Natural Perimenopause & Menopause Solutions [Podcast with Dr. Mariza Snyder]
“There is a time for pharmaceuticals and there is a time for bioidentical hormones. Do all women need them? No. Do we deserve to see if we can get to the root causes and address this with a more natural approach? Absolutely. We all deserve to approach menopause with as much ease and grace as possible.” – Dr. Mariza Snyder
Dr. Mariza Snyder has a plan for those of us in perimenopause or menopause to excel beyond the misinformation and expectations set by conventional wisdom. This is a time of life when women can be at their most powerful. Our life experience offers not only obligations, but opportunity and perspective to begin a whole new level of thriving like a PCOS Diva! Our body is ready to free up the energy it has spent on fertility for all new endeavors. Listen in or read the transcript as we discuss how implementing consistent natural solutions can be the foundation for your best years yet.
- When are pharmaceuticals necessary?
- The root cause of the most common peri/menopause symptoms
- Lifestyle and mindset steps to take to reclaim health, energy, and vitality
- Dr. Mariza’s favorite essential oil blend for perimenopause and menopause
All PCOS Diva podcasts are available on 
Mentioned in this podcast:
- Manage PCOS Symptoms with Essential Oils [Podcast #102 with Dr. Mariza Snyder]
- The Unexpected Solutions to Self-Healing [Podcast #56 with Dr. Mariza Snyder]
- Essential Oils Hormone Solution
- The Essential Oils Menopause Solution
- Dr. Mariza’s Podcast: Essentially You Podcast
- Dr. Mariza’s 5 Minute Self-Care Journal
Complete Transcript:
Amy:
Today, I have back on the PCOS Diva Podcast, one of my favorite doctors, Dr. Mariza Snyder. She is a functional practitioner, woman’s health expert, and the author of seven books. Her last book, The Essential Oils Hormone Solution, was a number one bestselling book, and she is getting ready to release a follow up, The Essential Oils Menopause Solution, which I know a lot of listeners are going to be very interested in hearing more about. It focuses on solutions for women in perimenopause and menopause. Dr. Mariza is also the host of an awesome podcast called the Essentially You Podcast. In that podcast, she talks a lot about empowering women to become the CEO of their health, which I love that concept. Dr. Mariza, welcome back to the PCOS Diva Podcast.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Thank you so much, Amy, for having me. I am so grateful to be here today.
Amy:
Well, I just wanted to point out that you’ve been on the podcast twice before and I especially love podcast 102 because you teach us how to manage PCOS symptoms with essential oils. If you’re not in perimenopause or menopause and you want to learn more about essential oils and Dr. Mariza, definitely tune into podcast 102.
But I was thinking as I was preparing for our podcast, I started my PCOS Diva blog almost 13 years ago, when I was in my 30s and not really worried about perimenopause or menopause. But those Divas who have been following PCOS Diva all these years, we’re all kind of approaching this phase in life. And I’m so glad that we’re going to be talking more about this topic on the podcast today.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Mm-hmm. Yes, there are many of us transitioning from our mid to late 30s into perimenopause and then heading into menopause. And what I have learned over the years is that a lot of us haven’t been given all the tools and there is so much misinformation when it comes to this powerful transition. And what kind of is the cherry on top of all of that and I think, Amy, you can speak into this too. I find that we are our busiest. We are achieving the most at this time. We are doing big things at this time, but we also have a lot more obligations on our plates at this time of our life as well.
Amy:
Yeah, it can be a very stressful time. And I know you talk about that in your book, that we have to really be able to manage that stress if we want to have hormonal balance. I’d love for you to get into that during the podcast as well. But first, I love to lead with story and you have a great story around why you wanted to write this book. I was hoping you could share that with us.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Absolutely. I know I’ve shared on the podcast my own hormone issues, with my own hormone story. And a lot of the women in my family have struggled and it was kind of a defining moment for my mom and I. Growing up, my mom had struggled with hormone issues, but we didn’t know. She didn’t really know. We didn’t really know as little girls growing up. My mama, you just kind of would kind of become a little bit of a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde and she really struggled with PMDD symptoms, really severe PMS symptoms. But, finally, when she was heading into perimenopause, towards the end of perimenopause… I break up perimenopause in two stages. And she was at the end of perimenopause and she was having some pretty serious hot flashes. And she works in the OR, and was just constantly sweating and uncomfortable, decided to go to a doctor and they put her on a synthetic estrogen patch.
