Lavina Mehta - How Movement Can Help Change Your Mindset

29:38So, yeah, Indian food, I mean, if you look at the traditional food, you could call it balance, but there's obviously a lot of fried food, saturated fats. There's a lot of work to be done, I think, with the sort of traditional to how we should approach food now. And, you know, things like obviously the amount of protein that we're eating, the amount of fruit and vegetables. My mom always says, eat a rainbow. You know, her book is like, I think I gave it to you last time. designed like a rainbow because we do want that diversity. We know about gut microbiome so much now, right? The importance of that.

30:15And even just linking the vagus nerve brain to gut and that whole connection. But food plays a huge part. But again, I feel movement was probably not an education I had growing up apart from ticking the box at school. I think the breakthrough with the workouts I did over the pandemic, which I did target the South Asian community because we then saw that there was a higher risk of them dying with COVID as well. So the hospitalization rates, the diabetes didn't help. So these are stats that I was quoting that are pre-pandemic. When the next stats come out, I think it may be even worse as a community level in the South Asian community.

30:57So my passion comes from trying to help them and educate them that exercise, I think, is something that we didn't really talk about growing up. And when I see the elderly now, you know, the workouts I do with my dear mother-in-law, who's 75, we'd never exercised before. And I was camera shy, you know, like I was never planning to go public and being in this space. But my husband and son actually started doing the exercise snacks in the pandemic. And And it was before fitness content even really blew up on social media. It was a bit of a gamble. It was before, you know, the likes of Joe Wicks, who I've been honored with, which is incredible.

31:38It was before he even kind of went live. I just decided, I said to my husband, the gyms are looking a little bit dodgy now. People are getting nervous. We don't know what this virus is. And let's just start, will you come live with me? And we just started on Instagram. We went out in the garden and we just had a bit of fun. And it was to boost people's spirits, to make sure people don't feel lonely, have that sense of community and the link of exercise to our immune system. So with the pandemic, I was, you know, really trying to show people that we can use this to boost our immunity. But the breakthrough with the South Asian community is seeing the elderly and people that have probably never done a lot of exercise.

32:16You know, they may do yoga, they may move around, they may do a lot of housework like my mum. But seeing them doing body weight moves, strength training, whether it's just weight bearing or using their tin cans, plastic bottles, you don't have to have fancy gym equipment. That has been, I think, you know, a sort of light bulb moment that, yes, it's never too late. We've had up to the age of 100 join from a care home. Yeah, bless her. She had Alzheimer's. My grandmother had Alzheimer's, which is why, again, I'm very passionate about raising awareness of this sort of, I'd say, taboo subject. growing up.

32:52Dementia was never really talked about in my communities. And it's so prevalent, right? Especially being a woman, I think it's twice as likely that Alzheimer's, you have a higher risk being a female. You have an even higher risk going through menopause, which we can talk about. But brain health and exercise, physical activity is one of the best ways we can reduce our risks of dementia and Alzheimer's the image I have always pictured you I mean there are two very famous images I think that sort of always are used in the news when when they talk about you one is you in your red bragging yoga stuff yeah oh god bragging you oh god look at me and then and then the other is you and your mother-in-law yeah I need to get the red one off the internet can you not organize that keep that it's good it's good it's good it's it's credibility it's like look i'm not selling you snake oil it's you know this is actually working and and i think i think the the one that works more for my heart is you and your mother-in-law because she's in her sari and she's carrying like milk bottles or something that's her weight yeah yeah yeah milk cartons we've done yeah she's um i mean she's amazing she was you know she'd become very i'd say more introverted more quiet after losing my dear father-in-law she turned to the jane religion a lot like my grandmother became literally like a jane monk but in the uk it's a very hard religion it's very strict in terms of what you eat what you eat the timings the the pujas so the religious um prayers that they have to do and everything it's like a full-time job but it gave her purpose yeah if you don't mind me saying it's a full-time job really i mean if you You want to practice.

34:40It's like every minute of your day. Not every minute, but all through the day. It's all through the day. Every action, actually, what you eat and when you eat it. Yeah, it's all about nonviolence, right? So even the water that you drink, you boil. So there's no organisms that you can potentially harm. You know, you see the monks in India, they do their pilgrimages barefoot. It's all very minimalistic. No material attachment to anything. And it's about karma. It's about what you do in this lifetime will hopefully help you in future lifetimes. And then eventually, you know, trying to get that liberation or moksha, the enlightenment, right, at the end of life.

