Is menopause making you miserable? What you’re doing to fight it could be making things worse. I’m sharing the biggest mistakes we make so you can avoid them, and some strategies that actually work to lose weight over 40.

Recounting my struggles, I weigh up what I’d do differently to avoid the hot flashes, weight gain, brain fog, sleep issues, and mood swings.

Top-line takeaway: I’d ditch the diets and get serious about gut health.

We’ll dive into how the gut controls hormones and metabolism, and cover why “eating healthy” isn’t enough to combat tanking estrogen and progesterone. Then, we’ll walk through my strategy for thriving through menopause: personalized nutrition, knowing your food triggers, and meeting your protein needs.

Drawing in wisdom from previous guests, we’ll go over the importance of advanced labs and early DEXA scans, how to improve bone health and avoid osteoporosis, and why a dietitian should be a core member of your medical team.

A key strategy that’s missing for most women? Sharing experience and resources in a supportive, like-minded community. You can’t Chat-GPT-your-way through this transition.

Tune in to get proactive and take charge of your health.

TESS’S TAKEAWAYS:

• Personalized nutrition is the key to achieving health goals at any age.
• What you eat dramatically affects how you feel during menopause.
• Optimizing gut health and blood sugar helps to balance your hormones.
• Over 40, meeting your protein needs is a game-changer.
• Dieting can make menopause symptoms and health issues worse.
• The 60-Day Reset includes access to dietitians and community support.
• Reduce hot flashes, brain fog, and other symptoms by knowing your food triggers.
• Get advanced hormone and thyroid panels with a menopause-trained doctor.

MEET TESS MASTERS:

Tess Masters is an actor, presenter, health coach, cook, and author of The Blender Girl, The Blender Girl Smoothies, and The Perfect Blend, published by Penguin Random House. She is also the creator of the Skinny60® health programs.

Health tips and recipes by Tess have been featured in the LA Times, Washington Post, InStyle, Prevention, Shape, Glamour, Real Simple, Yoga Journal, Yahoo Health, Hallmark Channel, The Today Show, and many others.

Tess’s magnetic personality, infectious enthusiasm, and down-to-earth approach have made her a go-to personality for people of all dietary stripes who share her conviction that healthy living can be easy and fun. Get delicious recipes at TheBlenderGirl.com.

CONNECT WITH TESS:

Website:  https://tessmasters.com/

Podcast:  https://ithastobeme.com/ 

Health Programs: https://www.skinny60.com/

Delicious Recipes: https://www.theblendergirl.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theblendergirl/

Instagram:

Struggling to process fear, anger, and grief? Karen Kenney—writer and spiritual mentor—gives us a masterclass in finding love, compassion, and resilience in challenging times.

When Karen was 12, her mother was brutally murdered. She and her sister were sent to live with strangers. Through years of trauma and confusion, Karen sought solace in books and stories. While others around her took satisfaction in vengeance, she found peace in forgiveness, through guidance from mentors, and her study and practice of somatics, yoga, and other healing modalities.

This put Karen, who grew up Catholic, on an unexpected path to a different relationship with spirituality and the divine. After getting a communications degree at Boston University, she lived and worked with Marianne Williamson, then immersed in study of A Course In Miracles, finally claiming her role as coach and thought leader.

We discuss the impact of family and cultural conditioning in shaping internal narratives, and the importance of shifting limiting beliefs to temper the dialogue with ourselves and others.

Cornerstones of Karen’s approach are personal responsibility, harnessing the agency we have, recognizing what spirit and source mean to us, and developing a unique connection to them.

She maps how to assemble a team of spiritual advisors, noting the importance of tapping into our resources and community to consider things in different ways. Then shows us tools to resist fear, acknowledge risk, and feel ‘safe enough’ to take action toward what we want.

Karen’s story epitomizes “It has to be me.” But her message is: You don’t have to do it alone.

