Menopause is a life stage it is dreaded by women due to the unfavourable symptoms experienced by many. Also, post-menopause undesirable health outcomes pursue. Are there dietary strategies that can be used to help you through this? In this episode, we discuss the reasons for the symptoms and health outcomes and suggest some foods to include in your diet making this life phase one that can be enjoyed!
Menopause is a life stage it is dreaded by women due to the unfavourable symptoms experienced by many. Also, post-menopause undesirable health outcomes pursue. Are there dietary strategies that can be used to help you through this? In this episode, we discuss the reasons for the symptoms and health outcomes and suggest some foods to include in your diet making this life phase one that can be enjoyed!
Welcome to Sano Health Bursts. I’m Heather Richards Nutritional Therapist, Director of Nutrition at Sano and nutrition lead for the College of Medicine. Sano Health Bursts are short, informative, practical sessions discussing food, nutrition and lifestyle, helping you live a healthier life
Today we’re going to talk about how you can use your diet to help you pass smoothly through the period when your hormones are changing and you’re coming to the end of your reproductive years.
These years of change are known as the peri-menopause and can last up to 12 years beginning anywhere from the late thirties onwards. Menopause is defined as 12 months after your last period.
Before we look at how food can help this period in a woman’s life that is dreaded by most, firstly it’s important to understand what is happening throughout these years.
During peri-menopause, the sexual hormones are fluctuating as you come to the end of your reproductive years.
Once you reach menopause itself the hormones then become stable and remain there post-menopause.
It’s the fluctuations in the hormones during peri-menopause and the new lower levels of hormones at menopause that can result in undesirable symptoms and health outcomes.
Symptoms experienced can include night sweats, hot flashes, weight gain, heavy periods, headaches, anxiety, memory loss, low mood, poor sleep, loss of muscle mass and breast pain.
Poor health outcomes post-menopause include osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and hard-to-shift weight gain, particularly around the abdominal area.
Throughout your reproductive years, there is a constant fluctuation in hormones, particularly oestrogen and progesterone as you pass through your monthly cycle. However, at the end of those years at menopause, the levels remain at a constant low.
Although the hormones are not needed for reproduction any longer they have many other far-reaching health benefits that are lost at menopause.
For example, other roles of oestrogen include building muscle mass, bone health, metabolic health, insulin sensitivity, mood and protecting against cardiovascular disease.
One of the most valuable things that you can do is to include plenty of protein in every meal.
Protein not only helps you feel satisfied and less likely to crave sugary foods that are undesirable for health, but it is also important to aid in the maintenance of insulin sensitivity. This is important for both brain and bodily functions.
Protein will help promote fat loss and build muscle resulting in an increase in metabolic rate.
Choose high-quality protein sources from real food, in other words from animals and plants - not processed foods. Remember the phrase ‘If it ran, swam, flew or grew, eat it, everything else leave behind.’ This will help you remember what is real food.
Magnesium is a mineral that is important throughout life but during peri-menopause and menopause, it should be a focus to include adequate amounts within the diet.
It is involved in hundreds of enzymatic reactions in the body and has far-reaching functions. For example, it is involved in energy production, promoting sleep, building bone, blood pressure maintenance, and insulin sensitivity.
Inadequate amounts result in the magnification of menopausal symptoms.
Magnesium can be found in a variety of foods but particularly focus on fish, dark green leafy vegetables and nuts and seeds.
Grains and legumes are also good sources of magnesium but the amount of these consumed needs to be balanced with the carbohydrate intake that is relevant for you depending upon your individualised needs.
Too much carbohydrate for an individual’s needs will result in poor metabolic health, weight gain and the development of insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
We will discuss optimal carbohydrate consumption for your needs in other podcasts as it is too big a topic to cover in this brief discussion.
We’ve mentioned some of the other roles of oestrogen apart from reproductive health. One way to modulate oestrogen levels is to include phytoestrogens in the diet.
Phytoestrogens are compounds within plants that attach to oestrogen receptors on your cells. This has the impact of blocking oestrogen within the body from attaching to your cells.
This is useful when there are excess levels of oestrogen such as during the perimenopausal years - during this time oestrogen levels initially rise and can widely fluctuate resulting in many of the unfavourable symptoms. In this case, the phytoestrogens have an anti-oestrogenic effect.
Additionally, when oestrogen levels are low and phytoestrogens bind to the oestrogen receptors they can have an oestrogenic effect. This would be the situation at menopause.
In other words, they can act like oestrogen and therefore support many areas of health that are associated with menopause and low levels of oestrogen.
Think about bone health, muscle mass, metabolic health, cardiovascular health and even mood and mental health.
So where do you find phytoestrogens? Edamame beans, tempeh, tofu, miso, flaxseeds and cruciferous vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage.
A word of caution with soy. Not all soy foods are equal in nutrition and some are heavily processed. Focus on minimally processed foods such as edamame beans and fermented products like tempeh and miso.
Tofu can often contain many undesirable ingredients such as added sugars and preservatives so check your labels!
Soy milk is made by blending soaked soybeans and filtering off the liquid. Typically many soy milk products contain thickeners, stabilisers and sweeteners.
Even if you choose an unsweetened version that has nothing added you are still missing many of the benefits of soybeans. Think about it like juicing - you are leaving behind the fibre and many nutrients with it. Soy milk cannot be classified as real food.
So today I’ve given you a few simple changes you can make to your diet to aid in the transition through peri-menopause and menopause. We’ve looked briefly at protein, magnesium and phytoestrogens.
There are plenty of other strategies that can be incorporated. To learn more come along to our discussions or webinars where we cover areas in much more detail and you have an opportunity to ask questions.
I hope you enjoyed this episode of Sano Health Bursts. If you want to learn more then subscribe to this podcast, to our newsletter, read our blogs, join our webinars or study with us. Visit our website www.sanolife.co.uk or email us at learn@sanolife.co.uk to find out more and enrol on our courses. Start improving your health today and put the tips I have given you into practice. Mens sana in corpore sano. A healthy mind in a healthy body.