Nearly 80 women attended a Kegels and Cocktails event at the Rope Factory on Thursday, May 30, 2024.
With guest speakers like Emily Opthof, a Registered Dietitian with a special focus in reproductive medicine and gynecology, Dr. Mary-Leah Albano, a Naturopathic Doctor and Sherri-lyn Moore, a pelvic health physiotherapist, guests learned about the foundations of eating for hormone and reproductive health, the effect of hormones on the pelvic floor, proactive approaches to dealing with hormonal health, and supporting the adrenal (stress) system through the peri-menopause and menopausal “transformation.”
Krystal Schouten, a pelvic floor fitness and movement specialist, opened the event by leading the audience in a pelvic floor release exercise before handing it over to Albano for her talk about self-care for hormonal wellness.
Throughout her talk, Albano discussed hormones and their functions, how they work together and how they change from menses to peri-menopause, into menopause and finally post-menopause. She also talked about hormone testing, the impact cortisol (stress hormone) has on the body throughout the various stages and how physical, emotional, social and spiritual self-care is essential for well-being and helping to balance hormones.
“The take-home message I hope you receive from me today is really about self-care and the importance of self-care for overall wellness,” she said. “I want you to really embrace that self-care isn’t selfish and in fact, I want you to really believe that not only is self-care not selfish, but it’s also essential to hormonal wellness.”
After a short break to mingle, grab snacks and indulge in a signature cocktail, Moore took to the podium for her talk.
Moore, with the help of her trusty vulva puppet, started by discussing anatomy, pelvic floor health and how hormonal changes (in relation to estrogen, progesterone and testosterone) have an impact on muscle tone and nerve function.
She spoke about how estrogen levels can affect bone health and the pelvic floor muscles, and can lead to dryness, thinner tissues, shorter urethras, incontinence issues and urinary tract infections.
To wrap up her discussion, Moore gave attendees several tips on how to recognize symptoms and how staying hydrated, eating nutritious food and engaging in physical activity can help mitigate the bodies various changes throughout its life cycle.
During Opthof’s talk, she too went over how estrogen, progesterone, testosterone and insulin affect the body, as well as how cortisol and thyroid hormones function in the body.
“So, I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad news. The bad news is that you will never balance your hormones because these are your hormones, and they’re not supposed to balance, they’re supposed to fluctuate, and they’re supposed to change and that is a beautiful thing. Knowing what to expect, what those changes look like, and how to manage some of those symptoms is where the power really comes in,” she said. “When you look at big body transitions like puberty, pregnancy and menopause across the lifespan, you’re looking at what state of change those hormones are in. Measuring hormones is great, but it only gives us a snapshot at the time that we check them. Everybody’s going to be slightly different, and it depends on what phase of that cycle they’re going to be in.”
Opthof then talked about five myths and how they are holding people back, how prioritizing nutrition can help hormones function properly, and the importance of self-care.
“When we feed ourselves in pursuit of energy, variety and enjoyment, we are prioritizing both our physical and our mental health and we need those things to be our absolute best person,” she said. “Not only for the people that we love and care for but for ourselves. … You deserve to feel your best and I hope that you take away from this event, that taking care of yourself is empowering.”
As the evening wrapped up, the three stuck around for a question-and-answer session where attendees got to ask questions about what they learned throughout the evening or to ask for advice regarding various products or myths they’ve heard about in the past.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
