NUTRITION - SIMPLE, REALISTIC, EFFECTIVE
What Should I Actually Eat During Perimenopause?
If you've hit perimenopause and suddenly feel like you're being told you need to completely change the way you eat, you're not alone.
More protein. Less carbs. No sugar. More fibre. Fast longer. Don't fast. Take supplements. Eat for your hormones. Don't spike your cortisol.
It's a lot. So let's simplify it.
There isn't one special “perimenopause diet” that every woman needs to follow.
But there are some nutritional priorities that become increasingly important as we move through our 40s, 50s and beyond - particularly when we're thinking about muscle, bone, cardiovascular, metabolic health and, yes, body composition too.
The good news? Most of it is far less complicated than Instagram would have you believe.
Does my diet actually need to change in perimenopause?
Not necessarily overnight. You don't suddenly turn 45 and become incapable of eating the foods you've eaten your entire life. But the things we can sometimes get away with when we're younger can start to matter more.
We naturally become more vulnerable to losing muscle as we age. The menopause transition brings changes in hormones and body composition. Bone health becomes increasingly important. Cardiovascular risk changes after menopause. Sleep, stress and changes in activity can also influence appetite, food choices and how much energy we're using.
So rather than asking:
“What foods should I stop eating now I'm in perimenopause?”
I'd rather ask:
“Am I giving my body enough of what it needs for the next stage of my life?”
That's a very different conversation.
1. Protein: let's start here
If there's one thing I regularly ask women to look at, it's protein. Protein provides the amino acids your body needs to build and repair tissue, including muscle. And muscle becomes very important in midlife. We're not talking about muscle purely because we want toned arms (although I do hear that often too). Maintaining muscle supports strength, physical function and metabolic health, and resistance training combined with adequate nutrition gives us our best opportunity to preserve it, and potentially build it, as we age.
How much protein do I need?
Your individual requirements depend on things like your body size, activity, training and goals. So rather than becoming obsessed with hitting one perfect daily number, I often start with something much more practical:
Look at each of your main meals and ask: “Where’s my protein?”
For many women, somewhere around 25–35g of protein at a main meal can be a useful starting point. That could look like:
Greek yoghurt with added protein, fruit and nuts at breakfast.
Eggs plus another protein source on toast.
Chicken, tuna, tofu or legumes through a salad or wrap at lunch.
Fish, lean meat, chicken, tofu or tempeh with dinner.
The exact food isn't the important part. Consistently getting a meaningful amount of protein across your day is.
2. Fibre: it's about more than keeping you regular
Yes, fibre helps you poop. (Sorry, the overshare is real with me – you’ll get used to it). But we're selling it short if that's all we talk about.
Fibre-rich foods can support gut health, blood glucose management, cholesterol levels, cardiovascular health and satiety. Conveniently, foods naturally high in fibre tend to bring plenty of other useful nutrients along with them. Think:
Vegetables. Fruit. Legumes. Wholegrains. Nuts. Seeds.
Australian guidelines recommend around 25g of fibre per day for adult women, although individual needs vary. If you're currently nowhere near that, please don't go from approximately three grams to a heroic mountain of chickpeas, bran and broccoli tomorrow. Your gut may have opinions. 😂 Build it gradually and make sure you're drinking enough fluid too.
3. Carbohydrates: they're staying
Perimenopause does not mean you need to stop eating carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates are an important source of energy, particularly if you're active or training. Many carbohydrate-rich foods also provide exactly the things we're trying to get more of - fibre, vitamins, minerals and plant diversity.
Fruit is carbohydrate.
Oats are carbohydrate.
Potatoes are carbohydrate.
Legumes are carbohydrate.
Wholegrains are carbohydrate.
So simply declaring “carbs are bad” isn't particularly helpful.
What matters is the overall quality and quantity of your diet, your energy needs, your activity and your goals.
If you're strength training - which we'll talk about next - carbohydrates can also help fuel the work we're asking your body to do.
Note: Please know that you don't need to earn your carbs and you don't automatically need to remove them because your body has changed.
4. Fats: Yes, you need fats too.
Dietary fat isn't something we need to fear either. Fat plays important roles throughout the body and helps us absorb fat-soluble vitamins.
The type of fat matters, so I'd generally encourage women to include foods rich in unsaturated fats such as olive oil, nuts, seeds, avocado and oily fish.
Omega-3 fats from foods such as salmon, sardines and other oily fish are particularly useful additions to an overall heart-healthy eating pattern. Again, the goal isn't:
“Eat unlimited healthy fats because they're healthy.” They still contribute to overall energy intake. The goal is to make the foods you're eating nutritionally worthwhile.
