What to Eat in Perimenopause

Ags is a qualified Nutritional Therapist with an MSc in Personalised Nutrition and an ICF-accredited coach who specialises in supporting women in perimenopause with a blend of nutrition and integrative health and behavioural change to tackle the unique challenges of this stage. More about Ags here https://agsgalland.com/ and you can sign up to get her protein and fibre rich breakfast recipes here. 7 Quick Breakfast Recipes for Energy and No Excuses

In this conversation Ags: 

  • blows my mind with a fact about metabolism that changes everything

  • Confirms that our 90s diet rules are not serving us!

  • Talks us through protein, fibre, ultra-processed foods, supplements, wine and more!

  • Helps us simplify our plates

To listen to the podcast click here: WTF To Eat In Perimenopause, A Conversation with Agata Galland

Ags, we are here having a conversation about food and perimenopause or menopause and I'm excited to be in conversation with you. Do you want to introduce yourself to all our lovely listeners and tell us the work that you do around supporting midlife women?

Yes, absolutely. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. I am a nutritionist, registered nutritionist or nutritional therapist, as we say in the UK and also ICF accredited coach and I work with mostly women around food and nutrition, around behavioural change. So my pool of clients usually sits around that age of lovely perimenopause. 35 plus. If you want someone to give you a quick tip, sort of generic advice, a meal plan and send you off or have a quick fix, I'm probably not your nutritionist.

So I focus on more of longer-term change, something that we can work together over a few months or a few weeks, but that you're going to take away and that's going to stay with you, hopefully for a lifetime or at least a few decades.

Thinking about changing our behaviour around mid 30s to support our bodies is something we've talked about in various aspects in these interviews. And food is such a big part of our lives, right? We're eating multiple times a day and putting things into our body. What are the main challenges that you see around nutrition when women are reaching out to you?

So I think the main challenge that comes often into the surface around maybe perimenopause or late thirties, I often see, and I call it a sort of an outdated or nineties diet rule book. So we have those, outdated old, often maybe misleading concepts in our head.

Our beliefs that maybe guide us around what to eat and how to eat and which food is bad, which food is good. Should I go low sugar, no sugar. Should I go low fat, high fat? All of those sort of preconceptions that we carry from when we were, for some women, it even starts when they're 10 years old, 10, 15, 20 years old. And maybe some of the tricks worked when we were that age, but they no longer work. But it's something that, sadly, may take a lot of time to change, to reframe and it's often work that no one wants to do. We just want that quick fix, but I often see that as typically a challenge. We may know what to eat, may hear we may have that belief around what's going to be good for me or bad. But is it the right thing for my body right now? Is it something that I should be focusing on?

Those are often the challenges that I see beyond obviously the obvious of, Hey, I don't know what's protein or I don't know how to create a nutritious meal. I don't know how to eat less, the sort of practical things around actual nutrition.

Such an interesting point that you raise that I think often when we are hitting puberty, we have almost a similar experience. With hormones changing, our bodies are changing, we're entering a new phase of life. And we may be restricting our diet or looking at a Sweet 16 magazine or Cosmopolitan that's telling us to eat like five boiled eggs and a carrot every second day. And that's often what stays with us as the way to eat.

I'm sure for the humans growing up now, that'll be a different story that they carry forward with the updated research and advancements that we know about health. And a lot of it is about controlling, right? Controlling my body or my body's changing and I don't know what to do. And so in midlife, would you say the changes are around weight gain or around energy or around creating muscles, so what are the things that women are waking up and finding is happening to their bodies?

That's a great question. And it can be all of those that you just mentioned. Often what may happen is, around midlife, our lifestyle is very different. So maybe our kids are older, we’re no longer running around after them. Maybe we spend a little bit more time in the office. Maybe we have extra responsibilities of ageing parents, different locations, moving houses, priorities around careers or partners careers or whatever that is.

