Instead of starving yourself… (perimenopause or otherwise)

This past holiday I read two books on hormones and perimenopause — The Menopause Reset and Eat Like A Girl — and came away with useful information but also a clear sense that there are more loving ways to approach what these books recommend. This article is my attempt to integrate what they offer with RestoreChi and Esogetic Medicine, so you have more options than starving yourself.

Ever since reading The Menopause Brain this summer I knew I wanted to shift my diet. And, watching some videos from The Glucose Goddess got me concerned that my Medical Medium approach was may be doing me a disservice because of the low fat, smoothies and juice. The Glucose Goddess recommends always eating something savoury before something sweet and dressing your carbs in fat or fibre to slow the glucose spike. Her point is that managing glucose spikes manages insulin, and managing insulin manages almost everything else. She recommends these 4 steps:

She also sells supplements to slow the spike, if you’re not going to follow her recommendation, to have sweets only after a meal.

Back to Eat Like A Girl, all of this, including my issues with sleep goes back to hormones, insulin, and how when insulin is high, melatonin is low, and the drop in hormone availability, and thus the importance, to use and support the hormones we have well, during perimenopause.

I agree with the author, that most of us got a terrible education about our hormonal cycle in school, and I am grateful for the information she provides:

(everything I share is for educational purposes only).

Now how does this look if we don’t want to starve ourselves?

First, make sure there is at least 2hrs between the last thing you eat and when you go to bed. So your insulin can drop and your melatonin can rise and stay high long enough to prevent waking at 12am (gallbladder) or 3am (transition from liver to lung time). Best not to wake before 5am (large intestine time).

Second, for any perimenopausal symptom, soaking your feet in hot RestoreChi water can be very supportive.

Now, for each of the phases in the images above:

• Power Phase 1 (Days 1-10 approximately) — Supporting Estrogen

  • In this phase, we might experience symptoms like hot flashes, bone pain, musculoskeletal injury, frequent urination, or weight gain in this time if estrogen is too low. RestoreChi tracks that can help with this include: hot flash (often needs to be followed by chill release), belt meridian, osteoporosis, tennis elbow, leg knees foot pain, low back clear the bladder meridian, spleen dampness (for muscle), and kidney enhance (for hormones and bone), as well as bladder/uterus chill for frequent urination. Flax and tofu are good things to add to your diet during this window to support estrogen production.

• Manifestation Phase (Days 11-17 approximately) — Metabolizing Hormones

  • Metabolizing hormones, this is the job of the small intestines. The book shares that many people will fast until there is no more white stuff on their tongue, suggesting that the bad bacteria has died off, and then they load up on pre/probiotics to feed and support the good bacteria. Another way to say this is “supporting the gut microbiome”. RestoreChi has heart conditioning (heart is paired with small intestine), small and large intestine AIR, tongue wide with white stuff, and belt meridian which might be helpful. Hemp, chia, pro/prebiotic foods, and garlic are apparently helpful in this phase.

• Power Phase 2 (Days 18-24 approximately) — Detoxing Hormones

  • To prevent a buildup of estrogen metabolites that can result in breast and ovarian cancers. Phlegmatic is the RestoreChi track for detox. There's also liver detox, kidney enhance, low back clear the bladder meridian and sometimes even varicose veins (to aid with the exit pathways), and blood sugar balance, heart conditioning, and small and large intestine AIR (to help the body absorb excess sugar from the bloodstream). Cinnamon, nut (as opposed to oat) milk, and MCT oil are supposed to be helpful in minimizing sugar spikes (and thus floods of insulin).

• Nurture Phase (Days 25-28 approximately) — Supporting Progesterone

  • The Nurture Phase is why the author built this model to Fast Like A Girl, because progesterone needs glucose, and women tend to lose their period (and fertility) when they try to fast like men. Lack of progesterone may show signs of insomnia, belly fat, breast tenderness, hunger, headaches, and anxiety. RestoreChi tracks that can help include breast hyperplasia, belt meridian, and maybe blood sugar balance. Key foods to help with the production of progesterone include: quinoa, lentils, chickpeas or other legumes.

There are also Esogetic Medicine treatments for perimenopause symptoms but, since we are all different, it is better to focus on our unique symptoms and what the Kirlian Photo is saying. Regardless, here are the Esogetic food recommendations, based on the hormone, you may be trying to boost:

As for weight loss in general, Angela Borgeest shared in her talk "Integrating energy medicine for effective weight loss" that it’s not just what we eat and how much we exercise (in fact, a lack of desire or soreness when we try to exercise, is a sign that our spleen could use support), and we should also look at our ability to digest and absorb. For an update on this theory see:

-> How RestoreChi sees conditions like gout, diabetes, excess weight, and carpal tunnel — what to do when medication does more harm than good

The spleen is responsible for making and recycling blood cells and eliminating what is no longer needed. It is very susceptible to dampness, especially if we eat cold foods. The spleen dampness RestoreChi track helps with this.

As mentioned, the phlegmatic track is for detox. You may have trouble getting going the morning after playing this track all night, but once you get moving, you’re generally fine. This is the detox effect.

Heart conditioning and small and large intestine AIR tracks may help with absorption.

Central governing increases energy (and may be worth trying instead of eating because you’re tired or bored).

Belt meridian (though it’s intended to regulate the menstrual cycle) helps reduce water retention, especially around the middle.

Liver gallbladder pancreas enhance firm and tones by activating the area (I might try this for my pelvic floor). And frontline service worker is good (as well as low back clear the bladder meridian and leg knees foot pain) to help things clear.

Reconnect 5 organs is to make sure the major TCM organ pairs support each other in the right direction. If the connection is correct, you should feel alive and vibrant. If it’s not correct, Fire and Water cannot cycle above and below the waist, resulting in accumulation and preventing absorption (there is also the Fire water body balance RM track, which also supports the adrenal glands).

I’ll definitely try some of the above on my husband, who thinks his belly weight is just due to stress, sitting a lot, and lack of time for exercise and eating right.

While movement and healthy food must still be good, we can also support, regardless of whether we are doing everything we should. We can love and care for our bodies. Not hate it for doing everything it can to keep us alive. Many of us have a story of why we struggle with food or our weight. I hope this helps spark some ideas for you, without making you think you need to do anything to hurt yourself because of how you are.

If you’re going to fast, Medical Medium, Glucose Goddess, and RestoreChi all agree that this will take a toll on your adrenals/kidneys. The following RestoreChi tracks support your adrenals: kidney enhance and water fire body balance RM.

I often get dry lips, cracks, and sometimes redness around my lips. If this happens to you or your kids too, this map can help you understand what part of your/their digestive system may need some support:

Pretty much all eating recommendations will disagree on some things.

Nothing is a problem for RestoreChi. RestoreChi water cards can apparently reverse GMO, clear out chemicals, and rebalance produce that will cause acid reflux, because they are far too yin, from growing in depleted soil. There are also tracks to reverse the effects of eating things that are too yin (including mainstream supplements and leftovers), like stomach weak, stomach ye, or stomach fire.

I hope this article will help you on your journey. It certainly helps me.