Giving up sugar & alcohol (peri)

[zaxxon]

Lately I've been experimenting with cutting out sugary foods and alcohol, to help me sleep. I've found that on days when I don't have any biscuits (difficult!), or a glass of wine, I can usually get through the night without ever waking up all hot and sweaty.

Has anyone else found this? Should I brace myself for 5+ years of no chocolate? It's daunting ... I'm 49 and only in the early stages.

Im a bit further along the menopause journey at 55, I'm not on HRT and suffered badly since the age of around 48 not realising it was peri back then!
Since Christmas I've also stopped alcohol and sugar as I was struggling with multiple issues mostly anxiety, insomnia, brain fog. It's been a miraculous change for me. Initially it was bloody hard! I drank a lot, I ate a lot so it was a genuine detox and all the symptoms of that. It took about six weeks to start seeing positives and not feeling pretty rough every day.
Now I sleep better, still wake up for the loo but can get back to sleep straight away. My skin has improved, anxiety nearly gone, my mind is cleared and my memory much improved, I have energy! Plus I've lost 33lbs.

That's good to know - thanks! So glad you're feeling better.

Alcohol has really started to disagree with me in peri (I'm 44). I've had two weeks booze free and feel considerably different. I'm thinking of making it a more permanent change. However I do really like beer and wine and I like socialising with beer and wine so I won't be going teatotal.
Sugar I haven't noticed but to be fair I'm not a pudding/sweets/chocolate person although I do like biscuits

I stopped drinking about 4 years ago, it was almost like I became allergic to it!
I now know it was probably perimenopause and my body couldn't cope with it as well as everything else that was going on.

Felt so much better afterwards and I honestly don't miss it.

It's amazing the difference age makes. In my 20s I soaked up booze like a Christmas trifle. Now I can barely handle a couple of glasses.

Must admit I would miss it if I gave it up for good, though

I am also flirting with cutting back on sugar, particularly later in the evening, to see if it will help with sleep, but, also trying to be accepting of the fact that you need less sleep as you get older. I try and view waking up at 5:30am as being an opportunity to have a lovely long lie in. I do live alone though so putting the light on to read or going to get a cup of coffee doesn't disturb anyone else.

Alcohol definitely makes sleep worse. I gave up drinking about 2 years ago and certainly do feel better, (and richer!) for it. I will still have a drink occasionally but I find that the anticipation and how much I'll enjoy it will are often way over how it actually makes me feel.

There's plenty of alcohol free options now that are relatively low in calories. Aldi and Lidl do 6 bottles of AF beer for £2.99 which is a good compromise.

It sounds silly but for those of you have given up or cut down on sugar how have you done it?! I have to admit I like a sweet treat and really want to cut back but thing I’m going to find it hard. When you would go for a piece of chocolate or something have you replaced it with anything else?

@Cloud44 ahh, I long for chocolate at least 3 times a day ... and I do lapse sometimes (curse you, rogue KitKat found in the bottom of a tote bag). But ideally ....

For the morning sugar craving, I have nuts and/or milk.
For the post-lunch one, coffee.
Mid-afternoon, tea and oatcakes, sometimes with butter. More nuts if really hungry. Lots of water.
After dinner, plain yogurt, sometimes with magnesium (yum ... not) or vanilla redbush.

That’s all I eat!
crisps for lunch chocolate for tea!
maybe that’s why I don’t sleep more than 3/4 hours and I’m a sweaty mess all day

I’ve had to give up sugar almost entirely (sneak a small square of dark chocolate when I need it) or I have horrible hot flashes (am on HRT as well) and anything more than 100mL of wine or a half pint of beer and I can’t sleep. It’s absolutely rubbish but at least it’s a direct enough link that I know I can’t which helps me stick to it. I hope this doesn’t last forever!

I crave chocolate after dinner so I have a couple of Werther's Originals which is still sugar but not quite as bad.

I’m 47 and probably peri. Periods are still regular as clockwork though. I gave up alcohol four months ago. If I drank I’d be awake half the night listening to my heart pound loudly in my chest. I hated it and the anxiety and although I’ve been an enthusiastic drinker through my adult years, I don’t miss it at all. I’ve also dropped a few pounds with not very much effort, which is a nice bonus. I’d love to give up sugar, or cut it right down, but that feels like it would be a harder mountain to climb.

That’s a great idea @IMustDoMoreExercise . I have really cut down alcohol the last year or two but I know cutting down on sugar would be great for me too if I can somehow manage it!

I’ve stopped drinking - a year or so ago now. I have the occasional one and regret it in the evening. I sleep much much better and my anxiety has pretty m much disappeared
i havent given up sugar - in that I still eat fruit etc but I don’t eat cereal bars/biscuits/chocolate/processed cereals etc now and feel so much more energetic for it. I do occasionally have a week of eating chocolate eg Easter and feel rubbish for it. It also upsets my stomach now.
it’s all peri as I could drink and eat anything until a year or so ago.

I don't drink alchohol and I have cut out as much sugar as I can.

I am 56 and my last period was around a year and a half ago.

So far, I haven't had too many issues with peri or menopause but I've been having around 3 dessert spoonfuls of ground golden linseed with my porridge for the last 5 or 6 years which is supposed to be good for peri symptoms. I use a coffee grinder to freshly grind the linseeds as and when I need them.

I am another one who has cut out booze since menopause. It just doesn't agree with me any more, and I really don't miss it. I have not cut out sugar either but have a second issue with high cholesterol so have had to stop eating the biscuits, cakes and chocolate because of the saturated fats rather than the sugars.

Don't rule out HRT, it's been lifechanging for me.

So even 18 months after the menopause, are you finding that alcohol and sugar still affect you negatively, @IMustDoMoreExercise ?

Does that mean we have to give them up ... for ever?!? 😟

zaxxon - I have this worry too. I’d like to think, one day, I can have a glass or two of red and enjoy it!

I have up sugar about 6 weeks ago as I am on a diet to lose weight. I did think about having chocolate once a week but I haven't felt like I needed it.

Alcohol was easy for me to give up as I didn't drink much at all but sugar was much more difficult.

For the first few weeks I really struggled and felt awful. Very light headed and anxious. I'm on propranolol as well and I think that made my blood pressure drop when eating less.

Now I'm feeling much better and haven't really had a craving for sugar. I still eat fruit but less than I did in the first few weeks.

I used to think nothing of eating several biscuits before dinner then sweet treats in the evening when watching tv.

Now I realise that it was mainly due to boredom.

My sleep has improved and I feel more rested the next day. I do take magnesium at night to make me fall asleep faster.

Sorry, I should have said that I have never drunk alcohol (apart from a glass of champagne at a wedding etc).

I cut down on sugar because I wanted to eat healthily and cut down on UPFs, not because of peri. It just coincided with peri and the more I read about peri, the more it seems that it is people who have bad diets and / or who obese who seem to have the worst symptoms.

I used to have a chocolate bar every night before I started to eat healthily and would also eat cakes and biscuits. Now, only have a sweet UPF treat or chocolate once or twice a week.

I don't think that I will every go back to having lots of sweet things again because I can cope without them as long as I know that I am going to have a sweet treat once or twice a week after dinner.

The only thing I did because of peri was start eating ground linseed because I watched a tv programme which said that it was worth trying.

I give myself license to eat lots of healthy food like fruit and nuts or another serving of bread or tabouli or whatever instead of cake/chocolate, even though fruit and carbs have sugar this helps me break the "addiction" and after a bit I don't crave sugary things anymore.

I've noticed too if I do eat sugar one day I have more cravings the next day, interesting how it affects the system so strongly and something to just be aware of.