How to Have a Better Transition Towards Menopause

Understand this well: menopause is a process, not a disease!

In all the 32 signs that our body is changing as from our 40s, not all of them will happen in every woman, and none of them can’t be addressed.

The key is to know what peri-menopause is, what is happening inside, and how to embrace our body through the change.

Sadly, many women only know a little about the process. We are all aware of hot flashes, weight gain around the abdomen, drying skin (and other intimate body parts!), but what else? Many of us think that the whole thing is called “menopause”, whereas menopause is only the time when your periods has completely stopped for at least 12 months: the process actually starts up to 10 years before the average age of menopause which is at 51. Therefore, as soon as your early forties, you enter peri-menopause, and you need to already learn to embrace it.

We hear that menopause happens when estrogen levels decrease. But did you know that there are 3 types of estrogens (one only happening during pregnancy)? The one decreasing is called estradiol, it is the “good” estrogen. The one we need to keep at bay, as its increase will actually worsen our menopause transition, is called Estrone. Estrone is the one responsible for weight gain and hormonal cancers!

New research has shown that many menopause issues aren’t only caused by lower estradiol levels, but actually estrone dominance! Which means that estrogen dominance is actually more the issue than estrogen decrease!

Moreover, many of the uneasy feelings we have are also due to progesterone and testosterone decline, often linked to cortisol increase (cortisol is our stress hormone), all of this impacting our thyroid equilibrium – which in turns, messes up our metabolism, our moods, our sleep, our weight and all the rest. It can be a complicated vicious circle. Fortunately, there are simple solutions to it!

A Better Transition Towards Menopause

Instead of “dealing with it”, until perhaps taking HRT which is not for everyone, women can modify their lifestyle to adjust to their new bodies, and cruise through this transition in glory!

I believe that husbands should also get the knowledge, as their support and understanding is of upmost importance. Isn’t it hard to be at an age where our body is changing, our minds are changing, whilst being caught between teenagers – maybe a toddler – and ageing parents, and on top of it, a marriage under pressure?

You may be surprised, but your liver, your gut bacteria, your brain, your heart, your lymph system, your sleep, your inflammation levels, your spirit – all play an amazing role. If well taken care of, they will turn the experience of peri-menopause around.

Last but not least! Ensure that there are no chemicals in your home and on your skin! Out of the 70,000 new chemicals released in only a few years, many are hormone-disrupters and can worsen your health!

If not before, now is the time to get rid of chemical-laded cosmetics and to choose 100% plant-based skin care. The brand I have used and advised is Bellabaci, a small South-African enterprise responsibly sourcing organic essential oils and therapeutic carrier oils in Africa. The products are vegan and not tested on animals. On top of their body & face skin care, they offer also a non-toxic sunscreen: “Sunkissed”.

Great timing, they have also just launched a light cream range for us in peri-menopause and beyond: “Meno-Free”. Your skin will be nourished and hydrated, no greasy feeling, no sweat, and there is no strong smell which many of us cannot handle too well anymore!

Very soon, I will have the pleasure to coach women like me, in their forties, to better understand how to embrace our so-called “second puberty”!

– Diane Desmarais, Holistic Nutritionist, soon-to-be Menopause Transition Wellness Coach 🙂