) Hi, we’re going to talk today about perimenopause. (0:10) You know, it’s those years that are called the run up years to menopause. (0:15) And it seems that a very large number of women in India today (0:18) are going through these years.
(0:20) In fact, there’s a Times of India study as recent as 21st July this year, (0:25) which puts this number as 15 million women in India. (0:29) It’s an issue which impacts a lot of us, including me. (0:32) And it is also discussed a lot.
(0:34) But I feel still understood very little. (0:37) So technically, menopause (0:40) is defined as when a woman does not get her period for an entire year. (0:45) There is what is called the perimenopause years.
(0:48) And the reason we need to talk about it is because most of us (0:53) are sadly not breezing through these years. (0:56) We are struggling with a few symptoms which are now identified as common (1:00) and affect a large number of women and having to deal (1:04) with those symptoms. (1:05) We are today going to talk about two such symptoms, (1:08) mainly because I think I have experienced some of it (1:11) and I have dealt with clients who have come in with those symptoms.
(1:15) And also, I feel they are a little difficult to deal with when they happen. (1:20) So let’s take these up one by one. (1:27) One of these symptoms is what is called systemic inflammation.
(1:31) Now, while inflammation is a word that, you know, we use a lot these days, (1:36) it is still difficult to recognize inflammation in one’s own body. (1:41) So how would you know whether you are inflamed or not? (1:43) And when I’m saying systemic inflammation, then we are talking about
1:46) an inflammation of not just one area or one organ, (1:50) but rather the whole body feels inflamed. (1:52) Most commonly, the terminology we use around this is called bloating.
(1:57) A lot of women will say, I feel bloated, you know, (2:00) especially after they have eaten a meat. (2:01) But mind you, the association is that I must have eaten something (2:05) or I’ve had a heavier meal and hence I’m feeling bloated. (2:09) But this is not the case.
(2:10) If you have systemic inflammation, you’re going to be bloated in your gut (2:13) irrespective of what you eat. (2:15) The second way you’re going to notice this is like a swelling. (2:19) So some women will say that my arms and my legs feel swollen.
(2:26) They feel swollen when I look at them. (2:28) They feel bigger when I look at them. (2:30) And then at certain times, (2:32) they also seem to come back to their normal size and shape.
(2:36) So feeling swollen is another sign of inflammation. (2:40) The third way you can experience inflammation is in your skin. (2:43) So the skin can feel tight.
(2:46) You know, some people will complain and say, my skin feels like it’s really tight. (2:50) And that can be a sign that you are inflaming somewhere from inside. (2:54) Especially in the perimenopause years, you are going to experience (2:57) some inflammation in your lower abdomen or the area what is below the navel.
(3:03) So if you press it, and especially if it is during your periods, (3:06) it can feel tight. (3:07) It can feel bloated and can often come with some amount of pain. (3:15) So what can we do about this inflammation? (3:18) The first thing to do is to get your vitamin D levels checked.
(3:21) Look, I’m a naturopath and I’m all for not taking supplements (3:26) unless absolutely necessary. (3:28) But vitamin D specifically has a lot of correlation with inflammation. (3:34) So the first thing you want to do is get your levels of vitamin D checked.
(3:39) And yes, there are food that can help build it up gradually. (3:43) But if your levels are fairly low, (3:46) to think of it as a level which is below 10 or single digit level, (3:50) then please take the standard supplementation (3:52) that is now fairly commonly available and get your vitamin D in order. (3:56) If you are experiencing fatigue, a lot of sleep disturbances (4:00) and pain in your muscle and joints and bones, (4:04) then that is some additional indicators that your vitamin D might be off.
(4:08) So the first thing you want to do is sort the vitamin D part for yourself. (4:13) The second thing I would tell you to do, and this is where like, (4:17) you know, how I as a naturopath use food as medicine (4:20) and what a lot of other naturopaths would also do, (4:23) is to give you some food suggestions that specifically help in inflammation (4:29) triggered by the menopause symptoms or the perimenopause symptoms, right? (4:33) By the way, it’s also worth understanding. (4:35) And the Times of India article that I mentioned earlier, (4:38) we’ll put a link of it in this video so that you can read it further.
