So you’ve gone through menopause, and you’re not happy about it.
Your skin feels thin and crepey, your hair is dry, your libido has vanished, vaginal dryness makes sexual intercourse painful, you can’t sleep, and all you can think about is when this hot flash will end. You can’t remember what it was like to have the energy to get through the day. You no longer recognize the women in the mirror. Unfortunately, this is the reality for many of our readers.
Well, guess what? It does not have to be that way.
What if I told you that if you were willing to buckle down and commit fully for THREE months, you could turn things around?
First up, I want you to put Eye Of The Tiger on, look in the mirror and say, “I deserve better!”
Like Rocky, you have some steps to climb (nine of them) in your fight against the menopausal menace. Each of these is essential to getting you back in fighting shape. It’s not about one step such as eating more healthy foods, swallowing a thousand pills, or exercising; it’s a radical whole-body approach that promotes and addresses all parts of hormonal balance, not just increasing estrogen or progesterone levels. You don't have to be perfect with everything, consistency is more important than perfection.
Hopefully, you are good and pumped up right now!
This article has a lot of information, which may feel a bit overwhelming. It's certainly ok to take your time and gradually work on them, don't feel like you have to do everything at once. Every step you take will get you closer to your goal!
We want to help you achieve your goals. You can email us at info@rooted-nutrition.com, and we will be happy to guide you through it (at no charge!) and help you get the quality of life you deserve.
Step one is sunshine and grounding. The sun sets the mood for the day. So every morning at sunrise, no matter the temperature or the weather, before you look at your phone, turn on the tv, or make your coffee, go outside, embrace the sun or the rain, and put your bare feet on the ground. Spend a few minutes breathing deeply and digging your feet in the soil. Connect with the earth. This connection provides powerful energy that revitalizes a tired mind and lifts the spirit.
At sunset, it’s time for a walk (without your phone). Feel the setting sun on your face, breathe deeply and let your body embrace the rhythm of a day slowly coming to an end. Make a note of the trees and do your best to clear your mind, only focusing on being present and in the moment.
Step two is stress reduction. Chronic uncontrolled stress has a powerful effect on hormonal balance. Any steps you can take to reduce your stress are great. When it comes to stress reduction, the more steps you can take, the better; check out our blog, Stress 101, to learn how to reduce stress levels.
Step three is less time on the phone, social media, and the news. These things lead to an exhaustion of the endocrine system because of the constant fear they push. Gradually stop these things earlier and earlier in the day until these energy vampires are no longer draining you. Go outside, garden, take a walk in the woods, do anything but stare at those screens.
Step four is exercise. Getting your blood pumping is a great way to help fight many problems that menopause brings. Our ancestors worked hard to survive, including moving heavy loads, building shelters, and hauling big animals for dinner. Humans are meant to pick heavy things up and put them down, the early version of weight training. Challenging and stressing your physical body is one the most important keys to good health. Evolution didn’t design you to sit on a couch; it shaped your body to be one of nature's fiercest predators. You’re predator self is in there; you need to bring it out. That’s where exercise comes in. Xenoestrogens (bad estrogens) are stored in fat. As you replace fat with muscle, the levels of these go down, leading to dramatic improvements in your health, and sweating while exercising is also one of the best ways to detoxify your body. If you don’t sweat a lot, try spending some time in the sauna or taking a hot Epsom salt bath.
Strength training is the best exercise for most women who want to slay the menopausal monster. It supports the production of mood-improving neurotransmitters such as endorphins, dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin which will make you feel amazing and improve your self-confidence.
This training will also lower your LDL and improve your blood pressure. It’s far better than and much more exciting than doing cardio.
It also helps to improve and support bone density and connective tissues (joints), which is a big problem for many women going through menopause.
You don’t have to go to the gym to get started. You can go into your backyard, start with smaller rocks, and gradually pick up and put down bigger ones. Get creative, but most importantly, pick things up and put them down!
No matter your age, you’re never too young or old to start.
After your training, it’s time for some cold therapy. Jump in the shower, and alternate every 20 seconds between hot and cold, gradually increasing how long you can stand the cold. Over time your body will adjust and become stronger, improving your circulation, stimulating nitric oxide production, and having more energy. You will hate it at first but love it over time.
Step five is working to remove as many Xeno and Phyto estrogens from your life as possible. Our bodies are awash in them from our food and the environment. These lead to substantial health problems, and getting them out is essential to reaching your health potential.
Cleaning and laundry supplies should be the first to go. Use vinegar, lemon, baking soda, unscented Castile and tallow soaps for cleaning, and soap nuts for laundry. Unfortunately, even the vast majority of “natural products” are loaded with awful hormone-disrupting compounds, like fragrances. Essential oils like lavender and tea tree oil may smell nice but are quite estrogenic and anti-androgenic. Instead of dryer sheets, use wool balls.
