Getting through perimenopause as a family

Not sure if anyone managed to read this article. .. The heading really caught my attention – Getting through perimenopause as a family, dated September 15, 2025 published in The Straits Times, under the segment [life].

Yes…, women go through perimenopause, to menopause and to post menopause. Perimenopause is the stage when a woman starts experiencing menopausal symptoms even though she menstruates. This stage can last four to five years, or even longer for some.

The body enters menopause when a woman does not menstruates for 12 months. Production of progesterone and eggs stop. A healthy menopause happens between 45 to 55 of age. The years that follow menopause is called Post menopause.

Indeed, going through perimenopause and menopause can create “hell” for women. The transitions and sudden drop in estrogen levels can simply throw a woman’s life to hell 🙁 !

For some women, it can be as bad as what the article mentioned, “My wife, F, describes it as a new operating system that downloaded overnight. And the next morning, nothing works the same as before, and you have funky features you’ve never encountered.

Estrogen is a large part of the body’s hormonal system, controlling many functions in women. Not only it can affect one’s emotions, but also one’s health.

Common symptoms include:

  • Hot flashes
    A sudden, brief sensation of heat on the skin that often starts in the chest, rising to the neck and head, accompanied by sweating, skin reddening, and a rapid heartbeat.
  • Night sweats
    When hot flashes occur at night, they are called night sweats. They can be severe enough to drench a person in sweat and wake them from sleep.
  • Vaginal dryness
    The declining estrogen levels that leads to thinning, drying, and inflammation of the vaginal walls – a condition known as genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM). 
  • Mood changes
  • Anxiety
    Some may also feel anxious or uneasy. It can be severe enough to wake you from your sleep, leading to long-term sleep loss, fatigue, and irritability.
  • and difficulty concentrating

It’s can really be hell, isn’t it? 😥😪

I am a woman myself and naturally heard of stories on how a woman’s life can be “wrecked” entering menopause. The above are just some of the aspects. The drop in estrogen levels also starts to puts women at a higher risk for breast cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis! 😩

Yet I also do have friends that went through perimenopause with not much of symptoms, or symptoms that are milder.

I am a typical Singaporean. Meaning the kiasu type (afraid to lose 😜). After hearing so many scary possibilities circulating around perimenopausal symptoms, I naturally will get scared!

I prefer to take prevention instead of wait-and-see, or take action when it happens. Prevention is easier, cheaper, and with less agony. Everyone wants to age beautifully and healthy.

I am grateful that E.Excel International Founder, Dr Jau-Fei Chen researches into natural, holistic and healthy plant ingredients that can help women in this area. It is convenient and easy to prevent and alleviate conditions.

Ingredients are freezed-dried, and packaged into convenient sachet with no preservatives, coloring or sweeteners.

Safe and effective stand by their name – Extra Excellence.

For nourishing women’s health and age healthly, I am taking three products,

1. Nutrifresh for its wholesome quality soy protein

Soy also contains many phytoestrogens. Isoflavones, phytosterols, saponins, coumestans, and lignans. In fact isoflavones are also present in a wide variety of plants, such as berris, grains, and nuts, but most ample in soybeans. Phytoestrogens are also associated with multiple protective effects against cancer, heart disese, and bone weakness.

Nutrifresh
Nutrifresh Original Flavour – You just need about 200ml of water to mix for a nice healthy drink.

Nutrifresh comes in three natural flavours – mixed fruit, strawberry and original.

I prefer original as it tastes good on its own as well as when I mix with other E.Excel beverages. They even have Nutrifresh-D that caters for people with special dietary needs, example the diabetics.

Nutrifresh Mixed Fruit (30 packets in a box. Wholesale price is S$55.59 including GST.)
Nutrifresh-D (30 packets in a box. Wholesale price is S$57.77 including GST.)

2. Menovie for its rich phytoestrogen ingredients.

Regulate periods
Eases uncomfortable symptoms including sudden flashes of warmness, irritability, depression and mood swings, heart palpitations, vaginal dryness, vaginal infections, and headaches.

menovie
You can take three capsules a day for normal prevention and maintenance. One bottle for 100 capsules, wholesale price is S$83.93 including GST.

Five natural ingredients:

Chinese Yam (山药)
👑 Lowers high blood pressure and protects the heart.
👑 Rich in polysaccharides to boost immunity.
👑 Has anti-tumor, neuroprotective, antidiabetic and anti-cellulite properties.

Sage Leaf (鼠尾草叶)
👑 Helps to reduce hot flashes and night sweats.
👑 Its high levels of potassium and magnesium can help replenish minerals that the body loses in perspiration after hot flashes.
👑 Phytoestrogens (genistein and daidzein) are helpful for menopausal symptoms.
👑 Prevents osteoporosis in menopausal women.

