Holistic Menopause Wellness

21/08/2024

Do you find catering for your menopause diet expensive?

We ALL KNOW how expensive food costs nowadays.

Today I thought I’d share one of my tips to make food shopping more economical.

The smaller pack feta cheese (on the left) was the one that I picked out first, until I saw a woman pick up the same cheese in a tub.

At first glance it looked like I would get more cheese in the tub, as it weighed 400 grams, costing £2.65.

But on closer inspection, I found out that the smaller pack gives you 200 grams of cheese, costing £2!

By choosing the product in the tub, you’re paying extra for the packaging, the brine and the convenience of ready cubed cheese.

But less cheese at that!

My maths might be wrong, but you’re paying 75% more for less cheese!

You can probably guess which one I chose.

So it’s worth taking a bit of time to see how much you’re paying for the convenience or ‘pretty packaging.’

Rant over! 😂😂

How savvy are you when it comes to food shopping? Do you look at the cost of food you buy?

16/08/2024

27/07/2024

Have you found your muscle mass reducing faster since being in perimenopause? I certainly have!

Yesterday, I put up a story mentioning that I take creatine to help build muscle mass, as I'm finding it harder to build muscle, specially now that I'm in post menopause.

Muscle is really important and this is even more so during menopause, as lower oestrogen and testosterone speeds up muscle loss.

Muscle is not only important for menopause weight loss, it's also important for a lot of things.

Blood sugar control: the less muscle you have, the less ability your body has when it comes to keeping your blood sugar stable. Why is this important?

Low and fluctuating sugar levels may feel like low moods, irritability, brain fog and memory issues.

You may find yourself reaching for something sweet or high carbohydrate foods to increase your energy levels.

In the long-term, this may then lead to chronic inflammation and as a result, you may start developing joint pain and aching muscles.

All these symptoms may also create added stress on your body, triggering hot flushes and so the negative cycle continues...

These are just some of the reasons I take time to exercise to build and maintain muscle mass.

How's your muscle mass since being in perimenopause or menopause?

25/07/2024

Do you know that eating cherries as part of your menopause diet, may help you manage your symptoms?

Here’s how cherries may help you during menopause.

The deep red pigments in cherries are a source of flavonoids, which have been found to be anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.

The darker the colour, the more flavonoid content the cherry contains. Around 20 cherries or 100 grams of cherries can contain 26.5 milligrams of key anthocyanidins (flavonoids).

Flavonoids have been found to improve blood flow to the brain, which may help improve your menopause brain fog and memory issues.

If you experiencing painful joints or muscle aches since being in perimenopause, you may find eating cherries or flavonoid rich foods, help ease your pain.

The flavonoids in cherries have been found to block COX-2 enzymes that cause you to experience inflammation and pain.

If like me, you struggle with or experience sleep disturbance, eating cherries may help you get more restful sleep.

Montmorency tart cherries have been found to contain significant amounts of melatonin. This is the hormone that is released as evening darkens and signals your body that it’s time for sleep.

As it’s cherry season, maybe it’s time to snack on this fruit.

Do you like cherries?

21/06/2024

Lower oestrogen and other female hormones affect your brain from perimenopause onwards.

To minimise these effects, it’s important to protect your brain. This is specially more so if you want to go through menopause naturally or if HRT is not an option for you.
Here are ways to protect your brain and minimise symptoms such as brain fog, fluctuating moods and memory issues.

Zinc
Shellfish such as oysters and seeds provide sources of zinc and zinc support connections in your brain, as well as the transmission of information between neurons. This may help minimise symptoms of depression during perimenopause and menopause.

Vitamin B6 Foods
Foods such as beef liver, chickpeas, and green leafy vegetables provide sources of vitamin b, which supports the production of serotonin. This neurotransmitter supports improved moods and sleep. Sleep becomes more disturbed during menopause, so getting as much sleep as you can is an important factor when it comes to protecting your brain.

Sugary and Processed Foods
These foods create oxidative stress and inflammation, which are associated with low moods and cognitive decline. By minimising these foods and increasing your intake of anti-inflammatory foods, you’re protecting your brain from the effects of lower oestrogen during menopause.

