gosh. I'm so poor because of all the tests that I have done. I've done them all. Okay? I see consumer reports because I haven't tested everything. I did literally any test you say, I probably did it. But it was, again, that weird place of, is it digestive? Is it perimenopause? Is it something else? Okay. Yep. Right? I'm sure lead poisoning was in there. I mean, because there's you know, apparently, we're all we all have molds in our homes or something. Like, it put your list of what kind of poisoning or toxin I I must be being subjected to? I got a reverse osmosis water machine because I then I started to mistrust my water. Listen. We went into dark places. And so the gut thing was really bad, and I couldn't figure it out. And I was going everywhere. Everywhere that and I was trying to find answers everywhere. And I did the stool test. I did a lot of things, and then I did a massive shift in my diet. And I did, I'm not gonna even name them because I I don't wanna do that, but
Speaker 1
I was a huge shift
Speaker 2
in the way that I was eating. Yep. And then the the supplements started for many reasons because at the time, we were like, well, obviously, it's digestive issues because of perimenopause. Then I started the the the entry, the gateway, you know, supplements were the ones that were supposed to be targeting my different perimenopausal symptoms. Mhmm. And then it was more and then it was more and then it was more. And and I literally probably topped out at about twenty supplements a day and was not feeling any pain. In fact, it was way worse. It was just way, way worse. And I was spiraling because then you hit that frustration mode and for type a's. Mhmm. If it's not going your way for a good amount of time, I had to double down. So, obviously, I'm gonna be doing more tests. Obviously, that's the only way out. Right? We just haven't done the right test yet, so let's just keep doing more. Unfortunately, that was a good long stretch, and it was time for blood work with my family doctor.
Speaker 1
Mhmm.
Speaker 2
And when I think about this now, she must have she was so good. So let me tell you what happens. I have to go in, and I have to go do my annual stuff. We're slowly starting to see doctors in office again. Right. She's She's like, listen. It's been a long time, pandemic. Let's do your blood work. It's been a while. Let's check your metabolic markers. Let's just make sure everything's okay. Come in for your physical blah blah blah. So we come back, and this blood work, she looks at me and she's like, you quit drinking. Right? And I did. I had I quit drinking about four years ago. And I said, yeah. I did. She was, your liver enzymes, can we talk about that? And it was such a perplexing thing to her. And then I had to fess up, and she's like, what are you up to? And she looked at me with this knowing eye. What are you up to? What do you mean what am I up to? I'm taking care of myself. I'm so healthy. Thank you, mommy.
Speaker 1
Yeah. I'm
Speaker 2
so proud of myself. And I told her that I had been seeing another practitioner. I had the balls. Oh, she would. I'm surprised she didn't drop me right there. I had the balls to say to her, you know, it would be really great, doc. Would you be able to connect with my other practitioner? And maybe you guys can bear notes so that this can be like a team a team effort Oh. To help Melissa. And she was so good with me. And she's like, I need you to bring in everything that you are doing. She, again, should have broken up with me when I did that because the subsequent appointment was bag of bottles. And she was just very diplomatic, like, very disappointed in me. What is this for? What's this for? What is this supposed to be for? What's this for? What's this for? And right then and there, I just kinda felt shame. I felt duped. I felt angry. I felt poor. I just felt all the feelings. And she's like, I need you to listen to me, and I need you to stop. At your age, to have liver enzymes like this, not cool. You don't even drink. What is going on? And I just in that moment, I think a wave of clarity just sort of hit me, and she's kinda set me straight. And that's what happened.
Speaker 1
So did you stop cold turkey?
Speaker 2
Everything.
Speaker 1
And then did you go back six months later? Are are are your liver enzymes back to normal? Oh, you're good again. Okay.
Speaker 2
Great. We're good.
Speaker 1
Good. And how long did that take?
