- Hi! This is Lea Woodford with Between the Lines.
And I am in beautiful Las Vegas with new author,
Kelli Jaecks.
And Kelli, gotta tell you. Love love love this book.
- Thank you. - Martinis and Menopause.
- (laughs) Yes.
- There's a story behind that.
Why don't you tell me about the inspiration for your book?
- Sure. Well, I'm a speaker so I travel across the country
and speak to women's groups all the time
about health issues.
And women just want answers, like,
"What's going on with my body? Why is this changing?
Why am I having these hot flashes?
Why am I becoming a witch to everyone I love?"
And I called it Martinis and Menopause because,
first of all, I love to drink a Martini now and then,
but I think we need to have fun in life,
even when we're changing and
we are having things that aren't really that great
feeling inside of us. - Right.
- But the Martini to me also is a metaphor for--
You gotta hang out with people who love you.
You know, women need to be supported by other women
around them. - Absolutely.
- And so, I mean, I know that's one of your messages.
You don't hang around with people who are negative.
- Absolutely. - You know,
people who don't get you, people who are unkind.
But you need your tribe.
And so, - We do need a tribe.
- Yeah. So for me, the Martini
is like the metaphor for that as well.
Getting together with your girl friends.
- You know, one of the things that I really liked about it
was, it was empowering, but it was a lot of fun.
And it was a really great read, with a lotta common sense.
- Thank you. That was my goal.
I like to take the science 'cause there's really
scientific reasons physiologically
why women get these symptoms, you know,
everything from the hot flash to our skin changes,
you know, to the way we crave different foods during
this time of life. - Carbs? (laughs)
- The carbs. Yeah.
There's really science behind science behind that.
So I like to take the science and make it accessible.
But then give really easy strategies.
What can we do to live better?
- Absolutely.
One of the things that I really liked about it too is,
you know, I have read the Menopause books and it's like
a medical journal. - Yes.
- I don't know about you guys,
but I just can't get in to those.
- Well, right. That was one of the reasons I wrote it too,
because you know, I'm a menopause survivor and,
you know all the menopause books are written by doctors,
primary care or OB-GYN.
And you're right.
They're more clinical, and I wanted to write a book
that women would pick up off the shelf, you know.
And have a great time reading it, and really get some
take-home strategies that would help her feel better.
- Well, I liked that you really kind of incorporated
fun stuff that you gave the medical,
that you kinda put it in bite-size pieces.
- Well, thank you. (laughs)
Who wants to read a medical journal, right?
- Not me. - No, right.
So I just really tried to make it accessible to the woman.
So when I'm talkin' about
the neurotransmitters in the brain, right, you know,
I'm gonna call it the King-kong molecule, for example.
You know I just wanna make it easy
for people to understand really what's going on.
And they're not going crazy.
Many women feel alone in this time of life
because their emotions are changing, their body is changing,
a lot of times, relationships are changing,
and they feel alone and ashamed.
And that's one of my messages is,
"No. There's no shame in aging.
There's no shame in going through menopause.
It's a normal, natural part of our human experience.
So let's talk about it."
- Wow! That's a big statement right there.
This has been shoved under the rug
for a really - Yes.
- long time and women are embarrassed.
- Women are embarrassed. Our mothers didn't talk about it.
Our grandmothers didn't talk about it, you know.
- Our mother didn't talk about menstruation.
- Exactly! And you think about, every woman has a story
of the first time she got her period.
- Oh my God, yes. - We all have
a story.
And we remember that.
And some, for most women, there's kind of--
You're embarrassed.
You're ashamed. - Traumatic!
- And traumatic, right.
And it's like, no.
And so now, you're on the other end of the spectrum
when you've left the reproductive zone
which really is what menopause is.
And so again, why are they shamed? Right?
It's a normal natural part of aging.
- It is, but one of the things
that I really liked about your book too is you make women
feel good about the change, and embracing it,
and gave some great strategies, but again, the characters,
(Kelli laughs) I love the characters
in the book. Now, tell me.
Who was your favorite character in the book?
- Oh, I grew to love my characters so much.
I think I really like the one
who she's dealing with her hot flashes,
because so many women deal with that.
And you know, her-- she's at work in the story,
you know trying to take her jacket off,
and she's running a meeting.
And she's sweating and she touches her hands on the table
and leaves sweat marks.
'Cause you know, she's just hot.
And usually that's a universal symptom.
75% of women suffer from hot flashes at some point.
So I enjoyed writing about her
'cause I knew she would relate to a lot of women.
- You know, and you gave them all names.
- Yeah, I did.
- I just-- Would you share with our audience
about the hot flash queen?
What's her name?
- I think her name is Teresa, and I really had--
Every time I wrote about a character,
I have either a friend of mine
or a compilation of my friends, right, to create the story.
Women I know, women who have been through these symptoms
whether it's, you know,
"I want my wine and chips," the food cravings,
or the night sweats,
right? - Yeah.
My poor head's gonna have to sleep in a turtleneck.
- Yeah, yeah. Right. I know, right?
And it's really great when I speak in audiences,
of course, women very much relate to what I'm saying but
the men in the audience do too,
because they're like, "Oh wow, you help me understand."
- I know. And you know, I like the medical information.
There is really. - Uh hmm.
- And I loved your common sense approach.
Now, how did writing this book impact your life?
- Well that-- It's been a great journey.
Of course, it was a life culture at the book,
but I just really wanted to write for the women,
to help women feel better about themselves.
And how it's impacted me is I've started doing events.
Now I run these Martinis and Menopause soirees.
And they're like a cocktail atmosphere event.
I invite women. I collaborate with local business owners.
And we go into an establishment and we have drinks
and you know, eating.
And then I talk for about a half hour,
20 minutes to half hour, on a certain symptom.
- I love it.
- Yes. I give the science of why,
and then what are we gonna do about it?
And tell the stories, the funny stories,
and really what it does, it creates this community
where women feel okay
to talk about what they're goin' through.
- You know, you're bringing it out of the closet,
and out from under the rug.
And I think women need that
because I know, when it happened to me, I felt really alone.
- Hm-hmm...
- And again, it's embarrassing.
And I'm talking about it on national television.
- (laughs) Right. - You know.
- Well right. We do feel alone when we do feel isolated.
And again that shame piece.
And I'm like, "Nope, no more shame."
I say, "Go meno!" You know, "Let's have a new chance."
Right?
- You know what I love too, though, is you are beautiful.
- Oh, thank you. - You are beautiful
and I think when women go through menopause, they really,
you know, we hear hair falls out.
You know, you get old all of a sudden.
- The weight gain.
- The weight gain! Oh let's not even get
started about that. - Right.
- I think you're showing women that there's a different way.
And a fun way.
- And fun way! Right.
I think we have to celebrate ourselves, you know.
We all are given the genetics that were given,
and then we have different life circumstances
that we go through, so really, it's your genetics
and it's your lifestyle.
And I try to talk about lifestyle.
What can you do to feel better, to look better,
to go through life loving yourself.
I think self-care
is a huge message as you read my book in
all of the chapters. - Right. Yes.
- How you're gonna take care of yourself,
because women, particularly,
I think we always to take care of others first.
- Always.
- But in reality, we have to take care of ourselves, first,
so we can love others more,
and give more to our world and our community.
I know you're a big philanthropist
and you give back to your community, and I do too.
But if you're not at your best self,
I'm not at my best self,
taking care of ourselves,
then we don't have as much to give.
- Absolutely.
- So that's another message.
It's like "Self-care, ladies!
What are you gonna do this week to take care of yourself?"
- You know that's very true.
We're so busy taking care of the kids,
the husband, - Hm-hmm.
The parents. - The house.
The pa-- The parents! - Yep. Yes.
- They're aged, you know.
We're seein' which generation. - Yes.
- We still got the kids.
Now we're taking care
of the parents. - Yep.
- You know, you addressed so many issues in this book.
- Yes, well. I know it's ten chapters,
based on the the ten top symptoms that women go through
during this stage of life.
And then I end it with a fantastic four,
which are the four things that we can do
for any of the symptoms to help us.
- Kelli, so much great information.
Do you have one piece of information
that you can give our viewing audience
especially when it comes to bio-identical hormones?
- Yes. Well, I'm a big believer in bio-identical hormones.
- Me too.
- And I think, really, the biggest tip is
every woman, we need to be our own health advocate.
You need to be aware of what is going on with your body.
How am I feeling today?
What's going in me physically, mentally, emotionally?
And then, seek your answers. In this book,
I hope, - Hold your book up.
- is really going to be an answer for many women.
What is going to help you the most? Right?
It's chock-full of tips.
And bio-identical hormones, most women need them,
to feel their best selves through this journey.
- You know what? I think that every natural path
and every OB-GYN needs this book.
I really do. - As of this.
- It was really impactful and powerful,
but it was really a fun read.
- Right. And women are dying for answers. They wanna know.
And how can I find a bio-identical hormone doctor
who will prescribe that, right?
- Right. - And sometimes,
it's not an MD. Sometimes it is a natural path.
You know, sometimes it's a nurse practitioner.
So we need to
look at-- - Aren't they great?
- Oh I love-- My nurse practitioner, as well.
I use a nurse practitioner (Lea laughs)
for my women's health issues and just, love her to pieces,
because she really takes that time to listen and
test for me specifically.
- I love that.
Now Kelli, how can people get your book
and find out more about you?
- Well, thank you very much.
I have two different websites.
Martinisandmenopause.com, goin' by the book there.
You can also buy the book on Amazon.
And then my personal website is kellijaecks.com.
And there's link and a button
for the book on both of those websites.
So kellijaecks.com and martinisandmenopause.com.
- This has been great, Kelli. Thank you so much!
- Thank you for having me, Lea.
What a pleasure to be here with you
and to spend the message of women's health. Thank you.
- Thank you!
This has been Lea Woodford with Between the Lines.
Thanks for watching.