Welcome to the Why Not Today podcast where we celebrate courage, termination, and the
power of saying why not today.
On your host, Leslie Cain, in each episode we dive into inspiring stories of individuals
who have taken bold steps, faced their fears, and embraced the possibilities of today.
From entrepreneurs to artists, dreamers to doers, we explore the moments when they set
enough waiting why not today.
Bring me as we uncover the heartwarming, the audacious, and the transformative.
Whether it's pursuing a lifelong passion, overcoming obstacles, or simply choosing joy.
Our guests share their journeys and inspire us all.
I started this podcast in honor of my father, Patrick Cain, who often said why not today.
Remember, you're just one decision away from changing your life.
And I've got another repeat guest on to the podcast today, Laura Moro.
And Laura and I met years ago through our Mary Kaye business and journey, and then reconnected
recently.
She's got a new business.
I've got a new business.
And Laura was on, gosh, sometime this year.
This summer.
Yeah.
Talking about your journey and how you created a business.
And part of my mission is educating, giving women tools, or people, and especially women
tools, and the subject of menopause and perimenopause is coming up a lot.
And I do host a monthly lunch called why not today KX.
And so Laura's going to be our guest speaker in January.
And we thought this might be a good opportunity to share on the podcast a little bit more
about what she's going to talk about because everybody can't come to lunch.
So we're going to give a deeper dive.
We're going to hear and then off also at the luncheon and just give some help, some
tidbits, some tips, some directions, some resources.
So Laura, if you want to introduce yourself, just a little who Laura is, and then not your
whole career, but just who Laura is.
And then we will get on to courage and menopause and perimenopause.
Yeah.
Laura Moro, Viana, Virginia, married with two kids.
And all my health issues started after I started having kids.
And so that's why I switched my career from Mary Kay, like I used to do with Leslie to
focusing on women's health.
And I absolutely love doing that and helping other women, especially when they feel like
there is nothing else that they can do or no one else is helping them.
That's when I come in.
Yeah.
And we're going to talk about that in a minute too.
But before we go into all that, what does courage mean to you?
See if it's different than it was the last episode.
You know what?
I don't even go back and listen to what I said, but courage to me is feeling the fear
and doing it anyway, just pushing through and just going for the things that you really
want in life.
Right.
And our definitions change and it can change daily.
And depending on what our day looks like.
And yeah, sometimes in that today moment, why not today messages are just getting up
in the morning sometimes.
It's just making those fears.
So you have health issues after having your second child.
And if you want a deeper dive into that, you can listen to the previous episode.
And maybe I can take that in the show notes too.
Yeah.
I don't remember the number, but so you went from just to kind of summarize went from super
unhealthy like couldn't get out of bed.
Yeah.
Like I'm out.
It was diet and what you're eating.
And so why don't you share a little about that and then how you can support women and
let's start digging into menopause and paramount pause.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Yes, I got to the point where I was having trouble like walking like zero energy headaches
every day.
Couldn't lose the baby way to one day.
I literally couldn't get out of bed because I had so much pain and I had tingling in my
arms and legs, which is what really scared me.
And yeah, if you listen to the other episode, you'll hear that I completely changed my diet.
A lot of lifestyle factors and within a matter of weeks felt so much better.
The pain started going away, more energy headaches went away and started losing the way.
It was amazing.
What kind of diet did you have to go to?
Anti-inflammatory.
Okay.
Anti-inflammatory diet.
So that is a focus on and this is very relevant for hormone issues too.
Taking my diet to focus on like whole foods, real foods, getting rid of all the process
things, but it was further than that.
It was also for me, gluten was a big issue.
I also got rid of dairy, sugar and for me, nightshades like peppers is still one of my
biggest things.
I added a lot of things back in again and really figured out my personal diet, which
is what I help my clients with.
I don't believe in a one size fits all for everyone, which is, and I'll get into this,
which is why I do testing and really figure out what's right for each person.
And so that is, but really focusing on eating real food is, it will go a long way.
So how do you know if you're having issues and what, like we all hear anti-inflammatory
and inflammation, how do you know if you have it?
Or you know, I'm 60, have those aches and pains and soreness here, but how do you know
if it's an issue and how do you, yeah, how do you know?
