Menopause is a normal transition, not an illness, but the years around it can be hard, and the decisions about hormone therapy sit with your GP. Our naturopaths and nutritionists in Geelong and Drysdale work alongside them on the part that changes every day: sleep, flushes, mood, weight, bone and heart risk, and what you eat.
Menopause is a single point, twelve months after your final period; most of the symptoms women call “menopause” begin in perimenopause, while periods are still happening, and can continue for years afterwards [1]. If you are still cycling, our perimenopause page is the one to read first.
After the final period the picture changes. Flushes and night sweats may continue. Sleep, mood and weight often stay hard. And two things shift quietly in the background: cholesterol and blood sugar rise in the transition, and bone density falls, which is why the American Heart Association now regards menopause as a cardiovascular risk window in its own right [2].
Menopausal hormone therapy is the most effective treatment for flushes and night sweats, and whether it is right for you is a conversation with your GP [1]. What we work on sits beside that decision, whichever way it goes: in a large Australian cohort, women whose diets were closer to a Mediterranean pattern reported fewer flushes and night sweats, and those eating more sugar and fat reported more [3].
It is not “all in your head”, and you do not have to treat it as the end of the conversation. We will always listen.
We don’t diagnose or treat medical conditions; that stays with your doctor. Our part is the nutritional, herbal and lifestyle work that sits alongside their care.
Diet pattern — a Mediterranean-style pattern built around vegetables, legumes, fish, olive oil, nuts and whole grains, with little added sugar, is associated with fewer vasomotor symptoms and protects the heart and bones you are now managing for the long term [3]. Whole soy foods at ordinary dietary amounts fit within it; a randomised trial of a plant-based diet including soy foods reduced moderate-to-severe flushes [4]. We start with what you eat now.
Sleep — night sweats, 3am waking and early waking each have different handles. Sleep is worked on early, because everything else is harder without it.
Heart and metabolic risk — cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar shift in the transition [2]. We read your GP’s results with you and work on the food, movement and weight side; screening and any medication decision stay with your GP. Our article on menopause and cholesterol explains why the numbers move.
Bone — bone density is checked through your GP; the food, protein, movement and strength work that protects it is ours.
Weight and blood sugar — midlife weight change is real and not a character flaw. Regular protein, fewer refined carbohydrates and strength training are the levers, worked at a realistic pace.
Mood, memory and stress — low mood and anxiety are common in the transition and deserve care; see your GP, and we work on sleep, blood sugar and the load alongside that.
Movement — strength training for bone and muscle, and regular activity for sleep, mood and heart; exercise has not been shown to reduce flushes themselves [5], so we do not pretend it will.
What stays with your GP — the diagnosis where it is unclear, hormone therapy and every decision about it, bleeding after menopause, bone density and cardiovascular screening, and any new symptom.
Your GP diagnoses where needed, discusses hormone therapy and screens for bone and heart risk. We work on food, sleep, weight, movement and the day-to-day, and we keep them informed. Whether hormone therapy is right for you, and for how long, is a decision for you and your doctor; we never suggest stopping or changing it, and we check anything we suggest against it first.
Depending on what we find, a plan can include:
A Mediterranean-style diet pattern you can sustain, with the practical work of shopping and cooking done properly.
A sleep plan matched to the kind of waking you have.
Reading your cholesterol, blood sugar and other results with you, and the food and movement side of managing them, agreed with your GP.
A strength and movement plan for bone, muscle and mood.
Weight and blood sugar work at a pace that lasts.
Herbal and nutritional support, chosen in consultation and checked against your medication, including hormone therapy. Nothing is prescribed from a list.
Keeping your GP in the loop.
We usually review at eight to twelve weeks, because sleep, weight and cholesterol are measured in months.
We are open 6 days per week, by appointment only. Book an appointment online via our online booking link.
Any bleeding after menopause needs your GP promptly. So do chest pain, breathlessness, a new severe headache, unexplained weight loss, a breast change, or low mood that is persistent or frightening. Hormone therapy, and any decision to start, stop or change it, is between you and your doctor. Bone density and cardiovascular screening are your GP’s to schedule, and we will remind you of them.
We don’t diagnose or treat medical conditions; that stays with your doctor. Seeing a naturopath is not a reason to stop hormone therapy or to start something you have picked up yourself. The Australasian Menopause Society and Jean Hailes set out the medical side plainly.
With the day-to-day, yes. Hormone therapy and every medical decision stay with your GP. What a naturopath can do is work on food, sleep, weight, movement, and the heart and bone risk that rises after menopause, read against your own results and alongside your doctor’s care.
In research, yes. In a large Australian cohort, women eating closer to a Mediterranean pattern reported fewer flushes and night sweats, and a randomised trial of a plant-based diet including whole soy foods reduced moderate-to-severe flushes. Diet is not a treatment for menopause, and hormone therapy remains the most effective option for flushes; food is the part you control every day.
Yes. Whether hormone therapy is right for you is a decision for you and your doctor, and we never suggest stopping or changing it. Anything we recommend is checked against it first.
Because the loss of oestrogen changes how the body handles fats and sugar, and cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar commonly rise through the transition. Screening and any medication decision are your GP’s; the diet, weight and movement work that moves those numbers is ours.
Menopause is twelve months after your final period. If you are still having periods, however irregular, you are in perimenopause, and most of the symptoms start there. Our perimenopause page covers that stage; this page is for the years after the final period.
1. Davis SR, Lambrinoudaki I, Lumsden M, et al. Menopause. Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2015;1:15004. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2015.4
2. El Khoudary SR, Aggarwal B, Beckie TM, et al. Menopause transition and cardiovascular disease risk: implications for timing of early prevention: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2020;142(25):e506-e532. doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000000912
3. Herber-Gast GC, Mishra GD. Fruit, Mediterranean-style, and high-fat and -sugar diets are associated with the risk of night sweats and hot flushes in midlife: results from a prospective cohort study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013;97(5):1092-1099. doi:10.3945/ajcn.112.049965
4. Barnard ND, Kahleova H, Holtz DN, et al. The Women’s Study for the Alleviation of Vasomotor Symptoms (WAVS): a randomized, controlled trial of a plant-based diet and whole soybeans for postmenopausal women. Menopause. 2021;28(10):1150-1156. doi:10.1097/GME.0000000000001812
5. Daley A, Stokes-Lampard H, Thomas A, MacArthur C. Exercise for vasomotor menopausal symptoms. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2014;(11):CD006108. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD006108.pub4
If the years after menopause are harder than anyone warned you, and you want the food, sleep and long-term risk side looked at properly, it is worth seeing someone who works with your GP rather than around them. Our naturopaths and nutritionists consult from Geelong CBD and Drysdale, in person or by telehealth, six days a week. Bring your results and we will start by listening.
We are open 6 days per week, by appointment only. Book an appointment online via our online booking link.
