Foods to avoid when menopausal

There is so much information out there and products available that sound amazing and these products sound great because the best marketer wins, I’m not saying that there aren’t great products, you just need to know what to look for.

Anyway the easiest way to balance your hormones is through eating really nutritious foods. Food is more than just what we eat, it’s fuel for your body, think of it this way, you wouldn’t run a petrol car with diesel, if you did you will end up with lots of problems and it’s not much different with our bodies. If you are wondering why your Dr doesn’t give you much information about nutrition its because they aren’t trained in it except for Integrative Dr’s, that’s not too bad mouth Dr’s in any way it’s just the way it is.

I just want to say that eating the best foods is only one part of what you need to do to balance your hormones, but it can make a big difference.

So what to eat?

Protein is really important because we need it for every cell in our body for them to function grow and develop. An easy tip, you should be eating protein with every meal and it should be the size and thickness of your palm.

Good sources of protein are:

Grass fed (organic if possible) beef, lamb or a good quality free range chicken. Unfortunately, conventionally raised animals contain antibiotics and hormones. You don’t want extra hormones to deal with.

Vegetarian sources such as quinoa, different beans – black, red kidney, navy, chick peas, different colour lentils.

Good fats

Yes don’t be fooled by clever marketing, we need good fats to make our sex hormones, foods that contain good fats are:

Oily fish such as salmon (wild caught only not farmed salmon) sardines, tuna, mackeral, grass fed meat, pasture raised eggs.

Seeds especially flax, (2TBS of flax also known as linseed) a day, pumpkin, chia, nuts – walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, macadamias.

Olives, cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, avocado.

We also need saturated fats but no more than 2 tsp a day

Foods include:

Grass fed organic butter, ghee, lard, coconut oil

Foods to avoid are: any trans fats, that means refined vegetable oils that are in most processed products.

Vegetables

When it comes to eating veggies you need to think of colours of the rainbow, different colours contain different nutrients. You need to aim for 5 to 10 servings a day, simple tip a serving is the size of your fist.

Carbohydrates

They are not the bad guys unless you are eating processed white refined breads, pasta’s, white rice, biscuits cakes and pastries. The good carbs are:

Wholegrains such as:

Brown rice, oats, spelt, rye, vegetables also contain carbohydrates.

Note:

Some food and drinks can increase hot flushes, probably some of your favourites, caffeine, alcohol and spicy foods. That’s not to say that you need to remove all of these, just reducing them can help.