As women, we are often more likely to pay extra attention to our skincare and nutrition for our diets. Back in our days, we had the power of youth and metabolism on our side to help us out and make things a bit more manageable, but as the years go by, our metabolic rate dwindles and our once flawless skin becomes more susceptible to fine lines and wrinkles.

As such, one of these stages which is perimenopause can often be a difficult time for many women as it can also come at a time when we least expect it. Perimenopause can often affect us in many ways even including our Skincare and nutrition.

As such, in this article, we will tell you all the most important things you need to know about skincare and nutrition during perimenopause.

How perimenopause affects our skin

When it comes to perimenopause, our hormone levels tend to fluctuate and one of those hormones affected is progesterone. Progesterone is responsible for stimulating the production of sebum in the oil gland of our skin. This then helps keep our skin glowing and hydrated. However, when there is too little progesterone produced, it increases our insulin levels, which in turn can increase our testosterone levels and lead to bad acne breakouts.

It also makes our skin more sensitive, dry, and flaky. Hence, we can see that unstable hormone during perimenopause can truly affect our skin.

In addition to this, research shows that estrogen has been found to help decrease aging in women. This is because this hormone contributes to the production of collagen and delays signs of aging. In contrast, having low estrogen makes our skin more prone to fine lines, sagging, wrinkles, and pigmentation.

Therefore, it’s important for us to be even more aware of our skin as we approach perimenopausal age. As our hormone levels fluctuate and decrease, it makes our skin more susceptible to signs of aging. It makes our skin lose its glow, elasticity, firmness, and even smoothness.

Luckily for us, aging skin isn’t necessarily an inevitable fate that lies ahead of us as we approach our perimenopausal years. There are plenty of things we can do about it and we don’t have to sit still and wait for our fates to come by!

Optimize our nutrition

Firstly, one of the best and easiest things you can do is to optimize your nutrition. We are what we eat and if we keep on eating junk food, cholesterol, unbalanced diets, etc., then that will show up on our skin and even more so as our ages are increasing already.

If we want to avoid skin breakouts that occur with fluctuating hormones, this is often a sign of inflammation that could be brewing in your gut. Simply start your day with a warm glass of water with one teaspoon of apple cider vinegar before breakfast. This can stimulate your metabolism allowing you to more efficiently use your energy reserves.

Other foods such as kimchi, yogurt, and sauerkraut can also help our digestion as these contain what we call “Good bacteria” which can benefit our health.

Speaking of digestion, make a salad with chicory, endive, watercress, and romaine lettuce. dandelion leaves, etc, A dressing made of turmeric, olive oil, lemon, and apple cider vinegar will also be a good addition to your diet as these ingredients can add some fiber to our diet which will help our digestive health.

Essentially, having good digestion is the first step that we need to take in order to have better skin health. Why? This is because nearly everything else that take into our body goes through our digestive system. Without a proper digestive system, we would not be able to process and harness all the benefits other foods and supplements may give us for the benefit of our skin.

Get enough vitamins

Secondly, we can also help our skin maintain its youthful glow, elasticity, and firmness with vitamins. Taking in essential vitamins as part of our diet not only improves our overall health but our complexion and energy levels as well.

For instance, vitamin C that’s commonly found in citrus fruits such as orange, and lemon helps stimulate the production of collagen which we have mentioned plays a vital role in maintaining our skin’s elasticity. While vitamin A also helps reduce signs of aging by helping our collagen production as well. It’s commonly found in vegetables such as broccoli and products such as meat, dairy, fish, and poultry. Vitamin E which is commonly found in sunflower seeds, avocado, and peanut butter can help our skin remain hydrated and less damaged.

Get enough protein

One of the most overlooked but also one of the simplest things we can do for many aspects of our health is eating protein. You see, the collagen that we have mentioned before that helps keep our skin looking and feeling young is also essentially a type of protein. So if we want more building blocks for our body to use in making more collagen for our skin, then we better get the right amount of protein in our diets.

How much do we need? Well in general we should get at least 70 g to 90 g of protein into our daily diets. The best sources we can get it from is lean meat, poultry, eggs, lentils, beans, and soy.

Take care of liver health

Now, this may seem strange, but having a healthy liver does contribute to healthy skin in more ways than one. You see, the liver is responsible for regulating and metabolizing a lot of different types of hormones in our body such as cortisol, adrenal hormones, and thyroid hormones. As such, neglecting the state of our liver can also present consequences for our skin and hormonal health.

Having a sluggish liver can affect the rate at which your liver metabolizes estrogen which can then lead to things such as acne breakouts, mood swings, bloating, and headaches.

So let us take proper care of our liver by avoiding alcohol consumption as much as possible, and by eating healthier foods such as lettuce, cauliflower, broccoli, kale, and brussel sprouts.

Manage blood sugar levels

Spiking and rapidly dropping blood sugar levels tend to be symptoms of hormonal imbalances of some sort. It makes our body miss out on key nutrients, be stressed, and be more susceptible to inflammation.

While they may not seem like traditional sugar sources such as chocolate, or sweets, food with carbohydrates can also affect our blood sugar levels as they too are essentially a type of sugar. Eat nonprocessed whole grain and slow releasing carbohydrates e.g. brown rice, quinoa, oats, spelt, don’t skip meals, and include protein and healthy fat at each meal to slow down the release of glucose.

Eat the right kind of fats

When it comes to eating fat they aren’t necessarily all our enemies. For example, fatty acids such as Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids can do wonders for our skin. They are the building blocks of our skin membranes and that’s why they can help our skin remain hydrated, and more firm in the long run. Taking Omega-3 fatty acid supplements can also be a great addition to our diets.

Manage our nervous system

Finally and perhaps the most important part of them all is our brain or more specifically, our entire nervous system. As hormones fluctuate and spike in our bodies, it can affect our brain and mental health as well with things like mood swings, irritability, headaches, and many more.

Stress can also be a negative factor that can affect our brains as it makes us numb to certain hormones and makes the rest of our bodies work harder in order to find balance. This can make our skin age faster, make us gain more weight, and be more susceptible to diseases as time goes by.

Getting supplements such as magnesium supplements are a great way to assist your nervous system as it plays a role in protein synthesis and regulation of energy.

We often forget that how we feel mentally impacts our bodies too. Create a toolbox & skills of practices to support your body and mind during periods of stress, overwhelm, or anxiety.

Bottom line

Aging and having wrinkled and saggy skin don’t have to be our immediate fate right after perimenopause starts! We can maintain our youthful glow and appearance for as long as we can if we follow the tips above. However, since aging is a biological process and comes to every woman no matter who they are, these tips mentioned will then allow us to age slowly and gracefully. Most of all, we would not accelerate the deterioration of our skin health due to perimenopause.

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Louise xx