5. Let's talk about your bones
This one doesn't get anywhere near enough attention. We spend a LOT of time talking to women in perimenopause about their weight. We need to spend more time talking about their bones.
Estrogen plays an important role in maintaining bone. As estrogen levels ultimately decline through the menopausal transition, bone loss can accelerate. That makes nutrition, alongside resistance and impact exercise where appropriate, an important part of looking after Future You.
Two nutrients you'll hear about frequently are calcium and vitamin D.
Calcium-rich foods can include dairy products such as milk, yoghurt and cheese, calcium-fortified alternatives, some tofu, tinned fish with edible bones and other foods depending on your diet.
Vitamin D is a little different because much of it comes from sun exposure rather than food alone, although some foods contribute.
If you're concerned about your intake, bone health or vitamin D status, that's a conversation worth having with your GP or an appropriately qualified health professional. The answer isn't automatically “buy a supplement.”
6. What about alcohol?
I'm not going to tell you that you can never have a glass of wine again. I am going to suggest being curious about what it does to you now.
Alcohol can add a significant amount of energy without providing much nutritional value, and it can affect sleep quality. Some women also find that alcohol aggravates symptoms such as hot flushes or night sweats. That doesn't mean everyone in perimenopause needs to stop drinking. It means it's worth asking:
How much am I drinking?
Why am I drinking it?
How do I sleep afterwards?
Do I notice a difference in my symptoms?
Would drinking less make me feel better?
That's much more useful than me simply telling you wine is “bad”.
And what about the “meno belly”?
Ah yes. That old chestnut. The bit everyone actually wants to know about.
It can be incredibly frustrating when your body shape begins changing even though you don't feel like you're doing anything dramatically different. But we need some nuance here.
Perimenopause doesn't simply switch off your metabolism and make you gain weight.
Ageing, activity levels, muscle mass, sleep, stress, appetite, food intake and a host of other factors can influence body weight over time. At the same time, hormonal changes across the menopausal transition appear to influence where we tend to store body fat, with a greater tendency toward central or abdominal fat accumulation. So two things can be true:
Hormones matter.
AND
Our nutrition and lifestyle still matter.
That's important because it means the answer isn't to blame your hormones and give up. But it also isn't helpful to tell a woman whose body is changing:
“Just eat less and move more.”
We can do better than that.
So… should I eat less? Maybe.If fat loss is your goal, overall energy intake matters.
But “eat as little as possible” is not a fat-loss strategy I'd recommend. Particularly if eating less means you're struggling to get enough protein, fibre and micronutrients, your training suffers, you're hungry all the time and the whole thing lasts approximately nine days before you can't stand it anymore.
Before immediately cutting food, look at the foundations.
Are you eating enough protein?
Are you eating plants?
Are you getting enough fibre?
Are most of your meals reasonably nutrient-dense?
Are you drinking your calories without noticing?
Are you constantly grazing?
Are you actually hungry - or simply exhausted and looking for energy?
Are you training?
Are you sleeping?
Then we can decide whether energy intake needs adjusting.
If you're currently overwhelmed by nutrition advice, please, right now, forget perfection. It’s a myth and no one does it – not those “influencers” who claim to, and certainly not an everyday hero lady just trying to do her best.
Let’s just start with these five things:
Build your main meals around a decent protein source.
Eat plenty of different plants and gradually get your fibre up.
Stop being scared of quality carbohydrates.
Include nutritious sources of dietary fat.
Eat in a way you can actually sustain.
That's it.
No detox.
No hormone reset.
No banning entire food groups because somebody on Instagram told you cortisol doesn't like bananas after 2pm.
Get really bloody good at the basics.
Then, if your goals, health, training or circumstances require it, those basics can be personalised. I think that’s the bit that gets lost in a lot of menopause nutrition advice. The foundations might be similar. The woman isn't.
Start with ONE thing
Don't finish this article and decide that tomorrow you're going to eat 150g of protein, 30 different plants, never drink again, meal prep for seven days and start making your own sourdough.
Pick one thing.
Maybe breakfast needs more protein.
Maybe you barely eat vegetables at lunch.
Maybe you're unnecessarily avoiding carbs.
Maybe the special occasion wine/chocolate/chips has quietly become nightly wine/chocolate/chips.
Start there. Small changes you can consistently repeat will do far more for Future You than another perfect plan you can't maintain.
Don’t forget to check out the recipe pack too – it just might make one of those changes a little easier. Pick a recipe. Make it. Eat it.
We're keeping this simple. Tomorrow – we talk all things STRENGTH.
Kate x
DISCLAIMER
This information is general education only and isn't individual medical or dietary advice. Your needs may differ depending on your health, medications, medical history and circumstances. Speak with your GP or an appropriately qualified health professional for individual advice.