Raspberry (覆盆梅)
👑 Helps to maintain hormonal balance, relieves hot flashes and other effects of hormonal imbalance.
👑 Has antioxidant activity that is 50% higher than strawberry.
👑 Relaxes and lubricates the uterus and relieves dryness of the vaginal tract during menopause.
👑 Can inhibit the proliferation of cervical cancer cells.

Gingko (银杏果)
👑 Relieves chilliness experienced after hot flashes by improving blood flow to cold
hands and feet.
👑 Ease memory lapses and may be useful in therapy for neurodegenerative diseases in postmenopausal women.
👑 Alleviates perimenopause effects such as fatigue, depression and memory problems.
👑 Inhibits estrogen-activated cancers such as bladder, breast and ovarian cancers.

Licorice (干草)
👑 Helps stimulate interferon production and boosts immunity.
👑 Improves ability to cope with stress and maintain hormonal balance.
👑 Relieves hot flashes, fatigue, irritability, and memory problems.

3) Oxyginberry beverage for its high antioxidants plant ingredients.

✓ Rich in antioxidants
✓ Increases the body’s production of collagen
✓ Reduces oxidative stress
✓ Slows down aging
✓ Supports healthy skin
✓ Supports healthy vision, joints and hair

Oxyginberry rose beverage. A box of 30 sachets, wholesale price is S$239.80 including GST.

Oxyginberry comes in two natural flavours – Oxyginberry and Oxyginberry Rose. This is my last sachet of oxyginberry rose. I will be taking Oxyginberry for my next box. No special reason for me since both taste wonderful for me. Just a change of flavours. haha.

Three types for you to choose from. All at the same cost :))

Ingredients:

  1. Ginseng and ginseng berry – improves blood circulation; enhances the skin’s ability to repair itself

2. Cactus fruit – Promotes cell repair and renewal

3. Cactus – Improves immunity and prevents free redical damage

4. Grape seed – Powerful antioxidant; protects the skin from oxidative DNA damage.

5. Rose – Inhibits enzymes that break down elastin and collagen, and effectively enhances the body’s ability to produce collagen.

6. Seaweed – Helps maintain skin elasticity and eliminates toxins from the skin.

cheers to women!!! 💕🥰👍

Oh, men can also take all the above products! You need them too… we empathise with you too… hang in there when your lady is going through hormonal changes and difficult period. A good choice will be just get her these products!! And not forgetting yourself 😉

Note: Any phytoestrogens foods will not affect men’s libido according to various Research.
Will not alter testosterone levels
Have no effect on sperm concentration, count or motility
Helps to prevent breast and prostate cancer

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890623820302926#:~:text=Highlights,vocabulary%20specific%20to%20the%20databases.

@ai tan +6596840122

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Soy milk was found to be the most comparable to cow’s milk in terms of overall nutrients balance

When it comes to protein and calcium replenishment, most people will immediately think of cow’s milk. After all, it has been heavily advertised by milk and dairy companies on the amount of calcium and protein it contains, and its role in strengthening bones.

What was less promoted is soybean milk, which in fact contains nothing less than the amount of protein and calcium a cow’s milk has. And one does not have to think of lactose intolerance, the saturated fats, cholesterol, and antibiotics a cow’s milk has.

A recent article by Times Magazine mentioned, “Soy milk was found to be the most comparable to cow’s milk in terms of overall nutrients balance”, and “Soy milk even contains phytonutrients that have been shown to have cancer-fighting properties.”

https://time.com/5125580/soy-milk-healthiest-plant-based/

So what is your choice?

My choice naturally will be [Nutrifresh] and [Soupde] as they have a high concentration of soybeans 🙂 Nutrifresh is my daily morning drink as it provides me not only with the basic quality plant-based protein but also 13 different types of fruits and veggies for my macro and micronutrients. Soup de is the soup base that I will use when I DIY my mee hoon soup or mee sua soup for my lunch. The taste is addictive and I do not even have to think of adding much ingredients to my meal as it already has 11 different kinds of vegetables in it! ^_^ (soybean, white radish, carrot, pear, broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprout, radish leaf, spinach, cauliflower, green bell pepper).

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Our Gut Microbiome

Our gut microbiome of late has gained much attention. More Research has shown that having a diverse gut microbiome makes one more resilient and capable of fighting pathogens and diseases. There could be a link between declining microbial diversity and the increased incidence rate of immune and metabolic diseases such as asthma, allergies, diabetes, and obesity.

Just like how humans have different dietary preferences, our microbes also need a diverse range of nutrients to thrive. We need to include in our diet a wide range of fruits, and foods that are high in fiber.

Sometimes it is really difficult to ensure I get enough varieties of fruits and veggies a day. I am glad to find convenience from the following healthy wholefood products…

Nutrifresh with more than 13 different fruits and veggies at less than S$2
[Digeston] with various healthy plants that allow my body to produce its own good bacteria.

