My Top 5 Tips for Managing the Menopause
I work with women in clinic every week to help them manage their symptoms and live how they want to. I use a combination of health questionnaires and testing to get to the bottom of what may be driving their specific symptoms.
But despite how differently they are feeling, or the different hormonal imbalances they may have, there are 5 areas that I always work on:
WATCH WHAT YOU EAT
One of the tragedies about menopause is the realisation that you really cannot get away with eating the same foods you used to. Your body has changed, and you need to learn to eat for this new way of being. Why?
The drop in oestrogen levels that occurs during menopause has a side effect of redistributing body fat and excess pounds start to settle around the waist. On top of that, the change that happens in relation to oestrogen and progesterone at this stage of life is also likely to make your body less sensitive to insulin, the fat storage hormone. This is produced in response to you eating carbohydrates.
When the body’s cells are less sensitive to insulin, more insulin is needed to do the same job, and more insulin produced means more fat stored. There are also lifestyle factors to consider. Muscle mass diminishes with age while fat increases.
That means it’s more important than ever to switch from whatever kind of diet you’re on now to a low GL (glycaemic load) diet that balances your blood sugar levels. This means you will be eating foods that do not trigger insulin secretion in response to what you eat.
A blood sugar balancing diet like this focuses on REAL food: meat, fish, eggs, tofu, lentils, beans and chickpeas, lots of veg, some fruit, nuts, seeds and wholegrains.
You won’t feel hungry – promise – but, if this is a long way from where you are now, I’d love to help you move to this way of eating. Work with me and it will feel easy rather than an uphill struggle or – worse still – devoid of all those little props you have used to get yourself through these trying times.
EAT FUNCTIONAL FOODS
On one level, the food you eat can help balance your blood sugar and energy levels. On another it keeps you feeling satiated and also nourishes you. The cherry on top is to use the very subtle yet magical powers of food to help support your body in times of need.
At this time of your life, that means phytoestrogens. Phytoestrogens are plant-based chemicals (the good kind), which are structurally similar to oestrogen and exert a weak oestrogenic effect. They include soy beans, lentils, beans, chickpeas, tofu, barley, rye, oats, alfalfa, apples, pears, carrots, fennel, onion, garlic, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, liquorice root.
MANAGE YOUR STRESS
Cortisol is one of the main stress hormones and it can cause weight gain, and feel both tired and miserable as well as using up stores of important vitamins.
You probably already know that dwindling oestrogen levels are one of the main factors behind your symptoms. However, the effects of stress can be just as debilitating.
DO THE RIGHT EXERCISE
As the weight creeps on, it’s very common for women to start getting into the types of exercise that are very punishing on the body, like running and high intensity interval training.
What do I mean by punishing? These very intense forms of exercise stress the body and, if your body is already stressed, it’s just too much. Yoga, Pilates, Zumba and other dance-based classes are good, and don’t knock a decent walking workout.
Resistance/ strength exercise (weights) is also good to help with the loss of muscle. Strength training also helps you shore up bone, maintain balance, and avoid injury—important for protecting your skeleton both now and when you’re older.
AVOID TOXIC CHEMICALS
Chemicals in your body care products – anything from shampoo and conditioner to body wash, body lotion and other moisturisers – contain chemicals like parabens, sodium lauryl/laureth sulphate, ureas and the like.
At this time in your life, you really don’t want to be overloading your body. These toxins place an additional stress on the body, can damage the cells in your body that produce insulin, disrupting its action (and not in a good way), can impair thyroid hormones and place extra burden on the detoxification system.
If you’d like to know more about how diet and lifestyle changes can help with your symptoms, or you’d like to explore testing, why not get in touch? You can book a free call here.
Top 10 Ingredients to Watch Out For
I'd need a lot more space to list out all the names on the naughty list but this list, while not exhaustive, is a good starting point if you want to know you are eating as well as you can for your health.