When cooking, avoid any Teflon and non-stick pans. Instead, use stainless steel, copper, cast iron, glass cookware, and storage containers. Also, say goodbye to plastic baggies and cheap takeout containers for storage. Above all, no microwaving food in plastic.
Over time replace your clothing with those made of natural fabrics like cotton, linen, wool, hemp, and bamboo, and avoid all synthetic materials like polyester, acrylic, nylon, etc. Plastic is not your friend.
Get a good wool and cotton mattress, 100% natural fiber blankets, pillows, sheets, etc. Sleeping on outgassing plastic is the last thing your body needs.
Replace rugs and furniture with ones made from wood and natural materials.
Replace traditional feminine hygiene products with silicone menstrual cups or organic, plastic-free cotton tampons and pads.
This next one will be hard to hear, but it’s time to replace all those makeup and body care products with truly natural ones. They are the most significant source of xenoestrogens in most people's lives. Unfortunately, all of those awful ingredients in most body care products get absorbed into your skin and wreak havoc on your hormonal system. Day after day, those things are building up in your body, making problems worse over time.
Replace your makeup with truly natural, unscented ones (most “natural” makeup and body care products are anything but natural) made from safe ingredients that nourish and build the health of your skin, not mask problems, like those from our friends at Toup and Co.
For body care, replace inflammatory vegetable oil, fragrance, and synthetic chemical-filled products with tallow-based, natural products like those from our friends at Buffalo Gal Grass-Fed Beauty.
If you have particularly troubled skin, feel free to email us at info@rooted-nutrition.com, and we can provide you with a plan that dramatically improves your skin over three months.
As you climb these steps, you will find your need to use as much makeup goes down considerably as the health of your skin improves and it becomes deeply moisturized and nourished from the inside out. You can get that glowing, supple skin back!
Sometimes it takes more than a few cucumber slices on your eyes.
Step six is to get your sleep on. Getting enough sleep can be a considerable challenge when hot flashes kick your ass all night. It will get easier as you work on the other steps in your climb to the top. Click on the button below to download our guide to getting a good night's sleep.
Step seven is to drink plenty of good, clean, mineral-rich water. Most people do not drink enough water, but more than that, the water they drink is full of contaminants and lacks the essential minerals the body craves.
If you have chlorinated water, get a shower filter that removes chlorine. Chlorine may be great for making water safe to drink, but it is terrible for the skin.
Invest in a good water filter to remove contaminants from your drinking water.
Consider adding ocean plasma to at least one glass of water daily to ensure you get enough minerals. You will be amazed at the effect it has on your energy levels and the pep it gives your brain after just one or two days of this. It takes hydration to another level, and it’s not full of all the garbage (sweeteners, flavorings, and god knows what else) that is in electrolyte powders and drinks.
Do not drink from plastic bottles, no matter what the companies claim about safety. There are no good plastic water bottles, none. Get yourself a glass one. Drinking from plastic bottles is a great way to flood your body with xenoestrogens.
If you prefer to drink bottled water, buy mineral water in a glass bottle from good companies (not Nestle, f**k them) such as Gerolsteiner.
Drinking plenty of good water is essential to getting healthy.
Lots of good water makes everyone happy!
Step eight is nourishing food. Feeding your body deeply nourishing food is so important. I’m not talking about shoving more kale down or eating stalks of broccoli. No one has ever kaled their way out of menopausal issues. You need foods that nourish on a primal level, that level where the lion inside you lives. This may seem controversial, but I challenge you to commit to it for three months and see the difference it makes.
First is removing foods that contain high amounts of phytoestrogens. Some people might claim these foods help reduce hot flashes; however, they worsen the underlying issues. You should never sacrifice long-term health for short-term symptom relief. Other, better ways to reduce symptoms do not involve making underlying issues worse.
These foods contain high amounts of phytoestrogens and should be avoided when working to reduce long-term problems from menopause.
Soy in nearly all forms
Small amounts of soy sauce and miso are ok.
Flax Seeds
Beer and other hops based beverages
Avoid all alcohol within a few hours of going to bed as it can increase the number of hot flashes at night.
Many foods contain small amounts of phytoestrogens, but these are not found in amounts that cause problems.
The second is avoiding inflammatory vegetable and seed oils. While our bodies do need some omega-6 linoleic acid, we get far too much. This leads to a whole host of problems.
Check out our blog article All About Omega's to learn more and see the list of oils to avoid.
The third is supporting and optimizing your detoxification and methylation pathways. They help the body remove xenoestrogens. These foods, in particular, are helpful for this.
