Period pain should not be normal. Hormonal imbalances are not normal; stop keeping up with period pain, acne, sore breasts. Don’t mask the symptoms, but instead support your body holistically with the one superfood product that is specially designed for women. FEM21 contains 21 plant-based ingredients helping the liver and digestive cleansing, alkalising the body and hormonal balance for women.
We meet with Meah Robertson, based on the Gold Coast, naturopath for over 12 years with a strong clinical background. After creating many individual formulas she found that there was not one product that would help with hormonal balance for women, body alkalizations as well as nutritional support. FEM21 is the product that has got all the good stuff packed in just one spoon.
If you want to listen to the full podcast instead of the long reading, click here. We hope you enjoy the interview Meah as much as we did!
Meah, what is your background?
I am a naturopath and I have been consulting in women’s health, specialising in the naturopath area for the past 12+ years. FEM21 was really created based on my clinical experience working with women, which is still part of my naturopathic work.
What are general benefits of naturopathy?
I really feel that naturopathy looks at treating the underlying cause, and support somebody’s body holistically – so we are not just looking at treating a symptom but we look at why the symptom is there, what imbalances are there and working the bodies systems together. So say, for example, somebody is experiencing period pain. Instead of just taking Nurofen or painkillers for the period pain we are looking at why that body is feeling that pain, what the underlying cause is in terms of inflammation, or hormonal imbalances, or potential issues with the liver and the gut… We work to support those areas to then treat that and long-term get rid of the period pain, rather than just masking the symptoms.
When you created FEM21, was that a product trying to cover a gap that you were found with other products?
I have been working clinic preparing herbal medicine, individualized formulas for women. All these were related to women’s health and fertility, hormonal imbalances, like polycystic ovarian syndrome, endometriosis and menopause, and a variety of different hormonal conditions that women can have problems with. I was doing liquid herbal formulas and recommending different nutritional supplements when I found that there wasn’t anything available that combined the herbal medicine as well as the nutritional support, and so I did feel there was a gap in the market there. And that’s when FEM21 came in to specifically support hormonal balance. But then holistically coming from that naturopathic background, also support adrenal health, the liver, the gut, and alkalizing the body and giving specific herbs to help with inflammation, antioxidants, circulation, and blood sugar levels and a variety of different things on the one formula.
“Interestingly enough, a lot of women just feel like hormonal imbalances are almost normal and they just got to accept them.”
So with this one formula, you would be able to solve these at once?
So yes, it treats from a multitude of different levels and helps the body to rebalance so it’s not like medicine to overwrite your body’s symptoms but just point them back in the right direction for healing. Then, everybody is different, with different responses in terms of timeframe, some women feel a difference taking it like in a week, others can be in like a month or two… It really just depends!
To what type of women would you recommend using FEM21, are the ones that feel some sort of imbalance?
Yes, and interestingly enough, a lot of women just feel like hormonal imbalances are almost normal and they just got to accept them. Whether it’s acne or sore breasts, irregular cycles, and they think “oh, well, this is just part of being women, I have put up with these painful periods” or whatever it might be. But the thing is, that those symptoms that your body is exhibiting or showing are telling you that something is not right, that something is out of balance. And so when you tune in and you listen to that and are aware of those things, then you can support your body to rebalance to resolve those symptoms.
And how can someone listen to their body?
I guess the first thing is establishing what you want in terms of your optimal health. Because that’s different for everybody, for some people just maintaining their weight and having enough energy to go to work and look after their kids are enough. But other people might feel that they want, for example, clear skin, loads of energy and I want to be able to lose weight easily and do exercise. If they are struggling to do the things that they want to do in their lives and maintain like what I call a smooth level of sailing. If you are smooth sailing and the things are going well, and you are maintaining and you are happy, then great! But if there are things that you are not happy with, whether it’s skin or sore boobs, or weight or hot flashes, or trouble getting pregnant… So then knowing those signs and symptoms, then there’s something we need to do here to fix that. And that’s when you are going down that road of trying natural supplements or products or seeing a naturopath or your doctor.
So you mentioned, everybody is different in the timeframe from they will start noticing some changes. But what sort of changes will manifest, is it related to the problems they are trying to solve?
For some people it can be, for example, if their gut was sluggish, they are having trouble with their digestive system or moving the bowels they can take FEM21 and see a difference pretty quickly, within let’s say a week or two. But for other women, say that we are looking at improving their energy levels or working on their period pain, or premenstrual symptoms it could be between a month to three months until they starting to see a shift and resolution in those sort of symptoms.