35:20So my amazing mother-in-law, people wonder, you know, they keep asking me again, a bit of a taboo. A lot of women say to me, is that your mom? It must be your mom because you can't get on with your mother-in-law. And I'm like, you know what? I mean, we don't really know if it's her or you. I mean, she's about nonviolence after all. If all mothers-in-law would choose nonviolence. Yeah, she's amazing. But she was very camera shy. So when I first asked her, she didn't want to be part of it, right? And she hadn't been into exercise either. She'd done a little bit of yoga. She's active. But it's been life-changing, that bond between me and her now.

35:59It's like something we never imagined we'd be doing together. But the way I say to her is, you know, this is Jainism. You're helping so many people. The fact that they see her at the age of 75. You know, my mom jumps in as well. She's 77. Your mom's not here in the UK. Mom's here. My mom's here, yeah. Still in the same childhood home, you know, where they're in Golders Green in North London. It's literally like a time warp. We go into my bedroom. It's the same as it was growing up. And we had very humble beginnings. My parents, you know, begged and borrowed to get me through private education.

36:37I feel like, you know, the thing, the sacrifices they gave up for me and my brother, you know, I'm just so grateful for. And my husband's been brought up with the same thing. My father-in-law came from Uganda, obviously expelled from Uganda, and they started off with nothing. So now I try and instill that with my own children because they're growing up in a completely different world, right? They've got pretty much everything at their fingertips. And it's trying to get that. We try and do as much charity work as possible. We try and show them the less fortune. We try and always help people because I want them to have those values.

37:11The hardship that we've seen growing up. When you started this, you got people from all over the world. How many people signed up to those exercises? Oh, I haven't counted, right? I mean, it said thousands, you know, in the press, because even when the queen found out about my workouts, it has spread, it's gone global. I've had messages during the pandemic from everywhere, from Kenya to India to Europe, all ages. The benefits have been, the feedback has been the motivation, right? Just getting someone saying, I remember someone saying that their grandmother, they found them who had MS and you know and she was unable to stand but she was still she was watching us on TV and it was more just simple mobility movements whatever she could manage and that's the message is that every minute of exercise counts and you listen to your body but it was the smiles that this grandson had seen that he messaged me and said I've never seen her smiling and happy.

38:16You know, she's going through deterioration of her body, but you kind of boosted her a little bit. And we've had, you know, people saying that they've reversed their diabetes, they've reversed their osteoarthritis. You know, both of my mums, mum and mummy, my mother-in-law, their knee pain's pretty much gone. Their osteoarthritis is gone. Their bone density's gone up. So my mother-in-law had a fall. And when they x-rayed her, you know the surgeon said how come it isn't fractured and she said I've been doing strength training with my daughter-in-law so it's it's all the things that we can't see right that I think is the magic is reframing the way we look at and the concept in simple if I understood correctly is you don't have to do an hour you can steal quite a few five minutes during the day yeah and you don't have to do them for vanity you do them to feel good about yourself you got it right that's And I think that's a very human way, if you want, to stay fit.

39:19It's kind, right? I feel like there's just so many challenges that we all go through. And midlife is tough. You know, we can touch on perimenopause. Yeah, we definitely need to. Yeah, and menopause and experiences in life like grief and, you know, losing a loved one. I mean, you've, you know, you've been through the worst imaginable to me. I think everyone has their own experiences. What you see on social media. It's not true at all. You see the bubbly Lavina and she's doing so many different things. But I often am vulnerable. And it was through the perimenopause where I went on and I cried on Instagram.

39:55And I was just very open because it really hit me hard that I hadn't realized I was in perimenopause. And I had so many signs like the brain fog. You know, my brain to me has been strong up to date. And then suddenly I was like forgetting things. And the children, you know, my husband would be like, oh, I've told you that, Laveena, how can you forget? And it started worrying me. I was thinking, A, I'm kicking off a whole new path in life that's never been planned doing, you know, what I'm doing now. But I was starting to struggle. I was starting to get a bit of anxiety, I'll be honest, which I talk about a lot still.

