The Perimenopause Show with Jennifer Woodward

Eat Right, Feel Amazing: Nutrition Hacks for Hormonal Harmony in Perimenopause! (Part 1)

• Jennifer Woodward • Season 1 • Episode 3

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Discover the keys to thriving through perimenopause with a nutrient-rich diet that balances your hormones and bolsters your mood. I'm Jennifer Woodward, and I invite you to join me on this enlightening journey as we navigate the crucial roles of macronutrients and micronutrients in your daily regimen. We'll explore not only how to maintain muscle and metabolism with protein aligned to your body weight but also why fats are critical allies in brain health and hormone production. As we examine the optimal balance of fats and the perils of undereating, you’ll gain strategies for gradually increasing your calorie intake without the fear of weight gain. Prepare to transform your understanding of nutrition and take proactive steps toward a healthier, more vibrant you during this pivotal time.

This episode is your ticket to mastering the subtle art of dietary balance during the perimenopausal years. We'll shed light on the potent benefits of minerals like calcium, potassium, and magnesium in curbing cravings and elevating your mood, and discuss how a well-nourished body can lead to marked improvements in emotional well-being. I'll also introduce you to the intriguing practice of seed cycling and the potential benefits it has for hormone regulation. With actionable advice and insights, this discussion is designed to empower you with the knowledge and confidence to manage perimenopause symptoms through informed, mindful eating. Join the conversation and take the first step towards a symptom-light and nutrition-rich perimenopause.

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Jennifer:

In today's episode, we will be exploring nutrient-rich diets. We'll learn about specific foods for symptom management in perimenopause and what you can start eating today to alleviate common perimenopausal symptoms, like foods that are high in omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and fiber. We'll look at whether or not you should eat soy for your hot flashes and exactly what you should be doing when it comes to carbohydrates, proteins, fat and, especially, micronutrients.

Jennifer:

Hey there, it's Jennifer Woodward, and welcome to the perimenopause show, the go-to spot for all things perimenopause. I'm on a mission to demystify this wild ride sharing stories, laughs and maybe a few eye rolling moments. Whether you're knee deep in hot flashes or just curious, we've got you covered. Expect real talk, expert guests and a sprinkle of humor, because, let's face it, we could all use a laugh during perimenopause. So grab your favorite drink, get comfy and let's navigate this rollercoaster together. This is the Perimenopause Show, where we're turning perimenopause into a conversation, not a crisis.

Jennifer:

Hello and welcome back to the perimenopause show. I'm Jennifer Woodward, and in today's episode, we are going to talk about how you can eat right and feel amazing. We're going to go into nutrition hacks for hormonal harmony in perimenopause, all right. So welcome to the show..

Jennifer:

Today we're going to get into one of the most important topics in perimenopause and one of the most important topics for women in general. Women are always asking me Jennifer, what do I eat? Jennifer, how do you eat? Jennifer? How can I lose weight? Jennifer, what's important? When I go to the grocery store and you guys, diet is super, super important. But, as you'll hear me say very regularly on the perimenopause show, we're not just talking about diet and perimenopause. We're also talking about rest and exercise, stress management, proper supplementation based on lab work. So it really is not just diet, but diet is a huge part of what we do at Jennifer Woodward nutrition and the perimenopause show.

Jennifer:

So let's dive into defining our terms. We will go over protein, fat and carbohydrates. Those are the three macro nutrients that you need to be concerned about and most women have no idea. You know, like, what these macronutrients are. Or maybe you're on the other side and you've been obsessively tracking macronutrients for a really long time and you still aren't meeting some of your weight loss or body composition or biofeedback goals, and by biofeedback I'm talking about things like sleep and mood and digestion, energy, libido, Like how are those things going in your life? It's not just what the number looks like on the scale. It's how are you feeling on the day-to-day.

