Women's health & menopause
Nutrition plays an important role in our health throughout our lives, but for women, dietary and lifestyle changes can make a huge difference in managing the hormone cycle.
Nutritional therapy can help with Premenstrual syndrome symptoms and support your overall health and well-being through peri-menopause and menopause.
Nutritional support for Premenstrual syndrome
The female hormone cycle is complex, consider it like an orchestra, with our sex, stress and thyroid hormones all being different instruments which need to perform well individually but also with each other, and they rely on the conductor within the brain to create the beautiful balance.
This balance can be upset by the way we eat, stress and lifestyle and our genetics. Cyclical fluctuations in hormones and feelgood neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA trigger the symptoms.
PMS is the physical and emotional symptoms which can occur in the 2 weeks before your period.
Symptoms include:
- Mood swings, anxiety, and depression
- Tender breasts
- Fatigue & trouble sleeping
- Irritability
- Clumsiness
- Headaches
- Fluid retention & bloating
- Food cravings
How I help…
Hormone testing can be helpful in directing support strategies.
Keeping the hormonal orchestra in mind, we don’t just look at your sex hormones but also support the areas they interlink with, like your stress and thyroid hormones. The gut microbiome is also an important area of consideration.
Nutritional support for menopause & peri-menopause
The menopause can be supported to be a positive time in women's lives where they may reassess and focus more on their health and future.
This natural hormonally led progression can, however, be a time of uncomfortable physical and challenging emotional changes.
My menopause programme helps you understand the changes that are happening and implement dietary and lifestyle strategies to smooth the journey, and put you back in control of your health and future.
Stages of the Menopause
Pre-menopause
Refers to a woman’s life from her first menstrual period to the last.
Peri-menopause
is the time when hormone levels are changing
Post-menopause
begins12 months after the final menstrual period and lasts for the rest of a woman's life.
Symptoms of menopause
- Hot flushes and night sweats
- Mood swings and depression
- Insomnia
- Skin thinning and hair loss
- Vaginal dryness and low libido
- Reduced memory
- Headaches
- Fatigue and brain fog
- Muscle pains
- Weight gain, especially in the belly area
- Changes to menstrual cycle length and heaviness of bleed
Nutritional support for menopause & peri-menopause
The menopause can be supported to be a positive time in women's lives where they may reassess and focus more on their health and future.
This natural hormonally led progression can, however, be a time of uncomfortable physical and challenging emotional changes.
My menopause programme helps you understand the changes that are happening and implement dietary and lifestyle strategies to smooth the journey, and put you back in control of your health and future.
The key health strategies
Managing your health and hormones through menopause is a delicate balancing act. Nutritional therapy looks at the whole picture of you as an individual to assess how best to support you. We apply health strategies across key areas that can be affected by changes to your hormone levels.
Mood, sleep & energy boosting
Neurotransmitter (chemical mood messengers) and hormonal imbalances, stress, blood sugar disarray and nutrient deficiencies can all impact on how we feel through the menopause journey, leaving many women tired, anxious and feeling low in motivation and sex drive.
Supporting the adrenal glands, which produce the stress hormones, can support peri and post-menopausal oestrogen production.
Testing your adrenal and sex hormone function can help target the best strategies for health. We use saliva, blood and urine testing for this including the DUTCH tests.
Hot Flushes – how to turn the heat down
Menopause triggers increased activity in the hypothalamus in the brain and increase levels of hormones FSH and LH to stimulate the ovaries to work harder to release any remaining eggs. This part of the brain also regulates our temperature so the extra activity can trigger hot flushes
Supporting oestrogen levels through dietary phytoestrogens and supplements, and limiting foods and drinks which can trigger hot flushes, along with lifestyle strategies, can help ease this.
Skin Health - delaying signs of ageing
The hormonal changes that occur during and after menopause tend to change the skin’s structure, accelerating skin ageing and loss of suppleness leading to dry and thinning skin, vaginal dryness and wrinkles.
Age spots, acne and facial hair can also result. Your skin is reliant on nutrients, and feeling your skin from within can help to give it the support it needs.
Bone Health: strengthening the future
The female hormones oestrogen and progesterone play an important role in maintaining bone density as oestrogen helps prevent bone breakdown, and progesterone stimulates the growth of new bone.
As these hormones decline osteoporosis risk increases. We discuss the dietary, nutritional supplement, and lifestyle actions needed to minimise this risk.
Cardiovascular Health: protecting the future
The risk of cardiovascular disease has been shown to increase after the menopause. The hormonal changes that occur in the menopause can lead to changes in blood fat levels and blood clotting, which can increase the risk of heart disease.
Testing for risk factors and implementing dietary and lifestyle strategies help keep your CV system at its best.
Weight and strength - keeping a strong foundation
Many women find they are gaining weight, especially around the middle, as oestrogen levels fall, this, combined with reduced muscle mass, can feel like you are losing your fitness and starting a path to older age.
Dietary strategies, exercise and supplements may be recommended to help you stay in tip-top condition.
Tailored advice and support from a registered nutritional therapist
Over time, I can help you make positive changes to your diet and lifestyle to mitigate the effects of the menopause.
Booking an appointment with our nutritionist is as easy as 1, 2, 3...
Schedule a convenient time using the link below. You'll receive a detailed questionnaire to fill out before your session.
Have a 1-1 session with Yvonne in-clinic or over Zoom to discuss your nutrition and map out a plan for the future.
You'll receive a tailored plan and together we'll agree follow up sessions & build a support plan that suits you.
Rather speak to a human being? Talk to Laura, our lovely clinic manager, she'll be happy to book your session and walk you through everything.
Pricing
1hr 15mins
50 mins
30 mins
4 x 15 min sessions
New Forest Nutritionist
Visit Yvonne at our nutrition clinic in the centre of Beaulieu in the heart of the New Forest. Free parking is available on site.
Yvonne is offering virtual consultations for those seeking online nutritional advice or who are outside the local area.
Since the pandemic, changes to working patterns mean that I now see my Harley Street clients online. Our Beaulieu clinic is fully open for face-to-face appointments - see our COVID-19 advice for all visitors
Beaulieu Nutrition & Natural Health Clinic, The Old Queensmead Dairy, Beaulieu, SO42 7YA