40:31And I was thinking maybe it's just because I'm so busy. I'm going twice, you know, twice a day I was doing lives. It's just me, myself and I don't have a team. I just wing it. You know, I'm looking at how you set up today to get tips off the guru here. Yeah. I have to say he does it all himself. And a minimalist design. So now for everyone, I've been designing this studio. It's not the best quality I understand, but I can take it with me everywhere in the world. And today I just came in two plastic bags. There you go. I'm not going to throw away the plastic bags just so that nobody thrashes me on the internet.

41:07I'm actually quite a recycling kind of person. Exactly. So tell me a little bit about that experience. It's interestingly taboo. It's taboo. I never understood that. No. Right? I mean, when I recognize, for example, that I'm not responding to exercise as I used to when I'm 25, to me that's nature. Right? This is how it is. but somehow for women and especially women in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and so on it's like don't talk about this it's not happening and it's a very lonely place. It's very lonely I mean I think you know you've touched on the communities that don't talk we've never really talked about periods.

41:50I questioned my mum a few weeks ago about my periods I was like mum you know who told me did you tell me and she said we didn't talk to you about it what do you mean she said you know you were taught at school she couldn't really remember just like she can't remember going through her menopause because it was just suppressed it was kind of like i was educated at school about periods but menopause is one topic that's still not in the education your period stopped it's far for the elementary education so you may not want to talk about it then yeah there needs to be to say i think it's important for children to understand Like I involve my husband as my dad, you know, all the men in my life, my boys.

42:29I want them to understand because they're going to have women around them, be it their partners, be it in the workplace, be it their friends, right? Their sisters. They need to understand. So periods do stop, but it's not as just simple as they stop. And the word perimenopause, I don't think was even heard of, you know, like two or three years ago. So it's definitely a taboo. And that's why I'm very passionate about trying to get, especially South Asian women, but everyone talking about this. We all need to talk about it. And I'm glad you're welcoming it. Let's talk about it. So a good chunk of my followers and listeners are women.

43:04So at a point in their life, whether they're going through it now or they've gone through it or they will go through it at a point in the future, they will go through perimenopause. So what do they need to know? So you need to know that menopause is actually one date officially. So it's where you haven't had your periods for up to 12 months. So once you don't have periods for 12 months, that is official menopause. But the perimenopause can actually be up to 10 years before that. Oh, wow. I mean, it varies, right? So what I want is for women to feel empowered. I don't want young girls to be worried about what's coming.

43:43I feel like there is a lot of talk about it in the media right now. But I want women to know that, you know, I'm thriving. I'm going through it myself. And I want it to be relatable that you can still do whatever you want to do out there. Perimenopause is very different for every individual. One in four will have no symptoms. One in four will have debilitating symptoms. And we hear a lot about tragic, you know, situations where women are at rock bottom. So it can affect your relationships. We hear about the divorce rates in midlife. It can affect your self-esteem. It can also affect women in the workplace.

44:21And this is something I'm very passionate about, putting my old corporate hat on. And when I do go into workplaces, we're losing, I think, one in 10 women have left their jobs. One in four are considering leaving their jobs due to menopausal symptoms. Oh, my God. Yeah. And if you think about the amount of women that may have had children and are going back to the workplace and that talent, you know, this phase of our life, I feel, in your midlife is the time where you maybe have, it's time for you, right? Your children are a bit older. Yeah. And it's the time where, yes, we're in that sandwich generation.

44:57Like, you know, we're going to start seeing our parents age and that's very tough. But our children are a bit older and it's that time for you. I want. Yeah. And the time where you've had experience, where you're completely ready for the world, if you want. Probably one of the best times for your success, for your freedom, for your acceptance of yourself and the conditions of the world. What symptoms should a woman look for? So symptoms were typically hot flushes. I've never had a hot flush ever. There is research that show that if you're on a plant based diet and if potentially South Asian, because most are on plant-based, you'll have less hot flushes.

45:35So don't just go with a typical hot flush. I had brain fog. My period started changing, so my menstruation cycle changed. Changing, not stopping. It changed. So it was all over the place. From the age of 40, I just thought, this is bizarre. Happy birthday, Levina. And then birthday month in March, my periods just started going haywire and becoming a personal trainer at the age of 40. I was thinking, this is not great. Right. Then I started having bouts of like chest tightness, palpitations. There were times where breathlessness, I put it down to COVID. And that's where I feel a lot of women talking about it now so openly.