They didn’t even test her hormones. They just were like, “Here, take this. That’ll fix the problem.” And weeks and weeks go by, and my mom just continues to become… The symptoms get worse. Her hot flashes get a little bit better but, all of a sudden, she’s not able to sleep throughout the night, or at least she’s not going to sleep in the beginning of the night but then she’s sleeping really late into the morning. And she starting to have all of these depressed feelings and emotions and she’s putting on weight. Just all of a sudden, she starts getting a lot of these crazy symptoms until about two to three months in on this synthetic estrogen patch, she calls me. It’s least, oh, at least 11:00 PM at night, and my mom sounds scared. She sounds really frightened.
My mom just being… She’s always been this super mom in my life. She’s always just handled things, tackled things, kicking booty, taking names later. But this was not my mom. This sounded like a different woman altogether. And she said, “I’m having really scary thoughts. I’m having very scary thoughts.” Wouldn’t say there were suicidal thoughts yet, but definitely they were inching in that direction. And she’s like, “I’ve never felt like this. I don’t know what’s going on with me.” And so, I told her, “We will figure this out. I’m going to take care of you. We’re going to figure out what’s going on.”
And then, she had relayed to me… I guess you could say she confessed to me because she didn’t want me to know she was on these synthetic hormones. She wanted to kind of solve her own issue on her own. And it was very clear that that was the connection, at least for her, that that was the situation. And so, we weaned her off of this estrogen patch and I began implementing a lot of the things that are in this book because that’s what I knew would work. We worked on nutrient deficiencies. We worked on herbal remedies. We worked on removing some of the most kind of inflammatory foods from her diet. And within 60 days, she had dropped 25 plus pounds. Her energy was back because she was sleeping throughout the night. But most importantly, her mood had recovered. She had was back to that high drive, high energy, high joy self. And I remember right within the year of all of this transformation, my mom just felt like she was a new person.
She decided to start taking up marathon running. And now, my mom is 60 years old, she looks like she’s 40 or 35. She’s her own J-Lo, and she has ran 75 marathons and half marathons. She plays competitive tennis and she has literally reinvented and reclaimed herself. She is living her best life today. If you were to ask my mom, at the age of 60, what she would tell herself at 48 was that that mindset and reinvention is 100% possible, and that it’s really about just implementing consistent natural solutions to help support her body. Now, my mom never went on hormones again. And I think that bioidenticals probably could have served her. I don’t know. But definitely, the synthetic estrogen was not doing my mom any favors.
Amy:
That is such an inspirational story and it gives us a lot of hope. I know in the book you say that a woman experiencing those symptoms, that your mom did, a lot of doctors kind of chalk that up to, “Well, that’s just what happens when you go through menopause.” But you say that that’s a big fat lie and what you’re experiencing isn’t normal and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t feel that way, during this time in your life, and that it’s a natural, normal process your body was designed to navigate, which I love that concept.
Why is it that when a lot of us go to the doctor’s office, and we talk about having PCOS and what’s that like going through perimenopause and menopause, a lot of doctors kind of look at us and say, “Well, PCOS is a reproductive disorder and PCOS goes away once you go through this stage of your life.” Or, “If you would just have a hysterectomy, then you’re not going to have to worry about PCOS anymore.” Why are doctors so ill equipped to help women through this stage in life?
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
The answer is they are not hormone experts. They are not at all trained in any of this. I mean, that’s really what it comes down to. They’re just following a protocol. My gut tells me that when women are diagnosed with PCOS, whether it’s their 20s or 30s or their 40s, birth control and Metformin are the two options for women. I feel like they’re just following, well, A plus B equals C. This is the script you get. And when doctors hear that women are struggling with heavy bleeding or they’re struggling with hot flashes, they’re like, “Well, let’s just put you on the pill,” and that’s happening as well. I feel like that’s the only thing that they’ve got in their arsenal. “Let’s put you on the pill or we can put you on some hormone replacement,” like they did with my mom. “And we could throw in a little bit of Xanax for good measure, just in case you have anxiety around it.”
