A Herbal Approach to Menopause Symptoms

Season 1 • Episode 4
Ed Joy, Herbalist

For centuries, people have used herbs in a medicinal capacity, from ancient civilisations through to today, where many modern pharmaceutical drugs are originally derived from plant extracts. Drop into any health food store and you’ll find a whole range of herbal supplements; chat to your friends and they may swear by a miracle herb that banished their hot flushes but you might not find it so effective, so it’s obviously not a one-size-fits-all solution.

In this episode, I’ve invited herbalist Ed Joy to join me so that he can demystify herbs for us and give you some practical suggestions for a herbal approach to your symptoms. Ed has over 20 years’ experience and he weaves a combination of homeopathy, naturopathy and nutrition into his work, taking a truly holistic approach.

Find out why you should be stocking up on sage; which herbs might help with hot flushes, and how to calm your nervous system and reduce anxiety with supportive plant compounds. Ed is a positive mine of information about herbs and the best way to approach them. He also shares some brilliant foodie tips about the benefit of cooking with herbs, so that it’s not just all about over-the-counter remedies.

I learned a lot from my conversation with Ed and am viewing herbs with a whole new perspective now. I hope you enjoy listening.

Show Notes

To find out more about Ed and the work that he does, follow him on Twitter and Instagram.

You can read articles about herbs and other therapeutic foods written by Ed on his website The ND.

Useful Resources and Products

Here are some of the websites and services that we discussed or that are relevant to the theme of the podcast:

Bionutri: check out the naturopathic, food-based supplements company that Ed advised on product development. I’m a big fan of their products.

Aquasol is a new herbal tea that Ed has been working on. It’s due to launch soon and you can keep an eye out for it by following Aquasol on Facebook and Instagram.

It’s a lot cheaper if you buy your nuts and seeds in bulk online. Here are some options: Wholefoods Online   Infinity Foods or Suma

One of my favourite recipe websites is BBC Good Food. Here are some links to recipes using nuts and seeds.

A quick shout-out for The Happy Menopause sponsors Sylk: their plant-based lubricant is entirely in tune with the theme of this episode! Visit their website to claim your FREE sample.