Bloating, weight gain, and hormones….oh my!

Yes, I am going there. So if going deep and things a woman’s body does are TMI for you, feel free to breeze right on past this blog post.

You might be asking, “What does this have to do with food?” Well, a lot, actually. But also, this blog isn’t food specific. I simply write things that interest me in case they interest you, too. And usually what interests me is what I am living through…and in this case, it’s perimenopause.

Sigh.

I know, I know. You’re thinking, “She’s far too young for that!” Well, that’s very kind of you…but I did just turn 40 in May, and even though perimenopause typically begins somewhere between 45 and 50, my integrative NP (Sandra at Zuza’s Way is amazing, go check them out and book an appt if you live in my area!) shared with me that caucasian females who are active and healthy before menopause can enter the phase of perimenopause early.

Whoa is whoa….

In all seriousness, there’s a lot of info out there about hormones, cycles, natural family planning, perimenopause, menopause, and how to eat and move in these phases….but I haven’t found ONE place that talks about how everything relates. And since this is what I am going through, and also because I retain information better when I teach it myself, you get to come on the journey with me! So buckle up…I’ll be sharing blogs about my new hormone journey as it all unfolds in hopes it helps you, too. AND BONUS! If you have a daughter(s) like I do, she will benefit massively by being able to learn this from you.

But let’s start at the beginning.

“In the beginning….” Just kidding, but really, God created the female to be a complex creature with a soul, a body, an intellect with the capacity to love like Him, and numerous systems all working together. His design, which He deemed GOOD (we have to trust that part, especially when things get hard), includes a reproductive system which makes a woman a woman. This system is beautiful and good and it's what populates the world! But it’s also tricky to understand with its many nuances that range from woman to woman. But once we learn about our own bodies, we are armed with knowledge that will help us to age gracefully AND feel good while doing it.

Growing up, I never gave much thought to my own woman-ness. I mean, I knew I’d get a period enabling me to have babies someday, and that I’d also eventually go through menopause and no longer be able to have babies, but I never sought to understand all the in-between phases and how they’d impact me. I only knew I’d start to bleed, have babies, get older, have hot flashes and night sweats, and then I’d be old. That was the extent of it!

But then I got married and started to take myself a little more seriously. My husband and I took a course on Natural Family Planning (NFP) and decided to follow this path for our marriage as our Catholic faith prescribes. There are so many beauties of NFP, but an unexpected one is that it’s taught me SO MUCH about my body and how God designed a woman’s cycle. Before NFP, I had a rough idea of when my period would come, but that’s about it. Following NFP has taught me not only the exact day that my period will begin, but also that there are 4 phases within my cycle and I know exactly what days those phases begin. Most recently, I learned how each phase will affect my hormone levels, mood, energy levels, and the latest….how I should move and eat to support each phase. But per the usual, I’m getting ahead of myself.

After having 2 babies, I decided to get serious about my physical health.I had gained a considerable amount of weight in college, lost it the wrong way for our wedding, gained LOTS of weight with 2 pregnancies, and by then I felt like a foreigner in my own skin, without a clue as to how to get healthy the right way. I wasn’t interested in fad diets or crash starvations. I had been down those roads already, and I vowed to be a better role model to our kids…especially our daughter. So I turned to P90X and regular meals, prioritizing protein and eating mostly whole and organic. It worked! For 12 years, I had managed to maintain a healthy and strong body, but more importantly, one that wasn’t holding me back from an active lifestyle with my family.

Then, in July of 2021 I blew my knee out completely in a freak ACL/meniscus tearing accident. It turned my life upside down and continues to do so in unexpected yet beautiful ways, but that’s a story for a different blog. After months of waiting for appointments, diagnosis, MRIs, and the like, I finally had not just one…but 2 surgeries on my knee. The first on 2-11-22, reconstructing the ACL and meniscus and the second on 9-9-23 to remove scar tissue. All the while, I was eating well, moving as much as I could, religiously going to physical therapy, and regularly seeing my surgeon, yet something was still off. I felt….different. It's hard to put a pin on it, and I’m sure a lot of it had to do with the perfect storm of post-surgical detox/getting older/not being able to move like normal which resulted in some weight gain/and the trauma associated with this time in my life. But I also knew enough that there are smart doctors and NPs out there who specialize in alternative medicine to get to the root causes of how people feel. This is when I found Sandra from Zuza’s Way, whom I mentioned earlier.