Amy:
Yeah, exactly. And anxiety and depression, I think I just saw a new statistic that 46% of women with PCOS suffer from anxiety. And as you had mentioned earlier, this period in our life is very stressful. And I know my sort of idea is managing PCOS naturally, I know that pharmaceuticals can really help some women, but it’s not what all women want. But I want to know some of the ways that you teach your patients how to take back kind of control over their hormones at this stage in life.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
And I absolutely agree with you, Amy. I think that there is definitely a time for pharmaceuticals and there’s absolutely definitely a time for bioidentical hormones. Do all women need them? No. And do we deserve to look to see if we can get to these root causes and address this with a more natural approach? Absolutely. I think we all deserve the natural approach with as much ease and grace as possible. And if we… All those things, we’re doing it all and it’s not necessarily working, could we use a little bit of help, the lowest dose for the shortest amount of time? Sure, absolutely, to get you through that hump. Totally. I think that that is a great option.
But I think a lot of what is happening with us, we think about the natural phases of perimenopause and menopause. Here’s the thing, perimenopause and menopause are inevitable. Kind of like when our period starts, that’s inevitable too. As women, we are cycling through life. We’re cycling on the monthly. We’re cycling annually. We’re cycling daily. We’re cycling throughout our life as well. And I think what ends up happening is although we do have a decrease in some of these hormones, it’s really the lifestyle. Either it’s environmental toxins, it’s nutrient deficiencies, it’s stress, it’s trauma, it’s these other root cause factors that are exacerbating the potential of those hormones decreasing inside of the body. And if we can address kind of these bigger root causes, not only will we ease through perimenopause and menopause and beyond with so much more grace, but also there is so many side benefits to that. We help to protect our brain. We help to protect our cardiovascular system. We help to ensure that our gut and our liver are working properly.
There’s so many benefits to just loving up on our body. Same thing when we think about when we’re naturally taking care of our body if we are dealing with PCOS. All of the amazing side benefits of reducing the inflammation, of helping to reduce the toxic load to support our gut. There is so many other benefits that happen because of that as well. And so, I think that even though this book is focusing so much on perimenopause and menopause, I always want women to be thinking about… Well, think about all the other incredible benefits of just sauntering through our 50s, 60s and beyond, because I think that we deserve that.
Watching my mom at the age of 60, she was up at 4:00 this morning. She ran 10 miles. I was up at 6:00 but that’s because I was feeding my baby. And she has her amazing group of friends that she does this with and then, she’s working and she’s going to go play tennis tonight. And she does it with full makeup on and she’s got her new hair weave in, she looks phenomenal, just in general, because she just glows. But also, she’s got her pretty tennis outfits. She is just living her best life. And I don’t see my mom stopping this best life for decades. I just don’t see it, because she’s developed this mindset and she’s developed a lifestyle to back it up.
Amy:
Yeah. And I think you said something right there that is so key, is the mindset piece. Maybe you could just maybe share a little bit more about your mom’s attitude approaching this phase in life. That it’s not really the end of your vitality, beauty, femininity, passion, sexuality.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Oh my gosh. She embodies it all. My mom had my sister and I when she was very young and she was 18 and 20 when she had my sister and I. And so, by the time she was in her 40s, we were actually adults. And definitely, when she was 50, we were very much doing our own thing. And I think at that time, she was just like, “This is my time. What do I want from this time? What is the kind of life that I want for myself? What is the kind of energy that I want?”
And I think when she and I worked together, she came to me and she’s like, “Mariza, this is what I would love. I would love to feel this way. I would love to get a great night’s sleep. I would love to have energy to spare.” All of these, and I was like, “Okay, let’s plan a program for this.” And I said, “Just note that this is the lifestyle that you’re looking for, mama.” And that’s what she adopted. She’s like, “If this is the lifestyle that I need to rock to do me for many, many, many years, I’m on that train.”
But then, also, I think for her, there was a reclaiming of her sensuality, a reclaiming of her energy, of community. She’s got so many incredible girlfriends that she does all these different activities with. And she dresses beautifully and I would say she dresses pretty sexy for a 60 year old woman because she doesn’t even look 60. She looks like she’s… I mean, you stand her next to me and everyone just thinks she’s my sister. And so, I think that there was a lot of care and consideration into, “This is how I want to feel. This is how I want to redefine this part of my life.”