Speaker 2
Wow. That's a great question. I think, normally, we would do a three to six month. I probably waited longer because I just wanted to really make sure everything sounded and looked clear. I probably waited up to about maybe that six month mark. Okay. So I just wanted to cleanse myself. Yeah. Go figure where I just went, oh my god. And it was it was an awakening. Let's be honest. And I I don't feel shame about it now. I did at the time. But that is what a lot of us find ourselves in, and we have to have grace that we're just trying to help ourselves. And Mhmm. And that's okay. But, hopefully, someone hearing all of this is gonna go, oh, okay. Well, something for me to think about. Maybe I don't need to be taking twenty supplements either.
Speaker 0
Get Who do? Very curious. Right? Get very curious. What am I taking and why? Precisely. What are the what are the key tools, evidence based tools for you now for your menopausal toolkit wherever whatever stage you're in or
Speaker 2
at. Number one is trust science.
Speaker 1
Mhmm.
Speaker 2
Now that's easier said than done because everyone's quoting a study behind them on the green screen. Right? I'm not a scientist.
Speaker 0
Stitches.
Speaker 2
Yeah. It's it's really it's a very precarious world on social media, but maybe that's my second tip. My toolkit is I'm not getting my medical information from social media. And, again, if you have a family doctor or a health care practitioner that is credentialed appropriately for this and you've got the questions, I really, really hope that you can take the questions to them. We've learned that there are so many tools available, particularly and specifically for menopause care. We now know that there are are tools like the m q six Mhmm. Where if you don't know or you don't your doctor doesn't even feel comfortable, you can go to m q six online. It's literally letter m q six. You can print it, download it. You can track your own symptoms. You can have the words and the the terminology to bring to your doctor and resources even for your your doctor. If they have said, listen. I know I need more training in this, so let's do this together. I think that's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1
Mhmm.
Speaker 2
But I would say even going back to this is foundationally, which is what Aging Powerfully is really all about. It is about these basic pillars of health. I've been doing the show for for three, seasons. And no matter if I'm talking to, a heart scientist or a brain scientist like a neuroscientist, no matter if I'm talking to a strength trainer, no matter who I'm talking to, I have distilled that so much of this can be prevented with lifestyle. Mhmm. And while so many of us are looking for a silver bullet and a quick fix in a pill, really, the real fountain of youth, the real stuff that's going to actually make a difference, and by the way, has a ton of science behind it, is eating well, boring. Strength training, boring. Prioritizing sleep, boring. Having strong social connections. We are human beings that like the new shiny toy, and we like a quick fix. But what I've learned is there's a few pillars to prioritize, and you're gonna do better off than trying to chase that next hot supplement or that next biohacking test. So it's boring. It's basic. It works.
Speaker 1
Love it. No. And it's true. We have the same experience as you that everyone that comes on, it it comes back to those lifestyle pillars. And Yeah. And not to say that that's a cure all, but it definitely if you've got that foundation in place, everything kinda
Speaker 0
Rolls a lot smoother from there.
Speaker 2
Yeah. It does. Yeah. And I think especially, I I I would imagine that your listenership and your viewership is probably very similar in demographic to my show. And I speak to to the women largely forty plus. And by the time you hit forty, but certainly by the time you hit fifty
Speaker 1
Oh, you don't even know yet, girl. Alright.
Speaker 2
I mean, I'm I'm almost there. Yeah. We'll do this and get excited. I am really excited. I I do think that aging is a privilege, and I I get very excited every year that I get older. I I embrace the wisdom and I embrace the experience. And I am better and stronger and more badass today than I ever was at twenty eight. Right? I just I don't want to be younger. That is not the goal. But I think that, you know, when you hit that fork in the road moment, which is for some people forty, but certainly by fifty, I'm I'm almost there too, is your lifestyle, it all catches up to you. Life is catching up to you. And, again, sometimes access to health requires a certain amount of wealth. There is a lot of privilege in where I'm coming from, and I will not let that slide. I absolutely understand that. Mhmm. And I'm very grateful and fortunate that I do have access to just information, that I have access to a resource called time
Speaker 0
Mhmm.
