Three months ago I was convinced something was seriously wrong with me. I was exhausted in a way I had never experienced before. I called it "lung-energy death." I was apathetic about my work, my projects, my people. I was letting twenty-year friendships quietly dissolve because I didn't have the energy to care anymore. And then I got a UTI that lasted for two years and counting.
I finally went to the doctor, got the UTI treated (again), and asked the question I'd been dodging: is this perimenopause?
Yes. Obviously. In hindsight, obviously.
So I came home and went down a research hole. What I learned: my body had entered a new season with new nutritional needs, and I was still eating like I was thirty. Less estrogen means I need more phytoestrogens, more calcium, more magnesium, more omega-3s, more fiber, more fermented foods, more protein — and I need to time it differently.
I went on a grocery shopping spree. I started roasting things for myself in my toaster oven. I added supplements. Within days I felt sharper and steadier. At three weeks, my hot flashes stopped. I'm sleeping through the night. I'm answering texts again. I'm not dying. I was just starving.
Here's the full protocol, in case it's useful to you or someone you love.
The Protocol
Breakfast / anytime
- Oatmeal + plain yogurt with chia seeds, ground flax, berries, apples
- Eggs
- Protein every 3 hours — and protein before coffee, not after
Roasted & savory
- Roasted broccoli + sweet potatoes
- Garbanzo beans with red onion pickled in red wine vinegar
- Lentils / lentil soup
- Sauerkraut
- Kimchi
- Seaweed
- Olive oil on everything
Daily snacks — the mineral crew
- Walnuts
- Almonds
- Brazil nuts — selenium; two a day is plenty
- Pumpkin seeds
- Goji berries
Tea & supplements
- Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat — for the marshmallow root
- Black cohosh — 80 mg, morning and night*
- Glycine — Pure Encapsulations, 3 capsules / 1500 mg at bedtime*
- Magnesium at bedtime*
- D-mannose — added to my water just to keep the UTI away*
Rhythms that matter as much as the food
- Eat dinner early
- Stop eating and put devices away an hour and a half before bed
- Get sunlight in your eyes when you get up
- Sleep through the night — the glycine + magnesium combo did the trick for me
*I am not a doctor. Trust your instincts. Do your own research.