What is the Best Diet During Menopause?

In this article we will discuss how a nutritionist can support you through your menopause. At Wellthy Clinic we offer Osteopathy and Pilates as part of an integrative approach to help reduce your menopausal symptoms.

Menopause

Menopause is a natural process in women resulting in the cessation of menstruation and reproduction potential. Normally the whole menopause can last for around 7 years from beginning to end and can be divided up into stages. Peri-menopause typically begins around 45–50 years of age when hormonal changes start to occur and cycle fluctuations and symptoms start. Menopause happens around the ages of 50–55. With the actual cessation of periods confirmed to be 12 consecutive months after your last period. When no more periods occur and generally the worst of the hormonal symptoms have passed, women are in the post menopausal stage.

Menopause Symptoms

Typically women go through the menopause with few symptoms (which is the biological norm) whilst others can experience multiple symptoms making life very difficult. Menopause is characterised by a decrease in estrogen. Which triggers the uncomfortable symptoms of hot flushes, night sweats, sleep disturbances and vaginal dryness. Women can experience weight gain, mood swings as well as feeling fatigued, dizzy and experiencing headaches. In addition, feeling irritiable, anxious, depressed, experience bladder issues and breast tenderness are other menopause symptoms. Decreased muscular strength, and increased risk of osteoporosis can also be a consequence of the hormonal changes.

What Foods Should you Avoid During Menopause?

High blood sugar, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome have been linked to higher incidence of hot flashes in menopausal women (Lee et al 2012). Therefore avoiding processed foods and added sugars which cause spikes in blood sugars should help to reduce symptoms. Try to limit white bread, baked goods and added sugars to help stabilise your blood sugar levels. High salt diets have been linked to lower bone density in postmenopausal women (Kwon et al 2017). Avoid spicy foods is a common recommendation for women going through menopause. However research is varied, so it’s best to see whether there is a correlation for you.

What Drinks Should you Avoid During Menopause?

Caffeine use has been associated with increased hot flushes in menopausal women (Faubion 2015). Caffeine and alcohol will also disrupt your sleep patterns so if you are already struggling alcohol and caffeine will not help matters. In addition, excessive drinking during menopause can increase risk of heart disease, developing central obesity, affect you liver, brain and nervous system.

What is the Best Diet During Menopause?

Phytoestrogens are plant compounds with estrogen-like properties they are very useful for helping the body replace some of its naturally lost oestrogen levels. These foods include flax seeds, oats, chick peas, lentils and sage. It is thought Asian diets generally involve alot of phytoestrogens (in comparision to America or Europe) and these women typically experience less hot flushes during menopause. Therefore reduced phytoestrogen consumption could be a contributing factor. Chen et (2015) suggested phytoestrogens appear to reduce the frequency of hot flushes in menopausal women, without serious side-effects.

What Vitamin is Good for the Menopause?

The decrease in estrogens function observed during menopause, results in increased bone metabolism, a decrease in bone mineral density and the related elevated fracture risk (Matyjaszek et al 2015). If you are peri-menopausal, dark skinned, overweight and/or have a gastrointestinal condition you have an increased risk of vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D helps your body absorb and use calcium, which gives your bones their strength and hardness. Therefore making sure you include vitamin D rich foods as part of a well balanced diet like oily fish and eggs is important. It is a good idea to test your vitamin D levels either through your GP or a private healthcare practitioner. If you have sub-optimal levels, it would be worth consulting with a nutritionist. They would discuss your situation, diet, current medications and whether taking Vitamin D supplements to support you through menopause would be a good idea.

How can I get Through Menopause Naturally?

Everyone is different so individual plans are best however general rules of keeping your blood sugar levels balanced will be beneficial. Complex carbohydrates are great for slower energy release (in comparison to simple carbohydrates). Eat two pieces of fruit and five vegetables to increase antioxidants and support healthy hormone metabolism through fibrous foods and consume whole grains and increase proteins. Eat more good fats such as avocado, oily fish, nuts, seeds and olive oil. These are great for hormone balancing and can help reduce inflammation. Also increase water consumption (2 litres daily little and often).

