Nutrition in Perimenopause: 9 “Small Shifts” That Make a Big Difference (According to Food Expert Yulia Glotzer)

Perimenopause changes how your body responds to the same food and workouts because estrogen and progesterone shifts can reduce insulin sensitivity, disrupt sleep, and crank up stress hormones. The fix isn’t punishment, it’s foundations: protein-forward meals, steadier blood sugar, better sleep, smarter alcohol timing, and strength-focused movement. Your symptoms (bloating, cravings, belly fat, brain fog) are data, not failure.  

TL;DR (save this):

• If you’re saying “nothing changed,” perimenopause probably did.

• Estrogen/progesterone shifts can mean worse glucose handling + more belly-fat storage.  

• “Punishment protocols” (skipping meals + crushing HIIT) often backfire.

• Start with sleep, hydration, protein, and post-meal movement.

• Gut symptoms are your dashboard: track, test, adjust.  

This season of life can feel like your body updated its operating system… without telling you where the new settings are. In our conversation with Yulia Glotzer (board-certified nutrition specialist and licensed dietitian), the big takeaway was reassuring and blunt at the same time:

“It’s not business as usual.”

Below is the most useful “real life” listicle version of what we covered: what’s happening, what it impacts, and what to do about it.

 

---

 

1) “I didn’t change anything” — but perimenopause did

Even if your routine looks the same, hormone shifts can change your response to food, stress, sleep, and alcohol, plus “lifestyle drift” creeps in quietly.

Yulia’s core pushback was so spot-on it almost made us laugh:

“You think you didn’t change anything, but maybe you did change some things.”

Here’s how it usually shows up in real life:

• Sleep gets lighter (or more interrupted).

• “Just a glass of wine” becomes nightly.

• Breakfast disappears.

• Stress goes up, recovery goes down.

Impact on your body: Those little shifts stack. They can elevate blood glucose, drive cravings, and make fat storage (especially around the belly) more likely.  

What to do:

• Do a 7-day “inputs audit”: sleep, alcohol, breakfast, snacks, stress.

• Don’t aim for perfection, aim for patterns to see what is working and what is not. Awareness comes before adjustment.

 

---

 

2) Estrogen + progesterone shifts change the metabolic rules

Declining estrogen (and earlier, declining progesterone) can reduce insulin sensitivity and influence where fat is stored, often toward central (abdominal) areas.  

Yulia explained it clearly:

“With declining estrogen you’ll become less insulin sensitive… the things that you would be eating before and you would be fine—now you will start gaining weight.”

Impact on your body:

• Higher blood sugar after the same meals

• More inflammation signaling

• “Stubborn” belly fat patterns

• Weight loss requiring more strategy than brute force  

How to address it:

• Build meals around protein + fiber + fat (not naked carbs).

• Consider a 10–15 minute walk after dinner, it’s underrated and ridiculously effective for glucose control in many people.

 

---

 

3) Sleep loss amplifies food issues you didn’t have before

Sleep architecture and cortisol rhythms can shift during perimenopause, and that can ripple into appetite, cravings, inflammation, and energy.  

Impact on your body:

• Worse sleep → worse glucose regulation the next day

• Higher stress load → more cravings and “comfort eating”

• Feeling puffy, inflamed, or perpetually tired  

What to do:

• Protect sleep and treat it like metabolic support.

• If alcohol is in the picture, move it earlier (or reduce frequency). Yulia’s observation was practical, not moral:
  “I think I pass out but it doesn’t mean I get a good deep sleep.”

 

---

 

4) The biggest mistakes are “punishment protocols”

Extreme restriction + meal-skipping + exhausting workouts can increase stress load and make it harder to maintain muscle, exactly what you need most in perimenopause.

How it shows up in your body:

• Higher cortisol load

• More hunger rebound

• Muscle loss risk goes up (and muscle is metabolic gold)

Better strategy:

• Trade “kill myself in HIIT” for strength training + walking + recovery.

• Eat enough to support muscle, especially protein.

 

---

 

5) Start with foundations before hacks

When things start feeling off, it’s tempting to look for the fix — supplements, fasting protocols, biohacking trends. It feels proactive. It feels modern. But it often skips the things that matter most.

What actually moves the needle:

The unsexy lifestyle basics, done consistently.

• Sleep quality

• Hydration

• Protein-forward meals

• Gentle movement after dinner

• Being intentional with alcohol

As she put it so simply:

“Your day starts the night before.”

In other words, how you sleep, eat, and unwind in the evening quietly sets the tone for your blood sugar, cravings, energy, and mood the next day.

How to address it:

If you do nothing else, start here:

• Drink water before your first coffee

• Eat a savory, protein-based breakfast

• Take a short walk after dinner

• Let nighttime snacking and alcohol be the exception, not the rule

 

---

 

6) GLP-1s are a tool, and you still need to do the work 

GLP-1 medications are suddenly everywhere, often framed as a fast, effortless solution to weight gain during perimenopause.

Yulia’s perspective:

“GLP-1s  can be a bridge, but only if you’re building the habits underneath it.”

In her experience, GLP-1s can create momentum for women who feel stuck or discouraged, but only when they’re paired with the fundamentals that protect metabolism and muscle.

When GLP-1s actually help:

They tend to work best when used as part of a broader strategy that includes:

• Adequate protein intake to preserve muscle

• Resistance training to maintain strength and metabolism

• Ongoing monitoring, with a clear plan for tapering and support

In these cases, the medication supports behavior change — it doesn’t replace it. Problems arise when GLP-1s are used in isolation, without proper nutrition, muscle support, or a plan for what happens after. Coming off abruptly often leads to rebound weight gain, frustration, and a sense of failure that has nothing to do with willpower.

The takeaway?

GLP-1s can be helpful, but they’re not the work. They’re a temporary assist while the real foundations are being built.

 

---

 

7) “Healthy” is not a universal label

In midlife, foods you tolerated fine before may trigger symptoms due to changes in hormones, inflammation, and gut/microbiome dynamics.  

“Healthy doesn’t really mean anything. "Healthy for you might not be the same as healthy for someone else.”

For example giant raw salads can backfire if your digestion is more sensitive now. You might do better with cooked vegetables. Bloating, fog, skin flushing after wine, headaches after eggs, these aren’t “random.” They’re clues.

What to do:

• Run short experiments (like 2–3 weeks dairy-free).

• Pay attention. If a food consistently causes discomfort, pause it and observe. Your body is giving feedback.  

 

---

 

8) Your gut tells you when your nutrition strategy is off

Bowel movements, bloating, diarrhea/constipation, and post-meal fog are useful data that can help you pinpoint triggers and adjust. Digestion affects detox pathways (including hormone metabolism), inflammation, and how “safe” your body feels.

Yulia’s checklist-style questions were helpful:

• “Do you go to the bathroom every day?”

• “Do you feel foggy after meals?”

• “Do you get flushing after wine?”

How to address it:

• Slow meals down. She called out the sneaky one: “People don’t even chew 10 times.”

• Drink most water before meals, not chugging ice water during. (Gentler digestion cue.)

 

---

 

9) Supplements: minimal, targeted, high quality

By the time many women reach perimenopause, they’re either taking nothing, or they’re taking everything. Drawers full of half-used bottles, supplements stacked on supplements, with no real sense of what’s helping.

Hormonal shifts, nutrient depletion, and changes in absorption mean some support can be helpful, but more is not better. Everything still has to be processed by your liver, and random stacking can create more stress than benefit.

Yulia is clear about this:

“If you decide to take supplements, invest in good quality. You don’t need a bunch.”

Her preferred baseline is simple and foundational:

• Vitamin D + K2

• Magnesium (glycinate for calming/sleep, citrate if constipation is an issue)

• Omega-3, with strict quality control

• Iron only if needed, especially with heavy periods

• For women who want simplicity and efficiency, NNABI Peri Essential 5™ can help cover key foundational areas impacted by perimenopause without overdoing it.

How to approach supplementation wisely:

• Food and lifestyle adjustments first, supplements second

• Start with the basics before layering anything else

• Use bloodwork when possible to guide decisions

• Aim to feel or measure a benefit,  otherwise, reassess

 

---

 

The real takeaway

Perimenopause isn’t a failure of willpower, it’s a phase that demands more awareness, not more restriction.

As Yulia summed it up beautifully:

“Your body will always tell you what it needs — you just have to start listening.”

And the good news?

Small, consistent shifts go a very long way here.

Want to learn more? Watch the whole conversation here.