That’s what my mother called menopause. I used to hear her talking on the phone about it to her girlfriends. The Pause. The Big M.
Back then, there was nothing to do but endure it, just like they endured The Curse.
Today, my algorithm is filled with perimenopause and menopause snark and euphemisms, too.
I’m out of estrogen, and I have a gun.
I’m in my rewrite phase; the editor cut the periods.
The uterus has left the group chat.
My hormones are in witness protection.
I’m running on legacy estrogen.
I didn’t even notice The Change when it happened to me twenty years ago. That was the medieval era, when there was nothing to do about it but endure it. What else could you do?
Now there are podcasts about it, tons of books, and superstars like Mary Claire Haver who have NAMED it and are calling out the male-dominated medical system for ignoring it for all these years, so yay.
I got an email the other day summarizing her Menopause Toolkit, and I’m going to try to implement it.
I’m probably too late for HRT, but the nutrition and lifestyle recommendations make total sense.
Here’s what she says.
Nutrition
Protein: 1.3 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of ideal body weight per day.
I had to go online and have Google convert my body weight in pounds to kilograms, and it turns out I need between 62 and 76 grams of protein a day. That’s a LOT. I’m not eating anything close to that, so this will be a big shift for me, especially since I want my diet to be mostly plant-based.
Fiber: Ideally, for me, 35 grams a day. Again, this is going to be a struggle.
Sugar: Less than 25 grams added sugar, not carbs.
She wants you to track your food intake for a while. She recommended the Cronometer app. I downloaded it yesterday and have started to learn how to use it. It’s a little tricky, but not hard. I’m finding that logging my food keeps me away from the pretzels.
Movement
- Stretch every day
- Practice balance training every day
- Resistance training 3x/wk. Bands or weights. Progressive load over time.
- Cardio: 150 minutes a week in Zone 2
The big message for me? Get serious about the weights!!
Stress Reduction
- Sunlight
- Grounding (walking barefoot outside)
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Time in nature
Sleep
Cool dark room. 7-9 hours
Supplements
- HRT maybe
- Fiber supplements if your diet doesn’t meet it.
- Omega 3s, 2 grams/day
- Vitamin D 4,000 IUs/day with K2
- Creatine 5g/day
So this is my new plan.
Little by little.
I already have my sleep, cardio, and yoga dialed in. Meditation, too.
The food is going to be the struggle, but I went into Perplexity AI, explained my situation, and was amazed by what it came up with. My food is particularly hard on the three nights I teach. I have to have a relatively empty stomach when I teach, but then when I get home at 7 PM I’m ravenous, but have to be in bed by 9 to get my sleep, and don’t want to go to bed still digesting.
I laid this all out for Perplexity. I asked it to figure out meals and eating times for me that meet all the protein and fiber needs Mary Claire Haver says I need in a day, and voila! In less than 15 seconds, it had timed my meals and met all my protein and fiber goals! Then it asked: Do you want some easy recipes?
Yes, please!
I love AI for this kind of thing.
This is going to be my new project: to get my Nutrition, Movement, Sleep, and Stress super dialed in.
Inspiration Location 