Jennifer:

So let's define those terms, starting with protein. Protein comes from the Greek word proteus, which means of primary importance, and protein is absolutely the most important macronutrient that we have when it comes to fueling our bodies, especially in perimenopause. And here's the reason why after the age of 35 to 40 years old, the body starts going into a catabolic stage where, if you are not eating enough calories and you're not eating enough protein, like 95% of the women out there, your body is going to start using its own muscle tissue to create energy. So it's going to break down through the influence of cortisol, which is your main stress hormone. Break down the skeletal muscle that you, which is your main stress hormone. Break down the skeletal muscle that you have in order to provide the raw materials it needs to just get through the day. So this is why a lot of women in perimenopause start feeling like they're flabbier and like they can't build muscle. Because they're flabbier and they can't build muscle because decades of living in that cortisol rich environment where cortisol is just constantly coursing through the bloodstream because you're so stressed all the time You're stuck in that fight or flight mode, your body's eating its own muscle. So you do become more flabby because you don't have as much muscle and you start gaining weight because you don't have as much muscle. So by gaining weight I suppose I mean gaining fat. Just because when the body has more muscle, muscle truly does weigh more than fat, and muscle makes you look more toned. It helps achieve that body composition that so many of us are looking for. So protein really is of primary importance. Protein has four calories per gram, so it really is an expedient way to get in nutrition, to getting calories, because it really is low calorie. So you get a lot of pain for your butt. Protein is also very thermogenic, so in order to break down protein rich foods, the body expends a lot of energy, and so it's really good for your metabolism to eat lots of protein as well.

Jennifer:

Protein is found mostly in animal foods. In Jennifer Woodward nutrition in the perimenopause show, you are going to hear me harp on animal protein. I work with women in perimenopause. I work with women who have hormone imbalance, and so I have seen in my practice and in my own life the animal protein really is best when it comes to uh, you know using food to balance hormones. Now for my plant-based girls you of course can use plant-based protein to get your your protein goals. It just becomes a lot harder. You have to balance out, you know your protein, so your essential amino acids and your non-essential amino acids, and also you tend to get more carbohydrates as you get more protein, and so it makes a little bit harder for you to reach your body composition goals If you're using plant-based protein to get the amount of protein that you need.

Jennifer:

On that note, I see best for women in perimenopause to eat about one gram of protein per pound of desired body weight. So let's just say you your desired body weight is 130 pounds, you're going to want to eat about 130 grams of protein a day, preferably animal protein, if your body goal is 180 pounds and you're going to want to get somewhere between 150 and 180 grams of protein a day. That is a lot of protein for a lot of women and it's kind of hard to get that much, so I recommend splitting it up into smaller bits. So about 30 grams of protein or a palm size serving of protein with every meal. That's a really good place to start. So that's protein Of course we're talking about, you know animal, animal protein first and foremost, but you can also find protein in legumes and in, you know, pea-based protein powders.

Jennifer:

Of course, fish, if you can, can tolerate fish. A lot of my vegetarian women will do eggs that's a great source of protein and egg whites. If you can tolerate it, if you can handle it, then eggs are a great source of protein as well. All right, let's dive into our next macronutrient, which is carbohydrates. Carbohydrates also clock in at about four well, not about, they clock in at four calories per gram. So carbohydrates are actually a really great way for you to get your calories too, because they're they're relatively low calorie.

Jennifer:

Our bodies do run on glucose, our bodies run on sugar, and so if you have done a low carbohydrate diet for any length of time, you've probably seen that they work great. For a while you feel pretty good, your body's releasing some of that inflammatory weight, that water-based weight. But then, after a while, you really bonk on a low carbohydrate diet because your body needs carbohydrates in order to create cellular energy or ATP. So I don't recommend super low carbohydrate diets for my women. We of course, don't want like the standard American carbohydrate diet of over 300 grams of carbohydrates a day. That's what the standard Western person eats. With regards to carbohydrates, we just want a balance right. So I find that most women do well at about 150 to 250 grams to carbohydrates. We just want a balance right. So I find that most women do well at about 150 to 250 grams of carbohydrates.

Jennifer:

But you need plenty and you're going to want to get those through fruits and vegetables, first and foremost through fruit juice, if you can handle it, through low calorie dairy products actually I am a fan of dairy If you can tolerate it. Certainly if you are lactose intolerant, if you are casein intolerant, then you're not going to want to do dairy and you know your body. But a healthy metabolism should be able to tolerate a little bit of dairy and it can be a really healthy carbohydrate for a lot of women because it's high in conjugated linoleic acid. It's actually high in protein. Whole milk has a perfect macronutrient profile eight grams of fat, eight grams of protein, eight grams of fat, eight grams of protein, eight grams of carbohydrates. So it really is a balanced and healthy food for a lot of women. Also contains plenty of calcium, so it helps your body retain that bone density that it needs as we're going into perimenopause. But again, you know your own body. Don't hear me say that everyone needs to have dairy. If you can't tolerate dairy, I totally get it. But if you can tolerate dairy, play around with it for your carbohydrates, because it can be really beneficial.

