Create The Best Me

How to Feel Stronger & Healthier in Midlife

September 05, 2024 • Annie Gaudreault • Episode 80

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In this episode, we dive deep into the transformative power of proper nutrition and daily activity. Annie Gaudreault generously shares her expertise on the importance of fiber, protein, and omega-3 fatty acids for overall health, especially during menopause. We also explore the significance of maintaining a balanced lifestyle and the positive shift that menopause can bring into women's lives. Annie's personal journey from a stressed brand consultant to a fulfilled health coach is a testament to the importance of pursuing one's true passion and surrounding oneself with positive influences.

5 Key Lessons:

1. Transformation Through Nutrition and Activity:

Annie shares a success story where her client achieved a remarkable transformation in health and mindset, illustrating the power of proper nutrition and daily movement.

2. Balanced Lifestyle:

We discuss the importance of balance and how neglecting self-care can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed. Adopting a holistic approach to health can yield significant benefits.

3. The Role of Fiber, Protein, and Omega-3:

Annie emphasizes the crucial role of fiber for gut and mental health, protein for satiety and brain health, and omega-3 fats for brain nourishment, particularly during menopause.

4. Menopause as a Positive Transition:

We explore the concept of menopause as an opportunity for personal growth and a positive transition, likening it to a software upgrade that allows women to emerge stronger and more vibrant.

5. Strength Training and Physical Activity:

Carmen and Annie provide insights on the importance of strength training, particularly for its triple benefits: strengthening bones and muscles and boosting energy expenditure. Customized plans can also cater to women with disabilities or health issues.

 

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🗓️ Next week's episode: My first 90-day Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Therapy journey!

 

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Annie Gaudreault's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChLyipMEhgM47vMouyKjN3A 

 

