A woman's cycle is regulated by an interaction of multiple hormones, which regulate the activity of tissues (and cells) within our organs. If our hormones are off balance, it can feel as though our entire life is off balance.  (I can speak from experience!)

The effects can range from gaining weight for no reason, to fluid or fat in the wrong places, mood swings, hot flashes, anxiety, depression or sleep issues.

Understanding our normal cycle can help us understand what is happening when we have symptoms during menopause or perimenopause.

When a woman is fertile, she has a menstrual cycle which is typically 28-30 days, with day one of her monthly cycle starting the first day of bleeding.

There are three phases to a menstrual cycle:  follicular, ovulatory, + luteal.

A menstrual cycle is the rise and fall of hormones such as estrogen and progesterone and results in an egg growing and the lining of the uterus thickening.

A woman typically gets her first period between 12 and 16 years of age and continues to have a cycle until around age 45-48, where she is then perimenopausal or enters full menopause.  

Perimenopause refers to the years leading up to full menopause, which is where the production of hormones begin to decline and create an imbalance for some women. It starts with a drop in progesterone followed by lower estrogen production.

As a result, periods become light or less frequent. Symptoms can include short-cycles, trouble sleeping or frequent waking, night sweats and the most common, anxiety. Such symptoms can be reduced or eliminated fully when hormones are balanced and supported.

In clinical practice, we see 50% of such symptoms be completely resolvable with lifestyle and food changes, including proper and healthy stress management.

Perimenopause starts at age 45 or older and can last up to five or six years before entering full menopause.

2. Menopause

The official definition of menopause is when you do not have a period for 12 months or more. The average age for menopause is 51 years.

Much like perimenopause, hormone levels continue to drop with estrogen taking the biggest drop. 

A secondary concern for low estrogen levels is bone loss. Estrogen promotes osteoblasts, which are cells necessary to produce bone. If we are low in estrogen, we are not able to effectively absorb calcium which is needed to build bone mass.

3. Postmenopause

The years following menopause is referred to as postmenopause. Unpleasant symptoms, such as hot flashes and night sweats, typically stop at this time.

However, due to the reduction in estrogen, there is a continued concern for bone loss and osteoporosis. 

Why We Experience Menopause Symptoms

Symptoms during menopause can affect over 75% of women going through this transition. 

Oftentimes, symptoms can be contributed to sleep quality, toxins, dietary choices, and stress levels. 

Sleep is so important to our body.

Simply said, if we are not sleeping, we cannot heal. Poor sleep can be due to external factors such as poor sleep hygiene or hypoglycemia, stress, high cortisol or an imbalance in neurotransmitters.

A circadian rhythm issue is often at the root of sleep issues, as well. Getting a good night's rest is one of the most important things we can do for our hormones!

The foods we eat, and whether they are organic or not can have an effect on how we process and eliminate our hormones. 

Amino acids (proteins), and compounds in fruits and vegetables all play an important role in liver detoxification.

If we are consuming foods which have pesticides and chemicals, they will act as additional hormones in our body, which further builds the case to eat organic.

A simple trick to help you use the protein you are eating is to add collagen or broth to your muscle meat (not organ meats), which will decrease their inflammatory potential and increase the bioavailability of their amino acids.

If you are over 50, this is a rule you should faithfully follow.

Cortisol is the main stress hormone in our body and is secreted during times of stress, low or high blood sugar, or infection/inflammation. 

Cortisol is huge when it comes to our sex hormones being in balance. Hormones can be off balance and it is often due to high-stress levels.

Women in menopause can have low cortisol during the day and high cortisol at night, creating even further chaos (there’s that circadian rhythm issue we mentioned above which is commonly known as adrenal fatigue). 

While cellular repair and rejuvenation are what we need at this    point, most women are given selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or antidepressants instead of addressing the root cause and getting hormones checked. 

Common Symptoms During Menopause

Hot flashes which are sudden temperature increases and feeling flushed for no reason at all. Hot flashes can also simultaneously happen with night sweats. 

Night Sweats are due to changes in hormone levels, which affect the body's internal temperature regulating thermostat. 

Weight Gain can be a big symptom when going through menopause. This is not due to overeating or not working out enough. A slowed metabolism means less cellular energy and impaired thyroid function, usually suppressed by stress hormones—this leads to weight gain, bloating and depression.

Brain fog or mood swings throughout the day can be a big symptom during menopause. This is typically due to low neurotransmitter levels and hormone imbalances, which contribute to low cortisol output and poor cognitive function. Anxiety can also occur and be non-stop, usually due to low progesterone levels. 

Vaginal dryness, as well as low libido, can occur during menopause. This is typically due to the body producing less lubrication due to the reduction in estrogen production. 

You know if you have experienced these symptoms or have a loved one who has experienced them, they are no fun at all! 

The good news is you can take steps now and transform the way you enter menopause in the future or reduce current symptoms you have now, while in menopause. 

Sleep Well
Creating a sleep routine which both supports deeper sleep and reduces waking times during the night is so important to healing.

Reduce Caffeine
Start to reduce caffeine by starting to replace your regular cup of joe with decaf or aim to get real energy from medicinal mushrooms. Lion’s mane is a medicinal mushroom especially targeted at healing the nervous system. Secondly, foods which can give you energy (and nutrients!), such as wild blueberries, leafy greens, superfoods, and herbs, can help with the transition off of caffeine (as can foods high in vitamin C). 