Lifestyle looks very different. It's often, sadly, less active naturally. So we're moving around a little bit less. We may have a little bit less energy. Because we're moving around less, maybe we're eating differently. That can be due to different things, again, different routines. Life is getting busier, you have more to do. Kids require more attention because they're getting older.

So maybe you used to elaborate, beautiful salads every lunch and happily carry them to your office. Now it's going to be a quick muffin or a coffee or a sandwich or whatever that is. So a lot of this, it's not really a single thing, but it can be a combination. With that, more stresses on the body, external stresses on the body would often lower energy.

With lower energy often comes lower motivation to do anything, whether it's to exercise, whether to go for a walk, whether to do something fun with your friends, socialise, talking about that mental wellbeing. With that lower energy, less movement often comes weight gain is just natural sort of science of more coming in, less energy coming out. We obviously gonna store some energy.

There is this misconception of midlife/perimenopause. Gosh, I'm definitely going to put on weight. It's just what happens. Yes, it can happen. And, you know, it's often due to the hormonal changes, but it's not often due to sort of metabolic changes or the way we process the energy as we often believe our metabolism slows down because we're ageing. It's not actually true. Now we know that. With the weight gain, can be issues around self-doubt, self-judgment, lack of self-love or accepting of, things are changing. I'm looking different. My shape is different. I'm not feeling great, because I'm not feeling great. And because I carry all of that stress and maybe weight, or I'm maybe not sleeping well. So it's a vicious cycle.

One often will follow another and there is no one thing that may cause a particular change or shift, but it's almost like a compilation of things that maybe happen because we come into certain age or because maybe everything around certain age or around specific point in our lives starts to suddenly shift.

I love what you're saying about this almost entanglement. I see it, this kind of delicate weave of so many different threads coming together that creates the symptoms maybe or the condition or the way we're feeling.

And obviously working in stress management and burnout, as well as leadership, often women are reaching for more promotion, bigger roles at work at the same time as all of this is happening maybe on a chemistry and hormonal level, let alone the lifestyle. So almost seeing that as various strands that we can pick out and create change in and food being one of the ways that we can support ourselves during that time and how it impacts so many other things. When I think about my energy or I think about my sleeping or I think about my motivation levels. One thing that you just said that I just want to repeat, because I think it is counter to what a lot of us believe is that, did I hear you correctly in saying metabolism does not necessarily slow down in your 30s and 40s, from a chemistry point of view?

That's right. there was a, I think maybe two or three years ago, there was a study done, which shook everyone in the industry, because that's what we've been told. And many women listening to this will have similar belief. My metabolism slows down. This is just what's going to happen. I'm going to sit here and accept that because I'm over 40 and that's what's happening.

Now we know that actually it isn't true. Metabolism is loads of different chemical processes, how we burn energy. How we manage all the chemical processes happening in the body. The rate of how fast or how slow it goes actually stays pretty much stable between around age of 20 to 60. So over years of over 60, there is evidence that shows that rate of metabolism slows down slightly, but between 20 and 60, it pretty much stays the same.

So if that has been shown as being untrue, what are we left with? We’re left with lifestyle, maybe energy we're taking in, the food, amount of food, quality of food we take in, and potentially energy release. So whether we are moving, how often are we moving? Do we do any rigorous, formal exercise? Do we train our muscles? Do we get our heart rate up so we can work on that resilience and endurance, all of those things that contribute to energy balance, energy in, energy out.

So mind shifting to think that that is not inevitable. And I am reading an amazing book called The Hormone Repair Manual by Laura Brydon. And she tells a story about women experiencing a very different way of ageing in different communities where they are moving more. In the Amazon somewhere, a group of women that actually don't have the same symptoms that are displayed in maybe the West that we're used to because they're living a different lifestyle. Just that shift around what is inevitable versus what is maybe caused by ways that we're living. So that's really significant that metabolism stays almost constant until 60 and then maybe drops off slightly.