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Come on, ladies., Uh, we don't want to look old. So, if you don't want to look old, kick the wine, kick the candy, and increase your protein. Menopause is an invitation to relook at our habits, right? To also to make time for ourselves and being mindful about, let's talk about eating for example, right? Because you were just talking about this. Eating like when we were, you know, teenagers is really not going to serve us anymore at menopause. That drop of estrogen, by the way, affects every single system in your body, right? So this is not just affecting sex hormones in your reproductive system. This has an effect from top to bottom. So how we eat is going to be really supporting us or hurting us. So some simple changes that women can do, cause I'm sure some people are going to be interested is like, okay, what can I do? Right? So the first thing is actually to really increase Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of Create the Best Me. Today, I'm thrilled to be joined by Annie Gaudreault, a brilliant nutritionist and health coach who is dedicated to helping women navigate the changes and challenges of midlife with vigor and vitality. We're diving into a vibrant discussion on living your best life through menopause and beyond. Let's welcome Annie Gaudreault to the show. Annie Gaudreault, welcome to Create the Best Me. I'm excited to have you on the show. Carmen, it's fabulous to be here! Annie, can you please start by telling the viewers and listeners a little bit about who you are and what you do? Yes, so I am a nutritionist and I am a women's health coach, specifically supporting women at midlife and menopause. Great, and so, where are you based? I am based in Toronto, Canada. And it looks like it's a beautiful day in Toronto, Canada today. Yes, I'm a little bit up north. I must say I'm cheating. I am at the cottage, so beautiful greenery around me. Annie, can you tell the viewers what inspired you to get into this particular line of work? I like to say that I'm a late bloomer. So my first career, I was a very busy brand consultant. I was consulting to Fortune 500 companies. And, it is through, I think, being a very stressed out person that a friend suggested, I think, Annie, you should start running. You know, you're tall and built on pretty lean, you know, I think that you should run because I think it would help you with your stress levels. And one thing led to another, I started to actually run and then I became quite a long um distance runner. And, that journey was transformative. And through this, I discovered my love for health and fitness. But honestly, I, I did not know how I was going to pay my bills. And I thought, you know, I think I'm going to go back to school and get my degree as a nutritionist, which would be a good fit with my love of all things, health related. And one thing led to the other, it took me a four years part time to complete that degree. And I decided while in school, because in school I was like the old lady in the room at forty-four, ah which was, you know, quite comical. I saw that there was such a need for women that actually would care about women later in life. So that was the birth of my new career and my transition into a whole new world. So did you dip your toe into, your business as you were working as a consultant as well? Yes, I went to school part time in the evening, and then once that was done, and I was starting, of course I was starting from scratch, I had no contacts, I had no network. The only people I knew really in that network were the people I had met through in school or, through my co-op program. And I knew that I could not just transition from one to the other. I still needed to be able to pay my bills. So I did both, for years actually, until I was able to really transition to full-time, you know, what, is now into a full time practice. So it was really, um, one foot in one world and one foot into the other. So it was very messy for a long time, but it worked. Yeah, and you were in midlife during the time that you made this shift of being your own boss. Yes, yes, it was. You know, I think that if you knew how hard things were going to be sometimes you would not necessarily start them. But I thought I'm an endurance athlete I can do this. I'm built for pain. And, um, and I, you know, I certainly did not think that it was going to be automatic and, you know, all the clients were going to start knocking on my door. That doesn't happen ever. Like nobody knocks on your door ever. So I knew it was going to be a lot of work. I knew that it was going to be a little bit messy, but, over time, right, it's like planting seeds, literally good old metaphor, you plant the seeds you know, things will will come out of the ground and they did. And so it's been wonderful. I've had a lot of support. Don't get me wrong. I've had a lot of support. And I've taken courses and hired coaches, but it's all been really, really worth it. It's a fulfilling career. I guess it feels like you're not even working. Well, it is work. It is work. What is so fulfilling is to see a transformation of these women. That's absolutely incredible. What, people don't understand of, the practice though, is that you have to do a lot of marketing and sales activities right. You're not just coaching day in, day out. You are some coaching days that are wonderful. And then there's also days where you know you have to apply to speak at events, and you have to network and you have to go to places where people don't know you. And all of those things, they are work. And this is also one of the reasons why so little people make it because, that side of the business, they don't teach you in school. So tell me, Annie, I want people to know the other side of Annie. Have you always been a person who