At the intersection of kids leaving the nest, and the anticipatory grief of that loss, is perimenopause, turning up the dial on our sadness, and cackling at the destruction she leaves in her wake. If mourning the loss of our children’s childhood was a wound, perimenopause would be the salt, getting in there and making it all the more painful. And if parenting through the teenage years was like playing a game we didn’t know the rules to, perimenopause is the bitch who tore up the rules, threw them in the fire, and danced around the flames.
She turns up the volume on all emotions, making every interaction, every discussion, every decision…fraught. And she doesn’t just reserve her moodiness for our toughest moments. She can turn our husband from the sweetest man in the world into the biggest idiot on the planet in a nanosecond. And she can turn an innocent commercial into a tearfest just as quickly.
The good news is, there are nutrition and lifestyle strategies that can turn the volume down on these emotions, making us feel a little more level, and a little less…unhinged.
To a certain extent, our hormones are going to do what they’re going to do. We are, afterall, going through a major hormonal shift, one that is only matched in intensity by the puberty our children are going through at the exact…same…damn…time.
Despite this inevitable seismic hormonal shift, we can reduce the severity of these changes by maximizing our physical and mental health, so that when perimenopause comes to town, she may break a window, but she won’t burn down the whole house.
There are countless ways to improve perimenopause symptoms, and we are going to address these strategies during my 6 week perimenopause class, which starts in Charlottesville on April 15th. However, if I could only give one strategy, I would start with balancing blood sugar.
Balancing blood sugar is generally the first line of defense in my clinical practice for just about everyone. Most people are not doing it, and it is a gamechanger when it comes to feeling better quickly. Male and female, young and old, this strategy can really help anyone, but it can be particularly helpful for women going through perimenopause. Balancing blood sugar can absolutely improve mood, but it can also dramatically reduce fatigue, improve satiety and weight loss efforts, and prevent diabetes. And it helps to balance hormones, which ultimately improves all the downstream effects of the hormonal downshift we experience during perimenopause.
I have three guidelines for balancing blood sugar: 1. Eat within an hour of waking. 2. Eat a high protein breakfast and 3. Always pair a carbohydrate with protein, fat, and fiber.
Why eat within an hour of waking? If we wake up at 7am, but don’t eat our first bite of food until, say, 10am, our blood sugar plummets and we spend all day trying to play catch up. This leaves us feeling tired and cranky throughout the day. But if we can eat within an hour of waking, and make sure that breakfast is protein forward (20-30 grams), we can keep our blood sugar elevated, along with our mood and energy.
We can then keep our blood sugar balanced throughout the day by making sure every time we eat, whether it’s a snack or a meal, that we incorporate healthy fats, protein and fiber into the food we’re consuming. For example, we may have a vegetable frittata (protein, fiber, fat) topped with avocado (fat and fiber) and berries on the side (carbs and fiber) for breakfast; a salad with chicken (protein), chickpeas (protein, fiber, carbs), roasted veggies (fiber), and olive oil (fat) for lunch; followed by roasted salmon (fat, protein), steamed broccoli (fiber) and roasted potatoes (carbs, fiber) for dinner.
If you can master this one simple dietary change, you will likely feel your mood and energy improve dramatically, and ultimately, your perimenopausal hormones will thank you.
Menopause may be coming for us like a freight train, but debilitating symptoms don’t have to be passengers on this journey. Learn how to feel your best and most vibrant self during this time of life, with diet and lifestyle strategies that mitigate perimenopause symptoms during my 6 week class: Hot and Bothered No More: A 6 week Menopause Survival Guide. We will address strategies for reducing hot flashes, improving sleep, anxiety, fatigue, brain fog, and joint pain, as well as strategies for weight loss and high cholesterol.
We will meet every Wednesday evening, 7-8:30pm in Charlottesville, starting April 15th. Learn more and sign up here. And if you don’t live in Charlottesville, fear not! I plan to run this class virtually in the coming months. Hope to see you in class soon!
And with any luck, we will make it through our children’s teenage years and beyond with a lot more joy, and a lot fewer…sniff, sniff…tears.
