The Healthy Celiac Podcast

Living Gluten Free - My Daily Habits, Routines, and Perimenopause Update Ep. 231

• Belinda Whelan • Season 1 • Episode 231

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This week, I’m taking you behind the scenes and chatting through what life has really looked like lately. With home renovations, selling our house, shifting routines, and planning our big caravan adventure, things have been a little chaotic — and that’s changed how often I can release episodes.

I’m also walking you through a full day in my life as a woman living with celiac disease — everything from my morning routine to my gym sessions, what I eat, the habits that keep me feeling my best, and a very honest update on my perimenopause journey and my experience with HRT so far.

If you’ve ever wondered what I do day to day, how I manage my health, or you’ve been curious about navigating celiac disease during busy seasons of life, this one’s for you.


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SPEAKER_00:

Alright, welcome back to this week's episode of the Healthy Celiac podcast. This is Belinda, certified health coach and fellow celiac. I have not been releasing my episodes as regularly as I had been previously, and I thought today's episode would be a really great chance to fill you in on what's been going on and also share a little bit more about a day in my life and what that looks like at the moment because I know I've done it in the past, but things have changed as I've gotten a little bit older, and it is actually something that many women message me and email me about my habits and what I do on a daily basis and what I eat. So I thought it would be a good time to record an episode of that content for you. So if you are a longtime listener, you would know that every single week for years and years, I have released a new episode every Monday night, and recently it's been a little bit messy. It hasn't been happening. I have not been releasing a weekly episode, and my release day has now changed to Wednesday. So I just thought I'd let you know why. So I've changed to Wednesdays because Mondays are a day that my husband's home, and sometimes if I leave recording to the last minute and he's home and he's doing stuff around the house, it's just too hard to get it done. So I've found that moving out to a Wednesday has been a little bit better day, and often when my kids have a day off from school, for whatever reason, it tends to be on a Monday as well. So I figured I'm gonna make my life a little bit easier and just reschedule the days that I release them. But we have been doing a lot around our house. We are actually in the middle of renovating and we are getting ready to sell our house. So there's been just so much craziness going on at home that I've just had to prioritize what you know is is needing done in this time of my life, and unfortunately, the podcast has to be put on a back burner a little bit. So I'm thinking that the best thing moving forward, just perhaps for the next couple of months, is to release an episode once every two weeks. So for those of you that understand Fortnite, so once a fortnight. So I think that's just going to be the best thing for not only my mental health but my bandwidth, because that's that's kind of all I can I can give at the moment. I give a lot of free content and I need to focus on my customers and my clients as much as possible as well, amongst all the chaos of what's going on. So let's talk about life and and what happens in a day of waking up as the healthy celiacs. So, yeah, that's that's pretty much how things have been rolling around here at the moment, and I'll also um share a little bit more why we are selling our house shortly, but let's jump into what a day looks like for me. So I get up at the same time every day. On a weekday, I get up at seven o'clock so that I can get my kids off ready to school. So the first thing that I do when I get out of bed is I go turn off my alarm, which is in my bathroom. So I don't ever have my phone next to my bed. I make sure my alarm is in my bathroom so that I physically have to get out of bed. If you're one of those types of people that continuously presses snooze and doesn't get out of bed, try this hack. It's a game changer. I did this when my son started kindy and I was constantly tired because my kids would always wake me up. So I started putting my phone in the bathroom so that I would physically get out of bed and so that the EMFs weren't right next to my head when I was sleeping as well. So that's what I do. I get up, go turn my alarm off, and then I grab my water bottle and I have some water, and I make sure that I drink some water. And then as I'm heating up my shower, I start to read some affirmations on my phone and a daily uh message, I guess it's called from the Secret app. So I read them so that straight away I'm putting some positive thoughts into my mind. Shower, don't really need to go into that too much, and then I head downstairs and I start to prep my kids for school. So I get them breakfast, pack their lunch boxes. Here in Australia, we uh send our kids to school with their food. They don't have food provided for them at school, so I pack them their lunch and their snacks and their recess and a big bottle of water, and that's what they have. So I myself have been having what's called a neutral meal, which is a liquid breakfast. So I have a shot of coffee in that, and then I have a nutritious meal in a shake, and I have that because I go to the gym straight after I drop the kids off at school, and I just I can't go to the gym with a full stomach of food, and I find that this is the best for me as far as um I guess being able to perform when I do go to the gym. So yeah, once I once I drop the kids off to school, I then head to the gym and I do a workout at a gym called Altitude Fit. So it's it's something that I've been doing now for about three or