The perimenopause can be one of the trickiest times for women to get their head around. One minute youre busy having a family and all that goes with it and all of a sudden, the years sneak up on you and you dont quiet feel like the woman you once were!

You may notice your energy levels have dropped and some days youre literally dragging yourself through the day, youve lost your get up and go for no reason, you cant seem to shift that foggy feeling in your brain and the scales is moving in the wrong direction even though your diet hasnt changed!

Welcome to the menopause, well technically the term menopause is inaccurate because it represents the end of symptoms, whereas the stage that most women struggle through is called peri-menopause, which can last anything from two to ten years until the last period.

The average age of menopause is 51. You officially reach menopause when you have had no periods for 12 consecutive months.

Women typically start to experience perimenopause in their 40s and for some the only sign is that your periods start to become more irregular, this is due to the fact that in the perimenopause, Progesterone levels fall rapidly as you stop ovulating as regularly. the levels of one of the main female sex hormones, oestrogen, rises and falls unevenly and its falling at a slower rate than progesterone, meaning you can end up being oestrogen dominant, thats a ratio of too much oestrogen to progesterone. This is usually whats behind many of the typical symptoms experienced during the transition to menopause. The stress hormone cortisol can also increase making sleep more difficult and leading to weight gain.

The thyroid comes under increased pressure, and low levels of thyroid hormones can bring mood changes, weight increases, constipation and a sluggish feeling.

Your hormones work together synergistically. When one or more is out of kilter, there can be an effect on the others, too.

The length of time between periods may be longer or shorter, your flow may be light to really heavy and with worse PMS than ever before, and you may even skip some periods only for them to return out of the blue with a vengeance.

You might also experience some of the symptoms traditionally associated with the menopause, like night sweats, hot flushes, sleep problems, mood swings, more UTIs like cystitis and vaginal dryness, poor memory, brain fog, cravings, bloating, loss of sex drive and irritability. Around this time, you might begin to notice your waistline is expanding and you just cant seem to shift that fat around the middle. Once women hit their 40s, they typically gain an average of 1lb a year so you could easily be a stone heavier by the time you reach 54.

Remember going through the peri-menopause is not an illness, it is the most natural thing in the world, although if your experiencing it right now you might be thinking this is anything but natural!! but you do have some control over managing symptoms. Its all about making some changes to your diet, stepping up your self care and taking action to reduce stress, and moving gently.

Diet

It really is important to start taking a closer look at your diet as Unfortunately when we reach this part of our life we just cant get away with eating the way we did when we were younger, as The drop in oestrogen levels that occurs during menopause has a side effect of redistributing body fat and excess pounds start to settle around the waist. On top of that, the change that happens in relation to oestrogen and progesterone at this stage of life is also likely to make your body less sensitive to insulin, the fat storage hormone. This is produced in response to you eating carbohydrates. When the bodys cells are less sensitive to insulin, more insulin is needed to do the same job, and more insulin produced means more fat stored.

This is where a low carbohydrate is very beneficial, focusing on low GL carbohydrates, fruit, vegetables, moderate protein and healthy fats coming from oily fish, nuts, seeds and avocados.

You may benefit from adding phytoestrogens to your diet. Phytoestrogens are plant-based chemicals (the good kind), which are structurally similar to oestrogen and exert a weak oestrogenic effect. They include soy beans, lentils, beans, chickpeas, tofu, barley, rye, oats, alfalfa, apples, pears, carrots, fennel, onion, garlic, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, liquorice root.

Managing stress

Cortisol is one of the main stress hormones and it can lead to weight gain and leave you feeling fatigued. Even though it is the imbalance of hormones that are behind most of your symptoms, the effects of stress can be just as debilitating.

Most hormones are made from the same basic ingredients. When its under stress, the body prioritises those jobs that are useful for sustaining life, which means that when you are stressed, your body will make stress hormones ahead of anything else. So all those raw materials that might have gone to make oestrogen now wont. therefore managing your stress is essential to managing your peri-menopausal symptoms!

Exercise

As the weight creeps on, its very common for women to start getting into the types of exercise that are very punishing on the body, like running and high intensity interval training.

What do I mean by punishing?

These very intense forms of exercise stress the body and, if your body is already stressed, its just too much. Yoga, Pilates, Zumba and other dance-based classes are a good alternative as is a good power walk.

Resistance training (weights) is also good to help with the loss of muscle. Strength training also helps maintain balance, and avoid injuryimportant for protecting your skeleton both now and when youre older.

Always consult your doctor before starting a new exercise, especially if you have any underlying health conditions, you consider yourself to be unfit or very overweight.

Supplements

Menopause supplements can provide natural support for those who may be experiencing some of the symptoms related to the menopause. Its important to note that not all supplements will suit everyone and may not be safe for someone with an underlying health condition or those taking medication, therefore it is advisable to only take a supplement protocol recommended to you by a professional.

If you are struggling with managing your symptoms of menopause or maybe you would like to get your diet right before to hit that time of your life, why not schedule in an appointment with The Nutri Coach! There is no time like the present My clinic is back open and I am taking bookings for new and existing clients, so just pop me a message if you would like to schedule an appointment. contact details below.

Debbie Devane from The Nutri Coach is a qualified Nutritional Therapist and health & lifestyle coach, Debbie runs her clinic from the Glenard Clinic in Mountmellick and also offers one to one and group online consultations. Debbie is also Nutritionist to the Offaly GAA senior footballers. For more information or to make an appointment email Debbie at

info@thenutricoach.ie

Ph: 086-1720055

Facebook: The Nutri Coach @debbiedevanethenutricoach

Instagram: the_nutricoach

For more information go to http://www.thenutricoach.ie

More:
Healthy Living: What you need to know about the Menopause - Leinster Leader