TESS’S TAKEAWAYS:

• A Course In Miracles is a workbook to prompt self awareness and growth.
• Developing your own approach to spirituality supports self-love and compassion.
• Intimacy heals. Personal responsibility and deep relationships expand your choices.
• Grief is a sacred path to your deepest healing and highest service.
• You can feed a grievance or you can seek peace. You cannot do both.
• Forgiveness isn’t forgetting. Choosing compassion means suffering doesn’t run the show.
• You’re not the sum of what happened to you, but what you’ve been called to because of it.
• We’re never completely safe. Feeling safe enough is enough.

ABOUT KAREN KENNEY

Spiritual mentor and writer Karen Kenney uses humor and dynamic storytelling to bring a down-to-earth, no-BS perspective to self-development.

Bringing together tools that coach the conscious and unconscious mind, Karen helps clients deepen their connections with self, and discover their unique understandings of spirituality.

Her practice combines neuroscience, subconscious reprogramming, integrative hypnosis, somatics, and other holistic modalities to help regulate the nervous system, examine internal narratives, remove blocks, and reimagine what’s possible.

A passionate student of A Course in Miracles, devout yoga teacher, and Gateless Writing instructor, Karen is a frequent speaker and retreat leader. Via her programs The Quest and The Nest, she coaches individuals and groups.

With The Karen Kenney Podcast, she encourages listeners to shift from a thought system of fear to one of love, compassion, and personal responsibility.

CONNECT WITH KAREN

Website: https://www.karenkenney.com/

Podcast:

Pete Coles, transpersonal counselor and somatic practitioner, shares how listening in an embodied way to grief, anxiety, and other overwhelming emotions softens self-judgment and shame.

He tells us about his journey, from working musician to therapist for adolescents dealing with drug and alcohol addiction. Seven years in this work led to burnout.

A 600-km trek through the Tasmanian wilderness brought him to a deeper, more holistic relationship with healing. Pete transitioned into working with adults, integrating somatics to enhance trust, body listening, and self awareness.

We discuss the significance of family narratives and inherited personality traits. Understanding those, we can explore our internal landscapes with curiosity and compassion, recognize destructive patterns, and move to deeper understanding of ourselves and others. Pete offers insights into relationship dynamics, and how conflict is often a collision with events in the past.

He says: Slow down and listen to your body. Honor the discomfort that arises—not as a problem, but as a signal that there’s something to take care of.

This conversation will move you beyond words.

TESS’S TAKEAWAYS:

• Rather than trying to solve reality in your mind, listen and care for your body.
• Somatic practices expand how we meet ourselves and others.
• Reframing problems as puzzles shifts our responses to disruptions.
• Give anxiety, sadness, and other overwhelming emotions seats at the table.
• Grief is a meticulous and sacred journey that heals and builds resilience.
• Observing yourself with curiosity expands inner dialogue and choices.
• In taking responsibility for our inner stories, we can move from conflict to resolution.
• Knowing your internal myth leads to greater compassion for yourself.

ABOUT PETE COLES

A transpersonal psychotherapist with extensive experience in drug and alcohol addiction, Pete has a nuanced understanding of mental health, compulsive behavior, and trauma.

In his therapeutic approach, he integrates somatic awareness, helping people connect with their bodies and explore internal myths and formative stories that shape perceptions and behaviors. Pete also supports clients in the safe use of psychoactive plants in their therapy.

Specializing in relationship dynamics, Pete works with couples to uncover how personal narratives intersect, guiding them toward greater clarity and connection.

As co-founder of Elk & Me Therapies and Dispensary, Pete works with a complementary team to offer a holistic and integrative approach to mental health and wellbeing.

CONNECT WITH PETE

Website: https://elkandme.com.au/practitioners/pete-coles/

Website: https://www.emotionalintellect.com.au/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elkandme/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElkMeTherapiesDispensary/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pete-coles-125879a2/

MEET TESS MASTERS:

Tess Masters is an actor, presenter, health