46:12A lot of women's put their hands up when I say, did you confuse your perimenopause with COVID? Because I thought that was part of, you know, post-COVID, maybe I'm just getting that tightness. The anxiety was something that I've never experienced before. and that I again just suppressed. I thought I'm doing a lot, you know, I'm starting a new path. Main thing is to be in tune with your symptoms. Sleepless nights is very common. So not just hot sweats but times where you just wake up 3am and you just can't fall asleep. The symptoms are actually over 40, I think, symptoms now. So things like skin changes, hair loss, sensitivity, eye issues so I can't drive at night anymore.

46:56I went out with you know a bunch of old friends at the weekend. Every woman there Mo said to me I can't drive at night and it's not because our eyesight has degraded. It's just there's something around your eyes and night driving and the glare. There's a whole host of symptoms and what I want women to do is just keep track of your symptoms. Now the main thing being 40 I was always told I'd be too young and the main message I want to get out there, especially to any South Asian women watching and black women, is that the science is showing that we may go through it five years earlier than the average white female.

47:33And the average white female would go through menopause at 51. But if we could potentially start going, hitting that point at 45, your perimenopause could start in your late 30s. Wow. Early 40s. Yeah. So mine started at 40. And even that, people look at me and say, you can't be menopausal, you look too young. And it's very different for everyone. Like I said, one in four will have no symptoms. Yeah. Lucky you. And then by 51? By 51, the average age, I think I'll go through it earlier. My mom does remember when her period stopped is about 47. So I'm potentially heading down similar routes. It's always good if you can ask your mum if she's around, you know, to just check in because it could be a genetic link there.

48:21But I think, you know, there's a lot around HRT, as you know, so that's hormone replacement therapy. And there was a lot of bad press, you know, going back 10, 15, 20 years ago, there was a lot of issues with the old HRT, but now there is body identical HRT. I'm on HRT myself. That is just a decision I decided to make in consultation with your health care practitioner. So I'm not pushing HRT to every woman. It's something that some women can't take. If you've had breast cancer, if you've had a hysterectomy, you go through early menopause as well. So that's even important to point out. Everyone's journey is very different.

49:05The main message I'm getting out there is that exercise and lifestyle changes will get you through this. Hold that thought. We need to get into the depth of what it is before what we can do about it. So let me summarize as someone who is a man who absolutely needs to be aware. So this is not a message for the women only, right? So this is a message. If you have a woman in your life, and every one of us has a woman in his life in some capacity or another, this is something that you need to learn, right? But definitely also for the women, because I have to say in general, life is so demanding of the superwomen of today that one more of those experiences can be pinned to the wrong reason.

49:52And you don't know what you're going through. So you could think it's stress at work or you could think that, you know, your partner this or lack of partner or you're being single or whatever. But you could also think that this is associated with menopause. So what you taught me here, which is very eye opening for me, is it could start earlier than 45. And you're saying it can start as early as late 30s? Yeah, I mean, I've heard, you know, there's, I don't know the statistics right now, but more and more women are talking about it. More and more women I meet say that they started early, especially in the South Asian community.

50:27I would say start getting in tune with your body, right? You need to start logging your symptoms. Keep a tracker. There's some free apps. You know, there's brilliant resources out there so that when you do feel like you go to your GP and GPs need training. So part of the menopause mandate that I'm working with is, A, to get that education into the national curriculum here so that people are aware. It's part of your school curriculum. GPs haven't been trained. They haven't been given enough time. So it's really hard when you suddenly get all this demand and talk about menopause. That's why we've got HRT shortages, right, that people then go to their GP demanding HRT.

51:08So be in tune with your symptoms. You've got to track them so that you then go to that appointment, which can sometimes be just 10 minutes on the NHS, which is already, we know, struggling, right? GPs are struggling, let alone having just 10 minutes to talk about this in depth. So you need to go equipped. And your symptoms may vary every month. And we forget, right? If you start getting brain fog or if you're forgetting things, it's even more important to log it. But I would like to say, Mo, just the fact that we're even talking about this, I really appreciate you bringing this up. A very, very important topic, I tend to believe.