So how do we support our metabolism, what can we do with food to support a functioning metabolism from your point of view?

There are a few different strategies or ways to support your metabolism, especially when we coming into perimenopause. Shifting that idea of some things don't work anymore. What's happening. I'm eating the same things. I'm doing the same things. Things are not shifting. Things are not moving.

One of the things before we get into the nutrients and the actual practicalities. I often like to say is it links a little bit with that 90s diet rule book, of those sort of beliefs. I like to say that there needs to be an element of education or informed choices when it comes to food so in my practice I'm quite big on helping women to understand what food is, what sort of messages food sends, how can we use food and choose certain foods and therefore nutrients to support certain processes in our body.

It can be anything from understanding how many actual calories, let's not be afraid of a word calories, it has such a bad connotation, but it is what it is. It's an energy unit, right? So how many energy units do I need a day to stay the shape I am to feel good, to support my body. What does a portion size look like for me? How can I make different choices? What are some foods that I can include daily and maybe weekly? So that's one of the things that I find quite big in terms of strategy that maybe it's not often talked about because it's not food. It's just that sort of other part that we don't maybe want to put work in or learn.

In terms nutrients and food. There are a few different groups. So one of the things you probably know, everyone hears about it and everyone talks about it, it's protein and fibre. It has been very big lately and there's a lot of reasons for it. For protein, it's one of the key reasons, I guess, why you hear everyone talking about this.

Research shows, and I see the same with my clients, is that women specifically have been under eating protein. So when we talk about protein, we mean meat and eggs, some beans or tofu, chicken, fish, those sort of things. It's probably less attractive macronutrients, right? Like it's not crunchy. Sometimes it's sort of bland if we don't put things on it.

It's often something that we maybe add in on top rather than create a meal around it. Just by default, it's not something you can go and grab in a supermarket, maybe in some places they sell boiled eggs to go, or chicken breast out of the package, but often that's not a thing that we just grab and go. So naturally it's becoming, quite important that we, ageing women, really work on including that protein and making a meal around the protein for muscle support. There is no muscle that's going to grow in the body without enough protein. Protein can help to stabilise blood sugar levels, so often can make us feel full for longer. Maybe those cravings or energy crashes can be helped with protein.

In terms of fibre, also similar in terms of sort of that feeling of fullness, but there is so much more to fibre. We're talking about gut health, we're talking about supporting healthy digestion. Are you pooping daily? That's often a question that I ask. And it's a silly question, but are you really? Fibre can help with that. Makes a big difference. And only if you don't, you understand what we mean by that. It makes a big difference when you're not.

Fibre has been quite big in press and social media through all the experts, because we're realising more than ever that what often a lot of diets have in common, they talk about eating a lot of fruit and vegetables, right? So there was always this agreement about eat meat, don't eat meat, eat less fish, eat less, eat less carbs or fat. But a lot of them do talk about make sure you include your fruit and veg.

And the reason for that is it's obviously a source of fibre. There are a few different types of fibre and we need all of them for not only digestion and healthy poop, but also lowering cholesterol to keeping our gut healthy. When our gut is healthy, our immunity is better. Our cholesterol is better. Our hormones like estrogen can be metabolised more efficiently. So there is so much more to fibre than just poop.

Where we are today with all the packaged food and ultra processed food and quick meals, things on the go, supplements like protein shakes and all of that, sometimes fibre is missed. So that's something that also we can prioritise and it can be a few portions of fruit and veg a day. Beans or lentils, amazing for your gut health, great source of protein too.

We're talking seeds, we're talking some nuts, all of those beautiful things. So that's on the macro level. I can run through supplements quickly, if you would like.

I want to pause and ask you two more things before we do that because supplements is a hot topic. So I want to get your take on that. But just recapping, when you talked about supporting metabolism, it sounds like there's an education piece there around what are energy units? What are calories? How much does my food contain? What portion size do I need? How much do I actually need to be eating? And am I either under or over?

And then on my meals that I am feeding myself, giving me the protein and the fibre that I need in addition to everything else. I think you made a really interesting point around on the one hand, we've got this need for speed when we're in our thirties and forties, we're often holding many things, juggling many things and how it's very difficult to find good quality food that is available in a short space of time, right? Our takeaway food doesn't necessarily have the fibre and the protein that we need that's going to be supporting our metabolism.

What do you mean? Can you give us a couple of examples of ultra processed food?

So ultra processed food. I guess the easiest way to explain that is if you see something that comes in a package or a can or a box that is likely food that has been processed. What do we mean by process? There has been either some sort of chemical or mechanical, mechanistic way of processing the food. So working with the food. So for example, butter is a processed food, right? Because it's made from milk to go to butter. We need a certain process. We need this and that to create that food. Having said that, not all the foods are bad. So we eat and I often say, don't be scared of processed foods because things like beans in a can or chopped tomatoes in a can or tomato paste or anything else that comes in a can, for example, even fish, canned fish, great convenient food, doesn't mean that it's bad for you.

It's a matter of looking at the ingredients list, see what's been added in, what are some things that potentially don't need to be there. So is the ingredients long in the ingredient list? Does it have any fibre? Does it have any protein or what sort of additives it has? Does it have any trans fat? Those are the sort of things that we often talk about or want people to notice when we talk about ultra processed food. Now, we live in the area of such convenience and there are so many choices out there. Supermarkets are packed with foods, it's almost impossible to avoid not eating ultra processed foods. As I mentioned, some of them are just there and we grab it and cook with it or add it to something else.

What I often say is include the least amount you can to obviously make it work for you. So if we talking about your diet, having 5/10% of ultra processed foods that are not all covered and rolled in sugar, salt and spices. That's great. You're doing pretty, pretty well.

We can label foods as good and bad when it comes to ultra processed food, but the reality is that they're here to stay. So how can we make choices around those foods? Can I find a supplement? Maybe can I find an alternative? Is there another food I can use? These are some sort of questions you can have, but, yes, they’re definitely not great for you, but I also feel like, everything in moderation. If we do add them, how much and how do you actually use them in your cooking, in your diet, in your day?

Food being overwhelming is something you just said. How do we take the overwhelm out and create change where we can? One of the things that I know so many of my clients struggle with is, not just that they're thinking for themselves, but they're often also thinking for their dependents when they're at home. So their children, their partners, their parents, potentially extended family that they may be caring for. And then at work, they're thinking for their team members, their employees, their clients, and all of the rest of that, their suppliers potentially. So food can feel like another thing to think about.

What are your recommendations when people are potentially cooking for a whole bunch of people with different dietary requirements and preferences? How can we reduce overwhelm around food for ourselves when we are in our 30s and 40s and wanting to support our metabolism but maybe struggling to think about how?

I can feel that. Overwhelm in terms of cooking, being creative in the kitchen, does she like this, that he like this, he's not going to eat that. How much should I cook of it? I've seen it, I've been there too. And it sucks to face that on top of everything else that we do.

One thing that I find it can be really helpful is when we think of food almost in a more simplified way. And it may be quite counterproductive based on what we just said, there are so many things to think about when it comes to food, right? So many nutrients, so many different things. But if we almost zoom out and take a step back, there are three group main groups of foods.

We have carbohydrates, we have protein, we have fat.

Underneath the carbohydrates, we often sneak in fibre because it's not a micronutrient, but it's there. And then also the fourth one would be all the antioxidants and vitamins and minerals. If we think about them and create meals that include at least two or three of those in every meal.

It doesn't have to be how much variety I can create, but sometimes it's around, I need my source of protein. So maybe I'll have some yoghurt and an egg for breakfast and I need some carbohydrates. So why don't I put a half a cup of oats in there? That's going to be my carbs. And then I need some fats, right? And maybe extra fibre. So why don't I put a spoon of flaxseed?