How Do you Lose Weight During Menopause?

Foods which spike our blood sugars and in turn increase insulin can exacerbate symptoms and lead to weight gain especially around the middle. Excess belly fat in turn leads to excess androgens and oestrogen which can further exacerbate symptoms. Increasing exercise to counteract menopausal weight gain through a balanced exercise programme with a mix of moderate and more challenging exercise would be beneficial. We believe the routine should include Pilates, aerobic exercises (like swimming, walking, bicycling, and running) as well as some resistance training. A recent study showed an increase in Pilates activity have shown a positive reduction in weight, body mass index and fat percentages (Savkin 2017). Having Pilates as part of your exercise programme will give you a strong foundation to support more demanding exercise and help reduce stress.

What is the Best Menopause Supplement on the Market?

Firstly having a well balanced diet and gaining all of your vital nutrients through foods is your best bet. However short term supplementation can be beneficial during menopause but it is important to gain the right balance when taking supplements taking into account your individual needs, interactions with other supplements and other medications you may be already taking. This is why we advise speaking with our nutritional therapist who can provide a specific nutritional plan for you which may involve taking some high quality supplements.

Can Pilates Exercise Help with Menopause?

During menopause your bone density and muscle mass can decrease so Pilates is a fantastic low impact strength training option. To increase efficiency you can add resistance with reformer Pilates to increase difficulty. Pilates and a nutrition plan will help keep off the ‘menopause weight.’ This is particularly effective when combined with other aerobic activity (walking, cycling or swimming). Pilates is a great exercise with many benefits especially Pilates for seniors to use as part of a wider menopause symptom reduction plan. You will leave sessions feeling less stressed and energised.

Menopause and Lifestyle

When stressed our body produces some hormones that can contribute towards weight gain and upset your hormonal balance. Therefore it is worth incorporating further rest, relaxation and meditation to reduce stress to help balance your hormone levels.

Can Osteopathy Help with Menopause?

Oestrogen reduction can lead to an increase in chronic inflammatory joint pain. Osteopathy can help by providing hands on treatment aimed to increase joint ranges of motion. Encourage functional movement patterns to reduce pressure onto irritated joints. This can help reduce pain and optimise chronic inflammatory cycles. A questionnaire based study (Bone 2012) suggested Osteopathic treatment helped reduce menopausal symptoms reducing a significant number of hot flushes and headaches. If you are experiencing aches and pains, headaches, feeling stressed or anxious with your menopause then we can help.

Menopause Nutritionist Near Me

At Wellthy Clinic we offer Nutritionist, Osteopathy and Pilates sessions as an integrative approach to support you through menopause. We offer a 15 minute FREE Nutritionist consultation to discuss your symptoms and answer any questions you may have.

Eleonora Sansoni

Eleonora is an Osteopath, Nutritionist, Pilates instructor and Sports massage therapist.

References

Bone, K. (2012) An Investigation into the Effectiveness of Osteopathic Treatment for Reducing Perimenopausal Symptoms UNITEC Institute of Technology https://unitec.researchbank.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10652/1916/Katharine%20Bone%20MOst.pdf?sequence=1

Chen et al (2015) Efficacy of phytoestrogens for menopausal symptoms: a meta-analysis and systematic review Climacteric https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4389700/

Faubion et al (2015) Caffeine and Menopausal Symptoms: What Is the Association? Menopause https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25051286/

Kwon et al (2017) High Dietary Sodium Intake Is Associated With Low Bone Mass in Postmenopausal Women: Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2008–2011 Osteoporosis International https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28074252/

Lee et al (2012) Association Between Menopausal Symptoms and Metabolic Syndrome in Postmenopausal Women Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21853251/

Matyjaszek et al (2015) Clinical implications of vitamin D deficiency Przeglad Menopauzalny https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4498026/

Savkin & Aslan (2017) The Effect of Pilates Exercise on Body Composition in Sedentary Overweight and Obese Women https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27607588/