puts herself out there, that is not afraid to sell herself? Or are you an introvert? Um, I was definitely not like that for most of my life. As I said, I was a late bloomer. I, um, you know, my first career chose me, I really did not choose it. I was very much escaping, a background that had been really difficult. You know, I grew up in a very challenging environment. And my mom had mental health issues. And so did one of my brothers. I I really was just surviving, truly, right? This like, and the first opportunity that I had to leave, I really took it. And the only thing that I wanted to do was to just get some security and control so that I felt that, okay, all that insecurity from the past and all of that craziness, in all that anxiety would be put aside. And now I would be happy in this controlled environment. And it was very, very normal for people that are, you know, survivors. And, I was not about putting myself out there, I just wanted to be in my little comfort zone. And at that time I definitely believed that I was happy, although inside I was pretty miserable cause I hadn't worked out all my issues and I hadn't healed a lot, but that took a long time to happen. Because I think that a lot of us are kind of like you, we Kind of fall into our first career and because it's part of surviving, it's part of paying the bills and stuff. And so we become comfortable in that world, and we might look at people like you and say, oh, I could never be like Annie because, you know, she's got so much charisma and she knows how to express herself. She can sell herself. She's smart. And I'm, you know, I'm an introvert. I'm not like her. So it's nice to just fantasize that I could be like Annie, but that could never be me. And so I have to just continue to live in this career that I fell into. Absolutely. And I, I know many people who are unhappy in their world, right? Their career, the choices that they've made. It can be, you know, family relationships and those kinds of things. I thank the universe, I thank God, almost every day for the fact that I found running or running found me. And that I went through that process of discovery and, you know, I always like to say when you're running, you're on your own most of the time. Especially long distance, you are pushed to your limits. And the good thing about that process, cause some people might think, oh my God, she just likes punishment, but there is a lot of gifts in that process, which is there is no more hiding. It becomes extremely raw and you are faced with what you're going to be faced with. So all of your stuff surfaces. And that's why I always say I got to know myself through running. I did not know many, many things of aspects of myself prior to it. So it was a real gift. But every time that there is something difficult ahead, Carmen, what I always think about is, I was able to get through that very challenging race. I was able to get through that very challenging, you know, some, training sessions for, some of these races are not easy. But you can take comfort in the fact that I know that I have what I need inside to get through it. It might not be pleasant at the moment, but I know that I have the resources. So that's what I always tell people is that you really do have so much more in you than you know. And I think that's inspirational for women because you do work with women in midlife. And I think that some of the challenges that we go through is that we are facing a new phase of our life. We're now going into menopause or in menopause or past menopause and our bodies are changing physically, emotionally. There's so much change going on and when they have someone like you who says, hey, you know what? I went through this thing. It was challenging, but I came out on the other side, a better person or a new me. Definitely a new me. There's actually, a fabulous doctor in the U S who wrote a book years ago called " The Upgrade." And that's how she basically, her metaphor for what happens to women in midlife. We get an upgrade, right? It's like a total new software, like on your laptop. Well, this is what happens to you through menopause. Yes, there might be a few hiccups, right? Just like when we do a system up, on our laptops, there's always something that doesn't work the next day. It's like, oh my God. But what's on the other side is so liberating, right? It's, she calls it a revelation. Revelation means we get to peel some layers and you get to emerge, right? So it's another version of you that is now into the world. It can be one of the most exciting time of our life. I fully, fully embrace that. I love that that you say it's exciting, because I think it gives it something to look forward to as opposed to, oh my goodness, I'm going into menopause. You know, that's so draining. It's just like oh, another day. You know instead, just like you're dragging yourself day-by-day, instead of embracing it and saying, you're excited and you're saying, wow, I get to have another day with menopause. And here's the beautiful little nuggets that lie within this beautiful phase. Exactly, absolutely. You know, it's so, so good that you're, you're saying that, Carmen, because if you look at the overall mindset of the cultural environment that is around us, it's quite ageist, right? We elevate youth and youth is wonderful. But unfortunately, what happens is that we have a tendency to equate this aging process and menopause with dread, with deterioration, right? With decay. And physically speaking, your body, actually, with a drop of estrogen, from a pure chemistry standpoint, it's not decaying, it's adjusting it's, going through a phase. And like any phase, it's not always, you know, the smoothest of rides, but It actually is not, there's no decay associated with it. It's just transformation, right? That's all, that's all that women are doing, they're evolving. So your outlook on that journey is going to determine also the quality of your journey. So if you think about it, it makes sense, right? If you think about it positively and with optimism, you are going to have a much better and easier journey than somebody who is dreading it and is already very negative about it. Mm hmm. Well, I think about it like, you know, when I first started puberty, my breasts hurt and it was so uncomfortable. And being around people, I felt so uncomfortable because I was changing and some of them were not changing. And then I had a period and you know, it was so new to me, I didn't know when it was coming. I almost felt like an alien because my body was changing and I didn't like the change. But here I am now and I'm going through another change, but this change I can control and, change on my terms because I'm older and I'm wiser. Oh, my God, that's so true. Absolutely, you have so many more tools in your toolbox now than you had when you were 12 or 13 or whenever you went through puberty, right? Like we know ourselves more now. We can, recognize, huh, this is happening. I also have agency over what is happening to me, right? I can surround myself with positive people. I can make sure that I'm mindful about my lifestyle habits, for example, right? Things like that. So much that we can do. Yeah. And, here's something, you know, cause I think about like my older sister, my older sister still eats like she did back when she was in high school. And unfortunately, you know, when we hit puberty, we had to adjust our eating styles because if not, we wouldn't have looked like we wanted to look. And here we are in menopause, and I think we hit another adjustment on how we eat. Can you talk about that? Yes, you know, menopause is an invitation to relook at our habits, right? To also to make time for ourselves and being mindful about, let's talk about eating for example, right? Because you were just talking about this. Eating like when we were, you know, teenagers is really not going to serve us anymore at menopause. That drop of estrogen, by the way, affects every single system in your body, right? So this is not just affecting sex hormones in your reproductive system. This has an effect from top to bottom. So how we eat is going to be really supporting us or hurting us. So some simple changes that women can do, cause I'm sure some people are going to be interested is like, okay, what can I do right? So the first thing is actually to really increase the amount of fiber that we get every day. So more vegetables, more plant world, right? Cause fiber is only from the plant world. So it could be, um, more beans, whole grains. It could be more veggies and more fruit, right? So we want to increase that. Fiber is like the swiffer of the body, so it's really good in terms of taking care of ourselves. It's also good for our gut health. Our gut health is directly linked to our mental health. So we want to make sure that we have lots of fiber. And then women have to be much more conscientious about increasing their protein intake right. And we used to be, I don't know about you, Carmen, but I was told when I was, a young woman that I did not want to eat too much protein because I was going to bulk up. Like, I don't know where that stuff came from, but what kind of nonsense it was. So I think a lot of women were afraid of eating too much protein. We thought, oh my God, I'm going to gain weight. And, but the fact is, is that more protein is going to help us now. And whether it's plant protein or animal protein, whatever is your choice, it all matters very, very much because we need to have satiety, which comes with protein essentially right. And then we want to protect our brain so the last thing I always share with women is make sure that you're eating a, your fats and a certain type of fats. What we call the omega 3 fats, which most people are familiar with, right? There's a thousand supplements out there, but I recommend food versus supplements because the data is very clear. That it's the omega 3 from foods that are really protective for your brain. And estrogen had a very big protecting, neuroprotective effect on your brain. So that affects, um, you know, we've, hear of brain fog, right. We hear about that a lot. We hear about, of course, there's anxiety and depression that is linked to menopause because that estrogen is no longer there to protect. So omega 3 fats are a big nourishment for the brain. So those are the three, big things. And of course, now we need to reduce the level of consumption of alcohol, which has become even harder on our bodies. And it's also a lot of sugar. We all know that sugar is not great for us. So we need to adjust, I know I always say this and some women are like, oh no, don't take my wine away. I'm just saying we need to decrease and be a little bit more mindful about that. Yeah, and you know, I interviewed a dermatologist, a couple of months back and, her name is Dr. Mina and she said something that totally resonated with me. She talked about, cause she works on the face. She said that sugar breaks down your collagen in your face, makes you look older and lack of protein also does the same. And so I'm thinking, okay, come on, ladies, uh, we don't want to look old. So, if you don't want to look old, kick the wine, kick the candy, and increase your protein. Exactly, right. Get all those beautiful nutrients and the collagen that is naturally occurring in the fish and in the meat and all of those goodies. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, that's a great reminder. It's true. It does that, absolutely. Yeah. So, you talked about omega 3s because I know that, you have some people that maybe don't like fish. Yes. What's another way to get omega 3s? Yes. So there are, um, vegetable, plant based sources of omega 3s. So, one good thing is to like nuts. If you don't like fish, please like nuts because they're a really good source. So particularly walnuts are one of the highest sources. So, and walnuts are great for your brain, so you're doing all kinds of good things there, so walnuts. Chia seeds are also another source of omega 3s. Hemp seeds, those things you can throw into your salads, you can throw them into your yogurt in the morning if that's what you like. So, very good sources. Extra virgin olive oil, also, a source. But definitely, if none of these things appeal to you, go to the supplements. But the data is very clear it's through food sources that the body absorbs much more omega 3s. Yeah, and you know, I like to get, a greek yogurt, but I get the non-dairy greek yogurt and I will throw chia seeds in there. And then I throw a, couple scoops of protein in there, I throw two scoops. Maybe it's bad, but I throw two scoops of protein that has no sugar in it. And I also toss a couple slices of banana. And I was reading, I think it was on either Instagram or something, somebody posted this tiramisu type of pudding. And they threw chia seeds in there and somebody commented, oh yeah, you want to like load all those carbs with the chia seeds. I thought that's bad. Chia seeds are bad. Not at all, not at all. Yes, this is the unfortunate, you know, I love social media for many reasons, but the downside of it is that there's a lot of nonsense on social media, things like that. Because you know, chia seeds, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds these are incredible sources of good nutrients, of minerals, of good fats. So, this is not where women have to be worried, you know, oh my God, I'm going to, you know, nobody's also going to have three cups of chia seeds. You know, like that's nonsense. So common sense, three, four tablespoons, that's a perfect quantity. And this is not, not to worry about the calories from that. Yeah, cause sometimes when I'm starting to feel a little brain fatigue, cause I'm sitting here and I'm working, I'm editing or I'm writing. You know, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm feeling tired. So I'll go downstairs and grab some yogurt and I'll make my mixture and I eat it. And all of a sudden it's just like, I start to feel revived. And when I read that, I thought, am I doing bad there's fiber in the chia seeds. What on earth? Yeah absolutely. You're doing something good. You don't have to worry, Carmen. That's good to know. Thank you so much for, reassuring me that I was doing good, not bad. What about, women as far as working out? Because I do know that working out also does help with a lot of the struggles that we may have or the menopause symptoms that we are challenged with. Definitely one of the best things that you can do is make activity your best friend here. You know, previously in our, lives, maybe we were really busy with, you know, the career, the family, the men's and the children and, you know, shuffling kids from one activity to the other. And I know women do still, unfortunately, the bulk of the household work, right? And what got compromised? Your ability to, take care of yourself. So, I always say now, this is a really good time to reset this clock so that there is time for you to be active. And really to sort of activities that will really help us. So remember how we did Jane Fonda, and those long cardio sessions? It was crazy. So the good news is nobody's got to do like a 90-minute cardio session. Actually, that's actually really, almost hurting us now. What we want to do is shorter but more intense type of exercises, specifically two types. One, strength training, with age, we are now susceptible to loss of muscle. And that, starts in the 40s, some say 30s, but more evidence around the 40s. And this is also something that happens to men. It's not just exclusive to women. But also our bones we are extremely susceptible now to, osteoporosis and more fragile, brittle bones. So when we do strength training, it's like a triple whammy that happens, I strengthen my bones, I strengthen my muscles, but then I also fire up all of the cells that are in these muscles. And those are great for energy and also for burning calories. So for those women who are concerned about a bit of that meno gain, you know, weight gain, this is going to be really useful for you. And not to be afraid now, we all have to start at a level that is you know, corresponds to our abilities and level of fitness. But not to be afraid to really increase that heaviness of those weights over time, because you will get better, you will get stronger, and it will really pay off. So shorter, but more intense type training for that. Now, Carmen, when you think about cardio, so it's the same principle, shorter, but more intense when it applies to cardio. So no more Jane Fonda and more of what we call sometimes HIIT training, right? High Interval, Intense Training, or what others call short, intense training. So we want higher demand of cardio. So it's going to require a bigger effort on our part, but we are going to be exercising that with intervals of, you know, breaks, and then we go at it again. 30 minute sessions are fine. So strength training twice a week, and then these types of training of high intensity training a couple times a week. Then I like to throw in a good old session of restorative yoga for balance and restoring muscle flexibility. Because that's something that we want to be looking at for the long run in terms of our overall health. Yeah, and I think another thing, a lot of us, we tend to look at the body and we might say, oh, I want to be thin. So we might see a little bit of a roll here or there, and we're like, I just want to get rid of this roll. But we ignore the fact that there is a deadly fat within our body that does compromise our overall health, and that is visceral fat. That's the fat hidden within the organs that we can't see. That's right. That's right. And that's the fat that we can really affect with that strength training exercise, right? So it's impossible to target fat loss. Like, you know, we hear women say, oh, I just want to lose weight, let's say in my legs and I'm going to do lots of leg exercises and therefore it's going to melt. Actually, there is no such thing, we cannot target that way. But the visceral fat, we can definitely target that and strength training is one of our best tools for that. Because I wanted to point out that, there are people out there that, because a lot of people are taking these injections, there are a lot of people out there that are skinny fat. And so they may look thin, but they haven't addressed the visceral fat that you can address by doing exactly what you've said, strength training, and short periods of, uh, cardio. Yes, exactly. So, intensity is the key for women to remember. And you don't have to worry about bulking up. And I also say now, we are in the age of less about the lean conversation, and let's move into the strength conversation, right? Let's be strong. That's the new sexy, truly, right? A woman that is strong has good posture, right? You've got definition. So the scale, unfortunately, doesn't give you a full story. The scale is like one chapter out of a book. Well, where's the rest of the story? Right? So the rest of the story is my muscle mass, that's important to know, right? Like I am building muscle, that's good. My muscles are strong. I can lift things. And actually, there's a doctor, Carmen, that, is really interesting and she she called our muscle mass, except for the heart, of course, it's a muscle, but not on the outside. And she called, muscles the organ of longevity. Because we can predict someone's longevity and quality healthspan based on their quality of muscle. Isn't that amazing? Mm hmm. It is. Fantastic Yeah. I wanted to ask you, I know that you said, increase the amount that you are, carrying, you know, so like if you're lifting 10 pounds, go to 20 pounds, go to 30 pounds. Some, some of us don't want a bunch of weights laying around the house or tucked somewhere. What's your thought about resistant bands? Because I do know that some of them, I have some here in my office that have like, they're labeled 10 pounds, 20 pounds, 30 pounds, up to 50 pounds. Yeah, I think that having more tools like that really helps women. The resistance bands are also excellent for all of what I call the secondary muscles. The ones that get a little forgotten. For the big groups of muscles as well, such as, your glutes, your quads, your hamstrings. We don't need necessarily weights for those things. We can use, you know, the wall. We have a lot of exercises that we can do that don't require those big bulky things. And most women won't need that many sets of of weights truly, but the resistant bands are a phenomenal, tools to stay fit. And to stay strong. mm-hmm So, let's say I came to you, Annie, because I am post menopause, because I'm post menopause, and I just feel like, this phase has become complicated for me. And so I need help getting myself through this phase in a positive way. How would you begin to work with me? We really look at everything in your life. We look at what's been going on. What are the symptoms that you're experiencing? Nothing is ever happening in isolation. So we look at the stress level, the family situation, the environment. You know, what are the pressures, you know, are you taking care of aging parents things like that. And I do a full assessment with, your blood tests and any other, health, relatively recent health tests that you have. So that we can evaluate where you are at. And then I design a custom plan for you that is holistic. And that just means it includes your nutrition and includes your supplementation. It includes your movement. It includes your stress management. A its a lot of women deal with, sleep issues. We look at all of that and then give you a comprehensive approach so that we can tackle your goals and have a plan that you can implement. And then I work with you one-on-one every week to make sure that, we're progressing and that you're stay accountable. Mm hmm. And what about, if I have certain disabilities you know, like bad knees or weak wrists? So, doing certain activities such as exercise makes it, it's just a little more challenging. Yeah, we can adapt almost, honestly, everything. I have many clients who, have knee issues that prohibits them from doing very long walks or arthritis, right, in, the feet or things like that. There's always a way to adapt and for most people to have access to other facilities that helps them, right, whether be it a pool workout, for example, right, things like that. So it's always possible to make it work for everybody. Can you share a success story? Yes, and one of my favorite success stories is, an entrepreneur, she's, a leadership coach. And when she came to me, a married, mom of four imagine that very, very, busy woman. And, she had had a year and a half previous to that, a pretty bad back injury and that prevented her from doing a lot of, having a lot of movement and all that. She gained a lot of weight, menopause hit, teenagers in the house. It was a little bit crazy as you can imagine. And we worked together to help her just get back on track. The, back was just starting to heal so we could, you know, have some movement, changing the nutrition, et cetera. And what is remarkable is at the end, she got active every day. So all her markers of health improved her cholesterol, her blood pressure, she lost some weight. But the most beautiful thing that happened is that she said, you know, Annie, before