Bottom line: if you can't pronounce the ingredient, it's probably not something you want to put into your body! And if you don't recognise something as 'food', chances are your body won't either.
Blue 1, Caramel color, Red 3 (Erythrosine), Red 40, Titanium Dioxide, Yellow 5 (Tartrazine), Yellow 6.
Autolysed yeast extract, hydrolysed protein, monosodium glutamate (MSG), “natural flavours”.
Aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin are some of the main ones.
There are many names for sugar, including: glucose, fructose, sucrose, dextrose, maltose, honey, treacle, agave, maple syrup, fruit juice, lactose, isoglucose, dates, dried fruit, raisins/sultanas, grape concentrate.
Or other processed flours.
Rapeseed (aka canola oil) unless cold pressed, corn, partially hydrogenated oils, soybean.
BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), calcium propionate, propylparaben, methylparaben, propyl gallate, sodium benzoate, potassium benzoate, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, sodium phosphate, TBHQ (tert-butylhydroquinone)
Carrageenan, lecithin, gellan gum, cellulose gum, monoglycerides, diglycerides.
Azodicarbonamide, calcium peroxide, DATEM (diacetyl tartaric acid esters of monoglycerides).
Soy protein isolate is a common highly processed genetically modified protein supplement in many ‘healthy’ or diet foods.
If you’d like to know more, why not download my free guide to Making Sense of Food Labels here.
Making sense of food labels
Labels provide us with useful information about what packaged food contains they can be confusing (not to mention misleading). Remember the labels are also there to help sell the product - so you need to look more closely if you really want to understand what you are eating.
What should we eat?
As a nutritional therapist, when I'm working with my clients, we are looking at the science of what to eat to achieve their specific health goal but just as important is how much you eat (as well as why and how, but that's another story).
It's very easy to accidentally find yourself eating either too much or too little. So what does the 'average' person need to eat in terms of energy every day?
Each day
Women
Calories: 2000 kcals
Sugar: 25g or 6tsp
Sodium: 2g
Salt: 5g
Men
Calories: 2500 kcals
Sugar: 31g or 8tsp
Sodium: 2g
Salt: 5g
Hidden starches
When buying starchy foods like bread, rice, and pasta, look for wholegrain/ whole wheat / wholemeal varieties. Avoid any form of sugar, white or refined foods and look out for hidden starches in the ingredients list such as potato starch, corn starch, and rice starch – all of these will be broken down into sugar by the body. Your body cannot tell the difference between these starches and real sugar.
PER 100G A Lot A Little
Sugars 10g 2g
Salt 125g 0.25g
Sodium 0.5g 0.1g
Be label savvy
When you see a claim like “No added sugar” or “30% less sugar”, look closer at the label. The manufacturer will want the low-sugar version to match the taste of the original as closely as possible. A famous trick is to add maltodextrin – a polysaccharide and therefore technically a starch, not a sugar. However, it is still broken down into sugar very quickly and will impact your blood sugar levels, which is important for all aspects of health.
When you see “50% fewer calories”, again, read the label. The product will be lower in fat than the original but, for this to be true, it must be higher in carbohydrates. For example, a packet of crisps – made of fried potato slices and salt – is not a healthy food and is high in calories. A packet of ‘healthy’ crisps right next to it may be lower in calories and ‘baked’ but could well contain potato starch, maize starch, rice starch and maltodextrin. Is that a healthy crisp? No.
Ingredients
Ingredients are listed by the order of weight.
The ingredient used the MOST is listed first,
and the ingredient used the LEAST is listed last!
How many ingredients does it contain?
WHY IT MATTERS: Foods with many ingredients are often highly processed (“ultra-processed”).
Processed foods are often less nutritious and are designed to be "highly palatable" ... which means you’re likely to eat more of them in one sitting, and also more frequently. This can translate into eating more calories with less nutrition value.
Do you KNOW WHAT each ingredient IS?
WHY IT MATTERS: Many times, unhealthy fats (like hydrogenated oils (or trans fats) and added sugars can sneak into your food under different names.
