The peri- and postmenopause as a window of opportunity

The rest of your life begins today! How to start prioritising your own wellbeing again during the (peri)menopause and beyond with the help of good food and nutrition – or at least considering it!

Photo by Cosmic Timetraveler on Unsplash

Welcome to my first ever Substack post! There is so much to consider and write about when it comes to this stage in our life – The (peri)menopause – often also known as ‘The change’. (The German word for menopause is actually ‘Wechseljahre’ – meaning Years of change) So what should I write about?! Before entering into the sometimes-murky waters of evidence on what to (not) eat or drink during the menopause transition and beyond, let’s start with taking a good hard look at how we tend to treat our bodies and our health in general as crazy-busy women! (Be warned, I do sometimes get a bit sweary! There are times in life when nothing else will do!)

Once we begin to scrutinise where we place ourselves in the hierarchy of things in our daily lives, let’s face it – Things are not good!! Chances are that with your experience in your job you have somewhat reached a stage where you can confidently say to have built a career, you know your shit, you have ‘expertise’! Although, more recently it might not have felt that way with all the changes to your body and mind creeping up on you! In fact, you might have started to suspect that you are actually an imposter and that you are on the verge of losing the plot.

You might also have a family with your children being of varying ages, maybe still young, maybe starting to fly the nest, but they most likely still lean on you (or at least you are tossing and turning and worrying about them at night, because they have only just started to live their lives and not all their choices are great!). Personally, I am no longer a member of the so-called sandwich generation as both my own parents and my in-laws have long passed away, but again, you yourself might find yourself in the position where you are supporting ageing parents as well. There is the stress of medical appointments, trying to get them to listen to you to take their medication, eat better etc. And that with more or less support from your partner, if you have one. (Ever heard of ‘mental load’? Apparently, women are still more likely to shoulder the cognitive and organisational burden of running a household, which this BBC article explains really well. I know I not telling you anything that you don’t already know, but sometimes it is good to be reminded of this by someone else!)

That already is an awful lot of shit to content with, and it can be hard to get through the day! You have spent years trying to get at least an idea of how to live and eat healthily, maybe with varying degrees of success! You might have even found strategies that work for you (Yay you!!) – until they don’t ! An added level of stress, where you now have to figure out what you should and shouldn’t and, in some case, can and can’t eat anymore to cope with weight gain in the most unwanted places, insomnia, brain fog, aching joints, night sweats, hot flushes etc (Click all that apply, the list can seem endless…)

When speaking to women about what they can do from a nutrition perspective, the need to add some new ingredients and to make potential changes to the meals that they have been used to eating will more likely than not come up as part of the conversation. Unfortunately, very often the first reaction tends to be ‘But my partner/children/other people in my household don’t like XYZ. I don’t have the energy to cook something extra, just for myself!!’ Consequently, number of changes to support own wellbeing = zero, zilch, nada!

Photo by Janice Lin on Unsplash

It's all good and well that everyone around you can stay in their comfort zone, but I don’t really need to tell you that this is most likely not good for you moving forward! If you have children, then it is highly likely that you were pregnant in the past. You knew what you should avoid eating during this time, and which foods will help your growing baby become super-clever! It is also highly likely that as they were growing up you went to great lengths to try and ensure that they don’t know the people behind the McDonald’s counter enough that you would send them an annual Christmas card! Remember that time your partner was told that their cholesterol levels are high, and they need to eat more fibre??? Was that you buying a relevant cookbook and looking up recipes online to support them?!! Or that time when your dad was diagnosed with high blood pressure? Have you been nagging him ever since to stop using the salt shaker every time he has food on his plate?! Thought so!!

By now we have established that you are someone who cares deeply about the health of your loved ones. (Not saying that you are always getting it right, but your heart is in the right place, isn’t it!)

So here is my question – why the heck would you not apply the same care to yourself?! This stuff is really, really important as women are more prone to develop heart disease, metabolic diseases, autoimmune diseases, dementia, osteoporosis during and after menopause. Do I need to go on? We have plenty of statistics out there that clearly show this!

You matter! The quality of your life matters! Your wellbeing matters! Now and for the rest of your life, which with mod cons and medical advances will most likely be longer than that of generations of women before you.

I honestly get it! It’s difficult enough as it is to get through the day. Having to think about meals that you can eat with whoever you need to take care of in your life can be complicated enough, but there will be things that you can do to make adjustments for yourself that will not be too overly complex. If you have read my About section, you will have seen my comment that perfection should not stand in the way of progress. Start somewhere! Just start!

This is what I mean when I talk about the menopause transition being a window of opportunity. Your body is changing, and this is giving you the chance to re-evaluate where you are and where you want to be, also food and nutrition-wise. At least start to put yourself higher up the list of priorities. You know when they do the flight safety demonstrations at the beginning of a plane journey, and they emphasise that you need to put your own mask on first before helping others? Similar thing! Ultimately, you are not only helping yourself you are also doing something positive for those around you in the long run!

We are on this journey together as a community of women who know that they matter and that things can be confusing and complex and annoyingly frustrating at this stage in our lives. Every week when I post I will give you a ‘Call to action’ to help you to become more aware of the food (and its nutrients) that will matter to you, to even consider which changes you can make and how you can potentially support each other by talking about experiences, foods you like, recipes, hacks etc.

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

Welcome to The Menopause Larder^®! Thank you for being here! X

This week I want you to think about which meal during the day (or during the week) you are most likely eating on your own, possibly lunch at work. Could this be an opportunity to start making a change in your food habits towards looking more after yourself and support your wellbeing moving forward?

Feel free to leave a comment to start the conversation. See you next week!