What is the menopause?
The menopause – and the peri-menopause before that – is the period of time during which a woman’s oestrogen levels begin to drop. This usually starts between the ages of 45 and 50 but can be much earlier. Common symptoms including hot sweats, insomnia, mood swings and weight gain are well documented, and conventional treatment usually involves hormone replacement, risking serious side effects.
Many women seek natural menopause treatment instead. This approach combines nutrition and lifestyle changes and is highly effective at preventing or reducing the severity of nearly all of your symptoms, rather than just relieving them temporarily. If you’re approaching menopause, it’s the perfect time to begin to think about dietary changes to improve your overall health.
How can nutritional therapy help promote a healthy menopause?
The menopause is a time of hormonal change for your body, and these changes are reflected in your nutritional needs. A few small tweaks to diet and lifestyle can make the whole transition a lot smoother. Together we’ll work through a three step process to help you make positive changes to improve and maintain your health and wellbeing.
Step 1: Take a thorough case history
First we will discuss what has been going on so I can get a picture of all the symptoms you’ve been experiencing. We will look at your diet to make sure it includes plenty of the food groups important to support your body at this stage of life.
Step 2: Perform functional tests
Sometimes female hormone testing is necessary to get an accurate view of your hormone status. We may need to check if you are actually approaching the menopause, or if your symptoms are a result of something else. I never look at symptoms in isolation – it’s important that we work to heal your body as a whole, not just the condition you are presenting with.
Step 3: Create a personalised nutritional therapy programme
Finally I will create a tailor-made diet plan to help you learn which foods you should be eating more of, and which you should be avoiding to reduce those unwanted symptoms. I may also suggest commonly used herbal supplements to reduce some of your symptoms.
How Reinvent helped Miranda embrace the menopause
Before Reinvent, Miranda was experiencing every menopause symptom possible including hot flushes, night sweats, fatigue and mood swings. This was causing her huge distress and was affecting her relationship with her husband and children. Miranda decided to give nutritional therapy a try as a last ditch attempt before resorting to HRT.
At Miranda’s first consultation, I worked on controlling her blood sugar levels to balance hormones and stabilise energy levels. This meant we had to curb her excessive coffee and sugar habit, which was leaving her exhausted and nutritionally depleted. We also worked on her liver health, including reducing her alcohol intake. This involved providing some natural sleeping aids, as Miranda had been using wine to help her relax before bed. Next, we improved Miranda’s digestive health and boosted her essential fatty acid intake. We added to this a simple supplement plan, including herbs known to have a positive effect on menopause symptoms.
The first thing Miranda noticed, in just a few short weeks, was a marked improvement in her energy levels and mood swings. With time, the hot flushes and night sweats became much more bearable and she soon felt like a different person. Miranda no longer viewed the menopause as a problem, but with renewed energy and free of symptoms, she was able to embrace it.
Survive and thrive through the perimenopause
Read my blog here, on how to survive perimenopause and how to thrive through this time of change
Feel better than ever with Reinvent
Tune into your body using self-diagnostic tools, and discover the step-by-step lifestyle changes that will transform your health.