You Are What You Eat: Nutrition Strategies for Menopause Wellness

I’m sure you are familiar with the saying ‘You are what you eat’. This is never more so correct than during menopause. You are what you absorb form your food in digestion.

Menopausal women with nutrient deficiencies are more susceptible to bone fracture risk, thyroid problems, cognitive decline, inflammation and/or hormone imbalance.

There is march evidence to support a Mediterranean diet being beneficial to health. It’s low in fat, high in vegetables and uses fish and meat as healthy protein. The Mediterranean diet is also believed to lower the risk of hip fractures.

As a healthy eating plan think in terms of adding the good healthy stuff in rather than eliminating what is the unhelpful foods. More vegetables, especially cruciferous. The healthy fats such  as olive oil or coconut oil. Fruits and nutrient dense foods. When you eat something assess its nutrient content before consuming it.

To eliminate gluten, if that’s necessary for you, add protein to every meal and make vegetable content 3/4 of your plate size. You can then exclude the carbohydrates for a month, which may be causing leaky gut.

Whatever it is you wish to change aim for one change at a time. If you think of drinking less, keep everything else the same. If you think removing gluten from your diet, do that but do nothing else. Otherwise everything becomes so overwhelming we can give up before we start.

Change one thing a week.