Women & Money: The Shit We Don't Talk About!

Menopause, Money & Midlife Hacks with Jill Foos

• Barbara Provost & Maggie Nielsen • Episode 117

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Menopause isn’t just a health transition, it’s a financial one.

In this episode, we’re joined by Jill Foos, a Chicago-based National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach and founder of Jill Foos Wellness, where she helps clients worldwide navigate menopause and midlife through functional medicine and integrative health strategies.

Jill breaks down the real costs of menopause from career interruptions to rising healthcare expenses, and shares how women can protect their earning power, prepare financially, and thrive through midlife.

00:52 Meet Jill Foos
04:04 The Financial Impact of Menopause
11:12 Menopause and Workplace
16:00 The Importance of Community and Support
17:41 Functional Medicine and Long-Term Health Investments
21:53 Menopause Stages
22:45 Actionable Steps for Health and Financial Well-being
30:31 Approach to Health Coaching

Jill reminds us that menopause and midlife are about more than hot flashes, they carry real financial impact and the ripple effects are huge. If you’re ready to get strategies to protect your health and your wealth, join us on November 13th for Money Talks. Click here to register for FREE and bring your questions!

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Maggie: [00:00:00] All right, mom, we've talked about this a thousand times, how you're one of 13, but you're the youngest of seven sisters. So when you went through menopause, were you like, oh, I know what's gonna happen. All my six sisters have told me all about it.
Barb: They didn't tell me nothing.
Maggie: What? Why aren't we talking about the shit?
Barb: I know right.
Maggie: Yeah, I would think, like coworkers. Sometimes kind of weird friends, girlfriends I would get, but like you have six older sisters, I feel like you'd be like, oh, I know what's coming for me. I've heard A them complain about it, but B, they told me everything I need to know.
Barb: No, that's not true. And I would say what's truer is my friends who I lived near and were in my friend group because we were all kind of the same age and navigating it together and. I think the biggest thing was, we were all, I don't know if we'd call ourselves athletes, but we were all kind of always working out. Working out, [00:01:00] you know, running.
We would do triathlons, we'd do half marathons, things like that. So pretty good shape. And I always thought, well, I didn't have a lot of problems during menopause, but when I really think about it, maybe I had a lot of things going on that I didn't realize were menopause, 
because you'd, you think, oh, menopause is when you get hot flashes and get that little punch in your belly, but there's a lot more that's happening in your body that you don't even realize is menopause, because there's plenty of brain fog that I know I had still have, and.
Maggie: long pause. 
Still have. 
Barb: like I said, it can be frightening because you're like, What's wrong with me?
Or like words that you can't get out of your mouth, and you're like, why can't I formulate a sentence? And my friends and I would laugh about, it takes five women over the age of 55 to complete a sentence because none of us could think through the [00:02:00] rest of the words, or the name of the person or the place we went or something like that.
And we all had to kinda help ourselves through it. So, you know, some of that. But, you know, I always thought it was just, the stress of wearing so many hats that your mind couldn't catch up fast enough. But I think that's part of it too. Not only raising children, I was going through divorce, moving all of those kind of high stress things in life and then pile on menopause.
It's a lot of complex things going on and stressors in your body and, your body's hormones are going haywire at the same time. But I'm glad to know, just like we're putting forward conversations around Money that now people are starting to talk about menopause and what is this impact?
And as we talk about, bone density, which is something that is really important, especially in my family as having six older sisters. Many are osteopenia. My mother had osteoporosis, and if you don't figure that out till [00:03:00] later in life, then you're losing years and years and years of opportunity to be really much stronger.
And we know the importance of weightlifting and exercise has on that. So, just learning, what's happening to your body, like anything else at different stages in life. And with women, it's much more complex because our bodies are much more complex. 
Maggie: and that's why we just don't study them is they're a little too complicated for
us. 
Barb: it makes me so sad to think of all the times women are so dismissed by the medical community when they have a complaint, and my poor mom, I know that's happened to her a lot and I think. Women are just made to tough it out and suck it up and all that jazz, it pisses me off and it makes me mad.
Maggie: If men went through menopause, oh, we would lose so many CEOs. They wouldn't even be able to hold down a job.
