Victoria Malcolm Nutrition

Victoria Malcolm Nutrition Victoria Malcolm | Nutritional Therapist 🎓DipCNM, mANP, Leeds + Online. Personalised nutrition plans and functional lab testing. Book a chat 👇

08/09/2026

Nutrition is only one leg of the stool, and in perimenopause and menopause, that matters more than ever 🪑

I talk a lot about food, movement, sleep, and stress as the four legs holding up your health. But here’s what I don’t always explain, why a wobbly leg becomes so much more noticeable once oestrogen starts to decline.

Oestrogen isn’t just a reproductive hormone, it plays a real regulatory role in blood sugar control and cortisol output. It supports insulin sensitivity, so as oestrogen drops through perimenopause, many women find their blood sugar becomes harder to keep steady even if their diet hasn’t changed. Oestrogen also helps modulate the HPA axis, your stress response system, so its decline can mean cortisol runs higher and takes longer to come back down after a stressful moment.

That’s why the same stool can feel so much wobblier in your 40s and 50s than it did in your 20s. The buffering effect that oestrogen used to provide isn’t there in the same way, so weak legs, poor sleep, chronic stress, blood sugar rollercoasters, show up faster and hit harder.

It also explains why nutrition alone often stops being “enough” in perimenopause, even when it’s genuinely good nutrition. The other legs need just as much attention, sometimes more, to keep the whole stool standing.

Today’s reflection: if you’re in perimenopause or menopause, has movement, sleep or stress felt like it affects you more than it used to? Tell me below, I’d love to know I’m not the only one noticing this. Plus let me know how you’re getting on with move more September.

6th September is National Read a Book Day 📖I've been a bookworm for as long as I can remember, but since studying nutrit...
06/09/2026

6th September is National Read a Book Day 📖

I've been a bookworm for as long as I can remember, but since studying nutrition and the nervous system, I've realised why reading feels so good for us, not just enjoyable, genuinely calming.

When you're lost in a book your body properly relaxes, your heart rate slows and your stress hormones start to drop, it's why a good read can feel as restorative as switching off completely.

We often read so much more on holiday, don't we? No pressure, no scrolling, just time to get lost in a story. But you don't need to wait for a beach to get that benefit. Swapping scrolling for reading before bed can do wonders for your sleep and your mental health, it winds you down instead of winding you up, and you drift off feeling calm instead of wired.

Why not share your favourite read of the summer! Mine was The Summer Island by Kristin Hannah, I was completely gripped. Drop yours below, I'm always after my next read 👇

Summer 2026, done ☀️This was a big one for me, my first summer being fully self-employed. And if I'm honest, I went into...
04/09/2026

Summer 2026, done ☀️

This was a big one for me, my first summer being fully self-employed. And if I'm honest, I went into it not really knowing what to expect. Running my own business means the work never fully switches off, there's always another client, another project, another email that could be answered. But being self-employed was also exactly why I did this in the first place, so I could actually be present for my girls.

So this summer I made a decision early on, I wasn't going to let work quietly eat into all the time I'd worked so hard to create. It wasn't always perfectly balanced, some weeks work won, some weeks family won, but the intention was always there.

And I'm so glad I prioritised it, because looking back through these photos, it's the family time that stands out. Days out, lazy mornings, silly moments, actually being there rather than half there with one eye on my phone.

Here's to more of that as September settles in 🧡

It’s Move More September 🍂Six months into the year and it’s the perfect natural reset point — kids back at school, routi...
01/09/2026