And I think she also got really clear on the worthiness aspect of things. Like, “I’m worth it. I’m worth the time spent in my community. I’m worth the time spent on these beautiful activities that I love. I’m worthy of getting dressed up and looking good.” She’s abuela to my little baby boy, and it’s her only grandson. And she comes over and she always looks so good for Kingston. She wants Kingston to see his abuela looking so lovely, and I just love that. She just wants to show up for her grandson in a way that really just shows him the energy that she has, the joy that she has. And she wants to stay fit. She wants to play tennis with Kingston. She wants to jog with Kingston. He has his own jogging stroller that she bought him. And she’s like, “I want to be all these things for my grandson in 10 years.” And I just love that that’s another part of her motivation.
Amy:
Yeah. What you were saying reminded me of Danielle LaPorte’s work around your core desired feeling. I think that’s really powerful if you can get into the feeling that you want to feel. It definitely moves you in the right direction.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Oh, absolutely. Having a vision for what you want, I think that is so important to have that vision. And I think my mom just painted the vision for herself. She was like, “You know what? I want to be hiking mountains. I want to be playing tennis in cute little tennis outfits. I want strong, strong legs.” And then also, with Kingston being here, she has a new vision for what she would love when her grandson is old enough to play with her, really play with her.
Amy:
Yeah. And Kingston, I got a little cute introduction to Kingston before we got on the podcast. He’s three and a half months old and just adorable and such a blessing.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Oh my goodness. He’s such a blessing. It’s such a blessing to my mama. She is head over heels in love with him.
Amy:
Well, the other thing that you mentioned was energy.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Yes. Yes.
Amy:
And I loved how you framed in your book about menopause frees up energy for us. And I was hoping you could explain that.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Absolutely. When you think about our years of reproduction, what an energetic process that is for estrogen in our follicular phase to build up that endometrium, to build up the garden for the just-in-case you conceive. You think about all of the energy and the forms of essential amino acids and important lipids and all the glucose. It’s just an energetic process. And then, as we head into the luteal phase, what it takes to get estrogen… Or sorry, progesterone at a high level. And then, if we don’t get pregnant, the shedding of that lining. And there’s just a lot of energetic process to that.
I mean, you think about any mammal, the energy that it takes to create another living being is just a lot of energy. And so, every month we do that. And so, when we are finally at a place where our bodies aren’t going through the process of that monthly cycle, we free up that energy. We free up that energy that we can leverage to do something else. And so, I think if we think of it as that, we get this energy back by not having to run through the motions of our menstrual cycle every month, that we can kind of reclaim that energy for something else.
Amy:
I love that, and that’s something that I’m going to hold on to as I turn 50 this year. I know.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Oh my God, girl, you look so good.
Amy:
Oh gosh. Well thank you. I mean, and I will attribute it to living this lifestyle now for 13 plus years.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
I mean the side benefits, Amy. Amy, you look like you’re in your 30s.
Amy:
Oh, well, now you’re being a little too… I don’t know about 30, but I’ll take 45.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
I love that.
Amy:
You mentioned in the beginning of the podcast, the role stress plays in perimenopause and how we can kind of sail, or not, through this time of our life. Talk to us a little bit about stress and maybe you can give us your favorite stress busters.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Absolutely. I mean, I think, in particular right now, the experience of stress and burnout that we’re having due to this pandemic, in particular, is just beyond exacerbated. I think we’re all feeling it. And the thing about stress is so often it’s very deceptive, because it’s not like a neck pain or a migraine or a stomach upset or painful period cramps. Stress is kind of behind the scenes because it’s what’s driving a lot of those symptoms, those very visible, tangible symptoms. I always say stress is intangible, but stress is probably one of the most disruptive stressors that we can have on the body, whether it’s a physical stressor, a mental and emotional stressor, or even a chemical stressor. It’s all having a profound impact. And when you’re in a situation in perimenopause, where you already have hormones decreasing. Initially, first, it’s progesterone, and then you’ve got the rollercoaster ride of estrogen.
I will say that stress does not make those changes and shifts in our hormones any easier. It compounds. But where I really see the effect of stress is really on our energy levels. One of the things that I learned recently is that mitochondria, which is our energy powerhouses, which allows for you and I to have this conversation, for us to sleep at night, for us to get up in the morning. That mitochondria are not only in charge of making our energy, but they’re also actually in charge of helping to create cortisol. And when we’re in a stress state, which many of us can be in a stress state multiple times a day and, again, oftentimes we don’t even know it. I would say that there’s some signals to look out for. Maybe look out for how people are responding to you.
If they’re kind of making that face like, “Oh my gosh, that’s a lot to handle right now,” then you’re probably in a stress response state. Or if you notice that your jaw is tensing up or that your shoulders are tight, or that you’re saying things like, “I’ve got to go,” or, “I’m in a hurry,” or, “I’m running late,” or whatever those things are. That is, often, we’re triggering up that stress response system. And so, when that happens, we’re often needing more energy reserves to get into that survival state. But if our mitochondria, because they’re exhausted and they’re burned out, aren’t able to even make cortisol, which kind of tells the body to kind of get prepared, we find ourselves in kind of this catch-22, where we’re just depleted. We’re depleted. We’re exhausted. We are feeling irritable. We start to see things like brain fog. We just feel more easily triggered during the day.
And then, ultimately, we know that cortisol, which is this main stress hormone is a regulatory hormone for insulin. And when cortisol is either we don’t have enough of it or it’s kind of wonked out, we start to see more blood glucose and that is also driving things like belly fat. It’s also driving things like insulin resistance, which could then not help us win when it comes to PCOS. And so, it just becomes really, really messy during perimenopause, where we already have some shifts going on with these important reproductive hormones. Add stress to the mix, now you’ve got deregulated cortisol levels. You’ve got insulin resistance. Then we’ve got some of those big time symptoms that we’ve seen with, again, the fatigue, the brain fog, the cravings, the belly fat, and, overall, just the burnout. And that’s, I think, one of the biggest hormonal imbalances that I see in women, especially heading into perimenopause and definitely heading into menopause.
Amy:
Yeah. I agree. I think that that’s what’s driving a lot of those symptoms, the sugar cravings, the belly fat that’s really hard to get rid of. You did have some nice little tips in your book.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Oh yes. Yes, I did. Yes, now we know that that’s clearly something… I know I can identify with all of that. And I’ve experienced every single one of those symptoms. What do we do? What can we do? I know that we’ve talked on this show before, you and I, about having a morning ritual and I can’t impart the importance of that. But, I think, again, we’re not just stressed in the morning or we’re not just stressed in the evening as we’re getting ready to go to bed, it can come on any time. And so, one of the things that I always recommend, if we don’t always know when we are stressed, I recommend having your phone next to you. And we already probably do already. How many of you, right now, you’re probably listening to this on your phone. It’s right next to you.
What I would recommend is, literally, on the hour, or at least a couple of times, three to four times a day, your phone just goes off. It has this beautiful little chime. Please do not pick the siren or the barking dogs, whatever could literally send you into a stress response system. You want something that’s very gentle. And in that moment, I just want you to just kind of change your state, whatever it may be. If you’re at your computer, get up. If you’re finding yourself tense, just kind of shake it off. And if you can, grab an essential oil. This is the Essential Oils Menopause Solution book. And so, lavender, clary sage, cedarwood, jasmine, wild orange, grapefruit, any of them. Anything that just really kind of just puts you in a great state of mind, that just makes you feel good.
For me, it’s jasmine essential oil. I am obsessed. It’s the oil of confidence. It’s the oil of self-assurance and it smells so delectable. And I just roll it on my palms. My phone does this too. It chimes off a couple of times a day and I breathe it in, and I take six to eight really deep, slow belly breaths. And what this does, by breathing in this oil and just taking these deep belly breaths, is you are sending safety signals to the brain. You’re sending safety signals to the hypothalamus, and you are telling your body that everything is okay, and it literally resets the entire system. You can go from a stressed state to a relaxed state in less than 60 seconds, if you can change your state of being. And having a little chime with an essential oil and some breath work, and if you don’t have the oil, you don’t even need it. You can just do the breath work on its own. You can absolutely get back to a state of relaxation like that.
Amy:
Yeah. I will vouch for that. I call them mindful breaks in my day. And one thing that I do is just even sitting down and having a cup of tea, and I’m actually drinking jasmine green tea right now. Because I do find… I think that the scent of jasmine is really relaxing. But I think just taking that pause in your day to breathe and be mindful and check in with yourself, it is amazing what it can do for you in managing that stress throughout the day.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Also, I recommend having your favorite playlist. If Aretha Franklin comes on, Son of a Preacher Man, or Stevie Wonder comes on, do you know what? I am literally transported. I’m obsessed with Bill Withers. I love me some soul music. The worst thing could have just happened and someone puts Bill Withers on and it’s like it never happened. Also, the other thing I recommend too is, like you said, making a tea. Having a ritual that really just shifts you out of that space, I think is just such a powerful thing to do.
The other thing that I absolutely love, and we were just talking about this, I’ve been chasing my journal for the last couple of days. But just journaling, and I recommend having a journal that you can actually write in. Recently, we’re about ready to launch. I created this beautiful five minute self-care journal, and it’s designed to do any time during the day, ideally in the morning. And it is created to, literally, in its own right, it’s self-care. And it’s designed to set the tone, to create the vision and set the intention for what you want for that day.
But also you get to claim the self-care rituals you’re going to do that day for you. You get to claim the healing foods that you’re going to eat and nourish your body that day. And then, at the end of this little journal, you sign it. You make a commitment to yourself that you are going to take care of you. You’re going to love up on you, and you’re going to do what you love for you that day. And again, these are all little micro things. You’re adding avocado to your smoothie, or you’re adding another little green vegetable to your salad. Whatever that may be, you’re just doing these things throughout the day, these beautiful little rituals that are nourishing you. They don’t have to be done all at once. They can be done in little clusters.
And then, the last thing that I do that I do every night without fail, even when the baby is in his bassinet and he’s sound asleep and I’m tiptoeing around the room so quiet so I don’t wake him up, is I have this beautiful round rose quartz crystal by my bed. And every night, I grab… It’s very smooth. It’s very smooth crystal. And I put it in my hands, as I’m in bed, and I’m just grateful for all the things. I just start naming off all the things that I was grateful for that day. Everything that happened. And most of the time, within about three minutes of me doing this gratitude ritual, I pass out and my husband finds the rose quartz crystal inside the bed next to me. Literally happens every single night. And even if I can get through 10 of them before my eyes close and I pass out, it’s my favorite wind down ritual.
Amy:
All of those things are keeping your vibration high, the good vibe music, the gratitude, acknowledging those little small wins in your day with your planner journal, which I need to get. I need to get one because I’m kind of a planner junkie and I love that kind of stuff.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
I’m going to send it to you, and it’s so simple.
Amy:
Oh, I would love it.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
We just got a new batch coming to the house, and once it gets to the house, I will send you one.
Amy:
Oh, thank you.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
And it’s this beautiful cover with gorgeous lavender on it. Just everything about it just feels so good.
Amy:
Oh, my favorite.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Yeah.
Amy:
If you wanted a deep dive on essential oils and PCOS, definitely listen to our podcast, number 102. I know you give us your formula. I think you call it your super woman formula.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Yes.
Amy:
Tune in. You can always go onto the website, to PCOS Diva, and read the transcript too if you don’t have time to listen. But I was hoping that you could leave us with your favorite oil blend for perimenopause and menopause.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Yes. I have top five for both. My top five must have essential oils for perimenopause are clary sage. Clary sage is amazing for… Especially as we’re heading into the second phase of that cycle, changes in our cycle. Heavy bleeding can be happening. Discomfort can be happening. I love clary sage to help support, reduce prostaglandins, reduce some of that pain and that bloating. Geranium is this absolutely gorgeous… It’s almost like rose. It’s kind of the least expensive rose version. And geranium not only is great for skin, it is great for digestive support, liver support, but it’s also amazing for hair. If you are seeing hair changes, a little bit of geranium, a drop or two of geranium inside of your conditioner is incredible. I just love that oil.
Next is lavender, because we did talk so much about stress today. Lavender will, literally, instantaneously take you out of the stress response system. It lowers blood pressure. It lowers your pulse point, and it actually lowers serum cortisol levels in a matter of 60 seconds. It’s also great for anxiousness, rosemary, because brain fog, the struggle is real. And so, rosemary is phenomenal. It has 1,8-Cineole in it, and it helps to boost alertness, focus and just get you sharp. Rosemary is also great for the liver as well. It’s one of my absolute favorites, and it’s also great for hair. I do rosemary, lavender and peppermint in my hair every day. Just drop a drop. I have that combination in a little oil bottle. I drop it into my conditioner and, hence, look at this thick, dark brown hair.
Amy:
I know. You have gorgeous hair.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
I always had that. And then, yarrow/pom, because yarrow/pom has been shown in the research to help to reduce some of that heavy bleeding that’s going on as we have the rollercoaster estrogen levels. I do love yarrow/pom and clary sage combined, over the abdomen every day. You can do five drops of each in a little roller with fractionated coconut oil or avocado oil, whatever you love, and just roll that over the abdominal area, especially when you know you’re having your period and you have those happy bleeds. That’s for perimenopause.