Jennifer:

Now the last macronutrient we'll talk about is fat. Fat costs in at nine calories per gram. Fat is found in things like bacon and avocado and actual animal fats. So if you're eating like a ribeye steak and you've got that, you know real juicy fat. That's obviously fat itself. Nuts and seeds are high in fat, but fat is found in most foods. I mean, just a little bit of fat is found in most foods. There is a little bit of fat, even in some fruits and vegetables, and it's a necessary component of our body.

Jennifer:

We use fat in order to create neurotransmitters, in order to create a healthy brain, in order to create healthy hormones. Our estrogen, our progesterone, our cortisol, our melatonin those all have a cholesterol backbone, a fat backbone, and our brain itself is 60% cholesterol. So we need plenty of fat in order to create a healthy brain and healthy hormones. So women on super low fat diets also tend to not feel great because they don't have the building blocks they need for healthy hormones and healthy brain health. So usually I recommend somewhere between 50 to 80 grams of fat in the diet. More than that and women tend to feel pretty bloated and puffy and they have a harder time losing weight.

Jennifer:

You don't need a ton of fat, despite what some of the keto experts will tell you, and that's why so many women have come to me and said Jennifer, I've done keto and I gained weight. What's going on? I thought keto was supposed to be a catch-all. It's supposed to make me skinny. I'm like well, that has a lot of calories and if you're overeating fat, just like anything else, you are probably going to have issues losing weight. So, all that to say, we want a balanced macronutrient profile, really concentrating on protein, then plenty of carbohydrates and rounding out the rest of your calories with fat.

Jennifer:

Women need about 2000 calories a day just to keep their basal metabolic rate strong. So just to get through your day, just to pick up carpool and go to work and cook for your family and go for your walk right and to sleep well, you need about 2000 calories a day. Women have dieted their way down to an average of, you know, 1500, 1600 calories a day and then they wonder why their metabolism slow down so much in perimenopause? It's because they haven't been nourished enough, you know, throughout the last few decades of their life. So with my women I really try to actually reverse, diet them up. So if they've been historically at 1500, 1600, 1800 calories and they're still not losing weight and they're not feeling good, then we're going to add in, you know, between 50 and a hundred calories every week or two, until they're getting close to about 2000 calories a day and not gaining weight. That tends to be my strategy with a lot of my women who come to me undernourished.

Jennifer:

And we're going to talk a lot more about macronutrients in the perimenopause show. That was an introduction. Just wanted to give you a framework of you know our terms and what it is we're talking about and why those things are important. Micronutrients are also going to be really, really important on the perimenopause show. It's one of the tests I love to run on my clients the hair tissue mineral analysis, looking for micronutrients, looking to see what's off with sodium and potassium, balance with calcium and magnesium, balance with calcium to potassium, balance, which is your thyroid ratio. So all of those micronutrients that are really overlooked when you're just focusing on calories or protein or carbs or fat, can be a very powerful intervention for women in perimenopause, who tend to be quite undernourished.

Jennifer:

Let's talk about the main four that we'll start with, but we'll dive into minerals a lot in the perimenopause show. So first off, our calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. Those are the four major minerals your body needs plenty of in order to function well and feel well. In fact, the most important mineral, arguably, would be potassium. The RDA for potassium, the recommended daily allowance, is 5,700 milligrams a day.

Jennifer:

I like to have my clients track. I use an app called chronometer. There is a free version, there is a paid version. I've talked about it before, that C-R-O-N-O-M-E-T-E-R. I'm not affiliated with them, but I do love that. They give you the option to track your micronutrients. So if you're putting in your food, you can track your calories. You can track your carbohydrates and your fat and your protein.

Jennifer:

But more importantly to me as a practitioner for women in perimenopause, I'm looking at micronutrients. How much calcium are you getting? How much magnesium are you getting, especially if you're not sleeping well or if you're not pooping well or if you're just not feeling energized, you know? How much sodium are you getting? Sodium is a very important mineral for our bodies to be able to handle stress and it actually has an impact on aldosterone, which is the hormone that regulates fluid balance, but also has an effect on your cortisol levels. So if you have really high or really low sodium, according to your hair tissue mineral analysis, or if you're just not eating enough sodium, you might have dysregulated cortisol levels, which are impeding your ability to handle stress. Okay, that's a really important to hear, because if you're on a low salt diet, you might not handle stress well from a mineral standpoint.

Jennifer:

Now, finally, potassium is, in my estimation, one of the most powerful and important minerals that a perimenopausal woman needs. So, perimenopausal potassium and protein, those are the three Ps that we're really going to harp on in the perimenopause style. But potassium is very, very necessary for handling fluid balance for women. So if you're finding that you have like kinkles, you know, swollen ankles or your body just feels puffy, you're probably not getting enough potassium. And do recall that I just told you that the RDA is 5,700 milligrams a day. Now, when I have my women track on chronometer, I find that they're rarely getting past that amount.

Jennifer:

It's hard for women to get to even 3000 milligrams of potassium a day, and that is not only going to affect that fluid balance, it's going to affect their energy levels and it's also going to affect their thyroid, because if we do not have enough potassium in our body, then thyroid hormone active form of thyroid hormone, t3 cannot get into our cell. It cannot get into the cell to do the work that it needs to do to keep your metabolism high, your body temperature high, your heart rate high and your weight at a normal balance. Now we can talk a ton more about that and we will, and the reason I bring that up is based off of the work that we do with the hair tissue mineral analysis. When we see a thyroid ratio that's really off, for instance, when calcium is very high and potassium is very low, we know that that client is going to have a really hard time again losing weight and achieving ideal body composition and also having enough energy, because that thyroid hormone can't get into the cell. That, my, my friends, that, my friends, is why potassium is so important in the diet. So we talked about protein, fat and carbohydrates. Those are very important. We talked about the fact that women need about 2,000 calories a day and if you're not anywhere near that man, you need to work with a practitioner or a coach to get your calories up to at least 2000 calories a day before you can even think about losing weight, before you can even think about going into another cut. But we also talked about how important micronutrients are, specifically calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. So when I talk about a nutrient rich diet, I'm talking about really getting those minerals in All right.

Jennifer:

Now in perimenopause, you know we are experiencing a lot of symptoms. Right Like women will come to me, and perhaps this is you. You know you're struggling with sleep. You're an insomniac for the first time in your life, or you're way worse with insomnia than you ever were. You can't get asleep, you can't stay asleep, you're waking up every morning between 1 and 3 am and you can't get back to sleep. Or no matter how much sleep you get, you just don't feel rested. That's really common in perimenopause. Then we know that.

Jennifer:

You know, if I'm having you track your diet, I'm going to be looking for signs of magnesium deficiency. Are you getting enough magnesium? And probably, if you're dealing with insomnia, you're not. So a nutrient rich diet for you and foods to alleviate symptoms for you would be foods that are high in magnesium. Those would be nuts and seeds, fruits and vegetables, and none of this is going to blow your mind. It's not like, oh, I need to eat whole foods, oh, I need to not eat crap. Well, yes, that's true, you just need to eat whole, healthy foods. Our ancestors, you know, ate a varied diet full of whole foods that were seasonal and local, and that's kind of what I would encourage you to do to plan your diet accordingly to make sure that you can take advantage of foods that are super nutrient rich. Foods in a package foods in you know, with that with a label are not going to be as nutrient rich, as mineral rich, as other foods that are, you know, whole and unprocessed and fresh. So that is my encouragement to you.

Jennifer:

You're struggling with the specific symptoms of insomnia. Let's get you foods that are higher in magnesium again nuts and seeds, fruits and vegetables. Other common symptoms in perimenopause would be PMS and that really nasty week right before your period. So, you know, increasing cramps, really bad moodiness, extreme exhaustion. Women in perimenopause tend to have increased symptoms during their PMS week, so that's another indication for you that you probably are deficient in magnesium If your PMS symptoms are terrible, if your cramps are terrible, if your quads are terrible, if your quads are terrible, I would encourage you, you know, get those magnesium rich foods.

