3 tips for perimenopause

Here are some of my simple tips to support you in perimenopause.

1) Favor cooked foods over raw foods. 

Cooked foods are easier to digest than cold or raw foods. Many women who suspect that they may be perimenopausal share that they’re struggling with stubborn weight gain, bloating, and fatigue. 

By eating cooked and warm foods, you help strengthen your digestive qi (energy) and yang (warmth), which we understand to increase both metabolism and energy in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

On the day to day, this can look like opting for sauteed or steamed vegetables instead of defaulting to salads, scrambled eggs and oatmeal instead of yogurt and berries, and warm or room temperature beverages instead of iced.

Of course, life is meant to be enjoyed. Instead of applying this as a rigid rule, I invite you to mull it over as a guiding principle. For example, if it’s a hot summer day and you’re craving a salad or an ice cream, try sipping on some hot water or ginger tea afterwards to bring some warmth back into your digestive system, which will make it easier for your body to digest what you’ve just eaten. 

2) Opt for light sweating over intense sweating. 

Many women going through perimenopause share that they are starting to experience night sweats and hot flashes. 

In TCM, we understand these symptoms to reflect what we call yin deficiency. When the nutritive fluids in your body are running low, the relative yang or heat in your body becomes too high. This creates both heat sensations and sweating during the most yin time of day— night. 

To protect your fluids, or yin, you should avoid sweating too vigorously. This helps keep your system cool and hydrated properly. 

What this can look like on the day to day is simply approaching your activities and exercise with balance. 

Instead of hitting the sauna, steam room, or hot room high intensity workout space every single day, favor less vigorous forms of sweating and exercise for your daily routine. And, allow yourself to enjoy the high sweating environments when you’re craving them.

3) Embrace the rage.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, we understand emotions to be the basis of a lot of imbalance and even disease. Emotions themselves are not inherently bad, but when we stifle or do not express them, they can create damage. 

If you are feeling heightened emotion, let it move through you. Use your voice. Move your body. Create art. Write poetry. Be absolutely wild and unashamed, as is your birthright. 

Something you can also incorporate is a bit of mint tea. Anger is oftentimes a combination of stagnation and heat in our systems, and mint will both help to move qi and cool any excess heat, which may help you feel calmer.

The bottom line is— be in your power. Above all else, this world needs you in your power. 

Questions?

If you’re moving through perimenopause and would like some support, I’m here for you. 

Please reach out anytime by requesting a free consultation, and I would be happy to connect with you and see if acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine may be a good fit for you: https://l.bttr.to/nnita