That can be a meal itself. You're covering all the bases of all the micronutrients. For lunch, it can be similar. So if you think of almost in terms of, rather than think of ingredients and specific foods, you can think of groups of food that you want to include in your meal. For antioxidants, basically think anything that it's colourful. That will help with fighting inflammation, oxidative stress.

Providing those extra nutrients, usually colourful foods, they carry a lot of minerals, a lot of vitamins that we likely don't get enough in our diet. So how can you create a meal that will have some colours on my plate? We'll have some carbohydrates, we'll have protein and we'll have fats. And that maybe is a simple way of thinking, but often I find when I introduce that, or when we talk about it with clients, it's often something that can resonate because there isn't much thinking. There isn't elaborate recipes that need to happen. I often provide a list of literally a spreadsheet, which seems very simple and very obvious, but you can't believe how effective it can be just to have it on your fridge saying like, Hey, those are carbohydrates include some of this. Those are your protein. Those are your fats. Those are your fruit and vegetables, antioxidants….

If you're not a recipe person or if you’re short on time, choose one of each, maybe couple from antioxidants or fruit and veg, create a meal, put it in a bowl, add some flavour, spice, salt, whatever. And it doesn't have to be a full blown recipe that is amazing and you're needing different ingredients, et cetera. It can be really simple. just putting things together.

Now to address your point around kids. Kids can be really picky. What do we do? What do we eat? I think this concept can also work in that, you know, in that scenario where we think, is my child getting some protein if he doesn't like eggs or doesn't like dairy or yoghurt? Is there another way I could get that in? Can I make a protein shake or a smoothie and sneak in some vegetables? Could I create a pasta sauce that instead of is just meat can I add some beans to it? Could I mash some vegetables make the sauce in bulk and create more volume and more fibre in it? Something to work with younger kids, often just literally putting stuff on the plate consistently, even if they don't eat it. It may introduce a different habit of, okay, I'm seeing everyone around the table eating it, I don't love it, but maybe I'll have one. Maybe next time in three months, I'll have two, whatever that is,

Environment is a huge thing as well, so if we see people around us doing certain thing and we see that as being good for them, or it's not harmful for them,

Two things I'm thinking about. Number one, this sounds like time investment at the beginning. And that is the case with so many things around creating change. When I think about the work that I do in stress management or burnout prevention, it takes time to implement something new. And it often feels so challenging to do that when we're in a high stress mode.

But it sounds like maybe creating that Excel spreadsheet or thinking about seven meals that everybody will eat creates the ease later on. Cause then I don't have to do the thinking over and over again. And one thing that I found really helpful for clients is to create a meal plan sometimes together with their families. Everybody sitting down and saying, what are we going to agree

Whether they do that themselves or their partner does it or somebody does it and almost taking that decision out of it. So it's not every day we have to decide, but we've got something stuck on the front of jobs.

Monday, it's a lentil bake and Tuesday, it's tofu and rice and whatever it is that can be a game changer. The other thing I'm thinking about, and I know that this has been so helpful for me, and maybe we've discussed this in the past, is sometimes just letting go of the family meals and letting them be a little bit messy and maybe not quite the nutritional feast that they could be. And looking at the two other meals where maybe I have more control. Can I control my breakfast? Or maybe for some people, it's their lunch.

Levels of access to kitchens or time in the day. So can I look at creating really nutritious meals for myself when I do have the time and maybe letting that be enough for now? So maybe I focus on a breakfast and maybe I get my breakfast nailed and then I move on to lunch and then I create a family meal. So also just taking the change in bite-sized chunks.