four months quite regularly. My old gym that I was going to to do body balance and Pilates stopped those classes. And if you've heard me talk about them before, you know that I love Pilates and Body Balance. So I was a bit devastated that I had to stop doing those in a class, and outitude fit has been a game changer for me, mostly because I'm in perimenopause, and I need to lift heavier, and I need to focus more on strength and muscle gain. So outitude fit's been fantastic for that. So it's kind of like a circuit workout, and you're doing it in a room that's at high altitude, and there's trainers, and they're there, and they help me with my form and with my lifting and encourage me to lift stronger when my brain is telling me no. So that has been brilliant. I cannot recommend altitude fit any higher. They are, as far as I know, they're the only um one here in South Australia. But I'm sure if you were to jump on the internet and look up altitude training, you might be able to find something near you if you're interested in checking that out. But yeah, it's it's a just an amazing way to work out. I've really loved it. So I do that Monday to Friday at the moment uh where I can. Some weeks I don't do five sessions, but I'm aiming to do five sessions at the moment, and that's been going really well. I'm doing a six weeks challenge with the gym at the moment, so it's basically to help push me further and you know, lift stronger and heavier and reach higher personal best. So that's been really cool as well. So once I've been to the gym, I drive home, and from my drive home, I drink some protein water, so I'm very big on getting as much protein in that my body needs at the moment. Being in perimenopause, it's really, really important to especially focus on protein and the fact that I'm also working out much more and lifting heavier, so that's been quite a focus for me. Once I get home, I will then make myself a brunch. So normally it's something quite high in protein, it just depends on what I feel like. I am a very um go with what I feel like in the moment. Um, in this time of my life, sometimes I'm big on meal planning, sometimes I'm big on just you know, giving my body what it needs in that moment. So I really listen to my body. So, you know, some mornings it might be eggs, bacon, avocado on toast, other mornings it might be uh I don't know, today I had a salmon um nourish bowl. So yeah, it just totally depends on what I feel like, it depends on the weather. Weather plays a big part in how I eat as well. So then once I've had that, I'll usually have another coffee. Uh, I drink bonsoy milk, so I'll have a soy coffee, and then I'll have my supplements. So I take an array of different supplements, so I'm I make sure that I take them after I've had my meal because if I have them in the morning with my neutra meal, I find that they play a little bit funny on my gut. They seem to sit better once I've actually had something that I've eaten. So yeah, I have my vitamins, and then I tend to jump into some work. So whether that's responding to emails or whether that's working on programs or you know, anything that kind of needs doing for my business. So I'll sit down for a while in front of the computer and smash out a whole heap of that. Um, but um again, that's been a little bit on the back burner lately too. I haven't been doing as much of that as we've been so focused on renovating and getting our house ready to sell. So, you know, every day is different for me. I'm really I know I'm really blessed that I get to make my day what it is. Um, but a big priority for me is absolutely my food and and nourishing my body and also working out. So if that's something that you know you're you're not doing and you would like help with that, that's where I step in. So absolutely reach out if you need support with that. But that for me is the biggest game changer for living with celiac disease, is really looking after your health. So that's definitely what I prioritize. Um, in the afternoon, I will usually grab some sort of snack as well. It totally depends again what I feel like. Sometimes I'll have a nut bar, sometimes it'll be a banana with maybe nut butter and some seeds, other times it might be just a couple of baby cucumbers. Again, it just depends what I'm feeling and what the weather's doing as well, which is a big one. I have an alarm set on my phone at 2 50, goes off every weekday, and that is literally to hey Belinda, it's time to go pick up the kids from school because sometimes I am in work mode and I am just like head down, bum up, and I kind of get distracted. So I love that I don't even have to be checking the clock, I don't have to constantly be worrying, oh my god, I gotta go pick up the kids soon. It's just as soon as that alarm goes off, okay, quick, put my shoes on, go to the toilet, grab my bottle of water, grab my keys, out the door, go pick up the kids. So that's pretty much my day that I get to myself, and then you know, bring the kids home, get them to do all their after school jobs, get them snacks, all that type of stuff, and then it's usually get stuck into cooking dinner. So my husband works away, you may know this already. So my husband works in the mines, so he's away for a half of the week. So I'm usually it when it comes to the after-school kind of routine and getting tea ready and stuff. So yeah, we'll we'll get tea sorted and sit down as a family with our hubby. Uh, we always sit at the dining table unless we are having a lazy night, and sometimes as a treat, I'll let the kids sit down in front of the TV and watch something while we're eating. Doesn't happen all the time, but it's a treat, and they know that that's a treat. They know that it's more important to sit at the table and have a chat and we have a debrief about our day. Our youngest, who's currently six, Coda, she always starts the conversation with what was the best part about your day. And I love that