This is not a festive blog about the menopause

I’ve been reading about the menopause, since being thrust into it in 2017 and it makes for bleak reading!!

After testing positive for the BRCA2 gene in 2017, I went and had a double mastectomy plus a oophorectomy (the one where they remove your ovaries). It was the latter op that thrust me headfirst into the menopause, with only a small leaflet as a warning. In my ignorance, the leaflet ended up in the bin and I went on my way – a flatter tummy and new boobs in tow.

For the next few years, I bumbled through life, hiding behind my busy career, running like a cardio bunny to get rid of the ever-growing fat, dealing with the red mist that kept blocking my view and reading articles that threw words at me like dryness, mood swings, hot flushes, sleepless night and did I mention dryness??!!

When the pandemic hit, at the start of 2020, I stopped travelling three hours a day, four days a week into London and suddenly had a lot more time on my hands and started switching up my reading. Rather than scouring the internet for life stories about the menopause and depressing the situation further, I gravitated towards practitioners and fully trained doctors – all of whom shared a common trait: The first trait was that most of them trained at medical school and had spent years dealing a ‘pill for an ill’. Meaning that every time a patient came in to see them, their only solution was to prescribe them a pill, but they soon realised that pills weren’t the solution! If they were, we wouldn’t have the increase in diseases and conditions we’re currently faced with. The second trait was their views on food! Robert Lustigman puts it perfectly in his latest book Metabolical where he says “Food can either prevent, cause or reverse diabetes! Drugs may lower the blood glucose but they can’t fix the diabetes.” Apply that to most other conditions and it’s a similar story.

And, so began my mission, to not write about the bleak side of menopause, but to instead turn the narrative on its head and focus on the beauty behind this life stage – of which there is plenty to mention I assure you! Below, are my tips on getting through the festive season, with the menopause as the backdrop, but by no means the main character. YOU are the star of this show! so tune into what your body is telling you and you will get through unscathed and so much happier for it.

TIPS

Quality sleep – proper sleep helps to control our appetite. When we’re sleep deprived, we tend to reach for the sugary, processed foods and can increase our caloric intake by as much as 20%.

If you insist on being on your phone late at night, use blue blocker glasses to stop the blue light from stimulating you further, and try and to keep your wakeup times as close as possible, to that of a normal working week.

Connect with friends – not annoying ones, only those that bring you joy! Socialising and connecting positively with others are a sure fire way to reset your mood and mind. Stronger ties have been proven to lower blood pressure and boost longevity plus, it’s an important way to reduce isolation.

Outsmart your sweet tooth – when you’re faced with a craving, check in with yourself before you give in. Is it really hunger or something else you need or want? For the next 15 minutes, shift your attention; take a bath, call a friend, do some breath work, drink some water. If you’ve done all this and you still want something to eat, then have it and enjoy it! Savour every bite and think about each mouthful you take.

(Don’t) Drink up - This isn’t about me saying you have to give anything up - I get how much joy these things can bring - but the truth was that while both alcohol and caffeine provided short-term comfort, they also present long-term problems like brain fog, weight gain, blood sugar swings, mood swings and a messed-up sleep. I eventually learnt to adopt a ‘progress over perfection’ approach – so, as long as I made a bit of progress each week, that was enough for me and if you find yourself going for a little festive drink and want to do something positive, start with a full glass of filtered water to dilute the effects of alcoholic intake.

So, you see how things don’t have to be so bleak! Though, like I said, this isn’t a blog about the menopause, but a guide full of tips to help you through the festive season. Tips that will help you feel your very best, and if you do fall, give yourself some grace as you pick yourself back up and keep trying. You are not alone and you are doing brilliantly!