Yeah, absolutely. And to your first point around the decision, together, I find it that's something that we started to do a while ago within my family. My kids are sort of that age that we can just have a discussion now. It wasn't possible before, but involving them in that decision creation, I think that's something that it often can spark that feeling of ownership. They're like, I've decided, I made a decision. I was part of it. I'm not just being told, I'm not just being served the thing, which I think for my kids, they’re stubborn. So they want to know everything. They want to be a part of it. So that's something that can really work. And to your point on maybe a meal a day where you have the most control when we talk about yourself, even, or family members. I've worked with a client who she had a strict diet partner that was a certain dinner always on the table or always needed to be cooked. So she knew she needs to fall into that because she didn't want to cook for two or three different people. We identified her lunch being her meal where she's going to get the most of her nutrients, how to make that happen, how to take back control, as you say, to create the change to give the nutrients that your body needs and the same for kids.

So it can be if a quick dinner is your thing and you know you're not going to have time in the evening. Can you then put extra nutrients in the morning? Can you create, add in the one or two things, give extra protein with yogurt for lunch or something like that. So maximise that.

We often do this when we travel or when we have a day out and about, I make sure that everyone gets a great breakfast because that's going to be the foundation.

You're to have this or that after that, but how can you make sure that you just have that base and what can you actually control within your day in terms of the nutrients and foods that you're getting in.

And I feel like that makes it so much more doable when we think about creating change or coaching in general of bringing it back down to the smallest change and actually taking action with that. Cause sometimes when we look at the whole picture, it can feel really big. You mentioned environment as being such a big factor in diet and nutrition, which made me think about a hot topic.

In the 30s, 40s and 50s, which is alcohol, right? So many of my one-on-one clients use alcohol as a way to de-stress at the end of the day. They're aware of that. They do maybe want to create change around that. They live lives where there social life is often focused around having a glass of wine together and it's not excessive. So we're talking one or two glasses of wine in the evening with a partner or a couple of drinks on the weekend or connecting over cocktails. And it's often something we work with around noticing what impact that has on general stress levels. And I'm curious to hear, I know that we've had a conversation about this before and a couple of the listeners actually sent me a message saying, I loved Ags until she said X and I don't know if I like her.

After that, tell us from a science and chemistry point of view, what is the lowdown on alcohol and how should we be supporting our bodies around this?

It is a hot topic around our age, 40 plus is where the body just isn’t the same. It's a terrible analogy, but think about a car that it's sort of worn a little bit, it doesn't work as well. Some things may be squeaking when you drive out. Some things are not processed the same way as they used to. I remember in my twenties, my body had no problem of drinking five cocktails and still waking up at 6 a.m. and going to work and have a great fresh day and not feeling any of it. Now, definitely not the case. And it can be a factor of all of those things we talked about, stress, confusion around food, not sleeping, high demand, other responsibilities, et cetera, all of that. But often it is our body's lowered ability to process alcohol. So the liver obviously needs to metabolise alcohol. So when we consume that, it puts a huge pressure on the liver and any metabolic processes that happen. With the hormonal changes, which obviously hugely weigh on the liver, all of that gets a little bit of a backseat when it comes to alcohol. So when we consume alcohol, a lot of women just say, Hey, I don't sleep well, it doesn't make me feel good. I have more headaches. I never used to have headaches. A lot of women, there was this thing about wine. Or red wine is suddenly starts to be intolerant due to, you know, anti-histamine or anything else that can happen in the gut in terms of how the wine is metabolised.

So there is a lot of different things that we don't often know exactly where they come from, but it's something to do with the way our body processes alcohol in general, something to do with how our body processes hormones and manages fluctuating levels of hormones as well, because that stresses the body itself. And it's just something that the body says, you know what, I am not prioritising that. Therefore you're probably going to feel like shit tomorrow.

I'm sorry, but this is what's going to happen. So the ability of how much we can drink or how little can we drink to still feel OK, it definitely changes to what it was maybe 5, 10 years ago. There has been some evidence, and I don't know exact data and studies to reference here, but I know we used to believe that there was a very small amount of alcohol that we often recommended, I think it was about 70 milligrams of red wine, which when you put it in a glass, it's nothing. It's a shot basically, compared to what we tend to pour ourselves as a glass. That seemed to be for a long time considered as beneficial for health for resveratrol, for antioxidants, et cetera. Now we know that actually zero drinks per week is something that we need to aim for.