Pastured egg yolks
Grass-fed beef liver
Grass-fed bone marrow
Grass-fed kidney
Wild-caught fatty fish
Grass-fed yogurt and kefir
Berries
Citrus fruits
Lacto-fermented pickles
These foods nourish and support the detoxification and methylation pathways; they do not induce it to work by adding stressors, like many detoxification programs and supplements. We feel that nourishing and supporting your body's pathways is a better way to do it than artificially stimulating it by introducing compounds that the body views as toxins that it needs to get rid of, which is how most supplements sold for this process work. Exercise may be a stressor, but it provides lasting benefits, while nearly all of those “detox” supplements provide the stressors without the benefits.
Fourth is the including some of the most nutrient-dense foods in your diet EVERY DAY. They provide the most potent and bioavailable forms of critical fat-soluble nutrients, vitamins, and important minerals that are lacking or completely missing in most people's diets.
Liver
Bone Marrow
Heart
Sweetbreads
If you cannot bring yourself to eat organ meats, properly made organ supplements are a great alternative.
Grass-fed raw milk
You can find a source near you at realmilk.com
Grass-fed raw milk cheeses- available at many supermarkets and health food stores
Add fruit or a bit of honey if you want some sweetness
Pastured Egg Yolks
Fifth is lots and lots of good, nutrient-rich fats. These fats provide valuable compounds that help the skin to hold moisture and give it that plumpness, supple feeling, and glow. So don’t skimp out on them.
Great for high-heat cooking.
Great for high-heat cooking.
Pastured egg yolks
Olives
Good olive oil
Most olive oils at the store (even the health food store) are adulterated with vegetable and seed oils. Choose one from this list or this one. Check out the book Extra Virginity if you want to learn more about this.
Avocados
Nearly all avocado oil is adulterated and rancid, so we recommend avoiding it and sticking to just eating avocados. There were a few good brands, but most were bought out by private equity firms recently, so the quality will probably not hold up much longer.
In addition, avocado oil does not have any nutritional value, so it’s just empty calories. It's important to choose fats packed with essential nutrients.
Sixth is high-quality carbs for energy. Good carbs help to provide your body with energy. However, not are carbs are equal. Choose nutrient-rich, slow-burning carbs to give your body energy without the crash. Don’t be afraid of carbs; instead, choose the right ones.
Fruit, especially berries
All fruits are great; the more variety, the better.
In the winter, frozen fruit is often more nutritious than fresh; if you want the most amazing frozen fruit, check out our friends at Shahlbush Farms.
Avoid dried fruits and lots of juice.
Squashes
Butternut, spaghetti, acorn, etc., are all awesome!
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Sweet Potatoes and Yams
Pumpkin
Plantains
Lacto-fermented pickles and other vegetables
Seventh is plenty of high-quality protein. Nutritional guidelines recommend that the average woman needs between 50-60 grams of protein daily. It's enough to keep people alive but not nearly enough to help you thrive. For your body to function optimally, we recommend at least one gram of protein per pound of your ideal body weight. So if you weigh 140 pounds, but your ideal weight is 120 pounds, shoot for 120 grams of protein. Of course, those who work out heavily will need more.
These are the best sources of protein:
Grass-fed beef, bison, elk, lamb, mutton, goat, and venison
Grass-fed organ meats from those same animals
Wild caught fatty fish
Pastured Eggs
Grass-fed raw milk and cheeses
Grass-fed Yogurt and Kefir
Low-pufa (low omega-6) poultry
This can be hard to find as most poultry are fed lots of corn and soy.
Your best bet is to contact a farmer near you to find a source. You can also buy it online from places like the awesome people at White Oak Pastures.
Low-pufa (low omega-six) pork
This can be hard to find as most pigs are fed diets high in grains and omega-six-rich foods.
Your best bet is to contact a farmer near you to find a source. You can also buy it online from places like the awesome people at White Oak Pastures.
Most protein powder is heavily processed, has poor PDCAA value, and is full of unwanted additives (sweeteners, thickeners, flavorings, etc.), and we recommend avoiding it. Grass-fed Native whey protein concentrate is the one exception to that rule. It is not a by-product of cheese manufacturing and is minimally processed, still retaining a full range of nutrients and compounds in fresh milk.
If you wish to consume your protein from plants, you will need significantly more because of the lower biological value and concentration of plant proteins. Therefore, it can be nearly impossible to consume enough protein to get to this optimal health level, from plant sources, without resorting to heavily processed products, which are terrible for your health.
The eighth is to eat throughout the day. Skipping meals is a great way to leave you tired and without the energy to get through the day. Your metabolism can slow if you skip too many meals or fast for too long. It also can lead to that afternoon slump, leaving you reaching for sugar and caffeine.