Manufacturers know people get (on a conceptual level at least) they should eat less sugar, so they work hard to call that sugar by another name to fool you into thinking their product is healthy. Tricky, right?
Want to know more? Book in a free 30-minute health review and we can get you on track - just click here.
Should you avoid gluten?
Gluten is in a lot of things we eat, from bread and pasta, to cookies, pastries and even drinks like beer. It’s been a staple for thousands of years but, along with turning vegan, going gluten-free has been one of the biggest health trends in the last decade and is almost as divisive. Some claim gluten is damaging their health. Others argue that we are at risk of nutritional deficiencies if we don’t eat it. So, what’s the truth?
Like so many things these days, when there is a lot of information and opinion, the waters can become muddied and it’s not always easy to separate fact from fiction. I thought I’d explore the topic so you can decide whether going gluten free is best for you.
What is gluten is and where you’ll find it
Gluten is a collective noun that refers to a number of different proteins found in grains like wheat, barley, rye and anything made from them.
The main proteins found in wheat are glutenin and gliadin, which are very elastic and give bread its stretchy quality. Some products naturally contain gluten, but gluten is also added in extra quantities to foods to add protein and texture, and to bind processed foods together.
You’ll find gluten in the following products (not an exhaustive list!)
OTHER INGREDIENTS
What’s the problem with eating gluten?
The gluten proteins are very hard for your body to break down and, when they don’t break down completely, they cause inflammation in the digestive tract or leak through the wall of your small intestine into your bloodstream, creating an immune response.
Coeliac Disease is the most well-known gluten-related problems. It’s an autoimmune disease triggered by gluten, and it causes your body to attack the small intestine, resulting in damage to the lining of the intestine.
Symptoms range from digestive distress like diarrhoea, cramping and nausea (among others) to anaemia, neurological disorders and skin diseases like psoriasis and dermatitis.
Testing for coeliac disease is by intestinal biopsy, usually when the condition is very advanced. There are a few specialist tests not available on the NHS that I can offer clients and that can spot problems before you become very poorly. Email to ask me about this.
Wheat allergy is an abnormal immune response to one or more proteins found in wheat. Like other true allergies, the body makes a specific inflammatory response and symptoms can be mild or severe, including anaphylaxis, which can cause breathing difficulties and death. Allergies are usually detected using blood or finger-prick testing for IgE antibodies.
Non-coeliac gluten sensitivity is a ‘catch-all’ phrase that covers everything else! Advanced testing for gluten-related disorders (I mentioned this above) can pick up if your body is making an unfavourable response to gluten. Or, quite simply, you might know that gluten causes you issues, which can mean anything from milder intestinal symptoms, headaches, joint pain, and fatigue, as well as neurological symptoms. While not life threatening, these can still have a profound effect on your health and how you feel and should not be ignored.
Neurological symptoms, really? Yes. What we’ve come to understand about gluten is that it can cross the blood brain barrier in the same way the proteins slip through the normally tight junctions in the gut. If you’ve ever heard people talking about Leaky Brain, this is what they are referring to. Research has shown that gluten can cause central and peripheral nervous system and psychiatric disorders
Why is this a problem NOW?
But - I hear you cry - bread and gluten-containing products have been around for thousands of years so why is this only a problem now?
Gluten-containing grains now form the backbone of the modern diet thanks to an over-reliance on convenience and snack foods, and bread and pasta making multiple daily appearances on family menus. It’s not uncommon for me to find clients grabbing cereal or toast in the morning for breakfast, a sandwich or soup and roll at lunch and a pasta dish or pie in the evening.
We’re just eating way too much.
Add to that, the wheat we eat today is also markedly different from the historic versions that used to be grown thanks to industrial milling that brought us the almost entirely barren white flour and other highly processed foods that see today’s wheat stripped of many of its vital nutrients. Add to that, wheat is now grown very differently with fertilizers and pesticides to increase yields.