I met with her, she spent 90 minutes with me during my first appointment after completing stacks of paperwork and keeping a food journal before she’d even meet with me, and did an extensive blood panel; I’m talking about 20 vials! From that appointment and my blood work, she put me on a new eating plan and a slew of supplements to compensate for areas in which I was lacking. She also suggested less cardio and more heavy weight training and restorative movement. I started to feel SO much better and there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

Speaking of movement, I had learned from a friend all about moving according to the 4 phases in a woman’s cycle, and that there are certain times of the month when our hormones will thrive from strenuous workouts (like during the Follicular Phase and Ovulation where we can focus on heavy weights, HIIT, or even boxing) and certain times when a more restorative routine actually serves a woman’s body better (like during Menstruation or the latter half of the Luteal Phase, where stretching, light weight training, walking, or low intensity cardio would serve us well). This was totally foreign to me, as I was in the frame of mind that more movement = better health. Maybe that would be true for a woman in her twenties, but as we age, what we need changes. But do you think I listened, even though thanks to years of practicing NFP allowed me to know exactly when each of the 4 phases began in my cycle? The answer would be no. Mostly because a shift was happening; even though I was FEELING better, I kept watching the scale creep up in the 4 months leading up to my 40th birthday. And since old habits die hard, I kept telling myself I needed to move more and with heavier weights. In that time frame I was more disciplined and focused than I had been in a long time, yet everything that had once worked for me was no longer helping.

DISCLAIMER: This would probably be a great time to mention that it is NOT all about the scale. Remember that blog I wrote about Body Image? I believe ALL of that. But one thing my integrative NP discovered from my blood work is that even eating as healthy as I do, my blood sugar is high. It could be hereditary, maybe from age, perhaps my body doesn’t process grains well…or a combination of all 3! But either way, for me, the concern over weight gain was how it could possibly correlate to diabetes in the future.

So after months of trying to go it alone, I finally got worried enough to meet with Sandra again where she taught me about Metabolic Switching and DUTCH testing, 2 things I am about to embark on. Let’s chat Metabolic Switching first. Basically, it's a way of eating and fasting to support hormones during the 4 phases of our cycle. She said, “By putting the body in a state of fasting, we are giving our internal organs a chance to heal and rest along with proper detox. This helps with hormone production and regulation.”  THis is KEY for a woman in perimenopause. Basically, during Menstruation, a diet rich in healthy fats and protein, yet low in carbohydrates and sugars is beneficial. During this time, estrogen is high, and estrogen doesn't like sugar. What’s interesting to me is that if I look back on when my friend taught me about moving in alignment with my cycle (ya know, that one time when I didn’t listen?) this makes so much sense because we are meant to move more restoratively during this time, so our bodies don’t need the carbohydrates and extra sugars. During the Follicular and Ovulation phases, we still want to focus on healthy fats, but we can also increase carbohydrates…which again, lines up with this phase because we begin to have more energy here and benefit from tough workouts. Then towards the end of our cycles in the Luteal Phase, there are certain foods to increase and decrease in a way that’s “hormone supporting” with a combination of healthy fats, carbohydrates, protein, and pre/probiotic rich foods. Our bodies start off this 2 week(ish) phase with a surge of energy due to both progesterone and estrogen being released, so we benefit from energy in the beginning; yet we feel those levels taper off as we approach menstruation…hence, the need for ALL food groups!

Now let’s chat DUTCH testing. According to the website I just linked, “The DUTCH Test is a comprehensive sex and adrenal hormone test that includes metabolites and organic acids to bring patient hormone status into focus.” Basically, we want to see what my hormones are up to in this new phase of my life. From these results, Sandra can put a plan together for me that tells me EXACTLY what foods my body will love in each phase of my cycle, which foods it won’t, and if there are any other underlying issues that are plaguing me in this arena. For now, this is where I am at! My test is next week, on day 19 of my cycle (which I can easily pinpoint thanks to NFP), where beforehand I have to fast from certain foods and collect samples of urine at very specific times in the day. I’m excited to learn more about this, because not only is it my path to healing and supporting me as I age, but these are the lessons my daughter will need to learn from me since, unfortunately, I had never heard about any of this from a traditional doctor.

I promise that my blog won’t ONLY be about this new journey I’m undertaking…but since it’s going to be a big part of my life, I will be sharing a lot about it as I learn and grow. And of course, if you have a specific question, leave a comment! I’d be happy to answer them…or ask Sandra if I don’t know the answer!

The last thing I’ll say is this; trust your gut. You know your body and how you’re feeling better than anyone. Had I ignored all the signs I have been navigating the last 2+ years, I’d be a ball of confusion, brain fog, dizziness, ZERO energy, and I’d probably be feeling pretty defeated…maybe not even realizing I am perimenopausal. There are smart people out there who can help you. Seek them out so you can feel your best as you age!