New: the Peri Planner. Describe your week and we'll build your menu. Try it now
If someone you love is going through perimenopause, this page is for you: the husbands, partners, friends and family who want to help but aren't sure how. Short version: cook. We'll show you what and why. And if you're the woman at the centre of the circle, send this to yours; it says the things you shouldn't have to keep explaining.
Fewer flushes soy & flax on the menu
Deeper sleep magnesium at dinner
Steadier energy protein first
"He took over Tuesdays. It sounds small; it wasn't."
No biology degree needed. Here's what perimenopause changes, in the plainest terms we could manage.
Perimenopause isn't a moment; it's a transition that typically lasts four to eight years, often starting in the early-to-mid 40s. Oestrogen doesn't fade gently; it swings, which is why symptoms can feel unpredictable.
Broken sleep, brain fog, mood swings, aching joints, anxiety, and a metabolism that suddenly plays by different rules. She isn't imagining any of it, and she isn't "just tired". Believing her is half the job.
Protein protects the muscle that keeps her metabolism running. Soy and flaxseed are linked to fewer hot flushes in clinical trials. Calcium and vitamin D protect bones when they're most vulnerable. Dinner is not a small thing right now.
You don't need to become a nutritionist. You need three habits and a shopping list.
"What's for dinner?" is one of those invisible jobs that still lands on women far more often than not. Don't take it over; take your turn. Pick a night, own the whole thing (choosing, shopping, cooking), and every recipe here explains its own why as you go.
Swap white rice for wholegrain, add a handful of edamame to whatever's cooking, keep Greek yoghurt and berries in the fridge. Agree the swaps together first: what the household eats is a shared decision, not something to quietly manage around her.
This is support, not a health intervention. No commentary on portions, no "should you be eating that?", no weigh-ins. Cook good food, eat it together, and let the recipes do their quiet work.
Borrowed from the women in our community: the things that helped, and the things that really didn't.
Three recipes chosen for cooks of any confidence level. Each one explains the science as you go, so you'll know exactly why it helps.
Easiest win One pan, 25 minutes, impossible to get wrong. Our most-loved recipe.
One tin, no skill Everything in one dish, into the oven, done. Calcium-rich and impossible to fumble.
Weekend showpiece The celebration version for when the whole circle is round the table.
Sit down with the Peri Planner together: describe the week and your household, and it builds the whole menu. Then you do the cooking.