Why Women Need More Protein in Perimenopause

If you are a woman in your 30’s 40’s or 50’s and are experiencing Night sweats, Joint Pain, Heart Palpitations, Irritability, Mood Swings, Trouble Sleeping, Irregular Periods, Dryness, Brain Fog, Fatigue, Anxiety, Depression, Itchy Skin, Achy Muscles, Headaches, Tense Muscles, Ringing in Ears, Incontinence, Sore Breasts, Digestive Issues, Low Sex Drive, Bloating, Allergies, Weight Gain, Hair Loss/thinning, Dizziness, Vertigo, Bleeding Gums, Bad breath…(I know, that’s A LOT!) You may be entering the perimenopause shift — 

While Perimenopause is a huge topic, today I’m goin to focus on PROTEIN and how it can affect this stage of a woman’s life. This hormonal shift changes everything from how our cardiovascular system behaves to how we build muscle to how efficiently we burn fat and recover from workouts. How and IF we build muscle affects how our bodies age/deal with inflammation, and how each of our body systems work overall.

And here’s the quick soundbite: protein becomes more important than ever!

What Protein Does for us:

1. Protein = Muscle Maintenance (and That Matters More Than You Think

   Starting in our mid-30s, the body can naturally lose muscle mass every year. When estrogen starts to decline during perimenopause, that muscle loss speeds up— unless we actively fight for it. Muscle isn’t just for looks or sports performance. It’s your metabolic engine, your posture protector, and protective buffer against aging. Muscle is also a major regulator of glucose and insulin, which means maintaining it directly reduces midlife weight gain and metabolic dysfunction.
   

   Without enough protein (and strength training), your body starts to break down muscle faster than it builds it. That means slower metabolism, weaker joints, and higher risk for injuries.
   

   Translation: eat your protein or lose your power.

   
   

2. Protein Keeps Blood Sugar (and Energy) in Check

   Perimenopause can feel like a blood sugar rollercoaster. You eat, you crash, you crave. Rinse, repeat.Protein slows down digestion and helps keep your blood sugar stable — fewer crashes, fewer cravings, better energy. It’s not magic, it’s physiology. Stable blood sugar also helps minimize cortisol spikes, which reduces anxiety, irritability, and sleep disruptions.

   Quick Tip: eating your veggies and protein BEFORE your starches or dessert in a meal will drastically reduce your sugar spikes.
   

3. It’s a Key Player in Hormone Regulation

   Protein provides amino acids your body uses to make hormones and neurotransmitters — including the ones that help you sleep, feel calm, and stay sharp. When your hormones are in flux, the last thing you need is to starve your body of the raw materials it needs to rebuild balance. Adequate protein also helps your liver detoxify hormones more efficiently, which reduces the intensity of symptoms like mood swings and heavy periods.
   

4. It Supports Recovery and Gut Health

   Inflammation can ramp up during perimenopause, especially if your sleep, stress, or nutrition are off. Protein helps repair tissues and supports gut health — both huge factors in managing inflammation and autoimmune flare-ups. A stronger gut barrier also means fewer immune responses to foods, which reduces bloating and skin issues that often worsen in perimenopause.

Why Protein Becomes even More important as we age and go through Perimenopause:

1. Protein Turnover Increases

   Your body breaks down and rebuilds protein constantly.With age and the perimenopause hormonal shifts, that turnover rate rises — meaning you need more protein just to maintain what you had before.

   
   

   During perimenopause our bodies start cycling through protein faster. Estrogen loss, combined with aging, ramps up protein turnover (the rate at which our body breaks down and rebuilds protein). That’s why many women notice muscle shrinking, belly fat in particular, creeping in — even with diet & workouts that used to work. Belly fat increases because the decline in estrogen shifts where fat is stored and makes your body more insulin resistant. When your protein intake is too low, your muscle mass drops and your metabolism slows, making belly fat even easier to gain and much harder to lose. Increasing protein helps counteract this by boosting thermogenesis and stabilizing insulin so your body can actually burn fat again.
   

2. Blood Sugar Gets More Sensitive

   Perimenopause can turn blood sugar fluctuations into chaos.Protein stabilizes it, evens out energy, reduces cravings, and helps you avoid that mid-afternoon crash. It also improves insulin sensitivity, which plays a huge role in preventing stubborn weight gain in midlife.

   
   

3. Recovery Gets Slower

   Inflammation increases as our hormones fluctuate. If you’ve got inflammation in your body, it will NOT appreciate it when you eat more inflammatory foods like bad oils, bread, pastas and sweets. A clean protein however, is the opposite; a nutrient that your body craves. Protein is the raw material for repair — muscles, gut lining, immune system, everything. Adequate protein also reduces DOMS and helps maintain joint integrity, which becomes increasingly important as collagen naturally declines.

   If you want to bounce back from workouts, adventures, or just… life — protein is your friend.
   

More Fat Storage and Inflammation

As estrogen drops, fat storage shifts toward the abdomen, inflammation rises, and insulin resistance becomes more common. Higher protein intake raises your metabolic rate, improves lean mass, and helps reverse the hormonal environment that encourages belly fat storage.

How Much Protein Should You Aim For?

Most women under-eat protein by a long shot. While the US RDA is .8 g/kg of body weight, that number is the bare minimum to prevent deficiency, not the optimal amount for THRIVING!

A better target for active midlife women: 1.2–1.6 g/kg per day (closer to 1.6 if you’re active and strength training).

In practice:

• 25–30+ grams per meal

• Make protein the anchor of every meal

• Choose snacks that fuel you, not fillers

  
  

And no — you don’t necessarily need to weigh every bite. Build meals around protein first, then add veggies, healthy fats, and fiber.

My Favorite Protein Sources:

• Pasture-raised eggs

• Wild salmon + other fish high in Omega 3’s

• Grass-fed beef + bison

• Chicken + turkey + clean, lean pork

• Lamb

• Collagen + bone broth (from grass fed animal proteins)

• Fermented foods (your gut will hug you for this)

• Nuts, seeds, hemp hearts (without the canola oil)

• Clean plant-based proteins if you tolerate them well

  
  

Pair that with lots of veggies and strength training — and boom, you’re supporting hormones, metabolism, bones, and muscle from the inside out.

Think of it like this:Your body is asking for reinforcements — and protein is the cavalry.

Bottom Line: Midlife Isn’t a Decline — It’s an Upgrade (If You Fuel for It)

You’re not meant to shrink yourself, weaken, or lose your spark as you age.You’re meant to evolve — with strength, intention, and nourishment that actually matches the season you’re in.

Perimenopause doesn’t get to run the show.Protein helps you stay in the driver’s seat.

Eat for power.Lift for longevity.

Fuel for the active, energized life you want now — and decades from now.