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Why You Should Take Daily Action to Prepare You for the Menopause

Sep 14, 2018

Do you ever feel like, the closer you get to the menopause, the worse your body seems to behave?

For example, you used to sleep eight hours per night without waking up to go to the bathroom and suddenly you can’t. Or you always had a great memory and clear head and now you're having to write things down. Perhaps you used to have beautiful clear skin and now you’re having breakouts.

So you say to yourself, “Aargh! I’ve had enough of this!! If I eat better and get more early nights, this will resolve itself,” or something to that effect.

You start really well and make plenty of improvements to your diet and lifestyle.

But after a week or two, you’ve stopped bothering because it didn’t seem to work. You’re still suffering from those annoying symptoms of the peri-menopause.

So what is happening here? Why don’t these changes seem to help your menopause symptoms? What are you doing wrong? And what can you do to fix it?

Why is it so hard to fix your menopause symptoms?

The problem with these short-term changes isn’t that they’re ineffective. It’s that we are.

We feel so positive that we can improve our health by ourselves that we feel enthusiastic and dive right in. This is a great sign- it shows that you care about your health and that you’re willing to take action to change your life.

However, health and more specifically, hormones don’t work like that. There’s no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to hormones. It takes time, it takes patience, and it takes a willingness to evolve.

You see, our hormones which means they constantly change as we age. This means, as the years go by, we have to change too if we want to stay strong and gorgeous, and grow old gracefully.

It’s not enough to say, “Well, I’ve always been able to survive on five hours of sleep per night,” if your body has been begging you for more lately. It’s time to acknowledge and accept where you are on this wonderful journey through life and give your body and mind exactly what they need to stay healthy well into the future.

What is the alternative?

The answer lies in starting where you are, laying the foundations and giving your body enough time to rebalance and heal, without expectations, pressure or trying to hurry the process.

This is something I’ve been doing myself over recent years. As my cycle starts to change, I’m focusing more on self-care and putting in the groundwork so I can continue to glow with health and age gracefully. So far it’s all paying off!

Many women don’t realise that great health isn’t guaranteed. If you want to continue to be healthy, particularly once you hit the menopause, you need to take action daily.

So my advice to you is, don’t wait!

If you’re a peri-menopausal woman over 40 then this is your window of opportunity to really look after yourself so that the menopause runs by as smoothly as possible.

Here are my ten daily actions that are helping me to stay healthy, strong and energetic today and well into the future.

Laying the Foundations for Great Health: Pamela’s 10 Daily Actions

Make sure you do each of these every single day. Start slowly, making one or two of these your top priority. Then when you’re really comfortable with them and they become a habit you can start adding more.

  1. Chew your food well

Optimal absorption of the nutrients in your food starts right there in your mouth when you chew, so make sure you’re not just gulping down your food, but giving yourself time to enjoy what you’re eating!

 

  1. Eat when you’re calm

Give your body a better chance of digesting your food properly by staying calm when it’s time to eat.

Stress shunts blood away from your digestive system where it’s needed the most. So make sure you get away from your desk to eat when you’re at work, avoid arguments at the table and, again, get maximum pleasure from what you’re eating.

 

  1. Eat breakfast within an hour upon waking up

Eating breakfast within an hour of waking up is one of the best tricks you can use to age gracefully and stay healthy.

It’ll help keep your blood sugar levels regulated, kick-start your metabolism after a night spent fasting, help keep your weight normal, feed your brain so you can have great cognitive functioning and give you an early energy boost that lasts!

  1. Don’t skip meals

Even if you don’t feel too hungry when meal time comes around, or you’re just too busy to eat, it’s important that you have something, however. This will keep your blood sugar levels stable, avoid food cravings, help keep excess weight off and keep your body fueled 24-7.

  1. Get plenty of rest

Stop running around all day and make sure you work rest time into your daily schedule. You need it to stay looking gorgeous, to glow with health and to keep your hormones healthy. But beware- watching the TV doesn’t count as rest. It’s far too stimulating for your brain.

Why not take time to curl up with a good book and a cuppa, enjoy a nice hot bath with some Epsom salts, practice yoga, learn to meditate or even just have a chat with your partner?

 

  1. Eat your greens

Green leafy veggies are a dense source of nutrients, including minerals which help keep your glowing with health throughout your menopause journey and beyond. Enjoy a wide variety of greens including spinach, chard, greens, kale, watercress, cabbage, purple sprouting, broccoli and cauliflower (yes, technically not green, but still nutritious).

  1. Get natural light

Every day make sure you get outside for at least 30 minutes, whether it’s gloriously sunny or there’s snow on the ground.

>Dress for the conditions and then get out there. You’ll feel much better in yourself, boost your vitamin D levels, strengthen your bones, sleep better at night and even regulate your hormones. Besides, there’s really nothing as good for your soul than getting out into nature. Beats getting trapped inside every time.

  1. Forget the ‘Eatwell plate’. Eat like this instead

Do you remember the Eatwell plate from the 90s? It was the government’s way of guiding the public towards making better food choices.

However, times have changed and health professionals no longer recommend it as a guide for healthy eating, instead emphasising more nutrient-dense foods with minimal processing.

So how can you approach your eating habits without the tool? It’s easy…

Simply increase your veg intake. That’s it. Sorted.

  1. Put your own needs first

Us women do tend to take care of everyone around us whilst forgetting about our own needs.

Whilst it’s normal to do this in a crisis, for example, your elderly mother has a fall and is admitted to hospital, it’s never a healthy thing. You’re putting your body and mind under immense pressure and setting yourself up for stress-related illnesses further down the line.

So let me remind you of this. You matter. You are important. You need to give yourself time and space to be who you are, just for you.

  1. Get your GP on board

If you think your hormones are shifting or you’re peri-menopausal, please do pop to your doctor and ask for a hormone test. If they come back normal but you still don't feel well then we can do the DUTCH or OAT test for further insight. Please contact me for further details.

With these ten actions, you can build a stronger and healthier body and mind. But you do have to make a conscious decision to do it.

Great health is for life, not just a weekend.

Menopause & Hormone Support

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