Eat Healthy, Be Healthy, Live Healthy
I began reading HEALTHY EATING DURING MENOPAUSE when I started having hot flashes and noticed that even though I was dieting like mad, my belly had a mind of its own.
Literally. I had so many spare tires I could carry a four door sedan on my back and drive around town without any problems.
I was really looking for some way to try and get rid of the menopause weight spread and boost my metabolism to help fight the fat during this phase of my life. I learned soooooooo much from this book about all aspects of healthy eating during menopause and how you can even control some of the lousy symptoms by modifying what you eat. In full disclosure, I haven't adopted all the strategies. Some foods I just can't gag down no matter how I try - like tofu. But many of the other foods and combinations of foods highlighted in
the book are very tasty, economical and ultimately good for you.
Remember when your mom and grandma told you to eat all your vegetables because they were good for you, despite of how they tasted? Well, once again, conventional wisdom is wise for a reason: it's usually correct. Many plants and vegetables contain what are called Phytoestrogens. These are substances that occur in foods that actually mimic the hormones' actions. Remember, we naturally lose estrogen during this time of life. One of the classes of phytoestrogens, isoflavones are the most beneficial to us. Isoflavones are found in legumes ( beans) like soy, lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans and peas to name a few. During digestion, the normal bacteria housed in your gut converts the isoflavones into substances that can mimic estrogens' action and thereby provide you with normalizing levels without having to take a pill or a hormone treatment. Pretty cool. You get to eat good tasting foods that actually can help alleviate some of the nasty symptoms.
An addition to eating foods that are high in isoflavones and phytoestrogens, there are also certain foods and food categories you should avoid during this time of your life.Common triggers for hot flashes, for instance, are caffeine, coffee, red wine and spicy foods. Anything that triggers a flash should not be consumed during this time. Now most people can't get going in the morning without a cup of that badly needed caffeinated java. It really isn't hard to detox from if you do it the right way. For the first few days, mix your coffee machine half with caffeinated coffee and the same brand in decaf. After day three you can half the caffeine again, so the ration is 3:1 for the decaf. After about a week you can go cold turkey - or coffee!- and you shouldn't get the headache and jitteryness and moodiness that comes with detoxing quickly from the caffeine. If you're a fan of hot curry and peanut sauce pad tai, well, just know if you eat it, you'll probably flash right there in the tai restaurant. Eliminating one or two things at a time is beneficial.. So don't go out to dinner and have a big bowl of chili after having red wine during the cocktail hour! Moderation in everything is always a good creedo.
It can be helpful to have a food intake/hot flash diary during this time. If you notice that a flash occurs at a specific time of day or in relation to something you ate, you can jot it down and avoid it the next time, or try it again and see if the same result happens. If it does, then this food or time is a trigger and you might want to modify the pattern of eating.
Another important feature that I learned while reading this book was the protein issue we go through as women. We all need protein, especially when we are growing as children, during pregnancy, if we are heavy into exercise or training. But the problem that protein can cause during menopause is funky. Protein, by itself can cause an acidic reaction in your body ( who knew?) and It is the role of calcium in your body to neutralize the acid. Too much protein ingested causes calcium to leach from your bones and teeth in order to counteract the acid buildup. Now the American Diet gets a lot of its protein from - you guessed it - animals. Red meat, chicken, pork,and dairy products like eggs. You also can get proteins from plants ( veges). These are the good kinds of proteins that don't cause that lousy cholesterol buildup ( remember?) SO it goes hand in hand to posit that if you have a diet high in red meat proteins, or animal proteins specifically, you can fall victim to diseases where calcium is gypped, like osteoporosis and kidney stones. Not fun.
This is fascinating stuff, really, when you think about the amount of animal proteins that are consumed in this country and the amount of lobbyists the American Dairy Association, The American Cattle growers Associations, etc have. Now I have been know to eat a burger ( or two or ten) in my life and I adore chicken ANYWAY it's cooked. But since I've entered my menopause years, I have pretty much eliminated red meat from my diet and increased the amounts of nuts and legumes I eat to counterattack the protein loss. My bones are pretty good. I had bone density test done a few years back and got excellent results.
