You can spend lots of time and money trying to get rid of all those symptoms of menopause, and while many of these treatments do offer relief from menopause symptoms, often there are much simpler ways to deal with the associated discomforts. But by just following a well-balanced easy diet you can reduce the impact of menopause symptoms and your chances for developing many of any complications, making sure that you feel great in the years to come.

Balance

The key is keeping your diet as balanced as you can. Focus on nutrition and remember to include all your food groups, you will feel a whole lot better. Never forget grains and carbohydrates, proteins and protein alternatives, dairy products, fats, and plenty of fruits and vegetables. Keep low on fats, carbohydrates, and proteins.

In order to keep yourself satisfied and healthy, eat at least 3 meals a day, with some nutritious snacks in between, to keep you energized. Don't become obsessed with calories, but focus on portion sizes. This will keep your weight at a healthy level. And always include an occasional treat. Sweets can be part of a healthy diet too!

Foods vs Symptoms

If you are going through menopause you may be suffering from a whole host of symptoms including hot flashes, mood swings, and weight gain. You may be surprised to hear that many of these symptoms can be managed by eating specific foods. Try a few and let us know if it works!

Hot Flashes

Waking up at night all sweaty is not funny. Hot flashes make working uncomfortable, sleeping impossible, and can just generally drive you insane. Its hard to beat!

Try this:

Reduce your intake of coffee, tea, alcohol, colas, and spicy foods.

Avoid refined sugars like corn syrup and sugars found in highly-processed foods.

Increase the amount of water you drink to at least 8 glasses a day.

Include foods that contain phytoestrogens including beans, legumes, seaweed, yams, apples, potatoes, and carrots. Soy is also a very high source of phytoestrogens.

Mood Swings

One minute you may be feeling great, but the next minute you feel pretty depressed.

                Try this

Eat foods rich in carbohydrates can help to raise your levels of serotonin, thereby alleviating depression. Examples are bagels, sandwiches, and whole grain breads and cereals.

Weight Gain

As estrogen levels decrease in the body, fat redistributes itself around the stomach and is lost around the hips and breasts. Muscle mass decreases, slowing your metabolism, often ending up in unwanted weight gain.

Try this

 Reduce your fat intake and focusing on eating healthier fats instead of saturated fats, like Olive oil, canola oil, or flaxseed oil.

Rather than frying your foods, try broiling or grilling them instead ' it tastes just as great, if not better.

 Increase the amount of water you drink as this will also help you lose excess water that you could be retaining, as well as helping your metabolism kick in.

Preventing Heart Disease

Heart disease, including high cholesterol, clogged arteries, heart attack, and stroke, are more likely to hit a woman after menopause. It is important to engage in preventative measures in order to decrease your risk of heart disease.

                Try this

Increase the amounts of fruits and vegetables that you eat. This will help cleanse your arteries as well as provide beneficial vitamins and nutrients to your system.

Make oily fish, like salmon and mackerel, a feature in your diet. These fish contain Omega-3 essential fatty acids, which help the body to circulate oxygen and blood efficiently.

Reduce the amounts of saturated fats in your diet, which can clog your arteries and increase cholesterol levels.

Avoid processed flours and focus on whole grain breads and cereals, use brown rice instead.

Preventing Osteoporosis

More than 50% of women will be affected by osteoporosis in their lifetimes. After menopause, as estrogen productions decreases, more and more bone mass is lost in the body. This causes bones to become brittle and can even cause them to fracture or break.

Try this

You should be getting between 1200 and 1500 mg of calcium every day.

Add foods high in calcium to your diet such as low fat yogurt, milk, cheese, sardines and salmon (with bones), prunes, figs, and leafy green vegetables.

Cut the amount of caffeine from tea  and coffee.

LET US KNOW

Please let us know what works. Do you have any other brilliant ideas that are effective?

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