To really create a change or for our body to have really be able to stay healthy and to not carry any risks going forward. So that's never good news. I think a lot of women changing their perspective on alcohol, but I think it's very individual what we, we're not saying do not drink, but I think maybe bring more awareness.

I think we are saying that, Ags. 0 % equals do not drink. And I must say, in the times, I don't drink alcohol at the moment, or not a lot at least, because I have noticed the changes. And a lot of my clients who reduce or cut out alcohol feel such enormous changes in their health. And you're saying on a metabolic level, the body is doing so much with the fluctuations of eostrogen and progesterone that it can't actually handle more. And so every time we're giving it more alcohol to digest, we're taxing it, right? We're impacting that. And the recent studies that I've read around the links to cancer are also quite sobering in terms of that connection between alcohol and what it can do in the body and the risks of cancer associated with that.

I actually believe that’s the way it's going, the way our generation and probably younger generation looks at alcohol. I think it's going to be soon if not in a decade it probably will become what cigarettes became, it slowly will be unpopular, unfun, frowned upon to maybe have a drink. I'm hoping we'll still see that where alcohol will be just hidden on the shelf there. You have to have some sort of special permissions to buy or why do you need that? Let's see. Let's meet in 20 years and see.

I had two more questions I wanted to ask you. One was around hydration in general. So let me ask that first since we're talking about drinking. Why is hydration, so drinking water and I guess kind of teas, things without sugar, without the ultra processing, without alcohol in them, why is that increasingly important during the menopausal years?

It's increasingly important. think there are a couple of aspects there, to keep it short. One of them is we likely, from the woman I see in my clinic, we don't drink enough in terms of, something that isn't coffee or isn't, as we mentioned, maybe alcohol. So we don't drink those unsweetened drinks. We don't drink enough water, tea, et cetera.

Our body is made of water. Over 70%. we cannot survive more than three days without water. It's a huge argument for what we should be doing daily. There are some fancy calculations, et cetera, you can do, you can have access to of what exactly is the amount of water you can drink or you should be drinking for good focus, for good mood, for good digestion, we talked about poop a bit, that's important for hydration of skin condition and all of that. So there are some fancy formulas that you can do, but I often say if you can drink or if you can include extra one or two glasses of water on top of what you're already drinking, that probably is going to be great. So start there. Another thing, I'm a huge fan and I know you probably too of teas. There is a lot going on around tea. Tea has been researched quite a lot in terms of actual benefits because of the presence of different flavonols and antioxidants, et cetera. So it's a great little super drink you can include, especially if you're thinking of non-caffeinated teas, herbal teas. Those are great. They all taste different. They're a great alternative. A lot of people say, don't like water, then maybe tea is your thing.

Yeah, one of the people that I've interviewed as part of the series of conversations is a Chinese health practitioner and was talking about using tea as medicine in a way looking at the properties that that tea is giving you and being intentional around that.

So it sounds like we could all be served by drinking one or two extra glasses of water and almost creating that habit, right? When do I fit that in? A lot of my clients will put water in a place that's visible to them so that they are reminded to drink or kind of have a little note for themselves or a reminder on their phone of, have a drink or get up and move. So using the tech to enhance that.

I just want to add, one thing that can also be helpful and it's not intuitive, but if we can bring ourselves to drink maybe half a litre, I know it sounds a lot, but at least one or two glass of water every morning, something that is a little warm. So it's not hugely cold or icy that can really increase that hydration during the day as well. It's something that we can do as soon as we wake up.

It will do wonders for the body that have been hopefully sleeping for six or seven hours and is quite dehydrated already. That can go towards that tracking of your water intake almost intuitively once you make it a habit.