And I've heard people once they stop or they change their diet, they're like, oh, I had
no idea that I was feeling this wasn't normal.
Yes, that's the thing.
We think that, oh, well, we're just getting older.
So we're supposed to have these aches and pains, right?
But really that shouldn't be until you're much older, like your 70s and 80s.
If you're feeling those things when you're younger, you probably have inflammation and
inflammation is just when your body, your immune system has gone into overdrive.
And that can be because you never got over an illness like long COVID is inflammation
or it can be because of stress, it can be because of hormones.
So many different factors will cause your immune system to be on overdrive all the time.
And what happens is when there's not an actual like virus or bacteria to attack, it starts
attacking your own body system.
So if you're having aches and pains, like it's attacking your joints.
If you're having things like tingling and headaches and a lot of times muscle issues,
it's attacking your nervous system or like brain issues.
If you're having digestive issues, it's attacking your digestive system.
So if you're just having a lot of these issues over time, then that's inflammation.
And you can get tests for that, but just the symptoms itself is enough to show that this
is going on in your body.
And if it keeps going on, that's when it can develop into something like an autoimmune
disease.
Right.
So I know you do testing.
Do you test just for inflammation or do you test?
I know you test for a lot of other things.
Yeah.
So my tests are a lot more specific than that.
And in all of these tests, when it shows certain numbers, it does show that you have inflammation,
but I don't do a test just for inflammation.
It's more detailed than that.
So the main test that I focus on is a Dutch test, which is testing your hormones.
And it tests your reproductive hormones and your stress hormones, which is when you go
to the doctor, blood tests aren't going to test your stress hormones.
And that is really critical.
So most entrepreneurs, women who are like, want to be a why not today person, a lot of
them are high achieving, right?
And are dealing with a lot of stress, even though they're doing it anyway, that's still
stressful.
So most women like that are having issues with their cortisol, their stress hormones.
I also test your gut and really see what's going on there.
It does tell if there's inflammation or not, and also if there's any bacteria, viruses,
parasites, things like that, that is causing these digestive issues and also looks at the
health of your intestines and your digestive tract.
I also do food sensitivity testing, which is really popular because a lot of people are
just like, oh, I'll go gluten free.
I'll go dairy free.
And they might see little changes, but not huge changes and they think, oh, well, it's
not diet.
That's not going to help me.
But when we do the food sensitivity testing, it tests 176 different foods and ingredients,
and we can get very exact of what your body needs rather than just a one size fits all
that you might Google or hear about on social media.
So we're really getting down to what is causing your body issues.
And then I also do hair testing where we can test minerals in your body like iron, calcium,
magnesium, those kind of things and also heavy metals because those things grow out in your
hair.
That's what your hair is made out of.
So the lab can see what is growing out in your hair and what you have maybe too much
of or not enough of, which is a lot of people's problems.
Right.
I'm curious.
So I know I want to do a deeper dive today, talk about para menopause and menopause.
And I know it's all news and all over social media and everybody's talking about it.
And it's so confusing.
So first, what's the difference between para menopause and menopause?
Yeah, that's a great question.
There is.
So menopause, unlike all of the myths and things that you see everywhere, menopause is
literally one day of your entire life, one day.
Wow.
So the, yeah, right?
Menopause is the day that when you have gone 12 months without a period, without bleeding,
on that anniversary of that 12th month is the day of menopause.
So it's your menses has paused.
Okay.
It's stopped.
So that's the one day.
So the time before that, when you're experiencing the symptoms before that is called para menopause.
So it's before menopause.
And the time after that is actually called post menopause.
Okay.
So para menopause, the time leading up to that 12 months is where that can last for
10 years or more.
And so I have clients who are even in their 30s that have started having these symptoms.
And it's so funny too, because even if you have gone 11 months and 28 days, if you start
your period, that has to start the whole year all over again.
Yeah.
So that a lot of people that happens a few times, people don't really talk about post
menopause.
I haven't really heard it, but that probably in the world that a lot of people listening
in the pot, a lot of my audience is in that age group.
And but they are.
And here's the thing you.
So a lot of people think like once your cycle stops, then there's nothing else you can do.
Like you just deal with it.
