The right nutrition can help reduce some of the key symptoms of the menopause. Diet and nutrition can help balance hormone levels and lessen common menopausal symptoms.
The hallmarks of the menopause are symptoms such as mood swings and hot flushes. The underlying cause of the menopause is fluctuating, unbalanced hormones, namely oestrogen and progesterone. This hormone imbalance can be addressed by eating the right foods and avoiding the bad ones.
Balancing Hormones Through Diet:
- Reduce Intake of Saturated Animal Fats. PMS is an inflammatory condition and these fats contain arachidonic acid which can cause inflammation. Animal fat also often contains animal hormones and environmental estrogens, which will contribute to the high oestrogen symptoms.
- Increase Your Intake of Omega 3’s. Essential fatty acids from fish, nuts and seeds are anti inflammatory and can help reduce the inflammatory symptoms such as headaches. Nuts and seeds can also be used to snack on to help balance your blood sugar levels. The best sources are oily fish like mackerel, tuna and salmon and natural shelled nuts and seeds like sunflower, pumpkin and linseeds. These are also good sources of magnesium and vitamin E which also have anti inflammatory properties.
- Reduce Sugar Intake. Repeated intake of high GI foods can inhibit the production of oestrogen from the adrenal glands at a time when your ovaries oestrogen production is dropping. Keeping balanced blood sugar levels through a low GI diet can limit over stimulation of the adrenals. Eat low GI carbohydrate foods, little and often to keep blood sugar levels stable. This can also help reduce mood swings and avoid stress and anxiety issues and improve your energy levels.
- Avoid Dietary Sources of Environmental Estrogens. Environmental estrogens such as pesticide residues can build up in the food chain and have a strong estrogenic effect causing hormonal imbalances and exacerbating symptoms. These should be avoided. This means buying organic foods where possible, which will not contain pesticide residues.
- Increase Intake of Phytoestrogens. These plant sterols are able to adapt to balance hormone levels. They are like weak estrogens that can block the effect of environmental estrogens and regulate the sex hormones to reduce symptoms. They are present in varying degrees in all plant based foods but good sources are linseeds, green leafy vegetables and cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli as well as chickpeas, beans and lentils. Phytoestrogens are also present in large quantities in soy products. 1 serving of soy per day from soy milk or tofu may also reduce breast cancer risk.
- Increase Dietary Fibre. This can aid in the elimination of hormones such as oestrogen from the body by binding to them. Apples, oats and brown rice are good dietary sources, as are green leafy vegetables and cruciferous vegetables.
Well balanced nutrition can help pave the way for a more comfortable menopause. Further relief from symptoms can be gained from nutritional and herbal supplements. Read this article in conjunction with ‘Natural Supplements for the Menopause’.
The copyright of the article Nutrition for the Menopause in Menopause is owned by Nick Wilkinson. Permission to republish Nutrition for the Menopause in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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