What should you be eating on your perimenopause journey?

The topic of what to eat for health as a women can feel like a minefield, let alone when you're on your perimenopause journey! ??

So today, I wanted to break this down as simply as possible to help you manage your weight (which is often one of the biggest issues for women), get all the essential nutrition, vitamins and minerals you need in your 40's+ to be supporting you to thrive and have boundless energy!?Sound good?

The first big question I want to address is …

Do I need to cut carbs and calories as a 40+ woman to lose weight?

This depends on how many carbs you are eating (especially if you're eating a lot of simple carbs like pasta, bread etc.), how sensitive you are to insulin, your genetics, how balanced your hormones are and how much muscle you have.

Cutting carbs isn't the right tool for everyone, and in fact, for some women, going really low carb for too long isn't healthy.

It can?impact the thyroid?which can then impact metabolism, it can also cause a rise in cortisol (especially if you are doing a lot of exercise) - which will stress out your body more when it probably doesn't need any more stress - which in turn actually will cause you to gain weight.

Also, as we age and?lose oestrogen, we become less sensitive to insulin so we do have to be a lot more mindful about that and ensure we do things to keep insulin sensitivity as high as possible and focus on blood sugar regulation a lot more.

I personally aim to eat for blood sugar regulation, which in turn affects my energy levels. ?

So how do you balance blood sugar with your eating?

• Build muscle?- muscle improves insulin sensitivity. This means your body can handle more carbs if you have more muscle! ?(We're going to talk more about building muscle and the right exercises for perimenopause next week).
• Take a quick walk after meals?– this increases insulin sensitivity.
• Eat enough quality protein and fibre?- this lessens glucose spikes.
• Eat quality, complex carbs?(brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, sweet potatoes) rather than simple ones (white pasta, toast, cereal etc.) – this will lessen glucose spikes.
• Manage your stress?– This leads to better blood sugar management (stress can raise your blood sugar even if you don't touch a single carb!)

Extra tip!?- have a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar before meals – this can lower the glucose spike from meals. ?Although if this causes a burning sensation, this tells me that your digestive enzymes aren't working well, so we need to focus on your gut health to improve this. ?

You can read my blog on gut health here.

When you consider that an average UK diet will look like:?

Breakfast:?Toast, cereal, Weetabix or porridge (simple carbs) with maybe some fruit.

Lunch:?A wrap, sandwich or salad - but without good quality protein included, this can leave you feeling hungrier.?

Dinner:?Jacket potato with cheese and beans, or a spaghetti bolognase or a lasagne - this again can spike our glucose.

This is a recipe for a blood sugar rollercoaster right from the offset!?

There is the tiniest amount of protein in this breakfast and hardly any healthy fats at all.

?? Listen to my podcast, “what's the deal with sugar” here.

Your metabolism also responds to what you feed it?- so if you want a slower metabolism, or you a calorie restricted diet for a prolonged period, you will be slowing your metabolism right down.

We want a metabolism that is on FIRE! ??

Plus, as we go through perimenopause, we become less sensitive to insulin which means we have a harder time using sugar as fuel as we aren't as good at transporting it into the cells.

So what then will happen if you don't pair your carbs well, is you will get a massive spike in blood sugar and if you are less sensitive to insulin, most of that sugar will remain in your bloodstream, and because your body is so clever it knows this is damaging and ageing to the body so what is not used for fuel will get stored as fat.

More seriously is the less sensitive we are to insulin, the more insulin the body will pump out to deal with the excess sugar and the cells become more and more resistant to it – which is DEVASTATING for your health (think Type 2 diabetes or an autoimmune condition).?

So what I recommend with my clients …

?? I ensure they are eating more quality protein?

?? I ensure they are eating real, quality whole foods

??I ensure they are managing stress and working on their mindset

??I ensure they are balancing their meals properly

??I ensure they are not skipping meals and going hungry

??I ensure they are doing the right type of exercise

But having something with quality protein and healthy fats in the morning can be a game changer. ?And by morning, I mean you can be having your “breakfast” mid-morning if that suits your lifestyle better.

Protein has been a game changer for managing my perimenopause journey - and here's why ??

It helps you maintain muscle mass which is declining every year from your mid 30's onwards, especially during perimenopause. Muscle mass is the currency of longevity and there have been so many studies showing how muscle mass helps support bones, and even helps you regulate your blood sugar which again, can start to rise during menopause when we become less sensitive to insulin.

Protein will also help satiate you and I can guarantee if you under eat protein you will end up overeating carbs.

HOW MUCH PROTEIN SHOULD I EAT?

If you were to google what your requirements for protein are, it would say 0.8g per kg of body weight per day, but this is not for optimal health and doesn't take into consideration activity levels.

Personally, I would recommend 2 – 2.4g protein per kg of ideal body weight (for most women somewhere between 110 and 140g protein per day).

?

HOW DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH YOU ARE HAVING?

You could use a tracking app to check in and see how much you are eating every day. I know it is not fun and I don't recommend doing it all the time as it can become obsessive, but having an idea can be really helpful.?

You can use your palm as a gage if you don't want to measure – a palm size portion of protein would equate to approximately 25-30g of protein.

One of the ways I get high quality protein into my diet, is with a high quality protein supplement from my go-to nutrition brand, Arbonne. ?This is the one I personally use here.

But I get that this a lot of information …?

And I totally get that you are busy, time is often an issue and you may not feel hungry in the morning (often a sign you are running on cortisol and adrenaline but I will save that for another time!).

So to help you with some inspiration and ideas for healthy, protein rich recipes for your perimenopause journey - I'm sharing my?recipe book?with you today ??

?? EXCITING NEWS TO SHARE …

The waitlist for my new?Thriving In Perimenopause?programme is now OPEN!?

In this 90 day programme, supporting you holistically through your perimenopause journey - we get stuck into the nitty gritty of what's best to eat, how to move your body, how to manage stress, how to balance those fluctuating hormones and so much more!

Join the waitlist to be the first to know when this launches soon - including an offer for those on waitlist ?>>?JOIN THE WAITLIST

And if you'd like to ask me any questions about what I've shared today - just hit reply to ask. ?I love hearing from you.

Until next, keep eating that protein!

Wendy

PS.?This is a great podcast I recently recorded with functional medicine practitioner, Ollie Matthews. ?In it, we cover everything from diet, balancing blood sugar and hormones. ?You can listen?here.?

Wendy Griffith is the owner of the Thriving Woman Project - a community which empowers 40+ women to thrive in all areas of their life, health and business.

Wendy is a multi-passionate entrepreneur. As well as being a certified Health Coach and Menopause Wellness Practitioner, she is also an award winning business woman and coach, and hosts the 5* rated podcast: The Thriving Woman Project podcast.

Wendy helps women looking to implement digital marketing strategies into their online businesses. She teaches this through her Thriving Biz Club programme and by working with business owners on a 1-to-1 coaching basis.

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