What are the ingredients of FEM21, and what are they good for?
There are 21 ingredients and that’s where the name comes from haha! The formula is designed for hormonal balancing, that’s why the herbs are specific for estrogen and progesterone balance in that metabolism; some of the herbs are the chaste tree, broccoli, rosemary, black cohosh, and licorice. And then there are herbs in there that help with liver function, like dandelion, and milk thistle, again, rosemary, broccoli, helping with the metabolism of hormones through the liver. It contains fiber (both soluble and insoluble), which is good for the gut, also probiotics, antioxidants, such as ginger, cinnamon, and raspberry, and greens like wheatgrass, barley grass,… all packed in there!
Also important, what ingredients are not present in the product, the ones that could at the same time cause secondary effects that you don’t want?
That’s right, so that’s not uncommon for natural products to also have fillers, and agents that are combined, or mixing agents. So the thing is with FEM21 is that it is nothing artificial or synthetic in it. The formula is literally all that says on the label.
How often would you recommend to take FEM21? Is it different from each woman?
It’s pretty average; most women are doing well with one scoop once a day, as a maintenance dose. But for some women, especially when they are starting and working on a specific issue, during an initial couple of months, they can up the those to 2 scoops a day. And they can do that in the lead into their period, or if they are having issues around oscillation, or if there are hot flashes that are particularly bad, or they are feeling their gut is a bit upset. Also, for women whose weight is between 75 or 200 kilos, they do better on 2 scoops a day. And for those women that their weight is less than 45 kilos, and that goes for teens as well, they are better on a half scoop.
Any recipes you could mix the product with so we can enjoy and get 100% out of it?
Yes, so the thing I say with FEM21 is that it is functional, not fun! So it’s more so about getting it down, however, that happens. Personally, I like the taste of it because it’s kind of licorice, combined with other nice flavors like raspberry and cinnamon, which helps to balance out the bitterness of some of the other herbs. On the other hand, the fiber is really what gets people like that textured feeling of bits in the mouth. Generally, what I suggest for people that struggle with taste is to have it in a green smoothie, so you can mix a handful of mixed greens, or spinach, watercress, kale, combined with some fruit like a green apple or kiwi, pineapple or even some citrus, and then some veggies, like broccoli or cauliflower, all plant-based. Finally, mix in some nuts, like almond or hazelnut meal, flaxseed or chia seed. More good stuff!
And then blend it with coconut water, or almond milk it makes it so much easier to take and that almost becomes like a meal replacement cause you are covering your carbs, protein and the fats in that one smoothy. You can take that anytime, not necessary to take it with food or around food. Unless you are particularly sensitive.
What other tips would you give to women that want to improve their global health and lifestyle? Also, what should they avoid?
There are a few things that I try to encourage women and spread the message as much as possible. The first one I definitely recommend moving away from tampons and switching to either organic pads or period underwear. So I find that women that are wearing tampons that can cause a lot of congestion in their reproductive system in the uterus, and that can contribute to issues with their period longer term. And just that chemical exposure from wearing tampons and disrupting that balance.
The other thing that I try to do as much as possible, is to encourage women to come off the pill, and instead of overwriting their hormones synthetically with medication to let the body rebalance. Basically giving hormones the opportunity to find their own space rather than trying to overwrite it.
Is there any message you’d like to give to the consumers about organic food?
Yes, I think organic food is so important. I shop organic, and I try to use organic ingredients wherever possible in my cooking. Also in FEM21, I have included as many organic ingredients that I can source, however, it’s not all organic.
I think when it comes to organics, just that chemical load from eating non-organic is really something that your body does not need. All those chemicals that you are getting from food, as well as the environment… In the end we are exposed to so much stuff, minimizing and making the choice to do that wherever possible, helps our bodies so much! To all of its processes, instead of those chemicals disrupting our endocrine system, and causing more inflammation, and disrupting our immune, our gut function, skincare…
Do you sell online and shops? Where can women find your product?
I do sell online and also my website I got a list of stockists. I’ve got a lot of health food stores that stock FEM21, so it’s available over the counter of the shelf if Flannery’s, Go Vita, and independent health food stores throughout Australia. And I also have got practitioners stocking FEM21, so other naturopaths, and integrative GP, pharmacists…
Other articles you’ll love:
