Hi, ​, 

A huge thank you to everyone who watched our first live selling event on June 30! We had so much fun, and I loved hearing directly from you!

A couple of people who came to the live event asked questions that we weren’t able to answer then. I’d like to answer one of them now, and in the interest of doing both questions justice, I’ll answer the second one in an upcoming email, so stay tuned for that!

Zoey asked if our products worked for PMDD. It occurs to me that we’ve never really touched on PMDD, so let’s do that now!

According to the Mayo Clinic, Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) is a “severe, sometimes disabling extension of premenstrual syndrome (PMS).” If you’ve had a period, you are probably already familiar with PMS. I know I am!

The difference with PMDD is that it can cause extreme changes to your mood, often resulting in severe sadness, feelings of hopelessness, severe irritability, and severe anger. These emotional symptoms can be so bad that they cause damage to your personal and professional relationships and can be extremely life-disrupting.

We don’t yet fully understand what causes PMDD, but many women report that they notice these debilitating symptoms when they reach perimenopausal age, so it's likely that hormone fluctuations are involved. I had this very issue happen to me, with what I call “menopause rage” hitting in my early 40s. It was only after I began taking the ingredients in MenoFit that I noticed an improvement in my symptoms, but I have no hard evidence to back that up. I only know how I used to feel versus how I feel now.

If you suspect that you have PMDD, the first thing you should do is to talk to your doctor. You may want to have an FSH test done to see if your hormone levels are consistent with perimenopause. FSH tests are not diagnostic tests for peri/menopause or PMDD, but they can provide insights to get your doctor started on the right line of questioning and evaluation.

The severity of your symptoms may determine what your doctor recommends, which may include antidepressants or hormonal interventions (like birth control pills). Diet and lifestyle changes (exercise is believed to be quite beneficial for PMDD), nutritional supplements like magnesium, calcium, Vitamin B-6, and L-tryptophan, as well as herbal remedies like chasteberry, may also be viable options.

MenoFit includes all of those natural ingredients, so when you speak to your doctor, pull up the list of ingredients on our website and discuss if it could be beneficial for you.

The entire reason Dani and I started this company was to give women more options to manage what peri/menopause may throw at them. Debilitating emotional symptoms can be one of those things, but you do not need to suffer from them or their negative impacts on your life and well-being. You deserve to feel your best, and menopause doesn’t have to get in the way of that!

- Vanessa

Make Your Dream Perimenopause/Menopause Retreat a Reality

We've all heard of "spa days," but what about a retreat specifically for the peri/menopausal among us? It's a thing, and you can even create your own! Find out how in this week's read.

The many benefits of olive oil

According to Dr. Rigved Tadwalkar, MD, who was interviewed by Healthline magazine, olive oil is high in monounsaturated fats, which can decrease the amount of LDL (or bad) cholesterol in your body while boosting your HDL (or good) cholesterol. The American Heart Association defines monounsaturated fats as fat molecules that have one unsaturated carbon bond in the molecule. Research shows that using olive oil can help lower the risks of developing Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is the best option to use because it is the least processed form of olive oil. You should use olive oil in place of butter, margarine, and mayonnaise when cooking and enjoying your food. The FDA recommends two tablespoons of olive oil a day. When buying olive oil, check the harvest date; if it’s 18 months past the harvest date, then the olive oil has likely gone bad. The best quality olive oil is usually stored in a dark glass. Store olive oil away from windows and industrial lights. You can use olive oil in so many ways, including when cooking, as a dressing for your salad, to bake with in place of butter, and to make sauces for casseroles or cooking meats.