So as we move forwards into lighter days, we should all have a wee spring in our step with all the incredible foods we are eating to support our wee gut buddies!

Our theme for this month is hormone balance! An important topic and one that I think a lot of women can really benefit from. I always feel that women get a raw deal when it comes to health; from dealing with monthly periods, pregnancy, perimenopause and then menopause- fluctuating hormones can cause no end of symptoms, none of them good! So whether you are on the roller coaster of PMS or your hormones have simply up and left, there is a lot we can do to support ourselves through hormonal changes!

What most women don’t realise is that hormone balance comes from the gut; yes our wee gut buddies are involved in keeping our hormones in balance, which is different for all of us, so again supporting our gut microbes and supplying them with the building blocks required is something we can all actively participate in.

As a woman in her 60’s, I literally sailed through menopause with barely a hot flush, just before my 50th birthday. I attribute this to my diet at the time which was largely macrobiotic, incorporating tofu, tempeh, ferments, miso soup, lentils, beans and loads of plants and seaweed. Interestingly in Japan, there isn’t even a word for menopause because they simply don’t suffer from the myriad of symptoms that we do, it's just a natural progression that the body deals with.

So this month we will be focusing on foods containing phytoestrogens and lignans, which naturally help to balance our hormones! We have 2 guest speakers joining us, Kirsteen Pollock, a wellness coach for women specialising in hormones and Jean Fenwick a midlife and menopause empowerment coach, to give us their top tips for navigating PMS and perimenopause/menopause.

Also, we will be joining Heal Scotland for their Meditation and Mindfulness month, managing stress is essential for hormone balance too. Click here to join in.

Oh, and wild garlic season is starting so watch out for loads of delicious wild garlic recipes!!

In good health,

Janice

xx

P.S I made my TV debut this month, talking about fermenting (of course) on BBC’s food fest! Very exciting! Here is the link if you’d like to watch it!