It’s Move More September 🍂
Six months into the year and it’s the perfect natural reset point — kids back at school, routines settling, that “let’s get back into it” energy in the air. So this month I’m setting myself two simple movement goals, will you join me?
Goal 1: 7,500 steps a day.
Not 10k. I know 10k is the “official” number everyone talks about, but honestly? It’s just always felt arbitrary to me — a target I’d fall short of more often than not, and then feel a bit rubbish about it. 7,500 is a number I can actually hit, consistently, without it becoming another thing to feel guilty over. And consistency is what actually moves the needle, not the number itself.
Goal 2: Daily yoga or pilates first thing on waking.
I’ve done this on and off for a while now, and when I do it every single day, I notice it. More energy, a calmer, more positive mood that carries through the whole day. So this month I’m making it non-negotiable, not just something I do when I remember.
Neither of these goals is about burning calories or “earning” anything. They’re about building a routine that makes me feel good, and sticking with it long enough that it becomes automatic rather than effortful.
Now it’s your turn. 👇
What’s your movement goal for September? It doesn’t have to be big — it just has to be yours. Drop it in the comments and I’ll be checking in throughout the month to see how everyone’s getting on. Let’s do this together.

24/08/2026

Going through perimenopause or menopause- follow me for no fad researched advice and tips to navigate your transition as smoothly as possible.

19/08/2026

Sleep in perimenopause isn’t just about winding down at night — it’s about what happens across the whole day. Three things I get clients to prioritise first:
1️⃣ Consistent wake time. Your circadian rhythm is set far more by light exposure at a fixed wake time than by when you go to bed. Waking at the same time daily (weekends included) stabilises melatonin timing and makes falling asleep easier over 1–2 weeks, even before you change anything else.
2️⃣ Blood sugar balance. Falling oestrogen affects insulin sensitivity, which can make overnight glucose dips more likely — and a dip can trigger a cortisol/adrenaline response that wakes you around 3–4am. A protein- and fibre-forward dinner, and avoiding a big sugar hit close to bed, helps keep that overnight curve steadier.
3️⃣ A proper wind-down routine. Perimenopause already lowers GABA-supportive progesterone, so anything that adds extra sympathetic stimulation before bed (screens, bright light, late intense exercise) works against you. A consistent cue-based routine — same order of steps each night — trains your nervous system to downshift faster.
None of these are quick fixes, but they compound. Which one do you already do — and which one’s missing? 👇

15/08/2026

Happy Relaxation Day — though if you only put yourself first today, you’ve missed the point a bit.
Self-care isn’t a bubble bath once a month, it’s whether you’re on your own to-do list at all. Not last, once everyone and everything else is sorted — near the top, consistently, as a habit rather than a reward.
That’s not indulgent, it’s regulation. Chronic under-recovery keeps your nervous system tipped toward “go” — always slightly braced, always doing — and over time that shows up as poorer sleep, more reactive mood, and less capacity to actually show up for the people and things you’re prioritising instead of yourself.
Putting yourself higher up the list isn’t about doing less for everyone else. It’s building in the small, boring, repeatable things — proper meals, a pause in the day, an actual wind-down — so you’ve got something left to give.
What would it look like to put yourself higher up your list this week, not just today? 👇

11/08/2026

Thought I would reintroduce myself to my new followers. Please drop me a comment below with any nutrition questions you would like me to answer.

Summer's a strange time for health goals. Routines are gone, kids are home, holidays throw everything off and most peopl...
28/07/2026

Summer's a strange time for health goals. Routines are gone, kids are home, holidays throw everything off and most people just wait it out, telling themselves "I'll sort myself out in September."
Here's the thing: September only feels manageable if you walk into it with a plan. Otherwise it's the same scramble it always is trying to figure out what to eat, what supplements you actually need (if any), and where to start, all while term starts and life speeds back up.
So this summer, I'm offering something different: a diet diary and supplement review, with personalised recommendations - done now, while things are quieter, so you walk into September already knowing exactly what to eat and what your body actually needs.
No guessing. No random supplements sitting unused in a cupboard. Just a clear, personal starting point built around what's actually going on in your body and your current diet, ready to act on from day one of the new term.

If September is normally the month you mean to sort your health out and never quite do this is how you actually walk in with a plan already in motion.
DM me "SEPTEMBER" to grab your spot.

Please share and drop me a DM if you are interested
26/07/2026

Please share and drop me a DM if you are interested

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