she initiates that conversation, and we go around the table and we just share what we've we've you know experienced in the day and the best part about our day. So it's a really positive way of sharing something about your day without dwelling on you know the crappy things because usually there's something that's happened in the day that's not ideal, but when we focus on the positive, it's really easy to keep focusing on more. And sometimes we'll be sitting there waiting for our turn while one person has shared three, four things that's been the best part about our day. And I love that my kids are so focused on really hunting for the great things that have happened in their day. So that might be something you'd like to try with your family as well because it is really beautiful, and it's I think it's a really special thing to sit down with your family and eat a meal and and learn about their day and open up those lines of communication because you know, if you don't do it when they're young, they won't come to you when they're teenagers and share what's going on in their lives, and it's something that we've certainly noticed with our teenager. She's just turned 18 and she shares her life with us, she tells us everything, and I love that she feels completely comfortable sharing that with us. So, yeah, after dinner we clean up, usually me, kids sometimes will participate, and then it's time to get ready for bed for them. And once I've got them in bed, that's my time. I tend to relax at night. Sometimes I will be in work mode and I will still sit at my computer and get stuff done. It just depends on what's been happening and what I've got coming up. There will be cycles where I work my butt off, and there'll be times where I don't and I am happy to sit in front of the TV and just chill out, or other times where I'll go to bed and I'll read. But usually my evening time is a bit of window. I'll have usually a cup of tea. It depends on the season. At the moment, I'm having tea. Sometimes I'll have hot chocolate. I make a healthy hot chocolate website. My website has my recipe if you want it. Um, I might actually link that below because it's delicious. And if you're in um somewhere where it's the colder months at the moment, it's really quite comforting to have a nice healthy hot chocolate. So yeah, so I will sit down, have that. I'll have my vitamins as well. So I do morning and evening vitamins. Um, and then I yeah, get ready for get ready for bed. Usually have a shower before bed if I haven't had one straight after coming back from the gym. And then I brush my teeth, floss because my dentist has told me off for not flossing enough, so that's a priority at the moment. And then yeah, throughout the day I've drunk heaps of water as well. Should mention that. I do drink water all day long. I usually have two coffees max, and also creatine. I forgot to mention. So I'm massive on creatine. That is my favorite, favorite supplement at the moment. If you are a woman in uh your 30s, 40s, 50s, beyond, creatine is where it's at, especially if you get brain fog, especially if you're working out, especially if you just want more clarity and focus. It is amazing. So you can find lots of brands of creatine. I'm not gonna recommend one because there's so many out there, and it doesn't really matter, you just gotta make sure it's gluten-free. So I highly recommend that. Um, and then I just want to give you a bit of a rundown on what's been happening with my perimenopause because that is something that I did share a while back, and I wasn't sure whether it was kind of TMI, but I've had so many people reach out to me and thank me for sharing my information, and I constantly talk about it with people in person because it's so so important to share this and talk about it because things are changing in the world of perimenopause and menopause. So if you haven't heard my story, I probably was ghastly about two years prior to last year when I started HRT. I was probably two years before that. I went to a doctor, told her all my symptoms, and she literally turned around and said, No, you're too young to be in perimenopause. So just kind of left it at that. And then last year I listened to an amazing podcast that my best friend shared with me. I was like, Whoa, this is crazy. I need to go find out more about HRT. So I went to my doctor who is incredible. Unfortunately, she wasn't the doctor that I'd seen previously, otherwise, I think I would have got help much sooner. But anyway, she put me on HRT. I got my script billed at the chemist, and the chemist filled my script incorrectly for five months. So for five months, I was given the wrong HRT. I was being given HRT for women who have already gone through menopause. So it was a nightmare. I stacked on the weight, my weight just kept creeping on. I couldn't work out what was going on, and my doctor was just too dumbfounded and just said my body should start to balance out, and I was getting a period twice a month, and it was just horrendous. But the thing was I felt better in myself. Aside from those things, I did feel better in myself, and I had more clarity and I could focus more, and I wasn't like feeling ridiculous like I was before I was sleeping better, I wasn't getting night um night flashes. No, what am I saying? I wasn't getting night sweats, that's what I'm looking for. I wasn't waking up covered in sweat, which I had been experiencing dramatically. So that all stopped. So I kept going with it thinking this has got to get better, this has got to get better. And then I went to get my script filled at a different chemist, and lo and behold, we worked out that I had been given the wrong script for that entire time. So I got put on the correct script, and for quite a few months everything was wonderful. And then I found out that my script was no longer able to be filled because it was on back order and they couldn't get any stock. So I was like, oh