And then, quickly, for menopause. Some of them are the same because they do continue to serve. Clary sage because on top of the fact that it’s phenomenal for helping to reduce some of those PMA symptoms, it is an amazing oil for sleep. One of my go-to top five oils. And one of the biggest complaints I hear from women in menopause is that they’re struggling with sleep issues. I love, love the clary sage. I like to combine clary sage with cedarwood and with Roman chamomile, and it is one of my favorite sleep tonics. And you can just diffuse those, a couple drops of each, in a diffuser by the bedside.
Geranium, because again for hair, for liver support, and I just think it’s one of the most beautiful oils for helping to enhance mood. I know that so often we’re struggling with a little bit of depression. Geranium has been shown to really help support and boost happiness and happy neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. Geranium makes the list again. Peppermint because hot flashes are a struggle as well, although hot flashes tend to come on at the very end of perimenopause into menopause. A little hot flash spray, clary sage, geranium, and peppermint and I would say five drops of each in a two ounce spray bottle. You can spritz it.
Turmeric because turmeric is such a powerful anti-inflammatory because of the curcumin and the curcuminoids. I love turmeric oil for brain support, liver support and decreasing inflammation overall. And then, ylang ylang because is ylang ylang is one of the most powerful, potent libido oils out there. You can actually make a lubricant with a little bit of the ylang ylang, as well for vaginal dryness. But it is just such a beautiful oil to support sensuality, and just kind of getting back into that inner confidence as well. I love ylang ylang and jasmine for that.
Amy:
And I think you said that you created 75 new essential oil recipes for your book.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Yes. Yes, I did.
Amy:
There’s many more in the book along with a 21 day program with food recipes as well. It’s really a comprehensive book. I think that the name of it is a little bit of misnomer, the Essential Oils Solution, because essential oils was just really one of the tools. It’s so much more than just talking about essential oils.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
It’s true. I tried to get them to change the title because when I submitted this book, it was 160,000 words. We had to take out a ton of chapters. It’s down to 95,000. But it was just one of the tools. I wanted women to know and feel like they had every tool imaginable that they could use out of this book. I wanted them to feel so equipped and ready to tackle whatever symptom that they’re dealing with as they’re navigating through these beautiful transitions. And oils, how oils show up for us is that they’re instant wins. Because throughout this journey of 10, 12, 15, 20 years, because we’re constantly transforming. We’re constantly reinventing. We deserve an instant win during our day. We deserve many instant wins during our day. And the number one thing that I have seen deliver on that, besides a hunk of chocolate, because that is definitely an instant win.
Amy:
It certainly is.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Is an essential oil. And if you’re saying yourself, “I got to decrease the chocolate a little bit, and what can I replace?” What ritual can replace maybe the three times a day chocolate routine or ritual, is essential oils. And now, I think you can have… I’m a yes and girl, you can have both. But if you’re looking to replace one of these rituals with something that’s going to give you a little energy boost, peppermint and wild orange, that is your instant energy blend right there. You will go from zombie to super woman in a matter of seconds. And you can do that with chocolate too. You could even do it with both, you know what I’m saying? And so, that’s what I wanted with the oils is that the instant win is what I’m looking for for women on top of filling in the nutrient gaps, reducing the amount of inflammation and building in the lifestyle and the mindset.
Amy:
Yeah. Well, the book does it all, and tell us where we can find it and find out more about your work.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Absolutely. Well, it’s on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, all the places, but we do have some epic book bonuses. They are companions, chapters that didn’t make it into the book because it was too long. There’s three bonus chapters and it’s just drmariza.com/menopausebook. And once you go and grab it, you just put your email and your name and, voila, we instantly deliver, I think, over $500 worth in bonuses to your inbox.
Amy:
Oh, that sounds fantastic. Well, I wish you a lot of luck with your new book and the launch, and you’ll have to come back soon to talk with us. You’re one of my favorite guests.
Dr. Mariza Snyder:
Oh, thank you so much, Amy. Honey, it was such a pleasure to come on today.
Amy:
Well, if you enjoyed listening to this episode, I would so appreciate if you could go on iTunes and rate and give a review for the PCOS Diva Podcast. I am very grateful to have you as a listener, and I look forward to being with you again very soon in a new episode. Thank you.
