While reading through nutritional literature on how to stay healthy during perimenopause (the time leading up to menopause) and menopause, I found myself feeling bored. Generalized recommendations to eat more protein, consume additional calcium, and crunch on fruits and vegetables were abundant, but they seemed dry, impersonal, and disconnected from the life-altering experience that perimenopause and menopause can be.
My circle of older female friends believes that women’s life transitions are special, particularly this one, and I realized I was longing for acknowledgment of that uniqueness in the articles I was perusing.
I wanted depth, connection, and soul to go along with the science of good nutrition. Menopause is a unique time in a woman’s life. It signifies we’ve made it through our childbearing years and are entering a new phase…one less driven by hormonal cycles and potentially more guided by wisdom from our years lived.
In menopause, we are released from thoughts of bearing children and freed from the ups and downs associated with our menstrual cycles. These two things alone open up a large amount of focus and energy we can use for other pursuits. Many of us, though, find this transition to be fraught with stress and frustration caused by challenging symptoms.
As a 45-year-old woman, I recently entered this transitional time. My skin is drier, my hair more coarse, and my body temperature often too hot. Even getting consistent sleep through the night has become challenging.
While each of us going through this time of life has our own set of symptoms to denote the changes in our body, we can nearly all say that many of these markers are uncomfortable and sometimes downright burdensome.
It can be easy to focus only on the symptoms and lose sight of the sacred threshold we’re crossing. While many of us might say we’d prefer leaping rather than inching across that threshold, this is one instance where our bodies are in charge, and we can either learn and support the process, or we can stress and resist. Personally, I prefer the learn and support option.
Referring back to my craving for depth, connection, and soul, I decided to start looking into other perspectives of how to navigate symptoms associated with perimenopause and menopause. Here in the United States, we tend to be very focused on the science of what’s happening and how to fix it. In other cultures and philosophies, heart and soul are also a part of the conversation. I wondered what I could learn and what could be added to the basic scientific nutritional tenets of eat more protein, increase calcium intake, and crunch on more fruits and vegetables. Two philosophies I looked into were Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Ayurveda.
When I was studying at university, one of the most interesting classes I took was Traditional Chinese Medical Nutrition. Instead of foods categorized according to their nutrient content, I learned that TCM groups them according to their temperature (cold, cool, neutral, warm, hot) and taste (sour, bitter, sweet, salty, pungent). Particular foods are prescribed to restore balance between the body’s systems. A system imbalance is indicated by symptoms and diagnosed as too much (or too little) hot or cold. For example, the hot flashes and night sweats that are often associated with perimenopause and menopause relate to the kidney being too hot, so cooling and watery foods are recommended.
Some specific suggestions to restore balance include blueberries, raspberries, purple/red grapes, mulberries, fennel, asparagus, beet, broccoli, kale, and cabbage. Miso soup, seaweed soup, barley, buckwheat, black rice, black beans, and black lentils are also on the list. I notice that these foods are particularly rich in antioxidants and minerals, low in fat, and high in fiber - all of which align with what science confirms as beneficial to support a body in being healthy.
Traditional Chinese Medical nutrition wisdom makes sense to my sensory self. I can feel the temperature in my body, and when I pay close attention, I can sense how different foods affect it. Over the years, I’ve often leaned toward the TCM perspective to gather information to support my whole health and well-being.
In Ayurveda, a medical approach that originated in India over 3000 years ago, the symptoms of perimenopause and menopause are looked upon as signals that the body is in need of support with balancing its energies – also known as its doshas.
A different dosha governs each stage of life (childhood, adulthood, and elderhood). When menopause is transitioning us from adulthood into elderhood, we’re moving from pitta, the dosha of fire and water, to vata, the dosha of air and ether.
As adults, we’re designed to work and produce, which aligns with the heat of fire and the movement of water, while as elders, we’re designed to slow down, rest, and share wisdom, which matches with the expansive and breezy nature of air and ether.
In a perfect world, as menopause begins, our work life would be winding down in preparation for relaxation and wisdom sharing. As things are, though, most of us are still mid-career and/or family-raising when menopause comes knocking; slowing down is not a valid option. The imbalance of our stage of life dosha compared to our activity output is what Ayurveda sees as creating the symptoms associated with menopause. Said another way, the fire/water activity of working is asynchronous with air/ether energy of our body in menopause. Hot flashes, mood imbalances, etc. are the result of the imbalance.
Mindfulness practices (such as meditation) and specific dietary choices are two strategies Ayurveda recommends to support the restoration of balance during perimenopause and menopause. Much like Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western science recommendations, fruits and vegetables are of primary importance during this transitional time. Also, Ayurveda generally suggests focusing on well-cooked and easy-to-digest foods such as lentils, beans, rice, barley, and oats. Avoiding pasta, processed foods, and fatty meats is advised. A small amount of low-fat dairy is ok. One of the foods that Ayurveda specifically talks about as nourishing is called Kitchari. Kitchari, made from a blend of lentils, seasonings, vegetables, ghee, and rice, is simple to make and super nourishing.
Having examined nutritional perspectives and recommendations for perimenopause and menopause from three sources, I better understand why fruits and vegetables are important (they hydrate and cool) and that increasing my protein through eating more beans (for their cooling properties) is a very supportive way to increase protein intake. Regarding the recommendation that more calcium is important, I know that beans, greens, seaweed, nuts, and seeds all have calcium, so I will continue to be thoughtful about my consumption. Zooming out, I love that these systems of healthcare overlap and support each other, and I will continue to lean into their combined richness of wisdom.
This blog post was written by Kristen Peairs, Nutritionist and Meditation Facilitator at Nivati. You can see more of their content on the Nivati platform and on the Nivati blog. If you want to learn more about Nivati, click here.
