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"the application of nutrition science in the promotion of health"
Why I look at the menopause journey this way
The single most useful thing I can tell you is this: perimenopause does not begin when your periods become irregular. It begins, quietly, while they're still perfectly regular which is exactly why so many women are told they're "too young" or that their bloods are "normal."
And it isn't simply a matter of oestrogen running out. In the early stages, progesterone falls first, while oestrogen often surges higher than before and becomes erratic - a rollercoaster, not a cliff. Only later does it truly decline. Other hormones shift too: FSH climbs, and testosterone changes in relative terms. Each stage has a different hormonal "weather system."
That's the whole point of the map. Because if the hormonal picture is different at each stage, then the reasons behind your symptoms are different and so is the most helpful response. What helps at 1 Peri: The Stealthy Start is not what's needed at 4 Peri: The Crossing or 6 Post: The New Steady.
Why it's useful
When you can see the whole arc, three things change.
First, you can locate yourself. "I think I'm somewhere around 3 Peri: The Plot Thickens" is enormously more grounding than "something is wrong with me and no one can tell me what."
Second, your symptoms stop feeling random. The 3am waking, the new anxiety, the weight that's suddenly settling round your middle, the brain fog; each of these belongs somewhere on the map, and each has a reason. Once a symptom has a reason, it stops being frightening and starts making sense.
Third, and this is where my work lives; reasons point to action. Stage-appropriate, targeted, evidence-based action through food, nutrients, lifestyle and the right testing. The thread running through all six stages is metabolic health: how your body handles blood sugar, builds and keeps muscle/bone, manages inflammation and stores fat. Get that right, stage by stage, and you change not just how you feel now, but your health for the decades beyond.
A map, not a timetable
One honest caveat: everyone's journey is different, and it isn't always tidy or linear - periods can stop and start again, and stages can blur. This is a way of understanding, not a schedule to hold yourself to. The point isn't to predict the date of anything. It's to replace confusion with understanding and understanding with a plan.
A note from me
I'm not writing this from the outside. I'm 62, firmly postmenopausal, very much in "the years beyond." I've travelled the whole map myself, and I intend to live my best life for as long as I possibly can. That's the heart of why I do this work: understanding brings clarity, and clarity is what makes change personalised and genuinely effective.
Where are you on the map?
In clinic, I map it properly using comprehensive blood panels (I use Metabolic Balance and functional testing), body measurements, a thorough health history and detailed symptom analysis then map & translate what I find into a personalised plan. And if something falls outside nutrition's remit, I'll always point you in the right direction. For more information, check out my Instagram page - link below.