Eating Well in the Menopause
Can a healthy, balanced diet help with menopause symptoms?
Healthy balanced diets are also important for our physical health, mental health and overall wellbeing. Mood changes, anxiety and problems with concentration and memory (‘brain fog’) can be some of the common symptoms of the menopause.
It is recommended we eat more fruit and vegetables, choose less processed foods, eat high fibre foods such as wholegrains, eat fish twice per week including one portion of oily fish, while limiting foods high in saturated fat, sugar and salt.
Eating a healthy, balanced, and varied diet, as per the Eatwell Guide and exercising regularly, can help support a healthy weight and relieve some menopausal symptoms. A balanced diet can provide all the nutrients you require and help protect against longer-term conditions such as cardiovascular disease (heart disease & stroke) and osteoporosis, a condition that weakens bones.
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For more information on the Eatwell Guide and Tip Top Ideas to Eat Well In Wales:
What can you do to keep yourself well during the Menopause?
Moving is important to support our health and wellbeing and keep to a healthy weight. Try to reduce long periods of sitting down. Move more, sit less, start slowly and build up to being active for 30 minutes every day. This can be done in bitesize chunks throughout the day.
Being more active can help you to maintain a healthy weight, reduce stress, lift your mood, improve your sleep, and strengthen your bones and muscles. It also decreases the risk of developing chronic conditions such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and stroke.
Top Tips:
- Take the stairs instead of the lift
- Get off the bus one stop early
- Do some housework or gardening
- Do play activities with your children or young relatives
- Try to include weightbearing activities such as standing up and down from a chair or some wall press-ups.
- It can be easy to sit and watch a TV series at the end of a busy day. Why not take a movement break after each episode, to increase your circulation and re-hydrate.
For more information on getting moving:
Our muscle mass starts to decrease naturally from the age of 30 onwards. During the menopause, lower amounts of circulating oestrogen results in a faster decline, which means you may need fewer calories each day.
Over time, eating extra calories may lead to weight gain. Excess weight might increase joint pain, hot flushes and night sweats.
Being careful about how many calories you eat, checking your portion sizes and getting moving can help prevent you putting on weight.
Resistance activities, such as using weights, swimming, yoga or simply repeatedly standing up from a chair, are especially important to keep your muscles strong and healthy.You may wish to check your BMI and/or waist circumference here:
Calculate your body mass index (BMI) – NHS – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
For more information on managing your weight and some useful resources is available here:
Calcium keeps our bones strong. From the age of around 35, we slowly lose calcium from our bones, reducing their strength. With menopause, declining oestrogen also weakens your bones for up to 10 years, significantly increasing your risk of osteoporosis.
For more information on osteoporosis:
Osteoporosis – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Osteoporosis gets worse over time, but if you take HRT it helps to maintain oestrogen levels and protect bone health. Weightbearing activities keep your bones strong and there are also lots of nutrients that help to keep bones healthy, so it is important to have a balanced diet.
For more information on a balanced diet:
Why do I need Calcium?
To keep your bones healthy and strong choose a variety of foods and eat plenty of fruit, vegetables and dairy foods, or alternatives, as these are a source of calcium.
Aim to eat 2 – 3 portions of calcium-rich foods every day, which can include:
- a third of a pint/200ml semi skimmed milk,
- a matchbox size piece of cheese,
- a small yoghurt or
- a milk-based pudding like custard or rice pudding.
If you do not eat dairy products; remember to check if your alternative dairy choices are fortified with calcium.
For more information on how much calcium you need and where you get calcium:
Why do I need Vitamin D?
Vitamin D is also important to keep your bones healthy as it helps the absorption of calcium from foods.
Foods that contain vitamin D include:
- oily fish
- eggs
- some mushrooms (Vitamin D marked on the packaging)
- fortified breakfast cereals (as marked on the packaging)
- fortified plant beverages, e.g. soya or oat drinks
Your body makes Vitamin D in response to sunlight on your skin but, in the UK, this can only happen between April and September. Even a healthy well-balanced diet that provides all the other nutrients we need, may not provide enough Vitamin D. You may therefore be recommended to take a Vitamin D supplement.
Check here to find out about Vitamin D recommendations and Vitamin D supplements:
Declining oestrogen levels during menopause can increase the risk of developing heart disease. Eating a healthy diet along with physical activity can help to lower your cholesterol levels, keeping your heart healthy.
Find more information here:
Plant oestrogens are a naturally occurring compounds found in some foods. They are similar to human oestrogen. If eaten regularly in sufficient quantities, they may start to have mild oestrogen like effects – which is useful as the body’s oestrogen levels decline. For some women these effects could be sufficient to help relieve menopausal symptoms, particularly hot flushes.
If you are adding plant oestrogens to your diet, it can take two to three months for the effects to be seen. They work better for some women than others.
Foods containing plant oestrogens (such as soya and linseeds) are also heart friendly so you may choose to include calcium-enriched soya products like milk, yoghurts, soya and linseed bread or edamame beans two to three times each day.
Caffeine, alcohol and spicy foods can worsen hot flushes and night sweats.
Try to have fewer caffeinated drinks such as tea, coffee, caffeine-containing fizzy drinks and energy drinks and avoid altogether if you feel it makes your symptoms worse.
Replace these drinks with water, decaffeinated teas and coffees, fruit and herbal caffeine-free teas, or milk. Aim to drink 6-8 cups or glasses of fluids per day. You may require more fluids in warmer environments, during intensive activity or if you experience regular night sweats.
Spicy Foods – some people find spicy foods trigger or worsen symptoms; it may be beneficial to reduce these food types.
Alcohol – Government advice says that you shouldn’t drink more than 14 units per week. If you drink this many units a week, it’s better to spread your drinking over 3 or more days.
For more information on alcohol units:
Alcohol units – NHS (www.nhs.uk)
For more information on drinking sensibly:
