Nutrition for Living

I spent a day recently at the Menopause Conference, taking pages of notes for the women I see in clinic.

Here are the four things I came back wanting more of you to know!

1. The mood and brain fog come first 🧠
Around 80% of women present to a GP with psychological symptoms before they ever mention hot flushes. If you’ve been told “it’s just stress” in your 40s, please ask about your hormones too.

2. Menopause is a cardiometabolic transition ❤️
Cholesterol, insulin resistance, visceral fat, blood pressure and inflammation all shift upward. Muscle and bone shift down. This is why I keep saying nutrition matters more in midlife, not less.

3. Bone loss starts 1 to 2 years before menopause 🦴
A DEXA scan is more useful in your 40s than in your 60s. The four modifiables are calcium, vitamin D, protein and weight-bearing exercise.

4. CVD risk doubles in natural menopause and is four times higher in surgical menopause 💔
A Mediterranean pattern, sleep, and movement do real work here.

If you’d like a plan that takes all of this into account (gut, energy, bones, weight, and what you actually like to eat), the link in bio is where 1:1 work happens. I have availability this month.

Comment with the one that surprised you most.
— Annabel 🥝

There’s a list of things I, as a dietitian, don’t believe in. It gets longer every year I’m in clinic.

Two on it this week, with the clinical reasoning to back them up.

1. The keto diet for gut health.
Your gut microbes feed on fibre. Wholegrains, legumes, starchy vegetables, fruit. Keto restricts all of them.

The human studies are consistent: lower microbial diversity, fewer beneficial bacteria, and less butyrate (the short-chain fatty acid that keeps your gut lining healthy) on long-term ketogenic eating.

Therapeutic keto has a place in some neurological conditions. Gut health isn’t one of them.

2. Green powder supplements.
Marketed as a shortcut to your daily veg. They are not.

In Australia, most are regulated as foods, which means the TGA doesn’t verify ingredient content or marketing claims. Drying degrades vitamins and phytonutrients, the fibre matrix is lost, and independent testing has found heavy metal contamination in some products.

A $5 punnet of spinach does more for you than a $90/month subscription.

What I do believe in: whole-food patterns, fibre from real plants, and asking “is this evidence-based, or is someone selling something?”

Comment refs below and I’ll DM you the reference list.

Save this for the next time someone tries to sell you something 😉 

— Annabel

There’s a moment a lot of my clients describe almost the same way.

“I’m doing everything I used to do and nothing is working anymore.” 😣

The walking. The salads. The “being good” Monday to Friday. The cutting back on wine. And still: the weight creeps on, the bloating sticks around, the energy disappears by 3pm, and the sleep falls apart.

If this is you, please hear me. You have not lost your discipline. Your physiology has shifted, and most of the advice floating around online is still written for a 28-year-old body 🥲

Perimenopause changes the maths. Protein needs go up. Muscle becomes precious. Carbs aren’t the villain, but quality and pairing start to matter more. Blood sugar gets less forgiving. And the strategies that used to work in your 30s often stop pulling their weight.

The good news: none of this requires cutting out food groups, tracking every bite, or living on chicken and broccoli. It does require a plan built for the body you have right now — not the one you had ten years ago.

Swipe through for the four shifts I talk about most often with women in this stage.

If something in here landed, save it for later, or send it to the friend you’ve had this exact conversation with over coffee ☕️

And if you’re ready to stop guessing and have someone in your corner who actually understands what’s going on, the link in bio will take you to booking 🧡

A question I get fairly often: “I’ve never seen a dietitian before. What actually happens?” 🤔

So here’s an honest answer.

A first appointment is mostly a really good conversation. We go through your symptoms, your medical history, any pathology you’ve had done, and what your day to day life genuinely looks like — because that last part shapes everything.

A plan that doesn’t fit your actual life isn’t going to work, and I’d rather understand your reality properly than hand you something generic.

We also talk about your relationship with food and how eating feels right now. For a lot of people I see, that side of things is carrying more weight than they realise 💬

From there, depending on what’s useful for you, I’ll put together a personalised meal guide with recipe ideas you can actually draw on. It’s not a strict plan you have to follow to the letter. It’s more like a practical starting point that makes sense for your situation.

Most people tell me they leave that first session feeling relieved. Not because everything’s resolved. But because someone finally sat with them, looked at the whole picture, and genuinely understood what had been going on.

If you’re someone who feels like you’ve already tried everything and nothing has stuck, honestly, that’s often where I do some of my best work.

People who come in having already done the research, already tried things, already paid attention to their own body, those appointments tend to go somewhere really meaningful.

A few practical things worth knowing: appointments are 60 minutes, available in-clinic in Brisbane or via telehealth. You can see myself, Michael or Grace depending on what you need. Medicare rebates apply with a GP referral, private health is accepted, DVA Gold Card holders are bulk billed, and we also see clients with NDIS funding.

No referral needed to get started. Link in bio if you’d like to book in 🥳

Still cutting out foods. Still bloated. Still no real answers 😠

This is honestly one of the things I hear most in clinic.

Someone comes in and they’ve already done so much. They’ve removed gluten, worked through low FODMAP, cut out dairy. They’ve been told to reduce stress. They’re eating a shorter and shorter list of foods — and they’re more anxious around eating than they’ve ever been.

And they’re still not feeling better.

What I want people to understand is that elimination can be a genuinely useful tool.

But it’s a starting point, not a solution. It tells you what you react to — it doesn’t tell you why you’re reacting. And without that, you end up managing symptoms indefinitely rather than actually addressing what’s going on.

That’s not a personal failing. That’s just a gap in the support most people have been given.

If this sounds familiar, my books are open — as are Michael’s and Grace’s 🧡

We see clients in-clinic in Brisbane and via telehealth anywhere in Australia.

Link in bio if you’d like to book in 🥝

Meet Grace Gibson, our newest dietitian 🥳🥝

Grace brings a background in complex clinical care, a genuine passion for women’s health, and a deeply personal understanding of what it means to navigate hormonal health.

She has PMOS herself, so when clients come in feeling dismissed or overwhelmed by conflicting advice, she truly gets it.

Her focus areas include women’s hormonal health (PMOS, endometriosis, perimenopause and menopause), sustainable weight management, sports and performance nutrition, chronic disease, and nutrition for longevity and cognitive health.

Grace will be available for telehealth consultations on Thursdays. More details coming soon!

In the meantime, follow along at and DM us if you’d like to be notified when her books open. We’d love to connect you 🤍