So wake up and drink some water so that if I track that back in terms of making that a doable habit, it's maybe getting a nice water bottle to put on my bedside table. So as soon as I wake up in the morning, I've got something to drink or having a drink of water before I have my first cup of tea or coffee or whatever that might be. Absolutely. Yeah.

Good tip, another good tip. I hope you're all here listening with your pens and paper because there are so many takeaways from today. Supplements, as you mentioned supplements earlier and maybe giving a brief overview of what would, if you could recommend one thing for perimenopausal women to take. And I know that that's so challenging because we all have different bodies and compositions and symptoms and needs. What's one overarching supplement superpower that we should be aware of? Can you do that?

I can't no. I cannot my nutrition focused scientific brain is like, no.

But often that I see, there probably will be three or four and I can just list them. But often I see that vitamin D, it's something that a lot of people are not eating enough because it's really hard to get in food. So it's almost very minimal amount. So supplement can be vitamin D, especially if you're not living anywhere near sunny, beautiful places. Magnesium, again, quite challenging to get from food.

So often supplementation is warranted. and then I'll say it's controversial but I would say agreeing with the research that it's a ton of out there, probably omega 3, which is supporting healthy brain, supporting cholesterol levels, fighting anti-inflammatory effect of omega 3, which can be done in a supplement, but it's easily also done if you're eating fish.

Some oily fish, couple of times a week, good portion and you’re sorted. Otherwise a supplement can be really effective as well.

So interesting just thinking between that and the link to stress management, because I know when the body's stressed, you're actually peeing out magnesium, right? So thinking about putting magnesium back into your body, thinking about the link between omega-3 and anxiety levels. So yes, supporting our physical health, but also there's so much link there to the mental health, emotional health. I know that the magnesium that you've recommended to me in the past has also just really helped with my sleeping. So I take that in the evening, I sleep so much better. And so that then impacts my whole being. Not just the food. So we're thinking about so many different parts of ourselves in supporting nutrition. And supporting what we're putting into our bodies and how we're nourishing ourselves. When you think about your favourite tip for maybe women who are starting to notice changes in their bodies, so they're reaching that.

Late 30s, early 40s, things are starting to shift. They're starting to listen to conversations like this and think, maybe this is perimenopause. What is one change that you would recommend them doing, taking, thinking about? So where to start? What's your best advice?

Hmm. probably really hard to say one, but I would say if you can, if you starting to see changes, then you have some sort of awareness of what's going on. You may recognise some symptoms going on in your body or different things, energy levels, etc.

Writing it down, being aware of what time of the cycle, when, how it happens after which foods can be really helpful. And then I probably would, instead of focusing on searching the quick fix, what can I do to fix it? How can I sleep better? What pill can I take? What should I add in? Maybe taking a step back and taking stock of what am I already doing can be a really helpful thing.

Based on the conversation we had here, how is my water intake? Am I sleeping enough? Am I eating enough protein? And what is enough, research that, talk to someone, work with a nutritionist or a coach, they can help you understand that. What are my meals like? Am I eating enough carbohydrates? Am I eating over? Does it put me to sleep?Am I undernourishing myself?

Those are some sort of things. So probably starting with that awareness and taking stock of what is happening before you reach for Google. Take stock of what is happening at the moment and why it may be, and then take it from there.

Yeah, I love that invitation to start tracking. So growing that awareness of what's happening when and panning out to see what are some changes that I could make that feel accessible in my day to day. Adding into glasses of water, taking some movement, shifting one meal and seeing what impact does that have.

Thank you so much for your time, Ags. So Ags has got a podcast called The PeriPod. How cute is that name? Where she talks more about this and many other things. And so we'll link to her if you want to reach out to her to have a conversation about the food that you're eating. So thank you so much for the time, Ags. It was lovely to see you here.

Such a pleasure. Thanks for having me.

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