Barb: Yeah, I mean, your body is a woman. Goes through so much. Even we see these funny tiktoks where men go, you know, women are [00:04:00] just, you know, dropping their kids off at daycare and they're bleeding, you know, 'cause they're having their periods so they're just bleeding and then they're making coffee and they're bleeding and like when men realize what it is like to have a period and they're realizing what's going on with these women every month all the time.
And we're not. Complaining about it. Really, it's part of our routine, right? But women take on a lot of changes in their bodies and I'm so glad that menopause, as we're aging, the population is aging, and more and more women are going through this, that we are attending to what we need and. There is a cost to menopause.
There's a cost to menopause, and it's important for women to invest in themselves and in their health and in the things that they need to be healthy now and for the long term. And it's not, fancy smancy. Oh, she wants to go to the gym. Oh, she needs a massage. Oh, she wants, 
Maggie: This nice cooling 
pad for her bad, 
Barb: Yeah. Fancy or you know, or [00:05:00] she's spoiling her herself. No. These are things that are necessary for her to manage her life, you know, in a way that makes her sane and capable to deal with everything else that she needs to deal with.
Maggie: and when mom's happy. Everyone else is happier, so mom needs a good night's rest. Mom needs to be healthy because, dear God, the rest of us will be living on thin ice.
Barb: and I think with that,
Maggie: Let's dive in.
 
Gloria Steinem once said, we will never solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth. Barbara Provost and Maggie Nielsen are the team at purse strings that will help you navigate the ins and outs of financial independence so that you can be financially fearless. This is women in money, the shit we don't talk about.
Maggie: Today, we are thrilled to have Jill [00:06:00] on our podcast today. And so, Jill, before we dive into this great conversation, can you share a little bit about who you are and what you do? 
Jill: Yeah. So first of all, thank you so much for having. Me here, we're gonna have such a great conversation. My name's Jill Foos and I am the founder of Jill Foos Wellness. I am a national board certified health and wellness coach. So what that means is I am trained with science-backed strategies for behavior change at the highest level.
My platform is for women to work with me one-on-one. And what we do is we work on their unique. Lifestyle, their unique health equation because no one person has the same health equation as their next person. And then I also host the Health Trip podcast. So I bring on physicians and practitioners and like-minded folks, researchers and scientists, and we talk about all things related to menopause and beyond and midlife.
And then I'm also a head coach over at Halle Berry's fem tech platform called Resin Health. [00:07:00] And so there I help curate webinars and workshops coach cohorts. So very exciting. Stuff happening over there. So really the difference between the one-on-one coaching, which is a much more personalized approach, and then the group coaching, they're so different, but they're both so incredibly wonderful.
And I'm a mom to five kids and I've recently became a grandma. So, my North Star has changed a little bit now that I have a grandson to keep up with for the next, 30 plus years of my life.
Barb: Wow. Well, I can say you don't look like a grandma. I mean, grandma, these days don't look like grandmas. Right. But congratulations to you. 
Jill: Thank you. I agree with that as well. We're just a different breed now. We have much more education and resources at our fingertips to really help us stay vibrant and resilient and live our best lives.
Barb: Yes. And I can say we're so glad to have met you and Jill. It was kind of kismet how we kind of fell into each other's lap [00:08:00] because we were looking for a menopause expert and as the name of our podcast is Women in Money: the Shit We Don't Talk About, and I think menopause is also something that was hush. Something that women didn't really talk about or know enough about, or if they complained to their doctors about the doctors just said, well, it's that time of life, and kind of dismissed anything they were going through. And so we kind of feel both of these topics are ones that.
 We're dismissed, poo-pooed. We are not talking about it. And yet women just kind of muscled through areas of their lives that they were told deal with it for the most part. Right? And we wanna get out and talk about it because like finances, menopause, they kind of go hand in hand. Health wealth, right?
There's an impact to both of them. And so when we hit menopause. At the same time we suddenly find our bodies and our bank accounts feel like they're on separate journeys, right? I mean, [00:09:00] I remember one day it's like you wake up and you're like, what is this mental pot that I have? What is happening?
Right? So how can you explain these midlife changes and how they impact our finances?