(4:43) There is almost something like the dying ovary. (4:46) So in your last year before you hit menopause, your ovaries are actually dying, right? (4:50) They’re kind of living off their last few days. (4:54) And at that time, they release certain chemicals (4:57) which your body’s immune system responds to.
(5:00) They are not recognized as the normal things that the body has, (5:03) and hence it is seen as an attack from the outside. (5:05) And that is also a reason why, you know, especially during your period cycle, (5:09) you can feel inflammation a lot more. (5:11) So if this is happening to you, one food item that is immensely useful (5:16) is what we call a sponge gourd.
(5:18) I don’t know why, but it is basically the common tori. (5:21) This is the season for tori in North India. (5:23) So the markets are full of it.
(5:25) The only thing you have to choose is tori of two varieties. (5:28) One is a fairly large, tight skinned tori, which also has seeds. (5:34) Not that one.
(5:35) The other one are the smaller ones. (5:37) They are thinner. (5:38) They are darker green in color and they usually are not straight, but coiled.
(5:43) So tori as a vegetable is what you can absolutely use (5:46) to take care of this inflammation. (5:49) Now, how do you use it? (5:50) Best way to have it is to have it as a vegetable juice. (5:53) Take two toris, wash it properly, wipe it with a cloth, (5:58) cut it and use a normal mixie, half a glass of water and just churn it.
(6:04) Churn it enough so that it almost reaches a puree like state (6:08) and then add one more glass of water to it, sieve it and have it. (6:13) This is about 250 ml or 300 ml of juice. (6:17) Best time to have it is empty stomach in the morning.
(6:20) But you can also have it when stomach is empty, (6:24) which is usually after two to three hours after a meal, any time of the day. (6:28) Definitely have it once a day. (6:30) Anybody can have it.
(6:32) There is no restriction on who should and who should not. (6:36) The second way you can consume tori, the vegetable sabzi or vegetable out of it. (6:41) The only thing you want to be careful
here (6:43) is that if you add a lot of spices and a lot of oil, (6:47) then you’re going to ruin the nutrition in it.
(6:49) So the simple way of cooking it is just use a little bit of onion, (6:53) little bit of cumin. (6:54) This can be made absolutely oil free. (6:57) But if you insist, then one little spoon of oil, (7:01) saute the onion and the cumin, chop up (7:04) the snake gourd or the tori and at least have three to four (7:09) hundred grams of it as vegetable.
(7:11) You can add a little bit of coriander powder and a pinch of salt (7:15) and a pinch of turmeric or haldi to it. (7:18) Let it cook for 15, 20 minutes in its own water. (7:22) Please don’t make it in a pressure cooker.
(7:25) And this this sabzi or this vegetable in a cooked form (7:28) is also something you must consume. (7:31) And you can have it every day for as many days as you want. (7:35) It will really help you.
(7:37) The third and last way this can be consumed is in the form of a chutney. (7:41) So when you are making the vegetable as a sabzi, (7:44) you’re going to peel off the skin. (7:46) Please don’t throw the skin.
(7:48) Gather a palm full of this peeled (7:52) rind or skin of the tori. (7:54) Add a little bit of fresh coconut to it. (7:57) Add a little bit of fresh ginger, a little bit of you can add a date.
(8:01) You can add a little bit of imli and some salt and make it into a chutney. (8:06) Now, again, just remember, when you are using food as medicine, (8:11) then quantities really matter. (8:13) So if you’re going to have one teaspoon of this chutney, (8:15) it will do nothing to a body which is over 50 kgs of weight.
(8:19) So what you need to do is you at least need to have a small katori (8:22) full of this chutney. (8:23) You can have it with plain white rice, little bit, (8:26) or you can have it with an idli. (8:28) So this is basically best in combination with a rice based thing.
(8:32) But the quantity matters. (8:35) So these three ways of using tori and if you are struggling (8:38) a lot with inflammation, then you can use it every day. (8:43) All these three things together.
(8:48) You know, another symptom in perimenopause, (8:52) which is I feel not talked about enough is excessive bleeding. (8:58) And I think in the medical lingo, they call it abnormal nutrient bleeding. (9:04) So this is where you are anyway seeing a difference in your periods (9:08) during your perimenopause or almost what is called the menopause years.