Speaker 2
That a lot of women simply don't have. Yeah. I'm not gonna ever blame women for why are you not in shape? Why are you not eating well? You know what? Because she's a single mom of three kids with two jobs. So you know what? Mhmm. There's gotta be room for this discussion to say Mhmm. Yes. At a certain point, we have to be able to figure out how with where I'm at in life can I start to prioritize myself? Because with life catching up to you, you can't party and not sleep and do all the things that you did in your twenties, maybe in your thirties. You need to enter that back half of life strong.
Speaker 1
Yeah. You've got to.
Speaker 2
You've got to. If you want quality of life and if you want longevity, you gotta enter it strong. And today is the best day to start that journey.
Speaker 1
I love this. I feel like you may have just answered our last question, but I'm gonna ask it again. Melissa, what is the one thing you want every woman to know about aging powerfully?
Speaker 2
It's so fun. You're gonna feel the power that you just you're gonna make your twenty five year old self real proud. Aging powerfully to me is a new era of liberation. It's a new era of stepping into your power unapologetically. It's a new era of giving less f's. I mean, I love to swear, but I'm gonna be very respectful. No.
Speaker 1
No. No. No. No. No. Let's rip. Please. Okay. Please go.
Speaker 2
You know, she's trying to be classy here. She's trying to be classy. It is so exciting. I think if I would have known at twenty five that at forty eight, I feel like I have a new lease on life that I'm just getting started, I would have spent less time worrying about getting older.
Speaker 1
Mhmm.
Speaker 2
I know this culture is still youth obsessed. I know this culture will always say that, you know, the size zero Victoria's Secret model is the ideal woman. And I'm here to tell you, that's a fucking lie. It's a fucking lie. They have to convince us that we are weak and we are diminishing and the best years are behind us because how could the patriarchy stand if all of us woke up with this feeling? Mhmm. It would be dangerous dangerous to feel this powerful. It is a threat to those in power who don't look like us, who aren't the same gender as us. They need to keep us believing that our best days are at twenty five with perky boobs and full ovaries and no cellulite. They have to distract us because this power, you cannot when this is unleashed, it's when shit happens.
Speaker 0
Mhmm.
Speaker 1
And I
Speaker 2
look at my daughter who's turning twelve on International Women's Day, and I sit her down and I say to her, getting older is a privilege, and my god, if I could tell you, it's gonna get even better. Mhmm. It's so much fun. I got more money than I had at twenty five. I got more wisdom. I can walk into a room, and I don't care if there's a hundred men. I feel zero intimidation. That stuff comes with age and wisdom and experience. And nobody told me how amazing it was gonna feel. It's amazing. It's amazing. So I just feel lucky.
Speaker 1
Chills through my whole body listening listening to that. Thank you. That's inspiring. And that's so true. Dangerous. I like I And contagious. And contagious. It's powerful. Fuck. That's powerful.
Speaker 2
We're dangerous, bad bitches.
Speaker 0
A mic drop. Mic drop.
Speaker 2
And look at my cheetahs. And look at my cheetahs. She's
Speaker 0
out of debt.
Speaker 2
It. My cheetahs are gonna
Speaker 1
move it.
Speaker 0
Love it. So good. Oh my
Speaker 1
god, Melissa. Thank you.
Speaker 2
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Speaker 1
I know you're beyond busy, and you've got so many different things, so many different projects. I'm sad I'm gonna miss May sixteenth in Calgary.
Speaker 2
Well,
Speaker 1
I'll catch you on the next one, but
Speaker 2
so good. Catch you on the next one. Don't you worry. Thank you for the conversation. Thank you for everything that you do. Information is power, and validation is power. And nobody has to go through this alone, and no woman left behind. You got ovaries? We ain't leaving you back. Even if you got your ovaries removed, we're not leaving you behind either.
Speaker 0
Amazing. Thanks, Melissa. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks so much for listening to the show. If you like what you hear, please subscribe and write a review.
Speaker 1
So more women can find us and get a better understanding of what to expect in perimenopause.
Speaker 0
This information is not intended as medical advice. The intent of this information is to provide the listener with knowledge to support more efficient and effective communication with their medical provider.
