Menopause is a big hurdle in women’s life, which may have great influence both physically and psychologically. However, it is not a disease, but a normal and natural aging stage of the human body.
As we have mentioned, menopause occurs because the secretion of estrogen and progesterone in the body gradually decreases, resulting in a series of symptoms. Attention to nutrition during this period can help reduce physiological discomfort to a certain extent and reduce the risk of various [senile diseases] [chronic diseases] during and after menopause.
Eat more properly
Calcium
During menopause, the calcium loss rate of women accelerates and the risk of osteoporosis begins to increase. For the sake of bone health, calcium intake should be increased.
The recommendation in the United States is that after the age of 50, women’s calcium intake will increase to 1,200 milligrams per day.
Dairy products, some green vegetables (such as broccoli and green vegetables), beans, hard tofu, etc. are all calcium-rich foods.
If you can’t get enough calcium in your diet, it is also worthwhile to take a little calcium supplement properly.
Guidelines for Selection of Calcium Supplements:
Well-marketed, expensive calcium supplements are not necessarily better than cheap calcium tablets.
Eating calcium tablets with food is helpful for calcium absorption, and there is little difference between different calcium.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is very important for calcium absorption. Many people’s calcium deficiency is not caused by calcium deficiency in food, but by low calcium absorption rate caused by vitamin D deficiency.
There are not many foods rich in vitamin D, mainly some fish and cod liver oil. Some mushrooms, especially those irradiated with ultraviolet rays, are rich in vitamin D. Eggs also contain some vitamin D, but the content is not very high.
Sun exposure is a good way to get vitamin D. The body can synthesize the vitamin D it needs twice a week for 5 to 30 minutes each time. However, it should be noted that ultraviolet rays cannot penetrate the glass, so it is useless to bask in the sun through the glass window.
Dietary fiber
Dietary fiber cannot be digested by the human body and does not provide heat, but it can produce satiety, thus helping to control body weight.
Insoluble dietary fiber can absorb a large amount of water, help food digestion residue discharge, avoid constipation.
Soluble dietary fiber can be decomposed by probiotics in intestinal tract to produce some small molecules beneficial to health.
Coarse grains, whole grain foods and vegetables are good sources of dietary fiber.
Water
Water is part of a healthy diet. Don’t wait until you are thirsty to drink it.
The recommendation abroad is 8 glasses of water (240 milliliters per cup) per day. Whether the quantity of this [8 cups] has sufficient scientific evidence or not, drinking this amount of water is always harmless.
Bean products and flaxseed
The root of climacteric symptoms is the reduction of estrogen, while isoflavones in bean products and lignans in flaxseed can combine with estrogen receptors in human body, thus having weak estrogen effect.
Whether soybean isoflavones and lignans as supplements have clear efficacy and safety is still controversial in academia. Therefore, it is not recommended to use such health products.
However, bean products and flaxseed as food, in addition to these [phytoestrogens], also contain protein, dietary fiber, minerals and vitamins, which are very healthy foods for climacteric women.
Need to be controlled
Total caloric intake
Entering menopause, women are more likely to be obese, and obesity is one of the major risk factors for various chronic diseases.
In order to maintain a reasonable weight, we need to control calories, which means controlling the total amount of food. Foods with less sugar and oil should be the first choice. Of course, we should not go on a blind diet, but also need to give consideration to the overall and balanced nutrition.
High-fat food
More fat will make you fat, and more fat will also affect the intake of other nutrients.
Saturated fat, which is believed to increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, should be controlled to less than 7% of the total calories. According to the recommended intake of 1,800 kilocalories per day for elderly women, 7% is roughly equivalent to 14 grams of saturated fat. This amount, if you eat a little two pieces of fat, is more than.
Sugar
Excessive sugar has many adverse effects on health.
For example, increasing calories is not conducive to weight control, high glycemic index leads to large blood sugar fluctuations, increasing uric acid thus increasing the risk of gout, etc.
When cooking, put less sugar, dessert and sugary drinks.
Salt
Excessive salt will increase the risk of hypertension, while the salt intake of the Chinese population is generally high (the recommended amount is no more than 6g per day, while the current average intake has exceeded 10g).
As you grow older, your taste deteriorates, your taste becomes heavier, and you are more likely to eat too much salt.
In addition to the salt put in cooking, pay attention to the [invisible salt] in high-salt foods, such as pickled foods. Click to see this article for practical tips on eating less salt.
Wine
[Moderate Drinking] to Soften Blood Vessels? This view is not supported by sufficient scientific evidence, and there is no [safe amount] of alcohol to increase the risk of cancer. In other words, as long as you drink alcohol, the risk of cancer will be increased, but if you drink less, the risk will be lower.
The accurate expression of drinking is:
For the sake of health, it is best not to drink alcohol. If you really like it, you should pay attention to the right amount.
For climacteric women, [moderate] means no more than one [alcohol unit] per day-roughly equivalent to 350 milliliters of beer or 150 milliliters of wine.
Spicy food and coffee
For women with hot flashes during menopause, there are some foods that will stimulate or aggravate hot flashes, such as spicy food, caffeine and alcohol.
If there is no hot flashes and eating these foods does not cause discomfort, then you can enjoy them.
Finally, I would like to say that menopause is a complicated physiological stage. Besides diet, moderate exercise, healthy mentality and necessary treatment are all very important. I hope this article can provide some reference and help for women in menopause in terms of diet.
We cannot avoid aging, but we can grow old gracefully and healthily.