Jennifer:

There are some great supplements you can use as well. In my practice I tend to use a lot of natural vitalities calm powder. I'm not affiliated with them, but I really do love their magnesium supplement. That magnesium citrate is really easy to absorb and tends to help, especially if you're also constipated during your PMS week. But the other things that you can do for you know really bad PMS and cramps and clots are start to seed cycle and those are specific foods that you can use seed cycling the week of your period in order to alleviate a lot of those hormone related symptoms. So we will drop my seed cycling guide here in the show notes so you can start seed cycling.

Jennifer:

And the idea behind seed cycling is that during the follicular phase of your cycle days one through 14, we're really increasing foods that are phytoestrogenic. And and don't be scared of foods that are estrogenic, because phytoestrogens actually fit the same cell receptor site as estradiol itself. So there's a twofold effect If you are low in estrogen, it's going to provide weekly estrogenic activity for your body so that you can feel a little bit more normal during that follicular phase. If you're high in estrogen, it can block that cell receptor site for the foods that are higher in, or for that, for a body that's higher naturally in estradiol or being exposed to synthetic estrogens. So it can block the effects of too much estrogen in the body. That's what phytoestrogenic foods can do With seed cycling we're increasing pumpkin seeds and flax seeds.

Jennifer:

Those first 14 days of your cycle and those phytoestrogenic foods are going to do exactly what I just talked about either raise low levels of estrogen naturally or lower excessive levels of estrogen naturally, and that's a really important part of balancing out hormones, especially in perimenopause. Now, during the second half of your cycle theoretically you know a 14 day cycle of the luteal phase, so that's days 14 through 28 of a normal cycle we are increasing foods that are richer in vitamin E. So foods like sunflower seeds and sesame seeds should help the body to produce more progesterone, which is exactly what we want to do in the luteal phase producing more progesterone and pulling down on excess estrogen in the luteal phase. Producing more progesterone and pulling down on excess estrogen in the luteal phase, days 14 through 28 is going to help the body prepare better for a healthy menstrual cycle. It is low levels of progesterone in perimenopause that tend to make the symptoms of PMS and then our periods much more offensive, much harder. So seed cycling can be a really powerful, easy, natural, food-based intervention for reducing those hormone and PMS symptoms and even period symptoms every single month. So I'd encourage you to grab my guide and start seed cycling and see how quickly your hormone symptoms can kind of alleviate when using foods that are specifically formulated to help with hormone health.

Jennifer:

Another symptom that a lot of women can experience during the perimenopausal transition is hot flashes, and so that seed cycling can really help with hot flashes too, because those phytoestrogens in the soy and pumpkin can help regulate some of that hot flash activity that tends to happen. Now, if you do experience like really, really bad hot flashes and they're waking you up at night you know, 10, 15, 20 times a night I've definitely seen that many times that's something you'd probably want to get testing for. Let's see exactly what your estrogen levels look like. If they're very low, then we would go in and start to you know, on the functional side like there's someone like me we'd start to naturally regulate your estrogen levels or you can go the medical route, talk to your doctor and possibly look at some estrogen replacement therapy. One caveat there always ask your doctor about progesterone replacement therapy At the same time. You're asking about estrogen replacement therapy because you always want those progesterone benefits If you are introducing more estrogen to the body. Estrogen and progesterone really balance each other out. We want to make sure that balance stays very, very regular, especially through perimenopause, so adding that progesterone can certainly help.

Jennifer:

We talked a little bit about the role of calcium in bone health, as we discussed, you know, using an app like chronometer to really help make sure that you're getting your minerals. By the way, calcium and potassium both are shown clinically to cut down on cravings. When we get enough calcium, when we get enough potassium and when we get enough magnesium, our cravings naturally balance themselves out because our body has met its need for minerals. We will continue to search for food and for us that just means whatever is in our pantry, because we are modern, you know Western women, so we're just going to eat whatever's in front of us if we have cravings. But cravings are a way the body tells us we need more minerals or we need more protein. By getting the amount of protein that you need every day about one gram per pound of body weight, your body can naturally shut down those cravings that it tends to experience, especially cravings for sugar and crap food.