Now there is a ton of stuff to learn, nutrition-wise that I will continue with shorty, but for now, look for foods that are phytoestrogen and isoflavone rich, and you will do your body a great service.
Literally. I had so many spare tires I could carry a four door sedan on my back and drive around town without any problems.
I was really looking for some way to try and get rid of the menopause weight spread and boost my metabolism to help fight the fat during this phase of my life. I learned soooooooo much from this book about all aspects of healthy eating during menopause and how you can even control some of the lousy symptoms by modifying what you eat. In full disclosure, I haven't adopted all the strategies. Some foods I just can't gag down no matter how I try - like tofu. But many of the other foods and combinations of foods highlighted in
the book are very tasty, economical and ultimately good for you.
Remember when your mom and grandma told you to eat all your vegetables because they were good for you, despite of how they tasted? Well, once again, conventional wisdom is wise for a reason: it's usually correct. Many plants and vegetables contain what are called Phytoestrogens. These are substances that occur in foods that actually mimic the hormones' actions. Remember, we naturally lose estrogen during this time of life. One of the classes of phytoestrogens, isoflavones are the most beneficial to us. Isoflavones are found in legumes ( beans) like soy, lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans and peas to name a few. During digestion, the normal bacteria housed in your gut converts the isoflavones into substances that can mimic estrogens' action and thereby provide you with normalizing levels without having to take a pill or a hormone treatment. Pretty cool. You get to eat good tasting foods that actually can help alleviate some of the nasty symptoms.
An addition to eating foods that are high in isoflavones and phytoestrogens, there are also certain foods and food categories you should avoid during this time of your life.Common triggers for hot flashes, for instance, are caffeine, coffee, red wine and spicy foods. Anything that triggers a flash should not be consumed during this time. Now most people can't get going in the morning without a cup of that badly needed caffeinated java. It really isn't hard to detox from if you do it the right way. For the first few days, mix your coffee machine half with caffeinated coffee and the same brand in decaf. After day three you can half the caffeine again, so the ration is 3:1 for the decaf. After about a week you can go cold turkey - or coffee!- and you shouldn't get the headache and jitteryness and moodiness that comes with detoxing quickly from the caffeine. If you're a fan of hot curry and peanut sauce pad tai, well, just know if you eat it, you'll probably flash right there in the tai restaurant. Eliminating one or two things at a time is beneficial.. So don't go out to dinner and have a big bowl of chili after having red wine during the cocktail hour! Moderation in everything is always a good creedo.
It can be helpful to have a food intake/hot flash diary during this time. If you notice that a flash occurs at a specific time of day or in relation to something you ate, you can jot it down and avoid it the next time, or try it again and see if the same result happens. If it does, then this food or time is a trigger and you might want to modify the pattern of eating.
Another important feature that I learned while reading this book was the protein issue we go through as women. We all need protein, especially when we are growing as children, during pregnancy, if we are heavy into exercise or training. But the problem that protein can cause during menopause is funky. Protein, by itself can cause an acidic reaction in your body ( who knew?) and It is the role of calcium in your body to neutralize the acid. Too much protein ingested causes calcium to leach from your bones and teeth in order to counteract the acid buildup. Now the American Diet gets a lot of its protein from - you guessed it - animals. Red meat, chicken, pork,and dairy products like eggs. You also can get proteins from plants ( veges). These are the good kinds of proteins that don't cause that lousy cholesterol buildup ( remember?) SO it goes hand in hand to posit that if you have a diet high in red meat proteins, or animal proteins specifically, you can fall victim to diseases where calcium is gypped, like osteoporosis and kidney stones. Not fun.
This is fascinating stuff, really, when you think about the amount of animal proteins that are consumed in this country and the amount of lobbyists the American Dairy Association, The American Cattle growers Associations, etc have. Now I have been know to eat a burger ( or two or ten) in my life and I adore chicken ANYWAY it's cooked. But since I've entered my menopause years, I have pretty much eliminated red meat from my diet and increased the amounts of nuts and legumes I eat to counterattack the protein loss. My bones are pretty good. I had bone density test done a few years back and got excellent results.
Now there is a ton of stuff to learn, nutrition-wise that I will continue with shorty, but for now, look for foods that are phytoestrogen and isoflavone rich, and you will do your body a great service.
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