But that's when we know that your hormones are rock bottom.
And so that's when we really need to do things to help you get out of that so that you're
honestly not feeling like an old lady all the time, right?
Like nobody wants that.
We have goals and we have dreams and we have things we want to do.
We don't have time to just feel old.
And so that's, that's how I can really help.
So I can help alleviate the symptoms before and then afterwards help you get back up to
balance.
So you're feeling a lot better for that.
Or did you just do you need to do tests for that?
Or do you just, you know, based on your cycle and when it finished, you know, you can start
or.
Yeah.
So I do testing.
Yeah.
So we look at your, your cycle first of all.
So we look at that too.
But then we can also be a lot more exact than that and see actually where your hormones
are.
So your, if you've heard of the words like estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and
we can see exactly where those things are.
And so we can get those things back into the proper balance of each other.
So it's not always just bringing everything up when you're in perimenopause.
When you're in menopause, it's everything's rock bottom.
Okay.
So like things, things are just stopping.
Because it's not just like your hormones up here and they go in and dive.
It's more like a roller coaster.
Like some days they're high, some days they're low.
Even within the day, it can cycle and change, which is why, you know, you've probably heard
the stereotypes of women like feeling crazy and moody and, you know, all these things.
That was my reality of my mother.
She was like mean during, you know, seemed like, well, and at that point too, and who
knows how much of it was really menopause, post menopause.
She had six kids.
The youngest had a major disability.
So, you know, I remember her crying or leaving the house or just like done with us.
Sure.
There was a lot of factors and everybody just said menopause.
Yeah.
And that's the thing that and her stress hormones, I'm sure we're out of control with six kids.
Right.
And there's no business.
So, add that.
Add it all together.
And here's the thing.
Like so, for instance, I had a client who was experiencing that a lot of moodiness.
Like she and her husband, she was like, I love my husband, but we're like, I feel like I'm
snapping at him.
I don't want to be that way.
And her energy was in the tank.
She was gaining weight.
Her digestion wasn't great.
She went to the doctor and the doctor was like, you have all the symptoms of perimenopause,
but with the blood work, we, the blood work isn't showing it.
So there's nothing we can do except put you on two antidepressants.
And so maybe that'll help your mood.
And she was like, listen, there's a place for antidepressants.
I've been on them before.
I know what that felt like.
That's not what this is.
I can tell a difference.
I know I need something more.
So the thing is when you go and get a blood test from the doctor, first of all, it is
only what your hormones are doing right that second that you give the blood.
When my testing is a urine test and it's over 24 hours, you take several samples and you
take it at a particular time during the month so that they know what your hormones are supposed
to be at in that part of your cycle.
And so they can tell a lot more exactly what your hormones really are instead of just that
one point of time.
They can get a lot bigger picture.
Plus, we looked at her stress hormones too.
We were able to tell that from the test.
And from that, we were able to get her back in balance from like changing some things
with her food, changing her lifestyle, changing like her movement, her stress management,
helping her sleep better, and I help her with some vitamins and minerals that she was deficient
in.
And in just a few months, she was like losing weight.
Like everybody likes to see that.
But her relationship with her husband was better.
She wasn't snapping.
She felt better.
She had energy to do all the physical because she's a pretty physical active person.
She had the energy to do all the things that she wanted to do.
And it was life changing.
And she was like, I knew there was something more, but my doctors couldn't help me.
So that's the kind of thing that the difference makes.
The doctors and the tests, I had a physical.
And I was like, do I need to fast?
They're like, no, we do tests after you leave.
You don't need to fast based on the test.
And with the insurance I have, I asked like how much are all these tests going to cost?
And it took like two days to figure out anybody to give me the answer.
And then I reached back to the doctor and I'm like, do I really need all these tests?
She's like, no, you probably don't.
So they took half of them off.
And it showed nothing because I don't think they really tested anything.
Yeah.
So, but yeah.
All right.
So, paraminopause, menopause, postmenopause, what are some of the myths?
What are some of the things people are talking about that aren't true?
Because there's so much of them.
And I noticed there's a lot out there.
And before we go into those myths, there's a book that people have been quoting and talking
about.
Have you read it?
Something menopause?
The new menopause?
Yeah.
