Healthy Nest Nutrition Case Studies
Custom Nutrition

CLIENT: Katherine

FOCUS: Hormone Balance + Perimenopause

 

 

  • Female, late 40s
  • Pescatarian (plant, eggs, dairy and fish)
  • Married with two teenage children
  • Works from home
  • Away lots of weekends with skiing and travel
  • Enjoys cooking, tries to eat healthy
  • Very active, OrangeTheory five days per week
  • Not pooping regularly 
  • Was not sleeping well, tired all the time
  • Perimenopause symptoms, bad PMS (irregular periods, pre-period cramps, acne, bloating and mood swings)

Goal: To decrease hormone symptoms throughout the month and especially right before periods. She was experiencing cramping, moodiness and anxiety right before her period, along with sleep disruption and hot flashes when stressed.

Here’s What We Did

 

 

  1. Easy Dinners: We introduced sheet pan dinners for fall/winter dinner time and kitchen sink salads for spring and summer. Making dinners was a HUGE stressor and getting formulaic made the meal less stressful. Also, it kept dinner healthier with more veggies and fiber.
  2. Seed Cycling: Adding estrogen and progesterone-rich seeds is helpful in balancing hormones. Katherine added a morning or mid-day post-workout shake and included ground seeds in the shake to help promote hormones for that stage of her cycle.
  3. Cruciferous Veggies: We added broccoli, brussels, cauliflower and cabbage to support liver health, which encouraged estrogen metabolism, which helps to balance estrogen/progesterone throughout the month. Each week, Katherine would buy a different option and make a slaw, roasted or grilled veggies. She included them in her sheet pan and salad dinners.
  4. Testing + Supplements: Katherine took a hormone test and a micronutrient test to see where her hormones and vitamin/mineral levels were. Based on test results, we added moderate doses of fish oil and a bioavailable women’s 40+ multivitamin, which lessened symptoms quite a bit.

Lifestyle Changes 

We moved her from Orange Theory to a less intense exercise routine half the time. She found balance in Orange Theory two days a week, walking for 45 minutes twice a week and doing yoga or pilates one to two days a week. Wine with dinner every night was changed to weekends only, and capped at one drink. This helped a lot with sleep.

The Outcome

Katherine continues to work on balance in general, but has made enough small changes that add up to feeling better hormonally. Her sleep has improved, she is less tired, her moods have improved and she is managing her stress more effectively.