Try to eat high-quality protein, fat, and carbs at each meal.
Ninth is a proper breakfast. This is one of the biggest mistakes that so many women make. Not eating correctly in the morning sets your whole day up for failure.
Getting up, having coffee, and waiting hours or most of the day to eat is an easy way to wreck your hormonal system. I often hear people say, but I feel great. What you are feeling is your body running off of stress hormones. So it might feel good now, but it breaks down your endocrine system over time. If you only make one change, make it this one. What you notice from this alone will hopefully convince you to climb more of the steps.
You don’t have to give up coffee; however, you should not be having tons of it throughout the day. Never have it on its own, always with food.
You might say, “Well, I’m not hungry in the morning.” That is because your body's natural systems have been suppressed through years of doing this. However, as you become more nourished, you will start to feel hungry again in the morning, and your body will crave that morning meal.
You should be having breakfast within an hour of waking up, along with a big glass of mineral water.
Your breakfast should contain at least 30 grams of high-quality protein and carbs for sustained energy.
Here are some examples:
One and third cups of grass-fed greek yogurt with lots of berries and a spoonful of honey
Two eggs cooked in grass-fed tallow with four ounces of steak and a bowl of melon
One and a quarter cups of grass-fed cottage cheese with lots of peaches and a spoonful of honey
Three eggs with a few slices of low-pufa bacon and a big bowl of strawberries
Three egg omelets with two ounces of grass-fed raw cheddar and a bowl of mango
Tropical Fruit Smoothie - 8 oz grass-fed kefir, frozen tropical fruit such as papaya, guava, and pineapple, and one scoop of grass-fed native whey protein concentrate
Three egg omelet with a few ounces of smoked salmon and a bowl of fresh papaya
A couple of slices of frittata
Easy to make a big batch, and then you have a quick grab-and-go breakfast on the run.
Roasted Salmon with leftover sweet potatoes
It does not have to be just traditional breakfast foods; any leftovers from dinner are also great.
If you follow those nine eating tenets, you will feel and notice dramatic and profound changes in every part of your health. When your body is properly nourished, you will thrive!
If you don't eat enough, Nona will bonk you with her rolling pin, so don't disappoint her.
Step nine are supplements fit for a fighter.
We are not talking about high-dose synthetic vitamins, fake whole-food supplements, or products with a fairy-dusting of herbs claiming to cure your menopausal symptoms.
What you need is the most nutrient-dense supplements on the planet. Supplements made from whole foods that contain the most potent, bioavailable forms of vitamins, minerals, and compounds to build your health and help push you up those stairs. You need supplements that kick ass as hard as you do!
First up is Fem Harmony. It is a whole food supplement containing a blend of whole foods that deeply nourish and build your hormonal system. This is the base of your menopausal fight kit.
In addition to the Fem Harmony, here are some add-ons that can be helpful for particular goals or areas where you may need additional support.
Grass-fed Placenta is the whole food supplement your skin has been waiting for. It contains a wide variety of nutrients and compounds that help support the skin's ability to hold moisture and supports smooth, supple skin. It is the ultimate skin food. If you want to say goodbye to crepey, tired skin, say hello to placenta pills and tallow balm.
Grass-fed Testicle is a whole food supplement for those who feel their libido needs a good kick in the butt. As testosterone levels decrease, a lower libido can follow. Testicle is rich in zinc, which is essential for the production of testosterone, as well as a number of important compounds and nutrients that support a healthy libido.
Grass-fed Bone Marrow and Beef Liver is a whole food supplement to build your health with. They are the most nutrient-dense foods. Consider these if you are not eating them in your diet or feeling exhausted and low in energy. They are deeply nourishing and energizing. Chuck your synthetic multivitamin and use these instead to feed your body right.
Grass-fed Kidney is a whole food supplement for those who need additional support for their detoxification and methylation (MTHFR) pathways. Rich in bioavailable minerals such as selenium, as well as vitamins B12 and folate, and many other vital compounds.
Women's Maca Pack is for those who feel stress has worn down their nervous and endocrine systems. Properly made maca is a wonderful tonic herb that supports and nourishes your body.
The key to getting the most out of these is to take them every day, at the full dosage, for at least three months. Taking one pill a day, or skipping lots of days, will not get you the desired results. Consistency is key! Nourishment takes time; you cannot replenish years of improper nutrition in just a few days.
If you commit to climbing all these steps for three months, you will feel better, your zest for life will come back, and you will feel a strength you had all but forgotten was inside you. I promise you won’t want to return to your old lifestyle.
It’s time to show menopause who's the boss, take your life back, and release your inner tigress!
You got this!