The liable.
Dr. Mary Slayer, Haver.
Yes.
And it is like I actually have the book, I think, right here on my desk.
Right here.
Yeah.
That's the book everybody's talking about.
And yeah, she is amazing.
And what I love about her is she is bringing a lot of awareness to this issue.
And she is really working to make changes in the health industry, which is so amazing.
And she's very personable too.
So follow her on social media.
She's really great.
She gets a lot of great tips.
And at the same time, it's still general information, right?
It's still just a one size fits all.
And we are all so unique that what one person needs is very different than what somebody
else needs.
And so what I do is really help you get down to the root causes of what's going on.
Is it your, you know, is it your, that your progesterone is low?
Is it that your stress hormones are high?
Is it your like inflammation in your gut that's actually causing a lot of these issues?
Like I really get down to it and give you very precise.
So this is a good place to like, you know, like read and like become aware and really
understand what's going on in your body.
But if you're really having these issues and especially if you've tried to make changes
before and it hasn't really like given you the results that you want, that's when people
come to me.
So some of the issues and I've heard lots of about these these days and then we'll get
to math.
It's like, what are the some of the signs or symptoms that people don't necessarily
talk about?
And my sister had frozen shoulder and went to yes, or physical therapist for a year and
all these things.
And then found out that it may not be a physical, it was more could been related to menopause.
Yeah.
What are the symptoms that we're just ignoring or going to a doctor for other things that
could be caused by the hormones?
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
And that's one of the, I actually had the frozen shoulder too.
I know exactly.
So that is one of the big myths is that if I'm not having hot flashes or night sweats,
then I must not be dealing with hormonal things because that's that's like some of the big
things that everybody hears, right?
But there's so many and I'm just going to read some of the and these aren't even all
of them.
These are just probably the most most popular, but there's like dozens.
So one is like overwhelming fatigue, brain fog and difficulty concentrating the weight
gain and stubborn belly fat, bloating and digestive issues, trouble sleeping, waking
up in the middle of the night, mood swings, anxiety and depression.
Of course, the hot flashes and night sweats changes in your breasts, acne and skin issues,
hair loss or thinning, loss of sex drive, joint pain, the frozen shoulder, irregular
periods and easily emotional.
So that's a lot of.
And any of the stages from pre menopause to menopause to postmenopause.
Mm hmm.
Yep.
Exactly.
And so depending on where your hormones are, like what balance they are kind of depends
on which symptoms that you're having.
So it's just so much more and so many women are just like, you know, I'm, I'm an honest
entrepreneur.
I have a bunch of kids.
I'm, you know, dealing with this and that and you just excuse it for so long that we
just, we just push through, right?
Like we're just like, okay, I can deal with it.
I can deal with it.
And then usually when people come to me, it's when they've hit some sort of rock bottom,
you know, some sort of point of like, I can't do this anymore.
Well, I was going to say it's interesting.
I think this is, I've noticed post COVID that pre COVID everybody, when he asked anybody
how they were, they were busy.
And I think all the answer I get to that question more often than not, and I kind of tested an
event one night is everybody's overwhelmed.
And so how much that could be again, the circle we swim in the women over certain age and just,
you know, there's so much on our plate, but we're not handling it as well because of the
hormone issue and we're not addressing.
Yeah.
And I will tell you, so one of the questions that I asked my clients when, when they're
brand new is when was the last time you felt good?
And I will tell you a hundred percent of my clients, the date is sometime before COVID.
100%.
Wow.
And here's the scary thing.
What is feeling good?
Yeah.
Well, it's different for everybody, but I just asked that question for you.
When was the last time you really felt good?
And it's before COVID and COVID this right now was five years ago.
Yeah.
And so if it's been five years or more since you felt good, you need to like ask for help,
right, because it's not just going to magically get better on its own if it's been that long.
Does that make sense?
Yeah.
Oh, that's scary.
So, all right.
So let's go to mess and what do we miss?
Yes.
So, yes, that one, there's a lot more, you know, like we just talked about a lot more
symptoms than people think.
One is, you know, I'm only in my thirties or forties.
I'm too young for menopause, right?
And we kind of talked about that.
Perimenopause can last for years, especially if you've done things like taken hormonal birth
control.