51:42Should a woman expect that this will change her lifestyle, her sexuality, her... I was going to say, yeah. Yeah. So a lot of the time I found that the conversation sort of triggers... I don't know how to say this. I'll say it as it is, which is what I always do. Women that come to me talking about this stage of their life sort of start feeling like am I less of a woman than I used to be and I and I know for a fact that this is not the truth so so tell me a little bit about that should a woman expect that is that what menopause is about or is it not no I feel like menopause is you know the new beginning they call it the second spring absolutely right it's like we've talked about I don't want women to feel like it's all over I mean that's the sort of taboo that I have in my cultures is that you kind of, no one used to talk about it.

52:37My mom's generation never talked. It was kind of shunned upon that you lose your fertility, right? You just become like an old, haggard old woman. And, you know, lack of libido as well is something that people don't talk about enough. But so many couples go through challenges. You know, just being parents is tough on a relationship. Just living in this rat race, this environment post-pandemic is tough. Then you start having other layers, right? So if the men in your lives don't really understand what you're going through, that's where so many relationships and marriages unfortunately fail at this point.

53:12And lack of libido, again, that can lead on to so many self-esteem, self-confidence issues. And yes, we do put on weight in midlife, especially as women. Look at me. I mean, it's not menopause. It's andropause. Yeah, there's andropause. Is there such a thing? So your testosterone. Did you see people? This is why. So, yeah, andropause is a thing that's not talked about. At the moment, everyone's talking about this is the menopause revolution, which I'm thrilled about because we need to educate everyone around us about women's health. From periods to sex, to menstruation, to menopause, right? And beyond because it's midlife where we're even more susceptible to chronic diseases.

53:59So andropause affects men very differently. So it's not as, I would say, like we know that every woman's going to go through menopause. But you hear about, right, the midlife crisis for men. So I feel like it's a conversation that is going to start coming out more and more. Because it's not just women that go through things in life. It's all of us. And it's how we embrace it, how we try and get that mental resilience, how we change our mindset and how we find easy tools. You know, I'm all about how things that are accessible to all ages. I want, you know, exercise to be accessible. I want us to make little tweaks to our food.

54:41Our sleep is so fundamental. Like when I was struggling with sleep during my perimenopause, that affects everything. It affects your motivation to exercise, right? It affects your mood. It affects your ability to concentrate, your energy. So sleep is a fundamental like pillar of health, I feel. And the tools that we all use for stress management, be it, you know, the breath snacks that I do at the beginning of every workout when I go live. You know, I still do them for free with my mother-in-law. But we start with breathing techniques. I feel like that is one of the most powerful tools we can all use.

55:16And if you don't know about breath, you know, we can even we can do one now if you want and teach people some simple moves, you know, the things you can do at your chair when you're stuck at your desk. But breath is a great tool. Journaling is fabulous. Gratitude, which I know you are the king of gratitude. I call it the vitamin G, you know, like have your daily dose of vitamin G. We need to kind of find this feel good toolkit. things that you enjoy and things that you can equip yourself with because I want women to thrive through this phase that's I think that's the point and I think the the reason why it's important to understand that this is not just women is I'll have to say very openly that I'm a different man than I was in my 30s right but I feel more of a man than I than I was in my 30s and I have I've known, you know, it's funny when I think about it because, you know, of course I have friends from all ages and I have relationships and maybe exes from all ages.

56:19And I actually tend to believe that the response to menopause is highly dependent on the woman's approach to it. Okay. There is, in my personal view, a woman in her 40s is this is the age of I'm going to be who I am. I'm going to live it fully. and yes, while our bodies change, they also changed from teen to twenties. They also changed from twenties to thirties. And my message is this should not be pulling you back. This should be something that invites you to a different lifestyle and that different lifestyle empowers you and enables you more. And so you're saying the answers are found in feel good activities and lifestyle and also feel-good exercises.

57:06So how does exercise help at all? So exercise helps us mentally. Like we've talked about, you know, this release of feel-good endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, like all these incredible hormones that are in your body. As your estrogen levels drop, so belly weight, right? It's actually proven scientifically that as your estrogen levels drop that that adipose tissue, you're just going to collect your fat cells, unfortunately women, around your belly. And especially if you've been through childbirth, the main thing I get asked is what's happening to my belly? I just can't lose it. So this is part, unfortunately, of our change in our hormones.

