Raw Vegan Perimenopause: What Lissa Maris Wants Every Woman to Know Before It Hits
Raw Vegan Perimenopause:
What Lissa Maris Wants Every Woman to Know Before It Hits
Lissa Maris of Raw Food Romance is one of my favorite people in this community and also my co-creator of the 2026 Ultimate Raw Vegan Bundle, so getting to sit down with her for a proper live conversation was genuinely a highlight of the whole bundle week.
We talked about raw vegan perimenopause, what is actually happening hormonally, why so many women are completely blindsided by the whole experience, and what you can start doing right now, years before menopause arrives, to make the transition dramatically smoother. Lissa has done deep research for her brand new 500 page book on the subject and is living it herself at 46. This one is packed.
The 2026 Ultimate Raw Vegan Bundle Is Open Until May 11th
Lissa has two incredible contributions in this year’s bundle and both deserve a proper introduction.
Pause Please Perimenopause is 500 pages of information, lifestyle guidance, mindset support, and 35 raw vegan recipes using ingredients specifically known to support the body through this transition. It covers symptoms, the body systems affected, hormonal shifts, and practical tools for navigating all of it with grace. This is the most comprehensive raw vegan resource on perimenopause I have ever come across, and it does not exist anywhere else yet.
Make It Raw 5, co-created with the legendary Chef AJ, is the 5th installment in their series taking classic comfort food favorites and making them fully raw. Chic’Nuggits, Buffalo cauliflower cheese puffs, cabbage rolls, stuffed mushrooms, Sloppy Joes, Mediterranean flatbread, carrot cake bars… I was drooling looking through it. Seriously next level raw food creativity.
My contributions to the bundle are The Model Diet, 411 pages covering the full philosophy and science behind low fat raw vegan living, and the 80/10/10 Diet Masterclass, co-created with Dr. Douglas Graham. Worth mentioning here that The 80/10/10 Diet book by Dr. Graham is actually included as an ebook inside the masterclass, so if you don’t already have it, you are getting it as part of the course. That is the foundational text the entire masterclass is built around and it is quietly one of the most significant things included in this bundle.
Around 30 creators. Over $1,500 in resources. All for $50 until May 11th at midnight Pacific time.
What Is Actually Happening During Perimenopause
Raw vegan perimenopause is a topic that deserves a lot more airtime than it gets. Lissa opened with something that really landed: menopause itself is just one day. It is the day that marks 12 consecutive months without a period. Everything before that, roughly 7 to 10 years on average, is perimenopause. Everything after is postmenopause. That means for most women the transition starts somewhere around age 40 to 42, sometimes even earlier, and runs all the way through to the early 50s.
During that window the body is recalibrating its entire hormonal balance, not unlike puberty in reverse. Estrogen fluctuates dramatically, the adrenal glands start taking over functions the ovaries are stepping back from, the thyroid adjusts, and every single cell in the body, which has estrogen receptors, has to adapt to new levels. That is why the range of feedback women experience is so wide, over 60 different signs according to Lissa, from hot flashes and sleep disruption down to something as unexpected as itchy ears.
The reason so many women are blindsided is partly cultural silence around the topic, and partly because a lot of the early signs get attributed to general life stress rather than hormonal shifts. Lissa’s reframe here is useful: these are not symptoms of a disease. They are feedback. The body is communicating what it needs more of, more fiber, more rest, more stress management, more mineral support. That shift in framing changes everything about how you respond.
Why Raw Vegan Perimenopause Is a Different Experience
Lissa rates herself at about a two out of ten for perimenopause feedback intensity right now, and she is clear about why. Hydration, fiber variety, liver support, quality sleep, and consistent movement are all doing exactly what they are supposed to do. The raw vegan lifestyle addresses most of the foundational factors that make this transition harder, often without any extra effort because it is just how you eat.
One of her biggest research insights was the connection between estrogen clearance and bile. Once estrogen has done its job in the body it gets packaged with bile and needs to be eliminated. If fiber intake is low, that elimination does not happen efficiently, and something called the estrobolome in the gut can actually reactivate used estrogen and send it back into circulation. For women experiencing estrogen dominance, this recirculation loop may be a significant and underappreciated factor. On a raw vegan diet with genuinely high fiber intake this is far less likely to be an issue.
Psyllium came up as one of Lissa’s biggest research surprises, specifically its ability to act as a sponge for bile and support that estrogen clearance process. Up to around a tablespoon and a half a day in studies shows meaningful benefit, though she emphasizes starting very low and building up slowly. It also shows up naturally in raw bread recipes which is a nice way to get it in without thinking about it as a supplement.
What to Start Doing Now, Whether You Think You Need It or Not
The whole framing of the conversation was supporting your menopausal self before she needs it. The best time to build bone density, muscle mass, and hormonal resilience is well before the transition intensifies. Resistance training, weighted vest walks, hydration, fiber, liver supporting foods like cruciferous vegetables, and rebounding for lymphatic flow are all things that compound in your favor the earlier you start.
A few specific foods Lissa highlighted for raw vegan perimenopause support: fenugreek sprouts for hormone and blood sugar balance, raw maca powder as a general adaptogen and hormone balancer, saffron water first thing in the morning for mood and anxiety support, and consistent fiber variety across the whole diet to keep that estrogen clearance pathway moving.
She also made the point I think gets missed most often: biohacking and forcing the body through this transition tends to backfire. Calorie restriction, extreme exercise, cortisol spiking protocols, all of these add stress on top of a system that is already working hard to recalibrate. The body needs to slow down. Nature gives women a full decade to make this transition for a reason. Working with that instead of against it is where the ease comes from.
The Wisdom Years Framing
One of my favorite moments in the whole conversation was Lissa sharing a theory from menopausal researchers about why menopause exists at all. Humans and a handful of whale species are the only animals that go through it. The thinking is that as lifespans extended, nature made a trade: the wisdom and experience of older women became more valuable to the community than the risk of another pregnancy in later life. So menopause is not a decline, it is a transition into a different kind of power. The healer, the grandmother, the guide. I love that framing and I think it reframes the whole conversation about what this phase of life actually is.
Go Find Lissa, She Is a Gift to This Community
Lissa is one of the most genuinely warm, knowledgeable, and creative people in the raw vegan world and I could not be happier to be her friend, and co creator in the Ultimate Raw Vegan Bundle with her. Find her on Instagram @rawfoodromance, YouTube @RawFoodRomance, and get her mobile app at rawfoodromance.com. She also runs a live raw food class community and monthly challenges over at her Skool community, well worth checking out.
And go find Chef AJ on YouTube as well. Her contribution to the movement is amazing to say the least and Make It Raw 5 with Lissa is something else entirely.
The Bundle Closes May 11th…
Pause Please Perimenopause. Make It Raw 5. The Model Diet. The 80/10/10 Diet Masterclass including Dr. Graham’s book. Over 30+ Raw Vegan Resources worth over $1,500 all for just $50 until midnight Pacific time on May 11th.
As Always
Wishing You Much
PeaceLovenSeasonalFruit ck