my god, why? Why is this happening? So went back to my doctor, had to get a new script. So I went from using patches to what I use now, which is oestrogen gel and progesterone tablets, and that has been the best. So if you are looking into HRT, I can't personally recommend anything for anyone. I'm just sharing my experience, but I have found it to be so positive. And I have said in the past, I always thought that you could just deal with perimenopause through diet and exercise and sleeping well and not drinking alcohol and doing all the right things, but I do those things anyway, and I was struggling. I can remember rocking up to the supermarket car park in my car, and I didn't know how to park my car. Like my brain was numb. I it was like it wasn't working, and I drove home and I was like, what the hell is going on with me? This is not normal. There is something legit weird going on. I was I was thinking I was getting dementia, it was that bad. So I personally have found it to be amazing, and I'm so grateful for it. It's not for everyone, I'm not saying that, but I'm saying it's an option, and things have changed that you know they've taken away their black box warnings now about HRT, so it's a lot safer than what we've been led on for the past 20 odd years. So yeah, something to think about if you are struggling like I was, and you know, there could be a better way for you, so certainly worth looking into. But like I said, there's different types of HRT, it all depends. Um, it depends on your body, it depends on what stage of life you're in. So, yeah, that's something you'd need to talk to your doctor about. But I just wanted to share my experience because it's something that has been quite interesting and a little bit over the show. And I also like to show that you know, even though I have been educated on lots of different things to do with health, things still go wrong, things still go wrong for me. And you know, I look into things, I read so many things, I speak to my doctor very openly, and even between the two of us, we couldn't work it out, and it was simply because the script was incorrect. And if you looked at the packet that I was given compared to the script, you would not even be able to tell the difference. So it was literally one word different on the box to the script. So crazy that that happened for five months. But the message I want to share from that is next time if you have any issues with any medication, take the medication and the script to your doctor and get them to double check it because that's what I'd be doing if this ever happened to me ever again. Because that was yeah, that if that had continued on for you know another six months, I hate to think where I would be right now. So just a little update on that because I know it's something that I've had so many people reach out to me and ask questions about. So yeah. So that's pretty much a day in the life of me living with celiac disease and eating gluten-free. And you know, we are all on this journey, and we all get to choose how we live our lives, and I choose to live mine healthily. I choose my life to be positive and to look on the bright side as much as possible. I've had some hardships, don't get me wrong, there's been some really crappy things that have happened to me in the last couple of years, and has made me struggle to do with a lot of other different things, but I'd certainly look at the positive as much as possible. And then moving forward, we are getting a caravan next month. So we ordered it way back in April, it's been a custom build, and we are heading off and we are traveling around Australia in 2027. So that in itself is going to be just an amazing journey, and it's going to be challenging and scary and fun all at the same time. Because if you know anything about Australia, it is a massive country. There are some very remote areas, and it's going to be very interesting getting out of my comfort zone of not being able to shop for gluten-free food at my regular favourite places and not knowing whether I'm going to be able to find certain things. So I've already been testing out, you know, having flour mixes that I can make my own breads and just having basic options that, you know, if I can't find a loaf of fresh gluten-free bread, well, I'll be making it myself. Or, you know, different backup plans. So it's going to be really fun and challenging, like I said, but I'm I'm up for it and I can't wait to share more of that with my journey with you guys in the near future. So yeah, but um that's mainly why we're selling our house. So we are planning on selling our house just so that we can start to get some some ground with what we want to do um in the next year as far as where we want to live and what we want to do. So yeah, that's that's a pretty uh big update from me. So I hope you made it to the end. If you did, thank you so much. Um, it's always nice to know that I have you know great listeners that like hearing what I have to say, and yeah, I appreciate you guys, and I appreciate you being here on this journey with me because you know it's it can be lonely sometimes, and that's why I love you guys because you give me support and you reach out to me and you you share with me about your lives as well. So thank you so much for tuning in, and I look forward to sharing more with you in two weeks' time. So, until then, have a fantastic couple of weeks. And if you've got any questions or you want to know anything about anything that I do with my health coaching, please reach out to me. I'm always available via my Instagram. You can reach out to me via the healthy celiac, or if you're on my email list, just hip reply to my emails at any time, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Alright, thanks so much. I will talk to you soon. Take care. Bye.

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Belinda Whelan

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