Instead of going for probiotics which may have just over five strains of good bacteria, I make my choice on freeze-dried wholesome plant foods for my body to produce the needed diverse good bacteria, which can provide beyond hundreds of good bacteria strains. What about you? 😀

Photo credit: Valerie Yeo

The above products serve as good weight management for me too, hehe

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Nutrifresh and Refresh Mix!

I don’t usually mix powder products together to drink… So that I can enjoy each of the beverages as they are 😍 and at the same time this will ensure that I drink ample water. Except for some products which I think they taste definitely much better with a mix!

Not many, but one of which is Refresh 🤭 It tastes so nice with Nutrifresh 😋.

Nutrifresh provides the basic nutrients needed for a day and Refresh for healthy kidneys!

Nutrifresh is an important beverage for my start of the day. Because it contains more than 13 different types of fruits and veggies in a sachet, it provides me the basic nutrients for the day. The various real food components contain all the basic needed minerals, vitamins, fiber, protein, calcium, phytochemicals for the body.

Nutrifresh ingredients at just S$1.85 per day

Refresh nourishes our kidneys. According to Ministry of Health, kidney failure is a growing disease in Singapore. National Kidney Foundation (NKF) statistics revealed that there are about five new kidney failure patients a day and one new dialysis patient every five hours 🙁

Living in the current era where most foods are heavily processed and added with unknown additives, preservatives, high sodium and lacking of real nutrients, these definitely will cause a strain to our filter organs – the kidneys.

Refresh ingredients

For me, I definitely go for prevention at just 75cents a day 🙂

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Testimonial: My mother-in-law!

Happy to receive this testimonial!

Article contributed by Valerie Yeo.

So happy with the improvement my mother-in-law has, after about 11 months of her taking E.Excel products ?

She looks significantly younger and much radiant in person, that I decided to take the latest photo and placed them together for comparison.  No filters involved!

Could you see the difference? ? She took: Millennium + Nutrifresh

22 September 2019.

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In my course of Nutrition and Exercise Science_Part 3: Nutrition Adequacy

I was reading The Straits Times when I came across this headline – “Take steps to prevent falls“, dated 1 April 2019.

This reminded me of an assignment given to us on the topic of Nutrition Adequacy.  Similar to the article, it was targeting the elderly’s health.

It was stated in the article that the number of hip fractures in Singapore is around 2500 per year.  And 20% from this group dies within a year 🙁  This is quite a high percentage…

Due to their immobility, their muscles get wasted and they also get complications such as bed sores, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, constipation and many more; all which threaten their lives.

Other than preventing osteoporosis to avoid fractures and higher chance, hip fractures, it is also important to prevent falls.  Why do the elderly fall?  

Poor vision, muscle weakness are some reasons and chronic health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases with high or low blood pressure can cause dizziness.

Sarcopenia is a disease associated with muscle-loss with ageing.  With the loss of muscles, it is easy for them to fall.  To lower the rate of muscle-loss, strength (resistance) exercise, as well as sufficient protein intake is important.

“Protein is the king of muscle food. The body breaks it down into amino acids, which it uses to build muscle.” – https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/preserve-your-muscle-mass

However, again due to ageing, some begin to encounter difficulties chewing and/or swallowing of their food.  They tend to avoid fruits and vegetables, go for refined food such as white bread, rice, noodles that are easier to chew, but clearly in lack of vitamins and protein found in vegetables and legumes.

As one gets older, the calories needed is also less due to a drop in basal metabolism and lean muscle mass.  Their diet thus needs to be nutrient-rich.  Plant-based over animal-based are preferred as the former has no cholesterol, lesser calories and saturated fat.

Nutritional Immunology products such as Nutrifresh, Aromantic, Vegecolor become a very good wholefood beverages to supplement their diet for protein, vitamins, phytochemicals, fiber, antioxidants and calcium.

One can also refer to the Health Promotion Board – Dietary Guidelines for Elderly to understand more about elderly nutrition.

Last but not least, the elderly regard food as a family; the togetherness that equates to quality of life and eating well.

5 April 2019

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Healthy and economical breakfast / snack!

Cracking your head over breakfast choices?  For yourself and growing children?  No time to prepare and tired of having oily economic bee hoon daily?

Breakfast and snacks need not be unhealthy, with Nutrifresh.

very nice and aromatic…
this is with 1-shape lite

You can mix your museli with any of the products

Nutrifresh (with 250ml of water)
1-shape/lite (with 350ml of water)
Evernew orange (with 350ml of water)
Everstay-D (with 350ml of water)

For people with special dietary needs such as diabetics, you can use Nutrifresh-D Evernew-D

Play around with the different types of muesli too!
Have fun creating a variety of healthy breakfast and snacks for yourself and growing children!

14 January 2019

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