Dr William Davis, author of Wheat Belly, had this to say: “This thing being sold to us called wheat – it ain’t wheat. It’s this stocky high-yield plan, a distant relative of the wheat our mothers used to make muffins – light years removed from the wheat of just 40 years ago.”
Is giving up gluten bad for me?
You might have seen articles proclaiming that unless you are coeliac, you MUST eat gluten-containing products or all kinds of bad things that will happen, including nutrient deficiencies.
This is not the case. Articles citing the supposed nutrient deficiencies when you remove gluten containing foods that have been fortified with B vitamins (ie they have had extra B vitamins added). You could just ensure you eat foods that naturally contain vitamins instead!
As long as you focus on eating real food rather than relying on processed ‘gluten free alternatives’, there is really nothing to worry about.
About ‘gluten free foods’
Don’t make the mistake of thinking gluten free foods are necessarily healthy. When you buy any processed foods like breads, pastries, cakes, and biscuits, you are in for a long list of ingredients, some of which you may not have heard of before. The same is true of gluten free processed food.
Gluten free breads are a case in point. Because the gluten in regular flour gives bread it’s unique texture, it’s hard to recreate gluten free, which is why gluten free bread often contains corn starch, rice flour, tapioca starch and potato flour, which are more likely to spike your blood sugar levels, be lower in fibre and cost more than regular bread.
How to go gluten free
If you suspect you have a problem with gluten, the answer is to eat no gluten at all. Don’t reduce it, don’t save it for treats. Because gluten intolerance provokes an immune response, there’s no halfway house. That means don’t eat any gluten-containing foods and try to minimise cross contamination with gluten products. The food industry has come a long way in the last few years, developing products and menus that contain no gluten, but you do need to be vigilant.
To start, you might find going zero gluten a struggle, but label checking and spotting cross contamination hazards will soon become second nature. Here are my biggest tips for following a zero-gluten diet.
Hidden gluten
Hidden gluten is found in many processed foods, including sausages and beefburgers, sauces, and gravies. Some products, while they contain no gluten-based ingredients, may have been produced in a factory that handles gluten. This means cross contamination is possible (imagine gluten free food surrounded by puffs of normal flour). These are also ideally avoided. This is why oats can be bought as gluten free or regular. Oats themselves contain no gluten but they are often packaged in an environment where other cereals like barley and wheat are processed.
Eating out
Most restaurants now offer a gluten free (GF) menu and, if not, can often advise on GF options on a standard menu. If something is not listed as being ‘gluten free’, always ask the waiting staff. If they don’t know, ask them to check with the chef. Sauces are one of the things you always need to check. Check chips are not fried in the same oil used for breaded products.
It’s a good idea to call ahead to find out what the GF options are. You’ll soon build up a bank of favourite destinations you know can cater for you. Pizza Express, Ask, Prezzo, and Zizzi now offer a GF pizza base and pasta. Coeliac UK provides a pretty comprehensive listing.
Cross contamination
This can happen very easily in any kitchen – including your own. Grills, pans, chopping boards and utensils may still have traces of gluten on them so wash them diligently. Take care if using normal flour as residues can remain in the air for up to 24 hours and settle on counters. Crumbs are another hazard – you’ll want a separate butter or spread you can designate GF. You’ll also want a new toaster or use toast bags to prevent the transfer of crumbs.
If you want to know more or think you might have an issue with gluten, why not book in a call with me?
Eat to Improve your Heart Health
Many people fear a heart attack. Think of it as the last straw. Heart disease is, in many cases, a lifestyle disease that is avoidable and, with the right focus, you can avoid it, too.
There are some pretty big risk factors (outside of smoking and drinking in excess), and these include being diabetic, having high cholesterol and being overweight. But did you know that being menopausal, having conditions such as PCOS, and being of black or Asian ethnicity can increase your chances too? And genetic predisposition can affect it too.