Jill: Yeah, it's such a great question because the perception is that menopause is just a medical issue and that's just one layer. There are multiple layers to this answer, starting with just direct medical costs, right? So if we think about going through menopause and you're seeing your doctor, all of a sudden, you have costs in hormone therapy perhaps. If you're a candidate and you choose to start, some women need pelvic floor therapy for changes going on, dermatology for our hair, skin, and our hair loss issues, which I've been on that journey for 30 plus years, which I can talk about down the road. Bone density scans to assess our risk of osteopenia or osteoporosis.
Body composition scans are cash pay, [00:10:00] and that helps us look at our muscle mass compared to our fat mass. Possibly even weight loss medications, like, wegovy, Trulicity tirzepatide things like that to name just a few of the costs that we could incur, and insurers really doesn't cover all of it.
So women are often paying out of pocket and sometimes women can't afford to pay for all of this, and so their health may decline in ways that, could open that door up to chronic disease states. So that's why you're seeing more and more cash pay clinics and telemedicine options for women popping up everywhere.
Many women also don't live in an area with menopause care options. We're in Chicago, so we have more options. But someone in the middle of, Idaho might not have options in their town. So this is a valuable outlet, but it costs money and many women also wanna spend on just wellness and lifestyle support.
So think about exercise, nutrition, counseling or meal [00:11:00] services health coaching like myself, sleep tools like cooling, mattress pads, midlife retreats that are popping up everywhere. Local events that you can buy a ticket to, to hear menopause care experts talk about the journey or even just like talk therapy.
All of these are to help manage these symptoms that we're experiencing. Stay strong and resilient. So they're all great investments, but they add up, 
Barb: and it's unfortunate because these are not like, oh, nice to haves. They're really necessary. They're so necessary for all that our bodies are going through the gifts that our body gives us in terms of having children and all of that. But then what happens post that period in our lives and that our body is changing so often and I feel for the women who's come before us where they were just told to deal with it.
And my mother who had severe osteoporosis, severe. And [00:12:00] so much of it was dismissed. And, I just feel like had she had more attention, more people focused on really listening and caring and providing these types of things as necessary and not just, oh, wouldn't it be nice if you got a massage once a month?
How, glorious that would be? That's not glorious. That's necessary, like necessary for our health. So it's aggravating to me when people think, oh, you're pampering yourself. No, you're really taking care of your healthcare. And all of these are additional add-ons. And so it's so important for women to think of themselves in that way, that this is, maintenance in a way that we need to invest in ourselves. And when I teach a course to financial advisors, I tell them women's lives are more expensive. It's more expensive to live as a woman, than it is as a man. And when you're working with women, you need to take that into consideration.
I'm very [00:13:00] passionate about this, as you can see. And our population is aging, so you're gonna see a lot more women in these circumstances. So I'm so glad we're talking about this today. It's so important.
Jill: And you mentioned your mom and having osteoporosis. My mom also is, she's an 85-year-old woman who also has osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is, there's a huge genetic component to that. I have osteoporosis. I found that out over a year and a half ago. I've been doing all the lifestyle things my entire life since I was 16, and I still have Osteoporosis. That DEXA scan that I mentioned earlier, the health insurance in the United States covers that when you're 65. Well, who wants to wait till you're 65 to figure that out? When you're 50 and that's 51, what is the average age of going through menopause?
That's when we should be assessing our bone density. And many doctors will order, and it might not be covered by insurance or walk in places that you can go and get a DEXA scan and pay cash. But it's such a great investment because [00:14:00] that's giving you 15 years of pivoting your lifestyle into a direction that's gonna help support the future loss of more bone density.
For example, a woman can belong to a local gym. She can have memberships to a variety of specialty exercise studios, or she can invest in like, let's say, at home equipment, but whatever level she chooses, there's an entry cost. Maybe she wants to hire a private trainer or join group workouts.
She can use YouTube videos in her basement, which is pretty economical. But some women need that accountability, that community, that personalized attention due to maybe a past injury. So it's all about what's gonna work for her. And we know that women need to move and we know that there are certain types of exercises that help prevent the ongoing bone density decline, right?
So. It costs money to show up for yourself every day to help prevent some of these chronic conditions.
Maggie: Well, and there's kind [00:15:00] of that like weight of like, if you don't do it, then how much more is it gonna be later when like my issues are so much worse, which you don't know if they are or if they will be. And so sometimes you do everything and it still gets spa, it's kind of, a catch 22.
And so it's like, do I pay this money up front? Is it really almost saving me at the end of the day? It is just sometimes hard to juggle all those things and to know like what is the best investment now or later and all this different stuff.
Jill: Right. That's why it's so important to be working with a menopause care expert that can help guide and collaborate on this journey with you. To just tell you what to do, but to walk alongside you to know what's really important to you, and then to make those informed decisions together.
Maggie: And so. I mean, any listener knows that I'm younger, so I have not gone through menopause yet, but I network with so many women around it and they tell me about like this brain fog that is overtaking. And so sometimes it's really great to have that financial planner,
but having someone there and having like a clear [00:16:00] mind is super helpful in that time. But that also then leads into sometimes career pivots as well. And so like how do health challenges like menopause kind of influence job performance or choices and, what's the best way to protect ourselves and our income during this time?
Jill: Yeah, menopause can absolutely impact a woman's work performance and experience at work and career paths for some women may change in ways they didn't expect. So symptoms like brain fog, like what you were talking about are joint pain, poor sleep, anxiety and depression. These are all symptoms that that show up for many women in menopause.
These can hit harder. And make performance at work decline. And that often creates self-doubt in women who've always been such high achievers and on their game. And on top of that, the stigma about talking about menopause in the workplace means she's suffering in silence instead of asking for accommodations.
Although that is slowly changing. There are some [00:17:00] incredible women out there who are working specifically in the work arena to help change what types of accommodations should be made for women in midlife. And so I think we're gonna see a movement soon where that looks very different and there's more support. 
Barb: Wow. What would that look like? Do you have an example of that? 
Jill: The temperature, right? Like maybe there's a room that's cooler or fans are allowed, sometimes these offices don't have their temperature regulated like I need it to be 65 or 66 in the room. If it's somewhere above that, and I'm flashing, like that's just gonna be horrible.
My clothes are gonna be dampened, I have felt embarrassed before because I've had sweat. Marks under my armpits or my chest area. Also maybe a room where it's more of a mindset room where someone can go and it's just a quiet space to practice mindset, strategies, mindfulness, meditation.
Also being able to take more breaks [00:18:00] throughout the day to get in maybe some movement snacks. We know the science behind movement snacks is strong, and this is where women can every 30 minutes or every 60 minutes get up and do some type of movement for, even 10 minutes. Where that could be more accepted in the workplace.
Also, big companies have food in the kitchen that they provide for their employees. Really looking at how can they level up the food options for this woman, right? Whole food, healthy, nutritious options. So I think that we're gonna see a lot of changes. And also maybe taking days off when she hasn't had a good night's rest or she is struggling with her sleep or anxiety, depression, just offering more services and being more aligned with what she needs.
I also think that she needs to be self-aware and proactive about what's going on during this time of chaos. So there's that whole educational piece and a lot of corporations are bringing in menopause care [00:19:00] experts, health coaches, to have the conversation. I know I do a lot of presentations on menopause and what's going on.
'cause women need to understand what's happening in their body. 
Barb: Yes. 
Jill: They need to build consistent, healthy routines that protect her energy, like her sleep, exercise, her nutrition, those pillars of health, because those are the foundations of performance, and not just at work, but just in her life in general.
So, if you show up to work and your sleep is fragmented night after night, how can you be productive if you're not eating well balanced meals, how can you keep up your energy and your focus? So if you're sedentary, right, maybe there's a gym opportunity in the corporate space where they are providing gym memberships to the women, right?
So they can feel more encouraged and it's a little bit easier on their finances to have that option available to them. 
Maggie: I feel like those benefits benefit everyone.
Barb: I remember like you're at, [00:20:00] you're working at your desk and all of a sudden you stand up to do something and you think,
what am I doing? Like, where am I going? And then you get this fog and then you think, what is wrong with me? You kind of freak out your head like, what is wrong with me? I can't remember where I'm going, what I'm doing. I must have a. Aneurysm or you, like, you you go these places, like, what's wrong with me?
I can't remember what I'm doing. I must be, something's wrong with me. And if you don't have that education that says, look, this is completely normal. This might happen to you, don't freak out, and this is why it happens, maybe you should do some breathing exercises. Maybe this is what you should do during that time or something.
Because when that hits you smack, in the middle of the day and you're not expecting it. It can be very frightening.
Jill: Especially if you're standing up in front of a group of people giving a presentation or a report and you're stuck and finding the word that you want to use, and there's just this like empty space going on in the room and [00:21:00] everyone's just sort of looking at you like, what's going on?
Like it is a horrible feeling. 
Maggie: It's so interesting to me how much this is like not talked about. But then when you learn these things and then you look around the room and you see all these other women and it's like, wait, this is all happening to you? And no one said a thing like it's crazy.
Jill: And that's why building community, whether it's on a health coaching platform, whether it's community engagement, like where you live taking, classes. Or in the corporate field, right? Having a sense of community with other women who are going through this is so important because being connected to other people who are also experiencing similar things just makes you feel like, okay, I can take a breath and I have supports.
I'm not alone in this. This isn't just a one-off for me, and we're all going through different physiological changes. And then there's like the stress and the emotion tied to going through all of this chaos as well. Right. [00:22:00] And I truly believe community connectedness is so incredibly important during this time of chaos for women.
Barb: Yeah, and it's almost like we need to give it. Some language, that we can share with one another. Like you can turn to someone and say, maybe brain fog, I think I'm having some brain fog right now. And another woman would get it and say, okay, let me help you out here. What do you need?
Or something like that. Or I need someone to turn up the temperature. Okay. I get it. I know what you're going through. Let me see. What do you need? You know what I mean? So we can have a shared vocabulary to talk with one another, because that comes out of the blue really, when things like this happen to you.
So it's not like, oh, I know in three days this is gonna happen to me. No it's just happening to you, which is, I think, kind of frightening in many ways. So let's talk about functional medicine. Many people think is the woo, but I think is getting more mainstream and nutrition, which is your playground.
And how can investing in health now save money and stress [00:23:00] down the line?
Jill: Yeah. Well, I really see a healthy lifestyle. And the expenses associated with it as a long-term investment in your future health and longevity. So from the lens of a health coach, those pillars of health really matter. Those are the building blocks to whatever you're gonna layer on top of them.
So how long do you wanna live free of chronic disease states and what are you willing and ready to do to make that happen? And there's a distinction when we go to the doctor, we've been taught to be a very passive patient and sort of leave the doctor's office. And say, all right, well this is what my doctor said I'm supposed to do, but I'm not there right now.
But where are you at? What are you willing and ready to do? So I think asking some of the hard questions to yourself are really important. And this is where working with a health coach or some other professional is really gonna hold you accountable and help you make that pivot. So in midlife, especially as we navigate menopause, the cost of not paying attention to our health can be [00:24:00] huge, like we've been saying.
So more doctor visits, more medications, even time lost from work or helping our family members occurs. So focusing on these pillars of health, like nutrition, like exercise, prioritizing your sleep. Let's just talk first about sleep for a second. This is something that many women really struggle with.
They have insomnia, whether it's falling asleep, or whether it's waking up at two and three in the morning and not being able to go back to sleep. So they're waking up and they're already starting their day out with brain fog. With that lack of restorative sleep behind them, right? So what does it take for this woman to prioritize her sleep?
And again, the equation is different for everybody. What's gonna fit into her lifestyle? What is she ready and willing to do in terms of making those changes? So for me, for example. I stopped drinking alcohol like. Six years ago when we got into like pre COVID, it didn't bring anything to the table for me.
It wasn't something that I love to do anyway, and it [00:25:00] really impacted my sleep. A sip or two impacted my sleep. And I know a lot of women feel if they drink alcohol, it helps them fall asleep, but you're not hitting all of the stages of sleep. And that has been proven by science. So what does that mean when you go out with your friends and you're celebrating, what do you need to work on?
What are the questions you need to ask yourself? In terms of, is this drink really worth giving up my restorative sleep? Because when you don't have restorative sleep, when you wake up in the morning and you're feeling tired, you don't have the motivation to exercise, your nutrition is off because your body is signaling to your brain to
choose different types of foods because of the poor sleep. It opens the door up to chronic disease states such as, gaining weight becoming insulin resistant, which a lot of women in menopause become, which leads to pre-diabetes and type two diabetes. Heart disease is still the number one killer for women.
So there's all of these ripple effects that happen from not [00:26:00] prioritizing your sleep, if that's something that you're ready and willing to work on, and it is an issue for you. And we can talk about that in terms of nutrition and exercise, right? What's gonna work for you? So these are the things that health coaches are trained to work on.
We meet our clients where they're at, not where we want them to be, but where they are at. And we get to that root cause and trying to build those sustainable blocks to start layering on. So if you focus on things like your blood sugar balance, gut health hormone support, maybe inflammation. You're not just feeling better day to day, but you're lowering your risk for the chronic conditions that our door opens up to in the menopause transition.
So think heart disease, alzheimer's and dementia, cancer risk in the metabolic dysfunction. And these conditions are expensive down the road if you don't take care of them now. And not just for you, but also for your family members.
Maggie: I've got a question. Is menopause like all the [00:27:00] time after kind of 51 or is it like a chunk of years and you go through it and then you're like done with it?
Jill: so first we start with what we call premenopausal, right? You haven't hit perimenopause, and Perimenopause can start in your late thirties. Your mostly it's your mid forties. And that can last anywhere from 7 to 10 years for some women and then you hit menopause.
And menopause is just one day, right? So you're perimenopause and then you haven't had a cycle for 365 days and now you are Postmenopause. Postmenopause is until the rest of your life.
Maggie: Okay. I mean, we always are working on upkeeping our body, but it's kind of a focus to the rest of your life is really focusing on these different things and really making sure you're getting the best health that you can.
Interesting. And so could you share like a couple actionable steps women could take, today to kind of, protect themselves and their finances during this transition.
Jill: Yeah, [00:28:00] absolutely. So I alluded to connecting with your core. Values and your strengths before. So connecting with your North Star. I said I had this grandson and my North Star sort of shifted, right? So literally sit down and write out your wellness vision. What do you want your life to feel like and be like when you're in your seventies, eighties, and nineties?
If you go to your Thanksgiving dinner next time and you see your elderly family members there, is one on oxygen with a 24/7 aid, and they don't live independently anymore, and they're only like maybe 83 years old, which is not old, right. So really looking around the table and seeing what's going on because that's a big sign of your genetics, by the way.
Like my mom is the only living grandparent. And she lives independently at 85 years old in every way, and she's a two time cancer survivor. So everyone else died of heart disease. So I'm willing to sacrifice certain things now like no [00:29:00] alcohol and engage in certain positive behaviors that support my wellness vision and my North Star.
So here's another example, like, I don't go out to dinner late because my bedtime is 9:00 PM. I might not be falling asleep at nine, but I'm in bed by nine and I wanna get eight hours of sleep. That is my goal, and I wanna wake up early and I wanna work out and I wanna be at my desk by 9:00 AM. So my friends know that if we're meeting for dinner.
I like a five 30 or six o'clock dinner reservation and they're nice enough to accommodate me. It's not like I see them all the time so I can get that two to three hours of no eating before my bedtime. And that's really important. That aligns with my North star, that aligns with my wellness vision of being independent, healthy, strong, and having a vibrant life that's always front and center for me.
And then also know your non-negotiables and their associated costs. So what are you unwilling to let go of? So I'll never give up my [00:30:00] hormones or my hair loss to hair growth budget. Like I said, my hair loss started about 30 years ago. So I have a budget specifically for hair growth treatments. So I have medications that I take.
I have annual treatments that I do that cost money. So I had to really sit down and think about, okay, what can I give up? So this is never like an option for me to give up, like my hair is important to me. And so, you have to be willing to sit down and make some hard decisions based on your financial picture.
During the pandemic I gave up going to a gym and having a trainer, and I created a home gym environment that works really well for me and my partner. I can still lift my heavy weights. I can still get in all of my hit and sprint training on my Peloton, and I've gained lean muscle mass. How do I know that?
Because of my InBody scans that cost out of pocket money, right? Are the things I'm choosing to do [00:31:00] now for my future actually giving me the results that I need to get to that future. And so, test, don't guess. That's how I look at it.
Maggie: I like that saying. We just got back from a wedding and my cousin's grandma on the other side, she is 97, living alone, knows everybody's name, is not on any oxygen, is dancing on the floor all night. Everybody's like, she's goals, you know what I mean? And so when you're like, who, what's kind of like a role model or something you would look after?
I'd be like, it's her, she's dancing queen on the floor. And it's so funny 'cause on the dance floor, like everyone kind of made a circle around her 'cause like no one really wanted to, bump and knock over the 97-year-old woman. But she was getting down, and I was like, okay. That's what I wanna be like being able to still move dance, not in a wheelchair, not on oxygen.
Remember everyone's name. I mean, her mind is better than mine sometimes. I'm like, my God, grandma. Like, it's impressive.
Jill: [00:32:00] That is amazing and good for her. And what is she doing to get there? So obviously you have some good genes but also how did she live her life also how does she feel about herself, right? That anxiety and that depression can really take hold of a woman in this time of chaos and really bring her down and feel hopeless.
How do we start feeling more hopeful, right? What are the things we need to do? 'cause that's huge as well. And also grasping onto what you value. A lot of women in midlife get a little disconnected from their core values and their strengths, or what I call their character strengths, right? What values are important to you and what strengths are already in you?
I have a client who, I asked her what her character strengths were. I had her take a test to find this out, to sort of reconnect, and her number one was perseverance. And the way she thought about it was in a negative way. Sometimes she doesn't give up and it gets in the way of life, but it's
on the other hand, perseverance is what's really gonna drive your [00:33:00] motivation to make these hard changes 'cause they're not easy, right? Changing your diet is not easy. Changing your exercise routine or trying something harder or out of the norm for you is not easy. If all of this was easy, we'd all be doing it today.
Barb: And it seems like we all feel like, what? I eat pretty well, I'm doing things pretty well, I walk, I do this or that, but it seems like once you hit menopause, all beds are off. It doesn't even matter because it always seems as we navigate through life, we have to relearn how to eat almost, it seems like at every stage.
Because, the food system isn't that great, I don't think. And we're given so much crap in the news about you should be on this diet, you should be on that diet. You should be measuring these, macros. You should be measuring these calories. You should be eating a lot of meat.
You shouldn't be eating any meat. You should be a vegetarian. You should eat meat, not be a vegetarian. And it's like so confusing to find out [00:34:00] what's healthy for your own body that you don't even know sometimes anymore. What's healthy? 
Jill: I like to look at the science on nutrition and the Mediterranean diet is the most well-studied diet on the planet, has a lot of science behind it, and it's a wonderful very broad diet for people to you can even modify it to your needs, right? And so it's, it basically, it's just.
Fresh food, right? Whole foods, variety of foods. We know that a variety of foods is best for our gut microbiome. We know our gut microbiome is linked to our longevity, to our brain health, right? That brain fog to our heart health. So that's something that I focus on with my clients is what is the science saying, and also women, we do need to eat more protein.
One of the exercises I have my clients do is track their protein for a week. And I will tell you that most of them come back with some [00:35:00] eating somewhere between 40 and 50 grams of protein. And we know that's not enough. We know that women need more. Do we need 150 grams? No, but we need more protein and more throughout the day.
So, and that's a hard change to make. One, we have to think about what are the sources of protein that we enjoy the most. We have to make intentional time. It's all about being intentional and it's practice. We're never gonna be perfect, but we have to practice over and over again for it to become more intuitive to us.
So, yeah, nutrition plays a huge role in our future.
Maggie: And so Jill, can you just share a little bit about like, how you work with women like what kind of services that is or what kind of relationship that is for them when they are going through menopause?
Jill: Yeah, so I offer different packages, but the gist of it is that I work together with my clients one-on-one for eight sessions. So it takes about three to four months. The first session, we go [00:36:00] over a deep dive into a health history form that I have them fill out. I also have women fill out what's called a menqual questionnaire.
So it's the menopause quality of life. This is a clinical questionnaire that's used with physicians, but from a health coaching perspective, the reason I bring it into the conversation is because they can see the different symptoms that they are experiencing on paper. When you see data on paper, results on paper, most women will look at that and feel more motivation to say, okay, here's where I'm at.
