You are listening to Hit Play, Not Pause, a feisty menopause podcast for active performance-minded women.

I am your host, Celine Yeager. Each week, I bring you advice from athletes, scientists, researchers,

and other experts to help you feel and perform you best no matter what your hormones are doing.

This show is a production of Live Feisty Media.

Hello, strong, thirsty women.

I hope everyone is doing well.

I have a real treat for us this week. I sat down with

Jennifer Maxwell, who helped create the original power bar back in 1985. Yes, the power bar,

which I think was one of the only, if not the only energy bar for quite a few years.

Anyway, Jennifer, who has a degree in food science and nutrition,

and her husband Brian, created the bar to help fuel their own endurance and running events.

As everyone knows, it became a smashing success, and they were able to sell that to Nestle in the year 2000.

And then life took a really hard turn for Jennifer when Brian suddenly died just a few years later,

leaving her to find her way with six children to raise.

There is so much I love about this conversation, but mostly how thoughtful and

creative Jennifer is. When things are hard, like hitting the challenges of the menopause transition

with literally a house full of children, she finds a way to work through it in sometimes

unconventional ways, like becoming a jazz band drummer. She is a great

athlete in her own right. She ran a 325 marathon when she was just 13, and she continues to run and

pursue athletic goals today, now in her mid-50s. She also continues to create nutritional products

for athletes. Her latest creation is the jam bar, an organic real food bar that is made from

ancient grains and natural sweeteners. They also donate 50% of the profits to support music

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