Tools, Tips & Truths: A Health & Fitness Series by Shireen Fabing

Oh hey!

This is an ongoing blog series sharing my favourite tools, tips and truths related to health, fitness and wellness.  Just my perspective and my experiences a mom, an athlete, boxing coach, personal trainer and entrepreneur – not always all at once and not always in that order!  My goal is to help, inform and/or motivate as many humans as I can!

NEW:  September 21, 2021:  Hormones, hormones, hormones!!!

In my case perimenopause on top of a pandemic hit hard!

The last 14 months my body has gone through some crazy hormonal ups and downs.  Ones that led to emotional outbursts that I hated myself for which in turn led a very low overall morale and the highest anxiety levels I’ve ever experienced.  Also, trying to survive on very little sleep is the other thing that I believe has been the root of everything – but that’s only after I lived this mess for such a while.

Perimenopause – BOOM!  It went off like shotgun and when I finally figured out what was happening, the disappointment was that not many women didn’t want to and still don’t want to talk about it.  Looking back, I think part of me just assumed this was the case because this is what I know.  Regardless, my message is that you don’t have feel as alone as I did!  Help me normalize something very normal!

As women we go through puberty, some go through childbirth and then when we reach a certain age we’re supposed to just roll over and quit because of a cortisol spike?  Hell no.  Here’s some of what has helped me and albeit trial and error, lots of money spent during a time when I had to be careful with spending – so stress upon stress.

Communication:  Talk about it.  You don’t need to suffer alone.  THE best thing I did was tell my husband everything.  What was happening, why and even got down to identifying mood and emotional triggers and say it out loud – to him but for me.  That said, when I was growing up nobody talked about it so, I initially didn’t.  That was something I slowly fixed and I could tell with some, they still didn’t want to talk about this very normal part of a women’s life.  The few I did share with, wow did we uncover things.  So many things made sense – about us but also about other women around us.  I remember being congratulated by my older cousins when I got my first period and this massive change in our lives has to go unnoticed or we suffer in silence?  Still don’t know if a congrats is the right word but being able to share my experience is something so I’ll just leave that there.

Supplements:  What works for me may not work for you.  Do your research, talk to your doctor(s) and/or naturopaths and make informed decisions – I consulted both and collectively we came to a treatment that showed positive results.  I’ll share:

• Probiotics: I switch between a couple of brands, but common factor is that they are formulated for women, by women.  Provitalize is one that’s for women in various stages of menopause and helps with the bloat and digestion issues I suffered in the beginning.  I like switching just so my body doesn’t get used to one thing – but that’s just me and that works form me.
• Omega 3 for inflammation, magnesium at night, I increased my dosage of vitamin D3 and a slow-release melatonin are four additional supplements I’ve added to my daily supplement intake. I take short breaks with the melatonin but I’ve learnt that as we age we lose some of the natural melatonin on our bodies and they deplete year over year hence the reco for the supplement.
• I move and exercise daily. Ya’ll know this but I’ve also incorporated yoga practice a few times a week, walking – just regular pleasure walking, meditation – still getting more consistent with the last one and it helps a ton.
• CBD Oil I feel needs its own blog post but WOW! I started with this in January and felt it get to work about 20 minutes after the first dose.  Overall feeling of well-being which in turn helped with my inflammation, and in turn improved my sleep.  Still not perfect but most nights I’m good.  I use the Resolve brand played around with strength and dosage to suit my needs.
• I mentioned moving but boxing my way through this has had mad benefits indeed. Until a few weeks ago it’s been short workouts including skipping, shadow boxing (lots of shadow boxing), bag work, foot drills and abs.  Although the sessions were short I pushed hard through them and took rest in-between – 20 to 30 mins tops.  We’re back in the gym training at pretty much full capacity, so we’ll see how that works out but I’m very optimistic.  This one too might need it’s own blog piece 😊

Now of it goes without saying that the above also includes a healthy diet made up of whole foods, eating balanced meals – with some treats in there because deprivation is not a thing AND staying hydrated!

I can’t stress enough that you don’t have to go through this time alone.  There are people who will talk about it and in fact, the may be like I was thinking nobody wanted to.  Tap into your network of girls – I think they’ll always be there for you.

Links below for past entries in series:

January 31, 2021:  Movement

January 1, 2021:  Self-Care

December 9, 2020:  The Foam Roller