57:47I look at HRT, hormone replacement therapy, more as hormone rebalancing therapy. Women are living 30 to 40 years longer than we used to. And in terms of bone health, brain health, and heart health, so I'll touch on those. Bone health, we start losing our bone density as we age. So that leads to osteoporosis. Exercise is incredible for that. That's why I want everyone, men and women, to be doing strength training. I feel like a lot of people just go to cardio and strength training is a missing piece of the jigsaw. So that's going to be incredible to help your bones stay strong alongside your cardio.

58:29But I want strength training to be part of your fitness routine. Then we've got brain health and we've touched on dementia and Alzheimer's. But the the fact that exercise helps your hippocampus, your prefrontal cortex, your ability has BDNF. Right. So that's brain derived neurotrophic factor. and that is almost like a fertilizer for the brain. It is literally. It's like the miracle grower, right, if you're a gardener. And when you exercise, you release BDNF. I mean, this is all the science that I'm researching and the writing that I'm doing at the moment. You also have things called myokines. So we talk about muscles and I touched on how I feel that muscle is key for longevity.

59:17So I want us to think about, as we reframe the way we look at fitness and our lifestyles, it's not just now, but how we age, right? We want to be as independent as possible. We hopefully don't want to be a burden, you know, to our children. As much as possible, we want to age gracefully and as well as we can. And muscle is, we start losing our muscle mass from the age of 30. So it's called sarcopenia. They say you lose between one and 3 % a year after your 30s through menopause you can lose up to 20 percent and up to 20 percent 20 a year well they're saying through menopause so i'm not sure if it's um a year but through the phase so it's obviously it's basically greater you're at higher risk of losing muscle mass which is why we want to build lean muscle not only is that going to help you on your weight loss journey because i know even though i say it's not about how we look obviously how we feel in our clothes can affect us, right?

1:00:18So yes, weight loss is going to be a byproduct of everything I'm talking about. But the more muscle mass you have, that's metabolically active, right? That's going to help us burn more calories. So you're going to burn and lose more weight. So that's going to help us reduce risks of things like type 2 diabetes, of heart disease, of all, you know, so many different types of cancers. And the last one is, so I've touched bone health, brain health and heart health. So obviously our hearts, even as women through midlife, we are more susceptible to cardiovascular disease. So strokes, heart attacks, it's all kind of linked, right?

1:00:58We want to keep our heart strong, our lungs strong. It's all of our organs that are going to benefit through movement, exercise, lifestyle changes. So I guess, yeah, menopause is that point in life that I want you to think about now and beyond. And it's this kind of aging well, you know, like how we think about it. You're going to be able to stand up on your own. That's why I say to everyone, get your squats in, you know, like do your sit and stands, as I call them. Is even if we're sitting right now, we could be getting up every half an hour and just adding in 10 squats. My wonderful Ali, when I started to age, I mean, he was still around when I started to age and he would tell me, no, no, I think you're doing well.

1:01:39You're, what did he say? You're aging in a George Clooney way. I swear. He was so sweet. I can see the resemblance. It was so sweet in saying that. And there is actually a description in my mind for that, right? And I will say this once again, I actually think that there is that very big myth that as you age as a man, you add more value. And as you age as a woman, you lose value. I think that's crap. Yes, let's just blow that out now. Absolutely. I think some of the most attractive women on the planet are in their late 40s and 50s. You know, it is a mindset much more. Of course, mindset that is followed through with exercise, with practice.

1:02:21It's life experience, right? And you kind of think about your priorities. And do I really care what other people think now, right? Absolutely. I've been through so many. We've all been through our own challenges. Correct. And we've got through them. And now's your kind of time to shine. If you have a passion out there, just follow it. You don't know where it's going to take you. And in an interesting way, almost like my philosophy around happiness, it's a choice. Right. You can choose to age in a certain way or choose to age in a different way. And the difference between them is, of course, intention first and then action.

1:02:56Right. And so what we're saying here is, yes, it's an interesting, unfamiliar phase, menopause specifically, for sure. And perimenopause is even more unfamiliar if you're not aware of it. So perhaps the best and first step is to look into how do you make yourself aware and then what do you do to make it work? Any types of foods specifically that you think are not pro or pro your health in those phases? Yeah, so I think obviously protein is important in our diets. You know, I feel like when we talk about, you know, Indian food as well, we want to make sure protein is there. Not only is that going to help with your muscle building that I want us all to be doing, but it helps you feel satiated as well, right?

1:03:42So we're less likely to binge because when you are feeling down or when you're struggling, often people do turn to cravings, binging, right? What is it called? Game of Thrones and four bags of chips. Yes. Exactly. Exactly. So think about protein in your diet. I'm not saying I'm not into calorie counting. I'm into balanced plates. Yeah. I'm not a nutritionist. This is just from my mom, from, you know, the knowledge that I've picked up. Diversity is important. The most important thing is to try and minimize the ultra processed foods. You know, we can see a lot of people talking about that at the moment.

1:04:18It's a home cooked, fresh, colorful greens, lots of vegetables, lots of fruits, natural ingredients, right? When we look at the packets of the things that we pick up, I was telling my kids the other day, that when we look at the ingredients and you look at these things that we don't find in our kitchens, right? Yeah, I'm starting more and more to say, because of course, every healthy woman I know will say, read the label before you buy something. I decided to stop buying things that have label on yeah i don't read the label my husband is very strict yeah he went through you know his own health journey he was i think two and a half times the size that he is now and i mean look at him he's even yeah you'll have to meet him next mo yeah come home for a curry and meet menol he's 51 and um he started his i'd say feel good journey after me you know it wasn't like i said anything to him but we just got to that point it was like i'm gonna lose her i need to work on it.

1:05:17I just said you're looking like I'd say a typical Indian uncle. His stomach was out here. We didn't even realize. We're so busy. The kids were growing up. Indian families love it when you put on weight. Ouch. Ouch. When you get that message for the first time and then you look down. You know what? He went, he was like, that's it. It was that light bulb moment. And he said, you watch before my 40th birthday. And he put his mind to it. He's very good at focus, determination. He's stricter than me when it comes to food. And there's times where we're talking about labels, you know, when he'll look at the label, I'm like, no, I love my food too much.

1:05:52My mom's a chef. It's all about balance. But I don't think it's about calorie counting. I think it's about having everything in moderation. Don't cut things out. You know, even hydration is just so important, right? Like, it's gonna, it affects your brain cells, right? Our bodies are made up of so much water that we need water we need look at your food but look at everything around you as well and most of the stuff we're talking about is free like I say all the exercises that I promote I want them to be free it's not tied to it why do you do that I want it to be accessible I want this to be literally used by everyone I need to like you know how you say conquer the world.

1:06:34I just feel like this is such easy stuff that I want to share it with everyone. I feel like everyone can make a change today. You can just start off small. I'm not saying do everything that we've talked about in one go, but just start off with one small step, you know, as the saying goes, and watch the ripple effect, like how not it just makes you feel, but how it affects your your family your work your relationships your mindset your approach your confidence yeah you can see i get very passionate about this i i think it's really really quite logical when you see it because you know when we when we in the happiness scene tell people meditate just five minutes a day just do five minutes a day right that's a snack it's a snack it really basically it's what you're saying is a get up uh you know and sit down and get up and sit down and get up and sit down.

1:07:27Everything's a snack, yeah. So I've got stretch snacks. Yeah. Literally stretching is that part, you know, where people… Yeah, I suck at that. Yeah, and our mobility is affected, our range of movement. Like the amount of people that I say, can you even lift your elbow up and make it nice and straight here because of this kyphosis of the spine. Our joints are craving that full range of movement. You know, the amount of knee pain, shoulder pain. stretching is something that I feel is like self-care even if you could just do two minutes every night that's all I'm asking just do three stretches in the morning any time of day yeah morning is but I'd started this morning with yeah I did literally I was rushing I did three minutes of stretching I did one minute of my breath snack so it's like your meditation and I wrote a little positive affirmation in my journal and I was like I'm gonna have the best time with Mo today And then you look like this.