This does not align with my wellness vision, and so I'm gonna start taking the steps to pivot. So I really do like these questionnaires in my health history form because it really helps them define their vision and we start working together on what their journey is. I, by no means as a health coach come to the table and tell my clients what to do.
I am trained with Science-backed Strategies for change, so I am a collaborative [00:37:00] partner on your journey. This is all rooted in what you are really willing and ready to do. I have no set program week one is not something, week two is not something, it's all very individualized to what this woman wants for herself.
And so it's really such a lovely experience to first join a woman on her journey. I always feel incredibly honored to have been hired to. Walk alongside her and it's a wonderful experience. Health Coach has really bridged that gap between maybe a medical diagnosis and this woman's real life.
It's like, okay, I'm gonna leave the doctor's office. I just got diagnosed with pre-diabetes. He just gave me a list of things I need to do, and now I'm home and opening up my front door and I'm back to square one because it's overwhelming to me. I don't know where to start, how to start, what resources I need.
I have no idea. And that's where a [00:38:00] health coach can come in, or maybe she has a goal of changing body composition or she has a new North star and she just got divorced and she just had a grandchild and she is looking in the mirror and saying, okay, I've gotta make some changes.
Or I have a whole opportunity here to live the second act of my life a different way. I recreated my entire life when I was 48. Like it is never too late to start on this journey.
Barb: I love that. Yeah. And I think so many women deserve to have that right. Deserve that investment in themselves to really have somebody who's gonna look at the whole picture and not just the 20 minute doctor's visit. And really invest in what's important for them now that can take them long term into their future.
So that's fantastic.
Jill: I mean, no one even gets a 20 minute doctor's visit. There's like seven minutes,
Barb: I guess you're right. Yeah, you're right.
Jill: Yeah.
Maggie: I don't know, when I went to the doctors, [00:39:00] they're like, well, we can only give you the nurse practitioner.
I can't even get the doctor. They're like, no, you have to come for a second appointment for a doctor.
Jill: This is where another cost could come in. A lot of doctors leave the medical healthcare system because they realize they cannot help their patients in seven minutes, and so they leave, they start up their own private clinics.
It's now cash pay. So if you want that hour long consultation and that relationship with a new physician, it costs money. Your insurance isn't gonna cover that.
Maggie: No, but I think this is, we've covered a lot of great topics and very interesting and just another really great way for women to invest for themselves. It is just another investment. I mean, we always talk about, you got the stock market, you got real estate, but there's a huge part about investing in yourself and having those.
Educated professionals around you who can really give you that tailored service. Because again, any of us can go to chat GPT, but that's just a broad brush where you're really one-on-one giving you that information you need, which is great. And so Jill, before we wrap up, there is a question we ask all of our guests, and that [00:40:00] is, what is your own definition of financial freedom?
Jill: Yeah, I love this question because I was a stay home mom with five little kids for 25 years, and so for the first time in my life, since I got divorced at age 48, I call the shots for myself. I decide where and how I'm gonna spend my money. I decide when to let go of something and I decide when to add on another layer.
So I decide what's meaningful to be based on my values. I get to decide what strengths I'm gonna use to align with that vision. I live with my partner and we share all expenses, halfway 50/50, and that way I can participate equally in relationship expenses. I have a voice where I didn't feel like I did before.
It's the ultimate gift I have given to myself.
Maggie: Well, thank you again, Jill, for coming on today, and we'll have in the show notes, your website and all the best ways for people to reach out to you. I hope people [00:41:00] call you up and continue this conversation as I think it would be really impactful for them and their families.
So thank you again, Jill, and until then, be financially fearless. 
Outro: You've been listening to Women Money, the shit we don't talk about. Now it's time to take what you've learned and make bold moves towards financial independence. Stay in the know by joining our newsletter for exclusive tools, resources, and updates that keep you financially fearless. Head to PurseStrings. co and sign up today. Need a financial professional who gets it? Turn to PurseStrings Curated Directory, your go to resource for financial experts who know how to put you first. Love this episode? Leave us a review and help us empower even more women to own their financial power. Until next time, be financially fearless. 


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Barbara Provost

Host
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Maggie Nielsen

Host