Avoid Plastics & Obesogens
These interfere with our metabolism and the production of hormones. It is best to avoid drinking hot liquids out of plastic!   Use reusable glass bottles as much as possible and check out our environmental blog for more tips on replacing plastics.

Gut Health
Healthy production of hydrochloric acid (HCL) and digestive enzymes is important at any age; however, it becomes more important as we grow older. HCL is part of a gastric secretion which is needed for proper digestion, especially protein digestion. Sometimes, adding it in short-term can help support your body in producing enough HCL on its own.

Stress (cortisol) and undereating or eating the wrong foods can be detrimental to our thyroid and halt the production of thyroid hormone.

Symptoms of low thyroid include:

2. Cortisol

Cortisol is the main stress hormone in the body, produced by the adrenal glands. While cortisol is absolutely necessary for our body, there can be too much of a good thing.

Symptoms of high cortisol include: 

Low cortisol conversely can cause:

Insulin can be the main culprit in weight loss resistance and once an imbalance starts it can be a difficult rollercoaster to get off of. Insulin can be quick to become imbalanced due to stress and poor dietary choices, making your cells essentially numb.

Insulin resistance or even just poor glycemic control can lead to symptoms of both hypoglycemia and elevated glucose levels, both which can make you hold on to weight in spite of what you might have thought were your best efforts. 

4. Testosterone

Testosterone is a key sex hormone that is required by both men and women. Testosterone is essential for fertility, muscle mass and growth, fat distribution and bone health. It can be common in women (and men) for testosterone to decline naturally with age; however, it is very important to not take the hormone testosterone without doing a hormone panel.

Taking endogenous testosterone can lead to a build-up of androgenic hormones and unpleasant side effects for women, including facial hair, muscle growth, headaches, mood swings, and weight gain.

Not having or producing enough testosterone can also make you gain weight and not be able to build any muscle. 

On the topic of androgens, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) can also be an issue and influence hormone balance and weight. Typically, this includes high fasting glucose, high sex hormones and their precursors such as testosterone and DHEA.

Symptoms of PCOS include:

Acne
Facial hair
Elevated blood sugar
And weight gain

With PCOS your body cannot clear hormones effectively.

Estrogen is the fifth hormone which is mainly responsible for giving women their figure. Estrogen is made in the ovaries and needs to be in balance with progesterone. There is a delicate line between having too little and too much estrogen.

High estrogen or estrogen dominance can make weight loss very challenging for both men and women.

Signs of High Estrogen:

If you are over 45, be sure to check out our blog about estrogen and to find out if taking bioidentical hormones is a smart choice for you. This hormone should not have been demonized as it has been, especially with regard to our menopausal years. 

When I was in private practice, I saw hundreds of women who were so frustrated because they were not eating much and they were exercising but still not losing weight, or worse, steadily gaining it with no known explanation. 

They felt like their body was being invaded and they were becoming someone different on the outside than they were on the inside. While this is a horrifying feeling, the good news is that it is possible to balance your hormones at any age and to reclaim your sense of self. 

When we are experiencing the above symptoms, it is all too common to add more hormones through bioidentical hormone therapy or other methods. While this can work wonders for some, if we add additional hormones into a stressed body that is already in chaos, the body will often react negatively or will not know what to do with the extra hormones. This results in hormones going through the wrong pathway or not being detoxified correctly, leading to weight gain, anxiety, skin or immune reactions, and added stress. 

There are two strategies we have used with wonderful results in private practice and just recently in the Adrenal ReCode program. (right now its 50% off, ask me for the code!)

These 2 pillars include:

These two well executed, alone, take care of insulin, cortisol, and thyroid hormone by helping to regulate blood sugar, balance stress hormones, and shuttle active thyroid hormone into the cell, therefore creating balance. 

From there, the liver will get healthier and be able to detoxify excess estrogen and you will be able to get the sex hormone balance your body needs because it will be able to pull from healthy stress hormone precursors to create the testosterone it needs.

Over 80% of the population is not able to actually utilize the food they consume into appropriate fuel for the body, which is part and parcel of why our society is so darn tired all the time and reaching for quick fixes like coffee or processed sugar. 

The foods we eat should benefit us to the fullest, revving our cellular energy centers (mitochondria) and brain, and supporting our microbiome. If we can include foods which are synergistic to our adrenals, thyroid, brain, and nervous system, we can then effectively kick-start the healing process.

Nutrients For The Thyroid:

Food sources include:

Nutrients For The Brain:

Amino acids are essential to balance neurotransmitters and play a great role in maintaining a balanced, healthy weight, such as:

Foods and herbs which are great for neurotransmitters include:

The Importance Of Macronutrient Ratios For Hormonal Health

Macronutrients include: 

The issue with diets today: they often cut out one group, such as low-fat, low-carb, high-fat. 

When we do that, we cannot expect our body to succeed long term. 

There is a reason we have three types of macronutrients; they all have important benefits for our health. 

The number one question we get when speaking about macronutrient ratios is, “what percentage do you recommend?” 

The answer to this is so unique and is dependent on your own body's feedback

If you are coming from a low or no carbohydrate diet, start slow with adding carbohydrates back in, like ⅛ cup twice a day. You will need to train your body to metabolize carbs once again, versus storing them as fat. 

Alternatively, if you have been consuming a low-fat diet for a long period of time, see how you feel adding a ½ teaspoon of fat into your meals and gradually work up from there. 

To go into more depth on what to eat and do in order to achieve hormone balance take THE WHOLE JOURNEYS  free mini-course, where sample meal ideas and recommendations are provided along with downloadable recipes.