1:08:23Oh, gosh, no. Are you allowed to talk about your book or not yet? Yes. What is it about? I would love to talk to you. So it's coming out next May. Hopefully we can talk about it properly. Mine seems to be coming out around the same time, so we're competitors. We're not competitors. We should launch together. They're both helping people, right? No, but probably Unstressable will come out earlier. Amazing. What do you call it? The title hasn't been finalized. I know, publishers are like that. I know, you've been through it. So I can't reveal the title yet. All I can reveal is that you can see I'm writing, I'm researching.

1:09:03It's all scientifically backed. It's got to try and make people realize that even a minute counts. Yeah, it's all about the idea of snacking. Exercise snacking, lifestyle snacking, self-care. So stuff that's going to help you feel good, not just physically, but mentally, and help us reduce risks of chronic illnesses. okay so uh teaser i'm going to get you back to talk about it but i i have to say the the what we spoke about today is sufficient to create a mindset change okay that no one has an excuse to say my body is changing i don't want to take care of myself anymore or i'm busy i can't go to the gym so i don't want to take care of myself anymore it's you know a few minutes several times a day more than enough.

1:09:50A few choices go a very long way. Amazing. Yeah, definitely. And I have to say, I really wanted Laveena to be here with us because of the menopause conversation, which I have to say is, you say it's taboo in the Eastern communities. I think it's taboo everywhere. Okay. In terms of you don't feel good about it. So you don't discuss it openly with everyone. I think just like my salt and pepper beard, I feel very proud to be a little older. And I think there is a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot to be found in how you go through that beautiful phase in your life, commanding it fully that requires us to have this conversation so that every woman hears it.

1:10:37Thank you, Mo. Thank you for bringing this important topic to the conversation. I think social connection is so important through midlife as well. It's not just about, you know, the power of social media. I thank social media for giving me this platform and, you know, for all of us to be able to share messages like this, but nothing beats that social connection. I think the more women talk to each other about what they're going through, you will see, and it's, you know, people come up to me and my husband. I love it when they come up to my husband and they say, my wife is going through this and I'm glad, you know, he's done lives with me.

1:11:11It's probably the most vulnerable Instagram live I've ever done. I can't watch it. I've literally not watched it back. And he didn't want to talk about menopause, but I said, Menor, you need to. I do tease him because his name's Menor. He wasn't, you know, sure about coming on and talking about it. And I said, it's going to really be important that we have an Indian man talking about a subject like this. And oh gosh, it he was we were both very vulnerable we talked about the impact it's had on our relationship we talked about you know very personal things but we've had people come up to him and saying you saved my marriage thank god you guys did that because I've watched it now with my wife there's amazing documentaries out there on the menopause there's incredible resources you know that I talk about a lot but yeah get empower yourself with that knowledge and track your symptoms and just know that you can get through this.

1:12:06And be social about it. Talk about it. There's no shame there. This is really part of how we are. I am really grateful that you were. It was worth waiting two years for this. Thank you so much for coming on. Everyone, this is truly important for me. I have been in my happiness work attempting to look at reasons for unhappiness that are so preventable, so preventable. You know, our fitness, our health, our stages of life and seasons. When you take them as they are, as part of life, and just enjoy them and go through them with a slightly different lifestyle. The idea of going to the gym eight times a week, you know, is very much a 25-year-old lifestyle with the amount of work that I do now.

1:12:52A bit of exercise snacking and lifestyle snacking good work a lot better for someone like me. But I think the idea is this. The idea is that those topics are so easily removed from your unhappiness list just by paying attention to them. So do that. We gave you sort of a bit of a shake and a wake-up call here, man or woman, if you have a woman in your life, you really need to be aware of those seasons and stages. And yeah, and then go out there and do your own research. It's not that complicated. Lavinia's work is quite popular online. We'll have all of her contacts in the show notes. So reach out and look for what she has to say because it truly is working for her.

1:13:36I mean, look at her. So with that, I am very grateful for your time today. I really appreciate that you give me the opportunity to spend time with wonderful friends and knowledgeable, wise people to have those conversations for myself, but then hopefully to share them with every one of you. If you like them, share them with others, make others aware. Do take a minute or two to rate us positively on YouTube or on your podcast player. Those things do help get others to listen and watch slow-mo. With that, take a few minutes this week and slow down and look at your health and your stage of life. Those things matter.

1:14:16I love you all for listening and I will see you next time.