From Lifespan to Healthspan: How to Thrive Through Menopause with Strength, Nutrition, and Purpose
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Discover how to thrive through perimenopause and menopause with Dr. Mary Claire Haver’s Menopause Toolkit, an integrative approach that builds strength, supports health in midlife, and extends your healthspan for years of vitality and confidence.
The Strong Evolution
Perimenopause and menopause can be a confusing and overwhelming transition, but they also represent one of the most powerful opportunities for women to redefine how they age. Today’s goal isn’t just to live longer, it’s to live better. That means extending your healthspan, the years you feel strong, vibrant, and mentally sharp, not just your lifespan. The focus is no longer on becoming smaller, but becoming stronger. For women, this stage of life can become a powerful moment of reinvention, where knowledge, nutrition, and mindset come together to build resilience and vitality.
Understanding Menopause as a New Beginning
After more than two decades as a board-certified OB-GYN, Dr. Mary Claire Haver realized that millions of women were entering menopause without the tools or support they needed. Many were dismissed by doctors, misunderstood by loved ones, and left struggling with sleepless nights, brain fog, weight gain, and emotional exhaustion.
As both a physician and a menopausal woman, Dr. Haver turned her frustration into purpose, developing The Menopause Toolkit, a science-backed framework that integrates nutrition, movement, stress management, and hormone health. Her mission: to help women not just survive menopause, but to thrive through it.
The goal is to extend the years you live in vitality and wellness, not just in survival.
What Women Really Want: Redefining Longevity
When women talk about longevity, they rarely mean living to 100. What they want is independence: strong muscles, solid bones, sharp minds, and emotional balance. They want to stay active, travel, and enjoy the lives they’ve worked hard to build.
For many women, the drive for longevity comes from love and responsibility, protecting themselves and their families from the frailty, dementia, and chronic disease that too often define aging.
True longevity isn’t about chasing youth. It’s about maintaining vitality through strength training, hormone support, proper sleep, and metabolic health. To achieve that, menopause must be seen not as a decline, but as a metabolic reset, a stage where women can rebuild their health from the inside out.
Strong Over Skinny: A Mindset Shift for Midlife
It’s time to let go of restriction and white-knuckling and start focusing on growing stronger.
Dr. Haver encourages women to shift from a “diet” mindset to a “health” mindset. Instead of restriction and deprivation, the focus must be on nourishment and growth. Fuel your body with nutrient-dense foods, build lean muscle through resistance training, and move daily to support both heart and bone health.
What you do today will affect the woman you are in twenty or thirty years.
Being strong over skinny doesn’t just change your body, it changes your confidence, energy, and long-term health. It’s not about losing; it’s about adding: adding protein, adding power, adding years of wellness.
The Power of Nutrition: Fighting Inflammation
Nutrition is one of the most powerful tools for managing menopause symptoms and preventing chronic disease. An anti-inflammatory diet helps stabilize hormones, reduce joint pain, and support brain and heart health.
Focus on whole, unprocessed foods:
- Fresh fruits and vegetables
- Lean proteins like fish, poultry, tofu, and beans, lean cuts of beef, pork and game
- Healthy fats from avocados, nuts, and olive oil
- Fiber-rich whole grains and legumes
Omega-3 fatty acids, found in salmon, mackerel, walnuts, and chia seeds, are particularly effective at reducing inflammation and supporting cognitive health. A simple trick when grocery shopping is to stick to the perimeter of the store where fresh produce and single-ingredient foods live. Always check labels for hidden sugars, preservatives and ingredients that sound like they belong in a lab instead of on a plate.
To see if your current nutritional habits are supporting normal inflammation levels, take the Nutrition Information Quiz.
The Power of Fiber: Fuel for Gut and Metabolic Health
Another essential and often overlooked nutrient for women in midlife is fiber. The recommendation is that women consume at least 25 grams of fiber daily, yet most fall short. Fiber acts as a powerful prebiotic, nourishing the beneficial microbes in your gut that support digestion, immunity, and overall metabolic health.
There are two main types: soluble fiber, found in foods like oats, beans, flaxseed, and apples, which helps stabilize blood sugar and lower cholesterol; and insoluble fiber, found in whole grains, leafy greens, and vegetable skins, which keeps digestion regular. Adequate fiber intake may help reduce the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic inflammation, and even depression, while supporting hormones and a healthy gut microbiome, both crucial during menopause.
To get enough fiber, aim for variety by eating at least 30 different plant foods per week, including berries, beans, nuts, and vegetables with the skins on. And remember: increase your fiber gradually and drink plenty of water to keep your system running smoothly. If you find it difficult to get to 25 grams of fiber through food alone, consider supplementing with a high quality fiber supplement, such as Fiber GDX.
Intermittent Fasting with Flexibility
Dr. Haver’s current approach to intermittent fasting is flexible and sustainable. She now recommends a 12–14-hour fasting window instead of a strict 16-hour fast. This allows women to eat balanced, protein-rich meals while still reaping the benefits of fasting, such as improved insulin sensitivity, cellular repair, and digestive rest.
The goal isn’t perfection. It’s consistency. A moderate fasting approach supports both metabolism and hormonal health, while ensuring that your body gets the nutrients it needs to thrive.
Protein: The Midlife Game-Changer
Protein is essential for women in midlife. It helps maintain muscle mass, bone density, and metabolism, yet most women don’t get enough.
Dr. Haver recommends aiming for about 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of preferred body weight, spread evenly throughout the day. You can meet your protein goals by:
- Replacing processed carbs with lean protein sources
- Adding Greek yogurt, eggs, tofu, or beans to meals
- Snacking on nitrate and sugar free jerky, nuts and seeds instead of chips
- Tracking intake with a nutrition app like Cronometer
If you’re taking GLP-1 medications or struggling with bone density, hitting your protein target is even more critical. Perfection is not necessary. Success is in the progress you make.
Use the Protein Calculator to determine your ideal daily range.
Building Your Menopause Toolkit
Menopause is not an end, it’s an evolution. With the right strategies, women can reclaim control over their bodies, minds, and futures. Dr. Haver’s Menopause Toolkit provides a comprehensive framework:
- Nutrition: Focus on anti-inflammatory foods, adequate fiber, and protein balance
- Movement: Prioritize strength training and daily activity
- Sleep: Protect sleep for hormonal and cognitive health
- Pharmacology: Work with your healthcare provider on personalized care
- Stress Management and Mindset: Practice mindfulness and gratitude, embrace progress over perfection
- Community: Join the free ‘Pause Life Community because we are stronger together
The Path Forward
Dr. Haver’s recommendations included in The Menopause Toolkit offer a roadmap: nourish your body, move with purpose, sleep deeply, manage stress, and honor your changing biology. With these tools, women don’t just live longer, they have the opportunity to live better, stronger, and more fully than ever before. A great place to start is with our free, 28-day Pause Strong Challenge, and if you're seeking a deeper learning experience, consider enrolling in our Pause Strong Program.
Thriving through menopause isn’t about surviving the change, it’s about becoming your most powerful self on the other side of it.
