Bone Broth and Lemon Tea

In the Fall when the nights start drawing in, it is common to feel your energy flagging and to slip more easily into overwhelm and exhaustion, as our modern busy schedules do not slow down to accommodate the change in daylight hours and our circadian rhythm becomes confused.

It is your thyroid and adrenal glands that bear the brunt of the stress resulting from e waking up in the dark each morning and going hard and fast in the day when are bodies are naturally wanting to slow down.

Chinese medicine identifies Fall as the season of Metal and of Letting Go, just like the leaves from the trees. Western medicine, does not entertain any attunement of our health to the world around us.

At this time of year foods that deeply nourish our adrenal and thyroid health are supportive to the body, so we can maintain our energy and our immunity stays strong into the Winter months. This means eating salty foods rich in minerals and boosting our vitamin C.

Bone broth is the quintessential mineral dense food and you can make your own using this recipe HERE or it can be bought in a pouch or as a powder.

This is a super simple recipe for a Bone Broth tea that can be drunk at all times of the day but is especially healing for your digestive health in the morning when you break your night time fast. If you have gas and bloat in perimenopause, drink in the A.M.

Savory and lemony, this tea is delicious and deeply supportive of your gut, skin, bone and joint health as it provides the nutrition your adrenal and thyroid glands crave and keeps you feeling energized daily and out of exhaustion and overwhelm as the dark nights creep in.

Ingredients

1. 1 mug of warmed bone broth, homemade, from a pouch or as a powder. (Organika have a great range of powdered bone broth)

2. Big pinch of mineral rich sea salt such as Maldon

3. Juice of 1/2 lemon

Instructions

1. Warm enough bone broth to fill your desired mug.

2. Add a big pinch of sea salt

3. Add the lemon juice and stir to combine

4. Sip each morning to support your thyroid and adrenal health as the nights draw in and especially your body feels the struggle as the hour changes

Homemade Chai Spice

Every year I feel traumatized by the number of women conditioned to feel excited about enjoying the 35g of sugar that comes in a Starbucks Pumpkin Spiced Latte in the form of a favoured high fructose corn syrup. Pumpkin Spiced is not a season…It’s more like a pumpkin spice cult!

If there is one sure fire way to tear down your health for the day, it is by kicking yourself into fight or flight using caffeine and doubling down on that assault to your body by severely spiking your blood sugar levels.

Whenever you increase the stress on your body you spike the level of cortisol, our stress hormone, in your body because stress causes your adrenal glands to default to building cortisol in preference to building the drip feed of estrogen and progesterone your body needs as a buffer in peri-menopause and to feel like your old self again in full menopause.

Stress turns off your natural hormonal supply and leaves you with weight gain around the middle and anxiety, low libido and a dry vagina. I said what I said!

But, even I get that the cozy spice vibes are delicious, so every year I lean into the flavour to create recipes that will support your midlife hormonal health and you can feel calm, confident and menopausal symptom free.

In fact warming spices are anti-inflammatory for our bodies helping to reduce your symptoms of menopause and support our thyroid health as they take the stress off this important gland to fire up our metabolism and warm us up from the inside out.

Here is my recipe for a Chai Spice that you can add to my recipe for a health promoting Pumpkin Spiced Latte and my Pumpkin Chai Overnight Oats. It also makes a great Chai tea.

Ingredients

2 tsp ground Cardamon
2 tsp ground Allspice
2 tsp ground Nutmeg
2 tsp ground Cloves
6 tsp ground Ginger
4 tsp ground Cinnamon
freshly ground Black Pepper to taste

Instructions

Mix all of the spices together in a jam jar and use liberally in tea and baking.

Pumpkin Chai Overnight Oats

Fall is coming and this usually means a change in schedule with many of us getting busier as our lives and our kids schedules ramp up.

We know from the research that what you eat in perimenopause has a huge impact on how you will feel in your body at this stage of life.

Diets high in protein, fibre and healthy fats, rich with plenty of anti-inflammatory foods are going to reduce and eliminate your menopausal symptoms so you can feel calm, confident and comfortable in your own body as you move towards menopause.

Busy schedules and deeply nourishing nutrition often go head to head in the Fall.

Here is a recipe for a ‘grab and go’ breakfast that is going to free up your mornings whilst ensuring you start your day with a meal that balances your blood sugar level so you are not plagued with hot flashes and supports your thyroid health so your metabolism stays active and your have boundless energy for your day.

These overnight oats are flavoured with my Homemade Chai Spice, a warming blend that supports your thyroid health and boosts your metabolism.

Pumpkin Chai Overnight Oats with Blueberries are jammed full of flavour and anti-inflammatory nutrition to eliminate hip and shoulder aches and pains.

Ingredients
1/3rd cup oats

1 tbsp Hemp seeds

1/3rd cup pumpkin seeds

1/3rd cup pureed or oven baked pumpkin

1/3rd cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2tsp Chai spice

2tsp coconut milk

1/3rd cup Hemp Milk

Instructions
Add all ingredients to a jar and place in refrigerator until ready to eat.