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Building body gratitude at midlife to feel more confident
Throughout a woman’s life during puberty, pregnancy and menopause many body changes are experienced. These stages, as well as the influence of media and society, can lead to negative body image and body dissatisfaction. In the menopause years, both the physical and emotional symptoms experienced can make it a challenge to have a positive body image. However, this is the…
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The Ultimate Guide to Managing Sugar Cravings during Menopause
Many women notice that they experience sugar cravings in the menopause years. They ask many questions about why it happens, they wonder if it is menopause that causes it and they want to know how to stop sugar cravings. Is this you? Read on to learn more. Does menopause cause sugar cravings? There are many complex changes…
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Help! Is lack of sleep contributing to my weight gain in menopause?
Sleep problems are frequently reported by women during their menopause years, particularly starting in perimenopause and often continuing into the postmenopause period. Getting adequate and good quality sleep can be a real struggle. Symptoms such as hot flushes and night sweats can be a cause, but many other factors can also play a role in insomnia. One very common…
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Effects of Sugar Intake on Menopause Symptoms
The menopause transition brings with it many physical and emotional symptoms for some women. There are many factors at play that seemingly happen all at once, some we can control, and some are a little more challenging. Sugar intake has been associated with hot flushes and night sweats (collectively known as vasomotor symptoms), both in the research and what…
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Ultra Processed Foods – Understand what they are to improve your long term health
Have you ever heard of the term Ultra Processed Foods? Often, when we talk about packaged foods, the generic term “processed foods” is used, however, almost all foods are processed to some extent, so it is unhelpful to call these foods “processed”. There are important differences between levels of processing of foods, in fact, there are four classifications. Following,…
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5 Essential Reasons Lifestyle is important for your Menopausal Health
A healthy lifestyle is important across all stages of life, but when a woman reaches the menopause years, it couldn’t be more important to start making lifestyle changes. This is the time when we begin to notice the impact that some of our choices have on our symptoms, and ultimately, how we feel. It’s a vicious cycle, as some…
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Inflammation in menopause: How what you eat has a big impact
During the menopause years, the hormonal fluctuations, especially oestrogen, not only lead to an array of physical and emotional symptoms, but it also promotes low grade inflammation. Inflammation is known to influence health negatively, including increasing the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Lowered oestrogen is not the only culprit when it comes to inflammation…
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Quick Guide: The Non-Diet Approach for Menopause
Menopause is a significant time of change for women, and it can be challenging to navigate all the physical and emotional changes that come with it. Many women turn to dieting and weight loss as a way to manage their symptoms, but research suggests that this approach may not be effective or sustainable. Dieting does not guarantee weight loss…
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Protein – why you need it in menopause
Proteins are one of the three macronutrients needed for optimal health and wellbeing. Proteins are in fact, important for growth, repair and proper functioning of the body. It is found in muscle, skin and blood and the most abundant proteins are found in these tissues including collagen, haemoglobin, myosin and actin. Proteins are the building blocks for almost every…
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Why Joyful Movement is good for your menopause
Joyful movement emphasises physical activity that brings pleasure and satisfaction when participating in it. It is a way to move the body that is free from the constraints of traditional exercise routines and instead focuses on finding activities that bring joy and happiness when performing them. This approach to movement is gaining popularity as more and more people realise the…
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3 Secrets to a Better Night’s Sleep in Menopause
Menopause is a natural part of the ageing process for women, typically occurring between the ages of 45 and 55. During this time, a woman’s body undergoes significant hormonal changes that can lead to a variety of physical and emotional symptoms, including hot flushes, mood changes, and sleep disturbances. In fact, up to 61% of women report experiencing disturbed sleep…
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How Stress Reduction makes a difference in menopause
Stress and menopause seem to go hand in hand, and although some amount of stress is important to keep us on our toes, stress in menopause is a very real and bothersome experience for many menopausal women. It can make symptoms such as hot flushes worse, and increase chances of interrupted sleep, headaches, upset stomach, making poor food choices and…
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Carbohydrates: Understand why you should include them in your diet
Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for our cells and are composed of sugars, starches and dietary fibre, all of which play a very important role in our health. Carbohydrates have been demonised by diet culture, but where the confusion lies is in the understanding between wholefood carbs and refined carbs. Whether you are in menopause or not, limiting…
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How to improve your menopause health with mindful eating
If you find yourself constantly rushing around and feeling like you are on the treadmill trying to get everything done in a day, chances are that you are also rushing when you are eating your meals. Mindful eating is a practice that makes you consciously aware of what is going on within, and around you when eating food,…
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Does exercise improve our gut microbiome, and what does it mean for menopause?