I have a brand new client who's 28 years old and who is already experiencing a lot of these
things.
And so we're going to really work down to get down to the root causes of what's happening,
but she's taken...
Is there any difference if whether you've had kids or not had kids?
You've had a kid you've had, how it affects you?
I almost wondered.
Yes.
Yes, that is a good question.
Yes.
So, every time that you're pregnant, whether you actually had the baby or not, your hormones
do change.
And that is when a lot of women start experiencing more inflammation is, you know, after a hormone
change and autoimmune disease.
And so, yes, like pregnancies and every single pregnancy, like I said, whether it came to
term or not, changes your hormonal makeup in your body.
Right.
Yeah.
So, that makes a big difference.
Yeah.
And also, like I said, like some people think, oh, well, I'm too old to worry about that.
I went through menopause years ago.
This isn't relevant to me.
Like I said, then at that point, we know your hormones are rock bottom.
We know that there's things we can do to bring those up and help your body feel better.
And also, your stress hormones.
Everybody has those stress hormones.
And so, there's a lot we can do to balance those as well.
And another myth is that, you know, my doctor said my labs are fine and there's...
So, there's nothing that I can do.
But there's so many things that, A, they're...
Like you said, they're probably not testing enough things or testing the right things or
testing it at the right time of month or the right time of day or all those things.
But then also, there's so many more things you can do.
It's not just, oh, here's a, you know, hormone pill to balance things.
There's a lot more resources and tools in the toolbox to help.
And that's what I was going to ask too.
So what are some of the things as women over a certain age going through these things?
What are some of the things we can do ourselves?
I've heard weightlifting is important.
We're protein.
So what are some of the things that we can do, you know, if we're not going to invest
in somebody helping us or do all the tests, some of the things as we're getting older
that's got to help us.
Yeah.
I mean, first of all, focusing on food, what you're eating, what goes into your body.
I've, you know, like, there are myths that, you know, like eat wherever you want.
It doesn't matter.
But it does just like a car.
If you're not putting gasoline into the car, if you're putting sugar in the gas tank, like
it's not, it's not going to run, right?
And the same thing with our body.
Our food is what gives us energy or doesn't give us energy.
And so it's what we're eating.
So many people think, you know, when they're talking to somebody in nutrition, it's going
to be somebody who tells them all the things that they shouldn't be eating.
But a lot of my clients aren't eating enough of the good things that should support their
body.
So you mentioned protein.
A lot of women don't eat enough protein.
But also talking to a trainer one time, she was tracking my calories.
She's like, you're not eating enough.
Yes.
And that's what I was going to say.
And what I found too is since COVID, a lot of women already didn't eat breakfast.
A lot of women are skipping lunch now because with the zoo, when people went into the office,
there was that culture of the lunch break in the middle of the day, right?
Now that people are working at home, they are just being scheduled for meeting after
meeting after meeting all day long.
Lunch.
I've worked pre-COVID for myself and lunch has always been my struggle.
I'll eat breakfast and eat dinner, but lunch.
And it's not, I just keep, start working and then I just don't take time.
Yeah.
And that's what I'm seeing from almost everybody who's working on, working at home or doing
a lot of Zoom and conference calls if it's in the office or not, because they're just
being scheduled and they're not setting the boundary of like, this is my time to eat lunch.
And they're looking at it as an afterthought as a, you know, I'll do this if I have time.
But if you don't schedule it, you're not going to have time because other people are scheduling
you.
And here's the thing.
Eating is a necessity of life.
It's like breathing.
If you're not eating, then, you know, and then you wonder why you're like crashing in
the afternoon and you're exhausted and you have to drink more coffee or eat sugar to
keep going because you haven't given your body the energy, the fuel to keep going.
And so adding in lunch or even an afternoon snack is one of the biggest things that I
help my clients with to really see why that's so important.
You have resources available on your website?
Just what are the resources?
I do.
Yeah.
If you go to lauramoro.com and you go to my resources section, I have resources on
there.
And also, it's not on my website, but maybe you can link it to the show notes.
The best resource for anybody interested in this is I have a guide called a hormone balancing
nutrition guide.
And it really talks about the foods to eat to support your body, like what vitamins and
minerals that are really good for you.
