Healthy eating advice for menopause

The core of the menopausal diet is not actually the metaphysics of "supplementing this and supplementing that", but on the basis of controlling total calories and balancing nutrition, adjusting the proportion of macronutrients, supplementing micronutrients that are easily deficient, and avoiding irritating foods that can aggravate hot flashes, mood swings and other discomforts. There is no need to follow the trend and buy "exclusive supplements for menopause" that often cost thousands of dollars.

When I volunteered at a menopausal health camp in the community in the past two years, I met many aunties who had taken detours. Let’s take 52-year-old Aunt Zhang, who has just gone through menopause for half a year, and has hot flashes seven or eight times a day. She tosses and turns at night and can’t sleep. She writes short videos about drinking soy milk to replenish estrogen. She drinks two liters of soy milk as water every morning. After drinking for half a month, her estrogen has not increased. At first, she was so bloated that she couldn’t even eat. Later, she adjusted her diet, and the number of hot flashes dropped to one or two a day in less than three weeks. She felt more energetic.

When it comes to estrogen supplementation, this is probably the most controversial point in menopausal diet. The general view in the Western medicine nutrition community is that the isoflavones in natural soybeans are phytoestrogens, and their activity is only one thousandth to one tenth of the body's own estrogen. As long as you ensure a daily intake of 300ml of soy milk or 100g of northern tofu, it can fully meet your needs. Taking additional purified soy isoflavone supplements may increase the risk of breast hyperplasia and abnormal endometrial hyperplasia. However, the views of traditional Chinese medicine on dietary therapy are also reasonable. If you have a weak and cold constitution, usually have cold hands and feet, and often experience dysmenorrhea and diarrhea before menopause, it is not suitable to drink cold soy milk every day. You can switch to fermented soy products such as natto and fermented bean curd. The activity of isoflavones is higher and will not aggravate the cold in the body. If you are afraid of salt, eating some tempeh will also work.

After talking about the issue of estrogen supplementation that everyone is most concerned about, let’s talk about the fact that many people complain about “you get fat even if you drink water”. Estrogen is like a "lubricant" in the body. If it is missing, not only will the skin become dry and the mood easily exploded, but the metabolic gear will also slow down. After menopause, muscle mass will decrease by 1-2% every year, and basal metabolism will decrease by 2-3%. If you still eat as much as you did in your twenties and thirties, you will become fat. In order to lose weight, Aunt Li in the camp only drank a bowl of white porridge with pickles every night. She still gained 8 pounds in three months and her belly was round. Later, she replaced the white porridge at night with a fistful of multi-grain rice, added a palmful of steamed fish or lean beef, and two large plates of stir-fried green leafy vegetables. After eating every meal, she lost 3 pounds in half a month, and her waist circumference was 4 centimeters smaller.

This doesn’t mean that you should completely avoid food, but there are some things that can easily aggravate your discomfort, so just be more careful. I have seen many aunties who have very frequent hot flashes that night when they drink strong coffee or eat spicy hot pot. They even wake up from the heat when they fall asleep. Some aunties follow the trend and eat honey and donkey-hide gelatin to replenish qi and blood. They experience breast swelling and pain within two days of eating, and the breast nodules have become enlarged after a review. Of course, this does not mean that these things are a scourge. If you eat nothing, it will be fine. It is perfectly fine to eat some to satisfy your cravings occasionally. You don’t have to follow other people’s health prescriptions to impose on your body.

There is also the matter of calcium supplementation. The current mainstream recommendation is that menopausal women should consume 1,000mg of calcium every day to prevent osteoporosis. However, many scholars have suggested that if you drink milk and eat enough soy products, and can stay in the sun for more than half an hour a day, you do not need to take extra calcium tablets. If you supplement too much, you will risk kidney stones. My aunt is 54 years old. She drinks two boxes of pure milk every day, eats a piece of northern tofu for lunch, and walks downstairs for an hour after dinner. Last year, her bone density was better than that of many thirty-year-old young people. The doctor specifically said that she does not need to take extra calcium tablets.

In fact, there is no "iron diet" that must be strictly followed during menopause. To put it bluntly, it is better to observe your body's reaction. As long as you feel comfortable eating and the physical examination indicators are normal, you don't need to buy a bunch of extremely expensive health care products for the so-called "anti-aging" and "retaining estrogen". Eating well is better than anything else.