Our gut microbiome is made up of trillions of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses and fungi. The majority of our gut bacteria live in the large intestine, and a person’s gut microbiome will be as individual to them as their fingerprint. There is a huge amount of variability and diversity of bacteria which is impacted by both internal and external factors.…
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Weight Management in Menopause: Why you need a new approach
Aside from hot flushes and night sweats, weight gain in menopause has got to be the number one stress women experience. I’ve had many clients who have told me that what they are doing to try to move the weight is not working, and they are at a loss as to how to approach the menopausal years. Most are…
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7 Reasons to Eat a Mediterranean Diet in Menopause
Hormonal changes in menopause, in particular the lowering of oestrogen, causes the many symptoms that are experienced in the perimenopause stage, and sometimes even in postmenopause. These include hot flushes, night sweats, aching joints and weight gain, and although the decline in oestrogen is one cause, what we are eating definitely plays a role also. Eating a Mediterranean diet in…
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What to do instead of setting a New Year’s Resolution
You have probably spent most of your adult life setting a new year’s resolution every year, only to be bummed out before the end of February and then forget all about the intentions you set because it all feels too hard. Does this sound familiar to you? There is no doubt in my mind that right now, as we…
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Be Empowered and Confident to be your own Health Advocate in Menopause
Too often, I read and hear stories of women feeling that they haven’t been heard by their doctor when it comes to menopause management. It’s really disappointing that sometimes women leave the doctor with a medication they are not happy with, no information or support to guide them and sometimes even nothing. The problem is that not all doctors have…
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Simple Dry Skin Solutions all Menopausal Women need to know
Hormonal changes in the menopausal years can lead to skin changes including dry skin, rashes, wrinkling, acne, pigmentation and increased sensitivity. The loss and decline of oestrogen leads to a loss and decline in collagen and oil production in the skin which can cause the skin to become thinner and itchy. With our skin being the largest organ in the…
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Mood, Cognition and Brain Fog in Menopause – Are you are risk of Dementia?
One of the biggest concerns that women have as they enter their perimenopausal years is that the symptoms of brain fog are actually the beginnings of dementia. Every year, the month of October is World Menopause Month, and October 18 is World Menopause Day (WMD). The International Menopause Society marked the theme of WMD to be Brain Fog in Menopause…
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Letting go of Diet Mentality
Diets don’t work. We all know this but sometimes continue to search for the diet that will give us the results we are looking for long term. A diet that is sustainable and seamless to integrate into our life. If, like me, you were a teenager in the 80s, diets were everything we obsessed about, and yet, we never had…
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8 Useful Steps to Reduce Overwhelm when Meal planning
Do you constantly feel overwhelmed by the thought of not knowing what to cook for dinner most nights of the week? Maybe you just “wing it” every night, ending up at the supermarket most days after work, wandering around thinking about what to have for dinner. And maybe, you have thought about meal planning, but feel overwhelmed by the process…
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How to exercise in menopause to protect your long term health
If you are a menopausal woman who has continued with your past exercise routine to lose the menopausal belly, you may be finding that how you exercised before menopause is not working for you now. As our oestrogen levels decline over time, exercise in menopause must change, as our physiology and metabolism changes at midlife. The type and timing of…
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What is Joyful Movement and Why is it important in Menopause?
Many women in the perimenopause phase start to experience challenges in their experience, in particular in relation to weight changes. In the past they have dieted and exercised in a way to “lose kilos”, only to find that now, that no longer gives the wanted results. Joyful movement is a way of moving your body for pleasure, rather than for…