What I want to talk to you about today is which dietary changes you might start to make from today, to protect your health and that of your loved ones. There’s fantastic news in this regard because a number of huge studies point to diet and lifestyle change being IT when it comes to prevention.
The INTERHEART study, published in the Lancet in 2004, followed 30,000 people in 52 countries. Researchers found that lifestyle changes could prevent at least 90 percent of all heart disease.
This was another big one: the EPIC study in 2009 looked at how 23,000 people adhered to 4 simple behaviours: not smoking, exercising 3.5 hours a week, eating a healthy diet, and maintaining a healthy weight. Sticking to these four behaviours alone seemed to prevent 93% of cases of diabetes, 81% of cases of heart attacks, 50% of cases of strokes, and 36% of cases of all cancers.
A SIMPLE STRATEGY FOR GOOD HEALTH
Of course, everyone is individual, and there is no official ‘single diet’ that all humans should eat. But if there were, this would be it because it handles what the essence of the problem is – overweight and a highly inflammatory internal environment.
Before I dive in with some of the answers, I want to say a little something about fat because chances are, if you’ve heard one thing about staving off a heart attack, it’s ‘cut back on fat’ (and especially the saturated kind).
The success of some low-fat dietary models in weight loss is thought to be more likely due to the simultaneous reduction of sugar, refined carbohydrates and processed foods.
Dietary fat actually turns off fat production in your liver. Unlike carbohydrates and protein, dietary fat does not trigger your pancreas to secrete insulin.
There is one type of fat everyone should avoid, and it’s trans fats, a kind of Frankenstein fat added to food to improve shelf life and mouth-feel of products. One study actually found that the risk of coronary heart disease doubled with each 2 percent increase in calories from trans fats (Iqbal, 2014). Another researcher even concluded: “On a per-calorie basis, trans fats appear to increase the risk of CHD more than any other micronutrient.” (Mozaffarian et al., 2006).
THE REAL VILLIANS…
The real villains in the piece are refined grains and sugar. During processing, refined grains are stripped of the bran and germ, two parts of the grain kernel that contain a wealth of nutrients. The final product is starch with next to no nutritional value, providing little more than carbohydrates and calories. Refined carbohydrates can be found in a wide variety of foods, including white bread, pasta and rice, muffins, cakes, cookies, crackers, and bagels. Unfortunately, these foods make up a pretty good chunk of the modern Western diet and may be linked to a higher risk of heart disease. One study from China found that a higher carbohydrate intake, mainly from refined grains, was associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease among 117,366 adults (Yu et al., 2013).
Sugar is one of the main culprits of heart disease. Added sugars from foods like sweets, desserts, juice and soft drinks can spike blood sugar levels, damaging the blood vessels, overloading the liver and increasing the risk of heart disease.
Interestingly, a study from Harvard School of Public Health actually found that participants who drank the highest amount of sugar-sweetened beverages had a 20 percent higher relative risk of developing coronary heart disease than those who drank the lowest amount (de Koning et al., 2012).
WHAT THIS MEANS IS …
A lower carbohydrate diet is recommended to balance blood sugar and therefore reduce insulin and blood glucose levels. Elevated insulin is a major risk factor for heart disease and promotes inflammation. You’re also likely will lose weight on a blood sugar balancing diet, and that in itself will reduce the risk for many chronic diseases, including heart disease and high blood pressure.
Do you notice a trend in my diet tips? What’s to focus on is real food. What you would benefit from decreasing is the processed stuff most people kid themselves is OK for them to eat. Truly, your body doesn't know what’s going on when you shovel in heavily processed or chemically altered foods.
Eating this way - sometimes referred to as a low GL (glycaemic load) diet - will also help, providing your body with a steady supply of energy through the day, rather than a high-octane rollercoaster of energy spikes and troughs.
Putting the food work into your life alongside the commitment to regularly de-stress, move your body and prioritise sleep is not always easy to do on your own. It is always helpful to have someone – like me – in the wings helping you fit what you already know about eating well into your life and keeping you motivated to follow your plan for long enough that you really see a shift in your health.
