Menopause is a powerful life transition that can be experienced with comfort and ease.
Society is full of degrading concepts about menopause that make us dread its arrival.
Menopause is the time of life where go from doing to being. It is an event of spiritual growth!
But there are pure and natural solutions for managing menopausal symptoms that have been used for centuries.
Modifying diet to manage menopause may seem like an overwhelming prospect for anyone suffering from symptoms.
Here at the Edison Institute, we give you the tools to cope with these symptoms and help you restore balance to your life.
If you’re curious about using holistic nutrition to manage other health conditions, our diploma in holistic nutrition program will give you a deeper knowledge.
We are here to help you and your clients understand more about this transition and share our knowledge of natural remedies that reduce inflammation, hot flashes, sweats, and ease other symptoms of menopause.
If you can ease some of the physical symptoms, you’ll free up some energy to explore the beauty of this natural change.
What Is Menopause
Menopause occurs when your body stops menstruating and can usually be confirmed twelve months after your last period.
An imbalance of estrogen and progesterone trigger symptoms of menopause that can continue for years.
Throughout adult life, these hormones are responsible for regulating processes such as menstruation and pregnancy.
They are responsible for the development of hips and breasts during puberty and are known to work with neurotransmitters to provide boosts in mood.
What Happens During Menopause
The decline in hormones, particularly progesterone, can cause symptoms that can be quite challenging to navigate.
However, dietary changes can help manage these symptoms naturally, so we don’t have to suffer through this transition.
The most common symptoms of menopause include weight gain, hot flashes, night sweats, insomnia, changes in mood, and changes to muscle composition.
Using Nutrition To Ease Menopause Symptoms
Filling your body with good, healthy fats, phytoestrogens, antioxidants, and proteins, while avoiding refined sugars and fried foods may be able to help you.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the nutrients essential to reducing and relieving your symptoms of menopause.
1. Omega 3 Fatty Acids
Healthy fats are a vital source of energy for our bodies that contribute to vitamin absorption, cell signaling, hormone production, and a healthy functioning nervous system.
Healthy fats, such as omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, are beneficial to the production of hormones.
Getting enough good fat gives your metabolism a boost and may even help to curb weight gain during menopause.
Omega 3 and omega 6 supplements continue to be of benefit in decreasing the frequency of hot flashes and the severity of night sweats.
Healthy fats include avocado, oily fish, nuts, seeds, coconut oil or olive oil.
These fatty acids have a number of other health benefits as well, including:
- Maintaining good eye health
- As brain boosting superfoods
- As a natural treatment for eczema
- A natural arthritis management solution
- A natural solution for autoimmune conditions
- And much more
You’ll learn all this and much more in our advanced nutrition practice course.
As many of these disorders are also associated with aging, it’s a good idea to include omega 3 and omega 6 in your diet.
2. Eat Foods With Phytoestrogens
Phytoestrogen refers to estrogen compounds that are produced naturally by plants (instead of by the human body).
These plant based compounds mimic the effect of estrogen, but to a much weaker extent.
They can be helpful in managing symptoms during menopause when our natural estrogen levels are declining.
Phytoestrogens are plentiful in soybeans, flax seeds, fish, nuts, green vegetables, berries, and more.
3. Eat Foods With Antioxidants
Antioxidants are substances that neutralize damaging free radicals in the body, helping to reduce inflammation and cleanse unnecessary toxins.
Some new research links menopausal symptoms to overall inflammation, suggesting that avoiding inflammatory foods like dairy, gluten, refined sugar, hydrogenated oils, caffeine, and alcohol can help reduce the severity of symptoms.
Plenty of foods are rich in antioxidants.
Garlic, ginger, spinach, broccoli, pumpkin, peaches, goji berries, apples, grapes, eggs, brown rice, coffee, and walnuts to name a few.
For additional liver support, add some dandelion leaves or milk thistle herbal tea.
These simple changes to your diet may make this important transition in your life easier.
4. Make Sure You Get Enough Protein
Several menopausal symptoms are related to spikes and falls in blood sugar.
Mental fog, fatigue, mood changes, hot flashes, and sleep disturbances are all exasperated by sugar highs and lows.
Protein is vital when regulating blood sugar levels because protein stabilizes blood sugar levels and therefore avoids the highs and lows.
Eat your protein at each meal, 3 meals per day, to stabilize insulin levels.
Instead of meat for every meal, substitute some plant based protein sources like beans, broccoli, spinach, nuts and seeds.
Declining estrogen and progesterone can also result in a decrease of bone strength and muscle mass, making it even more important to get enough protein.
5. Avoid Foods That Trigger Hot Flashes
For anyone experiencing hot flashes, a mainly vegetarian diet might help you.
There is no shortage of evidence supporting the benefits of fruits and vegetables in managing symptoms of menopause.
Increasing your dietary intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains should help reduce hot flashes and night sweats.
Reducing unhealthy fats, fried foods, caffeine, and alcohol can also help you avoid extreme hot flashes.
Keeping up a routine of daily aerobic exercise like running or yoga seems to help; or even a vigorous walk to get your blood pumping and allow your body to sweat out excess toxins.
Contact The Edison Institute Of Nutrition Today
If you’re intrigued by the benefits of medicinal herbs and plants, you might be interested in learning more about holistic nutrition.
The Edison Institute offers a variety of courses to get you started on your journey.
Beyond our Diploma in Holistic Nutrition program, The Edison Institute also offers a variety of holistic nutrition CEU programs for nutritionists as well as other holistic healthcare practitioners, including:
- Introduction To Muscle Testing certification
- Holistic Cancer Coach training certification.
- Live Blood Cell Microscopy Imaging training
- And many more
Whether you’re just starting your journey as a holistic nutritionist or you’re a seasoned professional looking to keep your knowledge up to date, we can help.
Contact the Edison Institute Of Nutrition today and take your first step toward building your holistic nutrition practice.
