How do you feel about getting older?

It seems like a simple question, but our relationship with ageing is complicated. Ageing is painted as a dreadful inevitability that steals your energy and your waistline, while a multi-billion dollar industry sells us creams and promises to "turn back time".

But what if, instead of handing over your power (and your hard-earned dollars), you aged on your own terms?

As I passed my 49th birthday, now in my 50s, this is what I keep coming back to. So here's how I think about ageing, as a naturopath and as a woman in menopause myself.

A naturopath's own experience of ageing

Honestly? I used to dread getting older. Not because of the number, but because of how I felt. At one point of perimenopause, I'd gained 20 kilos in under a year, developed coeliac disease and new allergies, and the thought of feeling like that (or worse) at 50, 60, 70 left me anxious.

"The turning point wasn't finding a miracle cream. It was finding out what my changing body actually needed, and giving it that. Once I understood my own physiology, the dread went away, because feeling awful stopped being inevitable." - Sarah McLachlan, The Perimenopause Naturopath (BHSc Naturopathy), Australia

Now I'm loud and proud about my age. I had to reclaim my time, my energy and my space to get here, but this is genuinely the best chapter of my life so far. And that's available to you too.

Menopause is not the end

There's a lot of nonsense around women's value in midlife, and it feeds the belief that life is downhill from menopause.

The truth is the opposite. Post-menopause can be the most powerful stage of a woman's life. For the first time, many of us get to choose ourselves first and care for ourselves the way we've cared for everyone else. The transition can be the most transformative stage of your life, if your body and mind are supported through it.

How to age on your own terms

Nourish your body properly

Chances are you've spent years undernourishing yourself, whether from dieting to shift stubborn perimenopausal weight, or from being too busy running everyone else's lives to eat properly. A body that ages well is a body running on an abundance of nutrients. Start with your plate: enough food, consistently, with a focus on the perimenopause diet and protein, fats, fibre, and phytoestrogens.

Choose a lifestyle for this life stage

The late nights, skipped meals, wine-heavy weekends and punishing workouts your body once shrugged off now cost you. Your body has new needs, so the levers that matter most now are: quality sleep, daily hydration, managing your stress load, and movement you actually enjoy that doesn't flog your body.

Don't ignore symptoms. Investigate them

So many women gaslight themselves out of their own symptoms. Aches, exhaustion, brain fog, digestive changes, all written off as "just getting older", sometimes by women barely into their 40s.

And if you've been waved away, sadly, you're in large company. A 2023 Harris Poll survey found one in three women aged 45 to 54 were given an incorrect diagnosis before finding out their symptoms related to menopause (Kindra/Harris Poll, 2023).

Here's the reframe: most symptoms associated with ageing are common, not normal. Common doesn't equal normal. And almost every one of them can be reduced or resolved once you know what's driving it. If a doctor tells you it's fine to feel like rubbish because you're 43, find a practitioner who'll actually investigate.

Build your support system

Ageing well isn't a solo sport. You need people in your corner: an ally who gets what this transition asks of you, practitioners who listen, and a village that has your back. If you don't have one yet, this stage of life is exactly the time to build it.

Embrace the new phase

If you walk into your 50s expecting misery and decline, that's usually what you'll find. If you decide this is your most powerful stage, you'll make the choices that make it so: choosing yourself, doing what you love, and setting more boundaries than you've ever dared.

Is it ageing, or is it fixable?

It's never too late

You're never too old to benefit from changing what you eat, drink, and do. Even if ageing has felt like the enemy until now, you get to choose again, every day. Choose to age well instead of fighting a battle against yourself.

If you want to swap symptoms for feeling calm, in-control, and knowing what to eat, drink, and do to feel amazing (even in menopause), book a free Clarity Call and let's work out what your body needs for the decades ahead. Because perimenopause doesn't have to be a sh!t show, and neither does what comes after.

Frequently asked questions

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