If you would like more ways to support yourself through diet and lifestyle from perimenopause, menopause and post menopause, check out links on bio.

19/06/2024

Lower oestrogen and fluctuating female hormones affect your brain function.

Not only does this cause mood and memory issues such as brain fog, but lower oestrogen also create mixed signals in your brain.

One of the effects of this is hot flushes/flashes.

This is because your hypothalamus react to changes in temperature as being too hot or being too cold.

This is why some women may feel too cold before getting hot flushes (as I used to), being too cold generally or just have hot flushes and sweating.

To minimise the effects of lower oestrogen and other female hormones, it’s important to support your brain.

These foods are good starting points to start adding in your perimenopause or menopause diet.

20/05/2024

Your menopause diet doesn’t have to be complicated.

Sometimes the simplest foods provide the nutrients that you need.

Here’s how this simple breakfast idea may help you during perimenopause or menopause.

21/04/2024

Do you run as part of your menopause fitness?

This was me in 2013 at the height of my running days!

If you’ve followed my for a while, you’ll know I love running!

I love the sense of achievement of continuously breaking my 10k times!

My fastest 10k run was 68 minutes!

I also loved the adrenaline rush and the way it helped me get tired for restful sleep.

But as my hormones decreased from perimenopause onwards, running had a different effect.

Running made me crave carbs and instead of getting restful sleep, I would wake in the night with my heart thumping!

This was because of too much cortisol. This is what stress does to our body and it gets worse during menopause.

As I learnt this, I cut down on running and walked more.

Now I focus on working out with weights and building muscle and strength.

I also make sure to eat plenty of protein, to keep the cortisol spikes and carb cravings to a minimum.

This helps me sleep better and is more effective with menopause weight loss and muscle building.

Do you run and how often do you run as part of your menopause fitness?

29/03/2024

Are you struggling with menopause hair loss?

I am thinking of creating an online course to help you manage menopause hair loss and would really love to know how hair loss is affecting your and what you would like help with?

Would you have a few minutes to answer a few questions via this link? https://forms.gle/T7DPQhfoFSe8ayDZ9

Thank you in advance for taking time to do this! 😃

Menopause Hair Loss Struggles

23/03/2024

Is menopause anxiety affecting your day to day life and relationships?

Here are 5 tips that may help calm your perimenopause or menopause anxiety.

These tips support the effects of lower and fluctuating hormones that may be causing your menopause symptoms.

How do you cope or manage your menopause anxiety?

16/03/2024

Magnesium is a really important mineral during menopause.

Here are reasons to add more magnesium rich foods in your menopause diet.

* Helps with relaxation
* Improve menopause moods
* More restful sleep
* Improve brain fog and memory issues
* Keep your bones strong

How many of these foods do you add in your perimenopause or menopause diet?

22/02/2024

SMOOTHIE RECIPE!

Do you get more hungry since being in menopause?

One of the things about exercising is that it makes me even hungrier.

Even more so for high carb foods!

If I don’t eat enough, I wake up in the middle of the night and find it hard to get back to sleep again.

To avoid giving in to sugary treats, I invested in this smoothie maker/blender.

It allows me to make a quick post workout smoothies and has prevented me from grabbing sugary snacks after my workouts.

Here’s the recipe for this smoothie, handful each of;
Blueberry and strawberry mix
Exotic fruit mix (mango, pineapple, papaya)
Spinach
Cavolo nero
1 whole avocado
200 mls coconut water

Blitz everything in the blender/smoothie maker and enjoy!

You may need to add more coconut water depending on how you like the texture of your smoothie.

The first 3 ingredients are frozen, all from

Yep, I never used to rate frozen foods much. Till I found out they get frozen within hours, whereas ‘fresh foods’ may be days old before they hit supermarket shelves.

Being frozen also makes the smoothie taste more like ice cream or a sorbet 😋

The cavolo nero and avocado are both ‘fresh.’

I use coconut water as I don’t like the ‘grassy’ aroma of smoothies made with water.

What do you put in your smoothies?