So like eating things with B vitamins, vitamins, B, things like that that are going to be really
helpful.
And then it also talks about some lifestyle things that you can do to also help because
it's not just about food, but things that you can do to help you get more sleep because
sleep is the only time our body heals.
And so if you're not feeling your best and you're not sleeping, your body doesn't get
a chance to ever catch up and feel good, if that makes sense.
So you can be doing all the right things during the day, but if you're not sleeping well,
then you're not really going to end up feeling better.
So that's one of the first things that I help my clients with is to sleep better.
And that's even just, first of all, making it a priority, right?
I mean, all the things you've talked about are so simple, but we get so busy, we don't
do those things.
And isn't this a perfect time of the year?
We're recording this on January 2nd.
It'll come out, but like, let's pay attention to those.
So we've already gone past the time I usually try to go.
So yeah, lots of good info.
So we're going to have you as a guest at the lunch in January, which is Thursday, January
23rd in North Virginia, if anybody wants to come and get a deeper dive with Laura.
I will link in the show notes, if you send me a link to that guy, would be great.
And I'll obviously contact information.
Oh my, so this has been mind blowing, so much good information.
And I'm going to order that book, I think, and just start there and go to your website.
And all the things we need to be more educated, and I think that's the thing.
Take some time to do things, to help us instead of amazing how much time we waste, look in
other people's life on a phone.
Yes, yes.
Instead of taking care of our life.
Yes.
And I do free consultations.
So, you know, I can talk to you and tell you like what tests could be helpful for you,
you know, some some basic things that you can be doing, you know, does this look like
formals or not.
So you know, I can just have a chat with you and I hope you sort of figure out the right
direction.
Even if it's not something that you're ready to get started with right now, I can, I can
kind of like guide you in the right direction and share my thoughts and what is probably
going on.
Maybe what we need to do is schedule one for me before the luncheon and I can share that.
Perfect.
There you go.
So, how would you encourage somebody to say why not today and take care of their own health?
I guess is a big question.
I think that's the biggest thing is to to make the decision to be committed to your
help.
I heard this on a podcast one time that the difference between consistency and being committed
to your goal is consistently you feel like, oh, if I'm going to be consistent, I have
to exercise every day and eat healthy every day.
And but the problem is if you hit a roadblock, you like you get sick or you get really busy
at work and then you miss a couple of days and you feel like, oh, well, that's it.
Just go back to eating, whatever, go back to just sitting on the couch.
But if you are committed to the goal, it doesn't matter if you miss or you have roadblocks.
If you have a bigger commitment to it, then you are going to keep prioritizing yourself.
So just really, I think that's one of the biggest things is especially we as women,
I hate that we do this, but we just don't commit to ourselves.
We'll commit to everybody else.
We'll commit to our business.
You know, we'll do all these things, but we have a hard time committing to ourselves.
So just making that first step, that first commitment that like, okay, I am going to
make the commitment to feel better and to start making some small steps.
I think is really the biggest hurdle.
And it goes back to that, put your oxygen mask on yourself first.
Yes, exactly.
Exactly.
Yeah.
All right.
So you've inspired me to go make some healthier choices and I'll definitely schedule something
like that.
Awesome.
I'm excited to have you as our guest at the luncheon.
And I will share all these links in the show notes.
So thank you, Laura, for all your insight and information.
And I think we could have gone for hours and hours and hours.
Yeah.
Exactly.
I love it.
Thank you for sharing or having me share and helping hopefully inspire lots of women
to commit to themselves this year.
I love it.
Absolutely.
So thank you for everybody for listening or watching and sharing, learning this inspiring
journey and how we can take care of ourselves.
And the why not today is more than just a podcast.
It is movement to help people to live their life, to pursue their dreams and live it with
courage.
And so I encourage you to say why not today daily.
And you can see everything you want about the why not day podcast at why not today podcast
dot com.
We're on all the channels subscribe, especially at YouTube, comment, invite some friends and
let's start a movement together and help each other be courageous together and make a difference.
So remember every day is an opportunity to take an action, chase your dreams and make
a difference.
So why not today?
Thanks again, Laura.
And happy New Year to everybody.
Bye.