I met you I had almost given up on myself. And this is what happens, Carmen, women lose faith in themselves, yet the reality is, there are so many things that we can do. So this is, this is one of my, like favorite client stories because, it was a total transformation. And I think we lose faith in ourself because we're so used to putting ourself last. And when things get super overwhelming, complicated, it just makes it so much easier to push ourselves further than last, if that even exists. Yeah, oh, yes, exactly. And then you know, you think, I will never be able to feel good like that again because it's so far behind. You're so used to like feeling a certain way and not optimal. You, you give up, you really give up and you're like, you know, the sun is never going to shine because it hasn't shined in so long. Or we consider ourselves a lost cause because there's so much work to do that you think mentally to get yourself to where you want to be, where you think you should be. Exactly, exactly. So it's a long time coming, right? It's often all of our thirties, all of our forties right dedicated to others and the rat race and just the doing, the doing, the doing, the doing, and then you are forgotten. And the good news is there's so much that we can do and it's one little step at a time, right? This transformation is not instant. We take the time to do it, but to do it really, really respectfully and at the person's pace. And then it's amazing because what happens is this transformation happens and people are like, oh my God! You know, it's not as hard to do this stuff that I used to find difficult, right? It's like, wow this is so amazing. Yeah, and so you are in Canada, how do your clients meet with you? Do they meet with you one-on-one, face-to-face or is it a virtual experience? Everything is actually virtual. So, uh, my clients are everywhere in the US, Central America, UK, Europe. Yeah, it's amazing. That is so amazing that you were able to build a business that you probably never even dreamed about was possible. Yes. And that was my vision to be able to, um, to have a lifestyle that allowed me to be able to serve my clients from wherever, just like I am, you know, I have another coaching session after this recording. Uh, serving my clients from wherever I am and to be there for them regardless so that I can still have the quality of life because I, I want to be, I want to show people what it can be for them as well, right? So I need to make sure that I stay healthy and strong. Yeah. Annie, I ask all my guests this question. What are your future projects that you're working on and when can we expect to see them? So the big one is my book, and that has been my everest of a project. Definitely my biggest accomplishment. I will say that my draft will be out to the editor this fall. So that will be the big thing. It will be as soon as we can to be able to launch this book. It's, I've been working on it for a little while. Let's just say that. It's just like getting your life back. You know, when you're going through this phase of menopause. Just a little while. Exactly, exactly. And for the woman who is listening or watching us talk today, what is one piece of advice that you would like her to hold to her heart? Surround yourself with people that emulate what you want to be about. So Surround yourself with positive people that, you know, think about the future in a positive way, as opposed to a negative way. Like, watch who and what surrounds you because it will permeate you and really affect your behavior. That is so true. Very true. It has such a profound effect. I see it every day it affects your mindset. Right? Your ability to move forward and to stay resilient and to take action. It's not easy every day to eat well, as you know, right? To go for a walk, to um, do a little five minute journaling, to just calm yourself down, right. All these things, they, they're not easy, so our environment really shapes, really shapes our thoughts and our habits. So that's the first thing to always pay attention to. Beautiful, I love that. Love yourself, love yourself. How can people work with you? Where can they find you? Yes, very easy they can come to my website, which is veev.ca so that's V E E V. ca. And first of all, I have lots of lots of resources for you there. So you can download a whole bunch of guides that I have, and I invite anyone that is been listening to, or watching this episode, thank you so much. First of all, and for everyone that is watching, contact me and I will give you a complimentary session. And if you have questions, if you have struggles, I will be happy to support you. Beautiful. Thank you so much for coming on. I will include all of your information in my show notes because people need you. You are awesome. Thank you, Carmen. You're doing such a beautiful gift to this world here. Great, thank you. Thank you, Annie, for such an enlightening conversation and for sharing your incredible insights and personal stories with us. And thank you everyone for tuning in. If you enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe, and share it with someone who could benefit from our discussion today. Don't miss out on next week's episode where I will be sharing my personal experience in my 90-day bio-identical hormone replacement journey. It's going to be an eye opening session, and I can't wait to share it with y'all. For more information on Annie, to access additional resources or today's transcript, head on over to createthebestme.com/ep080. Annie has generously offered a complimentary session for our listeners, so be sure to reach out to her. Until then, keep dreaming big, take care of yourself, and remember, you are beautiful, strong, and capable of creating the best version of yourself. Thank you for watching. Catch you next week. Bye for now.