Jennifer:

By getting enough minerals, particularly calcium and potassium, we also tend to shut down cravings because the body has met its need for minerals. So cravings are always a signal that you are deficient in something and if you can go in and get enough protein, go in and get enough calcium, go in and get enough potassium, you should start to see an extreme reduction in your cravings, which is a really powerful and really important for women in perimenopause and I think, pretty darn exciting other foods that are going to help with common perimenopausal symptoms. You know we talked about sleep, we talked about hormone symptoms, periods and PMS week. We kind of talked about even body composition and weight gain and making sure that if you get enough potassium, get enough calcium and get enough protein, you're going to naturally cut down on those cravings, which can help you achieve your weight loss and body composition. But other common perimenopausal symptoms are depression, anxiety and irritability. So that's something I see a ton in my women. I have women report to me.

Jennifer:

You know I've never really been an angry person, jennifer, but all of a sudden I'm just irritated at everyone and and more than that I'm. I'm angry Like I'm mad mad at my husband, I'm mad at my kids that's not how I normally am and I'm like girlfriend, you are not eating enough. If we can go in and get you enough calories almost 2000 a day, not don't go from like 1500 to 2000 calories a day in a day or two days or a week, because you will gain weight and then you'll be mad at me. But if you can work with someone like me and you can, you know, reverse diet, adding in again 50 to a hundred calories every couple of weeks until you get to that really magic 2000 calorie a day mark without gaining weight, then you're going to feel like your biofeedback is settled, you're going to feel like your sleep's better and you're absolutely going to feel like your mood is better. And that's one of the first things that I want you to try If you're struggling with, you know, anxiety, irritability or depression most times for most of my clients.

Jennifer:

If we can get our women eating enough, those panic attacks, that anxiety, that depression and especially that anger and irritability tends to slowly fall by the wayside because the body is nourished, you feel much more balanced, that fight or flight mode has kicked off and you've gotten to more of a balanced autonomic nervous system. And this is where we want to live in perimenopause friends. We want to have a balanced autonomic nervous system during perimenopause. So all the things that we're going to talk about in this show, all the things we have talked about in this show our objective here is to get you into a balanced autonomic nervous system, out of fight or flight, closer to rest and digest, so that you can just live your life and not have to think about all the symptoms that you were experiencing.

Jennifer:

So next up, as we go further into you know, some of these foods. We're going to talk about dietary restrictions, hydration, meal planning tips and meal timing strategies, incorporating some super foods. We're going to talk about dietary restrictions, hydration, meal planning tips and meal timing strategies, incorporating some super foods. I'm going to give you some recipes and some meal plans. So we have a lot more to do with diet. This is just part one of our diet series on the perimenopause show. I can't wait to get into some of the more you know next level tips.

Jennifer:

But for today, your action item should be to download our seed cycling guide and start seed cycling. If you're a woman in perimenopause, you likely really need this intervention. It's very inexpensive, it's very easy to do and it is pretty tasty, because in my seed cycling dots I'm giving you chocolate every single day, which I think should be mandatory for women in perimenopause. So if you try them, reach out to me on Instagram or Facebook. Jennifer Woodward Wellness. Jennifer Woodward Nutrition, and let me know how it goes for you, because I've seen, you know, one cycle or two cycles. Women are already starting to balance their hormones, just with the introduction of adding seed cycling. So I hope that's helpful for you. Thanks for tuning in today.

Jennifer:

This has been the Perimenopause show with Jennifer Woodward. I look forward to seeing you next time. Well, that's a wrap for today's episode. I hope you enjoyed our candid chat about perimenopause the good, the challenging and everything in between. If you found this episode as enlightening and entertaining as I did, be sure to hit that subscribe between. If you found this episode as enlightening and entertaining as I did, be sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss a dose of perimenopausal realness. Before you go. Remember that you're not alone in this journey. We're building a community of kick-ass women embracing the changes and supporting each other. Connect with us on social media, share your stories and let's keep this conversation going. And hey, if you have a burning question, a topic you'd love us to tackle, or just want to say hello, shoot us a message. Your feedback keeps this podcast fueled and fabulous. Thanks for hanging out with us today. Until next time, take care, stay fabulous and remember perimenopause is just another chapter in the adventure of being a woman. Catch you on the flip side.