(9:13) Your periods are either (9:16) showing signs of change in terms of the periodicity of them. (9:20) So they no longer come in the same regularity that they used to, (9:23) or they are coming very frequently and then not coming for a few months, (9:28) which is also not uncommon as a as a thing that women experience. (9:32) It becomes very problematic (9:33) when the bleeding around the periods becomes excessive.
(9:36) So for some women, the bleeding is excessive. (9:39) The duration of the period remains the same, (9:41) but the amount they bleed tends to increase for certain other women. (9:46) They just continuously bleed for three to four months or five months.
(9:50) The periods as if never stop. (9:52) You’ve just had one round of period. (9:54) And before you know it, there is continuous spotting (9:57) or there is some continuous flow of blood.
(9:59) And then another full period comes. (10:00) This is, of course, the most problematic (10:03)
because a very logical outcome of this is going to be anemia. (10:07) And then if you get into severe anemia, (10:08) you’ve got a whole bunch of other issues to deal with.
(10:11) Now, let’s try and understand why this also happens. (10:14) And there are two big factors as to is a buildup of heat inside the body. (10:19) How are you going to recognize this heat? (10:21) If heat is a lot in your upper area, like your stomach, (10:24) you can always notice it as blisters in your mouth, (10:27) you know, especially under the tongue or on the tongue.
(10:30) So blisters in the mouth are not always a sign of the vitamin B deficiencies, (10:35) but also these are called heat blisters. (10:37) Sometimes, you know, you get pimples as an adult, (10:41) but these are not the normal acne. (10:43) What you are getting are more painful pimples, (10:46) which if you press, they are painful (10:49) and they have a little more redness to it as opposed to the normal (10:53) whitehead pimples that that teenagers experience.
(10:58) The third sign that your body might be overly heated is dryness. (11:02) So there can be dryness in your scalp. (11:04) There can be dryness in your hair.
(11:05) There can be dryness in your skin. (11:08) And you can just get up in the morning with a dry mouth. (11:12) So this is also a sign that there is a lot of heat inside your body.
(11:16) What are you supposed to do if you have this? (11:18) And also just one more thing. (11:19) You know, the base of inflammation is always heat. (11:22) The inflammation is a process of expansion.
(11:25) It’s a process of swelling. (11:26) And for something to swell or expand, you always need something to be hot under it. (11:31) So excessive heat is also a reason why inflammation happens in the body.
(11:37) Right. So what can you do about it from a food perspective? (11:40) Juices that you can have if you are experiencing this dryness (11:44) and excessive heat are plain carrot juice, about half a kg of carrot (11:49) or 500 grams of carrot, which will give it 300 milligrams of juice. (11:53) That is something that you can consume safely on a daily basis.
(11:57) The other juice is cucumber and tomato. (12:00) So two cucumbers, two tomatoes. (12:03) You can add a little bit of fresh coriander or a little bit of fresh mint to it.
(12:08) This juice does not lend itself well to a mixie or a grinder. (12:12) So it is best if you juice this in a juicer and have it. (12:17) It will be about 200 ml of juice.
(12:19) You can again safely have it empty stomach in the morning or again in the late afternoon (12:23) as long as you’re keeping a gap between the juice and cooked food. (12:27) The third thing that really helps if there is a buildup of excessive (12:31) heat in the body and it is causing you that excessive bleeding are pears. (12:35) So this is the season in India, because we’re in the monsoon season, (12:39) when pears, we call it nashpati or babu gosha in Hindi, is very freely available.
(12:45) Babu gosha is better than the nashpati to consume and you must eat it. (12:49) You just need to wash it. (12:50) You don’t need to take out the rind of the skin and eat it as much as you want.
(12:56) It cools the heat in the uterus as well, (12:59) and it overall cools the heat of the body. (13:03) You know, especially if you are experiencing heat in your kidneys (13:07) or urinary system, which is most noticeable if you have hot urine or burning urine, (13:13) then you must eat the babu gosha or nashpati in large quanti