The Menopause Healthy Eating Plan
When going through menopause, it is imperative to eat the right foods your body needs.
Natural Wellness Strategies for the Menopause Years
by Laurel Alexander
Good food provides not only goodness for mind and body but also supplies the raw materials your neuroendocrine (nerve-hormone) system needs to create healthy hormonal and emotional balance as you go through menopause.
Ensure your vegetables, salad greens, fruit, and meats are as organic as you can afford. Drink at least 2 liters of water a day. Limit your intake of red meat, processed foods, salt (whether added or in cooking), and alcohol. Tea and coffee should be replaced by caffeine-free drinks.
You may want to add to your diet soy-based foods such as tofu and soy milk, particularly emphasizing fermented soy products such as miso and tempeh; legumes (chickpeas, beans, and so on); bean sprouts; yams; most fruit and vegetables, particularly celery and rhubarb; and almonds and linseeds. All of these foods contain healthful phytoestrogens (plants with weak estrogen-like effects in the body).
You should also keep your intake of calcium food high so that your bones remain strong; weakening is more likely during menopause as estrogen levels drop. Drink semi-skimmed or skimmed milk. Other good calcium sources include almonds, seeds (poppy, sesame), cheeses (Parmesan is easy to digest and high in protein, or Gruyère and Edam), oily cold water fish (tinned sardines, salmon, and so on), tofu, seaweed if you’re a fan of Japanese food, figs, yogurt, Brazil nuts, and leafy vegetables, such as kale and purple broccoli.
Limit your wheat intake to only two slices of granary or whole grain bread a day. I advise limiting wheat and the gluten it contains because an excess can cause weight gain, blood sugar imbalances (leading to energy crashes), and bloating.
To keep your blood sugar levels balanced and avoid fatigue, spread your food intake and, ideally, consume five small meals a day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack. Ensure you have protein with each sitting:
Breakfast
Porridge or other oat-based cereal
Egg on toast
Yogurt with seeds
Mid-morning snack
A small handful of unsalted nuts and fruit
Lunch
If you didn’t have bread at breakfast, a sandwich with lean ham, cheese, oily fish, hummus, or egg, accompanied by a salad, with fruits such as berries or yogurt for dessert
Baked potato with cheese, oily fish, hummus, or egg, followed by fruit or yogurt
Salad of legumes, with fruit or yogurt for dessert
Soup made from lentils or other legumes, with fruit or yogurt for dessert
Oatcakes, Scandinavian crispbread like Ryvita, or rice cakes with lean ham, cheese, oily fish, paté, or egg salad, with fruit or yogurt for dessert
Lean ham, cheese, tofu, oily fish, or egg, accompanied by salad and with fruit or yogurt for dessert
Mid-afternoon snack:
A small handful of unsalted nuts and fruit
Dinner:
Chicken, tofu, a meat substitute like Quorn, lean red meat, or oily fish with salad
Chicken, tofu, Quorn, lean red meat, or oily fish with vegetables.
An additional tip to the above left to me by my grandmother. Start the day off with a cup of hot water and lemon juice. It kick-starts the liver and does wonders for the skin.
excerpted from Women’s Wisdom
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About the Author
Laurel Alexander is a complementary therapist, a qualified reflexologist, nutritionist and a stress manager. She is the author of Everyday Calm, How to Incorporate Wellness Coaching Techniques into an Existing Therapeutic Practice and How to Turn Redundancy into Opportunity. She runs Wellness for Life, providing complementary healthcare solutions and a range of accredited and leisure wellness-related courses.
For further information visit her website http://laurelalexander.co.uk/menopause.htm
To learn more or to purchase the book, visit Findhorn Press or click on the book cover.
