Are You Perimenopausal and Struggling to “Feel Like Yourself Again"? Uncover the Surprising Hurdle That Might be Standing in Your Way.

Are you perimenopausal and striving to achieve mental stability and clarity but finding it surprisingly challenging? Sometimes, the biggest obstacles to our healing are not the ones we expect. Today, I am diving into the biggest, often unexpected barrier that I see holding so many perimenopausal women back when it comes to their mental health. 

What is this Unexpected Barrier?

While many might focus on hormones and increased weight gain, a less obvious but significant hurdle is the quality of your diet and nutrition. This barrier affects many perimenopausal women, impacting their ability to achieve mental stability and clarity in ways they might not even realize.

Why is it Overlooked?

Often, this barrier is overlooked because it seems too easy to be true. It might be because it's never been on the radar for doctors and specialists who just want to write you a prescription for the latest and greatest pill, cream, or magic potion. Plus, it’s often misunderstood by perimenopausal women because there’s SO MUCH BAD INFORMATION about nutrition and it’s too darn convenient to eat bad-for-you, highly processed foods that are wrecking havoc on your mental health.

How Does It Affect Perimenopausal Women?

Eating highly processed foods can lead to debilitating issues metabolically, which can completely affect your mental health and wellbeing. Here are just a few of the metabolic processes that are affected by food: 

• Glucose Metabolism and Insulin Signaling
  • Fast carbohydrates cause sharp increases in blood glucose. Repeated spikes can lead to insulin resistance, where tissues become less responsive to insulin. 
  • This can lead to higher circulating insulin (hyperinsulinemia) and glucose intolerance, which over time increases risk for type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
    
    

• Lipid Metabolism

• Processed foods often provide unhealthy fats and excess calories.
• Liver lipid handling can become dysregulated, promoting hepatic steatosis (fatty liver) and altered VLDL/LDL profiles.
• Inflammation and oxidative stress from certain fats and additives can worsen lipid abnormalities.
  
  

• Inflammation and Oxidative Stress
  • Ultra-processed foods can promote chronic, low-grade inflammation.
  • High sugar, trans fats, and ultra-processed additives (emulsifiers, artificial sweeteners in some contexts) can activate immune pathways.
  • Oxidative stress damages cells and can impair insulin signaling and neurotransmitter systems.
    
    

• Gut Microbiome and Gut-Brain Axis
  • Diet shapes microbial composition and function.
  • Reduced fiber and diverse plant-derived compounds decreases beneficial bacteria and short-chain fatty acid production (e.g., butyrate), which helps maintain gut barrier integrity and anti-inflammatory signaling.
  • Dysbiosis can increase gut permeability (“leaky gut”), allowing inflammatory molecules to enter circulation and affect brain function via the gut-brain axis.
    
    

• Hormonal and Neurochemical Effects
  • Leptin and ghrelin: processed foods can blunt satiety signaling, leading to overeating and weight gain, which further affects mood and energy.
  • Cortisol: chronic stress-like states from poor dietary patterns can dysregulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.
  • Neurotransmitters: tryptophan availability and serotonin synthesis can be influenced by carbohydrate intake and inflammation; excessive sugar and saturated fats may impair dopamine and reward pathway signaling, affecting motivation and mood. 

What These Metabolic Changes Mean for Your Mental Health

Exposure to metabolic changes from a diet high in processed foods can affect mental health in several interconnected ways. Chronic inflammation, linked to depressive symptoms, involves inflammatory molecules that can alter brain circuits related to mood, pleasure, and fatigue. Inflammation and insulin resistance can also disrupt tryptophan metabolism, lowering serotonin and shifting pathways in ways that have been associated with depression. 

For thinking and energy, the brain relies on glucose, so repeated spikes in blood sugar and reduced insulin sensitivity can impair neuronal signaling and memory, while oxidative stress from a processed-food–heavy diet can weaken mitochondrial function, reducing brain energy and increasing fatigue. 

In terms of mood and motivation, sugar-driven blood glucose swings can cause energy crashes, irritability, and low drive, which can feed a negative mood loop, and high sugar or saturated fat intake can worsen sleep quality, further impacting mood and cognitive function. 

Lastly, highly processed foods can hijack the brain’s reward systems, promoting cravings and overeating, which can create a self-perpetuating cycle of poor diet, weight gain, and mood disturbances.

Strategies to Overcome Poor Food Quality and Improve Your Mental Health Symptoms Associated with Perimenopause

1. Fiber and Micronutrients: Fiber-rich foods support gut health and appetite regulation, which can improve mood and energy regulation, while micronutrients (B vitamins, vitamin D, magnesium, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids) are important for neurotransmitter synthesis and brain function. Deficiencies can worsen mood and cognitive symptoms.
2. Support Gut Health: Include prebiotic fibers (inulin, resistant starch) and probiotic-rich foods (fermented products) as tolerated.
3. Lifestyle Context: Mental Health requires comprehensive strategies beyond just food (although getting a high-quality, whole foods diet can make MIRACLES happen with your mental health! Adequate sleep, regular physical activity, stress management, and social connections amplify the mental health benefits of a healthier diet.

Understanding and overcoming a low-quality diet is crucial for menopausal women who are serious about overcoming mental health symptoms due to perimenopause. This can include generalized anxiety symptoms, depression symptoms, and extreme moodiness.

If you need a place to start, download my *FREE GUIDE* “Heal Your Gut, Heal Your Mind: Learn About the Gut-Brain Connection, Eliminate Moodiness, and Relieve Your Depression and Anxiety Symptoms with 8 Tips Your Therapist, Doctor, or Psychiatrist Never Told You to Try."

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR FREE GUIDE!