I don’t know about where you live but summer just heated up here in Victoria BC and we are sweltering under a ‘Heat Dome’!
I have a plan to stay hydrated and it involved the purchase of big ripe watermelon which I lugged home in a reusable market bag just before the temperatures broke the 30’s C.
I am drinking my water flavoured with watermelon chunks and crunching through the sweet slices on a daily basis.
Hydration is super important to us during midlife, regardless of a heat wave, as it helps us to support our hard working liver.
#nutritional nugget It is our liver that breaks down excess hormone in the body during peri-menopause and helps to quell our more uncomfortable symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats and mood swings.
When we are:
1. Overwhelmed and exhausted in life and jump-start our day with caffeine (a big molecule that the liver works hard to break down)
2. End our day with alcohol (more work for the liver)
3. Eat processed foods often with additives and chemicals that stress our liver
4. Eat foods packed with unhealthy fats and oils
5. Take prescription or over the counter medications daily
6. Spend each day on a blood sugar roller coaster and stress out our liver
We work our liver hard, making the peri-menopausal dance of spiking and crashing estrogen, cortisol and progesterone hormones a burden it can no longer handle without help.
This is when you feel like you are losing your mind and have lost control of your body.
You can’t sleep through the night (hello 4am anxiety)
You spend all day either anticipating or experiencing a sweaty, embarrassing and uncomfortable hot flash
You feel your mood swing from calm zen to a shaky rage in a fraction of a second even with those you love most in the world.
You wake each morning feeling exhausted and overwhelmed by what you have to get through in your day.
You wonder why your body is breaking down as you feel achy like an old woman on a daily basis especially your poor neck and shoulders.
Okay, the big one…the one that hits our confidence hardest... middle age spread. You gain pounds around your belly and your waist is vanishing leaving you feeling deeply uncomfortable in your body. Regardless of how little you eat or how much you exercise nothing shifts this stubborn, midlife ‘hormonal weight’.
Truth is that helping our liver by eating real food and dense nutrition is one of the biggest ways we can reduce peri-menopausal symptoms, calm our mood and maintain our ideal weight. Hydration to cleanse the liver is a great place to start.
Educating ourselves around nutrition in midlife and loving ourselves enough to make the food we eat a priority is also an empowering and delicious journey.
May I present my first piece of evidence in this case!
Watermelon, Feta and Cucumber Salad
¼ small watermelon cubed to bite sized pieces
½ English cucumber or 2-3 baby cucumbers
200g/4oz sheep milk feta cheese
1 large handful mint finely chopped (use basil, parsley or cilantro if that is what you have)
Balsamic vinegar enough to drizzle
Olive oil enough to drizzle
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
Add all ingredients to a big plate and toss lightly.
Enjoy all the cooling flavours and juicy bursts of these hydrating fruit and vegetable in your mouth knowing that you are eating to support you liver during peri-menopause.
Note: If you want to give you liver some extra love try this daily practice each morning…Daily Cleansing Lemon Water For Liver Health