If you would like to know more, why not book in for a free 30 minute health review here.
Increase your antioxidants
Want to bulletproof your immunity? You need to stockpile those natural antioxidants (and not just the packets and tins of pulses!). When you supercharge this “antioxidant potential” you give your immune system a real boost.
And, if you’re wondering ‘where have I heard about antioxidants before?’ they’re the things skincare companies tell you their anti-ageing moisturisers are full of so double win.
Why are antioxidants important?
Viruses and bacteria produce oxidants, which are reactive forms of oxygen that damage cells and age you faster. Simply, they are bad news. We’re also getting our fill of oxidants from eating chargrilled/ blackened foods or breathing polluted air, and maybe you’ve had a less than great diet over the years. Where you can end up is a situation in which you have too many oxidants and not enough antioxidants.
Revving up your antioxidant status at times like these is a really good idea. While vitamin C seems to get all the praise when it comes to immunity, there’s another molecule that is the under-recognised supporting actor who deserves the starring role – glutathione.
Glutathione – the master antioxidant
Glutathione is one of the most important molecules in the body – almost like a magic elixir of health. Too little of it and you’re at risk of developing one of the most feared health conditions facing us today, including stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, and heart disease.
If you’ve got good enough levels, that’s where the gold is…
But when levels are adequate or high, that’s when the magic happens. You’ll not only have protection from the conditions above, but you’ll have amazing energy, glowing skin, healthy detoxification, strong heart and brain function, and possibly even a longer life!
Glutathione is made up of three amino acids called cysteine, glycine, and glutamic acid (or glutamate). It’s often called the “master” antioxidant because it helps recycle all the other antioxidants in your body like vitamins C and E, as well as alpha lipoic acid and CoQ10.
Research show glutathione primes the white blood cells of the immune system and helps them produce more infection-fighting substances so they can control both bacterial and viral infections.
Foods to increase glutathione
Eating the right foods to naturally increase glutathione will help keep you fighting fit. There are a small number of foods that naturally contain glutathione. These include asparagus, avocado, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, spinach, broccoli, garlic, chives, tomatoes, cucumber, almonds, and walnuts.
Some other foods contain the building blocks needed to make glutathione (they are the pre-cursors – the warm-up act); the foods containing cysteine and other sulphur-containing foods, and selenium.
Good foods to choose are onions, spring onions, shallots, leeks, kale, bok choy, rocket, spring greens, watercress, radishes. Some spices such as turmeric, cinnamon and cardamom - have compounds that can also help to restore healthy levels of glutathione and its antioxidant enzymes.
Alpha Lipoic Acid – glutathione’s reloader
Alpha lipoic acid (also called ALA) is a critical co-enzyme that helps to recycle many antioxidants, including vitamin C, E and also glutathione. It is well known for its anti-ageing effects on our cell’s energy factories, the mitochondria.
Good food sources of alpha lipoic acid include:
• Organ meats
• Beef
• Brewer’s yeast
• Broccoli
• Spinach
• Brussels sprouts
• Peas
• Tomatoes
Selenium is an important trace mineral that is key in the production of glutathione (it also happens to be great for thyroid function so if yours is a little off, consider getting more of this antioxidant a double win). Good dietary sources of selenium include:
• Seafood
• Oysters
• Brazil nuts
• Eggs
• Mushrooms
• Whole grains
• Organ meats
• Dairy products
So rather than reaching for an immune supplement, why not think about how you can increase these immune-supporting foods in your diet?
Or, if you're struggling for inspiration, why don’t you book in a free 30-minute health review with me – just click here.
Please get in touch and find out more - I offer a free 30-minute exploratory call.
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Disclaimer: ‘Please note that nutritional therapy is not medical advice - this should always be sought from your doctor or other medical provider. I aim to work alongside your doctor or GP to provide nutritional and lifestyle advice to support any underlying imbalances.'
